Thứ Sáu, 29 tháng 7, 2011

Một số hoạt chất đặc trị Rầy Nâu

LUAGAO - Để phòng trừ rầy nâu (môi giới truyền bệnh vàng lùn, lùn xoắn lá) hãy chọn những loại thuốc đặc trị, sử dụng đúng và nên luân phiên thuốc, để tránh việc dùng 1-2 loại thuốc gây ra tình trạng lờn thuốc, kháng thuốc và kém hiệu quả.


+ Hoạt chất fenobucard: Có tác động tiếp xúc, vị độc, thích hợp cho việc dập dịch khi rầy có mật độ cao. Thuốc diệt rầy non và rầy trưởng thành không diệt trứng nên hiệu lực thuốc không kéo dài. Nếu mật độ số rầy cao phải phun 2-3 lần, cách nhau 5- 7 ngày, hiệu quả sẽ cao hơn, phun ướt đều lên cây lúa tối thiểu 5 bình 8 lít/1.000 m2, phun định kỳ ở gốc lúa nơi rầy nâu trú ẩn, phun sớm khi rầy ở tuổi nhỏ (rầy cám).

+ Hoạt chất isoprocard: Tác động tiếp xúc, vị độc và xông hơi. Có hai dạng thuốc nhũ dầu và bột thấm nước. Hiệu lực trừ rầy non cao và nhanh, không diệt trứng. Nếu mật độ rầy cao phun 2- 3 lần. Liều dùng loại 20EC từ 2- 2,5 lít/ha, pha 40- 50ml thuốc/bình 8 lít, dùng 25WPtừ 1- 1,5kg/ha pha 20- 30g/bình 8 lít, phun tối thiểu 5 bình 8 lít/1.000 m2.

+ Hoạt chất Buprofezin: Có tác động ức chế sự hình thành chất kitin làm rầy chết trong thời kỳ lột xác. Hiệu lực 3-7 ngày và kéo dài trên 20 ngày.Thuốc làm giảm khả năng sinh đẻ và nở trứng, do không diệt rầy nên phải phun thuốc sớm lúc rầy 1- 2 tuổi. Liều dùng 10WP 1kg/ha, pha 20g thuốc/bình 8 lít.Phun tối thiểu 5 bình 8 lít/1.000m2, dùng 25SC (WP) là 0,5 lít(kg)/ha, pha 10ml (g)/bình 8 lít.

+ Hoạt chất etofenprox: Thế hệ mới, tác động tiếp xúc, vị độc. Hiệu lực trừ rầy cao, không gây sự tái phát rầy. Liều dùng 10EC là 0,75- 1 lít/ha, pha 15- 20ml thuốc/bình 8 lít, phun tối thiểu5 bình 8 lít/1.000 m2.

+ Hoạt chất imidacloprid: Tác động tiếp xúc, vị độc, nội hấp. Tiêu diệt nhanh rầy non và rầy trưởng thành. Có hai dạng thuốc nhũ dầu và bột thấm nước. Liều dùng 50EC 0,4- 0,5 lít/ha, pha 8-10ml thuốc/bình 8 lít, phun tối thiểu 5 bình 8 lít/1.000m2.

+ Hoạt chất thiamethoxam: Tác động tiếp xúc, vị độc và nội hấp mạnh, tiêu diệt rầy non, rầy trưởng thành và trứng mới nở. Liều dùng 25WDG từ 25- 80g/ha, pha tối thiểu 1g thuốc /bình 8 lít, phun 4 bình 8 lít/1.000 m2. Tuỳ thuộc mật số rầy và lúa kín hàng mà tăng lượng nước phun hiệu quả mới cao.

+ Hoạt chất buprofezin + fenobucard: Làm ung thối trứng, diệt rầy non lẫn rầy trưởng thành. Hiệu lực nhanh và kéo dài. Liều dùng 1- 1,2kg/ha, pha 20- 25g thuốc/bình 8 lít, phun tối thiểu 5 bình 8lít cho 1.000m2.

+ Hoạt chất buprofezin + isoprocard: Làm ung thối trứng, diệt rầy non lẫn rầy trưởng thành. Hiệu lực nhanh và kéo dài. Liều dùng 1,2- 1,5kg/ha, pha với 25- 30g thuốc/bình 8 lít, phun tối thiểu 5 bình 8 lít cho 1.000 m2.

(Nguồn NTNN)

Thứ Ba, 19 tháng 7, 2011

Hyundai tops in brand loyalty

The Korean carmaker for the first time ousted traditional holders Honda (NYSE:HMC - News) and Toyota (NYSE:TM - News) for the No.1 spot, Kelley Blue Book said. Auto shoppers' loyalty has waned due to the weak economy. Aggressive marketing and innovative product designs lifted Hyundai. Hyundai's Q2 brand loyalty was 52.3%, with Honda at 49.7% and Toyota at 47.7%. Ford (NYSE:F - News)was No. 4 at 45.4% and Subaru 5th at 44.8%.

Snyder sees immigrants as a key to state's economy

DETROIT (AP) — Michigan has seen the results of what immigrants can do to help the economy through companies such as Meijer Inc., Masco Corp. and Dow Chemical Co., and should be attracting more immigrants who can repeat those successes, Gov. Rick Snyder said Monday.

Speaking at a conference on immigration and Michigan's economy at Wayne State University, the governor pointed out that the Meijer retail chain was founded by a Dutch immigrant, the building products maker Masco by an Armenian immigrant and Dow by a Canadian.

"One of the keys that made us successful in the past is going to again be the key to our future, and that's . . . immigration," Snyder told hundreds of people attending the New Michigan Media conference. He noted that the venture capital companies he headed before he became governor invested in several businesses headed by foreign graduates who created Michigan jobs.

Wayne State University President Allan Gilmour said many foreign students earn degrees from Michigan universities but then must leave the country because of unfriendly U.S. immigration policies. He mentioned one student who received a doctoral degree but couldn't get the needed documents to work in the United States, and instead took a job in Canada.

"I'm glad Canada thinks it has room for more talent. It's too bad we don't have space here," Gilmour said.

New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg participated in a video conference call during the opening panel titled "Can Immigrants Save Detroit?" He'd suggested in May on NBC's "Meet the Press" that letting anyone immigrate to the United States "as long as they agreed to go to Detroit and live there for five or ten years" could help the city regain population and new businesses.

"You would populate Detroit overnight because half the world wants to come here," Bloomberg said then. Michigan's largest city has seen its population fall from 1.8 million in the 1950 U.S. Census to 714,000 in 2010, dropping 26 percent in the last decade alone.

Bloomberg is co-chairman of the Partnership for a New American Economy, a national bipartisan coalition of over 300 mayors and business leaders who believe immigration reform can boost the U.S. economy and create American jobs.

"I don't think there's any question but that immigrants create jobs on balance" even in communities with high unemployment rates such as Detroit," he said during Monday's videoconference. "They are the people who, first generation, have the enthusiasm to go out, have the knowledge, have the experience of how things are done elsewhere, to try new things."

The Michigan Department of Civil Rights and the Michigan Economic Development Corp. are working together through the Snyder administration's Global Michigan Initiative to find ways to team graduating immigrants with companies that might be able to help them gain a work visa by saying they'll hire them.

"To translate that (student visa) into a work visa or another situation, they really need to be matched with some commercial opportunity," Snyder said. "''How do we find students that have those great innovative ideas and match them up with existing businesses or other startup people in Michigan to say, 'Hey, create a company together'?"

The Republican governor declined to discuss federal immigration policy or the sweeps that have led to illegal immigrants being deported, sometimes tearing them away from their U.S.-born children. He wants the federal government to deal with the issue and opposes Arizona-style laws that allow police enforcing other laws to question the immigration status of those they suspect are in the country illegally.

"That's a divisive situation," he said, noting he opposes bills already introduced that would bring similar laws to Michigan. "Such negative issues . . . actually cause more trouble than anything."

How the major stock indexes fared Monday

Europe's banking troubles and an impasse over lifting the U.S. government's borrowing limit dragged down stock markets in the U.S. and Europe. Gold rose above $1,600 an ounce as investors sought safe places to park money.

The results of stress tests on European banks came under more scrutiny. Eight banks failed the test to measure how well they would hold up under additional financial strain. But the tests didn't take into account how banks would fare if Greece or Italy defaults. Greece and Italy are among the countries most at risk of default.

The Dow Jones industrial average and the Nasdaq composite index lost their gains for the month.

The Dow Jones industrial average fell 94.57, or 0.8 percent, to 12,385.16.

The Standard and Poor's 500 fell 10.70, or 0.8 percent, to 1,305.44.

The Nasdaq composite fell 24.69, or 0.9 percent, to 2,765.11.

For the year to date:

The Dow is up 807.65 or 7.0 percent.

The S&P is up 47.80 or 3.8 percent.

The Nasdaq is up 112.24, or 4.2 percent.

Asia stocks weak amid US, European debt concerns

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Asian stocks showed little vigor Tuesday as debt worries in the United States and Europe cast a shadow over the global economy and financial markets.

Japan's Nikkei 225 stock average, the benchmark for Asia's biggest bourse, declined 0.6 percent, to 9,919.43 after being closed for a national holiday Monday.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng fell 0.3 percent to 21,740.76 and mainland China's Shanghai Composite Index declined 0.5 percent to 2,803.53.

South Korea's benchmark Kospi, however, rose 0.3 percent to 2,135.87, while shares in Singapore, India, Thailand and the Philippines also posted modest gains.

The lack of major movement either up or down Tuesday comes amid concern that Europe's debt crisis could harm larger economies and worries that the U.S. might not raise its debt ceiling by an early August deadline.

"Investors are very cautious," said Jackson Wong, vice president at Tanrich Securities in Hong Kong.

"The euro crisis has been going on forever and it is still overhanging the market," he said.

In New York on Monday, the Dow Jones industrial average fell 94.57 points, 0.8 percent, to 12,385.16. Broader indexes also declined. The S&P 500 index dropped 10.70 points, or 0.8 percent, to 1,305.44, while the Nasdaq lost 24.69 points, or 0.9 percent, to 2,765.11.

In Europe, investors fret that debt problems in smaller economies such as Greece will spread to larger ones such as Italy and Spain. Adding to pessimism, were the results of so-called stress tests on European banks released last week. Eight institutions failed the test aimed at measuring how well they would withstand further financial strain.

The U.S. debt limit debate also remains unresolved with the Aug. 2 deadline now two weeks away. The Treasury Department says the limit must be raised by that date or the government risks defaulting on its debt. Considering the need for legislation to enable such a move, however, an actual deal has to be crafted sooner.

In currencies, the dollar was little changed at 79.06 yen from 79.05 yen late Monday in New York. The euro also showed little movement, rising marginally to $1.4091 from $1.4090.

Oil prices crept above $96 a barrel in Asia amid expectations U.S. crude supplies dropped last week.

Benchmark oil for August delivery was up 23 cents to $96.16 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Crude gave up $1.31 to settle at $95.93 on Monday.

__

Associated Press writer Alex Kennedy in Singapore contributed to this report.

Branstad signs economic development overhaul

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Gov. Terry Branstad signed into law on Monday an overhaul of Iowa's economic development efforts, giving private businesses a greater role in shaping programs, which was one of his top priorities in the last campaign.

The measure also changes the name of the main state agency that does economic development, the Department of Economic Development, to the Iowa Partnership for Economic Progress. Backers say the name better reflects the structure of the new agency.

"This brings 21st-century thinking into our economic efforts," said Branstad's spokesman Tim Albrecht

Albrecht said many states are moving aggressively to get businesses more involved in developing policies on bolstering the economy because those companies are largely responsible for creating jobs.

When he campaigned for governor, Branstad frequently criticized the state's economic development agency. He particularly focused on that agency's film office and charges that movie-makers were getting improper subsidies.

Albrecht said that many Iowa cities have adopted the public-private model for economic development and the issue is far from partisan.

Branstad picked Debi Durham to head the agency after she developed a public-private effort in Sioux City. At the same time, Democrat Michael Blouin has developed a similar effort in Dubuque.

"We're excited to begin moving in this direction," said Albrecht.

The governor had offered details of his plans for overhauling economic development during the campaign, right down to the details of what name he would give the overhauled agency. Lawmakers of both parties approved, and the plan won approval in the Republican House and Democratic Senate.

Illinois' 10th casino opens in Des Plaines

CHICAGO (AP) — The 10th casino in Illinois opened Monday after years of legal and regulatory battles and amid a push for a massive gambling expansion in the state — even as gaming revenues have dropped along with the rest of the economy.

The Rivers Casino in the Chicago suburb of Des Plaines is betting its success on a new facility complete with a 44,000-square-foot gaming floor filled with more than 1,050 slot machines and 48 table games offering blackjack and craps to roulette and baccarat. It was jammed with people curious to get a first look on opening day.

"It really is like going to Las Vegas," said longtime Chicago developer Neil Bluhm, the chairman of Midwest Gaming, which owns the casino.

Midwest Gaming was picked in 2008 as the winner of the state's unused 10th casino license. That resurrected the unused license, which had been dormant since 1997 and mired in legal and administrative disputes over a proposed casino project others wanted to build in Rosemont, a Chicago suburb tainted by alleged mob connections.

With the Des Plaines casino now up and running, Illinois could get more gambling houses if some lawmakers get their way.

Before going home on summer break, lawmakers passed a bill in May that would add five more casinos in Chicago, Danville, Rockford, Park City in Lake County and in a southern suburb of Chicago. The measure, which has yet to be sent to Gov. Pat Quinn, also would add slots at racetracks and in Chicago's airports.

Quinn hasn't said what he'll do when he gets the gambling bill but he has mocked such a sizable expansion before.

Many government officials, including Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, see casinos as a way to generate money to plug gaping holes in their municipal budgets.

But gambling revenues have been suffering. Casino admissions were down 4 percent last year in Illinois compared to the year before. As a result, casinos' adjusted gross receipts were down 3.9 percent to about $1.37 billion compared to $1.42 billion in 2009, according to the Illinois Gaming Board's 2010 annual report.

Quinn on Monday called the Des Plaines casino "a very good model."

The deal for the casino included a $125 million upfront fee to be paid to the state and the city of Des Plaines was to redirect $10 million a year in local gaming taxes to the state for 30 years, according to the gaming board. The city also was to share a portion of its net tax revenues with at least 10 impoverished communities in Cook County, according to the board's 2010 annual report.

"I think this is a good thing," Quinn said.

Gambling opponents doubt the new Des Plaines casino or any other will be the revenue generators they've promised.

"When you look behind the bells, the whistles and the turning apples and oranges there really isn't much there," said the Rev. Phil Blackwell, senior minister of the First United Methodist Church at the Chicago Temple.

Anita Bedell, executive director of the Illinois Church Action on Alcohol and Addiction Problems in Springfield, said gambling in Illinois isn't worth the increased social costs.

"During these hard economic times the last thing people need is more opportunities for them to lose their money," she said.

Why The Democratic Party Is Doomed

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College Students Who Sleep in Drink More, Study Less

TUESDAY, June 14 (HealthDay News) -- Scheduling classes later in the day provides college students with more time to sleep in the morning, but it may also encourage them to stay up later drinking, new research suggests.

Researchers found that undergrads whose classes started later were more likely to binge drink and get lower grades.

"Later class start times predicted more drinking, more sleep time and modestly lower grades, overall," said the study's co-lead author Pamela Thacher, associate professor of psychology at St. Lawrence University in Canton, N.Y. in a news release from the American Academy of Sleep Medicine. "Later class start times seemed to change the choices students make: They sleep longer, and they drink more."

The study is slated for presentation on Tuesday at SLEEP 2011, the Associated Professional Sleep Societies meeting in Minneapolis.

Thacher and her colleagues asked 253 college students to perform cognitive tasks and keep a sleep diary for one week. They were also given questionnaires regarding their sleep, class schedules, substance use and mood.

The study found that students who had later class start times tended to stay up later, were not as well rested, had more daytime sleepiness and earned slightly lower grade point averages.

Students with this schedule also reported more alcohol use and more binge drinking. Self-described "night owls" were more likely than students who consider themselves "morning people" to drink more, the study noted.

Thacher concluded that drinking more at night negated the benefits of being able to sleep in -- especially because alcohol tends to disrupt sleep. "The effects of later class start times might include more sleep," she said. "But this might be offset by lower quality sleep, which in turn might affect their ability to engage intellectually with their coursework."

The same may not be true however, for younger students. The study's authors pointed out previous studies of elementary and high school students found later school start times may improve attendance and mood among students.

Because this study was presented at a medical meeting, the data and conclusions should be viewed as preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

More Risky Behaviors Among Gay, Bisexual High School Students: CDC

MONDAY, June 6 (HealthDay News) -- One of the first and largest national studies of the behaviors of American high school students finds that those who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely than their heterosexual peers to take unhealthy risks.

The study was conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and used national survey data from 2001-2009. It found that rates of smoking, drinking or other drug use, risky sexual behaviors, suicidal behaviors and violence were higher among gay or bisexual teens than among their straight peers.

"This report should be a wake-up call for families, schools and communities that we need to do a much better job of supporting these young people. Any effort to promote adolescent health and safety must take into account the additional stressors these youth experience because of their sexual orientation, such as stigma, discrimination and victimization," Howell Wechsler, director of CDC's Division of Adolescent and School Health (DASH), said in an agency news release. "We are very concerned that these students face such dramatic disparities for so many different health risks."

The data comes from the national Youth Risk Behavior Surveys conducted over the past decade in Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Vermont and Wisconsin and in six large urban school districts -- Boston, Chicago, Milwaukee, New York City, San Diego and San Francisco.

Besides gathering data on smoking, drinking and drug abuse, the study also examined rates of school absenteeism due to "fear of violence," condom use, physical fitness, good/poor diet or problems with weight management, such as extended fasting to lose weight.

The CDC found that gay or lesbian students' had higher prevalence rates for seven of the 10 health risk categories -- violence, attempted suicide, smoking, drinking, other drug use, risky sexual behaviors and weight management issues. Findings were similar for bisexual students, the agency said.

"For youth to thrive in their schools and communities, they need to feel socially, emotionally and physically safe and supported," Laura Kann, chief of the Surveillance and Evaluation Research Branch at DASH, added in the news release. "Schools and communities should take concrete steps to promote healthy environments for all students, such as prohibiting violence and bullying, creating safe spaces where young people can receive support from caring adults, and improving health education and health services to meet the needs of lesbian, gay and bisexual youth."

The findings were published June 6 in the CDC's journal, Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

Study Finds Round Numbers Are Strong Motivators

MONDAY, Jan. 24 (HealthDay News) -- There's a much greater chance that U.S. high school students will retake the SAT if they score just below a round number (such as 1200) than if they score just above it, a new study suggests.

Researchers analyzed a set of SAT scores from 1994 to 2001 and found gaps just below 1000, 1100, 1200 and so on. This indicates that students who got those scores were more likely to retake the test and have their score below a round number replaced by another score, according to the authors.

The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, shows that round numbers are strong motivators.

The change in SAT scores probably didn't make a big difference in the students' lives, noted Uri Simonsohn of the University of Pennsylvania. He's concerned that students who score just under a round number might be wasting their time retaking the SAT to achieve a pointless goal rather than doing something more productive.

In an experiment, Simonsohn and colleague Devin Pope, of the University of Chicago, found that people who imagined running laps were more likely to say they'd do another lap if they had completed 19 rather than 20.

The findings show that round numbers have a strong effect and that people will take major action to reach round number-related goals, the researchers said.

School Systems Struggle With Lunchroom Costs

FRIDAY, May 13 (HealthDay News) -- Every day, Carol Chong oversees the serving of about 300,000 meals to hungry students in the fourth-largest school district in the United States.

Chong, a registered dietitian and director of food and menu management for the Miami-Dade County Public Schools, has a food budget of about $60 million to meet that goal.

The move by the U.S. Department of Agriculture to make school meals healthier will be a challenge, Chong said, with cost the main problem.

"It doesn't seem like it, but you have a very small amount of money to work with," she said. "Healthier foods tend to be more expensive. They are more perishable, with a shorter shelf life. They can't be processed as much."

However, Miami-Dade County is fairly far along in terms of meeting proposed USDA guidelines for healthy school meals, Chong said, because the district has been improving its menu for years.

"A lot of the changes that have been proposed, we are ahead of the curve," she said. "I think many school districts are like that. A lot of us have been proactive."

For example, several years ago the district went from whole milk to 2 percent milk and then to 1 percent milk and skim milk. "Even our flavored chocolate milk is at a half-percent fat content," she said.

Standard lunchroom offerings have been improved as well. The district serves up a reduced-fat, all-beef hot dog now and has gotten rid of processed chicken nuggets in favor of whole-muscle chicken tenders, Chong said.

They even serve a healthier pizza these days. The crust contains up to 51 percent whole grains, and the cheese is reduced-fat. "We've been doing that for five years," she said.

Trans fats have been eliminated. "We haven't had trans fat in our food in three years," Chong said. "We had all manufacturers take them out. We had people like Frito-Lay having to change their products because we wouldn't sell them." Because of the size of the school district, she said, the companies complied.

All the meal changes occurred under the noses of the kids, who apparently were none the wiser.

"No, I don't tell them. Why would I? And they don't notice," Chong said, laughing. "We haven't advertised it -- because if they knew it was better for them, they wouldn't eat it."

And that's a problem for the future, she said. Kids aren't learning how to eat healthy at home so schools are feeling pressure to step up and teach them about nutrition -- if only the funding were there.

"It's part of the educational process to teach these kids about healthy eating, which is the weakest link because we don't have the funding or the staff for nutrition education," Chong said. "The concern about obesity is not within a majority of the parents. It's a concern with community leaders and health experts. If it were a parental concern, you'd see parents practicing better nutrition within their own households."

Blackouts Linked to Future Drinking Injuries in College Students

WEDNESDAY, June 29 (HealthDay News) -- The more memory blackouts a college student experiences when drinking, the more likely he or she is to suffer an injury while drinking at some time in the future, a new study says.

U.S. and Canadian researchers analyzed data collected from almost 800 undergraduates and more than 150 postgraduate students who were monitored for two years at five North American universities.

Hazardous drinking was "pervasive" on the college campuses, the researchers found. More than half of the students had had at least one memory blackout in the 12 months prior to the study; 7 percent reported at least six blackouts.

Students with the most blackouts were those ages 18 to 20, "sensation seekers," and those with the most heavy drinking days (defined as five or more drinks). "Blackouts" refer to the inability to recall events rather than the loss of consciousness as a result of too much drinking.

The overall prevalence of alcohol-related injuries was just over 25 percent, and the risk was the same for women and men.

The more alcohol-related blackouts a student experienced, the greater the risk of accidental injury. One to two memory blackouts increased the risk by 57 percent, and those with at least six blackouts were nearly three times as likely to suffer an injury.

"Our results suggest that memory blackout screening at student health services could be a useful tool in college alcohol-related injury prevention," the researchers wrote in a news release from the journal Injury Prevention, which published the study online.

In 2001, about 600,000 college students in the United States suffered alcohol-related injuries; in 2005, nearly 2,000 died of such injuries, according to background information in the news release.

Most Teachers Favor Inclusion for Autistic Students

WEDNESDAY, May 11 (HealthDay News) -- The majority of general education teachers support the notion of including autistic children in a regular classroom environment, a small new survey suggests.

Overall, the eight general education teachers surveyed expressed positive views of inclusion for children with autism, but they felt additional resources would help ensure success in a mainstream classroom.

Survey co-authors P. Rosen and E. Rotheram-Fuller, of Temple University, and D. S. Mandell, from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, are scheduled to present the findings Wednesday at the International Meeting for Autism Research in San Diego.

The teachers surveyed worked in a single, large urban school district. Each had between one and four students with autism already present in classrooms that catered to an average of 25 students. The majority of the autistic students spent at least half a day enrolled in a general education setting, according to a meeting news release.

On average the teachers had more than 10 years of experience, although specific work with autistic students ranged from none to 15 years.

The preliminary results revealed that all the teachers shared a positive perspective on including autistic children in an otherwise standard classroom setting.

Doing so was completely appropriate for 44 percent of students, and somewhat appropriate for 33 percent of students, they said. And as a whole, those surveyed indicated that they felt most of the autistic students (66 percent) would do well to remain in their current classroom situation.

However, for 22 percent of students, inclusion was considered somewhat inappropriate, and for one-third of students, a different, more restrictive environment would be better, the teachers said.

Regardless of their views, the teachers generally expressed confidence in their ability to handle autistic students, while at the same time observing that not all of the children were adequately prepared for the demands of a general education environment.

Overall, the participants suggested that more resources were needed to help promote social interaction between autistic students and their healthy peers. Also necessary: continued support from special education teachers and training in how to meet the demands of individual education plans, they said.

Research presented at meetings is considered preliminary because it has not been subject to the scrutiny required for publication in a peer-reviewed journal.

New College Students Urged to Confront Their Social Anxiety

SATURDAY, Aug. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Anxiety can be a problem for some college and university freshmen, but there are a number of ways they can cope with new experiences and challenges, an expert suggests.

The first step is to get to know your anxiety, Martin M. Antony, a psychology professor at Ryerson University in Toronto, Canada, advises in a university news release.

Understanding the nature of your discomfort can help reduce your anxiety, he explains. Ask yourself what triggers your anxiety and if there are certain situations that make you feel uncomfortable, such as making friends, giving presentations, speaking with professors, or being stared at by others.

Examine the thoughts and predictions that contribute to your anxiety. For example, do you worry what others may think about you or that others may regard you as incompetent, boring or unattractive, or that you'll be embarrassed or humiliated?

Assess your physical symptoms in social situations. Do you blush, sweat, shake or lose your train of thought?

The next step is to challenge your anxious thinking, Antony recommends. Don't assume that your anxiety-triggering beliefs are true. Challenge the validity of those thoughts. Also, try to change the way you think about social situations and attempt to view them in the same way as someone without social anxiety.

Instead of avoiding situations that provoke fear and anxiety, confront them, Antony urges. For example, if you would normally sit in the back row to avoid being called on by the professor, try sitting in the front row.

Avoiding situations in order to feel safe may simply reinforce feelings of anxiety. It's better to expose yourself to situations you fear over and over again until you feel comfortable, even though you will need to be prepared to feel uncomfortable during the first few "exposure" practices, Antony said.

A third of English universities to charge £9,000

More than a third of universities in England have been granted permission to charge the maximum £9,000 a year for each of their courses, the fees watchdog has confirmed.

Some 58 percent will charge the maximum £9,000 for at least one of their undergraduate courses, the Office for Fair Access (Offa) revealed on Tuesday. The average student starting a degree next year faces annual fees of almost £8,500.

Ministers say far more money will now be spent on encouraging students from poorer families to attend university, because institutions which intend to charge more than £6,000 must get Offa to approve their plans for widening access.

These "access agreements" will be reviewed each year, with universities facing fines or losing the right to charge more than £6,000 if they fail to meet their agreed targets for recruiting and retaining poorer students.

"Progress over the past few years in securing fair access to the most selective universities has been inadequate," said Business Secretary Vince Cable. "Only around 40 pupils out of the 80,000 on free school meals currently make it to Oxbridge at the moment."

Offa confirmed on Tuesday that it had received access agreements from 123 universities, plus 18 further education (FE) colleges. Of these, all but two, both from FE colleges, have been approved.

Of those that have had their access agreements approved, 80 universities and one FE college (58 percent) will now charge the maximum annual fee of £9,000 for at least one of their courses.

Some 38 percent of universities -- 47 out of the 123 that submitted proposals -- will charge £9,000 for all courses. This includes many of England's leading universities, including Oxford and Cambridge.

But Offa insisted that only 7 percent of institutions will be charging their average student £9,000, after fee waivers for poorer students are taken into account.

These are Bradford University; Durham University; University of East London; University College Falmouth; Lincoln University; University of the Arts London; University College London; University of the West of England, Bristol; and Plymouth College of Art.

These ten are likely to provide bursaries or other forms of support for poorer students, instead of waiving fees.

Overall, students starting undergraduate courses in autumn 2012 face an estimated average fee of £8,393, compared to the government's original estimate of £7,500. Once fee waivers are taken into account this is reduced to £8,161.

Altogether, universities and colleges plan to spend £602 million a year by 2015-16 on helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds, as well as those with disabilities and those from some ethnic minorities, to attend university.

The money will go on fee waivers, bursaries and "outreach" activities such as summer schools. There will also be funding for the National Scholarship Programme, providing one-year grants to students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

"These agreements represent a considerable commitment by universities and colleges to improving access for students who are under-represented in higher education and, where appropriate, improving retention and student success," said Sir Graeme Davis, Offa's Director of Fair Access.

But Liam Burns, president of the National Union of Students (NUS), said: "Fee waivers are being used in a cynical attempt to cover up the mess made when the Government trebled the tuition fee cap, instead of properly supporting less-wealthy students.

"Business Secretary Vince Cable had stated that fees over £6,000 would only be levied in exceptional circumstances but his solemn promise has quite clearly now been left in tatters."

He added: "If access agreements are to be worth more than the paper they're written on, they must be genuinely binding and Offa must be given real powers to hold institutions to account when they fail to deliver."

Pa. looking into possible cheating on state tests

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — The Pennsylvania Department of Education is looking into a report that has surfaced highlighting possible cheating on state standardized tests in at least 35 districts and noting aberrant scores in dozens of others, a spokesman said Tuesday.

The forensic analysis of the 2009 Pennsylvania System of School Assessment results does not assert cheating occurred, but says certain answer patterns and erasures make the results suspicious.

Among the school districts identified as having multiple testing irregularities are Philadelphia, Hazleton, Connellsville and Lancaster. Many other districts were cited for one or two inconsistencies.

The department was unaware of the report — issued in July 2009 under a previous administration — until it was published Friday by The Notebook, an independent news service covering the Philadelphia school district, said Timothy Eller, a spokesman for Education Secretary Ronald Tomalis.

"It's very frustrating to the secretary that nothing was done in the past with it," Eller said. Tomalis became education secretary earlier this year in new Republican Gov. Tom Corbett's administration.

Then-Education Secretary Gerald Zahorchak, who served under Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell and is now superintendent of the Allentown schools, declined comment on Eller's remarks. He said he had not seen the report, but such assessments are conducted routinely by the company that administers the tests, and any subsequent investigation would be handled by a standards and practices commission and the results noted in their annual reports.

"These are not unusual," he said. "These are normal things. ... I can almost guarantee you that many superintendents would say to you 'Yeah, we've been notified about people trying to influence inappropriately the PSSA work.' It's something the department and the state does very, very well — investigate and get to the bottom of complaints."

The news comes days after officials in Georgia revealed a massive cheating scandal in Atlanta, with nearly half of the city's 100 schools involved. State investigators said 178 educators had fudged standardized tests used to meet federal benchmarks dating back to 2001.

That same week, the U.S. Department of Education began looking into cheating allegations in Washington, D.C. Over the past several years, such scandals have surfaced in school districts in Baltimore and Houston, as well as Texas, Michigan and Florida.

Experts say many districts can feel pressured to meet testing standards to avoid penalties under the federal No Child Left Behind legislation, or to ensure positive results for teachers who are rewarded based on student performance.

In Pennsylvania, the PSSA is given annually in various grades to assess math and reading skills. Minnesota-based Data Recognition Corp. analyzed scores from 2009 and found hundreds of aberrant results, and singled out in the report about 90 schools with the most flags.

Based on statistical properties, the report said the suspect results were "highly improbable."

It noted that any possible fraud could have been perpetrated by students, teachers or other officials. But the company also stressed that the scores could have been obtained fairly.

"Their scores, response pattern, and number of erasures were aberrant, from a statistical probability perspective," the report states. "This does not imply that the school or student engaged in inappropriate testing activity."

The Philadelphia schools are willing to investigate the cheating allegations, but spokeswoman Jamilah Fraser said in a statement that such probes are difficult because of teacher turnover, student transience and the vagaries of memory.

The district has received about 10 to 15 accusations of breaches in test security in each of the past three years, and a few have been substantiated through internal investigations, Fraser said. Alleged violations could range from "low-level" offenses, such as failing to cover materials during a testing period, to more serious ones.

She also noted the district has a "very robust test monitoring protocol." Approximately 75 percent of schools, including charters, receive unannounced visits to random classrooms during PSSA testing, Fraser said.

In Connellsville, interim Superintendent Tammy Stern said she was a high school principal during the 2009 exam period. She heard nothing about cheating at the time.

"I'm not aware of any problems or improprieties," Stern told The Associated Press.

Lancaster district spokeswoman Kelly Burkholder said discrepancies in student enrollment and attendance led to the flags for three schools cited in the report.

"Our flags are not a result of testing impropriety but a result of our highly mobile population," Burkholder said.

Hazleton officials were not available for comment Tuesday.

It's not clear how often forensic audits were conducted under the previous administration, Eller said. The July 2009 report refers to that being "the first year of data forensic analyses for the PSSA." A Data Recognition Corp. spokeswoman declined comment.

Eller noted the department's 2010 budget had no money for audits, but that Tomalis has ordered them reinstated for this year.

Democratic state Rep. Michael McGeehan, of Philadelphia, said in a statement that he met last weekend with a group of Philadelphia teachers who alleged cheating at their school.

On Tuesday, he suggested that Tomalis create a "whistleblower hotline" for educators to report allegations of wrongdoing without fear of retaliation.

___

Kathy Matheson can be reached at www.twitter.com/kmatheson

The test for teachers – mastering their fears

School's out for the summer, but school reform is suddenly heating up like a Georgia peanut farm in July.

A scorching July 5 report released by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal revealed that almost 80 percent of Atlanta's elementary and middle schools showed signs of cheating by teachers on statewide-mandated performance tests, called the Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests. Teachers have admitted to changing test papers to improve scores in their schools. At least six top educators in the Atlanta system have been asked to step down by interim school superintendent Erroll Davis.

Scandals involving students who cheat, while always serious, are nothing new. But widespread cheating by those hired to teach children represents a different, and equally disturbing, development.

In 2002, the federal No Child Left Behind Act launched a trend toward greater accountability in education, increasing the importance placed on standardized tests as a way to benchmark success.

Now it appears that the demands to see test scores rise are giving way to a temptation to cheat.

Teachers can often earn bonuses for showing improvement on tests by their students. At the same time, they may fear – sometimes with good cause – that their jobs will be at stake if their students don't test better. They also may feel pressure not to let down fellow teachers and administrators.

Unfortunately, Atlanta is not facing this problem alone. Reports of other instances of cheating continue to be heard around the United States. In Massachusetts, for example, education officials had to invalidate 74 math exams taken at an elementary school in Somerset last year because they showed a "disturbing pattern" of student answers, indicating teacher tampering.

Is making strong demands on teachers and students, asking them to meet tough testing standards, wrong? Not at all. Students must be carefully evaluated to ensure that they graduate with the skills they will need as adults.

The lesson from Atlanta, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution newspaper, is a simple one: "Integrity matters, honesty matters."

Teachers must not only teach the subject matter but provide an ethical model for children. "Atlanta Public Schools has to regain the public's trust, and that's going to take time," Secretary Duncan said. "But all you have is honor and integrity, and you've got to get back to that."

Superintendent Davis, who only recently took over as temporary head of Atlanta's school system, is studying ways to right the ship. He has already taken some strong measures.

"There is no place left in this organization for those who cheat," Davis told the Journal-Constitution. "It is not compassionate to allow someone who has cheated to remain on payroll."

Reforms under way include requiring the school system's 6,000 employees to complete ethics courses. And test results will be more closely scrutinized to uncover suspicious patterns that will trigger investigations.

In addition, whistle-blowers should know that they will be supported and protected against intimidation if they report wrongdoing.

Teachers' fears that they could lose their positions during a tough job market need to be addressed. Knowing that they are in a fair system, and that they have the support they need to succeed, can help calm those fears.

So can knowledge that test scores will not be the only criteria used to judge their teaching ability.

Testing isn't the problem. Rooting out the fears that tempt teachers to cheat is.

Officials replaced amid Atlanta cheating scandal

ATLANTA (AP) — The fallout from the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal continued to spread as four area superintendents were replaced and a school district in Texas put the superintendent it recently hired from Georgia on paid leave.

Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis replaced the four superintendents late Monday, hours before trustees of the DeSoto Independent School District near Dallas placed Superintendent Kathy Augustine on leave as they re-examine her previous post. Augustine has denied having any knowledge of test cheating as Atlanta's deputy superintendent.

The four removed from their area superintendent jobs — Sharon Davis-Williams, Michael Pitts, Robin Hall and Tamara Cotman — were implicated in the scandal. Interim Superintendent Erroll Davis did not say whether they will stay with the school district.

Georgia investigators say 178 educators in 44 schools cheated on standardized tests used to meet federal benchmarks. Educators told state investigators they were pressured by administrators to improve test scores. The testing problems first came to light after The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported that some scores were statistically improbable.

Davis also said two year-round elementary schools named in the state investigative report made public last week will get new principals before classes start Wednesday.

In Texas, trustees of the DeSoto Independent School District held a lengthy closed-door meeting that lasted late into the night before Augustine read a statement announcing she was taking the leave of absence effective Tuesday.

"Please know that I understand your need for thoughtful deliberations about my appointment," Augustine told the trustees after announcing the decision, which she said was reached after "mutual consideration."

After Augustine announced she was taking leave, the trustees took no immediate action on a proposal to terminate her employment. DeSoto schools hired Augustine in April to the $188,000-a-year job in the district, which has some 9,000 students in the Dallas area.

Also Monday, Atlanta Public Schools board member Khaatim El announced he was resigning from the board.

"I just concluded in the end it just shouldn't be this hard to do the right things for kids," El said as he fought back tears. "I failed to protect thousands of children who come from homes like mine. It remains to be seen, no matter how deep this thing goes, whether the soul of Atlanta has been stirred."

The state investigation revealed the nation's largest cheating scandal yet on standardized tests, with nearly half of Atlanta's 100 schools involved, and highlighted the immense pressure put on educators to produce better scores. Criminal charges are likely for some of the educators who confessed and the rest who were implicated by colleagues.

College Students Reminded to Wash Their Hands

SUNDAY, Sept. 5 (HealthDay News) -- As college students begin to settle into their new dorm rooms at campuses nationwide, one New York City-based public health advocate is offering some basic advice to help them stay healthy during the upcoming flu season.

Kathryn Hutchinson, executive director of health and wellness at St. John's University, pointed out that the first thing students should do, ideally before leaving home, is to discuss the option of getting a flu vaccine with their parents and physician. This may help alleviate any anxiety students have about whether or not to get the shot.

Beyond taking that step, Hutchinson encourages students to arrive at school armed and ready to keep their hands clean and maintain a sanitary environment. That means stocking a supply of soap, as well as cleaning supplies to wipe down desks, sinks, computer keyboards and any other shared surfaces.

Frequent handwashing is a must, and hand sanitizers are useful when washing is impractical. But, Hutchinson stressed, sharing glassware, utensils and personal items such as toiletries (razors, toothbrushes, combs) is definitely not a good idea.

Also, students are urged to keep a digital thermometer on hand, and their health insurance card in case they need medical attention.

One good way to keep from spreading germs is to practice "cough etiquette" -- in other words cover the nose and mouth when coughing or sneezing, throw away any used tissues immediately, and wash your hands as soon as possible.

Overall, Hutchinson said, most students will find that the usual recommendations -- an exercise routine, a healthy diet and adequate sleep -- are the keys to staying healthy, as well as reducing their stress. But if and when health problems arise, she advises students to contact a health care professional immediately.

Jerry Brown Signs Law Requiring Gay History in Public Schools

California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed into law a bill requiring the teaching of gay accomplishments in lesson plans and textbooks today, reports The Los Angeles Times. The legislation requires public schools to discuss the achievements of gay, lesbian and transgender Americans in their social studies curriculum. "It's an important step forward for the state of California,'' said Gil Duran, a spokesman for the governor. "It revises existing law to make sure people are not excluded from history books. History should reflect reality." The bill passed through the Democratic-controlled Legislature last week by a mostly party-line vote. "The bill has drawn criticism from some churches and conservative groups that argue such instruction would expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable," reports the Associated Press. It was sponsored by state Sen. Mark Leno who said "Denying LGBT people their rightful place in history gives our young people an inaccurate and incomplete view of the world around them." Meanwhile, Benjamin Lopez of the Traditional Values Coalition bristled, "We have failed at our core educational mission and yet we are now going to inject gay studies into the classrooms. Its absurd and offensive."

Related: California Passes Gay History Education Bill

California gov signs landmark law on gay history

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a landmark bill adding lessons about gay history to social studies classes in California's public schools.

Brown, a Democrat, signed the bill Thursday, making California the first state in the nation to require public schools to include the contributions of gays and lesbians in social studies curriculum.

The Democratic-majority Legislature passed the bill last week on a largely party-line vote.

The bill has drawn criticism from some churches and conservative groups that argue such instruction would expose students to a subject that some parents find objectionable.

Democratic state Sen. Mark Leno of San Francisco, the bill's author, has said that teaching gay history in public schools will teach students to be more accepting of gays and lesbians.

On-screen smoking in youth movies sharply declines

ATLANTA (Reuters) - Far fewer top-grossing U.S. films aimed at young audiences are featuring smoking scenes, a possible factor in the decline in cigarette use among middle and high school students, health officials said on Thursday.

Tobacco use appeared on-screen 595 times in 2010 in top movies rated G, PG or PG-13, a 71.6 percent drop from 2005, according to a new survey by a non-profit group, Breathe California of Sacramento-Emigrant Trails.

The survey was featured on Thursday in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report."

The drop in on-screen tobacco use largely can be attributed to policies by three major film studios, Time Warner, Disney and Comcast, which discourage smoking in their films, said Stanton Glantz, a professor of medicine at the University of California-San Francisco who contributed to the CDC article.

Tobacco use in youth-rated movies by those three companies dropped 95.8 percent from 2005 to 2010, compared to 41.7 percent among companies without such policies, the CDC said.

"What this shows is that those policies have been working," Glantz told Reuters.

The CDC article concluded that the decreased presence of on-screen smoking might have contributed to less smoking by young people in real life.

From 2000 to 2009, tobacco use among middle school students declined from 15.1 percent to 8.2 percent and among high school students from 34.5 percent to 23.9 percent, the CDC reported last August.

In 2007, the Motion Picture Association of America announced that scenes glamorizing smoking could affect a movie's rating.

The World Health Organization and other groups have recommended an automatic R rating for movies featuring tobacco use, unless the film portrays an historical figure who smoked or depicts the harm of smoking, according to the CDC.

"Adoption of this policy could further reduce tobacco incidents in youth-rated movies," the CDC report said.

It also recommended showing anti-smoking advertisements before movies that feature tobacco use.

The CDC suggested state governments, which provide $1 billion annually in tax breaks to movie producers, could coordinate their anti-smoking efforts with programs designed to attract film productions.

The 15 U.S. states with the top-grossing movies that featured tobacco in 2010 spent more on tax subsidies for the film productions than they did on anti-tobacco programs, the CDC said.

States could also consider limiting tax subsidies to tobacco-free films only, the CDC said.

Ken Garcia, a spokesman for Altria Group Inc., the parent company of the largest U.S. cigarette manufacturer, Philip Morris USA, said the company opposes the use of tobacco by young people and the depiction of tobacco use in films for young people.

"We support programs that help reduce underage tobacco use," he said. "Kids should not use any tobacco products."

(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Jerry Norton)

Six percent of D.C. public school employees get separation notes

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The District of Columbia Public Schools has notified 413 employees of their separation as the result of IMPACT evaluations, the DCPS said on Friday.

IMPACT evaluates teacher performance based on student achievement, instructional expertise, collaboration, and professionalism. Other employees are assessed based on criteria specific to their jobs.

The 413 represent just over 6 percent of the 6,500 total DCPS employees. DCPS issued separation notices based on performance and on noncompliance with licensing requirements for the 2010-2011 school year, according to a DCPS statement.

All employees who received separation notices will have the chance to resign, appeal, or retire, if eligible.

IMPACT evaluates approximately 6,500 employees of DCPS, which educates more than 47,000 students in 126 schools in Washington, D.C.

The evaluation system was introduced at the start of the 2009-2010 school year.

Employees receive one of four IMPACT ratings -- highly effective, effective, minimally effective, or ineffective - for the year.

For 2011, DCPS notified 309 employees that they will be separated due to low performance ratings, and 104 employees because they had not complied with licensing requirements.

Twenty-one teachers are being "moved out" after completing their placements because they were unable to find permanent positions in the school system, according to DCPS.

About 4,100 of the 6,500 employees evaluated under IMPACT are part of the Washington Teachers' Union. Roughly 3,400 of these are teachers.

UNION CONCERNS

"Some subgroups of that total concern me," WTU President Nathan Saunders told Reuters -- referring to the 21 teachers being 'moved out' -- "particularly a group of teachers who were deemed effective or highly effective under the system and terminated because they could not find a placement within their public school system, while DCPS goes out and hires new teachers."

According to Saunders, it costs approximately $40,000 to move a teacher of employment.

"And when you have 21 individuals moved out of individual employment when you don't have to, it suggests that you just wasted $100,000."

In 2011, 1,213 employees won the top rating of highly effective, as compared to 1,499 in 2010, according to IMPACT results.

WTU members who earned the top rating qualify for performance bonuses of up to $25,000. Two-hundred-ninety WTU members were top-rated for the second year in a row, making them eligible for base salary increases of up to $20,000, in addition to the annual performance bonus.

Nearly 60 percent of WTU members who received the lowest rating last year and decided to stay in the system improved their rating.

"Great teachers are critical to our success," DCPS Chancellor Kaya Henderson stated in Friday's announcement.

Henderson succeeded former chancellor Michelle Rhee, who created the IMPACT evaluation system, which some saw as a needed reform to improve educational quality and others as damaging to teacher morale.

Rhee resigned in October after the mayor who backed her changes was defeated in an election where they were a major issue.

"The ultimate potential effect of this system might be to drive effective teachers out of the system as opposed to bring them in," said Saunders. "In the second year of IMPACT we now can see that you can be effective or highly effective and be terminated."

"And that is problematic, not for 6 percent of the D.C. public school workforce, but 100 percent of the D.C. public schools workforce."

(Editing by Jerry Norton)