In a new paper, a Simon Fraser University economist finds that robo-calling, if the phenomenon did occur, could have significantly influenced voter turnout and ballot results in the last federal election. Anke Kessler's discussion paper is available on her website and on Worthwhile Canadian Initiative, an economics blog. Elections Canada is investigating New Democrat and Liberal party allegations that the Conservatives hired companies to robo-call voters in ridings across Canada, thereby influencing the Tories' 2011 federal election win. The term robo-calling describes ...

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Tennessee's urban forests, currently valued at about $80 billion, also provide almost $650 million in benefits such as carbon storage, pollution removal, and energy reduction according to a new U.S. Forest Service report. The authors of Urban Forests of Tennessee, 2009 found there are 284 million trees in urban areas in the state, with canopies covering 33.7 percent of 1.6 million acres of urban area. Those urban forests provide an estimated $204 million per year in pollution removal and $66 million per year in energy savings. The study is the first ...

Curly, Larry and Moe have just arrived to Cool Cat Casino thanks to their latest game release, The Three Stooges II. This online slot machine is the sequel of one of the casino's most beloved slots, The Three Stooges. Just as its predecessor, this game is themed after the cult t.v show enjoyed by many of the casino players. It follows the adventures of the three stooges, Moe, Larry and Curly as the players discover impressive bonus features and beautifully made graphics. The Three Stooges II is the latest addition to the ever-growing collection of casino games that Cool ...

Earlier evidence out of UCLA suggested that meditating for years thickens the brain (in a good way) and strengthens the connections between brain cells. Now a further report by UCLA researchers suggests yet another benefit. Eileen Luders, an assistant professor at the UCLA Laboratory of Neuro Imaging, and colleagues, have found that long-term meditators have larger amounts of gyrification ("folding" of the cortex, which may allow the brain to process information faster) than people who do not meditate. Further, a direct correlation was found between the amount of gyrification ...

The meal is pushed way, untouched. Loss of appetite can be a fleeting queasiness or continue to the point of emaciation. While it's felt in the gut, more is going on inside the head. New findings are emerging about brain and body messaging pathways that lead to loss of appetite, and the systems in place to avoid starvation. Today, scientists report in Nature about a brain circuit that mediates the loss of appetite in mice. The researchers also discovered potential therapeutic targets within the pathway. Their experimental results may be valuable for developing new ...

Headlines trumpeting astronomical interest rates and stories of payday lenders preying on vulnerable borrowers are "lies, damn lies, and statistics," says Gary Miller-Cheevers, CEO from speedeloans. In a statement issued today, Mr. Miller-Cheevers explains: "There are a lot of misconceptions about payday lenders and a lot of strange statistics that are interpreted negatively to portray all payday lenders as the bad guys. While I accept that sadly there are some unscrupulous lenders out there, used responsibly, this form of borrowing can be a cost-effective ...

As acreage of row crops managed with conservation tillage increases, more growers are encountering slugs, elevating their importance as crop pests. Slugs can eat virtually all crops, and they are challenging to control because of the limited number of management tactics that are available. In "Slug (Mollusca: Agriolimacidae, Arionidae) Ecology and Management in No-Till Field Crops, With an Emphasis on the mid-Atlantic Region," a free, open-access article appearing in the Journal of Integrated Pest Management, the authors discuss the species of slugs that are commonly ...

Ob-gyns are uniquely positioned to play a major role in reducing the effects of toxic chemicals on women and babies, according to an analysis led by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) researchers. Linda C. Giudice, MD, PhD The team recommends a multipronged approach that includes evaluating patients' environmental exposures to chemicals and providing education, in addition to broader strategies to influence government policy. Over the past 70 years, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of natural and synthetic chemicals to which every person ...

A new study of three diets with obese children shows that all diets are effective in managing weight but that a reduced glycemic load diet – one that accounts for how many carbs are in the food and how much each gram of carbohydrate raises blood glucose levels – may be most promising. The Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center study of low-carb, reduced glycemic load and portion-controlled diets with obese children is published online in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study shows that children have more difficulty following a strict, low-carb diet, particularly ...

Princeton University researchers have used a novel virtual reality and brain imaging system to detect a form of neural activity underlying how the brain forms short-term memories that are used in making decisions. By following the brain activity of mice as they navigated a virtual reality maze, the researchers found that populations of neurons fire in distinctive sequences when the brain is holding a memory. Previous research centered on the idea that populations of neurons fire together with similar patterns to each other during the memory period. The study was performed ...

CORVALLIS, Ore. – Hundreds of lives are being lost each year in the United States because of mistakes made in what engineers call the "dilemma zone" – that area before a stoplight intersection where the traffic light turns yellow and the driver isn't sure whether to stop or go ahead. New research at Oregon State University will help to more precisely identify that danger zone. Traffic engineers can then use than information, along with advanced technology that can monitor the speed and location of oncoming traffic, to improve yellow-light timing and help address this ...

The coffee berry borer, Hypothenemus hampei (Ferrari), is considered one of the most serious pests in coffee plantations worldwide. Infestations of this small beetle are difficult to combat; most of the insect's lifecycle is completed inside coffee berries, making insecticide penetration and contact difficult. Female beetles bore holes into developing berries attached to the tree through the blossom scar and create 'galleries' where they remain and deposit their eggs. The developing larvae feed on the bean or endosperm of the seed, reducing yields as well as the quality ...

In honor of 1,000 days in orbit, the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) team at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt Md. has released two new videos. One video takes viewers through the moon's evolutionary history, and reveals how it came to appear the way it does today. Another video gives viewers a guided tour of prominent locations on the moon's surface, compiled by the spacecraft's observations of the moon. "Evolution of the Moon" explains why the moon did not always look like it does now. The moon likely started as a giant ball of magma formed from ...

Fireweed Human Capital Management System (HCMS), a cloud-based application designed to assist businesses with human capital challenges, is now available to companies of all sizes, according to Cloud49, the company that developed the software. The Fireweed suite is used to track, manage, and report on multiple human resource- related functions within companies and organizations. It comprises five applications: Compliance and Policy Management; Shareholder Management; Student and Scholarship Management; Board of Directors Management; and Compensation Management. Each ...

The mild winter of 2012 has many people asking, "Where's the snow?" These two snow cover maps show the difference between snow extent on March 3, 2011, and March 5, 2012. The maps were compiled from data collected by the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) instrument aboard NASA's Terra satellite. In 2012, the snow cover is very spotty compared to 2011. In 2011, the Great Lakes were clearly defined by surrounding snow, and snow blanketed the Rocky Mountains, Nevada's Basin and Range, and the Sierra Nevada all the way into southern California. In 2012, ...

A study by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and The University of Minnesota indicates that a parent's weight change is a key contributor to the success of a child's weight loss in family-based treatment of childhood obesity. The results were published today in the advanced online edition of the journal Obesity. "We looked at things such as parenting skills and styles, or changing the home food environment, and how they impacted a child's weight," said Kerri N. Boutelle, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at ...

A tropical storm called Lua formed in the Indian Ocean off Australia's northwestern coast on March 13, 2012. NASA's TRMM satellite passed over Lua and observed moderate rainfall and strong towering thunderstorms within on March 13. By March 14, it was turning back toward Australia and storm warnings had been posted. The area of Australia where Cyclone Lua is located is sparsely populated, but Lua caused the shutdown of over one quarter of the country's crude oil production. The Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over that area on March 13, 2012 ...

RICHLAND, Wash. -- A study that examines a new type of silicon-carbon nanocomposite electrode reveals details of how they function and how repeated use could wear them down. The study also provides clues to why this material performs better than silicon alone. With an electrical capacity five times higher than conventional lithium battery electrodes, silicon-carbon nanocomposite electrodes could lead to longer-lasting, cheaper rechargeable batteries for electric vehicles. Published online in the journal Nano Letters last week, the study includes videos of the electrodes ...

The Kathy Freeman Company, a retained executive search firm focused exclusively on assignments within the investment industry, has concluded its latest proprietary research designed to identify current trends among senior sales and marketing executives. Based on that research the firm has just published its most recent annual whitepaper: "Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?" The trends identified in the paper can be leveraged by CEOs, their human resources partners, or line executives to design a more effective and relevant approach to retaining or attracting ...

A new topical gel now available by prescription significantly decreases the amount of time needed to treat actinic keratosis, a skin condition that is a common precursor to skin cancer, according to a multi-center trial led by researchers at Mount Sinai School of Medicine. The gel, called ingenol mebutate, is applied to the skin for just a few days, making it quicker and even more effective as current therapies require weeks to months to apply. The Phase III study results of the trial are published in the March 15, 2012 issue of the The New England Journal of Medicine. Actinic ...

Some NHS trusts consistently outperform others on a range of measures of patient experience, finds research published online in BMJ Quality & Safety. Furthermore, the top performers tend to be Foundation Trusts and teaching hospitals, the study shows. Patient experience is one of the five domains for assessing NHS performance (NHS Outcomes Framework) and is recognised internationally as a key dimension of healthcare quality. But it is one of the more difficult areas to measure because of the many contributory factors involved, say the authors. The authors, from ...

Significant numbers of teens regularly carry rucksacks for school which top 10 to 15 per cent of their body weight and risk back pain and other related disorders, finds research published online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood. The problem is compounded by a predominantly sedentary lifestyle, say the researchers. They assessed the back health of 1403 pupils between the ages of 12 and 17, drawn from 11 schools in one province in North Western Spain. The teens were weighed twice - once without coats and other items likely to add weight, such as mobile phones, ...

Advising women to breastfeed exclusively for six months may be "unhelpful" and far too idealistic, suggests a qualitative study of new mothers, their partners, and close relatives, published in the online journal BMJ Open. Exclusive breastfeeding for six months is known to confer considerable health benefits for mother and baby, and many governments around the world endorse the World Health Organization recommendations to do so. But more realistic, incremental, and achievable goals should be set instead, particularly in countries that have struggled to meet targets ...

PHILADELPHIA — Dietary cadmium, a toxic metal widely dispersed in the environment and found in many farm fertilizers, may lead to an increased risk of breast cancer, according to a study published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. Cadmium occurs at low concentrations naturally, but scientists are concerned because contamination of farmland mainly due to atmospheric deposition and use of fertilizers leads to higher uptake in plants. "Because of a high accumulation in agricultural crops, the main sources of dietary cadmium ...

Worldwide increases in the incidences of asthma, allergies, infectious and cardiovascular diseases will result from a variety of impacts of global climate change, including rising temperatures, worsening ozone levels in urban areas, the spread of desertification, and expansions of the ranges of communicable diseases as the planet heats up, the professional organization representing respiratory and airway physicians stated in a new position paper released today. The paper is published online and in print in the Proceedings of the American Thoracic Society. The society ...