September 9, 2006, 9:54 AM CT
Jobless Recovery Will Be A Repeat Phenomenon
Recovering from a recession doesn't include the entire economy.
The "jobless recovery" that befuddled observers after the recession in the early 2000s was no fluke. It's actually a pattern that we can expect to continue thanks to technology's uneven impact across sectors of the economy, as per research from a business professor at Washington University in St. Louis. What's more, this new trend in business cycles is as important in making policy decisions as it is about the stability of the country's economy.
"Technology doesn't just land like a giant asteroid and change everything," said Glenn MacDonald, the John M. Olin Distinguished Professor of Economics and Strategy at the Olin School of Business. "It used to be that new technology was broadly impactful. But newer innovations have less of that character, directly impacting some sectors more than others. The Internet, for example has had an incredible direct effect on sectors such as finance and insurance, or retail, but a much more incidental effect on others."
New technology brings economic change With new technology comes the need for companies where the technology is important to retool and reorganize how their business is run. This typically involves reducing output and often cutting back on labor. This translates into that sector of the economy beginning to slow.........
Posted by: Mac Permalink Source
September 9, 2006, 7:43 AM CT
Leading-Edge Technology Opportunities
European SMEs have demonstrated their capability to perform research and technology developments leading to outstanding innovations
ESA has issued an Announcement of Opportunities calling for proposals for innovative technology developments. This is part of the Agency's Leading-Edge Technology Programme targeted at SMEs.
Proposals should focus on the early-stage development and feasibility demonstration of new technologies which have a strong possibility of being infused into future ESA projects and space missions.
Proposals for important improvements of existing technologies or processes will also be considered, provided the improvements are clearly substantiated and the corresponding space application identified.
Only SMEs of ESA Member States and Canada are allowed to bid as main contractors. However, universities and research institutes may participate as partners of SMEs, providing their share of the project focuses on their field of expertise, and represents a limited part of the overall work to be performed under the contract.
As usual, the Leading-Edge Technology Programme for Small and Medium Enterprises (LET-SME) Announcement of Opportunities (AO) calls for innovative solutions and technologies in reply to specific needs identified by ESA's technical services. These industry-driven technologies will allow ESA to prepare for long-term technological capability and to define new space missions and applications.........
Posted by: Mac Permalink Source
September 9, 2006, 5:23 AM CT
Five years after September 11
Five years after September 11 and one year after Hurricane, public confidence in the government to protect the area they live has hit a new low. Only 44% of the American public believes that the federal government can protect their community from a terrorist attack. This is a sharp and ongoing erosion of confidence, down from a high of 62% in 2003, and the second consecutive year that fewer than half of the American public believes government can protect them.
Confidence in the health system to respond to a biological, chemical, or nuclear attack has also steadily declined. Barely one-fourth (28%) are confident in comparison to 53% in 2002. Worse still, only 23% believe the health care system is ready to respond effectively to a bird flu pandemic.
When asked about specific aspects of keeping America safe, there are no signs of increased confidence. Just over one-third (36%) of the American public believes government can protect public transportation from terrorism, down from 43% in 2004. Also, just over one-third (36%) are confident that shipping ports are protected, confidence in the government's ability to protect U.S. borders (31%), and being confident in the government to oversee spending and set priorities on terrorism and disaster preparedness (35%).........
Posted by: Tom Permalink Source
September 7, 2006, 9:03 PM CT
No More ATVs For Children
Neurosurgeons at St. Louis Children's Hospital and Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis are renewing calls for a ban on use of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) by children under age 16 after a 10-year review of injuries caused by the vehicles.
"Children have no experience or training in driving motorized vehicles, and they're driving them on uneven terrain where they can't see what's coming up ahead of them very well," says T.S. Park, M.D., the Shi Hui Huang Professor of Neurological Surgery at the School of Medicine and pediatric neurosurgeon-in-chief at St. Louis Children's Hospital. "This is leading to an increasing number of fatalities and devastating injuries with lifelong consequences for children and their parents".
Park and colleagues reviewed all cases seen at the hospital over a 10-year span, identifying 185 patients admitted as a result of ATV-related accidents. Among the study's findings:
- One-third of the patients suffered serious neurological injuries including cerebral hemorrhages and skull fractures.
- Two-thirds of the total patient population had to undergo inpatient rehabilitation.
- Two patients had spinal cord injuries.
- Two patients died
.
The review was published in a July 2006 pediatric supplement to the Journal of Neurosurgery.........
Posted by: Jim Permalink Source
September 7, 2006, 6:36 PM CT
Bodybuilding as a sport
Bodybuilding is the process of developing muscle fibres through the combination of weight training, increased caloric intake, and rest. Someone who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. As a sport, called competitive bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their aesthetic appearance. Bodybuilding has contributed to the success of many public figures worldwide. Examples from North America include Arnold Schwarzenegger and Lou Ferrigno.
The period of around 1940 to 1970 is often referred to as the "Golden Age" of bodybuilding because of changes in the aesthetic for more mass, as well as muscular symmetry and definition, which characterised the "early years". This was due in large part to the advent of World War II, which inspired many young men to be bigger, stronger and more aggressive in their attitudes. This was accomplished by improved training techniques, better nutrition and more effective equipment. Several important publications came into being, as well, and new contests emerged as the popularity of the sport grew.
This period of bodybuilding was typified at Muscle Beach in Santa Monica, California, US. Famous names in bodybuilding from this period included Steve Reeves (notable in his day for portraying Hercules and other sword-and-sandals heroes), Reg Park, John Grimek, Larry Scott, and Bill Pearl.........
Posted by: Jim Permalink Source
September 7, 2006, 5:08 AM CT
State Health Department Web Sites Inaccessible
Eventhough a significant amount of data, medical information and services is now offered online by state-run health departments, a number of Web sites are written well above the comprehension level of the average American and are inaccessible to people with disabilities and non-English speakers, concludes a new report by Brown University scientists Darrell M. West and Edward Alan Miller reported in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (available online in html and pdf).
"Inaccessible Web sites hurt the underprivileged and make it difficult to justify the investment in technology that has taken place in state governments around the country," the authors state. "Unless these concerns are addressed, public e-health will remain the domain of highly educated and affluent individuals who speak English and do not suffer from physical impairments".
West and Miller examined the accessibility, privacy and security of public Web sites maintained by the 50 state governments in the United States in the last two to five years. Using content analysis, they focused on readability levels, disability access, non-English accessibility and the presence of privacy and security statements.
They determined that text on the majority of sites employs a reading level too difficult to comprehend for most users. Though half of Americans read at an eighth-grade level, only 20 percent of state health department Web sites were written at that level in 2005, the authors found. The analysis concludes that 62 percent of the sites were written at the 12th grade level in the same year.........
Posted by: Tom Permalink Source
September 5, 2006, 9:13 PM CT
Life Beyond Carbon
Photo / Donna Coveney
John Heywoo
If all nations burned gasoline for transportation at the same rate as the United States, world gasoline consumption would rise nearly ten-fold, with a corresponding hike in the concentration of greenhouse gases.
That's just one reason why it is imperative that nations work to create a more sustainable transportation system, says John Heywood, director of MIT's Sloan Automotive Lab and the Sun Jae Professor of Mechanical Engineering.
"As the countries in the developing world rapidly motorize, the increasing global demand for fuel will pose one of the biggest challenges to controlling the concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere," Heywood writes in "Fueling Our Transportation Future," an article he wrote for the recent issue of Scientific American.
Heywood is one of three MIT professors who tackle energy in the magazine's September issue, whose cover proclaims the theme "Energy's Future: Beyond Carbon".
While Heywood's article focuses on improving transportation efficiency, MIT Professors John Deutch and Ernest Moniz explore the possibilities of expanding nuclear power to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases.
All three professors are members of MIT's Energy Research Council, which issued a report in May exploring how MIT can help solve the global energy crisis.........
Posted by: Sarah Permalink Source
September 5, 2006, 9:08 PM CT
Time Rome Project
Real Time Rome project
Real Time Rome, a pioneering MIT project that promises to usher in a new era of urban mapmaking, will have its worldwide debut at the Venice Biennale, the prestigious biannual exhibition of contemporary art, from Sept. 10 to Nov. 19.
The project utilizes data gathered, in real time and at an unprecedented scale, from cell phones and other wireless technologies, to better understand the patterns of daily life in Rome, and to illustrate what ubiquitous connectivity in an urban environment looks like.
"In today's world, wireless mobile communications devices are creating new dimensions of interconnectedness between people, places and urban infrastructures," said project director Carlo Ratti, director of the SENSEable City Lab at MIT. "The goal of Real Time Rome is to use this connectivity to map the city in real time, which may ultimately lead to a deeper understanding of how modern cities function."
Real Time Rome features seven large animations, projected on transparent plexiglass screens. One screen shows traffic congestion around the city, while another screen shows the exact movements of all the city's buses and taxis. Another screen is able to track Romans celebrating major events like the World Cup or the city's annual White Nights festival (Notte Bianca, which will happen on Sept. 9, the evening before the Biennale's architecture exhibition opening). Additional screens show how tourists use urban spaces and how cars and pedestrians move about the city.........
Posted by: Tom Permalink Source
September 5, 2006, 8:03 PM CT
Clash Between Print And Television
Photo / Donna Coveney
Henry Jenkin
The exploding complexity of the media in today's society has set up a clash between traditional media -- print, broadcast television, the recording industry and the corporate giants that own and sponsor them -- and the constantly mutating world of new media -- the Internet, "game worlds" and ever more powerful mobile devices and software.
As MIT's Henry Jenkins explains in his new book, "Convergence Culture: Where Old and New Media Collide" (New York University Press), consumers are no longer content to be spoon-fed music, TV, movies and literature. They want to play with it, interact with it, parody it and analyze it -- with or without the by-your-leave of the primary producers.
The battle for turf between the Goliaths of Time Warner and Fox and the masses of little Davids writing, playing and programming in their bedrooms is unlikely to be resolved anytime soon, Jenkins says.
"Convergence represents a cultural shift as consumers are encouraged to seek out new information and make connections among dispersed media content. ('Convergence Culture') is about the work -- and play -- spectators perform in the new media system".
The book explores a number of case studies in media convergence, which Jenkins, the Peter de Florez Professor of Humanities, and founder and director of the Comparative Media Studies (CMS) Program at MIT, defines as "the flow of content across multiple media platforms, the cooperation between multiple media industries, and the migratory behavior of media audiences who will go almost anywhere in search of the kinds of entertainment experiences they want".........
Posted by: Tom Permalink Source
September 5, 2006, 4:52 AM CT
Injured, ill children at U.S. military hospital
Based on the experience of Air Force personnel at an expeditionary military hospital in Iraq, military hospitals should be prepared with the proper staff, training and equipment to treat injured and noninjured children who require medical care, as per a report in the recent issue of Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.
Military hospitals are likely to encounter injured children as wars move away from the battlefield and into civilian territories, as per background information in the article. Children sometimes serve as soldiers or are used as human shields. In addition, because war disrupts medical facilities in the affected area, children with other injuries or illnesses may seek medical care at U.S. military hospitals as well. When U.S. and coalition forces entered Iraq in 2003, Iraqi civilian hospitals were already understaffed and lacked the supplies and infrastructure needed to effectively care for citizens. From early in the conflict, medical care was offered to injured civilians in cases of severe injury, and hospital commanders could approve care for children with medical needs that could not be handled by the Iraqi system.
Lt. Col. Christopher P. Coppola, U.S.A.F., M.C., and his colleagues at the Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, reported on the children treated at one level III (medical facility in a combat area) hospital in Balad, Iraq, from January 2004 to May 2005. The 332nd Air Force Theater Hospital is approximately 40 miles north of Baghdad and consists of a series of tents with concrete floors, linked by a corridor. The facility has a staff of 420 and can accommodate up to 24 intensive care unit beds and 80 additional beds; up to six surgeries can be performed at once.........
Posted by: Tom Permalink Source
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