Vudu is joining Netflix in trying to put another nail in DVD's coffin by offering interactive features for select Sony films. The Walmart-owned streamer calls the new service Vudu Extras+, and kicked it off today with deleted scenes, featurettes and trivia from Sony's District 9 alien flick. Other ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/g7DcwWmpayQ/Someone actually went there: as the problems with Healthcare.gov moved into the vacuum created by the end of the government shutdown, National Review reporter Jonathan Strong Tweeted, "is Obamacare President Obama's Iraq war?"
One can understand why Strong found the logic seductive. The Bush presidency was defined by the Iraq war; Obama has made the Affordable Care Act the centerpiece of his legacy. The Iraq war was a hideous, years-long fiasco, costing hundreds of thousands of lives and billions of dollars and the weeks-old strangled roll-out of the ACA insurance marketplace exchanges has … ok, wait.
In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)
In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)
In this image made from video provided by theOct26thDriving campaign, which has been authenticated based on its contents and other AP reporting, a Saudi woman drives a vehicle in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. A Saudi woman said she got behind the wheel Saturday and drove to the grocery store without being stopped or harassed by police, kicking off a campaign protesting the ban on women driving in the ultraconservative kingdom. (AP Photo)
FILE - In this Friday, June 17, 2011 file image made from video released by Change.org, a Saudi Arabian woman drives a car as part of a campaign to defy Saudi Arabia's ban on women driving, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. It’s been a little more than two years since the last time women in Saudi Arabia campaigned for the right to drive. Since then, the monarchy has made incremental but key reforms, and activists hope that has readied the nation for greater change as they call for women to get behind the wheel in a new campaign Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Ultraconservatives are pushing back with protests, threats and even a cleric’s warning that driving a car damages a woman’s ovaries.(AP Photo/Change.org, File)
FILE - In thos Friday, Nov. 7, 2008 file photo, a Saudi woman walks in the desert, in Thumama, Saudi Arabia. It’s been a little more than two years since the last time women in Saudi Arabia campaigned for the right to drive. Since then, the monarchy has made incremental but key reforms, and activists hope that has readied the nation for greater change as they call for women to get behind the wheel in a new campaign Saturday, Oct. 26, 2013. Ultraconservatives are pushing back with protests, threats and even a cleric’s warning that driving a car damages a woman’s ovaries. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar, File)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — Saudi activists said more than 60 women claimed to have answered their call on Saturday to get behind the wheel in a rare show of defiance against a ban on female driving in the ultraconservative kingdom.
Saudi professor and campaigner Aziza Youssef said the group has received 13 videos and another 50 phone messages from women showing or claiming they had driven. She said they have no way to verify the messages.
If the numbers are accurate, this year's campaign is the most successful effort yet by Saudi women demanding the right to drive. Youssef said they have not received any reports of arrests or women being ticketed by police.
A security official said that authorities did not arrest or fine any female drivers on Saturday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
However, there have been a few roadblocks along the way.
Youssef said she and four other prominent women activists received phone calls this week from a top official with close links to Interior Minister Prince Mohammed bin Nayef, warning them not to drive on Saturday, the day the campaign set for women's driving.
She also said that "two suspicious cars" have been following her everywhere all day. "I don't know from which party they are from. They are not in a government car," she said.
Though no specific Saudi law bans women from driving, women are not issued licenses. They mostly rely on drivers or male relatives to move around.
Powerful clerics who hold far-reaching influence over the monarchy enforce the driving ban, warning that breaking it will spread "licentiousness." A prominent cleric caused a stir when he said last month that medical studies show that driving a car harms a woman's ovaries.
The kingdom's first major driving protest came in 1990 when some 50 women drove their cars. They were jailed for a day, had their passports confiscated and lost their jobs. In June 2011, about 40 women got behind the wheel in several cities in a protest sparked when a woman was arrested after posting a video of herself driving.
The atmosphere appeared more tolerant this year and state newspapers for the first time have run near daily commentary on the issue. Reforms made by the monarchy since the last 2011 driving campaign may have readied the deeply conservative nation for change. Changes include allowing women to sit on the national advisory council and a decision by King Abdullah to permit women to vote and run in municipal elections in 2015.
May Al Sawyan, a 32 year-old mother of two and an economic researcher, told The Associated Press that she drove from her home in Riyadh to the grocery store and back.
Like other female drivers defying the ban in Saudi Arabia, Al Sawyan said she has obtained a driver's license from abroad.
"I am very happy and proud that there was no reaction against me," she said. "There were some cars that drove by. They were surprised, but it was just a glance. It is fine ... They are not used to seeing women driving here."
In the run-up to the Oct. 26 driving campaign, Interior Ministry spokesman Mansour al-Turki warned that anyone disturbing public order would be dealt with forcefully. That same language was used in charges levied against a female driver in 2011.
Women have been posting videos almost daily of themselves driving since the campaign's website was launched in late September, enraging conservatives in the country who accused the government of not doing anything to stop them from flouting the ban. In one incident this month, two women were pulled over by police who made them sign a letter stating they would not drive or be in the car with a female driver. Their husbands were called to pick them up.
Ultraconservative clerics, angry that the government is not cracking down harder, protested earlier in the week against the online petition campaign, which claims to have more than 16,000 signatures. The account's website, oct26driving.org, and official English language YouTube account were hacked on Friday, according to activists.
The four-minute video uploaded Saturday of Al Sawyan showed her wearing sunglasses and her face was visible. Her hair was covered by the traditional black headscarf worn by Saudi women.
Al Sawyan said she was prepared for the risk of detention if caught. She said she was far enough from a police car that she was not spotted.
"I just took a small loop. I didn't drive for a long way, but it was fine. I went to the grocery store," she said.
Her husband and family waited at home and called her nervously when she arrived at the store to check on her, she said. She drove with a local female television reporter in the car. They were both without male relatives in the vehicle, which in itself defies the country's strict norms requiring women to have a male guardian in public.
Deputy editor-in-chief of the state-backed newspaper Saudi Gazette, Somayya Jabarti, said she envies her male co-workers who can jump in their cars and leave the office while she has to coordinate ahead of time for a driver or relative.
"The struggle is more that people should have the option to choose," she said. "The logo of this current driving campaign is that women's driving is a choice. "
___
Batrawy reported from Dubai, United Arab Emirates.
Associated PressSource: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/cae69a7523db45408eeb2b3a98c0c9c5/Article_2013-10-26-Saudi-Women%20Driving/id-64ad5364ddf94078943528e6e02c7303
The Nintendo Wii is now discontinued in Europe, joining Japan in halting shipments of the massively popular game console. North America is the Wii's final holdout, with Nintendo of America telling GameSpot, "There is no change in the status of Wii in the United States and it is available for ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/1OSuftzfdKY/Being in the public eye can cause a lot of headache along with the perks of fame, and Justin Bieber became the target of some official scrutiny recently.
This past weekend, a photo of the "Hold Tight" singer with a bottle of beer in his hand taken inside NOX Houston club drew the attention of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission.
After a complaint was filed, the Commission will investigate whether or not the Biebs was served alcohol, which could mean big problems for the club.
Also that weekend, the 19-year-old pop star was departing San Juan, Puerto Rico when airport security decided to conduct a "random search" through his many bags. Following an hour-long search, Justin was permitted to leave on a private jet.
FILE - In this Wednesday, April 21, 2010, file photo, cast member Alex O'Loughlin arrives at the premiere of "The Back-up Plan" in Los Angeles. O’Loughlin says he’s signed up for two more seasons of “Hawaii Five-0” but is looking forward to a career beyond the hit TV series. (AP Photo/Matt Sayles, File)
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Alex O'Loughlin says he's signed up for two more seasons of "Hawaii Five-0" but is looking forward to a career beyond the hit TV series.
The 38-year-old actor plays policeman Steve McGarrett on the CBS series, now in its fourth season. He said the intense workload and shooting schedule had kept him out of other potential projects.
"Like I read Doug Liman's script, 'Everest,' which he's about to start directing — it's amazing and it's invigorating. But it's also heartbreaking at the same time because it feels so far away from me at the moment," O'Loughlin said at the Australians in Film awards dinner Thursday night. "I've never played one character for this long. And it's network TV, too, so it comes with its own set of challenges from the artist's perspective. But I'm very lucky. My kids will get to go to good schools, we all eat organic food, and I live in Hawaii."
The actor noted that the show — a reimagining of the 1970s series starring Jack Lord — had overcome a number of hurdles to remain consistently highly rated.
"I mean, we've had cast troubles. I got really hurt and had to go and sort myself out in the second season. We've had injuries, we've had all sorts of things. It just keeps going," he said. "We can't seem to kill it. So I guess it's going to stick around for a while."
As for how long he'll stick around: "At the moment I can't imagine working any longer than tomorrow. Because there's just so much work. But we'll see, we'll see. I want to do other things sooner rather than later."
___
Online:
http://www.cbs.com/shows/hawaii_five_0/
Anyone who's picked up an Ouya, or demoed one in-store, knows that the controller, with its sticky buttons and flimsy removable plates, could do with a lot of help. Company founder Julie Uhrman's aware of the issue and, in an interview with Polygon, she revealed that a new version of the Ouya ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/po9_Zv31Ys0/
You'd be forgiven for not knowing Micromax, but it's a name that might get a little more familiar in the future. The Indian smartphone manufacturer has hired Hugh Jackman to be its pitch person, and the first product you'll find him carrying is the surprisingly tasty-looking Canvas Turbo. The Turbo ...
Source: http://feeds.engadget.com/~r/weblogsinc/engadget/~3/qs4ZCCuaEtY/
Source: http://feeds.celebritybabies.com/~r/celebrity-babies/~3/bkGY_MlPpps/Jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen has a new album out called Claroscuro.
Jazz clarinetist Anat Cohen has a new album out called Claroscuro.
This interview was originally broadcast on Feb. 6, 2013.
Clarinetist Anat Cohen is one of a handful of Israeli jazz musicians making a mark on the American jazz scene. She's been voted Clarinetist of the Year six years in a row by the Jazz Journalists Association, and her album, Claroscuro, showcases the range of her talents and musical influences, from New Orleans-style jazz to Israel to Latin music — particularly that of Brazil.
Cohen says that the clarinet's somewhat old-fashioned reputation may be the result of the very thing that attracts her to the instrument.
"[T]he clarinet is still associated with older styles, with folkloric music," she tells Fresh Air's Terry Gross. "In Israel, the clarinet is associated with klezmer music and more folk music. So I think, in people's minds, it's something that is either dated or too religious. ... I'm working hard to put the clarinet in other scenarios that are not necessarily just folkloric or just traditional. ... I try to bring it to any kind of scenario and find its place."
This includes the music of Brazil. Cohen, who first encountered the country through friends she met as a student at Boston's Berklee College of Music, says Brazilians and the people of her native Israel are similar, and that that shock of recognition formed the spark of her initial attraction.
"We have this casual way of being with each other," she says. "But one thing that is different is they are much less suspicious of people that they don't know. And that's something that I found fascinating. ... We have an expression in Israel saying, 'Respect and suspect at the same time,' because you always want to know, 'What is this person about? And what are they after? And can I trust them?' And something about the nature of Brazilian people [is like], 'Okay, you're here, you're somebody's friend, you're our friends, we're all together, let's all be together.' And it applies to music. ... [T]he music is for everybody. The music is for the people. Everybody sings together."
On playing with a lot of breath in her sound
"It's kind of a no-no in the clarinet world, in the legit way of playing. But, you know, when you play jazz, I think, that the search for expression — that's what it's about. And if I want to say something and whisper it ... the air has an effect. It's like you're talking to someone, and you speak with more air in your voice. It gives a certain feeling. So it's just another vocabulary of sounds."
On being introduced to jazz by playing the music of New Orleans
"It was so new to me because, you know, that's not what you hear normally on the radio in Israel. So I just fell in love with the way it felt ... playing with everybody, everybody playing together, counter lines, trombone is playing melody, the other trumpet and clarinet playing lines behind it. Then, you get up and play a solo for 32 bars and that's it: Nothing is too exhausting, nothing is too long. It's just beautiful feeling. Everybody's smiling, everybody's happy. The music of New Orleans has this joy."
On how the singing style of cantors influenced her
"Cantors have an influence on anybody that listens, that is there. Because here is someone that is speaking out of their hearts and using one single melody, and all they do is express it in the most heartfelt way. And as a jazz musician — or as any musician — of course it would have an influence. I mean, that's what I try to do when I play music, when I play any music: When I play a cadence at the end of a song, you want to take one note and make it meaningful. And if you hear a cantor and they're doing it right, you're going to be so moved."
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PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Debra Levey Larson
dlarson@illinois.edu
217-244-2880
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
URBANA, Ill. If you want to eat healthier when dining out, research recommends surrounding yourself with friends who make healthy food choices. A University of Illinois study showed that when groups of people eat together at a restaurant at which they must state their food choice aloud, they tend to select items from the same menu categories.
"My conclusion from the research is that people want to be different, but not that different," said U of I food economist Brenna Ellison. "We want to fit in with the people we're dining with. It goes against the expectation that people will exhibit variety-seeking behavior; we don't want to be that different from others."
Ellison analyzed the lunch receipts from a full-service restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a period of three months. One section of the restaurant was the control group, with guests receiving menus with the item and price only. Another section received menus with calorie counts for each entre. And a third section had both the calorie count and a traffic light symbol that indicated caloric ranges: green traffic light items contained 400 calories or less, yellow light items had between 401 and 800 calories, and red light items contained more than 800 calories.
Although the data in the research were based on information from the paper receipts, because the research hinged on each of the three versions of the menus being used at specific tables in the restaurant, Ellison also went undercover at the restaurant to observe.
"I would help bus tables sometimes so that I could watch and make sure that the tables were getting the right menus," Ellison said. "Or I would send people in as 'secret eaters.' They could eat whatever they wanted. I just wanted to make sure that they got the right menu for that section."
Because she stopped by the restaurant every day to pick up receipts, Ellison said she was able to get additional information directly from the servers. "They said that people talked about the traffic lights a lot. And we did find that larger tables which received the traffic light menus did order fewer calories, on average, which suggests there was some peer pressure to order lower-calorie items," she said.
Receipt data was analyzed using a random utility framework, where the utility, or happiness, each individual receives from his or her food choice depends not only on the characteristics of that choice (such as item price, calories, etc.), but also on the characteristics of the choices of one's peers.
"The big takeaway from this research is that people were happier if they were making similar choices to those sitting around them," Ellison said. "If my peers are ordering higher-calorie items or spending more money, then I am also happier, or at least less unhappy, if I order higher-calorie foods and spend more money.
"The most interesting thing we found was that no matter how someone felt about the category originally, even if it was initially a source of unhappiness, such as the items in the salad category, this unhappiness was offset when others had ordered within the same category," Ellison said. "Given this finding, we thought it would almost be better to nudge people toward healthier friends than healthier foods."
One piece of information that wasn't included in the data is who ordered first at each table. Ellison said she wants to have this piece of information the next time she runs a similar experiment. "Previous studies have shown that if you don't have to order audibly, everyone just gets what they want without any peer pressure involved," she said. "Research suggests that you should always order first because the first person is the only one who truly gets what they want."
###
"I'll Have What He's Having": Group Ordering Behavior in Food Choice Decisions was presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association's 2013 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Jayson Lusk contributed to the conceptualization of the work. Ellison gathered the data while at Oklahoma State University but did the analysis in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the U of I.
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.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 25-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Debra Levey Larson
dlarson@illinois.edu
217-244-2880
University of Illinois College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences
URBANA, Ill. If you want to eat healthier when dining out, research recommends surrounding yourself with friends who make healthy food choices. A University of Illinois study showed that when groups of people eat together at a restaurant at which they must state their food choice aloud, they tend to select items from the same menu categories.
"My conclusion from the research is that people want to be different, but not that different," said U of I food economist Brenna Ellison. "We want to fit in with the people we're dining with. It goes against the expectation that people will exhibit variety-seeking behavior; we don't want to be that different from others."
Ellison analyzed the lunch receipts from a full-service restaurant in Stillwater, Oklahoma, for a period of three months. One section of the restaurant was the control group, with guests receiving menus with the item and price only. Another section received menus with calorie counts for each entre. And a third section had both the calorie count and a traffic light symbol that indicated caloric ranges: green traffic light items contained 400 calories or less, yellow light items had between 401 and 800 calories, and red light items contained more than 800 calories.
Although the data in the research were based on information from the paper receipts, because the research hinged on each of the three versions of the menus being used at specific tables in the restaurant, Ellison also went undercover at the restaurant to observe.
"I would help bus tables sometimes so that I could watch and make sure that the tables were getting the right menus," Ellison said. "Or I would send people in as 'secret eaters.' They could eat whatever they wanted. I just wanted to make sure that they got the right menu for that section."
Because she stopped by the restaurant every day to pick up receipts, Ellison said she was able to get additional information directly from the servers. "They said that people talked about the traffic lights a lot. And we did find that larger tables which received the traffic light menus did order fewer calories, on average, which suggests there was some peer pressure to order lower-calorie items," she said.
Receipt data was analyzed using a random utility framework, where the utility, or happiness, each individual receives from his or her food choice depends not only on the characteristics of that choice (such as item price, calories, etc.), but also on the characteristics of the choices of one's peers.
"The big takeaway from this research is that people were happier if they were making similar choices to those sitting around them," Ellison said. "If my peers are ordering higher-calorie items or spending more money, then I am also happier, or at least less unhappy, if I order higher-calorie foods and spend more money.
"The most interesting thing we found was that no matter how someone felt about the category originally, even if it was initially a source of unhappiness, such as the items in the salad category, this unhappiness was offset when others had ordered within the same category," Ellison said. "Given this finding, we thought it would almost be better to nudge people toward healthier friends than healthier foods."
One piece of information that wasn't included in the data is who ordered first at each table. Ellison said she wants to have this piece of information the next time she runs a similar experiment. "Previous studies have shown that if you don't have to order audibly, everyone just gets what they want without any peer pressure involved," she said. "Research suggests that you should always order first because the first person is the only one who truly gets what they want."
###
"I'll Have What He's Having": Group Ordering Behavior in Food Choice Decisions was presented at the Agricultural and Applied Economic Association's 2013 annual meeting in Washington, D.C. Jayson Lusk contributed to the conceptualization of the work. Ellison gathered the data while at Oklahoma State University but did the analysis in the College of Agricultural, Consumer and Environmental Sciences at the U of I.
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.
Why hello, Mr. Grey! Jamie Dornan stepped out in London on Friday, Oct. 25, looking scruffy and casual, just two days after it was revealed that he would be replacing Charlie Hunnam in the film adaptation of E.L. James' Fifty Shades of Grey.
Mysterious and handsome -- just like his character! -- the Irish actor and model surfaced wearing dark blue jeans, a plain white t-shirt and a black peacoat. The brunette hunk, 31, also tried to keep a low profile by wearing shades during the outing.
It was confirmed earlier in the week that the former Once Upon a Time actor would be gearing up to star in the S&M trilogy alongside Dakota Johnson in the Sam Taylor-Wood directed film. "Stow your twitchy palms ladies...our man is here. Welcome to #TeamFifty @JamieDornan1 x," James would later confirm via Twitter.
"Jamie has a really good reputation as someone easy to work with, easy going and is seen as someone who will be very appreciative of this role," a source told Us Weekly of Dornan. "It's his charm and personality that is winning people over."
One day earlier, Johnson stepped out herself shortly before news broke that her Anastasia Steele had a leading man once again. The actress, 24, sizzled in a black and blue dress (with a lingerie-inspired bustier top!) at the CFDA & Vogue Fashion Fund Event in West Hollywood, Calif., on Oct. 23. A second insider added: "She's ready for this role."
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Leslie Shepherd
shepherdl@smh.ca
416-864-6094
St. Michael's Hospital
TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2013Although homeless people account for a small proportion of Emergency Department visits, a small group of them are extremely high users and have multiple complex health care needs, new research has found.
During a four-year study conducted by St. Michael's Hospital, almost 900 homeless adults had more than 8,500 ED visits, roughly two per person per year. But 60 per cent of those visits were made by only 10 per cent of the participants in the study, who had an average 12 trips to the ED each year.
Compared to the low-income population of Toronto, homeless participants in this study visited an ED more than eight times as often.
The research led by Dr. Stephen Hwang of the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health was published in three papers today in a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health devoted to homelessness and public health, one looking at the overall health care use by homeless people and two others examining factors that predict frequent ED use and hospitalizations. All three papers used data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, where Dr. Hwang is an adjunct scientist.
The study also found that single homeless women were more likely than single homeless men to have made at least one ED visit during the study and that homeless adults with families (mostly women with dependent children) were far less likely to be frequent users.
Single homeless women generally have a higher prevalence of mental illness, while single homeless men have a higher prevalence of substance abuse. Homeless mothers generally have lower rates of both, which may partially explain why families in this study had lower rates of ED use.
Other factors significantly associated with any ED use were: being born in Canada, having higher monthly income, perceived unmet needs for mental health care, lack of belief in the ability to control one's health and poorer physical health status.
Immigrants and members of visible minority groups were half as likely to use ED services, possibly because homeless recent immigrants tend to be healthier than homeless people who are born in Canada. Dr. Hwang said it's also possible that factors related to language, awareness of services, socio-economic barriers and perceived discrimination or stigma may deter those individuals from visiting the ED.
Surprisingly, higher monthly incomes were associated with a greater likelihood of frequent ED use. Dr. Hwang said these individuals may be engaging in risk behaviours, such as binge drinking or drug use, following receipt of social support payments.
Dr. Hwang said previous studies have shown that interventions such as intensive case management or housing first programs, that move homeless people immediately into stable housing, have the potential to reduce ED use, lower costs and improve social and clinical outcomes among the frequent users. He said more research is needed to determine whether those interventions would also work for the general homeless population.
"Reducing frequent emergency health care use among homeless persons will require sustained efforts to reduce unmet needs for health care, particularly for mental health services, and improvement in the coordination of care across health and social services," he said.
###
This research project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
About St. Michael's Hospital
St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
For more information or to interview Dr. Hwang, contact:
Leslie Shepherd
Manager, Media Strategy
Communications and Public Affairs Department
St. Michael's Hospital
416-864-6094
shepherdl@smh.ca
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.
Video, photos and texts of the studies are available at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/982d0d90qvkh903/kqqZOtoqdk
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.
PUBLIC RELEASE DATE: 22-Oct-2013
ShareContact: Leslie Shepherd
shepherdl@smh.ca
416-864-6094
St. Michael's Hospital
TORONTO, Oct. 22, 2013Although homeless people account for a small proportion of Emergency Department visits, a small group of them are extremely high users and have multiple complex health care needs, new research has found.
During a four-year study conducted by St. Michael's Hospital, almost 900 homeless adults had more than 8,500 ED visits, roughly two per person per year. But 60 per cent of those visits were made by only 10 per cent of the participants in the study, who had an average 12 trips to the ED each year.
Compared to the low-income population of Toronto, homeless participants in this study visited an ED more than eight times as often.
The research led by Dr. Stephen Hwang of the hospital's Centre for Research on Inner City Health was published in three papers today in a special issue of the American Journal of Public Health devoted to homelessness and public health, one looking at the overall health care use by homeless people and two others examining factors that predict frequent ED use and hospitalizations. All three papers used data from the Institute for Clinical Evaluative Sciences, where Dr. Hwang is an adjunct scientist.
The study also found that single homeless women were more likely than single homeless men to have made at least one ED visit during the study and that homeless adults with families (mostly women with dependent children) were far less likely to be frequent users.
Single homeless women generally have a higher prevalence of mental illness, while single homeless men have a higher prevalence of substance abuse. Homeless mothers generally have lower rates of both, which may partially explain why families in this study had lower rates of ED use.
Other factors significantly associated with any ED use were: being born in Canada, having higher monthly income, perceived unmet needs for mental health care, lack of belief in the ability to control one's health and poorer physical health status.
Immigrants and members of visible minority groups were half as likely to use ED services, possibly because homeless recent immigrants tend to be healthier than homeless people who are born in Canada. Dr. Hwang said it's also possible that factors related to language, awareness of services, socio-economic barriers and perceived discrimination or stigma may deter those individuals from visiting the ED.
Surprisingly, higher monthly incomes were associated with a greater likelihood of frequent ED use. Dr. Hwang said these individuals may be engaging in risk behaviours, such as binge drinking or drug use, following receipt of social support payments.
Dr. Hwang said previous studies have shown that interventions such as intensive case management or housing first programs, that move homeless people immediately into stable housing, have the potential to reduce ED use, lower costs and improve social and clinical outcomes among the frequent users. He said more research is needed to determine whether those interventions would also work for the general homeless population.
"Reducing frequent emergency health care use among homeless persons will require sustained efforts to reduce unmet needs for health care, particularly for mental health services, and improvement in the coordination of care across health and social services," he said.
###
This research project was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality.
About St. Michael's Hospital
St Michael's Hospital provides compassionate care to all who enter its doors. The hospital also provides outstanding medical education to future health care professionals in more than 23 academic disciplines. Critical care and trauma, heart disease, neurosurgery, diabetes, cancer care, care of the homeless and global health are among the Hospital's recognized areas of expertise. Through the Keenan Research Centre and the Li Ka Shing International Healthcare Education Centre, which make up the Li Ka Shing Knowledge Institute, research and education at St. Michael's Hospital are recognized and make an impact around the world. Founded in 1892, the hospital is fully affiliated with the University of Toronto.
For more information or to interview Dr. Hwang, contact:
Leslie Shepherd
Manager, Media Strategy
Communications and Public Affairs Department
St. Michael's Hospital
416-864-6094
shepherdl@smh.ca
Inspired Care. Inspiring Science.
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A 2008 photo of the offshore supply ship C-Retriever.
A 2008 photo of the offshore supply ship C-Retriever.
Rebels in Nigeria are reportedly in contact with pirates holding two U.S. crewmen seized from the offshore supply vessel C-Retriever earlier this week, The Associated Press reports.
The AP says that an email reportedly from the rebel group Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says the men were captured off the coast of the Nigerian town of Brass, but there were no details of demands or a ransom.
Officials have said the captain and an engineer from the U.S.-flagged vessel were seized during an attack in the Gulf of Guinea on Wednesday.
The Nigerian navy, which reports freeing at least two other hostages this year and killing several pirates, says it's searching for the kidnapped men.
On Thursday, White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said: "We are seeking additional information so that we can contribute to the safe resolution of the situation."
"More broadly, we are concerned by the disturbing increase in the incidence of maritime crime, including incidents of piracy off the coast of West Africa, specifically in the Gulf of Guinea," Carney said.
The West African coast has been a hotspot for piracy second only to the Somali coast and the Indian Ocean.
"An official of the private security firm, AKE Group, of Hereford, England, said the attack on the vessel, identified as the C-Retriever, took place near the Nigerian city of Brass, where the oil-rich Niger Delta empties into the Gulf of Guinea, in West Africa. The official, based in AKE Group's office in Lagos, Nigeria, spoke on the condition of anonymity.
'All we know is this attack happened, and these were the people who were kidnapped,' the official said by telephone. He said he did not know the identities of the two hostages.
A spokesman for the Nigerian Navy, Cmdr. Kabiru Aliyu, confirmed the piracy attack. 'The Nigerian Navy has directed its operational command to search for and rescue the vessel and the crew members," he said. "Right now, the search is going on, and we are tracking down the culprits. We don't know how it was carried out.'"
A number of attempts have been made recently to define open source models -- even new licenses -- that limit the freedom of anyone but the project instigator to benefit from the full range of rights to the software. Proponents believe they can generate a "network effect" of adoption and contribution without providing the same software freedoms to all.
They are deluding themselves.
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I've been involved with open source projects in one way or another for more than a decade. I remember going through the whole learning cycle: being amazed by the fact open source software was free to the end-user; discovering a community of developers, testers, writers and deployers around each open source project; being stunned that competitors were actually collaborating in some projects; and so on. Everyone goes through this discovery process, which parallels Fowler's "stages of faith" model of personal growth.
Newcomers to open source are often astonished to find great, complete, actively maintained software available free of charge. Some assume this is because of the selfless philanthropy of others "giving their work away free." Some even assume this is naivete on the part of the developers; indeed, one business leader has concluded that the best way to deal with the threat of open source to his business is to be parasitic: "If an open source product gets good enough, we'll simply take it."
But the reason software is available for no cost to end-users is not a matter of philanthropy or naivete. Rather, the collaborative development of the software by programmers requires that all the obstacles copyright law introduces must be set aside to make collaboration possible. The zero-cost license fee for end-users is a side effect of the provision of that liberty between the developers. Open source licenses, approved by the Open Source Initiative as conforming to the Open Source Definition, deliver that freedom to collaborate.
An open source community that's properly constituted and provides all participants with equal rights generates a network effect. The network effect leads to widespread adoption of the software and engagement on the part of users and developers. But that network effect depends on everyone having the liberty to use the software for any purpose -- to study and modify the source code and distribute both the software and any modifications, all without needing the permission of anyone else.
Why fakery fails
To seek the network effect without the liberty is self-defeating. It's highly unlikely to emerge, and if it does it will always be vulnerable to collapse when the community realizes it's not in possession of the same liberties as the initiator of the community. Why do people do it? After all, there are frequent attempts at "open core" models of open source community development, usually with "community managers" who try to minimize the effects of the cognitive dissonance.
There are also regular attempts to devise schemes where software is called open source, but where the initiators of the project have special rights to monetize the work that other community members don't have. One recent set of proposals involved releasing software under an open source license only after a monetization period had passed -- an "open source eventually, guaranteed" approach. But such approaches won't generate a network effect of contributors. Other contributors will need to know they can benefit equally straight away to justify their full engagement.
I believe these various mutant open source ideas result from a failure to grasp the true role of "software freedom" -- the guaranteed rights to use, study, modify, and distribute source and binary -- in an open source project. Those who continue to assert that it can are stuck in the earlier stages of understanding open source. Seductive though the idea may be, the network effect cannot be achieved without the corresponding software freedoms.
This article, "Don't be fooled by phony 'open source'," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Read more of the Open Sources blog and follow the latest developments in open source at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.
No doubt about it, the Raspberry Pi is nothing short of a homebrew phenomenon. Since its release in February 2012, the British micro-mini-computer has enabled legions of amateur inventors to develop projects both weird and wonderful. Here’s a run-down of the most impressive applications, ranging from weather stations to retro arcades to a supercomputer array on a Lego rack. See if any of them inspire you to do the same.
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Source: http://feeds.gawker.com/~r/gizmodo/full/~3/HaFlHDAjzY4/how-to-get-even-more-out-of-a-raspberry-pi-1451981671
