Why are some places more prone to bribery and corruption than others? Part of the answer seems to be the level of collective feeling in a society, according to research by Pankaj Aggarwal, University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC) professor of marketing in the Department of Management, and Nina Mazar, University of Toronto professor of marketing. Aggarwal and Mazar discovered that people in more collectivist cultures – in which individuals see themselves as interdependent and as part of a larger society – are more likely to offer bribes than people from more individualistic ...

Before Congress passed a budget deal in early August 2011, President Obama expressed concern in a televised speech that the federal government would be unable to pay Social Security benefits without a long-term agreement on the budget. Others in Washington, including President Obama's budget director Jack Lew and Senate majority leader Harry Reid, disputed the president's assertion, maintaining that Social Security is a self-funding program with a $2.6 trillion trust fund that is capable of funding benefit payments for the next 25 years. How could politicians deliver such ...

Zinc plays a critical role in regulating how neurons communicate with one another, and could affect how memories form and how we learn. The new research, in the current issue of Neuron, was authored by Xiao-an Zhang, now a chemistry professor at the University of Toronto Scarborough (UTSC), and colleagues at MIT and Duke University. Researchers have been trying to pin down the role of zinc in the brain for more than fifty years, ever since scientists found high concentrations of the chemical in synaptic vesicles, a portion of the neuron that stores neurotransmitters. ...

Miami Beach, Fla. — The prognosis for patients with stage II and III inoperable non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) is poor, with only about 15 percent of patients surviving at five years post-treatment for the disease. While new treatment strategies are being intensely studied, timely assessment of their efficacy has proven difficult. In a presentation today, Mitchell Machtay, MD, principal investigator of the ACRIN 6668/RTOG 0235 trial and RTOG deputy chair, reported the that post-treatment F-18 fluorodeoxyglucose-positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) scans show promise ...

EAST LANSING, Mich. -- What makes people great? Popular theorists such as the New Yorker's Malcolm Gladwell and the New York Times' David Brooks argue that intelligence plays a role -- but only up to a point. Beyond that, they say, it's practice, practice, practice. Zach Hambrick agrees with the practice argument -- imagine where Bill Gates would be if he hadn't honed his programming skills, after all -- but the Michigan State University scientist takes exception to the view that intelligence plays no role in determining excellence. In a provocative new paper, Hambrick ...

Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue recently announced the expansion of the list of conditions that qualify a benefit applicant for a fast-track application under either the Quick Disability Determination (QDD) or Compassionate Allowances program (CAL). The SSA created the QDD and CAL programs in 2008 to help get disability benefit payments to those who need them most. It is important for those who apply for Social Security disability benefits to be aware of the fast-track process to see if they qualify. What Conditions Qualify? The fast-track program initially ...

New data gathered from the latest census and the Center for Disease Control's National Vital Statistics System reveal that states that perform or recognize same-sex marriage have lower divorce rates for all couples compared to states that do not recognize or ban same-sex marriage. Five of the ten states with the lowest divorce rates are among the eight states that perform or recognize same-sex marriage. In 2009, the divorce rate for these states was 41.2 percent, compared with 50.3 percent in states without same-sex marriage. That rate increases to 53.2 percent if one ...

A University of Colorado Boulder-led team excavating a Maya village in El Salvador buried by a volcanic eruption 1,400 years ago has unexpectedly hit an ancient white road that appears to lead to and from the town, which was frozen in time by a blanket of ash. The road, known as a "sacbe," is roughly 6 feet across and is made from white volcanic ash from a previous eruption that was packed down and shored up along its edges by residents living there in roughly A.D. 600, said CU-Boulder Professor Payson Sheets, who discovered the buried village known as Ceren near the ...

Atlanta fireplace supplier Craft Stove and Fireplace Center is promoting fire safety with guidance on how to safely enjoy a back yard fire pit. Crisp autumn nights are the perfect time to gather around a warm fire, and these tips will ensure that this pleasant family activity is also a safe one. "The first stop in practicing fire safety is to take the right precautions," explains Melinda Pulliam, Director of Marketing for Craft Stove and Fireplace Center. "There are many easy steps you can take to minimize safety hazards." Keep fires small, and ...

Not long ago, geologically speaking, a now-vanished lake covered a huge expanse of today's Canadian prairie. As big as Hudson Bay, the lake was fed by melting glaciers as they receded at the end of the last ice age. At its largest, Glacial Lake Agassiz, as it is known, covered most of the Canadian province of Manitoba, plus a good part of western Ontario. A southern arm straddled the Minnesota-North Dakota border. Not far from the ancient shore of Lake Agassiz, University of Cincinnati Professor of Geology Thomas Lowell will present a paper about the lake to the Geological ...

Atlanta granite countertops retailer Craftmark Solid Surfaces, Inc., reports that quartz has seen an increase in sales as a countertop surfaces. In recent years, granite has been the most requested surface, its success generally attributed to its natural beauty and durability. However, though Granite may have been the clear leader in Atlanta countertops resurfacing in 2010, quartz is rapidly gaining in popularity. Craftmark announced that quartz has soared in sales this year, challenging granite for the title of best countertop surface. "Sales for quartz surfaces ...

Alexandria, VA -- The universe is repulsive, but in a good way. In 2008, while studying bursts of light emitted from exploding stars, newly named Nobel Laureates Adam Riess, Saul Perlmutter and Brian P. Schmidt discovered one of the most mysterious, yet prevalent, components of our universe: dark energy. The three were using the brightness and color from supernovae to determine the speed with which the universe expanded in the past, versus how fast it is expanding now. What they discovered completely transformed how astronomers view the evolution of space. The growth of ...

"Wash away my troubles, wash away my pain," goes the song. Is there such a thing as soap and water for the psyche? Yes: Metaphor is that powerful, say Spike W.S. Lee and Norbert Schwarz of the University of Michigan in a literature review appearing in the latest issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science, a journal published by the Association for Psychological Science. Religious rites like baptism make psychological sense, the article suggests. Says Lee: "Cleansing is about the removal of residues." By washing the hands, taking a shower, or even thinking of ...

Atlanta tinting company The Tint Guy has been helping local business cut down on their energy costs this summer by installing protective window film on office windows throughout the city. Specializing in commercial, residential, and automotive window tinting in Atlanta, The Tint Guy provides only the highest quality window tint Atlanta has available. Commercial tinting is one of the most cost-efficient options for improving an office building, capable of recovering its cost in energy savings within a short period of time. The larger the building, the more potential to ...

Our life experiences -- the ups and downs, and everything in between -- shape us, stay with us and influence our emotional set point as adults, according to a new study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researchers. The study suggests that, in addition to our genes, our life experiences are important influences on our levels of anxiety and depression. "In this time of emphasis on genes for this and that trait, it is important to remember that our environmental experiences also make important contributions to who we are as people," said principal investigator ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 5, 2011 -- A possible new target for breast cancer therapy comes from the discovery that the Tyk2 protein helps suppress the growth and metastasis of breast tumors, as reported in Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc. The article is available free online for the next week at http://www.liebertpub.com/jir. Qifang Zhang and Andrew Larner, Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA), and colleagues from VCU, Temple University School of Medicine (Philadelphia, PA), Jagiellonian ...

The professionals at Atlanta Peach Movers, a full service Atlanta moving company specializing in local and long distance moves, remind Atlanta residents of the importance of hiring a professional moving service to move fragile or bulky items such as pianos, paintings, or arcade games. These items are valuable and often irreplaceable, and require special care when being moved. The Atlanta long distance movers at Atlanta Peach Movers are highly trained and experienced in moving all types of specialty items. In addition to Atlanta moving services, Atlanta Peach Movers ...

Researchers from Mount Sinai School of Medicine have found high levels of food toxins called Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) in infants. Excessive food AGEs, through both maternal blood transmission and baby formula, could together significantly increase children's risk for diseases such as diabetes from a very young age. A second study of AGEs in adults found that cutting back on processed, grilled, and fried foods, which are high in AGEs, may improve insulin resistance in people with diabetes. AGEs -- toxic glucose byproducts previously tied to high blood sugar ...

New Rochelle, NY, October 5, 2011 -- Obesity among adolescents has more than tripled over the past 40 years, and recent estimates find that over 18% of teens in the U.S. are obese. Education and mentoring targeting obesity and delivered in high schools by peers has been shown to have a significant impact on teen diet and physical activity, according to a study published in Childhood Obesity, a peer-reviewed journal published by Mary Ann Liebert, Inc.(http://www.liebertpub.com) The article "Effect of HealthCorps, a High School Peer Mentoring Program, on Youth Diet and Physical ...

I&K International Limited has announced an exciting new offer, whereby clients at Hairtrade.com will receive a free makeup bag when they buy any 3 items at the online store. Customers shopping at Hairtrade.com - the UKs leading online hair care and hair extensions supplier - will be able to take advantage of the offer up until the 15th of October 2011. Hairtrade.com has found a great deal of success since it started to supply all kinds of hair extension products back in 2005, and is now considered a must-visit for shoppers interested in hair extensions and wigs. ...

A Johns Hopkins Children's Center study of young people with melanoma, a deadly form of skin cancer, has found that some children have a higher risk of invasive disease than adults. The study, published online Oct. 5 in the journal Cancer, is believed to be the first to compare disease spread in children and adults, and the results suggest some profound biological differences between childhood and adult melanoma, the researchers say. The Johns Hopkins team analyzed five years of medical records tracking 717 children and 1,368 young adults (ages 20 through 24) diagnosed ...

"False memories tend to get a bad rap," says developmental psychologist Mark L. Howe, of Lancaster University in England. Indeed, remembering events incorrectly or remembering events that didn't happen can have grave consequences, such as the criminal conviction of an innocent person. "But false memories are a natural outcropping of memory in general. They must have some positive effect, too." That argument -- that memory illusions were evolutionarily adaptive and remain useful for psychological well being and problem-solving -- is the subject of an intriguing paper in ...

ForexTrading.net, a new online forex magazine is aiming to keep users updated with all the latest happenings in the world of forex trading, through a videographic that has been published on the site. The new videographic will give users of the site an overview of the forex trading market, and can even be embedded into users' personal websites or blogs where it can be shared with other interested internet users. Recent years have seen a number of changes in the forex trading market; not only has the number of people who trade in this manner shot up, but the way in ...

Though viruses are the most abundant life form on Earth, our knowledge of the viral universe is limited to a tiny fraction of the viruses that likely exist. In a paper published this week in the online journal mBio, researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, Washington University in St. Louis, and the University of Barcelona found that raw sewage is home to thousands of novel, undiscovered viruses, some of which could relate to human health. There are roughly 1.8 million species of organisms on our planet, and each one is host to untold numbers of unique viruses, ...

Heavy rainfall was occurring in Tropical Storm Philippe's southeastern quadrant when NASA's Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) satellite flew over it this week, and the storm continues to strengthen. Philippe was still a tropical storm when the TRMM satellite passed above on October 3, 2011 at 1806 UTC (2:06 p.m. EDT) but the National Hurricane Center (NHC) predicts that the storm may become a hurricane in a couple days. TRMM's TMI and Precipitation Radar (PR) data showed that bands of powerful convective thunderstorms were still dropping rain at a rate of over ...