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Saturday, September 1, 2012
Friday, August 31, 2012
Studying everyday eye movements could aid in diagnosis of neurological disorders
ScienceDaily (Aug. 30, 2012) ? Researchers at USC have devised a method for detecting certain neurological disorders through the study of eye movements.
In a study published August 30 in the Journal of Neurology, researchers claim that because Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) and Parkinson's Disease each involve ocular control and attention dysfunctions, they can be easily identified through an evaluation of how patients move their eyes while they watch television.
"Natural attention and eye movement behavior -- like a drop of saliva -- contains a biometric signature of an individual and her/his state of brain function or dysfunction," the article states. "Such individual signatures, and especially potential biomarkers of particular neurological disorders which they may contain, however, have not yet been successfully decoded."
Typical methods of detection -- clinical evaluation, structured behavioral tasks and neuroimaging -- are costly, labor-intensive and limited by a patient's ability to understand and comply with instructions.
To solve this problem, doctoral student Po-He Tseng and Professor Laurent Itti of the Department of Computer Science at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, along with collaborators at Queen's University in Canada, have devised a new screening method.
Participants in the study were simply instructed to "watch and enjoy" television clips for 20 minutes while their eye movements were recorded. Eye-tracking data was then combined with normative eye-tracking data and a computational model of visual attention to extract 224 quantitative features, allowing the team to use new machine-learning techniques to identify critical features that differentiated patients from control subjects.
With eye movement data from 108 subjects, the team was able to identify older adults with Parkinson's Disease with 89.6 percent accuracy, and children with either ADHD or FASD with 77.3 percent accuracy.
Providing new insights into which aspects of attention and gaze control are affected by specific disorders, the team's method provides considerable promise as an easily deployed, low-cost, high-throughput screening tool, especially for young children and elderly populations who may be less compliant to traditional tests.
"For the first time, we can actually decode a person's neurological state from their everyday behavior, without having to subject them to difficult or time-consuming tests," Itti said.
Funding for the research came from the National Science Foundation, the Army Research Office, the Human Frontier Science Program and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of Southern California. The original article was written by Katie Dunham.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
- Po-He Tseng, Ian G. M. Cameron, Giovanna Pari, James N. Reynolds, Douglas P. Munoz, Laurent Itti. High-throughput classification of clinical populations from natural viewing eye movements. Journal of Neurology, 2012; DOI: 10.1007/s00415-012-6631-2
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
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AMISOM TROOPS KILL 42 AL-SHABAAB FIGHTERS IN SOMALIA..23 AK47 RIFLES, RPGs SEIZED
Kenya Army trucks and OTT Puma M26 MRAPs
NAIROBI, Aug. 29
(Xinhua)
Troops of the African Union Misson in Somalia (AMISOM) who are battling in Somalia on Wednesday killed 42 Al-Shabaab militants while scores escaped with multiple injuries as military operation to flush out insurgents intensifies in the Horn of Africa nation.
Kenya Defence Forces (KDF) spokesman Major Emmanuel Chirchir said the battle which took place in Aglibah area near Beles Qooqani in southern Somalia early on Wednesday saw AMISOM forces recover 23 AK 47 rifles, six rocket propelled grenades, 428 rounds of ammunition and other assorted weapons.
?AMISOM forces together with TFG soldiers in sector two conducted a raid at an Al-Shabaab stronghold base in Aglibah area near Beles Qooqani on Aug. 29. The raid neutralized 42 Al-Shabaab militias with scores of others escaping with multiple injuries,? Chirchir said in a statement released in Nairobi. Chirchir said four Al-Shabaab technical vehicles, one water bowser, one lorry and logistic supplies were destroyed as the war against al Qaida-allied terror group continues in the Horn of African nation.
?One TFG soldier sustained minor injuries and was flown to Dobley for medical attention. The joint forces have since occupied the area and are carrying out pacification operations,? Chirchir said. The development comes as the military has stepped up security along the common border with Somalia as the AU forces extend their major onslaught on the insurgents blamed for bomb and
grenade attacks in Kenya?s territory.
The Kenyan forces currently under the command of AMISOM are dealing with specific targets against the Al-Shabaab, but security has been stepped on the Kenyan side of the border. Al-Shabaab has vowed reprisal attacks in the country, mainly targeting security forces in border towns of northern Kenya where dozens of people have been killed in landmine and grenade attacks blamed on the militant group.
Al-Shabaab has said it views the presence of Kenyan troops in southern Somalia as an act of war. The group which has teamed up with global terror network al Qaida is now vowing an all-out war in Kenya, in protest against the military incursion ?against our brothers in Somalia.?
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BEEG EAGLE -perspectives of an opinionated Nigerian male with a keen interest in Geopolitics, Defence and Strategic StudiesSource: http://beegeagle.wordpress.com/2012/08/30/amisom-troops-kill-42-al-shabaab-fighters-in-somalia/
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Choosing the Right Remodeler? Consider Your New-Home Builder ...
For room additions and major renovations that require structural work and a significant amount of new construction, professional home builders are already equipped to deliver a high level of quality and owner satisfaction.
Consider?large-scale projects are often very similar to our new-home building work. A room addition, for instance, is really not much different from a new home project, encompassing the full range of construction phases and materials from the foundation and structural frame through all of the exterior and interior finishes.
Because of our experience in building new homes, we are accustomed to delivering a high level of finish and are skilled at working closely with our clients to develop, refine, and execute a quality job. We?re also used to working under tight deadlines and budgets, giving us a perspective ? and skill set ? that few remodeling contractors can match.
Our new-home work often affords us greater leverage than a remodeling contractor to negotiate prices for materials and labor with our suppliers and trade partners. We enjoy long-term relationships with our team of trade partners and they know we?ll have more work for them down the road, whether it?s a new house or a large-scale remodeling project.
In addition to those cost-saving strategies, we value engineer every project. This process identifies and reduces unnecessary or redundant costs for materials and labor. Unlike a typical remodeling operation, we employ staff with the experience and expertise to recognize and rework your project early in the process. We also order materials as we need them, rather than all at once, which can cut down on theft, damage and eliminate the need to reorder.
Finally, professional homebuilding companies like ours typically utilize more sophisticated and reliable business practices than an average remodeling contractor. And, because of our new-home work, we usually have a greater pool of financial resources that keep headaches and cost overruns in check.
Those combined savings help us to ensure that we meet your budget or align your project with a budget that you can afford. In some cases, the money we save through negotiation, value engineering, and a streamlined operation may allow us to expand your project or upgrade the level of finish.
No doubt, there are some great remodeling contractors out there. But for large-scale room additions and major home renovations, consider the skills a professional builder brings to the table.
Warm regards,
Todd Allen Miller, AIA
QMA Design+Build, LLC
5000 Boardwalk, Suite 2
Ventnor, NJ 08406
NJ New Home Builder License #037561
NJ Home Improvement Contractor #13VH01107300
(609) 822-4949 ? phone
(609) 822-4429 ? fax
todd@QMAdesignbuild.com
www.QMAdesignbuild.com
c. 2010 All rights reserved.
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Myth Busted: Does the Blue Moon Make Us Crazy?
With two full moons in August, the month would seem ripe for lunacy. But the idea that the moon contributes to madness is, fortunately, a myth.
Friday, Aug. 31 will feature a blue moon, the second full moon of the month, an event that happens every 2.7 years, on average. (The next blue moon won't occur until 2015.) This double full moon might seem like good reason to stay indoors, given that the full moon has been linked to odd behavior in legends both old (werewolves, anyone?) and new (cops and emergency room staff have been known to blame the full moon for wild nights). In fact, scientists have looked into the connection between lunacy and the moon, and they've found very little evidence to back it up.
Take, for example, emergency room visits. In 1996, researchers examined the history of more than 150,000 emergency room visits to a suburban hospital. They found no difference between full-moon nights and every other night of the month, they reported in the American Journal of Emergency Medicine. Other studies have tried and failed to find a link between the full moon and psychiatric emergency visits, epilepsy seizures and surgery outcomes. [Gallery: The Fantastic Full Moon]
Most likely, the urban legends that spring up about illness, madness and the moon are examples of what psychologists call confirmation bias ? the very human tendency to remember information selectively. If you're an emergency room nurse having a busy night and you happen to notice that the moon is full, you're more likely to remember the link than on a busy night when the moon is waxing or waning.
So if humans aren't affected, how about animals? A 2007 study in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association did find that more cats and dogs arrive at the veterinary emergency room at Colorado State University on full-moon nights. Cats had a 23 percent greater chance of requiring an emergency vet visit under a full moon than during other moon phases, while dogs had a 28 percent greater chance. The researchers couldn't say why the link existed, though it's possible that the full moon's brightness means more people are out and about with their pets on those evenings, increasing the risk of injury.
Other animal studies have been similarly confounding. A study published in the British Medical Journal in December 2000 found that one emergency room in Great Britain saw more animal bites on or around full-moon nights, but a study in the same issue of the journal that focused on Australia found no such link. Perhaps the werewolves of London haven't made it to Sydney.
Follow Stephanie Pappas on Twitter @sipappas or LiveScience @livescience. We're also on Facebook & Google+.
Copyright 2012 LiveScience, a TechMediaNetwork company. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.Source: http://news.yahoo.com/myth-busted-does-blue-moon-us-crazy-192444799.html
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Thursday, August 30, 2012
Texas high school to open $60M football stadium
Allen (Texas) High has opened a new $60 million, 18,000-seat football stadium.
AP
ALLEN, Texas (AP) -- Call it the palace of high school football: A gleaming $60 million facility with seats for 18,000 roaring fans, a 38-foot-wide high-definition video screen, corporate sponsors and a towering upper deck.
Welcome to the new home of Eagles Football.
As school districts across the country struggle to retain teachers, replace outdated textbooks and keep class sizes from ballooning, the wealthy, burgeoning Dallas suburb of Allen is preparing to christen its new stadium with a sold-out Friday night matchup against defending state champions Southlake Carroll.
It's not the biggest high school stadium in football-mad Texas, but Eagle Stadium is the grandest, with a spacious weight room for the players and practice areas for Allen High School's wrestling and golf teams. The school district decided to build it in a down economy, knowing full well it will never recoup the costs.
It's a decision that local officials and team supporters defend, saying the stadium will serve as a community centerpiece and source of pride for years to come and will more than pay the costs of operating it.
"There will be kids that come through here that will be able to play on a field that only a few people will ever get the chance to play in," said Wes Bishop, the father of a junior linebacker on the team and head of the local booster club.
For longtime Allen fans, it's a giant step forward from a facility that district spokesman Tim Carroll called "inadequate in almost every way."
The old building opened in 1976, when Allen had fewer than 8,000 residents, with 7,000 permanent seats, one concession stand and one set of bathrooms. As the town grew to its current population of 87,000, the school had to add portable toilets and rent temporary bleachers, which added 7,000 seats at a cost of $250,000 a year, Carroll said.
Today, the high school has 4,000 students enrolled and a 700-member band that's among the biggest in the country. Collin County, which includes Allen and other Dallas suburbs, is one of the wealthiest areas of Texas - and home to some of the state's top football teams.
About 63 percent of voters supported a $119 million bond package in 2009. Construction on the stadium began a year later. District officials went with more expensive concrete seating over all-aluminum benches, adding perhaps $4 million more to the cost, according to officials. But they said they expected this stadium to last decades.
"Our intention is not to recoup the money it cost to build the stadium," Carroll said. "It's not practical to say we'll get that money back. (But) the revenue we receive from the stadium will far exceed the cost of operating it."
While the district did not have estimates, Carroll said he expects the stadium to be competitive in hosting high school playoff games and other events. The school has also sold six sponsorships for about $35,000 a year, he said.
The new stadium revives an old argument in Texas about whether communities and their schools have their priorities straight.
In 1982, when the West Texas city of Odessa built a 19,000-seat stadium for a then-unheard-of $5.6 million, it drew scorn from some people who questioned the district's priorities. Odessa would be featured a few years later in the book "Friday Night Lights," a national best-seller that inspired a movie and a TV series.
Ross Perot, the billionaire businessman and former presidential candidate, repeatedly took aim at his home state's football culture as he pushed the state to shed extracurricular activities and increase accountability measures.
"Do we want our kids to win on Friday night on the football field or do we want them to win all through their lives?" Perot said in a 1988 Washington Post column. "That's what we have to start asking ourselves."
Today, neighboring Plano High School's stadium seats more than 14,000 people. Mesquite, about 30 miles away from Allen, has a 20,000-seat stadium. And the Berry Center, a suburban Houston facility with a stadium, an arena and theater, opened in 2006 and cost about $84 million.
"In a couple of years, someone's going to do something that's bigger and bigger," said Robert McSpadden, who runs the high school football site TexasBob.com.
Officials in Allen reject the premise that they're focusing on sports over academics. The bonds approved three years ago also funded a new performing arts center, and Carroll said extra revenue from stadium operations will go into the district general fund. Allen's student test scores are also largely stellar.
But for now, Eagle Stadium is gaining wide notoriety. The No. 8-ranked Eagles' Friday game against Southlake Carroll, which won a state championship last year and is ranked No. 1 in The Associated Press' Class 5A preseason poll this season, sold out in just over a day. More than 2,000 people are expected to watch from standing-room areas.
Bishop's son Zack, a linebacker, said he and his teammates already noticed differences: a more spacious weight room, a softer playing field.
"It's going to be really incredible to step out in front of a full house and a sold-out game," he said.
Chris Wallace, whose oldest son is a senior quarterback, said she had to reassure him when they visited smaller colleges over the summer with older facilities.
"In his mind, this is it," she said. "He can't even believe it's here already."
And there's always room for growth.
Fred Montes, one of the architects of what he called "an incredible project," said the district's master plan left open the possibility for more construction, if needed.
"The end zone that has seats currently can be expanded," he said. "And on the visitors' side, you can always put a deck."
Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Two Years Post-Acquisition, Ngmoco Axes Bulk Of Staff At iOS Game Studio Freeverse
Mobile gaming outfit Ngmoco has swung the ax on Freeverse, the Mac and iOS game development studio it acquired back in February 2010. Today Ngmoco, which is now owned by Japanese mobile gaming giant DeNA, laid off the bulk of Freeverse's staff, possibly as part of a move to close the studio -- a move that one tipster tells us staffers at the 18-year-old Freeverse "did not see coming." The layoffs come just one week after the departures of Freeverse's co-founders, brothers Ian and Colin Lynch Smith. When contacted for comment, an Ngmoco rep sent the following statement attributed to VP of Studios Clive Downey:Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Techcrunch/~3/woMpKpmgkQU/
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