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Trump says he's a 'believer' in polio vaccine, and other news conference takeawaysChampions Cup: Castres 16 Munster 14 Munster’s hopes of putting a foot in the door of the Champions Cup knockout rounds at the earliest opportunity were dashed in France on Friday night as they narrowly succumbed to Castres at Stade Pierre Fabre. Having beaten Stade Francais in round one six days earlier, a win on the road against the Top 14 side would have given Munster’s European qualification hopes a huge boost with just two more pool games to play but it was not to be, despite Castres losing three players to the yellow cards across 80 minutes. Munster lost a string of players to injury, prop Dian Bleuler, scrum-half Craig Casey withdrawn during a first half that saw the home side take a 10-0 lead before John Hodnett’s try and Jack Crowley’s penalty made it 10-7 at half-time. Peter O’Mahony, Thaakir Abrahams and replacements Dave Kilcyone and Diarmuid Barron were second-half casualties but a second Hodnett try on 69 minutes, again converted by Crowley, edged the visitors within 11 minutes of a famous victory at 14-13, only to concede a scrum penalty on 72 minutes. Trailing 16-14 and with the 80 minutes up, Munster still had the opportunity to sneak victory, only for Crowley’s penalty from inside his own half to be batted back into play by a Castres player and the chance to evaporate. Everything that could have gone wrong did just that for Munster in a challenging opening 40 minutes yet somehow they found themselves just three points in arrears at half-time, John Hodnett’s try off a lineout maul, converted by Crowley handed Costello’s side a lifeline at 10-7. The game had started badly for the visitors as they failed to find any fluency through a series of poor skill executions, not least in terms of tactical kicking and poor discipline. A high tackle by Stephen Archer led to a close-range lineout from which former Connacht No.8 Abraham Papali’I scored the opening try on 13 minutes, while it was the same player who created the second for Castre on the half-hour, his quickly taken penalty inside the Munster 22 clearing a path for prop Quentin Walcker to make it 10-0. Crowley missed a penalty attempt on 18 minutes and then Munster lost loosehead prop Dian Bleuler to a Head Injury Assessment, pre-empting the early introduction of Dave Kilcoyne after almost 12 months sidelined by injury. And their woes were further compounded by the loss to injury of Ireland scrum-half Craig Casey in the sequence of play leading to the home side’s second try. Yet as Casey was being carried down the tunnel for treatment, Walcker turned from hero to villain, guilty of head-on-head contact on Brian Gleeson, the No.8 making his first Champions Cup start for Munster. It was a red-card offence from the upright tackler but Gleeson fell into the collision enough for English referee Christophe Ridley to downgrade the offence to a yellow card on 32 minutes. It was the opportunity Munster needed at the end of a disjointed opening half and a scrum penalty provided the platform, the visitors kicking upfield and striking from their lineout drive, Hodnett breaking off the front from 10 metres out to score an excellent try and as the Castres fans jeered and whistled, Crowley cooly slotted over the conversion to set up the potential for a second-half upset. Munster were gifted another window of opportunity shortly after Walcker’s return from the sin-bin on 42 minutes when right-wing Geoffrey Palis was handed a yellow card for a deliberate knock-on as Castres defended inside their 22. Yet the resulting penalty did not produce the necessary response from Munster, the ball bobbling out of the lineout maul and Tadhg Beirne knocking on at the try line. Castres won the ensuing scrum penalty and then another upfield to allow scrum-half Jeremy Fernandez to extend their lead to 13-7 with a penalty kick with Munster failing to score in the 10-minute sin-bin period and their scrum conceding another penalty to the delight of the home crowd. Munster introduced hooker Diarmuid Barron and tighthead prop Oli Jager on 55 minutes in the hopes of shoring up their under-pressure set-piece, Jager making his return from nine weeks out with a neck injury. Yet there were fresh injury issues to deal with Munster losing both Peter O’Mahony and Thaakir Abrahams to knocks. Castres had a chance to turn the screw further with a Julien Dumora penalty on 63 minutes, but the full-back screwed his kick wide and Munster gladly accepted both that gift and a third yellow card from the home side as tighthead replacement Nicolas Corato was next in the bin. Now it was Munster’s turn to apply pressure, and they laid siege to the Castres try line, winning a penalty advantage at a ruck but scoring without needing it, Hodnett this time striking as play continued. Crowley’s kick was nerveless to edge Munster in front at 14-13 with 10 minutes to play but then Munster handed the initiative straight back to 14-man Castres, conceding a scrum penalty from which fly-half Louis Le Brun regained the lead at 16-14 on 72 minutes. Munster’s ill luck hit again as replacement front-rowers Barron and Kilcoyne were forced off in the final 10 minutes. A penalty close to their own 10-metre line gave hope, only for Crowley’s kick for touch to be bundled back into play to the delight of a noisy home crowd. CASTRES: J Dumora (T Chabouni, 66); G Palis, J Goodhue, A Cocagi (A Seguret, 63), R Baget; L le Brun, J Fernandez (S Arata, 51); Q Walcker (W de Benedittis, 63),G Barlot (L Zarantonello, 63), W Collier (N Corato, 66); G Maravat, L Nakarawa (P Jedrasiak, 63); M Babillot - captain, T Ardron, A Papalii (W de Benedittis (YC), 35-42; F Tukino, 63). Yellow cards: Q Walcker 32-42, G Palis 43-53, N Corato 67-77. MUNSTER: M Haley; C Nash, T Farrell, A Nankivell, T Abrahams (R Scannell, 58); J Crowley, C Casey (P Patterson, 31); D Bleuler (D Kilcoyne, 22 – HIA; S Archer 75), N Scannell (D Barron, 55; N Scannell, 76), S Archer (O Jager, 55); F Wycherley, T Beirne - captain; P O’Mahony (T Ahern, 51), J Hodnett (A Kendellen, 70), B Gleeson (J O’Donoghue, 49). Referee: Christophe Ridley (England).
MIAMI — Dozens of luxury beachfront condos and hotels in Surfside, Bal Harbour, Miami Beach and Sunny Isles are sinking into the ground at rates that were “unexpected,” with nearly 70% of the buildings in northern and central Sunny Isles affected, research by the University of Miami found. The study, published Friday night, identified a total of 35 buildings that have sunk by as much as three inches between 2016 and 2023, including the iconic Surf Club Towers and Faena Hotel, the Porsche Design Tower, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Trump Tower III and Trump International Beach Resorts. Together, the high rises accommodate tens of thousands of residents and tourists. Some have more than 300 units, including penthouses that cost millions of dollars. “Almost all the buildings at the coast itself, they’re subsiding,” Falk Amelung, a geophysicist at the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric and Earth Science and the study’s senior author, told the Miami Herald. “It’s a lot.” Preliminary data also shows signs that some buildings along the coasts of Broward and Palm Beach are sinking, too. Experts called the study a “game changer” that raises a host of questions about development on vulnerable barrier islands. For starters, experts said, this could be a sign that rising sea levels, caused by the continued emission of greenhouse gases, is accelerating the erosion of the limestone on which South Florida is built. “It’s probably a much larger problem than we know,” Paul Chinowsky, a professor of civil engineering at the University of Colorado Boulder, told the Herald. Initially, researchers looked at satellite images that can measure fractions of an inch of subsidence to determine whether the phenomenon had occurred leading up to the collapse of Champlain Towers in Surfside, the 2021 catastrophe that killed 98 people and led to laws calling for structural reviews of older condos across the state. The researchers did not see any signs of settlement before the collapse “indicating that settlement was not the cause of collapse,” according to a statement. Instead, they saw subsidence at nearby beachside buildings both north and south of it. “What was surprising is that it was there at all. So we didn’t believe it at the beginning,” Amelung said, explaining that his team checked several sources that confirmed the initial data. “And then we thought, we have to investigate it,” he said. In total, they found subsidence ranging between roughly 0.8 and just over 3 inches, mostly in Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside, and at two buildings in Miami Beach – the Faena Hotel and L’atelier condo – and one in Bal Harbour. It’s unclear what the implications are or whether the slow sinking could lead to long-term damage, but several experts told the Herald that the study raises questions that require further research as well as a thorough on-site inspection. “These findings raise additional question which require further investigation,” Gregor Eberli, a geoscience professor and co-author of the study, which was published Friday in the journal Earth and Space Science, said in a statement. Lead author Farzaneh Aziz Zanjani pointed to the need for “ongoing monitoring and a deeper understanding of the long-term implications for these structures.” Though the vast majority of affected buildings were constructed years or decades before the satellite images were taken, it is common for buildings to subside a handful of inches during and shortly after construction — a natural effect as the weight of the building compresses the soil underneath. And sinking doesn’t necessarily create structural issues. “As long as it’s even, everything’s fine,” Chinowsky said, placing his hands next to each other, “the problems start when you start doing this,” he said, then moving one hand down faster than the other. But such uneven sinking, known as differential subsidence, can cause significant damage to buildings, he said. “That’s where you can get structural damage,” he said. More research is needed to determine whether the buildings are sinking evenly or not. “Sometimes it can be dangerous, sometimes not — it will have to be evaluated,” said Shimon Wdowinski, a geophysicist at Florida International University, told the Herald. Wdowinski worked on a different 2020 study that showed that the land surrounding the Champlain Towers — not the buildings themselves — had been subsiding back in the nineties, though that alone couldn’t have led to the collapse. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has yet to release a final report on the cause but a Herald investigation pointed to design and construction flaws as well as decades of maintenance issues. For the 35 buildings shown to be sinking in the University of Miami’s study, he said, the next step is to check the integrity and design plans. “If there is differential subsidence, it could cause structural damage, and it would need immediate attention,” he said. Cracks in walls, utilities that are breaking, or doors and windows that don’t shut as easily as they used to are all signs of differential subsidence, said Hota GangaRao, a professor of civil engineering and the director of the constructed facilities center at West Virginia University. “In some extreme scenarios, the buildings at some point sink much more dramatically with time,” he said. If that subsidence is differential, “then it is very, very serious,” GangaRao said. Larisa Svechin, the mayor of Sunny Isles Beach, where more than 20 buildings are affected, said that “my priority is the safety of our residents.” Contacted by the Herald Saturday afternoon, she said she was not aware of any structural issues but called an immediate meeting with the city manager. Following that meeting, she said that all required building inspections are up to date and that “the law also requires inspection records to be posted online and shared with residents.” Charles Burkett, the mayor of Surfside, told the Miami Herald that he had not heard of the study nor was he aware of any subsidence of buildings. “I’d like to know if it’s unsafe,” he said on Saturday, adding that he will “review [the study] in due time.” Other officials could not be reached immediately, and several of the affected buildings contacted by the Herald said that management would not be available for comment before Monday. Some settlement appears to have started right around the time when the construction of new buildings nearby began, and when vibration might have caused layers of sand to compress further — just like shaking ground coffee in a tin will make room for more. The pumping of groundwater that seeps into construction sites could also cause sand layers to shift and rearrange. Though there appears to be a strong link to nearby construction for some buildings, it is unlikely to be the only explanation for the 35 sinking buildings, as some settlement had started before any construction began nearby, and it persisted after construction ended, the researchers found. “There’s no sign that it’s stopping,” Amelung said of the settlement. Experts also pointed to the impact the emission of fossil fuels and the resulting warming of the climate is having on the overall stability of Miami-Dade’s barrier islands. For one, rising sea levels are now encroaching on sand and limestone underneath our feet. That could lead to the corrosion of the pillars on which high-rises stand — a serious issue, GangaRao said, though if that’s the case “there may be a way to salvage these buildings,” by fixing the foundation. Stronger waves, fresh water dumped by heavier rainfalls and more sunny-day flooding could also add to the erosion of the limestone that all of South Florida is built on, Chinowsky said. Already a soft rock that is riddled with holes and air pockets, further erosion could destabilize the base of most constructions, Chinowsky said, comparing it to “standing on sand, and someone came with a spoon and started taking the sand out.” “I would expect that they would see this all throughout the barrier islands and on into the main coastline — wherever there is limestone, basically,” he said. “That’s what makes the whole South Florida area so unique, because of that porous rock, the limestone, all that action is happening where you can’t see it, and that’s why it’s never accounted for to this level,” he said. Here is the full list of buildings identified as experiencing between roughly 0.8 and just over 3 inches of subsidence between 2016 — 2023: Regalia, Ocean II, Residences by Armani Casa, Ocean III, Marenas Beach Resort, Millennium Condominiums, Porsche Design Tower, Bentley Residence Development site, Trump International Beach Resort, Aqualina Resort and Residences on the Beach, The Mansions at Aqualina, Pinnacle, Chateau Beach Residences, Double Tree Resort and Spa, Sole Mia A Noble House Resort. Also: Florida Ocean Club, Ocean Four Condominium, Muse residences, Jade Ocean Condos, Jade Beach Condos, Jade Signature Condominium, Kings Point Imperial Condo, Trump Tower III, The Ritz-Carlton Residences, Oceana Bal Harbour, Fendi Chateau, Marbella Condominium, Waverly, Carlisle on the Ocean, Residence Inn by Mariott, Luxury Condo Cabarete, The Surf Club North Tower, The Surf Club Hotel Tower, The Surf Club South Tower, Arte Residence, 87 Park Tower, L’atelier Condominium, Faena House
Forexlive Americas FX news wrap 16 Dec: Masa son and Softbank pledge $100B US investment.MADRID (AP) — Getafe scored twice in three minutes midway through the second half to beat struggling Valladolid 2-0 and record only its second win in La Liga on Friday. The victory ended Getafe’s five-game winless run and lifted it into 15th place in the 20-team standings. Valladolid remained second to last. In the buildup to the match, Getafe sporting director Rubén Reyes described the game as a final but his team was lucky not to go behind as Valladolid created more of the early chances. However, the home side took control in the 69th minute when substitute Álvaro Rodríguez got the opener. Three minutes later, man of the match Allan Nyom made it 2-0. “There’s been a lot of games where we’ve run and fought but lost or drawn,” Nyom, the veteran Cameroon full back, said. “A game that reflects the effort we’ve put in in training is very welcome.” Adding to Valladolid’s woes, coach Paulo Pezzolano was sent off before halftime. The Uruguayan has the league’s worst disciplinary record, with seven yellow cards before Friday’s red. ___ AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer The Associated PressNYC’s outdoor dining sheds are about to disappear. Here’s why
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Wisconsin 67, Nebraska-Omaha 65Microchips capable of detecting and diagnosing diseases December 16, 2024 NYU Tandon School of Engineering Researchers have developed microchips using field-effect transistors that can detect multiple diseases from a single air sample with high sensitivity. The technology enables rapid testing and could lead to portable diagnostic devices for home and medical use. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIN Email In a world grappling with a multitude of health threats -- ranging from fast-spreading viruses to chronic diseases and drug-resistant bacteria -- the need for quick, reliable, and easy-to-use home diagnostic tests has never been greater. Imagine a future where these tests can be done anywhere, by anyone, using a device as small and portable as your smartwatch. To do that, you need microchips capable of detecting miniscule concentrations of viruses or bacteria in the air. Now, new research from NYU Tandon faculty including Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Davood Shahrjerdi; Herman F. Mark Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Elisa Riedo; and Giuseppe de Peppo, Industry Associate Professor in Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering and who was previously at Mirimus, shows it's possible to develop and build microchips that can not only identify multiple diseases from a single cough or air sample, but can also be produced at scale. "This study opens new horizons in the field of biosensing. Microchips, the backbone of smartphones, computers, and other smart devices, have transformed the way people communicate, entertain, and work. Similarly, today, our technology will allow microchips to revolutionize healthcare, from medical diagnostics, to environmental health" says Riedo, "The innovative technology demonstrated in this article uses field-effect transistors (FETs) -- miniature electronic sensors that directly detect biological markers and convert them into digital signals -- offering an alternative to traditional color-based chemical diagnostic tests like home pregnancy tests," said Shahrjerdi. "This advanced approach enables faster results, testing for multiple diseases simultaneously, and immediate data transmission to healthcare providers" says Sharjerdi, who is also the Director of the NYU Nanofabrication Cleanroom, a state-of-the-art facility where some of the chips used in this study were fabricated. Riedo and Shahrjerdi are also the co-directors of the NYU NanoBioX initiative. Field-effect transistors, a staple of modern electronics, are emerging as powerful tools in this quest for diagnostic instruments. These tiny devices can be adapted to function as biosensors, detecting specific pathogens or biomarkers in real time, without the need for chemical labels or lengthy lab procedures. By converting biological interactions into measurable electrical signals, FET-based biosensors offer a rapid and versatile platform for diagnostics. Recent advancements have pushed the detection capabilities of FET biosensors to incredibly small levels -- down to femtomolar concentrations, or one quadrillionth of a mole -- by incorporating nanoscale materials such as nanowires, indium oxide, and graphene. Yet, despite their potential, FET-based sensors still face a significant challenge: they struggle to detect multiple pathogens or biomarkers simultaneously on the same chip. Current methods for customizing these sensors, such as drop-casting bioreceptors like antibodies onto the FET's surface, lack the precision and scalability required for more complex diagnostic tasks. To address this, these researchers are exploring new ways to modify FET surfaces, allowing each transistor on a chip to be tailored to detect a different biomarker. This would enable parallel detection of multiple pathogens. Enter thermal scanning probe lithography (tSPL), a breakthrough technology that may hold the key to overcoming these barriers. This technique allows for the precise chemical patterning of a polymer-coated chip, enabling the functionalization of individual FETs with different bioreceptors, such as antibodies or aptamers, at resolutions as fine as 20 nanometers. This is on par with the tiny size of transistors in today's advanced semiconductor chips. By allowing for highly selective modification of each transistor, this method opens the door to the development of FET-based sensors that can detect a wide variety of pathogens on a single chip, with unparalleled sensitivity. Riedo, who was instrumental in the development and proliferation of tSPL technology, sees its use here to be further evidence of the groundbreaking way this nanofabrication technique can be used in practical applications. "tSPL, now a commercially available lithographic technology, has been key to functionalize each FET with different bio-receptors in order to achieve multiplexing," she says. In tests, FET sensors functionalized using tSPL have shown remarkable performance, detecting as few as 3 attomolar (aM) concentrations of SARS-CoV-2 spike proteins and as little as 10 live virus particles per milliliter, while effectively distinguishing between different types of viruses, including influenza A. The ability to reliably detect such minute quantities of pathogens with high specificity is a critical step toward creating portable diagnostic devices that could one day be used in a variety of settings, from hospitals to homes. The study, now published by the Royal Society of Chemistry in Nanoscale , was supported by Mirimus, a Brooklyn-based biotechnology company, and LendLease, a multinational construction and real estate company based in Australia. They are working with the NYU Tandon team to develop illness-detecting wearables and home devices, respectively. "This research shows off the power of the collaboration between industry and academia, and how it can change the face of modern medicine," says Prem Premsrirut, President and CEO of Mirimus. "NYU Tandon's researchers are producing work that will play a large role in the future of disease detection." "Companies such as Lendlease and other developers involved in urban regeneration are searching for innovative solutions like this to sense biological threats in buildings." says Alberto Sangiovanni Vincentelli of UC Berkeley, a collaborator on the Project. "Biodefense measures like this will be a new infrastructural layer for the buildings of the future" As semiconductor manufacturing continues to advance, integrating billions of nanoscale FETs onto microchips, the potential for using these chips in biosensing applications is becoming increasingly feasible. A universal, scalable method for functionalizing FET surfaces at nanoscale precision would enable the creation of sophisticated diagnostic tools, capable of detecting multiple diseases in real time, with the kind of speed and accuracy that could transform modern medicine. Story Source: Materials provided by NYU Tandon School of Engineering . Note: Content may be edited for style and length. Journal Reference : Cite This Page :