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In order to increase the traffic towards any website, higher ranking of that website in the search engines is really important. It is only possible with smart and professional thinking to create content and keywords that are search engine friendly to place your website at first pages of the search engine. The professional search engine optimization team of Softrix can handle it all for you. So you can trust the guaranteed SEO services, Web Design Service, PPC service of Softrix to promote your website for higher profits.
New York Rangers' Michael Del Zotto (4) celebrates with Brandon Prust (8), Stu Bickel (41) and Ryan McDonagh (27) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. The Rangers won 4-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Rangers' Michael Del Zotto (4) celebrates with Brandon Prust (8), Stu Bickel (41) and Ryan McDonagh (27) during the third period of an NHL hockey game against the Montreal Canadiens, Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. The Rangers won 4-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) stops a shot on the goal by New York Rangers' Carl Hagelin (62) during the second period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
New York Rangers' Mike Rupp (71) watches a puck shot by Michael Del Zotto get past Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) for a goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. The Rangers won 4-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
Montreal Canadiens goalie Carey Price (31) watches a puck shot by New York Rangers' Michael Del Zotto get past for a goal during the third period of an NHL hockey game, Friday, March 30, 2012, in New York. The Rangers won 4-1. (AP Photo/Frank Franklin II)
NEW YORK (AP) ? From their coach and throughout the dressing room, the New York Rangers shake their heads with disinterest whenever someone mentions one of their many accomplishments in a stellar regular season.
Not only don't they care about the achievements, sometimes they aren't even aware of them.
Marian Gaborik and Brad Richards scored early, and defenseman Michael Del Zotto had two goals in the third period as the NHL-leading Rangers won their fourth in a row and moved closer to securing the top seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Montreal Canadiens on Friday night.
It is only the third time in franchise history that the Rangers have won 50 games in a season.
"It doesn't mean squat. I will tell you right now it means absolutely nothing," New York coach John Tortorella said. "It's about how we're playing as we go through these next four games against tough opponents. It's about our game going into the playoffs. You get measured by the playoffs."
That picture is becoming clearer each day for the Rangers, who hold a five-point lead over the Pittsburgh Penguins in the East and a one-point edge over Western Conference-leading St. Louis in the race for the NHL's top mark.
Any combination of three points gained by the Rangers or lost by Pittsburgh, and one earned by New York or lost by Philadelphia will end the pursuit for first in the East.
"We don't focus on them," Rangers goalie Henrik Lundqvist said. "I don't really care if they are winning or losing."
Lundqvist was steady throughout in winning for the third straight game and for the sixth time in seven. He won at Minnesota and at Winnipeg to get to 250 NHL victories, and helped the Rangers widen their lead. His best stop of the night came two minutes into the third period when he denied David Desharnais on a breakaway to keep the score at 2-0.
Rene Bourque spoiled Lundqvist's chances of a shutout when he scored with 2:29 left to make it 4-1. Lundqvist made 19 saves.
"The last three or four games, we really responded in a good way," Lundqvist said. "You're going to have games where you feel like you can do a lot better, but overall our consistency over the last week has been great. Everybody understands how we have to play to have success."
Gaborik scored in the first period and Richards had a power-play goal in the second for the Rangers (50-21-7), who are 6-1 since a 2-5 skid earlier this month. Del Zotto also had a man-advantage goal.
"I didn't even know tonight was 50," Del Zotto said. "Knowing now, it's great but it's not something we're going to be satisfied with. We want to keep moving forward. We'd like to win the rest of our games.
"We know we're at the top of the standings, but it's not something we're really that focused on. We just want to peak come playoff time and get all the kinks out of our game."
Carey Price was sturdy and made 25 saves for the disappointing Canadiens (29-35-14), who played their first game since general manager Pierre Gauthier was fired, and team adviser Bob Gainey left on Thursday.
"The heart was in the game," Canadiens coach Randy Cunneyworth said. "It's an awfully good team that we are trying to outwork, and I thought we outworked and had some zone time.
"They have a lot going for them. They are a very good team, as everyone knows. We knew it would be a tough task, but I like the fact that we worked hard."
The Rangers came into this game facing a lot less pressure because their lead in the East grew this week from one point to five over Pittsburgh, which surprisingly lost twice to the out-of-contention New York Islanders.
Although there wasn't much action over the first two periods, the Rangers scored once in each frame and were never threatened by the Canadiens, who are just hoping to escape the East cellar. This low position is quite unfamiliar to Montreal, which won the Stanley Cup for the first time on this date in 1916.
Gaborik got the Rangers going 8:59 in when he took a second whack at a rebound of Richards' shot in the slot and slid the puck inside the left post for his 39th goal.
Richards made it 2-0 just 30 seconds into the second. He took a pass from Derek Stepan at the blue line, skated into the high slot, and snapped in his 25th goal. New York took advantage of a penalty for too many men on the ice called against Montreal in the final minute of the first period.
Del Zotto scored a rare power-play goal 8:17 into the third, firing a shot that squeezed past Price. He made it 4-0 with 3:02 remaining, scoring his 10th of the season. Gaborik and Richards earned assists on the final goal.
Although their power play came in ranked third from the bottom in the NHL at 14.7 percent, the Rangers are remarkably efficient when they cash in ? going 24-1-4 in games in which they score a power-play goal.
The Rangers are 4 for 9 on the power play in the past two games.
"With the skill we have, we're going to be able to score goals," Del Zotto said. "You see just the way we're moving the puck, we're moving bodies.
"We're not predictable. Teams don't know exactly where we're going to be attacking from or what's going to be happening. That's what makes us deadly right now."
NOTES: Lundqvist has held opponents to two goals or fewer 40 times this season, including six of the past eight. ... Rangers captain Ryan Callahan was given the team's Steven McDonald Extra Effort Award before the game. He and Adam Graves are the only three-time winners. ... The Canadiens and Rangers split the four-game season series.
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[unable to retrieve full-text content]All the start-ups, ventures and businesses need funds at some or other stage of their development. Capital is one of the key inputs in any business. Those, who are looking for investors, should consider angel investors and ...
The simplest of reasons why we love music is because how nature built our brains millions of year ago. The body is neurologically ?nourished? by music, much like a natural diet builds one?s health.
Biologists have long known the importance of music?s foundation in human health. It has played a key role in our species rising to dominance. In particular, and what separates humans from other animals, our large and highly functional emotional brain has developed with the help of complex music. Some of the earliest musical instruments, such as the simple flute, are over 30,000 years old.
Not only did the human brain have music long before traditional language, it was the universal language, one that all animals share. And neurologists and psychologists know that music is one of the few things?perhaps the only one?that can stimulate all parts of a human?s complex brain.?
Clinicians in all fields of healthcare have paid attention too. Beginning about 5,000 years ago, music came forth as a potent therapy for treatment of illness and disease, and prevention. Music therapy helps not just the brain, but immunity, muscles, digestion, stress and many other bodily functions as well.?
Music?s importance with human evolution is evident in healthy infants, who, while lacking the ability to speak, already have built-in musical abilities. They immediately respond to music long before they learn to develop language and other physical and mental skills.?
But sadly, with many people today, music has died. Along with it, the powerful, natural therapy it provokes has crumbled, and our mental and emotional condition adversely affected.
Mental and Emotional Health
We?re all familiar with physical and chemical health, our muscles and bones, and hormones and nutrients, respectively, but mental and emotional health is more obscure. While millions of people are diagnosed with some named condition of the brain, many millions more are also afflicted with reductions in quality of life due to mental and emotional problems too vague for a diagnosis.
Let?s define these brain states. Mental and emotional health is associated with our behavior. The mental state is also referred to as cognition?how we sense the world, our perceptions, and our ability to learn and make decisions. Emotions are associated with pain, in particular. Not just heartbreak and feelings of depression, but physical pain too, which is all sensed in our brain. Emotions show themselves as mood, anxiety and depression.
Our mental and or emotional condition can also trigger significant stress, disturbing hormones that can wreck our physical and chemical health.
For many people, music is a liberator, reducing stress hormones and helping their mental and emotional brain. But as life gets too busy, music leaves the lives of many people, and with it the potential power of therapy and enjoyment. Instead of soothing harmony and melodies of music worth listening to, all that is left is noise and confusion, sounds without any real meaning and substance.
Music and Emotions
Wiebke Trost and colleagues at the Department of Neuroscience, University of Geneva, Switzerland, in their study ?Mapping Aesthetic Musical Emotions in the Brain? (2011), revealed for the first time the neural architecture underlying the complex ??aesthetic?? emotions induced by music. They state that, ?music evokes complex emotions beyond pleasant/unpleasant or happy/sad dichotomies usually investigated in neuroscience.? They demonstrate that the unique richness of music stimulates emotions that include reward. This is an important discovery, and a powerful effect for most people. The reward centers of the brain are associated with addiction, not just to drugs, including common ones such as caffeine, and especially to sugar. Music may become a positive addiction replacing negative habits.
In addition, music can awaken one?s memory, and it stimulates self-reflection, and sensorimotor processes?factors that incorporate brain-body relationships including muscle function.
Research shows that musical emotions go far beyond all other emotions triggered by all other stimuli. One reason is that music enlists the activity of the whole brain?a sort of holistic therapy. Likewise, memory, which perks up to the sound of music, also occurs everywhere in the brain. There?s neither a memory or music ?center?; rather, both exist throughout the brain. So all one?s senses, not just auditory, are stimulated by music, from vision and vibratory to bodily sensation and higher levels of consciousness.?
?In other words,? as Trost and colleagues state, ?it has been suggested that music might elicit ?special? kinds of affects,? beyond our understanding of the basic mental and emotional states. This is a major breakthrough in our understanding of the brain.
In addition, new research points to a crucial involvement of brain systems that are not primarily ??emotional?? areas, including motor pathways?the nerve connections between the brain and muscles throughout the body. Balanced muscle function allows one to move more efficiently, balance properly, avoid physical injuries, and perform better in sports.?
While music may stimulate many emotions and memories in a healthy way, the basic human emotions of fear or anger are not typically associated with music. Not unless there is an existing neurological problem, such as amusica.
Music Deficiency
Amusica is a spectrum disorder?from subtle imbalances to full-blown pathologies?where individuals have a ?disconnect? in their nervous systems. In mild forms, a person may be unable to relate to music, be unable to ascertain words in songs, or just not enjoy it, while in more severe cases along the spectrum music can trigger extreme, unhealthy emotions. To others, music may even be painful.?
With many, amusica results in not making music part of life. This could be due to an uncomfortable feeling associated with it, or that today?s fast-paced world with its emphasis on being connected all day and all night, has taken over the places in the brain that would normally benefit from and create, and relate, to music. We are so busy keeping up, that music is neglected. And if music does have a role, it?s either as a minor one or as ? background.?
Junk music is as bad as junk food. Commercialization of music exists on all fronts. We are assaulted by it when we turn on the radio, step in an elevator, go shopping, or hoping to find new musical groups worth our attention. Many of today?s best-selling bands appear to have been solely based on a music producer?s knowledge of demographics and marketing.?
The lack of music in one?s life has unhealthy consequences, not unlike a vitamin deficiency. (Avitaminosis is the name associated with health conditions due to inadequate levels of vitamins.) Scientists and clinicians are still unraveling the mysteries of amusica. But one issue seems clear?just like a nutritional deficiency, amusica should not exist in a healthy person.
Music and the Aging Brain
Interference with the brain?s normal function is common in aging. But it?s not normal. Decline in cognition is so common that it?s considered normal. Musicians have less dysfunction with age, and musical stimulation?whether hearing it regularly, playing it or watching a visual representation (such as a music video)?can significantly slow the aging process so common in the brain.
So aging itself can result in neurological dysfunction. Research by Parbery-Clark and colleagues at Northwestern University?s neuroscience lab recently showed that, ?Aging disrupts neural timing, reducing the nervous system?s ability to precisely encode sound.? They found that older persons exposed to music?musicians and nonmusicians?were resilience to the common age-related brain problems.?
What To Do
Make healthy music a regular part of your life. Buy or borrow music CDs (there are many sources for free music, such as my website), or get those old vinyl albums out of storage and fire up your turntable. It?s important to listen on higher rather than poor quality speakers or headphones. Find out which songs, artists and musical genre you like most?folk, country, rock, blues, jazz?it?s nearly endless, and today there are many sounds that are a blend of many types. Classical music is also a great choice.
Listen in the car, but spend some relaxed time only listening to music, not just as background sound. Let the music take you away, let it do its thing?heal and help your brain and body be younger on a physical, chemical and mental emotional level.
WASHINGTON (AP) ? Vice President Joe Biden is seeking to portray Republican Mitt Romney as a proponent of outsourcing, using a speech in Iowa to undercut Romney's appeal to voters as a business executive and job creator.
In Davenport, Iowa, Biden planned to tell employees at an engineering firm Wednesday that Romney had supported tax cuts that support companies that create jobs overseas and vetoed a bill as Massachusetts governor that would have prevented the state from outsourcing contracts to firms overseas.
"We're both talking about tax cuts to manufacturers. The difference is: Our tax cuts go to companies that create jobs over here. Governor Romney's tax cuts go to companies that create jobs overseas," Biden said in excerpts of his speech released by the Obama campaign.
Biden has sought to frame some of the key issues in the 2012 election, holding events in Ohio and Florida in recent weeks to offer rebuttals to Republican presidential challengers. The focus on Romney and outsourcing underscores a key tactic for Obama's campaign: Assailing Romney's work in Massachusetts and as head of Bain Capital to raise doubts about how he would guide an economy that has sought to rebound from a deep recession.
Andrea Saul, a Romney spokeswoman, said Biden was "part of an administration that has done more to devastate the middle class than any in modern history," citing high unemployment, plummeting home prices and rising gas prices. "With that kind of record, it's no surprise that the Obama White House has taken to attacking a proven job creator like Mitt Romney."
At PCT Engineered Systems in Davenport, Biden planned to cite a rise of more than 400,000 manufacturing jobs in the past two years and highlight efforts by the Obama administration to provide incentives for companies to bring jobs back to the United States from overseas. "After years of hearing about outsourcing, a new word has come into our vocabulary: insourcing. Jobs that left the United States are coming back," he said.
The vice president was pointing to Romney's decision to veto a bill approved by the Massachusetts legislature in 2004 that would have barred the outsourcing by vendors doing business with the state. "That resulted in millions of dollars flowing to companies running call centers in India," Biden says.
"Mitt Romney has been remarkably consistent ? as an individual investor, a businessman, as governor of Massachusetts, and now as a candidate for president," Biden says. "Remarkably consistent. Consistently wrong."
DRUG MARKET INFO LAUNCHES NEW PROSTATE CANCER MARKET INFO? ?
?Comprehensive Presentation-ready Report on Prostate Cancer Covers All Treatment Options and Up-to-date Market Information with Patients? Perspectives ?
NORWELL, MA? March 27, 2012- Drug Market Info?, the only source for presentation-ready market reports with the Patient?s Perspective, announced today the launch of its newest research report ? Prostate Cancer Market Info?. Prostate cancer is a common cancer found in men, and has the second leading cancer-related mortality rate behind lung cancer. ?Prostate Cancer Market Info? is a comprehensive look at the market, including current market data, diagnosis statistics, and treatment options, as well as patient estimates by disease stage.
Prostate Cancer is a malignant adenocarcinoma that grows as small tumors in different locations throughout a man?s prostate gland. Some tumors are indolent and require no treatment, but others are aggressive and life-threatening. Currently, there is no way to tell tumor aggressiveness and no clear guidelines about how to manage the disease, or which treatment option works best. ?Recently, several new products for the later stages of Prostate Cancer have been launched and according to a recent Barron?s report, the metastatic prostate-cancer market could grow from approximately $1 billion to $8 billion by the end of the decade.
Prostate Cancer Market Info? provides a comprehensive look at the market, covering epidemiology, patient estimates by disease stage, as well as unit and sales data trended for five years. As a presentation-ready report, Prostate Cancer Market Info? is the only market analysis that contains over 100 customizable slides, 28 graphs and charts, with patient insights and perspectives woven throughout. As with all Drug Market Info reports, Prostate Cancer Market Info? was reviewed by a leading clinician in the field to validate disease dynamics and therapeutic approaches.
?Prostate Cancer is a disease that significantly impacts men and their families with one out of every six developing the disease and over two million men in the U.S. currently living with it,? said Mary Beth Cicero, Principal of Drug Market Info. ?This new report from Drug Market Info provides unique insights on the diagnosis and treatment of prostate cancer, especially since there are a variety of choices available to physicians and their patients. The Prostate Cancer Market Info? report examines the current landscape of available treatments and pipeline products, but more importantly, spotlights how real patients weigh their treatment options and ultimately decide upon a regimen that works best for them.?
?We see over 1,000 newly diagnosed prostate cancer patients each year,? said Judd Moul, M.D., F.A.C.S. James H. Semans, MD, Professor of Surgery Director at Duke Cancer Institute. ?Every man is different, so his cancer is different and his treatment choices will be, too. Therefore, it is important that a comprehensive array of treatments be available, as well as access to clinical trials and cutting-edge therapies. Drug Market Info?s comprehensive Prostate Cancer Market Info? thoroughly covers the patients, treatments and what is in the pipeline, and is an important resource for companies looking to better understand this disease.?
Drug Market Info develops reports based on putting patients front and center. We are strong supporters of patient advocacy and our business model is built around donating a portion of our proceeds to the leading patient advocacy group in each therapeutic area we cover. Drug Market Info is extremely proud and privileged to be associated with ZERO ? The Project to End Prostate Cancer. The organization is committed to creating Generation Zero: the first generation of men free from prostate cancer. Zero prostate cancer deaths. Zero prostate cancer cases. Zero tolerance for prostate cancer.? To accomplish their goal, ZERO provides comprehensive treatment information to patients, education to those at risk and conducts free prostate cancer screening throughout the country. To learn more about ZERO, visit http://zerocancer.org.
?This year alone, more than 241,000 men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer and more than 28,000 will die from the disease,? said Skip Lockwood, Chief Executive Officer of ZERO. ?We are seeing the death rate decrease, but we must remain vigilant in the fight against this disease by increasing research funding, raising awareness and education, and testing men with risk factors. We are pleased to be associated with Drug Market Info for making available important data on the prostate cancer market, and for showing how the disease and treatment dramatically affects the lives of men.?
About Drug Market Info (http://www.drugmarketinfo.com/)
Have you ever just wanted to understand a disease ? what it looks like, who gets it, what are the treatments, which products are used and how the market is valued? Drug Market Info was founded by experienced pharmaceutical professionals who recognized the need for current, ready-to-use market information that gets to the real core of understanding a therapeutic market. Drug Market Info reports are centered around the concept of the three P?s ? Patients, Perspectives and Potential with a strong focus on patient and physician insights. Our reports provide clinically accurate, up-to-date information on treating diseases such as Psoriasis, Psoriatic Arthritis, Cystic Fibrosis and Prostate Cancer, as well as how these markets are defined, sized and valued. Unique from other industry reports on the market, Drug Market Info delivers information in a presentation-ready PowerPoint format at a reasonable price. In just minutes, you can download a customizable deck of slides covering everything you need to know about a therapeutic market and the opportunities it represents. ?Most importantly, only Drug Market Info provides patients? perspectives on the disease and their treatment experiences. The Company proudly collaborates with leading Patient Advocacy Groups so that every report purchased will benefit patients with the disease.
Drug Market Info ? The Patients? Perspectives and the Info You Want Now!
For Sales Information, please contact:
Mary Beth Cicero, Principal or Pamela Porter, Chief Business Officer
The Death of Caesar by Vincenzo Camuccini. | CC. Click on image for license and information.
Is there a more suspicious day than the Ides of March? The day on which Julius Caesar was assassinated? It?s a day associated with betrayal?a day to worry about the loyalties of those closest to you because everyone has a price. The Ides of March occur in the middle of the month (from the Latin iduare, meaning ?to divide?) and is marked on March 15th. The Ides are a regular occurrence then since all months have a middle. However, March 15th took on special meaning when the term became overwhelmingly tied to Caesar. I?m sure your Facebook feed or Twitter stream were filled with warnings that you should beware because the Ides had come.
But what if I told you that it was all for naught? That you were warned and suspicious of friends named Brutus for no reason? Why? Because the Ides had not come. The Ides would not arrive for roughly another two weeks?in fact, the Ides, according to the Julian calendar, is today.
People have marked time differently throughout the ages, struggling to reconcile solar and lunar cycles with the changes that occurred around them. The Roman calendar started the year in March and was 10 months long?six months had 30 days and four months had 31. It was 304 days long, with some 61 odd days left over that accounted for winter which were not assigned to any month in particular. It?s likely it was a lunar calendar as the Romans divided the month into three segments:
The Kalends signified the start of the new moon cycle and was the first day of the month.
The Nones were related to the half moon, and were typically observed eight days before the Ides.
The Ides were believed to be the day of the full moon. It occurred on the 15th day in March, May, July, and October, and the 13th day in the other months.
Days were counted by their relationship to these markers. So, March 11th would have been ?Five Ides? to the Romans because it is four days before the Ides.
The year began on the vernal equinox (so in addition to a Happy Spring, I should wish you a Happy New Year!) The Romans fiddled with the calendar?Numa Pompilius added January and February, and shifted days around to lengthen the calendar to 354 days. And then they added a leap month to try and keep the calendar aligned to a tropical year (equinox to equinox). Leap years were 377 days long!
Time is not a concrete thing, and it can be made to serve to various purposes. Roman politicians understood this quite well. Because their terms were defined by the calendar, they could extend or shorten the year to serve their political needs as they saw fit. The Roman calendar, therefore, lacked consistency.
Julius Caesar changed that.
He realigned the calendar year to the tropical calendar by making 46 BC 445 days long and starting the year on January 1. This accounted for leap years that had been missed during some turbulent years. In 45 BC, he further restructured the Roman calendar by doing away with the leap month and introducing a leap day every four years. His calendar combined the old Roman months, the Egyptian calendar, and Greek astronomy. However, the leap day appears to have been incorrectly applied initially by Roman leaders who marked it every third year. After 36 years, things were out of sync again and Caesar stepped in. It took 12 years, during which he skipped three leap days, but he realigned the calendar.
Still, his calendar doesn?t quite match the solar year?it?s just a bit longer. So, this generated an error of one day every 128 years, shifting the tropical year backwards, and moving the Easter observance around. That did not sit well with the Roman Catholic Church, so in the 16th-century Pope Gregory XIII made a few changes. However, you shouldn?t overlook that the Julian calendar was used well after the Roman Empire had fallen (and in some cases, it?s still used today!).
Gregory?s calendar combined the Julian calendar with the lunar calendar of the church. He reduced the number of leap years, and changed their structure: Leap years would occur every four years, except for years that are divisible by 100?though centurial years divisible by 400 would still be still leap years, which is the pattern we follow today. He also reduced the year by roughly 10 minutes to realign time to the vernal equinox. His calendar actually began on March 21st?skipping ahead from March 11th to reestablish the date of the equinox?and Easter.
The Gregorian calendar wasn?t immediately adopted by all. The Protestents?their Reformation well underway?thought the calendar was an insidious plot and resisted. And other countries adopted the calendar at different times. And even today, Jewish and Islamic calendars mark time differently, as does the Chinese calendar. Time is what we make of it.
All of this to show that what we think of as a concrete, definite thing is actually a flexible creation. With all of these calendar changes, dates were in a state of flux. Birthdays changed! (Though Caesar kept his.) So beware the Ides of March. And you might want to pass on that lunch with Brutus today.
H/T to Prof. Kevin Birth for pointing out the correct day of caution on (the Gregorian) March 15th.
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According to her Instagram account, Ashley Tisdale is having a great time on the beach.
And now, thanks to a photo the 26-year old actress posted online, the same can be said for men on the Internet around the country! See what we mean now:
Along with the revealing bikini photo, Tisdale simply wrote "What a beautiful day." From our vantage point, we couldn't agree more.
While Ashley chills in the sun, her BFF Vanessa Hudgens is also donning many a bathing suit these days. She's in Miami filming Spring Breakers and revealing quite a bit of skin as she does so. Forget High School Musical.
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Trace element plays major role in tropical forest nitrogen cyclePublic release date: 22-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nina Wurzburger ninawurz@uga.edu 706-542-5109 University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. A new paper by researchers from the University of Georgia and Princeton University sheds light on the critical part played by a little-studied element, molybdenum, in the nutrient cycles of tropical forests. Understanding the role of molybdenum may help scientists more accurately predict how tropical forests will respond to climate change. The findings were published March 21 in the journal PLoS ONE.
Nutrient cycles track the movement of essential nutrients as they loop through the environment, into plants and animals and back into the environment. One of the most important of these nutrients is nitrogen.
"The main way that new nitrogen is added to an ecosystem is through a process called nitrogen fixation," said Nina Wurzburger, assistant professor in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and the paper's lead author. "Bacteria in the soil can pull nitrogen out of the atmosphere and convert it into a form available for themselves and for plants. They do this by creating an enzyme called nitrogenase."
For years, it was assumed that the element phosphorus was the key ingredient bacteria in the soil needed to make this enzyme work. Now Wurzburger and her colleagues Jean Philippe Bellenger, Anne M.L. Kraepiel and Lars O. Hedin of Princeton University have found that although phosphorus is indeed important to the process, another elementmolybdenumis also crucial.
"Our results were quite unexpected," said Hedin, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "We discovered that the trace element molybdenum often was the limiting nutrient, not phosphorus, as most theories would predict."
An earlier study by Princeton researchers revealed that molybdenum might play a previously unsuspected role in nitrogen fixation in tropical forest ecosystems. The researchers wanted to learn more. Working in lowland Panama, they conducted experiments at six forest sites that had similar climates and plant species but differed in the amount of phosphorus in the soil.
"It was fortuitous that we came across this naturally occurring phosphorus gradient," Wurzburger said. "The only difference between the sites is the geology, so we had a natural range of soil phosphorus levelsfrom high to low."
All the sites had a similar low level of molybdenum.
The researchers took a set of soil samples from each site and treated them by adding phosphorus, molybdenum or a combination of both. They then measured the response of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil.
They expected that nitrogen fixation would increase in phosphorus-rich soils when they added molybdenum and in phosphorus-poor soils when they added phosphorus, but that was not the case.
While the phosphorus-rich soils responded as predicted, the phosphorus-poor soils did not. In phosphorus-poor soils, nitrogen fixation did not increase with the addition of phosphorus aloneor, for that matter, molybdenum alonebut only responded when both phosphorus and molybdenum were added together.
"The most surprising result of our work is that phosphorus by itself is not the major constraint we've thought it to be," Wurzburger said. "This is particularly surprising for tropical forests where the highly weathered soils are thought to be poor in phosphorus."
The reason for this response, the researchers found, was that molybdenum and phosphorus behave very differently with organic matter in soil. While much of the phosphorus in soil is in a form that plants can use, much of the molybdenumone of the least abundant of the elements essential to plantsis not.
"The chemistry of the leaf litter seems to lock up the molybdenum and make it unavailable to bacteria," Wurzburger said. "Therefore, no matter how abundant or poor phosphorus is in the environment, it's molybdenum that seems to present a consistent constraint for nitrogen-fixing bacteria."
The researchers are continuing to pursue their understanding of how this relatively obscure element interacts with other nutrient cycles.
"One big question is how this might apply to other ecosystems such as temperate or boreal forests," Wurzburger said. "We just don't know how important molybdenum might be. I want to know whether these findings relate to these systems too."
The answers to these questions may have widespread implications. "Tropical forests regulate the earth's climate system," Wurzburger said. "They sequester a large amount of carbon through photosynthesis. Climate models predict that tropical forests may respond to elevated levels of carbon dioxide by sequestering even more carbon, but their ability to do this may be constrained by nitrogen. Since molybdenum constrains nitrogen fixation, it might also determine how much carbon tropical forests can sequester. We really need to know more."
###
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Trace element plays major role in tropical forest nitrogen cyclePublic release date: 22-Mar-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Nina Wurzburger ninawurz@uga.edu 706-542-5109 University of Georgia
Athens, Ga. A new paper by researchers from the University of Georgia and Princeton University sheds light on the critical part played by a little-studied element, molybdenum, in the nutrient cycles of tropical forests. Understanding the role of molybdenum may help scientists more accurately predict how tropical forests will respond to climate change. The findings were published March 21 in the journal PLoS ONE.
Nutrient cycles track the movement of essential nutrients as they loop through the environment, into plants and animals and back into the environment. One of the most important of these nutrients is nitrogen.
"The main way that new nitrogen is added to an ecosystem is through a process called nitrogen fixation," said Nina Wurzburger, assistant professor in the UGA Odum School of Ecology and the paper's lead author. "Bacteria in the soil can pull nitrogen out of the atmosphere and convert it into a form available for themselves and for plants. They do this by creating an enzyme called nitrogenase."
For years, it was assumed that the element phosphorus was the key ingredient bacteria in the soil needed to make this enzyme work. Now Wurzburger and her colleagues Jean Philippe Bellenger, Anne M.L. Kraepiel and Lars O. Hedin of Princeton University have found that although phosphorus is indeed important to the process, another elementmolybdenumis also crucial.
"Our results were quite unexpected," said Hedin, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology. "We discovered that the trace element molybdenum often was the limiting nutrient, not phosphorus, as most theories would predict."
An earlier study by Princeton researchers revealed that molybdenum might play a previously unsuspected role in nitrogen fixation in tropical forest ecosystems. The researchers wanted to learn more. Working in lowland Panama, they conducted experiments at six forest sites that had similar climates and plant species but differed in the amount of phosphorus in the soil.
"It was fortuitous that we came across this naturally occurring phosphorus gradient," Wurzburger said. "The only difference between the sites is the geology, so we had a natural range of soil phosphorus levelsfrom high to low."
All the sites had a similar low level of molybdenum.
The researchers took a set of soil samples from each site and treated them by adding phosphorus, molybdenum or a combination of both. They then measured the response of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria in the soil.
They expected that nitrogen fixation would increase in phosphorus-rich soils when they added molybdenum and in phosphorus-poor soils when they added phosphorus, but that was not the case.
While the phosphorus-rich soils responded as predicted, the phosphorus-poor soils did not. In phosphorus-poor soils, nitrogen fixation did not increase with the addition of phosphorus aloneor, for that matter, molybdenum alonebut only responded when both phosphorus and molybdenum were added together.
"The most surprising result of our work is that phosphorus by itself is not the major constraint we've thought it to be," Wurzburger said. "This is particularly surprising for tropical forests where the highly weathered soils are thought to be poor in phosphorus."
The reason for this response, the researchers found, was that molybdenum and phosphorus behave very differently with organic matter in soil. While much of the phosphorus in soil is in a form that plants can use, much of the molybdenumone of the least abundant of the elements essential to plantsis not.
"The chemistry of the leaf litter seems to lock up the molybdenum and make it unavailable to bacteria," Wurzburger said. "Therefore, no matter how abundant or poor phosphorus is in the environment, it's molybdenum that seems to present a consistent constraint for nitrogen-fixing bacteria."
The researchers are continuing to pursue their understanding of how this relatively obscure element interacts with other nutrient cycles.
"One big question is how this might apply to other ecosystems such as temperate or boreal forests," Wurzburger said. "We just don't know how important molybdenum might be. I want to know whether these findings relate to these systems too."
The answers to these questions may have widespread implications. "Tropical forests regulate the earth's climate system," Wurzburger said. "They sequester a large amount of carbon through photosynthesis. Climate models predict that tropical forests may respond to elevated levels of carbon dioxide by sequestering even more carbon, but their ability to do this may be constrained by nitrogen. Since molybdenum constrains nitrogen fixation, it might also determine how much carbon tropical forests can sequester. We really need to know more."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
This Tuesday the 27th, a group of researchers, thinkers, planners, and policymakers will talk about broadband access for Philadelphia's communities.
The panel discussion will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. at the University of Pennsylvania?s Annenberg School for Communication, 3620 Walnut Street, on Penn?s campus. It is sponsored by the Open Technology Initiative at the New America Foundation and the Annenberg School for Communication.
?Knowing who is and is not online in Philadelphia can be an indicator of socioeconomic status ? income, race, and education levels,? says Open Technology Initiative Director Sascha Meinrath. ?Understanding these factors can contribute to a broader understanding of digital inclusion and media justice.?
E-governance, online civic engagement, citizen journalism and media, and the equitable distribution of resources across the city depend on understanding the answer to who is or is not online, says Meinrath. "As employment opportunities and government services move online, it is incumbent upon communication researchers and policymakers to get real answers to questions about who?s actually included in our networked communities.
Panel participants will present emerging and recently released research around current digital participation initiatives:
? Technically Philly/Philadelphia Office of Innovation and Technology (Brian James Kirk): As an initiative of the Freedom Rings Partnership's Broadband Technology Opportunities Program (BTOP)?project; Technically Philly has worked with the City?s Office of Innovation Technology to produce an online map of broadband resources throughout the city.
? Open Technology Initiative/Azavea (Greta Byrum and Tamara Manik-Perlman): Freedom Rings Partnership (FRP) member Open Technology Initiative has partnered with Philadelphia firm Azavea?to map levels of adoption and access to FRP's?BTOP Public Computer Centers for underserved populations.
? Temple University/Philadelphia Office of Innovation Technology (Charles Kaylor): The Geographic Information Systems Lab at Temple has produced analyses of the use and accessibility of BTOP Public Computer Centers in relation to transit and other city services.? The Investigative Reporting Workshop (Jacob Fenton): The IRW has mapped publicly available Internet adoption data gathered from Internet Service Providers by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC)'s Form 477, which shows the density of broadband connections countrywide.
? The?Pew Charitable Trusts? Philadelphia Research Initiative (Larry Eichel): has just released a report showing that?finds that the?Free;Library;of Philadelphia --?like urban libraries across America -- is struggling to keep up with the changing demands of city residents who have come to rely on their neighborhood libraries to provide Internet access.
Following brief presentations by these researchers on their methods and primary conclusions, we will hold a discussion of alignments and disagreements among these projects and their outcomes, as well as the growing importance of spatial dynamics, scale, and urbanism in the field of communication. The goal of the evening is to create avenues for collaboration as well as directions for future research, analysis, and policy.
Number of children and ages: one boy, 9 months old ? L.
The languages your family uses: English and French
What motivated you to raise your child(ren) bilingually: I am from Switzerland and French is my first language; I want our children to learn/be familiar with both their parents? culture. My mother was bilingual French/Swiss-German but never taught us Swiss-German; I always regretted it.
{Val with her husband and son, L.}
How does the bilingualism work in your family (i.e., who speaks what language)? My husband speaks English and I speak French; though I do not always speak French; I do switch from French to English.
When do you switch? How do you decide on what language to use and when? I noticed that I do speak French to L. more easily and regularly when we are both home alone (I am a part-time stay at home mom). But I do always speak some French when my husband is around. I speak French when I feed him, change him, get him dressed, or bathe him, for instance. I noticed also that I often switch to English if there are people around; for some reasons I do not always feel comfortable speaking French when surrounded by English-speaking people (I don?t want to feel them excluded maybe?).
I do also discipline L. in English. My husband was raised with his mom saying ?not for baby? when there was something the kids were not supposed to do or go to? And I started using that expression too. I think that?s the reason why so far I have mostly been using English to discipline.
What are some of the challenges you?ve encountered? For some reasons, I don?t find it easy to speak to L. in French when in public (sometimes), but mostly around family. As I mentioned before, I think I?m worried that it may be considered rude by others.
Also, because I?m the only French speaker around here (my family is still in Switzerland and I don?t have anybody to speak French with), I am used to speaking in English all the time. So sometimes English is actually the easy to-go-to language. It?s what I?m used to, what my husband speaks, what I?ve been thinking in, writing in and even dreaming in for the past couple of year. I never thought I?d ever say this, but when I?m really tired at the end of a long day, English is often easier to use.
Finally, I do struggle between both languages. I?ve been living in the States for the past 6 years. I?m pretty fluent, but I still have an accent and sometimes I?m not sure of a word, or my pronunciation is not perfect. I am fluent in French, but because I don?t practice it as much anymore, sometimes I have trouble getting back into it. And writing is even more difficult. So there are days when I feel like I don?t have a first language anymore and I?m just struggling with both languages. And I don?t want this to affect our children. I don?t want them to learn both languages partially, with mistakes and all.
{Val?s adorable son, L., reading a book in French}
What have been some of the rewards of raising a bilingual child? L. does not speak yet, but he is starting to understand some things and responds to what is being said to him. It?s always rewarding when he reacts to what I tell him, whether it?s in French or English. Also, recently I?ve started to notice that I will automatically (and unconsciously) use French more often ? which was not the case when L. was first born. And I really enjoy this. It feels like I finally have someone I can talk to in French! The funny thing is, sometimes I do answer my husband in French or use French words in the middle of a sentence in English. I did not use to do this before L.
What role does your extended family play in your decision and ability to raise a bilingual child? My parents are very adamant that L. learns French. They live in Switzerland and I think they feel it?s a way for them to be close to him.
My mother-in-law is Hispanic. She did speak some Spanish to her kids, but never actually taught them the language. My husband and I talked about it and he mentions how he regretted that his mom did not really teach him Spanish. So it?s an encouragement for me.
What resources have you found useful? So far, I?ve gotten some children music in French and also lots of children books in French. That?s what I?ve mostly been using with L. One day, I also hope to get a kindle fire or something similar. I?m hoping it would make access to French literature and French movies for kids easier (and eventually cheaper too).
What are some of your long-term goals? I am going to homeschool our children, and I would like to homeschool them bilingual. I am not sure yet how I will handle things like math, science, or even history. But I know I want our homeschool to be both in English and French. I do think it will also be a great way to introduce our children to both our cultures (literature, history, arts, language, etc.)
What advice would you give a new parent starting the process? I am a new parent, so I don?t have any advice to give? but I?d love to get some from others!
**
Thank you, Val, for taking the time you tell us about your bilingual parenting approach! (It sounds a lot like mine, actually. If you have any tips and suggestions for Val (and for me), please leave them in the comments section below! Val mentioned getting a Kindle in order to have easier access to foreign language kids books. This is something I have been wondering about too and would love to hear from others out there: have you found online resources for foreign language children?s books or games or any particular apps (for phone or iPad) that you think useful? Please share! Thank you!
?**
Stay tuned for more profiles of bilingual parents this week and next and contact me if you?d like to be a part of the series with your family?s story! Check out more on bilingual parenting in the archives here.
The $19 all-you-can-eat smartphone service that seemed great, then not-so-great, then great again is about to re-open public beta testing. We're told that the first phase of the beta is "going very well", to the point where Republic Wireless feels it can "skip the baby steps" and offer its hybrid VOIP/cellular goodies to another batch of experimental folks starting in June. The provider also promises a new handset as early as April, a smoother transition between WiFi and cellular calling (on Sprint's frequencies) in May, and a full-on public launch at some point in the undeclared or undecided future. Not ready to abandon your Big Cell provider just yet? Then Republic Wireless makes one more promise: a way for customers with other carriers to save money on their bills even before they make the leap. Consider us intrigued!
Lending a bit of credence to the notion that it'll have life beyond LightSquared, an insider at FreedomPop is now suggesting that it'll debut a case for the iPhone 4 / 4S that features a WiMAX radio, hotspot capabilities and delivers a free (albeit, limited) data service. This rumored accessory would complement the company's two previously known devices, which include a USB dongle and a dedicated hotspot. For those unfamiliar, FreedomPop aims to take on a role similar to NetZero -- it's said the company will offer each customer 1GB of free data per month, where each megabyte consumed beyond that limit will cost one penny. That's not to suggest that everything is free, however: the insider also states that customers will need to front a $100 deposit for this alleged case, although that money can be retrieved at any point, so long as the product is returned in good condition. Naturally, the utility of FreedomPop's service will be sorely limited if it's only available via WiMAX networks, but we've got a hunch that a few iPod Touch owners might find it quite useful in their attempt to skirt the carriers.
The King protea (Protea cynaroides) is the national flower of South Africa.
By Laura Kiniry , Frommers.com
If you don't know when and where to see the best blossoms, chances are you won't -- the timing of the prettiest blooms varies by region and can last just a few weeks.
Whether you want to see Arizona's wildflowers or Scotland's heather, you won't want to miss these six great destinations.
Slideshow: See these and other colorful spring blooms
Wildflowers in Southern Arizona
When to go:?It really depends on rainfall, but typically March and April. This is when the hills and roadsides across southern Arizona pop with?red, gold and blue. The region is best known for bright yellow brittlebush and Mexican gold poppies. You may also see wildflowers ranging from African daises to the bright-orange desert globemallow.
Where to see the best flowers:?Picacho Peak State Park?(the name means "Big Peak" in Spanish), about 45 miles northwest of Tucson and 60 miles south of Phoenix along Interstate 10. Several hiking trails -- including the easy Children's Cave Trail -- offer closer views.
Greenery of Italy's Tuscany region
When to go:?May, when?Tuscany's countryside is covered with the lush greens of grape vines, olive groves and cypress trees. Many towns throughout the region host parties and festivals to celebrate the season. Along with the greenery, keep an eye out for crimson-colored poppies as well as plenty of lilacs, rosemary and wisteria.?
Where to see the best flowers:?Head to Tuscany's many vineyards and olive groves. Held in Montespertoli in Tuscany's?Chianti?wine region, the Chianti Wine Festival takes place May 26 to June 3, 2012.
Wildflowers in Sweden
When to go:?May and June, after the snow has melted and when the Swedish countryside is bathing in bluets, poppies and marguerite daises. The country also boasts 45 varietals of orchids. At this time of year, the sun above the country's northern half never really sets, offering more time to appreciate spring's beauty.
Where to see the best flowers:?Lapland's?Sarek National Park in northern Sweden is a wildflower hotspot accessible to more seasoned hikers. The island of Gotland (accessible by ferry from greater Stockholm) off Sweden's east coast is home to 35 of the country's 45 orchid varieties.
Heather in Scotland
When to go:?July to September. While heather is not exclusive to Scotland, it's hard to think of one without the other. Come late summer or early fall, the Scottish Highlands are awash in soft lavender shades. You'll find heather growing throughout forests, across moors, and within bogs.?
Where to see the best flowers:?Heather is abundant throughout all of Scotland by August. Hotspots include the heather garden of?Threave Castle?in Dumfries and Galloway;?Cairngorms National Park?(heather moorland covers more than 41?percent of the park's landscape) in northeast Scotland; and the highroads around South Loch Ness.
Wildflowers of South Africa
When to go:?July through October (the country's spring season). South Africa's semi-desert landscape springs to life with hues of purple, yellow and orange, most notably during August and September.?
Where to see the best flowers:?About a five-hour drive north of Cape Town,?Namaqualand?is a wildflower paradise. Stop by the region's?Goegap Nature Reserve, a great place to picnic among more than 600 indigenous plant species. Overnight accommodations are nearby. One hour west of?Cape Town?along the coast, you'll find the village of Darling, host to September's annual Darling Wildflower Show for nearly 100 years.
Orchids & rhododendrons in Bhutan
When to go:?Late March to May are the best months to admire the country's flowering plants, orchids and rhododendrons. Though generally elusive, the Himalayan blue poppy -- Bhutan's national flower -- may be seen on treks around the country's Gangkhar Puensum region, notably in June and July. Expect to see buttercups, larkspurs, lilies and geraniums at higher elevations. The more temperate regions are covered in orchids, violets, and white, pink and red rhododendrons.
Where to see the best flowers:?Mountain passes such as Dochula Pass and Pelela Pass are prime areas to see wildflowers. The Chele La Nature Trek, which offers a panoramic view of the higher Himalayas, is lined with blue poppy, orchids, and rhododendron varietals.
What is Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance and why you need it.
Also called ?Medigap? Insurance it is sold by Private Insurance Companies and covers gaps in Medicare Coverage.
The Medicare program provides healthcare coverage to approximately 44 million Americans, making it America?s largest government-sponsored healthcare program in which qualifying consumers can enroll. However, even though it provides coverage for many health-related issues, Medicare often does not cover the full cost of healthcare for participants. Participants, therefore, need to be aware of what is and is not covered by their particular plan in order to ensure that they purchase necessary Medicare Supplement insurance or enroll in additional coverage plans, if needed.
Medicare coverage has deductibles that increase every year, and many gaps that could leave you with unlimited out-of-pocket expenses. A Medicare Supplement plan can help protect against these expenses. Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance helps you pay for co-pays, coinsurance, deductibles and excess charges not normally covered by Medicare.
In addition, Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance also provides some Benefits not provided by Medicare. It?s only for original Medicare. It doesn?t provide insurance for other types of health coverage, including:
Medicare Advantage Plan Stand-alone Prescription Drug Plans Employer/Union Group Health Coverage Medicaid Veterans Administration (VA) Benefits TRICARE
There are two reasons you need Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance: 1. Cover Gaps in Original Medicare 2. Receive Benefits not Covered by Original Medicare
In short, Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance Plans help you reduce out of pocket expenses not covered by original Medicare.
As the nation?s leading independent agency specializing in Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance Plans, MediGap Advisors can show you how you can save money with the best Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance plans that fit your needs and your situation.
Our professional advisors will take a look at your biggest health care expenses and show you the best Medicare Supplemental Health Insurance plans to protect you from charges that Medicare doesn?t cover. Call 866-681-7712 to speak with a professional advisor.
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Public release date: 22-Mar-2012
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{Val with her husband and son, L.}
{Val?s adorable son, L., reading a book in French}
