Early life stress may take early toll on heart function

Feb. 21, 2013 ? Early life stress like that experienced by ill newborns appears to take an early toll of the heart, affecting its ability to relax and refill with oxygen-rich blood, researchers report.

Rat pups separated from their mothers a few hours each day, experienced a significant decrease in this basic heart function when -- as life tends to do -- an extra stressor was added to raise blood pressure, said Dr. Catalina Bazacliu, neonatologist at the Medical College of Georgia and Children's Hospital of Georgia at Georgia Regents University. Bazacliu worked under the mentorship of Dr. Jennifer Pollock, biochemist in the Section of Experimental Medicine in the MCG Department of Medicine.

The relaxation and filling rate remained low in the separation model, although decreases stabilized by ages two and six months, as the rats neared middle age. Both the model and controls experienced decreases in those functions that come naturally with age.

Interestingly, the force with which the heart ejected blood remained unchanged with the additional stressor, angiotensin II, a powerful constrictor of blood vessels. Echocardiography was used to evaluate heart function.

"We expected the heart's ability to relax and refill to lag behind in our model," said Bazacliu, whose research earned her a Young Investigator Award from the Southern Society for Pediatric Research. She is reporting her findings Feb. 22 during the Southern Regional Meetings in New Orleans, sponsored by the society as well as several other groups including the Southern Section of the American Federation for Medical Research.

"We believe these babies may be at increased risk for cardiovascular disease and we are working to understand exactly what puts them at risk," Bazacliu said. She believes hers is the first animal study of this aspect of heart function.

Dr. Analia S. Loria, assistant research scientist in Pollock's lab and also a co-author on the new abstract, has shown that the blood pressure of maternally separated rats goes up more in response to angiotensin II and their heart rates go higher as well. Normally, a compensatory mechanism drives the heart rate down a little when blood pressure goes up.

Work by others has shown persistent blood vessel changes in the early stress model, including increased contraction and reduced relaxation when similarly stressed.

Longitudinal studies in humans have shown long-term cardiovascular implications, such as babies born to mothers during the Dutch famine of World War II, growing up at increased risk for cardiovascular disease as well as diabetes, obesity and other health problems.

Bazacliu's earlier studies in a similar animal model indicated that babies whose growth was restricted in utero by conditions such as preeclampsia -- maternal high blood pressure during pregnancy -- were at increased risk of cardiovascular disease as adults. This was true whether the babies were born prematurely or at full term. Increased pressure during development reduces blood flow from mother to baby; reduced nutrition and oxygen to the baby is considered an environmental stress.

Bazacliu's interest in early life stress grew out of the reality that, while obviously intended to save premature and otherwise critically ill newborns, neonatal intensive care units can further stress these babies. "All the procedures we must do, the separation from the mother, the environment, even though the babies need the help, it represents a stress." NICUs such as the one at Children's Hospital of Georgia work to minimize negative impact with strategies such as open visiting hours, minimalizing noise and other family-centered care strategies.

Bazacliu came to MCG in 2011 from the University of Buffalo School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/top_news/top_health/~3/q_HDcRvzosg/130221104330.htm

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HTC's Peter Chou: 'We're confident consumers will appreciate our innovations' (video)

Is this the One? That's pretty much the question we put to HTC's Peter Chou, whose company has had a tough time battling other mobile giants with its original One series. The CEO was kind enough to have a little chat with us after the One launch -- although his responses were often vague. We covered topics from what went wrong last year, how the new flagship device will bring the company back in the game, and where does HTC see itself from the perspective of consumers. Read on for the highlights as well as the full video clip after the break.

Looking back at the good old days since the original One series launch, Chou once again acknowledged the fact that his company didn't do so well with marketing. "We had a few great devices, a lot of innovation, but we just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations. So today we are introducing the HTC One and that's exactly what we're going to do," said Chou. The CEO is also confident that his new flagship device has what it takes to deter consumers from the competition. "HTC will be offering consumers a great phone with great experience, these qualities are non-compromised. We are very confident that consumers will appreciate these innovations, experience and quality."

"We just need to let people know all of these HTC innovations."

Also in the face of the likes of Samsung and many Chinese manufacturers, Chou believes that a close relationship with partners is also a key to success. "We are working very closely with partners," said Chou. He also hinted at the changes that happened inside HTC not so long ago. "We are driving changes inside the company, pushing the innovation and pushing the execution."

As any executive would do at a launch event, Chou went on to pimp the highlights of the One: BlinkFeed (live feed of ambient information), BoomSound (dual front-facing loudspeaker) and Zoe (multimedia gallery and editor on steroids). Again, the exec emphasized the importance of great experience, especially with Zoe where the user doesn't need to do much, and yet they still get this "awesome emotion and personality" with the movies they share with people. "We think that this is a great way of providing new experience to smartphone users," Chou added.

"The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go."

We went on to ask how HTC will handle the tricky task of convincing consumers into the low-res (4-megapixel) but more sensitive and efficient UltraPixel camera, to which we were given a familiar response. "The megapixel myth is the wrong way to go, so what really matters is to give you much better image quality with great innovative, exciting experience. So that's where we're focusing on."

Interestingly, the One doesn't come with a microSD slot (as featured on the Japanese and Asian Butterfly variants) and Qi wireless charging (as featured on the Verizon versions of some HTC flagships), but Chou wasn't too keen on addressing these drawbacks, and neither was he up for talking about the seemingly smaller battery size when compared to some of the competition. "Our differentiation is very, very clear," Chou said. Of course, we shall see about that when we eventually get to review the One.

Sharif Sakr and Mat Smith contributed to this interview.

Filed under: Cellphones, Mobile

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/zxpSdTMY7po/

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Conclave brings out cardinals' dirty laundry

VATICAN CITY (AP) ? Popular pressure is mounting in the U.S. and Italy to keep California Cardinal Roger Mahony away from the conclave to elect the next pope because of his role shielding sexually abusive priests, a movement targeting one of the most prominent of a handful of compromised cardinals scheduled to vote next month.

Amid the outcry, Mahony has made clear he is coming. And a Vatican historian said Wednesday that there is no precedent for a cardinal staying home because of personal scandal.

Conclaves always bring out the worst in cardinals' dirty laundry, with past sins and transgressions aired anew in the slow news days preceding the vote. This time is no different ? except that the revelations of Mahony's sins are so fresh, and ordinary Catholics seem to want to have a greater say in who is fit to choose their next pope.

This week, the influential Italian Catholic affairs magazine Famiglia Cristiana asked its readers if the Los Angeles-based cardinal Mahony should participate in the conclave given the revelations. "Your opinion: Mahony in the conclave: Yes or No?" reads the online survey of one of Italy's most-read magazines.

That followed a petition by a group in the United States, Catholics United, demanding that Mahony recuse himself from the papal conclave.

Mahony, however, has made clear he will vote. "Count-down to the Papal Conclave has begun. Your prayers needed that we elect the best Pope for today and tomorrow's Church," he tweeted earlier this week. He promised daily Twitter updates from the conclave.

Last month, a court in Los Angeles ordered the release of thousands of pages of confidential personnel files of more than 120 priests accused of sex abuse. The files show that Mahony and other top archdiocese officials maneuvered behind the scenes to shield accused priests and protect the church from a growing scandal while keeping parishioners in the dark.

Mahony was stripped of his duties last month by his successor at the largest Catholic diocese in the United States. But the administrative dressing-down by Archbishop Jose Gomez only affected Mahony's work in the archdiocese, not his role as a cardinal.

Historian Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice prefect of the Vatican library, said there was no precedent for a cardinal staying away from a conclave because of personal scandal, though in the past some have been impeded either by illness or interference by governments.

Regardless, he said, any decision to stay away would have to be approved by the full College of Cardinals given that the main duty of a cardinal is to vote in a conclave.

"The thing that characterizes a cardinal is to be an elector of the pope," he told reporters.

___

Follow Nicole Winfield at www.twitter.com/nwinfield

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-02-20-Vatican-Disgraced%20Cardinal/id-65ff38a2e34d4ebeb19237f3fd70d31d

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EU Apple Online Stores list Mac Pro as unavailable prior to March 1st cutoff

We already knew the current line of Mac Pros would be discontinued in Europe due to new regulatory standards come March 1st, but we didn't think Apple would pull the plug on its tower desktop this early. According to 9to5Mac, several European Apple Online Stores now show its Mac Pros as "currently unavailable" a couple of weeks before the computers are to be sunsetted. We're not sure if this is the case with machines in brick-and-mortar locales, but Europeans keen on the existing Mac Pro should get to their nearest reseller before it's completely out of stock. Either that or you can choose to sit tight and wait for that impending Mac Pro refresh, whenever the folks in Cupertino get around to it.

Filed under: Desktops, Apple

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Source: 9to5Mac, Apple Store (UK)

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Source: http://www.aivanet.com/2013/02/eu-apple-online-stores-list-mac-pro-as-unavailable-prior-to-march-1st-cutoff/

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The Real Power of Crystals: Attesting to Atoms

The exact angles of crystals reveals their underlying structure as given by repeating lattices of atoms and molecules, as explained in this video by geometer George Hart

By George Hart and Simons Science News

Image: simonsfoundation.org

From Simons Science News (find original story here).

For most of recorded history, no one accepted the existence atoms, even though Democritus, Lucretius and other ancient philosophers described them.?Aristotle claimed matter was infinitely divisible and his view dominated for 2,000 years.

Imagine you lived 1,000 years ago. What evidence could you provide to attest to the existence of atoms? How could you combine simple observations and mathematical thinking to resolve the question, without any modern equipment?

?

Notes:

I want to thank the Hicksville Gregory Museum and the RISD Nature Lab for access to some of the specimens shown.

Richard Feynman?s exact statement:

If, in some cataclysm, all of scientific knowledge were to be destroyed, and only one sentence passed on to the next generation of creatures, what statement would contain the most information in the fewest words? I believe it is the atomic hypothesis that all things are made of atoms ? little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart, but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. In that one sentence, you will see, there is an enormous amount of information about the world, if just a little imagination and thinking are applied.

From ?The Feynman Lectures on Physics,? 1964.

Related:

More videos from the?Mathematical Impressions series.

Reprinted with permission from Simons Science News, an editorially-independent division of SimonsFoundation.org whose mission is to enhance public understanding of science by covering research developments and trends in mathematics and the computational, physical and life sciences.

Source: http://rss.sciam.com/click.phdo?i=079a54f84fb193aaf5f50d8346437b54

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Jon Stewart Interviews Susan Rice On Benghazi - Business Insider

Comedy Central

Daily Show host Jon Stewart challenged U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice on Thursday, asking her about the mixed messages from the Obama administration about the Sept. 11 terrorist attack in Benghazi, Libya.?

Rice highlighted many of the same talking points she has peddled since the attack. Rice caught the ire of Republicans for her appearances on Sunday news shows in the days following the attack, when she suggested that the attacks were a spontaneous demonstration in response to an obscure anti-Muslim?YouTube?video. Of course, those claims turned out to false. Rice was considered to be nominated for Secretary of State, but she withdrew her nomination amid rising tension.

Stewart pressed Rice, saying that the Sunday show explanations and the administration's other initial responses were "odd."

"It does look like there?s a great deal of confusion there," Stewart told Rice.

"There is always confusion when you have a tragedy of that sort and Americans are killed," Rice said. "The bigger tragedy is we've spent all of these months trying to figure out the origin of some talking points ? which were cleared at the highest level of the intelligence community ? and, in my opinion, not enough time doing the service that we owe to our fallen colleagues."

At the end of the interview, Stewart asked Rice if she wanted to respond directly to her critics.

"They're dead wrong," Rice said. "And they are, in fact, doing a disservice to those we lost."

Watch the full interview in the clips below:

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/jon-stewart-susan-rice-benghazi-obama-2013-2

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New Finmeccanica Head Faces Fallout from India Crisis

The new head of Italian defence group Finmeccanica (SIFI.MI) has inherited a corruption crisis over a $750 million helicopter deal with India that risks hurting the company's business in other foreign markets.

India's defence ministry confirmed on Thursday that it had suspended payments following allegations that Finmeccanica paid bribes to swing the deal for the sale of 12 luxury helicopters.

Finmeccanica promoted company insider Alessandro Pansa to the top job at a hastily convened board meeting on Wednesday night. Police in northern Italy arrested CEO and Chairman Giuseppe Orsi the previous day.

Orsi, who is being held in jail but has not been charged, faces allegations of paying bribes to win a 560-million-euro contract for the company's AgustaWestland unit to supply helicopters for use by senior Indian politicians.

He denies any wrongdoing and will be questioned on Friday.

Finmeccanica shares fell 1.7 percent on Thursday and have lost 12 percent in the aftermath of Orsi's arrest.

Concerns over the potential long-term damage to sales around the world from the taint of corruption claims outweighed relief at swift action to fill the management vacuum.

"The speed at which the company tried to fix the corporate governance issues is a positive," Italian bank Mediobanca said.

"We still see reputational risk and we wonder if some other countries may try to cancel orders," it said.

India, the world's largest weapons importer, has threatened to scrap the deal and blacklist Italy if bribery allegations are proven. It will not take delivery of the remaining nine helicopters until a probe by its Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is complete.

Finmeccanica unit Alenia Aermacchi is hoping to bid for a contract to supply over 50 military transport aircraft to India in competition with European aerospace group EADS (EAD.PA).

In India, where national elections are due next year, the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) lambasted the Congress-led government for not acting sooner over the allegations.

An internal defence ministry investigation last year found no foul play in the purchase of the helicopters, destined for use by India's political elite.

Critics say the government did too little to follow up later media disclosures that the Italian investigation linked India's former air chief S.P. "Shashi" Tyagi and three of his cousins to the alleged bribery. Tyagi denies any wrongdoing.

On Thursday, one of the cousins, Sanjeev "July" Tyagi, denied allegations in the Italian arrest warrant that he had taken 100,000 euros in cash bribes and introduced company representatives to the air chief on several occasions to discuss the helicopter deal.

"I have nothing to do with this, they are lying," he told CNN-IBN television, adding he and his brothers were consultants to the power industry. "Never, ever in the defence sector."

ITALIAN STATE ROLE

In Italy, elections are only just over a week away and all sides are trying to make political capital from the latest in a series of corruption cases to shake the Italian business world.

Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has fought a series of legal battles himself over his business empire and private life, has said that overzealous prosecutors risked harming Italian business.

The Italian state remains the largest shareholder in Finmeccanica with a stake of about 30 percent.

Centre-left leader Pier Luigi Bersani, whose group was ahead in the last opinion polls published before the February 24-25 election, said on Thursday it was the wrong moment to consider further privatisations.

"In this moment it would be crazy... I am talking about Eni, Enel, about Finmeccanica," Bersani said when asked about potential privatisations in a television interview, referring to oil giant Eni (ENI.MI) and utilities group Enel (ENEI.MI).

Ratings agency Moody's confirmed its rating of Finmeccanica debt after Pansa's appointment but cut the outlook to negative from stable.

"The negative outlook reflects heightened challenges in achieving a stronger operating and financial profile that is consistent with expectations for the Baa3 rating," it said.

Moody's cited a soft outlook for defence spending and the need for Finmeccanica to sell off more assets.

Pansa, who joined the company in 2001 as chief financial officer, will be supported by Guido Venturoni, 78, a former admiral who becomes vice chairman and who was the senior independent director on the Finmeccanica board.

Shareholder meetings will be held in April to finalise the new board which is when a new chairman could be appointed to work alongside Pansa.

The heavily indebted group is trying to sell units including its AnsaldoEnergia power engineering business to focus on its core aerospace and defence activities.

Source: http://au.ibtimes.com/articles/435564/20130215/new-finmeccanica-head-faces-fallout-india-crisis.htm

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Lebanon's Hariri says Syria's Assad fall "inevitable"

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Lebanese opposition leader Saad al-Hariri predicted on Thursday the downfall of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, whom he accuses of assassinating his father in a massive bomb attack in 2005.

"The regime of Bashar al-Assad will inevitably go down. And its collapse will be loud not only in Syria but across the Arab world," Hariri said, speaking by a video link from Riyadh to mark the eighth anniversary of his father's assassination.

Rafik al-Hariri, a former prime minister of Lebanon, was killed by an explosion detonated near his motorcade in Beirut.

Lebanon, where Syria still wields significant influence, is deeply divided over the Syrian revolt and fears that the sectarian civil war that has claimed nearly 70,000 lives, according to a United Nations estimate, could spill over into its smaller neighbor.

In December, Syria issued arrest warrants against Hariri and a close political ally for "terrorist crimes" of financing and arming rebels fighting Assad.

Hariri, who lives outside Lebanon because of concerns for his security, said he will join his supporters in Lebanon during the parliamentary election expected in the summer.

(Reporting by Mariam Karouny; Editing by Michael Roddy)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/lebanons-hariri-says-syrias-assad-fall-inevitable-201927876.html

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Burger King feels heat as rivals focus on value

FILE - In a Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012 file photo, a customer purchases a meal at a Burger King restaurant in Marseille-Provence airport, in Marignane, France. Burger King's net income nearly doubled in the fourth quarter as the world's second largest hamburger chain boosted sales in North America and shifted to a franchisee-owned model that significantly slashed costs. The Miami-based company's adjusted earnings and revenue topped Wall Street's expectations. Shares climbed more than 6 percent in premarket trading on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File)

FILE - In a Saturday, Dec. 22, 2012 file photo, a customer purchases a meal at a Burger King restaurant in Marseille-Provence airport, in Marignane, France. Burger King's net income nearly doubled in the fourth quarter as the world's second largest hamburger chain boosted sales in North America and shifted to a franchisee-owned model that significantly slashed costs. The Miami-based company's adjusted earnings and revenue topped Wall Street's expectations. Shares climbed more than 6 percent in premarket trading on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013. (AP Photo/Claude Paris, File)

NEW YORK (AP) ? A revamped menu helped boost Burger King's profit in the fourth quarter but now the world's second biggest hamburger chain says it needs to play up value more aggressively to compete with rivals.

The Miami-based chain said Friday that sales in the new year are trending "modestly negative" as the broader fast-food industry fights to attract cash-strapped diners with cheap eats.

To address the intensifying focus on value from competitors, Steve Wiborg, president of Burger King's North America operations, noted the company launched a limited-time offer for a Junior Whopper for $1.29 this week.

Although Burger King will continue to pursue a "barbell" strategy of also offering premium items, Wiborg said that for now it will be "a little more focused on value because of competitive pressures."

With the broader restaurant industry expected to be flat to modestly up this year, companies are going to greater lengths to convince people to eat out more. McDonald's, for example, has been underscoring its Dollar Menu to boost sales and recently added a Grilled Onion Cheddar Burger to the lineup. In some markets, the Oak Brook, Ill.-based chain is also offering six-piece Chicken McNuggets for a buck.

Wendy's also revamped its 99-cent menu to offer customers more variety, as well as giving it more wiggle room to charge slightly higher prices. The chain's new "Right Price, Right Size" menu has tiered pricing that goes up to around $2.

Meanwhile, Burger King CEO Bernardo Hees said that sales in Europe haven't been affected by the horsemeat scandal that has gripped the region. The scandal erupted after testing showed that various ground beef products, such as a frozen lasagna meal, actually contained horsemeat. But Hees said Burger King's sales in the United Kingdom have been up in January and February.

The remarks from Hees and Wiborg came after Burger King delivered a strong fourth-quarter results; its net income nearly doubled as a key sales figure rose in North America and the company shifted to a franchisee-owned store model that significantly slashed costs.

Adjusted earnings and revenue topped Wall Street's expectations. It also raised its dividend by 25 percent to 5 cents per share.

3G Capital, the private investment firm that owns a majority stake in the company, has been working to turn around Burger King's business since purchasing it in 2010.

The franchisee-owned store model is aimed at cutting down on overhead costs and boosting profit margins. At the end of the year, the company said it was 97 percent franchised, versus 90 percent at the end of 2011. It planned to be nearly fully franchised this year.

Burger King said revenue at locations open at least a year climbed 2.7 percent in the quarter, boosted by a 3.7 percent increase in the U.S. and Canada. By contrast, McDonald's Corp. had reported last month that the figure rose just 0.1 percent globally and 0.3 percent in the U.S.

Burger King said results in North America were helped by new menu items such as its chicken parmesan sandwich, Cinnabon Minibon rolls and its holiday sweets menu.

In the region encompassing Europe, the Middle East and Africa, the figure rose 1.6 percent. It edged up a more modest 0.7 percent in Latin America and 0.8 percent in the Asia Pacific region. This figure is a key gauge of a restaurant operator's health because it strips out the impact of newly closed and opened locations.

For the three months ended Dec. 31, Burger King earned $48.6 million, or 14 cents per share. That compares with $25 million, or 7 cents per share, a year earlier.

Removing one-time costs, earnings were 23 cents per share. Analysts polled by FactSet expected 15 cents per share.

Revenue fell 30 percent to $404.5 million as a result of the refranchising. This still topped Wall Street's estimate of $375.3 million.

Shares of Burger King gained 43 cents, or 2.6 percent, to $17 in midday trading. Its shares have been trading near the upper end of their 52-week range $12.91 to $18.46.

For the year, Burger King Worldwide Inc. earned $117.7 million, or 33 cents per share. That's up from $88.1 million, or 25 cents per share, in the previous year. Annual revenue declined 16 percent to $1.97 billion from $2.34 billion.

Burger King Worldwide has more than 12,900 locations in 86 countries and territories.

___

Follow Candice Choi at www.twitter.com/candicechoi

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/f70471f764144b2fab526d39972d37b3/Article_2013-02-15-Earns-Burger%20King/id-db845563f89e4720ba2e1647fd75c228

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FAA moves toward creating 6 drone test sites in US

This September 2011 photo provided by Vanguard Defense Industries, shows a ShadowHawk drone with Montgomery County, Texas, SWAT team members. In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country. The FAA has granted several hundred permits to universities, police departments and other government agencies to use small, low-flying drones. For example, the sheriff?s department in Montgomery County, Texas, has a 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone intended to supplement its SWAT team. (AP Photo/Lance Bertolino, Vanguard Defense Industries)

This September 2011 photo provided by Vanguard Defense Industries, shows a ShadowHawk drone with Montgomery County, Texas, SWAT team members. In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday, Feb. 14, 2013, solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country. The FAA has granted several hundred permits to universities, police departments and other government agencies to use small, low-flying drones. For example, the sheriff?s department in Montgomery County, Texas, has a 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone intended to supplement its SWAT team. (AP Photo/Lance Bertolino, Vanguard Defense Industries)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In a major step toward opening U.S. skies to thousands of unmanned drones, federal officials Thursday solicited proposals to create six drone test sites around the country.

The Federal Aviation Administration also posted online a draft plan for protecting people's privacy from the eyes in the sky. The plan would require each test site to follow federal and state laws and make a privacy policy publicly available.

Privacy advocates worry that a proliferation of drones will lead to a "surveillance society" in which the movements of Americans are routinely monitored, tracked, recorded and scrutinized by the authorities.

The military has come to rely heavily on drones overseas. Now there is tremendous demand to use drones in the U.S. for all kinds of tasks that are too dirty, dull or dangerous for manned aircraft. Drones, which range from the size of a hummingbird to the high-flying Globalhawks that weigh about 15,000 pounds without fuel, also are often cheaper than manned aircraft. The biggest market is expected to be state and local police departments.

The FAA is required by a law enacted a year ago to develop sites where civilian and military drones can be tested in preparation for integration into U.S. airspace that's currently limited to manned aircraft.

The law also requires that the FAA allow drones wide access to U.S. airspace by 2015, but the agency is behind schedule, and it's doubtful it will meet the deadline, the Transportation Department's inspector general said in a report last year.

The test sites are planned to evaluate what requirements are needed to ensure the drones don't collide with planes or endanger people or property on the ground. Remotely controlled drones don't have a pilot who can see other aircraft the way an onboard plane or helicopter pilot can.

There's also concern that links between drones and their on-the-ground operators can be broken or hacked, causing the operator to lose control of the drone. Military drones use encrypted GPS signals for navigation, which protects them from hacking, but the GPS signals used by civilian drones don't have that protection.

"Our focus is on maintaining and improving the safety and efficiency of the world's largest aviation system," Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said in a statement. "This research will give us valuable information about how best to ensure the safe introduction of this advanced technology into our nation's skies."

The test sites are also expected to boost the local economy of the communities where they are located. About two dozen government-industry partnerships have been formed over the past year to compete for the sites.

"Today's announcement by the FAA is an important milestone on the path toward unlocking the potential of unmanned aircraft and creating thousands of American jobs," said Michael Toscano, president and CEO of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International.

"States across the country have been eager to receive this FAA designation because they recognize the incredible economic and job creation potential it would bring with it," he said in a statement.

Industry experts predict the takeoff of a multibillion-dollar market for civilian drones as soon as the FAA completes regulations to make sure they don't pose a safety hazard to other aircraft. Potential civilian users are as varied as the drones themselves. Power companies want them to monitor transmission lines. Farmers want to fly them over fields to detect which crops need water. Ranchers want them to count cows. Film companies want to use drones to help make movies. Journalists are exploring drones' newsgathering potential.

The FAA plans to begin integrating drones starting with small aircraft weighing less than about 55 pounds. The agency forecasts an estimated 10,000 civilian drones will be in use in the U.S. within five years.

The Defense Department says the demand for drones and their expanding missions requires routine and unfettered access to domestic airspace, including around airports and cities, for military testing and training. Currently, the military tests drones in specially designated swaths of airspace in mostly remote parts of the country where they are likely to encounter relatively few other aircraft.

The Customs and Border Patrol uses drones along the U.S.-Mexico border. And the FAA has granted several hundred permits to universities, police departments and other government agencies to use small, low-flying drones. For example, the sheriff's department in Montgomery County, Texas, has a 50-pound ShadowHawk helicopter drone intended to supplement its SWAT team.

The sheriff's department hasn't armed its drone, although the ShadowHawk can be equipped with a 40 mm grenade launcher and a 12-guage shotgun. The prospect of armed drones patrolling U.S. skies has alarmed some lawmakers and their constituents. More than a dozen bills have been introduced in Congress and state legislatures to curb drone use and protect privacy.

President Barack Obama was asked Thursday about concerns that the administration believes it's legal to strike American citizens abroad with drones and whether that's allowed against citizens in the U.S. If not, how would he create a legal framework to help citizens know drone strikes can't be used against them?

"There's never been a drone used on an American citizen on American soil," the president said, speaking during an online chat sponsored by Google in which he was promoting his policy initiatives.

"We respect and have a whole bunch of safeguards in terms of how we conduct counterterrorism operations outside of the United States. The rules outside of the United States are going to be different than the rules inside the United States, in part because our capacity, for example, to capture terrorists in the United States are very different than in the foothills or mountains of Afghanistan or Pakistan."

He said he would work with Congress to make sure the American public understands "what the constraints are, what the legal parameters are, and that's something that I take very seriously."

Earlier this week, an FAA official told a meeting of potential test site bidders that aviation regulations prohibit dropping anything from aircraft, which could be interpreted to bar arming civilian drones, according to an industry official present at the meeting who requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak publicly.

___

Follow Joan Lowy on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/AP_Joan_Lowy

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-02-14-US-Drones-at-Home/id-a0dbdce64f47473f8b81e2cde3b2baae

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