WASHINGTON (AP) — Leaders of a Senate panel that oversees U.S. intelligence issues said Thursday it has approved a plan to scale back how many American telephone records the National Security Agency can sweep up. But critics of U.S. surveillance programs and privacy rights experts said the bill does little, if anything, to end the daily collection of millions of records that has spurred widespread demands for reform.
Legislation by the Senate Intelligence Committee, which was approved by an 11-4 vote, would increase congressional and judicial oversight of intelligence activities. It also would create 10-year prison sentences for people who access the classified material without authorization, according to a statement released by committee chairwoman Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., and Sen. Saxby Chambliss, R-Ga., the panel's top Republican.
Just how far it would scale back the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records was unclear.
The statement said the plan would ban bulk collection of records "under specific procedures and restrictions." Chambliss spokeswoman Lauren Claffey said some of the telephone metadata collection would continue, so long as intelligence officials followed rules for how it can be used.
Only certain people would have access to the phone data, according to the bill. It also would bar the NSA from obtaining the content of the phone calls. The current program only allows the NSA to collect phone numbers and times of calls and cannot listen in on phone calls without a warrant from a secret court.
"The threats we face — from terrorism, proliferation and cyberattack, among others — are real, and they will continue," Feinstein said in the statement. "Intelligence is necessary to protect our national and economic security, as well as to stop attacks against our friends and allies around the world."
She said "more can and should be done" to increase transparency of the surveillance and build public support for privacy protections.
But Rep. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said the legislation allows the bulk collection to continue under certain safeguards. He called the safeguards a positive first step but said the NSA should stop sweeping up Americans' phone records and only obtain those that are connected to a specific terror plot.
Privacy advocates who have long called for the end of broad government snooping bristled at the bill, which they said would merely legalize the surveillance that the NSA has quietly undertaken since 2006.
"It's fitting that Senator Feinstein took Halloween to remind us why she's the favorite senator of the NSA's spooks," said David Segal, executive director of advocacy group Demand Progress. "Using squishy public relations language, she is striving to leave the impression that her bill reins in the NSA's mass surveillance programs — but it does nothing of the sort. ... Lawmakers must immediately recognize this legislation for the sham that it is — and reject it outright."
The Senate intelligence bill rivals one put forward earlier this week, by House and Senate judiciary committees, that would eliminate the phone data collection program that was revealed earlier this year in classified documents that were released to the media by NSA leaker Edward Snowden.
The dueling legislation means that Congress ultimately will have to decide how broadly the U.S. government can conduct surveillance on its own citizens in the name of protecting Americans from terror threats.
Polls indicate that Americans widely oppose the surveillance program.
Meanwhile, the NSA issued a more forceful statement rejecting reports that it illegally collected millions of records from communications links between Yahoo and Google data centers around the world.
The Washington Post, citing documents obtained from former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, has reported that the NSA sent records from the companies' internal servers to data warehouses at the agency's headquarters in Fort Meade, Md.
The NSA said such reports have "misstated facts, mischaracterized NSA's activities, and drawn erroneous inferences about those operations." In a detailed statement, the agency said its activities are conducted in accordance with law and policy. And it said the data collection goes after valid foreign intelligence targets that often use communications over satellite links, microwave towers and fiber-optic cables.
"U.S. service provider communications make use of the same information superhighways as a variety of other commercial service providers," the agency said. "NSA must understand and take that into account in order to eliminate information that is not related to foreign intelligence."
Under normal procedures, the NSA is required to sort data based on relevant potential threats and seek additional legal authorities to access the information if the communication involves an American.
___
Associated Press writer Lolita C. Baldor contributed to this report.
Follow Lara Jakes on Twitter at: https://twitter.com/larajakesAP
NEW YORK (AP) — The sunburst Fender Stratocaster that a young Bob Dylan played at the 1965 Newport Folk Festival when he famously went electric, perhaps the most historic instrument in rock 'n' roll, is coming up for auction, where it could bring as much as half a million dollars.
Though now viewed as changing American music forever, Dylan's three-song electric set at the Rhode Island festival that marked his move from acoustic folk to electric rock 'n' roll was met by boos from folk purists in the crowd who viewed him as a traitor. He returned for an acoustic encore with "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue."
Now the guitar is being offered for sale Dec. 6, Christie's said. Five lots of hand- and typewritten lyric fragments found inside the guitar case — early versions of some of Dylan's legendary songs — also are being sold. The lyrics have a pre-sale estimate ranging from $3,000 to $30,000.
With a classic sunburst finish and original flat-wound strings, the guitar has been in the possession of a New Jersey family for nearly 50 years. Dylan left it on a private plane piloted by the owner's late father, Vic Quinto, who worked for Dylan's manager.
His daughter, Dawn Peterson, of Morris County, N.J., has said her father asked the management company what to do with the guitar but nobody ever got back to him.
Last year, she took it to the PBS show "History Detectives" to try to have it authenticated. The program enlisted the expertise of Andy Babiuk, a consultant to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and owner of an upstate New York vintage instrument shop, and Jeff Gold, a Dylan memorabilia expert. Both men, who appeared on the episode, unequivocally declared the artifacts belonged to Dylan.
Babiuk took the instrument apart and also compared it to close-up color photos of the guitar taken at the 1965 festival.
"I was able to match the wood grain on the body of the guitar ... and the unique grain of the rosewood fingerboard. Wood grains are like fingerprints, no two are exactly alike," Babiuk said in an interview. "Based on the sum of the evidence, I was able to identify that this guitar was the one that Bob Dylan had played in Newport."
Dylan's attorney and his publicist did not respond to email and phone requests for comment. Dylan and Peterson, who declined to be interviewed, recently settled a legal dispute over the items.
The terms of the settlement were not disclosed but allowed Peterson to sell the guitar and lyrics, according to Rolling Stone, which wrote in July about Peterson's quest to authenticate the guitar.
"Representatives for Bob Dylan do not contest the sale of the guitar, and are aware of Christie's plan to bring it to auction," a statement issued through Christie's said.
Dylan has generally looked upon his instruments to convey his art, akin to a carpenter's hammer, Howard Kramer, curatorial director of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, said last year. "I don't think he's dwelled on a guitar he hasn't played for 47 years," he said. "If he cared about it, he would have done something about it."
Festival founder George Wein told the AP that when Dylan finished playing, Wein was backstage and told him to go back out and play an acoustic number because that's what people expected. Dylan said he didn't want to do it and said he couldn't because he only had the electric guitar. Wein called out for a loaner backstage and about 20 musicians raised their acoustic guitars to offer them.
The lyrics for sale include "In the Darkness of Your Room," an early draft of "Absolutely Sweet Marie" from Dylan's "Blonde on Blonde" album, and three songs from the record's 1965 recording session that were not released until the 1980s: "Medicine Sunday" (the draft is titled "Midnight Train"), "Jet Pilot" and "I Wanna Be Your Lover."
Dylan's "going electric changed the structure of folk music," the 88-year-old Wein said. "The minute Dylan went electric, all these young people said, 'Bobby's going electric, we're going electric, too.'"
___
Associated Press writer Michelle R. Smith in Providence, R.I., contributed to this report.
Results of the OPTIMIZE trial presented at TCT 2013
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
New study demonstrates potential benefits of shorter-term dual antiplatelet therapy in patients treated with a second generation drug-eluting stent
SAN FRANCISCO, CA OCTOBER 31, 2013 - A new study demonstrates that some patients may not need to receive prolonged anti-clotting therapy after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation with the Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stent, and that shortening the duration could reduce bleeding risks and treatment costs. The OPTIMIZE clinical trial findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Current guidelines recommend long-term (12 month) dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after DES implantation, but the clinical benefits of this regimen remain unclear, especially with newer generation DES. The OPTIMIZE trial enrolled 3,120 patients with largely stable coronary artery disease in a prospective, randomized (1:1) multicenter clinical evaluation that compared short-term (3 month) and long-term (12 month) dual antiplatelet therapy. All patients underwent PCI with Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stents, a second-generation DES.
The primary endpoint was a composite of Net Adverse Clinical and Cerebral Events (NACCE), which included death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke or major bleeding at one year follow-up.
After one year, NACCE rates for patients receiving short-term DAPT were similar to those who received the longer, standard DAPT (6.1 percent vs. 5.9 percent respectively), establishing non-inferiority of the shorter-term therapy (non-inferiority p-value = 0.002).
After 90 days, both groups showed comparable rates of NACCE, stent thrombosis and revascularization. Patients in the long-term DAPT group also showed a trend towards increased bleeding events.
"To date, OPTIMIZE is the only DAPT duration study using a single second-generation DES, and these promising findings could help shorten antiplatelet therapy time and reduce related complication risks for patients receiving select drug-eluting stents," said lead investigator Fausto Feres, MD of the Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia in So Paulo, Brazil.
"These outcomes may be especially relevant for patients who are at a high risk of bleeding complications following PCI, such as the elderly and patients with a history of hemorrhagic events."
###
The OPTIMIZE trial was funded by Medtronic Comercial Ltda in So Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Feres reported consulting fees/honoraria from Biosensors, Eli Lilly, and Medtronic.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Results of the OPTIMIZE trial presented at TCT 2013
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Judy Romero jromero@crf.org Cardiovascular Research Foundation
New study demonstrates potential benefits of shorter-term dual antiplatelet therapy in patients treated with a second generation drug-eluting stent
SAN FRANCISCO, CA OCTOBER 31, 2013 - A new study demonstrates that some patients may not need to receive prolonged anti-clotting therapy after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation with the Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stent, and that shortening the duration could reduce bleeding risks and treatment costs. The OPTIMIZE clinical trial findings were presented today at the 25th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.
Current guidelines recommend long-term (12 month) dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after DES implantation, but the clinical benefits of this regimen remain unclear, especially with newer generation DES. The OPTIMIZE trial enrolled 3,120 patients with largely stable coronary artery disease in a prospective, randomized (1:1) multicenter clinical evaluation that compared short-term (3 month) and long-term (12 month) dual antiplatelet therapy. All patients underwent PCI with Endeavor zotarolimus-eluting stents, a second-generation DES.
The primary endpoint was a composite of Net Adverse Clinical and Cerebral Events (NACCE), which included death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke or major bleeding at one year follow-up.
After one year, NACCE rates for patients receiving short-term DAPT were similar to those who received the longer, standard DAPT (6.1 percent vs. 5.9 percent respectively), establishing non-inferiority of the shorter-term therapy (non-inferiority p-value = 0.002).
After 90 days, both groups showed comparable rates of NACCE, stent thrombosis and revascularization. Patients in the long-term DAPT group also showed a trend towards increased bleeding events.
"To date, OPTIMIZE is the only DAPT duration study using a single second-generation DES, and these promising findings could help shorten antiplatelet therapy time and reduce related complication risks for patients receiving select drug-eluting stents," said lead investigator Fausto Feres, MD of the Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia in So Paulo, Brazil.
"These outcomes may be especially relevant for patients who are at a high risk of bleeding complications following PCI, such as the elderly and patients with a history of hemorrhagic events."
###
The OPTIMIZE trial was funded by Medtronic Comercial Ltda in So Paulo, Brazil. Dr. Feres reported consulting fees/honoraria from Biosensors, Eli Lilly, and Medtronic.
About CRF and TCT
The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine. CRF is the sponsor of the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Celebrating its 25th anniversary this year, TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine. For more information, visit http://www.crf.org and http://www.tctconference.com.
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Bachmann-Strauss Foundation awards $1.2 million to establish Centers of Excellence around US
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: cpepi@bsdpf.org cpepi@bsdpf.org 212-682-9900 The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation
(New York, N.Y. October 31, 2013) The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in matching grants to establish Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Centers of Excellence at three major U.S. medical centers: the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of Florida (UF) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The new centers will join the existing Center of Excellence at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic (designated September 17th);
the University of Florida Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (designated September 26th); and
the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center (opening November 5th).
"Proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care have long been missing for people with dystonia and Parkinson's disease," said Bonnie Strauss, president and founder of The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation. "As someone who lives with dystonia and struggled for years to find the right diagnosis, the opening of our new Centers of Excellence is a dream come true."
The Bachmann-Strauss centers will strengthen each university's clinical and research infrastructure, while providing a mechanism through which they can share knowledge and collaborate on new initiatives. The new centers are expected to be catalysts for breakthroughs in understanding and treating dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Matching grants will ensure that the centers are self-sustaining.
Additionally, the grants will ensure that patients with dystonia and Parkinson's disease have access to proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care all coordinated seamlessly in one space. The patients will benefit from an integrated and coordinated approach to multi-disciplinary care that will include ease of access to movement disorder specialists, as well as physical, occupational and speech therapy. Services will also include diverse treatments including neurosurgery and genetic counseling.
Dystonia, which affects as many as 500,000 people in North America, is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The involuntary muscle contractions force the body into repetitive, often twisting movements and awkward, irregular postures. It can affect the hands, feet, neck or other parts of the body. It may be genetic in origin or appear spontaneously, and dozens of diseases and conditions include dystonia as a major symptom.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder whose symptoms include tremor, stiffness, difficulty moving, and problems with walking and balance. According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects about 500,000 people in the United States although many believe the numbers are higher. (The Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates that as many as 1 million people are affected). Approximately 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most cases begin between the ages of 50 and 65, although younger people are affected, too. Currently available pharmacological and surgical treatments provide relief from some motor symptoms, but do not halt the ultimate progression of the disease.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic has the only program for movement disorders in Alabama and serves dystonia and Parkinson's patients from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and a matching gift from the family of Mrs. Joel E. Johnson, Jr.
The program at UAB will enhance the access of patients to clinical trials in dystonia and Parkinson disease, and enable conduct of trials, which will advance the fields. The program will also facilitate the interactions between clinicians, basic scientists, and members of the community, and promote cross-culture efforts to translate new discoveries while training the next generation of dystonia and Parkinson disease clinicians and scientists through support of clinical and basic/translational fellowships.
"Dystonia has several forms and may be hereditary or caused by factors such as physical trauma, infection or reaction to a pharmaceutical, however most cases have no known cause," said David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of Neurology. "Treatment is difficult and has been limited to minimizing the symptoms. At present, there is no cure."
The is a leader in movement disorders and neurorestoration, and patients travel from all over the globe for personalized treatment. The center provides much needed multidisciplinary care to dystonia and Parkinson's patients, bringing together neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, genetic counselors, physical therapists and other experts. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and with support from Tyler's Hope for a Dystonia Cure.
Michael S. Okun, M.D., the Adelaide Lackner professor of neurology and the center's co-director said "This funding will galvanize drug discovery, imaging and translational neuroscience and will train the scientists who will make this difference for the patients suffering from these diseases."
The Surgical Movement Disorders Center at UCSF provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients with movement disorders. The medical staff includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, radiologists and nurses who have specialized training in movement disorders. It offers a variety of services that include comprehensive neurological evaluations, medication treatment and disease management, botulinum toxin injections, neurosurgical procedures including deep brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation programming for conditions such as dystonia, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, spasticity and chorea.
Jill L. Ostrem, M.D., professor of neurology and medical director of the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center said, "UCSF is very excited to be recognized as a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence. This Center will provide critical support for our busy clinical services and growing research efforts as they relate to dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Optimal results from surgery for Parkinson's disease and dystonia require close integration of neurosurgery, neurology, and nursing care; the new Bachmann-Strauss Center allows us to combine our neurological expertise and the skill Of UCSF's acclaimed Department of Neurological Surgery under Dr. Philip Starr in an impactful and revolutionary way."
I congratulate Drs. Standaert, Okun and Ostrem and their teams for all they have accomplished, and I look forward to working with them in the years to come," Strauss said. "Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in dystonia and Parkinson's disease under one roof will help to ensure that patients receive the best possible care."
###
About the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation
The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that was established in 1995 by Louis Bachmann (1916-2000) and Bonnie Strauss in order to find better treatments and cures for the movement disorders dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and to provide medical and patient information. Key among its efforts, the Foundation funds scientific and clinical research and helps raise awareness of dystonia and Parkinson's disease among the general public and the medical community.
Since its 1995 founding by Bonnie Strauss, The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has given $14 million to seed 225 research projects. The scientists involved were able to leverage that funding to secure an additional $60 million from the National Institutes of Health. For more information please go to: http://www.dystonia-parkinsons.org.
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Bachmann-Strauss Foundation awards $1.2 million to establish Centers of Excellence around US
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: cpepi@bsdpf.org cpepi@bsdpf.org 212-682-9900 The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation
(New York, N.Y. October 31, 2013) The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has awarded $1.2 million in matching grants to establish Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Centers of Excellence at three major U.S. medical centers: the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), the University of Florida (UF) and the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The new centers will join the existing Center of Excellence at Beth Israel Medical Center in New York City.
the University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic (designated September 17th);
the University of Florida Health Center for Movement Disorders and Neurorestoration (designated September 26th); and
the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center (opening November 5th).
"Proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care have long been missing for people with dystonia and Parkinson's disease," said Bonnie Strauss, president and founder of The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation. "As someone who lives with dystonia and struggled for years to find the right diagnosis, the opening of our new Centers of Excellence is a dream come true."
The Bachmann-Strauss centers will strengthen each university's clinical and research infrastructure, while providing a mechanism through which they can share knowledge and collaborate on new initiatives. The new centers are expected to be catalysts for breakthroughs in understanding and treating dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Matching grants will ensure that the centers are self-sustaining.
Additionally, the grants will ensure that patients with dystonia and Parkinson's disease have access to proper diagnosis, treatment and comprehensive care all coordinated seamlessly in one space. The patients will benefit from an integrated and coordinated approach to multi-disciplinary care that will include ease of access to movement disorder specialists, as well as physical, occupational and speech therapy. Services will also include diverse treatments including neurosurgery and genetic counseling.
Dystonia, which affects as many as 500,000 people in North America, is a movement disorder that causes the muscles to contract and spasm involuntarily. The involuntary muscle contractions force the body into repetitive, often twisting movements and awkward, irregular postures. It can affect the hands, feet, neck or other parts of the body. It may be genetic in origin or appear spontaneously, and dozens of diseases and conditions include dystonia as a major symptom.
Parkinson's disease is a chronic, progressive neurological disorder whose symptoms include tremor, stiffness, difficulty moving, and problems with walking and balance. According to the National Institutes of Health, Parkinson's affects about 500,000 people in the United States although many believe the numbers are higher. (The Parkinson's Disease Foundation estimates that as many as 1 million people are affected). Approximately 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Most cases begin between the ages of 50 and 65, although younger people are affected, too. Currently available pharmacological and surgical treatments provide relief from some motor symptoms, but do not halt the ultimate progression of the disease.
The University of Alabama at Birmingham Comprehensive Parkinson Disease and Movement Disorders Clinic has the only program for movement disorders in Alabama and serves dystonia and Parkinson's patients from Mississippi, Florida, Tennessee, Georgia and Louisiana. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and a matching gift from the family of Mrs. Joel E. Johnson, Jr.
The program at UAB will enhance the access of patients to clinical trials in dystonia and Parkinson disease, and enable conduct of trials, which will advance the fields. The program will also facilitate the interactions between clinicians, basic scientists, and members of the community, and promote cross-culture efforts to translate new discoveries while training the next generation of dystonia and Parkinson disease clinicians and scientists through support of clinical and basic/translational fellowships.
"Dystonia has several forms and may be hereditary or caused by factors such as physical trauma, infection or reaction to a pharmaceutical, however most cases have no known cause," said David G. Standaert, M.D., Ph.D., professor and chair of the UAB Department of Neurology. "Treatment is difficult and has been limited to minimizing the symptoms. At present, there is no cure."
The is a leader in movement disorders and neurorestoration, and patients travel from all over the globe for personalized treatment. The center provides much needed multidisciplinary care to dystonia and Parkinson's patients, bringing together neurologists, neurosurgeons, psychiatrists, genetic counselors, physical therapists and other experts. The center was designated a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence based on a donation from the Foundation and with support from Tyler's Hope for a Dystonia Cure.
Michael S. Okun, M.D., the Adelaide Lackner professor of neurology and the center's co-director said "This funding will galvanize drug discovery, imaging and translational neuroscience and will train the scientists who will make this difference for the patients suffering from these diseases."
The Surgical Movement Disorders Center at UCSF provides state-of-the-art, comprehensive care to patients with movement disorders. The medical staff includes neurologists, neurosurgeons, neuropsychologists, radiologists and nurses who have specialized training in movement disorders. It offers a variety of services that include comprehensive neurological evaluations, medication treatment and disease management, botulinum toxin injections, neurosurgical procedures including deep brain stimulation, and deep brain stimulation programming for conditions such as dystonia, essential tremor, Parkinson's disease, spasticity and chorea.
Jill L. Ostrem, M.D., professor of neurology and medical director of the UCSF Surgical Movement Disorders Center said, "UCSF is very excited to be recognized as a Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson's Disease Center of Excellence. This Center will provide critical support for our busy clinical services and growing research efforts as they relate to dystonia and Parkinson's disease. Optimal results from surgery for Parkinson's disease and dystonia require close integration of neurosurgery, neurology, and nursing care; the new Bachmann-Strauss Center allows us to combine our neurological expertise and the skill Of UCSF's acclaimed Department of Neurological Surgery under Dr. Philip Starr in an impactful and revolutionary way."
I congratulate Drs. Standaert, Okun and Ostrem and their teams for all they have accomplished, and I look forward to working with them in the years to come," Strauss said. "Bringing together some of the world's leading experts in dystonia and Parkinson's disease under one roof will help to ensure that patients receive the best possible care."
###
About the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation
The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia & Parkinson Foundation is an independent, nonprofit, 501(c)(3) organization that was established in 1995 by Louis Bachmann (1916-2000) and Bonnie Strauss in order to find better treatments and cures for the movement disorders dystonia and Parkinson's disease, and to provide medical and patient information. Key among its efforts, the Foundation funds scientific and clinical research and helps raise awareness of dystonia and Parkinson's disease among the general public and the medical community.
Since its 1995 founding by Bonnie Strauss, The Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation has given $14 million to seed 225 research projects. The scientists involved were able to leverage that funding to secure an additional $60 million from the National Institutes of Health. For more information please go to: http://www.dystonia-parkinsons.org.
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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.
Could a milky way supernova be visible from Earth in next 50 years?
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Pam Frost Gorder Gorder.1@osu.edu 614-292-9475 Ohio State University
Advances in cameras, new strategies for detection make it possible
COLUMBUS, OhioAstronomers at The Ohio State University have calculated the odds that, sometime during the next 50 years, a supernova occurring in our home galaxy will be visible from Earth.
The good news: they've calculated the odds to be nearly 100 percent that such a supernova would be visible to telescopes in the form of infrared radiation.
The bad news: the odds are much lowerdipping to 20 percent or lessthat the shining stellar spectacle would be visible to the naked eye in the nighttime sky.
Yet, all this is great news to astronomers, who, unlike the rest of us, have high-powered infrared cameras to point at the sky at a moment's notice. For them, this study suggests that they have a solid chance of doing something that's never been done before: detect a supernova fast enough to witness what happens at the very beginning of a star's demise. A massive star "goes supernova" at the moment when it's used up all its nuclear fuel and its core collapses, just before it explodes violently and throws off most of its mass into space.
"We see all these stars go supernova in other galaxies, and we don't fully understand how it happens. We think we know, we say we know, but that's not actually 100 percent true," said Christopher Kochanek, professor of astronomy at Ohio State and the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Observational Cosmology. "Today, technologies have advanced to the point that we can learn enormously more about supernovae if we can catch the next one in our galaxy and study it with all our available tools."
The results will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
First through calculations and then through computer models, generations of astronomers have worked out the physics of supernovae based on all available data, and today's best models appear to match what they see in the skies. But actually witnessing a supernovathat is, for instance, actually measuring the changes in infrared radiation from start to finish while one was happeningcould prove or disprove those ideas.
Kochanek explained how technology is making the study of Milky Way supernovae possible. Astronomers now have sensitive detectors for neutrinos (particles emitted from the core of a collapsing star) and gravitational waves (created by the vibrations of the star's core) which can find any supernova occurring in our galaxy. The question is whether we can actually see light from the supernova because we live in a galaxy filled with dustsoot particles that Kochanek likened to those seen in diesel truck exhaustthat absorb the light and might hide a supernova from our view.
"Every few days, we have the chance to observe supernovae happening outside of our galaxy," said doctoral student Scott Adams. "But there's only so much you can learn from those, whereas a galactic supernova would show us so much more. Our neutrino detectors and gravitational wave detectors are only sensitive enough to take measurements inside our galaxy, where we believe that a supernova happens only once or twice a century."
Adams continued: "Despite the ease with which astronomers find supernovae occurring outside our galaxy, it wasn't obvious before that it would be possible to get complete observations of a supernova occurring within our galaxy. Soot dims the optical light from stars near the center of the galaxy by a factor of nearly a trillion by the time it gets to us. Fortunately, infrared light is not affected by this soot as much and is only dimmed by a factor of 20."
By balancing all these factors, the astronomers determined that they have nearly a 100 percent chance of catching a prized Milky Way supernova during the next 50 years. Adams summarized the findings in an online video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzuzFivr8ng.
The astronomers' plan takes advantage of the fact that supernovae issue neutrinos immediately after the explosion starts, but don't brighten in infrared or visible light until minutes, hours, or even days later.
So, in the ideal scenario, neutrino detectors such as Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) in Japan would sound the alert the moment they detect neutrinos, and indicate the direction the particles were coming from. Then infrared detectors could target the location almost immediately, thus catching the supernova before the brightening begins. Gravitational wave observatories would do the same.
But given that not all neutrinos come from supernovaesome come from nuclear reactors, Earth's atmosphere or the sunhow could a detector know the difference? A supernova would cause short bursts of neutrinos to be detected within a few seconds of each other. But rare glitches in the electronics can do the same thing, explained John Beacom, professor of physics and astronomy and director of the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at Ohio State.
"We need some way to tell immediately that a burst is due to a supernova," Beacom said.
He and colleague Mark Vagins, an American neutrino expert working at Super-K, pointed out a decade ago how this could be done. Now Vagins and others have built a scale model of a special kind of neutrino detector in a new underground cave in Japan.
As coauthors on the Astrophysical Journal paper, Vagins and Beacom described the new detector, which they call EGADS for "Evaluating Gadolinium's Action on Detector Systems." At 200 tons, EGADS is much smaller than the 50,000-ton Super-K, but both consist of a tank of ultra-pure water.
In the case of EGADS, the water is spiked with a tiny amount of the element gadolinium, which helps register supernova neutrinos in a special way. When a neutrino from a Milky Way supernova enters the tank, it can collide with the water molecules and release energy, along with some neutrons. Gadolinium has a great affinity for neutrons, and will absorb them and then re-emit energy of its own. The result would be one detection signal followed by another a tiny fraction of a second latera "heartbeat" signal inside the tank for each detected neutrino.
Vagins and Beacom hope that EGADS' unmistakable heartbeat signal will enable neutrino detector teams to make more timely and confident announcements about supernova neutrino detections.
Vagins said that the experiment is going well so far, and he and the rest of the Super-K scientists may decide to add gadolinium to the tank as early as 2016. Because of its larger size, Super-K would also be able to measure the direction of the neutrinos. So the possibility of using Super-K to pinpoint a Milky Way supernova is on the rise.
For those of us who would hope to see a Milky Way supernova with our own eyes, however, the chances are lower and depend on our latitude on Earth. The last time it happened was in 1604, when Johannes Kepler spotted one some 20,000 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. He was in northern Italy at the time.
Could such a sighting happen again in the next half-century?
Adams did the math: the probability of a galactic supernova being visible with the unaided eye from somewhere on Earth within the next 50 years is approximately 20-50 percent, with people in the southern hemisphere getting the best of those odds, since they can see more of our galaxy in the night sky. The odds worsen as you go north; in Columbus, Ohio, for example, the chance could dip as low as 10 percent.
And Adams placed the odds that Ohioans would spy a truly dazzling supernovalike the one in 1604 that outshone all other stars in the skyat only around 5 percent.
"The odds of seeing a spectacular display aren't in our favor, but it is still an exciting possibility!" he concluded.
"With only one or two happening a century, the chance of a Milky Way supernova is small, but it would be a tragedy to miss it, and this work is designed to improve the chances of being ready for the scientific event of a lifetime," Beacom concluded.
###
Contacts:
Christopher Kochanek, (614) 292-5954; Kochanek.1@osu.edu
John Beacom, (614) 247-8102; Beacom.7@osu.edu
Scott Adams, (614) 292-7881; Adams.1433@osu.edu
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; Gorder.1@osu.edu
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Could a milky way supernova be visible from Earth in next 50 years?
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
31-Oct-2013
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Contact: Pam Frost Gorder Gorder.1@osu.edu 614-292-9475 Ohio State University
Advances in cameras, new strategies for detection make it possible
COLUMBUS, OhioAstronomers at The Ohio State University have calculated the odds that, sometime during the next 50 years, a supernova occurring in our home galaxy will be visible from Earth.
The good news: they've calculated the odds to be nearly 100 percent that such a supernova would be visible to telescopes in the form of infrared radiation.
The bad news: the odds are much lowerdipping to 20 percent or lessthat the shining stellar spectacle would be visible to the naked eye in the nighttime sky.
Yet, all this is great news to astronomers, who, unlike the rest of us, have high-powered infrared cameras to point at the sky at a moment's notice. For them, this study suggests that they have a solid chance of doing something that's never been done before: detect a supernova fast enough to witness what happens at the very beginning of a star's demise. A massive star "goes supernova" at the moment when it's used up all its nuclear fuel and its core collapses, just before it explodes violently and throws off most of its mass into space.
"We see all these stars go supernova in other galaxies, and we don't fully understand how it happens. We think we know, we say we know, but that's not actually 100 percent true," said Christopher Kochanek, professor of astronomy at Ohio State and the Ohio Eminent Scholar in Observational Cosmology. "Today, technologies have advanced to the point that we can learn enormously more about supernovae if we can catch the next one in our galaxy and study it with all our available tools."
The results will appear in an upcoming issue of The Astrophysical Journal.
First through calculations and then through computer models, generations of astronomers have worked out the physics of supernovae based on all available data, and today's best models appear to match what they see in the skies. But actually witnessing a supernovathat is, for instance, actually measuring the changes in infrared radiation from start to finish while one was happeningcould prove or disprove those ideas.
Kochanek explained how technology is making the study of Milky Way supernovae possible. Astronomers now have sensitive detectors for neutrinos (particles emitted from the core of a collapsing star) and gravitational waves (created by the vibrations of the star's core) which can find any supernova occurring in our galaxy. The question is whether we can actually see light from the supernova because we live in a galaxy filled with dustsoot particles that Kochanek likened to those seen in diesel truck exhaustthat absorb the light and might hide a supernova from our view.
"Every few days, we have the chance to observe supernovae happening outside of our galaxy," said doctoral student Scott Adams. "But there's only so much you can learn from those, whereas a galactic supernova would show us so much more. Our neutrino detectors and gravitational wave detectors are only sensitive enough to take measurements inside our galaxy, where we believe that a supernova happens only once or twice a century."
Adams continued: "Despite the ease with which astronomers find supernovae occurring outside our galaxy, it wasn't obvious before that it would be possible to get complete observations of a supernova occurring within our galaxy. Soot dims the optical light from stars near the center of the galaxy by a factor of nearly a trillion by the time it gets to us. Fortunately, infrared light is not affected by this soot as much and is only dimmed by a factor of 20."
By balancing all these factors, the astronomers determined that they have nearly a 100 percent chance of catching a prized Milky Way supernova during the next 50 years. Adams summarized the findings in an online video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzuzFivr8ng.
The astronomers' plan takes advantage of the fact that supernovae issue neutrinos immediately after the explosion starts, but don't brighten in infrared or visible light until minutes, hours, or even days later.
So, in the ideal scenario, neutrino detectors such as Super-Kamiokande (Super-K) in Japan would sound the alert the moment they detect neutrinos, and indicate the direction the particles were coming from. Then infrared detectors could target the location almost immediately, thus catching the supernova before the brightening begins. Gravitational wave observatories would do the same.
But given that not all neutrinos come from supernovaesome come from nuclear reactors, Earth's atmosphere or the sunhow could a detector know the difference? A supernova would cause short bursts of neutrinos to be detected within a few seconds of each other. But rare glitches in the electronics can do the same thing, explained John Beacom, professor of physics and astronomy and director of the Center for Cosmology and Astro-Particle Physics at Ohio State.
"We need some way to tell immediately that a burst is due to a supernova," Beacom said.
He and colleague Mark Vagins, an American neutrino expert working at Super-K, pointed out a decade ago how this could be done. Now Vagins and others have built a scale model of a special kind of neutrino detector in a new underground cave in Japan.
As coauthors on the Astrophysical Journal paper, Vagins and Beacom described the new detector, which they call EGADS for "Evaluating Gadolinium's Action on Detector Systems." At 200 tons, EGADS is much smaller than the 50,000-ton Super-K, but both consist of a tank of ultra-pure water.
In the case of EGADS, the water is spiked with a tiny amount of the element gadolinium, which helps register supernova neutrinos in a special way. When a neutrino from a Milky Way supernova enters the tank, it can collide with the water molecules and release energy, along with some neutrons. Gadolinium has a great affinity for neutrons, and will absorb them and then re-emit energy of its own. The result would be one detection signal followed by another a tiny fraction of a second latera "heartbeat" signal inside the tank for each detected neutrino.
Vagins and Beacom hope that EGADS' unmistakable heartbeat signal will enable neutrino detector teams to make more timely and confident announcements about supernova neutrino detections.
Vagins said that the experiment is going well so far, and he and the rest of the Super-K scientists may decide to add gadolinium to the tank as early as 2016. Because of its larger size, Super-K would also be able to measure the direction of the neutrinos. So the possibility of using Super-K to pinpoint a Milky Way supernova is on the rise.
For those of us who would hope to see a Milky Way supernova with our own eyes, however, the chances are lower and depend on our latitude on Earth. The last time it happened was in 1604, when Johannes Kepler spotted one some 20,000 light years away in the constellation Ophiuchus. He was in northern Italy at the time.
Could such a sighting happen again in the next half-century?
Adams did the math: the probability of a galactic supernova being visible with the unaided eye from somewhere on Earth within the next 50 years is approximately 20-50 percent, with people in the southern hemisphere getting the best of those odds, since they can see more of our galaxy in the night sky. The odds worsen as you go north; in Columbus, Ohio, for example, the chance could dip as low as 10 percent.
And Adams placed the odds that Ohioans would spy a truly dazzling supernovalike the one in 1604 that outshone all other stars in the skyat only around 5 percent.
"The odds of seeing a spectacular display aren't in our favor, but it is still an exciting possibility!" he concluded.
"With only one or two happening a century, the chance of a Milky Way supernova is small, but it would be a tragedy to miss it, and this work is designed to improve the chances of being ready for the scientific event of a lifetime," Beacom concluded.
###
Contacts:
Christopher Kochanek, (614) 292-5954; Kochanek.1@osu.edu
John Beacom, (614) 247-8102; Beacom.7@osu.edu
Scott Adams, (614) 292-7881; Adams.1433@osu.edu
Written by Pam Frost Gorder, (614) 292-9475; Gorder.1@osu.edu
[
| 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.
WASHINGTON (AP) — More than 47 million Americans who receive food stamps will see their benefits go down starting Friday, just as Congress has begun negotiations on further cuts to the program.
Beginning in November, a temporary benefit from the 2009 economic stimulus that boosts food stamp dollars will no longer be available. According to the Agriculture Department, that means a family of four receiving food stamps will start receiving $36 less a month.
The benefits, which go to 1 in 7 Americans, fluctuate based on factors that include food prices, inflation and income. The rolls have swelled as the economy has struggled in recent years, with the stimulus providing higher benefits and many people signing up for the first time.
As a result, the program has more than doubled in cost since 2008, now costing almost $80 billion a year. That large increase in spending has turned the program, now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, into a target for House Republicans looking to reduce spending.
Negotiations on a wide-ranging farm bill, including cuts to the SNAP program, began Wednesday. Five-year farm bills passed by both the House and the Senate would cut food stamps, reductions that would come on top of the cut that will go into effect Friday. But the two chambers are far apart on the amounts.
Legislation passed by the GOP-controlled House would cut food stamps by an additional $4 billion annually and tighten eligibility requirements. The House bill would also end government waivers that have allowed able-bodied adults without dependents to receive food stamps indefinitely and allow states to put broad new work requirements in place.
The Senate farm bill would cut a tenth of the House amount, with Democrats and President Barack Obama opposing major cuts.
Farm-state lawmakers have been pushing the farm bill for more than two years, and Wednesday's conference negotiations represented the opening round in final talks. If the bill is not passed by the end of the year and current farm law is not extended, certain dairy supports would expire that could raise the price of milk. Farmers would start to feel more effects next spring.
"It took us years to get here but we are here," House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas, R-Okla., said. "Let's not take years to get it done."
The biggest obstacle to a final bill is how far apart the two parties are on food stamps. Lucas said at the conference meeting that he was hoping to find common ground on the issue, but House GOP leaders such as Rep. Eric Cantor, R-Va., have insisted on higher cuts, saying the program should be targeted to the neediest people.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., sent out a statement as the meeting opened that said food stamp recipients "deserve swift action from Congress to pass a bill that provides the much-needed nutritional support for our children, our seniors, our veterans and our communities."
As Congress debates the cuts to the program, charities say they are preparing for the farm bill reductions as well as the scheduled cuts taking place Friday.
"Charities cannot fill the gap for the cuts being proposed to SNAP," said Maura Daly of Feeding America, a network of the nation's food banks. "We are very concerned about the impact on the charitable system."
Daly says food banks may have to as much as double their current levels of distribution if the House cuts were enacted. The Congressional Budget Office says as many as 3.8 million people could lose their benefits in 2014 if the House bill became law.
___
Follow Mary Clare Jalonick on Twitter at http://twitter.com/mcjalonick
“Please share with me all your stories of the male professors you had in college who thrived upon and demanded female admiration to function,” Mallory Ortberg, editor of the website the Toast, tweeted. She soon followed up with a humor piece imagining a conversation between two male professors bemoaning diminishing adulation from the new generation of female pupils.
“Just yesterday, in one of my intro classes, I used the word ‘problematic’ in a sentence—real casual, just to let them know I’m one of the good guys—and not one of them stayed after the lecture to ask me just what I meant by that or to see if they could borrow the conspicuously dog-eared copy of Pedagogy of the Oppressed I like to leave on my desk in case any female students want to borrow it,” one imaginary professor says.
He continues, later, after some bottle-passing: “That copy has my phone number in it. You know, the old ‘write your phone number on the front page of a copy you lend to female students only under the “IF LOST PLEASE RETURN TO” bubble’ gag?”
Almost immediately after her original tweet, Ortberg’s Twitter followers began to respond with their experiences with such professors, some humorous and others less so. A sampling:
@hallleloujah: “had one who called everything sexy in a weirdly drawn out, British way. Also started a rumor he was undercover for CIA (he wasn't).”
@kitalita: “one kept conveniently ‘forgetting’ my graded assignments in his office and specifically told me he was divorced (he wasn't).”
@AmyRosary: “Let's talk about the English department chair I got fired for harassing EACH AND EVERY female English major. He liked to insist [continued in a separate tweet] upon meeting girls in his office and serenading them with Bob Dylan covers with the door closed, or ‘accidentally’ putting on porn.”
@kellieherson: “Providing a validation space for those men is the only reason university administrators allow the humanities to continue to exist.”
Another follower cited a proclivity for flirting among her theater professors, one of whom bragged about once trying to meet women with actor Pat Morita. One said her professor had emailed her to tell her that not doing her homework was “not sexy”; yet another fended off a request for her to model for a professor who said he was an amateur photographer.
Jaya Saxena, a web editor for the New-York Historical Society and writer who studied English and political science at Tulane University, said: “Lots of [him] inviting classes to his house for pizza and making sure to corner the girls and talk about his art collection.” That professor also once hit on her in a bar, she posted.
“If your job is to command the attention of a room and instill knowledge into people, then you're probably going to thrive on receiving that attention. That just comes with the work, right?”
In an email, Saxena said she enjoyed close relationships with several of her professors, and that in New Orleans, seeing faculty members out at a bar was not outside the norm. But the “line gets drawn when you're throwing your arms around your students and drunkenly saying they look hot when they dance!”
Saxena said she never took classes from the professor mentioned, and therefore felt less intimidated than awkward following the incident.
That wasn’t the case for Tamara Johnson, who tweeted about an English professor who told her as an undergraduate that “female students were like fishing lures, drawing male instructors into deep waters.” He also made inappropriate remarks about rape, vaguely in relation to a lecture, soon after, she said—making her feel highly uncomfortable.
Johnson, who has her Master of Fine Arts in creative writing from San Diego State, said she saw male professors seeking sexual attention from their female students as the rule, not the exception. Saxena, by contrast, said there were several “attractive” male professors in her department who reacted to the attention from students in different ways. And while male professors did seem to bask more in that attention than did female professors, she said, “I never saw the ‘attention-needing male professor’ as a rule.”
Degrees from for-profit collegescan cost up to four times as much as a comparable degree from a public college.
Photo by Ingram Publishing/Thinkstock
People with college degrees make more money than people without college degrees. They are also less likely to experience unemployment, and if they do, they tend to be unemployed for shorter spells than those without a degree. Lots of really smart people—like Jonathan Cowan and Jim Kessler, of the centrist policy agency Third Way, in a recent piece for the New York Times—look at that data and interpret it to mean that increased college enrollment, which itself was a product of the 2007–08 economic crisis, bodes well for our economic insecurity, persistent high unemployment rates, and yawning inequality. They are wrong.
Crowing about degree expansion creates an ideology of a higher education “crisis” that is really a labor market crisis.
Cowan and Kessler are right that college enrollment surged after the economic crisis—an 18 percent increase since 2006. They see these data points as signs of America’s can-do spirit clearing a path out of the economic darkness. But to really understand what the data means, we need some historical perspective. College enrollment in the 1960s and ’70s spiked to keep pace with the rapid expansion of the U.S. economy. In contrast, the economy of 2006–2011 has done anything but expand. At best, we’ve narrowly escaped a depression. When millions of workers opt into college under these conditions, it’s more about gnawing fear than exuberance.
In addition to the shrinking economy, the job market is increasingly polarized, with one labor market happening for the most skilled and another for the least. The champions of college-degree attainment skip over a sobering fact: There are not enough high-skill jobs to compensate for those lost in the middle. And the contraction of jobs in the middle means fewer pathways for low-skill workers to move up.
Smart people should know this. So why do they continue to make arguments about how higher education is going to save our faltering economy? For one thing, the message isn’t entirely wrong. I believe in college enough that I have—as a 5-year-old recently told me—“gone all the way to the 20th grade in school.” College can be a transformative experience. The public good benefits when there are affordable, high-quality college choices available to all. But those choices are not the same for everyone. Cowan and Kessler herald the 3.5 million degrees conferred over the last six years because that number “blows past previous highs.” But not all college degrees are created equal. African-Americans and Hispanics increased their college participation during the same time period, but most of that growth occurred in for-profit colleges.In 2013, the for-profit University of Phoenix was the No. 1 producer of African-Americans with a bachelor’s degree. Whether one loves them or hates them, it’s generally agreed that degrees from for-profit colleges can cost up to four times as much as a comparable degree from a public college.
We also know significantly less about how well for-profit graduates and drop-outs fare in the labor market as compared to decades of studies about traditional college graduates. And we know next to nothing about the social mobility of the disproportionately poor and minority students who are most likely to enroll in for-profits. Though we lack a clear picture of what happens to them once after they enroll, we can make an educated guess about why they enroll in the first place. In 2009, during the lowest depths of the economic crisis, David Pauldine, president of for-profit DeVry University, told the New York Times, “I have heard repeatedly from our admissions offices that when they interview prospective students, they’re saying they just lost their job or fear that they might lose their job.” Four years later, those fears about job loss and reduced benefits and wages have yet to taper off, according to a Gallup poll from last month.
All of the crowing about degree expansion ignores this kind of insecurity and stratification of degree attainment and outcomes. It also creates an ideology of a higher education “crisis” that is really a labor market crisis. In The Great Risk Shift, Jacob S. Hacker details the private sector’s successful outsourcing of corporate and public sector risk onto individuals: Pensions became 401(k)s, welfare subsidies got time limits and work requirements, health insurance premiums sky-rocketed. A similar shift occurred at the institutional level as all responsibility for workforce training and career security was transferred to colleges and universities. It is a nifty trick that unfairly frames higher ed as a problem to be solved.
The real problem is that conferring more degrees in a polarized, stagnant job market can only create more stratification as more people compete for fewer good jobs. For the most vulnerable, that is a particularly dangerous scenario as they pay the most for degrees, need a good job more desperately to justify the expense, and are least likely to have the social connections that grease the wheels of the high-skill labor market. The great shift and the resulting stratification are bad enough. But expecting us to buy the delusion that it is good for us is just adding insult to injury.
A reader remarked last week that Barack Obama is running out of human shields. With the father of ObamaCare unavailable to explain the greatest fiasco of his presidency to Congress, the American people had to settle Wednesday for his surrogate, Kathleen Sebelius.
Contact: Alan Buis Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov 818-354-0474 NASA/Johnson Space Center
Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn't your average NASA Earth science mission.
Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to support weather and marine forecasting, including the tracking of storms and hurricanes. It will also help improve our understanding of how interactions between Earth's ocean and atmosphere influence our climate.
Scientists study ocean winds for a variety of reasons. Winds over the ocean are an important part of weather systems, and in severe storms such as hurricanes they can inflict major damage. Ocean storms drive coastal surges, which are a significant hazard for populations. At the same time, by driving warm surface ocean water away from the coast, ocean winds cause nutrient-rich deep water to well up, providing a major source of food for coastal fisheries. Changes in ocean wind also help us monitor large-scale changes in Earth's climate, such as El Nio.
Scatterometers work by safely bouncing low-energy microwaves - the same kind used at high energy to warm up food in your kitchen - off the surface of Earth. In this case, the surface is not land, but the ocean. By measuring the strength and direction of the microwave echo, ISS-RapidScat will be able to determine how fast, and in what direction, ocean winds are blowing.
"Microwave energy emitted by a radar instrument is reflected back to the radar more strongly when the surface it illuminates is rougher," explains Ernesto Rodrguez, principal investigator for ISS-RapidScat at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "When wind blows over water, it causes waves to develop along the direction of wind. The stronger the wind, the larger the waves."
ISS-RapidScat continues a legacy of measuring ocean winds from space that began in 1978 with the launch of NASA's SeaSat satellite. Most recently, NASA's QuikScat scatterometer, which launched in 1999, gave us a dynamic picture of the world's ocean winds.
But when QuikScat lost its ability to produce ocean wind measurements in 2009, science suffered from the loss of the data. In the summer of 2012, an opportunity arose to fly a scatterometer instrument on the space station. ISS-RapidScat was the result.
Most scatterometer-carrying satellites fly in what's called a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. In other words, they cross Earth's equator at the same local time every orbit. The space station, however, will carry the ISS-RapidScat in a non-sun-synchronous orbit. This means the instrument will see different parts of the planet at different times of day, making measurements in the same spot within less than an hour before or after another instrument makes its own observations. These all-hour measurements will allow ISS-RapidScat to pick up the effects of the sun on ocean winds as the day progresses. In addition, the space station's coverage over the tropics means that ISS-RapidScat will offer extra tracking of storms that may develop into hurricanes or other tropical cyclones.
Anywhere the wind blows
"We'll be able to see how wind speed changes with the time of day," said Rodrguez. "ISS-RapidScat will link together all previous and current scatterometer missions, providing us with a more complete picture of how ocean winds change. Combined with data from the European ASCAT scatterometer mission, we'll be able to observe 90 percent of Earth's surface at least once a day, and in many places, several times a day."
ISS-RapidScat's near-global coverage of Earth's ocean -- within the space station's orbit inclination of 51.6 degrees north and south of the equator -- will make it an important tool for scientists who observe and predict Earth's weather. "Frequent observations of the winds over the ocean are used by meteorologists to improve weather and hurricane forecasts and by the operational weather communities to improve numerical weather models," said Rodrguez.
Space-based scatterometer instruments have been built before, but much of what makes ISS-RapidScat unusual is how it came to be. "Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini offered us a mounting location on the space station and a free ride on a SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply mission launching in early 2014," explained Howard Eisen, the ISS-RapidScat project manager at JPL. "So we had about 18 months to put together an entire mission."
This accelerated timeline is a blink of an eye at NASA, where the typical project is years or decades in the making.
Free ride
Next, Eisen and his team turned to getting creative and crafty with the mission's hardware. In lieu of using newly-designed instruments, which would be expensive and take too long to develop, ISS-RapidScat reuses leftover hardware originally built to test parts of the QuikScat mission. That process involved dusting off and testing pieces of equipment that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1990s. Fortunately the old hardware seems ship-shape and ready to go. "Even though they were spares, they've done an excellent job so far," said Simon Collins, ISS-RapidScat's instrument manager at JPL. Despite their age, the old parts are more than capable of collecting the ocean wind data that ISS-RapidScat need to be a success.
In addition to old spare parts, some new hardware was needed to interface this instrument to the space station and the Dragon spacecraft. ISS-RapidScat will use off-the-shelf, commercially-available computer hardware instead of the expensive, hardened-against-radiation computer chips that are typically used in space missions. "If there's an error or something because of radiation, all we have to do is reset the computer. It's what we call a managed risk," said Eisen. The radiation environment on the space station is much less severe than that experienced en route to Mars, for example, or in more traditional sun-synchronous orbits.
Science bounty
Cost-saving decisions like this are shaping up to make ISS-RapidScat an exceptional bargain of a space mission. "We're doing things differently, and we're trying to do them quickly and cheaply," said Eisen. Considering that the typical launch alone can cost $200 million, ISS-RapidScat's estimated $26 million price tag seems like a bargain. Last year, NASA estimated the cost of a new, free-flying scatterometer satellite mission at approximately $400 million.
The real challenges of getting ISS-RapidScat into space lie in the details. One of the major headaches of such a hurried schedule has been getting the special connectors that will allow ISS-RapidScat to physically attach to the International Space Station. "They're special robotically-mated connectors that haven't been made in years," Eisen said. "We're having to convince the company that produces these connectors to make us a small run in time for the mission, and it hasn't been easy."
The logistics of operating an instrument on the space station are also tricky. "Typically, spacecraft are designed for the instruments they carry," said Collins. "In this case, it's the other way around." For example, ISS-RapidScat's docking point on the space station faces outward toward space - not down toward Earth and the ocean that the instrument is looking at. The space station's flying angle will also change as new pieces are added to it, in response to changes in the station's drag profile. ISS-RapidScat's mount can compensate for both of these challenges.
Another concern the ISS-RapidScat team confronted early on was that one of the space station's docking ports lies squarely within the field of view of the scatterometer. "Bombarding astronauts and visiting supply vehicles with microwave radiation from the instruments was out of the question, and turning the instrument off when there were things docked there would take away too much science," explained Collins. The project's engineers instead devised a plan where the instrument avoids irradiating docking vessels, but continues to scan across the vast majority of its viewing range.
Rodrguez is confident that the reward for overcoming such difficulties will be a bounty of vital science information. "Because it uses much of the same hardware QuikScat did, ISS-RapidScat will allow us to continue the observations of ocean winds already started," said Rodriguez. "Extending this data record will help us observe and understand weather patterns and improve our preparedness for tropical cyclones."
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Watching Earth's winds, on a shoestring
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE:
30-Oct-2013
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Contact: Alan Buis Alan.buis@jpl.nasa.gov 818-354-0474 NASA/Johnson Space Center
Built with spare parts and without a moment to spare, the International Space Station (ISS)-RapidScat isn't your average NASA Earth science mission.
Short for Rapid Scatterometer, ISS-RapidScat will monitor ocean winds from the vantage point of the space station. It will join a handful of other satellite scatterometer missions that make essential measurements used to support weather and marine forecasting, including the tracking of storms and hurricanes. It will also help improve our understanding of how interactions between Earth's ocean and atmosphere influence our climate.
Scientists study ocean winds for a variety of reasons. Winds over the ocean are an important part of weather systems, and in severe storms such as hurricanes they can inflict major damage. Ocean storms drive coastal surges, which are a significant hazard for populations. At the same time, by driving warm surface ocean water away from the coast, ocean winds cause nutrient-rich deep water to well up, providing a major source of food for coastal fisheries. Changes in ocean wind also help us monitor large-scale changes in Earth's climate, such as El Nio.
Scatterometers work by safely bouncing low-energy microwaves - the same kind used at high energy to warm up food in your kitchen - off the surface of Earth. In this case, the surface is not land, but the ocean. By measuring the strength and direction of the microwave echo, ISS-RapidScat will be able to determine how fast, and in what direction, ocean winds are blowing.
"Microwave energy emitted by a radar instrument is reflected back to the radar more strongly when the surface it illuminates is rougher," explains Ernesto Rodrguez, principal investigator for ISS-RapidScat at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "When wind blows over water, it causes waves to develop along the direction of wind. The stronger the wind, the larger the waves."
ISS-RapidScat continues a legacy of measuring ocean winds from space that began in 1978 with the launch of NASA's SeaSat satellite. Most recently, NASA's QuikScat scatterometer, which launched in 1999, gave us a dynamic picture of the world's ocean winds.
But when QuikScat lost its ability to produce ocean wind measurements in 2009, science suffered from the loss of the data. In the summer of 2012, an opportunity arose to fly a scatterometer instrument on the space station. ISS-RapidScat was the result.
Most scatterometer-carrying satellites fly in what's called a sun-synchronous orbit around Earth. In other words, they cross Earth's equator at the same local time every orbit. The space station, however, will carry the ISS-RapidScat in a non-sun-synchronous orbit. This means the instrument will see different parts of the planet at different times of day, making measurements in the same spot within less than an hour before or after another instrument makes its own observations. These all-hour measurements will allow ISS-RapidScat to pick up the effects of the sun on ocean winds as the day progresses. In addition, the space station's coverage over the tropics means that ISS-RapidScat will offer extra tracking of storms that may develop into hurricanes or other tropical cyclones.
Anywhere the wind blows
"We'll be able to see how wind speed changes with the time of day," said Rodrguez. "ISS-RapidScat will link together all previous and current scatterometer missions, providing us with a more complete picture of how ocean winds change. Combined with data from the European ASCAT scatterometer mission, we'll be able to observe 90 percent of Earth's surface at least once a day, and in many places, several times a day."
ISS-RapidScat's near-global coverage of Earth's ocean -- within the space station's orbit inclination of 51.6 degrees north and south of the equator -- will make it an important tool for scientists who observe and predict Earth's weather. "Frequent observations of the winds over the ocean are used by meteorologists to improve weather and hurricane forecasts and by the operational weather communities to improve numerical weather models," said Rodrguez.
Space-based scatterometer instruments have been built before, but much of what makes ISS-RapidScat unusual is how it came to be. "Space Station Program Manager Michael Suffredini offered us a mounting location on the space station and a free ride on a SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply mission launching in early 2014," explained Howard Eisen, the ISS-RapidScat project manager at JPL. "So we had about 18 months to put together an entire mission."
This accelerated timeline is a blink of an eye at NASA, where the typical project is years or decades in the making.
Free ride
Next, Eisen and his team turned to getting creative and crafty with the mission's hardware. In lieu of using newly-designed instruments, which would be expensive and take too long to develop, ISS-RapidScat reuses leftover hardware originally built to test parts of the QuikScat mission. That process involved dusting off and testing pieces of equipment that hadn't seen the light of day since the 1990s. Fortunately the old hardware seems ship-shape and ready to go. "Even though they were spares, they've done an excellent job so far," said Simon Collins, ISS-RapidScat's instrument manager at JPL. Despite their age, the old parts are more than capable of collecting the ocean wind data that ISS-RapidScat need to be a success.
In addition to old spare parts, some new hardware was needed to interface this instrument to the space station and the Dragon spacecraft. ISS-RapidScat will use off-the-shelf, commercially-available computer hardware instead of the expensive, hardened-against-radiation computer chips that are typically used in space missions. "If there's an error or something because of radiation, all we have to do is reset the computer. It's what we call a managed risk," said Eisen. The radiation environment on the space station is much less severe than that experienced en route to Mars, for example, or in more traditional sun-synchronous orbits.
Science bounty
Cost-saving decisions like this are shaping up to make ISS-RapidScat an exceptional bargain of a space mission. "We're doing things differently, and we're trying to do them quickly and cheaply," said Eisen. Considering that the typical launch alone can cost $200 million, ISS-RapidScat's estimated $26 million price tag seems like a bargain. Last year, NASA estimated the cost of a new, free-flying scatterometer satellite mission at approximately $400 million.
The real challenges of getting ISS-RapidScat into space lie in the details. One of the major headaches of such a hurried schedule has been getting the special connectors that will allow ISS-RapidScat to physically attach to the International Space Station. "They're special robotically-mated connectors that haven't been made in years," Eisen said. "We're having to convince the company that produces these connectors to make us a small run in time for the mission, and it hasn't been easy."
The logistics of operating an instrument on the space station are also tricky. "Typically, spacecraft are designed for the instruments they carry," said Collins. "In this case, it's the other way around." For example, ISS-RapidScat's docking point on the space station faces outward toward space - not down toward Earth and the ocean that the instrument is looking at. The space station's flying angle will also change as new pieces are added to it, in response to changes in the station's drag profile. ISS-RapidScat's mount can compensate for both of these challenges.
Another concern the ISS-RapidScat team confronted early on was that one of the space station's docking ports lies squarely within the field of view of the scatterometer. "Bombarding astronauts and visiting supply vehicles with microwave radiation from the instruments was out of the question, and turning the instrument off when there were things docked there would take away too much science," explained Collins. The project's engineers instead devised a plan where the instrument avoids irradiating docking vessels, but continues to scan across the vast majority of its viewing range.
Rodrguez is confident that the reward for overcoming such difficulties will be a bounty of vital science information. "Because it uses much of the same hardware QuikScat did, ISS-RapidScat will allow us to continue the observations of ocean winds already started," said Rodriguez. "Extending this data record will help us observe and understand weather patterns and improve our preparedness for tropical cyclones."
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