The uptick in public interest in "minimalist to-do apps" baffles me. It started with Clear (for iPhone) (99 cents, 2 stars), an app that offered a lovely interactive design, but failed completely at its one primary job of being an efficient to-do list. The iPhone app Carrot (99 cents) takes another stab at minimalist task mastering with an interactive twist by anthropomorphizing the app?and comes up similarly short. It's better than Clear, in my opinion, and more interesting, too, because it fully engages the user through human-computer dialogues. But it isn't an effective to-do list app.
Dangling the Carrot Carrot, also known as "The To-Do List with a Personality," opens with a few quick tutorial pages that explain how the app works. You start by writing your to-do items on a fairly blank page (there's a header at the top). Drag down the screen to start a new entry. Hit "done" for the task to appear on your list. Swipe from left to right on any task to mark it as completed, and swipe right to left to reveal a menu. And that's it.
So far, Carrot probably sounds unreasonably simplistic, and it is. More functionality reveals itself as you use the app, but only after you earn it by ticking off your to-dos. For example, you should be able to reorder your tasks, right? You can, but only after you've completed a few of the things you've written down. It's one of the first features you'll unlock. If you think all task mastering apps should have a badge on its homescreen icon showing the number of outstanding items on your list, I'd agree?and so does Carrot, but only after you've unlocked three other features first.
Because of the way the app works, Carrot epitomizes the law of unintended consequences. To earn the additional functionality, you have to earn points, and the only way to earn points is by ticking off to-dos. You don't earn points for rearranging the items, revising them, or say, opening the app several times in a day. So, once you figure out this barrier, it's tempting to create meaningless to-dos just to tick them off just to earn the additional functionality... which is a big waste of time.
Missing Features In using Carrot and unlocking the additional features, I'll admit that it's a cute gambit. The app responds as you use it, asking you to solve puzzles, or just praising you for getting your tasks done?see the slideshow for examples. It can be fun and interactively engaging, but it's not very utilitarian.
There are deadlines to set, no calendar view, no visual way to see priority among your tasks other than the stacked order. It doesn't have the ability to set a reminder on an upcoming task, and you can't take something from the "completed" section and move it back to the to-do list, a feature that I absolutely need because I make a lot of mistakes.
In testing, the app was also buggy. The gesture of swiping from right to left to reveal the menu occasionally just didn't work. Plus, that gesture only works from the main task screen. When I was in other screens, like one that explained a newly unlocked feature, I expected to be able to return to the menu, but couldn't. Instead, there's an X at the top to click to close the current screen. The inconsistency is annoying.
Carrot Alternatives Carrot has some interesting ideas going for it in terms of design and interaction, but it isn't a to-do list app I can recommend for anyone who genuinely wants to create better to-do lists. PCMag's Editors' Choice for to-do apps on the iPhone is Awesome Note (+To-do/Calendar) ($3.99, 4 stars), and it's the one I recommend to most people. Another good alternative is Todoist (free, 3.5 stars), which syncs to a Web-based version as well for those who like to see and interact with their task list from a full-sized screen and not just on a smartphone. If you're looking for a to-do list that supports some level of collaboration, try Asana (free for up to 30 people, 4 stars)
More iPhone App Reviews: ??? Carrot (for iPhone) ??? TurboTax SnapTax (for iPhone) ??? Yahoo Mail 1.0.4 (for iPhone) ??? Kickstarter for iPhone ??? Vine 1.0.5 (for iPhone) ?? more
Tina Fey and Paul Rudd, the stars of the new comedy "Admission," know their way around the galaxy far, far away, so it only seemed appropriate for their interview with MTV News' Josh Horowitz that they play a round of F---, Marry, Kill with "Star Wars" characters. For their answers, both Fey and Rudd were [...]
The birth of a giant planet?Public release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
Candidate protoplanet spotted inside its stellar womb
An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has studied the disc of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbour located 335 light-years from Earth. They were surprised to find what seems to be a planet in the process of being formed, still embedded in the disc of material around the young star. The candidate planet would be a gas giant similar to Jupiter.
"So far, planet formation has mostly been a topic tackled by computer simulations," says Sascha Quanz. "If our discovery is indeed a forming planet, then for the first time scientists will be able to study the planet formation process and the interaction of a forming planet and its natal environment empirically at a very early stage."
HD 100546 is a well-studied object, and it has already been suggested that a giant planet orbits about six times further from the star than the Earth is from the Sun. The newly found planet candidate is located in the outer regions of the system, about ten times further out [1].
The planet candidate around HD 100546 was detected as a faint blob located in the circumstellar disc revealed thanks to the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO's VLT, combined with pioneering data analysis techniques. The observations were made using a special coronagraph in NACO, which operates at near-infrared wavelengths and suppresses the brilliant light coming from the star at the location of the protoplanet candidate [2].
According to current theory, giant planets grow by capturing some of the gas and dust that remains after the formation of a star [3]. The astronomers have spotted several features in the new image of the disc around HD100546 that support this protoplanet hypothesis. Structures in the dusty circumstellar disc, which could be caused by interactions between the planet and the disc, were revealed close to the detected protoplanet. Also, there are indications that the surroundings of the protoplanet are potentially heated up by the formation process.
Adam Amara, another member of the team, is enthusiastic about the finding. "Exoplanet research is one of the most exciting new frontiers in astronomy, and direct imaging of planets is still a new field, greatly benefiting from recent improvements in instruments and data analysis methods. In this research we used data analysis techniques developed for cosmological research, showing that cross-fertilisation of ideas between fields can lead to extraordinary progress."
Although the protoplanet is the most likely explanation for the observations, the results of this study require follow-up observations to confirm the existence of the planet and discard other plausible scenarios. Among other explanations, it is possible, although unlikely, that the detected signal could have come from a background source. It is also possible that the newly detected object might not be a protoplanet, but a fully formed planet which was ejected from its original orbit closer to the star. When the new object around HD 100546 is confirmed to be a forming planet embedded in its parent disc of gas and dust, it will become an unique laboratory in which to study the formation process of a new planetary system.
###
Notes
[1] The protoplanet candidate orbits about 70 times further from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. This distance is comparable to the size of the orbits of outer Solar System dwarf planets such as Eris and Makemake. This location is controversial, as it does not fit well with current theories of planet formation. It is unclear at present whether the newfound planet candidate has been in its current position for the whole time since it formed or whether it could have migrated from the inner regions.
[2] The team made use of a special feature called an apodised phase plate that increases the contrast of the image close to the star.
[3] To study planet formation, astronomers cannot look at the Solar System, as all the planets in our neighborhood were formed more than four billion years ago. But for many years, theories about planet formation were strongly influenced by what astronomers could see in our local surroundings, as no other planets were known. Since 1995, when the first exoplanet around a sunlike star was discovered, several hundred planetary systems have been found, opening up new opportunities for scientists studying planetary formation. Up to now however, none have been "caught in the act" in the process of being formed, whilst still embedded in the disc of material around their young parent star.
More information
This research was presented in a paper "A Young Protoplanet Candidate Embedded in the Circumstellar disc of HD 100546", by S. P. Quanz et al., to appear online in the 28 February 2013 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The team is composed of Sascha P. Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Adam Amara (ETH), Michael R. Meyer (ETH), Matthew A. Kenworthy (Sterrewacht Leiden, Netherlands), Markus Kasper (ESO, Garching, Germany) and Julien H. Girard (ESO, Santiago, Chile).
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
* Research paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1310/eso1310a.pdf
* Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
Contacts
Sascha P. Quanz
ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 44 63 32830
Email: sascha.quanz@astro.phys.ethz.ch
Richard Hook
ESO, Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
The birth of a giant planet?Public release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Richard Hook rhook@eso.org 49-893-200-6655 ESO
Candidate protoplanet spotted inside its stellar womb
An international team led by Sascha Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland) has studied the disc of gas and dust that surrounds the young star HD 100546, a relatively nearby neighbour located 335 light-years from Earth. They were surprised to find what seems to be a planet in the process of being formed, still embedded in the disc of material around the young star. The candidate planet would be a gas giant similar to Jupiter.
"So far, planet formation has mostly been a topic tackled by computer simulations," says Sascha Quanz. "If our discovery is indeed a forming planet, then for the first time scientists will be able to study the planet formation process and the interaction of a forming planet and its natal environment empirically at a very early stage."
HD 100546 is a well-studied object, and it has already been suggested that a giant planet orbits about six times further from the star than the Earth is from the Sun. The newly found planet candidate is located in the outer regions of the system, about ten times further out [1].
The planet candidate around HD 100546 was detected as a faint blob located in the circumstellar disc revealed thanks to the NACO adaptive optics instrument on ESO's VLT, combined with pioneering data analysis techniques. The observations were made using a special coronagraph in NACO, which operates at near-infrared wavelengths and suppresses the brilliant light coming from the star at the location of the protoplanet candidate [2].
According to current theory, giant planets grow by capturing some of the gas and dust that remains after the formation of a star [3]. The astronomers have spotted several features in the new image of the disc around HD100546 that support this protoplanet hypothesis. Structures in the dusty circumstellar disc, which could be caused by interactions between the planet and the disc, were revealed close to the detected protoplanet. Also, there are indications that the surroundings of the protoplanet are potentially heated up by the formation process.
Adam Amara, another member of the team, is enthusiastic about the finding. "Exoplanet research is one of the most exciting new frontiers in astronomy, and direct imaging of planets is still a new field, greatly benefiting from recent improvements in instruments and data analysis methods. In this research we used data analysis techniques developed for cosmological research, showing that cross-fertilisation of ideas between fields can lead to extraordinary progress."
Although the protoplanet is the most likely explanation for the observations, the results of this study require follow-up observations to confirm the existence of the planet and discard other plausible scenarios. Among other explanations, it is possible, although unlikely, that the detected signal could have come from a background source. It is also possible that the newly detected object might not be a protoplanet, but a fully formed planet which was ejected from its original orbit closer to the star. When the new object around HD 100546 is confirmed to be a forming planet embedded in its parent disc of gas and dust, it will become an unique laboratory in which to study the formation process of a new planetary system.
###
Notes
[1] The protoplanet candidate orbits about 70 times further from its star than the Earth does from the Sun. This distance is comparable to the size of the orbits of outer Solar System dwarf planets such as Eris and Makemake. This location is controversial, as it does not fit well with current theories of planet formation. It is unclear at present whether the newfound planet candidate has been in its current position for the whole time since it formed or whether it could have migrated from the inner regions.
[2] The team made use of a special feature called an apodised phase plate that increases the contrast of the image close to the star.
[3] To study planet formation, astronomers cannot look at the Solar System, as all the planets in our neighborhood were formed more than four billion years ago. But for many years, theories about planet formation were strongly influenced by what astronomers could see in our local surroundings, as no other planets were known. Since 1995, when the first exoplanet around a sunlike star was discovered, several hundred planetary systems have been found, opening up new opportunities for scientists studying planetary formation. Up to now however, none have been "caught in the act" in the process of being formed, whilst still embedded in the disc of material around their young parent star.
More information
This research was presented in a paper "A Young Protoplanet Candidate Embedded in the Circumstellar disc of HD 100546", by S. P. Quanz et al., to appear online in the 28 February 2013 issue of Astrophysical Journal Letters.
The team is composed of Sascha P. Quanz (ETH Zurich, Switzerland), Adam Amara (ETH), Michael R. Meyer (ETH), Matthew A. Kenworthy (Sterrewacht Leiden, Netherlands), Markus Kasper (ESO, Garching, Germany) and Julien H. Girard (ESO, Santiago, Chile).
ESO is the foremost intergovernmental astronomy organisation in Europe and the world's most productive ground-based astronomical observatory by far. It is supported by 15 countries: Austria, Belgium, Brazil, the Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Finland, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. ESO carries out an ambitious programme focused on the design, construction and operation of powerful ground-based observing facilities enabling astronomers to make important scientific discoveries. ESO also plays a leading role in promoting and organising cooperation in astronomical research. ESO operates three unique world-class observing sites in Chile: La Silla, Paranal and Chajnantor. At Paranal, ESO operates the Very Large Telescope, the world's most advanced visible-light astronomical observatory and two survey telescopes. VISTA works in the infrared and is the world's largest survey telescope and the VLT Survey Telescope is the largest telescope designed to exclusively survey the skies in visible light. ESO is the European partner of a revolutionary astronomical telescope ALMA, the largest astronomical project in existence. ESO is currently planning the 39-metre European Extremely Large optical/near-infrared Telescope, the E-ELT, which will become "the world's biggest eye on the sky".
Links
* Research paper: http://www.eso.org/public/archives/releases/sciencepapers/eso1310/eso1310a.pdf
* Photos of the VLT: http://www.eso.org/public/images/archive/category/paranal/
Contacts
Sascha P. Quanz
ETH Zurich
Zurich, Switzerland
Tel: +41 (0) 44 63 32830
Email: sascha.quanz@astro.phys.ethz.ch
Richard Hook
ESO, Public Information Officer
Garching bei Mnchen, Germany
Tel: +49 89 3200 6655
Cell: +49 151 1537 3591
Email: rhook@eso.org
[ | E-mail | Share ]
?
AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Feb. 27, 2013 ? Research indicates that half of all lifetime cases of mental illness begin by age 14, well before adulthood. Three new studies investigate the cognitive, genetic and environmental factors that may contribute to mental health disorders in adolescence.
The studies are published in Psychological Science and Clinical Psychological Science, journals of the Association for Psychological Science.
Social-Information-Processing Patterns Mediate the Impact of Preventive Intervention on Adolescent Antisocial Behavior
Kenneth A. Dodge, Jennifer Godwin, and The Conduct Problems Prevention Research Group
Fast Track is a preventive intervention designed to help children who show aggression at an early age. The intervention addresses kids' social-cognitive processes in several ways, including social-skill training groups, parent groups, and classroom curricula. In this study, the researchers investigated the processes underlying this intervention's success. A total of 891 kindergarteners who were at high risk for adolescent antisocial behavior were randomly assigned to receive either the Fast Track intervention or a control program. The data revealed that children in the intervention showed decreased levels of antisocial behavior at the end of 9th grade, which was driven, in part, by improvement on three specific social-cognitive processes. These results suggest that social-cognitive processes may play an important role in the development of antisocial behavior in youth.
Published online February 13, 2013 in Psychological Science
A Comparison of Two Models of Urgency: Urgency Predicts Both Rash Action and Depression in Youth
Gregory T. Smith, Leila Guller, and Tamika C.B. Zapolski
Smith and colleagues test two competing theories concerning the trait of urgency. One theory posits that urgency reflects the people's tendency to act rashly or impulsively when they're emotional. Another theory suggests that urgency reflects a general responsiveness to emotions that can lead to rash action (such as heavy drinking or binge eating) or ill-advised inaction (which is associated with symptoms of depression). In previous research, Smith and colleagues found that urgency levels in 5th grade predicted addictive behaviors (including alcohol consumption, binge eating, and smoking) in 6th grade, which is consistent with both theories. In this study, the researchers found that level of urgency in 5th grade also predicted higher levels of depression at the end of 6th grade. These results support the view that urgency can lead either to rash action or ill-advised inaction. The researchers conclude that urgency may be an important trait in various diagnoses, across both internalizing and externalizing disorders.
Published online February 15, 2013 in Clinical Psychological Science
Genetic and Environmental Influences on Rumination, Distraction, and Depressed Mood in Adolescence
Mollie N. Moore, Rachel H. Salk, Carol A. Van Hulle, Lyn Y. Abramson, Janet S. Hyde, Kathryn Lemery-Chalfant, and H. Hill Goldsmith
About one in 10 adolescents will experience major depression or dysthymia by age 18. Rumination, the process of dwelling on one's feelings and problems, is an established cognitive risk factor for depression. In this study, Moore and colleagues investigated whether response styles associated with rumination might account for some of the genetic vulnerability associated with depression. A total of 756 adolescent twins ages 12 to 14 completed the Response Styles Questionnaire and several measures of depressive symptoms. Brooding was positively correlated with depressive symptoms, while distraction was negatively correlated with the symptoms. About 54% of the variation in depression symptoms could be attributed to genetic variation, while 37% of the variation in reflection and 30% of the variation in distraction were accounted for by genetic variation. Further analyses showed that individual differences in distraction share both genetic and environmental sources of variation with depression. Together, these results suggest that the same genetic factors that contribute to distraction may protect against depression.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Association for Psychological Science.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal References:
K. A. Dodge, J. Godwin. Social-Information-Processing Patterns Mediate the Impact of Preventive Intervention on Adolescent Antisocial Behavior. Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/0956797612457394
G. T. Smith, L. Guller, T. C. B. Zapolski. A Comparison of Two Models of Urgency: Urgency Predicts Both Rash Action and Depression in Youth. Clinical Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/2167702612470647
M. N. Moore, R. H. Salk, C. A. Van Hulle, L. Y. Abramson, J. S. Hyde, K. Lemery-Chalfant, H. H. Goldsmith. Genetic and Environmental Influences on Rumination, Distraction, and Depressed Mood in Adolescence. Clinical Psychological Science, 2013; DOI: 10.1177/2167702612472884
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.
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, postman John Lahmert delivers mail in rural Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, postman John Lahmert delivers mail in rural Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15. 2013, postman John Lahmert loads his truck with mail in Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, Sandra Vidulich is thrilled about her new leather boots delivered by postman John Lahmert in rural Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
In this photo taken on Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, semi-retired farmer Barry Georgeson collects his mail from postman John Lahmert in rural Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
In this photo taken Friday, Feb. 15, 2013, postman John Lahmert greets a customer from his delivery truck, in rural Otaki, New Zealand. New Zealand is considering cutting letter deliveries from six days a week to three as global demand for postal services dwindles. (AP Photo/Nick Perry)
OTAKI, New Zealand (AP) ? Sandra Vidulich is so excited about the leather boots she ordered through Amazon that she rips open the box in front of the postman and tries them on.
"I looove them," she declares, as the driveway at her tree-lined home in rural New Zealand briefly becomes a catwalk. "They're cool."
For now, a boom in Internet shopping is helping keep alive moribund postal services across the developed world. But the core of their business ? letters ? is declining precipitously, and data from many countries indicate that parcels alone won't be enough to save them. The once-proud postal services that helped build modern society are scaling back operations, risking further declines.
The United Kingdom is preparing to wash its hands of mail deliveries entirely by selling the Royal Mail, which traces its roots back nearly 500 years to the reign of King Henry VIII.
The U.S. Postal Service sparked uproar this month when it announced plans to stop delivering letters on Saturdays. New Zealand is considering more drastic cuts: three days of deliveries per week instead of six.
It's only in the past few years that postal services have truly felt the pinch of the Internet. Revenues at the USPS, which delivers about 40 percent of the world's mail, peaked in 2007 at $75 billion.
But the decline since then has been rapid. USPS revenue in 2012 fell to $65 billion, and its losses were $15.9 billion. It handled 160 billion pieces of mail that year, down from 212 billion in 2007. And it had slashed its workforce by 156,000, or 23 percent.
Elsewhere, the news is just as grim. La Poste in France estimates that by 2015, it will be delivering 30 percent fewer letters than it did in 2008. Japan last year delivered 13 percent fewer letters than it did four years earlier. In Denmark, the postal service said letter volumes dropped 12 percent in a single year.
The Universal Postal Union, which reports to the United Nations, estimates that letter volumes worldwide dropped by nearly 4 percent in 2011 and at an even faster clip in developed nations. Developed countries closed 5 percent of their post offices in 2011 alone.
And while Internet shopping continues to grow, postal services that once profited from their monopoly on letters find themselves competing for parcels against private companies like FedEx.
U.S. Postmaster General Patrick Donaho said he doesn't believe the service can ever regain the revenue from packages it has lost from letters. He said axing Saturday mail deliveries, while keeping six-day-a-week package deliveries, will save the service about $2 billion a year.
Donahoe said he thinks ending Saturday letter deliveries will keep the USPS a solid proposition for years to come.
"People still go to their mailbox every day and they wait for their mail to come," he said. "It's part of American life."
And it has been since the beginning. The postal service's role was defined in the Constitution, and Benjamin Franklin was the first postmaster general. The short-lived Pony Express achieved an enduring place in American folklore. Even the modern system of highways and airline travel grew from pioneering routes developed by the postal service.
"It's easy to forget how central this institution was to commerce, public life, social affairs," said Richard John, a Columbia University professor who has written a book on the postal service. "It was once very, very important. Of course, that was then and this is now."
Even now, however, much depends on the post office. According to the Envelope Manufacturers Association, the postal service is at the core of a trillion-dollar mailing industry in the U.S. that employs more than 8 million people.
And for delivering a paper letter cheaply, there is simply no alternative. If rural residents were ever charged the actual cost of mail rather than the subsidized standard rate, John said, the costs would be prohibitive.
The value of the mail goes beyond money in many places, including rural New Zealand. The postal carrier serves as a focal point for the community.
John Lahmert, the postman who delivered the boots, has been delivering mail to farms around the North Island town of Otaki for 18 years. The 72-year-old independent contractor seems to know everybody on his route and doesn't mind stopping for a chat.
Noeline Saunders greets him at the gate, wondering if her citrus trees have arrived. Not yet, Lahmert tells her. Barry Georgeson, a semi-retired farmer, calls out a greeting and wanders down to pick up his letters.
"We don't like change," Georgeson said when asked about the possibility of mail coming just three times a week. But he said he could learn to live with it.
Many seemed resigned to a reduced service.
"I think people can genuinely understand that the world is changing," said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key. "And while some people are still very reliant on the mail, for a lot of people that's a fraction of the way they receive information."
About 7 in 10 Americans said they'd favor axing Saturday deliveries if it allowed the post office to deal with billions of dollars in debt, according to a poll by The New York Times and CBS News.
Some countries, including Australia, Canada and Sweden, have already cut deliveries to five days a week. Others are tinkering with partial privatizations.
Exactly what Britons might expect under a privatized service remains unclear. Some speculate it could mean cutbacks.
Royal Mail's Chief Executive Moya Greene declined to comment for this story: "We're simply not doing interviews about the planned sale," spokesman Mish Tullar wrote in an email.
In policy documents, the UK government said six-day-a-week deliveries and standardized letter prices remain vital but that private investors will provide more financial stability than "unpredictable" taxpayer funding.
While letter volumes are falling in developed nations, the reverse is true in some developing countries. In China, mail deliveries are up 56 percent since 2007, driven by a more than fourfold increase in premium express mail, according to figures from China Post.
Yet people in China are accustomed to having their mail show up late or disappear altogether. As Internet use increases in the developing world, mail may never be as essential as it has been elsewhere.
Not everybody is ready to give up on letters. Reader's Digest sends out about 500,000 pieces of mail each week to people in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Malaysia as it tries to entice them to buy its merchandise.
"A lot of players are going for a digital strategy, and fewer are doing the direct-mail approach," said Walter Beyleveldt, managing director for the Asia Pacific region. "Because of that, the mailbox will get emptier. It will potentially become an exciting place to go and look."
New Zealanders, however, may be looking there half as often as early as next year, if proposed changes to the New Zealand Post's charter are approved.
The government is accepting public comments until mid-March. A quarter of those received so far were mailed in, a rate considered unusually high.
The other 75 percent? Email.
___
Associated Press writers Joe McDonald in Beijing, Yuri Kageyama in Tokyo, Lori Hinnant in Paris, Cassandra Vinograd in London, Pauline Jelinek in Washington and Jan Olsen in Copenhagen, Denmark, contributed to this report. AP researchers Yu Bing and Monika Mathur also contributed.
CHICAGO (AP) ? Former Illinois legislator Robin Kelly captured the Democratic nomination Tuesday in the race to replace disgraced ex-U.S. Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr., after a truncated campaign season where she got a boost from New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's super PAC.
The nomination all but assures that Kelly will sail through the April 9 general election and head to Washington, because the Chicago-area district is overwhelmingly Democratic.
From a crowded field of Democratic contenders, Kelly emerged early as a leader on gun-control issues ? a central theme during the race ? which helped her win support from Bloomberg's super PAC, Independence USA. It poured more than $2 million into the race by airing anti-gun ads in her favor and against another Democratic front runner, former U.S. Rep. Debbie Halvorson, who unlike Kelly is against banning assault weapons.
"We worked really, really hard," the former state representative from Matteson, a south Chicago suburb, told The Associated Press. "We were on the right side of the issue and our message resonated."
Kelly also defended the financial support from Bloomberg, saying: "No one complains when the NRA was spending big money." In her victory speech she vowed to fight for gun control until "gun violence is no longer a nightly feature on the evening news."
Halvorson conceded Tuesday evening, saying the outside money certainly played a role.
"It shows, unfortunately, you can't go up against that big money. ...That's the problem with super PACs," Halvorson, who unsuccessfully challenged Jackson in a primary last year, told the AP. "There is nothing I could have done differently."
After casting her ballot earlier in the day, in the snowy weather that pelted the region Tuesday, Halvorson had warned that if the ads were successful, Bloomberg would try to "buy seats" across the country.
Another Democratic front runner, Chicago Alderman Anthony Beale, also took issue with the ads, saying people were "extremely upset" that someone from New York was trying to tell people in Illinois how to vote.
"That's what money gets you," he told the AP after conceding late Tuesday. "We earned every vote."
Bloomberg called Kelly's win an important victory for "common sense leadership" on gun violence, saying in a statement that voters nationwide are demanding change from their leaders. His PAC, launched weeks before the November election, has spent more than $12 million backing candidates nationwide.
Meanwhile, the race among the lesser known Republican candidates was too close to call two hours after the polls closed.
Guns were a leading issue at candidate forums and email blasts from candidates, even as Jackson's legal saga played out in court and frustrated voters who've seen two other congressmen in the office leave under an ethical or legal cloud.
Jackson resigned in November, after a months-long medical leave for treatment of bipolar disorder and other issues, then pleaded guilty earlier this month to charges that accused him of misspending $750,000 in campaign money on lavish personal items, including a Rolex watch and fur coats.
Jackson's exit created a rare opening in a district where he was first elected in 1995. The primary featured 14 Democrats, including former U.S. Rep. Mel Reynolds, who held the seat in the 1990s but served prison time after being convicted of fraud and for having sex with an underage campaign volunteer. There were four Republicans on the ballot.
Voters heading to the polls Tuesday indicated that guns, ethics and economic woes were on their minds. Attention to the gun-control debate came as Chicago experienced a spike in homicides last year and was reignited in the wake of the school shooting in Connecticut.
Mary Jo Higgins of south suburban Steger said she voted for Halvorson because the former congresswoman is "the only Democrat who believes in the Second Amendment."
But Country Club Hills minister Rosemary Gage said she voted for former state Rep. Robin Kelly because Kelly is "standing with (President Barack Obama) and trying to get rid of guns."
"It's really bad in Chicago and across the country," Gage said. "Too many children have died."
The issue of ethics was also on the minds of voters, particularly as Jackson's legal saga has been playing out in federal court. David Berchem, a retired painter, said he voted for Halvorson because he believes she would represent all residents of the district and was "as honest a person as you can find."
Beale voted at a school in Chicago, while Kelly voted early.
Beale touted his record as a job creator for the South Side ward he represents in Chicago's City Council. That's the reason Juanita Williams, who went to school with Beale, voted for him Tuesday, saying he helped bring a Wal-Mart to the area. The 47-year-old assistant teacher also said Beale has regularly provided school supplies and Christmas gifts to needy students.
Election officials in the three counties making up the district reported few problems at the polls, even though voters and poll workers had to contend with a blustery mix of snow and sleet. Chicago's Department of Streets and Sanitation deployed extra resources to keep polls accessible.
Turnout at the polls was low, with participating hovering near 10 percent in several areas of the district, according to early estimates. Election officials said the weather might have kept some voters on the fence at home.
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Associated Press writer Sara Burnett contributed to this report from Chicago.
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Sophia Tareen can be reached at http://twitter.com/sophiatareen.
CHESTNUT RIDGE, N.Y. - At the Fellowship Community's adult home, workers are paid not according to what they do, but what they need; aging residents are encouraged to lend a hand at the farm, the candle shop or the pottery studio; and boisterous children are welcome around the old folks.
It's a home for the elderly in a commune-like setting ? 30 miles from Manhattan ? that takes an unusual approach, integrating seniors into the broader community and encouraging them to contribute to its welfare.
"It's a great place to live, and I think there's probably no better place in the world to die," says Joanne Karp, an 81-year-old resident who was supposed to be in her room recovering from eye surgery but instead was down the hall at the piano, accompanying three kids learning to play the recorder.
The 33-bed adult home is at the center of Fellowship Community, a collection of about 130 men, women and children founded in 1966 that offers seniors ? including the aging baby boom generation ? an alternative to living out their final years in traditional assisted-living homes or with their grown sons and daughters.
At most adult homes, a resident in decline would eventually have to go to a hospital or nursing home. But Fellowship has an exemption from state law that allows dying residents to stay there because "people have wanted to stay, and we have wanted to keep them," said administrator Ann Scharff, who helped found the community.
"We provide a space in which people can prepare to die in a way that is accepted and nourishing to them and fraught with meaning," Scharff said. "It's not something you run away from, but it's part of the whole spectrum of life, just as birth is part of life and is prepared for."
Like living in a village Situated on a hilltop in suburban Rockland County, Fellowship looks a bit like a village out of the past. Besides the farm and the pottery and candle shops, there are a dairy barn with 10 cows, a print shop, a metal shop, a "weavery" and a wood shop.
The 33-acre farm goes beyond organic, running on "biodynamic," or self-sustaining, principles, as much as a small farm can, said Jairo Gonzalez, the head gardener. Solar panels sparkle on the barn roof, and cow manure becomes compost.
Most of the adult home workers live in buildings surrounding it, as do about 35 independent seniors who don't yet need the services but plan to live out their days in the community. At meals, elders, workers and children dine together.
"We don't subscribe to 'Children should be seen and not heard,'" Scharff said.
Caring for the elderly is the main activity, but all the workers also have other responsibilities.
"In a typical work week, someone will be inside helping the elderly, meaning bringing meals, bathing, meds," said Will Bosch, head of the community's board of trustees. "But they'll also be doing building and grounds maintenance, planting, harvesting, milking."
Organizers decline to call it a commune but concede the spirit is similar. The philosophy behind it is called anthroposophy, "a source of spiritual knowledge and a practice of inner development," according to The Anthroposophical Society in America.
Elder care is practiced in somewhat similar fashion in at least two other anthroposophy-inspired communities: Camphill Ghent in Chatham, N.Y., and Hesperus Village in Vaughan, Ontario, near Toronto.
The area around Fellowship has several other organizations with ties to anthroposophy, including a private school, a bookstore and a co-op grocery that sells some of the community's crops. Fewer than half the adult home residents at Fellowship Community have any connection to anthroposophy, at least when they enter, Scharff said.
"We're an age-integrated community built around the central mission of care of the elderly," Bosch said. "The members want to be of service. They come because they know this is a place where they can contribute."
So Karp, the 81-year-old, teaches music and entertains the community at the piano.
"I think the reason people really appreciate this place is because they can be active and they can contribute and there's always something that needs doing," Karp said. "And it's nice when kids are glad to see you."
Importance of community Other residents, or members, as they're called, have found similar niches.
Gwen Eisenmann, 91, a retired poet, leads poetry discussions and also likes to set the table before meals. Larry Fox, 74, a psychologist, treats patients at the Fellowship's medical office and said, "Where could I be at my age and be so happy to get up in the morning and look forward to the day?"
It's difficult, Bosch said, to find people to sign up for the communal life and work. It appeals to "people who are dismayed with the materialism of the world and are trying to get above it," he said. "People who are interested in an alternative lifestyle , not based on pocketing the most money they can for the least amount of work."
When elders come in, they pay a "life lease" of $27,500 to $50,000, depending on the space they will occupy in the adult home or the "lodges" surrounding it. In addition, they pay $700-$1,500 per month in rent, and up to $3,000 a month for care, depending on what they need.
Revenue from the adult home provides 60 percent of the nonprofit Fellowship Community's $3 million operating budget, with the rest coming from donations and the sale of produce, milk and crafts, home officials said. Donations completely fund the capital budget, make up any annual shortfall and subsidize the adult home.
The adult home is licensed and inspected by the state and is in good standing. It doesn't accept federal or state aid. Workers are paid according to need, and their housing, food and transportation ? there are community cars ? are included.
"Two people doing the same job might get very different stipends," Bosch said. "One might have children, one might not."
Matt Uppenbrink, 44, a former businessman in the fashion world who now lives at Fellowship with his wife and two children, is on the community's "financial circle" but also does his bit in the adult home.
"When I got my MBA, I didn't think I'd be helping somebody to go to the toilet," he said. "But years ago, with Grandma and Grandpa in the house, that's how it was done. What we do here is like helping a friend or helping a loved one. My dad is in a nursing home, and I wish he had this instead."
Rachel Berman, a 47-year-old former New York City teacher, lives at the community with her 10-year-old daughter.
"We cook, we farm, we care for the elderly," Berman said. "I was in the Peace Corps, and I lived for a while on a kibbutz in Israel, so community life was important to me."
The workers "get to see the stages of an elder's journey, different approaches to the end of life," Uppenbrink said. "You get to see the process happen. It gives you something to work with in terms of your own future."
? 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
A classic example from my buddy Steve Sjuggerud on a Wall St ?truth?, ie you have to buy low sell high?(reminds me of an olllld 2007 post here).
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So we tested which strategy works better: Buying near 52-week lows? or buying at 52-week highs. We looked at nearly 100 years of weekly data on the S&P 500 Index, not counting dividends.
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You might be surprised at what we found?
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After the stock market hits a 52-week high, the compound annual gain over the next year is 9.6%. That is a phenomenal outperformance over the long-term ?buy and hold? return, which was 5.6% a year.
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On the flip side, buying when the stock market is at or near new lows leads to terrible performance over the next 12 months? Specifically, buying anytime stocks are within 6% of their 52-week lows leads to compound annual gain of 0%. That?s correct, no gain at all 12 months later.
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Using monthly data, our?True Wealth Systems?databases go back to 1791. The results are similar? Buying at a 12-month high and holding for 12 months beats the return of buy-and-hold. And buying at a 12-month low and holding for a year does worse than buy-and-hold. Take a look??
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1791 to 2012?
All periods?
4.3%?
New Highs?
5.5%?
New Lows?
0.9%?
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The same holds true for a more recent time period, this time starting in 1950??
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1950 to 2012?
All periods?
7.2%?
New Highs?
8.5%?
New Lows?
6.0%?
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History?s verdict is clear? You?re much better off buying at new highs than at new lows.
LOS ANGELES (AP) ? A lawsuit brought by a lesbian Army veteran and her wife over the denial of disability benefits can move forward over the objections of the Department of Justice, a federal judge in California ruled Monday.
U.S. District Judge Consuelo Marshall refused to dismiss Tracey Cooper-Harris' challenge to the federal Defense of Marriage Act and to two other laws that make same-sex spouses of military veterans ineligible for benefits available to straight spouses. Marshall did not explain her reasoning in court, but said she would issue a written ruling at a later date.
The Justice Department under President Obama has refused to defend the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act, and argued that the U.S. Supreme Court should strike it down as unconstitutional when it hears arguments in another lawsuit next month.
But the department had asked for Cooper-Harris' case to be tossed out on the grounds that veterans' claims can only be heard by an administrative Board of Veterans' Appeals.
Cooper-Harris suffers from multiple sclerosis and receives disability benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs. She and her wife, Maggie Cooper-Harris, got married in California during the brief period in 2008 when same-sex unions were legal in the state.
Citing the Defense of Marriage Act, which prohibits the government from recognizing same-sex marriages, and veterans' benefits laws that define a spouse as a person of the opposite sex, the VA denied the couple's application for additional money and benefits that married veterans are entitled to receive.
In the case of the couple, they would receive about $150 more a month in disability payments, and Maggie Cooper-Harris would be eligible for about $1,200 a month in survivor's benefits if her wife died, said Southern Poverty Law Center deputy legal director Christine Sun, who is representing the couple.
Even though the Supreme Court is set to examine the Defense of Marriage Act, the justices could end up issuing a narrow decision that does not settle the question of whether the act is constitutional, in which case it would remain important for Cooper-Harris' case to remain active, Sun said. Marshall has scheduled the next hearing for April 1.
"The significance of the court's ruling today is it vindicates the right of Tracie and Maggie Cooper-Harris to go forward to have their day in court," she said.
Feb. 25, 2013 ? For chronic pain sufferers, such as people who develop back pain after a car accident, avoiding the harmful effects of stress may be key to managing their condition. This is particularly important for people with a smaller-than-average hippocampus, as these individuals seem to be particularly vulnerable to stress. These are the findings of a study by Dr. Pierre Rainville, PhD in Neuropsychology,
Researcher at the Research Centre of the Institut universitaire de g?riatrie de Montr?al (IUGM) and Professor in the Faculty of Dentistry at Universit? de Montr?al, along with ?tienne Vachon-Presseau, a PhD student in Neuropsychology. The study appeared in Brain.
"Cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal glands, is sometimes called the 'stress hormone' as it is activated in reaction to stress. Our study shows that a small hippocampal volume is associated with higher cortisol levels, which lead to increased vulnerability to pain and could increase the risk of developing pain chronicity," explained ?tienne Vachon-Presseau.
As Dr. Pierre Rainville described, "Our research sheds more light on the neurobiological mechanisms of this important relationship between stress and pain. Whether the result of an accident, illness or surgery, pain is often associated with high levels of stress Our findings are useful in that they open up avenues for people who suffer from pain to find treatments that may decrease its impact and perhaps even prevent chronicity. To complement their medical treatment, pain sufferers can also work on their stress management and fear of pain by getting help from a psychologist and trying relaxation or meditation techniques."
Research summary
This study included 16 patients with chronic back pain and a control group of 18 healthy subjects. The goal was to analyze the relationships between four factors: 1) cortisol levels, which were determined with saliva samples; 2) the assessment of clinical pain reported by patients prior to their brain scan (self-perception of pain); 3) hippocampal volumes measured with anatomical magnetic resonance imaging (MRI); and 4) brain activations assessed with functional MRI (fMRI) following thermal pain stimulations. The results showed that patients with chronic pain generally have higher cortisol levels than healthy individuals.
Data analysis revealed that patients with a smaller hippocampus have higher cortisol levels and stronger responses to acute pain in a brain region involved in anticipatory anxiety in relation to pain. The response of the brain to the painful procedure during the scan partly reflected the intensity of the patient's current clinical pain condition. These findings support the chronic pain vulnerability model in which people with a smaller hippocampus develop a stronger stress response, which in turn increases their pain and perhaps their risk of suffering from chronic pain. This study also supports stress management interventions as a treatment option for chronic pain sufferers.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Universit? de Montr?al, via AlphaGalileo.
Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.
Journal Reference:
E. Vachon-Presseau, M. Roy, M.-O. Martel, E. Caron, M.-F. Marin, J. Chen, G. Albouy, I. Plante, M. J. Sullivan, S. J. Lupien, P. Rainville. The stress model of chronic pain: evidence from basal cortisol and hippocampal structure and function in humans. Brain, 2013; 136 (3): 815 DOI: 10.1093/brain/aws371
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.
Scientists' findings disclose a new and much needed test for river blindness infection
Tuesday, February 26, 2013
Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have found a telltale molecular marker for Onchocerciasis or "river blindness," a parasitic infection that affects tens of millions of people in Africa, Latin America and other tropical regions. The newly discovered biomarker, detectable in patients' urine, is secreted by Onchocerca volvulus worms during an active infection. The biomarker could form the basis of a portable, field-ready test with significant advantages over current diagnostic methods.
"There has been a need for an inexpensive, non-invasive test that can discriminate between active and non-active river blindness infections during treatment campaigns," said Kim D. Janda, who is Professor and Ely R. Callaway, Jr. Chair in Chemistry, member of the Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology, and director of the Worm Institute of Research and Medicine at TSRI. "We think that this new biomarker can be the basis for such a test."
The work is described in an online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences during the week of February 25, 2013.
Leading Cause of Vision Loss
A leading cause of vision loss, Onchocerciasis infections are transmitted among humans by river-dwelling blackflies in tropical regions. The vast majority of cases occur in sub-Saharan Africa, although pockets of endemic infection exist in Yemen and in Central and South America. The major symptoms of the disease, including blindness, result from the spread of O. volvulus "microfilariae"?early-stage larval worms?to the eyes and other tissues, where they trigger damaging inflammatory reactions.
Mass treatment campaigns, begun in the 1990s, have used the anti-worm drug ivermectin, as well as the antibiotic doxycycline, which kills a symbiotic bacterium within the worms. The World Health Organization's African Programme for Onchocerciasis Control has set a target date of 2025 for the eradication of the disease in that region. But Onchocerciasis treatment is seldom effective immediately and often spares adult worms. The latter can remain in protected nodules under the skin of a patient and secrete microfilaria for a decade or more. Health agencies need better diagnostic methods not only to monitor the progress of Onchocerciasis treatment campaigns, but also to limit the use of ivermectin and doxycycline to reduce the risk of resistance.
Current diagnostic methods include the painful cutting of "skin snips" from patients for microscopic analysis and an ELISA antibody test for microfilariae, which may yield positive results even for non-active infections. "You can still have circulating antibodies to a nemotode antigen in your blood for a long time after the infection is gone," said Janda.
Looking for a Better Way
A better diagnostic marker would be a metabolite of O. volvulus that appears only during an active, microfilariae-producing infection and that could determine both the presence and the severity of disease. In 2010, Janda's laboratory demonstrated the feasibility of this approach by sifting through the small-molecule metabolites within blood samples from river blindness patients?a technique called "metabolome mining"?and finding a set linked to active onchocerciasis infection. For the new study, the team sought a simpler set of biomarkers?or better yet, a single unique biomarker in urine.
Daniel Globisch, a postdoctoral fellow in the Janda laboratory, started with samples of urine from onchocerciasis-infected and non-infected Africans. Using a powerful laboratory technique called liquid chromatography mass spectrometry, he measured the concentrations of hundreds of small-molecule metabolites in the samples. Excitingly, between the infected and non-infected urine samples, one difference stood out clearly: "An unknown small molecule was highly elevated in the samples from infected individuals," said Globisch.
In a process akin to looking for the proverbial needle in the haystack, Globisch was able to purify the mysterious metabolite, and, using mass spectrometry, determine the chemical identities of its individual pieces. "The metabolite itself wasn't present in the databases, so I searched the literature for what is known about the biosynthesis and metabolic pathways in these nematodes," Globisch said. Ultimately, he was able to identify the metabolite as N-acetyltyramine-O,?-glucuronide. Remarkably, this molecule's inception can be traced to O. volvulus as a neurotransmitter molecule that is secreted by young, reproducing worms and then modified by the human body on its way to being excreted in urine.
"It's a spectacular find in terms of biomarkers as it does not occur naturally in humans," Globisch said. Levels of the metabolite in a non-infected North American control sample were near zero.
Toward a Field Test
In urine samples from Africans with active onchocerciasis infections, Globisch found that levels of the biomarker were on average four to six times higher than in samples from Africans with non-active infections. In a separate test, the team determined that a full course of doxycycline treatment, which sterilizes or kills infecting worms by destroying their symbiotic bacteria, also reduced levels of the biomarker to near-normal. "This biomarker appears to be specific for an active infection," Globisch said. The wide gap between biomarker levels in active and non-active infections suggests that a field test based on the biomarker would be robustly useful.
Such a diagnostic, said Janda, might ultimately be a simple urine dipstick test, much like a home pregnancy test, which would indicate the amount of the O. volvulus biomarker present in the sample. "Ultimately for this to be of value in Third World countries we will need to morph this biomarker into something that's inexpensive, simple to use, tolerant of extreme temperatures and portable?basically distilling our finding to a test that can be carted around in a backpack," Janda said.
Importantly, he adds that Globisch's metabolome-mining approach in theory should be applicable to the development of diagnostic tests for other worm diseases.
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Scripps Research Institute: http://www.scripps.edu
Thanks to Scripps Research Institute for this article.
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We've had a bit of a love / hate relationship with the Google Chromebook since the first one crossed our laps back in 2011 -- the Samsung Series 5. We loved the concept, but hated the very limited functionality provided by your $500 investment. Since then, the series of barebones laptops has progressed, and so too has the barebones OS they run, leading to our current favorite of the bunch: the 2012 Samsung Chromebook.
In that laptop's review, we concluded that "$249 seems like an appropriate price for this sort of device." So, then, imagine our chagrin when Google unveiled a very similar sort of device, but one that comes with a premium. A very hefty premium. It's a high-end, halo sort of product with incredible build quality, an incredible screen and an incredible price. Is a Chromebook that starts at more than five times the cost of its strongest competition even worth considering? Let's do the math.
If you're an amateur baker who's mastered the sheet cake, this alphanumeric grid pan will let you take your creations one step further by turning them into low-res numbers and letters. All you need to do is arrange the included square metal dividers to create negative spaces in the pan that form characters. More »
BEIJING (AP) ? Asian stock markets fell Tuesday amid anxiety about impending U.S. government spending cuts and the uncertain outcome of Italy's general election.
Oil dropped below $93 a barrel on concern about possible setbacks in all the major economic regions.
Japan's Nikkei 225 plunged 2.2 percent to 11,410.51 as the yen's recent weakness, which has boosted export stocks, reversed course. Hong Kong's Hang Seng lost 0.7 percent to 22,666.90. Seoul, Taipei and Sydney also suffered declines.
The only major market to buck the trend was China, where the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index added 0.3 percent to 2,333.90.
Investors were spooked by automatic U.S. spending cuts that hit this week and possible political instability in Italy following a general election.
In Asia, Chinese markets have drifted after Beijing ordered new efforts to cool housing prices, prompting fears of tighter monetary policy that might slow a gradual economic recovery. Investors also were dismayed by a survey that showed February factory activity slowing.
"As all three major economic areas face uncertainty, risk aversion has returned," said Credit Agricole CIB economist Dariusz Kowalczyk in a report.
South Korea's Kospi declined 0.6 percent to 1,997.42, Taiwan's Taiex fell 0.5 percent to 7,905.90 and Sydney's S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.8 percent to 5,015.4. India's Sensex was down 0.5 percent at 19,027.07. Benchmarks in Singapore, Bangkok, Manila and Jakarta also declined.
Markets were volatile Monday amid uncertainty about the outcome of Italy's election. Exit polls suggested a center-left coalition might be able to form a government. But later polls showed a center-right group led by former Premier Silvio Berlusconi might win control of the upper house ? a scenario that might produce political deadlock and force new elections.
Berlusconi has promised to roll back some of the austerity measures introduced by technocrat prime minister Mario Monti. Heavily indebted Italy's stability is considered crucial to the future of the euro currency bloc and European leaders want Rome to enforce Monti's spending controls.
On Wall Street, the Dow fell 216.40 points, or 1.6 percent, to 13,784.17, its biggest drop since Nov. 7. The S&P 500 fell 27.75 points, or 1.8 percent, to 1,487.85, falling below 1,500 for the first time in three weeks. The Nasdaq composite dropped 45.57 points, or 1.4 percent, to 3,116.25
In China, investors were dismayed when HSBC Corp. said Monday a preliminary version of its purchasing managers index showed Chinese manufacturing unexpectedly fell in February to a four-month low and export orders declined.
China is recovering from its deepest slowdown since the 2008 but analysts say the rebound will be gradual and could be jeopardized if trade or investment falls.
Investors also are awaiting new U.S. data and remarks by Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke.
Last week, minutes from the Fed's latest policy meeting showed concern over monetary stimulus, stoking jitters in the markets.
In currency markets, the dollar was down 0.7 percent to 91.92 yen. But the yen, which has fallen by about 20 percent in recent weeks, is still much weaker than it was for most of last year. The euro was down 0.3 percent to $1.305.
Benchmark crude for April delivery was down 57 cents to $92.54 in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract settled Monday at $93.11.
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Public release date: 28-Feb-2013
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