Members of Want Me Get Me, a startup promising its members a VIP experience at any partner hotel, should have an easier time finding the right hotel starting today. The site connects travelers with luxury and boutique hotels looking to attract new customers and build loyalty. Every booking through Want Me Get Me includes a spot on the hotel's VIP list, free WiFi, and a room upgrade when available. Users can search for other free perks too. And the startup even sends users' Facebook profile photo to the hotel so that they can be greeted by name when they arrive.
Last year, Tim Sae Koo, Nikhil Aitharaju, Eunice Noh and Ryo Chiba launched HypeMarks to give people a less hectic way to consume social media. The startup aggregated tweets, articles, links and more shared by influencers and celebrities on social media accounts and, by grouping those by topic, aimed to give people a snapshot of an industry through the eyes of the people who know it best.
Advancing secure communications: A better single-photon emitter for quantum cryptography
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
In a development that could make the advanced form of secure communications known as quantum cryptography more practical, University of Michigan researchers have demonstrated a simpler, more efficient single-photon emitter that can be made using traditional semiconductor processing techniques.
Single-photon emitters release one particle of light, or photon, at a time, as opposed to devices like lasers that release a stream of them. Single-photon emitters are essential for quantum cryptography, which keeps secrets safe by taking advantage of the so-called observer effect: The very act of an eavesdropper listening in jumbles the message. This is because in the quantum realm, observing a system always changes it.
For quantum cryptography to work, it's necessary to encode the message?which could be a bank password or a piece of military intelligence, for example?just one photon at a time. That way, the sender and the recipient will know whether anyone has tampered with the message.
While the U-M researchers didn't make the first single-photon emitter, they say their new device improves upon the current technology and is much easier to make.
"This thing is very, very simple. It is all based on silicon," said Pallab Bhattacharya, the Charles M. Vest Distinguished University Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the James R. Mellor Professor of Engineering.
Bhattacharya, who leads this project, is a co-author of a paper on the work published in Nature Communications on April 9.
Bhattacharya's emitter is a single nanowire made of gallium nitride with a very small region of indium gallium nitride that behaves as a quantum dot. A quantum dot is a nanostructure that can generate a bit of information. In the binary code of conventional computers, a bit is a 0 or a 1. A quantum bit can be either or both at the same time.
The semiconducting materials the new emitter is made of are commonly used in LEDs and solar cells. The researchers grew the nanowires on a wafer of silicon. Because their technique is silicon-based, the infrastructure to manufacture the emitters on a larger scale already exists. Silicon is the basis of modern electronics.
"This is a big step in that it produces the pathway to realizing a practical electrically injected single-photon emitter," Bhattacharya said.
Key enablers of the new technology are size and compactness.
"By making the diameter of the nanowire very small and by altering the composition over a very small section of it, a quantum dot is realized," Bhattacharya said. "The quantum dot emits single-photons upon electrical excitation."
The U-M emitter is fueled by electricity, rather than light?another aspect that makes it more practical. And each photon it emits possesses the same degree of linear polarization. Polarization refers to the orientation of the electric field of a beam of light. Most other single-photon emitters release light particles with a random polarization.
"So half might have one polarization and the other half might have the other," Bhattacharya said. "So in cryptic message, if you want to code them, you would only be able to use 50 percent of the photons. With our device, you could use almost all of them."
This device operates at cold temperatures, but the researchers are working on one that operates closer to room temperature.
The paper is titled "Electrically-driven polarized single-photon emission from an InGaN quantum dot in a GaN nanowire." The first author is Saniya Deshpande, a graduate student in electrical engineering and computer science. The work is supported by the National Science Foundation. The device was fabricated at the U-M Lurie Nanofabrication Facility.
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University of Michigan: http://www.umich.edu/
Thanks to University of Michigan for this article.
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A Google+ site for a business is much like a personal Google+ site. It can be used to blog, to embed content from other websites, or to link to other websites. Your business Google+ site is linked to your business Google+ account. If you do not already have a Google+ account for your business, your first step is to create a Google+ account.
Claim your existing Google+ listing
Many business pages for local businesses were created automatically by Google, based on available information. To find out if your business already has a page, log on to your Google+ account (http://plus.google.com) and search for your business name. If you have a page that you have not claimed, there will be a button under the heading ?Is this your business?? that reads ?Manage this page?. Click the button to claim the business page.
Create a new Google+ page
To create a new page, on the left hand side of the screen, select the Pages icon if available, or if not select the More icon followed by the Pages icon. Then click the ?Create new page? button and follow the prompts. You will need to select the type of page, whether a local business, a business with multiple locations, or a product or brand. Since you can create multiple pages, you can create one for every business location or every product, as well as one for your entire business. Verify the ownership of the page, and assign multiple managers to oversee the page.
Personalise your Google+ page
Add a description and links to your website. Add a profile picture of 250 x 250 pixels, and then change the cover image to either a single image spanning the page or a row of five smaller images. Pages for local businesses should also include an introduction, your business hours, the website name and address, the contact information, recommended links, photos, and videos. See How To Use Google+ Local for more details specific to local business use. The Google+ page allows you to post updates, pictures, and videos. Use these interactive features to list your latest special offers, link to your most recent blog posts, or display your latest videos.
Hang out
Google+ pages are different from other social media pages in that they integrate with Google Hangouts. This allows you to put a video chat room feature on the page. You can use the Hangouts to create specific events such as product briefings or video training seminars which can be recorded and posted on YouTube. You can also use the Hangouts as a customer service platform, or as a bonus feature provided to VIP clients.
Kim Kardashian and Kanye West, who are expecting a baby girl together, have hit a rocky patch after the reality star fears the rapper is hooking up with sexy Australian rapper, Iggy Azalea. Insiders reveal Kim worries her weight gain is a huge turn-off to Kanye and worries he might cheat on her! A source ...
The US territory's crisis-ready inhabitants are trusting God, Uncle Sam, common sense, and poor aim to keep them safe from a ballistic assault by North Korea.
By Jeffrey Tomas Marchesseault,?Contributor / April 10, 2013
Members of the 374th Airlift Wing of US Air Force work on a C-130 aircraft during the Cope North military exercises at Andersen US Air Force Base in Guam, in February. North Korea is threatening to attack the US territory.
Koji Ueda/AP/File
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Doomsday missives aside, the beat goes on in Guam.
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Yes, North Korea is threatening to attack the island. And, yes, this 30-mile stretch of?terra firma?at the south end of the Marianas archipelago may be well within missile range. But the American territory's crisis-ready inhabitants are trusting God, Uncle Sam, common sense, and poor aim to keep them safe from a ballistic assault.
This isn't the first time the repressive, isolated regime has flaunted the notion that Guam is within striking distance. Nor is it probably the last time Guamanians will hear that North Korea lacks the technology to make a direct hit. Islanders don't treat the current round of vitriol lightly, but aren't paralyzed by it either.
?When I became a reporter, the North Korean threat was one that I was deeply interested in,? says Clynt Ridgell, a local TV news anchor. ?Over the years, however, I've begun to see that these threats are usually empty. Every couple of years it seems that the DPRK [the Democratic Republic of Korea] will ramp up the rhetoric ... usually because they want some sort of aid or they just want the US and the world to take notice,? Mr. Ridgell says, referring to the official name of North Korea. ?Then things will calm down, everything goes back to normal and we all seem to forget that North Korea even exists.?
You might say Guam has lived through worse.
On Dec. 8, 1941, Japan bombed US Guam. It happened within hours of the Imperial attack on Pearl Harbor that drew the United States into World War II, and soon drove the nation to retake Guam by force. By 1941, the island had already been a US possession for two generations as a spoil of the Spanish-American War, after which Spain had ceded the Philippines, Puerto Rico, and Guam to America. Spain conquered Guam during the Age of Exploration and ruled it from the Renaissance until 1899. Since then, the island has often been described as a political pawn in a world ruled by superpowers and has weathered tropical storms, floods, and earthquakes along the way.
On the 61st anniversary of the Japanese invasion of Guam, Super Typhoon Pongsona ripped through the island, knocking out utilities and causing nearly a billion dollars in damage. An 8.1 magnitude earthquake rocked the territory in 1993, compromising the island's typhoon-ready concrete superstructure and forcing the demolition of a destabilized hotel months later. More recently, the tsunami that devastated northern Japan in March 2011 kept Guam on red alert for several hours.
Guam's hard-won battle scars may be a bit too calloused to feel the sting of amped up rhetoric streaming out of the Democratic People's Republic over the past two weeks. So far, the beat of war drums hasn't been frightening enough to keep locals from living their everyday lives. Over the past weekend, residents enjoyed sunny days paddle-boarding on the beach, barbecuing, and catching up on errands.
Visitors, too, are still keeping their itineraries. The island hosted the Guam International Marathon on Sunday, welcoming many residents and several Asian distance runners, including top finishers from South Korea and Japan. And Wednesday morning local media outlets were reporting Guam's highest visitor arrivals in 50 years, bucking the perception of an island in the crosshairs.
Tourism is one of Guam's economic twin engines. The other is the federal government, which maintains Naval Base Guam in the south and Andersen Air Force Base in the north. Andersen in particular has featured prominently on the DPRK's recent purported kill list.
Remote as the chance of attack may be, the faithful remain vigilant. Archbishop Anthony Apuron welcomed congregants to the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in the capital city of Hag?t?a in a mass for world peace on Sunday morning and asked parishes across the island to pray along.
"I was a little surprised ... when the priest started off his Homily talking about the situation in Korea,? says John Ryan, a local business consultant who attended church service in Yigo, near Andersen. ?The priest pointed [out] how strong faith can overcome fear. ?I think many people in this predominantly Catholic island relate well to that perspective as they think about what is happening on the Korean peninsula,? he says.
"While I have heard people talk about the damage and loss of life that a missile strike could cause to our small island, I do not know anyone who has changed their daily routine,? Mr. Ryan said after an active weekend with friends. ?Of course we are paying close attention to what is happening in Korea, but I think people here are just as concerned for the safety and well being of the people of South Korea. If I had to guess, I'd say for most Guamanians our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Korea first, if for no other reason than our faith and trust in the US and its allies to diffuse the crisis, or to respond appropriately if diplomacy fails."
MAKING SENSE: As a technical writer, Emma Harding helps turn gobbledegook into understandable instructions.
Getting a new television is exciting until you're sitting on the couch, remote in hand, unable to decipher the convoluted construction manual that came with it.
You have two choices: Throw the remote on the floor in disgust and leave the programme guide in German, or perservere with a manual which may as well be written in latin. A useless manual, help function, website or document is both infuriating and stressful.
This is where people like Emma Harding come in. Technical writers are hired to reduce, simplify, and streamline.
For Harding, her degree in linguistics is where it all started.
"I had an arts degree and all I wanted was a job. So it was my first job out of university. It's a really big field but it's not really known about in New Zealand."
Behind the scenes, technical writers are beavering away, trying to make the written world a better place - allowing consumers to finally master our remote controls.
They do more than re-word packaging and check for translation errors. Beyond the domestic user manual, they deal with all forms of the written word, for businesses, government departments, hospitals, and anyone in between. They often shoulder the responsibility for heavy machinery instruction manuals and user-friendly medical documents.
"Lots of people who come to us have written some content for something, like their website or their user-documents. A lot of these people are tertiary educated, they have a degree, and they think they can write.
"But what they've written is far too long or is really hard to understand. That's where we come in."
The range of problems confronting any user include the use of jargon, long sentences, convoluted corporate speak and confusing diagrams.
Unfortunately, not everything gets the technical writer once- over before it hits the public. Time and again we are baffled by language. On a blanket from Taiwan the warning reads: "Not to be used as protection from a tornado".
Even corporate giant Coca- Cola has fallen victim to excessive instruction, writing "Open other end" on the bottom of the can.
"Every person is constantly being bombarded with written material, a lot of which you don't even notice . . . but when you read unclear instructions, you notice immediately."
We've all seen them - the instructions and notices which have fallen victim to a particularly bad translation - "Not to be used for the other use".
Some instructions credit the consumer with far too little intelligence.
? On a soap package: "Use like regular soap".
? On a packet of nuts: "Warning: contains nuts", or "Instructions: open packet and eat nuts".
Some are just downright silly.
? On a hairdryer: "Do not use while sleeping".
? On a microwave pudding: "Product will be hot after heating".
"What we do, is take gobbledegook and make it understandable," says Harding.
As TC's resident watch lover, I often find myself browsing the horology forums while alone, scantily-clad, and drunk. However, in this era of connoisseur-nets and always-connected trade, there are few bargains to be found and even fewer ways to find exactly what you want. That's where Chrono24.com comes in. Founded by serial entrepreneurs Tim Stracke and Dirk Schwartz, the site has been live since 2003 but has just recently streamlined its operations to offer a sort of watch search engine that allows users to find timepieces of note from almost anywhere in the world.
Could Fox remove its broadcast signals and become available only as part of a cable subscription? That's one possibility that News Corp. COO Chase Carey offered up as a business solution if it and other broadcasters lose their ongoing legal battle against streaming video provider Aereo.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) ? North Korea said Monday it will suspend operations at a factory complex it has jointly run with South Korea, pulling out more than 53,000 North Korean workers and moving closer to severing its last economic link with its rival as tensions escalate.
The Kaesong industrial complex just north of the Demilitarized Zone is the biggest employer in North Korea's third-largest city. Shutting it down, even temporarily, would show that the destitute country is willing to hurt its own economy to display its anger with South Korea and the United States.
Pyongyang's move follows weeks of threatening rhetoric and provocations aimed at Seoul and its U.S. ally following U.N. sanctions punishing the North for its third nuclear test, on Feb. 12. In recent days there have also been signs in Seoul pointing to an even larger provocation from Pyongyang, including another possible nuclear test or rocket launch.
The point of the threats and possible future provocations, analysts say, isn't a full-scale war, which North Korea would certainly lose. It's seen instead as an effort to force new, Pyongyang-friendly policies in South Korea and Washington and to boost domestic loyalty for Kim Jong Un, the country's young, still relatively untested new leader.
The statement about Kaesong came from Kim Yang Gon, secretary of a key decision-making body, the Central Committee of the Workers' Party of Korea. It did not say what would happen to the 475 South Korean managers still at the Kaesong industrial complex. The statement also did not say whether the North Korean workers would be recalled immediately, and a South Korean manager at Kaesong said he had heard nothing from the North Korean government.
"North Korean workers left work at 6 o'clock today as they usually do. We'll know tomorrow whether they will come to work," said the manager, who declined to be identified because he was not allowed to speak to media. North Korea had asked South Korean managers to say when they intended to leave by Wednesday; the manager said he did not know whether he and his South Korean colleagues now will be forced to leave.
Members of South Korea's Unification Ministry, which is responsible for relations with the North, were meeting Monday to discuss the South Korean managers' status but had yet to issue a statement.
The Kaesong complex is the last remaining symbol of inter-Korean rapprochement projects. Other cooperation projects such as reunions of families separated by war and tours to a scenic North Korean mountain became stalled amid confrontation between the rival Koreas in recent years.
The complex combines cheap North Korean labor and South Korean know-how and technology. It is the last remaining inter-Korean rapprochement project from previous eras of cooperation.
North Korea previously cut the communications with South Korea that had helped regulate border crossings, and last week barred South Korean workers and cargo from entering North Korea. Operations continued and South Koreans already at Kaesong were allowed to stay, but dwindling personnel and supplies had forced about a dozen of the more than 120 companies operating at Kaesong to close by Sunday.
North Koreans attend a rally held to gather their willingness for a victory in a possible war against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013 in this picture released by... more? North Koreans attend a rally held to gather their willingness for a victory in a possible war against the United States and South Korea in Nampo, North Korea, April 3, 2013 in this picture released by the North's official KCNA news agency in Pyongyang on Wednesday. REUTERS/KCNA (NORTH KOREA - Tags: POLITICS MILITARY) ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS PICTURE WAS PROVIDED BY A THIRD PARTY. REUTERS IS UNABLE TO INDEPENDENTLY VERIFY THE AUTHENTICITY, CONTENT, LOCATION OR DATE OF THIS IMAGE. THIS PICTURE IS DISTRIBUTED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A RVICE TO CLIENTS. NO THIRD PARTY SALES. NOT FOR USE BY REUTERS THIRD PARTY DISTRIBUTORS less? ?
"The zone is now in the grip of a serious crisis," Kim, the party secretary, said in remarks carried by the Korean Central News Agency. He said it "has been reduced to a theater of confrontation with fellow countrymen and military provocation, quite contrary to its original nature and mission."
"It is a tragedy that the industrial zone which should serve purposes of national reconciliation, unity, peace and reunification has been reduced to a theatre of confrontation between compatriots and war against the North," said Kim, who visited the complex Monday.
Kaesong is a rare source of foreign cash for North Korea. South Korea's Unification Ministry estimates 53,000 North Korean workers in Kaesong received $80 million in salary in 2012, an average of $127 a month.
North Korea objects to portrayals in the South of the zone being crucial to the impoverished country's finances. Kim said North Korea "gets few economic benefits from the zone while the south side largely benefits from it."
South Korea's finance minister, Hyun Oh-seok, said Monday that it is "quite ridiculous" for North Korea to be closing the border at Kaesong. "North Korea has nothing to gain from these kinds of things," he said at a news briefing.
Hyun said the government is looking at ways to help Kaesong firms.
A South Korean worker in Kaesong reached by the Associated Press on the phone said she did not know if North Korean workers would come to work Tuesday. She also said she didn't know when she would return to the South.
"Everyone left work (for their living quarters at Kaesong) before we heard the news from North Korea," she said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not allowed to speak to reporters without authorization.
Daemyung Blue Jeans Inc., which does business in Kaesong, has not received any news from North Korea, CEO Choi Dongjin said. He said he heard news of the withdrawal on TV. He said he was trying to get in touch with his managers in Kaesong and hadn't spoken with them since Monday morning.
"We have seven (South Korean) workers in Kaesong. We don't know what to do about them," Choi, who is in Seoul, said by phone.
North Korea has unnerved the international community by orchestrating an escalating campaign of bombast in recent weeks. It has threatened to fire nuclear missiles at the U.S. and claimed it had scrapped the 1953 armistice that ended fighting in the Korean War.
Last week it told foreign diplomats based in Pyongyang that it will not be able to guarantee their safety as of Wednesday. Embassy workers appeared to be staying put as of Monday but foreign ministries around the world were continuing to evaluate the situation.
North Korea has found itself increasingly isolated. China, its most important ally, drafted the U.N. sanctions with the U.S. and expressed unusual disappointment when Pyongyang announced last week that it was restarting a plutonium reactor to produce more nuclear-bomb fuel.
Russian President Vladimir Putin, during a visit to Germany, praised the U.S. for postponing a missile test in California that had been set for this week, in the name of lowering tensions. Putin said at a press conference that a conflict on the Korean Peninsula would make the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl "look like a children's story."
The North's threats against the United States are widely dismissed as hyperbole. North Korea is believed to have a handful of relatively crude nuclear weapons, but analysts say they've seen no evidence it can build a warhead small enough to put on a missile that could hit the U.S. mainland. A direct attack on the U.S. or its allies would result in retaliation that would threaten the existence of the ruling Kim family in Pyongyang, but there are fears the North could launch a smaller-scale attack.
Another possibility is a fourth nuclear test, or a missile test.
The South Korean defense minister said Thursday that North Korea had moved a missile with "considerable range" to its east coast, possibly to conduct a test launch. His description suggests that the missile could be a Musudan missile, capable ? on paper at least ? of striking American bases in Guam with its estimated range of up to 4,000 kilometers (2,490 miles).
Pyongyang's warning to diplomats prompted South Korean President Park Geun-hye's national security director to say Sunday that North Korea may be planning a missile launch or another provocation around Wednesday, according to presidential spokeswoman Kim Haing.
During a meeting with other South Korean officials, the official, Kim Jang-Soo, also said the notice to diplomats and other recent North Korean actions are an attempt to stoke security concerns and to force South Korea and the U.S. to offer a dialogue. Washington and Seoul want North Korea to resume the six-party nuclear talks ? which also include China, Russia and Japan ? that it abandoned in 2009.
The possibility of a fourth North Korean nuclear test has existed for some time. South Korea has long said the North prepared two tunnels for a nuclear test, but used only one Feb. 12.
Unification Minister Ryoo Kihl-jae generated confusion about South Korean intelligence on the issue Monday in a parliamentary session. When a lawmaker asked whether there was an indication of increased personnel and vehicles at the North's nuclear test site, Ryoo said "there is such an indication."
After Ryoo's initial comments, South Korean Defense Ministry spokesman Kim Min-seok said there are vehicle and personnel activities at the northeastern test site but they are seen as "usual" activities, not an "indication for a nuclear test." Kim said North Korea can conduct a nuclear test anytime if decides to do so.
The comments in a parliamentary session were recorded on video, but Ryoo later told lawmakers he couldn't remember making them and didn't mean to say them. He said he was "startled" by reports carrying his earlier comments.
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AP Business Writer Youkyung Lee and AP researcher Zhao Liang in Beijing contributed to this report.
BEIJING (Reuters) - A strain of bird flu that has been found in humans for the first time in eastern China is no cause for panic, the World Health Organization said on Monday, as the number of people infected rose to 24, with seven deaths.
WHO praised China for mobilising resources nationwide to combat the H7N9 flu strain by culling tens of thousands of birds and monitoring hundreds of people close to those infected.
"So far, we really only have sporadic cases of a rare disease, and perhaps it will remain that way. So this is not a time for over-reaction or panic," said WHO representative Michael O'Leary.
The head of China's National Health and Family Planning Commission, Li Bin, said on Sunday she was confident authorities could contain the virus. [ID:nL3N0CU0AF]
"These are a relatively small number of serious cases with personal health, medical implications, but not at this stage known public health implications," O'Leary told reporters.
But he warned that information on the virus was still incomplete.
"We really can't rely on information from other viruses. H7N9 is a new virus in humans and the pattern that it follows cannot be predicted by the patterns that we have from other influenza viruses," O'Leary said.
No cases have yet been reported outside of China, he said.
The Shanghai government said on its official microblog on Monday that a 64-year-old man had become the latest victim as the number of infected has risen daily.
In total, 621 close contacts of the people known to have been infected were being monitored and had yet to show symptoms of infection, the director of China's H7N9 prevention and control office, Liang Wannian, said.
Authorities have said there is no evidence of transmission between humans.
The bird flu outbreak has caused global concern and some Chinese internet users and newspapers have questioned why it took so long for the government to announce the new cases, especially as two of the victims fell ill in February.
Airline shares have fallen in Europe and in Hong Kong over fears that the new virus could be lead to an epidemic like Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), which emerged in China in 2002 and killed about 10 percent of the 8,000 people it infected worldwide.
Chinese authorities initially tried to cover up the SARS outbreak.
In the H7N9 case, it had said it needed time to identify the virus, with cases spread between eastern Zhejiang, Jiangsu, and Anhui provinces.
Chinese authorities have countered speculation that the H7N9 outbreak is related to more than 16,000 pig carcasses found dumped in rivers around Shanghai and the WHO has said some dead pigs from the rivers tested negative for influenza infection.
Other strains of bird flu, such as H5N1, have been circulating for many years and can be transmitted from bird to bird, and bird to human, but not generally from human to human.
Bangladesh on Monday reported its first H5N1 death, that of a baby, in February. It had taken that long to identify the strain.
Apr. 8, 2013 ? An exploding star observed in 1604 by the German astronomer Johannes Kepler held a greater fraction of heavy elements than the sun, according to an analysis of X-ray observations from the Japan-led Suzaku satellite. The findings will help astronomers better understand the diversity of type Ia supernovae, an important class of stellar explosion used in probing the distant universe.
"The composition of the star, its environment, and the mechanism of the explosion may vary considerably among type Ia supernovae," said Sangwook Park, an assistant professor of physics at the University of Texas at Arlington. "By better understanding them, we can fine-tune our knowledge of the universe beyond our galaxy and improve cosmological models that depend on those measurements."
The best way to explore the star's makeup is to perform a kind of post-mortem examination on the shell of hot, rapidly expanding gas produced by the explosion. By identifying specific chemical signatures in the supernova remnant, astronomers can obtain a clearer picture of the composition of the star before it blew up.
"Kepler's supernova is one of the most recent type Ia explosions known in our galaxy, so it represents an essential link to improving our knowledge of these events," said Carles Badenes, an assistant professor of physics and astronomy at the University of Pittsburgh.
Using the Suzaku satellite's X-ray Imaging Spectrometer (XIS), the astronomers observed the remnant of Kepler's supernova in 2009 and 2011. With a total effective XIS exposure of more than two weeks, the X-ray spectrum reveals several faint emission features from highly ionized chromium, manganese and nickel in addition to a bright emission line from iron. The detection of all four elements was crucial for understanding the original star.
"Suzaku's XIS instrument is uniquely suited to this type of study thanks to its excellent energy resolution, high sensitivity and low background noise," said team member Koji Mori, an associate professor of applied physics at the University of Miyazaki, Japan.
Cosmologists regard type Ia supernovae as "standard candles" because they release similar amounts of energy. By comparing this standard to the observed peak brightness of a type Ia supernova, astronomers can pin down its distance. Their similarity stems from the fact that the exploding star is always a compact stellar remnant known as a white dwarf.
Although a white dwarf star is perfectly stable on its own, pair it with another white dwarf or a normal star and the situation eventually may turn volatile. The normal star may transfer gas onto the white dwarf, where it gradually accumulates. Or the orbits of binary white dwarfs may shrink until the two objects merge.
Either way, once a white dwarf begins tipping the scales at around 1.4 times the sun's mass, a supernova soon follows. Somewhere within the white dwarf, carbon nuclei begin merging together, forming heavier elements and releasing a vast amount of energy. This wave of nuclear fusion rapidly propagates throughout the star, ultimately shattering it in a brilliant explosion that can be detected billions of light-years away.
Astronomers can track some details of the white dwarf's composition by determining the abundance of certain trace elements, such as manganese, that formed during the explosion. Specifically, the ratio of manganese to chromium produced by the explosion turns out to be sensitive to the presence of a neutron-rich version of neon, called neon-22. Establishing the star's neon-22 content gives scientists a guide to the abundance of all other elements heavier than helium, which astronomers call "metals."
The findings provide strong evidence that the original white dwarf possessed roughly three times the amount of metals found in the sun. Progressive stellar generations seed interstellar gas with increasing proportions of metals. The remnant, which lies about 23,000 light-years away toward the constellation Ophiuchus, lies much closer to our galaxy's crowded central region than the sun does. There, star formation was probably more rapid and efficient. As a result, the star that blazed forth as Kepler's supernova likely formed out of material that already was enriched with a higher fraction of metals.
Park, Badenes, Mori and their colleagues discuss the findings in a paper scheduled for publication in the April 10 issue of The Astrophysical Journal Letters and now available online.
While the Suzaku results do not directly address which type of binary system triggered the supernova, they indicate that the white dwarf was probably no more than a billion years old when it exploded, or less than a quarter of the sun's current age.
"Theories indicate that the star's age and metal content affect the peak luminosity of type Ia supernovae," Park explained. "Younger stars likely produce brighter explosions than older ones, which is why understanding the spread of ages among type Ia supernovae is so important."
In 2011, astrophysicists from the United States and Australia won the Nobel Prize in physics for the discovery that the expansion of the universe is picking up speed, a conclusion based on measurements of type Ia supernovae. An enigmatic force called dark energy appears to be responsible for this acceleration, and understanding its nature is now a top science goal. Recent findings by the European Space Agency's Planck satellite reveal that dark energy makes up 68 percent of the universe.
Launched on July 10, 2005, Suzaku was developed at the Japanese Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), which is part of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), in collaboration with NASA and other Japanese and U.S. institutions.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
Sangwook Park, Carles Badenes, Koji Mori, Ryohei Kaida, Eduardo Bravo, Andrew Schenck, Kristoffer A. Eriksen, John P. Hughes, Patrick O. Slane, David N. Burrows, Jae-Joon Lee. A SUPER-SOLAR METALLICITY FOR THE PROGENITOR OF KEPLER'S SUPERNOVA. The Astrophysical Journal, 2013; 767 (1): L10 DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/767/1/L10
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Apr. 4, 2013 ? Researchers from the UK determined that developmental delays are present in children within six weeks following convulsive status epilepticus (CSE) -- a seizure lasting longer than thirty minutes. The study appearing today in Epilepsia, a journal published by Wiley on behalf of the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), suggests that neurodevelopmental impairments continue to be present one year after CSE.
CSE is one of the most common neurological emergencies in children. These prolonged seizures can occur with or without fevers (febrile). Studies show that CSE occurs more frequently during the first three years of life -- a time of critical growth and development in children. Prior research investigating CSE has focused mainly on simple febrile seizures and was conducted years after the event occurred.
"Our study is the first to examine cognitive, language, and motor function in children within six weeks of CSE, with follow-up at one year to determine their developmental track," said lead author, Dr. Marina Martinos with the Developmental Cognitive Neurosciences Unit at UCL Institute of Child Health in London. "Understanding how CSE impacts early childhood development and whether this type of seizure has long-term adverse affects is an important addition to medical evidence."
For the present study, researchers recruited 54 children between one and forty-two months of age who had at least one CSE event. CSE episodes were classified as prolonged febrile seizures (PFS) or nonfebrile CSE. All pediatric participants underwent neuropsychological assessments and imaging scans within six weeks of the CSE event and at one year. Developmental skills were measured in children who had seizures and compared to children without seizures with normal development.
Half of the pediatric participants had PFS and the other half had nonfebrile CSE, with assessments carried out at a mean of 38 days following CSE. Findings indicate that CSE is linked to developmental impairments within six weeks of the event, and that the impairments persisted at the one-year follow-up. Children with nonfebrile PFS had worse developmental outcomes than those with PFS, and children in the PFS group had poorer developmental skills than those in the control group. The authors found that seizure characteristics (e.g. duration) were not a significant predictor of developmental performance.
Dr. Martinos concludes, "We found developmental impairments in children following CSE, including those with PFS who normally do not display neurologic issues prior to the seizure. The fact that neurodevelopmental impairments are still present at one year after the episode suggests that the CSE event is not having just a transient effect on developmental abilities. The CSE may have a longer lasting impact on future development through a more permanent reorganization of functional brain networks -- a reorganization that may have already taken place when we first assess these children."
Alternatively, the authors comment, these data suggest that the neurodevelopmental impairments observed predate the seizure even in those with no neurological priors. The authors propose that further studies that include neurocognitive techniques are necessary to enhance understanding of the long-term impact of CSE on child development.
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Journal Reference:
Marina M. Martinos, Michael Yoong, Shekhar Patil, Wui K. Chong, Rodica Mardari, Richard F. M. Chin, Brian G. R. Neville, Michelle de Haan, Rod C. Scott. Early developmental outcomes in children following convulsive status epilepticus: A longitudinal study. Epilepsia, 2013; DOI: 10.1111/epi.12136
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All Critics (73) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (67) | Rotten (6)
The film and its talking head participants paint the picture in both broad strokes and fine detail.
Whatever one's political stripe regarding Israel, it's hard to dispute the impressions and perspective of the film's six eyewitnesses.
The level of candor here may not satisfy hard-liners of either stripe, but it can help viewers begin to formulate new questions about the philosophical, strategic and moral challenges of conflict, in particular "wars on terror."
Ultimately the movie feels evasive, and its flashy, digitally animated re-creations of military surveillance footage unpleasantly evoke the Call of Duty video games.
It offers startlingly honest insight into the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from some of those who called the shots.
As a political testament, the result is revealing and important.
Both journalistic coup and unsettling confirmation of the idea that 'you can't make peace using military means.'
Much like Errol Morris' "The Fog of War," Dror Moreh's film is a sobering inside look inside history, at mistakes made and opportunities missed.
Moreh employs a direct interviewing style, reminiscent of Errol Morris' work, to get the men to talk about their days leading Shin Bet.
Moreh gets some startling confessions and insights from each man but also misses the opportunity to truly challenge his subjects on their regard for democracy, basic human rights and their own accountability.
Director Dror Moreh doesn't rest on his scoop
A powerful look inside the Israeli defense establishment
A deadly serious and detailed examination of and meditation upon the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Gatekeepers makes no attempt to find a silver lining.
The rule of surveillance is to keep quiet and let others do the talking. The Oscar-nominated documentary The Gatekeepers flips the script, to astonishing effect, giving voice to the retired directors of Shin Bet, Israel's domestic intelligence agency.
An up-close and personal look at the psychology of war -- their war and, by extension, all war.
A riveting firsthand account of how legitimate security concerns can lead to policies considered extreme and even immoral by the people administering them.
Extraordinary...not only an engrossing first-hand account of Israel's Palestinian policies over time, but one that may have lessons to teach both Israeli leaders and other nations confronting those they identify as terrorists.
Unprecedented and deeply unsettling, it offers little hope for a lasting peace in that war-torn region.
For its candor and impact, deserves to be seen and discussed.
An often remarkable Israeli documentary about Shin Bet, the country's internal security agency.
A worker cleans empty cages used for transporting chickens, to prevent an outbreak of H7N9 infections at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 21 people, killing six of them. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A worker cleans empty cages used for transporting chickens, to prevent an outbreak of H7N9 infections at a wholesale poultry market in Hong Kong Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 21 people, killing six of them. (AP Photo/Kin Cheung)
A photographer takes a photo of a joint press conference by Chinese health officials and World Health Organization representatives, from left, Deng Haihua, spokesman for China's Commission of Health and Family Planning, Feng Zhijian, head of the emergency office of China's Disease Control and Prevention Center or CDC, Liang Wannian head of a Chinese government office in charge of H7N9 bird flu prevention control, Michael O'Leary, head of the WHO's office in China, and Sirenda Vong, the WHO's Emerging Infectious Diseases expert, in Beijing, China, Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has killed six. Most of the 21 people stricken so far got severely ill. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Liang Wannian, head of a Chinese government office in charge of H7N9 bird flu prevention control, left, and Michael O'Leary, head of the World Health Organization's office in China, attend a joint press conference in Beijing, China, Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has killed six. Most of the 21 people stricken so far got severely ill. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Shu Yuelong, a virologist with China's Disease Control and Prevention Center or CDC, right, answers a question from a journalist during a joint press conference between Chinese health officials and World Health Organization representatives, in Beijing, China, Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has killed six. Most of the 21 people stricken so far got severely ill. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Chinese health workers, wearing masks, walk past a group of security guards blocking a petitioner outside China's Health Ministry where a joint press conference between Chinese health officials and World Health Organization representatives was held in Beijing, China, Monday, April 8, 2013. The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has killed six. Most of the 21 people stricken so far got severely ill. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
BEIJING (AP) ? The World Health Organization is talking with the Chinese government about sending international experts to China to help investigate a new bird flu strain that has sickened at least 24 people, killing seven of them.
A 64-year-old retired man in Shanghai became the latest victim of the H7N9 bird flu virus that had previously not been known to infect humans, the city government said Monday.
The Shanghai government said the man died Sunday night, a week after first experiencing chills. He sought medical treatment last Wednesday for pneumonia-like conditions. By Sunday morning, his condition worsened, he was out of breath and was admitted to a ward for in-patient treatment. He died hours later.
Michael O'Leary, head of WHO's office in China, told reporters in Beijing on Monday that the international health organization had confidence in China's efforts to track and control the outbreak of H7N9 infections, but that growing interest in the virus globally has prompted WHO to consider sending a team.
The cases are of "great interest not only in the scientific community but in the world at large," O'Leary said at a joint press conference with China's national health agency. "WHO's responsibility in part is to make sure that we serve as liaison and linkage between China and the rest of the world."
The team would likely include epidemiological, laboratory and communications experts, but the matter was still being discussed by the two sides and it remained unclear if and when such a group would arrive, O'Leary said.
Aside from the latest fatality in Shanghai, China reported two more cases of human infection of the H7N9 bird flu virus on Monday, raising the total number of cases to 24 ? all in the eastern part of the country. Most of the patients have become severely ill, and seven of them have died, however milder infections may be going undetected.
There could be additional infections, both among animals and humans, in other regions and authorities have stepped up measures to monitor cases of pneumonia with unexplained causes, said Liang Wannian, director of the Chinese health agency's H7N9 flu prevention and control office.
Liang said Chinese experts also were in the early stages of researching a possible vaccine for the virus, though it might not be needed if the virus remains only sporadically reported and if it does not spread easily among people.
The H7N9 strain previously was known only to infect birds, and officials say they do not know why the virus is infecting humans now. The virus has been detected in live poultry in several food markets where human cases have been found, leading officials to think people are most likely contracting the virus through direct contact with infected fowl.
Authorities have halted live poultry trade in cities where cases have been reported, and slaughtered fowl in markets where the virus has been detected.
Further investigations are underway and, for now, there's no evidence the virus is spreading easily between people. However, scientists are watching closely to see if the flu poses a substantial risk to public health or could potentially spark a global pandemic.
In 2003, China allowed WHO to send a five-member team to help investigate an outbreak of the fatal flu-like illness, SARS, after its own experts could not trace the source of the disease.
China's response at the time was slow. The government stayed silent for months after the first cases of an unidentified disease were reported, a cover-up that contributed to the spread of the virus to many parts of China and to two dozen other countries, killing hundreds of people.
International observers say that over the past decade, China's public health agencies have become increasingly forthcoming with information.
SANTIAGO (Reuters) - Workers at Chile's Angamos port are lifting their roughly three-week strike, and the larger work stoppage that has slammed copper, forestry and fruit exports in the world's top red metal producer will also end, a union leader told Reuters late on Friday.
Other ports in export-dependent Chile had joined the strike in the northern port of Angamos in Mejillones out of solidarity.
"Angamos has signed," Valparaiso port union leader Jorge Bustos said. Calls to union leaders and government representatives in Angamos went unanswered.
Bustos said the strike would be lifted in some ports at 11 p.m. on Friday (2 a.m. GMT on Saturday) and at 8 a.m. (11 a.m. GMT) on Saturday at other ports.
Angamos launched the strike to seek a 30-minute lunch break and other minor benefits. What some observers call poor management of a simple, specific worker issue then ballooned into a serious drag on miners and export-dependent Chile.
Around 9,000 tonnes of copper were unable to leave Chilean ports every day due to the strike, the government had said.
The Andean country lost more than $200 million a day due to the conflict, according to the country's business chamber.
Mining industry sources say it will take weeks to return to normal shipping operations because of the congestion in ports.
(Reporting by Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Philip Barbara)
Manuel Llorente resigned as president of Spanish La Liga football club Valencia after almost four years in charge. Llorente quit Friday over the new patrons of Valencia Foundation, which is the club's maximum shareholder, Xinhua reports. Llorente had ?
A couple summers ago, I yelled "gonads!" across a classroom of laughing grad students. We wiped tears and covered red faces while during the first session of our human sexuality class, we shouted all the sex words we knew. Our professor - sex therapist Dae Sheridan - made a list of them on the board.
If we can get used to the words a person might associate with sex, she said, we can become counselors who can keep straight faces while the clients across from us use them.
The class, as it turned out, is among the best I ever took. Dr. Dae - who is brilliant and one of my mentors - agreed to talk with me about saving sex for marriage. Grateful!
AS: Rumor has it "nobody saves sex for marriage." Is that true?
Dr. Dae:?I absolutely don?t think that no one does! There might not be as high of a percentage of people who are waiting until marriage, (but) I do see an increase in people who are waiting to be in loving, committed relationships.?Sex is everywhere, to sell everything, so its perceived that everybody's doing it, but not really everybody is doing it.
AS: Are there advantages to saving sex for marriage? (If so, what are they?)
Dr. Dae:?Having that trust in each other, that commitment, is huge. It creates that sense of being on the same page, being this person's partner and teammate. If you?re talking about (saving sex until marriage), you?re?obviously?talking about it. You (potentially) have a working, healthy?vocabulary?about sexual matters. So many people are doing "it" but not talking about it. In our culture, we have a stigma still associated with talking openly about sexual matters. People don?t have really solid sexuality education, they don?t feel at ease discussing sexuality or sexual matters but they?re engaging in sexual activity. It's crucial to be able to talk about your needs, concerns, and desires with your partner in order to have a happy, healthy, exciting, fun, mutually agreeable sex life.
AS: Have you had clients who've saved sex for marriage (and generally speaking, what's the most common reason a couple that saved sex might make an appointment with a sex therapist)?
Dr. Dae:?Absolutely. That?s quite common in my office. The (first of the) top two reasons is the mechanics of sex. They feel like they?re just not getting it right. How your bodies may work sexually (is) newfound knowledge. It?s about practicing new skills. The second thing is messages you may have about sex. For so long, this is a thing you were not going to do. For many there is a negative?connotation,?that sex is bad, sex is dirty. All of a sudden, you?re supposed to do this with the love of your life, it?s supposed to be the most wonderful thing. A lot of my clients struggle with the letting go. People who save sex are more likely to talk about it, but some of them leave it at ?we?re not going to do this.? The ones who don?t talk about it because they?re embarrassed or feel guilty or there?s shame?involved?have a much harder time learning about their bodies, sharing with their partner.
Working with those couples (is) one of the most fun cases because they are so open to it, they?re ready to learn, they are committed to it, and they?re finally giving themselves that permission. (It's) teaching them the ropes, giving them resources and ways they can look at this in a different way and have some fun with it and feel good about themselves and their choice. I reiterate what a great choice (it was) and how wonderful (waiting) was for them. Now it?s about working with the couple to find out what they want their sexual relationship to look like. My job, too, is talking to them about finding ways to enjoy it now that they?re doing it.
AS: What would you say to somebody who waited and is concerned that what happened on the wedding night didn't look or feel like the media says it should?
Dr. Dae:?I educate my clients (about) what real sex looks like. It?s different for everybody, and every body. It almost never looks like it does in the movies. This is a?fantasy?you have been sold. All of that is a less safe way to have sex. Whether it is TV, movies, or pornography,?real sex doesn?t look like that all the time, especially not the first time, ever.
AS: What should everybody who waits know before the wedding night?
Dr. Dae:?Of course it?s something to look forward to and be excited about, but so many people don?t express that they?re nervous. It?s like, "I can?t wait!" but they?re really shaking in their boots. Meanwhile, the other person is thinking the same exact thing. How can you not be nervous about that? People do have nerves and worries about "Will it really be?OK??Will I be able to give of myself in this way openly, and how?s it going to go physically? Will they like the way I look?" It?s really important to communicate honestly about your hopes, your expectations, and your fears. Talk to each other, lower your expectations for the first time, and if you are struggling with it,?be open to talking to someone, whether it?s (about) mechanics or?logistics?or anatomy or pleasure.?Like any skill, we have to practice to obtain mastery of this skill. There?s going to be that awkward time, and it?s not going to be choreographed. Just have fun knowing your bodies are going to make all sorts of noises. You may or may not get it right.
In church, they talk about (wedding night sex) being amazing. (But) it won?t be this magical firework display that we?re told it will be. It wont be amazing the very first time just because it?s your very first time. It really is unbelievably rare for a first time to be like that. (What's amazing is that) you took that much time caring for yourself,?and not just going willy nilly because everybody's doing it. That you?ve made a commitment to yourself, to God, and to your partner, that you're going to follow the tenets that are put forth. It is difficult in this day and age, with the pressures and the feeling that everyone?s doing it. You are holding yourself to a higher standard and that is to be commended.
- - - -
Dr. Dae is a licensed psychotherapist, board certified clinical sexologist, and certified rehabilitation counselor. She has been a sex educator since 1996, a therapist for 16 years, and a sex therapist since 2002. She is an adjunct professor at the University of South Florida and an assistant clinical professor at the American Academy of Clinical Sexology. Visit her online at DrDae.com.
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I have been searching around, but could not find any good examples, so I am bringing my question here. My program gathers 2 longitude/latitude coordinates and calculates the distance between them. So I have one function that converts the user-entered coordinates into radian form:
double radianCoord( double coord, string d) { double answer = 0; long double rad = .0174532925; if (d == "W" || d == "S") //if statement accounts for west and south coordinates being negative { answer = coord * rad * -1; return answer; } answer = coord * rad; return answer; }
And then with those new radian values, I have a second function that takes those values, and applies the distance formula to them:
I am getting a very large number (over 9,000 mi), and for the test coordinates I am using, I should only get a distance of 170 mi. I understand functions moderately well, as I have used them in other languages; however, having two functions work together seems to be the issue I am having. Clarification would be most appreciated!
Is This A Good Question/Topic? 0
Replies To: Implementing one function into a second function
#2 sepp2k ?
Reputation: 1635
Posts:2,455
Joined:21-June 11
Re: Implementing one function into a second function
Posted Today, 09:40 AM
All the variables that you pass to radianCoord are either 0 or empty strings. You also don't do anything with the return values of either of your calls to radianCoord.
The reason you're getting wrong results is that you don't convert your arguments to radians before use them in your formula. You should be calling radianCoord on your arguments (not on unrelated variables that are always 0) and then you should store the results of those calls and use those in your formula.
#3 breezett93 ?
Reputation: 0
Posts:32
Joined:10-March 13
Re: Implementing one function into a second function
Posted Today, 11:11 AM
I built radianCoord first, and it works perfectly fine. No variables being 0 or empty strings. For example, if I use (44.232 N 88.416 W) and (41.879 N 87.636 W), I get answers of (.771994, -1.54315) and (.730926, -1.52954). These are both correct. coordDistance should be taking those two new radian coordinates and finding the distance between them, but it doesn't. This is the whole program if you are confused.
#include<iostream> #include<string> #include<cmath> #include<sstream> #include<iomanip> using namespace std; using std::getline; double radianCoord( double coord, string d); double coordDistance(double x, double x2, double y, double y2); int main() { //Declare variables double coordx = 0; //first coordinate N_S degree double coordx2 = 0; //first coordinate E_W degree double coordy = 0; //second coordinate N_S degree double coordy2 = 0; //second coordinate E_W degree string dx; //first coordinate N_S direction string dx2; //first coordinate E_W direction string dy; //second coordinate N_S direction string dy2; //second coordinate E_W direction double coord = 0; //radianCoord degree variable string d; //radianCoord string variable //Get input cout << "This program firsts asks for a coordinate in degrees, followed by a second question asking the direction." << endl; cout << "Enter the first location's N/S coordinates: "; cin >> coordx; cout << "and its direction: "; cin >> dx; cout << "Enter the first location's E/W coordinates: "; cin >> coordx2; cout << "and its direction: "; cin >> dx2; //cout << endl; cout << "Enter the second location's N/S coordinates: "; cin >> coordy; cout << "and its direction: "; cin >> dy; cout << "Enter the second location's E/W coordinates: "; cin >> coordy2; cout << "and its direction: "; cin >> dy2; cout << radianCoord(coordx, dx) << endl; //these four lines correctly display the radian values cout << radianCoord(coordx2, dx2) << endl; cout << radianCoord(coordy, dy) << endl; cout << radianCoord(coordy2, dy2) << endl; cout << coordDistance(coordx, coordy, coordx2, coordy2); //displays a very incorrect distance cin.get(); cin.get(); //Exit program return 0; } double radianCoord( double coord, string d) { double answer = 0; long double rad = .0174532925; if (d == "W" || d == "S") //west and south values carry a negative with them { answer = coord * rad * -1; return answer; } answer = coord * rad; return answer; } double coordDistance(double x, double x2, double y, double y2) { double coordx = 0; double coordy = 0; double coordx2 = 0; double coordy2 = 0; string dx; string dx2; string dy; string dy2; double distance; double distFormula; const double WI = 3956.575; radianCoord(coordx, dx); radianCoord(coordx2, dx2); radianCoord(coordy, dy); radianCoord(coordy2, dy2); distFormula = sqrt(((x2-x) * (x2-x)) + ((y2-y) * (y2-y))); distance = distFormula * WI; return distance; }
#4 CTphpnwb ?
Reputation: 2458
Posts:8,416
Joined:08-August 08
Re: Implementing one function into a second function
Posted Today, 11:19 AM
Pay attention to what Sepp2k is telling you. Look at lines 92 - 93 of your code in post 3. They do nothing. Sure, they call the function, but they don't do anything with its results. Read up on functions.
#5 sepp2k ?
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Re: Implementing one function into a second function
Posted Today, 11:51 AM
breezett93, on 06 April 2013 - 08:11 PM, said:
I built radianCoord first, and it works perfectly fine.
I didn't claim anything to the contrary.
Quote
No variables being 0 or empty strings. For example, if I use (44.232 N 88.416 W) and (41.879 N 87.636 W), I get answers of (.771994, -1.54315) and (.730926, -1.52954).
But if you use 0 and empty strings, you have 0 and empty strings. And that's exactly what you're doing on lines 92-95. You're calling radianCoord with 0 and empty strings as arguments.
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breezett93, on 06 April 2013 - 08:11 PM, said: