When thinking about quitting(停止) smoking…

    List all the reasons why you want to quit. Every night before going to bed, repeat one of the reasons 10 times.

Decide positively that you want to quit. Try to avoid negative thoughts about how difficult it might be. Develop strong personal reasons as well as your health and responsibility to others. For example, think of all the time you waste taking cigarette breaks, rushing out to buy a pack, hunting a light, etc. Set a date for quitting — perhaps a special day like your birthday, a holiday. If you smoke heavily at work, quit during your vacation. Make the date holy seriously, and don't let anything change it. Begin to condition yourself physically; start a modest (适当的) exercise; drink more water; get plenty of rest.

    Immediately after quitting...

    The first few days after you quit, spend as much free time as possible in places where smoking is prohibited, e.g. libraries, museums, theatres, department stores, etc.

    Drink large quantities of water and fruit juice. Try to avoid wine, coffee, and other drinks which remind you of cigarette smoking.

    Strike up a conversation with someone instead of a match for a cigarette.

    If you miss the feeling of having a cigarette in your hand, play with something else - a pencil, a pen, a ruler. If you miss having something in your mouth, try a fake (仿制的) cigarette.

    The following are the top things to do in Tampa Bay on the weekend.

    Want to explore new cultures, meet new people and do something worthwhile at the same time? You can do all the three with Global Development Association (GDA).Whatever stage of life you're at, wherever you go and whatever project you do in GDA, you'll create positive changes in a poor and remote community (社区).

    We work with volunteers of all ages and backgrounds. Most of our volunteers are aged 17-24. Now we need volunteer managers aged 25-75.They are extremely important in the safe and effective running of our programmes. We have such roles as project managers, mountain leaders, and communication officers.

    Depending on which role you choose, you could help to increase a community's access to safe drinking water, or help to protect valuable local cultures. You might also design an adventure challenge to train young volunteers.

    Not only will you help our young volunteers to develop personally, you'll also learn new skills and increase your cultural awareness. You may have chances to meet new people who'll become your lifelong friends.

    This summer we have both 4-week and 7-week programmes:

    GDA ensures that volunteers work with community members and local project partners where our help is needed. All our projects aim to promote the development of poor and remote communities.

    There is no other chance like a GDA programme. Join us as a volunteer manager to develop your own skills while bringing benefits to the communities.

    Find out more about joining a GDA programme:

    Website: www.glodeve.org

    Email: humanresources@glodeve.org

    There is an English saying that says, "Let Sleeping Dogs Lie." It means not bringing up an old problem. Researchers in Hungary have found another reason to let dogs keep on sleeping. It seems the animals are learning while they sleep.

    The Hungarian researchers placed tools on the dogs' heads to know about electrical activity in the brain. The brain activity, called sleep spindles(梭状波), takes place in human begins, and has been connected with learning. The researchers hope to understand how the dogs' ability to learn and remember changes as they get older. The study may help them understand how human brains change as we age.

    The researchers found differences between male and female dogs. Iotchey, a researcher, says the females appeared much better at learning new things. Female dogs have about twice as many spindles per minute as male dogs, they also happen to be the better learners, and they memorize the task much better. But it was harder for all the older dogs to remember things, especially when several things were happening at the same time.

    DoraSzabo also studies sleep spindles. Szabo is a neuroscientist in a university in Budapest. She says the older dogs have fewer spindles and are easily cheated. "If you first hide the reward into one bowl, then in another and in another, they get lost after a while. So their performance is going down, and they are getting poor in solving new problems."

    Researchers hope the study will not only help understanding of learning ability and memory changes in dogs, but also the aging of humans. Senior Researcher EnikoKubinyi adds that the aging dogs suffer from the same problems as humans who are aging. “Among very old dogs, up to two thirds of them show signs of dementia(痴呆), and this dementia is really very similar to that of humans, so we could use dog as a natural model of human aging."

    The dangers of drowsy (昏昏欲睡) driving have been widely known. Now several companies have developed face-tracking technology that can tell when drivers become dangerously sleepy.

    Here is how it might work: A camera in your car monitors your facial expression, compares it to a database of expressions and determines if you are likely sleepy or distracted. The car then alerts you to pay attention or pull over.

    Affectiva has developed emotion recognition technology that aims to detect when people are just starting to get tired. The idea is to catch the warning signs before drowsiness really strikes. "Actually, when someone is drowsy, that is too late." Gabi, vice president of Affectiva said. "What if you can see trends in someone's face about five minutes before they become sleepy?" Affectiva's program can recognize seven different emotions and 15 facial expressions. Its standards were developed by sifting (筛选) through a database of 4 million faces from 75 counties, said Zijderveld. She suggested that carmakers could coordinate (协调) the program's facial recognition data with oral reminders, such as sound warnings, or (nonverbal) alerts, like a change of temperature and vibrations (continuous slight shaking movements).

    Eyeris is another company working in facial analytics. Modar Alaoui, the company's CEO, said that its software detects "eye openness" in addition to other facial indicators. The software can also read head position, which may indicate when someone begins to nod off.

    These technologies aren't the first attempt to fight drowsiness behind the wheel. Inventors came up with the similar device "sleeper beeper" to prevent sleep in cars back in 1983. The sleeper beeper was attached to a driver's ear and would issue a noisy warning when the driver's head nodded past a certain point. But the latest software would intervene (干涉) earlier and more effectively.

International Literature Festival Dublin（ ILFD）is now seeking plans for its 2024 programme edition responding to the theme of "Words Upside Down". For this year's open call, ILFD invites artists, creative practitioners（从业人员）and groups from all arts backgrounds to give in event plans responding to the theme and suitable for showing at ILFD's new Literary（文学的）Village in one of Dublin City's finest parks, Merrion Square Park, running from 17th to 26th of May, 2024.

We encourage plans which accept curiosity and wonder, cause conversation or new ways of listening. This year, we are especially interested in work that will bring its audience in close contact with either the natural or the artificial（人工的）world or both. We welcome plans which are suitable for audiences aged 16 and above. Above all, we welcome plans that break away from the forms of traditional literary events. We are only able to accept plans made from artists based in the island of Ireland.

Successful applicants（申请人）will be supported by the festival team to bring their ideas to life during this year's programme which will be presented in Dublin City's Merrion Square Park. The closing date for applications is Monday 11th of March, 5 pm.

Conditions: 

●The content of the plan must be presented during the festival dates.

●The festival expects that the artist or author is able to work independently and has a clear idea for the operation of their plan.

●The festival will provide access to its technological equipment（projectors, speakers, media players, etc）.

●Funds ranging from €500 to €1,000 are provided for each project.