text:
Third time is a charm. New MOTU 30th Anniversary plan added.
To insure your action figure collection, get in touch with Collectibles Insurance. Say figures.com to get 5% off your first term premiums.
To get your figures graded, go to ActionFigureAuthority.com.
To buy action figures, take a look at BigBadToyStore.com, BriansToys.com, ToyWiz.com, SmallJoes.com, MonkeyDepot.com, and Urban-Collector.com.
For statues and sculptures, go to CSMooreStudio.com.
For t-shirts, take a look at 80sTees.com.
Mattel is extending the sale for their MattyCollector 2012 Subscription Plans one last time. Wait, didn't I say that before? The extension this time allows collectors who missed the on-sale window for DC Universe Club Infinite Earths - which is now a go (see our story HERE) - the opportunity to join. Mattel also heard fan requests for them to offer a subscription for the six MOTUC 30th Anniversary figures.
The new subscription sale period will run from Friday, September 16th at 9 a.m. PT through Monday, October 3rd at 11:59 p.m. PT. The plans include:
* Voltron Club Lion Force - Get 5 Lions that make a 23" tall Voltron, 5 Pilots with pieces to make an Ultra Blazing Sword, plus a club-exclusive Sven.
* Masters of the Universe Club Eternia - To include Sorceress, Kobra Kahn and more.
* Ghostbusters Club Ecto-1 - Fans will get a figure of Dana Barrett and the club-exclusive The Rookie with Taxi Cab Ghost.
* DC Universe Club Infinite Earths - The only way to get true collector 6" characters guaranteed, plus for the first time ever, fans choose the club-exclusive figure. 2012's exclusive figure is Metron.
* NEW - MOTU 30th Anniversary Series - By fan demand, Mattel is offering a subscription to the six special figures they'll be releasing approximately every other month in 2012 in celebration of MOTU's 30th anniversary. Each figure will be a new character created just for the MOTUC line, including Fearless Photog (the winner of the 1985 Create a Figure Contest by Nathan Bitner) and Draego Man by the Four Horsemen. Of the remaining figures, two will be from Mattel, one from Geoff Johns (creative director from DC Comics), and the final figure is planned to be the winner of the current Create a Character Contest.
For full details on each of the clubs and to join, visit mattycollector.com.


text: I thought that was pretty funny myself. That's the thing, we always find a way to overcome our shortcomings and keep the game close. Even when we're playing like we shouldn't be close. It's just how this team operates.This quote is hidden because you are ignoring this member. Show Quote

subset: commoncrawl


text:
Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and Applications
Allyn and Bacon, 1996 - Psychological tests - 713 pages
In addition to customary coverage of traditional topics and instruments, the author provides detailed presentations for several topics not always found in other textbooks. These topics include: history of psychological testing, early uses and abuses of intelligence, neuropsychological foundations of ability, factor analysis, assessment of learning disabilities, consumer assessment, environmental assessment, and courtroom testimony.
From inside the book
77 pages matching scales in this book
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What people are saying - Write a review
LibraryThing ReviewUser Review - csweder - LibraryThing
Oh my. This book was a BEAST to read. The only reason it is receiving 2, and not 1 star is that the last chapters were actually somewhat interesting, discussing the legal ramifications of testing ... Read full review
LibraryThing ReviewUser Review - csweder - LibraryThing
Oh my. This book was a BEAST to read. The only reason it is receiving 2, and not 1 star is that the last chapters were actually somewhat interesting, discussing the legal ramifications of testing ... Read full review
TcHAPTERJThe History of Psychological Testing
and the Testing Process
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Psychological Testing: History, Principles, and ApplicationsHistory ...
Robert J. Gregory
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Common terms and phrases
ability tests achievement tests administered adults African-American approach aptitude tests assessment average behavior Binet brain clinical coefficient cognitive computation concept consists construct validity content validity correlation criterion criterion-referenced tests designed Digit disability discussed environment exam examinee examinee's example factor analysis Figure Full Scale IQ functions gence group tests infant instrument intelligence tests Inventory Kaufman measurement error memory ment mental mental retardation method MMPI motor nonverbal normal normal distribution norms percent percentile performance persons points predict predictive validity preschool problem procedures psychological tests psychologists psychometric questions raw scores reader relevant reliability response sample SB:FE selection skills social Source specific standard deviation standard scores Stanford-Binet studies subjects subscales subtests Table test developer test items test results test scores test-retest theory tion Topic trait true score values verbal visual Vocabulary WAIS-R Wechsler WISC-III WISC-R


text:
Feature - Site Home
Concordia University faculty member Peggy Duquesnel celebrates her eighth and latest CD release, Seems Like I Know You, with this concert featuring special guests Jeff Lorber on keyboards and Jimmy Haslip on bass. An acclaimed singer, pianist and composer, Duquesnel's new disc is a mix of original compositions and covers, with sounds ranging from jazz and pop to funk and even Latin. And though she may be best known in the O.C. for her organ performances as the stadium keyboardist for the Angels and the Ducks, she's also recorded and toured with fusion legends Lorber and Haslip, along with Henry Mancini and Dionne Warwick. The Concordia Jazz Combo and acoustic guitarist Donovan Raitt (who's a cousin of famed blues woman Bonnie Raitt) open the show.
$20 General Admission
$15 Seniors and Students
Concordia Faculty, Staff, and Students are Free.


text:
The Humboldt County Fair is in full swing and preparing for the rush of entries headed their way for the this year's upcoming 118th year. This year the fair will take place from Aug. 14 through Aug. 24 with a theme of "The Bounty of the County."
This year there will be over $35,000 in awards and prizes. There will be free admission days and lots of new exciting activities.
Entry form deadlines are as follows: for still exhibits and livestock, July 25; for floriculture, horticulture, and rabbits, Aug. 1.
The fair will be holding entry assistance days on from 1-5 p.m. on July 10, July 17, and July 24. Participants should bring their information, payment method, questions, and the fair will do the rest. Please check in at the fair office to be connected with your helper and online work station.
The fair is offering pre-sale tickets at a reduced expense. Payment and form are due to the fair office by Aug. 8 at 5 pm. Tickets will be available in the office or at fair time in the "will call" window located at the main entrance.
General admission tickets, 13 to 61 years old, $5 presale or $8 at the gate. Senior citizen admission tickets, 62 years or older, $4 presale or $6 at the gate. Children admission tickets, 6 to 12 years, $2 presale or $4 at the gate. Pre-sale racing tickets are $1 and $3 at the gate. Reserved parking is limited and pre-sale is the only way to ensure a spot at $100 for the length of the fair.
Pre-sale carnival ride coupons for $20 offer a $10 discount for parents and those young at heart. Carnival bands will be $30 at the fair without a pre-sale ticket.
For more information, contact the Humboldt County Fair at 786-9511.


text:
Building Guided Pathways: Practical Lessons from Completion by Design Colleges
Practical Lessons from Completion by Design Colleges
After the Planning Phase, colleges are now prepared to embark on the next step: Implementation. CBD provides a framework for colleges to identify student barriers to progression, design comprehensive solutions to overcome them, and drive institutional transformation to sustain the new ways of doing business. At the core of this transformation are Guided Pathways.
A Guided Pathway is clear and coherent map that integrates academic and support services across the student experience. It starts at students' entry points to higher education and guides them at each step of their journey to keep them on track to completion.
An instructional program for adults that includes courses designed to improve basic skills in reading, writing, and arithmetic.
An award earned for satisfactory completion of at least 2, but usually less than 4 years of full-time equivalent college work. CBD colleges report completions of Associate in Arts (A.A.), Associate in Science (A.S.), and Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) degrees, and analysis can be conducted separately.
Students who attempt at least 9 college-level semester credits (usually equivalent to 3 courses) in a given program area in a given time period, whether or not they successfully complete them.
An award earned for satisfactory completion of 4 years of full-time equivalent college-level work. In some cases, students may complete their 4 years of college-level work in 3 years.
A formal award certifying the satisfactory completion of a postsecondary education program. CBD collects completions of less-than-1-year, and 1- to 2-year certificates, and analysis can be conducted separately.
A cohort is a group of people studied during a period of time. The individuals in the group have at least one statistical factor—such as when they started college—in common. Tracking a cohort makes it possible to compare progress and outcomes of different groups of students (i.e., groups defined by race, age or other demographic characteristics) and to determine if there are gaps in achievement among groups of interest. CBD cohorts include students who attempted at least one course during their first term in the following areas:
- College (certificate or degree) credit
- College remedial or developmental
- Adult basic skills (ESL, ABE, or ASE/GED)
- Non-credit vocational (includes courses that could potentially lead to an occupational certificate or certification, but does not include personal interest courses)
A five year initiative designed to help low-income young adults progress through community college more quickly and with a greater chance of success. The initiative's goal is to substantially increase the completion and graduation rates for large number of students while holding down college costs and maintaining the quality of programs and services.
The integrated set of policies, practices, programs, and processes intentionally designed to maximize student completion across the loss-momentum framework.
Students who successfully complete (with a grade of C or better) at least 9 college-level semester credits (usually equivalent to 3 courses) in a program area, in a given time period.
A program that allows students to enroll in college courses while still enrolled in high school.
The first or lowest-level college-level course students take in a subject such as mathematics, reading, or writing. (See Gateway courses.)
A student who enrolls for the first time in college during the academic year with no previous college level experience or credential.
CBD considers a student enrolled full-time if he or she attempts 12 or more semester or quarter credits in a given term.
The first or lowest-level college-level course students take in a subject such as mathematics, reading, or writing. (See Entry-level courses.)
A set of metrics designed to measure students' progress at each point of the institutions' connection with the student—connection, entry, progress, and completion. KPIs are used to monitor institutional performance and the effects of improvement strategies to track student progression through academic milestones.
Points in a student's academics where he/she losses academic momentum, or falls off his/her educational pathway.
The guiding framework for Completion by Design, which is comprised of four stages that capture the student experience: 1) Connection (interest to application), 2) Entry (enrollment to completion of gateway courses), 3) Progress (steady progress toward completing program requirements), and 4) Completion (completion of program of value for further education and employment).
Measurable educational achievements that include both conventional terminal completions, such as earning a credential or transferring to a baccalaureate program, and intermediate outcomes, such as completing developmental education or adult basic skills requirements.
Measurable educational attainments, such as completing a college-level math course, that are empirically correlated with the completion of a milestone.
Students who did not attempt at least 9 college-level credits (usually the equivalent of three courses) in any program area in a given period of time.
Students who attempt to enter a concentration but do not successfully pass at least 9 semester credits (usually the equivalent of three courses) in a given time period.
A program of study consisting of one or more courses, designed to prepare students for employment in a specific field.
CBD considers a student enrolled part-time if he or she attempts less than 12 semester or quarter credits in a given term.
A tool that uses college data to pinpoint the dynamics of student loss and momentum from connection through completion.
A set of courses and related activities that lead to an attainment of educational objectives such as a certificate or an associate's degree, sometimes referred to as "major" or "program code".
A set of metrics designed to measure highest educational outcomes achieved over a specific period of time. Usually computed for cohorts of students, especially those with no prior college experience for comparative purposes.
The route a student takes to connect with, enter, progress through, and complete his/her program of study.
A student who stops studying at the home institution and enrolls at another institution.
Date Published:February, 2016
Full Author Citation:Completion by Design


text:
Several websites allow the software development community to share information by publishing developer guidelines, white papers, FAQs, and source code. As the information content grows, with several developers contributing to the repository, websites provide search engines to search all of the information present on the site. While the search engines do a very good job in retrieving text documents, they severely constrain a developer when searching source code. Search engines consider source code files as plain text documents and hence and are no different from a sophisticated
grep tool capable of handling large source files.
In this article I propose the approach of using Lucene, the Java-based open source search engine, to search source code by extracting and indexing relevant source code elements. I restrict the search to Java source code only. However, extending the search to any other programming language's source code should not be very different.
The article gives you a brief overview of the important aspects of a search engine in the context of Lucene. For more detailed information, refer to the Resources section.
Lucene is one of the most popular open source search engine libraries. Lucene consists of core APIs that allow indexing and searching of text. Given a set of text files, Lucene can create indexes and allow you to search those indexes with complex queries such as
+title:Lucene -content:Search , search AND Lucene , +search +code. Before going into the details of searching, let me introduce you to some of the functional aspects of Lucene.
Search engines scan all of the data that need to be searched and store them in a structure that allows efficient retrieval. The most well-known structure is called the inverted index. For example, consider indexing a set of conference proceedings. First, each paper or document of the proceedings is considered to have distinct parts, or fields, such as title, author, email, abstract, and content. The text of each field is tokenized and keywords or terms are extracted. The inverted index for the proceedings will be stored as shown in the following table.
|Document Frequency
|Erik Hatcher
|Bill Inmon
For each term in a field, the number of the documents it occurs in (document frequency) and the IDs of the documents in which it occurs are stored. Other details are stored for each term: the number of times it occurs in each document and the position where it occurs. However, all that is important for us is to know that indexing a text file for Lucene means storing it in a format that allows for efficient querying and retrieval.
Lucene processes the text to be indexed with analyzers. Analyzers are used to tokenize text, extract relevant words, discard common words, stem the words (reduce them to the root form, meaning that bowling, bowler and bowls are reduced to bowl), and perform any other desired processing before storing it into the index. The common analyzers provided by Lucene are:
SimpleAnalyzer: Tokenizes the string to a set of words and converts them to lower case.
StandardAnalyzer: Tokenizes the string to a set of words identifying acronyms, email addresses, host names, etc., discarding the basic English stop words (a, an, the, to) and stemming the words.
Once created, indexes can be searched by providing complex queries specifying the field and the term that needs to be searched. For example, the user query
abstract:system AND email:firstname.lastname@example.com will result in all documents that contain
system in the abstract and have the email address
firstname.lastname@example.com. Hence, a search on the sample index of the earlier table would return Doc15. Documents that match the query are ranked based on the number of times the terms occurs in the document and the number of documents that have the terms. Lucene implements a ranking mechanism and gives us the flexibility to modify it if required.
Now that we understand the basics of a search engine, let us look at what a search engine that searches source code should support. In the context of searching relevant example code in Java, a developer is typically interested identifying Java classes that:
A combination of the above would satisfy the developer in identifying the relevant code he or she is looking for. So the search engine should allow a developer to query one or a combination of these aspects. Here is one other limitation of IDEs: most of the available tools support searching source code based on just one of the above criteria. They do not give the developer the flexibility of combining these criteria in their search.
Let's get started on building a search engine for source code, one that supports these requirements!
The first step is to write an analyzer to extract or discard source code elements and ensure that the indexes created are optimal, containing only the relevant aspects of code. In Java, the language keywords--
if, etc.--need to be discarded, since they appear in every .java file. They are similar to the common words of English language (the, a, an, of). An analyzer needs to discard these keywords in the indexes.
A Java source code analyzer is built by extending Lucene's abstract
Analyzer class. The following listing shows the
JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer, which implements the
tokenStream(String,Reader) method. The
JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer defines a set of stop words that can be discarded in the process of indexing, using a
StopFilter provided by Lucene. The
tokenStream method checks the field that is being indexed. If the field is a comment, it first tokenizes and lower-cases input using the
LowerCaseTokenizer, eliminates stop words of English (a limited set of English stop words) using the
StopFilter, and uses the
PorterStemFilter to remove common morphological and inflexional endings. If the content to be indexed is not a comment, the analyzer tokenizes and lower-cases input using
LowerCaseTokenizer and eliminates the Java keywords using the
package com.infosys.lucene.code JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer.;
import java.io.Reader;
import java.util.Set;
import org.apache.lucene.analysis.*;
public class JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer extends Analyzer {
private Set javaStopSet;
private Set englishStopSet;
private static final String[] JAVA_STOP_WORDS = {
"switch","case", "default" ,"synchronized" ,
"do", "if", "else", "break","continue","this",
"assert" ,"for","instanceof", "transient",
"final", "static" ,"void","catch","try",
"throws","throw","class", "finally","return",
"const" , "native", "super","while", "import",
"package" ,"true", "false" };
private static final String[] ENGLISH_STOP_WORDS ={
"a", "an", "and", "are","as","at","be" "but",
"by", "for", "if", "in", "into", "is", "it",
"no", "not", "of", "on", "or", "s", "such",
"that", "the", "their", "then", "there","these",
"they", "this", "to", "was", "will", "with" };
public SourceCodeAnalyzer(){
javaStopSet = StopFilter.makeStopSet(JAVA_STOP_WORDS);
englishStopSet = StopFilter.makeStopSet(ENGLISH_STOP_WORDS);
public TokenStream tokenStream(String fieldName,
Reader reader) {
if (fieldName.equals("comment"))
return new PorterStemFilter(
new StopFilter(
new LowerCaseTokenizer(reader),englishStopSet));
return new StopFilter(
new LowerCaseTokenizer(reader),javaStopSet);
JavaSourceCode Indexer
The next step is to create indexes. The important classes used to build indexes are
Document, and
Field . For each source code file, a Lucene
Document is created. The source code file is parsed and relevant syntactic elements of the code are extracted: import declarations, class names, classes it extends, the interface it implements, methods implemented, method parameters used, and code for each of the methods. These syntactic elements are added to distinct
Fields of the
Document. The
Document is added to the index using the
IndexWriter, which stores the indexes.
The following listing shows the
JavaSourceCodeIndexer. It uses
JavaParser to parse a Java file and extract syntactic elements, using the Eclipse 3.0
ASTParser. I will not go into the details of the
JavaParser, as any parser could be used to extract the relevant source code elements. On extracting the elements of the source code file, a
Field is created and added to the
import org.apache.lucene.document.*;
import org.apache.lucene.index.*;
import com.infosys.lucene.code.JavaParser.*;
public class JavaSourceCodeIndexer {
private static JavaParser parser = new JavaParser();
private static final String IMPLEMENTS = "implements";
private static final String IMPORT = "import";
public static void main(String[] args) {
File indexDir = new File("C:\\Lucene\\Java");
File dataDir = new File("C:\\JavaSourceCode ");
IndexWriter writer = new IndexWriter(indexDir,
new JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer(), true);
indexDirectory(writer, dataDir);
public static void indexDirectory(IndexWriter writer,
File dir){
File[] files = dir.listFiles();
for (int i = 0; i < files.length; i++) {
File f = files[i];
// Create a Lucene Document
Document doc = new Document();
// Use JavaParser to parse file
addImportDeclarations(doc, parser);
addComments(doc, parser);
// Extract Class elements Using Parser
JClass cls = parser.getDeclaredClass();
addClass(doc, cls);
// Add field to the Lucene Document
doc.add(Field.UnIndexed(FILENAME, f.getName()));
private static void addClass(Document doc, JClass cls) {
//For each class add Class Name field
doc.add(Field.Text(CLASS, cls.className));
String superCls = cls.superClass;
if (superCls != null)
//Add the class it extends as extends field
doc.add(Field.Text(EXTENDS, superCls));
// Add interfaces it implements
ArrayList interfaces = cls.interfaces;
for (int i = 0; i < interfaces.size(); i++)
doc.add(Field.Text(IMPLEMENTS, (String) interfaces.get(i)));
//Add details on methods declared
addMethods(cls, doc);
ArrayList innerCls = cls.innerClasses;
for (int i = 0; i < innerCls.size(); i++)
addClass(doc, (JClass) innerCls.get(i));
private static void addMethods(JClass cls, Document doc) {
ArrayList methods = cls.methodDeclarations;
for (int i = 0; i < methods.size(); i++) {
JMethod method = (JMethod) methods.get(i);
// Add method name field
doc.add(Field.Text(METHOD, method.methodName));
// Add return type field
doc.add(Field.Text(RETURN, method.returnType));
ArrayList params = method.parameters;
for (int k = 0; k < params.size(); k++)
// For each method add parameter types
doc.add(Field.Text(PARAMETER, (String)params.get(k)));
String code = method.codeBlock;
if (code != null)
//add the method code block
doc.add(Field.UnStored(CODE, code));
private static void addImportDeclarations(Document doc,
JavaParser parser) {
ArrayList imports = parser.getImportDeclarations();
if (imports == null) return;
for (int i = 0; i < imports.size(); i++)
//add import declarations as keyword
doc.add(Field.Keyword(IMPORT, (String) imports.get(i)));
Lucene has four different types of fields, which can be specified for optimal index creation: Keyword, UnIndexed, UnStored, and Text.
JavaSourceCodeIndexer uses this field to store import declarations.
UnIndexed fields. Fields of this type are analyzed and indexed, but are not stored in the index. The source code of the method is indexed as an
code field, as storing every line of code would require a large amount of space. The source code of a method can be directly retrieved from the original Java file, resulting in an optimal index size.
Fields used by
JavaSourceCodeIndexer is shown in the following table:
|Class Name
|Import Declarations
|Method Name
|Method Block (Code)
|File Name
|Method Parameter Type
|Return Type
|Extends Class
The indexes created by Lucene can be viewed and modified using Luke, a useful open source tool for understanding indexes. Luke's snapshot of the indexes creates by
JavaSourceCodeIndexer is shown in Figure 1.
As you can see, the import declarations are stored as is, without tokenizing or analyzing. The class names and method names are converted to lower case and stored.
After creating multi-field indexes, Lucene can be used to query these indexes. Lucene provides
IndexSearcher and
QueryParser, the key classes to search documents.
QueryParser is used to parse a query expression entered by the user, while
IndexSearcher searches for the query terms in the documents. The following table shows some possible queries and the meaning of each:
|Query Expression
|Matches Java Class that ....
|extends:ViewPart code:Table
|extends the class ViewPart and uses Table class in the code
|code:Document +import:com.w3c.*
|Uses Document in the code and definitely has com.w3c in the import definition
|Uses JGraph as parameter in the a method
|parameter:JGraph code:Cell
|Uses JGraph as a parameter and/or Cell in the Code
|Contains a method named paint but does not have Color as the class name
|method:paint +parameter:Graphics
|Contains a method named paint and definitely has Graphics in any of the method parameters
Indexing different syntactic elements allows the user to form specific queries and search code. The sample code used for searching is shown in the following listing.
public class JavaCodeSearch {
public static void main(String[] args) throws Exception{
File indexDir = new File(args[0]);
String q = args[1]; //parameter:JGraph code:insert
Directory fsDir = FSDirectory.getDirectory(indexDir,false);
IndexSearcher is = new IndexSearcher(fsDir);
PerFieldAnalyzerWrapper analyzer = new
PerFieldAnalyzerWrapper( new
analyzer.addAnalyzer("import", new KeywordAnalyzer());
Query query = QueryParser.parse(q, "code", analyzer);
long start = System.currentTimeMillis();
Hits hits = is.search(query);
long end = System.currentTimeMillis();
System.err.println("Found " + hits.length() +
" docs in " + (end-start) + " millisec");
for(int i = 0; i < hits.length(); i++){
Document doc = hits.doc(i);
+ " with a score of " + hits.score(i));
IndexSearcher uses
FSDirectory to open the directory containing the indexes. The search query string is analyzed by an
Analyzer to ensure that the query is in the same form as the index (stemmed, lower-cased, filtered, etc.). In cases where a
Field is indexed as a keyword, Lucene has a limitation while querying. Lucene analyzes all of the fields using the
Analyzer passed to it in the
QueryParser. To overcome this issue, the
PerFieldAnalyzerWrapper provided by Lucene can be used to specify analysis required for each field in the query. Hence, the query string
import:org.w3c.* AND code:Document will use
KeywordAnalyzer to parse org.w3c.* and
JavaSourceCodeAnalyzer to parse Document.
QueryParser, using the default
code field if the query does not refer to a field, analyzes the query string with the
PerFieldAnalyzerWrapper, and returns the analyzed
Query. The
IndexSearcher uses the
Query and returns a
Hits object that contains documents satisfying the query.
This article shows how Lucene, a text search engine, can be used to search source code by adding an analyzer and a multiple field index. While the article introduces the basic functionality of a code search engine, building more sophisticated analyzers for source code could improve the querying capability and search results. Such search engines would allow uses across the software development community to search and share source code.
Return to ONJava.com.


text:
According to a recent report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), 2012 was the warmest year in the contiguous United States since recordkeeping began in 1895. The average temperature was 55.3 degrees, 3.2 degrees greater than the 20th century average and 1.0 degree greater than the previous record in 1998. The warm year was the result of the combination of a mild winter and a hot summer, and warmer than normal temperatures in every state, not just in isolated regions of the country.
The temperatures in 2012 affected natural gas consumption. Even with lower average natural gas prices, residential and commercial consumption in 2012 was lower than any of the previous 5 years with lower demand for heating. In the electric power sector, weather, relatively low natural gas prices, and a structural shift toward generating more electricity from natural gas-fired power plants contributed to increased natural gas consumption, which started early in 2012. Industrial consumption, which responds both to the economic environment and to weather, was slightly higher in 2012 than in each of the last five years.
Natural gas prices are up at most market locations, increasing most significantly in the Northeast. Henry Hub increased from $3.14 per MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.43 yesterday, an increase of 29 cents per MMBtu, or 9 percent. Most trading points increased between 20 and 30 cents per MMBtu week-on-week, with the notable exception of the Northeast. Algonquin Citygate, serving Boston, jumped by $4.57 per MMBtu, an increase of 104 percent over prices at the start of the report period. Transco Zone 6 NY, serving New York City, saw a price increase of $2.59 per MMbtu, up 78 percent Wednesday to Wednesday. Temperatures in the Northeast fell precipitously Tuesday and yesterday, which were the days of the largest price increases. The Midcontinent and Northwest faced low temperatures across the whole report period.
The Nymex futures price rose week-on-week. The Nymex price rose 32 cents per MMBtu over the report period, from $3.113 per MMBtu last Wednesday to $3.435 per MMBtu yesterday. The near-month Nymex price closed just one half cent per MMBtu above the Henry Hub price yesterday. The 12-Month Strip (average of February 2013 to January 2014 contracts) also increased, rising 25 cents per MMBtu over the report period and ending the week at $3.654 per MMBtu. The 24-Month Strip is also trading below $4.00 per MMBtu, closing at $3.864 yesterday.
Total consumption for the report week was down. According to Bentek estimates, overall natural gas consumption for the nation fell by 2.2 percent. The residential/commercial sector, the biggest gas-consuming sector during the winter, consumed 5.4 percent less gas week-on-week. Industrial consumption was also down, falling by 1.6 percent. The decline in total natural gas consumption was partially mitigated by a 3.9 percent increase in natural gas consumed in the electric power sector. The Midcontinent, Southwest, and Pacific Northwest all faced colder temperatures week-on-week, and consumed 42.8 percent, 23.4 percent, and 44.8 percent more gas for electric generation, respectively. These regions are not large consumers of natural gas as a source for electricity, so these large percentages partially result from small base volumes. The Midcontinent and Pacific Northwest regions are not particularly reliant on natural gas as a source for electricity, so these percentages are relative to small bases. The Southeast, the biggest gas-consuming region for electric power, was unseasonably warm over the report week, and consumed 7.3 percent less gas for electric generation.
Total supply for the report week was down. Bentek estimates an overall supply decrease of 1.5 percent for the report period. U.S. gross and dry natural gas production were down 0.7 percent week-on-week and Canadian imports were down 9.3 percent. Imports fell most sharply in the Northeast, dropping by 34.4 percent. LNG imports, which are just a tiny fraction of overall supply, were also down by 8.8 percent.
Working natural gas in storage decreased to 3,168 Bcf as of Friday, January 11, according to EIA's WNGSR. This represents an implied net withdrawal of 148 Bcf from the previous week. This week's net withdrawal was 4 Bcf larger than the 5-year average net withdrawal of 144 Bcf, and 59 Bcf larger than last year's average net withdrawal of 89 Bcf. Inventories are currently 147 Bcf (4.4 percent) less than last year at this time and 316 Bcf (11.1 percent) greater than the 5-year average.
All three storage regions posted declines this week. Inventories in the East, West, and Producing regions decreased by 86 Bcf (the 5-year average net withdrawal is 85 Bcf), 23 Bcf (the 5-year average net withdrawal is 20 Bcf), and 39 Bcf (the 5-year average net withdrawal is 39 Bcf), respectively. In the Producing region, working natural gas inventories decreased 8 Bcf (2.8 percent) in salt cavern facilities and decreased 33 Bcf (3.7 percent) in nonsalt cavern facilities.
Temperatures during the storage report week were 4.0 degrees warmer than the 30-year normal temperature and 4.4 degrees cooler than the same period last year. Temperatures in the Lower 48 states averaged 37.1 degrees, compared to 41.6 degrees last year and the 30-year normal of 33.1 degrees. While overall temperatures were a few degrees warmer than normal, temperatures varied somewhat across Census divisions. In the Midwest, the West North Central and East North Central Census divisions were particularly warm, averaging 8.7 and 7.0 degrees warmer, respectively, than the 30-year normal. In the West, the Pacific and Mountain Census divisions were relatively cool, averaging 1.1 and 0.9 degrees cooler, respectively, than the 30-year normal. Heating degree-days nationwide were 12.4 percent below normal and 19.4 percent above last year.


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Noninvasive Examination of the Work of Breathing in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
The literature to date indicates that noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV) provides effective noninvasive ventilator support, prolongs survival, and improves quality of life (QOL) in Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) patients. It is generally recommended to patients when their pulmonary function testing demonstrates a drop to 50% forced vital capacity (FVC). One result of using NIPPV may be a reduction in the work of the breathing which would lead to decreased caloric needs. However, the work of breathing and the effects of noninvasive ventilation on caloric use have not been studied in patients with ALS. This is extremely important since there may be a reduction in the caloric needs when ALS patients are placed on NIPPV and if the caloric intake is not adjusted, overfeeding can occur. Overfeeding with too many calories can lead to an increase in carbon dioxide which would actually worsen the respiratory failure.
The overall aim of this project is to evaluate how many calories are used by ALS patients while at rest, when placed on NIPPV, and when breathing against a resistance. This will be accomplished using a metabolic cart during these activities. At present, the metabolic cart is routinely used in ALS patients at the time of feeding tube placement to calculate caloric needs. Using the cart to calculate the caloric expenditure on and off the ventilator will aid in calculating the work of breathing and the effects of NIPPV on work of breathing.
|Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis Neurodegenerative Disease Motor Neuron Disease
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Observational Model: Case-Only
Time Perspective: Cross-Sectional
|Official Title:
|Noninvasive Examination of the Work of Breathing in Patients With Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS).
- Calories Used with and without NIPPV [ Time Frame: 20 minutes ]Indirect calorimetry will be performed using a metabolic cart to determine caloric use over a 20 minute period without NIPPV. Following this, the test will be repeated over a 20 minute period with NIPPV.
|Study Start Date:
|May 2005
|Study Completion Date:
|February 2013
|Primary Completion Date:
|February 2013 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
Subjects having either definite or probable ALS by El Escorial Criteria.
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|20 Years to 85 Years (Adult, Senior)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
|Sampling Method:
|Non-Probability Sample
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients with probable or definite ALS by El Escorial Criteria between ages 20-85 will be included for evaluation. They must have progression of disease over the preceding 6 months and duration of disease less then 5 years.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients who do not meet clinical criteria of the diagnosis including those with pure upper motor neuron syndromes (PLS) or pure lower motor syndromes (SMA, Multifocal conduction block, motor neuropathies).
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT00718003
|United States, Pennsylvania
|MDA/ALS Center of Hope
|Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, 19104
|Principal Investigator:
|Terry Heiman-Patterson, MD
|Drexel University College of Medicine
|Responsible Party:
|Drexel University College of Medicine
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT00718003 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|July 14, 2008
|Last Updated:
|March 1, 2013
Keywords provided by Drexel University ( Drexel University College of Medicine ):
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Cerebrospinal Fluid
Neurodegenerative Disease
Motor Neuron Disease
Autonomic Nervous System
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Movement Disorders
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Motor Neuron Disease
Neurodegenerative Diseases
Nervous System Diseases
Neuromuscular Diseases
Spinal Cord Diseases
Central Nervous System Diseases
Metabolic Diseases
Respiration Disorders
Respiratory Tract Diseases
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis
Respiratory Aspiration
Pathologic Processes
TDP-43 Proteinopathies
Proteostasis Deficiencies
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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For those in the U.S. who might find it of interest, I received this in email and followed the instructions. It's quick and easy.
Dear Friends and Family,
I have been alerted to the fact that cell phones go public this month and hence will be released to telemarketing companies. You will start to receive sales calls for which you will be charged.
To prevent this, call the following number from your cell phone: 888-382-1222.
It is the National DO NOT CALL list. It will only take a minute of your time. It blocks your number for five (5) years. You must call from the cell phone number you want to have blocked. You cannot call from a different phone number.
HELP OTHERS BY PASSING THIS ON TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS.. It takes about 20 seconds.
This is also the same number that you can register your land line on to stop most sales calls coming to that number as well.


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David Tosh Gitonga's Nairobi Half Life
The 20th anniversary of the New York African Film Festival (AFF) is coming to Film Society April 3 – 9!
"Looking Back, Looking Forward: 20 Years of the New York African Film Festival" will feature works by Senegalese director, and father of African Cinema, Ousmane Sembène; ND/NF newcomer Lonesome Solo's Burn It Up Djassa; David Tosh Gitonga's gritty and realistic view of urban life, Nairobi Half Life; the epic crime drama Death for Sale; and some socially conscious films like Land Rush, about foreign investors buying up African soil, and Fueling Poverty, about fuel subsidy management.
"This year's lineup for the New York African Film Festival will offer a wonderful opportunity to revisit and celebrate the work of the great Ousmane Sembène, while highlighting some of the truly distinctive and entertaining films coming our way from Africa," said Film Society's Director of Programming Robert Koehler. "Many (films) are discussing and dealing with the issues of the day in a very provocative way."
Ousmane Sembène's Guelwaar
Highlights from the festival also include the Opening Night screening of the film that started it all 20 years ago, Ousmane Sembène's Guelwaar. On Opening Night in 1992, audiences looked on as Sembène told the story of a political activist and patriarch of the Senegalese Christian community who mysteriously disappeared.
Other Senegalese films include Ousmane Sembène All At Once and Borom Sarret. Directed by Christine Delorme, All At Once explores the man behind the words: "I am a storyteller, an artist striving to express the secret pulsation of my people." The film also delves into the women of Guelwaar, and the legend Sembène has become on and off screen. Appropriately, All At Once will be screening with Sembène's short Borom Sarret, about the life of a Dakar cart driver. Known as one of the origin films of Black African Cinema, Borom Sarret is a must-see for any serious African film fan.
Don't miss two U.S. films, Alaskaland, about an Alaska-raised Nigerian, and short Boneshaker, about a Ghanaian family on a road trip to the Pentecostal heartland of Louisiana to find a cure for their troubled daughter (played by Oscar nominee Quvenzhané Wallis).
Claudia Palazzi and Clio Sozzani's Jeans and Marto
Standing tall in a traditionally male field are the women of African cinema; the 20th anniversary of the festival highlights the works of Patricia Benoit, screening Stones in the Sun, about three pairs of Haitian refugees in New York City in the 1980s; directors Claudia Palazzi and Clio Sozzani, screening Jeans and Marto, about a young Ethiopian escaping an arranged marriage; and Cosima Spender's Dolce Vita Africana, a documentary about Malian photographer Malick Sidibe and the story his iconic images tell of an era of freedom from the late-50s to the early-70s before an Islamic coup. Dolce Vita Africana will be screening with A History of Independence, about one man's decision to devoutly follow God in hermitage.
Closing out this year's AFF is An Evening with Moussa Touré featuring a screening of his classic film TGV, about the direct bus service between Dakar, Senegal and Conakry, Guinea. The night cannot be missed as Touré will be there to answer the inevitable philosophical inqueries that TGV evokes. The film reveals the motivations of each passenger's journey to Guinea all the while revealing motivations of our own journeys through life.
The festival will commemorate its long history of bringing the best of African film to New York with the 20th Anniversary Celebration of the New York African Film Festival on Friday, April 5. The benefit gala will be held at the Macaulay Honors College directly following a 7:30pm surprise screening of a film enjoying its New York premiere and presented by its director. That's all we can tell you… for now!
Head to the press release for a full lineup and more details on "Looking Back, Looking Forward: 20 Years of the New York African Film Festival" and check back next Thursday, when tickets go on sale!


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daverupa wrote:Take a break from seeking to have the meditation be one way or another. This dissatisfaction has arisen; find the causes for that hindrance, yes?
Digity wrote:I don't fully understand what's going on, but I feel like I've been backsliding in my sitting meditation. Before I could at least have a few sittings where I got fully concentrated on my breath. However, now it never happens. It's been like this for weeks and weeks. I just can't bring myself to concentrate on the breath. I would think with practice I'd get better at this, but it seems like I just can't do it...I can stay with the breath, but I can't get fully absorbed in it. I'm trying to play with the breath and stuff to see if that would help. Sometimes I get glimpses of getting back to that concentration, but it doesn't last long. Anyone experience this before? Any advice? Should I take break from meditating? I'm guessing not.
Digity wrote:I can stay with the breath, but I can't get fully absorbed in it.
The same holds true if you focus on keeping the breath in mind. Whether the breath is heavy or refined, simply be aware of it as it normally is. Don't set up any expectations. Don't force the breath to be like this or that. Keep your awareness with the breath, because in meditating by taking the breath as your preoccupation, you're not after the breath. The breath is simply something for the mind to hold to so that you can reach the real thing, just as when you follow the tracks of an ox: You're not after the tracks of the ox. You follow its tracks because you want to reach the ox. Here you're keeping track of the breath so as to reach the real thing: awareness. If you were to start out just by holding on to awareness, you wouldn't get any results, just as you wouldn't be sure of finding the ox if you simply went around looking for it. But if you follow its tracks, you're going to find it for sure. Your meditation word has to keep moving in. This is called following the tracks of the ox step by step until you reach the ox, or what knows: namely the mind.
manas wrote:Hi Digity,
while I also agree with letting go of expectations in a meditation session, in favour of just doing the practice to the best of your ability (while still remaining sensitive to what works and what doesn't so you can remember that), I also think that if a significant obstacle has arisen, it is ok to seek some guidance from a wise and experienced meditation teacher, who knows the terrain, has probably been where you are right now, and might be able to guide you through. Some make themselves available to talk over the phone.
manas wrote:So I will not advise regarding meditation itself, because I really think that is best left to an expert, and I mean someone who has mastered the method you are engaged in. But I will remind you (remind because I'm sure you already know the following) that 1. all of the Noble Eightfold Path, every single factor, matters a lot and we can always work on improving the other factors, regardless of how our meditation practice is faring at present. We 'western, intellectual types' often tend to be too overly focussed on the samma sati / samma samadhi limbs of the Path (as compared to the other six limbs), in what I think is a slightly unbalanced way (please note - I include myself in that admonishment, and I apologise for generalising ). 2. Virtue. I heard more than one meditation teacher say that most problems come not from wrong technique on the cushion, but from what we do off the cushion. Increase and purify Virtue, that can help. 3. Be kind to yourself.
marc108 wrote:We all go through those periods. Could you say specifically what's happening and describe your practice a bit?
Return to "General Theravāda Meditation"
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Ace Backpack|
Inspired by the timeless silhouette, The Ace Backpack is slightly larger than our Classic Backpack. The bag combines the same durable heathered body fabric with our signature re-purposed billboard material. Shoulder straps include a small 'hint' of billboard material to fit your style.
- One-of-a-kind design
- Re-purposed billboard vinyl exterior
- Full padded 15" laptop sleeve pocket
- Zippered exterior front pocket
- Mesh organizer pockets
- 19"H x 12"W x 6"D, 22.5L
Hand-Cut in California
FREE shipping on all U.S orders over $75.
Ships within 1-2 days.


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Knoebels is a Central Pennsylvania park that's small, but beloved by enthusiasts for its old school traditional feel. This winter, the park removed the ironically-named High Speed Thrill Coaster. I skipped the coaster when I was at the park, but from the looks of it, it wouldn't be a high speed thrill for my two year old. I know that parks need kiddie and family attractions, I just think this ride's name couldn't have been more ironic.
Also, Knoebels recently confirmed their purchase of the Golden Nugget mine ride from the seaside South Jersey amusement park Morey's Piers. The ride's been described as a nostalgic and iconic New Jersey attraction. It's been such a prominent ride over its 34 years of operation that Morey's Piers is having a Farewell Ceremony this Saturday, January 31st.
Knoebels has an outstanding collection of classic rides and roller coasters so the Golden Nugget will have a perfect new home in Elysburg, PA. Amusement Today has more on the Golden Nugget. Also, for more Knoebels, check out my Phoenix, Twister, & Haunted Mansion reviews.
Also, check out this video of the High Speed Thrill Coaster in action:
What's Your Take?
Will you miss the High Speed Thrill Coaster? Have you ridden the Golden Nugget? Leave a comment below. Image courtesy of CoasterImage.


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One day as I was sitting at my desk networking (aka Facebook-ing), I saw a strange car with a candy paintjob and wire wheels pop into my newsfeed asking for people to vote for it. Upon further review, I saw that the car was a 1966 Corvair. The '66 Corvairs were part of the second generation of GM's Z-body Corvairs. The main distinguishing feature of these cars was the rear engine design; General Motors' response to the growing popularity of imported compacts such as the Volkswagen Beetle. The Corvette Stingray was a great influence in the dramatic redesigns of the Corvairs, which were promised to deliver both style and function for the working-class hero. The '66 models were produced in four production plants, including one in Bienne, Switzerland ? which is three hours away from where our featured Corvair is from.
Up until stumbling onto this unique ride, I had never seen a Lowrider Corvair; let alone one from France. The car belongs to Romain Roulleau, of New Ride in Norges la Ville, France, and he was in a dead heat competition to be Meguiar's International Car Crazy Showcase winner for France. The grand prize for Meguiar's International Showcase was to have your car displayed at the Meguiar's booth during the 2012 SEMA show in Las Vegas, NV. Unfortunately for Romain, his one-of-a-kind show car fell to second place just minutes before voting ended and was not able to regain the lead again. His dream of bringing his Corvair to the states for the show had ended but luckily for Romain, another one of his dreams came true. "My father helped me discover Lowriders with early issues of Lowrider Magazine. I always wanted to build a Lowrider with an unusual car, and to have it featured in Lowrider Magazine is a real dream come true for me." Nice work, Romain!
Tech Specs
"Low Wild"
Owner: Romain Roulleau
Vehicle: 1966 Chevrolet Corvair Coupe Monza
City/State: Norges la Ville, France
Engine: Julien Pitault, from Pitault Garage in Dijon, France, worked on the stock 140″ engine. The engine was painted and chromed with custom ITG and exhaust. Cuinik, of Cuinik Chrome, in France, took care of all the chroming.
Body/Paint: Romain, from New Ride, shaved the body and suicide the doors before Djoce, of Mulhouse, France, painted the Corvair with a House of Kolors Maori wild paint. Tattoo by Tamo did the tribal murals on the Corvair.
Interior: Laurent, of Superb' Sellerie, in Auxerre, France, stitched together the Havana leather and added custom gauges and led lights.
Sound System: Romain, of New Ride in Norges Coast, France, installed the Pioneer head unit with three Vibe amps, Vibe crossover, Vibe speakers and Vibe subwoofers.
Setup: Hydraulics Showtime, from Germany, provided the two chrome pumps that were installed by New Ride.


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Mail: Southern statues symbolize suppession
Mail: Thanks for helping Aiden
More opinion
Fall: Good time to spray musk thistle in rosette stage
Robertson and Delsing re-elected chair, vice chair of NWB
More Ag News
The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Associations 2013 Railtown U.S.A. Collegiate Rodeo" is scheduled during Rail Fest, Sept. 20-21.
The rodeo will take place on Friday and Saturday nights and will hopefully provide an enjoyable evening of entertainment for those who may not have ever been close to a rodeo before.
After all, North Platte is the birthplace of American rodeo and since the Buffalo Bill Rodeo is such a world-class event, were planning to model the college rodeo after it, college spokesman Chuck Salestrom said.
Salestrom noted that the NIRA Great Plains Region awarded the collegiate rodeo competition to MPCC earlier this summer.
Twelve mens teams and nine womens collegiate rodeo teams from Nebraska, Iowa, South Dakota, North Dakota and Wisconsin compete in the Great Plains Region.
Salestrom said the college is appreciative of the Nebraskaland Days organization for their support of the rodeo.
This rodeo just wouldnt be possible without the help and support of the folks at Nebraskaland Days, he said. Among other things, they are allowing us use of the Wild West Arena free of charge and are also selling tickets for us though their office. Were extremely grateful for all they are doing to help.
Another organization that has stepped up to the plate is First National Bank of North Platte, Salestrom said.
Were excited and grateful to First National Bank for joining us in what is expected to be a great weekend of quality rodeo events, he said.
The rodeo will begin at 7 p.m. on both Friday and Saturday nights. General admission each night is $10 for adults and $7 for children.
Tickets are available at the Nebraskaland Days office, 509 E. 4th St. in North Platte, or online HERE.
There is also a link to purchase tickets on the MPCC website, at www.mpcc.edu.
Flatrock Publishing, Inc.
1300 E 4th St., Suite F
North Platte, NE 69101


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Prize Recipient
Josue Lopez
Rice University
Josue Lopez is currently a rising senior pursuing a B.S. in Physics at Rice University. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. His research interests include carbon-based nanomaterials (i.e. carbon nanotubes and graphene), photonics, and plasmonic nanostructures. Although he is very enthusiastic about physics and research now, in high school he never thought he was intelligent enough to be a physicist. He owes his success and enthusiasm for physics to the mentors and professors that have encouraged him throughout his undergraduate career. During his time at East Los Angeles College, Josue developed a deep passion for physics by pursuing summer research on carbon-based nanomaterials at both the California Institute of Technology and Northwestern University. This summer, he will return to the California Institute of Technology for a fourth summer to investigate superabsorbing nanostructures for the manipulation of light. Throughout his undergraduate career, he has been involved in several organizations that promote science and engineering by conducting outreach to underrepresented groups at both the university and high school level. Josue plans on pursuing a Ph.D. in Applied Physics and eventually combine his interests in research, teaching, and outreach by becoming a professor at a research university.


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LIVING IN SEQUENCE: Comic Book Art Exhibition to Open at Poe Park Visitor Center, 2/5
The New York City Department of Parks & Recreation has announced Living in Sequence, an exhibition of comic book artwork on view at the Poe Park Visitor Center in the Bronx. The exhibition was organized by the Bronx Heroes and will be on view February 5 - March 8, 2013.
This vibrant collection of Bronx artists pays homage to the strong ties between Poe Park and the history of comics. In 1939 Batman's creator's Bob Kane and Bill Finger conceived of the Caped Crusader while sitting in the Bronx's Poe Park, which houses Poe's white single-frame cottage. Artist Jerry Robinson soon joined the team, renting an apartment near Kane's Grand Concourse home. The collaboration produced additional familiar characters like Robin and the Joker. In time, Poe's stories would provide key storylines for some of Batman's adventures and in 2003 the superhero and Poe teamed up to solve mysteries in the comic miniseries Batman: Nevermore.
Living in Sequence features golden age and contemporary comic book artists from the Bronx-demonstrating that comic illustration is thriving in the borough. The artists in this exhibition include Shawn Atkinson, Chris Duckett, Trevor Von Eeden, Will Eisner, Ray Felix, Corey F. Godwell, Dmitry Gubin, Hal Foster, N. Steve Harris, Irwin Hasen, Jack Kirby, Carl Kent, Alitha E. Martinez, Regine Sawyer, Jerry Robinson, Vanessa Verduga and Roberto Williams.
Additional programming will accompany the exhibition that is free and open to the public.
Visit the Center on Saturday, February 16, 2013, 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm for Bronx Heroes Jr., a student workshop that introduces kids to Bronx Heroes Jr., an activity book in collaboration with Bronx Community Board 7. This workshop will include games, a live reading of the book, and coloring activities.
Saturday, February 23, 2013, 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm Bronx teens can participate in a drawing workshop. They will learn to draw from a live model sporting a variety of superhero costumes. Teens will get a hands-on lesson on the human anatomy, learn how to sketch dynamic clothing and draw in proportion.
On Friday, March 8, 2013, 1:00 pm - 4:00pm join Regine Sawyer at the Living In Sequence Women in Comics Panel as she interviews Alitha E. Martinez, Vanessa Verduga and Shawna Mills on comics, the industry, animation, film and being female entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. At conclusion of panel, director and actress Vanessa Verduga will show episodes one and two of Justice Woman, a comedy-drama series that pays homage to the campy superheroes of yesteryear.
If you miss Friday's lecture, visit the Center on Saturday, March 9, 2013, 1:00pm - 4:00 pm, for the second installment of the Living In Sequence Women in Comics Panel. Join Regine Sawyer as she interviews female entrepreneurs Jamila Rowser, Tara Nakashima Donahue and Rana Emerson on comics, animation, film and being in the entertainment industry.
Bronx Heroes provides the Bronx community with opportunities to meet emerging and professional artists and offers information about potential career opportunities that exist in the comic book and publishing industry. They foster new generations of readers through artist and writer workshops, and further the understanding and appreciation of graphic novels and comic book art.
Nestled between the Grand Concourse and Kingsbridge Road, Poe Park offers an oasis in the most densely-populated region of the Bronx. The park houses a small playground, a historic bandstand, and most notably the last home of one of the nation's most important literary figures-poet and author Edgar Allan Poe. The cottage was recently restored in 2011 by the Bronx County Historical Society and the Historic House Trust. The latest addition to this historic park is the Poe Park Visitor Center, a 5,400-square-foot structure that includes a gathering space for community uses, display areas, and public bathrooms. The striking one-story building, designed by Toshiko Mori, inaugurated Mayor Bloomberg's Design and Construction Excellence Initiative and is the recipient of a Public Design Commission Special Recognition Award.
The Poe Park Visitor Center hosts public programs supportive of Parks' mission, with particular emphasis on the arts. Types of activities that are encouraged include artist workshops, readings, film screenings, temporary exhibits, lectures and community planning.
The Poe Park Visitor Center is located at 2640 Grand Concourse in the Bronx. It is open Tuesday through Saturday from 8:00 am - 4:00 pm. An artist reception will take place on Saturday, February 9, 2013 from 1:00pm-4:00pm.
Photo Credit: Batgirl, Alitha E. Martinez, pencil, courtesy of the artist


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Correa makes his mark in Major League camp
KISSIMMEE, Fla. -- Minor League shortstop Carlos Correa, MLB.com's No. 2-ranked Astros player, has made such a positive impression in his first Spring Training that Astros general manager Jeff Luhnow said he expects him to spend most of the season with Class A Quad Cities of the Midwest League.
Correa, last year's No. 1 overall Draft pick, is in Minor League camp, but he appeared in a Grapefruit League game Saturday in Viera, Fla., and went 1-for-2 with an RBI single, a run scored and a stolen base. The 18-year-old carries himself with the poise of polished pro.
Luhnow said Correa could begin the year at extended spring training, but will wind up in Quad Cities soon. Last year, Correa hit .232 with two homers and nine RBIs in 39 games with the Gulf Coast League Astros before hitting .371 in 11 games at Greeneville.
"A lot of players I've had experience with that have moved quickly, that first full season, especially if you're a high school player in low A, it's a very good, challenging place to start," Luhnow said.
Quad Cities, which is in Davenport, Iowa, is in its first year as an Astros affiliate, but it was associated with the Cardinals when Luhnow was in charge of St. Louis' farm system. He said he's sent players there to start the season when snow's been on the ground, which isn't ideal.
"We'll have to weigh that part of it," Luhnow said. "He's certainly making a case for maybe even a level higher. We're going to take the conservative approach with him."
Luhnow said he was impressed by how Correa, first baseman Jonathan Singleton -- the club's top prospect -- and right fielder Domingo Santana went about their business when they suited up with the Astros on Saturday.
"They all three looked like they fit in right out of the gate, and that's amazing," Luhnow said. "Obviously, a Spring Training game is very different than a big league game, but it was under the lights and it was against some pretty good pitching and it was a close game. I think Astros fans should be very excited about what was there."
Brian McTaggart is a reporter for MLB.com and writes an MLBlog, Tag's Lines. Follow @brianmctaggart on Twitter. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.


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Gluten Free Diet in People With Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study
- Full Text View
- Tabular View
- No Study Results Posted
- Disclaimer
- How to Read a Study Record
Background: Celiac disease is an immune-mediated reaction to gluten, presenting with diarrhea, weight loss, abdominal complaints and a range of less common associated neurologic and psychiatric symptoms. Evidence of a link between schizophrenia and celiac disease dates back to 1961. Recent evidence shows that 5.5% (age adjusted) of persons with schizophrenia participating in the Clinical Antipsychotic Trials of Intervention Effectiveness (CATIE) study had a level of antibodies to tTG that is consistent with a diagnosis of celiac disease (compared to 1.1% of the comparison sample). An unexpected finding was that 23.4% (age adjusted) of the CATIE sample had antibodies to gliadin (compared to 2.9% of the comparison sample). It is hypothesized that a gluten free diet in people with schizophrenia who have Celiac disease or gluten sensitivity will have improvement in symptoms and quality of life.
Objectives: The aim of this proposed pilot study is to establish the feasibility of a initiating and maintaining a Gluten-free diet in these two groups. For this study The investigators will identify 8 individuals who have positive assays to tTG antibodies and confirmed celiac disease (N=4), or positive assays for anti-gliadin antibodies (N=4). The investigators plan to consent at least 2 subjects from each group and ask them to participate in a two-week open label treatment of a gluten free diet. The groups are;
- Celiac disease (positive tTG antibody); and
- Positive assay on Antigliadin antibodies
|Gluten Sensitivity Celiac Disease
|Other: Gluten Free Diet
|Study Type:
|Study Design:
|Intervention Model: Single Group Assignment
Masking: None (Open Label)
Primary Purpose: Treatment
|Official Title:
|Gluten Free Diet in People With Schizophrenia: A Pilot Study
- Change in symptoms from baseline to end of study [ Time Frame: Baseline and 2 Weeks ]
|Study Start Date:
|June 2008
|Study Completion Date:
|January 2014
|Primary Completion Date:
|January 2014 (Final data collection date for primary outcome measure)
|Assigned Interventions
|Experimental: Gluten Free Diet
Other: Gluten Free Diet
Participants will be given a Gluten Free Diet for 2 weeks
|Ages Eligible for Study:
|18 Years to 55 Years (Adult)
|Sexes Eligible for Study:
|Accepts Healthy Volunteers:
Inclusion Criteria:
- Subjects will be of either gender and of any race, with an age range of 18 55.
- Subjects will meet DSM-IV (APA, 1994) criteria for either schizophrenia or schizoaffective disorder. A best estimate diagnostic approach will be utilized in which information from the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV (First et al, 1997) is supplemented by information from family informants, previous psychiatrists, and medical records to generate a diagnosis.
- Subjects will be required to have celiac disease (positive tTG antibody) or have gluten sensitivity (positive or AGA antibodies).
- Must be clinically stable and on the same antipsychotic for at least two months with an unchanged dose for the prior four weeks.
- Participants must complete the Evaluation to Sign Consent with a score of 10/12 or higher.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Pregnant or lactating women will be excluded. Pregnancy will be determined by pregnancy test. Lactating will be determined by participant report.
Please refer to this study by its ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT01558557
|United States, Maryland
|Maryland Psychiatric Research Center
|Catonsville, Maryland, United States, 21228
|Principal Investigator:
|Deanna L Kelly, Pharm.D., BCPP
|Principal Investigator
|Responsible Party:
|MPRC, Deanna L. Kelly, Pharm.D., BCPP, University of Maryland
|ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier:
|NCT01558557 History of Changes
|Other Study ID Numbers:
|Study First Received:
|March 15, 2012
|Last Updated:
|January 27, 2014
Additional relevant MeSH terms:
Celiac Disease
Schizophrenia Spectrum and Other Psychotic Disorders
Mental Disorders
Malabsorption Syndromes
Intestinal Diseases
Gastrointestinal Diseases
Digestive System Diseases
Metabolic Diseases
ClinicalTrials.gov processed this record on September 21, 2017


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The News Leader is debuting a newly redesigned website.
Combined with a new look and features, allows readers to actively view and engage in conversation along with reading local news.
Publisher David Dix said the new will allow visitors to read, search and interact with the News Leader's digital content.
We are excited to have our new website launch, Dix said. I think our readers will find our newly re-designed website a lot easier to navigate and browse for content.
The new search function allows visitors to easily search for past content. The new five-story carousel allows display the days top stories in a visually-appealing way.
Because of the website redesign, registered users who do not receive daily headline or breaking news emails must re-register to leave comments on the website.
A PDF version of the paper is now available to those readers who have a voluntary paid subscription to the News Leader.
To receive the PDF and give a voluntary subscription, call our Circulation Department at 330-673-6363.
To re-register, click on an article, scroll to the bottom of the article, and click Register. After filling out the information, you will be able to comment on articles again.


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Women like Jackie O., Brigitte Bardot, and Grace Kelly used to travel to Capri to have beautiful, handmade leather sandals tailored to their pretty little feet while they strolled around the island's shops. I had the same experience last week, without ever having to leave my own island paradise of Manhattan...
Tuccia Di Capri, a line of custom leather sandals, has just arrived at Henri Bendel here in New York City (they're already got a shop in Miami), and I was recently invited to design my own custom sandal at the store. Though I spend a good deal of time tottering around on four-inch heels (occupational hazard!), I'm a flats girl at heart, so I jumped at the chance. Here's how it went down:
First, I got to make a bunch of choices about how I wanted my sandals to look: Flat, medium wedge, high wedge. Then you choose the style: Jackie, Brigitte, Sophia, etc, all named after the well-heeled women who used to have their shoes made in Capri. And finally, you choose whatever embellishments you want, from rhinestone buckles to mother-of-pearl flowers. I decided to go with flats, in the "Florencia" style, in gold leather with a little flower embellishment. Neutral, chic, and totally me.
Then the team from Tuccia Di Capri gets to work taking your measurements and deciding exactly how the shoe will be the most comfortable for you, including where the straps will go and how far between the toes the thong strap should fall. They spent four months in Capri doing nothing but learning the art of making sandals at the feet of a true master, Vincenzo Faiella, who passed on his craft (and his blessing), so these babies are about as authentic as they come.
Once the measurements are done, you busy yourself for 30 minutes in Bendel's (I could think of worse places to kill a half hour...), and then go pick up your completely customized shoe. Here are mine, all finished and made especially for me. What do you think?
Rumor has it flats are about to be big news again, so I think I got my new shoes at just the right moment. Check out all of the styles available from Tuccia Di Capri at their website (prices start at $110--they're fully customized and made from the finest Italian leathers, remember!), or head over to Henri Bendel to watch the chicest cobblers around in action. What do you girls think? Are you feeling flat sandals these days? Would you want a pair made just for you? And what do you think of my new shoes? Share!
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Stephen Strasburg is dealing with tightness in his right (pitching) forearm, Washington Nationals manager Davey Johnson said Monday night.
Strasburg was prescribed medication after being examined by a doctor following the Nats' 3-2 loss to the Braves in Atlanta. Strasburg pitched six innings but looked uncomfortable at times on the mound.
Johnson said it was too early to tell whether Strasburg would make his next scheduled start, but Strasburg told reporters he would not skip a turn.
"I'm not missing my next start," he said. "I'll tell you that right now."
Strasburg threw 93 pitches (53 strikes) Monday and allowed two runs on six hits. He walked four and struck out eight. Johnson said Strasburg "didn't look right" to him and "was shaking his elbow more frequently," which is often a sign of discomfort or pain.
"His command was way off, so I knew something was off," Johnson said.
Strasburg insisted he "felt good" physically but struggled with his control.
Asked why he was shaking his arm, he said, "You just try to stay loose."
The 24-year-old right-hander underwent Tommy John surgery on his right elbow in 2010 and missed most of the 2011 season. The Nationals chose to shut him down last September after 159 1/3 innings. He was unavailable for the playoffs, which became a sore spot for Strasburg, some Nats players and many fans, especially after the team was eliminated in the NLDS.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


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Would one of ya'll non drinkers have a problem dropping ol' UGLI off at home after the festivities? I will make it worth your while
I'ma try and get a ride to Chris L's for the nugget/beer/bedazzle party, which will render me carless for the eve.
The only reason I'm doing this is cuz I hate getting DUI's on my birthday.


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If the resolve to stick to your New Year diet is already crumbling, Gastric Mind Band therapy could be the answer, say hypnotherapists Martin and Marion Shirran. They explain how the technique helps re-establish a normal relationship with food through using a 'mental pause button'.
By Lisa Salmon
The key to losing weight is simple, right? Consume fewer calories - or burn more calories than you consume.
Sounds easy on paper but, as anyone who's ever struggled with their weight will agree, in reality it's not quite that straightforward! Especially when things like cravings, force of habit and emotional eating come into play...
And this is the thinking behind Gastric Mind Band (GMB), a weight-loss approach which has been gaining popularity over the past couple of years.
Rather than a real gastric band around your stomach, or indeed your mind, GMB is a therapy which aims to help people re-establish normal eating patterns, through techniques including self-hypnosis and cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT).
Devised by husband-and-wife hypnotherapists team Martin and Marion Shirran, who've also written a Gastric Mind Band book, it eschews calorie-counting and food deprivation in favour of tactics such as a mental 'pause button', self-hypnosis and visualisation, and recognising the difference between hunger, craving and desire to change eating habits for life.
Marion, 45, explains: "The idea is to help people address their relationship with food and make positive changes.
"It's not a diet or a temporary quick fix, and there's no list of forbidden foods that people shouldn't eat ever again, because when you deprive people of a food it makes them desire it more.
"It's about being in control of what you're eating, and making sure you're eating for the right reasons - when you're hungry, rather than when you're bored, stressed, angry or emotional.
"It's a permanent solution, because once people have changed the way they think about food they can continue with it for the rest of their lives."
And the Shirrans haven't just devised a therapy without trying it themselves - Martin, 60, weighed 17st 11lbs before starting GMB, and now weighs 13st 5lbs.
Here's an outline of the key principles to GMB...
:: Mental pause buttons An important part of GMB therapy, mental 'pause buttons' are used to freeze time before people put 'dodgy food' in their mouths.
"It's to get people to stop and think about the consequences," explains Marion. "They stop for a few seconds and visualise themselves going ahead and eating the bar of chocolate or whatever, and then they fast-forward to a few minutes later and remind themselves how they'll feel if they give in to that craving. Then they come back to the present and see themselves in the alternative scenario of recognising that they don't need to eat that food, and fast-forwarding to how good they'll feel about themselves for having resisted the temptation."
:: Self-hypnosis The Shirrans stress that self-hypnosis, involving deep relaxation, visualisation, and reinforcement of the positive changes you're trying to make, is key.
It involves choosing up to three 'positive thoughts', like reminding yourself how bad you feel about overeating. Then self-hypnosis is achieved by slowly counting down, deep-breathing, releasing muscle tension and picturing yourself in a place where you feel at ease, like a beach or in the countryside.
Once deeply relaxed, you envisage your 'positive thoughts' as they'd be in a year's time if you don't change your eating habits, and also as they'd be if you did make positive changes. Finally, there's a new set of 'positive thoughts', with the long-term rewards of being slim and healthy outweighing the instant gratification from bad eating habits.
:: Low frustration tolerance The Shirrans say they want to encourage people to identify the 'dodgy food choices' they make, pointing out that people who have 'Low Frustration Tolerance' (LFT) to a particular item, be that food, cigarettes, alcohol or gambling, will experience cravings which they respond to immediately.
People need to recognise their personal LFT triggers, and understand that stress and boredom can play a part. Once identified, the aim is to use the 'pause button' to exercise control over the craving.
"People have an instant knee-jerk reaction to cravings for certain foods, but all they need to do is pause and walk away and resist, and it'll turn into a passing thought," promises Marion.
:: Hunger, desire or craving?
Also important is the need to understand the difference between hunger, desire and craving.
Hunger is a real physical sensation that can only be experienced if you haven't eaten for a few hours, whereas desire is just wanting to eat something because you like the look of it. Craving is usually for something specific, like chocolate or cake.
When you want something to eat, use the 'pause button' and ask yourself if you really are hungry, or is it a craving or desire? A craving or desire should pass quickly after using your 'pause button', and true hunger can be satisfied by making a sensible and healthy food choice.
:: What's your motivation?
As well as the obvious - looking better and feeling healthier - there may be other, deeper, motivations to weight loss, such as wanting to buy things from a 'normal' clothes shop, or being a better role model for your children.
The Shirrans suggest such driving forces are written down somewhere that can be accessed easily, so if you're ever tempted to eat something you don't need, you can read your motivational list and remind yourself of why it's best to avoid the food.
"It's like making a commitment - almost a legally-binding document with yourself. It really works," says Marion.
:: Mindful eating To get the most out of food, the Shirrans recommend people eat slowly, and enjoy the taste, texture, smell and appearance of what they're eating. And they insist that eating healthy food slowly tastes a lot better than eating unhealthy food slowly.
"It doesn't mean you have to eat healthily 100% of the time - nobody's perfect," says Marion. "It's about getting the balance right and enjoying everything in moderation."
:: It worked for me Katie Drew, 32, started GMB when she weighed 16st 11lb. She now weighs 9st 9lb, having lost 7st 2lb in less than a year.
Drew had tried a number of diets in the past, but either didn't lose much or lost weight then piled it all back on.
"I really wanted to try something sustainable, addressing bad eating habits, rather than providing a short-term 'sticking plaster' approach. That hasn't worked for me before," she says.
She lost almost 2st after four weeks of GMB, and then shed an average 1.5lbs a week before reaching her target.
"It was really easy - no willpower was needed at all," Drew says. "You can eat whatever food you like - as long as you're eating when you're hungry and stop when you're full. You don't feel deprived and you definitely don't feel like you've broken a diet."
She says using the 'pause button' helped her most, as it enabled her to recognise when she was about to make a bad decision and consider the consequences.
"I feel a lot more in control now. The process taught me to identify areas where I had a 'Low Frustration Tolerance' - where I was being irrational. I then used the 'pause button' to stop and consider the consequences of my actions. I realise exactly why I was overweight now - my mind was overruling signs of feeling full.
"The impact on my health has been a real positive incentive - and it's a great feeling to be able to shop in 'normal' clothes shops too."
:: Gastric Mind Band by Martin and Marion Shirran is published by Hay House, priced £12.99. Available now


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Gentle Giant reveals a very special San Diego Comic-Con exclusive: a Stan Lee Limited Edition Package. Not only does this set get you a sculpted bust of Marvel extraordinaire Stan "The Man" Lee, but it also allows you the opportunity to meet the legend in person and have an 8" x 10" photo of him signed.
Available for pre-order through framemycomic.com for pick-up at the show (booth #3513), the $300 limited editionpackaged includes:
• 1 ticket to Stan Lee signing in Gentle Giant booth
• One Stan Lee bust from a limited edition of 200 (includes Certificate of Authenticity)
• Limited edition custom t-shirt, only 200 made
• One comic book: one of 3 Stan Lee Titles with Boom: Soldier Zero, Starborn or The Traveler (a few lucky ones will get a variant cover)
• Gentle Giant Gift Certificate code, valued from $10-$100
• 8x10 color picture of Stan Lee
• VIP access to Stan Lee Gentle Giant Signing with custom Stan Lee SDCC lanyard


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Facebook grows up
Facebook's results last night painted a somewhat mixed picture - advertising revenues growing, with mobile really taking off, but profits lower than analysts had forecast.
One thing was, however, clear. This company is growing in all sorts of ways, and with that comes growing pains.
After all those anecdotal reports that "none of my friends use it anymore", and various research firms hinting at falling user figures, the hard numbers say Facebook is still expanding. Monthly active users rose to 1.1 billion, meaning 100 million new users had arrived in the last six months.
Now many of them will be in developing countries - after all so many people have already joined in places like the US and UK that Facebook is reaching saturation point. But the company insists, that contrary to reports, it is still growing in both of those countries.
In the UK, user numbers hit 33 million in December, and I'm told there has been a modest increase since then. In the US, there has also been a rise from December's 174 million monthly users, though it looks like the growth story there is nearing its end.
There has been a decline in use of the network on the desktop but that was more than made up for by the growth in mobile use, where advertising returns have proved higher. And that rapid transformation of the firm into a mobile advertising business will be the most encouraging aspect of the figures for anyone who was brave enough to buy Facebook shares at their sky-high IPO valuation last year.
Mind you, there's growth too in the cost of running the business, as more staff are taken on. The UK operation is among those expanding rapidly, as I found out this week when I met the engineer in charge of one of the firm's most important ventures, Graph Search.
Lars Rasmussen has moved to London to head up an expanded engineering operation, and he is in the process of recruiting another couple of dozen people to work mainly on the search project. (How easy that process proves will be an interesting test of the computer science skills available in the UK.)
Each of the recruits will then spend four to six weeks at a boot camp in California, learning how Facebook writes code and attending lectures by its top executives.
That sounds like an expensive process and a contrast to the early days of a business where Mark Zuckerberg just called up a few friends for all-night coding sessions fuelled by pizza.
But if the London team can then help take Graph Search to the next stage, where users will be able to comb the network's newsfeed for all kinds of information, then it will have been a worthwhile investment. So far, Facebook's limited search bar has not done anything to worry its rivals. But if it becomes a conduit to breaking news, then the likes of Twitter may have to sit up and take notice.
Like an awkward teenager, however, Facebook is finding that growing up can be painful. Yesterday's story about its refusal to remove horrifying decapitation videos, followed by a rapid U-turn, is a case in point.
Like so many other web giants, Facebook just wants to be seen as a technology platform enabling its users to do all sorts of cool stuff without any interference. But it has grown into a massive media player, where more than a billion people - many of them under 18 - come in search of entertainment.
That means a constant spotlight is being shone on the firm's policies, with parents and regulators increasingly worried about an environment where young people now spend so much time. Welcome to adulthood, Mr Zuckerberg.


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WCUCOM Holds Human Body Fair at Oak Grove Primary
Hattiesburg, Miss., April 14, 2014 - Faculty and students from the year William Carey University College of Osteopathic Medicine (WCUCOM) conducted a Human Body Fair for with kindergarten students on April 8 at Oak Grove Primary School. The fair consisted of hands-on teaching experiences with the children to teach them about how their senses work and how to keep themselves healthy.
There were three centers set up for the project. One was "The Connection between Taste and Smell" center, which helped children answer the question, "Why does my food taste funny when I have a cold?" child tasted a jelly bean with their noses held and then guessed the flavor. Then they tasted the same flavor again without holding their nose and discussed if it taste different.
The second center was the "Glitter Germs" center. The group leaders placed a clear gel hand sanitizer and a small amount of loose glitter on their palms and then shook hands with two children in the group. The children were told to shake hands with others in the group until the "germs" had been spread to everyone, showing how easily germs are spread. Afterwards, the leaders took the children to the sinks and demonstrated to them how to properly wash their hands.
The third center was the "How Hearing Works" center. The children closed their eyes while the leader made different noises with tambourines, bells, rustling bags, and other noisemakers, telling them to guess what each sound was. The leader then explained how sound travels through the ear and eventually to the brain for interpretation. The children also learned about how sounds are associated with memory.
Faculty and students from the year WCUCOM will hold another Human Body Fair, with first-graders at Oak Grove Primary as the participants, on April 16.
For more information on this program, contact Dr. Jessica Taylor, assistant professor of physiology for the WCUCOM, at (601) 318 – 6019 or firstname.lastname@example.com.


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Get Ready for the Next Stage of the Free-To-Play MMO's Release...
Independent games studio Jagex today announced the launch of its all new Transformers Universe website in preparation for the next stage of the free-to-play MMOs release.
As well as featuring an entire redesign, the addition of forums and a news feed for all things Transformers Universe, the website will be the new and improved hub for the games BETA when it goes live in early 2013.
Tim Hodges, Transformers Universe Brand Director commented We are delighted to be entering the next phase of our launch plans for Transformers Universe and we hope that players enjoy using this new hub for all the latest Transformer Universe news and information. Were getting closer to unleashing Transformers Universe into browsers so stay tuned for more information and be sure to visit the site and sign up for BETA today.
The new website and BETA registration can be found here: TransformersUniverse.com
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