Once we learn the relationship between a cue and its consequences—say, the sound of a bell and the appearance of the white ice cream truck bearing our favorite chocolate cone—do we turn our attention to that bell whenever we hear it? Or do we tuck the information away and marshal our resources to learning other, novel cues—a recorded jingle, or a blue truck? Psychologists observing "attentional allocation" now agree that the answer is both, and they have arrived at two principles to describe the phenomena. The "predictive" principle says we search for meaningful—important—cues ...

A study of the reaction by the United States stock market to international financial crises shows that small companies are often hit hardest, and the impact is above and beyond what would be expected given their exposure to global market factors. This unexpected result suggests the significant impact that investors' actions can have during emerging market crises. During these crises, investors flee to the perceived safety of big companies and shed stocks of smaller companies, despite comparable levels of international exposure during normal periods. "The take-away is, ...

Optimalon Software has released version 4.0 of their GNCutter32 stock-cutting optimization library for software developers. The calculation algorithm of cutting plan generation for multi-size stock cutting has been significantly re-designed. A completely new cutting layout minimization algorithm has been developed and successfully implemented in the new version. Finding the optimal stock-cutting plan is a hard optimization problem that arises in woodworking, glass and metal industries on a regular basis. The problem gets even harder when several sizes of the stocks are ...

Bethesda, MD -- If you think yeast is most useful for beer and pizza crust, here's something else to chew on: a team of U.S. researchers has identified and compared the genetic codes for all known species of yeasts closely related to bakers' and brewers' yeast. This information, published in the Genetics Society of America's new open-access journal, G3: Genes | Genomes | Genetics (http://www.g3journal.org), lays the foundation for future understanding of mutation and disease, as studies of yeasts often identify key genes and mechanisms of disease. "We hope to learn to ...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — A new study offers a detailed look at the status of Lyme disease in Central Illinois and suggests that deer ticks and the Lyme disease bacteria they host are more adaptable to new habitats than previously appreciated. Led by researchers at the University of Illinois, the study gives an up-close view of one region affected by the steady march of deer ticks across the upper Midwest. Their advance began in Wisconsin and Minnesota, and is moving at a pace of up to two counties a year in Illinois and Indiana. Today the deer tick is established in 26 Illinois ...

Since 2000, Aces High has been the leader of the pack in flight simulation games. One reason is that HiTech Creations does not believe in standing pat with what they have created. Over the years more than 37 different versions of this wildly popular World War 2 flight simulator game have been introduced and this new version is far and away the best. While other companies tinker around with four or five different games, in effect watering down the attention given to any one game, HiTech Creations founder Dale Addink has always believed that the concentration of talent ...

RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Researchers at the University of California, Riverside have made a discovery in the lab that could help drug manufacturers develop new antiepileptic drugs and explore novel strategies for treating seizures associated with epilepsy – a disease affecting about two million Americans. Neurons, the basic building blocks of the nervous system, are cells that transmit information by electrical and chemical signaling. During epileptic seizures, which generally last from a few seconds to minutes and terminate spontaneously, the concentrations of ions both ...

A team of scientists, led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine, have uncovered a novel mechanism regulating gene expression and transcription linked to Spinocerebellar ataxia 7, an inherited neurological disorder. The discovery promises to have broad ramifications, suggesting that abundant non-coding transcripts of ribonucleic acid (RNA) may be key players in neurological development and function, and could be powerful targets for future clinical therapies. The research, headed by Albert La Spada, MD, PhD, chief of the division ...

In quantum physics there are two classes of fundamental particles. Photons, the quanta of light, are bosons, while the protons and neutrons that make up atomic nuclei belong to the fermions. Bosons and fermions differ in their behavior at a very basic level. This difference is expressed in their quantum statistics. In the 1980s a third species of fundamental particle was postulated, which was dubbed the anyon. In their quantum statistics, anyons interpolate between bosons and fermions. "They would be a kind of missing link between the two known sorts of fundamental ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. -With the increasing pervasiveness of social media and online communication in the operation of most organizations and corporations, little is known about the potential effects of public expressions of anger displayed throughout various online sources. Now, researchers at the University of Missouri have found that angry user-generated comments on Internet sites can further perpetuate negative perceptions of an organization undergoing the crisis. Based on her findings, Bo Kyung Kim, a doctoral student in the University of Missouri School of Journalism, urges ...

COLUMBIA, Mo. –Retirement is often viewed as a time to relax, travel, participate in leisurely activities and spend time with family. However, for many older adults, chronic health problems and poor planning often hinder the enjoyment of retirement. Now, a University of Missouri researcher has found that planning for changes in lifestyle and health leads to better retirement for married couples. Angela Curl, an assistant professor in the School of Social Work, says it is important for couples to plan for retirement, both financially and socially and to consider the changes ...

How does the power output from solar panels fluctuate when the clouds roll in? And can researchers predict these fluctuations? UC San Diego Professor Jan Kleissl and Matthew Lave, a Ph.D. student in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Jacobs School, have found the answer to these questions. They also have developed a software program that allows power grid managers to easily predict fluctuations in the solar grid caused by changes in the cloud cover. The program uses a solar variability law Lave discovered. The finding comes at a time when the ...

It will soon be happening again! On May 18th Chef Point Cafe rolled back the price of gasoline from 6:30-7:30 a.m. to 99 cents per gallon to show appreciation to their loyal horde of customers and to also kick off their "99" deals in celebration of their restaurant expansion. And on July 4th their next "99" deal will take place. The big question is: what will the deal be this time? This wildly popular and iconic Ft. Worth fine dining establishment is in the process of "remembering when" things were simpler in America; when 99 cents could ...

Researchers at the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute in Salt Lake City have identified the first genetic mutation ever associated with a mysterious and potentially devastating form of heart disease that affects women in the final weeks of pregnancy or the first few months after delivery. The disease, peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM), weakens a woman's heart so that it no longer pumps blood efficiently. The disease is relatively rare, affecting about one in 3,000 to 4,000 previously healthy American women. Most PPCM patients are treated with medicine, but about ...

You've just been told you're going on a trip. The only problem is, you don't know where you're going, how you'll be traveling, or what you'll do when you get there. Sound like a wild ride? It's the one our planet is on right now. As land use, human population, consumption and atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations change at an unprecedented pace with complex and unpredictable interactions, it's anybody's guess where we'll end up or what we can do to ensure the most favorable outcome. Recognizing that "guess" is not good enough when talking about the viability of ...

INDIANA DUNES NATIONAL LAKESHORE, Ind. —Native bees – often small, stingless, solitary and unnoticed in the flashier world of stinging honeybees – are quite discriminating about where they live, according to U.S. Geological Survey research. The study found that, overall, composition of a plant community is a weak predictor of the composition of a bee community, which may seem counterintuitive at first, said USGS scientist and study lead Ralph Grundel. This may be because specialized plant-bee interactions, in which a given bee species only pollinates one plant species ...

BLACKVILLE, S.C. — Scientists from Clemson University and the USDA Agricultural Research Service have developed a new variety of not-so-sweet potato, called Liberty. Known as a boniato, or tropical sweet potato, Liberty has a dark red skin and light yellow, dry flesh with a bland flavor. Boniato potatoes originated in the tropical Americas and are grown in south Florida in the United States. They can be served fried, mashed or in soup. "We developed Liberty because other boniato varieties are susceptible to damage by nematodes (microscopic parasitic worms)," said John ...

An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have used induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) to reveal for the first time how reduced levels of a specific protein may play a central role in causing at least one inherited form of the disease. The work, published in the June 2011 online issue of the journal Human Molecular Genetics, could help scientists overcome a major hurdle in the study and treatment of ALS, an incurable neuromuscular ...

AMARILLO – One potato field west of Bushland hosts three separate studies, all aimed at helping growers nationwide, even internationally, understand the habits and controls of the potato psyllid. The potato psyllid is the insect that transmits a bacterium that causes the relatively new disease in potatoes known as zebra chip, according to Dr. Charlie Rush, Texas AgriLife Research plant pathologist. The team of AgriLife Research scientists and a Texas AgriLife Extension Service specialist is working on potato psyllid control and epidemiology of disease transmission under ...

Hurricane Beatriz is skirting the southwestern Mexican coast today, June 21 and bringing heavy rains and high surf to coastal areas, including Mexico's biggest port. NASA satellite imagery showed that Beatriz seemed to develop an eye that opened on microwave imagery and closed on visible imagery, appearing to give satellites a "wink." Last night (June 20, 2011) by 8 p.m. EDT, heavy rains were spreading over the southwestern Mexican coast. At that time, Beatriz was still a tropical storm. By 11 p.m. EDT Beatriz had strengthened into a hurricane. At 5 a.m. EDT today, June ...

Tropical Depression 06W is still slowing, making its way through the South China Sea today and has weakened overnight. NASA infrared satellite imagery showed a much more disorganized storm with scattered convection, which accounts for its weakened status from tropical storm to tropical depression. On June 21 at 1500 UTC (11 a.m. EDT) the newly weakened Tropical Depression 06W was located about 480 nautical miles east-southeast of Hanoi, Vietnam near 18.8 North and 113.8 East. Depression 06W's maximum sustained winds had decreased to 25 knots (28 mph/46 kmh). It was moving ...

Leading online casino CastleCasino.com has today furthered their live dealer offering with a new Spanish speaking version of their renowned live roulette game, broadcasted by real croupiers totally in Spanish. The new Spanish version of the live roulette game is shown live during 19.30PM and 4.00AM GMT and will feature in addition to the current English speaking version of the game. As well as the croupiers interacting with players in the Spanish language, the new live roulette version game interface will also be designed in Spanish, making it the easier for Spanish ...

The independent assessment, written by WCS Senior Conservation Scientist Dr. John Weaver, is a compilation and synthesis of the latest information on these species – and how climate change may affect them – from 30 biologists in the region and from nearly 300 scientific papers. In addition, Weaver spent four months hiking and riding horseback through these remote roadless areas to evaluate their importance for conservation. The Crown of the Continent is a trans-border ecosystem of dramatic landscapes, pristine water sources, and diverse wildlife that stretches more than ...

Chef Don at The Eatery on Beach Street has a delicious new creation for the dog days of summer: The "Anthony" Weiner. It's a kosher, half-pound hotdog served wrapped in lettuce or on a toasted bun. Patrons can choose toppings from ketchup, mustard, relish, grilled onions, chili, and even a bbq sauce with a hint of chocolate if they find the plain Anthony hard to swallow. The Anthony comes with hand cut fries on the side. "We recommend the Anthony wiener stay wrapped at all times," quipped Chef Don Gifford. Good and wholesome, this Anthony ...

CHAMPAIGN, lll. — With the BeeSpace Navigator, University of Illinois researchers have created both a curation tool for genetic biologists and a new approach to searching for information. The project was a collaboration between researchers at the Institute for Genomic Biology and the department of computer science. Led by Bruce Schatz, professor and head of medical information science at the U. of I., the team described the software and its applications in the web server issue of the journal Nucleic Acids Research. When biologists need information about a gene or its ...