In the fall, the team will begin preparing for competition again in hopes to gain a few more students as teammates and possibly put together two teams for competition.

Northwestern participants’ hometowns, classifications and majors include:

Isaac Broce, Mooreland senior, natural sciences education; Lukas Dollarhide, Tonkawa junior, history; Lakpa Lama, Kathmandu, Nepal, freshman, nursing; Nathan Sacket, Aline sophomore, computer science; Prashant Upadhyay, Kathmandu, Nepal, freshman, business administration; Khadidja (Eva) Souleyman, Alva senior, political science; and Zachary Zook, Waynoka senior, social science.

Northwestern beat Redlands Community College, a team who competed at the national level last year, to make it to the semi-finals. However,

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Earn your Online Accounting Degree on Your Own Schedule

It is certainly difficult for many to attend traditional classes on a regular basis, the flexibility of pursuing an accounting degree online allows you to take classes when you have time and not at particular time everyday or every week. This allows online students to successfully complete their accounting degree and secure higher paying jobs in accounting fields.

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The U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, the government’s far-reaching health-care foreign aid program, has contributed to a significant decline in adult death rates from all causes in Africa, according to a new study by Stanford University School of Medicine researchers.

Between 2004 and 2008, PEPFAR was associated with a reduction in the odds of death of nearly 20 percent in the countries where it operated. The researchers found that more than 740,000 lives were saved during this period in nine countries targeted by the program.

“We were surprised and impressed to find these mortality reductions,” said Eran Bendavid, MD, assistant professor of medicine. “While many assume that foreign aid works, most evaluations of aid suggest it does not work or even causes harm. Despite all the challenges to making aid work and to implementing HIV treatment in Africa, the benefits of PEPFAR were large and measurable across many African countries.”

The study is the first to show a decline in all-cause mortality related to the program. It was publ

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Nellie Stone Johnson Community School, in North Minneapolis, an area you will know from this blog because of the tornado that went through there about a year ago:

Edison High School, in Nordeast, Minneapolis, MN, which is the part of the Twin Cities where much of Amanda’s family originally comes from (some still live there):

Go here and “like” a video!

He showed up in jeans, a t-shirt and a plaid button down. With a large grin on his face, he reached out to shake my hand and introduce himself, “Hi, I’m Stephen. Nice to meet you!”

This scene happened a few weeks ago when I got to meet Stephen Roe, a CollegePlus alum. He came out to San Antonio to record his story and, along with a co-worker, I got to spend the better part of a day with him, hearing his story and learning about who he is as a person.

The first thing that impressed me about Stephen was how well spoken he was, although, considering he was a national debate champion in high school, that really shouldn’t have surprised me.

His focus also impressed me. While a good portion of the CollegePlus students he knew were getting their degrees in two years or less, he was patient enough to realize that if he was going to get the life experience he desired, it was going to take a bit longer than that. He knew

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Many professionals in the field are approached by talent-hunting publishers who will turn down such opportunities to write a book—because they know that the work is grueling and poorly paid (even those who can command royalties up front).

The Fire to Follow Through

On one level, the prospectus is about making the so-called “business case” for pursuing the publication of a book. A “business case,” very simply, is about the possible market that could exist for a particular book. It’s a cost-ben

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Kids love John Deere toys for the simple fact they want to imitate what all adults do. They see on movies or actually watch their parents driving a car or motorcycle, they become curious as to why these forms of transport are very popular with adults. Wheeled toys all vary in price and characteristics.

Before buying a toy for your child to ride, you need to know if it really works. A test drive is required for this purpose. But of course you can not test it yourself or people might think that you are actually going to buy it for your own pleasure. Bring your kid with you and ask him or her to test it. See if your child is comfortable with the toy. If not, then you’d better look for another.

Always check if a toy is adjustable. Read more…

News release: Missouri University of Science and Technology in Rolla will break ground next month on a geothermal energy project that is expected to reduce the campus’s carbon dioxide emissions by 25,000 tons a year and cut annual energy use in half. The geothermal system will replace the university power plant, constructed in 1945. Itg relies on coal and wood chips to provide steam for use in heating and cooling most buildings on campus. Initially, the geothermal system is expected to save more than $1 million annually in energy and operational costs. The savings are expected to grow to $2.8 million a year.

Las Cruces, New Mexico

Immaculate Conception by aaufashion 

One of our favorite sections in The Fashion World of Jean Paul Gaultier: From the Sidewalk to the Catwalk was the amazing collection of portraits just as you enter the exhibition. Each of the portraits features dresses from Gaultiers Spring/Summer 2007 Haute Couture Collection - Virgins. The collection, beautifully displayed on mannequins singing a hymn, is absolutely stunning, featuring ethereal gowns and fantastic headpieces. And the images, specifically Immaculate Conception No. 3 , are utterly arresting. The portrait, shot by Miles Aldridge, features model Alana Zimmer as the Virgin Mary. The colors are so vibrant you cant help but notice it.

We were so inspired by the portrait, that we created a Polyvore set to match. We

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Interdisciplinary Studies: Online Degree Program Overview

Do you know how Online Interdisciplinary Study Degree Program works? Well, this program is made just for you, it can be customized to fit your needs and your busy schedule. With online learning, you can put together your own degree plan in Interdisciplinary Studies. Once you have completed all your general education requirements, you can customize your own course curriculum around what interests you the most. This can be done by selecting two main areas of concentration and applying what you already know in a practical capstone plan.

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Nine out of 10 drugs successfully tested in mice and other animal models ultimately fail to work in people, and one reason may be traced back to a common fact of life for laboratory mice: they’re cold, according to a researcher at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Laboratory mice, who account for the vast majority of animal research subjects, are routinely housed in chilly conditions, which may affect their well-being as well as the outcome of research studies, said Joseph Garner, PhD, associate professor of comparative medicine.

“If you want to design a drug that will help a patient in the hospital, you cannot reasonably do that in animals that are cold-stressed and are compensating with an elevated metabolic rate,” Garner said. “This will change all aspects of their physiology — such as how fast the liver breaks down a drug — which can’t help but increase the chance that a drug will behave differently in mice and in humans.”

In a new study, Garner and his colleagues report finding an easy solution to the problem: Simply provide the animals with the proper materials, and they’ll build a cozy nest that allows them to naturally regulate their temperatures to a comfortable level. These thermally content mice would be more physiologically comparable to humans and thus might serve as more meaningful research subjects, Garner said.

“Why not let them do what they do in the wild, which is build nests? Mice can happily infest a meat freezer, with temperatures far below zero, but they survive and breed because they build these wonderful nests,” he said.

The study, part of nearly seven years of work with mouse nesting behavior, is the first to “ask” mice to rate the value of nesting material in terms of temperature savings, which is an important first step in setting standards for nesting material, said Garner, whose work has focused on the well-being of the mouse. He is the senior author of the study, which was published online March 30 in PLoS ONE.

Mice, which Garner calls “one of the most fantastic animals on Earth,” have evolved in the same environment as humans for thousands of years, making them remarkably adaptable, able to live virtually anywhere. For that reason, they make excellent research subjects, with hundreds of millions of them populating laboratories around the world.

Given the option, mice gravitate to temperatures of between 30 and 32 degrees Celsius (the equivalent of about 86 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit). But based on federal regulations, U.S. research laboratories are routinely kept on the cold side — between 20 to 24 degrees C. There can be advantages to these cold temperatures. For instance, mice have aggressive tendencies that are suppressed in cooler climes. Female mice also lactate better in cooler temperatures, though their pups don’t do as well in the cold.

When kept in temperatures toward the low end of this scale — between about 18 and 20 degrees C (64-68 degrees F) — the mice begin to show changes in immune function and their growth may be retarded. “So we’re housing them right at that threshold,” Garner said. “That means the mice may be compromised physiologically, potentially affecting research results.”

Simply raising the temperature in the lab isn’t an option, not least because the mice would then become unmanageably aggressive, he said. Rather, Garner and his colleagues looked to other options in their study, which involved 36 male and 36 female mice of three common strains. The researchers created sets of two cages linked by a small tube so the mice could move between them. One cage in each set was maintained at a chilly 20 degrees C (68 degrees F) and was equipped with varying quantities of shredded paper, which the animals could use to construct nests for shelter and warmth. The other cage was kept at one of six temperatures: 20, 23, 26, 29, 32 or 35 degrees C (68, 73, 79, 84, 90 or 95 F), but without nesting material.

The mice then had the choice of staying put and tolerating the cold, choosing a balmier cage, eating more to add fat and elevate metabolic rate, or building a nest.

Each strain and sex had slightly different preferences, the researchers found. None was content to simply sit out the cold, either moving to a toastier location, if available, or building elaborate, dome-like nests to warm themselves. The more nest-building material they had, the more they were willing to settle for a cooler clime, as the nests served to temper the chill, the researchers found.

In fact, the nest-building drive was so strong that the mice often would spend hours collecting strands of paper, bit by bit, from the chilliest cage and then transporting it to a more comfortable spot in another cage to build a sturdy little home.

Garner said these mice decided they wanted to have it all, choosing a warm spot and building a nest as well. “Naughty little rascals” is how he described them. “They would go on holiday somewhere warm AND take their nest with them,” he said. “Some people like to take a pillow on holiday and some don’t. These mice were packing their own pillow.”

The fact that some mice moved nesting material to the warmer cage means that the nests serve a function beyond warmth, argued Garner, perhaps providing physical comfort, or a form of protection that decreases the animals’ anxiety and stress levels.

The nest-building mice tended to eat less, as they didn’t need the extra calories to satisfy their higher metabolic demands, the researchers found. In general, the females preferred warmer temperatures than the males — by about 5 degrees: they are smaller and have less fat to generate heat.

The researchers concluded that the mice could manage with 6 grams of nesting material but sometimes could use as much as 10 grams, suggesting the larger amount be supplied routinely in research labs.

Another benefit of the nests is that they facilitate researchers’ work with the mice — it’s easier to pick them up as well as observe them. “The shape of the nest tells an experienced person whether the animals are too hot or too cold, whether they are sick or whether they are about to give birth,” Garner said. “Once you learn how to ‘speak mouse nest,’ the nest is a wonderful tool that anyone can use to assess the general state of the mouse.”

The study’s first author is Brianna Gaskill, PhD, at the Charles River Laboratories. Garner and Gaskill collaborated with colleagues at the University of Calgary, Purdue University and the Environmental Protection Agency. The study was supported by a grant from the Universities Federation for Animal Welfare, the Charles River Laboratories (which donated the mice used in the study) and Fiber Core, which donated the nesting material.

J.W. Martin Library at Northwestern Oklahoma State University is holding a photography contest open to all with selected photos to be permanently displayed in the library on the Alva campus. Submissions must be a part of a three photo series, and the entry deadline is Monday, April 16.

Photos must be high resolution and submitted in digital format. The resolution of the digital camera should not have less than four megapixels. Photos of a lesser resolution cannot be accepted.

By submitting an entry, the photographer gives the Northwestern Libraries the right to use all entries in any format or application, as needed. All entries may be considered for display in the library; however, only one set of photos entered will be chosen for the top prize. Permanent recognition also will be displayed with all work that is selected.

Not only does the chosen individual gain recognition, but also will receive a $50 Amazon gift card, and the second place winner will win a $25 gift card.

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In reality, things are not quite so simple. As strong as hope can be, at least one emotion is stronger – fear. Even as we cherish hopes of greater things, fear of the unknown, of change, holds us back from actually succeeding.

Perhaps our founding fathers said it best, when they wrote in the Declaration of Independence, “…experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed.”

If we wish to reach our full potential, we must learn to push past this longing for security and force ourselves to embrace change and uncertainty.

Here are a few techniques that can help you overcome a fear of change.

Growth doesn’t occur in the comfort zone. Real growth occurs when we take risks, when we push ourselves to the limit, when we fail.

A study of ice skaters showed an interesting difference between pro athletes and amateur enthusiasts. Aside from

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Ramping Back the Time

One of the benefits of not having one project that dominates the work life is that one can engage in a broader range of learning and work when one has a range of multiple main projects. Another is to lighten the pressure on a particular PI, so they are not the only ones funding one’s position.

Further, it’s wise to leave some margin available in a schedule to attend on-campus talks and presentations. It is

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