The longtime researchers like to tell the stories. The raccoon that fell through the lab roof. The buckets put out to collect rain from leaky roofs. The fire ? and lack of sprinklers.
Scientists at Los Angeles' venerable Biomedical Research Institute, a cutting-edge hub of medical invention housed for 60 years in World War II military barracks near Torrance, have grown accustomed to trailblazing through peeling paint, slanted floors, rickety stairs and exposed telephone wires.
The decidedly backward facilities stand in sharp contrast to the center's medical breakthroughs and research, rivaling forward-leaning institutions across the nation.
The center's work ? much of it funded by the National Institutes of Health ? has led to the development of the modern cholesterol test, the newborn thyroid deficiency exam and eyedrops to prevent blindness in children. Investigators also created the paramedic model for emergency care and helped pave the way for in-vitro fertilization.
"The only difference between us and everybody else is that we are doing it in buildings that were promised to be torn down in 1946," said David Meyer, the center's president.
Last year, LA BioMed, as the center is known, finally began replacing some of the old Army structures with an up-to-date building. And now, Meyer said the nonprofit institution is raising funds and negotiating $30 million in county bonds to again create something new: a fully modern research facility.
Researchers say modernizing the campus, which is next to and works closely with county-operated Harbor-UCLA Medical Center, will make it easier to attract top talent and help remedy possible hazards.
A small lake ? complete with frogs ? formed outside his aging lab during storms, recalled John Michael Criley, a professor emeritus at UCLA who has been at LA BioMed for 45 years. He had to build a makeshift bridge to cross it. "It was like being in 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,'" he said.
The outmoded facilities did have some advantages, he said. They were cheap and there was plenty of room. "If we needed more space, we could knock out a wall with a hammer and a saw," said Criley, a cardiologist who helped create paramedic medicine.
The campus spans more than 30 acres, a sprawling maze of old wooden bungalows and newer concrete-and-steel buildings. Cars are parked at all angles around the odd enclave of labs and research spaces scattered between patches of grass and trees.
French researcher Fawzia Bardag-Gorce said her jaw dropped when she arrived at the center in 1999. "I was shocked," she said. She adapted and now, inside one of the old barracks, Bardag-Gorce and her team are using high-tech equipment to create replacement corneas using cells from inside people's cheeks.
Outside of the bungalows, feral cats sip from bowls in the parking lot. And in nearby buildings, scientists are researching drugs to vaccinate against hospital-acquired infections and to alleviate the pain associated with sickle cell disease, among hundreds of other projects.
Across campus, construction crews are working on a $10-million federally funded building that will house a chronic disease research center.
The Army opened the Los Angeles Port of Embarkation Hospital in 1943 to treat soldiers shipping out to World War II. After the war ended, Los Angeles County bought the hospital and opened it in 1946. It became UCLA's first teaching hospital.
In 1952, several doctors started a research organization that would later become LA BioMed. The current Harbor-UCLA Medical Center opened in 1963, and the vacant barracks were turned into more research space.
William French, a Harbor-UCLA cardiologist, started at LA BioMed in 1975. The wooden floors in his old work space couldn't support newer, heavier equipment, so he had to stick with antiquated machines. "It was pretty bad ? but we made do," he said.
French, who has since moved to a newer building, said he stayed with the center because of his colleagues ? about 150 altogether ? and the research opportunities.
John Edwards, a UCLA medical school professor and head of infectious diseases at the hospital, said the conditions and the long hours he and other young scientists worked helped breed a strong camaraderie. "That created a trench-like work atmosphere," he said. He worked in a bungalow, E-5, for many years before moving to another building on campus, where he conducts research on hospital-acquired infections.
More than most, Edwards appreciates the campus' history. His father, a Navy admiral, was treated at the old hospital at the end of WWII. Recently, the deteriorating condition of the research buildings has made it more difficult to hire and retain scientists, he said. "Most of the younger investigators we'd like to recruit have never seen facilities like these," he said.
The barracks "served us well, but no longer," he said. "Their day is over."
Last year the German Aerospace Center developed Rollin' Justin, an articulated robot that was particularly adept at catching balls. But so he doesn't have to play catch alone, the DLR just finished building his clunky pitching teammate, Agile Justin. More »
A Second Take on Meeting the Press: From an up-close look at Rachel Maddow's sneakers to an in-depth look at Jon Krakauer's latest book ? it's all fair game in our "Meet the Press: Take Two" web extra. Log on Sundays to see David Gregory's post-show conversations with leading newsmakers, authors and roundtable guests. Videos are available on-demand by 12 p.m. ET on Sundays.
ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates ? Tiger Woods shot a 6-under 66 Saturday to grab a share of the lead at the Abu Dhabi Golf Championship, the latest sign that the 14-time major winner is returning to form after ending a two-year victory drought.
There wasn't a lot of fist pumping from Woods, who traded drama for consistency in racking up six birdies in a bogey-free round.
It was a memorable performance by the American, mostly for his ability to hit the fairways, tame the par 5s and sink clutch putts ? including a six-footer for birdie on the final hole.
"It just seemed like I didn't do a lot of things right but I didn't do a lot of things wrong today, it was just very consistent," Woods said. "You know, made a couple putts here and there ... I stayed away from trouble and tried to keep the ball towards the fat side of some of these pins and I think I did a pretty good job."
Woods moved to 11 under for the tournament and is tied with newcomer Robert Rock, who birdied his final two holes to earn the 117th-ranked Englishman a first-ever pairing with Woods for Sunday's finale.
Rory McIlroy (68), Peter Hanson (64), Francesco Molinari (66) and Paul Lawrie (68) were two shots back, with George Coetzee (65), James Kingston (67), overnight leader Thorbjorn Olesen (71) and Jean-Baptiste Gonnet (69) all a shot further back.
Woods is attempting to follow his season-ending victory at the Chevron World Challenge with another win here. He was two shots off the pace after the second round but started climbing the leaderboard Saturday with an opening birdie, followed by another on No. 7.
He stepped up his game on the back nine and grabbed a share of the lead after he narrowly missed an eagle putt on the 10th and settled for birdie. He briefly took the outright lead with a birdie on 14.
The crowd of several hundred cheered every birdie, with some yelling "Tiger's back."
Woods refused to talk about his victory chances, acknowledging too many players remain within striking distance.
"There's a ton of guys with a chance to win," Woods said. "You know, we have not separated ourselves from the field. The field is very bunched. I need to go out there and put together a solid round of golf, and I can't go out there and shoot even par and expect to win. I've got to go out there and go get it."
Rock, who got his first European Tour win last year in Italy in a playoff with Sergio Garcia, admitted he was star-struck at the prospect of teeing off alongside Woods, calling him "the best guy I've ever seen play golf."
The 34-year-old journeyman is relishing the chance to go head-to-head with one of golf's all-time greats.
"There's quite a lot of people out there (today) obviously following Tiger in the group in front of us. Hopefully we've got the same amount of people watching tomorrow, and we'll see how I cope with it," Rock said. "I just want to experience it. How many chances I'll get to do that, it's not clear."
Rock was one of several players who challenged Woods for the lead after overnight leader Olesen fell back.
Lawrie, the 1999 British Open champion, showed some of the form he displayed at the Dubai World Championship in December, where he finished second. He made birdie on 10 and 11 to tie Woods for the lead, fell back with bogeys on 14 and 17 and then recovered to birdie the 18th.
Molinari and Hanson also bounced back from opening round 74s to move into contention. Molinari had five birdies on his back nine, while the 47th-ranked Swede had eight birdies in his round ? including three on the last five holes ? in a bogey-free round to finish with the lowest score of the day.
"It was one of those days where you have the best job in the world," Hanson said. "Struck it nice, made four easy birdies on the par 5s and then a few more, and it felt pretty easy somehow."
U.S. Open champion McIlroy also is still in the mix, a day after he had two double bogeys, including on the 9th when he was penalized for brushing away sand in front of his ball. He only had one bogey to go with five birdies Saturday, but the 22-year-old Northern Irishman was forced to scramble several times to save par, including on the 18th when an errant drive went into nearby rocks and almost into a pond.
"I definitely felt today was a lot better than yesterday," McIlroy said. "I felt like I hit the ball a lot better. I feel that I made a couple of loose swings off the tee and obviously one on the last, and a couple others, but it's getting there. So hopefully I can just keep that going tomorrow and maybe get off to a fast start and put pressure on the guys in front of me."
Top-ranked Luke Donald (73) is 11 shots behind Woods, with No. 2-ranked Lee Westwood (68) seven off the lead.
___
Follow Michael Casey on Twitter at https://twitter.com/mcasey1
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A 911 recording revealed frantic efforts by friends of Demi Moore to get help for the actress who was convulsing as they gathered around her and tried to comfort her.
Moore was "semi-conscious, barely," according to a female caller on the recording released Friday by Los Angeles fire officials.
The woman tells emergency operators that Moore, 49, had smoked something before she was rushed to the hospital on Monday night and that she had been "having issues lately."
"Is she breathing normal?" the operator asks.
"No, not so normal. More kind of shaking, convulsing, burning up," the friend says as she hurries to Moore's side, on the edge of panic.
Another woman is next to Moore as the dispatcher asks if she's responsive.
"Demi, can you hear me?" she asks. "Yes, she's squeezing hands. ... She can't speak."
When the operator asks what Moore ingested or smoked, the friend replies, but the answer was redacted.
Asked if Moore took the substance intentionally or not, the woman says Moore ingested it on purpose but the reaction was accidental.
"Whatever she took, make sure you have it out for the paramedics," the operator says.
The operator asks the friend if this has happened before.
"I don't know," she says. "There's been some stuff recently that we're all just finding out."
Moore's publicist, Carrie Gordon, said previously that the actress sought professional help to treat her exhaustion and improve her health. She would not comment further on the emergency call or provide details about the nature or location of Moore's treatment.
The past few months have been rocky for Moore.
She released a statement in November announcing she had decided to end her marriage to fellow actor Ashton Kutcher, 33, following news of alleged infidelity. The two were known to publicly share their affection for one another via Twitter.
Moore still has a Twitter account under the name mrskutcher but has not posted any messages since Jan. 7.
Meanwhile, Millennium Films announced Friday that Sarah Jessica Parker will replace Moore in the role of feminist Gloria Steinem in its production of "Lovelace," a biopic about the late porn star Linda Lovelace. A statement gave no reason for the change. The production, starring Amanda Seyfried, has been shooting in Los Angeles since Dec. 20.
During the call, the woman caller says the group of friends had turned Moore's head to the side and was holding her down. The dispatcher tells her not to hold her down but to wipe her mouth and nose and watch her closely until paramedics arrive.
"Make sure that we keep an airway open," the dispatcher says. "Even if she passes out completely, that's OK. Stay right with her."
The phone is passed around by four people, including a woman who gives directions to the gate and another who recounts details about what Moore smoked or ingested. Finally, the phone is given to a man named James, so one of the women can hold Moore's head.
There was some confusion at the beginning of the call. The emergency response was delayed by nearly two minutes as Los Angeles and Beverly Hills dispatchers sorted out which city had jurisdiction over the street where Moore lives.
As the call is transferred to Beverly Hills, the frantic woman at Moore's house raises her voice and said, "Why is an ambulance not on its way right now?"
"Ma'am, instead of arguing with me why an ambulance is not on the way, can you spell (the street name) for me?" the Beverly Hills dispatcher says.
Although the estate is located in the 90210 ZIP code above Benedict Canyon, the response was eventually handled by the Los Angeles Fire Department.
By the end of the call, Moore has improved.
"She seems to have calmed down now. She's speaking," the male caller told the operator.
Moore and Kutcher were wed in September 2005.
Kutcher became a stepfather to Moore's three daughters ? Rumer, Scout and Tallulah Belle ? from her 13-year marriage to actor Bruce Willis. Moore and Willis divorced in 2000 but remained friendly.
Moore can be seen on screen in the recent films "Margin Call" and "Another Happy Day." Kutcher replaced Charlie Sheen on TV's "Two and a Half Men" and is part of the ensemble film "New Year's Eve."
ALMATY (Reuters) ? A Kazakh court ordered the arrest and detention of three opposition activists Saturday for holding an unauthorised rally, at which protesters condemned the recent election as fraudulent and demanded the release of jailed colleagues.
The three were arrested hours after about 300 people, opposed to long-serving President Nursultan Nazarbayev, gathered in Kazakhstan's largest city, Almaty, calling for democratic change.
At the rally, Bolat Abilov and Amirzhan Kosanov, leaders of the opposition All-National Social Democratic Party, had demanded a transparent investigation into riots last month in the oil-producing region of Zhanaozen, the Central Asian state's deadliest violence in decades.
"After the rally, Abilov and Kosanov were brought to an administrative court in Almaty," an aide to Abilov told Reuters, requesting anonymity. "Abilov was given 18 days in custody and Kosanov 15 days for holding the unauthorised rally."
Amirbek Togusov, the head of the Social Democrats' Almaty headquarters, was put under arrest for 15 days, he said.
"We saw them off right to the threshold of the detention center. They appeared to be in good spirits and were confident in their actions," Abilov's aide said. The court could not be reached for comment because it had closed.
Abilov and Kosanov, addressing the rally, had demanded that their colleagues jailed on charges of inciting the oilmen's riots in Zhanaozen, western Kazakhstan, be freed.
It was the second peaceful protest since the January 15 parliamentary election gave Nazarbayev's Nur Otan party an overwhelming victory. After denouncing the election as rigged and faulty during an unauthorised rally on January 17, Abilov and Kosanov were fined and warned they could be arrested next time.
"WE WANT PEACEFUL CHANGE"
Saturday, the protesters had originally planned to gather at a monument to the 19th century Kazakh poet and philosopher Abai but city authorities, who denied permission for the rally, fenced off the square and unarmed police stood guard. The demonstrators gathered instead outside a nearby hotel.
"We want change, peaceful change and democratic change. We want to be reckoned with," Abilov, co-chairman of the All-National Social Democratic Party, told the crowd.
A solitary Kazakh flag waved among a crowd that was swollen by the presence of journalists and plain-clothes police. A succession of speakers took the megaphone over nearly two hours, before Muslim prayers ended the rally.
Nazarbayev, a former Soviet Communist Party boss, has ruled Kazakhstan since before independence with little tolerance for dissent. This month's election admitted three parties to parliament for the first time, but Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) observers said it lacked any genuine opposition presence.
"The election wasn't legitimate. We want them to hear us," said Ravilya, a pensioner who stood in the crowd in temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius. "There are more police than people. It's a good thing they're armed only with sticks," she said.
Nazarbayev, 71, is popular among most of Kazakhstan's 16.7 million population for bringing stability that has made the country's economy the most successful in ex-Soviet Central Asia.
But the riots in the oil town of Zhanaozen, which officials say killed 16, shook that image of stability. Police fired live rounds at crowds who set buildings ablaze in the town. Another person was killed in a nearby village the next day.
"We demand a just and large-scale investigation into the tragedy," Abilov said. "The president should promise that never again will weapons be used against citizens of Kazakhstan."
The prosecutor-general's office said this week that police generally acted within legal bounds when resorting to the use of weapons on December 16, but four senior officers are being prosecuted for using excessive force.
Opposition leader Vladimir Kozlov and newspaper editor Igor Vinyavsky have been detained for two months pending trial on charges of fomenting social hatred and trying to overthrow the constitutional order.
"We demand that authorities stop fighting against their opponents with such methods," Abilov said.
(Additional reporting by Mariya Gordeyeva; Editing by Tim Pearce)
While many on the East Coast will be fast asleep, those on the West Coast will get a midnight treat tonight, as Tiger Woods plays in the second round of the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship.
He'll tee off with Rory McIlroy and Luke Donald at 3:05 a.m. EST
The Logitech Revue never quite lived up to its potential as the first set-top box to sport Google TV. That much was made clear by Logitech in late 2011 when it was said to have "cost us dearly." And now the Revue has officially been put out to pasture.
Logitech posted its Q3 2012 (they're on a weird schedule) today and in doing so it repeated that sales figures were negatively impacted by the Revue -- and that it no longer has any units on hand. Here's the official word from Logitech:
A major factor in the 8 percent decline in the Americas sales compared to the prior year was Logitech Revue for GoogleTV. We began shipments of Logitech Revue in Q3 of the prior year and delivered sales of $22M that quarter. Sales of Logitech Revue this year were down by $15M due to the combination of a significant price reduction in Q2 of this fiscal year and our previously announced intention to exit the category. We are now sold out of all new Logitech Revue units.
So that's it, boys and girls. The Logitech Revue is done. Finished. Kaput. It is no more. But that's not entirely true, of course. A good many of us still have Revue units, and they still work relatively well, if a little underpowered, and they're actually running the latest version of the Google TV branch of Android. Treat them well. (Or at least try not to fear them too much.)
ScienceDaily (Jan. 25, 2012) ? Sending a text message leads people to lie more often than in other forms of communication, according to new research by David Xu, assistant professor in the W. Frank Barton School of Business at Wichita State University.
Xu is lead author of the paper, which compares the level of deceit people will use in a variety of media, from text messages to face-to-face interactions.
The study will appear in the March edition of the Journal of Business Ethics. The other co-authors are professor Karl Aquino and associate professor Ronald Cenfetelli with the Sauder School of Business at the University of British Columbia.
How the study worked
The study involved 170 students from the Sauder School performing mock stock transactions in one of four ways: face-to-face, or by video, audio or text chatting.
Researchers promised cash awards of up to $50 to increase participants' involvement in the role play. "Brokers" were promised increased cash rewards for more stock sales, while "buyers" were told their cash reward would depend on the yet-to-be-determined value of the stock.
The brokers were given inside knowledge that the stock was rigged to lose half of its value. Buyers were only informed of this fact after the mock sales transaction and were asked to report whether the brokers had employed deceit to sell their stock.
The authors then analyzed which forms of communication led to more deception. They found that buyers who received information via text messages were 95 percent more likely to report deception than if they had interacted via video, 31 percent more likely to report deception when compared to face-to-face, and 18 percent more likely if the interaction was via audio chat.
The fact that people were less likely to lie via video than in person was surprising, Xu said, but makes sense given the so-called "spotlight" effect, where a person feels they're being watched more closely on video than face-to-face.
Xu said this kind of research has implications for consumers to avoid problems such as online fraud, and for businesses looking to promote trust and build a good image, Xu said.
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This video shows the navigation path of Costa Concordia, the ship that ran aground in Italy. Lots of things went wrong after it hit the first rock, but her path reveals that they may have been a steering system failure before that. More »
Generation X: How young adults deal with influenzaPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Diane Swanbrow swanbrow@umich.edu 734-647-4416 University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Only about one in five young adults in their late 30s received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, according to a University of Michigan report that details the behavior and attitudes of Generation X.
But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemicthe first serious infectious disease this group had ever experiencedThe Generation X Report explores how Americans ages 36-39 kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.
"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," said Jon D. Miller, author of The Generation X Report. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly, with higher levels of awareness and concern."
According to Miller, understanding Gen X reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials deal more effectively with future epidemics.
The results show that a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue. However, they scored only moderately well, overall, on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at the U-M Institute for Social Research. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xersthose born between 1961 and 1981.
Among the other findings:
Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media, and about five times from searching the Internet.
The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.
"In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crisessome biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined," Miller said. "They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge."
###
The third Generation X Report will be issued in April 2012, on the topic of food and cooking. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, and citizenship and voting.
Jon Miller: http://www.isr.umich.edu/cps/people_faculty_jondm.html
Longitudinal Study of American Youth: http://www.lsay.org
Institute for Social Research: http://www.isr.umich.edu
Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research is the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and in educating researchers and students from around the world. ISR conducts some of the most widely cited studies in the nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world's largest digital social science data archive.
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Generation X: How young adults deal with influenzaPublic release date: 24-Jan-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Diane Swanbrow swanbrow@umich.edu 734-647-4416 University of Michigan
ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Only about one in five young adults in their late 30s received a flu shot during the 2009-2010 swine flu epidemic, according to a University of Michigan report that details the behavior and attitudes of Generation X.
But about 65 percent were at least moderately concerned about the flu, and nearly 60 percent said they were following the issue very or moderately closely.
Using survey data collected from approximately 3,000 young adults during the 2009-2010 H1N1 influenza epidemicthe first serious infectious disease this group had ever experiencedThe Generation X Report explores how Americans ages 36-39 kept abreast of the issue and what actions they eventually took to protect themselves and their families.
"These results suggest that young adults in Generation X did reasonably well in their first encounter with a major epidemic," said Jon D. Miller, author of The Generation X Report. "Those with minor children at home were at the greatest risk, and they responded accordingly, with higher levels of awareness and concern."
According to Miller, understanding Gen X reactions to this recent threat may help public health officials deal more effectively with future epidemics.
The results show that a majority of Generation X young adults felt that they were "well informed" or "very well informed" about the issue. However, they scored only moderately well, overall, on an Index of Influenza Knowledge, a series of five items designed to test the level of knowledge about viral infections generally and about the swine flu epidemic specifically.
Miller directs the Longitudinal Study of American Youth at the U-M Institute for Social Research. The study, funded by the National Science Foundation since 1986, now includes responses from approximately 4,000 Gen Xersthose born between 1961 and 1981.
Among the other findings:
Young adults with minor children at home were most likely to follow the news about influenza closely and were most concerned about the swine flu epidemic.
Young adults were most likely to report getting information about the epidemic from friends, co-workers and family members. In the month before the survey, they reported having about nine such conversations, compared to getting news about the flu less than three times via print or broadcast media, and about five times from searching the Internet.
The most trusted sources of information about the influenza epidemic were physicians, followed by the National Institutes of Health, pharmacists at local drug stores and nurses from county health departments. The least trusted sources were YouTube videos, drug company commercials and Wikipedia articles.
"In the decades ahead, the young adults in Generation X will encounter numerous other crisessome biomedical, some environmental, and others yet to be imagined," Miller said. "They will have to acquire, organize and make sense of emerging scientific and technical information, and the experience of coping with the swine flu epidemic suggests how they will meet that challenge."
###
The third Generation X Report will be issued in April 2012, on the topic of food and cooking. Subsequent reports will cover climate, space exploration, and citizenship and voting.
Jon Miller: http://www.isr.umich.edu/cps/people_faculty_jondm.html
Longitudinal Study of American Youth: http://www.lsay.org
Institute for Social Research: http://www.isr.umich.edu
Established in 1949, the University of Michigan Institute for Social Research is the world's largest academic social science survey and research organization, and a world leader in developing and applying social science methodology, and in educating researchers and students from around the world. ISR conducts some of the most widely cited studies in the nation, including the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan Surveys of Consumers, the American National Election Studies, the Monitoring the Future Study, the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, the Health and Retirement Study, the Columbia County Longitudinal Study and the National Survey of Black Americans. ISR researchers also collaborate with social scientists in more than 60 nations on the World Values Surveys and other projects, and the institute has established formal ties with universities in Poland, China and South Africa. ISR is also home to the Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world's largest digital social science data archive.
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
ScienceDaily (Jan. 23, 2012) ? NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center -- the nation's official source of warnings and alerts about space weather and its impacts on Earth -- has issued a watch for a geomagnetic storm associated with a bright flare on the sun Sunday evening (Jan. 22, 2012). The storm could arrive Tuesday morning, with possible impacts to navigation, the power grid and satellites.
Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) forecasters have also issued a warning for ongoing "strong" solar radiation storming. Radiation storms are a concern for astronauts, communications at high latitudes, satellites in space and rocket launches. Geogmagnetic storms (G-scale) and solar radiation storms (S-scale) range from 1 (minor) to 5 (extreme).
NOAA's space weather experts describe the event as the strongest radiation storm in more than six years.
Associated with Sunday's flare was a "coronal mass ejection," a burst of charged particles and magnetic field that streamed out from the sun at about four million miles an hour. The coronal mass ejection (CME) is heading toward Earth. NOAA's SWPC predicts it will trigger onset of a geomagnetic storm on Tuesday morning EST, with storm intensity likely to be moderate (G-2), possibly strong (G-3).
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
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STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- Joe Paterno's doctors said Saturday that the former Penn State coach's condition had become "serious," following complications from lung cancer in recent days.
The winningest major college football coach, Paterno was diagnosed shortly after Penn State's Board of Trustees ousted him Nov. 9 in the aftermath of the child sex abuse charges against former assistant Jerry Sandusky. While undergoing treatment, his health problems worsened when he broke his pelvis ? the same injury he sustained during preseason practice last year.
"Over the last few days Joe Paterno has experienced further health complications," family spokesman Dan McGinn said in a brief statement to The Associated Press. "His doctors have now characterized his status as serious. His family will have no comment on the situation and asks that their privacy be respected during this difficult time."
Paterno's sons Scott and Jay each took to Twitter on Saturday night to refute reports that their father had died.
Wrote Jay Paterno: "I appreciate the support & prayers. Joe is continuing to fight."
Quoting individuals close to the family, The Washington Post reported on its website that Paterno remained connected to a ventilator, but had communicated his wishes not to be kept alive through any extreme artificial means. The paper said his family was weighing whether to take him off the ventilator on Sunday.
The 85-year-old Paterno has been in the hospital since Jan. 13 for observation for what his family called minor complications from his cancer treatments. Not long before that, he conducted his only interview since losing his job, with the Post. Paterno was described as frail and wearing a wig. The second half of the two-day interview was conducted from his bedside.
Roughly 200 students and townspeople gathered Saturday night at a statue of Paterno just outside a gate at Beaver Stadium. Some brought candles, while others held up their smart phones to take photos of the scene. The mood was somber, with no chanting or shouting.
"Drove by students at the Joe statue," Jay Paterno tweeted. "Just told my Dad about all the love & support--inspiring him."
Penn State student David Marselles held a candle in his right hand and posed next to a life-sized cardboard cutout of Paterno that he keeps at his apartment. A friend took a photo on the frigid night.
"I came to Penn State because of Joe Paterno. Since I was a little kid, I've been watching the games ... screaming `We Are ... Penn State' because of him. ... He inspired me to go to college," Marselles said. "With such a tragic event like this, I just thought it was necessary to show my support."
The final days of Paterno's Penn State career were easily the toughest in his 61 years with the university and 46 seasons as head football coach.
Sandusky, a longtime defensive coordinator who was on Paterno's staff during two national title seasons, was arrested Nov. 5 and ultimately charged with sexually abusing a total of 10 boys over 15 years. His arrest sparked outrage not just locally but across the nation and there were widespread calls for Paterno to quit.
Paterno announced late on Nov. 9 that he would retire at the end of the season, but hours later he received a call from board vice chairman John Surma, telling him he had been terminated. By that point, a crowd of students and media were outside the Paterno home. When news spread that Paterno had been dumped, there was rioting in State College.
Police on Saturday evening barricaded the block where Paterno lives, and a police car was stationed about 50 yards from his home. Several people had gathered in the living room of the house. No one was outside, other than reporters and photographers.
Trustees said this week they pushed Paterno out in part because he failed a moral responsibility to report an allegation made in 2002 against Sandusky to authorities outside the university. They also felt he had challenged their authority and that, as a practical matter, with all the media in town and attention to the Sandusky case, he could no longer run the team.
Paterno testified before the grand jury investigating Sandusky that he had relayed to his bosses an accusation that came from graduate assistant Mike McQueary, who said he saw Sandusky abusing a boy in the showers of the Penn State football building.
Paterno told the Post that he didn't know how to handle the charge, but a day after McQueary visited him, he spoke to the athletic director and the administrator with oversight over the campus police.
Wick Sollers, Paterno's lawyer, called the board's comments this week self-serving and unsupported by the facts. Paterno fully reported what he knew to the people responsible for campus investigations, Sollers said.
"He did what he thought was right with the information he had at the time," Sollers said.
Sandusky says he is innocent and is out on bail, awaiting trial.
The back and forth between Paterno's representative and the board reflects a trend in recent weeks, during which Penn State alumni ? and especially former players, including Hall of Fame running back Franco Harris ? have questioned the trustees' actions and accused them of failing to give Paterno a chance to defend himself.
Three town halls, in Pittsburgh, suburban Philadelphia and New York City, seemed to do little to calm the situation and dozens of candidates have now expressed interest in running for the board, a volunteer position that typically attracts much less interest.
While everyone involved has said the focus should be on Sandusky's accusers and their ordeals, the abuse scandal brought a tarnished ending to Paterno's sterling career. Paterno won 409 games and took the Nittany Lions to 37 bowl games and those two national championships, the last in the 1986 season. More than 250 of the players he coached went on to the NFL.
Throughout his coaching years, Paterno maintained that, yes, winning was important, but even more important was winning with honor.
KANO, Nigeria (AP) ? Attacks claimed by a radical Islamist sect in north Nigeria's largest city hit eight security posts, police said, killing at least seven people as gunfire still echoed down streets Saturday morning.
Soldiers and police officers swarmed over streets Saturday in Kano, a city of more than 9 million people that remains an important political and religious hub in Nigeria's Muslim north. Gun shots could be heard near a state police command in the city, remnants of a wide-ranging attack launched by the sect known as Boko Haram.
In a statement issued late Friday, federal police spokesman Olusola Amore said attackers targeted five police buildings, two immigration offices and the local headquarters of the State Security Service, Nigeria's secret police.
Amore said the attacks caused seven deaths, matching the accounts from witness statements immediately after the attacks began Friday afternoon. However, the death toll could rise given the scope of the assault.
"The police have commenced investigation and therefore use this medium to call for calm among the residents of Kano as police are doing their best to bring the situation under control," Amore said. Police are "appealing to members of the public to come forward with information on the identity and location of these hoodlums. Information given will be treated with utmost confidentiality."
Amore could not be immediately reached for comment Saturday.
Whether anyone trusts the police remains another matter as security agencies remain unable to stop the increasingly bloody sectarian attacks by Boko Haram on Nigeria's weak central government. Earlier this week, the police acknowledged the alleged mastermind of a Catholic church bombing at Christmas escaped custody, yet another embarrassment for security agencies amid the violence.
The attacks began at 5 p.m. Friday, following afternoon prayers as workers began to leave their offices in the sprawling, dusty city, witnesses said.
A massive blast at a regional police headquarters shook cars miles (kilometers) away, an Associated Press reporter said. The blast came from a suicide car bomber who drove into the regional headquarters compound and detonated his explosives, deputy superintendent of police Aminu Ringim said. The explosion tore away the headquarters' roof and blew out the building's windows.
Inmates at the regional police headquarters fled amid gunfire, witnesses said.
State authorities declared a 24-hour curfew late Friday as residents hid inside their homes amid the fighting.
A Boko Haram spokesman using the nom de guerre Abul-Qaqa claimed responsibility for the attacks in a message to journalists. He said the attack came as the state government refused to release Boko Haram members held by the police.
Boko Haram has carried out increasingly sophisticated and bloody attacks in its campaign to implement strict Shariah law across Nigeria, a multiethnic nation of more than 160 million people.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege" in the local Hausa language, is responsible for at least 510 killings last year alone, according to an AP count. So far this year, the group has been blamed for at least 76 killings, according to an AP count.
Boko Haram's targets have included both Muslims and Christians. However, the group has begun specifically targeting Christians after promising it will kill any Christians living in Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north. That has further inflamed religious and ethnic tensions in Nigeria, which has seen ethnic violence kill thousands in recent years.
Friday's attacks also could cause more unrest, as violence in Kano has set off attacks throughout the north in the past, including postelection violence in April that saw 800 people killed. Kano, an ancient city, remains important in the history of Islam in Nigeria and has important religious figures there even today.
Authorities previously believed they destroyed Boko Haram in 2009, after a riot and ensuing security crackdown in Nigeria's northeast killed 700 people, including its then-leader Mohammed Yusuf. The group began to re-emerge in 2010, as authorities blamed motorcycle-riding gunmen from the sect for targeted assassinations.
However, the sect's attacks have grown more complex and deadly over time. Boko Haram claimed responsibility for an August suicide car bombing that targeted the U.N. headquarters in the capital, killing 25 people and wounding more than 100. The sect killed at least 42 people during a series of attacks Christmas Day in Nigeria that included the bombing of a Catholic church outside the country's capital Abuja.
In a video released last week, Imam Abubakar Shekau, Boko Haram's current leader, said the government could not handle attacks by the group.
Although President Goodluck Jonathan, a Christian from southern Nigeria, has declared emergency rule in some regions, the sect is blamed for almost daily attacks. Jonathan also has said he believes the sect has infiltrated security agencies and government offices in the country, though he has offered no evidence to back up the claim.
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Associated Press writer Ibrahim Garba contributed to this report.
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Jon Gambrell reported from Lagos, Nigeria and can be reached at www.twitter.com/jongambrellAP.
We're here at Apple's education-themed event at the Guggenheim museum in New York City, and the company's just followed up its long-awaited textbook announcement with something unexpected: iBooks Author, a free OS X program for creating books. The intent is really for teachers and other educators to produce educational materials, but Apple says the format can apply to any genre. Aside from the free part, the real story here is ease of use, with the ability to drag and drop photos, videos and even Microsoft Word files into various templates. If you use Apple's own suite of office apps, in particular, you can drag and drop a Keynote presentation into the doc, and it'll live on as an interactive widget. (You can whip up other widgets, too, though you'll need to know Javascript or HTML.) Moving beyond the main text, authors can also arrange glossaries by highlighting and clicking words, and clicking again to add a definition. In a surprise move, Apple also said authors can publish straight to the store, though we're waiting for clarification that textbook writers and other scribes are actually exempt from Cupertino's notorious App Store approval process. In any case, the app is available now in the App Store so by all means, get cracking on that definitive Kurt Vonnegut glossary you never knew you had in you.
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Public release date: 24-Jan-2012
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