Technology – Page 1097 – Shamskm: A site to exchange knowledge and solutions

U.S. Online Display Advertising Market Delivers 22 Percent Increase in Impressions vs. Year Ago

*Facebook.com Now Accounts for Nearly 1 in 4 Online Display Ads in U.S.*

RESTON, VA, November 8, 2010 – comScore, Inc., a leader in measuring the digital world, today released an overview of the U.S. online display advertising market for Q3 2010, which showed strong gains following softness for much of 2009. Data from the comScore Ad Metrix online advertising intelligence service indicated that nearly 1.3 trillion display ads were delivered to U.S. Internet users during the third quarter, marking a 22-percent increase versus year ago. (more…)

Yahoo! Shopping Challenges Shoppers to Name the Ultimate Gift This Holiday Season

*Yahoo! Shopping’s Ultimate Gift Challenge sweepstakes lets people pick this year’s ultimate holiday gift for a chance to win a $10,000 grand prize*

SUNNYVALE, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)— Yahoo! Shopping has unveiled its Ultimate Gift Challenge (https://shopping.yahoo.com/seasonal/holiday/ultimate-gift-challenge), a sweepstakes in which Yahoo! users can vote for their favorite gifts and select the top holiday gift for 2010. Over the course of the six-week shopping tournament, every time people vote in the Ultimate Gift Challenge, they will be entered to win the grand prize drawing of $10,000 at the end of the sweepstakes. Plus, the first time that players vote, they will be entered to win one of five $100 gift cards drawn daily. (more…)

Amazon.com to Acquire Diapers.com and Soap.com

SEATTLE, Nov 08, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) — Amazon.com, Inc. today announced that it has reached an agreement to acquire Quidsi, Inc., which operates Diapers.com, an online baby care specialty site, and Soap.com, an online site for everyday essentials.

“I’m not sure which is more unpleasant–changing diapers, paying too much for them, or running out of them,” said Jeff Bezos, Founder and CEO of Amazon.com. “This acquisition brings together two companies who are committed to providing great prices and fast delivery to parents, making one of the chores of being a parent a little easier and less expensive.” (more…)

Study Shows Extreme Form of Pregnancy-Related Morning Sickness Could be Genetic

*Pregnant women whose sisters had condition are 17 times more likely to have it*

Approximately 60,000 pregnant women are hospitalized each year due to hyperemesis gravidarum (HG), an extreme form of nausea and vomiting that endangers their lives and often forces them to reluctantly terminate their pregnancies.

And for women with sisters, mothers and grandmothers on either side of the family who have experienced extreme morning sickness during pregnancy, the risk of HG may be heightened, according to a new study led by researchers from UCLA and the University of Southern California. (more…)

Volcanic Eruptions Affect Rainfall over Asian Monsoon Region

Scientists have long known that large volcanic explosions can affect the weather by spewing particles that block solar energy and cool the air.

Some suspect that extended “volcanic winters” from gigantic eruptions helped kill off dinosaurs and Neanderthals.

In the summer following Indonesia’s 1815 Tambora eruption, frost wrecked crops as far away as New England, and the 1991 blowout of the Philippines’ Mount Pinatubo lowered average global temperatures by 0.7 degrees F — enough to mask the effects of greenhouse gases for a year or so. (more…)

Water Flowing Through Ice Sheets Accelerates Warming, Could Speed Up Ice Flow, Says New Study

Melt water flowing through ice sheets via crevasses, fractures and large drains called moulins can carry warmth into ice sheet interiors, greatly accelerating the thermal response of an ice sheet to climate change, according to a new study involving the University of Colorado at Boulder.

The new study showed ice sheets like the Greenland Ice Sheet can respond to such warming on the order of decades rather than the centuries projected by conventional thermal models. Ice flows more readily as it warms, so a warming climate can increase ice flows on ice sheets much faster than previously thought, said the study authors. (more…)

A model representation of telomerase's RNA "core domain," determined by Juli Feigon, Qi Zhang and colleagues in Feigon's UCLA laboratory. Image credit: Juli Feigon, UCLA Chemistry and Biochemistry/PNAS

Telomerase is an enzyme that maintains the DNA at the ends of our chromosomes, known as telomeres. In the absence of telomerase activity, every time our cells divide, our telomeres get shorter. This is part of the natural aging process, as most cells in the human body do not have much active telomerase. Eventually, these DNA-containing telomeres, which act as protective caps at the ends of chromosomes, become so short that the cells die.

But in some cells, such as cancer cells, telomerase, which is composed of RNA and proteins, is highly active and adds telomere DNA, preventing telomere shortening and extending the life of the cell.

UCLA biochemists have now produced a three-dimensional structural model of the RNA “core domain” of the telomerase enzyme. Because telomerase plays a surprisingly important role in cancer and aging, understanding its structure could lead to new approaches for treating disease, the researchers say. (more…)

The Genetics of Self-Incompatibility

*Petunias show that the mechanisms behind inbreeding prevention are similar to immune response*

About the image: The female part of the petunia flower secretes an enzyme that is designed to deter pollen tube growth, thereby preventing fertilization. However, in the cases that the pollen has come from a genetically different plant, the pollen produces its own protein that combats the pistil’s enzyme. With the enzyme out of the way, the pollen tube can keep growing and fertilization can occur. Image credit: Zina Deretsky, National Science Foundation

Inbreeding is a bad strategy for any organism, producing weak and problematic offspring. So imagine the challenge of inbreeding prevention in a plant where male and female sexual organs grow right next to each other! Such is the genetic conundrum faced by the petunia. (more…)