Category Archives: Progress

New York, N.Y. Hillary Clinton told an audience of LGBT advocates Thursday night that the progress theyve achieved in recent years may not be secure under the Donald Trump administration, and urged them to keep fighting.

I know that the election hit a lot of us hard, Clinton said of her bitter loss to Trump in November. But I can tell you this: Even when it feels tempting to pull the covers over your head, please keep going.

The audience at the fundraising dinner for The Center, an LGBT community group in New York, greeted Clinton with multiple standing ovations and cheers as she accepted the organizations Trailblazer Award. One of the biggest cheers came when she reiterated remarks she made in Geneva in 2011 as secretary of state: Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights.

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CBS News legal analyst Rikki Klieman discusses the issues at stake as the Trump administration shifts policy on LGBT rights.

But I think we have to face the fact that we may not ever be able to count on this administration to lead on LGBT issues, Clinton said. Lets remember, 2018, the midterm elections ... We can never stop fighting.

It wasnt just in the U.S., Clinton said, that were seeing clouds gathering on the horizon.

Weve heard terrifying accounts from Chechnya of gay and bisexual men being taken from their homes and families, tortured, even killed, she said. The United States government yes, this government should demand an end to the persecution of innocent people.

In America, she said, the progress that we fought for ... that we celebrated and maybe even (took) for granted may not be as secure as we once expected.

She spoke of protections for transgender students being rescinded, and proposed cuts in funding for HIV and AIDS research.

I thought of all our efforts to try to achieve an AIDS-free generation, and we were on the way, she said. We can, if we stay on that path, finally realize that dream but not if we are forced off.

Clintons appearance was one of several in recent months where she has been greeted with huge ovations including several at Broadway shows. She joked at the dinner that she realized she was preaching to the choir, but added: Thats OK, I love standing ovations.

She also quipped that the evening had posed a dilemma for her: Shed had the choice, she said, of attending the dinner or seeing Bette Midler in Hello, Dolly!

I really struggled to figure out which event would best reflect my commitment to the community, she said, adding that she had struck a compromise she put on her Sunday Clothes a song title in the show and came to the dinner.

Clinton ended her speech by sharing what she called her new mantra the kind of thing that does pop into your head when youre out in the woods.

When a good friend or loved one says, Quit yelling at the television set, she said, Just remember: we need to resist, insist, persist and enlist.

Also honored was designer Marc Jacobs, who received the groups Visionary Award and is a longtime Clinton supporter. When asked what he thought Clinton should do now she has said her only plans for the moment are working on her book and finding new ways to help people he said, I wish she were doing what we voted for her to do. But that didnt happen.

Clinton herself gave no hints in her speech about her future, but did note that she had made a new discovery: Sleep is good.

I highly recommend it, she said. When I wasnt walking in the woods, I was catching up on my sleep.

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Hillary Clinton warns LGBT progress may not be secure under Trump - CBS News

Following the UConn football team's Blue-White Game Friday night at Rentschler Field, coach Randy Edsall was as he will continue to be reluctant to heap too much praise on players he's still getting to know, players he will always demand more from.

"I don't want to give them too much sugar," Edsall said. "You do that, they start getting fat."

With that said, and with fact that only so much can be accomplished through 14 practices at the Shenkman Training Center and a glorified one before fans in East Hartford, Edsall and the Huskies came out of the spring period encouraged by strides made.

For most of May, June and July, coaches and players will work separately. The onus is on players to improve their stock, and improve the team, by continuing to work independently on what the team worked toward collectively for the past month.

"Train hard, live right, be right," defensive lineman Foley Fatukasi said. "Hard work, and things will go our way."

The next time UConn returns to The Rent it will be to host Holy Cross in the season opener Aug. 31. The team reports for preseason camp July 27. By then, about 20 incoming freshmen will have arrived and this whole "REStorred" and "Edsall 2.0" project will be in full swing.

"The best compliment I can give Randy is he's a professional," athletic director David Benedict said at halftime Friday. "He's an experienced head coach, 17 years of head-coaching experience, and he's bringing all that to bear as he's putting together this program. As Randy said before, getting this program back to where it used to be is a process, and Randy is all about that process.

"I think he's got a great group of assistant coaches, and he's letting them coach. The difference between how Randy is managing the program vs. how it was being managed previously, it's different. You can do it both ways and be successful, but Randy is that true CEO head coach, and he allows his coordinators to direct their sides of the ball, and he is really focused on specific things."

Players are embracing what are drastically different alignments and responsibilities that come with Rhett Lashlee's up-tempo offense and Billy Crocker's 3-3-5 defense.

"We definitely made some strides," quarterback Bryant Shirreffs said. "There are a lot of areas where we need to get better. But [during spring], collectively, we got a lot better."

Edsall did single out a few players who impressed him either Friday night or throughout camp freshman receivers Keyion Dixon and Quayvon Skanes, and senior running back Arkeel Newsome.

Among defensive players, Edsall said, "One guy I thought has been really consistent is [senior linebacker] Junior Joseph. We've got to get him to be a little more vocal, bring a little more of a leadership presence. And [senior defensive lineman] Cole Ormsby he's got a toughness about him and kind of grew on me as we've gone through the spring. He's a physical guy and likes to be physical. There are guys who did some really good things. Now we have to get [other] guys to step up and make more things happen."

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UConn Football Spring Session Closed; Edsall Encouraged By Progress - Hartford Courant

5G technologies are early in their development, and the business cases for them are a bit fuzzy, but wireless researchers and executives still had plenty to celebrate this week at the annual Brooklyn 5G Summit. Theyve made steady progress on defining future 5G networks, and have sped up the schedule for the first phase of standards-based 5G deployments.

Now, the world is just three years away (or two, depending on who you ask) from its first 5G commercial service. Amid the jubilance, reality is also starting to set in.

While attendees can agree that 5G networks will incorporate many new technologiesincluding millimeter waves, massive MIMO, small cells, and beamformingno one knows how all of it will work together, or what customers will do with the resulting flood of data. The video below provides a primer on these technologies, and a hint of what we can expect.

This was my second year attending the two-day summit, an annual gathering organized by NYU Wireless, and here are my observations from the first day:

1. Update from AT&T

For the past year, AT&T has tested early 5G technologies at 4 gigahertz, 15GHz, and 28 GHz from its labs in Austin, Texas. Like many of its competitors, the company is currently focused on fixed wireless, which means providing over-the-air broadband Internet service between two stationary points.

Already, the company has used high-frequency millimeter waves (roughly between 30 and 300 gigahertz)to provide superfast Internet service at speeds of 1.5 gigabits per second to one enterprise client. (Its service is broadcastat 28 GHz.)

Now, Dave Wolter, assistant vice president for radio technology and architecture, said AT&T plans to expand its fixed wireless trials to serve roughly 10 pilot customers in the Austin area this year.They'll bea mix of residential properties and small businesses.

For its enterprise trial, the company installed a transmitter on top of one of its buildings, with a clear line of sight to a receiver placed about 250 meters away on an upper floor of a clients office building. The only problem was that the clients office had double-coated windows, which are energy efficient but block millimeter waves. To make the trial work, AT&T had to switch out those windows for a single-coated variety.

Moving forward, Wolter expects 39 GHz become AT&Ts key frequency for fixed wireless, as well as for mobile devices. AT&T recently acquired Straight Path Communications, which had vast spectrum holdings for both 39 GHz and 28 GHz.

Its still an open question of what customers will do with their upgraded serviceand how much they will pay for it. When an audience member asked Wolter to name an application that he believes will justify the capital expenditure that AT&T must shell out for spectrum holdings and a 5G build-out, Wolter deferred.

Good question, and I hope our business folks are working on that, he said.

2. Massive MIMO

High-frequency millimeter waves have been all the rage in wireless circles for the past few years, and NYU Wireless led much of the early work that catapulted them to fame. But this year, the summit organizers devoted an entire session to massive MIMO, which seems to be having a bit of a moment.

There have been several big stories about massive MIMO since last years event, including new world records in spectral efficiency, the worlds first commercial trials, and early mobile trials. Facebook even got in the game with Project ARIES.

In the past year, weve actually shown that [massive MIMO] works in reality, said Ian Wong of National Instruments. To me, the biggest development is that the skeptics are being quiet.

Massive MIMO builds on a 4G technology known as multiple input, multiple output, or MIMO.This technologyuses many antennas, combined with signal processing, to communicate with several users on the same frequency, at the same time. With it, carriers have added capacity to crowded frequency brands below 6 GHz, where most consumer electronics operate today.

The actual definition of massive MIMO was the subject of some debate during the session, but Fred Vook, an engineer at Nokia, describes it as the extension of traditional MIMO to a large number of controllable antennas. And by a large number, he means more than eight antennas, though some massive MIMO arrays have 100 or more.

Based on the days conversation, massive MIMO has solidified its place as a foundational 5G technology. 4G was the first system to start out with MIMO, and we expect 5G will be the first system to start right off the bat with massive MIMO, declared Durga Malladi, a senior vice president at Qualcomm.

Theres certainly more work to be done (one of the stickier questions is how to integrate gobs of antennas into a smartphone) but the general outlook for massive MIMO now feels rather upbeat.

I truly believe that theres no other technology below 6 GHz that can give 5G gains, other than massive MIMO, said Wong.

3. 5G New Radio

Earlier this year, a slew of companies petitioned 3GPP, a group that defines 5G standards, to speed up the schedule for describing 5G New Radio. This standard is imporotant, because it will set the terms for the air interface by which base stations communicate with mobile devices, with the goal of improving performance and ensuring consistency across carriers and manufacturers.

Those companies were particularly interested in one type of 5G New Radiowhats called non-standalone, as opposed to standalone. At the summit, Malladi of Qualcomm described the difference between the two like this: In one mode, you rely upon 4G as an anchor, and in the other one, you deploy 5G without 4G as an anchor.

The thinking is that a non-standalone 5G New Radio could be deployed more quickly, because its meant to be integrated into a 4G core network, whereas standalone 5G New Radio would operate on a brand new 5G core network (which is a much bigger undertaking to deploy and relies on even more standards).

In an afternoon panel, five executives confirmed their interest in developing non-standalone 5G New Radio as quickly as possible, and allowing the standalone version to lag behind. This suggests 5G will look and function a lot like 4G LTE in its early phases, before eventually migrating over to a spiffy new core.

In March, 3GPP accepted the accelerated schedule for non-standalone 5G New Radio, which should be defined by the end of this year. Some companies now expect to deploy their first standards-based 5G networks with it as early as 2019.

4. Will 5G live up to the hype?

Over the past few years, engineers and executives have set sky-high expectations for 5G. Theyve spoken of 5G as the wireless network that will unleash radical new technological advances in every possible realm, and promised that it will enable autonomous cars, streaming virtual reality, and remote surgeries.

Much of the talk at this years summit was as bold as ever. In a keynote about how 5G would improve industrial systems, Kenneth Budka of Bell Labspredicted that 5G technologies would fundamentally transform human existence.

This year, though, such grandiose statements were also punctuated with more sobering analyses. A generous helping came from Seizo Onoe, chief technology officer of NTT DOCOMO, who has developed something of a reputation for pouring cold water on 5G expectations.

During his keynote, Onoe said he has noticed an informal law during his time at DOCOMO: The wireless industrymanages to achieve great leaps of success only in even-numbered generations. By his measure, 2G and 4G were truly transformational, while the improvements that came with 1G and 3G were mostly incremental.

Applying this law to 5G, I would say we have to wait until 6G to fill all the expectations of 5G, he said. Stay tuned.

IEEE Spectrums general technology blog, featuring news, analysis, and opinions about engineering, consumer electronics, and technology and society, from the editorial staff and freelance contributors.

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Millimeter waves, massive MIMO, full duplex, beamforming, and small cells are just a few of the technologies that could enable ultrafast 5G networks 27Jan

Controversy flares as rivals rush to launch 5G services 30Dec2016

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Full duplex could double the capacity of wireless networks, making it a key technology for 5G 1Apr

Just hold it in front of your face, and youre in 29Mar

University of Michigan researchers spoof an accelerometer by hitting the right note 17Mar

Instead of a dedicated antenna, the company's approach radiates radio-frequency signals from the ground plane 14Mar

Dont expect early 5G service in South Korea to reflect what carriers elsewhere have described 8Mar

The company knows it needs to ditch the dongle, and believes Li-Fi-enabled chipsets will be here soon 1Mar

Almost limitless bandwidth beckonsif we can tame a wild region of the spectrum 23Feb

Cellphones as a fifth-order elaboration of Maxwellstheory 20Feb

To help, a federal project examines how wireless signals propagate in industrial settings 14Feb

Now telecom companies fear interference from 50,000 SatPaq devices 13Feb

A tiny CMOS-based terahertz transmitter can hit 105 Gb/s 9Feb

She manages a team of 15 engineers responsible for plotting Verizons next big move 3Feb

The Annikken Andee U shield is a bridge between the Arduino and your mobile devices 27Jan

A new terahertz modulator demonstrates dizzying data speeds of 28 Gb/s 24Jan

Ethertronics says its antenna steering technology can remove Wi-Fi dead spots and let you cut your cable TV bill 17Jan

In 2017, Samsung will likely release a smartphone that transforms into a tablet 30Dec2016

The US military's annual tech wish list is out, and it's loaded with new digital tools and devices to fight terrorism 12Dec2016

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5G Progress, Realities Set in at Brooklyn 5G Summit - IEEE Spectrum

ALLENTOWN, Pa. When it comes to Ron Hextalls long-term rebuilding plan, Flyers fans have just one question: How long?

The consensus is multiple years, and it all depends on how fast kids like defenseman Travis Sanheim and goaltender Alex Lyon develop.

We already know about Ivan Provorov and Travis Konecny. They were splendid in their rookie seasons with the Flyers. And two older rookies, 24-year-olds Jordan Weal and Mike Vecchione, could be well on their way to regular jobs in the NHL.

But the progress of hopefuls such as Sanheim, Lyon, Sam Morin and Robert Hagg is still a bit up in the air. The learning curve could be accelerated by the Phantoms' appearance in the American Hockey League playoffs.

Sanheim could be the one who bears the most watching.

The first-round (17th overall) draft pick in 2014 has been lauded for his overall game, particularly in the area of transition play, since he became property of the Flyers.

In fact, he was named best defenseman at the 2014 IIHF World U18 Championships, after leading all backliners with six points in seven games.

Since then, its been a steady rise through the ranks, including 162 points in 186 games with the Calgary Hitmen (WHL) and a stellar 10-27-37 campaign in the recently concluded Phantoms season.

So while the prime objective of this postseason is to achieve as much team success as possible, analyzing the individual play of talents such as Sanheim also carries high priority status.

The 21-year-old native of Elkhorn, Manitoba, understands that.

Obviously, teams look at playoff experience, proven winners, Sanheim said after Friday nights 1-0 overtime loss to Hershey in Game 1 at the PPL Center. Thats something were trying to build toward. We didnt want this result tonight.

Some believe Sanheim, with his smooth, effortless skating stride and above-average two-way play, could be ready for the big time when Flyers training camp opens in September.

Hextall will be watching Sanheims efforts with particular attention.

This is the pinnacle of the season, right here in the playoffs, Hextall said. Guys are performing their best right now. Theyre giving themselves a leg up in September.

Coach Scott Gordon said Sanheim began the season believing that, with the teams blessing, he had to be an offensive force. But then he realized he had to put more focus on the defensive side of the puck.

Gordon was discussing the play of Phil Myers in junior hockey, how he was playing big minutes and perhaps not giving everything he had at both ends of the rink, but the same might have applied to Sanheim.

The kids come in from junior and there are things in their game that they have to get out as pros, he said. Phil went from 27 to 30 minutes a night (with his junior team, Rouyn-Noranda of the QMJHL) and, when you play that much, you will find shortcuts to take. Those become habits.

We saw that with Travis at the beginning of the year. He was asked to get offense for the team (at Calgary), so he was up on the play all the time, milling around an opponents net. As a result, almost neglecting the defense part of it. To his credit, after about three weeks of that, we didnt see it the rest of the year.

Meanwhile, Lyon, a free-agent signing out of Yale, caught everyone a little by surprise with his first year of play with the Phantoms.

Basically, he wrested the starting job away from Anthony Stolarz, considered by many to be a contender for duty with the Flyers next season. Stolarz spent the better part of two months with the Flyers as backup to Steve Mason while Michal Neuvirth recovered from a knee injury.

But when Stolarz returned to Allentown, Lyon didnt just step aside and hand back the No. 1 job. Now hes getting a chance to prove that was no fluke by performing under fire, like he did Friday night when he kept the Bears off the scoreboard for the first 60 minutes and then some.

We really liked Alex; we went after him hard, Hextall said. There was a lot of interest in him (from other NHL teams), obviously.

"We liked the way he played, we liked the professionalism, his preparation for a game, the way he played a game. Very solid technically.

Am I surprised by the good year he had? No. The part you dont know about a college kid, he hasnt played a ton of hockey. How was it going to go as the season progressed? He didnt fall, so he did a good job.

Lyon appreciates this opportunity.

While youngsters such as Carter Hart and Felix Sandstrom might be ranked higher on the organizational goalie depth chart, theres nothing that says Lyon cant climb past those guys in the next little while.

A big playoffs here would help the cause.

I think anybody who was in the building tonight would say thats an NHL atmosphere, said the 24-year-old Lyon, who went 17-14-5 with a 2.74 goals-against average and .912 save percentage. (Hextall) is exactly right. Im going to learn as much as I can in this stretch. And try to have a little fun. Its going to be a very valuable experience.

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PHANTOMS: Postseason experience should accelerate Sanheim, Lyon progress - Burlington County Times

Apr 22, 2017 at 3:20 pm | Print View

CEDAR FALLS The new coaches are up to speed, and the players are up to speed about them. No wonder Mark Farley sounded so upbeat late Friday afternoon, on the eve of his Northern Iowa football teams final spring practice.

I am excited, Farley said. When we went into spring, we had four or five new coaches, a new group of receivers. You just didnt know how everything was going to gel because you didnt just have new players, you had new coaches.

Four brand new assistants, to be specific, including a new offensive coordinator. Thats a lot of potential upheaval.

But UNIs 15 spring practices went very well, according to Farley. The 15th and final was Saturday morning.

It was the same message as in years past, but it was somebody else giving it, Farley said. The attentiveness was much greater this spring. They were listening to every word, responding every way they could. Then you had coaches working like it was the middle of the season, getting ready for the biggest game of the year every week. Because they were trying to stay ahead of the players, making sure they understood it as a group.

I just saw the extra effort put in by the players and the coaches ... I saw the results of it.

This promises to be a strong Panthers club this fall, as it seeks to return to the FCS playoffs after a frustrating 5-6 record in 2016. UNI lost five games by six points or less.

There are 11 returning starters and 54 letterwinners.

Number one (thing) is that toughness, Farley said. It goes right back to the line of scrimmage with your offensive line. It starts there and ends there. Trying to create that edge in that front seven, our offensive line and tight ends. Then, in turn, they are going against our defensive line and linebackers all the time. We put extra emphasis there.

Farley said he liked how his o-line improved as spring ball went along. The Panthers return three starters there.

The defensive line also was good, he said, specifically mentioning the re-addition of Adam Reth, who missed all of last season for believed academic reasons.

I thought the defensive line was impactful every practice, Farley said. When you get a guy like Adam Reth back to lead the group, and guys like Preston Woods, I thought the line made an impact in every practice for us with their experience and talent. They showed up every day, made an impact and changed the course of practice many times.

The second half of camp was spent more on the skill positions. Farley said quarterback Eli Dunne continues to improve and look more comfortable running the offense.

He started the last half of the 2016 season.

There is some question right now about running back, where UNI lost Tyvis Smith and Michael Malloy. Farley said he expects the position to be filled by committee, with Trevor Allen, Marcus Weymiller and JVeyon Browning.

Receiver appears it will be a strength for the 2017 Panthers. Guys like Daurice Fountain bring size and strength, guys like Jalen Rima bring speed, quickness and game-breaking ability.

Rima emerged as the 2016 season progressed as both a big-play receiver and kickoff/punt returner. It was telling that Farley mentioned the freshman from Cedar Rapids Prairie in the same sentence as Arizona Cardinals running back (and UNI grad) David Johnson.

What I learned last year about Jalen is the challenges you put in front of him are critical, because he always rises to them, Farley said. Hes one of those players that you do not know (about) until you put him into a situation. Then its like All right, he passed that test. You can check that box off.

Hes more of a quiet guy, very similar to David Johnson in that any challenge you put in front of him, he conquers. Hes as fast as anybody on the field, but Ive never put a clock on him. Nobodys caught him, yet, but its one of those things where it doesnt look like hes running that fast. Hes got a lot of those same characteristics as David Johnson. To be compared (to) a guy like that is pretty good.

Northern Iowa opens its 2017 season Sept. 2 at Iowa State. The home opener is the following week against Cal Poly.

l Comments: (319) 398-8259; jeff.johnson@thegazette.com

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UNI Coach Mark Farley pleased with progress as spring football ends - The Gazette: Eastern Iowa Breaking News and Headlines

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White House Officials, Craving Progress, Push Revised Health Bill New York Times WASHINGTON White House officials, desperate to demonstrate progress on President Trump's promise to repeal the Affordable Care Act, are pushing to resurrect a Republican health care bill before his 100th day in office next week. Some members of the ... and more »

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White House Officials, Craving Progress, Push Revised Health Bill - New York Times

It has been 20 years since Bill and Melinda Gates first started using their fortune to address global health issues. By focusing on the diseases that hit the poorest parts of the world the hardest, their foundation has since saved countless lives and prevented untold suffering. My enthusiasm and belief that this is the right way for this money to be spent is as strong as it was then, Bill Gates said in a telephone interview with Scientific American before attending a major international health meeting this week in Geneva. But he acknowledged that making progress has not been as simple a process as he at first assumed.

Some of the naivet that I had then was that if we created new tools [to identify and treat these diseases] that actually getting them out to people would be fairly straightforward, Gates says. And although I was also naive about some of the [drug] discovery stuff and the regulatory complexities, I was even more naive about how tough it is to do delivery. Fortunately, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and its teams of experts have developed a knack over the past two decades for working out many of the nitty-gritty details of how to get effective treatments to some of the worlds most remote locationssometimes even redesigning products to make them easier to transport over long distances and across wide-ranging temperatures.

Nowhere has this sort of attention to detail paid off more handsomely than with the effort to reduceand potentially eliminatesome of the lesser-known ailments that plague the developing world. Collectively known as neglected tropical diseases, or NTDs, these illnesses include leprosy, rabies, blinding trachoma and lymphatic filariasis (also known as elephantiasis). Five years ago a wide range of international organizations (including the Gates Foundation), governments and pharmaceutical companies came together in London to adopt a plan to eradicate many of these diseases by 2020. The drug manufacturers agreed to donate billions of prescription medicines and other treatments if their partners could ensure that they would be used effectively.

The partners are holding a summit in Geneva this week to celebrate the successes they have achieved so far. Health experts have made record-breaking progress in getting some of these ancient scourges under control, Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organization, said in a statement. For example, the organization says only 25 cases of Guinea worm disease were reported in 2016. The number of cases of sleeping sickness (African trypanosomiasis) fell from 37,000 new cases in 1999 to under 3,000 in 2015.

Looking ahead, some of the most exciting news is likely to come in the treatment of lymphatic filariasis, which infects tens of millions of people, causing severe pain and severe swelling in the limbs and other parts of the body. As part of an effort to develop new medications for the disease, researchers funded by the Gates Foundation decided they needed to better understand how current therapies work. In the course of their investigations they learned that if they combined three different current medications, they might be able to neutralize the worms that cause the disease in a matter of monthsas opposed to the more typical 15 years.

No one knows why the three-drug combination is better than the standard two-drug treatment. But the three-drug approach has since been fast-tracked for approval, assuming a large-scale efficacy test of 10,000 people confirms positive results at the end of May. Health experts are cautiously optimistic. We know that we havent had any serious adverse events from the combination," says Julie Jacobson, a senior program officer at the Gates Foundation. If this works, the gain will be huge.

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Bill Gates Enthusiastic about Disease-Fighting Progress - Scientific American

Kerry Yang speaks openly to foreigners about the bouts of depression that have haunted her for a decade her emotional meltdowns in college, the bruises she inflicted upon her body as a coping mechanism, her initial unsuccessful attempts at treatment.

Yet despite such candor, the 30-year-old public relations consultant from Beijing often can't bring herself to discuss her problems with her fellow Chinese, including members of her own family.

"There's a saying in China that if you display your emotions, you display weakness," Yang said.

Depression as an illness went widely unacknowledged for decades in China, even as the brutalities of the Cultural Revolution and, more recently, frenetic economic growth left emotional scars. Public attitudes have shifted in recent years, propelled in part by the adoption of the nation's first mental health law five years ago.

Yet Yang's case underscores that change is coming slowly within a society that traditionally viewed symptoms such as anxiety, sleeplessness or loss of appetite as isolated physical problems, not signs of mental disorder.

Families in China have been known to lock mentally ill relatives in cages or keep them in shackles for years because they were unable or unwilling to seek help. A rash of high-profile stabbings by perpetrators who were reportedly mentally ill over the past decade further highlighted the dearth of mental health services.

"Number one, it's probably not recognized and number two, if you have these problems it's personal, so 'take care of it on your own,'" said Michael Phillips, a professor of psychiatry at Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine.

More than 50 million people in the world's most populous country suffer from depression, according to the World Health Organization, which has made depression its signature issue for 2017. Apart from the toll on the afflicted, depression results in an estimated $8 billion in annual losses to productivity from missed work days, medical expenses and other costs, said WHO China representative Bernhard Schwartlander.

China's 2012 mental health law, almost three decades in the making, marked a major breakthrough. It gave political support to what was conceded to be a growing problem, invited collaboration from outside experts and restricted involuntary confinement of the mentally ill except in extreme circumstances a provision critics say still is sometimes ignored in the case of dissidents.

Previously, more than 90 percent of those with mental disorders had never sought any kind of professional help, according to a 2009 study by Phillips and several colleagues.

The new law placed schizophrenia and other psychological conditions out in the open, by expanding available treatments beyond psychiatric hospitals to include community-based services and encouraging scientific research. There's also been growing realization that mental illness can be just as burdensome to society as other chronic illnesses such as diabetes and hypertension, said Phillips, who also is director of the Suicide Research and Prevention Center at Shanghai Medical Center.

At the end of last year, 5.4 million people had been registered by China's government as having serious mental problems, according to the National Health and Family Planning Commission, which said the quality of treatment had been "gradually improving."

For years starting in college, Yang said she coped privately with periods of uncontrollable crying, anxiety and days when she didn't want to get out of bed. She excelled in her studies, yet still came up short of the perfection she'd been taught to demand of herself. Problems in romantic relationships added to the stress.

She recalled banging her fist repeatedly during arguments and pounding her chest until her body was bruised. Rather than disturb her, she found the bruises to be a soothing outlet for her emotional pain, an act known to therapists as self-harming.

Yang finally sought help five years ago, visiting two public hospitals, where she found the care impersonal and unhelpful, and then a private counselor.

"I actually have trouble talking to a Chinese therapist because I'm uncomfortable speaking about this in my native tongue," she said.

Yang's parents were supportive but somewhat baffled. She said her mother didn't know depression existed, while her father wanted to "fix" her, but didn't know how.

Only after leaving China for a master's degree program in Australia did Yang find help. She returned to Beijing three years ago and began seeing a Chinese-Australian psychotherapist, Sami Wong, after her depression returned last fall. They speak primarily in English.

Despite the progress in recent years, mental health resources remain stretched thin even in major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. Nationwide, there are 27,733 psychiatrists or about two for every 100,000 people, according to the health commission. Russia and the United States have more than five times as many per capita, Schwartlander said.

The shortage of trained caregivers is most acute outside urban areas, said Zhang Yunshu, a psychiatrist who deals with rural patients in eastern China's Hebei Province. To fill that gap, the government has encouraged more students to enter the field and brought psychiatrists from the city out to the countryside to train general medicine doctors on the basics of psychiatric care.

Besides the cultural forces at play, Wong, Yang's therapist, said she sees a generational divide among her clients. That's particularly true of people like Wong's mother, who lived through the Cultural Revolution, a decade of political violence and chaos unleashed by Mao Zedong in which an estimated 1 million Chinese died from persecution, execution or suicide.

"Compared to that hardship, the feeling of depression is perceived as quite light," Wong said. "Compared to fear, depression is nothing."

WHO representative Schwartlander said China's contemporary rulers have accepted the need to address depression and mental illness. And just as the country has lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty in the recent past, he believes with enough political will it can address its mental health needs.

Yang said it will take more than the WHO depression awareness campaign motto of "Feeling down? Let's talk" to ease the stigma associated with the disorder. She said China also must expand services so those with depression will have someone to listen.

"Otherwise it just opens a wound," she said. "It's just slicing people open, and then they could become desperate."

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Progress on depression slow in China as stigmas persist - ABC News

LOS ANGELESSpring is a time for progress, not final decisions. For Matt Lynch and Devon Modster, its a time for competition.

The redshirt freshmen are vying for the backup quarterback job, which Coach Jim Mora said remains open after almost three weeks of practice.

Theres not going to be a day where we dont stop competing, Lynch said.

During the first 10 practices, it was typically Modster first off the bench to lead the second offense in team periods. The former four-star prospect out of Tesoro High was elevated to the backup position in November after Josh Rosen was ruled out for the year. UCLA avoided the disaster of having to burn Modsters redshirt during its lost season as Mike Fafaul stayed healthy.

Although he was powerless to help UCLAs sputtering offense last year, Modster said he was glad to have retained his extra year of eligibility.

It was just a learning experience, kind of getting used to the system and how the game is going, he said.

Lynch was a three-star recruit from Broomfield, Colo., and enrolled early last season. He spent the offseason ironing out his throwing motion with quarterback coach Warren McCarty, trying to shorten the motion while fighting the desire to drop his shoulder. Going through his second spring practice, Lynch said his knowledge of the game has increased the most in the past year with the help of Rosen.

(Im) always learning from Josh because theres always something new that comes up in practice or different plays, so just trying to pick his brain a little bit, Lynch said.

Instead of rushing to identify a backup quarterback, Mora is content watching the redshirt freshmen progress while learning UCLAs new scheme this spring.

What I see is two guys who are getting better every practice, Mora said. So Im just encouraged by the way both of those guys are coming along.

SPRING SCRIMMAGE PLANNED

UCLAs spring game will indeed be a real game. Probably. Knock on wood.

Barring significant injuries in the final week of spring practice, the Bruins will punctuate their monthlong spring camp with an official scrimmage in Drake Stadium, Mora said.

UCLA has been fortunate to avoid major injuries this spring with only DeChaun Holiday being the major loss. The safety/linebacker suffered a right shoulder injury last week and hasnt returned to the field, but was seen Thursday without his sling for the first time since the injury occurred. Tight end Austin Roberts was sidelined with an undisclosed injury, but returned to the field Thursday.

I see them understanding how to practice with a level of physicality without cheap shots, Mora said of weathering injury concerns this spring. The defensive backs understand that theyre not going to blow a receiver up just to blow him up. They know how to practice.

The last time the Bruins capped off a spring practice slate with an official spring game was 2014 at StubHub Center. The previous two years, the team just held a structured practice, citing a growing list of injuries that cut the teams already thin roster. Instead of having a draft to determine the two teams, Mora and the coaching staff will likely divide the roster into blue and white squads next week, taking into account minor injuries.

I dont want it to be a bloodbath, Mora said. I want it to be competitive.

Tickets are $5 in advance and $10 at the door, with a team autograph session and Adidas surplus sale to take place after the scrimmage.

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UCLA seeks progress, not separation, in backup quarterback competition - OCRegister

Jocelyn Noveck, Ap National Writer

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks after accepting the Trailblazer Award during the LGBT Community Center Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Thursday, April 20, 2017, in New York.

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks after accepting the Trailblazer Award during the LGBT Community Center Dinner at Cipriani Wall Street on Thursday, April 20, 2017, in New York.

Hillary Clinton: Progress in LGBT rights may not be secure

NEW YORK (AP) Hillary Clinton told an audience of LGBT advocates Thursday night that the progress they've achieved in recent years may not be secure under the Donald Trump administration, and urged them to keep fighting.

"I know that the election hit a lot of us hard," Clinton said of her bitter loss to Trump in November. "But I can tell you this: Even when it feels tempting to pull the covers over your head, please keep going."

The audience at the fundraising dinner for The Center, an LGBT community group in New York, greeted Clinton with multiple standing ovations and cheers as she accepted the organization's Trailblazer Award. One of the biggest cheers came when she reiterated remarks she made in Geneva in 2011 as secretary of state: "Gay rights are human rights, and human rights are gay rights."

"But I think we have to face the fact that we may not ever be able to count on this administration to lead on LGBT issues," Clinton said. "Let's remember, 2018, the midterm elections ... We can never stop fighting."

It wasn't just in the U.S., Clinton said, that "we're seeing clouds gathering on the horizon."

"We've heard terrifying accounts from Chechnya of gay and bisexual men being taken from their homes and families, tortured, even killed," she said. "The United States government yes, this government should demand an end to the persecution of innocent people."

In America, she said, "the progress that we fought for ... that we celebrated and maybe even (took) for granted may not be as secure as we once expected."

She spoke of protections for transgender students being rescinded, and proposed cuts in funding for HIV and AIDS research.

"I thought of all our efforts to try to achieve an AIDS-free generation, and we were on the way," she said. "We can, if we stay on that path, finally realize that dream but not if we are forced off."

Clinton's appearance was one of several in recent months where she has been greeted with huge ovations including several at Broadway shows. She joked at the dinner that she realized she was "preaching to the choir," but added: "That's OK, I love standing ovations."

She also quipped that the evening had posed a dilemma for her: She'd had the choice, she said, of attending the dinner or seeing Bette Midler in "Hello, Dolly!"

"I really struggled to figure out which event would best reflect my commitment to the community," she said, adding that she had struck a compromise she put on her "Sunday Clothes" a song title in the show and came to the dinner.

Clinton ended her speech by sharing what she called her new mantra "the kind of thing that does pop into your head when you're out in the woods."

"When a good friend or loved one says, 'Quit yelling at the television set,'" she said, "Just remember: we need to resist, insist, persist and enlist."

Also honored was designer Marc Jacobs, who received the group's Visionary Award and is a longtime Clinton supporter. When asked what he thought Clinton should do now she has said her only plans for the moment are working on her book and finding new ways to help people he said, "I wish she were doing what we voted for her to do. But that didn't happen."

Clinton herself gave no hints in her speech about her future, but did note that she had made a new discovery: "Sleep is good."

"I highly recommend it," she said. "When I wasn't walking in the woods, I was catching up on my sleep."

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Hillary Clinton: Progress in LGBT rights may not be secure - Midland Daily News