Dear friends,

Assad’s ruthless massacre of civilians in his attempt to crush the Syrian Spring is escalating. But a new international coalition led by Arab League members is meeting in 4 days and is our best hope to stop the bloodshed. Avaaz has a seat at the table and can bring the voices of world citizens directly to decision-makers. Let’s call on the coalition to end the violence now:

With each passing day, Syria’s crackdown on democracy protesters reaches new levels of horror — bombing crowded neighborhoods filled with innocent civilians, cutting off electricity and phones so families can’t call for help, and blocking medical aid to the wounded. But finally a flicker of hope is emerging that could stop the terror.

After the UN Security Council failed last week, Syria’s neighbours in the the Arab League are taking the lead. They have called other key powers to an emergency meeting in 4 days in Tunisia, and Avaaz will be sitting at the table with the Syrian democracy movement to deliver a clear mandate for strong action.

Right now, the level of public outrage could make the difference between forceful action and feckless diplomacy. Let’s deliver a 1 million-strong call to action, and press negotiators to move now to stop the bloodbath. Click below to sign the petition — it will be delivered directly to the delegates in the meeting:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/arab_league_save_syria_3/?vl

The student organizers and mothers who month after month have led peaceful marches for freedom are now facing down the full military might of Assad’s army. They are calling for the world’s help to ensure that the Syrian Spring does not die a gruesome death on the streets of Homs, Hama and Idlib.

So far, the Arab League and United Nations have failed to stop the slaughter. But the international community knows that they cannot postpone action any longer. There is no panacea to end this, but a combination of more targeted sanctions, humanitarian action, support to the opposition to form an alternative government that unites people across the sectarian divide, and a plan to help those fearful of regime change to defect, could tip the balance of power.

In situations like this one, a clear public proposal can force the hand of politicians and governments to take meaningful action fast. Let’s show those meeting this week the extent of global determination to save the Syrian Spring and end the bloodshed. Sign the urgent petition for action now:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/arab_league_save_syria_3/?vl

With so many challenges facing our globe, our community rarely campaigns on the same issue numerous weeks in a row. But the situation in Syria is dire and the Syrian people are counting on us not to let this opportunity to make a difference pass us by. Let’s come together one more time and show them that the world stands with them.

With hope and determination,

Ian, Jamie, Maria Paz, Allison, Andrew, Emma, Wissam, Stephanie, Bissan and the whole Avaaz team

More Information:

U.N. Rights Chief Decries Inaction Over Syrian Assault (New York Times)
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/14/world/middleeast/syrian-forces-continue-attack-on-homs.html

Syria rejects UN charges as Homs battered (AFP)
http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5j1pclwMLlv27cvsSseqnSzyCg2xw?docId=CNG.f403ea8aad2faad073236239e9b0c0df.af1

Tunis to host meeting on Syria on February 24 (Reuters)
http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/02/12/us-syria-arabs-friends-idUSTRE81B0DN20120212

Syrian regime ’emboldened’ by UN inaction, says human rights chief (The Guardian)
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/13/syrian-regime-emboldened-un-inaction?newsfeed=true

‘Heaviest shelling’ in Homs for days, say activists, as massacres reported (al Arabiya)
http://english.alarabiya.net/articles/2012/02/14/194498.html?newsfeed=true

Support the Avaaz Community!
We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

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Avaaz.org is a 13-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (“Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz’s biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

This message was sent to nevilleg729@gmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form. To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe@avaaz.org or click here.

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/world/ice-smashes-boats-apart-on-danube/story-fn6sb9br-1226276485901#ixzz1mxtDHBlq

Aussie scientists unveil single-atom transistor

Updated February 20, 2012 15:23:56

A team of Australian physicists has created the world’s first functioning single-atom transistor, which could prove a critical building block toward the development of super-fast computers.

The tiny electronic device, described today in a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, uses as its active component an individual phosphorus atom patterned between atomic-scale electrodes and electrostatic control gates.
While single-atom devices have been developed before, these had an error of about 10 nanometres in positioning of the atoms, which is large enough to affect functionality.
Professor Michelle Simmons, group leader and director of the ARC Centre for Quantum Computation and Communication at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), says it is the first time “anyone has shown control of a single atom in a substrate with this level of precise accuracy”.
“Several groups have tried this, but if you want to make a practical computer in the long-term you need to be able to put lots of individual atoms in,” she said.
“Then you find the separation between the atoms is quite critical so you need to have atomic precision to do that, so then you can also bring electrodes in to address each of those individual atoms.”

The UNSW team used a scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) to see and manipulate atoms at the surface of the crystal inside an ultra-high vacuum chamber.
Using a lithographic process, they patterned phosphorus atoms into functional devices on the crystal, then covered them with a non-reactive layer of hydrogen.
Hydrogen atoms were removed selectively in precisely defined regions with the super-fine metal tip of the STM.
A controlled chemical reaction then incorporated phosphorus atoms into the silicon surface.
Finally, the structure was encapsulated with a silicon layer and the device contacted electrically using an intricate system of alignment markers on the silicon chip to align metallic connects.
The electronic properties of the device were in excellent agreement with theoretical predictions for a single phosphorus atom transistor.
First author Dr Martin Fueschle says this individual position is very important if you want to use the transistor as a future quantum bit (or qbit).
“If you want to have precise control at this level you need to position the individual atoms with atomic precision with respect to control gates and electrodes,” he said.
The device is also remarkable, says Dr Fuechsle, because its electronic characteristics exactly match theoretical predictions undertaken with Professor Gerhard Klimeck’s group at Purdue University in the United States and Professor Hollenberg’s group at the University of Melbourne, the joint authors on the paper.
The team also believes the use of silicon to encase the transistor increases its potential for future manufacturing.
It is predicted that transistors will reach the single-atom level by about 2020 to keep pace with Moore’s Law, which describes an ongoing trend in computer hardware that sees the number of chip components double every 18 months.
“We really decided 10 years ago to start his program to try and beat that law,” Professor Simmons said.
“So here we are in 2012 and we’ve made a single-atom transistor about 8-10 years ahead of where industry is going to be.”

Topics:computers-and-technology, science-and-technology, australia

Dear Amazing Avaazers,

It feels like everything is happening exponentially.

In the last 30 days, our community has grown by 2.5 million people. We were already the largest political web movement ever, and yet we’re growing faster than anyone has seen before! We’re taking more actions, winning more victories, donating more and generating thousands more media hits in one month than we used to in a year. It’s thrilling, even a little scary, especially when we see that the pace is still accelerating…

Just to give a snapshot of the last few weeks —

• 5 million of us stood up to the ACTA and SOPA internet censorship bills, helping to put SOPA on ice, and putting ACTA under threat, with the President of the European Parliament and Germany, Poland and many other countries reconsidering their positions.
• we smuggled $1.8 million worth of medical supplies into Syria when no one else could, and raised $1.5 million more in donations, while our citizen journalists provided much of the world media’s information and images.
• we generated thousands of news articles on 20 different campaigns.
• our sex trafficking hotline generated information that will result in a major set of arrests this week (can’t say which country yet).
• we raised over 4 million dollars/euros/yen online to supercharge our work, and are growing our staff team like mad to keep up with the need.
• we ran over 40 campaigns, took over 10 million actions and told 25 million friends about campaigns we care about, on everything from deforestation in Brazil to the Murdoch scandal in the UK — and made a serious impact on many of these.

If all that wasn’t enough, we’re about to launch a couple of big projects (stay tuned) that will take our community to a whole NEW level!

It’s a thrilling privilege to serve this amazing community, and while the challenges we face are growing, the surge of spirited people rising to meet these challenges is growing even faster and stronger. We’ve come together and built something special, and it’s taking off. Let’s shoot for the stars.

With hope and excitement,

Ricken, Stephanie, Wen, Emma, Wissam, Veronique, Heather and the entire Avaaz team

PS – here’s some recent features on our community in the Economist, Times and Guardian. And here’s a radio piece by NPR on our work in Syria, and an LA Times article on our Internet freedom campaign.

Support the Avaaz Community!
We’re entirely funded by donations and receive no money from governments or corporations. Our dedicated team ensures even the smallest contributions go a long way.

---

Avaaz.org is a 13-million-person global campaign network that works to ensure that the views and values of the world’s people shape global decision-making. (“Avaaz” means “voice” or “song” in many languages.) Avaaz members live in every nation of the world; our team is spread across 13 countries on 4 continents and operates in 14 languages. Learn about some of Avaaz’s biggest campaigns here, or follow us on Facebook or Twitter.

This message was sent to nevilleg729@gmail.com. To change your email address, language, or other information, contact us via this form. To unsubscribe, send an email to unsubscribe@avaaz.org or click here.

To contact Avaaz, please do not reply to this email. Instead, write to us at www.avaaz.org/en/contact or call us at +1-888-922-8229 (US).