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The Angel Oak is one of the oldest living things east of the Mississippi River. It has sustained itself against natural disasters and human activities for perhaps over 500 years.
Indigenous people, early settlers and Gullah ancestors sat under this tree and appreciated its majesty. This grand tree is irreplaceable as a historic, cultural and natural landmark of coastal South Country, and its value to future generations is priceless.
If you visit grand trees in other places, such as the General Sherman Tree in Sequoia National Park or the Sherwood Oak in Sherwood Forest, England, you will find that not only have these grand trees been protected, but the watersheds that provide the basic requirements to sustain them have also been protected.
Even foot traffic too close to the roots of these trees is limited, and vehicle traffic is definitely not allowed.
No organization is responsible for ensuring the Angel Oak continues to receive the basic requirements for its survival. There is, however, no doubt in my mind that development of the land adjacent to the Angel Oak would hasten its demise.
Such development would alter drainage patterns and choke off the water and nutrients that sustain its daily needs.
The Angel Oak and its watershed should be preserved forever as a national, state or local park or monument.
This grand tree has great potential value as a focal point for public education about the cultural and natural history of the sea islands.
The efforts of a few concerned citizens have delayed development of the Angel Oak’s watershed and provided an opportunity to preserve this grand tree and the land that supports it as a park for future generations to enjoy and cherish.
In a place like Charleston that prides itself on preserving its culture and history, protecting the Angel Oak should be a “no brainer.”
State and local governments should buy the land adjacent to the Angel Oak and conserve it as a passive park.
A. Fred Holland
Long Creek Road
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Software development known as app development, software designing, design software, soft app development, enterprise app development, or platform development is the development of a product named software. Term "software development" may use to quote to the action of computer programming, which is a process of writing and maintaining the coding called source code, but in a broader sense, it includes all that is involved between the conception of the software through to the final form of the software, in a well planned and structured process. Software development may involve research, new development, prototype, modifications, reuse, engineering and re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activity that result in software products.
Software can be developed for many purposes, the most common i.e. being to meet specific needs of a specific client or business called custom software, to meet a perceived need of some set of potential users called commercial software with source , and for personal use e.g. a scientist may write software to automate a specific task. The development of such software that is used for controlling consumer products requires the development process to be integrated with the development of the controlled physical product called Embedded software development.
The need for best quality control of the software development process has given rise to the discipline of software engineering, which aims to apply the systematic approach exemplified in the engineering paradigm to the process in the field of software development.
If you need a software development or websites in Pakistan or you need any kind of android software
you can contact mkit.com.pk, web development, designing company.
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A group of Grade 5 students in Regina learned some techniques to deal with bullies in a unique class taught by Grade 9 students.
The lesson, at Thom Collegiate in Regina, began with a skit by the older students who followed up with talk and discussion.
"I think it was really good 'cause lots of kids get bullied and if any of the bullies saw that [presentation] they might change their acts," Bella Middleton, a Grade 5 student, said.
'I think it's better because kids listen to kids.' —Sarah Crumly, Grade 9
Many of the students, in the presentation and watching, have first-hand experience with a bully.
Grade 9 student Sarah Crumly said sharing what they went through with fellow students makes the message more meaningful.
"I think it's better because kids listen to kids," Crumly said. "If it's a teacher they're just kind of like, 'Oh, I don't want to pay attention to them,' or something. But if it's a kid telling them, they'll listen more and then they'll kind of have a better feel for it."
Among the lessons learned was how to stand up to a bully or intervene when they see inappropriate behaviour.
At the end of the presentation, the youngsters pledge to do what they can to stop bullying.
"Now that everyone thinks of it as a bad thing, they will stop because they know it's bad," another Grade 5 student, Emma Braaten, said.
Many schools running anti-bully programs
Schools across Saskatchewan have made issues related to bullies a priority.
In Yorkton, students have taken part in a week-long series of programs about how to deal with bullying.
Students a St. Mary's School also took a pledge to respect, help and care for others.
"We know that it's not a normal thing to happen," Grade 7 student Cassidy Guy said. "It's not acceptable ... and there's lots of ways to stop it."
The school has also started a program called Recess Buddies, to support the message of providing support.
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Zener diodes are a special type of semiconductor diode– devices that allow current to flow in one direction only –that also allow current to flow in the opposite direction, but only when exposed to enough voltage. And while that sounds a bit esoteric, they’re actually among the handiest components ever to cross an engineer’s bench, providing great solutions to a number of common needs in circuit design.
In what follows, we’ll show you how (and when) to use a Zener, for applications including simple reference voltages, clamping signals to specific voltage ranges, and easing the load on a voltage regulator.
Background: Semiconductor diodes, real and ideal
To understand how Zener diodes are different from other diodes, let’s first review the properties of regular diodes. And, while there are many different types of diodes– see here for a long list –we’re going to focus on so-called “normal” semiconductor diodes, most commonly constructed with a p-n silicon junction.
Diodes usually come in glass or plastic cylindrical packages, marked with a stripe on one side to indicate polarity. In a perfectly ideal diode, current flows in one direction only, from the anode (positive side) to the cathode (negative side) which is marked with the stripe. The schematic symbol is a triangle pointing towards a bar, where the current flows in the same direction, towards the barred (striped) end. Surface mount versions of diodes tend to follow the same labeling convention, where the cathode end is marked with a broad stripe.
If we hook up a diode in a simple circuit with a variable voltage source and a current-limiting resistor, we can measure the current I through the diode when a given voltage V is applied across it. For an ideal diode, no current at all passes when the voltage is less than zero: the diode completely prevents reverse current flow. For small positive voltage (“forward bias,” or sometimes “foward voltage”), a tiny amount of current may flow, and a very large amount of current will flow above a given threshold. The amount of current that flows is actually exponential with increasing voltage.
The threshold where an appreciable amount of current flows is typically around 0.7 V for simple semiconductor diodes, but may be as low as 0.15 V for Schottky diodes, or as high as 4 V for certain types of LEDs.
Of course, no diode is truly ideal. In real diodes, when the voltage is reversed, a very small amount of current (leakage) may flow. And, more significantly, each diode is rated for a certain maximum amount of reverse voltage. If you apply voltage more negative than that limit, the diode will undergo “reverse breakdown”
and begin to conduct a significant amount of current, but backwards from the normal direction of diode current flow. For a regular diode, we would say that the diode has failed if it begins to conduct current in that direction.
Zener diodes are semiconductor diodes which have been manufactured to have their reverse breakdown occur at a specific, well-defined voltage (its “Zener voltage”), and that are designed such that they can be operated continuously in that breakdown mode. Commonly available Zener diodes are available with breakdown voltages (“Zener voltages”) anywhere from 1.8 to 200 V.
The schematic symbol for a Zener diode is shown above– it is very similar to that of a regular diode, but with bent edges on the bar. The Zener still conducts electricity in the forward direction like any other diode, but also conducts in the reverse direction, if the voltage applied is reversed and larger than the Zener breakdown voltage.
A typical application might be as above: A 10 V Zener diode (type 1N4740) is placed in series with a resistor and a fixed 12 V power supply. The resistor value is chosen such that several mA flow through it and through the Zener, keeping it in its breakdown region. In the circuit above, there is 10 V across the Zener diode, and 2 V across the resistor. With 2 V across a 400 ohm resistor, the current through that resistor (and the diode, in series) is 5 mA.
Zener voltage references
The fixed voltage property of Zener diodes makes them extremely handy as quick voltage references. The basic circuit looks like this:
There are a couple of requirements to consider. First, the input voltage has to be higher than the Zener voltage. Second, the resistor value must be chosen such that there is always current flowing through the Zener.
Some caveats: This is not necessarily a good power supply for all purposes– the resistor limits how much current can be drawn. It is also not necessarily a precision voltage reference; the voltage will depend on the amount of current drawn. (That is to say, for the voltage to be steady, the load driven by that reference voltage must be consistent.) The voltage also depends upon the temperature. Zeners in the range 5-6 V have the best temperature stability, and there are high-precision Zener diodes (like the LM399) that include their own temperature-stabilized oven to further keep the diode temperature as steady as possible.
Taking this idea a bit further, you can actually build a full multi-rail power supply using nothing more exotic than a set of Zener diodes to generate all the voltages that are needed, provided that the current requirements are modest on the different supply voltages. The circuit above is part of a working laboratory instrument.
Voltage clamps: Limiting signals with Zener diodes
A varying analog signal can be constrained to a fairly narrow range of voltages with a single Zener diode. If you have a voltage that swings between + 7 V and – 7 V, you could use a single 4 V Zener, connected to ground, to ensure that the signal does not exceed 4 V or go below -0.7 V (where the diode conducts forward to ground).
If you wanted to constrain the signal to never go negative– e.g., for input to an analog-to-digital converter that accepts signals in the 0 – 5 V range, you could connect the anode of the Zener diode to a power rail at 1 V, instead of ground. Then, the output signal range would be constrained to the range of 0.3 V – 5 V.
Another neat trick is to use two Zener diodes, oppositely oriented, in series. This can provide a symmetric limit on the excursion of a signal from ground, for example. This is also a common configuration for using Zener diodes as transient supressors.
Voltage translation: Easing the load on a regulator
Here’s something that doesn’t work. We have a TL750L05, which is a type of 5 V output linear regulator, which can source up to 150 mA output, and its load will be variable. We need to drive it from a 36 V source. Unfortunately, the maximum input voltage of the TL750L05 is 26 V.
Let’s try adding a resistor in series to drop some of that voltage:
Our output load can be as high as 125 mA and as low as 10 mA. So, what value resistor will work for us?
Suppose that we assume 125 mA load. Then to take up (say) 20 V on the resistor, 20 V / .125 A = 160 Ohms. If we use 160 ohms, that will drop only 160 Ohm * 0.01 A = 1.6 V at 10 mA load, and 36 V – 1.6 V is still larger than 26 V. In order to be safe for the 10 mA load, we should pick a resistor that gives us at least an 11 V drop, for 25 V input to the regulator. So, 11 V / .01 A = 1100 Ohms would be safe for the 10 mA load. But if the load increases to 125 mA, the drop across 1100 Ohms would be V = 0.125 A * 1100 Ohms = 137 V, which means that the input to the regulator would be below 5 V, and it would cease to operate.
Clearly, there is no resistor value that you can pick that actually will work for both the low and high current cases.
Let’s try again, this time with our friend, the Zener diode.
Finally, let’s try using one fat 20 V Zener diode (type 1N5357BRLG), to drop some of the load. Then, the output on the anode of the Zener is just 16 V, well within the safe input range of the regulator. The 1N5357BRLG is rated for 5 W maximum. At 20 V and .125 A, the power dissipated by the Zener would be 2.5 W, so it will get warm, but we are well in the safe operating conditions of the Zener, and now the circuit will work.
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Last month, in Poland, a friend said that his 75-year-old mother “always cries in August.” Why? Because August makes her remember the Warsaw Uprising, which took place exactly sixty years ago.
As Pope John Paul II put it in Warsaw in 1979, “We cannot forget the heroism of the Polish soldier who fought on all the world's fronts `for our freedom and yours.' We [remember] with respect and gratitude…all those who extended us their assistance. And we think with bitterness on all those occasions when we were let down.”
The Warsaw Uprising sixty-three days of epic heroism, Christian self-sacrifice, brutality, and suffering between August 1 and October 2, 1944 was one of those occasions. It was, arguably, the worst of those occasions.
When the underground Polish Home Army rose up against the German Occupation on August 1, the Red Army of Marshall Konstantin Rokossovsky was just across the Vistula River, in the Warsaw suburb of Praga. It did virtually nothing for the next two months to help the Poles; “Uncle Joe” Stalin evidently preferred to have the Nazis finish off fighting Poland for him, so that he could help himself to the country in a more leisurely fashion after the war. Indeed, the Soviets were far worse than negligent and passive: while the SS and the Gestapo were shooting Varsovians by the tens of thousands in Warsaw, the NKVD, predecessor to the KGB, was executing Poles en masse in Praga, lest they turn out to be anti-communists. Warsaw was not crushed by one totalitarian power while another looked on; Warsaw was crushed between the two worst regimes in human history.
Poland: Ally of Unsurpassed Gallantry
Poland was Great Britain's “First Ally” in the war against Nazi Germany. Dismembered by the Nazis and Stalin's backstabbing Soviet regime in September 1939, “Poland” once again disappeared from the map of Europe, as it had from 1795 to 1918. But Poland fought on.
The Polish government never formally surrendered, after resisting the German onslaught far longer than the French managed in June 1940. Polish intelligence gave Britain Germany's supposedly unbreakable “Enigma” coding machine, probably the greatest intelligence coup of the war. Polish pilots flew with the Royal Air Force and helped save England during the Battle of Britain; as RAF fighter chief Sir Hugh Dowding later said, with typical British understatement, “Had it not been for the … [Polish] squadrons and their unsurpassed gallantry, I hesitate to say that the outcome of the battle would have been the same.” The 1st Polish Armored Division led the Allied breakout from the Falaise Pocket in Normandy, making it possible for LeClerc's Free French to liberate Paris and Patton's U.S. Third Army to roar across France toward the Reich. General Wladyslaw Anders' Polish II Corps won the fourth and decisive Battle of Monte Cassino, clearing the way for the Allied liberation of Rome.
The Betrayal of Warsaw
Great Britain and America stood by while Warsaw suffered the equivalent in civilian casualties of one 9/11 every day for two months. There were a few supply drops from the RAF and the U.S. Army Air Force most of the latter ended up in German hands. There was no serious Anglo-American political pressure on Stalin to do his duty by the Grand Alliance's Polish ally. The Polish Parachute Brigade, stationed in England, was not sent to Warsaw. The London-based Polish government-in-exile was treated like a fractious child rather than the legitimate representative of a stalwart ally that had bled, profusely, in the Allied cause.
The aftermath was Carthaginian: Home Army veterans escaping through the city's sewers, chest-deep in vile sludge; prisoners, the sick, and the elderly murdered by the Nazis; the city razed to a moonscape. Under the rubble lay the great cross that stood outside the Church of the Holy Cross on Krakowskie Przedmiescie, Warsaw's Pennsylvania Avenue. Thanks to its faith in the truth embodied in the Cross, Poland would rise again and give a new birth of freedom to east central Europe.
But on this sixtieth anniversary, we should remember that Warsaw was betrayed by Britain and the United States in 1944, for crude Realpolitik reasons. My Polish friend's mother will cry this month from memory; Britons and Americans should cry from shame.
This column has been made available to Catholic Exchange courtesy of the Denver Catholic Register.
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By Kari Williamson
A combination of increased renewable energy capacity, along with already-planned, additional gas-fired capacity, could provide most of the additional electricity that the UK needs through to 2030.
In addition, the UK’s second 'dash for gas', which could see the addition of 15 GW of new capacity between 2010 and 2016 at a cost of £7.5 billion, is likely to be the last, the analyst predicts. Renewable energy, nuclear power, energy efficiency and retrofits to existing plants should be able to meet all additional needs from 2020 onwards.
Government and other market participants have expressed concern that Great Britain will experience a shortage of power supply as 12 GW of coal and oil-fired plants close by 2016 due to environmental requirements. An additional 7 GW of nuclear is scheduled to close by the end of the decade.
Bloomberg New Energy Finance says the main factors reducing the need for new power plants in the UK are weak industrial demand and declines in domestic usage. The recession and European debt crisis have caused electricity consumption to fall 9% from its 2005 peak.
Power demand may not return to pre-recession levels within the next 20 years, as a full recovery in industrial production remains elusive, and energy efficiency improvements are taking hold. Even if electric vehicles take off, their impact on electricity demand will be limited, according to the analyst.
20 GW of new renewable capacity
The second factor helping to offset plant closures is the large amount of new capacity – around 30 GW – expected to be added between now and 2016. Around two-thirds of this will come from renewable energy sources, as large offshore wind projects come online and developers continue to build onshore wind and biomass.
Although power from renewable sources is mostly intermittent, in aggregate these sources could contribute some base level of output, and they are complemented by several large thermal projects such as RWE’s 2 GW gas-fired Pembroke plant, due to come online this year.
Beyond 2016, the country will continue to build high levels of wind power, as well as increasing amounts of solar and marine – wave and tidal – depending on how the costs of these technologies evolve.
Great Britain will also build some new nuclear plants – but not until the 2020s.
Brian Potskowski, Senior Power Analyst at Bloomberg New Energy Finance, says: “The long lead times for building new nuclear plants and uncertainty over how they will be subsidised means that the recent agreement between the UK and France on nuclear cooperation has little impact on whether the lights stay on in the 2015-20 timeframe.”
While capacity margins will tighten, particularly after the main wave of plant retirements in 2015, Bloomberg NEF expects them to stabilise in the 10-15% range, which is generally seen as acceptable.
Although coal-based generators in the UK are currently enjoying higher profitability than gas-based ones, the report highlights how this is set to change.
Potskowski: “Coal plants without carbon capture technology face a grim future in Great Britain, as plants are hit by the full cost of buying carbon permits at auction, along with the carbon price floor. This will push coal to the margin. Generators will be forced to either install carbon capture and storage, or retire their capacity.”
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- Yosemite National Park embraces almost 1,200 square miles of scenic wild lands set aside in 1890 to preserve a portion of the central Sierra Nevada that stretches along California's eastern flank. The park ranges from 2,000 feet above sea level to more than 13,000 feet and has these major attractions; alpine wilderness, three groves of Giant Sequoias and the glacially carved Yosemite Valley with impressive waterfalls, cliffs and unusual rock formations.
Copyright: - US National Park Service
Yosemite National Park
Recreation - Yosemite National Park provides a vast variety of activities for visitors of all interests and skill levels. There are four visitor centers in Yosemite National Park. The Valley Visitor Center, located in Yosemite Valley, is the largest and most comprehensive in terms of displays, books, postcards and maps. The Big Oak Flat Information Station, Wawona Information Station and Tuolumne Meadows Visitor Center are open on a more limited basis. Regularly scheduled ranger-led walks, talks and evening programs. Concessioner-operated bus tours, guided horseback rides and bicycle rentals are also available on site.
For scenic driving there are one-hundred and ninety-six miles of paved roads within the park. To avoid crowds, travel to Yosemite at times other than spring weekends and busy holiday weekends such as Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day.
Individuals interested in hiking, walking or backpacking can choose from 840 miles of trails. Eight-miles of paved bike path provide a unique way to explore in Yosemite Valley.
Campgrounds in Yosemite are operated by the National Park Service. In Yosemite Valley, Upper Pines campground is open year-round, Lower Pines Campground is open March to October and North Pines is open April to October. Reservations are required at these Valley campgrounds. Sunnyside walk-in campground is open year-round; sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Outside Yosemite Valley, Wawona and Hodgdon Meadow campgrounds are open year-round. Reservations are required May through September; sites are available on a first-come, first-served basis October to April. Tuolumne Meadows campground is open July through September. Half of the sites are available by reservation only; half are available on a first-come, first-served basis. Crane Flat campground is open June to September; reservations are required. Bridalveil Creek,Tamarack Flat, White Wolf, Porcupine Flat and Yosemite Creek campgrounds are open during the summer months on a first-come, first-served basis. Reservations are also required at Group Camps in Wawona, Tuolumne Meadows, Hodgdon Meadow and Bridalveil Creek.
Climate - Weather can change rapidly during all seasons of the year in Yosemite National Park. Elevation plays a major role in temperature and precipitation. Most of the moisture comes in the months of January, February and March, and the winter climate is relatively mild. Sierra summers are typically warm and dry. April and November are transitional months, when warm, sunny days can suddenly become stormy. Clouds can build up during the summer to produce spectacular thunderstorm activity.
It is wise to pack for any season with clothing that can be "layered," ready to peel off or add on as the thermometer dictates. Always include some kind of rain gear when visiting this climate.
Yosemite National Park is located east of Modesto, California in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. California Highways 120, 140 and 41 lead into the park. Yosemite Area Regional Transportation System (YARTS) provides public transportation options for getting to and around the park. Amtrak, Greyhound, and Scenic Airlines all feed the YARTS system. For more information, go to www.yosemite.com, then go to the YARTS link.
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Animal shelters may be appropriate sources of pets for families with low budgets or the desire to save an unfortunate dog from euthanasia at a kill shelter or a long stay in a no-kill shelter. Shelter dogs, especially those turned in by their owners, may already be housetrained and have some manners. Many are more than a year old and full grown; new owners won't have to wonder how big he'll get or how much grooming she'll need.
Desire to save a life is a strong reason to look for a dog in a shelter, but shelter shoppers should beware that many dogs are impounded or surrendered because their previous owners failed to prevent or solve behavior problems. A 1996 study indicated that dogs acquired from a shelter were at high risk of return to the shelter for unacceptable behavior(1), and studies released in 1996 and 2000 indicated that behavior problems place a dog at high risk of surrender(2)(3).
The vast majority of dogs in shelters are mixed breeds, so even if the dog is full grown, judging its temperament, breed-related behavior, and trainability is difficult for inexperienced pet owners. However, a patient and discriminating person can find a dog that appeals to his own personality and needs at a public or private shelter for a very reasonable price.
In most states counties are required to have a shelter for impoundment of stray dogs and enforcement of state and local animal control laws. These shelters may be run by a private humane society that contracts with the government to provide the services or may be a government-run agency.
Public shelters handle stray dogs by law and owner-abandoned dogs by choice. They keep stray dogs for a specified number of days, usually less than a week, and offer them to new homes when that period is up. Because they must accept strays and provide a specific number of days for owners to reclaim their pets, government shelters cannot keep dogs for long periods while waiting for a new home. Thus many dogs beginning with those that have any type of health problem are euthanized to make room for the next truckload of strays brought in by the warden or his deputies.
Owners who abandon their dogs may have a legitimate reason or they may be just passing a problem on to someone else. Owners who could not or would not train their pets may have created a dog that is destructive, ill-behaved, aggressive, fearful, or just plain unsuited for certain circumstances. Many times these owners do not tell the truth when they leave their dogs at the shelter, for they either don't want the dog to be euthanized or they are ashamed that they have failed in their responsibility to the animal.
Stray dogs have no history, so adopters should be ready for anything, including excessive barking, house-soiling, destructive chewing, fear-biting, escaping, lack of socialization, poor health, fear of men, women, children, noises, other dogs, and so on.(3) When little is known a dog's background, a potential adopter must lean heavily on the shelter staff to help match him with a dog that stands a good chance of fitting into his family. Just as a responsible breeder matches particular puppies with particular people and discourages some families from buying a dog of his breed, so the shelter staff should be willing and able to match buyers and dogs and turn away families if a suitable dog is not available. If staff members are ill-equipped to assist in selection or seem too eager to place a dog just to get it out the door, families should go to another shelter.
Public shelters are supported by a combination of dog license fees, fines for violations of state or community dog laws, and sometimes by donations and grants. Generally, the fees and fines pay for housing strays and paying the wardens and the donations and grants cover the care of dogs turned in by owners. The adoption fee rarely covers the cost of housing the dog until purchase, especially if some short-term veterinary care is necessary.
Public shelters may or may not provide additional services such as a discount on pet sterilization, a microchip for identification, or veterinary treatment for minor illnesses, vaccinations, or tests for heartworm and other parasites.
Private shelters accept stray animals turned in by area residents and animals abandoned by their owners. They are generally small or medium-sized shelters run by welfare advocates who like animals, and they are completely supported by donations and grants. Staffs are small and volunteers are many at these facilities.
Although private shelters do euthanize seriously ill or aggressive dogs, they do not euthanize healthy animals merely because they need the space for another dog. This policy frequently forces them to turn away people who want to surrender their pets, but they often soften the blow by maintaining a waiting list or referring owners to other private shelters or rescue organizations in the area. They may also keep lists of dogs that are available from private homes and those that are in foster homes.
Private shelters depend heavily on volunteers to exercise and socialize the animals and to help raise money. They usually spay and neuter every animal before it is placed, provide initial vaccinations, and sometimes do parasite checks and treatments and provide additional treatment for minor illnesses.
Some private shelters operate in areas where spay and neuter programs have been so successful that few small and medium-sized dogs are available for adoption. Rather than refer potential adopters to other facilities or to breeders, these shelters may import dogs from other parts of the US or from offshore islands or foreign countries.(4)(5) Those searching for a shelter pet should find out where the shelter gets its dogs before making a decision to adopt.
The no-kill movement has gained popularity, and with that popularity has come controversy. Some shelters that claim to be no-kill actually euthanize a large number of dogs that need veterinary care or behavior modification simply by labeling these dogs as unadoptable. Some welfare organizations claim that no-kill is a ploy by shelters that avoid handling dogs that need treatment or training before they can be placed in a new home.
A good no-kill shelter markets its animals to the pet-buying public, makes sure the dogs and the adopters are compatible, and does whatever training, socialization, and medical care is necessary to provide healthy, stable pets to new homes.
For more information about the no-kill shelter movement, see Maddie's Fund at http://www.maddiesfund.org/ and the No-Kill Advocacy Center at http://www.nokilladvocacycenter.org/index.html
The Internet has been a boon for shelters looking to market their animals to a wide audience. Petfinders.com is the granddaddy of Internet pet adoption services, but hundreds of public and private shelters put pictures and descriptions of available pets on their own websites.
Appealing as it is to sit at home and browse the country for a new family pet, those who do so should narrow their cyber-trek to shelters near home so that they can see the facility, meet the dog and the staff, ask questions, and assure themselves that the match is a good one.
Those who choose to get a dog from a shelter can increase their chances of a successful adoption by making some observations and asking some questions.
Visit the shelter several times and watch the interaction of staff members and animals. Watch the staff clean the runs and feed the animals if possible and note their attitude towards the dogs during these chores.
Even if the dogs are vaccinated against common canine diseases when they enter the shelter, they do not get immediate protection, especially if they have already been exposed to disease. If the dogs have nose-to-nose contact through chainlink fences, be aware that illness such as distemper and kennel cough are possible in any dog adopted from the facility. If the feces are not picked up before the runs are washed and are instead rinsed from run to run, be aware that worms and other feces-spread diseases are possible.
If the shelter imports dogs from other parts of the US, an offshore island, or another country, check into the prevalence of diseases in the dog's home area. Dogs from tropical and sub-tropical regions can bring parasites and diseases that may have been eradicated in your area or never existed in temperate climates.(4)(5)
A buyer who chooses to adopt a shelter animal instead of buying a puppy should be just as careful in his choice and as selective of a place to adopt as the puppy buyer should be in his choice of a breed and a puppy. The critical question to ask is "Will this dog fit my family?" If the answer is yes, a shelter dog may be the perfect choice.
(1) "Risk factors for relinquishment of dogs to an animal shelter," a study conducted by Gary Patronek VMD, PhD; Lawrence Glickman VMD,DrPH, et al, Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol 209, #3, August 1, 1996. This study indicated that dogs adopted from shelters were at high risk of return to shelters.
(2) "Behavioral Reasons for Relinquishment of Dogs and Cats to 12 Shelters," a study of the National Council on Pet Population Study & Policy published in the Journal of Applied Animal Welfare Science, 3(2), 93-106 Copyright © 2000, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., http://www.petpopulation.org/behavioralreasons.pdf
(3) "Factors associated with the decision to surrender a pet to an animal shelter," a study by Deborah Miller MA et al, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medical Association, Vol 209 #4, August 15, 1996. This study indicated that 30 percent of dogs were surrendered to shelters because of behavior problems.
(4) "Dog imports raise fears of a resurgence of disease" by Alan Gomez, USA Today, October 22, 2007.
(5) "Stray pet relocation brings rabies to Massachusetts," National Animal Interest Alliance press release, June 1, 2004, at http://www.naiaonline.org/body/articles/archives/relocation_brings_rabies.htm
This page is a part of the Dog Owner's Guide internet website and is copyright 2014 by Canis Major Publications. You may print or download this material for non-commercial personal or school educational use. All other rights reserved. If you, your organization or business would like to reprint our articles in a newsletter or distribute them free of charge as an educational handout please see our reprint policy.
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|Books of Interest|
Wondering what dog books are selling at Amazon?
Dog Owner's Guide, in association with AMAZON.COM, recommends these books for more information on . . .
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| 0.950733 | 2,481 | 2.90625 | 3 |
- Full Description
Introduction to Circuit Analysis and Design takes the view that circuits have inputs and outputs, and that relations between inputs and outputs and the terminal characteristics of circuits at input and output ports are all-important in analysis and design. Two-port models, input resistance, output impedance, gain, loading effects, and frequency response are treated in more depth than is traditional. Due attention to these topics is essential preparation for design, provides useful preparation for subsequent courses in electronic devices and circuits, and eases the transition from circuits to systems.
- Table of Contents
Table of Contents
- Preface. 1 Introduction. 2 Current, Voltage, and Resistance. 3 Circuit Elements, Circuit Diagrams, and Kirchhoff’s Laws. 4 Equivalent Circuits. 5 Work and Power. 6 Dependent Sources and Unilateral Two
- Port Circuits. 7 Operational Amplifiers I. 8 Capacitance. 9 Inductance. 10 Complex Arithmetic and Algebra. 11 Transient Analysis. 12 Sinusoids, Phasors, and Impedance. 13 Complex Power. 14 Three
- Phase Circuits. 15 Transfer Functions and Frequency
- Domain Analysis. 16 Fourier Series. 17 Operational Amplifiers II: AC Model and Applications. 18 Laplace Transformation and s
- Domain Circuit Analysis. 19 Active Filters. Appendix: Answers to Exercises. Index.
If you think that you've found an error in this book, please let us know by emailing to [email protected] . You will find any confirmed erratum below, so you can check if your concern has already been addressed. No errata are currently published
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| 0.865284 | 351 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Same sex families
Posted 24/05/2012 by Janet Phillips
Although children of same sex relationships often experience discrimination and stigmatisation, the existing evidence overwhelmingly indicates that the sexual orientation of a parent has no effect on a child's development or sense of wellbeing. Studies conducted since the 1980s have consistently found that ’there is simply no credible evidence that such relationships cause harm to the intellectual, emotional, psychological or sexual development of children’.
One research review conducted in 1996 noted that the results are ‘exceptionally clear’ and ‘yield a picture of families thriving even in the midst of discrimination and oppression’:
Certainly, they provide no evidence that psychological adjustment among lesbians, gay men, their children, or other family members is impaired in any significant way. Indeed, the evidence suggests that relationships of lesbian and gay couples are just as supportive and that home environments provided by lesbian and gay parents are just as likely as those provided by heterosexual parents to enable psychosocial growth among family members.
In fact, there is some evidence that a same sex upbringing may actually be quite advantageous. In a 2010 study
on the psychological adjustment of 17-year-old adolescents (as part of the US National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study), researchers noted that children raised in same-sex families were ‘well adjusted, demonstrating more competencies and fewer behavioural problems than their peers in the normative American population'.
However, in a survey
of Australian research on children of lesbian parents and single mothers for the Parliamentary Library in 2002, Dr Maurice Rickard observed that while the existing evidence indicated that the sexual orientation of parents did not appear to be a determinant of the success of a child's development, there was evidence that children of lesbian parents often fear stigmatisation and may have a more negative reaction to stress. More recently, US National Longitudinal Family Study research
on the quality of life of adolescents raised from birth by lesbian mothers also found evidence of wide-spread stigmatisation:
Nearly half of the NLLFS [National Longitudinal Lesbian Family Study] adolescents reported that they had been treated unfairly as a result of having a lesbian mother. They reported a variety of forms of stigmatization, such as being teased or ridiculed, excluded from activities, or stereotyped as being different.
In spite of this, the same study
concluded that there were no differences in quality of life and that adolescents reared by lesbian mothers from birth did not manifest more depression, anxiety or disruptive behaviours than those reared by heterosexual parents.
Of far greater significance in terms of child wellbeing is the level of socioeconomic disadvantage experienced by the family. For example, single parent families often experience significant financial hardship for a variety of reasons, including high unemployment rates, lack of access to affordable childcare or housing and dependence on welfare. The majority of single-parent families
are headed by women—with the result that female sole parent households, and consequently their children, are often particularly disadvantaged.
In his 2002 research survey, Dr Maurice Rickard observed that single motherhood appears to be a particular risk factor in negative social, behavioural and emotional outcomes for children and that while some argue that this is due specifically to the absence of a male parent, there is strong evidence to suggest that these negative outcomes are the result of the educational, economic and social disadvantages that often accompany single motherhood.
However, there is no evidence to suggest that the sexual orientation of any parent (single or otherwise) has any negative effect on child wellbeing. While much less in known of gay fathers than lesbian mothers, the vast majority of the existing research
comparing children of same sex parents with those of heterosexual parents has found that both type of families are just as likely as the other to provide home environments that support positive outcomes for children.
Thank you for your comment. If it does not require moderation, it will appear shortly.
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Passes 11-0. - Qwazukee
Adminned at 26 Aug 2009 19:56:30 UTC
If a dynastic Rule contains the text
As a weekly action, a Survivor may Forage. To Forage, a Survivor increases the Food and Water by DICE10.
replace that text with
As a weekly action, a Survivor may Forage. To Forage, a Survivor makes a comment of “Foraging: DICE8” in the GNDT and increases the Food and Water by the result of that DICE roll.
Our food supplies are not quite as plentiful as we first thought; we will eventually need to find other food sources.
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As we reflect on Native American Heritage Month, we urge you to acknowledge this important month. Native Americans are the First Americans and have contributed significantly to our country. Per capita, our Native men and women have served in the armed forces in great numbers. Our love for this land runs deep.
Native Alaskans have historically contributed much to our state; the name Alaska is from the Aleutian word, Alyeska, which means "The Great Land." The oldest fraternal Native American organization is the Alaska Native Brotherhood. The leaders of the Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood have always pushed forward in their mission to further the rights of Native Alaskans. According to the 1992 edition of the Historical Profile of the Central Council Tlingit & Haida Tribes of Alaska, "One of the earliest goals of the ANB/ANS was to bring an end to the dual school system. ... In 1929 Tlingit Attorney William Paul argued and won a case (Jones vs. Ellis) that established the rights of Native children to attend public schools."
The Alaska Native Brotherhood and Sisterhood, through the leadership of Roy and Elizabeth Peratrovich, helped bring equality for all citizens in 1945, years ahead of the civil rights movement occurring twenty years later in the lower 48 states.
The Alaska Native Brotherhood was instrumental in the lands settlement in Alaska. According to the Historical Profile, "The struggle to bring about a just settlement for lost lands and rights by the Tlingit and Haida people began at the Alaska Native Brotherhood (ANB) Annual Convention of 1929 (held in Haines)." Historically, the ANB fought for Alaska Native people to have the right to vote.
Recently, Alaska Native people exercised their right to vote and were credited with helping Sen. Lisa Murkowski's race, particularly with rural Bush votes. At the ANB Grand Camp Convention in October, delegates unanimously endorsed Murkowski.
Currently, ANB and ANS leaders continue to advocate for important values for Native people such as education, landless communities, and traditional ways of life. In an interview with Ed Schoenfeld for Alaska News Nightly on Oct. 11, Richard said "The Alaska Native Brotherhood is increasing its commitment to changing subsistence management in Alaska. We want to have influence on getting rural users, preferably Alaska Natives, on the Subsistence Board. Because we need to be at the table ... to be equal stakeholders."
The ANB and ANS, and the many Native organizations within the state of Alaska, continue to contribute to the state of Alaska. We fund scholarships for our young people to earn college degrees, and Native Tribal IRA organizations such as Tlingit & Haida Central Council, KIC, STA, DIA, who were created due to the ANB's strong advocacy, contribute greatly by employing hundreds of people throughout Southeast Alaska. Additionally, Sealaska Corporation and numerous Village corporations contribute millions of dollars to the state's economy collectively, which enriches the economic base for everyone.
So join us in acknowledging and celebrating National Native American Month as we work toward a brighter future together.
Richard Jackson is the grand president of the Alaska Native Brotherhood. Janice Jackson is the grand president of the Alaska Native Sisterhood.
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Penn Central Company, former U.S. transportation company, formed in 1968 by the merger of the New York Central RR and the Pennsylvania RR. By the early 1970s the railroad was bankrupt; in 1976 the U.S. government created Conrail from the Penn Central and five other failed eastern railroads. In 1994 the company became an insurance firm, American Premier Underwriters. Conrail itself was taken over in 1999 by the CSX and Norfolk Southern railroads.
See J. R. Daughen and P. Binzen, The Wreck of the Penn Central (1971, repr. 1999).
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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| 0.941423 | 145 | 2.515625 | 3 |
05 Jan 2011:
Size of Pacific Garbage Patch
Is ‘Grossly’ Exaggerated, New Study Says
Claims that a patch of plastic debris and other trash in the Pacific Ocean is twice the size of Texas are “grossly exaggerated” and misleading
, according to a new study. Following a literature review and an expedition to better understand the abundance of plastic in the North Pacific, Oregon State University researcher Angelicque White concluded that the “cohesive” plastic patch is actually less than 1 percent of the size of Texas, contrary to other estimates about the extent of the so-called “Great Pacific Garbage Patch.” Related claims that the oceans contain more plastic than plankton, and that the patch has grown tenfold each decade since the 1950s, are also incorrect, White said. “There is no doubt that the amount of plastic in the world’s oceans is troubling, but this kind of exaggeration undermines the credibility of scientists,” White said. According to her findings, the amount of energy it would take to remove plastics from the ocean is about 250 times the energy that went into making the plastic itself. She also reported that the amount of plastic debris covering a swath of the ocean floor off the California coast is only about half the size of the fishing gear deployed in the same location.
Yale Environment 360 is
a publication of the
Yale School of Forestry
& Environmental Studies
Yale Environment 360
articles are now available in Spanish and Portuguese on Universia
, the online educational network. Visit the site.
Business & Innovation
Policy & Politics
Pollution & Health
Science & Technology
Antarctica and the Arctic
Central & South America
Tribal people and ranchers join together to stop a project that would haul coal across their Montana land. Watch the video.
is now available for mobile devices at e360.yale.edu/mobile
An aerial view of why Europe’s per capita carbon emissions are less than 50 percent of those in the U.S. View the photos.
Ugandan scientists monitor the impact of climate change on one of Africa’s most diverse forests and its extraordinary wildlife. Learn more.
video series looks at the staggering amount of food wasted in the U.S. – a problem with major human and environmental costs. Watch the video.
video goes onto the front lines with Colorado firefighters confronting deadly blazes fueled by a hotter, drier climate. Watch the video.
A three-part series Tainted Harvest
looks at the soil pollution crisis in China, the threat it poses to the food supply, and the complexity of any cleanup. Read the series.
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| 0.899608 | 558 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Excellent description by Jonah Lehrer in “The Truth Wears Off” (The New Yorker) on the importance of confirming experimental findings in different laboratories:
Before the effectiveness of a drug can be confirmed, it must be tested and tested again. Different scientists in different labs need to repeat the protocols and publish their results. The test of replicability, as it’s known, is the foundation of modern research. Replicability is how the community enforces itself. It’s a safeguard for the creep of subjectivity. Most of the time, scientists know what results they want, and that can influence the results they get. The premise of replicability is that the scientific community can correct for these flaws.
Mr. Lehrer’s article is about drug effectiveness, but his words apply equally to other types of science, including virology.
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| 0.942599 | 178 | 3.1875 | 3 |
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity took 7 image pairs in Gale Crater using its mast-mounted Navigation Camera (Navcam) to create this mosaic. The seam-corrected mosaic provides a 245-degree cylindrical perspective projection panorama of the Martian surface suitable for stereo viewing, centered at 138 degrees azimuth (measured clockwise from north). This anaglyph must be viewed with red/blue glasses (red over left eye). Curiosity took the images on November 30, 2012, Sol 113 of the Mars Science Laboratory mission at drive 432, site number 5. The local mean solar time for the image exposures was 4 PM. Each Navcam image has a 45-degree field of view.
Last Updated: 2012-12-01 02:54:34 UTC
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| 0.875969 | 157 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Caffeine is a stimulant
A strong cup of coffee has a greater effect on men than women, research shows.
In a study on 668 healthy volunteers, an espresso pepped up men after just 10 minutes. Women also became more alert after the beverage, but less so.
The University of Barcelona researchers say some of this effect might be psychological because decaffeinated coffee also worked to some extent.
Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology & Biological Psychiatry reports the work.
The volunteers were asked to drink either a classic espresso containing 100mg of caffeine or a decaffeinated espresso containing 5mg of caffeine.
Then the researchers looked for changes in alertness over the following minutes and hours.
Both men and women saw an improvement in their activity levels after drinking the classic espresso and these effects began after as little as 10 minutes.
According to the investigators, 45 minutes is the time needed for maximum caffeine concentration to be reached in the blood, but levels reach half this concentration after just a few minutes.
And the effect appeared to be greater in the men.
The decaf coffee had a similar, but weaker effect and tended to be more potent in the women rather than in the men.
Lead researcher Ana Adan said: "Numerous studies have demonstrated the stimulant effects of caffeine, but none of these have looked at their effects in terms of the consumer's gender."
Anna Denny of the British Nutrition Foundation said: "This study provides an interesting insight into how the effects of specific foods and nutrients may differ between men and women.
"Research into 'gene-nutrient' interactions is moving forward quickly and we are finding out more about how our genetic make-up affects our requirements for certain foods and nutrients, and how our bodies react to these. In the future this could allow scientists to formulate dietary recommendations based on our genetic make up, as well as our age and body size."
Dr Euan Paul of the British Coffee Association said: "This new scientific study demonstrates interesting differences in the positive effects that caffeine may have on alertness between men and women, an area that has not been heavily researched in previous scientific investigations. We welcome further research to investigate with greater certainty any differences in the stimulant effects of caffeine that may be experienced between gender groups."
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| 0.953414 | 467 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Ethan Heil, a 18 year old male from Salem, VA asks on August 30, 2004,I was reading about the tensile strength of certain fabrics, and was wondering what kind of instrument one would use to find the tensile strength of a material.
viewed 13288 times
There are companies such as Instron or Hounsfield that sell cloth tensile strength testing equipment. The instrument is just called a materials testing machine. An example is the Tinius Olsen.
Note: All submissions are moderated prior to posting.
If you found this answer useful, please consider making a small donation to science.ca.
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| 0.946065 | 130 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Vitamin D is known as a major regulator of calcium levels and bone metabolism. Furthermore, it also influences the immune system. Previous studies have shown that patients with recently diagnosed type 1 diabetes have significantly lower vitamin D levels.
Scientists from the Institute of Diabetes Research (IDF) and the Helmholtz Zentrum München, a member of the German Center for Diabetes Research (DZD), as well as from the Diabetes Research Group at the Technische Universität München (TUM) examined whether a vitamin D deficiency occurs during an early stage of type 1 diabetes, defined by the presence of multiple diabetes-specific islet autoantibodies. Furthermore they also determined whether vitamin D deficiency influences the progression to type 1 diabetes in children with multiple islet autoantibodies.
Vitamin D deficiency already exists in prediabetes
Children who had not yet developed clinical type 1 diabetes but who have multiple positive autoantibodies in their blood were found to have lower vitamin D levels than children without diabetes-specific autoantibodies. Interestingly, the differences in vitamin D levels were most prevalent in the summer months. These results were obtained from the BABYDIET, BABYDIAB, TEENDIAB and DIMELLI* diabetes studies. The team of scientists headed by Jennifer Raab, Dr. Christiane Winkler and Professor Anette-Gabriele Ziegler compared the vitamin D measurements taken from 108 children who were tested positive for islet autoantibodies with 406 children without autoantibodies. Lower vitamin D levels were also found in 244 children who had recently been diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.
Progression of the disease remains unaffected
Prediabetes is defined as the presence of multiple islet autoantibodies. If and when the disease progresses, however, does not seem to be influenced by the vitamin D levels. Within the group of children with positive autoantibodies, a few children quickly developed type 1 diabetes - however this was independent from their vitamin D levels.
Recommendation of vitamin D supplementation at an early stage of type 1 diabetes may be considered
"Vitamin D deficiency precedes the onset of type 1 diabetes. This may be a consequence of an immune response," Professor Ziegler says. "In the case of prediabetic children, we must therefore be mindful of the risk of vitamin D deficiency and consider recommending vitamin D supplementation at an early stage of type 1 diabetes."
* Diabetes studies:
BABYDIET: A dietary intervention study of children with an increased type 1 diabetes risk
BABYDIAB: prospective study, that examines the causes of type 1 diabetes in childhood.
TEENDIAB: prospective study, that examines the causes of type 1 diabetes in puberty.
DIMELLI: Diabetes Mellitus Incidence Cohort Registry study of the frequency and characteristics of diabetes phenotypes in Bavaria.
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| 0.922051 | 596 | 3.765625 | 4 |
We saw this survey in USA Today last week, but we're still stunned by the results.
Here's how it was conducted: researchers asked 2,000 high school students to name the "10 Most Famous Americans in History." Presidents and First Ladies could not be listed.
Using those criteria, here's what those high school juniors came up with, with the percentage who chose each of the individuals who made the list:
1. Martin Luther King Jr.: 67%
2. Rosa Parks: 60%
3. Harriet Tubman: 44%
4. Susan B. Anthony: 34%
5. Benjamin Franklin: 29%
6. Amelia Earhart: 25%
7. Oprah Winfrey: 22%
8. Marilyn Monroe: 19%
9. Thomas Edison: 18%
10. Albert Einstein: 16%
And predictably, the list is being hailed as a blow for diversity in education:
Sam Wineburg, the Stanford University education and history professor who led the study along with Chauncey Monte-Sano of the University of Maryland, says the prominence of black Americans signals "a profound change" in how we see history.
"Over the course of about 44 years, we've had a revolution in the people who we come to think about to represent the American story," Wineburg says.
"There's a kind of shift going on, from the narrative of the founders, which is the national mythic narrative, to the narrative of expanding rights," he says.
We'd say it's more proof that our schools are doing a lousy job of teaching history, and in particular, American history. While some of the individuals clearly belong on the list, including Dr. Martin Luther King and Benjamin Franklin, many of the "most famous" listed by high schoolers are nothing more than minor historical figures, at best.
Amelia Earhart? Among women in aviation, Jacqueline Cochran had a far greater impact that Ms. Earhart, but few students have ever heard of Ms. Cochran. And for that matter, whatever happened to the Wright Brothers, Charles Lindbergh, Chuck Yeager or Neil Armstrong? Apparently, it's not enough to develop powered flight, complete the first non-stop trans-Atlantic flight, break the sound barrier or be the first man to set foot on the moon. Disappearing on a round-the-world flight is a guaranteed ticket to lasting fame.
Some of the other names on the list are equally puzzling. Why did Harriet Tubman make the cut, while Frederick Douglass did not? Among the founding fathers, Benjamin Franklin is certainly worthy of mention, but so are Alexander Hamilton, John Hancock, and Tom Paine, to name a few.
There are only two scientists or inventors who made the Top 10 (Edison and Einstein); apparently, most high school students are unaware of such giants as George Washington Carver, Henry Ford, Jonas Salk, Alexander Graham Bell, and Philo Farnsworth, among others. Just for kicks, ask your high schooler to name Mr. Farnsworth's most famous invention.
And don't get me started on Oprah and Marilyn Monroe making the list.
But maybe we're being unfair to the students. Afterall, they were asked to compile a list of the "most famous" Americans. As we all know, fame doesn't necessarily translate to a life of accomplishment, or lasting contributions to our society. With the exception of those individuals at numbers one, five and nine on the survey, this is a terrible list.
We'll close with an equally chilling thought: give our public education system another 20 years, and think about the folks who will make the list in 2028.
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1 Answer | Add Yours
"Seventeen Syllables" by Hisaye Yamamoto tells the story of the mental agony of Rosie's mother, Tome Hayashi who was trapped in a loveless marriage.Tome Hayashi was a gifted poetess who specialised in writing the japanese verse form, the haiku. A haiku was made up of seventeen syllables- five each in the first and third lines and seven in the second line. Rosie's father was not appreciative of his wife's poetic talent and was always angry and irritated when she spent time writing haikus. Rosie's mother would publish her hahaikus regularly in the Japanese neswpaper "Mainichi Shimbu" under the pen name of Ume Hanazono. On one occasion she won a poetry contest and the haiku editor of the newspaper Mr.Kuroda came home and personally presented her the prize-a framed painting of a beautiful sea side scene. It was the time for harvestingthe ripe tomatoes and Rosie's father was very angry that his wife instead of helping out in the farm was wasting her time talking to the editor. Rosie's father in a fit of jealous rage smashed the picture to bits and burnt it and walked out of the house. Rosie's mother then narrates to her how she got married and settled down in America. When in Japan she had been in love with a rich man's son and had become pregnant and gave birth to a still born child and since she could not marry him she wanted to commit suicide.But her aunt Taka in America got her married.
We’ve answered 327,613 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question
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A city north of Jerusalem controlling a vital trade route, and so very prosperous. It was visited by Abraham (Gen. 12: 6) and it was the burial site of Jacob (Josh. 24: 32) and the place where Joshua renewed the covenant (Josh. 24). It was destroyed by Abimelech, self-styled king (Judg. 9: 45), but rebuilt, and became the place chosen by Rehoboam for his coronation; but it was in the northern area which revolted against him soon afterwards, and Jeroboam I of Israel used Shechem temporarily as his capital. The city survived successfully until the Assyrian invaders again destroyed it; once more it was rebuilt and became a religious centre in 350 BCE for the Samaritans. It was destroyed again when Samaria was subdued by John Hyrcanus in 107 BCE, and again rebuilt. It survives today as part of the city of Nablus.
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The Diary of Anne Frank Theme of Mortality
The entirety of The Diary of Anne Frank is written during the time when Anne's life was in constant danger. What’s amazing, though, is that she doesn’t dwell on this fact. It comes up, of course, but for the most part all of the members of the Secret Annex live their lives as normally as possible while in hiding.
However, the fact that her life is in danger makes Anne acutely aware of her mortality. She expresses the desire to do something worthwhile in life and hopes to become immortalized through her writing.
Questions About Mortality
- How do different members of the Secret Annex deal with the knowing that their lives are in danger?
- Once in hiding, do the members of the Secret Annex think they will die? If yes, do they have lapses where they forget they are in danger? If no, do they ever start getting scared again?
- Does an increased awareness of their mortality lead the members of the Secret Annex to a greater religiousness? Why or why not?
- In what ways does Anne wish for immortality?
Chew on This
Anne’s increased awareness of her mortality leads her to develop a stronger religious sentiment.
Anne never believes that she will die during the war; she sees death as something that happens to the Jews who are not lucky enough to be in hiding.
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When Kezia Fowle and Thomas Hincher (or Henshaw) first got married in February 1742 (according to our modern calendar), they didn’t go to any of the meeting-houses in their native Woburn. Instead, they went to King’s Chapel in Boston.
That was an upscale Anglican church while their families back home were Congregationalist, but perhaps it was more welcoming to a couple in their circumstances. Three months later Kezia gave birth to the couple’s first child, also called Kezia.
In 1754, when Kezia wished to get married a second time, to her late sister’s husband Ebenezer Richardson, she went back to King’s Chapel (recently rebuilt in stone, as shown above). Their intention was announced in January, though they didn’t actually get married until 14 May. At that time, they both listed themselves as “of Boston,” having left Woburn behind. As I’ve been recounting, Ebenezer and Kezia had made themselves unpopular in two ways:
- by having a child while Rebecca, his wife and her sister, was still alive.
- by letting people believe the Rev. Edward Jackson was the father.
Boston welcomed Ebenezer and Kezia Richardson in its traditional way: on 30 Sept 1754, a town employee “warned out” the couple, a legal ritual establishing that Boston took no responsibility if they came to need public assistance. But they stayed, and put down roots. In April 1758 the Richardsons buried a child out of Christ Church (now called Old North).
In Woburn, Ebenezer Richardson was a yeoman farmer, but in Boston he had to find a new way to support his family. At some point he began to offer confidential information to the province’s Attorney General, Edmund Trowbridge. (Folks who’ve followed this saga closely will recall that Trowbridge had also been Jackson’s lawyer.) Trowbridge later passed Richardson and his tips on to a Customs official named Charles Paxton.
In 1760 Paxton had a rival in the Boston Customs office: collector Benjamin Barons, who was more popular with local merchants, probably because he let them get away with more. On 4 December, Barons tried to talk Richardson over to his side. The informer heard him out, then hurried to Trowbridge and blabbed. The following February, Richardson signed a deposition about his conversation with Barons that went to London in the record of that office dispute.
Someone in London leaked that document, or news of its contents, back to Boston. From then on, Richardson was known as “the Informer.” He was particularly unpopular with the prominent merchants he’d named as being “concerned in the Illicit trade”: John Rowe, the elder Benjamin Hallowell, Solomon Davis, and Arnold Wells. Around that time the Customs service hired Richardson openly since he could no longer work undercover.
In August 1765, four days after a mob sacked Lt. Gov. Thomas Hutchinson’s mansion in the North End, Boston’s Overseers of the Poor paid a man to carry Ebenezer Richardson, wife, and family to Woburn, possibly for their own protection.
In September 1767, after a dispute over a Customs search in the North End, a crowd of boys jeered Richardson’s home.
And in February 1770, when he tried to break up a picket line of boys outside an importer’s shop, those boys followed Richardson and threw garbage and rocks at his house. That confrontation ended with Richardson shooting Christopher Seider and Sammy Gore, and being arrested for murder.
At that time, Ebenezer and Kezia Richardson were still together. Their family also included two daughters—Sarah and Kezia—old enough to testify at Ebenezer’s murder trial. I haven’t found any other record of those girls.
There’s no evidence that the Richardsons’ marriage lasted through Ebenezer’s conviction, extended stay in jail awaiting sentencing, royal pardon, and flight from Boston. When he and his co-defendant petitioned the Crown for aid in early 1775, the other man referred many times to his “famely”; Richardson didn’t mention having a wife or child.
And that 1775 document is also the last trace I’ve found of Ebenezer Richardson.
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apheresis (əfĕrˈəsĭs) [key], or hemapheresis hēˌməfĕrˈəsĭs, any procedure in which blood is drawn from a donor or patient and a component (platelets, plasma, or white blood cells) is separated out, the remaining blood components being returned to the body. Apheresis allows the donor's blood volume to replenish itself much more quickly than whole blood donation. One type of apheresis, plasmapheresis, is commonly used in commercial blood banks. In plasmapheresis the plasma (the liquid portion of the blood) is separated from donated blood, the red blood cells being returned to the donor. In some diseases, such as myasthenia gravis, plasmapheresis is used to attempt to remove the disease-causing substances from the blood.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Overfunctioning leads to the underfunctioning person feeling dependent and entrusting responsibility for decisions and effort on those willing to do the work. As a result, the underfunctioning person becomes “less capable” — a self-fulfilling prophecy.
As family members anxiously focus on these differences and try to “correct” the problem, the more polarized they tend to become. Examples of these polarities include “overadequate” and “inadequate,” “hard-working” and “lazy,” “decisive” and “indecisive,” “goal-oriented” and “drifting.”
The underfunctioning person feels resentful because he or she likes being taken care of but is also irritated by his or her dependence and helplessness. The care-taker feels stifled — “I have to take care of everything, or things will go wrong.” Resentment on both sides builds.
The way out of such polarities is to work on oneself, rather than to attempt to change others. A positive change in one person will have a positive impact on all others, though there may be a bit of resistance at first.
Those who overfunction need to do less. When mistakes are made, the overfunctioning family member must resist jumping in to take charge, fix things, and make motivational speeches. He or she must be able to handle the frustration of seeing others fumble around and do things far from perfectly.
Gradual change is often less shocking and deleterious than sudden change. If the overfunctioning partner has been in charge of all budgets, financial decisions, and bill paying, it’s wise to ease into sharing such duties.
Overfunctioners can explain to the underfunctioning family member(s) that they realize that their own well-intentioned overfunctioning has contributed to the current unsatisfactory situation. Then they must stand back a bit and allow others to become more autonomous, make mistakes, suffer consequences, develop resilience, and determine their own individual paths.
Example: Teenager Laundary
For instance, if the overfunctioning parent has been doing all cleaning and laundry for the teenagers in the house, it’s helpful to explain how and why you’d like them to start doing their own. Teenagers like the idea of independence, though they resist doing “boring” chores that are at the core of being independent. So explain that such changes are intended to help them become more capable and independent as they will be moving out in a few years and need to develop the habit of taking care of themselves. “Embrace chores, for they are at the core of becoming independent!” Then you can either let their dirty laundry pile up in their closets, or tell them you won’t drive them anywhere until they’ve done their laundry. In either case, the consequences of not doing their own laundry will eventually provide its own motivation.
After initial resistance, those who underfunction will gain more autonomy, especially if those who overfunction allow them to suffer the natural consequences of their inaction. Although it’s hard work to break patterns, eventually, with more emotional separation and autonomy, a better balance of capabilities and contributions in the household will bring much needed harmony to the family.
by Alison Poulsen, PhD
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Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
Lap siding is a type of siding for buildings made from long, broad planks which are designed to overlap with each other. It looks similar to clapboard, and sometimes people use “lap” and “clapboard” interchangeably, although lap-style siding is technically larger than clapboard siding. This type of siding is suitable for a wide range of climates and can be seen on many different types of structures, from modern buildings to classic examples of traditional architecture.
A single piece of lap siding has a wedge-shaped profile when viewed from the side. The narrow end of the wedge goes up, nestling under the broad end of the wedge of an overlapping board. The overlapping boards together help to shed water, keeping water away from the interior of a structure and acting as a first line of defense against water intrusion. Lap siding is usually installed over a house wrap product, with plywood or similar materials being installed under the wrap, and the structural framing underneath these layers of material.
A variation on basic lap siding known as Dutch lap siding has a slightly different appearance. The boards are designed to overlap, but the angle of the bevel is steeper, creating a sharper visual appearance with troughs between each of the overlapping boards. Both regular and Dutch lap siding can be simulated with sheet siding products which mimic their appearance, but go on in a single piece instead of in layers.
While wood lap siding is traditional, it's also possible to find cement, vinyl, and engineered wood products such as HardiePlank® used for siding. These products can be more environmentally friendly because they are not made with virgin wood, and they can also be more durable than traditional wood siding products. Especially in extreme climates, using a non-wood siding product may actually be recommended for durability reasons. Manufacturers of products like vinyl lap siding have become quite talented when it comes to mimicking real wood, and many people can't tell the difference from a distance.
Sometimes a single board becomes damaged and needs to be replaced. On some structures, repairing siding is relatively easy to do, while in other instances, it may require the attention of an experienced contractor. When siding is removed for replacement, it's a good opportunity to inspect the underlying surface for signs of water intrusion such as mold, mildew, staining, and warping. If there are signs of damage, a contractor should be consulted about the next steps to take, and if the siding product has a warranty, it may be worth a warranty claim to see if the company will pay for repairs and replacement.
Thank you for the informative article on lap siding. I didn't know what it was before I read this post. Now I know what type of siding I need for my house. Thanks again!
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!
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Creating a Root Filesystem
Nbd root filesystem
On the host
Some of these commands may require you to be root, proceed with caution some commands (especially dd) can make your computer explode, if you mess the arguments up. First you need to create a file to hold the file system, 1GB should suffice for deving and experementing.
$ dd if=/dev/zero of=nbdroot bs=1024 count=1048576 $ mke2fs -i 1024 -b 1024 -m 5 -F -v nbdroot
then we need to mount it, where you mount it doesn't matter I used the Ubuntu standard mounting folder, if you are on debian /mnt is recommended.
$ mount nbdroot -o loop=/dev/loop0 /media/debinstall
if it complains about loop0 not excisting do this
$ mknod /dev/loop0 b 7 0
and the extract the base packages, where <DIST> can be either sarge or sid, where cid is unstable.
debootstrap --arch powerpc <DIST> /media/debinstall/ http://http.us.debian.org/debian
if you did this on another cumputer then the GameCube or a PowerPC computer you will run into a small error.
W: Failure trying to run: chroot /media/debinstall mount -t proc proc /proc
or if you try it manual you will get
$ LANG= chroot /media/debinstall /bin/bash chroot: cannot run command `/bin/bash': Exec format error
no problems just mount it up on the cube using a old filesystem and try it there.
When you have chrooted to it you will need to do something before you boot it the first time.
mknod /dev/nbd0 b 43 0 mknod /dev/nbd1 b 43 1 mknod /dev/nbd2 b 43 2 mknod /dev/nbd3 b 43 3
To create some nbd nodes.
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D Limonene, a natural citric oil concentrate, is proving to be effective in the treatment of GERD.
GERD is a condition where the acids of the stomach flow upward into the esophagus causing pain and burning. Over time this condition can also predispose one to a variety of different types of cancer and Barrett’s syndrome.
D-Limonene is made from orange peel extract, also known as citrine, and is nontoxic. In dosages of 1000mg taken every other day for 20 days it has been shown to prevent GERD for up to 6 months. Some people have found that 1000mg taken once a month is helpful to keep GERD under control.
Before studies were done by Joe Wilkins there was overwhelming antidotal evidence that many people who use d limonene for GERD symptoms receive excellent results with minimal dosages. Since the conventional therapy of proton pump inhibitors such as Prilosec and Nexium are dangerous, interferes with proper digestion and nutrient assimilation and radically decreases the natural and safe levels of hydrochloric acid in the stomach, d limonene could be trialed by anyone who has acid reflux disease. This product has been classified as GRAS (generally regarded as safe). There are antidotal indications that it may also be effective against h-pylori bacteria in the stomach so if you have had recurrent issues with h-pylori it may be a supplemental therapy to keep it in check.
Contrary to conventional medical viewpoints, acid reflux disease is caused by too little acid in the stomach. When there is too little acid bloating and gas in the stomach force stomach contents up through the esophageal sphincter at the end of the esophagus. The naturopathic position is that a decrease in acid is caused by damage to the lining of the stomach, most likely from invasion of pathogens like h-pylori or other yet unidentified microbes. Direct damage to the esophageal sphincter can also lead to reflux disease.
D limonene has been shown to have anti-inflammatory and anti-cancer effects. It may be helpful in the prevention of esophageal and stomach cancer, as well as other cancers and could be considered with those who have been diagnosed with Barrett’s syndrome as a preventative to forming cancer. It has demonstrated to have a positive effect against some squamous cell cancers and possibly adenocarcinomas associated with esophageal cancers.
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How are the different kind of teas, such as Green, Black and Oolong made?
Believe it or not, all teas are made from the leaves of the same plant species, Camellia Sinensis.
It is the fermentation process that makes the different kind of teas.
Green tea leaves are dried in hot air and then pan-fried to halt the fermentation process.
The leaves of Oolong tea are dried in sunlight and allowed to partially oxidize (20-80%) until leaf edges reddens.
Black teas leaves are fully fermented in cool, humid rooms until the whole leaf is darkened.
More about Black tea..
Black tea comprises about 78% of the entire world's total tea consumption. Black tea, or as it is known in China - hong cha (red tea), was originally only for export to the foreign markets. In China it is called red tea in reference to the color of the infused liquid or to the red edges of the oxidized leaves, as opposed to the color of the main body of the processed tea leaves. At one time, black tea was considered of lesser quality and not desired by the Chinese themselves and therefore, was exported. Which is why, to this day, black tea is what everyone outside of China thinks of when talking about tea, whereas, tea in China is understood to mean green tea.
Black tea is also known as "Congou" in the international tea trade business. The name Congou is actually taken from the Chinese term Gongfu or Kung-Fu. Northern congous are also referred to as black leaf congous, "the Burgundy of China teas", and southern congous as red leaf congous, "the Claret of China teas".
Black tea leaves come from the same tea plant, Camellia sinensis, as does all real tea, but probably the best comes from the Assam subvariety of the plant, Camellia sinensis Assamica, or a hybrid. The infused leaf is a reddish copper color and the liquor is bright red and slightly astringent but not bitter. The important difference is in the processing of the tea leaves, which makes black tea different from the other kinds of tea.
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Zhuo Feng Gets CAREER Award to Develop New Tools for Nanoscale Computer Chip Design
August 5, 2014—
Back in the day, actual human beings wired computer circuitry by hand. Then along came integrated circuits, and now the technology is so advanced that tens of billions of transistors can be put on a single chip no bigger than a dime.
The complexity of these nanoscale integrated circuits makes it difficult to make the most of their design, says Zhuo Feng, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan Technological University. That’s because software used to design computer chips hasn’t kept pace with the hardware in these emerging computing systems.
These heterogeneous systems incorporate two different kinds of processors: traditional central processing units, or CPUs, and newer graphics processing units, or GPUs. Each brings something to the party. CPUs are flexible, and GPUs are blindingly fast.
Now, with the help of a five-year, $400,000 Faculty Early Career Development (CAREER) Award from the National Science Foundation, Feng aims to develop new CAD algorithms that will help chip designers leverage these powerful heterogeneous computing platforms to do their job better and in a fraction of the time.
“We are trying to develop software that will enable chip designers to automate the design procedures more efficiently than ever before,” said Feng. “To this end, we will develop efficient CAD algorithms to precisely model and simulate an integrated circuit system with billions of transistors, and, more importantly, verify the whole integrated system before the chip is manufactured.”
Their new algorithms will let chip designers finish their tasks more quickly, he said. “That will save a lot of time, and eventually that is money,” said Feng. “And if you can finish the simulation job in one hour, compared to the old tools that can take a week, you can also save a lot of energy, and that is money too.”
The title of Feng’s proposal is “CAREER: Leverage Heterogeneous Manycore Systems for Scalable Modeling, Simulation and Verification of Nanoscale Integrated Circuits.”
Michigan Technological University (www.mtu.edu) is a leading public research university developing new technologies and preparing students to create the future for a prosperous and sustainable world. Michigan Tech offers more than 120 undergraduate and graduate degree programs in engineering; forest resources; computing; technology; business; economics; natural, physical and environmental sciences; arts; humanities; and social sciences.
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Beatrice Shilling was a celebrated aeronautical engineer and successful motorcycle racer. She made her mark in the male dominated world of engineering by correcting a serious defect in the Rolls-Royce Merlin engine during the Second World War. Once described by one of her colleagues as ‘a flaming pathfinder of women's lib’, Beatrice fought against any suggestion that as a woman she might be inferior to her male colleagues.
Beatrice Shilling was born in Waterlooville in 1909 and moved to Surrey with her family in 1914. After leaving school in 1926 Beatrice became an apprentice electrical engineer in Devon, in itself something of a rarity for a young woman at that time. In 1929 she began a degree in Electrical Engineering at the Victoria University, Manchester, graduating in 1932 and went on to complete a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering degree by the end of 1933. In the depressed job market of the early 1930s Beatrice initially struggled to find a permanent position but worked for a time as research assistant to Dr Mucklow, who was investigating the behaviour of supercharged single cylinder engines.
Beatrice joined the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough in 1936 and soon became the leading specialist in aircraft carburettors. During the Second World War, she worked on a serious problem affecting the Rolls Royce Merlin engines which were used in the allied Hurricanes and Spitfires. The engines, unlike those of enemy fighters, would misfire or cut out altogether when a pilot was diving steeply. This was costing allied lives and Beatrice and her team worked tirelessly to find a solution. Eventually she came up with the design for a simple but ingenious device, a small brass disc with a hole in the middle, which fixed into the engine's carburettor and was able to reduce fuel deprivation to the engine. It became known as ‘Miss Shilling's orifice’ and after testing demonstrated its effectiveness, was used on all allied aircraft. It drastically reduced engine cut out but Beatrice continued to improve and develop the design in order to eliminate it entirely.
At the same time as advancing her education and career, a love of motorcycles, which began at an early age, led her to race regularly at Brooklands, the world’s first purpose-built motor racing circuit, constructed at Weybridge, Surrey in 1907. Again making an impact in a male dominated field she was awarded the Gold Star for lapping the track at over 106 mph on her Manx Norton 500, faster than any other woman on two wheels.
Beatrice Shilling worked for the Royal Aircraft Establishment until her retirement in 1969 reaching a senior post and receiving an OBE for her efforts during the war. She held a doctorate from the University of Surrey, a CEng and was a member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers and the Women's Engineering Society.
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Let’s cut through the rhetoric and answer the global warming question of the week: Was there a link between global warming and Hurricane Irene? The answer is definitely yes.
Hurricane Irene had not even made landfall before the debate began on whether or not global warming was to blame for the storm. Bill McKibbon, founder of the prominent global warming advocacy group 350.org, wrote in the Daily Beast last Thursday
while Irene was still hanging out in the Bahamas, “Irene’s got a middle name, and it’s Global Warming.”
The Newark Star-Ledger
, in language similar to that of other media outlets, followed up a day later while Irene was paralleling the coast of Florida. “We can now add Hurricane Irene among the symptoms that scientists warned we’d experience as global warming occurs,” wrote the Star-Ledger editorial board.
McKibbon, the Star-Ledger, and others claiming a link between Hurricane Irene and global warming were absolutely correct – although not necessarily in the nature of the link.
When Hurricane Irene made landfall in North Carolina, it marked the first time in over 1,000 days – just shy of three years – that a hurricane struck the contiguous United States. This matched the periods from 1980 through 1983 and 1999 through 2002 as the longest periods in recorded history that a hurricane did not strike the United States. So, we have over 100 years of human-caused global warming, yet the three longest stretches of hurricane-free conditions have occurred within the past three decades. This seems a little odd if global warming causes more hurricanes, doesn’t it?
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Return to: 4-Legged Creatures page.
Comparative Leg Anatomy
Different animals have vastly different leg arrangements. Animals lower on the tree of
life have legs with an overall form which is analogous to higher animals, but the final
shapes, leg attachment schemes, and means of locomotion are very different.
<| Rotated Leg Attachments
Near the bottom end of the vertebrate evolutionary tree is the salamander, whose legs
project nearly straight out from the torso, as shown on the left.
Salamanders are amphibians, which are born in the water and go through a larval stage with
gills and no legs. On transforming into adults, they lose the gills, develop legs, and
live on the land.
When the salamander walks, its vertebral column bends back and forth, and leg movement
is closely linked to this bending. This spinal action is very similar to that of a fish
swimming in water, which suggests a strong tie to the salamander's early swimming instincts
while in larval form.
Higher vertebrates, in contrast, show little "sideways" bending of the spine during walking.
The legs act much more independently than in the salamander, as a result of a wholesale
re-orientation of the leg attachments to the torso, as shown on the right.
Some of the major adaptations are as follows:
the legs are rotated towards each other at shoulder and hip, and relocated closely under
the body, which allows them to more easily hold the body in an upright posture.
the knees/elbows and ankle/wrists are bent, so as to form more of a vertical support
column; limb movements are now more "accordion-like" than "lever-like", which gives greater
power, balance, and spring to the step.
the lower part of the front legs are twisted so that the foot pads [palms] face towards
The last point is quite interesting.
The lower leg twist is necessary because the front leg overall rotates so as to point
"backwards", in which case an "untwisted" leg would have the foot pads pointing to the sky
- clearly not very convenient.
So why did the front legs not rotate to point forwards, like the back legs?
As described in more detail elsewhere, the overall scheme is that the re-aligned
legs front-back operate in a mirror-image fashion - allowing large leg extensions and
retractions during walking and running, while at the same time keeping the COG of the body
relatively unchanged within the torso.
This is obviously more advantageous than an arrangement
employing non-mirror-image leg movements, which would force the animal to compensate for
large COG shifts during each and every movement.
See the drawings of the horse and cheetah below.
<| Walk Like a Dino
Mammals did not actually invent the rotated-beneath-the-body leg arrangement.
In fact, going back in far time, many species of dinosaur also had their legs located
so. How else to support up to 80 tonnes without having to hold the equivalent of deep
knee bends all day?
For more on dino walking:
The drawing at the left shows three postures employed by both ancient and modern reptiles.
Upper is the sprawling stance, used by early reptiles and today's lizards, turtles,
Middle is termed the self-improved stance, used by early and modern crocodilians.
Bottom is the fully-improved ["upright"] stance, used by many dinosaurs and later
by mammals. The last also led to bipedal dinosaurs, like T-rex.
For more about stances:
For incredible pictures of crocodiles galloping:
250 million years ago, and before the dinosaurs, there was a group of ancient
mammal-like reptiles called therapsids [cf, synapsids], some the size of large dogs.
They were present in great numbers, and their fossilized skeletons are almost indistinquishable
from modern mammals - among other features, they also had a "rotated" leg posture and
More about synapsids:
All in all, these subtle changes are what make locomotion in vertebrates so successful.
|Lycaenops - an ancient mammal-like reptile|
origin of mammals,
and Peter Dilworth's incredible
robotic Troodon
<| Cantilevered Walkers
Moving further back in evolutionary time from the salamander, we find the
phylum of Arthropods - jointed-legged, segmented animals. These include insects,
bugs, beetles, crabs, spiders, mites, centipedes, etc.
Beetles, as shown on the left, and a huge number of other insects like ants, flies,
mosquitos, bees, roaches, and various other bugs, have 6 legs. Arachnids [spiders]
have 8 legs. Some, like millipedes and centipedes, have many.
A typical arthropod leg form is shown on the right. It has several segments, which are
analogous in form to vetertebrates, including femur, tibia, and multiple [4-5] tarsal
segments. The coxa provides an extra degree-of-freedom to the leg, similar to that
provided by the shoulder in mammals. Some legs have additional segments.
Of special interest is that, like in the salamander, the legs project out from the body,
as opposed to being located underneath the body as in mammals.
Because of this, the legs are oriented and move in much different ways than in mammals,
as shown by the beetle on the left. The upper leg segments generally point upwards and
the lower segments downwards. The tarsals scrape the ground.
Looking over many pictures of 6-legged arthropods shows that the 4 rear legs typically
point backwards while the 2 front legs point forwards.
An obvious question is, why are there no beetles [or other arthropods] with only 4 legs?
Pure conjecture --> 4 legs are in general too weak and too few to hold up and move the body
efficiently, when they extend outwards away from the torso, as opposed to being oriented
directly beneath the torso. All the 4-legged beetles were squashed by dinosaurs 65,000,000
years ago, because they couldn't get out of the road fast enough.
So much for brilliant theories ... it may simply be that arthropods have 6 [or more] legs
so they can use the middle and rear to stand and move on while the front are used for probing,
grasping, fighting, and eating. In fact, some arthropods are uniquely adapted to this - eg,
the praying mantis has 2 enormous, highly-specialized front legs plus 4 regular-looking ones
under the thorax. Better to have 4 feet for running plus 2 left over for simultaneous fighting,
than to have only 4 total and to have to stop running in order to use 2 for defense.
It was probably not the dinosaurs who eliminated [possible] early classes of 4-legged
beetles, but rather their better-designed 6-legged enemies.
A common 6-legged gait is tripod-to-tripod - front-back legs on one side touching the
ground together with the middle leg on the other side to form one tripod, alternating
with the opposite arrangement. Conceptually, this type of gait is both statically
and dynamically stable. An arthropod resting on one tripod will not fall over.
Compare this to a quadruped standing on one diagonal, or a biped standing on a single
leg - both of these are dynamically, but not statically, stable.
Click here for
tripod gait in action.
And interestingly - someone has come up with "whegged" robots that use 4- or 6-wheels, each with
3-legs, and which do classic tripod and diagonal gaits - see
arthropod leg modeling.
<| Empowered Locomotion
Most arthropods have rather wimpy looking legs, compared to higher vertebrates, and their
walks seem more akin to skittering than to powerful thrusting. When the rubber [foot pad]
meets the road, a crab or beetle is clearly no match for the power and efficiency of a
horse or cheetah.
The re-alignment of the legs to underneath the body, described above, was clearly the key
feature which allowed eventual development of larger, more powerful body types.
In comparison, no insects are very large or overly powerful, although a few, like the
grasshopper, have rear legs especially adapted for powerful jumping.
The largest vertebrates with side-projecting legs are alligators and crocodiles, and
while powerful, these animals are slow and cumbersome when out of the water
- although some may be deadly over short distances; see
On the other hand, roaches are reputed to be the fastest insects around, having been
clocked up to 3.4 MPH [1.5 m/s]. They use 6-legged gaits at low speeds, but are said to
employ both 4-legged and ultimately 2-legged gaits, when running at high speeds. See the
work of R.J. Full.
Although the roach is undoubtedly unaware of it, its ontological adaptations appear
to pre-curse later changes in locomotive phylogeny.
Lower animals, as far back as arthropods, have multi-segmented legs analogous to
mammals, but vastly different attachment geometries and gaits.
Lower in the chain of life, legs project outwards from the body and require more of a
levering action to hold the body up.
Higher up in the chain of life, leg attachments have re-oriented so the legs are located
vertically beneath the body; this allows the animal to stand upright with little expenditure
of energy, and also greatly increases its power and stride.
The legs of higher animals have a bent geometry, with corresponding front-back leg
joints bending in a mirror-image fashion with respect to each other.
Multi-legged animals employ different gaits as a means to co-ordinate the many legs
during movements; the tripod-to-tripod gait is common for 6-legged creatures.
"Vertebrate Adaptations", readings from Scientific American, W.H. Freeman & Co, 1968.
"A Textbook of Entomology", by H.H. Ross et al, pub J.Wiley & Sons, 1982.
"Evolution of the Vertebrates", by E.H. Colbert & M. Morales, pub J. Wiley & Sons, 1991.
© Oricom Technologies, Sept 2001, updated June 2002
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Undulating concrete ceilings at London’s Portcullis House help cool the interior by taking advantage of thermal mass cooling.
“The most consistently depressing thing in U.S. buildings, almost without exception, is the ceilings.”
Mike Taylor doesn't mean any offense by his blunt observation. It's just that the British architect has seen far too many buildings in the States that fail to maximize the full potential of ceilings, either aesthetically or structurally.
Taylor's firm, London-based Hopkins Architects, is known for designing spaces with wildly undulating concrete ceilings that serve as much more than mere architectural expression. When used in conjunction with underfloor air distribution (UFAD), the exposed concrete ceilings provide passive thermal cooling or heating for the interior space, helping to reduce overall energy costs.
“We like this notion that one element of the building can provide multiple functions,” says Taylor, explaining how exposed concrete can serve as the building's structure, finished ceiling surface, light reflector, and thermal mass source for cooling and heating. “We'd rather take the structural element, spend a bit more time, money, and effort on that, and use it as the final finish. You have to put structure in the building anyway—why not get more out of it?”
The firm's design approach for what Taylor calls exposed overhead thermal mass takes advantage of off-peak electricity rates. During summer evening hours, when the building is unoccupied, the UFAD system kicks on and slowly introduces cool air into the interior space, gradually cooling the massive concrete ceilings. This cool energy, in turn, is passively radiated downward into the interior space during the day.
The overhead thermal mass approach can work for both open-plan schemes and enclosed office applications, as shown here at Portcullis House, New Parliamentary Building in London.
“The great thing about locating the thermal mass in the ceilings is that, unlike the floor or the walls, the ceilings are not going to get covered up with furniture, carpet, and people,” says Taylor. “Even if the building owner installs partitions in the space, the thermal energy will still radiate down on the occupants.”
Taylor says that because it takes so long for the energy to transmit through the concrete slab, no more than one inch of exposed concrete is actually cooled and warmed during the average daily cycle. An inch may not sound like much, but energy studies show that even the slightest amount of overhead thermal cooling can have a significant impact on energy costs.
For instance, at Yale University's Kroon Hall, which is set to open in April, energy models show that, during peak summer use, cooling the facility's exposed concrete ceilings at night will result in a 1°C drop in room temperate during daytime occupancy.
“Roughly speaking, that is about 10 watts per square meter of cooling, or about 15% of summer demand just from running the air displacement system at night and cooling that concrete,” says Taylor, whose firm designed the facility in collaboration with Arup and Atelier ten, both based in London, and Centerbrook Architects, Centerbrook, Conn. “With night cooling you may have to run your system longer, but overall you are paying much lower costs and operating at lower speeds. That's a huge benefit.”
Hopkins Architects first employed its exposed overhead thermal mass design approach in the early '90s at the Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham, U.K. There, a series of precast floor/ceiling panels span the width of the workspace and are supported by prefabricated brick piers that double as the exterior walls of the building. Taylor says that the undulating form of the precast concrete ceiling panels not only “makes for very nice architecture,” but also increases the ceiling surface area and helps to focus the cool energy by “enveloping the occupants.”
Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham, U.K.
Inland Revenue Centre in Nottingham, U.K.
While overhead thermal mass is nearly always beneficial, nighttime cooling is not ideal for all building types, says Taylor. “You really want buildings limited to daytime occupancy, such as offices and schools,” he says, not multifamily residential or hospitals. The same holds for buildings that have dramatic fluctuations in heat loads and high air-exchange rates, such as arenas and laboratories.
Taylor says careful attention must be paid to the location of light fittings and sprinklers, which are routed from above and fixed through the slab, especially if they're going to be cast in the concrete. “You have to make sure to coordinate the placement of any fire compartmentalization in the floor void, as well as the acoustics between the rooms and elements like air displacement nozzles,” says Taylor
As for payback, Taylor says the difference in cost is really the difference between using a raised floor versus a traditional dropped ceiling, plus an upgrade for the concrete detailing. “The payback comes from reduced energy consumption, and that depends on the building use, the local climate, and energy costs,” says Taylor.
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Best-selling author Jerry Pallotta turns his talents to teaching fractions to kids by using a healthy snack food: apples!
Author Jerry Pallotta and illustrator Rob Bolster use a variety of different apples to teach kids all about fractions in this innovative and enjoyable book. Playful elves demonstrate how to divide apples into halves, thirds, fourths, and more. Young readers will also learn about varieties of apples, including Golden and Red Delicious, Granny Smiths, Cortlands, and even Asian Pears.
Back to top
Rent Apple Fractions 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Jerry Pallotta. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by Scholastic, Incorporated.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now.
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It's easy to take making your mark for granted, but it took thousands of years of trial and error to make it possible to sign on the dotted line.
If you think ink is no big deal, think about this: How would you like to carry a backpack full of stone books to school every day? Before ink was invented, people wrote pretty "heavy" messages to each other. They carved pictures and letters into stone or pressed them into wet clay.
The earliest known writing consists of drawings carved into cave walls. These showed important events such as a hunting trip or planting season. Then, thousands of years ago, the Greeks began to use a writing stylus, made of bone, metal, or ivory, to scratch marks into tablets coated with wax. Writing was still a lot of work, but at least you could move it from place to place, which you couldn't do with cave walls.
About 5,000 years ago, the Chinese began using ink for writing. The ink was a mixture of soot from pine smoke and lamp oil, thickened with gelatin from animal skins and musk. It was first used for blacking the raised surfaces of pictures or letters carved into stone. Later it was used to form the letters themselves, without carving them in stone first. A Chinese philosopher, Tien-Lcheu, who lived around 2700 BC, developed a form of ink that was in common use by 1200 BC.
Other cultures developed inks from berries, plants, and minerals available in their areas. These inks were different colors, which could indicate different meanings. In ancient Egypt, red ink was used for people's titles and to write the names of the gods.
As inks improved, paper was developed and improved. Early Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and Hebrews soon were using paper made from the papyrus plant and parchment made from animal skins. The earliest known papyrus writing is the Egyptian "Prisse Papyrus," which dates back to 2000 BC.
Ink consists of a colorant and a liquid or paste to carry the color and bind it to the paper. Crushed berries make a lasting color, as do bark and certain plants. Some minerals can be ground to powder for color. Carbon from soot makes a deep black ink.
Around AD 300 the Chinese developed a solid ink that could be stored as a stick or cake. When you wanted to do some writing, you shaved some ink off the stick and mixed it with water. This type of ink is still used today through East Asia. In the United States, these sticks are often called Chinese ink or Japanese ink. Black ink made from carbon is often called India ink in the US, even though it was developed in China.
About 1,600 years ago, a popular ink recipe was created. The recipe was used for centuries. Iron "salts," such as ferrous sulfate (made by treating iron with sulfuric acid), was mixed with tannin from gallnuts (they grow on trees) and a thickener. When first put to paper, this ink is bluish-black. Over time it fades to a dull brown.
Scribes in medieval Europe (about AD 800 to 1500) wrote on sheepskin parchment. One 12th-century ink recipe called for hawthorn branches to be cut in the spring and left to dry. Then the bark was pounded from the branches and soaked in water for eight days. The water was boiled until it thickened and turned black. Wine was added during boiling. The ink was poured into special bags and hung in the sun. Once dried, the mixture was mixed with wine and iron salt over a fire to make the final ink.
Writing with ink requires using a pen or brush. The earliest pens were probably pointed sticks or the like dipped into ink. People gradually learned how to make a pen that could hold more ink so it didn't have to be dipped so often. They would sharpen the point of a bird's feather and cut a shallow trough to hold the ink. The Romans made pens from the stems of marsh grasses, including bamboo. The tubelike stems could hold a small amount of ink, and the end could be cut to a point to make a finer line. Squeezing the reed forced ink in the stem to flow to the nib. It was the earliest kind of fountain pen, perhaps.
For more than 1,000 years, beginning around AD 700, the quill pen was the favored writing instrument. The finest ones were (and still are) made from one of the five flight feathers from the left wing of a domesticated goose. Swan feathers were more expensive because they were harder to get. Crow feathers were good for making fine lines. Quill pens must be resharpened often, using a special knife - a pen knife, in fact. A quill pen lasted about a week.
Inventors tried to make more durable pens that could hold more ink. The oldest known example of a pen with an ink reservoir (an early fountain pen) was created by Frenchman M. Bion about 1702. Early fountain pens were prone to spills and breakdowns.
An American 19th-century insurance salesman named Lewis Waterman became determined to improve the fountain pen when a leaky pen ruined an important sales contract. He added an air hole in the nib and put grooves inside the mechanism that moved the ink to the point. He patented the pen in 1884.
19th-century American inventor Thomas Edison also focused some of his creative energy on writing instruments. He developed an electric pen, an early example of a copy machine. At that time, if people wanted a copy of a document, they had to recopy it by hand. Stencil copying was also an option. First a drawing or manuscript was made by making tiny pinpricks through a piece of paper. Ink was pressed through the holes in the paper onto a paper underneath to make an image. Several copies could be made from one stencil.
Edison's electric pen had a battery-powered motor to move a sharp stylus up and down through a hollow tube. A writer could guide the pen to form letters for a stencil at high speed. About 60,000 electric pens were sold, but other stencilmaking technologies evolved that were less expensive. The typewriter - and the carbon copy - made stencils obsolete in the 20th century.
Ink, on the other hand, is far from obsolete. As mechanical copying and printing became more popular, new inks were developed. A special green ink was invented in 1857 by American chemist Thomas Sterry Hunt. It resisted attack by acids, bases, and other chemicals. It couldn't be reproduced accurately in a photograph - and so was used to print US currency.
Printing ink is greasier than ink used for writing. Printer's inks are designed to work with specific kinds of printing equipment to form the clearest image without accumulating in the machinery.
Now you can walk in a store and choose from a rainbow of inks in pens of all shapes and sizes. They may not improve the quality of what you write, but they do make it easy and fun.
• To learn how to make your own "invisible ink," visit chemistry.about.com.
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Rainbow appears in the sky at the end of the rain. It is a long and wide band of seven colours. It forms a semicircle going from one end of the earth to the other. Scientists say that when sunlight passes through a thin medium to a denser medium, all the seven colours which are present in the white light form a semi-circular rainbow. The seven colours are violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, orange and red. People believe that if a rainbow appears after the rain, it is an indication that there will be no more rains. In Hindi, rainbow is called 'Indra Dhanush' which means the Bow of Lord Indra. According to Hindu mythology Lord Indra is the god of rain. The rainbow looks miraculously beautiful. Its sight is very soothing to the eye. Small children get very excited when they see a rainbow.
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Quackwatch Home Page
Intelligent health consumers have the following characteristics:
1. They seek reliable sources of information. They are appropriately skeptical about advertising claims, statements made by talk-show guests, and "breakthroughs" reported in the news media. New information, even when accurate, may be difficult to place in perspective without expert guidance.
2. They maintain a healthy lifestyle. This reduces the odds of becoming seriously ill and lowers the cost of health care. Prudent consumers avoid tobacco products, eat a balanced diet, exercise appropriately, maintain a reasonable weight, use alcohol moderately or not at all, and take appropriate safety precautions (such as wearing a seat belt when driving).
3. They select practitioners with great care. It has been said that primary-care physicians typically know a little about a lot and specialists typically know a lot about a little. The majority of people would do best to begin with a generalist and consult a specialist if a problem needs more complex management.
4. They undergo appropriate screening tests and, when illness strikes, use self-care and professional care as needed. Excellent guidebooks are available to help decide when professional care is needed.
5. They communicate effectively. They present their problems in an organized way, ask appropriate questions, and tactfully assert themselves when necessary.
6. When a health problem arises, they take an active role in its management. This entails understanding the nature of the problem and how to do their part in dealing with it. People with chronic illnesses, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, should strive to become "experts" in their own care and use their physicians as "consultants."
7. They understand the logic of science and why scientific testing is needed to test and to determine which theories and practices are valid.
8. They are wary of treatments that lack scientific support and a plausible rationale. Most treatments described as "alternative" fit this description.
9. They are familiar with the economic aspects of health care. They obtain appropriate insurance coverage, inquire in advance about professional fees, and shop comparatively for medications and other products.
10. They report frauds, quackery, and other wrongdoing to appropriate agencies and law enforcement officials. Consumer vigilance is an essential ingredient of a healthy society.
Each of these principles is thoroughly discussed in the 6th edition of Consumer Health: A Guide to Intelligent Decisions.
Quackwatch Home Page
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http://www.quackwatch.com/02ConsumerProtection/intell.html
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| 0.95827 | 495 | 2.625 | 3 |
Plants parasitic on fungi: unearthing the fungi in myco-heterotrophs and debunking the ‘saprophytic’ plant myth
|JONATHAN R. LEAKE a1|
a1 Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield, Western Bank, Sheffield S10 2TN, UK.
The myco-heterotrophs comprise over 400 achlorophyllous plant species in 87 genera that are parasitic upon fungi, and exploit them as their principle source of carbon. In addition, there are estimated to be over 30,000 species, comprising approximately 10% of the plant kingdom, that depend upon myco-heterotrophy for establishment from dust seeds or spores. These initially myco-heterotrophic plants require fungal-carbon during their critical early establishment phases but go on to produce green shoots on emerging into light from soil or as epiphytes on other plants. This extraordinary mode of nutrition, first recognised more than a century ago, is hidden in the initially myco-heterotrophic plants and in the fully achlorophyllous species continues to be misrepresented by many botanists as a form of ‘saprophytism’. As a consequence, the parasitic dependence of these plants upon fungi is not widely appreciated. This is the only group of parasitic plants for which, in over 90% of cases, the host species (which are fungi) providing their carbon and nutrients remain unidentified. This article reviews some of the exciting recent progress made in understanding the nature and properties of fungi parasitized by plants, and in the use of distinctive carbon and nitrogen isotope ‘signatures’ of myco-heterotrophs to quantify fungal dependence in plants with green shoots that remain partially myco-heterotrophic in adulthood.
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| 0.924996 | 378 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Neptune's Fountain - Washington, DC
Posted by: DougK
N 38° 53.321 W 077° 00.349
18S E 326033 N 4306335
Quick Description: The outermost planet and the fountain in front of the Library of Congress in Washington, DC, are both named after the Neptune, the Roman god of the sea.
Location: District of Columbia, United States
Date Posted: 2/12/2012 4:01:58 PM
Waymark Code: WMDQ0R
This fountain is called The Court of Neptune
. Here Neptune sits on a rock in the center of the fountain, surrounded by his two sons on either side of his rock.
The planet Neptune is the eighth and outermost planet in our solar system. It is one of the four gas giants of our solar system. The planet Neptune was named after the god, as its deep blue gas clouds gave early astronomers the impression of great oceans.
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http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WMDQ0R_Neptunes_Fountain_Washington_DC
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| 0.924907 | 200 | 2.921875 | 3 |
As some of you probably know, Labor Day was first celebrated here in the United States in 1882. It wasn’t, however, made a national holiday until 1894, in the wake of a bloody strike by employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company, an Illinois-based manufacturer of luxury rail cars. It all began when the company, after having cut the wages of workers across the board by as much as 25%, refused to reduce the rent charged to these same workers, who lived and worked in the company town of Pullman, Illinois. And, from there, the strike spread throughout the railroad industry… The following extended clip comes from the Kansas Heritage Group:
…The strike went peacefully, but after several weeks the Pullman management had not changed its position and the strikers were desperate for aid. During the strike, the American Railway Union had convened in Chicago because it was the rail center of the United States. The recently formed American Railway Union had 465 local unions and claimed the memberships of 150,000 workers. Since, the Pullman workers were an affiliated union on strike in Chicago the ARU offered to send arbitrators for the Pullman cause. The Pullman workers refused this aid, even so the ARU under the leadership of Eugene Debs decided to stop handling Pullman cars on June 26 if the Pullman Union would not agree to arbitration. The stage was set for the largest strike in the nation’s history.
On June 26, the ARU switchmen started to refuse to switch trains with Pullman cars. In response, the General Managers Association began to fire the switchmen for not handling the cars. The strike and boycott rapidly expanded, paralyzing the Chicago rail yards and most of the twenty-four rail lines in the city.
On July 2 a federal injunction was issued against the leaders of the ARU. This Omnibus Indictment prevented ARU leaders from “…compelling or inducing by threats, intimidation, persuasion, force or violence, railway employees to refuse or fail to perform duties…” This injunction was based on the Sherman anti-trust act and the Interstate commerce act and was issued by federal judges Peter S. Grosscup and William A. Woods under the direction of, Attorney General, Richard Olney. The injunction prevented the ARU leadership from communicating with their subordinates and chaos began to reign.
Governor Altgeld of Illinois had been hesitant to employ the state militia to put down the strike instead relying on the local authorities to handle the situation. However, he said he would use the National Guard to protect property. Above all Governor Altgeld did not want federal troops to intervene. However, the issuing of this federal injunction and the fact that mail-trains might be delayed caused President Grover Cleveland to send in federal troops from Fort Sheridan. On July 3, Federal troops entered Chicago against Governor Altgeld’s repeated protests. Governor Altgeld protested by writing President Cleveland on July 5, saying, “…surely the facts have not been correctly presented to you in this case, or you would not have taken the step, for it seems to me, unjustifiable. Waiving all questions of courtesy I will say that the State of Illinois is not only able to take care of itself, but it stands ready to furnish the Federal Government any assistance it may need else where…” Despite these repeated protests by Governor Altgeld, President Cleveland continued to send in federal troops.
The reaction of the strikers to the appearance of the troops was that of outrage. What had been a basically peaceful strike turned into complete mayhem. The mayhem began on July 4, with mobs of people setting off fireworks and tipping over rail cars. The workers started to tip railcars and build blockades in reaction to the presence of the federal troops. In addition to this, there was additional level of chaos caused by the ARU leaders’ inability to communicate with the strikers because of the federal indictments. The rioting grew and spread then on July 7, a large fire consumed seven buildings at the World’s Colombian Exposition in Jackson Park. This burning and rioting came to a zenith on July 6, when fires caused by some 6,000 rioters destroyed 700 railcars and caused $340,000 of damages in the South Chicago Panhandle yards.
At this time in the Chicago vicinity, there were 6,000 federal and state troops, 3,100 police, and 5,000 deputy marshals. However, all this manpower could not prevent the violence from peaking when on July 7, national guardsmen after being assaulted, fired into the crowd killing at least four (possibly up to thirty) and wounding at least twenty. The killing continued when two more people were killed by troops in Spring Valley, Illinois. All this violence started to cause the strike to ebb and on that same day Eugene Debs and four other ARU leaders were arrested for violating the indictment. These officers were later realized on $10,000 bond. The strike was failing rapidly, so the ARU tried to enlist the aid of the AFL in the form of sympathetic strikes. When this was refused the ARU attempted to abandon the strike, on the grounds that workers would be rehired without prejudice except were convicted of crimes however, this offer was refused by the General Managers’ Association. The strike continued to dwindle, and trains began to move with increased frequency. The strike became untenable for the workers and on August 2 the Pullman works reopened.
This strike was truly monumental if some of the figures for lost revenues are looked at. The railroads alone lost an estimated $685,308 in expenses incurred during the strike. However, the railroads lost even more in revenue an estimated $4,672,916. In addition, 100,000 striking employees lost wages of an estimated $1,389,143. These costs are just the localized effects of the paralyzation of the nation’s rail center and do not include the far ranging financial effects. The manpower used to break the strike was also immense. The total forces of the strikebreakers both government and private were: 1,936 federal troops, 4,000 national guardsmen, about 5,000 extra deputy marshals, 250 extra deputy sheriffs, and the 3,000 policemen in Chicago for a total of 14,186 strikebreakers. In addition to these figures there were also twelve people shot and killed, and 71 people who were arrested and sentenced on the federal indictment. This strike had other far ranging consequences. The federal government took an unprecedented step in using indictments to make any form of a strike essentially illegal and supported this action by deploying federal troops against the will of the states.
The results of the Pullman Strike were both enormous and inconsequential. They were enormous because the strike showed the power of unified national unions. At the same time the strike showed the willingness of the federal government to intervene and support the capitalists against unified labor. The results were inconsequential because for all of the unified effort of the unions the workers did not get their rents lowered.
So, several men in Chicago lost their lives, labor had been struck a tremendous blow, and President Grover Cleveland, fearing an even greater worker revolt, pushed the national holiday through Congress in order to appease the masses. And, now, we celebrate the day by grilling out and taking one last dip in the pool.
Here’s to all the men and women who died so that we might enjoy the 40 hour work week, safe working conditions, and all the rest of it… Let’s enjoy the fruits of their labor while we can, because God knows we’ll see kids working in coal mines again in our lifetimes. To do otherwise, after all, would be Socialism.
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http://markmaynard.com/2009/09/happy-labor-day/
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en
| 0.975841 | 1,593 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Pakistan's Ethnic Fault Line
By Selig S. Harrison
To American eyes the struggle raging in Pakistan with the Taliban is about religious fanaticism. But in Pakistan it is about an explosive fusion of Islamist zeal and simmering ethnic tensions that have been exacerbated by U.S. pressures for military action against the Taliban and its al-Qaeda allies. Understanding the ethnic dimension of the conflict is the key to a successful strategy for separating the Taliban from al-Qaeda and stabilizing multiethnic Pakistan politically.
The Pakistani army is composed mostly of Punjabis. The Taliban is entirely Pashtun. For centuries, Pashtuns living in the mountainous borderlands of Pakistan and Afghanistan have fought to keep out invading Punjabi plainsmen. So sending Punjabi soldiers into Pashtun territory to fight jihadists pushes the country ever closer to an ethnically defined civil war, strengthening Pashtun sentiment for an independent "Pashtunistan" that would embrace 41 million people in big chunks of Pakistan and Afghanistan.
This is one of the main reasons the army initially favored a peace deal with a Taliban offshoot in the Swat Valley and has resisted U.S. pressure to go all out against jihadist advances into neighboring districts. While army leaders fear the long-term dangers of a Taliban link-up with Islamist forces in the heartland of Pakistan, they are more worried about what they see as the looming danger of Pashtun separatism.
Historically, the Pashtuns were politically unified before the British Raj. The Pashtun kings who founded Afghanistan ruled over 40,000 square miles of what is now Pakistan, an area containing more than half of the Pashtun population, until British forces defeated them in 1847, pushed up to the Khyber Pass and imposed a disputed boundary, the Durand Line, that Afghanistan has never accepted. Over Pashtun nationalist protests, the British gave these conquered areas to the new, Punjabi-dominated government of Pakistan created in the 1947 partition of India.
At various times since, Afghan governments have challenged Pakistan's right to rule over its Pashtun areas, alternatively pushing for an autonomous state to be created within Pakistan, an independent "Pashtunistan" or a "Greater Afghanistan" that would directly annex the lost territories.
Fears of Pashtunistan led Pakistan to support jihadist surrogates in the Afghan resistance during the Soviet occupation in the 1980s and, later, to build up the Taliban. Ironically, during its rule in Kabul the Taliban refused to endorse the Durand Line despite pressure from Islamabad. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has also resisted, calling it "a line of hatred that raised a wall between the two brothers."
The British got the most rebellious Pashtun tribes to acquiesce to their rule only by giving them formal autonomous status in their own "Federally Administered Tribal Areas" (FATA). This autonomy was respected by successive Pakistani governments until the Bush administration pressured former president Pervez Musharraf into sending his army into those areas in 2002, displacing 50,000 people. Since then, Predator strikes have killed more than 700 Pashtun civilians.
So how should the Obama administration proceed?
Militarily, the United States should lower its profile by ending airstrikes. By arousing a Pashtun sense of victimization at the hands of outside forces, the conduct of the "war on terror" in FATA, where al-Qaeda is based, has strengthened the jihadist groups the U.S. seeks to defeat.
Politically, U.S. policy should be revised to demonstrate that America supports the Pashtun desire for a stronger position in relation to the Punjabi-dominated government in Islamabad.
The Pashtuns in FATA treasure their long-standing autonomy and do not like to be ruled by Islamabad. As a March 13 International Crisis Group report recognized, what they want is integration into the Pashtun Northwest Frontier Province (NWFP).
The United States should support Pashtun demands to merge the NWFP and FATA, followed by the consolidation of those areas and Pashtun enclaves in Baluchistan and the Punjab into a single unified "Pashtunkhwa" province that enjoys the autonomy envisaged in the inoperative 1973 Pakistan constitution.
In the meantime, instead of permitting Islamabad to administer the huge sums of U.S. aid going into FATA, the Obama administration should condition the aid's continuance on most of it being dispensed in conjunction with the NWFP provincial government.
Al-Qaeda and its "foreign fighters," who are mostly Arab, depend on local support from the Taliban for their FATA sanctuary. Unlike al-Qaeda, with its global terrorist agenda, most of the Taliban factions focus on local objectives in Afghanistan and FATA; they do not pose a direct threat to the United States. U.S. policy should therefore welcome any new peace initiatives by the secular Pashtun leaders of the Awami National Party, now ruling the NWFP, designed to separate Taliban and Taliban-allied Islamist factions from al-Qaeda. As in Swat, military force should be a last resort.
In the conventional wisdom, either Islamist or Pashtun identity will eventually triumph, but it is equally plausible that the result could be what Pakistani ambassador to Washington Husain Haqqani has called an "Islamic Pashtunistan." On March 1, 2007, Haqqani's Pashtun predecessor as ambassador, the retired Maj. Gen. Mahmud Ali Durrani, said at a seminar at the Pakistan Embassy, "I hope the Taliban and Pashtun nationalism don't merge. If that happens, we've had it, and we're on the verge of that."
Selig S. Harrison is the author of the report "Pakistan: The State of the Union," based on a six-month study of ethnic tensions in Pakistan issued last week by the Center for International Policy. A former Post bureau chief in South Asia, he has written five books on the region.
Copyright 2010 The Washington Post Company
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http://www.ciponline.org/research/entry/pakistans-ethnic-fault-line
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en
| 0.95057 | 1,242 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
BiologyAdults occur in caves and other dimly lit biotopes. Active during daytime. They feed mainly on small sessile invertebrates and algae, to a lesser extent on harpacticoids (Ref. 5981). Oviparous. Eggs are demersal and adhesive (Ref. 205), and are attached to the substrate via a filamentous, adhesive pad or pedestal (Ref. 94114). Larvae are planktonic, often found in shallow, coastal waters (Ref. 94114).
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.eol.org/pages/223981/overview
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| 0.916965 | 116 | 2.84375 | 3 |
September 1, 2007
Researchers at the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids are finding ways to reduce the cost of solar cells. Their goal: to make photovoltaics at least as cheap as the grid.
Nobel laureate Alan J. Heeger (right) and Professor Guillermo Bazan lead research groups in UCSB's Center for Polymers and Organic Solids.
Mix sunlight with brainpower and you will get a form of energy that is cheap, inexhaustible, good for America and good for the planet. Such has been the dream, for several decades, of scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs and activists trying to bring photovoltaics – the generation of electric power directly from sunlight – into the economic mainstream. That goal may finally be in sight, and UC Santa Barbara researchers are working to bring it even closer.
Their most recent breakthrough, announced in July 2007 in the journal Science, was the development of tandem organic solar cells that convert more than 6% of the energy from sunlight into electricity. This conversion ratio is well below that of the most efficient silicon cells, which can capture about 25% of light energy. But it’s a big advance for organic cells, whose earlier efficiency topped out at about 5%. More important, the Science paper introduced a new architecture for the multi-layer tandem cell, an advance that will lead to higher conversion efficiencies in the future.
At UC Santa Barbara, the nucleus of the photovoltaic effort is the Center for Polymers and Organic Solids (CPOS), where research groups of Nobel laureate Alan J. Heeger, Kwanghee Lee, Guillermo Bazan and other scientists are developing solar cells that can be painted, printed, mass-produced like photographic film or even woven into clothing. Technically speaking, they are bulk heterojunction cells based on phase-separated blends of polymer semiconductors and globe-shaped carbon structures called fullerenes. In simpler terms, they are power-generating plastic. Heeger says Lee’s work at CPOS “has resulted in the creation of a new architecture for our solar cells that yields the best performance obtained to date – a truly important step forward. This new architecture for the multi-layer tandem cell will lead to higher conversion efficiencies in the future.”
Unlike the familiar rigid silicon cells that provide power for spacecraft and calculators, the plastic cells are thin, flexible films. Heeger says they can be applied like paint and literally printed like ink, using “standard printing tools.” Though they currently lag behind silicon in raw efficiency – the percentage of light converted to electricity – they are potentially much cheaper than silicon to produce and install.
The development of plastic photovoltaics is a “worldwide effort,” says Heeger, a professor of physics and materials who shared the 2000 Nobel Prize in chemistry for discovering polymers that conduct electricity. (He is also chief scientist and co-founder of a company, Konarka Technologies, working to commercialize the new solar-cell technology as “Power Plastic.”) The new tandem solar cells were developed by Lee and Heeger along with Jin Young Kim at Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology in Korea and Nelson Coates, Daniel Moses, Thuc-Quyen Nguyen and Mark Dante of CPOS.
The cells’ leap in efficiency comes from the use of two layers of photovoltaic material that are sensitive to different parts of the spectrum. Together, they absorb light (and energy) from a wider range of wavelengths than a single cell would. They are connected by a transparent layer of titanium oxide that serves as a conductor, collecting the electron flow generated by each of the cells.
In another approach to the problem of squeezing more electricity out of plastic, CPOS scientists have also seen good results from tweaking the solution that is used to coat films with photovoltaic materials. Recently they found that adding the chemical octanedithiol to the solvent toluene significantly raises the solar cell conversion efficiency. The discovery was due mostly to luck. Bazan, a professor of materials and chemisty and (along with Heeger) co-director of CPOS, says it came about when researchers were trying to incorporate gold nanoparticles into solar cells (as a way of amplifying light) and used the alkyl thiols to keep the gold from clumping. They realized that the process worked well without the gold – though Bazan says they’re not sure why. “Somehow, if you have [alkane dithiol] in solution, it allows the system to self-organize in a way that gives very good absorption of light, charge generation and charge collection,” he says.
The researchers are now trying to figure out just what makes this additive work, so that the process might be refined and improved further. “We’ve made the most efficient solar cells in the world,” says Bazan, “but this has opened up scientific issues.”
To get a clearer picture of how scientists are trying to raise the efficiency of plastic photovoltaics to a cost-effective level, it’s helpful to look at just how photovoltaics work.
Solar cells produce electricity by transferring energy from photons to electrons in a semiconductor, such as silicon or (in plastic photovoltaics) a semiconducting organic polymer. In organic cells, the energized, negatively charged electrons jump from the light-absorbing polymer to another material. The polymer is left positively charged or, in physics terminology, “bearing a hole.” The resulting current is picked up by electrodes.
In conventional silicon solar cells, the current is produced at the junction between two layers of silicon that are “doped” with chemicals such as boron, arsenic or phosphorus to produce dissimilar charges (hence the term “heterojunction”). These charges are what pull electrons from one layer to the other. In a plastic solar cell, the polymers that absorb the photon energy and the fullerenes that attract the energized electrons are not separated into smooth layers but are melded together – it’s a “bulk” rather than “bi-layer” heterojunction. (The term “fullerene” is a tribute to R. Buckminster Fuller, the visionary architect who popularized the geodesic dome. Carbon atoms in fullerenes are arranged in geodesic patterns – another name for these structures is “buckyballs.”)
UCSB's researchers have been able to develop solar cells that absorb photons from more of the sun's wavelength spectrum than did previous cells, creating the most efficient solar cells in the world.
The challenge in plastic photovoltaics, says Bazan, is to get the electrons and holes moving toward the electrodes so that they can produce useful electricity. The structure of organic polymer solar cells makes this more complicated than in common silicon models. The fullerenes and polymers must be packed together to move charges between them, since electron and hole transport are less efficient in these materials than in silicon. At the same time, it’s difficult to keep the electrons from breaking ranks and popping into the nearest holes. It is a race to the electrodes before electron and holes recombine and turn the original energy of the photon into heat.
Grid Parity in 2015?
The crucial goal in the development of solar power is to reach “grid parity,” the point at which price of electricity from solar cells is no more than that of power from the local utility and its conventional sources. The federal government in its “Solar America Initiative” has set a target of grid parity by 2015. Many factors could affect that timetable, and some (like the price of oil, coal, natural gas and power generation) are beyond the control of solar-energy scientists. But researchers can improve solar power’s chances by continuing to whittle down its per-watt price. Increasing cell efficiency is part of this effort. So is lowering the manufacturing and installation costs of cells, along with cutting replacement cost by making cells more durable.
Efficiency numbers and other details of solar-cell technology are a distant concern to most potential customers, who really just want to know if they can buy this ultimate in renewable energy at a price they can afford. On that score, the mission of researchers is to enable most consumers to get a solar experience now available only to solar aficionados who are willing to pay the higher cost today as an investment in the future.
Heeger has a photovoltaic system installed at his home, and he knows first-hand that today’s solar systems work very well. “Silicon solar cells are wonderful technology,” he says. “When the sun comes up, my electric meter runs backwards.” But this energy isn’t cheap. Heeger says, “It will take too long – eight to 10 years – to recoup that capital outlay. We really need something that is low-cost and generates over large areas.” Step by step, that vision of mass-market solar power is coming closer to reality as UCSB scientists come up with new designs and new concoctions to boost the power of plastic.
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<urn:uuid:100c414c-81f2-44ce-bfde-a1aff0d03266>
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http://convergence.ucsb.edu/article/plastic-power
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en
| 0.946073 | 1,939 | 3.609375 | 4 |
By Jaime Lynn Smith
Animal shelters are a huge asset to the communities they serve as well as surrounding residents – and, of course, to the animals. Unfortunately, their purpose and contribution to society are often misunderstood. Here, we explore some prevalent myths about animal shelters and the precious pets inside of them. Feel free to leave your comments or questions at the end.
1. All animal shelters are directly managed by larger organizations (e.g., ASPCA, HSUS).
False. In fact, according to Ayse Dunlap, Director of Operations for the Cleveland Animal Protective League (APL), which services about 16,000 animals a year, “this is entirely false…there’s no affiliation at all.” Dunlap adds that most rescues and shelters run solely on grants and donations from the surrounding communities, unless they are government facilities (like county rescues).
2. All shelter pets available for pet adoption are old.
False. It’s possible to find pets of all ages in shelters (i.e., puppies, adults, middle-aged, etc.). Ellen Quimper, Executive Director of the smaller rescue (intake about 1,000 a year) Love-A-Stray Cat Rescue in Avon, Ohio (LAS), says she currently has over 20 kittens available for adoption and adds that, on any given day, there are at least 10 kittens available as well as senior pets and ‘regular adult’ pets. Dunlap concurs, noting that the Cleveland APL has 40-50 kittens right now as well as several puppies. “It really depends on the season,” says Dunlap. “This time of year we’re heading into slower kitten season. Winter equals fewer kittens. ” Adding that, “the APL never discriminates for age – we have a 12-year-old dog on the floor as well as a two-month-old kitten. It really just depends on the time of year.” LAS also has pets of all ages as most rescues make it a rule to not play the age discrimination game – they’re hearts are too big.
3. Shelter personnel don’t know enough about pets.
False. According to Dunlap, “…a shelter’s workers are generally quite knowledgeable and often the shelter’s greatest resource. You can find people like veterinary technicians volunteering at shelters oftentimes, as well as actual veterinarians, behaviorists, and other animal specialists.” They know the pet’s personality, temperament, likes, dislikes, even the food that the pet prefers. In fact, once you determine which pet you’d like to adopt it’s best to ask what food he/she is currently being fed. Many shelters receive food donations by pet food companies and therefore are best left on the same food until you can consult a veterinarian.
4. Animal shelters only have dogs and cats.
False. Many rescues, including Cleveland APL, have small mammal adoptions and offer rabbits, guinea pigs and other small four-leggers like gerbils. You can even rescue birds like parrots!
5. Shelters don't have any purebreds up for adoption.
False. According to Found Animals, 25% of the pets in shelters around the U.S. are purebred dogs and cats. And, of course, don’t rule out the existence of specific breed rescues as they are widespread and very reputable. For example, if you wanted a Golden Retriever you could easily find a Golden Retriever rescue group in the nearest big city as these types of shelters/rescues are abundant in numbers — even toy breed rescues.
6. Shelter pets are usually quite dirty.
False. They may come in looking like ragamuffins, but they shine with delight after they’re cleaned up and given medications, shots, and spay/neuter surgery, if needed. Some animal rescues even make it a habit to have regular grooming sessions for the pets they have. Volunteers are tasked with brushing, clipping nails and bathing the animals at shelters. And let’s keep in mind folks, these are animals – they naturally have a smell… so cut them a break. Cleveland APL, for instance, tries hard to groom most every dog that comes in – at least with a good bath and brushing!
7. Adoption fees are too expensive.
False. This one may be a bit subjective, but you must remember all that the animal shelter/rescue has done for the pet — they spent the time and money necessary to obtain him, house him, feed him, medicate him, spay/neuter him and properly vet him otherwise. That’s easily a $500 investment. You’re getting a STEAL at $250 (or sometimes less depending on the shelter or situation). Dunlap also says that most rescues and shelters give heartworm tests, flea preventatives, plus Rabies/Bordetella/Distemper vaccinations. That’s over $500 right there. You'd be hard-pressed to find a dog or cat from a breeder or pet store for anywhere near that price (plus, the reward that you are saving a life).
8. Shelter pets usually have behavioral problems or are imperfect.
False. “People think there is something wrong with the animals, i.e. the mentality of, ‘they wouldn’t be in a shelter if there wasn’t something wrong with them,’” says Dunlap. “Most of what comes into our shelter are wonderful family pets. Some dogs, yes, have training and behavioral issues because the first human owner didn’t properly work with them, but it’s rare.” Dunlap adds that - even from a breeder – you aren’t going to get a “perfect” pet and that every pet needs to be trained and properly vetted.
9. You won’t get to know your chosen shelter pet well enough before adopting.
False. Dunlap said that in many cases, the potential adopter is ready to proceed before the animal shelter is! Most rescues will allow home visits and encourage you to interact with the dog in a “Visiting Room” at the actual shelter before you move forward.
10. Animal shelters are sad places.
False. However, this also depends on how you look at the situation. Some go into an animal shelter and see confused faces looking back at them. But imagine if these faces were out on the cold, harsh street with nothing to eat and no friends. With no one to care for them. With no one to talk to them. These animals are being saved, and hence, you should look at the glass as half-full in every animal shelter’s case and in every animal’s case.
MORE TO EXPLORE
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en
| 0.950644 | 1,450 | 2.609375 | 3 |
managerial economics & business strategy (mcgraw-hill economics) by michael baye and jeff prince 8th edition solutions manual and test bank 0073523224
Chapter 2: Answers to Questions and Problems
a. Since X is a normal good, a decrease in income will lead to a decrease in the demand for X (the demand curve for X will shift to the left).
b. Since Y is an inferior good, an increase in income will lead to a decrease in the demand for good Y (the demand curve for Y will shift to the left).
c. Since goods X and Y are substitutes, an increase in the price of good Y will lead to an increase in the demand for good X (the demand curve for X will shift to the right).
d. No. The term “inferior good” does not mean “inferior quality,” it simply means that income and consumption are inversely related.
a. The supply of good X will increase (shift to the right).
b. The supply of good X will decrease. More specifically, the supply curve will shift vertically up by exactly $3 at each level of output.
c. The supply of good X will decrease. More specifically, the supply curve will rotate counter-clockwise.
d. The supply curve for good X will increase (shift to the right).
c. To find the supply function, insert Pz = 60 into the supply equation to obtain . Thus, the supply equation is . To obtain the inverse supply equation, simply solve this equation for Px to obtain . The inverse supply function is graphed in Figure 2-1.
a. Good Y is a complement for X, while good Z is a substitute for X.
b. X is a normal good.
d. For the given income and prices of other goods, the demand function for good X is which simplifies to . To find the inverse demand equation, solve for price to obtain . The demand function is graphed in Figure 2-2.
b. Notice that when Px = $45, units. Also, from part a, we know the vertical intercept of the inverse demand equation is 150. Thus, consumer surplus is $11,025 (computed as (0.5)($150-$45)210 = $11,025).
c. When price decreases to $30, quantity demanded increases to 240 units, so consumer surplus increases to $14,400 (computed as (0.5)($150-$30)240 = $14,400).
d. So long as the law of demand holds, a decrease in price leads to an increase in consumer surplus, and vice versa. In general, there is an inverse relationship between the price of a product and consumer surplus.
a. Equating quantity supplied and quantity demanded yields the equation . Solving for P yields the equilibrium price of $40 per unit. Plugging this into the demand equation yields the equilibrium quanity of 20 units (since quantity demanded at the equilibrium price is ).
b. A price floor of $50 is effective since it is above the equilibrium price of $40. As a result, quantity demanded will fall to 10 units (), while quantity supplied will increase to 30 units (). That is, firms produce 30 units but consumers are willing and able to purchase only 10 units. Therefore, at a price floor of $50, 10 units will be exchanged. Since Qd < Qs there is a surplus amounting to 30-10 = 20 units.
c. A price ceiling of $32 per unit is effective since it is below the equilibrium price of $40 per unit. As a result, quantity demanded will increase to 28 units (), while quantity supplied will decrease to 12 units (). That is, while firms are willing to produce only 12 units consumers want to buy 28 units at the ceiling price. Therefore, at the price ceiling of $32, only 12 units will be available to purchase. Since Qd > Qs, there is a shortage amounting to 28-12 = 16 units. Since only 12 units are available at a price of $32, the full economic price is the price such that quantity demanded equals the 12 available units: 12 = 60 – PF. Solving yields the full economic price of $48.
a. Equate quantity demanded and quantity supplied to obtain . Solve this equation for Px to obtain the equilibrium price of Px = 20. The equilibrium quantity is 4 units (since at the equilibrium price quantity demanded is ). The equilibrium is shown in Figure 2-3.
b. A $12 excise tax shifts the supply curve up by the amount of the tax. Mathematically, this means that the intercept of the inverse supply function increases by $12. Before the tax, the inverse supply function is . After the tax the inverse supply function is , and the after tax supply function (obtained by solving for Qs in terms of P) is given by . Equating quantity demanded to after-tax quantity supplied yields . Solving for P yields the new equilibrium price of $24. Plugging this into the demand equation yields the new equilibrium quantity, which is 2 units.
c. Since two units are sold after the tax and the tax rate is $12 per unit, total tax revenue is $24.
c. The excise tax shifts supply vertically by $6. Thus, the new supply curve is and the equilibrium price increases to $12. The price paid by consumers is $12 per unit, while the amount received by producers is this $12 minus the per unit tax. Thus, producers receive $6 per unit. After the tax, the equilibrium quantity sold is 1 unit.
e. No. At a price of $2 no output is produced.
b. When Qx = 400, producer surplus is (46-26)*400/2 = $4,000. When Qx = 1200, producer surplus is (86-26)*1200/2 = $36,000.
a. The cost of purchasing the surplus is $40*(24-12) = $480.
11. Rising input prices that increase production costs will lead to a leftward shift in the supply curve for RAM chips, resulting in a higher equilibrium price of RAM chips. If in addition, income falls, the demand for RAM chips will decrease since they are a normal good. This decrease in demand would tend to decrease the price of RAM chips. The ultimate effect of both of these changes in supply and demand on the equilibrium price of RAM chips is indeterminate. Depending on the relative magnitude of the decreases in supply and demand, the price you will pay for chips may rise or fall.
12. The tariff reduces the supply of raw sugar, resulting in a higher equilibrium price of sugar. Since sugar is an input in making generic soft drinks, this increase in input prices will decrease the supply of generic soft drinks (putting upward pressure on the price of generic soft drinks and tend to reduce quantity). Coke and Pepsi’s advertising campaign will decrease the demand for generic soft drinks (putting downward pressure on the price of generic soft drinks and further reducing the quantity). For these reasons, the equilibrium quantity of generic soft drinks sold will decrease. However, the equilibrium price may rise or fall, depending on the relative magnitude of the shifts in demand and supply.
13. No. this confuses a change in demand with a change in quantity demanded. Higher cigarette prices will not reduce (shift to the left) the demand for cigarettes.
14. To find the equilibrium price and quantity, equate quantity demanded and quantity supplied to obtain 210 – 1.5P = 2.5P – 150. Solving yields the new equilibrium price of $90 per pint. The equilibrium quantity is 75 units (since Qd = 210 – 1.5*90 = 75
15. This decline represents a leftward shift in the supply curve for oil, and will result in an increase in the equilibrium price of crude oil. Since oil is an input in producing gasoline, this will decrease the supply of gasoline, resulting in a higher equilibrium price of gasoline and a lower equilibrium quantity. Furthermore, the higher price of gasoline will increase the demand for substitutes, such as small cars. The equilibrium price of small cars is likely to increase, as is the equilibrium quantity of small cars.
16. Equating the initial quantity demanded and quantity supplied gives the equation: 300 – 4P = 3P – 120. Solving for price, we see that the initial equilibrium price is $60 per month. When the tax rate is reduced, equilibrium is determined by the following equation: 300 – 4P = 3.2P - 120. Solving, we see that the new equilibrium price is about $58.33 per month. In other words, a typical subscriber would save about $1.67 (the difference between $60.00 and $58.33).
17. Dry beans and rice are probably inferior goods. If so, an increase in income shifts demand for these goods to the left, resulting in a lower equilibrium price. Therefore, G.R. Dry Foods will likely have to sell its products at a lower price.
18. Figure 2-5 illustrates the relevant situation. The equilibrium price is $3.00, but the ceiling price is $1.25. Notice that, given the shortage of 14 million transactions caused by the ceiling price of $1.25, the average consumer spends an extra 14 minutes traveling to another ATM machine. Since the opportunity cost of time is $24 per hour, the non-pecuniary price of an ATM transaction is $5.60 (the $24 per hour
wage times the fractional hour, 14/60, spent searching for another machine). Thus, the full economic price under the price ceiling is $6.85 per transaction.
19. The unusually cold temperatures have caused a decrease in the supply of grapes used to produce Chilean wine, resulting in higher prices. These grapes are an input in making wine, so the supply of Chilean wine decreases and its price increases. Since California and Chilean wines are substitutes, an increase in the price of Chilean wine will increase the demand for Californian wines causing an increase in both the price and quantity of Californian wines.
20. Substituting Pdesktop = 980 into the demand equation yields . Similarly, substituting N = 100 into the supply equation yields . The competitive equilibrium level of industry output and price occurs where , which occurs when industry output (in thousands) and the market price is per unit. Since 100 competitors are assumed to equally share the market, Viking should produce 27.28 thousand units. If Pdesktop = $1,080, . Under this condition, the new competitive equilibrium occurs when industry output is 2688 thousand units and the per-unit market price is $63.52. Therefore, Viking should produce 26.88 thousand units. Since demand decreased (shifted left) when the price of desktops increased, memory modules and desktops are complements.
21. Mid Towne IGA aimed to educate consumers that its contract with Local 655 union members was different than its rivals, so it engaged in informative advertising. Mid Towne IGA’s informative advertising increases demand (demand shifts rightward) resulting from (1) Local 655 union members locked out of rival supermarkets (2) consumers who are sympathetic to the Local 655 union, and (3) consumers who do not like the aggravation of picketing employees and other disruptions at the supermarket. This shift is depicted in Figure 2-6, where the equilibrium price and quantity both increase. It is unlikely that demand will remain high for Mid Towne IGA. As contracts are renegotiated and Local 655 union members are back to work, demand will likely settle back around its original level.
22. The price gouging statute imposes an effective price ceiling on necessary commodities during times of emergencies; legally retailers cannot raise prices by a significant amount. When a natural disaster occurs, the demand for necessary commodities such as food and water can dramatically increase, as people want to be stocked-up on emergency items. In addition, since it can be difficult for retailers to receive shipments during emergency periods, the supply of these items is often reduced. Given the simultaneous reduction in supply and increase in demand, one would expect the price to increase during times of emergencies. However, since the price gouging statute acts as a price ceiling, the price will probably remain at its normal level, and a shortage will result.
23. While there is undoubtedly a link between unemployment and crime, the governor’s plan is likely flawed since it only examines one side of the market. Raising the minimum wage will make the prospect of working more appealing for teenagers, but it will also have an effect on business owners and managers in the state. The
minimum wage is a price floor. Raising the minimum wage will reduce the quantity demand for labor within the state, and result in a labor surplus. More teenagers will seek jobs, but fewer businesses will hire teenagers. It is very likely that the governor’s plan will result in greater juvenile delinquency.
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en
| 0.925576 | 2,697 | 4.09375 | 4 |
Durable molds could serve as a practical manufacturing tool in making nano devices.
A temperature-sensitive fluorescent dye may provide insights into the cellular origins of disease.
Researchers use a running rodent to test their device.
Nano particles could prevent buildings and bridges from suffering serious structural damage.
A new material allows researchers to write and erase 3-D images for displays.
Polymer coatings containing nanocrystalline diamond are UV-protective and scratch-resistant.
Carbon nanotubes could replace expensive platinum catalysts and help finally make fuel cells economical.
Ultracapacitors that store more could help the grid run smoothly.
A simple chemical trick changes graphene into a compound with different electronic properties.
New kinds of bioelectrodes will help researchers study beating hearts and brain trauma.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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en
| 0.863294 | 167 | 2.859375 | 3 |
A common teenage wail is ďMy mother drives me crazy.† She is ruining my life.Ē† We all bemusedly toss this off a typical teenage angst and most of the time we are right to do so.† However, we are discovering that sometimes the teenager is right.† There are, in fact, significant effects on children when mothers have mental health problems.
Dr. Sonja Lupien, who leads studies on social effects on mental health, looked at ten year olds who, over the course of their lifetimes, have lived with or been close to mothers who have been diagnosed with clinical depression.† She discovered an enlarged amygdala in these children.
The amygdala is the part of the brain very often associated with emotions and emotional responses.† It is also called the primitive or survivalist portion of the brain. The amygdala has been shown to be involved in assigning emotional significance to information and events, and contributes to the way we respond to perceived risks.
These kids often have to feed and dress themselves when mom is going through an episode.† They know that they have to hide momís condition or they will get taken away from mom, and we know that kids who are neglected or abused are the most loyal to the parent.† So they do the best they can.
This finding has been seen before, in adopted children, refugees and in orphanages.† One of the possible explanations here is lack of personal attention.† Adoptees, orphans and children with depressed mothers are often left to their own devices to figure out their own way in the world.† They often overreact, display fear-based behavior or aggression.† In short, these children display survival mechanisms.
We also find it in children raised with extreme poverty or violence, so the lack of personal attention may not be the problem, but rather survival stress.† Just trying to make it through the day on the playground is stressful enough for most kids.
It could be that the larger the amgydala, the better the chance of survival.†† However, the researchers note that the adoption studies have also shown that those children adopted earlier in life into more affluent families did not have enlarged amygdalas. This suggests that the brain responds to the environment during early development, and confirms the importance of early intervention to help children facing adversity.
Early intervention means by the educators, professionals and surrounding parents in the community.
It is easy, (and Freudian) to blame the mother.† But what if she needs help?† What if she does not want her kid to be the one just surviving?† Maybe she wants her kid to trust others and play on the teeter -totter. I bet you anything she wants her kids to have play dates with friends that donít think he is dirty or have weird food for lunch because mayonnaise and ketchup were the only things to put on the bread when mommy was sleeping all day, and there were no groceries.
I’ll bet you anything she just wants her kid to have a friend.
Too many times I have seen this weird kid at school where I have dropped off my nanny kids, or later, in the classroom when I was teaching.† Some of them fly under the radar.† And then you meet the mom.† And you know.† Things start adding up.
It is tricky.† Secrets around mental illness are hard.† Social cues and social systems need to be navigated.† Legal systems, too, sometimes.† Kids, yours and the weird kid, donít always play along, and of course, there is the gossip.† I think Dr. Lupien and her group have it right.† It is survival, and yet we are talking about a kid here.† Even if, for whatever reason, we cannot help the mom, it seems that we should be able to find a way to help the kid.† He is just trying to survive.
What do you think?† Are there ways to help?† What are they?
Photo credit: PinkStock Photos!
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en
| 0.972158 | 842 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Great white sharks are not typically a species seen in the waters off of Ireland, but after photographer Bernard Fitzgerald discovered a porbeagle shark, a species in the same family as great whites, washed up on Aughacasla beach in Castlegregory, Co Kerry, it seems that more attention is on the potential movement of great white sharks into the area.
The attention brought to this 6-foot long porbeagle comes in large part from the attention on Lydia, the first great white shark known to have crossed the Atlantic. She was tagged last year in Florida as part of Ocearch, and is being monitored as she swims within about 750 miles from Ireland's shores. The trek is one that has scientists fascinated with the unexpected route.
The porbeagle looks much like a great white, though smaller, so naturally people wondered if it was actually the great white that had washed up. Even though not the species that gives everyone the chills when they think of sharks, the porbeagle is still news-worthy -- no one has heard of one washing up before, and there weren't any signs of injury.
You can watch the fascinating progress of Lydia on Ocearch's website.
More related posts on MNN:
- Think you know about sharks? Take the quiz
- Sharks and rays on the brink? 25% at risk of extinction
- Do sharks deserve their bad rap?
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en
| 0.971912 | 288 | 2.9375 | 3 |
9.The Great Kanto Earthquake and the Museum : From Taisho to Showa era
The 1923 earthquake devastated the Tokyo metropolitan area. Except for the Hyokeikan, the Museum's buildings (the Honkan, the 1877 brick wing and the reference building built in 1890) were severely damaged and were unable to stay open. Luckily, many of the items escaped damage and the Museum resumed exhibitions in 1924 using the Hyokeikan. The items included treasures from Horyuji Temple, Sesshu's Haboku Landscape, Koetsu's Writing Box with a Pontoon Bridge, the twelve-guardians statue from Kofukuji Temple, the Kisshoten goddess statue from Joruriji Temple, and the statue of UESUGI Shigefusa from Meigetsuin Temple. In spite of the limited space, the Museum managed to exhibit its many collections together with such famous works on a regular basis. The exhibitions at the Hyokeikan continued until restoration work was completed and the new main building (the present Honkan) opened in 1938.
Crown Prince Hirohito (the future Emperor Showa) married in February 1924, and the entire Ueno Park and Zoo were given to the city of Tokyo to commemorate his marriage. The Kyoto Imperial Museum was gifted to the city of Kyoto. As a result, the Museum at Nara and the Shosoin Treasure House in Nara remained as Museum properties.
In 1925, the Museum's animal, plant and mineral collections were transferred to the Tokyo Museum (the present National Science Museum), which had been an issue for a long time, and the natural products department was shut down. With two departments remained (history and art), the Museum became to focus on its role as a fine art museum.
The Museum began to publish guide books, catalogs, pictorial records, lecture collections, academic bulletins and reproductions of old materials. It also published an annual bulletin to keep the public be acquainted with its activities.
From 1928, the restoration project picked up speed and in 1932, construction work on the main building began. The framework was completed in 1936, while the construction of a new wing also got underway. But with the onset of an economic recession and hostilities in Manchuria (the Manchurian Incident), economic and social instability began to affect the Museum. Attendances peaked in 1925 when 250,000 people visited the Museum, but from then on the numbers dropped gradually, and by 1937, the numbers went down to 80,000.
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| 0.968328 | 514 | 3.265625 | 3 |
7:45 p.m., June 29
- Community Blog
The World's Oldest Rock and Roll Lyrics
Sukkot is the name of the holiday Jews celebrate at harvest time. It is a seven day holiday. This year it starts on September 30 and ends on October 7. It is also known as the "Feast of Booths" and "Feast of Tabernacles." The word "sukkah" means "booth", "hut", or "tent". The sukkah is intended as a reminder of the type of fragile dwellings in which the Israelites lived during their 40 years of travel in the desert after the Exodus from slavery in Egypt. Throughout the holiday, meals are eaten inside the sukkah and some people sleep there as well.
On the Sabbath that occurs during Sukkot, the Book of Ecclesiastes is read. Ecclesiastes is canonical for both Jews and Christians. The book is called "Qoheleth" in Hebrew, which means "preacher." The main speaker in the book, identified by the name or title Qoheleth, introduces himself as the "son of David, king in Jerusalem." Authorship of the book is usually attributed to King Solomon.
Perhaps the best known words from the Book of Ecclesiastes are verses 1 to 8 of Chapter 3. They were set to music by Pete Seeger in 1959, and recorded by The Byrds in 1965. Here is the King James Version:
- To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven;
- A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up that which is planted;
- A time to kill, and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up;
- A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
- A time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
- A time to get, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
- A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
- A time to love, and a time to hate; a time of war, and a time of peace.
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| 0.969025 | 515 | 3.296875 | 3 |
New English Canaan or New Canaan Containing an abstract of New England, composed in three bookes. The first booke setting forth the originall of the natives, their manners and customes, together with their tractable nature and love towards the English. The second booke setting forth the naturall indowments of the country, and what staple commodities it yealdeth. The third booke setting forth, what people are planted there, their prosperity, what remarkable accidents have happened since the first planting of it, together with their tenents and practise of their church. Written by Thomas Morton of Cliffords Inn gent, upon tenne yeares knowledge and experiment of the country.
|Main Author:||Morton, Thomas, 1575-1646.|
|Corporate Authors:||Early English Books Online.|
Printed at Amsterdam :
By Iacob Frederick Stam,
In the yeare 1637.
Early English books online.
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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https://library.villanova.edu/Find/Record/1115953
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en
| 0.821625 | 210 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Is the youngest son of thirteen children of James Smith. He was born in Louis county, Kentucky on the 18th day of April, 1809. At the age of six years his father moved to Cincinnati, Ohio. After that he lived in various places in Ohio until 1818, when he died in Clairmont county. Constantine remained with his mother until February 7, 1833, when he was married to Miss Sarah Camerer. He remained in Ohio until 1836, when he emigrated to Pike county, Illinois, and settled in Pearl township, on section 33, where he still resides. He has been quite successful in farming and raising stock. In 1856 Mr. Smith built a steam flouring and saw mill on Bee creek, which was the first steam mill of any kind built in Pearl township.
In 1862, he sold out his mill property, and has since given his entire attention to his large farm. Mr. Smith has had eight children born to him, five of whom are yet living - three married and two at home single. Mr. Smith was the first supervisor elected in Pearl township, and he has held many other offices in his township. He has always been looked upon as one of Pearl township's good citizens, and he has a great many warm friends."
Census Records | Vital Records | Family Trees & Communities | Immigration Records | Military Records Directories & Member Lists | Family & Local Histories | Newspapers & Periodicals | Court, Land & Probate | Finding Aids
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http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~glendasubyak/smithc.html
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| 0.991996 | 305 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Science and research
Science in Pharmacy – Pharmaceutical science encompasses our pharmacy knowledge in the basic, applied and social sciences. It cuts across the discovery, development, delivery, quality, safety, efficacy, regulation, and usage of medicines and medical devices.
Research in Pharmacy – Patients and the public receive safe, high quality treatments and interventions when these are based on robust evidence. Pharmacy audit, evaluation and research enable us to generate the knowledge and evidence on which continually improving outcomes depend.
Together, science and research are the cornerstone of the profession. Our vision is to be the first port of call for all those seeking expertise in pharmaceutical science and research. To this end, in this section you will find:
Our activities benefit from the leadership of the Pharmaceutical Science Expert Advisory Panel and Education Expert Advisory Panel. These panels, composed of leading figures in pharmacy science, research, training and education report to the RPS Assembly and national boards, providing multi-disciplinary expert advice to drive the future of pharmacy.
Why I'm a Member
It provides the clearest possible statement that as pharmacists there is much more that unites us than divides us.
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en
| 0.922839 | 232 | 2.671875 | 3 |
A Lie Detector in a Card Case
Your participant shuffles and spreads the deck face down then slides out one card for himself.
He divides the deck into two piles and buries his card in either half, then squares the packet.
The half-deck is dropped back into the card case. One card at a time is removed (while the performer's head is turned) and shown to the participant for a remark about that card.
He may lie or tell the truth, his choice...
Each time, the performer determines the Veracity of what the participant said - and spots the lie each and every time!
After one card gets a 'different sort of reaction' the performer not only identifies it as the one chosen previously but also manages to determine it's value and suit using the same method.
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http://themagicwarehouse.com/TA2381/Veracity-by-Becker-and-Earle.html
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en
| 0.954235 | 165 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Emissions regulations around the globe are tightening, so engine makers and refineries will be scurrying to meet requirements. Diesel engines are evolving to provide lower emissions, using both mechanical and electronic techniques, and refineries are going to require upgrades, particularly in the U.S.
"The U.S. fuels have an average cetane number of 44. That's the world's worst, including emerging countries," says Loren Beard, senior manager at DaimlerChrysler Environmental and Energy Planning in Auburn Hills, MI. The cetane number measures the ignition quality and efficiency of diesel fuel.
Speakers at the recent Diesel Engine Emissions Reduction conference in Chicago detailed the many approaches to meeting emissions requirements, which all require a move to low sulphur fuels. Engine designers are watching the international moves closely, since engines must operate on these fuels. "
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Last name origins & meanings:
- German: nickname from Middle High German herb(e)st
‘harvest’. The modern German word Herbst has come to mean
‘Fall’, the time of year when the harvest takes place. The exact
application of the nickname is not clear; perhaps it referred to a
peasant who had certain obligations to his master at the time of the
harvest, or it may have been acquired for some other anecdotal reason
which is now lost.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic): ornamental name from
modern German Herbst ‘Fall’, perhaps reflecting the season when
the name was first taken or given. In some cases, it seems to have
been one of the group of names referring to the seasons that were
distributed at random by government officials when surnames became
compulsory. Compare Fruhling, Winter, and Summer.
Comments for Herbst
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Probably the most detailed description of a trip to Mars can be found in Kim Stanley Robinson’s Red Mars. Though it’s a science fiction novel, that work lays out an entirely plausible series of steps to found humanity’s first colony on an alien world, more in-depth than anything the public had seen before or, arguably, since. That’s a problem because as NASA begins to seriously discuss the prospect of putting astronauts on Mars, the public needs to be convinced that doing so is possible and, hopefully, even have a basic understanding of how such a mission might unfold.
Recently, we’ve seen a flurry of interest in solving this problem, not just proposing models for Mars landings, but explaining those proposals to the public. Elon Musk and Space-X have made a few stabs at it, but probably the most comprehensive came this week out of the BBC and Imperial College London.
As part of their upcoming documentary How To Put a Human on Mars, they asked Imperial College scientists to design a mission to do just that. The BBC has a wonderful interactive website up about it.
In essence, the mission is much like the lunar landings. The landing craft would take advantage of the Martian atmosphere with parachutes, but otherwise function much like a lunar lander. The biggest differences with this plan would be the trip there, which posits a two-part craft that can separate via an extendable tether. Once at its full length, the ship would spin to create gravity thanks to centripedal force (NOT centrifugal force!).
Though this has generally been seen as too difficult from an engineering perspective, the tether model might well be more effective — who knows? It seems like such wide-based tumbling would make it difficult to maintain a precise trajectory, but perhaps not. With regard to radiation, the researchers themselves admit that they’re resorting to shielding and a liberal helping of the “fingers crossed” approach.
Perhaps the most controversial element is that the astronauts would return home. After anywhere between three months and two years on the surface, astronauts would make their way toward a return vehicle landed near a pole long before their arrival. This makes sense, since carrying the return fuel on the initial trip would be prohibitively expensive. The return pod would land near a pole because they foresee a methane-powered solution, and hope to mine methane through the electrolysis of water to hydrogen and oxygen.
Other thinkers have recently tried to prepare the public for the idea that a first trip to Mars might well be one-way, and that any astronaut sent on such a mission would be certain to die on the surface — either of complications or old age.
Check out the documentary How to Put a Human on Mars on Saturday, July 27th if you can.
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The Greatest Decade 1956-1966
Celebrating the 50TH Anniversary of the Eisenhower Interstate System
Part 2 The Battle of Its Life
by Richard F. Weingroff
Even as construction continued at a record pace, the Interstate System needed a savior-and found one in Missouri.
On November 8, 1960, Senator John F. Kennedy (D-Ma.) defeated Vice President Richard M. Nixon in the presidential election. President Dwight D. Eisenhower took the defeat of his Vice President personally, feeling it was a rejection by the public of all the Administration had accomplished in its 8 years. Nevertheless, he maintained cordial relations with the incoming President through the freezing temperatures of Inauguration Day, January 20, 1961.
They were from different generations and political parties, but President Kennedy-the first President born in the 20th century-shared President Eisenhower's concern about the future of the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways. Even as construction moved forward at a record pace, a looming fiscal crisis threatened to derail the schedule, if not the program. Controversy was making construction in urban areas more difficult. And the press regularly repeated tales of alleged corruption and bungling that the former President considered "almost hair-raising." A sympathetic article in The Cincinnati Enquirer for July 3, 1960, summarized the criticism:
Now critics are proclaiming it "our great big highway bungle," a "nightmare," a "rat hole" of waste and extravagance, and a scandal of such potential that Teapot Dome [an influence peddling scandal under President Warren G. Harding during the early 1920s] will be peanuts by comparison.
President Kennedy would have to address these issues before calls to end the Interstate program grew too loud to ignore. He would need help from the Department of Commerce, which housed the U.S. Bureau of Public Roads (BPR), the agency responsible for administering the Interstate program.
The President selected Governor Luther H. Hodges of North Carolina to be Secretary of Commerce. Hodges, who had worked in textiles with Marshall Field and Company, had been elected Lieutenant Governor in 1952. When Governor William B. Umstead died in November 1954, Hodges became Governor and was elected to a full term in 1956.
The new Federal Highway Administrator would be Rex Whitton. His career with the Missouri State highway agency had begun in 1920 when he accepted a job as a levelman at $110 a month, plus field expenses. He became Chief Engineer in 1951, leading to his role as president of the American Association of State Highway Officials (AASHO) in 1956 after the incumbent, General Frank Merrill of New Hampshire, passed away shortly after assuming the position. Whitton represented AASHO in Congress during this critical year, as well as overseeing revision of the geometric design standards for the Interstate System that had been approved in 1945. The new edition was approved July 12, 1956, and quickly adopted by the BPR. He had ensured that Missouri would have the first project to go to contract after President Eisenhower approved the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956.
Whitton's first speech as Administrator was to the American Road Builders Association (ARBA), meeting in Atlantic City, New Jersey, on March 6, 1961. The Interstate System, he said, "can and must be completed by 1972" as scheduled. He did not anticipate drastic changes, but expected to promote changes "in the interests of speeding up the program, promoting greater efficiency in it, [and] humanizing certain aspects of it."
He saw three problems. The first two were the funding problem and the "scandals" that were undermining public support. The third was "public apathy, or at least a lack of full appreciation of the urgent need for the highway program and the benefits it is bringing." Increased public information and public relations were essential in the face of the negative publicity. He added, "there is no instant panacea for the trouble besetting the highway program," but he promised to "give the job everything I have."
The Funding Problem
The funding problem would be addressed promptly. On February 28, 1961, just 5 weeks after taking office, President Kennedy sent a message to Congress that began, "Our Federal pay-as-you-go highway program is in peril." He justified the special message by citing the "vital contribution" of the program to security, safety, and economic growth, as well as national defense." Moreover, completing the Interstate System "at least as fast as originally scheduled is essential to our economy." He opposed "stretching out or cutting back" the program, two options that critics had suggested.
He explained that President Eisenhower had signed legislation increasing the gas tax to 4 cents as a temporary measure that was to expire on July 1, returning the tax to 3 cents. The reduction would be "fiscally unwise," President Kennedy said. "It was vigorously opposed by the previous administration. It is opposed by this administration with equal vigor." Overall, he recommended tax changes that would add $9.7 billion, or about $900 million a year, for the Interstate program.
The President also addressed urban development issues. He had, he said, directed Secretary Hodges and Housing and Home Finance Administrator Robert C. Weaver "to increase their joint planning at every level, to improve coordination of urban renewal and freeway construction plans in the same area, and to invite the cooperative efforts of State and local highway and housing officials and private experts." In addition, he encouraged development of legislation to help families displaced by highway construction find "reasonable housing at reasonable costs"-a problem that he said "has been largely overlooked."
President Kennedy also took aim at billboards. "The Interstate Highway System was intended . . . to enable more Americans to more easily see more of their country," not "to provide a large and unreimbursed measure of benefits to the billboards industry." He endorsed the "Bonus Program" established by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958 for States that agreed to control outdoor advertising along the Interstate System. The bonus was a 1/2-percent increase in the Federal share of Interstate construction costs, with the revenue coming from the general Treasury rather than the Highway Trust Fund. Only one State, Maryland, had taken advantage of the program, which was to expire on June 30, 1961. The President urged extension of the Bonus Program for 4 years.
After he submitted legislation on March 14 to achieve these and other purposes, Congress acted quickly. On June 29, exactly 5 years after President Eisenhower had approved the landmark 1956 Act, President Kennedy approved the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1961 "with the greatest pleasure." The new law made the 4-cent gas tax permanent and adjusted other excise taxes to provide the revenue needed to complete the Interstate System on the basis of the latest ICE. It also adjusted remaining authorizations for the Interstate System to a total of $25.2 billion over 9 years. With State matching funds, the legislation accounted for $27 billion in funding for the remainder of the program through fiscal year (FY) 1971, the same amount Congress had thought in 1956 would be the total cost of the program.
The economic crunch the Interstate System faced at the time was not the last time funding would be a challenge, but it was the pivotal battle. After enactment of the 1961 Act, completion of the Interstate System was never again in doubt.
President Kennedy gave Whitton one of the pens used to sign the legislation. "It is not an expensive pen," Whitton would recall, "but it is the most important one I ever owned, for it was an instrument of writing a solution to the highway financing crisis which has bothered so many of us for several years."
Getting the Message Out
Whitton also began a public relations initiative to counter the negative publicity the Interstate program was receiving. On April 29, President Kennedy issued a proclamation declaring that the week of May 21-27 would be the National Highway Week. It was an opportunity for Federal and State highway officials, and the Nation's Governors, to remind the public of the "vital role of highway transportation in our way of life." The idea for the week had emerged from the 1st Annual Public Understanding Workshop sponsored by AASHO and the Better Highways Information Foundation.
Whitton's public relations offensive included participation in highway openings around the country, each an opportunity to gain positive publicity in local newspapers. One of the earliest was the opening of I-4 in Florida between Orlando and U.S. 27 on July 7, 1961. Whitton's remarks on this "happy occasion" stressed the role of the Interstate System in highway safety, noting that 619 people lost their loved over the just-completed July 4 weekend. "Highways of the Interstate System type cut the accident rate in half and the death rate by two-thirds." The Interstate System would, he said, "save at least 4,000 lives a year." Whitton also stressed "the solid economic benefits" and promised his "best efforts to wipe out not only the irregularities, but the opportunities which may give rise to them" and to work within "the framework of the Federal-State partnership which has worked so well for 45 years."
The Federal-aid highway program had succeeded over the decades with little attempt to reach beyond traditional supporters in the highway community and Congress. Even during the years leading to the 1956 Act, the BPR had remained largely invisible to the public. Whitton's public relations campaign, therefore, was unprecedented. By the time he left office in December 1966, Whitton had participated in more Interstate openings than any Federal Highway Administrator before or since. (He also participated in openings off the Interstate System, such as the ceremony for the U.S. 50/63 expressway in Jefferson City, the State capital of Missouri, on August 18, 1961. By proclamation of the City Council, the expressway was named the Rex M. Whitton Expressway, a name it still bears.)
As he traveled the country, Whitton continued to meet with representatives of the press to spread his optimistic message about the future awaiting the country when the Interstate System was completed in the early 1970s. For example, on May 10-11, 1962, Whitton was in Chicago for the first regional Urban Transportation Conference sponsored by AASHO, the National Association of County Officials, and the American Municipal Association (AMA). While in Chicago, he appeared on a many radio and television shows, including Don McNeill's "Breakfast Club," "Paul Harvey and the News," and Alex Dreier's "Commentary on the News" (all on ABC), Irv Kupcinet's "At Random" (CBS), NBC's "Monitor" with Jim Hurlbut, and "National Reviewing Stand" (Mutual network).
The message was consistent and upbeat. As he told Hurlbut, the individual car owner will soon "be able to go from coast to coast without a single stop light. You'll average 700 miles a day without undue tiring. You'll save money on gas and car wear. And you'll be safer than you ever were before on our highways." He had a positive answer for every concern. When Dreier asked why new freeways seem to be congested, Whitton explained that because the urban networks were not completed, "traffic pours in from every direction" when a new section opens, causing delays. "When they're completed, you'll see an entirely different picture."
Whitton's public relations initiatives included an interview in the October 8, 1962, issue of U.S. News & World Report ("Are Cars Really Strangling Cities?); a widely distributed article prepared for publication in Sunday newspapers on November 25, 1963 ("Our 41,000-Mile Superhighway"); and an article for the Commerce Sunday Feature Service in August 1964 ("Save-As-You-Go Driving"). The message was always upbeat, as reflected in the closing sentence of the 1964 article: "Today, wherever we look throughout our country, we find that the Interstate System is spurring new industrial and commercial development, creating new jobs, and generating new economic growth for the benefit of all Americans."
The BPR also cooperated with Parade magazine, the weekly supplement to Sunday newspapers, in a competition to select America's finest new scenic highways. In the issue of October 15, 1961, Parade announced that the 24-mile section of I-95 from Augusta to Waterville, Maine, had been selected as America's finest example of a "driver's road" for scenery, speed, and safety. Other roads selected for special mention were I-75 north of Indian River, Michigan, I-93 from Littleton to Bethlehem, New Hampshire, and I-89 from Montpelier to Waterbury, Vermont.
The Great Highway Robbery
These efforts coincided with continued negative press coverage of the program. The investigative journalist Jack Anderson wrote about "The Great Highway Robbery" in the February 4, 1962, issue of Parade. He quoted Representative John A. Blatnik (D-Mn.), who headed the Special Subcommittee on the Federal-Aid Highway Program that was investigating the allegations of corruption in the program, as saying, "Corruption permeates the highway program and stigmatizes the whole road-building industry." The committee's counsel, Walter May, suggested throwing a dart at a U.S. map. "Wherever it sticks, we can find something wrong with the new highways." Similar themes appeared in a three-part series in New York Herald Tribune (June 10-12, 1962), Look magazine (Fletcher Knebel's "The Great Highway Scandals," June 19, 1962), and an hour long episode called "The Great Highway Robbery" on NBC's "David Brinkley's Journal" (October 1, 1962).
The coverage usually cited examples brought to the attention of the Blatnik Committee, often involving a small number of States, particularly Florida, Massachusetts, New Mexico, and Oklahoma. They covered:
- Graft-For example, Anderson reported that an Oklahoma highway official was a partner in a sodding company "which had received fat highway contracts."
- Payola-Knebel reprinted testimony showing that a Florida highway official had received 8 to 10 turkeys, 6 to 15 hams, 4 to 5 cartons of cigarettes, 18 to 20 quarts of whiskey, and 2 or 3 fruitcakes from highway contractors during the 1961 Christmas season.
- Abuse of right-of-way appraisals-Anderson cited instances of inflated appraisals to benefit well-connected politicians, with the contrasting example of poor treatment of individual home owners, such as the Florida woman who learned her home was about to be taken the same week the State began condemnation proceedings,
- Poor judgment-Several instances recurred, such as the Montana interchange that, as Anderson put it, "has 24 signs which tell a farmer and his family (the only people who use it) how to go places they have been going for generations."
The BPR issued a six-page point-by-point rebuttal of the Brinkley program, even objecting to Brinkley's claim that during a filmed interview, Whitton could not answer several questions (Whitton replied that he could not answer questions about projects that took place before he assumed his position). The rebuttal also cited steps the BPR had taken to strengthen program controls, including a reorganization on July 20, 1962. The new Office of Right-of-Way and Location, to be headed by long-time employee Edgar H. Swick, would be responsible for ensuring right-of-way is acquired properly and at fair cost. It also would handle all issues involving route location. Former FBI agent Joseph M. O'Connor would direct the new Office of Audit and Investigations. It would probe allegations of fraud, land speculation, collusion, and other irregularities, as well as auditing State claims for reimbursement of the Federal share of project costs. "None of this was included in the televised program. Nor were any portions of the many hours of interviews with other persons in the Bureau staff and highway departments. This may be editorial privilege," the rebuttal explained, "but it [is] hardly objective reporting."
In addition, the BPR had been cooperating fully with the Blatnik Committee, the General Accounting Agency, the FBI, and State investigative units. Beginning in May 1961, the Blatnik Committee issued reports on its findings. They covered such topics as highway construction practices in New Mexico and Oklahoma, right-of-way acquisition in Massachusetts, the relationship between road contractors and State personnel as well as disposition of right-of-way improvements in Florida.
In June 1962, Chairman Blatnik summarized his committee's findings in a speech to the Western Association of State Highway Officials. After citing the instances his investigators had looked into, he said that "the areas in which we have found these faults are only a small fraction of the total of this great program." He was disturbed by the seriousness of the incidents the committee did find, but what really disturbed him was that "we can not prove it isn't widespread."
Nevertheless, he warned the highway officials not to overrate "the unjustified conclusions and editorials in the newspapers." As a politician, he knew that "we are constantly under attack for one thing or another." Instead, officials should look to the support of the program in Congress, especially in comparison with the attitude in 1959 when "wild speeches" were being made in the House about "extravagance, inefficiency, waste, graft and so forth." Now, he said, the Members of Congress knew that any incidents they heard about from constituents would be investigated and resolved.
The Blatnik Committee, combined with policing efforts by the BPR, the State highway agencies, and investigative agencies, defused the crisis. It did not go away, however. The allegations would resurface in later critical articles and books, but as a threat to the program, the danger was over.
The President's Message on Transportation
With the funding released by the 1961 Act, construction of the Interstate System accelerated throughout the early 1960s. By December 31, 1962, 14,300 miles of the Interstate System had been opened, with a total of 1,992 miles opened during the year and another 4,341 miles under construction. Of the open mileage, 8,915 miles met standards for 1975 traffic, the design goal established by the 1956 Act. Over $15 billion had been put to work on the Interstates since the accelerated program began in 1956. (The open mileage included 2,307 miles of toll roads, bridges, and tunnels that had been built without Federal-aid funding and incorporated in the System).
A year later, BPR reported that nearly 16,600 miles had opened, with construction underway on another 5,000 miles, raising expenditures to $18.3 billion.
Each State highway agency was responsible for deciding the schedule for building its Interstates within funding limits. Some States emphasized the urban segments because the need for traffic relief was greatest in cities. Whatever transportation benefits these and other urban Interstate projects provided, construction in urban areas remained the most controversial aspect of the program.
On March 28, 1962, Secretary Hodges and Housing and Home Finance Administrator Weaver submitted a report to the President on the problems of urban transportation. The major objectives of urban transportation policy, they said, "are the achievement of sound land-use patterns, the assurance of transportation facilities for all segments of the population, the improvement in overall traffic flow, and the meeting of total urban transportation needs at minimum cost." A balanced transportation system was needed to achieve these objectives.
One of the key findings was that comprehensive transportation planning should be a continuing process that includes all the interdependent parts of the urban community and all agencies and jurisdictions involved. The report recommended that beginning July 1, 1965, approval of Federal-aid highway projects in any metropolitan area should be contingent on a finding by the Commerce Secretary that the projects "are consistent with adequate, comprehensive development plans for the metropolitan area or are based on results of a continuing process carried on cooperatively by the States and local communities" so that the Federal-aid system "will be an integral part of a soundly based, balanced transportation system for the area involved."
With mass transit increasingly operated by public agencies rather than private for-profit companies that had dominated the field in the 1950s, Federal funding to subsidize needed service was vitally needed. The report acknowledged that "it is generally not possible to support a large-scale investment program from the fare box. However, the results of inadequate mass transportation were "uneconomic uses of land and higher than necessary costs of public facilities, excessive travel and increasingly aggravated congestion at peak hours." In short, "Mass transportation must be viewed as a public service and often cannot be a profit-making enterprise."
On April 5, 1962, President Kennedy submitted a message to Congress on "The Transportation System of our Nation." It began:
An efficient and dynamic transportation system is vital to our domestic economic growth, productivity, and progress. Affecting the cost of every commodity we consume or export, it is equally vital to our ability to compete abroad. It influences both the cost and the flexibility of our defense preparedness, and both the business and recreational opportunities of our citizens . . . . Transportation is thus an industry which serves, and is affected with, the national interest.
The message was a broad statement that covered a wide range of topics that were part of a basic national transportation policy, including freight shipments by land, air and water; international aviation and maritime issues; and labor relations related to transportation workers. In the section on urban transportation, the President explained that changes in where people lived and worked had resulted in a change in the patterns of urban travel. Instead of traveling to and from downtown areas during weekdays, travel was "increasingly diverse" and less geared to mass transportation systems. "A steady decline in patronage and a concomitant rise of unprofitability and financial problems have occurred," particularly for rail commuter and streetcar services.
President Kennedy recommended that Congress establish a long-range program of Federal-aid to urban mass transportation ($500 million over 3 years) in the form of direct grants to public agencies for rights-of-way, fixed facilities, including maintenance and terminal facilities, and rolling stock, as well as extension and rehabilitation of existing systems and creation of new systems. Only substantial, continuing Federal support "can induce our urban regions to organize appropriate administrative arrangements and to meet their share of the costs of fully balanced transportation systems." The President also proposed authorizing the Housing Administration to make emergency grants over the next 3 years to meet urgent needs for any existing mass transportation facility or service that otherwise might end.
Because highways would remain an "instrumental part" of urban transportation, the President had asked the Secretary of Commerce "to make his approval of the use of highway planning funds in metropolitan planning studies contingent upon the establishment of a continuing and comprehensive planning process." He also recommended a change in Federal law to make Federal approval of a program for highway projects in any metropolitan area contingent on the Secretary's finding that the projects are "consistent with comprehensive development plans for the metropolitan area and that the Federal-aid system so developed will be an integral part of a soundly based, balanced transportation system for the area involved."
In addition, the President reiterated his concern about "the problems of families displaced by new highway construction." He cited Secretary Hodges' estimate that 15,000 families and 1,500 businesses were being displaced by Interstate construction each year. In the interest of equity, President Kennedy recommended that "assistance and requirements similar to those now applicable to the urban renewal program be authorized for the Federal-aid highway program and the urban mass transportation program." Legislation was being submitted "to authorize payments not to exceed $200 in the case of individuals and families and $3,000 . . . in the case of business concerns or nonprofit organizations displaced as a result of land acquisitions under these programs." (The payment for businesses could be higher based on moving costs.)
Addressing the Urban Crisis
With the 87th Congress due to end early so members could return home to campaign for the off-year (non-Presidential) elections in November, prospects for action on the overall message were not considered good. However, Congress did complete action on the highway portion of the message by passing the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1962, which President Kennedy signed on October 23, 10 days after Congress adjourned for the year.
The 5-page legislation contained routine provisions, such as increased funds for the basic Federal-aid highway program (the Interstate System had been funded in previous Acts), as well as two provisions President Kennedy's message had requested. Section 5 addressed the growing concern, cited by the President and many critical articles about relocated individuals and businesses. Before approving a project, the Secretary would have to receive assurances that the State highway agency would provide advisory assistance for displaced families. He also was required to approve Federal-aid participation in relocation payments by the State to displaced individuals, families, business concerns, farms, and nonprofit organizations. The $200 limit for individuals and families and $3,000 for business or nonprofits proposed by the President was adopted.
The most important provision was Section 9, "Transportation Planning in Certain Urban Areas." It addressed the President's call for a means of ensuring Federal-aid highway and mass transportation programs were part of a comprehensive and balanced urban transportation plan. The provision added Section 134 to Title 23, United States Code:
It is declared to be in the national interest to encourage and promote the development of transportation systems, embracing various modes of transport in a manner that will serve the States and local communities efficiently and effectively. To accomplish this objective the Secretary shall cooperate with the States, as authorized in this title, in the development of long-range highway plans and programs which are properly coordinated with plans for improvements in other affected forms of transportation and which are formulated with due consideration to their probable effect on the future development of urban areas of more than fifty thousand population. After July 1, 1965, the Secretary shall not approve under section 105 of this title any program for projects in any urban area of more than fifty thousand population unless he finds that such projects are based on a continuing comprehensive transportation planning process carried on cooperatively by States and local communities in conformance with the objectives stated in this section.
This section launched modern transportation planning by calling for "a continuing comprehensive transportation planning process carried on cooperatively." What became known as the "3C" process remains the core of Section 134, which now contains nearly 20 subsections. Former Federal Highway Administrator Thomas D. Larson (1988-1993), who was beginning his career at the time, has called the original language "about as precise a set of words as you could ever come up with on this subject." He added, "It's just masterful prose."
The BPR worked with AASHO and the AMA to implement Section 9. The result, Instructional Memorandum (IM) 50-2-63, was released on March 27, 1963. As E. H. "Ted" Holmes, BPR's Director of Planning, would explain in a recollection of this period, the IM called for "attention to social and community value factors, such as preservation, enhancement, and extension of parks and open space, preservation of historic buildings and sites, avoidance of disruption of neighborhoods, and appearance of the facility both from the viewpoints of its users and its neighbors."
To address the new planning requirements, State and urban area officials formed ad hoc planning committees to reflect the "cooperative" element of the 3C process and hired consultants to gather and process the data. Neither Section 9 nor the IM required formation of a permanent planning organization; the IM called for "a formal procedure. However, the metropolitan planning organizations of today, required by the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1973, would evolve from these early efforts to comply with the 3C requirement.
Although Section 9 emerged from the controversy over urban Interstate segments and the growing demand for urban transit service, Congress did not mandate the 3C planning process to block Interstate construction. The purpose, as Representative William C. Cramer (R-Fl) said in a 1963 presentation before the House Committee on Public Works, was "to expedite these constructions, to avoid conflicts, to permit planning that would avoid those conflicts, with the result that urban extension and construction would be expedited rather than delayed, and that any [interpretation] of this section to the contrary is subverting rather than carrying out the intent and purpose of the Congress."
A Challenge to AASHO
As AASHO gathered in December 1962 for its annual meeting in Miami Beach, Florida, State highway officials had several changes by the BPR to contemplate. Whitton had resigned from the Executive Committee of AASHO while BPR officials had resigned as secretaries of 9 of 18 AASHO subcommittees, positions BPR had long held in the historic Federal-State partnership. BPR also shifted many of its Division Engineers, the top person in each State office, to other States, an attempt to counter the tendency to "go native," that is to build relationships with State highway officials that run counter to national goals. Engineering News-Record reported that these efforts "reflect a growing desire on the part of federal officials to make BPR the 'senior partner' in the federal-aid program." (Unhappy wives of the Division Engineers confronted Whitton outside the hotel regarding the transfers that would disrupt the lives of their families, but he did not relent.)
Whitton, in his annual speech, had a challenge for AASHO's member State highway agencies. Given the continuing criticism of the Interstate program, Whitton pointed out that, "Nothing succeeds like success." Each Interstate highway, he said, "is its own best advertisement" of the benefits of freeways. "A new highway is like a new automobile. No salesman can offer a more convincing argument than a trial ride." Building the Interstates as fast as possible "is the best means we have to combat the carping critics and mud-slingers."
He pointed out that with the Interstate program funded through FY 1971, the half-way point of the 15-year program was 1964. Therefore, he challenged State highway officials to have 50 percent of the Interstate System or 20,000 miles in service by the end of that year. He considered the goal reasonable because 13,100 miles had been opened (including 2,300 miles of toll facilities built outside the program), with another 4,900 miles under construction. He urged the States to focus on "those projects that will link up continuous, long route sections, especially those connecting the larger cities." Such routes, he said, "best demonstrate to the public the benefits of the system-time saving, travel ease, and safety."
The Administrator spoke of "the opening of a route clear across the country," saying, "What an impact that will have on the public!" He did not think a Golden Spike would be driven, similar to the Golden Spike used to complete the first transcontinental railroad at Promontory Summit, Utah, on May 10, 1869. Instead, he proposed commemoration of the event with a gold sign. (On August 22, 1986, I-80 became the first transcontinental Interstate to be completed when a 5-mile segment in Utah, approximately 60 miles from Promontory Summit, was dedicated in a ceremony at Salt Lake International Airport. The media took little notice, so its impact on the public was negligible.)
The Quiet Crisis
Although decades are measured by the passage of time, some decades take on an identity that can be evoked by a few words or a phrase, such as the Roaring 20s. When the 1960s became "The Sixties" is unclear, but for some, the mantra of the Sixties has been condensed to the phrase "peace, love, and understanding." By contrast, Life magazine referred to it in December 1969 as "The Decade of Tumult and Change."
Of the two characterizations, Life's epithet was the one that applied to the Interstate System. Construction continued at a fast pace and the new highways became an integral part of the American Way of Life, but the image of the Interstate System never recovered from the Sixties. The ideas that informed the decade-such as stewardship of the environment, guarantee of civil rights, expansion of the role of women, and the questioning of authority-meant that no amount of public relations and optimistic predictions about highways without stoplights could overcome the negative image the Interstate System had received during its first years. There would be neither peace nor love for the Interstate System, and little understanding.
A turning point occurred in September 1962 with the publication of a book, Rachel Carson's Silent Spring, that had nothing to do with the Interstate System. Carson, a biologist and retired U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service employee, had published several earlier books to supplement her government income, including the bestselling The Sea Around Us (1951). Silent Spring, which described the effect of chemicals such as DDT on our environment, was an immediate international best seller. The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) has said that the book's most important legacy "was a new public awareness that nature was vulnerable to human intervention."
The history of environmental activism goes back a century, but was not a major national concern except in the conservation movement that could be traced, as could the Federal-aid highway program, to the Progressive Era of reliance on experts rather than politicians to solve society's problems (roughly the 1890's through World War I). With that history in mind, Carson wrote to a friend that, "It would be unrealistic to believe one book could bring a complete change." However, as the NRDC put it, "the need to regulate industry in order to protect the environment became widely accepted and environmentalism was born" in the aftermath of Silent Spring. This "quiet crisis," as Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall called it in 1963, would require a "new conservationist" in the form of ecologists, botanists, and biologists.
In the pre-Interstate years, most road construction took place in or near the existing right-of-way, usually with the enthusiastic support of State and local officials as well as the public. During the Interstate System's greatest decade, with much of the construction on new right-of-way, controversies related to impacts on businesses and towns that were bypassed, acquisition of homes and businesses, and the growing concerns about the effect of the Interstates on urban areas. The BPR and the States faced many problems, but the "location" issue did not involve selecting a route or design to protect the environment. Rather, road builders sought the best routing to provide traffic service at the lowest cost with the least disruption to homes and businesses. For the Interstate System, the "quiet crisis" in the post-Silent Spring world would soon become another concern the highway engineers had not anticipated.
Less than a year after Silent Spring, the BPR announced on August 26, 1963, that beginning January 1, 1964, the States would be required to certify, for each Federal-aid highway project, that they had considered its possible effects on fish and wildlife resources. In discussing this change, Whitton told an All-Parks conference of park and recreational area organizations that their attacks on highway administrators were sometimes less than fair. "We do not seek to despoil the countryside." He added, "But our responsibility, usually spelled out in law, is to spend the highway user's dollar wisely." The change in consideration of fish and wildlife resources demonstrated that "we do not have closed or calloused minds."
Although Whitton presented the initiative as a "conservation" measure, it was one of many steps the highway engineers would take, willingly in some cases, not so willingly in others, in the wake of Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. The highway builders would have to adjust to an evolving public awareness that meeting transportation needs had environmental consequences that should be considered along with congestion relief, economic development, safety, and other traditional factors.
Rachel Carson died of cancer on April 15, 1964, at her home in Silver Spring, Maryland, at the age of 56. In 1999, Time magazine included her in the Time 100-the Most Important People of the Century, saying, "Before there was an environmental movement, there was one brave woman and her very brave book."
President John F. Kennedy
On October 24, 1963, President Kennedy approved the Federal-Aid Highway Amendments Act of 1963. It was a technical corrections bill, but contained an important change in design of Interstate projects. The 1956 Act had called for Interstate projects to be designed to meet traffic demand in 1975. As that year came closer, officials and Congress began to worry about the construction of highways late in the program that would soon be obsolete. Therefore, the 1963 Amendments Act required design for a 20-year period commencing on the date of plan approval. (The Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1966 made another key change in design standards by providing that, "Such standards shall in all cases provide for at least four lanes of traffic.")
That same year, President Kennedy played a role in two Interstate projects. One involved Interstate routing. After what The Nashville Tennessean called "years of haggling," the Governors of Illinois, Kentucky, Missouri, and Tennessee had agreed on a compromise routing for I-24 and creation of a 64-mile Interstate from I-55 at Hayti, Missouri, to I-40 at Jackson, Tennessee, via Dyersburg. On September 17, 1963, President Kennedy, Secretary Hodges, and Administrator Whitton met in the White House with Governors John Dalton (Missouri), Frank Clement (Tennessee), Otto Kerner (Illinois) and Bert Combs (Kentucky). The President directed Whitton to study the proposal. (The BPR agreed to the compromise routing for I-24, but approved only a portion of the Interstate addition, from Hayti to Dyersburg (I-155).)
The other project was on I-95 in Delaware and Maryland. The segment had been included in the Interstate System as a toll-free segment. However, Section 6 of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1960 allowed the two States to repay the Federal-aid funds used on I-95 from Farnhurst, Delaware, to White Marsh, Maryland (about $900,000 in Maryland, $500,000 in Delaware), and construct the highway as a turnpike.
The Maryland Northeastern Expressway-Delaware Turnpike opened on November 14, 1963. President Kennedy participated in the dedication ceremony, the only time a President has participated in an Interstate opening. More than 10,000 people turned out for the ceremony on a cold, windy day.
The President said of the new turnpike:
It symbolizes, I believe, this highway, first of all, the partnership between the Federal Government and the States, which is essential to the progress of all of our people; and secondly, it symbolizes the effort we have made to achieve the most modern Interstate highway system in the world, a system which, when completed, will save over 8000 lives a year and $9 billion in cost. And third, it symbolizes the effort which we are giving and must be giving to organizing an effective communication system here in the United States of America.
Referring to his comprehensive transportation message of April 5, the President called for a consistent approach to the problems in the Northeast, "for it may be only a few years when the whole area, stretching from Washington to Boston, will be one gigantic urban center." Highway planning was not enough, he said. By 2000, the region would have to find housing and parks for 23 million more people, schools for 6 million more students, hospitals and nursing homes for 8 million men and women over the age of 65, plus an additional 2 billion gallons of water every day. Some "would prefer to forget" these facts, but the President hoped "we will begin today, this year, this decade, the things which will make this country a better place to live in for the rest of this century.
As the President spoke, civil rights protestors marched on the Delaware side within a dozen feet of the platform. One protester held a sign that read:
Mr. President, you're opening highway No. 95. Now, help us open public accommodations
After concluding his brief remarks, President Kennedy joined Governor Elbert N. Carvel of Delaware and Governor J. Millard Tawes of Maryland to clip the ribbon opening the 59-mile turnpike.
Eight days later, on November 22, President Kennedy would be assassinated in Dallas, Texas.
On January 18, 1965, officials gathered in the lobby of a Hot Shoppes restaurant on the turnpike while Governor-elect Charles L. Terry, Jr., of Delaware removed a golden shroud from a bust of the late President by sculptor Maurine Ligon of New Castle, Delaware. With the unveiling, the highway was officially renamed the John F. Kennedy Memorial Highway.
Ligon told journalists that she had tried to capture "the great combination of Mr. Kennedy as an idealist and a fighter; as a dreamer and yet a practical man who got things done." Her work, she said, speaks for itself "because our objective is like the horizon, always just beyond our reach."
President Lyndon B. Johnson was the opposite of President Kennedy in origins, personality, career, and image. Unlike the wealthy Kennedy whose public image exuded youth, vigor, and style, the new President rose from humble origins to become a master practitioner of the back room, rough-and-tumble, bare-knuckle politics that made him one of the most effective Senate Majority Leaders in history. His attempts to convey an image of presidential sincerity were at odds with his earthy personality. For all his skill in manipulating politicians and rules inside the walls of the Senate, President Johnson's policy initiatives would contribute to the "tumult and change" of the Sixties.
"Separate," Not "Equal" Transportation
President Johnson would play an important role in ensuring civil rights for African-Americans and other minorities, but the Interstate System had been planned long before the Civil Rights Movement gained broad public and political acceptance.
The period when the Interstate System was conceived in two reports to Congress, Toll Roads and Free Roads (1939) and Interregional Highways (1944), was very different from the world facing the builders of the Interstates. The 1895 Supreme Court decision in Plessy v. Ferguson, based on railroad service, had rendered "separate but equal" facilities acceptable for schools, transportation, and other public facilities, even if "equal" was routinely much less assured than "separate." Public accommodations along the Nation's roads throughout the South and adjacent States were racially separate. Motoring African-Americans bought travel guides that identified hotels and restaurants that would serve them. Outside the South, de facto segregation was common. The mass migration of African-Americans from southern farms to northern industrial cities that had begun around World War I was in its final years.
Neither of the reports to Congress discussed race, but in drafting them, Chief Thomas H. MacDonald of the BPR and his top assistant, Herbert Fairbank, emphasized that one of the most beneficial features of the Interstate System would be its role in revitalizing America's cities. The urban world MacDonald and Fairbank wrote about in the two reports was one in which the automobile had encouraged "the outward transfer of the homes of citizens" and businesses to the suburbs (which often were still within the city limits). "The former homes of the transferred population have descended by stages to lower and lower income groups." They were now "occupied by the humblest citizens" who lived along the fringe of the business district-"a blight near its very core!"
At a time when society was embracing "slum-clearance projects," the Interstate System would displace many of those homes with freeways that would link the central business district with the suburban communities while stimulating investment in the blighted areas. With traffic moved to the Interstates, city streets would become more suitable for neighborhood uses.
"The essential role of government," Interregional Highways explained, "would be to facilitate the transition financing of the rehabilitation of blighted areas, to employ its powers of eminent domain in the public interest, and to fix the standards of redevelopment." Sufficient right-of-way should be acquired, the report said, "for adjacent housing, airport, park, or other public developments which the highways will be designed to serve in part." The "mutual benefits of such a simultaneous and cooperative program of land assembly" would be "lower land costs, in a more rational land-use pattern, and in the elimination of all possible focal points of conflict between the various improvement programs."
Given right-of-way acquisition practice, MacDonald and Fairbank knew that accomplishing the "radical revision of the city plan" that they envisioned would not be easy. State highway agencies, accustomed to working only in rural areas, usually expanded highways on right-of-way donated by willing property owners. Many State constitutions did not allow full control of access or right-of-way acquisition by the agencies, which did not have staff or experience with the practice. While proposing creation of a Federal land acquisition agency to buy the right-of-way and transfer it to the States, MacDonald and Fairbank did not address how the displaced families and businesses would move on with their lives.
By the time President Eisenhower signed the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956, the Supreme Court had rejected separate-but-equal schools. In effect, the 1954 ruling in Brown v. the Board of Education (of Topeka, Kansas) overturned Plessy v. Ferguson and declared the broader segregation of American society unconstitutional. In 1955, a tired seamstress named Rosa Parks of Montgomery, Alabama, stepped onto a bus at the end of a routine workday. Her arrest for refusing to yield her seat to a white passenger touched off a bus boycott that received national attention and helped elevate the Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., to a leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement. Parks' arrest gave new life to the Civil Rights Movement, just as Rachel Carson's Silent Spring would spark the environmental movement a few years later.
City officials welcomed "slum-clearance projects" and "radical revision" as essential to their long-term economic viability. But as the Interstates began to run through the blighted areas where right-of-way costs were low, the Civil Rights Movement was gaining momentum. The movement gave the "humblest citizens" a voice, an urgency, a legitimacy that MacDonald and Fairbank could not have anticipated and did not live to see.
By the 1960s, the urban revitalization that they thought would accompany the Interstates would be derided as building "white men's roads through black men's homes." Moreover, the reconfiguration of transportation to favor highways over transit was harmful to transit-dependent minority communities, contributing to high rates of unemployment and civil unrest among the African-American population. While the broader issues of urban redevelopment continued to be a major component of the highway debates, this angry battle cry put highway officials in the difficult position of defending what was increasingly perceived as racist highway policies.
As Alfred E. "Alf" Johnson, AASHO's executive secretary during this period, conceded in an interview with Frederic Schwartz for his 1976 study of urban highway issues, some city officials saw the urban Interstates as a way of getting rid of the poor African-American neighborhoods. In a study of the impact of the Interstates on cities, Professor Raymond A. Mohl of the University of Alabama at Birmingham described some of the cities where these issues came into view. Among the cities, he cited:
- In Miami, Florida, officials rejected an abandoned railroad corridor to route I-95 through the inner-city community of Overtown, "wiping out massive amounts of housing as well as Overtown's main business district, the commercial and cultural heart of black Miami."
- In Nashville, Tennessee, "highway planners went out of their way to put a kink in the urban link Interstate 40 [gouging] a concrete swatch through the North Nashville black community, destroying hundreds of homes and businesses and dividing what was left of the neighborhood."
- When I-94 displaced one-seventh of the African-American population of St. Paul, Minnesota, a critic wrote that "very few blacks lived in Minnesota, but the road builders found them."
- Professor Mohl described the success of historic preservation interests in blocking an Interstate through the French Quarter while highway builders "leveled a wide swath along North Claiborne Avenue in central New Orleans for Interstate-10." The result was "a devastated black community, a concrete jungle left in the shadows by a massive elevated highway."
- In Chicago, the Dan Ryan Expressway "effectively separated the Robert Taylor Homes, a massive black public housing project, from white ethnic neighborhoods to the west."
- In Camden, New Jersey, I-95 bisected low-income neighborhoods, displacing 1,093 minority families (out of a total of 1,289 families), while only about 100 low-incoming housing units were built at the same time "with the usual consequences."
Based on these and other examples, Professor Mohl concluded that the "forced relocation of blacks from central-city areas triggered a massive spatial reorganization of urban residential space." As a result, "The expressway building of the 1950s and 1960s, then, ultimately helped produce the much larger, more spatially isolated, and more intensely segregated second ghettos characteristic of the late twentieth century."
Some State highway and city officials were racist, as Professor Mohl documents, while others were following the inexorable logic of routing the urgently needed highways where right-of-way expenses would be lowest and revitalization most needed. The BPR approved these routings, with knowledge of the racial motive behind some of the decisions made within the prerogative of the State partner.
In part, Federal and State highway officials were driven by the urgency of finishing the Interstate System by the early 1970s and by visions of the benefits the Nation, particularly its cities, would enjoy when it was completed. They did not see the inextricable link between civil rights and transportation planning or the impact of this link on social and economic opportunity for America's "humblest citizens." In short, highway officials and urban political leaders did not foresee that in their pursuit of "radical revision," they were exposing America's racial divides and contributing to the problems their successors would confront in coming decades.
An Obvious and Urgent Need
In President Johnson's first full year in office, he launched an attempt to reduce highway deaths. On March 23, 1964, he wrote to Secretary Hodges about the "obvious and urgent need for a program to improve our highway safety rapidly and significantly." The Secretary was to work with State and local governments to develop priority safety programs, with special attention to reducing hazards on highways with high-accident experience, to reduce the "staggering toll."
The Interstate System stood as one of the few successes. The fatality rate on the Interstate System in 1964 was 2.8 deaths per 100 million miles traveled, compared with a fatality rate of 9.7 on older highways in the same corridors. (Reports on fatalities vary according to the source. The BPR's annual report for FY 1965 reported that 47,700 people died in traffic crashes in calendar year 1964, for a fatality rate of 5.7, an increase from 5.4 the previous year.) The success of the Interstate System in reducing fatalities provided design experience that could be used in upgrading other roads.
Based on this experience, Whitton opposed the over-emphasis on the driver that had characterized the safety campaigns of past years. Drivers were "performing as well as we can reasonably expect under existing conditions," but he did not accept the "nut behind the wheel" theory of crashes; people should not die simply because humans are not infallible. The "conditions must be changed," he said, adding "we must continue to improve the road, the vehicle and the basic control measures of the system." Whitton identified many Interstate design features that could be applied to other roads, including clear roadside zones, widening of narrow lanes and bridges, construction of stable shoulders, erection of guardrails, installation of lighting, improved sight distance, and reduction of curves.
In response to the President's concern, the BPR launched a spot improvement program to encourage States to use their Federal-aid funds to improve Federal-aid primary and secondary roads to eliminate or reduce hazards at spot locations or on sections of roads and streets with high accident rates. The program would evolve into the "Forgiving Highway" concept that has characterized highway design since then.
Ralph Nader's book Unsafe at any Speed: The Designed-In Dangers of the American Automobile, released in November 1965, would emphasize the role of the vehicle in fatalities and injuries. The resulting controversy led to passage of two highway safety bills that President Johnson signed on September 9, 1996. The Highway Safety Act of 1966 required each State to implement a safety program supporting driver education and improved licensing and auto inspection. The Act also strengthened the existing National Driver Register operated by the BPR. The National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act focused on the vehicle, required Federal motor vehicle safety standards. The bills created two agencies, the National Traffic Safety Agency and the National Highway Safety Agency. President Johnson appointed Dr. William Haddon, who had extensive highway and vehicle safety credentials, to head both.
The End in Sight
As Administrator Whitton addressed forums around the country, he made the finite nature of the Interstate program clear. For example, on December 5, 1963, he addressed the California State Chamber of Commerce in Los Angeles. The BPR would, he said, soon have to consider disapproving funds for projects that could not be completed by 1972. He was particularly concerned about the urban segments that "take a number of years from conception to completion." He hoped that he would not have to disapprove an urban interstate project "for the reason that there is not enough time left for its completion by 1972." He added that, "Close and harmonious cooperation of the state and local governments is the best insurance against such an eventuality." His comments were covered by newspapers around the country
By the end of 1964, the State highway agencies had not met his challenge to complete half the Interstate System by then. They were, however, close. In all, 19,000 miles (46 percent of the total) had been opened, with another 5,200 miles under construction. Of the open mileage, 13,635 miles met full standards, while routes adequate for current traffic but needing upgrading to the ultimate standards totaled 3,059 miles. (The remaining open mileage consisted of toll roads, bridges, and tunnels incorporated into the System.) Since the start of the program in 1956, $21.7 billion in Interstate Construction funds had been put to use.
On January 12, 1965, the third ICE was submitted to Congress showing a total estimated cost of $46.8 billion (Federal share: $42 billion), an increase of $5.8 billion since 1961. The total cost of work remaining to complete the Interstate System was $20.3 billion (Federal share: $18.4 billion). The data used to compile the ICE revealed that 82 percent of the Interstate System would be on new location (80 percent in rural areas, 90 percent in urban areas). At least a portion of the change (more than $3.6 billion) came through changes in the law, such as adoption of a 20-year design period and development of safer designs. The ICE indicated the System would include 12,957 interchanges requiring 22,252 individual structures, as well as 20748 other highway grade-separation structures, 4,361 railroad grade separations, and 14,806 other bridges and tunnels.
Beauty for America
In November 1964, the American people gave President Johnson a landslide victory over Senator Barry Goldwater (R-Az.). A minor element of the campaign would spark a major presidential initiative.
During the campaign, the President's wife, Lady Bird Johnson, had informed her husband of her feelings about the roadside junkyards they saw along the way. He revealed her views during remarks on conservation in Portland, Oregon, on September 17, 1964. The auto junkyards they had seen during the campaign, he said, "are driving my wife mad." She had told him "that one of the advantages of getting defeated is to give her some time to get out and do something about cleaning up the countryside and these old junkyards along our beautiful driveways."
He intended to "develop a national policy for the control and disposal of technological and industrial waste." Even as the campaign continued, his Administration began searching for solutions. As U.S. News and World Report explained, the President's references to the subject during the campaign prompted applause, so "the President observed: 'If it's beautifying they want, it's beautifying they'll get.'"
On February 8, 1965, within 3 weeks of renewing his oath of office, President Johnson submitted a message to Congress on stewardship of the country's natural bounty. "It would be a neglectful generation indeed, indifferent alike to the judgment of history and the command of principle, which failed to preserve and extend such a heritage for its descendants."
The President identified "the tempo of urbanization and growth" as one of the culprits, referring to cities that reach into the countryside, "destroying streams and trees and meadows as they go." Technology, for all its benefits, was part of the problem as well. "Its uncontrolled waste products are menacing the world we live in, our enjoyment and our health."
The modern highways that "may wipe out the equivalent of a 50-acre park with every mile" were another culprit. Recognizing that "ours is an automobile society," the President did not want to curtail roads. He wanted to make roads the "highways to the enjoyment of nature and beauty." The task was twofold. "First, to insure that roads themselves are not destructive of nature and natural beauty. Second, to make our roads ways to recreation and pleasure."
The President planned several highway initiatives. He directed Secretary of Commerce John T. Connor, a lawyer who had left his position as president of the pharmaceutical Merck and Company, Inc., to take office on January 18, 1965, to ensure landscaping would be part of all Interstate and Federal-aid primary and urban highways. Johnson also planned to introduce legislation on effective control of billboards and "unsightly, beauty-destroying junkyards and auto graveyards along our highways."
In addition, he called for "a new conservation" that would protect the countryside, restore "what has been destroyed" and "salvage the beauty and charm of our cities." He was not, he said, referring to the "classic conservation of protection and development, but a creative conservation of restoration and innovation." His creative conservation included proposals for cities, rivers, and trails, as well as ideas for curbing pollution.
The initiative dovetailed with what Administrator Whitton and the State highway agencies had been trying to accomplish through their public relations responses to critics. Whitton had discussed highway aesthetics in his speech to AASHO's annual convention in December 1964. He had "preached a good deal about esthetics in highway design," he told AASHO, "But I still see too many roads and structures that look like they were cranked out of a machine." He said, "Esthetics should be one of the basic elements in the design of highways. When an otherwise beautiful stretch of highway is spoiled by unsightly scars, let's do the necessary surgery." The surgery should include: "Screen out the automobile graveyard with shrubs and trees. Plant vines and bushes on the barren slopes. Round the sharp angles in cuts and fills, to blend with the land. Open up vistas where you can, and provide parking overlooks. Take easements on attractive roadside scenic spots, to insure their preservation." In short, give motorists "feast instead of famine."
To explore new conservation ideas, President Johnson called a White House Conference on Natural Beauty for May 24 and 25 in Washington. During the conference, Whitton told the panel on "The Design of the Highway" that, "Highways are for people," a message he would repeat on many occasions. "The highways must be beautiful as seen from the driver's seat and the backseat driver, and they also must not be a scourge on the community through which they pass." To accomplish this goal, he urged cooperation among Federal, State, and city officials as well as use of "every skill that is available," including "the skills of architects, landscape architects, highway engineers, and psychologists and all the others," to create "the best possible transportation system and the best possible urban plan for our cities."
William F. Babcock, North Carolina's Director of Highways, chaired the panel. Summarizing the panel's conclusions, he said, "the highway in a rural setting, should fit the landscape like a deer in the forest rather than a bull in the china shop." Increased attention must be devoted to aesthetics in new rural highway development as well as existing highways. He cited acquisition of additional right-of-way for buffer zones, the creative regrading and landscaping of the roadside, and the screening or removal of objectionable views. More imaginative design was needed, such as "building freeways on elevated structures, or at ground level, or below, making much better use of the space above or below them." Greater weight should be given to protecting parks, open spaces, scenic, recreational, historic, and cultural features. The range of skills cited by Whitton should be united in urban design teams.
Other highway-related panels suggested a scenic roads and parkways program, control of outdoor advertising, and requiring Interstate and primary funds to be conditioned on prohibition of future junkyards and the removal or screening of existing junkyards.
The Highway Beautification Act of 1965
The President's America the Beautiful initiative proved controversial when the rights of private property owners clashed with public interests. Billboards, for example, had been criticized for decades, but attempts to control them had met with limited success. In authorizing the Bonus Program, the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1958 had declared that control of outdoor advertising was "in the public interest." However, by 1965, only 20 States, with one-fourth of System mileage within their borders, had entered into bonus agreements, despite several extensions of the original time limit (from July 1, 1961, to June 30, 1965). At its peak, the bonus program covered 25 States, two of which dropped out before receiving a bonus. A total of some $44.65 million was paid to the 23 remaining states (Congress has not appropriated funds for the program since theearly 1970s).
Given this limited success, one of the most prominent results of the President's beauty initiative was the Highway Beautification Act of 1965. As expected, it had been controversial. When the House considered its version of the bill on October 7, the debate lasted into the early morning hours of October 8. A pointed but tongue-in-cheek amendment by Representative Robert Dole (R-Kan.) to strike out the term "Secretary of Commerce" wherever it appeared in the bill and insert the words "Lady Bird" lost by a voice vote. Representative Harold R. Gross (R-Iowa) suggested that when the bill passed, as he knew it would, the President could have his signing ceremony in front of a Texas billboard advertising the Johnson family's television station.
After the House and Senate reconciled differences between the two versions of the bill, Congress approved the Highway Beautification Act of 1965 on October 14. The signing ceremony took place at the White House on October 22, the day after the President returned from surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital. Recalling the ride from the hospital along the George Washington Memorial Parkway, the President said, "not one foot of it was marred by a single unsightly man-made obstruction-no advertising signs, no junkyards. Well, doctors could prescribe no better medicine for me." Saying, "Beauty belongs to all the people," he signed the bill and gave the first pen to Lady Bird, along with a kiss on the cheek.
The sign portion of the Act, which became Section 131 of Title 23, United States Code ("Highways"), required the States to provide effective control of outdoor advertising along the Interstate System and primary system highways (within 660 feet of the nearest edge of the right-of-way and visible from the main traveled way). Federal-aid apportionments could be reduced by 10 percent for States that did not do so. Some signs would be permitted, namely directional and other official signs, signs and other devices advertising activities conducted on the property on which they were located, and signs advertising the sale or lease of the property on which they were located. The Secretary was to enter into an agreement with each State regarding the size, lighting, and spacing, consistent with customary use, on control of outdoor advertising.
Signs that did not comply with the new requirement were to be removed, but not before July 1, 1970, with just compensation for those that had been erected legally before enactment of the law. The Act authorized $20 million a year for FYs 1966 and 1967 for this purpose, with the funds coming from the general Treasury, not the Highway Trust Fund, and a Federal share of 75 percent.
To promote the safety and recreational value of travel and preserve natural beauty, the 1965 Act also required effective control of the establishment of outdoor junkyards along the Interstate System and the primary system (Section 136 of Title 23, United States Code). Effective control meant screening by natural objects, plants, fences, or other means, with a 10-percent penalty on apportionments for States that did not comply. The Federal share of junkyard screening projects was 75 percent, again with $20 million a year (FYs 1966 and 1967) from the general Treasury.
The first billboard did not come down until April 29, 1971. It was in a pine grove off I-95 near Freeport, Maine. Secretary of Transportation John A. Volpe said, "Take her down, boys," as a crane pulled the facing off the double-faced billboard that had most recently advertised a Brunswick restaurant and a Falmouth music store.
The Highway Beautification Act of 1965 has been amended several times, in part to address changes in outdoor advertising. As amended, it requires us to ensure that the State transportation departments maintain "effective control of the erection and maintenance" of outdoor advertising signs along the Interstate System and the National Highway System. The law allows State and local officials to determine whether more stringent controls than those imposed by Federal law are appropriate for these routes. The result varies from State to State and even from community to community, with some States essentially banning billboards while others allow them to the maximum extent permitted under the Federal law.
The Web of Union
A year after launching his conservation initiative, President Johnson announced in his State of the Union Address on January 12, 1966, that a Department of Transportation was needed. With 35 government agencies spending $5 billion a year on transportation, he said, the "present structure makes it almost impossible to serve either the growing demands of this great nation or the needs of the industry, or the right of the taxpayer to full efficiency and frugality."
The idea of a Department of Transportation had a long history. As early as January 1874, Representative Laurin D. Woodworth (R-Oh.) had called, unsuccessfully, for a Federal bureau of transportation. In April 1919, dozens of technical societies met in Chicago to discuss organization of a public works department that would include the BPR, but their efforts failed as well. Since then, proposals for a Department of Transportation or a consolidation of transportation agencies within the Commerce Department had been made by government study groups, but without a push from the President, the proposals failed.
Federal Aviation Administrator Najeeb Halaby had revived the idea on July 1, 1965, his last day in office. Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation Alan S. Boyd worked with the Bureau of the Budget (BOB) to establish a task force on the subject. In October 1965, the task force recommended creation of a Department of Transportation. A new task force, headed by Charles Zwick of the BOB and including representatives of the agencies to be in the new department, was established to draft legislation.
On March 2, President Johnson submitted the legislation to Congress along with a message on transportation. "In a nation that spans a continent," he said, "transportation is the web of union." The "tenuous skein of rough trails and primitive roads" of the Nation's early years had become "a powerful network on which the prosperity and convenience of our society depend." He listed the current system's deficiencies, which in the area of highways included "consuming, frustrating, and wasteful congestion"; "super-highways for super-charged automobiles - and yet [we] cannot find a way to prevent 50,000 highway deaths this year; a network of "new freeways to serve new cities and suburbs" that "carelessly scars the irreplaceable countryside."
He urged creation of a Department of Transportation "to serve the growing demands of this great Nation, to satisfy the needs of our expanding industry and to fulfill the right of our taxpayers to maximum efficiency and frugality in Government operations." The BPR would be part of the new Department, but the Housing and Home Finance Agency (HHFA), which administered the Urban Mass Transportation Act of 1964, would remain in the Department of Housing and Urban Development, its home since September 1965. The President said that after creation of the Department of Transportation, he would ask the new Secretary of Transportation to work with the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development to submit proposals on "a unified Federal approach to urban problems."
The bill received bipartisan support in Congress, with the most difficult issue being whether the Maritime Administration (MARAD) would be included. Members of the House who wanted to leave MARAD in the Department of Commerce threatened to deadlock the legislation, prompting the Administration to concede the point. (MARAD remained in the Commerce Department until 1981, when it was moved to the Department of Transportation.)
President Johnson signed the Department of Transportation Act on October 15, 1966, before about 200 guests at the White House. The new law brought together 31 agencies and bureaus, including BPR, which had by far the largest budget ($4.4 billion) in a Department with a total budget of $6.6 billion. "In large measure," he said, "America's history is a history of her transportation." Although the transportation system "is the greatest in the world," he added, "we must face facts. It is no longer adequate." The President recognized that the task ahead-"to untangle, to coordinate, and to build a national transportation system"-was mammoth. He described his vision that, "A day will come in America, when people and freight will move through this land of ours speedily, efficiently, safely, and dependably." He added, "That will be a good day indeed." The new Department was to go into effect 90 days after enactment of the legislation.
To be the first Secretary of Transportation, President Johnson selected Alan Boyd. A 44-year old lawyer, Boyd had been general counsel of the Florida Turnpike Authority and chairman of the Florida Railroad and Public Utilities Commission before President Eisenhower appointed him to the Civil Aeronautics Board. Boyd became chairman in 1961 and was appointed Under Secretary of Commerce in 1965. President and Mrs. Johnson watched on January 16, 1967, as Boyd took the oath of office in the East Room of the White House. The President explained that Boyd would "coordinate a national transportation policy for this great land of ours . . . and give the kind of results that the American people would like to point to with pride."
Administrator Rex Whitton Takes His Leave
By the time he left office at the end of 1966, Rex Whitton had addressed the problems facing the National System of Interstate and Defense Highways when he took office. By cooperating with the Blatnik Committee and strengthening BPR oversight, Whitton had helped put to rest the scandals that had given critics of "the great highway bungle" their strongest, most visible weapon. With enactment of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1961, the program had been put on a sound financial footing that would carry the program through the early 1980s.
The most remarkable transformation had come in response to the objections on social and environmental grounds. Initially, Whitton and the road building community were convinced that these issues could be addressed with public relations initiatives such as National Highway Week. As he had told ARBA in his initial speech as Federal Highway Administrator, the solution was to ensure the public had a "full appreciation of the urgent need for the highway program and the benefits it is bringing." Although Whitton and his successors would continue to stress the positive aspects of the program, he was, in effect, the bridge between those who thought the benefits of the Interstate System trumped other considerations and those who, in later years, embraced the growing number of environmental laws and the stewardship they demanded as a key part of their work.
On February 9, 1966, the BPR announced that the States had met Whitton's challenge to AASHO by opening more than 50 percent of the Interstate System. With the opening of 2,166 miles in 1965, open mileage totaled nearly 21,185 miles or 52 percent of the 41,000-mile Interstate System. Construction was underway on another 5,580 miles; only 2,880 miles (7 percent) of the System had not yet advanced beyond preliminary status. Approximately $24.7 billion had been put to work on the Interstate program.
On November 29, 1966, Whitton was in Wichita, Kansas, for his final presentation to AASHO during its annual meeting. Noting that 1966 was the 50th year since creation of the Federal-aid highway program in 1916 he told his colleagues, "the first 50 years are the easiest," and as for the future, "You ain't seen nothing yet." Change, he said, was "the outstanding characteristic" of the program, as it was of all aspects of society. During his tenure, the program had probably seen "more changes in emphasis and direction" than in any period since the Federal Road Act of 1916. The Federal-aid highway program "advances through evolution, not revolution, but advance it surely does."
With the population of urban areas increasing, the main thrust of highway efforts "should be directed to easing the plight of cities." Whitton also emphasized "making highway transportation compatible with the environment while serving many urban needs." Highways, he said, cannot be isolated from other forms of transportation. "We must plan transportation systems. We cannot afford to do any less." (Emphasis in original.) This is why the new Department of Transportation "makes sense - from any viewpoint, but particularly with respect to the close and efficient coordination of government programs for the entire transportation system."
The one negative he discussed involved displacements and relocations. Only 32 States were paying moving costs, "and far too few States are doing an outstanding job in providing the basic assistance required." If more States do not address this problem voluntarily, "it will become a mandatory one." (The Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Act became law on January 2, 1971.)
I have been around long enough . . . to have confidence that our highway program is not frozen by tradition, that it has not only resiliency but also the flexibility needed to respond to any new challenge. And I have confidence that its response, that your response, that the response of the highway engineer, will be more than adequate to what our Nation expects and deserves - and that, gentlemen, is a lot.
On December 29, 1966, a retirement ceremony was held in the General Services Administration Auditorium. The BPR's newsletter stated that the auditorium "was filled to overflowing with the hundreds of associates and employees of Mr. Whitton." Secretary-designate Boyd presented the Commerce Department's Gold Medal Award to Whitton "for exceptional achievements as a leader in highways and highway transportation in the United States, and contributions to these same interests worldwide."
Whitton would tell the highway community, "An awful lot has happened in the last few years, but a lot more must be done if we are to be fully responsive to our mandate from the public."
A New Department Takes Off
The U.S. Department of Transportation opened for business on April 1, 1967. On the National Mall, Secretary Boyd participated in opening ceremonies that were combined with the Smithsonian Institution's third annual Rite of Spring, titled a "Pageant of Transportation." According to The Washington Post, "Everything seemed to be happening at once" on a sun-drenched day. As bands played, large crowds enjoyed viewing past, present, and future vehicles, including a llama, an 1880 15-passenger horse-drawn omnibus (pulled by mules on this occasion), antique automobiles dating to 1910, an air-cushion "Hydroskimmer," and a rocket-propelled man.
After a news conference during which Boyd introduced Department leaders, the Secretary pledged that the new Department would work to make transportation more efficient and more socially responsible. In a remark that seemed directed at the impacts of the Interstate System, he added, "We want an end to the noise, pollution, and general disfigurement transportation has unintentionally brought to our cities."
The opening of the new Department meant changes for the BPR. One involved the name "Bureau of Public Roads." It had been the name of the agency during two periods of its history spanning 39 years (July 1, 1918, to June 30, 1939, and July 1, 1949, to March 31, 1967) with the agency named the Public Roads Administration between the two periods. On April 1, 1967, the agency became the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA). The FHWA was organized into bureaus headed by Directors, with the BPR name retained for one of them, along with the Bureau of Motor Carrier Safety (now the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration) and the National Highway Safety Bureau (now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). With the additions, the agency increased from about 4800 employees at the end of 1966 to 5,360 employees a year later. (In a reorganization that took effect on August 10, 1970, the FHWA eliminated its bureau structure, replacing the Directors with Associate Administrators, and finally ending the use of the term BPR.)
The Director of the new BPR was Francis C. "Frank" Turner, who had joined the BPR in 1929 after graduating from Texas Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Texas A&M University). In the 1950s, he had played a key role in the committee established by President Eisenhower in 1954 and headed by retired General Lucius D. Clay to develop a national highway plan, and had served as liaison between the BPR and the key committees in Congress during development of the Federal-Aid Highway Act of 1956. (On February 24, 1969, he became the only career employee to become Federal Highway Administrator, a position he held through June 30, 1972.)
Perhaps the most surprising change was that the first person to hold the title of Federal Highway Administrator in the new Department would not be an engineer. Lowell K. Bridwell was a journalist, most recently as the top writer on highways for the Washington Bureau of Scripps-Howard Newspapers, a post he had assumed in 1958. He had joined the Commerce Department in April 1962 as assistant to Under Secretary for Transportation Clarence Martin, Jr., before being appointed Acting Deputy Federal Highway Administrator on January 20, 1964, a post he held until becoming Deputy Under Secretary of Commerce for Transportation (Operations) on July 2, 1964. He would take office as Federal Highway Administrator on March 23, 1967, and hold the position until the end of the Johnson Administration on January 20, 1969.
The Pioneer of Modern Highway Construction
After leaving the BPR, Rex Whitton returned to Kansas City, Missouri where he accepted a position as consultant to the engineering firm of Howard, Needles, Tammen and Bergendoff. He retired in 1975. The following year, he told the agency newsletter, FHWA News, that he and his wife enjoyed driving to auction sales for antiques. However, they avoided the freeways he had helped to build. He never liked driving on them, he said, and now they "enjoy driving on the little back roads, keeping a map of each one we travel."
Rex Whitton passed away on July 7, 1981, after a long illness at age 82. The passing of the man who had saved the Interstate System, was little noticed around the country. However, an obituary in AASHTO Quarterly said, "His national reputation as a pioneer of modern highway construction not only brings honor to his memory, but also to a profession he dearly loved."
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Good question, Mike!
Neutron Stars actually exert a lot of gravity for objects as small
as they are (about 10 kilometers in radius). In fact, if you stood on
the surface of a neutron star you would feel about 200 Billion times
more gravity than here on Earth (which would not be healthy)!
For those interested in how to get that number, I work it out below:
Recall Newton's Equation for Gravitational Force:
F = GMm/(r^2)
We can use this classical formula to estimate the gravity on a
Neutron Star. Use the fact that a Neutron Star has about 1.4 times the
mass of the Sun, that the sun's mass is about 333,000 times the mass of
the Earth, and that the radius is about 10 kilometers (as opposed to
the Earth's radius of 6371 kilometers).
The ratio of forces is:
F(Neutron Star) / F(Earth)=(1.4)(333000)(6371^2)/(10^2)
If we run these numbers we find that the gravity on a Neutron Star
is about 2 x 10^11 times that of the Earth's. That's about 200 billion
I hope this answers your question.
(published on 10/22/2007)
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| 0.903426 | 278 | 3.234375 | 3 |
When you first learn Test Driven Development, it sounds simple and easy. If you learned it in 1999, like I did, the rule was to simply write your unit tests first. Indeed, we called it Test First Design back then.
I sat with Kent Beck in 1999 and paired with him in order to learn. What he taught me to do was certainly test first; but it involved a more fine-grained process than I'd ever seen before. He would write one line of a failing test, and then write the corresponding line of production code to make it pass. Sometimes it was slightly more than one line; but the scale he used was was very close to line by line.
Second-by-Second nano-cycle: The Three Laws of TDD.
A few years later this fine granularity was codified into three rules: the so-called Three Laws of TDD.
- You must write a failing test before you write any production code.
- You must not write more of a test than is sufficient to fail, or fail to compile.
- You must not write more production code than is sufficient to make the currently failing test pass.
I, and many others, have written about these three laws over the years. They now appear in many different styles, formats, and injunctive statements. But the goal is always to promote the line by line granularity that I experienced while working with Kent so long ago.
The three laws are the nano-cycle of TDD. You follow them on almost a second-by-second basis. You will likely iterate them a dozen or so times before you finish a single unit test.
Minute-by-Minute: micro-cycle: Red-Green-Refactor
If we pull back to the minute by minute scale we see the micro-cycle that experienced TDDers follow. The Red/Green/Refactor cycle.
This cycle is typically executed once for every complete unit test, or once every dozen or so cycles of the three laws. The rules of this cycle are simple.
- Create a unit tests that fails
- Write production code that makes that test pass.
- Clean up the mess you just made.
The philosophy is based on the idea that our limited minds are not capable of pursuing the two simultaneous goals of all software systems: 1. Correct behavior. 2. Correct structure. So the RGR cycle tells us to first focus on making the software work correctly; and then, and only then, to focus on giving that working software a long-term survivable structure.
Make it work. Make it right. Make it fast.
Another way to think about this idea is:
Getting software to work is only half of the job.
Customers value two things about software. The way it makes a machine behave; and the ease with which it can be changed. Compromise either of those two values and the software will diminish in real value to the customer.
Executing the Red/Green/Refactor cycle takes on the order of a minute or so. This is the granularity of refactoring. Refactoring is not something you do at the end of the project; it's something you do on a minute-by-minute basis. There is no task on the project plan that says: Refactor. There is no time reserved at the end of the project, or the iteration, or the day, for refactoring. Refactoring is a continuous in-process activity, not something that is done late (and therefore optionally).
Decaminute-by-Decaminute: milli-cycle: Specific/Generic
At the 10 minute level we see the milli-cycle in operation. The Specific/Generic cycle.
As the tests get more specific, the code gets more generic.
As a test suite grows, it becomes ever more specific. i.e. it becomes an ever more detailed specification of behavior. Good software developers meet this increase in specification by increasing the generality of their code. To say this differently: Programmers make specific cases work by writing code that makes the general case work.
As a rule, the production code is getting more and more general if you can think of tests that you have not written; but that the production code will pass anyway. If the changes you make to the production code, pursuant to a test, make that test pass, but would not make other unwritten tests pass, then you are likely making the production code too specific.
It is often said that the fine grained structure of the three laws and the Red/Green/Refactor cycle lead to local-optimizations. Without the "big picture" the developer cannot imbue the software with the correct structure for the overall problem, and instead drives towards a structure that is good for the local case; but not for the general case.
The symptom of the local optimum is "Getting Stuck." In order to make the next test pass you must write a large amount of code outside of the nano-cycle of the three laws, and even outside of the micro-cycle of RGR. In other words, you have gone down a path that forces you out of the TDD process.
Once you are stuck, the only solution is to backtrack up through the previous tests, deleting them, until you reach a test from which you can take a different fork in the road.
Why do you get stuck? Because you were not adding sufficient generality to the production code. You were making the tests too specific, to quickly. The solution is to backtrack and then add specificity to the tests more slowly, while adding generality to the production code more quickly. This frequently forces you to choose a different set of tests to follow.
To avoid getting stuck we evaluate our position every few minutes; looking for specificity in the production code. Have we taken shortcuts that make the production code resemble the tests in some way? Do the most recent changes to the production code fail to pass more tests than we have written?
This is the cycle in which we apply the Transformation Priority Premise. We look for the symptoms of over-specificity by checking the kinds of production code we have written.
Hour-by-Hour: Primary Cycle: Boundaries.
The final primary cycle of TDD is the cycle that ensures that all the other cycles are driving us towards a Clean Architecture. Ever hour or so we stop and check to see whether we have crossed, or are encroaching upon, a significant architectural boundary. Often these boundaries are difficult to see while in the throes of the nano- and micro-cycles. You can start to smell them at the decaminute level, but even then our gaze is still too narrowly focused.
So every hour or so we stop and look at the overall system. We hunt for boundaries that we want to control. We make decisions about where to draw those boundaries, and which side of those boundaries our current activities should be constrained to. And then we use those decisions to inform the nano-cycles, micro-cycles, and milli-cycles of the next hour or so -- the primary cycle -- of Test Driven Development.
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The Institute of Medicine (IOM) of the National Academies, in a report entitled “The Childhood Immunization Schedule and Safety: Stakeholder Concerns, Scientific Evidence, and Future Studies,” determined there were no major safety concerns associated with following the federal childhood immunization schedule. The IMO report is a comprehensive examination of the current federal immunization schedule. The federal immunization schedule is timed to protect children from 14 pathogens by immunizing them at the stages in their lives when they are most susceptible to the diseases.
The IOM report concluded that following the complete childhood immunization schedule is strongly associated with reducing vaccine-preventable diseases. The report provided an outline for conducting additional safety research on the federal immunization schedule should the need arise. The report was created at the request of HHS to address some parents’ concerns about the safety and frequency of the current childhood immunization schedule.
The report found that approximately 90 percent of American children receive most childhood vaccines when they begin kindergarten; however, some parents do not follow the immunization schedule. Critics of the federal immunization policies have called for studies comparing health outcomes among vaccinated and unvaccinated children and for research to determine if subgroups exist that are predisposed to experiencing harmful health effects from the vaccines.
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| 0.948125 | 260 | 3.390625 | 3 |
United States Department of Agriculture
The Office of Food Safety oversees the Food Safety and Inspection Service, the agency within USDA responsible for ensuring the safety, wholesomeness, and correct labeling and packaging of meat, poultry, and egg products. FSIS operates under the authority of the Federal Meat Inspection Act, the Poultry Products Inspection Act, and the Egg Products Inspection Act. FSIS sets standards for food safety and inspects and regulates all raw and processed meat and poultry products, and egg products sold in interstate commerce, including imported products. FSIS has implemented a strategy for change to reduce the incidence of foodborne illness attributable to meat, poultry, and egg products. The Office of Food Safety, headed by USDAs Under Secretary for Food Safety, provides oversight of the agency.
In FY 2001, FSIS inspected over 8.2 billion poultry, 140 million head of livestock, and 4.5 billion pounds of egg products (table 9-1).
The activities of FSIS include:
FSIS inspectors examine animals before and after slaughter, preventing diseased animals from entering the food supply and examining carcasses for visible defects that can affect safety and quality. Inspectors also test for the presence of harmful pathogens and drug and chemical residues.
In addition, about 250,000 different processed meat and poultry products fall under FSIS inspection. These include hams, sausages, soups, stews, pizzas, frozen dinners, and products containing 2 percent or more cooked poultry or at least 3 percent raw meat. In addition to inspecting these products during processing, FSIS evaluates and sets standards for food ingredients, additives, and compounds used to prepare and package meat and poultry products.
As part of the inspection process, FSIS tests for the presence of pathogens and toxins such as Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and Staphylococcal entertoxin in ready-to-eat another processed products. FSIS continues to have a zero tolerance for these pathogens in ready-to-eat and other processed products.
FSIS also tests for pathogens in some raw products. In 1994, USDA declared E.coliO157:H7 an adulterant in raw ground beef and established a monitoring program for the pathogen. As part of the Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) Systems final rule, issued in July 1996, FSIS for the first time set pathogen reduction performance standards for Salmonella that slaughter plants and plants producing raw ground products must meet. The final rule also requires meat and poultry slaughter plants to conduct microbial testing for generic E. coli to verify the adequacy of their process controls for the prevention of fecal contamination.
Imported meat and poultry are also subject to FSIS scrutiny. The agency reviews and monitors foreign inspection systems to ensure that they are equivalent to the U.S. system before those countries are allowed to export. When the products reach the United States, products are reinspected at 155 active import locations by inspection personnel.
Pathogen Reduction/Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point
The Pathogen Reduction/HACCP rule: (1) requires all meat and poultry plants to develop and implement written standard operating procedures for sanitation (SSOPs); (2) requires meat and poultry slaughter plants to conduct microbial testing for generic E.coli to verify the adequacy of their process controls for the prevention of fecal contamination; (3) requires all meat and poultry plants to develop and implement a system of preventive controls, known as HACCP, to improve the safety of their products; and (4) sets pathogen reduction performance standards for Salmonella that slaughter plants and plants producing raw ground products must meet.
The Pathogen Reduction/HACCP rule applies to over 6,500 federally inspected and 2,300 State-inspected slaughter and processing plants in the United States. Countries that export meat and poultry products to the United States must also meet the requirements of the final rule. Egg products are not covered by the final rule, but FSIS has developed a strategy that will include HACCP to improve the safety of eggs and egg products.
Implementation of HACCP in all plants has been smooth, and the new prevention-oriented meat and poultry inspection system continues to show improvement. With only minor fluctuations, Salmonella prevalences in all classes of products have decreased to levels below the baseline prevalence estimates determined prior to HACCP. The decrease in the prevalence of Salmonella in raw meat and poultry from 1998 to2001 is consistent with reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicating a decline in human illnesses linked to Salmonella during the same time period. As industry has complied with the new pathogen reduction and HACCP requirements, FSIS is strengthening HACCP systems to more effectively protect consumers from unsafe meat and poultry (table 9-2 and table 9-3).
For more information on HACCP and compliance, visit the FSIS Web site at: http://www.fsis.usda.gov and access HACCP Implementation.
HACCP-Based Inspection Models Project (HIMP)
HIMP is a pilot program that began in 1997 and is designed to test whether new government slaughter inspection procedures can be employed that improve food safety and increase consumer protection, and that leads to the more efficient and effective use of inspection resources and personnel. Only meat and poultry plants that slaughter exclusively young, healthy, uniform animalsmarket hogs, fed cattle, or young poultry (including turkeys)are eligible for the project. These animals comprise nearly 90 percent of animals slaughtered in inspected establishments. Eligible plants may volunteer to participate in the pilot program.
Under HIMP, changes are being made in the role of the slaughter inspector. Except for one inspector at the end of the line, inspectors are no longer tied to one point on the inspection line. Instead, inspectors are free to move around the plant and up and down the processing line to perform verification checks and observe operations wherever necessary. Currently, approximately 24establishments that slaughter young chickens, hogs, and turkeys are participating in the pilot project.
Under the project, FSIS has established performance standards for food safety and non-food safety defects, such as bruises, (also known as other consumer protections) that volunteer plants must meet. In order to meet these standards, plants are extending their HACCP systems to address the food safety conditions, and they are developing process control plans to address other consumer practices. Plants are responsible for identifying and removing meat and poultry carcasses that do not meet these standards.
The accomplishments of the new system must meet or exceed the accomplishments of the current system in order for FSIS to consider the new system to be successful. The project is being carried out through an open public process that allows all interested constituents the opportunity to provide input. Data collected in the project to date, by both an independent contractor and FSIS in-plant inspectors, show improvements in both food safety and other consumer protections. FSIS will continue to evaluate and make improvements to HIMP. Plants that are permitted to operate under HIMP will be held accountable for meeting the performance standards and all other regulatory requirements.
Activities Related to Homeland Security
With a strong food safety infrastructure already in place, USDA has been able to focus on fortifying existing programs and improving lines of communication both internally and externally through cooperation with industry, consumers, another government agencies.
FSIS coordinates its efforts with several other agencies committed to preventing biosecurity threats. FSIS works closely with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as with State and local health agencies to share information about illnesses.
E. coli O157:H7
A risk assessment for E. coli O157:H7 in ground beef was completed in September 2001 and submitted to the National Academy of Sciences for peer review. The risk assessment estimates the risks of foodborne illness from the pathogen under current baseline manufacturing conditions and will be revised in response to comments from the peer review. When the review is completed, the agency will use the risk assessment to determine whether changes in its policies on E. coliO157:H7 are needed.
FSIS consumer education programs specifically target pregnant women and newborns, older adults, and people with weakened immune systems caused by cancer treatments, AIDS, diabetes, kidney disease, etc., who are all at risk for becoming seriously ill from eating foods that contain Listeria monocytogenes.
On January 18, 2001, FDA and FSIS released a draft risk assessment of the potential relative risk of listeriosis from eating certain ready-to-eat foods, as well as an action plan designed to reduce the risk of foodborne illness caused by Listeria monocytogenes.
FSIS also has the following four longer-term initiatives:
Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy
In1998, USDA asked the Harvard Center for Risk Analysis to evaluate the robustness of U.S. measures to prevent the spread of BSE or mad cow disease to animals and humans if it were to arise in this country.
Results of this landmark 3-year study showed that the risk of BSE occurring in the United States is extremely low. The report noted that early protection systems put into place by the USDA and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) have been largely responsible for keeping BSE out of the United States and would prevent it from spreading if it ever did enter the country.
Even so, in November 2001, the Under Secretary for Food Safety announced a series of actions the USDA would take, in cooperation with HHS, to strengthen its BSE prevention programs and maintain the Governments vigilance against the disease.
A complete copy of the Harvard Report can be obtained from USDAs official Web site at http://www.fsis.usda.gov/OA/topics/bse.htm. For more information about BSE, also visit http://www.usda.gov or http//:www.hhs.gov
FoodNet and PulseNet
The Foodborne Diseases Active Surveillance Network (FoodNet) is a part of the CDC Emerging Infections Program. FSIS worked in conjunction with CDC, the Food and Drug Administration, and public health laboratories in several States to establish FoodNet in 1995.
FoodNet includes active surveillance for diseases caused by foodborne pathogens, case-control studies to identify risk factors for acquiring foodborne illness, and surveys to assess medical and laboratory practices related to the diagnosis of food borne illness. The baseline and annual data collected are being used to help determine the effectiveness of the Pathogen Reduction; Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points rule and other regulatory actions as well as public education efforts in decreasing the number of cases of major bacterial food borne disease in the United States each year.
In FY 2001, FSIS completed the sixth full year of an agreement with the CDC to conduct active population-based surveillance for food borne diseases (Campylobacter, E. coli O157:H7, Listeria, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio, Yersinia, Crytosporidium and Cyclospora) in Minnesota, Oregon, Connecticut, Georgia, and selected counties in California, Maryland, New York, Colorado, and Tennessee (total population: 30 million). This multi-year study is providing much- needed data regarding the burden of food borne illness in the United States.
PulseNet is a national computer network of public health laboratories that helps to rapidly identify and control outbreaks of food borne illness. The laboratories perform DNA fingerprinting on bacteria that may be food borne and the network permits rapid comparison of the fingerprint patterns through an electronic database at the CDC. PulseNet is an early warning system that links seemingly sporadic human illnesses together and, as a result, more outbreaks can be recognized, especially those that involve many States.
FoodNet and PulseNet are two examples of Federal and State agencies working together to accomplish the agencys public health goals of protecting the public and the meat and poultry supply through improving the tracking of food borne illnesses and outbreaks.
Consumer and Food Safety Education
Consumer education programs focus on key food safety messages to the general public and special high-risk groups that face increased risks from food borne illnessthe very young, the elderly, pregnant women, people who have chronic diseases, and people with compromised immune systems. The agency reaches diverse audiences through the media, information multipliers such as teachers, Extension and health educators, the FSIS Web site, printed materials, videos, USDAs Meat and Poultry Hotline, the internationally distributed newsletter, The Food Safety Educator, and other presentations and exhibits. FSIS produces public service announcements, news features, and partners with other government agencies, industry, and consumer associations on food safety projects.
USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline
In September 2001, the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline initiated a 3-month Spanish language outreach pilot for the Latino community to provide consumers with bilingual service. The pilot outreach efforts were focused in Miami, FL, San Diego, CA, and Newark, NJ.
Callers may speak with a food safety specialistin English or Spanishfrom10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., Eastern time on weekdays year round by dialing the nationwide toll-free number 1-800-535-4555 or in the Washington, DC area, (202) 720-3333. The toll-free number for the hearing impaired (TTY) is1-800-256-7072. An extensive menu of recorded food safety messages in English and Spanish may be heard 24 hours a day. The Hotline can also now be reached bye-mail at: [email protected]
Food Thermometer Education
Partnership for Food Safety Education and Fight
The campaign is represented by the character BAC! (bacteria), the invisible enemy who tries his best to spread contamination wherever he goes. By giving foodborne bacteria a personality, BAC! makes the learning process more meaningful and memorable for consumers of all ages.
For more information about the Partnership for Food Safety Education and Fight BAC!®, visit http://www.fightbac.org/
Listeria monocytogenes Consumer Outreach
The National Food Safety Information Network
National Food Safety Education MonthSM (NFSEM)
FSIS Web Site
Food Service Education
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Disaster relief operations
Disaster relief agencies
can instantly deploy a WiFi network on field
in the immediate aftermath of any disaster.
The network addresses their critical needs of
coordinating activities and optimally utilizing available resources.
Connectivity in developing regions
In several remote areas in developing countries, providing connectivity
has not been feasible due to the lack of infrastructure
and resources. Such areas always remain vulnerable to
disasters due to lack of timely communication. LifeNet
can bridge this gap.
Earthquake monitoring, forest fires detection,
air pollution monitoring, landslide detection, etc.
can be efficiently carried out by wireless sensor networks.
The novel multi-path routing protocol is capable of
providing highly reliable fault-tolerant routing
mechanisms for such networks.
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http://www.thelifenetwork.org/
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| 0.879115 | 163 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Other Prize Competitions
Click here for links leading to other competitions and related activities external to Centennial Challenges.
For NASA media support regarding Centennial Challenges, please contact:
Marshall Space Flight Center
This challenge is a practical demonstration of wireless power transmission.
This is a challenge in materials engineering in which the tether provided by each team is subjected to a pull test.
The Green Flight Challenge is for super-efficient, quiet, and safe aircraft that can average at least 100 mph on a 200-mile flight while achieving an efficiency equivalent to at least 200 passenger miles per gallon.
In this challenge, teams designed and built robotic machines to excavate simulated lunar soil (regolith).
The Lunar Lander Challenge involved building and flying a rocket-powered vehicle that simulates the flight of a vehicle on the Moon.
The Astronaut Glove Challenge seeked improvements to glove design that reduce the effort needed to perform tasks in space and improve the durability of the glove.
In this challenge, teams were required to generate breathable oxygen from simulated lunar soil.
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| 0.899966 | 216 | 2.53125 | 3 |
The cholesterol conundrum
The tricky balance between “good” and “bad” lipids
It’s a crucial component of our cell membranes. It helps prevent the diffusion of small water-soluble molecules into the cell, and keeps membranes fluid enough to maintain their firm, but pliable, consistency.
A sterol molecule, cholesterol also is the precursor for steroid hormones like estrogen, testosterone and cortisol, which are important for reproduction, metabolism, immune function and stress responses.
What gives cholesterol either a “bad” or “good” reputation is the company it keeps—the lipoproteins that transport it through the body.
Lipoproteins are made by both the intestine and the liver and contain cholesterol, triglycerides and proteins. Triglycerides are the primary means by which the body transports and stores fatty acids, the basic unit of fat that our cells burn for energy.
High-density lipoprotein (HDL) is considered to be “good,” because it carts excess cholesterol off to the liver, where it is excreted in bile. Low-density lipoprotein (LDL), on the other hand, contributes to atherosclerosis.
LDL begins as a very low density lipoprotein (VLDL) produced in the liver. VLDL can be broken down in the bloodstream into fatty acids to provide an immediate source of fuel, and it also transports triglycerides to fat cells for later use.
In either case, after giving up its cargo of fat, VLDL becomes LDL, which then transports cholesterol to peripheral tissues. In some tissues like the skin, accumulation of cholesterol is inconsequential. The problem starts when cholesterol builds up along artery walls.
“For the same reason you don’t want too much calcium in your water, you don’t want too much LDL in your plasma—because your pipes will get encrusted,” says Sergio Fazio, M.D., Ph.D., who co-directs the Atherosclerosis Research Unit at Vanderbilt University Medical Center with MacRae F. Linton, M.D.
The artery wall doesn’t like the accumulation of cholesterol, and recruits cells from the blood, mainly macrophages, to try to clean it up. These macrophages become engorged with cholesterol, and are known as “foam cells” due to their bubbly appearance.
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| 0.925509 | 511 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Foreign relations of SyriaArab neighbors, and achieving a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace settlement, which includes the return of the Golan Heights, are the primary goals of President Bashar al-Assad's foreign policy.
Relations With Other Arab Countries
Syria's relations with the Arab world were strained by its support for Iran during the Iran-Iraq War, which began in 1980. With the end of the war in August 1988, Syria began a slow process of reintegration with the other Arab states. In 1989, it joined with the rest of the Arab world in readmitting Egypt to the 19th Arab League Summit at Casablanca.
This decision, prompted in part by Syria's need for Arab League support of its own position in Lebanon, marked the end of the Syrian-led opposition to Egypt and the 1977-1979 Sadat initiatives toward Israel, as well as the Camp David Accords. It coincided with the end of the 10-year Arab subsidy to Syria and other front-line Arab countries pledged at Baghdad in 1978. Syria reestablished full diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1989. In the 1990-1991 Gulf War, Syria joined other Arab states in the U.S.-led multinational coalition against Iraq. In 1998, Syria began a slow rapprochement with Iraq, driven primarily by economic needs. Syria continues to play an active pan-Arab role, which has intensified as the peace process collapsed in September 2000 with the start of the second Palestinian uprising (Intifada) against Israel. Though it voted in favor of UNSCR 1441 in 2002, Syria was against coalition military action in Iraq in 2003. However, the Syrian government accepted UNSCR 1483 (after being absent for the actual vote), which lifted sanctions on Iraq and established a framework to assist the Iraqi people in determining their political future and rebuilding their economy.
Involvement in Lebanon
Syria plays an important role in Lebanon by virtue of its history, size, power, and economy. Lebanon was part of post-Ottoman Syria until 1926. The presence of Syrian troops in Lebanon dates to 1976, when President Hafez Al-Assad intervened in the Lebanese civil war on behalf of Maronite Christians. Following the 1982 Israeli invasion of Lebanon, Syrian and Israeli forces clashed in eastern Lebanon. The late U.S. Ambassador Philip Habib negotiated a cease-fire in Lebanon and the subsequent evacuation of PLO fighters from West Beirut. However, Syrian opposition blocked implementation of the May 17, 1983, Lebanese-Israeli accord on the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Following the February 1984 withdrawal of the UN Multinational Force from Beirut and the departure of most of Israel's forces from southern Lebanon a year later, Syria launched an unsuccessful initiative to reconcile warring Lebanese factions and establish a permanent cease-fire. Syria actively participated in the March-September 1989 fighting between the Christian Lebanese Forces and Muslim forces allied with Syria. In 1989, Syria endorsed the Charter of National Reconciliation, or "Taif Accord," a comprehensive plan for ending the Lebanese conflict negotiated under the auspices of Saudi Arabia, Algeria, and Morocco.
At the request of Lebanese President Hrawi, the Syrian military took joint action with the Lebanese Armed Forces on October 13, 1990, to oust rebel Gen. Michel Aoun who had defied efforts at reconciliation with the legitimate Government of Lebanon. The process of disarming and disbanding the many Lebanese militias began in earnest in early 1991. In May 1991, Lebanon and Syria signed the treaty of brotherhood, cooperation, and coordination called for in the Taif Accord, which is intended to provide the basis for many aspects of Syrian-Lebanese relations. The treaty provides the most explicit recognition to date by the Syrian Government of Lebanon's independence and sovereignty.
According to the U.S. interpretation of the Taif Accord, Syria and Lebanon were to have decided on the redeployment of Syrian forces from Beirut and other coastal areas of Lebanon by September 1992. Israeli occupation of Lebanon until May 2000, the breakdown of peace negotiations between Syria and Israel that same year, and intensifying Arab/Israeli tensions since the start of the second Palestinian uprising in September 2000 have helped delay full implementation of the Taif Accords. The United Nations declared that Israel's withdrawal from southern Lebanon fulfilled the requirements of UN Security Council Resolution 425. However, Syria and Lebanon claimed that UNSCR 425 had not been fully implemented because Israel did not withdraw from an area of the Golan Heights called Sheba Farms, which had been occupied by Israel in 1967, and which Syria now claimed was part of Lebanon. The United Nations does not recognize this claim. However, Lebanese resistance groups such as Hizballah use it to justify attacks against Israeli forces in that region, creating a potentially dangerous flashpoint along the Lebanon-Israeli border.
Syria was an active belligerent in the 1967 Arab-Israeli War, which resulted in Israel's occupation of the Golan Heights and the city of Quneitra. Following the October 1973 Arab-Israeli War, which left Israel in occupation of additional Syrian territory, Syria accepted UN Security Council Resolution 338, which signaled an implicit acceptance of Resolution 242. Resolution 242, which became the basis for the peace process negotiations begun in Madrid, calls for a just and lasting Middle East peace to include withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in 1967; termination of the state of belligerency; and acknowledgment of the sovereignty, territorial integrity, and political independence of all regional states and of their right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries.
As a result of the mediation efforts of then U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Syria and Israel concluded a disengagement agreement in May 1974, enabling Syria to recover territory lost in the October war and part of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel since 1967, including Quneitra. The two sides have effectively implemented the agreement, which is monitored by UN forces.
In December 1981, the Israeli Knesset voted to extend Israeli law to the part of the Golan Heights over which Israel retained control. The UN Security Council subsequently passed a resolution calling on Israel to rescind this measure. Syria participated in the Middle East Peace Conference in Madrid in October 1991. Negotiations were conducted intermittently through the 1990s, and came very close to succeeding. However, the parties were unable to come to an agreement over Syria's nonnegotiable demand that Israel withdraw to the positions it held on June 4, 1967. The peace process collapsed following the outbreak of the second Palestinian (Intifada) uprising in September 2000, though Syria continues to call for a comprehensive settlement based on UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, and the land-for-peace formula adopted at the 1991 Madrid conference.
Tensions between Israel and Syria increased as the Intifada dragged on, primarily as a result of Syria's unwillingness to stop giving sanctuary to Palestinian terrorist groups conducting operations against Israel. In October 2003, following a suicide bombing carried out by a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Haifa that killed 20 Israeli citizens, Israeli Defense Forces attacked a suspected Palestinian terrorist training camp 15 kilometers north of Damascus. This was the first such Israeli attack deep inside Syrian territory since the 1973 war. As this report went to press, Syria announced it would respond diplomatically, and asked the UN Security Council to condemn the Israeli action.
Membership in International Organizations
Syria is a member of the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa, Arab Fund for Economic and Social Development, Arab League, Arab Monetary Fund, Council of Arab Economic Unity, Customs Cooperation Council, Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia, Food and Agricultural Organization, Group of 24, Group of 77, International Atomic Energy Agency, International Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Civil Aviation Organization, International Chamber of Commerce, International Development Association, Islamic Development Bank, International Fund for Agricultural Development, International Finance Corporation, International Labor Organization, International Monetary Fund, International Maritime Organization, INTELSAT, INTERPOL, International Olympic Committee, International Organization for Standardization, International Telecommunication Union, League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Non-Aligned Movement, Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries, Organization of the Islamic Conference, United Nations, UN Commission on Human Rights, UN Conference on Trade and Development, UN Industrial Development Organization, UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East, Universal Postal Union, World Federation of Trade Unions, World Health Organization, World Meteorological Organization, and World Tourism Organization.
Disputes - international: Golan Heights is Israeli occupied; dispute with upstream riparian Turkey over Turkish water development plans for the Tigris and Euphrates rivers; Syrian troops in northern, central, and eastern Lebanon since October 1976
- See also : Syria
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Schools in California and beyond are transitioning away from books to computer based learning. In many cases they’re using wireless computers (iPads) to teach at least two subjects, math and language arts. This is part of a new federal curriculum called Common Core.
In my comments to the Sebastopol Union School District I advocate for an alternative technology plan creating a hardwired computer lab for testing and test preparation. Click here to view the original Letter to SUSD
In Sebastopol the school district is presenting their technology plan on Wednesday September 18 at 4:30 at 7611 Huntley Ave.9/16/2013 To: Members of the School Board, staff, and teachers Sebastopol Union School District 7611 Huntley Ave. Sebastopol CA. 95472
Re: Comments on Common Core Technology Plan
The Sebastopol Union School District (SUSD) board is considering adopting a technology plan that converts students from book based learning to computer based learning and testing. This will be presented on September 18 at the board meeting as agenda item 9.1,1, and possibly be adopted at the next board meeting in October. As a parent of a sixth grader at Brookhaven, and director of the EMF Safety Network, I ask SUSD to apply the precautionary principle and adopt an alternative plan that reduces and limits children’s screen time and wireless exposure.
An alternative plan is to create a hardwired computer lab, for testing and test preparation, instead of using computers in classrooms for lessons and testing. This request is based on health advocacy warnings and recommendations from the World Health Organization, American Academy of Pediatrics, Kaiser Permanente, American Academy of Environmental Medicine and other medical and science experts.
According to a Kaiser Family Foundation survey in 2010, children between the ages of 8-18 spend an average of 7 hours and 38 minutes on technology every day.2
- How many more hours of screen time will children have if schools convert to computer based learning?
- Will children also be expected to do their homework on computers?
- Will the new technology and supporting infrastructure be wired or wireless?
- Are parents adequately informed and included in the decision making process on whether or not to increase their children’s computer use?
Apply the Precautionary Principle to Ensure Safer Learning in Schools
The Precautionary Principle is based on ‘do no harm’ and ‘better safe than sorry’ philosophy. “When an activity raises threats of harm to the environment or human health, precautionary measures should be taken even if some cause and effect relationships are not fully established scientifically. 3
Kaiser Permanente recommends limiting screen time to less than 2 hours a day for teens, less than 1 hour a day for children ages 3 through 12, and no screen time for children under 3. 4 Kaiser explains: “Alot of kids spend more time in front of a screen than they do reading, talking with family and friends, or playing outside. It’s also affecting their health. Too much screen time is associated with: violent behavior, poor school performance, lower reading scores, sleep pattern disturbances, being overweight, consumption of junk food and bad habits later in life (like tobacco and alcohol abuse).”
The American Academy of Pediatrics states,“…studies consistently show that older children and adolescents utilize media at incredibly high rates, which potentially contributes to obesity and other health and developmental risks.”The Academy supports limiting screen time and media use for children and adolescents. 5
Wireless is a Health Risk and a Possible Carcinogen
In May 2011,the World Health Organization classified wireless radiation a possible carcinogen6. This classification is based on studies linking cell phone radiation to brain cancer, but it also applies to all wireless devices, including wi-fi routers and computers.
The American Academy of Environment Medicine (AAEM) in a letter7 to Los Angeles Unified School district (LAUSD) discusses why precaution for wireless is warranted and strongly recommends hardwiring computers in schools. AAEM writes, “There is consistent emerging science that shows people, especially children are affected by the increasing exposure to wireless radiation….Adverse health effects from wireless radio frequency fields, such as learning disabilities, altered immune responses, and headaches, clearly exist and are well documented in the scientific literature”.The AAEM states 3% of children and staff will be immediately affected 30% will have time-delayed reactions.
Apple provides warnings about health risks of iPads8 including headaches, blackouts, seizures, convulsion, eye or muscle twitching, loss of awareness, involuntary movement, or disorientation. There are consumer complaints about iPad health symptoms on the Apple support Forum.9“Is it just me or someone else also feels dizzy or nausea after using iPad for a while?
“YOU ARE NOT ALONE!!! I’ve been getting it too…”
” I have the same problem you have… I looove the ipad but I don’t think I can keep it as I get nausea and feel a bit dizzy just using it for a few minutes.”
“… just today finished series of tests…echocardiogram, brainscan, ultrasound on carotid artery,..the works…to diagnose dizziness, and even one fainting episode..since Xmas. Guess what I got for Christmas…iPad…”
Federal Safety Guidelines Don’t Protect Children
The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) wireless guidelines are for short term (30 minutes) thermal exposures only. There are no safety guidelines specific to children. The FCC is currently reviewing their guidelines, based on a US Government Accountability Office request.10
Dr. Martha Herbert, a Harvard pediatric neurologist and neuroscientist writes,“Children are more vulnerable than adults, and children with chronic illnesses and/or neurodevelopmental disabilities are even more vulnerable… Current technologies were designed and promulgated without taking account of biological impacts other than thermal impacts. We now know that there are a large array of impacts that have nothing to do with the heating of tissue. The claim from wifi proponents that the only concern is thermal impacts is now definitively outdated scientifically.” 11
Dr. Ted Litovitz, physicist, stated many studies are showing biological effects below the FCC thermal limit, including psychological changes, stress response, DNA damage, and affects on the immune system, heart, and blood brain barrier. According to Dr. Litovitz biological effects are seen at 75,000 times below the FCC guideline!12
Create a Hardwired Computer Lab and Limit Screen Time
Faced with new testing standards and a new common core curriculum the schools are caught between new government mandates and health authorities safety recommendations. SUSD should not mandate computer based learning and computers in the classrooms. Instead, use the funding to create a hard wired computer lab, and limit children’s use to testing, and test preparation. Provide waivers for those parents, or students opposed, or medically unable to test on computers.
Some students will not feel well in a computer based environment and this will affect their ability to concentrate and learn. In Canada one family has sued the school district because the wi-fi in school makes both their children sick. With public schools throughout California and beyond transitioning to wireless computer based learning, this problem will only increase. What will SUSD do to keep more vulnerable children safe?
Furthermore, while you have the funding to upgrade technology, its a great opportunity to ensure all internet connections, including teachers and staff computers are hard wired for the safety of students, teachers and staff. Please keep the phone lines within the school wired and corded too!
Please feel free to contact me with your comments and or questions. I regret I will not be able to present this information in person on Wednesday.
Thank you for your consideration,Sandi Maurer EMF Safety Network PO BOX 1016 Sebastopol, CA 95473
“I have no doubt in my mind that at the present time, the greatest polluting element in the earth’s environment is the proliferation of electromagnetic fields. I consider that to be far greater on a global scale than warming, and the increase in chemical elements in the environment.’’- Dr Robert O. Becker, Author of Cross Currents and The Body Electric
2Generation M2: Media in the Lives of 8- to 18-Year-Oldshttp://kff.org/other/event/generation-m2-media-in-the-lives-of/
4 Kaiser Permanente: “Limit Screen Time for healthier Kids”
5 AAP letter to the Federal Communications Commission dated July 12, 2012 http://www.scribd.com/doc/104230961/American-Academy-of-Pediatrics-letter-to-the-FCC
9 Apple Support Forum https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2399586?start=0&tstart=0
The BioInitiative 2012 Report is an analysis by 29 independent scientists and health experts from around the world about possible risks from wireless technologies and electromagnetic fields. http://www.bioinitiative.org
Wi-fi in schools video: A ten minute introduction to wireless precaution in schools (Australia) http://youtu.be/GJPTzaNkcUk
Professor Olle Johansson Warns of Wireless DNA Damage to children / two minute video http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=9990
Is Wi-fi Safe? http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=10576 video
Excerpts from eight expert letters submitted to the LAUSD, by Joel Moskovitz, PhD, Director, Center for Family and Community Health, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley: http://www.saferemr.com/2013_03_01_archive.html
‘Safe Schools 2012′. Medical and Scientific Experts Call for Safe Technologies in Schools. http://wifiinschools.org.uk/resources/safeschools2012.pdf
Scientific Panel on Electromagnetic Field Health Risks: The Selentun Statement
EMF World Concerns Summary: A compilation of what government, public health and environment organizations and officials, independent scientists, health advocacy groups and activists are advocating around the world in response to the proliferation of EMF, and especially wireless radiation. http://emfsafetynetwork.org/?p=116
Wi-fi in Schools, a consumer advocacy website focused on wi-fi in schools: http://wifiinschools.com/
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Alarmed by the sinking of the Titanic, Reginald Fessenden, a Canadian radio pioneer, began exploring in earnest how a high-frequency oscillator could be used detect icebergs in conditions of low visibility. In 1906, Fessenden had made the first wireless broadcast ever, to United Fruit’s banana boats. By 1914, he had patented an electromechanical oscillator and deployed one, essentially an underwater loudspeaker, in the frigid North Atlantic. In “Sounding Pole to Sea Beam,” Albert E. Theberge writes:
While conducting this experiment, Fessenden, who was quite seasick, and his co-workers, Robert F. Blake and William Gunn, serendipitously noted an echo that returned about two seconds after the outgoing pulse. This turned out to be a return from the bottom. “Thus, on just one cruise…. Fessenden demonstrated that both horizontal and vertical echoes could be generated within the sea.”
The breakthrough in echo-location technology proved useful on passenger ships. During World War I and World War II, fathometers and sonar helped detect submarines. Oceanographers used the technology to map to ocean floor.
The accelerated application of underwater acoustics—enlivened by the Titanic disaster—also birthed another profound change in the ocean: the ability to easily locate fish. “As the 1950s Gorton’s advertisement put it,” Mark Kurlansky writes in Cod, “‘Thanks to these methods, fishing is no longer the hit-or-miss proposition.’” And fish stocks have never been the same.
Image: “The United States Revenue Cutter MIAMI close to an iceberg similar to that which destroyed the TITANIC,” from Scientific American, 1915/NOAA.
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Disability tends to be seen as an anomaly or even an abnormality, but as disability activists constantly strive to emphasize, it’s a condition that we will all inevitably experience, since ageing itself is a form of disability. This is why activists and theorists sometimes refer to non-disabled people as “temporarily abled,” to call attention to the fact that something as simple as twisting an ankle can cause “disability.”
The universality of disability is underscored in the results of a new international survey from the World Health Organization and the World Bank, who announced that nearly 15 percent of the world’s population – or almost 1 in every 7 people – can be categorized as “disabled.” And this estimate is only likely to grow as the global population ages.
In the introduction to the report, disabled scientist Stephen Hawking writes that we have a “moral duty to remove the barriers to participation, and to invest sufficient funding and expertise to unlock the vast potential of people with disabilities.”
The report is quite impressive, and I encourage you to take a look at the full document. The researchers ran into some problems in creating a global concept of “disability,” since, as NPR blogger Joanne Silberner points out, “many countries don’t collect numbers carefully, and definitions of disability differ from place to place.”
The most common disability worldwide is depression, followed by hearing and visual problems – perhaps not the kind of disability that one thinks of immediately, but obviously impariments that are significant and far-reaching.
Disability is clearly a development issue, especially since poverty may increase the risk. But the authors are careful to frame disability as a human rights issue, one where prevention efforts should not stigmatize. “Viewing disability as a human rights issue is not incompatible with prevention of health conditions,” the report reads, “as long as prevention respects the rights and dignity of people with disabilities, for example, in the use of language and imagery.”
All of the report has implications for how we address disability and make sure that being disabled does not mean that people cannot function as full members of their socities. After all, since it’s a condition we will all experience, it’s in our best interest to make sure that disability becomes an important human rights issue. Sometimes this means rethinking the way we view assistance to disabled people, not as a luxury but as a necessity. After all, as the report authors write, “Any persons with disabilities need assistance and support to achieve a good quality of life and to be able to participate in social and economic life on an equal basis with others.”
The solutions – involving communities, building up networks of caregivers, and creating enabling environments – are ambitious. But they’re necessary for the kind of equality that all people deserve, so that quality of life is not a luxury that only the wealthy can afford.
Photo from Wikimedia Commons.
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CINCINNATI (AP) -- The Ten Commandments scroll -- one of the most important of the Dead Sea Scrolls in existence -- is going on display in Cincinnati beginning Friday.
The tightly guarded scroll, one of the approximately 900 Dead Sea Scrolls in existence, can be seen through April 14 at the Cincinnati Museum Center.
The Ten Commandments scroll will be added for the last 17 days of the exhibit "Dead Sea Scrolls: Life and Faith in Ancient Times," which also features 10 other scroll fragments from Israel. The scrolls are of great historical and religious significance because they include the earliest known surviving manuscripts of text included in the Hebrew Bible.
The Ten Commandments scroll is one of only two ancient manuscripts to feature the commandments, the foundation of Jewish and Christian religions. The other one, known as the Nash Papyrus, is at Cambridge University in England.
Written in Hebrew on a narrow strip of parchment, the scroll is believed to be between 2,010 and 2,060 years old. It is a reasonably well-preserved fragment, including one piece sewn onto another.
The scroll's arrival in Cincinnati is huge for the Museum Center, which has been negotiating with the Israel Antiquities Authority for months to show it.
"From the way they set up its restrictions for travel, this is their most protected," David Duszynski, the museum's vice president of featured experiences, told The Cincinnati Enquirer (http://cin.ci/13wdwzT) for a story Wednesday. "It was an opportunity that we couldn't resist bringing to Cincinnati."
Duszynski said the Antiquities Authority requires that this particular scroll be stored in darkness for one year after every 10 days of exhibition, although Cincinnati was able to get that display period extended to 17 days.
When the Dead Sea Scrolls exhibit was in New York early last year, the Ten Commandments scroll was briefly displayed, but it was not part of the Philadelphia stop and will not be at the next venue, Boston. It has come to North America only twice before, to Toronto and San Diego.
The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in caves near the ancient Israel desert settlement of Qumran, near the sea, in the 1940s and '50s. There are different theories as to who wrote them.
Information from: The Cincinnati Enquirer, http://www.enquirer.com
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Oilseed meals are commonly fed to pigs and poultry as sources of protein. The concentration and digestibility of amino acids in oilseed meals has been studied, but these ingredients supply other nutrients in the diet as well. Now researchers at the University of Illinois are providing a more complete picture of the nutritional value that oilseed meal provides.
A team led by Hans H. Stein, a U of I animal sciences professor, evaluated canola seeds, canola meal, cottonseed meal, sunflower seeds, and two types of sunflower meal. The researchers conducted two experiments with growing pigs. In the first, they determined the digestible and metabolizable energy of each ingredient, and in the second they determined the standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus with and without the addition of microbial phytase.
Stein said from the results, they can conclude that is it possible to include a number of different oilseed porducts in diets, which are fed to pigs to meet the requirements for digestible phosphorus and energy."
He added that the current data provides feed formulators, nutritionists, and swine producers with the data needed to include different oilseed products in diets that are fed to pigs. The ingredients that are most economical to include in diets depend on local availability, as well as cost.
Stein's team found that the concentration of digestible energy in sunflower seeds (6,105 kcal/kg DM) and canola seeds (5,375 kcal/kg DM) was greater than that in soybean meal (4,518 kcal/kg DM) or corn (4,040 kcal/kg DM). Canola meal, sunflower meal, dehulled sunflower meal, and cottonseed meal contained less digestible energy (3,652, 3,238, 3,095, and 3,016 kcal/kg DM respectively) than soybean meal or corn. Metabolizable energy values followed the same pattern: 5,739 kcal/kg DM in sunflower seeds, 5,098 kcal/kg in canola seeds DM, 4,035 kcal/kg DM in soybean meal, 3,942 kcal/kg DM in corn, 3,306 kcal/kg DM in canola meal, 2,998 kcal/kg DM in sunflower meal, 2,860 kcal/kg DM in dehulled sunflower meal, and 2,700 kcal/kg DM in cottonseed meal.
With no phytase added to the diets, the standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus ranged from as little as 37.4 percent in sunflower meal to 62 percent in soybean meal. Phosphorus digestibility in sunflower seeds (51.7 percent) and canola meal (58 percent) was not different from that in soybean meal, but the value for all other ingredients was less than in soybean meal.
The standardized total tract digestibility of phosphorus in all ingredients improved when phytase was added to the diets, ranging from 54.9 percent in dehulled sunflower meal to 74.6 percent in canola meal and 78 percent in soybean meal. “If phytase is added to the diets, the digestibility of phosphorus in canola seeds, canola meal, and sunflower seeds is not different from the digestibility in soybean meal, but the digestibility of phosphorus in the other ingredients is less than in soybean meal,” Stein explained.
The study, "Energy concentration and phosphorus digestibility in canola, cottonseed, and sunflower products fed to growing pigs," was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Animal Science. Co-authors are Diego Rodríguez and Rommel Sulabo, both former members of the Stein Monogastric Nutrition lab, and current Ph. D. candidate Caroline González-Vega. The full text is online at http://pubs.aic.ca/doi/full/10.4141/cjas2013-020.
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Science NOW | Ken Croswell | 2012 Feb 21
Some people reach for the stars, but the stars themselves seem to be reaching for the planets. Although Earth and its planetary neighbors were born with the sun, a new study says billions of stars in our galaxy likely grabbed planets from the depths of space. The finding may explain the puzzling presence of worlds located far from their suns and even suggests that our solar system could harbor a planet that lurks unseen well beyond Pluto.
Planets form from a disk of gas and dust orbiting a star and so should not exist beyond the disk's edge. In recent years, however, astronomers have reported giant planets more than 100 sun-Earth distances from their stars—much farther out than Pluto, whose mean distance from the sun is 39.5 times greater than Earth's.
Now astronomers Hagai Perets of the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Thijs Kouwenhoven of the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics at Peking University in China say the far-out planets once roamed space free of any star, but they came in from the cold when their newfound suns captured them. Such free-floating planets arise when other planets kick them out of their homes; astronomers can detect them because their gravity magnifies the light of more distant stars. These observations suggest free-floating planets are roughly as abundant as stars.
Because most stars are born with others, Perets and Kouwenhoven ran computer simulations to see what happens when a star cluster contains free-floating planets. As the scientists report in work submitted to The Astrophysical Journal, if the number of free-floating planets equals the number of stars, then 3% to 6% of the stars succeed in capturing a planet, and some stars capture two or three. Most of the captured planets end up hundreds or thousands of times farther from their stars than Earth is from the sun. Furthermore, most captured planets have orbits tilted to those of native-born planets, and half the captured planets revolve around their stars backward.
"It's an intriguing suggestion to account for an unsolved puzzle," astronomer Ray Jayawardhana of the University of Toronto in Canada says. He cautions, though, that the number of free-floating planets is poorly known. Gregory Laughlin, an astronomer at the University of California, Santa Cruz, echoes this concern but says that if free-floating planets are common, the new work is probably correct.
The more mass a star has, the greater its gravity and the greater its chance of catching a passing planet. "Black holes could host planets," Perets says. A black hole forms when a massive star explodes and collapses. The rapid mass loss liberates any orbiting planets, but a black hole is so massive it can capture other worlds, he says.
Our sun is more massive than most other stars. "The sun itself could have captured another planet," says Perets, who puts the odds of such a capture at a few percent. Any captured world must revolve so far beyond Pluto that its gravity does not perturb the known planets. Far out indeed.
On the origin of planets at very wide orbits from re-capture of free floating planets - Hagai B. Perets, M. B. N. Kouwenhoven
- arXiv.org > astro-ph > arXiv:1202.2362 > 10 Feb 2012
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Turmeric (Curcuma longa) a member of the ginger family, is the subject of intense scientific research evaluating it’s anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. It is the seasoning that gives curry powder its yellow color and has been used for thousands of years in Chinese and Indian medicine as a natural remedy for a variety of ailments. Curcumin, the active compound found in turmeric, has beneficial effects for a variety of diseases and conditions. And it is curcumin that gives turmeric its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activity.
In a recent report in the American Journal of Epidemiology, researchers investigated the association between curry consumption level and cognitive function in elderly Asians. Those who consumed curry “occasionally” and “often or very often” had significantly better scores on specific tests designed to measure cognitive function than did subjects who “never or rarely” consumed curry. The results of this study are not surprising given the strong association of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia with inflammation and the powerful anti-inflammatory properties of curcumin.. But the relationship of turmeric to brain health, and specifically to Alzheimer’s, goes much deeper. One of the important elements of Alzheimer’s disease is the finding of elevated amounts of a specific damaging protein in the brains of Alzheimer’s sufferers, amyloid protein. Indeed, amyloid is considered one of the hallmarks of this disease. New research published in the Journal of Neuroscience Research has shown that curcumin actually inhibits the formation of amyloid protein. So promising were these findings that the author of the study concluded that curcumin “could be a key molecule for the development of therapeutics for Alzheimer’s disease.”
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On January 31st, the anniversary date of the Thirteenth Amendment that abolished slavery, the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum Traveling Abolition Museum exhibit was transported from Case Library at Colgate University to Memorial Library at SUNY Cortland for Black History Month.
The exhibit had been installed at Colgate for Martin Luther King Jr. commemorations at the college. Milton C. Sernett Ph.D. professor emeritus Syracuse University developed the text and visuals for the traveling museum that cover the history of American Abolition from slavery in the Colonial era to the Civil War.
Dr. Sernett, a member of the Cabinet of Freedom for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) in Peterboro, will also be presenting at SUNY Cortland on the Abolition Crusade in Upstate New York. Robert Djed Snead, a Jermain Wesley Loguen reenactor who performed at Loguen’s NAHOF induction in October 2011, will perform and present Loguen at SUNY Cortland. For the same month The History Center in Ithaca will be hosting the John Brown Lives! Timbuctoo exhibit during Black History Month. Timbuctoo explains Gerrit Smith’s plan to gift 3000 African-American men with 40 acres of land.
The 20th Annual Peterboro Civil War Weekend June 9 and 10, 2012 will join in the nation’s commemoration of the Sesquicentennial of the Civil War. Military battles were not waged on Peterboro soil, but Peterboro was the center of human rights activities that waged war against slavery, and those activities led to the ignition of the Civil War. Dr. Sernett will present The Terrible Swift Sword: Abolitionists and the Civil War. Also, Alice Keesey Mecoy, will return to NAHOF to share insights into her great, great, grandfather John Brown. NAHOF will exhibit a copy of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation gifted by the New York State library. Lincoln presented his draft of the Preliminary Emancipation Proclamation to his Cabinet on September 22, 1862. The New York State Museum will open an exhibit on September 22, 2012 about the Proclamation which was briefly owned by Gerrit Smith of Peterboro.
Sunday, July 1 at 2 p.m. at the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro Dr. David Anderson of the Akwaaba Program at Nazareth College will portray Frederick Douglass’ in the delivery of Douglass’ famous Fifth of July speech. Saturday, August 4 the third annual 21st C. Emancipation Day will be held in Peterboro. On Sunday, August 5 Lesley Still Gist will detail the famous Underground Railroad work of William Still and his reunion with his long lost brother Peter Gist who came to Peterboro to seek help from Gerrit Smith. Saturday, August 18 at 7 p.m. Hugh Humphreys will present on the great Cazenovia protest against the 1850 Fugitive Slave Law.
The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum Commemorations October 20, 2012 at Colgate University include the unveiling of Jermain Wesley Loguen’s banner for the Hall of Fame, as well as that of Abby Kelley Foster and George Gavin Ritchie for their risk-laden pursuit of freedom for slaves. Loguen’s afternoon symposium will be presented by Robert Djed Snead, and Snead will also re-enact Loguen during the evening celebrations.
Heritage New York Underground Railroad Trail and National Park Service National Historic Landmark exhibits on the Underground Railroad, abolition, and African-Americans of Peterboro are open from 1 – 5 pm Saturdays and Sundays May – September at the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark and the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum.
Photo: Robert Djed Snead portrays Syracuse Underground Railroad station conductor Jermain Wesley Loguen at Loguen’s October 2011 Induction to the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in Peterboro.
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Glioma Susceptibility 2
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Introduction
Glioma Susceptibility 2: A glioma is a rare type of tumor that occurs from glial cells that make up the central nervous system. These tumors usually occur in the brain but can also occur in the spinal cord and other nerves such as the optic nerve. Symptoms depend on the size and location of the tumor. Some people have particular genetic anomalies which makes them more susceptible to developing a glioma. Type 2 is linked to a genetic defect on chromosome 10q23.31.
More detailed information about the symptoms,
causes, and treatments of Glioma Susceptibility 2 is available below.
Symptoms of Glioma Susceptibility 2
See full list of 25
symptoms of Glioma Susceptibility 2
Treatments for Glioma Susceptibility 2
Read more about treatments for Glioma Susceptibility 2
Home Diagnostic Testing
Home medical testing related to Glioma Susceptibility 2:
- Colon & Rectal Cancer: Home Testing
- Nerve Neuropathy: Related Home Testing:
Wrongly Diagnosed with Glioma Susceptibility 2?
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Complications
Review possible medical complications related to Glioma Susceptibility 2:
Causes of Glioma Susceptibility 2
Read more about causes of Glioma Susceptibility 2.
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Undiagnosed Conditions
Commonly undiagnosed diseases in related medical categories:
Misdiagnosis and Glioma Susceptibility 2
Undiagnosed stroke leads to misdiagnosed aphasia: BBC News UK reported on a man who
had been institutionalized and treated for mental illness...read more »
Dementia may be a drug interaction: A common scenario in aged care is for
a patient to show mental decline to dementia.
Whereas this can, of course, occur due to various medical conditions,
such as a stroke or ...read more »
Spitz nevi misdiagnosed as dangerous melanoma skin cancer: One possible misdiagnosis to
consider in lieu of melanoma is spitz nevi.
See melanoma and spitz nevi....read more »
Mild traumatic brain injury often remains undiagnosed: Although the symptoms
of severe brain injury are hard to miss,
it is less clear for milder injuries, or even those causing a mild...read more »
MTBI misdiagnosed as balance problem: When a person has symptoms
such as vertigo or dizziness, a diagnosis of brain injury may go overlooked.
This is particularly true of mild traumatic brain injury (MTBI), for...read more »
Brain pressure condition often misdiagnosed as dementia: A condition
that results from an excessive pressure of CSF within the brain is often misdiagnosed.
It may be misdiagnosed as Parkinson's disease or dementia (such as ...read more »
Post-concussive brain injury often misdiagnosed: A study found that soldiers who had
suffered a concussive injury in battle often were misdiagnosed on their return.
A variety of symptoms can occur in post-concussion syndrome...read more »
Children with migraine often misdiagnosed: A migraine often fails to be
correctly diagnosed in pediatric patients.
These patients are not the typical migraine sufferers, but migraines can also occur in children.
See misdiagnosis...read more »
Vitamin B12 deficiency under-diagnosed: The condition of Vitamin B12 deficiency
is a possible misdiagnosis of various conditions, such as multiple sclerosis (see symptoms of multiple sclerosis).
See symptoms of Vitamin B12 deficiency...read more »
Read more about Misdiagnosis and Glioma Susceptibility 2
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Research Doctors & Specialists
Research related physicians and medical specialists:
Other doctor, physician and specialist research services:
Hospitals & Clinics: Glioma Susceptibility 2
Research quality ratings and patient safety measures
for medical facilities in specialties related to Glioma Susceptibility 2:
Hospital & Clinic quality ratings »
Choosing the Best Hospital:
More general information, not necessarily in relation to Glioma Susceptibility 2,
on hospital performance and surgical care quality:
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Rare Types
Rare types of diseases and disorders in related medical categories:
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Animations
More Glioma Susceptibility 2 animations & videos
Glioma Susceptibility 2: Broader Related Topics
Types of Glioma Susceptibility 2
User Interactive Forums
Read about other experiences, ask a question about Glioma Susceptibility 2, or answer someone else's question, on our message boards:
Contents for Glioma Susceptibility 2:
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An exclamation mark (!) is a punctuation mark. It is used to show strong emotion at the end of a sentence or after an interjection.
The use of a space in before an exclamation mark is incorrect.
In coding, "!" sometimes means not. In Mathematics, the use of an exclamation mark can be used for the function factorial.
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| 0.818454 | 75 | 3.625 | 4 |
Wide Variety of Breeds Born of Few Genes
By SINDYA N. BHANOO
Spaniels have notably floppy ears, basset hounds have extremely short legs, and St. Bernards are large and big boned. Not to mention Chihuahuas.
Humans have bred dogs to produce tremendous variety. But a new study reports that the physical variance among dog breeds is determined by differences in only about seven genetic regions.
These seven locations in the dog genome explain about 80 percent of the differences in height and weight among breeds, said Carlos Bustamante, a geneticist at Stanford University and one of the study’s authors. The findings, published in Public Library of Science-Biology, are a result of what is the largest genotyping of dogs to date, involving more than 1,000 dogs and 80 breeds.
So, in the big picture, Labrador retrievers and pit bulls don't actually differ very much genetically. They do differ genetically on a very small number of genes. But some of those few genes that differ are related to biting. Labs tend to retract their teeth and gum whatever they're handling with their mouths, while pit bulls tend to bite down and, more unusually, not let go while they whip their heads back and forth. So, that tiny, tiny fraction of the dog genome is important when deciding which breed of dog to buy depending on your needs -- e.g., pet for your toddlers or guard dog for your crack stash.
By the way, here's Malcolm Gladwell in 2006 arguing that opposition to pit bulls is racial profiling and therefore immoral and ineffective, just like racial profiling of humans must, therefore, be.
The great thing about Malcolm is that he lacks the Uh-Oh-Let's-Not-Go-There gene that makes most spouters of the conventional wisdom prudently change the subject when they find that the logic of their argument has carried them to the edge of reductio ad absurdum.
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| 0.949246 | 407 | 2.984375 | 3 |
RDBMS and SQL has ruled the world for last 3 decades. They were (are) the defacto standard for storing business data. In fact there was no alternative to RDBMS and SQL combination. When RDBMS were developed the disk space was scarce, hence a lot of thought has gone around saving precious disk space. Development in hardware technologies have made available literally unlimited storage space at lower prices. Evolution of Internet in last decade has paved way for altogether different kind of applications and use cases, which were never thought earlier. Web2 applications (say social networking) have entirely different requirements than typical enterprise applications. Other than that Internet has changed the way application developers think about the data and its usage & storage.
Nowadays enormous amount of data is being produced everyday and the rate at which data is produced is also increasing. Data size is so huge that organizations spread it across data center as it does not fit in a single rack or data center. Though data availability is also an equally important factor in using multiple data centers for storage. Applications have to available 24x7 no matter what. Data has to survive the data center failure as well, forget about failure of a disk. Instead of archiving data, Facebook type of applications keep it online forever.
Social networking sites are coming up with new features quite frequently and sometimes rolling back them. At times their new features were never thought about earlier. They don't want to be confined by the schema constraints of RDBMS which is quite difficult (though not impossible) to change. Support for evolving schema has become a necessity and NoSQL solutions are a right fit there instead of RDBMS.
Data size, flexible schema and availability are the 3 key factors where traditional RDBMS do not perform well after a certain limit.
Web2 applications has changed how people think about application architecture. It is an altogether different thought process then what it was few years back.
There are several use cases where NoSQL perform much better and it makes perfect sense to use NoSQL instead of trying to scale the RDBMS by using expensive methods. RDBMS’s are really good at doing what they do, which is storing flat, relational, tabular data in a consistent manner and getting wonderful reports out of that data. They still remain the best solution for storing relational data.While NoSQL databases are good at performance, availability, schema-less persistent etc., which has become a basic requirement for today's applications. Support for these features is the main reason for meteoric rise to fame of the NoSQL.
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The War on Drugs as we know it, today, “officially” began in 1973 when with passage of New York’s strict sentencing guidelines “known as the ‘Rockefeller drug laws’ — after their champion, Gov. Nelson Rockefeller — that put even low-level criminals behind bars for decades,” according to Brian Mann’s NPR story, today, “The Drug Laws That Changed How We Punish.” Until this sudden, about-face, Governor Rockefeller had been “a champion of drug rehabilitation, job training and housing” as the answer to drug-related crime. “He saw drugs as a social problem, not a criminal one,” says Mann.
So why the Directional Shift in Governor Rockefeller’s War on Drugs?
So what happened to change the Governor’s mind? And how did the “Rockefeller Drug Laws” so radically change our sentencing laws. How successful have these laws been in the war on drugs?
For the print copy of Brian Mann’s story, click here.
For a podcast of the story, click here. Just 7 minutes and 47 seconds long – it goes a long way to helping us understand the history and from there opening our minds to what we should / could be doing instead.
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PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS DISCRIMINATION
The Iowa Civil Rights Act of 1965 forbids discrimination -based on race, creed, color, national origin, or religion -- in accommodations, advantages, facilities, services, or privileges of any place of public accommodation. The Act also forbids advertising or publicizing in any way to discourage minorities from taking advantage of public accommodations. Parties covered include: owners, lessees, sublessees, proprietors, managers, or superintendents. The Act exempts religious institutions with bona-fide religious qualifications, and rental or leasing of transient housing of less than 6 rooms if the owner or occupant resides therein.
The Commission processed a total of 20 complaints involving places of public accommodations during the 1969 reporting year. Fifteen (15) of these 20 complaints were resolved, with 5 still under investigation on November 30, 1969. Thirteen (13) of these 20 complaints were opened during 1969, while the other 7 had carried over from the previous year.
The respondents in the 20 complaints included: 3 bowling alleys, 2 city police departments, a county agency, a district court, a private employment agency, a fraternal organization, a hotel, a motel, a restaurant (two complaints), a public school district, a service station, 2 skating rinks, and 3 taverns.
Sixteen (16) of the 20 complaints were on the basis of race, 2 on the basis of national origin, and the other 2 on the basis of creed. Three (3) of the 20 complaints were filed by the Commission as Commission charges, with the other 17 filed by individuals (13 by blacks and 4 by whites, including 1 by Mexican-Americans). Nine (9) of the 15 complaints that were resolved were conciliated, while no probable cause was found in the other 6.
Of the 9 complaints conciliated, 2 involved the same restaurant which refused service on a number of occasions to several groups of Negro and white co-workers During the Commission investigation of these complaints, the executive director and field investigator (both black) were also refused service. The restaurant operator signed a conciliation agreement (a) to provide courteous and prompt service to all customers on a nondiscriminatory basis; (b) to write letters of apology to the Negro and white co- workers who had been refused service; and (c) to report monthly to the Commission on the restaurant's service to non-whites. Non-whites subsequently. have been served without disparity.
A fraternal organization., which is
a private club, was the subject of a Commission charge after the doorman
admitted, a non-member white couple but later barred a non-member black
couple in the same-party. The organization's national constitution barred both non-white members and non-white guests, and the local chapter apparently could do nothing to change the
national policy. However, the Commission investigation demonstrated that the organization may have been in violation of state liquor license regulations by catering to the general public in
this instance since the white couple was admitted as "guests" of a member who was a complete stranger who saw them milling around at the door. The officials of the fraternal organization
signed a conciliation agreement (a) that the organization would be operated strictly as a private club; (b) that members would be notified in writing of the "whites-only" national rule on
membership and guests to prevent embarrassing situations like this in the future; (c) that letters of apology would be sent, to the Negro and white couples involved in the incident; and (d) that future advertising in the media by the organization would make it clear that only members and pre-arranged, guests would be admitted to the organization.
A Commission charge against a private
employment agency - which was accused of agreeing to include no
blacks, Indians, or other minorities
in a job referral for typists -- was conciliated. The owner signed a conciliation
agreement that the agency (a) would not accept or make discriminatory job
referrals; (b) would report to the Commission anyone requesting that it
make discriminatory job referrals; and (c) would make quarterly reports
for a year regarding the agency's disposition of minority applicants for
A hotel owner signed a conciliation agreement, after a Commission investigation found probable cause for the charge that racial discrimination was involved when a black professor's room reservation made over the telephone was canceled when he appeared at the hotel to check in. He agreed to not use discriminatory criteria in renting his rooms, and to report monthly for six months regarding the disposition of any minority customers.,
After the Commission investigation found probable cause for the complaints, the respondents in 3 other conciliated complaints signed conciliation agreements that they would in the future offer their services on a nondiscriminatory basis. These included 2 bowling alleys which had not granted a black women's bowling league a time slot and a tavern which overcharged blacks for beer.
The Commission found no probable cause for these charges: A black female charged a white police officer with refusing to file an accident report when her car allegedly was hit by a white female. A black women's bowling league charged a bowling alley proprietor with giving preference to white bowling leagues. Black males charged a tavern with overcharging them for their beer and later refusing them service. Fourteen black college students attending an out-of-town conference charged a motel operator with not giving them rooms (However, there were no vacancies that night). A black male alleged that there were racial overtones in a district court procedure implicating him in a crime (However, he received a suspended sentence). A white male of Dutch descent charged a county attorney in a largely German area with arbitrarily taking legal action to repossess complainant's farm (However, he did not have clear title to the farm).
The 5 complaints still under investigation at the close of the 1969 reporting year included these charges of discrimination: A black girl was not selected as a member of the school marching unit (However, the school has agreed to add a black teacher to the selection committee). A black family claimed it was denied the use of restroom facilities at a service station. A black female charged a local police officer with brutality when he removed her bodily from a municipal swimming pool. Two separate groups of white males charged two separate skating rinks with discriminating against them on the basis of creed, having refused them admittance because of their personal appearance (long hair, sideburns).
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A Christian Understanding of Freedom
People generally use the word freedom in order to describe two things: the first and perhaps most persistent meaning of the term is simply lack of subjection to any kind of ownership or tyrannical authority, the lack of restriction of one’s actions, the absence of obstacles to self-determination or personal choices, the right to make up one’s own mind with regard to occupation, speech, assembly, religion and so on. Naturally, this kind of freedom is entirely desirable and, in many ways, our very nation came into being out of a deeply felt need for this. Although our democratic system of government has experienced many pitfalls and defects, and throughout the course of our history we have not always been able to achieve perfect freedom in the sense just described, it is none the less true that few would question the desirability for such freedom. Men are still willing to make enormous sacrifices – their very lives at times – for the ideal of freedom.
Christian teaching lies at the very heart of such an ideal. And in spite of the ups and downs of Church history, wherein even the Church has seemed to be an accomplice to agencies and forces that would deny this kind of basic right to the human race, it would be inaccurate to say that the Christian Church in most of its classical forms teaches that men are not destined to be free in this very sense. It is incompatible with Christian teaching to maintain that man should be shackled with restrictions against his personal freedom to pursue a way of life to his own choosing.
At the same time it appears also that freedom is being increasingly applied to a kind of license which says that man is not to be subjected to any kind of restriction that is not to his liking. Even when the common good demands the contrary he is somehow to be free to "do his own thing." The blame for much of the disorder and confusion of our own times could perhaps be laid to this concept of freedom: the near capitulation of our legal system in face of demands for freedom to peddle pornography, to sell drugs, to defy the law enforcement agencies of the cities, etc.
In this particular article it is not our intention to dwell on the matter of freedom as described above, making this a plea for law and order. Rather, we wish to present a general account of the Orthodox Church’s understanding of freedom, in light of Christ’s work of redemption, His "breaking the chains of hell and overthrowing the tyranny of hades."
Jesus said, "If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples indeed; And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free" And those who heard Him said, "We are Abraham’s seed, and we were never in bondage to any man, how sayest thou, you shall be made free?" And He answered, Verily I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin." (1 John 8:31-34)
He said in another place, "I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. If you had known me, you should have known my Father also; and from henceforth you know Him, and have seen Him." (John 14: 6-7)
Jesus Christ is the truth about God and the truth about man, since He is both God and man. God’s real nature is completely revealed in the Son of God, the Incarnate Word, and the whole truth about man, his worth, value and dignity, are realized and made manifest to man in the Son of Man, Jesus of Nazareth. And since man’s fundamental sin was and is godlessness or atheism, we then understand what is meant by the statement that "Christ came into the world to save His people from their sins."
An author once pointed out that, "Mankind is in bondage until Christ sets men free." St. Paul in the Epistle to the Romans says, "For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. But what fruit had you then from those things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death. But now set free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness, and as your end, life everlasting." (6:20-22)
The deepest and most fundamental of the Church’s understandings of freedom is simply the freedom from sin and its wage or consequences. The understanding that Christ has given to men a freedom that cannot be taken away, no matter what the external circumstances of life may be, has provided the strength, the dynamism, the very life of the Church in the different periods of her bondage, her restrictions. There was the long three century persecution of the Church by the Roman Empire, and the very martyrs were witnesses and advocates of their freedom in Christ. The Moslem conquest and domination of much of the world that had been Christian, and the reduction of Christians to second-class citizenship, the restrictions against their proclaiming the Gospel, brought no despair to those who knew Christ and His truth. This lasted well into the nineteenth century in certain places. And in our own twentieth century, restrictions and persecutions, perhaps heavier and more severe than in any other time, in Communist lands failed to extinguish the light of Christian truth, and finally the most essential Christian freedom.
It is in Christ, as perfect Man, that man comes to the full realization of what it means to be in the image and likeness of God. For man’s freedom is an Icon, an image of the Divine Freedom itself.
It is just when our freedom lies within the "opus Dei," the work of God, that it does not cease to be true freedom. The "Let it be to me according to thy word," of the Virgin at the Annunciation does not come from a simple submission to His will, but that very acceptance expresses the ultimate freedom of her being. In this sense, she was the first fruits of the intervention of God into human time and history, the first product of the Incarnation. She is the image of the Church, those who receive the Word of God and keep it, of those who would lose their life and gain it.
Christ, in becoming Incarnate, has permitted us, not to imitate, but to relive His life, to conform ourselves to His essence.
In each Christian’s response to God, in saying, "let it be to me according to Thy will," he identifies himself with the God-Man Christ, and in this way, the Divine Will, freedom comes as an expression of one’s own will. The will of God, His work, His freedom have become one’s own. "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me," says St. Paul. (Galatians 2:20)
None of the foregoing is said to diminish or to negate in any sense the validity and importance of all human beings, especially Christians, to seek, to work for freedom in the usual earthly, if you will, sense of the word: social justice, equality, and the right to pursue, unrestricted, a better life here and now for the human race. The Christian, if he takes his commitment seriously, can never be guilty of putting restrictions in the path of others, of coercing, of forcing. On the other hand, what has been said is conceived as a reminder that much of the Christian world, my own Church, has a long experience of this, has lived under repression in places where freedom, justice, equality, and the right to differ, were given lip-service, but were not realities. The hope of Christians, their consolation is based on a higher freedom, which only God can give, which our Lord Jesus Christ showed us.
From The Dawn
Newspaper of the Diocese of the South
Orthodox Church in America
Thanks to Reader Daniel Rudder for sending this on his mailing list.
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Every year tens of thousands of volunteers throughout the Americas take part in an adventure that has become a family tradition among generations. Families and students, birders and scientists, armed with binoculars, bird guides and checklists go out on an annual mission - often before dawn. For over one hundred years, the desire to both make a difference and to experience the beauty of nature has driven dedicated people to leave the comfort of a warm house during the Holiday season.
Each of the citizen scientists who annually braves the snow, wind, or rain, to take part in the Christmas Bird Count makes an enormous contribution to conservation. Audubon and other organizations use data collected in this longest-running wildlife census to assess the health of bird populations - and to help guide conservation action.
From feeder-watchers and field observers to count compilers and regional editors, everyone who takes part in the Christmas Bird Co
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Have You Seen My Cat?
by Eric Carle Illustrated by Eric Carle
Reviewed by Aida G. (age 6)
Aida G. is a member in The Technology and Learning Center @ the Armory's CSD 6 After School - Spring Group 2 (2000-2001)
The book is about animals that are cats. The boy was looking for his cat. The boy did not find his cat. The boy was asking the people if they saw his cat. The people did not see his cat in the story. The boy was mad. That was funny. He was mad because he doesn't find his cat.
At the end of the story was the cat. The mother has babies.
The story takes place outside all over the country. The pictures
of the cats was different colors. There was a lion, a Persian cat and a bobcat. There is an Indian with a baby. All the cats was beautiful at the end of the story.
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Consuming whey protein – a popular protein among sportsmen who want to build muscle – before a regular breakfast reduces the blood sugar “spikes” common after meals rich in carbohydrates.
It also is believed by Israeli and other researchers in an Israeli-Swedish study to improve the body’s insulin response. The research was conducted by Prof. Daniela Jakubowicz and Dr. Julio Wainstein at Wolfson Medical Center in Holon, Prof. Oren Froy of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Prof. Bo Ahrén of Lund University and colleagues.
It was recently published in Diabetologia, the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.
The scientists noted that protein consumption is known to stimulate the production of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a gut hormone that in turn stimulates insulin production.
Thus the researchers hypothesized that stimulating GLP-1 production by consuming whey protein before a meal would improve the body’s blood sugar control following a meal.
The study included 15 people with well-controlled type 2 diabetes who were not taking any medications except for sulfonylureas or metformin (oral diabetes drugs). These participants consumed, on two separate days, 50 grams of whey powder mixed in 250 ml water or a placebo (250 ml water), followed by a standardized high-glycemic-index breakfast in a hospital setting. The breakfast contained three slices of white bread and sugar-containing jelly; a meal designed to produce the maximum post-meal glucose spike. A blood sample was taken 30 minutes before the meal, and the whey protein or placebo was served at that point. Further blood samples were taken when the meal was served and at 15, 30, 60, 90, 120, 150 and 180 minutes.
Patients were randomized to consume either the whey protein or the placebo, but the crossover design of the trial meant that all participants ate both the whey protein and placebo, with two weeks between visits. This design also means that the study was statistically powerful despite the small number of participants.
The results showed that over the whole 180 minute post-meal period, glucose levels were reduced by 28 percent after whey protein preload compared with no whey protein. Insulin and C-peptide (a building block of insulin) responses were both significantly higher (by 105% and 43%, respectively) in the whey protein group. Notably, the early insulin response (meaning within the first 30 minutes following breakfast) was 96% higher after whey protein than with placebo. This is especially important since the loss of early insulin response is the most important deficiency in diabetic individuals and a major contributor to the post-meal rise in blood glucose. Additionally, both total GLP-1 (tGLP-1) and intact GLP-1 (iGLP-1) levels were significantly higher (by 141% and 298%, respectively) with whey protein pre-load.
The authors concluded that “consumption of whey protein shortly before a high-glycemic- index breakfast increased the early and late post-meal insulin secretion, improved GLP-1 responses and reduced post-meal blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetic patients.
Whey protein may therefore represent a novel approach for enhancing glucose-lowering strategies in type 2 diabetes,” they wrote.
Such treatment would be cheap and easy to administer, with patients able to use any brand of whey protein concentrate without added sugar or other nutrients, the researchers said. Based on the findings of this study, the authors are considering conducting a long-term clinical trial to discover if the beneficial effects of whey protein on blood sugar, insulin and GLP-1 are long lasting.
DON’T SIT TOO MUCH – AND HELP YOUR HEART
Just sitting too much can lower levels of heart-lung fitness; being sedentary for just two hours at a time can be just as harmful as 20 minutes of exercise is beneficial to the body. This was discovered by cardiologists at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, who recently published their findings in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.
They examined the association among fitness levels, daily exercise and sedentary behavior, based on data from 2,223 participants in the US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
Sedentary behavior involves low-energy activities such as sitting, driving, watching TV and reading, among others. The findings suggest that sedentary behavior may be an important determinant of cardiorespiratory fitness, independent of exercise.
“Previous studies have reported that sedentary behavior was associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular outcomes; however, the mechanisms through which this occurs are not completely understood,” said study author and internal medicine specialist Dr. Jarett Berry. “Our data suggest that sedentary behavior may increase risk through an impact on lower fitness levels and that avoiding sedentary behavior throughout the day may represent an important companion strategy to improve fitness and health, outside of regular exercise activity.”
The team analyzed accelerometer data from men and women between the ages of 12 and 49 with no known history of heart disease, asthma or stroke and measured their average daily physical activity and sedentary behavior times. Fitness was estimated using a treadmill test, and variables were adjusted for gender, age and body mass index. The findings demonstrate that the negative effect of six hours of sedentary time on fitness levels was similar in magnitude to the benefit of one hour of exercise.
“We also found that when sitting for prolonged periods of time, any movement is good movement and was also associated with better fitness,” said cardiology researcher Dr. Jacquelyn Kulinski. “So if you are stuck at your desk for a while, shift positions frequently, get up and stretch in the middle of a thought, pace while on a phone call or even fidget.”
To stay active and combat sedentary behavior, the Texan cardiologists recommend taking short walks during lunch and throughout the day, using a pedometer to track daily steps, using the stairs instead of the elevator, hosting walking meetings at work and replacing a standard desk chair with a fitness ball or even a treadmill desk, if possible.
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See what questions
a doctor would ask.
Sacrospinous Ligament: The sacrospinous ligament is one ligament in a group of pelvis ligaments. The sacrospinous ligament consists of connective tissue that attaches the ischium to the sacrum and binds, protects, and stabilizes the pelvis and movement of the ilium and the sacrum.
Conditions that can afflict the sacrospinous ligament include sacrospinous laxity, trauma, sprains, and ligament tears.
The following organs are closely related to the organ: Sacrospinous Ligament:
The following conditions are related to the organ: Sacrospinous Ligament:
The following list contains sub-parts of the organ: Sacrospinous Ligament:
These symptoms are related to afflictions of the organ: Sacrospinous Ligament:
Condition count: 0
Organs: list of all organs
Search Specialists by State and City
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What Causes Ovulation Pain?
Ovulation pain is a type of ovarian pain which occurs in about 1 woman in 5 in their reproductive years. Typically, pain during ovulation happens about two weeks before the menstrual cycle, when one of the ovaries releases an ovum or egg. Intensity of pain during ovulation varies from woman to another. Some women feel mild discomfort, while others experience severe pain and cramping. Ovulation pain can last for a few minutes or a few days. Another name for ovary pain during ovulation is Mittelschmerz, which is German for "mid pain."
Ovulation pain can be a symptom of a serious underlying gynecological disorder, but this is generally not the case. Nevertheless, severe, prolonged ovary pain during ovulation (more than 2-3 days) or heavy bleeding are symptoms that merit a call to your doctor.
What causes ovulation pain? The exact reason is uncertain, but researchers have come up with some possibilities.
The most likely theories focus on ovarian follicles, the sac-like structures in which eggs develop. One possible explanation suggests that during ovulation, the follicle bursts open, releasing the egg into the fallopian tube. It could be that the expanding follicle stretches the membrane of the ovaries, which causes pain and discomfort.
Another possibility is that when the egg matures, it bursts from the follicle, resulting in internal bleeding. This bleeding may irritate the lining of the uterus.
As previously mentioned, ovulation pain is quite common and in most cases it's not an indication of any underlying disorder. But sometimes it can be a sign of a problem that's developing. These possibilities include the following.
Chronic pelvic inflammatory disease - Another name for pelvic inflammatory disease is PID. PID is the result of inflammation in a woman's reproductive system. PID is often a serious complication of diseases such as chlamydia and gonorrhea.
Ectopic pregnancy - This happens when a fertilized eggs starts developing in a fallopian tube or somewhere else outside the uterus. Typical symptoms include abdominal cramping and vaginal bleeding. It is a dangerous situation and requires professional medical attention.
Endometriosis - Endometriosis occurs when the endometrium, or lining of the uterus, grows elsewhere outside the uterus. Typical symptoms of endometriosis include pain during intimacy and menstrual discomfort.
Ovarian cysts - This is an abnormal pocket of fluid that develops in the ovary. Most of the time, an ovarian cyst is harmless, but this is not universally true.
Salpingitis - This condition is usually caused by an infection that triggers inflammation in the fallopian tubes. Tubal inflammation accounts for about 1 in every 6 hospital admissions related to female reproductive problems.
What about ovulation pain after ovulation? There could be a minor leakage of blood from an ovary sometimes during ovulation. It's common for this leakage to result in irritation. There are a number of variables that determine how much pain this will cause, and how serious a situation it presents.
Other issues related to the reproductive system, such as fibroids or PCOS, can also cause pain after ovulation. Ask your doctor about these.
Some diseases that are not related to a woman's reproductive system can also cause symptoms that resemble pain during ovulation. Generally, these are gastrointestinal problems. Also, early stage appendicitis presents symptoms that are much like ovulation pain. Get medical attention right away if the pain grows progressively worse on the right side of your abdomen and nausea and vomiting begin.
Finally, keep in mind once more, ovulation pain is generally not dangerous and typically goes away without treatment, even though it can be quite uncomfortable and even distressing while it's happening. It is important to know when mid-cycle pain is a sign of something more serious. It's no different with ovulation pain than it is with other medical problems. It's better to get checked out than assume everything is okay, only to find out later that something is seriously wrong.
Neal Kennedy is a retired TV anchor, medical reporter and radio talk show host.
Back Pain Airplane
Most Common Early Pregnancy Symptoms for 7 Days Past Ovulation ...
User Comments - How did you feel on 7 Days Past Ovulation? ... "back pain, fatigue, sore boobs" - ... attaches itself to the uterus (6-12 days after ovulation).
2 days past ovulation with lower back pain, abdominal cramps and ...
2 days past ovulation with lower back pain, abdominal cramps and some white/cloudy watery discharge. i did have sex a day after my last period ended and then a day before ...
After ovulation back pain? - Yahoo! Answers
I had my peak on Saturday and my high on Friday...… ... I had my peak on Saturday and my high on Friday..... Had sex the day before high, on my peak and day after my peak...
A week after ovulation? - Yahoo!Xtra Answers
Ive also been getting headaches, back pain and feeling ... 67,166 (Level 7) Badge Image: Contributing In: ... look, you don't implant untill around 6-10 days after ovulation ...
Still pain 7 days after ovulation >> Medical Questions, Weight ...
If you wanna chat at all for anymore support write back and i ... Im going through the same kind of thing myself, 7 days after ovulation and getting a bit of pain and we are ...
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Alternative Community Education Programme (ACEP)
Country Profile: Philippines
Filipino, English, Bikol, Cebuano, Hiligaynon, Ilokano, Pampango, Pangasinense, Tagalog, Waray
|Poverty (Population living on less than 2 US$ per day):|
|Total Expenditure on Education as % of GNP|
|Access to Primary Education – Total Net Intake Rate (NIR)|
|Youth Literacy Rate (15-24 years)|
Female: 98% (2005–2010)
|Adult Literacy Rate (15 years and over)|
Female: 97% (2005–2010)
|Programme Title||Alternative Community Education Programme (ACEP)|
|Implementing Organization||Popular Education for People’s Empowerment (PEPE)|
|Language of Instruction||T’boli (mother tongue); Ilonggo (local lingua franca) and Filipino (national language).|
|Programme Partners||Oxfam Great Britain|
|Date of Inception||2005 –|
Context and Background
Although the Philippines has made significant progress towards the provision of Education for All (EFA) and, in turn, achieved high enrolment rates (91.4 per cent) in primary education and high youth and adult literacy rates (94 per cent), pockets of illiteracy and people with limited access to education remain. According to a Functional Literacy, Education and Mass Media Survey (FLEMMS, 2003), about 3.8 million Filipinos aged ten years and over are unable to read and/or write, while a further 9.2 million are functionally illiterate. The FLEMMS further noted that 11.6 million children and youth aged between six and 24 years were out-of-school. Of these, 1.2 million were children of primary school age (6–11 years old), 1 million were of secondary school age (12–15 years old) and 9.4 million were in the tertiary age group (16–24 years old).
There are ethnic, regional and gender disparities with regards to access to quality education. Overall, a disproportionate majority of people with limited access to education and therefore high levels of illiteracy is found among ethnic minorities and indigenous people living in remote and economically marginalised areas. Of these, women are further disadvantaged due to socio-cultural and economic factors including poverty and the practice of early marriages.
The Ubo and T’boli people (indigenous Filipinos living in the poor and conflict-affected province of Mindanao) are among the most socially marginalised groups in the Philippines, with limited access to basic socioeconomic services such as health and education. In particular, T'boli women have been disproportionately marginalised from accessing education due to their traditionally ascribed social roles as mothers and care givers for their families. Given that these roles are perceived to require no more than cultural education (socialisation), women are often married early while families prefer to invest their meagre resources on the education of boys.
However, given the changes in the indigenous people's way of life and traditional education, due to economic development, urbanisation and the transformation of livelihood practices, it is now imperative to promote and particularly target women with community education programmes in order to enhance their capacity to effectively function in the emerging socioeconomic environment. Furthermore, in light of the threat posed to T'boli culture and cultural traditions due to the influences of urbanisation, educating women will enhance the capacity of indigenous people to preserve their culture, principally because women as the primary childcare givers, will be empowered to socialise their children into their culture from an informed position. Thus, recognising that family wellbeing and development directly correlates with the educational standards of women, PEPE initiated the Alternative Community Education Programme (ACEP) in an effort to combat illiteracy using traditional knowledge systems as the principal basis of learning.
The ACEP is a community education programme which is being implemented in line with the EFA goals. It endeavours to enable socially marginalised and illiterate girls and women to be functionally literate. The programme is currently being implemented among the T'boli indigenous people living in South Cotabato, Mindanao province in partnership with the local Department of Education (DepEd). This has made it possible for the ACEP graduates to be officially accredited by taking the test from the DepEd’s accreditation and equivalence programme.
The ACEP is based on the Contemporary Cultural Continuity Framework (CCCF) which advocates for the adaptation and integration of traditional knowledge and education systems to contemporary learning contexts. Thus, instead of merely promoting the ‘preservation of tradition and culture’, CCCF-based community education initiatives encourage learners to reflect on the positive and negative aspects of T'boli traditions, knowledge and cultural systems and their adoption to enhance the learning process. To this end, learners are encouraged to use the positive aspects of their cultural and knowledge systems as principal learning instruments while, on the other hand, critically reflecting on how to transform the negative aspects in order to ensure both individual and community development. Reflections on cultural systems are juxtaposed with reflection and discussions on the modern beliefs and life systems (e.g. nutrition and food patterns, traditional and modern medicine) which are now central to their lives. Overall, the CCCF enables the learners to benefit from both traditional and contemporary (modern) practices through a learning process that promotes the development of critical thinking skills rather than the passive internalisation of knowledge, skills and traditions.
In light of the CCCF, the ACEP revolves around three major themes:
- culture and family relations
- health and nutrition
The thematic-based ACEP curriculum was developed through the integration of T'boli traditional and modern practices and knowledge systems as highlighted above. For example, the culture and family relations module combines cultural and modern perspectives of gender relations, equity and human rights. In order to enable learners to gain from the two frameworks, community elders are often invited to literacy classes as guest teachers/facilitators to offer guidance during discussions on indigenous systems while PEPE facilitators offer the modern perspective. Apart from merely promoting learning, the strategy also combats potential social resistance to the inevitable cultural changes. Similarly, the health and nutrition module combines indigenous and modern knowledge systems and practices to health education such as traditional medicine and modern nutritional practices. With regards to the latter, PEPE has developed learning gardens to promote literacy and gardening skills development by raising awareness on affordable and nutritional food crops (see below).
Aims and Objectives
The ACEP endeavours to:
combat illiteracy among girls and women through a culturally sensitive and relevant literacy and education programme
address the basic education and functional literacy skills needs of girls and women in order to enable them to be active agents community development
promote intergenerational and lifelong learning and cultural preservation and propagation
develop the capacities of local educators/facilitators to conceptualise, implement and manage their own community education programmes
contribute to the advocacy campaign for the official recognition of indigenous knowledge systems as well as to encourage the government to adopt affirmative actions for indigenous education across the country.
Programme Implementation: Approaches and Methodologies
Recruitment and Training of Facilitators
PEPE, with technical assistance from the Civil Society Network for Education Reforms (E-Net Philippines), has recruited and trained 21local community volunteer educators/facilitators. The educators are responsible for facilitating the community-based learning processes with ongoing assistance and mentoring from senior PEPE and E-Net personnel in order to improve the quality of the programme.
The ACEP employs a variety of teaching-learning aids (including modules, audiovisuals, plants and traditional artefacts) as well as learner-centred participatory teaching-learning methods in order to foster effective learning and critical thinking. The following are the principal methodologies:
ACEP emphasises learning-by-doing (practicals) in order to foster the development of both basic literacy and functional literacy skills among learners. For example, health and nutrition education is promoted through cooking various indigenous and modern foods and demonstrations of appropriate breastfeeding methods. The development of functional literacy skills is promoted through practical lessons in sewing, bead making and weaving and often involves experienced and traditionally qualified women artisans teaching others. This process facilitates the propagation of cultural knowledge and art. In addition, the programme has also developed the learning garden which involves learners in the production of plants and vegetables (e.g. onions, tomatoes, oregano, traditional herbs and spices). Each crop/plant is appropriately labelled using T'boli and Filipino terms. The labels also include, for example, the nutritional or medicinal value of the crops. This strategy is intended to foster the development of bilingual literacy (reading and writing) skills by relating written information to the physical plant as well as knowledge about the best available local vegetables.
Storytelling, drama and focus group discussions
Storytelling is central to the T’boli’s culture and is traditionally used as the principal instrument of community education. The culture and love of storytelling has been adapted as a central ACEP teaching-learning tool. As a result, community elders are often invited to share local stories with learners, particularly in the discussions of culture and family relations. Afterwards, small groups of learners discuss the lessons of the stories before presenting the same to the whole class. The same principle is used when drama, song and dances are used as teaching instruments. This method has the added advantage of promoting learning and cultural preservation by stimulating the creative imagination of learners. It also generates interest and thus attracts learners to continue attending literacy lessons. Finally, by limiting the role of the facilitator to that of a moderator, these methods ensure that learners become teachers in their own right and the learning process is made more contextually relevant and appropriate.
Visuals and videos
The ACEP also uses local accessories and artefacts appropriately labelled to help learners to identify their names in writing. Local educators also designed the visuals they used during their sessions while short videos borrowed from the PEPE and E-Net were used as starting points for class thematic discussions.
Drawing and reflection sessions
Adult women find it difficult to draw but when they are encouraged to do so, and by thinking about their experiences and how to put them into symbols and drawings, they are able to reflect on the process. The attention of learners is centred on the drawing instead of the participant, thus making it easier for women to share even bitter experiences. Drawing-reflection, as with the other method, has to be guided by clear yet substantive guide questions.
Overall, the learner-centred methodologies enable women to be conscious and confident of their individual capacities and thus to improve their families' wellbeing. The strategies ensure that the learning process is promoted by building on the learners' experiences and knowledge systems.
An internal programme evaluation survey undertaken by PEPE in conjunction with E-Net Philippines revealed the following key programme impacts:
Sixty-eight women have successfully completed and graduated from the programme. These graduates will form part of the group that will make new designs for t’nalak weave that the marketed in 2007. The local educators/facilitators have designed follow-up sessions that will monitor the effect of the programme on the graduates as well as providing them with either remedial and/or further learning.
Women learners have started their own learning gardens at home which make contributions towards improving their families' living standards.
There is an improvement in healthy use of traditional herbal medicines and cooking of indigenous foods.
The women have used their computation skills in dealing with the abaca enterprise/traders in the community.
The 21 community volunteer educators/facilitators have been very active in promoting the programme. Instead of getting the honorarium as individuals, they have used the funds to start a livelihood project, the proceeds of which will help the educators and the programme as well.
A small learning centre has been built and managed by the community volunteer educators themselves indicating the increased interest in education in the community.
The success of the ACEP is primarily due to the adaptation and integration of indigenous knowledge systems into the literacy learning process. This has engendered a strong sense of community ownership and support of the programme. It motivated facilitators to volunteer to work for the good of their communities.
In order for community education programmes to be effective and sustainable, they should involve the active support and participation of the government and the communities. In addition, national financial and technical support should be sought.
The sustainability of the programme is based on the active support it has received from local communities, E-Net Philippines and the local government administration. The latter has pledged financial and technical assistance for future programme activities while E-Net Philippines has promised technical support to upgrade and expand the programme. E-Net Philippines has also documented the programme as one of good practice for Alternative Learning System (ALS) and will use this as a case to support its advocacy for more state investment in ALS.
Cecilia V. Soriano
Door 2 Casal Building, 15 Anonas St.
Project 3, Bgy. Quirino, Quezon City
Email: User: cecilia.enetphil
Host: (at) gmail.com / User: cecilia_soriano
Host: (at) e-netphil.org
Tel: +632 421-4773 / +632 433 5152
Last update: 19 July 2010
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USS CROMMELIN (FFG 37), twenty-eighth ship of the Oliver Hazard Perry-class of guided-missile frigates, is the first United States Navy ship of that named for three brothers: Vice Admiral Henry CROMMELIN (1904-1971), Commander Charles CROMMELIN (died 1945), and Lieutenant Commander Richard CROMMELIN (1917-1945). Born of a pioneer Alabama family in Montgomery and Wetumpka, all three brothers graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Henry, the oldest, became a Surface Warfare Officer while Richard and Charles died in combat as naval aviators. Individually and as a fighting family, they gained fame in World War II, attaining outstanding combat records and multiple decorations. Several books have been written about them and a monument commemorating their bravery rests in Battleship Park in Mobile, Alabama.
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GRAND RAPIDS (WWJ) – A new study in the journal Pediatrics focuses on parents smoking in cars with their children present.
Researchers say tobacco smoke exposure has already been associated with increased risk of death in children. Dr. Tom Peterson with Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids says the study shows that doctors aren’t doing enough to warn parents about smoking in the car.
“We’re pushing and pushing more and more to get physicians and providers to get more and more…to get moving along the process,” said Peterson. “It’s not just parents quitting, it’s not getting them outside the home, it’s making sure they don’t smoke in the cars.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics recommends that families adopt a smoke-free car policy.
“What we’re trying to do as pediatricians is extend the interventional arm or influence of the pediatric provider in decreasing kids exposed to second-hand smoke,” Peterson said.
Pediatricians at HealthChildren.org suggest the following tips to keep a smoke-free car:
- Do not smoke, ever, in a car that transports children. Smoking in your car even once can fill the seats and other materials with toxins, even if the windows are open.
- Remind passengers not to smoke in your car.
- Try to time your smoking to coincide with times when you know you will be without children at another location — headed to work where there is a designated smoking area? Try to hold off on your morning cigarette until you get there. You will keep your child healthier, as well as your car!
- Fill your car’s ashtray with spare change so you aren’t tempted to fill it with ash.
- Leave a cell phone charger or other device plugged into the car’s adapter outlet so you are not tempted to use it as a lighter.
- Keep a jacket and umbrella in the car to use in case you need to stop and smoke and the weather is bad.
- Store your cigarettes in the trunk or in another out-of-reach area while you drive.
- Consider putting up a sticker or decal on your car that reminds passengers that it is a nonsmoking vehicle.
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The Party Effect or Recency Bias is where stock market participants evaluate their portfolio performance based on recent results or on their perspective of recent results and make incorrect conclusions that ultimately lead to incorrect decisions about how the stock market behaves. This is a very important concept to understand. Let’s set the stage for an illustration of how this happens.
A Party Tale
One of my favorite life lessons centers around President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, also known as FDR. FDR had many strengths but I think his greatest was his ability to recognize that things are not always black and white. I think his ability to see the big picture as well as discern the subtleties of a situation is what made him such an effective leader and brought out the best in others.
In one well known FDR story, he asks one of his trusted advisors what he thinks about a particular situation and after he listens to the advisor, FDR replies “You’re Right.” Not long after FDR asks another of his trusted advisors for his opinion on the same matter and this advisor gives the exact opposite recommendation from the first advisor to which FDR once again replies “You’re Right.”
At hearing FDR’s reply to the second advisor one of FDR’s closest advisors that had listened to FDR’s response to both advisors, points out the obvious contradiction to which FDR replies “You’re Also Right.”
Much can be learned from what at first appears to be FDR’s flippant and contradictory remarks to his advisors. However, FDR was far wiser. FDR understood that all three advisors were in fact right. They were just right from their perspective. But they didn’t have a view of the big picture. The contrast between FDR’s perspective of the entire situation compared to the trusted advisor’s perspective of a narrow part of the situation is what creates the dichotomy. The stock market works much the same way.
A different example would be the poem about the six blind men and the elephant. Each of the six blind men is asked to describe an elephant. Their perceptions lead to misinterpretation because they each describe the elephant differently depending on which part of the elephant they touch. One touches the side and describes the elephant like a wall. The other the tusk and describes the elephant as a spear. The next touches the trunk and describes a snake. The next the knee and describes a tree. The next an ear and describes a fan. Finally the last touches the tail and describes the elephant like a rope.
This tale is about the stock market and how investors relate to the stock market. The stock market can be viewed as FDR or the elephant while investors or participants in the stock market can be viewed as the advisors or the blind men. When describing the stock market each participant sees their portfolio’s performance from their perspective only and thus they are always “right” which leads to what I call The Party Effect or what Financial Behaviorist call the Recency Bias.
Imagine that you attended a party hosted by your investment advisor and that in addition to you, also in attendance were several other clients. As you go around the room and meet people you learn that everyone at the party owns the exact same S&P 500 index mutual fund. I use the S&P 500 for this tale because by many measures it has historically produce an average rate of return of about 12% and as many people know, and now you know as well, it represents what many investors call “the stock market.” The question then is would everyone have the same rate of return at this party? Of course the answer is, no they would not. If they started at the same time they would but since people invest or come into the life of the investment advisor at different times, the answer is no.
Let’s tighten up the party attendee list and invite only 30 guests. For simplicity, let’s assume that Guest 1 purchased the fund 30 months ago, that Guest 2 purchased it 29 months ago, that Guest 3 purchased it 28 months ago, etc. What would the guests discuss? What would be their perspectives of the stock market?
In order to determine what the guests would discuss and how they would evaluate their performance we need to have some data in the form of monthly rates of return. So we need to develop a monthly rate of return for 30 months to see what they see. Again, for simplicity, assume that for the first 18 months the fund goes up 3% per month and for the next 12 months it goes down 2% per month. Please note that I didn’t pick this sequence of numbers randomly. I have a purpose to this. This particular sequence approximates how the stock market moves in terms of bull and bear market duration and after 30 months returns approximately 12%; 12.28% to be exact. This sequence of numbers is a good sequence to illustrate The Party Effect or Recency Bias. We can characterize the first 18 months as the bull market phase of the 30-month cycle and the last 12 months as the bear market phase of the 30-month cycle.
To illustrate The Party Effect lets focus on 4 guests and see how they describe the stock market. Remember the FDR and elephant example from the start of this tale. Let’s look at guests 1, 10, 19 and 25. I picked these 4 because readers of this tale can relate in some form or another to one of these 4. Guest 1 started 30 months ago, at the beginning of the bull market phase, and his rate of return is 12.28% for the entire 30-month cycle. He enjoyed the ride up for 18 months and now the ride down for the last 12. Guest 10 started 21 months ago, halfway through the bull market phase, and his rate of return is 1.36% for the 21-month period he has been invested. Guest 19 started 12 months ago, at the beginning of the bear market phase, and his rate of return is –21.53% for the 12-month period he has been invested. Finally, Guest 25 started 6 months ago, halfway through the bear market phase, and his rate of return is –11.42 for the 6-month period he has been invested.
These 4 guests experienced entirely different rate of return outcomes and view their portfolios and thus the stock market completely different. All 4 are correct. All 4 are right and yet they couldn’t possibly have more divergent outcomes. If they don’t have a complete picture of the stock market, like the elephant, they can get themselves in trouble. The difference between the best performing portfolio that is up 12.28% and the worst performing portfolio that is down 21.53% is an astounding 33.81%. Is this too obvious? You may say, of course they have different outcomes, they started at different times but that is not the point. The point is that stock market investing will always produce different outcomes. One guest started at the worst time possible. Another guest started at the best possible time. How they look at the past determines how they see the present. Most importantly, it will determine how they will act going forward.
The Party Effect simply states that stock market participants evaluate their portfolio performance based on their perspective and their perspective only. They do not see the market as it is but as they are. Without an expert understanding of how the stock market works, this leads to incorrect conclusions that ultimately lead to incorrect decisions. The field of Behavioral Finance (BF) has shown time and time again that people have variable risk profiles. BF demonstrates that fear is a stronger emotion than greed. This means that in our simple 4 guest example, Guests 3 and 4 are more likely to exit the stock market at just the wrong time since their recent, thus Recency Bias, experience is one of losing money. It means that Guest 1 and 2 are more likely to stay invested, thus catching the next wave up that is likely to follow. All 4 have intellectual access to the events of the last 30 months. All 4 can educate themselves on the stock market. However, their particular situation is so biased by recent events that the facts are unimportant. They behave irrationally. I have witnessed this irrational behavior throughout my career. No one is immune, even advisors.
There are ways to combat The Party Effect trap but it is the deadliest of all the stock market traps that I know. Few can overcome it. The only sure way to overcome it is to become an expert on the stock market yourself, learn to manage your emotions, and then either manage your own money or hire competent managers that you recognize are expert in their chosen investment discipline. However, if you hire an expert on the stock market you have not solved the problem if you do not have expertise. Let me repeat this sentence and highlight it. If you hire an expert on the stock market you have not solved The Party Effect trap if you do not have expertise yourself. When you hire an expert on the stock market without being an expert yourself all you have done is added complexity to a complex problem. You have inserted another variable between you and the stock market. You now have three variables to worry about, the stock market, your advisor and yourself. Without expertise you have no way of knowing if your advisor is an expert. You are in an endless loop. You are in a recursive situation. Just like we ask, what came first the chicken or the egg? The Party Effect asks, how do I hire an expert without being an expert myself?
If you are unwilling to become an expert on the stock market you must find a way to solve The Party Effect trap? How do you do it? As a first step I suggest you read An Expert Tale to make sure the person you hire is in fact an expert and then hire them. The original intent of my Financial Tales project was to educate my kids and others I love. With that as a backdrop, this means I highly recommend you avoid dealing with any advisor that does not have a fiduciary relationship with you the client. Why, because you are adding a 4th variable to an already complex situation. You are adding the ever present conflict of interest that every non-fiduciary advisor has with their client. This 4th variable makes a successful outcome all but impossible. I recognize that these words are harsh but I believe your odds of success drop dramatically once you introduce the non-fiduciary variable. I don’t know what the future holds, but today you must avoid conflicted advisors at firms such as Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney, Morgan Stanley, etc. I expect that the non-fiduciary model of providing people with investment advice based on the size of the advertising budget will go the way of the dinosaur, but for as long as it exists, you must avoid this ilk of advisors.
What is the second step to avoiding The Party Effect trap? There is no second step. You either develop investment expertise or you learn to recognize experts and hire them. You can’t avoid or abdicate this charge. You must embrace your responsibility or you will suffer or those you love will suffer. It behooves the reader to invest their time in what is one of the most important decisions they will ever make and must make every day.
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From: sarah <[email protected]> To: Teacher2Teacher Public Discussion Date: 2005090721:48:54 Subject: making lemonade We mixed lemonade powder and water in different ratios and compared them. I recommend starting out by mixing up 3 or 4 mystery ratios, and letting them try to decide which drink goes with which ratio. I also tried doing 3-way proportions, using reconstituted lemon juice, sugar and water, but the kids hated the taste of the lemonade you made that way, even a "good" ratio, so we won't do that again.
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For decades, it's been common knowledge that dolphins are among the world's smartest species. Now some researchers -- and a new book -- argue the supposed underwater geniuses aren't so special after all.
Their social lives are complex, and they can congregate in large groups. Their heart rates increase when they notice a family member suffering. They sound the alarm when they discover food or a potential threat. And experiments have shown they even anticipate future events.
Biologist Justin Gregg is talking about chickens.
Chickens, says Gregg, "are not as dim-witted as popular opinion would have us believe." He adds, "Some of these complex behaviors have also been observed in dolphins."
Really? Are chickens as smart as dolphins? Or, to put it differently: "Are dolphins really smart?" This is the question Gregg, a zoologist with the US-based Dolphin Communication Project, asks in his new book of the same name. And he isn't the only one finding fault with Flipper's brainpower.
For more than 50 years, the dolphin has been viewed as an especially intelligent creature, grouped together with human beings and great apes. But now a dispute on the subject has erupted among scientists, and the smart aleck of the seas may end up being just an average mammal. "We put them on a pedestal for no reason and projected a lot of our desires and wishes on them," says neuroethologist Paul Manger of the University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. According to the professor, the claims that dolphins have a particularly complex brain, use a sophisticated language, are self-aware and can use tools are nonsense.
In some cases, says Manger, dolphins -- which are small whales -- are even outdone by goldfish. When goldfish are placed in a bowl, he explains, they at least try to escape by boldly jumping out, whereas dolphins that have been captured in nets won't even think of jumping to freedom. "The idea of the exceptionally intelligent dolphin is a myth," Manger concludes.
Origins of the Dolphin Myth
In the 1950s, physician and neuroscientist John Lilly played the crucial role in the elevation of dolphins from the status of stupid, fish-like creatures with excellent swimming skills to that of underwater know-it-all. In eerie-sounding experiments, Lilly attached electrodes to the brains of living dolphins to stimulate neurons. One day, a dolphin hooked up to his equipment began making loud noises as it approached its horrible death. When Lilly slowed down and played back the audio recordings, he concluded the dolphin was trying to communicate with its tormenters.
After further experiments, Lilly became convinced dolphins had a human-like faculty of speech and attempted to establish contact with the marine mammals. His desire to communicate was so great he administered LSD to himself and the dolphins in the hopes of stimulating conversation.
He soon moved to the American West Coast, where he became a spiritual leader of the hippy generation and wrote books in which he combined New Age ideology with half-baked dolphin research. The animals, Lilly gushed, were "more intelligent than any man or woman." He even attributed them philosophy, ethics and an "ancient vocal history."
Lilly's muddled legacy shapes our image of dolphins to this day. Artists paint watercolors of the animals swimming through outer space. In popular lore, dolphins serve as ambassadors of peace and unconditional love, and, the more out-there believe they possess miraculous healing powers and can teleport space-age settlers to Mars. Behavioral scientists, along with most reasonable people, agree this is all nonsense. Still, the size of dolphins' intellect remains a matter of dispute.
What's a Big Brain Worth?
One measure scientists use to determine a creature's intelligence is brain size -- given the theory that the more a brain weighs relative to the body, the smarter the animal. A human brain, which weighs about 1,300 grams (46 oz.), makes up about 2 percent of body weight. A chimpanzee's brain comprises 0.9 percent of its weight, while the corresponding number in elephants, with their brains weighing in at more than 4.5 kilograms (9.9 lbs.), is 0.2 percent. Dolphins do well by comparison. The brain of a bottle-nosed dolphin, for example, weighs more than 1,800 grams, or 0.9 percent of its average body weight.
It seems logical that dolphins deserve to be included in the animal Mensa Society. But does a large brain mean the same in marine mammals as it does in terrestrial animals? In 2006, Paul Manger noted that whales developed a large brain in order to keep the organ from becoming hypothermic, and thereby useless, in cold water.
Manger described an unusually high density of so-called glial cells in the animals' brain matter. He explained that these cells act like tiny ovens to keep the brain warm. Besides, he added, dolphins have a relatively simple brain structure, and noted: "The essential features of complex neural processing of information, as observed in other mammals, are missing or poorly developed."
No Better Than Mealworms?
Manger has now upped the ante with a new paper in which he claims behavioral studies involving dolphins are flawed and therefore not very informative. For instance, while zoologists have observed that dolphins can distinguish between the concepts "many" and "few," Manger notes: "This has also been demonstrated in yellow mealworms."
On the other hand, some bottle-nosed dolphins on Australia's west coast have learned to hold sponges over their snouts while they root around on the ocean floor. Is this a case of tool-use, indicating a high level of intelligence? Manger is skeptical. "Exactly what the dolphins do with the sponges remains unknown," he says, noting that the evidence they use them as tools is "flimsy."
Another example is dolphins' alleged talent for language. In one experiment, researchers were able to teach bottle-nosed dolphins 40 symbols. The animals were even capable of correctly interpreting combinations of the symbols, Manger admits, but African grey parrots and California sea lions can also learn this type of symbol-based language.
The scientific community is similarly divided over what zoologist Gregg calls "Dolphinese." It is known that every dolphin can identify itself with its own "signature whistle." The marine mammals use many other acoustic signals, he adds. But is this truly special? The tail-wagging dance of bees is also very complex, says Gregg. "It's probably not the case that dolphins have their own language, which is as complex as human language," says the expert in animal communication.
So is the dolphin actually the dummy of the seas? Most dolphin researchers are offended by such remarks. "To put it bluntly, most of that is bullshit," says Karsten Brensing, a marine biologist with the organization Whale and Dolphin Conservation (WDC). Manger and Gregg are losing sight of the "total package" when they compare the marine mammals' individual abilities with those of mealworms or bees, he says. "You can use similar arguments to prove that people aren't intelligent."
Lori Marino, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta, also has strong objections to Manger and Gregg's conclusions. "We shouldn't dismiss decades of peer-reviewed scientific work," she says, noting there are overwhelming indications that dolphins possess a high degree of intelligence. For instance, scientists have observed how the animals work together to encircle schools of fish. To cultivate relationships, they spoil each other with their own form of "petting" behavior. And in a struggle for power, males will join together to form networks.
Marino even believes that dolphins can recognize themselves. In a famous experiment, she and psychologist Diana Reiss drew markings on the bodies of two dolphins. Then they held up a mirror to the animals. They were fascinated to observe the animals turning around like divas in front of the mirror, presumably to examine their new body decorations.
For Marino, this is evidence of self-recognition, similar to what has been observed among great apes. She and other scientists even want to see the animals given the legal status of persons and granted "some fundamental rights," such as the right to bodily integrity.
None of this convinces Manger, who has a low opinion of Marino's mirror experiment. "The visual acuity of dolphins is actually not good enough to be able to readily perceive such marks," he says, and is critical of what he calls "serious deficiencies" in the design of the experiment.
Stop Calling Them 'Special'
Manger is accustomed to his theories being rebuffed. When he questioned the special features of the whale brain in 2006, dolphin fans called upon Manger's university to suspend him. But he merely wants to prevent the marine mammals from being anthropomorphized. Interpretations of behavior based on "personal bias" are not helpful, says Manger. "Conservation strategies should not be based on unrealistic expectations."
Gregg's primary objective is also to debunk the myth. "We have to stop describing them as 'special'," says Gregg.
It is becoming increasingly apparent that the marine mammals' intellectual abilities are by no means unique in the animal kingdom. "Many other species-from sharks to earwigs to rats-lead equally wondrous and worthy lives," he writes.
Translated from the German by Christopher Sultan
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York Minster – the most thoroughgoingly Gothic of England’s ancient cathedrals – is to be covered with olive oil. It is being treated like a salad not by way of an exercise in modern art, but as a well-grounded measure to conserve the masonry. Rain, especially if acidic, tends to dissolve the limestone from which the minster is built, and a coat of oil, even a molecule thick, will prevent this while allowing the stonework to breathe.
Two things are evident from this initiative. One is that ancient buildings are not dead and static but organic and in constant need of care. (“The arch never sleeps,” John Meade Falkner repeats in that classic of architectural fiction, The Nebuly Coat.) Second, medieval craftsmen knew what they were about. They would seal stone with oil too, often linseed. We do well to have the humility to come up to their standards.
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To be comfortable, buildings in all Australian climates require some form of cooling at some time of the year. There are many ways you can design or modify your home to achieve comfort through passive (non-mechanical) cooling, as well as hybrid approaches which utilise mechanical cooling systems.
The most appropriate passive cooling strategies for your home — including orientation, ventilation, windows, shading, insulation and thermal mass — are determined by climate, so first identify your climate zone by reading Design for climate. You can then apply the more detailed advice here and in Passive solar heating.
All Australian climates apart from tropical (Zone 1) require some form of heating in winter, and this affects advice relating to cooling. The balance between summer cooling and winter heating should be adjusted for climate through appropriate passive design. Tropical climate buildings, which require year round shading and are subject to very different passive cooling principles, are discussed separately below.
The advice in this article applies to most types of residential housing; however, additional useful tips can be found in Buying a home off the plan, Buying an existing home, Renovations and additions and Buying and renovating an apartment.
Photo: Suntech Design
Verandas, underfloor ventilation and shady plantings keep this Darwin classic comfortable in the heat.
Heat waves can affect large regions at the same time, causing combined household demand for cooling energy to ‘peak’ for a few days or weeks each year due to increased use of air conditioning or heat pumps for cooling during these periods. However, with careful design for passive cooling we may delay or eliminate this peak demand.
What is passive cooling?
Passive cooling is the least expensive means of cooling a home in both financial and environmental terms. Some level of passive cooling is required in every Australian climate at some time of the year.
As cooling requirements are dictated by climate, distinctly different approaches to passive cooling are required for:
- hot humid climates (Zone 1) where no heating is required
- temperate and warm climates (Zones 2−6) where both heating and cooling are required
- cool and cold climates (Zones 7−8) where heating needs are more important.
Each climate is discussed separately below.
Factors affecting comfort for people (human thermal comfort) are outlined in Design for climate and include both physiological and psychological factors.
To be effective, passive cooling needs to cool both the building and the people in it.
Evaporation of perspiration is the most effective physiological cooling process. It requires air movement and moderate to low humidity (less than 60%).
Radiant heat loss is also important, both physiologically and psychologically. It involves direct radiation to cooler surfaces.
Conduction contributes to both types of comfort and involves body contact with cooler surfaces. It is most effective when people are sedentary (e.g. sleeping on a water bed).
The efficiency of the building envelope can be maximised in a number of ways to minimise heat gain:
- shading windows, walls and roofs from direct solar radiation
- using lighter coloured roofs to reflect heat
- using insulation and buffer zones to minimise conducted and radiated heat gains
- making selective or limited use of thermal mass to avoid storing daytime heat gains.
To maximise heat loss, use the following natural sources of cooling:
- air movement
- cooling breezes
- earth coupling
- reflection of radiation.
Sources of passive cooling are more varied and complex than passive heating, which comes from a single, predictable source — solar radiation.
Varying combinations of innovative envelope design, air movement, evaporative cooling, earth-coupled thermal mass, lifestyle choices and acclimatisation are required to provide adequate cooling comfort in most Australian climate zones. Additional mechanical cooling may be required in hot humid climates and in extreme conditions in many climates, especially as climate change leads to higher temperatures during the daytime and overnight.
Air movement is the most important element of passive cooling. It cools people by increasing evaporation and requires both breeze capture and fans for back-up in still conditions.
It also cools buildings by carrying heat out of the building as warmed air and replacing it with cooler external air. Moving air also carries heat to mechanical cooling systems where it is removed by heat pumps and recirculated. This requires well-designed openings (windows, doors and vents) and unrestricted breeze paths.
In all climates, air movement is useful for cooling people, but it may be less effective during periods of high humidity. An air speed of 0.5m/s equates to a 3°C drop in temperature at a relative humidity of 50%. This is a one-off physiological cooling effect resulting from heat being drawn from the body to evaporate perspiration. Air movement exposes the skin to dryer air. Increased air speeds do not increase cooling at lower relative humidity but air speeds up to 1.0m/s can increase evaporative cooling in higher humidity. Air speeds above 1.0m/s usually cause discomfort.
Where the climate provides cooling breezes, maximising their flow through a home when cooling is required is an essential component of passive design. Unlike cool night air, these breezes tend to occur in the late afternoon or early evening when cooling requirements usually peak.
Cool breezes work best in narrow or open plan layouts.
Cool breezes work best in narrow or open plan layouts and rely on air-pressure differentials caused by wind or breezes. They are less effective in:
- buildings with deep floor plans or individual small rooms
- long periods of high external temperature (ambient or conducted heat gains above 35–40 watts per square metre (W/m2)
- locations with high noise, security risk or poor external air quality, where windows may need to be closed.
Coastal breezes are usually from an onshore direction (south-east and east to north-east in most east coast areas, and south-west in most west coast areas, e.g. the ‘Fremantle Doctor’).
In mountainous or hilly areas, cool breezes often flow down slopes and valleys in late evening and early morning, as heat radiating to clear night skies cools the land mass and creates cool air currents.
Thermal currents are common in flatter, inland areas, created by daily heating and cooling. They are often of short duration in early morning and evening but with good design can yield worthwhile cooling benefits.
Cool night air
Cool night air is a reliable source of cooling in inland areas where cool breezes are limited and diurnal temperature ranges usually exceed 6−8°C. Hot air radiating from a building fabric’s thermal mass is replaced with cooler night air drawn by internal−external temperature differentials rather than breezes. Full height, double hung windows are ideal for this purpose. Further cooling can be gained by including whole of house fans (see below).
Convective air movement
The rule of convection: warm air rises and cool air falls.
Stack ventilation, or convective air movement, relies on the increased buoyancy of warm air which rises to escape the building through high level outlets, drawing in lower level cool night air or cooler daytime air from shaded external areas (south) or evaporative cooling ponds and fountains.
Convection causes warm air to rise, drawing in cool air.
Convective air movement improves cross-ventilation and overcomes many of the limitations of unreliable cooling breezes. Even when there is no breeze, convection allows heat to leave a building via clerestory windows, roof ventilators and vented ridges, eaves, gables and ceilings.
Convection produces air movement capable of cooling a building but usually has insufficient air speed to cool people.
Solar chimneys enhance stack ventilation by providing additional height and well-designed air passages that increase the air pressure differential. Warmed by solar radiation, chimneys heat the rising air and increase the difference in temperature between incoming and out-flowing air.
The increase in natural convection from these measures enhances the draw of air through the building.
Source: Green Builder Solar Guidelines (Residential)
Solar chimneys enhance ventilation.
As water evaporates it draws large amounts of heat from surrounding air. Evaporation is therefore an effective passive cooling method, although it works best when relative humidity is lower (70% or less during hottest periods) as the air has a greater capacity to take up water vapour.
Rates of evaporation are increased by air movement.
Pools, ponds and water features immediately outside windows or in courtyards can pre-cool air entering the house. Carefully located water features can create convective breezes. The surface area of water exposed to moving air is also important. Fountains, mist sprays and waterfalls can increase evaporation rates.
Photo: Sunpower Design
Ponds pre-cool air before it enters a house.
Mechanical evaporative coolers are common in drier climates and inland areas where relative humidity is low. They use less energy than refrigerated air conditioners and work better with doors and windows left open. Their water consumption can be considerable (see Heating and cooling).
Earth coupling of thermal mass protected from external temperature extremes (e.g. floor slabs) can substantially lower temperatures by absorbing heat as it enters the building or as it is generated by household activities.
Earth coupling utilises cooler ground temperatures.
Passively shaded areas around earth-coupled slabs keep surface ground temperatures lower during the day and allow night-time cooling. Poorly shaded surrounds can lead to earth temperatures exceeding internal comfort levels in many areas. In this event, an earth-coupled slab can become an energy liability.
Ground and soil temperatures vary throughout Australia. Earth-coupled construction (including slab-on-ground and earth covered or bermed) utilises stable ground temperatures at lower depths to absorb household heat gains.
Passive cooling design principles
To achieve thermal comfort in cooling applications, building envelopes are designed to minimise daytime heat gain, maximise night-time heat loss, and encourage cool breeze access when available. Considerations include:
- designing the floor plan and building form to respond to local climate and site
- using and positioning thermal mass carefully to store coolness, not unwanted heat
- choosing climate appropriate windows and glazing
- positioning windows and openings to enhance air movement and cross ventilation
- shading windows, solar exposed walls and roofs where possible
- installing and correctly positioning appropriate combinations of both reflective and bulk insulation
- using roof spaces and outdoor living areas as buffer zones to limit heat gain.
Integration of these variables in climate appropriate proportions is a complex task. Energy rating software, such as that accredited under the Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS), can simulate their interaction in any design for 69 different Australian climate zones.
While the NatHERS software tools are most commonly used to rate energy efficiency (thermal performance) when assessing a house design for council approval, their capacity, in ‘non-rating mode’, as a design tool is currently under-used. Seek advice from an accredited assessor (Association of Building Sustainability Assessors or Building Designers Association of Victoria) who is skilled in using these tools in non-rating mode.
Envelope design — floor plan and building form
Envelope design is the integrated design of building form and materials as a total system to achieve optimum comfort and energy savings.
Heat enters and leaves a home through the roof, walls, windows and floor, collectively referred to as the building envelope. The internal layout — walls, doors and room arrangements — also affects heat distribution within a home.
Good design of the envelope and internal layout responds to climate and site conditions to optimise the thermal performance. It can lower operating costs, improve comfort and lifestyle and minimise environmental impact.
All Australian climates currently require some degree of passive cooling; with climate change this is expected to increase.
Varied responses are required for each climate zone and even within each zone depending on local conditions and the microclimate of a given site.
- Maximise the indoor−outdoor relationship and provide outdoor living spaces that are screened, shaded and rain protected.
- Maximise convective ventilation with high level windows and ceiling or roof space vents.
- Zone living and sleeping areas appropriately for climate — vertically and horizontally.
- Locate bedrooms for sleeping comfort.
- Design ceilings and position furniture for optimum efficiency of fans, cool breezes and convective ventilation.
- Locate mechanically cooled rooms in thermally protected areas (i.e. highly insulated, shaded and well sealed).
Thermal mass is the storage system for warmth and ‘coolth’ (the absence of warmth) in passive design.
Climate responsive design means positioning thermal mass where it is exposed to appropriate levels of passive summer cooling (and solar heating in winter). Badly positioned mass heats up and radiates heat well into the night when external temperatures have dropped. As a rule of thumb, avoid or limit thermal mass in upstairs sleeping areas. In climates with little or no heating requirement, low mass is generally the preferred option (see Thermal mass).
Earth-coupled concrete slabs-on-ground provide a heat sink where deep earth temperatures (at 3m depth or more) are favourable, but should be avoided in climates where deep earth temperatures contribute to heat gain. In these regions, use open vented floors with high levels of insulation to avoid heat gain.
In regions where deep earth temperatures are lower, consider enclosing subfloor areas to allow earth coupling to reduce temperatures and therefore heat gains.
Windows and shading
Windows and shading are the most critical elements in passive cooling. They are the main source of heat gain, via direct radiation and conduction, and of cooling, via cross, stack and fan-drawn ventilation, cool breeze access and night purging (see Glazing; Shading).
Low sun angles through east and west-facing windows increase heat gain, while north-facing windows (south in tropics) transmit less heat in summer because the higher angles of incidence reflect more radiation.
Source: Association of Building Sustainability Assessors (ABSA)
Relationship between sun angle and heat gain.
Air movement and ventilation
Design to maximise beneficial cooling breezes by providing multiple flow paths and minimising potential barriers; single depth rooms are ideal in warmer climates.
Because breezes come from many directions and can be deflected or diverted, orientation to breeze direction is less important than the actual design of windows and openings to collect and direct breezes within and through the home.
Use casement windows to catch and deflect breezes from varying angles.
Source: Dept of Environment and Resource Management, Qld
For breeze collection, window design is more important than orientation.
Wind doesn’t blow through a building — it is sucked towards areas of lower air pressure. To draw the breeze through, use larger openings on the leeward (low pressure or downwind) side of the house and smaller openings on the breeze or windward (high pressure or upwind) side. Openings near the centre of the high pressure zone are more effective because pressure is highest near the centre of the windward wall and diminishes toward the edges as the wind finds other ways to move around the building.
Airflow pattern and speed for different opening areas.
In climates requiring winter heating the need for passive solar north sun influences these considerations; designers should strive for a balanced approach.
The design of openings to direct airflow inside the home is a critical but much overlooked design component of passive cooling. Size, type, external shading and horizontal/vertical position of any openings (doors and windows) is critical — as shown in the diagrams below.
Source: Steve Szokolay
Airflow pattern for windows of different opening height. Louvre windows help to vary ventilation paths and control air speed.
Consider installing a louvre window above doors to let breezes pass through the building while maintaining privacy and security. In climates requiring cooling only, consider placing similar panels above head height in internal walls to allow cross-ventilation to move the hottest air.
Position windows (vertically and horizonally) to direct airflow to the area where occupants spend most time (e.g. dining table, lounge or bed).
In rooms where it is not possible to place windows in opposite or adjacent walls for cross-ventilation, place projecting fins on the windward side to create positive and negative pressure to draw breezes through the room, as shown in the diagram below.
Use fins to direct airflow.
Design and locate planting, fences and outbuildings to funnel breezes into and through the building, filter stronger winds and exclude adverse hot or cold winds.
Plant trees and shrubs to funnel breezes.
Plant trees and shrubs to funnel breezes.
Insulation is critical to passive cooling — particularly to the roof and floor. Windows are often left open to take advantage of natural cooling and walls are easily shaded; roofs, however, are difficult to shade, and floors are a source of constant heat gain through conduction and convection, with only limited cooling contribution to offset it.
Insulation levels and installation details for each climate zone are provided in Insulation and Insulation installation. Pay careful attention to up and down insulation values and choose appropriately for purpose and location.
In climates that require only cooling or those with limited cooling needs, use multiple layers of reflective foil insulation in the roof instead of bulk insulation to reduce radiant daytime heat gains while maximising night-time heat loss through conduction and convection. This is known as the one-way insulation valve.
Reflective foil insulation is less affected by condensation and is highly suited to cooling climate applications as it reflects unwanted heat out while not re-radiating it in.
Well-ventilated roof spaces (and other non-habitable spaces) play a critical role in passive cooling by providing a buffer zone between internal and external spaces in the most difficult area to shade, the roof.
Well-ventilated roof spaces form a buffer between internal and external areas.
Ventilators can reduce the temperature differential (see Passive heating) across ceiling insulation, increasing its effectiveness by as much as 100%. The use of foil insulation and light coloured roofing limits radiant heat flow into the roof space.
Use careful detailing to prevent condensation from saturating the ceiling and insulation. Dew-points form where humid air comes into contact with a cooler surface, e.g. the underside of roof sarking or reflective foil insulation cooled by radiation to a clear night sky (see Sealing your home).
Using ventilation to cool the roof space.
Hybrid cooling systems
Hybrid cooling systems are whole house cooling solutions that employ a variety of cooling options (including air conditioning) in the most efficient and effective way. They take maximum advantage of passive cooling when available and make efficient use of mechanical cooling systems during extreme periods.
Fans provide reliable air movement for cooling people and supplementing breezes during still periods.
At 50% relative humidity, air movement of 0.5m/s creates maximum cooling effect; faster speeds can be unsettling. As noted above, air speeds up to 1.0m/s can be useful in higher relative humidity, but prolonged air speeds above 1.0m/s cause discomfort.
Standard ceiling fans can create a comfortable environment when temperature and relative humidity levels are within acceptable ranges. In a lightweight building in a warm temperate climate, the installation of fans in bedrooms and all living areas (including kitchens and undercover outdoor areas) significantly reduces cooling energy use.
Source: Adapted from Ballinger 1992
Air movement relative to fan position.
Fans should be located centrally in each space, one for each grouping of furniture. An extended lounge/dining area needs two fans. In bedrooms, locate the fan close to the centre of the bed. Because air speed decreases with distance from the fan, position fans over the places where people spend the most time (see Heating and cooling).
Whole of house fans
Whole of house or roof fans are ideal for cooling buildings, particularly where cross-ventilation design is inadequate. However, they do not create sufficient air speed to cool occupants.
Whole of house fans should be positioned centrally, e.g. in the roof, stairwell or hallways.
Typically, a single fan unit is installed in a circulation space in the centre of the house (hallway or stairwell) to draw cooler outside air into the building through open windows in selected rooms, when conditions are suitable. It then exhausts the warm air through eaves, ceiling or gable vents via the roof space. This also cools the roof space and reduces any temperature differential across ceiling insulation.
Control systems should prevent the fan operating when external air temperatures are higher than internal.
Drawing large volumes of humid air through the roof space can increase condensation. A dew-point forms when this humid air comes in contact with roof elements (e.g. reflective insulation) that have been cooled by radiation to night skies (see Insulation and Sealing your home for ways to mitigate this).
Whole of house fans can be noisy at full speed but are generally operated in the early evening when cooling needs peak and households are most active. If run at a lower speed throughout the night, they can draw cool night air across beds that are near open windows, provided doors are left open for circulation. On still nights this can be more effective than air conditioning for night-time sleeping comfort.
Refrigerated air conditioning lowers both air temperature and humidity and provides thermal comfort during periods of high temperature and humidity. However, it is expensive to install, operate and maintain, and has a high economic and environmental cost because it consumes significant amounts of electricity unless high efficiency equipment is used in a very high performance building envelope. As it also requires the home to be sealed off from the outside environment, occupants are often unaware of improvements in the weather.
Air conditioning is commonly used to create comfortable sleeping conditions. The number of operating hours required to achieve thermal comfort can be substantially reduced or eliminated by careful design of new homes, as well as alterations and additions to existing homes.
Running a refrigerated air conditioner in a closed room for about an hour at bedtime often lowers humidity levels to the point where air movement from ceiling fans can provide sufficient evaporative cooling to achieve and maintain sleeping comfort. Some air conditioning units simply operate as fans when outdoor ambient temperature drops below the thermostat setting, so they can replace a ceiling fan.
Efficient air conditioning requires more than simply installing an efficient air conditioner.
Hybrid cooling solutions require a decision early in the design stages about whether air conditioning is to be used and how many rooms require it. Many inefficient air conditioning installations occur when they are added to a home designed for natural cooling as an afterthought to improve comfort.
Design of air conditioned spaces
There is usually no need to air condition all rooms. Decide which rooms will receive most benefit, depending on their use, and try to reduce the total volume of air conditioned air space (room size, ceiling height). Often one or two rooms are sufficient to provide comfort during periods of high humidity and high temperatures.
Design for night-time sleeping comfort by conditioning rooms commonly used in the early evening with bedrooms adjoining. A conditioned, masonry-wall television room in the centre of a free running (passively cooled) home with sleeping spaces adjoining it provides both direct and indirect cooling benefits. Efficient (low heat output) lighting and appliances are important in such an application.
A cool masonry wall in a bedroom gives both psychological and physiological comfort through combined radiant heat loss and reliable air movement from fans.
Photo: Environa Studio
A well-ventilated tropical house.
Design conditioned rooms with high levels of insulation and lowest exposure to external temperature influences, usually found in the centre of the house. Adjoining living spaces should be well ventilated, free running (passively cooled), with fans to encourage acclimatisation, and provide a thermal buffer to conditioned spaces.
Address condensation in externally ventilated rooms surrounding conditioned rooms. Walls with high thermal mass have fewer dew-point problems than lightweight insulated walls and can store ‘coolth’.
When insulated walls surround an air conditioned space, a vapour barrier should be installed between the warm humid air and the insulation material to prevent the insulation being saturated by condensation. Choose materials and finishes that are resistant to damage from condensation for any linings placed over the vapour barrier: placing reflective foil insulation under a plasterboard wall lining, for example, causes the dew-point to form under the plasterboard (see Sealing your home).
Avoid conditioning rooms that have high level indoor−outdoor traffic. Alternatively, use airlocks to minimise hot air infiltration or install an automatic switching device (such as a reed switch or other micro switch) to the doors leading to the air conditioned room that allows operation only when the door is closed.
Identify the months and times of day when mechanical cooling will be required and use control systems, sensors and timers to reduce total operating hours. Turn air conditioners off when you go out.
Set thermostats to the warmest setting that still achieves comfort. Experiment — you may find 26°C quite comfortable when you thought you needed 21°C.
Adapt your lifestyle where possible to take advantage of comfortable external conditions when they exist, to minimise operating periods for mechanical cooling systems.
Climate specific design principles
Climate specific design responses and passive cooling methods are different for:
- hot humid climates (Zone 1) where cooling only is required
- temperate and warm climates (Zones 2−6) where both heating and cooling are required
- cool and cold climates (Zones 7−8) where heating needs are predominant.
Hot humid climates requiring cooling only (Zone 1)
Due to the unique nature of hot humid climates, many state, territory and local governments in these regions have produced a range of excellent design resources and advice (see ‘References and additional reading’ at the end of this article).
Hot humid climates require a fundamentally different design approach.
Hot humid climates require a fundamentally different design approach to those commonly recommended throughout Your Home, which focuses predominantly on climates requiring both summer cooling and winter heating.
The most significant difference is in the size and orientation of windows or openable panels and doors. In these climates, modest amounts of well-shaded glazing can and should be positioned on every façade to encourage air movement.
Windows or other openings should be located, sized and designed to optimise air movement, not solar access. As stated earlier, wind doesn’t blow through a building — it is sucked towards areas of lower air pressure. Locate larger openings on the downwind, or leeward, side of the house and smaller openings on the breeze, or windward, side. This is advantageous in these cyclone prone regions since cyclones and cool breezes commonly come from an onshore direction (see Orientation).
Other elevations should also include openings because breezes come from a variety of directions and can be redirected or diverted through good design and appropriate window styles, especially casement windows.
Another critical difference is that the designer needs to make an early decision about whether the home is to be ‘free running’ (i.e. passively cooled), conditioned (mechanically cooled) or hybrid (a combination of both).
Free running buildings should not be conditioned at a future date without substantial alteration: this includes reducing the size of openings, adding bulk insulation around the room(s) to be conditioned and condensation detailing.
Design responses to the challenges of hot humid climates
High humidity levels in these climates limit the body’s ability to lose heat by evaporating perspiration (see Design for climate).
Sleeping comfort is a significant issue, especially during periods of high humidity where night temperatures often remain above those required for human comfort. While acclimatisation helps, it is often inadequate during the ‘build-up’ and wet season — especially in cities with highly transient populations such as Darwin.
Design responses consider shading, air movement, insulation and construction methods.
- Permanently shade all walls and windows to exclude solar access and rain.
- Consider shading the whole building with a fly roof.
- Shade outdoor areas around the house with plantings and shade structures to lower the ground temperature and thence the temperature of incoming air.
- Maximise exposure to (and funnelling of) cooling breezes onto the site and through the building, e.g. larger leeward openings, smaller windward openings.
- Use single room depths where possible with large openings that are well shaded to enhance cross-ventilation and heat removal.
- Design unobstructed cross-ventilation paths.
- Provide hot air ventilation at ceiling level for all rooms with shaded openable clerestory windows, ‘whirlybirds’ or ridge vents.
- Elevate the building to encourage airflow under floors.
- Use higher or raked ceilings to promote convective air movement.
- Design plantings to funnel cooling breezes and filter strong winds.
- Install ceiling fans to create air movement during still periods.
- Consider using whole of house fans with smart switching to draw cooler outside air into the house at night when there is no breeze.
- Choose windows with maximum opening areas (louvres or casement) that can be tightly sealed when closed; avoid fixed glass panels. Openable insulated panels and security screen doors can be used instead of some windows.
- Use lighter colours on roof and external walls.
- Use insulation solutions that minimise heat gain during the day and maximise heat loss at night, i.e. use multiple layers of reflective foil to create a one way heat valve effect and avoid bulk insulation.
- Use low thermal mass construction generally.
- Consider the benefits of high mass construction in innovative, well-designed hybrid solutions.
Mixed climates requiring heating and cooling (Zones 2−6)
Well-designed Australian homes do not require air conditioning in most climates.
More than 50% of homes in warm temperate climates are mechanically cooled. This proportion is rapidly increasing — often because inadequate shading, insulation and ventilation, or poor orientation and room configuration for passive cooling and sun control, cause unnecessary overheating.
Warm humid climates (Zone 2)
Energy consumption for heating and cooling can account for up to 25% of total household energy use in this climate. In benign climates like the coastal areas of south-east Queensland and north-east NSW, achieving the high levels of passive thermal comfort required to reduce this by as much as 80% is a relatively simple and inexpensive task.
- Design and orientate to maximise the contribution of cooling breezes.
- Use earth-coupled concrete slab-on-ground.
- Provide high levels of cross-ventilation via unobstructed pathways.
- Use ceiling fans and convective ventilation to supplement them.
- Include a well-located and shaded outdoor living area.
- Use lighter colours for roof and external walls.
- Consider whole of house fans in this climate.
- Apply hybrid cooling principles where cooling is used.
Passive solar heating is required during winter months and varies from very little to significant. Integrate passive heating requirements with cool breeze capture by providing passive or active shading (eaves or awnings) to all windows.
Employ well-designed shading and insulation to limit heat gain and maximise summer heat loss in response to the specific microclimate (see Shading).
- Use high mass construction in areas with significant diurnal (day−night) temperature ranges (usually inland) to provide significant amounts of free heating and cooling.
- Use low mass construction where diurnal temperature ranges are low (usually coastal) to increase the effectiveness of passive and active heating and cooling.
- Elevate structures to increase exposure to breezes in warmer northern regions.
- Eliminate earth coupling in southern and inland regions.
- Use bulk and/or reflective insulation to prevent heat loss and heat gain.
- Use glazing with a low to medium solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) and U-value.
Hot dry climates with warm winter (Zone 3)
Use courtyard designs with evaporative cooling from ponds, water features and ‘active’ (mechanical) evaporative cooling systems. They are ideal for arid climates where low humidity promotes high evaporation rates.
- Use evaporative cooling if mechanical cooling is required.
- Use ceiling fans in all cases.
- Use high mass solutions with passive solar winter heating where winters are cooler and diurnal ranges are significant.
- Use low mass elevated solutions where winters are mild and diurnal ranges are lower.
Minimise east and west-facing glazing or provide adjustable external shading. High mass living areas are more comfortable during waking hours. Low mass sleeping areas cool quickly at night. High insulation prevents winter heat loss and summer heat gain.
- Consider high mass construction for rooms with passive winter heating and low mass for other rooms.
- Shade all windows in summer and east and west windows year round.
- Use well-sealed windows and doors with maximum opening area to optimise exposure to cooling breezes and exclude hot, dry and dusty winds.
Hot arid climates with cool winter (Zone 4)
Use high thermal mass construction to capitalise on high diurnal temperature ranges by storing both warmth and ‘coolth’.
- Use compact forms to minimise surface area.
- Maximise building depth.
- Include closeable stack ventilation in stairwells and thermal separation between floors in two storey homes.
- Use shaded internal courtyards with evaporative cooling features in single storey homes.
- Use smaller window and door openings designed for night-time cooling and cool thermal currents where available.
- Use low U-value double glazing with high SHGC.
- Ensure that the majority of glazing is north facing and passive solar shaded.
- Avoid west windows.
Evaporative cooling and active solar heating systems reduce the need for large, solar exposed glass areas for heating (i.e. active rather than passive heating).
Traditional and innovative cooling methods for arid climates
Specialist passive and low energy cooling systems have evolved for hot dry climate areas in other parts of the world (e.g. Middle East, Arizona) which are also applicable to a large portion of the Australian continent.
They introduce moisture to building structures (such as roof ponds or water sprayed onto evaporative pads) and incorporate stacks or chimneys that use convection to exhaust rising hot air and draw cooler, low level air into the building. This air can be evaporatively cooled by being drawn over ponds, or through mist sprays or underground labyrinths (these towers are dominant elements and are therefore an integral part of the fundamental architecture of the building).
Modern version of an Iranian Badgir cooling system where earth exchange and evaporation pre-cool incoming air drawn by a solar chimney.
Temperate climates (Zones 5 and 6)
With good design, temperate climates require minimal heating or cooling. Good orientation, passive shading, insulation and design for cross-ventilation generally provide adequate cooling. Additional solutions from the range explained here can be used where site conditions create higher cooling loads.
- Design for compact form in cooler zones, extending the east−west axis in warmer zones (see Orientation).
- Prefer plans with moderate building depth — two rooms is ideal.
- Design for the impacts of climate change and consider highly efficient heat pump systems to cope with increases in extreme weather events.
- Use thermal mass levels appropriate to the amount of passive cooling available (cool breezes, consistent diurnal variations) and use thermal mass to delay peak cooling needs until after the peak demand period.
- Choose window opening styles and position windows to ensure good cross-ventilation.
- Orientate for passive solar heating and divert breezes.
- Employ larger northern and southern façades.
- Design for moderate openings with the majority to the north.
- Use minimal west-facing glazing (unless well shaded).
- Use moderate east-facing glazing and moderate south-facing glazing except where cross-ventilation paths are improved by larger openings.
- Use bulk and reflective foil insulation.
- Use low to medium U-value and SHGC glazing in milder areas and double glazing where ambient temperatures are higher.
Temperate climates call for good orientation, passive shading and cross-ventilation.
Cool and cold climates where heating dominates (Zones 7 and 8)
Zone 7 requires careful consideration of cooling needs because climate change modelling indicates that it is likely to be impacted by climate change more than most other zones.
This necessitates a shift from the current high thermal mass design practices to moderate or low mass designs with carefully calculated glass to mass ratios to avoid summer overheating. Higher mass solutions remain useful in higher altitude and colder regions where significant diurnal ranges are likely to continue to provide reliable cooling in all but extreme weather events.
- Winter heating remains the predominant need in all but the warmest regions in these zones.
- Passive solar orientation and shading is critical.
- On sites where passive heating or cooling access is limited, consider low mass, high insulation solutions with highly efficient reverse-cycle heat pumps.
- Give increased attention to the design of high level cross-ventilation for night cooling.
- Low U-value double glazing with high SHGC is highly desirable due to its effectiveness in both summer and winter.
- Use a well-designed combination of reflective foil and bulk insulation.
- Use modest areas of glazing with the majority facing north where solar access is available.
- Minimise west-facing glazing.
- Passive and/or active shading of all glazing is essential.
Applicable in all climates, especially hot humid and hot dry, ‘adapting lifestyle’ means adopting living, sleeping, cooking and activity patterns that respond to and work with the climate rather than using mechanical cooling to emulate an alternative climate.
High humid climates present the greatest challenge in achieving thermal comfort because high humidity levels reduce evaporation rates (see Design for climate).
‘Adapting lifestyle’ means working with the climate rather than using mechanical cooling to emulate an alternative one.
Acclimatisation is a significant factor in achieving thermal comfort. Most people living in tropical climates choose to do so. They like the climate and know how to live comfortably within its extremes by adopting appropriate living patterns to maximise the outdoor lifestyle opportunities it offers.
Sleeping comfort at night during the hottest and most humid periods is a significant issue for many people living in tropical climates. Sleeping comfort generally should be a high priority when choosing, designing or building a home. Different members of a household have different thermal comfort thresholds. Children often adapt to seasonal changes more easily than adults do.
Understanding the sleeping comfort requirements of each member of the household can lead to better design, positioning or allocation of bedrooms — and increased thermal comfort for all with less dependence on mechanical cooling.
Live outside when time of day and seasonal conditions are suitable — particularly in the evenings. Radiation by the body to cool night skies is an effective cooling mechanism, especially in the early evening when daytime heat loads have not been allowed to escape from the interior of the house.
Cooking outside during hotter months reduces heat loads inside. This Australian lifestyle tradition developed to suit our climate is not often directly connected to thermal comfort. Locate barbeques outdoors, under cover in close proximity to the kitchen, with good access either by servery or screened door. Shaded barbecue and outdoor eating areas (insect screened where required) facilitate outdoor living and increased comfort.
Sleep-outs are an ideal way to achieve sleeping comfort and can provide low cost additional space for visitors who often arrive during the hotter Christmas period.
Vary active hours to make best use of comfortable temperature ranges at different times of the year. The siesta regime of most Central American countries is a practical lifestyle response to specific climatic conditions that are also experienced in high humid and hot dry regions of Australia.
References and additional reading
Contact your state, territory or local government for further information on passive design considerations for your climate. www.gov.au
Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB). 2011. Condensation in buildings: handbook. www.abcb.gov.au
Beagley, S. 2011. Greenhouse friendly design for the tropics. COOLmob, NT Government, Darwin. www.coolmob.org
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). 2011. Climate education: sustainable urban design and climate. [additional reading now found on environmentdesignguide.com.au]
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM). Wind roses for selected locations. www.bom.gov.au
Cairns style design guide. www.cairns.qld.gov.au
Clark, M. 2010. Designing for climate. [additional reading now found on www.ecosavvy.com.au]
Cole, G. 2002. Residential passive solar design. Environment design guide, GEN 12. Australian Institute of Architects, Melbourne. www.environmentdesignguide.com.au
COOLmob — Sustainable living for the tropics. www.coolmob.org/design
Department of Housing and Regional Development. 1995. Australian model code for residential development (AMCORD). AGPS, Canberra. [additional reading now found on www.creationcorporation.com.au]
Givoni, B. 1995. Passive and low energy cooling of buildings. John Wiley & Sons, Brisbane.
Hollo, N. 2011. Warm house cool house: inspirational designs for low-energy housing, 2nd edn. Choice Books, NewSouth Publishing, Sydney.
Hyde, R. 2009. Climate responsive design. Fishpond Australia. www.fishpond.com.au
Koenigsberger, O, Ingersoll, T, Mayhew, A and Szokolay, S. 1974. Manual of tropical housing and building — Part 1 climatic design. Longman London.
Nationwide House Energy Rating Scheme (NatHERS). www.nathers.gov.au
Prelgauskas, E. 2003. Arid climates and enhanced natural ventilation. Environment design guide, DES 20. Australian Institute of Architects, Melbourne. [additional reading now found on www.environmentdesignguide.com.au]
Prelgauskas, E. 2004. Passive cooling building systems. Environment design guide, DES 59. Australian Institute of Architects, Melbourne. www.environmentdesignguide.com.au
Queensland Department of Local Government and Planning. 2011. Design guide for 6-star energy equivalence housing. www.hpw.qld.gov.au
Queensland Department of Public Works. 2008. Smart and sustainable homes. [additional reading now found on www.hpw.qld.gov.au]
Queensland Department of Public Works. Designing for Queensland’s climate.[additional reading now found on www.hpw.qld.gov.au]
Townsville City Council. 2010. City of Thuringowa Planning Scheme policies: Climate responsive design of housing; Climate responsive design exemplars. [additional reading now found on http://tropicdesign.net.au]
Wrigley, D. 2012. Making your home sustainable: a guide to retrofitting, rev. edn. Scribe Publications, Brunswick, Vic.
Principal author: Chris Reardon
Contributing author: Dick Clarke, 2013
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Capacitor vs Condenser
Capacitor and condenser are two words used in engineering. When considering the electrical circuit elements, both capacitor and condenser are used to describe the same device. However in general, condenser has some other meanings.
Capacitor is made of two conductors separated by an insulating dielectric. When a potential difference is provided to these two conductors, an electric field is created and electric charges are stored. Once the potential difference is removed and the two conductors are connected, a current (stored charges) flows to neutralize that potential difference and electric field. The rate of discharge gets reduced with time and this is known as the capacitor discharging curve.
In analysis, capacitor is considered as an insulator for DC (direct current), and conducting element for AC (alternating currents). Therefore it is used as a DC blocking element in many circuit designs. Capacitance of a capacitor is known as the capability to store electric charges and it is measured in the unit called Farad (F). However in practical circuits, capacitors are available in the ranges of micro Farads (µF) to pico Farads (pF).
Condenser refers to different objects in different engineering fields. When electronic circuits are considered, condenser means a capacitor. In thermodynamics, condenser is a device which condenses (converts into liquid) gaseous materials by cooling. In optics, condenser is a device that helps concentrate light. Among these different uses of the word, thermodynamic term is the most common.
All condensers have a cooling system to remove heat from gaseous material and make them liquid. It should remove an amount of thermal energy equivalent to ‘latent heat’ of the gas. Condensers are used in thermal power plants, distilleries and air conditioners.
What is the difference between capacitor and condenser?
1. Although the word ‘condenser’ is used to call capacitors in electronics circuits, there are different uses of the word in other disciplines.
2. Condenser is usually referred to as a device which converts gases into liquids.
3. A different device called condenser is also available in optical systems.
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Ichthyologist John Sullivan has seen his fair share of electric fishes. But when he pulled his trap out of Gabon’s Ogooué River in September 2014 he knew right away he’d found a doozy. At only about four and a half inches long, this particular electric fish was brown, almost golden, with a chin like Jay Leno. “I know these fish well enough that I can see them just for a second when I pull them from my trap and I know what they are,” Sullivan says. “And this one I was like, ‘What is that?’”
In a study released yesterday, Sullivan describes what is not only a new species, Cryptomyrus (meaning “hidden fish”) ogoouensis (named after the river whence it came), but a member of a mysterious new genus in the family of so-called weakly electric fishes. Also known as mormyrids, these don’t have the shock power of the electric eel. But they generate electric fields to detect prey in the dark, and also use pulses of electricity to communicate with each other. And now they can invite a new fish into the family.
It turns out that Cryptomyrus ogoouensis’ electrical pulses are as singular as its giant chin. Each species of weakly electric fish is hardwired to produce a certain waveform—that is, the shape of the pulse seen through an oscilloscope, which shows voltage over time. A mormyrid creates those pulses with a mass of modified muscle cells at the base of its tail. Each of those cells works with minute blasts of electricity, but when they all fire at the same time, they create a noticeable electric field. (Humans can feel it, but you’d only be able to pick up a slight tingle by grabbing the largest mormyrids by the tail.)
A mormyrid’s electric signature is so distinct that Sullivan can use it to identify the species—that’s why he goes out of his way to catch them alive in a trap as opposed to on a line, which is more traumatic for the animal. (It also doesn’t help that Cryptomyrus ogoouensis has a super tiny mouth.) Sullivan had an inkling his catch was a new species because he didn’t recognize the recording of its electrical signals.
The other half of the mormyrid’s electrical system is a set of electroreceptors. Should an insect larva—likely the fish’s preferred food—wander near, it’ll disrupt the fish’s electric field and trip the predator’s electroreceptors, giving itself away. (Famously, sharks also home in on their prey by detecting an organism’s electricity.) Ogoouensis also has two other kinds of electroreceptors: one to help it orient itself and navigate in the darkness, and another to detect the pulses from other weakly electric fishes.
Those are important, because mormyrids don’t just hunt with those electric fields. They can also modify the rapidity of the pulses to telegraph their sex or mood. “So they can sense the timing differences in these pulses so they can say, ‘OK, there’s a member of my species, and in fact that’s going to be a male,’” Sullivan says.
Ogoouensis isn’t alone in the Cryptomyrus genus, though: Science had another species in its grasp all along.
Sullivan’s colleagues had earlier sent him two specimens of an undescribed mormyrid, one in 2001 and another in 2012, both from Gabon. He’d held off on describing them, though, because describing a new species from one or even two specimens isn’t ideal. “Catching the one specimen of Cryptomyrus ogoouensis in 2014 rekindled our interest, and we became resigned to the fact that we weren’t getting any more specimens to work on anytime soon,” Sullivan says. Those two earlier specimens turned out to be a new species that’s closely related to ogoouensis: Cryptomyrus ona, the only other species in the brand new genus.
It’s a serendipitous reminder of just how important natural history collections are to biology. Specimens don’t just soak in jars for decades, never to see fresh air again. Having a fish or beetle or sea cucumber at the ready can be pivotal for scientists trying to make sense of the tree of life—an altogether more pressing matter in the age of mass extinction.
So here’s to hoping this newfound pair of weakly electric fish species can get by alright. No sense in letting the sharks have all the fun, after all.Go Back to Top. Skip To: Start of Article.
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CHILD Protection & Child Rights » IV. National Mechanisms
The first step to fulfil the rights of children can be found in the Constitution of India. There are a number of articles that address various needs of children as outlined below. The articles are divided into two categories: Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy. Fundamental Rights are justifiable in a court of law and are negatives that prohibit the states from doing thing. The courts are bound to declare a law as invalid if it violates a fundamental right. Directive principles are positive suggestions for states, and are not justifiable in a court of law.
- Article 14- The State shall not deny to any person equality before the law or the equal protection of laws with in the territory of India.
- Article 15- The State shall not discriminate against any citizen..Nothing in this Article shall prevent the State from making any special provisions for women and children.
- Article 21-No person shall be deprived of his life or personal liberty except according to procedure established by law.
- Article 21 A-The State shall provide free and compulsory education to all children of the age of 6-14 years in such manner as the State may, by law, determine.
- Article 23-Traffic in human beings and beggary and other forms of forced labour are prohibited and any contravention of this provision shall be an offence punishable in accordance with the law.
- Article 24-No child below the age of 14 years shall be employed to work in any factory or mine or engaged in any other hazardous employment.
- The Constitution (86th Amendment) Act was notified on 13th December 2002, making free and compulsory education a Fundamental Right for all children in the age group of 6-14 years.
- Article 39(e) and (f) provides that the State shall, in particular, direct its policy towards securing to "ensure that the health and strength of workers, men and women and the tender age of children are not abused" and "that the citizens are not forced by economic necessity to enter avocations unsuited to their age or strength" and that "the children are given opportunities and facilities to develop in a healthy manner and in conditions of freedom and dignity" and that the childhood and youth are protected against exploitation and against moral and material abandonment.
- Article 45- The State shall endeavour to provide early childhood care and education for all children until they complete the age of six years.
- Article 47- The State shall regard the raising of the level of nutrition and the standard of living of its people and the improvement of public health as among its primary duties
- Article 243G read with Schedule 11 - provide for institutionalization of child care by seeking to entrust programmes of Women and Child Development to Panchayat (Item 25 of Schedule 11), apart from education (item 17), family welfare (item 25), health and sanitation (item 23) and other items with a bearing on the welfare of children.
To access the complete Constitution in English and Hindi click here: Constitution of India
Further Reading »
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Jesus, the Last Great Initiate, by Edouard Schuré, , at sacred-texts.com
What he wished to know he could learn from none other than the Essenes.
The Gospels have maintained perfect silence as to the deeds of Jesus, previous to his meeting with John the Baptist, through whom, according to them, he in some way took possession of his ministry. Immediately afterwards he makes his appearance in Galilee with a clearly defined doctrine, the assurance of a prophet, and the consciousness of the Messiah. But evidently this bold and premeditated début was preceded by the long development of a veritable initiation. No less certain is it that this initiation must have taken place in the sole association in Israel, which, at that time, preserved the real traditions of the prophets and adopted their mode of living. There can be no doubt of this among those who, rising above the superstition of literal interpretation, have the courage to discover how things are linked together by their spirit. This arises not merely from the intimate relations seen to exist between the doctrine of Jesus and that of the Essenes, but even from the very silence kept by the Christ and his disciples concerning this sect. Why does he who attacks with unparalleled courage all the religious sects of his day, never mention the Essenes? And why do neither the apostles nor evangelists speak
of them? Evidently because they considered the Essenes as belonging to themselves, as being linked with them by the oath of the mysteries, and linked to the sect of the Christians.
The Order of the Essenes constituted in the time of Jesus the final remnant of those brotherhoods of prophets organized by Samuel. The despotism of the rulers of Palestine, the jealousy of an ambitious and servile priesthood, had forced them to take refuge in silence and solitude. They no longer struggled as did their predecessors, but contented themselves with preserving their traditions. They had two principal centers, one in Egypt, on the banks of Lake Maoris, the other in Palestine, at Engaddi, near the Dead Sea. The name of Essenes they had adopted came from the Syrian word "Asaya," physicianin Greek, therapeutes; for their only acknowledged ministry with regard to the public was that of healing disease, both physical and moral. "They studied with great diligence," says Josephus, "certain medical writings dealing with the occult virtues of plants and minerals." 1
Some of them possessed the gift of prophecy, as, e. g., Menahim, who had prophesied to Herod that he should reign. "They serve God," said Philo, "with great piety, not by offering victims but by sanctifying the spirit; avoiding towns, they devote themselves to the arts of peace; not a single slave is to be found among them; they are all free and work for one another." 2 The rules of the Order were strict; in order to enter, a year's novitiate was necessary. If one had given sufficient proofs of temperance, he was admitted to the ablutions,
though without entering into relations with the masters of the Order. Tests, extending over another two years, were necessary before being received into the brotherhood. They swore "by terrible oaths" to observe the rules of the Order and to betray none of its secrets. Then only did they participate in the common repasts, which were celebrated with great solemnity and constituted the inner worship of the Essenes. The garment they had worn during these repasts they looked upon as sacred and to be removed before resuming work. These fraternal love-feasts, primitive form of the Supper instituted by Jesus, began and ended by prayer. The first interpretation of the sacred books of Moses and the prophets was here given. But the explanation of the texts allowed of three significations, just as there were three degrees of initiation. Very few attained to the highest degree. All this wonderfully resembles the organization of the Pythagoreans, 1 but certainly it was almost the same among the ancient prophets, for it is to he found wherever initiation has existed. It must be added that the Essenes professed the essential dogma of the Orphic and Pythagorean doctrine; that of the preexistence of the soul, the consequence and reason of its immortality. "The soul," they said, "descending from the most subtle ether, and attracted into the body by
a certain natural charm (ἰυγγί τινι φυσικῇ), remains there as in a prison; freed from the bonds of the body, as from a long servitude, it joyfully takes its flight" (Josephus, A. J., ii. 8).
Among the Essenes, the brothers, properly so called, lived under a community of property, and in a condition of celibacy, cultivating the ground, and, at times, educating the children of strangers: The married Essenes formed a class affiliated and under subjection to the other. Silent, gentle, and grave, they were to be met with here and there, cultivating the arts of peace. Carpenters, weavers, vine-planters, or gardeners, never gunsmiths or merchants. Scattered in small groups about the whole of Palestine, and in Egypt, even as far as Mount Horeb, they offered one another the most complete hospitality. Thus we see Jesus and his disciples journeying from town to town, and from province to province, and always certain of finding shelter and lodging. "The Essenes," said Josephus, "were of an exemplary morality, they forced themselves to suppress passion and anger; always benevolent, peaceable, and trustworthy. Their word was more powerful than an oath, which, in ordinary life, they looked upon as superfluous, and almost as perjury. They endured the most cruel of tortures, with admirable steadfastness of soul and smiling countenance rather than violate the slightest religious precept." Indifferent to the outward pomp of worship at Jerusalem, repelled by the harshness of the Sadducees, and the prayers of the Pharisees, as well as by the pedantry of the synagogue, Jesus was attracted towards the Essenes by natural affinity. 1
The premature death of Joseph set entirely free Mary's son, now grown into a man. His brothers could continue the father's trade and supply all family needs, so Mary gave him permission to leave secretly for Engaddi. Welcomed as a brother and one of the elect, he rapidly acquired over his very masters an invincible ascendancy, by reason of his superior faculties, his ardent love, and an indescribable divine element manifested throughout his entire being. From the Essenes he received what they alone could give him: the esoteric tradition of the prophets, and by its means, his own historical and religious tendency or trend. He came to understand how wide a gulf separated the official Jewish doctrine from the ancient wisdom of the initiates, the veritable mother of religions, though ever persecuted by Satan, i. e., by the spirit of evil, of egoism, hatred, and denial, allied with absolute political power and priestly imposture. He learned that Genesis, under the seal of its symbolism, concealed a theogony and cosmogony as far removed from their literal signification as is the profoundest truth of science from a child's fable. He contemplated the days of Aelohim, or the eternal creation by emanation of the elements and the formation of the worlds, the origin of the floating souls, and their return to God by progressive existences or generations of Adam. He was struck with the grandeur of the thought of Moses, whose intention had been to prepare the religious unity of the nations by establishing the worship of the one God, and incarnating this idea into a people.
Afterwards he was instructed in the doctrine of the divine Word, already taught by Krishna in India, by the priests of Osiris, by Orpheus and Pythagoras in Greece, and known to the prophets under the name of the Mysteries of the Son of Man and of the Son of God. According to this doctrine, the highest manifestation of God is man, who, in constitution, form, organs, and intelligence is the image of the Universal Being, whose faculties he possesses. In the earthly evolution of humanity, however, God is scattered, split up, and mutilated, so to speak, in the multiplicity of men and of human imperfections. In it he suffers, struggles, and tries to find himself, he is the Son of Man, the perfect Man, the Man-Type, the profoundest thought of God, remaining hidden in the infinite abyss of his desire and power. And yet at certain epochs, when humanity is to be saved from some terrible gulf, and set on a higher stand, a chosen one identifies himself with divinity, attracts it to himself by strength, wisdom, and love, and manifests it anew to men. Then, divinity, by virtue and breath of the Spirit, is completely present in him: the Son of Man becomes the Son of God, and his living word. In other ages and among other nations, there had already appeared sons of God, but since Moses, none had arisen in Israel. All the prophets were expecting this Messiah. The Seers even said that this time he would call himself the Son of Woman, of the Heavenly Isis, of the divine light which is the Bride of God, for the light of Love would shine in him, above every other light, with a dazzling splendor, hitherto unknown on earth.
All these secrets which the patriarch of the Essenes unfolded to the young Galilean on the solitary banks of
the Dead Sea, in lonely Engaddi, seemed to him wonderful, but yet known. It was with no ordinary emotion that he heard the chief of the Order comment on the words still to be read in the Book of Henoch: "From the beginning the Son of Man was in the mystery. The Father kept him near his mighty presence, and manifested him to his elect. But the Kings shall be afraid and shall prostrate themselves to the ground with terror, when they shall see the Son of Woman seated on the throne of his glory. Then the elect shall summon all the forces of heaven, all the saints from on high and the power of God; and the Cherubim, the Seraphim, the Ophanim, all the angels of Might, all the angels of the Lord, i. e. of the Elect and of the other Might, serving on earth and above the waters, shall raise their voices." 1
At these revelations the words of the prophets, read and meditated upon times innumerable, appeared before the eyes of the Nazarene, with a profound and terrible light, like lightning flashes in the night. Who could this Elect be, and when would he appear before Israel?
Jesus passed a series of years among the Essenes. He submitted to their discipline, studied with them the secrets of nature, and the occult power of healing. To develop his spirit, he gained entire mastery over his body. Not a day passed without self-questioning and meditation on the destiny of humanity. That was a
memorable night for the Order of Essenes and the new adept, when he received in profoundest secrecy the superior initiation of the fourth degree, the one granted only in the special case of a prophetic mission, requested by the brother, and confirmed by the Elders. A meeting was held in a cave cut into the mountain, and resembling a vast hall with an altar of stone seats. The chief of the Order was there with a few Elders. Sometimes two or three initiates, prophetesses also, Essenes, were admitted to the mysterious ceremony. Bearing torches and branches of palm trees, they greeted the new Initiate who was clothed in a robe of white linen, as "Bridegroom and King," the one they had seen in vision, and whom they now looked upon perhaps for the last time! Then, the chief of the Order, generally an old centenarian (Josephus states that the Essenes lived to an advanced age) offered him the golden chalice as a symbol of the final initiation, containing the wine of the Lord's vineyard, symbol of divine inspiration. Some said that Moses and the seventy had drunk therefrom; others trace it back from Abraham, who received from Melchisedek this very initiation under the elements of bread and wine. 1 The Eiders never offered the cup to anyone in whom they had not recognized, with distinct certainty, the signs of a prophetic mission. But no one could define this mission, he was to find it himself; such is the law of the initiatesnothing from without, everything from within. Henceforth he was free, master of his own actions, liberated from the Order, a very hierophant, obedient to the impulses of the spirit which could fling him into the depths or transport him on high, far above scenes of torture and human passion.
When after the songs and prayers and sacramental words of the Elder the Nazarene took the cup, a pale ray of the sun shooting through a rugged mountain crag ran in and about the torches and the flowing white garments of the Essene prophetesses. They too shuddered as they saw it fall on the Galilean's beautiful countenance, now overshadowed with a look of infinite sorrow. Were his thoughts dwelling on the poor wretches of Siloam; had he already, in that ever-present anguish, caught a glimpse of the path he was to traverse?
About this time, John the Baptist was preaching on the banks of the Jordan. He was not an Essene but a prophet of the people, belonging to the sturdy race of Judah. Driven into the wilderness by a fierce unyielding piety, he had there, in prayer, fasting, and mortification, lived a life of the strictest asceticism. Over his bare sun-tanned skin he wore a camel's-hair cloak, symbol of the penitence he wished to impose both on himself and on his people. Deeply did he feel Israel's distress, and ardently did he await deliverance. According to the Jewish idea, he imagined the Messiah would soon come as an Avenger and a Judge; that, like another Maccabæus, he would rouse the people to revolt, drive out the Romans, punish the guilty, and finally enter Jerusalem in triumph, where, in peace and justice, he would re-establish the kingdom of Israel over all nations. He announced to the multitudes, who eagerly drank in his words, that the time was nigh for the coming of this Messiah, adding that they might prepare for it in a spirit of true repentance. Adopting the Essenian custom of ablution and transforming it, he had looked upon baptism in the Jordan as a visible symbol, a public accomplishment of the inner purification he insisted
upon. This new ceremony, this earnest preaching to immense crowds of people, with the wilderness as a background, and beside the sacred waters of the Jordan, near the rugged mountains of Peraea and Judaea, seized hold of the imagination, and attracted multitudes. It recalled the glorious days of the prophets of old, and gave the people what the temple could not give them, an inner shock, and, after the terrors of repentance had passed, a vague though mighty hope. They came from every part of Palestine, and even from more distant lands, to hear the desert-saint who foretold the coming of the Messiah. The populace, attracted by his message, remained there in camps, for weeks at a time, listening to him daily, unwilling to depart, awaiting the Messiah's coming. Many asked to take up arms under his command, and to recommence the holy war. Herod Antipas and the priests of Jerusalem began to be uneasy at this excitement of the populace. The signs of the times, too, were ominous; Tiberius, at the age of seventy-four, was rapidly hastening his death by scenes of debauchery at Capreae; Pontius Pilate was persecuting the Jews with redoubled fury; while, in Egypt, the priests had given forth that the Phnix was about to spring again to birth from her ashes. 1
Jesus, who felt the prophetic calling even more emphatic within his soul, though as yet he was still feeling his way, came also to the desert of the Jordan, accompanied by a few Essenes, who already acknowledged him as master. He wished to see the Baptist, to listen to his message, and be baptized in public. His desire was to present himself in an humble and respectful attitude towards the prophet who had the courage to
denounce the present rulers, and arouse from slumber the soul of Israel.
He saw the rough ascete, hairy and bearded, with his prophetic lionlike head, standing in a wooden pulpit under a rustic tent covered with branches and goatskins. All around among the scanty desert shrubs was a mighty crowd, an entire camp: publicans, soldiers of Herod, Samaritans, Levites from Jerusalem; Idumeans with their flocks of sheep, even Arabs with their camels, tents and caravans arrested by "the voice crying in the wilderness," and this voice of thunder passed over these multitudes. It said: "Repent ye; prepare ye the way of the Lord, make His paths straight." He called the Pharisees and Scribes "a race of vipers." He added that "the axe was already laid unto the root of the trees," and said of the Messiah: "I baptize you with water only, but He shall baptize you with fire." Then, about sunset, he saw the crowds press towards a cove on the water's bank, and Herod's mercenaries bend their rough backs beneath the water poured over them by the Baptist. He drew nearer; John did not know Jesus, knew nothing whatever concerning him, but he recognized the Essene by his linen garment. He saw him, a mere unit in the crowd, enter the water up to the girdle, and humbly bend to receive the baptismal sprinkling. When the neophyte arose, the savage preacher's fiery eyes met the Galilean's calm, gentle gaze. A quiver ran through the man of the wilderness as he saw the look of wondrous sweetness beaming from the eyes of Jesus, and involuntarily the question escaped his lips: "Art thou the Messiah?" 1
The mysterious Essene made no reply, but with bowed head and crossed hands, he awaited the blessing. John knew that silence was the law of the Essene novices. After solemnly extending both hands, the Nazarean disappeared with his companions among the water reeds.
The Baptist saw him depart with mingled feelings of doubt, secret joy, and profound sadness. What was his own knowledge, his own prophetic hope compared with the light he had seen in the eyes of the unknown, a light which seemed to illuminate his whole being? Ah! if the handsome young Galilean were the Messiah, then indeed had the brightest day of his life dawned! But his own part would now be over, his own voice silent. From this day forward he preached in deeper and more emotional tones on the melancholy theme: "He must increase and I must decrease." He was beginning to feel the gloom and weariness of an old lion tired of roaring, and now silently awaiting the end.
Could it be that he were the Messiah? The Baptist's question also found an echo in the soul of Jesus. Ever since his consciousness had sprung to life, he had found God within himself, and the certainty of the kingdom of Heaven in the radiant beauty of his visions. Then came the suffering of humanity which had filled his heart with the awful outpour of its anguish. The wise Essenes had taught him the secret of religions and of mysteries,
they had shown him the spiritual decadence of humanity, and its expectation of a savior. But how could he find the strength needed to rescue it from the pit? And now, the direct call of John the Baptist fell on the silence of his meditations like a thunderbolt from Sinai. Could he be the Messiah?
Jesus could answer this question only by inmost meditation. Hence this retreat, this forty days fast, narrated by Matthew in the form of a symbolic legend. The Temptation in reality represents in the life of Jesus this great crisis, this sovereign vision of truth, which all prophets, all religious initiates, must infallibly experience before beginning their work.
Over above Engaddi, where the Essenes cultivated sesame and the vine, a steep footpath led to a cave or grotto opening out on to the mountainside. It was entered by way of Dorian columns cut out of the rough rock, similar to those of the "Apostles" retreat in the valley of Jehosophat. There one remained suspended above the yawning precipice as though from an eagle's nest. Below, in a gorge, could be seen vineyards and human dwellings away in the distance, the Dead Sea motionless and grey, and the lonely mountains of Moab. The Essenes had appointed this retreat for such among them as wished to submit to the test of solitude. In this spot were several rolls of the prophets, strengthening spices, dry figs, and a small stream of trickling water, sole nourishment of the ascete in meditation. It was to this cave that Jesus retired. First of all, he mentally reviewed the whole of humanity's past life, and estimated the gravity of the present times. Rome was in sovereign power, and with her what the Persian magi had called the reign of Ahrimanes, and the prophets the
reign of Satan, the sign of the Beast, the apotheosis of Evil. Darkness covered humanity, the soul of earth.
The people of Israel had received from Moses the royal and sacerdotal mission of representing the male religion of the Father of the pure Spirit, of teaching it to other nations, and effecting its triumph. Had its kings and prophets fulfilled this mission? The prophets who alone had been conscious of it, replied unanimously: No! Israel was in her last throes, crushed beneath the might of Rome. Ought a rising of the people to be hazarded once more as the Pharisees still expected; a restoration by force of the temporal royalty of Israel? Should he declare himself son of David, and exclaim with Isaiah: "In my wrath I will trample upon the people and overthrow their might"? Should he be a second Maccabæus, and allow himself to be nominated pontifex-king? Jesus might have made the attempt. He had seen the crowds ready to rise at the voice of John the Baptist, and the strength he was himself conscious of was far greater than that of the prophet of the wilderness! But then, would violence overcome violence? Would the sword put an end to government by the sword? Would there not be thus supplied fresh recruits to the powers of darkness who were watching their prey in secret?
Ought he not rather to place within the reach of all mankind this truth, which hitherto had remained the privilege of a few sanctuaries and initiates, to open every heart to receive it, until the time should be ripe for it to penetrate the mind by inner revelation and science, i. e. to preach the kingdom of Heaven to the poor and lowly, substitute the reign of Grace for that
of the Law, transform humanity from its very base by regeneration of souls?
But to whom would victory belong, to Satan or to God? To the spirit of evil who reigns with the formidable powers of earth, or to the divine spirit who is enthroned above the invisible regions of heaven, and sleeps in the heart of man just as the spark lies hidden in the flint? What would be the fate of the prophet who should dare to tear away the veil from the temple and lay bare the emptiness of the sanctuary, braving at once Herod and Cæsar?
And yet it must be done! The inner voice did not say to him as it did to Isaiah: "Take a large volume and write therein with a man's pen!" The voice of God tried out to him, "Rise and speak!" The word of life must be found, the faith which removes mountains, the strength which shatters the bulwarks of evil.
Jesus began fervently to pray. Then a feeling of uneasiness, an increasing trouble came over his soul. He had a feeling that he was losing the marvellous felicity he had participated in, and that he was sinking into a very pit of darkness. A black, dense mist came over him, peopled with phantoms of every kind. He recognized his brothers, his Essene masters, his mother. One after the other they said to him: "It is madness for you to wish for what can never be! You know not what is before you! Renounce it all!" The invincible inner voice replied: "I must go on!" Thus he struggled for a series of days and nights, at times standing, then again on his knees or prostrate on the ground. The abyss in which he was sinking became deeper and deeper, and thicker and thicker the enveloping mist. He
felt as though he were approaching something inexpressibly terrible.
Finally, he entered that state of lucid ecstasy in which the very depth of consciousness awakens, enters into communication with the living Spirit of things, and projects in dreams the images of past and future. His eyes close, and the outer world disappears. The Seer contemplates truth in the light which floods his whole being, and converts his intelligence into a burning furnace.
Then came the clash of thunder, the mountain shook to its foundations. A whirlwind coming from distant space carried off the Seer to the top of the temple at Jerusalem. Down below shone roofs and minarets like a forest of gold and silver. Hymns were ascending from the Holy of Holies, waves of incense arose from every altar and formed in eddying circles beneath his feet. People in festive garb filled the porticos, while women joyfully sang into the air their hymns of ardent devotion. Trumpets sounded, and a mighty chorus of voices exclaimed: "Glory to the Messiah! the King of Israel!" "Thou shalt be this King if thou wilt worship me," said a voice from below. "Who art thou?" asked Jesus.
Again the wind carried him through space to the summit of a mountain. At his feet lay, in their golden glory, all the kingdoms of the earth.
"I am the king of spirits and the prince of the earth," answered the voice from below. "I know who thou art," said Jesus; "thy forms are innumerable, thy name is Satan. Appear in thy earthly form." The figure of a crowned monarch appeared, enthroned in the clouds. Around his imperial head shone a faint,
pale halo. The sombre figure stood out against a blood-red nimbus, with its pallid, ghastly countenance, and eyes flashing forth a cold steely light. He said: "I am Cæsar. Only bow down before me, and I will give thee all these kingdoms." Jesus said to him: "Get thee behind me, tempter! It is written: Thou shalt worship only the Lord thy God." Immediately the vision faded away.
Finding himself alone in the cave of Engaddi, Jesus said: "By what sign shall I overcome the powers of the earth?" "By the sign of the Son of Man," said a voice from above. "Show me this sign," said Jesus.
Away on the horizon appeared a shining constellation, four stars in the sign of a cross. The Galilean recognized the sign of ancient initiations familiar to Egypt and preserved by the Essenes. When the world was young, the sons of Japhet had worshipped it as the sign of earthly and heavenly fire, the sign of Life with all its joys, of Love with all its wonders. Later the Egyptian initiates had seen in it the symbol of the great mystery, Trinity dominated by Unity, the image of the sacrifice of the ineffable Being who breaks himself in order to manifest himself in the universe. Symbol at once of life, death, and resurrection, it covered innumerable hypogea, temples and tombs. The brilliant cross grew larger and came nearer, as though attracted by the heart of the Seer. The four living stars shone forth like suns of light and glory. "Behold the magic sign of Life and Immortality!" said the heavenly voice. "In ancient times it was in the possession of men, now it is lost. Wilt thou restore it to them?" "I
will," said Jesus. "Then look, behold thy destiny!"
Suddenly the four stars disappeared. It was night; loud thunderclaps shook the mountains to their foundations; while from the depths of the Dead Sea emerged a dark, sombre mountain, surmounted with a black cross. On it was nailed a man in the agony of death. The mountain was covered with a demon-stricken mob, crying out in hellish jeers: "If thou art the Messiah, save thyself!" The Seer opened wide his eyes, then fell back, cold drops of perspiration streaming down his face, for this crucified man was himself. He had understood. In order to overcome, he must identify himself with this terror-stricken image, summoned up by himself, and placed there before him like an evil-boding omen. Wavering in his uncertainty as to the emptiness of infinite space, Jesus felt at once the tortures of the crucified one, the insults of men, and the profound silence of heaven. "Thou canst take it or reject it," said the angelic voice. The vision of the cross-phantom and the crucified victim began to grow dim, when of a sudden Jesus saw once more by his side the sick wretches of the pool of Siloam, and behind them myriads of despairing souls murmuring, with clasped hands: "Without thee we are lost; save us, thou who knowest how to love!" Then the Galilean slowly arose, and with outstretched arms, in an attitude of supreme love, exclaimed: "Mine be the cross! Let but the world be saved!" Immediately Jesus felt a mighty rending asunder throughout his frame, and a terrible groan escaped his lips. At the same time the dark, sombre mountain and the cross faded away, a gentle radiant beam of divine felicity entered the soul of the
[paragraph continues] Seer, and from the heights of heaven a voice descended, saying, "Satan is no longer master! Death is overthrown! Glory to the Son of Man! Glory to the Son of God!"
When Jesus awoke from this vision nothing around him had changed; the rising sun cast his golden beams on the sides of the cave of Engaddi; soothing dewdropsveritable tears of angelic lovebathed his bruised feet, and light clouds of mist were rising from the Red Sea. But he was no longer the same. A definite event had taken place in the fathomless depths of his consciousness, he had solved the problem of life and had won peace, the great certainty had entered his soul. From the rejection of his earthly being, which he had trodden under foot and cast into the pit, a new consciousness had arisen in radiant majesty. He knew he had become the Messiah by an irrevocable act of his will.
Soon after, he once more descended to the village of the Essenes, where he learned that John the Baptist had just been seized by Antipas and imprisoned in the fortress of Makerous. Far from showing fear at this omen, he saw therein a sign that the time was ripe and that he in his turn must act. Accordingly, he gave out to the Essenes that he was about to preach in Galilee, "the Gospel of the kingdom of Heaven." That meant, to bring the great mysteries within reach of the poor and lowly, to translate for them the doctrine of the initiates. Like boldness had never been seen since the days when Cakia Mouni, the last Buddha, moved by mighty compassion, had preached on the banks of the Ganges. The same sublime compassion for humanity animated Jesus. To it he joined inner illumination, capacity
for loving, a grandeur of faith and energy of action belonging to himself alone. From the abyss of death which he had fathomed, and whose bitterness he had tasted beforehand, he brought both hope and life for all his brethren.
40:1 Josephus, "Wars of the Jews," xxx. 2, &c.; "Antiquities," xiii. 5-9; xviii. 1-5.
40:2 Philo, "On the Contemplative Life."
41:1 Points in common between Essenes and Pythagoreans: Prayer at sunrise; linen garments, fraternal love-feasts; one year's novitiate; three degrees of initiation; organization of the Order and community of possessions managed by trustees; the law of silence; the oath of the mysteries; the division of instruction into three parts: (1) Science of the universal principles of Theogony, what Philo calls Logic; (2) Physics or Cosmogony; (3) Morals, i. e., everything dealing with man, the conscience to which the healers specially devoted themselves.
42:1 Points in common between the doctrines of the Essenes and those of Jesus: "Love of one's neighbor, emphasized as one's first p. 43 duty; prohibition of the oath as witnesses to truth; hatred of lying; meekness; institution of the Supper, borrowed from the fraternal love-feasts of the Essenes, but with a new significance, that of sacrifice."
45:1 Book of Henoch, chaps. xlviii. and lxi. This passage shows that the doctrine of the Word, the Trinity found in the Gospel of John existed in Israel long before the time of Jesus, and came from the very depths of esoteric prophecy. In the Book of Henoch, the Lord of Spirits represents the Father, the Elect represents the Son, and the other Might, the Holy Ghost.
46:1 Genesis xiv. 18
48:1 Tacitus, Annals, vi. 28, 31.
49:1 According to the Gospels, John immediately recognized Jesus as the Messiah, and baptized him as such. There are contradictory p. 50 accounts on this point, for, at a later time, when a prisoner of Antipas at Makerous asks the question of Jesus, "Art thou he that should come, or do we look for another?" this tardy doubt proves that though he might have suspected Jesus to be the Messiah, he was not convinced of it. The first compilers of the Gospels, however, being Jews, wished to present Jesus as having received his mission and consecration from John the Baptist, a popular prophet of Judaea.
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