Excellent and Awesome Tips on How to Study Well in College

For many students, being able to study well in college means that they have a better shot at a bright future. If they are able to get good grades, there is a chance that they will get good jobs with substantial paychecks. Indeed, in these economically-depressed times, it only through a good education that they can be able to find better employment.

Being able to study well in college would require you, the student, to develop the skills that will greatly enhance both your memory and your capacity for learning. These skills fall under five specific factors related to memory and learning enhancement.

1. Study Time = This pertains to the number of hours that you spend for studying and just how appropriately you are using them. This does not include the time you spend listening to lectures in class and doing your homework in the evening. Research studies have clearly documented that students do better in their exams if they squeeze in 30 minute to 1 hour study periods in their daily college schedule. While such a short duration may seem counterproductive, in reality, a shorter time period means that you can concentrate better on what you are studying. With study periods of 3 hours or longer, concentration dwindles to the point that you can no longer understand what you are reading.

2. Study Location = This pertains to the places where you choose to hit the books. Although the library remains the best place to study, research has shown that it is more effective if you alternate study places, particularly if you choose locations that are somehow related to the topics that you are reading on. Do you want to be able to understand those complex theories in Biochemistry? Ask your professor if you can study in the chemistry lab. The sight of the many charts and formulas on the walls, as well as the labeled bottles of chemicals can help you to remember what you are studying more. If you want to do even better in your tests, psychologists highly recommend that you study in the exam room or the lecture room that is very similar to where you will be given the test. Study location helps to "color" the knowledge that you are reading.

3. Putting Information in Short-Term Memory (STM) = Not too many students know that cramming and doing all-nighters primarily uses your short-term memory. Unfortunately, STM is not very effective since there are only 5 to 9 bits of information that you can remember at a time. Worse, if you don't reinforce this with constant memorization and repetition, you can expect all the information you have crammed into your brain within 15 to 20 seconds flat. In order for STM to work for you during cram sessions, you can combine all related facts together in easy-to-memorize chunks (a technique known as "chunking").

4. Storing Information in Long-Term Memory (LTM) = Research studies have confirmed that whatever information that you have crammed into your mind during an all-nighter will only stay inside your brain for 2 weeks at the most. For the information to stick inside your head until Final exams, you need to encode this knowledge into your long-term memory. If the information is encoded properly, it will be very convenient for you to get them out of your head during exams. Check out tutorials on techniques such as Mnemonics, the Peg Word Method and the Loci Method.

5. Retrieving Knowledge from Memory = Believe it or not, knowledge retrieval from your memory is actually being facilitated by the exams you take. The easy sections, like Matching Type, Multiple Choice and True or False, help you to develop the skills of knowledge retrieval with the help of "cues". As you move on to the more difficult Essay section, you will find that the "cues" which you have noted in the early parts can actually help you to delve deeper into your memory for the answers to the essay questions (that don't have the "cues").

Discover the basic strategies that will help you to study well in college today!

Facts About LPN Programs in New York

There are a lot of LPN programs in New York for you to choose from if you are interested in becoming an LPN. As states go this is one of the best ones to earn your LPN qualification because there is just so much choice. Some examples of schools are the State University of New York at Farmingdale, the Marion S. Whelan School of Practical Nursing, and the Lee G. Peters Career Training Center. However these are just a few of the many options. The important thing to ascertain before enrolling is whether or not the school is accredited with the New York State Board of Nursing if you want to become a certified LPN nurse.

In order to enroll in LPN programs in New York you have to meet a few requirements. Unlike in many other states you only have to be 17 or older to qualify. You will also have to have a high school diploma, pass a background test and be in good health to get into most New York LPN schools. Some schools may require that you write an entrance exam to get into the program and study for your qualification.

Good LPN programs in New York will always include practical as well as theoretical classes. In fact if you want to become an LPN you absolutely have to do hands-on training. This is an unavoidable requirement that you have to meet if you want to succeed as an LPN nurse in your studies. Online LPN schools in New York, for example, will not offer the clinical training that you need and you will have to organize that side of things for yourself in order to properly qualify as an LPN. A school or program that offers very little or no clinical training should be avoided altogether.

When it comes to choosing LPN programs in New York you will want to, then, choose one that has good clinical facilities and that will provide you with a high degree of clinical exposure during your time in the program. The better the facilities of a school, the higher the school should be on your list of possible schools to attend. This part of your training is not only essential for the examination, but also for preparing you for your actual career as an LPN nurse in the future, so it should form the basis of your decision.

If you are someone who is going to need financial aid to get through your studies then you may want to only consider those LPN programs in New York that offer financial aid options. There are many LPN programs out there that will be happy to provide you with the financial aid you need. Sometimes the aid is merit based, sometimes it is need based. You may also be able to qualify for loan forgiveness programs where you will be able to have a portion of your loan paid off on your behalf. In return for this you will be required to work for a set period of time in a designated undeserved facility as an LPN once you have qualified.

UC lab makes robot that emulates leaping lizard

Scientists and their students in a UC Berkeley lab have learned how African lizards use their tails to leap from predators - a discovery that allowed them to create a tiny robot with a tail that uses the same acrobatics for unprecedented maneuverability.

Similar robots could eventually be used, the scientists say, to search for bodies buried underneath earthquake rubble, or to land a spacecraft on low-gravity asteroids, or - as the Army suggests - to sneak inside buildings where enemy combatants lurk.

In today's edition of the journal Nature, UC Berkeley biologist Robert J. Full and Thomas Libby, his mechanical engineering graduate student, describe a series of experiments observing the leaping African rainbow lizards. The lizards swing their tails upright to balance themselves in midair and keep them from tumbling head over heels as they leap.

After detailed studies of the lizards' physiology, the team developed mathematical models of their tail motions. They used that information to build a movable tail for a four-wheeled, mini-robot that mimics the lizards' flights.

The inch-long robot, named "Tailbot," can take off from a ramp at a yard per second and land safely, tail-up, across a void several inches wide. Without the tail to balance and stabilize it, Tailbot crashed.

In Full's lab, biologists and engineers work together on how animal motions can be used to design robots with more useful legs or wheels.

"The science of robotics is just beginning," Full said. "We build our robots to behave the same way that our little animals, like crabs or geckos or cockroaches, have evolved to confront obstacles in their environment."

Full's lab also has created a six-legged robot named Ariel that mimics a crab's scuttle, allowing it to walk on sandy beaches, rock piles, underwater and in ocean surf.

Another six-legged robot named RHex moves with the persistence of a sniffing terrier, Full said, but is modeled after the way a cockroach speeds into the hidden cracks of a cupboard.

And then there's Mecho-Gecko, a robot whose three legs are tipped with pressure-sensitive adhesive, enabling it to climb vertical walls much the way geckos do.

Stanford robotics engineer Mark Cutkosky, who has worked with Full in the past, said the new report on leaping lizards and the Tailbot robot's performance "provides valuable insights for the next generation of mobile robots.

"In the past, robots haven't moved fast enough to take advantage of acrobatic maneuvers that involve dynamic effects such as rapidly rotating or flicking a tail, or rapidly rotating the limbs, as human jumpers or pole vaulters do."

But Full's report, Cutkosky said, "shows us how a tail and a flexible spine can be used to increase mobility and maneuverability at high speeds when robots can jump, spin and glide across the terrain."

There were also side benefits of the lizard research, Full said.

The models his team created confirmed a hypothesis about how swift dinosaurs moved - a theory developed more than 40 years ago by John Ostrom, a Yale paleontologist.

Ostrom studied the vicious racing and slashing theropods like deinonychus, and velociraptor, the evil co-star of the later movie "Jurassic Park."

Their leaping attacks, Full said, followed the "dynamic stabilizer" models of his team's research.

He said the movie appropriately captured how the velociraptor moved. Without knowing the mathematics of the leaping African lizards, the movie creators still "got it right!" Full said.

Full's team's research was supported by grants from the National Science Foundation and MAST, the U.S. Army's Micro Autonomous Systems Technologies Alliance.

Indonesia’s 2012 Rubber Production Growth May Slow on Weather

Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Natural-rubber production in Indonesia, the second-largest grower, may increase at a slower pace this year as a moderate La Nina potentially disrupts tapping even as more trees are maturing, an industry group said.

Output may rise 6.5 percent to 3.3 million metric tons this year after gaining 12 percent to 3.1 million tons last year, said Suharto Honggokusumo, executive director at the Rubber Association of Indonesia.

Exports may gain to 2.8 million tons from 2.6 million tons, supported by demand from tire makers in the U.S., Japan and China, he said by telephone from Jakarta today.

Rubber plunged 36 percent last year on concern the European sovereign-debt crisis hurt demand. June-delivery futures rose 0.75 percent to 268.2 yen per kilogram ($3,490 a ton) on the Tokyo Commodity Exchange at 2 p.m. Jakarta time.

“Rubber trees that were replanted in 2007 and 2008 will start producing this year,” Honggokusumo said. “Demand remains good, with consumption from Europe expected to improve in the second half.”

Output from the world’s biggest growers, which represent 92 percent of global supply, may rise 3.1 percent to 10.42 million tons this year, the Association of Natural Rubber Producing Countries said yesterday. Last year, output increased 6.4 percent to 10.1 million tons, it said, a faster pace than its November forecast of 5.6 percent.

--Editor: Greg Ahlstrand

To contact the reporter on this story: Yoga Rusmana in Jakarta at yrusmana@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

American Diplomat Urges China to Consult Over North Korea

SEOUL, South Korea — The highest American official to visit northeast Asia since the death of Kim Jong-il, the North Korean leader, urged China on Thursday to help restrain the new leadership in the North from military provocations as it goes through a sensitive transition of power.

“We also urge China to make clear the importance of restraint by the new North Korean leadership,” Assistant Secretary of State M. Kurt Campbell told reporters in Seoul after meeting Foreign Minister Kim Sung-hwan of South Korea.

Mr. Campbell discussed developments in North Korea following Kim Jong-il’s death with Mr. Kim and other senior South Korean officials, as well as briefing them on the meetings he had with Chinese officials in Beijing on Wednesday.

When he met Vice Foreign Minister Cui Tiankai and other senior Chinese officials, Mr. Campbell said, he asked Beijing to “consult closely” with Washington on developments in North Korea.

Although there is doubt on Beijing’s ability to influence the North Korean regime, China remains Pyongyang’s last remaining major ally. North Korea’s economic dependence on China has deepened in recent years as it suffered more international sanctions following its nuclear and long-range missile tests. That dependence has magnified the potential role China might be able to play in stabilizing the Korean Peninsula if the transition in Pyongyang went awry. China was the first country to endorse the new North Korean leader, Kim Jong-un, the third son of Kim Jong-il, who died on Dec. 17.

One of the biggest concerns in the region is that Kim Jong-un — or whoever is engineering his rapid rise to top leadership of the North’s 1.2 million-member military and other key agencies of power — might initiate military provocations against South Korea to help consolidate internal unity.

Mr. Kim is believed to be in his late 20s. Whether he will be able to consolidate the kind of grip on power his father did — or how the power elites might behave if he fails to do so — remain topics of intense speculation and of potentially grave implications for the stability of the region.

“We underscore the strongest possible commitment of the United States to the enduring partnership between the United States and the Republic of Korea and the determination to be tightly aligned as we together face the new leadership transition in North Korea,” Mr. Campbell said, using the official name of South Korea.

The military commitment of the United States, which keeps 28,500 troops in South Korea, is crucial to South Korea’s defense against the North.

Bobby Tonelli: Learning Mandarin one arm curl at a time

SINGAPORE: Most artistes learn their lines at home, but US-born Singapore actor Bobby Tonelli learned the Mandarin lines for his role in the Channel 8 drama "Double Bonus", his biggest Mandarin-speaking role yet, by going to the gym.

Strange you say?

Tonelli doesn't think so – the hunky actor believed that learning his lines at the gym made it easier for him to remember and understand them.

"The memorisation is very tough. I know what I am saying but I have to memorise all these sounds and try to make it flow, so what I did is I would record lines and I would play it through my headphones while at the gym while working out.

"It does help because when you kind of doing two things at the same time, it sort of gets ingrained into your brain a bit more," said Tonelli, who also hosts Class 95FM's "Cartunes" show with Jean Danker.

"I'm learning Mandarin one arm curl at a time man!"

"The only problem is you start mouthing [the words] out so people are looking at you and are like 'What the hell are you doing in the gym? He's gone mad at the gym!'," said Tonelli, bursting into laughter.
"I was scared sh*tless!"

He may laugh about it now, but Tonelli revealed that he literally shook with fear during the first few days of shooting for the drama, which also stars local actresses Zoe Tay and Tracy Lee along with Hong Kong actor Tom Price.

"I was nervous as hell because acting generally is hard , acting in a foreign language is even harder.

"I remember I was literally shaking the first few days. I was so nervous I couldn't sleep at night," said Tonelli.

"I was scared sh*tless! But that was part of the challenge of it and that's what made it fun for me."

Besides the challenge of acting in a foreign tongue, Tonelli's sense of obligation to Channel 8 also pushed him to take the job and get the job done right.

"Channel 8 has been really good to me. To the mass audience, they didn't notice me till I did 'The Little Nyonya'. It was thanks to Channel 8.

"So there's a part of me that always feels indebted to them for what they have given me," said Tonelli, explaining that he was especially grateful to Channel 8 for bringing him and his actress girlfriend Joanne Peh - whom he met on the "The Little Nyonya" set - together.

"Yeah, you can't beat that! That's always a plus!" said the actor of gaining both his big break as well as a girlfriend from his stint on "The Little Nyonya".

The only problem he had with shooting the show was that it left him with precious little time to spend with Peh, who was also busy with "A Song To Remember" at the time.

"When she was free and wanted to go out, I can't because I'd have Mandarin tuition," said Tonelli.
More Mandarin in his future

Although filming for "Double Bonus" has wrapped and the show is now airing, Tonelli expressed that he intends to continue learning Mandarin, even though he is still struggling with it.

"I love the Chinese language … I enjoy the culture. I'm still taking [Mandarin] lessons.

"It's just that in Singapore, it's hard to learn because you are not around it all the time," said Tonelli, adding that he is also bracing himself for criticism about his Mandarin.

"Singapore audiences can be quite critical of other people's Mandarin ... I know I will probably get slammed for my Mandarin at some point.

"All I can say is I'm trying my best and I'll continue to get better."
"Double Bonus" airs every weeknight at 9pm on Channel 8.

-CNA

Bollywood Tops India’s Twitter Rankings

Although Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan did not deliver a box office hit in 2011, this did not stop him from being crowned India’s Twitter king.

Big B was the most popular Indian celebrity on the micro-blogging site in 2011, with over 1.85 million followers on Jan. 1. The host of India’s edition of “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire” claimed last year’s title after overtaking 2010’s Twitter queen Priyanka Chopra, who came a close second, ending the year with around 1.84 million followers.

What’s the secret behind Mr. Bachchan’s Twitter success? Not only is he one of the best-known Bollywood names globally: While celebrities often refrain from tweeting on their private lives, last year Mr. Bachchan has been anything but reclusive on Twitter.

In June he broke the news of his daughter-in-law Aishwarya Rai’s pregnancy and in November he tweeted in excitement after the birth of his second granddaughter, who was immediately dubbed “Baby B.”

Following Bollywood diva Ms. Chopra is cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, who ranked third with over 1.78 million followers, most of whom have been eagerly awaiting his 100th ton since March last year. Though the little master seldom tweets, ardent cricket fans have set him trending on the micro-blogging site pretty much each time he set foot on the pitch.

Bollywood’s “King Khan” is unlikely to shy away from popularity rankings. Sure enough, he came fourth with over 1.61 million Twitter followers, over 100,000 ahead of actor Aamir Khan, who ranks fifth. The other Khan, Salman, came sixth with around 1.5 million followers.

Twitter’s year-end statistics for India are more Bollywood-heavy than last year’s, when the followers of politician Shashi Tharoor outnumbered both Mr. Bachchan’s and Mr. Tendulkar’s. The Congress party lawmaker is still the most followed tweeter in Delhi, but with around 1.2 million followers he comes nowhere close the top five nation-wide.

Indian celebrities were no match for global superstars, many of whom have a fan following on Twitter in the 10-to-20 million range. Pop diva Lady Gaga tops the list with over 17 million followers followed by teenage sensation Justin Bieber, who has 16 million followers. Not a single Indian made it on the list of the top 100 most-followed celebrities of the year, which includes the likes of U.S. President Barack Obama, the Dalai Lama and Brazilian soccer star Kaka.

To spot the first Indian, you have to dig 12 pages deep into the list after which Mr. Bachchan finally appears at No. 244.

Follow India Real Time on Twitter @indiarealtime.