Noise can be distracting, especially to a person trying to concentrate on a difficult task. Studying annoying noises helps architects design better building environments and policy makers choose effective noise regulations. To better understand how short noise bursts affect humans' mental state, researchers from the University of Nebraska – Lincoln played quarter-second-long white noise clips to test subjects as they worked on arithmetic problems. The researchers noticed a slight general trend toward lower performance when louder noises were played, and also identified ...

Miss hitting the "sweet spot" on a baseball bat and the resulting vibrations can zing your hands. Bat companies have tried for decades to reduce these painful shocks with limited success. But Daniel Russell, a professor in the graduate program in acoustics at Pennsylvania State University in University Park, has figured out that bat vibrations between 600 and 700 hertz (Hz) cause the most pain and that specifically tuned vibration absorbers are the best at combatting the sting. He will present the results of his damping technique comparisons at the 164th meeting of the ...

Earthquakes sway buildings, buckle terrain, and rumble – both audibly and in infrasound, frequencies below the threshold of human hearing. New computer modeling by a team of researchers indicates that most of the low-frequency infrasound comes from an unexpected source: the actual "pumping" of the Earth's surface. The researchers confirmed their models by studying data from an actual earthquake. "It's basically like a loudspeaker," said Stephen Arrowsmith, a researcher with the Geophysics Group at Los Alamos National Laboratory in Santa Fe, N.M., who presents his team's ...

VIDEO: Einstein predicted gravity waves in his general theory of relativity, but to date these ripples in the fabric of space-time have never been observed. Now a scientific research technique called... Click here for more information. A pioneering technology capable of atomic-level precision is now being developed to detect what so far has remained imperceptible: gravitational waves or ripples in space-time caused by cataclysmic events including even the Big Bang itself. A ...

Tropical Storm Maria is moving away from Japan and strong wind shear is pushing its rainfall east of the storm's center, according to NASA satellite imagery. On Oct. 18 at 0845 UTC (4:45 a.m. EDT), NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite saw that rain associated with Tropical Storm Maria was limited to the east of the storm's center. Rainfall was also light to moderate, falling at a rate between .78 to 1.57 inches/20 to 40 mm per hour. There were no areas of heavy rain remaining in the tropical cyclone. The low-level center of the storm is now exposed ...

When the lamp is shattered, The light in the dust lies dead. When the cloud is scattered, The rainbow's glory is shed. These words, which open Shelley's poem "When the Lamp is Shattered," employ visions of nature to symbolize life in decay and rebirth. It's as if he had somehow foreseen the creation of this new Gemini Legacy image, and penned a caption for it. What Gemini has captured is nothing short of poetry in motion: the colorful and dramatic tale of a life-and-death struggle between two galaxies interacting. All the action appears in a single frame, with the ...

Heavy rainfall returned to Typhoon Prapiroon for a brief time on Oct. 18 when NASA's TRMM satellite passed overhead. Prapiroon is battling strong wind shear and is expected to transition into an extra-tropical storm in the next day. NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite captured rainfall data on Prapiroon twice on Oct. 18 when it passed overhead. The first orbit was at 0845UTC and the second at 1019 UTC. TRMM's Microwave Imager (TMI) and Precipitation Radar (PR) data show that rain associated with Prapiroon was falling at a rate of over 75mm/hour ...

Hurricane Rafael is no longer a tropical cyclone. The storm merged with a cold front on Oct. 18, but not before NASA's Terra satellite captured an image of the storm when it was in its last day as a hurricane. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra captured a visible image of Hurricane Rafael in the North Atlantic on Oct. 17 at 1440 UTC (10:40 a.m. EDT). Although Rafael was far from land, its northwestern fringe clouds were brushing Nova Scotia, Canada. By 5 p.m. EDT on Oct. 17, Rafael had become extra-tropical, meaning that ...

In a new perspective piece being published Online First tonight in Annals of Internal Medicine, a physician recalls lessons learned from treating patients affected by the 2002 outbreak of Exophiala (Wangiella) dermatitidis meningitis or arthritis related to contaminated, injectable coticosteroids prepared from a compounding pharmacy. According to the author, the lessons he learned in 2002 are applicable to the current outbreak. He warns that compounding of preservative-free corticosteroids requires meticulous sterility to ensure lack of fungal contamination. Without ...

NEW ORLEANS – Ashley Thomas was born with spina bifida and uses a wheelchair. She also holds a position on the U.S. national para-kayak team, and founded and runs a successful nonprofit organization called "Bridge II Sports." The North Carolina-based organization develops programs that provide opportunities for children and adults with physical disabilities to play team and individual sports. Ms. Thomas will be speaking about her experiences at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference & Exhibition (NCE) in New Orleans at 11:15 a.m., Friday, Oct. 19 in ...

NEW ORLEANS – An abstract presented Friday, Oct. 19, at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans highlights the risky behavior of child pedestrians who are struck by cars – including darting into the street, crossing in the middle of the block, and crossing while using an electronic device. For the abstract, "Risky Behaviors of Pediatric Pedestrians Who are Struck by Motor Vehicles," researchers collected data on all pedestrians who were injured by a motor vehicle and presented to a Level I trauma center in New York City ...

NEW ORLEANS – Collective violence attributed to organized crime and poverty are adversely affecting the mental health of children living near the Texas-Mexico border, according to a poster presented Oct. 19 at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. In the study, "Children's Mental Health and Collective Violence: A Bi-National Study on the United States/Mexican Border," researchers compared psychosocial and behavior scores among children and adolescents living in El Paso, Texas and Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico in ...

NEW ORLEANS – Few adolescent females undergo pregnancy testing in the hospital emergency department (ED), even when they complain of lower abdominal pain, or before they are exposed to radiation for tests or examinations, according to an abstract presented Friday, Oct. 19, at the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) National Conference and Exhibition in New Orleans. In the abstract, "Pregnancy Testing Rates Among Adolescent Emergency Department Patients," researchers reviewed National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey data from 2000 to 2009 on female patients aged ...

Claudio Anasetti, M.D., chair of the Department of Blood & Marrow Transplant at Moffitt Cancer Center, and colleagues from 47 research sites in the Blood and Marrow Transplant Clinical Trials Network conducted a two-year clinical trial comparing two-year survival probabilities for patients transplanted with peripheral blood stem cells or bone marrow stem cells from unrelated donors. The goal was to determine whether graft source, peripheral blood stem cells or bone marrow, affects outcomes in unrelated donor transplants for patients with leukemia or other hematologic malignancies. ...

Bankruptcy May Help Save a House from Foreclosure Plenty of homeowners in California have felt the downward pressure of the economy over the last few years, and many have unfortunately received notices regarding foreclosure. When a homeowner receives a notice of default followed by a notice of sale, an overwhelming feeling of dread and confusion may arise when deciding how to address the circumstances. For some distressed homeowners facing foreclosure in California, bankruptcy may be the most viable option to buy time and perhaps even save the home. Non-Judicial Foreclosure ...

Smart Financial Moves to Make After Divorce When people go through the emotional upheaval that often accompanies divorce, it is easy for them to put financial considerations off to the side while they try to process all of the changes that are occurring. However, people cannot completely ignore money matters during divorce. Divorce requires making several important financial decisions, and people also need to learn how to manage finances as a single person after divorce. There are some important steps people should take after divorce to make themselves more financially ...

Opposing Verdicts on Medical Malpractice Damages Cap in Missouri The Missouri Supreme Court issued a pair of rulings recently that will affect the compensation available to some medical malpractice victims and their families. While both cases centered on Missouri's cap on damages in medical malpractice cases, their outcomes were very different. At issue in both cases was a $350,000 cap on non-economic damages for medical malpractice lawsuits in Missouri. Non-economic damages are awarded for non-monetary harms such as pain and suffering, emotional distress or loss ...

Why Consider Mediation for a New Jersey Divorce? When people think of the word "divorce," it may conjure up images of couples bitterly quarreling over every last item the family owned, protracted court battles and huge attorney fees. Many New Jersey couples are seeing the problems that litigating divorce can lead to, which is contributing to the rise in the popularity of divorce mediation as an alternative to litigation. New Jersey residents should understand the divorce mediation process and potential benefits of mediation. Mediation Process When a couple ...

Trusts and Divorce: The Potential Protection of Separate Property Even though trusts are normally associated with estate planning, a trust can also have role in safeguarding assets during divorce. This article will provide an overview of separate and marital property in Colorado and explain how a trust can be used to protect assets from a former spouse. Colorado Property Division If a couple going through divorcecannot agree on how to divide their assets, a judge will do it for them in court through an asset division process. Colorado is an equitable division state, ...

How Can New York Landlords Collect Unpaid Rent? One of the primary duties of a landlord is collecting rent from tenants. Rent collection can also be one of the most frustrating jobs of a landlord when tenants do not pay. Landlords in New York should understand the process of collecting unpaid rent. Demanding Overdue Rent The first step in beginning a rent collection action is to demand payment of rent from the tenant. The landlord, or someone working for the landlord, must ask the tenant to pay the overdue rent. The demand may be in writing or oral, depending on ...

Common Landlord-Tenant Disputes in New York New York contains one of the largest rental housing markets in the U.S. With so many people renting housing, conflicts between landlords and tenants invariably arise. Landlords and tenants should be aware of their rights and responsibilities, as well as common sources of disputes between renters and landlords and ways of resolving those disagreements. Rights and Responsibilities of Landlords and Tenants New York has laws protecting tenants' rights, including the right to: -A livable, safe and sanitary apartment -Heat ...

TBI Symptoms May Be a Long-Term Problem for Accident Victims A new study has disappointing results for Californians who have received a traumatic brain injury. Traumatic brain injury is the result of a sudden impact or piercing injury to the head, causing damage to the brain. The study screened 500 veterans who served in Afghanistan and Iraq and were diagnosed with TBI while deployed between June 2008 and April 2011. The veterans had been treated at a special TBI clinic at a veterans hospital, and the study assessed their ongoing symptoms. The severity and persistence ...

Fremont Car Dealership Settles Racial Harassment Case for $400,000 A Bay Area car dealership recently agreed to pay $400,000 to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit brought by several former employees who claim they were subject to racial harassment and discrimination by the dealership's general manager. In the lawsuit against Fremont Toyota, four Afghan-Americans who were previously employed as salesmen with the dealership say their general manager harassed them and threatened them with violence. According to court documents, the harassment began in October 2007, ...

Realcomm Conference Group, LLC, producers of CoRE Tech 2012, the leading networking and educational conference for the corporate real estate industry focused exclusively on technology, automation and innovation, has announced the addition of a lighting "hyper" session to this year's conference agenda. This session will provide an illuminating and fast-track OVERVIEW of next-generation lighting technology advancements. The speed and breadth of innovation within the lighting industry continues to accelerate and widely impact everyone who touches a corporate ...

Jacques Descotes Professor and Head at the Poison Center and Pharmacovigilance Department at Lyon University General Hospitals, Lyon, France will give a feature presentation "Immunotoxicity evaluation: from standard toxicity studies to first-in-man clinical trials" at the Inaugural Immunogenicity and Immunotoxicity conference (Jan 31 ¨C Feb 1, 2013 in San Diego, CA) As recommended by the ICH S8 guideline, nonclinical Immunotoxicity evaluation should be incorporated into standard drug development to allow for a weight-of-evidence decision making approach prior ...