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More sharks on the Red List – Expert workshop releases findings on the status of North and Central American shark and ray populations
25 June 2004 | News story
Gland, Switzerland, 25 June 2004 (IUCN - The World Conservation Union). The number of species of sharks and rays on the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species is set to grow. This was the finding of a week-long expert workshop at Mote Marine Laboratory, Florida, to examine the conservation status of the species found in North and Central American waters.
Workshop findings confirm the widely-held belief that slow growing sharks and rays are exceptionally vulnerable to over-fishing, but also reveal that species can recover from depletion if strict management is imposed before populations reach critical levels. The results highlight how species can become endangered through incidental catch, without being the target of fisheries. In many cases, species of “Least Concern” in US waters still face serious threats from unregulated fishing off Mexico and Central America.
Nearly 200 species of sharks and rays in the region were evaluated using the IUCN Red List Categories and Criteria. Categories range from "Extinct" to "Least Concern" and "Data Deficient." Species classified as "Vulnerable," "Endangered" or "Critically Endangered," are considered threatened with extinction and are added to the global Red List. The Red List Categories and Criteria were also used to assess certain regional and specific populations, as well as global ones. The Shark Specialist Group of IUCN’s Species Survival Commission, which convened the meeting, will compile the assessments into a report that will include recommendations for conservation action.
Proposed additions to the Red List include the oceanic whitetip shark of the Gulf of Mexico and New England's thorny skate, both classified as "Critically Endangered," as well as two species of hammerhead sharks, now considered "Endangered." The demise of the oceanic whitetip is blamed on incidental catch (or "bycatch") in high seas tuna and swordfish fisheries combined with demand for their fins. Hammerhead populations have declined due to a combination of factors including recreational over-fishing, high commercial value of their fins and bycatch. Thorny skate was taken from US waters for a European market until last year, but is still caught incidentally in regional fisheries for cod, haddock and flounder.
Participants heightened the alarm over the US Atlantic sand tiger shark, which is proposed to move from a "Vulnerable" listing to the more serious "Endangered" classification. This species produces only two young every two years and is not recovering despite being protected since 1999. The group proposed to retain the 2000 "Vulnerable" classification for the protected Atlantic dusky shark, but stressed an urgent need for a more in-depth population assessment for this exceptionally slow-growing species.
The workshop did reveal some good news for sharks. Thanks to a decade of catch controls, the US population of commercially-important blacktip sharks has been rebuilding and its IUCN threat status was proposed this week as "Least Concern”. The species is still considered threatened off Central America due to the lack of fishing regulations and persistent fishing pressure outside the US. The threat status of barndoor skate off New England was proposed for downlisting from "Endangered" to "Near Threatened" based on a steady population increase over many years, while the Canadian population remains "Endangered."
More than 50 experts took part in the meeting, including scientists from government agencies, universities, private institutions and researchers from Central America. The workshop was the fifth in a global series to assess all the world's shark and ray species and develop regional conservation priorities. Resulting Red List proposals are preliminary until accepted by the global Shark Specialist Group network.
Anna Knee or Andrew McMullin, IUCN/SSC Communications Officers, [email protected] or [email protected]; Tel: +41 22 999 0153 | <urn:uuid:f3b6f9fe-b3b8-488f-9341-7eccf978e15d> | {
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Mediterranean Seagrass Meadows: Resilience and Contribution to Climate Change Mitigation
16 May 2012 | Media advisory
This new study will be presented in Málaga during the Seagrass meadows event in Spain and provides an insight into their potential for carbon sequestration at a time when carbon credit schemes are becoming increasingly important in combating climate change.
Published by IUCN and produced by the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation, this document is a short summary of a technical report on the current state of affairs in the Mediterranean basin and a must-read for policy-makers.
Authors of the book place special attention to the impact of climate change on Mediterranean seagrass ecosystems and their role they play in mitigating the effects of climate change, in respect of extreme weather events and blue carbon sequestration.
• What are the impacts of climate change on Magnoliophyta in the Mediterranean?
“Mediterranean seagrass meadows reflect the history and biogeograhical diversity of this particular area”, says Alain Jeudy de Grissac, Coordinator of IUCN-Med Marine Programme. “Along with the disruptions brought about by many human pressures, climate change could lead to a general warming of the Mediterranean with ‘meridionalization’ or even ‘tropicalization’ depending on the sector, and to increasing frequency of the sea water events”.
• What is resilience? “This new concept represents an exercise in realism, aiming to accommodate the idea that ecosystems change within and between various stable states”, says Gérard Pergent, one of the study coordinators from Corse University (France). “Depending on the characteristics specific to the various species of Magnoliophyta found in the Mediterranean (physiological, biological and ecological), their resilience, adjustment stability and capacity to adapt may differ”
• How much seagrass may contribute to climate change mitigation? “Seagrasses play a significant but quantitatively moderate role in carbon sequestration globally. They are estimated to account for 40% of the carbon stored each year by coastal vegetation”, says Miguel Ángel Mateo, Centre d’Estudis Avançats de Blanes (CSIC-Spain) “ “It is the large carbon stock accumulated during thousands of years what makes seagrasses potentially highly valuable in the context of global warming. Specifically, it is estimated that Posidonia oceanica is retaining up to 89% of the total CO2 emitted by all Mediterranean countries since the Industrial Revolution.
Materials for the Media:
• Photos for download here
IMPORTANT: Please note that these images can only be used to promote this book.
Media Team: [email protected] | <urn:uuid:63b81f42-69f6-4037-a213-a273538def59> | {
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Yesterday I described the Gates Foundation’s Measuring Effective Teachers (MET) project as “an expensive flop.” To grasp just what a flop the project was, it’s important to consider what success would have looked like. If the project had produced what Gates was hoping, it would have found that classroom observations were strong, independent predictors of other measures of effective teaching, like student test score gains. Even better, they were hoping that the combination of classroom observations, student surveys, and previous test score gains would be a much better predictor of future test score gains (or of future classroom observations) than any one of those measures alone. Unfortunately, MET failed to find anything like this.
If MET had found classroom observations to be strong predictors of other indicators of effective teaching and if the combination of measures were a significantly better predictor than any one measure alone, then Gates could have offered evidence for the merits of a particular mixing formula or range of mixing formulas for evaluating teachers. That evidence could have been used to good effect to shape teacher evaluation systems in Chicago, LA, and everywhere else.
They also could have genuinely reassured teachers anxious about the use of test score gains in teacher evaluations. MET could have allayed those concerns by telling teachers that test score gains produce information that is generally similar to what is learned from well-conducted classroom observations, so there is no reason to oppose one and support the other. What’s more, significantly improved predictive power from a mixture of classroom observations with test score gains could have made the case for why we need both.
MET was also supposed to have helped us adjudicate among several commonly used rubrics for classroom observations so that we would have solid evidence for preferring one approach over another. Because MET found that classroom observations in general are barely related to other indicators of teacher effectiveness, the study told us almost nothing about the criteria we should use in classroom observations.
In addition, the classroom observation study was supposed to help us identify the essential components of effective teaching . That knowledge could have informed improved teacher training and professional development. But because MET was a flop (because classroom observations barely correlate with other indicators of teacher effectiveness and fail to improve the predictive power of a combined measure), we haven’t learned much of anything about the practices that are associated with effective teaching. If we can’t connect classroom observations with effective teaching in general, we certainly can’t say much about the particular aspects of teaching that were observed that most contributed to effective teaching.
Just so you know that I’m not falsely attributing to MET these goals that failed to be realized, look at this interview from 2011 of Bill Gates by Jason Riley in the Wall Street Journal. You’ll clearly see that Bill Gates was hoping that MET would do what I described above. It failed to do so. Here is what the interview revealed about the goals of MET:
Of late, the foundation has been working on a personnel system that can reliably measure teacher effectiveness. Teachers have long been shown to influence students’ education more than any other school factor, including class size and per-pupil spending. So the objective is to determine scientifically what a good instructor does.
“We all know that there are these exemplars who can take the toughest students, and they’ll teach them two-and-a-half years of math in a single year,” he says. “Well, I’m enough of a scientist to want to say, ‘What is it about a great teacher? Is it their ability to calm down the classroom or to make the subject interesting? Do they give good problems and understand confusion? Are they good with kids who are behind? Are they good with kids who are ahead?’
“I watched the movies. I saw ‘To Sir, With Love,’” he chuckles, recounting the 1967 classic in which Sidney Poitier plays an idealistic teacher who wins over students at a roughhouse London school. “But they didn’t really explain what he was doing right. I can’t create a personnel system where I say, ‘Go watch this movie and be like him.’”
Instead, the Gates Foundation’s five-year, $335-million project examines whether aspects of effective teaching—classroom management, clear objectives, diagnosing and correcting common student errors—can be systematically measured. The effort involves collecting and studying videos of more than 13,000 lessons taught by 3,000 elementary school teachers in seven urban school districts.
“We’re taking these tapes and we’re looking at how quickly a class gets focused on the subject, how engaged the kids are, who’s wiggling their feet, who’s looking away,” says Mr. Gates. The researchers are also asking students what works in the classroom and trying to determine the usefulness of their feedback.
Mr. Gates hopes that the project earns buy-in from teachers, which he describes as key to long-term reform. “Our dream is that in the sample districts, a high percentage of the teachers determine that this made them better at their jobs.” He’s aware, though, that he’ll have a tough sell with teachers unions, which give lip service to more-stringent teacher evaluations but prefer existing pay and promotion schemes based on seniority—even though they often end up matching the least experienced teachers with the most challenging students.
The final MET reports produced virtually nothing that addressed these stated goals. But in Orwellian fashion, the Gates folks have declared the project to be a great success. I never expected MET to work because I suspect that effective teaching is too heterogeneous to be captured well by a single formula. There is no recipe for effective teaching because kids and their needs are too varied, teachers and their abilities are too varied, and the proper matching of student needs and teacher abilities can be accomplished in many different ways. But this is just my suspicion. I can’t blame the Gates Foundation for trying to discover the secret sauce of effective teaching, but I can blame them for refusing to admit that they failed to find it. Even worse, I blame them for distorting, exaggerating, and spinning what they did find.
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Watching an episode of Modern Family had me thinking about the importance of being able to have a context for understanding of so many things we are confronted with on a daily basis. Cameron, the big gay guy, was wandering the streets looking for Stella, the lost dog Jay adores. As he shouts out ‘Stella’, he realises he is wearing a tshirt very like the one worn by Marlon Brando who played Stanley Kowalski in Tennessee William’s, ‘A Streetcar Named Desire‘. His cries for Stella become more impassioned as a result. For me, the joke was obvious, but my two children, having no context, had to ask why was I laughing.
Today, I was reading an answer on Quora, and it made mention of Alexander the Great and Bucephalus. I was immediately taken back to my obsession with all things Ancient Greek in my first year at Teacher’s College. But once again, it had me wondering. How many times a day do we not entirely grasp the full intentions of information we read or view, because we don’t have enough context to understand it in it’s entirety? How much does our formal education play a part in our general knowledge base, and is that determined by the teachers you had or your ability to ferret for information yourself?
In Victoria’s VCE English curriculum, Area of Study 2 requires students to study a central theme or idea, and be inspired to write from a variety of texts, be they print or visual. I’m teaching Year 10 English this year, and we are beginning our course with a thematic study in a similar vein to what the student’s will encounter in Area of Study 2 in VCE. In past years, students have created a hard copy folio of stimulas material, but this year, we are going to have our students use Storify for the same purpose. Storify is a fantastic curation tool, and is currently being used by individuals, corporations and news organisations around the world to report on current events.
I can’t help but think that the students with a broad general knowledge base have the advantage over others when it comes to formulating a response to Area of Study 2. Hopefully, the use of a tool like Storify will help our students comprehend the importance of reading widely and accessing a variety of sources to help formulate understanding.
I know that when I introduce this topic, I’ll be talking about the importance of being well read and able to contextualise life. School’s purpose is not just to get students through the final exams of year 12 with a decent enough ATAR score to get them into University courses. We’re helping to prepare these young people for the rest of their lives, and we want them to know how important it is to have context for understanding. I think I might just get Cam and Marlon to help me make my point. | <urn:uuid:6c36037c-380a-4e11-baa7-797c3fe713c0> | {
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As I explained in a previous article about Saint Sylvester and the Dragon, much medieval and Renaissance European religion art is based on Christian legends which are not found in the Bible. These include stories of the saints, and also stories taken from books of the Bible which are non-canonical, or which are labeled as “apocryphal” and not printed in most Protestant Bibles, although they might be found in Catholic or Orthodox Bibles. In this article, I would like to consider the “Harrowing of Hell” in which Jesus travels into the underworld to rescue the souls imprisoned there in order to lead them to paradise. This is an example of a story which is better known in its many visual representations throughout the medieval churches of Europe than in any written narrative form.
The Biblical basis for the story is scanty indeed. The descent of Jesus into the underworld forms part of the ancient Apostles’ Creed, where Jesus is said to have “gone down to those beneath” (Latin, descendit ad ínferos). There is a Biblical echo of this statement in Ephesians 4:9: “he descended into the lower parts of the earth” (Latin Vulgate, descendit in inferiores partes terrae). The Latin adjective inferus simply means “lower, below, underneath,” as you can see in the English word “inferior.” Yet in ancient Roman culture, the “underneath world” was already regarded as the abode of the dead, so that the plural form of the adjective, inferi, often stood simply for “the dead.” In English, this same Latin root even gives us the word “inferno,” which has lost its sense of “below,” and instead now refers to any kind of terrible “fire,” not limited to the fires of hell.
The fullest written account of the “Harrowing of Hell” is not found in the Bible, however, but in the non-canonical Gospel of Nicodemus, a text which probably dates back in some form to around the 3rd century or even earlier. Here we read how Jesus, after his crucifixion, descended into hell and brought salvation to the souls of the dead who were prisoners there. The story begins with a dialogue between Hades and Satan, who have heard word that Jesus is coming, which prompts a debate about the power of Jesus. Hades is afraid, because he has heard of the miracles Jesus has performed on earth. Satan, on the other hand, has heard that Jesus was crucified as a common criminal; he is certain that they will be able to bind and subdue Jesus when he arrives in their realm.
When Jesus arrives, Hades bids his servants to bolt and lock the doors, but to no avail; Jesus shatters the gates and enters. He seizes Satan and binds him in iron chains, then consigning him into Hades’s keeping until the second coming. Jesus next turns his attention to the patriarchs. He raises up Adam, along with all the prophets and the saints. Together, they all depart up out of Hades, and ascend into Paradise. (You can read a full account in the Gospel of Nicodemus online.) The “Harrowing of Hell” portion of that Gospel was widely circulated in other compilations of religious literature, most notably in the Golden Legend of the lives of the saints, compiled by Jacob of Voragine in the 13th century.
The literary versions of the “Harrowing of Hell” in turn gave rise to many works of art, including the “mystery play” tradition of medieval religious drama. Most commonly, however, people would learn about Jesus’s descent into the underworld from the artwork which decorated the churches and cathedrals of Europe. In the remainder of this article, I would like to look at ten different visual depictions of the story, to see what details we can observe in each artist’s rendering of the scene.
Let’s start with a modern Orthodox icon. In this very simple depiction, Jesus has broken through the doors to hell which he tramples underfoot (notice the locks all broken asunder), and he rescues Adam and Eve. As often, Adam is shown as an old man, while Eve is young. The traditional name for this scene in the Orthodox tradition is the “Anastasis,” the “Raising Up” as you can see written in the icon itself:
While Adam and Eve are clothed in this icon, they are often shown in the nude, as in this 15th-century wood carving, late 15th century by Veit Stoss from the Mariacki Altarpiece in Cracow, Poland. Notice also here the presence of demons, who are tormenting the dead:
To emphasize that he has only lately been crucified, some depictions emphasize Christ’s wounded hands and feet, as in this 16th-century painting now housed in the Museum of Lille:
While Jesus is often shown trampling the doors to hell underfoot, sometimes he is trampling a demon underfoot, as in this early 14th-century sculpture. Notice also how the scene is paired with the entombment of Christ to the left:
Some depictions combine both the door underfoot and the demon, as in this marvelous piece of 15th-century stained glass in the Church of St. Ethelbert, Hessett, Suffolk. Notice the flames licking out from under the door!
In addition to the demons you might see trampled underfoot or harassing the dead souls, you can also find demons standing off to the side, observing the events, as here in Andrea da Firenze’s famous 14th-century fresco from Santa Maria Novella in Florence, Italy. Here you can see Jesus rescuing a whole crowd of souls from the underworld:
Here is a detailed view of those demons as they watch the proceedings:
Another character who often figures in representations of the harrowing of hell is the “good thief,” Saint Dismas, who was crucified with Jesus. Jesus promises Dismas that “today you will be with me in paradise” (Luke 23:43). Not surprisingly, then, Dismas is also seen journeying with Jesus down into the underworld on their way to paradise. For example, you can see Dismas standing behind Jesus in this woodcut from 1510 by Albrecht Durer:
If you look carefully behind Adam and Eve, you can see Dismas bearing the cross in this mosaic from the Church of San Marco in Venice:
Sometimes Jesus is also accompanied by angels who battle the demons as he leads the soul out from their captivity, as in this painting by Tintoretto from 1568:
As you can see from the quite attractive nude depiction of Eve in Tintoretto’s painting, the story of the Harrowing of Hell provided Renaissance artists a rare opportunity to paint female nudes in a work of religious art. This is carried to extremes, as you can see, in Bronzino’s elaborate crowd scene, painted in 1552 and found in the Refectory of Santa Croce in Florence:
You will observe a remarkable contrast if you compare Bronzino’s R-rated scene to the extremely modest Orthodox icon with which we began this survey, an admittedly brief survey which only begins to hint at the wide range of iconographic styles in which this story has been depicted. As Jesus makes this underworld journey in the imaginations of these many artists over the centuries, he joins the ranks of heroes such as Orpheus and Heracles who also journeyed into the realms of the dead, breaking down the doors between that world and this one in order to rescue the souls who have been imprisoned on the other side. Although this is a not a story about Jesus that you will read about in the Bible, it is nevertheless a very famous one, as told both in words and, even more importantly, in images. | <urn:uuid:e1db356b-371f-4c99-9dc7-fd0c29e0be7e> | {
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Early in 1939, as Ford and Ferguson rolled out the first 9N tractors, a tooling delay prevented Ford from having several of the stamped-steel components available for the assembly line. As a result, the first production run of about 700 9N tractors featured aluminum hoods, timing covers, steering columns, grilles and several other parts, which were then painted gray like the rest of the tractor before being sold. As these tractors continued their working life on the farm, many of the aluminum components became dented or mangled and by then, replacements were available from Ford parts suppliers. Replacement parts in steel, that is.
Image and info from Hemmings Blog http://blog.hemmings.com/index.php/2012/07/27/mecums-gone-farmin-auction-features-aluminum-hood-ford-9n/ | <urn:uuid:d3bc4427-4dc6-4d5d-9f66-c993e9025196> | {
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The leftovers in the fridge smelled a little weird, but you went ahead and ate them. You were so hungry, you didn't even heat them up. A couple of hours later, though, you started to feel sick. Powerful waves of pain rumbled through your stomach. They went away, but not for long. Then you even threw up!
That sounds like a case of food poisoning. No one put poison in your food, but bacteria probably grew in the food in the fridge and those bacteria made you sick. Food poisoning can be mild and last just a short time or can be more serious. Let's find out how to avoid it.
What Is Food Poisoning?
Food poisoning comes from eating foods that contain germs like bad bacteria or toxins, which are poisonous substances. Bacteria are all around us, so mild cases of food poisoning are common. You may have had mild food poisoning — with diarrhea and an upset stomach — but your mom or dad just called it a stomach bug or stomach virus.
You might think the solution is to get rid of all the bacteria. But it isn't possible and you wouldn't want to do it, even if you could. Bacteria are all around us, including in food, and sometimes they can be good for us. It's confusing, but one thing is for sure — the bacteria in the rotten leftovers weren't the good-for-you kind. But you can learn how to avoid those bad germs in food.
Which Germs Are to Blame?
Foods from animals, raw foods, and unwashed vegetables all can contain germs that cause food poisoning. The most likely source is food from animals, like meat, poultry (such as chicken), eggs, milk, and shellfish (such as shrimp).
Sometimes feeling sick from food poisoning shows up within hours of eating the bad food. At other times, someone may not feel sick until several days later. With mild cases of food poisoning, you will not feel sick for very long and will soon be feeling fine again.
It can be hard to tell if you have food poisoning or something else. You might do a little detective work and see who else gets the same sickness. Did they eat the same thing you did? If only people who ate that food got sick, food poisoning could be the problem.
It's one thing to get food poisoning from something in your fridge, but imagine how many people could get sick if a restaurant served food that had these bad germs in it. When that happens, people from the health department might get involved and try to figure out what happened and make sure everyone gets the medical care they need.
What Will the Doctor Do?
If you go to the doctor, he or she will ask you a lot of questions about how you're feeling, when you first felt sick, what you ate in the past few days, and if anyone else you know is also sick. The doctor might also take a sample of your stool (poop) and urine (pee) to test for possible germs that might have caused food poisoning.
The type of treatment you'll get for food poisoning will depend on the specific germ that is making you sick. The doctor might give you medicine, but most of the time someone who has food poisoning doesn't need to take medicine.
It's also rare that a kid with food poisoning would need to go to the hospital. Usually, only people who get really dehydrated have to go to the hospital. Being dehydrated means your body has lost too much fluid due to diarrhea and vomiting. A dehydrated person can get fluids and medicine through an IV at the hospital. To keep from getting dehydrated, try to keep drinking fluids when you are sick.
You may also need to go to the hospital if you have blood in your poop. If you do see blood in your poop, you should definitely tell your parents about it.
Many things can be done to prevent food poisoning. These precautions should be taken at every stage a food takes — from preparation to cooking to storing leftovers. A lot of this responsibility falls on grown-ups, but kids can help fight germs, too. One of the best ways is to wash your hands if you're helping to prepare foods.
When should you wash? Before you start helping — so germs from your hands don't get on the food — and after so you don't pass along germs from the food to yourself or anyone else. If you don't, here's how germs can travel:
You help make hamburger patties.
You get bad bacteria from the raw ground beef on your hands.
You hold your little sister's hand.
She uses that hand to eat a snack.
Now the bacteria have made it inside and can make her sick.
Other steps you can take to keep your food safe include:
Wash fruits and vegetables well before eating them.
Only eat foods that are properly cooked. If you cut into chicken and it looks pink and raw inside, tell a grown-up.
Look at what you're eating and smell it, too. If something looks or smells different from normal, check with an adult before eating or drinking it. Milk is a good example. If you've ever had a sip of sour milk, you know you never want to taste that again! Mold (which can be green, pink, white, or brown) is also often a sign that food has spoiled.
If you're going to eat leftovers, ask a grown-up for help heating them up. By heating them, you can kill bacteria that grew while it was in the fridge.
Check the date. Lots of packaged foods have expiration dates or "sell by" (which means that the food should leave store shelves by that time) dates. Don't eat a food if today's date is after the expiration date. Use it before it expires. Ask an adult for help deciding if it's past the sell by date.
Cover and refrigerate food right away. Bacteria get a good chance to grow in foods that sit at room temperature. By putting food in the fridge, you're putting the chill on those bad germs! | <urn:uuid:b6014ea8-23b6-4df1-bf49-cab77ee491df> | {
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Ignacio first noticed the signs of his non-Hodgkin lymphoma when he had trouble breathing and was coughing a lot during football practice. He also started having fever without knowing why. He told his parents, and they took him to the doctor. The doctor did an exam and ordered some lab tests and a CT scan. Everyone hoped that it would not show anything, but a lump was found. After some more tests, including a biopsy by the surgeon, the doctors diagnosed Ignacio with non-Hodgkin lymphoma.
At first, Ignacio was scared when he heard that non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a form of cancer. But he quickly learned that it's highly treatable, especially if caught early, as his was. Ignacio was relieved when his doctor told him that the odds were good that he'd be cured.
What Is Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma?
A lymphoma is a cancer of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a part of the body's immune system and helps filter out bacteria, viruses, and other unwanted substances.
Most people don't notice the workings of their lymphatic systems; in fact, the only time you might be aware of your lymphatic system is when the lymph nodes (which are sometimes referred to as glands) swell up. This often happens when a person is sick — a sign that the lymphatic system is working hard to filter harmful substances out of the body.
Non-Hodgkin lymphoma is a disease in which cancer cells form in the lymphatic system and start to grow uncontrollably. There are several different types of lymphomas. Some involve a particular type of cell; these are grouped under the heading Hodgkin lymphoma. All other forms of lymphoma fall into the non-Hodgkin grouping. The different forms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma depend on such things as what the cells look like under a microscope.
No one really knows what causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Doctors have identified some risk factors (things that may increase a person's chances of developing a particular condition) for non-Hodgkin lymphoma. These include conditions that weaken the immune system, such as acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), taking immune-suppressing medications following organ transplants, and exposure to certain viruses, such as Epstein-Barr virus (the virus that usually causes mono). Often, experts never find out exactly why a person gets lymphoma.
People who have a brother or sister who has had the disease are also more likely to get non-Hodgkin lymphoma. But, it's not contagious — you can't give it to someone and they can't catch it from you.
Of course, just because you've had mono or an organ transplant doesn't mean you'll get the disease: Most people with non-Hodgkin lymphoma don't have any of these risk factors.
The signs and symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma vary from person to person depending on the type of lymphoma and where a tumor is located. Some people may feel stomach pain, constipation, and decreased appetite. Others may have trouble breathing, difficulty swallowing, and notice coughing, wheezing, or chest pain.
Other symptoms may include:
painless swollen lymph nodes
fever, chills, or night sweats
weight loss despite eating normally
bone or joint pain
The symptom that some people notice first is swollen lymph nodes — usually in the neck, armpits, and groin. Of course, swollen lymph nodes do not usually mean cancer — they're most often a sign of a common illness, like an infection. In fact, all of the symptoms of non-Hodgkin lymphoma also can be caused by other conditions, which is why only a doctor can determine what's really wrong.
In addition to doing a physical examination, the doctor will ask you about any concerns and symptoms you have, your past health, your family's health, any medications you're taking, any allergies you may have, and other issues. This is called the medical history.
If your family doctor suspects non-Hodgkin lymphoma, he or she will refer you to an oncologist, a doctor who specializes in the treatment of cancer. The oncologist will then do tests to diagnose the problem.
If someone has swollen lymph nodes, the doctor may want to perform a biopsy if the swelling does not go down after other treatments. A biopsy is a type of test where a doctor removes a tiny bit of tissue from the body and sends it out to a laboratory for a specialist to examine. Depending on the type of biopsy a person has, a doctor may use local anesthesia (where only a part of the body is numbed) or general anesthesia (where a person is asleep) to ensure there's no pain.
Biopsies used to test for non-Hodgkin lymphoma include excisional biopsy (where the doctor opens the skin to remove an entire lymph node) or incisional biopsy (where the doctor removes only a part of the lymph node).
Another type of biopsy, fine needle aspiration (where a very thin needle suctions out a small amount of tissue from the lymph node) is used on some occasions to diagnose non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Doctors sometimes also perform a bone marrow biopsy, where a needle is used to take samples of the soft tissue found in a bone.
Your doctor may do other tests to diagnose non-Hodgkin lymphoma, including:
a chest X-ray, a simple procedure in which the person lies on a table while an X-ray machine takes an image of the chest
a computerized tomography(CT or CAT) scan, which rotates around the patient and creates an X-ray picture of the inside of the body from different angles
an ultrasound, which uses high-frequency sound waves to create pictures of the inside of the body
a magnetic resonance imaging(or MRI) scan, which uses magnets and radio waves to allow doctors to see inside the body.
a galliumscan, which uses the injection of a material known as gallium and can help show tumors and inflammation
a bone scan to detect bone changes
a positron emission tomography (PET) scan, which can tell the difference between normal and abnormal cells based on metabolic activity
Once doctors have made a diagnosis of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, they use what's called a "staging system" to determine how much the disease has affected the body. Knowing the stage the disease is in helps the doctor decide on a form of treatment.
The most common treatment for non-Hodgkin lymphoma is chemotherapy. Chemotherapy is medicine that kills or stops the growth of cancer cells. Patients are also sometimes treated with radiation therapy.
For some patients who are receiving very aggressive chemo or radiation treatments, doctors may perform bone marrow or stem cell transplants to replace cells damaged by the treatment. These transplants involve using the cells from bone marrow or blood that has either been taken from the patient or has been donated by another person. These cells are then inserted into the patient's bloodstream to replace those that have been damaged or destroyed.
In a few special situations (such as high-risk patients or patients whose cancer has come back), doctors are using a new treatment called immunotherapy (or biological therapy). In immunotherapy, doctors use substances that occur naturally in the body to build someone's resistance to disease. Although they replicate naturally occurring substances, those used in immunotherapy are often manufactured in a laboratory.
What to Expect
If you've been diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma, you know how scary having the disease can be at times. There's a lot to deal with emotionally. Plus, appointments, tests, and treatment schedules can be tiring, and the treatments you have to get can make you feel lousy.
People who are being treated with chemotherapy or radiation can expect certain side effects. Most are temporary — although, as with all medical treatments, each person is unique and experiences side effects differently. The severity of side effects and how long they last depends on the individual and type of medicine and treatment that a doctor prescribes.
The most common short-term side effects of chemo are nausea and vomiting, but medicines given with chemo can prevent this in most people. Another common side effect is a lowering of blood counts, which can put people at risk for infection or bleeding.
Some people feel weak or dizzy after their treatments, or they run a fever. Others get sores in their mouths or suddenly don't feel much like eating. It's also common for patients to lose some or all of their hair.
The short-term side effects of radiation can be similar to those of chemotherapy, although they're usually more localized, meaning they affect only the area that receives the radiation treatment.
Some people feel side effects for weeks after their treatment ends. Tell your doctor if you experience any side effects of treatment. Your doctor also can discuss any long-term side effects of the type of treatment you are having.
If you have or have had non-Hodgkin lymphoma, it's important to see your doctor regularly for the years following treatment. Occasionally, cancer may return, and follow-up appointments with your cancer specialist can help you catch it early if it does. Also, your doctor will be watching for any late side effects of treatment.
Although non-Hodgkin lymphoma can be an aggressive disease, treatments have improved in recent years — and researchers are constantly developing new and improved approaches to curing the disease. Today, the percentage of people who are cured is about 70% or higher. | <urn:uuid:50b15ff0-f3df-4380-a8fc-53352c6efb5c> | {
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AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) is a disease that makes it difficult for the body to fight off infectious diseases. The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) causes AIDS by infecting and damaging part of the body's defenses against infection — its lymphocytes, which are white blood cells in the immune (infection-fighting) system that are supposed to fight off invading germs.
HIV can be transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluid of someone who is infected with the virus. That contact usually comes from sharing needles or by having unprotected sex with an infected person. An infant could get HIV from a mother who is infected.
HIV and AIDS can be treated, but there are no vaccines or cures for them.
What HIV Does to the Body
The virus attacks specific lymphocytes called T helper cells (also known as T-cells), takes them over, and multiplies. This destroys more T-cells, which damages the body's ability to fight off invading germs and disease.
When the number of T-cells falls to a very low level, people with HIV become more susceptible to other infections and they may get certain types of cancer that a healthy body would normally be able to fight off. This weakened immunity (or immune deficiency) is known as AIDS and can result in severe life-threatening infections, some forms of cancer, and the deterioration of the nervous system.
Although AIDS is always caused by an HIV infection, not everyone with HIV has AIDS. In fact, some adults who become infected with HIV may appear healthy for years before developing AIDS.
How Common Is HIV/AIDS?
The first case of HIV was reported in 1981, but the disease may have existed unrecognized for many years before that. HIV infection leading to AIDS has been a major cause of illness and death among children, teens, and young adults worldwide.
In recent years, HIV infection rates have been increasing rapidly among teens and young adults. Half of all new HIV infections in the United States occur in people under 25 years old; thousands of teens acquire new HIV infections each year. Most new HIV cases in younger people are transmitted through unprotected sex; one third are from injected drug usage via the sharing of dirty, blood-contaminated needles.
Among children, most cases of HIV infections resulted from transmission of the HIV virus from the mother to her child during pregnancy or birth, or through breastfeeding. In rare cases children may have been infected by being sexually abused by someone living with HIV.
Fortunately, medicines currently given to HIV-positive pregnant women have drastically reduced mother-to-child HIV transmission in the United States. These drugs are also used to slow or reduce some of the effects of the disease in people who are already infected.
But these medicines have not been readily available worldwide, particularly in the poorer nations hardest hit by the epidemic. Providing access to these life-saving treatments has become an issue of global importance.
HIV is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluid of someone who is infected with the virus.
The three main ways HIV is passed to a very young child are:
while the baby develops in the mother's uterus (intrauterine)
at the time of birth
Among teens, the virus is most commonly spread through:
unprotected sex (oral, vaginal, or anal sex)
sharing needles used to inject drugs or other substances (including contaminated needles used for injecting steroids and tattooing and body art)
In very rare cases, HIV has also been transmitted by direct contact with an open wound of an infected person (the virus may be introduced through a small cut or tear on the body of the healthy person) and through blood transfusions. Since 1985, the U.S. blood supply has been carefully screened for HIV.
Signs and Symptoms of HIV
Although there may be no immediate physical signs of HIV infection at birth, if untreated, they might appear within 2 to 3 months after a child is born. Kids who are born with HIV can develop opportunistic infections, which are illnesses that can develop in weakened immune systems, such as Pneumocystisjirovicii pneumonia (PCP).
An untreated child with HIV may also get more severe bouts of other common childhood infections, such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection, which generally causes mild illness in most kids. In developing countries, tuberculosis has been a particularly common problem and often the cause of death of children and adults living with HIV.
A baby born with HIV infection most likely will appear healthy. But within 2 to 3 months after birth, an infected baby might begin to appear sick, with poor weight gain, repeated fungal mouth infections (thrush), enlarged lymph nodes, enlarged liver or spleen, neurological problems, and multiple bacterial infections, including pneumonia.
Teens and young adults who contract HIV usually show no symptoms at the time of infection. In fact, it may take up to 10 years or more for symptoms to show. During this time, they can pass on the virus without even knowing they have it themselves. Once the symptoms of AIDS appear, they can include rapid weight loss, intense fatigue, swollen lymph nodes, persistent diarrhea, night sweats, or pneumonia. They, too, will be susceptible to life-threatening opportunistic infections.
Diagnosing HIV Infections and AIDS
Every pregnant woman should be tested for HIV to have a better chance of preventing transmission to her unborn child.
If a woman knows she is HIV-infected and already has children, it is recommended that all of them be tested for HIV. Even older kids who seem healthy could still have an HIV infection if she was HIV-positive at the time they were born. A blood test is needed to know for sure.
Newer tests can help doctors to determine if a baby born to an HIV positive mother is infected in the first few months of life.
Older kids, teens, and adults are tested for HIV infection by a number of different tests that look for antibodies to the virus, proteins that coat the virus, or the presence of the virus itself. Antibodies are specific proteins that the body produces to fight infections; HIV-specific antibodies are produced in response to infection with HIV. Someone with antibodies against HIV is said to be HIV-positive.
If any one of the tests is positive, it will be repeated or confirmed with another test.
Across the United States, only a handful of cases have been reported where HIV infection was contagious from a child to another person. All of those cases involved direct blood contact within a household. The typical baby secretions (urine, drool, spit up, vomit, feces, etc.) do not seem to transmit the virus, so routine care of babies with HIV is considered safe.
Despite widespread concerns, no transmissions of HIV within a school or childcare setting have been reported. Because the danger in transmitting HIV involves direct contact with blood, personnel at schools and childcare programs should routinely use gloves when any child has a cut, scrape, or is bleeding.
Transmission of HIV Among Teens
Among teens, HIV is spread mostly through unprotected sex with an infected person or sharing intravenous drug needles. Education of children and teens is vitally important to help prevent sexual transmission of HIV, as well as other sexually transmitted diseases (STDs), including chlamydia, genital herpes, gonorrhea, hepatitis B, syphilis, and HPV (which can cause genital warts or lead to various cancers).
Many STDs cause irritation, sores, or ulcers of the skin and mucous membranes that the virus can pass through. Having an STD, such as genital herpes, for example, has been proven to increase the risk of getting HIV if the person has unprotected sex with someone who is HIV-positive.
Opportunistic infections (infections that take advantage of a person's weakened immune system) are the most common complication of HIV/AIDS.
Sometimes adults with HIV/AIDS can get an infection from germs that do not normally cause illness in a healthy person (like cryptococcus). People with AIDS (especially children) can get a severe version of a more common infection, such as chickenpox.
These opportunistic infections and conditions can frequently occur in kids with HIV:
viral infections, such as a form of chronic walking pneumonia called lymphoid interstitial pneumonia (LIP), herpes simplex virus, shingles, and the cytomegalovirus infection
parasitic infections, such as PCP (a pneumonia caused by Pneumocystis jirovicii, a microscopic parasite that can't be fought off due to a weakened immune system) and toxoplasmosis
fungal infections, such as esophagitis (inflammation of the esophagus), and candidiasis or thrush (yeast infection)
Children with HIV are also at higher risk for some forms of cancer because of their weakened immune systems. Lymphomas associated with Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection are more common in older kids with HIV.
Difficult complications in treating kids who have HIV/AIDS include the wasting syndrome (the inability to maintain body weight due to long-term poor appetite and other infections related to HIV disease) and HIV encephalopathy (due to HIV infection of the brain that causes swelling and then damage to the brain's tissues over time).
HIV encephalopathy can result in dementia, especially in adults. Wasting syndrome can sometimes be helped with nutritional counseling and daily high-calorie supplements, but preventing HIV encephalopathy remains extremely difficult.
The last 20 years have brought two major developments in the treatment of HIV/AIDS:
drugs that inhibit the virus's growth, preventing or delaying the onset of AIDS and allowing people with HIV to remain free of symptoms longer
drugs that help reduce the transmission of the virus from an HIV-infected mother to her child
As medical understanding about how the virus invades the body and multiplies within cells increases, drugs to inhibit its growth and slow its spread are developed. Drug treatment for HIV/AIDS is complicated and expensive, but highly effective in slowing the replication (reproduction) of the virus and preventing or reducing some effects of the disease.
Drugs to treat HIV/AIDS use several different strategies, including:
interfering with HIV's reproduction of its genetic material (called nucleoside or nucleotide anti-retrovirals)
interfering with the enzymes HIV needs to take over certain body cells (these drugs are called protease inhibitors)
interfering with HIV's ability to pack its genetic material into viral code — that is, the genetic "script" HIV needs to be able to reproduce itself. These medicines are called non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs).
newer types of medications (integrase inhibitors and CCR5 inhibitors) that use different strategies
Because these drugs work in different ways, doctors generally prescribe a "combination cocktail" of these drugs that is taken every day. This regimen is known as HAART (highly active anti-retroviral therapy) treatment. Doctors also may prescribe drugs to prevent certain opportunistic infections when a person's immune system is very weak — for example, some antibiotics can help prevent PCP, especially in kids.
A number of medicines can treat HIV infection and slow the onset of AIDS, but they must be taken and administered properly on a round-the-clock schedule. Otherwise, the virus can quickly become resistant to that particular "cocktail."
HIV is very adaptable and finds ways to outsmart medical treatments that are not followed properly. This means that if prescribed medicines are not taken at the correct times every day, they will soon fail to keep HIV from reproducing and taking over the body. When that happens, a new regimen must be established with different drugs. And if this new mix of medicines is not taken correctly, the virus will likely become resistant to it, too, and eventually the person will run out of treatment options.
Aside from the difficulty of getting young children to take their medication on a timed schedule, the medications present other problems. Some have unpleasant side effects, such as a bad flavor, whereas others are only available in pill form, which may be difficult for kids to swallow.
Parents who need to give their child these medications can ask the doctor or pharmacist for suggestions on making them easier to take. Many pharmacies can add flavoring to bad-tasting medicines or your doctor may recommend mixing pills with applesauce or pudding.
Because drug options are still limited, doctors are concerned that if children fail to take their medicines as prescribed (even missing just a few doses), the virus could eventually develop resistance to the existing HIV drugs — making treatment difficult or impossible. So it is very important that kids take their medications as directed.
One of the most important home treatment messages for any parent or caregiver is that the child should take all medications consistently, at the time the prescription indicates. This can be difficult — but many HIV/AIDS family support groups and experienced medical providers can offer practical suggestions to help families be successful with the day-to-day challenges they face.
Many of the new medications that fight HIV infection are very expensive. In the United States, special programs can pay for medicine for all HIV-positive kids. Unfortunately, many people don't have access to these medicines in other parts of the world, especially in developing countries.
When a pregnant HIV-infected woman receives good medical care early and takes antiviral medications regularly during her pregnancy, the chance that she will pass HIV to her unborn baby is dramatically reduced.
It is important that any pregnant woman who knows she is HIV-positive start prenatal care as soon as possible to take full advantage of such treatments. The sooner a mother receives treatment, the greater the likelihood her baby will not get HIV.
An HIV-infected mother can receive medical treatment:
before the birth of her baby: antiviral treatments given to the mother during pregnancy can help prevent HIV transmission to the baby
at the time of birth: antiviral medications can be given to both the mother and the newborn to lower the risk of HIV transmission that can occur during the birth process (which exposes the newborn to the mother's blood and fluids); in addition, the mother will be encouraged to formula-feed rather than breastfeed because HIV can be transmitted to her baby through breast milk
during breastfeeding: because breastfeeding is discouraged among HIV-infected mothers, this type of transmission is rare in the United States. However, in places in the world with limited access to formula or a clean water supply to mix it, both the mother and child can be treated with medication to lower the baby's risk of HIV infection.
Before antiviral medicines were routinely given, almost 25% of children born to HIV-infected mothers developed the disease and died by 24 months of age. Now, studies show that mothers with HIV who get good prenatal care and regularly take antiviral drugs during their pregnancy have less than a 1% chance of passing HIV to their babies. If these babies do get the HIV virus, they tend to be born with a lower viral load (less HIV virus is present in their bodies) and have a better chance of long-term, disease-free survival.
Cases of HIV infection and AIDS in children are complicated and should be managed by experienced health care professionals. Kids will need to have their treatment schedules closely monitored and adjusted regularly. Any infections that could become life threatening must be quickly recognized and treated.
Medicines are adjusted in relation to the child's viral load. The child's health is also monitored by frequent measurement of T-cell levels because these are the cells that the HIV virus destroys. A good T-cell count is a positive sign that medical treatments are working to keep the disease under control.
Kids should see their health care providers often for blood work, physical exams, and discussions about how they and their families are coping socially with any stress from their disease.
Some immunizations during routine visits may be slightly different for infants or children with HIV/AIDS. A child whose immune system is severely compromised will not receive live virus vaccines such as measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) and varicella (chickenpox). All other routine immunizations are given as usual, and a yearly influenza vaccine (flu shot) is recommended.
If a family seeks health care in a hospital emergency department, parents should be sure to tell the nurse who registers the child that the child has HIV. This will alert medical caregivers to look closely for any signs of diseases from opportunistic infections and provide the best possible treatment.
Outlook for HIV/AIDS
There is no vaccine to prevent HIV and AIDS, although researchers are working to develop one. Combinations of antiviral drugs and drugs that boost the immune system have allowed many people with HIV to resist infections, stay healthy, and live longer, and many children born with HIV who are treated early reach adulthood.
Prevention of HIV remains of worldwide importance. Despite much research, there is no vaccine that will prevent HIV infection. Infection can be prevented by never sharing needles, and abstaining from oral, vaginal, or anal sex. Since most people will eventually become sexually active at some point in their lives, always using condoms for all types of sexual intercourse can drastically reduce the risk of getting HIV.
Testing all pregnant women multiple times during pregnancy can also help. If the result is positive, immediate treatment can begin before the baby is born to prevent HIV transmission.
Talking With Kids About HIV/AIDS
Talking about HIV/AIDS means talking about sex and drugs — and it's not always easy for parents to talk about sexual feelings and behavior with their kids. Similarly, it's not always easy for teens to open up or to believe that issues like HIV/AIDS can affect them.
Doctors and counselors suggest that parents become knowledgeable and comfortable discussing sex and other difficult issues early on, even before the teen years. After all, the issues involved — understanding the body and sexuality, adopting healthy behaviors, respecting others, and dealing with feelings — are topics that have meaning at all ages (though how parents talk with their kids will vary according to a child's age and ability to understand). Open communication and good listening skills are vital.
Doctors, teachers and counselors can help. Many schools provide age-appropriate information about HIV/AIDS that has been designed to educate kids about the disease. Studies show that such education makes a tremendous difference in preventing risk behaviors in young people. Pediatricians, adolescent medicine specialists, and family doctors can also help you feel comfortable about talking to your kids and will also spend time talking to your child about how to be safe and prevent HIV infection.
Ultimately, parents who are well-informed about how to prevent HIV and who talk with their kids regularly about healthy behaviors, feelings, and sexuality can make a huge difference in preventing HIV infection and helping kids to grow up to become healthy adults. | <urn:uuid:4efb27d5-01ad-4c58-bc27-99d4ccac6378> | {
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Pub. date: 2008 | Online Pub. Date: April 25, 2008 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412963879 | Print ISBN: 9781412926942 | Online ISBN: 9781412963879| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this encyclopedia
Damayanti Banerjee & Michael M. Bell
A disproportionate burden of environmental problems are borne by the poor and by communities of color, as documented by a large body of scholarship on what has come to be called environmental justice. Although the early literature on environmental justice primarily focused on questions of unequal distribution of environmental “bads” in the United States, recent years have witnessed studies of environmental justice on a global scale and a broadening understanding of what constitutes environmental justice. Both the U.S.-based and international studies have had a close relationship with the development of social movements working to overcome these inequalities, a true instance of the mutualism between the academe and civil society that many have called for in all areas of research. Concern for environmental justice has thus significantly grown over the years both within the United States and elsewhere. This entry describes the development of this movement, the research that examines Three ... | <urn:uuid:b6546c17-d6eb-4c8e-a9c9-6ace00a576e2> | {
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Pub. date: 2009 | Online Pub. Date: December 16, 2009 | DOI: 10.4135/9781412972048 | Print ISBN: 9780761929574 | Online ISBN: 9781412972048| Publisher:SAGE Publications, Inc.About this encyclopedia
Film in Television News
Robin A. Larsen
Until the American commercial television networks introduced videotape recording in 1956, they produced news only live or on film. They aired live, film, and videotape news reports until 1978, when film was dropped. Televised film news first appeared in late 1936 in England with the launching of the BBC's London Television Service. Three years later, in 1939, NBC/RCA introduced U.S. television at the New York World's Fair. After World War II, in 1946, four networks (ABC, CBS, DuMont, and NBC) began broadcasting daily 15-minute filmed news magazine programs from their New York flagship stations. Coverage of political party conventions and presidential elections followed in 1948. To capture televised images on film, 16mm and 35mm kinescope cameras especially designed for the purpose were aimed at video monitors carrying studio or remote transmissions. Only in the late 1950s were film reels and cameras gradually replaced by erasable, two-inch magnetic videotape and the ... | <urn:uuid:d24154f5-c066-49ea-994c-75272217ec57> | {
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|Korcula.NET > Places on the island - Korcula - Moreška dance|
|THE MORESKA DANCE
Moreska is pronounced 'Moreska'. It means 'Moorish'. The word is derived from the Spanish adjective 'Morisco' or the Italian 'Moresco'. It is a matter of conjecture whether the dance came to the Adriatic directly from Spain through roving Spanish sailors, or from Sicily or Italy when Dalmatia formed part of the Venetian Republic whether it was originally a Moorish dance or a Spanish one, inspired by the struggle of Spanish Christians against the Moors is also debatable though the latter seems the most likely. We do know for certain that it is one of the oldest traditional European dances still performed, and that records exist of it being danced in Lerida in 1156 in a form portraying a Christian and National victory over the Moors and their expulsion from Aragon.
From the 12th century and particularly in the 16th and 17th centuries, the dance spread to many Mediterranean countries: to Italy, Corsica, Sicily, Malta, France and, through Spanish trade, to Flanders, Germany and even to England. It was subject to frequent local variations, in regard to plot, protagonists and eventually also to form. In Corsica it was danced by eighty swordsmen on each side, armed with two swords apiece, who did battle for the town of Mariana to the music of a solo violin; in Elba the engagement was between Christians and Turks, in other places between Arabs and Turks; sometimes the damsel in distress was a white maiden of royal blood, sometimes a Turkish or Moorish one of equal innocence and beauty. In Ferrara a dragon was introduced who tried to devour the damsel and there were many later versions which degenerated from the original war-dance (intrinsically a useful sword practice and 'keep-fit' class for the warriors of small island or coastal garrisons for whom good swordsmanship and alertness meant their survival) into a form of folk drama, and eventually into the dance interludes of pastoral plays and Italian opera. In Germany the Moreska, though called Moriskentanze, became a mere collection of local folk dances and in England the Morris (l.e. Moorish) dancers threw away their swords and substituted long wooden sticks which they fought with and over which they hopped. In most of the Mediterranean the Moreska survived until the end of the 18th century, and in Italy and Dalmatia till the close of the 19th.
Today, Korcula is the only island where it is still danced with real swords in its original War-Dance form and where it has enjoyed a proud and almost unbroken tradition for over four centuries, though the text, music and pattern of the dance have been slightly altered and shortened (the contest used to last for two hours!) over the years.
The introduction to the dance is a short drama in blank verse which sets the scene -- four characters recite the verses: the enemy or the Black King, his father, Otmanovic, (a kind of Balkan mediator), the Hero or the White King, and the Bula or Moslem maiden, who is a peace-maker as well as a heroine (and a possible convert to Christianity?).
The Moreska arrived in Korcula in the 16th century, at the same time as it did in Dubrovnik, most probably from Sicily or Southern Italy, via Venice. An indication of this is that two of the dance "figures" have Italian names: the "Rujer" and the "Rujer di fori via". "Ruggero" was the name of a Sicilian war-dance, a version of the Moreska, in which the Saracens are shown fighting against the Norman Prince Ruggiero d'Altavilla -- a powerful family who ruled over Sicily and Southern Italy in the 11th and 12th centuries, which suggests a possible link. There are, however, no written records of the Korculan dance until the beginning of the 18th century. Latterly and up to the first World War the Moreska was "fought" only every few years -- protagonists were often wounded and replaced by 'seconds' during the dance -- between 1918 and 1939 it was performed every year under the aegis of the Gymnastic Society of Korcula. Nowadays it is an exclusive Society (and 'club') of its own and the Moreska is performed much more frequently for the benefit of the many tourists who visit the Island. Every family in Korcula is proud to have one of its members dance in the Moreska, especially one of the key roles, which demand considerable talent and stamina. When the Black or the White Kings "retire" they are allowed to keep their crowns and these become valued family possessions.
During the second World war costumes, swords, even musical scores and instruments had all been lost in the bombing and fighting and for the first time in its history only very young lads of between twelve and seventeen were available to dance the Moreska, and they had to be taught from scratch.
It was the undefeatable and indefatigable spirit of Ivo Lozica, the town barber, and Bozo Jerirevic, a school-teacher, with the help of a local policeman, Zdravko Stanic, and Josip Svoboda the conductor of the town orchestra, that somehow got the Moreska dancing again and in a very short time the poor, thin undernourished youths were growing into splendid young men and were taking the Moreska to youth conferences and festivals at home and abroad.
THE MORESKA DANCE
The revised score of the Moreska was composed by Krsto Odak who, working with Josip Svoboda, conductor of the town orchestra at the time, reconstructed an earlier score lost in the war. The Moreska from Korcula opens with a scene in which the Black King is seen dragging the captured Bula (Moslem maiden) along in chains trying to persuade her to respond to his love. The Bula refuses because she loves the White King and knows that he loves her.
The White King and his army and the Black King's army with banners and swords enter from either side. The two Kings confront each other and a dialogue of hurled insults and scorn ensues. The Kings are the first to cross swords while their armies stand facing each other and ready for battle. When the White King calls on his men to fight, the two armies clash swords and then break away from one another in order to make way for the Dance of the Black King, the graceful but menacing 'Sfida'. In this dance, which is performed in 6/8 rhythm, the Black King challenges the White King to a contest. The White King accepts the challenge, and then the Black King's father, Otmanovic and a soldier from the White King's army join the fight. They dance in a circle threatening one another with swords. The soldier withdraws leaving the two Kings and Otmanovic. At a given moment both armies, who are facing each other, leap forward and clash swords and then the Black King, still dancing, forms a circle with all the soldiers of both armies gradually joining in.
After this, seven Kolaps or "strokes" of the Moreska are danced in different and complicated rhythms and patterns and all are performed within this circle. The fight consists of alternating sword thrusts and parries. It is performed in pairs, i.e. one White against one Black fighter.
The seventh Kolap is performed in a speedy 4/4 rhythm and the swords clashes are fast and furious. The Black soldiers, facing outwards, defend themselves from within the circle which becomes smaller and tighter as they withdraw from the charges of the White army. Finally the Black soldiers fall down wounded, dying and defeated, laying their swords at their enemy's feet. The Black King admits defeat and surrenders, the White King, the Victor, frees the Bula from her chains and kisses her.
The following dialogue is translated from pat of the 19th century Croatian text of The Moreska published in Zadar in 1869.
Bula: Leave me alone! Your demands are in vain My charms belong to another man. Sweet Osman, my beloved, If you could see now How my heart is breaking And full of sorrow for you! Although this odious steel Binds my hands, My heart is always with you And yours with me. I shall bear you in my heart As long as I have life. Moro: Stop wailing, my lady I have had enough! It is painful for me to listen When you call my opponent your pride Here, in front of my face But I bear and endure it all For the love I feel for you My dear nymph, I give you my heart For your sweet charms. Bula: If you will But one favour grant me, All I ask Is that you stop loving me. Of far more pain for me Is your unwanted love Than the steel That weighs upon my hands. Moro: I will not leave you Nor will I stop loving you. I love honorably your everlasting beauty. Ask whatever you wish, Even my father's kingdom. Drums are heard. Enter the White Army. Otmanovic: There is no fear in Otmanovic! Osman: Do not trust your sword Without honour and without honesty. Treacherously, you wished to steal My betrothed, by torturing her. Where is your knightly honesty, Where your bravery? How did you dare to enslave her? Let me remind you That the army from my court Is ready to rescue her. Moro: You ask me to return her To your hands. Never! I would rather lose my head. Bula: Ah, you wicked man! Osman: If it were not that I disdain To darken my sword with your blood, And stoop from my might, I should destroy you. Otmanovic: Useless to be angry, Osman, Listen to me. There is no difference Between your two crowns, Both are full of glory I am an emperor as you are! Osman: How dare you compare My crown with yours Me, who reign over all the world, From East to West, and fear nobody. Moro: Ah! I cannot bear Your offenses any more. Fall then! Osman: Now defend, come my army. Bula: From this sharp sword I will willingly receive The wound of death; Come, deadly steel If it will stop their mutual rage. Moro: Console yourself, dear Nymph, I could not bear to look At your dead body in my lap. Now, knight, gather your armour. A fierce war is about to begin. Bula: Then render me to him I my death would afflict you. My affliction is the greatest Because I would rather choose death Than your unwanted love. Osman: To your arms, my soldiers, Let everyone be witness to my honesty, Which is as big as my empire. Now, knight, gather your armour. A fierce war is about to begin. Moro: Willingly, oh knight, I shall be fighting for the nymph. **Together I am ready to fight for the damsel Who arouses my love and noble passion; Willingly, oh knight. **At the end of the 4th Kolap Bula: Oh, knights! Do something to stop your wars Which wound my heart and draw tears of Blood from my eyes. Turn your sword on me And let him live Take my life But my beloved spare. Moro: As long as I have Power in my hands I will cause him strife Rather than lose you. Osman: You are going to lose Either by defeat or by slavery. My strength and courage Will force you to relinquish her to me. **At the end of the 7th Kolap Osman: You've lost all your dignity And now you are my slave for good. Moro: I readily to you my sword surrender It has grown heavy in my hands. And with it I return your Bula. Bula: My dear, sweet love, For whom my heart is longing, Receive the gift of my eternal faith, Take me, your constant love. Osman: Let this chaste kiss Be a reward for all my suffering. | <urn:uuid:e0834d34-7b66-4259-964b-98113cdebdc0> | {
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Changes to your lifestyle can help you manage symptoms and prevent flare-ups or worsening of symptoms. Your coping skills and attitude toward your illness are important factors in successfully managing the disease. Habits to consider include:
- Get regular, moderate exercise.
- Eat a healthy diet.
- Practice stress-reduction techniques.
- Avoid excessive heat.
- Avoid infections.
- Get adequate rest.
Talk to your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Regular exercise can help with muscle strength, balance, endurance, and fatigue. Swimming is especially beneficial. The water helps keep your body cool during exercise.
Omega-3 fatty acids, found in fish oil, are sometimes recommended for people with MS. It is not clear if omega-3s are helpful for this condition.
It is also important that you drink plenty of water. Aim for 62 ounces per day, about 8 glasses. Avoid drinks that cause dehydration , like caffeinated beverages.
Many people with MS notice that stress makes symptoms worse. Consider getting regular massages and participating in other stress reducing practices, such as meditation , yoga , and relaxation. You may also find it helpful to join a support group . These groups can provide emotional support for you and your family.
Heat worsens MS symptoms in many people. The heat may be external or internal. Tips to avoid heat include:
- Avoid hot weather.
- Stay in air-conditioned places during periods of hot weather.
- Do not take hot showers or baths.
- Seek treatment for infections or fever.
- Drink plenty of liquids.
- Avoid overexertion.
Smoking may worsen MS symptoms. It can make MS progress to a more severe form. If you smoke, talk to your doctor about your options for quitting. There are smoking cessation classes, online self-help programs, nicotine replacement products , prescription medicines, and many other options.
When to Call Your Doctor
Call your doctor if your symptoms worsen or if new symptoms develop.
- Reviewer: Rimas Lukas, MD
- Review Date: 10/2012 -
- Update Date: 10/11/2012 - | <urn:uuid:25a04487-4996-4951-898c-0809569e168c> | {
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news & tips
A collection of helpful articles on teachers and teaching
ISTE NETS*S Part 4: Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
This is my fourth article in a series of six about ISTE’s NETS*S (National Educational Technology Standards for Students). The fourth standard is “Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making.”
Critical Thinking, Problem Solving, and Decision Making
Students use critical thinking skills to plan and conduct research, manage projects, solve problems, and make informed decisions using appropriate digital tools and resources.
- identify and define authentic problems and significant questions for investigation.
- plan and manage activities to develop a solution or complete a project.
- collect and analyze data to identify solutions and/or make informed decisions.
- use multiple processes and diverse perspectives to explore alternative solutions. (excerpted from http://www.iste.org/Content/NavigationMenu/NETS/ForStudents/2007Standards/NETS_for_Students_2007.htm)
I don’t know if you’ve been reading all the articles up to this one, but you need to know that I have approached each topic with varying levels of confidence. I concluded that we’re not doing enough to encourage creativity and innovation, we’re somewhat better with communication and collaboration, and we’ve come a long way with research and information fluency. But as I sat down to write this installment, I had a bit of an epiphany. Our success with this technology standard depends completely on how willing we are to let go of the reins and let the students drive their own learning.
I wish I knew the source of the now-famous “sage on the stage versus guide on the side” metaphor for the shift we need to see in education. Oh look, here’s a webpage that claims to know the origin of the saying. I’m not even a little surprised that it came out of using inquiry as a tool for critical thinking. That was apparently written in 1993 about changing college teaching. But we now have the tools and the experience to know that we should be using inquiry and critical thinking with our youngest students as well.
My epiphany had a “part two”: we don’t do this enough because our society and culture have conditioned students to be afraid of failure. Most of my students are afraid to bring home anything less than an A. The grades are what drive their achievement, not the learning. What they cram for a test is gone within weeks, and all they have learned is how to do well on tests. Are they using what they’ve learned? Have they retained anything of value?
My middle school students just finished up a project in which they created short surveys, had fifty or more people respond to them, and then graphed the results for an analysis report. The older students had a proposed independent variable and dependent variable. Their graphs should have helped them determine if there was any kind of correlation between the two variables. I have a speech I give several times over the course of the project, which goes a little something like this: “Sometimes all you find out is that these two things have nothing in common, or if they do, you can’t prove it based on your data. To say otherwise would be a lie, and will cost you points on the grade.” I remind them that Thomas Edison had a thousand failed ideas before every successful patent achieved. I still suspect they don’t believe me.
We are fighting an uphill battle on this one, folks. How can we get our students to think critically, solve problems, and make decisions, when the dialog inside their minds sounds like this: “Which choice will get me the best grade with the least work? Which choice will make my parents happy? How can I still get an A if I start on this project two days before it is due? Which of my friends is on Facebook right now?” We need to encourage students to try things out, with the goal of failing more than they succeed, so that they can come to appreciate that we learn and retain much more from our failures than we do from our victories.
For my graduate school cumulative portfolio, I’ve been reviewing Keller’s ARCS model of motivation a lot recently. ARCS stands for attention, relevance, confidence, and satisfaction. As I look at the fourth standard, it’s clear to me that if we can apply these four principles of learner motivation to any problem-based project, we can achieve all the goals of the standard while also providing a very meaningful, motivating learning experience for students. By allowing them to find and choose a problem to solve, we get their attention, keep it relevant to them, enable them to gain confidence by trial and error, and just sit back and watch them derive satisfaction from their results.
Have your students start locally: what is a problem they perceive in the community where they live and attend school? How can they decide on a problem to solve, develop a solution, and report on their experiences in ways that provide numerous opportunities for decision making? I’d love to hear what others are doing in their schools.
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Several oral history collections at the Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History pertain to various aspects of the Civil Rights Movement in the United States. Topics range from interviews about life under segregation and the desegregation of education to interviews with prominent civil rights activists. These collections explore the collective struggle to end legal segregation as well as discuss individual acts of resistance that normally, without oral history, would not make it into the historical record.
You can browse specific oral history subjects below or click on the Collections tab and browse collections related to the Civil Rights Movement. This guide is also searchable.
The Nunn Center
The Robert Penn Warren Civil Rights Oral History Project is a collection of interviews concerning the Civil Rights movement and the socioeconomic, cultural, and political struggles of African Americans. Conducted in 1964 by Kentucky native, author, and first poet laureate of the United States, Robert Penn Warren, these interviews constituted part of Warren's research for his book, Who Speaks for the Negro? | <urn:uuid:f2b4062a-70a1-4680-a5be-490d867501a1> | {
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He was the son of the famous painter and
art historian Léonor, and was close friend of Stendhal.
Mérimée was also a friend to Empress Eugenia,
a monument inspector, and a senator and France academic,
and was able to enjoy prestige in the court of Napoleon
III. An expert of English and Spanish literature, he was
strongly inspired by them in his works; of which most were
theatrical. His narratives marked the shift from Romanticism
to Realism. He wrote short stories, La venus de L'ille
(1837), Colomba (1840), and Carmen (1845,
that inspired the so named play by Bizet), dramas and the
historic novel La vision du Charles IX (1829). He
went on with his activity of poet and narrator, but he dedicated
himself to historic and archeological studies as well. His
wide correspondence (published only in 1941-61) was remarkable
and one of the most important of the century; his notes
and memories offered worthy testimonies of Stendhal's life.
The Plays of Clara Gazul (1825, tr. 1825)
La Guzla (1827).
The Chronicle of the Reign of Charles IX (1829; tr.
Colomba (1852, tr. 1853)
Carmen (in Revue des Deux Mondes, 1845; as a book,
1846, tr. 1881
La Vénus dIlle (1837)
Letters to an Unknown (in Revue des Deux Mondes, | <urn:uuid:205f7483-1b8f-4bf6-96e5-04906ea56dae> | {
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The microwave gets a bad rap in cooking circles because it tends to make most foods soggy and nearly inedible. However, The New York Times suggests the microwave might be far better at cooking than most of us think, and all you need to do is familiarize yourself with the power button.
We've mentioned before that your microwave is often just as good (if not better) at cooking certain foods than your stove. But The New York Times points out that the most important thing you can do is learn exactly what all the different power settings on your microwave really mean:
A general rule of thumb: the lowest power settings, 500 watts and under, turn your oven into a makeshift dehydrator... At higher settings, 500 to 800 watts, the device can fry and steam. And if you simply want to heat something quickly, use the highest setting possible, as you do for tea and coffee.
Some microwaves might have special settings for fry and steam, but not all do. Of course, most microwaves don't give you the ease of actually showing you the wattage and instead let you choose a level (1-10 or so). Thankfully, it's not that hard to figure out what wattage that means. First, find your microwave's wattage. It's usually on the inside the door or displayed proudly on the front of the unit. Then you need to do some math:
If you want to steam something at 800 watts and have a 1,000-watt microwave, set the power level to 80 percent, or 8. (Level 9 is 90 percent, and so on. Some microwaves also have shortcut buttons like "medium" and "medium high" that correspond to specific percentages.)
For an 1,100-watt microwave, the math is a bit trickier: 800 watts is about 73 percent of the top output, so you may have to round down and set the power level to 7. (By the way, adjusting the level does not actually change the wattage. It simply means the microwave will pulse on and off at its fixed wattage until the desired level is reached.)
Once you crack the wattage code of your microwave, you can treat it just like an oven or stove for certain dishes. If you're looking for meal inspiration, check out The New York Times post.
Creating a Dish, Not Just Reheating One | The New York Times
Photo by Chris Kelly. | <urn:uuid:4392a5f7-ac17-414c-ac57-7d0905a069cf> | {
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Interfaith Dialogue Hindu Jewish
contactus at equalsouls.org
contactus at equalsouls.org
Mon May 11 03:23:18 UTC 2009
"Equality Based On The Soul"
Historically Christian and Muslim faiths have their roots in
so at their core concepts about the soul, creation and God are all
*I would like to address certain linguistic and philosophical
similarities common to both Jews and Hindus, which may open up a
1. Names of God,
a. The most holy of all names of God for a Jew is KNA or KANA,
Rabbi's have slapped my face when I have said this name out loud.
This is considered to be the most intimate name for God in the Old
Testament. Where it is translated, "I am a jealous God, have no other
gods before you", the literal Hebrew translation is, "My name is EL
KNA (KANA), have no other gods before you."
This name expands to KRE ShTN as Rabbi Aryeh Kapln,in Meditation and
the Kabbalah explains
"On Monday, you must intertwine the associated name "KRE ShTN""
b, From a Vedic (Hindu) view point, Kana is also an affectionate
name of Krishna, The pronunciation used above "KRE ShTN" is very
similar to the way south Indians pronounce Krishna.
2. Abraham and Brahma: Very few know that there are two Abrahams in
a. There is a description of how the universe was in chaos until
Abraham appeared. It is said, "Over the whole, there hovered Tohu
(chaos) and as long as Tohu dominated, the whole world was not in
being or existence. When did that key open the gates and make the
It was when Abraham appeared." [Genesis II 4] As explained in the
introduction to the Zohar The Soncino Press LTD--London New York
There is also this reference one needs to ponder It is said, "Angels
are supposed to have no back and four faces, so always to be able to
[Talmud, cf. Ezek i. 6]
b. In the First Canto of the Srimad-Bhagavatam, there is a long
description of how Brahma created the planets, stars etc. It is well
known that the Brahma of this universe has 4 heads.
3. DEMIGODS AND ANGELS have the same function in both trations.
a. The Midrash teaches, "There is no blade of grass that does not
have a constellation (Mazal) over it, telling it to grow." [Sefer
"As commentaries explain, 'God's providence works through the
angels, but the angels, in turn, work through the stars and planets.
As some authorities put it, the angels are, in a sense, like souls to
the stars. Thus, for example, some sources speak of the stars as
having intelligence, but the commentaries note that this is actually
speaking of the angels that are associated with them.'" [Sefer
b. The Vedic conception is that there are many specially empowered
demigods who help manage the affairs of the universe including the
planets of our solar system.
The controlling demigods, although not eternal them selves, function
within various posts that exist as long as the universe exists. For
example, one of the principle demigods is Lord Indra. Indra is the
name of the post, but the particular demigod who occupies that post
during a given period has his own personal name. Just like President
of the United States is a post, but there have been many presidents
4. Durga in the Bible?
a. "He summoned to issue from the side of Darkness a kind of female
moon, which rules over the night, and is associated with Adonai, the
Lord of all the earth. In his days, the moon was magnified and
reached her fullness. A thousand mountains rose before her, and she
blew them away with a puff. A thousand mighty rivers flowed before
her, and she swallowed them at a draught. Her nails reached out in a
thousand and seventy directions and her hands in twenty-four
thousand, so that nothing could escape her. Thousands of bucklers
clung to her hair. From between her feet went forth a youth who
stretched from one end of the world to the other with sixty clubs of
b. The Vedas describe the ghastly form of Goddess Kali, another name
for the Goddess Durga. There is a reference of Goddess Kali in the
Srimad-Bhagavatam in the history of Jada Bharata, when she manifested
herself to protect him. It is stated, "Intolerant of the offenses
committed, the infuriated goddess Kali flashed her eyes and displayed
her fierce, curved teeth. Her reddish eyes glowed, and she displayed
her fearsome features. She assumed a frightening body, as if she were
prepared to destroy the entire creation. Leaping violently from the
immediately decapitated all the rogues and thieves with the very
sword with which they had intended to kill Jada Bharata. She then
began to drink the hot blood that flowed from the necks of the
beheaded rogues and thieves, as if this blood were liquor.
5. (BRAHMAN) EFFULGENCE
a. "The Most Recondite is beyond cognition, but reveals of Himself a
tenuous and veiled brightness shining only along a narrow path which
extends from Him, and this is the brightness that irradiates all.
This is the starting point of all esoteric mysteries, itself being
unknowable." [Zohar IV 146b]
b. The Absolute Truth is expressed as Brahman, Paramatma, and
Bhagavän." [Srimad Bhagavatam.1.2.11] Brahman refers to the
impersonal all-pervasive spirit.
That is the same as the brahmajyoti, the effulgence of the Lord.
6. METATRON AND MAHA-VISHNU
a. It is said that a personality named Metatron cooperates with God
to teach the young. While God devotes the last three hours of the day
to this work, Metatron is in charge during the remainder of the day.
(A.Z. 3b) [Everyman's Talmud, II, III] Regarding the revolving sword
or flaming sword that revolves, it is said "the manner in which the
sword rotates depends on the readiness of the individual attempting
to enter. If he is worthy, it becomes the mirror through which he
perceives, while if he is not worthy, he is burned out and cut off by
the fire of this sword. The one who oversees the sword, preventing the
unworthy from entering, is the angel Metatron." [Meditation and
Kabbalah p 80 Chapter 4, Teachings of Rabbi Abraham Abulafia]
"Metatron is therefore not a proper name at all but a designation
for the whole category of celestial powers performing a mission."
[Origins of the Kabbalah, III, 6]
b. In the creative process,it is from Maha-Vishnu that all of the
universes emanate, Sudarshan Cakra (flaming sword that revolves)
controlled by Visnu similarly punishes and grants liberation.
"Without illumination,nothing can be seen, especially in this
The illumination in this world emanates from the effulgence of
Sudarshan, the original vision of the Supreme Personality of Godhead.
The illuminating principles of the sun, the moon and fire emanate
Similarly, illumination by knowledge also comes from Sudarshan."
[Srimad Bhag. 9.5.7, Purport]
Also there is a series of Visnu expansions each with a chakra.
7. THE LORD IN THE HEART
a. When the soul is about to descend to this world, it first goes
down to the terrestrial Garden of Eden and sees there the glory of
the souls of the righteous, and then goes down to Gehinnom and sees
the wicked who cry "Woe, woe", and find no compassion. That holy form
(God) stands by him until he emerges into the world, after which it
keeps him company and grows up with him." [The Zohar 43b] [KI TAZRIA
b. In the Bhagavad-gita "Yet in this body there is another, a
transcendental enjoyer, who is the Lord, the supreme proprietor, who
exists as the overseer and permitter, and who is known as the
Supersoul, Paramatma." [Bg. 13.23]
8. GURU AND RABBI
a. In Judaism, knowledge is also passed from the rabbi to his
students, but not everyone is qualified to become a student. "As a
matter of law, the sages state that these mysteries 'cannot even be
taught to a single individual, unless he is wise enough to understand
with his own knowledge.' Even in such a case, the complete tradition
was only given over to the head of the group, and he would then only
instruct those whom he saw fit. Only individuals
possessing the highest qualities of scholarship and piety would be
admitted to the circle of initiates." [Introduction to the Bahir,
Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan]
It is also stated that "One who reaches the highest level cannot
reveal it to anyone. All he can do is give over the keys, so that the
can open the gates which are sealed to exclude the unworthy."
[Meditation and Kabbalah, p 79]
b. In Vedic culture, although a guru would speak to whoever wanted
to learn the Vedic science, he was traditionally very selective whom
he would initiate as his disciple. He would only accept those persons
who qualified themselves by humble submission and service. Lord
Krishna states in the Bhagavad-gita, "Just try to learn the truth by
approaching a spiritual master, inquire from him submissively and
render service unto him. The self-realized soul can impart knowledge
unto you because he has seen the truth."
9. VEDIC AND JEWISH CALENDARS
a. The current Hebrew year is 5767. In this calendar, the year in
which Adam was created is counted as year one. If we then count the
Biblical genealogies from the time of Adam, we find that over 5,000
years have elapsed since the time he was formed. However, the
Kabbalists clearly say that other human beings existed before Adam,
and this is even supported in scripture The fifth
cycle was the one that brought life, and this took
place around two and a half billion years ago. Around 974
generations before Adam, or some 25,000 years ago, man developed all
of the physical and mental capabilities that we possess today...but
he still lacked the divine soul that would make him a spiritual
being. God then created Adam, the first true human being with a soul,
'and He blew in his nostrils a soul of life'. [Genesis 2.7] [Sefer
b. The Vedic calendar states that Kali-yuga lasts 432,000 years, out
of which we have passed about 5,000 years.
10.The Ecstasy of Chanting The Names Of God
a. People who have dedicated their lives to the service of God may
at times feel unlimited joy or ecstasy while engaged in prayer. It is
said, "Permute the letters back and forth, and in this manner, you
will reach the first level. As a result of the activity and your
concentration on the letters, your mind will become bound to them.
The hairs on your head will stand on end and tremble. Your lifeblood
is in your heart, and regarding this it is written,
"the blood is the soul" [Deuteronomy 12:23]. It is likewise written,
"The blood in the soul will atone" [Leviticus 17:11]. This blood
within you will begin to vibrate because of the permutations that
loosen it. Your entire body will then begin to tremble, and all your
limbs will be seized with shuddering. You will experience the terror
of God and will be enveloped with fear of Him. You will then feel as
if an additional spirit is within you, arousing you and
strengthening you, passing through your entire body and giving you
leisure. It will seem as you have been anointed with perfumed oil,
from head to foot. You will rejoice and have great pleasure. You will
experience ecstasy and trembling--ecstasy for the soul, and trembling
for the body.
[Meditation and Kabbalah, Treasury of the Hidden Eden p85-86]
b. The stage of bhava, love of God, is manifested by eight
transcendental symptoms, namely inertness, perspiration, standing of
hairs on end, failing in the voice, trembling, paleness of the body,
tears in the eyes, and finally trance. [Srimad Bhag. 2:3:24 Purport]
11. GOD'S BEAUTY
a.The Jewish scriptures describe a vision of God. "His head is a
treasure of fine gold. His locks are hanging, black like the raven."
In both Talmudic and Kabbalistic traditions, one of the
interpretations is that it relates to a vision of God; "when He is
visualized in battle, He is seen as a young man with black hair."
[Sefer Yetzirah Ch 6.1]
b.The Vedas refer to the form of the Lord. In the Srimad-Bhagavatam
it is stated, "the Lord is super excellently beautiful on account of
His open and merciful smile and His sidelong glance upon His
devotees. His black hair is curly, and His garments, waving in the
wind, appear like flying saffron pollen from lotus flowers. His
glittering earrings, shining helmet, bangles, garland, ankle bells,
waist belt and various other bodily ornaments
combine with the conch shell, disc, club, and lotus flower to
increase the natural beauty of the Kaustubha pearl on His chest."
[Srimad Bhag. 2.24.47-48]
williamglick at gmail.com <mailto:williamglick at gmail.com>
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Meiser repeats the "reported history" of the Apollo:
Hicham and Ali Aboutaam readily admitted to gaps in the Apollo's ownership record. From what they were able to determine, the statue was owned by a German family in the early 1900s. World War II forced them to flee, leaving their belongings behind.It could be true. But where is the certified documentation?
In the 1990s, a surviving member returned to the family estate after the fall of East Germany. In the backyard lay a pile of debris. He could only make out the bronzed head of a young man, a sculpted hand, the outline of a lizard.
The man vaguely recalled seeing the statue in the garden as a child, but he knew nothing of its history. Believing the cost of repair would be greater than its value, he sold the statue to a Dutch dealer in 1994, who in turn sold it to another collector, who then sold it to the Aboutaams in 2001 with the understanding that he'd remain anonymous.
And are all the investigations about the Apollo compelling? Meiser reports:
The International Art Loss Register in New York, which tracks stolen art, found no claims on the piece.But, as I have pointed out before, absence from the Art Loss Register does not signify anything when it comes to recently surfaced antiquities.
One thing is clear. There appears to be no evidence that the statue had spent time underwater and it thus looks like the Greek Government's claim that it came from a shipwreck is without foundation.
Meiser then reviews some of the cases of antiquities handled by the Aboutaams, though she does not note an Etruscan architectural terracotta that has been returned from Princeton, or the Italian claim that some of Shelby White's antiquities came from "the Aboutaam family, the owners of the Phoenix Ancient Art gallery". Meiser quotes Neil Brodie who said that he "would be acutely "suspicious" of anything that passed through the brothers' hands". In contrast:
Bennett dismissed the allegations. He'd been dealing with the brothers for years. In his experience, they'd been nothing but forthcoming and ethical.If that is the case, what else has the Cleveland Museum of Art purchased from the brothers? Will the Cleveland Museum of Art make that list public? And, if transparency is important, there is every reason to place this information in the public domain.
Meiser also touches on the Italian Government's request for the return of other items.
During the trial of dealer Robert Hecht, the Italians cited eight pieces Hecht had sold to Cleveland.A much longer list of requested returns includes some material that has been around for quite a long-time (see, for example, Suzan Mazur, "Italy Will Contest Medea Vase At Cleveland Museum", Scoop.co.nz, October 9, 2006). Among the antiquities is the head of the emperor Balbinus from a marble sarcophagus (1925.945; gift of J.H. Wade) and a Roman silver cup from Vicarello acquired in 1966 (1966.371) but first known in 1866. But many of the other pieces have surfaced more recently and certainly after 1970.
Cleveland has apparently refused to comment on the Italian list, and seems to be taking a firm stand.
But talking to Bennett, one gets the sense that the museum won't be quick to wave a white flag. "Our policy is really straightforward," he says. "Anyone at anytime" can protest an item's status. And "If someone has information that proves [the piece was illegally purchased], the museum has an obligation to look at that evidence . . . The Cleveland Museum of Art wants to know as much as possible about the items in our exhibits."But Bennett misses the point. Can the Cleveland Museum of Art be certain that the pieces in question had not been looted? What was the Museum's due diligence process? Are the pieces documented prior to 1970? Who sold them?
At the same time, Bennett claims that all pieces are vigorously researched. Just because a dealer is charged doesn't mean all his deals were tainted. Hecht's case is ongoing.
The Museum needs to make this information available. | <urn:uuid:6e10312f-3993-4fcc-83a0-860ada692d78> | {
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EARLY LEARNING BRANCH OVERVIEW
A growing body of research shows that the first years in a child's life are the foundation for school success. Actions taken before children enter kindergarten affect their abilities to thrive during the elementary school years and beyond. The Early Learning Branch of MSDE's Division Early Childhood Development (DECD) oversees the following early childhood programs and initiatives, which promote best practices in early pedagogy and support Maryland's school reform efforts to help ensure that all of Maryland's youngest citizens will be successful in school and in life.
Click here for the 2012-2013 School Readiness Report.
Click on the links below for program-specific information.
NEW! The MSDE Division of Early Childhood Development has completed a draft of the Early Learning Standards for the Social Foundations Domain. Click here for information about the draft standards and how to submit comments on them. Comments will be accepted through May 15th.
Maryland Model for School Readiness
Enhancing School Readiness for all Children in Maryland
The Maryland Model for School Readiness (MMSR) is a research-based assessment and instructional system designed to provide teachers, families, and the early childhood community with a common understanding of what children know and are able to do upon entering kindergarten. All kindergarten children are assessed in the fall of their kindergarten year to determine their level of readiness across seven domains. This assessment reflects the ability of each child to demonstrate skills, knowledge, behaviors, and interests that are indicators of future school success. The Early Learning Office coordinates and monitors the implementation of the MMSR at the local school level, provides professional development and technical assistance to the early childhood community, and analyzes and publishes the MMSR assessment results.
Click here for an MMSR School Readiness PowerPoint presentation.
Public Prekindergarten/Kindergarten Programs
Maryland's prekindergarten program (Pre-K) is a state-funded program for four year-old children who are from families that are economically disadvantaged or homeless. The over-all goal of the Pre-K program is to provide learning experiences that help children develop and maintain the basic skills necessary to be successful in school. The Early Learning Branch monitors and helps coordinate the local school system Pre-K Program and provides support for public pre-K initiatives.
Maryland's public schools provide a full day kindergarten program for children who are 5 years of age on or before September 1st of the year in which the child enrolls in school.
Judith P. Hoyer Program and Judy Centers
The Judith P. Hoyer Early Child Care and Education Enhancement Program is a statewide effort to help young children enter school ready to learn. Judith P. Hoyer Early Child Care and Family Education Centers ("Judy Centers") provide a central location for early childhood education programs and support services for children birth through Kindergarten and their families who reside in specific Title I school districts across the state of Maryland. Judith P. Hoyer Enhancement Grants are provided to expand and improve the range of community-based school readiness services. The Early Learning Branch monitors and coordinates the growth of Judy Centers and oversees the distribution and use of enhancement grant funds. | <urn:uuid:fc393074-30ef-4fcc-8b99-de99e4c9aa40> | {
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Ratio and Proportion
Date: 7/4/96 at 19:21:20 From: Anonymous Subject: Ratio and Proportion Six men can complete a piece of work in one day while 5 boys would take 2 days to complete the same piece of job. 44 men can build a tower in 5 days; how long will 40 men and 80 boys take to build the tower?
Date: 7/5/96 at 8:37:52 From: Doctor Anthony Subject: Re: Ratio and Proportion From the first statement, 3 men would take 2 days to do the job. It follows that 5 boys are equivalent to 3 men. Since we have 80 boys building the tower, these boys are equivalent to (3/5)*80 = 48 men. So the total workforce on the tower is equivalent to 40+48 = 88 men If 44 men take 5 days, then 88 men would take 5/2 = 2 +1/2 days. -Doctor Anthony, The Math Forum Check out our web site! http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
Search the Dr. Math Library:
Ask Dr. MathTM
© 1994-2013 The Math Forum | <urn:uuid:8ac02b37-5315-4d51-885d-b7c4e97f75ac> | {
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Interpreting Book of Mormon Geography
Reviewed by Randall P. Spackman
Mormon's Map is John L. Sorenson's most recent compilation and discussion of Book of Mormon passages relating to geography. The book is composed of 128 pages of understandable text (including seventeen maps illustrating geographical features mentioned in the text). Fifty-four endnotes (pp. 129-34), a scripture index (pp. 135-42), a subject index (pp. 143-54), and various other resources make this book a compact research tool. The inside front cover contains "Mormon's Map," a blue-and-green graphic resembling the maps of biblical lands found at the end of the King James Version of the Holy Bible published by the church in 1979. A legend listing geographical details (that are indicated on the map only by numbers) accompanies this map. Another multicolored map entitled "Major Physical Features" is placed on the inside back cover, permitting the reader to refer quickly to general topographic features.
Mormon's Map revisits many of the verses in the Book of Mormon that were mined for geographical meaning in the author's earlier and larger volumes: An Ancient American Setting for the Book of Mormon (1985) and The Geography of Book of Mormon Events: A Source Book (1992).1 Indeed, the concluding paragraph in Mormon's Map asserts that "the features found on 'Mormon's Map' as presented in this book are more carefully defined, more logically cross-checked, and more numerous than the criteria in the 1992 work" (p. 128). My first impression of Mormon's Map—the sort of impression one would get in a bookstore after browsing through the book for a few minutes—was that it provided an attractively packaged, readable, and relatively thorough guide for anyone interested in a reasoned interpretation of Book of Mormon geography.
What Is Mormon's Map?
Sorenson indicates that what he has called "Mormon's Map" would, in its ideal form, be a "two-dimensional rendering of the body of information about geography that Mormon possessed in his mind" (p. 125). However, the version of Mormon's map set forth in Sorenson's book can only be "a reasonable approximation" (p. 126) of "the Nephites' conception of their geography" based on "all the information [Sorenson has] been able to elicit from Mormon's words and those of other Book of Mormon writers" (pp. 17, 126, emphasis in original).
Sorenson acknowledges that Mormon's map is "simplified" and "partial" because "even Mormon could not have recalled at the time he was writing all the knowledge he had acquired about the lands he personally traversed" (p. 125). In addition, "Mormon drew on what he knew of geography and shed light on those matters only when it seemed required in order to formulate his account. . . . He wanted to teach moral lessons to future readers, not instruct them about sheer facts of history and geography. Geography was significant for his task at some points, but not central to it" (p. 125). Finally, the map is "incomplete" because it "can be improved, and will be if we discover new points in the text of the Book of Mormon that require change in the map" (p. 126).
Does Book of Mormon Geography Matter?
Mormon's Map begins with a crucial question: Does geography in the Book of Mormon matter? Sorenson supports his affirmative response by discussing five concepts: (1) Joseph Smith's characterization of the Book of Mormon as "the keystone of our religion"; (2) Brigham Young's questioning challenge to engage all our faculties as readers of scripture (p. 1); (3) Sorenson's belief that the promise of the Book of Mormon (interestingly, he cites 2 Nephi 11:8 rather than the more often utilized Moroni 10:3-5) can be more powerfully fulfilled if the reader's understanding and sense of realism are enhanced by a clearly delineated geographical setting (pp. 2-3); (4) the importance of geography ("precious lands") for the working out of the Lord's purposes (1 Nephi 17:23-26, 32-38) (pp. 3-4); and (5) the "limited and unsystematized" state of our knowledge concerning Book of Mormon geography. Sorenson notes that "a superb set of maps" is included in our edition of the Holy Bible and additional maps began to be included in the Doctrine and Covenants with the 1981 edition of those scriptures. "But our copies of the Book of Mormon still lack even the most basic map to clarify the complicated goings and comings reported in our keystone scripture" (p. 4).
I would add a proposition to the concepts discussed by Sorenson. Book of Mormon geography is vital because it helps to reveal accurate information and to establish rational inferences related to the meaning and truthfulness2 of the Book of Mormon as an ancient text. As to geography, the Book of Mormon is Joseph Smith's translation of an ancient document that was originally written by record keepers who perceived events happening in real locations. Book of Mormon geography provides the internal clues from which theories can be constructed as to where such locations might be found. External sources (historical, archaeological, geological, geographical, ethnological, and so forth) may then be examined for corroboration or correction of the theories. For example, in the Near Eastern setting in which Lehi originated, we now have several proposed locations in the same general vicinity for the so-called "valley of Lemuel" (1 Nephi 2:10), and one of the locations appears to contain a river running "continually" (1 Nephi 2:9) from a spring.3 In another example, Nephi refers to the followers of Lehi passing through "the place which was called Nahom" (1 Nephi 16:34) and then turning "nearly eastward" and enduring "much affliction in the wilderness" before finally reaching "the land which [they] called Bountiful" on the seacoast (1 Nephi 17:1-6). Now it has been found that in a setting where Book of Mormon geography would place the location of Nahom, a place called "Nehhm" existed (according to an eighteenth-century map). References in related writings from several centuries earlier mention a pagan god ("Nuhum"), a tribal ancestor ("Nuham"), and a region and tribe ("Nihm"). Most recently, archaeological investigations in the area have unearthed an inscribed stone altar from the seventh or sixth century B.C. (about the time of Lehi) referring to the tribe of "Nihm."4 Such tangible support indicates that the events described in the Book of Mormon were not the imagined novelties of Joseph Smith but reasonably could have happened just where and when the book says they occurred.
Such evidence (whether geological, topographical, cultural, geographical, or environmental) is not a prerequisite for the development of a basic understanding and spiritual acceptance of and loyal commitment to the religious message of the Book of Mormon. The workings of the Holy Spirit are not dependent on educational attainments, scholarly acceptance, or scientific advances. Perhaps these facts are related to Sorenson's reasons for not expressly mentioning this line of argument. His book seems primarily addressed to Latter-day Saints who, in the overwhelming majority, are neither educationally ready nor sufficiently funded to develop carefully drawn theories, to pursue and examine potential data, to recognize physical substantiation, and, where necessary, to suggest modifications to prevailing interpretations of Book of Mormon geography. For such readers, Mormon's Map fills the purpose of providing a reasonably careful guide to current views about the geography of the Book of Mormon.
Nonetheless, Book of Mormon geography is vital to the establishment and management of an efficient and productive process for developing theories about, and seeking and finding material evidence related to, the Book of Mormon. The Lord has declared that the Book of Mormon "contains the truth and the word of God" (D&C 19:26), and he has commanded us to "grow . . . in the knowledge of the truth" (D&C 50:40). Surely that divinely intended growth may involve an organized process for extending our knowledge about the people and geography described in the Book of Mormon.
Sorenson does address the issue of Latter-day Saint church leaders having already settled questions about Nephite geography. He makes it clear that early suppositions of church members about a hemispheric geography ignored the evidence to be found in the text of the Book of Mormon. Sorenson also quotes church leaders and publications to show that no authoritative map or geography has ever been revealed or adopted, remarking that "what logically would seem to be one of the first steps in a systematic investigation—to construct a map of the American 'land of promise' based solely on statements in [the Book of Mormon] (at least 550 passages are relevant)—seems not to have occurred to anyone during the church's first century" (p. 4). The investigative efforts in the second century have resulted in "tremendous confusion and a plethora of notions that holds no promise of producing a consensus" (p. 5), primarily because most writers fail to take the first step of detailed textual examination. Mormon's Map is Sorenson's most recent effort to provide such a first-step analysis for a general Latter-day Saint audience.5
A Comprehensive Process
In the book's second chapter, Sorenson describes the process for developing "Mormon's Map." The starting point, certainly, is the text itself. "Whatever the Book of Mormon says about its own geography . . . takes precedence over anything commentators have said of it" (p. 9). Sorenson advises that we must "intensively examine the text Mormon left us (of course, we have access to it only as it has been transmitted to us in English through Joseph Smith)" (p. 12). This is a premise he also sets forth in The Geography of Book of Mormon Events:
If we are serious about answering the question [Where were the lands in which Book of Mormon events took place?] . . . what should we do . . . ? Well, the question itself has two sides to it. Our goal has to be to construct an equation involving the two sides:
Nephite locations A, B, C, etc. = New World locations X, Y, Z, etc.
We cannot work on the whole equation without first attaining thorough definition of the variables on either side of the equal sign. Equipping ourselves with that thorough knowledge demands different capabilities on the one side and on the other. For the external world, we cannot substitute knowledge of scripture for knowledge of climate, topography, hydrography, etc. Unavoidably, we must have a profound grasp of the elements of the physical and cultural scene in its own terms—without any reference to the scripture. Most people offering [geographic] models show that they have limited knowledge of that world. On the other side, we must know all there is to know about the statements in the Book of Mormon on the matters at hand—without any reference to external geography, archaeology, or history.
Everything done so far in studying the geography of Book of Mormon events [presumably including Sorenson's earlier writings] has been inadequate by reason of incompleteness, if not of real errors.6
John E. Clark addresses the same issue in his article "A Key for Evaluating Nephite Geographies," published in 1989.7 He examines the Book of Mormon passages he thought were important in developing an understanding of an "elemental" geography described in the book. Clark seems to be the first to attempt to treat the geography of the Book of Mormon solely from an internal standpoint and to base his thoughts on "all the geographical passages in the Book of Mormon."8 Because of the importance of Clark's 1989 article and Sorenson's 1992 book with respect to the topic treated in Mormon's Map, this review will refer to these earlier studies. For example, Clark addresses the issue of textual examination as follows:
It has been my experience that most members of the Church, when confronted with a Book of Mormon geography, worry about the wrong things. Almost invariably the first question that arises is whether the geography fits the archaeology of the proposed area. This should be our second question, the first being whether the geography fits the facts of the Book of Mormon—a question we all can answer without being versed in American archaeology. Only after a given geography reconciles all of the significant geographic details given in the Book of Mormon does the question of archaeological and historical detail merit attention. The Book of Mormon must be the final and most important arbiter in deciding the correctness of a given geography; otherwise we will be forever hostage to the shifting sands of expert opinion.9
With the fervent injunction (and leadership) of Clark and Sorenson requiring us to focus our attention on the text of the Book of Mormon as a first step in creating a realistic geography, the next crucial issue seems to be finding all the passages of text on which our focus is to rest. Both authors begin with Alma 22 and quickly build interpretative links to other passages of text. According to Mormon's Map,
the nearest thing to a systematic explanation of Mormon's geographical picture is given in Alma 22:27-34. In the course of relating an incident involving Nephite missionaries and the great king over the Lamanites, Mormon inserted a 570-word aside that summarized major features of the land southward. He must have considered that treatment full and clear enough for his purposes, because he never returned to the topic. Overall, over 550 verses in the Book of Mormon contain information of geographical significance: the account is steeped with information about the where of Nephite events. (p. 9)
Having read Sorenson's analysis, my assumption was that I could readily find the more than 550 verses mentioned by Sorenson if I looked in the scripture index to Mormon's Map. In fact, I found 637 verses.10 Clark used 318 verses to develop his "elemental" geography of the Book of Mormon. In light of this discrepancy in number of verses, I began to wonder how many verses in the Book of Mormon have been thought to hold meaning for someone intently seeking an understanding of the book's geography. More importantly, I wondered which verses they were.
Before reading Mormon's Map, I had been aware of the proposed internal or textual examination of Book of Mormon geography primarily through Sorenson's Geography of Book of Mormon Events; I therefore turned to part 4 of his 1992 study and counted the textual references: 725 verses. At this point, I questioned to what extent the verses identified by Sorenson matched those of Clark. I wondered whether Sorenson's 1992 study and Mormon's Map referred to essentially the same textual passages.
While Sorenson and Clark both started with Alma 22, they went on to examine quite different sets of verses. Of Clark's 318 verses, 85 did not show up in Sorenson's Geography of Book of Mormon Events and 140 verses were not cited in Mormon's Map. Of the 725 verses cited in Geography of Book of Mormon Events, 233 were listed in Clark's paper and 492 were "new" verses. Looking at Mormon's Map, I found that only 178 cited verses were listed in Clark's paper and only 201 verses came from the "new" verses listed in Geography of Book of Mormon Events. That is, of the 637 verses cited in Mormon's Map, neither Clark nor Sorenson had identified 258 verses earlier as being relevant to Book of Mormon geography. Furthermore, of the 492 "new" verses listed in Geography of Book of Mormon Events, fully 291 did not receive any mention in Mormon's Map.
Table 1 below shows the distribution of verses with potential geographical significance cited in Clark's article and in Sorenson's Geography of Book of Mormon Events and Mormon's Map. As the table depicts, Clark's study of Book of Mormon passages relevant to geography relies almost entirely on verses in the books of Alma and Mosiah (86 percent of the cited verses). These books are also vital to Sorenson's Geography of Book of Mormon Events (63 percent of the cited verses) and Mormon's Map (53 percent of the cited verses). Nonetheless, Sorenson's work indicates a capacity to expand the scope of inquiry outside the books of Alma and Mosiah and to find geographical inferences in a wide variety of scriptural contexts. This does not mean that Clark's work is defective; he apparently did not intend to go beyond an "elemental" geography. Sorenson, on the other hand, has dedicated a tremendous amount of time to the study of an internal Nephite map of Book of Mormon events.
|Clark 1989||Sorenson 1992||Sorenson 2000|
|Word of Mormon||0||1||0|
After I eliminated duplications and identified all geographically relevant verses used by Clark and Sorenson combined, I compiled a table of 1,068 verses that have been thought to carry potential meaning for constructing a Nephite conceptual geography.11 It seems to me that if we are going to become conscious of and accept the idea that we are searching for as good an internal map as we can find, then we really need to be reading these 1,068 verses in the Book of Mormon. They would now seem to be the best place to start.
Are the 637 verses cited in Mormon's Map (60 percent of the total) sufficient to develop an adequate internal map? Sorenson clearly believes that his book examines "mainly the most decisive and clearest statements" (p. 15). I do not know who could answer the question in any better manner today. A new level of Book of Mormon interpretative scholarship will have to be reached before our comprehension of the book's internal geography will be more accurate. Today, we can primarily refer just to the somewhat different views of Clark and Sorenson.
A Comprehending Process
In addition to including a comprehensive reading of textual passages, the process of reading the Book of Mormon for geographical meaning must provide us with comprehension of the meanings denoted and connoted by the words in the text. Necessarily, this raises the issue of how to interpret the text. Sorenson identifies several important principles that guide his interpretation of the Book of Mormon text. Clark also sets forth his assumptions on how to interpret the text. At their most basic level, these principles or assumptions fall into four common categories.
The Assumption of Simplicity
Rational simplicity and economy are to be assumed. Mormon's Map states: "We should avoid needlessly complicated synthesis. If two explanations occur to us for solving a geographical problem, the simpler solution—the one with the fewest arbitrary assumptions—is probably better" (p. 14). Clark words the assumption of simplicity as follows: "The best internal reconstruction is one which reconciles all of the data in the Book of Mormon with a minimum number of additional assumptions."12 These assumptions represent Ockham's razor, the "principle attributed to the fourteenth-century English philosopher William of Ockham . . . that one should choose the simplest explanation, the one requiring the fewest assumptions and principles."13 It is the rational principle of parsimony that ought to guide our interpretations of the Book of Mormon text unless, of course, the text itself unambiguously requires a more complex interpretation.
The Assumption of Consistency
In the Geography of Book of Mormon Events, Sorenson presents the assumption of consistency this way: "Minor slips of the 'pen' aside, all the information on geography will prove to be consistent."14 In Mormon's Map, he sets forth his assumption in the form of a conclusion about consistency:
My personal experience with the text of the Book of Mormon is that all the geographical information does prove to be consistent, so I conclude that Mormon possessed an orderly "mental map" of the scene on which his people's history was played out.
. . . Mormon leaves no evidence of confusion about geography; he easily persuades me that he could have told us more had he chosen to do so. Even when particular lands or cities are mentioned at widely separated places in the text, the statements fit comfortably together into a plausible whole. He never hints that he did not understand the geography behind the records of his ancestors that he was abridging; rather, his writing exudes an air of confidence. (pp. 10-11)
Clark also expresses this assumption in his study of Book of Mormon geography: "Assume that all passages are internally consistent and can be reconciled." Clark adds two closely related propositions: "Assume no scribal errors unless internal evidence indicates otherwise. . . . Assume no duplication of place names unless the text is unambiguous on the matter."15 I would add the word unmistakably to Clark's "scribal error" assumption. Internal evidence must unmistakably indicate an error. That which a reader might initially think is a "slip of the pen" (because of an insufficiently examined interpretation) usually turns out to be reconcilable when more evidence from the text of the Book of Mormon is carefully considered.
The Assumption of Uniformity
Both Clark and Sorenson rely on the assumption that at the time of the Book of Mormon, the natural world existed, operated, and was described in ways similar to the natural world we study and understand today. Clark makes this a general assumption and mentions, as examples, "that the locality where the Book of Mormon events took place was not unrecognizably altered at the time of the crucifixion, that geographic details in the small plates and in the book of Ether are therefore compatible with those in Mormon's and Moroni's abridgment, and that the principles of natural science that apply to today's environments are also pertinent to Nephite lands."16 In Mormon's Map, Sorenson expresses the sense of a general uniformitarian assumption with two rather simple propositions: "The expressions 'up,' 'down,' and 'over,' when used in a geographical context, refer to elevation. . . . Nature worked the same anciently as it does today." Sorenson elaborates with examples: "We can be sure that the headwaters of rivers were at a higher elevation than their mouths, and a river implies the presence of a corresponding drainage basin" (p. 13).
Sorenson also confronts the idea that "we cannot hope to attain clarity because of the great destruction that took place at the time of the Savior's crucifixion." Those who suggest such a notion may feel that the destruction "so changed everything that what could be seen of the landscape in former times would not be recognizable afterward. Mormon lets us know that this concern is unfounded" (p. 11). Sorenson then leads us through the textual evidence to conclude that "most of the basic land forms and ecological conditions had [not] been rendered unrecognizable" (p. 12). Hence, both textual evidence and logic require an assumption of uniformity in the way nature operates today and operated in Book of Mormon times.
If one were to assume otherwise, one's geographical theory would have to be categorized as being in the realm of science fiction. A fictional geography may be appropriate for a literary work about imaginary characters, but such a geography would not be appropriate for the Book of Mormon. The events set forth in the Book of Mormon were perceived to have happened by actual Nephite historians and their sources. Such events occurred in real geographical settings subject to the normal laws and processes of nature.
The Assumption of an Uncertain Cultural Comprehension
Clark suggests, without elaboration, that one should "assume a literal meaning" for Book of Mormon terminology.17 Sorenson seems to recommend otherwise. "Ideas in the record will not necessarily be familiar or clear to us. . . . Book of Mormon terminology will not necessarily be clear to us, even in translation, because language and cultural assumptions change. . . . We must seek to overcome any problems this causes us by striving to think, feel, and see as if we were Mormon, rather than supposing that we can read the text 'literally' (which actually turns out to mean 'according to unspoken assumptions of our current culture')" (pp. 13-14). Neither author is consistent in following his own advice, as will be discussed below.
Naturally, if one strives to think, feel, and see like Mormon, one might simply be thinking, feeling, and seeing in accordance with one's own cultural preconceptions (including those one has about Mormon). To actually accomplish what Sorenson suggests, we must know something about how Mormon thought, felt, and viewed the world; to do that, we should know at least the basics about how others in his part of the world perceived themselves and their world. Thus, we must know where Mormon lived in order to discover from all this internal Book of Mormon research where Mormon lived!
The process is circular and moves forward only with the acceptance and incorporation of more completely developed and understood information. As a result of this circularity, Sorenson's assumption of uncertainty in cultural terminology and ideas necessarily leads to a delicate exercise in determining when to rest (one cannot stop entirely) in this cyclical process of interpreting the text, associating the text with a theoretical world, examining the remains of the real world related to such a theoretical world, and then reinterpreting the text, modifying the theory, conducting further research, reinterpreting the text, etc. These are not tasks that most readers want to or can undertake. Hence, Sorenson's assumption imposes a requirement of special knowledge or expertise and turns the process of reading the Book of Mormon for geographical purposes into a process that must fundamentally be a scholarly pursuit.
While I think Sorenson's assumption is a correct one, as a general reader of Book of Mormon geography I also think the assumption is not without interpretative risk (Clark's "shifting sands of expert opinion" referred to above). We cannot continue to rely indefinitely on individual scholars working independently to bring about an improved understanding of Book of Mormon cultural ideas and terminology (whether having to do with geography or otherwise). The need for collaborative work continues to grow. The institutions necessary to produce such work ought to be identified, promoted, supported, and managed. But here I am really taking off on a tangent—an important tangent, nonetheless, that is directly related to Sorenson's work in Mormon's Map.
Sorenson is surely correct that we have to take Mormon's terminology and ideas into account. We must also bear in mind the transmission of the text from Mormon's language into the English of Joseph Smith and from there into the English of our contemporary culture. As Mormon's Map briefly observes, "English has changed between 1829 and 2000" (pp. 13-14). Does this mean we must strive to think, feel, and see like Joseph Smith, too? The answer is yes. Where did Joseph Smith live? How did people think, feel, and see in his culture? How did they express themselves? What did they know of Mormon's world? We must also question how people today think, feel, see, and communicate. Indeed, what do we know today about Mormon's world? Thus, we must be aware of three cultural screens—Mormon's (or the Nephites'), Joseph Smith's, and our own—standing between us and the world of the Book of Mormon. We must assume an uncertain comprehension at our own level, at Joseph Smith's level, and, perhaps to a much lesser extent, even at Mormon's level. All three cultural screens must be taken into account in any serious interpretative process.
My own research provides a clear example of the kinds of issues that need to be examined when attempting to interpret passages in the Book of Mormon and place their meaning into current English language and concepts. Mormon's Map mentions the particular issue of the differences between contemporary and ancient notions about "many days" of travel. "Similarly, we might ask, would 'year' have meant the same to [Mormon] as it does to us? Lasting how long? Beginning and ending when? Composed of what seasonal variations in climate?" (p. 78).
When I began studying Book of Mormon chronology,18 I started with a naive awareness that part of Nephite record keeping included the measurement of years. That's an English word familiar to me and the same word that Joseph Smith used to represent calendrical periods expressed by Nephi in the sixth century B.C. (e.g., 2 Nephi 5:28—"thirty years"), by Mormon in the fourth century A.D. (e.g., Mormon 6:5—"three hundred and eighty and four years"), and by Moroni in the fourth or fifth century A.D., when he abridged records based on historical reports from roughly one to two thousand years earlier (e.g., Ether 9:24—"an hundred and forty and two years").
While Joseph Smith and the vast majority of his contemporaries surely understood the common notion of a solar or seasonal year as the repeating period indicated by the term year, they were not acquainted to any significant degree with ancient timekeeping systems. The idea that ancient cultures may have used a variety of different calendars or years (at separate times or at the same time) probably did not cross the minds of more than a few of Joseph Smith's contemporaries in North America. And if such an idea did cross their minds, what word other than years would they have chosen to describe simply and accurately the meaning of recurring calendrical periods that were significantly longer than a few months?
Hence, an important question for interpreting Book of Mormon chronology is whether one can reasonably conclude that Joseph Smith's use of the word he knew and understood (years) necessarily requires the conclusion that we must understand that word in the Book of Mormon in exactly the same way that Joseph Smith and his contemporaries did or the conclusion that the exact same calendar was used by Nephi, Mormon, and the Jaredites described by Moroni in the book of Ether. My research, which has undergone several interpretative cycles, indicates that in each of the three citations above, the word years describes a period of time measured with a distinctly different calendar and that for most of Nephite history all three calendars were in use by the timekeepers.
Is a "literal" interpretation of the word years, such as Clark proposes, even possible? I would say yes—in a sense it is. Whatever period of time is indicated, it must literally be some form of a year. But several dissimilar types of years eventually must be understood. A "literal" use of Joseph Smith's calendar, which is our calendar (the Dionysian/Gregorian calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in A.D. 1582), must necessarily lead to a distorted Book of Mormon chronology because it was not the calendar used by the ancient record keepers. Nephi, Mormon, and the Jaredites used distinctive calendars for separate purposes. Our interpretative experience can add rich levels of meaning to our literal reading of the word years.
Can I also, as Sorenson proposes, think, feel, and see as Mormon did? Again, I would say yes—in a way I can. But sitting in my easy chair and urging myself into some sort of imaginary late-Nephite reverie is certainly not the way. Once the terminology and ideas expressed in the Book of Mormon with respect to a specific topic have been fully examined from a textual standpoint, then careful study of external sources (including other scriptures) and thoughtful synthesis must be undertaken. That is one of the reasons why Mormon's Map is such a valuable book—a scholar of Sorenson's stature has taken the time and effort to clarify his thinking regarding the textual evidence he has examined and interpreted concerning the Book of Mormon land of promise.
Interpreting Book of Mormon Directions
The assumptions of Clark and Sorenson appear to differ most in their interpretative effect in relation to issues about directions in the Book of Mormon. These issues require the adoption of interpretations that are more complex and uncertain because the Book of Mormon seems, at least on the level of construal undertaken so far, to provide relatively little information about the Nephite directional system. As a result, Clark and Sorenson bring significant external assumptions to their interpretative tasks. These assumptions are valuable for the light they shine on the interpretation process.
Sorenson's treatment of the Nephite directional system in Mormon's Map is for me the least satisfying discussion in the entire book. It is not a step forward.19 To explain my disappointment and to help elucidate the interpretative process yet to be commenced with respect to directions in the Book of Mormon, I will contrast Sorenson's treatment of Nephite directions with the very limited interpretation undertaken by Clark.
In Mormon's Map, Sorenson devotes a short section to Nephite directions. He begins, not with an examination of the text relating to directions, but with textual passages that indicate how limited our understanding of Nephite ideas and terminology might be. "When we examine the text of the Book of Mormon carefully, we can detect numerous places where cultural assumptions that were second nature to the Nephites are quite different than those we hold. We Latter-day Saints may have become so used to 'liken[ing] all scriptures unto us' (1 Nephi 19:23) that we assume we understand ideas in them that actually are foreign to our experience" (p. 78). Then, instead of dealing with such foreign textual matters associated with directions, Sorenson talks about a Book of Mormon execution ceremony, the king's priests versus the church's priests, a royal pleading process, dragons, heaven and hell, and the space above the earth.
None of these topics has anything to do directly with the geography of the Book of Mormon world; so, one might logically ask how they are related to the Nephite directional system. Sorenson continues, "There are many points of similarity, of course, between [the Nephites'] concepts and ours. Much of the thought and experience conveyed in the ancient records relates sufficiently to the symbols and meanings familiar in our culture that we can learn much from studying them. But differences need to be recognized, not ignored. Direction is one such concept" (p. 79).
After such a lengthy introduction, I was ready for the evidence. But instead of focusing on the text of the Book of Mormon related to directions, Sorenson cites external sources to show that directional systems have varied from culture to culture. The Inuit of the north, the Sumerians and Babylonians of Mesopotamia, and the Maya of Mesoamerica are mentioned as having directional systems different from our own. "To those who share a particular culture, their way of labeling [directions] invariably seems 'obvious' and does not require explanation, while all other schemes seem to them strange. One thing we learn from studying this material is that the cardinal directions—east, west, south, north—have not been basic to the directional schemes of most of the world's cultures. What our culture has taught us, that the cardinal directions are obvious, is not true historically" (p. 80).
Finally, Sorenson turns to passages in the Book of Mormon having something to do with directions. He begins by mentioning the obvious difference between terms such as north and northward, south and southward. He then jumps to what I consider an unsupportable conclusion. "By their frequency of using the '-ward' suffix, we can infer that Mormon and his ancestors used a somewhat different cultural scheme for directions than we do" (p. 80). Why is this a reasonable inference? Did Mormon use the suffix or did Joseph Smith, in his attempt to express a Nephite concept? How does frequency of use necessarily require a different directional system? What if the Nephite directional scheme were exactly the same as ours, but the more important geographic areas were not directly north or south of the Nephites? Wouldn't Joseph Smith then refer to northward and southward as a matter of accuracy and fact, rather than to indicate a different directional scheme? Indeed, in an earlier chapter of Mormon's Map, Sorenson uses the term northward to help explain his reason for tilting the hourglass-shaped Nephite lands away from a strict north-south axis (pp. 18-20). That is, his argument about the need for a tilt in the axis of the Nephite land of promise is founded on an interpretation of the Nephite directional system so that it included cardinal directions. Clearly, this matter has not been thoroughly examined, and we have no reason at this point to disregard a directional system based on cardinal directions.
Sorenson then provides a second example that he thinks should lead us to be cautious when interpreting the Nephite directional system. He contrasts the use of the terms came and went in the Book of Mormon. He speculates that the distinction may have something to do with the place where the historian was recording the events, but then he notes that this contrast has not yet been analyzed systematically.
The best that Sorenson seems to be able to muster in this section is an expression of caution. "Beware of making assumptions about meanings that may prove to be misleading because they spring from modern-day assumptions rather than from ancient ways" (p. 81). However, Sorenson has not guided us through an examination of passages leading to the conclusion that a literal reading is not appropriate when it comes to the Nephite directional system. In fact, he acknowledges that not enough work has been done on this topic. While commenting that "directional matters" are often "subtle," he expressly notes that there is much yet to be considered "before we even know all the right questions about Nephite direction systems" (p. 81).
In contrast, Clark's interpretation of the directions used by Nephite authors is, at least initially, "literal" and thus builds on the foundation of textual analysis. Clark specifies his directional assumptions as follows:
I assume that the Nephite directional system was internally consistent and that this consistency persisted throughout the period of their history. I do not pretend to know how Nephite "north" relates to the north of today's compass, and such information is irrelevant for my present purpose of reconstructing an internal geography. I do assume, however, that regardless of what any "real" orientation may have been, Nephite north was 180 degrees from Nephite south, and both were 90 degrees off of east and west. The directional suffix "-ward" is here loosely interpreted to mean "in the general direction of." Thus, I read "northward" as "in a general northerly direction." Finally, all directions are directions from "somewhere." I assume the central reference point was the city of Zarahemla, located in the "center" of the land of Zarahemla (Helaman 1:24-27).20
Clark's initial view of Nephite directions relies precisely on our own culture's cardinal directions. Our "literal" understanding is, and to my mind must be, our first and most unsophisticated interpretation of the meanings associated with words used in the Book of Mormon. This "literal" approach to Book of Mormon directions also happens to be consistent with concepts of direction and geographical organization that were familiar to Joseph Smith and his contemporaries.21 As Joseph translated the Book of Mormon, he seems to have used the directional and geographical concepts familiar to him. This is, and must be, our second level of interpretation of a word or phrase mentioned in the Book of Mormon. In most cases, the first and second levels of interpretation probably will be identical, but this need not always be the case. The English language has changed in some respects since the time of Joseph Smith.
Near the end of his article, Clark describes in much greater detail another related directional pattern when he seeks to interpret Helaman 3:8. In that verse, the Nephites are said to have expanded "from the land southward to the land northward, and . . . spread insomuch that they began to cover the face of the whole earth, from the sea south to the sea north, from the sea west to the sea east." Clark acknowledges that his reading of the Book of Mormon directional system can be literal only to a point. Then another level of interpretation is called for and additional assumptions must be made. Clark refers to this change in interpretative process as requiring an explanation that is metaphorical:
The passage in Helaman may have been meant in a metaphorical rather than a literal way. Explaining away difficult passages as metaphors goes against one of my guiding assumptions for dealing with the text, but in this case I think it is well justified. North and south sea probably have no more concrete meaning than the phrases "filling the whole earth" and "as numerous as the sands of the sea." Mormon waxes poetic whenever describing the Nephites' peaceful golden age of uninterrupted population growth and expansion. This is understandable given the circumstances under which he wrote, and his knowledge of the certain doom of his people. It is interesting that in a parallel passage describing the same sort of population expansion [Helaman 11:20] no north or south sea is mentioned. . . .
I am convinced that the reference to a north sea and a south sea is devoid of any concrete geographical content. All specific references or allusions to Book of Mormon seas are only to the east and west seas. Any geography that tries to accommodate a north and south sea, I think, is doomed to fail. But we cannot dismiss the reference to these seas out of hand. If they are metaphorical, what was the metaphor?22
With this piling up of inferences, Clark theorizes that the north and south seas mentioned in the text are not physical bodies of water. He bases this theory on the slim fact that these seas are not mentioned in one similar passage in the Book of Mormon. Hence, he moves his interpretation of Book of Mormon directions from a literal one consistent with our culture (and Joseph Smith's culture 175 years ago), where cardinal points are the principal directions, to a third level of cultural understanding (a Nephite metaphorical level) that still may have been somewhat accurately depicted by English words describing a cardinal direction system. Clark also notes that this metaphorical interpretation "would not be out of place in the Middle East at the time of Lehi; and it is remarkably close to the Mesoamerican view of their world."23 That is, at this third level of interpretation, a nonliteral theory has been created and compared favorably with what Clark would consider appropriate external cultures to lend credence to his further sense of the meanings that might be associated with our (and Joseph Smith's) cardinal directions. Clark's conceptualized Nephite world, "as part of a metaphor for the whole earth," places Zarahemla at the center and expands outward (in the four cardinal directions) through lands and wildernesses to the four seas mentioned in Helaman 3:8.24
Clark's literal interpretation of a couple of verses that mention (and don't mention) north and south seas, his identification of an interpretative problem, and then his creation of a metaphorical solution or theory are procedurally sound (but not necessarily substantively correct). He then compares the metaphorical theory with ideas from external sources he assumes were related to the Book of Mormon. This is a valid interpretative process, but not necessarily one that leads to an accurate interpretation. From a substantive point of view, one must also note that Clark's problem with the text of Helaman 3:8 is based on his inference from Helaman 11:20 that the north and south seas "probably" had no real existence. Why is that inference "probably" accurate? Are there no other passages in the Book of Mormon that might bear on this question? In how many other ways is the term north used in the Book of Mormon? What about uses of the term south? Is it impossible or just unlikely that there were north and south seas? The interpretative process dealing with north and south seas has actually just begun.
In Mormon's Map, Sorenson seems to throw his required caution to the wind when he interprets north and south seas literally. These seas seem to serve his purpose of tilting the axis of the Nephite promised land to an orientation similar to that of Mesoamerica. He first identifies a difference between the land north (five references) and the land northward (thirty-one references).
There is, of course, a distinction; "land northward" implies a direction somewhat off from literal north. This implication that the lands are not simply oriented to the cardinal directions is confirmed by reference to the "sea north" and the "sea south" (Helaman 3:8). These terms are used only once, in reference to the colonizing of the land northward by the Nephites, but not in connection with the land southward. The only way to have seas north and south on a literal or descriptive basis would be for the two major bodies of land to be oriented at an angle somewhat off true north-south. That would allow part of the ocean to lie toward the south of one and another part of the ocean to lie toward north of the other. (pp. 19-20)
Sorenson makes this argument from a literal point of view because he seems to be seeking to confirm the tilt he wants to give to his hourglass-shaped lands. (Note that in map 1 and all subsequent maps in the text, he does not tilt the lands the opposite way from Mesoamerica, which would seem to be an equally likely possibility under his interpretation of north and south seas.) I could not find any of the maps in Mormon's Map that actually show where the north and south seas were supposed to be. How were they related to the east and west seas? Why would the Nephites have referred to a land northward or southward if they didn't want to distinguish them from other lands that were literally north or south? In other words, isn't the whole concept of Nephite directions founded on a basic four-part directional system that Joseph Smith was content describing as north, south, east, and west? Frankly, my conclusion from this very brief review of Book of Mormon directions is identical to Sorenson's in one regard: so little work has apparently been done on the topic that we do not yet know all the right questions to ask.
Where Does Sorenson Think We Are Today?
I have not attempted to provide a substantive evaluation of the chapters of Mormon's Map that deal with Sorenson's detailed views of Book of Mormon land forms, topography, environment, distances, and civilization. I have no training or expertise in those subjects. Frankly, the task would have to begin with comparisons of Sorenson's inferences and the 1,068 verses identified as having potential geographical relevance. That will take a great deal of impartial (hopefully collaborative) work. Thus, I find myself in the position of virtually every other reader of Mormon's Map (Sorenson excepted). I must rely on my own rational responses to Sorenson's detailed interpretations and those responses include "interesting," "challenging," and "what if . . ." but hardly anything substantive.
To his credit, Sorenson also helps us in this area by concluding Mormon's Map with a chapter entitled "So How Much Do We Know?" In essence, he reviews his own work. He compares the version of "Mormon's Map" he has been able to construct with the widely duplicated maps that early European cartographers produced: "They drew in coastlines on the basis of reports that were not very clear or full from voyagers who had traversed portions of the coast. Where they did not possess direct information, those mapmakers made inferences—guesses may be more accurate. As for the interior spaces beyond the coasts, their information was even sketchier. Still, the maps they drafted were avidly sought by later voyagers and served them well enough. The comprehensive 'Mormon's Map' on the inside front cover of this book can prove useful too" (p. 126).
Sorenson then lists the three uses to which he thinks "a map in this tentative condition" (p. 127) can be put. First, it provides "a model that we can apply to stories from the record to check their consistency and perhaps shed new light on factors [the stories] involved that had not occurred to us before." Second, "we may discern new questions about geography . . . gaps in our knowledge for which we might seek answers by consulting Mormon's text anew." Third, "the map summarizes a set of criteria . . . against which to evaluate proposals for where in the external world Nephite lands were located" (p. 127).
This is a succinct summary of where we are today. "Mormon's Map" is surely "tentative," but we may finally be in a position to begin filling in the blank spots in our understanding through a reasoned process. By combining Clark's "elemental" geography and interpretative process with Sorenson's more comprehensive Geography of Book of Mormon Events and Mormon's Map, we have a solid foundation for a collaborative project to consciously produce a generally acceptable interpretation of the Nephite map described in the text of the Book of Mormon. We have a method for identifying interpretative issues, pulling together the textual passages that have been identified on each issue as controlling, determining various interpretative theories about those passages, and then comparing the theories for simplicity, consistency, uniformity, and uncertainty in our interpretation of ideas and terminology. Will such a collaborative project necessarily produce a duplicate of Clark's "elemental" geography or Sorenson's Mormon's Map I have met John Clark and John Sorenson and admire them both, but I don't think I know anyone who could answer that question today. Why don't we find the answer?
When one approaches a landfall from the sea, the barest edge of land first appears as a dark contour rising up on the horizon. Mormon's Map leaves me with a clear sense that it represents just the first contour of a wonderful, exciting, and "promised" land filled with information and levels of meaning that are yet to be discovered, understood, and communicated. Thank you, Professor Clark, for your attention to the interpretative process. Thank you, Professor Sorenson, for extending that process into Mormon's Map. "Land ho!" | <urn:uuid:d5924cba-8f06-4fa1-81eb-05ff17622132> | {
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(Medical Xpress) -- Cambridge scientists have, for the first time, created cerebral cortex cells those that make up the brains grey matter from a small sample of human skin. The researchers findings, which were funded by Alzheimers Research UK and the Wellcome Trust, were published today in Nature Neuroscience.
Diseases of the cerebral cortex range from developmental conditions, such as epilepsy and autism, to neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimers. Todays findings will enable scientists to study how the human cerebral cortex develops, how it wires up and how that can go wrong (a common problem leading to learning disabilities).
It will also allow them to recreate brain diseases, such as Alzheimers, in the lab. This will give them previously impossible insight, allowing them to both watch the diseases develop in real time and also develop and test new drugs to stop the diseases progressing.
Dr. Rick Livesey of the Gurdon Institute and Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge, principal investigator of the research, said: This approach gives us the ability to study human brain development and disease in ways that were unimaginable even five years ago.
For their research, the scientists took skin biopsies from patients and then reprogrammed the cells from the skin samples back into stem cells. These stem cells as well as human embryonic stem cells were then used to generate cerebral cortex cells.
Dr. Livesey added: We are using this system to recreate Alzheimers disease in the lab. Alzheimers disease is the commonest form of dementia in the world, and dementia currently affects over 800,000 people in the UK. Its a disease that primarily affects the type of nerve cell weve made in the lab, so weve the perfect tool to create a full, human model of the disease in the lab.
Dr. Simon Ridley, Head of Research at Alzheimers Research UK, the UKs leading dementia research charity, said: We are really pleased to have contributed funding for this work and the results are a positive step forward. Turning stem cells into networks of fully functional nerve cells in the lab holds great promise for unravelling complex brain diseases such as Alzheimers.
Dementia is the greatest medical challenge of our time we urgently need to understand more about the condition and how to stop it. We hope these findings can move us closer towards this goal. | <urn:uuid:1e1774d1-80e3-4b12-a740-67bf8d1e8f9c> | {
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Americans work longer hours, take fewer vacation days, and retire later than employees in other industrialized countries around the globe. With such demanding careers, it's no surprise that many experience job burnout—physical, cognitive, and emotional exhaustion that results from stress at work. Researchers have found that burnout is also associated with obesity, insomnia, and anxiety.
Now Dr. Sharon Toker of Tel Aviv University's Faculty of Management and her fellow researchers—Profs. Samuel Melamed, Shlomo Berliner, David Zeltser and Itzhak Shpira of TAU's Sackler Faculty of Medicine—have found a link between job burnout and coronary heart disease (CHD), the buildup of plaque in the coronary arteries that leads to angina or heart attacks.
Those who were identified as being in the top 20 percent of the burnout scale were found to have a 79 percent increased risk of coronary disease, the researchers reported in the journal Psychosomatic Medicine. Calling the results "alarming," Dr. Toker says that these findings were more extreme than the researchers had expected—and make burnout a stronger predictor of CHD than many other classical risk factors, including smoking, blood lipid levels, and physical activity.
Taking a toll on the heart
Some of the factors that contribute to burnout are common experiences in the workplace, including high stress, heavy workload, a lack of control over job situations, a lack of emotional support, and long work hours. This leads to physical wear and tear, which will eventually weaken the body.
Knowing that burnout has been associated with other cardiovascular risk factors, such as heightened amounts of cholesterol or fat in the bloodstream, the researchers hypothesized that it could also be a risk factor for coronary heart disease. Over the course of the study, a total of 8,838 apparently healthy employed men and women between the ages of 19 and 67 who presented for routine health examinations were followed for an average of 3.4 years. Each participant was measured for burnout levels and examined for signs of CHD. The researchers controlled for typical risk factors for the disease, such as sex, age, family history of heart disease, and smoking.
During the follow-up period, 93 new cases of CHD were identified. Burnout was associated with a 40% increased risk of developing CHD. But the 20% of participants with the highest burnout scores had a 79% increased risk. Dr. Toker predicts that with a more extended follow-up period, the results would be even more dramatic.
Avoiding long-term damage
These results are valuable for preventative medicine, says Dr. Toker. Healthcare providers who know that their patients are experiencing burnout can closely monitor for signs of coronary heart disease as well.
Once burnout begins to develop, it sparks a downwards spiral and ultimately becomes a chronic condition, she warns. Employers need to prioritize prevention by promoting healthy and supportive work environments and keeping watch for early warning signs of the condition. Simple diagnostic questionnaires that identify burnout are already available online. Workers can contribute to prevention by making healthy lifestyle choices, such as exercising more regularly, getting seven to eight hours sleep per night, and seeking psychological therapy if required. | <urn:uuid:2484f8a3-44f4-4b0b-8a3a-857914782bc6> | {
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Parkinson's disease (PD) is a movement disorder. The symptoms get worse over time and can include:
- Muscle rigidity
- Tremor at rest
- Slowing down of movements (bradykinesia)
- Difficulty moving and gait instability
PD is caused by a loss of certain nerve cells in the brain. The loss of these cells causes a decrease in the amount of a brain chemical called dopamine. Low dopamine levels cause PD symptoms.
The brain cells may be lost because of genetic defects, the environment, or some combination of the two. A small amount of people with PD have an early-onset form. This type is caused by an inherited gene defect.
Secondary PD has similar symptoms but is caused by several factors such as:
- Antipsychotic drugs, such as haloperidol (Haldol), fluphenazine (Prolixin), trifluoperazine (Stelazine), and chlorpromazine (Thorazine)
- Antinausea/gastric motility medications such as prochlorperazine and metoclopramide
- Cardiovascular drugs, such as some calcium channel blockers and antiarrhythmic drugs
- Valproic acid (a medication used for seizures, migraines , and bipolar disorder )
- Carbon monoxide poisoning
- Manganese poisoning
- Brain tumors
- IV drug abuse contaminated by MPTP (a type of neurotoxin)
- Reserpine (medicine to treat schizophrenia and high blood pressure)
- Insecticide exposure
Factors that increase the chance of PD include:
Symptoms of PD begin mildly. They will worsen over time.
- "Pill-rolling" tremor in the hands
- Tremors are present at rest, improve with movement, and are absent during sleep
- Stiffness and rigidity of muscles, usually beginning on one side of the body
- Difficulty and shuffling when walking
- Short steps
- Slowness of purposeful movements
- Trouble performing usual tasks, due to shaking in hands and slowness of movement
- Trouble speaking (often speaking with a low volume)
- Flat, monotonous voice
- Shaky, spidery, or small handwriting
- Poor balance
- Difficulty with rising from a sitting position
- Seborrhea (a skin problem that causes a red rash and white scales)
- Loss of smell
- Urinary symptoms (frequency and urgency)
- Bowel movement symptoms (straining, constipation)
- Tendency to fall
- Stooped posture
- Increasingly mask-like face, with little variation in expression
- Trouble chewing and swallowing
- Drooling and excessive salivation
- Difficulty thinking, problems with memory
- Decreased sense of smell
- Sleep problems such as REM-behavior disorder
The doctor will ask about your symptoms and medical history, and perform a physical exam. There are no tests to definitively diagnose PD. The doctor will ask many questions. This will help to rule out other causes of your symptoms.
Tests to rule out other conditions may include:
- Blood tests
- Urine tests
- CT scan —a type of x-ray that uses a computer to make pictures of structures inside the head
- MRI scan —a test that uses magnetic waves to make pictures of structures inside the head
- PET scan —a scan that makes images that show the amount of activity in the brain. A special kind of PET scan called a DAT scan may be used in the evaluation of PD.
Currently, there are no treatments to cure PD. There are also no proven treatments to slow or stop its progression. Some medications may help to improve symptoms. Over time, the side effects of the medication may become troublesome. The medications may also lose their effectiveness.
Examples of medicines include:
- Levodopa/carbidopa ( Sinemet )
- Amantadine (Symmetrel)
- Anticholinergics: benztropine (Cogentin) and biperiden (Akineton)
- Monoamine oxidase inhibitors, such as selegiline (Eldepryl)
- Dopamine agonists: bromocriptine (Parlodel), pramipexole (Mirapex), Cabergoline (Dostinex), Rotigotine (Neupro), apomorphine (Apokyn), and ropinirole (Requip)
- COMT inhibitors: entacapone (Comtan) and tolcapone (Tasmar)
Depression or hallucinations may also occur with PD and its treatment. Medicines may be prescribed to attempt to treat these conditions. The drugs may include:
- Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)
- Tricyclic antidepressant (such as, nortriptyline )
- Antipsychotic medicine (such as, clozapine )
Hip fractures are common in those with PD. Bisphosphonates are medications that may help reduce this risk.
Constipation , drooling, and lightheadedness when standing are common and may improve with medications or other treatments.
Different brain operations are available, and many more are being researched including:
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS)—implanting a device to stimulate certain parts of the brain; can decrease tremor and rigidity
- Thalamotomy and pallidotomy—destroying certain areas of the brain to improve tremor when medication does not work (not as common as deep brain stimulation)
- Nerve-cell transplants (research only)—to increase amount of dopamine made in the brain
Therapy can improve muscle tone, strength, and balance. It will include exercises and stretches.
Consider joining a support group with other people with PD. It will help to learn how others are learning to live with the challenges of PD.
If you are diagnosed with PD, follow your doctor's instructions .
- Reviewer: Rimas Lukas, MD
- Review Date: 09/2012 -
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Educator and community activist Charles Gomillion worked at the Tuskegee Institute for more than forty years. As president of the Tuskegee Civic Association, he worked with Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to increase African American voter registration in the South. Gomillion was the lead plaintiff in the landmark 1960 civil rights case Gomillion v. Lightfoot, which led the U.S. Supreme Court to declare gerrymandering unconstitutional.
Gomillion was born in Johnston, South Carolina, in 1900. Although his parents encouraged his education, Johnston’s African American school only ran three months out of the year. Gomillion left home at 16 to attend secondary school at Paine College, a Methodist school in Augusta, Georgia, where he completed high school and some college before dropping out to help his aging parents. After working as a junior high school principal, he returned to Paine to finish college and began teaching at Tuskegee Institute in 1928. Gomillion continued his own studies in sociology, eventually earning a PhD from Ohio State University when he was 59 years old.
In the 1930s, Gomillion attempted to register to vote several times, starting in 1934, and was finally successful in 1939. Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, Gomillion, by then the dean of students at Tuskegee, worked to register voters which prompted the state legislature to redraw the borders of the city in 1957 to maintain white political power. Tuskegee’s municipal boundaries were gerrymandered to create a 28-sided shape that retained every white person within the new city boundaries and excluded all but 12 African Americans. Gomillion brought suit to contest the redistricting in Gomillion v. Lightfoot.
King sought Gomillion’s advice for his book, Stride Toward Freedom and thanked him for his “significant suggestions and real encouragement” in the book’s preface (King, 11). After the Supreme Court ruled in his favor in Gomillion vs. Lightfoot, Gomillion encouraged the Tuskegee Civic Association to work for collaboration between whites and blacks. However, by the mid-1960s, the prospect of interracial politics was met with firm resistance from local African Americans who had been thoroughly excluded for so long. Gomillion left the Tuskegee Civic Association and in 1970 retired from Tuskegee Institute.
William A. Elwood, “An Interview with Charles G. Gomillion,” Callaloo, 40 (Summer, 1989) 576-599.
King, Stride Toward Freedom, 1958.
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Is Morgellons Disease a Physical or Psychological Condition?
Last year, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) launched a study of a curious and controversial condition known as Morgellons disease, which is characterized by creeping, crawling and stinging sensations under the skin.
The project, whose goal is to identify possible risk factors and causes, was prompted by pressure from afflicted people, along with the advocacy groups and Congressmen that represent them, according to CDC spokesperson Lola Russell. Many in the medical community question whether Morgellons is an infectious disease or a psychiatric disorder.
Morgellons has drawn increasing attention since 2002, when a Pittsburgh woman named Mary Leitao launched a Web site describing skin sores and filamentlike structures emerging from her two-year-old son’s s skin. After being inundated with e-mails from people complaining of similar symptoms, Leitao founded the Morgellons Research Foundation (MRF) to raise awareness and secure research funding for the bizarre condition. Since then, nearly 14,000 families have reported Morgellons cases to MRF, although the actual number may be higher, the organization says.
To learn more about Morgellons, which many patients believe is caused by parasites, we consulted Michael Cappello, a pediatrics professor and infectious disease specialist at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Conn.
[An edited transcript of the interview follows.]
What is Morgellons disease?
It is a skin condition that does not have an accepted medical definition. The name itself was given not by physicians per se—at least contemporary physicians—but by an advocacy group. [Leitao borrowed the name from 17th-century French doctors who observed a similar condition in children.]
What are the symptoms?
Patients complain of itching and scratching sensations. They get wrapped up in the belief that there is something beneath their skin—an infectious agent, such as a parasitic worm—that can be extracted. They often try to pull that something out of their skin, which creates open sores. Patients will say, “I scratched and I pulled this living thing out of my skin.”
How do the patients describe these living things they believe are beneath their skin?
Often they describe them as tiny fibers. [According to the MRF, the fibers or "filaments" are "near microscopic" and may be white, blue, red or black. In addition to the filaments, there may also be black or white sandlike granules on or in the skin.].
Have you seen any evidence of these organisms?
Individuals and their physicians have sent me pictures of these filaments and skin samples purportedly containing them, but I have never found evidence of any parasites. Looking under the microscope, the samples look like amorphous skin, like a skin sample from a normal person might look. Some contain hair follicles. And apart from my personal experience, I am not aware of any evidence in the scientific literature suggesting that these patients have infectious agents crawling under their skin.
Do these patients have other signs of infectious disease?
Frequently, the patient’s history and skin lesions are not consistent with what we know about infectious diseases. If, for example, a person had toxoplasmosis [a disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii, often contracted via contact with soiled kitty litter, for example], he or she would have enlarged lymph nodes and flulike illness. Or if a patient had pinworm [a common parasitic infection in young children], he or she would have rectal itching. There are even parasitic infections that cause itching and skin manifestations, but none of them are consistent with the clinical presentation of Morgellons.
If there are no parasites, what else could cause the sores—some kind of skin disease?
To my knowledge, there is no consistent feature of these skin lesions that have been linked to a dermatological diagnosis. They are self-inflicted.
So what is wrong with these patients?
They are clearing suffering. My interpretation is that the symptoms are most consistent with a psychiatric condition.
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The Bulldog is a member of the Non-Sporting group. The Non-Sporting group is the most diverse group and is made up of dogs that don’t fit in any other group. The Bulldog is a muscular dog of medium size with a smooth coat. Females should weigh approximately 45 pounds while males should weigh around 55 pounds. Their head is their most prominent feature. The circumference of their head should measure their height. The legs are short, shoulders are very wide, and the chest is deep with well-sprung rounded ribs. A well-bred Bulldog’s general appearance suggests stability, strength, and courage. In attitude, they are passive yet dignified, and exude kindness.
Bulldogs are lovable and playful in short spurts. They are happiest when they are around people, and they tend to need a lot of attention. They enjoy a loving environment and should not be forced to endure fear or neglect. They are usually quiet and make a good companion.
The Bulldog breed is a friendly breed and will leave with anyone who will take them; therefore, it is best to keep them indoors and in a secure, fenced yard when outdoors.
The short face of a Bulldog causes them breathing difficulties, which are magnified in the hot weather. Bulldogs must be indoor dogs all of the time. In hot weather they tend to overheat. They need to be protected from heat exhaustion. When walking a Bulldog in warmer weather, always bring along ice water. | <urn:uuid:95ca0594-678a-4673-af53-46eea7764f8f> | {
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A System for Estimating Bowen Ratio and Evaporation from Waste Lagoons
- A low-cost system was deployed above a swine waste lagoon to obtain estimates of Bowen ratios and characterize lagoon temperatures. The system consisted of humidity and temperature sensors and anemometers deployed above the lagoon, water temperature sensors, and a meteorological station located by the lagoon. To evaluate the system, data was analyzed from the 25th through 28th June 2007. Bowen ratios showed diurnal behavior near the lagoon surface characterized by negative values during day and positive ones at night. Latent (evaporation) and sensible heat fluxes were towards the atmosphere and the lagoon, respectively for most of the day. A diurnal cycle in atmospheric and lagoon temperatures was also observed. Furthermore, wind speeds above the lagoon were highest in the afternoon. These variations were linked to lagoon temperature stratifications which became more pronounced as wind speeds increased. Temperature stratification at the lagoon indicated increased heat exchange at the lagoon's interface with the atmosphere. During the night, the stratification disappeared and temperatures in the water column were almost identical down to about 60 cm. This behavior is similar to that observed in other shallow water bodies that are fetch-limited. Lagoon heating was driven by the diurnal cycle of solar radiation and net radiation. This suggests that Bowen ratios had an inverse relationship with lagoon heating and its thermal stratification. This also indicates that there was an increase in latent heat flux and evaporation during the daytime. These results are important for characterizing the thermal behavior of the lagoon leading to a better representation of processes responsible for emissions.
Quintanar, A.I. , Mahmood, R. , Loughrin, J.H. , Lovanh, N. , Motley, M.V.
estimation , evaporation rate , waste lagoons , swine , pig manure , water temperature , sensors , anemometers , meteorological data , temperature profiles
- Includes references
- Applied engineering in agriculture 2009, v. 25, no. 6
Journal Articles, USDA Authors, Peer-Reviewed
- Works produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. | <urn:uuid:08122244-cef7-45be-9a44-1bcf31dd6eef> | {
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A southern white rhino at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. Often referred to as the "zoo of the future", the park allows animals to roam freely on 2,000 acres around the foothills of San Diego County, California. The park houses 325 species of birds and 12
The world Wide Web may have been created on this day in 1990 but nature is sometimes too hot for technology. Here a rancher must keep his telephone in the refridgerator because of the heat in Drysdale River Station, Wyndham. Australia. | <urn:uuid:e2ef3aa5-e091-43da-82c0-d36babdd5e7c> | {
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Sunlight is Earth’s most abundant energy source and is delivered everywhere free of charge. Yet direct use of solar energy—that is, harnessing light’s energy content immediately rather than indirectly in fossil fuels or wind power—makes only a small contribution to humanity’s energy supply. In 2008, about 0.1% of the total energy supply in the United States came from solar sources. In theory, it could be much more. In practice, it will require considerable scientific and engineering progress in the two ways of converting the energy of sunlight into usable forms.
Photovoltaic systems are routinely employed to power a host of devices—from orbiting satellites to pocket calculators—and many companies make roof-sized units for homes and office buildings.
Photovoltaic (PV) systems exploit the photoelectric effect discovered more than a century ago. In certain materials, the energy of incoming light kicks electrons into motion, creating a current. Sheets of these materials are routinely employed to power a host of devices—from orbiting satellites to pocket calculators—and many companies make roof-sized units for homes and office buildings.
At the present time, however, the best commercial PV systems produce electricity at five to six times the cost of other generation methods, though if a system is installed at its point of use, which is often the case, its price may compete successfully at the retail level. PV is an intermittent source, meaning that it’s only available when the Sun is shining. Furthermore, unless PV energy is consumed immediately, it must be stored in batteries or by some other method. Adequate and cost-effective storage solutions await development. One factor favoring PV systems is that they produce maximum power close to the time of peak loads, which are driven by air-conditioning. Peak power is much more expensive than average power. With the advent of time-of-day pricing for power, PV power will grow more economical.
Sunlight can also be focused and concentrated by mirrors and the resulting energy employed to heat liquids that drive turbines to create electricity—a technique called solar thermal generation. Existing systems produce electricity at about twice the cost of fossil-fuel sources. Engineering advances will reduce the cost, but solar thermal generation is unlikely to be feasible outside regions such as the southwestern United States that receive substantial sunlight over long time periods.
Despite the challenges, the idea of drawing our energy from a source that is renewable and that does not emit greenhouse gases has powerful appeal. | <urn:uuid:515d3239-de8f-40e7-adc5-50e951db0245> | {
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|World Salt Awareness Week: “Less salt, please!”|
Everyone can play a role in reducing salt intake to improve health
Washington, D.C., 12 March 2013 (PAHO/WHO) — The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) is joining the call for “Less salt, please!” during this year’s World Salt Awareness Week. The March 11–17 campaign urges everyone to help reduce dietary salt, with a focus this year on chefs, caterers, and others who prepare food for consumption outside the home.
“Restaurants and caterers often add excessive salt to foods because they think that’s what customers want,” notes Branka Legetic, who leads PAHO/WHO’s salt reduction efforts. “But people can in fact change their tastes for salt over time. If you gradually consume less salt, you will gradually want less salt. The same is true of sugar. Chefs and caterers can help consumers choose this better path.”
Salt is an essential part of the human diet, but most people consume more than they realize and more than is healthy. Consuming excess salt contributes to high blood pressure, a major risk factor for heart attacks and strokes, as well as other health problems, including kidney disease, osteoporosis, obesity and Alzheimer’s. High blood pressure is the focus of this year’s World Health Day (April 7), and reducing dietary salt will also be one of the key recommendations of that campaign.
PAHO/WHO recommends that adults consume less than 5 grams of salt per day. In the Americas, salt intake averages 12g/day in Argentina, 11 g/day in Brazil, and 8.5–9 g/day in Canada, Chile and the United States.
Most of the excess salt people consume comes not from the salt shaker but from processed foods such as bread, snack foods, “instant” meals, processed meats and condiments. Restaurant foods are also major contributors, hence the focus this year on chefs and caterers.
PAHO/WHO nutrition expert Enrique Jacoby notes that choosing “low-salt” versions of processed foods is not always the best solution, because processed foods tend to be less healthy than fresh foods for other reasons.
“Foods that come in a bag or a box—what we call ultra-processed foods—are things that people should be avoiding anyway,” says Jacoby. “Low-salt versions of processed foods are full of empty calories, low on micronutrients, and often formulated and marketed to make people over-consume. In contrast, real, fresh foods provide real nutrition, satisfy hunger and are naturally low in salt. The best advice is to eat real foods like those your grandmother ate.”
Cost-effectiveness studies have shown that reducing salt consumption at the population level can cut the prevalence of related chronic diseases at a cost of between 4 and 32 U.S. cents per person per year. A Canadian study of 18 Latin American countries estimated that reducing sodium intake by 10 percent each year in 18 Latin American countries could prevent 593,000 cardiovascular events and save some 54,000 lives.
Salt reduction efforts are under way in countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Suriname, Uruguay, and the United States. They include efforts ranging from mass media and educational campaigns to collaboration with food makers to improve nutrition labels and reformulate products to contain less salt.
PAHO, founded in 1902, is the oldest international public health organization in the world. It works with its member countries to improve the health and the quality of life of the people of the Americas. It also serves as the Regional Office for the Americas of WHO.
Regional Office for the Americas of the World Health Organization | <urn:uuid:5aaa54af-c8d3-40e2-b85e-6fde2d134085> | {
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|Search ON THIS DAY by date|
1962: America to sell Polaris to BritainPresident Kennedy and British Prime Minister Harold Macmillan have announced the formation of a multilateral Nato nuclear force after talks in Nassau, in the Bahamas.
The agreement means the United States will sell Polaris missiles to the UK.
The President has made a similar offer to France in the hope of establishing a tripartite nuclear deterrent against the countries of the Eastern Bloc.
Polaris, a two-stage solid-fuelled rocket system, is designed to be fired underwater from a submarine. It carries a half-megaton nuclear warhead at a speed of 17,500 mph (28,160 kph).
The British Government would construct the submarines and develop warheads for Polaris with technical support from the US.
The deal has been described in the US press as a landmark in military and political development in the Western world.
It is also regarded as the most constructive meeting held between President Kennedy and Mr Macmillan.
However, there are now fears Britain will be too reliant on the US for its nuclear deterrent in spite of the fact that the nuclear element of the weapons system will be supplied by Britain.
At the end of the three-day summit, the two leaders issued a joint statement.
In it, Mr Macmillan made it clear that Polaris missiles would be used for international defence of Nato countries, except where Britain's "supreme national interests are at stake".
This phrase is designed to show the British nuclear force is politically independent of the US.
Cuban missile crisis
President Kennedy also sent a letter to France's President Charles de Gaulle offering to sell Polaris as well as provide technical support.
It is hoped this will not only heal the current rift between France and Britain over Mr Macmillan's "special relationship" with the US and Britain's wish to enter the EEC, but also strengthen Nato as a whole and allow France a greater role within it.
If France rejects the agreement, it will still be valid between Britain and America.
The talks come just two months after the Cuban missile crisis when it was revealed the Soviet Union's leader, Nikita Khrushchev, had set up nuclear missile bases on America's doorstep.
In this context, President Kennedy and Mr Macmillan emphasised the need for a unified defence programme.
"In strategic terms, this defence is indivisible and it is their conviction," said the statement, "that in all ordinary circumstances of crisis or danger it is this very unity which is the best protection of the west."
The controversial American Skybolt missile project will be abandoned due its high cost and questions about how long it would have taken to complete.
The first of a dozen Polaris submarines are due to go into service in the UK within five years. Each submarine will cost around £35m each and each missile costs £350,000. The total cost of the nuclear naval deterrent is estimated at about £300m.
The US currently has five Polaris A-1 submarines in service with a range of 1,200 miles (1,931 km).
The A-2 version is being tested from improved Polaris submarines and can reach 1,500 miles (2,414km).
A-3 missiles are due to be ready for use in 1964 and have a range of 2,500 miles (4,023km).
Compared with Skybolt missiles which carry warheads of nearly two megatons, Polaris rockets are less powerful.
But they are also less vulnerable because Skybolts are dropped from aircraft while Polaris submarines are much harder to locate.
Stories From 21 Dec
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|©MMVIII | News Sources | Privacy & Cookies Policy | <urn:uuid:dfb48823-8971-4683-86bc-7bf139b2685d> | {
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Researchers at the University of Washington School of Public Health and Community Medicine have produced new analyses predicting the risk of heart disease among diverse population groups -- younger women, middle-aged men and older Japanese-American men.
The findings are being presented on March 26 at the 39th Annual American Heart Association (AHA) Conference on Cardiovascular Disease Epidemiology and Prevention in Orlando, Florida.
The analyses are based on results from several studies showing that for every nanometer decrease in low-density lipoprotein (LDL) particle diameter or size, heart disease risk increases from 30 to 230 percent, depending on the population studied.
LDL particles carry the "bad cholesterol" through the bloodstream. Smaller LDL particles may more easily become trapped in blood vessel walls than larger ones, possibly increasing risk for atherosclerosis. LDL particle size is determined using a technique called gradient gel electrophoresis that separates LDL particles obtained from blood samples by their diameter and shape.
The UW researchers have analyzed data from three different population groups. In a case-control study of 231 primarily Caucasian women aged 20-44 in Western Washington, blood samples from women with heart disease had smaller LDL size than control women in the same age group. A one-nanometer decrease in LDL size was associated with a more than two-fold risk for heart disease. The relationship remained after taking into account smoking, diabetes, hypertension and LDL cholesterol level, but was reduced substantially after taking into account triglycerides (another form of fat carried in the bloodstream) or high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, known as the "good cholesterol".
"Many people think heart disease occurs mainly in men, but heart disease
is also the number-one cause of death among women in this country," says Dr.
Melissa Austin, profes
Contact: Ellen Liang
University of Washington | <urn:uuid:8a41e861-f493-4c22-9fee-5619170c1f0a> | {
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NASA has released a computer visualization project called "Perpetual Ocean" that presents a data-created time lapse of the Earth's ocean and sea surface currents over a two-year period.
The animation (see below) shows the globe slowly spinning as white swirls curl and move in the water around landmasses. It looks as if Vincent van Gogh had painted into the oceans -- from the Gulf of Mexico to the Indian Ocean to the Black Sea.
Typically, NASA uses ECCO2 to model global ocean and sea-ice to better understand ocean eddies and other current systems that move heat and carbon in the oceans. The end goal is to study the ocean's role in future climate change scenarios. | <urn:uuid:2f1474e5-3ee2-4c33-a54a-89813f786382> | {
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From its crew members to its crockery, enthusiasts have raked over every aspect of the Titanic’s tragic tale. But what about the dogs on board?
There were 12 canines on the doomed ocean liner, three of which survived. Those include a baby Pomeranian, Lady, whose owner, Margaret Hays of New York City, wrapped her in a blanket and carried her into a lifeboat.
The other two dogs to survive were also small, pedigreed pooches who travelled in their owners’ cabins. (All the dogs on board belonged to first-class passengers.) Sun Yat-sen, a Pekingese belonging to Henry and Myra Harper (of the Harper & Row publishing dynasty) lived to yip another day, as did a Pomeranian belonging to Elizabeth Rothschild of New York.
The nine dogs confined in the onboard kennel — where they were walked and cared for by crewmembers — all died. Two belonged to American coal magnate William Carter, who reassured his worried children that their pets were safe as they clambered into the lifeboats. His daughter Lucy was later compensated $100 by Lloyds of London for her King Charles spaniel, while his son Billy received $200 for his Airedale.
The other dogs that perished included two Airedales owned by John Jacob Astor IV and his wife, a fox terrier named Dog, and a Great Dane who was the object of a failed rescue attempt by his owner, Ann Elizabeth Isham. She climbed out of a lifeboat after being informed that her dog was too big to join her and returned to the ship’s kennel. A few days after the sinking, her body was found by a recovery ship, clutching her beloved canine.
The Titanic’s four-footed passengers are included in a new exhibition about Philadelphia families aboard the Titanic at the Widener University Art Gallery in Chester, Pennsylvania. | <urn:uuid:c8eb7cc9-e034-4f01-83a3-6f58ad889390> | {
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Why 2 high tides?
Name: paul dickerson
Date: 1993 - 1999
It makes sense to me why there is a high tide at or about noon during
new moon, but why is there a high tide at or about mid-night as well?
The reason is very simple, though it takes a bit of thinking to hit the
right direction. Consider the Earth-Moon system, and visualise Earth as a
sphere with a layer of water all around it. The water closer to thMoon will get
attracted more than the Earth giving rise to the noon tide. But, Earth will get attracted more than
the water on the other side this is what gives the midnight tide.
Jasjeet ( Jasjeet S Bagla )
Click here to return to the Astronomy Archives
Update: June 2012 | <urn:uuid:179fc92f-8cea-49c6-b6b4-23ed568b253e> | {
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Turner to Monet
Constable, one of the foremost British landscape painters of the nineteenth century, first achieved success with his large canvases depicting landscape and life in and around the Stour Valley, which he exhibited between 1819 and 1825. Such was the success of the first of these large paintings, The white horse 1819,1 when Constable exhibited it at the Royal Academy in 1819, that he was elected Associate of the Academy later that year.2 Working on a scale usually reserved for history painting, Constable redefined the notion of a ‘finished’ picture by giving his large landscapes something of the spontaneous freedom and expressive handling of a rapidly painted sketch.
The leaping horse is the sixth and the last of these large Stour Valley landscapes and one of the most powerful. Constable chose a place called Float Jump, close to where the course of the old river temporarily left the navigable portion of the Stour. It also marked the boundary between the counties of Essex and Suffolk. The jump itself consisted of a wooden barrier a metre high, constructed across the tow path. Built to stop cattle straying, it was low enough to allow barge horses to leap over it. Constable chose the moment when the horse, mounted by a boy, was leaping the barrier, which gave vigour to the scene. He depicted it from a low viewpoint to give the horse and rider a dramatic presence.
Constable’s principal concern was not, however, with the specifics of the location but rather capturing the atmosphere of place and the general feelings associated with experiencing nature. He sought to present nature as something mutable, not fixed. ‘It is a lovely subject,’ Constable said of The leaping horse, ‘lively – & soothing – calm and exhilarating, fresh – & blowing’.3 He wanted his landscapes to create a total experience, including a sense of movement and sound as well as what can be directly observed. In this painting he wanted to convey the feel of the wind, the shimmering of light, the sense of being outdoors. And he extended the experience of the landscape by depicting a moorhen startled from her nest by the thundering of the horse’s hoofs.
Constable’s handling of paint is expressionist and almost abstract. He used palette knife as well as brush, with which he created a visual impression of flickering lights and shadows. The light rises as if the sun is coming out and the storm clouds are blowing away. It sparkles on the trees on the left and gives the pollarded tree in the centre a silvery look.
Constable also carried through his interest in ‘skying’ into all his large landscapes. In saying the sky was the ‘chief organ of sentiment’ in a painting, he emphasised his belief in the expressive importance of the sky, and its ability to dictate the mood of a landscape.4 His skies are a vital part of his compositions and a main conveyor of mood, as in The leaping horse. They transform comfortable, stable scenes into ones of continual change and transition.
1 The Frick Collection, New York.
2 Constable described this work as ‘a placid representation of a serene grey morning, summer’, Graham Reynolds, The later paintings and drawings of John Constable: text, New Haven & London: Yale University Press, 1984, p. 156.
3 R.B. Beckett, John Constable’s correspondence VI Ipswich: Suffolk Records Society, 1968, p. 198.
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A term used with reference to business transactions to signify the investing of money at a risk of loss on the chance of unusual gain. The word is commonly used only when the risk of loss is greater than ordinary business methods and prudence warrant. A coal merchant who sees grounds for thinking that the coming winter will be severe, and that there will be a general strike among coal miners, shows enterprise if he lays in a large stock of coal with the expectation of reaping more than usual profit from its sale. He incurs the ordinary risks of business, he does not speculate. But if a man thinks, on trivial indications, that there is going to be a great development in the opening up of a new country, and buys large tracts of prairie land in the district on the chance of its rising rapidly in value, he would be said to speculate in land. More specifically, speculation is used to designate dealings in futures and options on the Exchanges, especially when the parties to the transaction do not intend any effective transference of commodities or securities, but only the payment of differences between making-up prices and those agreed on. Such time-bargains are universally practised nowadays on the world's Exchanges, and the volume of business done in them vastly surpasses that where effective transfer of securities or commodities is contemplated. The transactions may vary indefinitely in character between bona fide and perfectly lawful buying and selling, on the one hand, and the merest gambling or betting on future prices, on the other.
Some of the ordinary types of such operations are the following. A speculator buys at the current rate a thousand dollars' worth of stock for the account at the end of the month. When the day for settlement arrives, if the price has risen, he is paid the difference between the price at which he bought and the making up price. If the price is lower, the speculator loses and pays the difference to the broker. In the slang of the Exchange, this is a "future", or "time-bargain or a deal in "differences"; and one who speculates for the rise of prices is called a "bull", while one who speculates for the fall is called a "bear". When the operator loses, he may prefer to extend the time of settling the account to the next settling day. This may be done by arrangement with the broker, and the transaction is known as "carrying over". A speculator may purchase at a fixed rate the right to receive or to refuse a certain amount of a certain stock or commodity at a future date. This is called an "option". If he purchases the right either to sell or to buy, it is a "put and call", or a "double option". Of course no objection can be raised against such contracts as these when they are entered into by merchants or others with a view to the effective transfer of what is bought and sold. A merchant or manufacturer requires a constant and steady supply of what he deals in so as to be able to conduct his business. Effective dealings in "futures" and "options" guarantee the steady supply which is needed, and that at fixed rates settled beforehand. Such business methods benefit the dealer and the public as well. They ensure a constant supply of commodities at medium rates. But the speculator does not intend effective transfer. His buying and selling are fictitious; he only pockets his differences if he wins, and pays them if he loses. His methods give rise to serious moral, economic, and political questions, which have been the subject of much discussion.
There is no great moral harm in the practices which have been mentioned if they are considered singly by themselves and in the abstract. Without incurring the reproach of great moral obliquity I may buy a thousand dollars' worth of stock at the current rate from a broker when neither buyer nor seller intends effective transfer of the stock, but merely the payment of differences when the settling day arrives. In essentials the transaction is a bet as to what the price of the stock will be on settling day. And if the buyer and the seller have the free disposal of the money which is staked on the bet, and there is no fraud, unfair dealing, or other evil adjuncts or effects of the transaction, the bet will not be morally wrong. (See BETTING; GAMBLING.) However, betting and gambling are almost always dangerous pastimes and often morally wrong. Just in the same way speculation tends to develop a passion which frequently leads to the ruin of a speculator and his family. The hope of becoming rich quickly and without the drudgery of labour distracts a man from pursuing the path of honest work. The speculator, even if he succeeds, produces nothing; he reaps the fruit of the toil of others, he is a parasite who lives by preying on the community. Moreover, in practice, the event on which the bet is laid by one who speculates in futures is seldom left to the operation of natural causes. When large sums of money are at stake the temptation to influence the course of prices becomes almost irresistible; Hence the fierce and frequent contests between "bulls" and "bears" on the Exchanges. Cliques of one party, interested to bring about a rise in prices, buy the stock in order that the increased demand may produce the effect desired. Often the buying is merely fictitious, but this fact is not known to the outside world. The purchases are published, industriously commented upon by the venal financial press, puffs and mendacious reports are inserted in the papers in order to raise the price of the stock and attract moneyed investors. The opposite party adopts the contrary, but equally immoral, tactics. They indulge in real or fictitious sales and do all they can to depreciate the stock in their favour by fair or foul means. Great financiers with command of large sums of money can and do influence the markets almost as they please, and the small speculator is usually swallowed up by them. Wealthy financiers and gigantic syndicates can often buy or obtain effective control over all the available supply of some stock or commodity and then charge monopoly prices. Such "rings", or "corners", even when they do not succeed entirely according to the intention of the operator produce widespread inconvenience, hardship, and ruin. The result is that in practice speculation deserves all the evil reputation which attaches to the word.
Speculation indeed has its defenders and advocates, especially among brokers and jobbers, who claim that it equalizes prices and prevents the fluctuations which would otherwise be inevitable. Some affirm that speculative dealings have little appreciable effect on buying and selling for transfer. In volume and number speculative transactions are very much larger than those for effective transfer, but the two are conducted separately and to a great extent between different parties. It is asserted that the speculative market is to a large extent separate and distinct from the real market. These two arguments in favour of speculative dealings mutually destroy each other. If speculative dealings equalize prices, it cannot be true that they have little appreciable effect on the markets. As the result of the speculation depends on the actual market price of the security or commodity in question at the time agreed upon, it cannot be said that speculative transactions are independent of effective buying and selling for transfer. It is patent that the various devices to which "bulls" and "bears" have recourse do produce some effect. The acute and experienced men who devote themselves to speculative business, and who frequently have recourse to the methods described above in order to influence the market in their favour, would be the last people in the world to expend uselessly time, effort, and money. The contention, then, of producers and consumers that speculation has a disastrous effect on real business transactions seems to be well grounded. They maintain that speculators denaturalize prices. These should be regulated, and are naturally regulated, by the varying costs of production and by the mutual interaction of supply and demand; but the artificial dealings of speculators tend to fix prices without reference to those natural factors. Hence, producers and consumers are robbed by clever men, who manipulate the markets in their own interests, produce nothing, perform no useful social service, and are parasites on commerce. In Germany the Exchange Law of June, 1896, forbade gambling in options and futures in agricultural produce, and after a severe struggle with the Berlin Exchange the Government succeeded in maintaining the law. A similar law was passed in Austria in January, 1903. America and Great Britain as yet have no special laws on the matter, though more measures than one have been proposed to Congress. The great difficulty of distinguishing between transactions for effective delivery and mere time-bargains, and the ease with which positive laws on the matter could be evaded, have checked the tendency to positive legislation. In England the existing laws against gambling and fraud have been found sufficiently effective to provide a remedy for cases of special importance.
ANTOINE in Dictionnaire de Théologie Catholique (Paris, 1905), s.v. Bourse (Jeux de); BRANTS, Les grandes lignes de l'Economie Politique (Louvain, 1908); Ecclesiasticai Review, XXXII (New York, 1905), 2; INGALL AND WITHERS, The Stock Exchange (London, 1904).
APA citation. (1912). Speculation. In The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14211a.htm
MLA citation. "Speculation." The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 14. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. <http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14211a.htm>.
Transcription. This article was transcribed for New Advent by Douglas J. Potter. Dedicated to the Immaculate Heart of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
Ecclesiastical approbation. Nihil Obstat. July 1, 1912. Remy Lafort, S.T.D., Censor. Imprimatur. +John Cardinal Farley, Archbishop of New York.
Contact information. The editor of New Advent is Kevin Knight. My email address is feedback732 at newadvent.org. (To help fight spam, this address might change occasionally.) Regrettably, I can't reply to every letter, but I greatly appreciate your feedback — especially notifications about typographical errors and inappropriate ads. | <urn:uuid:a413a546-e048-46b6-b029-26527c9e6545> | {
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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/806880
- Older people playing ball: what is the risk of falling and injury?
van Beurden, Eric;
- The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Health, School of Medicine and Public Health
- Increasing physical activity amongst seniors is important for public health, yet guidance is needed to minimise injury risks. To describe the incidence of falls/injuries in a walking team ball game(Lifeball) designed for seniors, a prospective cohort study was undertaken amongst community dwelling Lifeball participants in Australia. Players completed a telephone survey soon after commencing Lifeball (2004) and 12 months later (2005). Attendance and incident records were audited for the period. Subjects joined a Lifeball group with opportunity to play at least once per week. Baseline was completed by 284 players aged between 40 and 96 years (mean 67 years), with most (83.8%, 238/284) female. Of 263 followed up, the average attendances was 25, with 19.3% attending on fewer than 4 occasions and 14.3% attending 52 or more times. Most (93.9%) reported no injuries requiring medical attention. However, 16 (6.1%) had injuries requiring medical attention and their 27 injuries represent an injury rate of 3.3 per 1000 hours of participation. Twenty participants (7.6%) had a Lifeball fall equating to a fall rate of 2.8 per 1000 hours of participation. Falls in Lifeball were not associated with measured predictors (age, gender, falls history, perceived falls risk or hours played). Incident records showed a trip/stumble involving rushing, walking backwards, or overextending (all against rules) as common falling causes. Lifeball is not ‘risk free’ however due to a lack of comparative data it is difficult to compare injury rate to relevant activities. Prevention of injury should concentrate on enforcing safety rules.
- Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport Vol. 12, Issue 1, p. 177-183
- Publisher Link
- Resource Type
- journal article | <urn:uuid:a8b94590-8d9d-49c5-a35b-ff6f515bacca> | {
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Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/923825
- Postmodern ethics
- The University of Newcastle. Faculty of Education & Arts, School of Humanities and Social Science
- In Chapter 9 we saw how Jürgen Habermas's ethical theory epitomizes social work's modern ethical tradition, not least his distinction between values, ethics and morals. For Habermas, since all societies and cultures have values, they assume the character of objective facts that are distinguishable from ethics, the socially agreed-upon normative requirements of a particular group or society about what can rightfully be expected from people in that society or group. And ethics are distinguishable from morals, our beliefs about right and wrong. For Habermas morality is personal and Bauman, the major proponent of a postmodern ethics, agrees, but for different reasons.
- Ethics and Value Perspectives in Social Work p. 120-131
- Palgrave Macmillan
- Resource Type
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The American Sheet Music Collection illustrates the physical and thematic development of sheet music printed in the United
States from the late eighteenth century through the early twentieth century. The collection includes over 3814 items, the bulk of which spans the years 1820-1920. Musical genres included are English and American theatre music, comic opera, patriotic songs, Scottish and Irish melodies,
"Englished" versions of Italian opera, contemporary topical themes (such as the Civil War, including a small number of Confederate
imprints), and modern Broadway music. Subjects and themes covered include sentimental songs, especially courtship and maternal
relationships; songs offered in tribute (e.g. to Washington, Lincoln, Bonaparte; Jenny Lind, etc.); and patriotic songs, especially
of the Civil War. Major and minor publishers are represented. Cities most prominently featured as publishing centers include
Boston, Philadelphia, New York, and Baltimore; there are also imprints from Cincinnati, Chicago, Milwaukee, San Francisco,
St. Louis, and New Orleans. A significant portion of the collection is illustrated which, along with the themes and lyrics
of the songs themselves, provides further insight into the attitudes and values of the American people over time.
In order to quote from, publish, or reproduce any of the manuscripts or visual materials, researchers must obtain formal permission
from the office of the Library Director. In most instances, permission is given by the Huntington as owner of the physical
property rights only, and researchers must also obtain permission from the holder of the literary rights In some instances,
the Huntington owns the literary rights, as well as the physical property rights. Researchers may contact the appropriate
curator for further information. | <urn:uuid:a1b8afe4-b6cf-40bd-b40e-68fdae29a29a> | {
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One of the first modern contactees.
Author of The White Sands Incident.
On July 4, 1950, Fry was working at the White Sands Proving Ground in New Mexico as an employee of the AeroJet Corperation. In the evening he took a walk into the desert, and at one point though he saw the stars disappearing. He soon recognized this occurrence as the approach of an ovate craft about thirty feet in diameter. Fry was taken on a ride in the craft while the pilot Alan told him about the original civilizations of Earth, namely Atlantis and Lemuria (Mu). Fry eventually became the leader of an organization called Understanding.” (Messengers, 192; Nebel, 33-34; Peebles, 120) | <urn:uuid:70b296c0-abe8-47aa-8e6a-aa191f8a4e3e> | {
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GDR Germany - Federal Office for Radiation Protection19.06.2013
|Map||Station List||Status Report||Information||FAQ||Contact||Imprint|
The German gamma dose rate (GDR) network consists of about 1800 continuously measuring, automatic probes. In order to make data available to the public as soon as possible, the BfS publishes without prior examination of the data. Because of the large number of probes it may happen that some data is missing or shows strange signals due to failures or technical problems (see Information). It should be noted that such error can occur and that individual values may be corrupted at single stations, while the neighboring probes do not show these abnormalities.
The time series (averaged over one hour) are updated regularly every 6 hours. In the case of an exceptional increase of the GDR, the probes report their status and the measured dose rate immediately. This alerts the BfS on-call team, who check the values within a short reaction time. Often heavy rain showers provoke an increase of the GDR due to the fact that the derivatives of naturally occurring radon in the atmosphere are washed out and deposited on the ground. This may lead to short-term increases in the GDR visible in the measurements, which decays very quickly again. In any case, all new data is checked on a daily basis. This check takes place before 10:00 in the morning, thus older data is checked. The check ensures that data with technically induced errors are marked by a member of the team on duty. This marked data is not shown in the time series plots.
Note: Averaged (mean) values over one hour, partly unvalidated raw data!
Daily mean values
The time series plots represent the gamma dose rate at the station Dransfeld:
Legend for the time series
The measured dose rate depends primarily on the level of natural radioactivity in soil (terrestrial component) and on the intensity of the cosmic radiation (cosmic component). The site-specific threshold is marked as a horizontal line in the time series. If the threshold is exceeded at two adjacent stations in the network, the management centre will be alarmed to clarify the situation. Typical progressions of the gamma dose rate are summarized in the Information. | <urn:uuid:7fda0a24-1582-43fd-a9a5-bdacf9d88550> | {
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There are just over 800 flags in the collection, making it one of the largest flag collections in the country. It includes the Statehouse Battle Flag collection of 553 national and regimental colors, state flags, foreign flags, military signal flags, commemorative flags, and service flags. The earliest flags in the collection are from the Mexican War era, 1846-1848. The most recent flags in the collection are from the Iraq War.
The pride of the collection is the very first Ohio flag
. The Ohio legislature adopted its distinctive design on May 9, 1902. | <urn:uuid:04ce7c44-2259-4d4f-940c-6791d732cf28> | {
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From Ohio History Central
Youngstown is the county seat of Mahoning County, Ohio.
Youngstown was founded by John Young in 1797 and is within the original Western Reserve of Connecticut. . Young had purchased an entire township from the Connecticut Land Company. He paid $16,085 for 15,560 acres of land. Within a short period of time, ten families settled in the village along the Mahoning River. Youngstown continued to grow and was officially incorporated in 1802.
In that same year Daniel and James Heaton built the Hopewell Furnace. Iron ore and coal deposits had been discovered near Youngstown, and an early iron industry flourished. With the completion of the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal in the 1830s and the construction of railroads beginning in the 1850's, Youngstown continued to grow. By 1860, the population had reached 5,300, and by 1870, 8,075 people lived in the community. By the second half of the nineteenth century, Youngstown had become an important intersection of a number of major railway lines, including the Baltimore & Ohio, the Erie Lackawana, the New York Central, and the Pennsylvania Railroad. As a result of the city's growth, the Mahoning County seat was moved from Canfield to Youngstown in 1876. The population reached 33,220 in 1890.
In the late 1800s, the first steel mills were constructed in Youngstown, signaling the new influence of that industry on the city's development. The new industry attracted many immigrants to the community, including Poles, Italians, and Hungarians. In the early twentieth century, the steel workers began to demand better wages and working conditions. There were a number of strikes in this era
During World War I, the steel mills produced materiel for the war effort. As a result of this increased production, there were a number of new jobs. Youngstown's population swelled so rapidly that there was not enough housing for everyone. When the war ended, a number of workers were laid off. Once again, workers went on strike. They demanded that the companies institute an eight-hour day and a six-day week. In addition, workers wanted extra pay for working overtime. When mill owners did not respond, there were violent confrontations.
By the 1920s, Youngstown was second only to Pittsburgh in terms of total steel production in the United States. At the same time, the industry faced some significant challenges. After the closing of the canal, the city no longer had access to water transportation. In addition, there was a shortage of water for use in the mills. In spite of these problems, the city continued to grow. The population in 1920 was 132, 358 people, and Youngstown was ranked as the fiftieth largest city in the nation. The population reached its peak in 1930 at just over 170,000 residents.
The Great Depression hit Youngstown hard. Because the city's economy relied so much on the steel industry, its unemployment rate was approximately three times the national average during the 1930s. Unions were gaining popularity among workers during this era, but several steel companies in Youngstown had resisted unionization. They were collectively known as the Little Steel Companies. Workers at these mills went on strike on March 26, 1937. Although the "Little Steel" strike, as it became known, was not very successful in the short-term, it led to the creation of the Congress of Industrial Organizations, commonly known as the CIO. The CIO was able to force the Little Steel Companies to accept unionization in 1941.
During World War II, Youngstown's industries once again contributed to the American war effort. Prosperity returned to the city. With the further growth of the automobile industry in the years following the war and its demand for steel, Youngstown's economy continued to grow. This economic growth slowed in the late twentieth century, as the steel industry across the United States began to decline. Cities such as Pittsburgh and Youngstown became part of the "Rust Belt" during this era. Youngstown's population also decreased. According to the 2000 census, the city had 82,026 residents.
In recent years, the city of Youngstown has seen some economic revitalization as new industries and enterprises have been attracted to the area.
- Great Depression
- World War I
- Hopewell Furnace
- Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal
- Connecticut Land Company
- Connecticut Western Reserve
- Iron Production
- Steel Mills
- zzHungarian Immigrants
- Italian Ohioans
- Polish Ohioans
- Slavic Ohioans
- Great Steel Strike of 1919
- Little Steel Strike of 1937
- Congress of Industrial Organizations
- World War II
- Mahoning County
- Eaton, Ohio
- [The Center of Industry and Labor]
- [Mahoning Valley Historical Society]
- [City of Youngstown]
- [Wikipedia: Youngstown, Ohio] | <urn:uuid:f66e737f-7c83-496e-a189-120a85a52392> | {
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Front Page Titles (by Subject) 19th Century French Liberalism
School of Thought: 19th Century French Liberalism
Between the French Revolution and the First World War France produced an impressive group of classical liberal and conservative writers. They focused on the problems of creating a constitutional limited government, the issue of free trade, French imperialism and colonialism, the history of the French Revolution and Napoleon, freedom of speech, the rise of socialism and the welfare state. They differed from their English colleagues in a number of ways, particularly in the French preference to ground the defence of liberty on natural rights instead of utilitarianism, which was increasingly favored by the English. By the time the First World War broke out the French liberal movement had been fatally weakened and it virtually disappeared.
|Frédéric Bastiat (1801-1850)
||Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832)
||Augustin Thierry (1795-1856)
For more information see:
- John Lukacs, “Alexis de Tocqueville: A Historical Appreciation” in Literature
of Liberty, vol. V, no. 1, Spring 1982 .
- Editor’s Introduction to François Guizot, History of the Origins of Representative
Government in Europe, trans. Andrew R. Scoble, introduction and notes by Aurelian
Craiutu (Indianapolis: Liberty Fund, 2002).
- David M. Hart, “Jean-Baptiste Say (1767-1832): An Annotated Bibliography”.
- David M. Hart, “Comte Destutt de Tracy (1754-1836): An Annotated Bibliography”.
- Sheldon Richman, “Frederic Bastiat: An Annotated Bibliography”.
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The oxygen content of Oxy-Water is 5 to 7 times higher than that of regular bottled water and up to 10 times higher than that of some tap water. The Oxy-Water people do not use only use less than perfect reverse osmosis membranes or mere filters to create their base water, they use steam distillation. Not only does distillation remove everything but the water from the water, but it removes any vibrational "memories" as well. I often discuss water as possessing the proven quality of "memory." Filters and reverse osmosis membranes cannot erase the structural memories that the Japanese scientists are photographing in water crystals, but distillation can blank water back to it's pure unrecorded and unadulterated state.
Why Distilled Water? From the Oxy Water web site: "The distillation process removes every kind of bacteria, virus, parasite, pathogen, pesticide, herbicide, heavy metal, and inorganic material, and prepares water to accept and retain the maximum amount of oxygen possible. When ingested, water attracts and dissolves toxins and inorganic mineral deposits stored in our joints, organs, arteries, and nerve tracts, pulling them into our blood to be carried to our excretory organs for discharge. Distilled water is an excellent natural solvent. You should know that the human body cannot absorb inorganic materials available in plain tap or spring water: These minerals need to be converted first to an organic state for human assimilation. This is achieved only after they pass through plants, not water. Simply put, we need the purest water possible to carry what the body's cells need plenty of...Oxygen.
A recent study concluded each hemoglobin molecule in the blood requires 40 molecules of water to transport efficiently one molecule of oxygen to the cells. An inadequate amount of water can cause the hemoglobin molecule to actually repel oxygen. [And 80% of all Americans are estimated to be clinically dehydrated.] Pure (distilled) water "wets" the hemoglobin molecules, allowing them to more effectively pick up and transport oxygen throughout the body. The tiredness many people feel after eating is a result of oxygen being consumed during the digestive process, which diminishes the oxygen available to the rest of the body. "It seems as though some questions have arisen regarding the ability of the human body to absorb oxygen in water. The oxygen in the OXY-WATER is absorbed instantly through the mucosa of the mouth just as homeopathic remedies and nutrients are. Actually, the moment the water touches the inside of the mouth (especially under the tongue), the transference of information present in any substance begins to absorb. I recommend anyone who wants better health to drink OXY-WATER." Dr. Theresa Dale, Ph.D., N.D. Sports Oxygen is critical for muscle function. Proper oxygenation allows the body to produce and supply ATP to the muscles, giving them strength and elasticity. A lack of oxygen (hypoxia) causes the body to produce an oxygen-deficient form of ATP called lactic acid. This reduces the efficiency of the muscles and can lead to cramps, pulls, strains, etc. Unfortunately the popular heavily advertised energy drinks contain ingredients that trigger the digestive juices, causing oxygen to be transferred to the digestive tract to enable digestion. This reduces the amount of oxygen available to the rest of the body, especially the brain and muscles. Other ingredients in energy drinks, such as sugars, cause a short-lived energy burst. The "crash" which occurs after that initial surge can leave an athlete with less energy than if they had not had the drink in the first place. Couple that with oxygen loss due to digestive processing and it is understandable why most serious athletes choose pure oxygenated water. Pure (distilled) water requires no digestion. The distilled water used in Oxy-WaterTM is the absolute purest available and is completely compatible with the hydration demands of the body. The oxygen in Oxy-WaterTM is quickly absorbed into the body from the instant it comes in contact with your mouth tissue, and continues throughout the digestive tract."
The Oxy Water Process
The Oxy Water people start with filtration and ozonation, and then add distillation, and then refrigeration and high pressure oxygen saturation to build their water. These methods are not used by most oxygenated water bottlers because they are more costly, but the Oxy water people feel there is no substitute for quality. They then go even further and use a few more proprietary methods with their oxygenated water building process in order to help keep the oxygen content high in their bottled water. Unlike the products from some other companies, all you get with Oxy Water is water and oxygen. Here is the summation of a study of Oxy-Water presented to The American College of Sports Medicine in June of 2001. Abstract #945 Effects of Oxygenized Water on Percent Oxygen Saturation and Performance During Exercise. A Jenkins, M. Moreland, T.B. Waddell, B. Fernhall, FACSM. The George Washington University, Washington, DC. "Individuals who are highly trained may benefit from the use of oxygenized water to increase percent oxygen saturation during acute bouts of intense exercise and possibly prolong time to fatigue. Even small increases in oxygen saturation may be significant in highly trained individuals and elite performers."
Oxy-Water FAQ From the manufacturer
"Isn't there already oxygen in water?
Yes, but.Oxy-Water has been able to develop a proprietary method of infusing oxygen into water without causing a molecular change. We can cause this physical change in the water without the addition of any chemicals.
How can you prove that the molecular compound of H2O can hold a gas?
The presence of this oxygen has been supported by an independent laboratory that, prior to testing Oxy-Water, did not believe that oxygen could be trapped in water. The oxygen found in Oxy-Water is the same oxygen that you receive from medical personnel in the event of illness. We use NO chemicals to create an alleged oxygen increase.
How can H2O be physically altered to hold more oxygen?
What some "experts" have the tendency to over look (many times to their embarrassment) is that between the H2O molecules there are voids that can be filled with other microscopic substances. With the proper equipment and strictly controlled process, it is possible to remove the "stuff" between the molecules and replace it with oxygen gas. Using a special technique, Oxy-Water is then able to trap that gas between the molecules so that it will be immediately bio-available to the body. This process has been called "oxygenized" to differentiate it from "oxygenated" or "super oxygenated".
How difficult is it to put oxygen into the water?
It is NOT difficult to put oxygen into water. The difficulty is to keep the oxygen in the water so that is available to those who consume it. Oxy-Water's method of increasing oxygen in water has been found to be one of the most stable methods, which can be used. This guarantees the consumer a beneficial oxygen supplement at consumption. Some companies claim high oxygen content at the point of bottling, but are unable to maintain it for any appreciable length of time. Oxy-Water has tested its product after being bottled for 16 months and found it to still contain over 3 times more oxygen than normal bottled water.
Do you have independent analysis that confirms the presence of extra oxygen?
Yes, the Atomic Absorption Laboratory tested Oxy-Water and found the oxygen content at 34 ppm, over two weeks after the bottling date. They were so surprised that in a letter to us they said, "We didn't think it was possible to increase the dissolved oxygen in water but, you proved us wrong". Since then we have improved our technology and are carrying 40 to 45 ppm of oxygen.
>How long will the oxygen say in the bottle?
We have tested no production water that contains more the 20 to 25 ppm of oxygen after several weeks in the bottle, in spite of their claims. The excuse that their oxygen can not be measured should be looked on with great skepticism." | <urn:uuid:04e90758-55b4-4609-8069-49803b528ee0> | {
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Teach children to seek world without Israel
by Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik
Palestinian parents should teach their children that it is their role or destiny to destroy Israel, according to a cartoon in the official PA daily.
In the cartoon, a mother is showing her son a book with a map that includes all of Israel and the PA areas. The text in the book defines the map as "Palestine."
|Text in book: "Palestine"
Mother's words: "This is your bride...
When you grow up you will know the dowry."
The mother tells her son:
"This is your bride... when you grow up you will know the dowry."
March 31, 2012]
The message of the PA daily is that parents either are educating their children or should be educating their children to see their obligation to replace all of Israel with a state of "Palestine." The dowry - the cost of liberating Palestine - is yet to be learned.
Last week, Palestinian Media Watch reported that the Minister of Social Affairs, Majida Al-Masri, said in a speech that Palestinian unity is needed in order to achieve "the liberation of Palestine - all of Palestine," meaning Israel's destruction.
Official PA daily cartoons regularly represent all of Israel as replaced by "Palestine."
In this cartoon, the text reads "the only red line," conveying the message that the goal to have all of Israel eliminated and replaced by "Palestine," remains the real "red line."
Aug. 21, 2011]
See PMW bulletin
Another cartoon expressed the idea that unity between Hamas and Fatah is all that is needed to eliminate Israel. Two identical fighters portraying Fatah and Hamas unity form the shape of the map of Israel and the PA areas. The Palestinian flag is held above the map, symbolizing Palestinian political sovereignty over all of Israel.
March 21, 2012]
Click here to see many more examples of the PA use of maps that portray a world without Israel. | <urn:uuid:6b522219-45ec-4760-bc6e-47968a394d0e> | {
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Posts tagged zoroastrianism
Iranian cultures and arts are rich and diverse, and have their roots in the ancient civilizations that developed as early as the fourth millennium BCE — about 4,000 years before any theistic religion came to existence — across the Iranian plateau.
We have a rich history and culture that we should know about, celebrate and be proud of. Long before Islam came to existence, Zoroastrainism (6th century BC), was the ancient Iranian religion that advocated good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. It survives to More >
A friend sent me a link to Mazda (the automotive company) website today where it talks about the origin of its name. I thought it is noteworthy to write about and share. I quote the relevant section on its name verbatim:
“The origin and meaning of “Mazda”
The company’s name, “Mazda,” derives from Ahura Mazda, a god of the earliest civilizations in West Asia. We have interpreted Ahura Mazda, the god of wisdom, intelligence and harmony, as the symbol of the origin of both Eastern and Western civilizations, and also as a symbol of automobile culture. It incorporates More > | <urn:uuid:cbfd625a-6815-4c01-bd9a-d1a258fc91c5> | {
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Journal for the Theory of Social Behaviour 42 (3):260-282 (2012)
|Abstract||In this article, I demonstrate fundamental weaknesses in the ability of critical understandings of race to produce reliable knowledge of how social actors use social comparisons as a way to align self with ingroup. I trace these weaknesses to two sources: The first is relying on social status as an explanation for race-based assessments, ingroup motivations, and social constructions of otherness. This is opposed to leaning on assessments grounded in social psychological research that links properties of human cognition to the development and maintenance of social identities. The second weakness is an open support for activist research that is often situated in radical multiculturalism. Because critical race scholars openly side with racial minorities’ interests, they tend to establish incomplete assessments of social behaviors and social constructs linked to racial identities in order to maintain their stated political allegiances. To demonstrate these and other weaknesses, I draw upon the theoretical insights of social identity theory which is used to reassess Bell and Hartmann's (2007) critical race analysis of diversity dialogue in American society|
|Keywords||No keywords specified (fix it)|
|Through your library||Configure|
Similar books and articles
Joshua Glasgow (2009). A Theory of Race. Routledge.
Ron Mallon & Daniel Kelly (2012). Making Race Out of Nothing : Psychologically Constrained Social Roles. In Harold Kincaid (ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Philosophy of Social Science. Oxford University Press.
Ron Mallon (2004). Passing, Traveling and Reality: Social Constructionism and the Metaphysics of Race. Noûs 38 (4):644–673.
Amanda E. Lewis (2004). What Group?" Studying Whites and Whiteness in the Era of "Color-Blindness. Sociological Theory 22 (4):623-646.
Ronald R. Sundstrom (2003). Race and Place: Social Space in the Production of Human Kinds. Philosophy and Geography 6 (1):83 – 95.
Joshua Glasgow, Julie L. Shulman & Enrique G. Covarrubias (2009). The Ordinary Conception of Race in the United States and Its Relation to Racial Attitudes: A New Approach. Journal of Cognition and Culture 9 (1):15-38.
Zeus Leonardo (2011). After the Glow: Race Ambivalence and Other Educational Prognoses. Educational Philosophy and Theory 43 (6):675-698.
Michael Root (2001). The Problem of Race in Medicine. Philosophy of the Social Sciences 31 (1):20-39.
Robin O. Andreasen (2000). Race: Biological Reality or Social Construct? Philosophy of Science 67 (3):666.
Douglas McKnight & Prentice Chandler (2012). The Complicated Conversation of Class and Race in Social and Curricular Analysis: An Examination of Pierre Bourdieu's Interpretative Framework in Relation to Race. Educational Philosophy and Theory 44 (5-6):74-97.
Ron Sundstrom (2002). Race as a Human Kind. Philosophy and Social Criticism 28 (1):91-115.
Michael J. Monahan (2010). Liberalism and the Challenge of Race. Social Theory and Practice 36 (4):689-704.
Added to index2012-03-16
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These processes range from complex information processing, through goal pursuit and emotions, to cognitive control and self-regulation.This collection of 20 original chapters by leading researchers examines the cognitive unconscious from ...
Does the unconscious exist? Cultural critic Antony Easthope answers with a witty, lucid, informed "yes" and draws out its implications for the way we live, how we enjoy art, and how we think about people in society and history. Drawing on the writings of Freud and Lacan, he argues that the study of the unconscious is a way of analyzing meanings across culture as an effect of desire. Easthope tests for unconscious significance in an amazing variety of examples, including jokes, (...) Tampax advertisements, Hamlet , Hitchcock's Psycho , the life and death of Princess Di, Terminator 2 , Bob Geldof's autobiography, and the film Titanic. (shrink)
This book attempts to answer the question: How much of what we do is the result of conscious and deliberate decisions and how much originates in unconscious, unthought out, automatic directives? The answer is that far more than what we might imagine falls into the second category. We tend to assume responsibility for our unconsciously determined thoughts and actions, and even though we do not know why we think and act the way we do, we make up reasons for it, (...) which we truly believe. Each one of us is really two people in the same body, who in many respects, function quite independently of each other, and yet somehow manage to get along with things, while the other, the outer brain, serves as the spokesperson for both of them. The inner brain is the source of our objectives and generates the emotions that keep us on track in our attainment of them. This book explores the strange relationship between these two parts of us across a spectrum of mental processes including, memory, language, problem-solving, dreams, delusions and hallucinations, and more complex pursuits sucs as the arts, humor and religion. (shrink)
Machine generated contents note: Introduction: the historiography of the unconscious; Part I. The Subject Before the Unconscious: 1. A general science of the I: Fichte and the crisis of self-identification; 2. Natural autonomy: Schelling and the divisions of freedom; Part II. The Romantic Unconscious: 3. Divining the individual: towards a metaphysics of the unconscious; 4. The historical unconscious; 5. Post-idealism and the Romantic psyche; Part III. The Psychoanalytic Unconscious: 6. Freud: the Geist in the machine; 7. The liberal unconscious; Conclusion.
Alasdair MacIntyre argues that Freud's conception of the unconscious is complicated by his tendency to use the term in two different ways. MacIntyre shows how Freud uses the term "unconscious" both as a straightforward description of psychological phenomena, and as an evaluative notion to explain the links between childhood events and adult behavior. This clarification helps to shed light on the many misunderstandings of psychoanalysis, and to separate out what is and what is not of lasting value in Freud's account (...) of the unconscious. This new edition includes a substantial new preface by the author, in which he discusses repression, determinism, transference, and "practical rationality," and offers a rare comparison of Aristotle and Lacan on the concept of desire. MacIntyre takes the opportunity to reflect both on the reviews and criticisms of the first edition and also on his own philosophical stance. (shrink)
The Heart of Judgment explores the nature, historical significance, and contemporary relevance of practical wisdom. Primarily a work in moral and political thought, it also relies extensively on the latest research in cognitive neuroscience to confirm and extend our understanding of the faculty of judgment. Ever since the ancient Greeks first discussed practical wisdom, the faculty of judgment has been an important topic for philosophers and political theorists. It remains one of the virtues most demanded of our public officials. The (...) greater the liberties and responsibilities accorded to citizens in democratic regimes, the more the health and welfare of society rest upon their exercise of good judgment. While giving full credit to the roles played by reason and deliberation in good judgment, the book underlines the central importance of intuition, emotion, and worldly experience. (shrink)
Over the past two decades, a new picture of the unconscious has emerged from a variety of disciplines that are broadly part of cognitive science. According to this picture, unconscious processes seem to be capable of doing many things that were thought to require intention, deliberation, and conscious awareness. Moreover, they accomplish these things without the conflict and drama of the psychoanalytic unconscious. These processes range from complex information processing, through goal pursuit and emotions, to cognitive control and self-regulation. This (...) collection of 20 original chapters by leading researchers examines the unconscious from social, cognitive, and neuroscientific viewpoints, presenting some of the most important developments at the heart of this new picture of the unconscious. The New Unconscious will be an important resource on the unconscious for researchers in psychology, cognitive science and neuroscience. (shrink)
Eric Rayner, a psychoanalyst in private practice, has written the first clear introduction to Matte-Blanco's key concepts for psychotherapists and psychoanalysts. While Matte-Blanco's theories on the structure of the unconscious and the way in which it operates are generally recognized to be the most original since those of Freud, many people find his use of terminology from mathematics and logic difficult to understand. In this book, Rayner sets out the central ideas and then shows, with examples, how they relate to (...) clinical practice. He also describes how the ideas are related to those of people in other disciplines--mathematics, logic, psychology (specifically Piaget), and anthropology, among others. Drawing on the work of a group of people who have been inspired by Matte-Blanco's thinking to extend their own ideas and test them out in the consulting room, this book reveals the significance of Matte-Blanco's thought for future research. (shrink)
The sections on Schelling, Eschenmayer, and Schopenhauer in Chapters VI and IX appear in the 1992 Schopenhauer Jahrbuch as “From the World-Soul to the Will: The natural philosophy of Schelling, Eschenmayer, and Schopenhauer”.
What if you could, like a diamond forged through heat and pressure, transform every painful, scary, and stressful experience in your life into one that is meaningful, courageous, and inspiring? What if you were provided with the tools that allow you to tap and manifest the true power that exists within you--the power to shine? Are you ready to discover your path to peace? In this fascinating book, Dr. Darren Weissman shares ancient spiritual wisdom fused with a modern-day understanding of (...) the mind's relationship to biology and behavior that has implications not only for your health, but for the well-being of the entire planet. You'll learn how to use The LifeLine Technique Ô --a philosophy and technology for awakening your infinite potential for healing and wholeness--and share the experiences of scores of people whose lives have been forever changed as a result. Conscious visionaries pronounced more than 40 years ago that the road to peace is paved with the power of love. Dr. Weissman's book provides the steps you can use to learn to walk that path, and it will help you understand why it is your moral imperative to choose love over fear. (shrink)
Beginning with Emerson and the Transcendentalists, Americans have tended to view the unconscious as the psychological faculty through which individuals might come to experience a higher spiritual realm. On the whole, American psychologists see the unconscious as a symbol of harmony, restoration and revitalization, imbuing it with the capacity to restore peace between the individual and an immanent spiritual power. Americans and the Unconscious studies the symbolic dimensions of American psychology, tracing the historical development of the concept of the unconscious (...) from its early formulations in nineteenth-century theology through its elaboration by the major schools of contemporary academic psychology. In the process, it provides portraits of William James, early American "Freudians" and the "Neo-Freudians," New Psychology, and humanistic psychologies. Fuller draws attention to the ways in which the concept of the unconscious--while originating in the world of scientific discourse--symbolizes philosophical and religious interpretations of human nature, and shows how the "American unconscious" helps locate the development of psychological ideas within the broader contexts of American religious and intellectual history. (shrink)
Ever since the publication of his first book, The Spectrum of Consciousness, written when he was twenty-three, Ken Wilber has been identified as the most comprehensive philosophical thinker of our times. This introductory sampler, designed to acquaint newcomers with his work, contains brief passages from his most popular books, ranging over a variety of topics, including levels of consciousness, mystical experience, meditation practice, death, the perennial philosophy, and Wilber's integral approach to reality, integrating matter, body, mind, soul, and spirit. Here (...) is Wilber's writing at its most reader-friendly, discussing essential ideas of the world's great psychological, philosophical, and spiritual traditions in language that is lucid, engaging, and inspirational. (shrink)
Preface to the second edition -- Preface to the first edition -- Psycho-mythology : meschugge? -- Dreams and fantasies : manifestations 0f the mythological unconscious -- African-American dreaming and the "lion in the path" : racism and the cultural unconscious -- "Hapless" the Centaur : an archetypal image, amplification, and active imagination -- Pegasus and visionary experience : from the white winged horse to the "flying red horse" -- The bull, the labyrinth, and the Minotaur : from archaeology to "archetypology" (...) (with an apology to Ariadne) -- Griffins, gold, and dinosaurs : mythology and "fantastic paleontology" -- Dreaming of a unicorn : a comparison of Lacanian and Jungian interpretation -- "Destiny" and the call to heroism : a dream of vocation and individuation -- List of publications by Michael Vannoy Adams. (shrink)
Since Freud, psychoanalysis has always concerned itself with questions of art, creativity, politics, and war. This collection of essays from leading writers on psychoanalysis explores questions of culture through a close dialogue between psychoanalytic clinical and academic traditions. Culture and the Unconscious is a major contribution to these debates. With accessible introductions to its central themes, the book opens up conversations between the spheres of art, academia and psychoanalysis, revealing points of commonality and divergence.
Elle s'efforce d'abord de reconstruire et de restituer, en la systématisant, la sociologie wébérienne du paradoxe des conséquences à partir des éléments dispersés dans l'œuvre du maître de la sociologie allemande.
The beginnings of unity and order in living things, by C. M. Child.--On the structure of the unconscious, by K. Koffka.--The genesis of social reactions in the young child, by J. E. Anderson.--The unconscious of the behaviorist, by J. B. Watson.--The unconscious patterning of behavior in society by E. Sapir.--The configurations of personality, by W. I. Thomas.--The prenatal and early postnatal phenomena of consciousness, by M. E. Kenworthy.--Values in social psychology, by F. L. Wells.--Higher levels of mental integration, by W. (...) A. White. (shrink)
A psychoanalytic psychology and art of unconscious emotion -- An inward turn : Vienna 1900 -- Exploring the truths hidden beneath the surface : origins of a scientific medicine -- Viennese artists, writers, and scientists meet in the Zuckerkandl Salon -- Exploring the brain beneath the skull : origins of a scientific psychiatry -- Exploring mind together with the brain : the development of a brain-based psychology -- Exploring mind apart from the brain : origins of a dynamic psychology -- (...) Searching for inner meaning in literature -- The depiction of modern women's sexuality in art -- The depiction of the psyche in art -- The fusion of eroticism, aggression, and anxiety in art -- A cognitive psychology of visual perception and emotional response to art -- Discovering the beholder's share -- Observation is also invention : the brain as a creativity machine -- The emergence of twentieth-century painting -- A biological science of the beholder's visual response to art -- The brain's processing of visual images -- Deconstruction of the visual image: the building blocks of form perception -- Reconstruction of the world we see : vision is information processing -- High-level vision and the brain's perception of face, hands, and body -- Top-down processing of information : using memory to find meaning -- The deconstruction of emotion : the search for emotional primitives -- The artistic depiction of emotion through the face, hands, body, and color -- Unconscious emotions, conscious feelings, and their bodily expression -- A biological science of the beholder's emotional response to art -- Top-down control of cognitive emotional information -- The biological response to beauty and ugliness in art -- The beholder's share : entering the private theater of another's mind -- The biology of the beholder's share : modeling other people's minds -- How the brain regulates emotion and empathy -- An evolving dialogue between visual art and science -- Artistic universals and the austrian expressionists -- The creative brain -- The cognitive unconscious and the creative brain -- Brain circuits for creativity -- Talent, creativity, and brain development -- Knowing ourselves : the new dialogue between art and science. (shrink)
Introduction -- Tending the dark fire: the Boehmian notion of drive -- The night-side of nature: the early Schellingian unconscious -- The speculative psychology of dissociation: the later Schellingian unconscious -- Schellingian libido theory.
Four essays on the psychological aspects of art. A study of Leonardo treats the work of art, and art itself, not as ends in themselves, but rather as instruments of the artist's inner situation. Two other essays discuss the relation of art to its epoch and specifically the relation of modern art to our own time. An essay on Chagall views this artist in the context of the problems explored in the other studies.
Neurobiological and cognitive models of unconscious information processing suggest that subconscious threat detection can lead to cognitive misinterpretations and false alarms, while conscious processing is assumed to be perceptually and conceptually accurate and unambiguous. Furthermore, clinical theories suggest that pathological anxiety results from a crude preattentive warning system predominating over more sophisticated and controlled modes of processing. We investigated the hypothesis that subconscious detection of threat in a cognitive task is reflected by enhanced ''false signal'' detection rather than by selectively (...) enhanced discrimination of threat items in 30 patients with panic disorder and 30 healthy controls. We presented a tachistoscopic word-nonword discrimination task and a subsequent recognition task and analyzed the data by means of process-dissociation procedures. In line with our expectations, subjects of both groups showed more false signal detection to threat than to neutral stimuli as indicated by an enhanced response bias, whereas indices of discriminative sensitivity did not show this effect. In addition, patients with panic disorder showed a generally enhanced response bias in comparison to healthy controls. They also seemed to have processed the stimuli less elaborately and less differentially. Results are consistent with the assumption that subconscious threat detection can lead to misrepresentations of stimulus significance and that pathological anxiety is characterized by a hyperactive preattentive alarm system that is insufficiently controlled by higher cognitive processes. (shrink)
Puccetti argues that Dennett's views on split brains are defective. First, we criticise Puccetti's argument. Then we distinguish persons, minds, consciousnesses, selves and personalities. Then we introduce the concepts of part-persons and part-consciousnesses, and apply them to clarifying the situation. Finally, we criticise Dennett for some contribution to the confusion.
A much-cited definition of placebo is from Shapiro and Shapiro (1997):"any therapy (or that component of any therapy) that is intentionally or knowingly used for its nonspecific, psychological, or psychophysiological, therapeutic effect, or that is used for a presumed specific therapeutic effect on a patient, symptom, or illness but is without specific activity for the condition being treated" (p. 41). What nonspecific means and how it relates to the psyche has been written about extensively yet inconclusively. In the end, the (...) term nonspecific doesn't say anything about the crux of the matter.Talking about placebo, one first has to distinguish between "placebo effect proper" and "perceived placebo effect." The .. (shrink)
Whenever we analyze the issue of spiritual activities, we can never lay aside of the macro-background of “spirit service to life”. Spirit is” software” of life. It is essentially to carry out determination of self life and a nervous system which make the information processing and feedback between self life and outside world. It has reasonable structure system and systematical work mechanism. The basic structure system of the spirit of human beings is like this: self is the core and leading (...) of spirit running, which has properties in three aspects which are will, needs and motility. These properties formed a unity. Will mainly shows theessential property of self, which is in the domination and core position. Needs mainly shows the main part of life requesting and demanding for objective outside, which is in the conditional and secondary position. If we put the Needs in the key position, it will blaspheme the meaning of life and lose the value of life. Motility is a centralized reflection of life activity, which could be a means for the implementation of self Will and acquisition of self needs. In the tangible world, it is displayed as colorful life activity. In the intangible spiritual world, it is displayed as the information processing ability and information feedback ability of self life. Motility has four different levels: emotion, subconsciousness, consciousness, cognition. Correspondingly, the development of spirit could also be divided as four levels. In each level, self, activity, requested development degree, property characteristics and main content have certain of differences. In structure system of spirit, there is a correlation among each part and each element, which will interact with own characteristics to form an organic whole. In fact, it is an essential sublimation of tangible body and an intangible life existed with information form. The following figure shows the relationship of each element:[*Electronic Editor's Note: Figure in PDF of article*]This structure system of spirit, which isn’t a simple frame but an abstract mechanism of spirit running, is life active system of informatization. This system and mechanism make the changeable spiritual activity clear and orderly, and make the abundant and various life activities systematic and vivid. This system’s self isdeveloping, whose development still comply with the law of life development, symbolizing the development and extension of vitality. This development could be considered as continuance of life progress. In the low-grade life, it is mainly displayed as biological stress stage of promoting the favorable and avoiding the unfavorable as well as blind and instinctive affective response stage; in the highgrade animals, it is gradually displayed certain of psychological activity ability and study cognition ability. In human beings, it is gradually displayed awake of consciousness and mature of reason, making human beings to control themselves and change all things to become the soul of the world. Through this structure system and running mechanism, we could get a systematical explanation for theessence of emotion, mystery of psychological activity, process of consciousness awake, occurrence mechanism of dream. Meantime, we put forth that human beings must experience the second awakerational awake to become the true society human when human beings become the humans with souls after consciousness awake. (shrink)
The author attempts to answer the question, how it is possible that many scholars - including those representing prestigious universities and research institutes - are ready to consider creationists critique of the origin- of-life theories as "valuable", "scientifically useful", "cogent", and "clarifying our thinking". The answer seems to be simple: the same metascientific assumptions, which constitute a basis of antievolutionistic argumentation, still live in the philosophical consciousness (or subconsciousness) of a lot of scientists. Among these assumptions is he thesis (...) that order does not arise from disorder and the principle of the uniformity of nature. (shrink)
Abstract: How it is that one's own thoughts can seem to be someone else's? After noting some common missteps of other approaches to this puzzle, I develop a novel cognitive solution, drawing on and critiquing theories that understand inserted thoughts and auditory verbal hallucinations in schizophrenia as stemming from mismatches between predicted and actual sensory feedback. Considerable attention is paid to forging links between the first-person phenomenology of thought insertion and the posits (e.g. efference copy, corollary discharge) of current cognitive (...) theories. I show how deficits in the subconscious mechanisms regulating inner speech may lead to a 'fractured phenomenology' responsible for schizophrenic patients' reports of inserted thoughts and auditory verbal hallucinations. Supporting work on virtual environments is discussed, and lessons concerning the fixity of delusional belief are drawn. (shrink)
Let me begin with what may seem a very minor point, but one which I think reveals something about how many philosophers today conceive of their subject. During the past few decades, there has been an increasing tendency for references in philosophy books and articles to be formatted in the ‘author and date’ style (‘see Fodor (1996)’, ‘see Smith (2001)’.) A neat and economical reference system, you may think; and it certainly saves space, albeit inconveniencing readers by forcing them to (...) flip back to the end of the chapter or book to find the title of the work being referred to. But what has made this system so popular among philosophers? A factor which I suspect exerts a strong subconscious attraction for many people is that it makes a philosophy article look very like a piece of scientific research. For if one asks where the ‘author-date’ system originated, the answer is clear: it comes from the science journals. And in that context, the choice of referencing system has a very definite rationale. In the progress-driven world of science, priority is everything, and it’s vitally important for a career that a researcher is able to proclaim his work as breaking new ground. Bloggs (2005) developed a technique for cloning a certain virus; Coggs (2006) showed how certain bits of viral DNA could be spliced; and now Dobbs (2007) draws on both techniques to develop the building blocks of a new vaccine. The idea is that our knowledge-base is enhanced, month by month and year by year, in small incremental steps (perhaps with occasional major breakthroughs); and in the catalogue of advances, the date tagged to each name signals when progress was made, and by whom. (shrink)
Mutual feedback between human-made environments and facets of thought throughout history has yielded two myths: the Garden and the Citadel. Both myths correspond to Jung’s feminine and masculine collective subconscious, as well as to Nietzsche’s premise of Apollonian and Dionysian impulses in art. Nietzsche’s premise suggests, furthermore, that the feminine myth of the Garden is time-bound whereas the masculine myth of the Citadel, or the Ideal City, constitutes a spatial deportment. Throughout history the two myths have continually molded the built (...) environment and thought, but the myth of the Ideal City – from Plato to Descartes to modernity – came to dominate city-form and ensuing aspects of contemplation. This relationship seems to have shifted during the twentieth century. Intellectual dispositions have begun to be largely nurtured by an incongruous city-form emerging from the gap between the incessant promise for an automated, well-functioning city, on the one hand, and looming alienation, coupled with the factual, malfunctioning city, on the other hand. Urban decay, a persisting and time-bound urban event that is a byproduct of this configuration, suggests the ascent of the Garden myth in post-modern city-form. (shrink)
How do business leaders make ethical decisions? Given the significant and wide-spread impact of business people’s decisions on multiple constituents (e.g., customers, employees, shareholders, competitors, and suppliers), how they make decisions matters. Unethical decisions harm the decision makers themselves as well as others, whereas ethical decisions have the opposite effect. Based on data from a study on strategic decision making by 16 effective chief executive officers (and three not-so-effective ones as contrast), I propose a model for ethical decision making in (...) business in which reasoning (conscious processing) and intuition (subconscious processing) interact through forming, recalling, and applying moral principles necessary for long-term success in business. Following the CEOs in the study, I employ a relatively new theory, rational egoism, as the substantive content of the model and argue it to be consistent with the requirements of long-term business success. Besides explaining the processes of forming and applying principles (integration by essentials and spiraling), I briefly describe rational egoism and illustrate the model with a contemporary moral dilemma of downsizing. I conclude with implications for further research and ethical decision making in business. (shrink)
What type of artificial systems will claim to be conscious and will claim to experience qualia? The ability to comment upon physical states of a brain-like dynamical system coupled with its environment seems to be sufficient to make claims. The flow of internal states in such system, guided and limited by associative memory, is similar to the stream of consciousness. Minimal requirements for an artificial system that will claim to be conscious were given in form of specific architecture named articon. (...) Nonverbal discrimination of the working memory states of the articon gives it the ability to experience different qualities of internal states. Analysis of the inner state flows of such a system during typical behavioral process shows that qualia are inseparable from perception and action. The role of consciousness in learning of skills, when conscious information processing is replaced by subconscious, is elucidated. Arguments confirming that phenomenal experience is a result of cognitive processes are presented. Possible philosophical objections based on the Chinese room and other arguments are discussed, but they are insufficient to refute claims articon’s claims. Conditions for genuine understanding that go beyond the Turing test are presented. Articons may fulfill such conditions and in principle the structure of their experiences may be arbitrarily close to human. (shrink)
This paper speculates upon the reasons for Peter Drucker's ongoing and vigorous denial of the relevance of business ethics. It contemplates whether Drucker consciously, or even perhaps subconsciously, associates the aims of business ethics with the aims of those associated with the Arbeitsfreude movement in Germany prior to the outbreak of the second world war. If this is the case the paper questions whether Drucker's distaste for some of the more notorious outcomes of that movement in Germany are reflected in (...) his hostility to business ethics. Drucker's reflections regarding the social responsibilities of business are discussed, as are the limitations which he imposes upon such corporate social responsibility. Drucker's distinction between societal ethics and individual ethics are also discussed. (shrink)
This paper evaluates the claim that it is possible to use nature’s variation in conjunction with retention and selection on the one hand, and the absence of ultimate groundedness of hypotheses generated by the human mind as it knows on the other hand, to discard the ascription of ultimate certainty to the rationality of human conjectures in the cognitive realm. This leads to an evaluation of the further assumption that successful hypotheses with specific applications, in other words heuristics, seem to (...) have a firm footing because they were useful in another context. I argue that usefulness evaluated through adaptation misconstrues the search for truth, and that it is possible to generate talk of randomness by neglecting aspects of a system’s insertion into a larger situation. The framing of the problem in terms of the elimination of unfit hypotheses is found to be unsatisfying. It is suggested that theories exist in a dimension where they can be kept alive rather than dying as phenotypes do. The proposal that the subconscious could suggest random variations is found to be a category mistake. A final appeal to phenomenology shows that this proposal is orphan in the history of epistemology, not in virtue of its being a remarkable find, but rather because it is ill-conceived. (shrink)
In this essay I will consider two theses that are associated with Frege,and will investigate the extent to which Frege really believed them.Much of what I have to say will come as no surprise to scholars of thehistorical Frege. But Frege is not only a historical figure; he alsooccupies a site on the philosophical landscape that has allowed hisdoctrines to seep into the subconscious water table. And scholars in a widevariety of different scholarly establishments then sip from thesedoctrines. I believe (...) that some Frege-interested philosophers at various ofthese establishments might find my conclusions surprising.Some of these philosophical establishments have arisen from an educationalmilieu in which Frege is associated with some specific doctrine at theexpense of not even being aware of other milieux where other specificdoctrines are given sole prominence. The two theses which I will discussillustrate this point. Each of them is called Frege''s Principle, but byphilosophers from different milieux. By calling them milieux I do not want to convey the idea that they are each located at some specificsocio-politico-geographico-temporal location. Rather, it is a matter oftheir each being located at different places on the intellectuallandscape. For this reason one might (and I sometimes will) call them(interpretative) traditions. (shrink)
William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience is one of the world's most popular attempts to meld science and religion. Academic reviews of the book were mixed in Europe and America, however, and prominent contemporaries, unsure whether it was science or theology, struggled to interpret it. James's reliance on an inherently ambiguous understanding of the subconscious as a means of bridging between religion and science accounts for some of the interpretive difficulties, but it does not explain why his overarching question (...) was so obscure, why psychopathology and unusual experiences figured so prominently, or why he gave us so many examples and so little argument. To understand these persistent puzzles we need to do more than acknowledge James's indebtedness to Frederic Myers's conception of the subconscious. We need to read VRE in the context of the transatlantic network of experimental psychologists and psychical researchers who provided the primary intellectual inspiration for the book. Doing so not only locates and clarifies the underlying question that animated the work but also illuminates the structural and rhetorical similarities between VRE and Myers's Human Personality and Its Survival of Bodily Death. In contrast to the individual case studies of hysterics, mediums, and mystics produced by others in this network, both Myers and James adopted a natural-history approach in which they arranged examples of automatisms to produce a rhetorical effect, thus invoking science in order to evoke a religious response. Where Myers organized his examples to make a case for human survival of death, James organized his to make a case for the involvement of higher powers in the transformation of the self. Read in this way, VRE marks a dramatic shift from a religious preoccupation with life after death to a religious preoccupation with this-worldly self-transformation. (shrink)
Organisational psychological defences protect the self-esteem and moral integrity of the organisational personality even at the expense of sacrificing the morality of actions. This paper analyses the spectrum of defences used by an oil refinery and its parent company during an oil spill incident. A hypothetical model of defences built on Swajkowski’s four responses to accusations of organisational misconduct – refusals, excuses, justifications and concessions – is tested through this case. On the basis of empirical findings it is obvious that (...) defences delay, impede and interrupt the mitigation and recovery actions of incidents. It is not possible to break the defence behaviour of individuals because it is a built-in psychological mechanism in all humans serving a valuable purpose of dosing the pain of injury. However, it is possible to separate individual and organisational behaviour so that automatic organisational procedures mitigate, recover and, ultimately, prevent incidents. The organisational psychological task of crisis management is to mitigate the organisation’s ego defences, recover from its emotional turmoil and prevent further traumas by making its ego stronger and more flexible. The argument of this paper is that in practice organisational defences act as bumpers against becoming too conscious of the gap between the corporate rhetoric and reality, as subconscious breaks against too fast change demands, and as batteries in their preconscious effort to prepare for the change. Organisational refusals act as bumpers, excuses as breaks and justifications as batteries, while concessions imply that a change towards a more responsible corporation is taking place. (shrink)
There is a kinship between Owen Flanagan's The Really Hard Problem and William James's The Varieties of Religious Experience that not only can help us to understand Flanagan's book but also can help scholars, particularly scholars of religion, to be attentive to an important development in the realm of the "spiritual but not religious." Specifically, Flanagan's book continues a tradition in philosophy, exemplified by James, that addresses questions of religious or spiritual meaning in terms accessible to a broad audience outside (...) the context of organized religions. Both James and Flanagan are concerned to refute the popular perception that the sciences of the mind pose a threat to meaning and particularly to meaningful processes of human growth and transformation. Where James used the subconscious to bridge between science and religion and persuade his readers of the reality of the More, Flanagan uses a scientifically grounded understanding of transcendence to enchant his readers into believing in Less. Although I think that Flanagan's attempt to link the psychological and sociocultural levels of analysis via the concept of transcendence is scientifically premature, his attempt at a naturalistic spirituality raises questions of definition that scholars of religion need to take seriously. (shrink)
In this article, I discuss the manner in which Dieter Henrich’s theory of subjectivity has emerged from the fundamental questions of German Idealism, and in what manner and to what extent this theory effects a reinstatement of metaphysics. In so doing, I shall argue that Henrich’s position represents a viable refutation of the attempt of the physicalist explanation of the world to prove the concept of the subject to be superfluous. Henrich’s metaphysics of subjectivity is primarily focused on the ‘ultimate (...) questions’ which also compose “the deep levels of our subjectivity” and concern the factors that should promote stability in our emotional, moral and intellectual life. I argue with Henrich that the indisputable facticity of our conscious life is worthy of our special consideration and interpretation, explanation and clarification, just as the deeper meaning (the individual and collective subconscious structure) hidden beneath the layers of apparent comprehensibility calls for urgent investigation. Such interpretation and elucidation of life’s meaning has a tripartite character: first, it consists of clarification of the totality of human experience together with the realities playing a part in it; second, it builds on the process by which the contents of experience are cognized, and the knowledge thereof which results; thirdly, it embraces the transcendental precondition enabling each and every one of us to consciously lead our lives—for life, in a human sense, does not merely happen to one. Henrich’s metaphysical foundation of subjectivity is compared with Kolak‘s position, according to which individual consciousness is not insular, but integrated into the totality of overall unity that some have called “the Universal Self”, “the Noumenal Self”. (shrink)
There are a number of reasons to be interested in building humanoid robots. They include (1) since almost all human artifacts have been designed to easy for humans to interact with, humanoid robots provide backward compatibility with the existing human constructed world, (2) humanoid robots provide a natural form for humans to operate through telepresence since they have the same kinematic design as humans themselves, (3) by building humanoid robots that model humans directly they will be a useful tool in (...) understanding how humans develop and operate as they provide a platform for experimenting with different hypotheses about humans and (4) humanoid robots, given su cient abilities, will present a natural interface to people and people will be able to use their instinctive and culturally developed subconscious techniques for communicating with other people to communicate with humanoid robots. In this paper we take reason (4) seriously, and examine some of the technologies that are necessary to make this hope a reality. (shrink)
Abstract If the question of the humanity of “the other“ may become a question, and not be reinscribed into Western colonizing patterns of thought, then its issuing must concern a limit (always arising beyond Western thought), a delimitation of existence that is risked and put at risk without recourse to the project or operation of that colonizing thought that situates it. Ideas of subjectivity, agency, and power-knowledge potential for progress, as well as rationalist instrumental thought used to recognize those peoples (...) and cultures excluded and oppressed under the Western Modern tradition, must be put into question by the very agents claiming recognition, as well as the epistemic structures that sustain these concepts and the dispositions and subconscious expectations constituted by the colonizing practices of bodies and imaginaries that project the very horizons of one's existence. (shrink)
We commonly identify something seriously defective in a human life that is lived in ignorance of important but unpalatable truths. At the same time, some degree of misapprehension of reality may be necessary for individual health and success. Morally speaking, it is unclear just how insistent we should be about seeking the truth. Robert Sparrow has considered such issues in discussing the manufacture and marketing of robot ‘pets’, such as Sony’s doglike ‘AIBO’ toy and whatever more advanced devices may supersede (...) it. Though it is not his only concern, Sparrow particularly criticizes such robot pets for their illusory appearance of being living things. He fears that some individuals will subconsciously buy into the illusion, and come to sentimentalize interactions that fail to constitute genuine relationships. In replying to Sparrow, I emphasize that this would be continuous with much of the minor sentimentality that we already indulge in from day to day. Although a disposition to seek the truth is morally virtuous, the virtue concerned must allow for at least some categories of exceptions. Despite Sparrow’s concerns about robot pets (and robotics more generally), we should be lenient about familiar, relatively benign, kinds of self-indulgence in forming beliefs about reality. Sentimentality about robot pets seems to fall within these categories. Such limited self-indulgence can co-exist with ordinary honesty and commitment to truth. (shrink) | <urn:uuid:5608ec65-3b09-4b1c-a3ca-d563c5e0d570> | {
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When experiencing alpha decay, atoms shed alpha particles made of 2 protons and 2 neutrons. Why can't we have other types of particles made of more or less protons?
The reason why alpha particles heavily dominate as the proton-neutron mix most likely to be emitted from most (not all!) radioactive components is the extreme stability of this particular combination. That same stability is also why helium dominates after hydrogen as the most common element in the universe, and why other higher elements had to be forged in the hearts and shells of supernovas in order to come into existence at all.
Here's one way to think of it: You could in principle pop off something like helium-3 from an unstable nucleus - that's two protons and one neutron - and very likely give a net reduction in nuclear stress. But what would happen is this: The moment the trio started to depart, a neutron would come screaming in saying look how much better it would be if I joined you!! And the neutron would be correct: The total reduction in energy obtained by forming a helium-4 nucleus instead of helium-3 would in almost any instance be so superior that any self-respecting (and energy-respecting) nucleus would just have to go along with the idea.
Now all of what I just said can (and in the right circumstances should) be said far more precisely in terms of issues such as tunneling probabilities, but it would not really change the message much: Helium-4 nuclei pop off preferentially because they are so hugely stable that it just makes sense from a stability viewpoint for them to do so.
The next most likely candidates are isolated neutrons and protons, incidentally. Other mixed versions are rare until you get up into the fission range, in which case the whole nucleus is so unstable that it can rip apart in very creative ways (as aptly noted by the earlier comment).
$\alpha$ particles are really $He^4_2$ nucleus i.e made up of 2 neutron and 2 protons.
As you can see in this graph, $He^4_2$ ion has a high binding energy per nucleon, i.e. it is highly stable among all the neighboring nuclei. This makes them easy to sustain their existence and makes it easier for the nuclei to emit them in radioactive decay thus making the resultant nuclei much more stable than if a $He_2^3$ would have escaped. | <urn:uuid:2d293bb8-356c-42d9-9b1f-f5c7779b9986> | {
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|Mon March 24, 1969 02:32PM (PST)|
This report supersedes any earlier report of this event
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist
Mon March 24, 1969 02:32PM (PST)
Mon March 24, 1969 22:32 (GMT)
30.1 km ( 18.7 mi) ENE ( 67. azimuth) from Hanford-300, WA
31.7 km ( 19.7 mi) SSE ( 151. azimuth) from Othello, WA
33.5 km ( 20.8 mi) NE ( 46. azimuth) from Hanford-400, WA
|Depth:||7.34 Km (4.48 miles)|
|Horizontal Uncertainty:||26.219 Km|
|Depth Uncertainty:||25.22 Km|
|Azimuthal Gap:||257.0 deg|
|Number of Phases:||7|
Depth within the Earth where an earthquake rupture initiated. PNSN reports depths relative to sea level, so the elevation of the ground above sea level at the location of the epicenter must be added to estimate the depth beneath the Earth's surface.
A measure of how well network seismic stations surround the earthquake. Measured from the epicenter (in degrees), the largest azimuthal gap between azimuthally adjacent stations. The smaller this number, the more reliable the calculated horizontal position of the earthquake.
Number of Phases
How well the given earthquake location predicts the observed phase arrivals (in seconds). Smaller misfits mean more precise locations. The best locations have RMS Misfits smaller than 0.1 seconds.
Number of P First Motions
A P first motion is the direction in which the ground moves at the seismometer when the first P wave arrives. We distinguish between upward and downward first motions. This is the number of observations that were used to obtain the fault plane solution.
Orientation of first possible fault plane
The strike is the angle between the north direction and the direction of the fault trace on the surface, while keeping the dipping fault plane to your right.
The dip is the steepness of the fault plane measured as an angle between the fault plane and the surface. For example, 0 degrees is a horizontal fault and 90 degrees is a vertical fault.
Rake is the angle, measure in the fault plane, between the strike and the direction in which the material above the fault moved relative to the material on the bottom of the fault (slip direction).
Orientation of second possible fault plane
The orientation of the two possible fault planes is the best solution we can find to match the observed first motions at the seismometers using a grid search method. The uncertainty of the strike, dip, and rake indicate the number of degrees by which those values can vary and still match the observations satisfactorily.
Code, or name, to designate a particular seismic station
Network Code indicates the organization responsible for a particular station, the PNSN consists of UW=University of Washington, UO=University of Oregon, and CC=Cascade Volcano Observatory
The quality of an observed P arrival polarity indicates how well you can tell whether it is up or down and can range from 0 (poor) to 1 (good).
The channel name allows one to distinguish between data from different kinds of sensors. The first character indicates the sample rate of the data, examples are E=100Hz, B=40 or 50Hz, H=80 or 100 Hz. The second character indicates whether the channel is a high (H) gain or low (L) gain velocity channel or a strong-motion acceleration channel (N). The third character indicates the direction of motion measured, Z=up/down, E=east/west, N=north/south.
Polarity means the direction of motion, in this context it means whether it is up (U) or down (D). | <urn:uuid:04b85eb8-944d-4176-8e7a-b2e53c9f1916> | {
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Supplement Forms/Alternate Names :
- Potassium Chloride
- Potassium Bicarbonate
- Chelated Potassium (Potassium Aspartate, Potassium Citrate)
Principal Proposed Uses
Potassium is a mineral found in many foods and supplements. But you will never see pure potassium in a healthfood store or pharmacy—it is a highly reactive metal that bursts into flames when exposed to water! The potassium you eat, or take as a supplement, is composed of potassium atoms bound to other nonmetallic substances—less exciting, perhaps, but chemically stable.
Potassium is one of the major electrolytes in your body, along with sodium and chloride. Potassium and sodium work together like a molecular seesaw: when the level of one goes up, the other goes down. All together, these three dissolved minerals play an intimate chemical role in every function of your body.
The most common use of potassium supplements is to make up for potassium depletion caused by diuretic drugs. These medications are often used to help regulate blood pressure, but by depleting the body of potassium, they may inadvertently make blood pressure harder to control.
Potassium is an essential mineral that we get from many common foods.
True potassium deficiencies are rare except in cases of prolonged vomiting or diarrhea, or with the use of diuretic drugs.
However, in one sense, potassium deficiency is common, at least when compared to the amount of sodium we receive in our diets. It is probably healthy to take in at least five times as much potassium as sodium (and perhaps 50 to 100 times as much). But the standard American diet contains twice as much sodium as potassium. Therefore, taking extra potassium may be a good idea in order to balance the sodium we consume to such excess.
Bananas, orange juice, potatoes, avocados, lima beans, cantaloupes, peaches, tomatoes, flounder, salmon, and cod all contain more than 300 mg of potassium per serving. Other good sources include chicken, meat, and various other fruits, vegetables, and fish.
Potassium pills can cause injury to the esophagus if they get stuck on the way down, so make sure to take them with plenty of water.
Interactions You Should Know About
If you are taking:
- Loop diuretics or thiazide diuretics : You may need more potassium.
- ACE inhibitors (eg, captopril , lisinopril , enalapril ), potassium-sparing diuretics (eg, triamterene or spironolactone ), or trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole : You should not take potassium except on the advice of a physician.
- Potassium: You may need extra magnesium and vitamin B 12 .
- Reviewer: EBSCO CAM Review Board
- Review Date: 07/2012 -
- Update Date: 07/25/2012 - | <urn:uuid:9feb7806-164f-423b-adb8-04a3bdcce5b4> | {
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ICSI Intracytoplasmic sperm injection
What is ICSI?
ICSI is a procedure that is used with in vitro fertilisation (IVF) in which one sperm is injected directly into one egg in order to fertilise it. The technique has been especially useful for men with very low sperm counts and low motility, since ICSI ensures that the sperm reaches the egg directly rather than waiting for the sperm to naturally fertilise the egg. Thus, ICSI is sometimes used as a treatment method for male infertility. ICSI is now used as part of nearly half of all IVF treatments.
Which infertility problems can ICSI help?
ICSI can help overcome many problems causing male infertility such as:
• low sperm count
• low sperm motility
• No sperm in semen
• damaged or absent vas deferens
• retrograde ejaculation
• irreversible vasectomy
• immunological factors (e.g. anti-sperm antibodies)
• other conditions that prevent the fertilisation of the egg
How is ICSI done?
As with normal IVF, the woman is given fertility drugs to stimulate her ovaries to produce several mature eggs for fertilisation. The man would then produce a semen sample by masturbating into a sample pot. If the man does not have sperm within his semen, then it may be possible for the doctor to retrieve sperm from his testicle under an anaesthetic.
The woman is then given an anaesthetic to remove the eggs using a fine hollow needle. Ultrasound is used to help the doctor locate the eggs. Within the laboratory a scientist then injects one single sperm into the egg (ICSI); this is done several times to produce up to 10 possible embryos. The sperm and egg are then placed into an incubated within a Petri dish and checked the following day to look for signs of fertilisation. If fertilisation has occurred then an embryo (group of cells) will have formed, which can be seen under a microscope.
The procedure is then the same as IVF, embryos which have formed can be transplanted into the woman’s uterus through the cervix using a thin catheter.
A maximum of three embryos can be placed back into the uterus, however many clinics are now moving towards only putting one or two embryos back. Multiple births carry a greater risk to both the mother and the babies. Any embryos which are left can be frozen and used in future treatments, in case the cycle is not successful.
ICSI success rate
ICSI has the highest fertilisation rate of 60-70%; however pregnancy success rates are similar to that of normal IVF. This is because there are other factors which effect success such as the fertilised embryos developing properly and the embryo implanting in the uterus correctly. Therefore the success rate of ICSI is similar to IVF in the region of 25%, depending upon age.
Benefits of ICSI
ICSI enables couples to achieve parenthood who would not otherwise do so due to male factor infertility. Men with very low sperm count are able to have their own genetic child by using ICSI.
It is also possible to retrieve immature sperm from the testes, enabling men to have a child who have previously had a vasectomy.
ICSI has also helped couples have a child who have experienced unexplained infertility.
Risks of ICSI
ICSI involves taking one sperm and inserting it directly into the egg. Under normal fertilisation sperm have to compete and only the strongest and healthiest sperm makes it through the cell wall into the egg. It is thought that there may be a higher risk of congenital and health problems for the resulting child due to this procedure.
A research study showed that 4.2% of children born from ICSI had a malformation which mainly affected boy’s urinary and genital systems. This was a 3 fold increase compared to children conceived naturally. The same study found that ICSI babies had more childhood illnesses and needed more medical intervention before the age of 5.
The long term effects of ICSI have yet to be properly seen or researched.
For many parents the advantages of having their own genetic child far outweigh the risks of ICSI. | <urn:uuid:3b808b66-5d9f-4d5e-a5f5-10eaa9b77baf> | {
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Kiew, Ruth (1978) Floristic Components of the Ground Flora of a Tropical Lowland Rain Forest at Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak. Pertanika, 1 (2). pp. 112-119.
The floristic components of the ground layer at the Gunung Mulu National Park, Sarawak, are described. These components are associated with microhabitats. The microhabitats of the riverine system include the shallow stream, rocky banks and banks of larger rivers, and those of the shaded forest include permanently wet areas, rocky litter-free slopes, steep litter covered slopes, surfaces of logs, roots or rocks and the flat well-drained alluvial forest. Possible causes of the uneven distribution of the ground layer species of the flat well-drained alluvial forest are discussed. The species composition of this alluvial forest is compared with other published reports from the Danum Valley, Sabah and Pasoh Forest Reserve Malaya, and with some other lowland forest types such as kerangas and peat swamp forest in Sarawak. The phenomenon of iridescence and variegation of leaves is briefly noted.
|Keyword:||Floristic Components, Ground Layer, Lowland rainforest, Microhabitat, Distribution of tropical Herbaceous plants, Variegated foliage.|
|Faculty or Institute:||Faculty of Environmental Studies|
|Deposited By:||Nur Izyan Mohd Zaki|
|Deposited On:||09 Nov 2009 02:45|
|Last Modified:||27 May 2013 06:58|
Repository Staff Only: item control page
Document Download Statistics
This item has been downloaded for since 09 Nov 2009 02:45. | <urn:uuid:15e5c3bc-5d51-4521-ba3e-866ebe737c67> | {
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New target blocks B-ALL, boosts Gleevec's effectiveness against CML in mice
BAR HARBOR, MAINE--Three years ago, using the first of a new class of drugs known as "small molecule kinase inhibitors," medicine slammed shut a door used by cancer. Researchers at The Jackson Laboratory just found another door that kinase inhibitors may close to cancer.
The gene BCR-ABL1 causes two types of leukemia: chronic myelogeneous leukemia (CML) and B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia (B-ALL). In both cancers, enzymes that should regulate the growth and development of white blood cells go awry, resulting in uncontrolled growth of the cells. The Swiss-based pharmaceutical company Novartis developed Gleevec, the first kinase inhibitor used to fight cancer by blocking the errant enzyme. It proved effective against chronic phase of CML, but not the advanced phase or against B-ALL. In some patients, it seems CML can develop a resistance to Gleevec.
In the May 2004 issue of Nature Genetics, a research team headed by Shaoguang Li, M.D., Ph.D., of The Jackson Laboratory, announces success with another kinase inhibitor that blocks a different path used by cancer. Studying mice, the researchers discovered that the BCR-ABL1 gene activates three additional enzymes that lead to B-ALL leukemia. One of these enzymes may also be involved when CML patients no longer respond to Gleevec.
"Because of drug resistance, it becomes increasingly difficult to stop progression of and cure this disease by targeting at only one place in a multi-molecule-involved signaling pathway used by cancer," says Dr. Li. "So we needed to find a combined drug therapy targeting simultaneously more than one places in the pathway."
First, the team developed the first efficient and accurate mouse models of both forms of BCR-ABL1-induced leukemia. Next, they discovered that three of the Src kinase class of enzymes are required for B-ALL but not for CML, suggesting that different therapeutic strategies should be used for treating these two diseases although they are induced by the same BCR-ABL1 cancer-causing gene. Finally, in drug treatment studies, they found that the kinase inhibitor, known as CGP76030 produced by Novartis, blocked those three critical Src kinase enzymes. The drug impaired the proliferation of B-lymphoid leukemic cells and prolonged the survival of mice with B-ALL. Their findings suggest additional therapeutic agents for treating this type of leukemia in humans.
ALL is the type of leukemia that predominantly strikes children. Among ALL cases, 85% are of the B-ALL type.
According to oncologist-turned-researcher Dr. Li, the preclinical studies suggest a specific prediction: "Drugs targeting the Src kinases may be useful for the therapy of BRC-ABL1-induced acute leukemia, particularly B-ALL. While these drugs are not effective or useful during the chronic phase of myeloid leukemia, there may be a rationale for dual kinase inhibitor therapy of more advanced leukemia. Increased activation of Src kinases has been observed in CML patients who have become resistant to Gleevec."
Dr. Li and his team are currently developing additional mouse models lacking in different combinations of the Src kinases, in an effort to make available a range of targeted therapies for this category of cancer.
Collaborating with Dr. Li and members of his laboratory (Dr. Yiguo Hu, Dr. Yuhua Liu and Shawn Pelletier) were Drs. Richard Van Etten (Tufts-New England Medical Center, USA), Elisabeth Buchdunger and Doriano Fabbro (Novartis Pharma AG, Switzerland), Markus Warmuth (Novartis Pharma AG, USA), and Michael Hallek (Universität zu Köln, Germany). The research was supported by grants from the Irving A. Hansen Foundation and The V Foundation for Cancer Research to Shaoguang Li, and the National Institutes of Health and a Leukemia and Lymphoma Society SCOR grant to Richard A. Van Etten.
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.
-- Albert Einstein | <urn:uuid:bd935cda-4b66-4127-ba15-8b2e3199496e> | {
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ST. PAUL, Minn. – Looking into our eyes may help doctors predict who is at risk for stroke. A new study found that people with changes in the small blood vessels in their eyes are more likely to later suffer a stroke than people without these signs.
The results held true even after researchers took into account traditional risk factors for stroke such as smoking and high blood pressure, according to the study published in the October 11, 2005 issue of Neurology, the scientific journal of the American Academy of Neurology.
The study involved 3,654 Australians age 49 and older. Researchers took special photographs of the retina of the eyes of the participants and examined them for changes suggestive of small blood vessel damage, or retinopathy. These small vessel changes can be seen in the early stages of the condition, well before eyesight is affected.
"The blood vessels in the eyes share similar anatomical characteristics and other characteristics with the blood vessels in the brain," said Paul Mitchell, MD, PhD, of the University of Sydney in Australia. "More research needs to be done to confirm these results, but it's exciting to think that this fairly simple procedure could help us predict whether someone will be more likely to have a stroke several years later."
The researchers followed the participants for seven years, tracking which participants had strokes or transient ischemic attacks, also called mini-strokes. For those who died during the study, researchers examined the cause of death to determine whether stroke was involved.
Those with eye blood vessel damage were 70 percent more likely to have a stroke during the study than those without the damage. The risk was higher in those with small vessel signs in the eye but without severe high blood pressure; they were 2.7 times more likely to have a stroke than those without eye signs. The risk was also higher for those with more than one type of blood vessel lesion. (Because diabetes can cause this type of eye damage, these results did not include participants with diabetes, which is also a risk factor for stroke.)
The signs of damage include tiny bulges in the blood vessels, or microaneurysms, and hemorrhages, or tiny blood spots where the microaneurysms leak blood.
Source: Eurekalert & othersLast reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 21 Feb 2009
Published on PsychCentral.com. All rights reserved.
Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative.
-- Oscar Wilde | <urn:uuid:3e55651a-e8bf-478f-8757-0866ca4343b6> | {
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|Abstract:||During the period March 9-22, 1936, there occurred in close succession over the northeastern United States, from the James and upper Ohio River Basins in Virginia and Pennsylvania to the river basins of Maine, two extraordinarily heavy storms, in which the precipitation was almost entirely in the form of rain. The depths of rainfall mark this period as one of the greatest concentrations of precipitation, in respect to time and magnitude of the area covered, of which there is record in this country.
At the time of the rain there were also accumulations of snow on the ground over much of the storm-affected region that were large for the season. The comparatively warm temperatures associated with the storms thawed the snow and added materially to the quantities of water to be disposed of by drainage into the waterways, by surface storage in lakes, ponds, and reservoirs, by absorption in the ground, and, probably in comparatively negligible degree, by evaporation.
The total quantity of water that had to be disposed of in these ways ranged between 10 and 30 inches in depth over much of the region. The water disposed of by natural storage, absorption, and evaporation amounted to average depths over the many river basins generally within the range of 1 to 3 inches, with a significant degree of uniformity and systematic areal distribution. The remainder of the rain and snow water, generally much larger or even several times larger in amount than surface storage, absorption, and evaporation, required accommodation by the channels of the brooks, creeks, and rivers.
There were generally two distinct flood peaks, and in many of the basins the destruction was seriously aggravated, especially during the first flood, by the break-up of thick ice cover accumulated through a winter of exceptionally continuous and severe cold weather. The resulting floods were extraordinarily severe, and records of river stages, extending on some streams back to or nearly to the time of settlement by white men, were broken many of them by wide margins. The peak of the Connecticut River at Hartford, Conn., was 8.6 feet higher than had been experienced since the settlement by white men, 300 years ago. The Susquehanna River at Harrisburg, Pa., was 3.5 feet higher than had been known in a period of record covering about 200 years. The Ohio River at Pittsburgh, Pa., was 6.1 feet higher than had been known in the period beginning 1762.
This volume presents many of the facts of these notable floods with respect to the New England rivers, for permanent record and for study and reference by engineers concerned with the building of highways, bridges, and industrial plants, planners of river development, and others. Similar volumes for the region from the Hudson River to the Susquehanna River and for the Potomac, James, and upper Ohio River Basins are presented in companion Water-Supply Papers 799 and 800 respectively. In this volume records of stage and discharge for the period Including the floods are presented for about 150 measurement stations; peak discharges with comparative data for other floods at more than 400 measurement points are summarized; crest stages along an aggregate length of stream channel of 2,820 miles are tabulated; and results of detailed studies of the rainfall and run-off and many other kinds of flood information are presented. | <urn:uuid:e325bf1c-2a4f-46a3-a199-828d72e658a1> | {
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Since 1993, RAN’s Protect-an-Acre program (PAA) has distributed more than one million dollars in grants to more than 150 frontline communities, Indigenous-led organizations, and allies, helping their efforts to secure protection for millions of acres of traditional territory in forests around the world.
Rainforest Action Network believes that Indigenous peoples are the best stewards of the world’s rainforests and that frontline communities organizing against the extraction and burning of dirty fossil fuels deserve the strongest support we can offer. RAN established the Protect-an-Acre program to protect the world’s forests and the rights of their inhabitants by providing financial aid to traditionally under-funded organizations and communities in forest regions.
Indigenous and frontline communities suffer disproportionate impacts to their health, livelihood and culture from extractive industry mega-projects and the effects of global climate change. That’s why Protect-an-Acre provides small grants to community-based organizations, Indigenous federations and small NGOs that are fighting to protect millions of acres of forest and keep millions of tons of CO2 in the ground.
Our grants support organizations and communities that are working to regain control of and sustainably manage their traditional territories through land title initiatives, community education, development of sustainable economic alternatives, and grassroots resistance to destructive industrial activities.
PAA is an alternative to “buy-an-acre” programs that seek to provide rainforest protection by buying tracts of land, but which often fail to address the needs or rights of local Indigenous peoples. Uninhabited forest areas often go unprotected, even if purchased through a buy-an-acre program. It is not uncommon for loggers, oil and gas companies, cattle ranchers, and miners to illegally extract resources from so-called “protected” areas.
Traditional forest communities are often the best stewards of the land because their way of life depends upon the health of their environment. A number of recent studies add to the growing body of evidence that Indigenous peoples are better protectors of their forests than governments or industry.
Based on the success of Protect-an-Acre, RAN launched The Climate Action Fund (CAF) in 2009 as a way to direct further resources and support to frontline communities and Indigenous peoples challenging the fossil fuel industry.
Additionally, RAN has been a Global Advisor to Global Greengrants Fund (GGF) since 1995, identifying recipients for small grants to mobilize resources for global environmental sustainability and social justice using the same priority and criteria as we use for PAA and CAF.
Through these three programs each year we support grassroots projects that result in at least: | <urn:uuid:995ec683-d967-4f36-82d9-547c9ea3d646> | {
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The Bell on display under the Trinity College gazebo on the site of the original Trinity College and High School was made by the Henry McShane & Co. Bell Foundry of Baltimore, MD, in 1879.
The Bell and the Gothic style papyrus-leaf columns that the gazebo stands upon are the only surviving Trinity College artifacts in Trinity. Both appear to date to the post-Civil War renovation and expansion of the original 1855 brick Trinity College building.
The photo above, from the Duke University Archives, shows the building from the south in 1861, with President Braxton Craven and the all-male student body posing in their new role as commander and cadet corps of the “Trinity Guard.” The three-story brick building appears similar to any of the five cotton mills built on Deep River from 1838-1850, and in fact the college building was the focal point of Trinity in exactly the same manner as the factory was the raison-d’etre of any mill village. One major difference is that the windows of the college are much larger than the windows in any factory.
Organizing the home guard unit was Craven’s last-ditch effort to keep his student body from enlisting in the army en mass; during the war, however, he and the students were put on active duty guarding the Confederate prisoner of war camp at the former Salisbury Cotton Mill.
The 1855 college building was expanded between 1872-1874 with a large wing that fronted the road which is now NC62. The new wing set at a cross-angle to the 1855, so that the whole made a T-plan. The new wing contained classrooms and a chapel; the balcony of the chapel was supported by the papyrus columns which were re-used in the 1924 Trinity High School building.
The 1874 college building’s pointed windows and door openings gave it a vague Gothic Revival style which was popular for educational buildings and would be carried to its pinnacle in North Carolina in the 1924 West Campus at Duke University in Durham.
My favorite picture of Trinity College is the only one that shows the campus and grounds, a drawing on the cover of an 1883 commencement program. Whether this garden actually existed is unclear (the photo above only shows a field or wild flower meadow), the 1883 drawing shows a lively Victorian knot garden, with extensive flower beds and gravel walks.
When Trinity College was moved to Durham in 1892, the old college buildings were turned into a private college preparatory school, which became a public school in the early 20th century. In 1924 a special school tax district was established in Trinity and a new elementary school and high school building was built on the site of the college. That was in turn torn down in 1981, and the historic site is now a parking lot. The gazebo is squeezed between NC 62 and the fence around the lot. | <urn:uuid:0f366604-352c-40c9-a5c7-72dda4eb6746> | {
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Imagine a cheap, tiny, hovering aerial drone capable of being launched with the flick of a person’s wrist and able to provide manipulable 360-degree surveillance views.
It’s real, it’s inspired by maple seeds, and the company behind it, Lockheed Martin, envisions a future in which swarms of the new drones can be deployed at a fraction of the cost and with greater capabilities than drones being used today by the military and other agencies.
“Think about dropping a thousand of these out of an aircraft,” said Bill Borgia, head of Lockheed Martin’s Intelligent Robotics Lab, in a phone interview with TPM, “Think about the wide area over which one collect imagery. Instead of sending one or two expensive, highly valuable aircraft like we do today, you could send thousands of these inexpensive aircraft, and they are almost expendable.”
The new drone which looks like very similar to a maple seed, with a small pod-like body attached a single whirring blade, is called the Samarai. The name is derived from the Latin word “samara,” which means a winged seed, just like the one that inspired its physical design, flight pattern and construction.
In June, Lockheed Martin released a video demo of the drone’s capabilities, and it is clearly impressive, launched by hand and piloted using a tablet computer, which also displays the drone’s live surveillance feed.
“You can literally pull this out of your pocket, throw it into the air, and it can start flying,” Borgia told TPM. “It can take off and land vertically indoors.”
Borgia said that the drone, or unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), was designed to be deployed in confined settings, such as urban environments or even inside buildings, where it could be piloted into different rooms and hover outside of windows, collecting surveillance footage with ease.
The technology behind the drone is even more sophisticated than it looks. There are only two moving mechanical parts in the entire tiny 30-cm aircraft: The piece that makes the propeller rotate and a flap on the large wing that comprises most of the drone’s form.
Then there’s the Samarai’s realtime video feed, which an operator can pan and tilt in a full 360 degrees, a capability not found on any other drone of its class, this despite the fact that the drone only contains one camera which is constantly being whipped around by the rotating motion of the aircraft itself.
In order to obtain a steady video feed with the ability to virtually pan and tilt, Lockheed relies on a series of image processing algorithms, Borgia told TPM.
“The algorithms sort of de-rotate the video and turn it back into a frame-by-frame view, similar to what you would see on any basic TV,” Borgia said. “All of the image processing is done onboard.”
That means that even if disconnected from the cloud or a control server, the Samarai would still be able to provide its operators with constant surveillance capabilities.
Borgia declined to specify the drone’s range or endurance, that is, the time it’s able to stay aloft in the air.
However, he did note that the Lockheed researchers behind Samarai had experimented with battery-powered and carbon-based fuel versions (the battery powered version is the one demonstrated in the video). Borgia further said that the researchers had “developed simulation tools that allow us to scale the vehicle to meet specific applications,” asked for by customers.
Lockheed Martin has not revealed any of its customers or potential partners on the Samarai yet, but Borgia said the company would make announcements “when the customers were ready.”
Besides the 30-cm version shown in the June demo video, Lockheed also has field-tested a 17-cm version and is working now to scale down the Samarai even further, to the size of an actual maple seed.
Asked about any potential privacy concerns presented by the Samarai, especially in light of the recent release of a voluntary industry “code of conduct” from drone manufacturers, Borgia said that “customers will have to work through the hurdles.”
Lockheed Martin began work on the Samarai in 2007 under a Defense Department program called “nano air,” designed to produce “an extremely small, ultra lightweight air vehicle system.” | <urn:uuid:a281d0cf-a8b7-4a1a-a7ed-dcf4fe2ce521> | {
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Today is the first official Digital Archives Day. All day, archivists and conservators working in digital archives of all kinds will be sharing their work under the #DigitalArchivesDay hashtag, and blogging at dayofdigitalarchives.blogspot.com
I wanted to take a moment today to briefly talk about an innovation in digital imaging and computing that has become a frustation to many artists that have been experimenting with the web since the early years: Anti-aliasing. Put simply, anti-aliasing is a method of image processing that uses interpolation, to construct "new data points within the range of a discrete set of known data points." This is a function of digital signal processing that has many many important applications, from helping typefaces look good on screen, to making images not look odd when scaled down. The use of anti-aliasing that we are talking about here though, is quite specific: the display of resized digital images and video in web browsers. To illustrate how anti-aliasing has affected an era of web content, we will look at Cory Arcangel's "Data Diaries."
Data Diaries on Turbulence.org
In 2002, when Arcangel created "Data Diaries," if one were set the size of an image or video embedded in a web page larger than it's actual size, the browser would use nearest neighbor interpolation to display the image. In other words – if one were to embed a 50 x 50 px image or video as 100 x 100 px, each pixel would appear to double in size. This default form of nearest neighbor interpolation was exploited to aesthetic ends by many early net artists, including Cory. When Cory made Data Diaries, he rendered the original videos at the dimension of 50 x 25 px - so tiny! He embedded these videos at dimensions of 500 x 266 px ... | <urn:uuid:d0219bfd-2486-4426-906f-4171e14e2829> | {
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Definitions of Ho:
- noun: a trivalent metallic element of the rare earth group; occurs together with yttrium; forms highly magnetic compounds
- name: A surname (common: 1 in 10000 families; popularity rank in the U.S.: #1275)
Search for Ho at other dictionaries: OneLook, Answers.com, Merriam-Webster
"Works flawlessly!": RhymeZone apps for iPhone/iPad and Android!
Help, Feedback, Customize, Android app, iPhone/iPad app
Copyright © 2013 Datamuse | <urn:uuid:dd744a8f-5215-4d4e-a2d0-2cebe4f1b339> | {
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History of the Breed Long before they were driving cattle across the West, horses were a strong part of American history. Colonial settlers brought their trusty steeds with them from overseas, and these sturdy animals tilled fields, pulled wagons, and carried important documents throughout the colonies. Settlers had a penance for speed, and would often stage horse races as a distraction from the menial tasks of colonization. However, the settlers' horses were beat time and again by the faster, more agile horses owned by the local Chickasaw Indians. Settlers traded and bred their English horses with these native mounts, creating a lighter, quicker line of racing horses. These horses were called the "Celebrated American Quarter Running Horse," an homage to the quarter-mile race most commonly run by the Colonial settlers.
Horse racing was also popular in England, and a wealthy settler by the name of John Randolph imported one of these Godolphin Arabians named Janus in 1752. Janus was lighter and faster than even the Chickasaw Indian horses, and he crossed them to create a line of horses that were the prototype to the modern American Quarter horse. The Revolutionary War brought an influx of Thoroughbred horses to the colonies, and these mounts were bred to local horses to further refine the breed. The last part of the Quarter horse puzzle came in the form of native Mustangs throughout the southwestern United States. The Mustang imparted the short, stocky body type that is the hallmark of the American Quarter horse we know and love today.
Prominent Quarter Horses
All Quarter horses trace back to the same few sires and dams, but there are a few standouts that all Quarter horse enthusiasts recognize. One of the most influential sires in the Quarter horse world wasn't even a Quarter Horse. Native Dancer was a Thoroughbred stallion foaled in 1950, and is one of the most notable horses in the history of racing. Quarter horse breeders crossed their fastest mares with him in order to produce faster, more agile mounts. King, the 234th registered American Quarter horse, can be found in the lineage of nearly every modern Quarter horse. He was a stocky bay stallion that embodied the speed, grace and power that became the hallmarks of the breed. Doc Bar is another familiar name in the Quarter horse world. Bred to be a working cow horse, this stallion was sought after for his maneuverability, a trait common in modern Quarter horses. Dash For Cash is arguably the most prominent racing-lined Quarter horse stallion in history. He is ranked and the #2 all-time leading sire by earnings, eclipsed only by his son, First Down Dash.
The Quarter Horse Today
Today's Quarter horse is the perfect combination of speed, grace and agility. A true working man's horse, the Quarter horse is just as comfortable on the farm as he is charging down the arena after a speeding steer. Quarter horses are the most popular horse in the world of rodeo, with the majority of cowboys riding these tenacious, agile horses. Enthusiasts compete in a wide variety of sports, from dressage and hunter under saddle to western pleasure to barrel racing. The American Quarter Horse Association sponsors competitions around the country, and hold their World Show in Oklahoma City in November. This show brings together the best of the best in the Quarter horse world, pairing horse and rider against other teams, showering the best competitors in each sport with awards and accolades. Quarter horses truly are the most versatile breed in the world. | <urn:uuid:9cf1c920-3af8-4565-a538-5fa5e7389755> | {
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No sooner have I written about the Mammoth than the BBC picks up the story...
Scientists have pieced together part of the genetic recipe of the extinct woolly mammoth.
The 5,000 DNA letters spell out the genetic code of its mitochondria, the structures in the cell that generate energy.
The research, published in the online edition of Nature, gives an insight into the elephant family tree.
It shows that the mammoth was most closely related to the Asian rather than the African elephant.
The three groups split from a common ancestor about six million years ago, with Asian elephants and mammoths diverging about half a million years later.
"We have finally resolved the phylogeny of the mammoth which has been controversial for the last 10 years," lead author Michael Hofreiter of the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology in Leipzig, Germany, told the BBC News website.
San Nakji for President! | <urn:uuid:c63cafd5-d290-4f3a-91b7-b11561e247b3> | {
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The primary goal of We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution is to promote civic competence and responsibility among the nation's elementary and secondary students. What makes the program so successful is the design of its instructional program, including its innovative culminating activity. The instructional program enhances students' understanding of the institutions of American constitutional democracy. At the same time, students discover the contemporary relevance of the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
The culminating activity is a simulated congressional hearing in which students "testify" before a panel of judges. Students demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of constitutional principles and have opportunities to evaluate, take and defend positions on relevant historical and contemporary issues. This is performance assessment in action!
Elementary and middle school level classes may conduct noncompetitive hearings in front of a classroom or auditorium-size audience with community members acting as judges. Teachers at the high school level may conduct a noncompetitive hearing, but are encouraged to participate in the nationwide competitive program. High school teams compete at a statewide hearing, and state champions travel to Washington, D.C. in the spring to represent South Carolina in the We the People national finals.
Read the speech
by South Carolina We the People
district coordinator Charles Hinderliter at the 2006 We the People | <urn:uuid:81f4eea8-624f-43e0-a9ba-6111de74d9c8> | {
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Interpreter for Zoom Language
Zoom language is new language developed at DePaul University by Dr. Jia. ZOOM
stands for Z-based Object Oriented Modeling notation. It's made up of 3
different parts: zoom specification notations ZOOM-S, zoom design notation
ZOOM-D and zoom implementation language ZOOM-I. The syntax of ZOOM-I is closely
based on syntax of java language. It adds several extensions to java language
such as enumerations, set and list formations, relations and function mappings
and more. Programming language design is a challenging task. Development and
testing of first implementation of the language is much easier and flexible done
by implementing an interpreter. Changes to static or dynamic semantics of a
language are more easily done in interpreter than compiler.
My project is to implement interpreter for the ZOOM-I language. The interpreter is going to be GUI application with easy development of zoom programs.
working on basic statements and expressions of Zoom-I langauge.
- 5/11/03: basic java statements and expressions for primitive types
- 5/19/03: extended expressions for List declaration and manipulation
- 5/26/03: extended expressions for Set declaration and manipulation
- 5/31/03: Start work on Object oriented features
- 7/31/03: Object-oriented features finished
- 8/01/03: TBD
- Expected Completion: November 2003
- Initial Presentation - Power Point Slides
- David A. Watt & Deryck F. Brown. Programming Language Processors in Java. Prentice Hall, 2000.
- Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman. Compilers: Principles, Techniques and Tools. Addison-Wesley,1988.
- Ravi Sethi. Programming Languages, Concepts & Constructs. Addison-Wesley, 1996.
- Randy M. Kaplan. Constructing Language Processors for Little Languages. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 1994. | <urn:uuid:6df337f0-b74a-4b93-a6ac-81d0729d798c> | {
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Information for Contributors
Every scientist knows the power of engaging students in working with real data. Working with data derived from observations in the field, experiments, analyses, remote sensing or modeling lies at the core of being a geoscientist and is one of the most exciting things we do. The ability to learn effectively from our own data and that of others is the mark of an accomplished scientist and is a common goal for our students.
This session is designed to allow the entire GSA community to come together to share and discuss how we use data to help students learn concepts, think scientifically, and develop their skills in making interpretations and communicating conclusions. We invite contributions from throughout the geosciences involving all kinds of data in the full spectrum of approaches to helping students of all ages learn geoscience.
The contributions to this session will be preserved in an on-line searchable collection designed to foster continued sharing and interaction. To make the session and the resulting collection of highest use as we think about teaching and work to adapt and adopt ideas from colleagues, we ask that each contributor
- Submit an abstract for Session 32 that introduces or summarizes the example they wish to present (Deadline July 15) Description of Session 32, View Abstracts
- Complete the submission form (offline - no longer valid) which includes uploading a pdf file of their poster (Deadline Oct 31)
- Display your poster at the Sunday, November 2, 1:00 session at GSA Guidelines for Poster Preparation
The form must be completed in a single session (leaving the session erases the data) at the same time your poster is uploaded. You may find it simplest to review the questions on the form, compose brief answers to them offline and then actually fill out the form in one go once your poster is complete.
As guidelines to help make these presentations both comprehensive and useful, we ask that all abstracts and posters address learning goals; instructional context; required data, tools and equipment; and evaluation strategies in addition to providing a description of the activity and its outcomes. You may wish to use the same text in the poster that you develop for the form below.
The session will take place on Sunday afternoon, November 1 in the poster hall. There are opportunities for several hundred posters. The one paper rule is waived for this session. | <urn:uuid:70fdd121-a28b-411b-9d87-3280be851240> | {
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The scene: Scientist Jian Chen adjusts optics mounted for an experiment at one of several PULSE laser laboratories housed at SLAC. (PULSE is a joint SLAC/Stanford University laser science institute.)
In this experiment, a small fleck of sample material is held in a special “diamond anvil cell” and torqued to pressures up to 12 gigapascals—120,000 times greater than atmospheric pressure, similar to conditions deep inside the Earth. Chen and colleagues then use three separate, highly precise beams of pulsed laser light, bouncing variously through the specialized optics, to measure the behavior of electrons in the material under pressure. Experiments of this sort give scientists clues about the nature and dynamics of the atomic world that could aid in developing new materials with exotic properties.
The shot: Canon 5D Mk II, 17-35mm/f2.8L lens @ 17mm, f/7.1. ISO 200, 1/40 sec exposure. Three lights (all Speedlites), one triggered with a Pocket Wizard II, the others with optical slaves: one camera left (close, with a red gel), one camera right (at full power, to cast the hard shadows), and one camera left (farther from the camera, with grid, visible in frame) to illuminate Chen. Used a tripod and remote trigger for this one. (All while wearing the same goggles Chen is wearing… tough way to shoot!) | <urn:uuid:aa900d17-ee05-43a1-9828-f3db9c23769c> | {
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How green is my EV?
It’s a lot like one of those maths problems that gave you fits in sixth grade: A salesman leaves home in Denver and drives his electric car to a meeting in Boulder.
At the same time, a physicist driving the same model electric car sets out from her loft in Los Angeles, heading to an appointment near Anaheim. For both, the traffic is light, and the cars consume an identical amount of battery power while travelling the same number of kilometres. Being purely electric, they emit zero tailpipe pollutants during their trips. The test question:
Are their carbon footprints also equal? The answer may be a surprise.
According to a report that the Union of Concerned Scientists plans to release this week, there would be a considerable difference in the amount of greenhouse gases - primarily carbon dioxide - that result from charging the cars’ battery packs. By trapping heat, greenhouse gases contribute to climate change.
The advocacy group’s report, titled ‘‘State of Charge: Electric Vehicles’ Global Warming Emissions and Fuel Cost Savings Across the United States,’’ uses the electric power requirements of the Nissan Leaf as a basis for comparison.
The Leaf, on sale in the United States for more than a year and the most widely available electric model from a major car maker, sets a logical baseline.
The California part of the story is upbeat: A hypothetical Los Angeles Leaf would be accountable for the release of an admirably low level of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, about the same as a petrol car using 3 litres per 100km.
But the Denver car would cause as large a load of greenhouse gases to enter the atmosphere as some versions of the petrol-powered Mazda 3, a compact sedan rated at 7.1 litres per 100km in combined city and highway driving by the Environmental Protection Agency.
In simple terms, the effect of electric vehicles on the amount of greenhouse gases released into the environment can span a wide range, varying with the source of the electricity that charges them. California’s clean power makes the Leaf a hero; the coal-dependent utilities serving Denver diminish the car’s benefits as a global-warming fighter.
The UCS report, which takes into account the full cycle of energy production, often called a well-to-wheels analysis, demonstrates that in areas where the electric utility relies on natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric or renewable sources to power its generators, the potential for electric cars to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide emissions is great.
But where generators are powered by burning a high percentage of coal, electric cars may not be even as good as the latest petrol models — and far short of the thriftiest hybrids.
With petrol hovering around $4 a gallon and mass-production EVs like battery-powered versions of the Ford Focus and Honda Fit (as well as plug-in hybrids like the Chevrolet Volt, Toyota Prius PHV and Ford Fusion Energi models) either on sale now or coming soon, the report arrives at an ideal time.
Its analysis can help shoppers make informed decisions. It also fills a gap: Many of the existing studies on electric-car efficiency were completed before models like the Leaf came to market; others have expressed their results in science-lab terms like pounds of carbon dioxide emissions per year, not especially useful to consumers.
Car makers have not always helped their customers understand the issues, either, typically painting electrics and hybrids with a green brush and an idealistic setting.
The attempt to forge a simple message has created mistaken impressions, too. During a discussion with business leaders and journalists at the French Consulate in New York early this month, the chief executive of Nissan and Renault, Carlos Ghosn, doubled down in declaring an environmental edge for electrics over the best gasoline models.
‘‘Even if you could use electricity only from coal,’’ Ghosn says, ‘‘you’re still better off using an electric car than using gasoline.’’
It is a position that Nissan says it has held since the Leaf program began, yet the studies that the company offers in support of its position show electrics outperforming only vehicles with fuel economy ratings from about 6.5L/100km to 8.7L/100km.
Assembled over nine months in 2011, the UCS report provides clarification in several ways, examining charging costs under various conditions and offering comparisons among the Leaf, the Mitsubishi i-MiEv electric and the Volt plug-in hybrid. Most revealing, perhaps, is the geographical breakdown of electricity generation.
In a worst-case situation, with electric power generated from a high proportion of coal - as it is in a wide swath of the country’s mid-section - an electric car or a plug-in hybrid will generate slightly more full-cycle global-warming emissions, as the report calls the greenhouse gases, than the best petrol-powered small car.
In areas where the cleanest electricity is available - regions served by hydroelectric, natural gas or nuclear generating plants - greenhouse gas emissions may be less than half that of today’s best petrol-engined vehicles.
Put another way, for 45 per cent of the U.S. population, an EV will generate lower levels of greenhouse gases than a petrol-powered vehicle capable of 4.7L/100km in combined city-highway driving. Cities in this group include the predictable - Seattle, for example - as well as the less obvious, such as Buffalo or New Orleans.
About 37 per cent of Americans live in regions where a Leaf’s greenhouse gas emissions would equate to a gasoline-powered vehicle rated at 4.7L/100km to 5.7L/100km. Some 18 per cent of the population lives in regions with a comparatively dirty power supply, where the well-to-wheels carbon footprint of a Leaf would be the equivalent of a vehicle such as the Chevrolet Cruze, Ford Focus and Hyundai Elantra.
Here’s another way to look at it: If one region were completely dependent on coal for power, its electric cars would be responsible for full-cycle global-warming emissions equivalent to a car capable of 7.8L/100km in mixed driving. In a region totally reliant on natural gas, an electric would be equivalent to a 4.7L/100km.
The report divides the United States into 26 regions. Each region comprises a single interconnected electricity grid, although several utility companies may operate within a region.
Because the utilities sell power among themselves, the emission levels for one city or utility cannot be pinpointed for every hour of every day, but regional analysis provides an approximation of average emissions over time.
The report’s analysis is based on the EPA’s 2007 Emissions and Generation Resource Integrated Database, the most recent compilation of data available. For each region, the average amount of global-warming emissions generated to produce a kilowatt-hour of electricity was calculated, taking into account emissions resulting from the transportation of fuel to the power plant.
To convert those power plant emission levels to a litres per 100km figure, calculations were based on the power draw of the Nissan Leaf: 0.34 kilowatt-hours per mile.
The Volt, which draws 0.36 kilowatt-hours per mile, requires slightly more power. The report makes it possible to compare electrics with conventional hybrids that rely solely on a petrol engine to charge their battery.
In the dirtiest regions of the country, the hybrid would generate lower levels of full-cycle emissions than the electric car, but a breakdown of the data shows that more than half of Americans live in regions where an electric car has lower well-to-wheels carbon emissions than today’s best full-hybrid vehicles, while 17 per cent live in areas where they would be equal.
Of course, conventional gas-powered vehicles are getting cleaner as engineering advances improve fuel economy and reduce emissions. On the other hand, electrics and plug-ins will become cleaner without technology changes as coal-burning power plants are replaced with natural gas, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind or solar facilities.
Don Anair, a senior engineer in the UCS clean vehicles program, said utilities in the dirtiest electric-grid regions of the United States generate 2.5 to 3 times more global-warming emissions than those in the cleanest regions, so there is much room for progress. But he sees the industry trending in the right direction.
‘‘A number of old coal-fired power plants are now being retired,’’ he said. ‘‘Given emission standards recently introduced by the current administration, any new coal-fired plants would be far cleaner than their predecessors.’’
New York Times | <urn:uuid:e9dfba69-1037-4137-8bcd-1ae6e98bdc62> | {
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But in the mid-1800s, that was hardly the case.
The name "Los Angeles" is Spanish for The Angels. There is much more to this name, however. In 1769, Father Juan Crespi, a Franciscan priest accompanying the first European land expedition through California, wrote in his journal about a beautiful river they had discovered. In 1781, a new settlement was established along that same river. That settlement officially came to be known as "El Pueblo de la Reina de Los Angeles", or "The Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels".
|Avila Adobe, late19th century|
(Photo source unknown)
Historic Olvera Street started out as a short lane called Wine Street. In 1877 the street was extended and its name changed to Olvera Street in honor of Agustin Olvera, who owned a home at the end of the street across from the Plaza, and who was the first county judge of Los Angeles.
|The Olvera Street Plaza, circa 1886|
(Photo reprinted courtesy of Los Angeles Public Library Photo Archives)
By 1903 the street had considerably declined, and an electrical substation was built next to the Avila Adobe to provide power for Los Angeles' electric streetcars. The Italian Hall, a center for Italian organizations, was constructed in 1907 at the north end of Olvera Street. Across the street, the Italian winery expanded its building in 1914.
The condition of Avila Adobe deteriorated over the following years and was finally condemned in 1926 by the City Health Department. This caught the attention of socialite Christine Sterling, who during a visit to the Plaza and Olvera Street in 1926, was so appalled by the run-down condition of the oldest part of the City, that she began a public campaign to save the Adobe and Olvera Street. With a vibrant future of the Olvera Street area in mind, Sterling envisioned a colorful Mexican marketplace and cultural focal center. With funding provided by several influential businessmen and publicity from the Los Angeles Times, she established a corporation to revitalize Olvera Street.
Descendants of the Avila family gave permission to allow Sterling to renovate the Adobe. In addition, she solicited money, materials and labor to accomplish the repairs. Unusual help received by Mrs. Sterling included engineers from the City Department of Water and Power who drew up plans to grade the street, and the Sheriff's Department who provided prisoners to do the labor. In 1929, the Los Angeles City Council closed Olvera Street to automobile and bus traffic, creating a lovely pedestrian avenue for people to stroll, shop and dine -- as seen in the attached vintage video produced back in 1937 as a travel promotion, and which is reflective of the 1930s.
Today, both the Avila Adobe and Olvera Street are part of the Los Angeles Plaza Historic District, which is a designated California State Historic Park. The entire District is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and Avila Adobe is a registered California Historical Landmark. The Avila Adobe is open to the public as a museum -- furnished as it might have appeared in the late 1840s -- and Olvera Street is a favourite of locals as well as tourists seeking a "peek" at what life was like in early Los Angeles.
Avila Adobe and Olvera Street are included in our "Los Angeles Architecture -- An Eclectic Landscape"© custom-designed itinerary, May 1-7, 2013. For more information about this unique and comprehensive heritage and cultural tour covering L.A.'s architectural history from "early settlement to the present", visit us at http://www.snobbytours.com/EclecticLAarchitecture.html Reservations close March 1, 2013.
© 2013 Snobby Tours®, Inc. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:c42576c7-efb7-4fe1-86c8-cade2901b70b> | {
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It’s like I always say, what good is urban fashion if a venomous animal lays your ass to rest with venom? Game over. You need to be aware of the venomous animals that can turn your happy day upside down. Like this stonefish below. That mother has venomous dorsal spines. That means your going to need a size 14 kx1 just to fit your swollen foot.
Venomous Phylogeny: Dorsal spines
Habitat: Coasts regions of Indo-Pacific oceans/Florida/Caribbean
4. Blue-Ringed Octopus
Venomous Phylogeny: The toxin is produced by bacteria in the salivary glands
Habitat: Tide pools and coral reefs in the Pacific and Indian Oceans,
3. Inland Taipan
Venomous Phylogeny: Fangs/venom glands
Habitat: Arid regions of central Australia
2. Brazilian Wandering Spider
Venom: Neurotoxin causing loss of muscle control and breathing problems, resulting in paralysis and eventual asphyxiation.
Habitat: Tropical South America
1. Box Jellyfish
Venomous Phylogeny: Each tentacle has about 500,000 cnidocytes, containing nematocysts, a harpoon-shaped microscopic mechanism that injects venom into the victim
Habitat: Tropical and subtropical oceans, including the Atlantic and east Pacific/California/the Mediterranean/Japan and as far south as South Africa | <urn:uuid:3aa3e247-f116-4473-8478-484e905a9797> | {
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Animal with an elongate, ribbon-like body bearing an adhesive depression at the posterior end. It reaches a length of 20-70 mm and a width of 5-7 mm. The dorsal surface is reddish-yellow with three longitudinal red bands (one median and two lateral). The cephalic regions are whitish, as well as the border of the body and the ventral surface. The numerous eyes are strewn fanwise over the anterior region (C. rubrocincta-head). Tentacles are absent. The mouth and the short pharynx are situated posteriorly. The intestinal trunk extends anteriorly to the cerebral organ, with numerous pairs of lateral branches, which are not anastomosing.
The genital pores are separated. The male copulatory complex lies dorsally or posteriorly to its aperture; the prostatic organ is pyriform, interpolated; penis-papilla in penis-pocket; duplicate male complex sometimes occurs. The vagina is short; shell-chamber spacious, dorso-ventrically compressed; no [t]Lang's vesicle[/t]; the uterine canals extend into anterior third of body, where they remain separated.
Life-cycle not known.
Under stones between the tidemarks and on bryozoan colonies.
English Channel. Records also from Cape Verde Isle, Mediterranean and Japan. | <urn:uuid:0e6ae184-8c1e-427e-bf0d-dc9fe81dc465> | {
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Geared toward upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, this elementary introduction to classical umbral calculus requires only an acquaintance with the basic notions of algebra and a bit of applied mathematics (such as differential equations) to help put the theory in mathematical perspectiv... read more
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Infinitesimal Calculus by James M. Henle, Eugene M. Kleinberg Introducing calculus at the basic level, this text covers hyperreal numbers and hyperreal line, continuous functions, integral and differential calculus, fundamental theorem, infinite sequences and series, infinite polynomials, more. 1979 edition.
Introductory Discrete Mathematics by V. K . Balakrishnan This concise, undergraduate-level text focuses on combinatorics, graph theory with applications to some standard network optimization problems, and algorithms. More than 200 exercises, many with complete solutions. 1991 edition.
Technical Calculus with Analytic Geometry by Judith L. Gersting Well-conceived text with many special features covers functions and graphs, straight lines and conic sections, new coordinate systems, the derivative, much more. Many examples, exercises, practice problems, with answers. Advanced undergraduate/graduate-level. 1984 edition.
Geared toward upper-level undergraduates and graduate students, this elementary introduction to classical umbral calculus requires only an acquaintance with the basic notions of algebra and a bit of applied mathematics (such as differential equations) to help put the theory in mathematical perspective. Subjects include Sheffer sequences and operators and their adjoints, with numerous examples of associated and other sequences. Related topics encompass the connection constants problem and duplication formulas, the Lagrange inversion formula, operational formulas, inverse relations, and binomial convolution. The final chapter offers a glimpse of the newer and less well-established forms of umbral calculus. 1984 edition.
Unabridged republication of the edition published by Academic Press, Inc., Orlando, Florida, 1984.
This book was printed in the United States of America.
Dover books are made to last a lifetime. Our US book-manufacturing partners produce the highest quality books in the world and they create jobs for our fellow citizens. Manufacturing in the United States also ensures that our books are printed in an environmentally friendly fashion, on paper sourced from responsibly managed forests. | <urn:uuid:ff8f0d0f-ba97-417b-9f82-035e954a67bf> | {
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Meta tags are a great way for webmasters to provide search engines with information about their sites. Meta tags can be used to provide information to all sorts of clients, and each system processes only the meta tags they understand and ignores the rest. Meta tags are added to the
<head> section of your HTML page and generally look like this:
<!DOCTYPE html> <html> <head> <meta charset="utf-8"> <meta name="Description" CONTENT="Author: A.N. Author, Illustrator: P. Picture, Category: Books, Price: £9.24, Length: 784 pages"> <meta name="google-site-verification" content="+nxGUDJ4QpAZ5l9Bsjdi102tLVC21AIh5d1Nl23908vVuFHs34="/> <title>Example Books - high-quality used books for children</title> <meta name="robots" content="noindex,nofollow">
Google understands the following meta tags (and related items):
||This tag provides a short description of the page. In some situations this description is used as a part of the snippet shown in the search results. More information|
||While technically not a meta tag, this tag is often used together with the "description". The contents of this tag are generally shown as the title in search results (and of course in the user's browser). More information|
These meta tags can control the behavior of search engine crawling and indexing. The robots meta tag applies to all search engines, while the "googlebot" meta tag is specific to Google. The default values are "index, follow" (the same as "all") and do not need to be specified. We understand the following values (when specifying multiple values, separate them with a comma):
You can now also specify this information in the header of your pages using the "X-Robots-Tag" HTTP header directive. This is particularly useful if you wish to limit indexing of non-HTML files like graphics or other kinds of documents. More information about robots meta tags
||When we recognize that the contents of a page are not in the language that the user is likely to want to read, we often provide a link to a translation in the search results. In general, this gives you the chance to provide your unique and compelling content to a much larger group of users. However, there may be situations where this is not desired. This meta tag tells Google that you don't want us to provide a translation for this page.|
||You can use this tag on the top-level page of your site to verify ownership for Webmaster Tools. Please note that while the values of the "name" and "content" attributes must match exactly what is provided to you (including upper and lower case), it doesn't matter if you change the tag from XHTML to HTML or if the format of the tag matches the format of your page. More information|
||This defines the page's content type and character set. Make sure that you surround the value of the content attribute with quotes - otherwise the charset attribute may be interpreted incorrectly. We recommend using Unicode/UTF-8 where possible. More information|
||This meta tag sends the user to a new URL after a certain amount of time, and is sometimes used as a simple form of redirection. However, it is not supported by all browsers and can be confusing to the user. The W3C recommends that this tag not be used. We recommend using a server-side 301 redirect instead.|
Other points to note:
- Google can read both HTML and XHTML-style meta tags, regardless of the code used on the page.
- With the exception of
verify, case is generally not important in meta tags.
This is not an exclusive list of available meta tags, and you should feel free to use unlisted meta tags if they are important to your site. Just remember that Google will ignore meta tags it doesn't know. | <urn:uuid:a47e6693-bdda-4220-9f5b-efe67c34856a> | {
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Throughout the Ages
Throughout the Ages was created to meet the primary source needs of New York state K-6 history teachers. The site collection includes more than 500 photographs, letters, paintings, advertisements, and maps.
To navigate the site, choose an area of interest and subtopic (for example "leisure" under the heading "community"), and scroll to a source of interest. The source will offer a caption. In some cases, historical context, focus questions, and the correlating New York state standards will also be listed. Be sure to click on each of these section titles, as items such as resources and historical background only display once selected.
One feature to look into is the automatic handout maker. For each image, you can automatically generate a handout by selecting any or all of the following categories: caption, historical background, standards/key ideas, historical challenge, interdisciplinary connections, and resources. For some images, these will already be filled out. For others, you can type anything you want for all, some, or one of those categories. Don't worry about deleting existing text if you don't want it on your handout. It will be back the next time you load your page. | <urn:uuid:43f85015-cd91-4ef0-a3ec-b03d482a3e9c> | {
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A new survey finds that one in three homeless people in Boston are clinically obese, a number that casts in relief the strange reality of food in the 21st century United States.
Not long ago, malnourishment was embodied by emaciation. Now it’s far more likely to be hidden in folds of fat.
“This study suggests that obesity may be the new malnutrition of the homeless in the United States,” wrote the researchers, led by Harvard Medical School student Katherine Koh, in an upcoming Journal of Urban Health study.
The findings are the latest and most dramatic illustration of what’s called the “hunger-obesity paradox,” a term coined in 2005 by neurophysiologist Lawrence Scheier to describe the simultaneous presence of hunger and obesity.
Around that time, a vernacular sea change occurred, with “hunger” and its connotations of starvationreplaced by “food insecure,” a term more descriptive of people who might consume enough raw calories but not enough nutrients.
The paradox fit with a general modern relationship in the United States between weight and wealth. Whereas obesity was once a sign of wealth, it now tracks with poverty. The poorer and less food-secure people are, the more likely they are to be overweight or obese. | <urn:uuid:8a7a4b7d-dcb1-4560-bff3-cf5cd3d08d25> | {
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International fairs enabled merchants coming from distant regions to meet one another easier and in easily accessable places. The merchants at these fairs also enjoyed special protection from the local authorities. However some of these authorities were negative towards some visitors, because they were certain foreigners.
At the same time international fairs enabled these local authorities, which usually organised them, to tax and control more easily the foreign traders.
The international fairs of Europe, which grew up from the C12th onwards, atracted many traders from Italy, France, England, Spain, Germany, Flanders, Brabant, Switzerland and Savoy. The notable fairs of this time were the fairs of Champagne and Flander, which have been referred to as what has been called the 'world' economy of the middle ages.
These fairs history, probably dates back to the C10th, but information about them have only been found from 1114 onwards.
The main fairs were held at Troyes in the summer and five lesser fairs around it throughout the year. The goods there were of the utmost variety: cloths and wollens from Flanders and Northern France; silks from Lucca; leather from Spain, Pisa, Africa and Provence; furs from Germany; and linens from Champagne and Germany. The Italians also brought spices, wax, sugar, lacquer and dye-woods. There is also mention of cotton, grain and horses being traded.
It was however the cloth trade which surpassed all others at these international fairs, as the cloth producing araes of the Low Countries and Nortnern France could not sell its cloth anyware else.
However the character of the fairs changed between the 13th and 14th Centuries. At the beginning of the C13th, these fairs were indeed the centre of international commercial activity. But when the Italians acquired the northern cloths from these fairs and began distribution throughout the Mediterranean world, it can be seen that from the late C13th onwards money-changing begins to take precedence over trade. It can be said that the chief function of these fairs now became the regulation of the capital market.
The Champagne fairs declined in the C14th due to two primary factors; first the industrialisation of Italy and secondly the change in the precious metal market from gold to silver. It is now that the fairs of Flanders and the annual fair of Bruges took over as the important international fairs of Europe in the C14th. This was due to the fact that Flanders was a major area in the trade of cloths. The products traded at these fairs, of Flanders and Bruges, were simular to that of the Champagne fairs, although emphasis was now on trade in precious metals and money changing. The Ypres fair is an emphasis of this.
These fairs however started to decline with the emergence of permanent trade in towns. | <urn:uuid:0471d259-195d-47a2-ba37-f62cef049265> | {
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hate [heyt] Show IPA
|Part of Speech:||verb|
|Definition:||dislike very strongly|
|Synonyms:||abhor, abominate, allergic to, anathematize, be disgusted with, be hostile to, be loath, be reluctant, be repelled by, be sick of, be sorry, bear a grudge against, can't stand, contemn, curse, deprecate, deride, despise, detest, disapprove, disdain, disfavor, disparage, down on, execrate, feel malice to, have an aversion to, have enough of, have no use for, loathe, look down on, nauseate, not care for, object to, recoil from, scorn, shudder at, shun, spit upon, spurn|
|Notes:||hate means to 'dislike intensely, loathe' and despise means 'look down on contemptuously'|
|Category:||1. Social Affections|
hate, hatred, vials of hate., disaffection, disfavor; alienation, estrangement, coolness; enmity; animosity., umbrage, pique, grudge; dudgeon, spleen bitterness, bitterness of feeling; ill blood, bad blood; acrimony; malice; implacability (revenge)., repugnance (dislike); demonophobia, gynephobia, negrophobia; odium, unpopularity; detestation, antipathy; object of hatred, object of execration; abomination, aversion, bête noire; enemy; bitter pill; source of annoyance.
hate, detest, abominate, abhor, loathe; recoil at, shudder at; shrink from, view with horror, hold in abomination, revolt against, execrate; scowl; disrelish (dislike)., owe a grudge; bear spleen, bear a grudge, bear malice (malevolence) [more]; conceive an aversion to., excite hatred, provoke hatred; be hateful; stink in the nostrils; estrange, alienate, repel, set against, sow dissension, set by the ears, envenom, incense, irritate, rile; horrify; roil.
hating; abhorrent; averse from (disliking); set against., bitter (acrimonious) implacable (revengeful) [more]. unloved, unbeloved, unlamented, undeplored, unmourned, uncared for, unendeared, unvalued; disliked., crossed in love, forsaken, rejected, lovelorn, jilted., obnoxious, hateful, odious, abominable, repulsive, offensive, shocking; disgusting (disagreeable); reprehensible.
no love lost between.
|Browse Concept Index »| | <urn:uuid:3efbb0de-94e3-4919-88c3-dfc9d7f88a6e> | {
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--Faramir, "The Two Towers"
Although regarded as high fantasy (and thus conflated with "escapism," often by those who should know better), J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is also a treatise on war. Books 3 and 4 of Tolkien's tale (The Two Towers) shift the focus of the story from that of the adventures of the Fellowship to a broader conflict brewing in Middle Earth. The company emerges from the dark pit of Moria and the bright woods of Lorien only to be swept up in the machinations of Saruman and the great battle at Helm's Deep.
In my re-reading of The Lord of the Rings I recently passed through the vast bogs and fens which lie between the Emyn Muil and Mordor. This wide stretch of trackless, treacherous land is home to the Dead Marshes, named for the spectral corpses of fallen men, elves, and orcs that lie beneath its muck and dark waters. At one time their bodies lay on the dry Dagorlad, the site of a great months-long battle of the second age of Middle Earth. In this battle the Last Alliance of elves, men, and dwarves fought Sauron's forces at the gates of Mordor. The forces of good prevailed as Isildur cut the One Ring from Sauron's hand, but only after tremendous loss of life on both sides. Gradually the swamp spread, covering the land and the bodies of the slain.
Tolkien wrote in a letter that he drew his inspiration for the landscape of the Dead Marshes from experiences in the Somme, but it's no great stretch to speculate that this terrible battle made an impact in other, more profound ways on The Lord of the Rings. In the first day of the Somme the British suffered their worst loss of men in a single day in British history; 57,000 casualites, including 19,000 young men whose lives were snuffed out like candles in a hail of German machine-gun fire and shrapnel. Among those to die in the Somme were Tolkien's good friends Rob Gilson and G.B. Smith (for a compelling and complete recounting of Tolkien's wartime years and its influence upon his writings, I heartily recommend Tolkien and the Great War: The Threshold of Middle Earth, by John Garth).
In the Dead Marshes Frodo, Sam, and Gollum come face-to-face with death as the great fear--that it is simply the end, and that there is no immortal soul. Our lives are simply snuffed out when our bodies fail or are destroyed. All men, good and evil alike, are mingled together in the common lot of corruption, the grave, where good deeds in life are not rewarded by the eternal hereafter--because there isn't one. The images of the dead in the pools reflect this horror, notes Frodo:
They lie in all the pools, pale faces, deep deep under the dark water. I saw them: grim faces and evil, and noble faces and sad. Many faces proud and fair, and weeds in their silver hair. But all foul, all rotting, all dead. A fell light is in them.
In another passage from The Two Towers that I had forgotten, Sam, Frodo, and Gollum manage to find a brief respite in the land of Ithilien, still fair and flowering even though it has fallen beneath the shadow. But this peace is only an illusion, a respite: When Sam leaves the path to examine the trees, he stumbles on a ring still scorched by fire, and in the midst of it finds a pile of charred and broken bones and skulls.
Tolkien witnessed too much of this senseless loss of young life in his experience during the Somme, which explains why death weighs heavily on his mind in The Lord of the Rings. Elves alone have the gift of immortality, but men are mortal and "doomed to die." As men dwindle from the greatness of their elder days so too are their lifespans reduced.
Yet The Lord of the Rings is also infused with heroic men and martial victories. Garth posits that Tolkien did not believe that the sacrifice of young men's lives was a waste, if given for the right reasons. Writes Garth: "It [The Lord of the Rings] examines how the individual's experience of war relates to those grand old abstractions; for example, it puts glory, honour, majesty, as well as courage, under such stress that they often fracture, but are not utterly destroyed."
Tolkien personified his feelings about concepts like glory, honour, and courage in the peoples of Rohan. Rohan is at constant war with the orcs and wild men, and like the Dunedain must remain ever alert, guarding against encroaching evil. They believe that death on the battlefield, while sorrowful, is never in vain as long as their acts are remembered. Thus the wistful (and my personal favorite) bit of Tolkien poetry, the Lament for Eorl the Young:
Where now the horse and the rider? Where is the horn that was blowing?
Where is the helm and the hauberk, and the bright hair flowing?
Where is the hand on the harpstring, and the red fire glowing?
Where is the spring and the harvest and the corn growing?
They have passed like rain on the mountain, like a wind in the meadow; The days have gone down in the West behind the hills into shadow.
Who shall gather the smoke of the dead wood burning,
Or behold the flowing years from the Sea returning?
This piece captures Tolkien's ambivalent feelings about war. The poem on the one hand portrays the magnificence of Eorl, resplendent in his war gear and the full flower of his years, using the symbolic language of spring and harvests and growing corn. But the song also mourns his death, asking again and again "Where has he gone?" in a question that cannot be answered. Eorl's passing leaves no trace, like a whisp of smoke. For the living only his memories remain.
The Riders of Rohan remember their dead with songs like these and through the simbelmyne, a small white flower which grows on their graves and tombs. According to the Encyclopedia of Arda, "simbelmynë is translated as 'Evermind': a reference to the memories of the dead on whose tombs the flower grew."
Tolkien does not take war lightly and the men of Rohan, though portrayed in a sympathetic light, are not his ideal. That place is held by Faramir, Tolkien's portrayal of man at his best. Faramir sees war with a keen eye, and tells Sam and Frodo that the high men of Numenor, of which he is a descendant, have "fallen" and are becoming like the Rohirrim, loving valor for valor's sake: "Yet now, if the Rohirrim are grown in some ways more like to us, enhanced in arts and gentleness, we too have become more like to them, and can scarce claim any longer the title High...For as the Rohirrim do, we now love war and valor as things good in themselves, both a sport and an end."
Tolkien's clearest view on war is revealed in a famous passage in which Sam views the body of a dead soldier from the south, slain at his feet by arrows from Faramir's men in the woods of Ithilien:
He was glad that he could not see the dead face. He wondered what the man's name was and where he came from; and if he was really evil of heart, or what lies and threats had led him on the long march from his home; and if he would not really rather have stayed there in peace.
In other words, war is terrible and of last resort, and slain foes are, in the end, just men--and therefore to be pitied. War is necessary when "destroyers" like Sauron or Hitler would impose their will on the free peoples of the world, but it is a duty to be carried out, not glorified. It brings with it too much death and sorrow. In his famous foreward to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien wrote:
One has indeed personally to come under the shadow of war to feel fully its oppression; but as the years go by it seems now often forgotten that to be caught in youth by 1914 was no less hideous an experience than to be involved in 1939 and the following years. By 1918 all but one of my close friends were dead.
Tolkien never forgot the loss of Gilson and Smith, nor the Somme. At some level it fed into his passion for language and myth, providing fertile ground for a great tale. We have The Lord of the Rings to thank. | <urn:uuid:76afe83f-249b-423e-bde9-a338c95e1f38> | {
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Over 8,000 websites created by students around the world who have participated in a ThinkQuest Competition.
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Science, Religion and Darwin's Theory of Evolution
Charles Darwin is credited with developing the theory of evolution following his famous voyage aboard the H.M.S. Beagle. Follow Darwin's life, from his childhood fascination with collecting insects through his travels and discoveries, to the latter days of his life when he was ill with Chaga's disease. You can also read about the other theories of evolution--religious and scientific. This site includes a brief philosophical musing by Daniel Dennet.
BrianKaohsiung American School, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
DuncanCampus Middle School, Englewood, CO, United States
PeterCA, United States
19 & under
Martin WilliamsKaohsiung American School, Kaohsiung, Taiwan
Science & Technology > Life Science > Evolution
Philosophy, Religion & Mythology | <urn:uuid:15bd33f4-4972-4b05-9a73-8c144364cf21> | {
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There are a number of ways of exciting standing waves in ropes and springs using non-commercial vibrators such as loudspeakers,1 jigsaws,2 motors,3 or a simple tuning fork,4 including the rhythmical shaking of a handheld Slinky. We have come up with a very simple and cheap way of exciting stationary waves in a string, which anyone, particularly children, can try at home. It consists of using an electric toothbrush to produce a regular sideways motion that can be easily transmitted to an elastic cord. Most suitable for this experiment is the kind of unit that has a metal rod protruding from the front (see Fig. 1, which shows our Braun Oral-B®) to which a brush is normally affixed. The ends of the cord are attached to stands. Elastic cords that come with some school notebooks work well for this experiment, but a longer cord allows the observation of a larger number of modes. The toothbrush unit is placed near one end of the cord, which is wrapped once around the rod. As the toothbrush vibrates at a fixed frequency, standing waves (see Fig. 2) may be tuned by changing the tension of the cord while keeping its length constant. We have found up to five harmonics with a 150-cm cord. The toothbrush can be connected to a small potentiometer to reduce the dc voltage and hence the frequency of the motor, allowing the tuning of the standing waves with a fixed tension. | <urn:uuid:48cbf5ad-4f61-4cce-929a-7019acdd29f7> | {
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California Myotis (Myotis californicus)
- Protection Status Notes
- Little is known about population trends. The species is not state or federally protected.
- Myotis californicus is a small bat with dark brown to black ears and wing membranes, a distinctly keeled calcar, and pelage that varies from dark brown to pale reddish‑yellow to blond. It differs from M. ciliolabrum, which is sympatric and similar in appearance, by having a more globose skull, narrower rostrum, overall more delicate appearance, and no black mask. These two species are often difficult to distinguish in the field.
- Life History
- M. californicus mates during autumn, perhaps in the spring in California. In spring or early summer, females form maternity colonies where they give birth to one pup per year. Individuals are known to be active periodically in the winter, even at temperatures below freezing. California myotis have been known to live up to 15 years.
During summer, M. californicus roost alone or in small groups in caves, mines, rocky hillsides, under tree bark, and in buildings. Recent studies in Canada have documented maternity colonies of up to 52 individuals roosting under sloughing bark, and in cracks and hollows of large diameter, intermediate stage snags (preferably ponderosa pine). In winter, solitary individuals and small groups have been found in caves, mines, and buildings.
California myotis are acrobatic fliers and use small waterholes to obtain needed moisture; the kidneys are adapted for arid environments. Individuals are most active soon after sunset and periodically rest at night roosts. They typically feed on moths and flies, but have been known to eat other insects.
- This species occurs in a wide variety of habitats. While typical of deserts and interior basins in the western U.S., it also occurs in forested and mountainous regions.
- M. californicus ranges across much of western North America from southeastern Alaska and southwestern British Columbia, through most of the United States west of the Rocky Mountains, and south to Baja California and much of mainland Mexico, and into Guatemala.
This western species known in Texas from the Trans-Pecos region is one of the few species that winters in Texas.
- Threats and Reasons for Decline
- M. californicus may be affected by closure of abandoned mines without adequate surveys and by recreational caving. The species may be affected by some timber harvest practices, particularly the removal of large diameter snags. Like all bats it also could be subject to contaminant poisoning.
- Ongoing Recovery
- Conservation and management recommendations are similar to the previously discussed long-legged myotis. Known colonies in buildings, trees, and cliff crevices should be protected from disturbance. Bat-friendly gates can prevent human disturbance of hibernation sites in caves and mines.
- More information is needed on roosting and foraging requirements.The use and acceptance of bat gates needs to be studied.
For more information
- Refer to the online version of The Mammals of Texas for additional details on the California Myotis. | <urn:uuid:9b9fc7cc-49ee-4044-ab40-a9245699664e> | {
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The "Methane" experiment was proposed during the TransCom 2008 meeting in Utrecht. The first protocol was discussed during the post-ICDC8 TransCom meeting in Jena, followed by the final protocol in 2010. Since then 16 models or model variants have performed the simulations. Previous TransCom experiments focused on chemically non-reactive species (SF6, CO2, 222Rn). A CH4 intercomparison requires introduction of atmospheric chemistry, which means a significant new model development for the traditional TransCom participants. However, to focus on model transport properties, the CH4 chemistry is reduced to offline radical (OH, O1D, Cl) only, which means the full-chemistry modellers have to scale down chemistry. During discussion at Jena, methyl chloroform (CH3CCl3) was included for tracking tropospheric OH abundance in the models, as well as SF6 and 222Rn for model transport evaluations. Prescribed fluxes are input to a transport model and 20 years of simulation is run with meteorological forcing appropriate for 1988-2007. Hourly concentrations of all species are output for 280 locations. At 115 locations, species profiles, surface fluxes and meteorological variables are also output.
The protocol (version 7) . It details the input fluxes, regridding instructions and lists of the output sites and required file formats (similar to TransCom continuous experiment). Instructions are included for accessing the ftp site for downloading input files and uploading model submissions.
The model output is freely available for research purposes but please note the "conditions of use" . The data are available in two formats: the original model submissions containing output for all sites. Output files can be downloaded from ftp fxp.nies.go.jp (refer to the Protocol files for access information). In an effort towards ease of access, time series at a subset of surface sites are archived at the WMO World Data Centre for Greenhouse Gases (http://gaw.kishou.go.jp/)
publications and presentations
Patra, P. K., S. Houweling, M. Krol, P. Bousquet, L. Bruhwiler, and D. Jacob (2010), Protocol for TransCom CH4 intercomparison, Version 7, April (available online at transcom.project.asu.edu/pdf/transcom/T4.methane.protocol_v7.pdf ).
Patra, P. K., S. Houweling, M. Krol, P. Bousquet, D. Belikov, D. Bergmann, H. Bian, P. Cameron-Smith, M. P. Chipperfield, K. Corbin, A. Fortems-Cheiney, A. Fraser, E. Gloor, P. Hess, A. Ito, S. R. Kawa, R. M. Law, Z. Loh, S. Maksyutov, L. Meng, P. I. Palmer, R. G. Prinn, M. Rigby, R. Saito, C. Wilson, TransCom model simulations of CH4 and related species: Linking transport, surface flux and chemical loss with CH4 variability in the troposphere and lower stratosphere, Atmos. Chem. Phys. Discuss., Submitted, 2011.
presentations at the 10th TransCom workshop, University of California, Berkeley, 2010, (Saturday Session) are available on the TransCom-CH4 FTP server at NIES.
for more information | <urn:uuid:fafff650-2a32-4b22-b6ba-3ad9c568a763> | {
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More mushrooms, less pollution! Yes, you heard right: growing more mushrooms may be the best thing we can do to save the environment and mushroom expert Paul Stamets explains how in "Mycelium Running," a ground-breaking manual for saving the world through mushroom cultivation. The science goes like this: fine filaments of cells called mycelium, the fruit of which are mushrooms, already cover large areas of land around the world. As the mycelium grows, it breaks down plant and animal debris, recycling carbon, nitrogen, and other essential elements in the creation of rich new soil. What Stamets has discovered is that the enzymes and acids that mycelium produces to decompose this debris are superb at breaking apart hydrocarbons-the base structure common to many pollutants. Available here from your favorite online book retailer.
Below is an alphabetical list to other individuals, businesses, and organizations we support and wish to share. | <urn:uuid:b6dd70b8-dbef-4861-8263-262de9bcc107> | {
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by Alexandra Friedman:
“It is a complete failure,” sighed Jenn Baka from her hotel room in Tamil Nadu, India.
After months of studying a unique plant on a Fulbright Scholarship, Baka has deemed it—the jatropha curcas—a flop. Just a few years ago, it was hailed as the crown jewel of Indian sustainable energy. The renewable energy industry began to explore the biofuel potential of jatropha, a plant that produces toxic, non-edible nuts. With a readily extractable 45 percent oil content and the ability to run in any diesel machine after processing, jatropha caught the attention of governments, private companies and NGOs alike.
The Indian government championed jatropha from the start, largely due to the energy needs of its burgeoning population and its dependency on foreign fuel as the fourth largest consumer of oil in the world. With over one billion people and nearly all of its fertile land allocated to food crops, India’s land shortages render most biofuel cultivation impossible.
Still, the Indian Ministry of New and Renewable Energy pledged to achieve 20 percent biodiesel consumption by 2017 and to provide the entire Indian population with a source of renewable energy by 2015. For a while, jatropha seemed like the answer, launching to the top of the national Indian energy agenda due to its purported ability to grow anywhere.
In 2003 the Indian government began to set aside officially designated “wasteland” as jatropha test sites, where a combination of public and private investment enabled the planting of jatropha plantations. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act of 2005, which guarantees rural Indian households 100 days of employment on manual labor projects, provided the necessary workforce to plant jatropha. “It was promoted as a crop that can survive in marginal environments under rain-fed conditions, meaning no fertilizer or extra water required, so farmers took up the crop. Surprise, surprise—it doesn’t grow well in marginal conditions,” explained Baka.
At first glance an almost messianic plant, jatropha promised to bolster employment levels and turn wastelands into producers of clean, renewable energy. Researchers had estimated that one acre would yield between 200 and 400 gallons of oil, significantly more than current biofuels like soy and canola oil. But after years of trying to harvest the nut’s potential, researchers and farmers have begun to accept failure. “Jatropha is a pandemic like H1N1. It is not going to solve the energy crisis of the world, but rather take away land where large populations are growing,” said Dr. K.K. Tripathi of the Indian Department of Biotechnology, who has conducted multiple government and private studies revealing poor yields of jatropha.
Dr. Robert Bailis of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, who is currently researching the lifecycle of jatropha as a biofuel, agreed: “Unfortunately, the plant was really over-hyped if you go back four, five years. It was pitched as this miracle crop that can grow in really poor conditions and give great yields with very little input and very little attention from the farmer,” he said, “and none of that is true.”
This trend is especially apparent in the private sector, where companies are steadily decreasing investment in jatropha projects. In 2009 British Petroleum sold its rights in an estimated $12.1 million jatropha project joint venture with D1 Oils for a mere $818,900, making a timely departure before D1 Oils fell into financial woes.
Megha Rathee, chief operating officer at green consultancy firm Earth 100, commented on dwindling governmental investment: “The expected yield of jatropha never came into being, so the government lost interest.” The haphazard implementation of projects like these causes skepticism among researchers like Bailis, who questions the motives of corporations and the Indian government behind the push for jatropha. “People don’t act ethically when it comes to business,” he insisted.
Unfortunately, farmers have suffered much more than private investors. A lack of buyers and refineries means that many of these farmers cannot sell their product, even with the government’s push for jatropha. On top of that, many farmers have reported poor yields and insist that in the three-year-plus period it takes to grow, process, and sell jatropha, they could turn a higher profit by planting crops like sorghum or sugarcane.
Over a third of the 700 farmers Baka interviewed were promised loans from agricultural banks to replace their normal food crops with jatropha, many more receiving encouragement from the local government. Few have received compensation for their efforts.
Jatropha’s final redeeming quality—that it grows in fallow and otherwise unused land—also falls short. Proponents of the plant argue that regardless of yield, jatropha does not compete for valuable food crop space, especially when planted in “wasteland” areas. But Baka found discrepancies in the government terminology of “wasteland.” Baka noted that one village leader she met while doing survey work in Tamil Nadu told her that “the local state government body had forced him to plant jatropha in his village even though he said he didn’t have land. The government was trying to promote it so heavily and do these propagation schemes that they even forced him [to find land] to plant it.”
Because of this external pressure, villages that grow jatropha are often forced to cultivate it in common land areas, normally used as public space for gathering fuel wood or grazing animals. The Indian government definition of wastelands is “lands that can be put to more productive use with effort.” In many instances, “there is this whole other energy economy situated there that’s not mentioned in any of the government assessments of wastelands,” said Baka. These wastelands are often home to trees used for fuel wood, charcoal production, electricity production and tire retreading.
In some locales, jatropha has achieved success: A handful of private companies promoting the plant have implemented an effective system of jatropha production, refinement and exportation. Gold Star Biofuels, a private jatropha oil manufacturer, is one such company. Through its unique humanitarian focus on its farmers, Gold Star, “helps the economy of the country by providing jobs to unemployed farmers, keeps the families together on the farms, pays all of our farmers U.N. wages on levels projected for 2015 and pays national insurance,” explained Jack Holden, the company’s executive director.
Earth 100, part of Goldman Sachs Group’s efforts to reduce its carbon foot-print in India, has similarly achieved success as a buyer in the jatropha oil manufacturing industry. They provide companies with ‘green fleets’ of cars that are powered solely by nonedible biofuels like jatropha. Most of Earth 100’s jatropha comes from wild sources, picked and collected by villagers in an alternative, organic manner of cultivation.
Aside from the social benefits, jatropha seedcakes produced as a byproduct of oil extraction can help replenish the soil. “The technology needed for avoiding chemical fertilizer is very important and significant in reducing the carbon footprint as well as energy use and improving the scenario towards sustainability [of jatropha],” said Dr. Alok Adholeya of the Energy and Resources Institute.
Despite these small-scale successes, the overriding failure of jatropha has left many projects abandoned. The true sustainability of the plant is yet to be determined: Factors influencing the yield, the carbon balance of jatropha, and the amount of energy used to manufacture the oil and the seedcake must still be researched.
The enigma of jatropha remains unsolved. As Rathee explained, “Jatropha is not the ideal solution, but it’s the only one that we have right now.”
Alexandra Friedman ’14 is in Pierson College. Contact her at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:63c9c4ee-0f51-4645-9d58-4c03f72e2490> | {
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Sept. 19, 2011 – University of Utah engineers who built wireless networks that see through walls now are aiming the technology at a new goal: noninvasively measuring the breathing of surgery patients, adults with sleep apnea and babies at risk of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS).
Because the technique uses off-the-shelf wireless transceivers similar to those used in home computer networks, “the cost of this system will be cheaper than existing methods of monitoring breathing,” says Neal Patwari, senior author of a study of the new method and an assistant professor of electrical engineering.
While he estimates it will be five years until such a product is on the market, Patwari says a network of wireless transceivers around a bed can measure breathing rates and alert someone if breathing stops without any tubes or wires connected to the patient.
“We can use this to increase the safety of people who are under sedation after surgery by knowing if they stop breathing,” he says. “We also envision a product that parents put around their baby’s crib to alert them if the baby stops breathing. It might be useful for babies at risk of SIDS.”
The American Academy of Pediatrics says there is “no evidence that home monitors are effective” for preventing SIDS. Since 2005, the group has opposed the use of breathing monitors to prevent SIDS, but has said they “may be useful in some infants who have had an apparent life-threatening event,” including some combination of apnea [abnormal interruptions in breathing], color change, limpness and choking or gagging.
“The AAP recognizes that monitors may be helpful to allow rapid recognition of apnea, airway obstruction, respiratory failure, interruption of supplemental oxygen supply, or failure of mechanical respiratory support,” the group states.
In addition to other possible uses, Patwari wants to conduct research with doctors to test his method as an infant-breathing monitor, and, if it proves useful, develop it as a medical device that would need federal approval. He also says it may be useful for adults with sleep apnea, which causes daytime fatigue and impairs a person’s performance.
SIDS monitors now on the market include FDA-approved medical devices that measure heart rate and respiration and are connected to babies with wires, electrodes and-or belts. Other monitors, which are non-medical and over-the-counter versions, detect a lack of sound, or use mattress sensors to detect a lack of movement.
Patwari says that with the new method, “the patient or the baby doesn’t have to be connected to tubes or wired to other sensors, so they can be more comfortable while sleeping. If you’re wired up, you’re going to have more trouble sleeping, which is going to make your recovery in the hospital worse.”
Some opposition to SIDS monitors is based on a fear that parents will depend on monitors instead of following other, more effective medical measures, including always placing babies on their backs to sleep, keeping redundant bedding and soft objects out of the crib, and not having babies share a bed with adults.
Yet many parents want monitors too. The AAP acknowledges “distribution of home monitors continues to be a substantial industry in the United States.”
New Uses for Wireless Technology
Wireless technology has become pervasive, from wireless phones to wireless networks linking home computers. In 2009, Patwari and then-graduate student Joey Wilson showed how a couple dozen wireless transceivers – devices that transmit and receive radio signals – could be used to literally see through walls to detect the location of a burglar, people trapped by a fire or hostages held captive inside a building.
They formed a University of Utah spinoff company, Xandem Technology LLC, which is commercializing the wireless networks for use as motion detectors for burglar alarm systems, to help police locate hostages and even to alert out-of-town, vacationing parents if a crowd of teenagers is partying at their home during their absence.
Patwari’s new study points out pros and cons of adding wireless detection of breathing to the motion-detecting capability.
“A search and rescue team may arrive at a collapsed building and throw transceivers into the rubble, hoping to detect the breathing of anyone still alive inside,” Patwari and colleagues write. “Police or SWAT teams may deploy a network around a building to determine if people are inside.”
“On the other hand, the ability to measure breathing from a wireless network has privacy implications,” they add. “We have shown previously that a network deployed around external walls of a building can detect and track a person who is moving or changing position. If this system can also detect and monitor a sleeping person’s breathing, it would have additional utility for eavesdroppers or thieves.”
The Study: Using Wireless Transceivers to Detect Breathing
Because of efforts to patent the new use of the wireless breathing-detection technology – which has been named BreathTaking – Patwari is posting his study on the online scientific preprint website ArXiv this week before submitting it to a journal for formal publication.
Patwari conducted the study with Wilson; Sai Ananthanarayanan, a postdoctoral electrical engineer; Sneha Kasera, an associate professor of computer science; and Dwayne Westenskow, a professor of anesthesiology and research professor of bioengineering. The research was funded by the National Science Foundation.
In a new study, Patwari showed a network of 20 wireless transceivers placed around a hospital bed could reliably detect breathing and estimate breathing rate to within two-fifths of a breath per minute based on 30 seconds of data.
This is different than using wireless transmitters to relay measurements from conventional breathing monitors. The motion of the chest and abdomen during breathing impedes the wireless radio signals crisscrossing a bedridden patient, who in the study was Patwari himself. Each of the 20 transceivers or “nodes” can transmit and receive to the other 19, meaning there can be up to 380 measurements (20 times 19) of radio signal strength within a short period of time (the transceivers transmit one after the other).
The study was conducted in a clinical room used for research at the University of Utah School of Medicine’s Department of Anesthesiology. Patwari reclined on a hospital bed and listened to a metronome to time his breathing so he inhaled and exhaled 15 times per minute – about the average breathing rate for a resting adult.
His breathing was measured two ways: by the experimental wireless network, and by a carbon dioxide monitor connected to his nostrils by tubes. It calculated breathing rate by measuring the amount of carbon dioxide exhaled with each breath. Patwari also tested the wireless network with no one in the hospital bed.
The study found the wireless network could measure breathing within 0.4 to 0.2 breaths per minute, an insignificant error rate given that most breathing monitors round to the nearest breath per minute, he says. If a bedridden person or baby moves, the wireless system detects the movement but cannot measure their breathing at the same time.
To decide if someone is breathing or not, the wireless system uses a computer algorithm – basically, a set of formulas. Patwari says his algorithm squares the amplitude or loudness of the signal on each link between nodes, then averages it over all 380 links. A number larger than 1.5 indicates breathing has been detected.
Patwari also measured how many nodes were required to measure breathing accurately. The minimum was 13 nodes or transceivers, while the rate of incorrect breathing measurements fell to zero when 19 nodes were used. The study also showed the height of the nodes around the hospital bed didn’t significantly affect breathing measurements.
Patwari plans more research on whether different or multiple radio frequencies might detect breathing better than the one 2.4 gigahertz frequency used in the study.
He also wants to test whether the system can detect two people breathing at the same rate but not in sync – something that might make it possible to design a system that could detect not only the location of hostages in a building, but the number held together. | <urn:uuid:5eb9d454-265e-4de3-a51a-a3a29ad15b5e> | {
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- Urge Home
- Your Body
- Your Mind
- Drugs and Alcohol
- Beyond School
- Our Society
- Connecting You
If someone drinks too much or has an adverse reaction while drinking, it is very important they receive professional help as soon as possible. Quick responses can save lives...
Stay with the person until the ambulance arrives.
Ensure the person gets enough air by keeping crowds back and opening windows. Loosen tight clothing. Keep them warm- use blankets or a coat (but not too warm).
If the person is unconscious, don't leave them on their back - they could choke. Clear any vomit away from their mouth.
Turn them on their side and into the recovery position. Gently tilt their head back so their tongue does not block their airway.
If breathing has stopped, give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. If there is no pulse, apply CPR.
Provide the ambulance officers with as much information as you can - what they have been drinking, how much they have been drinking, and any pre-existing medical conditions that you know the person has.
Give someone fluids (even water) if you think they're in shock or unconscious.
Leave someone alone, especially if they are unconscious.
If the person is asleep and you are unable to wake them up.
Look at the person's skin. If it is cold, clammy, pale, bluish in colour. | <urn:uuid:298d756f-8df9-4b25-bf28-fe96ea45c983> | {
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Explanation Illustration Intervention
General Middle School High School Undergraduate
"The girls are more determined…the boys don't pay attention."
"Girls are more focused and boys kind of have this thing with their friends, they are the class clowns."
"Boys are always goofing off and talking about other stuff--goofing off and not paying attention.”
“Half the boys in our class, if they do problems wrong on the board, they laugh and blow it off.” | <urn:uuid:ed391c8c-d344-411a-916d-0706102ebaef> | {
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Resistance mechanisms are employed by bacterial organisms to gain a growth advantage in conditions that impose a tremendous selective pressure, resulting in the materialization of isolates that are resistant to multiple classes of antimicrobials. Surveillance systems are commonly used in human medicine to track the frequency and emergence of these strains, and this information is used to implement infection control policies aimed at reducing the number of these organisms. The implementation and sophistication of these monitoring programs in veterinary medicine lags behind the human counterpart. With the increasing prevalence of methicillin-resistant Staphyloccus aureus (MRSA) in humans, particular emphasis is placed on methicillin-resistant staphylocci (MRS) at the OSU-VMC. All staphylococcal species isolated during routine microbiological examination are screened for the presence of the mecA gene, which defines an isolate as being methicillin-resistant. This gene is carried on the Staphylococcal Cassette Chromosome (SCCmec), which can be used to help further classify MRS organisms. Healthcare-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (HA-MRSA) is typically isolated from patients in a healthcare setting, tends to be multidrug resistant, and is usually associated with SCCmec types I, II, or III. Community-associated methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) is typically isolated from young, healthy individuals with no history of indwelling medical devices, recent visitation to a healthcare facility, or any other risk factors for HA-MRSA. CA-MRSA is usually associated with skin and soft tissue infections, is generally susceptible to multiple antimicrobial classes, contains the Panton-valentine leukocidin (PVL) gene, and is most often associated with SCCmec types IV, V, VI, and VII. Additionally, using DNA fingerprinting methods, HA-MRSA strains are generally most related to USA types 100, 500, and 800, while CA-MRSA are most related to USA types 300 and 400. Bidirectional transmission facilitates the zoonotic potential of these organisms. Unlike human medicine, long term veterinary studies are lacking, so little information is available to determine how the prevalence of MRSA and MRSP have changed over time. However, the availability of DNA fingerprinting methods such as PFGE have facilitated efforts to determine if isolates from separate sources are clonally related; these results provide information that can be used to better characterize how MRSA and MRSP are being transmitted between humans, animals, and the environment. Our study will provide information on prevalence, including changes over time and will provide information that can be used to track the movement of pathogens among and between patients within the veterinary medical center. This information can be used to guide the judicious use of antimicrobials and to implement infection control procedures aimed at limiting the spread of pathogens between animals, the hospital environment, hospital staff, and owners.
The main objectives of this project are: | <urn:uuid:00ea19d0-78d3-49d2-abaf-a6f2d45fe5b6> | {
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Women, Men and Suffrage
Nancy Kohlhoff, Valparaiso branch
(Ed Note: This is the sixth in a series of our exclusive publication of the manuscript written by Nancy after much research to fill in the gaps left by history books when dealing with women’s issues and their struggle to gain the vote.)
The movement for woman’s rights which was entangled with abolition from the beginning of the century had no impetus until Elizabeth Stanton took the lead. She was not the first to "analyze critically the plight of women and enumerate the changes needed to raise them from domestic servitude" to positions of equality with men. But, unlike most other reformers, Elizabeth believed reform must include more than the vote and property rights for women. She wanted to collapse the patriarchy, to remove the very underpinnings of entrenched social and religious customs. That was enough to keep her in conflict most of the time with relatives, friends and enemies.
In her letters, articles and speeches, Elizabeth boldly stated contraception should be available to women. The practice, barely discussed by respectable people in her time, was denounced by the clergy and most people living then who had ever had the good fortune to hear of it. She also said divorce should be obtained easily and custody of children awarded to their mothers. Consumption of alcohol, without government regulation or local control, was a serious social problem in the 19th century. Elizabeth observed the plight of women and children deprived of food, clothing and shelter, as well as their subjection to physical and emotional abuse, because of the excessive drinking habits of husbands and fathers. Yet, the law allowed that fathers, even though they may have abandoned the family, owned their children. It was common practice for custodial fathers to "farm out" their children for wages which were then collected by the drunkards and used to sustain their debilitating habits.
Elizabeth also argued that men whose wives worked for wages should not be allowed to collect those wages. She scorned husbands who came to the factories and mills on payday, took their wives’ earnings and spent the money gambling or at the local saloon before their wives had returned home after a twelve-hour-a-day, six-day work week. She demanded equal pay for women for equal work. A woman then was paid about one-quarter what a male earned for doing the same job. She advocated labor unions for the working poor, including men and women.
Elizabeth advocated admission of women into higher education. Until 1833, when Oberlin College admissions policy made "no distinction to color or sex," no college or university in the country which admitted men, admitted women. In 1838, Zeruiah Porter became the first woman to graduate from Oberlin although she completed only the "Literary Course," not the regular college course which men took. Elizabeth believed schools should be co-educational and provide the same training for females that was provided for males. She thought women should participate in sports, ride bicycles and exercise vigorously.
Elizabeth raised seven children but very infrequently left her home for public activity until she was fifty, when her last child became independent. However, she held controversial views on child rearing, too. She said babies should not be swaddled, as was the custom. She wanted them to be bathed daily and taken outside for sunshine and fresh air. She also encouraged mothers to give their infants water to drink in addition to their regular diet. She did not believe in corporeal punishment, but said children could be disciplined by reason and persuasion.
She thought the wale-boned corsets worn by young girls and women dislodged every vital organ in the female body, and she refused to wear them. About the only custom Elizabeth did not defy was women’s long dress. Although she wore the "bloomer" costume or "free dress" for several years, she finally gave it up because she thought it diverted attention from more important reforms for women. Women appearing in public in the bloomer dress were frequently jeered by passers-by and pelted with rotten fruit or vegetables by rowdy street urchins.
Because of her outspoken challenge to the status quo, Elizabeth was suspect to nearly every segment in society. Politicians, physicians, clergymen, businessmen and most women denounced her radical views. Although there was never a public rift between Elizabeth and Henry, he seemed to copy best by ignoring her and keeping his distance.
Progress at last
Nevertheless, throughout the years, people were reading her essays and listening to her speeches. As she grew older, her reputation remained essentially unaltered, but the people did not. She had changed the way people thought. Her 80th birthday was celebrated in the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. A well-known newspaper editor paid her this tribute: "Every woman who seeks the legal custody of her children; who finds the door of a college or university open to her; who administers a post-office or a public library; who enters upon a career of medicine, law or theology; who teaches school or tills a farm or keeps a shop or rides a bicycle—every such woman owes her liberty largely to yourself and to your earliest and bravest co-workers."
During her last years, Elizabeth, then widowed, dwelt on woman’s self-reliance. In looking back over her life, it occurred to her that she had managed by her robust energy, intelligence, good-natured wit, and her own spiritual and moral strengths. Henry, always an advocate of equality in the abstract, apparently never made the connection between equality in the marriage and harmony in the home.
In her most famous speech, "The Solitude of Self," she said, (in abbreviate form) "No matter how much women prefer to lean, to be protected and supported, nor how much men prefer to have them do so, they must make the voyage of life alone. The talk of sheltering woman from the fierce storms of life is sheerest mockery, for they beat on her just as they do on man. Whatever the theories may be of woman’ dependence on man, in the supreme moments of her life he cannot bear her burdens. [In] the tragedies and triumphs of human experience each mortal stands alone. The strongest reason why we ask for woman a voice in government, in religion, in social life, is because she must relay on herself."
(Quotes from Griffith, Elizabeth, In Her Own Right, Oxford University Press, 1984; general background from various published sources on woman’s history. Copyright 1993) | <urn:uuid:9d02d5be-ec7d-4a26-bb66-8e87839dad10> | {
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What a perfect activity for a seven year old (or a twelve year old, a 25 year old, a 45 year old or a 72 year old!) I love that origami teaches Little Mr. B. the skill of carefully reading & following detailed, step-by-step instructions -- the same skill he learns when following instructions for putting together a Lego set. Except that, at the end of a Lego project, he ends up with a big, plastic piece of junk, while when he completes an origami project, he ends up with a lovely bit of paper-art (Me? Biased against Legos? No, not me!)
Besides the pair of technicolor penguins pictured above, we've made...
Mama & baby owls...
Papa & baby hedgehogs...
And a little, purple bat!
There are so many good books for creating origami with children. We found these at our local library:
Super Simple Origami by Irmgard Kneissler
Absolute Beginner's Origami by Nick Robinson
Super Quick Origami Animals by Nick Robinson
Origami for Children by Mari Ono & Roshin Ono
Origami Toys That Tumble, Fly & Spin by Paul Jackson
Making Origami Fish Step by Step by Michael G. LaFosse
Making Origami Birds Step by Step by Michael G. LaFosse | <urn:uuid:250beb09-0b44-4c0b-a680-ca303c725207> | {
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Viticulture - n. : the cultivation or culture of grapes
Enology - n. :a science that deals with wine and wine making
The V&E Department combines the sciences of viticulture and enology in a single research and teaching unit that encompasses all of the scientific disciplines that impact grape growing and winemaking. For over one hundred years the University of California has maintained an active and productive program in research and education in viticulture and enology. The continuing excellence of the Department has enabled California growers and vintners to develop practices that have allowed the Golden State to achieve its potential and become a premier wine-producing region.
UC Davis Extension Short Courses
The University of California offers many courses to the general public to assist in furthering their educational goal. These courses are offered through the university's outreach division UC Davis Extension. While UC Davis Extension offers courses for a wide variety of topics, in conjunction with the Department of Viticulture & Enology, they have developed a number of excellent wine making and grape growing classes. Within the last few years we have begun to adapt classes so that they may be offered as distance learning courses via the internet.
More information on class schedules and requirements can be found on the University Extension web site.
read more > | <urn:uuid:905bbeec-6f6c-452c-b1c7-f77a2e1f4549> | {
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By Kate Kelland
LONDON (Reuters) - Just one sleepless night can hamper the body's ability to use insulin to process sugar in the bloodstream, according to a study which scientists say might help explain why diabetes is on the rise.
Researchers said their findings suggest it may be no coincidence that while sleep duration has shortened in western societies in the past decade there has also been an increase in cases of "insulin resistance" and adult-onset diabetes.
"Our findings show a short night of sleep has more profound effects on metabolic regulation than previously appreciated," said Esther Donga, director of Leiden University Medical Center in the Netherlands, who led the study published on Wednesday.
Type 2 diabetes is caused by the body's inability to adequately use insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas, to control glucose sugar produced from food. Sugar levels rise and can damage the eyes, kidneys, nerves, heart and major arteries.
The disease, linked to poor diet and lack of exercise, is reaching epidemic levels. An estimated 180 million people now suffer from diabetes around the world.
Previous studies have found that several nights of poor sleep can result in impaired use of insulin, but Donga said this was the first study to examine the effects of only a single bad night's sleep.
The Dutch scientists examined nine healthy people -- once after a night of eight hours sleep and once after a night of just four hours.
The findings, published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM), showed that partial sleep restriction during a single night reduced some types of insulin sensitivity by 19 to 25 percent.
"Our data indicate that insulin sensitivity is not fixed in healthy (people), but depends on the duration of sleep in the preceding night," Donga wrote in the study.
"In fact it is tempting to speculate that the negative effects of multiple nights of shortened sleep on glucose tolerance can be reproduced, at least in part, by just one sleepless night."
A study by U.S. scientists published last year found that people who slept less than six hours a night were 4.5 times more likely to develop abnormal blood sugar readings in six years compared with those who slept longer.
Experts say adults typically need between seven and nine hours sleep a night.
Donga said further studies were needed to see whether ways of improving sleep duration could help stabilize glucose levels in patients with diabetes.
(Editing by Andrew Roche) | <urn:uuid:c2bec93c-6a02-4790-8ec7-6da3249d0b84> | {
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|Title: ||Sticky Graphics: Creating Memorable Graphic Design using Mnemonics and Visual Hooks|
|Publisher: ||Switzerland: Rotovision SA|
|Issue Date: ||2006 |
|Additional Links: ||http://www.wlv.ac.uk/Default.aspx?page=16092|
|Abstract: ||The researchers question the ways in which visual factors play a vital role in affecting memory, specifically examining the ways in which the visual language of graphic design plays a vital role in modifying memory. Glaser and Knight discusses what personal influences and world issues influence memory (for example family and individual preference). This research emerges from their interest in mnemonics and the fact that there was a lack of research specifically relating to visual mnemonics within graphic design.
The strategies involve interdisciplinary text based research and original research with professionals leading to analysis and synthesis. The book is organized in terms of visual content and its spatial context, the pursuit of emotional response, tactile response and closes with a chapter on metaphor, metonomy and simile. The work is referenced to experienced, professional graphic designers, with examples of visual communication from around the world. The authors collate archive, analyze and present visual examples that demonstrate how visual language can aid memory. Glaser’s primary focus is on the visual aspects, while Knight’s is upon linguistic content.|
|Description: ||Glaser and her co-author examine working methodologies, communication strategies, audience comprehension and retention within contemporary visual communication practices. The research focuses on the roles of graphic wit and shock, image, colour and composition, visual figures of speech and the use of materials and processes in the context of creating visual mnemonics.|
|Appears in Collections: ||Art, Design and Creative Technology|
|Files in This Item:|
There are no files associated with this item.
All Items in WIRE are protected by copyright, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated. | <urn:uuid:b3f284fc-4771-4675-ab09-6a0c0b8237ac> | {
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Outsmarting Poison Ivy and Other Poisonous Plants
Publication Year: 2010
Type: Federal resource, Online publication
Approximately 85% of the population will develop an allergic reaction if exposed to poison ivy, oak or sumac, according to the American Academy of Dermatology. This fact sheet provides information on how to avoid poison ivy exposure and how to treat the rash from poison ivy, oak and sumac.
This publication is available only on the Internet.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration
10903 New Hampshire Ave.
Silver Spring MD 20993
Phone: (301) 796-8240 Emergency Operations
Toll-free Phone: (800) 332-4010 Food and Seafood Info.
Is this your organization's publication? Contact us if your information has changed.
A federal government website managed by the Office on Women's Health in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
200 Independence Avenue, S.W. • Washington, DC 20201 | <urn:uuid:8be175e2-da58-40f5-89f9-71eea195d8cd> | {
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The Tornado of 1985 - Tornado Memories
On May 31, 1985, a series of tornadoes hit Northeastern Ohio and Western Pennsylvania, leaving behind a wide path of death and devastation. Homes and businesses were destroyed and it was many years before recovery efforts were completed.
The Local History and Genealogy Center of the Warren-Trumbull County Public Library has started a collection of photographs, newspaper articles and reminiscences from those who experienced the disaster. Our goal is to create a centralized collection of information relating to the tornado, so that future generations will have access to the events of that night more than 20 years ago, and the courage and community that arose in the hours, days and weeks following.
See a sample of photographs from our larger collection at the Photographic Memories page. Read what others remember about the Tornado of 1985 at our Memories From Around the Valley page. (A complete collection of written memories - including submissions not available online - is on file in the Local History and Genealogy Center.)
To learn more about severe weather events in the Buckeye State visit the Severe Weather In Ohio: Online Exhibit on the Ohio Historical Society Website.
You may also want to visit this site by Jim Bruner, it is dedicated to all who lost their lives from the May 31, 1985 tornadoes that devastated Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York and Canada.
Return to the Local History & Genealogy page. | <urn:uuid:f46054b2-14ad-4d62-b702-dc6edab77bc1> | {
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Total Lunar Eclipse On Saturday, Western States Get Rare View
The last total lunar eclipse of 2011 — and the last one until April 15, 2014 — occurs Saturday morning.
And though those of us in the eastern U.S. won't really be able to enjoy it, NASA says that some folks in western states will have "a rare way to begin the day." If the sky is clear, they'll be able to "face west to see the red [eclipsed] moon sinking into the horizon" as the sun rises behind their backs to the east.
The best part of the show should be between 6:06 a.m. and 6:57 a.m. Pacific time.
The Washington Post's Capital Weather Gang blog notes that it might not seem possible for anyone to be able to see a rising sun and a fully eclipsed moon at the same time because "by definition, a lunar eclipse occurs when the sun and moon are 180 degrees apart, with Earth moving between them to form a straight line."
But, thanks to atmospheric refraction, the rare view will be available if you're in the right place.
"Atmospheric refraction causes astronomical objects to appear higher in the sky than they are in reality. For example: when you see the sun sitting on the horizon, it is not there really. It's actually below the edge of the horizon, but our atmosphere acts like a lens and bends the sun's image just above the horizon, allowing us to see it. ...
"The same holds true with the moon, as well."
There's even a name for when an eclipsed moon sets just as the sun rises: it's a selenelion (or selenehelion, Space.com says).
Among cities where Space.com says the effect should be visible, assuming the skies are clear: Los Angeles, Phoenix, Denver and Winnipeg. It has a chart showing some cities and their selenelion times posted here.
Other good views of the eclipse (though not a rising sun at the same time), says ABC News, will be "from places like Hawaii, Alaska and Guam, where it will be the middle of the night, and from eastern Asia and Australia, where (remember, they're on the other side of the International Date Line) it will be Saturday evening."
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