Confucius Institute Scholarships in China - East Africa Job Board

Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban) launches the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship? for international?students, scholars and Chinese language teachers. The category of scholarship of 2013 includes scholarship for students of Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages?MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students?in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?) or?study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy. The application deadline varies from one host institute to other.

Study Subject(s):?The scholarship is offered for pursuing Master?s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?), or study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy.
Course Level:?The category of scholarship of 2013 includes Scholarship for Students of Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students.
Scholarship Provider:?Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban)
Scholarship can be taken at:?China

Eligibility:
Scholarship for Students of MTCSOL:
-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding performers on HSK exams, winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, and outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world for taking the MTCSOL degree.
-Applicants are required to have bachelor degrees or its equivalent with a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 5) and a score of at least 50 on the HSKK (intermediate level), and make a written commitment stating that he/she will be engaged in Chinese language teaching for at least 5 years after graduation. Applicants with specific teaching posts arranged will be given admission priority (certification by the institution he/she will teach for is required). Hanban will provide support for outstanding graduates to return to their countries to teach.
Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL:
-The scholarship is provided to Confucius Institute students from Africa and Latin America regions who would like to engage in the Chinese language teaching.
- Applicants shall sign agreements with the Confucius Institute or institutes to which they will be providing teaching services.
-Applicants are required to have bachelor degrees or its equivalent with a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 3) and a score of at least 60 on the HSKK (primary level). Those who pass the first-academic-year assessment and score at least 180 on the HSK (level 5) can continue to study in China for the Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages. Hanban will provide support for graduates returning to their countries to teach Chinese language by recruiting them as local teachers and providing wage subsidies, etc.
Scholarship for One-Academic Year Students:
-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world, and outstanding performers on the HSK, or those who intend to become Chinese teachers.
-Applicants should achieve a score of at least 180 on the HSK (level 3) and at least 60 on the HSKK (primary level), or complete their study at a Confucius Institute for over 120 hours.
Scholarship for One-Semester Students:
-The scholarship is provided to outstanding students of Confucius Institutes (Classrooms), winners of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students, overseas local Chinese language teachers, outstanding graduates of Chinese language across the world, and outstanding performers on the HSK.
-Applicants should achieve a score of at least 120 on the HSK (level 2) and at least 40 on the HSKK (elementary level), or complete their study at a Confucius Institute for over 60 hours.

Scholarship Open for International Students:?The international students (non-Chinese citizens) can apply for this scholarship.

Scholarship Description:?In order to support the development of Confucius Institutes, facilitate Chinese language promotion and Chinese cultural transmission in the world, cultivate qualified Chinese language teachers and talented students of Chinese language, Confucius Institute Headquarters/Hanban (hereinafter referred to as Hanban) launches the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship? program to provide financial aid for students, scholars and Chinese language teachers worldwide to proceed to a Master?s degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages (MTCSOL) in Chinese universities (hereinafter referred to as ?host institutes?), or study in such majors as Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese History and Chinese Philosophy. The category of scholarship of 2013 includes Scholarship for Students of Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages(MTCSOL), Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + MTCSOL, Scholarship for One-Academic-Year Students, and Scholarship for One-Semester Students. Applicants shall be non-Chinese citizens in good health, aged between 16 and 35 (Chinese language teachers in post shall be aged below 45).

Duration of award(s):?Scholarship for Students of MTCSOL: The scholarship winner shall begin the study in autumn 2013, and the grant will cover two academic years. Scholarship for One-Academic Year Students: ?the grant term is one academic year. Scholarship for One-Semester Students: The time of entrance is autumn 2013 or spring 2014 and the grant term is one semester.

What does it cover??Scholarship winners are exempt from registration fees, tuition, fees for basic learning materials, accommodation fees on campus, and are provided with a one-off resettlement subsidy, monthly allowance, outpatient medical service and comprehensive insurance for foreign students studying in China. Monthly allowances are at the following rates (CNY Yuan per month):
a. CNY 1,400 for One-Academic-Year Students and One-Semester Students.
b. CNY 1,700 for Master?s Degree Students.
The one-off resettlement subsidy is CNY 1,500 for students who will study in China for one academic year or more; CNY 1,000 will be provided to all students who studies in China for one semester; the one-off resettlement subsidy will not be provided to those who have studied in China for more than half a year before being enrolled.

Recruitment Procedures:-From the issue date of the Procedures, applicants should log on to the Confucius Institute Scholarship website athttp://cis.chinese.cn. set up an individual account, read information and introduction of host institutes and majors, complete and submit the Confucius Institute Scholarship Application Form online.
-Confucius Institutes (independently set-up Confucius Classrooms), overseas Chinese test centers, educational and cultural offices (sections) of Chinese embassies (consulates), host institutes and institutions of higher education in those countries with no Confucius Institutes are entrusted by Hanban as the recommending institutions. The recommending institutions shall exam the qualification and application materials of applicants, and submit the list of recommended applicants to Hanban by April 25th, 2013.
- Host institutes are responsible for reviewing the qualification of applicants and submitting the proposed enrollment name list of qualified candidates to Hanban by May 25th, 2013.
- Hanban will organize an expert panel to make the final selection, and publish the name list of successful applicants on the Scholarship website by June 15th, 2013. Hanban will also inform the host institutes and the recommending institutions, which will inform the applicants.
- The host institutes will post ?Admission Notice?, ?Enrollment Instructions?, ?Visa Application Form for Foreigners to Study in China? (JW202 Form) and other related materials to successful applicants through their recommending institutions by July 1st, 2013.

Notification:?Hanban will organize an expert panel to make the final selection, and publish the name list of successful applicants on the Scholarship website by June 15th, 2013. Hanban will also inform the host institutes and the recommending institutions, which will inform the applicants.

How to Apply:?Applicants must log onto the Scholarship website, fill out the ?Confucius Institute Scholarship Application Form?, and attach the electronic files of the following materials:
- Photocopy of Passport Photo Page
- Photocopy of HSK and HSKK Result Report
- Notarized highest education diplomas attained or proof of study
- Reference Letter and Letter of Commitment. Students attending Chinese language programs of universities in countries with no Confucius Institutes established shall attach a reference letter signed and issued by the university President. The Master?s Degree Scholarship applicants are required to submit reference letters provided by two professors or associate professors (in Chinese or English). A written commitment stating that the applicant will be engaged in Chinese language teaching for at least 5 years after graduation (written in Chinese and sign with signature).
- Applications under the age of 18 shall submit relevant legal documents of entrusted legal guardians in China.
- Winners of the finals of the ?Chinese Bridge? Chinese Proficiency Competitions for Foreign College Students and for Foreign High School Students in China shall submit the scholarship certificate. Winners of preliminary rounds of the ?Chinese Bridge? Proficiency Competitions in their countries shall provide award proof and reference letter provided by the organizers.
- Chinese language teachers shall submit certificate of employment and recommendation letters provided by institutes they work for.
- Those applying for the Scholarship for Students of One-Academic-Year + Master?s Degree in Teaching Chinese to Speakers of Other Languages are required to provide the agreement signed with the Confucius Institute or the institute which they will be working for.
- Other materials required by host institutes.

Scholarship Application Deadline:?The scholarship winners shall register at the host institutes before the deadline set by the institutes. Scholarships will not be kept for those who do not register on time without reasonable cause.

Source: http://www.eajobboard.com/2013/04/confucius-institute-scholarships-in.html

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The many lives of Linda | Scene Bay Area

Photo by Stuart Lirette

Linda Jacobs Davis has been renegade, spiritual searcher and community beacon ? all shaped who she is today

~ By Julia Prodis Sulek.

Linda Jacobs Davis is a woman who understands the power of story. She?s been encouraging others to tell theirs for years. As CEO of the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership in Marin County since 2002, a big part of her job is to help nonprofits learn not only how to tell the stories of their organizations, but the personal ones of their volunteers and clientele as well.

At the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership?s Heart of Marin awards dinner she organizes every year, presentations by representatives of the nonprofits get so emotional, Davis sets out boxes of tissue on each table. She?s often the first to cry.

?Everybody has a story, and it?s important to remember it and tell it and use it to grow from,? she says. ?I like hearing where they?ve come from, what they?ve overcome. I love listening.?

But now, with her grown sons off to college and her mother ailing, she feels it?s time for her own telling. On a recent airplane trip to visit her mother, Davis flipped open her laptop and began outlining the story of her life.

Her two sons know her mostly as a mom and nonprofit champion. But there has been so much more ? what about those ?70s! They barely know anything about her rebellious youth, her marriage to a high-ranking member of the controversial self-awareness training organization est, or the year she spent helping her best friend fulfill her bucket list before she died. (That included finding a man for her friend to have sex with one last time. Check!)

They don?t really know how she went from hippie child to executive director of a Chamber of Commerce. Some of her most profound stories seem like lifetimes ago. But to Davis, they are real, they are vivid and they molded her into the woman she has become.

Davis is a vibrant 57-year-old, taking regular yoga classes and hiking in the oak-studded hills behind her home. But sadness has surrounded her lately: Her father-in-law died early this year and her mother is in declining health. Friends have died of lung disease, heart attacks and prostate cancer. Even her beloved dog, Maya, passed away in November. (Davis keeps a shrine to her in the entry hall.)

After her first husband and her best friend died within two years of each other ? the two most wrenching experiences of her life ? she worried that the stories they shared might die along with them. She keeps journals, photographs and souvenirs to help her remember. She is calling upon those now.

Saving the world

In her family room, she opens a scrapbook she keeps in a cabinet. In it are cigarette butts and ticket stubs from the concerts of Alice Cooper, Three Dog Night and Grand Funk Railroad. There?s a photo of Davis as a teenager sitting in the bedroom she painted orange. Her hair is braided. A guitar lies beside her. Music posters hang on the wall. In those days, she kept a diary with a lock on it.

Born into a lower-middle-class family in Coral Gables, Fla., in 1955 ? her father worked as an insurance salesman and her mother sold Tupperware until the kids were grown ? Davis became the renegade of the family. She hitchhiked to concerts across Florida. In high school in Southwest Miami, she refused to stand for the Pledge of Allegiance.

?I would make statements, try to be different, question things,? she says. ?I was on restriction all the time.?

In high school and into college, she turned her energy to advocating for those who had little voice. ?I did crazy things,? she says. She called herself a hippie, joined protests against the Vietnam War and became active in an early version of the Green Party. She read Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan, and studied modern dance.

?She wanted to be independent and on her own,? says her younger sister, Arlene Jacobs Feltman, a doctor in Texas. ?She definitely wanted to save the whales and save the world.?

After graduating from the University of South Florida with a degree in art history, Davis was introduced in 1977 to est, short for Erhard Seminars Training. Like many young people drawn to founder Werner Erhard, she considered herself shy and was looking for a jolt of self-confidence through the program, which taught self-awareness and intensive communication and demanded brutal honesty and self-analysis. Erhard has been criticized as a cult-like figure, and some participants complained that the sessions were too emotionally heavy-handed. Though Davis would one day break from the ?Erhard Family,? she says this is where she ?went from a very shy, insecure person to trusting who I was.?

And this is where she met her first husband, Jack Mantos, a Harvard-educated, Tampa physician who became Erhard?s second-in-command. Together they moved to San Francisco when she was just 23 to help run the San Francisco office of est. When they married in 1983, Erhard served as best man. Five years later, when Davis was 31 and working for the Breakthrough Foundation, a training program for youth that was started by Erhard in 1980, her husband collapsed in the kitchen and died of a cardiac arrhythmia. She plunged into self-reflection, reading books on death and dying, talking to rabbis and priests.

?It was an awful period of time,? she says. ?Jack was brilliant. When he died, I thought all that brilliance died with him. I made a pact with myself I would be smarter. I would listen more. I would learn more, read more, because life was short and I was going to do something that mattered.?

That way of thinking crystallized two years later when her best friend, Libby Moore, whom she met through est when she first moved to San Francisco, was dying of a brain tumor.

Moore?s bucket list included trips to Disneyland and Hawaii, watching the movie ?Ghost,? giving things away, throwing a goodbye party and having sex one more time.

Over the course of a year, Davis helped her fulfill each wish on that list. She joined her on the trip to Hawaii, where Davis had arranged for a friend of a friend to be a ?male companion? for the week. She still giggles at the thought of how she and a friend found the tall, somewhat attractive man to grant this last wish.

She would do anything for her best friend. They even made a pact, that if it were possible for Moore to communicate from ?the other side,? her friends would feel it with a soft impression on their left cheek.

Family and leadership

?She prepared for death in a way that was just remarkable and so empowering,? Davis says. But Moore?s death was devastating. Davis has never had as close a girlfriend since.

The experience of losing her husband and best friend, she says, ?made me a better person. I had more empathy and compassion, and I asked more questions. It was less about me and more about other people.?

By then, Davis had met and married Perry Davis, a dark-haired salesman who had two degrees and spoke fluent Spanish. They met at the gym in San Francisco. Unlike her first husband, he was old-fashioned in some ways. He was shy and sent her flowers.

?He was very romantic ? he swept me off my feet,? she says.

She was Jewish with hippie roots, and he was a straitlaced Catholic, but within two years of meeting, they were married with two children, Aaron and Jacob. Her husband converted, and they raised their children Jewish.

Again, she kept journals of those years, documenting the boys? first steps, first words, their favorite foods. Through the years of football games and soccer tournaments, she and her husband taught them the value of helping others, of giving back.

?We always had similar values through it all,? she says. ?We believed that family always came first and that we had to instill ethics, integrity and service as values in our kids.?

After Hurricane Katrina, she took the boys to New Orleans to help rebuild some of the flooded homes. Her youngest, Jacob, is studying molecular biology and playing football at Tulane University in New Orleans, where he is also volunteering with local schools. Her oldest, Aaron, is an artist and in graduate school at Robert Morris University in Chicago. His paintings reflect messages of social justice.

During those child-rearing years, Davis worked as development director for Planned Parenthood, until she was ready to take on a job as leader of an organization. When the position of executive director of the Mill Valley Chamber of Commerce came up in 1996, she took it. This once anti-establishment nonconformist learned the value of community, structure and organization to be an effective advocate.

For seven years, she enjoyed the challenge and politics of the job, but ruffled some conservative feathers along the way, most notably when she penned a pro-choice column in the local newspaper. She looked for a better fit, and in 2002, found the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership. She also served on numerous boards, and continues to serve on several, including the Marin Economic Forum and California Association of Nonprofits (she is currently the board chair).

?Her life has been full and rich, a wonderful tapestry of overcoming heartache and being a voice for people not being heard,? says Maureen Sedonaen, board president of the Center For Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership who, along with Davis, was honored in the Marin Women?s Hall of Fame in 2011. ?It all starts with her heart and goes from there. She is a person who is very smart and very savvy and takes her passion and uses it in the world to have a positive impact.?

Writing a book about her life, as Davis now wants to do, is a daunting challenge. But her boys are gone, and the house is quieter these days. She believes she has one in her.

?It feels like sometimes I?ve lived three lives,? she says: her rebellious teenage years, the era of est and losing her husband and friend, and her decades as a mother and nonprofit advocate. ?I kind of wish I had a fourth one. You learn lessons from each one.?

If she could, she would take everything she?s learned, she says, ?and have one more big hurrah.?

Linda Jacobs Davis flips through a scrapbook she kept to record adventures and memories of years past. Photo by Stuart Lirette.

As a teen in her bedroom, Davis painted the walls orange, hung music posters on the wall and kept a locked diary. Courtesy Linda Jacobs Davis.

Davis helped her best friend, Libby Moore (in wheelchair), fulfill her bucket list, including a trip to Disneyland.

Davis with Congresswoman Lynn Woolsey in the mid-?90s, speaking against Republicans? ?Contract With America.?

With son Jacob, far left, in 2008, at the Center for Volunteer and Nonprofit Leadership?s annual fundraiser ?race.? Courtesy Linda Jacobs Davis.

Davis and her husband Perry took their sons Jacob, left, and Aaron to New Orleans to rebuild homes after Hurricane Katrina. Courtesy Linda Jacobs Davis.

Source: http://scenebayarea.com/2013/04/the-many-lives-of-linda/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-many-lives-of-linda

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Ex-Gov. Sanford clears hurdle in comeback bid

MOUNT PLEASANT, S.C. (AP) ? Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford on Tuesday cleared another hurdle in his bid for political redemption, defeating a former Charleston County council member to win the GOP nomination for the U.S. House seat he held for three terms.

"It's been a very long journey. And in that journey I am humbled to find ourselves where we find ourselves tonight," said Sanford, whose political career was derailed four years ago when, as sitting governor, he disappeared from the state only to return to acknowledge an extramarital affair with an Argentine woman.

That woman, Maria Belen Chapur, and Sanford are now engaged. She appeared at Sanford's side during his victory speech, smiling and applauding the former governor, who thanked her for being long-suffering while he was campaigning. She did not address the crowd.

"I want to thank my God," Sanford said. "I used to cringe when somebody would say, 'I want to thank my God' because at that point I would think this is getting uncomfortable. But once you really receive God's grace and (have) seen it reflected in others you stop and acknowledge that grace and the difference He has made in my life and in so many lives across this state and across this nation."

With all of the precincts reporting, Sanford had about 57 percent of the vote in the 1st District to 43 percent for Curtis Bostic, the former county council member. The candidates were vying in the GOP runoff after they finished as the top two vote-getters in a 16-way GOP primary last month.

Sanford will face Democrat Elizabeth Colbert Busch, the sister of comedian Stephen Colbert, and Green Party candidate Eugene Platt in a May special election.

Colbert Busch released a statement late Tuesday saying "I look forward to a vigorous campaign that focuses on creating jobs, balancing our country's budget and choosing an independent-minded leader who shares the values of the great people of South Carolina."

Sanford, a former three-term congressman and two-term governor, said earlier Tuesday that the runoff would give a good indication whether voters have moved past his personal indiscretions.

"I'm both humbled and grateful for the response of the voters here tonight," he said later.

Sanford was a rising Republican political star before he vanished from South Carolina for five days in 2009. Reporters were told he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, but the then-married governor later tearfully acknowledged he was visiting Maria Belen Chapur, which he told everyone at a news conference announcing his affair. He later called her his soul mate and the two were engaged last year.

After the revelation of the affair, Sanford's wife Jenny divorced him and wrote a book.

Before leaving office as governor, Mark Sanford avoided impeachment but was censured by the Legislature over state travel expenses he used for the affair. He also had to pay more than $70,000 in ethics fines ? still the largest in state history ? after Associated Press investigations raised questions about his use of state, private and commercial aircraft.

The 1st District seat opened up after Republican Tim Scott was appointed to serve out the remaining two years of U.S. Sen. Jim DeMint's term. DeMint resigned to head The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank.

Mark Sanford knows the district well, though the boundaries have changed somewhat. Elected to the seat in 1994 ? Jenny Sanford managed his first campaign and was a close adviser for most of his career ? he served three terms before voters elected him governor in 2002.

Jenny Sanford briefly looked at mounting a race in the Republican-leaning congressional district along the state's southern coast, but she decided against it, saying her job as a mother to the couple's four sons was more important.

In last month's GOP primary, Bostic collected only about 13 percent of the vote, narrowly defeating state Sen. Larry Grooms for second place. But he had less than two weeks to overcome Sanford's high name recognition.

During a televised debate, he took a jab at Sanford, saying "a compromised candidate is not what we need" in the race against Colbert Busch.

Sanford acknowledged he "failed very publically" but said he had done a lot of soul searching since then. He added, "Not since Jesus Christ was here has there been a perfect man or woman."

He said that after Scott was appointed, people kept encouraging him to run.

Sanford said they told him "here is your chance for you to learn, not only from your experience in Congress and the governorship, but more significantly what you learned both on the way up and the way down and apply it to what is arguably one of the great conundrums of our civilization, which is how do we get our financial house in order."

One of those in attendance at the debate was Barbara Boilston, a 49-year-old paralegal from Charleston. She talked about Sanford's indiscretions.

"I believe he has come full circle," she said. "I believe he has found peace with God. If God forgives, I forgive, and we should go forward and put this man back in office."

Bostic said earlier Tuesday that he liked his chances as he visited with voters in a suburban Charleston precinct.

"People dismiss us," the attorney and retired Marine said. "But we believe strongly the best way to win elections is through relationships and we have worked really hard to do that."

Bostic himself did not vote in the GOP runoff on Tuesday because he can't.

His residence near Ravenel, S.C., is in the 6th Congressional District, represented by U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, about 1,500 yards from the 1st District line. Bostic's law office, other property, church and children's schools are in the district. Under federal law, to run for the U.S. House, one only need to be a resident of the state in which the district is located, not the district itself.

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/scs-ex-gov-sanford-clears-hurdle-comeback-bid-023619843--election.html

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Stop 'bad guys with guns' by implementing good policies

Apr. 2, 2013 ? Tragedies involving children, such as the one at Sandy Hook Elementary School, fuel massive outrage and calls for immediate action to prevent similar atrocities. The National Rifle Association (NRA) has put forward a National Shield School Proposal which supports the placement of armed security in all schools. A new review by Gordon and Angela Crews from Marshall University in West Virginia and Catherine Burton from The Citadel in South Carolina attempts to find a balanced and unbiased view of the facts within this heated and emotional debate. Their paper, which appears in the American Journal of Criminal Justice, published by Springer, sets out what these proposals would mean to schools and offers some alternative suggestions.

Though the National Rifle Association presents a convincing argument, the authors have found that some of the evidence which they use to back their proposals is erroneous. The NRA contends that schools are not safe places for children, when they are indeed the safest places. They have stated that school violence is the "leading cause of death" of children when statistics clearly show that unintentional injury is the primary cause of death among 5-24 year olds.

Crews and his colleagues then point out that it is still not proven that security guards actually prevent school violence. Both Columbine and Virginia Tech, where two of the most deadly school shootings occurred, already employed armed security guards. There are also the financial implications of such a scheme. These are enormous, both in terms of implementation and civil and/or criminal liability.

Suggestions that volunteers carry out armed policing of schools, though cheap, only adds another layer of potential problems. There are numerous other concerns. There is the increased chance of injury and death. Questions have already been raised about the potential conflict of interest for security firms involved.

There is a raft of problems already documented relating to security guards in schools ranging from criminal activity to increased student detention rates. There is the not inconsequential potential for arms kept at schools to fall into the wrong hands. When there are such serious doubts about the efficacy of a proposal and the costs are so high, alternative solutions must be sought.

Two questions, which the National Rifle Association repeatedly fails to address when looking at school shootings, are whose hands the weapons were in and the ease with which they got there. Crews and his colleagues note that in the past there has been a reluctance to profile school shooters. However, there is evidence to show that in the majority of cases the assailant suffered from some type of mental health issue, dysfunctional family, problems at school, social isolation and in some instances, bullying. They suggest that it is these issues that are the root cause of these tragedies and that in order to prevent school violence, society must address troubled youth, along with their ease of access to weapons.

The authors conclude: "Preventing school violence does not have to be expensive. All it takes is preventing the development of young men and women into perpetrators of school violence, and putting armed guards at fortified schools will not do this...It just requires someone to pay attention, to listen and to care, which really cost nothing." Their assertion is given backing by teachers in California, sixty-seven percent of who believe that hiring a counselor would be more effective at preventing school violence than hiring a police officer.

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Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Springer Science+Business Media.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.

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Journal Reference:

1. Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews, Catherine E. Burton. The Only Thing That Stops a Guy with a Bad Policy is a Guy with a Good Policy: An Examination of the NRA?s ?National School Shield? Proposal. American Journal of Criminal Justice, 2013; DOI: 10.1007/s12103-013-9202-x

Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.

Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/HFTvxu5McOg/130402125042.htm

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Wanderlei Silva pulls April Fool?s ?joke,? says he?s fighting Gegard Mousasi at UFC on Fuel. He?s not.

As we mentioned on Monday, Saturday's main event UFC bout between Gegard Mousasi and Alexander Gustafsson could be in trouble because of a facial laceration suffered by Gustafsson. Wanderlei Silva saw this news, and seized upon it to play an April Fool's Joke that wasn't really all that funny.

He tweeted this info late Monday afternoon:

UFC news my guys fight Saturday agains Musasi!!! What you think? UFC just contact me about Saturday,UFC acabeu de me ligar o que acha?

? Wanderlei Silva (@wandfc) April 1, 2013

No one from the UFC confirmed that Silva was taking Gustafsson's place, but Silva kept playing up the "joke." He tweeted news stories about him taking the fight. Even Mousasi tweeted about it:

@ufc @danawhite at this moment I do not have any new info about my situationBut if ufc want's and mr @wandfc is ready for me than let's Go!

? Gegard Mousasi (@mousasi_mma) April 1, 2013

But on Tuesday morning, Silva admitted it was a joke. He posted the above picture on his Instagram account, with the caption:

I catch you wand the best April first ever!! But I would like this to be true!!!

Ummm, OK. For one, is that funny? The MMA website Middle Easy pulled a good April Fool's Day prank by redesigning their website as if it was 1996. Hulu changed all their show titles to fake shows like "The Rural Juror" and "Ya Herd? With Perd." But saying you have a fight when you don't?

If Silva wants to say he is next man up for the bout with Mousasi in case Gustafsson can't fight, that's fine. He should just do that. But taking everyone in the MMA world, even a potential opponent, for a ride with a so-called joke? That's not cool, Axe Murderer.

Source: http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/mma-cagewriter/wanderlei-silva-pulls-april-fool-joke-says-fighting-145339633--mma.html

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DJ Clue Arrested for Possession of Pills

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NASA's SORCE satellite marks a decade in the sun

Apr. 2, 2013 ? NASA's Solar Radiation and Climate Experiment (SORCE) satellite has been providing data on the sun's irradiance for 10 years. SORCE measures electromagnetic radiation produced by the sun and the power per unit area of that energy on Earth's surface.

"SORCE has set a new standard of accuracy, precision, and wavelength range for the sun's irradiance," said Robert Cahalan, SORCE Project Scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. "[It's] a kind of climate gold standard' for the radiative forcing of Earth over the decade of the 2000s, beginning with the dramatic Halloween flares of October-November 2003, through the historically low 2008-2009 minimum of Solar Cyclone 23, into the rise of Solar Cycle 24, providing a climate record likely to grow in value for sun and Earth studies over many decades to come."

SORCE was launched on January 25, 2003 and began normal operations on March 6, 2003. The mission of SORCE was to collect a continuous record of the sun's Total Solar Irradiance (TSI) and Spectral Solar Irradiance (SSI). The SORCE spacecraft carries four observational instruments: Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM), Solar Stellar Irradiance Comparison Experiment (SOLSTICE), Solar Irradiance Monitor (SIM), and soft X-ray Ultraviolet Photometer System (XPS).

SORCE was launched during a solar maximum period; as the mission progressed, the sun moved into a solar minimum period that was considerably longer than predicted. The next cycle did finally get started, and solar activity is now nearing its apex for this current cycle (though current observations suggest that the maximum may have a double peak).

Basically, SORCE data has provided scientists a unique understanding of how the sun varies both slowly and rapidly, affecting Earth's weather and climate systems and ultimately all the life on Earth that depends on the sun's flow of energy.

One of the primary results of the SORCE mission is the daily record of Total Solar Irradiance (TSI), above the atmosphere of Earth. TSI is a critical, fundamental variable for Earth's climate system, because even small variations in the amount of energy received by the Earth globe from the sun can affect Earth's climate and weather systems. TSI is slightly lower during solar minimum periods and higher during solar maximum periods, with higher variability evident during solar maximum periods. Solar flares and sunspots, which occur more frequently during solar maxima, cause measurable variability in TSI.

One of the most important achievements of SORCE was using Total Irradiance Monitor (TIM) data to establish a new baseline level of total solar irradiance (TSI) at the top of Earth's atmosphere of 1360.8 watts per meter squared (W/m2), as determined during the recent solar minimum. That minimum TSI value is known to 0.5 watts-per-meter-squared, or 0.037% (100 x 0.5/1360.8), an unprecedented high degree of accuracy. That value is 0.34% (4.6 W/m2) lower than measured by previous space-based solar monitoring instruments, which include the Active Cavity Radiometer Irradiance Monitor (ACRIM) missions and the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) mission. Two other instrument groups have now come into agreement with SORCE's TSI estimates, including both ACRIMSAT-ACRIM3 and The European Space Agency's PICARD-SOVAP.

TSI is a fundamental variable in the calculation of the sun's energy input to Earth's climate system and Earth's overall energy budget. Extremely accurate measurements of TSI also indicate how much the amount of solar energy reaching Earth is varying.

Another major achievement of SORCE is that the satellite acquired the first continuous measurements of solar spectral irradiance (SSI) in the 115 to 2400 nanometer spectral (wavelength) range. The visible spectral range (the range that the human eye is sensitive to) is from about 390 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red). Thus, SORCE provides SSI measurements from the ultraviolet to the infrared. SORCE's new, accurate data provide refined inputs to models of the atmosphere and Earth's climate.

As the ability to model Earth's climate and atmosphere has advanced, so too, has the need for improved specification of solar irradiance inputs. Most, if not all, state-of-the-art models of Earth's climate and atmosphere, such as those used for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change's Fifth Assessment and the Ozone Assessment, now require the SSI -- not just the total (spectrally integrated) quantity. Analysis of SORCE spectral irradiance observations and development and validation of models of spectral irradiance variability for use in global change studies is a key science objective of SORCE.

The SORCE mission is managed by the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics (LASP) at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Ten years of valuable data is stored at the NASA Goddard Earth Sciences Data and Information Services Center (GES DISC), located at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. GES DISC maintains the SORCE data archive as well as many of Earth-observing missions. The GES DISC provides seven data products and software tools for the analysis of the SORCE data. The GES DISC is a NASA earth science data center, part of the NASA Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) Project.

For a more in-depth look at SORCE discoveries, visit: http://eospso.gsfc.nasa.gov/eos_observ/pdf/Jan-Feb_2013_508_color.pdf

For the GES DISC SORCE mission data, visit: http://disc.sci.gsfc.nasa.gov/SORCE

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Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/zLd4NrBV880/130402102206.htm

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