Monday, April 24, 2017

Seawolves Sweep Day One Doubleheader With No.3 Jacks

Humboldt State University Athletics

ROHNERT PARK, Calif.- No.3 Humboldt State Softball dropped day ones doubleheader against Sonoma State Friday afternoon. The Seawolves took game one 7-1 and game two 1-0. The Lumberjacks drop to 32-10 overall and 20-9 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play while Sonoma State improves to 34-14 overall and 24-10 in CCAA action. HSU got on the board first in game one after Winona Vigil was hit by a pitch then stole second base. Vigil moved to third on a sacrifice bun by Sydney Roberts. Vigil later scored on a groundout by Tiffany Hollingsworth. This ended up being the only run HSU scored against Gabby Dupree who went the distance for the Seawolves. Sonoma scored 4 runs on 5 hits in the bottom of the fourth and never looked back. They took game one 7-1. Game two saw a pitchers duel between the Jacks and Seawolves as HSU was only able to come up with 4 hits and Sonoma with 3. The Seawolves took advantage of a throwing error after a triple to score the only run of the game in the bottom of the first. Kalyn Paque went six strong innings allowing only 3 hits and striking out three batters. The Lumberjacks finish the four game series with a doubleheader tomorrow. Game one kicks off at 11 a.m. Print Friendly Version



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African-American veterans in mental health care are not as activated as White veterans : Newscenter : School of Medicine

Science & Research


INDIANAPOLIS – Patients who are activated--meaning they have the knowledge, skills and confidence to manage their health and health care--have better health outcomes. A new study provides evidence that male and female African-American veterans receiving outpatient mental health services are not as activated as White veterans.In addition to demonstrating an association between race and lower patient activation, the study shows that the relationship between African-American veterans and their mental health providers is not as strong as the relationship between White veterans and their providers. This difference persisted after adjusting for socio-demographic factors and the study participants’ length of time with their providers. Stronger patient-provider relationships--known as working alliances--have been linked to higher treatment adherence. The study also reported that the African-American veterans had significantly lower medication adherence rates than White veterans."A clear implication from this study is that one size does not fit all. We need to tailor our efforts to meet the needs of African-American veterans--and meet them where they are," said VA Center for Health Information and Communication, Regenstrief Institute and Indiana University Center for Health Services and Outcomes Research investigator Johanne Eliacin, PhD, the health services researcher who led the new study. "When it comes to being activated and engaged in their own health care, African-American veterans have more specific challenges that need to be better understood and addressed."There needs to be more research to develop strategies to motivate patients to be involved in their care and to work more effectively with their providers. And we need to learn how to help them sustain engagement over time." Dr. Eliacin is a clinical psychologist and psychological anthropologist. She also has an appointment as an assistant research professor in the Department of Psychology in the School of Science at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Her research focuses on sociocultural determinants of mental health and on reducing health disparities. ...

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Project ACCEPT Preparing Bilingual Teachers

CSUSM NewsCenter

The grant provides stipends for the K-12 teachers as well as funds for attending conferences and instructional materials.Working with local school districts is just one part of the grant. It is also helping to recruit new bilingual teachers through CSUSM’s teaching credentialing program. CSUSM students receive a $3,000 scholarship for completing the program, which includes two classes and a field experience in a bilingual setting. They also take a state exam to establish oral and written proficiency in Spanish.CSUSM student Christopher Norby is adding an English credential and the bilingual authorization to increase his hiring prospects.While many of the students in the program are native or heritage Spanish speakers, Christopher started learning Spanish in eighth grade. He continued taking Spanish classes through high school and earned a minor in it as a CSUSM undergrad.“I knew that this skill would be an advantage for me as an educator and was excited to hear about a Bilingual Authorization at the beginning of my credential program,” Christopher said.Hernandez is hoping more CSUSM students learn about the scholarship opportunity. They are awarding 16 this year and will have funding for 50 next year – 25 through the Dual Language Certificate Program and 25 through the Bilingual Authorization Program.Christopher said the program has been instrumental in helping him develop his teaching skills for English-learning students.“These students are often the most lost and in need of help at the high school level, especially in content area classrooms where there is little additional support,” he said. “Being able to use skills acquired in this class has made me more adaptable for the students that need my help. Having learned a second language myself and having been a language minority in my Spanish classes has made me more appreciative and relatable to the struggles of my language-learning students.”The grant also has a research component that ...

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Happening Today: Offices of Business Services and Procurement are Moving to the New CT Building

Inside MC Online

Today, Monday, April 24, 2017 the Offices of Business Services and Procurement will be closed for the day due to our move to the new Central Services (CT) Building. During this time, if you have an urgent matter regarding OBS or Procurement, please contact: Payroll Nancy McCathran: nancy.mccathran@montgomerycollege.edu Budget Linda Hickey: linda.hickey@montgomerycollege.edu Procurement Patrick Johnson: Patrick.johnson@montgomerycollege.edu Financial Services Monica Wong: monica.wong@montgomerycollege.edu OR Carl Young: carl.young@montgomerycollege.edu OR Donna Schena: donna.schena@montgomerycollege.edu Accounts Receivables will not be part of the move and office hours are not impacted. The offices will re-open for business with limited access on Tuesday, April 25, 2017. Our new address will be: 9221 Corporate Boulevard Rockville, MD 20850 We appreciate your understanding and patience while we transition to the new location. Regards, Donna Schena Donna.schena@montgomerycollege.edu 240-567-3085

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Rockford Student Nursing Organization Collects School Supplies for Youth Organization

News Beat

A new school year means new expenses, and sometimes, parents struggle to afford all the latest and greatest school supplies. In an effort to help alleviate the stress of school supply shopping, the Student Nursing Organization (SNO) at Rasmussen College’s Rockford campus donated supplies Aug. 20 to the Youth Services Network. “We chose this organization because they help underprivileged families in the area that don’t have a lot of resources,” SNO president Liz Schubert said. “I like knowing that it’s going to kids in the area. We do have quite a few schools with children from low income families that need school supplies. This was a great way for our organization to give back and prove that we are here and want to help people in our community.”  The Student Nursing Organization, which began in March 2014 and consists of around 30 members, made posters and flyers to advertise the initiative across the campus. Additionally, the SNO placed bins around campus to collect anonymous donations and promoted its cause on social media. The organization got lots of donations—everything from binders, paper, folders, crayons and cash. Members of the organization bought more supplies with any cash donations they received. For those in the nursing program interested in getting to know other fellow students and volunteer, SNO may be perfect for you. “We’re trying to get all [Rockford] nursing students involved in giving back to our area,” Schubert said. The SNO has been involved in an array of volunteer acts, including a blood pressure drive with UPS, Relay for Life, a bake sale and the school supply drive. It is in the process of getting involved with the Light the Night Walk for leukemia and lymphoma disorders this month. 


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PayScale puts Miami's ROI at No. 1 in Ohio; Money magazine ranks Miami among top 25 in U.S.

Miami University - Top Stories







Miami University is the No. 1 public university in Ohio by return on investment according to a just-released report by PayScale Inc.
The 2017 rankings are based on in-state tuition. PayScale uses a 20-year ROI that "measures the additional income a bachelor’s-only graduate earns over a high school graduate given the costs of their education.”
There are about 1,800 schools included in the overall PayScale College ROI list; data is listed for 966 publics (both in-state and out-of-state cost structures are included). Miami fares among the top 10 percent of public schools in the report.
Using PayScale’s data, Money magazine ranked “state schools most likely to pay off,” naming Miami as one of its top 25 national public schools.
Like PayScale, Money magazine looked at “the 20-year return on investment on in-state tuition, but then factored in the school’s six-year graduation rate, eliminating any school with fewer than three-quarters of students earning a degree in that time period.”
PayScale’s data is collected from 1.3 million college-educated workers who completed PayScale’s Employee Survey between February 2007-February 2017. The average sample size for a school included in the report is 792 alumni profiles.


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Moments with Marsalis and Jazz at Lincoln Center

UNCG Now

When the world’s most renowned trumpet player brings the world’s most celebrated jazz orchestra to campus, that’s big. When the performers take the time to hear students play, give critiques, field questions and share their wealth of experience, that can be life-changing.
Composer, band leader and advocate for the arts Wynton Marsalis visited UNCG with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra (JLCO) last Thursday as part of the University Performing Arts Series. In the afternoon before the big performance, Marsalis held a public conversation with Interim Director of the UNCG Jazz Studies program Chad Eby in Taylor Theatre. Marsalis spoke about his life and music training, jazz history, what it takes to play the music of Duke Ellington and his general view of the world.
Wynton Marsalis (right, playing trumpet) performs with the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra on Thursday night in Greensboro.
Prior to the talk, UNCG music students had the exclusive opportunity to work with members of the orchestra in clinics throughout the Music Building. Students formed jazz combos to play for the orchestra members, and the student musicians heard critiques and encouragement from some of the best jazz players in the world.
“Those cats can play, and they made me want to dance,” said freshman jazz studies major and piano player Sean Mason. “Dan Nimmer (JLCO pianist) was a cool guy, and so were the other members of the group. I think those are connections that I’ll keep for a lifetime.”
“A once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” said Mason’s combo-mate, music performance graduate student and vibraphone player Chris Thompson. “It’s always humbling to get a critique from those who are leading the way.”
The UNCG students also impressed the orchestra members.
“They were swinging, they had a good idea about the music, they knew their tunes, they were receptive,” said JLCO trumpet player Tatum ...

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A guide for Secretary Tillerson: Let State focus on diplomacy, USAID be accountable for assistance

Latest From Brookings

Rumors abound, most recently in an article today in Foreign Policy that, along with draconian cuts to foreign assistance, the administration is contemplating merging the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) into the Department of State.


This follows a March 13 White House executive order directing agencies within six months to submit a reorganization plan to improve “efficiency, effectiveness, and accountability.” An April 21 memo from the Office of Management and Budget provided more specifics on the process for agencies developing plans to reduce civilian workforce and to restructure.
During his nomination hearing, Secretary of State Tillerson referenced a forthcoming State Department and USAID strategic review. There are various reports he is planning to establish an internal task force, or possibly a commission with external advisers, to recommend ways to reorganize both institutions.
Any foreign affairs restructuring must be undertaken carefully and strategically, guided by an understanding that development and diplomacy are distinct disciplines with distinct expertise and with distinct but interlocking objectives. Both are required to achieve our national interest. They need to inform and coordinate with the other, and each needs to be allowed to focus on its primary mandate.
Development involves country-level work, often at the local, grassroots level, with a range of governmental and non-governmental entities to achieve priority objectives. This is accomplished by designing and implementing strategies, policies, and programs to reduce global poverty and promote economic, social, and political progress. Diplomacy, on the other hand, is responsible for setting and implementing U.S. foreign policy. It focuses mainly on maintaining strong relations with the national governments and with international organizations.
Diplomacy requires the skills of policy analysis, negotiating, patience, and country expertise, while focusing on immediate impacts. Development requires expertise on societal change, sector workings, and program operations, while having more consideration for long-term effects. Put another way, the State Department recruits for policy and ...

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Greater Chicago Area Systems Research Workshop (GCASR) 2017

News – Illinois Tech Today

The Sixth Greater Chicago Area Systems Research Workshop (GCASR) 2017 will be held on Monday, April 24 at The McCormick Tribune Campus Center (MTCC). GCASR is the premier venue to promote awareness, collaboration, and synergy amongst academic and corporate systems researchers in the greater Chicago area. The workshop includes one full day of high-quality speakers, content, and engagement, with topics covering high-performance and distributed computing, security and reliability, machine learning, computer architecture, and more. The program features two keynotes (including Cleversafe founder Chris Gladwin), 12 technical talks by faculty, researchers, and industry people, and 50+ research posters.
Computer Science Professors Zhiling Lan and Ioan Raicu are the local organizing chairs of GCASR 2017.



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COD Fashion Students Hit the Runway with 'Dimensions' on May 12

News at College of DuPage




By Brian KleemannCollege of DuPage Fashion Studies students will showcase their original designs during
“Dimensions,” the annual fashion show that will take place at 7:30 p.m. on Friday,
May 12, in the Student Resource Center, Room 2000, on the College’s main campus in
Glen Ellyn.Fashion Studies adjunct faculty members Melissa Heischberg and Vin Reed, who are coordinating
this year’s event, said students have plenty of room to interpret the theme in their
own ways.“We know it’s a broad topic, but the students are having fun as they explore how to
define ‘dimension’ in their own work,” she said. “In addition, every year we have
a new production team, so they bring in fresh voices and outlooks that give the show
a unique look and feel.”Part of this year’s show will feature student work selected by “Project Runway” all-star
and COD alumna Peach Carr. With her style dubbed “Country Club Chic” by “Project Runway”
host and mentor Tim Gunn, Carr was featured on the hit reality show “Project Runway”
during Season 8 and All Stars Season 2 and finds inspiration from her childhood in
the music, art and vibe of the 1960s and 1970s. Last fall, Carr worked with Fashion
Studies students and then headed a jury that selected from submitted pieces.Reed said a new concept this year pairs Fashion Promotion students with designers
to create and market personal brands.“We want the fashion design students to begin thinking about their brands and we asked
the promotion students to find creative ways to share the designers’ concepts for
the runway,” he said. “We want students to see this show not only as a showcase for
their work but also as a stepping stone to the future. You can start a fashion empire
anywhere, and if our students are creating points of view that are unique and authentic,
...

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Anita Hill on O'Reilly harassment charges: People need to keep coming forward

Brandeis University News

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Conservative talk show host Bill O'Reilly has been dropped from the Fox News Channel's lineup following an investigation into sexual harassment allegations.
USA TODAYAnita Hill(Photo: Mike Lovett, Brandeis University)SAN FRANCISCO —  A quarter century after her testimony in Senate confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill says it's time for a nation that's too easily accepting of men's excuses for sexual harassment to change the cultural status quo.Take Donald Trump being elected president after a tape revealed his boasts of forcing himself on women. Or top-rated cable news host Bill O'Reilly, who was ousted Thursday after the report of multiple settlements involving sexual harassment allegations against him. Trump dismissed talk of grabbing women by their sexual organs as locker room banter, and O'Reilly called the claims against him "completely unfounded.""We have a whole host of people accepting that as just something men do as opposed to understanding it as predatory behavior that is not only immoral but is also illegal," Hill told USA TODAY in a rare interview.There is one big difference today. Even in a country still roiled by gender and racial tensions, women are finding their voices and telling their stories in ways that were not possible in 1991 when the nation was gripped for two nonstop weeks by Hill and her televised testimony, the lurid details of which Thomas vehemently denied.Susan Fowler, a female software engineer, reached millions on her personal blog with a detailed account of rampant sexism at ride-hailing company Uber. And, in response to a unnerving string of revelations about workplace harassment, women have flooded social media with raw recollections ripped from their everyday work lives of being subjected to leering bosses and crude remarks, of being groped and assaulted."The idea that these kinds of behaviors can stay hidden is fading because there are ways ...

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Embry-Riddle Prescott Introduces Executive Master of Science in Safety Science Degree Program

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The program allows students to study from the comfort of their home or place of business casually and at their own pace. Students will then attend hands-on training experiences at the Embry-Riddle Prescott campus only three times a semester."The Executive MS program provides an opportunity for folks already working in the safety field to earn an advanced degree and further their career goals, without pausing their lives," said Dr. Erin Bowen, Chair of the Behavioral and Safety Sciences Department at Embry-Riddle Prescott.Courses and topics covered in the program include Occupational Safety, Ergonomics, Safety Training & Leadership, and Human Factors. As the world's most respected university in aviation and aerospace education, experience additional opportunities to learn aviation safety and aircraft accident investigation in our one-of-a-kind aircraft accident laboratory."Embry-Riddle gives students the freedom to explore industries of all types; from aviation, to national parks, to manufacturing plants, to mining companies and so on," said graduate student Mason Saldana. "Additionally, the program now allows students to become Graduate Safety Practitioners, giving students an enormous advantage compared to safety programs provided at other universities."Already well known in the aviation community, Embry-Riddle is steadily becoming one of the best occupational safety programs in the country. Graduate students solidify lifelong networking connections and create bonds with peers that are always eager to help-- either by opening new employment opportunities, teaming up to complete a contract, or by assisting in new research projects."The Executive format brings together the best of both educational worlds – the flexibility of working from your own location combined with the unique, necessary hands-on training that has made Embry-Riddle the leader in technical education," added Bowen.For more information on this unique new program, visit: http://prescott.erau.edu/degrees/master/safety-science/

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Former Sox Slugger David Ortiz Coming to Campus

News

Former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz is coming to UMass Boston on May 4 to talk to students about life on and off the field.Ortiz’s talk, made possible by the Student Arts and Events Council, will take place from 3:30-4:15 p.m. in the Clark Athletic Center gymnasium.

Admission is $1 for students, and $5 for faculty and staff, with a max of two tickets per valid UMass Boston ID. Doors open at 2:45 p.m.

Ortiz, known as “Big Papi” to fans, played for the Red Sox from 2003 to 2016, was a 10-time all-star, seven-time Silver Slugger winner, and was instrumental in helping the Red Sox win three World Series titles during his time on the team. Ortiz finished his career with 541 home runs, which ranks 17 on the MLB all-time home run list.

His foundation, The David Ortiz Children’s Fund, has helped raise more than $2 million for medical treatment for children in the Dominican Republic and New England. According to its website, the foundation has helped save the lives of over 500 children in the Dominican Republic.

For more information, email student.activities@umb.edu. Tickets can be purchased in the Student Activities Office in the Campus Center, Suite 3300.


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Varsity Eight Earns Program’s First-Ever NEWMAC Women’s Rowing Boat of the Week Award

WPI News Archive


Apr 24, 2017





Boston, MA --- WPI has earned NEWMAC Women's Rowing Boat of the Week honors for the first time in the four years it has been handed out. 
The ninth-ranked Varsity Eight in Division III consisting of senior Gina Gonzalez-Roundey (Berkeley, CA), freshman Christine Hovermale (Almeda, CA), junior Jasmine Loukola (Wells, ME), junior Sarah Wutka (North Granby, CT), sophomore Marlies de Jong (Huntington Beach, CA), sophomore Kinsey McNamara (Chelmsford, MA), sophomore Eva Barinelli (Tewksbury, MA), senior Jennifer Golden (Norton, MA) and sophomore coxswain Madison Healey (Atkinson, NH) finished a close second to No. 4 Tufts in the Bernie Brown Cup Sunday. The Engineers were edged out of the top spot by 2.12 seconds (6:44.70 to 6:46.82) while they were comfortably in front of No. 10 William Smith, Clark and Skidmore.
On Saturday, the same boat placed second to No. 5 Ithaca (6:40.31), which remains undefeated this spring, in a time of 6:50.43. The Crimson and Gray topped No. 10 William Smith and No. 14 Trinity twice as the format featured heats and finals, while also defeating No. 12 Colby and UNH's club team in the main event.
The team returns to Lake Quinsigamond Saturday for the NEWMAC Championships, hosted by Clark.
NEWMAC Release






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Jin Yun Chow named valedictorian, Grant Storey selected as salutatorian

Princeton University Top Stories

Jin Yun Chow, a comparative literature major from Hong Kong, has been selected as valedictorian of Princeton's Class of 2017. Grant Storey, a computer science major from Berkeley, California, has been named the Latin salutatorian.

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Column: Freedom of speech is an endangered species on colleges campuses across the nation

State News Opinions

I’ve been asked to speak at various locations for various occasions in the past. I spoke at Philadelphia’s Independence Hall in 2009 when the tea party had a rally. I’ve been a panelist for the Philadelphia Bar Association discussing the media and O.J. Simpson. I’ve gone to the state Capitol to testify about gun violence and the link with mental illness. I’ve spoken at churches, in Spanish and French, trying to keep immigrants from panicking about President Donald Trump’s executive orders.

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5th annual Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala raises more than $1 million for research at IU Simon Cancer Center

IU

INDIANAPOLIS – For the second consecutive year, more than $1 million was raised for cancer research at the Indiana University Melvin and Bren Simon Cancer Center during the fifth annual Chuckstrong Tailgate Gala on April 21.Hosted by the Indianapolis Colts and head coach Chuck Pagano at the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center, the tailgate gala netted $1.1 million through corporate sponsorships and live and silent auctions as well as $100,000 that was given by the Jim Irsay family and $100,000 from the coach and his wife, Tina.
"Blessed to be back for another one, another journey," Coach Pagano, who was diagnosed with acute promyelocytic leukemia nearly five years ago, said. "This is such a great event. It's just a group of people who are committed to coming together for a cause to find a cure. We might think we're a long ways away. I don’t think we are. These doctors and researchers who are here and these people who are here supporting don't believe that. We have the opportunity to come together again as a family, as a community, and raise awareness to finding a cure."
The amount also included $15,000 that was raised when guests paid $1,000 for the opportunity to catch a kick from Adam Vinatieri, or "Automatic Adam," while others contributed $1,000 to toss a memorable pass to wide receiver T.Y. Hilton.
An additional $17,500 was generated by an Andrew Luck live auction package that promised the quarterback and avid reader would visit a child's school to read a favorite book.
Luck, Vinatieri, and Hilton were among nearly all of the Colts players, Colts coaching staff, and the Colts cheerleaders who joined more than 500 guests at the event.
Funds from the tailgate gala are used to support cancer research projects at the IU Simon Cancer Center that translate laboratory discoveries into improved treatment options for patients. Research leads to advancements to find better ways ...

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Sound waves enhance deep sleep and memory

Northwestern Now: Summaries

CHICAGO - Gentle sound stimulation — such as the rush of a waterfall — synchronized to the rhythm of brain waves significantly enhanced deep sleep in older adults and improved their ability to recall words, reports a new Northwestern Medicine study. Deep sleep is critical for memory consolidation. But beginning in middle age, deep sleep decreases substantially, which scientists believe contributes to memory loss in aging.  The sound stimulation significantly enhanced deep sleep in participants and their scores on a memory test.“This is an innovative, simple and safe non-medication approach that may help improve brain health,” said senior author Dr. Phyllis Zee, professor of neurology at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine and a Northwestern Medicine sleep specialist. “This is a potential tool for enhancing memory in older populations and attenuating normal age-related memory decline.” The study was published March 8 in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience.In the study, 13 participants 60 and older received one night of acoustic stimulation and one night of sham stimulation. The sham stimulation procedure was identical to the acoustic one, but participants did not hear any noise during sleep. For both the sham and acoustic stimulation sessions, the individuals took a memory test at night and again the next morning. Recall ability after the sham stimulation generally improved on the morning test by a few percent. However, the average improvement was three times larger after pink-noise stimulation. The older adults were recruited from the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at Northwestern.The degree of slow wave sleep enhancement was related to the degree of memory improvement, suggesting slow wave sleep remains important for memory, even in old age.Although the Northwestern scientists have not yet studied the effect of repeated nights of stimulation, this method could be a viable intervention for longer-term use in the home, Zee said.Previous research showed acoustic simulation played during deep ...

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Virtual Earth-sized telescope aims to capture first image of a black hole

UChicago News

A powerful network of telescopes around the Earth is attempting to create the first image of a black hole, an elusive gravitational sinkhole that Albert Einstein first predicted in 1915.The UChicago-led South Pole Telescope is part of the Event Horizon Telescope, which combines eight observatories in six locations to create a virtual Earth-sized telescope so powerful it could spot a nickel on the surface of the moon. Scientists spent ten days in April gathering data on Sagittarius A*, a black hole at the center of the Milky Way, as well as a supermassive black hole about 1,500 times heavier at the center of galaxy M87.













Each radio-wave observatory collected so much data that it could not be transmitted electronically. Instead, it was downloaded onto more than 1,000 hard drives and flown to the project’s data analysis centers at the MIT Haystack Observatory in Westford, Mass., and the Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy in Bonn, Germany.

Over the next year, supercomputers will correlate, combine and interpret the data using very long baseline interferometry, a procedure common in astronomy but never implemented on such an enormous scale. The goal is to produce an image of the event horizon, the boundary of a black hole where luminous gases burn at tens of millions of degrees and from which nothing escapes, not even light.

“It all came together for us: telescopes with higher resolutions, better experiments, more computer power, bright ideas, good weather conditions and so on,” said John Carlstrom, the Subramanyan Chandrasekhar Distinguished Service Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UChicago, who leads the South Pole Telescope collaboration. “I’m very confident that we’ll come up with not only a good image, but a better understanding of black holes and gravity.”













The telescopes in the network employ radio dishes that can detect very short wavelengths, even less than a millimeter—the shorter ...

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The Search for Truth in the Age of Social Media

BU Today

It’s what the chattering classes have been chattering about since election day—the wave of fake news that rolled through America’s political discourse in the 2016 presidential campaign via social media, swamping voters with false reports ranging from the pope endorsing Donald Trump to Hillary Clinton helping run a child sex ring at a Washington pizzeria. Professors, pollsters, pundits, and journalists have been debating the ways that fakery may have influenced the election, and what can be done about this new disturbing trend.
But how new is it? In his 1998 article “Struggle in Cyberspace: Act and Friction on the World Wide Web,” James E. Katz  foretold the avalanche of fake news. Katz, the Feld Professor of Emerging Media at the College of Communication, wrote in The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science: “Any kind of lie can be told, and, with the Web authoring tools so readily available, an undocumented lie can be made to look as real as the most carefully documented research finding.” Juliet Floyd, a College of Arts & Sciences professor of philosophy, says concerns over citizens’ ability to separate the wheat of truth from the chaff of exaggeration, propaganda, and outright falsehoods dates back at least to Plato.
Now, Floyd, a philosopher and historian of logic, mathematics, and science, and Katz, director of COM’s Divison of Emerging Media and its Center for Mobile Communication Studies, are teaming up to present an international symposium, Journalism and the Search for Truth in an Age of Social Media, at BU today and tomorrow.
The symposium kicks off a year of Andrew W. Mellon Foundation–funded Sawyer Seminars and workshops titled Philosophy of Emerging Computational Technologies: Humans, Values, and Society in Transition. The talks will bring together humanities scholars across a wide range of disciplines with social and natural scientists and experts in big data ...

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Mānoa: Early Admission to Doctor of Medicine student at UH Manoa wins prestigious research grant

UH News

University of Hawaiʻi at MānoaContact:Posted: Apr 24, 2017Dr. Bruce Shiramizu, before and after his head-shaving for charity. Natalie KamadaUH Mānoa is one of only 21 universities this year awarded a St. Baldrick’s Foundation summer research grant to fight childhood cancer.This month, the St. Baldrick’s Foundation announced it is providing $105,000 — in grants of $5,000 each — to support summer research fellowships. UH Mānoa student Natalie Kamada, who is in the Doctor of Medicine Early Acceptance Program, will spend the summer working in a pediatric oncology setting in the John A. Burns School of Medicine's (JABSOM's) Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology. She will complete a research project under the leadership of childhood cancer expert Bruce Shiramizu, MD, a JABSOM professor and pediatrician.Kamada was born and raised in Waikele on O’ahu, and graduated from Maryknoll High.“I decided to become a St. Baldrick’s Summer Fellow to further understand how cancers affect children and to aid in the early detection of cancer cells that could lead to relapse,” said Kamada. “I hope to identify the presence of cancer cells to help improve treatment types and the health of children.”In the early acceptance program, if Kamada continues to remain in good standing, she will enter medical school at JABSOM after she graduates from UH Mānoa. She says she is interested in many areas of study, including pediatrics, radiology and oncology.“In a more personal sense,” said Kamada, “I hope to become a doctor who can understand the needs of her patients and can contribute back to her community.”The St. Baldrick Foundation summer research scholarships help to nurture the next generation of cancer scientists. The need for such funding is critical. Less than 4 percent of all federal cancer research funding is allocated to childhood cancer, making this specialty less sought after by aspiring ...

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Reception for new issue of The Corinthian and Library Undergraduate Research Awards

Georgia College FrontPage RSS Feed

Please join us Wednesday at 3 p.m. in celebrating the newest volume of "The Corinthian," as well as for the presentation of the Library Undergraduate Research Awards.The reception will take place in the Library, in the first floor Times Talk area. Light refreshments will be served.




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CCMST Weekly News, May 24 2010

Center for Computational Molecular Science and Technology


1. Announcements
2. Maintenance3. Statistics4. Tip of the WeekANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome to the CCMST Summer Students of 2010:
Alex Fonary
Emily Teeter
Florian Thoele
Jiana Duan
Trent Parker
UPCOMING WORKSHOPS
The Linux Beginner's Workshop for the summer students will be held on Wednesday May 26 from 15:45 to 16:30 in Room 4202A.
Please contact Massimo (massimo.malagoli@chemistry.gatech.edu) for more information.

MAINTENANCE
This week egate will undergo an upgrade of the Secure Shell (SSH) software. No disruption of service is expected.

STATISTICS

FGATE

Uptime: 227 days/home directory usage: 63% (2.2TB available)/backups directory usage: 66%


LSF usage for Week 19 (5/10-5/
16) (times are in minutes)r>
GroupJobsTotal CPUAvg CPUAvg WaitAvg Trnr.
th>Bredas24026978114%
1124151253Hernandez238676733
%2840292Sherrill1421772749
%12487011971Total62051472727%8301661049
Note: percentages refer to the total CPU time available for the period.

Most productive user of the Week: pwinget 140315.



EGATE

Uptime: 176 days/theoryfs/common directory usage: 35% (434GB available)/theoryfs/ccmst directory usage: 77% (203GB available)


LSF usage for Week 19 (5/10-5/16) (times are in minutes)GroupJobsTotal CPUAvg CPUAvg WaitAvg Trnr.Bredas113430%134301350Hernandez61987467%161901685Sherrill140529240319%20826254Other51869226%170401798Total151847941632%31624365
Note: percentages refer to the total CPU time available for the period.

Most productive user of the Week: loriab 267169.


TIP OF THE WEEK
By Massimo

Your job is stuck in queue and you do not know why it is not executing?
Type:bjobs -l
This will produce a long output including comments by the scheduler explaining the reasons the job is held in queue.

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The Week Ahead: April 24–30

All GT News

Campus and Community

The Week Ahead: April 24–30






By
Julia Faherty | April 24, 2017
• Atlanta, GA








Click image to enlarge




The spring semester is coming to a close. Monday and Tuesday are the final instructional class days, Wednesday is a reading period, and Thursday marks the start of exams. 

Good luck on finals, Jackets. Remember to take a study break, get some rest, and stay fueled with water and nuritious snacks and meals. 

Monday, April 24

Finals can put a lot of stress on students. In the midst of studying, it is important to take time to re-center and focus on personal well-being. Attend this meeting to practice and learn more about meditation. The meeting includes 15-30 minutes of meditation followed by a guided discussion and is open to all students.  

Tuesday, April 25        

Stop by the Capstone Design Expo to gain some inspiration before heading into finals. The Expo is one of the largest student design expos in the U.S. and showcases Georgia Tech’s graduating seniors. More than 1,000 students from 11 different schools and majors will showcase their creative solutions to real-world challenges.

See more end-of-year showcases at the Museum Studies Class Exhibition from 3–4 p.m. and at the Carbon Reduction Challenge Poster Session on Friday, April 28, from 3–4:30 p.m.

Wednesday, April 26

Join the Georgia Tech Counseling Center and Health Promotion for a yoga class on the Lawn. The free class will allow participants to re-focus, re-energize, and de-stress before finals.

Take a study break to enjoy free bowling, billiards, gaming, and more. There will also be free food and giveaways.

Thursday, April 27

Take your mind off finals with a hands-on activity, where you'll make a circle skirt and learn the basics of quilting and sewing. The class is $35 for students and includes all materials. Sign up by calling 404-894-2827 or visiting the studio on the third floor of the Student Center.

...

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Monday, April 24, 2017

OSU Today

Today in the News Media is a synopsis of some of the most prominent coverage of OSU people and programs. Inclusion of any item constitutes neither an endorsement nor a critique, but rather is intended only to make the OSU community aware of significant items in the media.
Will refusing an international assignment derail your career? (Harvard Business Review)
A piece by Anthony C. Klotz, an assistant professor of management at Oregon State University’s College of Business.
Engagement with natural environment a significant contributor to life satisfaction (Science Daily)
New research at Oregon State University empirically demonstrates that a variety of mechanisms for engaging nature significantly contribute to a person’s overall well-being. (see also Psych Central)
Single-payer activists come to Corvallis, tout universal care study (Lund Report)
“The question is not whether we can afford the single-payer system but how can we afford the current system,” said Chunhuei Chi, an expert in healthcare financing and professor at Oregon State University’s College of Public Health and Human Sciences.
Is a grand bargain for Oregon possible without Kitzhaber? (Oregonian)

Both Moore and Oregon State University political science professor emeritus Bill Lunch agree that Kitzhaber was key in shepherding the 2013 negotiations. Despite its eventual partial failure in the courts, at the time, the bargain was a shining example of bipartisanship.
8 unusual vegetables to add new flavor to your table (Oregonian)
Coon, an Oregon State University Extension Service master gardener, knew he was on to something when he’d be stopped in the grocery store by shoppers fascinated by the produce he was sending through the checkstand.
OSU board OKs 4 percent undergraduate tuition hike (KTVZ)
The Oregon State University Board of Trustees on Friday approved tuition and mandatory fees for the 2017-18 academic year. Tuition will increase 4 percent for Oregon resident undergraduate students and 2 percent for non-resident undergraduates on both the ...

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Inspired by land grant mission, state flag, OSU’s new logo emphasizes far-reaching service



CORVALLIS, Ore. – Oregon State University unveiled a new institutional logo and branding Monday that pays homage to OSU’s nearly 150 years of service as Oregon’s statewide university and its mission as a 21st-century land grant university.
Along with the logo and branding, Oregon State rolled out a creative marketing campaign entitled “Out There,” which emphasizes the expansive reach and relevance of the university’s statewide, national and global impacts.
The logo and branding were unveiled today during the Celebrate Oregon State event in Corvallis, with similar events planned for Wednesday in Portland and for May 3 in Bend.
“Oregon State University’s new institutional logo celebrates OSU’s near 150-year legacy of excellence in teaching, research, and outreach and engagement,” said Steve Clark, OSU’s vice president for University Relations and Marketing.
The new logo and its academic crest tell a unique story about the university’s mission as a land, sea, space and sun grant institution. On the new logo, a beaver (the state animal, as well as OSU’s mascot) sits atop an academic crest. Inside the crest, a tree and an open book represent knowledge. The three stars represent OSU’s three campuses in Corvallis, Bend and Newport, while also referencing Oregon as the 33rd state in the union. Finally, the year 1868 denotes OSU’s founding. The new look also offers a nod to the state of Oregon shield that is portrayed on the state flag. The crest also represents the geography of the state of Oregon.
Oregon State’s new institutional logo replaces the current orange “OSU” logo that was created in 2003. The OSU athletic logo remains as it has been since 2013.
“Establishing a refreshed visual identity with a powerful and cohesive look and feel was needed to represent the brand of the entire university,” Clark said. “This branded logo portrays the promise and product of ...

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The American Heart Association Recognizes UCR’s Health Initiative

UCR Today


AHA recognized UCR for a third year in a row. It presented two awards for its Healthy Campus Initative
By Shannon Koga on April 24, 2017
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On Wednesday, March 29, The American Heart Association (AHA) presented UCR with the AHA Fit-Friendly Employer Platinum recognition and the Worksite Innovation Award for the UCR Healthy Campus Initiative. shannon koga

For the third consecutive year, UC Riverside has been recognized for an outstanding healthy workplace environment.
On March 29, the American Heart Association (AHA) presented UCR with the AHA Fit-Friendly Employer Platinum recognition and the Worksite Innovation Award for its Healthy Campus Initiative. UCR is one of 19 institutions across the nation to receive the Worksite Innovation Award.
Sheryl Wilkeson and Jessica English, AHA business development directors, presented the awards and congratulated UCR for “talking the talk” and “walking the walk.”
“You created something new—something innovative that has not been done. You had a vision, you implemented, and you showed that it could be effective and efficient in your community. It was out-of-the-box thinking and adopted campuswide. For that, we are really proud of you,” Wilkeson said.
UCR implemented the Healthy Campus Initiative in January 2016. The initiative aims to improve quality of life and campus culture through a comprehensive approach including activity classes, education, and group exercise, among other things.
Ron Coley, vice chancellor of business administration services, and Deborah Deas, dean of the School of Medicine, accepted the awards on behalf of all involved with the UCR Healthy Campus Initiative.
“We do not rest on our laurels. We take the posture that ‘good enough isn’t good enough.’ We take the posture that ‘we’re committed to continuous improvement,'” said Coley, who lauded Julie Chobdee, Wellness Program coordinator, as “the most valuable player.” “I am so proud of what it is we’re doing here at UCR. I suspect UCR can lead ...

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A career spanning 50 years, multiple industries

Olin BlogOlin Blog

“I’ve had a great career and I’ve enjoyed every year of it, every minute of it.” How many people can say that? Howard Wood, BSBA’47, started out as an accountant at Arthur Anderson…for 26 years. Then he wanted to see what it was like on “the other side of the desk” and partnered with fellow Olin alum Jerry Kent to manage a cable TV company called Cencom Cable Associates.
They sold Cencom to Hallmark Cards Inc. in 1991 for an estimated $1billion, bought it back from Hallmark in 1995, and renamed the company Charter Communications. Wood and Kent sold Charter to Paul Allen in 1998 for $4.5 billion, according to the St. Louis Business Journal.
Wood’s ventures in the cable and communications industry included more than $25 billion in acquisitions and launching startups which Wood says is not for everyone. “You can’t be too risk adverse,” he says about entrepreneurship, but adds he doesn’t think of himself as an entrepreneur. “I think we’ve been professional managers.”
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‘Notable Women’ Playing Cards Honor Late Astronomer Judith Young and Mother

UMass Amherst: News Archive

A project celebrating international women in science was launched online this week featuring a new deck of playing cards that honors 54 “Notable Women in the Physical Sciences,” including the late UMass Amherst astronomer Judith Young and her mother, Vera Rubin, also an internationally recognized astronomer.The project is intended to draw attention to the accomplishments and contributions of women in several branches of physics, mathematics, electrical and computer engineering, planetary science, astronomy and in science communication.
Bunny Laden, founder and president of the California-based “Notable Women” card project, says that to the best of her knowledge, Rubin and Young are the only mother-daughter pair in the deck.
Among the “Notable Women,” Young appears on the Five of Diamonds and is also featured in a blog post by the project founder Laden. Young’s card notes that among many accomplishments, she won the Maria Geppart-Meyer Award, which recognizes outstanding achievement by a woman physicist in the early years of her career,and that she is known for pioneering galactic structure research and for creating the UMass Amherst Sunwheel.
Young created the circle of standing stones that align with the rising and setting sun during solstices and equinoxes. She began building the astronomical calendar in 1997 near McGuirk Alumni Stadium and for more than 15 years led seasonal sunrise and sunset gatherings at the site. Astronomy department head Stephen Schneider and others have continued them since her death in 2014 at age 61.  
Young had come to campus in 1979 as a postdoctoral research associate at the Five College Radio Astronomy Observatory, where she collaborated with Nick Z. Scoville on a study measuring carbon monoxide and the cold gas content of galaxies. They discovered the distribution of gas and light is proportional in galaxies. In 1982, the American Astronomical Society recognized this work by awarding her the Annie J. Cannon Prize for promising research by a young woman ...

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Declaration Day: Admissions Plans ‘Signing Day’ to Mark Confirmation Deadline

Headlines – Tennessee Today


The May 1 college confirmation deadline is just around the corner, and UT’s Office of Undergraduate Admissions will celebrate the day with a live Declaration Day event akin to National Football Signing Day.Admissions is teaming with VFL films to produce a one-hour live broadcast of this first-of-its-kind event, hosted by Tennessee Titans announcer Mike Keith, which will take place from 5 to 6 p.m. (EDT). The public is invited to view the Declaration Day event online or on Facebook and engage with Undergraduate Admissions on social media.
The campus community is invited to watch the festivities, which will take place in the Ray and Lucy Hand Digital Studio and directly outside in the plaza. Alumni and campus community members are encouraged to wear orange on May 1, use the Welcome to the Vol Family graphic on social media, and engage with Undergraduate Admissions on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat.
Students who will be enrolling at UT in the fall are encouraged to use the hashtags #volsdeclare and #utk21. Students can also share the I’m a Vol! and I Declared graphics. High school students interested in attending UT in the future are also encouraged to watch to learn more about the university.
“We want incoming students and those who may still be contemplating their decision that day to get caught up in the excitement of becoming part of the Volunteer family,” said Kari Alldredge, vice provost for enrollment management. “The event will have a festive atmosphere and let us highlight some of the students, faculty, staff, traditions, and accomplishments that make UT a great college choice.”
Alldredge said student confirmations are still arriving and UT is striving for another record-setting freshman enrollment in the fall.
Last year, UT enrolled 4,851 freshmen, the largest class in at least 30 years. It marked the sixth consecutive year of freshman growth.
The Declaration Day event will ...

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Recommendation Against Inhaled Flu Vaccine is Good—for Now—Pitt and CMU Analysis Finds



PITTSBURGH, April 24, 2017 – Recent federal recommendations against offering the inhaled nasal influenza vaccine due to lack of effectiveness could lead to more flu illness in the U.S. if the inhaled vaccine becomes effective again or if not having the choice of the needle-less vaccine substantially reduces immunization rates, according to a new analysis led by University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine scientists.



“The CDC is being appropriately cautious and doing the right thing based on available data,” said lead author Kenneth J. Smith, M.D., M.S., professor of medicine and clinical and translational science in Pitt’s School of Medicine. “However, our study finds that it would take only relatively small changes to tip the scales back in favor of offering the LAIV, so close monitoring is very important.”

The Pittsburgh Vaccination Research Group (PittVax) is one of a few sites across the U.S. that track flu in patients who received and did not receive the annual flu vaccine. The data they collect is shared with the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and led to the CDC’s recommendation against LAIV last year after data from the two previous flu seasons showed it to be ineffective at preventing influenza A, which is typically the most common strain. In the past, the LAIV was a common vaccine offered to children 2 to 8 years old.

Under current conditions, only offering the needle-delivered flu vaccine results in 20.9 percent of children ages 2 to 8 getting the flu, compared with 23.5 percent if both the needle and nasal vaccine are offered.

However, if the LAIV effectiveness improves and can prevent flu in more than 63 percent of the people who get it, then it once again becomes beneficial to offer both forms of vaccination.

“Interestingly, there has been no decrease in LAIV effectiveness in other countries, and we’re still unsure why this is,” said ...

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Torna la Matefest-Infofest a l'Edifici Històric

Universitat de Barcelona - Notícies



































Aquest dimecres, 26 d’abril, arribar una nova edició de la Matefest-Infofest.











24/04/2017






Acadèmic






La festa està organitzada per alumnes de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i Informàtica de la Universitat de Barcelona Barcelona, 24 d’abril de 2017. L’Edifici Històric de la Universitat de Barcelona acull aquest dimecres, 26 d’abril, una nova edició de la Matefest-Infofest, una jornada divulgativa organitzada per alumnat de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i Informàtica de la Universitat de Barcelona amb la qual es vol apropar aquestes disciplines a tot tipus de públic, des d’estudiants de secundària fins a alumnes universitaris i públic general.







Com a novetat, enguany els alumnes de secundària podran participar per grups en una gimcana que recorrerà els diversos estands que ompliran el Pati de Ciències de l’Edifici Històric. Hi haurà un estand dedicat als programes de detecció de cares (face detection); un altre que permetrà conèixer què són els fractals, quin tipus d’estructura presenten i on es poden observar al nostre voltant; un per aprendre les tècniques bàsiques del hacking en un àmbit ètic; o un altre sobre l’aprenentatge automàtic (machine learning). Així mateix, els participants també podran aprendre a programar la seva pròpia app. El Museu de les Matemàtiques de Catalunya també disposarà d’un estand propi.
Entre les iniciatives dirigides a l’alumnat de secundària, hi ha també una nova edició del concurs de robòtica, en què participaran estudiants d’una quinzena d’instituts. Per preparar-se l’activitat, els estudiants han rebut al llarg de les últimes setmanes sessions de formació específiques impartides per professorat de la Facultat de Matemàtiques i Informàtica.Entre les activitats dirigides a alumnes de grau, destaca una hackató, que consisteix a desenvolupar un programari en un temps limitat. En aquest cas, ...

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S&T physicist improves particle interaction modeling

Missouri S&T News and Events


The cover of Dr. Jentschura’s new book on electrodynamics.Quantum electrodynamics is a lot like baking a cake, and then trying to take apart the individual ingredients. At least, that is what physicist Dr. Ulrich Jentschura equates to the process of creating an equation that can couple particles’ and antiparticles’ predicted masses at the same time.
“It is a little bit like trying to take an already baked cherry cake apart and separate its ingredients,” says Jentschura, a professor of physics at Missouri University of Science and Technology. “You can pick the cherries off the top, but you cannot separate the batter of egg, flour and sugar.”
With funding from the National Science Foundation, Jentschura and his research team are trying to “take apart” the Dirac equation, which describes particles and antiparticles simultaneously – antiparticles being the corresponding antimatter with the same mass and opposite charge of particles. The magic trick that takes the cake apart is a transformation devised by two other physicists, Foldy and Wouthuysen, in the 1950s. However, this trick had never been applied consistently to Dirac particles within the context of Einstein’s formulation of gravitation.
Taking the equation apart, Jentschura and his team were able to show that particles and corresponding antiparticles couple in just the same manner to gravitation – meaning that their inertial and gravitational masses are the same. Provided the Dirac equation holds, particles and antiparticles must have the same mass and the Einstein equivalence principle must hold for antimatter. This realization has fundamental consequences for antimatter experiments currently being done at physics laboratories around the world.
Jentschura and his team have previously studied quantum electrodynamic effects in atoms, and obtained theoretical predictions for energy levels in hydrogen and deuterium, for which Jentschura was elected a Fellow of the American Physical Society in 2013.
“Quantum electrodynamics provides much more insights than just quantum mechanics ...

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Students advocate for international education, explore history of democracy in Jefferson City

UMSL Daily

Jianyu Wang (at left), who is from China, and Animesh Panda (at right), from India, joined UMSL International Studies and Programs staff members for a trip to the Missouri State Capitol earlier this month. (Photos courtesy of Jennifer Amatya)
Animesh Panda has visited cities around the globe – in his home country of India, in New Zealand and now in the United States, where he is an exchange student at the University of Missouri–St. Louis this semester. Two weeks ago he checked one more destination off his list: Jefferson City, Missouri.
“I had been wanting to go there for a while, and International Education Day at the Capitol offered me the opportunity,” said Panda, who is pursuing his master’s degree in business administration from Auckland University of Technology. “Learning about the history of Missouri was an enriching experience, and witnessing the House of Representatives in action was another highlight of the day.”
He and fellow UMSL scholar Jianyu Wang were two of about 300 international students statewide who gathered in Missouri’s capital city April 11 to explore the region’s history and politics – and to send a message to lawmakers.
“It was a great way to teach international students about our political processes as well as a reminder to our legislature of the big impact that these students play in our local economy,” said Jennifer Amatya, who works in International Studies and Programs at UMSL and accompanied Panda and Wang on the trip alongside fellow staff member Gabriela Renteria-Poepsel.
The event was organized by Study Missouri, which advocates at the state level for the importance of study-abroad opportunities and for the recruitment of international students to Missouri.
International student adviser Jennifer Amatya (lower left) described the April 11 trip as “a great way to teach international students about our political processes and a reminder to our legislature of the big impact ...

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Seminar – Isabelle Sacramento Grilo

San Diego State University Department of Geological Sciences

GEOL 303 – Natural Disasters in Portugal: What can be more fun for Study Abroad?

Isabelle Sacramento GriloLecturer, SDSU
Wednesday, April 26, 2017CSL  422 – 1 pm
Description of course
Portugal was the site of the largest and one of the most destructive historical earthquake to hit western Europe. With it also came the largest tsunami waves to pummel the margins of the continents in this region in recent times, bringing the capital of commerce and far-away riches to its knees. Coastal erosion and collapse are prevalent in this country with about half of its shores facing the ocean. Lisbon, one of the most ancient cities in the world (about 3000 yo), still has people living in ancient masonry buildings and on active fault zones, many of which not known to the general populations. In the north Atlantic Azores islands we have active explosive and effusive volcanism, gigantic calderas, as well as active seismicity, which, coupled with severe weather, has produced deadly landslide events. We’ll be looking then at the tectonics of the mid-Atlantic ridge triple junction and adjacent Azores-Gibraltar fracture zone.
What better place to see tectonic-type natural hazards?
Structure of courseThis course, which students have made popular at SDSU, fulfills the SDSU General Education requirement IV EXPLORATIONS – Natural Sciences. This is a GE course option for all majors and would count as a Study Abroad requirement to those students who have that requirement in their major. It will correspond to the length of the SDSU first summer session. Proposed excursions will allow students to see the outcome of the geological principles that they’ve just learnt in the classroom. It will easily satisfy 45 contact hours. Roughly half of this summer session will be in the Azores islands and half will be in continental Portugal. This class will be like a lecture + lab, likely lectures in mornings and excursions in afternoon. They learn first the ...

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Why Are There Minds?

Arts and Sciences

Daniel Dennett has dedicated the last 50 years of his life to methodically stripping the magic, mystery and God from the world. Now the Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy is out to answer once and for all two questions that have been perplexing him—and others—for decades: How come there are minds? And how is it possible for minds to ask and answer this question?That’s the subject of his latest book, From Bacteria to Bach and Back: The Evolution of Minds (W.W. Norton), a dense opus drawing up the many disparate topics Dennett has debated for decades, bolstered with evidence from neuroscience, linguistics, natural history, technology—even chess and French literature.
“Over the years, I’ve encountered not just skepticism about the nature of mind, but a sort of antagonism—‘I don’t want to think about that, I don’t want to think that way,’” said Dennett, co-director of the Center for Cognitive Studies. “And so I’ve come up with various ways of cajoling, almost seducing people into turning things around in their heads. I’ve got a whole lot of pieces that fit together now, and the idea is to get people to see that.”
The dominant theme of the book will be a familiar one for the Dennett faithful. Beginning billions of years ago with non-living molecules floating in primordial soup, through to the evolution of modern man, Dennett argues a purely Darwinian trajectory. The world’s creatures are all a simple product of natural selection’s brute force trial-and-error approach, constructed one meager reproductive advantage atop another.
Most of the time, these creatures are ignorant as to what they do or why—“competence without comprehension.” The Australian cathedral termite, a favorite example of Dennett’s, builds elaborate structures that regulate temperature and gases in its underground colonies. But the termites don’ ...

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Over a thousand marched through Downtown Fullerton for nationwide March for Science

Daily Titan

Over a thousand people marched through Downtown Fullerton Saturday as part of the nationwide March For Science.
Marchers filled the grass lawn outside Fullerton’s City Hall at 9 a.m. to listen to guest speakers like head organizer Jeff Rosenblum, state Senator Josh Newman and Assembly member Sharon Quirk-Silva.
“We need you to stand with us and stand up together because it is not just science that is under attack. Education is under attack and women’s rights are under attack. We have a lot to stand up for, but it’s with you standing together with us that we’re going to be able to make those impacts,” Quirk-Silva said.
Newman said there is only a short window of time to address climate change.
“At current rates of burning fossil fuels in the span of a single, really bad presidential administration, we could put enough additional carbon in the atmosphere to eventually push us past the temperature limit and to a point of no return for our climate,” Newman said.
Quirk-Silva riled up the crowd by chanting, “Let’s make America smart again!” and explained that “we have work to do.”
After the speeches, the crowd marched toward Downtown Fullerton holding signs that read phrases like “Time to react!” and “Science matters!”
The march included scientists and supporters who hoped to “humanize science, advocate for open, inclusive, and accessible science, support scientists, and affirm science as a democratic value,” according to the March for Science mission and vision website.
“Science is for everybody, and we need to have people be aware, want to support and understand that it’s your livelihood,” said CSUF graduate student Brittany Poloni, a scientific aide with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. “If we do not have clean water or clean air, a lot of our natural resources will decline and people will ...

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Doctor, Alumnus Keynotes NHS Undergraduate Research Conference

News Archive

APRIL 21, 2017 - A double Georgetown alumnus and physician leader told students at the 2017 Undergraduate Research Conference that their careers might take “unexpected” paths.
Rear Adm. Richard W. Childs (C’87, M’91), MD, an officer in the Commissioned Corps of the United States Public Health Service where he is assistant surgeon general, delivered the keynote address yesterday at the annual event, hosted by the Department of Human Science at the School of Nursing & Health Studies.
Childs – who is also the clinical director of the Division of Intramural Research at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute – discussed his longtime research on kidney cancer and his clinical work in Liberia in 2014 to care for health providers who had been infected with the Ebola virus.
“When I was here as a Georgetown student as an undergrad and in medical school, my interest was primarily in clinical medicine,” he said, noting he could not have predicted his research career at the National Institutes of Health or his deployment to West Africa to help with the Ebola crisis. “You may all think that you kind of know where you are going. But I can tell you: unexpected things can happen.”
‘So Valuable’
The conference, which was founded in 2003 and celebrates undergraduate research and faculty mentorship at Georgetown and on other campuses, spotlights research posters and selected oral presentations. This year, 75 posters were featured from Georgetown, American, George Washington, Howard, James Madison, and Loyola Maryland universities.
Human science major Kayla Schmittau (NHS’17) presented one of those posters, which won a designation for excellence. It detailed her work on Huntington’s disease with mentor Karen E. Anderson, MD, who directs the Huntington Disease Care, Education and Research Center, a combined effort of Georgetown University Medical Center and MedStar Georgetown University Hospital.
Schmittau, who is planning a career in medicine, says the experience is allowing her to do clinical ...

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Howard Pinderhughes Inspires Community Healing in Last Lecture

UCSF - Latest News Feed

In Martin Luther King Jr.’s last book published before his assassination, he reflected on the civil rights movement and asked, “Where do we go from here? Chaos or community?”

That same question resonates today, said Howard Pinderhughes, PhD, during the 2017 UCSF Last Lecture, in which he highlighted the importance of community and social justice in tackling health care challenges.

Now in its sixth year, the UCSF Last Lecture has become an annual tradition in which a UCSF faculty member is nominated and selected by students to answer the question: “If you had but one lecture to give, what would you say?”

Like many who have delivered Last Lectures at UCSF, Pinderhughes outlined the trajectory of his own life and career – he is associate professor and chair of social and behavioral sciences in the School of Nursing – but traced the lines of influence back in time, to his slave ancestors, and outwards, to the communities around the world that have shaped him, from the middle-class Boston neighborhood in which he grew up, to Denmark, Cuba and the East Bay.

His talk covered the experiences that have led to his work studying the effects of violence on youth and their communities. And he urged the students in attendance to dream big and to think beyond healing individuals to transforming institutions in order to heal communities.

Informed by History

For Pinderhughes, seeing the historical records that listed his great-grandmother, who was a slave, along with cattle as property, made slavery less of an abstraction. “When you find your ancestors, the intergenerational trauma becomes real,” he said.

He also recalled how his grandfather Joe, who had dementia in his later years, seemed to say, repeatedly, “It’s a shame to leave a man without a coat.” It wasn’t until later that he understood his grandpa was saying, “It’s a shame to ...

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Isolating Their Target

Health – UConn Today


Researchers at UConn Health used stem cells derived from patients with Angelman syndrome to identify the underlying cellular defects that cause the rare neurogenetic disorder, an important step in the ongoing search for potential treatments for Angelman and a possible cure.
Up until now, scientists trying to understand why the brain cells of individuals with Angelman fail to develop properly have relied primarily on mouse models that mimic the disorder.
By using human stem cells that are genetically identical to the brain cells of Angelman syndrome patients, researchers now have a much clearer and more accurate picture of what is going wrong.
In a study appearing today in the journal Nature Communications, the researchers report that the brain cells of individuals with Angelman syndrome fail to properly mature, causing a cascade of other developmental deficits that result in Angelman syndrome.
“We looked at the electrical activity of these brain cells and their ability to form connections, which is critical to the working circuits in the brain,” says UConn Health neuroscientist Eric Levine, the study’s lead author.
“We found that the cells from Angelman patients had impairments,” says Levine. “They didn’t develop the same way as they do in people who don’t have the disorder. They failed to develop mature electrical activity and they didn’t form connections as readily.”
Dr. Nicole Kummer (foreground), Stormy Chamberlain (left), and Ivy Pin-Fang Chen work on finding answers for Angelman syndrome. (File Photo)Angelman syndrome appears in one out of every 15,000 live births. People with Angelman have developmental delays, are prone to seizures, and can have trouble walking or balancing. They have limited speech, but generally present a happy demeanor, frequently laughing and smiling.
The disorder occurs when a single gene that individuals inherit from their mother’s 15th chromosome is deleted or inactive. The paternal copy of that gene, known ...

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