NIRSA (National Intramural Recreation Sports Association) recently selected the University of South Dakota Wellness Center and Iowa State University State Gym Expansion and Renovation to receive their distinguished Outstanding Sports Facilities Award. TWO of only thirteen winners chosen from projects, designed and built across the nation.
This annual awards program recognizes architects, consultants, and facility owners and managers for their efforts planning, financing, designing and operating indoor recreation and wellness facilities that set high standards for design and functionality.
State Gym Expansion and Renovation: RDG was the Design Architect for the 163,239 gross sq.ft. State Gym Expansion and Renovation, which involved construction of a new addition to State Gym, major renovations to existing State Gym, and targeted remodeling in Beyer Hall. This work also links Beyer Hall with the expanded State Gym providing additional facilities and increased activity choices without the need to build all new facilities. In addition, this linkage and reuse of State Gym provides a positive identity and gives new life to the historical campus icon that State Gym represents.
Wellness Center: This 57,000 sq.ft. Wellness facility provides a 2-Court Gymnasium, MAC Court, Racquetball, Jogging Track, Fitness/Strength, Group Exercise and Climbing Wall to meet the recreation and wellness needs of the University of South Dakota's students and faculty. The building's folded plate roof form and massing were derived to capture views and natural light to the north and enclose the 38' high climbing wall, which is a feature of the main entrance. In addition, the building has achieved LEED Silver certification. Energy conservation measures reduce energy consumption by 30% - about $20,000 per year!
If you think you had a bad week, spare a thought for the folk at EA. With SimCity's launch thoroughly bungled, it's left for us to pick up the pieces and try and make sense of it all. Not every story casts a gloomy shadow this week, there's the imminent army of One Direction figurines on their way to cheer us up. Find out how and when in the Eurocast below.
Mar. 12, 2013 ? Brain imaging soon after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) or mild concussion can detect tiny lesions that may eventually provide a target for treating people with mTBI, according to a study released today and that will be presented at the American Academy of Neurology's 65th Annual Meeting in San Diego, March 16 to 23, 2013.
Studies of brain tissue once a person has died have shown that different types of lesions are associated with more severe TBI. "Our study suggests that imaging may be used to detect and distinguish between these lesions in a living person with mTBI and this finding has important implications for treatment," said Gunjan Parikh, MD, with the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and the University of Maryland R Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center in Baltimore, MD. Parikh is also a member of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 256 people with an average age of 50 who were admitted to the emergency department at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda and Washington Hospital Center in the District of Columbia after mild head injuries. They underwent magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) brain scans. Of those, 104 had imaging evidence of hemorrhage in the brain (67 percent reported loss of consciousness, and 65 percent reported amnesia, or temporary forgetfulness). People with hemorrhages underwent more detailed brain scans with advanced MRI within an average of 17 hours after the injury.
Advanced imaging showed that -- of those 104 people with imaging evidence of hemorrhage -- 20 percent had microbleed lesions and 33 percent had tube-shaped linear lesions. Microbleeds were distributed throughout the brain whereas linear lesions, which were found mainly in one area, were more likely to be associated with injury to adjacent brain tissue.
The investigators hypothesized that the linear lesions seen on MRI may represent a type of vascular injury that is seen in brain tissue studies of people with more severe TBI. "If that theory is confirmed, it may provide an opportunity to develop treatment strategies for people who have suffered a mild TBI," said Parikh.
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UF study shows spiders, not birds, may drive evolution of some butterfliesPublic release date: 12-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andrei Sourakov asourakov@flmnh.ufl.edu 352-273-2013 University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Butterflies are among the most vibrant insects, with colorations sometimes designed to deflect predators. New University of Florida research shows some of these defenses may be driven by enemies one-tenth their size.
Since the time of Darwin 150 years ago, researchers have believed large predators like birds mainly influenced the evolution of coloration in butterflies. In the first behavioral study to directly test the defense mechanism of hairstreak butterflies, UF lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov found that the appearance of a false head a wing pattern found on hundreds of hairstreak butterflies worldwide was 100 percent effective against attacks from a jumping spider. The research published online March 8 in the Journal of Natural History shows small arthropods, rather than large vertebrate predators, may influence butterfly evolution.
"Everything we observe out there has been blamed on birds: aposematic coloration, mimicry and various defensive patterns like eyespots," said study author Andrei Sourakov, a collection coordinator at the Florida Museum of Natural History's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus. "It's a big step in general and a big leap of faith to realize that a creature as tiny as a jumping spider, whose brain and life span are really small compared to birds, can actually be partially responsible for the great diversity of patterns that evolved out there among Lepidoptera and other insects."
Sourakov's behavioral experiments at the McGuire Center showed the Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly, Calycopis cecrops, whose spots and tail imitate a false head, successfully escaped all 16 attacks from the jumping spider, Phidippus pulcherrimus. When 11 other butterfly and moth species from seven different families were exposed to the jumping spider, they were unable to escape attack in every case. Sourakov videotaped the experiments and analyzed the results in slow motion.
"From the video, you can see the spider is always very precise," Sourakov said. "In one video, the spider sees a moth that looks like a leaf and it walks very carefully around to the head and then jumps at the head region. The spider has an innate or acquired ability to distinguish the head region very well and it always attacks there to deliver its venom to the vital center to instantly paralyze the prey. Most importantly, the spider is very small, so sometimes its prey is 10 times larger."
The species of hairstreak butterfly and jumping spider used in the experiment are both common in the southeastern U.S., with similar relatives spread worldwide. In nature, the spider and hairstreak come into contact when the butterfly lands on leaves or flowers to rest and feed. Female red-banded hairstreak butterflies lay their eggs in leaf litters, which are often crawling with spiders.
David Wagner, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut who was not involved with the study, said the research shows scientists need to rethink what drives adaptive coloration patterns because the results suggest that "birds are only part of the story."
"I'm just so impressed with Andrei's experimental protocol and the fact that the jumping spider could not catch the hairstreak butterflies," Wagner said. "His empirical study will do much to cause us to rethink the vision and the visual acuity that certain invertebrate predators have when hunting their prey and how this has really molded how some organisms not only look like, but perhaps how they act, as well."
(EDITORS: STORY MAY END HERE.)
Unlike other butterflies, hairstreaks constantly move the hind wings that carry the false head pattern, a behavior that seems to increase in the presence of the spider, as if the butterfly is attracting attention to itself, Sourakov said. In museum collections, hairstreak specimens are frequently found with the false-head portion of the wings missing. During the experiments, the spider always attacked the butterfly's false head, thereby avoiding its vital organs.
"The false head hypothesis in hairstreaks has been in circulation for a long time because people always speculated that their tails move around in order to fake out the predators, but there was little experimental evidence," Sourakov said.
Sourakov said he hopes the study encourages behavioral ecologists to further test the idea that evolution in butterflies and moths may be driven by small invertebrate predators.
"This clearly shows it's possible that many spectacular patterns that we find in smaller insects may be due to spider pressure rather than bird pressure," Sourakov said. "The butterfly escapes from the spider it's a fairytale story."
###
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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.
UF study shows spiders, not birds, may drive evolution of some butterfliesPublic release date: 12-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Andrei Sourakov asourakov@flmnh.ufl.edu 352-273-2013 University of Florida
GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- Butterflies are among the most vibrant insects, with colorations sometimes designed to deflect predators. New University of Florida research shows some of these defenses may be driven by enemies one-tenth their size.
Since the time of Darwin 150 years ago, researchers have believed large predators like birds mainly influenced the evolution of coloration in butterflies. In the first behavioral study to directly test the defense mechanism of hairstreak butterflies, UF lepidopterist Andrei Sourakov found that the appearance of a false head a wing pattern found on hundreds of hairstreak butterflies worldwide was 100 percent effective against attacks from a jumping spider. The research published online March 8 in the Journal of Natural History shows small arthropods, rather than large vertebrate predators, may influence butterfly evolution.
"Everything we observe out there has been blamed on birds: aposematic coloration, mimicry and various defensive patterns like eyespots," said study author Andrei Sourakov, a collection coordinator at the Florida Museum of Natural History's McGuire Center for Lepidoptera and Biodiversity on the UF campus. "It's a big step in general and a big leap of faith to realize that a creature as tiny as a jumping spider, whose brain and life span are really small compared to birds, can actually be partially responsible for the great diversity of patterns that evolved out there among Lepidoptera and other insects."
Sourakov's behavioral experiments at the McGuire Center showed the Red-banded Hairstreak butterfly, Calycopis cecrops, whose spots and tail imitate a false head, successfully escaped all 16 attacks from the jumping spider, Phidippus pulcherrimus. When 11 other butterfly and moth species from seven different families were exposed to the jumping spider, they were unable to escape attack in every case. Sourakov videotaped the experiments and analyzed the results in slow motion.
"From the video, you can see the spider is always very precise," Sourakov said. "In one video, the spider sees a moth that looks like a leaf and it walks very carefully around to the head and then jumps at the head region. The spider has an innate or acquired ability to distinguish the head region very well and it always attacks there to deliver its venom to the vital center to instantly paralyze the prey. Most importantly, the spider is very small, so sometimes its prey is 10 times larger."
The species of hairstreak butterfly and jumping spider used in the experiment are both common in the southeastern U.S., with similar relatives spread worldwide. In nature, the spider and hairstreak come into contact when the butterfly lands on leaves or flowers to rest and feed. Female red-banded hairstreak butterflies lay their eggs in leaf litters, which are often crawling with spiders.
David Wagner, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Connecticut who was not involved with the study, said the research shows scientists need to rethink what drives adaptive coloration patterns because the results suggest that "birds are only part of the story."
"I'm just so impressed with Andrei's experimental protocol and the fact that the jumping spider could not catch the hairstreak butterflies," Wagner said. "His empirical study will do much to cause us to rethink the vision and the visual acuity that certain invertebrate predators have when hunting their prey and how this has really molded how some organisms not only look like, but perhaps how they act, as well."
(EDITORS: STORY MAY END HERE.)
Unlike other butterflies, hairstreaks constantly move the hind wings that carry the false head pattern, a behavior that seems to increase in the presence of the spider, as if the butterfly is attracting attention to itself, Sourakov said. In museum collections, hairstreak specimens are frequently found with the false-head portion of the wings missing. During the experiments, the spider always attacked the butterfly's false head, thereby avoiding its vital organs.
"The false head hypothesis in hairstreaks has been in circulation for a long time because people always speculated that their tails move around in order to fake out the predators, but there was little experimental evidence," Sourakov said.
Sourakov said he hopes the study encourages behavioral ecologists to further test the idea that evolution in butterflies and moths may be driven by small invertebrate predators.
"This clearly shows it's possible that many spectacular patterns that we find in smaller insects may be due to spider pressure rather than bird pressure," Sourakov said. "The butterfly escapes from the spider it's a fairytale story."
###
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Recently, a friend who knows several languages (one of which is English, but it's not his first language) said that he'd come to realize that his writing wasn't everything he wanted it to be. He wasn't sure if the issues were with his ability as a technical writer or with is command of English. Here's what I wrote back to him.
Let?s assume that you?re concerned about English grammar, first, because that?s the problem with the most wrinkles in it:
English grammar is, of course, a nightmare to get exactly right (and you?re probably more aware of that than native English speakers are). Really, unless you learn the language between the ages of 1 and 4?when you have nothing else to do except learn the language?becoming ?perfect? in English grammar is a constant struggle. What makes the problem worse is that these issues seem to leap out at readers of written English in a way that doesn?t happen with listeners of spoken English. I guess that?s just another example of how, in speaking, we pay as much attention to the speaker?s tone of voice and body language as we do to the ?words actually spoken?; when we read written material we just pay attention to the words and see grammatical errors that we miss in spoken English. So you can be perfectly happy with your performance as, for instance, an instructor and be unhappy with your performance as a writer.
There?s bad news here: readers overreact to grammatical and spelling errors (?typos?). Readers take grammatical errors as a sign of overall quality (which, as someone who does make grammatical errors, I think is terribly unfair).
However, the good news is that grammatical issues are trivially easy to fix in a written document: delete this word, rewrite this word, re-arrange these three words. Spotting and/or preventing grammatical errors is harder. You can read more English text (some ?learning by osmosis? does take place, apparently), take grammar courses, take courses on anything where you submit written material and get the results back with grammatical errors corrected. I have to tell you, though: getting good at preventing and spotting grammatical errors is a time consuming process and you should expect it to take five years of working on nothing but your grammar to become close to ?grammatically perfect.? On the other hand, you?re going to be five years older in five years, anyway?
The alternative is to find some native English speaker who will correct your written material. This isn?t hard to do: everyone is an expert in something but everyone seems to consider themselves an expert in English grammar. Depending on your work environment, you're probably be surrounded by people who are dying to be asked to fix up your grammatical errors. Reviewing their changes would also provide you with feedback on the systemic errors you?re making and enable you to start eliminating them, one by one.
Now let?s assume that you?re concerned about effective technical writing: Most people who write technical material assume that what?s important is understanding whatever you?re writing about. That's completely wrong. The most important things in technical writing are:
The bad news here is that fixing the problems from not doing this stuff right are much harder to fix. If you don't get this stuff right, you'll have material you shouldn't have, you'll be presenting material in a way that won't work for your audience, you'll have material in the wrong place and--the hardest problem to fix--you'll just be flat out missing stuff.
The good news here is that while this set of problems is hard to fix, the skills to prevent this set are much easier to learn. While you can take technical writing courses that last a semester (or even as a three year university degree!) for people with your background/experience that would be overkill. There are lots of good courses/books on technical writing that would tell you everything you need to know (I, obviously, think Learning Tree?s course is pretty good because I wrote it). The Learning Tree bonus site for the course lists four books that I like (again, obviously, I like the last book because I wrote it). I wouldn?t get the first book on the list (Handbook of Technical Writing) as my first book on technical writing--it?s an encyclopedic reference for looking stuff up after you?ve taken a course or read a good book on the subject. Personally, I?d start with the third book: Technical Communication by Burnett. You might find the PDF file on writing effective user manuals helpful: it's sort of "the minimum you should take away from this course".
Today in show business news: Christian Slater signs on to yet another pilot, John Malkovich will soon be playing a notorious pirate, and a look at the first six minutes of?Bates Motel.
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You gotta love the tenacity of Christian Slater. A big movie star in the '90s, he watched his profile fade as he had some scrapes with the law in the late '90s and early '00s. But in recent years he's been trying for a comeback of sorts, mostly through television, and though things haven't been going all that great, he remains undaunted. First there was My Own Worst Enemy, which was canceled. Then the forgotten, also canceled. After that came Breaking In, which lasted a little while longer but, yes, was canceled. Now he's trying again with Influence, a drama from Lone Star's Kyle Killen about "a unique agency designed to attack their clients' problems using the real science of human motivation and manipulation." Aha, so it's like The Mentalist or whatever; some guy uses bullsh-t to solve problems. Well, actually it's two guys. Slater will play the brother of Steve Zahn, who I guess is looking for some network money after scraping by for a few years on Treme checks. Who knows if this particular concept will take off, some of these things do and many more of them don't, but it's admirable at least that Christian Slater refuses to quit. Someday you'll get there, buddy! And then it'll be no time before you find yourself signing a big movie deal for Kuffs 2. [The Hollywood Reporter]
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Meanwhile John Malkovich maintains his commitment to weirdness. He's just signed on to play Blackbeard, as in the pirate, on NBC's Crossbones. Hm. I thought "Crossbones" was when the cast of Fox's The Bones showed up on The Finder. Ah well. This show has Blackbeard ruling New Providence, an island in the Bahamas that was the region's first democracy. It's democratic, but Blackbeard is in charge of the place, described as "a rogue nation of thieves, outlaws and miscreant sailors. Part shantytown, part marauder?s paradise, this is a place like no other on Earth." Well except for Deadwood a century and a half later. This is basically Deadwood only with pirates. They should have called it Deadwood: Pirates Edition and Malkovich could play Cap'n Al Swearrrrrengen. People would watch that. No need to fuss with this Blackbeard/Crossbones silliness. [Deadline]
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Minka Kelly has landed a pilot role as well. She'll be in an untitled Fox pilot from J.J. Abrams that's about "the near future when all LAPD officers are partnered with highly evolved human-like androids." Kelly will play one of the less human-like androids who's booted from the force for not being very human-like. Right? I mean, I'm just assuming. [Deadline]
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Josh Lucas and Lynn "John Carter Didn't Quite Kill Me" Collins have been cast in an A&E pilot called Occult. It is about an FBI agent looking for his wife who gets partnered up with an FBI agent who is a specialist in the occult. So in this one Mulder is looking for his wife instead of his sister and Scully is the expert in the weird stuff, not him. Oh and it's called "the occult" instead of "paranormal." But otherwise pretty much the same, right? And hey, a former X-Files writer is writing the damn thing. So this could actually be good. There's nothing wrong with reviving a formula if it actually works. So have at it, guys. May you have as much luck as Fringe, at least. [Deadline]
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Jonathan Taylor Thomas, he of '90s tween heartthrob demigod status, will be guesting on his former dad/boss Tim Allen's show Last Man Standing, and now there are a few pictures teasing the appearance. He looks all grown up! Well not necessarily "grown" or "up," y'know, but he looks older! He's wearing a suit and glasses and everything. I mean, he's 31 years old now. Jonathan Taylor Thomas is 31 years old. JTT is 31. Jonathan... I'm sorry, I have to go lie down. [Entertainment Weekly]
Speaking of old things, here's 48-year-old Keanu Reeves in the trailer for Generation Um, an indie movie about feeling old, it seems. Yeah, 48. Forty-eight. What has happened to time.
And here are the first six minutes of that new Bates Motel show. That's the A&E one that imagines a teenage Norman Bates, only it's set nowadays. It's kind of a confusing premise. I guess the idea is that they're using his name and "Bates Motel" and the idea that he has a mother (Vera Farmiga) but then everything else is different. It seems like an iffy set-up but this opening is well-filmed at least. Oh and the little kid from Finding Neverland is now 21. Sheesh.
Dominican Republic's Jose Reyes (7) is congratulated by teammate Hanley Ramirez after hitting a solo home run against Italy in the third inning of the World Baseball Classic game as Italy catcher Drew Butera, left, looks on in Miami, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Dominican Republic's Jose Reyes (7) is congratulated by teammate Hanley Ramirez after hitting a solo home run against Italy in the third inning of the World Baseball Classic game as Italy catcher Drew Butera, left, looks on in Miami, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Italy's Chris Colabello (25) is congratulated at home plate by teammates Anthony Rizzo (44) and Chris Denorfia (11) after Colabello hit a three-run home run against the Dominican Republic in the first inning of the World Baseball Classic game in Miami, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
Italy's Tiago Da Silva pitches against the Dominican Republic in the first inning of a World Baseball Classic game in Miami, Tuesday, March 12, 2013. (AP Photo/Alan Diaz)
MIAMI (AP) ? Robinson Cano pumped his fist. Jose Reyes and Hanley Ramirez danced together near home plate. Fernando Rodney pointed to the sky after the final out.
The Dominican Republic is unbeaten and having fun in the World Baseball Classic.
Nelson Cruz's two-out, RBI single broke a seventh-inning tie, and the Dominicans overcame an early four-run deficit Tuesday to beat Italy 5-4.
Cano had three hits, including his second home run in the WBC. He led a comeback that had his teammates laughing and celebrating every hit in front of their dugout.
"That's something you never see in the big leagues," Cano said. "Here we get a chance to come out and give high-fives to the guys. We can jump around. Nobody sees you trying to show somebody up. It's more about the chemistry on the team. We're all excited to be here, and we've all got a mission to win."
Italy hitting coach Mike Piazza said his team noted the Dominicans' demeanor.
"Some enhanced theatrics," Piazza said. "It's not what we're used to, but hey, you have to go to with it and have fun. It's unorthodox for me. Obviously in a 162-game season you're not going to be seeing that, so you have to just let it roll off your back."
The Dominicans (4-0) advanced to a winner's-bracket game Thursday night in the double-elimination second round.
Cano's homer off the upper-deck facade in right field made the score 2-all in the sixth. Reyes also homered, and celebrated with Ramirez after crossing the plate.
"This team has a lot of emotion," manager Tony Pena said. "They kept talking in the dugout ? 'We're going to come back and win the game.'"
Chris Colabello hit a three-run homer, his second, to give Italy a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
The Dominicans trailed 4-2 in the seventh, when they loaded the bases with one out on consecutive singles by Reyes, Erick Aybar and Cano off Pat Venditte (0-1).
Edwin Encarnacion walked to force in a run, and Ramirez tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
Cruz followed with a broken-bat, two-out single to give the Dominicans their first lead. Cruz has six RBIs in four games, while Cano hiked his average to .632 (12 for 19) with six RBIs.
"My interest is to win," Cano said. "We're having a really good time."
The New York Yankees second baseman was annoyed in the seventh when Italy's Nick Punto slid hard into second base on an inning-ending forceout.
"I was upset," Cano said. "I don't care if you slide on a double play, but when it's a forceout, the last thing you want to do is get hurt."
The crowd of 14,482 was festive for the opening game in Miami, with horn-honking and chanting by Dominican fans who created a steady din. The retractable roof, closed for all but eight Marlins games last year, was open on an 80-degree afternoon.
Pedro Strop (2-0) threw a scoreless seventh. Rodney, who has yet to allow a hit in four appearances, reached 98 mph on the radar gun when he pitched a hitless ninth for his third save.
Five relievers limited Italy to one hit and no runs over the final 4 2-3 innings.
"You're facing some hard throwers in that bullpen," Colabello said. "They're got pretty good stuff."
Early wildness plagued Dominican starter Edinson Volquez, who threw only one of his first 13 pitches for a strike as he walked the bases loaded. Alex Liddi's sacrifice fly made it 1-0, and Colabello followed with a homer.
"Four runs was one too few," Colabello said. "I don't think any lead is comfortable, especially in this format."
Volquez allowed four runs in 4 1-3 innings.
"Our pitching after the first inning did a great job," Pena said.
Tiago Da Silva went 5 1-3 innings for Italy and allowed two runs, both on homers. The Italians play in a losers'-bracket game Wednesday.
"They're obviously an All-Star caliber team," Piazza said. "Obviously we are disappointed. We have to just try and inch back tomorrow and hopefully pick up a 'W' and keep going."
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Public release date: 12-Mar-2013
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