3i, an international investor focused on private equity, infrastructure and debt management, announced today that it has acquired a minority stake of newly issued shares in TouchTunes Interactive Networks, the world's largest digital interactive out-of-home entertainment provider, for $40 million. Current majority shareholder VantagePoint Capital Partners will invest an additional $5 million. The total investment will support TouchTunes' growth strategy and help bolster its product and service offering. Founded in 1998, TouchTunes is the world's largest digital interactive ...

As the U.S. military prepares for the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" (DADT), policymakers are looking to other military bodies around the world that have successfully integrated gay, lesbian and bisexual (GLB) soldiers into military service. Now a new study from Tel Aviv University suggests that an integrated support and education dimension is essential to the successful assimilation of these soldiers into the U.S. armed forces. Dr. Guy Shilo of TAU's Bob Shapell School of Social Work has completed the only quantitative study detailing the LGB experience in the military. ...

VIDEO: Newly reprocessed archival data from STEREO-A/SECCHI show details of the first Earth-directed coronal mass ejection (CME) of the STEREO mission, from inception on December 12, 2008, to Earth impact on... Click here for more information. Using data collected by NASA's STEREO spacecraft, researchers at Southwest Research Institute and the National Solar Observatory have developed the first detailed images of solar wind structures as plasma and other particles from a coronal ...

PITTSBURGH—Science educators aim to nurture, enrich and sustain children's natural and spontaneous interest in scientific knowledge using many different approaches. In a new paper published in "Science," Carnegie Mellon University's David Klahr and Jamie Jirout and Illinois State University's Corinne Zimmerman use psychology research to outline ways to advance the science of science instruction. "Instead of looking at this issue from a science education perspective, we looked at it from a cognitive and developmental psychology perspective," said Klahr, the Walter van ...

This release is available in German. International agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol to reduce greenhouse gases (GHG) basically have one snag: it is almost impossible to independently verify whether participating countries abide by the agreement. Thus the evaluation of whether or not the countries have achieved their reduction targets is based on the official reports by the countries that are signatories to the UNFCCC ('United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change'). If they report reduced emissions they're sitting pretty; if not, they are pilloried. This ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Computer scientists in the field of artificial intelligence have made an important advance that blends computer vision, machine learning and automated planning, and created a new system that may improve everything from factory efficiency to airport operation or nursing care. And it's based on watching the Oregon State University Beavers play football. The idea is for a computer to observe a complex operation, learn how to do it, and then optimize those operations or accomplish other related tasks. In this project, the goal is for the computer to watch ...

CORAL GABLES, FL (August 18, 2011) — The birth of a baby can elicit many emotions, from joy and excitement to fear and uncertainty. But it can also trigger unexpected difficulties with anxiety, in particular with postpartum Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). Psychologist Kiara Timpano from the University of Miami (UM) and her collaborators developed an effective program for the prevention of postpartum obsessive compulsive symptoms. The findings are reported online ahead of print by the Journal of Psychiatric Research. "Postpartum depression has received much attention, ...

A key glacier in Greenland is melting faster than previously expected, according to findings by a team of academics, including Dr Edward Hanna from University of Sheffield. Dr Hanna, from the University of Sheffield's Department of Geography, was part of a team of researchers that also included Dr Sebastian Mernild from the Los Alamos Laboratory, USA, and Professor Niels Tvis Knudsen from the University of Aarhus, Denmark. The team's new findings present crucial insight into the effects of climate change. The researchers found that Greenland's longest-observed glacier, ...

Women and men experience pain, particularly chronic pain, very differently. The ability of some opioids to relieve pain also differs between women and men. While it has been recognized since the mid-nineties that some narcotic analgesics are more effective in women than men, the reason for this difference was largely unknown. Narcotic analgesics decrease pain by activating opioid receptors, which are located on nerves that transmit painful sensations. Since levels of mu, delta, and kappa opiate receptors—the three main types of opioid receptor in the brain and spinal ...

Kangaroos form an important niche in the tree of life, but until now their DNA had never been sequenced. In an article newly published in BioMed Central's open access journal Genome Biology, an international consortium of researchers present the first kangaroo genome sequence – that of the tammar wallaby species – and find hidden in their data the gene that may well be responsible for the kangaroo's characteristic hop. "The tammar wallaby sequencing project has provided us with many possibilities for understanding how marsupials are so different to us," says Prof Marilyn ...

Physical activity requires strong, healthy muscles. Fortunately, when people exercise on a regular basis, their muscles experience a continuous cycle of muscle breakdown (during exercise) and compensatory remodeling and growth (especially with weightlifting). Athletes have long experimented with methods to augment these physiologic responses to enhance muscle growth. One such ergogenic aid that has gained recent popularity is the use of high-quality, high-protein beverages during and after exercise, with dairy-based drinks enriched with whey proteins often taking front ...

NEW YORK, August 18, 2011 – Researchers at NYU School of Medicine have discovered the cellular mechanisms that normally generate chromosomal breaks in bacteria such as E. coli. The study's findings are published in the August 18 issue of the journal Cell. "This study provides a new explanation on how bacteria generate mutations and adapt to stressors like antibiotics. The study is quite unusual as it touches on several different fields of molecular biology at the same time: replication, transcription, translation and DNA repair," said Evgeny Nudler, PhD, The Julie Wilson ...

DOE Laboratories Help Develop Promising New Cancer Fighting Drug, Vemurafenib Powerful X-Rays Enable Development of Successful Treatment for Melanoma and Other Life-Threatening Diseases WASHINGTON, DC – Powerful X-ray technology developed at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE's) national laboratories is revealing new insights into diseases ranging from Alzheimer's to the swine flu, and, most recently, enabled the discovery of a groundbreaking new drug treatment for malignant melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer. The drug, Zelboraf (vemurafenib), received ...

Big sisters don't like being overshadowed by their younger brothers and that's what has happened in the eastern Pacific Ocean with Tropical Storm Fernanda and now Hurricane Greg. Despite the difference in strength, NASA satellite imagery shows some strong convection happening in both tropical cyclones and that they're now matched in size. Greg grew into a hurricane today is it continues moving near the western coast of Mexico, while Fernanda has maintained tropical storm strength. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite called GOES-11 caught an image of ...

A common deformity that cases a depression in the chest wall inhibits lung function as the cavity grows deeper, a national study of 327 patients published in the Journal of Pediatrics found. "These results confirm what we have observed anecdotally, that children with more severe pectus excavatum report more incidents of shortness of breath and a higher degree of exercise intolerance," said one of the study's lead authors, Dr. Robert Kelly, a pediatric surgeon at Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters in Norfolk, Virginia. Pectus excavatum, a condition sometimes ...

Basic biology textbooks may need a bit of revising now that biologists at UC San Diego have discovered a never-before-noticed component of our basic genetic material. According to the textbooks, chromatin, the natural state of DNA in the cell, is made up of nucleosomes. And nucleosomes are the basic repeating unit of chromatin. When viewed by a high powered microscope, nucleosomes look like beads on a string (photo at right). But in the August 19th issue of the journal Molecular Cell, UC San Diego biologists report their discovery of a novel chromatin particle halfway ...

After recovering from the flu or another acute infection, your immune system is ready to react quickly if you run into the same virus again. White blood cells called memory T cells develop during the infection and help the immune system remember the virus and attack it if it comes back. But chronic infections such as those caused by viruses like HIV and hepatitis C are different. If the immune system can't clear the infection out of the body fast enough, the memory T cells that initially developed against the virus upon first encounter are lost. This poses a challenge ...

As they grow, children learn a lot about the world from what other people tell them. Along the way, they have to figure out who is a reliable source of information. A new study, which will be published in an upcoming issue of Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, finds that when children reach around 4 years, they start noticing whether someone is actually knowledgeable or if they're just getting the answers from someone else. Earlier studies have found that children as young as age three pay attention to whether someone is an ...

The following highlights summarize research papers that have been recently published in Geophysical Research Letters (GRL), Journal of Geophysical Research-Earth Surface (JGR-F), Journal of Geophysical Research-Biogeosciences (JGR-G), and Journal of Geophysical Research-Oceans (JGR-C). 1. Slowly but steadily, a stormier Europe One anticipated consequence of global warming is a rise in the strength and frequency of wind storms striking Europe, bringing about associated increases in property damage, choppy seas, and coastal flooding. Previous research, mostly based ...

If you've ever spilled a drop of coffee on a surface, you might have noticed the curious way the color concentrates at the edges when the coffee dries. This is known as the "coffee ring effect," and recently, researchers have determined that the shape of the particles in the liquid is an important factor in creating this pattern. The research results could eventually translate into new techniques or formulations for product coatings, or better inks and paints. This work, published in the August 18 issue of the journal Nature was performed by Arjun Yodh and colleagues ...

A recent study demonstrated increased rates of celiac disease in women who present with unexplained infertility. Published in the May-June 2011 issue of The Journal of Reproductive Medicine, the study evaluated 191 female patients presenting with infertility. Each participant underwent serologic screening for celiac disease as well as routine infertility testing. The 4 patients who had positive serum test results were advised to seek evaluation with a gastroenterologist. All 4 patients were confirmed to have celiac disease. They then underwent nutritional counseling ...

Bacteria from fecal material -- in particular, dog fecal material -- may constitute the dominant source of airborne bacteria in Cleveland's and Detroit's wintertime air, says a new University of Colorado Boulder study. The CU-Boulder study showed that of the four Midwestern cities in the experiment, two cities had significant quantities of fecal bacteria in the atmosphere -- with dog feces being the most likely source. "We found unexpectedly high bacterial diversity in all of our samples, but to our surprise the airborne bacterial communities of Detroit and Cleveland ...

An examination of post-emancipation executions in the South is revealing how race played a significant and under-examined role in executions. Annulla Linders, a University of Cincinnati associate professor of sociology, will present the research on Aug. 21, at the 106th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association in Las Vegas. Linders combed through newspaper archives in the Library of Congress to examine the meanings and understandings about race and justice that were produced in newspaper accounts of legal, public executions of African-American convicts ...

Generations of American women have turned to door-to-door sales when a male-dominated workforce and lack of education prevented them from entering the workforce. They were known as the Tupperware Lady or the Avon Lady as they showed off their newest products to the "Lady of the House." New research out of the University of Cincinnati finds it's a strategy that is now bringing success to some women in third world countries facing discrimination in the formal job market. Erynn Masi de Casanova, a UC assistant professor of sociology, will present her research on Aug. 21 ...

For better or for worse, in sickness and in health – there's a long line of research that associates marriage with reducing unhealthy habits such as smoking, and promoting better health habits such as regular checkups. However, new research is emerging that suggests married straight couples and cohabiting gay and lesbian couples in long-term intimate relationships may pick up each other's unhealthy habits as well. University of Cincinnati research into how those behaviors evolve will be presented Aug. 23 at the 106th annual meeting of the American Sociological Association ...