By Martyn Herman LONDON, March 28 (Reuters) - Whether by design, necessity, self-interest or because of all three, nurturing youngsters has become fashionable for England's elite with no expense spared in the hunt for the new Wayne Rooney or Steven Gerrard. The length and breadth of the country, scouts from top clubs are hoovering up promising footballers barely old enough to tie their bootlaces in a bid to unearth the 30 million pounds ($45.40 million) treasures of the future. ...
Happy Monday! ?Today I thought I would compile a list of great resources to use as a school psychology student. ?My professors have recommended many helpful online resources to my cohort to help with our education as well as for us to reference throughout our careers.? Here are some great websites to check out!
First and foremost, I recommend the NASP (National Association of School Psychologists) website.? Many of us are members and several of us attended the NASP conference in Philadelphia last year.? PCOM pays for our student membership this year, which gives us access to multiple school psychology resources and helps connect us to the professional community in which we will one day be working.? I also recommend following NASP?s Facebook page.? There are daily posts including advice from professionals, current education news, and internship/job postings.?
Joining your local state school psychology association is also a great way to network with professionals in the field, get information on state conferences and workshops, and become involved in state leadership roles.? Many people in my cohort live in Pennsylvania and New Jersey and each state has its own school psychology association.
What Works Clearinghouse is an initiative of the Institute of Education Sciences at the Department of Education that provides quality research on numerous educational programs and policies and their effectiveness. PaTTAN offers a lot of great resources to those in the education field.??PaTTAN provides information about professional training, downloadable instructional materials, and legal information about state and federal laws pertaining to education.? Intervention Central provides RTI (Response to Intervention) resources for academic and behavioral interventions.? There are many free manuals and resources available for download. PCOM also provides many resources for us as students.? Listed below are several pages that I have found useful since beginning my education here.? While our professors do a great job of preparing us for upcoming proficiency assessments, this page has basic information about the program sequence and course descriptions for those who like to see what's coming up next semester or year (like me!). When researching for a project or paper, the Psychology Guide on the library website is easy to use and provides a variety of great articles.? The Psychology liaison librarians are always quick to respond to emails and very helpful if I need to retrieve an article that is not available online. I have visited PCOM?s financial aid website many times.??The website contains information about how to apply for financial aid, financial planning tips, and many other resources regarding the funding of your education and budgeting.? The financial aid office is also very helpful when trying to figure out the student loan situation.
I worked at the Office of Student Affairs for a few semesters and the people here rock!? Professional, academic, and personal support is provided.? You can find out more about clubs and organizations offered at PCOM as well as how to get involved in a Federal Work Study job.? Also, if you are ever in need of a sugar boost, the candy bowl is usually full???
Measuring mercury: Common test may overestimate exposure from dental amalgam fillingsPublic release date: 20-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Erickson ericksn@umich.edu 734-647-1842 University of Michigan
ANN ARBORA common test used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings may significantly overestimate the amount of the toxic metal released from fillings, according to University of Michigan researchers.
Scientists agree that dental amalgam fillings slowly release mercury vapor into the mouth. But both the amount of mercury released and the question of whether this exposure presents a significant health risk remain controversial.
Public health studies often make the assumption that mercury in urine (which is composed mostly of inorganic mercury) can be used to estimate exposure to mercury vapor from amalgam fillings. These same studies often use mercury in hair (which is composed mostly of organic mercury) to estimate exposure to organic mercury from a person's diet.
But a U-M study that measured mercury isotopes in the hair and urine from 12 Michigan dentists found that their urine contained a mix of mercury from two sources: the consumption of fish containing organic mercury and inorganic mercury vapor from the dentists' own amalgam fillings.
"These results challenge the common assumption that mercury in urine is entirely derived from inhaled mercury vapor," said Laura Sherman, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and lead author of a paper in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. A final version of the paper was published online March 20.
"These data suggest that in populations that eat fish but lack occupational exposure to mercury vapor, mercury concentrations in urine may overestimate exposure to mercury vapor from dental amalgams. This is an important consideration for studies seeking to determine the health risks of mercury vapor inhalation from dental amalgams," said U-M biogeochemist Joel D. Blum, a co-author of the paper and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
The study by Sherman, Blum and their colleagues demonstrates that mercury isotopes can be used to more accurately assess human exposure to the metaland the related health risksthan traditional measurements of mercury concentrations in hair and urine samples. Specifically, isotopes provide a novel chemical tracer that can be used to "fingerprint" both organic mercury from fish and inorganic mercury vapor from dental amalgams.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but more than 2,000 tons are emitted into the atmosphere each year from human-generated sources such as coal-fired power plants, small-scale gold-mining operations, metals and cement production, incineration and caustic soda production.
This mercury is deposited onto land and into water, where micro-organisms convert some of it to methylmercury, a highly toxic organic form that builds up in fish and the animals that eat them, including humans. Effects on humans include damage to the central nervous system, heart and immune system. The developing brains of fetuses and young children are especially vulnerable.
Inorganic mercury can also cause central nervous system and kidney damage. Exposure to inorganic mercury occurs primarily through the inhalation of elemental mercury vapor. Industrial workers and gold miners can be at risk, as well as dentists who install mercury amalgam fillingsthough dentists have increasingly switched to resin-based composite fillings and restorations in recent years.
About 80 percent of inhaled mercury vapor is absorbed into the bloodstream in the lungs and transported to the kidneys, where it is excreted in urine. Because the mercury found in urine is almost entirely inorganic, total mercury concentrations in urine are commonly used as an indicator, or biomarker, for exposure to inorganic mercury from dental amalgams.
But the study by Sherman, Blum and their colleagues suggests that urine contains a mix of inorganic mercury from dental amalgams and methylmercury from fish that undergoes a type of chemical breakdown in the body called demethylation. The demethylated mercury from fish contributes significantly to the amount of inorganic mercury in the urine.
The U-M scientists relied on a natural phenomenon called isotopic fractionation to distinguish between the two types of mercury. All atoms of a particular element contain the same number of protons in their nuclei. However, a given element can have various forms, known as isotopes, each with a different number of neutrons in it nucleus.
Mercury has seven stable (nonradioactive) isotopes. During isotopic fractionation, different mercury isotopes react to form new compounds at slightly different rates. The U-M researchers relied on a type of isotopic fractionation called mass-independent fractionation to obtain the chemical fingerprints that enabled them to distinguish between exposure to methylmercury from fish and mercury vapor from dental amalgam fillings.
###
In addition to Sherman and Blum, co-authors of the Environmental Science & Technology paper are Alfred Franzblau and Niladri Basu of the U-M School of Public Health. Funding was provided by the John D. MacArthur Professorship to Blum and by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health training grant and a Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research Grant to Basu.
More about Blum: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/earth/people/faculty/ci.blumjoeld_ci.detail
[ | 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.
Measuring mercury: Common test may overestimate exposure from dental amalgam fillingsPublic release date: 20-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Jim Erickson ericksn@umich.edu 734-647-1842 University of Michigan
ANN ARBORA common test used to determine mercury exposure from dental amalgam fillings may significantly overestimate the amount of the toxic metal released from fillings, according to University of Michigan researchers.
Scientists agree that dental amalgam fillings slowly release mercury vapor into the mouth. But both the amount of mercury released and the question of whether this exposure presents a significant health risk remain controversial.
Public health studies often make the assumption that mercury in urine (which is composed mostly of inorganic mercury) can be used to estimate exposure to mercury vapor from amalgam fillings. These same studies often use mercury in hair (which is composed mostly of organic mercury) to estimate exposure to organic mercury from a person's diet.
But a U-M study that measured mercury isotopes in the hair and urine from 12 Michigan dentists found that their urine contained a mix of mercury from two sources: the consumption of fish containing organic mercury and inorganic mercury vapor from the dentists' own amalgam fillings.
"These results challenge the common assumption that mercury in urine is entirely derived from inhaled mercury vapor," said Laura Sherman, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences and lead author of a paper in the journal Environmental Science & Technology. A final version of the paper was published online March 20.
"These data suggest that in populations that eat fish but lack occupational exposure to mercury vapor, mercury concentrations in urine may overestimate exposure to mercury vapor from dental amalgams. This is an important consideration for studies seeking to determine the health risks of mercury vapor inhalation from dental amalgams," said U-M biogeochemist Joel D. Blum, a co-author of the paper and a professor in the Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences.
The study by Sherman, Blum and their colleagues demonstrates that mercury isotopes can be used to more accurately assess human exposure to the metaland the related health risksthan traditional measurements of mercury concentrations in hair and urine samples. Specifically, isotopes provide a novel chemical tracer that can be used to "fingerprint" both organic mercury from fish and inorganic mercury vapor from dental amalgams.
Mercury is a naturally occurring element, but more than 2,000 tons are emitted into the atmosphere each year from human-generated sources such as coal-fired power plants, small-scale gold-mining operations, metals and cement production, incineration and caustic soda production.
This mercury is deposited onto land and into water, where micro-organisms convert some of it to methylmercury, a highly toxic organic form that builds up in fish and the animals that eat them, including humans. Effects on humans include damage to the central nervous system, heart and immune system. The developing brains of fetuses and young children are especially vulnerable.
Inorganic mercury can also cause central nervous system and kidney damage. Exposure to inorganic mercury occurs primarily through the inhalation of elemental mercury vapor. Industrial workers and gold miners can be at risk, as well as dentists who install mercury amalgam fillingsthough dentists have increasingly switched to resin-based composite fillings and restorations in recent years.
About 80 percent of inhaled mercury vapor is absorbed into the bloodstream in the lungs and transported to the kidneys, where it is excreted in urine. Because the mercury found in urine is almost entirely inorganic, total mercury concentrations in urine are commonly used as an indicator, or biomarker, for exposure to inorganic mercury from dental amalgams.
But the study by Sherman, Blum and their colleagues suggests that urine contains a mix of inorganic mercury from dental amalgams and methylmercury from fish that undergoes a type of chemical breakdown in the body called demethylation. The demethylated mercury from fish contributes significantly to the amount of inorganic mercury in the urine.
The U-M scientists relied on a natural phenomenon called isotopic fractionation to distinguish between the two types of mercury. All atoms of a particular element contain the same number of protons in their nuclei. However, a given element can have various forms, known as isotopes, each with a different number of neutrons in it nucleus.
Mercury has seven stable (nonradioactive) isotopes. During isotopic fractionation, different mercury isotopes react to form new compounds at slightly different rates. The U-M researchers relied on a type of isotopic fractionation called mass-independent fractionation to obtain the chemical fingerprints that enabled them to distinguish between exposure to methylmercury from fish and mercury vapor from dental amalgam fillings.
###
In addition to Sherman and Blum, co-authors of the Environmental Science & Technology paper are Alfred Franzblau and Niladri Basu of the U-M School of Public Health. Funding was provided by the John D. MacArthur Professorship to Blum and by a National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health training grant and a Michigan Institute for Clinical and Health Research Grant to Basu.
More about Blum: http://www.lsa.umich.edu/earth/people/faculty/ci.blumjoeld_ci.detail
[ | 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.
If you have been looking for a My Vegas Business article that you can rely on, then you?re in the right place. A lot of people have been discussing this online marketing phenomenon and it?s easy to get swept along with all the hype. It?s reasonable to say that some products completely rely upon marketing in order to get sales, but here is an option where you can at last take complete control of the marketing that you carry out within your business.
There?s been so much hope and hype placed on My Vegas Business in recent times that it seems there is no getting away from all the enthusiasm and excitement surrounding this product. But there is actually plenty of justification for this because, in my experience, there are very few products indeed that can compete with this one in how far it manages to go.
My Vegas Business ? What Is It?
My Vegas Business provides the ideal opportunity for internet marketers to break into a market that has plenty of scope for competition and success. Even if you lack any real experience in this market, the full tutorial packages available will ensure that you can develop your skills while working on the job.
From the outset, this solution, which is basically a ?business in a box?, offers both new and experienced marketers a ready-made website plus numerous customer leads. Locating customers on the move is crucial when developing any online business and the solution offered here provides an ideal chance to get in touch with a marketplace that?s massive.
If you are an online marketer seeking the perfect platform in order to build an internet business with the power to tap into a huge market, then you have found the solution here. My Vegas Business is an ideal starting point for anyone looking for help to get into a highly lucrative market.
My Vegas Business ? What I Liked
The lead creation and development process offered by My Vegas Business really makes it stand apart from many of those so-called sensations of the internet marketing world. It is pretty usual for products to give you a good grounding on the theory, but they often fail to provide a sufficient level of support when it comes to finding customers or on how you can turn your visitors into buyers.
However, this time there seems to be a pretty strong sense of support offered. If you?re feeling that you might require that one last push to get you making money online, then look no further, because the thing that My Vegas Business can do is get you into a place where you can begin to make easy, yet effective, money online this year.
My Vegas Business ? What I Didn?t Like
If you are a firm believer that niche marketing is the way to go, you aren?t going to be impressed by My Vegas Business. Some marketers will relish the opportunity to have a crack at a market that welcomes 40 million visitors every year but there will be plenty of other marketers new and old that will have grave concerns about battling for market share.
If you fall into the category of marketers who prefer to work within a niche, then it is possible to drill down within the Vegas market and focus on a particular niche, but My Vegas Business may offer more scope than some marketers would want.
My Vegas Business ? Overall Thoughts
It is hard to think of a more complete solution for such a vibrant online market than the one supplied by My Vegas Business. Any budding internet marketer, of whatever level, should find that this product provides the helping hand they?ve been waiting for to make a splash and to generate real money online.
For more information about my vegas business, check out the My Vegas Business Review. I?m sure you?ll like it!
Historically, Microsoft has been fairly transparent about its plans to support older versions of Windows -- and it tends to give users a nice, long heads up, too. Until now, though, that hasn't always been true of Windows Phone -- remember how long it took Redmond to confirm you couldn't upgrade to WP8? In any case, Microsoft seems to be taking a more direct approach going forward: the company posted a brief table on its site, explaining when it will end support for Windows Phone 8 and 7.5. In short, each OS gets a total of 18 months of support, and that period has of course already begun, as both operating systems are shipping on various hardware. Support for WP8 will end first, on July 8th, 2014, while 7.5 "Mango" will hit the end of the road on September 9th of that year. Either way, if you purchased your device on a two-year contract, you might be eligible for a new handset by then anyway. And besides, those of you who took a chance on 7.8 surely did so with the understanding that it can't be upgraded to WP8.
MAIDUGURI, Nigeria (AP) ? Fighters linked to the radical Islamic terrorist network Boko Haram attacked a military base in Nigeria's north on Sunday in an assault that left at least 20 people dead, as the network's leader denied any peace talks with Nigeria's government.
The attack in the village of Monguno, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) from the city of Maiduguri, punctuated the video statement by Abubakar Shekau that said Nigeria will remain under attack by the group until the multiethnic nation is ruled under Islamic law. Shekau also threatened the man who in recent months claimed to be a leader of Boko Haram and said that the group wanted to agree to a cease-fire with Nigeria's security forces.
The attack Sunday, coupled with the recent kidnappings of foreigners claimed by Boko Haram and its affiliates, offered fresh doubts about the ability of Nigeria's weak central government to stop the bloodshed, despite its deployment of more security forces in the region.
"Whoever kills any of our members should await a grave retaliation from us," Shekau says in the video in the Hausa language of Nigeria's predominantly Muslim north. "We will continue waging war against them until we succeeded in establishing an Islamic state in Nigeria."
The attack on Monguno saw fighters arrive in SUVs and kill a local village leader, witnesses who spoke to The Associated Press said. The fighters later attacked a barracks at Monguno with gunfire and explosives, witnesses said.
In a statement, military spokesman Lt. Col. Sagir Musa said that 20 "Boko Haram terrorists" were killed, without acknowledging that at least one civilian had been killed. Musa also did not say if any soldiers had been wounded or killed in the attack. Nigeria's military routinely downplays civilian and soldier casualty figures.
Another security official, who requested anonymity as he could not speak to journalists, confirmed the attack occurred, but acknowledged details remained sketchy about the incident. An AP journalist could not immediately reach the village Sunday.
The attack Sunday comes after the release of the new Shekau video. A journalist in northeast Nigeria received the video Friday from men he said he didn't know. The journalist began sharing the video with colleagues late Saturday. While the AP could not immediately independently verify the authenticity of the video Sunday, the man on the video looked like Shekau and spoke like the Boko Haram's leader.
The video carried no date, but Shekau directly referenced the activities and claims of a man who has identified himself as Sheikh Mohammed Abdulaziz, a self-proclaimed second-in-command in Boko Haram. In November, a man with a similar voice as Abdulaziz told journalists in a telephone conference call that Boko Haram was willing to enter into peace talks if they were held in Saudi Arabia and involved former military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. However, Buhari refused to take part and no such talks took place as attacks continued.
In January, Abdulaziz told journalists in Maiduguri that a cease-fire would soon emerge that never did.
In the video, Shekau denies knowing Abdulaziz. In the past, Nigeria security forces have used so-called Boko Haram members in sting operations and to sow discord in the group.
"I swear by Allah that Abdulaziz or whatever he is calls himself did not get any authority from me to represent me in any capacity. I do not know him," Shekau says. "And if we per adventure encounter Abdulaziz and his group, I swear by Allah we are going to mete them with the grave judgment that Allah has prescribed for their likes in the holy book."
In the video, Shekau also says the group has had difficulty putting its messages online and blamed government interference for having to now rely on couriers to reach the public. The last Shekau video seen was posted to the Internet in late November.
Boko Haram, whose name means "Western education is sacrilege," has conducted a guerrilla campaign of bombings and shootings across Nigeria's north over the last two years. Boko Haram is blamed for at least 792 killings last year alone, according to an AP count. The group's command-and-control structure remains unclear, though it appears to have sparked several splinter groups.
A group of men claiming to belong to Boko Haram claimed responsibility for the kidnapping of seven French tourists from northern Cameroon late February ? a first for the group. Meanwhile, a Boko Haram splinter group known as Ansaru has claimed the recent kidnappings in north Nigeria of a British citizen, a Greek, an Italian, three Lebanese and one Filipino, all employees of a Lebanese construction company called Setraco.
Despite the deployment of more soldiers and police to northern Nigeria, the nation's weak central government has been unable to stop the killings. Meanwhile, human rights groups and local citizens blame both Boko Haram and security forces for committing violent atrocities against the local civilian population, fueling rage in the region.
___
Associated Press writer Jon Gambrell in Lagos, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
![[ Back to EurekAlert! ]](http://www.eurekalert.org/images/back2e.gif){kind=small}
Public release date: 20-Mar-2013
Share ] 