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Saturday, February 2, 2013

TV icon Lee Majors to guest star on 'Dallas'

By Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, TODAY

Bobby Bank / WireImage via Getty file

The revival of "Dallas" sadly must bid farewell to Larry Hagman on an upcoming episode, but the show is temporarily adding another retro icon. Lee Majors, who starred as bionic man Col. Steve Austin in "The Six Million Dollar Man," will come to Southfork for two episodes, Entertainment Weekly reports.

Majors played the super-strong astronaut-turned-secret agent from 1973-1978 on the ABC show, and also starred as a stuntman/bounty hunter on the 1980s show "The Fall Guy."

He's perhaps equally famous for being married to Farrah Fawcett (then Farrah Fawcett-Majors) at the peak of her "Charlie's Angels" fame.

Majors, now 73, will play an old flame of Sue Ellen Ewing who re-enters her life, Entertainment Weekly reports.

"Dallas" icon Larry Hagman, who played oil baron J.R. Ewing, died in November at age 81. He had filmed six episodes of the TNT series' second season before his death.

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Friday, February 1, 2013

There Is No Harvard Cheating Scandal

Should college students be allowed more collaboration in their test-taking?

Photo by Jack Hollingsworth/Photodisc/Thinkstock.

Harvard announced Friday that up to 60 students have been forced to withdraw "for a time" as a result of a cheating scandal. Farhad Manjoo argued in September 2012 that the students should be rewarded, not disciplined. The article is reprinted below.

Last week, Harvard announced that it was investigating more than 100 students for cheating on the final exam of a course called ?Introduction to Congress.? The class had a reputation for being easy, but many students found last spring?s open-book, take-home exam to be close to impossible. As a consequence, the kids apparently began to break the rules. Some students now face the possibility of being forced to take a one-year leave of absence from Harvard. A university official has called the case ?unprecedented in anyone?s living memory.?

Certain students? conduct does seem to have been indefensible?according to the Crimson, the exam-related malfeasance included plagiarism. But many of the accused did not copy their material. Instead, they merely worked with fellow students and their instructors to make sense of the tricky exam questions. What they did?work together to find an answer?should be encouraged. But too often in higher education, such collaboration is either given short shrift or actively penalized. Students are instead forced to find the answers on their own, in marked contrast to how they?ll be expected to behave once they graduate.

Students who spoke to the New York Times said that collaboration was widely thought to be allowed in the course. The class?s teaching fellows?graduate students who graded the exams and ran weekly discussion sessions?varied widely in how they prepared students for the exams, so it was common for students in different sections to share lecture notes and reading materials. The course?s instructor?Matthew B. Platt, an assistant professor of government?and the teaching fellows sometimes encouraged collaboration. During the final exam, some fellows even worked with students to define unfamiliar terms and help them figure out what, exactly, certain test questions were asking.

The test?s rules, though, explicitly prohibited such sharing. ?The exam is completely open book, open note, open Internet, etc. However, in all other regards, this should fall under similar guidelines that apply to in-class exams,? the rules stated. ?More specifically, students may not discuss the exam with others?this includes resident tutors, writing centers, etc.?

What?s the point of prohibiting students from working together? If the students in ?Introduction to Congress? act as these test rules demand when they move into the workforce, they?ll be fired. Outside of academia, teamwork is the rule. Collaboration is widely hailed as a primary factor in creativity and problem solving. It?s the reason Pixar?s offices are designed to foster, in Steve Jobs? words, ?forced collisions of people? from different departments.

In this case, it?s the test?s design, rather than the students? conduct, that we should criticize. In allowing students to consult a wide variety of sources, the Harvard exam was looking to assess something deeper than how well they could memorize and recall facts. Judging from some leaked questions, the test seemed to be designed to measure how students could think about some of the contradictions inherent in American government. (An essay question began, ?Do interest groups make Congress more or less representative as an institution??) But if you want to determine how well students think, why force them to think alone?

Outside of Harvard, these students won?t face many situations in which they?ll be prohibited from consulting with other people. Instead, they?ll have to act exactly as the alleged ?cheaters? did in this case. Here, students who had poor teaching fellows sought help from peers who had better instructors. When they found exam questions that asked about material that hadn?t been covered in the course, they worked together to figure out how to answer them. (Some of them may have had no other choice, as Platt canceled his own office hours during the final exam.) Rather than punishing these students, shouldn?t we be praising them for solving these problems the only way they could?

Sure, the students? collaborative work does make it difficult to assess individual performance?because many people?s answers sounded similar, instructors couldn?t determine who really understood the work and who was merely free-riding. Universities certainly still have an interest in measuring each student?s grasp of class material, and there are plenty of exam formats?in-class tests, timed essays, in-class discussions?that can do so. Open-book exams like the one for ?Introduction to Congress,? though, are useful tools only when they?re collaborative. After all, the test allowed students to consult the Web, a medium that is built on teamwork. If students looked up stuff on Wikipedia or Quora, they would have been effectively discussing the exam with others. And yet online collaboration would have been kosher under the test?s rules, even though you?d be labeled a cheater if you posed the same question to your friend Laura rather than Quora. That distinction makes no sense.

I suspect this arbitrary distinction reflects universities? discomfort with collaboration. Talking about an exam with your friends feels like cheating. But it?s time we realized it?s not, and that teaching people how to work together is a critical skill. Today, in most areas of life?the government, the military, science, the corporate world?real breakthroughs occur in groups. It?s time our universities prized group work, too.

Source: http://feeds.slate.com/click.phdo?i=1549626c15c90e05a25867c3675eff0f

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New Android apps worth downloading: Banjo update, Planwise, Old School Defense

Kicking off today?s apps worth downloading is Banjo, a social networking app that locates nearby friends by gathering information from social networks. Planwise is next, bringing fresh financial strategy planning to your Android tablet. Finally, Old School Defense melds the comedy movie Old School with tower defense genre. You?re my boy, Blue!

Banjo update (Free)

What?s it about? Using information from multiple social networks, Banjo lets you see what?s happening at various places with your friends, whether they are in another state, country, or across the street.

What?s cool? Banjo is sort of a reverse social network, since it takes public check-in information, posted photos, and more and aggregates it together. Banjo keeps track of you and your friends, tipping you off when they?re closeby, and allows you to search for places using text entry. The updated optimizes the app for tablets, so Banjo should work well on whatever Android device you favor.

Who?s it for? If you want information about the area around you or to find out where your friends are hanging out, use Banjo.

What?s it like? You can get some similar location-based functionality from Foursquare and Sonar.

What?s it about? Tablet-optimized financial app Planwise helps you to plan your finances, helping you to save money over time and keep track of your debt and income.

What?s cool? The app helps you to track of your income and the amount of money you have in the bank, as well as what you?re spending your money on and how much you?ve already spent. The idea is that Planwise can help you prepare for major purchases or even just learn to save more money day to day. As mentioned, the app is meant for tablets, so it won?t work properly on your Android smartphone.

Who?s it for? Who doesn?t need a little hope organizing their finances? The free Planwise app is for anyone who owns an Android tablet.

What?s it like? More financial planning is available with Mint.com Personal Finance and You Need a Budget.

What?s it about? Old School Defense, devleoped by Big Blue Bubble, is literally a tower defense game based on the instant classic movie Old School, starring Will Ferrell, Luke Wilson, and Vince Vaughn. That ought to be all the description you need.

What?s cool? The premise of Old School Defense is based loosely on the film?s plot, forcing you to recruit ?pledges? for your fraternity and protect its party from incoming party crashers, bent on getting the frathouse into trouble. Like other tower defense games, you?ll need to strategically position your troops around the battlefield to intercept the crashers as they make their way along each path. Old School Defense includes both campaign mode and survival mode, and has more than 30 playable levels.

Check out this trailer to see for yourself:

Who?s it for? This one?s for tower defense fans, and definitely for people who love to quote Old School.

What?s it like? Try Medieval Castle Defense and Jelly Defense for more strategic maze-defending action.

Download the Appolicious Android app

Source: http://www.androidapps.com/tech/articles/13182-new-android-apps-worth-downloading-banjo-update-planwise-old-school-defense

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New semiconductor research may extend integrated circuit battery life 10-fold

Jan. 30, 2013 ? Researchers at Rochester Institute of Technology, international semiconductor consortium SEMATECH and Texas State University have demonstrated that use of new methods and materials for building integrated circuits can reduce power -- extending battery life to 10 times longer for mobile applications compared to conventional transistors.

The key to the breakthrough is a tunneling field effect transistor. Transistors are switches that control the movement of electrons through material to conduct the electrical currents needed to run circuits. Unlike standard transistors, which are like driving a car over a hill, the tunneling field effect transistor is more like tunneling through a hill, says Sean Rommel, associate professor of electrical and microelectronic engineering.

"The tunneling field effect transistors have not yet demonstrated a sufficiently large drive current to make it a practical replacement for current transistor technology," Rommel says, "but this work conclusively established the largest tunneling current ever experimentally demonstrated, answering a key question about the viability of tunneling field effect transistor technology."

Rommel worked with David Pawlik, Brian Romanczyk and Paul Thomas, three graduate students in the microelectronic engineering and microsystems engineering programs at RIT. Along with colleagues from SEMATECH and Texas State University, the team presented the breakthrough findings at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco this past December.

In order to accurately observe and quantify these current levels, a fabrication and testing procedure was performed at RIT. Pawlik developed a process to build and test vertical Esaki tunnel diodes smaller than 120 nanometers in diameter, Rommel explains. This procedure allowed the researchers to measure hundreds of diodes per sample. Because of the nanometer-scale devices tested, the researchers were able to experimentally observe currents substantially larger than any previously reported tunneling currents.

Esaki tunnel diodes, discovered in 1957 and the first quantum devices, were used to create a map showing output tunnel currents for a given set of material systems and parameters. For the first time, researchers have a single reference to which they can compare results from the micro- to the mega-ampere range, Rommel adds.

"This work may be used by others in designing higher performance tunneling field effect transistors which may enable future low power integrated circuits for your mobile device," he says.

The team's findings in the area of developing high performance, low-power electronic devices are also detailed in the paper, "Benchmarking and Improving III-V Esaki Diode Performance with a Record 2.2 MA cm² Current Density to Enhance Tunneling Field-Effect Transistor Drive Current." The National Science Foundation, SEMATECH and RIT's Office of the Vice President of Research sponsor the work.

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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Rochester Institute of Technology. The original article was written by Michelle Cometa.

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Disclaimer: Views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.

Source: http://feeds.sciencedaily.com/~r/sciencedaily/~3/ZyJYXe4kO5U/130130184406.htm

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Syria threatens retaliation for Israeli airstrike

This graphic shows the location of a Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013 Israeli airstrike on a military target in Jamraya, Syria, about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the border with Lebanon. (AP Graphic)

BEIRUT (AP) ? Syria threatened Thursday to retaliate for an Israeli airstrike and its ally Iran said there will be repercussions for the Jewish state over the attack.

Syria sent a letter to the U.N. Secretary-General stressing the country's "right to defend itself, its territory and sovereignty" and holding Israel and its supporters accountable.

"Israel and those who protect it at the Security Council are fully responsible for the repercussions of this aggression," the letter from Syria's Foreign Ministry said.

U.S. officials said Israel launched a rare airstrike inside Syria on Wednesday. The target was a convoy believed to be carrying anti-aircraft weapons bound for Hezbollah, the powerful Lebanese militant group allied with Syria and Iran.

In Israel, a lawmaker close to hard-line Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stopped short of confirming involvement in the strike. But he hinted that Israel could carry out similar missions in the future.

The attack has inflamed regional tensions already running high over Syria's 22-month-old civil war.

Israeli leaders in the days leading up to the airstrike had been publicly expressing concern that Syrian President Bashar Assad may be losing his grip on the country and its arsenal of conventional and nonconventional weapons.

Regional security officials said Wednesday that the targeted shipment included sophisticated Russian-made SA-17 anti-aircraft missiles, which if acquired by Hezbollah would enhance its military capabilities by enabling the militants to shoot down Israeli jets, helicopters and surveillance drones.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief the media.

The Syrian military denied there was any weapons convoy and said low-flying Israeli jets had crossed into their country over the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to bomb a scientific research center near Damascus.

It said the target was in the area of Jamraya, northwest of Damascus and about 15 kilometers (10 miles) from the Lebanese border.

Maj. Gen. Abdul-Aziz Jassem al-Shallal, who in December became one of the most senior Syrian army officers to defect, told The Associated Press by telephone from Turkey that the site they said was targeted is a "major and well-known" center to develop weapons known as the Scientific Research Center.

Al-Shallal, who until his defection was commander of the military police, said no chemical or nonconventional weapons are at the site. He added that foreign experts, including Russians and Iranians, are usually present at such centers.

Syrian Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Abdul-Karim Ali threatened retribution for the Israeli airstrike, saying Damascus "has the option and the capacity to surprise in retaliation."

He told Hezbollah's al-Ahd news website that it was up to the relevant authorities to prepare the retaliation and choose the time and place.

The Syrian Foreign Ministry summoned Major-General Iqbal Singh Singha, the head of mission and force commander for United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights, to complain about the Israeli violation.

The force was established in 1974 following the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the area and has remained there since to maintain the cease-fire. Israel captured the Golan, a strategic plateau, from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

At U.N. headquarters in New York, deputy U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey said: "UNDOF did not observe any planes flying over the area of separation, and therefore was not able to confirm the incident." UNDOF also reported bad weather conditions, he said.

Hezbollah condemned the attack as "barbaric aggression" and said it "expresses full solidarity with Syria's command, army and people."

The group did not mention any weapons convoy in the statement but said the strike aimed to prevent Arab and Muslim forces from developing their military capabilities.

In Iran, the semi-official Fars news agency quoted Deputy Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian as saying the raid will have significant implications for Israel.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi condemned the airstrike on state television, calling it a clear violation of Syrian sovereignty. Iran is Syria's strongest ally in the Middle East, and has provided Assad's government with military and political backing for years.

Russia, Syria's most important international ally, said this appeared to be an unprovoked attack on a sovereign nation. Moscow said it was taking urgent measures to clarify the situation in all its details.

"If this information is confirmed, we have a case of unprovoked attacks on targets in the territory of a sovereign state, which grossly violates the U.N. Charter and is unacceptable," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "Whatever the motives, this is not justified."

Israeli lawmaker Tzachi Hanegbi, who is close to Prime Minister Netanyahu, said pinpoint strikes are not enough to counter the threat of Hezbollah obtaining sophisticated weaponry from Syria.

"Israel's preference would be if a Western entity would control these weapons systems," Hanegbi said. "But because it appears the world is not prepared to do what was done in Libya or other places, then Israel finds itself like it has many times in the past facing a dilemma that only it knows how to respond to," he added.

He was referring to NATO's 2011 military intervention in Libya that helped oust dictator Moammar Gadhafi.

"Even if there are reports about pinpoint operations, these are not significant solutions to the threat itself because we are talking about very substantial capabilities that could reach Hezbollah," he said.

Syria's civil war has sapped Assad's power and threatens to deprive Hezbollah of a key supporter, in addition to its land corridor to Iran. The two countries provide Hezbollah with the bulk of its funding and arms.

Earlier this week, Netanyahu warned of the dangers of Syria's "deadly weapons," saying the country is "increasingly coming apart."

The same day, Israel moved a battery of its new "Iron Dome" rocket defense system to the northern city of Haifa, which was battered by Hezbollah rocket fire in the 2006 war. The Israeli army called that move "routine."

The Israeli army won't say whether Iron Dome was sent north in connection to this operation. It does note that it has deployed the system in the north before.

A U.N. diplomat confirmed that the organization received a letter from the Syrian ambassador but said it did not contain a request for a Security Council meeting.

A U.N. statement said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed grave concern over reports of Israeli airstrikes on Syria but said the U.N. does not have details of the reported incident and cannot independently verify what happened.

"The Secretary-General calls on all concerned to prevent tensions or their escalation in the region, and to strictly abide by international law, in particular in respect of territorial integrity and sovereignty of all countries in the region," the statement said.

____

Associated Press writer Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Peter James Spielmann at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/3d281c11a96b4ad082fe88aa0db04305/Article_2013-01-31-ML-Syria-Israel/id-17405659a9b944bf8a945608f73e50eb

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Hagel says military view shaped by Vietnam

FILE - In this Jan. 7, 2013 file photo, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Defense Secretary-nominee, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Hagel says his months fighting in Vietnam alongside his brother Tom shaped his view of what it?s like to be a soldier in war, an experience that will inform his work if the Senate confirms him to be defense secretary. While Hagel, who was twice wounded, suggests caution when using military force, he also adopts a hard line toward Iran. His nomination hearings begin Thursday. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais. File)

FILE - This Jan. 7, 2013 file photo shows former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, President Barack Obama's choice for defense secretary, speaking in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) ? Chuck Hagel says his experience fighting in Vietnam alongside his younger brother will shape any decision he makes to unleash military force if the Senate confirms him to be President Barack Obama's defense secretary.

On the eve of his confirmation hearing, Hagel offered his opinions on a long list of issues, from cuts in defense spending and women in combat to penalties against Iran, in a 112-page response to a questionnaire from the Senate Armed Services Committee.

It was the first time that Hagel's voice had been heard in such detail since Obama announced nominees for his second-term national security team on Jan. 7.

"I understand what it is like to be a soldier in war," wrote Hagel. "I also understand what happens when there is poor morale and discipline among the troops and a lack of clear objectives, intelligence, and command and control from Washington. I believe that experience will help me as secretary of defense to ensure we maintain the best fighting force in the world, protect our men and women in uniform and ensure that we are cautious and certain when contemplating the use of force."

If confirmed, the former two-term Republican senator from Nebraska would be the first enlisted man to serve as defense secretary.

Hagel described volunteering for Vietnam, serving a 12-month tour that included the Tet Offensive in 1968 ? a series of surprise North Vietnamese attacks on South Vietnam and its U.S. ally during a holiday cease-fire ? and rising to the rank of infantry sergeant.

In his responses, Hagel adopted a hard line on Iran and its possible pursuit of a nuclear weapon. He echoed Obama's view that all options are feasible to stop Tehran, praised the rounds of penalties and warned of "severe and growing consequences" if Iran balks at international demands.

Hagel has faced a barrage of criticism that he is not sufficiently pro-Israel or tough enough on Iran. In the past, Hagel has questioned the efficacy of unilateral sanctions on Iran, arguing that penalties in conjunction with international partners made more sense.

"If Iran continues to flout its international obligations, it should continue to face severe and growing consequences," Hagel said. "While there is time and space for diplomacy, backed by pressure, the window is closing. Iran needs to demonstrate it is prepared to negotiate seriously."

The United States and other Western nations have demanded that Iran stopped its uranium-enrichment program, which they perceive as a precursor to production of nuclear warhead-grade material. Iran insists that its program is for peaceful purposes.

The most recent round of negotiations ended in a stalemate last June.

Questioned about all options, Hagel said, "If confirmed, I will focus intently on ensuring that U.S. military is in fact prepared for any contingency."

He said that he would continue to put in place the "smart, unprecedented and effective sanctions against the Iranian regime" that Congress and the Obama administration have adopted in recent years.

Hagel was in line for hard questions from the 26-member Senate committee at a confirmation hearing Thursday that was expected to be a determining factor in the vote of several senators.

Democrats have rallied to support Obama's nominee. More than a dozen are announced backers, and at least one Republican senator has said he will vote for his former GOP colleague ? Sen. Thad Cochran of Mississippi, the top Republican on the Senate Appropriations Committee and its defense subcommittee.

But GOP-leaning outside groups have waged an unprecedented campaign of critical ads and statements against a president's Cabinet choice. Six Republican senators have said they will vote against Hagel, including some who opposed him even before Obama's announcement, in a fresh sign of the fierce partisan politics.

Hagel's opponents have focused on his past statements about Israel, Iran, gay rights and the influence of a "Jewish lobby," a comment for which he's apologized. They also worry about his support for cuts in nuclear weapons.

"Sen. Hagel has no credibility on perhaps the biggest foreign policy challenge facing the Obama administration's second term and on American national security interests in the Middle East and around the world," Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, an opponent of the nominee, said Wednesday on the Senate floor.

The criticism has surprised some of Hagel's strongest backers.

"This idea that's being propagated that he might be soft on adversaries. Chuck Hagel's not soft on anybody, particularly himself," said Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., a member of the Armed Services Committee, in a conference call with Hagel allies. "He drives hard. He's someone who searches for the right approach and the right policy."

Reed complained that Hagel had been pilloried by false attacks and revisionist theories about his career.

In the questionnaire, Hagel said that as long as nuclear weapons exist, the United States must have a "safe, secure and effective nuclear arsenal."

He insisted that he will implement the military's policy allowing gays to serve openly and move ahead on opening combat roles to women.

He expressed his opposition to the automatic, across-the-board budget cuts that will hit the Pentagon on March 1 if Congress fails to come up with an alternative. At the same time, he indicated that some reductions are inevitable.

"We will continue to need the best Army in the world. But the best Army does not mean the largest. We must have the Army be appropriately sized for the contingencies we deem likely, and it also must be trained and modernized," he said.

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-01-30-Hagel/id-8b320bf873984d3c941ec46e20511de5

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Jim Nabors Marries Long-Time Partner

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2013/01/jim-nabors-marries-long-time-partner/

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