Category Archives: General

EL Wire Brightens Our World

By Guest PostJune 24, 2012General, Technologyamateur electronics, christmas tree, clary josee, clothing industry, copper wire, el wire, electroluminescence, electroluminescent wires, electronic devices, heat emission, lamps, light sources, mind boggling, movie tron, myriad, phosphor, proto pic, pvc sheath, Technology

Electroluminescence has come a long way since its discovery at the start of the 20^thcentury. For many years the scientists who pioneered its development struggled to come up with practical applications for electroluminescent technology – early uses of the discovery lacked the lifespan to work as practical lamps and light sources, whilst its unreliability made it difficult to use in displays and interfaces.

Undeterred by their setbacks, the boffins working on electroluminescence didn’t give up, and thank goodness, because today electroluminescent light has evolved into a technology that has myriad applications all over the planet. (more…)

Combating Global Problems at BIARI

By Guest PostJune 22, 2012Environment, General, Scienceaids, ambedkar university delhi, anita elizabeth cherian, armed conflict, barbara willaarts, biari, botin foundation, brazil, brown university, cape town, China, chinese cities, civil society, climate change, courtney coelho, development, end project evaluation, environmental awareness, ethiopia, global problem, grass stage theatre, hiv, hiv awareness, India, junia quiroga de cuhan, kathamandu university, ke zhang, latin america, laureate universities, maria cecelia trannin, nepal, new delhi, nigeria, peking university, population, qing hui hou, rebecca hodes, rio de janeiro, rukmini sen, sagar sharma, shimla, South Africa, university, yunnan province, zheng xie

Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). The two-week program began June 11, 2012.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Some 140 participants and 30 visiting faculty from more than 45 countries arrived at Brown to take part in the Brown International Advanced Research Institutes (BIARI). Participants, who were chosen from a pool of more than 850 applicants, come from several countries, including Brazil, China, Nigeria, India, and Ethiopia.

The two-week program began Monday, June 11, 2012. Now in its fourth year, BIARI is centered around four two-week intensive institutes, convened concurrently by Brown faculty, in which participants and leading scholars in their fields share their research and develop new collaborative projects through sustained, high-level dialogue spanning disciplines and continents. This year’s institutes touched on global health and HIV/AIDS; theater and civil society; population and development; and climate change. (more…)

The Warrior-Scholar Project: Easing the Move from Combat to College

By Guest PostJune 21, 2012Culture, General, Politicsafghanistan, air force, alfred guy, american soldiers, australian army, black and white, christopher howell, civilian life, dave carrell, david howell, democracy, donald kagan, eli whitney program, first gulf war, globalization, jeffrey brenzel, jesse reising, john gaddis, karin gosselink, marine corps, misha pemble belkin, navy seal, nick rugoff, ninja reading, pilot program, platoon, restrepo, sebastian junger, tactical assault group, taliban insurgents, tim hetherington, tribalism, us army, war, warrior scholar project, william whobrey

Having twice served in Afghanistan, where his platoon faced some of the most intense fighting of any American soldiers, U.S. Army sergeant Misha Pemble-Belkin felt a bit of a “culture shock” earlier this month when he first took a seat in a Yale classroom.

His combat team’s firefights with Taliban insurgents in eastern Afghanistan in 2007 — and the deaths of two members of his small unit — were captured in the Academy Award-nominated documentary “Restrepo” by Sebastian Junger and the late Tim Hetherington, as well as in Junger’s bestselling book “War.” Described by one film reviewer as “the conscience” of the documentary, Pemble-Belkin received major media attention for his part in the film.

During his stay on the Yale campus, however, Pemble-Belkin had to leap out of the role of soldier and into that of student as he participated in the newly inaugurated Warrior-Scholar Project, which helps war veterans and non-commissioned officers who are leaving the service make the transition to college life. (more…)

Do Not Rely on Others

By Guest PostJune 20, 2012Economy, General, Healthelderly, expenses, financial future, heartache, Make plans, Mom preneurs, money, Monta Fleming, nanny jobs

I know that you hope, when you get older, that your children will be there to help you out. That they will take care of you like you took care of them. But I want to warn you now- do not count on it. You cannot count on other people to take care of you. Friends, relatives, even children will not help you out. If they do help you then great but do not set your mind, heart, and financial future to that.

Let me give you an example. An elderly friend of the family got divorced after many, many years. Now on her own for the first time, she thought she could count on her kids to help her out. She moved in with her oldest son. After a few months, things of hers started disappearing. Eventually, she confronted him and he revealed he had been selling her stuff to pay for her ‘expenses’. (more…)

More Seniors Being Held for Observation

By Guest PostJune 10, 2012General, Healthaffordable care act, brad wright, brown university, david orenstein, elderly patients, emergency departments, gerontologists, health affairs, hospitals, medicare, vincent mor, zhanlian feng

A new study finds that more elderly patients in the emergency departments of hospitals are being held for observation rather than admitted as inpatients. Pressure from Medicare to reduce unnecessary hospitalization may be driving the trend. But being classified as an outpatient, rather than being admitted, can increase out-of-pocket costs for patients. The study is reported in the June edition of Health Affairs.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Nobody wins when patients stay in the hospital unnecessarily, so the federal government in recent years has pushed hospitals to be careful about admitting Medicare recipients as inpatients. The apparent result is that more patients are being “held for observation” instead, according to a new study by Brown University gerontologists. While the shift in how hospitals care for elderly patients in the emergency department may reduce costs to Medicare, it can also increase out-of-pocket expenditures for patients. (more…)

American Teens Are Less Likely Than European Teens to Use Cigarettes and Alcohol, but More Likely to Use Illicit Drugs

By Guest PostJune 5, 2012Culture, Generaladolescent behaviour, alcohol, american adolescents, american students, american surveys, american teens, anabolic steroids, cigarettes, cocaine, crack, eastern, Europe, european teens, france, future surveys, Germany, hashish, heroin, illicit drugs, inhalants, italy, jared wadley, lloyd johnston, marijuana, monaco, smoking cigarettes, university of michigan, western europe

ANN ARBOR, Mich.— The U.S. had the second-lowest proportion of students who used tobacco and alcohol compared to their counterparts in 36 European countries, a new report indicates.

The results originate from coordinated school surveys about substance use from more than 100,000 students in some of the largest countries in Europe like Germany, France and Italy, as well as many smaller ones from both Eastern and Western Europe.

Because the methods and measures are largely modeled after the University of Michigan’s Monitoring the Future surveys in this country, comparisons are possible between the U.S. and European results. The 15- and 16-year-old students, who were drawn in nationally representative samples in almost all of the 36 countries, were surveyed last spring. American 10th graders in the 2011 Monitoring the Future studies are of the same age, so comparisons are possible. (more…)

Marriage May Make People Happier

By Guest PostMay 30, 2012Culture, General, Healthadulthood, happier, ivana anusic, marriage, michigan state university, national british survey, people, psychology researcher, richard lucas, stevie c y yap

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Married people may be happier in the long run than those who aren’t married, according to new research by Michigan State University scientists.

Their study, online in the Journal of Research in Personality, finds that although matrimony does not make people happier than they were when they were single, it appears to protect against normal declines in happiness during adulthood.

“Our study suggests that people on average are happier than they would have been if they didn’t get married,” said Stevie C.Y. Yap, a researcher in MSU’s Department of Psychology. (more…)

Be On the Look Out This Summer: 5 Signs of Child Abuse

By Guest PostMay 26, 2012General, Healthblogger, bloody underwear, bruising, child abuse, common signs, day care centers, daycare workers, depression, extreme hunger, jane smith, marks, red flag, sexual abuse, sexual acts, sexual child abuse, signs, summer camps, symptoms, urinary tract, victim, yeast infection

The summer is here, which means child day care centers and summer camps will soon be flooded with vast amounts of children. While typically people are more concerned with who is handling their child and thus mandate background checks for all employees, sometimes it’s the parents who are at fault and cause harm to their children. That’s why it is so important to remind educators, advisors and camp counselors (who are all too often children themselves—most are college aged) how to closely monitor the signs and detect child abuse and neglect.

While national statistics say child abuse is reported every ten seconds, unfortunately most of those cases are not made by child daycare workers—a place where child interaction occurs the most. In fact, studies show that underreporting is a common thread among child day care centers and summer camps, mostly because employees don’t want to get involved, fear they may be wrong, or don’t know the common signs of child abuse. With that said, if you are suspicious a child in your care may be suffering from child abuse because he or she is experiencing one or all of the symptoms listed below, it’s best to talk with an authoritative figure and report the case. (more…)