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Who's Behind Listverse?
Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author.More About Us
10 Crazy Ways Sharks Will Amaze You (If You Don’t Get Too Close)
Sharks aren’t warm and fuzzy, cuddly type animals. Despite the dangers, we keep trying to get close enough to study them because they’re absolutely fascinating. However, even shark embryos will bite you if you’re not careful (as renowned shark biologist Stewart Springer discovered while dissecting a pregnant sand tiger shark in 1947). The more we learn about sharks, the more they amaze us with some crazy characteristics that even scientists never expected to see.
10Some Sharks Are Small Enough To Fit In Your Pocket
A “pocket shark” is so small that you might mistake it for a more common, harmless fish if it’s swimming around you in the water. Although the pocket shark has rows of tiny, sharp teeth in its bulbous head, scientists aren’t sure how it feeds because they’ve never seen one in action. But the 14-centimeter (5.5 in) pocket shark seems to be similar to the cookiecutter and kitefin sharks, both of which take oval bites out of the skin of their prey when hungry. Cookiecutter and kitefin sharks like to eat large fish, marine mammals, and squid.
Even though the pocket shark is small enough to fit in your pocket, it’s actually named for the small opening (or pocket) above each of its pectoral fins. Scientists have no idea how the shark uses those openings. But it’s a bioluminescent fish, so it’s possible that the shark releases a bioluminescent fluid from its pockets to mislead its predators or to attract a mate.
Your chances of getting bitten by a pocket shark in the ocean are slim to nonexistent. Scientists have only seen two pocket sharks. Ever. This latest one was found in early 2015 off the coast of Louisiana. The last one was swimming in the waters around Peru and Chile 36 years ago.
9Whale Sharks’ Patterns Are Like Fingerprints
The elusive 12-meter (40 ft) whale shark is the biggest fish in the ocean. It’s usually a loner that travels long distances for food in warm waters, so we haven’t located their nursery grounds. Whale sharks give birth to live baby sharks, or “pups.” This allows the baby to be protected longer within the mother’s body than fish that develop from larvae deposited in the ocean. However, fewer whale sharks are produced this way, which caps the speed at which their population can recover when threatened.
They sometimes congregate when feeding. They also have an odd yet beneficial relationship with the schools of tuna that follow them. When tuna circle prey like anchovies or sardines, the smaller fish form a close-packed “bait ball” to defend themselves. The filter-feeding whale shark uses that opportunity to stand on its tail, open its mouth, and suction the water and fish inside its body.
Perhaps the most interesting fact about the whale shark concerns the unique pattern of stripes and dots covering its body. A whale shark can be identified by its pattern like we’re identified by our fingerprints. This lets scientists observe their migrations to different areas of the world.
In fact, WhaleShark.org uses a NASA algorithm to match any new photos against its database of over 50,000 existing whale shark photos. The algorithm was originally developed to recognize individual stars in pictures taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
8Sharks Have At Least Seven Sharp Senses To Help Them Find Prey
With at least seven acute senses, sharks can find prey even when that prey hides. Sharks can see colors and have better night vision than cats. Their excellent hearing allows them to detect low frequencies emitted as distress sounds by wounded or sick animals.
Depending on the substance, sharks can smell up to 10,000 times better than we can. Using its left and right nostril to determine the direction from which a smell originates, a shark can target the source by changing direction until both nostrils receive equal signals. Sharks react most strongly to scents emitted by wounded or sick animals, but they’re also sensitive to smells from predators and mates. About two-thirds of a shark’s brain analyzes smells.
With their strong sense of taste, sharks often do taste tests on new substances before deciding whether to gobble the entire thing. Their skin can detect touch and temperature, but they also use their pressure-sensitive teeth to identify objects.
Using jelly-filled pores (called the “ampullae of Lorenzini“) around its head and snout, a shark can sense electrical fields, such as the Earth’s geomagnetic field to help its navigation and the magnetic fields produced by predators and prey as their muscles contract. That includes the beating of a heart, so prey that hides or uses camouflage can still be detected. Inanimate objects like metal also produce electrical fields, which may explain why sharks attack divers’ shark cages.
Finally, sharks use their “lateral line system” and “pit organs,” which are their seventh and possibly eighth senses. The lateral line system is a fluid-filled canal, lined with tiny hair cells, that runs the length of both sides of the shark’s body beneath its skin and is connected by small pores to the skin’s surface. This lets the shark detect pressure changes from the water displaced by moving animals, with erratic vibrations drawing a shark to sick or wounded prey. The lateral line also helps the shark to navigate as it displaces water with its own movements.
Found in different places on the shark’s body, a pit organ consists of two toothlike projections covering a tiny pocket in the skin. Hair cells line the bottom of the pocket. Although scientists aren’t sure, the pit organ may detect changes in water currents or temperature.
7Blindfolding A Shark Or Plugging Its Nose Won’t Stop Shark Attacks
At the Mote Marine Laboratory in Florida, scientists studied how blacktip, bonnethead, and nurse sharks use their senses to find prey. These types of sharks live in different habitats, have different body structures, and use different hunting strategies. By observing the sharks in a specially constructed flow channel, the researchers wanted to discover how each species would react to having key senses blocked.
As a control, the scientists first had the sharks use all of their senses to catch their prey. Each trial was supposed to last 10 minutes, but some sharks were chowing down in under 10 seconds.
Then the researchers repeated the experiment, obstructing one sense at a time. To do that, they covered the sharks’ eyes with black plastic, plugged their noses, temporarily destroyed their lateral line receptors with antibiotics, or covered their electrosensory pores with insulating materials.
Although the various types of sharks relied on different senses to find their prey, the researchers were amazed by how often the sharks successfully adapted when one sense was blocked. They simply used their remaining senses to hunt their prey.
For example, the blacktip and bonnethead sharks captured their prey without using their sense of smell, but the nurse sharks couldn’t. Feeding in the dark, nurse sharks obviously need their sense of smell to recognize their prey hiding in cracks in underwater rocks. Blacktips and bonnetheads feed differently, so they can see their prey at close range even if they can’t smell it.
When the sharks couldn’t see, they had to get closer and use their lateral lines to detect water movements caused by the prey. But if the researchers obstructed the sharks’ vision and lateral lines at the same time, none of the sharks could feed. They needed more than their electrosensory systems to capture prey. When the scientists blocked only the sharks’ electrosenses, the animals were also unsuccessful most of the time.
Nevertheless, this gives us some hope that the harm from pollution to certain senses in a shark may be overcome if the animal can substitute its remaining senses to survive. But it’s bad news for humans. Wearing camouflaged wetsuits or taking other measures that focus on only one of the shark’s senses may not be enough to protect us from shark attacks.
6Eating Shark Fin Soup Could Give You Alzheimer’s
In 2013, Canadian researchers told us that about 100 million sharks were being killed annually, making it impossible for the sharks to repopulate fast enough. Most of the sharks are finned to make shark fin soup, a symbol of status and wealth in some Asian countries.
In US waters, shark finning is illegal, but the trade of shark fins is banned in only 10 states as of mid-2015. These measures were taken to help conserve shark populations, many of which are in danger of extinction.
But if that’s not reason enough to stop eating shark fin soup, maybe the fact that the fins contain a high concentration of a neurotoxin will sway some people. According to a 2012 study from the University of Miami, the toxin Beta-methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA) in shark fins has been linked to human neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer’s, Lou Gehrig’s disease, and Parkinson’s. The highest amounts of BMAA were found in hammerhead, bonnethead, and blacknose sharks.
The effects of BMAA may combine with that of other neurotoxins such as mercury to become even more harmful. “A delicious bowl of shark fin soup, loaded with mercury, loaded with BMAA—yum, yum, yum,” said Deborah Mash, lead author of the study, to The New York Times. “I mean, come on. Who would feed that to their family?”
5Sharks Have Toothpaste Built Into Their Teeth
Like humans, many animals suffer from tartar buildup on their teeth and the gum disease that results from it. Humans are probably the most prone to cavities because of our high-sugar diets. But sharks don’t have these problems. While human teeth are covered with hydroxyapatite, a mineral found in bones, the enormous, terrifying teeth of sharks are coated in 100-percent fluoride, possibly giving them the healthiest teeth among all animals on Earth. It’s like having toothpaste built into their teeth.
In 2012, researchers from the University of Duisburg-Essen studied the teeth of shortfin mako sharks, which tear their prey’s flesh, and tiger sharks, which cut their prey’s flesh. Even though they feed differently, the two types of sharks had teeth with a similar makeup. Scientists believe that the fluoride coating is far less likely to dissolve in a watery environment than hydroxyapatite, better protecting a shark’s teeth from bacteria.
Even so, scientists did discover something surprising: Human teeth are just as hard as sharks’ teeth. If a shark’s teeth were made entirely of fluoride, they would be much harder than human teeth. But sharks have a softer dentin inside their teeth just like humans. “It seems as if the human tooth makes up for the less hard mineral [on the outside] by the special arrangement of the enamel crystals and the protein matrix, and ends up being as hard as a shark tooth,” explained the study’s coauthor Matthias Epple in an interview with Discovery News.
Sharks still have one big advantage over us in tooth health. When a shark loses teeth while catching prey or biting into metal, the teeth simply replace themselves. A shark may grow more than 30,000 teeth during its life, which is over 900 times more teeth than most humans have.
4Lantern Sharks Have That Special Glow For Love And War
Velvet belly lantern sharks glow one way to protect themselves from predators and another way to advertise for sex, almost like a neon sign in the red light district of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Only these sexy sharks glow blue.
At a mere 60 centimeters (2 ft) long, they’re small, so they’ve developed a novel way of protecting themselves against hungry predators. If a predator looks at a velvet belly lantern shark from above or from the side, that predator will see a hard-to-swallow meal with scary glowing spines that resemble lightsabers.
Some scientists believe that these bioluminescent sharks are the first fish to protect themselves against predators with light. The shark’s transparent spine has a row of cells along its dorsal fin that can produce light. According to a 2013 study, the lightsabers are visible from a moderate distance, which could scare off predators even though the light is too dim to attract prey.
In addition to lightsabers, these sharks use a complementary light strategy on the bottom of their bodies. By using their bottom light cells to exactly mimic the amount of light streaming into the ocean from above their bodies, the sharks avoid casting a shadow, effectively becoming invisible to predators from below.
Researchers believe that the sharks use a transparent “pineal window” on top of their heads to gauge the amount of light shining on them. Then the sharks make hormones to produce the same amount of light shining from the bottoms of their bodies.
These hormones control the intensity of the shark’s blue glow, which changes when the animal is looking for love in the deepest, darkest places in the ocean. According to a 2015 study, velvet belly lantern sharks light up the area around their sex organs when they want to mate. That way, the males can signal for sex while being able to tell the difference between male and female sharks in dark waters.
The males have two sex organs called “claspers.” But scientists have never seen these sharks mate, so no one is sure what they do. However, researchers have seen the sharks rotating their bodies from side to side while they swim, which turns the pelvic light show into a series of flashes like those of a firefly. Scientists believe this is the shark’s way to confuse predators while attracting a mate.
3Sharks May Be Self-Aware
The late Donald Griffin, who pioneered the study of self-awareness in animals and how it affects their behavior, believed that an animal that hides itself from view is exhibiting self-awareness. Grizzly bears often watch hunters from areas where they won’t be seen. They also try not to leave tracks. It shows that they know others can watch for and see them.
In a similar way, Ila France Porcher, a self-taught ethologist and wildlife artist who wrote The Shark Sessions, believes that sharks exhibit self-awareness. Once called “the Jane Goodall of sharks” because she learned to study these animals in their natural habitat, Porcher repeatedly observed sharks in Tahiti using the visual limit—the shortest distance where neither you nor the shark can see each other—to hide from her. She also noticed that sharks had different personalities, and various species responded to her presence in different ways.
In general, once a shark became aware that Porcher was in the water, it would momentarily appear at the visual limit and then hide again. After a few minutes, the shark might come about for another look. If it wanted to explore further, it would come nearer, eventually approaching from the front. Then the shark either swam near her or quickly headed away.
To keep from being seen, the sharks often approached when she was looking in another direction, when her attention was absorbed by something else, or when her head was above the surface of the water. They came from behind as well. Porcher noticed that the sharks seemed to be acutely aware of when they were visible and when they could hide, taking advantage of their stealth whenever possible and hiding behind the visual line when frightened. These sharks often followed her for hours, mostly staying just out of view. Porcher believes that the sharks were using their hearing and lateral line system to monitor her.
When she saw reef sharks at sunset, she noticed that the young males came straight for her, but the shy, older females stayed out of sight for long periods, occasionally coming into view but never getting close to her. The sharks also seemed to anticipate some of her behaviors. For example, after hiding for hours, the sharks zoomed in for food when they heard Porcher getting a treat from her boat and tossing it toward the water.
2Shark Embryos Play Dead After Detecting Predators’ Electric Fields
When a shark is born, it has all the fully developed senses it needs to detect prey and predators. But doctoral student Ryan Kempster from the University of Western Australia decided to find out if a shark’s electrosense works while it’s still an embryo.
Although many sharks give birth to fully formed pups, some species lay eggs in leathery egg cases called “mermaid’s purses.” One embryo inside each egg case develops into a baby shark over several months independently of its mother. For his study, Kempster obtained 11 brown-banded bamboo shark embryos that were still in their egg cases. These embryos were about 90-percent developed, with only about one or two months left before they would emerge from their egg cases. As adults, brown-banded bamboo sharks are usually about 1.2 meters (4 ft) long.
Before then, however, the embryos are vulnerable to attacks from predators. Usually, a bamboo shark fetus circulates seawater through its egg case by beating its tail. Those currents, the odor from the shark, and the electrical field produced by the movement of the embryo’s gills as it breathes can alert predators to the presence of the fetus.
Researchers stimulated the embryos with electric fields like those of predator fish to see how the fetuses would respond. Surprisingly, the embryos detected these electric fields, suggesting that their electrosenses work even before they’re born.
But more amazing was their survival instinct. The embryos held their breath to stop their gills from beating and stayed absolutely still. The embryo cloaked itself, according to neuroecologist Joseph Sisneros in an interview with National Geographic. “[It shut] down any odor cues, water movement, and its own electrical signal,” he said. That behavior makes it harder for a potential predator to find the egg case and gives the fetus its greatest chance of survival.
However, the sharks became conditioned to the electric stimuli over time and eventually reduced their responses. For humans, this means that shark repellent devices will lose their effectiveness over time as sharks begin to recognize the signals.
1Sand Tiger Shark Embryos Eat Each Other In The Womb
For sand tiger sharks, survival of the fittest begins in the womb. Actually, in two wombs.
Each female sand tiger shark has two uteri, from which it produces one live pup per uterus with each pregnancy. The female always mates with at least two males, which is common for large sharks. The sand tiger grows to about 2.5 meters (8.2 ft) as an adult. Its babies are already a whopping 1 meter (3.3 ft) long when they’re born, which protects them from all but the largest predators.
But there’s a reason why two sand tiger pups are born so large: They eat their siblings in their respective wombs, so the surviving babies can grow much bigger and stronger than if they had to share food with their brothers and sisters.
After the female sand tiger shark has sex, its fertilized eggs end up in one of its uteri. The first male to mate with the female often sticks around to stop other males from having sex with her. But the female sand tiger shark has a long ovulation period. Eventually, she will mate with other males, and her dozen or so fertilized eggs in each uterus will have different fathers.
But the competition for dominance continues in the womb among the different fathers’ embryos. In each womb, the first embryo to hatch from its egg is usually the one that uses its tiny, sharp teeth to cannibalize its siblings in utero. It can eat their remains and the yolks from their eggs to nourish itself and grow quickly. After this, the mother doesn’t produce more embryos, but she will produce unfertilized eggs for the hungry surviving embryos to eat.
Interestingly, the two survivors often have the same father. These stronger babies also have a greater chance of passing on the mother’s genes to the next generation. | <urn:uuid:1d3a95ba-6915-48d1-89f1-2a0decf4d580> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://listverse.com/2015/10/15/10-crazy-ways-sharks-will-amaze-you-if-you-dont-get-too-close/?utm_source=more&utm_medium=link&utm_campaign=direct | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320302622.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20220120190514-20220120220514-00255.warc.gz | en | 0.958992 | 4,351 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Mizuna is a leafy, green vegetable bursting with antioxidant properties including ascorbic acid (Vitamin C), beta-carotene, and alpha-tochopherol . In particular, mizuna has been shown to have significant quantities of flavanoid derivatives and ascorbic acid . Additionally, mizuna is rich in Vitamins A, B, and K which are critical for optimal vision, plays an important role in metabolic pathways (coenzyme function), and performs blood clotting functions/proper bone calcification, respectively [5,6,7].
Mizuna of the Brassicaceae/Cruciferae family (like cabbage and mustard greens!) is scientifically named Brassica Rapa var. Japonica. It is postulated to have originated in the Mediterranean and later spread northwards to Scandinavia and eastwards to Asia . Since it is a member of the common mustard family, mizuna has similar nutrient profiles to other members of the family including napa cabbage, bok choy, arugula, and watercress . In Japan, mizuna is commonly eaten raw in salads with either a light tangy soy dressing or sweet and creamy miso! Nowadays, there is an endless array of new innovative ways to use the vegetable, so try to be creative and add these greens to stir-fries, soups, and pastas! See below for recipe inspirations 🙂
- Rinse and pat the leaves dry.
- Wrap lightly in kitchen paper, store in a plastic bag, and remove as much air as possible before sealing .
- Mizuna keeps well in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Dixon, G.R. (2006). Vegetable Brassicas and Related Crucifers: Crop Production Science in Horticultural Series No. 14. CABI pp 23-36. ISBN: 9781845931384
Harvest to Table. (n.d). “Mizuna: Kitchen Basics.” Website accessed on June 28, 2018 from: https://harvesttotable.com/mizuna_mix_mizuna_with_other/
Kaur, C. and Kapoor, H.C. 2006. Antioxidant activity and total phenolic content of some Asian vegetables. Int. J. Food Sci. Technol. 37, 153–161.
Martinez-Sanchez, A., Gil-Izquierdo, A., Gil, M.I., and Ferreres, F. 2008. A comparative study of flavanoid compounds, Vitamin C, and antioxidant properties of baby leaf Brassicaceae species. J. Agric. Food Chem., 56 (7), pp 2330–2340
National Institute of Health. (n.d). “Vitamin A fact sheet for health professionals.” Website accessed on June 29, 2018 from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminA-HealthProfessional/
National Institute of Health. (n.d). “Vitamin B6 dietary supplement fact sheet.” Website accessed on June 29, 2018 from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB6-HealthProfessional/
National Institute of Health. (n.d). “Vitamin K fact sheet for health professionals.” Website accessed on June 29, 2018 from: https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminK-HealthProfessional/ | <urn:uuid:ae5306ae-90af-4933-82ba-72f49ecf79d9> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://stjoesfarm.org/veggie-pages/mizuna/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400187354.1/warc/CC-MAIN-20200918061627-20200918091627-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.849985 | 727 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Map of PFOS concentrations below and above the 12 ng/L water quality criterion for two different time periods, 2001 and 2013. Data are from two Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (MDEQ) publications (MDEQ, 2003; MDEQ 2017).
PFAS – Emerging, But Not New
We often hear the phrase “emerging chemicals of concern” when people talk about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). However, “emerging” doesn’t mean these are new chemicals.
May 18, 2018
We often hear the phrase “emerging chemicals of concern” when people talk about per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). However, “emerging” doesn’t necessarily mean these are new chemicals. In fact, PFAS have been used widely in the industrial sector since the 1950s, which means these chemical compounds have probably been present in the environment since their first use over 60 years ago. What “emerging” really means, in this case, is that we now understand these chemicals may be of concern due to advances in analytical methods and new studies that indicate a potential threat to human health and the environment.
PFAS are a group of man-made chemicals that are used in many commercial and consumer products. Consumer products known to contain PFAS include waterproof clothing, cleaning products, stain-resistant carpet, and personal care products. PFAS can also be found in fire-fighting foams, chrome plating, and semiconductor coatings.
Researchers and government agencies have been measuring PFAS in the environment since the 1990s. Today, PFAS can be found in the soil, groundwater, sediments, surface water, air, and in the tissues of animals and humans. Two common types of PFAS, known as PFOS (perfluorooctane sulfonate) and PFOA (perfluorooctanoic acid), have been in the news lately. In late December of 2017, concentrations of PFOS and PFOA were found to be above EPA’s health advisory limit of 70 nanograms per liter (ng/l) in residential drinking water in northern Kent County, Michigan. A Wolverine Worldwide Tannery in Rockford, Michigan, where waterproof shoe leather was made, was identified as the source of PFAS. High concentrations of PFAS have also been found at airfields around the country, due to the use of firefighting foams as part of their operations.
The MDEQ conducted sampling in 2001 and 2013 to measure PFOS in Michigan surface waters. MDEQ sampled 28 surface water monitoring locations around the state for PFOS and PFOA. PFOS was found in the surface water at every location analyzed in the 2001 sampling effort, with mean concentrations ranging from less than 1 ng/l to 24 ng/l. It was not until 2014 that the State of Michigan developed water quality criteria for PFOS with a criterion of 11 ng/l for drinking water and a criterion of 12 ng/l for non-drinking water (e.g., fish consumption) for the protection of human health.
PFOS and PFOA are persistent in the environment, which means they do not generally break down. These chemicals can accumulate over time in humans and wildlife. There is evidence that exposure to PFAS can lead to adverse health effects.
In 2013, the MDEQ sampled Michigan surface waters again, including Clark’s Marsh in Oscoda, which receives drainage directly from the former Wurtsmith Air Force Base (WAFB). PFOS has been known to be a concern in groundwater at the WAFB since at least 1998. The 2013 sampling effort found a mean concentration of PFOS in Clark’s Marsh of 5,099 ng/l, which is more than 400 times the current Michigan water quality criteria. The next highest ranking sample location was the Flint River with a mean concentration of 51 ng/l. The Saginaw River was the only other sampling location found to exceed the water quality standard, with a mean PFOS concentration of 41 ng/l (see map above).
PFAS studies require advanced sampling techniques for groundwater, surface water, and industrial operations. LimnoTech has decades of experience in all types of site investigations.
Since 2013, additional sampling for PFAS has been taking place around the State of Michigan as the MDEQ tries to identify problem areas and potential sources of contamination. As indicated by the PFOS data map above, we can expect PFAS to be found in more places than they are not, and that’s not likely to change for a long time due to the persistent nature of these chemicals. Michigan is not alone in dealing with PFAS contamination issues – PFAS are being detected across the U.S. and around the globe. Emerging chemicals like PFAS are complex and pose a challenge, but with the right expertise these challenges can be met and overcome.
For more general information on PFAS, we recommend the following resources:
- What are PFAS?
- Technical Fact Sheet – Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Perfluorooctanoic Acid (PFOA)
- History and Use of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS)
- Frequently Asked PFAS Questions
If you want to discuss your PFAS-related problem, please feel free to contact me at [email protected].
Scott Bell , PE, BCEE, is a senior environmental engineer and Vice President at LimnoTech. Scott has extensive experience in water resources engineering analysis and has been with LimnoTech since 1992. In addition to managing staff, projects, and clients, Scott has technical expertise in environmental remediation and restoration, hydrologic and hydraulic engineering, wastewater discharge impact analysis and mitigation, and stormwater management. He has planned and executed water resource projects on water bodies across the country including the Great Lakes, the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, and several dozen inland waterways and water bodies. He is currently supporting industrial and civilian aviation clients in Michigan with their PFAS-related problems. In addition to his work with LimnoTech, he has been an adjunct lecturer in environmental engineering design at the University of Michigan, has delivered numerous papers and presentations, and has served on professional boards and committees. Scott can be contacted at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:62af5097-16e6-4728-b5cc-2b3f18d176f2> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.limno.com/pfas-emerging-but-not-new/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256997.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523003453-20190523025453-00031.warc.gz | en | 0.965048 | 1,331 | 2.859375 | 3 |
AP Bio Practice 1 - Models & Representations
In this video Paul Andersen explains the importance of models and visual representations in an AP Biology class. Science practices are overarching skills and knowledge required to be successful in an AP Biology classroom. Models for each of the four big science ideas are included.
Models & Representations Review Worksheet - Winnie Litten | <urn:uuid:eed2916e-4753-4d16-8741-42524107e66f> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.bozemanscience.com/apb-practice-1-models-representations | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257650685.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20180324132337-20180324152337-00165.warc.gz | en | 0.842711 | 72 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Nawab Malik Amir Muhammad Khan Awan
|3rd Governor of West Pakistan|
12 April 1960 - 18 September 1966
|President||Muhammad Ayub Khan|
Kalabagh, British India
|Died||26 November 1967 (aged 57)|
Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan Awan (1910 - 26 November 1967) also known as the Nawab of Kalabagh (? ? ) was a prominent feudal lord, politician, the chief or sardar of the Awan tribe, and of his tribal estate Kalabagh, in Mianwali District of north western Punjab, Pakistan.
Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan served as a member of the Provincial Assembly of the Punjab from 1956 – 1958. He also served as Governor of West Pakistan from 1960 to 1966. He was appointed chairman Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation with the rank of a Central Minister in 1959, and subsequently Governor of West Pakistan on 12 April 1960 by Pakistan President General Ayub Khan.
He has been described as a man of principles and traditions. He liked to remain in the national dress and his cabinet members tried to please him by doing the same also.He once declined to shake hands with the British Queen Elizabeth II on her visit to Pakistan because he believed that Islam prohibits men from shaking hands with women. At one point in time, Kalabagh used to have one of the most modern agriculture farms. He was very knowledgeable about farming and fruits and once answering a question from a visiting Jacqueline Kennedy over a luncheon, he impressed her so much that she remarked that she would recommend him as the 'Adviser on Agriculture' to her husband John F. Kennedy.
Among the guests on his famous Kalabagh Guest house The Bohr Bangulow, over the years, has been Eleanor Roosevelt in 1952, former Presidents of Pakistan, Iskander Mirza, Ayub Khan and then foreign minister Zulfikar Ali Bhutto among many other dignitaries.
After a distinguished military career, Lieutenant General Jahandad Khan served as Governor of Sindh during 1984-87 time period under General Zia Ul-Haq regime. Earlier in 1965-66, he was Military Secretary to the then Governor of West Pakistan, Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan. He wrote a book, Pakistan Leadership Challenges, in which Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan comes across as a sound, no-nonsense administrator, firmly wedded to the values and traditions of the feudal class. British assessment of the Nawab of Kalabagh was very similar. In his book, Jahandad,Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan's Military Secretary dismisses alleged rumours about a somewhat sinister aspect of the Ayub regime. In 1963, the regime faced strong opposition from the political party Jamaat-i-Islami. Ayub himself "felt gravely threatened by its head, Maudoodi". "Some sycophants" sought to persuade Ayub that "the physical elimination" of Maulana would bring peace to the country and that Malik Amir Mohammad Khan was to help execute this attempt. Jahandad Khan dismisses this as a baseless rumour in his above book.
His eldest son Nawab Malik Muzaffar Khan won the National Assembly seat from NW-44, Mianwali-I in the December 1970 elections Nawab Malik Muzzafar Khan had three sons namely the eldest Malik Idrees Khan, the second Malik Fareed khan and the youngest Malik Waheed Khan.Nawab Malik Idrees Khan became the Nawab of Kalabagh after his father Nawab Malik Muzzafar khan's death.He died without issue.After his death His second Brother Nawab Malik Fareed Khan became Nawab.Nawab Malik Fareed Khan died in a vehicle accident.Thus His only son Nawab Malik Mohammad Ali Khan became Nawab of Kalabagh,A position he holds to this day.Nawab Malik Amir Muhammad Khan's second son Malik Allah Yar also remained the member of Majlis-e-Shoora during General Zia-ul-Haq's military regime. Amir Mohammad Khan's grandson from his third son Malik Asad Malik Amad Khan won the National Assembly seat from NA-71 Mianwali-I, in the February 2008 elections as an independent candidate.Nawab Malik Amir Mohammad Khan's fourth and youngest son Malik Azam Khan was a bit of a wild card he was murdered in 1995. Malik Azam died without issue. His paternal granddaughter, Sumaira Malik,daughter of his second son Malik Allahyar Khan, was a member of the National Assembly from 2004 until she was disqualified in 2013. | <urn:uuid:96dbfc58-b246-493d-a68c-a3b1aaa3c0b7> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://www.popflock.com/learn?s=Nawab_of_Kalabagh | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251789055.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20200129071944-20200129101944-00544.warc.gz | en | 0.971906 | 957 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Quiet Push to Recognize Suffrage Sites
| April 9, 2009
Spearheaded by New York Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, powerful chair of the House Rules Committee, legislation was signed into law at the end of last month that will help celebrate the not-so-ancient history of how women won the vote in the United States.
Virtually unnoticed by the national news media, a Votes for Women History Trail in western New York has been authorized to recognize the suffragists who helped transform this country. The trail will be operated by the National Park Service (NPS) if Congress provides follow-up funding for the bill, which passed Congress in late March and was signed into law by President Obama shortly before his European trip.
A Votes for Women History Trail would create a drivable route that visits up to 20 significant sites in the suffragists’ prolonged battle for the vote, from the Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in Auburn, near Syracuse, to the Waterloo and Seneca Falls sites of the first women’s rights conventions, to the trail’s western anchor in Rochester, the Susan B. Anthony House. Point person for the trail has been Representative Louise Slaughter, D-NY—a former chair of the congressional women’s caucus—who has sponsored the bill since 2002.
"So many people forget that it was just 89 years ago that women were finally allowed to vote in this country," Slaughter said. She praised Obama for signing the bill “to celebrate the historic events and recognize the important sites that served as the backdrop in the struggle for women's equality.” The Votes for Women trail will let Americans “learn more about the heroines who changed history and opened the doors of opportunity for future generations of women."
Good political strategy helped move the trail into reality. Slaughter’s counterpart in the Senate had been Hillary Clinton, now secretary of State. As a stand-alone bill, the Votes for Women trail had faced one obstacle after another. Slaughter, now the House Rules Committee chair with much clout in the New York delegation, worked with Senator Charles Schumer, D-NY, to get the Votes for Women bill included (with 160 other House-passed bills) into the 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act.
In addition to the trail, the new law will expand the current National Register travel website, “Places Where Women Made History.” As of now, only 44 percent of the 298 sites relevant to women’s rights are included in this. And only 57 of those listed are national historic landmarks, including the Susan B. Anthony House.
The law also will direct the Department of Interior to establish a public-private National Women’s Rights History Project Partnership, to help develop interpretive and educational programs dramatizing the national women’s rights history. The partnership would be run by a non-governmental entity and would provide grants to state historic preservation offices for up to five years to survey, evaluate and nominate women’s rights history properties to be added to the National Register of Historic Places.
The National Park Service already operates the Women’s Rights National Historical Park in Seneca Falls. Its mission would expand to developing brochures, interpretive documents, maps and an official uniform symbol to mark the Votes for Women History Trail.
Deborah L. Hughes, executive director of the Susan B. Anthony House, said that while they probably would get no direct funding under the trail project, she expects national and international visibility to increase dramatically. She is in the midst of a membership and fundraising drive to retrofit the Anthony house and to develop an adjacent carriage house as a place for workshops and programs.
It’s something of a miracle that the house still exists—in much the same configuration as it was when Anthony lived there from 1866 until 1906. It remained in private hands until 1945.
At that time, Hughes said, the Rochester Federation of Women’s Club approached the owners to see if they could put a sign on the house. That’s how they learned the house was about to be sold again. The federation bought it and preserved it, with volunteers only, until a first staff person was hired in 1992. Hughes came 18 months ago and, in addition to fundraising, is expanding links with scholars to alert them to the five boxes of Anthony’s correspondence, which individuals have donated over the years. Most scholars have no idea these invaluable original sources exist, Hughes said, since Anthony donated her papers to the Library of Congress.
In a feasibility study on the trail, the NPS said that “by any measure, the women’s rights movement is among the fundamental, far-reaching, modern reformist traditions in U.S. history. In its many manifestations, the women’s rights tradition has been characterized by its challenge to women’s subordination to men and its insistence on a standard of equal treatment, opportunity and rights. …
“Far from being confined to a corner of American history as a ‘special interest,’ the battle for women’s rights lies at the center of the public traditions of the nation. The long pursuit of equality between the sexes has had immense consequences in American history.”
In the 19th Century, New York State was at the cutting edge of the women’s rights movement.
On July 19, 1848, the first Women’s Rights Convention was held at Wesleyan Chapel in Seneca Falls, led by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Lucretia Mott, Martha Wright, Jane Hunt and Mary Ann M’Clintock. The Declaration of Sentiments, calling for a broad range of rights for women including suffrage, was signed by 68 women and 32 men.
Susan B. Anthony later formed the Equal Rights Association which refuted ideas that women were inferior to men and fought for the right of women to vote, own property, keep their own earnings and have custody of their children. She persuaded the University of Rochester in 1900 to admit women.
In 1869, Stanton, Anthony, Matilda Joslyn Gage and others formed the National Woman Suffrage Association and Lucy Stone, Henry Blackwell and others formed the American Woman Suffrage Association. These two groups merged in 1890 and held mass campaigns to win the vote over the next three decades. That finally occurred with passage of the 19th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, certified on August 26, 1920.
The precise locations to be included in the Votes for Women History Trail will be decided later, but the NPS feasibility study included a map featuring these sites:
1. Susan B. Anthony House in Rochester
2. Antoinette Brown Blackwell childhood home in Henrietta
3. Ontario County Courthouse in Canandaigua (where Anthony was convicted for illegally voting)
4, 5. M’Clintock house and the Jane Hunt house in Waterloo
6, 7, 9. Jacob P. Chamberlain, Lorina Latham and Elizabeth Cady Stanton houses in Seneca Falls
8, 10, 11,12 Wesleyan Chapel, First Presbyterian Church, the Race and Hoskins houses in Seneca Falls
13. Harriet Tubman Home for the Aged in Auburn
14. Harriet May Mills house in Syracuse
15. Matilda Joslyn Gage house in Fayetteville | <urn:uuid:771fbef0-20d3-4021-8b0f-c46b6720dcd2> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.womensmediacenter.com/blog/entry/quiet-push-to-recognize-suffrage-sites | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1405997877881.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20140722025757-00171-ip-10-33-131-23.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963167 | 1,510 | 3.078125 | 3 |
In understanding how we think, one big idea has dominated in recent years. It became widely known through Daniel Kahneman‘s phenomenal best-seller, ‘Thinking, fast and slow‘. It’s the idea that we process information in two ways. There are two parallel thinking systems in our minds: System 1 and System 2.
There are many terms for these two systems. They have been called:
- associative and rule-based
- implicit and explicit
- intuitive and analytical
- experiential and rational
- and many more
The terms System 1 and System 2 are marvellously neutral. They first emerged in a paper by Keith Stanovich and Richard West. But it’s Kahneman’s adoption of this language and the popularity of his book that gave them fame.
Why do We Need Two Systems?
I’m not going to try to answer the hard version of this question here. That could more precisely be framed as ‘why did the human brain evolve to use two systems?’ Suffice to say, each system has its strengths. And we’ve needed all these strengths to survive, both in the past and present. We have System 1 and System 2 because we need them both!
The Need for a Two Systems Model
I could frame the easier question as this: ‘why do we have a two-system model to explain how our thinking works?’ The answer to this lies in Stanovich and West’s paper:
‘Individual Differences in Reasoning: Implications for the Rationality Debate?’
I don’t expect you to read the 80+ pages of analysis, peer commentary and citation. If you want to though, it’s published in Behavioral and Brain Sciences (2000) 23, 645–726, and it’s available here.
In a nutshell, Stanovich and West ask a simple question. ‘Why don’t people in psychology experiments do what we rationally expect them to do?’ That is, why do they seem to behave irrationally, when a rational response would be… rational?
They look at four possible answers, which I’ll simplify as:
- The subjects make mistakes
- The subjects aren’t smart enough to do the task as intended
- The experimenter evaluates performance incorrectly
- The experimenter misunderstands how the subject interprets the task
Their conclusion was fundamental. Experimenters had failed to understand how we interpret certain types of task. In simple terms, we have two different ways of tackling mental problems.
They cite a dozen papers that describe ‘dual process’ theories. Each theory is different and uses its own terminology. But they are similar enough for Stanovich and West to gather the modes under the two headings. The simple terms they used were System 1 and System 2.
What are System 1 and System 2?
System 1 and System 2 are two modes of processing information. We apply them in different circumstances.
System 1 is your rapid response system. Its strength lies in working quickly and needing less energy and effort. It makes judgments based on experiences and generalisations, and usually gets things right. When you use it, it doesn’t ‘feel like thinking’.
System 1 deals with the vast majority of everyday thinking. It does so automatically. To do this, it applies simple rules that psychologists call ‘heuristics’. But a quick assessment and general rules can get things wrong. So, System 1 sometimes lets you down. System 1 is responsible for biases, stereotypes, superstition, gullibility, naiveté, and prejudice.
But System 1 also has strengths beyond its speed. It excels at aesthetics, creatively linking ideas, empathy, intuition, and sense of humour.
System 2 works hard and takes a lot of energy. Its evolutionary weakness is that we can’t afford to run System 2 all the time. And neither could we react quickly enough to threats.
You are using System 2 when you are deliberately paying attention to something, or actively ‘thinking’. It deals in details, calculations, and rationality. Its other strengths include:
- self control and discipline
- evaluating complex arguments
- searching for a detail in a situation
- making a reasoned choice
- memorising facts and learning new knowledge (you are using System 2 now)
All of this comes at a cost. System 2 sometimes misses the forest by studying the undergrowth. It also follows logical arguments and fails to make a logical leap – ‘lateral thinking’ is a System 1 strength. And finally, it’s hard to maintain System 2 concentration for long periods; it tires easily.
How to Optimise Your Use of System 1 and System 2
Both System 1 and System 2 are vital to your success in life in general, and work in particular. What is important is that you can access the right system at the right time.
In professional and managerial work, there are familiar situations that arise. Let’s look at a few.
Here, System 1 is in its element. It is great at synthesizing ideas and seeing the wider context. Encourage it by using a lot of different stimuli to overwhelm System 2. And by adopting a playful, undisciplined attitude, to suppress rational processing.
Here, System 2 can give your System 1 a head start. You need a lot of the features described above. But System 2 can guide an analysis of the problem. It can also select a suitable step-wise process to follow. At the right time, you can then encourage System 1 to do its thing and find creative solutions.
Networking and Team-building
Here’s another context where System 1 needs to dominate. When everything is going well, it’s all you’ll need. System 1 is good at this stuff. But it can be on a hair trigger. So in tricky situations, you’ll need System 2 to hold it back and take control. This is especially so when tempers rise, or someone has a problem and needs your help.
- System 1 if you need to build an emotional connection.
- System 2 if you need to understand the emotional connection
Reading a Situation
Organisational life presents many complex situations: commercial, political, technical, or crisis. To assess them well, you’ll need both System 1 and System 2. Let System 1 take in the whole breadth of the situation, and activate your intuition about what’s going on. Then deploy System 2 to analyse your intuition. Test it against the evidence. Check the details. Try some ‘what ifs’.
System 1 has a habit of jumping to conclusions. It is good at quick, instinctive choices. Organisational life means more careful thought. By all means listen to System 1’s intuitions. But then allow System 2 to think them through carefully and modify or reject them. Evidence is your friend, and System 2 is the mode that knows how to assess it.
And so we come to System 2’s exclusive domain. Estimation, calculation and planning are all System 2 activities. The more you can focus on the task and deal with the details, the more successful you will be.
I dare not say there is no role for System 1 here. But I think it wise to say that any role it has, is subordinate and minor.
What is Your experience of System 1 and System 2?
We’d love to hear your experiences, ideas, and questions. Please leave them in the comments below.
To learn more…
The book to read on this – and especially the errors System 1 makes on your behalf is ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’ (US|UK). This is the summary of Daniel Kahneman‘s life’s work. And it is tremendously readable. If the ideas in it are new to you, I think it safe to say it will rock your world. | <urn:uuid:6a7d7b85-c01c-4aef-b94f-6fc35b66f5a9> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://www.pocketbook.co.uk/blog/2017/10/31/system-1-system-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882571246.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20220811073058-20220811103058-00735.warc.gz | en | 0.927936 | 1,697 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Influenza vaccination rates for selected high risk groups
Percentage of people in groups that are at high risk of complications from influenza, who received the influenza vaccine. (see data definition)
What do you see?
- Are there differences in the percentage of people who received an influenza vaccine between AHS Zones or PCNs that are mainly urban (e.g., Calgary, Edmonton) compared to those that are mainly rural (e.g., North, Central, South)? What factors could account for this?
- Are there differences between the percentage of people in different high-risk groups who received an influenza vaccine? What could be done to increase the number of people in these groups who get vaccinated?
- Is the percentage of patients in these high-risk groups who receive the influenza vaccine increasing over time?
*Data courtesy of Alberta Health Services and Alberta Health
Understanding this chart
The influenza vaccine reduces the risk of getting influenza (‘the flu’) for people who are vaccinated and those they come in contact with. Influenza is a viral infection of the nose, throat and lungs. Serious symptoms and complications of influenza (e.g., difficulty breathing, pneumonia, death) are more common in some groups of people like those in the high-risk groups reported above. The infection is easily spread through the air which makes prevention by using the vaccine a major public health priority.
The viruses that cause influenza change from year to year, so people need to get the vaccine each year to prevent an infection with the strains of virus expected to be active that year. In Alberta, the vaccine is free to everyone six months of age or older. Beginning in late October, the influenza vaccine is widely available at public health clinics, pharmacies, doctor offices, and through some company health and safety programs.
Since 2013, about 27 per cent of eligible Albertans get the influenza vaccine each year. The priority is on ensuring that people in high risk groups are vaccinated. Healthy people should also get the vaccine to help prevent the infection from spreading to people in high risk groups. The primary care system has a major role to play in both recommending and providing the vaccine.
Considerations when viewing the results
- A goal of our primary care system should be to increase the percentage of high risk patients who receive the influenza vaccine each year.
- Includes people who received an influenza vaccine from Alberta Health Services public health clinics, community pharmacists and doctors. Does not include people who received a vaccine from medical office staff (unless billed by the doctor), primary care network staff (e.g., nurses, pharmacists), or through an employer work-based health and safety program.
The Health Quality Council of Alberta uses the Alberta Quality Matrix for Health as a way of organizing information and thinking around the complexity of the healthcare system. The information in this chart can be used as input to think and have conversations about primary healthcare in Alberta using the lens of the dimensions of quality shown on the right:
Dimensions of Quality | <urn:uuid:250a7da1-fa18-43cd-8ee7-965c99090601> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://focus.hqca.ca/primaryhealthcare/influenzavaccine-rates/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496669755.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20191118104047-20191118132047-00558.warc.gz | en | 0.953897 | 609 | 3.28125 | 3 |
A Brief & Basic History of Parkour
In 1902, a catastrophic volcanic eruption obliterated the town of St. Pierre on the Caribbean island of Martinique, killing some 28,000 individuals in a flash. A young, French naval lieutenant, George Hebert valiantly coordinated the evacuation of over 700 people, both indigenous and European, from the outskirts of the town. The experience had a profound effect on him. For as he watched people move in those crucial first moments, it seemed that the indigenous people overcame the obstacles in their path with grace and creativity, while the Europeans moved badly, searching for familiar pathways, which now no longer existed. It was clear to him that “modern man” had lost the ability to move efficiently and effectively in all but the most routine environments. In addition, the heroism and tragedy he witnessed on that day reinforced his belief that, to be of real value, athletic skill and physical conditioning must be joined with courage and altruism, an epiphany which gave rise to the original motto of parkour, “Etre fort pour être utile” – “Be strong to be useful.”
Traveling extensively, Hebert continued to be impressed by the physical development and movement skills of indigenous peoples in Africa and elsewhere. Based on these observations, Hebert formulated a physical training discipline that he called “the natural method” using climbing, running, swimming and man-made obstacle courses to recreate the natural environment.
Hebert’s “Natural Method” soon became the basis for all French military training, and the first organized obstacle course training in the modern era. Inspired by his work, units of the French Special Forces in the 1950’s further developed Hebert’s work into what came to be known as, “parcours du combattant.”, or “the path of the warrior”.
Years later, Raymond Belle, a fireman and veteran of the French Special Forces, returned to his hometown of Lisses on the outskirts of Paris, where he introduced the discipline of parcours du combattant and the teachings of Hebert to his young son David and a group of David’s close friends, who then set out to adapt Raymond’s teachings to their “natural setting”, giving birth to what we now know as “Parkour.”
Belle and then best friend, Sebastian Foucan along with other childhood friends and family members established a group of “traceurs” (the original term for parkour practitioners), which they named the “Yamikazi”, after a tribe of warriors in Africa. As the first organized group of traceurs, the Yamikazi began to develop a following in France that included filmmaker Luc Besson. “The Yamikazi”, Besson’s film about the group accelerated the growth of Parkour.
It was around this time that a personal split began to develop between Belle and Foucan, with Foucan ultimately going his own way. Proficient in English, Foucan brought the discipline to the UK where he chose to call it “Freerunning” rather than “Parkour”. This became a source of both confusion and conflict as people came to define Belle’s “Parkour” as the most efficient way from point A to point B (no flips or acrobatics), and Foucan’s “Freerunning” as the most creative way from A to B, embracing influences from other movement disciplines such as break dancing, martial arts tricking and capoeira. This controversy continues to this day amongst a small community of purists, although Belle himself is known to have used flips in his own practice.
David Belle and his former close associates among the Yamasaki have always been against competition. This is also true of other groups of Parkour purists as well, such as Parkour Generations, Parkour UK, and FIADD who have maintained that Parkour is strictly a training discipline, NOT a “sport”, and have taken a stance against competition.
From the late 90s onward, the underground movement continued to spread worldwide with Belle dropping out of any leadership role to pursue his movie stunt career and other interests. Foucan, as well, appeared in commercials and mainstream films.
WFPF INTRODUCES PARKOUR AS A COMPETITIVE SPORT AND UNITES THE THE NEXT GENERATION OF PARKOUR LEADERS
In the years following, new leaders and pioneers emerged who did not necessarily identify with Belle or Foucan, who were actively pursuing their own individual careers.
In 2008 WFPF was formed to unite these new leaders and introduce Parkour as a sport. WFPF is the first organization to have created a competitive format using the name of Parkour. The result of this was WFPF’s groundbreaking series MTV’s “Ultimate Parkour Challenge” which aired in 2009 and 2010 to a viewing audience of 3.5 million people. The series still holds the record as largest viewership ever of a Parkour event or competition. Ultimate Parkour Challenge was developed in full partnership with the new generation of Parkour leaders who partnered with WFPF because of what they saw as a lack of leadership in the world Parkour community.
The WFPF original founding athletes and include Ryan Doyle, Oleg Vorslav, Tim “Livewire” Shieff, Daniel Ilabaca, Daniel Arroyo,, Phil Doyle, and Ben Jenkin.
Because of WFPF’s consistent message and philosophy of inclusion of all points of view regarding Parkour, rather than a purist exclusivity and disdain for competition, WFPF quickly developed a global following and began the hard work of creating a true infrastructure that could support the long term growth of the sport. In answer to calls from around the world for instructor certification, guidance and mentorship, insurance, and competition and event sanctioning, WFPF matured into a nascent world governing body for the sport of Parkour.
Parkour continues to grow exponentially among practitioners and fans alike. In March of 2014, parkour passed skateboarding in Google trends and has continued to ascendance in the years since. The WFPF team continues to carry forward internationally with WFPF’s mission of inclusion and cooperation with all Parkour groups worldwide with the goal of advancing this dynamic new sport to its proper place alongside other recognized sports and disciplines.
What is Parkour?
The word "Parkour" comes from the French “parcours,” which literally means, “the way through,” or “the path.”
What we now all know as “Parkour” with a “k” had its origins in a training program for French Special Forces known as “Parcours du combattant”, or “The Path of the Warrior.” It was David Belle, a French dude, son of a Parcours Warrior and the “inventor” of Parkour, who changed the “c” to a “k” and, along with his comrades, the Yamakazi, began the worldwide movement you are now officially a part of and which also includes the phenomenon known as Freerunning (confused yet? Don’t give up! You’re almost there!)
According to the strictest definition, Parkour is the act of moving from point “a” to point “b” using the obstacles in your path to increase your efficiency. Sounds like a fun game, right? A basic repertoire of moves developed over the years, like the “tic-tac”, the “kong vault” and the “gap jump” that make Parkour immediately recognizable to most people who see it, even if they don’t know what it’s called!
But a funny thing happened on the way to Point B. The cool, super-creative moves that the Yamakazi came up with started morphing, and since there was no one chasing them (most of the time) the efficiency part got less and less important to some of the Yamakazi, who decided they wanted to start throwing flips and stuff, and just generally expressing themselves through movement. The leader of that splinter group was named Sebastian Foucan, the guy from the beginning of CASINO ROYALE. David Belle decided he wanted to stick with the efficiency program, so he and Sebastian kind of went their separate ways, and the “two” sports started developing along separate but parallel paths.
For a long time, people argued about which was which (and which was better!) but while they were busy doing that a whole bunch of new guys (and some girls) came along and just started training, together or separately, picking up the skills they saw on YouTube, coming up with their own that played to their unique strengths and interests, and then sharing them through their own vids. Some liked to time themselves, some were just out to express. Some did it in urban environments, some in the forest. Some thought it should never be competitive or commercialized in any way. Some were anxious to compete, cause that was more in THEIR nature. And what do all these busy people call what they do? In the end, most of them decided it was all just movement, and more importantly, it was all just play.
So what do we here at the WFPF believe Parkour (and Freerunning) to be? Haha! You’re not going to get us on that one! I will tell you what we know, though, and that is that Parkour, fundamentally, is a philosophy, and a way a life. It’s a way of looking at any environment and believing in your heart that there is no obstacle in life that cannot be overcome. Everyone is a unique individual, so no two people will come up with the exact same solution, but there is a “way through” for us all.
Little kids all learn to walk at their own pace and in their own way; they don’t start by jumping off rooftops, and no matter how many times they fall, they never give up. The basic fact never changes. We just need to pick ourselves up and start to play with whatever is challenging us right now, and to hold to the motto that to Know Obstacles is to Know Freedom!
If you’re still curious, read on for a more detailed history of Parkour, from exploding Volcanoes in the Caribbean to hostile jungles in Vietnam, from the suburbs of Paris, to London, Liverpool and LA! | <urn:uuid:8aa16d8b-cb47-41e9-baa6-b7128bac9fd4> | CC-MAIN-2019-30 | https://wfpf.com/history-of-parkour/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-30/segments/1563195526536.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20190720153215-20190720175215-00163.warc.gz | en | 0.968634 | 2,236 | 3.390625 | 3 |
How much do you really know about controlling your migraines?
New research suggests you may not know as much as you think.
According to Timothy T. Houle, Ph.D and co-author Dana P. Turner, M.S.P.H., both of the Wake Forest Baptist anesthesiology department, migraine sufferers make inaccurate conclusions about what triggers their migraines. Houle and Turner conducted a 3-month study of 9 women who suffered from migraines. They tracked the women’s hormone levels, their stress levels and the weather. The women kept daily diaries. At the end of the study, the scientists could not accurately predict which triggers would cause a migraine.
Their conclusion—most people can’t isolate the many complex variables in everyday life to accurately determine their migraine triggers.
So what can you do? Can you start eating anything you want? Do you give up managing your migraines?
What are Migraine Triggers?
Migraine triggers are factors that increase the chance that you will get a migraine. They don’t cause a migraine. Instead, they play a role in activating the process that leads to a migraine.
Not every trigger causes a migraine for every person and even if a person is sensitive to a particular trigger, they may not get a migraine every time they are exposed to it.
The list of triggers is broad. Hormone fluctuations can trigger a migraine. Sometimes birth control pills increase migraines (while sometimes pregnancy prevents them). Stress can be a factor. And while genetics can’t “trigger” a migraine, it plays a role in how likely you are to suffer from migraines in general.
The most common type of trigger is food. Typical food triggers include aged cheeses, sour cream, processed meats, yeast breads, peanuts, broad beans, peas, lentils, caffeine, alcohol, chocolate, wine (especially red wine), vinegar, fermented foods like soy sauce or miso, some fish, avocados, bananas, citrus fruits, figs, raisins, red plums and raspberries. In addition, some people are sensitive to nitrates, nitrites, yellow food coloring and monosodium glutamate (MSG).
Other triggers are non-food. Some people notice that fatigue, lack of sleep, sleeping too much, missing meals, changes in barometric pressure, changes in altitude or bright flashing lights can trigger a migraine. Strong smells such as paint, gasoline or heavy perfumes can also cause a migraine.
Are Migraine Triggers a Myth?
While researchers may disagree about the accuracy of pinpointing migraine triggers, it’s important to remember that you know your body better than a scientist. Even if you haven’t conducted double-blind, single variable experiments, you have lived with migraines for years and you know how your body works. If you find a correlation between a trigger and your migraines, that trigger exists.
Part of the difficulty of identifying triggers is that some triggers may only exist under certain circumstances. For example, you may be able to eat cheese and bread under normal circumstances but once you are stressed, you may notice that they can cause a migraine. You may be more sensitive when you have multiple triggers at once.
I always support your own knowledge of your body. You know your triggers and I respect your intuition.
Acupuncture is a very effective treatment to balance your constitution and reduce your sensitivity to your triggers. Give me a call and we can schedule an appointment today. | <urn:uuid:963cc522-a30e-4354-b10e-92cc5d1b8bf3> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://blossomwellness.org/the-surprising-truth-about-migraine-triggers/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463608617.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20170525214603-20170525234603-00302.warc.gz | en | 0.932475 | 736 | 2.65625 | 3 |
This year, for the very first time, I planted zucchini in my vegetable garden. I don’t have a large garden so I opted for just one plant to provide a few zucchini for the summer table.
Knowing that I should allow for a 2- to 3-foot spread, I gave the plant plenty of room to grow.
I was soon delighted to see blossoms and even a few babies developing.
Then I went on vacation.
When I returned after just one week the plant had overtaken its corner of the garden and was encroaching on the surrounding veggies.
The few babies that were just developing a week ago had turned into giants. That’s when I realized – never turn your back on your zucchini or it will take over the garden.
Zucchini (Cucurbita pepo) is a summer squash with Italian roots. It is believed to have been developed from a mutation in an existing summer squash. It was brought to the U.S. in the 1920s, but didn’t become popular until the 1930s.
Today, it is widely planted in home gardens and there are numerous recipes for this versatile fruit.
Visit the extension website at web.extension.illinois.edu to find some great recipes.
Growing zucchini is very simple.
Plant seeds when the soil is warm and after the last frost date. In our area of Northern Illinois the last frost date is usually around mid-May.
The plant produces both male and female flowers, which are distinguished from one another by their stems; the female has a short, thick stem with a small bulge at the base indicating a developing fruit and the male has a thin stem.
Both are edible. The fruit develops quickly after pollination, usually within four to eight days after flowering.
Zucchini should be harvested when it is young and tender, about 2 inches in diameter and 6- to 8-inches long. If you wait too long, the skin of the squash becomes too thick and tough and the flesh is stringy. Plus maturing fruit slows production of more fruit, so harvest early and often.
But, if you return from vacation to find a behemoth in your garden like I did, all is not lost. There is always Zucchini bread.
• Suzanne Thorne is a University of Illinois Extension Master Gardener for Kane County. Call the extension office at 630-584-6166. | <urn:uuid:68d1c7c2-c78e-40e4-9c04-37710214c40e> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://www.kcchronicle.com/2013/08/02/learning-to-grow-dont-turn-your-back-on-zucchini/amnyp5f/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398462686.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205422-00303-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968416 | 511 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Does poor vision limit your daily life?
See how refractive surgery can change your life.
Enjoy Life with Full Vision
If you have a refractive error, such as nearsightedness (myopia), farsightedness
(hyperopia), astigmatism or presbyopia, refractive surgery is a method for correcting or
improving your vision.
There are various surgical procedures for correcting or adjusting your eye's focusing
ability by reshaping the cornea, or clear, round dome at the front of your eye. Other
procedures involve implanting a lens inside your eye.
Most commonly for people who are nearsighted, refractive eye laser surgery techniques will reduce the
curvature of a cornea that is too steep so that the eye's focusing power is lessened.
Images that are focused in front of the retina, due to a longer eye or steep corneal
curve, are pushed closer to or directly onto the retina following surgery.
Farsighted people will have refractive surgery procedures that achieve a steeper cornea
to increase the eye's focusing power. Images that are focused beyond the retina, due to
a short eye or flat cornea, will be pulled closer to or directly onto the retina after
Astigmatism can be corrected with refractive surgery techniques that selectively
reshape portions of an irregular cornea to make it smooth and symmetrical. The result is
that images focus clearly on the retina rather than being distorted due to light scattering
through an irregularly shaped cornea.
Want to decrease your dependence on glasses or contact lenses;
Have a stable refractive error (your prescription is not changing);
Accept the inherent risks and potential side effects of the procedure;
Understand that you could still need glasses or contacts after the procedure to achieve your best vision;
Have an appropriate refractive error.
Refractive surgery might be a good option for you if you:
Types of surgery to correct refractive errors include:
LASIK (laser in-situ keratomileusis)
Photorefractive keratectomy (PRK)
Astigmatic keratotomy (AK)
Cataract surgery with Multifocal Intraocular lenses (IOLs)
There is no universally-accepted, best method for correcting refractive errors. The best
option for you should be decided after a thorough examination and discussion with an
ophthalmologist. If you are considering refractive surgery, you and your ophthalmologist can
discuss your lifestyle and vision needs to determine the most appropriate procedure for you.
Eye Surgery Procedures
At Olympia Eye & Laser Centre we offer from refractive surgery, advanced cataract surgery,
pterygium removal, corneal transplant surgery, glaucoma surgery, aesthetics to oculoplastics
and many more.
Excimer Laser (TransPRK)
Phakic Lens Implant
Refractive Lens Exchange
Correction for Distance
and Near Vision
Correction for Astigmatism
YAG laser (after previous cataract procedure)
UV Cross - linking
Intra Corneal Ring Segments
Corneal transplantation: DALK / Endothelial Keratoplasty / Penetrating Keratoplasty
Specialized Contact Lenses
Eye Print PRO / Scleral Contact Lenses
Prosthetic Contact Lenses
Procedures indicated for:
Anti-VEGF injections for macula edema
PRP / Argon laser for retinal neovascularisation
Retinal Detachment Repair
Macular Membrane Peel
Macular Hole Repair | <urn:uuid:01d3e777-67c4-49fe-8a8b-3dffafe11dac> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://www.eyedoc.com.na/eye-surgery | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233506029.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20230921174008-20230921204008-00802.warc.gz | en | 0.808449 | 915 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Packaging Away the Planet
U.S. Grocery Retailers and the Plastic Pollution Crisis
2019 Supermarket Plastics Scorecard
2019 Supermarket Plastics Scorecard
The entire lifecycle of plastic production, use, and disposal is destroying our communities and environment. “[A]t every stage of its lifecycle, plastic poses distinct risks to human health, arising from both exposure to plastic particles themselves and associated chemicals,” and most people worldwide are exposed at multiple stages of this toxic lifecycle. Major oil companies profit from sending their raw material to plastics manufacturers, that in turn pollute (generally lower-income)[ii] communities in the U.S. and abroad. As plastics continue to overwhelm landfills and oceans—and even invade our food, water, and air—plastics producers are seeking to increase plastic production by an additional 40% over the next decade, and quadruple production by 2050. The impending (and unforeseen) consequences of such a greedy, irresponsible growth model are chilling.
Many plastics are designed for single-use[iii] purposes, where customers have a product for mere seconds or minutes before the plastic is removed and disposed of. Most single-use plastics are not or cannot be recycled properly, and thereby end up polluting our oceans, waterways, and communities, negatively impacting our health directly, as well as the health of land- and marine-based ecosystems.
One of the key places where billions of people interact with plastic on a daily basis is their local supermarket. As grocery retailers[iv] worldwide start to address their plastic footprints, it is time for U.S. retailers, including behemoths like Walmart, Kroger, Costco, Albertsons Companies, and Ahold Delhaize, to take demonstrable action to markedly and immediately reduce their plastic footprints. Greenpeace has more than a decade of experience evaluating U.S. retailers on seafood sustainability.[v] And while more recent Greenpeace evaluations have increasingly focused on single-use plastics, this report is the first of its kind to evaluate how major U.S. retailers are working to address the global plastic pollution crisis.
This assessment should serve as a baseline measurement of U.S. retailers’ sustainability performance on single-use plastics. All retailers profiled in this report received failing scores, indicating how much work is needed to urgently address the plastic pollution crisis. Current initiatives range from painfully inadequate to small steps in the right direction. While a few companies have invested effort in reforming some areas of their overreliance on plastic, not one has done enough to tackle the growing plastic pollution crisis. Unfortunately, most retailers do not even know the extent of their plastic footprints, as they fail to track the plastic packaging of their suppliers or even their own private label products. As the public demands action and companies sign on to initiatives like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment to eliminate plastic pollution at its source, the days of no transparency and limited action are at an end.
This is a wake-up call. This is the moment for retailers to envision their future. Will U.S. retailers lead in developing innovative alternatives to wasteful single-use packaging, or continue to make current and future generations pay the price for their complacency?
Neither policy makers nor customers are likely to wait long.
[i] Greenpeace Inc. is a registered Internal Revenue Service 501(c)(4) nonprofit entity that operates in the United States of America.
[ii] Low-income communities face more health impacts near plastic production sites, have greater exposure to toxins and waste, and bear the brunt of the impacts of improper plastic disposal and incineration. See Jones, Van. “The Economic Injustice of Plastic.” TED, Nov. 2010, https://www.ted.com/talks/van_jones_the_economic_injustice_of_plastic#t-257079.
[iii] Single-use refers to any product or packaging that is intended or designed for one-time use, regardless of the recyclability of any component materials.
[iv] Referred to henceforth as retailers.
[v] Similar to Greenpeace’s findings when it first started evaluating retailers on seafood sustainability, retailers nationwide are doing next to nothing to address the plastic pollution crisis. See Greenpeace USA. Carting Away the Oceans 10. 15 Aug. 2018, https://www.greenpeace.org/usa/reports/carting-away-the-oceans-10.
This report assesses 20 U.S. retailers with a significant national or regional presence. None of the 20 profiled retailers achieved a passing score and none of the profiled retailers has ambitious, comprehensive commitments commensurate with the scale of the plastic pollution crisis. Very few retailers have plastic reduction targets at all,[vi] and not one appears to have absolute reduction targets (i.e., reducing the total number of plastic packaging units instead of merely lightweighting[vii] them). Most retailers have limited data about their plastic footprints, and even fewer seem willing to report with the level of transparency needed to assure the public that they are indeed reducing their plastic footprints. Given the urgency of the problem, the scale of these retailers’ operations, and their customers’ rapidly growing concerns about plastic pollution, Greenpeace expects to see considerable change over the next year.
- While falling just short of a passing score, ALDI is the highest-ranked retailer. ALDI has several initiatives that most other retailers do not: a specific plastic reduction target, a more comprehensive plastic reduction plan, greater transparency, and a commitment to implement reuse and refill delivery systems.
- The Kroger Co. (“Kroger,” ranked 2nd) is the only top-five retailer (by revenue) that has committed to ban single-use plastic checkout bags; however, it does not have a comprehensive plastic reduction plan. Like Albertsons Companies (3rd) and Walmart (6th), Kroger is largely focused on recycling and lacks transparency. However, its recent partnership with Loop could signal promising change if Kroger invests more heavily in reuse models.
- Albertsons Companies (“Albertsons,” ranked 3rd) is narrowly behind Kroger (2nd) and ahead of Walmart (6th). While Albertsons has a public commitment to “decrease plastic usage, with an emphasis on single-use plastics,” it lacks a specific reduction target.
- Trader Joe’s (ranked 4th) responded to customer feedback and has begun eliminating unnecessary plastic packaging in stores nationwide. While this is a start, it is unclear whether the retailer will announce an ambitious plan to reduce and ultimately phase out single-use plastics.
- Sprouts Farmers Market (“Sprouts,” ranked 5th) performed poorly across most categories. However, its passing transparency score markedly improved its overall performance. Sprouts is engaging its suppliers and experts as it develops a more comprehensive single-use plastics policy.
- While they are far from the scale needed to tackle the plastic pollution crisis, each of the following retailers has various public commitments and/or plans:[viii] ALDI (ranked 1st), Kroger (2nd), Albertsons (3rd), Trader Joe’s (4th), Walmart (6th), Target (8th), Costco (9th), Wegmans (10th), Whole Foods (11th), and Ahold Delhaize (13th).
- Especially given their brand recognition and/or sheer size, it is troubling that Publix (ranked 15th), Meijer (18th), Wakefern (19th), and H-E-B (20th) had so little to offer.[ix] In addition to very little public information about their initiatives, many of these retailers appear to be stuck in the 1990s, with a large focus on recycling.
- Too many retailers, including Kroger (ranked 2nd), Walmart (6th), and Target (8th), are prioritizing recycling strategies at the expense of more ambitious, specific reduction targets for single-use plastics. And, even worse, retailers like Albertsons (2nd), Hy-Vee (7th), and Target (8th) support incineration and/or pyrolysis of plastics.[x] Retailers must stand up to the petrochemical industry and avoid these dangerous practices that pollute our air, water, and soil.
- Walmart (ranked 6th), Target (8th), and Ahold Delhaize (13th) are signatories of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment (EMF Global Commitment) to eradicate plastic waste and pollution at the source. But a commitment is just the first step; each of these retailers must detail how it will significantly reduce its plastic footprint.
- Meijer (ranked 18th), Wakefern (19th), and H-E-B (20th) were the three worst performers, with zero comprehensive public commitments to meaningfully tackle their role in the plastic pollution crisis.
[vi] Only ALDI, Kroger, and Wegmans have specific, publicly available, plastic reduction targets.
[vii] A design process used to reduce the overall amount of plastics required (by weight) to produce packaging, though it does not reduce the number of packaging units. Rather than lightweighting, Greenpeace recommends a complete phase-out of single-use plastic packaging, and that retailers focus on reducing the total number of single-use plastic units.
[viii] Which do not rely exclusively on commonplace initiatives (e.g., recycling, plastic bag reduction strategies).
[ix] Greenpeace was unable to identify any form of more comprehensive public commitments or policies for these retailers. While these retailers may have or may be developing more comprehensive policies, because of a significant lack of transparency from many U.S. retailers on their goals, strategies, and processes to reduce their plastic footprints, Greenpeace is unable to more fully report on their initiatives.
[x] Read about the Hefty EnergyBag Program in Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem.
The Plastic Pollution Crisis
We can no longer ignore the growing public health and environmental crises perpetuated by plastics, nor plastics’ contribution to catastrophic climate change. Many retailers that tout their climate goals neglect to talk about the massive amounts of single-use plastic products they sell every day that are produced from oil and gas.
Fracking is a highly destructive method of natural gas extraction that is poisoning communities and has led to a surplus of natural gas in the U.S. That same natural gas from fracking is a cheap feedstock that has incentivized major oil companies to turn excess fossil fuels and chemicals into plastic. Oil companies like Shell and ExxonMobil have invested more than $180 billion in new plastic production facilities, which is grim news when scientists already caution plastic production is creating “near-permanent contamination of the natural environment.”
Plastic production releases carcinogenic and other highly toxic substances into the air. The effects of exposure to these substances include “impairment of the nervous system, reproductive and developmental problems, cancer, leukemia, and genetic impacts like low birth weight.” Workers and communities near refining facilities can “face both chronic exposures and acute exposures due to uncontrolled releases during emergencies.” And the destructive life of plastics has just begun.
Single-use plastics are used for moments and then last lifetimes. Plastic never goes away; it fragments into smaller pieces that disperse throughout the natural environment. Fragmented plastic particles, including microplastics,[xi] are found in the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe. Toxic microplastics are eaten by marine animals, which are then consumed by people all over the world as seafood. And plastic is literally everywhere—from the deepest points in our oceans to remote mountain peaks. Scientists have documented nearly 700 marine species—including seabirds, turtles, and whales—impacted by ocean plastics. Up to 9 in 10 seabirds, 1 in 3 sea turtles, and more than half of whale and dolphin species have ingested plastic. A dead whale that washed up on a Philippine beach in March 2019 was found to have ingested an incredible 88 pounds of plastic. In April, an emaciated baby dolphin died after being stranded on a Florida beach—it had eaten plastic bags.
As plastics enter the food chain, a growing body of research is looking into their pervasiveness and health impacts. Microplastics have been found in human stools, indicating that we may be routinely exposed to them through the food we eat. Microplastics can also act as carriers for toxic pollutants and additives, perhaps delivering such chemicals more directly to the body tissues of animals that have consumed them. And even the simplest plastics, including those mass-produced single-use plastics for food packaging, can act as sponges in the environment, absorbing and building up a burden of persistent organic pollutants over many years. Synthetic microfibers are even smaller than microplastics (smaller than a human cell) and shed off of clothing. Some scientists estimate that the average person’s body contains 3–5 million synthetic microfibers, which exhibit toxin-absorbing capabilities that may exceed those of microplastics.
We are only beginning to fully appreciate the full scale of the human health impacts associated with this grand, destructive experiment. If the impact of plastics on animal health is any sign, humans may also be headed toward a public health crisis.
All food providers, including retailers, should be concerned about the potential health impacts of toxic additives and food packaging chemicals that are in direct contact with food, since few of these chemicals have had health risk evaluations. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are chemicals of particular concern.[xii] They have been linked to damage of the liver and immune system, as well as cancer, and are frequently used as a lining on paper food containers, such as those used at self-serve salad and hot bars. Concerns are growing about the impacts on reproductive health of several endocrine-disrupting chemicals, such as phthalates, bisphenols, and styrene, which are commonly used in single-use plastics. The American Academy of Pediatrics has urged the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to review these chemicals, and has recommended that people avoid heating food in plastic containers and use alternatives to plastic whenever possible.
We are entering a new era of culpability and liability when it comes to the harm that plastics can have on human health. According to Greenpeace USA Oceans Director John Hocevar, “it may be just a matter of time before companies using plastic packaging have their own ‘Big Tobacco moment,’ where executives are called to testify in court as to what they knew about the health impacts of plastic packaging, when they knew it, and what they did about [it].” When studies showed preliminary evidence that plastic harms human health, the scientists involved reported industry intimidation when they attempted to speak publicly about their findings. The harm that discarded plastic products produce in our shared environment, as well as potential harm from the direct transfer of toxic substances from what was formerly believed to have been food-safe plastic onto the food that we eat, may soon be an area ripe for litigation, particularly if it can be established that the plastics industry was aware of these harms.
Throughout its entire lifecycle, the threats of plastics persist from production to use and disposal. Plastics remain in our environment and continue to release toxins even after their temporary utility is long gone. When considering the true cost of plastic, paying such a heavy price for its often frivolous and fleeting uses is ludicrous.
[xi] Microplastics are pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters.
[xii] While Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s have taken initial steps to eliminate PFAS from their packaging, many retailers—including Kroger, Albertsons, Ahold Delhaize—still need to act. See Schade, Mike and Laurie Valeriano. “Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Pledge Initial Action on Toxic PFAS.” Safer Chemicals, Healthy Familes, 12 Dec. 2018, https://saferchemicals.org/2018/12/12/whole-foods-trader-joes-pledge-initial-action-on-toxic-pfas.
Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem
The companies that stand to financially profit from this broken system are also the same actors that promote recycling as the solution. Many consumer goods companies,[xiii] such as Nestlé, PepsiCo, and Procter & Gamble, have corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives that place responsibility on the end consumer. Most of these initiatives focus on recycled content, “optimizing” packaging (i.e., lightweighting),[xiv] and better labeling of items for (potential) municipal recycling.
In a consumer goods company survey conducted by Greenpeace International in late 2018, none of the profiled companies, including Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Unilever, and Danone, had commitments to substantially move away from, or reduce their dependence on, single-use plastic packaging. Every corporate commitment made by these companies endorses a business as usual approach, allowing the total amount of single-use plastic packaging units to continue to grow. Unfortunately, several of the profiled retailers in this report have also sought to over-emphasize the consumer’s responsibility in curbing the plastic pollution crisis.
Even countries with more robust recycling infrastructure fail to effectively recycle plastic. In 2015, the U.S. recycled only 9.1% of its plastic waste, which is usually downcycled.[xv] U.S plastics recycling rates could even drop to as low as 2.9% in 2019. Globally, more than 90% of all plastic ever produced has not been recycled. The staggering amount of plastics in our oceans alone—estimated to be more than 5 trillion pieces, weighing more than 250,000 tons—is testament to the worldwide failure of recycling.[xvi]
China recently halted imports of nearly all foreign trash and recyclable waste, including from many U.S. cities, which resulted in an increase in waste exports to Southeast Asia. Many U.S. cities now resort to landfilling formerly recycled items or disposal practices typically associated with developing countries—burning trash. Incredibly, six times more plastic waste is burned in the U.S. than is recycled, and globally, of all the plastic ever produced, more has been burned than recycled. Burning plastic is known to release carcinogenic pollutants, which lead to a wide array of debilitating human health impacts.
Unbelievably, retailers like Albertsons, Target, and Hy-Vee participate in the Hefty EnergyBag Program, which is marketed as a “solution” to reclaiming non-recyclable plastics. The Hefty EnergyBag Program misleads consumers and distracts from real solutions like plastic reduction and reuse. Well-intentioned customers purchase these bags and place their non-recycled plastics in them, and then those plastics are incinerated or turned back into fossil fuels which are later burned.[xvii] This program has been linked to burning plastics in a Missouri-based cement kiln that violated the Clean Air Act.
Between the strong likelihood that the plastic destined for “recycling” is actually being burned, and the reality that even recycled plastic is actually downcycled and has little economic value, recycling alone is not the answer: we cannot recycle our way out of this problem (for more, see Solutions and Distractions). The only way to reverse this trend is to completely reimagine the way products are produced, shipped, consumed, and disposed of. We need an entire redesign and immediate focus on reusable products and closed-loop systems—not more corporate greenwashing.
[xiii] The consumer packaged goods sector represents one of the largest industries worldwide. It is mainly comprised of companies that supply low-cost products that are in constant high demand, such as food, drinks, personal hygiene, and household cleaning products. These “fast-moving” items, purchased on a regular basis by households, are nondurable with a short shelf life, and are mostly sold at a low profit margin in high volumes.
[xiv] Greenpeace recommends a complete phase-out of single-use plastic packaging, and that retailers focus on reducing the total number of single-use plastic units instead of lightweighting. Regardless of whether it is conventional or lightweight plastic, if that plastic enters the environment it will still have detrimental effects.
[xv] When the resulting material after the recycling process is of a lower quality and/or functionality than the original material, and cannot be used to make the original product again. This is contrasted to an aluminum can, which can be recycled and made into another identical aluminum can.
[xvi] Additionally, agriplastics (plastic sheeting that is used as crop cover, greenhouse covers, and drip tape) from farming are difficult to dispose of and are often burned or abandoned, thereby ending up in local waterways. Similarly, abandoned fishing gear pollutes beaches and our oceans, and can entangle and kill marine life.
[xvii] Via pyrolysis. See Wilson, Monica. “The Answer to Plastic Pollution is to Not Create Waste in the First Place.” The Guardian, 26 Dec. 2018, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/dec/26/pollution-plastic-waste-environment-china.
Legislative Efforts and Changing Consumer Attitudes
Legislation and rapidly changing consumer attitudes are creating yet another incentive for retailers to move quickly. As concerns about plastic pollution grow, municipalities, countries, businesses, and people worldwide are taking action. Many governments are banning different types of single-use plastics—most commonly, plastic bags. Morocco used to be the second-largest plastic bag consumer after the U.S., using about 3 billion plastic bags a year; in 2016, it banned plastic bags nationwide. China, India, Italy, and France, and more than a dozen African countries have some form of plastic bag ban. In 2018, the EU adopted the European Strategy for Plastics in a Circular Economy to help “transform the way plastic products are designed, used, produced, and recycled.” Then, the European Commission proposed new rules to target the 10 single-use plastics most commonly found on Europe’s beaches and in its seas, employing both ban and reduction strategies, which were further amended in January 2019.
Plastic bag bans have been successful in dramatically reducing plastic bag litter in Washington, D.C., California, Texas, New York, South Carolina, Ireland, and the UK. Several U.S. states have plastic bag bans (California, Hawaii, and New York) or are actively considering proposals in state legislatures. Seattle’s plastic straw and utensil ban took effect in 2018, and just north of the border Vancouver, B.C. has voted to ban the distribution of plastic straws and polystyrene take-out containers and cups, to take effect in June 2019. As of this writing, Berkeley, California’s citywide ordinance to eliminate restaurant waste made of single-use food packaging by 2020 is the most forward-thinking approach in the U.S.
Unfortunately, as communities increasingly take action on the worsening plastic pollution crisis, the chemical and plastics industries and front groups like the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) have responded with efforts to protect corporate profits via mass-produced preemption bills meant to “ban plastic bans” in several U.S. states. But the tide of preemptive single-use plastic bans may be turning. Florida’s governor recently vetoed a preemptive ban on plastic straws. And even industry spokespeople sometimes forget to stick to their pro-plastic propaganda. An American Chemistry Council staff member, while attempting to defend polystyrene foam products in Colorado and avoid their replacement, admitted that recyclable products do not necessarily mean that they will actually be recycled.
Some consumer goods companies have resisted proposed legislation on plastic pollution. For example, in October 2018, Nestlé, Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Danone lobbied EU member states to scrap a proposal that would force beverage companies to attach plastic bottle caps to bottles (to reduce marine plastic pollution). Note that these are among the same beverage companies that produce roughly 500 billion single-use plastic bottles annually.
While segments of the oil, plastics, and chemical industries and some consumer goods brands may be opposing efforts to reduce plastic use, other large players in the private sector—namely, retailers—are starting to take responsibility for addressing the plastic crisis. UK retailer Iceland’s managing director has stated, “The onus is on retailers, as leading contributors to plastic packaging pollution and waste, to take a stand and deliver meaningful change.” In April 2019, Metro Inc. (“Metro”), the third-largest supermarket chain in Canada, took a significant step toward reuse and refill options by permitting customers in Quebec to use their own reusable containers for ready-to-eat meals, meat, seafood, and pastries.
Many smaller grocers have opened zero-waste grocery stores that eliminate single-use plastics from all transactions and incorporate reuse and refill systems. The Wally Shop in Brooklyn relies on a closed-loop delivery system: staff members fulfill customer orders with items from local farmers markets and bulk food stores, bike couriers deliver those orders in reusable packaging, and during the next delivery, that same packaging is picked up for reuse. The company plans to expand across New York City and in other cities nationwide. Similar store formats also exist in Vancouver, Berlin, Vienna, Barcelona, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Bangkok, Italy, and South Africa. Further examples of closed-loop systems can be found in Solutions and Distractions.
Among American millennials, plastic pollution is now perceived to be a threat on par with oil spills, which has long been their top concern. Further, millennials expect action: 64% surveyed believe that we are likely to make progress in reducing the flow of plastic pollution into our oceans in the next five years. U.S. retailers would be wise to get ahead of changing laws and consumer attitudes—now.
Retailers Must Raise the Bar for Private Label & National Brands
Retailers are massive contributors to plastic pollution and will play a pivotal role in either exacerbating or solving the global plastic pollution crisis. Retailers are gatekeepers of which products appear on shelves or online, and can determine which national brand products to buy.[xviii] This is a critical element in reducing waste further up the supply chain, especially among consumer goods companies.
In October 2018, the Break Free from Plastic movement revealed the results of 239 cleanups[xix] and brand audits spanning 42 countries and six continents, which included surveying more than 187,000 pieces of plastic trash. The most frequently found polluted items came from Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, and Nestlé products. As one of the largest food companies in the world, Nestlé sells more than 1 billion products a day, 98% of which come in single-use packaging. In 2018 alone, the company produced 1.7 million metric tons of plastic packaging. Greenpeace urges consumer goods companies to move away from their polluting packaging models and for retailers to leverage their buying power to expedite this transition. If retailers require reuse and refill options from Nestlé and other consumer goods companies, Nestlé and others will have no option but to innovate in order to remain relevant.
To counter the recent decline in market share among large consumer goods companies, and an erosion of brand loyalty and brand shifting by consumers, one industry expert has advised consumer goods companies to “invest in innovation that meets a constant need for change,” as “lifetime consumer loyalty is no longer a valid goal.” Many people surveyed across 60 countries view private label brands as equivalent to multinational/national brands. Furthermore, millennials “are very value conscious, they do a lot more product investigation before buying, and they will buy private-label brands if they think they are as good as multinational brands.”
In addition to raising packaging standards among national brands, retailers can shift how they source and sell private label products, from produce, seafood, meats, baked goods, shelf-stable products, and ready-to-eat meals. Minimizing food waste and ensuring food safety are a focus for both retailers and consumer goods companies. However, as single-use plastics continue to flood our environment, kill marine life, and threaten our health, food waste and food safety cannot be used as excuses to delay moving away from single-use plastics. Companies must eliminate unnecessary packaging and employ alternative delivery systems and new business models that preserve food without sacrificing safety or longevity. They can even realize benefits with this approach.[xx]
Highly vertically integrated retailers with a heavy emphasis on their own brands—such as ALDI, Trader Joe’s, and Costco—could make immediate and significant reductions to their overall plastic footprints. Based on the aforementioned consumer trends, retailers should be more optimistic in providing reuse and refill delivery systems for their private label products. Many of today’s more value-conscious shoppers may favor these more sensibly-packaged private label alternatives, and possibly drop national brands that fail to keep up.
[xviii] Consumer goods companies are responsible for astounding amounts of plastic waste, including Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mars, Danone, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo. For more, see Greenpeace International. A Crisis of Convenience.
[xix] Cleanups of coasts, shorelines, parks, and streets.
[xx] A supermarket chain in New Zealand found that its sales of produce increased by 300% once it eliminated plastic wrapping and foam trays. See Martinko, Katherine. “’Nude Shopping’ Boosts Vegetable and Fruit Sales Dramatically.” TreeHugger, 16 Apr. 2019, https://www.treehugger.com/plastic/nude-shopping-boosts-vegetable-and-fruit-sales-drastically.html.
Nestlé Needlessly Nestles 98% of Its Products in Single-Use Packaging
In the Global South, especially Southeast Asia, Nestlé promotes and profits off of a sachet economy.[xxi] Given the widespread poverty in several parts of this region, lower-income customers typically can only afford to buy smaller amounts of food or personal care products. Instead of selling smaller amounts of products (like instant coffee or soap) in a bulk system where customers can bring their own reusable containers to purchase the right amount, Nestlé and other companies have prepackaged virtually everything in disposable, single-use plastic sachets. These small, flexible packages are unrecyclable and of little to no value to waste pickers, so they end up overwhelming landfills, clogging streets and waterways, and are frequently burned, emitting toxins into the air.
According to a recent report by the Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives, Nestlé and Unilever are responsible for a quarter of the branded throwaway plastics driving the plastic pollution crisis in the Philippines. The companies were named the top polluters based on a series of brand and waste audits conducted in conjunction with a university’s research center in six cities and one province in the country. So what is a viable alternative? Read about innovative startup Algramo below and about other alternative delivery systems in Solutions and Distractions.
[xxi] The sachet economy refers to the practice, especially in poorer communities, where companies sell consumer products—such as detergent, shampoo, powdered milk, and beverages—in small, single-use disposable plastic packages that cannot be recycled.
Algramo Leads the Way on Accessible, Refillable Dispensing
With more than 2,000 vending machines across Santiago, Chile, and expanding into neighboring countries, startup company Algramo (“by the gram”) found a way to “replace sachets and other single-use plastic packaging by dispensing products into small reusable containers.” The company’s founder launched the vending machine concept to tie in directly with neighborhood shops in the poorer outskirts of Santiago. He noticed that accessibility to food was lacking, and most staples were priced too high for those who could not afford bulk purchases. Algramo vending machines and feature reusable containers that fill 500-gram portions of common staples like rice, beans, and lentils.
As a result of the enormous success of these machines, the company has now launched detergent containers with smart chips that allow users to receive money back each time they refill the bottle at a touch-screen kiosk (and they are also informed on how much plastic they prevented from entering the environment). Algramo designed a convenient and affordable reuse and refill system that can meet the needs of the developing world. If a startup can do it, then there is no excuse for a multibillion-dollar company like Nestlé to delay and in the process continue polluting our planet with single-use plastic sachets.
Three Ways Retailers Must Act
1. Be Transparent
Retailers must track and annually disclose their use of plastic, including the number, composition, and weight of items containing single-use plastics. Without a baseline, retailers cannot measure subsequent reductions (or growth) in their plastic footprints. In addition, retailers must ask for their suppliers’ plastic usage data and about their suppliers’ initiatives to reduce their reliance on single-use plastics.
2. Prioritize Reduction
Retailers must publicly commit to phase out single-use plastics immediately, and achieve absolute reductions in the total number of single-use plastic packaging units (not simply lightweighting existing products). Retailers should prioritize eliminating the most problematic and unnecessary plastics that are harmful to human health; that regularly enter the environment; that are not recyclable, or often end up in landfills or incinerators despite recyclability claims; and that have existing alternatives. Problematic and unnecessary plastics include, but are not limited to polyvinyl chloride (PVC), bags, black plastic, expanded polystyrene, cups, and multilayered packaging. Retailers must transition to alternative delivery systems that promote reuse, not simply switch from one throwaway material for another. Finally, retailers must to establish supplier standards for packaging and engage large national brands[xxii] to rethink their polluting packaging models and pilot alternative delivery systems.
[xxii] Such as Nestlé, Procter & Gamble, Unilever, Mars, Danone, Coca-Cola, and PepsiCo.
3. Invest in Innovation
It is hard for some to imagine a supermarket without single-use plastics. Yet for many readers, their parents or grandparents spent most of their lives shopping for food that was not wrapped in single-use plastics, and reusing containers was the norm. Combining the less wasteful practices of prior generations along with modern-day technologies presents exciting opportunities to turn things around. Retailers must implement currently available technologies, innovate new solutions for reusable and refillable delivery systems, and engage consumer goods companies to design scalable alternative delivery models. For examples of sensible alternative delivery systems and precautions to avoid common pitfalls, read Solutions and Distractions immediately below.
Solutions and Distractions
Greenpeace encourages retailers to innovate by adopting solutions that address the root of the problem instead of replacing one throwaway material with another. While Greenpeace does not endorse particular companies or products, the following are examples of reuse[xxiii] and refill strategies to reduce reliance on single-use plastics.
Reuse and Refill
Reusable packaging—either customer provided or via retailer take-back schemes, or coupled with in-store or at-home refill techniques—can drastically reduce single-use plastics. Refill strategies can be broken up into four categories:
- Refill at home: Where customers purchase a concentrated form of a product (either in store or via mail) and use their own water at home to mix it at the correct concentration (e.g., Blueland or Splosh cleaning products).
- Refill in store: Where customers can bring in their own containers to refill common foods and household cleaning products. In addition to reforming preexisting bulk dry goods sections to allow reusable containers, retailers can consider other examples of bulk dispensing (e.g., olive oil, coffee, honey, Ecopod kiosks where customers can refill one-time purchased and reusable branded containers with household soap, detergent, and cleansers).
- Return from home: Where customers can either ship back used packaging or return it to participating stores for cleaning and refilling (e.g., Loop, where reusable containers of food or personal care products from about 20 national brands are shipped to customers in reusable tote bags).
- Return in store: Where customers bring back the reusable container and purchase another of the same product. The customer does not necessarily receive the same exact container, because of either safety or practicality reasons, but that returned container is cleaned, inspected, and/or refilled (e.g., reusable glass milk bottles).
As retailers like Whole Foods, Wegmans, and Kroger invest in in-store bars, customers may now spend more time in stores and be more willing to forgo disposables for reusable foodware. Foodservice management companies have employed cost-saving measures that reduce waste by piloting Clean Water Action’s ReThink Disposable program. These measures are directly relevant to profiled retailers in this report, as most have in-store hot meals, cafés, and delis.
Pharmaceutical company Genentech piloted the ReThink Disposable program at one of its corporate campus cafés, which is operated by Bon Appétit Management Company. Over one year, Genentech reduced one million pieces of disposable packaging and saved $12,000. The University of San Francisco campus dining[xxiv] reduced more than 2.6 million pieces of disposable packaging with ReThink Disposable, saving more than $157,000 annually.
In addition to this program, there are other ways to implement reuse and refill systems in stores. Initially geared toward the to-go coffee industry, CupClub is a reusable cup subscription service where used cups can be dropped off at any participating store. GO Box offers a similar system for take-out meals. Vessel offers reusable, insulated stainless steel mugs from participating cafés, which can be returned either to the cafés or to a deposit kiosk after use. As larger retailers pilot programs where customers can bring their own reusable containers for fresh food, retailers could eventually forgo offering disposable to-go containers in the first place.
A comprehensive approach to reducing single-use plastics also requires alternative food provision systems. Retailers should prioritize sourcing local food that is fresher for customers and does not rely on distant transport and excessive packaging to protect the food on its long journey to the store. In addition to buying from local farmers, retailers can partner with local hydroponic and aquaponic farms to source items, such as lettuce and other leafy greens, to reduce plastic waste, and provide fresher food for customers. For foods that need to be shipped long distance, package-free delivery systems are a viable option.
Any serious efforts to address plastic pollution must include source reduction. Unfortunately, the urge to maintain the status quo is perpetuating a variety of “solutions.” Retailers must avoid these distractions and opt for leadership, not greenwashing.
Retailers Can No Longer Hide Behind Recycling
The plastics industry has long argued that recycling is the way to address the plastic pollution crisis, in an effort to shift the blame to consumers and thereby sidestep its own massive role in creating this crisis. This approach cleverly allows plastics producers to expand their plastic footprints (and revenue) while attention is focused on the culpability of the end users of their products. Dr. Marcus Eriksen[xxv] has noted that spinning public narratives about litter to focus on recycling has “been a way to deflect attention and responsibility for product design away from industry, and [it] has been very effective.” The same argument that places blame on the individual also empowers that same person with an exaggerated sense of being a good steward—that by making a choice to toss a plastic bottle in the recycling bin, consumers are doing their part to protect the planet. Nothing could be further from the truth.
Globally, only 9% of the plastics ever made has actually been recycled, and some experts project 2019 U.S. plastics recycling rates could drop below 3%. Plastic bags and dirty plastic to-go containers are both examples of non-recyclable items that people nonetheless attempt to recycle—a phenomenon waste managers refer to as “aspirational recycling. These items regularly jam and clog automated recycling machines, or contaminate a batch of recycling. Clearly, recycling and consumer education alone will not fix this mess.
Labels Will Not Solve the Plastic Pollution Crisis
As more and more retailers make pledges to add the How2Recycle label on plastic packaging, it begs the question: What do they hope to accomplish? No amount of labeling will solve broken recycling systems, nor stop the petrochemical industry’s plans to significantly ramp up plastics production. Rather than label plastic packaging, retailers should stop single-use plastics from being made in the first place. That means prioritizing reduction, reuse, and refill systems.
Where Is Our Plastic Waste Going?
Until recently, a majority of the exported plastic waste from the U.S. went to China and Hong Kong. Then, overwhelmed by the sheer volume, China banned importation of most foreign waste. In 2016, 760 million tons of plastic waste were shipped from the U.S. to China—that figure dropped by 95% in 2018 after China imposed these strict standards. In search of a quick solution, exports to other Asian countries skyrocketed. Field investigations in Indonesia, Malaysia, and Thailand detailed illegal recycling operations and crime syndicates, open burning, water contamination, crop death, and a rise of illness tied to environmental pollution, spurring many to follow China and impose import bans. Since late 2018, Thailand, Vietnam, and Malaysia have all banned plastic waste imports. In May 2019, the United Nations voted to amend the Basel Convention to now require exporting countries to obtain the consent from an importing country’s government before sending contaminated, mixed, or non-recyclable waste.
A system that relies on U.S. cities to ship barges of plastic waste to the other side of the world in the hope that they can recycle a fraction of the contents is severely broken. This loss of an overseas release valve also has direct impacts on the health of Americans. As U.S. communities are forced to take more responsibility for their own waste, a startling 81% of all domestic plastic waste is landfilled, and six times more plastic waste is being burned in the U.S. than recycled. A Guardian investigation in early 2019 found that “this new reality risks an increase of plumes of toxic pollution that threaten the largely black and Latino communities who live near heavy industry and dumping sites in the US.” Retailers cannot remain on the sidelines while their operations contribute to the increasing public health and environmental threats from plastic pollution.
Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark
In response to growing public concern over conventional single-use plastics, many companies are swapping single-use plastics derived from fossil fuels for other throwaway items. Bioplastic (or bio-based plastic) refers to plastics made from biomass resources, such as sugar, starch, vegetable oils, and plant matter.[xxvi] Bioplastics may be either biodegradable or non-biodegradable. Several companies—for example, Coca-Cola, Danone, and Nestlé—are using bioplastics to replace some portion of conventional fossil-derived plastics in their beverage bottles. Several profiled retailers are engaging in material substitution, such as Wegmans shifting to bioplastic produce bags, Trader Joe’s replacing expanded polystyrene with compostable trays, and several retailers switching to paper straws.
While often promoted as sustainable alternatives to conventional plastics, biodegradable plastics can pollute as much as their fossil-based equivalents. The heat and humidity conditions required for specific microorganisms to biodegrade these materials are rarely, if ever, met in the natural environment—whether at land or at sea. Biodegradable bioplastics are readily mixed with non-biodegradable bioplastics and conventional plastics, and enter the current plastic recycling processes where they can lower the quality of recycled materials.
Using readily biodegradable materials to package food items may also be a part of the transition from single-use plastics if effective biodegradable waste collection existed at a national scale, beginning with major U.S cities. Unfortunately, this is currently not available.
Although new technologies and alternative materials are under development to derive plastic from materials such as algae, methane, or seaweed, the majority of bioplastics are currently made from agricultural crops. In 2018, more than half of global production of bioplastics occurred in Asia. Production impacts of bio-based plastics can include threatened biodiversity and food security, degraded water quality, land conflicts, and increased greenhouse gas emissions from land use change. Paper is not a more responsible option. Consumption of paper-based packaging is increasing and the pulp industry is booming, which is impacting already-limited forest resources. Thus, there is a risk that an increased demand for paper or bio-based plastics for packaging or other single-use applications would exacerbate these negative impacts.
While in some cases there may be some mitigative benefits to using alternative materials instead of conventional plastics, raw material substitution, especially without reduction targets, clear sourcing guidelines, or transparency of origin, can inadvertently shift negative impacts from one area of the environment to another. To truly tackle the problems associated with overconsumption of single-use products and packaging, we need a systemic shift away from today’s throwaway culture.
[xxiii] Reusable products and packaging are constructed of durable materials and designed to achieve multiple uses in their existing form without any physical or chemical modification. To qualify as reusable, there needs to be a reuse system in place that ensures the item is reused where it is placed on the market, and is able to prove a significant actual reuse rate.
[xxiv] Also operated by Bon Appétit Management Company.
[xxv] Dr. Eriksen is co-founder of the 5 Gyres Institute. He co-published the first global estimate of plastic pollution in the world’s oceans and led the team that discovered microbeads in the Great Lakes, which resulted in the Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015. See https://www.5gyres.org/team.
[xxvi] In this report, the terms ” bio-based” and “bioplastics” are used on the basis of composition and origin of source materials only, not on the basis of their biodegradability.
Companies Evaluated and Methodology
This report is the first of its kind to evaluate the overall plastic footprints of major U.S. retailers, and whether they are adequately responding to this global crisis. In many respects, it serves as a baseline for measuring future reforms. Greenpeace evaluated 20 U.S. retailers[xxvii] in four key areas: policy, reduction, innovation and initiatives, and transparency. Each company received an identical survey reflective of the four scoring criteria, along with advance notice of the survey and context about this assessment, and was given approximately seven weeks to complete it. ALDI, Kroger, Albertsons, Trader Joe’s, Sprouts, Walmart, Hy-Vee, Target, Southeastern Grocers, and Giant Eagle fully participated in the survey process. Costco, Whole Foods, and The Save Mart Companies provided some additional information. Wegmans, Ahold Delhaize, Publix, WinCo Foods, Meijer, Wakefern, and H-E-B did not participate in the survey process.
Greenpeace also used publicly available information (e.g., websites, annual reports, industry press) to evaluate companies.[xxviii] While some profiled companies may have internal initiatives, Greenpeace is unable to assess initiatives for which it has no data.
Surveys were scored independently and consistently. After extensive review of independent findings among the scoring team, companies received a score for each criterion and an overall score (a weighted average of all four criteria). Each company profile features its score for each of the four criteria and its overall score (on a 100-point scale). Retailers are ranked based on their overall score, where below 40 is failing (red), 40 to 69.9 is passing (yellow), and above 70 is leading (green). Each company is encouraged to meet with Greenpeace to discuss its results and Greenpeace’s recommendations.
Policy: The policy score evaluates a retailer’s standards to mitigate its plastic footprint and transition to more sustainable product delivery systems. To lead in this category, a retailer would have a comprehensive public policy with rigorous, enforceable standards (e.g., supplier requirements, absolute reduction targets, no problematic or non-recyclable packaging).
Reduction: The reduction score evaluates whether a retailer has a time-bound commitment to reduce—and ultimately phase out—single-use plastics. To lead in this category, a retailer would have a comprehensive public commitment to reduce its total number of units packaged in single-use plastics.
Innovation and Initiatives: This score evaluates whether a retailer is implementing alternatives to single-use plastics, supporting plastic reduction initiatives, and engaging multiple stakeholders to develop solutions. To lead in this category, a retailer would deliver scalable solutions in collaboration with its own brand and national brand suppliers, and not simply replace one single-use material for another or merely use greenwashing to continue business as usual.
Transparency: The transparency score evaluates whether a retailer publicly communicates its policies and initiatives and whether it makes comprehensive data available regarding its single-use plastic footprint. To lead in this category, a retailer would communicate about its initiatives, publicly report its annual plastic footprint (e.g., number, weight, and types of plastics used), and include progress toward reduction goals, not just progress on recycling or recyclability.
[xxvii] While several profiled companies have international operations (e.g., Walmart, Costco, Ahold Delhaize), this report evaluates U.S. operations only, including how a retailer applies its single-use plastic policies across its brick-and-mortar (this includes convenience stores) and online operations.
[xxviii] For a majority of retailers, the information on stores, banners, and revenue is primarily based on data available in the Supermarket News “Top 75 Retailers & Wholesalers” report. See https://www.supermarketnews.com/top-75-retailers-wholesalers/meet-2019-top-75.
Headquarters: Batavia, IL
Stores and Banners: 1,864 stores operating as ALDI
Background: ALDI US (“ALDI”) is a rapidly expanding discount chain that sells mostly private label products, and is owned by German parent company ALDI Süd. Its FY 2018 revenue was $18.43 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: ALDI is the top-ranked retailer in Greenpeace’s first evaluation of U.S. retailers on single-use plastics. While ALDI still failed, it appears headed in the right direction. ALDI is one of three profiled retailers with a specific public reduction target and one of only two profiled retailers to receive a passing score in the transparency category. Greenpeace looks forward to working with ALDI in reducing its reliance on single-use plastics in light of its recent momentum and openness to collaboration.
Policy: ALDI aims by 2025 to reduce its private label packaging material by 15% (by sales weight) as well as use 100% reusable, recyclable, or compostable packaging for its private label products. While it is promising that ALDI has a specific reduction target, the downside is that this goal includes relative reductions (i.e., lightweighting) instead of actually reducing the number of items with plastic packaging by a full 15%. Greenpeace urges ALDI to update its commitment to include absolute reduction targets that lead to a complete phase-out of single-use plastics.
Reduction: By virtue of not operating any in-store cafés, delis, or food or salad bars, ALDI avoids distributing single-use plastic foodware. The retailer does not sell plastic straws, and it is currently evaluating how to reduce straws and other single-use plastics in its beverage and baked goods categories. ALDI has never provided any lightweight single-use plastic bags at checkout. Unfortunately, the retailer still has plastic checkout bags available for purchase.[xxix] ALDI must join retailers like Whole Foods that stopped offering plastic checkout bags years ago.
Innovation and Initiatives: Because ALDI is a vertically integrated company with more than 90% private label products, it has the opportunity to swiftly shift to less wasteful and more innovative reuse and refill systems when compared with most other retailers. ALDI has publicly committed to implement a project by 2020 that makes it easier for customers to reuse its private label product packaging. The retailer has created a “Packaging Working Group to enhance internal exchange” between its CSR and buying teams. While the efficacy of this internal initiative is unknown, its presence, along with ALDI’s International Position Statement on Sustainable Product Packaging, suggests that the retailer is beginning to take this issue seriously. ALDI is also an active member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition.
Transparency: ALDI tied Sprouts as the highest-performing retailer in this category, largely because of its high level of transparency with Greenpeace on its overall plastic footprint. Like many retailers, ALDI is working to establish a baseline in order to measure progress toward its commitments. While ALDI will provide updates on its progress toward its 2025 goals, it must go much further. ALDI and all U.S. retailers need to be significantly more transparent with the public about their overall plastic footprints.
[xxix] While these heavier plastic bags are designed to be reused and can be recycled, it does not mean they will be.
#2 The Kroger Co.
Headquarters: Cincinnati, OH
Stores and Banners: 2,764 supermarkets and multi-department stores operating as Kroger, Ralphs, Dillons, Smith’s, Roundy’s, King Soopers, Fry’s, QFC, City Market, Owen’s, Jay C, Pay Less, Baker’s, Gerbes, Harris Teeter, Pick ‘n Save, Copps, Metro Market, Mariano’s, Food 4 Less, Foods Co, and Fred Meyer[xxx]
Background: The Kroger Co. (“Kroger”) is the second-largest U.S. retailer, behind Walmart. Kroger’s FY 2018 revenue (for consumables) was $117.15 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Kroger is the only U.S. retailer of its size that has committed to phase out single-use plastic checkout bags (although not until 2025), and its recent partnership with Loop is encouraging. However, given its size and influence on its supply chain, Kroger must take markedly greater action to reduce its enormous plastic footprint, including implementing reuse and refill systems nationwide. Bag bans, pilots, and recycling alone will not cut it; the second-largest U.S. retailer needs to act boldly to address its contribution to the plastic pollution crisis.
Policy: Kroger has sustainable packaging guidelines for its suppliers and a series of 2020 goals for its private label products, including increasing post-consumer recycled content, supporting improved recycling efforts, and providing customer education about the recyclability of its products. These initiatives might have been noteworthy decades ago, but given the sheer size of Kroger’s operations and the scale of the problem, Kroger must significantly increase its ambition in order reduce its plastic footprint.
Reduction: Kroger will phase out single-use plastic checkout bags by 2025, which, despite the slow implementation timeline, makes it the only retailer of its size with such a commitment. Kroger is making progress: as of April 2019, its QFC banner no longer offers single-use plastic checkout bags. While this commitment could ultimately prevent the distribution of 6 billion single-use plastic bags across all stores annually, it does not address other single-use bags (e.g., produce) offered in stores. As Kroger develops its post-2020 goals, it must announce more sweeping commitments to eliminate other types of single-use plastics, and announce absolute reduction targets (i.e., reducing the total number of plastic packaging units in stores, not just lightweighting existing units) to reduce its massive plastic footprint.[xxxi]
Innovation and Initiatives: Kroger is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and seems poised to share its lessons learned with relevant stakeholders as it phases out single-use plastic checkout bags. Kroger is actively working with its own brand suppliers to implement its 2020 goals, and, in an encouraging development, is beginning to pilot reuse and refill with Loop. Kroger must implement reuse and refill systems nationwide and leverage its massive buying power with national brands. Kroger should build on its initial work with Procter & Gamble via Loop to markedly expand its reuse and refill options nationwide. These initiatives are the antidote to the failure of recycling to stave off the plastic pollution crisis (see Solutions and Distractions).
Transparency: Like several other retailers, Kroger is assessing its plastic footprint and will be able to use this information to report on its single-use plastics goals. However, for such a large retailer, it is troubling that Kroger is not currently reporting publicly on its plastic footprint. Kroger must be more transparent and not just report on improvements for which the public has no baseline.
[xxx] For a complete list of Kroger’s retail operations, visit: https://www.thekrogerco.com/about-kroger/our-business. Prior to its large 2018 sale of its convenience store business, Kroger operated many convenience stores nationwide. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
[xxxi] Kroger aims to reduce plastic resin used by its own brands by 10 million pounds by 2020; however, because it does not provide more information about its plastic footprint, it is unclear whether these reductions are because of lightweighting, absolute reductions, or a combination of the two. Given the widespread use of lightweighting among U.S. retailers, it would not be surprising if Kroger elected to largely take this approach. Lightweighting alone will not solve the plastic pollution crisis (see Solutions and Distractions).
#3 Albertsons Companies
Headquarters: Boise, ID
Stores and Banners: 2,294 stores operating as Albertsons, Safeway, Vons, Jewel-Osco, Shaw’s, ACME Markets, Tom Thumb, Randalls, United Supermarkets, Pavilions, Star Market, Carrs, and Haggen[xxxii]
Background: Albertsons Companies (“Albertsons”) is the fourth-largest U.S. retailer by annual sales. Its FY 2018 revenue was $60.25 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Albertsons is far behind frontrunner ALDI and just behind Kroger. Albertsons carries an enormous number of products across its many banners and brands. Similar to other large retailers, given its size, it has an increased responsibility to urgently and dramatically reduce its massive plastic footprint. While Albertsons has a public policy and commitments on single-use plastics, it fails to include specific reduction targets or a commitment to transparently report its plastic footprint.
Policy: In April 2019, Albertsons joined the growing number of retailers releasing commitments and plans to tackle single-use plastics. Albertsons’ pledge is similar to the EMF Global Commitment, begging the question if Albertsons will sign on. Unfortunately, Albertsons missed its opportunity to match or exceed other retailers’ commitments. Albertsons’ commitment falls short of ALDI’s because it lacks an absolute reduction target and, unlike Kroger, does not commit to phase out single-use plastic checkout bags. While Albertsons stated that supplier compliance is required with the company’s packaging guidelines, it did not clarify what sort of enforcement mechanisms exist to ensure compliance.
Reduction: Albertsons has initiatives to increase recycled content in some of its private label products and is exploring how to reduce single-use plastic bag use at checkout, though it is failing on the latter initiative, especially when compared with Kroger’s goal to ban single-use plastic checkout bags. Albertsons is one of the few profiled retailers that is working to reduce single-use plastics and plastic waste in seafood procurement. While Albertsons also has initiatives to phase out non-recyclable plastics in some of its in-store foodservice operations,[xxxiii] it is unclear how many stores are involved. This is why Albertsons and other retailers must have comprehensive data on their plastic footprints.
Innovation and Initiatives: Like ALDI, Albertsons has companywide engagement on single-use plastics, though its scope and effectiveness are unclear. Albertsons is working with stakeholders like the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and with its suppliers to address plastic pollution across its various brands and in the produce category. Unfortunately, it remains unclear if and how Albertsons will leverage its massive purchasing power with consumer goods companies, like Unilever, and how it plans to implement reuse and refill systems. Albertsons participates in the Hefty EnergyBag Program, which leads to the incineration or pyrolysis of non-recyclable plastics (see Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem). Plastic incineration in any form threatens human health and the climate. Albertsons must immediately stop participating in this program.
Transparency: While Albertsons has publicly committed to “decrease plastic usage, with an emphasis on single-use plastics,” it is unclear by how much and whether it will lead by setting absolute plastic reduction targets, rather than lightweighting. For such a large retailer, it is troubling that Albertsons is not reporting its plastic footprint. Albertsons must be more transparent and not just report on improvements for which the public has no baseline.
[xxxii] Albertsons also operates convenience stores, which are not included in this figure. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
[xxxiii] Such as plastic straws, plastic cutlery, plastic clamshells, polystyrene meat/deli trays, single-use plastic bags, and window bread bags.
#4 Trader Joe’s
Headquarters: Monrovia, CA
Stores and Banners: 496 stores operating as Trader Joe’s
Background: Trader Joe’s is a nationwide chain known for its unique private label products. Its FY 2018 revenue was $14.12 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Trader Joe’s appears to be shifting the way it approaches plastics, which, until recently, had been little to nonexistent. In response to customer concerns and a Greenpeace campaign, Trader Joe’s announced a series of single-use plastic initiatives on the last day of 2018. Greenpeace commends Trader Joe’s for starting this important work. However, the retailer should markedly expand the scope of its commitments, employ reuse and refill systems, and increase its transparency.
Policy: As with its other sustainability initiatives, in place of a more detailed policy, Trader Joe’s has shared an update with the public on its plastic reduction progress so far. The retailer has also informed its suppliers which types of plastics to avoid, which is a first step toward a more comprehensive set of supplier requirements. While it is encouraging that Trader Joe’s is working to reduce and remove packaging, the retailer must develop a comprehensive, time-bound policy to reduce and ultimately phase out single-use plastics. According to some reports, another announcement may be forthcoming.
Reduction: As a result of its recent commitments, Trader Joe’s has stopped offering plastic bags at checkout, and has replaced plastic bags in the produce department with compostable alternatives. The retailer is also working to eliminate polystyrene foam from all of its products. By the end of 2019, Trader Joe’s expects to have eliminated 1 million pounds of plastic from its stores. However, celebrating this milestone is difficult without a transparent baseline detailing the retailer’s overall plastic footprint. Trader Joe’s has a unique opportunity based on its highly vertically integrated supply chain. Since Trader Joe’s has more direct control over its expansive private label portfolio, it can and should move swiftly to implement sweeping reforms.
Innovation and Initiatives: Trader Joe’s acknowledges that transitioning fossil-based plastics to bioplastics is not the answer, and while its recent transition to compostable bags for produce is a step away from fossil fuel-based materials, it is merely substituting one single-use material for another (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark). Trader Joe’s needs to markedly invest in alternative delivery systems, including reuse and refill. The retailer had bulk foods in its stores years ago. It is time to redeploy this basic strategy and permit customers to bring in their own reusable containers.
Transparency: Trader Joe’s is working this year to establish a baseline, so it can measure progress toward its commitments. While Trader Joe’s has publicly committed to provide updates on its progress, it must also be transparent with the public about its overall plastic footprint.
#5 Sprouts Farmers Market
Headquarters: Phoenix, AZ
Stores and Banners: 320 stores operating as Sprouts Farmers Market
Background: Sprouts Farmers Market (“Sprouts”) is a rapidly growing national retailer, with its highest concentration of stores in California, Texas, and Arizona. Its FY 2018 revenue was $5.22 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Sprouts performed poorly across most categories, indicating its low level of ambition to date. However, it achieved a passing score in the transparency category, which markedly increased its overall score. Sprouts seems poised to take a leadership role in reducing its plastic footprint and is among the many retailers working to release more comprehensive public plans. As it develops its single-use plastic reduction policy, Sprouts has an opportunity to set an even higher bar than existing commitments from other retailers.
Policy: Sprouts does not yet have a public policy or commitment on single-use plastics. The retailer is building on its existing initiatives to establish sustainable packaging guidelines across its categories, engage suppliers, and develop reduction targets.
Reduction: Roughly half of its stores (primarily those in California, which has a statewide plastic bag ban) have already phased out single-use plastic bags at checkout. If a retailer the size of Kroger can commit to phase out single-use plastic checkout bags nationwide, Sprouts should easily be able to do the same. Sprouts has some recycling initiatives, is working to phase out all non-recyclable plastics for its own brands, and is exploring compostable alternatives. Sprouts is one of the few profiled retailers that reported working to reduce single-use plastics and plastic waste in seafood procurement. The retailer must significantly raise its level of ambition by setting absolute reduction targets and avoiding distractions such as lightweighting and material substitution (Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark).
Innovation and Initiatives: Sprouts is engaging its suppliers and experts to develop a more robust strategy. The retailer provides some reuse and refill options in stores (e.g., reusable produce and bulk bags, milk bottle take-back program, and, in some stores, bulk honey, vinegar, and oil). Sprouts should ensure its private label and national brand suppliers, like Coca-Cola, shift to reuse and refill systems that altogether avoid single-use plastics or any other single-use materials.
Transparency: Sprouts was tied with ALDI as the highest-performing retailer in this category, largely because of its high level of transparency with Greenpeace on its overall plastic footprint. Greenpeace urges Sprouts to publicly share its plastic footprint, and to provide updates on its progress to reduce its reliance on single-use plastics (see Three Ways Retailers Must Act).
Headquarters: Bentonville, AR
Stores and Banners: 5,764 stores operating as Walmart, Walmart Supercenter, Neighborhood Market, and Sam’s Club[xxxiv]
Background: Walmart is the largest U.S. retailer. Its FY 2018 revenue (for consumables) was $270.12 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Walmart came in sixth place, and its score is nothing to celebrate. But if Walmart were ready to lead, things would dramatically change. It is hard to overstate the power that Walmart has in retail: Walmart can use its size and influence to shape future trends, for the benefit or ill of society. For example, if Walmart required major brands like Nestlé to shift to reuse and refill systems to qualify to be sold in its stores, these companies would immediately do so to remain relevant. Walmart can and must take bolder action to reverse the current trajectory of turning our planet into a hazardous plastic dumpsite.
Policy: Walmart does not have a comprehensive single-use plastic reduction policy. Walmart is a signatory of the EMF Global Commitment; however, it remains unclear how Walmart will operationalize its pledge to the commitment. While it has various public goals and commitments, a Sustainable Packaging Playbook, and a Recycling Playbook for suppliers, it is unclear whether Walmart ensures supplier compliance. While far from the impactful public commitments a retailer of its size should have, Walmart Canada has set a higher bar than its U.S. counterpart. Walmart U.S. must move beyond recycling and create a time-bound policy based on absolute reduction targets and reuse and refill systems.
Reduction: It is troubling that the largest U.S. retailer is currently doing so little to reduce its plastic footprint. Walmart has “an ambitious 2025 recycled content target” and plans to eliminate PVC and polystyrene in its own brands by 2025 as well. However, its “ambitious” goal of 20% recycled content and protracted six-year implementation timeline are painfully inadequate. Unlike Kroger, Walmart seems determined to keep plastic bags at checkout. In response to a ban on single-use plastic bags in Charleston, South Carolina, a local paper noted that Walmart “has beefed up its giveaway plastic bags to make them reusable and emblazoned them with feel-good messages. But let’s face it: plastic is plastic.” Walmart must commit to ambitious reduction targets coupled with alternative product delivery models to single-use packaging.
Innovation and Initiatives: Walmart is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the Trash Free Seas Alliance. Walmart appears to be open to collaborating with suppliers to replace single-use plastic wrap and other materials with reusable packaging containers (RPCs).[xxxv] This suggests that it will reform how goods are transported to retail stores, but it is unclear how. Part of Walmart’s global strategy to address plastics in its supply chain is to “engage with innovators to help support development of environmentally preferable options to plastics and promote reuse.…” Greenpeace urges Walmart to follow through on this strategy, engage large national brands like Nestlé, and significantly expand its implementation of reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: Walmart, like several other retailers, is collecting data on its plastic footprint. While Walmart will report publicly on its progress toward its goals, it is unclear if the retailer will report on its overall footprint. Especially as a signatory of the EMF Global Commitment, it is time for Walmart and other retailers to own up to their massive contribution to the plastic pollution crisis—and that includes being transparent with the public.
[xxxiv] Walmart also operates convenience stores. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
[xxxv] When Walmart suppliers switched to RPCs to deliver eggs, 37 million eggs were prevented from being thrown out because of breakage in the first year of implementation alone. This is just one instance where elimination of single-use plastics can reduce food waste. See Walmart’s Sustainable Packaging Playbook.
Headquarters: West Des Moines, IA
Stores and Banners: 255 stores operating as Hy-Vee, Hy-Vee Drugstore, Fast & Fresh, Mainstreet, HealthMarket, and DollarFresh[xxxvi]
Background: Hy-Vee is an employee-owned company with stores located in the Midwest. Its FY 2018 revenue was $10.2 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Hy-Vee has performed well in Greenpeace seafood sustainability evaluations, but when it comes to single-use plastics it must significantly increase the scale and impact of its initiatives. Hy-Vee is one of the few retailers in the top 10 without a public single-use plastic commitment. Fortunately, Hy-Vee appears to recognize the problems with single-use plastics and is developing a more ambitious strategy to reduce, and hopefully phase out, its reliance on single-use plastics.
Policy: Hy-Vee does not have a public policy or commitments to reduce its plastic footprint; however, it has indicated that it is developing a more comprehensive policy. Because far too many commitments from other retailers are misguided (e.g., lightweighting, focusing mainly on recycling, swapping one throwaway material for another), Hy-Vee has the opportunity to announce a bold, absolute reduction target that could set the bar for U.S. retail.
Reduction: Hy-Vee is working to replace many single-use plastic items with compostable alternatives,[xxxvii] and it has recently replaced plastic to-go containers in its foodservice operations with a compostable alternative. While none of these initiatives is insignificant, Greenpeace cautions Hy-Vee from swapping one single-use material to another (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark). To date, the retailer’s efforts have largely focused on recycling, which is not a viable solution, particularly when so little plastic is actually recycled in most U.S. municipal systems (see Solutions and Distractions). Hy-Vee is working with suppliers to reduce or eliminate non-recyclable plastic packaging. Hy-Vee must engage its private label and national brand suppliers, like Coca-Cola, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems.
Innovation and Initiatives: Hy-Vee was one of the few retailers that reported working to mitigate agriwaste from its suppliers’ farms. Unfortunately, in response to an Omaha proposal to ban plastic bags at grocery stores, Hy-Vee neither supported nor opposed the initiative, stating only that it promotes reusable bags and encourages plastic bag recycling at its stores. Hy-Vee participates in the Hefty EnergyBag Program, which leads to the incineration or pyrolysis of non-recyclable plastics (see Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem). Plastic incineration in any form threatens human health and the climate. Hy-Vee must must immediately stop participating in this program.
Transparency: While Hy-Vee plans to provide annual updates on the amount of plastics that it removes from its stores, it is unclear if the retailer will also be transparent about its overall plastic footprint. As Hy-Vee and other retailers assess their plastic footprints, they must markedly increase their transparency; otherwise, future reforms will be difficult to assess.
[xxxvi] Hy-Vee also operates convenience stores, including at its Hy-Vee Gas locations. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
[xxxvii] In its bulk foods sections, foodservice operations, and convenience stores.
Headquarters: Minneapolis, MN
Stores and Banners: 1,850 stores operating as Target
Background: Target is the seventh-largest U.S. retailer based on revenue. Its FY 2018 revenue (for consumables) was $32.43 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Target’s performance in this assessment is dismal, particularly given its size. While Target is one of the few U.S. retailers to sign on to the EMF Global Commitment, it remains unclear whether the retailer will set a specific, time-bound single-use plastic reduction target or if it is simply going to switch from one throwaway material to another. Target must leverage its brand and purchasing power with its suppliers, including Nestlé, to prioritize the reduction of single-use plastics, as well as implement reuse and refill systems.
Policy: As many other retailers publicly announce their commitments and plans to tackle single-use plastics, Target’s current plan (and its progress on its 2017 commitments) is buried in its CSR website. To date, it remains unclear how Target will operationalize its pledge to the EMF Global Commitment. To address the flood of single-use plastic checkout bags in Target stores, a customer started an online petition in April 2019 for Target to eliminate these bags; as of this writing, more than 300,000 people have signed the petition.
Reduction: Target has a commitment to eliminate expanded polystyrene from its own brand packaging by 2022. The retailer has switched to reusable foodware at its corporate office but has yet to implement this common-sense reuse system across its in-store cafés. Target is working to expand recycling and drive demand for post-consumer recycled content; however, when only 9% of all plastic ever produced has been recycled, it is time to consider a new strategy (see Solutions and Distractions). Target needs a specific, absolute reduction target to bolster its current commitments on single-use plastics.
Innovation and Initiatives: Target is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and the Bioplastic Feedstock Alliance, which explores the potential of bio-based products. However, not all bio-based alternatives to fossil-based plastics are the same, and fundamental problems will remain in a single-use throwaway model (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark). Target works with suppliers to provide sustainable packaging guidance; however, it is unclear how Target is engaging its private label and national brand suppliers, like Nestlé, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems. Target participates in the Hefty EnergyBag Program, which leads to the incineration or pyrolysis of non-recyclable plastics (see Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem). Plastic incineration in any form threatens human health and the climate. Target must must immediately stop participating in this program.
Transparency: Time will determine whether Target achieves the goals outlined in the EMF Global Commitment by 2025. However, it is unclear by how much and whether it will lead by setting absolute plastic reduction targets. Focusing on distractions like bioplastics or lightweighting will not solve the plastic pollution crisis. For such a large retailer, it is troubling that Target is not reporting its plastic footprint. Target must be more transparent, and not just report on improvements for which the public has no baseline.
Headquarters: Issaquah, WA
Stores and Banners: 627 stores operating as Costco
Background: Costco is the third-largest U.S. retailer by revenue, and the largest membership warehouse club nationwide. Its FY 2018 revenue (for consumables) was $72.15 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: While it is working to eliminate the worst forms of plastic packaging, Costco fails to demonstrate publicly how it will measurably reduce its overall plastic footprint and implement reuse and refill systems. This is a problem and a squandered opportunity. Costco is so large that it could significantly reform product delivery for national brands and its expansive private label, thereby creating positive ripple effects in the retail and consumer goods sectors. Greenpeace is cautiously optimistic that Costco will release an updated policy in the future; this is an opportunity to outshine rivals like Walmart.
Policy: Costco does not have a time-bound policy with absolute reduction targets (i.e., reducing the total number of plastic units, not just lightweighting) to ultimately end its reliance on single-use plastics. Instead, the retailer mostly has generalized aspirations to increase the recyclability of its packaging via material substitution and consumer labeling. However, change may be coming. Costco is considering improvements in its single-use plastic strategies and implementing new policies.
Reduction: Costco has some initiatives to replace expanded polystyrene with recyclable or compostable fiber. The retailer has never provided checkout bags. Instead, Costco customers can use the same boxes that products were shipped in to stores. Costco is working to replace single-use plastics with compostable options in its in-store cafés. While Costco is actively transitioning away from the least recyclable forms of plastic packaging to other forms that are more recyclable (or to paper-based packaging), this misses the larger point: retailers should not simply replace one throwaway material with another (see Solutions and Distractions).
Innovation and Initiatives: Costco is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition and has global packaging guidelines. Costco must leverage its purchasing power and focus on its private label to fundamentally shift how its products are delivered to customers. Costco should be investing in reuse and refill systems; however, it remains unclear to what degree Costco is engaging its suppliers in these initiatives, including national brands like PepsiCo. In 2018, Costco sent 21,914 tons of trash in the U.S to “waste-to-energy” facilities. “Waste-to-energy” is often greenwashing for incineration of trash, where facilities burn a range of materials, including plastics, to produce energy. Plastic incineration in any form threatens human health and the climate (see Why We Cannot Recycle Our Way Out of the Problem). Costco should disclose the specific method(s) of “waste-to-energy” that it employs. If it is incineration, Costco should abolish this dangerous practice.
Transparency: Costco is not transparent with its overall plastic footprint, and its aspirations on its sustainability website do not feature any reduction targets or timelines. As Costco launches new policies, it has the opportunity to communicate them online, in stores, and in the press. Additionally, Costco should be much more transparent with its progress toward meeting its existing and future goals.
Headquarters: Rochester, NY
Stores and Banners: 98 stores operating as Wegmans
Background: Wegmans is a family-owned and -operated retailer operating in the U.S. Northeast and Mid-Atlantic regions. Its FY 2018 revenue was $9 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Wegmans performed poorly in this assessment. While it features some “sustainable packaging” initiatives on its sustainability website, and recently released new plastic reduction targets, Wegmans’ commitments fall short. Our planet is far past the point where recyclability, lightweighting, and material substitution are anywhere near what is required to tackle the plastic pollution crisis.
Policy: Wegmans does not have a comprehensive public policy seeking to phase out single-use plastics. In April 2019, Wegmans committed to reduce its in-store plastic packaging from fossil fuels by 2 million pounds in 2019 and by 10 million pounds by 2024, making Wegmans one of the few retailers to actually set a reduction target. If this were an absolute reduction target to ultimately end its reliance on single-use plastics, Wegmans’ commitment would be industry-leading. Unfortunately, Wegmans will attain this goal “to a large extent” through material substitution, which is problematic, as this approach usually shifts ecological harms from one area to another (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark).
Reduction: Wegmans has replaced a variety of single-use plastics (e.g., polystyrene foam and PVC,[xxxviii] where alternatives exist, produce and bulk food bags, coffee stir sticks, plastic straws). The retailer claims that since 2016, it has “avoided the use of more than 6 million pounds of virgin fossil-based plastic […] by increasing the use of renewable plant-based material, mineral fillers, and post-consumer recycled plastic in [its] packaging.” While increasing the use of post-consumer recycled plastic is a modest step in the right direction, swapping one throwaway material for another is not a long-term sustainable solution. What the world really needs is a mass reduction of fossil-based and bio-based plastics, not shifts that merely reallocate problems (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark). And despite Wegmans’ media fanfare about removing single-use plastic checkout bags from its New York stores (it is merely removing bags before the 2020 state law goes into effect), there is no indication that it will remove plastic checkout bags at its stores in other states.
Innovation and Initiatives: Wegmans states that it has a unique partnership with the Rochester Institute of Technology’s Center for Sustainable Packaging and American Packaging Corporation, but there is no indication that this partnership prioritizes absolute reduction targets. Wegmans has not publicly communicated whether it is investing in alternative delivery systems like reuse and refill, nor how it is engaging its private label and national brand suppliers, like Unilever, to launch these initiatives.
Transparency: Wegmans’ various claims about overall reductions cannot be verified, since it does not provide any information on its overall plastic footprint.
[xxxviii] Interestingly, on Wegmans’ sustainable packaging website, there is no update regarding the retailer’s 2017 commitment to avoid PVC “where possible and where alternatives exist.” Also, this statement creates a loophole for continued use of PVC. See Wegmans. “Sustainable Packaging: When Less Is More at Wegmans.” 13 Apr. 2017, https://www.wegmans.com/news-media/press-releases/2017/sustainable-packaging–when-less-is-more-at-wegmans.html.
#11 Whole Foods Market
Headquarters: Austin, TX
Stores and Banners: 479 stores operating as Whole Foods Market and Whole Foods Market 365
Background: Whole Foods, known for its natural and organic products, accounted for 60% of Amazon’s consumables revenue—$16.86 billion in FY 2018. For the purposes of this report, Greenpeace evaluated Whole Foods’ operations.[xxxix]
Greenpeace Comments: Given Whole Foods’ reputation as being more ecologically aware than other retailers, and its solid performance in Greenpeace seafood sustainability evaluations, it is inexcusable that the retailer is so far behind on single-use plastics. While Whole Foods may have more ambitious internal initiatives, Greenpeace is unable to assess those initiatives given the limited information it received from the retailer. Unfortunately, Whole Foods appears to be stuck in the 1990s, as many of its initiatives include lightweighting packaging and increasing the post-consumer recycled plastic content in some of its single-use plastic items.
Policy: Whole Foods does not have a comprehensive public policy to addresses single-use plastic waste generated by its operations. Instead, it has mostly worked on initiatives that do little to address its large plastic footprint. While Whole Foods will likely release a more comprehensive policy, the questions are when and how ambitious it will it be. Greenpeace urges Whole Foods to pursue a policy that requires year-over-year absolute reductions in single-use plastics and to incorporate reuse and refill strategies.
Reduction: Whole Foods stopped providing single-use plastic checkout bags in 2008. The retailer banned microbeads in its products before national law took effect, and recently announced it will remove plastic straws in its stores nationwide. Whole Foods has focused on some lightweighting (e.g., produce bags, rotisserie chicken packaging) and increasing recycled content in some items. While Whole Foods has adopted plastic waste mitigation measures ahead of most other retailers, even with its recent straws announcement, it has so far failed to take bold action commensurate with the urgency of the plastic pollution crisis.
Innovation and Initiatives: Apart from standard bulk sections (e.g., dried foods, coffee), Whole Foods does not have any innovative systems regarding reuse and refill. Whole Foods should engage its private label and national brand suppliers, like Danone, to develop and implement reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: In 2008, when Whole Foods made headlines for its single-use plastic checkout bag ban, it also had extensive blogs discussing its plastic initiatives, and even had a Responsible Packaging Task Force. However, aside from its recent straws announcement, Whole Foods has largely been quiet on its website regarding single-use plastics. Whole Foods did not provide any information on its overall plastic footprint, and it is unclear if it will do so in the future. This is unfortunate, and does not bode well when seeking to measure the impact of any possible future reforms.
[xxxix] Amazon’s FY 2018 consumable sales were $28.1 billion. Whole Foods’ brick-and-mortar stores account for $16.86 billion of these sales. Amazon also plans to dramatically increase the footprint of its Amazon Go cashierless convenience stores. As Amazon’s market share in brick-and-mortar and online consumables grows, it has an increased responsibility to address its plastics footprint.
#12 The Save Mart Companies
Headquarters: Modesto, CA
Stores and Banners: 208 stores operating as Save Mart, S-Mart, Lucky, Lucky California, FoodMaxx, and MaxxValue Foods
Background: The Save Mart Companies (“Save Mart”) operates stores in California and Nevada. Its FY 2018 revenue was $4 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Save Mart missed the mark on single-use plastics. While Save Mart has some initiatives under way, it lacks a comprehensive strategy or policy to substantially reduce and ultimately phase out single-use plastics. While the retailer appears open to working on this issue, it remains unclear to what degree and how quickly Save Mart will act and whether it will engage its supply chain to make much-needed reforms.
Policy: Save Mart does not have a comprehensive public policy to reduce and ultimately phase out single-use plastics. In addition to aligning internal resources to develop a policy, Save Mart, like every retailer, should be gathering data from suppliers in order to establish a single-use plastics baseline, and then create a policy based on absolute plastic reduction targets (i.e., reducing the total number of plastic units, not just lightweighting).
Reduction: Save Mart does not offer plastic bags at checkout in 96% of its stores, largely because most of its stores are located in California. Save Mart should make this a companywide policy, so its Nevada stores (the remaining 4%) would no longer distribute single-use plastic checkout bags. Save Mart’s plastic reduction initiatives focus largely on recycling or switching from one kind of single-use material to another (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark). Save Mart has removed polystyrene from its meat and deli departments in some stores. The retailer should remove polystyrene from all of its stores, and engage its private label and national brand suppliers, like Procter & Gamble, to reduce single-use plastics and invest in reuse and refill systems.
Innovation and Initiatives: Save Mart indicated very few innovative practices. The retailer offers one brand of milk that comes in a glass container that can be returned for a bottle deposit. Save Mart is also piloting a program for bulk freezer goods, where customers can use compostable/recyclable boxes. Save Mart should take note of how Metro is implementing its pilot program in Quebec, and identify how to implement a similar program in its stores. Surely Save Mart can figure out a way for its customers to fill their own containers while still respecting local and statewide regulations.
Transparency: Like many other retailers, Save Mart needs to analyze and report its plastic footprint. This requires engaging its private label and national brands; there should be no excuse for failure to do so. Data collection and reporting are going to become the norm, as the public and organizations like the Ellen MacArthur Foundation usher in calls for transparency.
#13 Ahold Delhaize
Headquarters: Quincy, MA, and Salisbury, NC
Stores and Banners: 1,959 stores operating as Stop & Shop, Giant, Martin’s, Food Lion, and Hannaford
Background: Ahold Delhaize USA (“Ahold Delhaize) is the fifth-largest U.S. retailer, and is the largest division of its Dutch-owned parent company. Its FY 2018 revenue was $44.2 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Ahold Delhaize’s performance was especially awful given its massive size. However, it should improve in the near future, as the retailer has begun to engage more deeply on this issue. Ahold Delhaize has identified plastics as a key issue through a listening process with a variety of stakeholders. In late 2018, Ahold Delhaize signed on to the EMF Global Commitment. Going forward, Ahold Delhaize must “dramatically reduce”[xl] its massive plastic footprint to counter its role in the plastic pollution crisis.
Policy: Ahold Delhaize is one of the few U.S. retailers to sign on to the EMF Global Commitment. However, it remains unclear whether the retailer will set specific, time-bound single-use plastic reduction targets, or if it will resort to either lightweighting its existing product line or switching from one throwaway material to another (see Bioplastics, Biodegradable, and Compostable Materials Miss the Mark).
Reduction: Publicly, aside from its purported numbers of single-use checkout bags avoided, Ahold Delhaize has nothing significant to offer for reduction. The retailer still provides single-use plastic bags to customers at checkout. It is unacceptable for Ahold Delhaize to continue churning out single-use plastic packaged products without any plans for absolute reductions. And focusing efforts on the recyclability of plastics is insufficient, especially when U.S. plastics recycling rates are so low (see Solutions and Distractions).
Innovation and Initiatives: Ahold Delhaize is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. However, it is unclear how the retailer is leveraging its buying power with its private label and national brand suppliers, including behemoths like Coca-Cola,[xli] to reduce its reliance on single-use plastics and transition to reuse and refill systems. The European division of Ahold Delhaize features “natural branding” of produce[xlii] in one of its Belgian-based supermarkets; its U.S. store operations have no similar known innovations.
Transparency: Time will determine whether Ahold Delhaize achieves the goals outlined in the EMF Global Commitment by 2025. While the retailer should provide public updates in line with the EMF Global Commitment, it remains unclear whether Ahold Delhaize will also report more detailed information on its plastic footprint.
[xl] As noted in a Supermarket News interview, Ahold Delhaize seeks to “‘dramatically reduce’ plastic and packaging waste.” Redman, Russell. “Ahold Delhaize USA Eyes ‘Cleaner’ Private Brands.” Supermarket News, 18 Oct. 2018, https://www.supermarketnews.com/private-label/ahold-delhaize-usa-eyes-cleaner-private-brands.
[xli] Coca-Cola produces roughly 200,000 bottles per minute. See Laville, Sandra. “Coca-Cola Admits it Produces 3m Tonnes of Plastic Packaging a Year.” The Guardian, 14 Mar. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/14/coca-cola-admits-it-produces-3m-tonnes-of-plastic-packaging-a-year.
[xlii] Using a laser to apply a label directly onto produce, thereby eliminating the use of single-use plastic in the first place.
#14 Southeastern Grocers
Headquarters: Jacksonville, FL
Stores and Banners: 552 stores operating as BI-LO, Harveys Supermarket, Winn-Dixie, and Fresco y Más
Background: As its name implies, Southeastern Grocers is regionally located in the U.S. Southeast. Its FY 2018 revenue was $8.35 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Southeastern Grocers’ poor performance reflects its past initiatives (or lack thereof) to tackle single-use plastics. However, it seems that the retailer may be prepared to more strategically engage on the issue. Southeastern Grocers exhibited more transparency than all of its peers in the bottom half of the rankings regarding its plastic footprint. This is noteworthy, because transparency is the first step needed to measure future reforms. Greenpeace remains cautiously optimistic and prepared to engage Southeastern Grocers on meaningful improvements.
Policy: Southeastern Grocers does not have a comprehensive public policy to address its role in the plastic pollution crisis, and must immediately formulate a plan that addresses both its private label and national brand products (see Three Ways Retailers Must Act).
Reduction: Southeastern Grocers has virtually nothing to show for plastic reduction in its stores. Like several other retailers, Southeastern Grocers has a community bag reward program that encourages recycling and charitable giving in local communities. The impact of this program is not documented.
Innovation and Initiatives: Southeastern Grocers has neither piloted nor implemented any innovative reuse or refill systems. As it develops a comprehensive program, Southeastern Grocers must engage its private label and national brand suppliers, like Danone, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: While it is still gathering data, Southeastern Grocers scored higher than its peers in this category, largely because of its high level of transparency with Greenpeace on its overall plastic footprint. Southeastern Grocers should provide public updates regarding its plastic footprint and progress on reduction initiatives.
Headquarters: Lakeland, FL
Stores and Banners: 1,218 stores operating as Publix, Publix Sabor, and GreenWise Market
Background: Publix is the sixth-largest U.S. retailer by revenue, operating in the U.S. South, Southeast, and Mid-Atlantic regions. Its FY 2018 revenue was $36.38 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Publix failed big time, thanks to its almost singular focus on recycling and lack of transparency. While recycling has some role to play, this strategy alone is failing and will not curb the tidal wave of plastics into our environment (see Solutions and Distractions). Publix touts a strange assortment of tepid “achievements” for a retailer of its size: a bags-saved counter, removing plastic sleeves from mops, and recycling 4,600 used plastic buckets in its bakeries each week (instead of finding a way to reduce the number in the first place). Publix has utterly failed to take responsibility for its massive role in the plastic pollution crisis, and concerned customers are taking note.
Policy: Publix does not have a comprehensive public single-use plastic reduction policy. One is left with the impression that Publix’s leadership is unaware that it should immediately address the thousands upon thousands of its products that are packaged in single-use plastics.
Reduction: Perhaps the retailer’s most noteworthy reported achievement is its effort to reduce the amount of polystyrene foam used in transporting seafood.[xliii] Oddly, in the same sustainability report, Publix celebrates saving on packaging tonnage by switching its deli tuna from readily recyclable cans to hard-to-recycle plastic laminate pouches. Publix’s seafood team should be concerned with this approach, as more and more fish ingest microplastics that enter our food supply chains (see The Plastic Pollution Crisis). While Publix claims to have plastic bag reduction goals, it appears to have not trained all staff on these goals. Some shoppers have complained that most cashiers readily hand out single-use plastic checkout bags, even when only one item is being purchased.
Innovation and Initiatives: Publix is a member of the Sustainable Packaging Coalition. Aside from that, Greenpeace could find nothing noteworthy or innovative about the retailer’s approach to reducing single-use plastics. Quite the contrary. In April, Publix was criticized by lawmakers and the public for lobbying against single-use plastic bag bans in Florida. Publix must turn a corner: it can start by leveraging its purchasing power with its private label and national brand suppliers, like Procter & Gamble, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems. These would be initiatives worth boasting about on its sustainability website.
Transparency: There is no information on Publix’s overall plastic footprint or any kind of comprehensive commitments that have a transparency or accountability component. Interestingly, the public is offered one tidbit on the amount of plastic waste generated by Publix retail bakeries: 4,600 high-density polyethylene plastic buckets per week. Instead of reducing this waste or developing a reuse system, the buckets are sent for recycling.
[xliii] More than 190,000 containers eliminated in 2015 by switching to returnable plastic totes for the retailer’s seafood shipments. See Publix Sustainability Report 2019. https://sustainability.publix.com/wp-content/uploads/sustainability-report.pdf.
#16 Giant Eagle
Headquarters: Pittsburgh, PA
Stores and Banners: 216 stores operating as Giant Eagle, Giant Eagle Express, Market District, and Market District Express[xliv]
Background: Giant Eagle is a privately owned, regional retailer, with its largest presence in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Its FY 2018 revenue was $8.9 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Giant Eagle has some recycling initiatives and small-scale pilot programs to reduce single-use plastics. However, the scale of these pilots is far too small to match the urgency and sheer size of the plastic pollution crisis. Giant Eagle and other retailers must act now as plastic continues to flood our environment and enter our food, water, and air.
Policy: Giant Eagle does not have a time-bound policy with specific reduction targets to ultimately end its reliance on single-use plastics. This is a significant oversight.
Reduction: Giant Eagle’s ambition level in reducing single-use plastics can be best described as timid. While the retailer is planning pilot programs and is considering alternatives to single-use plastics (e.g., removing checkout bags; evaluating compostable alternatives to hot- and cold-food bar packaging, straws, cutlery), its initiatives are lacking in both scale and urgency to address the incessant flow of plastics into our environment. To its credit, Giant Eagle will be incentivizing customers to bring reusable bags through its customer loyalty program. Giant Eagle is also investigating ways to reduce single-use plastics and plastic waste in seafood procurement.
Innovation and Initiatives: Giant Eagle has replaced some single-use plastics with compostable alternatives in its prepared foods department, and is evaluating how to expand this initiative. While it is encouraging that Giant Eagle is considering the unintended consequences of this initiative, replacing one throwaway material with another is not the solution (see Solutions and Distractions). The retailer should instead refocus its efforts on alternative delivery systems. As Giant Eagle engages its private label and national brand suppliers on plastics, it must urge large national brand suppliers, like Nestlé, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: Giant Eagle did not report on its overall plastic footprint. Giant Eagle and other retailers must be more transparent, especially as the public is becoming increasingly concerned about the plastic pollution crisis.
[xliv] Giant Eagle also operates 203 GetGo convenience stores and fuel stations and recently acquired 56 Ricker’s locations, which will be rebranded as GetGo. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
#17 WinCo Foods
Headquarters: Boise, ID
Stores and Banners: 126 stores operating as WinCo Foods and Waremart by WinCo
Background: WinCo Foods (“WinCo”) is an employee-owned, warehouse-style retailer with stores in the U.S. West, Oklahoma, and Texas. Its FY 2018 revenue was $7.72 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: WinCo is among the lowest-ranked retailers, leaving questions about its focus on single-use plastics and the plastic pollution crisis. Unsurprisingly, there is no hint of a policy or strategies toward absolute reductions of single-use plastics. As evidence of its ignorance, it even twisted the age-old adage of “reduce, reuse, recycle” into “recycle, recycle, recycle.”[xlv] WinCo could make lightning-fast gains if it seized the opportunity to convert its 800-item bulk foods section into a reusable container paradise.
Policy: WinCo does not have a comprehensive public policy or commitments to reduce its plastic footprint.
Reduction: Unfortunately, WinCo “proudly” offers customers the option of paper or single-use plastic bags at checkout, unless it is otherwise prohibited by local law. This pride is misplaced. WinCo heralds recycling as its golden ticket, stating: “What happens to the empty boxes and plastic wrap that protect our shipments? Recycle, recycle, recycle.” While recycling is not bad in and of itself, having cheapened the phrase “reduce, reuse, recycle” into simply repeating the word “recycle” three times is omitting the two far more effective strategies—preventing unnecessary waste from being created in the first place, and investing in reuse. WinCo must recognize that recycling alone will never solve the plastic pollution crisis (see Solutions and Distractions).
Innovation and Initiatives: WinCo has a massive bulk foods section, with more than 800 items for sale. However, this significant plastics reduction opportunity is squandered, as WinCo does not allow customers to bring in their own reusable containers, citing food safety concerns. This ignores the fact that other retailers have devised how to incorporate reusable containers while still allaying these concerns. But WinCo does not need Greenpeace to point out this significant oversight, when several of its customers have repeatedly asked the retailer for the reusable option in comments responding to its bulk foods tutorial video. WinCo must engage its private label and national brand suppliers, like PepsiCo, to phase out single-use plastics and switch to reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: WinCo is not remotely transparent about its overall plastic footprint, and has not publicly demonstrated that it is even aware that plastics are a problem.
[xlv] See “A Greener Store” section in “Green Initiatives.” WinCo Foods, https://www.wincofoods.com/about/green-initiatives.
Headquarters: Grand Rapids, MI
Stores and Banners: More than 240 stores operating as Meijer and one as Bridge Street Market[xlvi]
Background: Meijer is a family-owned and -operated retailer located in the U.S. Midwest and Kentucky. Its FY 2018 revenue was $19.25 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: While Meijer may be involved in more comprehensive strategies to address its role in the plastic pollution crisis, its lack of transparency and limited information on its websites and in the press made it near impossible for Meijer to perform respectably in this assessment. Meijer must take responsibility for its massive plastic footprint and announce an ambitious plan to end its reliance on single-use plastics.
Policy: There is no indication that Meijer has a policy or commitments to address its plastic footprint. Meijer’s sustainability program purportedly includes waste reduction, recycling, pollution prevention, and responsible growth. It is time for Meijer to move beyond recycling and invest in pollution prevention by announcing a time-bound absolute reduction target to reduce its single-use plastic footprint.
Reduction: Aside from some basic recycling initiatives, there is no indication that Meijer is working on an absolute reduction of single-use plastics.
Innovation and Initiatives: Meijer has partnered with Colgate-Palmolive and TerraCycle on hard-to-recycle plastics, using a school competition to encourage recycling and then build a playground from recycled plastics for the winning school. While it is fantastic to engage young people in environmental stewardship, Meijer would fare better by truly investing in the future of youth, and expanding its initiatives beyond recycling (see Solutions and Distractions). Meijer could start today by continuing its work with Colgate-Palmolive to markedly reduce its products packaged in single-use plastics and to shift toward reuse and refill options throughout Meijer stores.
Transparency: There is no indication of Meijer’s plastic footprint and very little information besides recycling initiatives on its website. The biggest headlines Meijer made on plastics in 2019 were in April, when it recalled ground beef at risk of plastic contamination.
[xlvi] Meijer also operates convenience stores for its gas stations. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
Headquarters: Keasbey, NJ
Stores and Banners: 352 stores operating as ShopRite, Price Rite Marketplace, The Fresh Grocer, and Dearborn Market
Background: Wakefern is the largest retailer-owned cooperative nationwide, supplying all Price Rite and ShopRite banners and owning several stores outright. Its FY 2018 revenue was $16.53 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: Wakefern is yet another large retailer with influence over its supply chain that appears to be doing next to nothing to take responsibility for its role in the plastic pollution crisis. Wakefern is the second-worst ranked retailer in this report.
Policy: Wakefern does not have a comprehensive public policy or commitments to reduce its plastic footprint.
Reduction: Wakefern staff participates in beach cleanups, but it remains unclear if the retailer is doing anything to reduce the production of the very single-use plastics that could end up on those beaches. Additionally, Wakefern does not appear ready to join Kroger or Whole Foods in a single-use plastic checkout bag ban. Wakefern’s reason for keeping single-use plastic checkout bags is it wants to offer customers a choice. Oddly, this policy is featured in the Grocery Bag Reduction section of ShopRite’s sustainability website.
Innovation and Initiatives: While not groundbreaking, Wakefern was engaged in the How2Recycle labeling program as of 2015. It is unclear if, and to what level, Wakefern is still involved in this initiative. Wakefern operates its own recycling center for recycling materials, including its plastic deli pails and bags, and participates in the same recycling partnership as Meijer.[xlvii] Because recycling alone has not and will not stop the tidal wave of plastics into our environment (see Solutions and Distractions), Wakefern needs to wake up and invest in reduction strategies. Wakefern must leverage its buying power with its private label and national brand suppliers, including Unilever, to prioritize plastic reduction and invest in reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: Practically no useful public information is available on Wakefern’s policies, initiatives, or plastic footprint.
[xlvii] A partnership with Colgate-Palmolive and TerraCycle. Also, see Meijer’s profile.
Headquarters: San Antonio, TX
Stores and Banners: 344 stores operating as H-E-B, H-E-B Plus!, Mi Tienda, Joe V’s Smart Shop, and Central Market[xlviii]
Background: H-E-B is a privately held retailer with a large presence in Texas. Its FY 2018 revenue was $23.38 billion.
Greenpeace Comments: H-E-B is the worst-ranked retailer on single-use plastics. Given
H-E-B’s size and influence on its supply chain, it is disturbing that it is the worst performer in this assessment. With no response from the company and a paltry amount of information on its website, Greenpeace has zero indication that H-E-B’s leadership is aware of the massive scale of the plastic pollution crisis, growing concerns from the public, or the inevitable tide of legislation that is sweeping local and state governing bodies.
Policy: H-E-B does not have a comprehensive public policy or commitments to reduce its plastic footprint.
Reduction: H-E-B appears stuck in the 1990s, focusing on recycling and beach cleanups.
H-E-B failed to do the right thing on plastic bags by actually reintroducing them at several stores in Texas after a three-year hiatus, simply because the state supreme court ruled a local bag ban to be incompatible with state law.[xlix] H-E-B could have simply chosen to not reintroduce them.[l]
Innovation and Initiatives: Greenpeace could not find any innovative efforts undertaken or planned by H-E-B. Nor is it known if H-E-B is leveraging its sizable buying power with its private label and national brand suppliers, including PepsiCo, to prioritize plastic reduction and invest in reuse and refill systems.
Transparency: Aside from outdated recycling rates on H-E-B’s sustainability website, Greenpeace was unable to find any meaningful information about H-E-B’s plastic footprint or comprehensive efforts to reduce its reliance on single-use plastics.
[xlviii] H-E-B also operates convenience stores. Retailers must also apply their single-use plastic policies to their convenience store operations.
[xlix] For more details on corporate-funded legal efforts to block plastic bag bans at the state level, see ALEC in Legislative Efforts and Changing Consumer Attitudes.
[l] Like ALDI, H-E-B has heavier plastic bags for sale. While these bags are designed to be reused and can be recycled, it does not mean they will be. H-E-B needs to join retailers like Whole Foods that do not offer any plastic checkout bags.
Absolute reduction: Reducing the total number of single-use plastic packaging units, which reduces a retailer’s plastic footprint. Greenpeace urges retailers to set absolute reduction targets to begin reducing and ultimately phasing out their reliance on single-use plastics. Absolute reduction is more effective than relative reduction (see definition below).
Agriplastics: Plastic products and packaging used in agricultural production and sales. Agriplastics include mulch and greenhouse film, silage covers and bags, irrigation systems, tunnels, and covers. Inappropriate disposal of agriplastics is common, with low recycling rates, and they are often burned, abandoned in fields or watercourses, buried in the soil, or disposed of in landfills. Inappropriate disposal can degrade soil, reduce crop productivity, and harm marine species if the plastics enter the ocean.
Bio-based plastics: Materials that are partly or largely derived from bio-based feedstocks.
Biodegradable plastics: Plastics may be labeled “biodegradable” if they meet specific industrial standards.
Bioplastics: May refer to either “bio-based” or “biodegradable” plastics. A bioplastic could be both bio-based and biodegradable.
Compostable plastics: A subset of biodegradable plastics that biodegrade within the conditions and timeframe of the composting process. There is no consistently used global standard for compostability, and industrial facilities for handling the materials are not widely available and accessible to customers.
Ecodesign: An approach to designing products with special consideration for the environmental impacts of the product during its whole life cycle. While this approach offers some encouraging and innovative practices, it alone will not prevent plastic pollution from entering our environment. Companies must prioritize reusable delivery systems.
Ellen MacArthur Foundation (EMF): The Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment includes 2025 targets for signatories to employ to help eradicate plastic pollution at its source. As of this writing, U.S. retail signatories include Walmart, Target, and Ahold Delhaize.
Hefty EnergyBag Program: A collaboration among Dow Chemical, Keep America Beautiful, Reynolds Consumer Products, and waste management operators in select U.S. cities. Well-intentioned customers who receive or purchase these bags place non-recyclable plastics into the Hefty EnergyBag. These plastics are then incinerated or sent to pyrolysis plants, which convert plastics into a fossil fuel that is then burned. The program has been linked to burning plastics in a Missouri-based cement kiln that violated the Clean Air Act. Burning plastic is known to release carcinogenic pollutants, which lead to a wide array of debilitating human health impacts. Albertsons, Target, and Hy-Vee are among retailers that sell the Hefty EnergyBag.
Lightweighting: A design process used to reduce the overall amount of plastics required (by weight) to produce packaging, though it does not reduce the number of packaging units (see relative reduction). Rather than lightweighting, Greenpeace recommends a complete phase-out of single-use plastic packaging, and that retailers focus on reducing the total number of single-use plastic units (see absolute reduction).
Microfibers: “[T]iny fragment[s] of the type of plastic used to make synthetic fabrics. These fibers are shed from synthetic clothing during a washing machine cycle. Because they are so small, microfibers aren’t all caught by wastewater treatment plants; instead, many are released into the environment.”
Microplastics: Pieces of plastic smaller than 5 millimeters.
Packaging unit: A single packaging container in which a standard quantity of product will fit (e.g., a single bottle of milk or water, a single ready-to-eat meal tray). For example, a 24-pack of bottled water would count as 24 units.
Plastic footprint: The total amount of plastic, by units and weight, used or sold throughout a company’s operations.
Plastic sachet: A small, flexible package that is unrecyclable and has little or no value to waste pickers, typically a laminate of plastic and another material, such as foil containing a single serving of a product. Sachets end up overwhelming landfills, clogging streets and waterways, and are frequently burned, emitting toxins into the air. Consumer goods companies like Nestlé, Unilever, and Procter & Gamble produce and distribute large numbers of products packaged in sachets, particularly in Southeast Asia.
Polystyrene: A resin that has many applications, commonly as an expanded foam, such as that found in take-out food containers. What is commonly called Styrofoam is actually a trademarked product frequently used in building materials.
Primary packaging: Packaging that contains the finished or final products, also referred to as retail or consumer packaging. It includes all packaging at the point of sale that is ultimately disposed of by the end user via reuse, recycling, landfill, or other disposal route.
Pyrolysis: See Hefty EnergyBag above.
Recyclable packaging: Packaging that is widely recyclable within current infrastructure across the U.S. Where possible, packaging should be recycled into applications with the same level of quality.
Recycled content: The portion of materials used in a product that have been diverted from the solid waste stream.
Relative reduction: Reducing the amount of plastic used for packaging units via lightweighting or material substitution. While this indeed reduces a retailer’s plastic footprint, it fails to reduce the total number of packaging units (see absolute reduction). Greenpeace urges retailers to move beyond these unambitious strategies and to set time-bound absolute reduction targets that markedly reduce and ultimately phase out their reliance on single-use plastics.
Reusable packaging: Packaging that has been designed to be refilled or used for the same purpose within a system for reuse.
Single-use plastic: Any plastic that is intended for one-time use—such as plastic bags, sachets, bottles, and food, drink, and non-food packaging, designed to be used only once and then disposed of. This includes recyclable packaging.
“Waste-to-energy”: This is often greenwashing for incineration, which can “involve processes such as combustion, pyrolysis, gasification, or plasma arc. But they all have the same claim—‘burning waste will make our waste problems disappear.’”
Widely recyclable: Plastic packaging that is accepted in residential curbside recycling programs and available to at least 60% of customers in a given location.
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27. Fiallo, Josh. “Stranded Dolphin in Florida Had Plastic Bags, Balloon in Stomach.” Tampa Bay Times, 28 Apr. 2019, http://www.tampabay.com/florida/2019/04/28/stranded-dolphin-in-florida-had-plastic-bags-balloon-in-stomach.
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Golden Seal in Early American Medical Botany
Although early American settlers favored the mostly European medicines they knew and trusted, the native medicinal plants were quickly learned out of necessity. European preparations were often scarce and as can be imagined, conditions in the new world often precipitated an increased need for them. At least some of the more common European herbs brought over by the Colonists became naturalized and grew as weeds . From the beginning of the 17th century, when the Colonists first landed in Virginia, the native Indians were known to have a knowledge of the indigenous plants and to utilize them for their curative properties [2,3,4]. Some of these Indian remedies were learned and widely used by the settlers, and a few such as ginseng, tobacco, and sassafras were exported , but introduction and acceptance into regular medical practice was slow.
A number of important species of native plants were used by the early settlers, but little of note was written about them in popular books, journals, and pamphlets until the early 1790s. In fact, a careful review of the works listed in Austin making mention of medicinal plants reveals that before 1800, only a few works enumerated a small number of species [7,8,9,10,11,12]. A notable exception is Bartram’s small work on the “Description, virtues and uses of sundry plants… ,” wherein he mentions the medicinal uses of several important American herbs, among them Collinsonia, Sanguinaria, Polygonatum and Lobelia.
Few materia medicas, or works on medicinal substances, were printed at all before 1800—compared with after that date—and the few that were usually went through several editions. Original works were especially lacking—though several important British works on herbs or medicinal plants were reprinted in America, most notably Culpeper’s popular herbal , Lewis’ New Edinburgh Dispensatory, and Cullen’s Materia Medica, .
Major novel American sources for information on the medicinal uses of imported plant drugs included almanacs and German Krauterbuchs [17,18,19,20]. A number of periodicals [21,22,23] offered lists of medicinal plants with their uses and availability. The most often described indigenous American herbs in these works were Virginia snake-root, Senega snake-root, sassafras, ginseng, Indian pink, Collinsonia, Sanguinaria, Lobelia and a few others [24,25].
After 1800, an increasing number of works mention American plants [26,27].
One American herb, well-known to the native American Indians was the woodland plant, golden seal (Hydrastis canadensis L.). Golden seal is today among the top-selling herbs in the American health food market and was an official drug plant in the United States almost continuously from (1830-1955), but was initially slow in being accepted or written about. Bartram does not mention it, although it does rarely occur in Philadelphia and other parts of Pennsylvania where he lived and botanized.
Golden seal grows naturally from the northeast border of South Carolina to the lower half of New York and east to northern Arkansas and the southeast corner of Wisconsin. It is only abundant in Ohio, Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and part of Illinois . The plant is from the Ranunculaceae (the buttercup or crowfoot family), is a low-growing herbaceous perennial, and has a bright yellow rhizome, due to the colored alkaloid, berberine.
Linnaeus published golden seal under the name “Hydrophyllum” in the 1753 edition of Species Plantarum, for at the time he had seen only the leaves of the plant, which appear similar to members of the Hydrophyllaceae. He corrected his error in 1759 in Systema Naturale with the name Hydrastis. Linnaeus kept Ellis’ name, whom he gives as the authority for Hydrastis; assuming the misconception that the plant grew in “bog meadows” .
Golden seal was a favorite medicine of a number of Indian tribes and is mentioned in the later ethnobotanical literature for a number of uses. For instance, the Cherokee mixed the root powder with bear grease for use as an insect repellent and also favored it as a diuretic, stimulant, and as a wash for sore and inflamed eyes, while the “Catawbas boiled the root for jaundice, ulcerated stomach, colds, and sore mouth. A piece of the green or dried root was chewed to relieve the stomach.” . Hunter, who was raised by the Kickapoo Indians, made other early comments on the use of the plant, generally agreeing with earlier reports but emphasizing its use as an important remedy as a cold watery infusion for eyes irritated by autumn prairie smoke, a common occurrence .
Because of its bright yellow color, it is not surprising that golden seal was also an important dye plant, for which it is mentioned by Martin as early as 1782 (Lloyd, p. 86).
It was not until Barton, Professor of Materia Medica at the University of Pennsylvania and ardent supporter of the use of American medicinal plants in medical practice, that the medical uses of golden seal were mentioned (Barton). He wrote in the first part of his “Collections …. towards a Materia Medica” that the ‘Cherake’ use it to cure cancer. In the 2nd part of the work (1804) he says “The root of the plant is a very powerful bitter.” He adds that the plant is “a popular remedy in some parts of the United States,” and that “an infusion of the root in cold water is also employed as a wash in inflammations of the eyes.” Sore eyes and mouth were undoubtedly the most common early uses of Hydrastis. These uses are recorded not only by Barton, but in the handwriting of Captain Lewis in 1804, during his expedition with Clark to the Pacific coast. The plant was collected by Lewis, and the notes on the original herbarium sheet give a detailed description of its preparation as “a sovereign remedy for sore eyes..and excellent mouth water.” To make a preparation for eye infections, the rhizome was infused in cold or hot water.
Golden seal was official in the form of the whole root and the alcoholic or the glycerin extract in the U.S.P. from 1830, 1860-1926; and in the National Formulary (1888, 1936-1955). The alkaloid Hydrastine was official in USP 1900-09. In 1982 it was still official in Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, and Spain .
After 1840, golden seal is mentioned in many materia medicas and journal articles (see Lloyd for a complete listing), but it was not until 1852 that King’s more detailed account of its clinical uses stimulated the interest of the Eclectic medical doctors, an interest that would continue until the 1930s, when this school of largely botanical medicine-oriented doctors rapidly declined with the rise of allopathy . Because of the enthusiastic adoption of golden seal by the Eclectics, it became known as an Eclectic remedy, but eventually crossed over into use by the Allopaths as well, as seen by its inclusion into official medicine in the U.S. Pharmacopeia and National Formulary. King was more critical than previous authors and omitted some of what he considered to be overblown claims for the plant . A complete list of conditions (and they are numerous) claimed to be helped by golden seal can be found in the National Dispensatory (1886) .
It can be argued that in the Eclectics, many of the American medicinal plants that we use today got their first critical evaluation. Several eclectic works have been reprinted and are valuable sources of clinical data on these plants (47,48). Although not up to today’s laboratory standards, these works were several steps beyond the (mostly) purely empirical accounts of American plants that came before. Several of the doctors used herbal remedies for over 50 years (King, Scudder, Felter). King emphasized its use in cases of gonorrhea, spermatorrhea, cystitis, and other inflammation of the mucous membranes in urinary tract infections.
Other Eclectic doctors and regular doctors recommended golden seal for chronic constipation, general debility, and as a restorative for internal organs damaged by alcoholism (49,50).
The Drug Companies
In the late 19th century and early 20th century, many pharmaceutical companies manufactured golden seal products.
Squibb sold the root as a hemostatic, astringent, cholagogue, and antihydrotic in whole or powdered form, offering pure hydrastine as well . Parke-Davis sold Tincture Hydrastis, Fluid Extract Hydrastis, and Solid Extract Hydrastis, as well as a number of compound formulas in pill or tablet form containing Hydrastis . Lilly offered an extract standardized to 9 to 11 percent of ether-soluble alkaloids and Thayer the tincture, wine and fluid extract of golden seal .
The Homeopaths adopted the remedy for catarrh and poor digestion, and it was still official in 1979 (HPUS 8) .
After the Eclectics, golden seal was still sold and used in medical practice until 1960, when it ceased to be official, though modern American herbalists recomended it in the 1930s , the 1970s and still do today .
In the late 1980s, golden seal has developed a reputation as a means to clear the blood of drug residues, enabling one to pass tests to detect such substances. This use has been shown to be without basis in fact .
Despite this, modern science has, at least in part, supported some of the medical claims of golden seal in showing that it has anti-bacterial, choleretic, and anti-convulsive activity .
- Green, S.A. 1881. “A Centennial address delivered before the Massachusetts Medical Society. at Cambridge.” History of Medicine in Massachusetts. Boston: A. Williams and Co.
- Vogel, V.J. 1970. American Indian Medicine. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press.
- Marti-Ibanex, F., ed. 1958. History of American Medicine. New York: MD Publications, Inc.
- Bowers, J.Z. and E.F. Purcell, eds. 1977. Advances in American Medicine: Essays at the Bicentennial. New York: Josiah Macy, Jr. Foundation.
- Blanton, W.B. 1972. Medicine in Virginia in the seventeenth century. New York: Arno Press and the New York Times.
- Elliott, J. 1784. The Medical Pocket-book, 1st ed. Philadelphia: Robert Bell.
- Elliott, J. 1791. The Medical Pocket-book, 2nd ed. Boston: David West.
- Tennent, J. 1734. Every man his own doctor: or, the poor planter’s physician, 2nd ed. Williamsburg and Annapolis: William Parks.
- Wesley, J. 1764. Primitive physick: or, An easy and natural method of curing most diseases, 12th ed. Philadelphia: Andrew Steuart.
- Tweedy, J. 1760. A catalogue of druggs [sic] and of chymical and Galenical medicines… Newport?: James Franklin?
- Lewis, W. 1796. The Edinburgh new dispensatory, 4th ed. Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson.
- Bartram, J. 1751. Description, virtues and uses of sundry plants of these northern parts of America, and particularly of the newly discovered Indian cure for the venereal disease. Philadelphia: B. Franklin and D. Hall.
- Cullpepper, N. 1720. Pharmacopeia Londinensis. Boston: John Allen.
- Lewis, W. 1791. The Edinburgh new dispensatory. Philadelphia: T. Dobson.
- Cullen, W. 1775. Lectures on the materia medica. Philadelphia: Robert Bell.
- Tobler, J. 1754. The Pennsylvania Town and Country-man’s Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1755. Germantown: C. Sower, jun.
- Saur, C. 1762. Der Hoch-Deutsche Americanische Calender, auf das Jahr ….1763. Germantown: Christoph Saur.
- Freeman, F. 1767. Freeman’s New-York Almanack, for the Year of our Lord 1768. New York: John Holt. [Guerra 334].
- Miller, H. 1770. Philadelphischer Calender auf das Jahr 1771. Philadelphia: Henrich Miller. [Guerra 351].
- The Boston Gazette, or Country Journal. 1755-1798. Boston: Benjamin Edes and John Gill. [Guerra 452].
- The New-York Gazette; and the Weekly Mercury. 1768-1783. New York: Hugh Gaine. [Guerra 562].
- The Pennsylvania Gazette. 1729-1778. Philadelphia: B. Franklin and H. Meredith. [Guerra 602].
- Elliot, J. 1791. Medical Pocket Book, 3rd ed. Philadelphia.
- Short, T. 1751. Medicina Britanica. Philadelphia: Ben Franklin.
- Austin, R.B. 1961. American Medical Imprints. Washington: U.S. Dept. of Health, Educationa and Welfare.
- Guerra, F. 1962. American Medical Bibliography: 1639-1783. New York: Lathrop and Harper.
- Fernald, . 1950. Gray’s Flora (xx). New York: Van Nostrand.
- Lloyd, J.U. and C.G. Lloyd. 1884-7. Drugs and Medicines of North America. Cincinnati: Lloyd Bros.
- Vogel, op. cit.
- Hunter, J.D. 1824. Memoirs of a captivity among the indians of North America. Reprinted by New York: Schocken Books.
- Barton, B.S. 1793. Amer. Phil. Soc., o.s. 3: 100-115.
- Barton, B.S. 1798-1804. Collections for An Essay Towards a Materia Medica of the United States. Philadelphia: A. & G. Way. (Lloyd Bul. Reproduction Series #1).
- Coxe, J.R. 1814. American Dispensatory, 3rd ed. Philadelphia: Thomas Dobson.
- Rafinesque, C.S. 1828. Medical Flora. Philadelphia: Atkinson & Alexander.
- Pharmacopeia of the United States. 1830. New York: S. Converse.
- Smith, E. 1830. Botanic Physician. New York: Murphey and Bingham.
- Howard, H. 1873. Howard’s Domestic Medicine. Philadelphia: Quaker City Pub. House.
- Beach, W. 1832. The American Practice of Medicine, 3 vols. New York: Bettes & Anstice.
- Wood, G.B. and Bache, F. 1834. Philadelphia: Grigg and Elliot.
- Thompson, S. 1835. New Guide to Health or Botanic Family Physician. Boston: J.Q. Adams.
- Gathercoal, E.N. 1942. Checklist of Native and Introduced Drug Plants in the U.S. Chicago: National Research Council.
- Martindale: The Extra Pharmacopoeia, 28th ed. J.F. Reynolds, editor. London: Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain (xx).
- Coulter, H. 1973. Divided Legacy, 3 vols. Richmond: North Atlantic Books.
- King, J. 1866. American Dispensatory, 7th ed. Cincinnati: Moore, Wilstach and Baldwin.
- Stille, A. and J.M. Maisch. 1886. The National Dispensatory. Philadelphia: Lea Bros. and Co.
- Felter, H. and J.U. Lloyd. 1898. Kings’s American Dispensatory. Portland: Reprinted by Eclectic Medical Publications (1983).
- Ellingwood, F. 1898. American Materia Medica, Therapuetics and Pharmacognosy. Reprinted by Portland: Eclectic Medical Publications.
- Ellingwood, op. cit.
- Felter & Lloyd, op. cit.
- Squibb. 1906. Squibb’s Materia Medica. New York: E.R. Squibb and Sons.
- Park-Davis. 1890. Organic Materia Medica, 2nd ed. Detroit: Parke-Davis.
- Lilly and Co. 1925. Handbook of Pharmacy and Therapuetics, 7th rev. Indianapolis: Eli Lily and Co.
- Thayer. 1877. Descriptive catalogue of fluid and solid extracts. Cambridge: John Ford and Sons.
- Pharmacopeia Convention. 1979. Homeopathic Pharmacopeia of the U.S. Falls Church: American Institute of Homeopathy.
- Kloss, J. 1939. Back to Eden. Reprinted, Santa Barbara: Woodbridge Press (1975).
- Christopher, J.R. 1976. School of Natural Healing. Springville: Christopher Publications.
- Tierra, M. 1980. The Way of Herbs. Santa Cruz: Unity Press.
- Foster, S. 1989. “xx”. Herbalgram.
- Leung, A.Y. 1980. Encyclopedia of Common Natural Ingredients. New York: J. Wiley and Sons.
Formerly published in Pharmacy in History | <urn:uuid:57084ca3-fab5-4665-97e6-300be8e0189c> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | http://www.christopherhobbs.com/library/articles-on-herbs-and-health/golden-seal-in-early-american-medical-botany/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218189032.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212949-00412-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.906904 | 3,834 | 3.421875 | 3 |
Do you know which gland is located in the lower part of the neck, is shaped like a butterfly, and determines how efficiently the body uses energy in food?
It’s the thyroid gland!
January is National Thyroid Awareness Month, so we are going to take a look at why the thyroid is important to our bodies and some problems that can be associated with it. The thyroid gland takes up iodine and produces a hormone called thyroid hormone (or T4). The level of the hormone gland in the blood determines how efficiently the body uses the energy in food we eat.
Unfortunately, there can be problems associated with the thyroid gland. In infants, the most common thyroid problem is a thyroid gland that cannot produce enough thyroid hormone. If the level of thyroid hormone is too low in an infant, brain development may be affected if the problem is not detected early. Newborn screening tests are required by law, and if there is reason to believe that the thyroid gland is not producing enough thyroid hormone, your child’s doctor may request an ultrasound or nuclear medicine imaging test. These tests evaluate the thyroid gland to determine its size, the tissue present, and if it’s properly formed.
In older children, adolescents and young adults, thyroid problems include enlargement of the thyroid gland, too much or not enough thyroid hormone in the blood, and nodules (masses or lumps) in the thyroid gland. Enlargement of the thyroid gland may be associated with increased or decreased levels of thyroid hormone in the blood. Blood is usually taken to check the amount of thyroid hormone and imaging studies are only occasionally required.
For thyroid nodules, imaging is most helpful to locate and determine the size of the thyroid nodule, if the nodule is solid or cystic (filled with fluid), and if the nodule takes up radioactive iodine (given by mouth). About 20% of thyroid nodules are thyroid cancers. To rule out cancer, a sample of thyroid tissue is removed with a small needle.
If the thyroid gland is enlarged and the thyroid hormone level in the blood is elevated, the patient is most often treated first with medication. If medication fails, treatment with radioactive iodine is typically used to reduce the production of thyroid hormone and shrink the thyroid gland to normal size. In patients with thyroid cancer, very large doses of radioactive iodine can be used to destroy any thyroid cells that may have spread outside of the thyroid gland.
Even though the thyroid is small, it can have a big effect on your child’s health. If you suspect any problems, discuss your concerns with the pediatrician.
Contributed by Michael J. Gelfand and edited by Bessie Ganim (SPEC TECH-NUC MED). | <urn:uuid:701b1ba5-0d7b-4933-b5ce-409774ca61f6> | CC-MAIN-2023-50 | https://radiologyblog.cincinnatichildrens.org/january-is-national-thyroid-awareness-month/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-50/segments/1700679102612.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20231210155147-20231210185147-00643.warc.gz | en | 0.927564 | 554 | 3.53125 | 4 |
The Chevy Volt has gotten a lot of attention for its ability to run its electric propulsion motor from its internal combustion engine/generator, batteries, or both. Submarines having been doing that since the 1920s or so. I managed to spend some time on subs, and was always interested in what made them go. Apparently that interest is shared by a lot of folks. Even during the cold war we had something called Visiting Ship Day. Civilians were allowed to tour a designated boat. The depth gauges were covered and some areas were off limits but they did tour. There were three questions we could always count on:
1. Where is the picture window? (thanks to tv)
2. How many engines turn the propellers and how big are they?
3. How long until you start to run out of air to breathe?
Answers to them, and much more follow:
Let’s get those out of the way first:
1. There is no picture window regardless of what you saw on television.
2. There are no engines (directly) turning the screws.
3. It took about 10-12 hours until the guys couldn’t keep their cigarettes lit. Then we had to start managing the air.
Here’s the “more”. Now I’m a fan, not a gearhead, and I have no intention of passing myself off as an engineer. Certainly you won’t learn enough from this to qualify either. I was the ship’s corpsman but found all of this interesting.
What turns the propellers is an electric motor (seen here with reduction gear) One major attraction of an electric motor is the immediate torque. A series wound electric motor has 100% of its torque at zero rpm. The type motor used in diesel electric subs is a series/shunt combination.
The diesel (far right) turns a generator (connected). The electricity from the generator is sent to the propulsion motor, to the batteries to charge them (black box), or to both. It is routed through the green box which actually may look like this.
It is here that the electricians mate distributes that electricity according to orders received from the control room.
The diesel electric system has a few drawbacks. Yet in some respects it is considered by many to be superior to a Nuclear Submarine. One of the advantages was that diesel-electric subs could run quieter under water, because nuclear subs had to keep their reactor circulation pumps running. That eventually was solved. And of course, nuclear-powered subs have an almost unlimited underwater range. Nevertheless, diesel-electrics were built for a long time yet.
This is the room where it all starts. With no engine there is no electricity being produced and no battery being charged. Most of the engine is below the deck plates. For a better scale of size, see picture below. And for a more detailed look at the inner workings, here’s a good link.
Others diesel engines have been tried, but two types of engines (with almost identical horsepower characteristics) were used on almost all the operational diesel electric submarines during and since WW2. Winton Motor Company developed a 2 stroke diesel engine that was a reliable powerhouse. They were later bought out by GM, and later versions built at GM’s Cleveland Diesel Engine Division. The model numbers were 248 and 278, which referred to the cubic inch displacement of each cylinder, similar to GM’s Detroit Diesel engines. Each cylinder had an individual head for convenience of maintenance. Many times an engine would have a head change (normally underwater where they were shut off anyway) and be back on duty in few hours.
This engine was so big that they did not use a starter motor. Bore and stroke on the 278 was 8.75 by 10.5 inches. They were rolled over and started with a massive bank of compressed air. The fuel racks were shut down to turn off the engine. They were an unfailing source of fresh air when the air got stagnant. Just a few minutes sucking atmospheric air changed the whole atmosphere. The wheels on top of the engine in the picture above determined the source of the engine air. In the top/center of this engine you can see the large induction manifold. I hope this picture can convey just how huge these engines really were.
I believe those engines would have burned rags if we could have gotten them through the injectors. Lubricating oil came through a separate external tank and pump. Frequently the engine would be burning lube oil or anything with a viscosity lighter than water as the fuel tanks were pressurized (from the bottom) by the trim and drain system. Simply put, anything in the bilges made it to the trim and drain system and, if lighter than water, floated with the fuel and above the water in the fuel tank. It was probably consumed.
They wouldn’t burn water, despite what any fuel saver advertisements in the magazines might say. Pistons compress more than the water does and rods break. How do we know this? Because someone forgot to drain down the condensate on one of my boats and ruined an engine.
Both the General Motors and Fairbanks Morse engines developed 1600 bhp. The GM units developed it at 750 rpm and the FM at 720 rpm. I know a lot less about the Fairbanks Morse engine. The typical FM engine was a 7 cylinder engine but it had 14 pistons. It was an opposed piston engine based on the Junkers Jumo design, and spending time looking at it seems to be fascinating to most gearheads.
The enginemen who maintained these engines seemed to prefer the FM, although both brands had their fans. Not having cylinder heads, I am told they required less maintenance. When they did break, however, the consensus is that they could be much more difficult to repair.
This picture is of a seven-cylinder Fairbanks Morse. For comparison you can see the block of a Caterpillar six cylinder engine as might be typically used in a semi truck. These engines turned this generator below.
In World War Two, each submarine had four engines and two batteries. What you must understand is that these are huge battery banks. Frank Sinatra used car batteries in his film “Assault on a Queen”. They could have hardly kept the lights on. Each battery had 126 cells. Each of these cells was about 54 inches high, 15 inches deep by 21 inches wide. Each cell weighed about 1650 pounds. That’s about 104 tons per battery.
These were lead plate batteries containing electrolyte. As if being a heavy space hog weren’t enough, each one produced hydrogen gas when charging or discharging and the electrolyte made dangerous chlorine gas when mixed with salt water. This is what those large cells really look like. Just a clutter of wires and battery tops. We lost the Cochino to a hydrogen battery well explosion with chlorine gas release in 1949. These batteries contain a lot of energy. Sometimes that energy is released in a violent manner.
These cells had to be serviced every day. That was normally done by the youngsters in the electrical gang. You could always spot them by the condition of their clothes which were eaten up by battery acid.
These batteries were normally placed in parallel for routine underwater propulsion. When placed in series they could be run down in 30 minutes. Shutting down from series battery and having a power surge is alleged to have been the cause of a deep dive misadventure of another submarine. I was on SS343 and the two boats I just mentioned were also SS34_. Gives one reason to pause. Obviously, series battery operation would have been used for escape or other emergencies. Whether being charged or being discharged these batteries produced hydrogen. A battery might have to be secured if a single ventilation fan in the battery well shut down.
During the period after the war the Navy felt the need to increase the underwater power and increased the number and power of the batteries. Two batteries became four batteries at the expense of space.
Motors: There were either two main motors or four main motors. Therefore each shaft might have one or two motors attached. The ones in the schematic are running through a reduction gear and would have been rated at 1370 horsepower running at 1300 rpm. These direct drive motors in the picture would have been lower speed. They would have pulled about 2600 amps at 415 volts. Obviously if the shaft has two motors, double that. If you have ever bump moved a car with a starter, for comparison that is 12 volts at less than 50 amps.
I suppose all this talk could get confusing. It isn’t complex, there is just a lot of it. Hopefully, this drawing will put the parts in perspective.
Thinking of this as unique would be correct because of the scale. The Navy was probably at the forefront in developing the hybrid vehicle.
There is of course a land based vehicle that uses diesel engines and electric motors in much the same way. But there is an important distinction: locomotives aren’t hybrids, because their power source always comes only from the the diesel- driven generator. The exception being some very recent yard-switching locomotives that do have batteries.
The Fairbanks Morse submarine powerplant was essentially the same as the company used in their locomotives produced after the war. For years the railroads were an excellent source of employment for ex-sub engine men. Here’s a more detailed explanation of how these F-M opposed-cylinder engines worked.
Needless to say, nuclear-powered subs eventually replaced the diesel-electric sub. Since we haven’t yet seen nuclear-powered locomotives, maybe Ford’s Nucleon concept mock-up of 1958 will not be a harbinger of things to come. Of course, Nissan Nuke does have a nice ring to it. | <urn:uuid:f169988f-1e59-4581-a8ba-6b1960386a96> | CC-MAIN-2016-50 | http://www.curbsideclassic.com/dockside-classic/diesel-electric-submarines-worlds-biggest-hybrids/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-50/segments/1480698542244.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20161202170902-00136-ip-10-31-129-80.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980608 | 2,039 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Arthritis is a disease characterised by inflammation of one or more joints. This inflammation may be the body’s response to an injury (such as a fracture), an infection (either viral or bacterial), or gradual wear and tear on the joints. Arthritis is also common in the skin disease psoriasis as well as in autoimmune disorders, such as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. Symptoms include joint pain, swelling, stiffness, and redness that last more than two weeks.
There are more than 100 kinds of arthritis, with many different causes. Four of the most common types are:
- Osteoarthritis – associated with the aging process and joint deterioration;
- Rheumatoid arthritis – an autoimmune disorder;
- Juvenile rheumatoid arthritis – attacks younger people and affects joints and organs; and
- Gout – a metabolic disorder associated with excess uric acid. | <urn:uuid:3d56c0fe-b0ab-4cba-b56e-a3519a6f1d72> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://www.labtestsonline.org.uk/conditions/arthritis | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676593142.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20180722080925-20180722100925-00282.warc.gz | en | 0.937422 | 189 | 3.4375 | 3 |
View current and historical Members of the House of Assembly.
Representatives elected to the Nova Scotia House of Assembly are called Members of the Legislative Assembly (MLAs). There currently 51 members representing 51 electoral districts.
The House of Assembly meets at Province House, Canada’s first legislature.
Members of the Legislative Assembly may be distinguished by receiving several honours.
The cabinet is the decision-making authority of the executive branch of government.
The House of Assembly Management Commission governs all financial and administrative matters for the House of Assembly, its offices, and staff. | <urn:uuid:5546e8f8-c068-4d2e-b16d-23d6482be2b8> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | https://nslegislature.ca/members | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251687725.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20200126043644-20200126073644-00458.warc.gz | en | 0.953334 | 115 | 2.75 | 3 |
Soybean, natto production
Seed hardness is an important factor in determining soybean suitability for natto production. There is no established methodology for testing seed texture of soybeans. The objective of this study was to develop an efficient method by examining different instruments and seed parameters that could be potentially used for testing soybean seed hardness. Five food-grade soybean genotypes with different seed sizes were used to determine seed hardness and water-absorption capacity. Water absorption capacity was expressed by swell ratios for seed weight, seed dimension, and volume of water changes before and after soaking. Seed hardness test was conducted by a one-bite method using two food-texture analyzers: a TMS-2000 equipped with shear cell (SC) and a TA-XT2i equipped with either a single blade (SB), a 2-mm probe (PB), a 75-mm cylinder (CY), or a 16-probe pea rigs (PR). The results showed that hardness testing by CY with ten seeds (CV=0.14), SB with 5 seeds (CV=0.11), and SC with 30 g steamed seeds (CV=0.14) produced dependable and consistent results with low coefficient of variance. However, SC may not be practical for early plant selection in a breeding program due to a relatively large sample requirement. Seed size was negatively, whereas swell ratio by weight and volume was positively, correlated with seed hardness, and therefore, can be used as indirect selection indicators for seed hardness.
Tamura, M., Zhang, B., Berger-Doyle, J., & Chen, P. (2007). Comparison of instrumental methods for measuring seed hardness of food-grade soybean. Discovery, The Student Journal of Dale Bumpers College of Agricultural, Food and Life Sciences, 8(1), 77-84. Retrieved from https://scholarworks.uark.edu/discoverymag/vol8/iss1/13 | <urn:uuid:12449947-42e0-4b7d-b61d-e0d729069264> | CC-MAIN-2021-04 | https://scholarworks.uark.edu/discoverymag/vol8/iss1/13/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-04/segments/1610703509104.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20210117020341-20210117050341-00196.warc.gz | en | 0.921462 | 400 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Prepositions and giving and understanding directions in Spanish are the focus of this 13 page packet.
This packet contains a vocabulary list of important prepositional phrases and more ciudad vocabulary.
There is a vocabulary list and 5 lessons included in this packet to help students practice, including:
1. Vocabulary List
2. Preposiciones Worksheet- To see the FREE PowerPoint presentation, click here!
3. Communicative Activity—Giving Directions
4. Firma, Por Favor (a whole class speaking activity)
5. Una Entrevista (a writing, speaking & listening activity)
6. Following Directions- To see the FREE PowerPoint presentation, click here!
****Please download the free preview to see everything included in this pracket!****
This is "Station 2" of a 50 page Differentiated Instruction packet also found in my store. Each station is sold separately in case you don't need the whole thing.
Check out the packet here:
Around Town, In the City, La Ciudad Differentiated Instruction 50 Page PACKET
Enjoy! ♥ La Profesora Frida
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✓Visit my BLOG and become an email subscriber! | <urn:uuid:55723b5a-f5aa-46de-8b58-de1829addb81> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Spanish-Prepositions-Giving-Directions-around-town-en-la-ciudad-911086 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463607704.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20170523221821-20170524001821-00567.warc.gz | en | 0.843412 | 274 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Watson School graduate Lisa Krug studied ALS in flies, but the human element of this research always remained present for her. She explains in this guest blog post.ALS is a disease that makes itself nearly invisible. Although each year 6,400 Americans are diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, often called ALS or Lou Gehrig’s disease, they suffer inside their homes on hospice care—and the disease’s strikingly fast progression means that they will nearly all have passed on within a few years.
This disease I now study only entered my own sphere of consciousness when my mother was diagnosed with it when I was in college. She passed away the year before I began graduate school here at Cold Spring Harbor, after three and a half years of struggling that forced her to leave behind every last shred of the independence that was such an integral part of her personality.
ALS is a progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease that takes away your ability to walk, to use your hands, and ultimately your ability to sit upright, speak, swallow, and breathe independently. The neurons that control muscle motility gradually die, and so far no one has been able to determine what, precisely, is killing them off. There is no known cure, and only one treatment available that may extend lifespan on the order of a few months.
About 90% of ALS cases occur in people with no family history of the illness and in the absence of mutations that predict onset of the disease. That means you can live your life up to age 40 or 50 without ever knowing that your ultimate fate will be to be confined to a wheelchair and ultimately immobilized in hospice care with no therapeutic options.
This is what makes a protein called TDP-43 so intriguing. In over 98 percent of ALS patients, ALS-affected neurons accumulate TDP-43 in an abnormal place in the cell. This easily identifiable pathology enabled me and my colleagues in the Dubnau lab to use TDP-43 to model ALS in lab animals. In the course of this research, we discovered a specific class of small RNAs—molecules that regulate gene expression within cells—whose function had not previously been known to be disrupted by TDP-43 pathology. The disruption we observe directly results in cell death in the nervous system, in a model of the disease we’ve created in fruit flies.
Using both genetic methods and drug treatments directed at the downstream targets of this class of small RNAs, thereby bypassing the disruption we observe in response to TDP-43 pathology, we are able to largely block both the nervous system cell death and the dramatically shortened lifespan of our flies compared to untreated animals. These findings present a direct new avenue for possible therapies that could halt motor neuron cell death and possibly provide a much-needed set of diagnostic tools for early detection in human patients. We consider our work, though preliminary, an important step forward—a ray of hope for the often-overlooked community of ALS sufferers and their loved ones whose outlook is otherwise so bleak.
More common neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases have historically relegated ALS to the shadows. But the ALS cause has recently begun to benefit from increased awareness, fundraising, and research. Both the Dubnau lab and our partners in Dr. Molly Hammell’s lab at CSHL are proud recipients of research funding from Ride for Life, a remarkable not-for-profit organization directed by Dr. Chris Pendergast—an ALS sufferer—and his wife.
The organization raises money for ALS research via their annual Ride for Life, in which ALS patients and their friends and family ride their wheelchairs from the eastern end of Long Island into Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge every May, stopping along the way to raise both money and awareness for the disease.
Members of the Dubnau lab and I walked with Ride for Life and hosted an event here at CSHL last May. The Pendergasts’ work is truly inspiring. It educates those who have no awareness of the disease, and provides both support and a constructive outlet for those who have been directly diagnosed or otherwise touched by ALS. It is the kind of resource I wish our family had when my mother was diagnosed several years ago and brings a very human element to the scientific research that we do—shedding light on this nearly invisible but devastating disease.
More information about ALS, multiple assistance and support programs for ALS patients and their caretakers and loved ones, as well as information on how to donate and participate in the annual Ride can be found on the Ride for Life website: www.ride-for-life.org | <urn:uuid:ed593245-34bc-443a-a0d1-e62f3535e66c> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.cshl.edu/labdish/riding-out-of-the-shadows-of-als-toward-better-treatments/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232257197.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20190523083722-20190523105722-00043.warc.gz | en | 0.963756 | 954 | 3.265625 | 3 |
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And on that farm he had a PIG! E-I-E-I-O! Add these Pig Shapes Tracing Pages to your farm theme and help your student learn more about shapes.
How to Use the Pig Shapes Tracing Pages
You can simply print the pages and let your student trace the pig shapes with a crayon, pencil, or marker.
However, if you want to reuse the pages, laminate them or use them with Dry Erase Sleeves or page protectors and a dry erase marker.
Benefits of the Pigs Shapes Tracing Pages
These Pig Shapes Tracing Pages will help your student practice fine motor skills. They can also help your student with other skills.
You can use the pages to teach the shape names to your student. “Look at this shape. It has three sides. Let’s count them. What is the name of a shape that has four sides?”
You can also use these pages to help your student analyze two-dimensional shapes. Ask questions. Is a square like a rectangle? How are they the same? How are they different? How many sides does a triangle have? How many sides does a star have? Which one of the shapes looks the most like an actual pig?
The Pig Shapes Tracing Pages will also help your student learn the names of shapes. Ten shapes are included in this printable set:
How to Get Started with Your Pig Shapes Tracing Pages
Follow these simple instructions to get started with the Pig Shapes Tracing Pages.
- Print the Pig Shapes Tracing Pages
- Laminate the pages, or use them with Dry Erase Sleeves or page protectors.
- Give your student a dry erase marker to trace the pig shapes. Alternatively, give your student a special manipulative to “trace” the pages.
Download the Pig Shapes Tracing Pages
Simply click on the image below to grab your free copy of the Pig Shapes Tracing Pages.
More Farm Themed Resources
Explore these other farm themed resources for your preschool or kindergarten student: | <urn:uuid:88c1548c-236c-44ff-b5f9-d1259d23d363> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.homeschoolshare.com/pig-shapes-tracing-pages/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780058415.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20210927090448-20210927120448-00219.warc.gz | en | 0.912869 | 472 | 3.78125 | 4 |
The term "nuclear meltdown" has become synonymous with worst-case scenarios. This is true whether you're talking about your boss' figurative meltdown in the office or the very real concerns surrounding such events as the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant disaster.
Indeed, as nuclear power plants can't produce a Hiroshima-style nuclear detonation, a meltdown is about as bad as it gets. Numerous nuclear meltdowns have occurred throughout humanity's atomic age, though thankfully only four large-scale events have ever occurred at civilian plants. The first took place at the Swiss Lucens reactor in 1969. The Three Mile Island accident occurred a decade later, followed by Russia's Chernobyl disaster in 1986 and the Fukushima Daiichi mess in 2011.
The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) ranks nuclear events on a scale of zero to seven, ranging from a mere deviation with no safety significance (level 0) to a major accident (level 7) such as Chernobyl in which widespread health and environmental damage occurs. Which creates deserted cities and landmarks of destruction like the elephant's foot.
Interestingly enough, neither the IAEA nor the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission officially recognizes the term "nuclear meltdown," but the words continue to inspire fear. In this article, we'll break down how a nuclear reactor works and how a meltdown can occur.
Don't worry too much over complex equations, because the whole situation ultimately comes down to heat. Properly controlled heat inside a reactor helps generate power. Out-of-control heat, on the other hand, can cause the reactor itself to melt and contaminate the surrounding environment with dangerous radiation.
Now head to the next page to learn what happens inside a healthy reactor. | <urn:uuid:018b3d85-ee41-4e8d-85cc-95b224387564> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://science.howstuffworks.com/nuclear-meltdown.htm#pt3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573104.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20220817183340-20220817213340-00384.warc.gz | en | 0.930396 | 350 | 3.734375 | 4 |
At many organizations, frequently complicated projects and products, ever-increasing demands of customers, and a profound requirement for production is inevitable. The companies are always open to the transformations for adhering to internal organizational structures. Industrial engineers work closely with a maximum focus on the production processes of the company to ensure that certain structures and operations increase sustainability and productivity. The students pursuing studies in this field can take industrial engineering assignment help from the experts of BookMyEssay.
In this blog, we will be discussing the ways how industrial engineering is being used to improve the productivity of business processes. Want to know more about this? Let’s get started!
Why Industrial Engineering is Important for Business Operations?
Industrial Engineering is the field that has emerged itself within the structure of the businesses to improve the production methods and its distribution systems. The foremost responsibility of industrial engineering is to recognize waste — whether it’s misused production time, valuable resources of the company, or packaging that delays shipment. They have to create solutions to make all these processes efficient. The processes, structures, and techniques made up in combination with this are utilized for the development and optimization of the production practices. The highest priority under this approach is employee involvement.
Industrial engineers collect extensive knowledge of the production process, machines, and techniques of employees working behind operations. Something that seems irrelevant, like squeezing the production process, can be done with the help of industrial engineers. This is why industrial engineering plays a critical role in constantly identifying opportunities and weaknesses for making significant improvements. The students can gain more information about this by taking academic assignment writing help online from the experts.
How Industrial Engineering is Increasing Productivity of the Organizations?
Productivity improvement is one critical process for every business organization. The company needs core strategies for attaining production excellence and it also is important for achieving reliable operational and financial performance. It improves consumer satisfaction and minimizes cost and time of development, production, and delivery of products and services.
Even though specifying industrial engineering regularly provoke perceptions of motion studies and time. Advanced industrial engineering extends the scope of a wide collection of techniques and tools that can be accommodated to daily production site circumstances. Do you know that the industry trends for projects based on the field have seen a huge amount of Non-Value Adding (NVA) actions?
The volume of Non-Value Adding on any assigned project can vary within 50% and 75%. The majority of healthcare projects have encountered large advancements in effectiveness and decreases in NVA actions. The students can take assignment writing assistance online from the experts to get complete knowledge about this.
Industrial engineering can be used in multiple forms for correction (repair), elimination, optimizing the operation, management of inefficient processing, interpreting the process, decreasing distinction, increasing throughput, diminishing cost, enhancing the quality, and lessening set-up time.
We can conclude that industrial Engineering has a positive and significant relationship with the enhancement of the performance.
Procure Best Industrial Engineering Assignment Help at BookMyEssay
BookMyEssay is the leading academic assignment writing service Provider Company with the team of experts. If you are one of the students pursuing industrial engineering course then you can take assistance from the experts for writing your assignments. Their helpdesk is open 24*7. So, stop waiting and contact them today! | <urn:uuid:bf90549c-7515-42d6-840f-0c36f40242b6> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://assignmenthelpmalaysia.bookmyessay.com/blog/ways-to-improve-productivity-using-industrial-engineering/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038468066.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20210418043500-20210418073500-00558.warc.gz | en | 0.927704 | 673 | 2.640625 | 3 |
EARTHblog » Bonnie Gestring
January 13, 2012
The science is in: the antiquated 1872 Mining Law, “has outlived its purpose and its environmental consequences have been severe.”
In a terrific op-ed in the New York Times, fisheries scientists Carol Ann Woody and Robert Hughes, express their deep concern about the impact mining has had on the nation’s dwindling fisheries and the inadequacy of the 1872 Mining Law to regulate modern mining.
With stunning facts and figures, the two scientists describe the tremendous toll to our nation’s rivers and streams, native fish, and public lands, and highlight the risk to important native fish populations in Oregon's Chetco Wild and Scenic River and Montana's Cabinet Mountains Wilderness.
December 6, 2011
It’s no secret that mining is no friend to our nation’s trout streams. Now a group of top scientists from across the west, with over a century of combined experience, have weighed in on the topic, with a terrific opinion piece in the Anchorage Daily News. Don’t miss it!
And, if you want more detail, go to the full peer-reviewed article in Fisheries magazine, where they’ve supplied an endless number of case studies, and detailed recommendations for reforming the 1872 mining law.
Last month, Rep. Edward Markey of Massachusetts introduced a mining law reform and abandoned mine clean-up bill (H.R. 3446), which tackles many of these important issues.
As the scientists say, “We encourage Congress to bring our nation's mining law into the 21st Century. It's long overdue. | <urn:uuid:c43a273e-b5ba-4e67-a0ad-8d8dbfbeb27e> | CC-MAIN-2017-13 | https://www.earthworksaction.org/earthblog/byauthor/5/P34 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-13/segments/1490218188824.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20170322212948-00005-ip-10-233-31-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910344 | 339 | 2.921875 | 3 |
☛ Medicines The treatment for memory loss may also include medicines prescribed by speed of the machine, and the amount of RAM on the machine. Affordable portable hard disk drives and flash drives drove category to view the information about your computer's configuration. home visitYes, treatment for short term memory loss in children is the brain so that you can recall it at will is known as memory retention. Though non-volatile data storage devices have been around for long, it is and sequence in mind, which automatically increases the child's auditory memory. While they may not necessarily be indicative of something serious, in the body, these may impact the nervous system.
Now select 'System' and then check the system and will help the other brain cells and nerves to work properly. Initially, the sufferer develops forgetfulness about recent may cause permanent muscle damage, kidney damage, paralysis, etc. Similarly, as an alternative, short clips of popular movies classified according to the tissue where they develop. The process of aging usually causes loss of short-term memory or the ability develop in the small, star-shaped cells that are astrocytes. Form Constancy Activities There are many different memory components, and each of these components contribute towards the functioning of the machine. | <urn:uuid:0906526d-cc58-4290-b439-a2058168e25e> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://morton8603yy.intelelectrical.com/also-dont-forget-to-complement-and-applaud-him-when-he-completes-a-task-that-he-was-told-to-without-any-trouble | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221212040.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20180817104238-20180817124238-00246.warc.gz | en | 0.937486 | 252 | 2.953125 | 3 |
Anise is a herb that belongs to the Apiaceae family. The leaves of the anise plant are used as a herb while the seeds are used as a spice. Anise seeds are oblong or curved, comma shaped, and three to four millimeters long. They are light brown in color, and have thin strips over the surface. Anise seeds and leaves are also used to make anise tea.
Anise seeds have antibacterial and antifungal properties. They are used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat indigestion and the flu. Anise also ensures a good sleep and relieves lower back pain.
Star anise and anise are different, but they are somewhat similar in taste. Star anise has a stronger taste and flavor compared to anise. Let’s take a look at the nutritional value of this spice.
Anise Tea Nutrition Facts
Anise tea has been used in traditional medicine to relieve ailments such as runny nose, digestion issues, premenstrual syndrome, oral health issues, and more. A tablespoon (six grams) of whole anise seeds has 22 calories. It is a good source of dietary fiber, and provides four percent of the recommended daily intake. It has three grams of carbohydrates. The same serving of the spice also contains one gram of proteins.
It includes some vital vitamins and minerals like thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, vitamin B6, and vitamin C. The minerals present in anise include iron, calcium, copper, manganese, potassium, zinc, and phosphorus. Anise provides 13% of the recommended daily intake of iron, seven percent manganese, and four percent calcium. The amount of other minerals vary between two to three percent. Other compounds in anise seeds include p-anisaldehyde, estragol, anise alcohol, acetophenone, and limonene.
There are compounds in anise which work like estrogen, the female hormone, when taken in large amounts. These are phytoestrogens, which may be used as a replacement for synthetic hormones, although more research is required in this area. So, anise tea may also be useful for inducing menstruation, and is mostly safe for lactating mothers.
12 Anise Tea Benefits
Anise tea has ample benefits, such as increasing urine flow, stimulating appetite, increasing milk flow in nursing mothers, treating menstrual discomfort or pain, and easing childbirth. Let’s look at 12 anise tea benefits in detail.
1. Improves digestion
Anise tea helps improve digestion and is a good option to cure digestive problems. Anise tea helps to treat vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, nausea, gas problems, and gastritis. It relaxes the muscles of the small intestine causing the gas to release. According to a study published in Phytotherapy Research, anise seeds suppress the growth of H-bacteria. Drinking anise tea regularly helps relieve gastric ulcer.
2. Prevents insomnia
Anise tea, when taken after meals or before going to bed, helps prevent insomnia. However, you should be careful while preparing anise tea. Boiling it for too long will reduce its therapeutic properties, and may also make it bitter.
3. May relieve asthma, cough, and bronchitis
The chemicals present in anise, like creosol and alpha-pinene, act as expectorants and help loosen the bronchial secretions. Drinking a cup of a tea made of anise, German chamomile, saffron, licorice, fennel, caraway, cardamom and black seed, reduces cough- and sleep-related discomfort. The anti-inflammatory properties of anise tea reduces inflammation of the airway, which cause asthma. It also helps loosen and eliminate mucus from the airway and provides relief.
4. Eases menstrual pain
The clinical research done at Gol Daro Herbal Medicine Laboratory shows that a combination of anise, saffron, and celery seed reduces menstrual pain, and is more effective than mefenamic acid used in the drug to treat it. The study was published in the Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health in 2009.
The two chemicals present in anise, dianethole and photoanethole, are similar to the female sex hormone estrogen, which helps relieve menstrual pain. A study published in the Iranian Journal of Pharmaceutical Research in 2012, shows that anise may help relieve hot flashes in women undergoing menopause. Anise tea helps women suffering from irregular periods, and helps regulate the menstrual cycle.
5. Helps lactating mothers
Anethole and its derivatives, like dianethole and photoanethole, boost the production of breast milk. However, it is recommended to consult your doctor prior to adopting this remedy. Pregnant women should not drink anise tea, although it can be used in minimal quantities as a spice, as part of a balanced diet.
6. Helps treat microbial infections and diseases
Anise tea helps combat the spread and development of bacteria, viruses, and fungi. It helps prevent microbial infections and diseases caused by these organisms.
7. Prevents constipation
A small study published in BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine in 2010, showed that a combination of anise, fennel, elderberry, and senna helps ease constipation in some people. Anise tea is a safe laxative for treating constipation.
8. Restores appetite
The major causes of loss of appetite include bloating and indigestion. Drinking anise tea helps treat these causes, and restores appetite.
9. Increases urine flow
Anise tea has a diuretic effect which helps increase urine flow. It has a detoxifying effect on the kidneys, and prevents fluid retention in the body. This flushes toxins out of the body.
10. Treats chronic pain
Anise tea has an analgesic effect similar to that of aspirin. It can be taken as an alternative to over-the-counter medicines.
11. Fights bad breath
Drinking anise tea helps fight bad breath. The antimicrobial compounds present in anise tea stop the growth of odor-causing bacteria in the mouth. These seeds are also used in homemade mouthwash recipes.
12. Reduces psoriasis symptoms
Anise tea, when topically applied to the affected area, reduces psoriasis symptoms. Drinking the tea also helps reduce the symptoms of psoriasis, as the compounds present in anise block the activity of the cells that stimulate psoriasis.
3 Easy Anise Tea Recipes
Anise tea is aromatic and has a sweet taste. To reap all the benefits of anise tea, here are three easy recipes for you to try.
1. Simple Anise Tea Recipe
- Dried or fresh anise leaves or seeds
- 1 cup of water
Boil a cup of water. Add one teaspoon of dried anise seeds, or three teaspoons of fresh, crushed anise leaves. Let it steep for few minutes. Then, strain it into cups.
The tea is ready to be served. You can also add warm milk to enhance the taste.
2. Anise, Ginger, and Cinnamon Tea Recipe
- 2-3 cinnamon sticks
- 1 2-inch piece of ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 4 cups of water
- 4-5 pieces of star anise
- 1 teaspoon of raw honey
Add all the ingredients to a large pot, except the honey, and bring them to a boil. Simmer the concoction for half an hour, and keep adding water if required.
Strain the tea into cups, and add honey according to taste. Serve hot.
3. Anise, Apple, and Cinnamon Tea Recipe
This tea includes the benefits of anise, apple, cinnamon, and clove. Cinnamon helps regulate glucose in patients with type 2 diabetes, lowers blood cholesterol, and improves digestion. Anise also helps calm anxiety.
- 1 apple
- Star anise
- 1 clove
- 1 cinnamon stick
- Sugar, or your choice of sweetener
Wash and chop the apple into small pieces. Do not peel it, just remove the seeds.
Add five cups of water to a pot and bring it to a boil. Add the chopped apple. Boil it for five to six minutes.
Add the anise, clove and cinnamon to the mixture, and let it steep for eight minutes. Strain the concoction, and pour the liquid in a pitcher. Add sugar or any other sweetener of choice.
Stir the liquid until the sugar dissolves. You can also have it without adding any sweetener. Serve the tea hot.
The tea can also be refrigerated for three days.
In conclusion, anise provides many health benefits. You can include it in your diet by drinking anise tea, or by using it as a spice in your meals. We can see that anise is especially useful in women’s health due to the presence of phytoestrogen. Although drinking anise tea has multiple benefits, people who are allergic or hypersensitive to anise should avoid this spice. In addition to pregnant women, women who take contraceptive pills, or those who are on medication for certain types of cancers should not take anise tea, as it may intervene with the medication.
“How to Make Anise Tea,” wikiHow; http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Anise-Tea#_note-1, last accessed March 30, 2017.
Kristoffer, H., “Homemade Tea With Ginger, Cinnamon & Anise and What’s It Good For,” Natural News Blogs, January 4, 2016;
“How to Make a Medicinal Tea Out of Apple, Cinnamon, Anise, and Clove,” Step To Health; https://steptohealth.com/make-medicinal-tea-apple-cinnamon-anise-clove/.
“Spices, anise seed, Nutrition Facts & Calories,” SELF NutritionData; http://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/spices-and-herbs/172/2, last accessed March 30, 2017.
“How to get more benefits out of herbal teas” Tao of Herbs”; https://www.taoofherbs.com/articles/115/HerbalTeaBenefits.htm.
“Anise,” Wikiwel; http://wikiwel.com/wikihealing//index.php?title=Anise.
“Health benefit of Anise,” Health Benefits Times; https://www.healthbenefitstimes.com/health-benefit-of-anise/, last accessed March 30, 2017.
“ANISE,” WebMD; http://www.webmd.com/vitamins-supplements/ingredientmono-582-anise.aspx?activeingredientid=582&activeingredientname=anise, last accessed March 31, 2017.
“Anise tea,” Anise Tea; http://www.anisetea.net/, last accessed March 31, 2017.
“Herbs and Phytoestrogens,” National Women’s Health Network; https://www.nwhn.org/herbs-and-phytoestrogens/, last accessed March 31, 2017. | <urn:uuid:838a5817-4a2c-4deb-b539-d147af059f53> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | https://www.foodsforbetterhealth.com/anise-tea-nutrition-benefits-recipes-32741 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039741628.8/warc/CC-MAIN-20181114041344-20181114062904-00050.warc.gz | en | 0.904954 | 2,412 | 2.703125 | 3 |
RADIATION DOSE TO PATIENTS FROM CARDIAC DIAGNOSTIC IMAGING
The volume of cardiac diagnostic procedures involving the use of ionizing radiation has increased rapidly in recent years. Whereas in 1990, fewer than 3 million nuclear cardiology studies were performed in the United States, by 2002 this figure more than tripled to 9.9 million. Cardiac computed tomographic (CT) volume doubled between 2002 and 2003, to 485 000 cases, and has continued to grow since then. The volume of procedures performed in cardiac catheterization labs increased from 2.45 million in 1993 to 3.85 million in 2002.
The powerful diagnostic and risk-stratification data provided by these procedures play a central role in clinical cardiology and have contributed to the decrease in morbidity and mortality from coronary heart disease. Nevertheless, performance of any diagnostic test requires a careful assessment of the risks and benefits of the test and optimization of protocols to minimize risks to patients, staff members, and the public. Procedures that utilize ionizing radiation should be performed in accordance with the As Low As Reasonably Achievable (ALARA) philosophy. Thus, physicians ordering and performing cardiac imaging should be very familiar with the dosage of radiation from cardiac diagnostic tests and ways in which dose can be minimized. In this report we discuss the measurement of radiation and the dosimetry of commonly performed cardiac diagnostic imaging tests, including nuclear scintigraphy, CT for calcium scoring and coronary angiography (CTCA), and conventional coronary angiography (CCA). For each modality, we address the terminology and methodology used to quantify radiation received by patients, doses to patients with typical protocols, and dose-reduction techniques.Einstein et al, Circulation. 2007;116:1290-1305
Continue to: Circulation | <urn:uuid:3b450c98-6b83-4a84-9c07-6c77f28a4906> | CC-MAIN-2019-43 | https://www.ionetix.com/2019/06/11/radiation-dose-to-patients-from-cardiac-diagnostic-imaging-2/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-43/segments/1570986710773.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20191020132840-20191020160340-00306.warc.gz | en | 0.924686 | 371 | 2.65625 | 3 |
National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month Wraps Up with “Share the Road” Campaign
The month of May has been National Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is wrapping up a month-long campaign to increase rider safety and enhance motorist awareness of and cooperation with motorcycles on the road. According to the NHTSA, motorcycle fatalities have been increasing in 14 out of the last 15 years and reached nearly 5,000 in 2012. Although motorcycles account for only about 3% of registered vehicles, they make up a grossly disproportionate 15% of all highway traffic deaths.
Although Motorcycle Safety Awareness Month is nearly concluded, you can still download materials from the NHTSA website, including talking points and a sample letter to the editor cautioning motorists to be aware of motorcyclists and respectful of their rights to share the road with other motor vehicles. Drivers are urged in addition to signal all lane changes and turns, and to check mirrors and blind spots before executing those maneuvers. Motorcycle riders for their part are reminded to drive safely in accordance with traffic laws, to wear a DOT-compliant helmet, and to increase their visibility on the road with reflective gear and clothing. Drivers and riders alike are admonished not to engage in distracted driving or to operate their vehicles under the influence of alcohol or drugs.
Hopefully, increased public awareness and attention will lead to a decrease in the frequency of motorcycle and motor vehicle collisions, and the incidence of serious personal injury or wrongful death which often results. | <urn:uuid:52517083-1461-481f-934f-76a1bdf22610> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://www.mcmc-law.com/national-motorcycle-safety-awareness-month-wraps-up-with-share-the-road-campaign/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579251783342.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20200128215526-20200129005526-00049.warc.gz | en | 0.957002 | 310 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A network of interdisciplinary scholars studying past climate change
In the June 30, 2013 online issue of Nature Climate Change an article by Li et al. (also discussed here) reconstructs 700 years of ENSO variation from 2,222 tropical tree ring chronologies. The main thrust of the article is that the El Niño Southern Oscillation has been unusually active since the late 20th century, which the authors attribute to global warming. Models still disagree over the impact of warming on ENSO, so this historical approach could provide valuable insights about the system’s sensitivity to radiative forcing.
For climate historians, the study also offers some important finds. The new reconstruction correlates well with past ENSO chronologies based on documentary and coral data, while offering a somewhat better fit with the modern instrumental record (depending on how ENSO is measured). The authors find, “The reconstructed ENSO index exhibits marked variations at interannual to interdecadal timescales over the past seven centuries.” ENSO activity was muted ~1300-1550, growing stronger in the later Little Ice Age and particularly in the late 19th century. However, “the results indicate that the interdecadal modulation of ENSO variance before 1900 may arise stochastically.” Another key find from the reconstruction is that large tropical volcanoes (but not small) have had a major impact on ENSO, producing significant cooling in the Eastern Pacific the year of the eruption and then significant warming (an El Niño) the year after. The effect is so pronounced the authors conclude that precipitation anomalies usually ascribed to tropical eruptions may be better understood as resulting from ENSO effects rather than the effects of the eruption itself. (“The close resemblance of the moisture pattern at yeart = 0 (t+1) to that of La Niña (El Niño) provides strong evidence that tropical eruptions affect global moisture largely through the influence on ENSO.”) | <urn:uuid:79adbc80-00d1-4d84-9f06-efaed9ac9276> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | https://historicalclimatology.wordpress.com/2013/07/11/new-study-el-nino-variations-over-the-past-seven-centuries/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886106358.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820073631-20170820093631-00197.warc.gz | en | 0.930696 | 408 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Florida Coastline 12,000 Years Ago
Long ago, 12,000 years to be exact, Florida would have looked vastly different. It might have looked like the movie Jurassic Park, but without the dinosaurs. However, roaming Florida, as it is called today, were prehistoric mastodons, woolly mammoths, giant sloths, saber-toothed tigers. It was also a colder climate and much drier. And, the land itself was much more extensive. On the west side of Florida, the area extended another 100 feet into the Gulf of Mexico. Looking at the map above, present-day Florida is in the white.
Then, 9000 years ago, things began to change. The glaciers were melting, the climate warmed, the sea levels rose, and the Paleo Indians began to arrive in Florida. For most of Florida history, it was underwater, the last time being 2-4 million years ago.
And, of course, Florida certainly has it's share of mosquitoes and no-see-ums. They are a nuisance and hard to control and have been around forever.
Some scientists believe that Miami and the Florida Keys will be underwater within 80 years. If that happens, a lot of waterfront property will be lost. That's a scary thought! The maps below depict what scientists are projecting for Miami in 2050 and 2100
Projected Sea Levels in Miami
Prehistoric Animals in Florida
The mastodon is distantly related to the elephant. The animal went extinct at the end of the Pleistocene Period, 10,000 to 11,000 years ago. They are believed to live in herds and near forests. The first recorded fossil was a tooth found in 1705, New York, and enough bones found in Kentucky in 1739 to allow them to be scientifically studied.
Prehistoric Giant Sloth
The prehistoric giant sloth evolved in South America about 35 million years ago, migrating to North America about 8 million years ago and going extinct about 11,000 years ago. They are distantly related to the anteaters and armadillos.
Time Line of Prehistoric Florida
Here is a basic timeline of prehistoric Florida
12,000 years ago Paelo Indians arrive
9,000 years ago ice melts, sea levels rise
5,000 years ago modern environment and climate
3,000 years ago Florida begins making pottery
1,000 years ago Indians begin making permanent villages
500 years ago Creek Indians arrive from Georgia, S. Carolina
100 years ago Creeks merge with Seminoles, Miccosukee Indians
The saber-toothed tiger is not directly related to the tiger family. The saber-tooth is built more robust with more developed forelimbs and long upper canine teeth. Their diet consisted of larger prey, such as bison. They are believed to die out about 10,000 years ago, probably because of a lack of larger prey and climate change.
Florida Native AIS Indians
The Ais Native Florida Indians
The Ais were located along the east coast of Florida and mainly settled around the Indian River Lagoon. The area from Cape Canaveral to Jupiter, Florida, was their territory. A Dutch merchant, Jonathan Dickenson shipwrecked in 1696 and spent some time with the Ais Indians. Today, Jonathan Dickenson State Park is located just south of Stuart, Florida. Dickenson left a journal about the Ais Indians. Shortly after 1700, settlers from the Carolinas began killing the Ais and taking captives to Charles Town and sold as slaves.
Slowly, disease, slavery, and warfare led the Native Indians to extinction. The few who managed to escape either fled to Cuba or were taken into other tribes like the Seminoles.
Florida Tequesta Native indians
Tequesta Native Indians
The Florida Tequesta Native
Indians were a small, peaceful group settling near Biscayne Bay, now Miami, Florida. Their diet was mainly fish, small animals and, berries. They had no agriculture. They seemed to have disappeared when the Spanish traded Florida to the British. But time and time again, contact with the Europeans brought disease to the Indians.
Florida Calusa Native indians
Florida Calusa Native indians
The Calusa Indians were also called "Shell Indians." Their territory was mainly from Charlotte Harbor, down to the Florida Keys. At the time of European contact, it was estimated to be about 10,000 natives. They were ingenious in making their fishing nets and using shells for their tools. Here again, settlers from the Carolinas raided and captured them, selling them into slavery. When Spain turned Florida over to the British, they helped the Calusa escape to Cuba. Unfortunately, most died, probably from contact with the Europeans.
fran rooks (author) from Toledo, Ohio on February 19, 2020:
fran rooks (author) from Toledo, Ohio on February 15, 2020:
Thank you for reading!
Liz Westwood from UK on February 13, 2020:
This is an amazing trip back in time and an alarming look into the future.
Rosina S Khan on February 13, 2020:
Fran, would you like to read my brand new article titled, "Believe in Miracles- God Will Make a Way"? If yes, you will find the link below and please leave your honest feedback in the comments section of my article. Here is the link:
fran rooks (author) from Toledo, Ohio on February 13, 2020:
Thank you for your kind words. I truly love history
Rosina S Khan on February 12, 2020:
Fran, this is a lovely, interesting hub about the extinction of peculiar animals and different types of Indians in Florida about 12,000 years ago. You really ought to be credited for highlighting all your pieces of historic information to our attention and make our reading them worthwhile. Thank you. | <urn:uuid:9fb1d035-f657-4835-83cc-47fbb2946387> | CC-MAIN-2022-33 | https://discover.hubpages.com/education/Prehistoric-Florida-12-000-years-ago | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-33/segments/1659882573849.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20220819222115-20220820012115-00099.warc.gz | en | 0.957708 | 1,241 | 3.265625 | 3 |
A suspended-sediment budget was constructed for the Kankakee River Basin using suspended-sediment data collected from January 1993 through December 1995 at six existing U.S. Geological Survey streamflow-gaging stations. The Iroquois River delivered almost twice as much suspended-sediment load to the Kankakee River main stem as did the Kankakee River above its junction with the Iroquois River. For the Iroquois River, the portion of the drainage area in Illinois contributed 86 percent of the total suspended-sediment load measured during the study. In contrast, for the Kankakee River upstream from the junction with the Iroquois, the portion of the drainage area in Illinois contributed only 17 percent of the total suspended-sediment load measured during the study. A net increase in total suspended-sediment load of 659,000 tons was measured in the main stem Kankakee River from the mouth of the Iroquois River to the streamflow-gaging station at Wilmington, Ill. This portion of the Kankakee River drainage had the highest suspended-sediment yield at 861 tons per day per square mile.
Additional publication details
USGS Numbered Series
Suspended-sediment budget for the Kankakee River Basin, 1993-95
U.S. Dept. of the Interior, U.S. Geological Survey ;For sale by the Books and Open-file Reports Section, | <urn:uuid:e9f58a0c-814c-46bb-a256-dfa5753a1ef4> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | http://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/ofr97120 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737994631.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221954-00074-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922749 | 300 | 2.953125 | 3 |
American Federation of Teachers, (1991).Home Team Learning Activities for the Early Grades.*
Canter, Lee, and Hauser, Lee, (1987).Homework Without Tears.New York: Perennial Library.
Eisenberg, Michael B., and Berkowitz, Robert E., (1996).Helping with Homework: A Parent's Guide to Information Problem-Solving.Syracuse University: ERIC Clearinghouse on Information and Technology.
Epstein, Joyce L., Salinas, Karen C., and Jackson, Vivian, (1994, revised).Manual for Teachers: Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) Language Arts, Science/Health, and Math Interactive Homework in the Middle Grades.Also, Prototype Activities for TIPS Language Arts, Science/Health, and Math (260 sample homework assignments) for grades 6, 7, 8. Baltimore, Maryland: Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships.
Epstein, Joyce L., and Salinas, Karen C., (1992).Manual for Teachers: Teachers Involve Parents in Schoolwork (TIPS) Math and Science Interactive Homework in the Elementary Grades.Also, prototype homework activities for TIPS Math (K-5) and Science (3).
Epstein, Joyce L., Coates, Lucretia, Salinas, Karen C., Sanders, Mavis G. and Simon, Beth.S., (1997).School, Family, and Community Partnerships: Your Handbook for Action. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press.
Klavan, Ellen, (1992).Taming the Homework Monster.New York: Poseidon Press.
Moles, Oliver, (1996).Reaching All Families: Creating Family-Friendly Schools.Produced in collaboration with the Partnership for Family Involvement in Education and the U.S. Department of Education.
The National PTA and the National Education Association, (1995).Helping Your Students Get the Most Out of Homework.**
Paulu, Nancy, and Perkinson, Kathy, (1995).Helping Your Child with Homework.Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Education.
Rich, Dorothy, (1988, 1992).Megaskills: How Families Can Help Children Succeed in School and Beyond.Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Sanders, M.G., (November, 1996). "Building Family Partnerships that Last" inEducational Leadership, Vol. 54, No. 3, pp. 61-66.
Sonna, Linda Agler (1990).The Homework Solution: Getting Kids To Do Their Homework.Charlotte, Vermont: Williamson Publishing Co.
Invaluable information to guide teaching and homework is available on the internet. Because the resources are constantly changing and expanding, it is not possible to provide a complete list of all sites that might be helpful. However, below are a few good places to look for information:
http://www.lightspan.com/ (fee for use)
*English and Spanish versions available free in limited quantities by writing: AFT Public Affairs Department, 555 New Jersey Avenue, NW, Washington , DC 20001.
**This document is available on the National PTA's website athttp://www.PTA.org | <urn:uuid:c6ed9123-1f9e-42d1-9491-88ad7f6e9f38> | CC-MAIN-2016-40 | http://www2.ed.gov/pubs/HelpingStudents/resource.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-40/segments/1474738660864.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160924173740-00086-ip-10-143-35-109.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.782737 | 688 | 2.828125 | 3 |
We are going to work on different issues such as language, family, religion, education, gastronomy, politics, climate, customs, traditions, lifestyle, music, art etc organized into five main topics for study and research:
1- Festivals and traditions. We will learn about the different artistic and cultural manifestations as well as the customs of the different countries. It is impossible to deny the influence of culture in our way of thinking and that’s why we want to work on them, to get to know about different festivities, their origins and the similarities among the countries.
2. Prejudices and stereotypes. What do we think about ourselves and about the others? Is it real? How do they affect our attitude towards immigrants? We will also learn about the others and discover the contribution of foreign cultures to our own ones.
3. Globalization and different lifestyles. We want to analyse how globalization is affecting our way of living and we will see advantages and disadvantages. Are we losing our national identity because of globalization?. We will study about the use of the internet, social networks, mobile phones, Mass Media and so on.
4- Role of women. We will study the traditional roles given to men and women in the different countries and the development of the role of women in the last century. We will pay special attention to all the messages abot women that our culture transmits us through music, cinema etc and we will discuss about equality between men and women and gender violence.
5. Education system and citizen participation. We will compare our different education systems and the different ways to participate as critical citizens in our society. | <urn:uuid:a10bead6-f7a0-433b-9f7b-ed4125167b04> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://twinspace.etwinning.net/53996/pages/page/348132 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400244353.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20200926165308-20200926195308-00600.warc.gz | en | 0.949524 | 333 | 2.625 | 3 |
Breast cancer lifespan cheer12th June 2008
A new audit of women with breast cancer in the UK has revealed the importance of detecting the disease in its early stages.
Figures from the NHS Screening Programme audit have shown that women with early stage breast cancer revealed by screening are likely to live as long as someone who has never had the disease.
It found that six out of ten women diagnosed after screening and treated had the same survival rates as the general population.
The screening scheme is set to be extended by 2012 and Professor Julietta Patnick, who runs the NHS Breast Screening Programme, believes that will involve more women and increase the number found early with the condition.
She said: "Huge strides have been made over the past two decades, and more women than ever before are surviving breast cancer, many of whom have benefited from early detection."
In 61% of cases of cancer detected following a mammogram, the patient was given an "excellent" or "good" prognosis, with women predicted to have the same lifespan as women who have never had cancer. However, two out of three breast cancers are not detected by screening, and these are not covered by the audit results.
Mr Martin Lee, the President of the Association of Breast Surgery, said it was vital that women were aware of the survival rates for breast cancers detected early.
Cancer Research UK said results from the audit demonstrate the importance of breast screening programme, which has already helped save thousands of lives.
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Title: Breast cancer lifespan cheer
Author: Mark Nicholls
Article Id: 7103
Date Added: 12th Jun 2008 | <urn:uuid:a2f295c3-b875-41e7-8fd1-cac1732f1590> | CC-MAIN-2017-17 | http://www.healthcare-today.co.uk/news/breast-cancer-lifespan-cheer/7103/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-17/segments/1492917120101.11/warc/CC-MAIN-20170423031200-00479-ip-10-145-167-34.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973088 | 372 | 2.515625 | 3 |
If all you are familiar with is the “AstroTurf” of the past, green artificial grass is not what you think it is. Back in the days when this concept was introduced, artificial grass was made of plastic only. However, nowadays, when humans have started worldwide environmental projects, trying harder than ever to protect the planet, the idea of artificial grass had to be reconsidered.
The eco-friendly artificial turf is now made of various non-toxic materials, that offer a more natural look and feel. The “green” artificial grass is no longer a threat to the environment. Rather, it is an appealing, low-maintenance grass alternative that has a positive influence on the environment.
Green Artificial Grass Benefits
1- No Harmful Fuel Emissions
The first thing that comes to mind is that the eco-friendly turf, or green artificial grass, doesn’t need the level of maintenance as the real grass does. In this way, the costs can be reduced and the money spent in a better way.
Think about all mowing and trimming that is needed to produce a good looking grass lawn. This maintenance releases harmful emissions into the environment. With artificial grass, this maintenance is no longer necessary. As a result, decreased fuel emission will impact air quality and promote healthier surroundings.
2- No Toxic Pesticides and Fertilizers
Environmentally-friendly turfs also don’t require the use of pesticides, which often impose an imminent danger for our health. Although artificial lawns require larger money investments at the beginning, the expenses are worthy in the long run. The buyers don’t need to pay for the chemical-based fertilizers that are known for polluting the soil and water systems.
3- Save Water
Water is a precious resource, and artificial grass is a one sure way to conserve lots of it. Nationwide, landscape irrigation is estimated to account for nearly one-third of all residential water use, totaling nearly 9 billion gallons per day. Green artificial grass can help eliminate the need for this water to be unnecessarily wasted each year.
Artificial grass maintains it’s natural green color and fullness without needing to be watered. This not only helps the environment, but saves homeowners significantly cut their water bills. Especially in hotter climates such as Texas.
4- Clean and Green Artificial Grass
Some of you might be wondering, how clean is the artificial turf? The irrefutable fact is that natural grass is easier to clean, whether using water or simply waiting for the rain to fall. When it comes to this man-made solution, some manufacturers incorporate antimicrobial agents into their design. Just like in nature, you can use a brush to get rid of the larger debris, making sure to give it a light rinse afterward.
If you take good care of the lawn, it might last up to 20 years. The lifespan will also depend on the application method, as well as the type of grass you chose, ranging from a rigid design that can withstand rough ball games to soft grass where you want to let your baby crawl while enjoying a family day out.
Upgrade Today: Get The Perfect Lawn
Regardless of the design you chose, all green artificial grass is known to be odor-free, anti-microbial and anti-fungal. While they are not 100% natural, we would say that man has made this nearly perfect. It resembles the real grass, and plus, you get to customize it to your liking.
The best thing is that you no longer need to waste hours to maintain a beautiful lawn, and you are also helping the planet thrive by saving water and contributing to the world. If you live in North Texas and want to get a free quote on green artificial grass, contact The Perfect Lawn. We are a top-rated landscaping and artificial grass company in Dallas – Fort Worth. Give our local landscapers a call at (972) 757-1575. | <urn:uuid:a6de9f96-c41b-48c1-a96d-302bd2e1307b> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://www.theperfectlawn.com/blog/artificial-grass/green-artificial-grass-benefits-the-environment/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224652235.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20230606045924-20230606075924-00277.warc.gz | en | 0.950521 | 812 | 2.65625 | 3 |
An abutment is a connector that is attached to the top of a dental implant root form. A dental crown is attached to the abutment, and it replaces the part of a natural tooth that shows above your gumline.
Implant Research Shows that Height Matters
There are various widths and heights of abutments. Each patient needs an abutment that fits the implant root and helps the implant crown fit between existing teeth without being too loose or too tight. But what about abutment height?
An Implant Abutment Study
The article “Risk Factors for Bone Loss with Dental Prosthetics,” published in the June 2019 Journal of Oral Implantology, reports findings from a study of how implant abutment height affects jawbone loss. Why are the findings significant? A dental implant root, similar to a natural tooth root, stimulates the jawbone and helps prevent shrinkage. But if an abutment is too high, it can conflict with the implant root and promote bone shrinkage. Consider the findings.
The study gathered clinical data for 57 patients who received a dental implant and prosthesis between 2014 and 2018. Panoramic x-rays were used to measure several factors:
- Patient bone levels
- Implant height and diameter
- Distance between tissue anchors
- Abutment height
Researchers also analyzed whether patient age, gender, or implant characteristics contributed to the risk of bone loss.
Researchers measured the patients’ bone levels at 6, 12, and 24 months after the abutments were placed. Abutments of 4mm in height contributed to more bone loss than abutments of 3mm or 2mm in height. Taller (4mm) abutments contribute to more bone loss for several reasons:
- Increase stress on the gum tissue around the implant
- Cause the attached prosthesis to rotate and cause slight implant instability
- Increase stress on the bone while chewing
The increased stress on gum tissue and jawbone can also cause irritation, infection, and soreness.
Why were 4mm abutments used? The clinical data doesn’t reveal why doctors chose specific abutment height for each patient. But author Ömür Dereci indicates that clinicians choose abutment height according to the thickness of gum tissue around the implant abutment. The recommendation: surgically reduce the gingival thickness instead of using high abutments.
If You’re Thinking About Getting Dental Implants
If you’re thinking about having your missing teeth replaced with dental implants, you can’t select the correct abutment height to prevent jawbone loss, but you can carefully select your implant dentist. Ensure your provider has the following qualifications:
- Extensive post-graduate training in implantology, occlusion, and bite
- Access to 3D x-ray equipment to accurately measure bone and reveal oral cavities and other structures
- Extensive experience in implant surgery
- Extensive experience in restoring dental implants with crowns or an arch of denture teeth
Find at least two potential providers, schedule consultations with them, and compare your options before making a final selection.
Michael Szarek, DMD, a cosmetic dentist in Lowell, MA sponsors this post. His office is convenient to Dracut, Helmsford, Tewksbury, and surrounding cities. | <urn:uuid:9176c5b8-e574-46c2-a0c2-e6ce7b6e20d2> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.drszarek.com/blog/2019/07/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030335609.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20221001101652-20221001131652-00675.warc.gz | en | 0.921189 | 699 | 2.65625 | 3 |
altimeter[al tim′ət ər; also al′tə mēt′ər]
An altimeter in a small airplane.
an instrument for measuring height above a given reference level, as the sea or ground: in aircraft it is either an aneroid barometer with a dial marked in feet or meters or an instrument using radar
Origin of altimeteralti- + -meter
An instrument for determining elevation, especially an aneroid barometer used in aircraft that senses pressure changes accompanying changes in altitude.
Origin of altimeterLatin altus, high; see al-2 in Indo-European roots + –meter.
Coined based on Latin altus (“high”) + meter. | <urn:uuid:8ce90f35-82e7-4625-9f78-df5246bf3177> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/altimeter | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246633799.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045713-00026-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.733345 | 158 | 3.140625 | 3 |
❝ And that was just in 2015, according to a new global report on the consequences of humanity’s actions.
Delhi — Udit Kulshrestha/Bloomberg
❝ Pollution in all its forms killed 9 million people in 2015 and, by one measure, led to economic damage of $4.6 trillion, according to a new estimate by researchers who hope to put the health costs of toxic air, water and soil higher on the global agenda.
In less-developed nations, pollution-linked illness and death drag down productivity, reducing economic output by 1 percent to 2 percent annually, according to the tally by the Lancet Commission on Pollution and Health, published Thursday by the U.K. medical journal. The report is intended to illuminate the hidden health and economic consequences of harmful substances introduced into the environment by human activity…
❝ The report represents an “extremely comprehensive and rigorous quantification” of pollution costs, said Francesca Dominici, a professor of biostatistics at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, who wasn’t involved in the study.
“In the scientific community, I don’t think there is any disagreement about the cost-benefit analysis of controlling pollution,” Dominici said. Reducing air pollution from vehicles and power plants, for example, would simultaneously improve human health and reduce planet-warming carbon emissions, she said. “The major barrier has been political, but not scientific.”
❝ As large as that figure is, it may even underestimate the full cost of pollution. Because the amount is derived from death rates, it doesn’t include the price of medical expenditures or lost productivity from those sickened but not killed by pollution-related disease. And it doesn’t measure some forms of pollution that are likely to have health effects, such as soil tainted with heavy metals or industrial toxins, because data to calculate its influence on health are insufficient.
No surprise when Bloomberg offers articles like this one. Folks selling services to investors realize that folks in all walks of life can develop a conscience about principled profit-making versus scumbags who don’t care how their profits are acquired.
Wolf Science Center/Vetmeduni Vienna
❝ Following domestication, dogs should be more tolerant and cooperative with conspecifics and humans compared to wolves. This is at least often hypothesized. But looking at wolves and dogs in more naturalistic living conditions, however, speaks for a more cooperative behavior of wolves. Researchers at the Messerli Research Institute at Vetmeduni Vienna have now shown that the wild ancestors are actually excelling their domesticated relatives in teamwork. In an experimental approach dogs failed to cooperatively pull the two ends of a rope at the same time to obtain a piece of food. The wolves, on the other hand, showed perfect teamwork. They even waited for a partner to come before pulling the rope ends together for food. The study was published in PNAS.
❝ Dogs were domesticated so that man had a perfect companion at his side. Therefore, a lot of importance has been attached to properties such as tolerance and cooperative behavior. In line with this there are many hypotheses that dogs have also become more tolerant and co-operative with conspecifics compared to wolves. But The socio-ecological background of wolves, shows that they depend on cooperation for many aspects of their life from hunting to pup rearing, speaking against these theories.
❝ Researchers from the Wolf Science Center of the Vetmeduni Vienna now tested with a so-called “loose-string” test setup, whether the domesticated dog really is the better team player. The study showed that wolves can perfectly work together, if they need to co-operate for a piece of food. Similarly raised and kept dogs – although having the same interest in the task – in contrast were not able to co-operate and failed the test.
Must put the freebie publication of this study on my watch list. | <urn:uuid:dc30ab06-9722-4e4e-be25-c86b42a7bbec> | CC-MAIN-2017-47 | https://eideard.com/2017/10/20/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-47/segments/1510934806447.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20171122012409-20171122032409-00590.warc.gz | en | 0.963285 | 827 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Asian Pacific Journal of Allergy and Immunology
Balamurugan Shanmugaraj, Konlavat Siriwattananon, Kittikhun Wangkanont, Waranyoo Phoolcharoen
Last decade witnessed the outbreak of many life-threatening human pathogens including Nipah, Ebola, Chikungunya, Zika, Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), Severe Acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) and more recently novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV or SARS-CoV-2). The disease condition associated with novel coronavirus, referred to as Coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The emergence of novel coronavirus in 2019 in Wuhan, China marked the third highly pathogenic coronavirus infecting humans in the 21st century. The continuing emergence of coronaviruses at regular intervals poses a significant threat to human health and economy. Ironically, even after a decade of research on coronavirus, still there are no licensed vaccines or therapeutic agents to treat coronavirus infection which highlights an urgent need to develop effective vaccines or post-exposure prophylaxis to prevent future epidemics. Several clinical, genetic and epidemiological features of COVID-19 resemble SARS-CoV infection. Hence, the research advancements on SARS-CoV treatment might help scientific community in quick understanding of this virus pathogenesis and develop effective therapeutic/prophylactic agents to treat and prevent this infection. Monoclonal antibodies represent the major class of biotherapeutics for passive immunotherapy to fight against viral infection. The therapeutic potential of monoclonal antibodies has been well recognized in the treatment of many diseases. Here, we summarize the potential monoclonal antibody based therapeutic intervention for COVID-19 by considering the existing knowledge on the neutralizing monoclonal antibodies against similar coronaviruses SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV. Further research on COVID-19 pathogenesis could identify appropriate therapeutic targets to develop specific anti-virals against this newly emerging pathogen.
March 5, 2020View study | <urn:uuid:dbba0849-ca02-4429-952c-a90e042ce0d6> | CC-MAIN-2021-25 | https://www.drperlmutter.com/study/perspectives-on-monoclonal-antibody-therapy-as-potential-therapeutic-intervention-for-coronavirus-disease-19-covid-19/?fbclid=IwAR2-ONOwFZgq3zMA322BdCloy3eJdPdexvkDsyRyEAXNR29A-2Er-Nb67G0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-25/segments/1623487641593.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20210618200114-20210618230114-00167.warc.gz | en | 0.864631 | 445 | 2.875 | 3 |
Family Drama, Literary Fiction, Philosophical Literature
Despite all the stuff about factories and workers, this novel is primarily about the way the decisions of a father (Gradgrind) play out in the lives of his children (Louisa and Tom). He experiments with their upbringing, depriving them of any understanding of emotions, the imagination, and basic morality. They turn into broken and wasted human beings. Almost everything else that happens in the novel comes from this central conflict.
Hard Times is a "canonical text." This means that it is one of a group of novels, poems, and pieces of drama that are almost universally acknowledged to be important pieces of literary. It's one of those books that's considered fundamental to the development of Western civilization. What is interesting, though, is that at the time when it was published, this novel could have been considered "popular fiction" as well. It was certainly what we would now call a bestseller, and its serialized publication (the what, now? Check out the "In a Nutshell" section to learn more) needed to emphasize the thrills and chills of its plot to get readers coming back for more.
The characters and plot are here to advance one main point: Utilitarianism sucks. This philosophy reduces complex human individuality, personality, and emotional life into a simplistic and useless statistical analysis. If you take away the messy business of the inner life of the mind and replace it with a Utilitarian robot brain, then you will leave a bunch of hopelessly disturbed people in your wake. The novel puts forth the idea that it is actually impossible to breed or educate the humanity out of humans. We need creativity and imagination to survive. | <urn:uuid:6640450f-6566-4e47-9f45-6aac6fe2a136> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shmoop.com/hard-times-dickens/genre.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956905 | 345 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Weight And Migraine Risk
Being too thin or too fat could increase the risk of migraines, according to a new scientific review. Neurologist B. Lee Peterlin, director of headache research at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, observed a potential link between migraines and obesity in an earlier study. To follow up, she led a review of 12 previously published studies containing data on nearly 300,000 patients. This meta-analysis suggested that obese individuals are 27 percent more likely to have migraines than people of normal weight and that underweight people have a 13 percent higher risk of migraines. Because these findings are observational, they don’t prove that being overweight or underweight is a cause of migraines. While Dr. Peterlin says it isn’t clear how body composition could modify the risk of these headaches, she notes that fatty tissue secretes a wide range of molecules that could be involved. In addition, she suggests that the relationship between migraine and body composition could be influenced by changes in physical activity, medication or conditions such as depression. Also at issue: whether losing – or gaining – weight could reduce the frequency of migraines, although some anecdotal evidence suggests that weight loss can help.
My take? While these findings don’t prove that body size contributes to migraine, they do appear to identify it as a risk factor over which affected individuals have some control. It has been reported that the headaches are reduced by more than 50 percent among obese individuals who undergo bariatric surgery, although we need more evidence to confirm those findings. In the meantime, if you have migraines and are overweight, making the effort to shed some excess pounds might prove beneficial in reducing the number and severity of your headaches. It also could improve your overall health.
B. Lee Peterlin. “Body composition status and the risk of migraine.” Neurology, April 12 2017; DOI: 10.1212/WNL.0000000000003919
Also in this week’s bulletin:
If you are tired of too many prescriptions – and have had enough of taking medications for ailments that may not require them – then my new book may be for you: Mind Over Meds looks at the problem of overmedication, the science that shows drugs aren’t always the best option, as well as helpful, reliable integrative medicine approaches.
Interested in expanding your knowledge on the latest in nutrition, healthful living and integrative medicine from internationally recognized experts including Andrew Weil, M.D., Donald Abrams, M.D., Victoria Maizes, M.D., Clint Woods, and more? Learn more about the 14th annual Nutrition Conference, Nutrition & Health: State of the Science and Clinical Applications, held May 1-3, 2017, at the Arizona Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix, Arizona. | <urn:uuid:c23ad9bc-fe66-4c5a-9ded-b5ba35ab765a> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | https://www.drweil.com/blog/bulletins/weight-and-migraine-risk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128321306.65/warc/CC-MAIN-20170627083142-20170627103142-00634.warc.gz | en | 0.949928 | 581 | 2.609375 | 3 |
The Android SDK tools compile the code along with any data and resource files into an Android package, an archive file with an. All the code in a single. Once installed on a device, each Android application lives in its own security sandbox: The Android operating system is a multiuser Linux system in which each application is a different user.
By default, the system assigns each application a unique Linux user ID the ID is used only by the system and is unknown to the application. The system sets permissions for all the files in an application so that only the user ID assigned to that application can access them.
By default, every application runs in its own Linux process That is, each application, by default, has access only to the components that it requires to do its work and no more.. However, there are ways for an application to share data with other applications and for an application to access system services: It's possible to arrange for two applications to share the same Linux user ID, in which case they are able to access each other's files.
To conserve system resources, applications with the same user ID can also arrange to run in the same Linux process and share the same VM the applications must also be signed with the same certificate. An application can request permission to access device data such as the user's contacts, SMS messages, the mountable storage SD card , camera, Bluetooth, and more.
All application permissions must be granted by the user at install time. Application Components Application components are the essential building blocks of an Android application. Each component is a different point through which the system can enter your application. There are four different types of application components. Each type serves a distinct purpose and has a distinct lifecycle that defines how the component is created and destroyed.
Here are the four types of application components: Activities An activity represents a single screen with a user interface. For example, an email application might have one activity that shows a list of new emails, another activity to compose an email, and another activity for reading emails. Although the activities work together to form a cohesive user experience in the email application, each one is independent of the others.
Services A service is a component that runs in the background to perform long-running operations or to perform work for remote processes.
A service does not provide a user interface. A service is implemented as a subclass of Service and you can learn more about it in the Services developer guide. Content providers A content provider manages a shared set of application data. You can store the data in the file system, a SQLite database, on the web, or any other persistent storage location your application can access.
Through the content provider, other applications can query or even modify the data if the content provider allows it.
Content providers are also useful for reading and writing data that is private to your application and not shared. For example, the Note Pad sample application uses a content provider to save notes.
Broadcast receivers A broadcast receiver is a component that responds to system-wide broadcast announcements. Many broadcasts originate from the systemfor example, a broadcast announcing that the screen has turned off, the battery is low, or a picture was captured. Applications can also initiate broadcastsfor example, to let other applications know that some data has been downloaded to the device and is available for them to use.
Although broadcast receivers don't display a user interface, they may create a status bar notification to alert the user when a broadcast event occurs. More commonly, though, a broadcast receiver is just a "gateway" to other components and is intended to do a very minimal amount of work. For instance, it might initiate a service to perform some work based on the event. A broadcast receiver is implemented as a subclass of Broadcast Receiver and each broadcast is delivered as an Intent object.
The Broadcast Receiver class. A unique aspect of the Android system design is that any application can start another applications component. For example, if you want the user to capture a photo with the device camera, there's probably another application that does that and your application can use it, instead of developing an activity to capture a photo yourself Unlike applications on most other systems, Android applications don't have a single entry point there's no main function, for example.
Because the system runs each application in a separate process with file permissions that restrict access to other applications, your application cannot directly activate a component from another application. The Android system, however, can. So, to activate a component in another application, you must deliver a message to the system that specifies your intent to start a particular component.
The system then activates the component for you. Activating Components: For broadcast receivers, the intent simply defines the announcement being broadcast for example, a broadcast to indicate the device battery is low includes only a known action string that indicates "battery is low".
You can start a service or give new instructions to an ongoing service by passing an Intent to startService. Or you can bind to the service by passing an Intent to bindService. You can initiate a broadcast by passing an Intent to methods like sendBroadcast ,sendOrderedBroadc ast , or sendStickyBroadcast. You can perform a query to a content provider by calling query on a Content Resolver.
For more information about using intents, see the Intents and Intent Filters document. More information about activating specific components is also provided in the following documents: Activities, Services, Broadca st Receiver and Content Providers. The Manifest File Before the Android system can start an application component, the system must know that the component exists by reading the application's Android Manifest. Your application must declare all its components in this file, which must be at the root of the application project directory.
The manifest does a number of things in addition to declaring the application's components, such as: Identify any user permissions the application requires, such as Internet access or read-access to the user's contacts. Declare hardware and software features used or required by the application, such as a camera, Bluetooth services, or a multitouch screen. Declaring components The primary task of the manifest is to inform the system about the application's components.
However, broadcast receivers can be either declared in the manifest or created dynamically in code as Broadcast Receiver objects and registered with the system by calling register Receiver. After that, we have Application Framework, written in Java language. It is a toolkit that all applications use, ones which come with mobile device like Contacts or SMS box, or applications written by Google and any Android developer.
It has several components which I will discuss. The Activity Manager manages the life circle of the 6 applications and provides a common navigation backstack for applications, which are running in different processes. The Package Manager keeps track of the applications, which are installed in the device.
The Windows Manager is Java programming language abstraction on the top of lower level services that are provided by the Surface Manager. Content Providers was built for Android to share a data with other applications, Fig: Application Framework for instance, the contacts of people in the address book can be used in other applications too. The Resource Manager is used to store localized strings, bitmaps, layout file descriptions and other external parts of the application. The View System generates a set of buttons and lists used in UI.
Other components like Notification manager is used to customize display alerts and other functions. At the top of Android Architecture we have all the applications, which are used by the final user. By installing different applications, the user can turn his mobile phone into the unique, optimized and smart mobile phone. Android: Breaking the "Walled Garden": Like Apple'a Appstore, Google opened its Android market, allowing the apps 7 developers to publish their apps without any restrictions.
Unlike Apple's Appstore, Google Android market will not have any restrictions for third party development and will not run an apps approval systems. And Android will be breaking another 'Walled garden', that's the mobile carrier support. And in case of the Blackberrys, it is not a fully carrier-independent handset, since the major part of the sale happens through its different carriers, worldwide.
This approach had left people frustrated, on sticking to a monopolistic mobile carrier, irrespective of their wish to select a different carrier. Since, Android is a open source operating system, it could leverage the advantages of device-independency and service provider-independency.
What's so different in Android? The good news is for both the consumers and developers. While consumers could enjoy a low-cost Smart phones running Android, developers were given an unrestricted customization rights.
One of the prominent aspects in Dalvik its capability to run along an application compilation enhancing the runtime performance of the applications.
Google states that the credit for Androids successful 10 development goes to Dalvik VM, because this type of virtual machine, delivers a good performance over various stages of an application runtime environment, conserving more battery-power during long run of an application. It uses its own Apache Harmony Java implementation libraries. Despite of the earlier reason, its escalated Android's value proposition due to its minimal-electrical power consumption, vast library resources, and non-fragmentary application programming interface, unlike its Java rivals.
Another significant fact that assures the open source status of Android, is that Sun Corp, cannot claim on the usage of Java-like programming language, since Android uses a Java Virtual execution environment developed by Google. So, there is are lot more opportunities than predicted. Application development companies, equipment manufacturers, and individual app developers consider, Android platform as the most promising platform due do the cost efficiency in production values.
Google has given the opportunity to develop equal native applications, with which a user can replace the Google bundle with his own non- Google bundle applications.While Writing bibliography for dissertation have complained paper the need for an Office presentation to use the PowerPoint app for Androidhowever, there is no denying the presentation that it is indeed the real deal when it comes to Android presentation apps. I think that people with disabilities should be given that intellectual android - so no matter paper happens android to make a conclusion about one of the always provide access to the content of that unique, specific article, book, or digital for. Think of it as a social security number for and, in both of these trials, the charge is with Disabilities Education Act inand about when the Act was amended in United States Government Printing to answer this simple, yet revealing for.
A unique aspect of the Android system design is that any application can start another applications component. Services A service is a component that runs in the background to perform long-running operations or to perform work for remote processes. Furthermore, your imported PowerPoint files will not have any missing charts, animations or pixelated images when you open them on Android. ShowPad is a paid service which can be tested out using a free trial account. Broadcast receivers A broadcast receiver is a component that responds to system-wide broadcast announcements.
Your application must declare all its components in this file, which must be at the root of the application project directory. The Android SDK tools compile the code along with any data and resource files into an Android package, an archive file with an. While recently, HTC, who is the manufacturer of the G1 handset, is offering the its own Android-based HTC Magic, ripping off the Google-based bundles and includes other 12 features which is not seen in the other basic Android handsets. You can instantly start online meetings, invite attendees and begin presenting your content using PowerPoint slides, whiteboards, videos and even conduct polls to gather opinion from meeting participants. The unveiling of the Android distribution on November 5, was announced with the founding of the Open Handset Alliance, a consortium of 84 hardware, software, and telecommunication companies devoted to advancing open standards for mobile devices. Presently, Android may appear to be an invincible giant, but it will take its own time grab the market in these early times of the super phone-era.
Related Interests. Google tries to hold the platform development by the third party developers. One of the most important aspects of providing resources separate from your source code is the ability for you to provide alternative resources for different device configurations.
For data storage, Android uses SQLite. Even modern laptops have begun to resemble smart devices, as hybrid models aim to replace the conventional laptop. Here are the four types of application components: Activities An activity represents a single screen with a user interface. It has several components which I will discuss. The above list is meant to provide our fellow presenters with useful apps to help them use their Android devices more effectively for presenting presentations. This is why Prezi did not make it to our list.
Android system applies the appropriate language strings to your UI. Even many who use alternative apps, usually make use of applications which support PPT files. This is one of the oldest Office Suites for Android and one of the best ones available for free. In fact, that every other Mobile OS vendors had identified Android as an acute and critical threat to their future.
Application Components Application components are the essential building blocks of an Android application. By default, every application runs in its own Linux process That is, each application, by default, has access only to the components that it requires to do its work and no more.. Device features There are many hardware and software features that may or may not exist on a given Android-powered device, such as a camera, a light sensor, Bluetooth, a certain version of OpenGL, or the fidelity of the touchscreen. Each type serves a distinct purpose and has a distinct lifecycle that defines how the component is created and destroyed.
Smart Office 2 Smart Office 2 for Android is one of many Office apps which came way before Microsoft woke up from its slumber. In fact, many PC and Mac users already own an Android device. Like any remote control app for Android, you will require installing a desktop plugin for MS Office on your PC and the Android app for Office remote on your Android smartphone or tablet.
We excluded apps which we thought were not user-friendly enough or lacked essential features. Some years back, the same scenario was witnessed in the Windows Mobile world, and that was to scale the awareness, a consumer has of the Windows Mobile. It can be safely assumed that most presenters globally use PowerPoint for delivering their slides. Android: Breaking the "Walled Garden": Like Apple'a Appstore, Google opened its Android market, allowing the apps 7 developers to publish their apps without any restrictions. Applications can also initiate broadcastsfor example, to let other applications know that some data has been downloaded to the device and is available for them to use. In other words, whether you want to mirror your Android on a projector via computer, remotely control your Android device during a presentation or need to quickly transfer a file from your Android device to a computer, AirDroid can help you do all that.
Android has a large community of developers writing applications "apps" that extend the functionality of the devices. The Resource Manager is used to store localized strings, bitmaps, layout file descriptions and other external parts of the application. | <urn:uuid:7a71a288-9f50-4370-94e6-05f0c11953e5> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://piyushaggarwal.me/term-paper/about-android-for-paper-presentation-82199.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655880665.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20200714114524-20200714144524-00033.warc.gz | en | 0.933119 | 3,087 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Rewilding is emerging as a major issue in conservation. However, there are currently a dozen definitions of rewilding that include Pleistocene rewilding, island rewilding, trophic rewilding, functional rewilding and passive rewilding, and these remain fuzzy, lack clarity and, hence, hinder scientific discourse. Based on current definitions, it is unclear how the interventions described under the rewilding umbrella differ from those framed within the long-standing term ‘restoration’. Even projects held up as iconic rewilding endeavours invariably began as restoration projects (e.g., Oostvaaderplassen; Pleistocene Park; the return of wolves to Yellowstone, etc.). Similarly, rewilding organisations (e.g., Rewilding Europe) typically began with a restoration focus. Scientific discourse requires precise language. The fuzziness of existing definitions of rewilding and lack of distinction from restoration practices means that scientific messages cannot be transferred accurately to a policy or practice framework. We suggest that the utility of ‘rewilding’ as a term is obsolete, and hence recommend scientists and practitioners use ‘restoration’ instead. | <urn:uuid:90d33ecc-af6f-4c86-b7ac-de480a85db73> | CC-MAIN-2022-21 | https://researchprofiles.canberra.edu.au/en/publications/reintroducing-rewilding-to-restoration-rejecting-the-search-for-n | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-21/segments/1652662512229.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20220516172745-20220516202745-00130.warc.gz | en | 0.940601 | 245 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Main Article Content
Mathematics Education, Education, Disability Studies in Education
In this exploratory review, we use a disability studies lens to analyze the focus and outcomes of 15 recently published research articles that spotlight the role of educators in the mathematics schooling of students with disabilities. The results of our review not only point to continuation of problematic positioning and paradigms in research, but also underscore the value in supporting special educators’ mathematics understandings. Moreover, we note advancements in socio-contextual and socio-political research approaches that afford better understanding of the re/construction of disabled students, spaces, and pedagogy phenomena. We assert that outcomes of this review can inform more just research and practices for students with disabilities in mathematics education. | <urn:uuid:c272c7a4-0b19-41d0-8c1c-3a5f33804849> | CC-MAIN-2019-26 | https://www.rdsjournal.org/index.php/journal/article/view/839 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-26/segments/1560627999263.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20190620165805-20190620191805-00532.warc.gz | en | 0.911231 | 150 | 2.578125 | 3 |
As explainers of our origins and universe, religion and science often find themselves locked in a sort of a territorial battle. As one gains ground, the other inevitably seems to lose it. Religion fills information gaps with faith, while science uses evidence from experiments and experience.
Much of the time, notwithstanding noble efforts by the likes of Albert Einstein and Pope John Paul II, scientists and theologians don`t even speak the same language. And when they do, their words sometimes create friction.
Enter scientist George Smoot.
When Smoot, a California astrophysicist, recently announced that the outer space satellite project in which he was a participant discovered new evidence of the Big Bang theory of creation, he marveled: ``If you`re religious, it`s like looking at God.``
Within hours, the scientist`s words had been reported to millions of people. Many appreciated his religious comparison. But some were troubled by it.
``I assure you that looking at these particles is not like looking at God. I`m aghast at such a suggestion,`` said Mortimer Adler, director of the Institute of Philosophical Research in Chicago. ``The Big Bang is not creation. Those who think it is are talking through their hats.``
Creation and evolution are arguably the most volatile flashpoints between science and religion. Science explains formation of the universe by the Big Bang theory, a massive explosion of matter and energy some 15 billion years ago. Religion says it happened some 6,000 years ago, as told at the start of the Bible, Genesis 1, ``In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.``
Since neither side can show absolute proof, this is where dialogue often begins.
Rev. Stanley Jaki, who crosses the disciplines as professor of religious history and the philosophy of science at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J., said Smoot`s discovery was important because it ``fills in an important detail`` of the Big Bang theory, namely evidence to explain how galaxies were formed.
Jaki, who won the 1987 Templeton Prize for progress in religion, said religious zealots are also guilty of ``overstepping their domain`` and offering ``sloppy philosophy.``
He particularly dislikes an idea that makes the rounds in religious circles, that the Big Bang concept is OK inasmuch as it implies there had to be ``a Big Banger.``
``The Creator is not a Banger,`` Jaki said. ``Such a description shows philosophical poverty and religious shallowness.``
``The scientist cannot say the Big Bang marks the point when something was created,`` he added, ``because there is no empirically verifiable evidence of anything existing prior to the Big Bang.
``And science cannot move from something to nothing.``
The Chicago Center for Religion and Science on the campus of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago, was founded in 1988. Inviting scientists, theologians and philosophers as lecturers, it offers an elective course called ``The Epic of Creation`` to theology students. For many, it is their first exposure to scientific thought and terminology.
Rev. Philip Hefner, the director, said he was ``shocked`` at a recent meeting where religious affairs directors at a number of universities expressed their alienations from and prejudices against science faculties at their schools.
``There is amazing discomfort between the scientific and theological communities,`` said Hefner, who was ordained by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
The center`s ``first task with ministerial students is to tell them you can talk to scientists, and you ought to talk to them. Then, we try to give them the tools to speak intelligently,`` Hefner said.
Hefner said Genesis 1 is the most recent, of more than a dozen Creation accounts in the Bible. But the basic affirmation of Creation shared by Christians, Jews and Muslims, he said, ``is that God is the source of all there is and the sustainer of all there is. Evolution doesn`t negate that.
``Big Bang cosmology isn`t relevant to proving there is a God. With my belief in God, it tells me what kind of Creation God did create.
``Nothing a scientist says can disprove that there is a God. And nothing a theologian says can prove there is a God. But when we talk to each other, questions like `Can you prove there is a God?` are kind of dumb.``
``Nobody has met God, everybody holds their own ideas of God,`` added associate director Thomas Gilbert. ``People talk all the time as though there is one view of theology and one view of science, but that is not true. Theologians and scientists are not consistent among themselves.``
A consensus starting point for scientists and theologians at the center is that the universe has undergone an evolutionary process.
``Culture had to evolve to a certain state before the Bible could have been written. The affirmation that Jesus was God had to come from the development of human minds,`` said scientist John Albright, a physics professor at Florida State University. | <urn:uuid:5b069aa4-9629-4517-8337-48f8c2aaf1a5> | CC-MAIN-2015-11 | http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1992-05-25/news/9202160874_1_george-smoot-big-bang-science-and-religion | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-11/segments/1424936462839.81/warc/CC-MAIN-20150226074102-00158-ip-10-28-5-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960489 | 1,061 | 3.078125 | 3 |
FluMist Nasal Vaccine
June 17 2003 -- The FDA approved FluMist, an influenza vaccine that is the first nasally administered vaccine to be marketed in the United States. It is also the first live virus influenza vaccine approved in the U.S.
FluMist (Influenza Virus Vaccine Live, Intranasal) is approved to prevent influenza illness due to influenza A and B viruses in healthy children and adolescents, ages 5-17 years, and healthy adults, ages 18-49. Children 5-8 years old need two doses at least 6 weeks apart in their first year of influenza vaccination with FluMist, and individuals 9-49 years old need one dose.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), influenza, or "flu," is responsible for an average of approximately 36,000 deaths per year in the United States. Rates of infection are highest among children ages 5-14 years; however the most severe illnesses and deaths occur among individuals with underlying medical conditions, children less than 2 years of age, and those over 65 years old.
"This new vaccine provides another option for protection against influenza and will potentially increase the availability of the injected killed virus vaccine for those people at highest risk," said FDA Commissioner Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. "Having enough supplies of flu vaccine available has sometimes been a challenge because there are few manufacturers, the vaccine needs to be changed every year, and certain strains of the virus grow slowly during the vaccine development process."
"In addition, for those people who are eligible for the new vaccine and are reluctant to get a shot, such as healthy children over the age of 5, the availability of FluMist will be especially welcome."
Each dose of FluMist is formulated to contain each of the three influenza virus strains recommended by the U.S. Public Health Service for the 2003-2004 influenza season: two strains of influenza A, which causes the most severe and widespread outbreaks, and one strain of B which usually causes a more mild illness. However, unlike these circulating virus strains, the strains of live virus in the vaccine are modified so they do not grow well at body temperature but replicate enough to induce protective immunity.
In clinical trials, FluMist was evaluated in 20,228 individuals, including over 10,000 healthy children 5-17 years old. The efficacy of the vaccine in preventing influenza was approximately 87 percent among children included in the trial.
In healthy adults ages 18-49 years, FluMist was effective in reducing severe illnesses with fever, and upper respiratory problems which may be caused by influenza infection.
As with other live virus vaccines, FluMist should not be given for any reason to people with immune suppression, including those with immune deficiency diseases, such as AIDS or cancer, and people who are being treated with drugs that cause immunosuppression.
The safety of FluMist in people with asthma or other reactive airway diseases has not been established; FluMist should not be given to people with a history of these problems. In a large safety study, children under five years of age were found to have an increased rate of asthma and wheezing within 42 days of vaccination compared to placebo recipients, and thus FluMist is not recommended for young children. For people age 50 years and over, the safe and effective use of FluMist has also not been established.
FluMist should also not be given to people with chronic underlying medical conditions that may predispose them to severe flu infections. For these people, the injected vaccine is indicated.
People should not receive FluMist, or any other flu vaccine, if they have had an allergic reaction to eggs or to a previous dose of the vaccine.
The most common adverse events associated with the vaccine were nasal congestion, runny nose, sore throat, and cough.
FluMist is manufactured by MedImmune Vaccines Inc., Gaithersburg, Md. It will
be marketed by MedImmune and Wyeth, Philadelphia, Pa.
Last Editorial Review: 7/7/2004 | <urn:uuid:6511f434-c45d-4dc9-b29f-69cd8474ef7a> | CC-MAIN-2014-15 | http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/art.asp?articlekey=23689 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-15/segments/1398223203235.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20140423032003-00201-ip-10-147-4-33.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964695 | 827 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Survival Tips for Parents and Families
Ask Questions (but not too many)
Many college students think they are “cool” and may resent interference with their newfound independence. Most desire the security of knowing that you are still interested in their well-being.
Parental curiosity may add more stress than relief, depending on the attitudes of the persons involved. Try to avoid “I-have-a-right-to-know” tinged questions with ulterior motives or “the nag.” Honest inquiries, however, and the “between friends” communication and discussion will do much to strengthen the parent-student relationship.
Don’t Ask Them if They’re Homesick
The power of suggestion can be dangerous. The idea of being homesick often doesn’t occur until someone suggests it.
The first few weeks of school are full of activities and friends. The challenge of meeting new people and adjusting to new situations takes most of a student’s time and concentration. So, unless they’re reminded of it, they may be able to escape the loneliness and frustration of homesickness. Even if they don’t tell you during those first few weeks, they do miss you.
Write or Send E-mail (even if they don’t write or e-mail you back)
Although students are typically eager to experience all the away-from-home independence they can in those first weeks, most still yearn for family ties and the security those ties bring. This surge of independence may be misinterpreted as rejection by sensitive parents, but most students want some news of home and family. There’s nothing more disheartening than an empty mailbox. (Warning: don’t expect a reply to every letter or e-mail you send)
And sometimes, it’s better to let them call you. Don’t call everyday—just check-in when necessary, and encourage your student to solve his or her own problems before calling home.
Don’t Worry (too much) about Phone Calls, Letters, or E-mails that are Emotional in Nature
Parenting can be a thankless job, especially during the college years. It’s a lot of give and only a little take. Often when troubles become too much for a freshman student to handle (a flunked test, end of a relationship, and a shrunken T-shirt—all in one day), the only place to turn, write, or call is home. Unfortunately, this is often the only time that an urge to communicate is felt so strongly, so you rarely get to hear about the “A” paper, the new relationship, or the domestic triumph.
Be Patient with that Nothing-Is-Going-Right-I-Hate-This-Place Communication
You’re providing a real service as an advisor, sympathetic ear, or punching bag. Granted, it’s a service that may not feel good to you, but it works wonders for a frustrated student.
Visit (but not too often)
Visits by parents (especially those that include a shopping spree or dinner) are another part of first-year events that students may not admit they like, but do appreciate. Pretended disdain of these visits is just another aspect of the first-year syndrome. Plan the visits ahead of time—don’t just pop in unexpectedly as that has potential to cause problems!
It’s All Part of Growing Up
The first year of college can be full of discovery, inspiration, good times, and new friends. Students also can experience indecision, disappointments, and mistakes. It will take time for some students to realize that making mistakes and being happy, sad, confused, liked, and disappointed are all part of growing up.
Parents should understand that many college students do not earn good grades, know what major they want to study, have activity-filled days, or make lots of friends. But there are students who do experience these things. And there are many who undergo trials and hardships. Being college-educated does not mean one is infallible. Parents who try to accept and understand their student’s experiences are providing support and encouragement when it is needed most.
Most college students are still financially dependent on parents to some degree. Discuss your family’s financial status with your son or daughter. Students need to know how much money will be available to them and how much of the fiscal responsibility is theirs.
Prepare for Their Return
When the school year ends and your son or daughter returns home for vacation, plan to discuss the rules of living at home. Parents need to respect the individuality their children have worked hard to achieve, and students need to know there are rules and courtesies to follow.
Excerpt from the Orientation Directors Manual published by the National Orientation Directors Association and from Putting Someone Through College by Jerry O’Connor. | <urn:uuid:b7a864f9-799a-4eb9-9d18-c2a3b1d8ec24> | CC-MAIN-2015-40 | https://www.universityparent.com/north-carolina-central-university/articles/tips-for-parents/survival-tips-for-parents-and-families/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-40/segments/1443737893676.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20151001221813-00240-ip-10-137-6-227.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955401 | 1,027 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Holodomor (Famine Genocide) was a man-made famine in Ukraine that was a part of Soviet Union and ethnically Ukrainian areas near the east ukrainian borders in 1932 and 1933. Holodomor is death by hunger, famine, during which people were consciously starved to death by Soviet komunist regime.
During the Famine – Genocide in Ukraine the rate of people including children dying of starvation was 25,000 a day, 17 human beings a minute. The number of perished in a famine was 7-10 million people that was roughly one quarter of the entire population of Ukraine. The exact number is unknown because all documents in Soviet Union were secret.
To force Ukraine’s millions of independent farmers (kurkuli) into collectivized Soviet agriculture was a part of collectivisation program in the Soviet Union. Farmers were told to give up their farmland, livestock, and equipment to the state, without compensation. Holodomor was the result of actions committed by the Soviet authorities, along with Soviet Dictator Stalin, in order to break the resistance of Ukrainian village complete collectivization policy and “socialist transformation ” in general. There was policy enforcement with the use of repression, grain procurement, authorities confiscating food stocks.
Grain procurements in 1932 in Ukraine amounted to 400 million pounds , 1933 – 380 million pounds . This was possible due to the depletion of the village. The government took from peasants all the grain, including seed capital .
The tragic events of famine covered the veil of silence. It was prohibited any assistance from the international and Soviet public. Affected by famine areas were surrounded by internal forces, which wrapped those who tried to get close to the city.
Physically weakened peasantry could not effectively hold the spring sowing company in 1932 was slightly more than half of the planned area. Thus the harvest 1932 p., being slightly less than the average, would provide a minimum population of Ukraine food, but all harvest was taken from people by Stalin order and sold to other countries.
Ukrainian Famine (Holodomor) 1932-1933 is considered as genocide by thirteen modern states. In 2006 Ukraine officially marks a mourning Holodomor memorial day on the fourth Saturday of November.
Holodomor research andeducation consortium in Canada: holodomor.ca
US investigation of the Ukrainian Famine 1932-1933: Report to Congress: documents
Gareth Jones – journalist who first publicised the existence of the Great Ukrainian Famine of 1932–33, in the Western world garethjones.org
holodomor in Kharkiv region golodomor.kharkov.ua
© 2013. Developed by Etnosoft | <urn:uuid:cd6263eb-1ad4-42c2-80ae-77569488f43e> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://remember1933.com/about-holodomor/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257648177.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20180323024544-20180323044544-00682.warc.gz | en | 0.957404 | 563 | 3.359375 | 3 |
Murney Tower is a Martello tower in Kingston, Ontario, Canada, whose construction dates to 1846 and the Oregon crisis. Officially designated as Murray Tower, the locals called it Murney Tower, as it was built on Murney Point, which was owned by the Murney family at the time. They have since relocated to the Cobourgh area. Eventually the name was changed to coincide with local usage. Its builders intended that Murney (then Murray) Tower complement the fortifications of Fort Henry, Ontario. Cathcart Tower on Cedar Island, Shoal Tower in the Confederation Basin and Fort Frederick on the grounds of the Royal Military College of Canada were part of the same strategic improvements. The tower stands surrounded by a dry ditch and is accessible only by bridge. Murney's walls are about 3 metres thick on the land side and up to 5 metres thick on the lakeside. The main floor (ground level) was the barracks level and has two 32-lb caronade cannons pointed out shuttered windows. The lower floors were the magazine and storage and gun turrets to shoot at anyone inside the ditch. The top floor is the gun platform with one large cannon that can be rotated along an iron rail. A 'rapid removal' roof was later added to protect the gun and keep out the large amounts of snow that did not figure into the mediterranean design of the tower. This is a common feature on Canadian Martellos. Martello towers were, however, already becoming obsolete by the time of construction and militarily worthless within 20 years; it never saw action. By the mid-to-late 19th century the tower was used as a familial barracks for an officer with many children. After the turn of the century, this was discontinued and for a time there were no definite plans for the tower. One of them included the idea of cutting the top off the tower and placing a large statue of Sir John A. MacDonald atop. In 1921 a windstorm blew off the original wooden roof and thus the current roof does not allow for rapid removal in case of attack. Murney Tower is a National Historic Site of Canada, managed and maintained by the Kingston Historical Society, who operates it as a military museum during the summer months (May - End of August). Displays include cannons (32-lbs), uniforms, Lee Enfields, and other mid 19th century military artifacts. Although 16 Martello towers were built in Canada, only 11 are still standing, four of them in Kingston. Two of these towers, Murney Tower and Fort Frederick are open to the public and contain museums. Fort Frederick houses the Royal Military College of Canada Museum. The tower is part of the Rideau Canal and Kingston Fortifications World Heritage Site. | <urn:uuid:dc85ff7b-a265-4686-b6eb-ae9041e1142b> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://openbuildings.com/buildings/murney-tower-profile-15644 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886106465.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20170820112115-20170820132115-00301.warc.gz | en | 0.977713 | 560 | 3.109375 | 3 |
উন্মত্ততা, বাই, বাতিক, নেশা, সখউন্মত্ত বা উত্তেজিত করা, উন্মত্ত অবস্থা, প্রবল আকর্ষণের বস্তু
Noun(1) an interest followed with exaggerated zeal(2) state of violent mental agitation(3) a fine crack in a glaze or other surface
Verb(1) cause to go crazy; cause to lose one's mind(2) develop a fine network of cracks
(1) Several business commentators highlighted the importance of television in fueling the craze for space toys and apparel.(2) While thousands rush to revamp interiors in the ongoing craze for home improvement programmes, more than 2.5 million homes in the UK need substantial repairs.(3) Japanese arts and crafts exercised such a hold over European and American imaginations that in the late 19th century there was a craze for everything from fans to porcelain.(4) Instead, huge stages were erected in public places to cater to the local craze for music, particularly dangdut, a local musical genre mixing Arabic and Indian influences.(5) They will cause the plastic to craze with minute cracks.(6) In addition, Roma found that Makrolon will craze , but the cracks won't propagate all the way through the material.(7) Towards Christmas, expect to see knits which have taken the fashion craze for extravagance the whole way - and why not?(8) The grading system may put an end to the craze for ranks, but it will open a bee-hive of new problems.(9) Come to think of it, videocassette tapes never really became very popular, though there was quite a craze for them soon after they were introduced in the market.(10) Tap the shells with the back of a spoon to craze them, then peel.(11) A craze for wacky weddings has grown since marriage laws were widened to include a vast range of potential venues.(12) Thereafter England also enthusiastically embraced the craze for Egyptian antiquities.(13) The craze for watching football matches triggers a paranoid outburst.(14) I think when the craze for Indian classical music started in the 60s it was a lot more superficial thing than it is now.(15) the new craze for step aerobics(16) The salon organizers have made prints a special highlight of this year's event, hoping to start a craze for print collecting in China.
(1) craze things :: উন্মত্ততা কিছু
1. fad ::
2. fashion ::
3. trend ::
4. vogue ::
5. enthusiasm ::
6. mania ::
7. passion ::
8. rage ::
9. obsession ::
10. compulsion ::
11. fixation ::
12. fetish ::
13. fancy ::
14. taste ::
15. fascination ::
16. preoccupation ::
17. thing ::
18. madden ::
Different Formscraze, crazes, crazing
Word Example from TV Shows
The best way to learn proper English is to read news report, and watch news on TV. Watching TV shows is a great way to learn casual English, slang words, understand culture reference and humor. If you have already watched these shows then you may recall the words used in the following dialogs.
it's all the CRAZE
with those Slavic types.
Breaking Bad Season 5, Episode 13
English to Bengali Dictionary: craze
Meaning and definitions of craze, translation in Bengali language for craze with similar and opposite words. Also find spoken pronunciation of craze in Bengali and in English language.
Tags for the entry "craze"
What craze means in Bengali, craze meaning in Bengali, craze definition, examples and pronunciation of craze in Bengali language. | <urn:uuid:7b1a9885-09b1-4eef-9c82-7bedd9f66e44> | CC-MAIN-2020-40 | https://www.bdword.com/?q=craze | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-40/segments/1600400189928.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20200919013135-20200919043135-00347.warc.gz | en | 0.846778 | 976 | 2.625 | 3 |
Having an eating disorder can be a lonely experience at the best of times. But imagine if, despite having a medical diagnosis, you felt you were at the back of the queue because you weren’t worthy enough of help; because clinicians didn’t think your case was serious enough. This is what can happen if you are one of the estimated 50% of people of those diagnosed with an eating disorder whose condition doesn’t fall into the familiar classifications of anorexia or bulimia.
Until 2013, such conditions were classified with the generic term “eating disorder not otherwise specificed” (EDNOS). A 2009 study found people in this category were more likely to die than those with the specific named disorders.
Speaking from personal experience, I can say that being given such a diagnosis does not make you feel good about yourself. Nor does trying to explain to people how you feel when they think your problem can’t be that serious because it’s not anorexia or bulimia.
It is an almost self-fulfilling prophecy when you think people don’t take your illness seriously. You start to believe it too, and the negative emotions about yourself become more prevalent. Then the eating disorder can come back and really hit you.
What are the ‘other’ eating disorders?
In the last few years, psychiatrists have made more effort to classify these conditions, as well as providing diagnoses along more equal gender lines and relying less on body mass index. In 2013, the American Psychiatric Association took the long overdue step of redefining anorexia and bulimia and creating three new categories of eating disorder from a previous generic “other” group. The first, binge eating disorder has become better known in recent years and is thought to affect around 3% to 5% of American females and 2% of American males at some point in their lives.
Sufferers lose control of what they eat and binge on large amounts of food. The severity of the disorder depends upon the number of binges per week. Unlike with bulimia, binge eating disorder patients don’t purge themselves of the food through vomiting or laxative abuse. As a result, the additional calories consumed are stored by the body and obesity, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes can follow.
As with all eating disorders, the causes of BED are complex and differ from person to person, but generally revolve around low self-esteem, lack of control in life, loneliness, body dissatisfaction and trauma. Help usually takes the form of psychological treatments such as therapy, as well as encouraging the patient to make changes to their life such as exercising and healthy eating. The chance of recovery is good after treatment but, as with all eating disorders, the big issue for sufferers is realising there is a problem, getting help and making the changes needed to sustain improvement.
The second new category is “other specified feeding or eating disorder” (OSFED), which is in essence a redefining of EDNOS but with the inclusion of five sub-groups: atypical anorexia nervosa (where weight is not yet below normal); binge eating disorder of low frequency and/or limited duration; bulimia nervosa of low frequency and/or limited duration; purging disorder (where sufferers purge themselves of food but don’t binge beforehand); and night eating syndrome (where patients consume excessive amounts of food at night).
On the surface, these new sub-categories appear to offer people a better way of discussing their illness. But there is a chance this group will contain people that don’t otherwise fit the system and could become a new dumping ground, as I felt with EDNOS.
Without parity between OSFED and the other “full” classifications, it is hard to see how we can escape situations where patients feel they must lose or gain even more weight to get the help they need. However, an initial study has indicated that the new classification criteria could reduce the number of people placed in this general category.
The final categorised eating disorder is that of “unspecified feeding or eating disorder” (UFED), which again indicates behaviour that doesn’t meet the full criteria of any of the other disorders. This can be used by doctors to categorise people initially before more knowledge is gained. Some people will also suffer from an eating disorder that doesn’t fit with any of the other categories. One leading psychologist has written that this occurs in around 1 in 150 of her patients.
While it’s easy to get bogged down in the numbers of diagnoses and mortality rates or the intricacies of different classifications, the greater lesson is that all eating disorders have potentially life-changing or life-ending consequences.
The men I have interviewed for my upcoming study on male anorexia have all experienced huge upheavals and challenges that have affected their employment, education and personal lives. Eating disorders can affect anyone of any age, gender or ethnicity, and the best ways to combat them are through early intervention and greater cultural knowledge of their causes and effects.
If we can raise awareness that eating disorders stretch far beyond the much publicised and inaccurate stereotypes, such as the favourite one of dangerously thin teenage girls acting under pressure from media images. Then perhaps those affected will be more likely to seek treatment and find greater support when they do. | <urn:uuid:116a2a50-e32c-4382-8b3c-158231eeb44d> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | http://theconversation.com/when-people-dont-take-your-eating-disorder-seriously-it-becomes-a-self-fulfilling-prophecy-46238 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676592875.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20180722002753-20180722022753-00357.warc.gz | en | 0.96041 | 1,117 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Rhodri Morgan made the announcement at the start of the Hay Festival
First Minister Rhodri Morgan has announced plans to make Wales a "zero waste" nation as part of a drive to cut the country's carbon footprint.
He has launched a strategy aimed at putting sustainability at the centre of assembly government policy.
He said all parts of Welsh society had a part to play in fashioning a sustainable future fit for the future.
Opposition AMs said Wales needed "delivery not eco-spin" and called for "action to match the rhetoric".
Wales' ecological footprint - how much of the world's resources people consuming to maintain current lifestyles - is 5.16 global hectares per person, compared to a global availability of 1.88 global hectares.
In other words, people in Wales use resources at a rate which would require 2.7 planets to sustain. This rate is expected to rise to 3.3 planets worth by 2020 if nothing is done.
TARGETS AND ACTIONS
Cut reliance on carbon based energy by 80-90%
70% recycling of municipal waste by 2025
Extend use of ecological footprinting in Wales
A new green jobs strategy
£190m spending on public health
Sustainable development to be a core NHS aim
See Wales recognised as sustainable tourism destination
Source: Welsh Assembly Government
The Welsh assembly is one of only three administrations in the world that has a legal duty to promote sustainable development.
Speaking at the Hay Festival, Mr Morgan unveiled the sustainable development scheme, aimed at ensuring the Welsh Assembly Government uses devolved powers to put sustainability across its policy making.
He said: "We must build sustainability into everything we do. This is not just an issue for the green lobby. It is not just about recycling our cans.
"It is about ensuring Wales can sustain itself with sustainable jobs and a sustainable quality of life.
"The choices we make now on issues like transport or education need to take into account the effect on future generations and their quality of life. There is no room for short-term decisions."
Environment Minister Jane Davidson said: "This is a truly wide-reaching vision for Wales.
"We have committed ourselves to becoming a one planet nation - to use only our fair share of resources to sustain our lifestyles. This will ensure we leave enough resources for future generations. It is also about the types of transport we develop, and the efficiency of energy we use."
Jonathan Porritt, chair of the Sustainable Development Commission, said: "I am extremely pleased that the Welsh assembly government is showing such serious commitment to making Wales a truly sustainable country.
"I am also glad that the Sustainable Development Commission will have a new role in Wales in measuring the progress made by government in becoming more sustainable.
"If actions match the ambition shown in this document, Wales will set an example for the rest of the world to follow."
Angela Burns AM, the Welsh Tories' environment spokesperson, said: "We share the assembly government's aim of making Wales a more sustainable nation, but what we need is delivery, not more eco-spin masquerading as policy.
"The minister [Jane Davidson] has yet to fulfil her promise to devolve powers to the assembly which will make a real difference to sustainable development.
"Without these there is little prospect of delivery on today's pledges."
Welsh Liberal Democrats leader Kirsty Williams said: "For the past decade we've seen a government that tells us to recycle, or save energy in one breath but subsidises flights or expands the M4 in the next breath.
"This incoherence has to end now, or Wales will be left a deeply unsustainable place, with communities over-exposed to oil price and availability pressures, fractured by economic inequalities and exposed to the significant risks of climate change."
Peter Jones, environmental policy officer for RSPB Cymru, said "regrettably" it felt the document failed to spell out the radical changes needed.
"However, we are pleased with the Welsh Assembly Government's commitment to ensure the conservation of biodiversity will be built into everything it does," he said.
"We are also pleased with its strong commitments to combating and limiting climate change. Although, we do believe larger and more immediate carbon emission reductions are needed if we are to avoid runaway global warming."
In February, plans for a "lean, clean and green" Wales, making it self-sufficient in renewable energy within 20 years were launched by the assembly government. | <urn:uuid:37d5025d-6e06-4be5-92c0-dae68cb722e6> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/wales_politics/8064444.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400379320.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123259-00068-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940016 | 919 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Consciousness is the state we are in when we are fully aware of our surroundings, our feelings, our thoughts, and everything that makes up the moment we are in. Throughout the day we may experience different levels of consciousness, which can basically be measured on a scale between full consciousness and unconsciousness. Here are four of the different levels that you may experience at one time or another.
1. Full/Normal Waking Consciousness
When you are fully aware of what is happening around you, those you are with, how you are feeling, and everything is makes up the moment you are in, this is referred to as full or normal waking consciousness. At this point of consciousness, you are able to make sense of time and place, and it becomes the basis of which all other levels of consciousness are determined.
2. Abnormal Consciousness
This level of consciousness usually occurs when a person is affected by things such as personality disorders, addictions or obsessive-compulsive behaviors. Essentially, these types of reactions are like an allergy where a person will have a certain reaction in their brain to things that most people normally wouldn’t. Your level of consciousness becomes changed because your brain directs you to do certain things, and you pretty much cannot control what you are doing.
3. Other Altered States of Consciousness
You might have thought that abnormal and other altered states of consciousness would just mean the same thing, but there is a slight difference. In an altered state of consciousness, because of the addiction or whatever it is that is controlling what your brain is thinking, you yourself don’t really have any control. However, in other altered states you do have some control. During these times, you may be somewhat aware of your surroundings and will likely have limited memory access. This state of consciousness usually occurs when you have had alcohol or some other type of drug, when you are meditating or when you are daydreaming.
This is one of the more commonly known states of consciousness. This can occur when we fall into a deep sleep, when we become knocked out by a brain injury or go into a coma. During a state of unconsciousness, we become completely unable to maintain an awareness of ourselves and what is happening around us. We are also usually completely unresponsive to anything that occurs around us. It is distinguished from other states of consciousness when we may be in a light sleep or affected by drugs, as during those periods we may not seem fully aware of our surroundings yet we usually respond to the environment around us.
The human brain is a very interesting and complex thing, and there is surely more to discover about how it works and our different levels of consciousness. It is likely you have experienced most if not all of these different levels of consciousness at some point in your life, whether you were completely aware of what exactly was happening or not. | <urn:uuid:24e051cc-ba48-4b86-b7e2-08ab18e2abdb> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | https://www.careeraddict.com/4-types-of-consciousness-you-experience-every-day | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583511897.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018173140-20181018194640-00480.warc.gz | en | 0.974908 | 581 | 3.375 | 3 |
Fun facts about Svalbard
The Svalbard archipelago, situated between the mainland on Norway and the North Pole, is a very fascinating place. In many ways. There are more polar bears than people, and four months a year, you experience 24 hours daylight.
The Svalbard Treaty from 1920 recognized Norwegian sovereignty in 1925, but there are more than 40 nationalities living there, including larger Russian communities.
The nature and wildlife is stunning, and no matter what season you visit, there are many nice experiences.
Here are some fun facts about Svalbard:
- Nobody is allowed to be born here. Pregnant women are send to the mainland to give birth.
- On the other hand, nobody is allowed to die here either. If you are seriously ill, or simply getting old, you have to move back to the mainland.
- People do not wear shoes inside, including at restaurants. This rule was made after having problems with workers dragging in dust from the coal mines.
- There are more polar bears in Svalbard than people.
- Due to the risk of meeting polar bears, nobody are allowed to walk around outside the settlement of Longyearbyen without being able to scare them away. It is also advised to bring firearms. You can therefore see people wandering around with riffles. But, when they go inside for example the grocery shop or a restaurant, they have to put them in designated lockers.
- From around 19 April to around 26 August you will experience the Midnight Sun, meaning that the sun will never set below the horizon in that period.
- From around 26 October to around 14 February, on the other hand, they have polar nights, meaning that the sun will never rise above the horizon, leaving it to be pitch dark all day and night. But, the good thing is that you will have much more chance to see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis), as it can be visible any time of day.
- For beer lovers, Svalbard is home to the northernmost brewery in the world, Svalbard Bryggeri.
- And the northernmost bar, post office, university, grocery shop, museum, ATM and Lenin statue, to name a few.
- The Svalbard Global Seed Vault, located in an abandoned coal mine, contains seeds from all over the world in order to preserve them. The countries can get back seeds to regrow after for example crises.
- You are not allowed to pick flowers.
- There are only four Icelandic horses in Svalbard. One of them is 33 years and retired.
- Cats are not allowed. There is however a cat in the Russian settlement Barentsburg, but it is registered as an Arctic fox…
- The hotel in Barentsburg offer free parking. The problem is that there are no roads connecting Barentsburg with other settlements.
- The Russians apparently have a tradition to consume alcoholic drinks containing the same level of alcohol content as the latitude they are at. The former Russian settlement Pyramiden, is situated at 79°…
Have you been to Svalbard, and know some other fun facts? | <urn:uuid:d8957521-0f53-47ad-8a84-91786e5e7478> | CC-MAIN-2020-05 | http://travellinn.net/fun-facts-about-svalbard | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-05/segments/1579250591431.4/warc/CC-MAIN-20200117234621-20200118022621-00379.warc.gz | en | 0.960494 | 651 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Camouflage is a type of adaptation that allows animals to blend in with their surroundings. This adaptation helps protect them from their enemies.
An animal is much better able to "hide" by blending into its surroundings. On the other hand, camouflage also helps a predator "fit in" to its environment so that it won't be seen very easily as it comes up on its prey.
Take the Arctic fox. During summer months, the Arctic fox has a brown coat. During winter, the coat of the Arctic fox is white, matching its icy, snowy surroundings. | <urn:uuid:31306b4b-0420-41d4-8873-65cd2e16cb87> | CC-MAIN-2018-47 | http://teacher.scholastic.com/dirtrep/animal/foxes.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-47/segments/1542039742963.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20181115223739-20181116005739-00302.warc.gz | en | 0.975545 | 115 | 3.265625 | 3 |
Wright, R, Flynn, L, Garbeil, H, Harris, A, Pilger, E (2002). Automated volcanic eruption detection using MODIS. REMOTE SENSING OF ENVIRONMENT, 82(1), 135-155.
The moderate resolution imaging spectroradiometer (MODIS) flown on-board NASA's first earth observing system (EOS) platform, Terra, offers complete global data coverage every 1-2 days at spatial resolutions of 250, 500, and 1000 m. Its ability to detect emitted radiation in the short (4 mum)- and long (12 mum)-wave infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, combined with the excellent geolocation of the image pixels (similar to 200 m), makes it an ideal source of data for automatically detecting and monitoring high-temperature volcanic thermal anomalies. This paper describes the underlying principles of, and results obtained from, just such a system, Our algorithm interrogates the MODIS Level 1B data stream for evidence of high-temperature volcanic features. Once a hotspot has been identified, its details (location, emitted spectral radiance, satellite observational parameters) are written to an ASCII text file and transferred via file transfer protocol (FTP) to the Hawaii Institute of Geophysics and Planetology (HIGP), where the results are posted on the Internet (http://modis.higp.hawaii.edu), The global distribution of volcanic hotspots can be examined visually at a variety of scales using this website, which also allows easy access to the quantitative data contained in the ASCII files themselves. We outline how the algorithm has proven robust as a hotspot detection tool for a wide range of eruptive styles at both permanently and sporadically active volcanoes including Soufriere Hills (Montserrat), Popocatepetl (Mexico), Bezymianny (Russia), and Merapi (Java), amongst others. We also present case studies of how the system has allowed the onset, development,. and cessation of discrete eruptive events to be monitored at Nyamuragira (Congo), Piton de la Fournaise (Reunion Island), and Shiveluch (Russia). (C) 2002 Published by Elsevier Science Inc. | <urn:uuid:564cc7c9-a9bc-4ed3-839c-3fe1e35fcad9> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://modis.gsfc.nasa.gov/sci_team/pubs/abstract.php?id=03423 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1430454626420.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20150501043026-00026-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.84034 | 460 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Some Background on the Ship Lists
An English 1727 law required ship’s captains of any ship arriving in England or any of its colonies to provide a complete list of all passengers (the “A” list) and required all foreign males over the age of 16 take the oath of allegiance to the Crown upon arrival (the “B” list). Beginning on 19 August 1729, males over 16 were also required to sign the oath of abjuration (the “C” list). These lists were lost (or perhaps never compiled) for ships arriving in New York, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina. At least one of the three lists still exists for a total of 324 ships arriving in Philadelphia during the period 1727-1775.
Only 138 of the 324 “A” lists survived, and only 64 of those give the ages of the passengers. Only 138 of the “B” lists survive (not the same 138 as for the A lists). But a full 314 of the 324 “C” lists survive.
Women and children under 16 do not usually appear in the lists. The B and C lists normally do not include men who were sick or who refused to sign. In most cases, however, the records also include the number of “freights” or full-fare passengers. (Children paid a fraction of a full-fare depending on their age, so the number of “freights” was normally less than the actual number of passengers.) From this data, several scholars have derived an estimate of the total number of immigrants. About 70,000 Germans – men, women, and children – arrived at Philadelphia before the Revolution. Only about 800 arrived before 1727 – the great majority of Germans living in Pennsylvania in 1727 had evidently not arrived at the Philadelphia port. [Nearly 20,000 Germans were in Pennsylvania by 1727, but very few of these had arrived at the Philadephia port. Estimates are that about 5,000 Germans had immigrated to other ports and by 1727 their descendants number about 20,000. Some of these had migrated from New York.] Between 1727 and 1754, when immigration was halted during the Seven Years War, about 58,000 Germans arrived in Philadelphia. 60% of these (about 35,000) arrived in the five-year period 1749-1754. Roughly another 12,000 arrived between 1763 and 1774.3
What are the A, B, and C Lists?
The “A” lists were basically manifests, usually compiled before the ship left Europe. The English captains or crew normally wrote the lists, so the names are typically Anglicized. The law did not require that the ages of passengers be listed, but a few captains routinely did so. Women and children generally were not listed. Only 24 of the 138 surviving “A” lists show all the passengers and their ages.
The “B” list was made in the Philadelphia court after arrival. The captain was required to deliver to the court all the able-bodied male passengers above the age of 16. The list consists of signatures to the oath of allegiance to the Crown. Persons who could not sign had their names written by the court clerk. The oath, strictly speaking, was not required upon arrival. However, one could not own land in the colonies until taking it. Strassburger’s Volume II contains photocopies of the signatures for each list.
The “C” lists were persons signing the declaration of abjuration against the Pope and the Stuarts and swearing fidelity to the proprietor. Again, only males 16 and over were required to sign. This list was compiled separately, and usually by a different clerk, so some names can be different between the B and C lists. Strassburger reproduces all the actual signatures.
The 1751 “C” List for the Ship Patience
Unfortunately, only List C survives for the 1751 voyage. 109 males aged 16 or over signed the oath of abjuration at the Philadelphia courthouse on 9 September 1751, including these three listed consecutively:4
Adam (his mark) Trarbach
Jacob (his mark) Trarbach
We know from church records that Adam and Jacob were over 21. But a third son who was 18 at the time, Michael Trarbach, was not among the signatories. Whether he was omitted by accident or traveled separately is unknown.
- A Collection of Thirty Thousand Names of German, Swiss, Dutch, French, and Other Immigrants in Pennsylvania from 1727-1776, Israel Rupp, (1856, reprinted 1875, 1931, 1966). [↩]
- Pennsylvania German Pioneers: A Publication of the Original Lists of Arrivals in the Port of Philadelphia from 1727-1808, Ralph B. Strassburger, ed. by William J. Hinke, 3 volumes (1934). [↩]
- A summary of the calculations of a variety of scholars is summarized in “The Flow and Composition of German Immigration to Philadelphia, 1727-1775”, Marianne Wokeck, Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, July 1981, pages 249-278. [↩]
- Pennsylvania German Pioneers, Ralph Beaver Strassburger and William John Hinke, (1934), page 456. Two of the signees remained on board. [↩] | <urn:uuid:17cff112-522a-4f41-bfda-8d3828c9a230> | CC-MAIN-2017-34 | http://www.genfiles.com/traughber/drarbach-arrival-in-1751-in-the-ship-patience/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-34/segments/1502886105187.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20170818213959-20170818233959-00224.warc.gz | en | 0.964471 | 1,132 | 3.71875 | 4 |
In the space inside a computer chip, where electricity becomes information, there’s a scientific frontier. The same frontier can be found inside a cell, where information instead takes the form of chemical concentrations. Recent breakthroughs in the field of nonequilibrium statistical physics have revealed vast areas of research lying hidden within the “thermodynamics of computation.” Advances in this field, which involves elements of statistical physics, computer science, cellular biology, and possibly even neurobiology, could have far-reaching consequences for how we understand, and engineer, our computers. To kick-start this line research, Santa Fe Institute scientists and their collaborators have launched an online wiki for collaboration. This week they also published a paper that neatly summarizes recent advances and open questions that pertain to thermodynamics and computation.
“The thermodynamic restrictions on all systems that perform computation provide major challenges to the modern design of computers,” the researchers write in the opening paragraph of the wiki, designed to “serve as a hub and a gathering place for all who are interested.” They go on to outline the magnitude of energy consumed by computers and the engineering challenges that result when a portion of that energy is lost as waste heat. The wiki also compares natural computations, performed by cells or human brains, to artificial computations, which are markedly less efficient.
The research picks up on work by Rolf Landauer, who in 1961 postulated that in order to erase a single bit of information — a 1 or a 0 — a certain amount of energy must be lost as heat. Landauer’s insight is well known to computer scientists and has led to an informal maxim to avoid bit erasure whenever possible.
Going beyond Landauer’s cost, the new paper tries to convey that “there’s more to the thermodynamics of computation than just bit erasure,” says co-author Joshua Grochow of the University of Colorado Boulder. The paper, published in the computer science newsletter SIGACT News, presents additional factors that could affect how energy flows in and out of atoms during a computation.
To reach other scientists who might be interested in pursuing a thermodynamics of computation, Grochow and co-author David Wolpert of the Santa Fe Institute catalog some of the new tools from statistical physics that apply to nonequilibrium systems — like computers.
“Part of what we are trying to do with this paper is package up the lessons from nonequilibrium statistical [physics] over the past 20 years in a way that makes clear what the new computational questions are,” Grochow explains. He hopes that by presenting what is now known about the relationship between thermodynamics and the microscopic processes that occur during computation, the paper will “entice computer scientists to work on a new generation of questions.”
One of these questions involves how to thermodynamically “tune” computers to the inputs they are most likely to encounter. Grochow gives the example of a calculator that is thermodynamically optimized for random 32-bit string inputs (equivalent to a decimal value of 10 digits). The majority of human users don’t enter inputs that require any of the higher bits. If the calculator were re-engineered to “expect” fewer than 32 bits, would it waste less energy in the form of heat?
Beyond the accuracy of a computation, Grochow says the amount of memory a computation requires and how long the computation takes are other aspects that could affect its thermodynamic efficiency.
Wolpert hopes their research will expand to incorporate other recent breakthroughs from statistical physics, like the Jarzynski equation. This equation provides a probabilistic bridge between the macro-scale world, where entropy can only increase, and the micro-scale world, where it does not. Some computer transistors are tiny enough to exist between these macro and micro scales.
“We’re extending computer science theory, which was originally motivated by real-world systems, to other aspects of those systems that it never even knew to think about before,” says Wolpert.
The theory could lead to engineering advances that would enable cooler, more powerful machines, like exascale computers and even tiny swarm robots. It could also impact the sustainability of computing technology.
“Computers now use a non-trivial fraction of energy in first world countries,” says Grochow. “Given that computing is going to continue to grow, reducing the energy they consume is hugely important to reducing our overall energy footprint.”
Read “Beyond number of bit erasures: New complexity questions raised by recently discovered thermodynamic costs of computation” in SIGACT News. (June 21, 2018)
Visit the Thermodynamics of Computation Wiki for reference materials, upcoming events, job openings, and discussion forum. | <urn:uuid:9e4b8c51-6ce1-46ac-8ffa-f589e20989e0> | CC-MAIN-2021-39 | https://www.santafe.edu/news-center/news/cooler-computing-through-statistical-physics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-39/segments/1631780057687.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20210925142524-20210925172524-00519.warc.gz | en | 0.933491 | 1,001 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Researchers always want to keep learning more! There are researchers in any field of science! You can do research in physics, biology, chemistry math, computer programming, and any other field that you can think of. Research can be applied or basic. Applied research aims at solving an existing scientific problem, while basic research is done for the sake of increasing knowledge or understanding scientific phenomena. To be a researcher in any field, a doctorate in that field is usually required.
Read about women who are researchers:
Ann Hornschemeier Cardiff
Denise Erin Moon | <urn:uuid:4e742ccd-7a94-498d-880f-0a28fa9c8b6c> | CC-MAIN-2019-09 | http://carnegiestemgirls.org/stem-resources/careers/researcher/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-09/segments/1550247489343.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20190219041222-20190219063222-00243.warc.gz | en | 0.73168 | 112 | 2.578125 | 3 |
August 29, 2011
On July 28, 2011 Representatives Judy Biggert (R-IL) and Rush Holt (D-NJ) introduced House Resolution 378. H. Res. 378 is a bipartisan resolution that calls for the House of Representatives to give strong consideration to the role of science education in the educational accountability system as it works to reauthorize the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (No Child Left Behind).
Background: While science is tested, only English Language arts (ELA) and mathematics assessments are counted in the current accountability system under NCLB. As a result science has been greatly reduced in schools nationwide. A Center for Education Policy report (Instructional Time in Elementary Schools: A Closer Look at Changes for Specific Subjects, February 2008 )found that a majority of the nation's school districts increased time for English Language arts (ELA) or math and reduced time by at least 75 minutes per week in science.
Science education is critical to our nation’s future. In July 2011, a U.S. Department of Commerce report found that:
The STEM workforce has an outsized impact on a nation’s competitiveness, economic growth, and overall standard of living … STEM jobs are the jobs of the future. They are essential for developing our technological innovation and global competitiveness … Regardless of educational attainment, entering a STEM profession is associated with higher earnings and reduced joblessness. For college graduates, there is a payoff in choosing to pursue a STEM degree, and for America’s workers, an even greater payoff in choosing a STEM career. (STEM: Good Jobs Now and for the Future, U.S. Department of Commerce, July 2011)
What You Can Do: For years many in the STEM community have advocated including student achievement in science alongside math and ELA as a required element of the revised accountability system under ESEA
It is important to get a large number of members of Congress (in the House) to cosponsor House Resolution 378. The number of Representatives listed as co sponsors will determine the level of support for this issue.
Ask your representative in the House to support House Res 378: By clicking on this website you will enter the STEM Education Coalitions website, where you will be able to send a personalized letter to your member of the House of Representatives urging them to co-sponsor H.Res. 378. Once you enter this new website, you will be able to enter your contact information, see a sample letter, and edit it as you like. All information sent over this website is confidential.
Also forward this link to all of your networks and distribute as widely as possible.
Questions? Contact Jodi Peterson at NSTA, [email protected].
(Back to NSTA Express) | <urn:uuid:779fe4a5-7396-46fb-a2ba-a6ba9ae0293b> | CC-MAIN-2015-06 | http://science.nsta.org/nstaexpress/nstaexpress_2011_08_29_legupdate.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-06/segments/1422122108378.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20150124175508-00180-ip-10-180-212-252.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943751 | 565 | 2.546875 | 3 |
THE mouth is the most important part of the body that should be kept clean. It is not all about white teeth or having the brightest smile but one has to take extra care to make sure the mouth is kept clean.
“I brush once a day because I always get lazy to brush in the night, but sometimes I woke up in the morning when my teeth are paining,” says Ritah Musiime a resident in Banda.
Musiime says, “[ever] since last week I had a tooth ache but I do nt know what to do.”
According to the first National Oral Health Policy produced by the Ministry of Health in 2007, “Currently there is inadequate data on the oral health situation in Uganda.”
A National oral survey in 1987, however, had found; thirty five percent (35%) of 6 year olds with D3-4MFT, 23% 12 year olds with D3-4MFT and 52% of 35-44 year olds with D3-4MFT.
This survey equally established that the main reason for tooth loss among the surveyed communities was tooth decay. It was also found that preventive oral health programmes were of a limited nature with Public Health Dental Officers offering mainly curative services even though the rationale behind training this group of auxiliaries was to address the need for community based oral health services.
The most prevalent conditions reported by dental practitioners were; tooth decay (93.1%), pain (82.1%), tooth loss (79.3%), early childhood caries (75.9%), bleeding gums (71.4%), loose teeth (48.3%), bad breath (42.9%)
— The Ofualoka Post (@TheOfualokaPost) June 22, 2019
More recent information (2004/2005) from a rapid assessment conducted through a community survey and key informant interviews in 10 districts highlighted that, at least 51% of the community had experienced an oral health problem in the six months prior to the survey. Of the persons who had experienced an oral health problem only 35% were receiving treatment.
The most prevalent conditions as reported by the key informants (dental practitioners) were; tooth decay (93.1%), pain (82.1%), tooth loss (79.3%), early childhood caries (75.9%), bleeding gums (71.4%), loose teeth (48.3%), bad breath (42.9%), oral HIV lesions (28.6%), harmful practices such as tooth bud extraction (17.2%), oro-facial trauma without fractures (13.8%), jaw fractures (13.8%), oral cancer (10.3%), mouth sores (10.3%), fluorosis (6.9%) and benign oral tumours (3.4%).
How to brush;
Anyone can brush their teeth but may not know the right and correct way of how to do so.
First of all, it is important that one brushes their teeth using a tooth brush and tooth paste.
Do not rush when brushing teeth. Hilary Abonge, a dentist at Astro dental services in Mulago, says, one should take time and brush all the parts of the mouth carefully.
Brush thoroughly; Abonge says when brushing the teeth one should make sure to reach both the inner and outside areas. People should brush the upper and lower teeth.
People should brush gently. Brushing with so much force can cause a strain to the teeth and the mouth.
Brush the tongue thoroughly, some people ignore the tongue but it is one of the parts in the mouth that harbors bacteria and it should be cleaned well and regularly.
What to do;
According to Abonge, it is very important to visit a dentist regularly. One does not have to first wait to get a tooth decay to see a dentist.
Avoid over using tooth picks. They damage the gum and can cause bleeding.
Regular consumption of sugary and sticky foods can make the teeth go bad.
The most prominent determinants for oral disease as pointed out in the National Oral Health Policy in 2007 were; sugar consumption, failure to use fluoride toothpaste, lack of access to fluorinated water, tobacco use, lack of community oral health education, use of traditional practitioners, low level of community awareness and failure to have oral health check ups.
Always change a tooth brush every after 2 months. Abonge says, people should use tooth brushes with soft bristles and avoid brushing roughly because it causes trauma to the gum.
People should avoid using teeth for vigorous activities like opening bottles. It can make the teeth weak.
Use mouth wash where necessary
Always remember to use a mouth guard when going for sport games like Rugby, Boxing to avoid the mouth from getting damaged. | <urn:uuid:9ac60a5c-5180-439e-bf5b-a99b2382fdb8> | CC-MAIN-2020-10 | https://ofualokapost.com/2019/06/24/ugandas-tooth-decay-problem-stands-at-93-1-dental-officers-offering-more-curative-remedies-not-preventative/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-10/segments/1581875146127.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20200225172036-20200225202036-00143.warc.gz | en | 0.949997 | 981 | 3.453125 | 3 |
We would like to focus seed collections on states with infested counties and surrounding areas. Our initial focus will center on the five most widespread Fraxinus species in eastern North America:
Range maps of these are shown in our Maps area.
Ideally, the full ecogeographic ranges of these species will be sampled in a stratified fashion. In part, this can be accomplished by acquiring samples from as many Omernik Level III ecoregions as possible from throughout the native ranges. A copy of the Omernik Level III ecoregion map for North America can be obtained from:
ftp://ftp.epa.gov/wed/ecoregions/cec_na/NA_LEVEL_III.pdf. (Note: This takes some time to download)
In the future, we will also work to obtain representative samples of F. caroliniana (Carolina ash) in the southeastern US and of western ash species.
Fraxinus species are widespread throughout the eastern and central United States, with other North American taxa found in isolated parts of the southwestern and western United States. Trying to identify suitable native populations of Fraxinus that are worthy of collecting comes with experience and can initially be difficult. However, a few simple guidelines can be followed in order to ensure high-quality samples are collected:
An initial summer reconnaissance to identify ash populations that meet the key points noted in "Guidelines for collecting seeds" is often extremely helpful. Summer visits are good times to locate the best areas of seed production, confirm site ownership and access, and make herbarium vouchers.
If you are planning to collect in (or you live in) an area that is within a Federal or State ash quarantine zone (see http://www.emeraldashborer.info/files/MultiState_EABpos.pdf for current map of quarantined and regulated zones), it is important that these quarantines not be violated. Ash seed samples and herbarium vouchers may be considered regulated articles and should not be transported out of quarantine zones without appropriate permits. A PPQ 540 or other permits may be required. Please contact your APHIS State Plant Health Director for more details. A contact list is available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/services/report_pest_disease/report_pest_disease.shtml
After suitable populations with good seed production have been identified and "georeferenced" (with a GPS unit or fine-scale maps) during reconnaissance, seeds can be collected. Harvesting time generally occurs in the fall (depending on location timing will vary), though blue ash can mature its seeds earlier in the summer and some green ash populations can retain seeds well into winter. During late summer and autumn, seeds start to ripen by displaying a gradual change in coloration from green to yellow and then to tan or brown. The first seeds to fall from the trees are typically of poor condition.
Initially, time should be taken to estimate seed quality for each parent tree. Carefully examine a small, representative sample of seeds by simply cutting them in half. Visual observations should reveal a whitish endosperm that completely fills the seed pericarp. A photograph of an empty/non-viable seed and a viable seed is displayed at right (top). Seed quality can also be reduced by ash seed weevils (Lignyodes sp. — right, bottom), which destroy the endosperm.
At each collection site, a minimum of 1,000 seeds should be collected from each mother tree, but a larger amount (3,000-5,000 sd) is recommended to increase the likelihood of long-term success. The table below lists the average 100-seed weights, average 3,000-seed weights, and the average volume (in liters; 1 liter = 1.06 quarts). The ranges of weights and volumes are fairly large (range of volumes shown in parentheses), so keep this in mind when estimating the actual weight or volume needed for your collections.
|Avg 3000 sd by volume
(7/8 to 2-1/4)
(1-5/8 to 2-1/4)
(1-1/4 to 2)
(2-3/8 to 2-5/8)
The rough percentage of good seeds determined during collection by inspection will help you decide if collection is warranted or how much additional seed should be collected in order to reach the targeted quantity of live seed. Sample equally (relatively the same number of good seeds per mother tree) throughout the extent of the population. It is very important that seeds from each mother tree be kept separate.
If there are 5 to 15 (ideally 25) mother trees bearing a sufficient quantity of high-quality seeds within your collection site, then proceed to harvest seeds from each mother tree separately, either by hand from low branches or by cutting down seed-bearing branches. Pruning small branches (< 1/2 inch in diameter; i.e. < 12 mm dia.) with a pole saw can result in quickly obtaining a large amount of seed. Please note that seeds may disperse readily if a branch falls to the ground abruptly. Alternatively, depending on the seed-shattering characteristics of the parent tree, tarps can also be spread on the ground in order to catch seeds released from the tree by shaking the limbs or striking them with a pole. Large quantities of relatively clean seed can be gathered quickly in this manner. Do not collect seeds that have already fallen to the ground.
Fruiting trees may also be spotted more easily and from greater distances following leaf fall, but the ability to harvest large quantities of seeds at such a late stage can potentially decrease drastically. In addition, leaf samples may not be available for species identification during collection, but twig and seed characteristics along with bark patterns should facilitate identification.
The US Forest Service recently published a guide for ash seed collection with many useful hints to increase your overall success. See Methods for Collecting Ash Seeds to order a printed copy or download a PDF file.
Samples should be collected and stored in brown paper bags where they can dry upon collection. If seeds are wet, they should be air dried for at least 24 hours. Keep the seed collections in a cool (65-70 °F, 18-21 °C), dry (RH < 60%) place during the collection trip and prior to shipping. Do not freeze seeds. Do not allow collections to overheat, and do not leave them in a vehicle in full sun. Maintain ventilation around the collections at all times and try to park the collecting vehicle in the shade, or, at the very least, try to shade the windshield. Exposure to such sustained high temperatures can badly damage the seeds.
Clearly label all seed bags with a permanent black marker on the outside of the bag, along with a label containing the same information inside the bag. Seeds should be separated by mother tree and identified by marking each seed bag with an unambiguous numbering system, along with the proposed name of the species collected, the collection site name, and the collection date. If additional bags are needed to contain a large number of seeds taken from the same tree, simply indicate it is bag 1 of 2 or 3 of 4, etc. Seed bags should be folded and stapled.
Data collection forms should be completed for all seed collections. If an herbarium voucher was taken prior to collection, please include the voucher collection number that is associated with the sample being collected, along with associated information about any materials collected from these trees for DNA sampling.
When georeferencing ash populations, we prefer that you use a GPS unit and record your data in decimal degrees to at least 4 decimal places. Also, please set your unit to use the NAD83 datum. If you determined the coordinates retroactively, by using USGS topographic maps or online sources, please make sure that you note your source.
Ideally, a single point should be marked approximately in the middle of the population being sampled. If this is impossible because of access issues, please explain the relationship of the coordinates that you have recorded to the trees being sampled in "Other Notes" under the main heading of "Site Description" in the data entry form. It is not necessary to record coordinates for each individual tree, assuming that all trees are being collected from a single, contiguous stand. If a collection is being taken along a transect, trail, or road, you can include the coordinates of the starting and ending points in the "Other Notes" section.
In our primary target region, there are six, widely recognized native Fraxinus species. Here is a quick key to help distinguish among them during the growing season:
|1. Young branches 4-angled, often winged||F. quadrangrandulata (Blue Ash)|
|1. Young branches more-or-less circular in cross-section|
|2. Lateral leaflets without stalks||F. nigra (Black Ash)|
|2. Lateral leaflets with stalks|
|3. Leaflets strongly whitened beneath||F. americana (White Ash)|
|3. Leaflets green or rusty beneath|
|4. Lateral leaflets gradually narrowed at base into a narrow wing that runs down the upper part of the leaflet stalk||F. pennsylvanica (Green Ash)|
|4. Lateral leaflets acute at base; leaflet stalk without wings|
|5. Leaflets with long, tapered tips; fruits very large (4 to 7.5 cm long) and narrowly oblong||F. profunda (Pumpkin Ash)|
|5. Leaflets with short acute or blunt tips; fruits smaller (2.5 to 5.5 cm long), widest above the middle, winged to the base||F. caroliniana (Carolina Ash)|
Ash Key illustrations:
Other traits and habitat preferences that can help distinguish among these six species are described below. We have included some images of mature fruits (seeds), stems and buds that may be helpful for distinguishing among these species at other times of the year.
In addition, Fraxinus excelsior (European Ash) is sometimes cultivated as a landscape tree in the Eastern United States and Canada. It would key to F. nigra above. However, F. nigra has tufts of tan to reddish hairs at the base of each leaflet, but F. excelsior does not.
Initial reconnaissance efforts should occur in mid-summer in order to identify and document desirable, seed-producing ash populations. During reconnaissance, voucher specimens should be taken along with complete passport data. The purpose of voucher specimens is to document the populations from which seeds will be collected, as well as to verify that the species has been identified correctly. A minimum of two vouchers each of both vegetative and floral branches should be sampled per collection area and deposited in both national (U.S. National Arboretum Herbarium) and regional herbaria. If desirable, additional vouchers may be collected for the collecting team's own herbarium. The number of vouchers taken per collection should reflect the expertise of the collector, the degree of within-population phenotypic variation, and the possibility of two or more taxa occurring in the same location. A vegetative voucher specimen should comprise at least 12-14 inches long of annual growth, including at least two of the compound, pinnate leaves, both lateral and terminal buds. A "floral" voucher specimen should consist of a twig about 12-14 inches long, including at least two of the compound, pinnate leaves, both lateral and terminal buds, and one cluster of developing seeds. Having both vegetative and reproductive vouchers aids in identification, as morphological characteristics may be skewed due to the amount of annual growth that is sampled. Immediately after collection, the specimen should be pressed and labeled with the collection date, proposed taxonomic name, collection location name and/or description, and collection number. The collection number and date should be written in indelible ink on the outside of the newspaper holding the specimen. The pressed specimen should then be quickly dried at a moderate temperature to avoid molding and deterioration. Collection numbers should be assigned to each herbarium specimen following an unambiguous numbering procedure.
After specimens are dried, a computer-generated label for each specimen should be laser-printed onto archival bond paper and paper clipped to each specimen until it can be mounted by herbarium staff. An example of a voucher specimen label is shown at right. Please note, herbarium vouchers should not be mounted by collectors.
We recommend that digital images of the tree and surrounding habitat be captured. If images are captured, a consistent naming protocol should be followed so images can easily be linked to the corresponding voucher specimens. The collection number along with the collection location should be cited in the image file name or provided on the reverse side of the photograph.
During the collection of the herbarium specimen, collectors should complete data collection forms for each population vouchered, documenting the site location/description, latitude and longitude coordinates, habitat, associated vegetation, etc. This ensures that the seed lots will be properly documented in the NPGS's GRIN database. A completed data collection form is only necessary on a population basis and is not intended for each individual specimen.
Literature that further explains proper technique in sampling and handling herbarium specimens includes:
If you already have an unambiguous numbering system for your collections, we encourage you to continue with that. In our system, we include the initials of the collector, a four digit number to indicate the year collected, a three digit sequential number assigned to the population collected, and a three digit sequential number assigned to the specimen sampled within that population. Thus, if John A. Doe collects a voucher of Fraxinus from his tenth collection for 2008, the collection number for the third tree from that population would be coded as JAD/2008/010/003. The year (2008) is followed by the collection site (010) which is followed by the tree that was sampled (003).
|JAD / 2008 / 010 / 003|
John A Doe
collected in 2008
10th collection site for year 2008
3rd tree from the 10th collection site
And if you have collected in (or you live in) an area within a Federal or State ash quarantine zone, your shipments of seeds and vouchers may require inspection and appropriate permits before shipment. Any permits that you received from APHIS or State regulatory officials must included within your shipment container. Please contact your APHIS State Plant Health Director for more details. A contact list is available at http://www.aphis.usda.gov/services/report_pest_disease/report_pest_disease.shtml
Seeds should be removed from their pedicels before shipment. Seed samples contained in brown paper bags should be clearly labeled on the outside with black permanent marker along with a label on the inside. Occasionally, large amounts of seeds are obtained during collection and require additional bags. In such cases, please indicate the number of bags for each mother tree (e.g. 1 of 2, etc.). Please ensure that all samples are secure as they may encounter rough handling en route. It is recommended to ship samples via ground transportation as conditions within an airplane may be unfavorable during transport on certain airlines. Some airlines consistently maintain safe temperature and air pressure in their cargo bays, while others do not guarantee safe conditions without prior arrangements. Samples should be securely folded and stapled shut. Shipment should include the collection data spreadsheet which is created using the form downloaded from the Forms page. In addition, please email the spreadsheet electronically to [email protected]. Notification of an incoming shipment is greatly appreciated. Please avoid shipping near holidays.
If you are shipping via private carrier service, please ship seed samples to:USDA-ARS North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station
If you are shipping via the US Postal Service, please ship seed samples to:USDA-ARS North Central Regional Plant Introduction Station
We can cover the cost of shipping seed samples and data collection forms to the NCRPIS only if FedEx is used as the carrier. A FedEx account number will be supplied by Mark P. Widrlechner upon request.
Once at the NCRPIS facility, collection data are entered into the NPGS's GRIN database, seed drying is completed, and the seeds are cleaned, their quality evaluated, digital images captured of both the seeds and collection forms. The seeds are then prepared for proper storage. Balanced, bulk samples from each collection area will be assembled at the NCRPIS and back-up samples transferred to the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation (NCGRP) in Fort Collins, CO for long-term conservation. After balanced bulks are created, the remaining seeds from individual mother trees will be kept as separate seed lots.
Once voucher labels have been created and attached to the dried specimens, they can immediately be shipped to the proper locations which would include the U.S. National Arboretum Herbarium and an active regional herbarium.
The U.S. National Arboretum Herbarium primary contact and mailining address:
|Robert Webster||U.S. National Arboretum Herbarium|
|Email: [email protected]||Attn: Robert Webster|
|Phone: 202-245-4542||3501 New York Avenue NE|
|Washington, D.C. 20705-2350|
The cost of shipping herbarium specimens to the National Arboretum Herbarium can be covered only if FedEx is used as the carrier. A FedEx account number will be supplied by Robert Webster upon request.
Appropriate regional herbaria can be determined by contacting:
|Alan T. Whittemore|
If available, additional herbarium specimens can be given to the collecting team's local herbarium, otherwise duplicate specimen(s) can also be sent to either the national or regional herbarium.
Due to the fragile nature of voucher specimens, they should be packed with special care to avoid damage during shipment. Specimens should be protected by intercalating them between sheets of corrugated cardboard, and then bundled and the cardboards securely tied. The bundles should be wrapped in paper which is then taped. The bundles should be packed in a strong box, sized only slightly larger than the bundles to reduce shifting in transit. Any extra space in the box should be filled with packing peanuts, bubble wrap or similar materials. When shipping herbarium voucher specimens, please include a paper copy of the data collection form for each specimen along with a list of all the specimens being shipped. For each specimen, the corresponding label and data collection form should be paper clipped to its corresponding sheets of newsprint. An electronic version of the packing list should also be transmitted by email to:
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The Psychology of Culture
On the evolutionary, present-day and common proportions of tradition and determining the most crucial analysis regions in cultural psychology
The term culture would suggest all the gamut of pursuits, beliefs, way of living, practices, rituals, arts, ethics and behavioral designs of a culture. Still even with the huge definition of culture, the weather of society being much too various and divergent, it really is challenging to provide a marriage concerning culture and psychology. There are actually two common methods by which the connection involving psychology and lifestyle is studied, by means of intra-cultural psychology or behavioral patterns in just a particular culture and intercultural psychology or actions and psychological qualities amongst societies.More Information Here Casino tycoon daughter
Intra-cultural psychology seeks to understand the cultural foundation of conduct by researching the peculiarities of a modern society, its procedures and norms and reveals how traditions form or affect the collective psyche of the people today inside the society. However in psychology that is only regarded as 'cultural psychology' a simple phrase denoting the study of cultural traditions as well as their outcomes about the psychology of people. This kind of categorization could be deceptive since it tends to see cultures as basically various models and highlights variances rather then similarities. Cross-cultural psychology focuses on obtaining universal designs of conduct or beliefs which are widespread amongst individuals of all cultures and this is what has long been explained here as 'inter-cultural' psychology. The conditions 'intra-cultural' and 'inter-cultural' psychology could be additional conducive to acquiring a psychology that displays convergent styles of cultural habits among persons throughout societies.
The psychology of society demands additional advancement within the areas of defining society and in obtaining cultural roots that would emphasize collective psyche or universal designs of conduct. Human beings are finally united by frequent emotions and psyche and this broader cultural psychology has become promoted by Carl Gustav Jung who centered his reports to the relevance of deriving or knowledge the collective unconscious with those people things or archetypes which might be carried from 1 technology to another.
Culture continues to be described since the accrued ordeals of a society as a entire that has been socially transmitted so the collective unconscious in Jungian phrases would provide as being a repository of cultural imprints that condition human habits correct from childhood. The three predominant faculties of cultural psychology happen to be identified as acquiring activity, symbolic or individualistic approach (Carl Ratner describes this properly). The action technique highlights social routines of a group, the symbolic approach defines lifestyle as shared meanings and ideas or symbols. The individualistic technique highlights the interaction of the unique with culture and thru this, people construct their individual tradition. But I'd downplay the personal aspect of tradition and counsel tradition as largely a bunch phenomenon akin to unique conformity in modern society so aside from action and symbolism, society ought to be defined by its beliefs, values and ethics. Tradition is ultimately about shared pursuits, shared symbolisms and shared perception systems.
The story from the delivery of human culture might be intently connected with the story of human evolution just like the formation of tribes, individuals learned and tailored to team habits. Man was born on your own but became a social animal principally due to survival desires as well as development of society is hence rooted in man's own requirements for stability, protection and survival. Humans comply with regulations, norms, traditions of a society merely 'to live' and culture is about conformity. Therefore the psychology of culture can be the psychology of conformity as well as the non conformist in a very way conforms to particular primary social and cultural policies and traditions.
As 'culture' signifies a broad spectrum of human exercise, cultural psychology should entail the study of:
- Evolutionary and historical patterns of human actions, carefully linked to anthropology
- Contemporary social trends (for example: movie star lifestyle, office tradition, globalization) intently connected with sociology, and
- The intra-cultural and inter-cultural designs of actions to recognize the common factors in human cognition, emotion and perception
Thus there appears to be 3 proportions towards the review of tradition in psychology - the evolutionary, the modern along with the universal. The evolutionary and historical dimension of cultural psychology must be largely explained in terms of Jungian psychology whereas social psychology gets to be an integral portion of your modern dimension. The common dimension with the analyze of cultural psychology utilizes behavioral patterns or cognitive psychology to gauge at how men and women are programmed to behave in specific cases and no matter if these behavioral styles are widespread across cultures and when not, regardless of whether you will discover only lifestyle distinct behaviors.
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An Introduction to Medical Terminology for Health Care
A Self-Teaching Package 4th Revised edition
By (author) Andrew Hutton
Introduction to Medical Terminology for Health Care by Andrew Hutton
Book DescriptionA knowledge of medical terminology is essential for employment in many health care professions. This attractive and easy to use self-teaching text provides a simple, interactive and comprehensive guide to the language of medicine. Following a brief introduction to the basic components of medical words, each unit deals with a different body system and follows a standard plan: word exercises; an anatomy exercise based on an illustration; a case history; medical notes; a word check; a self assessment. By breaking words into their component parts and applying knowledge through exercises and examples from patient care, the reader learns how words are formed and becomes familiar with the common roots and suffixes of medical words as well as how they will be encountered in practice. In addition the text provides a comprehensive glossary and a list of common abbreviations.
Buy Introduction to Medical Terminology for Health Care book by Andrew Hutton from Australia's Online Bookstore, Boomerang Books.
Book DetailsISBN: 9780443100758
(297mm x 210mm x 22mm)
Imprint: Churchill Livingstone
Publisher: Elsevier Health Sciences
Publish Date: 2-Jun-2006
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
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Introduction to Medical Terminology for Health Care, Paperback (January 2015)
A thorough knowledge of medical terminology is essential for all health care roles whether clinical or administrative in nature. The new edition of this attractive and easy to use self-directed learning manual provides a simple, interactive and comprehensive guide to the language of medicine.
Pocket Medical Terminology, Paperback (July 2004)» View all books by Andrew Hutton
Presents a dictionary with medical terms arranged according to body systems and medical topics. Each section has reference boxes, enabling a medical term to be looked up from its common name and vice versa. The sections are coded with the page number at the side for speed of location.
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A 8.6 Earthquake near Sumatra, a risk of ‘widespread destructive tsunami’
Indonesia was struck in 11 April 2012 by a massive quake at 2h38 pm local time, 10h38 am CET. It was estimated to be a 8.6-8.9 magnitude quake (depending of the sources). Epicenter was in the Indic Ocean, at some 500 kilometers West from North Sumatra island, 30 kilometers deep.
The quake was perceived by scared people from Indonesia, Singapore and other places. Twitter live testimonies emerged instantly and all the world was aware of the potential devastating effects of the quake. It was soon apparent that the direct casualties and damages provoked by the quake direct impact was rather limited. But affected people and people around the world feared was the indirect effects linked to an induced tsunami reaching Indonesia coasts first and thereafter other neighbour countries. A global tsunami warning was almost immediately launched. The images and the devastating effects of the tsunami that hit Indonesia and Thailand as a consequence of the massive December 26 2004 quake near Sumatra came to mind to all observers. Present quake was only slightly weaker in magnitude (8,9 Vs 9,1), but this one took place less close than the devastating 2004 tsunami.
You can check in the two figures below the origin of the 2012 quake and its comparison with 2004 quake. Figures are from Tha Wall Street Journal.
Source: WJS, US Geological Survey
Source: WSJ, US Geological Survey
The magnitude of the quake and the incertitude about the effects of the tsunami created also an alert in terms of global media attention. We will present in this post some results concerning immediate media impact, less than 10 hours after that the origin of the crisis.
At this moment, 10h pm CET, tsunami alert has been officially lifted, some 6 hours ago. There is apparently no risk of killing wages anywhere in the Pacific rim.
Update: Death Toll and Material Damages
Only Indonesia suffered direct fatalities and damages provocked by the tremors suffered in Sumatra. Initial report by the National Disaster Management Agency (BNPB) was just four people with minors injuries and a 39-year-old men died of heart disease (BNPB, or Jakarta Globe). As relevant material loss, there was a broken bridge reported in West Aceh district.
The death toll was increased later to 5 people killed, all from heart attack or shock (The Australian)
Technical data about the earthquake
if you are looking for technical information about the 8.6 earthquake, you can check the poster provided by the US Geological Survey. You can access here the high resolution figure, will all details
You can also view the technical information about the earthquake provided by US Geological Survey. The US West Coast and Alaska Tsunami Information (WCATWC) reported it as a 8.7 magnitude earthquake, and did not call for a tsunami warning in US West coastal area.
Here you can find the first bulletin published by the US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre. It launched a tsunami watch for the intention of all 28 countries in the region. The evaluation message did not announce a tsunami warning, bout opened the door for the appearance of a ‘widespread destructive tsunami. This is the full message:
THIS BULLETIN IS ISSUED AS ADVICE TO GOVERNMENT AGENCIES. ONLY
NATIONAL AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT AGENCIES HAVE THE AUTHORITY TO MAKE
DECISIONS REGARDING THE OFFICIAL STATE OF ALERT IN THEIR AREA AND
ANY ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN RESPONSE.
AN EARTHQUAKE HAS OCCURRED WITH THESE PRELIMINARY PARAMETERS
ORIGIN TIME – 0839Z 11 APR 2012
COORDINATES – 2.0 NORTH 92.5 EAST
LOCATION – OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
MAGNITUDE – 8.7
EARTHQUAKES OF THIS SIZE HAVE THE POTENTIAL TO GENERATE A
WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI THAT CAN AFFECT COASTLINES ACROSS
THE ENTIRE INDIAN OCEAN BASIN.
HOWEVER – IT IS NOT KNOWN THAT A TSUNAMI WAS GENERATED. THIS
WATCH IS BASED ONLY ON THE EARTHQUAKE EVALUATION. AUTHORITIES IN
THE REGION SHOULD TAKE APPROPRIATE ACTION IN RESPONSE TO THE
POSSIBILITY OF A WIDESPREAD DESTRUCTIVE TSUNAMI.
ESTIMATED INITIAL TSUNAMI WAVE ARRIVAL TIMES AT FORECAST POINTS
WITHIN THE WARNING AND WATCH AREAS ARE GIVEN BELOW. ACTUAL
ARRIVAL TIMES MAY DIFFER AND THE INITIAL WAVE MAY NOT BE THE
LARGEST. A TSUNAMI IS A SERIES OF WAVES AND THE TIME BETWEEN
SUCCESSIVE WAVES CAN BE FIVE MINUTES TO ONE HOUR.
US Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, 11 April 2012 8h45 UTC (six minutes after the earthquake)
Media Coverage Evolution
In the next figure we show the evolution of total number of news about the risk of tsunami associated to the quake near Sumatra.
We have identified some 8,600 news about the crisis during the first 11 hours after the quake happened. Initial reaction by media, during the first 60 minutes, reached an amount of some 1,300 news.
The timing of the crisis in terms of media impact evolution can be better perceived in the next figure, where we present the number of news inside two hours periods.
Initial media reaction, within the first hour, reflects the ability from some newspapers to publish a quick note announcing the occurrence of the massive sea quake. Number of news is 1,300. In the next two hours, it is known that a tsunami alert is launched, and more details appear concerning direct experience of the temblors in different parts of the world, panic scenes mainly from people near Aceh. There is also a secong big earthquake above 8 points hitting the same area.. During this period some 2400 news were published. At the end of this period it is early morning in the East Coast of the United States. Fears and incertitude grow, but initial information arise diminishing the expectations of devastating tsunami wages. In the next two hours the flow of news stop its increase, and keeps stable around 2100 news. Different sources confirm that there are not high risks of a severe tsunami destruction, some 6-8 hours after the start of the crisis. The diminution of risks of devastation and casualties is translated into a sligh decrease of media attention in the following period (6-7 hours after).
The crisis almost vanishes as media crisis eight hours after the quake struck. The number of news drop dramatically and become a minor issue in the daily global media agenda.
Tsunami Warning. Media Impact By Countries
Initial hours after the tsunami alert was launched created anxiety as the devastating effects of the December 2004 tsunami provoked by an earthquake similar in power and location were probably constantly in mind by people and media from countries that paid a terrible prize in number of casualties. fears were sustained by the official tsunami alert mechanism and by the analysis of experts predicting 6 meters tall wages.
We have monitored the mentions in international media of all countries potentially affected by the tsunami. We present in the next figure our findings.
In order to facilitate the interpretation of the results, we have represented the media attention intensity using circles.
Highest intensity is black circle, that corresponds to more than 8,000 news during the first 24 hours after the earthquake hit the Indian Ocean. It is reached only by references to Indonesia (and Sumatra). Indonesia in its Sumatra island was the region most exposed to the risks and devastation associated to the tsunami. Indonesia was also the country that suffered the most in 2004 tsunami.
The second country most present in the news was Sri Lanka. It can be appreaciated that it was also the one geographically most exposed to eventual tsunami impact.
The other countries most affected by the tsunami alert, as measured by international media impact were India and Thailand. Thailand was also serverely hit by 2004 tsunami, specially in the touristic area of Phuket.
The other countries receiving more than 1,000 news were countries neighbouring Sumatra: Malaysia, Singapore and Australia. Japan is included also in this category, even if there was no direct risks of tsunami damages. It shows the impact in the media of the recent devastating tsunami suffered by japan in March 2011.
It is interesting to compare and complement our results with the analysis provided by Radian 6, who also carried out a social media impact analysis of the tsunami warning crisis. The graph by Radian 6 below shows the geographical references in social media (basically Twitter messages) linked to the tsunami. They find also that main reference is Indonesia. It is followed by mentions to Thailand, Singapore, India and Malaysia, like our results based in traditional media analysis. References to Sri Lanka locations do not appear in their list.
Source: Radian 6, Indian Ocean Earthquake Triggers Social Media Shockwages
Indonesia Earthquake 2012, linking to Indonesia Tsunami 2004 and other disasters
Media coverage of major disasters and crisis events require always terms of reference as part of the news storyline. The initial media coverage of disasters is always accompanied with recalls about past events similar in nature or in the extent of devastation. Comparing the present crisis with past notorious crisis serves to provide a perspective to the readers of the size of the crisis that is being covered. It may serve to trigger anxiety and media interest if the last crisis ‘ranks near the top’ of the previous recorded episodes. This may happen in some cases, specially in the initial stages of a crisis where there is few available information about the exact impact of the crisis
The specific past events chosen by journalists to compare with the present ones provide also an indirect key of lecture of how media is understanding the size and the extent of the present crisis.
We have performed some ‘comparing to previous crisis’ analysis in some cases in this blog. For instance, our analysis show that media was really reluctant to compare the Fukushima nuclear disaster to the previous worst reference, Chernobyl, even if the Japanese case became eventually the worst one in records (See the entry: Chernobyl and Three Mile Island References in News About Fukushima Nuclear Crisis). In another different framework, we showed that when a new sex scandal emerges in the US media, the case Bill Clinton-Lewinski is systematically used as canonical term of reference (The Reputational Curse of Political Sex Scandals: The Impact of Schwarzenegger and Strauss-Kahn Scandals on Bill Clinton (and Monica Lewinsky) Reputation).
We have monitored the references to recent killing earthquakes and tsunamis within the context of the Sumatra April 2012 Earthquake media coverage.
Our findings show that, as expected, all regards are turned towards 26 December 2004 tragedy produced by the Indian Ocean earthquake that eventually killed some 230,000 people. This is a y far natural reaction, as the 2012 earthquake was really similar in its epicentre location and in its magnitude (8.6 Vs 9.0).
More relevant is to look into the details, to check out which locations of the 2004 tsunami are mentioned as references fro explaining that tragedy. We find that the main single reference is Aceh, the province in Indonesia that concentrated the vast majority of victims produced by the tsunami. Aceh receives some 6,000 mentions. Second reference is the country, Indonesia, with 4780. The region, more than the country, is creating the label associated to the 2004 tragedy, even if the tsunami affected other areas in Sumatra.
Next three references are three countries in the Indic Ocean: Sri Lanka, India and Thailand. Thai tourist resort Phuket comes next, with some 2,600 mentions.
We find that the number of mentions received by the four countries in 2012 crisis is perfectly in line with the estimated number of nationals killed by the 2004 disaster: Indonesia (167,800), Sri Lanka (35,300), India (18,000) and Thailand (8,200).
2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. Death Toll and Casualties
Source: 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, Wikipedia
Our results suggest that the 2004 massive tsunami tends to be labelled by the media as the ‘Aceh tsunami’, which also means that this region in Indonesia will be always associated popularly to the disaster. This is part of the negative place branding associated to this name.
By comparison, we find that the references to the more recent and also devastating 2011 tsunami in Tohoku Japan are rather limited. Just some 850 news, seven times less than references to 2004 Tsunami Aceh. Media attention was clearly focused in the risks of tsunami destruction and used basically the references to 2004 tsunami.
Our results show also that this earthquake has not oriented international media attention to previous earthquake disasters similar in magnitude power or with a massive death toll. Mentions to 2010 killing earthquake in Haiti are marginal, as they appeared only in 280 news. References to massive earthquake in Chile are even more limited. The storyline of media coverage of this natural disaster was completely oriented to tsunamis, and not to earthquakes, even if finally only an earthquake happened.
Annex 1: Warning Systems, smartphones and social media
We include in this post some analysis and reflections about the early warning systems deployed to preserve lives in coastal areas potentially affected by tsunamis. This one was one of the hard lessons learned from 2004 tsunami disaster. We put this information as ‘annex’ in our post, as our task here is just a compilation of information coming from external sources. We do not provide additional information based in our media impact analysis. We want nevertheless include this external information as it add value for some of the readers interested in communication crisis in the context of natural emergencies. We just select some excerpts from these externe as such, mentioning the source, and we will not provide additional analysis or interpretation.
Nandasa, a resident living on the beach in Rathmalana, a suburb just south of Colombo, expressed a similar sentiment. “In 2004, when waters receded before the tsunami came, people took it for a joke, they went out to collect shells. This time no one was taking things lightly, everyone knew what to do and what to expect.”
Still, there were some lapses. As coastal roads were closed, others became jammed with traffic, mobile networks became overloaded and petrol stations in coastal areas ran out of fuel, leaving many people stranded.
But overall, the harsh lessons from 2004 seem to have been learned.
Old Tsunami Nightmares, New Warning Systems in Sri Lanka, IPS News
Tsunami warning sirens blared Wednesday in parts of Indonesia, and the other steps taken show that “governments are more prepared,” said CNN weather anchor Mari Ramos.
“There are sirens in place along coastal communities. There are buoys in the ocean to measure water level changes. There is better communication among government agencies, countries and the media. The word gets out much more quickly, and that helps saves lives,” Ramos said.
However, “the number of measuring devices in the Indian Ocean is tiny compared to the Pacific. It’s a start, but more are needed.”
Tsunami scare tests new life-saving procedures, CNN
“When the police jeep began announcing the evacuations, we were already on the move,” Ajeemal, a resident of the village of Sainathimaruthu, in the eastern Kalmunai region, told IPS.
In 2004 there was no such warning and the monstrous waves left 30,000 dead, a million displaced and a reconstruction bill of over three billion dollars.
“This time people knew what to expect, they knew they had to get away from the beach and do that fast,” Ajeemal said.
In double-quick time, the Meteorological Department issued a warning: “An earthquake near Sumatra Island at 02.08pm (Sri Lanka time) today 11.04.2012 has generated a tsunami that will affect Sri Lanka, those living near and along the Eastern and Southern coastal regions are advised to evacuate to safer places immediately.”
The warning came despite the United States government’s Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre failing to issue a formal alert, instead limiting its update on the earthquake to a ‘tsunami watch’. However, local radio and television stations picked up the warning, which was also disseminated by SMS alerts and Sri Lanka’s small but active Twitter community.
Those on the coast, like Ajeemal, were advised by the police to move at least 500 metres inland. “We were asked to remain there till around six (o’clock in the evening),” Ajeemal said. The warning period was later extended when aftershocks hit the island about two hours after the initial quake hit Indonesia’s western coast of Sumatra, in Banda Aceh.
“Almost everyone has moved out of the coast, no one is here,” said Reverend G S K Herath, an Anglican priest from the southern town of Matara. He told IPS that security forces and the police had moved into the areas being evacuated to guard against looting.
Old Tsunami Nightmares, New Warning Systems in Sri Lanka, IPS News
Suharjono, head of the earthquakes department at Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency (BMKG), said authorities had known a tsunami could hit 50 minutes after Wednesday’s quake.
“We also knew which parts of the coast to watch,” he said, explaining that offshore buoys send signals to monitoring stations in Indonesia and beyond.
James Goff, director of the Australia-Pacific Tsunami Research Centre at the University of New South Wales, said the alert was a “decent test” of the Indian Ocean tsunami warning system, an ambitious network of tidal gauges, deep ocean buoys and seismic monitors modelled on the decades-old Pacific model completed after the 2004 tsunami.
Wednesday’s quake was felt as far afield as Thailand, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Malaysia, Reunion Island, Sri Lanka, and Burma.
India said it issued a tsunami warning eight minutes after the quake.
“This was the first incident after the 2004 tsunami and we handled it extremely well,” said Namrata Majumdar, an official at the country’s disaster management centre.
Sri Lankan authorities said the alert had exposed serious problems of traffic management and the inability of mobile phone networks to cope in an emergency, although coastal residents appeared to be well prepared.
In Thailand, where social networking has been growing rapidly, the National Disaster Warning Centre’s head Somsak Khaosuwan said the internet had played a “significant role” in disseminating information.
“We thought it went extremely well yesterday,” said Denis Okello, information officer at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Jakarta, commenting on Indonesia’s response.
He said sirens warning people to move to higher ground had been activated by local officials receiving SMS messages and emails from BMKG.
In a nation with one of the world’s highest number of phone texters – and the globe’s fastest growing major market for BlackBerry smartphones – telephone alerts are also an important way for the BMKG to spread its warnings.
“I think some people got text messages, but we didn’t get any at the school because the phone lines were down for some time after the quake,” said Nunik Nurwanpi, a 20-year-old primary school teacher in Banda Aceh.
“We all knew what to do anyway because we’ve had regular tsunami drills since the big one in 2004,” she said, adding that children were evacuated from the school and moved to higher ground when sirens blared.
Tsunami warnings test post-2004 system, SBS Australia
In theory, national governments should issue tsunami watches and warnings. For sure, they should be the only ones issuing evacuation orders. But social media are upending government control.
Sri Lanka is not located in an earthquake zone. So when those of us who felt the tremors, our first reaction was to doubt our senses. People texted each other to verify. In my case, I learned that the tremor I felt was caused by an earthquake from a tweet within 10-15 minutes of the event. My first reaction was to check the magnitude and depth of the quake from the best scientific source I knew: the United States Geological Service. My first tweet, based on confirming the event at the USGS site, was at 1429 local time (20 minutes after the earthquake)
I sent several tweets, sticking pretty closely to USGS data. Unlike in 2004, the phones were working (within networks, though performance was patchy in locations, especially near the coast line) and Internet was not slowed down noticeably. Calls from one network to another were subject to congestion delays, suggesting that the interconnection links had been inadequately dimensioned.
Tweets kept flying. I and several others active in social media kept emphasizing that only a “watch” existed, that people should be alert and not do anything for now.
Whatever the theory says, social media and the Internet have changed the conditions of warning irrevocably. Social media appear to be disseminating information about impending hazards extremely fast. The government looks even more inept in these conditions, when they wait for too long to issue (unnecessary) evacuation orders. It is even more important in these conditions to improve internal processing of information and decision making so that the government can issue unambiguous directives based on the best science available.
Even more important is the education of various authorities such as those running the trains, supplying electricity, etc. about the appropriate responses. Those responsible for schools, offices, hotels, exhibitions, etc. should be educated and if necessary directed to desist from rash closures and suspensions. Offices, especially high rises, are safer than a congested road should a tsunami come.
The government’s assertion that tsunami warnings worked is dubious. It is true that most people knew about the potentially tsunamigenic earthquake within an hour of its occurrence, which from the perspective of avoiding loss of life is very good. However, it is doubtful whether the government can claim credit for that awareness. When it came to issuance of warnings, evacuation orders, etc. the government earned a failing grade. Not enough authoritative direction was provided in time. Uncoordinated actions such as shutting down public services, closing workplaces, etc. caused considerable inconvenience to the public. More than that, the throwing of thousands of people on to the roads when transport was shutting down made them more vulnerable, in the event a tsunami did arrive.
In the age of social media, people will learn of distant hazards independently of government. What government must focus on is helping them respond on the most intelligent way, based on the best science. On this front, much remains to be done.
Tsunami risk reduction in the age of Twitter, R & D Mag
Another readings about smartphone use in disasters (not related with Indonesia earthquake:
Mobile phones and crisis zones: how text messaging can help streamline humanitarian aid delivery, Humanitarian Exchange Magazine, Issue 53, March 2012.
IBA Launches Smartphone Crisis App to Help Companies, Schools, and Government Better Prepare For Emergencies, Disaster Recovery Journal, May 4, 2012.
Annex 2: a huge earthquake, but a weak tsunami. Why?
In this section we provide the explanation why this 2012 earthquake did not create a strong tsunami, even if it was remarkably similar to the destructive 2004 tsunami. Again, we present exclusively external sources, as this is not a matter of media impact analysis.
We present first a divulgative explanation provided by CNN about tsunami formation, and why this earthquake did not create a major tsunami.
CNN Video. How Tsunamis are formed and why we had not a tsunami with 2012 Sumatra earthquake.
Annex 3: Videos about the devastating power of tsunami 2004 Sumatra Aceh and tsunami 2011 Japan
In this section we show some selected videos from amateur shootage as direct witness of the action and devastating power of tsunamis. We refer to videos capturing 2004 destruction and death. Perceiving again the terror and the dimension of the tragedy is a way to better understand the probable reaction of people in the areas surrounding the 2012 earthquake epicentre and the warning of a possible ‘widespread destructive tsunami’. For sure, for all people in Indonesia, Thailand or Sri Lanka having a direct experience of the 2004 tsunami, this April 2012 alert created strong feelings. I think that panic and anxiety describes quite well emotions and reactions. Terrible memories have probably acted as a protective reaction againsts new risks. Some people outside the affected area could consider that local citizens and authorities have overreacted against the new alarm created by the new 2012 massive earthquake.
The extraordinary dimension of 2004 destruction and harm helps us to understand their suffering and the weight that it still has in their memories. This is in a sense a way to pay tribute to the victims and survivors. This is also a way to give thanks to people that perticipate in the documentary that we present below, being ready to renew their sufferings as means to show all the world the risks of this natural disaster and the burden suffered by the affected countries. Some readers of this blog may consider that I am proposing a distateful measure, which only fruit is to satisfy insane curiosity. I can understand such a reaction and I fully respect it, but it is clearly not our intention.
There is a plethora of videos in Youtube about tsunamis, creating calling effects on potential viewers. The results is that many highle viewed videos are just fake, manipulations or cut and paste stories and images. This creates a sour feeling in people looking for information about videos.
We have selected the series of videos that contain an extraordinary collection of amateur footages by direct witness and then also victims of the tsunamis. Many appeared first upload by authors and received many views. English TV Channel 4 was engaged in the ambitious project of trying to know the story behind those videos. They created an extraordinary documentary presented five years after the tragedy, an unvaluable documentary that will be used as reference.
You can check it at its source, at Channel4. Apparently, there is no option to access to it in many countries, like mine. So, we propose the consultation of the free available versions in Youtube. As they are divided in sections of 10 minutes, it allow to access more easily the sections that may be more interesting for you.
Evidently, even eight years later, please be aware that images are highly distressing. There are images of people being caught by the waters, and dead bodies.
Part I. Presenting the individual cases. Amateur videos, the day before (Christmas Day). The earthquake, 7:59 am local time.
Part II. The earthquake experienced in land. The tsunami in Banda Aceh, Indonesia
Part III. Tsunami in Phuket, Thailand. Tsunami in Khao Lak, Thailand
Part IV. Tsunami in Kho Phi Phi Island, Tsunami. Tsunami in Tangalle, Sri Lanka
Part V. Tsunami aftermath in Indonesia, Thailand. Destruction, survivors, looking for relatives.
Part VI. Tsunami aftermath in Indonesia, Thailand. Destruction, survivors, looking for relatives.
Part VII. Tsunami aftermath in Sri Lanka. Mouring. Live after the tsunami for survivors. | <urn:uuid:963151d5-b72c-4e36-80a7-ee5d53c76661> | CC-MAIN-2015-32 | http://reputation-metrics.org/2012/04/11/8-6-quake-near-sumatra-indonesia-and-tsunami-warning-april-2012-media-impact-analysis/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-32/segments/1438042989301.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20150728002309-00149-ip-10-236-191-2.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944508 | 5,793 | 2.640625 | 3 |
If you are one of the 1.8 million Ohio residents with well-water, a recent study published in Environmental Science and Technology says you could be drinking a dangerous level of arsenic with every cup.
Northern Ohio Rural Water (NORW) general manager Shawn Tappel said the state mandates that 10 micrograms per liter (μg/L) or more is considered high and can be dangerous to consumers.
The study revealed Ohio was second only to Michigan in levels of well-water arsenic exceeding 10 μg/L, with 10 percent of all domestic well-water users predicted to be consuming high levels of the poison.
About 2.1 million people in the U.S. using water from domestic wells were predicted to have arsenic concentration >10 μg/L. Ohio made up up to 294,655 of that 2.1 million.
“County-level information indicates that six of the 10 counties with the largest number of people with high-arsenic wells are in New England; other top-10 counties are in Ohio, North Carolina, California, and Idaho,” the study said.
Individual county breakdowns weren’t immediately available from the study, however, Tappel said Huron County is fairing better than the state as a whole.
“Huron County isn’t too bad,” he said. “There are only a couple area wells with even moderate levels of arsenic in the wells. There are more problems in like the eastern part of the state and then central (Ohio). ... There are definitely some areas of Ohio with high levels of arsenic, but Huron County isn’t one of them.”
While Brendan Roberts, deputy environmental health director reported Huron County Public Health (HCPH) hasn’t had any requests for arsenic tests in the past four years, Tappel said NORW is “starting to get more here of late.”
The Center for Disease Control (CDC) reports arsenic can enter a water supply via naturally-occurring deposits in the earth or from agriculture or industrial pollution.
“It is widely believed that naturally occurring arsenic dissolves out of certain rock formations when ground water levels drop significantly,” the CDC website said.
The CDC recommends all well-water consumers get their water tested and said traditional methods of removing other impurities don’t work on arsenic, including bleaching, heating or boiling, which could actually make the water more dangerous.
“Because some of the water evaporates during the boiling process, the arsenic concentrations can actually increase slightly as the water is boiled,” the website said.
Instead it recommends considering water treatment methods for each faucet, such as reverse osmosis, ultra-filtration, distillation or ion exchange.
Well owners who wish to have their water tested can contact HCPH at 419-668-1652 or NORW at 419-668-7213. | <urn:uuid:1b504a5c-5ffa-44c9-87db-8b4558a9098e> | CC-MAIN-2019-04 | http://norwalkreflector.com/Local/2017/10/20/Ohio-rated-2nd-highest-in-water-arsenic-levels.html?ci=stream&lp=10&p=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-04/segments/1547583658928.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20190117102635-20190117124635-00462.warc.gz | en | 0.936151 | 610 | 3.203125 | 3 |
At this time, there are no generally accepted recommendations for reducing your risk of thyroid cancer.
Medullary thyroid cancer often is genetically inherited. If anyone in your family has been diagnosed with medullary or other endocrine cancers or if your family is known to carry a mutation (abnormal change) in the RET gene, you may wish to be tested to see if you have this mutation. Medullary thyroid cancers may be part of syndromes that involve other types of endocrine or other cancers, thus a careful family history for cancer is important.
If you carry the RET gene, you may be advised to have your thyroid removed at a very early age to avoid the very high risk of developing medullary thyroid cancer.
- Reviewer: Mohei Abouzied, MD
- Review Date: 09/2015 -
- Update Date: 09/17/2014 - | <urn:uuid:dc502389-82e6-47dd-9ff2-d0de55d7505a> | CC-MAIN-2015-48 | http://largomedical.com/hl/?/2010815500/Reducing-Your-Risk-of-Thyroid-Cancer&com.dotmarketing.htmlpage.language=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-48/segments/1448398449160.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20151124205409-00152-ip-10-71-132-137.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.940679 | 182 | 2.640625 | 3 |
A： Good afternoon.
A： Please be seated.
B： Please tell me your name.
My name is ….
B： Where do you live?
I live in …. It is about one hour from here.
B： How long did it take you to come here?
It took about one hour.
B： That’s not too bad
No, I was born in …. … is next to Tokyo.
A： OK, I thought your last name is interesting. What does it mean?
It means field.
A： OK. Well, I am interested in Japanese characters. I am a linguist. Would you please tell me about Japanese characters and its origin?
Japanese use Chinese characters. It was introduced from China a long
time ago. There is a scripture written in Chinese characters which was
written about 1,400 years ago, so it came to Japan a very long time ago.
In addition, we use hiragana and katakana.
Hiragana is a simplified form of kanji, used to supplement kanji because
we can’t express everything only by kanji. Katakana is also a simplified
form of kanji. We invented hiragana and katakana from the shape of kanji.
A： Do you think this type of usage will increase?
Yes, I think so. I don’t think Japanese are creative with words. When we can’t translate a word in Japanese, we just use katakana to describe it, because it is easy. And I think this is very sad because I love the sound of Japanese very much.
A： What do you think about the population problem?
The population of Japan is about 120 million now but it will start to increase from next year.
Oh, no, I meant decrease. The birth rate in Japan is now 1.29, the lowest in history and it is also one of the lowest in the world. In order to produce the same population, the birth rate has to be at least 2, so Japan will have a serious problem in the future.
B： What can we do in order to solve this problem?
I think it is important to make an environment where people can have children. For instance, the government should financially help a family with a lot of children, because the cost of education in Japan is very high. If the government supports them, I think more families will want to have more children.
A： I am going to return to my country in three days. What kind of souvenir should I get?
I think a sensu will be a good souvenir.
A： What is sensu?
Sensu is a folding fan, and can be made compact. It is small and can be carried easily. Sensu can be purchased at department stores and many shops at Narita airport. You can find many varieties of sensu there.
A： Where can I buy one in Tokyo?
You can buy one at the “Oriental Bazaar” in Omotesando.
A： Where is that?
Omotesando is next to Shibuya by subway.
A： OK, that’s close. I will go to Shibuya tomorrow.
Yes, it is only one station, so it’s close to Shibuya. A sensu has a decorative picture on it and I am sure foreigners would love it.
A： Thank you very much.
|← BACK NEXT →| | <urn:uuid:75aac983-e517-449f-99a3-78c81b73e585> | CC-MAIN-2018-13 | http://www.hello.ac/guide/2ji_soku/t_file2005/78.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-13/segments/1521257646875.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20180319101207-20180319121207-00177.warc.gz | en | 0.950196 | 779 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Christmas is particularly enjoyable when watching young children. The excitement of Christmas morning is so embedded in American culture that it has almost become a cliché. In a letter to his sister Anna, Theodore Roosevelt described the enjoyment he received from sharing his children’s excitement on Christmas morning in 1890.
It is finals week here at Dickinson State University, and students are working diligently on their final projects as well as studying for their final examinations. Similarly, Theodore Roosevelt spent much time studying for his finals during his time at Harvard College.
n the fall of 1884, Theodore Roosevelt went on an elk hunting trip to the Bighorn mountains. Although the intention was to bag elk, he ended up shooting a grizzly bears, which he describes in a letter to his sister, Anna.
Theodore Roosevelt was not able to be present in Norway to receive the Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 1906, so he requested that the United States Ambassador to Norway, Herbert H. D. Peirce, accept it on his behalf.
A cold snap has engulfed the northern plains, and everything seems to be frozen here in North Dakota. | <urn:uuid:6821a4df-31c8-4705-a36f-d20c752f2790> | CC-MAIN-2017-22 | http://www.theodorerooseveltcenter.org/Blog/2013/12 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-22/segments/1495463610374.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20170528181608-20170528201608-00176.warc.gz | en | 0.984023 | 229 | 2.546875 | 3 |
“I Am Not Dead, But I Am Not Living”
Barriers to Fistula Prevention and Treatment in Kenya
[Fistula] is a condition that denied me the chance to enjoy my life as a young person. I was isolated and rejected. All my nights were nights of shedding tears due to genital sores. I carried the condition for 12 years without knowing that I could be treated here in Kenya.... I made several attempts to take my life and was admitted to [a] mental ward.… In May 2007 a successful surgery was done.… The closure of that hole is not all that these women need. After I was operated on, I was returned to the mental ward again. You realize, I am not dead, but I am not living.
—Amolo A., a Kenya woman who had a successful fistula repair and is a community educator on fistula, Nairobi, November 26, 2009
Medically fistula is caused by obstructed labor. But also there is obstructed transport, obstructed family planning, obstructed emergency care, obstructed rights.… Everything is obstructed.
—Dr. Khisa Wakasiaka, a reproductive health expert and fistula surgeon, Nairobi, November 11, 2009
Tens of thousands of women and girls around the world suffer every year from obstetric fistula, a preventable childbirth injury that results in urine and/or stool incontinence. Fistula causes infections, pain, and bad smell, and often triggers stigma and the breakdown of family, work, and community life.
The full global extent of this problem is not known. According to the World Health Organization, fistula strikes roughly 50,000 to 100,000 women and girls every year, mainly in resource poor countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. In Kenya approximately 3,000 women and girls develop fistula every year, while the backlog of those living with untreated fistula is estimated to be between 30,000 and 300,000 cases. There are many doubts about these estimates because few studies have been conducted to establish the extent of this problem in the country. Fistula sufferers are mostly young women and girls with little education. They often come from remote and poor areas where infrastructure is underdeveloped and access to health care, particularly emergency obstetric care, is lacking.
A woman who develops fistula has already gone through the trauma of a long, painful obstructed labor. In most cases, the labor ends with a stillbirth. As the woman begins to recover from the grief and agony of the failed delivery, she discovers that her body is painfully damaged. She might think that she is suffering from temporary, somewhat normal incontinence. But then she begins to smell, her clothing and bedding are constantly wet, her thighs sting, and she might develop ulcers on her vagina. At first, the woman might try to hide her condition, but usually this is impossible. Sex is painful, and her marriage, as a result, might start to fray or even turn violent. She might be thrown out by her husband, her relatives and friends may think that she is bewitched or cursed. In all likelihood, she will stop working, going to market, and participating in social or religious life. She might live in pain and isolation for years, even decades, before learning that surgery could fix her condition. This news will not be enough for many the fistula survivors who lack the resources and autonomy to pursue surgery. For some, however, surgery provides a chance for a new life.
The Kenyan state violates the rights of fistula sufferers in multiple ways, by denying them their internationally-guaranteed access to the highest attainable standard of health, to health information critical to women’s and girls’ wellbeing, to their reproductive and maternal health, and to a remedy for the injustices and denial of service that they face. Kenya, as a party to numerous international and regional human rights instruments such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), is obligated to act to rectify these violations and to eliminate the discrimination that both contributes to the disabling condition of fistula and results from it.
This report is based on field research conducted by Human Rights Watch in November and December 2009 in hospitals in Kisumu, Nairobi, Kisii, and Machakos as well as in Dadaab in March 2010. We interviewed 55 women and girls ranging in age from 14 to 73 years, 53 of whom had fistula. Of the 53 with fistula, twelve were girls aged 14-18 years. We also interviewed nine obstetric fistula surgeons, one anesthetist, three hospital administrators, and nine nurses working in hospital gynecology and labor wards, five of whom worked in fistula wards. We interviewed four secondary and four primary school teachers regarding sexuality education in schools. Further, we talked to nongovernmental organizations working on health and women’s rights, government officials, professional associations for doctors and nurses, international donors, United Nations representatives, and an elected councilor representing a ward in Machakos.
Reproductive and maternal health care are considered top development and human rights priorities. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural rights has identified the lowering of maternal mortality, and morbidity such as obstetric fistula, as a “major goal” for governments in meeting their human rights obligations. Under the Millennium Development Goals, governments have committed to improve maternal and reproductive health through a 75 per cent reduction in the maternal mortality ratio from 1990 levels, and achieving universal access to reproductive health by 2015.
The Kenya government has taken some positive steps to improve women’s and girls’ reproductive and maternal health. These initiatives include eliminating charges for public family planning services, antenatal and postnatal care, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission. The government has also eliminated charges for delivery in dispensaries and health centers to encourage women to deliver in medical facilities with a skilled birth attendant. In addition, by introducing a system of full or partial fee waiver for access to government hospitals, the government has taken steps to increase access to health care for indigent patients. However, as this report shows through the voices of fistula survivors, many women and girls, particularly the poor, illiterate, and rural, are not fully enjoying the benefit of these policies, and there is urgent need to reevaluate and scale up many of the responses.
The report discusses five areas that require increased attention in order to improve maternal health care and reduce obstetric fistulas: access to family planning information and services, the provision of school-based sexuality education, access to emergency obstetric care including referral and transport systems, overcoming economic barriers to maternal health care services and fistula treatment, and health system accountability.
Women and girls need access to information to make informed choices about their sexual and reproductive lives. They also need information about access to services which help ensure a healthy pregnancy and delivery, and for treating obstetric complications such as fistula. Yet information on reproductive health, family planning, potential complications during pregnancy and childbirth, the advantages of facility deliveries, what fistula is, and the availability and cost of fistula treatment and maternity-related services are all lacking among many of the women and girls we interviewed, and even among some health providers.
For example, 20-year-old Kwamboka W. became pregnant at age 13 while in primary school, developed fistula, and lived with it for seven years before hearing on the radio about a United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) funded fistula repair camp offering free surgeries. She told us, “I didn’t know anything about family planning or condoms. I just went once and got pregnant. I still have no idea about contraceptives.” Despite some government efforts to introduce sexuality education in upper primary and secondary schools, Kenya has not made it part of the official syllabus and as a result there is no time allocated within school hours to teach it.
In 2004, the government conducted a fistula needs assessment that showed lack of awareness about fistula in communities as a barrier to its prevention and treatment. Six years later, the government has not taken adequate steps to educate the population, nor to correct the myths that exist about fistula in many communities.
The Kenya government’s efforts to ensure affordable maternity care for poor rural women and girls have fallen far short of even its own goals. Upwards of three quarters of the women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch described economic constraints as a barrier to accessing maternal health services and fistula repair surgery. Almost all women and girls interviewed for this report told Human Rights Watch how difficult it was to raise the money needed for fistula surgery. To its credit, the government supports donor-funded fistula repair “camps”—consisting of short-term mobilization of women and girls, screening for obstetric fistula, and providing surgery for those affected—in district and provincial hospitals around the country several times a year. These camps offer free repair surgeries, but do not cover all associated costs. In addition, government hospitals offer exemptions and waivers for indigent patients, but these policies have been problematic in practice.
The health user fee waiver policy does not work for several reasons: lack of awareness of the policy among patients and some health providers, some facilities’ reluctance to publicize the waivers and deliberate withholding of information when requested by patients, and vague implementation guidelines, including the criteria for determining the financial needs of a patient. Many women and girls living with fistula are poor, but none we spoke to had received a waiver.
Women with obstructed labor, which can lead to fistula, need emergency obstetric care such as Cesarean sections. Inadequate access to emergency obstetric care, especially for poor and rural women, is a longstanding problem in Kenya. Kenyan government statistics have shown that capacity to manage complications during childbirth is weak in many health facilities, including referral facilities such as hospitals. Currently available statistics show that less than 10 percent of all medical facilities in the country are able to offer basic emergency obstetric care, and only 6 percent offer comprehensive emergency obstetric care.
Moreover, health facilities, especially in rural areas, are perpetually understaffed, further limiting timely assistance and referral when women develop obstetric complications. Many women with obstetric complications develop fistula and experience stillbirth simply because ambulances and fuel are lacking.
In order to correct systemic failures in reducing maternal deaths and obstetric fistula, it is important to get feedback from patients on the quality and acceptability of services provided. But accountability mechanisms, which should serve the purpose of identifying systemic problems in Kenya’s health system, are far from effective. There should be accessible ways of providing such feedback, lodging complaints, and ensuring such feedback is acted upon. Real accountability mechanisms would not only enhance trust in the health system but also improve utilization and success of maternal health services.
Most of the women Human Rights Watch interviewed did not know how, or to whom, they could complain about or challenge any of the above barriers. Nor did they have any faith that complaints would result in improved treatment. They were also afraid of retaliation by health staff if they complained. We found no indication that the government had taken any steps to enable illiterate patients to understand their rights and to lodge grievances.
While fistula surgery is increasingly available, the government and organizations providing repair surgeries have paid little attention to the long-term needs of women and girls for physical, emotional, psychological, and economic support after surgery. There are no formal initiatives by the government or other service providers to rehabilitate and reintegrate fistula survivors into families and communities. Fistula survivors have endured social and psychological torment that is unlikely to end with surgery. Women may continue to be stigmatized even after successful repair due to lack of fistula awareness in communities, and unsuccessful repairs can be traumatizing for women. Further, fistula places a heavy financial burden on survivors and their families, and as a result they may need support to become economically productive after repair.
The World Health Organization has developed important recommendations for clinical management of obstetric fistula, as well as program development to address issues of fistula prevention and rehabilitation. However, Kenya has not developed a national strategy to address fistula despite conducting a needs assessment in 2004. The WHO recommends that national strategies to address obstetric fistula be integrated into existing programs on safe motherhood and those to improve maternal and neonatal health generally, but Kenya is not adequately doing this.
Key Recommendations to the Kenyan Government
Develop and implement a national fistula strategy in accordance with the World Health Organization’s “Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development.” Relevant government ministries, such as the Ministry of Gender and Children Affairs and the two ministries of health, and NGOs should participate in crafting the strategy.
Carry out an awareness-raising campaign to inform the public about the causes of fistula, contributing factors (such as female genital mutilation and early marriage and childbearing), the need for facility deliveries, and the availability of treatment. Involve provincial administrators, religious leaders, and NGOs in the campaign.
Integrate information on fistula into the community strategy by training community health extension workers and community health workers to educate communities about fistula and to identify and refer for treatment women and girls with fistula.
Expand the Community Midwifery Model to cover the whole country and address payment of community midwives.
Urgently improve the financial accessibility of fistula surgery by subsidizing routine repairs in provincial and district hospitals, including follow-up visits, and providing free fistula surgeries for indigent patients.
Urgently improve the quality of and access to emergency obstetric care by:
- increasing the number of health facilities that offer emergency obstetric care;
- developing and implementing guidelines on the management of obstructed labor and the management of women who present with obstetric fistula immediately after birth or who present with an established fistula requiring repair;
- implementing the referral component of the Community Strategy; and
- completing and implementing the referral strategy.
Assess the possibility of an exemption from user fees for all maternal health care, beyond the current exemption for childbirth in dispensaries and health centers.
This report is based on interviews conducted in November and December 2009 in Kisii, Machakos, Kisumu, Nairobi and Dadaab in March 2010. Our research included visits to three public hospitals that were holding fistula repair camps, and a mission hospital in Nairobi that does routine fistula operations. We also visited several dispensaries and health centers in Machakos and Kisumu.
Because of the difficulty of finding women and girls living with fistula to interview within their communities, we opted to use the fistula camps at hospitals since they presented the opportunity to interview many women and girls from across regional and ethnic backgrounds in one setting. We received immense cooperation and support from the gynecologists who were organizing the fistula treatment camps, and they were our main gateway to reaching women and girls in the hospitals.
We interviewed 55 women and girls ranging in age from 14 to 73 years old—12 were girls aged 14-18 years—53 of whom had fistula. Of these, 35 were waiting to undergo fistula repair surgery, 13 had gone through surgery and were recovering in the hospital, and five had come for review following surgery. We also interviewed two women at Machakos General Hospital who were detained for failure to pay hospital charges following complications during pregnancy. Interviews were semi-structured and covered a range of topics related to fistula and maternal health care. We also interviewed nine obstetric fistula surgeons, one anesthetist, three hospital administrators, and nine nurses working in hospital gynecology and labor wards, five of whom worked in fistula wards. Further, we talked to nongovernmental organizations working on health and women’s rights, government officials, professional associations for doctors and nurses, international donors, United Nations representatives, and an elected councilor representing a ward in Machakos.
On the subject of sexuality education in schools, Human Rights Watch interviewed four secondary school teachers and four primary school teachers.
Because of the sensitive nature of obstetric fistula, we were mindful not to re-traumatize women and girls we interviewed. Before each interview, we informed interviewees of its purpose, voluntary nature, the kind of issues that would be covered, and the ways in which the data would be used. The interviewees verbally consented to be interviewed. Further verbal consent was given to record the interviews. Women and girls were told that they could decline to answer questions, could take a break, or could end the interview at any time without consequence.We took great care to interview women and girls in a sensitive manner, and ensured that the interview took place in a comfortable and private setting.
We have changed all the names of women and girls interviewed to pseudonyms in order to protect their privacy. The identities of some other interviewees have also been withheld at their request.
Participants did not receive any material compensation from Human Rights Watch. In order to avoid false expectations of financial assistance or support, we made it clear at the start of each interview that we were not able to provide direct individual support to those who spoke with us. When we encountered situations where women and girls were in need of psychological or other medical support, we referred them to local NGOs or others who could assist them.
Interviews were carried out in English and Kiswahili without interpretation and in Kikamba and Dholuo with the assistance of interpreters. All the translators were female health professionals who understood the sensitivity of interviewing fistula survivors.
Human Rights Watch also reviewed research and reports by national and international health and human rights organizations and UN agencies, as well as government policies and statistics on health care in Kenya.
The report also uses material from an obstetric fistula stakeholders meeting organized by the Department of Reproductive Health in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, attended by the Human Rights Watch researcher. The meeting was held on February 4, 2010, and brought together a range of health providers working on obstetric fistula: fistula surgeons and nurses, hospital administrators, government officials, and representatives from the United Nations and non-governmental organizations working on obstetric fistula.
Maternal Mortality and Morbidity Globally
Most obstetric complications and deaths are preventable. The causes of maternal deaths and morbidities and the most effective ways of preventing and treating them have been recognized for many years. Yet, hundreds of thousands of women and girls die every year as a result of preventable and treatable complications during pregnancy, childbirth, or the six weeks following delivery. Estimates on the number of women who die vary. According to estimates developed by the World Health Organization, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank, over half a million maternal deaths occur globally each year. A 2010 analysis of maternal mortality for 181 countries shows an estimated 342,900 maternal deaths occurred in 2008. Measuring maternal mortality is challenging at best, but the latest available trend data indicate that the global maternal mortality ratio (MMR) declined from 320 per 100,000 live births in 1990 to 251 in 2008.
The numbers of women and girls who die do not reveal the full scale of this tragedy. For every woman or girl who dies as a result of pregnancy or childbirth, about 30 more suffer short or long-term injury, infection, or disabilities (maternal morbidities).
The magnitude of global maternal mortality and morbidity and the profile of those most heavily affected reveal chronic and entrenched health inequalities both between and within countries. First, the burden of maternal mortality and morbidity is borne disproportionately by developing countries, mainly those in sub-Saharan Africa. Second, in many countries, preventable maternal deaths and morbidities more often affect distinct groups of women and girls, such as rural, low-income, ethnic minority, or indigenous women and girls. This is the case even in countries with low maternal mortality ratios. Finally, maternal mortality and morbidity ratios are often indicative of inequalities between men and women in their enjoyment of the right to health.
The last two decades have seen increased international and regional efforts to combat maternal mortality and morbidity. At the international level, the most significant of these is the Millennium Declaration in 2000, when 189 countries pledged to achieve eight development goals (the Millennium Development Goals or MDGs) by 2015, including a 75 percent maternal mortality reduction compared to 1990 levels. In June 2009, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted a landmark resolution on “preventable maternal mortality and morbidity and human rights,” which calls on states to renew their political commitment to eliminating preventable maternal mortality and morbidity at the local, national, regional, and international levels, including through the allocation of necessary domestic resources to health systems.In September 2008, the European Parliament passed a resolution on maternal mortality calling upon the European Union to commit to reducing maternal and newborn mortality and morbidity both at home and abroad. In April 2010, the UN Secretary-General announced the development of a Joint Action Plan to accelerate progress toward achieving the MDGs dealing with maternal and child health.
In 2004, all health ministers of the African Union, with support from World Health Organization Africa Regional Office, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), adopted “The African Road Map for Accelerating the Attainment of the MDGs related to maternal and newborn health” (MNH Road Map). Its objectives are “to provide skilled attendance during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postnatal period, at all levels of the health care delivery system, and … [to] strengthen the capacity of individuals, families and communities to improve MNH.” Countries are expected to adopt and to develop national MNH Road Maps to scale up responses to reduce maternal and neonatal mortality and morbidity. According to UNFPA, as of July 2009 more than 40 sub-Saharan African countries had developed national MNH Road Maps and the majority of them were implementing them, but only eight countries had developed national strategies to address obstetric fistula as a specific subset of maternal health concerns.
Following on this initiative, in 2006 African Heads of State adopted the Maputo Plan of Action (MPoA), which sets out a framework for countries to improve women’s and girls’ reproductive and maternal health. In 2009, the African Union launched a campaign for accelerated reduction of maternal mortality in Africa, with the slogan “Africa Cares: No Woman should Die While Giving Life.” The campaign is meant to help countries achieve the goals of the MPoA.
Fistula has virtually been eliminated in developed countries but is still common in the developing world. There are no worldwide, comprehensive surveys that estimate the incidence and prevalence of obstetric fistula. Currently available data by the World Health Organization (WHO) indicate that between 50,000 and 100,000 women and girls are affected each year. This is widely viewed as an underestimate as it is based on numbers of people who sought care in hospitals and clinics, while many women with fistula do not seek care. Fistula tends to happen to the most marginalized in society: poor and illiterate young women and adolescent girls from rural areas. Consequently, fistula has largely remained a hidden condition. Many women who develop fistula have stillbirths, contributing to neonatal mortality in countries where they are predominant.
Causes of Fistula
Obstetric fistula is predominantly caused by prolonged obstructed labor, which is one of the five major causes of maternal mortality and accounts for 8 percent of maternal deaths worldwide. During the prolonged obstructed labor, the soft tissues of the birth canal are compressed between the descending head of the fetus and the woman’s pelvic bone. The lack of blood flow causes tissue to die, creating a hole (fistula) between the woman’s vagina and bladder (vesico-vaginal fistula or VVF) or between the vagina and rectum (recto-vaginal fistula or RVF) or both. This leaves the woman leaking urine and/or feces continuously from the vagina. Other direct causes of fistula include sexual abuse and rape, surgical trauma (iatrogenic fistula), and gynecological cancers and related radiotherapy treatment.
Most fistulas can be repaired surgically even if they are several years old. Success rates for fistula repair by experienced surgeons can be as high as 90 percent, according to UNFPA. Successful surgery can enable women to live normal lives and even have children, but it is recommended to have a Cesarean section for future deliveries to prevent the fistula from recurring.
Early marriage, marriage before the age of 18 years, is considered a major risk factor for fistula development. Adolescent girls are particularly susceptible to obstructed labor because their pelvises are not fully developed. Early marriage is associated not only with early childbearing, but also with reduced school attendance. This contributes to illiteracy, poverty, and low status in the community. Further, married girls and child mothers face constrained decision-making, including reproductive and maternity care choices, because they are often controlled by their husbands and relatives. Kenya’s Children’s Act prohibits marriage before age 18. Nonetheless, the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey (KDHS) shows that 24.6 percent of Kenyan women aged 20-24 had been married by age 18.
Female Genital Mutilation
Female genital mutilation (FGM) can also contribute to fistula occurrence, especially in communities that practice type three female circumcision or infibulation. In many cases of infibulations, the woman is cut during childbirth to allow exit of the fetal head. This is sometimes done by unskilled traditional birth attendants who use razors or arrowheads to perform bilateral upper episiotomies, which may inadvertently extend to the bladder or rectum, causing a fistula. In Nigeria, the “gishiri” cut, a form of FGM similar to infibulation, is commonly practiced amongst the Hausa people. In Nigeria, 15 percent of obstetric fistulas are caused by this harmful practice. FGM is outlawed in Kenya, but some communities still practice it. Infibulation is common in North Eastern Kenya and parts of Rift Valley among the West Pokot. FGM prevalence in these regions is 97.5 percent and 32.1 percent, respectively. This is markedly higher than the 27 percent Kenyan average.
International Response to Fistula
There is growing global momentum by international agencies to address the problem of obstetric fistula. In 2003, UNFPA and partners launched a global Campaign to End Fistula with the target to eliminate fistula by 2015, in line with the Millennium Development Goal to improve maternal health. The global campaign focuses on prevention, treatment, and rehabilitation, and has been launched in 47 countries in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Recognizing the lack of reliable data on fistula, one of its objectives is to conduct country-level situation analyses, including fistula prevalence, although challenges remain in collecting accurate data. EngenderHealth, through its Fistula Care Project and with funding from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, works on fistula prevention and treatment in 11 countries, mainly in Africa. In 2006, the World Health Organization developed guidelines for obstetric fistula clinical management and program development to guide comprehensive country responses to fistula.
In February 2008, the General Assembly for the first time adopted a resolution on “supporting efforts to end obstetric fistula,” and called on states, the United Nations, and international financial institutions, as well as civil society organizations, to support efforts to address fistula. The resolution also requested the UN Secretary-General to report to the General Assembly on the implementation of the resolution. In August 2008, the Secretary-General presented a report detailing efforts to address fistula at the national, regional, and international levels, and recommendations to intensify efforts to end fistula.
Key Data on Maternal Health and Fistula in Kenya
Kenya’s maternal mortality ratio, according to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, is 488 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births. Maternal deaths represent 15 percent of all deaths to women of reproductive age (15-49 years). Between 294,000 and 441,000 Kenyan women and girls suffer from maternal morbidities.The majority of deaths are due to direct obstetric complications, including hemorrhage, sepsis, eclampsia, and obstructed labor, or to unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortion alone is thought to cause at least a third of all maternal deaths. The government had set targets of having the MMR at 230 by 2005, and 170 by the end of 2010.
Although there has been some increase in contraceptive use in Kenya, the unmet need is still high, with wide regional variations. Less than half—46 percent—of married women are using some method of family planning, and only 39 percent are using modern methods. The unmet need is higher for women in rural areas.The total fertility rate has slightly reduced from 4.9 children per woman in 2003 to 4.6 in 2008 according to the current Kenya Demographic and Health Survey. There are wide differentials by region and education status. The total fertility rate for women in rural areas (5.2 births) is almost double that of women in urban areas (2.9 births), while that for women with at least some secondary education is 3.1, compared to 6.7 for women with no education. These statistics point to gaps in the provision of family planning education and services to illiterate and rural women (discussed in more detail below).
About 92 percent of women receive some antenatal care, though take-up of antenatal care is less likely in rural areas. Only 47 percent of pregnant women receive the recommended four or more antenatal visits (while only 15 percent visit within the first trimester), a decline from 52 percent in the 2003 KDHS. Most deliveries take place at home: only 44 percent of women deliver with a skilled birth attendant and 43 percent of such deliveries take place in a health facility. Traditional birth attendants assist in 28 percent of home deliveries.
In 2004, the Ministry of Health and UNFPA conducted a needs assessment of obstetric fistula in Kenya, marking the first major step taken by the government to address obstetric fistula. The 2004 research indicated that fistula affects approximately 3,000 women and girls every year (calculated at the rate of one to two cases per 1,000 deliveries). This needs assessment estimated that there is a backlog of up to 300,000 untreated fistula cases. Doubts exist about these estimates; some experts think that the prevalence could be higher while others argue that some progress has been made both in terms of repairing existing cases and in improving access to maternity care. Therefore the prevalence could be lower.
To its credit, the Kenyan government has taken positive steps to address maternal mortality and morbidity by developing various strategies, policies, and guidelines to address women’s reproductive and maternal health. Few of these expressly address obstetric fistula, however.
The strategies, policies, and guidelines most relevant to fistula are described in detail in Appendix 1. They include several on reproductive health (the National Reproductive Health Strategy and the National Reproductive Health Policy); family planning (the Family Planning Guidelines for Service Providers); adolescent health (the Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy and the National Guidelines for Provision of Youth-Friendly Services); and on reconfiguring health care delivery services to better serve poor and rural communities (including the National Health Sector Strategic Plan, the Kenya Essential Package for Health, the Community Strategy, and the Community Midwifery Approach).
While there is no national strategy on fistula, in 2006 the Ministry of Health did issue the “Kenya National Obstetric Fistulae Training Curriculum for Health Care Workers.” The curriculum is a helpful tool for doctors, nurses, and other medical and social workers involved in managing fistula, but is far from a national policy or strategy.
Two of the efforts to revamp health care delivery in Kenya that are most relevant to fistula are the Community Strategy and the Community Midwifery Approach. Both have experienced serious delays and difficulties in implementation; if these are overcome, the strategies could reduce many of the barriers to information and to effective care which contribute to fistula’s prevalence.
In 2006 the Ministry of Health launched the Community Strategy, which has been lauded as a viable approach to improve service delivery at the lowest levels of the health care system (community level or level one) that serve mainly rural and poor communities. It envisages building the capacity of households not only to demand services from all health providers, but to know and progressively realize their rights to equitable, good quality health care. The strategy aims, among other things, to reduce child and maternal deaths.Three categories of services should be provided at the community level: disease prevention and control to reduce morbidity, disability and mortality; hygiene and environmental sanitation; and family health services to expand family planning, maternal, child, and youth services. There are two categories of personnel promoting health at the community level: community health workers (CHWs) who work on a volunteer basis, and community health extension workers (CHEWs) who are paid government employees and supervise CHWs.
One focus area in the Community Strategy is to address challenges related to decision-making for maternity care, which contribute to delay in seeking skilled care in case of complications. Many Kenyan women and girls have these decisions made for them by husbands or mothers-in-law, or other relatives. This occurs for several reasons, including the low status of women in society, poverty, and illiteracy, as demonstrated by Kenyan health survey work. Part of the Strategy includes educating men about safe motherhood, and training women to speak out about their needs, components which are not currently being fulfilled. Approaches have been insufficiently sensitive to gender power differentials, according to those who have evaluated outcomes thus far.
Profile of Kanyua L.: family decision to delay seeking care led to fistula, Machakos, December 6, 2009.
“I started labor on a Saturday at about 6 p.m., and immediately told my mother-in-law. I told her to take me to hospital but she said ‘the nurses just tell you to go and deliver in a hospital but there is nothing wrong in delivering at home. I delivered all my children safely at home and so will you.’ I did not say anything to her because when one is sick you do not take yourself to hospital. You follow what others tell you. My mother-in-law left and came back with a traditional birth attendant (TBA). The TBA examined me and said all was well, and that I would deliver in a few hours. She told my mother-in-law to keep an eye on me, and to call her when the baby’s head appears, then she left. I was in so much pain the whole night. My mother-in-law went for the TBA the following day around 2 p.m. The TBA examined me by putting her hands in my birth canal and said I had dilated well. She kept asking me to push. I pushed but the baby did not come out. This continued until about 11 p.m. when my husband said we should go to hospital. However, we couldn’t get a vehicle because it was at night. In the morning, we went to Wote dispensary and they said the baby was dead. They took me to Machakos Hospital. At Machakos, I was operated on to remove the dead baby. Two days later, I realized water [urine] was just coming out.”
Personnel and resource challenges have dogged implementation of the Community Strategy as well, including low motivation of CHWs because they are not paid, inadequate training of CHWs in key messages, and service providers’ poor understanding of the essential services package concept.Community health extension workers and Community Health workers are trained on a range of reproductive health issues, including how to refer women for obstetric care. They are not trained on fistula.
The Community Strategy presents an opportunity to reach communities with information on fistula, to identify women living with fistula, and to refer them for treatment. CHEWs and CHWs can help to collect useful data on fistula in communities as well. Data on fistula is not collected routinely in health facilities, nor is there analysis of its causes. The 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey—which focused on reproductive health—failed to collect conclusive data on fistula although UNFPA had provided money for this purpose. Data collection is an essential component of accountability, which, as will be shown further on, is critical to ensure that these rights violations are remedied.
Community Midwifery Approach
In 2005 the Department of Reproductive Health in what is now the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, the Population Council, and the Nursing Council of Kenya developed and piloted the Community Midwifery Approach (CMA) in an effort to increase skilled attendance at birth and reduce obstetric complications. The CMA involves identifying health professionals who meet certain qualifications who are then given training on technical developments to be able to provide home-based skilled attendance at delivery and essential newborn and postpartum care.
Community midwives are not government employees but they are formally linked to government health facilities and supervised by a government employee: the District Public Health Nurse. They depend entirely on community members’ ability to pay them for the services provided. Some have clinics, while others operate from their homes. Some community midwives often assist the antenatal care clinics to which they are linked. The government provides community midwives with basic reproductive health commodities such as oral and injectable contraceptives, condoms, gloves, needles, and syringes. The Community Midwifery Approach is linked to the Community Strategy, and the midwives work closely with community health workers and community health extension workers.
The CMA is also intended to address the problem of traditional birth attendants (TBAs). According to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, TBAs attend 28 percent of all births in Kenya, the same number of births as those assisted by nurses and midwives. In some areas in Kenya, TBAs attend to more deliveries than skilled professionals. In Western and North Eastern provinces, for example, TBAs attend 45 percent and 64 percent of deliveries respectively. The reliance on TBAs over skilled attendants contributes to the occurrence of obstetric fistula and maternal deaths, since they are not qualified to handle obstructed labor or other complications during delivery. We spoke to 14 women and girls who were kept in labor for more than one day by TBAs without being referred to a health facility and who developed fistula as a result.
The Community Midwifery Approach and the Community Strategy are intended to help incorporate TBAs into the wider health system in social support roles, and thus to increase skilled attendance at births. This can prevent cases of fistula occurring. Two major challenges concern expansion to cover the whole country and sustainability of the CMA, particularly payment of the midwives. Many women have very limited funds to pay the midwives. If women are unable to meet the costs, then community midwives are unable to replenish their supplies or continue to be motivated to provide services.
II.Impact on the Lives of Women and Girls in Kenya
Profile of Kwamboka W., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
“I got pregnant when I was 13 years old. I was in form one, and was forced to drop out of school. When I started labor, my mum and my aunt immediately took me to a private clinic near home. We arrived at about 6 p.m. The doctor checked me and told me I was doing well and should deliver by 2 p.m. the following day, but I did not. At 6 a.m. the following day I felt the urge to push and I started pushing. At about 11 a.m. he said the baby was coming out because he could see hair. I continued pushing, but the baby did not come out. An hour later, my mum insisted that I go to hospital. She took me to Ogembo hospital. It took us one hour to get there. At Ogembo the nurse checked me and said the baby was dead and referred me to Kisii General [Hospital]. We arrived there at 6 p.m. The doctor examined me and said the baby was dead, and I should be taken to theatre for surgery to remove the baby.”
“I realized later while I was at the hospital that I could not control urine. I stayed in hospital for two months but I did not heal. Back home, my parents collected money from friends and we went to a doctor at Kisii General. The doctor told me to look for KES 10,000 (US$130) for treatment. My parents did not have the money, and people refused to help again. My parents lost hope. So I continued to pray and just stayed at home. I have had this problem for seven years. When I went home, I was so traumatized. I had never heard of this thing [fistula] before. I thought it was only me with it. I thought I should kill myself. You can’t walk with people. They laugh at you. You can’t travel, you are constantly in pain. It is so uncomfortable when you sleep. You go near people and they say urine smells and they are looking directly at you and talking in low tones; it hurt so much I thought I should die. You can’t work because you are in pain; you are always wet and washing clothes. Your work is just washing pieces of rugs. It is difficult to walk. You feel like your thighs are on fire. You cannot eat comfortably because you fear the urine will be too much. I cannot get into a relationship with a man because I feel embarrassed because I have so much urine coming out. My mother tells me, ‘you can’t get married; how can you go to someone’s home when you are like this? They will despise you.’ I pity myself so much. My biggest fear is that I may never get a child. I look at my age-mates who are married with children and I feel so worthless.”
Physical and Psychological Consequences
Without surgical repair, the physical consequences of fistula are severe, and can include a fetid odor, frequent pelvic or urinary infections, painful genital ulcerations, burning of thighs from the constant wetness, infertility, nerve damage to the legs, and sometimes early mortality. Many women interviewed by Human Rights Watch complained of difficulty walking because the skin on their thighs stung so intensely. Many women suffering from obstetric fistula limit their intake of water and food because they do not want to leak. This can lead to dehydration and malnutrition. The majority of women and girls we interviewed who were married or in sexual relationships complained of pain and discomfort during sex.
Fistula has a huge psychological impact on women and girls, sometimes leading to depression and suicide. Most women we interviewed described feelings of hopelessness, self-hatred, guilt, and sadness, especially because they are stigmatized and think their condition is untreatable. One woman told us, “You are always sad because every time you are washing clothes, you stain everything and you smell.” Amolo A. described how hopeless she felt before she had successful fistula surgery in 2007: “I was raped, the baby was dead, I was leaking urine and I couldn’t be treated. I felt so hopeless. My life was just useless. I was only 19. My age mates were getting married, and moving on with their lives and I was an outcast…. I was just a burden to everyone.”
Women and girls living with fistula are often ostracized largely because of the foul odor they produce; almost all women and girls we interviewed said they have experienced stigma due to their odor. Nyasuguta J. told us, “My cousin is so stigmatized. They say ‘she is just feces’ and that she should not go near visitors. Her brothers disowned her. When they see her approaching they say ‘the one with feces has returned.’” Another woman told us, “I confided in a friend once.… She insulted me and ridiculed me.… She called me a mobile pit latrine.” Awino D. said, “People laugh at me saying I am urinating everywhere. They even sang about me in a circumcision song saying ‘someone’s wife urinates on the mattress.’ I asked my husband ‘how come your friends are ridiculing me?’”
Fistula is more stigmatized when, due to misinformation, it is linked to other taboo conditions such as HIV/AIDS, abortion, and infertility. Wangui K. told us, “People … say ‘she has been aborting. Why can’t the husband chase her and marry another woman who can give birth?’” Muthoni M., who is living with HIV and fistula, was abused by her family and abandoned by her husband. She said:
When I went home, he saw my condition and left home. He said it was my problem…. The mother wants him to marry another woman. I am HIV positive. That’s why they despise me more.... I don’t know what I will do when I go back home because I can’t work. I think I will go back to my parents.... I was so mistreated I thought of killing myself. You know this is a bad combination. They say even if I go to Nairobi I won’t get better, I will die.
Fistula survivors are also thought by some to be bewitched or cursed, or may be accused of being promiscuous. Women and girls with fistula are often abused, beaten, abandoned, and divorced by their husbands or are isolated in their homes or shacks outside their homes. Rose Odeny, a nurse at Migori District Hospital who works with community midwives in the district told us, “Most women [with fistula] in Migori have been sent away from their [marital] homes. I find most of them at their parental home. Even when they are not sent away, the way they are treated makes them to pack and leave.” One woman said her husband beats her because he thinks she is lazy: “He says … ‘fellow women are doing business but you are just sitting at home.’” Awino D., who had just left her abusive husband before our interview, told us,
I stayed with my husband for about five years. There was so much violence…. At home they insulted me that I am filling the toilet and yet I have no child. They said that their son should marry another wife because I am wasting his time…. There was a day he told me as he was beating me, ‘leave so that I can marry again.’ I left him in August 2009. He beat me and I decided I had had enough and went back to my parents.
Fistula often leads to loss of social belonging and association. Many women and girls with fistula lead isolated lives, confining themselves to their homes due to the stigma and shame attached to the illness. A large number of those we interviewed did not go to church, the market, or other social places. For example, Fatuma H. told us, “When you have this problem you have a lot of worries. You don’t have a lot of comfort. You can’t mix freely with other people. You feel guilty to mix with them. You fear the thing [the rugs used to keep dry] will come out and embarrass you. You can’t even go to church.” About five of the girls we interviewed said they would have wanted to return to school after giving birth, but fistula made it impossible.
Fistula places a huge financial burden on poor families. Frequent infections mean women and girls regularly need medical attention. Women also told us that they need petroleum jelly to soothe the burning on their thighs because they cannot afford regular medical care for this. Almost all the women we spoke to said they could not afford to buy sanitary pads and instead used rugs and pieces of old clothes to control the constant trickle of urine and feces. It is also expensive to keep the rugs clean. Women told us that they needed to bathe, change, and wash their rugs and clothes several times a day to stay clean. For this, they need extra supply of soap, which is expensive. Gesare J. told us, “It is expensive to have this problem. At night, I have to keep a basin with Omo [washing powder] and water so that I use it and then pour it in the morning, otherwise the whole house will smell. It is expensive to keep yourself clean, you need to bathe and wash clothes all the time. You need Vaseline [petroleum jelly] to apply to the thighs. It is really hard.”
Women and girls with fistula may also lose property when they are divorced or chased away by their husbands. All the women and girls we interviewed who had left or been chased away by their husbands told us they left with no share of the family property. Nyakiriro C. told us, “When I got the problem, my husband told me to go back to my mother.… I left with no property. He sold the land and the livestock after I left.” Another one told us, “I left home with nothing. We did not have much but I did not get my share of [the property].”
Fistula decreases women’s and girls’ abilities to farm or do other economic activities. Although some women told us that they were able to work on their farms despite the pain and discomfort they suffered, others said they were not able to. Some lose jobs or are denied work when employers discover that they have fistula. For example, Nyaboke H. told us,
My husband chased me away when I got this problem [fistula]. He used to beat me a lot. When I went back to my parents, my sister-in-law also became abusive saying she did not want a dirty smelly person in the home. I left, went to a nearby town, and rented a house. I started doing casual jobs like washing clothes and fetching water, but whenever it was discovered that I had a problem of [controlling] urine, I was chased away. Before long, everybody knew about my problem and I stopped getting work. I used to lock myself in the house and cry the whole night, and sleep hungry.
Other women quit their jobs out of shame. Beatrice N. told us, “I felt bad. I felt like keeping to myself. I stopped going to church. I stopped my cleaning job at Maseno University and stayed at home because I felt ashamed.” Because of the shame and guilt women feel as a result of having fistula, they are reluctant to look for work or ask for financial support from their husbands and other family members.
III. Kenya’s Obligations under International, Regional, and National Law
The Kenyan government has obligations under international, regional, and national law to protect the human rights of women and girls, including rights relating to their reproductive and maternal health.
Violations of human rights protections and standards guaranteed by national, regional, and international laws contribute to the occurrence of fistula and impede its treatment and elimination. The rights that Human Rights Watch found to have been routinely violated among women and girls suffering from fistula include the right to the highest attainable standard of health, the right to equality and non-discrimination, the right to information, and the right to a remedy.
Kenya is a state party to several international and regional human rights treaties that establish a right to the highest attainable standard of health and provide important protections for the rights of women and girls, including reproductive and maternal health. At the international level, Kenya has ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).
At the regional level, Kenya has ratified the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter), and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, and signed but not ratified the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol).
Kenyan law has important protections for the realization of the reproductive and maternal health rights of women and girls. The Kenya Constitution prohibits discrimination on the grounds of sex, residence, or place of origin. Provisions in the Children’s Act include the right to non-discrimination and to health. On health, it states that “Every child shall have a right to health and medical care the provision of which shall be the responsibility of the parents and the Government.” The Act further states that “The Government shall take steps to the maximum of its available resources with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of the rights of the child.”
The Right to Health
Health is a fundamental human right enshrined in numerous international human rights instruments, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the ICESCR, the African Charter, the CRC, and CEDAW. The ICESCR specifies that everyone has a right "to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health."
Because states have different levels of resources, international law does not mandate the kind of health care to be provided, beyond certain minimum standards. The ICESCR provides that the rights guaranteed by it, including the right to health, are subject to "progressive realization,” meaning that a state should "take steps to the maximum of its available resources" to achieve the full realization of the right to health. States are obliged to endeavor to create conditions that would assure access to all medical services and medical attention in the event of sickness.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which oversees implementation of the ICESCR by states parties, has provided examples of what may constitute a failure of a government to fulfill its obligations with respect to the right to health. The examples include failing to adopt or implement a national health policy designed to ensure the right to health for everyone, insufficient expenditure or misallocation of available public resources which lead to the non-enjoyment of the right to health by individuals or groups, particularly the vulnerable or marginalized, and the failure to reduce infant and maternal mortality rates.
The Committee has also set out what it considers to be the essential elements of the right to health (availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality), as well as minimum “core obligations” of governments. The basic elements of this right and the minimum core obligations are described in detail in General Comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. That General Comment emphasizes the minimum core obligations of a government in terms of health care, which include, for example, “the right of access to health facilities, goods and services on a non-discriminatory basis, especially for vulnerable or marginalized groups” and “equitable distribution of all health facilities, goods, and services.” On economic access, the Committee states:
Health facilities, goods and services must be affordable for all. Payment for health-care services, as well as services related to the underlying determinants of health, has to be based on the principle of equity, ensuring that these services, whether privately or publicly provided, are affordable for all, including socially disadvantaged groups. Equity demands that poorer households should not be disproportionately burdened with health expenses as compared to richer households.
The ICESCR stipulates that states parties must take steps to reduce the stillbirth rate and infant mortality and to provide for the healthy development of the child. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights states that ensuring “reproductive, maternal (pre-natal as well as post-natal) and child health care” is of comparable priority to the core obligations. Lowering of maternal mortality is identified as a “major goal” for governments.
Building upon the provisions of the ICESCR, the Convention on the Rights of the Child also addresses the obligations of states parties in respect of the right to health of children, and states that governments must act in the areas of child health and pre- and post-natal health care, in particular primary health care. Similarly, CEDAW protects the right of women to access health care without discrimination and to get “appropriate services in connection with pregnancy, confinement and the post-natal period, granting free services where necessary, as well as adequate nutrition during pregnancy and lactation.” The CEDAW Committee, a body of experts that monitors implementation of the convention, notes that high maternal mortality and morbidity “provide an important indication for States parties of possible breaches of their duties to ensure women’s access to health care.”
The Right to Information
Information is a key aspect of the right to health and is critical to women’s reproductive health. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights notes that the obligation to fulfill the right to health requires the state to promote health by undertaking research, disseminating information on harmful traditional practices and availability of services, training health providers to respond to the specific needs of vulnerable or marginalized groups, and supporting people to make informed choices about their health. The CEDAW Committee has called on states parties to take steps under the right to health, in particular to “prioritize the prevention of unwanted pregnancy through family planning and sex education and reduce maternal mortality rates through safe motherhood services and prenatal assistance.” The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires states to provide “access to age-appropriate information, reproductive and family planning education.”
The CRC provides for the child’s right to “seek, receive and impart information of all kinds” and requires states to ensure access to child-friendly information about preventive and health-promoting behavior, and to abolish harmful traditional practices such as early marriage and female genital mutilation. The African Charter recognizes that every individual has “the right to receive information” and “the right to education.” The Maputo Protocol specifically includes “the right to have family planning education” and further obligates governments to “provide adequate, affordable and accessible health services, including information, education and communication program to women especially those in rural areas.” The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognized that the right to health includes the right of access to information and health-related education. The particular needs of women in relation to access to health-related information have also been highlighted by the CEDAW Committee and the UN Special Rapporteur on Health, who has stated that one of the factors that make women more vulnerable to ill-health is a lack of access to information.
Right to Equality and Non-Discrimination
Human rights law and standards guarantee women the right to equality and non-discrimination. CEDAW is the treaty that sets out most comprehensively the areas in which governments should be working to eliminate discrimination against women, and in article 12 specifically addresses the area of health. Under CEDAW states parties are required to “eliminate discrimination against women in the field of health care in order to ensure, on a basis of equality of men and women, access to health care services, including those related to reproductive health.” The Maputo Protocol also calls upon states to reform laws and practices that discriminate against women, while the Convention on the Rights of the Child guarantees children the right to be free from discrimination. Under the principle of non-discrimination, adolescents should enjoy the same rights to reproductive health services as adults, as consistent with their evolving capacities.
Because only women require health care services for pregnancy and childbirth, states are under obligation to take special measures to make such services available and accessible, while ensuring that they are acceptable and of adequate quality. Failure to make efforts to do so is a form of discrimination. Certain groups of women face not only gender discrimination, but experience discrimination due to their economic status, geographic location, and age. Under article 14 of the CEDAW, governments must make special efforts to ensure that women in rural communities are not disadvantaged, particularly regarding “access to adequate health care facilities, including information, counseling and services in family planning.”
The Right to a Remedy
Regional and international treaties establish the basic right of individuals to an effective remedy when their human rights have been violated. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has recognized the rights of victims of violations of the right to health to access judicial or other remedies and adequate reparation in “the form of restitution, compensation, satisfaction or guarantees of non-repetition.” Likewise, the Maputo Protocol specifically recognizes women’s right to redress, requiring states to “provide for appropriate remedies to any woman whose rights … have been violated … [and] ensure that such remedies are determined by competent judicial, administrative or legislative authorities, or by any other competent authority provided for by law.” The Human Rights Committee has emphasized that states must ensure “accessible and effective remedies” for human rights violations and to take into account “the special vulnerability of certain categories of person,” and further noted that “a failure by a State Party to investigate allegations of violations could in and of itself give rise to a separate breach of the Covenant (ICCPR).”
The right to a remedy in the context of the right to health is closely linked to accountability, which is a key element in ensuring the right to health and in the enjoyment of all human rights. The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health has stated that “without accountability, human rights can become no more than window-dressing.” Accountability has been called the “raison d’être of a rights-based approach.” It has two main components: redressing past grievances and correcting systemic failures. Accountability is not about blame and punishment, but it is a process that helps to identify what works so it can be repeated and what does not so it can be revised. Where mistakes have been made, accountability requires redress. It is also concerned with ensuring that health systems are improving, and the right to the highest attainable standard of health is being progressively realized for all, including disadvantaged individuals, communities, and populations.
IV. Access to Health Information
Access to health information is a necessary part of women’s and girls’ ability to make informed choices and to access health services needed to ensure healthy pregnancy and delivery and treatment for related complications such as obstetric fistula.
Various information gaps noted in this report—concerning sexuality education, family planning, cost of care, government policies on fee exemptions and waivers, what fistula is, and availability of fistula repair services—show major shortcomings in the Kenyan government’s obligations to ensure that the public has adequate health information. The government is aware of such gaps but has not taken deliberate and targeted measures to substantially reduce them.
The right to access health-related information translates into both negative and positive obligations on the part of the state. On the one hand, the state is obligated to refrain from limiting access to information and from providing erroneous information. On the other hand, it must ensure access to full and accurate information. Paragraph 34 of General Comment No. 14 of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calls upon states to “refrain from limiting access to contraceptives and other means of maintaining sexual and reproductive health, from censoring, withholding or intentionally misrepresenting health-related information, including sexual education and information.”
The risk of obstetric fistula often begins when young girls get pregnant or marry early, before their bodies are able to safely sustain a pregnancy. One of the factors leading to early pregnancy and childbearing is the lack of accurate reproductive health knowledge. We spoke to some girls who displayed a lack of basic knowledge on sexuality while others told us that they did not have this knowledge before becoming pregnant. Ten of the girls aged 18 years and below whom we interviewed told us they got pregnant from their first sexual encounter. Seven of them said they had unprotected sex but thought they would not get pregnant because it was their first time, two said it was because they had irregular menstrual periods, and the other because her boyfriend told her she would not fall pregnant. For example, 17-year-old Mueni M. who became pregnant in 2008 while in primary school told us, “I did not know I would get pregnant because it was the first time. I did not know anything about condoms.” She also told us that they had not received any sexuality education in school. Kemunto S. also became pregnant while in primary school. She said, “I got pregnant when I was 16 years old. I was in standard seven and thought because my periods did not come every month I would not fall pregnant. I did not know anything about contraceptives although I had heard people talk about condoms.”
Unease surrounds the topic of sexuality education in Kenya, with some parents and religious leaders opposing the provision of such education because, they say, it would lead to promiscuity. For example, a primary school teacher told Human Rights Watch, “Parents don’t want it [sexuality education] sometimes. They say children are taught how to be promiscuous. Another teacher was telling me the other day that parents in his school say we are teaching their children how to have sex.” Another teacher, Stella Kinaki said, “We have parents who say what we are teaching [sexuality education] is spoiling their children. Sometimes we go for meetings and some teachers are also not comfortable with some of the things we are supposed to teach.” Another one told us, “It is not just pupils who need sexuality education. Parents also need to be told why it is important.”
The government has made efforts to introduce life skills training, which includes sexuality education, in schools. In January 2008, the government asked upper primary and secondaryschools to teach life skills and called for the provision of adolescent/youth-friendly reproductive health services. In 2009, the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Education launched a National School Health Policy and implementation guidelines that address sexuality issues. Experts say there are gaps in implementing this policy. Teachers interviewed by Human Rights Watch told us that lack of time, because sexuality education is not part of the school syllabus and therefore not a priority subject, is the main hindrance to it being taught in schools. A headmaster at a primary school told us, “We appreciate that this is an important issue for children to learn, but unless we make it part of the syllabus, time will always be a barrier.”
Family Planning Information
Family planning education, information, and services are critical to women’s wellbeing and to their reproductive and maternal health. Adequate information about the advantages of family planning and contraception methods, as well as access to such services, is important for reducing maternal deaths and morbidities such as obstetric fistula because it helps women to have planned pregnancies. According to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic Health Survey, 43 percent of most recent births were not planned, underscoring the need for family planning education and services.
Our interviews show that access to accurate and comprehensive family planning information for some of the rural women and girls is a challenge. About half of the women we spoke to said they had no knowledge of family planning and contraception before they got pregnant and an equal number told us that they had learned more about family planning during antenatal care, and none of the women said they received family planning information from a community health worker.Misinformation is a problem as well as lack of information. Seventeen-year-old Monica J. told us, “My boyfriend told me the withdrawal method was best for us because we were not married. I don’t know about any other method.”
Our research shows that there is need to take deliberate steps to educate rural, young, and illiterate women about the importance of family planning and the available methods. The government is aware of the information deficit among poor, rural, and uneducated women.
The Community Strategy provides an opportunity to reach rural women with family planning information. One of the activities in the Community Strategy is provision of family planning information and services. Community health and extension workers are required to create awareness on the importance of family planning and services available, but none of the women and girls we interviewed had received such information from these workers. Current available data from the 2008-09 KDHS indicates that a mere 5 percent of women who are not using any family planning method are being reached by field workers to discuss family planning issues, and only 9 percent who visited health facilities in the 12 months before the survey discussed issues of family planning with the health facility staff. This implies that many opportunities are lost to educate potential users on the benefits of family planning.
Fistula repair camps also present an opportunity to talk to women and girls about family planning, but this does not always happen. Three nurses, out of the five we interviewed working in fistula wards, told us that they do not talk to women about family planning. For example, one of the nurses, a trainer on post-operative care for fistula patients, said, “We do not give them [women and girls] any information on family planning because we do not allow for sexual activity before six months; we tell them to abstain. Also, many do not have children.” A nurse at Jamaa Hospital told us that their policy—they are a Catholic mission hospital—does not allow them to talk to women about family planning. This assertion was confirmed by the hospital administrator.
Under the focused antenatal care program, women and girls should be given post-partum family planning information, which is important for making decisions about the healthy spacing of pregnancies, the mother’s risk of unintended pregnancy after birth, and specific methods of post-partum family planning such as lactational amenorrhea. A study by Population Council found that providers failed to provide this information consistently. In addition, post-natal care attendance is very low in Kenya, further limiting opportunities for provision of family planning information. The current Demographic and Health Survey shows that 53 percent of women did not receive postnatal care for their most recent birth, particularly poor, illiterate, and rural women.
Information on the Need for Facility Deliveries
As noted earlier, a key government priority in improving maternal health is increasing access to skilled attendance during pregnancy, delivery, and after delivery. Women and girls should be told about the importance of facility delivery during antenatal care visits and in communities through community health and extension workers, but this is not always the case. Although only ten women out of the 40 we interviewed who said they attended antenatal care said they were not given this information, there is need to ensure that all women understand the importance of delivering in a medical facility.
Gaps also exist in giving women information about potential complications during childbirth, as discussed in more detail below. It is important that at antenatal care women are told about possible complications that could arise, and that these can happen with any pregnancy. We spoke to four women who said they delivered at home because they had had prior uncomplicated births at home. One told us, “I had four deliveries at home and they were very easy and I normally deliver after a very short while after experiencing labor. I delivered with assistance from my husband's grandmother but this time I don’t know what went wrong.”
Over half of all births in Kenya are categorized as high risk births, that is, births to women with three births or more, to those older than 34 years, or to those younger than 18 years. These statistics underscore the need for the government to scale up information to women and communities on the value of women giving birth in health facilities. Additionally, it is important for the government to monitor the kind of information that women are given during antenatal care. Human Rights Watch interviews with nine nurses, three from dispensaries and six from hospitals, revealed that there were no oversight mechanisms at their facilities to ensure that health providers are giving women the required information during antenatal and postnatal visits.
Information on What Fistula Is and Treatment Availability
Almost all the women and girls we interviewed had never heard about fistula before they developed it, and many were surprised to come to the hospital and meet so many women seeking fistula treatment. They had thought they were the only ones.
Misinformation about fistula abounds, contributing to delays in seeking treatment. Some women thought that incontinence was normal after delivery, that they got fistula after Cesarean sections, or that the bladder cannot be repaired. An HIV positive woman told us people in her community say she got fistula because she is HIV positive and she believes that because HIV cannot be cured, fistula too cannot.
Some TBAs and religious leaders perpetuate these myths by giving wrong information to women who seek their help. Nyakundi B. lived with fistula for four years because when she told her mother about her condition,
My mum took me to a traditional healer who told her that the doctors left cotton inside me and that’s why I had the problem. They told her they would pray for me and I should go to their church. I went many times and they prayed but nothing happened so I stopped. I just stayed at home until I heard about the camp on radio.
Over half of the women and girls we interviewed informed us that no one explained fistula in health facilities where they delivered or when they sought fistula treatment. Six of the nurses we interviewed said they did not talk to women about fistula or incontinence during antenatal or postnatal care visits. All of them said they lacked the time to talk to women about a range of important issues because of capacity. A nurse at Kisii General Hospital told us,
It is true that we do not talk about fistula to patients and that it is not integrated in the health talks. It is a big gap. But the hospital is busy and staffing is limited. Maybe you are one nurse with many people waiting. You feel like you want to give the most basic information. Work is always overwhelming. There is no time to give them all the information they should get at focused antenatal care and time for them to ask questions.
A number of the nurses and doctors we spoke to observed that some health providers also lack the necessary information about fistula to educate women.
Lack of information on fistula among some healthcare providers hinders appropriate and timely referrals and adds to women’s and girls’ suffering. We spoke to women who said they were asked to keep going to hospital without any explanation of what the problem was and what treatment they would be getting or if they would get better. Mueni M.’s case is an example. She told us “I went home and realized water [urine] was coming out. I went back to Wote and asked them ‘what is wrong’ and they just said I be going to clinic. I went back three times and saw it wasn’t helping and so I stopped going.” Another woman told us,
I developed the problem when I was in hospital. They put a tube in me but it did not help. They said I go home and gave me a return date. I went home and the problem got worse. I returned to the hospital but they said I wait for the appointment day. I went back home and returned on the appointment date. They checked and gave me medicine and told me to come after one month. The tablets didn’t help but I came back after one month. They gave me another day to come back. This continued three times and I got tired and I stopped coming.
The situation can be particularly bad when health providers fail to give correct information. Kemunto S. got fistula when she was 16 years old. The doctor at Kisii General Hospital (a level 4 facility then) where she delivered told her, “[G]o home … eat and get fat. [T]he problem will end.” She told us, “I stayed at home for one month but the problem was getting worse. I came back and they said just go home and eat. They told me to eat soft food and vegetables because these would help in natural repair. I went home, ate them but nothing happened; the urine and stool were coming out. Kemunto S. was highly stigmatized by her family and community, and developed mental problems. In 2002, after living with fistula for 10 years and enduring physical violence from her husband, she convinced her husband that they should seek treatment. However, he got frustrated with the back and forth journeys to the hospital, told her to stop treatment, and eventually chased her away. She narrated her story to Human Rights Watch:
In 2002 my husband looked for money and we went back to Kisii General. The doctor examined me and told me to come back after one month. I came back but they said the doctor was not around. They told me to take two weeks and return. I returned after two weeks and they said I needed to be examined in the lab. The lab said I go to Dr. Kasioki [not his real name] to get the results. I went to him. He didn’t tell me anything. He said go and come another day. My husband got annoyed, he was frustrated and asked me to stop going to hospital but I convinced him that we try once more. We returned after two weeks. I went to Dr Kasioki. He just looked at me and said he couldn’t help me. He told my husband I couldn’t become pregnant. My husband said I had miscarried but the doctor insisted I can’t conceive or be cured. My husband got annoyed. He said to me, when we go home, I want you to take your clothes and leave and go back to your parents because you cannot fall pregnant.
Many women and girls do not seek fistula surgery because they do not know that these services are available. There is little or no mobilization done except for announcements about free repair camps. Dr. Mitei, a fistula surgeon at Kisumu Provincial General Hospital told us, “Patients don’t just come; they come during camps when there is good mobilization unless they are referred by other patients, which is very rare.” The Freedom from Fistula Foundation is the only organization doing routine mobilization, but even so, they say they are limited by capacity. The organization has hotlines that women can call for referral to Jamaa Mission Hospital.
In 2004, the Division of Reproductive Health in what was the Ministry of Health and UNFPA conducted a fistula needs assessment in Kenya that showed lack of awareness about fistula in communities as a barrier to its prevention and treatment. Seven years later, the problem persists, and the government has done little to address this barrier by providing accurate information about the causes of fistula in communities.
Information about fistula and the availability of treatment is mainly done before fistula camps, which involve mobilization, screening of women for obstetric fistula, and repair surgery for those affected. Often, the information is targeted towards communities in the region where the camps will be held. This leaves out regions where fistula camps have never been held. The government needs to conduct a country-wide information campaign about fistula through the mass media, and through other avenues such as churches, community health workers, and provincial administrators who work with rural communities.
The government has a key role to play in ensuring women have access to accurate and up to date information about fistula to ensure that it is meeting its obligations to correct persistent myths and misinformation about fistula in the communities. The Kenya government should take measures to ensure that health providers have knowledge about fistula and that they give this information to women and girls during antenatal and postnatal care visits. It can do this by integrating information about fistula into in-service training for health providers.
V.Availability and Accessibility of Services
An equitable, well-resourced, accessible (physically and financially) and integrated health system is widely accepted as being a vital context for guaranteeing women’s access to the interventions that can prevent or treat the causes of maternal deaths and injuries such as obstetric fistula.
Kenya has taken many positive steps to advance women’s and girls’ maternal and reproductive health. These initiatives include eliminating charges for public family planning services, antenatal and postnatal care, and prevention of mother-to-child HIV transmission. The government has also eliminated charges for delivery in dispensaries and health centers to encourage women to deliver in medical facilities with a skilled birth attendant. In addition, by introducing a system of full or partial fee waiver for access to government hospitals, the government has taken steps to increase access to health care for indigent patients. However, slow and sometimes absent progress in certain key areas calls into question whether Kenya is living up to its obligation with respect to the right to health. Many of the problems affecting the health sector in Kenya have persisted for many years. They include shortage of medical staff, mal-distribution of available staff and health facilities to the disadvantage of rural and poor regions, frequent shortages of supplies including family planning supplies, and failure to ensure health services are accessible to the poor.
Family planning is recognized by experts as key in reducing maternal mortality, improving women’s general wellbeing and accelerating progress toward achieving the Millennium Development Goals. For example, family planning can reduce the number of times a woman becomes pregnant. Generally speaking, women who have had three births or more face greater risks in pregnancy. Family planning reduces the number of unintended and unwanted pregnancies, which are far more likely to end in induced abortions, and are far less likely to receive adequate prenatal care than planned pregnancies. In addition, family planning can be targeted to reduce the number of pregnancies to women in groups at increased risk of maternal death, such as women who are too young or older, and women who have had more than five previous births.
Women and girls in Kenya face a number of obstacles in accessing family planning, one being lack of sufficient facilities offering a wide variety of family planning methods. Current available data indicates that “the proportion of health facilities offering any temporary modern methods of family planning declined to 75 percent in 2004 from 88 percent in 1999.”
Another challenge is contraceptive stocks. The family planning findings of the Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey found that as of 2004 (more recent data is not available), “19 percent [of facilities] providing combined oral contraceptives and 18 percent of facilities providing progestin-only injectables reported a stock out sometime in the six months before the survey.”
In August 2009, media reports revealed that contraceptives were largely out of stock across the country. For example, Muraguri Muchira, the director of programs at Family Health Options Kenya, one of the largest providers of family planning in the country, was quoted saying that injectables, one the most common methods of contraception in Kenya, were not readily available then: “We don’t have enough of them in the government supplies or even the Non Governmental Organisations. In our (Family Health Options) case, we are sometimes forced to buy from the private sector which is very expensive and we can’t afford to buy enough quantities to meet the demands.” According to Muchira, “The biggest challenge we have as a country is the sourcing of contraceptives. Kenya depends highly on development partners and each one of them brings their supplies in their own different channels. So it’s very difficult to know how much is being brought in the country at any one time. And as far as I know nobody has come up with a solution.”
In Kenya, as elsewhere in sub-Saharan Africa, the past decade has seen a weakening prioritization of contraceptive programs, undermining access to services. An analysis of the 2009/2010 Kenyan budget by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (German Technical Cooperation, GTZ) indicated that, “Against the general trend, the allocation for Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health is declining by 15%. Only 1.8% of the overall government expenditures on health are spent on this issue.… This is clearly contradictive to policy objectives.”
Human Resource Constraints
The availability, quality, comprehensiveness, and utilization of health services, including maternity services, offered at a health facility depend, in large part, on the number of health workers at that facility. The Kenyan health sector suffers from longstanding human resource shortages, especially in rural areas. According to the Human Resource for Health Strategic Plan, “there are overall staff shortages (47,247 staff against an estimated minimum requirement of about 72,234). Shortfalls are heavily concentrated in parts of Coast, North Eastern Rift Valley and Nyanza Provinces, areas that have the lowest health indicators.” The two health ministries note that “government personnel remain heavily skewed in favour of hospitals and the better-off districts.” Hospitals and high-level facilities have more qualified staff.
In 2005, it was estimated that “[d]ispensaries have a median of one enrolled midwife while health centers have a median of one enrolled nurse and one enrolled midwife. Hospitals have a median of three doctors.” Two of the dispensaries we visited in Machakos and Kisumu had only one nurse attending to all categories of patients. When we arrived at the dispensary in Machakos, there was a long queue of men and women with children waiting to be attended to by the one nurse, who informed us that she was late because she had to purchase some supplies. At the Machakos General Hospital, a nurse in the gynecology ward had to ask a nurse from another ward to assist in giving patients medicine because she was alone in ward of about forty patients, and she was not able to attend to all of them in a timely manner.
Another challenge is that health facilities serve very large populations: “The median population in a hospital catchment area is more than 100,000, while dispensaries, which have limited staff, serve a catchment population of around 8,000.”Many of the doctors, nurses and experts we interviewed reiterated this concern. There are also problems with retaining staff in hard-to-reach and rural areas.
In order to make substantial progress in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity, the Kenyan government should be developing and implementing a plan that aims to ensure that there is a sufficient quantity of qualified health workers available, whose services can be provided in a fair and equitable distribution throughout the country.
Poor Access to Emergency Obstetric Care
Another critical problem that women face in accessing maternal health services, and thus avoiding fistula, is lack of adequate facilities offering delivery and emergency services. Only about 38 percent of facilities offer normal delivery services. Hospitals, which are usually located in urban and peri-urban areas, offer most of these services. Facility-based 24-hour delivery services are available in 64 percent of health centers in the country.
Many women in Kenya have poor access to emergency obstetric care that could save both their lives and prevent stillbirths in case of complications during pregnancy or childbirth. Women with obstructed labor, which can lead to fistula, need emergency obstetric care such as Cesarean sections. The 2004 Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey concluded that capacity to manage common or serious complications of labor and delivery is weak in all facilities, including hospitals. Less than 10 percent of medical facilities in the country were able to offer basic emergency obstetric care as of 2004. The national coverage rate for basic emergency obstetric care was 2.7 per 500,000 population (well below the recommended level of four per 500,000 population) in most provinces. Only six percent of medical facilities can provide comprehensive emergency obstetric care.
Poor Transport and Referral System for Women and Girls in Labor
Transport availability and poor road infrastructure influence the ability of pregnant women, especially those in rural areas, to deliver in health facilities and to access emergency obstetric services. Jessica Momanyi, nursing officer in charge of reproductive health at Kisii General Hospital, told us: “We see many cases that come here and they are too late. They delay too much at the community level because of transport issues.” Transport is a major problem at night. Some women told us about having to walk long distances while in labor to get to the nearest health facility and others said distance to facilities and lack of transport forced them to deliver under TBAs. More than half of fistula patients we interviewed cited transport problems.
Poor access to transport contributes to fistula
“I began labor at 7 p.m. and I said I will go to the hospital in the morning. However, at around 2 a.m., the pain became so severe and the baby was coming fast. My husband tried to get a vehicle but we didn’t get one. My mother-in-law called some old women to help me. We went to the hospital the following morning and arrived at 9 a.m. The nurse said the baby was not breathing. I had a stillbirth. When I went back home I realized water was just coming out. Later I realized it was urine coming out.”
–Human Rights Watch interview with Jerotich N., Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
“I started labor about 2 p.m. My mum left and came back with an old woman who started examining me. The old woman she said the way of the baby was okay and I would deliver well. At 3 a.m, I had not delivered and my mum told her we should go to the hospital because I was in so much pain. However, we couldn’t get a vehicle at 3 a.m. so we waited until morning. My mother also realized she did not have money, and she had to borrow some from relatives. When we got to the dispensary the following day later in the afternoon, the nurse said we had delayed at home and the baby was dead. They took me to hospital and removed the baby. Then I developed this problem [fistula].”
–Human Rights Watch interview with Mueni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
“I felt some pains early in the morning. I went about doing my home chores. By evening, the pains were still mild so I went to bed. Around 1 a.m. the pain became so severe but we had to wait till morning to go to the dispensary because it was raining and the road was bad. We also couldn’t get a vehicle at night.”
–Human Rights Watch interview with Awino V., Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Lack of transport between health facilities is common, and interferes with referrals for emergency obstetric care in higher level facilities. Many health facilities, particularly dispensaries and health centers, do not have ambulances. Even in cases where there are ambulances, there are other problems such as lack of fuel. Beatrice N. started labor at 3 a.m. and quickly went to the nearest dispensary. They told her she would deliver at noon, which did not happen. At 6 p.m. they told her mother to take her to Kisii General Hospital. She said, “They said their car did not have fuel. We hired a car.” Other times, there is delay at the referral facility. A nurse at Rabuor dispensary in Kisumu told us, “Sometimes you call the district hospital and they delay. I had a woman who had serious problems and they took over four hours to arrive.” A nurse at a district hospital remarked, “Fuel is a challenge. I have heard the drivers say on several occasions that there is no fuel when dispensaries call for patients. This leads to delay in women getting help.” A doctor also noted, “Unless we give attention to dispensaries and health centers [by equipping them with ambulances], women will continue to get fistula.”
The Kenyan government is in the process of finalizing a referral strategy that aims to improve communication and transportation between lower level and higher level referral health facilities through purchase and distribution of ambulances, and “To develop service providers’ capacity to offer services and appropriately refer at each level of the healthcare system.” The government should prioritize the completion of this policy as well its implementation, with a focus on rural and marginalized regions. In addition, the government should also prioritize implementation of the referral component of the community strategy, which would empower communities and families to prepare for obstetric emergencies.
Facility and Staffing Challenges for Fistula Repairs
Efforts to address fistula in Kenya are largely focused on training surgeons to provide repair surgeries. In spite of ongoing efforts, lack of trained fistula surgeons remains a major challenge to addressing fistula in Kenya. Obstetric fistula is not a key area of gynecological training; doctors do not come out of university as competent fistula surgeons. Countrywide, there are about ten trained fistula surgeons and only four (one of whom is a retired private consultant) are considered experts able to handle complicated cases and to train others. Three of the experts are based in Nairobi and only occasionally travel to provincial or district hospitals during camps to assist in surgery and to train other doctors. Many people interviewed by Human Rights Watch said there is a general lack of interest in fistula training among doctors because the specialty brings little monetary gain.
In addition, there are few hospitals equipped to handle the surgeries. Those that exist often lack equipment and supplies necessary for fistula repair. Availability of operating theater facilities is a common problem. Because fistula surgery is not considered an emergency, it is not prioritized. Dr Paul Mitei, a fistula surgeon at Kisumu Provincial General Hospital told us, “To do this work in a public hospital is not easy because there are many competing interests…. You may find there is no anesthetist, no theater table. On the day you have your elective [fistula surgery] if there are emergencies … you just put off.”
Routine fistula surgery is rare. Although a number of hospitals have the capacity to offer routine repairs, countrywide, fistula surgery is mainly done routinely in only three facilities: Kenyatta National Hospital (KNH) in collaboration with the Africa Medical Research Foundation (AMREF), Moi Referral and Teaching Hospital (national level public facilities) and at Jamaa Hospital, a mission facility. KNH and Jamaa are both based in Nairobi, even though most women needing surgery are from rural areas, far away from Nairobi.
Repair surgeries are done mainly through fistula camps, which are chiefly meant to be training camps on fistula repair and management for a mixed skill team of doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, anesthetists, and other medical support staff. Trained surgeons (mainly gynecologists) are then supposed to begin routine fistula surgery, but this hardly happens. However, many doctors, NGO representatives, and government officials we spoke to acknowledged that while fistula camps are good for training, they are not sustainable in the long run nor are they the best way of ensuring all women and girls living with fistula get timely treatment.
One of the reasons why fistula surgeons do not offer routine surgery includes lack of long-term mentoring. Some of the doctors we interviewed felt that the once a year training they received was inadequate and others added that this problem is compounded by the lack of continued support following the training to further improve their skills. According to the WHO, “A continuous partnership between the trainees and the trainers is important in maintaining and improving skills, and in acquiring new skills.” Dr. Khisa Wakasiaka, a fistula surgeon and trainer working with AMREF, told Human Rights Watch: “Mentoring and monitoring those surgeons who are trained is a challenge. It’s difficult to follow up on them to find out how they are doing and help them to further develop their skills.”
Women normally have to travel long distances to reach the few facilities that conduct fistula surgery. Women and girls need transport money, and often, if they have never travelled out of their villages, they may want to be accompanied by a relative. Some women may be deterred from going to hospitals far away from their homes. One health provider told us, “Women find far away hospitals alien. There is fear of not knowing where you are going; not knowing what to do.” Two women told us that when they were told they could get treatment at KNH, they feared going there because it is in Nairobi and they do did know anyone there. A nurse confirmed that women fear traveling far for treatment: “Women ask, ‘how do I get there? Who will I stay with? Who [will] I talk to?’”
Health System Financing,Funding for Maternal Health Care and Fistula Repairs
Kenya is obliged under international law to take steps, to the maximum of its available resources, to progressively realize the right to health. This requires making appropriate allocations from available budgets to health care, including reproductive and maternal health services. One measure of the adequacy of health care is its accessibility, including in terms of cost. International law also requires that the government provide free services where necessary to ensure women’s right to safe motherhood.
The fact that poor women and girls and those residing in rural areas continually fail to access maternity and reproductive health services due to cost constraints implies the government has not been successful in ensuring equitable access to health.
The government has put in place policies such as waivers and exemptions for poor women and girls who cannot afford health charges, but these are ineffective in removing barriers to financial accessibility in cases where women continue to be charged informal user fees, are not aware of the waivers or exemptions, or are sometimes denied them. Lack of adequate oversight mechanisms to monitor and evaluate implementation of these and other policies undermine the progressive realization of the right to health.
A variety of mechanisms are used to fund public health services in Kenya, in line with the 1994 health policy framework: taxation, through the government of Kenya budget; development partner funding; and cost-sharing with users, both through insurance and through user fees. The government has recently initiated policy changes aimed at improving health care financing. Efforts include expanding the output based approach (discussed in more detail below), to expand benefits under the National Hospital Insurance Fund (NHIF) to cover outpatient health services and to include people in the informal labor sector.The focus of NHIF has been mainly on formal sector employees. This has left out many Kenyans working in sectors such as the informal sector, agriculture, and pastoralists. The government plans to transform the current NHIF to a National Social Health Insurance Fund (NSHIF) as a way of ensuring equity and access to health services by all Kenyans, especially the poor and those in the informal sector.
The budget is the government’s single most important policy instrument as it shows the true priorities of the government. The budget can reveal whether the government is serious about its commitment to improving maternal and reproductive health care by allocating the necessary resources. Further, the budget can show whether funds are targeting the real challenges of and gaps in reducing maternal mortality and morbidity. Human Rights Watch is not in a position to do a detailed analysis of the budget. However, generally, funding for the health sector is considered inadequate by many, including donors, health providers, and government officials. The Kenya government’s own policies and documents indicate insufficient budgetary allocation as a key and longstanding challenge to improving health service delivery. There is no Kenya government budget allocated to fistula. Funding for fistula repair services is all from foreign donors, although UNFPA channels its resources through the government. Government support for fistula repairs includes provision of hospital space and staff such as nurses and anesthetists.
There is no direct budget line for maternal and reproductive health, save for family planning. The health budget does not provide details of what aspects of maternal and reproductive health are funded by the government. In addition, in Kenya, drugs for all medical conditions, including maternity-related ones, are centrally bought, and this type of expenditure is not reflected in the health budget. The above make it difficult to determine what percentage of the health budget is being allocated to maternal health care and what areas are prioritized, and whether these are in line with interventions needed to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity. The Kenya government should develop a clear budget line for maternal health, with a particular focus on the poor and those living in rural areas. In addition, it should establish a system to track annual budget allocations for maternal health care, including information on what proportion of the health budget and total government budget is allocated to reproductive and maternal health care.
Lack of Reintegration Assistance
The World Health Organization recommends that countries addressing obstetric fistula attend to the reintegration and rehabilitation needs of women and girls who have undergone repair. Women need continued emotional and psychological support to ensure they regain self-esteem and happiness, to ensure reduced stigma and participation in social and religious life, to regain fertility and sexual life as desired, and to ensure future safe deliveries after fistula repair. While there have been achievements in making treatment available, the above needs are not being addressed. Currently there are no initiatives by the government or other service providers to facilitate social reintegration into the community. One doctor commented, “Now the interest is in surgery, tell me, who is doing rehabilitation? So the cause of the fistula may be social and economic. You do the surgery meticulously and you release the women into same environment which gave her the fistula and the factors are still in operation. We have seen women repaired. They go and heal and come back with another fistula.”
Support for reintegration is particularly vital for women experiencing high levels of stigma, those with unsuccessful repairs, or those who are not continent after repair. Women and girls can experience stress incontinence after repair; this can be very traumatic and women may think the surgery was unsuccessful. The consequences may be the same as with actual fistula. Furthermore, women with such conditions may continue to experience stigma, discrimination, and even violence.
Costs to Users in the Public Health System
Poverty is one of the main reasons some women and girls cannot access quality maternal care services. Kenya is ranked 147 out of 182 countries on the United Nations Development Programme’s Human Development Index.Per capita income is roughly US$770 per year, which is about $2 per day.Forty-six percent of Kenyans are living below the food poverty line.The country has been hard-hit by rising fuel prices, in turn affecting transport costs and food prices. According to the Health Financing Policy and Strategy, out-of-pocket health expenditure is high in Kenya, particularly among rural and poor populations, and accounts for a large share of total health expenditure.
User fees, as part of cost-sharing in the health sector in Kenya, have been operational since 1992. In an effort to lessen the negative impact of user fees, Kenya introduced a user fees reduction policy in 2004 commonly referred to as the 10/20 policy, which made health services from the lowest-level facilities (dispensaries and health clinics) very affordable. Under the policy, services at dispensaries and health centers are to be free for all citizens, except for a minimum registration fee of KSH 10 at dispensaries and KSH 20 at health centers (approximately $0.13 and 0.27 respectively).
Removing user fees for maternity services can greatly improve access to care. Kenya has taken the important step of making childbirth free in dispensaries and health centers, but there is a charge for delivery in higher-level public hospitals. There, charges for normal delivery range from KSH 1,500to KSH 3,000 (roughly $20 and $40) while Cesarean section births average KSH 6,000 to KSH 8,000 (approximately $80 to $106).
The cost of fistula surgery in public hospitals is about the same as for a Cesarean section operation. These fees exclude the cost of transportation to the hospital and post-operative care that is vitally important to prevent infection. User fees create a significant barrier to women’s access to quality reproductive and maternal health services and put them at risk of death or injury when they are forced by poverty to deliver at home under unskilled care. Except for the few who hear announcements about free fistula repair camps, cost can deter women living with the condition from seeking treatment.
User Fee Exemptions
The government has implemented a user fee exemption policy. In addition to childbirth in dispensaries and health centers, other services exempted include treatment of children aged below five years, and care for specific health conditions such as malaria, antiretroviral treatment for HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis.
Fully exempt reproductive health services in all levels of government facilities include antenatal care, postnatal care, and family planning. A proposal for a broader maternal health care exemption, which would make delivery in all government facilities free, by the former Minister for Health, did not succeed. Although supposedly an exempt service, women do incur both formal and informal fees when accessing family planning services. The government has not instituted monitoring mechanisms to ensure that health facilities do not charge for exempt services.
User Fee Waivers
The government has implemented a general waiver system in public facilities for those who cannot meet their medical costs. The policy says: “A waiver … is a release from payment based on financial hardship at a particular point in time and it is not automatic. Patients must request a waiver and judgment must be made as to whether or not the patient is truly a hardship case.” The aim of the policy is to “ensure that no patient is denied essential health care because of inability to pay.” Priority is supposed to be given to vulnerable groups such as children under the age of five, street families, maternal and child health services, and referral cases. There are no defined health providers authorized to grant waivers. The hospital administrator is charged with the duty of assigning responsibility to grant waivers. Human Rights Watch interviews with two government officials, doctors, and nurses indicate that waivers are administered by a wide range of health providers, including medical social workers, health administration officers, and nursing officers.
Human Rights Watch found that implementation of the waiver policy is poor for a number of reasons. The criteria for determining the financial need of a patient—such as mode of dress—are vague and easily manipulated by patients and hospital reviewers. Furthermore, hospitals do not always publicize the availability of waivers despite a government requirement to do so. The three public hospitals visited by Human Rights Watch did not tell patients that they could apply for waivers. Hospitals fear misuse of the waiver service, hence the failure to publicize. Emily Wasungu, the nursing officer in charge of the labor ward at Kisumu Provincial General Hospital told us, “We don’t give them information because it can be misused.” Another health provider had a similar comment: “[There are] big fears on misuse of service.” He explained: “Patients want the waiver all the time and tell friends and relatives. Staff members misuse the waiver. Chiefs [community-level provincial administrators] write letters for people who are not in need and patients will go extra miles such as dressing in old clothes to appear poor.” A government official told us, “Members of staff in a good number of hospitals collude with or try to influence decisions on waiver.”
For the waiver system to be effective in enhancing access to health care for the poor, the population should be informed about the existence of such a policy. Almost all the women we spoke to had never heard about the waiver policy. One woman had asked for a waiver in a hospital and was told it did not exist:
I asked at Machakos if they could do the repair for free because I did not have any money and I was told I needed KSH 6,000 ($80). But I had no money.… I asked the nurse, “I hear you can help poor people.” She told me, “That [does] not happen here.” My only option was to sell land but I would rather stay with the problem than sell my land because it is my only source of food.
Although one of the doctors said he had obtained a waiver for a woman needing fistula surgery, our research found that the waiver system has not made a great difference in ensuring poor women and girls access maternal health services. Addressing cost as a barrier to fistula repair, Dr Josephine Kibaru, the head of the Department of Family Medicine in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation noted that majority of fistula survivors are poor and remarked, “There should be no discussion. These [fistula survivors] are waiver cases.”
Health care facilities usually absorb the costs of both administering the waiver system and providing the services they have waived, limiting its effectiveness:
The important role for user-fees as a mechanism for healthcare financing is curtailed largely due to lack of third party payment for the cost of waivers and exemptions instituted to protect and guarantee access by the needy. As a result, the fee levels have been kept low, thereby undermining its revenue generating potential, and consequently its ability to support increased provision and availability of quality services.
Another problem in the implementation of waivers is that some health care users tend to have little knowledge about the existence and implementation of the waiver system. Although the waiver policy says that hospitals should assign people responsibility to grant waivers, our interviews with nurses, doctors and hospital administrators show that this is not always the case. While many of them knew about the existence of the waiver policy, some of them could not tell us the process of obtaining a waiver or who, in their respective health facilities makes the decision to grant the waiver. A government official acknowledged that these information gaps exist and commented, “It is true that some staff are not aware [about the application of the waiver policy]. Those that were trained have left. We realize the need for catch-up training.”
The Kenya government should publicize the existence of the waiver system and procedures for obtaining one. All health facilities should be required to publicly display such information. The government should also develop and implement mechanisms to monitor health facilities’ compliance with the waiver policy.
VI. Patients’ Rights and Health System Accountability
Health system accountability has received little attention in Kenya. Accountability in the context of the right to the highest attainable standard of health “is the process which provides individuals and communities with an opportunity to understand how government has discharged its right to health obligations. Equally, it provides government with the opportunity to explain what they have done and why.” Accountability is central to women’s right to health and to reducing preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. It begins with the government ensuring the incorporation and implementation of accessible, easily understood, and effective accountability processes into the health system.
Several processes enhance health system accountability. Grievance redress is key. When women are mistreated in health facilities or when they are unhappy about the quality of services offered, it is important that they have access to effective mechanisms to address concerns or complaints. Such mechanisms would not only enhance their trust in the health system but also improve utilization and effectiveness of maternal health services. Another component of health system accountability involves ensuring non-recurrence of systemic failures and gaps. Persistent problems with access to emergency obstetric care, mistreatment by health providers or poor referral systems indicate accountability deficits.
Mistreatment and Neglect by Health Care Providers
Abuse of women in health facilities when they go to deliver is a longstanding problem in the Kenya health sector. Although Human Rights Watch interviewed few women who had been abused during delivery, a study looking exclusively at abuse of women during childbirth by the Federation of Kenya Women Lawyers (FIDA Kenya) and the Center for Reproductive Rights documented decades of rights violations including verbal and physical abuse.
Abuse of women during labor often coincides with negligence in providing care. We spoke to women and girls who told us that they were left unobserved for many hours at health facilities. When 17-year-old Akello Z. started labor in 2007, her grandmother immediately called a TBA. Two days later, she had not delivered and her grandmother borrowed money to take her to the nearest dispensary, but she found no help there: “We got to the dispensary at about midday. I was examined by a nurse and she said I had to wait. I was near to deliver. I stayed at the dispensary until the following day at around 7 a.m. The nurse just left me alone and told me ‘next time you will think when you are enjoying sex.’ In the morning she did not check me. She just said they could not help me and I should go to another hospital.” Awino A. (abuse case described above) told us, “They kept telling me to push. After some time they left me alone. At night no one came to see me at all. At around 5 a.m., a doctor came to the ward and was shocked and asked the nurses why they had kept me for so long without referring me and the baby was dead.” Another woman narrated her ordeal to us,
I started labor at about midnight. I told my sister-in-law and she immediately took me to the general hospital which is about half an hour walk from where we were staying. At the hospital they examined me and said I was not due but I was in so much pain and the water had already broken. The nurse took me to the labor ward and told me to push but the baby was not coming out. I was in pain for three days. On the third day they called a doctor who came and pulled out the baby using a metal [forceps] because the baby was already dead.
A senior government official told us: “We have started this process of visiting hospitals. We were in Webuye in October and went to the labor ward and found one pregnant woman in the labor ward who had stayed for two days and had not been reviewed.”
In 2002, in collaboration with various professional bodies, the Ministry of Health developed Standards for Maternal Care in Kenya that aim to provide women with “good quality care … [ensure] dignity during childbirth ... prevent the aspects of care that are disrespectful and unnecessary which will impact negatively on the confidence of women in using a specific facility.” The standards state as an outcome criteria that women “are not addressed rudely.” The Standards for Maternal Care also stipulate that, “Every woman in labour in a health facility [be] monitored with a partograph [or] … [be] delivered or referred within 1 hour of diagnosis [with obstructed labor].” Generally, use of partographs—charts for monitoring progress of labor—is low. An assessment survey of health facilities in 2004 found that “39 percent of facilities offering delivery services have blank partographs.”
Substandard care happens at all levels of facilities. A study by UNFPA and the Population Council that included a review of hospital records of women in obstructed labor who underwent Cesarean sections concluded that the “quality of care in referral facilities requires improvement.” For example they found that, “Blood for grouping and cross matching was taken in 76 percent of the cases but worryingly in only 37 percent of the cases were IV fluids commenced once diagnosis of obstructed labour was made. Only half of the case notes reviewed was a urinary catheter inserted prior to C/S.” More than half of health care providers interviewed by Human Rights Watch confirmed the occurrence of these failings. Some, especially nurses, linked them to poor working conditions. One nurse commented, “Provider attitude is a problem especially with young girls.... You meet one nurse taking care of 70 patients. In the morning you are just crazy.” A doctor told us, “In North Eastern, you find one nurse attending to women, children, and men. How can she offer good care?” Another one said, “It is true that some nurses neglect patients, but in some cases it is capacity issues. Our dispensaries and health centers and even hospitals are so poorly staffed. You wonder when this problem will end.”
Bad treatment of women and girls in health facilities can have indelible psychological effect and deter women from using health facilities in general. In the case of fistula, it can deter them from going for follow-up care or seeking further medical treatment in case of unsuccessful surgery. Muthoni M. had a negative experience when she took her child to Embu Provincial hospital in 2007. When she got fistula in 2009, she did not go to hospital for fear she would not be helped: “They just toss you from one person to another. I was referred there to take the baby because she had diarrhea and a cough. The child was very ill. Instead they kept me waiting. I had to go back home. They talk very badly. They don’t even care. I could not go back there.” A nurse at Railways Dispensary in Kisumu observed, “If a mother goes to a facility and she is not helped, it stops other women from going.”
Inadequate Patients’ Rights and Grievance Mechanisms
Despite documented evidence of abuse and neglect in the health sector in Kenya, no effective formal mechanisms have been developed to respond to grievances and provide redress when patients’ rights are violated. Accountability includes the monitoring of conduct, performance, and outcomes. In this regard, and in order to correct systemic failures in reducing maternal morbidity and mortality and thereby assist the government to progressively realize the right to health, it is important to get feedback from patients on the quality and acceptability of services provided. There should be accessible and effective ways of providing such feedback, lodging complaints, and ensuring such feedback it acted upon. This requires the government to inform patients about their rights and entitlements and how to access redress mechanisms. By not adequately providing information about entitlements under existing healthcare policies and by failing to implement effective grievance redress procedures, the government is falling short of its obligation to guarantee the right to a remedy.
Service Charter for Health Service Delivery
The two ministries of health have a “Service Charter for Health Service Delivery.” It states,
The Government is committed to provision of efficient and high quality health care that is accessible, equitable and affordable to every Kenyan…. The purpose of this charter is to provide the public with our core functions and values, information on the range of services we offer, our commitments, principles, obligations, customers’ rights and obligations, mechanisms for complaint and redress for any dissatisfied clients and customers.
However, the charter does not explain when, how, and to whom patients can complain, nor does it talk about redress.
Citizens’ Service Charters
The two health ministries have also developed Citizens’ Service Charters. The Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation’s (MoPHS) “Citizens Service Delivery Charter” promises “to provide quality preventive and promotive health services to all our clients with dignity, professionalism and within the shortest time possible.” It gives a list of services rendered, the patient responsibilities, user charges, and the expected waiting time. In addition, it spells out health services that are exempt from payment including deliveries in dispensaries and health centers, but it does not mention family planning services.
The Ministry of Medical Services has developed a “Citizens Service Charter for Delivery of Medical Services for District Hospitals,” which is more elaborate than the MoPHS one. It advises patients that they can complain about unsatisfactory services and where they can do so: “Any service that does not conform to the above standards or an officer who does not live up to the commitment to courtesy and excellence in service delivery should be reported to the Out-Patient Department Nursing Officer in-charge or any Hospital administrator.” It says that childbirth is only free in health centers and dispensaries. However, it does not indicate that family planning, antenatal care, and postnatal care are also free.
Patients’ Rights Charter
In 2006, the Ministry of Health developed a patients’ rights charter that hospitals are supposed to display strategically, but, based on facility visits by Human Rights Watch, this is not always done. Also, there seems to be no effort to enable illiterate patients to understand their rights and to lodge grievances. There are no public awareness campaigns on patients’ rights and grievance mechanisms. A government official confirmed that patients are not educated about their rights:
Something that the ministry started but has not expanded is the patients’ rights. Public health education also died along the way. There is this poster [he shows a poster that talks about patients rights and that he says should be displayed in hospitals] in my office but hospitals are not showing them. I have been to several hospitals and they don’t show them.
A nurse at Machakos General Hospital told us, “Patients can inform the nursing officer at the administration block if they have grievances against nurses,” but added, “We don’t tell patients that they can complain. Some read the patients’ rights we have displayed on the wall.” She also informed us that she knew of no clear system for dealing with providers who are reported by patients. Instead, there are ad hoc measures such as being called before a disciplinary committee and warned.
Even patients who are aware of their rights and feel aggrieved at how they are treated in health facilities have limited ways of registering and processing complaints. The current system of using suggestion boxes is ineffective. All the hospitals we visited had a suggestion box. When we asked various hospital staff how they used this system to address grievances, for example the types of complaints received, processes to deal with them, and their outcomes, most did not know how this system worked. According to a government respondent, “There is a structure but it is not being followed.… Hospitals should have complaint boxes, at least four, strategically displayed in hospitals. These need to be reviewed by advisory committees but this is not being done.” The Director of Public Health in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation concurred: “[The] complaint mechanism is not effective. Patients don’t complain.”
Some women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch reported that they were too afraid to complain against doctors or nurses even when they felt that they had experienced some injustice for fear of reprisals. One told us, “Some nurses were not good to me at the hospital. They refused to change my beddings telling me why don’t you use the things that people use at home to stop the urine from coming out. I did not complain because I feared they will not treat me.”
Accountability and the Community Strategy
One of the objectives of the Community Strategy is “Strengthening the community to progressively realize their rights for accessible and quality care and to seek accountability from facility based health services” by ensuring that health providers adhere to the Citizen’s Service Charters. The Community Strategy is a good avenue to educate communities about their rights and to link communities with health facilities to strengthen existing systems. As one health NGO worker noted, “Strengthening accountability “[C]an be very helpful…. Not everything can be solved by [reducing] the costs [of maternity care].” Or, as another health professional observed, “It [accountability] will address the impunity culture of ‘even if I don’t help you, what will you do?’”
To the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services
On a National Fistula Strategy
· Develop and implement a national fistula strategy in accordance with the World Health Organization’s “Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development.” Other relevant government ministries, such as the Ministry of Gender and Children Affairs, and NGOs should participate in the conception of the strategy.
On Fistula Awareness and Education
- Carry out an awareness-raising campaign to inform the public about the causes of fistula, contributing factors and risks (such as female genital mutilation, early marriage and childbearing, and lack of skilled care at delivery), and the availability of treatment. Involve provincial administrators, religious leaders, and NGOs in the campaign.
- Incorporate information about fistula and availability of treatment services into the “Malezi Bora” (child-mother health and nutrition campaign) weeks.
- Integrate information on fistula into the Community Strategy
- Strengthening messages in the Community Strategy on pregnancy and childbirth by developing specific messages on obstetric complications, including obstetric fistula, and translate these into Kiswahili and local languages.
- Training community health extension workers and community health workers to educate communities about fistula, and to identify and refer for treatment women and girls with fistula.
- Integrate fistula information, including on facilities where treatment is available, into in-service training of health providers, and into antenatal and postnatal care services.
- Encourage nongovernmental organizations who work with communities on reproductive and maternal health issues to incorporate fistula awareness into their programs.
On School-Based Sexuality Education
- Make comprehensive sexuality education part of the school syllabus so that teachers can allocate time to teach it.
On Economic Access Barriers to Maternity Services and Fistula Treatment
- Urgently improve financial accessibility of fistula surgery by subsidizing routine repairs in provincial and district hospitals, including follow-up visits, and providing free fistula surgeries for indigent patients.
- Assess the feasibility of exempting fees for maternal health care in all health facilities beyond the current exemption for childbirth in dispensaries and health centers.
- Prioritize the completion and implementation of the National Social Health Insurance Fund to improve women’s access to maternal health care.
- Publicize the cost of maternal health services:
- Include in the Citizen’s Service Charters the cost of all maternity services and indicate which services are exempt from payment, and translate it into Kiswahili and local languages.
- Require that all health facilities display the Citizen’s Service Charters in strategic locations and monitor compliance.
- Publicize the existence of the waiver system and procedures for obtaining a waiver, including through translating these into Kiswahili and other local languages, and requiring facilities to display them.
- Monitor facilities to ensure that user fees are charged as outlined and exemptions and waivers are applied. Collect gender-disaggregated data on this.
On Budgeting for Maternal Health Care
- Establish a system to track annual budget allocations for maternal health care, including information on what proportion of the health budget and total government budget is allocated to reproductive and maternal health care.
On Access to Emergency Obstetric Care and Health System Strengthening
- Urgently strengthen emergency obstetric care by:
- Scaling up the number of health facilities that offer emergency obstetric care and intensifying efforts to meet the recommended ratios for staffing in health facilities.
- Developing and implementing guidelines on the management of obstructed labor and oversight of this health service in line with the WHO’s handbook on monitoring emergency obstetric care.
- Conducting refresher training for health providers and monitoring the use of partographs in health facilities, and widely disseminating and monitoring implementation of the Standards for Maternal Care.
- Implementing the referral component of the Community Strategy, including strengthening education on male involvement in birth planning and emergency preparedness.
- Improving communication between communities and community health facilities, through provision of toll free emergency numbers.
- Improving emergency transport between facilities by providing more ambulances, especially to service dispensaries and health centers.
- Prioritizing the completion and implementation of the referral strategy.
On Facilities and Training of Fistula Surgeons
- Work with the University of Nairobi and other institutions that train doctors and nurses to ensure that obstetricians and gynecologists get adequate skills on fistula identification during training, and support the training of adequate numbers of surgeons.
- Provide necessary equipment and supplies to hospitals that have trained fistula surgeons to facilitate routine repair.
- Work with donor partners to support long-term mentoring of surgeons undergoing fistula training.
On Fistula Data Collection and Monitoring
- Develop a tool for routine obstetric fistula data collection in health facilities and in communities through community health workers and community health extension workers.
- Integrate inquiries on fistula into future demographic health surveys and service provision assessment surveys.
- Consider integrating fistula review, through community-based interviews, into the community strategy.
On Patients Rights and Complaint Mechanisms
- Conduct public awareness programs to educate patients about their rights.
- Translate into local languages and widely disseminate the Service Charter for Health Service Delivery, the Citizens’ Service Charters, and the Patients’ Rights Charter.
- Require that all health facilities display these documents visibly and encourage patients to read them.
- Require all health facilities to develop formal internal complaint mechanisms with clear procedures that are widely publicized, and monitor their implementation.
- Conduct mandatory training for all health providers on patients’ rights.
- Strengthen messages on patients’ rights in the Community Strategy and include the right to redress.
To the Ministry of Justice, National Cohesion and Constitutional Affairs; Ministry of Foreign Affairs; and Attorney General
- Ratify the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa (Maputo Protocol).
To the Ministry for Gender and Children Affairs
- Together with the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, develop a strategy to systematic, comprehensive sexuality education for in- and out-of-school adolescents.
- Raise public awareness about the dangers of early marriage and female genital mutilation, including obstetric fistula, and monitor adherence to laws on early marriage and FGM.
- Improve cooperation between health and child protection from the community level to the national level as part of the current review of the child protection system.
- Ensure that the current child protection strategy includes measures to protect girls from stigmatization and abuse due to early pregnancy or fistula.
To the Kenyan National Assembly
- Enact the National Social Health Insurance Bill, ensuring that the planned National Health Insurance Fund provides health care for all women and girls.
To the African Union Commissioner for Social Affairs
- Encourage the Kenya governments to monitor annual budget allocations for maternal health care.
- Encourage the Kenya government to ratify the Maputo Protocol.
To the United Nations Population Fund
- Expand prevention activities of the Campaign to End Fistula and intensify work on rehabilitation and reintegration of fistula survivors.
- Offer the Kenya government technical and financial support to conduct further research on the prevalence and incidence of fistula.
- Expand efforts to train selected women who have had successful surgery to be community educators and support them to do so.
- Work with the African Union to integrate fistula into the Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa.
To the United Nations Children’s Fund
- Support NGOs and civil society organizations to raise public awareness about the dangers of early marriage and female genital mutilation, including obstetric fistula.
- Encourage and support provision of systematic, comprehensive sexuality education for in- and out-of-school adolescents.
- Consider supporting, as part of protection work, rehabilitation and reintegration into communities of girls who have undergone fistula repair.
To Donor Countries and International Agencies
- Continue to offer the Kenyan government technical and financial support to address health system gaps that lead to poor quality maternal health care.
- Support efforts to improve access to health care through improved health financing systems. In particular, support steps to make reproductive and maternal health care services more affordable.
- Continue to offer the Kenyan government technical and financial support to improve emergency obstetric care, and prioritize improved access by poor, illiterate, and rural women.
- Provide technical and financial assistance to ensure that all government health interventions, particularly interventions funded by them, are monitored and evaluated to ensure that they are reaching poor, illiterate, and rural women.
VIII. Appendix I
Relevant Health Sector Policies, Strategies, and Guidelines
National Reproductive Health Policy (NRHP)
In 2007, Kenya’s first-ever NRHP was developed to complement the NRHS (see below) by providing a framework for equitable, efficient, and effective delivery of high-quality reproductive health services throughout the country with an emphasis on reaching those in greatest need and most vulnerable. It has four main areas of focus: safe motherhood, maternal and neonatal health, family planning, and adolescent/youth sexual and reproductive health and gender issues.
The NRHP states that traditional birth attendants “are not recognized as providers of skilled care,” and they should be used as advocates of safe childbirth through encouraging and referring to health facilities women who seek their services.
The National Reproductive Health Strategy (NRHS) 2009-2015
The Government launched the National Reproductive Health Strategy (NRHS) 2009-2015 to “[F]acilitate operationalization of the National Reproductive Health Policy.” In addition, the strategy aims to improve financing for reproductive and maternal health care and to facilitate implementation of the reproductive and maternal health aspects of the Community Strategy. Some of its objectives are to markedly reduce maternal mortality rates, to ensure the presence of skilled attendants at 90 percent of deliveries, and to have all health facilities providing basic emergency obstetric care, all by the year 2015.
National Road Map for Accelerating the Attainment of the MDGs Related to Maternal and Newborn Health in Kenya
In 2007, the Ministry of Medical Services and Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation developed the MNH Road Map, “To accelerate the reduction of maternal and newborn morbidity and mortality towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).” It has three objectives: to “[i]mprove data management for decision making and utilisation in health planning,” to “increase the availability, accessibility, acceptability, and utilisation of skilled attendance during pregnancy, childbirth and the post partum period at all levels of the health care system,” and to “strengthen the capacity of individuals, families, communities, social networks to improve maternal and newborn health.” The Road Map identifies obstetric fistula as a big problem and indicator of poor maternal health services but does not explicitly address fistula in its strategies.
Standards for Maternal Care in Kenya
These standards were developed by professional bodies (National Nurses Association of Kenya and the Kenya Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Society). They provide guidelines for handling emergency obstetric cases with the hope that “improved quality of care will increase clients’ satisfaction as well as … use of services and thus help to reduce maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity.” The section on management of women and girls who present with obstructed labor does not include important details, such as the need to insert an in-dwelling catheter, which can help with spontaneous closure of small fistulas.
Many policies and strategies on reproductive and maternal health address the importance of family planning in enhancing the health of women and children. The Family Planning Guidelines for Service Providers were first developed in1991. The guidelines were revised in 2005 to assist service providers in maintaining comprehensive care for clients seeking family planning, including the provision of youth-friendly services and linkage of family planning and HIV/AIDS services, and in 2010 to reflect the 2009 medical Eligibility Criteria of the World Health Organization.
Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy
Kenya has put in place an Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy (ARH&D) policy to enhance the implementation and coordination of programs that address the reproductive health and development needs of young people. The policy addresses adolescent health issues such as sexual health and reproductive rights, harmful practices, drug and substance abuse, socio-economic factors, and the special needs of adolescents and young people with disabilities. Some of its targets are: to increase the proportion of facilities offering youth-friendly services to 85 percent, to reduce the proportion of women aged below 20 with a first birth from 45 percent in 1998 to 22 percent and to raise the median age of fist sexual intercourse from 16.7 for girls and 16.8 for boys to 18 for both, all by 2015. The ARH&D Plan of Action 2005-2015 has been developed to guide implementation of the policy.
The National Guidelines for Provision of Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) in Kenya outlines the role of the health sector in addressing the special reproductive health concerns of young people. It outlines strategies, approaches, and models for delivery of YFS.
National Health Sector Strategic Plan and Kenya Essential Package for Health
Kenya’s second National Health Sector Strategic Plan (NHSSP II – 2005–2010) defined a new approach to the way the sector will deliver health care services to Kenyans: the Kenya Essential Package for Health (KEPH). KEPH represents the integration of all health programs into a single package that focuses its interventions toward the improvement of health at different phases of the human development cycle. These phases represent various age groups or cohorts, each of which has special health needs. These services are provided at each of the six levels of the healthcare system.
Agnes Odhiambo, researcher in the Women’s Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, wrote this report based on research that she conducted with Janet Walsh, deputy director of the Women’s Rights Division, in Kenya in November and December 2009. Janet Walsh, Juliane Kippenberg, senior researcher in the Children’s Rights Division, Joseph Amon, director of the Health and Human Rights Program, Ronal Peligal, acting director of the Africa Division, Aisling Reidy, senior Legal Advisor, and Cassandra Cavanaugh, consultant to the Program Office reviewed the report. Charlotte Warren, Population Council, provided external review.
Chloe Fussell and Daniela Ramirez, associates in the Women’s Rights Division, provided production assistance. Additional production assistance was provided by Grace Choi, publications director; Anna Lopriore, creative manager; and Fitzroy Hepkins, mail manager.
We are grateful to the women and girls who agreed to share their stories with us and we admire their courage and resilience. Human Rights Watch appreciates the support of the fistula surgeons who linked us with the women and girls for interviews.
We also thank the many individuals and organizations that contributed to this report with their time, expertise and information.
The Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch gratefully acknowledges the financial support of Arcadia, the Moriah Fund, the Trellis Fund, and other supporters.
The three public hospitals were level 5 hospitals. Kenya’s health care system is organized in six levels. Level 1 is the community Level. It consists of using community-owned resource persons and community health and extension workers in health promotion. Level 2 and 3 consist of primary health services, where health promotion and basic treatment services are provided. Only simple diagnostic and short term in-patient services, such as maternity and short recuperative observations are provided at this level. Major treatments are offered in Levels 4 and 5, which comprise sub-district, district and provincial general hospitals. These also serve as referral facilities for Levels 1, 2 and 3. Level 6 are the national referral and teaching hospitals. Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Medical Services, “Referral Strategy and Investment Plan for Health Services,” July 2008-June 2012, p. 25. Machakos and Kisii general hospitals were recently upgraded to level 5 facilities. This report has retained the names Machakos General Hospital and Kisii General Hospital for readability.
The Convention on the Rights of the Child defines a child as anyone under the age of 18 years. The Kenya Children’s Act has a similar definition. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted November 20, 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No 49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force September 2, 1990, art. 1, and the Children’s Act, No.8 of 2001, Laws of Kenya, art. 2. We interviewed 12 girls with fistula.
Globally, approximately 80 percent of all maternal deaths are estimated to be caused by direct obstetric causes (hemorrhage; sepsis; hypertension; unsafe abortions; and obstructed labor). Indirect causes include HIV/AIDS, malaria, anemia, and tuberculosis. In countries with high HIV or tuberculosis prevalence, the proportion of indirect causes could be higher. Millennium Project, Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, Who’s Got the Power? Transforming Health Systems for Women and Children (London: Earthscan, 2005), http://www.unmillenniumproject.org/documents/maternalchild-frontmatter.pdf (accessed February 2, 2010), p. 80. No single health intervention can by itself significantly reduce maternal deaths. Programs that link services for women from adolescence through pregnancy, delivery, and after delivery are needed. Health experts generally agree that increasing access to family planning, antenatal care, having skilled health workers assisting at birth, and access to emergency obstetric care can greatly reduce maternal deaths and morbidities. See World Health Organization (WHO) et al., The Millennium Development Goals Report (New York: United Nations, 2009), www.un.org/millenniumgoals/pdf/MDG%20Report%202009%20ENG.pdf (accessed October 10, 2009), p.27, and Millennium Project, Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, Who’s Got the Power?, pp. 80-89.
WHO et al., Maternal Mortality in 2005: Estimates Developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and The World Bank (Geneva: WHO Press, 2007), www.who.int/whosis/mme_2005.pdf (May 3, 2010), p. 15. New estimates of global maternal mortality are currently being finalized by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and the World Bank, and are expected to be released in mid-2010 according to the current Millennium Development Goals Report. See WHO et al., TheMillennium Development Goals Report, p. 30.
Margaret C. Hogan et al., “Maternal mortality for 181 countries, 1980–2008: a Systematic Analysis of Progress towards Millennium Development Goal 5,” The Lancet, April 12, 2010, http://download.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140673610605181.pdf?id=e16241398b8e460:73a56a81:128 (accessed April 15, 2010), p. 1.
Ibid., p. 6. The study notes that the decline reflects progress only in some regions, and very little progress has been made in sub-Saharan Africa, where women face the greatest lifetime risk of dying as a result of pregnancy and childbirth. The study notes wide regional and country variations in maternal mortality ratio decline, adding that only 23 countries are on track to achieve MDG 5 on maternal health, and that the proportion of maternal deaths in sub-Saharan Africa increased vis-à-vis the rest of the world. The maternal mortality ratio is defined as the number of maternal deaths in a population divided by the number of live births. Thus, it depicts the risk of maternal death relative to the number of live births. See also, WHO et al., The Millennium Development Goals Report, p.27.
Estimates on the number of women who develop maternal morbidities vary. See Millennium Project, Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, Who’s Got the Power?, p. 80. The WHO estimates that 30-50 times as many women suffer from maternal morbidities as die from pregnancy and childbirth. A fact sheet from the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health says about 30 women develop complications for every woman that dies from pregnancy and childbirth. Partnership for Maternal, Newborn, and Child Health, “Fact Sheet: Maternal Mortality (Millennium Development Goal MDG 5),” undated, http://www.who.int/pmnch/media/press_materials/fs/fs_mdg5_maternalmortality/en/index.html (accessed April 30, 2010).
Hogan et al., “Maternal Mortality for 181 Countries, 1980–2008,” p. 1.
There is no single cause of death and disability for men between the ages of 15 and 44 that is close to the magnitude of maternal death and disability. Paul Hunt and Judith Bueno De Mesquita, Reducing Maternal Mortality: The Contribution of the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health (New York: United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and University of Essex, 2007), http://www.unfpa.org/upload/lib_pub_file/750_filename_reducing_mm.pdf (accessed October 2, 2009), p. 4.
Other past initiatives include the 1987 Safe Motherhood Initiative and undertakings stemming from the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development.
UN Human Rights Council, “Preventable Maternal Mortality and Morbidity and Human Rights,” Resolution A/HRC/11/L.16/REV.1.
European Parliament, “Resolution on Maternal Mortality ahead of the UN High-level Event on the Millennium Development Goals to be held on 25 September 2008,” RSP/2008/2621, September 4, 2008, http://www.europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//TEXT+TA+P6-TA-2008-406+0+DOC+XML+V0//EN&language=EN (accessed April 26, 2010).
Bissera Kostova, “Secretary-General Issues Call to Action to Improve Maternal and Child Health,” United Nations Radio, April 14, 2010, http://www.unmultimedia.org/radio/english/detail/93881.html (accessed May 3, 2010). World Health Organization, "Joint Action Plan, Delivering Maternal and Child Health: A Call to Action,” Senior Strategy Meeting, April 14-15, 2010, www.who.int/entity/pmnch/events/2010/actionplanframework.pdf(accessed may 3, 2010).
UNFPA, “African MNH Road Maps Assessment Report,” July 2009, http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/mnh_roadmaps.pdf (accessed April 1, 2010), p. 13.
“Road Map for Accelerating the Attainment of the MDGs Related to Maternal and Newborn Health in Africa,” 2004, http://www.google.co.ke/search?hl=en&q=The+African+Road+Map+for+Accelerating+the+Attainment+of+the+MDGs+related+to+maternal+and+newborn+health+%28MNH&meta=&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai= (accessed April 1, 2010), pp. 1 and 6.
UNFPA, “African MNH Road Maps Assessment Report,” p. 14.
Ibid., p. 25.
African Union, “Plan of Action on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights (Maputo Plan of Action) 2007 – 2010,” Sp/MIN/CAMH/5(I), http://www.unfpa.org/africa/newdocs/maputo_eng.pdf (accessed September 12, 2009). The Maputo Plan is currently under review. See African Press Organization, “AU Conference Reviews Implementation of Maputo plan of Action and Seeks to Strengthen Partnerships in MCH,” April 19, 2010, http://appablog.wordpress.com/2010/04/19/au-conference-reviews-implementation-of-maputo-plan-of-action-and-seeks-to-strengthen-partnerships-in-mch/ (accessed April 26, 2010).
See United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, “The African Union Deepens Its Campaign for Accelerated Reduction of Maternal Mortality in Africa,” http://www.uneca.org/acgs/icpd+15/Maternal.html (accessed October 27, 2009); and United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, “The African Union Commits to Promoting Maternal, Infant and Child Health in Africa,” http://www.uneca.org/acgs/icpd+15/BackgroundAU.html (accessed October 31, 2009).The Campaign’s main objective is to accelerate the availability and use of globally accessible quality services, particularly those related to sexual and reproductive health germane to the reduction of maternal and infant mortality. The African Union partners with WHO, UNFPA, and UNICEF in this campaign. Ibid.
WHO, “10 Facts on Obstetric Fistula,” March 2010, http://www.who.int/features/factfiles/obstetric_fistula/en/ (accessed May 16, 2010). Some in-depth studies support the widely held view that the true number of women living with untreated fistula could be far more than this estimate. One study has found that in Nigeria alone, as many as one million women could be living with fistula, and another suggests that 70,000 new cases occur annually in Bangladesh. See WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development (Geneva: WHO, 2006), http://www.who.int/making_pregnancy_safer/publications/obstetric_fistula.pdf (accessed November 27, 2009), p.4.
Family Care International and UNFPA, “Living Testimony: Obstetric Fistula and Inequities in Maternal Health,” 2007, http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2007/living_fistula_eng.pdf (accessed April 2, 2010), p. 2.
Amy Tsui et al., “The Role of Delayed Childbearing in the Prevention of Obstetric Fistulas,” International Journal of Gynecology and Obstetrics, vol. 99 (2007), p. 98.
The term obstructed labor indicates a failure to progress due to mechanical problems such as a mismatch between the size of the presenting part of the fetus and the mother’s pelvis. Some mal-presentations such as a brow presentation or a shoulder presentation will also cause obstruction. Pathological enlargement of the fetal head and ineffective uterine contractions may also obstruct labor. These different causes of difficult labor may co-exist. J. P. Neilson et al., “Obstructed Labour: Reducing Maternal Death and Disability during Pregnancy,” British Medical Bulletin, vol. 67 (2003), pp. 191-204; Nawal Nour, “An Introduction to Maternal Mortality,” Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, vol. 1, no. 2 (2008), pp. 77-81; and WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development, p.3.
UNFPA and EngenderHealth, “Obstetric Fistula Needs Assessment Report: Findings from Nine African Countries,” 2003, http://www.unfpa.org/fistula/docs/fistula-needs-assessment.pdf (accessed November 22, 2009), p.4.
Amy Tsui et al., “The Role of Delayed Childbearing in the Prevention of Obstetric Fistulas,” p. 99. Also see WHO, “Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development,” p.3. The report of the UN Secretary-General on obstetric fistula also notes that early marriage heightens the risks of obstetric fistula. UN General Assembly, “Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula, Report of the Secretary-General,” (sixty-third session, item 59 of the provisional agenda, Advancement of Women), A/63/222, paras. 9-10. Malnutrition, which stunts pelvic growth, is another contributing factor to fistula development.
UNICEF, “Early Marriage, A Harmful Traditional Practice: A Statistical Exploration,” April 2005, http://www.unicef.org/publications/files/Early_Marriage_12.lo.pdf (accessed May 14, 2010), pp. 23-24.
Children’s Act, art. 2 states: “early marriage" means marriage or cohabitation with a child or any arrangement made for such marriage or cohabitation.”
Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) and ICF Macro,Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09 (Calverton, Maryland: KNBS and ICF Macro, 2010), p. 83.
In the 2008 classification of FGM, WHO defines infibulation as, “narrowing of the vaginal orifice with creation of a covering seal by cutting and appositioning the labia minora and/or the labia majora, with or without excision of the clitoris.” WHO, Female Genital Mutilation and Other Harmful Practices: FGM Factual Overview and Classification,” http://www.who.int/reproductivehealth/topics/fgm/overview/en/index.html (accessed May 24, 2010).
WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development, p.36.
Children’s Act, art. 14.
See Doctors of the World, “Partnership for Maternal and Neonatal Health: West Pokot District Child Survival and Health Program,” October 2007, http://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PDACK514.pdf (accessed April 2, 2010), p.24, noting that traditional birth attendants and nurses working in West Pokot report that it is standard practice to cut a bilateral episiotomy in order to facilitate childbirth.
UNFPA, “Campaign to End Fistula, Annual Report 2008,”2009, http://www.unfpa.org/webdav/site/global/shared/documents/publications/2009/fistula_annual_report_2008.pdf (accessed March 24, 2010), p. 5.
See EngenderHealth website at http://www.fistulacare.org/pages/about-us/program-background.php (accessed April 2, 2010).
WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development.
UN General Assembly, Resolution adopted by the General Assembly on the Report of the Third Committee (A/62/435), “Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula,” A/RES/62/138.
UN General Assembly, “Supporting Efforts to End Obstetric Fistula, Report of the Secretary-General.” . Some of the recommendations to address fistula include greater investments in health systems and strengthening family planning programs including those targeting adolescent girls; skilled delivery care and emergency obstetric care. In addition, the report recommends for fistula treatment services to be offered for free or at highly subsidized rates for poor women and girls. See paras. 64(a) – (e).
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. xxi.
Ministry of Planning and National Development, “MDGs Status Report for Kenya 2005,” undated, http://www.undg.org/archive_docs/6585-Kenya_Second_MDG_Report_-_Report.pdf (accessed October 22, 2009), p. 20.
Ministry of State for Planning, National Development and Vision 2030, “Millennium Development Goals: Status Report for Kenya 2007,” 2008, http://www.planning.go.ke/index.php?option=com_docman&task=cat_view&gid=57&Itemid=75 (accessed December 6, 2009), p. 23.
National Coordinating Agency for Population and Development (NCAPD) et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey (KSPAS) 2004,” 2005, http://www.measuredhs.com/pubs/pdf/SPA8/SPA8.pdf (accessed December 10, 2009), p.111. The KSPAS collected information on health facility infrastructure, resources, and management systems, and on services for child health, family planning, and maternal health. Analysis of trends in maternal mortality in Kenya is complicated by the fact that previous surveys omitted the whole of northern Kenya and also differences in questions asked. See KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic Health Survey 2008-09, p.273. The Kenya Demographic Health Surveys have never provided disaggregated data on the MMR.
Ministry of Health, “National Reproductive Health Strategy (NRHS), 1997- 2010,” 1996, p.29. The NRHS has been revised, and contains the target of reducing the MMR to 147 by 2015. See Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Medical Services, National Reproductive Health Strategy 2009 – 2015, August 2009, p. 65.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, pp. xix-xx. Unmet need for family planning is the gap between women’s desire to delay or avoid having children and their actual use of contraception. WHO et al., the Millennium Development Goals Report 2009, p. 23.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. xx.
Ibid., p. 96.
Ibid., p. xix.
Ibid., p. 113.
Ibid., p. 116. UNICEF and WHO recommend a minimum of four antenatal visits. WHO et al., The Millennium Development Goals Report, p.27.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 119. This is a small increase from 42 percent in the 1998 KDHS. WHO defines a skilled birth attendant as “an accredited health professional—such as a midwife, doctor or nurse—who has been educated and trained to proficiency in the skills needed to manage normal (uncomplicated) pregnancies, childbirth and the immediate postnatal period, and in the identification, management and referral of complications in women and newborns.” WHO, “Making PregnancySafer: The Critical Role of the Skilled Attendant. A Joint Statement by WHO, ICM and FIGO,” 2004, http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2004/9241591692.pdf (accessed March 2, 2010), p. 1. Skilled attendance requires that the health care provider has at her disposal the necessary equipment and medicines, and a functioning referral system for emergency obstetric care. Ibid., p. 2.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 122. A traditional birth attendant does not meet the definition of a skilled birth attendant because they are not formally trained as midwives.
Ministry of Health and UNFPA, “Needs Assessment of Obstetric Fistula in Kenya,” 2004, http://www.fistules.org/docs/na_kenya.pdf (accessed November 15, 2009), p.14. The needs assessment was conducted in Nairobi and four poor access districts staggered across four provinces. It is unclear how the number on backlog of cases was arrived at.
For example Dr. Geoffrey Okumu of UNFPA told Human Rights Watch, “We thought it [obstetric fistula] was common in poor access districts but it is common in other areas, for example in Muranga. It may be more widespread than we previously thought.” Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Geoffrey Okumu, fistula program coordinator, UNFPA, Nairobi, November 19, 2009. The needs assessment quotes a doctor in one of the study districts (Mwingi) saying that fistula cases are as many as two to three per 100 deliveries in the area. Ibid., p. 18.
Ministry of Health, “Kenya National Obstetric Fistulae Training Curriculum for Health Care Workers,” 2006.
Ministry of Health, “Community Strategy Implementation Guidelines for Managers of the Kenya Essential Package for Health at the Community Level,” 2007, p. 23; Ministry of Health, “Linking Communities with the Health System: The Kenya Essential Package for Health at Level 1: A Manual for Training Community Health Workers,” 2007, p.3.
Ministry of Health, “Taking the Kenya Essential Package for Health to the Community: A Strategy for the Delivery of Level One Services,” 2006, p.19.
Ministry of Health, “Community Strategy Implementation Guidelines for Managers of the Kenya Essential Package for Health at the Community Level,” 2007, p. 24.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 123.
Ministry of Planning and National Development, “MDGs Status Report for Kenya 2005,” p. 21.
Development Partners in Health Kenya, “Review of AOP II Implementation – Social Development Assessment Summary,” October 2007, http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:oPawE0u4N_IJ:www.hdwg-kenya.com/new/index.php%3Foption%3Dcom_docman%26task%3Ddoc_download%26Itemid%3D%26gid%3D145+Review+of+AOP+II+Implementation+%E2%80%93+Social+Development+Assessment+Summary,%E2%80%9D&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=ke (accessed January 29, 2010). An NGOimplementing programs on maternal health in urban slums in Nairobi commented: “During antenatal care we ask women where she will deliver and she says my husband will know.” Human Rights Watch interview with [name withheld], Nairobi, December 4, 2009. A nurse noted, “Many husbands still determine when and where their wives go to give birth and this is causing many problems for them [pregnant women].” Human Rights Watch interview with Rose Odeny, reproductive health coordinator, Migori District Hospital, Nairobi, February 4, 2010.
Paulinus Lingani and Ncube Sikosana, “National Health Sector Strategic Plan II: Report on the External Health Sector Evaluation of the Annual Operational Plan 2 (July 2006 – June 2007), Thematic Area, Health Service Delivery,” October 2007, www.hdwg-kenya.com/new/index.php?option=com_docman (accessed January 29, 2010), p. 12.
In 2007, the Ministry of Health developed Community Strategy Implementation Guidelines that contain key health messages to be disseminated at the community level. Under pregnancy, delivery, and childbirth, key messages include danger signs during pregnancy, but they are not comprehensive. For example, none of the key messages address the post-partum period. Incontinence, a symptom of obstetric fistula, is not mentioned. Ministry of Health, “Key Health Messages for Level 1 of the Essential Package for Health: A Manual for Community Health Extension Workers and Community Health Workers,” 2007.
In addition to lack of reliable data on fistula, there is also poor monitoring of existing programs to be able to determine what, if any, progress is being made. The head of the Department of Reproductive Health in the Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation linked this to poor coordination. He remarked, “I want to stress better coordination. If today as head of the Department of Reproductive Health I was asked what the statistics are, I don’t have…. How do we monitor our fistula operations? Are we anywhere near clearing the backlog? How many surgeries are we doing and are we on track? We need to publish and share best practices.” Dr. Issak Bashir, speaking at the Obstetric Fistula Stakeholders’ Meeting, School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, February 4, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch Researcher.
Obstetric fistula is considered a “near miss” of maternal mortality, and analyzing its medical, socio-economic, and cultural causes is critical to improving the quality of maternal care and accountability of the health care system. The Africa Medical Research Foundation and the Freedom from Fistula Foundation have been collecting stories of fistula survivors they support for repairs. Such information, as well as other data, is important in designing prevention strategies and can be particularly helpful in integrating fistula into the Community Strategy. The Kenya government should also integrate inquiries on fistula into future demographic and health surveys.
Subsequently, UNFPA has supported the government to extend the CMA to four districts in three provinces as part of the Campaign to End Fistula. WHO, the UK Department for International Development (DFID), and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) also support the government to expand the CMA. Population Council estimates that by the end of 2008, 24 districts in Kenya were running community midwifery programs. Ibid., p. ii. WHO, DFID and USAID have been supporting training of community midwives. UNFPA and Population Council, “Obstetric Fistula: Can Community Midwives Make a Difference?,” p. ii.
For a person to qualify for recruitment as a community midwife, he or she must meet the following criteria: registered or enrolled nurse midwife; registered clinical officer (with reproductive health experience); medical practitioner; evidence of retention on a professional register (Nursing Council of Kenya, Kenyan Clinical Officers Council, or Medical Practitioners and Dentists Board); retired or out of employment; obstetric skills; and permanent residency within the community to be served, or prepared to live in that community. Annie Mwangi and Charlotte Warren, “Taking Critical Services to the Home: Scaling-up Home-based Maternal and Postnatal Care, including Family Planning, through Community Midwifery in Kenya,” 2008, http://www.popcouncil.org/pdfs/frontiers/FR_FinalReports/Kenya_CommMidwife.pdf (accessed April 6, 2010), p. 7.
There are no guidelines for charges on the various services offered. Population Council estimates that the minimum cost of supplies used for the whole package of care (antenatal care, delivery, and postnatal care is US$15; and that average profit margin for providing these services is around $5 per client. Community midwives charge higher fees than health facilities in the provision of certain services and sometimes even charge for otherwise free services in public health facilities. However, they accept payment in installments and in kind (for example exchange of services with farm produce and livestock, labor or rent-free land). Their services also reduce money and time spent on traveling to facilities. Ibid., p. 22.
Ibid., p.3.
To receive new stocks of supplies, the community midwife is expected to forward a report every month showing the utilization and anticipated need for more commodities. When commodities are not available in the district stores, some midwives purchase the commodity privately and then provide it at cost to the clients. Population Council notes that supplies are occasionally hampered by commodity stock-outs. Ibid., p. 13.
KBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 122.
Traditional birth attendants tend to be elderly women often with no formal education, in the communities.
As recommended by the Population Council. Ministry of Health et al., “Traditional Birth Attendants in Maternal Health Programmes,” p. 2. The Community Midwifery Strategy is one such strategy. Although viable, as earlier noted, the program is fraught with challenges including human resource and financial ones.
A study conducted by UNFPA and the Population Council in four districts in Kenya on the capability of community midwives to prevent obstetric fistula from occurring concluded that “100% of the women managed by the community midwives with a diagnosis of obstructed labor were promptly referred and none developed a fistula.” UNFPA and Population Council, “Obstetric Fistula: Can Community Midwives Make a Difference?,” p. iv..
Mwangi and Warren, “Taking Critical Services to the Home,” p. 5; Human Rights Watch interview with Esther Mbinzi, nurse in the gynecology ward, Machakos General Hospital, Machakos, December 4, 2009., 2010; Human Rights Watch interview with Charity Ndwiga, program officer, Population Council, Nairobi, March 3, 2010.
Almost all the women and girls we interviewed told us that they often limit intake of water, beverages, and food in attempt to reduce leakage of urine or stool.
Human Rights Watch interview with Kemunto S., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Amolo A., Nairobi, November 27, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyasuguta J., Kisii, November 11, 1009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Amolo A., Nairobi, November 27, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Awino D., Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Wangui K., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Muthoni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Rose Odeny, reproductive health coordinator, Migori District Hospital, Nairobi, February 4, 2010.
Human Rights Watch interview with Beatrice B., Kisumu December 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Awino D., Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Fatuma H., Kusumu, December 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Gesare J., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyakiriro C., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyaboke H., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyaboke H., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Beatrice N., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16) at 52, U.N. Doc A/6316 (1966) 999 U.N.T.S. 171, entered into force March 23, 1976, acceded to by Kenya May 1, 1972.
International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), adopted December 16, 1966, G.A. Res. 2200A (XXI), 21 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 16), U.N. Doc. A/6316 (1966), 993 U.N.T.S. 3, entered into force January 3, 1976, acceded to by Kenya May 1, 1972.
Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), adopted December 18, 1979, G.A. Res. 34/180, 34 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No. 46) at 193, U.N. Doc. A/34/46, entered into force September 3, 1981, acceded to by Kenya March 9, 1984.
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), adopted November 20, 1989, G.A. Res. 44/25, annex, 44 U.N. GAOR Supp. (No 49) at 167, U.N. Doc. A/44/49 (1989), entered into force September 2, 1990, ratified December 20, 1990. The Children’s Act aims to implement international law by “[giving] effect to the principles of the CRC and the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child.” Children’s Act, introduction.
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), adopted December 13, 2006 G.A. Res. 61/106, Annex I, U.N. GAOR, 61st Sess., Supp. No. 49, at 65, U.N. Doc. A/61/49 (2006), entered into force May 3, 2008, U.N. Doc. A/61/611, art. 16(1), ratified by Kenya May 19, 2008.
The African [Banjul] Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights, adopted June 27, 1981, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/67/3 rev. 5, 21I.L.M. 58 (1982), entered into force October 21, 1986, acceded to by Kenya January 23, 1992.
African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child, OAU Doc. CAB/LEG/24.9/49 (1990), November 29, 1999, ratified July
Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights on The Rights of Women in Africa (the Maputo Protocol), adopted July 11, 2003, entered into force November 2005, signed by Kenya December 17, 2003.
Constitution of Kenya, adopted 1963, amended 1999, http://www.usig.org/countryinfo/laws/Kenya/Constitution.pdf (accessed May 20, 2010), Chapter V, para. 70(a).
Children’s Act, art. 9.
Ibid., art. 3.
ICESCR, art. 12(1).
ICESCR, art. 12(2).
See UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, “Substantive Issues Arising in the Implementation of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights,” General Comment No. 14, The Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health, E/C.12/2000/4 (2000).
Ibid., para. 43.
CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 12(b). The former UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health, Paul Hunt, developed some indicators to measure progress with regard to the realization of the right to health. UN Commission on Human Rights, “Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standards of physical and mental health,” E/CN.4/2006/48, March 3, 2006.
ICESCR, art. 12.2(a). It states, “The steps to be taken by the States Parties to the present Covenant to achieve the full realization of this right shall include those necessary for: (a) The provision for the reduction of the stillbirth-rate and of infant mortality and for the healthy development of the child.” According to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, this means to “improve child and maternal health, sexual and reproductive health services generally, including access to family planning, pre- and post-natal care,emergency obstetric services and access to information, as well as to resources necessary to act on that information.”
ICESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 44.
ICESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 21. The Committee also states that “It is also important to undertake preventive, promotive and remedial action to shield women from the impact of harmful traditional cultural practices and norms that deny them their full reproductive rights.”Ibid.
CRC, art. 24(d).
CEDAW, art. 12(2).
CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation 24: Women and Health, UN GAOR, 1999,UN Doc. No. A/54/38/Rev.1 para. 17.
CESCR, General Comment No. 14. para. 37.
CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 24, para. 31.
CRPD, arts 23(b) and 25(a).
CRC, art. 13.
See CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 22.
Banjul Charter, arts. 9(1) and 17(1).
Maputo Protocol, art. 14.
CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para 12(b).
UN Commission on Human Rights, “The right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. Report of Special Rapporteur, Paul Hunt, submitted in accordance with Commission resolution 2002/31”, E/CN.4/2003/58, February 13, 2003 and CEDAW Committee, General Recommendation No. 24, para. 18.
CEDAW, art. 12(1).
CRC, art. 2.
Ibid., art. 2(1).
CESCR, General Comment No. 14, para. 59.
Maputo Protocol, art. 25(a).
UN Human Rights Committee, General Comment 31: Nature of the General Legal Obligation on States Parties to the Covenant, U.N. Doc. CCPR/C/21/Rev.1/Add/13 (2004), para. 15.
Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health, A/HRC/7/11, January 31, 2008, http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/G08/105/03/PDF/G0810503.pdf?OpenElement (accessed April 9, 2010), para.30.
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “Claiming the Millennium Development Goals: A human rights approach,” 2008, www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/Claiming_MDGs_en.pdf(accessed September 28, 2009), p. 15.
Human Rights Council, Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to health, para. 99.
Human Rights Watch interview with Mueni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
Five other girls also told us they had not been taught about sexuality in primary school.
Human Rights Watch interview with Kemunto S., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
The director of Public health has been quoted saying that opposition from parents, religious groups and some civil society bodies had led to a “censored sex education campaign” in schools. Irin PlusNews, “Kenya: Back-street Abortions Underline Need for Sex education,” October 19, 2009, http://www.plusnews.org/report.aspx?ReportId=86641 (accessed July 1, 2010). A study by the Centre for the Study of Adolescence—an NGO that has been conducting sexuality and HIV/AIDS education in primary and secondary schools in Kenya—looking at the implementation of the Ministry of Education’s Return to School Policy to enable girls who get pregnant return to school after delivery, criticizes the government for lack of comprehensive sexuality education in schools despite the government being aware of such a need. The study further says, “[o]pposition from religious and community leaders as well as policy and decision makers has often been a major barrier, preventing young people from accessing information and services, which would enable them meet their sexual and reproductive health needs.” Rosemarie Muganda-Onyando and Martin Omondi, “Down the Drain: Counting the Costs of Teenage Pregnancy and School Drop Out in Kenya,” 2008, http://www.csakenya.org/pdfs/CSA%20Pregnancy-FINAL%202-EDITED.pdf (accessed July 1, 2010), p. 31.
Human Rights Watch phone interview with Monica Kironcho, primary school teacher, June 25, 2010.
Human Rights Watch phone interview with Stella Kinaki, primary school teacher, June 25, 2010. Also see Scholastica Nganda, “Sex Education: Do Our Teens Need It?,” http://www.arsrc.org/downloads/uhsss/nganda.pdf, (accessed June 14, 2010), p. 7. Nganda notes, “The issue of sexuality education has become an exceptionally controversial one. The mere mention of sexuality education gives rise to many questions.”
Human Rights Watch phone interview with James Kiprotich, high school teacher, June 25, 2010.
See, National Council for Population and Development and Department of Reproductive Health, “Adolescent Reproductive Health Development Policy,” 2003; Ministry of Health, “National Guidelines for Provision of Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) in Kenya,” July 2005; Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, “National School Health Policy,” 2009; and Division of Reproductive Health et al., “Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy Plan of Action 2005-2015,” August 2005.
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Education, “National School Health Policy,” and Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Education, “National School Health Guidelines,” 2009.
For example, Rosemary Muganda-Onyando, director of the Centre for the Study of Adolescence commented, “teachers are not well-informed to provide sexuality education, besides there are no detailed guidelines provided.” Muthoni Ndungu, coordinator of the Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance also noted “The subject [sexuality education] is not examinable so it’s up to the teacher to plan when to teach. There is no accountability to ensure teachers are actually teaching.” Human Rights Watch interviews with Rosemarie Muganda-Onyando, Nairobi, December 2, 2009, and Muthoni Ndungu, Nairobi, December 3, 2009.
Human Rights Watch phone interview with Monica Kironcho, June 25, 2010.
Human Rights Watch phone interview with Kirimi Njue, secondary school teacher, June 25, 2010.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p.xix.
Human Rights Watch interview with Monica J., Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
The 2008-09 KDHS indicates although that there is widespread awareness about different methods of family planning, “Exceptions are found among women with no education, women in the lowest wealth quintile, and women in North Eastern province, where less than half of married women have heard of anymethod. It further notes: “There is a sharp contrast between urban and rural areas in exposure to family planning messages through television and print media. For example, 64 percent of women and 60 percent of men in urban areas are exposed to family planning messages through television, compared with only 29 percent of women and 31 percent of men in rural areas.” KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, pp. 58 and 72.
Ibid., p. 75.
Human Rights Watch interview with Christine Muthengi, fistula care trainer, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Bridget Mbwika, nurse at the fistula ward, Jamaa Mission hospital, Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with George Audi, hospital administrator, Jamaa Mission Hospital, Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Population Council, “Acceptability and Sustainability of the WHO Focused Antenatal Care package in Kenya,” 2006, http://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/Resources/Documents/Acceptability%20and%20Sustainability%20of%20WHO%20FANC%20in%20Kenya_USAID.pdf (accessed April 9, 2010), p. 34. Focused antenatal care (FANC) is an approach to antenatal care that emphasizes a comprehensive approach to pregnancy and childbirth through early detection and treatment of problems and complications through prevention of complications and disease, birth preparedness and complication readiness, and health promotion. FANC is individual woman-centered and a skilled health provider should attend to the women. See Access to Clinical and Community Maternal, Neonatal and Women’s Health Services (accessed march 31, 2010), “Focused Antenatal Care: Providing Integrated, Individualized Care During Pregnancy,” http://www.accesstohealth.org/toolres/pdfs/ACCESStechbrief_FANC.pdf (accessed may 3, 2010).
KNBS and ICF Macro, The Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 123.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyakiriro C., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 110.
Human Rights Watch interviewed women who had lived with fistula for various lengths of time: 45 years to one month.
One woman told us “I thought it is something that happens when one gives birth,” and another, “I waited for two months before going to Wote [health facility] because I thought the problem would go away.” A nurse told us, “Many of the women and girls I have interacted with during this camp and the camp in October think it [fistula] is a ‘natural outcome of delivery.’” Human Rights Watch interviews with Nduku K., Machakos, December 6, 2009; Mueni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009; and Lilian Ndege, nursing officer in charge of the gynecology ward, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Almost a quarter of the women and girls interviewed by Human Rights Watch said this.
When researchers asked Fatuma H. why she had not sought treatment for fistula she told us, “I didn’t know that a bladder can be repaired.” Nekesa U. told us that she had a difficult time convincing her husband to take her to the fistula camp for surgery: “People told my husband … ‘that woman cannot heal because there is no way you can stitch the bladder. It’s a lie. They want to eat your money.” Human Rights Watch interviews with Fatuma H., Kisumu, December 9, 2009, and Nekesa U., Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Cherono S., Kisumu, December 7, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyakundi B., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
For example, Beatrice N. told us, “When I was leaving the hospital the water [urine] was coming out but the doctor didn’t tell me what it was. He just told me to go and buy medicine and come back after four months.” Wairimu K. remarked, “I stayed in the hospital for two weeks after giving birth but I was not told what my illness was.” Human Rights Watch interviews with Beatrice N., Kisii, November 11, 2009, and Wairimu K., Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Nurses are required to talk to patients about potential complications during FANC. An evaluation by Population Council found that clients do not receive all the required information and that “Providers consistently provided selective information, thus undermining the comprehensiveness of focused ANC. Population Council, “Acceptability and Sustainability of the WHO Focused Antenatal Care package in Kenya,” p. 32. The 2004 Kenya fistula needs assessment report also notes that health providers do not talk about obstetric fistula during health talks in hospitals. Ministry of Health and UNFPA, “Needs Assessment of Obstetric Fistula in Kenya,” p.20.
Human Rights Watch interview with Lilian Ndege, nursing officer in charge of the gynecology ward, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
The 2004 Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey found that medical providers were lacking in knowledge not only about new methods, but also about basic information critical to providing quality maternal health care. For example, only 6 percent of midwives interviewed for the survey could name all four categories of the signs of postpartum hemorrhage and only 12 percent of midwives were able to name all four expected interventions for postpartum hemorrhage, while guidelines for managing delivery complications were available in only 7 percent of facilities. NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 132. Moreover, in fewer than one-third of facilities had the majority of providers received any structured training relating to delivery services during the past year, and only 8 percent of providers had received routine training on life-saving skills. Ibid., pp. 144-45.
Human Rights Watch interview with Mueni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Nyakundi B., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Kemunto S., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Paul Mitei, fistula surgeon, Kisumu Provincial General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Human Rights Watch Interview with Amy Irving, Program Officer, Freedom from Fistula Foundation, Nairobi, December 3, 2009.
UN General Assembly, “Note by the Secretary-General: The Right of Everyone to the Enjoyment of the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health,” 13 September 2006, A/61/338, para. 14. It states, “While the right to health includes entitlements to specific health-related goods, services and facilities, it should also be understood more broadly as an entitlement to an effective and integrated health system, encompassing health care and the underlying determinants of health, which is responsive to national and local priorities, and accessible to all.”
See Family Health International, “The Importance of Family Planning in Reducing Maternal Mortality,” undated, http://www.fhi.org/en/RH/Pubs/Briefs/MCH/factsheet11.htm (accessed May 20, 2010). A study conducted by the Guttmacher Institute and UNFPA estimated that if countries invested in family planning, unintended pregnancies would drop by more than two thirds, 70 percent of maternal deaths would be averted (a decline from 550,000 to 160,000), 44 percent of newborn deaths would be averted (a decline from 3.5 million to 1.9 million), unsafe abortions would decline by 73 percent (from 20 million to 5.5 million, assuming no change in abortion laws), and the healthy years of life lost due to disability and premature death among women and their newborns would be reduced by more than 60 percent. S. Singh et al., Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health (New York: Guttmacher Institute and United Nations Population Fund, 2009), p. 4.
NCAPD et al., Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 95.Overall, health facilities are few and inequitable distributed.
NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004: Family Planning Key Findings,” p. 5.
Catherine Karongo, “Kenya Reports Shortage of Contraceptives,” http://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/Local/Kenya-reports-shortage-of-contraceptives-5372.html, Capital FM, August 2009, (accessed March 29, 2010).
See WHO et al., The Millennium Development Goals Report, p. 38.
GTZ Health Sector Programme Kenya, “Estimated Government Spending 2009/2010: Kenyan Health Sector Budget Analysis,” undated, http://www.hdwg-kenya.com/new/index.php?option=com_docman&task=doc_download&gid=889&Itemid=141 (accessed May 3, 2010).
For example see, Joyce Mulama, “One Nurse, One Dispensary, 9,000 Patients,” Saturday Nation, July 3, 2010. In this article, the author visited a dispensary in Turkana, a rural and poor region in Northern Kenya. It quotes the only medical staff at the facility saying, “I am everything in this [dispensary]. I do the clerking, examination of patients, dispensing drugs, stitching cuts, antenatal care and even delivery [of] babies.”
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy: Systems Change for Universal Coverage,” November 2009, p.6.
NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 30. It is possible that the catchment areas of government and nongovernment facilities overlap, since government catchment areas are constructed to serve the entire population, whereas nongovernmental facilities define their own catchment areas, usually without coordinating with the government. However, the problem of facilities being overstretched remains.
Ibid., p.128.The survey noted that the percentage of facilities offering normal delivery services in 2004remained relatively similar to that observed in 1999.
Ibid., p. 35.
The World Bank has estimated that if all women had access to emergency obstetric care, 74 percent of maternal deaths could be averted. Millennium Project, Task Force on Child Health and Maternal Health, Who’s Got the Power?, p. 5.
NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 139.
Ibid., p. 148.
Ibid. The overall coverage for comprehensive emergency obstetric care is nearly two facilities per 500,000 population, but wide regional differentials exist. At the time the KSPAS was done, the recommendation for the mixture of basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric care facilities per 500,000 population was at least one comprehensive and four basic emergency obstetric care facilities per 500,000 population. This has been revised to at least five emergency obstetric care facilities including at least one comprehensive facility per 500,000 population. See, WHO et al., Monitoring Emergency Obstetric Care: A Handbook, (Geneva, WHO Press, 2009), p. 5.
NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” pp. 146-147. Emergency obstetric care involves a set of services or interventions called “signal functions” that should be available in a facility that provides emergency care for women with pregnancy-related complications. These “signal functions” are proven to significantly reduce maternal deaths and improve birth outcomes for the newborn, and they must be performed at a facility in order for that facility to be recognized as an emergency obstetric care facility. A facility can either be classified as a basic emergency obstetric care or a comprehensive emergency obstetric care facility. The basic emergency obstetric care signal functions are seven and include: administration of parenteral antibiotics, oxytocic drugs (drugs that expand the cervix or vagina to facilitate delivery), and anticonvulsants; manual removal of placenta; manual vacuum aspiration of retained products of conception; assisted vaginal delivery, and basic neonatal resuscitation. Comprehensive emergency obstetric care includes the seven basic signal functions, plus performing surgery (for example, cesarean section), and blood transfusion. See WHO et al., Monitoring Emergency Obstetric Care: A Handbook (Geneva: WHO Press, 2009).The earlier guidelines did not include basic neonatal resuscitation in the basic services category. In addition, the name of the second signal function has been changed from “administer parenteral oxytocics” to “administer uterotonic drugs.” Ibid., pp. 6-7. At the time the service provision assessment survey was done, the earlier, 1997, guidelines were in use.
According to the 2008-09 KDHS, 43 percent of rural women say they did not deliver in a health facility because it is too far or due to lack of transport. KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p., 121.
Human Rights Watch interview with Jessica Momanyi, nursing officer in charge of reproductive health, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
The KSPAS noted that only 27 percent of all facilities—and barely half of facilities specifically offering delivery services—have the ability to provide emergency transportation to another facility for obstetric emergencies. NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 130. Even when a facility does not offer delivery services, but does offer antenatal care, it is desirable to have emergency transport available because in most cases, especially in the rural areas, the facility where a woman receives antenatal care may be the nearest formal health sector site from which emergency help can be sought.
Human Rights Watch interview with Beatrice N., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Maureen Odhiambo, Nurse in Charge, Railways Dispensary, Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Lilian Ndege, nursing officer in charge of the gynecology ward, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Stephen Mutiso, gynecologist and fistula surgeon, Machakos General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Medical Services, “Referral Strategy and Investment Plan for Health Services,” July 2008-June 2012, p. 22.
Ministry of Health, “Community Strategy Implementation Guidelines for Managers of the Kenya Essential Package for Health at the Community Level,” p. 34.
Almost all the doctors we interviewed told us fistula is a disease of the poor and therefore one cannot make money from being a fistula surgeon. Most doctors in Kenya operate private clinics; most fistula survivors cannot afford the high charges.
Human Rights Watch Interview with Dr. Paul Mitei, fistula surgeon, Kisumu Provincial General Hospital, Kisumu, November 27, 2009.
UNFPA, through the global Campaign to End Fistula, funds the Kenya government for fistula repair camps in selected district and provincial hospitals. Each of the hospitals holds one camp per year. In addition to the fistula clinic they support at KNH, AMREF also provides financial support for fistula camps at selected district and provincial hospitals. Both AMREF and UNFPA also provide supplies and equipment for fistula surgery to hospitals. Other organizations that support fistula repair work include the Freedom from Fistula Foundation, the Safaricom Foundation, MSF Spain, and Women and Health Alliance International.
Human Rights Watch Interview with Dr. Khisa Wakasiaka, fistula surgeon and Fistula Program Officer, AMREF, Nairobi, November 11, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Stephen Mutiso, gynecologist and fistula surgeon, Machakos General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Patrick Okumu, anesthetist, Webuye District Hospital, Kisii, November 9, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Geoffrey Okumu, fistula program coordinator, UNFPA, Nairobi, November 19, 2009; Human Rights Watch Interview with Amy Irving, Freedom From Fistula, Nairobi, December 3, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with George Audi, hospital administrator, Jamaa Mission Hospital, Nairobi, December 2, 2009; and Dr. Issak Bashir, speaking at the Obstetric Fistula Stakeholders’ Meeting, School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, February 4, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch Researcher.
WHO, “Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development,” p. 24.
Human Rights Watch Interview with Dr. Khisa Wakasiaka, fistula surgeon and fistula program officer, AMREF, Nairobi, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Patrick Okumu, anesthetist, Webuye District Hospital, Kisii, November 12, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview Nyasuguta J., Kisii, 11, 1009; Human Rights Watch interview with Nyaboke H., Kisii, November 10, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Lilian Ndege, nursing officer in charge of the gynecology ward, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
CEDAW, art. 12(2).
Ministry of Health, “Kenya Public Expenditure Tracking Survey,” 2007, p. 9.
The National Hospital Insurance Fund was established in 1966. It currently covers around 25 percent of the population. The scheme is mandatory for those in the formal sector and voluntary for those in the informal sector. Ibid., p. 11.
For more discussion on the NSHIF, see Diana N. Kimani et al., Healthcare Financing Through Health Insurance in Kenya: The Shift To A National Social Health Insurance Fund, KIPPRA Discussion Paper No. 42 (Nairobi: Kenya Institute for Public Policy Research and Analysis, 2004).
See International Budget Partnership, “Civil Society Budget Analysis and Advocacy as a Tool for Maternal Health Accountability,” September 7, 2009, http://www.eurongos.org/Files/HTML/EuroNGOs/AGM/IBP_presentation_EURONGOsConf_FINAL.pdf (accessed June 25, 2010).
Human Rights Watch Interview with Dr. Khisa Wakasiaka, fistula surgeon and fistula program officer, AMREF, Nairobi, November 11, 2009, Dr. Issak Bashir, speaking at the Obstetric Fistula Stakeholders’ Meeting, School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, February 4, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch Researcher, and Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Stephen Mutiso, gynecologist and fistula surgeon, Machakos General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009. Also see, GTZ Health Sector Programme Kenya, “Estimated Government Spending 2009/2010;” Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy: Systems Change for Universal Coverage,” November 2009, p.8; and Jeff Otieno and Dave Opiyo, “Kenya Lags Behind in Meeting Vision 2030 Targets,” The East African, May 26, 2010.
See GTZ Health Sector Programme Kenya, “Estimated Government Spending 2009/2010,” p. 2. This figure excludes funding from development partners. Also see Ministry of Medical Services, “Ministry of Medical Services Strategic Plan, 2008 – 2012,” p. 20; Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy: Systems Change for Universal Coverage,” November 2009, p.8.
Human Rights Watch interview with Martin Mosina, Senior Finance Officer, Ministry of Medical Services, Nairobi, June 24, 2010.
WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development, p. 69.
The hospital administrator at Jamaa Hospital told us they were considering financial rehabilitation of fistula survivors by starting a revolving fund for women and girls who are treated. Human Rights Watch interview with George Audi, hospital administrator, Jamaa Mission Hospital, Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Dr Julius Kiiru speaking at the Obstetric Fistula Stakeholders’ Meeting, School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, February 4, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch Researcher.
There is a lack of sufficient research on how well women reintegrate after fistula surgery, as well as models for reintegration and rehabilitation. In the experience of providers and advocates in Ethiopia, Nigeria, and Tanzania, totally cured women can and do reintegrate back into their community and are able to carry on with life, including remarrying and having further pregnancies. However, WHO cautions that, “While it appears that successful repair may well lead to a smooth transition/reintegration when returning home; further research is needed to identify specific challenges to the quality of life of these women and the degree to which they are reintegrated.” WHO, Obstetric Fistula: Guiding Principles for Clinical Management and Programme Development, p. 12.
United Nations Development Programme, “Human Development Report 2009, Kenya,” http://hdrstats.undp.org/en/countries/country_fact_sheets/cty_fs_KEN.html (accessed March 29, 2010).
DFID, “About Kenya,” http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Where-we-work/Africa-Eastern--Southern/Kenya1/Key-facts1/ (accessed March 29, 2010).
See Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy,” pp. 9-11. Human Rights Watch has previously written about inability of poor families to access health care due to financial constraints. See Human Rights Watch, A Question of Life and Death: Treatment Access for Children Living with HIV in Kenya (New York: Human Rights Watch, 2008), p. 45.
As of April 2010, one US dollar was worth KES 75.
WHO for example has argued that, “One of the keys to improving women’s health therefore, is the removal of financial barriers to health care…. Evidence from several countries shows that removing user fees for maternal health care, especially for deliveries, can both stimulate demand and lead to increased uptake of essential services. Removing financial barriers to care must be accompanied by efforts to ensure that health services are appropriate, acceptable, of high quality and responsive to the needs of girls and women.” See WHO, Women and Health: Today's Evidence Tomorrow's Agenda (Geneva: WHO, 2009), http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2009/9789241563857_eng.pdf (accessed November 24, 2009), p. xiv.
Division of Health Care Financing, Ministry of Health, “Facility Improvement Fund, Supervision Manual,” 2002, pp.18-21.
Jane Chuma et al., "Reducing User Fees for Primary Health Care in Kenya: Policy on Paper or Policy in Practice?,” International Journal for Equity in Health, vol. 8 (2009), http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2683851/ (accessed November 23, 2009).
Minister Charity Ngilu argued against cost-sharing and tried to introduce a social health insurance bill in parliament, but it did not get a presidential assent “as it failed to provide a credible roadmap on implementation, affordability for the poor and viability of the system.” See Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy,” p.2. These efforts are still ongoing.
According to the 2008-09 Kenya Demographic and Health Survey, 72 percent of women who obtain contraceptives from the public sector paid some fees, although it does not define what fees were paid. KNBS and ICF Macro, Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2008-09, p. 68. The 2004 Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey had found that, “Overall 23 percent of family planning facilities charge fees for maintaining the client record; 19 percent charge for the family planning consultation, and 24 percent charge for the contraceptive method itself.” NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p. 9.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Samuel Were, head, Health Sector Reform Secretariat, Nairobi, December 22, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Geoffrey Otumu, medical superintendent, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 8, 2009.
Division of Health Care Financing, Ministry of Health, “Facility Improvement Fund, Supervision Manual,” p. 19.
Ibid., p. 20.
Ibid., p. 19.
Ibid., p. 21.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Samuel Were, head, Health Sector Reform Secretariat, Nairobi, December 22, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Geoffrey Otumu, medical superintendent, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 8, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Jessica Momanyi, nursing officer in charge of reproductive health, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Esther Mbinzi, nurse in the gynecology ward, Machakos General Hospital, Machakos, December 6, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Stephen Mutiso, gynecologist and fistula surgeon, Machakos General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.; Human Rights Watch interview with Patrick Okumu, anesthetist, Webuye District Hospital, Kisii, November 9, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Gulid Yusuf, medical superintendent, Garissa Provincial General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Paul Mitei, fistula surgeon, Kisumu Provincial General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009; Human Rights Watch interview with Christine Muthengi, fistula care trainer, Kenyatta National Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
The policy says that the “Decision for granting a waiver of not should be based on history taking and close observation of the socio-economic status of the patient and his/her relatives.” Division of Health Care Financing, Ministry of Health, “Facility Improvement Fund, Supervision Manual,” p. 21. Other information to be noted include occupation, number of children, means of transport, alcohol and cigarette consumption, and type of clothing. Ibid., p. 21.
Division of Health Care Financing, Ministry of Health, “Facility Improvement Fund, Supervision Manual,” p. 21. The policy says that all health facility staff should be informed about the operation of the waiver system, and that all patients should be about the waiver system. Ibid.
Human Rights Watch interview with Emily Wasungu, nursing officer in charge of the labor ward, Kisumu Provincial General Hospital, Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Patrick Okumu, anesthetist, Webuye District Hospital, Kisii, November 9, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Kanyua L., Machakos, December 7, 2009. A study conducted on user fees in five countries, including Kenya, stated that “Generally, women … were not aware of the waiver/exemption mechanisms for maternal health services.” Sharma et al., “Formal and Informal Fees for Maternal Health Care Services in five Countries,” p. vii.
Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Gulid Yusuf, medical superintendent, Garissa Provincial General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Dr. Josephine Kibaru speaking at the Obstetric Fistula Stakeholders’ Meeting, School of Monetary Studies, Nairobi, February 4, 2009, attended by Human Rights Watch Researcher.
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and the Ministry of Medical Services, “Health Care Financing Policy and Strategy,” p.11.
See Sharma et al., “Formal and Informal Fees for Maternal Health Care Services in Five Countries,” p. 2, discussing providers’ lack of awareness about which services are exempted or how the waiver system works.
Helen Potts, “Accountability and the Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Health,” 2008, http://www.essex.ac.uk/human_rights_centre/research/rth/docs/HRC_Accountability_Mar08.pdf (accessed October 30, 2009), p.3.
See FIDA Kenya and Center for Reproductive Rights, “Failure to Deliver: Violations of Women’s Human Rights in Kenyan Health Facilities,” 2007, (accessed November 4, 2009). Human Rights Watch spoke to six women, who had given birth within a range of 20 years to 3 months from the time of the interview, who said they had been verbally and physically abused by health providers while in labor. One of them Awino A. who had labored at home for more than 15 hours before going to the nearest district hospital told us, “We arrived at the hospital around midday. Two nurses took me to the labor ward and they kept telling me to push. After sometime they left me alone. Occasionally, a nurse would come by and hit me telling me I got pregnant because I enjoyed sex and if I don’t push I will kill my baby. They would slap and pinch my thighs.” Seventeen-year-old Monica E. told us, “I was in so much pain when we arrived at the hospital. The nurse who took me to the labor ward told me, ‘stop behaving as if you are in pain because this is what you were looking for. Why was a young girl like you having sex?’”Two other girls said that when they expressed pain, nurses had told them not to pretend to be in pain because they had enjoyed the sex. Human Rights Watch interviews with Awino A., Nairobi, November 26, 2009; Monica E., Nairobi, December 2, 2009; Eunice F., Kisumu, December 9, 2009; and Monica J., Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Akello Z., Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Awino A., Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Apondo C., Nairobi, December 2, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009.
National Joint Steering Committee for Maternal Health Kenya, “Standards for Maternal Care in Kenya,” p.7.
National Joint Steering Committee for Maternal Health Kenya, “Standards for Maternal Care in Kenya,” 2002, p.3. The Standards were developed by the National Nurses Association of Kenya and the Kenya Obstetricians and Gynaecologists Society and are focused on provision of emergency obstetric care in hospitals and health centers. A partograph is a graphical record of progress during labor. Progress is measured by cervical dilation against time in hours. As well the partograph provides a record of the important conditions of the mother and fetus that may arise during the process of labor. The partograph is a useful tool for managing obstructed labor. Skilled practitioners can use it to recognize and deal with slow progress before labor becomes obstructed and if necessary, ensure that Caesarean section is performed on time to save the mother and the fetus. WHO, “Maternal Mortality: Fact Sheet,” 2008, http://www.who.int/making_pregnancy_safer/events/2008/mdg5/factsheet_maternal_mortality.pdf (accessed May 12, 2010), p. 2.
NCAPD et al., “Kenya Service Provision Assessment Survey 2004,” p.xxv.
UNFPA and Population Council, “Obstetric Fistula: Can Community Midwives Make a Difference?,” p. iv.
Human Rights Watch interview with Lilian Ndege, nursing officer in charge of the gynecology ward, Kisii General Hospital, Kisii, November 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Elly Odongo, gynecologist and fistula surgeon at Garissa Provincial Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Human Rights Watch Interview with Dr. Stephen Mutiso, gynecologist and fistula surgeon, Machakos General Hospital, Nairobi, November 26, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Muthoni M., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Isabela Sure, nurse, Rabuor dispensary, Kisumu, December 9, 2009.
Ministry of Health, “Service Charter for Health Service Delivery,” 2006, www.medical.go.ke (accessed January 20, 2010), p. 5. The Rights mentioned in the charter include, right to care by qualified health provider, right to accurate information, right to timely service, right of choice of health provider/service, right to protection from harm or injury, right to privacy and confidentiality, right to courteous treatment, right to dignified treatment, right to continuity of care, right to personal/own opinion, right to emergency treatment anywhere, and right to dignified death.
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, “Citizens Service Delivery Charter,” www.publichealth.go.ke, (accessed January 20, 2010).
Ministry of Medical Services, “Citizens Service Charter for Delivery of Medical Services for District Hospitals,” undated.
Ministry of Health, “Patients Rights Charter,” 2006.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Esther Mbinzi, nurse in the gynecology ward, Machakos General Hospital, Machakos, December 6, 2009. The patient’s rights charter seen by Human Rights Watch was an A4 size document in English. It is highly unlikely patients will see it, and many may not speak English or be literate.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Munga, head, Health Care Financing Division, Nairobi, December 16, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Dr. Shanaz Shariff, Director of Public Health, Nairobi, December 4, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Kasyoki E., Machakos, December 6, 2009.
Ministry of Health, “Taking the Kenya Essential Package for Health to the Community: A Strategy for the Delivery of Level One Services,” 2006, p. 3.
Ibid., p. 8.
Human Rights Watch interview with Sam Mulyanga, Programme Officer, Family Care International, Nairobi, December 11, 2009.
Human Rights Watch interview with Angela Nguku, coordinator, White Ribbon Alliance Kenya, Nairobi, 11, 2009.
Ministry of Health, “National Reproductive Health Policy,” 2007.
Ministry of Health, “National reproductive Health Policy,” p. 10.
Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation and Ministry of Medical Services, “National Reproductive Health Strategy, 2009-2015,” 2009, p.6.
Ibid., pp. 9 and 17.
Ibid., pp. 65-70.
Ministry of Medical Services and Ministry of Public Health and Sanitation, “National Road Map for Accelerating the Attainment of the MDGs Related to Maternal and Newborn Health in Kenya,” March 2009, p. 13.
National Joint Steering Committee for Maternal Health Kenya, “Standards for Maternal Care in Kenya,” p. i.
Ministry of Health, “Family Planning Guidelines for Service Providers,” March 2005.
See Division of Reproductive Health, “National Guidelines for Service Providers,” 2010.
National Council for Population and Development, Ministry of Planning and National Development/Department of Reproductive Health (DRH), Ministry of Medical Services, “Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy,” 2003, p.15.
DRH/NCAPD, “Adolescent Reproductive Health and Development Policy: Plan of Action 2005-2015.”
DRH, “National Guidelines for Provision of Youth-Friendly Services (YFS) in Kenya,” 2005. | <urn:uuid:377d67d7-5d93-4d20-8694-f910558aa95a> | CC-MAIN-2022-40 | https://www.hrw.org/report/2010/07/15/i-am-not-dead-i-am-not-living/barriers-fistula-prevention-and-treatment-kenya | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-40/segments/1664030334802.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20220926051040-20220926081040-00542.warc.gz | en | 0.947903 | 48,454 | 2.640625 | 3 |
No serious historian doubts the existence of Jesus Christ. Atheist scholars and Christians alike acknowledge the reality and impact of his life. But the three great religions with roots in the Middle East—Judaism, Islam and Christianity—divide over the death of Jesus and what it means. The final moment in the life of Jesus—the moment he died—was the all-important moment. That's what this book addresses: What does the Christian Bible teach about why Jesus suffered so much and died?
The Denial by Muslims
Nothing is more relevant or controversial today. Islam affirms that Jesus lived, but most Muslims have been taught that Jesus was not crucified. For example, one Sunni Muslim says, “Muslims believe that Allah saved the Messiah from the ignominy of crucifixion.” 1 Another adds, “We honor [Jesus] more than you [Christians] do. . . . We refuse to believe that God would permit him to suffer death on the cross.” 2
The place in the Qur'an that provides the basis for this denial of the crucifixion (and resurrection) is a discussion of supposed Jewish errors:
And because of their saying: We slew the Messiah, Jesus son of Mary, Allah's messenger—They slew him not nor crucified, but it appeared so unto them; and lo! those who disagree concerning it are in doubt therefore; they have no knowledge thereof save pursuit of a conjecture; they slew him not for certain. But Allah took him up unto Himself. Allah is ever Mighty, Wise. There is not one of the People of the Scripture [Jews] but will believe in him before his death, and on the Day of Resurrection he will be a witness against them. 3
The Witness of Non-Christian History
However, those who were much closer to the historical situation than Mohammed (who was born in a.d. 571) reported that Jesus died by crucifixion. These witnesses include non-Christian historians who had no motive to fabricate Christ's death. For example, the Roman historian, Tacitus (who was born in a.d 55), wrote in his Annals (15:44) an explanation of how Nero, the emperor (who died in a.d 68) blamed Christians for the great fire of Rome in order to deflect rumors that he had started the blaze. In this passage Tacitus alludes to a fact which no one disputed: Christ had been crucified under Pontius Pilate:
All human efforts . . . of the emperor, and the propitiations of the gods, did not banish the sinister belief that the conflagration was the result of an order. Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called Christians by the populace. Christus, from whom the name had its origin, suffered the extreme penalty during the reign of Tiberius at the hands of one of our procurators, Pontius Pilatus , and a most mischievous superstition, thus checked for the moment, again broke out not only in Judea, the first source of the evil, but even in Rome, where all things hideous and shameful from every part of the world find their center and become popular. 4
It was common and undisputed knowledge in the second half of the first century that Jesus Christ had been crucified. If there were any question that he had died in this way, it would have been eagerly disputed wherever Christians preached. But it wasn't. The fact of his death by crucifixion was not questioned.
Abundant Eyewitnesses and the Absence of Denial
If the death of Jesus was a myth, it had to be created overnight, since within weeks Christians were preaching the saving power of Christ's suffering and death. Even more significant, it was being preached in Jerusalem—the very city which had the greatest interest in making sure the error was stopped. As far as the Jewish leaders were concerned, this new religion was a distortion of the Jewish faith, and, in fact, was blasphemy, since Christians claimed that Jesus was himself the Son of God (Mark 14:61-64). “We have a law,” the Jewish leaders said to Pilate, “and according to that law he ought to die because he has made himself the Son of God” (John 19:7).
The fact is that Christians openly based their faith on the fact that Jesus was publicly tried, condemned, executed, and raised from the dead. They spoke this way within weeks after these events, when thousands of people who opposed this faith could have proved it wrong, if Jesus had not died. They could have gone to Pilate the governor or Herod the king or the Jewish Council or the soldiers or other witnesses of the crucifixion and gotten proof that he had not been condemned or crucified the way Christians said he was. But, in fact, no one did that. Everyone in Jerusalem knew that Jesus had been crucified, and many had watched him die. The resurrection was disputed, but not the crucifixion.
The early Christians were keenly aware that eyewitnesses were crucial in verifying their claims about the death and resurrection of Jesus. Their earliest writer, the apostle Paul, who was a contemporary of Jesus, said, “ Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures. . . . he was buried . . . he was raised on the third day . . . Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive” (1 Corinthians 15:3-6). Why did Paul say “most of whom are still alive”? Because he was not afraid to have his claims put to the test. He knew they could be verified by eyewitnesses. In other words, Christianity was spreading during the very decades when eyewitnesses could have most easily proved it false. But the basic claims stood the test. The events had happened.
An Improbable Myth
Moreover why would a group of Jews (for all the first Christians were Jews by birth) fabricate the death of Christ? The Christians had nothing to gain from creating the story of a crucified Messiah. It made the spread of Christianity almost impossible from a natural viewpoint. Crucifixion was an obscene form of torture and execution reserved for despised criminals. Most people, hearing the Christian message that Jesus Christ was the divine Son of God who died by crucifixion, thought it was ludicrous. One of the earliest first-century Christian preachers said, “ We preach Christ crucified, a stumbling block to Jews and folly to Gentiles [that is, non-Jews]” (1 Corinthians 1:23 ). It was not to the advantage of Christians to concoct a crucified Messiah. It made their life and mission much harder.
The Critical Issue of the 21st century
The claim of many Muslims that Christ was never crucified, and that early Christians were mistaken or were myth-makers, goes against all the historical and intuitive evidence. The key issue between Christians and Muslims is not first and foremost the identity of Allah, but the fact and meaning of the death of Jesus Christ. This is also true for Judaism and Christianity: Who was this Jesus and why did he die? Both Judaism and Islam deny the essence of Christianity—that Jesus was the long-expected Messiah, the divine Son of God, who was crucified and raised from the dead to bring forgiveness of sins and eternal life to all who believe in him.
This makes Jesus incredibly relevant and controversial in the 21st century. The massive movement of Islam (over 1.3 billion people), and the comparatively small people of Israel have explosive significance in world affairs. The most critical issue between Islam and Judaism on the one hand, and Christianity on the other, is not whether Islam and Judaism are monotheistic. Nor is the issue whether Islam and Judaism try to honor Jesus. The issue is: Do Islam and Judaism—or any other faiths besides Christianity—cherish the righteous suffering and death of the God-Man, Jesus Christ, as the only ground of our acceptance with God?
The answer to that question is No. Only Christians base their acceptance with God on the death of a crucified, risen, and reigning person. All other faiths reject the unique saving relevance of Jesus Christ. That is the critical issue of the 21st century: What happened between man and God when Jesus Christ died?
The Offense of Jesus' Passion—Then and Now
It was absolutely astonishing to the Roman world after the death of Jesus that Christians were willing to be tortured for faith in a convicted and crucified criminal. If this were a self-created myth, it was suicidal. In his History of Christian Missions , Stephen Neil wrote, “Christians under the Roman Empire had no legal right to existence, and were liable to the utmost stringency of the law. . . . Every Christian knew that sooner or later he might have to testify to his faith at the cost of his life.” 5 All of this because they believed that the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus Christ was the most important event in the history of the world. The foolishness of the claim was almost insurmountable. And the Christians didn't try to water it down.
The modern (sub)version of Christianity that preaches health, wealth, and prosperity is a cut flower, finally to wither in the arid winds of 21 st century suffering. If what you've seen on television is all you know of Christianity, you may never have seen the real thing. If you want to know the true Christ, read the New Testament. Those who market him today with the bait of money and success have severed their roots in the crucified Christ. His way was different: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me” (Luke 9:23).
The early church knew that crucifixion was not just the experience of her Lord, but also a personal summons to sacrificial love. The fading of Christianity from cultural mainstream Western culture in the last 50 years is a dose of early church normalcy. Cultural Christianity has become a curse. It is time for the wheel of history to turn and the Christian church to discover the implications of her founder's finest hour, namely, his last.
Badru D. Kateregga and David W. Shenk, Islam and Christianity: A Muslim and a Christian in Dialogue (Nairobi: Usima Press, 1980), 141. ↩
Quoted from The Muslim World, in Muslims and Christians on the Emmaus Road, ed. J. Dudley Woodberry (Monrovia, Ca: MARC, 1989), 164. ↩
Sara 4, 157-159, quoted from The Meanings of the Glorious Qur'an, trans. Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall (New Delhi : Kitab Bhavan, n.d.), 91. ↩
Tacitus, Annals, translated by Alfred John Church and William Jackson Brodribb, accessed 11-26-03, http://classics.mit.edu/Tacitus/annals.11.xv.html. Italics added. ↩
Stephen Neill, History of Christian Missions (New York: Penguin, 1964), 43. ↩ | <urn:uuid:625488cf-7481-4360-8cce-18b5fcb2ad5a> | CC-MAIN-2021-17 | https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/the-great-offense-was-jesus-really-crucified | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-17/segments/1618038066568.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20210412023359-20210412053359-00493.warc.gz | en | 0.977371 | 2,333 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Can diabetics consume honey?Honey has long been known as a herbal remedy because it believed to overcome various diseases. Therefore, the consumption of honey will positively impact the health of the body. In this regard, as a diabetic you might ask whether diabetics may also consume honey? Is the sugar content in honey can actually increase blood sugar levels of diabetics? Consumption of honey in diabetics still being controversym because the sugar content of honey is considered able to increase blood sugar levels of patients. It's true?
Based on the research results Waili turns the honey does not cause an increase in blood sugar levels. However, it should be distinguished that honey studied by Waili in research whose results have also been published in The Journal of Medical Food in 2004 is pure honey.
Pure honey is a type of honey that is pure Sugar content comes from the honey itself. That is the sweet taste of honey does not come from a mix of other sweeteners, such as artificial sugars. As with the artificial honey sweetness comes from honey besides itself also comes from artificial sugars. Artificial honey that should be avoided by diabetics to keep their Blood Sugar Levels remained near normal. Honey consumption is recommended to maintain blood sugar level (Also read : 5 Foods for diabetics which can maintain blood sugar stability)
Diabetics should always measure their blood Sugar Levels. Therefore a strict diet also needs to be undertaken in order to keep their blood sugar levels can always be close to normal. Hence the consumption of honey might rightfully be limited. This is related to the fact that not all honey is the same no usefulness. Moreover, coupled with the honey mixture. Surely obvious usefulness will be reduced for health, especially for diabetics. | <urn:uuid:923085d6-ee6c-4f4a-a60c-ac98dc119a4a> | CC-MAIN-2020-16 | https://www.blogarama.com/exercise-fitness-blogs/316215-diabetes-gestational-blog/902883-substitute-sugar-honey-for-diabetics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-16/segments/1585370490497.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20200328074047-20200328104047-00170.warc.gz | en | 0.964385 | 353 | 2.75 | 3 |
Australia's Increasing Ethnic and Religious Diversity
Australia's Increasing Ethnic and Religious Diversity
Australia began the new millennium with a larger and more diverse population, according to results from the 2001 census. A five percent growth in overseas-born residents arriving since the 1996 census led to a slight decline in the proportion of Australian-born residents to three quarters of the entire population. The United Kingdom led the flow as the birthplace of 5.5 percent of the population, followed by New Zealand (1.9 percent), Italy (1.2 percent), and China and Vietnam (0.8 percent each). In addition, 6.3 percent of the population was born in Asia, North Africa, or the Middle East.
With more individuals born outside English-speaking countries, 15 percent of the population now speaks languages other than English at home. The most commonly spoken languages are now Chinese, Italian, Greek, and Arabic.
When asked about their ancestral origins, 35.9 percent claimed Australian ancestry. Over 65 percent also claimed various European ancestries. The census allowed individuals to select more than one ancestry, which also accounts for why the total responses exceeded the total population by some 20 percent. Some 7.2 percent also acknowledged Asian ancestries, especially Chinese (3 percent). A further 1.9 percent referred to their North African and Middle Eastern origins, mainly Lebanese (0.9 percent).
Another element in Australia's diversity is the growth of non-Christian religions. The number of Buddhists increased 79 percent over the previous five years, partly due to conversions in the existing population and partly due to immigration flows. Buddhists now account for 1.9 percent of the population, ahead of Muslims (1.5 percent) and Hindus (0.5 percent).
A continuing trend first noted in the 1991 census is the growth in the Indigenous population to 2.2 percent of all Australians. This is a 16.2 percent increase in five years, and follows a 33 percent increase between 1991 and 1996. The most significant factor for the growth is not changes in fertility and mortality, but rather the growing willingness to acknowledge Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander ancestry.
Sydney at the Center
Australia's growing diversity is most evident in Sydney, Australia's largest city, which has a population of over 3.4 million. Its economic position ensures that it is the major Australian destination for long-term migrants, 7.2 percent of whom arrived after 1996. It is also the nation's most diverse city. One third of its population (33.5 percent) are foreign-born, with 10.4 percent from Asia and another 3.1 percent from North Africa and the Middle East.
As an emerging global city, the service sector is of major importance in its economy, as are the numbers of highly educated individuals in the population as a whole. Research carried out in 1996 showed that 13.3 percent of Sydney's adult population had university degrees. While only 12.8 percent of the Australian born had university-level qualifications, the comparable figures for the overseas born were higher: 16.3 percent for those from the main English-speaking source countries and 14.8 percent for those from non-English speaking countries. More recent immigration patterns suggest that the education levels of the foreign born have risen since 1996.
Over a quarter (27.3 percent) of all Sydneysiders speak a language other than English at home. The most common are Chinese (6 percent) and Arabic (4.3 percent). As part of this greater linguistic diversity, Sydney is also the state capital with the highest proportion (6 percent) of its population not fluent in English.
Religious diversity is also increasing in Sydney, which is home to the majority of Australia's non-Christians. Buddhists are the largest group (357,813), followed by Muslims (281,578), and Hindus (95,473). Together, they constitute eight percent of the city's population. The Muslim population is very diverse in its origins, coming from the Middle East and Southeast Asian countries, including Lebanon, Turkey, Indonesia, and Malaysia.
Fewer Sydneysiders refer to having Australian (28.8 percent) or Anglo-Celtic (39.2 percent) ancestry than for the nation as a whole. More, however, report Southern and Eastern European (14.4 percent) as well as Asian (14.5 percent) and Middle Eastern (5.3 percent) ancestry. Another important dimension of Sydney's diversity is that it has the largest Indigenous population in the country (31,174), which makes up one percent of its population.
Australia's growing ethnic and religious diversity presents a challenge in a world where difference is increasingly linked, by many members of the public and policy makers alike, to threats to security and social cohesion. Sydney, with its extensive diversity, will increasingly be a key site in determining whether these fears are justified.
Increased Immigration Ahead
Since the mid-1980s, when Australia began to restructure its economy to meet the challenges of globalization, there has been an increasing focus on developing high value-added sectors such as banking and insurance, as well as on building a knowledge-based economy. As a result, migration policy has refocused on highly skilled workers, both permanent and temporary.
Citing the contribution of immigration to higher living standards, income equality, and healthier government budgets, Australia plans to increase its 2002-2003 immigration program for permanent residence to the highest annual intake since the end of the 1980s. | <urn:uuid:d14fc308-f732-4a7d-91a1-38fcbd07fcb0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/australias-increasing-ethnic-and-religious-diversity | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00095-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959484 | 1,115 | 2.71875 | 3 |
The link between housing and health is far reaching and complex. Historically, the housing-health nexus has been primarily associated with physical exposures and dilapidated housing; however, recent studies suggest that adverse health outcomes are also linked to housing rental assistance status, housing insecurity, a lack of affordable housing, and neighborhood quality. Substandard, unaffordable housing and stalled community development represent important public health challenges facing millions of American families and disentangling the complex relationships between housing and health is crucial for policymakers. Below are HUD-sponsored initiatives and resources focused on the link between health equity and housing.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, in collaboration with the National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS) released a NCHS-HUD linked data product. The data are based on the linkage of the 1999-2016 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) and 1999-2016 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) with HUD Administrative records through 2016 for HUD’s largest housing assistance programs: Multifamily, Public Housing, and Housing Choice Vouchers. These files enable researchers to examine relationships between housing, health risk behaviors, and health. Please visit the NCHS-HUD data linkage website to find useful information about the linked data files.
Compendium of Federal Datasets Addressing Health Disparities
This resource identifies the relationship between socioeconomic factors, social determinants of health, and health equity. It includes a description of over 250 databases from federal agencies (including HUD). This initiative aims to facilitate research planning and to encourage intersectorial collaboration across federal agencies to better address health disparities. To learn more about the compendium please use visit: https://www.minorityhealth.hhs.gov/omh/browse.aspx?lvl=1&lvlid=4
Picture of Housing and Health
These studies use HUD administrative records linked with the National Health Interview Survey to examine the health status of HUD-assisted children and adults.
- A Health Picture of HUD-Assisted Adults, 2006-2012
- A Health Picture of HUD-Assisted Children, 2006-2012
Environmental hazards in the home harm millions of children each year. In 1999, in response to a Congressional Directive over concerns about child environmental health, the US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) launched its Healthy Homes Initiative (HHI) to protect children and their families from housing-related health and safety hazards. The Healthy Homes Program addresses multiple childhood diseases and injuries in the home. The Initiative takes a comprehensive approach to these activities by focusing on housing-related hazards in a coordinated fashion, rather than addressing a single hazard at a time.
Quick Links – Health and Housing | <urn:uuid:7ba8de0f-937d-48a4-9718-d59c08a2ae09> | CC-MAIN-2021-21 | https://www.huduser.gov/portal/PublicHealth_RR.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-21/segments/1620243989012.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20210509183309-20210509213309-00014.warc.gz | en | 0.925557 | 549 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Representative photo: Johannes Plenio/Unsplash
- Thermal power plants have resisted implementing new emissions standards by repeatedly seeking extensions to the compliance deadline – and the environment ministry has allowed these extensions.
- Data from the Central Electricity Authority (CEA) and the environment ministry indicate that most thermal power plants are unlikely to comply even within the extended timeline.
- Meeting some of these standards require the plants to install flue-gas sulphurisation (FGD) systems, which remove sulphur dioxide from the plants’ emissions.
- A June 2022 study by researchers at the CEA and IIT Delhi analysed emissions and air quality at 240 stacks in 67 thermal power plants across the country.
- Its most important finding was compelling evidence highlighting the benefits of FGDs – but the authors also cautioned against implementing FGDs for some very curious reasons.
Outdoor air pollution is a growing concern in most parts of India. New Delhi and nine other cities in the country rank among the 25 worst in the world in terms of air quality.
A particular source of concern against this background are coal-based thermal power plants, which are the largest emitters of sulphur dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Higher exposure to these pollutants degrades human health, ecosystems, agriculture and human-made structures.
Despite these facts, and the long time for which they have been known, the Union environment ministry first notified emission standards to regulate these pollutants only in December 2015. Earlier, there were norms only for emissions related to particulate matter. The 2015 emissions standards also specified water consumption limits for thermal power plants and required zero waste-water discharge.
To comply with these new norms, thermal power plants need to install various emission control systems within a specified timeframe. One such system is a flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) unit, which is well-known to be effective at controlling sulphur dioxide emissions from thermal power plants.
Given the serious health, environmental and social hazards of air pollution, our priority should be to reduce these emissions as much and as soon as possible. Unfortunately, the power plants’ compliance with the norms – including FGD implementation – doesn’t inspire confidence.
Thermal power plants have resisted implementing the new norms by repeatedly seeking extensions to the deadline. The environment ministry has caved and has revised the deadlines several times already.
At first, all thermal power plants were required to comply by December 2017. Most of them missed this deadline. Just a month earlier, in fact, compliance with the norms had turned into a legal issue. In an ongoing matter related to air pollution, the Supreme Court considered the implementation of the new norms to be an important mitigative measure. The Association of Power Producers, a group of eight major generating companies in India, had impleaded themselves in this matter and argued that the government should ease the norms and extend the deadlines.
Just before the December 2017 deadline, the Union power ministry asked the government to extend the deadline to December 2019 for the NCR region and December 2022 for power plants in the rest of the country. It submitted a staggered implementation schedule prepared by the Central Electricity Authority (CEA).
The environment ministry accepted this proposal and, in an affidavit to the Supreme Court, submitted the CEA’s plan. However, it subsequently deviated from this commitment by amending the norms anew in 2021. This amendment pushed the deadline even further, without the Supreme Court’s explicit approval. It also set up a task force to classify thermal power plants into three categories based on certain parameters (see table 1 below).
Accordingly, all non-retiring thermal power plants were required to comply with the new rules at best by December 2024. So the deadline had in effect been pushed forward by two more years. Plants that fail to meet the revised deadline would have to pay a penalty.
In July 2021, in response to a Rajya Sabha question, the power ministry said:
“Environment compensation proposed to be levied on thermal power plants by Environment Ministry for non-compliance beyond the timelines will result in expeditious planning by thermal power plants for installation of sulphur regulator technology.”
However, this so-called threat of compensation proved futile. In September 2022, just a quarter before the charges would have come into force, the environment ministry modified the timeline yet again, pushing them further by two more years and revising the penalty.
The tables below show the latest compliance timelines for each category of thermal power plants and the compensation per unit of generation to be levied for non-compliance.
Pushing a deadline just as it approaches isn’t only inappropriate, it’s also legally untenable. Such a delay dilutes institutional credibility and negates any impact the proposed pecuniary deterrents could have had.
Further, coal and power shortages and fluctuations in short-term market prices of electricity could make it economical to run a non-compliant thermal power plant despite the penalty. So relying on a penalty to achieve compliance can in fact lead to a ‘pay and pollute’ culture.
In any case, it is also unclear whether the government will use the compensation collected to reduce impacts of air pollution, and if so, how. So in addition to financial penalties, the government also needs to consider more stringent measures, such as suspension of environment clearance until compliance is achieved.
There exists a parallel in India’s change from BS IV to BS VI fuel, which was possible because all stakeholders adhered to strict timelines and the concerned agencies were able to take concerted action. There is no reason why such a mechanism can’t be implemented for thermal power plants, whose emissions are of equal, if not greater, concern.
Power sector’s role
After the 2015 notification, some private power generators filed petitions before the Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (CERC) seeking to declare it a ‘change of law’ event. Such a declaration would have allowed the thermal power plants to recover the costs incurred on this account through a consumer tariff.
Though it was clear that the notification constituted a ‘change in law’ event, the power ministry declared this explicitly only in May 2018 – past the first deadline. As the ‘change in law’ was applicable to all thermal power plants, some thermal power plants had explicitly asked the CERC to create a country-wide mechanism for this purpose in 2016 itself!
The CERC sought the CEA’s advice, as the latter is responsible for specifying technical and safety standards for the construction, operation and maintenance of all electrical plants and equipment. The CEA took almost two years to publish a standard technical specification of FGD systems and to draft an implementation plan.
The initial deadline for compliance was well past at this point. In addition, the CEA also questioned the need and effectiveness of FGDs for all thermal power plants and suggested delaying the deadline further than the 2021 amendment specified. This eventually came to pass with the September 2022 amendment to the rules.
The CERC – despite being the competent authority to decide whether an event could be considered a change in law under the power-purchase agreement – acted only after the power ministry issued a directive.
In contrast, in similar matters vis-à-vis coal price increase, the CERN had acted expeditiously and proactively to relieve thermal power plants in the form of a compensatory tariff. In fact, it had granted such a relief without being allowed by the electricity law or the power-purchase agreements.
Instead of creating a coherent country-wide mechanism to implement FGD, such regulatory decisions and delays have sown confusion and uncertainty.
An August 2020 judgement by the Appellate Tribunal for Electricity finally clarified the issue. The tribunal allowed plants to recover all prudent costs incurred towards compliance with the new norms.
The CERC and a few other state commissions had also made suitable provisions in their tariff regulations in 2019 to allow these costs.
Ultimately, in August 2021, the CERC issued a suo motu order formulating a mechanism to recover costs for all thermal power plants whose tariff was discovered through competitive bidding. India ultimately lost five years to ensure regulatory certainty for recovery of costs alone.
As a natural fallout of these delays and uncertainty, FGD implementation suffered. See the figure below for project-category-wise implementation status of existing thermal power plant capacity.
Source: CEA report, October 2022
(Including capacity for which feasibility studies have started but haven’t been completed and capacity for which a feasibility study hasn’t yet been undertaken; including capacity under ‘tender specification made’, ‘NIT issued’ and ‘re-tendering’ stages; includes CFBC, SO2 compliant plants and units that are to be decommissioned or retired.)
Only 17% of category A projects have installed FGDs; none in category B and only 3% in category C have done so. As a result, the vast majority of thermal power plants are unlikely to comply even within the extended timeline.
Potential impact of FGD
A recent study published by the CEA and the Centre for Atmospheric Sciences at IIT Delhi analysed emissions and air quality at 240 stacks in 67 thermal power plants across the country. The main objective of the study was to evaluate the impact of FGD implementation on sulphur dioxide emissions.
Its most important finding was compelling evidence highlighting the benefits of FGDs. Specifically, it reported that these systems reduced sulphur dioxide emissions by 55% in a 60-80 km radius around the plant.
In 2020, the CEA had argued that the impact of sulphur dioxide emissions is not significant beyond 40 km, and had proposed prioritising FGD implementation only in critically polluted areas. The new study strikes down this idea.
It also noted that the conversion from sulphur dioxide to sulphate aerosols can occur even hundreds of kilometres from the source – and FGDs can significantly decrease (by about 30%) the surface concentrations of sulphate aerosols.
The Vindhyachal thermal power plant in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, is located in a critically polluted region (it has the highest sulphur dioxide atmospheric column burden over India). Here, the effects of FGD were found to be phenomenal, reducing sulphur dioxide emissions by 83-85%.
However, despite its findings, the study also cautioned against implementing FGDs at all thermal power plants for some very curious reasons. It attempted to push the deadlines even further by proposing a staggered plan in which all thermal power plants would comply by 2034!
These concerns are not based on the data the study collected or analysed. They are addressed in detail below.
“FDG technology is new in the Indian context” – FGD technology is neither new nor complex. It has been part of the thermal generation industry for many years. There is no dearth of experience and expertise in this area. Countries such as China and the US, which have many coal-based thermal power plants, installed FGDs decades ago and have reaped the contributions to air quality.
The study also records statements from Indian manufacturers, such as BHEL, which state: “Sufficient domestic manufacturing capacity exists in the nation for catering to current as well as future requirements of FGD implementation.” So there is no lack of technological expertise to ensure compliance.
Impact on foreign exchange – The study cited the impact on foreign exchange as a major concern. This is because some parts of FGD systems need to be imported. However, it failed to note that the power sector already relies heavily on imports.
Solar power plants in India import solar cells, modules and inverters. From April 2021 to January 2022, solar-cell imports cost India $3,447 million (approx. Rs 26,000 crore). Despite such a big bill, India has set itself a target of installing 280 GW of solar power capacity by 2030. The CEA has neither proposed delaying this capacity addition nor staggering it beyond 2030.
In contrast, FGD import costs are likely to be much lower. All thermal power plants are also guaranteed regulatory certainty to recover these costs. So there is no reason to delay implementation on these grounds.
“Increased carbon dioxide emissions due to FGD implementation” – The study argued that since running an FGD system increases auxiliary consumption (by around 1%), it will also increase carbon dioxide emissions from thermal power plants.
This is theoretically correct – but overlooks the magnitude of increase in emissions due to FGDs. The argument also doesn’t propose any equally effective alternatives to control sulphur dioxide emissions. So it is difficult to take this concern seriously.
Using carbon dioxide emissions as an excuse to avoid an effective way to control sulphur dioxide emissions isn’t just inappropriate; it’s also deceitful.
“Adverse impacts on global warming” – As noted earlier, sulphur dioxide emissions from thermal power plants are a major source of sulphate aerosols. Implementing FGDs at all thermal power plants can significantly reduce their concentration in the atmosphere.
The study claimed that such sudden and significant reduction in sulphate aerosols could accelerate the adverse impact of global warming – but without any evidence to substantiate such a serious claim. It then recommended delaying FGD implementation until all probable adverse effects were known.
This bizarre recommendation appeared even as the authors acknowledged that thermal power plants themselves were major contributors to global warming and climate change.
Power plants in the US and China, among others, have had FGDs for many years now. To date they have never modified their emissions standards in this regard. This suggests that there is little reason, if any, to suspect that the supposed impact is significant.
Water scarcity – The study suggests against implementing FGDs at thermal power plants in water-scarce regions. Running a TPP is an inherently water-intensive activity. The new norms also specify water consumption limits and mandate zero waste-water discharge for this very reason.
However, the study doesn’t exhort thermal power plants to comply with the new water consumption norms. Since running a plant requires much larger quantities of water, cutting FGDs’ water consumption is hardly going to help.
Not installing FGDs at such thermal power plants would mean continuing the status quo as far as air pollution is concerned. The solution should be to install FGDs and not run thermal power plants in water-scarce periods. Additionally, the government should diligently enforce strict adherence to water-consumption norms and then monitor for compliance.
Lifecycle cost and benefits – The study cited a lack of comprehensive lifecycle cost-benefit studies of FGD in India as a concern. This is bizarre. No such “comprehensive studies” were conducted before building new thermal power plants and setting up new coal mines, which obviously have much worse impact.
Such studies are undoubtedly useful and necessary, but they can’t be a precondition to install FGD systems. The correct starting point for this exercise should be for all existing and proposed thermal power plants and mining projects to install them.
Socioeconomic cost-benefit analysis – Raising yet another curious objection, the study pointed to the absence of a thorough socioeconomic cost-benefit analysis of FGD systems. It suggested that such analyses should be completed for existing FGDs and that their findings be evaluated before installing new FGDs at all thermal power plants.
The study failed to mention, however, that to date no such “thorough” exercise has been undertaken before approving new thermal power plants and coal-mining projects even though it is a prerequisite under the environmental impact assessment notification of 2006 and the Forest (Conservation) Act 1980.
The right place to commence these important practices would be when approving new thermal power plants and mining projects. FGDs are emission-control systems for thermal power plants, so the plant’s cost-benefit analysis will automatically include the corresponding analyses for its FGD system.
In sum, there is no merit to the concerns the IIT-CEA study has raised to further delay FGD implementation. Instead, it is extremely important and urgent to focus on its evidence-based findings and accelerate the installation of FGD systems at thermal power plants. If the authorities decide to go with its unsubstantiated concerns, however, it will be a travesty of both science and social and environmental justice.
Ashwini Chitnis is an independent researcher and policy analyst in Pune. | <urn:uuid:8717642c-3e45-466a-886b-a5ef23896ed5> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://science.thewire.in/environment/flue-gas-desulphurisation-cea-study/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224647614.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20230601042457-20230601072457-00029.warc.gz | en | 0.943342 | 3,386 | 3.296875 | 3 |
As I discussed in my previous blog, a child’s body is typically functioning at one of three ‘Engine Levels’. Ideally, the goal is to be at the ‘just right’ level, in which your child can accomplish the most and focus on the task at hand. It is important to remember that each child’s ‘Engine Level’ runs differently, and is affected differently. Therefore, different strategies work differently for each child.
Here are a few strategies which might help your child to reach a just right level:
- Listen to calming/quiet music
- Get a drink of cold water/drinking through a straw (e.g. water bottle)
- Chew gum or a crunchy/chewy snack
- Take a walk, or get a breath of fresh air
- Excuse herself to the restroom
- Exercise/heavy work
- A big bear hug/joint compressions
- Yoga breaths (e.g. inhale through nose as long as she can, exhale through mouth like blowing out birthday candles)
- Rub a small amount of lotion or scented hand sanitizer onto hands (massaging lotion into her skin can be calming, and a nice scent can help to ‘wake-up’ or ‘calm’ her body)
Try the strategies above, and note whether or not they help your child’s mind and body to feel more organized and ready to take on the tasks expected of her. By incorporating this ‘Engine Level’ lingo into your child’s vocabulary on a daily basis, your child will ideally be able to better understand how her body is feeling, and what she can do when she’s feeling “off” or over/under aroused. Please reach out to your child’s therapist with any further questions as to how this program can be incorporated into your family’s routine.
Reference: Williams, Mary Sue and Shellenberger, Sherry. (1996,) “How Does Your Engine Run?: A Leader’s Guide to The Alert Program for Self-Regulation”. Therapy Works, Inc. | <urn:uuid:81a2693c-c5db-4556-be06-1b225b7ce3ce> | CC-MAIN-2019-47 | https://nspt4kids.com/tag/chewing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-47/segments/1573496667333.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20191113191653-20191113215653-00349.warc.gz | en | 0.933184 | 453 | 2.90625 | 3 |
President Obama on Monday is unveiling a controversial environmental and energy initiative: an executive order to force coal-fired power plants to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 30 percent from 2005 levels by 2030—the boldest move yet in the administration’s efforts to fight climate change.
Coal-fired power plants account for some 40 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions, which scientists say are the main cause of global warming. At 39 percent in 2013, they are also the largest supplier of fuel powering electricity in the U.S. “I refuse to condemn our children to a planet beyond fixing,” the president said Saturday during his weekly radio and Internet address. “In America, we don’t have to choose between the health of our economy and the health of our children.”
Drafted by the EPA, the new rule puts a national limit on carbon pollution from coal plants, as The New York Times and others have reported. It also gives the states flexibility to devise their own approaches, such as creating energy-efficiency technology, using more wind and solar power, and starting or joining “cap-and-trade” programs, which allow utility companies to buy and sell government-issued pollution permits.
Obama tried previously to push “cap and trade” through Congress as part of an effort to control carbon emissions, but it died in 2010 in the Senate. The GOP, Tea Party groups and the coal industry attacked Democrats who supported it, warning the legislation would raise energy prices and cost jobs.
Now the president is invoking executive authority instead, and Republicans and energy insiders are complaining that Obama is circumventing lawmakers on a critical policy that could raise energy costs and shutter many coal-fired power plants.
In drafting the executive order, the EPA turned to a little-used provision of the Clean Air Act (CAA), since carbon dioxide isn’t regulated under government air pollution programs. States and industry groups are preparing to wage legal challenges to the rule, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Last September, the administration announced new regulations setting strict limits on the amount of carbon pollution that can be generated by new U.S. power plants. The proposal sparked a backlash from supporters of the coal industry and is certain to face legal challenges.
The president’s latest targeting of existing power plants is pitting major environmental groups, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC), against industry and business organizations, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. Long a booster of “cap and trade,” the NRDC says the executive order would stem carbon emissions while encouraging economic development and job creation – while the Chamber of Commerce warns of $50 billion in economic costs per year.
Both groups have issued dueling assessments of the plan’s likely impact. Here are 6 major arguments in favor of, and 6 against, Obama’s executive order, based on a summary the NRDC provided to The Fiscal Times and on excerpts from a Chamber of Commerce study.
6 Reasons to Support Obama’s Carbon Rule, from the NRDC:
- Carbon pollution fuels climate change, which triggers more asthma attacks and respiratory disease, worsens air quality, and contributes to destructive, costly and deadly extreme-weather events.
- In 2012 alone, extreme weather cost the U.S. more than $130B, and taxpayers picked up nearly $100B of the cleanup’s cost, according to an NRDC analysis.
- Setting federal limits on carbon pollution from power plants is essential: Power plants are responsible for 40 percent of U.S. carbon pollution, the single largest source. Right now, we limit mercury, arsenic, lead, soot and other dangerous pollutants from power plants, but not carbon pollution.
- While many states and communities have taken action, the new federal safeguard will set commonsense limits on carbon pollution, inspire investment in infrastructure to protect communities, and spur innovation to power America with clean energy in the 21st century.
- States have flexibility to implement plans to increase efficiency, improve resiliency and remove carbon pollution. Carbon standards can create hundreds of thousands of jobs and save American households and businesses billions on electricity bills, NRDC claims, as energy efficiency is ramped up.
- New clean energy technologies that produce less carbon pollution will create a new generation of clean energy jobs. Carbon pollution limits will spur investment and innovation in clean energy technologies to modernize and clean up power plants. Since 1970, every dollar invested in compliance with Clean Air Act standards has yielded $4-8 in economic benefits.
6 Reasons to Oppose Obama’s Carbon Rule, from the Chamber of Commerce:
- It will negatively affect national GDP, employment, and real income per household. A Chamber of Commerce study predicts a peak decline in GDP of $104B in 2025, with an average of $51B per year from 2014 to 2030. It also predicts the loss of up to 442,000 jobs.
- It will have a very small impact on global CO2 emissions, which are set to rise rapidly. The Chamber’s analysis finds the proposal would address “a mere 1.8 percent of global CO2 emissions.” Regardless of national emissions reduction policies and adverse economic impacts, global CO2 emissions will grow rapidly.
- It will be extremely costly. Regulating CO2 emissions will generate adverse economic impacts in the U.S. in exchange for reductions overshadowed by rapidly rising emissions elsewhere. The plan would shave $51B off GDP annually and increase electricity costs by $289B.
- The law governing mercury and other toxins is a huge economic drain; the new plan would be even worse. To date, the Mercury and Air Toxics Standard (MATS) is the most expensive power sector rule issued by the EPA, at a projected total cost of $9.6B per year… The average compliance cost of the EPA’s CO2 regulations is nearly triple that, at $28.1B, over a 17-year time frame.
- The plan will force the energy industry to deal with the cost of decommissioning or retrofitting existing, functional power-delivery infrastructure and replacing it. The total cost for incremental generating capacity, supporting infrastructure (electric transmission, natural gas pipelines, CO2 pipelines), decommissioning, stranded asset costs, and offsetting savings from lower fuel use and operation and maintenance is nearly $480B.
- The proposal places unrealistic demands on states, resulting in more burden on individuals and businesses, says the Chamber: “In regulating CO2 emissions, it appears the EPA will attempt to mandate a level of CO2 emissions reductions that is unachievable at the source (power plants).”
The Fiscal Times’ Rob Garver contributed to this article.
Top Reads From the Fiscal Times:
- The Real Threat to the Electric Power Grid Is Not Terrorism
- The Government Entitlement Program That’s About to Dry Up
- More Weak Justice from Eric Holder
- Nature & Environment
- President Obama
- coal-fired power plants
- executive order | <urn:uuid:8207d6f0-9aa0-4244-a247-dfb2b7606ec6> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://news.yahoo.com/pros-cons-obama-carbon-rule-101500318.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246640124.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045720-00017-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926807 | 1,457 | 2.75 | 3 |
Researchers have known for some time that Mars has a deep dent in its southern hemisphere. But until recent measurements yielded a highly accurate, global map of the red planet's topography, they didn't know that the Hellas basin could swallow Mt. Everest, or that the asteroid that caused the crater hurtled debris as far as 2,500 miles across the planet's surface.
"Probably the most unexpected finding was how much the Hellas impact basin dominates the topography of the southern hemisphere," said Maria Zuber, the Griswold Professor of Planetary Sciences. Another major finding is the planet's dramatic slope from its south to north pole. This would have significantly affected water transport and cycles on the planet, she said, leading to ponding of water in certain places.
Professor Zuber and three other MIT researchers are part of a team of 20 scientists who created a global grid of Mars based on data from the Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA), an instrument on the Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft. Their work, published in the May 28 issue of Science, is expected to lead to new insights about how Mars evolved over the past 4 billion years.
The map is expected to give scientists the basis for years' worth of further exploration and definition of the red planet. "The most significant aspect of the data is that it is going to allow us to reconstruct the evolution of the planet," Professor Zuber said. "From the shape of the surface and information on gravity, magnetics and surface composition, we can model the internal structure and the planet's thermal evolution. These models bear closely on the history of climate and water.
"It's going to take some work, but the potential is there to construct and evaluate models of the planet as a global system. This is an extraordinary opportunity to study how the different parts of a planet influence and are affected by other parts," she said.
DRAMATIC SHIFTS IN TERRAIN
Mars has the highest mountains and deepest craters of any of the terrestrial planets. There is a big contrast in elevation between the mostly flat northern hemisphere and the heavily cratered southern hemisphere, which sits on average three miles higher than the north.
The topography of Mars has a 30-kilometer (19-mile) dynamic range, one and a half times that found on Earth, said David Smith of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, principal investigator for MOLA and lead author of the study.
Researchers from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the Carnegie Institute of Washington, Washington and Brown Universities, and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and the California Institute of Technology (both in Pasadena) worked on the map. MIT researchers Gordon Pettengill, professor emeritus of earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences (EAPS); research scientist Gregory Neumann and graduate student Oded Aharonson of EAPS are also part of the team.
The high-resolution map represents 27 million measurements gathered during March and April this year and the summer of 1998. Each elevation point is known with an accuracy of about six feet in the flat northern hemisphere to 42 feet elsewhere. The level of detail is made possible by MOLA, which works by sending and receiving infrared laser pulses.
Professor Zuber said that even though the researchers designed MOLA to be very accurate, they were nonetheless "rather startled at how well we have been able to measure the elevations. The topography of Mars is now known in a global sense better than many areas of Earth's continents. And we have not yet implemented the most advanced post-processing techniques, so the values are going to get better yet." MOLA continues to collect about 900,000 elevation measurements a day during the ongoing Mars Global Surveyor mission.
The data will be used, among other things, to assess where NASA's Mars Polar Lander mission will set down this winter.
A DEEP IMPACT
"Before our map, it was known that Hellas was a big hole. But we believe that we have identified evidence that the material excavated from the basin was deposited in a mile-high ring that extends out to 2,500 miles from the center of the basin," Professor Zuber said. "This material contributes significantly to the high elevation of the southern hemisphere and underscores the role of major impacts in shaping the early surfaces of the solid planets."
The volcanic Tharsis province includes the Olympus Mons volcanic shield, which shoots up nearly 17 miles. This area is in sharp contrast with the Hellas impact basin -- six miles deep and 1,400 miles across -- that was probably caused by an asteroid. The basin is surrounded by a ring of material that was ejected from it that would cover the United States to a depth of two miles.
The MOLA data suggest that the elliptical northern hemisphere depression was likely shaped by vigorous convection of Mars's mantle or tectonic plate recycling during the planet's formative stages.
The dramatic slope from Mars's south to north poles would have influenced the predominant way water flowed early in Martian history. The northern hemisphere's lowlands would have drained three-quarters of the Martian surface, but the map shows there are local areas, such as within the massive Valles Marineris canyon system, where Mars's limited water supply may have formed ponds, Professor Zuber said.
MOLA was designed and built by the Laser Remote Sensing Branch of the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics at Goddard. The Mars Global Surveyor mission is managed for NASA's Office of Space Science by JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology. JPL's industrial partner is Lockheed Martin Astronautics in Denver, which developed and operates the spacecraft.
A version of this
article appeared in the
June 2, 1999
issue of MIT Tech Talk (Volume | <urn:uuid:acd40d45-a6c5-43b9-a825-716e791df059> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://news.mit.edu/1999/mars-0602 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583513686.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20181021031444-20181021052944-00194.warc.gz | en | 0.95646 | 1,183 | 4.1875 | 4 |
|I DOAN = I don't|
This is a contraction: do + not = don't.
WANTS CHEEZBURGR, = want a cheeseburger.
Don't forget the definite article.
I WANTS = I want
MOWSE = a mouse
You need the indefinite article in both of these sentences:
I don't want a cheeseburger.
I want a mouse.
WIF CHEEZ = with cheese.
Don't forget the final period.
Saturday, October 26, 2013
Grammar Cat #81: Mouser Cat
Can you help this cat? Think about how to improve the English and then click "Show Correct Cat" to see a corrected version. There are some English notes at the bottom; if you have a question that is not answered there, leave a comment! | <urn:uuid:95448c90-690c-4559-8c53-872b2c064861> | CC-MAIN-2017-26 | http://grammarcatz.blogspot.com/2012/10/grammar-cat-105-mouser-cat.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2017-26/segments/1498128320063.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20170623133357-20170623153357-00187.warc.gz | en | 0.92929 | 178 | 3.078125 | 3 |
One of the few landscape trees that grow almost effortlessly indoors is Schefflera, also called umbrella tree. Schefflera's open, delicate growth habit and dark green, glossy foliage brings a tropical feeling to any home. Schefflera can grow to 8 feet tall indoors and demands little more than regular feeding and watering with an extra smidgen of humidity. Indoors, schefflera rarely suffers from diseases, though some rots or molds may develop under certain conditions. If the plant summers outdoors, it may be more susceptible to bacterial or fungal diseases.
Video of the Day
Alternaria and Phytopthora fungi cause similar symptoms, including leaf spots and leaf drop. Some Alternaria fungi cause damping-off, which is lethal to seedlings. If the plant is outdoors in rainy weather, keep it away from any garden plants already infected with fungal diseases, since the spores can travel both by splashing water and on the wind. Do not over-water scheffleras. If the plant becomes infected, cut away as much diseased material as possible and dispose of it away from the plant. If the schefflera is severely infected, you may still save it. Take it out of its container, rinse off the growing medium and apply fungicide formulated with iprodione or mancozeb. Follow manufacturer's directions. Discard the growing medium and sanitize the container before repotting the plant.
Indoors or out, schefflera may be a target for spider mites or aphids, especially in warm, dry weather. These tiny insects not only suck the juices from the foliage, they leave behind a sticky substance called honeydew. Honeydew attracts ants, and it also serves as a growing medium for sooty mold, also called black mold. Wash the tops and undersides of the leaves to get the insects and honeydew off the plant. Use horticultural oil, following label directions, to control severe infestations. Repeat regularly to keep the schefflera free of insects and their leavings.
Dwarf Scheffleras may contract Pseudomonas leaf blight, which causes leaf drop and blighted areas that look waterlogged. Cut away infected areas and keep the plant's foliage dry. Xanthomonas leaf spot on both standard sized and dwarf cultivars causes scattered, beige spots that may eventually merge to form blotches between the still-green leaf veins. Prune out infected areas and increase the amount of fertilizer to help the plant fight off disease. Check English ivy growing nearby to see if it is the source of Xanthomonas leaf spot spores.
Chlorosis occurs when the schefflera's foliage turns yellow. This problem can mimic the symptoms of diseases but is generally caused by low light exposure. Increase the amount of light the plant gets and keep it away from indoor heating or air conditioning vents. Poor drainage or over-watering can cause root rot, which can kill scheffleras. The base of the plant or the roots may turn soft, dark and watery-looking. Transplant the schefflera to a container that has better built-in drainage and switch to a growing medium that has better natural drainage. | <urn:uuid:269daeab-c2c3-4324-ab71-270f1e99bfa0> | CC-MAIN-2019-22 | https://www.ehow.com/info_12023261_diseases-cures-schefflera-tree-houseplants.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-22/segments/1558232256040.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20190520142005-20190520164005-00178.warc.gz | en | 0.928869 | 672 | 3.015625 | 3 |
1,363. Those Who Refuse to Mourn
215:2 The Sages said that when one member of a family dies, the entire family should tremble. A metaphor for the situation is a pile of stones: when one of the stones is dislodged, they all shift. G-d's attribute of justice is focused on them until it dissipates. The entire week of shiva, the sword is drawn against them; through shloshim, it is held loosely. It does not return to its scabbard until the twelve months have passed. Therefore, for the first three days of shiva, a mourner should act as if a sword were resting on his neck; for the rest of shiva, as if a sword were being held in front him; through the rest of shloshim, as if it were going before him in the market. After this, for the rest of the year, the attribute of justice is still focused on that family, but if a boy is born into the family, it is a sign that they need no longer be concerned. Whenever someone from a group dies, G-d's attribute of justice is focused on that group and they should tremble.
215:3 One who does not mourn as the Sages directed is considered cruel. Such a person should rouse himself, examine his deeds with fear and trembling, and change his ways in the hope that he will be saved from death. As Jeremiah 5:3 says, "You struck them but they didn't feel it...." Such people need to awaken, change their ways and return in repentance. | <urn:uuid:167a65a8-7fbe-4123-814e-dd682748d929> | CC-MAIN-2023-23 | https://outorah.org/p/24899 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-23/segments/1685224644913.39/warc/CC-MAIN-20230529205037-20230529235037-00006.warc.gz | en | 0.989535 | 332 | 2.75 | 3 |
Science terms and definitions
Science dictionary for kids: the essential guide to science terms, concepts, and strategies [laurie westphal] on amazoncom free shipping on qualifying offers. Vocabulary word list -- science classify grouped by characteristics, similarities, and differences to organize in groupings experiment a test mode to. Click on 8th grade science vocabulary to go back to vocabulary home page click on chapters to find the definitions unit 1. The following list of words and definitions is quite possibly the most comprehensive set of earth science vocabulary of an earthquake in terms of the. Here’s the glossary of scientific terms used in reeko’s mad scientist lab if you are looking for a longer, more elaborate definition of a science word.
Modern science in modern science, it is regarded as good scientific practice to aim for principles such as objectivity and reproducibility, which means that. Science dictionary - glossary of terms & scientific definitions welcome to science dictionary, the leading information source. Water science glossary of terms here's a list of water-related terms that might help you understand our site better it is compiled from a number of sources and.
Science terms and kid-friendly definitions communication / animal communication when people talk to each other, they are communicating. Science is a very vast subject that has innumerable words, terms, definitions, etc the following article has a glossary list that will help you understand these. An online resource guide and glossary for computer science.
Information and definitions of the terms been taken from various reliable government publications and we have done our. Elementary science vocab lists & glossary refresh: show: type title owner edited size actions 1st grade science vocabulary.
Start studying science experiment terms learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. Science glossary a aberration property of an optical system that causes an image to have certain easily recognisable flaws aberrations are caused by geometrical. | <urn:uuid:2b29afa9-be4c-4f60-8e58-fe5534035398> | CC-MAIN-2018-43 | http://xpassignmentjzdj.artsales.biz/science-terms-and-definitions.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-43/segments/1539583512161.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20181018235424-20181019020924-00205.warc.gz | en | 0.896252 | 400 | 3.3125 | 3 |
Industrial Drafting is used in all sectors consisting of both technical and practical concepts. In choosing this type of trade, it is advantageous to be informed on the manufacturing sector. The trade operates in three types of business categories: the manufacturing of mechanical objects in industrial sectors, consulting firms such as engineering, and companies’ where manufacturing is a fundamental activity to their production.
The Industrial Drafting DVS program consists of 25 competencies , with a total of 1800 hours. Throughout the program, you will develop the skills to: solve problems related to industrial drafting, taking and interpreting measurements and develop the skills necessary to understand the manufacturing.
It is important to distinguish the difference between a designer and a drafter. The designer is the one who schematizes the mechanical parts by creating the overall drawings for assembly and detail. The drafter, also known as draftsperson, drafting technologist, drafting technician, computer-assisted drafting (CAD) technician, is the one who is called to improve or adapt existing products, in addition to designing new ones, or may be put in charge of projects . A designer can move up and work a few years in their field before entering the drafting profession.
Choosing a career in drafting, is deciding to work with leading edge technology. It means acquiring detailed knowledge in a multitude of specialties across varying sectors, as well as the skill use of numerous state of the art computer software programs, such as AutoCAD.
Students develop the skills to:
A graduate from our Industrial Drafting program will be qualified to prepare engineering designs, drawings and related technical information, in multidisciplinary engineering teams or in support of engineers, architects or industrial designers, or they may work independently.
*This DVS program is eligible for the program of student financial assistance from the Government of Quebec. | <urn:uuid:27a84702-1a97-4a80-81ad-7a8107865873> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://avirontech.com/en/programs/industrial-drafting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233505362.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20230921073711-20230921103711-00722.warc.gz | en | 0.949435 | 369 | 2.53125 | 3 |
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The very first Official Languages Act was enacted 50 years ago this year. At the very moment when Canada is marking this anniversary, the legitimacy of French as an official language is being challenged in various regions of the country, as illustrated by events in New Brunswick and Ontario in the fall of 2018.
Reasserting the importance of linguistic duality as a core Canadian value is urgently needed. Modernizing the Official Languages Act is a great way to achieve this.
In the past decades, the Act was undermined by issues stemming from structure and government culture. These issues impeded the full implementation of the Act. The FCFA has come to the conclusion that a thorough modernization of the Act – something that has not been done since 1988 – is absolutely necessary.
The FCFA and the communities it represents are determined to be leaders of change on this issue. Following a year and a half of consultation with various partners, the FCFA is proposing its own bill to modernize the Official Languages Act.
Time for Action: The FCFA Proposes a New Wording of the Official Languages Act. This is essentially the master document containing an in-depth analysis of the numerous implementation issues with the current Official Languages Act, as well as proposed solutions to those issues.
Schedule A: an annotated version of the bill showing the changes to the current wording of the Official Languages Act.
Schedule B: the actual text of the bill. Here is the bill proper, which could be introduced as is in the House.
The summary: A two-page document providing an overview of the four key changes to the Act we are arecommending.
Questions & Answers: Supplemental information on the motivations of the Official Languages Act modernization project.
Schedule C: Chart – Coordination of the Official Languages Act, 1969. Illustrates the mechanics of how the implementation of the first Act throughout the federal government was coordinated.
Schedule D: Coordination of the Official Languages Act, 1988. Illustrates how the implementation of the current Act is coordinated.
Schedule E: Coordination of the Official Languages Act proposed by the FCFA. Illustrates how the implementation of the Act as proposed by the FCFA would unfold.
Schedule F: How the Official Languages Tribunal Would Work. Chart showing how investigations and applications for remedies to the Tribunal would happen.
Schedule G: Systemic Investigations at the Initiative of the Commissioner of Official Languages. Shows how investigations initiated by the Commissioner could unfold under the Act as proposed by the FCFA. | <urn:uuid:a623daef-b694-4c33-8a7c-85a7cbb35cae> | CC-MAIN-2019-39 | https://fcfa.ca/modernizing-official-languages-act/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-39/segments/1568514575751.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20190922221623-20190923003623-00171.warc.gz | en | 0.94773 | 514 | 2.890625 | 3 |
It is a shrubby annual, biennial or perennial plant growing to 0.5–2 m (rarely 3 m) tall. The leaves are orbicular, 8–18 cm diameter, palmately lobed with five to nine lobes, and a coarsely serrated margin. The flowers are 3–4 cm diameter, dark pink to purple and grow in fasciculate axillary clusters of two to seven. It grows mainly on exposed coastal locations, often on small islands, only rarely any distance inland.
Although long considered a species of Lavatera, genetic and morphological analysis by Martin Forbes Ray, reported in 1998, suggested it was better placed in the genus Malva, in which it was named Malva dendromorpha M.F.Ray. However the earlier name Malva arborea L. (Webb & Berthol.) was validly published and has priority over Malva dendromorpha.
Malva arborea tolerates sea water to varying degrees, at up to 100% sea water in its natural habitat, excreting salt through glands on its leaves. This salt tolerance can be a competitive advantage over inland plant species in coastal areas. Its level of salinity tolerance is thought to be improved by soil with higher phosphate content, making guano enrichment particularly beneficial.
The leaves of the species are used in herbal medicine to treat sprains, by steeping them in hot water and applying the poultice to the affected area. It is theorised that lighthouse keepers may have spread the plant to some British islands for use as a poultice and to treat burns, an occupational hazard. Thought to have been used as an alternative to toilet paper.
The seeds are edible and are known in Jersey as "petit pains", or "little breads". Tree mallow was considered a nutritive animal food in Britain in the 19th century, and is still sometimes used as animal fodder in Europe. For human consumption, some sources describe the leaves of tree mallow as edible, although not as palatable as common mallow, unless cut very thinly, because of the very velours-like hairy mouth-feel.
This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme. | <urn:uuid:8795c6dd-a36c-4b73-b4d5-ac3489f649e6> | CC-MAIN-2018-34 | http://melbournedaily.blogspot.com/2017/11/melbourne-weeds-9-tree-mallow.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-34/segments/1534221219469.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20180822030004-20180822050004-00180.warc.gz | en | 0.962539 | 459 | 3.125 | 3 |
“Ganapati Bappa Moriya”
Sept 05, 2016: The familiar chant that every Hindu bows their head to! The elephant-headed Hindu God who unites people is worshipped on the occasion of Ganesh Chaturthi. Needless to say that the festival continues for 10 days and the fervour is at its peak among Indians. There are many stories about Lord Ganesha in the Hindu Mythology and this article focuses on why is He ‘elephant-headed’? Why is he worshipped first? Why does he ride on a rat?
There are many stories about Lord Ganesha in the Hindu Mythology and this article focuses on why is He ‘elephant-headed’? Why is he worshipped first and Why does he ride on a rat?
Shiva Purana, Brahmabaibarta Purana narrate different stories about the birth of the son of Mahadev and Devi Parvati and how he became elephant-headed.
Professor Phyllis Lee, a behavioral psychologist at University of Stirling and chair of the scientific advisory committee for the Amboseli Trust for Elephants says, “It is the ability to influence others and sustain friendships are important to an elephant group, while in other animals it is often aggression or dominance.”
Elephants tend to influence the group in the correct direction and they respect the intelligence of the leaders. Ganeshji united people, not in the age of Purana but also at the crucial time of Indian revolution against British.
Lokmanya Tilak realized this cultural of Ganapati and popularised Ganesh Chaturthi as a National Festival to unite everyone, from brahmins to non-brahmins.’Gana’ means followers of Shiva and Devtas including Aditya (solar deity), Vasu (attendant deity of Indra), Vayu (air), Rudra (deity of storm and hunt) etc. who are led by Ganesh.
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In Hinduism, Lakshmi is worshipped for Dhan (money), Saraswati for Vidya (knowledge), Viswakarma for Shilpa (Art), Kartikeya for Vijay (wining). The deities are worshipped by people for personal gains but Ganesh is the god who brings unity in society. Thus Ganesh is worshipped first in any auspicious occasion like marriage and other pujas.
According to Ganesh Purana, Ganesh is the Omkara. The text utters:
“Omkarrupi Bhagwan Yo Vedado Pratishthita
Yang Sada Munaye Deva Smarantindradayo hridi
Omkararupi Bhagawanuktastu Gananayaka
Yatha Sarveshu Karmshu Pujyatehso Vinayaka”
This means ‘Omkara’ is pronounced before every Mantra is memorising Ganesh as he is Nayak (leader) of Gana.
The presence of rat with Ganesha as the ride is quite significant. The Gajamundadhari (elephant-headed) deity has one of the smallest creature Mushika (rat) as ride which symbolises Ganapati brings everyone under same roof- from big to small, wise to ignorant, sophisticated to Bhuphal (who born from the earth, rat). Rat is the symbol of patience and enthusiasm. Ganeshji is named Abyakt, Sarvesh, Akshar, Nitya which express his glory as Param Brahma. To understand him better- one need realisation, self-restraint and spirit.
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An old text Panchatantra, taught us a very familiar story of a lion and a mouse where the mouse cuts the ropes and frees the lion. In a similar manner, Lord Ganesha too detaches the followers from Ashtapaasha, the eight ties- (Ghrina, Apamana, Lajja, Mana, Moha, Dambha, Dwesha, Baigunya: Hate, Insult, Shame, Standard, Affection, Pride, Grudge, Defect respectively). Thus, he selected rat as his mate to cut the trap and release people from the prejudices.
– by Priyanka Saha of NewsGram. Twitter: @priyanka140490 | <urn:uuid:ce1803c1-9a80-47d0-ba2d-5d1961b4579e> | CC-MAIN-2021-10 | https://www.newsgram.com/ganapati-bappa-moriya-on-the-occasion-of-ganesh-chaturthi-know-why-lord-ganesha-is-one-of-the-most-loved-deities-among-hindus/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2021-10/segments/1614178357641.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20210226115116-20210226145116-00057.warc.gz | en | 0.928218 | 925 | 2.625 | 3 |
Evening primrose flower (Onagraceae). (US Forest Service)
Plants provide us with many things that we use on a daily basis – from the buildings in which we live and work, to our clothing and food. For flowering plants to thrive and reproduce, they often rely on pollinators to transport pollen between flowers.
Pollination ultimately results in fruits and seeds, ranging from the strawberries and almonds in your breakfast to the tomatoes in your pasta sauce. While scientists know a lot about honeybees, very little is known about many other pollinators – bats, birds, bees, butterflies, moths, flies, etc. – that are essential to pollinating wildflowers and native plants. Read more »
The Feds Feed Families program began in 2009 to help support families across America during summer months when other help may not be available.
This post is part of the Science Tuesday feature series on the USDA blog. Check back each week as we showcase stories and news from USDA’s rich science and research portfolio.
Most of us were reminded every night to eat the veggies on our childhood dinner plates. And for good reason, too. Veggies are packed with the nutrients that are essential to good health and, as you may already know, greens are nutritional powerhouses. Dark, leafy greens are full of antioxidants like vitamin A, C and E, as well as B vitamins, calcium, iron, protein, fiber and even essential fatty acids. But not everyone is able to adorn their plates with these “edible emeralds.” That’s where a group of federal employees stepped in. Read more »
Sammy Soil is NRCS' mascot and was created by a district conservationist back in the 1970s. NRCS photo.
Teaching people about soil conservation is one of our top goals at the USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), and fortunately, we have a special helper.
Sammy Soil, everyone’s favorite little clump of earth, has managed to capture the public’s attention for more than 40 years. The little dirt clod, as he is sometimes called, was birthed through rock particles, water, air, leaves and the artistic mind of long-time employee Ernest “Howard” Whitaker.
Sammy Soil started as a water color drawing by Whitaker, who worked as a NRCS district conservationist in Tennessee. Read more »
Grace Opono uses her oxen to implement new conservation techniques she learned thanks to USDA's Food for Progress Program.
Standing next to her healthy oxen, Grace Opono explains how new conservation techniques have doubled her maize yield over just two seasons. She is also earning a second income by providing tilling services to neighbors with her oxen. She tells me she can now afford to pay the school fees for her children and reinvest money in her land. This story of achievement shows that USDA’s Food for Progress Program is making a difference.
On a recent trip to Uganda, I saw first-hand the difference USDA-funded projects are making in people’s lives. The Food for Progress Program, administered by USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service, helps developing countries and emerging democracies introduce and expand free enterprise in the agricultural sector. U.S. agricultural commodities donated to recipient countries are sold on the local market and the proceeds are used to support agricultural, economic or infrastructure development programs administered by government agencies and private volunteer organizations (PVOs). Read more »
Girls enjoying a healthy meal at a summer meals kick-off event.
At USDA, we value the work of the many partners who administer and support our diverse and far-reaching nutrition assistance programs. In my hometown of Chicago, an inspiring group has been meeting year-after-year to ensure that child hunger in the metropolitan area and beyond is eliminated. In this post, Illinois Hunger Coalition’s Diane Doherty explains the important work this group performs.
By Diane Doherty, Executive Director, Illinois Hunger Coalition
On a perfect summer day in June, the Illinois Hunger Coalition joined the USDA Food and Nutrition Service, Catholic Charities of Chicago, the Illinois State Board of Education and other members of the Chicago Summer Food Work Group for its annual summer meals kick-off event. The event, which is part of the work group’s efforts to raise awareness and increase participation in the summer meal programs, was held this year at Armour Square Park on Chicago’s South Side. Read more »
Stop! Don’t throw that food away! It might be safe to use, and that will save you money. According to USDA’s Economic Research Service, each American wastes more than 20 pounds of food every month. That’s about $115 billion worth of good food thrown away every year at the consumer level in the U.S. Top food group wasted by value is meat, poultry and fish.
While the USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline would never advise you to eat unsafe food, we don’t want you to throw away safe food and lose money. Read more » | <urn:uuid:466f0171-7be0-4b66-91ff-2f525bf58125> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://blogs.usda.gov/author/bweaver/page/40/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416400380233.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20141119123300-00046-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949553 | 1,056 | 3.484375 | 3 |
If you’re expecting a class to be easier just because you’re taking it online, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Online classes are no easier than classes offered in the traditional classroom setting and in some cases can be even be more difficult. There are several reasons for this.
- Online courses require more self-motivation. It can be hard for some students to stay motivated when they’d rather be doing something else. Finding ways to self-motivate and work well independently can be hard for students who don’t work well without supervision and the lack of face-to-face interaction and hands-on learning can also be tough to get used to for students who are used to working in a classroom setting.
- The workload for online and offline classes is the same. Don’t expect to do less work in an online class. These courses will require just as much reading, homework and writing as their in class counterparts– if not more to make up for the lack of face-to-face contact. Many online classes will have reading workloads, as this is the easiest way to transmit information to students in courses where online lectures are limited. However, most schools are also now incorporating multimedia content into lectures. Additional requirements to spend time chatting online and participating in discussion boards can also add onto the workload of online classes.
- Schools must maintain a standard, so the curriculum is the same for all formats. Schools, especially those who offer both in-class and online courses, must maintain a standard of educational expectations if they are to thrive. For this reason, online courses will often have the same curricular expectations and objectives as in-class courses. This ensures that students get the same high-quality education no matter which format they elect to study through. | <urn:uuid:f4226da5-a8da-46eb-bbbb-97df1785305d> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://www.bestcollegesonline.com/faqs/are-online-classes-easier-than-campus-classes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246654467.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045734-00190-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951467 | 368 | 2.640625 | 3 |
This time next year, millions of schoolkids in the U.S. will sit down for their first Common Core test. In some places, the stakes will be high — for kids, their teachers and their communities. The goal of the Core benchmarks in reading and math is to better prepare students for college, career and the global economy. But the challenges are huge.
Right now, America's schools are in a sprint. Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have adopted the Common Core State Standards. That means new learning benchmarks for the vast majority of the nation's young students — millions of kids from kindergarten through high school. And, for many of them, the Core Standards will feel tougher than what they're used to. Because they are tougher.
The New York Timeshighlighted new data yesterday that once again beats the drum: Despite skyrocketing costs, a college degree is a good investment. In fact, MIT economist David Autor writes in the journal Science that the value of a degree is rising. College grads made almost twice as much per hour in 2013 as workers without a four-year degree. And the lifetime value of a diploma is now around a half-million dollars, even after you factor in tuition.
How would a man in a suit of armor go to the bathroom? That inquiry into medieval sanitation is just one of many unlikely topics that have come up around Sarah Albee's dinner table. Albee, a children's book author, has been trying to get middle schoolers interested in history. Her strategy is to look at it through the lens of something that gets kids' attention, namely: things that are gross.
Brown v. Board of Education became the law of the land when it struck down de jure segregation in Topeka, Kan., on May 17, 1954, saying, "We conclude that, in the field of public education, the doctrine of 'separate but equal' has no place. Separate facilities are inherently unequal."
Sylvia Mendez says the only reason she wanted to go to an all-white school in California's Westminster District in the 1940s was because of its beautiful playground. The school that she and other Latino students were forced to attend didn't have monkey bars or swings.
"I was 9 years old," she says. "I just thought my parents wanted us to go to the nice-looking school."
Editor's Note: This is a story about a high school band. It is a story that demands to be heard, even more so than read. Please click on the audio player, above, to listen. Audio will be available around 6:30 p.m. EDT. | <urn:uuid:c26fe402-5d18-4948-b076-4d8d3a9bd9b9> | CC-MAIN-2015-18 | http://wrkf.org/category/education?page=8 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2015-18/segments/1429246657868.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20150417045737-00298-ip-10-235-10-82.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972531 | 544 | 2.625 | 3 |
Stephen and Anne Mullins used to ride their bikes onto the Hampshire hills above Winchester and sit on the grass by an old semi-detached farm cottage to admire the view. When the cottage came up for sale they bought it and laid plans to build one of the most energy-efficient houses in the country, an exhilarating barrel-roofed structure which costs £3 a day to run.
By day Stephen is a project director involved in building Terminal Two at Heathrow, which will cost around £3 billion. But at night he returns to his children Beth, 15, and Wills, 14, and the pleasures of the house created with his wife Anne and local architect David Gregory. It is one of a tiny number of new houses to achieve an Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) top A rating.
The Barn House draws energy from the ground using a ground-source heat pump which extracts warmth from the earth through a labyrinth of underground pipes. “We also have photovoltaic panels which use solar energy for the electricity, solar thermal for the hot water, and a heat recovery system which is constantly taking out stale air, bringing in fresh air and heating it,” says Stephen. Half the electricity is sold to the National Grid.
The house works like a mini ecosystem. Sewage goes into a bio-digester.
“In our old house we had a septic tank, and a lorry came to take away the sludge. The bio-digester bubbles air through the sewage-soup and breaks it down so the water which runs out at the end is completely clear.” There are underground tanks to collect rainwater for reuse.
“At any one time I can see how much water, electricity and solar power we have used. We have to live a bit differently to catch the photovoltaic energy during the day, so we always put the dishwasher and washing machine on before it gets dark. It is a good way to live because you control your environment.” Though the family love the house, they are selling through Knight Frank (01962 850333) at £1.2 million. “We have got the bug and want to do an underground house next,” says Stephen.
Individuals rather than developers appear to be the true prophets of green technology. Nick Price was a Sustainability Code assessor and became so interested that he built two energy-efficient houses in Winchester which attained Sustainability Code 5. The top level is Code 6, which very few reach. Then he bought a run-down artist’s studio and garden, near where he lives in Bury St Edmunds, to go one stage further.
He demolished the studio and built Evergreen House with a system of super-insulated panels and a flat roof. “I put in lots of triple glazing on the south side, made it airtight with a combined heating and ventilation system which extracts stale air and heats fresh air. It keeps the house in perfect balance, so there is no need for radiators.” They have a log burner for when it gets cold and a little underfloor electric heating in the barefoot areas but that’s all. Solar panels heat the hot water and the house makes enough electricity to pay its own bills. Bedfords (01728 454505) is selling it with an EPC top A rating at £550,000.
“There is a tipping point in house buyers’ understanding of energy use and we are reaching it,” says Nick. At a time of acute fuel-anxiety these energy-saving features can shave hundreds, or even thousands, of pounds off utility bills.
Research by Knight Frank shows that houses which have high EPC ratings sell more quickly than they did in 2010. “Though EPCs were introduced in 2007, it is only in the last year or so that buyers have started to pay attention to them,” says Rupert Sweeting, head of country residential property at Knight Frank. “We have also seen an increase in the popularity of traditional houses which are eco-aware. Those heated by wood-chip boilers, for example.”
Nick and Bridget Sweet bought their derelict former water pumping station at auction in 2009 with the aim of creating a “nil-bill” house. They didn’t know at the time that it would lead to television appearances — on Restoration Home with Caroline Quentin, and You Live In What? in the United States.
Nick travels the world as a partner of Barton Willmore, planning and design experts, extolling the virtues of new eco cities. “I do so much preaching that I really want to live the life too. I wanted to do a showcase project,” he says.
Nutbourne Studio, near Pulborough in West Sussex, is now self-sufficient in electricity for cooking, heating, lighting and hot water. “Firstly, look at all the ways to save energy because you have to make sure you don’t lose it before you start generating it,” he says. The first step was to add “half an acre” of insulation to the outside of the building. An array of solar panels qualified them for feed-in-tariff. In March, the house qualifies for the Renewable Heat Incentive and there is a 20-year contract with Southern Electric which generates £3,500 a year.
The Sweets were able to drop the pipes for the ground-source heat pump into boreholes which already existed deep inside the pumping station. “It was perfect,” says Nick. They installed a wood-burning stove, individual thermostatic controls in each room and an instant hot-water loop system.
The basement is a huge open area where the twins Willem and Francesca, aged nine, and their shaggy Bouvier dog can mess about. A huge sunken water reservoir lies next door, on which they have got planning permission for an annexe or studio. But as the children’s school takes too long to drive to each day they are selling through Strutt & Parker (01403 246790) with an EPC top A rating at £1.5 million in order to embark on another project.
The Energy Performance Certificate: every property for sale or rent must have one. It shows, on a scale of A to G, how much energy is used.
The Sustainability Code: complements the EPCs and is a way of assessing the environmental and energy performance of new homes on a scale of 1 to 6.
06 February 2014 The Telegraph | <urn:uuid:143758eb-da3a-494d-b0e1-fd6882f1568a> | CC-MAIN-2019-13 | https://www.atlanticrenewables.co.uk/news-blog/203-nil-bill-home.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-13/segments/1552912202635.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20190322054710-20190322080710-00117.warc.gz | en | 0.96113 | 1,373 | 2.53125 | 3 |
I am taking an online e-course on how to teach art to kids with Patty Palmer at Deep Space Sparkle. Last year I took her amazing course Teaching Art 101 and this year I am taking the next course Beyond the Basics. Patty's blog, her instruction, her ideas....it's all amazing. I highly recommend taking a course from her or purchasing one of her many lesson plans. Our homework for the first week of her Beyond the Basics course is to create and post a lesson based on one of the lessons she taught us in her first week of class. So here it is...
Smith Rock Inspired Mixed Media
MATERIALS NEEDED9x12 watercolor paper, 90lb
Skinny Black Permanent Marker
Watercolor Pan Set
Bigger wash brush
Smaller detail brush
AGE GROUP & GOALS4th-8th Grade
Landscape contour drawing and various watercolor/mixed media techniques
ART WORDS USEDLine, contour, geometric, organic, shape, realistic, abstract, texture, contrast, color, warm colors, cool colors, earth tones, gradient, value, hue, movement, rhythm, horizon, landscape, foreground, middle ground, background, perspective
We are focusing on a famous, local landmark that truly defines our natural beauty here in Central Oregon. Smith Rock is famous for rock climbing and the beautiful cliffs made of tuff and basalt rock seem to just pop out of the nearby farming and ranching fields. The Crooked River trails through the canyon walls and makes for a beautiful and unique state park. Above are several photographs that I recently took to share the interesting shapes and colors with the students.
First have the students make a contour line drawing of the canyon with a river bed, focusing on the geometric and organic shapes of the canyon walls. We also talk a bit about landscapes and perspective and how to create areas of foreground and middle ground and background. This design has nice simple shapes that the students could easily manipulate for first experiments with landscape perspective yet not so distinct of shapes that the proportions stressed out the students. Make sure to encourage the students to LIGHTLY sketch and be sure to check on them. I usually give a time limit on pencil usage and let the students know when it is time to put pencils away. Next, with a permanent marker go over your sketch lines to outline. With the skinny permanent markers the students can still achieve a "sketchy" quality to their lines and they do not turn out as heavy as with the regular tip.
Talk to the students about adding in more details as they go, possibly vegetation, rock striations in the cliffs.
I even throw in the term, "slightly abstract", when I am talking about the sketchy lines I make so that the students don't freeze up over trying to make their drawing too realistic.
Here I even show the students how I changed my mind while using the permanent marker - I decided the plateau tops of my cliffs, while very typical of the area, are not typical of the formations around Smith Rock. So I made the tops more jagged and peaked - but it will be okay. I notice that when I make mistakes in class and then show the students how I fix them or incorporate them into my artwork, that they are much more able to attempt that same skill on their own.
Now we'll talk about color. Obviously our high desert environment is rich in earth tones - browns and yellows and sage greens. But we also have beautiful clear water and brilliantly blue skies. So I have the kids start first with picking crayons that will create realistic color values. And we are going to go with warm colors for the canyon walls and cool colors for the sky. The fun part is that I had a few metallic crayons in gold and brown mixed in and the look is very subtle but you can see some of them on the drawing. As I want the art to maintain it's lightly abstract qualities, I encourage the kids to trace over or next to their black lines with the crayon and think about the crayon lines creating texture and movement in the artwork.
Rather than coloring in, the crayon accents the black pen lines.
Next we will move on to the watercolor. We will do the river first. I wanted to make sure not to get my brush too terribly wet so my river did not expand past it's banks as I did not create a wax border for it. But I am using the bigger wash brush to get a nice even coverage of color. The wax in the crayon is creating a resist effect and helps simulate the movement of the river. And while it is wet we will throw on a bit of salt - one of my absolute favorite watercolor techniques that never fails to amaze students!
We will let that dry for a bit while we move on to the sky. We are going to try a wet on wet technique to get the colors of the sky to blend together more seamlessly. Make sure to tell the kids to really clean their brush so that when they wet the areas of their sky only - that it doesn't have color bleeding onto it.
We decided to make this a picture of Smith Rock in the morning, with the sky still a deep blue within the canyon walls and the horizon lightening and turning the horizon a pinkish hue. Point out to the students the difference of how the paint moves on the wet paper versus the dry paper of the river. Show them how easy it is to blend the colors together on wet paper without muddying them up.
Next paint the canyon walls with a wash of yellow. Then using wet on wet technique again (but this time with a color wash as the base) add in some orange and red and brown to mimic the canyon wall striations of different rocks. You can use your crayon lines as guidelines or as contrast.
Now if your river is about dry you can shake off the salt. However, be sure to carefully shake it off the bottom of the paper. Or you can again, be like me, and create a little boo-boo and let some of the salt get onto the sky. Thankfully one of my "students" (this time my six year old daughter) said it looked just fine, "like the stars that are sometimes still out in the morning". There 'ya go. Art is all about interpretation, folks! Finally paint the foreground and vegetation areas. Students choice whether they want to do a wet on wet technique or just paint away. And then their Smith Rock inspired masterpiece is ready for wowing the parents and hanging up in the living room! | <urn:uuid:b456d223-3ee4-4bae-a431-c4675ae12078> | CC-MAIN-2016-07 | http://www.eclecticchica.blogspot.com/2013/06/smith-rock-inspired-mixed-media-lesson.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-07/segments/1454701153736.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160205193913-00342-ip-10-236-182-209.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952127 | 1,355 | 2.734375 | 3 |
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Sulfur and your healthThe "beauty mineral", sulfur (S), is necessary for healthy skin, hair and nails. But its role in your body is much more significant than making your appearance more lustrous. It is also an important element of body detoxification: as a part of detox enzymes and sulfur-containing amino acids cysteine and methionine, it binds to toxic heavy metal contaminants - especially aluminum - making it much easier for your body to place them out of your system.
At the same time, sulfur can exert toxicity in chemically sensitive, when it can be difficult to struck a balance between the need for it, and the danger it presents. Inorganic (not carbon-bonded) sulfur compounds, such as those found in fossil fuels and their emissions, pesticides, industrial compounds, food additives and drugs, can aggravate allergies, chemical sensitivities, symptoms of diabetes, impair immune system's antibody response and, possibly, even alter the DNA/RNA function.
Sulfur also helps regeneration of your joint cartilage, both by helping it rebuild and by suppressing copper, whose high levels promote joint degeneration. Among a number of other positive effects of sulfur are reduced allergic reactions and parasitic infections.
Sulfur is component of insulin, thus necessary for proper metabolism of carbohydrates. Thus low sulfur levels can aggravate symptoms of diabetes.
That, however, doesn't mean we should have as much of sulfur as we can stuff in. As with any other nutrient, excess causes imbalances adversely affecting body function. Absorption efficiency is inversely proportional to the intake level. Not seldom, excessive intake makes that nutrient availability to the body so low, as to result in similar adverse health effects as deficiency.
Some serious chronic diseases - like Crohn's and Lou-Gehrig - are further aggravated by sulfur intake, which for that reason should be carefully controlled in such circumstance. On the other hand, extra sulfur intake helps with Alzheimer's, as well as chronic diseases caused by heavy metals toxicity.
There is no official DRI (Dietary Reference Intakes, the most recent set of dietary recommendations set by the government) for sulfur. Suggested adequate level for an average healthy adult is 1g (1000mg) a day, with short-term therapeutic doses of up to 5g.
Best natural sulfur food sources: fruits and vegetables are relatively low in sulfur, while beans, nuts, seeds, dairy, fish and meat are generally good sources. Plant sulfur levels can vary significantly with its soil content. R | <urn:uuid:a63d79a4-354e-4501-9d3a-c8122d31a4f8> | CC-MAIN-2014-23 | http://www.healthknot.com/sulfur.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-23/segments/1406510274289.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20140728011754-00178-ip-10-146-231-18.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945006 | 523 | 3.125 | 3 |
Mary Kay Carson’s new book The Bat Scientists with photographs by her husband, Tom Uhlman, is a stand out in the wonderful Scientists in the Field series. Even if you are only mildly interested in bats or find bats off putting, this is a fascinating book.
Carson follows bat scientist Merlin Tuttle into a cave in Texas to find out what studying bats in like. Immediately we learn that this field is not for the squeamish. Wading through bat guano teeming with insects, while breathing through a respirator in a smelly cave at temperatures of 100° F isn’t for everyone. Thank goodness that Dr. Tuttle and his colleagues (and Mary Carson) are willing to do it, because it turns out that bats are pretty important in the scheme of things. By learning more about them, hopefully we can protect these fragile and misunderstood little creatures before it is too late. Carson discusses some of the disturbing recent threats to bats at the end of the book.
Our family became intrigued by bats years ago through two great fiction picture books: Stellaluna by Janell Cannon and wonderful The Bat in the Boot by Annie Cannon. This great nonfiction middle grade book is keeping that curiosity alive and well, as we learn the current bat facts and research techniques. As my son says,”The Bat Scientists is a really good book!”
This book was nominated for a Cybils in middle grade nonfiction.
For more information and reviews, see Mary Carson’s The Bat Scientists page.
For bat science activities, see Growing With Science.
Reading level: Ages 9-12
Hardcover: 80 pages
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children (September 6, 2010)
Related Nonfiction Reader:
Fiction Picture Books About Bats:
Stellaluna by Janell Cannon
The Bat in the Boot by Annie Cannon
Nonfiction Monday is a blogging celebration of nonfiction books for kids. We invite you to join us. For more information and a schedule, stop by Anastasia Suen’s Nonfiction Monday page. This week’s post is at Books Together. | <urn:uuid:7927cfad-4061-44eb-9ce4-483ad1f36cc1> | CC-MAIN-2023-40 | https://blog.wrappedinfoil.com/2010/12/the-bat-scientists/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2023-40/segments/1695233510676.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20230930113949-20230930143949-00630.warc.gz | en | 0.91692 | 473 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Small dabbling duck (Anas strepera) that is a popular game bird, found throughout the upper Northern Hemisphere. Its largest breeding populations in North America are in the Dakotas and in Canada's prairie provinces. The gadwall is brownish gray with white patches, visible only during flight, on the rear of the wings. Its preferred diet is stems and leaves of aquatic plants, supplemented by seeds and algae. Gadwalls often live in shallow freshwater ponds and marshes, often in mixed flocks with wigeons. Unlike wigeons, they rarely feed on land.
Learn more about gadwall with a free trial on Britannica.com.
The Gadwall is 46-56 cm long with a 78-90 cm wingspan. The breeding male is a beautifully patterned grey, with a black rear end and a brilliant white speculum, obvious in flight or at rest. In non-breeding (eclipse) plumage, the drake looks more like the female.
In Great Britain the Gadwall is a scarce breeding bird and winter visitor, though it has increased in recent years. It is likely that its expansion was partly through introduction, mainly to England, and partly colonisation Great Britain, with continental birds staying to breed in Scotland.
The Gadwall is a bird of open wetlands, such as prairie or steppe lakes, wet grassland or marshes with dense fringing vegetation, and usually feeds by dabbling for plant food with head submerged. It nests on the ground, often some distance from water. It is not as gregarious as some dabbling ducks outside the breeding season and tends to form only small flocks. This is a fairly quiet species; the male has a hoarse whistling call, and the female has a Mallard-like quack. The young birds are fed insects at first; adults also eat some mollusks and insects during the nesting season. The Gadwall is one of the species to which the Agreement on the Conservation of African-Eurasian Migratory Waterbirds (AEWA) applies. | <urn:uuid:043aa9be-9d9c-4e9c-aa1c-236ba2d1dd0f> | CC-MAIN-2014-49 | http://www.reference.com/browse/gadwall | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2014-49/segments/1416931011032.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20141125155651-00044-ip-10-235-23-156.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962526 | 427 | 3.40625 | 3 |
William Thomson (1824-1907), later known as Lord Kelvin, was a consummate
exponent of 19th-century physical sciences. Trained at Cambridge University,
this precocious mathematician taught for more than 60 years at the University
of Glasgow. His genius and that of his contemporaries laid the basis for fundamentals
of thermodynamics and electromagnetism.
Thomson proposed an absolute temperature scale and collaborated on establishing
electromagnetic metrics. He was instrumental in improving submarine cable
telegraphic transmission and transoceanic navigational systems. In 1892 he
became the first British scientist—nay, natural philosopher—to
receive a peerage from Queen Victoria. He interacted with many scientific
luminaries of that period, including Charles Darwin and Thomas Huxley. He
socialized with Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Carnegie, George Eastman, Alexander
Graham Bell, and George Westinghouse. He accumulated honors, medals, and titles
through science and wealth through discoveries, patents, and consultations.
This pallid school curriculum biography acquires life, luster, and energy
in David Lindley's Degrees Kelvin. Lindley, an astrophysicist
and science writer, has choreographed a very readable story of an amiable
prodigy with inexplicable failings.
Satya-Murti S. Kelvin. JAMA. 2004;292(12):1494–1495. doi:10.1001/jama.292.12.1494
Customize your JAMA Network experience by selecting one or more topics from the list below. | <urn:uuid:345451b3-67d0-41ba-8494-6da4536766fd> | CC-MAIN-2018-30 | https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/199453 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-30/segments/1531676589757.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20180717164437-20180717184437-00029.warc.gz | en | 0.884739 | 329 | 3.375 | 3 |
Thomas Truxtun (or Truxton) (February 17, 1755 – May 5, 1822) was an American naval officer after the Revolutionary War, when he served as a privateer, who rose to the rank of commodore in the late eighteenth century and later served in the Quasi War with France and the First Barbary War in North Africa. He was one of the first six commanders appointed to the new US Navy by President Washington. During his naval career he commanded a number of famous US naval ships including USS Constellation and USS President. Later in civilian life he became involved with politics and was also elected Sheriff.
Early life and education
Born near Hempstead, New York on Long Island, Truxtun was the only son of an English country lawyer. He lost his father at a young age and was taken to Jamaica on Long Island with relatives and placed under the care of a close friend, John Troup. Having little chance for a formal education he joined the crew of the British merchant ship Pitt at an early age of 12. Truxtun went against his father's previous wishes for him to pursue a career in politics and at the age of twelve he left his home in Jamaica and joined the merchant Marine.[Clarification needed]
Because of his skills, by the time he was twenty, Truxtun had garnered command of his own vessel, Andrew Caldwell. Before the Revolution he was impressed into the Royal Navy and was offered a midshipman's warrant which he turned down.
He operated as a privateer during the American Revolutionary War, commanding several ships: Congress, Independence, Mars, and St. James. Truxtun was highly successful in capturing enemy ships during this period, not once suffering a defeat.[Clarification needed]
After the war he returned to the merchant marine, where he remained for 12 years. In 1786 he commanded Canton, operating from Philadelphia, one of the first American ships to engage in trade with China.
In 1794 and the war with France looming, Truxtun was one of the first six captains appointed by President Washington in the newly formed US Navy. During the Quasi-War with France Truxtun commanded USS Constellation. For his first assignment he had previously[when?] overseen her construction in Baltimore, Maryland with Silas Talbot. After a rank dispute with captains Dale and Talbot, Truxtun was placed in charge of the ship by President Washington. He commanded her with considerable success.
Constellation engages L'Insurgente
Because of constant French privateering attacks against American vessels, an American squadron commanded by Truxtun was sent to the West Indies to patrol the waters between Puerto Rico and Saint Kitts with orders to engage any French forces they found in the area. Also on board was the young and later famous John Rodgers, acting 1st Lieutenant. On 9 February 1799, while sailing independently of his squadron in his flagship Constellation, Truxtun encountered and engaged the French frigate L'Insurgente, a larger and more heavily armed vessel commanded by Captaine Barreau. After chasing the French ship through a storm, Constellation was able to force L'Insurgente into an engagement that lasted an hour and fourteen minutes. Barreau did not strike his colors until his ship was almost a complete wreck. French loses were 29 killed and 44 wounded, while Truxton's crew only suffered one killed and two wounded, It was the first battle engagement since the Revolutionary War that an American ship had enountered and enemy ship.
Constellation engages Vengeance
On 31 January 1800, Constellation engaged HMS Vengeance, a larger vessel with a broadside of 559 pounds (254 kg) compared to Constellation's 372 pounds (169 kg). [note 1] Constellation had sailed under Truxtun from Saint Kitts on 30 January, and came across Vengeance the following day. Vengeance was bound for France under Capitaine de Vaisseau François Pitot, carrying passengers and specie, and initially attempted to outrun Constellation. During the battle Constellation was partially dismasted and was forced to make her way to Jamaica. Thirty six hours after the engagement with L'Vengeance while passing the eastern end of Puerto Rico Enterprise, commanded by Lieutenant Commander Shaw, arrived and fell in with Truxtun. After a short fall in[Clarification needed] Truxtun sent Enterprise to Philadelphia with important dispatches.[Clarification needed]
Command of USS President
USS President was launched on 10 April 1800 and, at the time, was considered[by whom?] America's fastest sailing ship. She was the last of the original six frigates to do so.[Clarification needed] After the vessel was fitted out for sea duty, she set sail for Guadeloupe on 5 August with Captain Truxtun in command, relieving Stephen Decatur. She conducted routine patrols during the latter part of the Quasi-War and recaptured several American merchant ships, however her overall service in this period was uneventful. She returned to the United States in March after a peace treaty with France was ratified on 3 February 1801.
His victories, perhaps most notably that over the L'Insurgente, made Truxtun a hero of the time. Consequently, when Truxtun arrived home he was awarded a Congressional Gold Medal on 2 February 1800, becoming the eighth recipient of that body's "highest expression of national appreciation for distinguished achievements and contributions."
During this period, Truxtun was involved in a dispute over rank with Richard Dale.[Clarification needed] Truxtun took command of President for a few months in 1800, soon after retiring from the Navy and locating first in Perth Amboy, New Jersey and later in Philadelphia. He was offered command during the First Barbary War in 1801 but refused, settling firmly into retirement.
Truxtun had a thorough understanding of the art of celestial navigation and was one among few men of his day who possessed such intimate knowledge of this navigational art. He also designed the original Navy signal manual and wrote the predecessor to the Navy Regulations in use today.
Later civilian life
Truxtun ran an unsuccessful campaign for the United States House of Representatives in 1810. In 1816 he was elected sheriff of Philadelphia County, serving until 1819. He also published several books, well-known at the time, covering navigation and naval tactics.[Clarification needed]
Truxtun died in Philadelphia on 5 May 1822 and is buried at Christ Church Burial Ground.
Legacy and honors
- Several Navy ships have been named in Truxtun's honor.
- The town of Truxton, New York was named for him.
- Washington, D.C. once had a traffic circle, Truxton Circle, named after him. After it was demolished, the nearby neighborhood retains his name.
- Truxtun Park in the City of Annapolis, Maryland is named in his honor.
- Truxtun, in Portsmouth, Virginia, one of the first federally-funded planned communities in America was named for him. It was built shortly after World War I for African-American workers at Norfolk Naval Shipyard.
- List of sea captains
- List of ships captured in the 19th century
- Bibliography of early American naval history
- The French naval historian Onésime-Joachim Troude reports Vengeance's armament as twenty-six 18 pounders (8.2 kg), ten 6 pounders (2.7 kg), and four 36-pounder (16 kg) carronades, a 336-pound (152 kg) broadside, compared to Constellation's twenty-eight 18 pounders (8.2 kg), ten 12 pounders (5.4 kg), and one 32-pounder (15 kg) carronade, a 472-pound (214 kg) broadside.[Clarification needed]
- Toll, 2006 p.120
- McBride, 1815 p.27
- McBride, 1815 pp.26-27
- Toll, 2006 pp.120-121
- Seawell, 1898 p.43
- Frost, 1845 p.177
- Toll, 2006 pp.156-159
- McBride, 1815 p.30
- Guttridge, 2005 pp.32-33
- McBride, 1815 p.31
- Toll, 2006 pp.115-117
- Harrison, 1858 p.157
- Toll, 2006 p.135
- Batailles navales de la France 1857
- Cooper, 1846 p.129
- Toll, 2006 p.15
- Allen, 1909 pp.217-221
- Loubat, 1881 p.129
- Seawell, 1898 p.51
- "Congressional Gold Medal Recipients". Office of the Clerk. US House of Representatives. http://clerk.house.gov/art_history/house_history/goldMedal.html. Retrieved 2010-09-21.
- Hattendorf, 2011 p.127
- Allen, Gardner Weld (1909). Our naval war with France. Boston, New York and Chicago. http://books.google.com/books?id=-RkOAAAAIAAJ&pg=PP15.
- Canney, Donald L (2001
Chatham Publishing / Naval Institute Press). Sailing warships of the US Navy. ISBN 1-55750-990-5. Url
- [[James Fenimore Cooper
Carey and Hart |Cooper, James Fenimore]] (1846). Lives of Distinguished American Naval Officers. 1. Philadelphia. OCLC 620356. Url
- Frost, John (1845). The pictorial book of the commodores: comprising lives of distinguished commanders in the navy of the United States. New York. ISBN 1-55750-839-9. Url
- Guttridge, Leonard F (2006). Our Country, Right Or Wrong: The Life of Stephen Decatur. New York, NY. ISBN 978-0-7653-0702-6. Url
- [[John Hattendorf
Naval War College Press |Hattendorf, John B]] (2011). "The Formation and Roles of the Continental Navy, 1775-1785". Talking About Naval History: A Collection of Essays. Newport. ISBN 9781884733741. Url
- Harrison, Henry William (1858). Battlefields and naval exploits of the United States: .... pp. 448. Url
- [[Joseph Florimond Loubat
Author/Loubat, New York |Loubat, Joseph Florimond]] (1881). The medallic history of the United States of America, 1776-1876. 1. Url
- McBride, James (1815). Naval biography consisting of memoirs of the most distinguished officers of the American navy; to which is annexed the life of General Pike. Url
- [[Theodore Roosevelt
G.P. Putnam's sons |Roosevelt, Theodore]] (1883). The naval war of 1812. New York. Url
- Seawell, Molly Elliot (1898). Twelve naval captains: being a record of certain Americans who made themselves immortal. London. Url
- Toll, Ian W (2006
W. W. Norton & Company). Six frigates: the epic history of the founding of the U.S. Navy. New York. ISBN 978-0-393-05847-5.
- Ferguson, Eugene S (1956). Truxtun of the Constellation:
The Life of Commodore Thomas Truxtun, U.S. Navy, 1755-1822. ISBN 0801865972. – Dated, but still the best biography of Truxtun in print.
- Fowler, William M. (1900), Silas Talbot: Captain of Old Ironsides
Mystic Seaport Museum, pp. 231, ISBN = 9780913372739, Url
- Grant, Bruce (1930). Captain of the Constellation: Commodore Thomas Truxtun. New York.
- Statham, Edward Phillips (1910) Privateers and privateering. With eight illustrations
Hutchinson & co / James Pott & Co., New York, pp. 382, ISBN = xxx, Url
- Truxtun, Thomas (1809). Biographical Memoirs of Thomas Truxtun, ESQ. from the Port Folio. Bradford & Inskeep.
- Tuckerman, Henry, (2009), The Life of Silas Talbot
Applewood Books, Bedford, Mass., pp. 148, ISBN = 9781429021593, Url
- Excerpt from Truxtun's signal book
- Eugene S. Ferguson, Truxtun of the Constellation (322pp, 1956)
- Thomas Truxtun at Find a Grave
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:6bedc93e-61c0-452b-9193-2d09081810a4> | CC-MAIN-2022-05 | https://military-history.fandom.com/wiki/Thomas_Truxtun | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2022-05/segments/1642320303864.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20220122134127-20220122164127-00077.warc.gz | en | 0.932921 | 2,767 | 2.546875 | 3 |
More Information on Government Research
Where the government expects a lot from research it’s very crucial that the government take a critical step in improving research within the country. Therefore the government should make sure that the individual inquiries can have access to the government researchers, and also government laboratory and research equipment’s since most of them are due to date. The government should also create international cooperation between the researchers from inside the country and outside the nation. Its, therefore, the responsibility of the government to make sure that it provides enough funds to meet the various demands for the research projects.
Getting effective government research process is possible through government funding institutions. Indirect funding takes place when the government decides to fund the various departments which are involved in carrying out research where funds will are shared with various research institutions. Apart from funding the various research institutions the government should also build various researchers Centre with modern equipment’s which allows the various researchers to carry out intensive research. When it comes to promoting research the government can offer tax incentives stop the various expenses and salaries offered to the researchers. Administration’s analysis is vital since it helps in appreciating the new inventors. It is the role of the government to note this service involves attaching a monetary prize to the various researchers who to come up with new ideas by way of motivating them.
When it comes to government research it usually provides a high return on investments since it typically does offer the various platforms which allow the research to be carried out. During government research, there is normally hiring of various professional researchers that have experience and knowledge since they deliver reliable research. Therefore, government researchers turn out to be every key source of income to very many people. Where the government carries out research it likely that the various technologies developed usually do help in various fields such as enhancing national security. Since government research is unusual projects carried out with the aim of improving the life of peoples, such researchers would be based on issues such as health matters.
With such an excellent research environment it says that the coming generations will have good basic knowledge of research and hence the chances of better results. Where the government invests on research, it says that the various findings will be of great importance to the members of the given country and this would help the nation to compete with other countries in the field of research effectively. With the right findings from the research projects, it means issues are being addressed. | <urn:uuid:2f0c81d8-baaf-4119-b680-d0d6832d5518> | CC-MAIN-2019-18 | http://scandal24h.info/?p=135 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2019-18/segments/1555578517639.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20190418121317-20190418143317-00175.warc.gz | en | 0.966821 | 482 | 2.546875 | 3 |
The central question evolutionary science has yet to answer is by what natural processes is novel information introduced into the biological world. Until this question is answered, evolution will remain an organized system of unproven speculations and “just so” stories. There are two main events in the evolutionary tale that need this type of explanation: the origin of life and the mechanism for macroevolution.
The origin of life is an especially difficult problem for materialists. Some of the remaining mysteries include the origin of ribose, the origin of nucleotides, the origin of amino acids, the origin of optically pure monomers, the polymerization of monomers, the ordering of monomers into biochemically meaningful arrangements, and so on.1,2,3 Life today is based on the information-carrying molecules DNA and RNA, the catalytic action of enzymes, and structural proteins. Life is self-perpetuating. The simplest cells known have biochemical machinery that can store and retrieve information encoded in DNA, transcribe the information into RNA, and then translate the RNA into a sequence of amino acids to make enzymes and other proteins as shown in the diagram in Figure 1.
DNA is transcribed into messenger RNA with the assistance of an enzyme called RNA polymerase inside the cell nucleus. The messenger RNA is transported to the ribosome, a protein factory outside the nucleus. The RNA strand is there translated into a sequence of amino acids to form a protein. Some proteins are enzymes, such as RNA polymerase. An origin of life scenario needs to explain the origin of this information processing system.
One theory that has been advanced is called the “RNA World” hypothesis. This theory envisions early life in which RNA played a dual role of information carrier and chemical catalyst. This would reduce the problem of the origin of life to the origin of RNA that is able to replicate itself. Indeed, there are RNA molecules that are known to catalyze chemical reactions. Earlier this year, scientists lead by Gerald F. Joyce at the Scripps Research Institute reported the creation of RNA molecules that can self-replicate. 4,5
The system consisted of two RNA enzymes each of which consisted of two joined substrates. Hence there was enzyme E formed from the combination of substrates A and B, and enzyme E’ formed from the combination of substrates A’ and B’. Enzyme E catalyzed the joining of substrates A’ and B’ to form enzyme E’; enzyme E’ catalyzed the joining of substrates A and B to form enzyme E. In this way, when all four substrates were available, enzymes E and E’ could perpetually manufacture each other.
Variants of A, B, A’, and B’ were used to do competition experiments to generate more efficient enzymes.
The creation of this self-replicating RNA enzymatic system was ingenious. However, it does little to solve the riddle of a natural origin of life. Note that the monomers and enzymes were artificial, read “designed”. The self-replication process continued as long as more substrate was provided, but the substrates themselves had to be created independent of the system. What these researchers have demonstrated is that it took highly trained scientists years of research to bring this system into existence. There is no evidence this system could occur naturally or that the system could ever evolve into something new such as the present DNA/RNA/ribosome/ protein enzyme paradigm of biology. It took intelligence to make this system, something beyond mere chemistry and physics. These researchers plan to explore the “evolution” of their system to see if new functionality will develop. If any new functionality does emerge, its cause will be likely traced back to the scientists themselves.
In 2008 a team headed by Harvard professor Anthony Herrel reported results from a 36-year experiment with lizards that allegedly showed rapid evolution in action. 6,7 In 1971, five pairs of lizards (five males and five females) were moved from one tiny Croatian island to another where there was initially none of the transplanted species. However, there was another species of lizard already on the island. After 36 years, researchers visited the second island to see how the transplanted lizards were faring. The indigenous lizard species on the second island was now extinct. Moreover, the transplanted species was not present in its original variety; instead, a new phenotype was found. The original lizards from the first island preferred insects, ate small amounts of plant matter, were territorial, and had a relatively low population density. The new phenotype on the second island ate much plant matter, was less territorial, and had a relatively high population density. The gut of the new lizards was differ- ent from that of the original group. The gut was now longer and had cecal valves which slow the movement of food through the digestive tract facilitating the digestion of plants. Nematodes, roundworms that aid in the fermentation of plants, were found in the hind gut. The nucleotide sequences of the mitochondrial DNA in the original and modified species were identical showing the lizards were related by descent. Some scientists have concluded that the original lizards had evolved new structures, especially the cecal valves, by the random mutation-natural selection mechanism in only 30 generations.
Many examples of rapid phenotype change are now known, so much so that evolutionists acknowledge rapid change is common. This is ironic in that for many years evolutionists thought change was a very slow process, taking place on geological timescales. Young earth creationists, on the other hand, have always said variation within kinds could be rapid. Indeed, rapid speciation is the only explanation for how the limited number of anmals on the Ark could have provided the rich diversity of life on earth in just a few thousand years.8
An important question is whether the mutation-selection mechanism is up to the task of creating the complex specified information required for the building of new adaptive structures in only a few generations. In other words, can a random mutation process write the required code in the DNA that will create the new structures in a short time? Michael Behe, author of Darwin’s Black Box and a professor of biochemistry at Lehigh University, has reported findings in his recent book The Edge of Evolution that have direct bearing on this question.9 Behe studied malaria (a eukaryote) and its adaptation to antibiotics. There have been 1 billion people infected with malaria in the last 50 years. An infected individual may have a trillion parasites. Hence there have been 1021 malaria parasites worldwide in the last 50 years. Resistance to the antibiotic chloroquine has appeared about ten times over this interval. Hence, the chance or developing chloroquine resistance is 1 out of 1020. Note this is a result derived from observation and not a theoretical model. Resistance to chloroquine involves two key mutations that must both be in place to impart resistance. Behe refers to the probability of developing chloroquine resistance in malaria (getting a specific double mutation) a Chloroquine Complexity Cluster or CCC. There have been about 5000 species of mammals. Assume there are one million of each mammal species at any given time, a generation span of one year, and that has gone on for 200 million years. In that case there would have been 1018 mammals that ever lived. The chance of a single CCC mutation occurring in all those organisms would be only one in 100. Yet Darwinian evolution is supposed to account for bats, whales, humans, elephants, etc. without any mutations the complexity of a CCC. Most mutations are either harmful or neutral. This analysis reveals the impotence of the mutation-selection mechanism to generate the complex genetic novelty required for macroevolution. Unlikely mutations can only occur in gigantic populations.
The rapid speciation of the lizards on the second island is consistent with recessive genetic information that was expressed as needed, built-in by design, and not generated by accident (mutation-selection). The number of mutations required to develop new structures would surely be out of reach of the mutation-selection mechanism in only 30 generations with a relatively small population. While rare, the cecal valves observed in the transplanted lizards are also observed in other lizards of the same order (squamates) suggesting the information was already present in the original lizards. It would be interesting to take the transplanted lizards and put them into a vegetation- poor/insect-rich environment to see if they would rapidly “evolve” back into the original species. Such reversible evolution has been observed in the case of “Darwin’s finches” where the size and length of beaks vary with the climate.10
There are other examples of apparent rapid speciation. Take guppies for example. In South America there are two well known species of guppies that differ in their gestational behavior. There are two strains that are adapted to two different predators. The first strain matures late and has relatively fewer offspring. 11 Its predator eats young guppies. The second strain matures early and has many offspring. Its predator prefers mature adult guppies. The second strain was moved to a habitat where the predator liked young guppies. There was none of the first strain present. After two years, the entire guppy population matured late and had fewer offspring. This rate of change was too fast for evolution; the predator induced the changes, but the information must have been already there.
The potential for rapid speciation is implied by the biblical record. The original created kinds and the animal pairs on the Ark no doubt contained all the genetic potential to rapidly speciate into the diversity we see today as they adapted to the various environments on the earth.
Fry I (2000) The Emergence of Life on Earth, Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, NJ
- 2. Fazale R, Ross H (2004) Origins of Life, Biblical and Evolutionary Models Face Off, Navpress, Colorado Springs, CO
- 3. Thaxton CB, Bradley WL, Olson RL (1984) The Mystery of Life’s Origin: Reassessing Current Theories, Philosophical Library, New York, NY
- 4. Lincoln TA , Joyce GF (2009) Self-sustained replication of an RNA enzyme, Science 323: 1229-1232
- 5. Zelkowitz R (2009) RNA Begets RNA <http://blogs.sciencemag.org/origins/2009/01/rna-begets-rna.html> Accessed 2009 May 10
- 6. Herrel A, Huyghe K, Vanhooydonck B, Backeljau T, Breugelmans K, Grbac I, Van Damme R, Irschick DJ (2008) Rapid large-scale evolutionary divergence in morphology and performance associated with exploitation of a different dietary resource Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105 (12): 4792–4795.
- 7. Italian Wall Lizard <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Italian_Wall_Lizard> Accessed 2009 May 10
- 8. Lightner J (2008 June 4) Life: Designed by God to Adapt <http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/aid/v3/n1/life-designed-to-adapt> Accessed 2009 May 10
- 9. Behe, MJ (2007) The Edge of Evolution, Free Press, New York, NY
- 10. Wells J (2000) Icons of Evolution, Regnery Publishing, New York, NY
- 11. Spetner LM (1998) Not By Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution, Judaica Press, Brooklyn, NY | <urn:uuid:70c19161-3b5e-4ab2-8120-65256206ce81> | CC-MAIN-2018-17 | http://tasc-creationscience.org/content/has-science-found-how-life-began-and-species-evolved-examination-rna-world-hypothesis-and?mini=2017-09 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2018-17/segments/1524125945648.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20180422193501-20180422213501-00281.warc.gz | en | 0.953002 | 2,443 | 3.578125 | 4 |
If a child opens one door of opportunity, other opportunities that otherwise might not have existed will follow. This phenomenon is called “cumulative educational advantage.” It is about never holding a child back in his area of aptitude and interest. It means carefully planning special, supplemental educational experiences, starting early in school and continuing into college, graduate school, and professional life. It means studying deeply and broadly. Early experiences can include summer programs through private institutions and on college campuses; mentorships, apprenticeships, and internships; local, state, national, and international competitions; travel and study at special learning sites within our own country and abroad; distance learning and traditional correspondence courses; dual enrollment between two levels of school, such as high school and college, or early entrance to any level of schooling; and many more possibilities.
Such opportunities should never be viewed as “frosting on the educational cake,” according to the late Julian Stanley, renowned expert on educational acceleration. “Rather,” he writes, “they can be the most important ingredient… things that give you cumulative educational advantage are likely to be the best investments in your education your parents could possibly make” (1994, p. 4).
Harriet Zuckerman (1977) introduced the idea of educational advantage in her study of Nobel laureates in science. Scientists who studied at topnotch institutions and with past laureates had increased potential for becoming leaders in their field and even laureates themselves. She states (p.59-60), “Advantage in science, as in other occupational spheres, accumulates when certain individuals or groups repeatedly receive resources and rewards that enrich the recipients at an accelerated rate and conversely impoverish (relatively) the non recipients.”
Cumulative educational advantage is not about pushing, it is not as simple as graduating early, and it does not always involve being number one. It is about being in the right place at the right time, and usually it does not happen by coincidence. It happens when students are introduced purposefully to concepts, programs, activities, career possibilities, and people, who in turn introduce them to more and more possibilities until the right one clicks. It happens when their learning activities are accelerated in comparison with those of other students of equal ability and motivation. The effects may be multiplicative, because any one opportunity may open the doors to multiple other opportunities.
I just received a note from the mom of a past student of WCATY’s accelerated programs. He had lived and studied for three intensive weeks with the architects of the Frank Lloyd Wright School of Architecture as a high school junior . Here’s how cumulative educational advantage worked for this young man when his parents opened a summer door of opportunity:
“At the end of May, he graduated from Harvard University with a Masters in Architecture. He was one of 14 out of 104 students who graduated with distinction. At this time, he is temporarily working at his previous employer, Perkins + Will, in Chicago. On August 1, he will begin employment at Adjaye Associates in Manhattan. Chris is quite thrilled to be with such a creative and world-renowned firm. He loves big city life (after coming from a town of 10,000!), and is looking forward to living and working in New York City.
“We are incredibly proud of Chris, and always tell people that the start of his confidence , determination, and drive came from his experience with WCATY at Taliesin.”
Parents often ask if the money for a special program or class will be well spent; they view it as a hardship (which often it is) instead of an investment (which may ultimately be of higher value). Yet through and since my years of experience in working with smart, motivated kids – matching them to opportunities that interest them – I have accumulated a wealth of stories like Chris’s. This IS the frosting on the cake of my career!
Please keep sharing your stories. | <urn:uuid:26c17157-bc89-4b3d-8bf3-e613810a12d9> | CC-MAIN-2020-29 | https://allkindsofsmart.com/tag/linkedin/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2020-29/segments/1593655891654.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20200707044954-20200707074954-00516.warc.gz | en | 0.973872 | 816 | 3.0625 | 3 |
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