The one glaring weakness in the Baltimore Ravens’ overall performance is their passing game. However, it’s an area in which they can most certainly improve this offseason. While quarterback Joe Flacco’s inconsistency is partly to blame for the team’s struggles in the aerial game, it takes twoor in this case, more than twoto tango so, well, weakly.

Flacco’s been done few favors by his receiving corps. That’s not a slight on their talentthey’re a young group who are still building chemistry, and they didn’t have much of a chance to do so in last year’s lockout-truncated offseason.

But this year, there’s little excuse. All but one of the Ravens’ receiving threats have more than one year of professional experience and more than one season’stime to get on the same page with Flacco.And though Flacco could use more weapons than he currently has, experience and increased chemistry will help to cure a lot of what ails the Ravens’ passing offense.

Though the NFL as a whole has become more pass-heavy, the Ravens have yet to catch up with the trend. It hasn’t been a major issuethey have one of the best run games, and defenses in the league, which has helped them along to the playoffs in each of the last four yearsbut it’s still one worth addressing.

Last season, no Raven had more than 1,000 receiving yards. Anquan Boldin led the charge with 887, but at the same time caught only 57 of the 105 passes thrown his way (contrast this with running back Ray Rice catching 76 of his 104 targets and you can see the problem).

Boldin is also the most senior member of the Ravens’ receiving corps, having had the most time to build chemistry with Flacco. However, that chemistry is still lacking. There’s also the issue of Boldin slowing some with age, causing him to struggle more at gaining separation from defenders in order to catch Flacco’s passes.

Further, Boldin cannot carry the weight of the entire Ravens’ passing game. He needs the help of Torrey Smith, the team’s ostensible No. 1 receiver, as well as greater contributions from Tandon Doss and LaQuan Williams, not to mention Tommy Streeter, the receiver the Ravens picked up in the sixth round of this year’s draft.

The problem with Doss, Williams and Streeter is that they all lack experience.

Though both Williams and Doss were brought on last season, Doss didn’t catch a single pass as he continued to rehab from a sports hernia surgery and Williams caught just four passes for 46 yards. Williams is now on the roster bubble after the drafting of Streeter.

Depending on what the Ravens decide to do with their passing strategy this year, it’s quite possible Boldin could be moved into the slot, while Williams, Doss and Streeter duke it out for a place on the outside.

Excerpt from:
Chemistry, Experience are 2 Keys to an Improved Baltimore Ravens Receiving Corps

Hugh Dancy shrugs at the notion that he tends to share strong chemistry with his female co-stars.

I think chemistry is an overused phrase, the actor says. Its hard to define, and it usually just involves good writing and good acting. Ive certainly worked with people that I didnt feel any personal chemistry with whatsoever but that worked out very well onscreen. He adds, laughing, And there are plenty of stories of people falling in love on movie sets and then producing absolutely abysmal films.

In fact, Dancy met his wife, Claire Danes (Homeland), in 2006 while filming Evening. The actors were married in 2009.

If onscreen chemistry is mostly the result of hard work, as Dancy claims, then the actor is one of the hardest-working men in show business.

Whether wooing Anne Hathaway in Ella Enchanted or Isla Fisher in Confessions of a Shopaholic, making the most of supporting roles in female-driven ensemble films such as Martha Marcy May Marlene and Our Idiot Brother, or verbally sparring with Laura Linney in the Showtime series The Big C, the charming Brit seems to surround himself with strong leading ladies.

That trend continues with his two latest rolesas a writer-director who finds himself in an unusual audition with a young actor (played by two-time Tony nominee Nina Arianda) in Venus in Fur on Broadway, and as the inventor of the vibrator (opposite Maggie Gyllenhaal and Felicity Jones) in the new film Hysteria.

Youre trusting the person that casts you to cast the rest of the roles well, Dancy says. In the past, Ive gone and done an audition with somebody and not known them and just on the basis of the audition thought, Wow! That would be great. That would work really well. When asked for an example, he laughs and says, No, actually they cast two other people!

Hugh Dancy will appear on the cover of this week’s issue of Back Stage, which hits newsstands on Thursday!

Daniel Lehman is a staff writer for Back Stage. Follow him on Twitter: @byDanLehman.

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Hugh Dancy on Casting for Chemistry

Last year, world population surpassed 7 billion, and over the next four decades, it is expected to grow by 2 billion more. The impact this will have on the planet and society can be staggering — increasing demand for material goods, growing strains on natural resources and energy supplies and more waste generated. To meet these needs, we will need more sustainable products and infrastructure — in short, a more sustainable economy.

Recently, I participated in a dialogue on the building blocks of a sustainable economy at the GLOBE 2012 conference in Vancouver, and my role was to discuss how sustainable chemistry can build a more sustainable economy.

In the chemical industry, we have “chemical building blocks,” which are basic chemicals from which many others can be made. With more than 95 percent of all manufactured goods relying on chemistry in their value chain, integrating sustainability and green chemistry concepts — “sustainable chemistry” — as a building block is a vitally important part of building a more sustainable economy.

Green chemistry is a set of principles to design, but sustainable chemistry looks beyond only a science. It is a catalyst for change, an innovative approach to problem-solving and a long-term solution to global sustainability challenges.

What do I mean by sustainable chemistry? At Dow, we embrace green chemistry principles and apply them across four pillars:

Applying the four pillars of sustainable chemistry to enable a more sustainable economy takes collaboration. Today, there are unlimited options for companies to come together to promote a more sustainable future. Through collaboration, companies, governments and NGOs can help further applications of green chemistry across each of these four pillars.

At Dow, we’ve taken advantage of opportunities to work towards a more sustainable future with other organizations. Technologies emerging from collaboration and our approach to sustainable chemistry include: roofing shingles with integrated photovoltaics that make harnessing the power of the sun affordable; advanced lithium-ion batteries for improved hybrid and electric vehicle efficiency; corn seed traits that increase crop productivity; and a joint venture with Mitsui in Brazil to make plastics from sugar cane.

Building up powerful collaborations with emerging leaders are fundamental to expanding green chemistry’s impacts. In March, Dow expanded its Sustainability Innovation Student Challenge Award program, more than doubling the number of schools participating around the world. The program drives collaboration and advancement in social and environmental responsibility by inspiring and rewarding students who develop sustainable solutions.

We’ve made progress on developing the building blocks for a sustainable economy. Collective and collaborative human ingenuity will continue to utilize science to overcome what sometimes looks like a dire environmental situation. Too often, people draw a straight line from the problems we face today to the negative impacts they will have tomorrow — depleted natural resources, compromised living conditions due to ecosystem degradation and other doom and gloom scenarios.

But scientists and organizations around the world need to collaborate to better understand what the buildings blocks of a sustainable economy are, and how we can work together to put them in place. Ultimately, chemistry and collaboration and people have the power to bend that straight line to a more positive point in the future, where nature and therefore human prosperity are in balance.

Excerpt from:
The 4 pillars of sustainable chemistry and a green economy

Peter Carey’s dazzling new novel, The Chemistry of Tears, encompasses heartbreak, the comfort of absorbing work, the transformative power of beauty and the soul of an old machine. If you’ve never read the Australian-born, two-time Booker Prizewinning author of Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang or, most recently, Parrot and Olivier in America his 12th novel is a terrific introduction to his work. Once again, Carey demonstrates an artful ability to capture a two-way interplay between past and present that is part historical, part fanciful and completely wonderful.

The day after BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico in April 2010, Catherine Gehrig, a tall, elegant, 40-something London museum conservator specializing in horology clocks and windup automatons learns of the sudden death of her beloved, miserably married lover. Because their blissful 13-year affair was a secret, there is no one she can turn to in her grief. Her boss, a friend of her darling Matthew who condoned their relationship, sets her up with a new project in the museum’s isolated annex, away from prying eyes. He hopes the complex reassembly of a magnificent, mid-19th century automaton of a silver swan will distract and buoy her. He also provides a phenomenally able if unbalanced young assistant, whose spying presence Catherine resents from the get-go. Catherine and the pretty girl lock into exquisitely rendered terse, tense battles over the import and control of their project.

Boxed up with the swan’s hundreds of screws, rods and rings are 11 notebooks densely filled with “handwriting as regular as a factory’s sawtooth roof.” These are the journals of Henry Brandling, a British railroad heir who, desperate for a divertissement for his sickly young son, traveled deep into the land of expert clock makers in the German Schwarzwald in 1854 to commission a mechanical toy duck. “High on grief and rage,” Catherine becomes increasingly caught up in Henry’s fantastical tale about his dealings with Herr Sumper, a mechanical genius and probable con man, and his strange household a story that alternates and ultimately intertwines with her own. “Eviscerated by love,” she wonders if Henry is “building some mad monument to grief, a kind of clockwork Taj Mahal? Or was that me?” Her unhinged anguish evokes the state of mind Joan Didion describes in The Year of Magical Thinking.

Peter Carey has won the Booker Prize twice, for the novels Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang.

Peter Carey has won the Booker Prize twice, for the novels Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang.

Automatons (also central to Martin Scorcese’s recent film Hugo) are fascinating in their eerie, lifelike realness. Carey raises questions about “what is alive and what cannot be born,” intense identification with machines, and the damage caused by industrialization including the Gulf oil spill. Catherine rails at her well-meaning boss that “it was highly ‘inappropriate’ to give a grieving woman the task of simulating life.” As for souls, she and Matthew, “conceited about [their] ecstatic pragmatism,” had no truck with them. Carey’s narrator adds beautifully, “That we were intricate chemical machines never diminished our sense of wonder, our reverence for Vermeer and for Monet, our floating bodies in the salty water, our evanescent joy before the dying of the light.”

Liberally adorned with descriptions such as a sky “black and bleeding like a Rothko,” Carey’s gorgeously written, intricately assembled book runs as smoothly as a well-oiled machine. It considers what it means to search for “deep order” in a random universe and “attempt to give meaning to a mess.” Yet as tightly engineered as it is, The Chemistry of Tears also leaves room for “fuzziness and ambiguity,” mystery and wonder, especially in the realm of our bodies and feelings.

Watch a video of the mechanical Silver Swan housed in the Bowes Museum in Northern England, which inspired by Peter Carey.

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'The Chemistry Of Tears' And The Art Of Healing

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/w5vzp6/clinical_chemistry) has announced the addition of GlobalData’s new report “Clinical Chemistry – Global Pipeline Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecasts to 2018″ to their offering.

GlobalData’s new report, Clinical Chemistry – Global Pipeline Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecasts to 2018 provides key data, information and analysis on the global clinical chemistry market. The report provides market landscape, competitive landscape and market trends information on the clinical chemistry market. The report provides comprehensive information on the key trends affecting the market, and key analytical content on the market dynamics. The report also reviews the competitive landscape and technology offerings.

Scope

– Key geographies covered include the US, Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Japan, China, India, Australia, and Brazil.

– Key segments covered include Clinical Chemistry Rapid Tests & POC, Enzyme Chemistry Reagents, Metabolite Chemistry Reagents, Electrolyte Chemistry Reagents, Clinical Chemisty Analyzers, and Urine Analysis.

– Annualized market revenues data from 2004 to 2011, forecast forward for seven years to 2018. Company shares data for 2011.

– Qualitative analysis of key market trends, market drivers, and restraints by each category within the clinical chemistry market.

– The report also covers information on the leading market players, the competitive landscape, and the leading pipeline products and technologies.

– Key players covered include F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Siemens Healthcare, Abbott Laboratories, Ortho-Clinical Diagnostics and Beckman Coulter, Inc.

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Research and Markets: Clinical Chemistry – Global Pipeline Analysis, Competitive Landscape and Market Forecasts to 2018

DUBLIN–(BUSINESS WIRE)–

Dublin – Research and Markets (http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/fd2rw3/chemistry_2nd_edi) has announced the addition of John Wiley and Sons Ltd’s new book “Chemistry, 2nd Edition” to their offering.

The second edition of this market leading textbook, with a multimedia-integrated approach to the presentation of Chemistry for University students!

This is the second edition of this market leading text book. The text and digital package is engineered to cater for the content needs of the first year chemistry course as it is generally taught at universities.

The success of the 1st edition has been attributed to the student friendly and engaging writing style, the relevance to real life, and the clear worked examples; which all help demystify chemistry for the 1st year student. In addition to this, our online teaching and learning system, WileyPLUS which is fully integrated with the text, provides lecturers and students with an equitable multimedia platform to enhance their teaching and learning.

Following its success, the first edition was rigorously reviewed, and enhancements made to both the text and the digital resources. The 2nd edition has been enriched in both the text (by addition of new Main Groups chapter and other minor improvements).

New to this Edition:

– Chapter 2 has new content on dimensional analysis and errors and significant figures

– Chapter 8 has been broken into smaller sections allowing mathematical content to be ignored if not required

– NEW! Chapter 14 The p-block elements’ – previously available as an additional supplement, this chapter has now been integrated into the text based on market demand

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Research and Markets: Chemistry, 2nd Edition Is Engineered To Cater For the Content Needs of the First Year Chemistry …

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Chemistry 13.6a Balancing Redox by Half-reactions (Acidic) – Video

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Chemistry 13.6b More Balancing by Half-Reactions (Acidic) – Video

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Book suggestions for future cosmetic chemists, aestheticians and make-up artists | Joanne Manaster – Video

Dallas Cowboys tight end Jason Witten recently acknowledged that the current team was in its window right now, meaning that theyre at the point when enough of the team were in their prime to make a serious playoff push. Interestingly enough, the idea of the window was at the center of Daryl Johnstons comments when discussing the success of the 1992 Super Bowl Champion Cowboys during the teams 20th anniversary reunion over the weekend.

We had really, really good players, Johnston said, per ESPN Dallas, and in 92 a lot of those guys were year four to six, kind of right in your prime.

However, Johnston continued to say that it wasnt necessarily the talent that set those teams apart.

To me, what made the team unique was the chemistry and camaraderie, he said. A lot of people talk about the football team being your second family and you create a lot of analogies like that, but its really hard to actually create that feeling, that chemistry in the locker room. Jimmy and his staff did a really good job with that.

I just think that when we got into tough times, we knew each other so well, we had each others backs. We had a tremendous amount of respect for each other. Its hard to create that. I think that if you were to go back and talk to players from the 49ers from the 80s, Steelers from the 70s, Packers from the 60s, youll find a lot of the same things that we talk about with our 92 team.

Stay on top of the latest Dallas Cowboys news with NBCDFW.com. Follow NBC DFW on Facebook or have breaking Cowboys news sent directly to your phone with Blue Star SMS alerts. Text “bluestar” to 622339 (NBCDFW) to subscribe, text HELP for more info, and text STOP to end the subscription. Message and data rates may apply.Read more about it here.

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Johnston: "Chemistry and Camaraderie" Made The '92 Cowboys

The Phillies took the final game of the three-game set against the San Diego Padres on Sunday afternoon, but it was not without some difficulty, as they were only able to cobble together three runs in support of starter Cole Hamels.

That’s been the case in a lot of their games this season: A great performance by a starting pitcher, but a smattering of runs from the offense. And until Chase Utley and Ryan Howard get back, that’s probably going to be the way things go, unless, as Jimmy Rollins suggested after the game, the team can finally figure it all out. Via David Hale:

I suppose that Jimmy has a point. Indeed, several members of the 2012 squad weren’t around last year, including Ty Wigginton, Laynce Nix, Freddy Galvis, Juan Pierre and Chad Qualls– all guys who have seen their fair share of playing time this season. But, does that really matter? Before 2008, Brad Lidge wasn’t on the team. Before 2009, Raul Ibanez and Cliff Lee weren’t on the team. Before 2010, Roy Halladay and Roy Oswalt weren’t on the team. Before 2011, Hunter Pence wasn’t on the team. And so on. If memory serves, none of those guys had trouble fitting in, either.

The greater problem, or put differently, the actual problem, is that they Phillies just aren’t good enough to compete right now. While the offense has been scoring enough runs to win games, they are still capable of getting shut down on any given night. The Phils alsodon’t have too many relievers capable of getting outs, which is a problem when the lineup isn’t capable of scoring runs in bunches. Aside from Jonathan Papelbon and Antonio Bastardo, it seems like none of the relievers can get outs.

That’s not to say that the team hasn’t gelled yet, but I don’t know that doesn’t make a difference. And honestly, I could give a hoot about clubhouse chemistry, because that’s not what wins games. Sure, I suppose a team comprised of guys who get along is better than the alternative, but the only thing that actually matters is the on-field performance. And if you ask me, I’ll take a team of guys with zero chemistry who can knock the snot out of the ball over a team that has dinner together every night that can’t hit to save their lives.

But, I suspect that what Rollins is really saying is something akin to I don’t really know why we aren’t winning games, so here is an old baseball clich for you guys to use in your game stories. And until they can get some help on offense, that’s probably not going to change.

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Managing Chemistry

Isolation and analysis of odorous components in swine manure.

Systematic procedures are described for the isolation and extraction of odorous components in swine faeces, urine and rotten mixtures of swine faeces and urine. Samples were frozen and subjected to vacuum distillation in the frozen state. The distillate was continuously extracted with diethyl ether. The residue was extracted with diethyl ether and the extract was subjected to vacuum distillation. The former extract and the latter distillate were combined and concentrated. Recovery by these procedures was considered. Odorous compounds isolated were analyzed by gas chromatography and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

Photo: flickr/DrStarbuck

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NCBI ROFL: The chemistry of pig sh*t.

TORONTO — Vertichem Corporation announced today an agreement in principle to acquire a 100% interest in Thesis Chemistry LLC, an Ohio, US headquartered company with operations in Cambridge, Ontario, Canada.

Vertichem is an innovative greentech company currently commercializing its patented processes to produce a portfolio of green platform chemicals, including high quality lignin, xylose and cellulose from woody biomass, agricultural residues and grasses.

Thesis Chemistry is currently commercializing its technology platform for the production of vanillin (the active component of vanilla flavoring) and aromatic aldehydes (used in flavors, fragrances, dyes, pharmaceuticals, agrochemicals and other chemicals) from plant lignin. The company is also developing more advanced biorefining technologies to convert lignin into phenols, cresols, BTX and fuels.

The acquisition of Thesis Chemistry enables Vertichem to become one of the only companies globally developing a vertically integrated biorefining model to convert sustainable plant biomass into green chemicals and fuels, said David Milroy, Vertichems Chairman and Chief Executive. The combination of Vertichems patented biomass fractionation capabilities with Thesis Chemistrys deep-conversion biorefining technologies allows us to extract the maximum value from biomass. We can produce numerous green intermediate chemicals and end products that are identical to their petroleum-based counterparts.

Vertichems technology provides the perfect complement to allow us to commercialize the science and processing of lignin into high value products which our scientists have been developing in our Cambridge, Ontario facility, said Dr. John Peterson, Founder and CTO of Thesis Chemistry. We found Vertichems lignin to be superior to all other lignins we have tested from around the globe for producing a slate of very valuable products using Thesis Chemistrys technology. We look forward to working with Vertichem and developing additional high value products from Vertichems xylose and cellulose intermediates.

The acquisition remains subject to approval by the shareholders of Vertichem and the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

Vertichem is an innovative green specialty chemicals company that holds patents for the breakthrough Vertichem process that converts low-value woody biomass, agricultural residues and grasses into high-value green specialty chemicals. It produces environmentally friendly chemicals that are sold to the industrial, commercial, food, consumer goods and pharmaceutical markets, helping them to green their products and achieve new sustainability goals for their business. For more information visit www.vertichem.com.

Thesis Chemistry is a leader in developing innovative, green technologies for cost-effective and environmentally-responsible manufacturing of biobased chemicals from non-food forest and agricultural biomass. Approximately 95% of all chemicals manufactured today are derived from petroleum. Since 2007, Thesis Chemistry has invested in the development of cutting-edge, differentiating technologies that allow the unprecedented transformation of lignocellulosic biomass into green chemicals.

For further information about Thesis Chemistry contact Mary Tso, CAO, at (519) 620-1289 or mtso@thesischemistry.com

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Vertichem Corporation to Acquire Thesis Chemistry to Augment Biorefining Capabilities and expand product portfolio

They looked like running mates – all square jaws, broad shoulders, and firm handshakes – when they stepped off a bus to the strains of The Battle Hymn of the Republic playing on the steps of Needham Town Hall.

It was 2004, and it looked as if Scott Brown, a little-known state representative from Wrentham who was running for state Senate, and Mitt Romney, his political patron and the governor of Massachusetts, would be leading an effort to change the entrenched, Democratic culture of Beacon Hill.

To get that job done, I need to get Scott Brown on the reform team, Romney declared, as the crowd burst into chants of We want Brown!

At that point, they agreed on virtually every major issue – opposing gay marriage, abolishing bilingual education, rolling back taxes, instituting the death penalty, cutting budgetary waste and inefficiency.

But despite the stage they shared that day, Brown and Romney never developed more than a passing political partnership, according to friends and associates. As Browns star has risen as a moderate proud of his bipartisan appeal, and Romney has worked hard to court the Republican base in his bids for the presidency, their paths have diverged, and their relationship has become more complicated as a result.

Brown no longer features Romney on his website or in his political ads, as he did in that 2004 race. Now, he advertises the three times when he has stood behind President Obama at the White House as Obama has signed Browns bills into law.

Browns campaign is also working subtly to distance him from Romney, whose sagging popularity in Massachusetts could make him a liability for Brown.

The Brown campaign declined to make the senator available to discuss his relationship with Romney and instead issued a statement declaring that Brown is his own person who doesnt line up entirely with any political party or candidate. Included with the statement was an analysis boasting of how many times Brown voted to override Romneys vetoes in the Legislature.

Brown did, however, endorse Romney for president last year as soon as the former governor made it clear he was running again. And Democrats are trying to make hay out of the relationship. A Web ad released by the Massachusetts Democratic Party calls them BFF – best friends forever – and shows clips of them yukking it up and praising each other at political events.

Brown also employs the same campaign advisers as Romney, making their pas de deux all the more intriguing to political insiders.

Read more:
Between Brown, Romney, support but little chemistry

SALT LAKE CITY A scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from a Utah chemistry company has pleaded guilty to a federal computer charge.

Prabhu Mohapatra entered the plea Friday in U.S. District Court to one count of unlawful access to a protected computer, in exchange for prosecutors dropping 25 other charges against him, the Deseret News reported (http://bit.ly/JOw00o ).

Mohapatra, 42, had worked for North Logan-based Frontier Scientific Inc. from 2009 to 2011. He admitted to accessing a company chemical resource notebook and emailing the formula for meso-Tetraphenylporphine, or TPP, to his brother-in-law in India.

Investigators say that relative was setting up a competing company to undercut Frontier Scientific on prices it charges for pharmaceutical chemicals. Frontier Chemical, which supplies chemicals for research and drug discovery, says no other company in the world produces TPP in such large quantities.

The case marked the first time federal authorities filed industrial espionage charges in Utah, according to FBI officials. Until 1996, the theft of trade secrets wasn’t a federal crime, and the FBI had spotty success trying to prosecute such cases using other statutes.

Congress then passed the Economic Espionage Act, giving the FBI full authority to pursue the cases. Many companies handle such cases internally, afraid the news will lower their company’s stock or send investors fleeing, federal authorities said.

Mohapatra in December pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including computer fraud and theft of trade secrets. He was arrested Nov. 14 and released the same day after his moves were tracked on a company computer.

He was placed on leave Oct. 26 and later confessed his role in a meeting with company executives, according to court documents.

Mohapatra faces up to five years in prison when he’s sentenced Aug. 28.

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Scientist accused of stealing secret formulas from Utah chemistry company pleads guilty