WASHINGTON: Top White House officials and lawmakers met on Thursday to discuss how to toughen up laws to prevent and punish sexual assault in the military, and provide better support for victims of the crimes.
A bipartisan group of nine senators and seven representatives talked about their ideas to address the long-standing problem which hit the headlines this week, prompting President Barack Obama to angrily vow to "root this out completely."
On Tuesday, the Pentagon released its 2012 annual report on sexual assault in the military, which showed a 37 percent jump in estimated sex crimes to 26,000.
The Air Force was embarrassed after the head of its sexual assault prevention office was charged for drunkenly groping a woman in a parking lot near the Pentagon.
Democratic Senator Kay Hagan of North Carolina, who was at the meeting, said the rising statistics were alarming.
"Military sexual assault is a crisis in our armed forces, and one that I have heard about first-hand from service members" in North Carolina, Hagan said on the social networking site Twitter.
The meeting was convened by Valerie Jarrett, a top adviser to Obama, and Tina Tchen, chief of staff to first lady Michelle Obama. Among other White House officials who attended the meeting was Kathryn Ruemmler, counsel to the president.
"The group discussed various legislative proposals as well as actions that the administration could take to hold offenders accountable, improve the reporting process, support victims, and work towards the prevention of sexual assault," a White House official said after the meeting.
The official did not spell out those actions.
There are several bills in the works.
Democratic Senator Patty Murray of Washington and Republican Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, who were at the White House meeting, introduced a bill this week which includes measures that would provide victims with a military lawyer, and would refer sexual assault cases to the court-martial level.
Companion legislation are to be introduced in the House of Representatives by Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat.
Ryan, who was at the meeting, called the problem "an epidemic that threatens the very foundations of our military."
Republican Representative Jackie Walorski of Indiana, a member of the House Armed Services Committee, said the meeting helped develop strategy for passing new legislation.
Walorski has introduced a bill providing whistleblower protections for survivors of military sexual violence.
Ohio Representative Mike Turner, a leading Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, said the annual defense policy bills for 2014 could provide vehicles for legislation to combat the problem.
"I feel that there is positive momentum on this issue," said Turner.
New magnetic graphene may revolutionize electronicsPublic release date: 10-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: SINC info@agenciasinc.es 34-914-251-820 FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Researchers from IMDEA-Nanociencia Institute and from Autonoma and Complutense Universities of Madrid (Spain) have managed to give graphene magnetic properties. The breakthrough, published in the journal 'Nature Physics', opens the door to the development of graphene-based spintronic devices, that is, devices based on the spin or rotation of the electron, and could transform the electronics industry.
Scientists were already aware that graphene, an incredible material formed of a mesh of hexagonal carbon atoms, has extraordinary conductivity, mechanical and optical properties. Now it is possible to give it yet one more property: magnetism, implying a breakthrough in electronics.
This is revealed in the study that the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Nanoscience (IMDEA-Nanociencia) and Autonoma Autonomous (UAM) and Complutense (UCM) universities of Madrid have just published in the 'Nature Physics' journal. Researchers have managed to create a hybrid surface from this material that behaves as a magnet.
"In spite of the huge efforts to date of scientists all over the world, it has not been possible to add the magnetic properties required to develop graphene-based spintronics. However these results pave the way to this possibility," highlights Prof. Rodolfo Miranda, Director of IMDEA-Nanociencia.
Spintronics is based on the charge of the electron, as in traditional electronics, but also on its spin, which determines its magnetic moment. A material is magnetic when most of its electrons have the same spin.
As the spin can have two values, its use adds two more states to traditional electronics. Thus, both data processing speed and quantity of data to be stored on electronic devices can be increased, with applications in fields such as telecommunications, computing, energy and biomedicine.
In order to develop a graphene-based spintronic device, the challenge was to 'magnetise' the material, and researchers from Madrid have found the way through the quantum and nanoscience world.
The technique involves growing an ultra perfect grapheme film over a ruthenium single crystal inside an ultra high vacuum chamber whereorganic molecules of tetracyano-p-quinodimethane (TCNQ) are evaporated on the grapheme surface. TCNQ is a molecule that acts as a semiconductor at very low temperatures in certain compounds.
On observing results through an scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), scientists were surprised: organic molecules had organised themselves and were regularly distributed all over the surface, interacting electronically with the graphene-ruthenium substrate.
"We have proved in experiments how the structure of the TCNQ molecules over graphene acquires long-range magnetic order with electrons positioned in different bands according to their spin," clarifies Prof. Amadeo L. Vzquez de Parga.
Meanwhile, his colleague Prof. Fernando Martin has conducted modelling studies that have shown that, although graphene does not interact directly with the TCNQ, it does permit a highly efficient charge transfer between the substrate and the TCNQ molecules and allows the molecules to develop long range magnetic order.
The result is a new graphene-based magnetised layer, which paves the way towards the creation of devices based on what was already considered as the material of the future, but which now may also have magnetic properties.
###
References:
Manuela Garnica, Daniele Stradi, Sara Barja, Fabian Calleja, Cristina Daz, Manuel Alcam, Nazario Martn, Amadeo L. Vzquez de Parga, Fernando Martn, Rodolfo Miranda. "Long-range magnetic order in a purely organic 2D layer adsorbed on epitaxial grapheme". Nature Physics, 28 April 2013. Doi:10.1038/nphys2610. The principal authors Manuela Garnica and Daniele Stradi are doing their PhD within the collaboration between IMDEA-Nanoscience and the Autonomous University of Madrid, one of the few graduate programs in the world focused on the study of graphene.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
New magnetic graphene may revolutionize electronicsPublic release date: 10-May-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: SINC info@agenciasinc.es 34-914-251-820 FECYT - Spanish Foundation for Science and Technology
Researchers from IMDEA-Nanociencia Institute and from Autonoma and Complutense Universities of Madrid (Spain) have managed to give graphene magnetic properties. The breakthrough, published in the journal 'Nature Physics', opens the door to the development of graphene-based spintronic devices, that is, devices based on the spin or rotation of the electron, and could transform the electronics industry.
Scientists were already aware that graphene, an incredible material formed of a mesh of hexagonal carbon atoms, has extraordinary conductivity, mechanical and optical properties. Now it is possible to give it yet one more property: magnetism, implying a breakthrough in electronics.
This is revealed in the study that the Madrid Institute for Advanced Studies in Nanoscience (IMDEA-Nanociencia) and Autonoma Autonomous (UAM) and Complutense (UCM) universities of Madrid have just published in the 'Nature Physics' journal. Researchers have managed to create a hybrid surface from this material that behaves as a magnet.
"In spite of the huge efforts to date of scientists all over the world, it has not been possible to add the magnetic properties required to develop graphene-based spintronics. However these results pave the way to this possibility," highlights Prof. Rodolfo Miranda, Director of IMDEA-Nanociencia.
Spintronics is based on the charge of the electron, as in traditional electronics, but also on its spin, which determines its magnetic moment. A material is magnetic when most of its electrons have the same spin.
As the spin can have two values, its use adds two more states to traditional electronics. Thus, both data processing speed and quantity of data to be stored on electronic devices can be increased, with applications in fields such as telecommunications, computing, energy and biomedicine.
In order to develop a graphene-based spintronic device, the challenge was to 'magnetise' the material, and researchers from Madrid have found the way through the quantum and nanoscience world.
The technique involves growing an ultra perfect grapheme film over a ruthenium single crystal inside an ultra high vacuum chamber whereorganic molecules of tetracyano-p-quinodimethane (TCNQ) are evaporated on the grapheme surface. TCNQ is a molecule that acts as a semiconductor at very low temperatures in certain compounds.
On observing results through an scanning tunnelling microscope (STM), scientists were surprised: organic molecules had organised themselves and were regularly distributed all over the surface, interacting electronically with the graphene-ruthenium substrate.
"We have proved in experiments how the structure of the TCNQ molecules over graphene acquires long-range magnetic order with electrons positioned in different bands according to their spin," clarifies Prof. Amadeo L. Vzquez de Parga.
Meanwhile, his colleague Prof. Fernando Martin has conducted modelling studies that have shown that, although graphene does not interact directly with the TCNQ, it does permit a highly efficient charge transfer between the substrate and the TCNQ molecules and allows the molecules to develop long range magnetic order.
The result is a new graphene-based magnetised layer, which paves the way towards the creation of devices based on what was already considered as the material of the future, but which now may also have magnetic properties.
###
References:
Manuela Garnica, Daniele Stradi, Sara Barja, Fabian Calleja, Cristina Daz, Manuel Alcam, Nazario Martn, Amadeo L. Vzquez de Parga, Fernando Martn, Rodolfo Miranda. "Long-range magnetic order in a purely organic 2D layer adsorbed on epitaxial grapheme". Nature Physics, 28 April 2013. Doi:10.1038/nphys2610. The principal authors Manuela Garnica and Daniele Stradi are doing their PhD within the collaboration between IMDEA-Nanoscience and the Autonomous University of Madrid, one of the few graduate programs in the world focused on the study of graphene.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
3D scanners can clone architecture, objects, and even your own face. But what about the natural world? What would happen if you trained a scanner on a misty night or a dense forest?
Gap is throwing a Styld.by summer celebration at Los Angeles? shopping mecca The Grove tomorrow (May 9) evening, and you?re invited! And on the bill for entertainment is Kidinacorner/Interscope?s Skylar Grey, an artist we?ve had our eye on for a couple years now, thanks to the hits she?s penned for artists like Eminem and Rihanna (?Love The Way You Lie?) and Dr. Dre (?I Need A Doctor?) ? as well as her own material like ?C?Mon Let Me Ride.?
The Styld.by party kicks off at the Gap?s Grove location in L.A. at 6 p.m. RSVP for the event here, and join the celebration to catch Skylar performing songs ahead of the July 9 release of her new album Don?t Look Down. You?ll also see what Gap has in store for the upcoming season, receive a 30% off discount and be offered the chance to snag a VIP trip to this month?s Sasquatch! Music Festival.
Following tomorrow?s Gap Styld.by party, Skylar heads back to her home state of Wisconsin, for a gig with Macklemore at Milwaukee?s Turner Hall on May 12.
BEIRUT (AP) ? Anti-regime activists say Syrian warplanes are pounding rebel positions in two northern provinces.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says the air force is targeting opposition forces in the battle for the Mannagh air base outside of northern city of Aleppo. Rebels stormed the base near the border with Turkey on Sunday. They captured parts of it but could not hold on, because of the regime's superior air power.
In neighboring Idlib province, there are heavy clashes outside several army bases near the government-controlled provincial capital. Government troops and fighter planes are hitting the rebels, the Observatory said.
Thursday's fighting came a day after the announcement of a new U.S-Russian initiative to end two-year conflict through negotiations.
Felix DeJesus holds a banner showing his daughter Gina's photograph at his home in 2004. (AP/File)
In a strange twist, the son of one of the men suspected of kidnapping and holding three women captive for close to a decade in a Cleveland home wrote an article about one of the missing women in 2004.
Ariel ?Anthony? Castro, the 31-year-old son of 52-year-old Ariel Castro, wrote an article published in Cleveland's Plain Press about how Gina DeJesus? disappearance "changed her neighborhood."
?This is beyond comprehension," Anthony Castro told Cleveland's NBC affiliate WKYC last night. "I'm truly stunned right now.?
[Related: Victim 'real hero' in kidnapping case, police say]
"Since April 2, 2004, the day 14-year-old Gina DeJesus was last seen on her way home from Wilbur Wright Middle School, neighborhood residents have been taken by an overwhelming need for caution," Castro, then a journalism student at Bowling Green University, wrote in 2004. "Parents are more strictly enforcing curfews, encouraging their children to walk in groups, or driving them to and from school when they had previously walked alone."
Castro even interviewed DeJesus' family for the piece:
?You can tell the difference,? DeJesus? mother, Nancy Ruiz said. ?People are watching out for each other?s kids. It?s a shame that a tragedy had to happen for me to really know my neighbors. Bless their hearts, they?ve been great.?
Chuck Hoven, managing editor of the Plain Press, confirmed to Fox & Friends on Tuesday that Castro wrote the April 12, 2004, story.
?He did a nice job on the article,? Hoven said. ?It was a big story at the time.?
[Also see: Neighbor who rescued kidnapped women speaks]
A post published on what is believed to be Anthony Castro's Facebook page Monday shows a drawing of a woman looking down from the sky.
"She is looking down from heaven with joy that they were finally found that's what she always wanted!" one comment from a Facebook user reads.
DeJesus, Amanda Berry and Michelle Knight were found on Monday inside the Cleveland home the older Ariel Castro shared with two brothers. The three men were arrested, and the women were taken to Cleveland MetroHealth Center for evaluation. "They're safe," Dr. Gerald Maloney said Monday.
Charles Ramsey, Castro's neighbor, heard Berry screaming and kicked open a door to help free the women.
"I come outside and I see this girl going nuts trying to get out," Ramsey told reporters. "I go on the porch and she said, 'Help me get out. I've been here a long time.'"
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Public release date: 10-May-2013
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