Pride, penitence and Antonio Banderas: Spaniards mark Holy Week with colorful processions

Emilio Morenatti / AP

Hooded penitents from the La Paz brotherhood walk to the church to take part in a procession in Seville, Spain, on March 24, 2013.

Christian believers around the world are marking the Holy Week of Easter in celebration of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ. On Sunday, hundreds of processions were held in towns and cities across Spain.

In his?Palm Sunday service at the Vatican, Pope Francis?appealed to?the crowd to shun corruption and reach out to "the humble, the poor, the forgotten."

Eloy Alonso / Reuters

Women wearing traditional mantilla dresses smoke outside a church before taking part in the Brotherhood procession of "Los Estudiantes" (The Students) at the start of Holy Week in Oviedo, northern Spain, on March 24, 2013.

Emilio Morenatti / AP

"Costaleros" from "La Estrella" brotherhood, wait their turn to carry over their backs the portable dais platform which supports a statue of Jesus Christ during a procession in Seville on March 24, 2013.

Marcelo Del Pozo / Reuters

Penitents pass a man with a dog as they walk to a church before taking part in the procession of "La Paz" (Peace) brotherhood during Holy Week in the Andalusian capital of Seville, March 24, 2013.

Jon Nazca / Reuters

Film actor and director Antonio Banderas, second right, sings a song to the Virgin inside a church as he takes part as a penitent in the "Lagrimas and Favores" brotherhood in a Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.

Cristina Quicler / AFP - Getty Images

A penitent of the "La Paz" brotherhood holds a religious item with an image of the Virgin Mary as he takes part in a procession in Seville on March 24, 2013.

Emilio Morenatti / AP

A waiter tries to see from a window as the procession of "La Paz" brotherhood passes along a street in Seville on March 24, 2013.

Eloy Alonso / Reuters

Spanish legionnaires carry a statue of the Christ of the Mercy into church after the Palm Sunday procession of the "Estudiantes" brotherhood was suspended due to rain in Oviedo on March 24, 2013.

Jon Nazca / Reuters

A crying woman is comforted by fellow penitents inside a church where they took shelter from the rain during the "Lagrimas y Favores" (Tears and Favors) brotherhood Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.

Jon Nazca / Reuters

Penitents light their candles as they take part in the "Humildad" (Humility) brotherhood Palm Sunday procession in Malaga on March 24, 2013.

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Top China college in focus with ties to army?s cyber-spying unit

SHANGHAI (Reuters) ? Faculty members at a top Chinese university have collaborated for years on technical research papers with a People?s Liberation Army (PLA) unit accused of being at the heart of China?s alleged cyber-war against Western commercial targets.

Several papers on computer network security and intrusion detection, easily accessed on the Internet, were co-authored by researchers at PLA Unit 61398, allegedly an operational unit actively engaged in cyber-espionage, and faculty at Shanghai Jiaotong University, a centre of academic excellence with ties to some of the world?s top universities and attended by the country?s political and business elite.

The apparent working relationship between the PLA unit and Shanghai Jiaotong is in contrast to common practice in most developed nations, where university professors in recent decades have been reluctant to cooperate with operational intelligence gathering units.

The issue of cyber-security is testing ties between the world?s two biggest economies, prompting U.S. President Barack Obama to raise concerns over computer hacking in a phone call with new Chinese President Xi Jinping. China denies it engages in state-sponsored hacking, saying it is a victim of cyber-attacks from the United States.

There is no evidence to suggest any Shanghai Jiaotong academics who co-authored papers with Unit 61398 worked with anyone directly engaged in cyber-espionage operations, as opposed to research.

?The issue is operational activity ? whether these research institutions have been involved in actual intelligence operations,? said James Lewis, director of the Technology and Public Policy Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. ?That?s something the U.S. does not do.?

?(In the U.S.) there?s a clear line between an academic researcher and people engaged in operational (intelligence gathering) activities.?

Shanghai Jiaotong declined to comment.

CO-AUTHORS

In reviewing the links between the PLA and Shanghai Jiaotong ? whose alumni include former President Jiang Zemin, the head of China?s top automaker and the former CEO of its most popular Internal portal ? Reuters found at least three papers on cyber- warfare on a document-sharing web site that were co-authored by university faculty members and PLA researchers.

The papers, on network security and attack detection, state on their title pages they were written by Unit 61398 researchers and professors at Shanghai Jiaotong?s School of Information Security Engineering (SISE).

In one 2007 paper on how to improve security by designing a collaborative network monitoring system, PLA researcher Chen Yi-qun worked with Xue Zhi, the vice-president of SISE and the school?s Communist Party branch secretary. According to his biography on the school?s website, Xue is credited with developing China?s leading infiltrative cyber-attack platform.

Calls and emails to Xue were not answered. Reuters was unable to find contact details for Chen.

Fan Lei, an associate professor at Shanghai Jiaotong whose main research areas are network security management and cryptography, also co-authored a paper with Chen. Fan told Reuters he has no links with Unit 61398 and his work with Chen in 2010 was because Chen was a SISE graduate student. Fan said he was unaware Chen was with the PLA when they collaborated. Both of the papers Chen co-wrote with SISE professors stated he was with the PLA unit.

Cyber-security experts say the publicly available papers and China?s National Information Security Engineering Centre are ostensibly about securing computer networks.

?The research seems to be defensive, but cyber-security research in general can be dual purpose,? said Adam Meyers, director of intelligence at CrowdStrike, a security technology company based in Irvine, California. Figuring out how best to defend networks, by definition, means thinking about the most effective means of attack, he noted.

Efforts to reach the PLA for comment on its collaboration with Shanghai Jiaotong were unsuccessful.

TECH PARK NEIGHBORS

Set amid manicured lawns, Shanghai Jiaotong University is one of China?s top four colleges, turning out brilliant technical engineers much in demand by both domestic companies and foreign multinationals. Its reputation has led to tie-ups with elite universities abroad.

Last month, Mandiant Corp, a private U.S.-based security firm, accused China?s military of cyber-espionage on U.S. and other English-speaking companies, identifying Unit 61398 and its location at a building on the outskirts of Shanghai. China said the report was baseless and lacked ?technical proof?.

?SISE at Shanghai Jiaotong has provided support? to PLA Unit 61398 ? known more formally as General Staff Department (GSD), Third Department, Second Bureau ? said Russell Hsiao, author of papers on China?s cyber-warfare capabilities for Project 2049 Institute, a Virginia-based think-tank, who drew his research from the technical papers and government reports.

He said another Shanghai Jiaotong department, the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, also did research work with another PLA unit. A Project 2049 report last year found the GSD?s Third Department had oversight of ?information security engineering bases? in Shanghai, Beijing and Tianjin.

The GSD Third Department?s Shanghai base is in an industrial park housing mainly government research institutes and high-tech firms. The SISE building is in the same development, 40 kms from the university?s main Minhang campus. Across the street from SISE is the National Information Security Engineering Center, a building commissioned in 2003 by PLA Unit 61398. Also part of the base is the Ministry of Public Security?s Third Research Institute, which researches digital forensics and network security.

AUTO RESEARCH

Shanghai Jiaotong is not officially linked to China?s military. SISE says on its website its goal is to speed up the development of China?s information security sector and address the national shortage of information security professionals.

Shanghai Jiaotong set up a joint institute in China?s second city in 2006 with the University of Michigan ? seeking, it says on its web site, to ?develop innovative and highly reputable education and research programs in various engineering fields.? A spokesman for the U.S. college said it has no relationship with SISE. Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh also had a partnership with Shanghai Jiaotong?s School of Electronic, Information and Electrical Engineering, and Singapore Management University said it ended a tie-up with SISE last June.

Among the industries in the United States allegedly targeted by Unit 61398, as recently as last year according to Mandiant, is transportation, including the auto sector.

The University of Michigan collaborates closely with Detroit-based automakers on research projects, and is one of three colleges that comprise the University Research Corridor, which spent $300 million on R&D projects over the last five years. Nearly a third of that was funded by private industry, according to local consultant the Anderson Economic Group.

?There was no indication in 2010 that the joint institute was involved in any way and that also is the case today. We do, of course, watch the news reports on these issues carefully,? said Rick Fitzgerald, a University of Michigan spokesman, referring to a New York Times report in 2010 citing investigators? claims to have tracked cyber-attacks against Google Inc (GOOG.O) to Shanghai Jiaotong and an eastern Chinese vocational school. (Additional reporting by Jim Finkle and Joseph Menn in SAN FRANCISCO; Editing by Ian Geoghegan)

Source: http://www.firstpost.com/world/top-china-college-in-focus-with-ties-to-armys-cyber-spying-unit-673508.html

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FGCU becomes first 15 seed to reach round of 16

Florida Gulf Coast's Eric McKnight, from left, Chase Fieler, Brett Comer and Bernard Thompson celebrate after a dunk by McKnight late the second half of a third-round game against San Diego State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. Florida Gulf Coast won 81-71. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Florida Gulf Coast's Eric McKnight, from left, Chase Fieler, Brett Comer and Bernard Thompson celebrate after a dunk by McKnight late the second half of a third-round game against San Diego State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. Florida Gulf Coast won 81-71. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Florida Gulf Coast's Sherwood Brown, center, celebrates with teammates after their 81-71 win over San Diego State in a third-round game in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Florida Gulf Coast players celebrate after winning a third-round game against San Diego State in the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. Florida Gulf Coast won 81-71. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Duke's Rasheed Sulaimon, left, goes up for a shot as Creighton's Avery Dingman defends during the second half of a third-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. Duke won 66-50. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Creighton's Doug McDermott, right, goes up for a shot against Duke's Amile Jefferson during the second half of a third-round game of the NCAA college basketball tournament, Sunday, March 24, 2013, in Philadelphia. Duke won 66-50. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

PHILADELPHIA (AP) ? Florida Gulf Coast can only hope its second weekend in the NCAA tournament is as much fun as its first.

The little-known Eagles made NCAA tournament history Sunday night, becoming the first 15 seed to reach the Sweet 16 ? and they did it in style with a convincing 81-71 win over No. 7 San Diego State that had the Wells Fargo Center partying.

A couple of hours later, Duke joined them with a 66-50 win over Creighton ? and a decidedly more subdued postgame celebration.

Both will have a tough time next weekend.

Second-seeded Duke gets No. 3 Michigan State in the Midwest Regional semifinals, while FGCU ? the upstart state school ? plays the system's flagship university, third-seeded Florida, in the South Regional semifinals at Dallas.

"We got a lot of exposure this weekend and now I'm sure it'll be increased," FGCU coach Andy Enfield said in one of the understatements of the tournament. "If you watched us play and know the personalities, it won't be a problem. They enjoy themselves. I think it's important for them to take this in. I want all our players to take a couple deep breaths and say, 'Wow, we're in the Sweet 16, we've accomplished a lot.'"

The players ? and their new fans from Philadelphia ? had a blast in their first two NCAA tournament games: the 78-68 victory over second-seeded Georgetown that brought the Eagles (26-10) to the nation's attention and the impressive win over the seventh-seeded Aztecs.

"Words can't describe this feeling as being a 15 seed, the first 15 seed to ever do this," FGCU point guard Brett Comer said. "I don't think it's really sunk in to any of us yet. I feel like maybe it will tomorrow, but right now we're on such an emotional high it's hard to come down from."

The Eagles continued their high-flying act that resulted in some highlight-reel dunks, many on assists from Coomer, who finished with 10 points and 14 assists.

"We got on a run, and when we push the ball we get the crowd behind us and we get a dunk, and then we go to the other end and get a stop and another dunk, it's hard to try to turn the momentum back like that," Comer said.

The Eagles broke the game open against Georgetown with a 21-2 run in the second half. Against San Diego State it was a 17-0 run and when it was over the Eagles led 71-52 with 4:19 to play and the only decisions left were how the players and fans were going to celebrate.

"We're all about having fun and also playing really hard and that's something we like to do, we like to get the crowd involved," said Sherwood Brown, the A-Sun's player of the year, who had 17 points despite being saddled with foul trouble. "The whole crowd got behind us even if they are not from Fort Myers, or as I like to say, Dunk City."

Bernard Thompson had 23 points for the 16-year-old school from Fort Myers.

Jamal Franklin had 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Aztecs (23-11), who were trying to reach the regional semifinals for the second time in three years.

Franklin spoke with Brown after the game.

"I just told him just keep being the leader that he is, make sure the ball is in his hands, make sure he does what he has to do to keep his team rolling," Franklin said.

The Eagles shot 55.9 percent (33 of 59), including going 7 of 18 from 3-point range.

The Aztecs finished at 44.3 percent (27 of 61) and were 8 of 23 from beyond the arc.

"They play with a swagger, and they have a right to do that," said San Diego State coach Steve Fisher, who knows about players with that attitude having led the Fab Five to consecutive national championship games at Michigan. "You can have that look and feel, but you have to compete and play to earn your spurs, and they've done that."

Freshman Rasheed Sulaimon scored 21 points and Seth Curry added 17 as Duke advanced to the round of 16 for the fourth time in five years.

A year after they lost their NCAA tournament opener, the Blue Devils (29-5) are in the regional semifinal for the 23rd time after holding Creighton to 30.2 percent shooting (16 of 53), including 2 of 19 from 3-point range.

Mason Plumlee, Josh Hairston and Ryan Kelly battled foul trouble all game long that could have doomed the Blue Devils but seventh-seeded Creighton (28-8) never made a serious run in the second half.

Doug McDermott scored 21 points on 4-for-16 shooting and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bluejays, who were knocked out in the third round by an Atlantic Coast Conference team for the second straight season. Creighton lost to North Carolina last year.

Associated Press

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When a gene is worth two: Same gene fulfills different biological roles in plants

Mar. 22, 2013 ? The notion that each gene can only codify for a single protein has been challenged for some years. Yet, the functional outcomes that may result from genes encoding more than one protein are still largely unknown. Now, in a study published in the latest issue of The Plant Cell journal, a group of scientists led by Paula Duque at the Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci?ncia (IGC, Portugal) discovered a gene -- ZIFL1 -- that has the particularity of producing two different proteins with completely distinct locations and functions in the plant. The researchers observed that in the root ZIFL1 codifies a protein that is important for the transport of auxin, a hormone essential for the correct growth and development of the plant. However, in the leaves the same gene originates a protein that promotes tolerance to drought. The gene presented in this study is one of the few identified to produce two proteins with such different biological roles.

ZIFL1 belongs to a family of transporter genes known to be present in all classes of organisms, but the functional role of most of its members remains unknown. What is known is that these transporter genes encode proteins that are integrated into cell membranes and act by allowing the passage of small molecules across them. By undergoing genetic and cell biology studies in the plant model Arabidopsis thaliana, Paula Duque's team was able to study the role of the ZIFL1 gene. What surprised the scientists was that mutant plants unable to produce the ZIFL1 transporter presented specific defects in different organs and functions. On one hand, their roots exhibited problems of growth, ramification and orientation when compared to normal plants.

These observations suggested that the ZIFL1 gene was involved in the transport of the auxin hormone, which plays an important role in the development of the root. But the researchers also found out that the mutant plants had problems in tolerating drought. They realized that the leaf pores that regulate transpiration -- the stomata -- were more open in the mutants than in normal plants, resulting in the loss of higher quantities of water. This suggested a role for ZIFL1 in the closure of stomata and in the control of water loss by the plant, which can be critical under drought conditions.

Intrigued by these observations, the researchers investigated whether the ZIFL1 gene could be originating two proteins that would act differently in distinct tissues. Alternative splicing is a key mechanism allowing the same gene to produce multiple proteins. When genes are activated to give rise to proteins, they first originate an intermediate molecule of RNA that can be processed differently, with some parts being removed. This cut and paste process may originate different RNA molecules that can then be converted into different proteins. Estelle Remy, investigator at Duque's laboratory and first author of this work, observed that in the case of the ZIFL1 gene, alternative splicing originates two RNA molecules that differ in just two chemical residues. However, this small difference has a huge impact on the proteins that are generated, with one of them being shortened by 67 amino acids. In collaboration with Isabel S?-Correia's group? at Instituto Superior T?cnico, the researchers then tested the activity of the two proteins in yeast cells and found that both transport potassium ions.

Having different size but similar transport activity, Estelle looked for the reason why these two proteins had such distinct biological functions. Surprisingly, she observed that root tissues only present the longer form of the protein, whereas the shorter protein can only be found in the leaves. Furthermore, the location of these two proteins also differs inside the cells of the root and leaves, being integrated into different cell membranes. According to Estelle, "the fact that we cannot find both proteins being expressed either in roots or leaves suggests that these tissues may have specific factors that somehow influence the splicing of the ZIFL1 RNA into the form that confers the biological role necessary for that tissue."

Says Paula Duque, "To our knowledge, there are not many known cases of proteins with such different biological functions being codified by the same gene. What is most fascinating is how the inclusion or removal of just two chemical residues in the RNA molecule results in the production of two proteins that play essential roles either in hormone transport or in tolerance to drought."

Alternative splicing is a crucial mechanism to generate protein diversity. In humans, about 20,000 to 25,000 genes codify proteins. However, recent studies indicate that over 90% of these genes undergo alternative splicing, with scientists estimating that there may be up to 500,000 or more different proteins in the human body.

This study was carried out at the IGC in collaboration with the research groups of Isabel S?-Correia (Biological Sciences Research Group, IBB/CEBQ, Instituto Superior T?cnico, Portugal) and Ji?? Friml (VIB/Ghent University, Belgium and Institute of Science and Technology, Austria). It was funded by Funda??o para a Ci?ncia e a Tecnologia (Portugal).

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Instituto Gulbenkian de Ci?ncia (IGC).

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. E. Remy, T. R. Cabrito, P. Baster, R. A. Batista, M. C. Teixeira, J. Friml, I. Sa-Correia, P. Duque. A Major Facilitator Superfamily Transporter Plays a Dual Role in Polar Auxin Transport and Drought Stress Tolerance in Arabidopsis. The Plant Cell, 2013; DOI: 10.1105/tpc.113.110353

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/most_popular/~3/-K3qwiHxFkk/130322154124.htm

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Characters Gives You Quick Access to Special Characters and Emojis in Your Mac's Menubar

A few weeks ago, we introduced you to CatchChar, a Windows utility that made it easy to find and use special Unicode characters. Now, Characters brings similarly handy functionality to your Mac's menubar.

You can invoke Characters by clicking on its menubar icon or with a customizable keyboard shortcut, and then find anything you want using a natural language search bar. The app supports all the standard Unicode special characters you'd expect, plus Emoji as a fun bonus. Once you find what you're looking for, just click the character or navigate to it with arrow keys and hit enter to copy it to your clipboard. The app also features an incredibly useful code mode that can copy the character's HTML Entity or Python source to use on your website or script.

If you don't need special characters very often, you can find them fairly easily in the Edit menu of most Mac apps. But if you find yourself needing them a lot, or just want quick access to silly Emojis, Characters is well worth its $2.99 price tag.

Charaters ($2.99) | Mac App Store via MacStories

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105 US kids died of flu; most didn't get vaccine

This Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 photo shows vials of flu vaccine in Philadelphia. Health officials say the flu season is winding down, and it has killed 105 children - about the average toll. The flu season started earlier than usual and ended up being moderately severe. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season. One exception was the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010, when 348 children died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the latest number Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

This Thursday, Jan. 10, 2013 photo shows vials of flu vaccine in Philadelphia. Health officials say the flu season is winding down, and it has killed 105 children - about the average toll. The flu season started earlier than usual and ended up being moderately severe. Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season. One exception was the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010, when 348 children died. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported the latest number Friday, March 22, 2013. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

NEW YORK (AP) ? The flu season is winding down, and it has killed 105 children so far ? about the average toll.

The season started about a month earlier than usual, sparking concerns it might turn into the worst in a decade. It ended up being very hard on the elderly, but was moderately severe overall, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Six of the pediatric deaths were reported in the last week, and it's possible there will be more, said the CDC's Dr. Michael Jhung said Friday.

Roughly 100 children die in an average flu season. One exception was the swine flu pandemic of 2009-2010, when 348 children died.

The CDC recommends that all children ages 6 months and older be vaccinated against flu each season, though only about half get a flu shot or nasal spray.

All but four of the children who died were old enough to be vaccinated, but 90 percent of them did not get vaccinated, CDC officials said.

This year's vaccine was considered effective in children, though it didn't work very well in older people. And the dominant flu strain early in the season was one that tends to cause more severe illness.

The government only does a national flu death count for children. But it does track hospitalization rates for people 65 and older, and those statistics have been grim.

In that group, 177 out of every 100,000 were hospitalized with flu-related illness in the past several months. That's more than 2 1/2 times higher than any other recent season.

This flu season started in early December, a month earlier than usual, and peaked by the end of year. Since then, flu reports have been dropping off throughout the country.

"We appear to be getting close to the end of flu season," Jhung said.

___

Online:

CDC flu: http://www.cdc.gov/flu/index.htm

Associated Press

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