Photographer of the Year 2006
Via........
Posted by: Gina Read more Source
                  |
 Net World Directory Your personal directory for the internet | ||
| Net World Directory: Archives of media blog |
 | ||
Archives Of Media Blog From NetworlddirectorySubscribe To Media Blog RSS Feed 
Via........ Posted by: Gina Read more Source The Living Weapon
Photo: Donna Coveney
From 1943 to 1969, U.S. researchers worked with pathogens such as anthrax and tularemia, seeking to develop deadly bioweapons that experts say were meant for the mass slaughter of enemy civilians as well as enemy combatants. The time is now ripe for a re-examination of this program, say these experts, including Jeanne Guillemin, senior advisor in MIT's Security Studies Program and author of "Biological Weapons: From the Invention of State-Sponsored Programs to Contemporary Bioterrorism" (2005). Guillemin is among those featured in a PBS documentary on biological weapons, "American Experience: The Living Weapon," which airs Monday, Feb. 5, from 9 to 10 p.m. on WGBH 2. The documentary looks at the years of secret testing, animal experiments and top-level, closed-door meetings as American researchers attempted to turn some of the world's most potent germs into devastating weapons. First driven by fears that Nazi Gera number of was developing the bioweapons, then by Cold War agendas, U.S. military scientists raced to develop methods of dispersing lethal diseases in bombs and sprays. They even conducted open-air tests (with harmless bacteria) on major American cities to make sure the systems would work. The program was ended in 1969 by President Richard Nixon......... Posted by: Gina Read more Source What makes a good leader
In a series of studies, Daniel Ames, PhD, a professor at Columbia Business School, and Francis Flynn, PhD, a professor at Stanford Graduate School of Business, asked workers for their views of colleagues' leadership strengths and weaknesses. The most common strengths reported included conventional leadership traits like intelligence, self-discipline, and charisma. But the most common weaknesses reported revealed a surprising picture that was not just the reverse of strengths. Across several samples of leaders and potential leaders, Ames and Flynn observed that assertiveness was by far the most frequently-mentioned problem, sometimes more than charisma, intelligence, and self-discipline combined. One reason for this finding is that unlike charisma, which is commonly problematic only when it's lacking, potential leaders got assertiveness "wrong" in both directions. And in one of the studies examined, Ames and Flynn's research team coded nearly a thousand comments given by coworkers about colleagues' leadership behavior. The most common leadership adjective in the weakness comments was "assertive," twice as common as the runners-up such as "focused," "able," and "sure." Overall, more than half of the descriptions of weaknesses made clear references to assertiveness. Of these comments, 48 percent suggested too much assertiveness and the remainder described too little......... Posted by: Tom Read more Source Romantic Films Not Just For Women
Harris said his survey results are surprising and go against common stereotypes. "Everyone thinks that women like romantic movies and that they drag guys along to them," he said. "What was significant was that the guys also liked the movies, and that the choice to view a romantic movie was commonly made together as a couple, not just by the girl". Using a 7-point scale, Harris asked men and women to rate how much they liked a romantic movie they had just watched. He also asked them to rate how much they believed their date enjoyed the movie and how much they think men and women in general like romantic movies. Eventhough in the study both men and women generalized that men as a group wouldn't like a romantic movie, when men rated the romantic flick they had just seen, they gave it a 4.8 on Harris' scale. When women were asked to rate how much their dates liked the movie, they gave the same 4.8 rating. "We observed that women really do enjoy romantic movies," Harris said. "They rated how much they liked the movie at about 6 on the 7-point scale. However, we also observed that men liked the movies as well. They rated how much they liked the movie at about 4.8, which is higher than most people would have guessed"......... Posted by: Gina Read more Source Training Your Breathing Muscles To Improves Swimming
In this pioneering work, subjects who followed a resistance-breathing training protocol (breathing load) improved their respiratory muscle strength and their snorkel swimming time by 33 percent and underwater scuba swimming time by 66 percent, in comparison to their baseline values. Participants randomized to a similar protocol requiring high respiratory flow rates (endurance) improved their respiratory endurance and surface and underwater swimming times by 38 percent and 26 percent, respectively. The group randomized to a placebo training program, conducted with the same equipment and protocol, showed no significant improvement in respiratory or swimming performance. Results of the study, conducted in UB's Center for Research and Education in Special Environments (CRESE) appeared in the December online issue of the European Journal of Applied Physiology and will appear in printnext month. "Specific respiratory muscle training could allow divers in the military, civilian rescue services, commercial enterprises and sport to perform better underwater," said Claes E.G. Lundgren, M.D., Ph.D., professor of physiology and biophysics in the UB School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and the study's senior author......... Posted by: Jim Read more Source Portable Nano-Screen with IPod
Featuring a 640×480 display and integrated headphones, the Portable Nano-screen will bestow you with the 3D pictures and graphics and feel the impact of big screen. The Invisio Portable Nano-screen will be available by the middle of the year 2007 for a pricing of around $400. Viablog.wired ........ Posted by: Gina Read more Source Reserve Wine Preservation System
Wine preservation is one of those Holy Grail items in the restaurant business, and everyone has their own voodoo methods. It seems that every bar on the planet owns one of those Vacu Vin hand pumps, but they're just a stopgap measure. A hand vacuum is only going to help a bottle limp from one night to the next lunch; anything longer than that and you're out of luck. That's where Wine Innovations comes in with the ReServe. A compressed canister of argon gas is fitted to a valved stopper, and the inert gas forces out the damaging oxygen. By replacing the oxygen in the bottle the oxidation of the wine is slowed, and it lasts much longer before beginning the quick slide to vinegar. Come below the fold for my tests and results! There are a couple of steps to the method: Stock Options May Cost Shareholders Much Less
Tim Leung, a graduate student in operations research and financial engineering at Princeton University
Credit: Princeton University/School of Engineerin At the annual meeting of the American Mathematical Society, Leung demonstrated that, in one scenario, stock options were worth about half of what they would be valued if one were to calculate their worth using a conventional method. Nearly half of compensation for chief executives comes in the form of stock options. Out of concern that such options might be overly burdensome on shareholders, the U.S. Financial Accounting Standards Board since 2004 has mandatory firms to estimate and report their cost. One model usually used by firms to calculate the cost of options is known as the Black-Scholes model. But this model and others are not nearly as nuanced as they should be, especially in accounting for the psychology driving employees' behavior, as per Leung, a graduate student who collaborated with Associate Professor Ronnie Sircar. Leung and Sircar observed that other models don't take into account many important factors, including the following: • employees have to weigh the risk that their stock option might lose value; since most people are risk-averse, they tend to exercise their options very early, preferring to take a tiny gain rather risk losing any profit - even though it is more likely that their options will increase greatly in value down the road;......... Posted by: Tom Read more Source How to Swallow A Thermometer
Just as an engine overheats on a hot day, heat exhaustion -- or hyperthermia -- occurs when the body retains too much heat due to extreme environmental conditions or increased internal heat production. This is particularly dangerous among football players. Athletes may train when the heat index is above 100 degree F, all while wearing heavy pads that not only retain heat, but also increase their body weight. Heat exhaustion can turn to heatstroke, causing the body's heat-regulating mechanisms to falter and fail. Ultimately this can lead to brain damage, organ damage, and eventually death. Heatstroke is the third leading cause of death among athletes in the United States. Astronauts working in space face a similar threat. During activities such as spacewalks, astronauts may perform strenuous activity that causes a rapid rise in body temperature. A space suit is insulated against external temperature extremes because the side facing the sun can heat to 250 degree F, and the side facing deep space can plunge to -250 degree F. The danger of overheating comes from within as astronauts release body heat and humidity inside the suits, potentially causing heat illnesses......... Posted by: Jim Read more Source Age, Gender Major Factors In Severity Of Auto-accident Injuries
The new findings are especially important because the number of drivers 65 and older is expected to double by 2030 in the United States to 70 million, said Fred Mannering, a professor of civil engineering at Purdue University and the study's co-author. National statistics show that fatalities rose by 7 percent for drivers 75 and older from 1981 to 2000, remained steady for drivers from 65-74, but dropped for younger drivers. "It is reasonably well known that age and gender have an effect on the likelihood of an accident, but the influence that age and gender have on driver injuries once an accident has occurred is not well understood," Mannering said. The Purdue researchers found statistically significant differences in the severity of injuries suffered in accidents involving men and women drivers and drivers within three age groups: young drivers, 16-24; middle-aged drivers, 25-64; and older drivers, 65 and above. "Because the factors that affect how severely you are going to be injured vary depending on your age and gender, a better understanding of age and gender differences can lead to improvements in vehicle and highway design to minimize driver injury severity," Mannering said. "What is clear is that safety research and policy must begin to seriously address gender- and age-related matters because there are compelling differences and considerable potential to improve safety if these differences are properly addressed."........ Posted by: Jim Read more Source |
||
| Net World Directory: Navigation |