Even graphene has weak spots

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
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Contact: David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327
Rice University

Rice, Tsinghua theorists find junctions in polycrystalline graphene sap strength of super material

HOUSTON (March 28, 2013) Graphene, the single-atom-thick form of carbon, has become famous for its extraordinary strength. But less-than-perfect sheets of the material show unexpected weakness, according to researchers at Rice University in Houston and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The kryptonite to this Superman of materials is in the form of a seven-atom ring that inevitably occurs at the junctions of grain boundaries in graphene, where the regular array of hexagonal units is interrupted. At these points, under tension, polycrystalline graphene has about half the strength of pristine samples of the material.

Calculations by the Rice team of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues in China were reported this month in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. They could be important to materials scientists using graphene in applications where its intrinsic strength is a key feature, like composite materials and stretchable or flexible electronics.

Graphene sheets grown in a lab, often via chemical vapor deposition, are almost never perfect arrays of hexagons, Yakobson said. Domains of graphene that start to grow on a substrate are not necessarily lined up with each other, and when these islands merge, they look like quilts, with patterns going in every direction.

The lines in polycrystalline sheets are called grain boundaries, and the atoms at these boundaries are occasionally forced to change the way they bond by the unbreakable rules of topology. Most common of the "defects" in graphene formation studied by Yakobson's group are adjacent five- and seven-atom rings that are a little weaker than the hexagons around them.

The team calculated that the particular seven-atom rings found at junctions of three islands are the weakest points, where cracks are most likely to form. These are the end points of grain boundaries between the islands and are ongoing trouble spots, the researchers found.

"In the past, people studying what happens at the grain boundary looked at it as an infinite line," Yakobson said. "It's simpler that way, computationally and conceptually, because they could just look at a single segment and have it represent the whole."

But in the real world, he said, "these lines form a network. Graphene is usually a quilt made from many pieces. I thought we should test the junctions."

They determined through molecular dynamics simulation and "good old mathematical analysis" that in a graphene quilt, the grain boundaries act like levers that amplify the tension (through a dislocation pileup) and concentrate it at the defect either where the three domains meet or where a grain boundary between two domains ends. "The details are complicated but, basically, the longer the lever, the greater the amplification on the weakest point," Yakobson said. "The force is concentrated there, and that's where it starts breaking."

"Force on these junctions starts the cracks, and they propagate like cracks in a windshield," said Vasilii Artyukhov, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice and co-author of the paper. "In metals, cracks stop eventually because they become blunt as they propagate. But in brittle materials, that doesn't happen. And graphene is a brittle material, so a crack might go a really long way."

Yakobson said that conceptually, the calculations show what metallurgists recognize as the Hall-Petch Effect, a measure of the strength of crystalline materials with similar grain boundaries. "It's one of the pillars of large-scale material mechanics," he said. "For graphene, we call this a pseudo Hall-Petch, because the effect is very similar even though the mechanism is very different.

"Any defect, of course, does something to the material," Yakobson said. "But this finding is important because you cannot avoid the effect in polycrystalline graphene. It's also ironic, because polycrystals are often considered when larger domains are needed. We show that as it gets larger, it gets weaker.

"If you need a patch of graphene for mechanical performance, you'd better go for perfect monocrystals or graphene with rather small domains that reduce the stress concentration."

###

Co-authors of the paper are graduate student Zhigong Song and his adviser, Zhiping Xu, an associate professor of engineering mechanics at Tsinghua. Xu is a former researcher in Yakobson's group at Rice. Yakobson is Rice's Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and professor of chemistry.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation supported the work at Rice. The National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program and Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology of China supported the work at Tsinghua.

David Ruth

Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.edu

Read the abstract at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl400542n.

This news release can be found online at: http://news.rice.edu/2013/03/28/even-graphene-has-weak-spots/.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related Materials:

Yakobson Group: http://biygroup.blogs.rice.edu

Zhiping Xu Group: http://www.cel-tsinghua.org/xuzp/people.html

Graphic for download: http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/0328_GRAPHENE-web.jpg

New work by theorists at Rice and Tsinghua universities shows defects in polycrystalline forms of graphene will sap its strength. The illustration from a simulation at left shows a junction of grain boundaries where three domains of graphene meet with a strained bond in the center. At right, the calculated stress buildup at the tip of a finite-length grain boundary. (Credit: Vasilii Artyukhov/Rice University)

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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 28-Mar-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: David Ruth
david@rice.edu
713-348-6327
Rice University

Rice, Tsinghua theorists find junctions in polycrystalline graphene sap strength of super material

HOUSTON (March 28, 2013) Graphene, the single-atom-thick form of carbon, has become famous for its extraordinary strength. But less-than-perfect sheets of the material show unexpected weakness, according to researchers at Rice University in Houston and Tsinghua University in Beijing.

The kryptonite to this Superman of materials is in the form of a seven-atom ring that inevitably occurs at the junctions of grain boundaries in graphene, where the regular array of hexagonal units is interrupted. At these points, under tension, polycrystalline graphene has about half the strength of pristine samples of the material.

Calculations by the Rice team of theoretical physicist Boris Yakobson and his colleagues in China were reported this month in the American Chemical Society journal Nano Letters. They could be important to materials scientists using graphene in applications where its intrinsic strength is a key feature, like composite materials and stretchable or flexible electronics.

Graphene sheets grown in a lab, often via chemical vapor deposition, are almost never perfect arrays of hexagons, Yakobson said. Domains of graphene that start to grow on a substrate are not necessarily lined up with each other, and when these islands merge, they look like quilts, with patterns going in every direction.

The lines in polycrystalline sheets are called grain boundaries, and the atoms at these boundaries are occasionally forced to change the way they bond by the unbreakable rules of topology. Most common of the "defects" in graphene formation studied by Yakobson's group are adjacent five- and seven-atom rings that are a little weaker than the hexagons around them.

The team calculated that the particular seven-atom rings found at junctions of three islands are the weakest points, where cracks are most likely to form. These are the end points of grain boundaries between the islands and are ongoing trouble spots, the researchers found.

"In the past, people studying what happens at the grain boundary looked at it as an infinite line," Yakobson said. "It's simpler that way, computationally and conceptually, because they could just look at a single segment and have it represent the whole."

But in the real world, he said, "these lines form a network. Graphene is usually a quilt made from many pieces. I thought we should test the junctions."

They determined through molecular dynamics simulation and "good old mathematical analysis" that in a graphene quilt, the grain boundaries act like levers that amplify the tension (through a dislocation pileup) and concentrate it at the defect either where the three domains meet or where a grain boundary between two domains ends. "The details are complicated but, basically, the longer the lever, the greater the amplification on the weakest point," Yakobson said. "The force is concentrated there, and that's where it starts breaking."

"Force on these junctions starts the cracks, and they propagate like cracks in a windshield," said Vasilii Artyukhov, a postdoctoral researcher at Rice and co-author of the paper. "In metals, cracks stop eventually because they become blunt as they propagate. But in brittle materials, that doesn't happen. And graphene is a brittle material, so a crack might go a really long way."

Yakobson said that conceptually, the calculations show what metallurgists recognize as the Hall-Petch Effect, a measure of the strength of crystalline materials with similar grain boundaries. "It's one of the pillars of large-scale material mechanics," he said. "For graphene, we call this a pseudo Hall-Petch, because the effect is very similar even though the mechanism is very different.

"Any defect, of course, does something to the material," Yakobson said. "But this finding is important because you cannot avoid the effect in polycrystalline graphene. It's also ironic, because polycrystals are often considered when larger domains are needed. We show that as it gets larger, it gets weaker.

"If you need a patch of graphene for mechanical performance, you'd better go for perfect monocrystals or graphene with rather small domains that reduce the stress concentration."

###

Co-authors of the paper are graduate student Zhigong Song and his adviser, Zhiping Xu, an associate professor of engineering mechanics at Tsinghua. Xu is a former researcher in Yakobson's group at Rice. Yakobson is Rice's Karl F. Hasselmann Professor of Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and professor of chemistry.

The Air Force Office of Scientific Research and the National Science Foundation supported the work at Rice. The National Natural Science Foundation of China, the Tsinghua University Initiative Scientific Research Program and Tsinghua National Laboratory for Information Science and Technology of China supported the work at Tsinghua.

David Ruth

Mike Williams
713-348-6728
mikewilliams@rice.edu

Read the abstract at: http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/nl400542n.

This news release can be found online at: http://news.rice.edu/2013/03/28/even-graphene-has-weak-spots/.

Follow Rice News and Media Relations via Twitter @RiceUNews.

Related Materials:

Yakobson Group: http://biygroup.blogs.rice.edu

Zhiping Xu Group: http://www.cel-tsinghua.org/xuzp/people.html

Graphic for download: http://news.rice.edu/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/0328_GRAPHENE-web.jpg

New work by theorists at Rice and Tsinghua universities shows defects in polycrystalline forms of graphene will sap its strength. The illustration from a simulation at left shows a junction of grain boundaries where three domains of graphene meet with a strained bond in the center. At right, the calculated stress buildup at the tip of a finite-length grain boundary. (Credit: Vasilii Artyukhov/Rice University)

---

[ | E-mail | Share ]

?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-03/ru-egh032813.php

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Selena Gomez 'So Stoked' To Perform New Single At MTV Movie Awards

'Spring Breakers' star will take the stage with 'Come & Get It' on Sunday, April 14.
By Jocelyn Vena, with reporting by Josh Horowitz

Selena Gomez
Photo: Flanigan/ Getty Images

Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1704408/selena-gomez-mtv-movie-awards.jhtml

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High court hears case on federal benefits for gays

Wyatt Tan, left and Mark Nomadiou, both of New York City, kiss in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, prior to the start of a court hearing on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the second of back-to-back gay marriage cases, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Wyatt Tan, left and Mark Nomadiou, both of New York City, kiss in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, prior to the start of a court hearing on the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the second of back-to-back gay marriage cases, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

With the Capitol in the background, supporters of gay marriage carry signs in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, before the court heard arguments on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the second of back-to-back gay marriage case, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

A group from Alabama prays in front of the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, March 27, 2013, before the court's hearing on the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). In the second of back-to-back gay marriage case, the Supreme Court is turning to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

From left, plaintiffs Sandy Stier, with her partner Kris Perry, and their twin sons Spencer Perry and Elliott Perry, all from Berkeley, Calif., meet with reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Tuesday, March 26, 2013, after the court heard arguments on California's voter approved ban on same-sex marriage, Proposition 8. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? In the second of back-to-back gay marriage cases, the Supreme Court turned Wednesday to a constitutional challenge to the law that prevents legally married gay Americans from collecting federal benefits generally available to straight married couples.

A section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act says marriage may only be a relationship between a man and a woman for purposes of federal law, regardless of state laws that allow same-sex marriage.

Lower federal courts have struck down the measure, and now the justices, in nearly two hours of scheduled argument Wednesday, will consider whether to follow suit.

A somewhat smaller crowd gathered outside the court Wednesday, mainly gay marriage supporters who held American and rainbow flags. One man wore a rainbow flag as a cape. "Two, four, six, eight, we do not discriminate," a group chanted at one point. "If this isn't the time, when is the time? When does equality come into play?" asked Laura Scott, 43, of Columbia, Md.

The DOMA argument follows Tuesday's case over California's ban on same-sex marriage, a case in which the justices indicated they might avoid a major national ruling on whether America's gays and lesbians have a right to marry. Even without a significant ruling, the court appeared headed for a resolution that would mean the resumption of gay and lesbian weddings in California.

Marital status is relevant in more than 1,100 federal laws that include estate taxes, Social Security survivor benefits and health benefits for federal employees. Lawsuits around the country have led four federal district courts and two appeals courts to strike down the law's Section 3, which defines marriage. In 2011, the Obama administration abandoned its defense of the law but continues to enforce it. House Republicans are now defending DOMA in the courts.

Same-sex marriage is legal in nine states and the District of Columbia. The states are Connecticut, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Vermont and Washington. It also was legal in California for less than five months in 2008.

The justices chose for their review the case of Edith Windsor, 83, of New York, who sued to challenge a $363,000 federal estate tax bill after her partner of 44 years died in 2009.

Windsor, who goes by Edie, married Thea Spyer in 2007 in Canada after doctors told them that Spyer would not live much longer. She suffered from multiple sclerosis for many years. Spyer left everything she had to Windsor.

There is no dispute that if Windsor had been married to a man, her estate tax bill would have been zero.

The U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals in New York agreed with a district judge that the provision of DOMA deprived Windsor of the constitutional guarantee of equal protection of the law.

Like the Proposition 8 case from California, Windsor's lawsuit could falter on a legal technicality without a definitive ruling from the high court.

The House Republicans, the Obama administration and a lawyer appointed by the court especially to argue the issue were to spend the first 50 minutes Wednesday discussing whether the House Republican leadership can defend the law in court because the administration decided not to, and whether the administration forfeited its right to participate in the case because it changed its position and now argues that the provision is unconstitutional.

If the Supreme Court finds that it does not have the authority to hear the case, Windsor probably would still get her refund because she won in the lower courts. But there would be no definitive decision about the law from the nation's highest court, and it would remain on the books.

On Tuesday, the justices weighed a fundamental issue: Does the Constitution require that people be allowed to marry whom they choose, regardless of either partner's gender? The fact that the question was in front of the Supreme Court at all was startling, given that no state recognized same-sex unions before 2003 and 40 states still don't allow them.

But it was clear from the start of the 80-minute argument in a packed courtroom that the justices, including some liberals who seemed open to gay marriage, had doubts about whether they should even be hearing the challenge to California's Proposition 8, the state's voter-approved gay marriage ban.

Justice Anthony Kennedy, the potentially decisive vote on a closely divided court, suggested the justices could dismiss the case with no ruling at all.

Such an outcome would almost certainly allow gay marriages to resume in California but would have no impact elsewhere.

There was no majority apparent for any particular outcome, and many doubts were expressed by justices about the arguments advanced by lawyers for the opponents of gay marriage in California, by the supporters and by the Obama administration, which is in favor of same-sex marriage rights. The administration's entry into the case followed President Barack Obama's declaration of support for gay marriage.

On the one hand, Kennedy acknowledged that same-sex unions had only become legal recently in some states, a point stressed repeatedly by Charles Cooper, the lawyer for the defenders of Proposition 8. Cooper said the court should uphold the ban as a valid expression of the people's will and let the vigorous political debate over gay marriage continue.

But Kennedy pressed him also to address the interests of the estimated 40,000 children in California who have same-sex parents.

"They want their parents to have full recognition and full status," Kennedy said. "The voice of those children is important in this case, don't you think?"

Yet when Theodore Olson, the lawyer for two same-sex couples, urged the court to support such marriage rights everywhere, Kennedy feared such a ruling would push the court into "uncharted waters." Olson said the court similarly ventured into the unknown in 1967 when it struck down bans on interracial marriage in 16 states.

Kennedy challenged the accuracy of that comment: He noted that other countries had had interracial marriages for hundreds of years.

The justice also made clear he did not like the rationale of the federal appeals court that struck down Proposition 8, even though it cited earlier opinions in favor of gay rights that Kennedy had written.

That appeals court ruling applied only to California, where same-sex couples briefly had the right to marry before the state's voters in November 2008 adopted Proposition 8, a constitutional amendment that defined marriage as the union of a man and a woman.

Reflecting the high interest in the cases, the court planned to release an audio recording of Wednesday's argument shortly after it concludes, just as it did Tuesday.

The Tuesday audio can be found at: http://tinyurl.com/dxefy2a .

___

Associated Press writer Jessica Gresko contributed to this report.

___

Follow Mark Sherman on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/shermancourt

Follow Jessica Gresko on Twitter at: www.twitter.com/jessicagresko

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-03-27-Supreme%20Court-Gay%20Marriage/id-3f7423360f364b45a45d834f8b1fd11b

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Facebook Messenger iOS app enables free calling feature for UK users

While Americans and Canadians have enjoyed making app-based voice calls to their Facebook contacts since January, their overseas buddies have missed out -- until now. The social network's iOS Messenger app has just doled out the calling feature to the UK and potentially other parts of Europe too, although we haven't yet been able to confirm exactly how far and wide the update reaches. It's worth noting that the feature isn't enabled on the Android iteration yet, either. The new calling service isn't powered by Skype this time, although it works in a similarly uncomplicated way, with the ability to leave voice messages with any busy users. According to Pocket-lint, this is an experimental version, warning that you might experience a few bugs and glitches as you play around with it, but hey, you're getting free calls to (most of) your friends, barring any data charges. We've tested the new feature and it's working for several of our UK editors over both WiFi and 3G, but if you haven't already picked up the messaging app yet, you can grab it at the source below.

Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadgetmobile/~3/gzqCvkH5GYw/

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Evernote Looks For Intl Growth, Inks Strategic Partnership With Deutsche Telekom, Starting With 1-Year Premium Accounts In Germany

Evernote, the popular note taking and personal organizer app, today took another step in its strategy to ramp up its international presence, with news that it has inked a strategic partnership with Deutsche Telekom, the German carrier that also owns T-Mobile. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed -- we are asking -- but for now the first part of the deal will mean that all DT customers in Germany will get one year of Evernote Premium service -- a deal that usually costs ?40 ($52) annually for additional storage space and other features. With DT claiming 37 million mobile and 22 million?fixed line customers, the partnership potentially adds up to 60 million more users to Evernote's platform.

Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/NdW_BvCDgjY/

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Should You Invest $1 Into Customer Service Or Marketing?

Published on March 11th, 2013 by Mitchell Harper

About the Author Mitch is the co-founder of Bigcommerce. He loves helping small businesses succeed through the use of simple software and regularly keynotes on topics including e-commerce, entrepreneurship, Saas and mostly importantly, how to build a great company culture. Today he runs the company alongside co-founder Eddie and our almost 200 person team with offices in Sydney, Australia and Austin, Texas. He can be emailed at mitch@bigcommerce.com

Virgin America staff - keep reading, it will make sense shortly...

Customer service (or client success as we call it) is an area of business that has always fascinated me. Back when Eddie and I started Bigcommerce, I would run client success with our small team of 10 in Austin and just by being honest, genuine and empathetic towards clients, you can very quickly turn a 2 minute phone call into the highlight of their day.

It seems I?m in the minority of founders when I continue to tell clients, partners, the press and our people that I truly see customer service as a profit center not a cost center. And in this brief article I?d like to explain my view.

You see, technically customer service is a cost center on the books, but the absolute best (and most profitable) companies in their respective industries always invest and even over invest in customer service. All of them.

Here are some of the companies that come to mind to demonstrate what I?ve mentioned above. If you?ve used their products or services I?m sure you?ll nod your head as you read the list:

• Apple
• Southwest Airlines
• Virgin Australia
• Virgin America
• American Express

It?s no coincidence that these are also some of the most profitable companies in the world. One particular example of stellar customer service comes to mind that really cemented in my head that investing in customer service can be unbelievably profitable and can be sustained over the medium and long term.

Back in 2011 I signed up for an American Express credit card. Everything went fine, I filled in the form, got approved and received my card in the mail. A few weeks later I decided to cancel the card because I found a better deal, but had already paid the $395 annual fee.

So I called the American Express customer service line, got put through to someone in billing and asked to cancel. After being asked if there was anything they could do to make me reconsider (I politely said no), the woman on the other end of the phone proceeded to cancel my card. Things went smoothly and I was ready to end the call, when she said:

?I noticed you?ve paid our $395 annual fee. Let me go ahead and make sure that gets refunded to you in the next few days.?

I hadn?t expected a refund on the annual fee nor did I ask for it, but she went ahead and asked me if I wanted it refunded (of course I said yes) and it was deposited into my account 48 hours later.

Now, I cancelled my Amex card but how many people do you think I?ve told about this positive experience? So far I can count about 8. Amex could of course attribute part of their marketing spend directly to me signing up for a card, but what did it cost them to have me ?sneeze? (as Seth Godin likes to call it) about their amazing customer service to eight people?

Absolutely nothing. Zero. Zilcho.

Like their competitors, they could?ve outsourced all of their customer service to a remote location with a primary focus on reducing call time and increasing calls taken per rep per hour, but they didn?t. Instead, each of their customer service reps are trained extremely well and put the customer experience above everything else, including revenue.

Is this true about your business?

Do you take every opportunity to go over and above to meet the needs of your customers or do you fight tooth and nail to stop every refund request? Are your customers likely to tell 8 people that you?re an amazing company, or that you stink?

These days it?s easy to outsource absolutely everything with the false belief that saving money will allow you to grow your business faster and increase your margins, but the intangible element here is word of mouth. What do your customers say to their friends, colleagues and family not just about your products but about your customer service and support?

If you?re not sure, then why not ask them by sending a free survey via email to your customers using a tool like SurveyMonkey? A CSAT (Customer SATisfaction) indicator like NPS (Net Promoter Score) can give you an idea of how you?re performing so far. And guess what the great news is? You can always improve if the survey response isn?t what you?d hoped.

A little example speaking from personal experience if you don?t mind?

In 2010 our CSAT was 82%, which meant that 82 out of every 100 clients rated our support Good, Very Good or Excellent. This was OK, but I always believed we could improve to get well above 90% consistently.

Fast forward to today and our CSAT is at 96% and climbing. I tell you this not to brag, but to show proof that if you?re dedicated to improving it, you?ll find a way.

Here are a few things we did to get our CSAT rating higher than all of the companies I mentioned previously in this article:

1. Listen more than you talk. You can do this with surveys, by getting a group of customers together in person or by including a way for them to give you feedback with every order you ship. The best companies listen more than they talk. We have two ears and only one mouth for a reason.
2. Set 3/6/12 and 24 month CSAT goals. Let?s say your CSAT is currently 63% and you want to get it to 85%. It might sound like a huge jump, but what if you set achievable goals for the next 24 months and work diligently towards them? You might aim for 65% within 3 months, 70% within 6 months, etc and work your way up, constantly improving as you go.
3. Be the face of customer service in your business. Whether it?s you or someone else in your business, have a ?the buck stops with me? attitude about customer service. When a customer isn?t happy, go out of your way to personally contact them and right your wrong. This is something that you should continue to do even as your business grows. Zappos built a $1BN business using just this simple concept.
4. Model other successful businesses. Think of the businesses you buy from regularly. Which of them impress you consistently with their customer service? What do they do differently to others? Copy them and take their ideas into your business. There?s no point reinventing the wheel if you can avoid it. Tony Robbins calls this modelling.
5. Surprise every customer. What would happen if, for every order you shipped, you included a handwritten note that thanked the customer for their order and included your name, photo and phone number? You know what would happen, so why not do it? Your word of mouth will go through the roof because no one else does it. And it?s so simple.
6. Care. It sounds so basic (duh?), but why do so few business owners care about customer service? If you have a deep respect for your customers and are sincere in your approach, you will build an amazingly loyal group of customers who will not only buy everything you sell and tell everyone they know about you, but they will also come to your defence publicly when you do stuff up (which you will, it?s inevitable).

So in the end, investing $1 in customer service is the same as investing $1 in marketing. The goal of marketing is to drive targeted leads to your business who then turn into customers and give you money in exchange for your product. By investing in customer service, you can turn a one-time purchaser into a life long customer who brings 7 others with her.

Now that?s the best approach to marketing I can think of, bar none.

Source: http://www.bigcommerce.com/ecommerce-blog/should-you-invest-1-into-customer-service-or-marketing/

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Deadly Skin Cancer Rate Drops in Women Who Take Aspirin

In an analysis of data obtained in the Women's Health Initiative Observational Study, researchers established a preventive relationship between the regular use of aspirin and the incidence of melanoma, the most deadly form of skin cancer -- and the fastest-growing cancer in the United States.

Aspirin Is Associated with Lower Melanoma Risk Among Postmenopausal Caucasian Women

The journal Cancer Monday published the results of data analysis from the study that examined statistics from nearly 60,000 postmenopausal Caucasian women age 50 to 79. Data for Caucasian women were chosen because the highest incidence rate of melanoma is found in this population, although people of any skin tone can develop this skin cancer.

The researchers noted that the women who reported regular use of aspirin had a 21 percent lower risk of melanoma than women who did not take aspirin. Additionally, longer periods of regular aspirin use were associated with even greater percentage differences in melanoma incidence between aspirin and non-aspirin users. The women who had reported regular aspirin use for five or more years experienced a 30 percent lower rate of melanoma incidence than their non-aspirin user counterparts.

The use of other non-steroidal anti-inflammatory agents, NSAIDS, did not confer any noted benefit to the risk of melanoma in the data review.

Researchers concluded that aspirin may well have chemopreventive properties in the development of melanoma. Clinical trials are the next suggested step to determine the validity of this conclusion.

Oklahoma's Incidence of Melanoma

It may be surprising to learn that Oklahoma, home to Oklahoma City, is ranked as the seventh sunniest place in the nation and yet has one of the lowest incident rates of melanoma nationwide. Exposure to the ultraviolet rays of the sun is a common risk factor of basal, squamous and melanoma -- the three basic types of skin cancer.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reveal Oklahoma to be one of 13 states and the District of Columbia with the lowest incidence rates of melanoma in the United States at the rate of 7.0 to 17.7 persons out of 100,000 developing this condition.

Conversely, Oklahoma ranks third-highest among all states for deaths due to melanoma, at a rate of 3.1 to 3.2 out of 100,000 people succumbing to the disease.

All races and ethnicities are vulnerable to developing melanoma, the most virulent form of skin cancer. Caucasian people have the highest incidence rate followed by American Indian/Alaska Native, Hispanic, Asian/Pacific Islander and blacks.

What Can Oklahomans and Others Do To Protect Themselves From Skin Cancer?

According to the Melanoma Research Foundation, in 2009 nearly 63,000 people in the United States were diagnosed with melanoma, resulting in more than 8,500 deaths. Projections for 2012 estimate over 76,000 such diagnoses with more than 9,000 deaths.

Controlling your risk factors for developing skin cancer is the most important step you can take for prevention, with early detection of any suspicious areas on your skin also being vital.

Should you begin taking aspirin daily to try and reduce your chances of melanoma? Only you and your doctor can answer that question. Until more scientific evidence is available, many doctors may hedge on this type of recommendation.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/deadly-skin-cancer-rate-drops-women-aspirin-200200674.html

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Police: India Gang Rape Suspect Kills Himself (Voice Of America)

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Marvel offers over 700 free first issue digital comics, might involve great powers and responsibilities

Looking to revise the whys, hows and who's who of the Marvel universe? Well, the movie-spinning comic book company wants to help you out, offering hundreds of first issue editions across the company's entire history. The free digital editions will cover perennial favorites like Spider-Man, the X-Men and Avengers, as well as slightly less mainstream hits and spin-offs. The promotion kicked off yesterday and -- tying in with the company's presence at SXSW -- will run until 11PM ET on Tuesday. The titles can be downloaded through either Marvel's official comics app or its web-based digital comics shop, although it appears US readers are having more luck downloading the digital comics -- we're getting error messages when trying to access it elsewhere. Of course, if you've already signed up to Marvel's Unlimited subscription service, there might not much here to pull you in, but this limited-time offer is unashamedly courting new readers and comic dabblers. If that sounds like you, start hunting down those hundreds of freebies at the source.

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We're live at Elon Musk's SXSW keynote

Electric cars and commercial space flight -- what more could a person want? The Tesla / SpaceX founder is bringing all of that to his keynote on this, this second day of South By Southwest Interactive. The exec has never been on to mince words, so this ought to be an interesting one. Join us after the break, won't you?

Filed under: Transportation, Science

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Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/03/09/were-live-at-elon-musks-sxsw-keynote/

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Chuck Hagel in Afghanistan: 'We're still at war'

Chuck Hagel arrived in Afghanistan for his first trip abroad as U.S. defense secretary. On the flight over he told the press that he was? traveling there to better understand "where we are in Afghanistan."

By Courney Kube, Pentagon producer, NBC News

Chuck Hagel arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday for his first trip there as the secretary of defense, saying, "We're still at war."

On the flight over, Hagel gave a short press briefing to set up the visit, saying that he was traveling to Afghanistan to thank the troops serving there and to better understand "where we are in Afghanistan."

Hagel would not talk specifics about the pace of U.S. troop drawdown through the end of 2014, saying that the president has not made his decision yet.

Asked whether he's concerned that the U.S. has forgotten about the war in Afghanistan, Hagel said, "I can't speak for the American people, or where we are on attention spans, but I would tell you now as the secretary of defense who has some responsibility for assuring that this transition be conducted responsibly, that we're still at war."

---

"We're still at war in Afghanistan," he later reiterated.

Then Hagel gave a somewhat convoluted reason for why the U.S. is at war there, saying the U.S. sought "to give the Afghan people an opportunity for their country, their people, to be free of terrorists and a government that was very hostile to what was going on in the neighborhood, and certainly as an effect of what happened September 11, 2001."? He added that "I think we need to follow through the reasons we first went there, what we have tried to do."

Hagel said that it "was never the intention of the United States to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely," but then added that the U.S. still has "troops in a different capacity in South Korea, troops in Europe, Okinawa."

Asked whether the war is reminiscent of Vietnam, Hagel said, "The only thing I would say is the world we live in today is so complicated. And we have to factor that into our policies and everything that we do.? And I think that, that speaks for itself, that complicated world that we live in."

Finally, asked about the recent North Korean threats, Hagel said that "the United States of America and our allies are prepared to deal with any threat, and any reality that occurs in the world."

He added, "We are aware of what's going on.? We have partnerships in that part of the world that are important, and I think that -- that that reality is --- is clear, and that's what we will -- will continue to do."

Jason Reed / AFP - Getty Images

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel (C) steps off his helicopter with Marine Gen. Joseph Dunford, commander of the international security force, near Camp Eggers in Kabul, Afghanistan, on Friday.

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Source: http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/03/08/17239340-defense-chief-chuck-hagel-in-afghanistan-were-still-at-war?lite

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Caffeine shot in nectar: for bee memory, not buzz

This undated image made available by Geraldine Wright shows a honeybee visiting a coffee flower. A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. The coffee plant's nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers. The work, by Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University in England and co-authors, was reported Thursday, March 7, 2013 in the journal Science. (AP Photo/Geraldine Wright)

This undated image made available by Geraldine Wright shows a honeybee visiting a coffee flower. A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. The coffee plant's nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers. The work, by Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University in England and co-authors, was reported Thursday, March 7, 2013 in the journal Science. (AP Photo/Geraldine Wright)

This undated image made available by Geraldine Wright shows a honeybee visiting a citrus flower. A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory. That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species. Some citrus plants such as orange and grapefruit blossoms have a small amount of caffeine. The work, by Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University in England and co-authors, was reported Thursday, March 7, 2013 in the journal Science. (AP Photo/Geraldine Wright)

NEW YORK (AP) ? Talk about a caffeine buzz: A new study says honeybees get a shot of caffeine from certain flowers, and it perks up their memory.

That spurs them to return to the same type of plant, boosting its prospects for pollination and the future of the plant species.

Maybe it shouldn't be a surprise that one of the flowers is the coffee plant. Its nectar offers about as much caffeine concentration as a cup of instant coffee, according to researchers.

But some citrus plants serve caffeine too, albeit in lower concentrations. It's found in the nectar of orange and grapefruit blossoms.

The caffeine helps a bee remember that the flower's scent promises a tasty payoff, the researchers said. So the bee will seek out those flowers, transferring their pollen.

How could researchers tell the caffeine boosts a bee's memory? In an experiment that used lab tools instead of flowers, they trained individual bees to expect a sugary drink when they smelled a certain floral scent. Some bees got nectar-like concentrations of caffeine in their drink; others didn't.

Then after a day or more, they exposed the insects to the same scent and watched to see if they extended their feeding tubes in response, a sign they were ready to sip. After 24 hours, the bees that had gotten caffeine were three times as likely to remember as bees that hadn't. After 72 hours, they were twice as likely.

Bees can't taste caffeine at levels found in nectar, but the researchers found it affects certain brain cells involved in memory.

The work, by Geraldine Wright of Newcastle University in England and co-authors, was reported Thursday by the journal Science.

Gene Robinson, a bee biologist at the University of Illinois who didn't participate in the study, said it provides strong evidence that coffee and citrus plants use the caffeine strategy. Now the question is how many plants might use this trick, he said in an email. After all, bees pollinate thousands of species.

Wright said in an email that other plants are now under study, but that only about 100 species can make caffeine.

___

Online:

Science: http://sciencemag.org

___

Malcolm Ritter can be followed at http://twitter.com/malcolmritter

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/b2f0ca3a594644ee9e50a8ec4ce2d6de/Article_2013-03-07-US-SCI-Caffeine-Buzzzzz/id-9a48853c521e4e41a5c03045e4389b25

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Earth gets a rush of weekend asteroid visitors

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., March 9 - An asteroid as big as a city block shot relatively close by the Earth on Saturday, the latest in a series of visiting celestial objects including an asteroid the size of a bus that exploded over Russia last month, injuring 1,500.

Discovered just six days ago, the 460-foot long (140-meter) Asteroid 2013 ET passed about 600,000 miles from Earth at 3:30 p.m. EST. That's about 2-1/2 times as far as the moon, fairly close on a cosmic yardstick.

"The scary part of this one is that it's something we didn't even know about," Patrick Paolucci, president of Slooh Space Camera, said during a webcast featuring live images of the asteroid from a telescope in the Canary Islands.

Moving at a speed of about 26,000 miles per hour, the asteroid could have wiped out a large city if it had impacted the Earth, added Slooh telescope engineer Paul Cox.

Asteroid 2013 ET is nearly eight times larger than the bus-sized asteroid that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia, on February 15. The force of the explosion, equivalent to about 440 kilotons of dynamite, created a shock wave that shattered windows and damaged buildings, injuring more than 1,5000 people.

Later that day, another small asteroid, known as DA14, passed about 17,200 miles from Earth, closer than the orbiting networks of communications and weather satellites.

"One of the reasons why we're finding more of these objects is that there are more people looking," Cox said.

Two other small asteroids, both about the size of the Russian meteor, will also be in Earth's neighborhood this weekend. Asteroid 2013 EC 20 passed just 93,000 miles away on Saturday - "a stone's thrown," said Cox.

On Sunday, Asteroid 2013 EN 20 will fly about 279,000 miles from Earth. Both were discovered just three days ago. "We know that the solar system is a busy place," said Cox.

"We're not sitting here on our pale, blue dot on our own in nice safety ... This should be a wakeup call to governments."

NASA has been tasked by the U.S. Congress to find and track all near-Earth objects 0.62 miles or larger in diameter, and estimates about 95 percent have been identified.

However, only about 10 percent of smaller asteroids have been discovered, NASA scientists have said.

The effort is intended to give scientists and engineers as much time as possible to learn if an asteroid or comet is on a collision course with Earth, in hopes of sending up a spacecraft or taking other measures to avert catastrophe.

About 100 tons of material from space hit Earth every day. Astronomers currently expect an object about the size of what hit Russia to strike the planet about every 100 years.

(Editing by Tom Brown and Todd Eastham)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/earth-gets-rush-weekend-asteroid-visitors-001945056.html

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Film project focuses on stories behind debris

JUNEAU, Alaska (AP) ? A ball. A boat. A little girl's sandal. Filmmakers are working to find ? and tell ? the stories behind some of the items that have washed up on North American shores following the deadly 2011 tsunami in Japan.

"Lost and Found" aims to reunite items discovered by beachcombers and others who feel compelled to return them to their rightful owners, co-director John Choi said.

A trailer for the film, which is still being produced, features two men affected by the items they've found. John Anderson found a volleyball on a beach in Washington state and Marcus Eriksen, head of an expedition that sailed from Japan to Hawaii to look for tsunami debris last year, found part of a boat. Neither of the items has been linked to their original owners yet.

"It was just like, Whoa, oh man! There's one of them balls with all the writing on it," Anderson says in the clip. "I'm more interested in the story behind it. You know, I would sure like to know what happened to these people. It would be nice to know that they survived or this was at home while they were away ? just this got washed away."

Eriksen said when his team first saw the boat, there was initial excitement, "because we had been watching the ocean for a few weeks, just wondering what's out there. But when we approached this, it quickly went from fascination and excitement to, like, the sobering reality that this was someone's property, and we were very quickly filled with compassion about, you know, who lost this boat."

"They didn't lose it," he said in the clip. "It was taken from them by natural disaster, so I feel compelled to find that individual."

Monday marks the two-year anniversary of the disaster, which devastated a long stretch of Japan's northeastern coast and killed thousands of people. The Japanese government estimated that 1.5 million tons of debris was floating in the ocean in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, but it's not clear how much is still floating.

Tsunami debris is tough to monitor and distinguish from the everyday debris ? much of it from Asia ? that has long been a problem along the West Coast. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said just 21 items of the more than 1,500 reports of possible tsunami debris ? including balls, a motorcycle and boats ? have been firmly traced back to the tsunami. However, the agency lists scores of other items along the West Coast and across the Pacific Ocean as potentially linked.

Choi first got the idea for the documentary about 1 ? years ago, after hearing a news report discussing a tsunami debris field. He started thinking about what might wash ashore, and how cool it would be if there was an effort to return found items.

He connected with co-director Nicolina Lanni. At the time, he said, nothing had washed ashore. The effort took off after they met Seattle-based oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer, who shared his thoughts on what might happen and encouraged them in their effort.

The Canada-based filmmakers have been filming, on and off, for about a year. They established a network of contributors, and at times have been involved in trying to track down information on items found, like the little pink-and-purple sandal. A woman they met at a recent beachcomber fair found the shoe in Hawaii. A picture of it was posted on the film's Facebook page, asking for help translating the handwriting on it.

So far, he said, the team is looking at six stories, three of which involve items already traced to their owners.

"Our film is about 3 countries, 2 continents, separated by the great vastness of the Pacific Ocean coming together to share in the memories, mourn the losses and find great joy in the reuniting of something once thought to be lost forever but has now been found," a description of the project, on the Facebook page, says.

Additional filming is planned for North America this spring and Japan this summer. The filmmakers have been raising money, to help with costs.

Choi hopes to have the documentary released by the third anniversary of the disaster.

___

Online: http://www.lostandfoundthefilm.ca/the-film-2

To watch the trailer: http://www.hotdocs.ca/docignite/project/lost_found

http://www.facebook.com/lostandfoundthefilm

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/film-project-focuses-stories-behind-debris-084809136.html

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Elizabeth Warren Wants HSBC Bankers Jailed for Money Laundering

Elizabeth Warren has a question: How much money does a bank have to launder before people go to jail?

Warren, the Democratic senator from Massachusetts and financial-regulatory maven, posed that question numerous times to financial regulators at a Senate Banking Committee hearing Thursday on banks and money laundering.

In December, U.S. Justice Department officials announced that HSBC, Europe's largest bank, would pay a $1.92 billion fine after laundering $881 million for drug cartels in Mexico and Colombia. At the time, the Justice Department disputed accusations that it views some banks as too big to prosecute.

The two regulators, Under Secretary for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence David S. Cohen and Federal Reserve Governor Jerome H. Powell, deflected Warren's questions, saying that criminal prosecutions are for the Justice Department to decide.

"If you're caught with an ounce of cocaine, the chances are good you're going to jail. If it happens repeatedly, you may go to jail for the rest of your life," an exasperated Warren said, as she wrapped up her questioning. "But evidently, if you launder nearly a billion dollars for drug cartels and violate our international sanctions, your company pays a fine and you go home and sleep in your own bed at night - every single individual associated with this - and I just think that's fundamentally wrong."

H/T Mother Jones's Erika Eichelberger

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Source: http://news.yahoo.com/elizabeth-warren-wants-hsbc-bankers-jailed-money-laundering-223006371--abc-news-politics.html

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Obama, GOP leaders enjoy swanky D.C. meal

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., left, Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., second left, Sen. Pat Toomey, R-Pa., Sen. Richard Burr,??UPDATE: The president picked up the tab!

Painful spending cuts may have led the White House to halt public tours, but President Barack Obama and Republican senators may need to loosen their belts, not tighten them, after their peacemaking dinner at superswank Plume restaurant on Wednesday.

How swank? The eatery features a menu with a $1,776?per person?price tag, excluding tax and tip. However, it was unclear how much was actually spent.

After the meal, which ran about two hours and twenty minutes, the White House let it be known that Obama "paid for the dinner out of his own pocket," according to a pool report from Susan Crabtree of the Washington Times.

?The President greatly enjoyed the dinner and had a good exchange of ideas with the Senators,? a senior administration official told Crabtree.

Per the White House via Crabtree, the other attendees were:

Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina
Senator Bob Corker of Tennessee
Senator Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire
Senator John McCain of Arizona
Senator Dan Coats of Indiana
Senator Tom Coburn of Oklahoma
Senator Richard Burr of North Carolina
Senator Mike Johanns of Nebraska
Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania
Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin
Senator John Hoeven of North Dakota
Senator Saxby Chambliss of Georgia

Obama had invited the GOP lawmakers to the tony Jefferson Hotel, home to Plume restaurant, in a bid to break the partisan logjam and forge a deficit-cutting deal. Plume is widely considered among D.C.'s finest.

The group ?will be dining from the Plume menu," a hotel source told Yahoo News before the get-together began.

That hinted that they would not be ordering the actual "1776" menu, or even the more-modest-but-still-lavish $85 menu ? one dollar for every billion of the $85 billion in cuts slated to go into effect this year.

So what makes the $1,776 menu so special?

?It pairs the evening's ever-changing tasting menu with wines that date, collectively, over the past 237 years,? according to hotel spokeswoman Meaghan Donohoe.

?For instance, this could include a 20-year-old Champagne, grand cru white Burgundy, a Bordeaux from one of the five first growths, and a glass of Madeira from 1790,? she said.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/amid-spending-cuts-obama-gop-dine-style-193045298--politics.html

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Barnes & Noble signs licensing agreement with MGM, Lionsgate, National Geographic and more for Nook Video service

Barnes and Noble has just dealt up some good news for movie-loving owners of its Nook HD and HD+ slates, with the announcement of new licensing agreements with a host of studios. Lionsgate, MGM, Paramount, Relativity Media as well as National Geographic, Little Pim and Film Buff are all part of the new wave of additions to the Nook Video line-up. This means titles such as The Hunger Games, Mad Men, and the Twilight Movies will be available for rent or purchase starting today. Little Pim provides foreign language learning for kids, so there's something to expand the minds of the little ones too. This, combined with that UltraViolet integration and the odd item at the FCC suggests that Barnes & Noble is taking its media content offering more seriously than ever. We're certainly not complaining.

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Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/ulL1XSejfZQ/

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NY hit-and-run suspect waives extradition from Pa.

Julio Acevedo is escorted to a hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse Thursday, March 7, 2013, in Allentown, Pa. Acevedo was arrested in Pennsylvania on Wednesday after a friend arranged his surrender and was ordered held without bail. He is a suspect in a hit-and-run crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband on their way to a hospital in New York. Their premature baby, delivered after the crash, later died. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Julio Acevedo is escorted to a hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse Thursday, March 7, 2013, in Allentown, Pa. Acevedo was arrested in Pennsylvania on Wednesday after a friend arranged his surrender and was ordered held without bail. He is a suspect in a hit-and-run crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband on their way to a hospital in New York. Their premature baby, delivered after the crash, later died. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Julio Acevedo is escorted to a hearing at the Lehigh County Courthouse Thursday, March 7, 2013, in Allentown, Pa. Acevedo was arrested in Pennsylvania on Wednesday after a friend arranged his surrender and was ordered held without bail. He is a suspect in a hit-and-run crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband on their way to a hospital in New York. Their premature baby, delivered after the crash, later died. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)

Pennsylvania State Police, along with New York City police officers, transport Julio Acevedo, 44, from the State Police Barracks in Bethlehem, Pa, Wednesday night, March 6, 2013, to the Lehigh County Prison. Acevedo was wanted by the New York City Police in connection with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in the death of expectant parents Nachman and Raizy Glauber. Their premature child also died as a result of the accident. (AP Photo/Tim Wynkoop)

RETRANSMITTED FOR IMPROVED TONING - In this Wednesday, March 6, 2013 photo, Pennsylvania State Police, along with New York City police officers, transport Julio Acevedo, 44, from the State Police Barracks in Bethlehem, Pa., to the Lehigh County Prison. Acevedo was wanted by the New York City Police in connection with leaving the scene of an accident resulting in the death of expectant parents Nachman and Raizy Glauber. Their premature child also died as a result of the accident. (AP Photo/Tim Wynkoop)

ALLENTOWN, Pa. (AP) ? A man arrested in Pennsylvania in connection with a gruesome car crash that killed a pregnant woman and her husband on their way to a hospital waived extradition Thursday and will be taken back to New York.

Julio Acevedo, 44, surrendered to police in the parking lot of a Bethlehem convenience store on Wednesday and was later ordered held without bail overnight in Lehigh County Prison on a charge of being a fugitive.

Police in New York say Acevedo is wanted on a charge of leaving the scene of an accident. He is accused of speeding down a Brooklyn street at 60 mph early Sunday and crashing into a car carrying Nachman and Raizy Glauber, both 21, who died Sunday. Their premature son, delivered by cesarean section, died Monday.

Acevedo told Judge Kelly Banach he had finished the 11th grade, was unemployed and that he lives in Brooklyn with his mother. He wore an orange jump suit and was shackled at the ankles and wrists.

His surrender Wednesday evening was brokered by a friend who had been in touch with police earlier in the day. The friend met officers at New York's Grand Central Terminal and then led them to Acevedo in Bethlehem, about 80 miles away, police said. The friend had told police that Acevedo would surrender after consulting an attorney, but none was with him when he turned himself in, police said.

Acevedo told the Daily News that he was fleeing a gunman who was trying to shoot at him when his borrowed BMW slammed into a hired car carrying the couple. He told the newspaper he fled because he was worried he'd be killed. But police said there were no reports of shots fired in the area at the time of the wreck.

The couple belonged to a close-knit ultra-Orthodox Jewish community in Brooklyn, which is home to the largest community of ultra-Orthodox Jews outside Israel, more than 250,000. They were members of the Satmar Hasidic sect. The couple's son was buried Monday near his parents' graves, according to a spokesman for the community. About a thousand community members turned out for the young couple's funeral a day earlier.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/386c25518f464186bf7a2ac026580ce7/Article_2013-03-07-US-Expectant-Parents-Killed/id-4c2ad59f08834a80a51bc0e5ef98b2df

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