Kamis, 12 Juni 2014

CRIME: Detecting drug abuse through sewage.

Source: news.bbc.co.uk
This is an interesting concept, tracking the outflows of a community's sewer system to detect illegal substances at the treatment plant.  Once this is installed, the next step would be to install detectors at the intersections of main sewer lines then smaller connectors until detectors are installed in each neighborhood.

From a civil liberties viewpoint, this should be about as welcome as drone aircraft circling overhead.  From a crime detection standpoint, it could quickly spot a meth cooking operation or other activity.  For the author of crime fiction, it's one more twist to add to a plot.

Here's the story:

The war on drugs could get a boost with a new method that analyzes sewage to track levels of illicit drug use in local communities in real time. The new study, a first-of-its-kind in the U.S., was published in the ACS ournal Environmental Science & Technology and could help law enforcement identify new drug hot spots and monitor whether anti-drug measures are working.

Kurunthachalam Kannan and Bikram Subedi note that to date, most methods to estimate drug use in the U.S. are based on surveys, crime statistics and drug seizures by law enforcement. But much illegal drug use happens off the radar. To better approximate usage, scientists have been turning to wastewater. Like a lot of other compounds from pharmaceuticals and personal care products to pesticides, illegal drugs and their metabolic byproducts also persist in sewage.

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In Europe, a number of studies have been done to see how well wastewater treatment plants are removing illicit drugs from sludge before treated water is released into the environment. But until now, no study in the U.S. had looked at this, likely leading to underestimates of abuse. Kannan and Subedi wanted to form a more complete picture of drug use, so they studied levels of illicit drugs at two wastewater treatment plants in Albany, New York.

Surprisingly, the scientists found cocaine in 93 percent of all untreated samples. Levels of byproducts from opioids and hallucinogenic drugs were also detected. They found that the wastewater treatment plants didn't remove all illicit drugs before releasing water back into the environment -- and eventually into drinking water. But, the researchers suggest, tracking drugs in wastewater could help policymakers and law enforcement understand patterns of abuse and better fight it.
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Story Source: Materials provided by American Chemical Society. Bikram Subedi, Kurunthachalam Kannan. Mass Loading and Removal of Select Illicit Drugs in Two Wastewater Treatment Plants in New York State and Estimation of Illicit Drug Usage in Communities through Wastewater Analysis. Environmental Science & Technology, 2014

Rabu, 11 Juni 2014

Pre-HISTORY: Farming culture traveled to Europe by boat, not overland


Credit: Modified NASA map
Genetic markers in modern populations indicate the Neolithic migrants who brought farming to Europe traveled from the Levant into Anatolia and then island hopped to Greece via Crete and then to Sicily and north into Southern Europe.

Here's a story just waiting to be written, a story of many themes.  According to new genetic research, new stone age or neolithic farmers introduced agriculture into Europe by leapfrogging along the coast by boat.  This fact sets up a conflict between existing populations of old stone  age or paleolithic hunter gatherers who roam a set geography in search of food with farmers who establish villages and claim tracts of land for their work, possibly interrupting ancient hunting patterns.

Farmers living in permanent settlements have different social structures than small groups of hunter gatherers, which adds to the conflict, undoubtedly flowing from underlying resentments and jealousies.  Living in permanent settlements allows for the accumulation of wealth as hunter gatherers have to carry everything they own on their backs.
For an example from our own recent history, compare the relative wealth of the Amerinds of the Pacific Northwest who lived in permanent settlements and the Amerind cultures of the plains who moved frequently following their food sources.  
Here's the story, and best wishes on your book.  I can't wait to read it.


Seafarers brought Neolithic culture to Europe

How Neolithic peoples found their way to Europe has long been a subject of debate. 

Between 8,800 to 10,000 B.C., in the Levant, the region in the eastern Mediterranean that today encompasses Israel and the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and part of southern Turkey, people learned how to domesticate wild grains. This accomplishment eventually allowed them to abandon their lives as nomadic hunter-gathers and become farmers.

Archaeologists use this transition from hunter-gathering to farming to mark the end of the Paleolithic era, or Old Stone Age, and the beginning of the Neolithic era, or New Stone age.

Archaeological evidence indicates that by 7,000 B.C. Neolithic farmers had moved into Europe. They introduced their ideas and genes to the native Paleolithic people, who had migrated into the continent 30,000 to 40,000 years before.

The transportation methods and travel routes the Neolithic used have long been questioned. Did they travel overland, by migrating first north from the Levant into Anatolia, a region that is now central Turkey, across the Bosporus and then on through the Balkans into central Europe?

Or did they travel by sea? And if so, by what route? Did they travel directly from the coast of Levant to Crete and then across to Greece, as one theory holds? Or did they first travel north into Anatolia and then island hop from Turkey across a large group of islands, called the Dodecanese, to Crete and, from Crete, on to Greece and Europe?

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To try to find an answer to those questions, an international team of researchers led by George Stamatoyannopoulos, professor of medicine and genome sciences at the University of Washington, looked at genetic markers found in 32 modern populations from the Near East and North Africa, Anatolia, the Aegean Islands and Crete, mainland Greece, and Southern and Northern Europe.

In this study, Stamatoyannopoulos and his colleagues compared the proportion, or frequency, of certain markers, called single nucleotide polymorphisms, (SNPs) or "snips," appearing in these different populations. When a migrating people moves into an area and intermixes with the local population, they introduce their genes into the native gene pool and acquire genes from the native peoples. This introduction of genes from one population to another is called "gene flow."

As subsequent generations continue the migration and the gene exchange is repeated again and again, the frequency of SNPs in the migrating population will reflect this genetic mixing. It is detectable in the populations they left behind.

In their study, the researchers hypothesized that the Neolithic migrants to Europe had primarily traveled by sea. They tested their hypothesis by comparing the frequency of the SNPs in populations that now inhabit the Levant, Turkey, the islands of the Aegean and the Mediterranean and Europe and North Africa.

The analysis confirmed the Neolithic migrants arose from the Levant. They then appear to have migrated first to Anatolia in central Turkey, across the Dodecanese, to Crete and then to Laconia at the southeastern tip of Greece.

As the migration continued, some populations moved north into northern Greece. but the bulk of the migration continued west to Sicily and then to the Mediterranean coast of Southern Europe and into Northern Europe.

"There were multiple migrations of Neolithic people into Europe and some, no doubt, went by the land route, but the predominant route was through Anatolia and then by sea, with Crete serving as major hub," said Stamatoyannopoulos.

Although it was not the main focus of their study, the researchers also looked at the gene flow in populations in the Arabian Peninsula and North Africa. They found that migrations of Neolithic people originating from the Near East also moved southeast into Arabia and through what is now Egypt and across the North African coast.

There was no evidence, however, of gene flow across the Mediterranean between Africa and Europe, This observation suggests that, although the sea allowed migrants to move along the coasts, it created a formidable barrier between the two continents.

The findings also address older controversies: whether Neolithic culture spread primarily by cultural diffusion, in which ideas move from population to population through cultural contacts, or whether the ideas were are carried by migrating peoples, called demic diffusion, from the Greek demos meaning "people."

"While cultural diffusion certainly took place," Stamatoyannopoulos said, "These findings strongly bolster the demic diffusion hypothesis."
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Story Source:  Materials provided by University of Washington. P. Paschou, P. Drineas, E. Yannaki, A. Razou, K. Kanaki, F. Tsetsos, S. S. Padmanabhuni, M. Michalodimitrakis, M. C. Renda, S. Pavlovic, A. Anagnostopoulos, J. A. Stamatoyannopoulos, K. K. Kidd, G. Stamatoyannopoulos. Maritime route of colonization of Europe. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014

Senin, 09 Juni 2014

SCIFI: Meet Eugene Goostman, 13 year old? No, a computer

Source: bigquestionsonline.com
Alan Turing, father of the modern computer and creator of the 
Turing Test for determining the humanness of artificial intelligence.  
A common theme in SciFi is the computer that cannot be distinguished from a human, at least in coversation.  The ship's logical but friendly computer on Star Trek, the psychotic HAL in 2001 A Space Odyssey and of course, C3PO and the lovable R2D2 from Star Wars are just several examples.

I think most accept at some point in the future computers will have true artificial intelligence such that their conversations and personalities aren't distinguishable from live humans.  A scary reality to some but an achievement most of us rarely think of.

The Turing Test
The benchmark for computers achieving "humanness" is the Turing Test, established in 1954 by 20th century mathematician and code-breaker Alan Turing, considered by most the father of modern computer science.  Sixty-five years ago Turing predicted that at some point most people would not be able to tell if they are conversing with a computer or a human.

The Turing Test is based on a question and answer game Turing devised in 1950 named, 'Can Machines Think?'  The experiment investigates whether people can detect whether they are talking to machines or humans. If a computer is mistaken for a human more than 30% of the time during a series of five minute keyboard conversations it passes the test. No computer has ever achieved this, until now.

The Turing Test was passed for the very first time by supercomputer Eugene Goostman during Turing Test 2014 held at the renowned Royal Society in London on Saturday when  Eugene convinced 33% of the human judges that it was human.

'Eugene', a computer program that simulates a 13 year old boy, was developed in Saint Petersburg, Russia. The development team includes Eugene's creator Vladimir Veselov, who was born in Russia and now lives in the United States, and Ukrainian born Eugene Demchenko who now lives in Russia.

The event is particularly poignant as it took place on the 60th anniversary of Turing's death, nearly six months after he was given a posthumous royal pardon.

This historic event was organised by the University's School of Systems Engineering in partnership with RoboLaw, an EU-funded organisation examining the regulation of emerging robotic technologies.

Professor Kevin Warwick, a Visiting Professor at the University of Reading and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research at Coventry University, said: "In the field of Artificial Intelligence there is no more iconic and controversial milestone than the Turing Test, when a computer convinces a sufficient number of interrogators into believing that it is not a machine but rather is a human. It is fitting that such an important landmark has been reached at the Royal Society in London, the home of British Science and the scene of many great advances in human understanding over the centuries. This milestone will go down in history as one of the most exciting.

"Some will claim that the Test has already been passed. The name Turing Test have been applied to similar competitions around the world. However this event involved the most simultaneous comparison tests than ever before, was independently verified and, crucially, the conversations were unrestricted. A true Turing Test does not set the questions or topics prior to the conversations. We are therefore proud to declare that Alan Turing's Test was passed for the first time on Saturday.

"Of course the Test has implications for society today. Having a computer that can trick a human into thinking that someone, or even something, is a person we trust is a wake-up call to cybercrime.

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The Turing Test is a vital tool for combating that threat. It is important to understand more fully how online, real-time communication of this type can influence an individual human in such a way that they are fooled into believing something is true...when in fact it is not."

Eugene was one of five supercomputers battling it for the Turing Test 2014 Prize. On winning the competition and achieving this historic milestone Vladimir Veselov said:  "I want to congratulate everyone who worked on Eugene Goostman. Our whole team is very excited with this result. It's a remarkable achievement for us and we hope it boosts interest in artificial intelligence and chatbots. Special thanks to Professor Kevin Warwick and Dr Huma Shah for their effort in organising the event.

Eugene ~ a character with a believable personality
"Eugene was 'born' in 2001. Our main idea was that he can claim that he knows anything, but his age also makes it perfectly reasonable that he doesn't know everything. We spent a lot of time developing a character with a believable personality. This year we improved the 'dialog controller' which makes the conversation far more human-like when compared to programs that just answer questions. Going forward we plan to make Eugene smarter and continue working on improving what we refer to as 'conversation logic'."

Among the judges tasked with separating the human and computer participants were the actor Robert Llewellyn, who played robot Kryten in the sci-fi comedy TV series Red Dwarf, and Lord Sharkey, who led the successful campaign for Alan Turing's posthumous pardon last year.

Professor Warwick concluded: "Not long before he died on 7 June 1954 Alan Turing, himself a Fellow of the Royal Society, predicted that in time this test would be passed. It is difficult to conceive that he could possibly have imagined what computers of today, and the networking that links them, would be like."

For a short biography of Alan Turing, click here:


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Story Source: Materials provided by University of Reading. "Turing Test success marks milestone in computing history." ScienceDaily.

Sabtu, 07 Juni 2014

A world map of who is doing what research

A map of two of the three core centers of research showing the three major clusters of scientific study ~ Biomedical (yellow), Basic (red), and Food Production during the decade 1996-2006.

It's often said that there are more scientists alive and working today than at any time in history.  From attempting to follow the scientific press, I know that on any given day there are 30 to 50 newly published reports on scientific work. 

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Last year a group of scientists from the University of Granada in Spain published their study of the overwhelming volume of scientific articles and reports made public between 1996 and 2006 - 15,000,000 reports on current research.  Most are team reports, so this mass of work represents the work of an uncountable number of scientists, engineers and technicians supported by an even larger number of clerks, administrators and even the humble journalist/blogger.

Three or four hundred years ago a literate, well-read person could keep track of the major developments in science and be considered a true "Renaissance Man" conversant in everything from the Christian Bible to physics to astronomy/astrology to higher mathematics.

Today?  Good luck on that one.

Every one of those 15,000,000 reports published in a single ten year period has potential to affect our lives in ways we simply cannot imagine.  This has to be the most amazing era in which to live in all of the 6.5 million years that the genus Homo has wandered pretty much aimlessly across the planet.  According to some, we're on the verge of destroying our Eden through pollution and man-made global warming.  According to others, we're on the verge of an amazing golden age of freedom from hunger, disease and ignorance.

It's a wondrous time in which to live, indeed.

About this study:

Scientists from the University of Granada and the Spanish National Research Council -- members of the SCImago research group -- have found that, worldwide, there are three major 'clusters' of countries, defined by the thematic areas they investigate and that their governments invest in most. The study analysed the scientific production of more than 80 countries over more than 10 years (1996-2006)

Spanish scientists designed a comprehensive 'world map of research' to date, revealing that worldwide there are three major groups, or clusters, of countries based on the thematic areas of research, most often government sponsored research.  The researchers dedicated more than 4 years to their task, using statistical techniques and multivariate analysis, and studying a sample of over 15 million documents and scientific articles.

Cluster One:  Biomedical Research:  Researchers conclude that the first cluster is made up of Western Europe, together with the USA, Canada and the petrol-rich Arab Emirates. Together, they form the Biomedical cluster, which is characterized democratic regimes. The governments of these countries understand that research into health has electoral benefits because it improves the quality of life of their citizens, says Victor Herrero-Solana, Professor of Information and Communication at the University of Granada and one of the authors.

Cluster Two:  Basic Research:  The second major block of countries researches in the field of what is termed 'basic science': physics, mathematics and engineering. This cluster is made up of Russia and the former Soviet countries, Eastern Europe, communist countries like China and Korea, together with Singapore, Taiwan and Japan. Here, research has developed around the model of the traditional scientific academies. For example Russia, Prof. Herrrero-Solana states, is much changed politically but from a scientific point of view it continues to be a communist country.

Cluster Three: Food Resource Research:  The third research block is made up of developing nations: most of Africa, south-east Asia and Latin America. "These countries have not yet developed a national research system and highlight agriculture and fisheries for the simple, practical reason that this enables them to improve GDP."

And the rest?  In their article, the researchers found a group of intermediate, heterogeneous countries "who have not yet opted for any one of these three research models because, although they are striving to develop a Science and Technology system, they remain socio-economically immature." This group includes many Latin American countries like Brazil, Mexico and Argentina.
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Story Source:  Materials provided by University of Granada. Félix Moya-Anegón, Víctor Herrero-Solana. Worldwide Topology of the Scientific Subject Profile: A Macro Approach in the Country Level. PLoS ONE, 2013.

Rabu, 04 Juni 2014

CRIME: Criminals, genetics and the courts

Source:  hawaiimostwanted.com
Studies suggest that some people may be at increased risk of criminal behavior due to their genes. Such research holds potential for helping judges and juries with some of the difficult decisions they must make, but it also brings a substantial risk of misinterpretation and misuse within the legal system. Addressing these issues will be of critical importance for upholding principles of justice and fairness, according to an essay being published in the June 4 issue of the Cell Press journal Neuron.

"Genetic evidence, properly used, could assist with judgments regarding appropriate criminal punishments, causes of injury or disability, and other questions before the courts," says author Dr. Paul Appelbaum, who directs Columbia University's Center for Research on Ethical, Legal & Social Implications of Psychiatric, Neurologic & Behavioral Genetics.
  • Genetic evidence is being offered in criminal trials to suggest that defendants have diminished understanding of or control over their behavior, most often in arguments for mitigating sentences -- especially for defendants facing the death penalty. 
  • Genetic evidence may also play an increasing role in civil trials regarding issues such as causation of injury. For example, employers contesting work-related mental disability claims might want claimants to undergo genetic testing to prove that an underlying disorder was not responsible for their impairment.
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"The complexity of genetic information and our incomplete understanding of the roots of behavior raise the possibility that genetic evidence will be misused or misunderstood. Hence, care is needed in evaluating the extent to which genetic evidence may have something to add to legal proceedings in a given case," says Dr. Appelbaum.

Moving forward, a number of questions must be addressed. For example, to what extent do specific genetic variants make it more difficult to understand or control one's behavior and what are the biological mechanisms involved? Also, how can we respond to individuals with genetic predispositions to criminal behavior to diminish the risk of recidivism?

Dr. Appelbaum notes that it will be an ongoing challenge for both legal and genetic experts to monitor the use of genetic data in the courts to ensure that the conclusions that are drawn validly reflect the science. Without such efforts, judges and juries may overestimate or underestimate the conclusions that can be drawn from genetic evidence, thus unfairly distorting the legal process.
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Story Source: Materials provided by Cell Press.  Paul S. Appelbaum. The Double Helix Takes the Witness Stand: Behavioral and Neuropsychiatric Genetics in Court. Neuron, 2014.

Senin, 02 Juni 2014

YA Fiction: Young people are creating their own rules for sex

Young people are creating their own rules for what's right and wrong when it comes to sex, a new study reveals.

In the past, public panic about young people's sexualisation has drowned out the voices of the people involved. But new research by Dr. Sarah Winkler Reid asked young people directly what they think about sex and morality.

Dr. Reid found that young people create their own set of sexual ethics for the playground when she conducted unstructured interviews with 15 to 16 year olds.

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School is a crucial stage in defining the sexualities of young people. Reid's research shows that schools contain a self-regulated microcosm with its own morality rules. Sometimes these rules are harsh, but they are evidence that young people are capable of active self-regulated and ethical appraisals.

For example, sexual double standards remain: if a girl has sex she's a slag, if a boy does the same he can brag.

However, the stereotypes are less rigid. Girls who have sex aren't instantly labelled 'slag'.

In the playground, relationship status, appearance and attitude, is taken in to account. Also, the number of 'encounters' contributes to your status, and what age you are. Yes, there is even a socially designated acceptable age among peers in the playground.

Girls no longer portray themselves as pure and chase. They want to look knowledgeable, not naïve, and on the playground, knowledgeable no longer means promiscuous.

Research into sexuality and ethics often places young people as passive objects, assuming that they learn sexual morality from society. This places young people in a position where they have no responsibility for the course of their moral development.

The young people that Dr. Reid interviewed demonstrated mature evaluations of sexuality, suggesting that young people are not just passive receptors for society's standards after all.
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Story Source:  Materials provided by Taylor & Francis. Sarah Winkler Reid. ‘She’s not a slag because she only had sex once’: Sexual ethics in a London secondary school. Journal of Moral Education, 2014.

Minggu, 01 Juni 2014

The Seven Steps of Time Management According to Science

“Success is a process, a quality of mind and way of being, an outgoing affirmation of life”
- Alex Noble, artist & entrepreneur

Like you, I’ve read plenty of articles, posts and books on time management, most based on the personal experiences of the author.  Not to demean what these people teach, I decided to find what scientific research has to say about this too vexing problem.

I found a recent review of current research on time management written by two Ph. D. researchers, Temesgen Belayneh Zerihun, Asst. Professor, Department of Marketing, and S. Murali Krishna, Professor, Department of Management, both of the College of Business and Economics at Mekelle University in Ethiopia.  They reviewed the entirety of scientific literature on time management of the past decades, and distilled all if this into seven simple principles of time management that were common to the reams of research reports they studied.

Their conclusions:
Understand that we cannot do everything in 24 hours. We have certain priorities in life. Our family, our hobby, our studies, our professional education or any other aspect of the career development, we have to set priorities in life.

Time management is not optional.  How true.  As there are only 60 minutes in an hour, 24 hours is a day then if we’re to accomplish anything in our lives or with our businesses, time management is not optional.

Stay aware that the purpose of managing time is getting things done and achieving results.  This may seem obvious, but I have come across time management systems where it seems the author’s process is more important than the results you want.

Time management is a habit developed only through determination and practice.  I’ve read that it takes at least twenty consecutive days of conscious practice to create a new personal habit, with some authors stating it takes at least a month.  I’d go with the month to make sure the habit sticks.

An individual will become effective in using their time only when the individual clearly knows what they want to do, what they need to do, and by which specific target date.

An individual needs to be aware of self, their personality type, their foibles and flaws and to remain aware of how they are performing.  I am of the personality type typified by impulsiveness and procrastination, two traits linked to the same gene in my biological make-up.  So, I have to be aware of this and work to create a system for myself that helps me overcome these tendencies.

"20 percent of what you do produces 80 percent of results."
Don't over-organize
Understand that the Pareto Principle or The 80/20 Rule applies to time management as well as most other things in life.  This principle states that 20 percent of what we do produces 80 percent of results.

In practical terms, you don't have to plan out every minute of every day, just that precious 20% of the day when you get the most - and best - work done.  Twenty percent of 24 hours is 4.8 hours.  You are going to organize the daylights out of those hours, and let your impulsiveness and procrastination rule the remaining 19 hours.  That's correct - 19 hours in which to just let stuff happen.  What kind of luxury is this?

So what next?
According to the author’s research, time management involves these simple steps:

  1. Set goals,
    • Select the most important goal to achieve, and plan your time around it.  As the Firesign Theatre once sang, "How can you be two places at once?"
  2. Decide which tasks are the most important in achieving your goal and realizing that other activities will have to be scheduled around them (prioritizing), 
    • The three questions of setting priorities are:
      • What are my highest value activities?
      • What can I and only I do that, if done well, will make a real difference?
      • What is the most valuable use of my time right now?
  3. Decide how much time to allow for certain tasks (learning to predict how much time is needed for an activity), 
  4. Learn to adjust to the unexpected (problem solving).
  5. Review and reconsider your goals and priorities on a regular basis - set an appointment with yourself, say weekly.
  6. Learn to observe and evaluate the patterns and trends in your own behavior.  In other words, time management is a process that requires learning from your own behavior and applying this knowledge to your time management system.

The author’s seven steps of Time Management
With these understandings, all based on solid, empirically based research we're ready to go.

  1. Set a goal; decide exactly what you want.  (Start with as many goals as you want, but choose to work on one and only one at a time.  As Confucius said, "One who chases two hares catches neither.)
  2. Write it down.  Put it on paper.  Visualize it.  Taste it.  Feel it.  Enjoy it.
  3. Set a deadline for achieving your goal.
  4. List out what you must do to achieve your goal.
  5. Organize this into a plan of tasks and steps necessary to achieve your goal, then execute the plan daily consciously, every day for at least twenty days.
  6. Take action on your plan immediately.  Don't give into procrastination.
  7. Resolve to do something every day that moves you towards your major goal.  This especially required reviewing your time management process daily.
    • Make a short, prioritized list of what to do during that day's five hours, then, to quote Nike, "Just Do It."  
Remember, you get 80% of your best work done during just 20% of your time, in other words, in just 4.8 hours a day.  It's within these five hours you apply your growing time management skills.  Leave the rest of your day free for all that other (fun) stuff.  Those five hours?  Protect them like a lioness protects her cubs, to the death.  These precious hours represent your success.

On the flip side of managing time is avoiding the major time wasters

  • Avoid interruptions- Is it really necessary to take all calls when a phone is ringing?  Can you just shut the door and post a sign, "Go Away.  On deadline." Make sure all around knows that this means them.
  • Learn to say “No.”  At times, we do not know how to refuse to take part in a time waster.  Practice saying no to things that don't take you closer to achieving your goals.
  • Use self-discipline when you need it - Trying to organize all 24 hours a day, seven days a week would be as exhausting as running a marathon every day of the week for seven days.
    • If you handle one task only once, we will have more time.
    • Remember, you're only required to discipline yourself five short hours a day.  You have 19 hours a day to do. . . whatever.
  • Avoid Management by Crisis-If we do not “anticipate” problems in advance, we will be managing by crisis. This is also called “fire fighting” in management terms. It is said: Expect the unexpected and plan accordingly! If we try to plan for unexpected, we will be in a position to manage crisis fast and effectively.
  • Eschew Socializing during your all important 5 hours Thanks to Facebook, Twitter, texting, email, and others, we have lots of opportunity to socialize! Socializing and networking is a good habit but not at the cost of wasting time. Save socializing for your all important 19 other hours a day.
Finally, print out this article and post it where you will see it and read every day during your habit building period.  If you don't, science clearly shows that you will have forgotten 70% of these steps by tomorrow at this same time.  It's a process.  Work at it daily.

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Source: T. B. Zerihun, S.M, Krishna, College of Business and Economics, Mekelle University, Mekelle, Ethiopia. A Few Techniques for Time Management, Journal of Business Management & Social Sciences Research, December 2012.