Group B of the European Championships got off to a competitive start when Denmark took on World Cup runners-up the Netherlands at Metalist Stadium in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

The Dutch were favored heading into the match and started well, pressuring Denmark all over the pitch and causing a number of errors, but despite going close through both Robin Van Persie and Wesley Sneijder, they were unable to break the deadlock.

The opening goal, against the run of play, fell to the Danes in the 24th minute when Michael Krohn-Dehli picked up the ball on the edge of the penalty box following a cross from Simon Poulsen, and burst past defender Ron Vlaar to fire the ball beneath the helpless Maarten Stekelenburg in the Dutch goal.

The Netherlands continued to threaten and should have equalized when Vlaar was left unmarked at a corner but his header went harmlessly wide of the goal. An even better opportunity beckoned minutes later when Danish goalkeeper Stephan Andersen attempted to pass to one of his defenders, but instead sent the ball straight to the feet of Arjen Robben, but the wingers’ curled effort hit the post to the relief of the travelling Danish fans.

The rest of the first half played out with the Netherlands in almost complete control of the game, repeatedly denied an equalizer by the impressive duo of Daniel Agger and Simon Kjaer at the heart of the Denmark defense.

The Dutch onslaught continued at the beginning of the second half, Robben forcing Andersen into a good save to his right whilst Ibrahim Afellay was inches wide of the goal with his left footed strike from outside the area. Frustration from the Dutch players at their inability to break down a resolute Danish defense led to some poor passing from the Netherlands, gifting possession back to Denmark on more than one occasion and allowing the Danes to relieve some of the pressure being exerted on them.

With the Netherlands getting more desperate for a goal, they began to push more players forward and were only denied it by the heroics of Andersen, the goalkeeper coming out to smother the ball at the feet of Klaas Jan-Huntelaar, as the Dutch striker was readying himself to lift the ball over the rushing goalkeeper and towards the unguarded net.

Despite their best efforts, the slick passing game of the Dutch could not break down a well disciplined Danish side, and Denmark recorded a highly impressive 1-0 victory.

Denmark manager Morten Olsen will be thrilled with his sides’ victory, a feat even more impressive given that Group B has been dubbed the ‘Group of Death’ as it boasts European powerhouses the Netherlands, Germany and Portugal. The defensive work of Agger and Kjaer will have been particularly pleasing and will have given Olsen confidence that his side could also upset either Germany or Portugal and defy the odds by qualifying from Group B.

Bert van Marwijk, the Dutch manager, will be far less pleased as he watched his side slump to a 1-0 loss to a side they will consider inferior to themselves. This game will have been highlighted by coaches as a must win for the Netherlands and they will now face an uphill battle to qualify from the group as they take on one of the tournament favorites in Germany, and a skilful Portugal side led by the talismanic Cristiano Ronaldo.

Image Courtesy of  mooinblack / Shutterstock.com

The article UEFA Euro 2012: Netherlands Fall to Underdogs Denmark in Group B appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Earlier this week, a group of scientists working at the VU Amsterdam University in the Netherlands conducted an experiment in which they learned how the Moon’s interior is truly structured: below the thin rocky surface (otherwise known as a lithosphere) churns a thick mantle of liquid magma.

The team was led by Mirjam van Parker and Wim van Westrenen and consisted of scientists from the Universities of Paris 6/CNRS, Lyon 1/CNRS, Edinburgh, and the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, France. Using copies of 380 kilograms worth of lunar rock samples that were collected by the astronauts from the Apollo missions, the scientists melted them with a high electric current at a temperature of 1,500˚F, then compressed them at a pressure of 4,500 bar. The aforementioned temperature and pressure are thought to be at the same intensity as the ones underneath the Moon’s surface.

After this, the team measured the samples’ density with powerful x-ray beams emitted from a synchrotron, provided by the ESRF. They learned that the molten rock (the magma) was quite dense – much denser than they had assumed – and that it was liquid, filled with titanium.

These results have disproven a commonly referenced hypothesized cross-section that scientists constructed in the past: first is the thin crust, which is not uniform in thickness around the surface; below is a thick, solid mantle; following is a thinner mantle known as the moonquake zone, which is slightly less solid than the upper mantle, so that seismic waves can travel; and, finally, a solid iron-rich core lies in the center.

The Moon lacks current volcanic activity because the magma is too dense, or just a bit too firm; lighter liquid tends to be pushed up more, similar to the magma under the Earth, and there must be a difference in density between the magma and the surrounding solid material for any eruptions.

“Today, the Moon is still cooling down, as are the melts in its interior,” Wim van Westrenen, the chair of the Netherlands Platform for Planetary Science, states in the ESRF’s news release. “In the distant future, the cooler and therefore solidifying melt will change in composition, likely making it less dense than its surroundings.

This lighter magma could make its way again up to the surface forming an active volcano on the Moon – what a sight that would be! – but for the time being, this is just a hypothesis to stimulate more experiments.” He and Mirjam van Parker have published the findings of their experiment in the journal, ‘Nature Geosciences’, on February 19.

The article X-Rays Reveal Nature of Moon’s Interior appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Elsevier, a world-leading provider of scientific, technical, and medical information products and services, and the Scaliger Institute of Leiden University Libraries announced the founding of a three year fellowship program to enable international rare books scholars to study 16th -18th century scientific scholarship and publishing.

The program will support two scholars to work with the extensive Leiden University Special Collections and the Elsevier Heritage Collection for a period of one to three months annually. They will be invited to share their research through public lectures and publications.

The fellowship program builds on Elsevier’s recent launch of the Elsevier Heritage Collection’s online catalogue comprising over 2,000 rare books with more than 1,000 distinct titles published by the original Elzevier publishing house from 1580 to 1712. Based in the Netherlands and closely tied to Leiden University, the original company published groundbreaking work from contemporary scholars including Descartes, Huygens, and Galileo.

The modern publisher Elsevier, founded in 1880, was named after the original firm as a tribute to the publishing achievements of the Elzeviers. The Scaliger Institute will also work closely with the Elsevier Heritage Collection team to provide training and expertise on preservation, exhibitions, display techniques, cataloguing, bindings, history, and provenance study.

The fellowships offer a scientific publishing complement to the longstanding Scaliger Institute Brill fellowships. These focus on rare books research in the fields of Middle East, Islamic, and Asian Studies, medieval and early modern history, as well as religious and classical studies.

“Our collaboration falls squarely in the tradition of the Scaliger Institute,” remarked Kurt De Belder, University Librarian and Director of Leiden University Libraries. “It stimulates the study of rare books and special collections to further our understanding of the foundations of academia. The Scaliger Institute is also dedicated to public outreach and looks forward to hosting the lectures and master classes generated by studying the history of publishing and scientific scholarships.”

“The Elsevier Heritage fellowships reinforce our longstanding relationship with the University of Leiden and builds upon the original Elzeviers’ tradition of publishing the great scientific minds of the 16th-18th century,” noted David Ruth, Senior Vice President of Global Communications, Elsevier.

“Supporting scholars to study the history of scholarship and science also ensures that the Elsevier Heritage Collection can be more fully researched and made available to scholars around the world.”

The article Fellowship Program for Rare Books Scholars appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

As any other Toonarian, Philip started this internship because he wanted to learn and accomplish his personal goals. But when launching a website, there is a whole process behind it. One of the main pieces for a business to run adequately is to have a business plan. Every company wants and needs a good business plan in order to get investors and achieve greater developments. Philip, in this case is the person in charge of doing the business plan for Toonari.

He comes from the Netherlands, and at just 21 years old he made his way all the way to United States, and now lives in a town near Kansas. He was looking for an internship, but he mainly wanted to focus on the marketing part. He applied online and one day he received a call with one of the best opportunity for him. “This is actually my first internship, I feel content, happy and I just keep enjoying and working as much as I can. It is not like a common job in an office, when I get my work done I send it, and if I complete my tasks earlier than expected then I have free time to focus on other things. You can do your own thing, be more independent, and get to work and do whatever you need to on the computer”.

With already having an international interest, this is something that grabbed his attention. “The international perspective, I find it very interesting, because you get to speak and work with a diverse mix of cultures and backgrounds. The one thing I do miss, is having the opportunity to grab a beer after work with your colleagues, since this is something not possible. Unfortunately for us, we are all located in all parts of the world. But it makes me think and hope one day we can have a reunion somewhere and meet personally.

The business plan is a strategic part of ToonariPost. “ I enjoy working on the business plan the most. It is important, so that makes me work harder. My main goal is to look for investors and show them what Toonari can offer. The Business plan is the argument in which you persuade people to invest in you. You try to communicate what are we working on, and what we believe in. It is essential for the communication process of the company to find out how to analyze it and how to improve it.

ToonariPost tries to offer a global perspective to its readers. “It is very limited what you get in the news. I think that a website such as ToonariPost, keeps to date what is happening in the world. It provides a broader point of view, and keeps people updated to what is happening at a global scale.

With more interns, editors, and writers, ToonariPost will get bigger little by little. “At the moment, the work atmosphere within Toonari is still flexible, but the older and more experienced it gets, the more rigid and mandatory it will become. As soon as they start putting into place their requirements the amount of interns may drop, but then the ones that will remain will provide the best.

“I have something to contribute to our company, and if everything works out fine and Toonari becomes successful I will feel content with myself because I am part of it. It’s like we are planting our seeds here and we are just waiting for the blossom.

We help it grow!

The article Phillip Sterling, From Holland to Kansas appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A new longitudinal study, published on March 1 in BMJ,  suggests that early use of marijuana may trigger psychotic symptoms and prolonged use could increase the risk for psychotic disorders in later life.  There has been a well documented correlation between marijuana use and psychosis; it has been unclear if smoking marijuana preceded psychotic symptoms.

“There are indications that especially people who start using cannabis at an early age (<16 years) are likely to become chronic users and thereby increase their risk for mental health problems, such as psychotic symptoms,” Rebecca Kuepper, research psychologist and PhD student at Maastricht University in the Netherlands said.

This study was uniquely designed to look specifically at the sequential association between incident cannabis use and incident psychotic symptoms.  For 10 years, the researchers tracked 1,923 individuals from the general population of Germany, aged 14 to 24 years at baseline, who had no history of psychotic symptoms or cannabis use at the beginning of the study.  They found that those who started smoking cannabis during the study had nearly twice the chance of reporting psychotic symptoms during follow-up as those who remained cannabis free.  This was true even after accounting for potentially confounding factors, such as age, sex, socioeconomic status, use of other drugs, and other psychiatric diagnoses.  In addition, cannabis users who reported psychotic symptoms and continued to use cannabis were more apt to have their symptoms linger than those who stopped smoking it. The continued use of marijuana increased the risk for psychotic symptoms more than two-fold.

These results suggest that incident cannabis use increases the risk for the onset of psychotic symptoms “and, if used continuously, increases the risk that those symptoms will persist,” Ms. Kuepper said.  Wayne Hall, PhD, of University of Queensland, Australia, and coauthor of a linked commentary, stated that the pattern of results “makes it unlikely that cannabis use is a form of self-medication of psychotic symptoms and more likely to be a contributory cause of psychotic symptoms.” In the study, psychotic experiences did not predict later cannabis use. Given the current findings and those of earlier studies, “it is likely that cannabis use precipitates schizophrenia in people who are vulnerable because of a personal or family history of schizophrenia,” Dr. Hall and Dr. Louisa Degenhardt, co-authors of the commentary, note.

The article Marijuana Use Precedes Psychosis appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.