March 30, email message from Carolyn Kotlas [kotlas@email.unc.edu]

UNC-CHAPEL HILL'S BLACKBOARD COURSE EXTRACTOR AVAILABLE

The University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill Information Technology Services' Teaching and Learning division has developed a new application and is making it available to the education community. bFree is a course extractor that makes a stand-alone website from any Blackboard course content. While maintaining the organization of the original Blackboard course content, bFree creates a freestanding website or a folder hierarchy.

With bFree, course content authors can:

-- Conveniently retrieve course materials previously available only in Blackboard

-- Produce independent course websites with the same content and structure as the original course embedded in Blackboard

-- Apply a cascading style sheet (CSS) to customize the look and feel of their freestanding site

-- Easily distribute and share course content files with others

To learn more about bFree or to download the program, go to http://its.unc.edu/tl/tli/bFree 

bFree is copyrighted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 2.5 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/2.5/). Under this license's conditions, non-commercial users are free to copy, adapt, distribute, and transmit the work.

Yahoo users get unlimited e-mail storage
Yahoo sign in Times Square, January 2006, in New York. Yahoo announced Tuesday it was giving users of its web-based e-mail service unlimited storage capacity as a tribute to Yahoo Mail's 10th birthday and today's data-rich Internet lifestyle.
PhysOrg, March 28, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94297933.html
 

You Can Get Free Wireless for Your Home and Office

Forwarded on April 2, 2007 by Aaron Konstam [akonstam@sbcglobal.net]

Google is at it again with a new service called TiSP, a free wireless internet system. The catch, you can read and find out. Just install the google toolbar and other things. Find out more,

http://www.google.com/tisp/

http://www.google.com/tisp/install.html

http://www.google.com/tisp/faq.html

Linux support is not there yet, but it is promised.

Those that have dual boot can try it out and hope that it works out.

Bob Jensen's technology glossary is at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/245gloss.htm

Bob Jensen's technology bookmarks are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob4.htm

Mining for Cheap Flights:  Farecast claims to offer cheap tickets based on science, not marketing," by Kate Greene, MIT's Technology Review, March 28, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Biztech/18447/ 

On a flight to his brother's wedding in 2001, Oren Etzioni discovered that the people sitting next to him had bought their tickets later than he did, yet had paid less. For some, this could have been an infuriating revelation, but Etzioni didn't get mad; as a professor of computer science and engineering at Washington University, in Seattle, he got inspired. "I thought, 'Why don't I collect historical data [on airfares] and use that to anticipate ticket prices?'" In 2003, Etzioni and colleagues published a paper showing that they could predict the fluctuation in airline-ticket prices surprisingly well. By sifting through the history of more than 12,000 airfares for nonstop flights from Seattle to Washington, D.C., and from Los Angeles to Boston, the researchers could predict with 62 percent accuracy whether or not those ticket prices would rise or fall in the future. That same year, using the principles behind that research, Etzioni founded Farecast, a website--available to the public in 2006--that advises a visitor whether to buy a given ticket immediately or wait to get a better deal. Earlier this month, the company added a new feature to the site that unearths deals for weekend escapes, family getaways, last-minute excursions, and other types of trips. Anyone who has made travel arrangements online knows how quickly airfares can change. Etzioni's early research revealed that a ticket price can change as many as seven times a day, depending on the prices of similar flights from competing companies and on such factors as seat availability on the flight in question. The capricious and opaque nature of airfare has inspired other entrepreneurs to start companies that try to help consumers make the most economical decisions. FareCompare tracks airline sales and promotions that fall in line with a user's preset constraints. Another site, called Kayak, displays the best ticket prices found by Kayak users over a two-day period. Farecast differs from these companies by using sophisticated algorithms to mine enormous data sets of more than 175 billion airfares from around the country. This data is collected by Boston-based ITA Software, a company that works with airlines and travel sites such as Hotwire and Orbitz to help with pricing and reservations. Farecast's data-mining algorithms look for trends in the prices and help determine the impact on prices of variables such as seasonal changes, conventions, and college graduations. But humans also play an important role in analysis, explains Etzioni. Farecast's engineers look at the data using specialized visualization software--collections of plots and graphs that can show multiple variables and changes over time. "Our variables can be quite complex, and we use the human eye and highly evolved visual cortex to discern patterns," Etzioni says. Sometimes, a trend or anomalous variable will be subtle and missed by a computer, he says, but when displayed graphically, it can be caught by a person. Continued in article

Bob Jensen's travel helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob3.htm#Travel

Question
What are tagged social bookmarks and why are they better than today's email sharing of links?.

Video answer on a link forwarded by Richard Campbell --- http://www.projectstreamer.com/users/kanter/withntenlogo/withntenlogo.html

Of course social bookmarking does not solve the huge problem of broken links
Note the links below for swapping used books

March 26, 2007 message from Tina Bungert [tina.bungert@hitflip.de]

Dear Mr. Jensen,

I recently found your bookmarks being a great resource looking for new or important links. Especially the Miscellaneous Helpers Section has been very helpful.

Today I would like to notify you about some broken links I found in this section and also would like to recommend our web service as a possible addition to this section.

The broken links that appeared were the following Miscellaneous Publishers respectively
<http://dict.leo.org/ende?lp=ende&p=8Bnk.&search=respectively>
TV Television <http://cnnplus.cnn.com/games/now.ear.this/index.html>

CNN Plus: Games! (Shockwave) :

<http://cnnplus.cnn.com/games/now.ear.this/index.html>
http://cnnplus.cnn.com/games/now.ear.this/index.html 

 Addison-Wesley: <http://www.awl.com/corp/>  http://www.awl.com/corp/ 

http://www2.awl.com/cseng/index.html

HuskyLabs:

<http://www.butterfly.net/husky/index.html>http://www.butterfly.net/husky/index.html

Besides I would like to introduce you to our service and web site Hitflip that might be an interesting addition to your links for books and education. Hitflip is a community to swap used books and other original media. It is therefore an easy and cheap alternative to the existing online book stores. You can find hitflip at http://www.hitflip.de  .
The just recently launched English version can be found at http://www.hitflip.co.uk .

We would appreciate it if you can consider adding our web service to your bookmarks. If you have any questions regarding Hitflip please feel free to contact me.

Best regards

Tina Bungert
Tel.: +49 (0) 221 - 27 24 07-13
Fax: +49 (0) 221 - 27 24 07-22
eMail: tina.bungert@hitflip.de

Xing: www.xing.com/profile/Tina_Bungert

March 27, reply from Bob Jensen

Hi Tina,

It may take several days, but I will soon post your link to Hitflip at the following two sites:

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#Books

Bob Jensen

"Dell gives the go-ahead for Linux," BBC News, March 29, 2007 --- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6506027.stm

Computer giant Dell will start to sell PCs preinstalled with open source Linux operating systems, the firm has said. The second largest computer maker in the world said it had chosen to offer Linux in response to customer demand.

Earlier this year, 100,000 people took part in a Dell survey. More than 70% of respondents said they would use Linux.

Dell has not released details of which versions of Linux it will use or which computers it will run on, but promised an update in the coming weeks.

"Dell has heard you," said a statement on the firm's website. "Our first step in this effort is offering Linux preinstalled on select desktop and notebook systems."

Currently the company only offers Microsoft Windows on its computers, but sells servers running Linux.

Members of the Linux community welcomed the move.

Continued in article

Damodaran Online: A Great Sharing Site from a Finance Professor at New York University and Textbook Writer --- http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Eadamodar/

This site has great sections on corporate finance, investments, valuation, spreadsheets, research, etc. For example, take a look at the helpers on valuation --- http://pages.stern.nyu.edu/%7Eadamodar/

You can pick the valuation approach that you would like to go to, to see illustrations, solutions and other supporting material.

Or you can pick the material that you are interested in.

Also see:

Jim Mahar's finance sharing site (especially note his great blog link) --- http://financeprofessor.com/

Financial Rounds from an anonymous finance professor --- http://financialrounds.blogspot.com/

Bob Jensen's threads on valuation are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/roi.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on fair value controversies in accounting are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen//theory/00overview/theory01.htm#FairValue

Bob Jensen's finance and investment helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/Bookbob1.htm

I wonder if the pandas prefer "black and white" media?
"Zoo Hopes Porn Will Help Pandas Mate," PhysOrg, March 27, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94225008.html

Authorities at the Chiang Mai Zoo in northern Thailand hope the images will encourage him to mate with his partner, Lin Hui, and serve as an instructional lesson in how to do it right.

So far, it's been a tough sell, the zoo's chief veterinarian, Kanika Limtrakul, said Tuesday.

"Chuang Chuang seems indifferent to the videos; he has no reaction to what he's seeing on TV," Kanika said. "But, we're continuing to show him videos and hoping they will leave an impression."

Pandas are threatened by loss of habitat, poaching and a low reproduction rate. Females in the wild normally have a cub once every two to three years.

There are as few as 1,600 giant pandas in the mountain forests of central China, according to the zoo. An additional 120 are in Chinese breeding facilities and zoos, and about 20 live in zoos outside China.

What works for pandas may work for humans

Behind every wave of disgust that comes your way may be a biological imperative much greater than the urge to lose your lunch, according to a growing body of research by a UCLA anthropologist.
"Ewwwww! UCLA anthropologist studies evolution's disgusting side," PhysOrg, March 28, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94296841.html

"The reason we experience disgust today is that the response protected our ancestors," said Dan Fessler, associate professor of anthropology and director of UCLA’s Center for Behavior, Evolution, and Culture. "The emotion allowed our ancestors to survive long enough to produce offspring, who in turn passed the same sensitivities on to us."

Across a series of subtle and ingenious studies, Fessler has managed to illuminate the ways in which disgust may have served to protect our ancestors during such biologically precarious situations as pregnancy and to maximize the likelihood of our forbears’ reproduction when they were at their most fertile.

Fessler’s research also illustrates how the emotional response that helped our ancestors may not serve us as well today and may actually promote xenophobia, sexual prejudices and a range of other irrational reactions.

"We often respond to today’s world with yesterday’s adaptations," Fessler said. "That’s why, for instance, we’re more afraid of snakes than cars, even though we’re much more likely to die today as a result of an encounter with a car than a reptile."

Fessler will present his findings on Friday, March 30, as part of a three-day conference at UCLA on new research concerning emotions. The event, "Seven Dimensions of Emotion: Integrating Biological, Clinical and Cultural Perspectives on Fear, Disgust, Love, Grief, Anger, Empathy and Hope," which runs Friday through Sunday, March 30–April 1, will include 40 scholars from around the world. The conference will be held in Korn Hall at the UCLA Anderson School of Management and is sponsored by UCLA and the Foundation for Psychocultural Research.

Fessler’s research helps shed light on why some body parts universally draw more "ewwwws" than others. In one study, Fessler asked 400 participants to imagine 20 different transplant operations and to rate them according to the level of disgust they elicited.

Half of the transplant organs were appendages — like tongues and genitalia — that routinely come into direct contact with the outside world and are therefore more susceptible to infection and damage. The other half were located inside the body — like the spleen and heart — and much less under an individual’s control, especially with regard to protecting from infection and damage.

"If disgust protected our ancestors from pathogens, the emotion would have had the most utility in protecting parts of the body that interact most with the environment such as appendages," Fessler said. "Our ancestors would not have enjoyed the same advantage from disgust reactions with regard to protecting internal organs. So they benefited from focusing disgust reactions on the parts of the body that are on the outside and interface with the world around us."

True to Fessler’s theory, participants considered the idea of transplanting appendages more disgusting than the idea of transplanting internal organs. Tongues, genitalia and anuses ranked the most disgusting, while hips, kidneys and arteries turned the fewest stomachs.

"The disgust we feel when we consider individual body parts reflects an adaptive goal of avoiding the transfer of pathogens," Fessler said.

The same logic appears to be behind some of the queasiness experienced by women during the first trimester of pregnancy, when an infusion of hormones lowers the immune system to keep it from fighting the "foreign" genetic material taking shape in the womb. Because the consequences of infection are also greatest for the fetus during this period, Fessler reasoned that natural selection may have armed pregnant women with an emotional response that helped compensate for their suppressed immune system.

Continued in article

Do you suppose we could also add CEO emotions to annual reports?
Or maybe this is the dawn of emotional corporate logos!

"The New Face of Emoticons:  Warping photos could help text-based communications become more expressive," by Duncan Graham-Rowe,  MIT's Technology Review, March 27, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Infotech/18438/

Computer scientists at the University of Pittsburgh have developed a way to make e-mails, instant messaging, and texts just a bit more personalized. Their software will allow people to use images of their own faces instead of the more traditional emoticons to communicate their mood. By automatically warping their facial features, people can use a photo to depict any one of a range of different animated emotional expressions, such as happy, sad, angry, or surprised.

All that is needed is a single photo of the person, preferably with a neutral expression, says Xin Li, who developed the system, called Face Alive Icons. "The user can upload the image from their camera phone," he says. Then, by keying in familiar text symbols, such as ":)" for a smile, the user automatically contorts the face to reflect his or her desired expression.

"Already, people use avatars on message boards and in other settings," says Sheryl Brahnam, an assistant professor of computer information systems at MissouriStateUniversity, in Springfield. In many respects, she says, this system bridges the gap between emoticons and avatars.

This is not the first time that someone has tried to use photos in this way, says Li, who now works for Google in New York City. "But the traditional approach is to just send the image itself," he says. "The problem is, the size will be too big, particularly for low-bandwidth applications like PDAs and cell phones." Other approaches involve having to capture a different photo of the person for each unique emoticon, which only further increases the demand for bandwidth.

Li's solution is not to send the picture each time it is used, but to store a profile of the face on the recipient device. This profile consists of a decomposition of the original photo. Every time the user sends an emoticon, the face is reassembled on the recipient's device in such a way as to show the appropriate expression.

To make this possible, Li first created generic computational models for each type of expression. Working with Shi-Kuo Chang, a professor of computer science at the University of Pittsburgh, and Chieh-Chih Chang, at the Industrial Technology Research Institute, in Taiwan, Li created the models using a learning program to analyze the expressions in a database of facial expressions and extract features unique to each expression. Each of the resulting models acts like a set of instructions telling the program how to warp, or animate, a neutral face into each particular expression.

Once the photo has been captured, the user has to click on key areas to help the program identify key features of the face. The program can then decompose the image into sets of features that change and those that will remain unaffected by the warping process.

Finally, these "pieces" make up a profile that, although it has to be sent to each of a user's contacts, must only be sent once. This approach means that an unlimited number of expressions can be added to the system without increasing the file size or requiring any additional pictures to be taken.

Li says that preliminary evaluations carried out on eight subjects viewing hundreds of faces showed that the warped expressions are easily identifiable. The results of the evaluations are published in the current edition of the Journal of Visual Languages and Computing.

Continued in article

Software that recognizes faces on your photographs
(after some training as to what face goes with what person)

"Filing Photos by Face," by Leslie Walker, The Washington Post, February 8, 2006 --- http://snipurl.com/WPFeb8

One of the best afternoon demos came from Riya, a company using face recognition and automated text-reading techniques to classify people's digital photo collections.

Its software uses image-analysis to index or "tag" photos on the fly. It tries to recognize faces and automatically label them as, say, your Uncle Rupert. Riya's software also reads text inside images, like any signs or words that appear on computer screens.

Riya chief executive Munjal Shah showed the audience how people can manually train Riya to recognize faces by uploading photos of that person to Riya's Web site and providing their name.

In the demo, Riya scanned his laptop to search for faces matching ones he'd uploaded of his son -- it even found one photo of Shah in which a framed photo of his son hung behind him on the wall.

Riya's service resides on the Web, which I gather means you have to upload your photos to a Flickr-like Web site in order for it to analyze your photos. The service is in a private testing now, but will open for public testing in two weeks, Shah said.

The Ria home page is at http://www.riya.com/

Jensen Comment
This reminds me of main frame computer software that I used to use to make Chernoff Faces made from multivariate data having up to 18 variables. Professor Chernoff was a former professor of mine who gave me his main frame computer program. One of the problems was subjectivity in clustering "similar faces." It is possible these days to make real faces rather than cartoon faces from multivariate data. I wonder if Ria software could be adapted to cluster similar faces?
 

You can scroll down this document to see examples of my Chernoff faces.

Bob Jensen's threads on visualization of multivariate data are at
http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/352wpvisual/000datavisualization.htm 

BP's Bet on Butanol (not Ethanol)
Forget ethanol: it's hard to transport and gives bad mileage per gallon. Another alcohol, butanol, is a much better renewable fuel, says the president of BP Biofuels.
Kevin Bullis, MIT's Technology Review, March 27, 2007 --- http://www.technologyreview.com/Energy/18443/

"Libraries at the Cutting Edge," by Pamela Snelson, Inside Higher Ed, March 29, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/views/2007/03/29/snelson

Strategies for today — and tomorrow

A quick look at two familiar Web sites will demonstrate that academic libraries now play a vital role in how students and faculty find and gather information via the Web as well as in the stacks. Both Johns Hopkins University and the University of Maryland offer a full range of online library services, from catalogs (formerly known as “card catalogs") to research help to DRUM — the Digital Repository at Maryland, which provides a permanent online address for computer files and eliminates the need to attach them to e-mail messages. The Julia Rogers Library at Goucher College subscribes to services that provide students with access to over 22,000 online titles, while Baltimore City Community College’s library gives students technology support and online access to research materials.

The volume of information available on the Web has led some students to believe that if a resource can’t be found online, it doesn’t exist. This mistaken idea, coupled with concerns about the reliability of information on the Web and the potential for plagiarism from online sources, has led faculty and librarians to team up to teach information literacy skills.

Nationwide, higher education institutions have developed information literacy instruction to help students understand how to find and evaluate information online and in print — more bang for their tuition buck! Many colleges and universities even provide “personal trainers,” so students can work with librarians one on one, or with a group project team to brush up on the best databases for a particular class or assignment.

Technology training helps students succeed in class, but also prepares them for future careers. Information literacy is critical to a competitive work force, and information-literate people know how to find accurate, useful information that will help them through family, medical or job crises.

Partners in education

College and research librarians are partners with professors in educating students, offering new perspectives, developing curriculums and facilitating research projects, and they lead the library world in digitization efforts and online reference.

Our nation’s college and research libraries are constantly finding new ways to better serve students, faculty and staff, online and in person. More than 90 percent of college students now visit the online library from home.

Yet use of the nation’s physical academic libraries and their collections grew from more than 880 million library visits in 2002 to more than a billion in 2004, according to the most recent data from the National Center on Education Statistics — an increase of more than 14 percent. Circulation of library materials in the same period was up by 6 percent, to more than 200 million items.

In short, if the classroom is the first stop in the learning experience, the library is the next, and great libraries continue to be a key to a great education.

Pamela Snelson is the president of the Association of College and Research Libraries, a division of the American Library Association, and college librarian at Franklin & Marshall College in Lancaster, Pa. The ACRL is holding its National Conference in Baltimore March 29-April 1.

Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

How do scholars search for academic references?

Scholarpedia --- http://www.scholarpedia.org/article/Main_Page

PLoS One --- http://www.plosone.org/home.action

Google Scholar --- http://scholar.google.com/
Not to be confused with Google Advanced Search which does not cover many scholarly articles --- http://www.google.com/advanced_search?hl=en

Microsoft's Windows "Live Search" or  "Academic Search" ---
http://search.live.com/results.aspx?scope=academic&q=

Amazon's A9 --- http://a9.com/-/search/advSearch 

Beginning October 23, 2003, Amazon.com offers a text search of entire contents of over 120,000 books (over 10 million pages) ---
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/browse/-/10197021/ref%3Dsib%5Fmerch%5Fgw/104-3984945-7813514 

How It Works --- http://snurl.com/BookSearch 
A significant extension of our groundbreaking Look Inside the Book feature, Search Inside the Book allows you to search millions of pages to find exactly the book you want to buy. Now instead of just displaying books whose title, author, or publisher-provided keywords that match your search terms, your search results will surface titles based on every word inside the book. Using Search Inside the Book is as simple as running an Amazon.com search. 

Answers.com --- http://www.answers.com/

Wikipedia (heavily used by scholars in spite of authenticity risks)--- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%s

Other Scholarly Search Engines (CrossRef and Scirus.) --- http://privateschool.about.com/b/a/116956.htm
Also see http://www.library.uq.edu.au/internet/scholsearch.html

Scholarly search tools CiteBase Citebase is a trial service that allows researchers to search across free, full-text research literature ePrint archives, with results ranked according to criteria such as citation impact.   Gateway to ePrints A listing of ePrint servers and open access repository search tools.   Google Scholar A search tool for scholarly citations and abstracts, many of which link to full text articles, book chapters, working papers and other forms of scholarly publishing. It includes content from many open access journals and repositories.   OAIster A search tool for cross-archive searching of more than 540 separate digital collections and archives, including arXiv, CiteBase, ANU ePrints, ePrintsUQ, and others.   Scirus A search tool for online journals and Web sites in the sciences.

UCLA Library Scholarly Search Helpers --- http://www2.library.ucla.edu/googlescholar/searchengines.cfm

University of Kansas Scholarly Search Helpers --- http://www.lib.ku.edu/technology/searchengines/scholar.shtml

Social scientists and business scholars often use SSRN (not free) --- http://www.ssrn.com/

If you have access to a college library, most colleges generally have paid subscriptions to enormous scholarly literature databases that are not available freely online. Serious scholars obtain access to these vast literature databases.

Librarian's Index to the Internet --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#Librarian'sIndex

Searching the Deep Web --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm#DeepWeb

Open Access Shared Scholarship --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

University Channel (video and audio) ---  http://uc.princeton.edu/main/

Bob Jensen's links to electronic literature, including free online textbooks and other learning materials --- http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/ElectronicLiterature.htm

Bob Jensen's search helpers are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/searchh.htm

Bob Jensen's threads on open sharing are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/000aaa/updateee.htm#OKI

"The Harlem (School) Success Lottery," The Wall Street Journal,  March 28, 2007; Page A16 --- Click Here

The public charter school, which opened last year, is holding an admissions lottery at 6 p.m. to fill 105 kindergarten slots for next year from the 500 or so families who've applied for them. Harlem Success was founded by Eva Moskowitz, a reform-minded Democrat who formerly served as a New York City Councilwoman specializing in education issues.

In an interview this week, Ms. Moskowitz described the naked emotions on display at such lotteries, which are a common method for deciding who gets to attend these independently run public schools. "I thought I knew a lot about school choice and ed reform," she said. "But until I'd done the lottery last year I didn't understand the desperation.

"Unlike their middle-class counterparts who can use real estate to determine where their kid is going to school, my exclusively black and Latino parents' only option is to go through this process. And literally, people are praying and shaking and hoping to get into a school."

As for Mr. Silver, the Democratic lawmaker is single-handedly blocking a bipartisan attempt by Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer and the GOP-controlled state Senate to lift New York's current cap of 100 charter schools, which was reached last year. Mr. Silver is beholden to the teachers unions, who oppose charters because they operate outside of union work rules.

Ms. Moskowitz is baffled by his intransigence. "In his bill, he's proposed further lowering significantly the funding for these schools," she said. "I'm already educating these kids at 75 cents on the dollar, compared to a traditional public school. And we're getting results. Sixty-six percent of our first-graders are reading at a second-grade level. We've been open 126 days."

 

"The Tort Tax," by Lawrence J. McQuillan and Hovannes Abramyan, The Wall Street Journal, March 27, 2007; Page A18 --- Click Here

Economists have long understood that America's tort system acts as a serious drag on our nation's economy. Although many excellent studies have been conducted, no single work has fully captured the true total costs, both static and dynamic, of excessive litigation.

The good news: We now have some reliable figures. The bad news: The costs are far higher than anyone imagined.

Based on our estimates, and applying the best available scholarly research, we believe America's tort system imposes a total cost on the U.S. economy of $865 billion per year. This constitutes an annual "tort tax" of $9,827 on a family of four. It is equivalent to the total annual output of all six New England states, or the yearly sales of the entire U.S. restaurant industry.

Continued in article

Do We Need More Lawyers?
Sarah Rosser, Inside Higher Ed, March 27, 2007 --- http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2007/03/27/irvine

Dell's Internal Accounting Probe Uncovers Evidence of Misconduct
Annual Report Is Delayed, Restatements May Follow; Problems Aren't Specified. The computer maker said the investigation also found a number of accounting errors and deficiencies in the financial-control "environment." Dell stressed that its investigation isn't complete, however, and said it will delay filing its annual 10-K report with the Securities and Exchange Commission, originally due April 3, past an extension date of April 18.
Christopher Lawton, The Wall Street Journal, March 30, 2007; Page A3 --- Click Here

Bob Jensen's fraud updates are at http://www.trinity.edu/rjensen/FraudUpdates.htm

"Finding the Right Job for Your Product", by Clayton M. Christensen, Scott D. Anthony, Gerald Berstell & Denise Nitterhouse. (MIT Sloan Management Review, Spring 2007, Vol 48, No. 3, Reprint 48301) It is available at
http://sloanreview.mit.edu/smr/issue/2007/spring/01/48301W.pdf (free for now, I don't know for how long).

Updates from WebMD --- http://www.webmd.com/

March 27, 2007 

• Low-Fat Diet Rated Healthy
• Cocoa Boosts Heart Health
• Autistic Kids May Read Eyes
• Crestor Halts Artery Thickening
• An Absorbable Heart Stent

March 28, 2007

• More Heart Disease in Cities?
• Ads Mar Thin Women's Body Image
• Diabetes, Parkinson's Linked
• Do Antidepressants Help Bipolar?
• Osteoporosis in the Genes?

March 30, 2007

• Tai Chi May Boost Immune System
• Fatty Acid May Protect Heart
• Smokers May Take More Sick Days
• Kids See Numerous Junk Food Ads
• Emotions May Up Arthritis Pain

April 2, 2007

• IBS Drug Zelnorm Withdrawn
• Tai Chi May Boost Immune System
• Fatty Acid May Protect Heart
• Smokers May Take More Sick Days
• Kids See Numerous Junk Food Ads

Researchers Identify Connection between Sleep Disruption and Increased Cardiovascular Risk
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine have discovered that sleep disruption in seemingly healthy subjects is associated with increased clotting of the blood, which has previously been shown to predict cardiovascular disease. The findings were published in the March issue of CHEST, the official publication of the American College of Chest Physicians.
PhysOrg, March 30, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94485529.html

"Diabetes Linked to Parkinson’s Disease:  Type 2 Diabetes May Raise Parkinson’s Disease Risk, by Jennifer Warner WebMD, March 29, 2007 --- http://diabetes.webmd.com/news/20070328/diabetes-linked-to-parkinsons-disease

Having diabetes may increase the risk of developing Parkinson’s disease.

Finnish researchers have found that people with type 2 diabetes were more than 80% more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease than others.

It’s the first major prospective study to suggest that diabetes may be a risk factor of Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disease that causes muscle rigidity and tremors.

Researchers say the exact nature of the relationship between diabetes and Parkinson’s disease is unclear, but several lifestyle factors may be associated with both disorders, such as being overweight, cigarette smoking, and lack of physical activity.

“It could be hypothesized that diabetes might increase the risk of Parkinson’s disease partly through excess body weight,” writes researcher Gang Hu, MD, PhD, of the National Public Health Institute in Finland, and colleagues in Diabetes Care.

Diabetes Boosts Parkinson’s Risk In the study, researchers followed a group of more than 50,000 men and women in Finland over a period of 18 years. During that time, 324 men and 309 women developed Parkinson’s disease.

Researchers found people who had type 2 diabetes at the start of the study were much more likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.

Overall, after adjusting for other possible risk factors for Parkinson’s disease, men and women with type 2 diabetes were 83% more likely to develop Parkinson’s disease than those without it.

Although common lifestyle factors may play a role, researchers say more study is needed to fully understand the relationship between diabetes and Parkinson’s disease.

SOURCES: Hu, G., Diabetes Care, April 2007; vol 30: pp 842-847. News release, American Diabetes Association.

Why Europeans Often Shop for Prescription Drugs in the United States
Since European drug regulators do not allow new medicines to reach patients until government negotiators have extracted a favorable price from sponsors, cancer drugs are often available in the U.S. months if not years earlier. In 2003, when 31 new drugs were launched worldwide, about 60% were available here months before Europe. Between 1995 and 2001 the 15 cancer drugs approved in Europe and the U.S. took 468 days to reach patients in Europe versus 273 days in America. Herceptin was tangled up in a 550-day approval process as the Europeans fought for a lower price, while the U.S. approved it in fewer than 120 days.
"Breast-Cancer Breakthroughs," by Scott Gottlieb, The Wall Street Journal, March 26, 2007; Page A15

Gender linked to development of skin cancer
Inherent gender differences – instead of more sun exposure – may be one reason why men are three times more likely than women to develop certain kinds of skin cancer, say researchers at Ohio State University Medical Center.
PhysOrg, April 1, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94627329.html

"When Brain Shuts Down, Legs Kick into Overdrive," by David Kestenbaum, NPR, March 29, 2007 --- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=7815991 

It's maddening to have a feeling that you can't explain. When I was a kid on long car rides, I would sometimes experience a strange sensation in my legs. I felt like I had to move my legs. When I did, the feeling would go away for a few seconds but then come back.

It struck at the worst times — my legs kept me awake when I was tired and needed to sleep. As an adult, the feeling periodically comes back to haunt me, during a slow movie, on airplane rides, or having a late drink at a bar, or just around bedtime. Always when my brain is half-disengaged.

I had no idea what this was until a few years ago when I found a Web site about something called Restless Legs Syndrome (RLS). I had that eureka moment people must have when they find out that what ails them has a name. "Yes!" I thought, "THIS IS WHAT I HAVE!"

My case is fairly tame. People with severe forms of Restless Legs Syndrome are sleep deprived and miserable.

Jumping Legs

The number of people affected by RLS is somewhat uncertain, but one large study found that almost 8 percent of people in the United States have experienced restless legs sometime in the past year. Three percent are bothered by it two or more times a week. And "bothered" probably isn't the right word — the study categorizes these people as experiencing "moderate or extreme distress."

People with RLS sometimes describe a "tugging" or "creepy crawly" sensation. Until recently, an average physician was unlikely to know what it was.

There are some early references to what appears to be RLS in the scientific literature. An English physician named Thomas Willis wrote a description in 1683:

"Wherefore to some, when being in bed they betake themselves to sleep, presently in the arms and legs. Leaping and contractions of the tendons and so great a restlessness and tossing of the members ensure, that the diseased are no more able to sleep, than if they were in the place of the greatest torture!"

But that was it, for about 250 years. Then, in the 1940s, a researcher made a more detailed study, and more work has been done in the past decades.

Today, there is a Restless Legs Syndrome Foundation, dedicated to getting the word out and encouraging research. Bob Waterman served as chairman of the foundation, and says RLS affects him almost every night. He hid his condition for years because, he says, it just seemed strange.

"I just get very fidgety," he says "I make people nervous just to look at me."

One of the foundation's goals is education — and Waterman speaks freely about his condition now.

"One of the funniest things is to visit one of our board meetings," Waterman says. "You see people lying around with their legs up against the wall, or walking around. It's very amusing. You really wonder how we get any work done."

Growing Body of Research

A small community of scientists now study Restless Legs Syndrome. David Rye is a neurologist at Emory University and director of the Emory Healthcare Program in Sleep. Rye also has the disorder and has used himself as a guinea pig. At one point, he attached a special device to his leg to measure how often he kicked while he was asleep. Rye says there is good evidence the condition has a strong genetic component.

Continued in article

Nutrients might prevent hearing loss, new animal study suggests
Soldiers exposed to the deafening din of battle have little defense against hearing loss, and are often reluctant to wear protective gear like ear plugs that could make them less able to react to danger. But what if a nutritious daily "candy bar" could prevent much of that potential damage to their hearing?
"Nutrients might prevent hearing loss, new animal study suggests," PhysOrg, March 28, 2007 --- http://physorg.com/news94296917.html

"5 Signs of An Unhealthy Workaholic," AccountingWeb, March 23, 2007 ---
http://www.accountingweb.com/cgi-bin/item.cgi?id=103328

Bryan Robinson, a psychotherapist in Asheville, NC, and author of “Working Ourselves to Death: the High Costs of Workaholism and the Rewards of Recovery,” identifies the following five common traits that workaholics exhibit when their absorption with their jobs has begun to take over their lives. Some individuals may only have one of two of the traits but exhibit them to a very great degree. 1. Preoccupation with work Workaholics may not be able to leave their work in the office and find that they can’t stop talking about work in social settings. Irv Flax, a director of Gorfine Schiller & Garcyn PA, a regional accounting firm, says that he finds himself taking about taxes, business and financing at social events. 2. Discomfort in delegating Most workaholics want control and tend to think that only they can handle a task properly, says Gayle Porter, associate professor of management at Rutgers University in New Jersey. 3. Neglect other aspects of their life Flax says that he is coming home to dinner more often because his daughter asked him to, but he then returns to the office. His wife says that she see his work as the “other woman.” 4. Merge other parts of their lives into work Workaholics may try to create businesses based on their hobbies. Robinson says he turned personal relationships into business projects. 5. “Sneaking” work Like other addicts, Porter says, workaholics often try to hide their addiction. “If you find you have to lie to people about where you are or what you are doing, there is a problem,” she says. Specialists recommend that hard-working and dedicated individuals take the following practical steps to make sure that their enthusiasm for their jobs is not threatening their health and relationships, careerjournal.com says:   Set boundaries. After work hours, leave your BlackBerry in the car or turn it off. If you must check your work email, limit your log-ins. Eat lunch away from your desk, and don't bring work on vacation.   Reframe your identity. At social events, practice introducing yourself and conversing without talking about your job or work.   Track your habits. Keep a journal of daily activities, work and personal. Evaluate it once a month, looking for imbalances. Identify areas of your life you may need to dedicate more time