What makes a house feel like home? That?s the question that the best interior designers set out to answer. Interior design may begin with decisions over color palettes, layouts and furnishings, but a home?s decor isn?t truly complete until the design creates an environment in which those who inhabit the space feel at home.
Whether you?re a professional interior designer or whether you?re decorating your own home, creating the right mood and atmosphere is what makes interior design so enjoyable. There?s something magical about turning a mix of color, pattern, texture, light and material into home decor that affects how you feel.
What Atmosphere Is Best For Your Home?
If you?re decorating your own home, the first thing to establish is what home means to you. Would you like your home and the decor in it to feel warm and welcoming at the end of a busy day? Would you appreciate surroundings that energize and invigorate you? Would you like an environment that offers escape from everyday life? Would you enjoy a space that nurtures your creativity and imagination? Once you?ve pinpointed the kind of atmosphere that best suits your personality, you can begin to create a home with decor that makes that environment a reality.
Create a Warm and Inviting Mood
In general, a home with decor in warm colors is likely to feel cozier than a home furnished with a cool color palette. Colors like red, orange and yellow are so intrinsically linked to fire, warmth and sunlight that they are ideal for creating a room that feels welcoming, comfortable and cozy. You can enhance this atmosphere in the home with decor that has texture and pattern, from a thick-pile area rug to a leather ottoman.
Energize Your Home with Your Decor Choices
If you and your family enjoy a full and active lifestyle, you may feel most a home when the decor creates an invigorating mood. Clean, sleek lines and simple, streamlined forms cause the eye to sweep across the room, creating a sense of movement and energy. Light, cool colors make the space feel expansive and open. Clutter has no place in a room built for action. Accessories crafted in glass and sparkling metallic add energy to the room without adding a feeling of weight to the room.
Have Fun with Your Home and Decor
Sometimes the best home decor items are the things that just make you smile. Whether it?s a framed group of family photos or whimsical collection of animal clocks, there?s nothing wrong with surrounding yourself with objects that bring you joy. An eclectic decorative style is best for those with a lighthearted approach to interior design. You can mix and match furniture and accessories from any design style you like. To keep the fun from looking too chaotic, choose colors, forms or patterns that will work as unifying element to connect the home?s decor.
Create Your Own Personal Environment
Your home offers opportunities to recreate fantastical or historical environments as well. If you feel like you were born in the wrong century or time, you can still create a setting that mirrors a cherished era. With the right furnishings, your home and decor can transport anywhere you like.
Effective interior design is less about choosing stylish objects and more about creating an environment where you and your family and friends feel comfortable. Whether that?s a space with the energy of a luxury penthouse or one with the ambiance of an English manor is up to you. If you approach home decorating with the goal of creating the right atmosphere, you?re sure to achieve a result that feels just like home.
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A cancer victim inspired President Barack Obama to push on with his fight for health care reform, which culminated in the Supreme Court upholding his Affordable Care Act.
Natoma Canfield, from Ohio, who was diagnosed with leukemia about two and half years ago after battling an early form of cancer for many years, had made national headlines after the White House shared a letter she wrote to the president a few years ago expressing grave concerns about her inability to afford insurance.
In his remarks from the White House Thursday, Obama said he "carried Natoma's story with me every day of the fight to pass this law."
"It reminded me of all the Americans, all across the country, who have had to worry not only about getting sick, but about the cost of getting well," Politico quoted Obama, as saying.
"Natoma is well today. And because of this law, there are other Americans, other sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers, who will not have to hang their fortunes on chance," he added.
Canfield claimed that she didn't realize the president had her letter framed and hanging at the White House until he said so in his speech Thursday, and got a call from the White House just minutes before Obama stepped in front of the cameras.I got goose bumps. To think the president of the United States has my letter hanging on the wall. Wow," she said.
"I'm just blown away that the president has my letter on his wall. I'm just very proud. I didn't cry because I don't have any tears now. They were radiated away," she added. (ANI)
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FILE- In this Feb. 18, 2006, file photo, former New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, left, talks with catcher Yogi Berra as they sign autographs in Huntington, N.Y. The baseball jersey worn by Larsen when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history will soon be available for auction by Steiner Sports Memorabilia who will run the auction October through December 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Betz, File)
FILE- In this Feb. 18, 2006, file photo, former New York Yankees pitcher Don Larsen, left, talks with catcher Yogi Berra as they sign autographs in Huntington, N.Y. The baseball jersey worn by Larsen when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history will soon be available for auction by Steiner Sports Memorabilia who will run the auction October through December 2012. (AP Photo/Ed Betz, File)
FILE- In this Oct. 8, 1956, file photo, New York Yankees catcher Yogi Berra is embraced by pitcher Don Larsen as he leaps into Larsen's arms at the end of Game 5 of baseball's World Series against the Brooklyn Dodgers at New York's Yankee Stadium. Larsen pitched a perfect game. The jersey worn by Larsen when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history will soon be available for auction by Steiner Sports Memorabilia who will run the auction October through December 2012. (AP Photo, File)
NEW YORK (AP) ? The baseball jersey worn by New York Yankees legend Don Larsen when he pitched the only perfect game in World Series history will soon be available for auction.
Steiner Sports Memorabilia is conducting the auction in the fall. They say a bidding war is expected for the one-of-a-kind jersey. In May, a jersey worn by Babe Ruth sold for more than $4.4 million.
Larsen pitched the perfect game during Game 5 of the World Series at Yankee Stadium on October 8, 1956. The Bronx Bombers defeated the Brooklyn Dodgers 2-0 in the game and went on to win the series in seven.
Larsen, now 82, says the game is the best thing that ever happened to him.
Steiner will announce the auction at a press conference Thursday.
I sat on the edge of my seat, with butterflies in my stomach, waiting this morning for the Supreme Court decision on the Affordable Care Act.
Why?
I, like millions of other moms, have family members with pre-existing conditions who've already been helped by the consumer protections in the Affordable Care Act. And the very idea of health reform being rolled back and that those I love dearly again being at the mercy of insurance companies that could cancel their health policies just when they need them most, or deny coverage completely due to pre-existing conditions, has been keeping me awake at night.
In short: The Supreme Court ruling today had me doing a happy dance of relief. And I'm not alone. At my organization, MomsRising, we've heard from thousands upon thousands of moms across the country about how the Affordable Care Act has already made a critical difference in their lives.
Moms like Julie Walters, whose 5-year-old daughter has a rare health condition and was facing a lifetime limit to her health coverage before the Affordable Care Act was passed:
"I'm so overjoyed and relieved! I will be able to sleep soundly for the first time in months now knowing that the Supreme Court won't allow the insurance industry to put a cap on my daughter's health care or punish her for a pre-existing condition that is no fault of her own."
And, moms like Tracy Heiman, who wrote to us with this after the passage of health reform:
"With the passing of reform, I have relief that my son until the age of 19 will not be denied coverage for a pre-existing condition. I have relief that my son will not have to face an annual or lifetime limit for his care. I have relief that my son can stay on our health insurance plan until the age of 26. Our insurance company cannot drop us from the plan when we need insurance the most."
"There may not be a cure for my son's sarcoma at this time, and this fact weighs heavily for our family. But knowing that health care insurance, because of reform, has been improved and a safety net has been put into place, we can have some peace."
Tracy and Julie are also not alone in their relief today. Their children are among the one out of two Americans who have a pre-existing condition who will be/would have been protected from denials of coverage by the Affordable Care Act
Indeed, The Affordable Care Act has improved the lives and health of millions. So far, because of health reform:
? 86 million Americans have been able to get important preventive care including well checks, vaccines, and cancer screenings that help reduce health care costs down the line.
? Approximately 3.1 million young adults are no longer uninsured because they now have the option of staying on their parents' health plans -- giving this generation a chance to get a healthy start to their adult life.
? Approximately 5 million children with pre-existing conditions are not facing a lifetime of insurance denials and reaching a lifetime limit of medical care.
At MomsRising, we've heard from thousands of moms and dads across the country who are sleeping better at night because they know their families can get the health care they need.
The Affordable Care Act also has made it possible for women to get the preventive care they need by requiring all new insurance plans to cover certain preventive health care services without cost-sharing. This is critical for women, who tend to have more preventive health needs and lower incomes than men. The list of required benefits includes vital women's health services such as: mammograms; screenings for cancer, gestational diabetes, domestic violence, HIV and sexually transmitted diseases; lactation and breastfeeding support and equipment, well-woman visits, and contraception.
Approximately 20 million women have already received a prevention service at no cost. For many, having these prevention services makes the difference between having these screenings and not. A report by the Commonwealth Fund found that in 2009, more than half of women delayed or avoided preventive care because of its cost. That's double the number who put off preventive care just two years earlier. Removing cost sharing requirements improves women's access to important preventive services. In fact, one study found that the rate of women getting a mammogram went up as much as 9 percent when cost sharing was removed.
MomsRising member Cindy's experience is a perfect example. As advised by her doctor, Cindy scheduled a colonoscopy after her 50th birthday. However, she had to cancel the procedure after learning that it would cost her $2,300 because she had used her insurance policy's entire allotment for prevention care (just $300 per year!) on her annual physical, leaving her responsible for any additional preventive services. A year later, after the no-cost prevention care provision of health reform took effect, Cindy got her colonoscopy free of charge. She's relieved she can take care of herself and be there for her two children. Cindy is now one of the 54 million Americans who has received at least one preventative health service without a co-pay or deductible payment.
One in two Americans has a pre-existing condition. That means approximately 129 million people could be denied care without the Affordable Care Act's preexisting condition protections. The new benefits of health reform have already saved lives and freed millions of Americans from worrying that they'll lose or be denied insurance due to preexisting conditions. Because of this provision, MomsRising member Dawn's young son has been able to get coverage for a pre-existing eye condition. Before the Affordable Care Act, Dawn was facing crushing monthly bills just to pay for necessary treatments for her child. Now she's able to sleep at night because she knows her son is covered, and can no longer be excluded from health care coverage due to his condition.
Health care reform has already begun providing tax credits for small businesses to purchase coverage for their employees. Nan, a small business owner who owns a record label, says the Affordable Care Act has "improved my business, my life, and can go on to improve the lives of the people I represent." Because of health reform, she received $12,000 in health credits, which she was able to reinvest into her business. Her monthly health care premiums for her staff also went down for the first time in a dozen years.
As the MomsRising member stories show, rolling back health-care reform hurts our families and our economy. Keeping the Affordable Care Act moving forward saves lives, as well as protects both our pocketbooks and our personal freedoms to get the health care we and our families need, when we need it. The new benefits have freed millions of Americans from worrying that they'll lose or be denied insurance.
Too much is at stake to remain silent. Already, before the ink was dry on the Supreme Court decision upholding the Affordable Care Act this morning, some corporate lobbyists and politicians are continuing to try to find a way to gut families' access to healthcare by undermining this critical law that protects healthcare consumers -- playing politics with our health, instead of working to create jobs and strengthen our economy.
We've seen first-hand the positive impact health reform has had already -- and we won't go back to the days when consumers had no power to fight against insurance company abuses like dropping people from coverage when they get sick. MomsRising members have advocated for accessible, affordable health care since the organization was founded in 2006. Our members have played an active role in supporting the passage of the Affordable Care Act. Together, we've made more than 600,000 constituent contacts with legislators. MomsRising members have met with Members of Congress in their district offices, shared their stories with lawmakers, made phone calls to legislative offices, sent emails and sent messages which were delivered to federal legislators in-person by MomsRising members and staff in Washington, DC.
Moms are powerful: We fight for our kids' health, and we fight for change.
We will celebrate this victory by continuing to work our hardest to protect the health of families across the country.
When our children's health is on the line, nothing can stop us. Our nation's families need health reform. Not only so that moms and dads across the nation can sleep better at night, but also because allowing everyone to have secure, affordable access to preventative healthcare saves tax dollars and helps our economy in the long run.
?
Follow Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner on Twitter: www.twitter.com/rowefinkbeiner
NASA explains why clocks will get an extra second on June 30Public release date: 29-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liz Zubritsky elizabeth.a.zubritsky@nasa.gov 301-614-5438 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
If the day seems a little longer than usual on Saturday, June 30, 2012, that's because it will be. An extra second, or "leap" second, will be added at midnight to account for the fact that it is taking Earth longer and longer to complete one full turn--a day--or, technically, a solar day.
"The solar day is gradually getting longer because Earth's rotation is slowing down ever so slightly," says Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Scientists know exactly how long it takes Earth to rotate because they have been making that measurement for decades using an extremely precise technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). VLBI measurements are made daily by an international network of stations that team up to conduct observations at the same time and correlate the results. NASA Goddard provides essential coordination of these measurements, as well as processing and archiving the data collected. And NASA is helping to lead the development of the next generation of VLBI system through the agency's Space Geodesy Project, led by Goddard.
From VLBI, scientists have learned that Earth is not the most reliable timekeeper. The planet's rotation is slowing down overall because of tidal forces between Earth and the moon. Roughly every 100 years, the day gets about 1.4 milliseconds, or 1.4 thousandths of a second, longer. Granted, that's about 100 or 200 times faster than the blink of an eye. But if you add up that small discrepancy every day for years and years, it can make a very big difference indeed.
"At the time of the dinosaurs, Earth completed one rotation in about 23 hours," says MacMillan, who is a member of the VLBI team at NASA Goddard. "In the year 1820, a rotation took exactly 24 hours, or 86,400 standard seconds. Since 1820, the mean solar day has increased by about 2.5 milliseconds."
By the 1950s, scientists had already realized that some scientific measurements and technologies demanded more precise timekeeping than Earth's rotation could provide. So, in 1967, they officially changed the definition of a second. No longer was it based on the length of a day but on an extremely predictable measurement made of electromagnetic transitions in atoms of cesium. These "atomic clocks" based on cesium are accurate to one second in 1,400,000 years. Most people around the world rely on the time standard based on the cesium atom: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Another time standard, called Universal Time 1 (UT1), is based on the rotation of Earth on its axis with respect to the sun. UT1 is officially computed from VLBI measurements, which rely on astronomical reference points and have a typical precision of 5 microseconds, or 5 millionths of a second, or better.
"These reference points are very distant astronomical objects called quasars, which are essentially motionless when viewed from Earth because they are located several billion light years away," says Goddard's Stephen Merkowitz, the Space Geodesy Project manager.
For VLBI observations, several stations around the world observe a selected quasar at the same time, with each station recording the arrival of the signal from the quasar; this is done for a series of quasars during a typical 24-hour session. These measurements are made with such exquisite accuracy that it's actually possible to determine that the signal does not arrive at every station at exactly the same time. From the miniscule differences in arrival times, scientists can figure out the positions of the stations and Earth's orientation in space, as well as calculating Earth's rotation speed relative to the quasar positions.
Originally, leap seconds were added to provide a UTC time signal that could be used for navigation at sea. This motivation has become obsolete with the development of GPS (Global Positioning System) and other satellite navigation systems. These days, a leap second is inserted in UTC to keep it within 0.9 seconds of UT1.
Normally, the clock would move from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 the next day. Instead, at 23:59:59 on June 30, UTC will move to 23:59:60, and then to 00:00:00 on July 1. In practice, this means that clocks in many systems will be turned off for one second.
Proposals have been made to abolish the leap second and let the two time standards drift apart. This is because of the cost of planning for leap seconds and the potential impact of adjusting or turning important systems on and off in synch. No decision will made about that, however, until 2015 at the earliest by the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations that addresses issues in information and communication technologies. If the two standards are allowed to go further and further out of synch, they will differ by about 25 minutes in 500 years.
In the meantime, leap seconds will continue to be added to the official UTC timekeeping. The 2012 leap second is the 35th leap second to be added and the first since 2008.
###
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?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
NASA explains why clocks will get an extra second on June 30Public release date: 29-Jun-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Liz Zubritsky elizabeth.a.zubritsky@nasa.gov 301-614-5438 NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
If the day seems a little longer than usual on Saturday, June 30, 2012, that's because it will be. An extra second, or "leap" second, will be added at midnight to account for the fact that it is taking Earth longer and longer to complete one full turn--a day--or, technically, a solar day.
"The solar day is gradually getting longer because Earth's rotation is slowing down ever so slightly," says Daniel MacMillan of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.
Scientists know exactly how long it takes Earth to rotate because they have been making that measurement for decades using an extremely precise technique called Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI). VLBI measurements are made daily by an international network of stations that team up to conduct observations at the same time and correlate the results. NASA Goddard provides essential coordination of these measurements, as well as processing and archiving the data collected. And NASA is helping to lead the development of the next generation of VLBI system through the agency's Space Geodesy Project, led by Goddard.
From VLBI, scientists have learned that Earth is not the most reliable timekeeper. The planet's rotation is slowing down overall because of tidal forces between Earth and the moon. Roughly every 100 years, the day gets about 1.4 milliseconds, or 1.4 thousandths of a second, longer. Granted, that's about 100 or 200 times faster than the blink of an eye. But if you add up that small discrepancy every day for years and years, it can make a very big difference indeed.
"At the time of the dinosaurs, Earth completed one rotation in about 23 hours," says MacMillan, who is a member of the VLBI team at NASA Goddard. "In the year 1820, a rotation took exactly 24 hours, or 86,400 standard seconds. Since 1820, the mean solar day has increased by about 2.5 milliseconds."
By the 1950s, scientists had already realized that some scientific measurements and technologies demanded more precise timekeeping than Earth's rotation could provide. So, in 1967, they officially changed the definition of a second. No longer was it based on the length of a day but on an extremely predictable measurement made of electromagnetic transitions in atoms of cesium. These "atomic clocks" based on cesium are accurate to one second in 1,400,000 years. Most people around the world rely on the time standard based on the cesium atom: Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Another time standard, called Universal Time 1 (UT1), is based on the rotation of Earth on its axis with respect to the sun. UT1 is officially computed from VLBI measurements, which rely on astronomical reference points and have a typical precision of 5 microseconds, or 5 millionths of a second, or better.
"These reference points are very distant astronomical objects called quasars, which are essentially motionless when viewed from Earth because they are located several billion light years away," says Goddard's Stephen Merkowitz, the Space Geodesy Project manager.
For VLBI observations, several stations around the world observe a selected quasar at the same time, with each station recording the arrival of the signal from the quasar; this is done for a series of quasars during a typical 24-hour session. These measurements are made with such exquisite accuracy that it's actually possible to determine that the signal does not arrive at every station at exactly the same time. From the miniscule differences in arrival times, scientists can figure out the positions of the stations and Earth's orientation in space, as well as calculating Earth's rotation speed relative to the quasar positions.
Originally, leap seconds were added to provide a UTC time signal that could be used for navigation at sea. This motivation has become obsolete with the development of GPS (Global Positioning System) and other satellite navigation systems. These days, a leap second is inserted in UTC to keep it within 0.9 seconds of UT1.
Normally, the clock would move from 23:59:59 to 00:00:00 the next day. Instead, at 23:59:59 on June 30, UTC will move to 23:59:60, and then to 00:00:00 on July 1. In practice, this means that clocks in many systems will be turned off for one second.
Proposals have been made to abolish the leap second and let the two time standards drift apart. This is because of the cost of planning for leap seconds and the potential impact of adjusting or turning important systems on and off in synch. No decision will made about that, however, until 2015 at the earliest by the International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations that addresses issues in information and communication technologies. If the two standards are allowed to go further and further out of synch, they will differ by about 25 minutes in 500 years.
In the meantime, leap seconds will continue to be added to the official UTC timekeeping. The 2012 leap second is the 35th leap second to be added and the first since 2008.
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Google+ Events, Google's alternative to services like Evite or Facebook's Events, was announced at this week's Google I/O conference. And it immediately went viral...but not in good way. You see, Google made a slight miscalculation in terms of the Events' privacy settings. (Insert joke about Facebook envy.) By default, other people have been able to "invite" you to events, and these automatically showed up on your Calendar - even if you had not yet confirmed that you would be attending. The result? Some users were getting invited to dozens upon dozens of unwanted events from people they barely knew. In the case of more popular users, they were?inundated?with hundreds of requests from their wide audience of online friends. The good news is there's a fix for this in the works, and another which you can implement right now.
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ScienceDaily (June 16, 2012) ? Electronic health records (EHRs) are used widely by California physicians, but many of their systems are not designed to meet new federal standards aimed at improving the quality of health care, according to a report from UCSF researchers.
While 71 percent of California physicians have an EHR system, only 30 percent have one with the functionalities needed to achieve "meaningful use" requirements from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services' (CMS), the team reports. These requirements include, for example, the ability to communicate electronically with other health care providers, such as pharmacies, labs, other clinicians, and hospitals, to whom physicians refer patients.
Medicare payments to physicians will be reduced in 2015 if they do not meet these requirements.
The report, available online at http://www.chcf.org/publications/2012/06/meaningful-use-ehrs-physicians, summarizes findings from a 2011 survey conducted by UCSF, in collaboration with the California Medical Board, for the California HealthCare Foundation and the California Department of Health Care Services.
EHRs capture patients' health information, such as medical history, allergies, laboratory test results, radiology images, and payment, in an electronic form that enables clinicians and other providers to access and share the information across medical specialties or facilities. Exchanging electronic records among physician practices and between physician practices and hospitals can improve coordination of care because all providers can have access to the same information.
"We found that physicians are more likely to have electronic health records with functions that support individual patient visits rather than functions that support overall quality improvement," said lead author Janet M. Coffman, PhD, assistant professor at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine.
For example, Coffman said that 61 percent of physicians have EHRs that enable them to record clinical notes electronically but only 45 percent have the capacity to generate routine reports of quality indicators, such as the percentage of patients with diabetes who receive recommended lab tests, foot exams, and eye exams.
The research team also found that the size of a physician's practice is the strongest predictor of having an EHR. Physicians who practice in Kaiser Permanente, other large medical groups, the Department of Veteran Affairs, or the military are much more likely to have EHRs than physicians in smaller practices.
Federal regulations identify three categories of objectives aimed at achieving meaningful use of the technology: core objectives, such as the collection of basic medical information; menu objectives, such as submitting electronic immunization data to immunization registries; and electronic reporting on the quality of care. In 2011 and 2012, clinicians are required to report three quality measures: blood pressure, tobacco status, and adult weight status, as well as three additional clinical quality measures of the clinician's choice.
To further increase the adoption and use of electronic health records, the federal government will provide incentive payments to hospitals and providers that achieve meaningful use of the technology.
The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act incentive payments could total up to $27 billion over 10 years, or as much as $44,000 (through Medicare) and $63,750 (through Medicaid, called Medi-Cal in California) per clinician. This funding also will provide the basis for the creation of a nationwide network of EHRs.
"The Medicare and Medicaid incentive payments will provide valuable resources to physician practices that do not yet have EHRs that will meet meaningful use standards," said Coffman. "Medicaid payments especially are important since we found that community health centers, rural health clinics, and other practices that primarily serve Medicaid beneficiaries and uninsured persons are less likely to have EHRs. Many of these practices are struggling to keep their doors open. Medicaid incentive payments give these practices an opportunity to purchase EHRs."
When fully implemented, EHRs can improve care in a variety of ways, said Coffman. "Reminder systems can alert physicians and other health professionals when patients are due for screening tests, and electronic prescribing systems can incorporate alerts to warn providers if they attempt to prescribe a non-standard dose of a medication or a medication to which a patient is allergic," she said.
For the report, a questionnaire was sent to 10,353 physicians with MD degree license renewals that were due to the California Medical Board between June 1 and July 31, 2011. The questionnaire asked physicians if they had an EHR at their main practice location, and assessed eight of the 15 core objectives and four of the 10 menu objectives that CMS established for meaningful use of EHRs.
The survey was limited to the 7,931 physicians in the sample who reported that they practiced in California and provided at least one hour of patient care per week; 5,384 of these physicians (68 percent) completed the survey.
Co-authors are Kevin Grumbach, MD, chair of the UCSF Department of Family and Community Medicine; Margaret Fix, MPH, research associate at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies; Leon Trainer, programmer/analyst at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies; and Andrew B. Bindman, MD, professor at the UCSF Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and UCSF Department of Medicine.
The study was completed under the auspices of the California Medicaid Research Institute and supported by funds from the State of California Department of Health Care Services, Office of Health Information Technology and the California HealthCare Foundation.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Francisco (UCSF). The original article was written by Karin Rush-Monroe.
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CAIRO (Reuters) - Egyptians voted on Saturday in the first free presidential election in their history that for many offers a choice of the lesser of two evils - a military man who served deposed autocrat Hosni Mubarak or an Islamist who says he is running for God.
Reeling from a court order two days ago to dissolve a new parliament dominated by the Muslim Brotherhood, many question whether the wealthy generals who pushed aside their fellow officer Mubarak last year to appease the pro-democracy protests of the Arab Spring will honor a pledge to let civilians rule.
"Egypt chooses a president today without a constitution or a parliament," Al-Masry Al-Youm daily wrote in a front-page headline, highlighting the uncertainty many Egyptians feel 16 months after Mubarak's 30-year rule ended with mass protests.
With neither a parliament nor a new constitution in place to define the president's powers, Saturday and Sunday's run-off vote will not settle the matter, leaving 82 million Egyptians, foreign investors and allies in the United States and Europe unsure what kind of state the most populous Arab nation will be.
Whoever wins, the army retains the upper hand. A Shafik presidency means a man steeped in military tradition will be back in charge, just like all the other previous presidents. If Morsy wins, the military can still influence how much executive authority he has in the yet-to-be-written constitution.
Many fear the Brotherhood will not accept a defeat quietly and a Shafik win could touch off new turmoil on the streets, forcing the army to take sides to impose order and further unsettling a state at the heart of a turbulent Middle East.
The euphoria that accompanied Mubarak's overthrow on February 11, 2011 has given way to exhaustion and frustration after a messy and often violent transition overseen by the generals.
For those who preferred the secular centrists, leftists and moderate Islamists who lost in the first round, the two-man run-off leaves an unpalatable choice from the extremes.
Some of Egypt's 50 million eligible voters say they will despoil their ballots rather than back Ahmed Shafik, 70, a former air force commander who was Mubarak's last prime minister, or Mohammed Morsy, 60, of the Brotherhood, the clandestine enemy of army rule for six decades.
"Both are useless but we must choose one of them unfortunately," said Hassan el-Shafie, 33, in Mansoura, north of Cairo. "But I am thinking of spoiling my vote."
EXASPERATION
Yet, Shafik has won over many who see him having the army's backing to bring stability to a nation, whose economy has been teetering on the brink of crisis with its foreign reserves drained dramatically after tourists and investors packed up.
"He has exactly what we need in a leader. A strong military man to have a strong grip on the state and bring back security," said Hamdy Saif, 22, a student in Cairo's Nasser City district.
There are signs of exasperation with the Brotherhood's push for power on the back of a revolt driven in its early stages by the secular, urban middle class that may limit Morsy's ability to widen his appeal beyond the Brotherhood's disciplined ranks.
The Brotherhood had secured the biggest bloc in parliament elected in a vote that ended in January. It ran for more seats that it initially said it would and then angered some Egyptians by reneging on a declaration not to seek the presidency.
The court ruling to dissolve parliament reverses its gains, and helped win at least some more sympathizers for the group.
"I was going to vote for Shafik but after parliament was dissolved, I changed my mind and will vote Morsy. There is no more fear of the Islamists dominating everything," said Ahmed Attiya, 35, a IT technician in Cairo's Zamalek district.
"Shafik represents a counter-revolution," he added.
He had joined others to vote early on the first of two days of voting. A result could be known as early Sunday night.
International monitors gave guarded approval of the first round of voting and there were no early reports of major violations on Saturday. One Egyptian monitoring group said early indications were that voting was running smoothly.
The head of the election committee, Farouk Soltan, told Reuters "turn out was good so far" late on Saturday morning, after 46 percent eligible voters cast ballots in the first round.
Critics denounced the court's parliament ruling as a coup and compared it to the start of the Algerian civil war, when the military cancelled an election won by Islamists 20 years ago.
But the Brotherhood renounced violence as a means to achieve political change in Egypt decades ago and an Islamist uprising in the 1990s was put down by Mubarak and his security forces, which have survived last year's revolt intact.
OLD REGIME
Hard-line Islamist violence this month in Tunis, where the first Arab Spring uprising inspired Egyptians to follow, has also hardened fears of political Islam, notably among those dependent on tourism for a living, secular activists, women and the Egypt's Christians, who make up a tenth of the nation.
"With Shafik I know what policy he is going to pursue but Morsy is enigmatic and shadowy like their underground group," said Walid Farouk, a 42-year-old cook, referring to the Brotherhood which was banned for decades under Mubarak.
But some voters said they would not be silent if Shafik won.
"Youths died in the revolution and not so the old regime can return. If Shafik wins, I will be the first one to gather the people and go to Tahrir Square," said Sherif Abdel Aziz, 25, a worker in Fayoum, a city south of Cairo.
More than 850 people were killed in the uprising that brought Mubarak down. The former president has been sentenced to life in jail as was his interior minister but many were angry with the June 2 verdict because six top police officers were acquitted, so many now feel Mubarak could win an appeal.
Both candidates have sought the centre ground, promising to rule in the spirit of the revolution: "It is not correct that the military council wants to rule through me," said Shafik, seen as a potential successor even in Mubarak's time although he and other contenders were overshadowed by the president's son.
Protesters chanted slogans for and against Shafik as he voted in a Cairo suburb, slipping into the polling station by a side door. But he did not face the hail of shoes or the same kind of abuse that he received when he voted in the first round.
Morsy, a last-minute choice for the Brotherhood after their preferred candidate was barred, has played down talk of a crackdown on beachwear and alcohol that would hurt tourism and steered away from confrontation with Israel after three decades of cool peace maintained during Mubarak's military-backed rule.
Morsy cast his vote in a Nile Delta city, driving into the grounds of the polling station set up in a school by car.
But both candidates are also defined by those who promoted them. The Brotherhood candidate says he is running because God expects him to offer his sacrifice for the nation. Shafik's air force career shadowed that of Mubarak, his elder by 13 years.
"We are back to the political dynamic of secular versus Islamist, of a civil state versus an Islamist state," said Mona Makram Ebeid, a political scientist and member of a body that advises SCAF, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
"That is what we as political forces are confronted with today, causing almost a gridlock," she said, referring to months of wrangling between the army, Islamists, liberals and other parties seeking to carve a new course for the nation.
During Mubarak's era, his presidency was mainly endorsed in single-candidate referendums but in 2005, under pressure from his U.S. ally, he held a multi-candidate presidential race. No one was surprised when Mubarak cruised to an easy win because of rules that made it impossible to put up a realistic challenge.
(Additional reporting by Samia Nakhoul in Cairo, Tom Perry in Fayoum and Tamim Elyan in the Nile Delta; Writing by Edmund Blair and Alastair MacDonald; Editing by Samia Nakhoul)
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All times Central Double elimination x-if necessary Host school is Game 1 home team; visiting school is Game 2 home team; coin flip determines Game 3 home team BATON ROUGE TODAY Stony Brook (50-12 ) vs. LSU (46-16 ), 11 a.m.
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CRAFTY CRABS: Hermit crabs and other animals that periodically move into larger dwellings use sophisticated social strategies to exchange limited resources.Image: Grook Da Oger, Wikimedia Commons
Why do testicles hang the way they do? Is there an adaptive function to the female orgasm? What does it feel like to want to kill yourself? Does ?free will?...
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Carrie Bow Cay is a tiny island in the Caribbean Sea, about 14 miles off the coast of Southern Belize. The island is so small?0.77 acres?that you can walk its entire perimeter in under 10 minutes. Scientists regularly visit Carrie Bow Cay to study coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass meadows, as well as the animals that live in these unique ecosystems.
When Sara Lewis and Randi Rotjan of Tufts University travel to Carrie Bow Cay, they spend most of their time underwater, examining corals. But they also wanted to make the most of their time on land, inbetween dives. So the biologists decided to study the behavior of Caribbean hermit crabs (Coenobita clypeatus), around 1,000 of which live on Carrie Bow Cay's sandy shores.
Like all hermit crabs, Caribbean hermit crabs?which are the most popular pet variety in the United States?depend on other creatures' shells for protection. Strip a hermit crab of its shell and you will see its soft, pink abdomen curled behind its head like a fern's frond. Most hermit crabs favor snail shells, although some use the shells of bivalves, like clams and scallops, and others have made do with driftwood, stones and pieces of glass or plastic bottles.
In 2009, Lewis and Rotjan surveyed the entire hermit crab population on Carrie Bow Cay. Many crabs were living shells that were a tight fit or had one too many holes. As they grow, hermit crabs must move into larger shells, so they are always on the lookout for a more spacious dwelling. And an undamaged shell is preferable to a broken one, even if the shells are the same size. Knowing this, the researchers decided to dramatically change the available hermit crab real estate on Carrie Bow Cay. They placed 20 beautifully intact shells that were a little too big for most hermit crabs at various spots around the island and watched what happened.
When a lone crab encountered one of the beautiful new shells, it immediately inspected the shelter with its legs and antennae and scooted out of its current home to try on the new shelter for size. If the new shell was a good fit, the crab claimed it. Classic hermit crab behavior. But if the new shell was too big, the crab did not scuttle away disappointed?instead, it stood by its discovery for anywhere between 15 minutes and 8 hours, waiting. This was unusual. Eventually other crabs showed up, each one trying on the shell. If the shell was also too big for the newcomers, they hung around too, sometimes forming groups as large as 20. The crabs did not gather in a random arrangement, however. Rather, they clamped onto one another in a conga line stretching from the largest to smallest animal?a behavior the biologists dubbed "piggybacking."
Only one thing could break up the chain of crabs: a Goldilocks hermit crab for whom the shell introduced by Lewis and Rotjan was just right. As soon as such a crab claimed its new home, all the crabs in queue swiftly exchanged shells in sequence. The largest crab at the front of the line seized the Goldilocks crab's abandoned shell. The second largest crab stole into the first's old shell. And so on.
No one had ever documented such well-orchestrated shell swapping before, but similar behavior was not unknown. In 1986, Ivan Chase of Stony Brook University made the first observations of hermit crabs exchanging shells in a "vacancy chain"?a term originally coined by social scientists to describe the ways that people trade coveted resources like apartments and jobs. When one person leaves, another moves in. Since then, several researchers?including Lewis and Rotjan?have studied the behavior in different hermit crab species. Some preliminary evidence suggests that other animals use vacancy chains too, including clown fish, lobsters, octopuses and some birds. As Chase explains in the June issue of Scientific American, vacancy chains are an excellent way to distribute resources: Unlike more typical competition, a single vacancy chain benefits everyone involved?each individual gets an upgrade. So it makes sense that hermit crabs and other animals have evolved sophisticated social behaviors to make the most of vacancy chains.
The orderly vacancy chain that Lewis and Rotjan observed is called a synchronous vacancy chain, which is different from an asynchronous vacancy chain in which a lone crab encounters a shell, claims it and leaves behind its old home, which is later seized by a different crab that never interacts with the first animal. As the above video makes clear, however, synchronous vacancy chains are not always civilized affairs. Sometimes crabs fight each other for the best shell or gather in violent groups. And the exchanges often happen extremely quickly. Lewis and Rotjan had to slow down the footage just to see what was happening and it is still difficult to make out: three hermit crabs crowd a large green shell; the largest claims the green shell and the other two swiftly trade up. Lewis thinks the chain would have been more orderly if the crabs were not disturbed by two biologists filming them.
"Hermit crabs really have to think about and evaluate these shell resources?these are life and death decisions," Lewis says. "They're interesting to look at from that perspective. They have greater than average crab intelligence." Lewis wonders whether hermit crabs release chemical signals to attract nearby crabs and start a vacancy chain, which is what she wants to investigate next. As soon as she finds time to return to Carrie Bow Cay.
Heavy hitters across several industries have tried to find the perfect balance between the old and the new to breathe some life into what's been described as a dying medium. Layar "wants to make the world clickable" with its augmented reality software and doesn't plan on letting paper-based media go the way of paying for long distance or total privacy. Instead, it's opted to fully welcome it into this brave new digital world by letting publishers embed videos and interactive buttons onto existing printed materials. A mobile app can then display superimposed content that pops right up on the page when viewed through a device's camera. The new web app, Layar Creator, is free if you can get your stuff published and all Layared up before August 1st, but if you're a procrastinator, a 100-page bundle will run €999 ($1,242), or €15 ($18.65) per page. You can see the the Layar Creator and AR app in full effect right after the break.
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning his quarter final match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday June 5, 2012. Djokovic won in five sets 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Novak Djokovic of Serbia celebrates winning his quarter final match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday June 5, 2012. Djokovic won in five sets 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, left, congratulates Novak Djokovic of Serbia after losing his quarter final match at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday June 5, 2012. Djokovic won in five sets 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Roger Federer of Switzerland returns in his quarter final match against Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday June 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France holds his racket over his head in his quarter final match against Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the French Open tennis tournament in Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday June 5, 2012. Djokovic won in five sets 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6, 6-1. (AP Photo/Christophe Ena)
France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga rests on his chair after losing to Serbia's Novak Djokovic during their quarterfinal match in the French Open tennis tournament at the Roland Garros stadium in Paris, Tuesday, June 5, 2012. (AP Photo/Bernat Armangue))
PARIS (AP) ? Four times, the stands at Roland Garros were ready to erupt, a beloved Frenchman standing one point from beating the world's top player and ending his quest for history.
Four times, Novak Djokovic had an answer for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
And so, instead of Tsonga Time at the French Open, Djokovic is still on the road to the "Novak Slam."
Top-seeded Djokovic overcame four match points, to say nothing of the wildly partisan crowd, for a 6-1, 5-7, 5-7, 7-6 (6), 6-1 victory over Tsonga that ended near twilight Tuesday in front of drizzle-soaked stands that had quickly emptied after the match points vanished and the final set had become academic.
"There is not really any rational explanation or word that can describe what you're supposed to do when you're match points down or you're very close to losing the match," Djokovic said. "I guess it's trying to be mentally tough and believing in your shots."
Djokovic did and got the win ? his 26th straight in the majors.
After he converted his first match point ? a backhand winner down the line ? Djokovic leaned back and pumped his fists over and over. Tsonga, the No. 5 seed who had dreams of becoming the first Frenchman to win his country's Grand Slam since Yannick Noah in 1983, sat with his head buried in a towel, while the few fans left chanted his name.
It was the end to a remarkable day of tennis that included third-seeded Roger Federer's comeback from two sets down for a 3-6, 6-7 (4), 6-2, 6-0, 6-3 win over No. 9 seed Juan Martin del Potro. It marked Federer's seventh career rally from down two sets to love. After both the winners rest their legs, they'll meet with a spot in the final on the line.
"Well, I'm very disappointed for Jo," Federer said. "I would have loved to play him here in Paris. I have a feeling that the crowd would have loved to see such a match. For him, it's a disappointment. As for me, it's nothing different as from last year. I'm playing Djokovic in the semifinal."
Djokovic's last Grand Slam loss came against Federer in that semifinal last year ? a defeat that ended the Serb's 43-match winning streak.
If Federer does it again, he'll set the stage for his 17th Grand Slam tournament title, but his first since the 2010 Australian Open.
Djokovic, meanwhile, will try to set up a chance to join Rod Laver and Don Budge as the only men to hold all four Grand Slam titles at the same time.
"The good thing is that we both have two days off now to rest," Djokovic said. "And I hope to have another great match like we did in 2011. It's always a big challenge to play Roger. He's a fantastic player, a big champion."
By saving all those match points, Djokovic may have reminded tennis fans of the stunt he pulled at the U.S. Open last year. Federer held two match points in the semifinal of that one. Djokovic turned hard on Federer's wide serve on the first one for a clean winner, then on the second, fought off a serve into his body to win the point. He then rolled off four straight games to set up a meeting in the final against Rafael Nadal.
Djokovic was just as aggressive with his back against the wall this time, never more than on the first match point, where he went for it on an overhead that skimmed the baseline, then moved in to put away an easy volley. He saved another one while serving down 5-4, then two more while serving from behind at 6-5. By the time he had closed out the fourth-set tiebreaker, the French fans had an idea of where things were going next.
They started vacating and Djokovic needed only 32 minutes to win the fifth set and close out a match that took 4 hours, 9 minutes.
"This level tennis is very mental. Lots of emotions," Djokovic said. "If you're playing a top player, a home favorite and you have a crowd that's supporting him, you have to face these things. Physically, we're all fit, all hitting the ball well. But mentally, it's just a matter of a point here, a point there. That's sport. The one that mentally pushes more in some moments and gets a bit lucky, gets the win."
Of course, if Federer had any major U.S. Open flashbacks on this day, it might have been to the 2009 final, when he was on top of the tennis world and del Potro met him in the final as a heavy underdog. The Argentine won that match and remains the only person other than Federer, Nadal or Djokovic to take a Grand Slam title between the 2005 Australian and today.
Federer improved to 7-0 in the head-to-head since then, but this was the first meeting at the French Open, where the clay courts were made even slower by damp, humid weather and occasional spits of rain.
That turned the first two sets into a time-consuming grind, and with del Potro playing with a heavily taped left knee, Federer figured time was on his side.
"I was happy that the first two sets took some time, because I did favor myself once the match got longer," Federer said. "That's kind of how it came."
Things, indeed, changed dramatically and quickly. The third and fourth sets took a total of 55 minutes ? only four fewer than the second set alone. Federer got a break right away in the fifth set, then served it out.
Earlier in the day, in the women's quarterfinals, No. 6 Samantha Stosur defeated No. 15 Dominika Cibulkova 6-4, 6-1 and No. 21 Sara Errani made her first Grand Slam semifinal with a 6-3, 7-6 (2) victory over 10th-seeded Angelique Kerber.
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Public release date: 29-Jun-2012
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