Five Tips to Get Ready for the New Semester | Corner of College ...

Kick off the spring semester by getting organized and planning ahead. Take a look at the advice a few World Campus staff members had to share on how to make sure you?re setup at the start of the semester.

1. Use ANGEL for all course communication.

Joann Dornich

Joann Dornich, coordinator, Faculty and Student Affairs for World Campus says: ?To ensure delivery of your emails to instructors, be sure to use the ANGEL email utility found under the ?Communicate? tab in your courses.

?If you initiate emails to your instructor from a personal account or if you reply to a course email message from outside ANGEL, it is possible that your message (which is very important to you!) may not be delivered. This can be the cause of troublesome issues, such as you thinking your instructor is ignoring you, or your message not being recorded for you or your instructor?s reference.?

2. Complete your registration.

Jan Mellon, registrar for World Campus and Continuing Education, says: ?Scheduling your courses is only the first step in registration for the semester; after you schedule courses, you must also pay your tuition bill or confirm that you?ll be using financial aid. If you do not complete your registration, you may be cancelled from your courses and financial and other implications may apply. You can schedule courses and pay your bill in eLion. See our step-by-step instructions for more information.?

3. Use your Penn State email when communicating with staff outside of courses.

Matt Rupert

Matt Rupert, academic adviser for World Campus, says:??When you log into your Penn State account, you confirm your identity with the University allowing us to share confidential academic information. Your confidentiality is important to us and to you, so the best way to preserve your privacy is to always use your Penn State e-mail account when communicating with faculty, staff, and other students at Penn State.?

4. Install all required software.

Steve Welshonse

Steve Welshonse, manager of the World Campus and Continuing Education HelpDesk, says: ?It is important to know early in the semester the software and system requirements for each of your courses before you need to use them for an exam, project, or assignment. The best way to ensure you have done this is by reading over course welcome letters and syllabi very carefully and thoroughly. If you have a technical problem during an exam or quiz, please contact the HelpDesk immediately for assistance.?

5. File your FAFSA.

Sarah Zipf

Sarah Zipf, manager of the Penn State World Campus and Continuing Education Office of Student Aid, says:??Submission of the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is the only application needed for most financial aid at Penn State World Campus. The FAFSA for the 2013-2014 academic year is now available. You may complete and submit your FAFSA online at any time. For maximum consideration Penn State recommends filing your FAFSA before March 1 for new students and April 15 for returning students. Penn States? school code is 003329. Don?t forget to submit your scholarship application, too!?

About Gichuhi Kamau

As a member of the World Campus student communications team, I contribute to the Corner of College and Allen blog, and assist with sending out communications to students. As an alum coming from a family of Penn Staters, I'm happy to share the history and traditions of the University with World Campus students. Read more about me.

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Source: http://studentblog.worldcampus.psu.edu/index.php/2013/01/five-tips-to-get-ready-for-the-new-semester/

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Video: Dividend Stocks: Game Over?

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Source: http://video.msnbc.msn.com/cnbc/50346456/

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Greensboro Performing Arts Center task force explores financing ...

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GREENSBORO -- The task force for the Greensboro Performing Arts Center is just weeks away from answering some final questions for the city about how to finance the project.

"The plan has been for us to create, with GPAC, a source of dedicated revenue to shore up the infrastructure for all of the arts communities," said Ross Harris, a member of the task force.

The city's art district has seen its ups and downs over the years. But, hundreds of financial gifts in the last few weeks are pulling Triad Stage out from under a mountain of debt.

"I think it just shows how this community can be so very generous when they see a need and see a need that's very, very important," said Harris.

The community's generosity will likely be needed to bring the center to the city, as well.

"I think that there is a need. We currently have one, War Memorial Auditorium, but it's becoming defunct," said Zach Matheny of Greensboro's City Council.

The task force has already answered the questions about what the center will look like and where it will be located. As of now, the plan is to place it on the old YWCA property. Now, the group must answer major questions like who will operate it, and how will it be funded.

Harris explained, so far, private donors have committed about $15 million to pay for the project. She said $20 million could come from the city through user fees and then $20 million could end up on a November ballot.

"My hope is we could figure out another way to fund it. We've got about six months to figure that out in the sense of maybe some state dollars, maybe some federal dollars," said Matheny.

The task force will present its financing plans to the city on Jan. 15.

"We're looking at every option that we can think of and the good news is there's a lot of great options out there, so we feel the project is still very viable," said Harris.

Source: http://triad.news14.com/content/top_stories/680076/greensboro-performing-arts-center-task-force-explores-financing-options

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A Commissioner Everyone Can Hate

NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attends SiriusXM Town Hall at SIRIUS XM Studio on October 22, 2012 in New York City.

Photo by Robin Marchant/Getty Images

For the second year in a row, Slate and Deadspin are teaming up for a season-long NFL roundtable. Check back here each week as a rotating cast of football watchers discusses the weekend's key plays, coaching decisions, and traumatic brain injuries. And?click here to play the latest episode of?Slate?s sports podcast Hang Up and Listen.

Cowboys-Redskins was the biggest matchup of the year, a win-or-go-home game for two division rivals. It turned out to be the?most-watched regular-season sporting event in 15 years.?But one familiar face was missing from the FedEx Field suites: commissioner Roger Goodell, who found something else to do Sunday night. Maybe he was busy. Or maybe he knew he wasn't exactly welcome at a game featuring two of the teams he penalized?to the tune of tens of millions of dollars?for the crime of not colluding to hold down player salaries.

A brief recap, which is easy to do because none of these facts are in dispute. 2010 was the last year of the old CBA, and as such there was no salary cap in place. But the owners got together and agreed that no one would spend more than $123 million?in other words, that they would keep payrolls down with a gentlemen's agreement. This was outright collusion, and Giants owner John Mara said it??came up several times in our meetings.?

Dan Snyder and Jerry Jones didn't listen, choosing to ignore the rule that didn't exist. They did what any team facing an uncapped year ought to do?they staggered their contracts and signing bonuses to pile up in 2010, to save themselves cap space in future seasons.?Every?team did this, and four exceeded the secret $123 million cap. But the Redskins and Cowboys did it so egregiously, the other owners decided to come down hard on them for not honoring the conspiracy.?Washington was docked $36 million and Dallas $10 million in future cap space,?to be forfeited in 2012 and 2013.

To make this palatable to the players, who after all were the victims of a backroom deal to deny them fair market value, the NFL agreed to distribute the cap space to the other teams. The NFLPA agreed, as part of signing the new collective bargaining agreement last year, to forego litigation on the matter.?NFL owners voted unanimously?to levy penalties against two of their highest-spending colleagues. Snyder's and Jones' appeal?was thrown out by the NFL's rubber-stamp arbitrator. A?last-second, hail-mary NFLPA lawsuit followed.

Washington and Dallas came into this season at a competitive disadvantage to every other team?the Redskins' handicap nearly four times as large as the Cowboys'?but it didn't seem to matter. There, in the last game of the regular season, were the two franchises that had refused to march in lockstep, fighting for the division. With the NFL's secretive and complex contracts, it's nearly impossible to tell how hamstrung they really were by the penalties. Or even, intriguingly, if loading up their cap hits in 2010 allowed them more flexibility in 2012, even with the forfeited money. For example, Pro Bowl special teamer Lorenzo Alexander's front-loaded contract carries a cap hit of just $700,000 for Washington this year.

This division title might also have been impossible without the rookie wage scale, a major victory won by the league in the last CBA. The Rams have been crippled by Sam Bradford's $78 million deal, while the Redskins have Robert Griffin III for four years and $21 million, plus a team option for a fifth. This sort of added flexibility is what Goodell and the owners wanted, and now they have to watch it benefit a team they tried to straitjacket.

Don't feel too bad for the commissioner. Early this morning, less than 12 hours after two rogue teams embarrassed Goodell by playing for the NFC East, a federal judge in Minnesota issued a ruling.?The NFLPA's collusion lawsuit against the league was tossed out, with usually pro-player judge David Doty agreeing that the union had forfeited its right to sue under the collective bargaining agreement. The Redskins may have made the playoffs, but Roger Goodell still won the Collusion Bowl.

That was the season in??competitive balance,??the catch-all invoked anytime the commissioner wants to make an executive decision. But this year, even that has taken a backseat to "player safety," an oxymoronic concept that threatens to be the NFL's single biggest source of bad PR. So it was very poor timing for the New Orleans Saints when?a disgruntled former employee approached the league with a story: The defense had run an organized bounty ring, in which opposing players were specifically targeted and the Saint making the injurious blow would get paid if the player was carted off.

Nearly everything in that last sentence turned out to be false or unsupported, but that didn't bother the commissioner. Suspensions, fines, docked draft picks all around. And when an appeals panel ruled that?Goodell had overstepped his own authority?in handing out suspensions, he simply nodded, smiled, and?suspended them again.

That these suspensions were eventually thrown out ("the NFL's decision ... certainly raises significant issues regarding inconsistent treatment,"?wrote former commissioner Paul Tagliabue) didn't particularly matter. The damage had long been done. The Saints lost their coach for a full season, and their interim coach for six weeks. They lost their GM and some draft picks and followed up a 13-3 season by going 7-9. The Rams lost their defensive coordinator. Anthony Hargrove spent the year as a free agent, with teams scared off by the lengthy suspension hanging over his head.

There wasn't a team untouched by Goodell's heavy hand in 2012. The senseless referee lockout, the commissioner?s ideological war, rendered three full weeks of the NFL season suspect, with real consequences. If?a banker who flunked out of college ref camp?hadn't signaled touchdown when?there wasn't a touchdown, the Packers would be enjoying their playoff bye week right now. All year, Goodell sowed chaos in the name of protecting the league from chaos. It's a testament to the NFL's dominance that it's able to survive its own boss.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=c74415f369c24801ec49b606e16322f7

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Interview: Ruth Lawson chats to Maps Are Fiction - Music & Gigs ...

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Source: http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/entertainment-in-newcastle/music/2013/01/02/interview-ruth-lawson-chats-to-maps-are-fiction-72703-32532158/

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While in womb, babies begin learning language from their mothers

Public release date: 2-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Molly McElroy
mollywmc@uw.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.

Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and at birth can demonstrate what they've heard.

"The mother has first dibs on influencing the child's brain," said Patricia Kuhl, co-author and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington. "The vowel sounds in her speech are the loudest units and the fetus locks onto them."

Previously, researchers had shown that newborns are born ready to learn and begin to discriminate between language sounds within the first months of life, but there was no evidence that language learning had occurred in utero.

"This is the first study that shows fetuses learn prenatally about the particular speech sounds of a mother's language," said Christine Moon, lead author and a professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. "This study moves the measurable result of experience with speech sounds from six months of age to before birth."

The results will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Acta Paediatrica.

Forty infants, about 30 hours old and an even mix of girls and boys, were studied in Tacoma and Stockholm, Sweden. While still in the nursery, the babies listened to vowel sounds in their native tongue and in foreign languages.

Their interest in the sounds was captured by how long they sucked on a pacifier that was wired into a computer measuring the babies' reaction to the sounds. Longer or shorter sucking for unfamiliar or familiar sounds is evidence for learning, because it indicates that infants can differentiate between the sounds heard in utero.

In both countries, the babies at birth sucked longer for the foreign language than they did for their native tongue.

The researchers say that infants are the best learners, and discovering how they soak up information could give insights on lifelong learning. "We want to know what magic they put to work in early childhood that adults cannot," Kuhl said. "We can't waste that early curiosity."

###

Hugo Lagercrantz, a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, was another co-author. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Pacific Lutheran University's S. Erving Severtson Forest Foundation Undergraduate Research Program.

For more information, Kuhl at 206-685-1921 or pkkuhl@uw.edu, Moon at 253-535-7471 or mooncm@plu.edu, or Lagercrantz at hugo.lagercrantz@ki.se or +46-8-517 747 00. This news release was adapted from a story provided by Pacific Lutheran University: http://www.plu.edu/news/2012/12/infant-language/#page1

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Public release date: 2-Jan-2013
[ | E-mail | Share ]

Contact: Molly McElroy
mollywmc@uw.edu
206-543-2580
University of Washington

Babies only hours old are able to differentiate between sounds from their native language and a foreign language, scientists have discovered. The study indicates that babies begin absorbing language while still in the womb, earlier than previously thought.

Sensory and brain mechanisms for hearing are developed at 30 weeks of gestational age, and the new study shows that unborn babies are listening to their mothers talk during the last 10 weeks of pregnancy and at birth can demonstrate what they've heard.

"The mother has first dibs on influencing the child's brain," said Patricia Kuhl, co-author and co-director of the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences at the University of Washington. "The vowel sounds in her speech are the loudest units and the fetus locks onto them."

Previously, researchers had shown that newborns are born ready to learn and begin to discriminate between language sounds within the first months of life, but there was no evidence that language learning had occurred in utero.

"This is the first study that shows fetuses learn prenatally about the particular speech sounds of a mother's language," said Christine Moon, lead author and a professor of psychology at Pacific Lutheran University in Tacoma, Wash. "This study moves the measurable result of experience with speech sounds from six months of age to before birth."

The results will be published in an upcoming issue of the journal Acta Paediatrica.

Forty infants, about 30 hours old and an even mix of girls and boys, were studied in Tacoma and Stockholm, Sweden. While still in the nursery, the babies listened to vowel sounds in their native tongue and in foreign languages.

Their interest in the sounds was captured by how long they sucked on a pacifier that was wired into a computer measuring the babies' reaction to the sounds. Longer or shorter sucking for unfamiliar or familiar sounds is evidence for learning, because it indicates that infants can differentiate between the sounds heard in utero.

In both countries, the babies at birth sucked longer for the foreign language than they did for their native tongue.

The researchers say that infants are the best learners, and discovering how they soak up information could give insights on lifelong learning. "We want to know what magic they put to work in early childhood that adults cannot," Kuhl said. "We can't waste that early curiosity."

###

Hugo Lagercrantz, a professor at the Karolinska Institute in Sweden, was another co-author. The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health and Pacific Lutheran University's S. Erving Severtson Forest Foundation Undergraduate Research Program.

For more information, Kuhl at 206-685-1921 or pkkuhl@uw.edu, Moon at 253-535-7471 or mooncm@plu.edu, or Lagercrantz at hugo.lagercrantz@ki.se or +46-8-517 747 00. This news release was adapted from a story provided by Pacific Lutheran University: http://www.plu.edu/news/2012/12/infant-language/#page1

---

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?

AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.

Source: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-01/uow-wiw122812.php

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Asian nations giving enthusiastic welcome to 2013

LONDON (AP) ? Sydney's skyline erupted with tons of exploding fireworks in the first major celebration of 2013, extravagant displays lit up Hong Kong and Beijing, and increasingly democratic Myanmar joined the party for the first time in almost five decades.

Asia welcomed the New Year on a grand scale, partying with renewed optimism despite the so-called fiscal cliff threatening to reverberate globally from the United States and the tattered economies of Europe, where the party was expected to be a bit more subdued.

Celebrations were planned around the world, culminating with the crystal ball drop in New York City's Times Square. One million people are expected to cram into the area for the countdown.

Global celebrations began Monday in Sydney, where the balmy summer night was split by 7 tons of fireworks fired from roof tops and barges, many cascading from the Sydney Harbor Bridge, in a 6.6 million Australian dollar ($6.9 million) pyrotechnic extravaganza billed by organizers as the world's largest.

In a field in increasingly democratic Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, about 90,000 people experienced the country's first public New Year countdown, after almost five decades under military regimes that discouraged or banned big public gatherings.

"This is very exciting and also our first experience in celebrating the New Year at a big countdown gathering. We feel like we are in a different world," said Yu Thawda, a university student who came with three of her friends.

In austerity-hit Europe, the mood was more restrained ? if hopeful. In Athens, fireworks over the ancient Acropolis will usher in 2013 ? projected to be a sixth straight year of recession amid the country's worst economic crisis since World War II.

Still, In his televised New Year's Eve message, Greek Prime Minister Antonis Samaras promised Greeks that the worst of the crisis is past, and declared 2013 a "year of hope" that will see the beginning of the country's rebirth.

Celebrating New Year's Eve with a vespers service in in St. Peter's Basilica, Pope Benedict XVI said that despite all the death and injustice in the world, goodness prevails.

In his homily, Benedict said taking time to meditate in prolonged reflection and prayer can help "find healing from the inevitable wounds of daily life."

In Hong Kong, tens of thousands of people lined the Victoria Harbor to view this year's 12.5 million Hong Kong dollar ($1.6 million) fireworks display, said to be the biggest ever in the southern Chinese city.

One day after dancing in the snow to celebrate the first anniversary of leader Kim Jong Un's ascension to supreme commander, North Koreans marked the arrival of the new year, marked as "Juche 102" on North Korean calendars. Juche means self-reliance, the North Korean ideology of independence promoted by national founder Kim Il Sung, who was born 102 years ago. His grandson now rules North Korea.

In New Delhi, the festive mood was marred by the death Saturday of a young rape victim.

Hotels, clubs and residents' associations in the Indian capital decided to cancel planned festivities and asked people to light candles to express their solidarity with the victim whose plight sparked public rallies for women's safety.

Jakarta's street party centers on a 7-kilometer (4-mile) thoroughfare closed to all traffic from nightfall until after midnight. Workers erected 16 large stages along the normally car-clogged, eight-lane highway through the heart of the city. Indonesia's booming economy is a rare bright spot amid global gloom and is bringing prosperity ? or the hope of it ? to Indonesians.

In the Philippines, where many are recovering from devastation from a recent typhoon, health officials have hit upon a successful way to stop revelers from setting off huge illegal firecrackers that maim and injure hundreds of Filipinos each year.

A health official, Eric Tayag, donned the splashy outfit of South Korean star PSY and danced to his Youtube hit "Gangnam Style" video while preaching against the use of illegal firecrackers on TV, in schools and in public arenas.

"The campaign has become viral," Tayag said.

Economic problems weighed down the festive atmosphere in Europe. In Germany, Chancellor Angela Merkel's New Year message warned her country to prepare for difficult economic times ahead. The Cypriot capital, Nicosia, decided to cancel its New Year celebrations in light of the economic crisis. Nicosia said 16,000 euros ($21,000) saved from the canceled event will be given to some 320 needy schoolchildren.

But Scotland's Edinburgh, which traditionally hosts one of the biggest New Year's Eve parties in Europe, remains in good spirits. Organizers say that some 75,000 people are expected for the Scottish capital's Hogmanay ? or year-end ? celebrations.

Hong Kong feng shui master Raymond Lo predicted 2013 would be less turbulent than 2012 because the Chinese New Year in February will usher in the year of the snake, bringing an end to the year of the dragon, which was associated with water. Water is one of the five elements in feng shui theory, the Chinese practice of arranging objects and choosing dates to improve luck.

"Water is fear. So that's why we have had so much turbulence especially in the winter months," such as doomsday prophecies, school shootings and concerns about the fiscal cliff, said Lo.

"But the good news is that the coming year of the snake is the first time that fire has come back since 2007. Fire actually is the opposite to water, fire is happiness. So therefore the year of the snake is a much more optimistic year. So you can see signs of economic recovery now," he added.

___

McGuirk reported from Sydney. Associated Press writers Aye Aye Win in Yangon, Myanmar; Jean Lee in Pyongyang, North Korea; Chris Brummitt in Jakarta, Indonesia; Kelvin Chan in Hong Kong; Ashok Sharma in New Delhi; Jim Gomez in Manila, Philippines; Nicholas Paphitis in Athens; and Raphael Satter in London contributed to this report.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/asian-nations-giving-enthusiastic-welcome-2013-061809017.html

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