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BATON ROUGE, La. (AP) ? Zach Mettenberger and the LSU offense are still searching for consistency as the Tigers enter one of the toughest stretches on their schedule.
Mettenberger connected with Odell Beckham Jr. five times for 128 yards and two touchdowns, but No. 3 LSU was unable to eliminate nagging offensive sloppiness in a 38-22 victory over overmatched but feisty Towson on Saturday night.
Mettenberger's scoring strikes to Beckham went for 53 and 27 yards, and LSU's quarterback finished 15-of-26 for 238 yards passing. Still, Mettenberger was sacked four times, missed some open receivers and a fumble he gave up ? one of three LSU turnovers ? led to the first of two touchdown runs by Towson's Terrance West.
West's first TD run gave Towson, an FCS team, a stunning 9-7 lead in the second quarter before LSU responded with 24 straight points.
J.C. Copeland, LSU's powerful 272-pound fullback, scored his third touchdown of the season on a 1-yard plunge, but was hurt in the fourth quarter and did not put any weight on his left leg as he was helped off the field.
In all, LSU's performance fell well short of the confidence-building performance it wanted before a trip to No. 11 Florida next weekend, followed by a visit from No. 6 South Carolina.
LSU had portrayed its narrow 12-10 victory at Auburn a week earlier as a wakeup call, but it continued to stumble intermittently against its first FCS opponent of the season ? enough so that frustrated fans routinely groaned and even booed.
LSU fumbled five times in all but recovered two of them. Mettenberger's fumble was his third in two games. Michael Ford's fumble in the third quarter stalled a likely scoring drive on the Towson 13. Kenny Hilliard's fumble set up Towson's opening points on a field goal.
Ford still had a solid game overall, rushing 11 times for 76 yards, including a 4-yard TD. Receiver Russell Shepard had his best play on a designed run, bursting through the line and speeding down the sideline for a career-long 78-yard scoring run that he finished by diving to the pylon.
Towson quarterback Grant Enders was 13-of-33 for 103 yards, including a 9-yard touchdown pass to Gerrard Shepard. He also rushed for 86 yards, including a 43-yard scamper that set up West's first TD on a 1-yard dive. West finished with 79 yards on 22 carries. His second TD run also came from a yard out.
Shepard opened scoring on the first play of LSU's second possession.
Towson did not drive past its own 30 on its first three possessions, but Hilliard's fumble on the LSU 38 late in the first quarter gave Towson its first break, and it capitalize with D.J. Sloven's field goal.
Five of LSU's first six drives ended with three punts, a fumble and a missed 51-yard field goal attempt, keeping Towson in the game.
Animated Towson coach Rob Ambrose appeared to be thoroughly enjoying his Death Valley experience on the visitor's sideline, and it only got better for him when Mettenberger fumbled on a sack while scrambling left and Towson recovered on LSU's 45. Soon after, Enders scrambled 43 yards to the LSU 1, and West dove over the pile to give Towson the lead. The point-after kick missed, however, leaving it 9-7.
Mettenberger responded as LSU hoped on his next drive, hitting tight end Chase Clement over the middle for 27 yards, then finding Beckham for a 27-yard score to make it 14-9.
LSU had another scoring chance before halftime after Towson's R.J. Peppers shanked a punt only 6 yards to his own 22, but the drive stalled at the 5, setting up Drew Alleman's field goal to make it 17-9.
In the Bootstrapping Business Series, Mashable talked to a ton of entrepreneurs about how they got started, what tools they live by and what they wished they had known at the beginning. The result is a deep pool of tips and tricks for aspiring business owners who are looking to raise money, start a tech startup or build their brand.
From selecting the best employees to putting together an awesome workspace, the little decisions are the ones that add up and will make you successful in the long run. Take a look at a roundup of 10 of these solid primers below. Have tips of your own? Tell us in the comments.
The entrepreneurship journey isn?t an easy one ? developing a product, scaling a business and growing an audience are intimidating tasks that necessitate endless hustle, ambition and passion. And even if you have all of those qualities in spades, there?s still a good chance your venture will fail.
But one in 12 startups succeed, and these businesses are healthy, growing and maybe even profitable. But that?s not to say there weren?t bumps in the road. We?ve asked some founders for things they wish they knew when they started their companies, in the hopes that it?ll help you and your startup avoid a fatal flaw.
Read the full story here.
If you work from home, you owe it to yourself to set up a proper office space. It?s vital you have somewhere to concentrate that?s separate from your home life ? and is hopefully a nice space to spend time in. A good working space is even more important if you operate your small business out of your home.
To help you out on this rather specific front, we have pulled together some useful tips from experienced home-workers and chatted with home office expert Lisa Kanarek, founder of WorkingNaked.com.
Read the full story here.
Once your startup hits the market, there?s reason to celebrate ? but this is only the beginning. The next step is growth, either indirectly through user acquisition or by bringing in additional customers. You know your product is performing well and has a few happy users or customers, so how do you get the word out?
The challenges faced by early-stage startup are unique. There is no existing user base to piggyback on with network dynamics and little data to determine the most effective entry points that lead to a paying customer. Also, many startups are too small to bring on a PR staff, and most founders are not educated in the best tactics for reaching out to media. The good news is that social media can enable you to reach potential customers without depending on traditional outlets, and sometimes these tactics will work hand-in-hand.
Read the full story here.
There?s a ton do when you?re first starting a company. Each co-founder or employee executes several job descriptions jumbled together, and it seems a simple solution to just hire a new person and delegate away responsibilities, never to be worried about again. This becomes especially relevant post-funding, because it suddenly becomes plausible to hire with the intended result of getting more done faster.
But this isn?t necessarily true, according to Eric Ries, creator of the Lean Startup methodology. ?As you add people to a team or project, there is an increase in communications overhead that makes everyone slightly less productive,? he explains.
It may seem counterintuitive to do anything slow when following lean startup methods, but Ries? point stands: To continue executing effectively, you must not introduce a point of friction to your team. Finding the right person is paramount, and worth the wait.
Read the full story here.
One of the most difficult things about bootstrapping a startup is utilizing the right resources to optimize efficiency and promote growth. And, it doesn?t help that the best tools for the job often come at a pretty hefty price. It?s easy to feel shortchanged, especially when the apps of your dreams feel like a mouse-click away.
But don?t despair. Over the last few years, startups benefited from the so-called ?freemium? model ? a company offers the basic functions of an app suite for free, and then charges more for premium features and bigger storage space. A classic example is newsletter platform MailChimp, which is free for a few subscribers, but as your userbase ? and business ? grows, so does the cost, increasing incrementally according to your number of subscribers. Taking advantage of freemium options can help you put together the enterprise arsenal of your dreams while also maintaining that shoestring budget.
However, it?s important to note that choosing freemium doesn?t automatically guarantee satisfaction. Here are some tips and tricks that will help you hedge your bets within the freemium system ? and benefit like a high-rolling VIP.
Read the full story here.
For many entrepreneurs, the startup journey transforms them into more of a generalist than they likely were in a position at a larger company. This calls for specialized tools. The vocation-centric applications and programs no longer cut it.
Productivity is essential when you have a lot on your plate. Time is money, so when an app is able to help you do more faster, it becomes worth paying for. Other apps will streamline communication or collaborative processes and reduce the friction of working in tandem with team members.
Of course, no entrepreneur is all work, no play ? taking a break will give your brain a rest, and it?s important to have options on hand that let you re-center your chi.
Read the full story here.
Nobody likes to talk about budgeting. Even more, budgeting is sort of a drag to do ? but all can agree it?s incredibly important.
A few companies have launched software to make budgeting faster and easier. Plus, options for interaction with fellow entrepreneurs on sites like Twitter and Quora enables relevant feedback so you don?t pay excessive amounts for a service you don?t need. Read on to discover a few ways you can manage your company?s spectrum of debits and credits without too much stress.
Read the full story here.
When starting your business, we know there?s a lot to handle and think about. There?s your (growing) team, your intellectual property, product management and a pinched budget, all while you?re trying to navigate the waters of entrepreneurship.
But even without millions your brand can make an impression. All the free social media tools are a great start ? Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube and Pinterest are key, but there?s more you can do to make an impression. We?ve rounded up eight ways to build your brand on the cheap ? because there are more important things to spend money and time on, like your product and talent.
Read the full story here.
There?s nothing better than a shiny new piece of technology, but not everyone can just splurge for a laptop, tablet or iPhone every time another one comes around.
With so many tech upgrades and accessories on the market to turn existing hardware into even more powerful mechanisms, it?s not unusual for small businesses to save time, money and a whole lot of headaches by implementing a few simple add-ons.
For example, some small businesses are using systems that turn mobile devices into landlines to help make conference and video calls more user-friendly and less expensive. The AudiOffice by Invoxia features a dock equipped with speakers for devices such as the iPhone, iPod and iPad, and thanks to apps such as Skype and FaceTime that allow businesses to communicate with each other via chat, small businesses can cut down on communication costs.
Read the full story here.
The concept of BYOD, or ?Bring Your Own Device,? has gained plenty of traction as the mode du jour for budding startups. And it?s easy to see why more companies ? both big and small ? are willing to take the plunge: The savings involved in allowing employees to utilize their own devices for work can be staggering.
But don?t get too caught up in the savings, or you?ll expose yourself to a world of risk. What companies gain in convenience and extra cash can be lost in poor control and flimsy policy. The unknown elements that can happen with a BYOD policy have led critics to call it ?Bring Your Own Disaster,? and it?s easy to see how even the best intentions can lead to a serious security breach or aggravating compatibility problems.
Thinking of switching to BYOD? Here are four things to keep in mind when crafting and enforcing your policy. It?s important to note that the preferences and cultures of each company are different, so use your own needs as a guideline to developing a BYOD system that works for you.
Parking in Paris is a nightmare. No, it's worse -- it's bad enough to keep you awake at night, worrying that your precious machine will be scratched up or simply missing the next morning. Nokia, at least, is trying to make things a little easier with an upcoming service it's just calling Nokia Parking. It's a comprehensive parking database launching in Europe in November that can not only help you find parking but even help you pay for it once you do. More details, and a video demo, after the break.
Yesterday we heard that the Indians had made contact with Terry Francona about their fresh managerial vacancy. The question was whether Francona would truly be interested in an Indians job that presented (a) a rebuild; and (b) less money than he made in Boston. ?To that end, Peter Gammons throws this out there this morning:
Interesting. Sandy Alomar is a fan favorite and, according to some, the favorite among several Indians players. Of course, Indians players probably aren?t the determining factor here given that, as a group, they?ve not won anything and the bulk of them likely won?t be around the next time the Tribe wins anything.
As for Francona, it?ll be interesting to see if he really wants to go into a situation where rebuilding is going down as opposed to taking over a more veteran-laded team seemingly closer to contention. ?Although, given what Baltimore and, to a lesser extent, Pittsburgh did this year, the line between rebuilding and contending is a lot thinner than it used to be. ?That?s probably especially true in the AL Central.
Winemaking is the latest industry to be hit by robot?fever: French inventors have created a robot that rolls among the grapevines, checking and perhaps pruning as it goes.
A wine grower in France complained three years ago to?Christophe Millot that they were always short on staff. Millot designed the Wall-Ye robot, which is indeed named after Pixar's trash-collecting WALL-E, and the pair have been working together on it ever since.
Wall-Ye moves around on treads and is equipped with a number of cameras for navigation and inspection of vines.?It navigates by GPS, but also recognizes each plant individually and can carry out?special instructions or follow up on previous work.
There are plans to make it able to prune vines and eventually pick grapes, but for now it is limited to less complicated tasks. But checking for bugs, disease, temperature variations and soil problems are important parts of running a vineyard ? and they can be tedious.
Another winemaker, Claire Gazeau-Montrasi, explains in the AFP video above?that she would welcome a robot that took care of the most boring jobs. Like a Roomba or similar household robot, it can do its job slowly but surely, working around its owner's schedule.
At ?25,000, or around $32,000, Wall-Ye isn't cheap, though there are larger and more expensive systems that are capable of more. Automation of agriculture hasn't made it to vineyards quite yet because of the delicate nature of the task, but that may soon change, with?robots like Wall-Ye leading the charge.
Devin Coldewey is a contributing writer for NBC News Digital. His personal website is coldewey.cc.
Third-party browser developer Skyfire has launched a new plug-in framework, allowing other apps to drill deeper into your everyday mobile web experience. Readability is one of the launch partners for this Horizon framework, which includes options to quickly see your reading list, mark pages to read later, or translate web pages into a readable format right away. A less well-known service called Blue Kangaroo can offer valid coupon codes when you're shopping online through your mobile device. There are lots of big-name plug-ins available, including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, IMDB, and Amazon, among others.
There's a big catch, though. This new toolbar isn't going live in Google Play, but rather rolled out through carrier partners. AT&T is already deploying Skyfire with Horizon this month on many of their Android handsets. Though that might just seem like yet another spot for the carrier to push more bloatware, any plug-ins that are preloaded can be removed and replaced by whatever plug-ins the user wants to put in.
Horizon is an interesting system, and certainly seems to offer a bit more functionality than the system-wide Share menu (depending on how in-depth developers go with the plug-in framework). Skyfire also works heavily on carrier-side compression, which enables faster delivery of your browsing data.
Developers and carriers interested in getting involved with Horizon can check out their landing page. Any big Skyfire fans in the house? Which third-party browsers do you use?
Bonnie J. M. Swoger is a Science and Technology Librarian at a small public undergraduate institution in upstate New York, SUNY Geneseo. She teaches students about the science literature, helps faculty and students with library research questions and leads library assessment efforts. Bonnie started her professional life as a geologist, but realized that she was much more interested in how scientists communicate their research to one another. As a librarian, she gets to teach others about the topic. She has a BS in Geology from St. Lawrence University, an MS in Geology from Kent State University and an MLS from the University at Buffalo. She lives in upstate New York with her husband, two young daughters and two old cats. She would love to have some free time in which to indulge in hobbies. She also blogs at the Undergraduate Science Librarian and can be found on twitter @bonnieswoger.
Hadas Shema is an Information Science graduate student at Bar-Ilan University, Israel. She studies the characteristics of online scientific discourse and is a member of the European Union?s Academic Careers Understood through Measurement and Norms (ACUMEN) project. Hadas tweets at @Hadas_Shema.
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This morning, at minute 48 of a 50 minute information literacy session for an introductory biology class, a student asked me one of those seemingly innocuous questions,
?Why are journals so expensive??
We had spend the past 45 minutes talking about the scientific literature: what is peer review, what is a primary research article, and what happens after an article is published. I took two minutes to discuss finding journal articles and I gave my standard spiel about why students should use inter-library loan instead of paying for journal articles we don?t have: hundreds of thousands of your tuition dollars already pay databases and journal subscriptions. If we don?t already have a copy of the article you need in another database, we can borrow it from another library more cheaply than you can buy it online ? free to you, low cost to us. Besides, the journal publishers don?t need more of your money. Journal subscriptions are much more expensive than magazine subscriptions ? hundreds or thousands of dollars a year for just one journal.
The students? eyes went wide at the last statement about the cost of journal subscriptions. You can get a year of People for just $100, or a year of Scientific American for only $25. So why does a library subscription to the Journal of Co-ordination Chemistry (24 issues per year) cost $11,367 per year?
I believe this graph of journal costs over the years is mandatory for any blog post, presentation or article that discusses journal prices. Here it is. The yellow dotted line is the consumer price index. The top red line is journal costs. From ARL.
Since I had about 90 seconds to provide some kind of answer to this question, my mind quickly raced through the details of the ?serials crisis,? distinctions between journal prices for STM and humanities journals, the rise of the for-profit publisher after World War II, open access mandates and everything else.
In the end, I told the student there were two main reasons why publishers charge so much for journal subscriptions:
The subscription isn?t just for one person, it is so that everyone at the university could (theoretically) read that content
Because they can.
Journals have content (articles, reviews) that scholars and students want. Due to the nature of academic publishing, that exact same content (the results from a particular study or experiment) can?t be found in another journal. These mini-monopolies put power in the hands of publishers as scientists and scholars need access to particular content.
It?s kind of like the way that HBO can control its subscription price. If you want to watch Game of Thrones, you have to subscribe to HBO. You may get it via Time Warner or Direct TV, but HBO can still set the price. The major difference here is that unlike TV shows for entertainment purposes, some scholarly content can be considered vital to the educational and research mission of a college, making it difficult to say NO to.
This may be changing. There have been several high profile cases of libraries saying NO to high priced journal content (more on that next time), and researchers are more aware than ever of the repercussions of publishing in expensive journals. Hopefully this will lead to a greater balance of power between scholarly publishers and the institutions that purchase their content.
Police clash with protestors during the demonstration at the parliament against austerity measures announced by the Spanish government in Madrid, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Spain's Parliament has taken on the appearance of a heavily guarded fortress with dozens of police blocking access from every possible angle, hours ahead of a protest against the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
Police clash with protestors during the demonstration at the parliament against austerity measures announced by the Spanish government in Madrid, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Spain's Parliament has taken on the appearance of a heavily guarded fortress with dozens of police blocking access from every possible angle, hours ahead of a protest against the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
El primer ministro griego Antonis Samaras (izquierda) y el ministro de Finanzas Yannis Stournaras hablan despu?s de una reuni?n con los l?deres de sus dos socios menores en la coalici?n, el jueves 27 de septiembre de 2012 en la Mansion Maximos de Atenas. (Foto AP/Thanassis Stavrakis)
Finance Ministry, tax office and customs employees march in central Athens outside the finance ministry building to protest new austerity measures, on Thursday, Sept. 27, 2012. As the party leaders conferred Thursday, tax and customs employees, who are on strike until Friday against planned pay cuts, held a peaceful protest in the capital. (AP Photo/Petros Giannakouris)
Police clash with protestors during a demonstration at the parliament against austerity measures announced by the Spanish government in Madrid, Spain, Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2012. Spain's Parliament has taken on the appearance of a heavily guarded fortress with dozens of police blocking access from every possible angle, hours ahead of a protest against the conservative government's handling of the economic crisis. (AP Photo/Andres Kudacki)
MADRID (AP) ? Spain and Greece outlined plans Thursday to reduce government spending and raise taxes to convince international lenders and financial markets they are on track to cut their deficits.
The latest round of belt-tightening comes as economies across Europe get weaker and public resentment toward austerity grows stronger.
Spain's plan to slash its deficit in 2013 and 2014 signals to many analysts that it's preparing to request a financial lifeline from other governments and the European Central Bank. To receive this help, countries must first show they are serious about reining in deficits.
"This is a budget in times of crisis but one to help get out of the crisis," deputy Prime Minister Soraya Saenz de Santamaria said.
For similar reasons, Greece's coalition government agreed to cut spending over the next two years by ?11.5 billion ($14.77 billion). Without the cuts, Greece would have been cut off from vital bailout loans that it needs to pay its bills ? and stay in the eurozone. The loans come from the International Monetary Fund, European Union and the ECB.
Financial markets cheered the budget-cutting. In Europe, stocks rose in anticipation of the Spanish measures. France's benchmark stock index finished 0.7 percent higher and Germany's main index rose 0.2 percent. Borrowing costs for Spain and Italy fell, and the Dow Jones industrial average rose 72 points.
But the region remains in trouble. Economic confidence in the 17 countries that use the euro fell to its lowest level in over three years, according to a survey by the European Union's Commission. Meanwhile, unemployment figures in Germany continued to drift higher, in spite of a small seasonal boost in jobs, underlining concerns that Europe's biggest economy is slowing down.
Across Europe, six countries are in recession and economists predict the entire region could be heading for recession by the end of the year.
Throughout the three-year financial crisis, eurozone governments have had to impose harsh cuts and reforms to get control of their debts and ? in the case of Greece, Portugal and Ireland ? qualify for vital aid. The austerity measures have hit citizens with wage cuts and fewer services, and reduced government spending has undermined growth.
In some countries, the austerity measures have sparked violent protests. But governments have pressed on with the cuts and reforms to get the eurozone financial crisis under control ? and to get help from other countries and organizations.
Finance Minister Cristobal Montoro said Thursday Spain's draft budget for 2013 would cut overall spending by ?40 billion ($51 billion).
Spain has come under pressure to take up the ECB on its offer to buy unlimited amounts of government bonds to help lower borrowing costs for countries struggling to manage their debts. Such large-scale purchases of short-term government bonds would drive up their price and push down their interest rate and take some pressure off of financially stressed governments such as Spain.
Spain is at the center of the eurozone crisis ? its ?1.4 trillion ($1.8 trillion) economy is the fourth-largest among the 17 countries that use the euro. The country is struggling to prop up its shaky banking sector and support its heavily indebted regional governments. It has already introduced several packages of tax hikes, civil servant wage cuts and freezes in a bid to get out of the crisis.
To get help from the ECB, Spain must first ask for assistance from the rest of the eurozone. So far, the government has been reluctant to ask for fear of the conditions the other countries will attach to its aid. Analysts say the Spanish government hopes Thursday's budget measures will be enough to stop the eurozone from imposing further spending and deficit controls if and when Spain asks for help.
Economy Minister Luis de Guindos said the measures "go beyond" the steps European officials have recommended that Spain should take. He added that Spain was consulting with other countries in the bloc but has still not decided whether to ask for a bailout.
The country is battling to fulfill an EU commitment to reduce its deficit in relation to economic output from 8.9 percent last year to 6.3 percent in 2012, 4.5 percent next year and to 2.8 percent by the end of 2014.
Montoro said Spain would meet the 2012 deficit target despite recent reports that it was off-target eight months into the year. "We're on a very viable path," he said.
Among new taxes to be levied, Montoro said all national lottery prizes of more than ?2,500 ($3,210) would be taxed 20 percent. Saenz de Santamari, meanwhile, announced a new body to oversee regional and local governments' adherence to deficit-reduction targets.
Thursday's budget package comes in the wake of anti-austerity protests in Madrid over the past two nights. More protests are planned for Saturday.
The Greek coalition government hopes that Thursday's agreement on austerity cuts will be enough to meet the targets demanded by its international lenders and keep the vital bailout loans coming.
Finance Minister Yiannis Stournaras said the long-delayed agreement placed him in a stronger negotiating position ahead of talks Monday with representatives from the country's bailout creditors, who will have the final word on the cutbacks.
Greece has relied on international bailouts since May 2010. In return, it has imposed a punishing austerity program, repeatedly slashing incomes, hiking taxes and raising retirement ages.
On top of the ?11.5 billion that has to be axed from state spending in 2013-14, Athens must also boost state revenues by an additional ?2 billion over the next two years through tax reform and improved tax collection.
The three-party meeting came a day after more than 50,000 anti-austerity protesters took to the streets of Athens, in a demonstration marred by clashes between anarchists and riot police.
The conservative-led coalition has been debating the new cutbacks for about two months. But a deal was delayed by opposition from the two center-left junior partners ? coupled with disagreements with the austerity inspectors.
Socialist PASOK leader Evangelos Venizelos said after Thursday's two-and-a-half hour talks that he would "struggle to the end to ensure that these measures are not across the board and are fair ... and that they are truly the last," as Samaras has pledged.
___
Barry Hatton in Lisbon and Nicholas Paphitis and Elena Becatoros in Athens contributed to this report.
In Arizona, hundreds of high school students are now being offered the opportunity to graduate after their sophomore year ? as long as they prove their academic mettle.
As a part of an innovative initiative called Move On When Ready, high-achieving students who prove they are capable of taking college-level courses without remedial help, are allowed to move on regardless of their class stature.
Launched in 2011-2012, last school year about 12 schools in the state participated. This fall, the Center for the Future of Arizona (which supports the initiative and establishes the program in schools) estimates 30 high schools?including district, charter and private?now have Move On When Ready programs in place.
RELATED:?Want a Voice in Your Child?s Education? Live in These 10 States
"We were interested in participating because it's important for our students to have as many opportunities as possible for whatever career or college pathway they choose when they're finished with us," Cindy Miller, assistant superintendent for academic services in the Dysart Unified School District, told the Arizona Republic News. The Dysart Unified School District added the Move On program to two high schools this 2012-2013 school year.
High schools, which voluntarily sign up for Move On, agree to implement a high-expectations, performance-based program for every student. Rather than gauging a student?s success by the amount of ?seat time? or years logged in school, the student?s advancement is achieved when he or she masters the curriculum.
At the end of a student?s sophomore year, a rigorous exam is administered. If the student performs at a college-ready level, he or she will be given a Grand Canyon High School Diploma. At that point, the student can stay in high school and take more advanced courses for a selective college process, enter a community college or go on to pursue career and technical courses. If the student does not pass the exam, there will be another opportunity after junior year. The first batch of sophomores to aim for the Grand Canyon Diploma will take the test this spring.
Arizona has been a key state for recent educational innovations. The statewide graduation rate is approximately 70 percent, and many who do graduate require remedial courses at the college level.
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The Move On initiative is part of the National Center for Education and the Economy's Excellence for All program which is working to create high-performance high schools also in Connecticut, Kentucky and Mississippi.
?Move On When Ready was created in response to K-12 readiness issues facing Arizona's students and the reality that students need an education beyond high school to succeed in today's global economy,? Dr. Sybil Francis, executive director of the Center for The Future of Arizona, said in a statement. ?The majority of students who enter college have to take remedial courses?courses that don't count for credit. Move On When Ready was developed with all students in mind to let them know what is required for them to be successful in their education beyond high school, and to provide a way for them to get there with less concern about how long it takes."
More on education:
The Parent Trigger: Rebellious Moms Make History and Take Over a Failing School
Diary of a First-Year Teacher: The First Month
Op-Ed: For First-Year Teachers, It?s Sink or Swim
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Would you encourage your child to graduate his or her sophomore year?
Kristin Kloberdanz is a freelance writer based in the San Francisco Bay area. She has written for Time, the Chicago Tribune and Forbes.com about everything from economic crises and political snafus to best summer beach reads.
INSIDE THE CARBOSULCIS MINE, Italy (Reuters) - Four hundred meters below the surface dozens of miners risk their lives at Sardinia's Carbosulcis, Italy's only coal pit, digging low-quality carbon that no-one wants to buy.
In nearby Portovesme, workers at the country's largest aluminum smelter are fighting for their jobs after high energy bills, tight EU regulation and falling aluminum prices prompted U.S. commodity giant Alcoa to leave Italy.
With more than 1,000 jobs at risk, the industrial crisis hitting the impoverished Mediterranean island of Sardinia is a political hot potato for technocrat Prime Minister Mario Monti as he fights to keep costs down and contain Italy's high debt.
A protest by Sardinian workers in Rome this month turned violent and the government is wary of letting tensions rise to boiling point in the run-up to general elections in the spring.
In both cases the solution appears to be an old Italian remedy for its poor southern regions: the state will help.
"This is a whole system that has gone belly up: the mine, the aluminum, everything," said a government source with direct knowledge of the situation.
"The state must put in the money because Sardinia cannot produce it. These industries have not led to the creation of a genuine business landscape and the coal is rubbish. But we cannot let people starve."
The crisis that is engulfing the island, and in particular the south-western Sulcis area where the smelter and the mine are based, has reopened the debate about whether it makes sense to keep certain industrial sites in southern Italy on life support.
Last year, carmaker Fiat caused a stir when it shut its Sicilian Termini Imerese plant citing the high costs of transporting goods in and out the island. And in Puglia, steel-maker ILVA is at risk of being shut down unless it can find a way to stop spitting its polluting fumes.
Despite repeated top-down attempts to develop industrial activities and create growth, the unemployment rate in the southern regions of Sicily, Sardinia, Campania, Calabria, Puglia and Basilicata is, at 17 percent, more than twice the jobless rate of Italy's wealthier north, ISTAT data show.
In Sardinia's poor Sulcis region, more than half of the active population is either looking for a job or has stopped looking for one, says local councilor Alberto Pili.
"Italy is paying the consequences of having chosen to use the funds of the Marshall Plan to launch heavy industry in the south in the aftermath of World War Two," said Davide Tabarelli, head of specialized energy think-tank Nomisma Energia.
"It was the quickest way to bring development there. This is our original sin. That money looked like a godsend."
With a population of 1.6 million, Sardinia makes up for around two percent of Italy's gross domestic product.
AUTARCHIC DREAM
Fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, struggling under an international embargo, was the first to encourage large-scale use of Sardinia's coal and in 1938 even founded a miners' town. He named it Carbonia, Latin for 'land of coal'.
The post-War Italian state made another big industrial push in the late 1960s and locals were happy to swap a life of rural hardship with the security of a regularly paid job.
"When I was hired, I thought I had hit the jackpot," said 45-year old Giuliana Porcu, a safety official who has spent 25 years inspecting the pitch-black tunnels of the Carbosulcis mine and is the daughter of a miner.
Even though the Carbosulcis coal is too high in sulfur to be used at Italian power plants, an exemption allows the coal to be burnt at the giant Enel plant of Portovesme which in turns gives energy to the smelter and the surroundings.
At the peak of its glory, 10,000 sons of fishermen and sheep herders used to work in Portovesme compared to 3,000 today.
Two generations later, this industry threatens to leave behind little more than a forest of chimneys towering against Sardinia's deep-blue sea.
The desolate landscape surrounding the Portovesme site contrasts with the clusters of factories and warehouses that dot Italy's northern regions.
While Italy's north enjoys a dense network of railways and highways are well developed, Sardinian roads are poor and the harbor of Portovesme is too small for large container ships.
ENERGY ISSUE
Italian power prices, often between 30 and 50 percent higher than the EU average, are a big deterrent for anyone wanting to produce primary aluminum due to the immense energy required.
With Alcoa set to leave Italy, the government is rushing to find a buyer for the smelter, which produces around 8 percent of Italy's aluminum needs.
Rome hopes to lure Switzerland-based commodities giant Glencore, which already operates a nearby zinc and lead plant, by offering to keep energy prices at around 35-37 euros per Megawatt Hour for up to 15 years.
But the actual cost of power is around 70 euros/Mwr, so the difference will be met by taxpayers through their energy bills, government officials told Reuters.
This would effectively prolong the artificially low energy regime that had attracted Alcoa and other foreign investors to Italy during a privatization drive in the mid-1990s.
"The truth is that the Italian energy system is structurally weak. We do not have sufficient hydroelectric power and the system is overdependent on subsidies of all kind," said Pili.
Switching to aluminum recycling, a widespread and much cheaper option in terms of energy needs, is not an option currently under consideration, government sources said.
While Rome rushes to save the smelter, Carbosulcis' boss Mario Porcu is pushing for a daring project that envisages storing polluting carbon fumes 1,000 meters under the surface.
But with investments estimated at 1.5 billion euros, the project is hardly palatable for Rome as the euro zone crisis forces it to contain its 2 trillion euro debt mountain.
Porcu says some of the 6-billion-euro annual subsidies the state is pumping into renewable energy such as solar power could be diverted to support the project: "This is not meant to save the mine, but to develop technology."
With the mine likely to be closed, the government is working on a state-funded project that would foster tourism and the creation of small companies in the region.
But fostering small businesses in an area scarcely populated and badly connected to the mainland has proved difficult, with only nine of 22 business projects partially financed by the Sulcis province still standing.
A conversion to tourism, thriving in other parts of Sardinia thanks to its pristine beaches, may not be easy nor quick as the area is heavily polluted. Tourism would also not guarantee a big rise in jobs nor help develop new technology.
"We are not married to aluminum. But with tourism alone, we cannot survive," said Alcoa worker Lorenzo Fenu.
The penetrating gaze of the Hubble Space Telescope grants viewers the deepest glimpse ever into the universe's past.?
By Irene Klotz,?Reuters / September 26, 2012
A new, improved portrait of Hubble's deepest-ever view of the universe, called the eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, which shows a small area of space in the constellation Fornax, created using Hubble Space Telescope data from 2003 and 2004, is seen in this composite image.
REUTERS/NASA, ESA, G. Illingworth, D. Magee, and P. Oesch (University of California, Santa Cruz), R. Bouwens (Leiden University), and the HUDF09 Team/Handout
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Piecing together 10 years of?Hubble Space Telescope images, astronomers on Tuesday unveiled the deepest view yet of a small sliver of the night sky, revealing a kaleidoscope of galaxies and other celestial objects.
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The?Hubble eXtreme Deep Field, or XDF, adds another 5,500 galaxies to?Hubble's 2003 and 2004 view into a tiny patch of the farthest universe.
Hubble returned to the same target more than 50 times over the past decade, racking up an additional 2 million seconds of exposure time. The most distant objects found date back to about 500 million years after the universe's formation some 13.7 billion years ago.
The early universe was a violent place, filled with colliding and merging galaxies that radiate in bright blue light, a telltale sign of new star formation.
The?Hubble portrait also shows brilliantly shining spiral galaxies and older red fuzzy galaxies whose star-formation days are over.
More than 2,000 images of the same field, taken by?Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys and its near-infrared Wide Field Camera 3, were combined to form the XDF.
"XDF is the deepest image of the sky ever obtained," astronomer?Garth Illingworth, with the?University of California?at Santa Cruz, said in a statement. "It allows us to explore further back in time than ever before.
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Smallmouth bass is a very popular species of fish for those who are bent on fishing. In short, smallmouth bass is a well known catch for fishermen. Many fishing circles regard smallmouth bass to be a species that is worth catching. Many tournaments are held for fishermen to compete in smallmouth bass fishing battle. Even though there is another kind of bass fish, which is largemouth bass, smallmouth bass is more popular since it can put more fight. Thus, it is regarded as more challenging. Most fishermen tend to migrate northward to fish for smallmouth bass since it is well known that the northern parts of states have many good lakes that can be a perfect habitat for smallmouth bass population. Northern states reek of colder air and water and they are perfect for smallmouth bass.
Areas like Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota and many parts of Canada have some of the best smallmouth bass in the country. One of the best areas for fishing smallmouth bass is Lake Erie. For one, it is known for its remarkable walleye fishery. However, a good fisherman might notice that it is also a good place for smallmouth bass fishing activity. There are many fishing charters in Ohio and they can guide you into going to the perfect spot for walleye and smallmouth bass fishing. Door County is also a place to consider. Located in Wisconsin and surrounded by Lake Michigan, intermediate smallmouth bass anglers should know that the location along the shorelines is rich with fish. If anyone experiences difficulty, they can always get the service of a fishing guide that can be found in the local area. The fish is known for the size and weight. If you can get a fish, it is guaranteed to be big.
Other smallmouth bass fishing areas are Lake St. Clair in Michigan, Lake of the Woods in Canada, Rainy Lake in Minnesota, and Dale Hollow Lake in Tennessee. If you are a local inhabitant, you probably know good angling spots. If you are not, make sure you seek out helps from the locals or just hire a fishing guide to ease your activity.
Smallmouth bass fishing is not difficult, yet not that easy either. To catch more bass than other anglers, an experienced fisherman usually has some leeway. There are several tips if you plan on catching a smallmouth bass. The first is the place. To get a smallmouth bass means to know where the fish can be abundantly found. In other words, it is important to know where the best place for fish to gather is. The first place you want to check is the flowing water of a river or a stream. The second is to look for clear water where you can see a number of bass gather and swim together. The last is to look for the habitat like rivers and lakes. Try to get to know the temperature of the lake or the water. Smallmouth bass tend to gather in colder water and make their population there.
If you plan on smallmouth bass fishing in a river stream or moving waters, it is preferable to use gang hooks and live baits. The use of live baits, combined with a gang hook can make even a novice fisherman get huge catches. River streams and moving waters will make the live worms rigged on the set of gang hooks drift naturally. The current of the stream will make it more preferable for the fish to catch the bait. Smallmouth bass fishing will be even easier when you learn the way the moon affects the fish behavior. By knowing the natural behavior of fish, you will know what to do to get a catch. It is best to use realistic fishing lures since it will have a higher chance the fish will bite.
Finding new paths forward for sustainable energyPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joshua A. Chamot jchamot@nsf.gov 703-292-7730 National Science Foundation
NSF announces first round of awards for novel energy research program
In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Sustainable Energy Pathways (SEP) program to spark innovative energy solutions that meet societal needs without creating burdens for future generations.
NSF envisions such solutions being domestically generated, at a reasonable cost, and not dependent on rare resources--while avoiding adverse environmental or societal consequences, not contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and preserving essential ecosystems.
Following a peer review evaluation process, NSF has now selected 20 multi-disciplinary SEP teams (PDF, 42KB) that will carry out highly integrated basic science and engineering research to introduce new and sustainable energy solutions.
"SEP is the first NSF program to generate basic scientific research and innovation on sustainable energy in the context of environmental, economic and societal acceptance," says SEP co-Chair George Maracas. "This life cycle, or systems, approach is implemented by forming research teams with expertise in several disciplines that collaborate on a plan for sustainable energy.
"Critically, the basic science is coupled to knowledge of how the innovations can be developed, adopted, and possibly scaled up to be incorporated into society."
The SEP award portfolio is highly diverse. Its projects include: development of novel solar cells, such as those that replace rare earth elements with earth abundant elements; energy storage solutions including innovative battery technology; novel catalysis approaches to generate renewable fuels; wind turbine, wave and geothermal energy conversion technologies; and new approaches to building design and human behavior studies that will allow designers to maximize energy efficiency without significantly affecting comfort level.
Each of the SEP projects addresses three fundamental considerations: fundamental scientific knowledge; social, economic and environmental factors; and education and workforce development.
"The SEP program is unique in how it broadly crosses disciplines to find sustainable energy solutions," says Zeev Rosenzweig, SEP co-chair. "The projects bring together mathematicians; chemists and materials scientists; geoscientists; computer scientists; chemical, electrical, mechanical and bioengineers; and social, behavioral and economics scientists in unique combinations.
"Because of the program's emphasis on integrating the social sciences and education components, we are able to support teams that tackle not just scientific and technological challenges, but also address societal, economic, behavioral, and environmental factors. The SEP teams will also introduce novel public outreach approaches to inform the public why sustainable energy pathways are needed and train a new generation of students that will be better equipped to handle the complexity of sustainable energy systems."
The SEP teams are led by a diverse group of experienced and beginning investigators who are inspired by both the challenges of sustainable energy and the broadly cross-disciplinary approaches that those challenges require.
Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the effort, the grantees are supported by 17 NSF divisions, part of a broader portfolio of cross-cutting programs within the agency's Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.
The grants collectively address several core goals:
Create fundamental knowledge to characterize and understand existing energy systems and their limitations and form a basis to imagine, invent and deploy novel energy systems;
Explore alternative energy sources, technologies and systems that can sustain a high quality of life for Earth's inhabitants;
Investigate novel pathways for human energy futures built on a comprehensive understanding of risks and stressors associated with environmental, biospheric and societal responses associated with new energy pathways;
Develop human capital to address the trans-disciplinary challenge of building a sustainable energy future;
Foster the critically important public understanding of sustainable energy.
"We are proud to offer our strong support for the launch of the SEP program, which epitomizes both NSF's commitment to funding transformative fundamental research and to meeting the global challenges of the 21st century," says Celeste Rohlfing, acting assistant director for NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. "The program's strong educational component will ensure that the next generation of the scientific workforce is prepared to continue the work of building a sustainable energy future."
The projects each receive up to four years of NSF funding at a rate of up to $500,000 per year, for a total program allocation of $37,000,000
A complete listing of the 20 awards and their abstracts is available in the 2012 National Science Foundation Sustainable Energy Pathways Awards (PDF, 42KB).
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Finding new paths forward for sustainable energyPublic release date: 25-Sep-2012 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Joshua A. Chamot jchamot@nsf.gov 703-292-7730 National Science Foundation
NSF announces first round of awards for novel energy research program
In 2011, the National Science Foundation (NSF) created the Sustainable Energy Pathways (SEP) program to spark innovative energy solutions that meet societal needs without creating burdens for future generations.
NSF envisions such solutions being domestically generated, at a reasonable cost, and not dependent on rare resources--while avoiding adverse environmental or societal consequences, not contributing to greenhouse gas emissions and preserving essential ecosystems.
Following a peer review evaluation process, NSF has now selected 20 multi-disciplinary SEP teams (PDF, 42KB) that will carry out highly integrated basic science and engineering research to introduce new and sustainable energy solutions.
"SEP is the first NSF program to generate basic scientific research and innovation on sustainable energy in the context of environmental, economic and societal acceptance," says SEP co-Chair George Maracas. "This life cycle, or systems, approach is implemented by forming research teams with expertise in several disciplines that collaborate on a plan for sustainable energy.
"Critically, the basic science is coupled to knowledge of how the innovations can be developed, adopted, and possibly scaled up to be incorporated into society."
The SEP award portfolio is highly diverse. Its projects include: development of novel solar cells, such as those that replace rare earth elements with earth abundant elements; energy storage solutions including innovative battery technology; novel catalysis approaches to generate renewable fuels; wind turbine, wave and geothermal energy conversion technologies; and new approaches to building design and human behavior studies that will allow designers to maximize energy efficiency without significantly affecting comfort level.
Each of the SEP projects addresses three fundamental considerations: fundamental scientific knowledge; social, economic and environmental factors; and education and workforce development.
"The SEP program is unique in how it broadly crosses disciplines to find sustainable energy solutions," says Zeev Rosenzweig, SEP co-chair. "The projects bring together mathematicians; chemists and materials scientists; geoscientists; computer scientists; chemical, electrical, mechanical and bioengineers; and social, behavioral and economics scientists in unique combinations.
"Because of the program's emphasis on integrating the social sciences and education components, we are able to support teams that tackle not just scientific and technological challenges, but also address societal, economic, behavioral, and environmental factors. The SEP teams will also introduce novel public outreach approaches to inform the public why sustainable energy pathways are needed and train a new generation of students that will be better equipped to handle the complexity of sustainable energy systems."
The SEP teams are led by a diverse group of experienced and beginning investigators who are inspired by both the challenges of sustainable energy and the broadly cross-disciplinary approaches that those challenges require.
Reflecting the multidisciplinary nature of the effort, the grantees are supported by 17 NSF divisions, part of a broader portfolio of cross-cutting programs within the agency's Science, Engineering, and Education for Sustainability (SEES) initiative.
The grants collectively address several core goals:
Create fundamental knowledge to characterize and understand existing energy systems and their limitations and form a basis to imagine, invent and deploy novel energy systems;
Explore alternative energy sources, technologies and systems that can sustain a high quality of life for Earth's inhabitants;
Investigate novel pathways for human energy futures built on a comprehensive understanding of risks and stressors associated with environmental, biospheric and societal responses associated with new energy pathways;
Develop human capital to address the trans-disciplinary challenge of building a sustainable energy future;
Foster the critically important public understanding of sustainable energy.
"We are proud to offer our strong support for the launch of the SEP program, which epitomizes both NSF's commitment to funding transformative fundamental research and to meeting the global challenges of the 21st century," says Celeste Rohlfing, acting assistant director for NSF's Mathematical and Physical Sciences Directorate. "The program's strong educational component will ensure that the next generation of the scientific workforce is prepared to continue the work of building a sustainable energy future."
The projects each receive up to four years of NSF funding at a rate of up to $500,000 per year, for a total program allocation of $37,000,000
A complete listing of the 20 awards and their abstracts is available in the 2012 National Science Foundation Sustainable Energy Pathways Awards (PDF, 42KB).
###
-NSF-
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.