U.S. COLLEGE SLIP IN GLOBAL RANKINGS – WSJ

07 Thursday Sep 2017

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U.S. Colleges Slip in Global Rankings

American schools are still dominant, but lose luster as China, U.K. shine

Douglas Belkin

Sept. 5, 2017 9:00 a.m. ET

The U.S. continues to lay claim to more elite research universities than any other country in the world, but that dominance is beginning to fray.

Oxford and Cambridge, the intellectual one-two punch of the U.K., took the first and second spots in the 2018 Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Their showing marked the first year schools outside the U.S. seized the two top positions in the 14-year history of the list.

The U.S., led by California Institute of Technology and Stanford University, took seven of the top 11 spots.

But this also marked the fifth year of consecutive decline in the overall showing of the U.S. This ranking listed 62 U.S. schools in the top 200. In 2014, 77 U.S. universities ranked in the top 200.

By contrast, the cumulative reputation of Chinese research institutions is swelling. In the latest ranking, seven Chinese schools cracked the top 200. In 2014, there were just two. Peking University and Tsinghua University topped Chinese schools, ranking 27th and 30th, respectively. That placed them ahead of the Georgia Institute of Technology (No. 33), Brown University (No. 51) and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (No. 56).

THE TOP 20

1. University of Oxford (U.K.)
2. University of Cambridge (U.K.)
T-3. California Institute of Technology (U.S.)
T-3. Stanford University (U.S.)
5. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (U.S.)
6. Harvard University (U.S.)
7. Princeton University (U.S.)
8. Imperial College London (U.K.)
9. University of Chicago (U.S.)
T-10. ETH Zurich – Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (Switzerland)
T-10. University of Pennsylvania (U.S.)
12. Yale University (U.S.)
13. Johns Hopkins University (U.S.)
14. Columbia University (U.S.)
15. University of California, Los Angeles (U.S.)
16. University College London (U.K.)
17. Duke University (U.S.)
18. University of California, Berkeley (U.S.)
19. Cornell University (U.S.)
20. Northwestern University (U.S.)

“It’s not doom and gloom, the U.S. still dominates the list, but there are clear warning signs and fairly significant flashing red lights that the U.S. is under threat from increasing competition,” said Phil Baty, rankings editor at Times Higher Education. “Asia is rising. It’s a worrying time for stagnation for the U.S.”

The World University Ranking awards about a third of its score to the research generated by a university’s scholars, in part by culling 62 million citations and 12.4 million research publications. Research funding also plays a role.

Institutional income—the money generated by the university—and research reputation dinged U.S. schools, while it pulled up the scores of Chinese schools.

A quirk of timing may have also hurt the U.S. numbers this year, Mr. Baty said. A survey of 20,000 scholars that aims to distill reputation of schools as seen by experts in the field took place in January, February and March, just as President Donald Trump was assuming office and attempting to limit access to the U.S. by citizens from six Muslim countries. Academics, who frequently collaborate globally, by and large reacted poorly to Mr. Trump’s plans, he said.

By contrast, Britain’s vote to leave the European Union preceded the survey by half a year and may not have been top of mind, Mr. Baty said.

Using A Tens Unit for Pain

07 Thursday Sep 2017

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7 Reasons to Buy a Tens Machine

PETER GRICKEJ , JULY 16, 2014 / 9185 8

Tens machines were once only found in medical institutes because they were simply too expensive for home use. Now, these machines can be purchased and utilized for a slew of therapy situations.

From pain to nerve retraining, a Tens unit is a vital tool that can help users along their journey to wellness. Using electric impulses, there are a slew of benefits to using these tools regularly.

The following 7 points will demonstrate just why you should consider a Tens machine for your home.

1. Pain Relief

The electric impulses sent to a muscle will be able to alleviate pain. From back to arm pain, a Tens unit will be able to provide immense relief naturally. This is done by the body itself.

The impulses will stimulate the release of endorphins in the body. This is the body’s natural way of relieving pain and acts as a pain killer that is void of any side effects.

2. Nerve Retraining

Nerve damage can often lead to pain or loss in movement. When the nerves are not able to receive or send signals correctly, pain or difficulty to move will follow. By using a machine, you can retrain your nerves to work properly.

Often seen being used by physical therapists, the electric impulse will trigger a user’s muscle retraining the brain and nerve patterns. This impulse is often enough to let the nerve follow the correct path to the muscle. With enough time, this may allow you to regain lost mobility due to an injury or accident.

You might want to read: The Complete Guide to TENS Units

3. Easy to Use

Tens units are advanced medical tools, but they are very easy to use at home. Users can place the included pads on the muscle that needs stimulation and the machine will do the rest.

Unlike complicated units of the past, newer units are simple to use and adjust.Users merely have to change a dial or choose the right program setting to allow for correct usage.

The hardest part is actually finding the right muscle to stimulate.

You might want to read: 7 Most Popular Tens Units on the Market

4. Massage Benefits

Many manufacturers are offering Tens units that act as massagers. These units will follow a different pulse pattern to provide a massage to the user. For instance, the intensity levels may rise, lower and rise even higher to massage the muscle internally. Even standard units now come with programmable settings that allow users to essentially massage themselves with a unit.

Anyone suffering from back or elbow pain will find these massage benefits to be great.

5. Reduce Inflammation

Inflammation can further lead to discomfort and pain. When muscles are inflamed, using one of these units can help greatly.

A study done by the University of Washington demonstrated that the use of proper stimulation using a Tens machine actually reduced inflammation found deep within muscle fibers.

The same study went on to show that this reduction of inflammation provided immense pain relief for:

Pinched nerves
Degeneration of discs
Sciatica

Users that suffer from immense back pain often find the relief they need to finally function normally instead of being hunched over in pain all day.

6. Affordable Pain Relief

Oftentimes, pain medications can lead to dependency or they can cost an immense amount of money. Some users have also grown an immunity to pain medications and trying to find any form of relief is almost impossible.

These machines have shown to help with pain so greatly that they have replaced certain medications altogether. However, most users do not experience this. Instead, users are typically able to reduce the amount of medication used by following a routine of electric impulse stimulation.

With medication costs, side effects and dependency issues on the rise, a Tens Machine can be a very safe and affordable mean of pain reduction.

7. Quicker Rehabilitation and Reduced Fear

Pain can easily lead to a drastic change in lifestyle. With pain, fear often follows when doing the most mundane tasks. This leads to rehabilitation taking even longer, or it can lead to a person growing a phobia that causes them not to perform certain movements that may cause an increase in pain.

Through the use of these machines, users are able to reduce inflammation and alleviate pain so that they can maintain their regular level of activity. This not only helps eliminate phobias, but it also helps a person fully maintain their normal level of strength and not have to worry about atrophy of the muscles. This equates to a much faster rehabilitation time, especially with advanced knee and back pain.

It is important to note that these electric impulses are not safe to use near your heart or on your neck, head or face. The impulse may cause severe injury if used in these areas and may even cause death in severe cases.

Never attempt to use a Tens Unit on any of the areas of the body previously mentioned, and always follow the manufacturer’s guidelines.

Wall Street Journal – Political Divisions in U.S. are Widening

06 Wednesday Sep 2017

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Janet Hook

Updated Sept. 6, 2017 8:39 a.m. ET

884 COMMENTS

Divisions in America reach far beyond Washington into the nation’s culture, economy and social fabric, and the polarization began long before the rise of President Donald Trump, a new Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey of social trends has found.

The findings help explain why political divisions are now especially hard to bridge. People who identify with either party increasingly disagree not just on policy; they inhabit separate worlds of differing social and cultural values and even see their economic outlook through a partisan lens.

The wide gulf is visible in an array of issues and attitudes: Democrats are twice as likely to say they never go to church as are Republicans, and they are eight times as likely to favor action on climate change. One-third of Republicans say they support the National Rifle Association, while just 4% of Democrats do. More than three-quarters of Democrats, but less than one-third of Republicans, said they felt comfortable with societal changes that have made the U.S. more diverse.

What is more, Americans’ view of the economy, the direction of the nation and the future has even come to be closely aligned with their feelings about the current president, the survey found.

“Our political compass is totally dominating our economic and world views about the country,” said GOP pollster Bill McInturff, who conducted the survey with Democratic pollster Fred Yang. “Political polarization is not a new thing. The level under Trump is the logical outcome of a generation-long trend.”

The poll found deep splits along geographic and educational lines. Rural Americans and people without a four-year college degree are notably more pessimistic about the economy and more conservative on social issues. Those groups make up an increasingly large share of the GOP.

A measure of how much more polarized the electorate is than a generation ago can be found in views of the president. Eight months into the 1950s presidency of Republican Dwight Eisenhower, 60% of Democrats approved of the job he was doing. That level of cross-party support for a new president remained above 40% until Bill Clinton, when only 20% of Republicans approved of his performance after eight months in 1993. For Barack Obama, Republican support dropped to 16% at this point in his presidency in 2009.

Under Mr. Trump, that trend has continued and intensified. His job-approval rating among Americans overall has remained in recent months at about 40%, but just 8% of Democrats approve of the job he is doing, the survey found. By contrast, 80% of Republicans approve.

Shrinking SupportJob approval of the president among members of the opposing party abouteight months into each presidencyTHE WALL STREET JOURNALSource: Gallup (Eisenhower through George H.W. Bush); WSJ/NBC News telephone polls

EisenhowerKennedyNixonCarterReaganG.H.W. BushClintonG.W. BushObamaTrump0%10203040506070

Mr. Trump’s election has brought a sharp mood swing among Republicans. In August 2014, 88% of Republicans said they weren’t confident that life for their children’s generation would be better than their own, a gloomy view of a central element of the American dream. Eight months into the Trump presidency, just 46% of Republicans say they lack confidence in their children’s future—a 42-point swing that is more dramatic than improvements in the economy would seem to justify.

The survey found changes over the years in attitudes on cultural and economic issues, such as gun control, immigration and globalization, that were key issues of Mr. Trump’s campaign.

Views of gun rights used to be less partisan: Asked if they were concerned that the government would go too far in restricting gun-ownership rights or, alternatively, that the government wouldn’t do enough, Republicans in 1995 were about evenly split. Democrats were divided 26% to 67%.

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