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Kanye West is a master of marketing. It seems, the hip-hop superstar and designer has also crossed over to evangelism. The crowds are enormous and growing each week. In fact, this past Sunday on very short notice – one of his pop-up services attracted close to 6,000 people. The reaction from religious leaders has been mixed. Some are embracing and encouraging anyone who can use their star power to spread the good word. Others are hesitant as some events seem to be exclusive to some and not open to anyone hearing the call. Religion is never an easy topic to cover as a journalist – and if you are a reporter covering – that’s where our experts can help with your stories. Dan DeWitt, Ph. D. is the Director of the Center for Biblical Apologetics and Public Christianity at Cedarville University and is an expert in areas where faith and secularism intersect. Dr. DeWitt is available to speak with media regarding the rising popularity of Kanye West on the religious scene – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) – Let our experts shine a light on some remedies and solutions
It’s that time of year again. The days are shorter, colder and gloomier - and as the seasons change, many across America are impacted. “Seasonal affective disorder is estimated to affect 10 million Americans. Another 10 percent to 20 percent may have mild SAD. SAD is four times more common in women than in men. The age of onset is estimated to be between the age of 18 and 30. Some people experience symptoms severe enough to affect quality of life, and 6 percent require hospitalization. Many people with SAD report at least one close relative with a psychiatric disorder, most frequently a severe depressive disorder (55 percent) or alcohol abuse (34 percent).” Psychology Today The numbers are a lot larger than many assume and it’s why the experts from Michigan State University are offering up their solutions to beat back the symptoms this year. “If you think you might be at risk of SAD (or lack of energy and reduced motivation in the winter) therapeutic light treatment will most likely benefit you and prevent or reverse SAD,” said Dr. Hanne M. Hoffman, an assistant professor of Neuroscience at Michigan State University. They symptoms of SAD are serious: Feelings of hopelessness and sadness Thoughts of suicide Hypersomnia or a tendency to oversleep A change in appetite, especially a craving for sweet or starchy foods Weight gain A heavy feeling in the arms or legs A drop in energy level Decreased physical activity Fatigue Difficulty concentrating Irritability Increased sensitivity to social rejection Avoidance of social situations If you are suffering – seeing a medical professional is advised. If you are a journalist covering SAD – the let our experts help. Dr. Hoffmann’s research program is focused on how light changes your well being, motivation, fertility and pregnancy success. She is available to speak with media – simply click on her icon to arrange an interview today.
D. Tyler McQuade, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering at Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering, is principal investigator of a multi-university project seeking to use artificial intelligence to help scientists come up with the perfect molecule for everything from a better shampoo to coatings on advanced microchips. The project is one of the first in the U.S. to be selected for $994,433 in funding as part of a new pilot project of the National Science Foundation (NSF) called the Convergence Accelerator (C-Accel). McQuade and his collaborators will pitch their prototype in March 2020 in a bid for additional funding of up to $5 million over five years. Adam Luxon, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering who has been involved from the beginning, explained it this way: “We want to essentially make the Alexa of chemistry.” Just as Amazon, Google and Netflix use data algorithms to suggest customized predictions, the team plans to build a platform and open knowledge network that can combine and help users make sense of molecular sciences data pulled from a wide range of sources including academia, industry and government. The idea is right in line with the goal of the NSF program: to speed up the transition of convergence research into practice in nationally critical areas such as “Harnessing the Data Revolution.” The team itself reflects expertise across several specialties. Working with McQuade are James K. Ferri, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemical and Life Science Engineering; Carol A. Parish, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and the Floyd D. and Elisabeth S. Gottwald Chair in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Richmond; and Adrian E. Roitberg, Ph.D., professor in the Department of Chemistry at University of Florida. Two companies are also involved with the project: Two Six Labs, based in Arlington, Virginia, and Fathom Information Design, based in Boston, Massachusetts. Currently, there is no shared network or central portal where molecular scientists and engineers can harness artificial intelligence and data science tools to build models to support their needs. What’s more, while scientists have been able to depict what elements make up a molecule, how the atoms are arranged in space and what the properties of that molecule are (such as its melting point), there is no standard way to represent — or predict — molecular performance. The team aims to fill these gaps by advancing the concept of a “molecular imprint.” The collaborators will create a new system that represents molecules by combining line-drawing, geometry and quantum chemical calculations into a single, machine-learnable format. They will develop a central platform for collecting data, creating these molecular imprints and developing algorithms for mining the data, and will develop machine learning tools to create performance prediction models. Parish said, “The ability to compute molecular properties using computational techniques, and to dovetail that data with experimental measurements, will generate databases that will produce the most comprehensive results in the molecular sciences. “There are many laboratories around the world working in this space; however, there are few organizational structures available that encourage open sharing of these data for the benefit of the community and the common good. We seek to collaborate with others to provide this structure; an open knowledge network or repository where scientists can deposit their molecular-level experimental and computational data in exchange for user-friendly tools to help manage and query the data.” The initial response to their idea has been strong from potential partners. Ferri and the others have already collected more than a dozen letters from major corporations such as Dow and Merck expressing interest in participating. Also on board are Idaho National Laboratory and Argonne National Laboratory, as well as national chemical engineering and chemistry organizations. McQuade said that chemical engineers in major industries including consumer products and oil and gas producers expend a lot of effort running experiments to determine the molecule they want to use, such as finding the best shampoo additive that doesn’t make babies cry. “The ability to design the properties you want is still more art than science.” The team also plans to develop a toolkit for processing and visualizing the data. Roitberg, whose research focuses include advanced visualization, said this could take the form of a virtual reality realm in which a user could find materials that are soluble in water but not oil, for instance, and then be able to browse for similar materials nearby. “We envision a very interactive platform where the user can explore relations between data and desired material properties,” he said.
Pharmaceutical aerosols are painless, fast-acting and less likely to cause side effects than medicines delivered via pills or injections. Yet inhaled therapies are often avoided because of the challenges associated with targeting how aerosol particles are deposited within the lung. “Current inhalers produce fairly large particles, so approximately 90 percent of the medication gets lost in the mouth and throat. It’s swallowed and wasted. This prevents many medications from being delivered through the inhalation route, even though there are a number of advantages to be gained, such as improved efficacy and reduced side effects,” said Worth Longest, Ph.D., the Louis S. and Ruth S. Harris Exceptional Scholar Professor in the Department of Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering in the VCU College of Engineering. Simply making the particles smaller isn’t a solution. “The problem with making the particles smaller is that they go in really well — but they also come straight back out during exhalation,” said Michael Hindle, Ph.D., the Peter R. Byron Distinguished Professor in the VCU School of Pharmacy. With three National Institutes of Health R01 grants totaling more than $7 million, Longest and Hindle are applying a combined engineering and pharmaceutical approach to make inhaled medications more effective and available. In “High-Efficiency Aerosol Delivery Using the Excipient Enhanced Growth Concept: A Human Proof of Concept Study,” Longest and Hindle have created a novel platform that produces particles that are tiny when they enter the lungs — but grow in size as they travel down the warm, humid airways. This platform comprises a device that uses a mixer-heater to produce tiny particles, about one-fifth the size of those from conventional inhalers. With this delivery concept, a pharmaceutical powder or liquid is enhanced with a hygroscopic excipient, essentially a substance that attracts water. “Your lungs are full of water,” Hindle said. “So if you put something inside your lungs that likes water, it’s going to swell and grow in size and not be expelled.” Using sodium chloride — salt — as the hygroscopic excipient, they have tested their system in vitro. The results have been promising. “We’ve flipped the needle,” Longest said. “Previously, only 10 percent of the initial dose would reach the lung, and that 10 percent was poorly targeted within different lung regions. With our approach, you can get 90 percent in and distribute that 90 percent evenly, or target a specific lung region.” The researchers will begin testing their method on adults in two human proof-of-concept trials beginning in late 2019 and early 2020. In two separate, but related, NIH studies, Longest and Hindle are adapting this concept for patients ranging in age from newborn to six. Each project proposes a device approximately the size of a lipstick tube that contains a pediatric formulation (liquid or powder) enhanced with a hygroscopic excipient. There are currently no inhalers on the market specifically designed for children or infants, even though their inhaling patterns and volumes differ from those of adults. Pediatric patients therefore must use adult-sized devices. One study focuses on targeted lung delivery of the antibiotic tobramycin to children with cystic fibrosis, a population prone to respiratory infection because of overproduction of mucus in the lungs. Pediatric cystic fibrosis patients with lung infections usually receive the medication via, 20-minute nebulizer treatments daily, sometimes up to four per day. Longest and Hindle’s proposed alternative is a pediatric dry powder inhaler that is fast and easy to use. Because its particles are engineered to reach the deep lung, it is expected to eradicate infection more efficiently because there is less risk of resistant strains of bacteria forming in undertreated regions of the lung. The other study focuses on delivery of surfactant aerosols to premature infants. Surfactant is a substance found in healthy lungs that keeps the tissue supple enough to expand and contract properly. The respiratory system is among the last to develop in utero, so in newborns and preemies, this substance is sometimes not fully developed — or not present at all. When these infants experience severe respiratory distress, the current protocol is to intubate and administer large doses of liquid surfactant to the lung by way of the throat. This highly invasive and potentially dangerous procedure causes distress and blood pressure fluctuations. In this third NIH-funded study, the researchers are also developing a tiny, small volume nebulizer and a dry powder inhaler for efficient, noninvasive respiratory support for infants.
As director of engineering at the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Engineering, Supathorn Phongikaroon, Ph.D., leads Virginia's only nuclear engineering education program offering bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees. VCU Engineering is also home to the nation's only hybrid doctorate in mechanical and nuclear engineering. Phongikaroon is a nationally recognized expert on nuclear waste minimization. He has developed novel ways to process and store used nuclear fuel. He has also developed new techniques to ensure safeguard special nuclear materials. Prior joining the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) in January 2014, he held academic and research positions at University of Idaho in Idaho Falls, Idaho; the Idaho National Laboratory in Idaho Falls, Idaho; and the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, D.C. Phongikaroon grew up in a restaurant family. While working at the Idaho National Laboratory, he authored "Thaidaho," a cookbook for creating Thai cuisine in American kitchens.
Alphabet And Fitbit: Could This Be the Competition the Wearables Segment Has Been Waiting For?
If Google can use FitBit to dominate the wearables market as they did with the android operating system for smartphones, the acquisition could make sense. Of course, the major player in this market is Apple. Circuit Seed for configurable analog in scalable digital and CoreLogika for hyperspeed logic computing are technologies that could lead to a significant improvement in performance over the Apple watch. These technologies are built using the Complementary Current-Injection Field-Effect Transistor (CiFET). This configurable platform uses the ratio of the source and drain channels to meet specific performance requirements for each application. The circuits are less complex, linear without correction circuitry, and much smaller using a fraction of the power consumption of similar components. They generate less heat and operate over a wide temperature range - improving the performance, sensitivity and reliability of the circuits. This results in longer battery life and more accurate measurements, making them suitable for monitoring applications for physical activity and health. Alphabet already has a health science division that will be an important asset. If the acquisition is successful, we expect to see an android smart phone integration with Fitbit that could extend the monitoring, data collection and analysis capabilities. The simplicity of Circuit Seed makes the RF connectivity an easy task to complete. For more information, please contact: Lesley Gent Director Client Relations, InventionShare™ lgent@InventionShare.com (613) 225-7236, Ext 131 Or visit our website at www.CircuitSeed.com
Covering cyber-security and internet crime? Let our expert help with your stories
The internet just turned 50 and along with the celebration and progress comes with it concern about crime, cyber-security and how all that data that’s moving along the information super-highway is kept secure. It seems every almost daily now there are stories of data-breaches, corporations being hacked, computers being held ransom and rogue nations looking to steal secrets or even launch attacks online. Beyond personal security, the world is on heightened alert around countries' elections, as international interference has become a real threat to national security. If you’re a journalist covering this beat – let one of the leading experts in the country help with your stories. Thomas J. Holt is a professor in the School of Criminal Justice at Michigan State University whose research focuses on computer hacking, malware, and the role of the Internet in facilitating all manner of crime and deviance. His work has been published in various journals including Crime and Delinquency, Deviant Behavior, the Journal of Criminal Justice, and Youth and Society. Professor Holt is available to speak with media about these issues – simply click on his icon to arrange an interview today.
Fifty years ago, the first computer-to-computer connection was made through ARPANET, the precursor to the modern internet. What will the internet look like 50 years from now? That's the topic of a new report by Elon University's Imagining the Internet Center and Pew Research. The report, "The Next 50 Years of Digital Life," is part of a series on the future of the internet and features insights from 530 technology pioneers, innovators, developers, business and policy leaders, researchers and activists. They were asked to respond to a series of questions about how individuals' lives might be affected by the evolution of the internet during the next 50 years. “In just 50 years the internet grew from a handful of interlinked computers to a worldwide network connecting billions of active users across all corners of the globe,” said Kathleen Stansberry of Elon University’s Imagining the Internet Center, the lead author of the report. “This vast experiment in human collaboration has not been without cost, but these experts believe that by enacting thoughtful reform today the vision of the internet as a tool of equality and enlightenment can still be realized.” Overall, 72 percent of these respondents said they hope and expect that the next 50 years might bring significant change for the better; 25 percent say they fear there could be significant change for the worse and 3 percent said they expect there will be no significant change. You can find a list of key themes from the report here, and the full report, including scores of comments from experts, here. If you're interested in talking with Professor Stansberry about the report, please reach out to Owen Covington, director of the Elon University News Bureau, at ocovington@elon.edu or (336) 278-7413. Professor Stansberry is available for phone, email and broadcast interviews.
Minority of Twitter users responsible for vast majority of political tweets
Associate Professor of Law David Levine recently lent his expertise to a Washington Post article looking at who is posting tweets about U.S. politics on the popular social media platform. The Oct. 24 article by reporter Marie Baca examined a recent report by the Pew Research Center that found that 10 percent of U.S. adult Twitter users generated 97 percent of tweets mentioning national politics. Those who were most prolific accounted for just 6 percent of all U.S. adult Twitter users, but authored 73 percent of all political tweets, the report found. "It can be quite dangerous if you’re not taking a step back and saying, ‘What do I know about the sources of this information and who or what is behind it?’” — David Levine, associate professor of law Levine, who is the founder of the "Hearsay Culture" radio show about modern technology issues, noted that Twitter users who find themselves in an echo chamber populated by others who mirror their views could take less time to determine the origin or assess the truthfulness of information they receive in that chamber. “It can be quite dangerous if you’re not taking a step back and saying, ‘What do I know about the sources of this information and who or what is behind it?’” he said. “It’s very easy psychologically, especially if you’re coming into it with a particular perspective, to go along with it.” If Professor Levine can assist with your reporting about social media and online extremism, please reach out to Owen Covington, director of the Elon University News Bureau, at ocovington@elon.edu or (336) 278-7413. Professor Levine is available for phone, email and broadcast interviews.
Higher education must rediscover the 'service ethic' of teaching
Earlier this autumn, Otterbein University hosted the Democratic National Congress for a debate of its presidential candidates. All eyes from across America and around the world were on Otterbein and it was with that attention that the school’s president John Comerford weighed in with his thoughts on how leaders need to prioritize higher education. “Today the nation’s attention will shift to Otterbein University in Westerville, Ohio, as we host the next Democratic presidential primary debate. Questions will abound — of the candidates, between the candidates and, afterward, about who may or may not have “won” the night, all in the service of helping voters decide who might be best suited to lead. An important question that should be asked and won’t, however, isn’t for the candidates at all but for higher education: “Are you ready to lead?” Sadly, the answer is, “No.” Make no mistake, I fully expect plenty of discussion about higher education at the debate — its high costs, student debt, workforce shortages and the difficulty of change. I just hope the candidates don’t hold back in calling to account higher education itself simply because we happen to be their hosts. There is plenty of blame to go around with the challenges in higher education today, and higher education institutions themselves own a fair share of it. Perhaps no issue contributes more to higher education’s affordability problems than institutions’ — and parents’ — preoccupation with “prestige.” Exclusivity and selectivity are thought to be hallmarks of quality, which fosters a system that rewards institutions for perpetually raising admission standards and prices. The problem with this is that test scores — the most frequently-used metric for a student’s academic strength — generally track with a family’s income. Students from higher-wealth families have higher test scores and more frequently gain entrance to “selective” institutions, which steadily become less and less diverse. To essentially segregate students by their parents’ income this way, however, is un-American and does nothing to enrich an education or advance quality in research or instruction. It is the inevitable product, though, of a mindset that “selective” and high rankings are the top priorities in higher education. This is a falsehood that needs to be turned upside down…” October 15 – The Hill The rest of the op-ed is attached – and it is well worth the read. But if you are a journalist covering this topic or wish to learn more – then let us help. John Comerford is an expert in higher education, regional and national topics. He is the President of Otterbein University and is available to speak with media regarding higher education in America. Simply click on his icon to arrange an interview.
