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Drug rehab is multi-faceted in its approach to treating addiction and cannot be summed up with one explaination. There are different kinds of rehab available for addiction treatment ranging from deotx to high intensity dual diagnosis treatment to address mental health issues as well as addiction. The actual practice of drug rehab centers and what methods are used in treating addiction are described here as drug rehab methodologies.

Here, we will give an overview of the varying kinds of methodologies used by treatmet centers to address varying problems and addictions coupled with co-occurring mental health issues.

Detox

Detox, short for detoxification, is usually the first step in addiction treatment for drugs and alcohol. During detox, addicts will be medically monitored while they go through the withdrawal process of the substance leaving the body. Often, this process is very uncomfortable and sometime dangerous depending on the substance of abuse and certain medications are used in easing the withdrawal symptoms. This treatment methodology is commonly used and often required for admission to residential rehab. While detox is a prerequisite for addiction treatment most times, many treatment centers do not offer detox services on premises and will contract with outside hospitals and detox specific facilities for this service. Although Detox is very common among the addiction treatment community, not all addicts and alcoholics believe in chemical healing, so some rehabs have accomodated that need. The nation is dotted with treatment centers that do not use a medical detox process, and instead utilize saunas and therapuedic means to cleanse the body of toxins caused by substance abuse. While this practice may be considered dangerous for more severe cases of drug abuse, specifically alcohol and heroin, medical staff is on hand to address emergencies that may arise during the detox process.

Holistic

Holistic rehab is a methodology that focuses on min, body and spirit, healing the "whole" person. Generally hoistic rehab programs will offer accupuncture, neuro feedback excercsises, and other mind and body excercises to heal individuals suffering from addiction. This methodology has become increasingly popular over past years, as many people, especially addicts seek better overall heath. Often the logic behind this kind of rehab methodology is that the whole person (mind, body and spirit) become damaged by addiction and there is no way to combat the disease without healing all parts which have been damaged. The theory of holistic drug rehab comes from the theory of holism - the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The traditional 12-step program is still a large part of holistic treatment, though holistic drug rehab does not define a Higher Power, rather leave it to each individual to define what his or her G.O.D. (Good Orderly Direction) will be and submit to that power. Holistic drug rehab has been favored over the years by those who are not extremely pious, but hold strong spiritual beliefs.

12-Step

The 12-step rehab program is the oldest in addiction treatment history, started by Bill Wilson, founder of Alcoholics Anonymous in the 1930's. Although the 12-step program was originally based n Christianity, many addiction rehabs and individuals have put their own spin on it to make it more logical for each individual. Many rehabs which utilize the outline of the 12-step program do not apply it literally and often make no mention of "12-step", even though that program is the framework for the methodologies used in recovery. Like most things, the 12-step program has been interpreted in many different ways to appeal to people from all religous backgrounds and belief systems. For many however, the traditional 12-step program is just what is needed to aid in recovery from addiction. The difference in application of the 12-step program is outlined in the specific details of each rehab center and is an important detail to consider when searching for addiction treatment.

Dual Diagnosis

Dual Diagnosis is a treatment service that focuses not only on the addiction, but also on any co-occurring mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, manic and bi-polar disorders. Dual diagnosis treatment often includes the controled administration of medication to stabalize mental disorders while addiction treatment continues. This method of treatment can become extremely complicated when coupled with addiction treatment, which is complex in its own right. For effective dual diagnosis treatment, highly qualified staff must monitor each individual's progress with both the addiction and mental health issues so it calls for virtually double the care and counseling. Many times with co-occurring mental disorders, the mental health issue(s) help to drive the addictive behaviors, making it more important to treat both problems to keep either from creating future problems.

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2/13/2009

Option Trading

Option Trading, or options trading, is simply the trading of stock options over an exchange. As option trading is most commonly conducted through online option trading brokers, it is also commonly known as Online Options Trading or even Online Optiontrading.

There are many people who also lump options trading and futures trading into one term known as Options Futures or Futures Options or Futures Option Trading and take it to mean the same thing. It must be clarified here that Options and Futures are two distinctly different forms of financial instruments and cannot be referred to as one single study. Futures Options are options written on futures contracts and is again a distinctly different trading instrument. The options that are traded in the stock exchange are commonly index options or equity / stock options

Why Option Trading?
Successful Investors like Robert Kiyosaki and Robert G Allen have popularised the use of options trading through the use of options strategies as part of an overall strategy to financial freedom. They preach that option trading is the investment of the rich. So, what makes option trading so powerful?

Option Trading Grants Unprededented LEVERAGE!
Yes, option trading is LEVERAGE! You can potentially make up to 10 times more money on the same move in the underlying stock than if you bought the stock itself! The leverage power of options trading is perhaps the main reason why traders with small funds choose options trading. Even though option trading was initially designed as a hedging tool instead of a leverage tool, it is still a great way to profit while risking only very little money.

The Leverage effect of option trading also allows investors to participate in the move of a high priced stock using only a small capital outlay. This is because stock options cost only a fraction of the price of its underlying stock. Apple (AAPL) is trading at $93.65 today while it's call option costs only $1.70. Investors can participate in the gains on 100 Apple shares through buying its call options for only $170 exactly like an investor who spent $9365 buying the stock itself. That's another benefit of option trading.

Option Trading Grants Unprededented PROTECTION!
While option trading grants you leverage, it also grants you PROTECTION! When a stock moves AGAINST you, an option trader potentially lose much lesser than the stock trader. Why? Because your maximum loss is limited to the price you paid for the option which could be just 10% of the price of the stock! Taking our Apple example from above, the stock trader's maximum risk is $9365 while the option trader's maximum risk is $170 for controlling the same number of Apple stock!

You can also protect your stocks from dropping in value through options trading by buying the same number of put options as the number of shares that you own. In this case, those put options act as an insurance policy, protecting your shares from dropping in value. This is what we call a Protective Put.

Option Trading Grants Unprededented FLEXIBILITY!
Option Trading allows you to profit from every possible move in the underlying asset! Up or Down or Stagnant, there is an option strategy that allows you to profit from that move. In Options trading, an option trader can easily participate in a downwards move on a stock through buying a put option without having to risk margin calls by going short the underlying stock or futures.

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2/12/2009

Home Owner Loan

Home owner loans are available for remodeling, maintenance or other needs and come with various terms and amounts. If equity has built up in the property, many home owner loan options are available. Because such financing can be found in abundance, especially on the Internet, seek to find one that meets specific needs and fits into a budget as well.

Most people use their equity for remodeling projects or maintenance concerns, such as a needed new roof or additional rooms onto the house. Taking out a home owner loan may be a viable option if the cash is not readily on hand. Some people may find it less expensive to remodel or update their house rather than move to a new one, or they may want to stay in their current neighborhood or city. In these cases taking out home owner loans can facilitate the changes that the owner wants to make to their house without having to relocate.

Home equity loans and equity lines of credit are two popular variations of financing personal property. With both, the homeowner can tap into the equity they have built up in their house. An equity loan is a type of home owner loan that offers a fixed amount of money over a set amount of years with the interest being tax-deductible. On the other hand, a home equity line of credit pre-approves a set amount of credit, based on the amount of equity in the property. Amounts can then be drawn from the line of credit as needed. Both home owner loans can be used as the owner chooses.

Because there are so many different options for refinanced property, the borrower will need to take some time to compare what is available for each situation. These agreements will vary in the terms they offer, as well as in their interest rates. One way to find the right one for each circumstance is to submit an application with a lender online, who will in turn, make an offer for a home owner loan. While there are many lenders available on the Internet, it is much easier to submit several applications electronically than to spend excessive time on the phone.

The decision to secure a property refinance is an important one that should be wisely considered. Home owner loans will take borrowers further into debt, so weigh whether the cost will pay off in the value of the house and whether paying off that debt can be done in a timely manner. Because God's Word says "Owe no man any thing, but to love one another," (Romans 13:8) seek to be prudent in the debt incurred.

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Avoid having lots of e-mail addresses on your web site. You'll quite likely get spam to all of the e-mail addresses! Have just one e-mail address. The various e-mail hyperlinks can be set up to supply different 'Subject:' lines for different purposes.

Even better is to use Forms instead of e-mail addresses. Or you can use a number of techniques to hide your e-mail address from automated systems while still making it available for use by real people. We now use these techniques on websites which we develop.

However, if the spammers have already got your e-mail address it's too late! Taking your e-mail address off your web site won't get it out of the spammers databases.

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Health insurance is an agreement contracted between you and the insurers, and designed to protect you and your dependants against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency. This article informs you regarding:

  • What are the major points that one needs to bear in mind while buying health insurance?
  • What are the points that help you to find if the coverage of insurance is good?
  • What are the specific features that you have to consider in various plans?
What is health insurance cover? Simply put, it is an agreement contracted between you and the insurers, and designed to protect you and your dependants against any financial constraints arising on account of a medical emergency. And while medical and preventive sciences have made huge strides in today's world, you still need to fortify yourself with the best health insurance cover to serve as an adequate buffer against any unforeseen calamity. Indeed, America's best health insurance companies are in the forefront in carefully putting together some of the finest health insurance policies structured so as to combat any medical contingency.

You Need To Ask Yourself the Following Questions Before You Buy a Medical Insurance Policy

  • What are the various types of health insurance programmes that are available to me, and which is best suited to suit the needs of my family and myself?
  • How do I choose the ideal health care plan?
  • What is ideal for me among the vast choice of health care plans before me- is it organized care- short term and long term, does it cover disabilities, does it deal with just health insurance?
  • Can I have information on issues like private insurance, public expenditure and uninsured customers?
  • Can I afford the cost of health care?
  • Would there be a medical insurance policy that would cover the sort of services that I require?
Today we have a vast variety of affordable and comparable health insurance policies. On the one side we have
  • The Traditional Indemnity Plans, and on the other
  • The HMOs or the Health Maintenance Organisation. In between we have the
  • PPOs ( Preferred Provider Organisations) plan and the
  • POS (Point of Service) plan.
The latter two are hybrid variations of the traditional indemnity plans and the HMOs. While the HMO is normally credited with providing the customer the cheapest and most affordable health insurance but with minimal benefits, the indemnity plans are considered the most expensive but crediting with providing the customer maximum benefits.

It would be smart to pay close attention to the specific features of whichever plan you intend to choose. For example:
  • Are the prescription drugs that I habitually use also covered?
  • Do I have to pay application fees? (Please note that none of the best heath insurance firms require the customer to pay either for enrollment or for application fees).
  • Do I get cover for both inpatient and outpatient costs? Do they both share a common deductible in a single calendar year? (A deductible refers to a sum of money that you pay each year, upfront, for your medical costs, before your insurance cover starts to pay up).
  • Are the benefits from such health insurance cover on a fixed schedule? Are they reasonable?
  • Is there a waiting period for such a cover before I am able to start utilizing my policy? Are there any clauses, preexisting, that I ought to know about?
How Do I Pick the Ideal Health Plan That Is Best Suited for My Family and Myself
It is of the utmost importance that you understand the moot points of the various medical insurance covers before you. They could be broadly categorized into:
Affordability
  • How much is my monthly premium?
  • After I have paid my deductible, upto what percentage of my medical costs would I be reimbursed?
  • If I use the services of a medical professional not included in the insurance firm's network, would I be reimbursed less? If so, how much?
  • Do I ask for insurance cover for all of my medical costs or just for the major spends?

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Apple Inc has agreed to start selling digital songs from its iTunes store without copy protection software.

At present, most music downloaded from Apple's iTunes store can only be played through an iTunes interface or iPod.

The agreement with Sony BMG, Universal, and Warner Music will end digital rights management (DRM) software currently attached to iTunes music.

The changes were announced at the end of the keynote address, at the Macworld conference in San Francisco.

Apple's senior vice president of worldwide product marketing, Phil Schiller delivered the speech, traditionally given by Steve Jobs.

"Over the last six years songs have been $0.99 [79p]. Music companies want more flexibility. Starting today, 8 million songs will be DRM free and by the end of this quarter, all 10 million songs will be DRM free," he told the crowd.

Apple has also revised its pricing structure, offering a three-tier system with songs available for £0.59, £0.79 and £0.99.

At present, the firm has a one-price-fits-all strategy - currently £0.79 per track - with no subscription fee.

The new model will have a varied pricing structure, with what the company calls "better quality iTunes Plus" costing more.

The move could potentially spell the end for DRM limited music, which was never popular with users or the record industry.

Mark Mulligan, a director with market analysts Jupiter Research, said the end of DRM in music- in its current form - was inevitable.

"The only reason it has taken so long is that the record industry has been trying to level the playing field, by giving away DRM free to everyone else, but even that hasn't dented Apple's share," said Mr Mulligan.

"Ultimately, what I think we're going to end up with [in the industry] is a new form of DRM. The more you pay, the less DRM you get bolted onto your music. Premium music will be DRM free, the cheaper it gets, the more shackles are attached," he added.

In 2007 Apple's CEO, Steve Jobs, published an open letter called 'Thoughts on Music' in which he called on the three big record companies to ditch DRM.

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Smoking hot body, brilliant looks, user-friendly interface and almost no value for money, but still packing quite a punch - Nokia 6600 fold is exactly the kind of meal to order from an unpriced menu. The OLED screen, the cool magnetic flip and the mirror front panel just make it all the sweeter and kind of make sure it feels more at home in designer handbags than pockets. Now, that's where we come in with a little bit of good sense chicks will ignore anyway. And who knows, they may be right in the end.
Key features
  • Cute design
  • Compact body
  • 2.13" 16M-color OLED display of QVGA resolution
  • Secondary external 1.36" hidden OLED display (128 x 160 pixels)
  • Series 40 5th edition UI with Feature Pack 1
  • Cool push-to-open flip mechanism
  • Quad-band GSM/GPRS/EDGE and dual-band UMTS support
  • Tap-for-time and tap-to-mute
  • 2 megapixel fixed focus camera
  • Status LED
  • microSD card slot
  • Stereo FM radio
  • Nokia Maps for S40 application
Main disadvantages
  • Steep price for the features offered
  • Unimpressive camera performance
  • Non hot-swappable memory card
  • Fingerprint-magnet front
  • The large magnetic contacts spoil the internal looks
  • No HSDPA
  • No smart dialing
  • No multi-tasking
  • No office document viewer

Bold color scheme and intriguing one-touch flip, Nokia 6600 fold sure knows how to make a good first impression. The gradated mirror front looks and feels extra smooth and the exotic OLED display adds another touch of exclusivity. And it definitely isn't a "Mirror, mirror on the wall, is there anyone there at all".

A double tap on the opaque glazed front will light up the hidden secondary screen for time and missed events.

Nokia 6600 fold won't be on very amicable terms with a couple of Samsung handsets that we know. The L310 and L320 are targeting the ladies, sporting a number of absolutely essential applications like Shopping list, Fragrance type and Calories consumption. They both look extra slick and share the defining feature of 6600 fold - modest specs and a high price tag. They are however yet to be released, so we can't be specific enough about their retail price points.

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1/29/2009

Supercomputer

A supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC), and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research. He then took over the supercomputer market with his new designs, holding the top spot in supercomputing for five years (1985–1990). In the 1980s a large number of smaller competitors entered the market, in parallel to the creation of the minicomputer market a decade earlier, but many of these disappeared in the mid-1990s "supercomputer market crash".

Today, supercomputers are typically one-of-a-kind custom designs produced by "traditional" companies such as Cray, IBM and Hewlett-Packard, who had purchased many of the 1980s companies to gain their experience. The IBM Roadrunner, located at Los Alamos National Laboratory, is currently the fastest supercomputer in the world.

The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and today's supercomputer tends to become tomorrow's ordinary computer. CDC's early machines were simply very fast scalar processors, some ten times the speed of the fastest machines offered by other companies. In the 1970s most supercomputers were dedicated to running a vector processor, and many of the newer players developed their own such processors at a lower price to enter the market. The early and mid-1980s saw machines with a modest number of vector processors working in parallel to become the standard. Typical numbers of processors were in the range of four to sixteen. In the later 1980s and 1990s, attention turned from vector processors to massive parallel processing systems with thousands of "ordinary" CPUs, some being off the shelf units and others being custom designs. Today, parallel designs are based on "off the shelf" server-class microprocessors, such as the PowerPC, Opteron, or Xeon, and most modern supercomputers are now highly-tuned computer clusters using commodity processors combined with custom interconnects.

Supercomputer challenges, technologies

  • A supercomputer generates large amounts of heat and must be cooled. Cooling most supercomputers is a major HVAC problem.
  • Information cannot move faster than the speed of light between two parts of a supercomputer. For this reason, a supercomputer that is many metres across must have latencies between its components measured at least in the tens of nanoseconds. Seymour Cray's supercomputer designs attempted to keep cable runs as short as possible for this reason: hence the cylindrical shape of his Cray range of computers. In modern supercomputers built of many conventional CPUs running in parallel, latencies of 1-5 microseconds to send a message between CPUs are typical.
  • Supercomputers consume and produce massive amounts of data in a very short period of time. According to Ken Batcher, "A supercomputer is a device for turning compute-bound problems into I/O-bound problems." Much work on external storage bandwidth is needed to ensure that this information can be transferred quickly and stored/retrieved correctly.

Technologies developed for supercomputers include:


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Toyota's third-generation Prius, due at dealerships this spring, will have an optional solar panel on its roof. The panel will power a ventilation system that can cool the car without help from the engine, Toyota says.

But it's a long way from the 2010 Prius to a solar-powered car, experts told CNN. Most agree that there just isn't enough space on a production car to get full power from solar panels.

"Being able to power a car entirely with solar is a pretty far-reaching goal," said Tony Markel, a senior engineer at the federal government's National Renewable Energy Lab in Golden, Colorado.

In the new Prius, the solar panel will provide energy for a ventilation fan that will help cool the parked car on sunny, hot days. The driver can start the fan remotely before stepping into the car. Once the car is started, the air conditioning won't need as much energy from a battery to do the rest of the cooling.

"The best thing about using solar is that regardless of what you end up using it for, you're trying to use it to displace gasoline," added Markel.

The question is, how much gasoline can solar power offset? Markel said his lab has modified a Prius to use electricity from the grid for its main batteries and a solar panel for the auxiliary systems. He believes the car gets an additional 5 miles of electric range from the panel.

According to recent articles in Japan's Nikkei newspaper, Toyota has bigger plans for harnessing power from the sun. Nikkei reports that Toyota hopes to develop a vehicle powered entirely by solar panels. The project will take years, the paper reported.

When contacted by CNN, however, a Toyota spokeswoman denied the existence of the project.

"At this time there are no plans that we know of to produce a concept or production version of a solar-powered car," said Amy K. Taylor, a communications administrator in Toyota's Environmental, Safety & Quality division.

Motorists don't have to wait for a 2010 Prius to drive a solar-enhanced car, however. Greg Johanson, president of Solar Electric Vehicles in Westlake Village, California, said his company makes a roof-mounted panel for a standard Prius that enables the car to travel up to 15 additional miles a day.

The system costs $3,500, and it takes about a week to make one, Johanson said. Billy Bautista, a project coordinator at the company, said Solar Electric Vehicles gets so many requests for the system that there is a backlog of several months.

The company's Web site says motorists can install the panels themselves, although it recommends finding a "qualified technician."

The system delivers about 165 watts of power per hour to an added battery, which helps powers the electric motor, Johanson said.

But others said it would take a lot more power than that to replace an internal combustion engine.

Eric Leonhardt, director of the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University, said that even if solar cells worked far better than they do today, they wouldn't generate enough power for driving substantial distances. The best cells operate at about 33 percent efficiency, but the ones used on vehicles are only about 18 percent efficient, he said.

Leonhardt said it would be more practical to use solar power to help charge a car's battery and use the more efficient panels mounted on a roof or over a parking area to supply the rest of the electricity needed to drive the engine.

"Solar panels really need a lot of area," he said.

Leonhardt thinks Toyota's new Prius is a good first step toward using renewable energy. Some cars get hotter than 150 degrees inside when parked in the sun, so reducing the temperature could mean Toyota could use a smaller AC unit, he added.

Johanson of Solar Electric Vehicles said he'd like to see Toyota bring the weight of a Prius down from 3,000 pounds to 2,000. He also hopes for a small gasoline engine and a larger electric motor. That will probably come in the future, when Toyota unveils a plug-in engine.

In the meantime, Solar Electric Vehicles sells its version of a plug-in Prius, with a solar panel installed, for $25,000, Bautista said.

Toyota is the largest automaker to incorporate solar power into a mass-produced car. But its solar panel is not the first for a car company. Audi uses one on its upscale A8 model, and Mazda tried one on its 929 in the 1990s.

In addition, a French motor company, Venturi, has produced an electric-solar hybrid. The Eclectic model costs $30,000, looks like a souped-up golf cart and uses roof-mounted solar panels to help power an electric engine. It has a range of about 30 miles and has a top speed of about 30 mph.

-CNN

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