Pricing Models in Marketing Research

Introduction of Pricing Models and their advantages and disadvantages

Pricing a product is "probably the toughest thing there is to do," according to an expert.How to price your product?There are all kinds of methods. Marketing research has developed several different approaches to price optimization.What advantages and disadvantages do these approaches have?A research published in Intelligent Information Management  describes and compares several main of these approaches.You can learn at < Pricing Models in Marketing Research>.

8 Ridiculous Nutrition Myths

There is a lot of incompetence in the area of nutrition and health. Even health professionals seem to constantly contradict each other. Here are 8 ridiculous nutrition myths, thoroughly debunked.

1. A Calorie is a Calorie

It is a common myth that all that matters for weight loss is calories in, calories out.

Of course, calories matter. But the types of foods we eat are also important.

Here are 3 examples of how “a calorie is NOT a calorie.”

-Fructose vs. Glucose: Fructose is more likely to stimulate hunger, increase abdominal obesity and insulin resistance, compared to the same amount of calories from glucose.

-Protein: Eating protein can raise the metabolic rate and reduce hunger compared to fat and carbs.

-Medium vs. long-chain fatty acids: Fatty acids that are of medium length (such as from coconut oil) raise metabolism and reduce hunger compared to longer chain fatty acids.

Bottom Line: A calorie is not a calorie. Different foods affect our bodies, hunger and hormones in different ways.

2. Eating a Lot of Protein is Bad For You

Some people think that a high-protein diet will harm your kidneys and cause osteoporosis.

It is true that eating protein can make you excrete more calcium in the short term.

However, long-term studies show that protein intake is associated with improved bone health and a lower risk of fractures, not the other way around.

Studies don’t find any association with kidney disease either.

The two most important risk factors for kidney failure are diabetes and high blood pressure. Eating adequate protein helps with both, which should reduce your risk of kidney disease later in life.

Unless you have a medical condition, there’s no reason to be afraid of having more protein in your diet. It’s a good thing.

Bottom Line: Eating a high protein diet may be protective against bone fractures and reduce the two most important risk factors for kidney failure.

3. The Healthiest Diet is a Balanced Low-Fat Diet

The low-fat guidelines first came out in the year 1977, at almost the exact same time the obesity epidemic started.

This diet was never actually proven to work. It was merely based on observations.

The National Institute of Health decided to test this diet and funded the Women’s Health Initiative, which is the largest randomized controlled trial ever conducted on diet.

In this study, tens of thousands of women were placed on either a low-fat diet, or continued to eat the standard western diet like before.

The study went on for 7.5 years and the conclusions were very clear:

-The diet did NOT prevent weight gain. The low-fat group weighed only 0.4kg less than the control group after 7.5 years.

-The diet did NOT prevent heart disease either. There was no difference between groups after 7.5 years.

-The low-fat diet got tested. It didn’t work, period.

Bottom Line: There is no evidence that low-fat diets lead to better outcomes. The largest randomized controlled trial ever conucted on diet proves that the low-fat diet is completely ineffective.

4. Everyone Should be Cutting Back on Sodium

Sodium is a crucial electrolyte in the body and our cells need to keep it within a very tight range, or we’ll die.

For a long time, sodium has been thought to elevate blood pressure and therefore raise your risk of disease.

It is true that it can mildly elevate blood pressure in the short term.

However, studies do not support the idea that lowering sodium helps improve actual hard outcomes like heart attacks.

Randomized controlled trials on sodium restriction show that there is no effect on cardiovascular disease or death. They also show that sodium restriction may increase triglycerides and cholesterol levels.

Unless you have elevated blood pressure, there is no reason to avoid adding salt to your foods to make them more palatable.

Bottom Line: Sodium restriction has been thoroughly tested. None of these studies have found any evidence that it actually leads to better outcomes.

5. Saturated Fat Raises The Bad Cholesterol and Gives You Heart Disease

The myth that saturated fat raises cholesterol and causes heart disease is still alive today.

This ideas was based on some flawed observational studies conducted in the 60s and 70s.

Since then, many studies have re-examined this relationship and discovered that:

-There is literally no association between saturated fat consumption and cardiovascular disease.

-Saturated fat raises HDL (the good) cholesterol and changes the LDL from small, dense (bad) to Large LDL, which is benign.

-There is no reason to avoid natural foods that are rich in saturated fats. Meat, coconut oil and butter are perfectly healthy foods.

Bottom Line: Despite decades of anti-fat propaganda, saturated fat has never been proven to cause heart disease. New studies prove that there is literally no association.

6. Coffee is Bad For You

Coffee has gotten a bad reputation in the past.

It is true that caffeine, the active stimulant compound in coffee, can slightly raise blood pressure in the short term.

Despite these mild adverse effects, long term observational studies actually show that coffee lowers the risk of many diseases. Coffee can:

-Improve brain function.

-Help you burn more fat.

-Lower your risk of diabetes… in some studies as much as 67%.

-Lower your risk of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

-Protect your liver against cirrhosis and cancer.

Coffee is also loaded with antioxidants. It is actually the biggest source of antioxidants in the western diet and outranks both fruits and vegetables, combined.

Bottom Line: Despite coffee being able to mildly elevate blood pressure, observational studies show a strong and consistent reduction in many serious diseases like Alzheimer’s and type II diabetes.

7. Eggs Are Rich in Cholesterol And Can Give You Heart Disease

Eggs have been unfairly demonized because they contain large amounts of cholesterol.

However, dietary cholesterol doesn’t necessarily raise blood cholesterol and eggs have never been proven to cause harm.

If anything, eggs are among the most nutritious and healthiest foods you can eat.

They’re loaded with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

Studies show that egg consumption actually improves the blood lipid profile. They raise the HDL (good) cholesterol and change the LDL from small, dense to Large, which is benign.

Observational studies show no association between egg consumption and risk of heart disease.

Additionally, some studies show that eggs for breakfast can help you lose weight… at least compared to a breakfast of bagels.

Bottom Line: Eggs are one of the healthiest and most nutritious foods you can eat and there is no association between egg consumption and risk of cardiovascular disease.

8. Low-Carb Diets Are Ineffective or Dangerous

Low-carb diets have been considered dangerous because of their high amount of saturated fat.

For this reason, they have been thought to raise your risk of heart disease and other chronic illness.

However, since the year 2002, more than 20 randomized controlled trials have been conducted and compared low-carb against the standard of care, the low-fat diet.

In almost every one of these studies, low-carb diets:

-Cause significantly more weight loss than low-fat diets.

-Drastically lower triglycerides, an important risk factors for heart disease

-Raise HDL (the good) cholesterol.

-Improve blood sugar and insulin levels, especially in diabetics.

-Change the LDL cholesterol from small, dense (bad) to Large (benign) – which should lower the risk of heart disease.

-Lower blood pressure significantly.

Low-carb diets are also easier to follow and have an outstanding safety profile. There is no evidence of any adverse effects, despite the scare tactics.

They are certainly a much better choice than a low-fat, calorie restricted diet… which many mainstream organizations still push despite zero evidence of effectiveness.

(source:mailonline/Health)

A project about managing Social Security Data in the Web 2.0 Era

Social security data management is an important topic both in application of information management and in social security management. A research from scientific research publishing claims to  introduce the basic ideas of designing i-SSIS and describe the architecture and major components of the system:

Social security data management is an important topic both in application of information management and in social security management. In the Web 2.0 era, more and more human information and healthcare information is released to the Internet through various approaches. This abundance makes managing social security data go beyond managing conventional social security database records. How to organize the conventional records together with the related information gathered from the Web is an interesting problem to solve to provide more convenient and powerful social security information service. In this paper, we introduce our initial work on building a Web-oriented social security information system named i-SSIS. I-SSIS is a database system which adopts a new object-role data model named INM model and deploys INM database system as its core. With the assistance of auxiliary tools to carry out social security information extraction, analyzing and query, i-SSIS can properly provide social security-related information gathered from the Web. We introduce the basic ideas of designing i-SSIS and describe the architecture and major components of the system.

Let’s discuss how about this method?

(data source:scientific researchpublishing  ) 

The usage of distal anterolateral thigh flap- two Cases

Case:

1.   A 53-year-old man with a skin ulcer over the anterior surface of the left tibia secondary to plate fixation for an open fracture. The perforator marked with preoperative Doppler was located 8 cm proximal to the superior border of the patella. Without thinning, the flap was 10 × 4 cm in size and 5 mm thick.

2.   A 46-year-old man with necrosis of the right index finger after replantation. The flap was 5 × 3 cm in size and 3 mm in thickness. This “distal” anterolateral thigh flap can be raised as a quite thin flap with a long pedicle and, therefore, is considered useful in the reconstruction of various soft tissue defects.

Conclusion:

This “distal” anterolateral thigh flap can be raised as a quite thin flap with a long pedicle and, therefore, is considered useful in the reconstruction of various soft tissue defects.

Full article:Download PDF

The different phenotypic and molecular characterization of phaseolus vulgaris plants from seeds frozen and non- frozen

What is the better way to save seed? High temperature,low temperature or room temperature? What is the effect of different preservation pattern on vegetation?A research from Scientific Research Publishing found that cryostorage is an efficient and reliable technique to conserve P. vulgaris seeds and regenerate true-to-type plants:

The objective of this work was to evaluate if cryostorage of Phaseolus vulgaris L. seeds induced variations in regenerated plants at the phenotypic and molecular levels. A series of agricultural traits was measured on plants grown from control, non-cryopreserved and cryopreserved seeds, and the genetic stability of plants of the second generation was analysed at selected microsatellite loci. The phenotype of the second generation plants was evaluated as well. No statistically significant phenotypic differences were observed for the parameters measured, neither in the first nor in the second generations. Averaging both treatments, about 76% of the seeds had germinated 10 days after sowing. At harvest we recorded plants with about 73 cm in height, 13 stem internodes, 25 fruits, 103 grains and 4 grains per fruit. One hundred seeds weighted about 26 g. The genetic analyses performed on the second generation plants using six nuclear Simple Sequences Repeats (SSR) markers revealed no changes in microsatellite length between control and cryopreserved samples, implying that there was no effect of seed liquid nitrogen exposure on genome integrity. The phenotypic and molecular results reported here confirm that cryostorage is an efficient and reliable technique to conserve P. vulgaris seeds and regenerate true-to-type plants.

(source:SCIRP/ Plant Sciences)

Ant inspired the design of search and rescue robots

A study showing how ants tunnel their way through confined spaces could aid the design of search-and-rescue robots, according to US scientists.

A team from the Georgia Institute of Technology found fire ants can use their antennae as "extra limbs" to catch themselves when they fall, and can build stable tunnels in loose sand.

Researchers used high speed cameras to record in detail this behaviour.

The findings are published in the journal PNAS.

Dr Nick Gravish, who led the research, designed "scientific grade ant farms" - allowing the ants to dig through sand trapped between two plates of glass, so every tunnel and every movement could be viewed and filmed.

"These ants would move at very high speeds," he explained, "and if you slowed down the motion, (you could see) it wasn't graceful movement - they have many slips and falls."

Crucially, the insects were able to gather themselves almost imperceptibly quickly after each fall.

To see how they managed this, the team set up a second experiment where, to move from their nest to their food source, the ants had to pass through a labyrinth of smooth glass tunnels.

"We could watch these glass tunnels and really see what all the body parts were doing when the ants were climbing and slipping and falling," said Dr Gravish.

Tune the environment

Finally, the researchers wanted to look inside the hidden labyrinths that the ants constructed underground, so they put ants into containers full of sand or soil and allowed them to dig.

They then built a "homemade X-Ray CT scanner", just like a medical scanner, to take 3D snapshots of the tunnels that the ants dug in different types of soil.

"We found that ant groups all dug tunnels of the same diameter, [no matter what the] soil conditions were," said Dr Gravish.

"This suggested to us that fire ants are actively controlling their excavation to create tunnels of a fixed size."

Keeping their tunnels at approximately one body length in diameter seemed to ensure that the ants could catch themselves when they slipped and allowed the creatures to continue to dig.

Prof Dan Goldman, who was also involved in the study, explained that these remarkably successful insects were able to manipulate their environment - using it to control their movement.

His overall aim, he explained, was to distil "the principles by which ants and other animals manipulate complex environments" and bring them to bear in the design of search-and-rescue robotics.

"The state of the art search-and-rescue robotics is actually quite limited," he told the BBC.

"Lots of the materials in disaster sites - landslides, rubble piles - are loose materials, which you're going to potentially have to create structures out of.

"You might want, for example, to create a temporary structure for people buried down beneath."

Fire ants, he explained, could build stable tunnels in sand or soil with almost no moisture to bind it together, so learning from them might enable designers to build and programme robots that solve these same engineering problems.

（source：bbc）

94% of UK adults would rather live without sex than their mobile phone

The vast majority of us would prefer to go without sex than live without our mobile phones, a survey suggests.

Two thirds of young Britons claim that they ‘couldn’t live without their phone’ and nine per cent of people polled said they'd rather go without their own children than part with their gadgets.

More than 2,570 adults across the UK, aged between 18 and 30, took part in the survey by Mobileinsurance.co.uk.

It found that 94 per cent of people in the UK would rather live without sex than their mobile phones.

All of those questioned owned mobile phones and were in a relationship.

When asked to describe how they felt about their mobile phone, 65 per cent claimed they ‘couldn’t live without it’.

Almost a quarter, 22 per cent, said they were ‘very dependent’ on their handset, while 10 per cent felt they could ‘take or leave’ their mobile phone.

Just one per cent said they only needed their handsets occasionally and a further 2 per cent said they could ‘easily live without it’.

And despite the reliance most of the people studied put on their phones, just 12 per cent said they have mobile phone insurance to protect their must-have gadget.

The research also asked the participants what they would rather live without for a week, than give up their mobile phone.

The poll also found that 45 per cent of those questioned would rather live without ‘basic meals’, 71 per cent said that they would be willing to forgo their car and 9 per cent would rather live without their own children than be parted from their handset.

Sex and mobile phone,which would you choose in case of alternative?

Researchers find how the brain decides how we listen to our mobile

While it may seem obvious that you hold your phone with your dominant hand, researchers have uncovered the brain processes which lead us to decide which side we listen on.

If you are a left-brain thinker, the chances are you use your right hand to hold your phone up to your right ear, according to the study from the Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit.

The research reveals a strong correlation between brain dominance and the ear used to listen to a phone.

More than 70 per cent of the study’s participants held their phone up to the ear on the same side as their dominant hand, the study found.

Left-brain dominant people - who account for about 95 per cent of the population and have their speech and language centre located on the left side of their brain - are more likely to use their right hand for writing and other everyday tasks.

Likewise, the Henry Ford Hospital study reveals that most left-brain dominant people also hold the phone to their right ear.

Right-brain dominant people are more likely to use their left hand to hold their phone to their left ear.

‘Our findings have several implications, especially for mapping the language centre of the brain,’ said Dr Michael Seidman, of Henry Ford Hospital.

‘By establishing a correlation between cerebral dominance and sidedness of cell phone use, it may be possible to develop a less-invasive, lower-cost option to establish the side of the brain where speech and language occurs rather than the Wada test, a procedure that injects an anaesthetic into the carotid artery to put part of the brain to sleep in order to map activity.’

He notes that the study may also offer additional evidence that mobile phone use and tumours of the brain, head and neck are not linked.

Since nearly 80 per cent of people hold their phone to their right ear, he says if there were a strong connection there would be far more people diagnosed with cancer on the right side of their brain, head and neck, the dominant side for cell phone use.

The study began with the simple observation that most people use their right hand to hold a phone to their right ear.

This practice, Dr Seidman says, is illogical since it is challenging to listen on the phone with the right ear and take notes with the right hand.

To determine if there is an association between sidedness of cell phone use and auditory or language hemispheric dominance, the Henry Ford Hospital team developed an online survey using modifications of the Edinburgh Handedness protocol, a tool used for more than 40 years to assess handedness and predict cerebral dominance.

The survey included questions about which hand was used for tasks such as writing, time spent talking on a phone, whether the right or left ear is used to listen to phone conversations, and if respondents had been diagnosed with a brain or head and neck tumour.

On average, respondents’ phone usage was 540 minutes per month. The majority of respondents, 90 per cent, were right handed, nine per cent were left handed and one per cent was ambidextrous.

Among those who are right handed, 68 per cent reported that they hold the phone to their right ear, while 25 per cent used the left ear and seven per cent used both right and left ears.

For those who are left handed, 72 per cent said they used their left ear for phone conversations, while 23 per cent used their right ear and 5 per cent had no preference.

The study also revealed that having a hearing difference can impact ear preference for phone use.

In all, the study found that there is a correlation between brain dominance and laterality of phone use, and there is a significantly higher probability of using the dominant hand side ear.

Is cancer genetic? Cancer is transmitted via genome?

Hereditary cancer is a cancer that has developed as a result of a gene mutation passed down from a parent to a child. Inheriting a gene mutation does not necessarily mean that person will develop cancer, but increases their risk factor.Yes, cancer is not inherited, only the gene that increases the risk factor of developing it. The most common hereditary cancers are: breast cancer, ovarian cancer, prostate cancer, colorectal cancer.

Transmitted via genome?

Whether cancer is transmitted via genome,I think an article from Scientific Research Publishing can help a lot:

Recent discredit of “somatic mutation” hypotheses forced the need of new paradigms about the nature of human cancer. The present article is devoted to further development of one such paradigm: the hypothesis of invasive parasitic nature, origin, evolution, pathogenesis and transmission of human cancer. Development was performed by supplementing and supporting the hypothesis by data which could not be applied before. The supplementation included integrative reconsidering, and reinterpretation of the make-ups, traits and processes existing not only in human cancer but also in animal cancers. Special attention has been focused on xenogamous intrusion of carcinogenic traits in the genome of a host. It was evidenced that human cancer possesses the same set of traits characteristic of transmissible animal cancer. In contrast to animal cancer formed of solitary cell lineage, human cancer consists of a couple of lineages constructed under different genetic regulations and performed different structural and physiological functions. The diversity of cancer composition remains stable over sequential propagation. The subsistence of human cancer regularly includes obligetory rotation alternation of its successive forms including genomic, gametic, zygotic, micro-population and tumorous ones. Human cancer possesses its own biological watch and the ability to gobble its victim, transmit via the intrusion of the genome, perform intercommunications within the tumor components and between the dispersed subunits of cancer. 

Is africa's problems all attributes to colonizers?The solution to these problems

Africa is now faced up with all kinds of problems.Most people attribute this to colonizers. Maduabuchi Dukor also cited barrage of issues which in summary pointed to the fact that the legacy of the colonizers to the African continent was ill willed to create chaos and therefore to make the African perpetually dependent on the colonizers.

Africa's problems really only the fault of colonizers.In 2006, Annan pointed out that Africa's problems can be attributed to its colonial history and today's unjust international environment. But africans must realize that they should shoulder their fair share, looking for new ideas for development.A new research also claims that “African as a human being with free will and responsibility cannot continue to blame the colonizers when he has choice either to reject the colonial predetermined events or to accept them taking responsibility for his actions.”The paper analyzed the culpability of colonizers and African itself respectively.

Download the PDF freely and learn more.

(source:SCIRP/ Philosophy)

Why your health expenditures is higher than others?A comparison between a US and a Japanese academic hospital

In some country,the health expenditures is high,however,some are rather low.The reason?Yes, the national health care policy make a difference.Is there any other reason you don’t know?Aresearch list some other factors by contrastive analysis:

To drill down into why per capita health expenditures vary between the US and Japan, this exploratory study compares the price, volume and composition of services provided to inpatients for two procedures in an academic hospital in the US, and one in Japan. 
You can read the full artical to learn the analysis process and results.

Maybe it is not very comprehensive,welcome to complete.

Why babies in all countries on earth say mama,papa

No matter which country you are born in,and no matter what your mother tongue is,the way you call your mother is always  similar with “mama”.

"Mama" is a universal word, describing the woman who gave us the most cherished love in our most vulnerable state. Almost every language boasts a recognizable form of it. While it's true that most languages vary when it comes to the formal word mother, the intimate mama stays the same in each language. But "mama" doesn't spring from love. It happens because of two things: Lazy little baby mouths, and boobs.

Research finds that usually they start with the sounds made with closed lips,such as mama,papa. Or "labial sounds" such as /m/ /p/ /b/.

So why do babies gravitate to the "m" sound instead of "p" or "b"? Because of breasts, of course! The "m" sound is the easiest for a baby mouth to make when wrapped around a warm delicious breast. Even as adults, we still associate "mmm" with something being yummy and good. So does your baby.

When we heard the pronunciation  of  “mmmm”,we define it as mother subconsciously.So mama becomes popular with earth humans.

(source:theweek)

Electronic consultation for dentistry can be a popular trend?

Electronic consultation,also called teleconsultation.It is a treatment means which  compeletes case analysis, disease diagnosis and finally determine the treatment plan by making use of modern communication tools such as E-mail, website, letters, phone, fax .To people who know this concept the first time,It’s the inconceivable and full of doubt.Without accurate inspection, diagnostic accuracy?Will some one see a docto use this method?Yes, the market is optimistic,according to a research:

An electronic (web-based) questionnaire was devised to find out the extent of teleconsultation and e-mail use for patient-provided communications in dentistry. This project was carried out in 2011 inthe health care district of South-Ostrobothnia, in South-Western Finland.The questionnaire was sent by e-mail to all 120 regional dentists, to which 76 replies were obtained (response rate 63%). The responses indicated a surprisingly positive attitude towards teleconsultation. A clear majority of 91% indicated that it could bring additional benefits to the current consultation methods.This study revealed that a slight majority of dentists in the region use e-mail for patient communication and 53% used e-mail for consultation. Approximately 10% use videoconferencing for consultation.The study also revealed that the majority of those who do not yet use electronic consultation are willing to try them out in the future. Security issues are a concern for many dentists. Practically all respondents wish for written instructions on the use of electronic consultation.This research mainly focus on dentistry,and whether all the disease can realize electronic consultation?  

Spiraling Esophagus,a strange esophagus disease which is no cure presently

An 87-year-old Swiss woman who suffered painful spasms in her chest turned out to have an esophagus that twisted itself into a corkscrew shape whenever she swallowed, according to a report of her case.

The woman had lost 11 pounds in the past several months, and told doctors she had cramplike spasms shortly after eating.

Her doctors performed an endoscopy and found that, when she swallowed, her esophagus had the same helical shape as a playground twisty slide. 

It is an unusual condition,and has been  encountered before. In fact, another elderly female patient, 89 years old, who complained of difficulty swallowing, abdominal pain and frequent belching, also turned out to have her esophagus twisting into a helical shape when she swallowed, according to a 2003 case report in the same journal.

Dr. Michael Vaezi, who specializes in treating "esophageal motility disorders" at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Tennessee, said he has seen the condition many times.

While primary care doctors may rarely see this disorder, at his center, they "encounter these patients on weekly basis."

Dr. John Pandolfino, a gastroenterologist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, explained that this strange phenomenon occurs because of the way the muscles of the esophagus contract. Normally when a person swallows, the muscle fibers that encircle the top of the esophagus contract first, and then as they relax, the muscles just below them contract, and this wave of contraction continues all the way down to the stomach.

But in a person with this condition, all the muscles contract simultaneously. As a result, rather than moving food downward toward the stomach, the muscles pull the esophagus itself into a spiral shape.

Why this happens, however, is still unknown. Vaezi said "some have speculated that gastroesophageal reflux (GERD) could be playing a role."

While there is no cure for the condition, the doctors in the study tried to treat the patient's symptoms by giving her high-dose proton-pump inhibitor drugs, which are typically used to treat gastroesophageal reflux disease, and long-acting calcium channel-blockers, which Vaezi said can help to scale down the "squeeze" of the esophagus's contractions. 

Regretfully,in this patient's case, neither drug had much of an effect.

I think there will be a solution in this disease sooner or later.As esophageal neuroendocrine carcinomas,ever  are rare, aggressive and have a poor prognosis.A study claimed that there has been a esophageal neuroendocrine carcinomas petients “administered adjuvant chemotherapy using cisplatin and CPT-11, and he is now alive disease-free at the time of this writing.”

source: Neuroendocrine carcinoma of the esophagus: Report of a case and review of the literature

Spiraling Esophagus: Strange Condition Found in Elderly Woman

A 52-year-old male patient returned to work despite serious memory disorder caused by herpes encephalitis

Most individuals with herpesviral encephalitis show a decrease in their level of consciousness and an altered mental state presenting as confusion, and changes in personality.But there is a  52-year-old male , who had suffered from severe impairment in recent memory due to sequelae of herpes encephalitis, for 20 years. He returned to his highly intellectual work and performed well despite his doctor’s prediction.However, the patient showed consistently poor results on various neuropsychological memory tests, he only demonstrated incredible performance at work. 

This is rare to see. Why happened?Does it related with some kind of brain activity?Recommend an article from Scientific Research Publishing to you . The article studied this phenomenon.

Phytoremediation,why it is opposed by public?

As is known to all, Phytoremediation is a green way to remove environmental pollutants. Not only that,it also is low cost and low  harmf to our environment,it makes re-use of valuable metals be possible.How ever,I read a paper,which says that phytoremediation is opposed by public:

Land, surface waters, and ground water worldwide, are increasingly affected by contaminations from industrial, research experiments, military, and agricultural activities either due to ignorance, lack of vision, carelessness, or high cost of waste disposal and treatment. The rapid build-up of toxic pollutants (metals, radionuclide, and organic contaminants in soil, surface water, and ground water) not only affects natural resources, but also causes major strains on ecosystems. Interest in phytoremediation as a method to solve environmental contamination has been growing rapidly in recent years. This green technology that involved “tolerant plants” has been utilized to clean up soil and ground water from heavy metals and other toxic organic compounds. Phytoremediation involves growing plants in a contaminated matrix to remove environmental contaminants by facilitating sequestration and/or degradation (detoxification) of the pollutants. Plants are unique organisms equipped with remarkable metabolic and absorption capabilities, as well as transport systems that can take up nutrients or contaminants selectively from the growth matrix, soil or water. As extensive as these benefits are, the costs of using plants along with other concerns like climatic restrictions that may limit growing of plants and slow speed in comparison with conventional methods (i.e., physical and chemical treatment) for bioremediation must be considered carefully. While the benefits of using phytoremediation to restore balance to a stressed environment seem to far outweigh the cost, the largest barrier to the advancement of phytoremediation could be the public opposition. The long-term implication of green plant technology in removing or sequestering environmental contaminations must be addressed thoroughly. As with all new technology, it is important to proceed with caution.

I don’t understand the reason very well.Is there anyone can help?

Is low birth weight associated with hypertension in adult life?

The factors which may cause hypertension may include : age,the salt intake, weight, heredity, environmental and occupational.Besides,there has been a hypothesis- fetal origin hypothesis, suggests that birth weight is related to several adult diseases.A research from Scientific Research Publishing has prove the hypothesis:

Our results support the hypothesis that low birth weight is associated with hypertension in adult life, also after considering several confounding factors and weight history later in life. Furthermore, the previous weight history might have an influence on the association between birth weight and the risk for adult hypertension.

You can read the article for more research detail.

(source:scirp/ Health)

A Domain Engineering Approach to Increase Productivity in the Development of a Service for Changes Notification of the Configuration Management Database

A Service for Changes Notification is rather important for a company,especially the internet network company.A  research from Scientific Research Publishing puts forward a domain engineering approach to increase productivity in the development of a service for changes notification:

This paper presents a domain engineering approach to build a software product line that supports the change notification service in a Configuration Management Database (CMDB) according to the Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) best practices. For the development of this product line, the proposed approach makes use of a construction of products methodology by analogy: this is a new notation which reports the variability of the products, obtaining metrics as important as the number of products and uses a language that enables, by means of the flexibilization of a product and the development of some generators, to build the rest of the product line. In addition the paper offers a standard for the analysis and design of the CMDB as well. Finally, the paper presents an economic model for the product line, where the profitability and productivity of the proposed solution are analyzed.

(source:SCIRP/ Software Engineering and Applications)

Corrosion Behavior of Cu-Zn-Ni Shape Memory Alloys

When saw the title,you may have known that fresh water m,must be the first.Yes,and then, Hank’s solution, sea water?A research published by Scientific Research Publishing gave you the answer by 4 shape memory alloys of Cu-Zn-Ni:

Four shape memory alloys of Cu-Zn-Ni, in the range of 35-55 wt% of Cu, 43-60 wt% Zn and 2-9 wt% Ni, were prepared by ingot metallurgy route in an induction furnace under an inert atmosphere. The shape memory effect was tested by bend test. The alloys were further tested for its corrosion behavior in fresh water, Hank’s solution and sea water. From the results it was observed that the alloys exhibit high corrosion resistance in fresh water when compared to Hank’s solution and sea water. And it was also observed that the alloys exhibit better corrosion resistance in Hank’s solution than in sea water.

(source:SCIRP/ Minerals and Materials Characterization and Engineering)

Role of Religious Orientation in Predicting Marital Adjustment and Psychological Well-Being

According to some estimates, there are roughly 4,200 religions in the world. A global 2012 poll reports that 59% of the world's population is religious, 23% are not religious, and 13% are atheists.

Indeed,to individual, religious has its advantages and disadvantages. But a paper from Scientific Research Publishing pointed out that internal religious orientation can predict the psychological well-being and marital adjustment meaningfully.

Here,I am wondered that which religiou is good for better life?

Diarrhea, life killer for Bangladesh- assessment of zinc treatment

 Diarrheal diseases is a major health problem in Bangladesh, killing over 100,000 children each year. Thousands of episodes of diarrhea occur in children and adults each day. Diarrheal diseases have close biological and socio-economic links to the problems of malnutrition, poor maternal health, high fertility, and child survival.

A research explore the effect of zinc treatment :

We hypothesised that the promotion of blister packs of zinc may be carried out by health personnel in health care facilities to the mothers of children suffering from diarrhea. We predicted that good acceptability and good compliance to zinc treatment in rural Bangladesh would be over 75% and at least 60%, respectively. Between January and December 2011, six hundred and thirty five children aged 6 - 59 months who presented with acute diarrhea received a 10-day zinc regimen. Determination of acceptability and compliance of a dispersible zinc tablet in children 6 - 59 months old was main point of the study. In-home follow-ups started within 2 - 3 weeks after the regimen began. Seventy seven percent of the mothers/caretakers perceived that the taste of the zinc tablets was the same or better than that of other medicines given to their children and expressed willingness to use zinc in the future (good acceptability). Sixty-two percent of the children completed full 10-day course of zinc treatment by taking one tablet a day that had been completely dissolved in a small amount of water (good compliance). There was 63% excess risk for poor compliance to zinc if father stays at home with the family [OR = 1.63 (95%CI; 1.09, 2.46) p = 0.019]. Despite vomiting, 33% children continued to receive zinc tablet [OR = 0.67 (95%CI; (0.47, 0.97, 0.032)] after adjusting for co-variates. Both acceptability and compliance to dispersible zinc tablets in childhood diarrheal illnesses are still not at the expected level in rural Bangladesh.

(source:SCIRP/ Food and Nutrition Sciences)

A pet system which can help you raise pets in an easy way

There are more and more people have interest in keeping a pet. But sometimes communication is a troublesome.There is a pet systems can help you a lot:

“This work addresses the improvement through the pet application of the ability of location-awareness, and to help the pet owners raise their pet on the activity and eating control easily.”A paper published by scientific research publishing mentioned.

In fact, not only communication issues are solved,this system can help you attend your dear pet if you are out for works.According to the paper.

When Do Babies Become Conscious?

For everyone who’s looked into an infant’s sparkling eyes and wondered what goes on in its little fuzzy head, there’s now an answer. New research shows that babies display glimmers of consciousness and memory as early as 5 months old.

For decades, neuroscientists have been searching for an unmistakable signal of consciousness in electrical brain activity. Such a sign could determine whether minimally conscious or anesthetized adults are aware—and when consciousness begins in babies.

Studies on adults show a particular pattern of brain activity: When your senses detect something, such as a moving object, the vision center of your brain activates, even if the object goes by too fast for you to notice. But if the object remains in your visual field for long enough, the signal travels from the back of the brain to the prefrontal cortex, which holds the image in your mind long enough for you to notice. Scientists see a spike in brain activity when the senses pick something up, and another signal, the “late slow wave,” when the prefrontal cortex gets the message. The whole process takes less than one-third of a second.

Researchers in France wondered if such a two-step pattern might be present in infants. The team monitored infants’ brain activity through caps fitted with electrodes. More than 240 babies participated, but two-thirds were too squirmy for the movement-sensitive caps. The remaining 80 (ages 5 months, 12 months, or 15 months) were shown a picture of a face on a screen for a fraction of a second.

Cognitive neuroscientist Sid Kouider of CNRS, the French national research agency, in Paris watched for swings in electrical activity, called event-related potentials (ERPs), in the babies’ brains. In babies who were at least 1 year old, Kouider saw an ERP pattern similar to an adult’s, but it was about three times slower. The team was surprised to see that the 5-month-olds also showed a late slow wave, although it was weaker and more drawn out than in the older babies. Kouider speculates that the late slow wave may be present in babies as young as 2 months.

This late slow wave may indicate conscious thought, Kouider and colleagues report online today in Science. The wave, feedback from the prefrontal cortex, suggests that the image is stored briefly in the baby’s temporary “working memory.” And consciousness, Kouider says, is composed of working memory.

The team displayed remarkable patience to gather data from infants, says cognitive neuroscientist Lawrence Ward of the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in Canada, who was not involved in the study. However, the work, although well executed, is not the last word, he says. “I expect we’ll find several different neural activity patterns to be correlated with consciousness.”

Comparing infant brain waves to adult patterns is tricky, says Charles Nelson, a neuropsychologist at Harvard Medical School in Boston. “ERP components change dramatically over the first few years of life,” he writes in an e-mail. “I would be reluctant to attribute the same mental operation (i.e., consciousness) in infants as in adults simply because of similar patterns of brain activity.”

“He’s right, the ERP components are not exactly the same as in adults,” Kouider responds, but the ERP signature he saw had the same characteristics.

Kouider next hopes to explore how these signals of consciousness connect to learning, especially language development. “We make the assumption that babies are learning very quickly and that they’re fully unconscious of what they learn,” Kouider says. “Maybe that’s not true.”

(via:wired)

Obama and his wife will get tattoo and show off on YouTube if his daughters get one ,a new way to remove tattoo

US President Barack Obama has warned his daughters that if they get tattoos, he and his wife will get matching ones on the same place on their bodies.

In an interview on NBC's Today show, Mr Obama said he hoped the "family tattoo" threat would discourage teen rebellion.

About  tattoo

Tattoo brings temporary alternative happy to fashionable men and women,while it lives permanent pain and spiritual shackles to the tattoos. A lot of tattoos may be regret and eager to remove them.

Methods to remove tattoo

Traditional methods to remove tattoo including chemical, mechanical, surgical, termal and laser assited methods.A scientists introduces a new method: Q-switch mode.They claimed this method as one of the most effective methods of tattoo removal with advanced the laser method.The scientists also conclude that lymphatic elimination may be one of the significant mechanisms of tattoo removal through contrast experiment.

Try to Find a Good Wheat Line with Combined Resistance to Russian Wheat Aphid and Stem Rust (Race “Ug99”) in Kenya

Wheat is the second most important cereal in Kenya. However, production is severely constrained by both abiotic and biotic stresses.

We have ever said that a research found  wheat has allelopathic potential,it is so eco-friendly.But to itselt,it can’t protect itself very well.

Severe infestations by russian wheat aphid (RWA) may result in yield losses of up to 90% while stem rust (Race “Ug99”) infected fields may suffer 100% crop loss. The two pests combined are seriously affecting wheat farmers’ incomes because of the heavy reliance on pesticides that increase the cost of production.

An article  from American Journal of Plant Sciences studies three wheat varieties,and try to find a good wheat lines that is resistance to russian wheat aphid and stem rust:

“Kwale”, a Kenyan high yielding variety but susceptible to both RWA and “Ug99”; “Cook”, an Australian variety carrying stem rust resistance gene Sr36 conferring immunity to “Ug99”; and “KRWA9”, a Kenyan line with resistance to RWA but of poor agronomic attributes were used. A double cross F1 (DC F1) was obtained by crossing the F1 of “Kwale × Cook” and the F1 of “Kwale × KRWA9”. The DC F1 population was subjected to sequential screening for both RWA and “Ug99” resistance. Surviving DC F1 progenies were left to self pollinate to obtain the F2 of the double cross (DC F2). The DC F2 progenies were sequentially screened against RWA and “Ug99” to yield a population that was resistant to both RWA and “Ug99”. Genotyping of the DC F2:3 families were conducted to select homozygous resistant plants. Data indicated that the RWA and “Ug99” resistance genes were successfully pyramided. Though races with virulence for Sr36 have been reported, the gene provides immunity to race “Ug99” and can still be effectively used as a component for “Ug99” resistance breeding together with other Sr genes.

(source:SCIRP/ American Journal of Plant Sciences)

The rise of 'lotus births': How more mothers are leaving their baby's umbilical cord ATTACHED until it falls off ten days later

An increasing number of women are choosing to leave their newborn baby's umbilical cord attached, in an all-natural trend called Lotus Birth.

Lotus Birth, or umbilical nonseverance, means the mother waits for the cord to detach from her baby naturally - rather than cutting it off near the stomach after childbirth.

It can take up to 10 days for the placenta and umbilical chord to fall away - and mothers must carry around the matter with their baby was they wait for nature to take its course.

[Recommend: Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology]

Mary Ceallaigh, a 47-year-old Lotus Birth advocate and Midwife educator, believes the non-traditional practice can help with the mother and baby's health.

The Texas native, who has helped deliver more than 100 natural births, told The New York Post that keeping the umbilical cord intact can lessen the chance of infection, and 'allows a complete transfer of placental/cord blood into the baby at a time when the baby needs that nourishment the most.

'Babies’ immune systems are going through huge changes at a very rapid rate when they’re first born. Not disrupting the baby’s blood volume at that time helps prevent future disease,' she said.

'The mother and baby benefit from having all the focused placed on bonding, rather than the common focus of "who's going to cut the cord, cut the bond?" Invading the natural process when there's a healthy mother and baby is likely to cause harm in some way seen or unseen.'

Ms Ceallaigh said that five percent of her clients have practiced Lotus Birth. 'For prepared folks, it's the easiest part of the birth!' she said.

When it comes to carrying out daily chores with a placenta attached to your newborn, Ms Ceallaigh said it is much easier than people expect.

'The cord usually dries and breaks off by the third day, so no mother would be running errands during that time anyway...hopefully not until at least the fourth week after giving birth!' she explained.

(source:mailonline)

Twist wet towel in the space,what will happen?

Broadcasting from the International Space Station, Canadian Space Agency Chris Hadfield continues to serve as a font of information regarding some of the little known aspects of life in space. However, a new piece of information delivered by Hadfield was actually inspired by a group of students here on Earth.

The Canadian spacefarer took to YouTube this week to reveal what it looks like when you wring out a common washcloth in space. It sounds like a fairly pedestrian demonstration, but this simple act is something that we only take for granted because of Earth's gravity. In zero gravity, things are much different. Hadfield starts the demonstration by taking a vacuum-packed NASA washcloth from a special case (yes, we want one, too), and then uses a water bottle to soak the washcloth with water.

And this is when the weirdness starts. When Hadfield wrings out the washcloth, some of the water hovers, halo-like, around the washcloth like a force field, while the rest of the water travels up his arm, much a like a malevolent space parasite might as it prepares to eat your astronaut brain. The simple yet revealing experiment suggestion was the grand prize won by a group of 10th grade Canadian students during a recent national science contest.

Source: CSA