the following: ``(a) Annual Report.--Not later''; and (C) by adding at the end the following: ``(b) Grant Accountability.--Section 3026 (relating to grant accountability) shall apply to grants awarded by the Director under this part. For purposes of the preceding sentence, any references in section 3026 to the Attorney General shall be considered references to the Director and any references in that section to part LL shall be considered references to part AA.''; (4) in section 2704 (34 U.S.C. 10554)-- (A) in paragraph (1)-- (i) by striking ``a public'' and inserting ``an''; and (ii) by inserting ``, including a Bureau- funded school (as defined in section 1141 of the Education Amendments of 1978 (25 U.S.C. 2021))'' after ``secondary school''; (B) in paragraph (2), by striking ``and'' at the end; (C) in paragraph (3), by striking the period at the end and inserting a semicolon; and (D) by adding at the end the following: ``(4) the term `evidence-based' means a program, practice, technology, or equipment that-- ``(A) demonstrates a statistically significant effect on relevant outcomes based on-- ``(i) strong evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented experimental study; ``(ii) moderate evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented quasi- experimental study; or ``(iii) promising evidence from not less than 1 well-designed and well-implemented correlational study with statistical controls for selection bias; ``(B) demonstrates a rationale based on high- quality research findings or positive evaluation that such program, practice, technology, or equipment is likely to improve relevant outcomes, and includes ongoing efforts to examine the effects of the program, practice, technology, or equipment; or ``(C) in the case of technology or equipment, demonstrates that use of the technology or equipment is-- ``(i) consistent with best practices for school security, including-- ``(I) applicable standards for school security established by a Federal or State government agency; and ``(II) findings and recommendations of public commissions and task forces established to make recommendations or set standards for school security; and ``(ii) compliant with all applicable codes, including building and life safety codes; and ``(5) the term `tribal organization' has the same


, decided to see if things have improved. The lab's engineers developed a test program and put these six smart locks through their paces: August Smart Lock (USA) Burg-Wachter secuENTRY easy 501 (Germany) Danalock V3 (Denmark) eQ-3 Equiva Bluetooth Smart Lock (Germany) Noke Padlock (USA) Nuki Combo (Austria) Test environments Data security was the first thing considered by the engineers with special emphasis on acquisition, storage, and transmission of data; the following image depicts how they employed Wireshark to capture traffic between the smart lock being tested and the controlling smartphone application. Besides communications, the team examined each system's hardware and software, tested the software-update process, and determined whether the associated smart-lock application had any security issues. Image: AV-TEST The results It seems smart locks have improved considerably in the past four-plus years. From the AV-TEST report: "Convenience does not have to mean less security. This reassuring conclusion can be made following the surprisingly strong results of the smart-lock testing." Concerning the test results, the test engineers offer the following insights. Installation: Despite physical differences, all smart locks evaluated by AV-TEST installed easily—systems manufactured by eQ-3 and Nuki being the easiest. Local communications: All tested smart locks are locally activated via Bluetooth. "As a standard feature, the smart locks use encryption, mostly AES with at least 128 bits," mentions the report. "Three locks, August, Danalock, and Nuki can encrypt at a higher rate—AES with 256 bits." The AV-TEST engineers report that smart locks by August, Danalock, and Nuki can integrate with local Wi-Fi networks; this allows location-independent remote control using the mobile device's smart-lock app. According to the report, neither Bluetooth nor SSL-encrypted Wi-Fi connections introduce any detectable vulnerabilities. Data protection: AV-TEST's engineers measured each smart lock's privacy policy against European data-protection law. One concern centered on whether systems save more data than what is needed to operate properly. From the report: "For August, Danalock, and Noke, the testers see a need for improvement, e.g., in terms of information on stored data and its use by third parties. An adaptation to European data-protection law would easily remedy these defects." SEE: Cybersecurity in an IoT and mobile world (free PDF) (


children have increased risk of major depression, often beginning in childhood with long- lasting effects. (6) According to the Department of Defense, more than 700,000 children have experienced one or more parental deployments. Children's reactions to a parent's deployment vary by a child's developmental stage, age, and presence of any preexisting psychological or behavioral problems. The mental health of the parent is often a key factor affecting the child's distress level. Parents reporting clinically significant stress are more likely to have children identified as high risk for psychological and behavioral problems. (7) The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey revealed that nearly 1 in 5 women reported having been the victim of a rape at some time during their lives. Forty-two percent experienced their first rape before the age of 18. (8) The National Child Traumatic Stress Network collected data on 14,088 children and adolescents served by 56 Network service centers across the country from 2004 to 2010, examining the prevalence of exposure to a wide range of trauma types, access to services, and child outcomes outcome. Nearly 80 percent of children referred for screening and evaluation reported experiencing at least one type of traumatic event. Of the 11,104 children and adolescents who reported trauma exposure, 77 percent had experienced more than one type of trauma and 31 percent had experienced five or more types. (9) The children served by the National Child Traumatic Stress Network are involved with many different kinds of child- serving systems. Of those receiving service, 65 percent had received social services and 35 percent had received school- based services. After treatment, significant improvements were made in trauma symptoms, mental health diagnoses, and behavioral problems. SEC. 3. GRANTS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS OF INDIVIDUALS WHO EXPERIENCE TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE RELATED STRESS. Section 582 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 290hh-1) is amended to read as follows: ``SEC. 582. GRANTS TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS OF INDIVIDUALS WHO EXPERIENCE TRAUMA AND VIOLENCE RELATED STRESS. ``(a) In General.--The Secretary shall award grants, contracts or cooperative agreements to public and nonprofit private entities, as well as to Indian tribes and tribal organizations, for the purpose of developing and maintaining programs that provide for-- ``(1) the continued operation of the National


ivers) The site also includes charts for quarterbacks, running backs, and receivers to see their patterns from their last game. In addition, the NFL publishes photo essays with specific insights from Next Gen Stats from the previous week's games, as well as videos that explain the differences and similarities between players, teams, and games based on the data. "There's some very complicated parts of football that can be really fascinating to die hard fans," said Swensson. "A lot of times you watch a game and maybe you don't realize some of the decisions and why they are made, or even some of the intricacies of the game such as why players line up a certain way. My hope is that [Next Gen Stats] continues to educate fans and help them understand more and more of our game." SEE: Turning Big Data into Business Insights (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic) This stuff is obviously great source material for fantasy football junkies, but it can also fuel die-hard fans in their search to better understand the performance of their team and their favorite players—which can also create greater customer loyalty for the NFL. The good news for fans is that the program is just getting off the ground. "The stuff you see on the site now is just based off the tracking data and the splits we've been able to do based on location data, but not much pattern recognition," said Swensson. "A lot of the machine learning stuff we've done, we haven't put up yet. Our plan is to launch that for next season." Of course, there's one more big game left this season. For the fans watching Super Bowl LII between the New England Patriots and the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, here are a pair of Next Gen Stats videos that break down what's likely to be the game's key matchup: Image: NFL What other businesses can learn "The typical conversation that we're having with customers around machine learning is that it is one of the top priorities," said Kelman. "But, there is a huge gap in most of these companies between what they want to do and the skills of their people. It's kind of as simple as we have all this data, what should we do with machine learning? What problems should we point it at, and what kind of predictions should we make? The more examples that we can give our customers of what other people are doing, the better." Subscribe to TechRepublic's Big Data


We performed interferometric observations of a high-mass protostellar candidate IRAS 18566+0408 in the \nh3 (J,K)=(1,1), (2,2) and (3,3) inversion transitions, the SiO J=2-1 and HCN J=1-0 lines, and the 43 and 87 GHz continuum emission using the VLA and OVRO. The 87 GHz continuum emission reveals two continuum peaks MM-1 and MM-2 along a molecular ridge. The dominant peak MM-1 coincides with a compact emission feature at 43 GHz, and arises mostly from the dust emission. For dust emissivity index $\beta$ of 1.3, the masses in the dust peaks amount to 70 \msun for MM-1, and 27 \msun for MM-2. Assuming internal heating, the central luminosities of MM-1 and MM-2 are $6 \times 10^4$ and $8 \times 10^3$ \lsun, respectively. The SiO emission reveals a well collimated outflow emanating from MM-1. The jet-like outflow is also detected in \nh3 at velocities similar to the SiO emission. The outflow, with a mass of 27 \msun, causes significant heating in the gas to temperatures of 70 K, much higher than the temperature of $\lsim 15$ K in the extended core. Compact ($< 3''$) and narrow line ($<1.5$ \kms-1) \nh3 (3,3) emission features are found associated with the outflow. They likely arise from weak population inversion in \nh3 similar to the maser emission. Toward MM-1, there is a compact \nh3 structure with a linewidth that increases from 5.5 \kms-1 FHWM measured at 3$''$ resolution to 8.7 \kms-1\ measured at 1$''$ resolution. This linewidth is much larger than the FWHM of $<$ 2 \kms-1 in the entire core, and does not appear to originate from the outflow. This large linewidth may arise from rotation/infall, or relative motions of unresolved protostellar cores.


(Abridged) Combining cosmic shear power spectra and cluster counts is powerful to improve cosmological parameter constraints and/or test inherent systematics. However they probe the same cosmic mass density field, if the two are drawn from the same survey region, and therefore the combination may be less powerful than first thought. We investigate the cross-covariance between the cosmic shear power spectra and the cluster counts based on the halo model approach, where the cross-covariance arises from the three-point correlations of the underlying mass density field. Fully taking into account the cross-covariance as well as non-Gaussian errors on the lensing power spectrum covariance, we find a significant cross-correlation between the lensing power spectrum signals at multipoles l~10^3 and the cluster counts containing halos with masses M>10^{14}Msun. Including the cross-covariance for the combined measurement degrades and in some cases improves the total signal-to-noise ratios up to plus or minus 20% relative to when the two are independent. For cosmological parameter determination, the cross-covariance has a smaller effect as a result of working in a multi-dimensional parameter space, implying that the two observables can be considered independent to a good approximation. We also discuss that cluster count experiments using lensing-selected mass peaks could be more complementary to cosmic shear tomography than mass-selected cluster counts of the corresponding mass threshold. Using lensing selected clusters with a realistic usable detection threshold (S/N~6 for a ground-based survey), the uncertainty on each dark energy parameter may be roughly halved by the combined experiments, relative to using the power spectra alone.


Struxure, at the top of that stack, it starts with those connected devices and then edge control, really is where we build a lot of our software. So we build software for control, for analytics, of where we're starting to build out some of the AI and machine learning, and where we store a lot of that data of course, in the cloud, so that we start to do more sophisticated views of what's going on in those manufacturing sites, or petrochemical sties, or whatever they happen to be. And so that's, I would say at the crux of it, that's what EcoStruxure is. It's an architecture that allows all three of those layers to interoperate, and it's really designed to be completely open and interoperable, because while we think our customers should only buy Schneider Electric stuff, that is probably not realistic and so, we need to be very open in the way we work with other vendors as well. Patterson: I'm glad about the nuclear power plants, there are all types of industrial facilities that are adopting Internet of Things, but generally when I talk to people, even in business technology, they tend to think of IoT as a smart fridge or your Alexa. Can you give us an example of a device that might be IoT and deployed at large scale? Bennett: Yeah, for sure. I think, think about just a breaker. Just your electrical infrastructure, and really the most important thing, because it's pretty hard to run a manufacturing process or a plant without power. And so today, because of really our heritage and our legacy with power, and delivering clean reliable energy, everything starts with that electrical infrastructure. So at plants today we have customers that are connecting those assets. They want to know about their energy consumption. They of course want to reduce energy consumption 'cause that's good to the bottom line. It's also good from a sustainability perspective. So if you think about all that electrical infrastructure, then you can start to kind of work your way up the stack in terms of whether it's a motor that's running a conveyor belt, or part of your process. Whether it's a pump. These are all devices that historically were not all connected, right. They didn't historically see the need to necessarily connect those. Over time, more and more of those devices became connected, primarily so that those companies could control. So when we talk about OT, as juxtaposed to IT for a second


John Essey and family live in a modest, two-story home on a tree-lined street in the suburbs north of Pittsburgh. From the outside, it looks like any other house in the neighborhood, but this house has a brain. "It knows we're home. Doors unlock, [it] kinda sets the mood for the rest of the house too, turns on lights, sets the thermostat accordingly," Essey says. Essey is an engineer at Uber and an early adopter of the Internet of things. He can control his lights with his Amazon Echo or an array of touchpad sensors he's installed throughout the home. Sensors tell him when there's water in the basement or a leak under the sink. While Essey's setup might sound a little like science fiction it's a prototype of the future. Some critics are worried these devices won't be secure and that companies will use them to spy on us to make money. Gierad Laput, a Ph.D. student at Carnegie Mellon University, says as the Internet of things becomes more engrained in our daily lives, there are a couple of ways people are turning ordinary homes into smart homes. "One way is basically to buy all the appliances, smart oven, smart dishwasher, smart microwave, smart toaster, all these things," Laput says. But that stuff is really expensive. Smart refrigerators can cost $3,000 or more. And Laput said those devices don't always talk to each other, especially if they're made by different manufacturers. The other way is to get sensors, and put them on everything you want to monitor. "But then those get really unwieldy and you've got all these things sticking around and they look ugly and socially obtrusive," Laput says. So Laput and his team wanted to see if they could build just one sensor that could monitor a whole range of activity in a room. And they did. It doesn't look like much; just a little 2-inch-square circuit board that plugs into the wall. The board senses about a dozen different facets of its environment: vibrations, sounds, light color and so on. The sensor communicates wirelessly with a computer, which interprets everything it picks up. Laput demonstrated how the sensor works by turning on a blender. Almost immediately, a text box saying "blender running" popped up on a computer screen along with a purple squiggly line representing the blender's vibration. Laput turned on a light,


), the Secretary shall promulgate regulations to require, as soon as practicable after the promulgation of the regulations, the use of automated train control systems that are available at that time. (3) Waivers.--If the appropriate official of a railroad carrier establishes, to the satisfaction of the Secretary, and in a manner specified by the Secretary, that the railroad carrier will have in operation a satellite-based positive train control system by January 1, 2001, the Secretary shall waive for that railroad carrier the application of the regulations promulgated under paragraph (2), subject to terms and conditions established by the Secretary. (4) Exceptions and conditions.--In promulgating regulations under this subsection, the Secretary shall provide for any exceptions or conditions that the Secretary determines to be necessary. (5) Monitoring.--If the Secretary issues a waiver for a railroad carrier under paragraph (3), the railroad carrier shall, during the period that the waiver is in effect, provide such information to the Secretary as the Secretary determines to be necessary to monitor the compliance of the railroad carrier with the terms and conditions of the waiver, including information concerning the progress of the railroad carrier in achieving an operational satellite-based positive train control system. (6) Revocation of waivers.--If, at any time during the period that a waiver issued under paragraph (3) is in effect, the Secretary determines that the railroad carrier issued the waiver is not meeting the terms or conditions of the waiver, or is not likely to have in operation a satellite-based positive train control system by January 1, 2001, the Secretary shall revoke the waiver. SEC. 5. AUTOMATIC TRAIN ESCAPE DEVICE STUDY. (a) Study.--Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment of this Act, the Secretary shall complete and transmit to the Congress a report detailing the results of a study of the technical, structural, and economic feasibility of installing in rail passenger cars devices which, in the event of a collision, would automatically provide passenger escape access. (b) Regulations.--If the Secretary finds in the study that automatic train escape devices should be required on rail passenger trains, the Secretary shall, not later than 180 days after the date the report is submitted to Congress under subsection (a), promulgate regulations to require automatic train escape devices on rail passenger trains as soon as practicable after the promulgation of the regulations. SEC. 6. EMERGENCY SAFETY PRECAUTIONS.


IGR J11215-5952 is a hard X-ray transient source discovered in April 2005 with INTEGRAL and a confirmed member of the new class of High Mass X-ray Binaries, the Supergiant Fast X-ray Transients (SFXTs). Archival INTEGRAL data and RXTE observations showed that the outbursts occur with a periodicity of ~330 days. Thus, IGR J11215-5952 is the first SFXT displaying periodic outbursts, possibly related to the orbital period. We performed a Target of Opportunity observation with Swift with the main aim of monitoring the source behaviour around the time of the fifth outburst, expected on 2007 Feb 9. The source field was observed with Swift twice a day (2ks/day) starting from 4th February, 2007, until the fifth outburst, and then for ~5 ks a day afterwards, during a monitoring campaign that lasted 23 days for a total on-source exposure of ~73 ks. This is the most complete monitoring campaign of an outburst from a SFXT. The spectrum during the brightest flares is well described by an absorbed power law with a photon index of 1 and N_H~1 10^22 cm^-2. A 1-10 keV peak luminosity of ~10^36 erg s^-1 was derived (assuming 6.2 kpc, the distance of the optical counterpart). These Swift observations are a unique data-set for an outburst of a SFXT, thanks to the combination of sensitivity and time coverage, and they allowed a study of IGR J11215-5952 from outburst onset to almost quiescence. We find that the accretion phase lasts longer than previously thought on the basis of lower sensitivity instruments observing only the brightest flares. The observed phenomenology is consistent with a smoothly increasing flux triggered at the periastron passage in a wide eccentric orbit with many flares superimposed, possibly due to episodic or inhomogeneous accretion.


Using mappings to computer-science problems and by applying sophisticated algorithms, one can study numerically many problems much better compared to applying standard approaches like Monte Carlo simulations. Here, using calculations of ground states of suitable perturbed systems, droplets are obtained in two-dimensional +-J spin glasses, which are in the focus of a currently very lifely debate. Since a sophisticated matching algorithm is applied here, exact ground states of large systems up to L^2=256^2 spins can be generated. Furthermore, no equilibration or extrapolation to T=0 is necessary. Three different +-J models are studied here: a) with open boundary conditions, b) with fixed boundary conditions and c) a diluted system where a fraction p=0.125 of all bonds is zero. For large systems, the droplet energy shows for all three models a power-law behavior E_D L^\theta'_D with \theta'_D<0. This is different from previous studies of domain walls, where a convergence to a constant non-zero value (\theta_dw=0) has been found for such models. After correcting for the non-compactness of the droplets, the results are likely to be compatible with \theta_D= -0.29 for all three models. This is in accordance with the Gaussian system where \theta_D=-0.287(4) (\nu=3.5 via \nu=-1/\theta_D). Nevertheless, the disorder-averaged spin-spin correlation exponent \eta is determined here via the probability to have a non-zero-energy droplet, and \eta~0.22$ is found for all three models, this being in contrast to the behavior of the model with Gaussian interactions, where exactly \eta=0.


It's the kind of goal that makes fans groan because, man, he probably should've stopped that. A shooter skating down the wing or even behind the net fires the puck between a goaltender and the near post for a short-side goal. It looks like it shouldn't go in, but it has been happening a lot more this season as players figure out what goalies are doing... or at least trying to do. "Those goals, they don't look good, but I think if people knew how hard it was to do that maneuver, they might be a little less quick to jump to judgment on the goalies," Chicago Blackhawks goalie Scott Darling said. That maneuver is called the "Reverse VH" and it's the most widespread way for goalies to cover the post and not allow soft goals to be scored. An opposite of the previously-used "VH" stance, it means a goalie's pad against the post is horizontal along the ice while the back leg is vertical. The Reverse VH is more effective than its predecessor, but as NHL Network analyst and former goaltender Kevin Weekes has said : Short side has become the new five hole. And everyone in hockey knows it. Brian Boucher, another retired goalie turned analyst, said you can't go two or three nights without seeing a short-side goal somewhere around the league. As recently as Thursday night, Colorado Avalanche captain Gabriel Landeskog went short side on Stanley Cup-winning Pittsburgh Penguins goaltender Matt Murray on a textbook sharp-angle shot that looks like a bad goal but is more the product of shooters understanding techniques. "Guys are realizing that the sharp-angle shots are extremely difficult to stop," Vezina Trophy-winning goalie Braden Holtby of the Washington Capitals said. "You do see more and more guys trying it because it's a high-quality scoring chance. Guys figure out trends now. They kind of figure them out a little quicker than they used to, which isn't great for us." Jonathan Quick led the Los Angeles Kings to two Cups by using the Reverse VH and taking advantage of his Gumby-like athleticism. The stance, which originated in Sweden a few years before, took off in the NHL after Quick won the Cup in 2012 and now it's a go-to for most goalies. Goaltending analyst Justin Goldman points out that when a skater is coming down the ice, there's actually more room for the puck on the short side than the far side because there's less distance for


500 million to increase law enforcement and mental health counselors at schools, to make buildings more secure with metal detectors and to create an anonymous tip line. A package of legislation passed by the New York state Senate includes provisions for metal detectors and improved security technology in schools. A parent in Knox County, Kentucky, has said his law office would donate $25,000 for metal detectors in schools there. Alvarez, the student at Detroit's Western International, said she and others who attend the school go through metal detectors every morning. Her elementary and middle schools also had metal detectors. "I've always seen it as something that made me feel safe," she said, adding that all schools should have them and not just inner-city ones "so students don't feel discriminated against." Metal detectors are seen as a symptom of a "stigma that already exists," said Mark Fancher, staff attorney for the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan's Racial Justice Project. "There is a presumption that urban schools — particularly those with students of color — are violent places and security demands you have procedures in place that are intended to protect the safety of the students," Fancher said. But metal detectors, property searches, security guards and police in schools create conditions similar to those found in prisons, he said. "Students, themselves, internalize these things," Fancher said. "If you create a school that looks like a prison, the people who go there will pretty much decide that's what is expected of them." Many urban districts have a greater awareness and sensitivity when it comes to students' needs, said Kenneth Trump, president of the Cleveland-based National School Safety and Security Services, a K-12 security consulting firm. "I think in urban schools, the approach of most of the educators, administrators and security personnel is, 'We realize there are issues kids bring to school,'" said Trump, who has been in the school safety field for more than 30 years. "The people will tell you, 'We are not in denial... we acknowledge our problems. We just don't have enough resources to deal with it.'" Suburban and rural administrators, parents and students often view themselves as different from their big-city counterparts, and that may impact how they treat school security, he said. "There's very often that divide of 'There's us and there's them. We're not the urban district. We are the alternative. We're the place people go to get away from the urban district


[Abridged] We present a comprehensive study of the metallicity dependence of the mass-loss rates in stationary stellar winds of hot massive stars. Assuming a power-law dependence of mass loss on metallicity, Mdot \propto Z^{m}, and adopting a theoretical relation between the terminal velocity and metallicity, v_inf \propto Z^{0.13} (Leitherer et al.), we find m = 0.83 +/- 0.16 for non-clumped outflows from an analysis of the wind momentum luminosity relation (WLR) for stars more luminous than 10^{5.2} Lsun. Within the errors, this result agrees with the prediction of m = 0.69 +/- 0.10 from Vink et al. For the high luminosity stars we find the mass loss rates to be greater than the predictions, implying wind clumping factors in their line-forming regions of ~4. For lower luminosity stars, the winds are so weak that their strengths cannot be reliably derived from optical lines, and one must rely on analysis of UV lines. In the low-luminosity domain the Galactic WLR is found to be much steeper than expected from theory, leading to a discrepancy between UV mass-loss rates and the predictions by a factor 100 at luminosities of L ~ 10^{4.75} Lsun, the origin of which is unknown. We emphasize that even if the current mass-loss rates of hot luminous stars are overestimated as a result of wind clumping, the degree of clumping would likely to be independent of metallicity, so the scalings derived in this study are expected to remain correct.


We study a model of hard-core bosons on the kagome lattice with short-range hopping ($t$) and repulsive interactions ($V$). This model directly maps on to an easy-axis $S=1/2$ XXZ model on the kagome lattice and is also related, at large $V/t$, to a quantum dimer model on the triangular lattice. Using quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) numerics, we map out the phase diagram of this model at half-filling. At T=0, we show that this model exhibits a superfluid phase at small $V/t$ and an insulating phase at large $V/t$, separated by a continuous quantum phase transition at $V_c/t \approx 19.8$. The insulating phase at T=0 appears to have no conventional broken symmetries, and is thus a uniform Mott insulator (a `spin liquid' in magnetic language). We characterize this insulating phase as a uniform $Z_2$ fractionalized insulator from the topological order in the ground state and estimate its vison gap. Consistent with this identification, there is no apparent thermal phase transition upon heating the insulator. The insulating phase instead smoothly crosses over into the high temperature paramagnet via an intermediate cooperative paramagnetic regime. We also study the superfluid-to-normal thermal transition for $V < V_c$. We find that this is a Kosterlitz-Thouless transition at small $V/t$ but changes to a first order transition for $V$ closer to $V_c$. We argue that this first order thermal transition is consistent with the presence of a nearby $Z_2$ insulating ground state obtained from the superfluid ground state by condensing double vortices.


says Maestas. Her survey found that while such interactions were seen across the board, verbal abuse was much more common in customer service jobs and experienced at the highest rates among men who did not graduate from college. Younger women and women of "prime age," defined in the survey as ages 35-49, experienced the most unwanted sexual attention. But people who have "good" bosses — or bosses who respect them, praise them, work with them and give feedback — were less likely to have workers who reported verbal or physical threats, Maestra notes. "Maybe bad bosses are part of the problem," she says, when it comes to a hostile work environment. American workers feel, by and large, that they have a reasonable amount of autonomy on the job and are confident in their skills. Still, many workers, particularly those in service jobs and without a college degree, have little control over their work schedules. Some experience schedule changes the day of work or the day before. New York and San Francisco have passed laws requiring employers to make schedules more predictable, and Oregon may become the first state to require at least a week's notice of duty hours for certain service jobs so employees can plan doctors' appointments and child care and get to their second jobs. Despite multiple studies showing the benefits of telecommuting, it is still a rare option for many workers. The RAND survey found that 78 percent of employees are required to show up at their workplaces during regular business hours. No matter where we work, friendships play an important role in how we perceive our jobs. Sixty-one percent of women agree with the statement "I have very good friends at work," while 53 percent of men agreed. While the emotional support helps, many jobs are simply tough on the body. Seventy-five percent of people surveyed report intense or repetitive physical exertion on the job at least 25 percent of the time. While workers who don't have a college education report greater physical challenges on the job — think health care aides and construction workers — college-educated and older workers face significant physical challenges as well, particularly in the medical and sales fields where they are lifting heavy items and on their feet most of the day. The physical exertion of their jobs may be why some older Americans retire early. It's also a prime consideration for many seniors who say they would consider going back to work for the "right" job, Maestas says. "We've got more people retiring than ever, and


-- ``(1) a suit or action (other than a suit or action arising under section 592) brought for the forfeiture of a vessel, vehicle, aircraft, merchandise, or baggage seized under any law relating to the collection of duties on imports or tonnage; or ``(2) a suit or action brought for the recovery of the value of any vessel, vehicle, aircraft, merchandise, or baggage, because of a violation of that law.''. SEC. 6. RELEASE OF SEIZED PROPERTY FOR SUBSTANTIAL HARDSHIP. Section 614 of the Tariff Act of 1930 (19 U.S.C. 1614) is amended-- (1) by inserting ``(a) Release Upon Payment.--'' before ``If''; and (2) by adding at the end the following new subsection: ``(b) Release of Seized Property for Substantial Hardship.-- ``(1) Request for release.--(A) A claimant is entitled to immediate release of seized property if continued possession by the Government would cause the claimant substantial hardship. ``(B) A claimant seeking release of property under this subsection shall-- ``(i) request possession of the property from the appropriate customs officer; and ``(ii) state in the request the basis for such release. ``(2) Civil action.--(A) If, within 10 days after the date on which a request is made under paragraph (1), the subject property has not been released, the claimant may file a complaint in any district court that would have jurisdiction over forfeiture proceedings relating to the property. ``(B) A complaint under subparagraph (B) shall state-- ``(i) the nature of the claim to the seized property; ``(ii) the reason why the continued possession by the United States Government pending the final disposition of forfeiture proceedings will cause substantial hardship to the claimant; and ``(iii) the steps that the claimant has taken to secure release of the property from the appropriate customs officer. ``(3) Return of property.--If a complaint is filed under paragraph (2), the district court shall order that the property be returned to the claimant, pending completion of proceedings by the United States Government to obtain forfeiture of the property, if the claimant shows that-- ``(A) the claimant is likely to demonstrate a possessory interest in the seized property; and ``(B) continued possession by the United States Government of the seized property is likely to cause substantial hardship to the claimant. ``(4


We analyze the properties of the shallow decay segment with a sample of 53 long Swift GRBs. We show that the distributions of its characteristics are log-normal or normal, and its isotropic X-ray energy (E_{iso,X}) is linearly correlated with the prompt gamma-ray energy, but with a steeper photon spectrum except for some X-ray flashes. No significant spectral evolution is observed from this phase to the follow-up phase, and the follow-up phase is usually consistent with the external shock models, implying that this segment likely due to a refreshed external shock. Within this scenario, the data are generally consistent with a roughly constant injection luminosity up to the end of this phase $t_b$. A positive correlation between E_{iso, X} and t_b also favors this scenario. Among the 13 bursts that have well-sampled optical light curves, 6 have an optical break around t_b and the breaks are consistent with being achromatic. However, the other 7 bursts either do not show an optical break or have a break at a different epoch than t_b. This raises a concern to the energy injection scenario, suggesting that the optical and X-ray emissions may not be the same component at least for a fraction of bursts. There are 4 significant outliers in the sample, and this shallow decau phase in these bursts is immediately followed by a very steep decay after t_b, which is inconsistent with any external shock model. The optical data of these bursts evolve independently from the X-ray data. These X-ray plateaus likely have an internal origin and demand continuous operation of a long-term GRB central engine. We conclude that the observed shallow decay phase likely has diverse physical origins(Abridged).


The galactic black hole candidate XTE J1817-330 was discovered in outburst by RXTE in January 2006. We present here the results of an XMM-Newton Target of opportunity observation (TOO), performed on 13 March 2006 (44 days after the maximum), and an INTEGRAL observation performed on 15-18 February 2006 (18 days after the maximum). The EPIC-pn camera on-board XMM-Newton was used in the fast read-out Burst mode to avoid photon pile-up, while the RGSs were used in Spectroscopy high count-rate mode. We fit both the XMM-Newton and the INTEGRAL spectra with a two-component model consisting of a thermal accretion disk and a comptonizing hot corona. The soft X-ray spectrum is dominated by an accretion disk component, with a maximum temperature decreasing from 0.96+/-0.04 keV at the time of the INTEGRAL observation to 0.70+/-m0.01 keV on 13 March. The Optical Monitors on board INTEGRAL and XMM-Newton showed the source with magnitudes V: 11.3-11.4, U:15.0-15.1 and UVW1:14.7-14.8. The soft X-ray spectrum, together with the optical and UV data, show a low hydrogen column density towards the source, and several absorption lines, most likely of interstellar origin, are detected in the RGS spectrum: OI K-alpha, OI K-beta, OII, OIII and OVII, which trace both cold and hot components of the ISM. The soft X-ray spectrum indicates the presence of a black hole, with an estimate for the upper limit of the mass of 6.0(+4.0/-2.5) Msun.


SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Holocaust Victims Redress Act''. TITLE I--HEIRLESS ASSETS SEC. 101. FINDINGS AND PURPOSES. (a) Findings.--The Congress finds as follows: (1) Among the $198,000,000 in German assets located in the United States and seized by the United States Government in World War II were believed to be bank accounts, trusts, securities, or other assets belonging to Jewish victims of the Holocaust. (2) Among an estimated $1,200,000,000 in assets of Swiss nationals and institutions which were frozen by the United States Government during World War II (including over $400,000,000 in bank deposits) were assets whose beneficial owners were believed to include victims of the Holocaust. (3) In the aftermath of the war, the Congress recognized that some of the victims of the Holocaust whose assets were among those seized or frozen during the war might not have any legal heirs, and legislation was enacted to authorize the transfer of up to $3,000,000 of such assets to organizations dedicated to providing relief and rehabilitation for survivors of the Holocaust. (4) Although the Congress and the Administration authorized the transfer of such amount to the relief organizations referred to in paragraph (3), the enormous administrative difficulties and cost involved in proving legal ownership of such assets, directly or beneficially, by victims of the Holocaust, and proving the existence or absence of heirs of such victims, led the Congress in 1962 to agree to a lump-sum settlement and to provide $500,000 for the Jewish Restitution Successor Organization of New York, such sum amounting to \1/6\th of the authorized maximum level of ``heirless'' assets to be transferred. (5) In June of 1997, a representative of the Secretary of State, in testimony before the Congress, urged the reconsideration of the limited $500,000 settlement. (6) While a precisely accurate accounting of ``heirless'' assets may be impossible, good conscience warrants the recognition that the victims of the Holocaust have a compelling moral claim to the unrestituted portion of assets referred to in paragraph (3). (7) Furthermore, leadership by the United States in meeting obligations to Holocaust victims would strengthen-- (A) the efforts of the United States to press for the speedy distribution of the remaining nearly 6 metric tons of gold still held by the Tripartite


Using archival RXTE data we derive the 2-16 keV Fourier-resolved spectra of the Atoll source 4U 1728-34 in a sequence of its timing states as its low QPO frequency spans the range between 6 and 94 Hz. The increase in the QPO frequency accompanies a spectral transition of the source from its island to its banana states. The banana-states' Fourier-resolved spectra are well fitted by a single blackbody component with $kT \sim 2-3$ keV depending on the source position in the color -- color diagram and the Fourier frequency, thus indicating that this spectral component is responsible for the source variability on these timescales. This result is in approximate agreement with similar behavior exhibited by the Z sources, suggesting that, as in that case, the boundary layer -- the likely source of the thermal component -- is supported by radiation pressure. Furthermore, it is found that the iron line at $\sim$6.6 keV, clearly present in the averaged spectra, not apparent within the limitations of our measurements in the frequency-resolved spectra irrespective of the frequency range. This would indicate that this spectral component exhibits little variability on time scales comprising the interval $10^{-2}-10^2$ seconds. In the island state the single blackbody model proved inadequate, particularly notable in our lowest frequency band ($0.008-0.8$ Hz). An absorbed powerlaw or an additive blackbody plus hard powerlaw model was required to obtain a satisfactory fit. Statistics do not allow unambiguous discrimination between these possible scenarios.


vehicle with the teen driver; (ii) drivers and passengers in other vehicles involved in a crash with the teen driver's vehicle; and (iii) pedestrians. (4) According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety-- (A) the chance that a vehicle driven by a 16- or 17-year-old will be involved in an accident-- (i) doubles when there are 2 other teens in the vehicle; and (ii) quadruples when there are 4 teens in the vehicle; (B) States with strong nighttime driving restrictions experience lower fatal crash rates among drivers ages 15 to 17 years old; and (C) a higher age requirement for licensing teen drivers is correlated with a lower number of fatal crashes per capita. (5) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has found that distraction caused by cellular phones is significant enough to degrade driver performance, and is particularly dangerous for inexperienced drivers between 15 and 20 years of age. (6) That National Transportation Safety Board has found that although only 20 percent of driving by teenage drivers occurs at night, more than 50 percent of the motor vehicle crash fatalities involving teenage drivers occur at night. (7) According to a 2007 report from the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University-- (A) teenage drivers in rural areas are less likely to be aware of the risks and dangers associated with driving, placing them at higher risk of involvement in crashes; (B) teen drivers are more likely than other drivers-- (i) to drive with other teenage passengers; (ii) to drive late at night; (iii) to exceed the speed limit; (iv) to use cell phones while driving; and (v) to fail to use seat belts while driving. (8) The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reports that although 23 percent of the population of the United States lives in rural areas, 57 percent of all traffic fatalities occur on rural roads, underscoring the elevated crash risk for teen drivers in rural areas. (9) The American Academy of Pediatrics has found evidence that the area of the brain responsible for planning, impulse control, and executive decisionmaking does not fully mature until a person is between 20 and 25 years of age, placing teen drivers at greater risk of being involved in an accident. (10) The Journal of the American Medical Association reports that after Michigan and North Carolina adopted comprehensive graduated driver licensing systems in 1997, crashes involving 16-year-old drivers decreased


MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Marin Cilic felt more than prepared to face Roger Federer in a Grand Slam final for the second time in six months. Last year at Wimbledon, he was hobbled by a blister on his foot and couldn't play his normally attacking style of tennis. Frustrated by not being able to perform in the moment, he put a towel over his head during a changeover and broke down in tears. He went on to lose in straight sets. There were no tears after his five-set loss to Federer in the Australian Open final on Sunday — at least, none from Cilic — but the big-serving Croatian player was frustrated nonetheless. This time, by the decision to close the roof at Rod Laver Arena before the match because of the extreme heat in Melbourne. The tournament referee made a late call to close the roof and Cilic said it was tough to acclimatize to playing indoors after practicing outdoors earlier in the day when the temperature reached a high of 38 Celsius (100 Fahrenheit). "I have to say that decision, could it have been different? I guess so. I think that it was just little bit difficult to adjust, especially the beginning of the match," Cilic said. "With the roof closed, it was way, way cooler than I expected. That was very, very difficult, especially for the final to be in that kind of a situation." Cilic did have a poor start to the match, getting broken in his first two service games and dropping the set in just 24 minutes. Afterward, he wasn't sure if the decision to close the roof gave Federer an advantage, but it clearly threw off his game. "I had a slow start in the match," he said. "Then catching up most of the time." After Cilic caught up and forced a fifth set, he had two chances for an early break in the first game that would have given him the lead — and continued his momentum. But he made two errors and let the chances slip away, then dropped his own serve twice as Federer ran away with the set. Still, Cilic was pleased just to have made his third major final and coming oh-so-close to adding to his only Grand Slam trophy at the 2014 U.S. Open. He also believes he's closing the gap with the top players in the men's game — the so-called Big Four of


modifications to procedures for improving the security of sealed sources in use, transportation, and storage, which may include periodic Commission audits or inspections to ensure that sealed sources are properly secured and can be fully accounted for, Commission evaluation of security measures, increased fines for violations of Commission regulations relating to security and safety measures applicable to licensees who possess sealed sources, background checks for certain individuals with access to sealed sources, assurances of the physical security of facilities that contain sealed sources, and the screening of shipments to facilities particularly at risk for sabotage of sealed sources to ensure that they do not contain explosives. ``b. Commission Actions.--Not later than 60 days after receipt by Congress and the President of the report required under subsection a.(3)(B), the Commission, in accordance with the recommendations of the task force, shall take any appropriate actions, including commencing revision of its system for licensing sealed sources, and shall take necessary steps to ensure that States that have entered into an agreement under section 274 b. establish compatible programs in a timely manner. ``c. National Academy of Sciences Study.--Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Commission shall enter into an arrangement with the National Academy of Sciences for a study of industrial, research, and commercial uses for sealed sources. The study shall review the current uses for sealed sources, identifying industrial or other processes that utilize sealed sources that could be replaced with economically and technically equivalent (or improved) processes that do not require the use of radioactive materials. The Commission shall transmit the results of the study to Congress within 24 months after the date of the enactment of this section. ``d. Definition.--For purposes of this section, the term `sealed source' means any byproduct material or special nuclear material encased in a capsule designed to prevent leakage or escape of the material, except that such term does not include fuel or spent fuel.''. (b) Table of Sections Amendment.--The table of sections of the Atomic Energy Act of 1954 is amended by adding at the end of the items relating to chapter 14 the following new items: ``Sec. 170B. Uranium supply. ``Sec. 170C. Radiation source protection.''.


only vehicle for astronaut crew rotation to the International Space Station after 2010. From 2011 until the planned operation of Orion in 2015, NASA likely has no other option for transporting American astronauts to space other than on Russian vehicles. (19) Due to NASA's lack of a backup plan for reliance on the Russians for transport of American astronauts to space, the United States needs a better approach. The best approach is the Space Shuttle, a proven, domestic source of space transport for assured access to space, including the International Space Station, for crew and cargo transport. (20) With 2 Shuttle missions per year during the human spaceflight program flight gap between Shuttle and Orion, currently scheduled from 2010 through 2015, we can replace our need to rely on the Russians for crew rotation for the International Space Station. (21) Savings from replacing Russian transport services to the International Space Station with the Space Shuttle would pay for a portion of the costs for flying 2 Space Shuttle missions per year. (22) Only by closing the gap between 2010 and 2015, or until the Orion is operational, will our Nation be able to keep our Nation's highly skilled and critically important spaceworkers and engineers gainfully employed, and mitigate the loss of critical skills. (23) By extending Space Shuttle operations, NASA may realize considerable savings by no longer having to pay retention bonuses to critical space workers. But retention bonuses would not be the only added costs associated with the end of Space Shuttle operations when critical skilled workers leave NASA or its contractors. Recruitment incentives for new workers and contract cost increases could also be incurred by NASA since the majority of the Kennedy Space Center's workforce are contractors. (24) The success of the Constellation program will depend on having the most skilled and experienced workforce possible. The workforce gap, as currently envisioned by NASA, will jeopardize this. NASA has acknowledged that thousands of critical space workers will lose their jobs in the transition from the Space Shuttle to the Constellation program. Continued operation of the Space Shuttle, but on a reduced flight requirement, while also integrating these workers into the Orion program, is the best way to retain many of these critical workers and skill sets. (25) An August 2007 study by the Government Accountability Office, ``NASA Progress Made on Strategic Human Capital Management, but Future Program Challenges Remain,'' stated that ``the agency as a whole faces challenges in recruiting and retaining highly experienced senior-level engineers in certain specialties. NASA


We report Hubble Space Telescope imaging obtained 155 days after the 2006 outburst of RS Ophiuchi. We detect extended emission in both [O III] and [Ne V] lines. In both lines, the remnant has a double ring structure. The E-W orientation and total extent of these structures (580+-50 AU at d=1.6kpc) is consistent with that expected due to expansion of emitting regions imaged earlier in the outburst at radio wavelengths. Expansion at high velocity appears to have been roughly constant in the E-W direction (v_{exp} = 3200+-300 km/s in the plane of the sky), with tentative evidence of deceleration N-S. We present a bipolar model of the remnant whose inclination is consistent with that of the central binary. The true expansion velocities of the polar components are then v = 5600+-1100 km/s. We suggest that the bipolar morphology of the remnant results from interaction of the outburst ejecta with a circumstellar medium that is significantly denser in the equatorial regions of the binary than at the poles. This is also consistent with observations of shock evolution in the X-ray and the possible presence of dust in the infrared. Furthermore, it is in line with models of the shaping of planetary nebulae with close binary central systems, and also with recent observations relating to the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae, for which recurrent novae are a proposed candidate. Our observations also reveal more extended structures to the S and E of the remnant whose possible origin is briefly discussed.


SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. This Act may be cited as the ``Children's Recovery from Trauma Act''. SEC. 2. FINDINGS. Congress makes the following findings: (1) According to a 2002 Government Accountability Office report (GAO-02-813), large numbers of children experience trauma-related mental health problems, while at the same time facing barriers to receiving appropriate mental health care. (2) According to the National Institute of Mental Health, only 36 percent of youth with any mental disorder received services, and only half of these youth who were severely impaired by their mental disorder received any professional mental health treatment. Of those with anxiety disorders (including post traumatic stress disorder), only 18 percent received services. Half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, and that despite effective treatments that have been developed, there are long delays, sometimes decades, between first onset of symptoms and when treatment is obtained. (3) Findings from the Adverse Childhood Experiences Study have shown that adverse childhood experiences predispose children towards negative trajectories from infancy to adulthood. (4) The Great Smoky Mountains Study, a representative longitudinal study of children, found that by age 16, more than 67 percent of the children had been exposed to one or more traumatic events, such as child maltreatment, domestic violence, or sexual assault (Copeland et al, 2007). (5) According to the National Institute of Mental Health, the lifetime prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder for 13 to 18 year olds is 4 to 6 percent (NIMH, 2010). In 2007, the National Institute of Mental Health reported that adults who were abused or neglected as children have increased risk of major depression, often beginning in childhood with long- lasting effects. (6) According to the Department of Defense, more than 700,000 children have experienced one or more parental deployments. Children's reactions to a parent's deployment vary by a child's developmental stage, age, and presence of any preexisting psychological or behavioral problems. The mental health of the parent is often a key factor affecting the child's distress level. Parents reporting clinically significant stress are more likely to have children identified as high risk for psychological and behavioral problems. (7) The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey revealed that nearly 1 in 5 women reported having been the victim of a rape at some time during their lives. Forty-two percent


Spend more than an hour in a meeting with any major software company and you're bound to hear the buzzword "hyperconverged infrastructure," but what is it, and why should you care? Industry analyst Zeus Kerravala explained it for us in a question-and-answer session. We played the role of skeptic. SEE: Virtualization policy (Tech Pro Research) TechRepublic: We think we understand what hyperconverged infrastructure means, but how would you explain it? Zeus Kerravala: "It's kind of a weird term. There was already a converged infrastructure market [lacking the software aspect] when this technology came around. Hyperconverged platforms are turnkey products that include all the hardware and software one needs to run a contained little data center in a box.... When you look at running data center infrastructure there's a lot of different choices for buyers. If you use Cisco networking, EMC storage, and Dell computing, which is a pretty standard thing, there's over 800 configurations. [In HCI] the vendor's done all the heavy lifting. They're not plug-and-play... it's data center technology, nothing's ever going to be plug-and-play. But customers have told me the deployment time for these is days vs. months if you're trying to cobble it all together yourself." SEE: The cloud v. data center decision (ZDNet special report) | Download the report as a PDF (TechRepublic) TechRepublic: Do you think most corporate sysadmins and CIOs understand this? Zeus Kerravala: "I'm not sure the CIO does. I think technology has been somewhat niche. It's been used primarily for virtual desktop deployments. Those are workloads that tend to be demanding... unified communications are a likely next thing. I don't really understand where the 'hyper' came from, to be honest with you." TechRepublic: Most good ideas in information technology are cyclical. How much of this is truly novel and how much is just a new name? Zeus Kerravala: "We used to have converged platforms a long time ago, and we called them mainframes. The reason the hyperconverged market exists is to simplify the deployment of all the stuff we need to run data centers." TechRepublic: Why is this happening now? Zeus Kerravala: "I talk to CIOs. More and more, CIOs are less concerned about the technical aspects of running stuff.


of applications in the IoT and industrial space of the Internet of Things. You know I also think we have to be careful, because I do think there's a tendency and I'm certainly guilty of it, of using a lot of the buzzwords and attracting folks to the pure machine learning side of the equation. But what we're observing with clients today, is first of all, a lot of them are still moving through that journey of actually connecting to those devices, right? Controlling those devices. So kind of the, I would say the ability to actually aggregate data. But what's happening over time for sure is, as you aggregate that data, as you can start to look at broader trends, you could start to bring in things like machine learning, and the thing that I think that we're seeing today that is the most pronounced, is that you still need quite a bit of human interaction when it comes to machine learning or AI. You need to identify patterns, and then you need to feed those back into machine learning so that you know what that pattern recognition looks like, and then you can start to take proactive measures, and so, just one example. You know a lot of outages or problems that happen in industrial setting, often start, you can actually look at things like partial discharge, or electrical partial discharge that happens in equipment. And if that happens over a long period of time, eventually that piece of equipment's probably going to fail. And so today, if you kind of looked at the signatures of what that looks like, a human being can look at that, you know we have thousands of electrical engineers in our company. Incredibly intelligent about what they do. You might not necessarily want to go out drinking with them but, they're a lot of fun too, to actually identify these problems. These guys can look at that, they can look at those signatures, they can instantly say, "You're going to have a problem here." Now to codify that, and actually take that and build AI around that, that process is, I would say we're in the early stages. So you saying this, this is what that pattern looks like, now you can feed that into an AI system, and you can start to create a set of patterns that you can look for, and then obviously do what we ultimately wanna do, which is not just predict, but avoid outages and equipment failures in an industrial setting. Patterson: Andrew, last question for


"That's a good first step," Perkins said. "That was good to get out with probably a little more intensity than I imagined. To feel like I could push it is exciting." Set to take Wednesday off from throwing before long-tossing again on Thursday, Perkins had some anxious moments over the weekend after canceling a planned bullpen session on Feb. 10. He used air quotes around the word "setback," but it wasn't ideal when he felt soreness in his teres minor, one of the rotator cuff muscles involved in the external rotation of the shoulder joint. "I think it had been bugging me longer than I thought," Perkins said. "I just thought it was part of rehabbing and a little discomfort, but I think it had been lingering for a while, a month or so maybe. I forgot what it was like to feel good." Having hit every marker on his rehab calendar since June 23 surgery to repair a torn labrum, Perkins figures it was inevitable he'd have to back off at some point. The good news is Tuesday's moderate-intensity throwing session presented no challenges, physical or otherwise. "They say that when you have the front of your shoulder fixed, eventually you're going to develop some sort of soreness or something in the back," Perkins said. "It was bound to happen. It's just how your arm works. It was a matter of time before something happened." Perkins, who threw as usual under the eye of rehab coordinator Lanning Tucker, noted he was able to get about 7 months into an eight-month rehab schedule before he had to scale back a bit. "I was lucky with that," he said. "The whole thing had been laid out, and so you try to get through it that way and it doesn't always work. I don't think anyone's ever done that. I had a little soreness, and it went away in a couple days." A three-time all-star set to turn 34 on March 2, Perkins is entering the last guaranteed year of a contract extension he signed in the spring of 2014. He anticipates throwing his next bullpen session on Friday or Saturday but will be careful not to look too far ahead. "I'm taking it day by day. I'm not getting that far ahead," he said. "I got too far ahead last week. I was thinking about that bullpen a week before I threw it. You've got to focus on


Images via E! “I just got a call from the offices over at Vogue,” Kris Jenner tells her daughters Kendall and Kylie during Sunday night’s episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. “They’re coming to review the Kendall + Kylie collection in new York. This is like, such a big deal.” Advertisement “Getting a review from Vogue and having it be positive would mean everything to the girls,” Kris explains. But Kendall, already a Vogue cover girl, says she finds the prospect of a Vogue review “really terrifying.” Kylie, a generally unruffled personality, is seemingly chill about the situation. “You should be proud of yourselves. The fact that they’re giving you this attention in year one, Vogue usually does this after a designer has established themselves, even for years. And Nicole Phelps is actually the one coming to review the line,” Kris goes on to explain, more for the benefit of the viewers at home than for her children. “You should be very flattered that they want to see what you’re up to.” “Nicole Phelps has reviewed lines like Louis Vuitton, Givenchy, and all the top designers,” Kylie says of the Vogue Runway Director, helpfully breaking things down. “I mean if they love it, it’ll be amazing, but if they don’t, it could potentially make or break us,” Kendall adds. The conversation between the sisters and their mother looks like it was shot the week of September 19, which is odd, given that we then see them present their collection to Phelps during New York Fashion Week, which took place the first week of September. In the scene, we see a man with a microphone that isn’t identified, but was Vogue Runway Style Editor Edward Barsamian. The two did a Facebook Live interview with him on September 7. Phelps also posted about shooting that day. Strange given that, in a later scene, we see Kris telling Kendall about the review—which was also published September 7—as she shoots a campaign for will.i.am’s headphones or something, which appears to have taken place that week as well. “I know how nervous you were about the Vogue review,” Kris says to Kendall, before showing it to her and telling her “I heard they don’t really give them this early” (whatever that is supposed to signify). Then we hear (though do not see) Kris saying “They love every single piece,” with a very large pause between “love” and “every,”


in activities that provide alternatives to sex. Teenage girls who play sports, for instance, are more likely to delay sex and have fewer partners and less likely to become pregnant. (10) After-school programs help prevent teen pregnancy by advancing good decision-making skills and providing teens health education and positive role models in a supervised setting. (11) Eight in 10 girls and six in 10 boys report that they wish they had waited until they were older to have sex. SEC. 3. EDUCATION PROGRAM FOR PREVENTING TEEN PREGNANCIES. (a) In General.--The Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred to in this Act as the ``Secretary'') may make grants to local educational agencies, State and local public health agencies, and nonprofit private entities for the purpose of carrying out projects to provide education on preventing teen pregnancies. (b) Preference in Making Grants.--In making grants under subsection (a), the Secretary shall give preference to applicants that will carry out the projects under such subsection in communities for which the rate of teen pregnancy is significantly above the average rate of such pregnancies. (c) Certain Requirements.--A grant may be made under subsection (a) only if the applicant for the grant meets the following conditions with respect to the project involved: (1) The applicant agrees that information provided by the project on pregnancy prevention will be age-appropriate, factually and medically accurate and complete, and scientifically-based. (2) The applicant agrees that the project will give priority to preventing teen pregnancies by-- (A) encouraging teens to delay sexual activity; (B) providing educational services and interventions for sexually active teens or teens at risk of becoming sexually active; (C) educating both young men and women about the responsibilities and pressures that come along with parenting; (D) helping parents communicate with teens about sexuality; or (E) teaching young people responsible decision- making. (d) Matching Funds.-- (1) In general.--With respect to the costs of the project to be carried out under subsection (a) by an applicant, a grant may be made under such subsection only if the applicant agrees to make available (directly or through donations from public or private entities) non-Federal contributions toward such costs in an amount that is not less than 25 percent of such costs ($1 for each $3 of Federal funds provided in the grant). (2) Determination of amount contributed.--Non-Federal contributions required in paragraph (1) may


We present a detailed analysis of the prompt and afterglow emission of GRB 050410 and GRB 050412 detected by Swift for which no optical counterpart was observed. The 15-150 keV energy distribution of the GRB 050410 prompt emission shows a peak energy at 53 keV. The XRT light curve of this GRB decays as a power law with a slope of alpha=1.06+/-0.04. The spectrum is well reproduced by an absorbed power law with a spectral index Gamma_x=2.4+/-0.4 and a low energy absorption N_H=4(+3;-2)x10^21 cm^(-2) which is higher than the Galactic value. The 15-150 keV prompt emission in GRB 050412 is modelled with a hard (Gamma=0.7+/-0.2) power law. The XRT light curve follows a broken power law with the first slope alpha_1=0.7+/-0.4, the break time T_break=254(-41;+79) s and the second slope alpha_2=2.8(-0.8;+0.5). The spectrum is fitted by a power law with spectral index Gamma_x=1.3+/-0.2 which is absorbed at low energies by the Galactic column. The GRB 050410 afterglow reveals the expected characteristics of the third component of the canonical Swift light curve. Conversely, a complex phenomenology was detected in the GRB 050412 because of the presence of the very early break. The light curve in this case can be interpreted as being the last peak of the prompt emission. The two bursts present tight upper limits for the optical emission, however, neither of them can be clearly classified as dark. For GRB 050410, the suppression of the optical afterglow could be attributed to a low density interstellar medium surrounding the burst. For GRB 050412, the evaluation of the darkness is more difficult due to the ambiguity in the extrapolation of the X-ray afterglow light curve.


it is still an operational facility for adults with really serious disabilities, although it is in the process of closing. But like a lot of things in Virginia, it was initially built on an enormous amount of land. And, so, a really interesting thing happened, which is that as the buildings that were originally part of the colony fell into disrepair, they were largely just moved out of — and new buildings were built on accompanying land, but those original buildings were not necessarily torn down. So the place itself is this really strange combination of functioning facility and ghost town of everything that it has been. I've never been in a place that felt more acutely haunted in my life. On how some people assume her physical disability means she also has an intellectual disability We do have a strange tendency in this country to equate any kind of disability with less intellectual capability and with even a less complete humanity. Certainly as a child and as a teenager — and even now as an adult — [I] encountered people who assumed that just because I used a wheelchair, maybe I couldn't even speak to them. I often get questions directed at people I'm with, as opposed to me, and that's a really interesting phenomenon. On the connection between poetry and theology Both poetry and theology for me are about paying attention to the world in a very intentional way, and about admitting a mystery that is bigger than anything that I rationally understand.... I think poetry has always been for me a kind of prayer. So those things feel very linked for me. And, again, poetry does feel like the first — and in some ways best — language I ever had for mystery and for my sense of what exists beyond the world we're currently living in. On how Catholicism has helped her accept her body One of the things that I find so moving about Catholicism is that it never forgets that to be a person is inherently and inescapably and necessarily to be in a body — a body that brings you pain, a body that brings you pleasure, a body that can be a barrier to thinking more completely about your life and your soul — but [that it] can also be a vehicle to delivering you into better communion with the world, with other people and to whatever divinity it is that you believe in. What Catholicism did for me, in part, is give me a framework in which to understand my body as not an accident or a punishment or a mistake, but as the body that I


We present a new catalog of star cluster candidates in the nearby spiral galaxy M33. It is based on eight existing catalogs wherein we have cross-referenced identifications and endeavored to resolve inconsistencies between them. Our catalog contains 451 candidates of which 255 are confirmed clusters based on HST and high resolution ground-based imaging. The catalog contains precise cluster positions (RA and Dec), magnitudes and colors in the UBVRIJHKs filters, metallicities, radial velocities, masses and ages, where available, and galactocentric distances for each cluster. The color distribution of the M33 clusters appears to be similar to those in the Large Magellanic Cloud with major peaks at (B-V)o~0.15, and (B-V)o~0.65. The intrinsic colors are correlated with cluster ages, which range from 10^{7.5} to 10^{10.3} years. The age distribution of the star clusters supports the notion of rapid cluster disruption with a slope of alpha=-1.09 +/- 0.07 in the dN_{cluster}/dt ~ t^{alpha} relation. In addition, comparison to theoretical single stellar population models suggests the presence of an age-metallicity relation among these clusters with younger clusters being more metal-rich. Analysis of the radial distribution of the clusters yields some evidence that younger clusters (age <~ 1 Gyr) may be more concentrated toward the center of M33 than older ones. A similar comparison with the radial profile of the M33 field stars shows the clusters to be more centrally concentrated at the greater than 99.9% confidence level. Possible reasons for this are presented and discussed; however, the overwhelming conclusion seems to be that a more complete and thorough cluster search is needed covering at least 4 square degrees centered on M33.


of the harm." While ACT UP's activism centered on an array of complex issues, the central focus of HIV and AIDS was a unifying and organizing force. But anger at Trump is broad, diffuse and across a range of issues from health care to climate change. "It's a different animal, there's not one single thing to organize against," Wolfe says. "What we need is how to sustain focus. You can't just do one action, let's say, against (senior presidential adviser Steve) Bannon. You have to do many such actions." "We know now that nominally democratic governments don't have to listen to social protests," says activist and writer Micah White, who helped launch the Occupy Wall Street protests. "You can get 4 million people into the streets and there is no requirement in our Constitution or in our laws that the president has to listen. He's able to say, 'Thanks. Now go home.' And they go home." White now advocates a rural, Internet-enabled progressive movement where activists get elected to local offices and prove they can govern. "As social protesters, we need to stop with this naïve belief that if we just get more people into the streets, then we'll get what we want. It's not true!" White says. Finkelstein notes that he did not come up with the Silence=Death logo quickly on the back of a napkin one night over a beer. It was, he says, a deliberative, iterative process with five friends that took about six months to produce. He's not against big marches like January's massive Women's March in cities across America and the world, or the upcoming Earth Day March for Science. But his lesson from creating the iconic ACT UP logo: there's tremendous power in smaller actions that can reverberate in unexpected ways. "If that million people were broken into small groups of four and five, think of the power that could have," Finkelstein says. "Pussy Riot was four people with a boombox, and it totally changed the way we thought about Putin's administration." Rise and Resist and several other anti-Trump groups are still groping, in these early days, with what tactics might have a real impact with a famously media-savvy mogul turned president, who may be thin-skinned, but knows how to punch back. "A lot of super smart people that I know are so distracted by the scorching lava flow of Trump's campaign,


SECTION 1. FINDINGS. The Congress makes the following findings: (1) Ensuring secure access to energy is in the highest national security interests of the United States. (2) Without secure access to oil supplies, the United States economy, which depends heavily on oil for transportation, could be severely affected. Two-thirds of the oil used in the United States is consumed by the transportation sector. Passenger vehicles alone account for 40 percent of United States oil use. (3) In the year 2000, the United States imported 58 percent of its oil needs, 45 percent of which came from Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) nations. (4) Over the next 20 years, according to the Energy Information Administration, the United States's demand for oil is projected to increase by 33 percent. (5) In 1973 OPEC placed an embargo on sales of oil to the United States, creating severe oil shortages and driving up oil prices in the United States. OPEC's action was a major factor in the recession which followed shortly thereafter. (6) Under the ``Carter Doctrine'', announced by President Carter in 1980, ``An attempt by any outside forces to gain control of the Persian Gulf region will be regarded as an assault on the vital interests of the United States of America, and such an assault will be repelled by any means necessary, including military force.''. (7) Following the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the United States sent more than 500,000 troops to the Persian Gulf to expel the Iraqi troops, liberate Kuwait, protect Saudi Arabia, and ensure access to Persian Gulf oil. (8) As of March 19, 2003, the United States is on the verge of fighting yet another war against Iraq to further ensure access to vital oil supplies. (9) Many major oil producing nations do not share United States values of democracy, freedom of expression, thought, and religion, and equality for women. (10) During the Afghanistan conflict and the war on terrorism, many oil producing nations did not openly support the United States campaign to end the terror, and many of the terrorists of September 11 came from major OPEC nations. (11) It is in the highest national security interests of the United States to substantially reduce our dependence on oil as soon as possible, to secure our access to oil supplies, and to reduce our dependence on nations which do not share our


We present a study on the dynamics of massive BHs in galaxy mergers, obtained from a series of high-resolution N-Body/SPH simulations. The presence of a gaseous component is essential for the rapid formation of an eccentric (Keplerian) BH binary, that resides at the center of a massive (~10^9 Msun) turbulent nuclear disc. Using physically and/or numerically motivated recipes, we follow the accretion history of the BHs during the merger. The mass of the BHs increases as large central inflows of gas occur inside each galaxy, and their mass ratio varies with time. Given the encountered strong degeneracy between numerical resolution and physical assumptions, we suggest here three possible paths followed by the galaxies and the BHs during a merger in order to fulfill the M-sigma relation : Adjustment, Symbiosis, and BH Dominance. In an extremely high resolution run, we resolved the turbulent gas pattern down to parsec scales, and found that BH feedback is expected to be effective near the end of the merger. We then trace the BH binary orbit down to a scale of 0.1 pc modeling the nuclear disc as an equilibrium Mestel disc composed either of gas, gas and stars, or just stars. Under the action of dynamical friction against the rotating gaseous and/or stellar background the orbit circularizes. When this occurs, each BH is endowed with its own small-size (~0.01 pc) accretion disc comprising a few percent of the BH mass. Double AGN activity is expected to occur on an estimated timescale of ~10 Myrs, comparable to the inspiral time. The double nuclear point--like sources that may appear have typical separations of ~10 pc, and are likely to be embedded in the still ongoing starburst.


Image: Jack Wallen Ah the ubiquitous web browser. What would we do without one? Not much, that's for sure. No matter if you're seated at your desk or roaming about with mobile in hand, you depend upon a web browser. But which browser? That's the key. There are browsers for every type of user, especially in the mobile landscape. Most users, however, simply live with the default. On Android, that's Chrome. What would you say if I told you there were better options? There's Firefox, Opera, Puffin, Dolphin, Naked Browser, Orfox, Ghostery, and so many more. But one particular mobile browser tends to fall through the cracks. That browser is Via Browser, and it is certainly worth your time. Via Browser is a lightweight, fast, customizable, mini browser that doesn't feel like a "mini" browser at all. In fact, outside of the fast speeds, Via contains enough features to make it feel like its full-blown brothers and sisters. Via is also really stable, with a developer that actively works to fix bugs and add new features. Let's install Via Browser on Android and see if it might make you want to switch from your default. Installation The installation of Via Browser is quite simple. Here are the necessary steps: Open the Google Play Store on your Android device Search for Via Browser Locate and tap the entry by Lakor Tap Install Allow the installation to complete That's all there is to the installation. At this point, you should see an icon for Via on the home screen or the App Drawer (or both). Tap to launch the browser. Permissions Out of the gate, you'll be warned about the necessary permissions. The developer has done a great job of explaining these permissions (so users won't grow paranoid that the browser is spying on them in any way - Figure A). Figure A Dismiss this warning and then okay the necessary permissions (Storage and Location). Usage Using Via Browser is incredibly intuitive. From the homepage (Figure B) tap the search bar and either type a search string or a URL. If you type a search string, the results will appear in a Google search. If you type a URL, guess what? The site in question will appear. Simple. Figure B If you don't want Google as your search provider, you can tap the Menu button (three horizontal bar icon in the bottom right of the Via homepage) and tap Settings. Tap General and scroll down


We calculate growth rates and corresponding gains for RX and LO mode radiation associated with the cyclotron maser instability for parameterized horseshoe electron velocity distributions. The velocity distribution function was modeled to closely fit the electron distribution functions observed in the auroral cavity. We systematically varied the model parameters as well as the propagation direction to study the dependence of growth rates on model parameters. The growth rate depends strongly on loss cone opening angle, which must be less than $90^{o}$ for significant CMI growth. The growth rate is sharply peaked for perpendicular radiation ($k_{\parallel} = 0$), with a full-width at half-maximum $1.7^{o}$, in good agreement with observed k-vector orientations and numerical simulations. The fractional bandwidth varied between 10$^{-4}$ and 10$^{-2}$, depending most strongly on propagation direction. This range encompasses nearly all observed fractional AKR burst bandwidths. We find excellent agreement between the computed RX mode emergent intensities and observed AKR intensities assuming convective growth length $L_c\approx$20-40 km and group speed 0.15$c$. The only computed LO mode growth rates compatible observed LO mode radiation levels occurred for number densities more than 100 times the average energetic electron densities measured in auroral cavities. This implies that LO mode radiation is not produced directly by the CMI mechanism but more likely results from mode conversion of RX mode radiation. We find that perturbation of the model velocity distribution by large ion solitary waves (ion holes) can enhance the growth rate by a factor of 2-4. This will result in a gain enhancement more than 40 dB depending on the convective growth length within the structure. Similar enhancements may be caused by EMIC waves.


We present new results from a multi-wavelength (radio/infrared/optical/X-ray) study of the black hole X-ray binary GRO J1655-40 during its 2005 outburst. We detected, for the first time, mid-infrared emission at 24 um from the compact jet of a black hole X-ray binary during its hard state, when the source shows emission from a radio compact jet as well as a strong non-thermal hard X-ray component. These detections strongly constrain the optically thick part of the synchrotron spectrum of the compact jet, which is consistent with being flat over four orders of magnitude in frequency. Moreover, using this unprecedented coverage, and especially thanks to the new Spitzer observations, we can test broadband disk and jet models during the hard state. Two of the hard state broadband spectra are reasonably well fitted using a jet model with parameters overall similar to those previously found for Cyg X-1 and GX 339-4. Differences are also present; most notably, the jet power in GRO J1655-40 appears to be a factor of at least ~3-5 higher (depending on the distance) than that of Cyg X-1 and GX 339-4 at comparable disk luminosities. Furthermore, a few discrepancies between the model and the data, previously not found for the other two black hole systems for which there was no mid-IR/IR and optical coverage, are evident, and will help to constrain and refine theoretical models.


A consistent folding model analysis of the ($\Delta S=0, \Delta T=1$) charge exchange \pn reaction measured with $^{48}$Ca, $^{90}$Zr, $^{120}$Sn and $^{208}$Pb targets at the proton energies of 35 and 45 MeV is done within a two-channel coupling formalism. The nuclear ground state densities given by the Hartree-Fock-Bogoljubov formalism and the density dependent CDM3Y6 interaction were used as inputs for the folding calculation of the nucleon optical potential and \pn form factor. To have an accurate isospin dependence of the interaction, a complex isovector density dependence of the CDM3Y6 interaction has been carefully calibrated against the microscopic Brueckner-Hatree-Fock calculation by Jeukenne, Lejeune and Mahaux before being used as folding input. Since the isovector coupling was used to explicitly link the isovector part of the nucleon optical potential to the cross section of \pn reaction exciting the 0$^+$ isobaric analog states in $^{48}$Sc, $^{90}$Nb, $^{120}$Sb and $^{208}$Bi, the newly parameterized isovector density dependence could be well tested in the folding model analysis of the \pn reaction. The isospin- and density dependent CDM3Y6 interaction was further used in the Hartree-Fock calculation of asymmetric nuclear matter, and a realistic estimation of the nuclear symmetry energy has been made.


Photo Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures Yes, you read that correctly. Harry Potter! Arrested! Weed! Advertisement But no, I’m not elliptically referring to Daniel Radcliffe. And I’m not operating under some delusion that Harry Potter and his lot exist—although, in the midst of our current national nightmare, I have often fantasized about Hogwarts. I’m referring to Harry Potter, a 19-year-old from York, England, who was found in possession of marijuana, as well as cash presumably earned from selling it. There are of course many dumb, wizard-related jokes to make, but I’m afraid I’m a spoilsport. That said, I invite the rest of you to bask in the possibilities. Advertisement According to USA Today, Potter was riding his moped—go ahead, pause to make a broomstick joke—when a police officer stopped him, alerted by “a strong smell of cannabis.” After discovering the weed and cash, the officer arrested Potter, and his case was sent to trial. Apparently Potter’s lawyer argued that his client wasn’t really dealing, just procuring extra pot for his friends and charging the same price he had paid. But I don’t think anyone is especially invested in the nitty-gritty details of Potter’s legal troubles—he just has an unfortunate name. Or perhaps it has worked to his benefit! If he began a weed delivery service, he’d have plenty of options for a logo, and of course Potter offers some wordplay opportunities. In any case, I release you to the comments, where you may make merry with this information. I think we can all agree, however, that wizards probably have far better drugs than muggles. Sponsored (Oh, and for what it’s worth: multiple sorting hat quizzes, including the Pottermore one, have told me that I’m a Ravenclaw.)


traumatic cardiac arrest patient; (B) the development of research-based, nationally uniform, easily learned and well retained model core educational content concerning the use of such lifesaving interventions by health care professionals, allied health personnel, emergency medical services personnel, public safety personnel, and other persons who are likely to arrive immediately at the scene of a sudden cardiac arrest; (C) an identification of the legal, political, financial, and other barriers to implementing these lifesaving interventions; and (D) the development of model State legislation to reduce identified barriers and to enhance each State's response to this significant problem. SEC. 3. NATIONAL INSTITUTES OF HEALTH MODEL PROGRAM ON THE FIRST LINKS IN THE CHAIN OF SURVIVAL. Section 421 of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 285b-3) is amended by adding at the end the following subsection: ``(c) Programs under subsection (a)(1)(E) (relating to emergency medical services and preventive, diagnostic, therapeutic, and rehabilitative approaches) shall include programs for the following: ``(1) The development and dissemination, in coordination with the emergency services guidelines promulgated under section 402(a) of title 23, United States Code, by the Associate Administrator for Traffic Safety Programs, Department of Transportation, of a core content for a model State training program applicable to cardiac arrest for inclusion in appropriate current emergency medical services educational curricula and training programs that address lifesaving interventions, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation. The core content of such program-- ``(A) may be used by health care professionals, allied health personnel, emergency medical services personnel, public safety personnel, and any other persons who are likely to arrive immediately at the scene of a sudden cardiac arrest (in this subsection referred to as `cardiac arrest care providers') to provide lifesaving interventions, including cardiopulmonary resuscitation; ``(B) shall include age-specific criteria for the use of particular techniques, which shall include infants and children; and ``(C) shall be reevaluated as additional interventions are shown to be effective. ``(2) The operation of a demonstration project to provide training in such core content for cardiac arrest care providers. ``(3) The definition and identification of cardiac arrest care providers, by personal relationship, exposure to arrest or trauma, occupation (including health professionals), or otherwise, who could provide benefit to victims of out-of- hospital arrest by comprehension of such core content. ``(4


use social media, it's not only the pastor communicating on behalf of the church, but Christians communicating among each other." Although such Twitter services are yet to catch on, embracing the latest media trend is nothing new for Protestants. Five-hundred years ago, when Martin Luther first protested against corruption in the Catholic Church, it was the then relatively new printing press that helped his challenge to papal authority to "go viral." Luther's supporters printed his radical ideas in pamphlets. Cheap to produce and easy to distribute, these pamphlets fostered public debate. Ulrike Zitzlsperger, a professor of German studies at the University of Exeter in England, says the 16th century pamphlet was the social media of Luther's day. "I think the parallels with the use of Twitter today are really strong," Zitzlsperger says. "You've got a topic that engages not just an educated public but really the wider public, the lay people. Everybody has a say." Luther's followers shared these pamphlets and responded to them by printing their own. These Twitter-like discussions spread so rapidly that the Catholic Church could do little to censor what it called heresy. Today though, it's no longer dissent but disinterest that threatens the Christian church in Europe. Back in Magdeburg, the Twitter service is in full swing. Messages from around Germany, where dozens of others participated, are displayed on the church's interactive screen in front of the altar. Some posts are encouraging, like the one from a Twitter user who tweets in German, "We all make mistakes. God will show us the right way." Some users share their private prayers, like one who posts: "I pray for the unborn child in my belly and that it is blessed with good health." Other users are less convinced. "Sorry, this is too hectic," one writes. "I go to church to find inner peace. I'm signing off." It's also too much for 86-year-old Ingeborg Brunner, who tiptoes out of church before the Twitter service is over. Brunner doesn't own a smartphone, so she feels somewhat left out. "It was certainly interesting, but it's not my cup of tea" Brunner admits. "I'm a little old for Twitter. I prefer a proper service, when we get to sing hymns." While Brunner says she's pleased the church is appealing to the digitally devout, regular churchgoers like her


estimated to be at least $2,600,000,000. (8) Perpetrators of mail, telemarketing, and Internet fraud frequently target seniors because seniors are often vulnerable and trusting people. (9) As victims of such fraudulent schemes, many seniors pay a financial cost, having been robbed of their hard-earned life savings, and frequently pay an emotional cost, losing their self-respect and dignity. (10) Perpetrators of fraud targeting seniors often operate outside the United States, reaching their victims through the mail, telephone lines, and the Internet. (11) The Deceptive Mail Prevention and Enforcement Act increased the power of the United States Postal Service to protect consumers against persons who use deceptive mailings, such as those featuring games of chance, sweepstakes, skill contests, and facsimile checks. (12) During fiscal year 2007, Postal Inspection Service analysts prepared more than 27,000 letters and informative postcards in response to mail fraud complaints. During that same year, postal inspectors investigated 2,909 mail fraud cases in the United States and arrested 1,236 mail fraud suspects, of whom 1,118 were convicted. Postal inspectors also reported 162 telemarketing fraud investigations, with 83 arrests and 61 convictions resulting from such investigations. (13) In 2000, the United States Senate Special Committee on Aging reported that consumers lose approximately $40,000,000,000 each year to telemarketing fraud, and estimated that approximately 10 percent of the Nation's 14,000 telemarketing firms were fraudulent. Some researchers estimate that only one in 10,000 fraud victims reports the crime to the authorities. (14) A 2003 report by AARP found that, though the crime of telemarketing fraud is grossly underreported among seniors who have been victims of such fraud, seniors who are properly counseled by trained peer volunteers are less likely to fall victim to fraudulent practices. (15) The Federal Bureau of Investigation reports that the threat of fraud to seniors is growing and changing. This is largely due to the fact that many younger Baby Boomers have considerable computer skills and criminals have responded by targeting seniors through online scams like phishing and email spamming, in addition to traditional telephone calls and mass mailings. (16) The Internet Crime Complaint Center (hereinafter referred to in this paragraph as ``IC3'') is a partnership between


We consider the possibility that the dark matter, which is required to explain the dynamics of the neutral hydrogen clouds at large distances from the galactic center, could be in the form of a Bose-Einstein condensate. To study the condensate we use the non-relativistic Gross-Pitaevskii equation. By introducing the Madelung representation of the wave function, we formulate the dynamics of the system in terms of the continuity equation and of the hydrodynamic Euler equations. Hence dark matter can be described as a non-relativistic, Newtonian Bose-Einstein gravitational condensate gas, whose density and pressure are related by a barotropic equation of state. In the case of a condensate with quartic non-linearity, the equation of state is polytropic with index $n=1$. To test the validity of the model we fit the Newtonian tangential velocity equation of the model with a sample of rotation curves of low surface brightness and dwarf galaxies, respectively. We find a very good agreement between the theoretical rotation curves and the observational data for the low surface brightness galaxies. The deflection of photons passing through the dark matter halos is also analyzed, and the bending angle of light is computed. The bending angle obtained for the Bose-Einstein condensate is larger than that predicted by standard general relativistic and dark matter models. Therefore the study of the light deflection by galaxies and the gravitational lensing could discriminate between the Bose-Einstein condensate dark matter model and other dark matter models.