Study Group

A bright white light at the end of a tunnel. A feeling of being outside your body. A sense of well-being and total love. Contact with a deceased loved one. A spiritual reawakening. These are just some of the phenomena described by people who have had a near-death experience, or NDE, as it is called by members of Delaware Valley Near-Death Studies Inc. "I think we're the only group on the East Coast," said Doris Patterson, past president of the study group, which was formed about six years ago. "We hold four general meetings a year on the Main Line, which are open to the public, plus we have support group meetings for members that are held on the Main Line, in Northeast Philadelphia, and another group is forming in the Lehigh Valley area.

A study released yesterday on the future of the Philadelphia Gas Works came to this conclusion: Sell it. The report, by the Pennsylvania Economy League, an independent financial- analysis group, said the city could expect at least $200 million from the sale. Gas bills of PGW's 516,000 customers would drop by as much as 6 percent, on average, if the gas were controlled by a private company. However, senior citizens probably would lose the $14.4 million in discounts they now enjoy, which the report notes would be sure to raise objections.

Three areas of the township are in critical need of public sewers, a citizens' commission told the supervisors Tuesday. Two other areas were identified as less critical but still in need of public sewers within 10 years. The supervisors appointed the study group six months ago to review work done by the Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority and propose alternatives to installing sewers in all of the 60 percent of the township that still uses private, on-lot septic systems. "The 15 members of our committee were not entirely convinced the entire township needed to be sewered," said Steven Gilmore, chairman of the study group.

A regional study group that is hammering out a water plan for northern Gloucester County communities has told local officials that their communities must decide soon whether they will participate. The state, which has ordered more than 36 communities in South Jersey to substantially cut their use of ground water, has set a March 1988 deadline for each to explain how it will make up the shortage. The state has ordered these communities to reduce water consumption by a total of 55 million gallons a day. But Wenonah Mayor Jack C. Sheppard, who is chairing the regional study group that includes Gloucester County and local officials and area engineers, said last week that local officials must decide on alternate sources of water even sooner.

As they prepare for the deluge of cars that would accompany development of a commercial zone next to Interstate 95, officials from Newtown and Lower Makefield Townships agree on at least one point: Doing nothing could be disastrous. That was the consensus yesterday when representatives of both communities discussed preliminary ideas for road construction and improvements in the area, where about 350 undeveloped acres are zoned for office and research buildings. If the land were fully developed, and no road changes were planned, rush-hour traffic "would be a nightmare," transportation engineer David A. Stroud told township supervisors and engineers who belong to a study group considering the issue.

A planning group studying ways to expand the Downingtown Area Regional Authority's (DARA) sewage-treatment capacity by 5 million gallons a day has been asked informally to consider increasing that capacity by 800,000 more gallons a day. Representatives of Rouse and Associates, developer of the 1,300-acre Church Farm School site, told DARA's Phase III study group at a meeting Thursday that they eventually want to transfer 800,000 gallons of...

Officials of Arco Chemical Co. and the federal government are dismissing a new industry study that suggests the Clean Air Act's formula for reducing smog does not work. The study, a joint effort released this week by the three major U.S. automakers and 14 oil companies, concluded that reducing aromatics - octane boosters that react with the sun to form smog - and adding oxygen to gasoline had "no clear effect on ozone formation. " Reducing aromatics and adding an oxygenate - a compound that adds oxygen to gasoline, such as methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE)

What has become of the old values in American life today? In a mid-November report that deserves a wider reading than it has received, a White House study group looked at traditional values and found them in sorry shape. Somewhere along the way, in the "me first" generation of the 1960s and 1970s, old concepts of virtue and right conduct took a beating. The study group's primary concern was the value of family, the core unit of father and mother, caring for their children and guiding them toward constructive adulthood.

Releasing the results of a study that found racial bias on campus, the president of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology yesterday urged its staff to improve living and learning conditions for black students. "We must spare no effort to improve the experience here for minority students," said MIT president Paul E. Gray, responding to a two-year internal study pinpointing racial inequality on campus. "The report carries a clear and disturbing message, that the environment for living and learning at MIT poses special problems for black students.

A controversial City Council proposal to ban smoking in virtually all enclosed public spaces likely will not be considered for a final vote until the fall, when a joint panel of health advocates and restaurant owners is expected to make recommendations on the scope of the bill. Councilman Michael Nutter, author of the measure, agreed yesterday to ask the city's health commissioner to set up and oversee the panel. His move was seen as an effort to gain more support among restaurant owners, most of whom have vigorously decried his bill.

Philip Barrett of Philadelphia works two jobs, but he doesn't want that to be his life. In February, battling stress, he withdrew from Towson University in Maryland, but he hopes to return to college. Marcy Allen of Salem, N.J., graduated from college in 2010 with degrees in theater and French, but the only employment she could find was as a part-time mail carrier - the job she held the summer after her freshman year at Rider University. The two, both in their 20s and navigating unexpected bumps in life, have found solace and strength in a Wednesday night Bible study group in Camden led by a man whose own youthful charisma, they say, is part of the attraction.

ASK THE average person to describe the typical young drug addict or alcoholic, and odds are he will describe a poor, inner-city high-school dropout from a single-parent household, usually a racial minority. Not so fast. A new study identifies a link between high IQ in childhood and illegal drug use at ages 16 and 30. Writing in the British Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health , researchers James White and G. David Batty used data from a study that tracked over 30 years 8,000 Britons born in 1970.

Hospitals make unsupported claims for robotic surgery Don't believe everything you read about the superiority of robotic surgery, even if the claims are on a hospital website. A new study of 400 randomly selected hospital websites found that 89 percent claimed robotic surgery is better than conventional surgery (for example, less pain, shorter recovery, less blood loss, improved cancer outcomes), even though there are no rigorous studies showing such benefits. Promotional materials provided by device manufacturers were used on 73 percent of the websites.

Two Mastery Charter Schools in Philadelphia are among 21 charters across the country that have won national honors for dramatic academic gains among low-income students. A study by New Leaders for New Schools highlighted student performance in the 2007-08 academic year at Mastery's Shoemaker campus in West Philadelphia and its Lenfest campus in Center City. The New York nonprofit praised Mastery yesterday for "tackling the issue of educational equity head-on. By placing an emphasis on effective management and proven practices, Mastery is growing into a leader in urban education.

LIKE clockwork, the well-dressed couple always sat in the back of Pearl Room 101 during the twice-weekly international- trade course at Drexel University. Before the start of every class this fall - held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 12 to 1:50 p.m. - Edward K. Anderton brought lunch to his honey, Jocelyn S. Kirsch, usually a fruit-and-cheese selection from Starbucks, one student who saw the couple told the Daily News. During class, Kirsch, a Drexel senior, took copious notes on her computer and asked her fair share of questions.

As a result of the Iraq Study Group, President Bush has been given one last chance to alter course on Iraq. This did not, however, come about the way James Baker intended. It came about because the long-anticipated report turned out to be such a widely agreed-upon farce. From its wildly hyped, multiple magazine-cover rollout (Annie Leibovitz in Men's Vogue, no less) to its mishmash of 79 (no less) recommendations, the report has fallen so flat that the field is now clear for the president to recommend to a war-weary country something new and bold.

IT TURNS OUT THAT THE IRAQ Study Group is almost as untethered from reality as President Bush is. Sure, its long-awaited report, released Wednesday, finally confirms what critics have been saying for four years ? and for which their patriotism has been questioned: Iraq is a disaster that quickly is moving toward a full-blown humanitarian catastrophe. It is a war that cannot be won militarily. To have a chance of saving the situation, the United States must ask enemies Iran and Syria to help.

New Jersey should develop a test windmill project off its coast to gauge the economic and environmental impacts of the alternative energy source, a state panel recommended in a study released yesterday. The nine-member panel said that wind could help meet demand that is spiking electricity rates in New Jersey, but that more data were needed to determine how wind turbines in coastal waters might affect migratory birds and mammals. Such information could be gleaned from a carefully monitored and controlled project of fewer than 80 turbines, most likely with private help, the report said.

ACCORDING TO a study of 60,000 high school students conducted by Indiana University, the average American teenager studies a measly three hours a week. That works out to about 20 minutes a day. When these students enter college thinking they can use high school study habits to sail through to a degree they are doomed to fail. Success in college requires a minimum of three to five hours of study each day - the rule of thumb is three hours outside study for each hour in the classroom.

John Ashcroft's Pentecostal Christian faith makes some people uncomfortable. You could feel it in the way some senators gingerly danced around the issue when Ashcroft was nominated to be attorney general. Although they didn't always say so directly, some of Ashcroft's critics implied that because of his deep faith, he might not be fit to serve in the cabinet. "He would be charged with upholding and fully enforcing the constitutional rights and liberties of faith groups that he clearly judges to be wrong and in need of correction," worried one liberal critic during Ashcroft's difficult confirmation battle.