When times get tough

Life of a PhD student: When the going gets tough, the tough get going

Being a PhD student can be tough at times, but it is also very rewarding. Learning how to work through the tough times will be key to a prosperous PhD process. There are many things to keep track of, balance, learn, and remember. PhD students are knowledge creators, but at the same time also need to acquire knowledge. This paper walks through some aspects of the PhD process, with the intent to ...

Tough times call for tough decisions.

When the going gets tough the beautiful get going: aesthetic appeal facilitates task performance

The current studies examined the effect of aesthetic appeal on performance. According to one hypothesis, appeal would lead to overall decrements or enhancements in performance [e.g. Sonderegger & Sauer, (Applied Ergonomics, 41, 403-410, 2010)]. Alternatively, appeal might influence performance only in problem situations, such as when the task is difficult [e.g. Norman, (2004)]. The predictions ...

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections: it's time to get tough.

In 1982 Boyce and Causey reported in Infection Control the results of a survey conducted to determine the magnitude of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in the United States. From responses to that questionnaire, it was apparent that the number of hospitals reporting MRSA dramatically increased from 1975 to 1980, that larger hospitals were encountering the problem mo...

When sparks get old

Sparks are transient local elevations of Ca ion concentration observed in different types of muscle cells. Such local Ca2+ signals can be provoked in skeletal muscle cells by altering the osmotic pressure of the extracellular solution. In this issue, Weisleder et al. (see p. 639) demonstrate that the Ca2+ response to osmotic stress is substantially altered in aged muscle. The study presents evi...