1.12.2008

Knowledge is free on the Internet at a small but growing number of colleges and universities. About 160 schools around the world now offer course materials free online to the public. Recent additions in the United States include projects at Yale, Johns Hopkins and the University of California Berkley.

Berkley said it will offer videos of lectures on YouTube. Free videos from other schools are available at the Apple iTunes store.

The Massachusetts institute of technology became an early leader with its Open Courseware project first announced in 2001. Free lecture notes, exams and other resources are published at ocw.mit.edu. Many exams and homework assignments even include the answers. The website also has videos of lectures and demonstrations.

Today, Open Courseware offers materials from 1800 undergraduate and graduate courses. These range from physics and linear algebra to anthropology, political science-even scuba diving.

1.13.2008

Visitors can learn the same things MIT students learn. But as the site points out Open Courseware is not an MIT education. Visitors receive no credit toward a degree. Some materials from a course may not be available and the site does not provide contact with teachers.

Still, MIT says the site has had 40 million visits by 31 million visitors from almost every country. 60% of the visitors are from outside the United States and Canada.

There are links to materials translated into Spanish Portuguese Chinese and Thai. Open Courseware averages one million visits each month and the translations receive half a million more. Students and educators use the site, including students at MIT. But the largest number of visitors about half are self learners.

Some professors have become well known around the world as a result of appearing online. Walter Levin, a physics professor at MIT is especially popular. Fans enjoy his entertaining demonstrations.

MIT Open Courseware now includes materials for high school. The goal is to improve education in science technology math and engineering. 

1.14.2008

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or C.O.P.D, affects more than 200 million people around the world. The world health organization says at least 5 million people died from it in 2005. 90% were in developing countries.

In the United States C.O.P.D is the fourth leading cause of death. But even with these numbers many people have never heard of it. The Canadian lung association website explains that C.O.P.D is the new name for emphysema and chronic bronchitis. These are the two most common forms of it, and many people with C.O.P.D have both of them.

The result is progressive and incurable lung damage. The tubes that carry air in and out of the lungs become partly blocked. This makes difficult to breathe and often produces a cough that will not go away.

People with C.O.P.D often have swelling that causes the airways to narrow and they often produce more mucus than normal. This oily substance protects the airways but too much of it blocks them. Smoking is the most common cause of C.O.P.D. Nonsmokers can get the disease from breathing other people’s tobacco smoke.

01.15

Air prolusion can also cause the disease. Minors and others who work around some kinds of dust and chemicals are at higher risk and children who repeatedly suffer lung infections have a greater chance of developing the disease as adults. Genetics may also play a part.

Doctors can perform a quick breathing test with a machine called a spirometer, that can help diagnose COPD, but experts say people are often not tested or treated correctly for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Patients may not consider a continuous cough serious enough to seek medical attention or doctors may misdiagnose it as asthma or another infection. Some of the early warning signs are a cough that will not go away and an increase in mucus production. Another sign is difficulty breathing after minor activity like walking up stairs.

There are ways to slow the progress of the disease. Doctors say the most important thing is to stop smoking. There are medicines that can reduce inflammation and open air passages. Also, exercise is often advised. If the disease is severe a doctor may order oxygen treatment or even operations to removed damaged lung tissue.

01.16

A decision by Harvard University to expend fanatical aid is putting pressure on other schools to do the same.

The full price for one year at Harvard in Cambridge, Massachusetts is more than 45000 dollars. Many other private colleges cost just as much. But Harvard is much wealthier than any other American university, so it has more to give.

Harvard already offers a free education to students from families that earn up to 60000 dollars a year. This has helped increase the numbers of lower income and minority students.

Now the aim is to help all but the wealthiest American families pay for a Harvard education. The new policies announced last month will assist families that earn as much as 180000 dollars. These families will be asked to pay no more than 10% of their income for college. For example, a family earning 120000 dollars would pay about 12000 a year. Under existing student aid policies the amount is more than 19000.

01.17

What Harvard has done is change the way it offers fanatical aid. Undergraduates will not be expected to take out loans. Increases in grant aid will replace loans. Also Harvard officials will no longer consider the value of a family’s home when deciding how much aid to give.

Harvard says it expects to spend up to 22 million dollars more a year in financial aid. This will come from its endowment. A college endowment is money given by former students and others as gifts. Schools invest the money to earn more. Harvard’s endowment is valued as 35 billion dollars. Other universities with large endowments are also changing their financial aid policies. Examples include Yale, Princeton and the University of Pennsylvania.

Yale’s endowment is the second largest after Harvard at 22.5 billion dollars. This week, Yale in New Haven Connecticut, announced it will use more of that money for financial aid as well as scientific research. Yale may also admit more students. But some colleges say they simply do not have enough money to compete with the new policies that are being announced.

01.18

McDonald’s, the fast-food company, is heating up competition with the Starbucks coffee company. McDonald’s plans to put coffee bars in its 40000 restaurants in the Untied States. Fewer than a thousand now offer specialty coffee drinks like lattes and cappuccinos.

Just like Starbucks each coffee bar would have its own barista, the person who makes and serves the drinks. Company documents reported by the Wall Street Journal said the plan would add 1 billion dollars a year in sales.

McDonald’s has enjoyed several years of strong growth. The company had almost 22 billion dollars in sales in 2006.

Still, the move to compete against Starbucks carries some risk. Some experts say, it could slow down service McDonald’s restaurants and some people who are happy with McDonald’s the way it is now may not like the changers.

posted on 2008-01-19 10:25 BL 阅读(14) 评论(0)  编辑  收藏 网摘收藏