Last week I spent a super-fun afternoon with hot designer-of-the-moment, Rubin Singer. The mission was ostensibly a photoshoot and interview of him for our Travel Uniform section; it turned into a fashion show for me. When I walked into his suite on the top floor of the brand-new W Bangkok, it was overflowing with insane pieces from his Autumn/Winter line, ?Valkyrie?s Dominion??all blacks and grays and reds, an asymmetrical bustle here, a bustier there. Rubin was wrapping up a meeting with buyers from a big Thai department store and?though I wish him much success with his actual business dealings?I could not wait for them to get out of there so I could dive into those dresses!
I sucked in my ribcage, the stylist wedged me into this red-overlayed-with-black-lace number and it was love. I spent the next few hours flouncing around in it while our amenable photographer Shinsuke Matsukawa captured Rubin?s irresistible smile and understatedly fabulous travel wardrobe on film? while Rubin?s partner, Carlos Melia (a travel expert in his own right), filled me in on the designer?s tri-generational tailoring roots that reach back to Stalin? and while we discussed his next projects, including the wardrobes for Beyonce?s upcoming concert tour and possibly the uniforms for a certain forward-thinking upscale airline.
Hanging out with Rubin in his sun-dappled W bed, wearing this cocktail mini, I think I invented a new style: Lounge Couture.
Jeninne Lee-St. John, Features Editor Photo Credit: SHINSUKE MATSUKAWA
After causing the collapse of the U.K.'s oldest investment bank, spending several years in a Singapore jail and over a decade reinventing his tattered image, Nick Leeson is finally back on the financial market.
Thirteen years after his release from prison, the former Barings trader, who lost 827 million pounds at the investment bank, has become an alternative insolvency practitioner at GDP Partnership in Ireland. He is set to help over-indebted borrowers negotiate deals with their banks, something Leeson should be firmly knowledgeable on.
A statement from the company's Twitter account said: "Nick's experience dealing with financial challenges will be an invaluable asset to our very strong team of professionals."
GDP is not shy of referring to Leeson's past. A press release stated he was the man "famed for his role in the collapse of Barings Bank." Leeson himself said that his past would prove invaluable for his role at GDP: "I've faced a number of difficult situations in the past and ultimately seen them turn for the better. It is often difficult to see the solution but rest assured there is always one available".
Leeson has lived in Ireland since his release and mainly focused on a career on the speaking circuit.
He will become head of GDP's Dublin office, which beside bank mediation also focuses on property consultancy - advising clients on real estate opportunities as well as restructuring and corporate finance advice.
Ireland's financial crisis, caused by a property bust, led it to seek a 67.5 billion euro ($88.5 billion) bailout from the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the European Commission. While the country has made significant progress, it is still working through its bad debts, with 12 percent of domestic mortgages in trouble at the end of last year.
Apr. 7, 2013 ? New research has shown that the way our minds react to and process emotions such as fear can vary according to what is happening in other parts of our bodies.
In two different presentations on April 8 at the British Neuroscience Association Festival of Neuroscience (BNA2013) in London, researchers have shown for the first time that the heart's cycle affects the way we process fear, and that a part of the brain that responds to stimuli, such as touch, felt by other parts of the body also plays a role.
Dr Sarah Garfinkel, a postdoctoral fellow at the Brighton and Sussex Medical School (Brighton, UK), told a news briefing: "Cognitive neuroscience strives to understand how biological processes interact to create and influence the conscious mind. While neural activity in the brain is typically the focus of research, there is a growing appreciation that other bodily organs interact with brain function to shape and influence our perceptions, cognitions and emotions.
"We demonstrate for the first time that the way in which we process fear is different dependent on when we see fearful images in relation to our heart."
Dr Garfinkel and her colleagues hooked up 20 healthy volunteers to heart monitors, which were linked to computers. Images of fearful faces were shown on the computers and the electrocardiography (ECG) monitors were able to communicate with the computers in order to time the presentation of the faces with specific points in the heart's cycle.
"Our results show that if we see a fearful face during systole (when the heart is pumping) then we judge this fearful face as more intense than if we see the very same fearful face during diastole (when the heart is relaxed). To look at neural activity underlying this effect, we performed this experiment in an MRI [magnetic resonance imaging] scanner and demonstrated that a part of the brain called the amygdala influences how our heart changes our perception of fear.
"From previous research, we know that if we present images very fast then we have trouble detecting them, but if an image is particularly emotional then it can 'pop' out and be seen. In a second experiment, we exploited our cardiac effect on emotion to show that our conscious experience is affected by our heart. We demonstrated that fearful faces are better detected at systole (when they are perceived as more fearful), relative to diastole. Thus our hearts can also affect what we see and what we don't see -- and can guide whether we see fear.
"Lastly, we have demonstrated that the degree to which our hearts can change the way we see and process fear is influenced by how anxious we are. The anxiety level of our individual subjects altered the extent their hearts could change the way they perceived emotional faces and also altered neural circuitry underlying heart modulation of emotion."
Dr Garfinkel says that her findings might have the potential to help people who suffer from anxiety or other conditions such as post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).
"We have identified an important mechanism by which the heart and brain 'speak' to each other to change our emotions and reduce fear. We hope to explore the therapeutic implications in people with high anxiety. Anxiety disorders can be debilitating and are very prevalent in the UK and elsewhere. We hope that by increasing our understanding about how fear is processed and ways that it could be reduced, we may be able to develop more successful treatments for these people, and also for those, such as war veterans, who may be suffering from PTSD.
"In addition, there is a growing appreciation about how different forms of meditation can have therapeutic consequences. Work that integrates body, brain and mind to understand changes in emotion can help us understand how meditation and mindfulness practices can have calming effects."
In a second presentation, Dr Alejandra Sel, a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Psychology at City University (London, UK), investigated a part of the brain called the somatosensory cortex -- the area that perceives bodily sensations, such as touch, pain, body temperature and the perception of the body's place in space, and which is activated when we observe emotional expressions in the faces of other people.
"In order to understand other's people emotions we need to experience the same observed emotions in our body. Specifically, observing an emotional face, as opposed to a neutral face, is associated with an increased activity in the somatosensory cortex as if we were expressing and experiencing our own emotions. It is also known that people with damage to the somatosensory cortex find it difficult to recognise emotion in other people's faces," Dr Sel told the news briefing.
However, until now, it has not been clear whether activity in the somatosensory cortex was simply a by-product of the way we process visual information, or whether it reacts independently to emotions expressed in other people's faces, actively contributing to how we perceive emotions in others.
In order to discover whether the somatosensory cortex contributes to the processing of emotion independently of any visual processes, Dr Sel and her colleagues tested two situations on volunteers. Using electroencephalography (EEG) to measure the brain response to images, they showed participants either a face showing fear (emotional) or a neutral face. Secondly, they combined the showing of the face with a small tap to an index finger or the left cheek immediately afterwards.
Dr Sel said: "By tapping someone's cheek or finger you can modify the 'resting state' of the somatosensory cortex inducing changes in brain electrical activity in this area. These changes are measureable and observable with EEG and this enables us to pinpoint the brain activity that is specifically related to the somatosensory cortex and its reaction to external stimuli.
"If the 'resting state' of the somatosensory cortex when a fearful face is shown has greater electrical activity than when a neutral face is shown, the changes in the activity of the somatosensory cortex induced by the taps and measured by EEG also will be greater when observing fearful as opposed to neutral faces.
"We subtracted results of the first situation (face only) from the second situation (face and tap), and compared changes in the activity related with the tap in the somatosensory cortex when seeing emotional faces versus neutral faces. This way, we could observe responses of the somatosensory cortex to emotional faces independently of visual processes," she explained.
The researchers found that there was enhanced activity in the somatosensory cortex in response to fearful faces in comparison to neutral faces, independent of any visual processes. Importantly, this activity was focused in the primary and secondary somatosensory areas; the primary area receives sensory information directly from the body, while the secondary area combines sensory information from the body with information related to body movement and other information, such as memories of previous, sensitive experiences.
"Our experimental approach allows us to isolate and show for the first time (as far as we are aware) changes in somatosensory activity when seeing emotional faces after taking away all visual information in the brain. We have shown the crucial role of the somatosensory cortex in the way our minds and bodies perceive human emotions. These findings can serve as starting point for developing interventions tailored for people with problems in recognising other's emotions, such as autistic children," said Dr Sel.
The researchers now plan to investigate whether they get similar results when people are shown faces with other expressions such as happy or angry, and whether the timing of the physical stimulus, the tap to the finger or cheek, makes any difference. In this experiment, the tap occurred 105 milliseconds after a face was shown, and Dr Sel wonders about the effect of a longer time interval.
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An 89-year-old woman who spent two days locked in her car trunk thinking she'd never be found has a message for her teen captors.
"You got to be kind to other people if you want somebody to be kind to you," Margaret Smith said.
The 4-foot-11 octangenerian's story began with an act of kindness on March 18.
Smith had stopped at the Chicken Man Convenience Store in Milford, Del., for a Butter Pecan ice cream cone when two teenage girls approached her and asked for a ride across town.
"I decided not to, then I said, 'Well, a good deed,'" Smith said.
After driving around for a while, Smith said the girls snatched her car keys and stuffed her in the trunk of her Buick.
"The way they drove off flying, I didn't think nobody would ever find me," she said. "I just had to pray about and hope that I'd be found."
Smith spent the next two days crammed in the trunk, without food, water and her blood pressure medication. She said the only time the girls opened the trunk was to rob her of the cash she was carrying.
"I was very tired, cold, hungry, scared," Smith said. "I didn't know what to expect."
After spending 48 hours locked in her trunk, Smith's kidnappers inexplicably decided to dump her in a remote cemetery.
"I was crawling through the cemetery on hands and knees," Smith said. "Nothing but a pair of stockings on, no jacket...Finally somebody found me. I don't know who."
Smith was taken to a local hospital, where her family, who had reported her missing, received a call that she was safe.
Delaware State Police found Smith's car days later and arrested and charged five teenagers inside. All are believed to have some involvement in the kidnapping, robbery and theft, ABC News' Philadelphia affiliate WPVI reported.
Four of the teens, ranging in age from 14 to 17, are being charged as adults, while a fifth faces receiving stolen property and conspiracy charges as a minor.
Last week, Fred Hickey announced on Twitter that he had started shorting big-cap tech stocks for the first time in a long time.
Hickey is the editor of widely circulated High-Tech Strategist newsletter.?? He's also a regular on Barron's exclusive Roundtable.
In his latest issue, which was published yesterday, Hickey adds color to his call.
"I am looking at taking short positions heading into these April earnings reports and have already established two small ones in IBM and Google," he writes.
"As one would expect, International Business Machines has a lot of exposure to the weaker international markets," he adds. "Fifty-seven percent of their sales in Q4 were from overseas, and that didn't include Canada or Mexico.? There's big exposure to Europe and Japan."
"Google's stock will dive on disappointing quarterly reports," he says. "Take a look at their roller-coaster-like stock chart over the past few years. The scary dips come around quarterly reports."
Hickey is considering these positions in the context of his broader macro thesis, which is based on his concerns over expanding money supply.
"I'm being very careful to limit my exposure in this money-printing environment."
SALT LAKE CITY ? Since the LDS Church announcement of 58 new missions in October, dozens of mission presidents have been called to fill the new positions including several well-known Utahns.
Michael Waddoups will be changing the title of Utah Senate President to mission president. Waddoups was assigned to preside over the Rome Italy Mission for three years beginning in June.
"Whoa, we weren't quite prepared for this," Waddoups said of the mission call. "This is exciting, but not really what we expected. Of course, we said we would be happy to serve wherever."
Waddoups had previously learned Italian when he had served in Italy as a young missionary. He and his wife said that they are looking forward to returning and working with the younger missionaries.
""They may have decreased the age, but the spirituality and intellect of these young people has increased significantly," said Waddoup's wife, Anna Kay. "They are prepared."
Waddoups and Anna Kay said they have been busy packing up their home and learning Italian. They said it will be hard to leave their family, including a daughter with leukemia, but they know it is the right thing to do.
"We've been doing a lot of packing," Anna Kay said. "When you think about going on a mission, it's usually 18 months or two years. But all of a sudden it's three years and it's a whole new ballgame."
The Waddoups said they are excited to serve in such a historic area that will also have a new temple in the near future.
Other new mission presidents with Utah ties includer former BYU basketball coach, Steve Cleveland who was called to serve in Indiana and former Democratic Gubernatorial candidate, Peter Cooke who was assigned to Washington D.C.
Apr. 2, 2013 ? Studying volcanos can be hazardous work, both for researchers and aircraft. To penetrate such dangerous airspace, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), especially those with electric engines that ingest little contaminated air, are an emerging and effective way to gather crucial data about volcanic ash and gases.
Last month, a team of NASA researchers deployed three repurposed military UAVs with special instruments into and above the noxious sulfur dioxide plume of Costa Rica's active Turrialba volcano, near San Jose. The project was designed to improve the remote-sensing capability of satellites, including satellite data research products such as maps of the concentration and distribution of volcanic gases. It was also designed to improve computer models of how and where volcanic plumes will travel.
Led by principal investigator David Pieri of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., the team launched 10 flights of the remote controlled UAVs into the volcanic plume and above the rim of Turrialba's 10,500-foot (3,200-meter) summit crater between March 11 and 14.
The small, twin electric engine Dragon Eye UAVs were acquired by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., from the United States Marine Corps. Weighing less than six pounds (2.2 kilograms) each and with a wingspan of 3.75 feet (1.1 meters), they have visible and infrared video cameras and can carry a one-pound instrument payload for up to an hour within a volcanic plume. The researchers equipped them with sulfur dioxide and particle sensors and automatic atmospheric sampling bottles keyed to measure sulfur dioxide concentration.
During the flights, the team coordinated its data gathering with NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) instrument on NASA's Terra spacecraft, allowing scientists to compare sulfur dioxide concentration measurements from the satellite with measurements taken from within the plume.
Scientists believe computer models derived from this study will contribute to safeguarding the National and International Airspace System, and will also improve global climate predictions and mitigate environmental hazards (e.g., sulfur dioxide volcanic smog, or "vog") for people who live near volcanoes.
A key constituent of such models is the intensity and character of the volcanic activity located near the eruption vent. For instance, knowing the height of ash and gas concentrations, and temperatures over the vent during an eruption are important initial factors for any model that predicts the direction of the volcanic plume.
"It is very difficult to gather data from within volcanic eruption columns and plumes because updraft wind speeds are very high and high ash concentrations can quickly destroy aircraft engines," said Pieri. "Such flight environments can be very dangerous to manned aircraft. Volcanic eruption plumes may stretch for miles from a summit vent, and detached ash clouds can drift hundreds to thousands of miles from an eruption site."
The project supports NASA's ASTER mission as well as JPL's planned Hyperspectral Infrared Imager (HyspIRI) satellite mission by improving satellite data-based retrievals of gases and solid aerosols associated with volcanic activity, as well as volcanic emission transport models. HyspIRI will study the world's ecosystems and provide critical information on natural disasters such as volcanoes, assessing their pre-eruptive behavior and the likelihood of future eruptions.
For more information, read the full Ames feature at: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/earthmonth/volcanic-plume-uavs.html . For more on NASA's Airborne Science Program, visit: http://airbornescience.nasa.gov/ . For more on HyspIRI, visit: http://hyspiri.jpl.nasa.gov/ . For more on ASTER, visit: http://asterweb.jpl.nasa.gov/ .
JPL is a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena.
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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc, getting a headstart on the annual tradition of April Fools' pranks, released a YouTube clip on Sunday declaring that the world's most popular video website will shut down at the stroke of midnight.
The three-minute video intended as a gag - a montage of clips and cameos from viral video stars like David Devore from "David after the dentist" - describes how the website will wind down as some 30,000 technicians begin to trawl through 150,000 clips, to select the world's best video.
The winner gets a $500 stipend, a clip-on MP3 player - and becomes the sole video to be featured on YouTube when the website relaunches in 2023.
"Gangnam Style has the same chance of winning as a video with 40 views of a man feeding bread to a duck," YouTube CEO Salar Kamangar pronounced, referring to the viral sensation from Korean pop artist PSY that's now the most-viewed video on the site.
Google's video also features intense discussions between judges, who hotly debate the merits of everything from Citizen Kane to "epic skateboard fail". While clearly tongue-in-cheek, several YouTube viewers appeared stricken or dumbfounded, while others expressed sadness and regret in attached comments.
Plus, The Host lacks soul, and Temptation wasn't screened -- guess the Tomatometer!
Also opening this week in limited release:
Room 237, a documentary that presents a number of fascinating interpretations of Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, is Certified Fresh at 95 percent.
Blancanieves, a silent take on Snow White set in 1920s Spain, is at 88 percent.
Violeta Went to Heaven, a biopic of Chilean folk singer Violeta Parra, is at 83 percent.
Renoir, a historical drama about the relationship between painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir and his son, director Jean Renoir, is at 79 percent.
Wrong, a dramedy about a man whose life takes a number of strange turns as he looks for his missing dog, is at 77 percent.
The Place Beyond The Pines, starring Ryan Gosling and Bradley Cooper in a drama with three interconnected stories about the fates of two families over the course of 15 years, is at 76 percent (check out director Derek Cianfrance's Five Favorite Films here).
Welcome to the Punch, starring James McAvoy and Mark Strong in a thriller about a detective who uncovers a conspiracy while trailing a master criminal, is at 55 percent.
Mental, starring Toni Collette and Liev Schreiber in a comedy about a woman tasked with taking care of five children when their mother is institutionalized, is at 44 percent.
Family Weekend, starring Kristin Chenoweth and Matthew Modine in a comedy about a a high-achieving teenager who takes her parents hostage to protest their indifference to her life, is at 25 percent (check out Chenoweth's Five Favorite Films here).
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Mar. 28, 2013 ? A new study conducted by The Mind Research Network in Albuquerque, N.M., shows that neuroimaging data can predict the likelihood of whether a criminal will reoffend following release from prison.
The paper, which is to be published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, studied impulsive and antisocial behavior and centered on the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC), a portion of the brain that deals with regulating behavior and impulsivity.
The study demonstrated that inmates with relatively low anterior cingulate activity were twice as likely to reoffend than inmates with high-brain activity in this region.
"These findings have incredibly significant ramifications for the future of how our society deals with criminal justice and offenders," said Dr. Kent A. Kiehl, who was senior author on the study and is director of mobile imaging at MRN and an associate professor of psychology at the University of New Mexico. "Not only does this study give us a tool to predict which criminals may reoffend and which ones will not reoffend, it also provides a path forward for steering offenders into more effective targeted therapies to reduce the risk of future criminal activity."
The study looked at 96 adult male criminal offenders aged 20-52 who volunteered to participate in research studies. This study population was followed over a period of up to four years after inmates were released from prison.
"These results point the way toward a promising method of neuroprediction with great practical potential in the legal system," said Dr. Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Stillman Professor of Practical Ethics in the Philosophy Department and the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University, who collaborated on the study. "Much more work needs to be done, but this line of research could help to make our criminal justice system more effective."
The study used the Mind Research Network's Mobile Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) System to collect neuroimaging data as the inmate volunteers completed a series of mental tests.
"People who reoffended were much more likely to have lower activity in the anterior cingulate cortices than those who had higher functioning ACCs," Kiehl said. "This means we can see on an MRI a part of the brain that might not be working correctly -- giving us a look into who is more likely to demonstrate impulsive and anti-social behavior that leads to re-arrest."
The anterior cingulate cortex of the brain is "associated with error processing, conflict monitoring, response selection, and avoidance learning," according to the paper. People who have this area of the brain damaged have been "shown to produce changes in disinhibition, apathy, and aggressiveness. Indeed, ACC-damaged patients have been classed in the 'acquired psychopathic personality' genre."
Kiehl says he is working on developing treatments that increase activity within the ACC to attempt to treat the high-risk offenders.
The four-year study was supported by grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and pilot funds by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Law and Neuroscience Project. The study was conducted in collaboration with the New Mexico Corrections Department.
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Journal Reference:
E. Aharoni, G. M. Vincent, C. L. Harenski, V. D. Calhoun, W. Sinnott-Armstrong, M. S. Gazzaniga, K. A. Kiehl. Neuroprediction of future rearrest. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2013; DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1219302110
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Cold cities less sustainable than warm cities, research suggestsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
Living in colder climates in the US is more energy demanding than living in warmer climates.
This is according to Dr Michael Sivak at the University of Michigan, who has published new research today, 28 March, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters.
Dr Sivak has calculated that climate control in the coldest large metropolitan area in the country Minneapolis is about three-and-a-half times more energy demanding than in the warmest large metropolitan area Miami.
Dr Sivak calculated this difference in energy demand using three parameters: the number of heating or cooling degree days in each area; the efficiencies of heating and cooling appliances; and the efficiencies of power-generating plants.
Not included in the analysis were the energy used to extract fuels from the ground, the losses during energy transmission, and energy costs.
"It has been taken for a fact that living in the warm regions of the US is less sustainable than living in the cold regions, based partly on the perceived energy needs for climate control; however, the present findings suggest a re-examination of the relative sustainability of living in warm versus cold climates."
Heating degree days (HDDs) and cooling degree days (CDDs) are climatological measures that are designed to reflect the demand for energy needed to heat or cool a building. They are calculated by comparing the mean daily outdoor temperature with 18C.
A day with a mean temperature of 10C would have 8 HDDs and no CDDs, as the temperature is 8C below 18C. Analogously, a day with a mean temperature of 23C would have 5 CDDs and no HDDs.
Based on a previous study, Dr Sivak showed that Minneapolis has 4376 heating degree days a year compared to 2423 cooling degree days in Miami.
In the study, Dr Sivak used a single measure for the efficiency of heating and cooling appliances, as most are currently rated using different measures so they cannot be directly compared. His calculations showed that a typical air conditioner is about four times more energy efficient than a typical furnace.
"In simple terms, it takes less energy to cool a room down by one degree than it does to heat it up by one degree," said Dr Sivak.
Grouping together climatology, the efficiency of heating and cooling appliances, and the efficiency of power-generating plants, Dr Sivak showed that Minneapolis was substantially more energy demanding than Miami.
"In the US, the energy consumption for air conditioning is of general concern but the required energy to heat is often taken for granted. Focus should also be turned to the opposite end of the scale living in cold climates such as in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Rochester, Buffalo and Chicago is more energy demanding, and therefore less sustainable from this point of view, than living in warm climates such as in Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando and Las Vegas," Dr Sivak concluded.
###
From Thursday 28 March, this paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/1/014050/article
Notes to Editors
Contact
1. For further information, a full draft of the journal paper or to contact the researcher, contact IOP Press Officer, Michael Bishop:
Tel: 0117 930 1032
E-mail: Michael.Bishop@iop.org
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2. The IOP Publishing Journalist Area (http://journalists.iop.org/journalistLogin) gives journalists access to embargoed press releases, advanced copies of papers, supplementary images and videos. In addition to this, a weekly news digest is uploaded into the Journalist Area every Friday, highlighting a selection of newsworthy papers set to be published in the following week.
Login details also give free access to IOPscience, IOP Publishing's journal platform.
To apply for a free subscription to this service, please email Michael Bishop, IOP Press Officer, michael.bishop@iop.org, with your name, organisation, address and a preferred username.
Air conditioning versus heating: climate control is more energy demanding in Minneapolis than in Miami
3. The published version of the paper "Air conditioning versus heating: climate control is more energy demanding in Minneapolis than in Miami" (Michael Sivak 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 014050) will be freely available online from Thursday 28 March at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/1/014050/article.
Environmental Research Letters
4. Environmental Research Letters covers all of environmental science, providing a coherent and integrated approach including research articles, perspectives and editorials.
IOP Publishing
5. IOP Publishing provides publications through which leading-edge scientific research is distributed worldwide. IOP Publishing is central to the Institute of Physics (IOP), a not-for-profit society. Any financial surplus earned by IOP Publishing goes to support science through the activities of IOP. Beyond our traditional journals programme, we make high-value scientific information easily accessible through an ever-evolving portfolio of community websites, magazines, conference proceedings and a multitude of electronic services. Focused on making the most of new technologies, we're continually improving our electronic interfaces to make it easier for researchers to find exactly what they need, when they need it, in the format that suits them best. Go to http://ioppublishing.org/
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Cold cities less sustainable than warm cities, research suggestsPublic release date: 27-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Michael Bishop michael.bishop@iop.org 01-179-301-032 Institute of Physics
Living in colder climates in the US is more energy demanding than living in warmer climates.
This is according to Dr Michael Sivak at the University of Michigan, who has published new research today, 28 March, in IOP Publishing's journal Environmental Research Letters.
Dr Sivak has calculated that climate control in the coldest large metropolitan area in the country Minneapolis is about three-and-a-half times more energy demanding than in the warmest large metropolitan area Miami.
Dr Sivak calculated this difference in energy demand using three parameters: the number of heating or cooling degree days in each area; the efficiencies of heating and cooling appliances; and the efficiencies of power-generating plants.
Not included in the analysis were the energy used to extract fuels from the ground, the losses during energy transmission, and energy costs.
"It has been taken for a fact that living in the warm regions of the US is less sustainable than living in the cold regions, based partly on the perceived energy needs for climate control; however, the present findings suggest a re-examination of the relative sustainability of living in warm versus cold climates."
Heating degree days (HDDs) and cooling degree days (CDDs) are climatological measures that are designed to reflect the demand for energy needed to heat or cool a building. They are calculated by comparing the mean daily outdoor temperature with 18C.
A day with a mean temperature of 10C would have 8 HDDs and no CDDs, as the temperature is 8C below 18C. Analogously, a day with a mean temperature of 23C would have 5 CDDs and no HDDs.
Based on a previous study, Dr Sivak showed that Minneapolis has 4376 heating degree days a year compared to 2423 cooling degree days in Miami.
In the study, Dr Sivak used a single measure for the efficiency of heating and cooling appliances, as most are currently rated using different measures so they cannot be directly compared. His calculations showed that a typical air conditioner is about four times more energy efficient than a typical furnace.
"In simple terms, it takes less energy to cool a room down by one degree than it does to heat it up by one degree," said Dr Sivak.
Grouping together climatology, the efficiency of heating and cooling appliances, and the efficiency of power-generating plants, Dr Sivak showed that Minneapolis was substantially more energy demanding than Miami.
"In the US, the energy consumption for air conditioning is of general concern but the required energy to heat is often taken for granted. Focus should also be turned to the opposite end of the scale living in cold climates such as in Minneapolis, Milwaukee, Rochester, Buffalo and Chicago is more energy demanding, and therefore less sustainable from this point of view, than living in warm climates such as in Miami, Phoenix, Tampa, Orlando and Las Vegas," Dr Sivak concluded.
###
From Thursday 28 March, this paper can be downloaded from http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/1/014050/article
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Air conditioning versus heating: climate control is more energy demanding in Minneapolis than in Miami
3. The published version of the paper "Air conditioning versus heating: climate control is more energy demanding in Minneapolis than in Miami" (Michael Sivak 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 014050) will be freely available online from Thursday 28 March at http://iopscience.iop.org/1748-9326/8/1/014050/article.
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Never in Louisiana?s history has our state?s child welfare system been more highly regulated. Never has so much significant change occurred in such a compressed period of time than during the last 18 months.
I?ll summarize it like this: We now have federal regulations being interpreted by state regulations to create a coordinated system of behavioral health care from four state departments? funding mixed with federal funds which are being managed by a state-based subsidiary of a public corporation traded on Wall Street. (I think that?s correct.)
Louisiana?s Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) is one year old this month. Created by an Executive Order issued by Governor Jindal on March 3, 2011, CSoC became operational when Magellan of Louisiana began acting as the State Management Organization on March 1, 2012.
CSoC (pronounced ?sea sock?) is a managed behavioral health care system for Louisiana?s children who are in out-of-home placements or who are at risk of being placed out of their homes. Louisiana?s Coordinated System of Care (CSoC) is a cross-departmental project of the Office of Juvenile Justice, the Department of Children and Family Services, the Department of Health and Hospitals and the Department of Education to organize a coordinated network of broad, effective services for Louisiana?s at risk children and youth with significant behavioral health challenges or related disorder.
The cross-departmental nature of CSoC is chiefly related to funding. State General Fund dollars from each of the four state departments were pooled and used as a pot to pull down untapped Medicaid dollars at a ratio of 1:3. One state dollar brings down 3 additional Medicaid dollars.
Of course, anytime federal dollars are pulled into a state, those federal dollars have significant strings attached. When Louisiana converted to a federally-funded child welfare system, those federal strings required significant changes.
One imposed change was the creation of two new DHH-licensed levels of residential care: Treatment Group Homes (TGH) and Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities (PRTF). Mercer, a consulting firm which helped DHH design Louisiana?s CSoC, determined that Louisiana needs 340 PRTF beds and 250 PRTF beds.
Because each of our residential programs cares for more than 16 children, the Methodist Children?s Homes in Louisiana were required to become licensed as Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facilities. A PRTF license is not a hospital license. We continue operations as residential facilities with additional staff to provide for medical care and residential psychiatric care.
This is probably the best place to insert the chart I have created which demonstrates the levels of out-of-home care (Click the image for a larger view):
Notice the third step. That?s the PRTF step. Then notice that the second and fourth steps on either side are missing. There is no step for Longer Term Psychiatric Hospitalization. There is no step for Treatment Group Homes. This diagram describes the current status of the array of services available for children in Louisiana.
Let?s start with the Longer Term Psychiatric Hospitalization. To my knowledge, there are only a small number of these beds in Louisiana. 40 is the last official number I heard reported during a meeting in Baton Rouge in late 2010. I?ll assume the number of these beds today is still close enough to 40 to call it 40. I assume there are times when 40 beds are sufficient. There will also be times when 40 beds in the entire state are not enough for children who have longer term psychiatric hospitalization needs.
In terms of numbers, the most significant missing step is the absence of Treatment Group Homes. Louisiana reports it needs 340. There can be no more than 8 children in a single group home. Louisiana needs at least 42.5 treatment group homes spread across the state. Today, after a year of CSoC, there is only one Treatment Group Home. Parker House is the Volunteers of America?s TGH in Baton Rouge for boys under 13. (I commend the staff of VOA and Parker House for their work to license a Treatment Group Home. It was not an easy road.)
At Methodist we have reviewed the Treatment Group Home materials and we do not believe we can provide Treatment Group Home services. I?ll share some of the reasons we and others are unable to provide Treatment Group Home services.
1. Federal regulations dictate what a children?s home can do now that CSoC is at work. We have four houses on our Ruston campus that would make great Treatment Group Homes. However, because we have PRTF beds on the same property, all our beds on the property must be PRTF beds. Remember, because we have more than 16 children in care, we must be licensed as a Psychiatric Residential Treatment Facility.
2. The TGH minimum licensing standards require a Treatment Group Home be located in a neighborhood. Finding a suitable, existing house which meets the licensing requirements will be like finding a needle in a haystack. Homes built for families will not serve as great Treatment Group Homes. For example, few families require 8 bedrooms. If a provider builds their own house with 8 bedrooms it will be nearly impossible to sell in the future because, again, few families require 8 bedrooms.
3. I wrote earlier that it was initially reported that CSoC would bring $3 federal dollars into Louisiana for each $1 of State General Funds Louisiana tossed into the common pot. That?s a significant amount! I don?t believe it has worked out that way, though. Reimbursement rates for services are now lower than the cost of providing the service. The per diem payment for Non-Medical Group Homes is less than the rate providers received before CSoC was created. Several providers have crashed into their financial wall this past year because the current reimbursement rates do not support the costs of care. The Treatment Group Home reimbursement rate is low.
4. There are adolescent group home providers in Louisiana who have the experience and the heart to become Treatment Group Home providers. Unfortunately, CSoC does not pay for the start-up costs of making the transition from the former DCFS Child Residential license to the new DHH Treatment Group Home license. The cost of additional staff who must be hired prior to receiving the TGH license, the cost of licenses for evidence-based treatment practices, and the cost of accreditation are all financial burdens group home providers must shoulder to become Treatment Group Homes. Unfortunately, the per diem reimbursement rate is too low to allow a provider to ever recoup the startup costs. Figuratively speaking, a new TGH provider will start out in a hole and never climb out.
I?ll stop there because this is growing a bit long.
Scroll up and click on the chart again. Louisiana?s children need access to the two missing steps on the staircase of services. It?s a big step down from care in a psychiatric residential treatment facility to care in a non-medical group home. Some children require longer term psychiatric hospitalization because of significant mental illness.
CSoC still has important gaps to fill ? the sooner the better.
Mar. 26, 2013 ? A new study indicates that a simple saliva test could be an effective tool in predicting violent behavior.
The pilot study, led by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center and published this week online in the journal Psychiatric Quarterly, suggests a link between salivary concentrations of certain hormones and aggression.
Researchers, led by Drew Barzman, MD, a child and adolescent forensic psychiatrist at Cincinnati Children's, collected saliva samples from 17 boys ages 7-9 admitted to the hospital for psychiatric care to identify which children were most likely to show aggression and violence. The samples, collected three times in one day shortly after admission, were tested for levels of three hormones: testosterone, dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) and cortisol. The severity and frequency of aggression correlated with the levels of these hormones.
Barzman's team focused on rapid, real-time assessment of violence among child and adolescent inpatients, a common problem in psychiatric units. But he believes a fast and accurate saliva test could eventually have several other applications.
"We believe salivary hormone testing has the potential to help doctors monitor which treatments are working best for their patients," said Barzman. "And because mental health professionals are far more likely to be assaulted on the job than the average worker, it could offer a quick way to anticipate violent behavior in child psychiatric units. Eventually, we hope this testing might also provide a tool to help improve safety in schools."
For this study, the saliva test was used in combination with other aggressive behavior tools, including the Brief Rating of Aggression by Children and Adolescents (BRACHA) questionnaire, an assessment tool also developed by Barzman's team to predict aggression and violence in the hospital.
"This study sample, while small, gives us the data we need to move forward," added Barzman. "We have more studies planned before we can reach a definitive conclusion, but developing a new tool to help us anticipate violent behavior is our ultimate goal."
Barzman's team included Douglas Mossman, MD, a psychiatrist at the University of Cincinnati (UC) and an internationally recognized authority on violence prediction; Michael Sorter, MD, Director, Division of Psychiatry at Cincinnati Children's; David Klein, PhD, MD, an endocrinologist at Cincinnati Children's; Thomas Geracioti , MD, an expert in the endocrinology of mental disorders based at the Veterans Administration Medical Center and Kacey Appel, a PhD candidate in epidemiology at UC.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
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Journal Reference:
Drew H. Barzman, Douglas Mossman, Kacey Appel, Thomas J. Blom, Jeffrey R. Strawn, Nosa N. Ekhator, Bianca Patel, Melissa P. DelBello, Michael Sorter, David Klein, Thomas D. Geracioti. The Association Between Salivary Hormone Levels and Children?s Inpatient Aggression: A Pilot Study. Psychiatric Quarterly, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s11126-013-9260-8
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Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Mar. 24, 2013 ? Taking their inspiration from nature, scientists at the University of New South Wales have developed a new method for carrying out chemical reduction -- an industrial process used to produce fuels and chemicals that are vital for modern society.
Their catalyst-based approach has the big advantages that it uses cheap, replenishable reagents and it works well at room temperature and in air -- so much so, it can even be carried out safely in a teacup.
The research, by a team led by Associate Professor Stephen Colbran, of the UNSW School of Chemistry, has been published as the cover of the journal, Angewandte Chemie.
The catalyst they designed mimics the activity of naturally occurring enzymes that catalyse reduction, such as alcohol dehydrogenase in yeast, that helps produce alcohol from sugar.
"Industrial chemical reduction processes underpin human existence, but are unsustainable because they irreversibly consume reagents that are made at prohibitively high energy cost," Dr Colbran says.
"We believe our new biomimetic design may have wide applications in chemical reduction."
Chemical reduction involves the addition of electrons to a substance, and is the basis of making many fuels, including the sugars that plants produce during photosynthesis.
In industry, molecular hydrogen and reactive reagents such as sodium borohydride are used as reducing agents during the production of pharmaceuticals, agrichemicals and ammonia for fertiliser.
"Manufacture of these substances is energy costly, leads to the release of carbon dioxide and they are difficult to handle and store," Dr Colbran says. "So we decided to look at nature to see how nature does it."
The team combined a transition metal complex containing rhodium with a Hantzsch dihydropyridine -- an organic donor of a hydride ion similar to biological nicotinamides -- to produce the new bio-inspired catalyst. They tested it on a common process -- reduction of imines -- and were surprised to find it worked in ambient conditions with more than 90 per cent efficiency in most cases.
Dr Colbran even tested it out in a teacup. "I thought it would be a bit of fun. And it makes a serious point -- our catalyst system is very easy to use."
By coincidence, the research comes exactly a century after Alfred Werner won a Nobel Prize for Chemistry for his work on the structures of transition metal complexes. As well, his PhD supervisor, Arthur Hantzsch, discovered the way to synthesise dihydropyridines.
"It has only taken 100 years to combine the work of doctoral adviser and student into one molecule," Dr Colbran says.
A future aim is to try to convert the greenhouse gas, carbon dioxide, into the renewable fuel, methanol, much more efficiently.
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Journal Reference:
Alex McSkimming, Mohan M. Bhadbhade, Stephen B. Colbran. Cover Picture: Bio-Inspired Catalytic Imine Reduction by Rhodium Complexes with Tethered Hantzsch Pyridinium Groups: Evidence for Direct Hydride Transfer from Dihydropyridine to Metal-Activated Substrate (Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 12/2013). Angewandte Chemie International Edition, 2013; 52 (12): 3283 DOI: 10.1002/anie.201301157
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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
RM-917. It may not sound like much on the outside, but the model number and above picture correspond with the Nokia Lumia 521, T-Mobile's version of the lower-end Lumia 520 announced at MWC last month. We still don't have any details on when it'll show up on retail shelves, but it's at least made its way through one of the final barriers to entry: the FCC approval process. As you might expect, the docs are low on details, but the frequencies support 850 / AWS / 1900 HSPA+ / UMTS as well as quadband GSM / EDGE. To refresh your memory, the 520 will sport a 4-inch WVGA LCD panel, 512MB RAM, a 5MP camera, microSD storage and quite a few other respectable goodies. Head to the source if you're a sucker for numbers and acronyms.
Building on last week?s post regarding embracing change for healthcare transofrmation, it was intriguing to learn about the NCQA?s new patient centered medical home program for specialty practices. Kicking off March 25th, the Patient Centered Specialty Practice (PCSP) recognition highlights specialty practices committed to access, communication and care coordination as ?neighbors? that surround and inform the medical home and colleagues in primary care, according to NCQA.? And I regret to say that I missed the informational webinar, including an NCQA advisor and guest speaker from one of the local healthcare systems.
Had I attended the webinar, I would have been better prepared to query the CEO of a hospital within the same healthcare system at a recent American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) function.? Interestingly, we had a lengthy conversation regarding the system?s desire to exchange data within the area; however, the CEO noted that current system architecture made it challenging enough to simply share information amongst health system participants.? With one of the key tenets for the PCSP recognition being timely exchange of data, this is a bit of a conundrum.? While the Direct project offers a simple solution, the ultimate goal will be to facilitate and encourage physicians to search for records in efforts to keep all parties abreast of the care plan.? And while this is a tremendous step, we also noted that retail & urgent care clinics, solo primary care practices and free-standing care centers need to get in on the game too.
I also see a need for ancillary providers to be included as well. ?Not only would individuals benefit from the opportunity to view x-rays but, more to the point, visualizations,?similar to the one here.? While Physical Therapists do an excellent job engaging patients in discussion, they would have far greater impact with the ability to illustrate their points on an interactive tablet app.? And thinking out loud, wouldn?t it be great for individuals to be able to reference the same app at home ? to review the information and implement ?their? steps in the care plan?
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? McKenzie Fujan never feared that she'd have to carry Creighton to its first NCAA tournament victory since 1994 all by herself.
She scored a career-high 24 points, knowing her teammates would come through in a 61-56 first-round win over Syracuse on Saturday. Sure enough, Sarah Nelson had 14 of her 17 points after halftime and Marissa Janning scored all 10 of her points in the second period.
"I wasn't worried," Fujan said. "All year, we've had one person go off and the rest of us kind of caught up. I trust my teammates to get going, and they did."
Fujan shot 8 of 13 overall and 6 of 10 from 3-point range as Creighton (25-7) prevented Syracuse (24-8), the No. 7 seed in the Oklahoma City Regional, from earning its first NCAA tournament win in school history.
Syracuse rallied from a 10-point deficit in the last five minutes, but Elashier Hall's attempt at a game-tying 3-pointer with three seconds left went off the right side of the rim with three seconds left. Nelson added two free throws with three-tenths of a second left.
"Honestly, right now, I'm kind of in shock," said Syracuse center Kayla Alexander, who had 23 points and eight rebounds and ended her career as the Orange's all-time leading scorer. "This isn't the way we thought, planned or imagined this would end. We had such high expectations, and this wasn't how we expected to finish."
Fujan kept Creighton afloat for most of the first half by shooting 6 of 7 overall and 5 of 6 from 3-point range. She scored her team's first 11 points and had 17 by halftime.
The 5-foot-11 guard entered the tournament averaging just 9.3 points, but she had scored a career-high 22 in a Missouri Valley Conference championship game loss to Illinois State and carried that momentum over to the NCAA tournament.
"I think it's just confidence," Fujan said. "My team has done a great job finding me. I don't know. I guess once you hit one, it's easier to hit the next few."
Fujan wasn't getting much help from the other Bluejays early on.
Creighton didn't get a point from someone other than Fujan until Alyssa Kamphaus made a free throw with 6:46 left in the first half. The first Creighton basket from one of Fujan's teammates came when Carli Tritz sank a 3-pointer with 3:31 left in the half. Creighton, which ranks second nationally with 9.3 3-pointers per game, missed its first eight 3-point attempts and 11 of 12 shots overall.
Creighton started out by relying almost entirely on the 3-point shot against Syracuse's zone defense. In the first half, Creighton attempted 24 shots from beyond the arc and only six from two-point range. Somehow, the game was still tied 24-24 at halftime.
"Other than McKenzie, we couldn't throw it in the ocean the first 15 minutes, yet we were still in the game," Creighton coach Jim Flanery said. "I said that's a positive because at some point, somebody else is going to start making baskets."
Creighton finished 11 of 36 from 3-point range.
Syracuse shot 3 of 19 from beyond the arc and only 31 percent (18 of 58) overall. Creighton also outrebounded the taller Syracuse team 43-35.
"That was our No. 1 priority that our coached talked about over and over," Nelson said. "He (said) if we can win the rebounding battle, we'll win the game."
Nelson's 3-pointer gave Creighton a 55-45 lead with only 4:54 remaining, but the Bluejays wouldn't make another basket the rest of the game.
Syracuse got to 57-56 on Carmen Tyson-Thomas' layup with 19 seconds left. Fujan hit both ends of a 1-and-1 to make it 59-56 with 16 seconds remaining. The Orange still had a chance to tie the game until Hall's shot missed the mark.
Workplace communication is assuming greater importance in the rapidly changing global business environment. An organization?s bread and butter come from the workplace and although communication may be working effectively at higher echelons, any breakdown in workplace communication can adversely affect the entire organization. It is necessary for companies to ensure that lower level communication is transparent and effective. Organizations attach great importance to corporate level communication with regular and informative newsletters emanating from Head Office. However, the quality and extent of communication may be dismal at supervisory, sales and shop-floor levels. The interpersonal skills of workers, supervisors and team leaders are especially critical at such levels as these are people with whom frontline managers develop working relationships.
Over time, such relationships become close and personal, but the opposite can also happen. Many exit surveys have shown that employees have left an organization because of poor working relationship with an immediate superior. Therefore, it is essential that managers institutionalize effective lower-level communication channels. Of equal importance is communication between and within levels. Intra-national and international competition is now so fierce that everyone in the organization needs to collaborate closely on solving organizational challenges and achieving agreed strategic objectives. Any organization saddled with communication barriers is erring on the wrong side. The main reason behind ineffective communication at workplace is the loose perception that lower level communication is just a cake-walk. Unlike normal day-to-day communication, workplace communication covers different levels and aspects such as marketing, customer relations, management etc. With such diversity, managers must be equipped with unique skill sets for effective communication at workplace. Workplace communication involves individuals, teams or large groups.
One should also lend credence to the life-cycle and size of the organization. The importance of setting up structures, systems and processes for effective lower level communication should never be underestimated. Organizational and employee communication surveys can determine how well communication systems and practices are contributing to the organization?s performance; or how much they are hindering performance. This information can help managers in devising an effective employee communication strategy. Whatever be the type of organization or the nature of its business, communication practices impact every facet of the company. Although managers spend most of their time communicating, it does not mean that meaningful communication occurs in all exchanges. Once a memorandum, letter, fax, or e-mail has been sent, many are inclined to believe that communication has taken place.
George Bernard Shaw said; ?The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.? This quote pretty much sums up the root cause of all conflicts in the workplace. Often, it is seen that managers do not realize the importance of communication at work and fail to convey their ideas, organizational goals, vision, etc. with enough clarity. When seniors in the organization neglect the need for open and clear communication, the work culture is negatively impacted with consequent loss of productivity. An organization where sharing of information is poor, workplace issues crop up resulting in high employee turnover and wastage of organizational resources is unprofessional. To avoid these, effective communication at work should be encouraged which can help in:
Team building
Creating job satisfaction
Increased transparency
Enhanced productivity
Better work prospects
Proper utilization of resources
Reduced incidences of conflicts
Shortened project completion time
Development of long-term relationships
Advances in technological communication have stymied an individual?s ability to connect on a personal level with co-workers. The modern means of mobile telephony, SMS and emails have their importance, but they have one downside. They have done away with the age-old and necessary informational effects like the facial expressions, body language, speaking cadence and intonation. Since effective workplace communication is largely interpersonal, technology is not much of a help in this respect. It has been widely accepted that great professional relationships cannot be fully developed without the keen awareness of personal courtesy, act of attentive listening, whole-hearted participation and situation-appropriate body language.
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Over time, such relationships become close and personal, but the opposite can also happen. Many exit surveys have shown that employees have left an organization because of poor working relationship with an immediate superior. Therefore, it is essential that managers institutionalize effective lower-level communication channels. Of equal importance is communication between and within levels. Intra-national and international competition is now so fierce that everyone in the organization needs to collaborate closely on solving organizational challenges and achieving agreed strategic objectives. Any organization saddled with communication barriers is erring on the wrong side. The main reason behind ineffective communication at workplace is the loose perception that lower level communication is just a cake-walk. Unlike normal day-to-day communication, workplace communication covers different levels and aspects such as marketing, customer relations, management etc. With such diversity, managers must be equipped with unique skill sets for effective communication at workplace. Workplace communication involves individuals, teams or large groups.