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Anxiety disorders are the most common class of mental disorder in the United States, affecting nearly 40 million people aged 18 and older and costing our economy around $47 billion a year.
While many anxiety disorders are treatable, almost a third of people who suffer from them do not seek help in the form of medication or therapy.
A recent study points to a novel treatment for anxiety disorders that involves changing the acidity of an area of the brain considered central to the disorders: the amygdala.
The amygdala is the site of the brain’s fear response. It plays a central role in emotional behavior and is activated during periods of intense stress.The brain chemistry of people with anxiety may make it more difficult for them to turn off activity in the amygdala.ADVERTISEMENT
Neuroscientists from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Washington D.C. discovered that the brain chemistry of people with anxiety may make it more difficult for them to turn off activity in the amygdala. But by increasing the acid concentration in and around the amygdala, the scientists were able to reduce anxiety behavior, a finding that could potentially be used to help people cope with feelings of stress.
Using animal models, the researchers discovered that the increased acidity in the amygdala activated a protein channel on the surface of certain neurons. Once activated, this channel calms down these brain cells by reducing their firing patterns and limiting their overall activity.
If you remember high school chemistry, more acid equals a lower pH. The protein channel in the amygdala’s neurons appears to be highly sensitive to pH. It responds to a lowering of pH by working to shut down the brain cells and curb the anxiety response.
If you completely block this protein channel so it can't shut down the brain cells, the lab animals became more anxious. Similarly, when the animals were given a drug that increased the activity of the channel, the anxiety stopped.
“Developing specific drugs that can stimulate these channels could provide a new way to treat anxiety and fear disorders such as post-traumatic stress and panic disorders,” said Maria Braga, one of the authors of the study.
The researchers caution that much more research is needed about the basic role of ASIC1α in other regions of the brain before scientists can develop such targeted treatments.
The study was published in the Journal of Neuroscience. | <urn:uuid:d14cff45-92e9-4091-be17-cda19d025222> | {
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Petunias (Petunia spp.) are one of the most popular bedding plants in America. Widely used in landscapes and hanging baskets, they are easy to grow and low maintenance. With blossoms in every color except black and brown, they attract hummingbirds and butterflies. Typically grown as annuals, petunias are only winter hardy in U.S. Department of Agriculture plant hardiness zones 10 and 11. While they have minimal issues with diseases and pests, several potential issues can cause a hardy petunia to die.
Petunias are tolerant of poor soil conditions, drought and heat, but there are some basic requirements that, when left unmet, will lead to problems.
Too Much Shade
Petunias demand a minimum of five to six hours of full sunlight each day. They perform best with all day sun. When placed in a dark or shady location, they stop blooming, and leaves turn yellow.
While they do not require a significant amount of water, petunias cannot stay healthy without good drainage. Ensure the soil is a loamy consistency that drains well. Containers and hanging planters should have at least four drain holes. Petunias in hanging planters must be monitored closely to avoid the soil from becoming overly dry. Watch and water more often if necessary.
If the soil around your petunias is not draining or is clay-like, you will need to amend the soil to save your plants. Add sphagnum moss to the soil using a ratio of 50 percent moss to 50 percent soil. Mix thoroughly and replant your petunias.
If your petunias receive enough sunlight and have well-draining soil and symptoms of wilting, decay or dropping leaves persist, a fungus may be to blame. Phytophthora crown rot and Botrytis fungus are two common microbes that favor petunias. Both can be eradicated with the use of a fungicide. Look for a product labeled "systemic fungicide for ornamental plants."
Mix 4 drops of liquid fungicide concentrate to 1 gallon of water. Spray foliage on both the front and backside of each leaf. Spray all stems down to the soil line. Drench the soil with the fungicide mixture down to the root zone. In 24 hours, apply a ½ inch of water to soil. A second fungicide application to foliage and soil can be repeated in six weeks if necessary.
Can My Petunia Be Saved?
If your petunia went without water for some time and the stems and leaves look dead, the roots may still be alive. Remove the dead leaves and cut the stems down to 4 inches above the soil. Sprinkle the soil with a 12-4-8 all-purpose continuous release plant food. As a general guideline, use 3 tablespoons for a 12-inch container or a 12-inch-wide circumference under a plant, but follow label directions. Do not allow fertilizer granules to touch the stems, and water thoroughly after application. Water as needed to keep the root zone moist. If the roots are viable, new growth will appear within one to two weeks.
If symptoms of disease are affecting the stems of your petunia plant or affecting more than half the plant's foliage, it is unlikely your petunia can recover. Problems occurring in the stem or broadcast en masse over the plant indicate a systemic infection. Destroy the plant and the soil before other plants are infected. Do not reuse the soil or add the plant to a compost pile.
- Get Rid of Aphids on Petunias
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- What Causes Petunias to Die?
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- Wilted Petunias
- Propagate an Angel Wing Begonia
- Make Petunias Grow Big & Fast
- What Is Wrong With My Geraniums?
- Why Does My Clivia Have Yellow Leaves? | <urn:uuid:6153b533-dbd7-4e22-b242-66ae1af68986> | {
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5 weeks 6 days from now
Cores Galore and Calm Seas
Submitted by Dena Rosenberger on Tue, 12/04/2012 - 22:59
We fly really big kites here on the JR!
Where are we now?
Off the western coast of Costa Rica, in the Pacific Ocean, Site U1414. Our newest coordinates: 8°30.2’ North, 84°13.5’ West. Back to much deeper water on the Cocos Plate. Water depth is 2640 meters (over a mile and a half!). Rain this morning! (It let up this afternoon)
Scientists at Work
Cores were coming in fast and furious all day, about once per hour for much of the day. We are now at about 300 meters below sea floor (mbsf), with very good recovery.
Sedimentologists Delphine Charpentier and Susanne Straub discuss a core
The first cores from this new site are like what we have been seeing, greenish gray, silty clay with rock bits and several light gray ash layers from the Costa Rican volcanic arc along the land bridge between South America and North America.
Lot’s of nannofossils and radiolarians, and some diatoms and forams. These fossils put the top cores in the late Pleistocene age.
Sometimes they find fossil sponge spicules in the cores. Sponge spicules are basically the fossilized spines from sea sponges that lived in the time that the sediment was forming. I asked micropaleontologist Maria Sandoval Gutierrez what the sponge spicules look like, so she gave me a photo from the microscope.
Around 9:00 they started pulling up lighter colored cores where the entire core is a light gray. There have been so many cores today that it will be at least tomorrow before these are split and examined.
Life on Board
Now that we are in deep water again, sea creatures have begun to hang around the ship once more. Last night, Roy Davis, our lab manager, was out on the deck outside my office getting some fresh air. He tapped on my window and waved at me to come outside.
The water was glassy smooth, and there were dolphins surfacing about 20 yards from the ship. Lot’s of squid were around, and another medium-sized fish that I didn’t recognize. Tonight, I went outside again, and there were thousands of squid in the water!
Last time we were in deep water, we were seeing mahi-mahi around the ship, as well. They are a bright yellow and green color and can be up to six feet in length. Their fins are bright blue, and they have some green on their head, as well. And, they are very efficient hunters. Hopefully, we will see them again at this site.
For more photos, see our Facebook page!
From the Cocos! | <urn:uuid:0ec74970-0724-4703-a41c-d6c88e6c9a8d> | {
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Defoliants and Herbicides
News about Defoliants and Herbicides, including commentary and archival articles published in The New York Times.
ARTICLES ABOUT DEFOLIANTS AND HERBICIDES
The invasive weed, which makes wildfires more damaging, may be vulnerable to a naturally occurring soil bacterium.
October 6, 2015, Tuesday
Without raising its bid, Monsanto renewed that bid by saying it would pay Syngenta $2 billion if Monsanto were not able to get regulatory clearance.
June 8, 2015, Monday
The government’s decision to end the long-running program, a tool in the war on drugs, was made because of a concern that the spray causes cancer.
May 15, 2015, Friday
MORE ON DEFOLIANTS AND HERBICIDES AND: Drug Abuse and Traffic , Colombia , Cocaine and Crack Cocaine , United States International Relations , Coca (Plant) , White House Office of National Drug Control Policy , Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia , Santos, Juan Manuel , World Health Organization , Defoliants and Herbicides
The Colombian Health Ministry wants to ban a herbicide at the center of a spraying program financed by the United States that seeks to eradicate the country’s coca crop.
May 7, 2015, Thursday
Colombia’s Health Ministry has recommended halting the spraying of an herbicide widely used in an American-funded campaign to eradicate crops of coca.
April 29, 2015, Wednesday
Dr. Daniel Goldstein of the Monsanto Company writes that “overwhelming evidence” regarding the pesticide glyphosate “supports a conclusion of no cancer risk.”
April 8, 2015, Wednesday
A class-action lawsuit asks a court to require the Department of Veterans Affairs to reach faster decisions when reconsidering rejected claims.
April 7, 2015, Tuesday
The Environmental Protection Agency gave the maker of Roundup a thumbs up in 1991, but a World Health Organization group now says the active ingredient “probably” causes cancer.
March 28, 2015, Saturday
Roundup, widely used in farming, is “probably” carcinogenic.
March 25, 2015, Wednesday
Diverging regulatory approaches to atrazine, a herbicide made by a Swiss company but not used in Europe, shows the hurdles in trade negotiations.
February 24, 2015, Tuesday
Rss Feeds On Defoliants and Herbicides
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Liquified Natural Gas (LNG) is natural gas that has been converted to liquid form for ease of storage or transport. Natural gas is converted to LNG by cooling it to -260° F, at which point it becomes a liquid. This process reduces its volume by a factor of more than 600 – similar to reducing the volume of a beach ball to the volume of a ping-pong ball. This allows natural gas to be transported by sea. Once it reaches an onshore or offshore terminal, LNG is unloaded from ships where it continues to be stored as a liquid until it is warmed to convert it back to natural gas. The natural gas is then sent through pipelines for distribution to businesses and homeowners.
In 1964 the UK and France were the LNG buyers under the world's first LNG trade from Algeria.
Due to energy shortage concerns, many new LNG terminals are being proposed in the United States. There are over 40 pending proposals with little national, regional or statewide planning. The proposals represent several different technologies and locations, including onshore, offshore floating terminals, offshore oil platform terminals, and gravity-based offshore ports.
NOTE: In the few years since this article was first written natural gas exploration and production in the United States has increased dramatically, so much so that concerns about natural gas self-sufficiency have waned. In fact, some of the proposed import terminal sites are now being considered for LNG exports. Nevertheless, the potential impacts discussed below apply for both import and export scenarios.
Concerns over the safety of these facilities, plus various site-specific environmental concerns, have created extensive controversy in the regions where plans have been created to build such facilities. One such location is in the Long Island Sound between Connecticut and Long Island. Others in the northeast include the "Safe Harbor Energy" artificial island planned for 19 miles off the coast of New Jersey and 13 miles off the coast of New York, the Excelerate Energy LLC terminal 13 miles southeast of Gloucester (under construction and scheduled to begin taking deliveries of LNG in December 2007) and the nearby Suez North America LNG terminal (scheduled to begin operation at the end of 2009). Several terminal proposals along the coast of Maine have also been met with high levels of resistance and questions.
On the West Coast, 13 different LNG terminals have been proposed from British Columbia to Baja California and one (Sempra Energy's Energia Costa Azul facility near Ensenada, Mexico) is under construction. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) has already approved 14 LNG facilities on the Gulf Coast (Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi).
The following are factors at work in the rush to build LNG facilities:
Permitting authority for LNG facilities can be complex and confusing. As mentioned above, LNG facilities have been proposed at both onshore and offshore locations. If they are offshore, they may be in either state (within three miles of the coast) or federal (greater than three miles from the coast) waters. Much of the information in the following paragraphs is from the website of the California Energy Commission that provides guidance on how permitting is handled in California. Although similar procedures are in effect in most other coastal states, the interaction between federal, state and local permitting does vary somewhat depending on the location.
The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) was enacted in 1970 to be used in the environmental review of land-use development and management decisions in California. An Environmental Impact Report is the final product of the CEQA environmental review process. It covers the scope of the applicant's proposal and analyzes all of the known environmental effects of the proposed project. In most cases, the CEQA review goes beyond the requirements established in the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
In the siting process, one federal agency takes the lead role for environmental review under the NEPA, and one state or local agency takes the lead role under CEQA. Once the lead agency is identified, all other involved agencies, whether state or local, become responsible agencies. These responsible agencies do not prepare their own documents, but instead are required to consider the environmental document prepared by the lead agency.
However, in the permitting process of LNG facilities, the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (the Act) grants the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) the exclusive authority to issue licenses for the siting, construction, operation, and modification of LNG import terminals onshore and in state waters, with limited exceptions. The exceptions involve the exercise of federally-delegated authority only under the federal Coastal Zone Management Act, the federal Clean Air Act, and the federal Clean Water Act by state or local agencies. The state also has the ability to be a cooperating agency with FERC during the NEPA review and can contribute to the environmental review. FERC works closely with the US Coast Guard, states, and local communities to evaluate the environmental, safety and security aspects of proposed and operating LNG terminals and tankers.
In federal waters, the Maritime Administration (MARAD) and the U.S. Coast Guard have siting and permitting jurisdiction for "deepwater ports." A deepwater port is defined under 33 U.S.C.S. § 1502(10), as "any fixed or floating man-made structures other than a vessel, or any group of such structures, located beyond the territorial sea and off the coast of the United States and which are used or intended for use as a port or terminal for the loading or unloading and further handling of oil for transportation to any State."
Some of the various permits that an applicant must obtain from the state for facilities onshore or in state waters include:
The Act does not grant the power of eminent domain to FERC; therefore, any state or local agency with public land stewardship responsibilities retains its authority to review and approve land lease applications, and the preparation of a CEQA document to support that decision. The Act does not impact the siting authority of state agencies reviewing offshore LNG import terminal applications. Summary of Issues That State Agencies Address in the Review of an EIS/EIR for an LNG Project (issues that relate directly to Surfrider Foundation initiatives are indicated in bold)
As mentioned above, safety concerns are at the forefront of much of the opposition to LNG facilities. If there were to be a leak or spill from an LNG tanker or liquid storage facility, the LNG would convert to a gas. As it diluted with air, the natural gas/air mixture would become potentially explosive when the concentration of natural gas in air reached between 3.8% and 17%. In this concentration range, any source of ignition (cell phone, cigarette lighter, attic fan, light switch, auto or boat engine spark plug, carpet spark, etc.) could ignite the vapor cloud and impact an area that could extend for several miles in diameter. This concern was one of the main reasons why a proposed LNG terminal in Long Beach, CA was rejected by the Long Beach City Council (see graphic below).
Besides the safety concerns, there are also concerns about the amount of additional air pollution that could be associated with LNG terminals. Potential sources of air pollution include the diesel-burning LNG tankers, the LNG storage and re-gasification facilities at the LNG terminal, and the air pollution generated when the re-gasified LNG is burned. This latter concern is relevant because some sources of LNG produce "hot gas" laden with compounds such as butane, propane and ethane that can cause substantially more nitrous-oxide pollution when burned than most domestic natural gas sources. As mentioned above, LNG facilities may be built offshore on onshore. Offshore facilities could have negative visual impacts, and they could also block waves if they are built as gravity-based structures (artificial islands) as opposed to a floating terminal or a structure built like an oil platform.
Since LNG terminals are major industrial facilities, they may not be compatible with existing coastal character and coastal-dependent uses. Additional environmental concerns include potential loss of coastal access, potential altering of coastal processes, and potential loss of surf spots. Construction of an onshore LNG facility may involve the building of breakwaters, jetties or other shoreline structures. As stated in Surfrider Foundation's Beach Preservation Policy:
Under no circumstances does the Surfrider Foundation support the installation of stabilization or sand retention structures along the coastline. Such structures can protect existing coastline development but have no place in beach preservation.
Breakwaters block waves and may interrupt the along-shore transport of sand. Jetties and groins also trap sand on the "upcoast" side and therefore frequently contribute to beach erosion problems downcoast.
Unfortunately, there is already a good example of many of these impacts at the recently-built (but rarely used) Costa Azul facility in Baja California which has destroyed a surf spot called Harry's.
Another environmental issue associated with LNG facilities is the use of seawater to convert the LNG from a liquid to a gas. Similar to the "once through cooling" issues that Surfrider and others have raised with respect to coastal power plants and Seawater Desalination facilities, seawater is often proposed to be used for "once through warming" of LNG. As the LNG is warmed and converted to natural gas, the ocean water is cooled. The effects of pumping ocean water through LNG facilities on marine life that may be entrained in the water of affected by the cold discharge should be evaluated. Some LNG facilities use a closed loop circulating fresh water system to re-gasify the LNG that would not have marine life impacts.
Beyond the site-specific issues at the numerous proposed LNG locations, many environmental groups have recommended that an assessment be performed to estimate the future need for LNG facilities nationally and/or in a given state or area before new facilities are permitted. Along with that, criteria should be developed for siting and for the technologies associated with the LNG facilities. There should be a coherent national and regional approach to addressing this significant issue.
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Haile Selassie was crowned 2 November 1930 with the titles King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Conquering Lion of the Tribe of Judah, Elect of God and Power of the Trinity. He is seen by the Rastafari as Jah incarnate.
The early 20th century was marked by the reign of Emperor Haile Selassie I, who came to power after Iyasu V was deposed. It was he who undertook the modernization of Ethiopia, from 1916, when he was made a Ras and Regent (Inderase) for Zewditu I and became the de facto ruler of the Ethiopian Empire. Following Zewditu's death he was made Emperor on 2 November 1930.
Haile Selassie was born from parents of three Ethiopian ethnicities: the Oromo and Amhara, which are the country's two main ethnic groups, as well as the Gurage.
The independence of Ethiopia was interrupted by the Second Italo-Abyssinian War and Italian occupation (1936–1941). During this time of attack, Haile Selassie appealed to the League of Nations in 1935, delivering an address that made him a worldwide figure, and the 1935 Time magazine Man of the Year. Following the entry of Italy into World War II, British Empire forces, together with patriot Ethiopian fighters, officially liberated Ethiopia in the course of the East African Campaign in 1941, while an Italian guerrilla campaign continued until 1943. This was followed by British recognition of full sovereignty, (i.e. without any special British privileges), with the signing of the Anglo-Ethiopian Agreement in December 1944. On 26 August 1942 Haile Selassie I issued a proclamation outlawing slavery. Ethiopia had between two and four million slaves in early 20th century out of a total population of about eleven million.
In 1952 Haile Selassie orchestrated the federation with Eritrea which he dissolved in 1962. This annexation sparked the Eritrean War of Independence. Although Haile Selassie was seen as a national hero, opinion within Ethiopia turned against him owing to the worldwide oil crisis of 1973, food shortages, uncertainty regarding the succession, border wars, and discontent in the middle class created through modernization.
He played a leading role in the formation of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU) in 1963.
Haile Selassie's reign came to an end in 1974, when a Soviet-backed Marxist-Leninist military junta, the "Derg" led by Mengistu Haile Mariam, deposed him, and established a one-party communist state which was called People's Democratic Republic of Ethiopia. | <urn:uuid:50fbfb46-85db-4a4f-a132-cdfae94ea973> | {
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How to write an internet bibliography
Guidelines on how to write a bibliography for details internet citation for an article from an online magazine, journal, periodical, newsletter. How to write a bibliography (harvard style) print electronic internet: are not usually included in a bibliography but are quoted in your assignment.
Parents ' place citing internet resources (web sites, e-mails, mailing lists, and newsgroups) general guidelines: organize bibliographies alphabetically, by.
Stop wasting time hand-writing your bibliography a website is a collection of informational pages on the internet please visit supporteasybibcom to start. How to write a bibliography and internet sources that you use in designing, carrying out, and understanding your science fair project but.
←back to mla citation guide find out more about mla format how to cite a website in a bibliography using mla the most basic entry for a website consists of the.
- Automatic works cited and bibliography formatting for mla, apa and chicago/turabian citation styles now supports 7th edition of mla.
- How to add a website to a bibliography with the proliferation of information on the internet, chances are that if you write a paper or article you will need to know.
- How to write a bibliography for a research paper internet: author of message, (date) subject of message electronic conference or bulletin board (online.
How to write a bibliography internet sources also do not have page numbers, so use your discretion in the format that will direct the reader closest to the. Research papers and short essays may require an attached bibliography a bibliography refers to a list, in alphabetical order, of references used for research the. Why should i write an annotated bibliography to learn about your topic: writing an annotated bibliography is excellent preparation for a research project. | <urn:uuid:d2b7f8f4-e0d8-40e0-95d7-491574da55b0> | {
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Louis Faidherbe, in full Louis-léon-césar Faidherbe (born June 3, 1818, Lille, France—died Sept. 29, 1889, Paris), governor of French Senegal in 1854–61 and 1863–65 and a major founder of France’s colonial empire in Africa. He founded Dakar, the future capital of French West Africa.
Early life and career
After graduating from the École Polytechnique, Faidherbe joined the corps of military engineers in 1840. He spent three undistinguished years, from 1843 to 1846, in Algeria. In 1847 he was posted to Guadeloupe, where his reserved and prickly temperament and his strong Republican sympathies alienated both the colonists and his fellow officers, and he was recalled. He returned to Algeria in 1849 and assumed his first independent command; his work now won commendation, and after further service in Kabylie he was made chevalier of the Legion of Honour.
In 1852 he was transferred to Senegal as deputy director of engineers and soon impressed the local merchant community as a capable and energetic administrator. Two years later, he was promoted to the rank of major and appointed governor of Senegal.
As governor, Faidherbe was alarmed by the growing power of the militant Islāmic leader ʿUmar Tal on the frontiers of Senegal. Abandoning the cautious policies of his predecessors, Faidherbe took the offensive against all those who threatened French primacy. In a series of well-executed campaigns, some undertaken against the wishes of the French government, he subjugated the Moorish tribes in the north, drove the forces of ʿUmar Tal off the lower Sénégal River, and extended French control southward toward the Gambia. By 1861 he had transformed his colony from a collection of scattered trading posts into the dominant political and military power in this region of West Africa.
Faidherbe was no mere conquistador; he possessed a real sympathy for his African subjects and a genuine concern for their welfare. He also was an uncompromising enemy of slavery in all its forms. He sought to improve indigenous society without destroying it, and to this end he maintained the traditional authority of the chiefs while training their sons to become more efficient agents of French rule.
Faidherbe’s ambition was to make Senegal the cornerstone of a vast French African empire that he hoped might one day rival British India in its commercial development. During his first period of office he encouraged experimental farming, founded Dakar, and built Médina on the upper Sénégal River as a base for further expansion inland. When he reassumed the governorship in 1863, after another tour of duty in Algeria, his principal objective was the extension of French power eastward to the Niger River and ultimately to Timbuktu and beyond. The French government, however, rejected his proposals for territorial expansion as too expensive. Nevertheless, his farsighted policies laid the foundations for the West African federation that was finally created at the beginning of the 20th century.
Faidherbe left Senegal in 1865 and returned again to Algeria. Recalled to France after the outbreak of the Franco-German War, he was appointed commander in chief of the Army of the North in December 1870. Faidherbe realized the hopelessness of his task, but, as a good Republican, he remained loyal to the government of national defense and fought with skill and tenacity. In 1871 the three northern départements of Pas-de-Calais, Somme, and Nord all elected him to the National Assembly with overwhelming majorities, but he resigned almost immediately because of the assembly’s anti-Republican proceedings. He was defeated in the senatorial elections of 1876 but was elected Republican senator for the Nord in 1879 and held the seat until 1888. As a final recognition of his services, he was made grand chancellor of the Legion of Honour in 1880.
By then, Faidherbe could no longer participate actively in political life, for years of service in Africa and the rigours of the northern campaign had left him paralyzed and half-blind. He retained his interest in West African affairs, however, and continued to exert some influence over them. | <urn:uuid:516592b9-4e7c-4075-89ca-f3179d784aff> | {
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William Lowe, Father of the IBM PC, Dies
William Lowe, who led the engineering team responsible for bringing the first mainstream PC to market in 1981, died last month at age 72 from a heart attack.
News of his death was reported earlier this week by The New York Times. Lowe, a longtime engineer at IBM, proposed bypassing IBM's conventional development model and led a team of 12 engineers that produced the IBM Personal Computer 5150 using off-the-shelf parts and software from third parties. The move led to the creation of IBM's PC within a year. Had IBM opted to build it internally, it would have taken several years.
Lowe's effort also put two companies on the map, Intel and Microsoft. The IBM PC 5150 was powered by Intel's 4.77 MHz 8080 processor based on Microsoft's MS-DOS 1.0 operating system. The team engineered the PC in an IBM lab in Boca Raton, Fla. The secret effort was internally known as Project Chess and the PC's code-name was Acorn. It was available with one or two floppy drives at a price of $1,565 (not including a monitor).
The decision to build the IBM PC on an "open architecture" paved the way for the IBM clone market, ultimately dominated by companies such as Compaq and Dell, as well as dozens of other players at the time. While it gave birth to the PC market and Microsoft, it didn't serve IBM well in the end. While Lowe would become president of IBM's Entry Systems Division and later a corporate vice president, he left IBM in 1988 to join Xerox.
Lowe had no apologies for the decision, as The Times noted. "We are committed to the open architecture concept, and we recognize the importance of an open architecture to our customers," Lowe said of IBM's work with Intel and Microsoft. Some say many top executives never believed the PC would amount to anything major -- a key reason Microsoft was permitted to license MS-DOS to other then unknown suppliers.
While we know how that played out for IBM, it certainly makes one wonder if Microsoft would exist in its current form had IBM not gone down that path. For that matter what might computing and devices look like today?
Posted by Jeffrey Schwartz on 11/01/2013 at 2:23 PM | <urn:uuid:58879a88-1e8a-42e4-a419-6742da82a72b> | {
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5 Reasons why fairy tales are good for children
"If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales." Albert Einstein
This morning the press, and public, went into uproar over headlines claiming evolutionary biologist and writer Richard Dawkins thinks fairy tales are harmful to children. After a quick look at Dawkins' personal Twitter feed, and his subsequent interview with The Guardian, it seems that his comments have been misunderstood. Nevertheless, in light of the conversation, we look at five reasons why fairy tales are in fact great for children...
1. They boost a child's imagination and cultural literacy
A child's imagination is a powerful and unique thing. It's not only used to make up stories and games, it's a key factor in their creative thoughts and can define the type of education, career and life they have. With this imagination comes a cultural literacy; fairy tales often include different cultures and ways of doing things. They teach children about cultural differences in the world outside their own gifting them a curiosity to learn new things and experience new places.
2. They teach us right from wrong
Standing strongly within fairy tales of magic horses and glass slippers is a moral backbone. It's in a fairytale's DNA to have a strong moral lesson, a fight between good & evil, love and loss, and these lessons rub off on our children.
According to The Telegraph, Mrs Goddard Blythe, director of the Institute for Neuro-Physiological Psychology in Chester, said: "Fairy tales help to teach children an understanding of right and wrong, not through direct teaching, but through implication."
Fairy tales help to teach children an understanding of right and wrong, not through direct teaching, but through implication
Fairy tales teach children that good will always triumph and, while this may not be true in aspects of the real world, the lesson is simple and important. Be the hero, not the villain. Learn to hope for better.
3. They develop critical thinking skills
Following on from the last point, and as Richard Dawkins has pointed out, fairy tales teach children critical thinking. They see the consequences of characters decisions and learn that what will happen to them depends on the choices they make. Not all characters can be good role models, even 'the goodies' can be damsels in distress, or reckless (or feckless) princes. What the stories do teach though, is that when bad things happen, you have decisions to make. If you make the right ones, everything might just turn out OK.
4. They can help children deal with emotions themselves
Not only do fairy tales prepare our kids for society and making moral decisions, they teach them how to deal with conflict within themselves. Child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim, who specialised in the importance of fairy tales in childhood, believed that fairy tales can aid children in dealing with anxiety they are, as yet, unable to explain. In fairy tales children are often the main character and more often than not will win against the story's evil. Readers can relate to this and find a fairy tale hero in themselves. Watch any Pixar film for guidance on this one.
5. And finally, they are great fun!
I have very fond memories of curling up in bed and disappearing into another world where dragons fly and princes fight. My memories of overwhelming excitement when my dad came home with the latest Harry Potter book still makes my smile. The games I played with my friends in our garden were indisputably improved by our imaginations, which were still swimming in last night's story.
Whether it's for indirect moral lessons, improving their imaginations or because your child can't put that book down reading fairy tales should be encouraged. Read them together, help your kids invent their own and make sure they know can win against any wicked witch. | <urn:uuid:01d25809-fd2e-4a3d-9ce4-e51b77250190> | {
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The purpose of this study was to retrieve data from the British Columbia Professional Firefighters Burn Unit registry, with a focus on ethnicity and how it is involved in burn trauma. It is hypothesized that mechanism, severity, and other patient characteristics are significantly different among different ethnic groups. Furthermore, it is believed that these data can be used to augment burn prevention strategies. Data for burn patients admitted from 1979 to 2009 were reviewed from the burn registry. The main focus was with differences seen among the four main ethnicities throughout the analysis, Caucasian, Aboriginal, Asian, and Indoasian, reflecting the population distribution of the region. Age and sex were also considered when looking at burn mechanism, severity, contributing and copresenting factors. Caucasians were the largest group (79.1%) and included the largest male:female ratio (3.3:1), with high numbers of flame injury (53.9%). Caucasians presented with the highest mortality (6.6% compared with 4.1% for all other ethnicities; P < .006). Asian patients (8.1%) showed significantly higher occurrences of urban (64%) and workplace (28.9%) injuries with a larger proportion of scald injury (38.9%). Indoasian patients included larger numbers of women (36.4%) and household scald injuries (33.9%) whereas Aboriginals suffered the most flame injuries (60.1%) in rural areas with more frequent contributing factors such as alcohol. The study found multiple significant differences in the burn injury population when segmented by ethnicity. Though the exact reasons for these differences are difficult to say with certainty, it allows a unique opportunity to focus communication and prevention efforts to specific communities. | <urn:uuid:2fba624d-73c0-47d9-afc3-2bee1ca3f078> | {
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People Who Have Vanished
The news that someone has vanished without a trace can lead to gossip, police searches and tabloid headlines. It also can mean more fame in absentia than the missing person ever had while present. Here are some of the modern world’s more famous Disappearing Acts.
AMELIA EARHART is possibly the 20th century’s most famous disappearing act. The famous aviatrix took off from Oakland, California in May of 1937, intending to be the first person to pilot a plane around the world on an equatorial route. On July 2, on the final days of her flight, she and her navigator Fred Noonan were supposed to land at Howland Island in the South Pacific. They never arrived. They came close; the last transmission from Earhart was heard at 8:43 am local time. Despite an extensive search by the U.S. Navy, Earhart and her plane were never seen again.
Seven years after Amelia Earhart went missing, another famous flier disappeared: GLENN MILLER. The popular bandleader joined the U.S. Army in 1942 and formed the morale-building Glenn Miller Army Air Corps Band. On a cloudy December day in 1944 he took off from England in a small plane and headed for Paris to make arrangements for a concert. The next day his band arrived in Paris and found no trace of him — Miller had never arrived. No trace of Miller was ever found.
For many years the army suspected that icing on the wings may have sent the plane plummeting into the English Channel. Another theory is that Miller’s plane was hit when Allied bombers returning from an aborted mission jettisoned their bombs over the Channel.
Still another disapparing aviator was STEVE FOSSETT. A multimillionaire and adventurer, Fossett became the first person to fly around the world in a balloon, alone and non-stop, in 2002. He set many other aviation records, some eclectic (such as the “West to east (non-supersonic) U.S. transcontinental speed record” of 2 hours, 56 minutes, 20 seconds in 2003). Fossett disappeared abruptly on 3 September 2007 after taking off from a rural Nevada airstrip in a small plane to scout locations for a planned run at the world land speed record. Despite searches by the Civil Air Patrol, Fossett and his plane were not found. He was declared legally dead on 15 February 2008. That September a hiker in the California mountains near Mammoth Lakes found money and a pilot’s license belonging to Fossett; searchers then found the wreckage of his plane nearby, with human remains believed to be Fossett’s.
Russian engineer and inventor LEON THEREMIN moved to New York City in 1927, and for more than a decade he made electronic instruments and enjoyed the high-life of an urban sophisticate. In 1938 he mysteriously disappeared, kidnapped from his New York apartment. In 1945 a German newspaper reported that he had been abducted by the Soviet secret police and had been executed.Years later he was spotted in Moscow by a reporter for the New York Times, and his disappearance was explained: he had been singled out by Joseph Stalin as a threat to Soviet security and imprisoned for seven years at a labor camp in Siberia. After his political “rehabilitation,” Theremin worked for Soviet intelligence agencies developing electronic eavesdropping devices and taught at a conservatory of music — until he was told there was no place for electronics in music. He died in 1993.
On a less lofty level was the case of JIMMY HOFFA. In 1975 Hoffa was trying to make a return to power in the Teamsters Union. On July 30 Hoffa made plans to meet Anthony “Tony Jack” Giacalone, a reputed Detroit mob figure, and Tony Provenzano, a New Jersey Teamster official and alleged mobster, at the Machus Red Fox restaurant in West Bloomfield, near Detroit. Neither man showed up, and Hoffa made a few calls trying to find out where they were. He was last seen in the parking lot of the Red Fox about 2:30. Though his whereabouts have never been discovered, Hoffa is widely assumed to have been murdered by agents of organized crime. He was officially declared dead in 1982.
Radio host ART BELL disappeared in 1998, at least for a while. Bell’s late-night show was famous for its discussions of UFOs, ghosts, and other eerie phenomena. On the evening of October 13 he suddenly ended his show by announcing that a “terrible, threatening event” had happened to his family and that he would be leaving the air forever, effective immediately. Bell hunkered down in his Nevada trailer and refused to speak publicly on the matter. Two weeks later he just as mysteriously resumed his broadcasts, refusing to explain the “event” or his disappearance. He continued broadcasting until April 2000, when he announced his retirement, saying that he had been falsely accused of being a child molester and, coincidentally, that he was in the midst coping with an assault on his own son by a teacher. In January 2001 Bell returned to the air, but then spent the next six years retiring and returning to broadcasting. He finally quit in 2007.
Mountaineer GEORGE MALLORY may have been the first man to reach the top of Mount Everest. In 1924 he and fellow climber Andrew Irvine made a dual attempt on the summit using oxygen bottles, a recent innovation. At one point a fellow climber on the mountain far below spotted them climbing strongly, perhaps within 1000 feet of the top. Then heavy storm clouds closed in and the pair disappeared. They never returned. Irvine’s ice axe was found later, but it could not be determined what became of the pair or if they reached the top before they perished. In 1999 an expedition found Mallory’s body at 27,000 feet, but the mystery of his last hours remained.
Two years later, in 1926, the husband of mystery writer AGATHA CHRISTIE told her he had been having an affair with another woman. On the night of December 3rd, the author climbed into her Morris automobile and drove off into the night. The car was later discovered teetering on the edge of a rock quarry, with no sign of Christie. After a breathless public search of nearly two weeks, she was discovered 250 miles away, registered under the name Theresa Neele at a country hotel. Despite assertions of emotional distress and memory loss, Christie’s disappearance (and cross-country travel) were never explained, and she refused to speak about the incident for the rest of her life.
American writer AMBROSE BIERCE was a famous columnist, critic, novelist and master of the short story in the late 19th century. A Civil War veteran, he became a San Francisco journalist with a reputation for harsh wit and macabre humor. A literary celebrity, when he was 71 years old he toured the Civil War battlefields of his youth, then set off for Mexico in 1913. Through letters he indicated that he was bidding farewell to his life in the United States, and some believe he was intent on joining the forces of Pancho Villa south of the border.Bierce was never seen again, and search missions over the years failed to come up with any conclusive answers. There are many rumors: some say he committed suicide in the Grand Canyon; some say he got shot by Pancho Villa because Bierce drank too much tequila; some say he was kidnapped by aliens; and some say he never died at all, which would make him over 160 years old and probably even more cynical than he was a century ago.
AIMEE SEMPLE McPHERSON was America’s most beloved evangelist when she disappeared on 18 May 1926 while swimming near Venice, California. Her followers frantically searched the area but found nothing. Newspapers ran story after story about “Sister Aimee.” Finally, five weeks later, McPherson knocked on the door of a cottage in Arizona, saying she had escaped from kidnappers in Mexico and walked 13 hours across the desert to safety.Her reappearance created a public uproar, especially after investigators found little proof for McPherson’s claims. Rumors flew. A grand jury was convened, first to investigate the kidnapping and then to consider charges against McPherson for false testimony. (Receipts and other evidence seemed to show that McPherson spent the month trysting with one of her employees, a radio station announcer named Kenneth Ormiston.) But eventually the charges were dropped. McPherson stuck by her kidnapping story and the true story of her disappearance has never been formally settled.
On August 28, 1995, members of MADALYN MURRAY O’HAIR’s organization, American Atheists, found a note taped to the office door saying she had been called away temporarily. That was the last ever heard from the famous atheist or her son and granddaughter, Jon Murray and Robin Murray O’Hair. The granddaughter’s car was found months later at the Austin airport, but police reported no evidence of foul play there or at O’Hair’s home. At least $500,000 appeared to be missing from American Atheist accounts; a Texas private investigator made news by suggesting that the three had taken the cash and fled to New Zealand.In 1999 police began to suspect that O’Hair and her children may have been kidnapped and killed by a former employee, David Rowland Waters. This proved to be the case: after a 2001 plea bargain with police, Waters led police to the remains of O’Hair and her relatives, which had been buried on a remote Texas ranch.
JUDGE JOSEPH CRATER was a justice on the New York Supreme Court when he disappeared in 1930. Crater was a highly public figure and alleged by some to have ties to both organized crime and the Tammany Hall political machine. On the evening of August 6 he hailed a cab, climbed in, and was never seen in public again. The case went unsolved and Crater was declared legally dead in 1937.
Another New Yorker, actor SPALDING GRAY, made a sudden exit in 2004. Gray vanished on the wintry night of 10 January after being spotted on the Staten Island Ferry. Earlier that day, Gray had attended the movie Big Fish with family and later called his son, giving no indication that anything was wrong. He was known to enjoy wandering, but he also was known to have been deeply depressed ever since a car crash in Ireland in 2001 had left him with physical and psychic scars. Gloominess was part of Gray’s job: his popular theatrical monologues often touched on his own unhappy thoughts of death. Gray’s partly-decomposed body was found in New York’s East River two months later. No cause of death has been determined, but friends feared that Gray may have committed suicide by jumping from the Staten Island Ferry.
Somewhat like the Amelia Earhart story, the tale of GLEN AND BESSIE HYDE involves an attempt at a first-ever feat. In November of 1928 they began rafting through the Grand Canyon on a homemade wooden boat; had they succeeded, Bessie would have been the first woman to raft that entire stretch of the Colorado River. It wasn’t to be: one month later their boat was discovered floating downriver, in excellent shape, but there was no sign of the Hydes. They were never found.
D.B. COOPER shocked America in 1971 when he skyjacked a Northwest Orient airliner and then leapt into the Washington night from the rear of the plane with $200,000 in cash tied to his body. Neither Cooper nor his parachute were ever found. However, in 1980 a boy playing along the Columbia River discovered $5880 in decaying bills which matched those given to Cooper. Authorities speculate that Cooper was killed in the jump or died of exposure shortly thereafter, but no proof of his demise has ever been found. Also missing: the rest of the cash.
CHANDRA LEVY disappeared from Washington, D.C. in May of 2001, shortly after finishing an internship with the Federal Bureau of Prisons. She was expected to return to California but never arrived; her last known communication was an e-mail to her parents on May 1. A police search of her apartment found her packed bags, along with money, credit cards and a laptop computer, but no sign of a struggle. The investigation also revealed that Levy had a relationship with California Rep.Gary Condit; the married congressman at first called her a “good friend” but later admitted to police that he and Levy were romantically involved. Police denied that Condit was a suspect in the disappearance, but his involvement turned Levy’s disappearance into a national story. On May 22, 2002 her remains were discovered in a Washington, D. C. park. An El Salvadoran named Ingmar A. Guandique, in the United States illegally, was charged with her murder in March of 2009. Guandique was already in prison at the time for assaulting women in the same park. He was convicted of Chandra Levy’s murder in 2010 and sentenced to 60 years in prison.
The wacky 2009 disappearance of South Carolina Governor MARK SANFORD blasted a large hole in his political career. The governor dropped out of sight on Thursday, June 18th, after leaving his mansion at the wheel of a black state-issued Chevy Suburban. By Sunday there were statehouse rumors about his disappearance; by Monday the press was hot on the Case of the Missing Governor. Sanford’s security detail hadn’t heard from him; his wife said she had spent Father’s Day with their four sons but didn’t know where he was. Aides finally claimed Sanford was unreachable because he had gone hiking alone on the Appalachian Trail to “recharge.”That story blew up two days later, when a reporter from the newspaper The State caught Sanford at Atlanta airport getting off a flight from Buenos Aires. Later that day, Sanford admitted tearfully at a press conference that he had been secretly visiting a lover in Argentina. The lover was later identified as Maria Belen Chapur, a 41-year-old former TV producer, and the world had a new euphemism for extramarital affairs: “Hiking the Appalachian Trail.” | <urn:uuid:b8912191-8877-46e0-835c-533b6b3e29df> | {
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Pictures and information about important events in time like,Jamestowm, Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Virgina Charter/hous of Burgesses, Fundamental Orders of Connecticut, English Bill of Rights, Boston Tea party, Boston maMassacre, Sugar Act, Tea Act, and the Stamop Act.
The Mayflower Compact was signed on 11 November 1620 on board the Mayflower, which was at anchor in Provincetown Harbor. The document was drawn up in response to speeches that had come about because the Pilgrims had intended to settle in Northern Virginia, but the decision was made after arrival to instead settle in New England. Since there was no government in place, some felt they had no legal obligation to remain within the colony and supply their labor. The Mayflower Compact attempted to temporarily establish that government until a more official one could be drawn up in England that would give them the right to self-govern themselves in New England. | <urn:uuid:9e8f706b-bfe6-4cc3-b0d0-06d5433cf1ad> | {
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The Quoddy Dam Model Museum houses a working scale model of the Passamaquoddy Bay
Tidal Power Project which was built for the original project. The model, formed of concrete and
weighing thousands of pounds, shows the locations of the proposed dikes and gates, as well
as the turbine-powered generating station. When operating, you can observe how the tides flow
into the area's bays, and how these tides could have been harnessed to generate electricity.
Passamaquoddy Bay is an inlet of the Bay of Fundy, between the U.S. state of
Maine and the Canadian province of New Brunswick, at the mouth of the St. Croix
River. Most of the bay lies within Canada, with its western shore bounded by
Washington County, Maine. The southernmost point is formed by West Quoddy
Head on the U.S. mainland in Lubec, Maine; and is then bounded northeastwardly
by Campobello Island, New Brunswick and Deer Island, New Brunswick; thence,
running to shores by mainland Charlotte County, New Brunswick.
The Passamaquoddy Tidal Power Project/"Quoddy Dam" Project
A proposed development project for eastern Maine, envisioned by hydroelectric
engineer Dexter Cooper, involving the construction of a tidal harness for electricity
generation was initiated in 1935 under U.S. Public Works Administration funding
and with the blessing of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose summer home
was on nearby Campobello Island, New Brunswick, Canada.
Also known as the Quoddy Project, it proposed impounding Cobscook Bay and part
of Passamaquoddy Bay with a series of dams and control structures to exploit the
resulting water level difference to generate electrical power. The electric turbines
for power generation would have been located at the isthmus on Moose Island,
Eastport, with the water passing between Passamaquoddy Bay and Cobscook
Bay, with the "used" generating water released from impoundment at low tide.
Part of this project was completed by the construction of dikes built between
Pleasant Point-Carlow Island-Moose Island. The project was suspended one year
later after the United States Congress refused further funding, thus the actual
barrier dams never being built. The dike barriers now underlie the former Maine
Central Railroad and the current Maine Highway 190, as well as between Treat
Island (in Eastport) and Dudley Island (in Lubec, Maine).
Several iterations and variations on the project later ensued, but never began
|Open 7 days a week during
72 Water St.---Eastport, ME | <urn:uuid:a31b364c-840e-48e6-905e-395da571bd9d> | {
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1 Answer | Add Yours
The pastoral poem in general is a support of living with nature, as opposed to industrialism. Victorians believed that everything industrial was better. Facts and practicality, and machination, became more important than beauty and nature. This poem demonstrates the danger of that.
We’ve answered 317,778 questions. We can answer yours, too.Ask a question | <urn:uuid:308ef79f-8171-4d20-a121-2d7045e47f81> | {
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Helpless and hopeless
At the Threshold, we might see Friends who feel and act both helpless and hopeless. Friends with resilient personalities may move quickly through this Stabilize phase and move quickly to Mobilize. Others may need more support and time. Feeling helpless and hopeless is understandable because the shock of misfortune can numb thinking and cause confusion.
As the African American Kansas poet Langston Hughes wrote, Hold fast your dreams. When dreams die, life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly. When dreams go, life is a barren field, frozen with snow. | <urn:uuid:6a94d59c-3ad5-4d30-9694-751d527c6d5c> | {
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Red and Processed Meats
AICR research has found that limiting the amount of red meat and avoiding processed meat reduces the risk of certain types of cancer.
Red meat and cancer risk
The latest research shows that eating more than 18 ounces of red meat per week increases the risk of colorectal cancers. Beef, lamb and pork are all red meats.
Researchers do not yet know exactly how red meat affects the development of colorectal cancer. Red meat contains compounds that have been shown to damage the lining of the gut and possibly promote cancer. Cooking red meat at high temperatures can also produce other cancer-causing compounds.
Processed meat and cancer risk
Processed meats are meats that have been preserved by smoking, salting, curing or adding other preservatives. Sliced turkey and bologna deli meats, bacon, ham, and hot dogs are all processed meats. Research shows that any amount of processed meat eaten regularly increases the risk of both stomach and colorectal cancers.
There are many possible ways that processed meat may increase cancer risk. For example, compounds used as preservatives may lead to cancer-causing compounds in the body. | <urn:uuid:de6d36e4-7914-41e0-87bc-2e5aa83f297b> | {
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Reasoning from Paradigms and Negative Evidence
Universidade Nova de Lisboa
August 11, 2011
Pragmatics & Cognition, Vol. 19, No. 1, pp. 92–116, 2011
Reasoning from negative evidence takes place where an expected outcome is tested for, and when it is not found, a conclusion is drawn based on the significance of the failure to find it. By using Gricean maxims and implicatures, we show how a set of alternatives, which we call a paradigm, provides the deep inferential structure on which reasoning from lack of evidence is based. We show that the strength of reasoning from negative evidence depends on how the arguer defines his conclusion and what he considers to be in the paradigm of negated alternatives. If we negate only two of the several possible alternatives, even if they are the most probable, the conclusion will be weak. However, if we deny all possible alternatives, the reasoning will be strong, and even in some cases deductively valid.
Number of Pages in PDF File: 21
Keywords: argumentation, argument from ignorance, burden of proof, classification under lack of knowledge, defeasible reasoning, Gricean maxims, lack of evidence, negation, scalar predicates
Date posted: August 11, 2011
© 2016 Social Science Electronic Publishing, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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|Kiple, Kenneth F. Ornelas, Kriemhild. The Cambridge World History of Food. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000: 540.||"Pork is considered done when it reaches an average interior temperature of 75.9°C (170°F)."||75.9 °C|
|Encyclopedia Americana. 1924: 413.||"It is necessary, therefore, that pork is cooked to an internal temperature of 176°F (77°C) for fresh loin roasts to 185°F (85°C) for other large fresh cuts. Cured and smoked products should reach an internal temperature of 160°F to 170°F (72°C to 85°C)"||77–85 °C|
|Reichl, Ruth. The Gourmet Cookbook. New York; Conde Nast, 2004.||"Cooking a roast to medium-the final temperature should be 150°F- 155°F (66–69°C)is enough to kill the Trichinella parasite (which infects only 1 percent or less of American hogs."||66–69 °C|
|The Unwelcome Dinner Guest: Preventing Foodborne Illness. US Food and Drug Administration. Publication No. (FDA) 03-1300, 1991.||"Beef, lamb, and veal should be cooked to at least 145 F (63 C); pork and ground beef to 160 F (71 C)."||71 °C|
|Miller, Bryan. Cooking For Dummies. New York: Hungry Minds, 2000.||[see table below]||68–71 °C|
|Cut||Thickness/Weight||Final Internal Temperature||Cooking Time|
|Loin roast (bone-in)||3 to 5 pounds||155°F-160°F||20 minutes per pound|
|Boneless pork roast||2 to 4 pounds||155°F-160°F||20 minutes per pound|
|Tenderloin (roast at 425°F-450°F)||.5 to 1.5 pounds||155°F-160°F||20 to 30 minutes|
|Crown roast||6 to 10 pounds||155°F-160°F||20 minutes per pound|
|Boneless loin chops||1 inch thick||155°F-160°F||12 to 16 minutes|
|Ribs||tender||1.5 to 2 hours|
Pork is a great source of protein, thiamine (vitamin B), and niacin. Among the minerals pork ranks high as a source of iron, potassium, and calcium, with lesser amounts of chlorine, magnesium, phosphorus, and sodium.
Trichinosis is a serious and sometimes fatal illness that occurs from the transfer of parasitic roundworms called Trichinella (trichina) from infected hogs to human through inadequately cooked pork being ingested. This is why it is very important that pork be cooked thoroughly at the right temperature and right timing.
According to the US Food and Drug Administration they suggest that cooked pork should reach an internal temperature of 71 °C (160 °F) before eating. However, according to the gourmet cookbook the final internal temperature can be 66°C–69°C (150°F–155°F). They believe that this temperature keeps the pork healthy while at the same time maintaining its flavor.
The desirable temperature while cooking pork seems to be around 163°C-191°C (325-375 °F). Many cookbooks suggest that they be cooked at that temperature for approximately 4-5 hours. Also, the inner temperature of the pork should be around 71 °C (160 °F) before it is safe to be eaten.
Although cooking at such high temperatures might take the flavor away in the end it keeps us healthy and prevents any parasites such as Trichinella from transferring from hogs into humans.
Karen Freire -- 2007 | <urn:uuid:628b659a-3ace-43c0-b612-901d3940f914> | {
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About the Book
Book: Teaching Art
Author: Jerry E. Twitchell
Genre: Nonfiction EDUCATION/Teaching Methods & Materials/Arts & Humanities
Release Date: February 20, 2019
As Simple as 1-2-3
Everything needed to structure and teach an effective art program for grades one to three is made simple for the home-school parent or teacher.
This step-by-step process for teaching art is perfect for home-school teachers or parents with limited art skills or time to create their own programs. This system of insight, responses to judgments, ideas, and feelings aligns with public school and state visual arts requirements.
Teaching Art in the Primary Grades is designed to foster lifelong interest in the arts, provide a gauge of what can be expected of children at various ages and grade levels, and present a baseline for measuring growth and skill.
Lesson plans with goals, objects, time frames, techniques, steps, illustrated examples, and assessment of growth are included.
Click here to get your copy.
As a homeschooling mother, I am always on the lookout for new materials. Plus, with a daughter who loves art, I was excited to have the opportunity to review this book. I do not consider myself gifted in the field of art, and being military means we often move. So we have not had art instruction available to our family typically. So the idea of having a book that provides step-by-step instructions and does not require me to an art expert was a good thing.
I appreciate how each lesson contains all the instructions and directions for what needs to be done that day. This book covers grades 1-3 and does an excellent job of covering a variety of topics.
I found the lessons to be well-crafted and interesting. I feel it is an excellent book for starting art instruction in the elementary grades. So check it out for yourself.
I received a copy of this book for my fair and honest reivew.
About the Author
Jerry E. Twitchell, DEd, is a retired educational administrator and art and history instructor. With over thirty years of experience as a teacher and principal, Jerry has nurtured primary through secondary students to experience the excitement of art. In his work with parents, teachers, and especially children, he has sought to bring to life a love and passion for art.
More from Jerry
Ever since I was young, I have always loved art. It was only natural for me to be teaching and sharing the love of art to young people. Over the years, a number of parents, students and fellow teachers and administrators suggested that I should write a book about teaching art, particularly to the emerging beginning artist. This would hopefully help them gain confidence in themselves in return would flow into their reading and writing subjects. After retiring, pondering and headaches, I started putting it together and throwing around ideas to myself on what should be included and “Wala”…..here it is.
Library Lady’s Kid Lit, September 11
Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy, September 12
Mary Hake, September 12
A Baker’s Perspective, September 13 (Author Interview)
Debbie’s Dusty Deliberations, September 14
Kathy Anderson, September 14
Vicky Sluiter, September 15
Lis Loves Reading, September 16
Creating Romance, September 17
janicesbookreviews, September 18
Texas Book-aholic, September 19
Quiet Workings, September 19
A Reader’s Brain, September 20
Older & Smarter?, September 21
Inklings and notions , September 22
Little Homeschool on the Prairie, September 23
The Artist Librarian, September 23
For Him and My Family, September 24
Beck To Basics, September 24
To celebrate his tour, Jerry is giving away Gift basket with Basic art Supplies, Stack Card and a Athabascan People of The North coloring book!!
Be sure to comment on the blog stops for nine extra entries into the giveaway! Click the link below to enter. | <urn:uuid:c766a641-e554-4d7c-9a94-b3dbcc0e03eb> | {
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In 1899 Lily Dougall published a novel about Joseph Smith entitled, The Mormon Prophet. In the preface to her book, the writer explained her views of Joseph Smith as portrayed in her fictional tale. Rejecting earlier attempts to attribute the Book of Mormon to outright “conscious invention,” she offered what she felt was a more sympathetic explanation. “Smith,” she reasoned, “was genuinely deluded by the automatic freaks of a vigorous, but undisciplined brain, and that, yielding to these, he became confirmed in the hysterical temperament which always adds delusion to self-deception, and to self-deception half-conscious fraud.” Anticipating subsequent psychological explanations of more recent critics, Dougall attributed the Book of Mormon and Joseph Smith’s religious experiences to unspecified mental maladies of which the Prophet may have been either partially or completely unaware (Lily Dougall, The Mormon Prophet, 1899, vii).
Brigham H. Roberts, a Latter-day Saint leader, and one of the seven Presidents of the Church's First Council of Seventy, reviewed Miss Dougall’s book for the New York Times Saturday Review.
He characterized Dougall’s theory as an attempt to find a psychological “middle ground” that avoided the prophet/fraud dichotomy. While appreciative of the kindlier tone of her work, in comparison to others, Roberts explained that Dougall’s position was “utterly untenable.”
“The facts in which Mormonism had its origin are of such a character that they cannot be resolved into delusion or mistake. Either they were truth or conscious Simon-Pure invention. It is not possible to place the matter on middle ground. Joseph Smith was either a true prophet or a conscious fraud or villain. Had his religion found its origin in the visions of his own mind, without any connection with material objects, as was the case with Emanuel Swedenborg, then there would have been room for Miss Dougall’s theory; but the facts in which Mormonism had its origin had to do with quite a different order of things.”
Why is this? The Book of Mormon “was no visionary book–no mere creation of an overwrought brain–but actual substance, sensible to touch as to sight, consisting of golden plates, with length breadth and thickness. Each plate was about seven by eight inches in dimension, and somewhat thinner than common tin; the whole bound together by rings made a volume some six inches in thickness.” Joseph Smith claimed to have handled these plates and others (the three and eight witnesses) saw and handled them also. “It cannot be said that Joseph Smith and these men were self-deceived in such things: not even the `automatic freaks of a vigorous but undisciplined brain’ could delude itself in such matters. The Book of Mormon plates had an existence, and Joseph Smith and others who testified to the fact saw and handled them, or they were conscious frauds and lied and conspired to deceive.” This physicality was just as true with other revelatory experiences associated with the restoration. Resurrected personages actually laid their hands upon the head of Joseph Smith. “There was no chance for self-delusion or mistake to enter into such transactions, and no theory based upon the idea of Joseph Smith being confirmed in hysterical temperament can explain away these stubborn facts, however well-intentioned or skillfully worked out.”
B. H. Roberts, “`The Mormon Prophet’: Congressman Robert’s Views of Miss Dougall’s Novel,” New York Times Saturday Review 23 (September 1899). | <urn:uuid:3b2b6a7d-1362-44ee-af19-ba4359a0a963> | {
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River Barrier: Moyka River
Year of creation: 1736
Length: 4,139.4 m
Engineers: F.I. Gerard
The Moyka River Embankment expands from the Fontanka River to the Bolshaya Neva River in Central District and Admiralteysky District of St. Petersburg.
At the beginning of the XVIII century the Moyka River (it was named Mya before - 1719-1797) was a shallow meandering stagnant river flowing out of the swamp which was located near the Field of Mars.
From 1736 to 1737 dredging works were performed and the bank was reinforced by a high wooden wall with wooden railings.
In 1797 construction of stone embankments on the Neva River began. By 1805 the river had retaining walls lined with granite in the area of Malo-Konyushenny Bridge to Nevsky Prospect. The section from Nevsky Prospect to the Pryazhka River on the left bank and to the Kryukov Canal on the right bank of the Moyka River was embanked in 1810 under the project of engineer F. Gerard.
The foundation of the embankment was made of vertical wooden piles and sheet piling. Wooden grillage and a stone masonry wall with massive granite facing are laid on piles heads. Taking into account relatively narrow passages along the embankment, the builders created narrow steep stairs-descends to the water for boats mooring.
During the construction of Mikhailovsky Castle on the site of the 1st Engineer Bridge to Sadovy Bridge the river bank was reinforced with a stone wall, the complex planned configuration of which has survived to the present day.
By 1946 the embankment wall retained its original structure, although time and war have left the marks on their appearance. Post-war reconstruction began in 1948 on the left bank upstream from Pevchesky Bridge at the site of 95 meter long.
Intensive repair of the walls took place in the 1950s and 1970s. During repair and reconstruction of the embankment walls, along with new building materials, granite stones were widely used obtained from the dismantling of the old embankment with their pre-treatment that allows builders to restore and preserve its original architectural appearance.
Now the Moyka River is dressed mostly in the high granite walls of the embankment. They are made of bedding rubble plates with lime mortar and faced with massive granite stones fastened together with iron dowels. The retaining walls are laid on a wooden grillage with wooden piles.
The Moyka River Embankment has a great historical and cultural value for St. Petersburg and Russia; it is guarded by the Committee on State Control Use and Protection of Historical and Cultural Landmarks. The pile foundation on some sections of stone walls of the embankments erected in 1805-1810 was retained without alteration.
Besides, the Moyka River Embankment represents many historical and cultural monuments. The most famous literary places – building No.12 where Alexander Pushkin spent the last months of his life. Building No.20 - State Academic Court Chapel n.a. M. Glinka which was built in the late XIX century by architect L. Benois. In the XVIII century the famous architect B. Rastrelli worked on the project of building No.50 (there is Stegelman Palace now). O.R. Monferran – the architect of St. Isaac's Cathedral – lived in building No.86. Building No.94 - Yusupov Palace – is a monument of classical architecture. | <urn:uuid:8a797464-c724-424b-85cb-3dee0b550c67> | {
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This course is available in both the Fall and Spring semesters.
Grades: 9, 10, 11, 12
Visual learning and hands-on exercises help reinforce the concepts covered in Chemistry B, which include the properties of matter, solutions, and energy. Students are also introduced to the principles of electrochemistry, organic chemistry, and nuclear chemistry.
Solids, Liquids, and Gases
In this unit you will analyze the states of matter in terms of particles and use the kinetic theory of matter to describe the behavior of matter in each state. You will predict how temperature, volume, and the number of particles affect gas pressure, and how to quantify these effects using Boyle�??s, Charles�??s, and the combined gas laws. You will have the opportunity to perform a virtual lab to investigate the relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas. Finally, you will learn how solutions form and compare different types of solutions.
Solutions, Acids, and Bases
In this unit you will continue to learn about different types of solutions as you examine some special properties of solutions and solve problems involving solubility and concentration. You will explore acids and bases as you compare acid-base theories, calculate acid and base concentrations, and describe what happens during neutralization reactions. You will have the opportunity to perform a virtual and a hands-on titration lab at the end of the unit.
Heat, Energy, and Reactions
In this unit you will continue to explore chemical reactions in terms of heat and energy as you learn how scientists measure the heat of a reaction and solve problems involving heat transfers in chemical reactions. You will identify factors that affect the rate of a reaction and design an experiment to test these factors. Finally, you will learn how amounts of reactants and products change in a chemical system at equilibrium and identify stresses that can change the equilibrium of a chemical reaction.
In this unit you will study electrochemistry, the branch of chemistry that deals with the relationship between electricity and chemical changes. You will examine how reactants and products gain and lose electrons, learn how to determine the oxidation number of an atom, and compare different types of electrochemical cells, which convert electrical energy into chemical energy or vice versa. In addition, you will have the opportunity to perform a virtual redox titration.
Many everyday items, such as clothes, food, and containers, are carbon-based, or organic compounds. Throughout this unit you will classify organic compounds, model their structures, examine how they form, and identify the organic compounds that certain common products contain. In addition, you will learn about the roles that carbon plays in biochemical processes.
Although nuclear materials are fairly common, most people do not know exactly what they are or what makes them both beneficial and dangerous. In this unit, you will explore different types and uses of radioactivity and analyze the various changes that nuclear particles may undergo. Also, you will learn how nuclear waste is stored and how scientists detect radiation.
Final Review and Exam
In this unit, you will have the opportunity to prepare for and take the final exam. The final exam may include any material that has been presented throughout the semester. Since this is a comprehensive exam, it may be helpful to organize your notes and answers to questions in your Science journal before you begin to review.
- Chemistry (Standard, Honors)
- iText Prentice Hall Chemistry | <urn:uuid:d91ef905-2494-4218-be99-e483c6ffce6e> | {
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Sleep Disordered Breathing (SDB) is a common childhood disorder that encompasses a range of sleep-related upper airway obstruction. Children with SDB demonstrate significant neurocognitive deficits. Adenotonsillectomy is the first line of treatment for SDB and whilst this improves respiratory disturbance, it remains to be established whether neurocognitive gains also result.
A total of 44 healthy snoring children aged 3–12 years awaiting adenotonsillectomy (SDB group), and 48 age and gender matched non-snoring controls from the general community, completed the study. All children underwent polysomnography and neurocognitive assessment at baseline and after a 6-month follow-up (after surgery in the snoring group). Our primary aim was to determine whether neurocognitive deficits in snoring children were significantly improved following adenotonsillectomy.
Wide ranging neurocognitive deficits were found at baseline in SDB children compared to controls, most notably a 10 point IQ difference (P<.001) and similar deficits in language and executive function. Whilst adenotonsillectomy improved respiratory parameters and snoring frequency at 6 months post surgery, neurocognitive performance did not improve relative to controls.
Citation: Kohler MJ, Lushington K, van den Heuvel CJ, Martin J, Pamula Y, Kennedy D (2009) Adenotonsillectomy and Neurocognitive Deficits in Children with Sleep Disordered Breathing. PLoS ONE 4(10): e7343. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0007343
Editor: Naomi Rogers, University of Sydney, Australia
Received: July 13, 2009; Accepted: August 25, 2009; Published: October 6, 2009
Copyright: © 2009 Kohler et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This study was supported by NH&MRC project grant 250369 (www.nhmrc.gov.au). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Sleep disordered breathing (SDB) is common in children and varies along a continuum of upper airway obstruction from primary snoring to Obstructive Sleep Apnea Syndrome (OSAS). Primary snoring is characterized by frequent snoring without ventilatory abnormalities or obvious sleep disruption and affects 5–10% of children, while the more severe OSAS is characterized by hypoxia and sleep fragmentation in 1–4% of children . There is convincing evidence that even mild SDB is associated with neurocognitive deficits, particularly those of memory, learning, attention, executive functioning and cognitive capacity .
Historically, adenotonsillectomy has been the treatment of choice in children with SDB. While there is robust evidence that adenotonsillectomy reverses ventilatory and sleep deficits in children with upper airway obstruction , the consensus view is that the same applies to neurocognitive and behavioral deficits . However the evidence on which this view is based is less compelling. A number of studies have reported improved attention, executive functioning, analytical thinking, verbal functioning, memory and academic progress at 6–12 months post- adenotonsillectomy –, but others have reported no improvement in measures of language skills, visual perception, memory and executive function , , . These mixed findings are limited by methodological issues which include the failure to screen children for confounding psychological disorders - particularly attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) which is reported to co-vary with SDB, as well as a lack of controls, small subject numbers, and a restricted range of cognitive domains assessed , , , –. In addition, relatively few studies have quantified SDB using polysomnography and only one study has evaluated both SDB and control children with polysomnography at pre and post-surgical time points . The latter is important as the current consensus is that many children continue to have upper airway obstruction post adenotonsillectomy . Given the above limitations this study evaluated whether or not adenotonsillectomy improved both respiratory and neurocognitive function in a relatively large study of children with SDB and matched controls.
Using a prospective repeated measures design, this study examined neurocognitive performance and severity of upper airway obstruction using polysomnography in snoring children awaiting adenotonsillectomy at baseline and six months following surgery, as compared to measures at the same time points in non-snoring control children matched for age and gender.
Participants were recruited between November 2003 and September 2005. The study was approved by the Child, Youth and Women's Health Service Human Research Ethics Committee and families were given an AU░50 honorarium for attending each assessment trial. SDB children were those with a history of frequent snoring and who were scheduled for adenotonsillectomy because of suspected SDB by experienced pediatric otorhinolaryngologists at the Women's and Children's Hospital (WCH), North Adelaide, Australia. The sample was further restricted to children aged 3.0–12.9 years to facilitate neuropsychological testing and to avoid the potential influence of late pubertal developmental changes on sleep and upper airway dynamics –. Children were excluded if they spoke English as a second language, had undergone previous ENT or craniofacial surgery, had a medical or psychological condition associated with hypoxemia, sleep fragmentation, cognitive deficits and/or behavioral problems, and if they were currently taking medications known to affect sleep, respiratory dynamics or neuropsychological measures such as a stimulant or psychotropic drugs. The non-snoring control children were recruited through the recommendation of participating parents of snoring children, and from advertisements in local newspapers and schools. Similar exclusion criteria were applied to controls with the addition that they did not snore more than two nights per week as confirmed by parental report. Information regarding the age of onset and duration of snoring was collected from parents.
Socioeconomic status (SES) was determined using the Australian Bureau of Statistics' Index of Relative Socio-economic Advantage/Disadvantage 2006 national census data. A higher score on this index indicates increased income and occupational skills and/or training within the geographical area of residence (collection district), with a national population mean of 1000 and standard deviation of 100. Height and weight were measured on the polysomnographic nights and established growth charts, corrected for age and gender, were used to determine body mass index (BMI) .
Neurocognitive assessment at both baseline and follow-up were performed 0.9 (2.9) weeks before polysomnography (1.0 (2.7) for controls and 0.7 (3.1) for SDB children). The mean (SD) duration between baseline and follow-up polysomnography was 29.4 (5.9) weeks (27.4 (4.8) for controls and 31.5 (6.3) for SDB children) and for neurocognitive assessment was 30.8 (6.2) weeks (29.5 (3.4) for controls and 31.6 (7.7) for SDB children). The mean (SD) duration between adenotonsillectomy and follow-up polysomnography for SDB children was 27.5 (6.0) weeks and for neurocognitive assessment was 26.9 (5.8) weeks. All group differences are non-significant.
The following neurocognitive tests were administered: the Stanford Binet Intelligence Scale 5th edition and a Neuropsychological Developmental Assessment (NEPSY) . Both tests are normed and well-validated instruments with robust validity and reliability. The Stanford Binet provides measures of intellectual capacity (Verbal and Non-Verbal IQ and composite IQ), Fluid Reasoning (FR) (inductive and deductive reasoning), Knowledge (KN) (general information), Quantitative Reasoning (QR) (numerical ability), Visual-Spatial processing (VS) (ability to process spatial information) and Working Memory (WM) (capacity to use short term memory in problem solving). The NEPSY was used to obtain the following measures of auditory and visual attention, planning and problem solving, inhibition, language development, sensorimotor function and memory and learning. A psychologist blinded to child status administered the tests during a single session on a weekday.
The Compumedics S-Series Sleep System (Melbourne, Australia) was used to collect electroencephalograhic (EEG; C3-A2 or C4-A1), left and right electrooculograhic (EOG), sub-mental and diaphragmatic electromyographic (EMG) data. Leg movement was assessed by piezoelectric motion detection, heart rate by electrocardiogram (ECG), oro-nasal airflow by thermistor and nasal pressure, respiratory movements of the chest and abdominal wall using uncalibrated respiratory inductive plethysmography (RIP), arterial oxygen saturation (SaO2) by pulse oximetry (Nellcor N-595; 2 second averaging time) and transcutaneous CO2 (TcCO2) using a heated (41°C) transcutaneous electrode (TINA, Radiometer Pacific). All data was digitized and stored on computer disk for subsequent analysis. Children were continuously monitored via infrared camera by a pediatric sleep technician who also documented observations of sleep behavior, which included the presence or absence of snoring.
An experienced sleep technician blinded to child status scored the studies according to standardized sleep stage and pediatric ventilatory criteria . Stage 3 and 4 sleep were combined for analysis as slow wave sleep (SWS). All respiratory events were scored if ≥2 respiratory cycles in duration and associated with a minimum 3% SaO2 desaturation and/or an arousal within two breaths of event termination. Obstructive apneas were defined as the absence of airflow associated with continued chest and abdominal wall movement. Obstructive hypopneas were defined as a ≥50% reduction in the amplitude of RIP and/or airflow signal associated with paradoxical chest/abdominal wall movement. The presence of any other supportive data such as increased diaphragmatic or submental EMG activity was further used to distinguish obstructive from central hypopneas. Central apneas were scored if there was an absence of respiratory effort as determined by RIP and diaphragmatic EMG in association with an absence of airflow. Central apneas were also scored if the event lasted ≥20 seconds. Central hypopneas were defined as a ≥50% reduction in airflow from baseline in association with a ≥50% reduction in respiratory effort from baseline. Apnea events that included both central and obstructive components were scored as a mixed apnea. The obstructive apnea/hypopnea index (OAHI) was calculated as the total number of obstructive apneas, mixed apneas and obstructive hypopneas per hour of total sleep time. An OAHI ≥1 was considered indicative of OSAS. The central apnea/hypopnea index (CAHI) was calculated as the total number of central apneas and central hypopneas per hour of total sleep time.
Spontaneous and respiratory cortical arousals were scored according to the criteria of the American Sleep Disorders Task Force . Spontaneous arousal index (SAI) was expressed as the total number of spontaneous arousals per hour of total sleep time and respiratory arousal index (RAI) as the total number of respiratory arousals per hour of total sleep time. Periodic Limb Movements (PLM) were scored using standard criteria . The PLM index (PLMI) was defined as the number of PLM per hour of total sleep time.
Independent samples t-tests were used to compare continuous demographic data, while Chi-square or Mann-Whitney tests were used to determine group differences in ordinal and nominal demographic data. A one within groups (assessment time) and one between groups (group) repeated measures analysis of covariance (ANCOVA), co-varying for significant group differences in demographic variables, was used to assess the effect of time and subject status on neurocognitive performance. Effect sizes were determined using partial eta squared values (ηp2). Apart from PLMI, RAI, frequency of SaO2 desaturations ≥3%/hr total sleep time (TST), percentage of sleep time with SaO2 <95%, TcCO2 >50 mmHg, OAHI and CAHI, all PSG variables were normally distributed. An inverse transformation [1/(x+1)] was used to correct skew and transformed values were used in analyses. Non-transformed values are reported in the tables. Student t-tests were used for post-hoc testing of group differences. All p values are 2-tailed, with statistical significance determined at α = .05. Data are presented as mean (SD) unless otherwise stated.
Two hundred and twenty-six parents of snoring children awaiting adenotonsillectomy for clinically suspected OSAS were approached as potential participants. Of 81 children whose parents expressed an interest, 21 children failed to meet inclusion criteria, 6 underwent surgery before the commencement of the study, and 10 failed to complete PSG or neuropsychological assessment at baseline or follow-up resulting in a final total of 44 SDB children scheduled for adenotonsillectomy with complete baseline and post surgery data. Of 61 control non-snoring children whose parents expressed an interest, 8 failed to meet inclusion criteria, 4 failed to complete PSG or neuropsychological assessment at baseline or follow-up, and 1 was excluded because they had clinically significant OSAS at baseline (i.e. OAHI >1) resulting in a final total of 48 control children. All children had normal hearing as determined by a trained audiologist using air conduction testing and bone conduction and tympanometry assessment.
Compared to controls the SDB children, had significantly greater body mass, and significantly lower SES, although average ratings for each group were within the normal range. Group differences in age approached statistical significance. Child's age, BMI z-score and SES were therefore entered as covariates in subsequent analyses (Table 1).
Compared to baseline (Figure 1a), snoring frequency was significantly lower at follow-up in the SDB group, (p<.001, Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test) where it reached a similar frequency to that of controls (Figure 1b).
Children scheduled for adenotonsillectomy were reported by parents to snore more frequently compared to controls, χ2 = 79.7, p<.001 (Figure 1A). At 6 months follow-up, snoring frequency was not significantly greater amongst children who underwent adenotonsillectomy compared to controls, χ2 = 3.8, p = 0.433 (Figure 1B).
The mean and standard deviation PSG values at baseline and follow-up are presented in Table 2. Across both time points, SDB children had significantly higher SWS and less stage 2 sleep compared to control children. No other group differences were found for measures of sleep architecture. Respiratory arousals were significantly elevated at baseline in SDB compared to control children but were not different to controls post-surgery. Group differences were not found for frequency of spontaneous arousals. SDB children had a significantly greater frequency of SaO2 desaturations ≥3% and a greater proportion of sleep with SaO2 below 95% compared to control children across both time points. Despite this, the range in frequency of desaturation was markedly reduced following treatment in the SDB group (from 0–53.1 to 0–5.6). No significant differences were observed for TcCO2. Both OAHI and CAHI were significantly greater for SDB children compared to controls at baseline. Adenotonsillectomy improved upper airway obstruction to levels equivalent to controls, with a significant mean pre- to post-operative reduction in OAHI of 5.8 to 0.8.
The composite Verbal, Nonverbal and Full Scale IQ were significantly lower at preoperative baseline in SDB compared to control children; however scores for all children were on average within the standardised normal range. The magnitude of this deficit persisted at six month follow-up with a mean Full Scale IQ difference of 10 points between control and SDB children.
The Fluid Reasoning, Knowledge, Quantitative Reasoning, Visual Spatial and Working Memory composite scores, and corresponding Verbal and Nonverbal subtest scores, were all significantly reduced in SDB compared to control children at both baseline and follow up. In general, effects were greatest for the verbal component of tests, and specifically for measures of Knowledge and Working Memory. A significant interaction effect was observed for the composite Visual Spatial score, due to a larger improvement in SDB children from baseline to follow-up. Nonetheless, visual spatial scores were still significantly lower in SDB children at follow-up. Observed power for significant group differences across the Stanford Binet scales were high, ranging from 0.80 to 1.0 (median = 0.98).
Mean NEPSY composite and subtest scores for SDB children were within the standardised normal range both preoperatively and post adenotonsillectomy. Despite this, composite scores for Attention/Executive functioning, Language development, Sensorimotor function and Memory were significantly reduced across both time points in SDB children compared to controls.
Analysis of the individual subtests contributing to the composite Attention/Executive score, both at baseline and follow-up, indicated that SDB children had significantly reduced planning, inhibition, auditory and visual attention scores compared to controls. Effects were greatest for measures of planning and visual attention. Likewise composite Language subtest scores indicate both at baseline and follow-up that SDB compared to control children had significantly reduced phonological processing, comprehension and speeded naming ability. Effects were particularly large for phonological processing.
Of Sensorimotor subtests, only imitation of hand positions was reduced in SDB children compared to controls. No interaction over time was observed, however, Sensorimotor performance in general improved in both groups at follow-up.
Analysis of subtest scores contributing to the composite Memory score show that only narrative memory scores were significantly reduced in SDB children compared to controls, both at baseline and post-operatively. For all children, memory for names and memory for faces improved at follow-up. Observed power for significant group differences across the NEPSY were moderate to high, ranging from 0.53 to 1.0 (median = 0.96).
Further analyses of SDB children found no differences in neurocognitive performance on either the Stanford Binet or NEPSY when comparing those demonstrating an OAHI ≥1 vs. an OAHI <1 post-operatively.
Association between OAHI severity and neurocognitive performance.
To investigate the association between OAHI severity and neurocognitive performance correlation analyses were performed between ventilatory (OAHI, O2 <95%, SaO2 desats ≥3%/hr TST, SaO2 nadir, and RAI, snoring duration) and baseline neurocognitive scores. Neurocognitive scores did not show significant associations with any of the ventilatory parameters.
The possible contribution of concurrent upper airway obstruction to neurocognitive function was further explored using a series of hierarchical multiple regression analyses. Age, SES and BMI z-score were entered in the first step and OAHI in the second step of analyses.
Baseline OAHI was not significantly predictive of baseline Stanford Binet or NEPSY scores at step 2 (β range = 0.001 to 0.255), with the exception of verbal quantitative reasoning (β = 0.369, p<.01), for which OAHI explained 12.5% of the variance over and above age, BMI z-score and SES. Similarly, post-operative OAHI was not significantly predictive of post-operative Stanford Binet or NEPSY scores. When entered at the second step in place of OAHI, the change in OAHI between time points was not significantly predictive of any neurocognitive parameter.
The crucial findings of the present study were that in children with SDB adenotonsillectomy improved sleep and ventilatory parameters as expected but not neurocognitive performance six months post-surgery. Unlike previous studies reporting improved neurocognition, the present study excluded children with confounding psychological disorders, such as ADHD. In addition, PSG was performed in both SDB and control children at both baseline and follow-up. This is the first such study to objectively determine sleep and ventilatory parameters, and a comprehensive range of neurocognitive parameters both before and after adenotonsillectomy in SDB and control children. Consistent with previous studies, we confirmed that children with SDB have wide ranging neurocognitive deficits , . Contrary to expectations however – these deficits persisted despite successful treatment of the underlying upper airway obstruction. Given the prevalence of childhood SDB, the implications of the present study's findings for daytime function and academic performance for these children are concerning.
An important finding was that the magnitude of neurocognitive deficits did not relate to the severity of upper airway obstruction. Moreover, there was no association between the improvement in sleep respiratory parameters post-adenotonsillectomy and any change in neurocognitive function. SDB children compared to matched control children had a persistent deficit at baseline and six months post adenotonsillectomy of, on average, 10 IQ points. Performance in control children was consistent with that of healthy children in other large recent studies . Taken at face value the lack of association between SDB severity and neurocognitive performance implies that relatively mild SDB and the concomitant sleep fragmentation may be more harmful than is currently believed, a suggestion originally outlined in a previous study by our group . Further support that even mild upper airway obstruction has detrimental neurocognitive consequences is provided by the study of O'Brien et al. , who reported visual attention, language, phonological processing and visuospatial deficits in 87 children with primary snoring (AHI <1) compared to controls. In addition, Giordani et al. found that snoring children scheduled for adenotonsillectomy, whose PSG was normal (i.e. confirmed as primary snorers), had decrements in visual spatial problem solving, memory and arithmetic achievement comparable to those with OSAS as confirmed by PSG. Interestingly, in the latter study those children with primary snoring, but not those with OSAS, scored significantly lower on reading and verbal-based academic achievement, short term attention, working memory and sustained attention compared to non-snoring control children. The lack of significant correlations in this and other studies between the PSG parameters and neurocognitive functioning may be due to the limitations inherent in the PSG parameters currently recorded in children, especially their insensitivity to more subtle markers of sleep fragmentation such as sub-cortical arousals which are not routinely quantified. More refined measures of arousal such as those obtained using spectral analysis and other quantitative EEG measures may provide the answer. A relationship with current upper airway obstruction severity and neurocognitive performance may not be observed, as deficits in snoring children may be longstanding and/or cumulative.
The failure to find an improvement in neurocognitive performance at six months post-adenotonsillectomy presents a challenge to our current understanding of the relationship between upper airway obstruction and neurocognitive deficits. It may be that a longer period of post-operative recovery is required before improvements are noticeable. However, the majority of relevant studies examining children's neurocognitive performance report significant gains within 3–12 months post-adenotonsillectomy , , –, –. Indeed, the results from this study do report gains in working memory function, memory for names and faces, and overall sensorimotor ability in snoring children, but these were no greater than gains observed in controls, which is consistent with a learning effect. The duration and/or age of snoring onset may also be important. However, we did not find a significant relationship between parentally reported snoring duration and any neurocognitive measure in our adenotonsillectomy group. Additional analyses, not reported here, divided the sample into three age groups (3–4 years, 5–7 years, and 8–12 years) to determine whether group differences varied by age yet did not find significant effects.
In the current study it is interesting to note the deficits showing largest effects were for executive function and verbal and language performance, in particular phonological processing. Language skills are thought to underpin much of higher learning , and phonological processing is reported to be a good predictor of later reading ability and auditory processing . A child who is unable to plan and strategize, and whose language skills are impaired is at a distinct disadvantage in classrooms in Western countries where so much of children's academic progress is dependent on verbal modes of learning and reasoning.
The results of this study are compelling and concerning, but it is important to emphasize this was not a randomized study as snoring children were identified prior to participation. Assumption of cause and effect must be made with caution until large-scale randomized controlled trials can be conducted. A multicenter randomized controlled clinical trial, to assess the impact of early intervention with adenotonsillectomy versus watchful waiting and supportive care on neurocognitive function in children aged 5 to 10 years, with OSA and adenotonsillar hypertrophy, is currently planned in the USA . However, the results of the current study suggest that the genesis of long-term adverse neurocognitive effects in snoring children may be during a critical developmental period, at or before 3 years of age, so future research should include children in this age range.
In summary, adenotonsillectomy improved ventilatory parameters and snoring but neurocognitive deficits were not improved six months post-surgery. The most prominent deficits included higher cognitive functions and particularly demonstration of knowledge, executive functions of planning and working memory, as well as measures of language development such as phonological processing and comprehension. No dose response was observed between the severity of upper airway obstruction and neurocognitive deficits. Recent research has postulated that an individuals' systemic inflammatory response to hypoxia may explain differential outcomes to upper airway obstruction –. However, alternative and more subtle measures of arousal and sleep fragmentation may also be important mediators of neurocognitive deficits in children. It is estimated that approximately 5–10% of children snore most nights, while 1–4% of children have OSAS affecting a possible 7.4 million US, 1.5 million UK and 400,000 Australian children. Given the high prevalence, the public health significance of our findings is profound and requires urgent further study in younger children.
The authors acknowledge all parents and children who volunteered to be part of this study. We further acknowledge staff of the Ear, Nose and Throat Department, Women's and Children's Hospital, North Adelaide, South Australia, for provision of access to patients, as well as Ros Lontis, Research Nurse, and sleep technicians Scott Coussens and Marisa Kathriner of the Department of Respiratory and Sleep Medicine, Women's and Children's Hospital, for recruitment of participants and sleep study scoring, respectively. Finally we thank Tony Marciano, Audiologist, North Adelaide Hearing Services, South Australia, for audiological assessment of participants.
Conceived and designed the experiments: MJK KL CJvdH DK. Performed the experiments: MJK. Analyzed the data: MJK KL. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JM YP DK. Wrote the paper: MJK KL CJvdH JM YP DK.
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Having already had depression or anxiety increases the risk of developing persistent pain, and developing a chronically painful condition dramatically increases chances of becoming depressed.
Unexplained, chronic pain known as fibromyalgia affects up to 5% of the population. Yet there are no effective treatment options for the millions for whom each day begins with persistent pain.
Pain during labour and birth is a complex combination of physical and psychological factors.
When you're in pain, it's hard to think about anything else. In many cases, it won't go away until you take something for it, but how do you know what type and strength to take?
People in pain are subject to the ways their cultures have trained them to experience and express pain.
More women than men suffer from chronic pain, that is, pain that persists for more than six months. In addition, much of this pain remains undiagnosed or untreated.
Listen carefully to the language that surrounds people with pain. Listen to how you talk about them. Are you increasing their disability by using well-intentioned pain cliches?
"Psychosocial" factors such as education levels affect how much pain you will experience.
A significant decider of why some manage with chronic pain and some are disabled is the way their partners respond to them.
Pain management is one of the most neglected aspects of health care; our failure to adequately address chronic pain is a major driver of its economic and social burden.
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Thirteen-year-old Martha Bartlett insists on being a part of the Underground Railroad rescue to bring her brother Jake back home to their abolitionist community in Connecticut. It's 1854 and though African-Americans and mixed-race peoples in the north are supposed to be free, seven-year-old Jake, the orphan of a fugitive slave, is kidnapped by his "owner" and taken south to Maryland. Jake is what we'd now describe as on the autism spectrum, and Martha knows just how to reassure him when he's anxious or fearful. Using aliases, disguises, and other subterfuges, Martha artfully dodges Will and Tom, the slave catchers, but struggles to rectify her new reality with her parents' admonition to always tell the truth. She must be brave but not reckless, clever but not dishonest. But being perceived sometimes as white, sometimes as black during the perilous journey has thrown her sense of her own identity into turmoil. Alonso combines fiction and historical fact to weave a suspenseful story of courage, hope and self-discovery in the aftermath of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, while illuminating the bravery of abolitionists who fought against slavery.
Harriet Hyman Alonso is the author of Seven Stories/Triangle Square’s new book for middle school readers, Martha and the Slave Catchers. Catherine A. Franklin is an education professor who created the Martha and the Slave Catchers curriculum guide. The two have worked together for over fifteen years teaching college students and creating teaching materials about U.S. history. Here, they discuss some of the aspects of Martha and the Slave Catchers that relate to history and teaching.
HA: Hi Catherine. You may remember that one of my reasons for wanting to write a book for younger readers is that so many of my students at City College (and at previous schools as well) knew so little about efforts to end slavery in this country. And a good percentage of them told me that history was one of their least favorite subjects. I know that there are many wonderful historical novels for young readers, but not many touch upon the anti-slavery movement or human rights organizations. So, I decided to write one. From what you know about the Core Curriculum and Social Studies education, is there room for such a novel? Would students and teachers welcome such an addition to their reading?
CF: Harriet, Martha and the Slave Catchers is a natural fit for the middle school classroom—for both English Language Arts and Social Studies. The plot line is so engaging, and along the way readers will develop an understanding of the abolitionist movement and the varied roles that individuals played within it. Depending upon the reading level of the students, I could envision how a teacher might use this book for independent reading, guided reading, or as a central text to teach how people organized to resist the practice of slavery during the mid-1800s. I wish I had read a book like this when I was in middle school. Where did you get your inspiration for Martha?
HA: That’s a nice question, Cath. In 2002, my adult non-fiction book, Growing Up Abolitionist: The Story of the Garrison Children was published by the University of Massachusetts Press. That book took ten years of research and writing. It’s the story of William Lloyd Garrison’s family. As you will recall, Garrison was one of the most famous abolitionists in U.S. history and the editor of the weekly newspaper, The Liberator (1831–1865). I was curious to know how “Lloyd” and his wife Helen raised their children. Did they teach them the values that they embraced? Did the children carry on those values in their own adult lives? The answer to both questions is “yes.”
A while after the book came out, I got to thinking that it would be nice for children to be exposed to this piece of U.S. history. . . for them to read about children their own age who grew up in a country being torn apart by the issue of slavery. I had read lots of true stories about the antislavery movement and about the Underground Railroad, and so the idea for Martha and the Slave Catchers was born. Everywhere in Martha and Jake’s lives are interwoven facts about the true experiences of abolitionist children. Just a few examples will show you what I mean. They were raised by parents who consciously embraced non-violence and contributed their efforts to the work of helping fugitive slaves achieve freedom and safety. They read books and magazines that embraced that cause and received educations at home and even in schools that prepared them to carry on the work of ending slavery in this country should their parents’ generation not succeed. I even drop in little items for the enjoyment of those adults who know about the Garrisons. For example, Martha’s last name is Bartlett, which was the last name of the family who took care of Lloyd when his own mother had to foster him out while she worked away from home. And Abijah and Fanny, the first names of the couple who care for Martha and Jake at the end of the book, are the names of Lloyd’s parents. There are tons of little facts like that sprinkled throughout the book.
I also tried to explain the historical context, especially that surrounding the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850, so that parents and teachers might have all the information they’d need to discuss the story with their children and students.
CF: So Martha is essentially drawn from your extensive research on William Lloyd Garrison’s children—and other abolitionist families. Were any of the children described with “hands on hips, foot tapping” or was that your invention?
HA: No. I never heard of any children behaving in that way. I did read how the Garrison children ran a bit wild at home, though. William Lloyd Garrison abhorred violence of any kind and forbid anyone to ever act violently toward his children. So a Garrison child was never slapped, made to stay in a darkened room, or told to be quiet or be punished as many children of that era were. Helen Garrison complained to friends that the children were sometimes uncontrollable as youngsters literally “flew” by her as they danced and chased each other around the parlor room or grabbed letters she was trying to write out of her hand because they wanted to look at them. She lamented that neither she nor her husband were very good taskmasters, but all five of their surviving children (two died when young) grew up to be responsible, ethical adults.
As for Martha, I wanted to give her certain characteristics which showed she was a little girl with a strong personality whose parents, like the Garrisons, allowed her to express herself without much restraint. Her mother says at one point that Martha and Jake were both raised in a non-violent home and would not be prepared to meet violence such as that which Robert Dawes, the slave owner who kidnaps Jake, would be likely to display. I also used the “hands on hips, foot tapping” as a means of illustrating how Martha changes over time. As she learns to understand and accept Jake for who he is, she also learns what her own behavior communicates to him. So her transformation is one of maturing as many children do as they begin their journey into adolescence.
I am wondering, Catherine, how teachers might use your curriculum guide to help children develop deeper historical insight behind the plot.
CF: The curriculum guide provides multiple entry points for the classroom. In the first section, “Priming the pump,” I provide ideas for gathering historical images and maps that connect directly to this novel. Well-designed bulletin board displays can fuel the child’s curiosity and can motivate him/her to learn more about the topic under study. This is particularly true for visual learners. Seeing an actual image of 19th century life (e.g., modes of transportation, a one-room schoolhouse, village life), can trigger the young reader’s mind and imagination. Within the guide, I include links to primary source material from both the Library of Congress and the National Archives. Seeing photographs and documents can facilitate the child’s understanding of daily life within the mid 1800s.
I think it is also important for the class to discuss their familiarity with historical fiction. What have they previously read within this genre? How does reading historical fiction help them to understand history and the human journey through time and controversy? The guide includes an activity of having the class generate a list of “Tips When Reading Historical Fiction."
The curriculum guide also provides helpful literacy strategies that can be used throughout the reading of this novel. This allows the reader to focus on a particular aspect of the story. For instance, I suggest that the students create a timeline of key events within a chapter. This could be done in pictorial and/or written form. Noting the sequence of events within a story is an important reading strategy. It can be used when reading informational texts as well.
Other literacy strategies are also included—such as creating character lists and mapping their connection to the protagonist(s), displaying notable quotes within the text, and enacting dialogue within the story. These are all ways to make the reading of Martha and the Slave Catchers a collaborative and shared experience within the classroom.
The guide also includes discussion questions for the end of the book. Some questions direct the reader to make personal connections to the text, while other questions focus on character motivations and challenges. Creating classroom time for peer to peer discussions can be valuable. This enlarges and complicates the individual reading experience for it provides a venue for learning about someone else’s impression and analysis of the story.
Another section of this guide is called “Explorations.” These are classroom investigations into such areas as slave spirituals, abolitionist newspapers, slave narratives and autism. These are opportunities for students to delve into research and to connect it to the characters and plotlines within Martha and the Slave Catchers. Some of these inquiries could be done while reading the novel, while others could be given as a culminating assignment.
As a former classroom teacher, I believe that students learn a great deal when they collaborate with one another on a curriculum-related project over an extended period of time. For this reason, I included a section within the curriculum guide entitled “Project-based Work.” Working as a team or in a small group for one or two weeks, students could work on such endeavors as constructing everyday objects from the 1800s (e.g., quilt, rag doll), creating a book of codes for the Underground Railroad, designing and participating in an Anti-Slavery Fair, and/or constructing a memorial in honor of the Underground Railroad. Each of these projects relates directly to historical themes within Martha and the Slave Catchers (e.g., material culture, Underground Railroad, Abolitionists).
The last section of the guide is “Extensions.” Students are asked to make connections to the events that occurred in the mid-1800s to events that are happening in our world today. Who are the modern abolitionists? How do we resist unfair laws? Who are today's positive agents of change? To what extent does our current society provide equality and justice for all? What more needs to be done?
It was a pleasure designing this curriculum guide for Martha and the Slave Catchers. I worked to include various modes of expression for different types of learners including musical, visual, dramatic, and physical experiences. I hope that the use of this guide will help students to engage in the study of history and social justice.
HA: Thanks, Catherine. I know the guide will add a wonderful new dimension to the book. | <urn:uuid:dbcf4a1c-b7fd-490b-86be-9160c1388793> | {
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Question 1: What are all the things you have to take into consideration in order to make the instruments that go inside of the mooring? Would you use different instruments, make them out of different material, set the moorings at different depths for different water conditions? How did they feel as they placed the first mooring in the Denmark Strait?
Answer: There are many things to consider when putting instruments on a mooring. The pressure rating of the instrument determines how deep it can be deployed. Some instruments made of delrin or other plastics generally can only be deployed at 500 meters or less. Some of our instruments made of thick aluminum can be deployed as deep as 6000 meters. The deepest depths we will be deploying moorings on this project is about 1800 meters. Another consideration is how the instruments get mounted. Some have custom cages built just for that instrument. Others get clamped directly onto the mooring wire. A very important consideration is also the battery capacity. We need to make sure the instruments have enough batteries to last a full year. That is often a limiting factor.
The mooring team felt the importance of the first mooring and relief that it went in correctly.
Question answered by Daniel Torres, Physical Oceanography Research Associate
All the instruments, floats, anchor, etc. needed for this Icelandic mooring deployment is laid out on the deck. © Pat Keoughan
Question 2: How is the data received from the moorings? Is all of the information gathered and then the data retrieved or do the scientists get constant feedback from the instruments?
Answer: All of the instruments being deployed on this project will be recording their data "internally". This means the information is stored within the instruments, and we will not be able to look at the data until we recover the moorings a year from now. Only moorings that reach the surface can transmit data via satellite back home. But we dared not deploy such surface moorings here because of the potential for pack-ice and icebergs to destroy them. So we will have to be patient for a year and hope that our moorings survive this harsh environment of the Denmark Strait. And of course we will be very excited (and nervous) when we return next summer to see what information the moorings gathered.
Question answered by Chief Scientist Dr. Bob
This Icelandic mooring was just pulled out of the Denmark Strait where it has been collecting data for a year. The data will be retrieved by the scientists using computers. © Pat Keoughan | <urn:uuid:c6239c8a-fb12-4b37-8e64-5b57d6b2796f> | {
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Defining "Subtraction" - Building a Simple Computer
Apr 08, 2018
In this post, I am going to describe how subtraction works in a very basic sense. I'm going to assume you have already read the post defining how addition works.
The reason I am doing these posts describing addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division is because of a project I am working on, a simple unary based computer, which I will talk about in a later date.
Just like with addition, subtraction will start with 2 values, X and Y. The X value this time around is called the minuend, the Y value is called the subtrahend, and the answer to the subtraction problem is called the difference. You'll recognize the setup as X - Y.
In order to subtract Y from X, first check to see if X or Y is zero. If neither are zero, then decrement both X and Y. Repeat this until Y or X is zero. When X or Y reach zero, then the value in X will be the non-negative answer and Y will be the debt, which is how far below zero the answer actually is. You would normally see this in math class as a negative answer, but we are working with only non-negative integers, so this is how we'll handle it.
Describing this in terms of a person having a collection of rocks, we'll imagine this person wants to subtract a specific amount of rocks from their collection of rocks. To keep track of how many rocks need to be removed, we'll use a second collection of rocks. The person would see if either collection is empty. If neither collection is empty, the person would remove a rock from both collections. When one of the collections is empty, then the person will have ended up subtracting the amount from the second collection from the first collection.
This can be described in the following pseudo code function:
Define SUB (X, Y): If X does NOT equal 0 and Y does NOT equal 0: DEC Y DEC X SUB (X, Y)
So let's go through this function to figure out what 3 - 2.
X = 3 Y = 2 SUB (X, Y) Are X and Y both NOT 0? [Yes] DEC Y [Y now equals 1] DEC X [X now equals 2] SUB (X, Y) Are X and Y both NOT 0? [Yes] DEC Y [Y now equals 0] DEC X [X now equals 1] SUB (X, Y) Are X and Y both NOT 0? [No] ----------------------------------- | 3 - 2 equals 1 with 0 left over | -----------------------------------
Just as with Addition, you'll probably notice that because this function loops, we are technically doing 3 different but equivalent subtraction problems, 3 - 2, 2 - 1, and 1 - 0.
The only things we need in order to define subtraction are the ability to decrement, specify a value to decrement, and check if a value is 0. | <urn:uuid:7e63ad3a-0566-47f4-b9c4-6cf3b7427de9> | {
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Iroquois Motor Car Company (1903–1907) was a manufacturer of automobiles in Syracuse, New York, and later, Seneca Falls, New York. The company was founded by John S. Leggett as Leggett Carriage Company and originally specialized in the production of automobile bodies.
|Genre||Runabout and Touring Cars|
|Founder||John S. Leggett|
|Headquarters||Syracuse, New York,
later moved to Seneca Falls, New York, United States
|Owner||Leggett Carriage Company|
Leggett Carriage Company was a manufacturer of automobile bodies in Syracuse, New York, beginning about 1900. John S. Leggett tinkered with his first auto prototypes as early as September 1899 where they were under construction in his factory at 109-111 State Street.
Leggett designed and built automobile bodies for car manufacturers. A prototype constructed in 1900 by John Wilkinson for the New York Automobile Company had a Leggett body.
After Wilkinson teamed with Herbert H. Franklin to form the Franklin Automobile Company, the Leggett Carriage Company in Syracuse built auto bodies for Franklin from 1902 until 1903.
Leggett also built an auto body for another occupant of the building the company occupied at State Street. C. W. Lower, an employee of Syracuse Chilled Plow Company, built an automobile in the fall of 1899 and the body was constructed by Leggett Carriage Company.
In February, 1903, J. S. Leggett, company founder, made the decision to switch to automobile manufacturing. He named his car the Iroquois. That same month, Leggett reorganized the company and renamed it J. S. Leggett Manufacturing Company.
The Iroquois was a compact car with an advanced design. It had a four-cylinder water-cooled engine rated at 15-horsepower. The company built runabout and tonneau models in Syracuse up to 1904.
J. S. Leggett announced in November 1903 that the J. S. Leggett Manufacturing Company was in financial trouble and the factory had been closed and the firm had decided to liquidate the company affairs. Leggett resigned as president and general manager. The company was "perfectly solvent" and paid the stockholders 100 cents on a dollar. It was rumored that the "present company will also be reorganized and will turn out a machine for 1904."The company was in receivership because it failed to raise enough capital from shareholders "to conduct a large enough business to yield profits."Production virtually ceased in 1904. The company retained one mechanic "to finish up a few machines."
During February 1904, several changes had been made at the J. S. Leggett Manufacturing Company. J. S. Leggett was president and treasurer. The factory had reopened on 1 February and men were being "put to work continually." The company was working on putting a four-cylinder, 15-horsepower touring car with direct or chain drive, known as the Iroquois, into market. They had also begun producing their own automobile bodies.
For a few months, there was discussion of Century Motor Vehicle Company merging with J. S. Leggett's, Iroquois Motor Car Company who manufactured the body for Century, however, that did not occur because Century had too many liabilities.
Seneca Falls move
By December, 1904, the company raised $450,000 in capital, primarily from one shareholder, Charles A. Fox.
The name changed again to the Iroquois Motor Car Company and the production plant was moved to Seneca Falls, New York, where it occupied a plant formerly owned by the National Yeast Company known as the Chamberlain property. The businessmen of Seneca Falls subscribed $25,000 for the company to move there.
The main building had a frontage of 150 feet (46 m) and included two "L's and a boiler house." The facility had a total of 90,000 square feet (8,400 m2) of floor space and was valued at $75,000.
The basic design of the car, including sliding gear transmission, 100-inch (2,500 mm) wheelbase and shaft drive, remained unchanged over the years; however, in 1904, and again in 1905, the four-cylinder engine was "beefed up."
In 1906, the five passenger Model D Iroquois touring car was introduced with a selling price of $2,500. The car was equipped with a four-cylinder engine rated at 25-30 horsepower.
A smaller, side entrance, Model C with a detachable tonneau was priced at $2,000. It had a four-cylinder engine rated at 18-20 horsepower. The company also produced canopy and folding tops for an additional cost.
The Iroquois Model D in 1905 was a large touring car with 25 to 30-horsepower motor. The "general construction" followed regular touring car lines and had a four-cylinder vertical motor, side-entrance body, with individual front seats, roomy tonneau and moderately long wheelbase. The car weighed 2,400 pounds (1,100 kg) and had a maximum speed of 40 mph (64 km/h). It came with the "popular divided front seat and a rear seat roomy enough for three adults." The upholstering was of hand-buffed leather. The body was all wood and was finished in olive green with black moldings and wine colored frame and running gear. The equipment on the car came standard and consisted of two oil side lamps, two gas headlights, an oil tail lamp, French horn with long tube, automobile clock on the dashboard, water gauge and full set of tools.
The steering column passes through the straight dashboard and spark and throttle levers worked in sectors inside the wheel rim. All main bearing were lubricated by a force feed lubricator, located in front of the dashboard. Sight glasses were attached to the left-hand side of the engine.
Jump spark ignition was used and two sets of dry cells supplied the necessary current.
Despite the large inflection of capital, the company continued to flounder. By February 1907, the business was sold under mortgage foreclosure. Later that year, John S. Leggett attempted to reorganize again under the name Iroquois Motor Vehicle Company, however, he was not successful.
Leggett's failed business enterprise was described in local news as "an unsuccessful attempt to switch from carriage manufacture to automaking by assembling parts bought outside the city."
J. S. Leggett was involved in the manufacture of a second automobile called the DeLong. The builder, George Erwin DeLong, was the superintendent of Leggett Carriage Company and left in 1901 to build his DeLong in Phoenix, New York. | <urn:uuid:b794ba85-09f9-4915-becb-9966f6f42437> | {
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The temple in Bhadrachalam is closely connected with the lifetime of the 17th-century saint musician Kancharla Gopanna who was called Bhakta Ramadas. Gopanna was the Tahasildar of Bhadrachalam (second half the seventeenth century), is said to possess used cash from the govt. treasury to make this temple, and was captive during a dungeon at Golconda. Lord avatar is claimed to possess miraculously given the ruler the cash spent by Gopanna, when that he was released. Gopanna then became Bhadrachala Ramadasa and went on to compose myriad range of songs in Telugu in praise of avatar.
Bhadrachalam and Vijayanagara square measure sites aforementioned to possess been closely related to the Sanskrit literature. Rama, Sita and Lakshmana square measure aforementioned to possess stayed at Parnasala, thirty five kilometre aloof from Bhadrachalam. avatar is claimed to possess crossed the river Godavari on his thanks to land to rescue mythical being, at the spot wherever the Bhadrachalam temple stands, on the northern bank of the stream. Legend has it that the son of Meru and Menaka, Bhadra, performed penances towards avatar here. Kabirdas, a Muslim by birth is additionally closely related to this temple. it’s believed that the photographs of the deities miraculously disappeared once Kabir was refused entry into the temple which they reappeared miraculously upon his being permissible to enter.
Bhadrachalam attracts many thousands of devotees from everywhere the planet. This hill place that’s encircled by Holy stream Godavari flowing towards southern direction is that the known shrine Bhadrachalam. The name comes from Bhadragiri (Mountain of Bhadra: a boon kid of Meru and Menaka). The history of this shrine stands for the importance of Sanskrit literature Era, the coherent hill place existed in “Dandakaranya” of Sanskrit literature amount wherever avatar together with his consort Sita and brother Lakshmana had spent their vanavasa. The neighborhood of the temple had its inconsistent mixture in another story that depicts the exigency of “Sri Mahavishnu” to manifest himself as avatar and shuffled once more to the mortal coil — long when Ramavatara was to satisfy his promise to his Bhakta Bhadra (a mountain king), a sage UN agency had been continuing the extraordinary penance to induce grace of Lord avatar.
For additional info concerning Bhadrachalam Temple, visit the web site on Bhadrachalam and Temple | <urn:uuid:b97d5560-a1bd-4a90-add5-a3bde3b2f83b> | {
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What Really Happens to Your Body When You Become Stressed?
The American Institute of Stress stated, “Stress is not a useful term for scientists because it is such a highly subjective phenomenon that it defies definition. And if you can’t define stress, how can you possibly measure it?” There are more than a half-dozen dictionary definitions for the word “stress”, and the one thing they have in common is the concept of tension and pressure. Tensile strength of steel is measured by pulling each end until it breaks. A situation can be tense if it is hostile or suspenseful. Tension headaches are attributed to mental or emotional strain.
Your body reacts to stress in many ways – physical, mental, and emotional – when you are faced with extraordinary demands. And you may be surprised to learn that there is good stress, too! Positive stress is called eustress, when it can be a motivator to achieve goals, or anticipation of a joyous event like a wedding. Negative stress, also called distress, occurs when good stress is no longer manageable and you feel you cannot cope with the pressure. This is when your body begins to display symptoms of stress.
The Physiological Effects of Stress on Your Immune System and Health
- Musculoskeletal System: During acute stress (sudden onset and short-term) your muscles tense up and then release tension when the stress eases. Chronic stress does not allow the body to recover and can lead to disorders such as migraine headaches, associated with chronic muscle tension in the neck and shoulders.
- Respiratory System: Stress can make you breathe harder and faster, and that hyperventilation could trigger a panic attack. Acute stress is especially dangerous for people who have respiratory disorders such as asthma and lung disorders, inhibiting oxygen intake and even causing asthma attacks.
- Endocrine System: In acute stress, your brain signals the pituitary gland and adrenal glands to produce “stress hormones” – adrenaline, norepinephrine and cortisol – that give your body energy for “fight or flight” by triggering the liver to release more blood sugar. This can be particularly harmful for people who have or are predisposed to Diabetes.
- Cardiovascular System: Acute stress causes the heart and blood vessels to work harder. Enabled by the stress hormones, your heart rate increases, the contractions of the heart muscle are stronger, and the blood vessels dilate, increasing your blood pressure. When the acute stress subsides, your body returns to its normal state. But chronic stress over a long period of time can increase risk for hypertension, heart attack or stroke.
- Reproductive System: Stress and the resulting stress hormones can interfere with normal functioning in males by reducing testosterone production and increasing vulnerability to infections. Stress in females can cause changes in menstrual cycles, and increases in the intensity of PMS and menopausal symptoms.
- Gastrointestinal System: Stress can lead to changes in diet which can cause heartburn and acid reflux. Your stomach may feel “nervous” or upset, with pain, nausea and vomiting. If stress is chronic you could develop ulcers.
Everyone experiences stress in their lives, and too many people wait until stress starts to impact their lives and then take remedial measures. Why not plan ahead and create a Stress Defense Plan?
Here are some suggestions for your Stress Defense Plan:
- Practice letting go – Choose not to become angry or upset, especially over things you cannot control.
- Learn breathing exercises and relaxation techniques.
- Develop effective time management strategies.
- Stay well hydrated.
- Follow a balanced nutrition plan and consider vitamin and mineral supplements to replace nutrients lost to stress, and to promote relaxation.
It seems rather easy for someone to advise that we need to “stress less” in order to get healthy, and stay healthy. But the first step is recognizing that stress in all negative forms, can have a noticeable impact on wellness in both the short and long term. Stress is less a singular issue of emotional management, and more an important and frequently trivialized health threat that everyone should be aware of. What can you do today, to minimize your stress, unplug and enjoy activities that make you feel calm and rested, for better health? Make time to “take it slow”, meditate, enjoy stretching and exercise or relaxing creative activities to recharge. | <urn:uuid:58b6309f-fef0-4c90-afe3-02746f00981f> | {
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How To Stop Teeth Grinding
September 29, 2017 ABC Children's Dentistry
If you or your child experiences sore teeth and gums after a night’s sleep, you may be involuntarily grinding your teeth. This clenching of the jaws and grinding is an unconscious habit developed at any age.
In this issue, we’ll talk more about teeth grinding, what it can lead to and what can be done about it.
Why do I grind my teeth?
Officially known as “bruxism,” some medical experts believe that grinding of the teeth can be attributed to a reaction from a host of other conditions, including:
- Stress, anxiety, frustration or anger
- Improper alignment of teeth and jaw
- Nerve and muscle conditions associated with the face
It’s believed that between 15% and 33% of children grind their teeth. This is typically done when their baby teeth emerge and when their permanent teeth come in.
What can happen if I keep grinding my teeth?
You could cause serious damage to your teeth, as well has develop painful headaches and jaw disorders.
How can I help my child stop grinding his/her teeth?
There are several proactive measures you can take in helping your child to stop grinding his/her teeth, including:
- Decreasing your child’s stress – particularly right before bedtime
- Making sure your child is getting plenty of water
- Having your child fitted with a mouth guard
Have Your Child Fitted for a Mouthguard by Calling ABC Children’s’ Dentistry in San Diego
Mouthguards are essential to protecting your child’s teeth. To have a custom-fitted mouthguard made for your child, get in touch with us here at ABC Children’s Dentistry in San Diego. | <urn:uuid:fea11198-abbd-4369-af09-ac44d391a5da> | {
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STEM CELL REPORTS, ANDERSEN ET AL.In 2011, researchers reported having successfully induced the hearts of newborn mice to regenerate after a surgery. The feat was a major accomplishment in demonstrating the ability of a mammalian heart to regenerate, and the publication has been cited more than 300 times. But in a study published today (April 3) in Stem Cell Reports, a separate team tested the protocol and could not reproduce the findings.
“I haven’t seen one heart that has been regenerated in our lab,” said Ditte Andersen, the lead author of the new study and a researcher at the University of Southern Denmark. Andersen told The Scientist that she doesn’t have an explanation for the discrepancy. “We’ve discussed everything,” she said, but her team could not find a reason.
Hesham Sadek, the senior author of the 2011 paper and a researcher at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, read Andersen’s report and said the problem is technical. “I think that their techniques are flawed,” he said, although he would not provide further detail.
Sadek’s procedure involved cutting out about 15 percent of the heart at the left ventricular apex in one-day-old mice. Over time, the researchers observed, the heart grew back. And within 21 days, it was completely restored to normal size and function. The method offered a new—and, importantly, mammalian—model for cardiac regeneration; previously, only zebrafish and salamanders were known to mend a damaged heart. Andersen said the work was “groundbreaking,” and that she and her colleagues wanted to develop the model for themselves.
Andersen’s group followed the surgical protocol, but did not get the same results. Her first thought was, “we had done something wrong,” Andersen said. “But soon it became clear to me that all our hearts at day 21 . . . we found only fibrotic scars.”
Bernhard Haubner, working in the lab of Josef Penninger at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, Austria, also had difficulty replicating the regeneration Sadek’s team reported after heart resection. “We tried initially, but couldn’t get it standardized,” Haubner told The Scientist. He said that the animals’ post-procedure survival rate was poor, so he moved on to develop a different method of inducing regeneration by modeling heart attack in one-day-old mice. “The problem might be just technical,” Penninger told The Scientist, “but we didn’t follow up” to confirm that.
Other groups, however, have had success with the technique. “We’ve been able to repeat it,” said James Martin, a regeneration researcher at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, who traveled to Dallas to learn the technique first-hand. Mauro Giacca, the director of the Trieste Component of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB) in Italy, also had success in his lab. “As soon as the . . . paper came out, we tried to repeat it here because we’re interested in cardiomycyte regeneration, and it worked,” he told The Scientist.
“To have different labs get different results doesn’t surprise me,” said Harvard Medical School's Richard Lee, who has also had success using the apex resection model to regenerate mouse heart tissue. “There are so many things that can affect regeneration and healing,” he said, “and we’re talking about a model where things may be on the cusp of those two.”
Andersen said she’d like to find out what might explain the discrepancy between her results and others’ because it might be biologically informative. “If we could identify something that is actually a difference, then we may identify a really important factor for cardiac regeneration,” she said.
Sadek said his group has not focused as much on the apex resection model to induce regeneration as it has on a new method that, like Penninger’s, is based on myocardial infarction (MI). “We have trained over 20 labs since the Science paper came out. We’ve trained labs from the U.S., from Europe, and from Asia. And we know that most of these labs now, like we do, use the MI model, not the resection model,” he said. The MI model is more physiologically relevant and easier to perform than the apex resection approach, he said.
Sadek said he’d be willing to host a member of Andersen’s group in his lab to learn the technique, and she also said she'd be interested. To work out the details of this method is important, Sadek said. “I think, in the long run, it will be in the best interest of science.”
Update (July 9): Hashem Sadek and colleagues responded this week (July 8) in a letter to the editor in Stem Cell Reports that seven labs have been able to replicate the technique. “Although it is difficult to draw clear conclusions about such differences without a detailed analysis of primary data, our impression is that variations in surgical technique, amount of resected myocardium, methods of quantification of resected and regenerated myocardium, and methods of assessment of myocyte proliferation form the basis of the differences seen,” the authors wrote. They added that they would be willing to work with Andersen on the technical aspects.
In an accompanying response letter, Andersen and her colleagues said they took great care in their surgical techniques. “We would very much like to examine and discuss these issues in a collaborative manner with the Sadek group. We look forward to seeing the apex resection results from other ongoing studies, so that we may pursue approaches that could release the heart from its inert state of repair.”
D.C. Andersen et al., “Do neonatal mouse hearts regenerate following heart apex resection?” Stem Cell Reports, 2:1-8, 2014.
E.R. Porrello et al., “Transient regenerative potential of the neonatal mouse heart,” Science, 331:1078-80, 2011. | <urn:uuid:146eb265-f257-437e-be38-cd3aa5720747> | {
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Danielle Mead Skjelver wrote a very skilful novel weaving her family history within the larger events in colonial America during the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, including the tumultuous events of King Phillip’s War (1675-76) and Queen Anne’s War (1702-13). Beginning with the 1637 destruction of the Pequot Fort, the book traces the Hawks/Scott family and its place within the larger Anglo-French conflicts as well as conflicts with Native Americans. Several characters stand out within the story: Sergeant John Hawks, Hannah Scott (the Sergeant’s daughter), Jonathan Scott (Hannah’s husband), John Scott (Hannah’s son), Honors The Dead (a fictional Mohawk warrior), and Red Bear (Honors The Dead’s son-in-law). All of these characters relate to each other as the story progressed and indict Puritan life along the way.
The story of Honors The Dead is a truly remarkable one when considered against Sergeant John Hawks and his family. Taken captive when very young, Honors The Dead witnessed the destruction of his birthplace in 1637, where Sergeant John Hawks’ father participated in the massacre of the Pequot residing there. Honors The Dead sees the Sergeant’s father looking down at him after the death of Honors The Dead’s father, which allowed the boy to see the unique features of the Hawks family, their blue eyes (described as ice blue) and blonde hair. As he grew into manhood among a rival people, Honors The Dead sought revenge against the one he perceived killed his father.
Meanwhile, the Hawks family continued the tradition of serving in the military, as Sergeant John Hawks participated in King Phillip’s War. War was a way of life more than just serving in it, as Hawks soon found out. When Queen Anne’s War erupted in the colonies, Hawks’ daughter Hannah was living in Connecticut Colony raising a young family, while a remarried John lived in Deerfield, Massachusetts Colony. Tragedy struck the Sergeant’s family, as the Deerfield Raid in 1704 claimed several members to outright murder and captivity. Despite this, Hawks begins to recover, living with Hannah and her family. An uneasy peace settles over the family, as they go about the routine of Puritan life, while Red Bear continues on the warpath and avenging his father-in-law’s loss of his first wife and daughters at the hands of the English, including Sergeant Hawks.
Tragedy strikes Hannah’s family as her brother-in-law is tortured and killed by Indians, while Jonathan, and her two oldest sons, John and Jonathan Jr. (known by Junior in the book) are taken captive by Red Bear and his war party. The book then addresses the hardships of captivity, including running the gauntlet and internal conflict within a boy.
While all the main characters are captivating, the character of young John Scott, who is captured at the age of eleven truly stands out. Skjelver described the nature of Puritan life quite well, including the many negatives. Poor John, who was left-handed, was treated harshly in his Puritan community, as they viewed this trait as a predilection towards devil worship and evil. While his grandfather, John Hawks, is a little more gentle with the boy, his Puritan beliefs do surface on occasion. The boy tries hard to please those he loves, but he excelled in areas viewed as bad by Puritans. His father, Jonathan Scott, while initially appearing as a loving father, later comes across as a hard, uncompromising man, a sharp contrast to his mother Hannah, who seems to recognize her son’s unique characteristics, but is prevented from nurturing him to the fullest by the constraints of society. Through Skjelver’s portrayal, one sees the attraction of the open frontier versus the unbending harshness of Puritans.
Young John Scott comes across as a pseudo-Hawkeye, as he is drawn to the wild of the woods and becomes a skilled hunter, which draws the attention of Red Bear. Upon entering captivity, readers will feel the strong conflict within John’s soul, as he takes to Indian life, where he is accepted for who he is. John’s story forces readers to reflect upon their own faith, character traits that may contrast with their community, and how they might handle such a situation. Through the story of the Hawks/Scott family, Hannah is truly a “daughter of war”, suffering such loss that few women could endure.
Danielle Skjelver’s prose was solid, descriptive, and truly captured the cruelties of warfare and the strength of the human spirit. Given her current graduate study in History, it is no doubt that she will one day make her mark in historical scholarship. Though the story is different and involves an earlier period, Massacre: Daughter of War is a wonderful fictional account based around real events and serves as a twenty-first century model of Last of the Mohicans. | <urn:uuid:ac667c28-1b99-4ce8-bdb5-8ba0d9eac5b2> | {
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Upon exiting the U-bahn station at Königsplatz, your eye will be drawn to the Propyläen. This monument, completed by Leo von Klenze in 1862, is supposed to remind one of the entrance of the Propylaea for the Acropolis in Athens. Ludwig ordered this gate to mark the accession of his second son, Otto, to the Greek throne – for more on that see my article here.
This area has turned into a Art District with the Glyptothek, Staatliche Antikensammlung, and Lenbachhaus right there. During the Nazi period, this area was known as the Brown District: With the “Brown House” as the anchor, many Nazi offices sprang up. More on that in a minute…
The Glyptothek was the first of Ludwig I’s creations. Remember, Ludwig I was Ludwig II’s grandfather and had the famous affair with Lola Montez. In 1816 Ludwig I commissioned Leo Von Klenze to build something to house Ludiwg’s collection of Greek and Roman sculptures. It’s a fascinating collection of statutes and parts of statues. Two things I learned there today:
1. In the 19th Century it was considered cool to “restore” the decayed parts of statues, so many of the statues are “corrupted” by rough 19th century attempts to “fix” the statues
2. The statues were painted with brilliant colors when they were built. See this link for info (German)
The Staatliche Antikensammlung is directly across the street from the Glyptothek. Inside you’ll find a large collection of mainly Greek and Etruscan art, i.e. pottery and jewelry. Some of it is truly fascinating, but requires a decent level of interest in the subject.
The third museum, the Lenbachhaus, is under renovation and can’t be visited until sometime in 2012. It is famous for housing works from the Blue Rider Movement. Only a few blocks away are the other famous art museums of Munich: Alte Pinakothek, Neue Pinakothek, and the Pinakothek der Modern.
Back to the Nazi time. The Nazi Party outgrew there office space and purchased the Barlow Palace at Briennerstrasse 45. It was known as the “Brown House” due to the color of the early Nazi uniforms (think SA, not SS). Destroyed in the war, the site is under construction as Munich’s new NS-Documentation Center.
As you walk through the Propyläen you will notice two large ruins that consiste of a three-layered foundation on both sides of the road. These are the “Honor Temples” that Hitler built to house the 16 Nazis that were killed during the 1923 Putsch. After that war, the US Army relocated the bodies and destroyed the “temples.”
The other key building here is the old “Führerbau,” know today as the High School for Music and Theater. This is the building where England and France sacrificed Czechoslovakia on the altar of appeasement – also known as the “Munich Agreement”.
For an amazing complete reckoning of what happened in Munich, the Capital of the Movement, as it has known during this dark period, I highly recommend this booklet and audio files – free for downloading here: | <urn:uuid:a08a427c-1b14-4dcf-ac7e-9195c17a6c49> | {
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UPDATE December 19, 2011: Unfortunately the very same forces that have kept Egypt in the dark about its cultural resources, its libraries and heritage have been abusing the devastating burning of the Institut d’Egypte on government and some private media outlets to guilt Egyptians for the loss of heritage. Similar tactics were used in the early days of the January 25 uprising when the Egyptian Museum was broken into and some artifacts were damaged. The regime never promoted Egypt’s museums and heritage for Egyptians to enjoy. Culture, it seems, is only another tool in the regime’s arsenal to further guilt Egyptians into believing that it is they who stand in the way of Egypt’s progress. In Egypt 2011 bank buildings are insured and safeguarded while a library containing rare books is not, no insurance policy and no fire protection.
Beginning of original post: Amid clashes today between army personnel and protesters a Molotov cocktail landed on a historic building at the corner of Qasr el Aini and Sheikh Rihan Streets. The building engulfed in flames was home to the Egyptian Research Council (المجمع العلمي المصري) also known as the Institut d’Egypte. The library in the building contains original publications dating back to 1798 including the famous Description de l’Egypte.
This surreal video shows an artist painting a portrait of Emad Effat, the Azhar scholar killed yesterday. Behind him the Institut building is burning.
Note on the Collections: The collection consists of both books and bound manuscripts. These publications date back to the 1500’s and come from prominent donors. The writer noted several book plates of Yacub Artin Pasha, Nubar Artin Pasha, and stamped covers indicating the book had originally been a gift to Muhammad Ali or one of his successors.
As can be imagined, it is very strong in nineteenth century works. An interesting feature is that letters and manuscripts have been bound and shelved like books. Sometimes, these thin volumes have slipped behind the stack, and one must be diligent to find them. Several are unpublished works related to the French 1798 invasion, and worthy of further study.
The International School of Information Science (ISIS), a research institute founded by the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA)]
“The Bibliotheca Alexandrina is taking the initiative in reviving the organization of L’Institut d’Egypte built in Cairo by Napoleon Bonaparte over 200 years ago. The Institut’s first scholars were in charge of the research, study and publication of physical, industrial and historical facts about Egypt, publishing findings that stemmed from their activities as members of that body. They were later to produce the Description de l’Egypte. Eventually, the L’Institut d’Egypte became the focal point for scholarly work and intellectual pursuit in Egypt, and provided both actual space and structure for scholarly discourse. It is also recognized as the oldest functioning academy of sciences and arts outside Europe.
L’Institut owns a huge collection (over 35,000 volumes) of rare and ancient references, books and periodicals in 5 languages (Arabic, French, English, German and Russian). BA has suggested nine projects for its revival, among which is a project of digitizing its entire collection, thereby preserving it and making it available to the public. The efforts began with the digitization of the 10 volumes of Description de l’Egypte. Other special collections were digitized such as the complete works of Voltaire (69 volumes), Des Mille Nuits et Une Nuit (16 volumes), and Geographie Universelle (15 volumes). Eventually, the whole library of the Institut will be digitized and made available to the public. This will be the first attempt to digitize and publish a collection of such rarity and value.” | <urn:uuid:7963fe25-0d0b-4cde-8b11-42237456b795> | {
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Herbs are some of the easiest plants to grow because they tolerate a variety of soil types and have relatively few insect and disease pests.
Before learning about the history of herbs and spices, it is necessary to define these terms. Herbs are the fresh and dried leaves generally of temperate plants and are usually green in color.
Herbs make a great addition to a garden, but they can also be grown indoors as year-round houseplants or just during the winter months to protect tender herbs such as rosemary (Rosmarinus officinalis) or basil (Ocimum basilicum).
Cooks realize that most recipes will require herbs and spices as ingredients to flavor dishes. Instead of relying on herbs and spices purchased from the grocery store, gardeners can grow, harvest, and preserve their own. | <urn:uuid:6b48bed8-d406-47a0-9382-305963d68561> | {
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Despite the hundreds of pilot studies using mobile health -- also known as 'mHealth'', which describe medical and public health practice supported by mobile devices -- there is insufficient evidence to inform the widespread implementation and scale-up of this technology, according to international researchers writing in this week's PLOS Medicine.
There are over 6 billion mobile phone subscribers and 75% of the world has access to a mobile phone leading health care providers, researchers, and national governments to be optimistic about the opportunities mobile health has to offer. However, the authors led by Mark Tomlinson from Stellenbosch University in South Africa, question the evidence supporting the scale up of mHealth.
The authors say: "In some ways, mobile technology has a magical appeal for those interested in global public health over and above the advantages that have been proven with good evidence."
They continue: "Part of this magical promise is that mobile technologies may solve one of the most difficult problems facing global health efforts -- that of structural barriers to access."
However, according to the authors while enthusiasm for effective mHealth interventions in sub-Saharan Africa is high, little is known about their efficacy or effectiveness.
They say: "The current wave of mHealth interventions are the equivalent of black boxes. Each small entrepreneur or researcher includes whatever bells and whistles that their funding allows in an attempt to demonstrate efficacy."
The authors argue that potential innovative research designs such as multi-factorial strategies, randomized controlled trials, and data farming may provide this evidence base and make several recommendations for the way forward.
The authors also argue that major donors could invest in creating a robust set of standards and a platform that can inform and support local adaptation of mHealth applications. The standardized features of the platform could then be available to all local technicians committed to improving the health of their local communities.
The authors conclude: "We also believe a global strategy for programmatic examination of the optimal features of the mobile platforms is needed."
The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Public Library of Science. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.
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- As of 2011, 27 countries had higher life expectancies than the United States
- U.S. falls behind in infant mortality, homicides, teen pregnancy and drug-related deaths
- Several factors are to blame for the problem, a panel of experts says
Despite spending more per person on health care than any other country, Americans are getting sicker and dying younger than our international peers -- a problem persisting across all ages and both genders, according to a new report.
In 2011, the National Research Council found life expectancy in the United States was increasing at a slower rate than in other high-income democracies. Shortly after, the NRC and Institute Of Medicine convened a panel of experts to investigate why.
The panel was given 18 months to review recent health studies from 16 "peer countries": Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The panel released its report, titled "U.S. Health in International Perspective: Shorter Lives, Poorer Health," on Wednesday.
"Our panel was unprepared for the gravity of the finding we uncovered," chair Steven Woolf wrote in the report's preface. "We hope that others will take notice."
This is not a new problem, Woolf noted on a conference call about the report. "It's been going on since 1980 and it's getting progressively worse."
Data from 2007 show Americans' life expectancy is 3.7 years shorter for men and 5.2 years shorter for women than in the leading nations -- Switzerland for men and Japan for women.
As of 2011, 27 countries had higher life expectancies at birth than the United States.
"The tragedy is not that the United States is losing a contest with other countries," the report states, "but that Americans are dying and suffering from illness and injury at rates that are demonstrably unnecessary."
America does rank well in some health measures, according to the panel. The United States has higher cancer survival rates, lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels and lower smoking prevalence rates than many of its peer countries. Those Americans who make it to age 75 will survive longer than their peers in the comparison countries.
But that's where the good news stops. The report outlines nine health areas where the United States lags behind other rich nations, including infant mortality, homicides, teen pregnancy, drug-related deaths, obesity and disabilities.
Americans have the highest prevalence of AIDS in the group. Seniors are at a greater risk of developing and dying from heart disease. And our children are less likely than children in peer countries to reach their fifth birthday.
"Many of these conditions have a particularly profound effect on young people, reducing the odds that Americans will live to age 50," the report states. "And for those who reach age 50, these conditions contribute to poorer health and greater illness later in life."
"The sheer systemic nature of the problem, that affects so many health outcomes across the whole lifespan, surprised all of us," said panel member Ana Diez Roux. "It seems to be a whole bunch of things acting together."
It's easy to point a finger at our health care system, which unlike comparison countries' does not provide universal coverage. As a result, lower income and less educated people often receive poorer care.
"The U.S. health system is highly fragmented, with limited public health and primary care resources and a large uninsured population," the authors wrote. "Compared with people in other countries, Americans are more likely to find care inaccessible or unaffordable."
But the panel says that's not all that's to blame. Studies show even white, insured, college-educated Americans are sicker than their peers in Europe.
The experts gave three other possible causes for the country's growing health disadvantage:
Though Americans know what's "good" for them, few act on it. Although we are less likely to smoke and drink heavily than our peers, we consume more calories, have higher rates of drug abuse, are less likely to use seat belts and are more likely to use guns in acts of violence, according to the report.
Most high-income countries report income and education disparities in their health care system. But the panel said Americans benefit much less from social programs that could negate the effects of poverty.
"In countries with the most favorable health outcomes, resource investments and infrastructure often reflect a strong societal commitment to the health and welfare of the entire population," the report states.
Our environment is also a big contributor to Americans' poor health, the panel said. U.S. communities are built around automobiles, discouraging physical activity and increasing traffic accidents. Contraceptives are only available by prescription, instead of over the counter. Even stress could play a role -- adding to our waistlines, substance abuse and criminal behavior.
"It would be a mistake for people to respond to this by saying we need to spend more money on health care," Woolf said. He noted that our peer countries spend significantly less, but appear to be spending it more effectively.
With "lives and dollars" at stake, the report made several recommendations for the future.
The experts asked the National Institutes of Health to join with international partners to improve the quality of research that could be used to compare peer countries around the world.
They also recommended the NIH commission research on health policies that have been successful in our peer countries that could potentially be used in the United States.
Waiting for more research isn't the answer, Woolf said. Individuals can make changes now, listening to advice about healthy diets and exercise, or making sure to wear their seat belts. As for policy, the panel hopes this report will open a broader discussion about what we value as a nation. | <urn:uuid:5aa07da7-76e0-4d05-b881-1839908c32e6> | {
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Write a program to practice how to use
length(), find() and substr() funcitons. You need to understand the first exercise before this one.
Following the steps gave bellow:
- Declare a string varible: OriginalString.
- Assign "And now for something completely different."
to the OriginalString.
- Display the length of the OriginalString.
- Find and display the position of "completely" in the OriginalString.
- Declare a string variable: NewString.
- Use the substr() funciton to get a sub-string of the OriginalString as "And now for something ".
and then assign it to the NewString.
- Output the NewString.
- Get a sub-string of OriginalString with value "different.".
Add this substring to the NewString.
- Display the NewString.
The output should be something like the following:
And now for something different.
- Compile and run this C++ program.
- Show your lab instructor the program output.
Copyright: Department of Computer Science, University of Regina. | <urn:uuid:2fd424ae-7118-456e-944f-6a038aa5aa65> | {
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Long-term changes in greenhouse gas emissions from French agriculture and livestock (1852–2014): From traditional agriculture to conventional intensive systems. Science of The Total Environment. 660:1486-1501.. 2019.
The biogeochemical imprint of human metabolism in Paris Megacity: a regionalized analysis of a water-agro-food system. Journal of Hydrology.. 2018.
How can water quality be improved when the urban waste water directive has been fulfilled? A case study of the Lot river (France) Environmental Science and Pollution Research.. 2018.
Nitrate retention at the river–watershed interface: a new conceptual modeling approach. Biogeochemistry. 139(1):31-51.. 2018.
Reducing marine eutrophication may require a paradigmatic change. Science of The Total Environment. 635:1444-1466.. 2018.
Analyser une transition agro-alimentaire par les flux d'azote : Aussois un cas d'étude du découplage progessif de la production et de la consommation. Revue d'économie régionale et urbaine. 5:967-990.. 2017.
Potential for recoupling production and consumption in peri-urban territories: The case-study of the Saclay plateau near Paris, France. Food Policy. 69:35-45.. 2017.
Total organic carbon fluxes of the Red River system (Vietnam). Earth Surface Processes and Landforms.. 2017.
La place du transport de denrées agricoles dans le cycle biogéochimique de l'azote en France : un aspect de la spécialisation des territoires. Cahiers Agricultures. 25(1). 2016.
Long-term water quality in the lower Seine: Lessons learned over 4 decades of monitoring. Environmental Science & Policy. 58:141-154.. 2016.
Modelling of faecal indicator bacteria (FIB) in the Red River basin (Vietnam). Environmental Monitoring and Assessment. 188(9). 2016.
A participative network of organic and conventional crop farms in the Seine Basin (France) for evaluating nitrate leaching and yield performance. Agricultural Systems. 148:105-113.. 2016.
Reconnecting crop and cattle farming to reduce nitrogen losses to river water of an intensive agricultural catchment (Seine basin, France): past, present and future. Environmental Science & Policy. 63:76-90.. 2016.
Conversion of a Conventional to an Organic Mixed Dairy Farming System: Consequences in Terms of N Fluxes. Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems. 393022(9):978-1002.. 2015.
Field and modelling studies of Escherichia coli loads in tropical streams of montane agro-ecosystems. Journal of Hydro-environment Research. 9(4):496-507.. 2015.
Impact of hydro-sedimentary processes on the dynamics of soluble reactive phosphorus in the Seine River. Biogeochemistry. 122(2):229-251.. 2015.
Nitrous oxide emissions and nitrate leaching in an organic and a conventional cropping system (Seine basin, France). Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 213:131-141.. 2015.
Phosphorus budget in the water-agro-food system at nested scales in two contrasted regions of the world (ASEAN-8 and EU-27). Global Biogeochemical Cycles. 29(9):1348-1368.. 2015.
A simplified algorithm for calculating benthic nutrient fluxes in river systems. Annales de Limnologie - International Journal of Limnology. 51(1):37-47.. 2015.
Curative vs. preventive management of nitrogen transfers in rural areas: Lessons from the case of the Orgeval watershed (Seine River basin, France). Journal of Environmental Management. 144:125-134.. 2014.
Budget of methane emissions from soils, livestock and the river network at the regional scale of the Seine basin (France). Biogeochemistry.. 2013.
The contribution of food waste to global and European nitrogen pollution. Environmental Science & Policy. 33:186-195.. 2013.
How changes in diet and trade patterns have shaped the N cycle at the national scale: Spain (1961–2009). Regional Environmental Change.. 2013.
Large-scale patterns of river inputs in southwestern Europe: seasonal and interannual variations and potential eutrophication effects at the coastal zone. Biogeochemistry. 113(1-3):481-505.. 2013.
The nitrogen cascade from agricultural soils to the sea: modelling nitrogen transfers at regional watershed and global scales. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences. 368:20130123-20130123.. 2013. | <urn:uuid:9cc55549-5321-4db7-9f64-cda91f302ee2> | {
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Zorba Wind Statistics, March averages since 2006
This image shows how often and how strongly the wind blows from different directions through a typical March. The longest spokes point in the directions the wind most commonly blows from and the shade of blue implies the strength, with dark blue strongest. It is based on 1972 NWW3 forecasts of wind since since 2007, at 3hr intervals, for the closest NWW3 model node to Zorba, located 9 km away (6 miles). There are too few recording stations world wide to use actual wind data. Invevitably some coastal places have very localized wind effects that would not be predicted by NWW3.
According to the model, the prevailing wind at Zorba blows from the SSE. If the rose plot shows a nearly round shape, it means there is no strong bias in wind direction at Zorba. By contrast, dominant spokes illustrate favoured directions, and the more deep blue, the stronger the wind. Spokes point in the direction the wind blows from. Over an average March, the model suggests that winds are light enough for the sea to be glassy (the lightest shade of blue) about 5% of the time (2 days each March) and blows offshore 15% of the time (4 days in an average March). During a typical March winds exceeding >40kph (25mph) are not expected, but 2 have winds on the range 30-40 (19-25) at Zorba
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What good would a blind seeing-eye dog do?
Veterinary ophthalmologists—eye doctors—at the Angell Animal Medical Center examined 22 dogs, free of charge, during the month of May as part of a nationwide effort to treat service animals.
“Service dogs are pivotal in assisting people throughout the world,” said Dr. Daniel Biros, one of the two ophthalmologists at Angell, located at 350 S. Huntington Ave., who donated their time. “The free eye exam program has been a rewarding opportunity for Angell Animal Medical Center to give back to these extraordinary animals who do so much for us.”
The program was responsible for over 200 veterinary ophthalmologists screening over 4,000 dogs all over the country.
“For people who have seeing-eye dogs, those dogs’ eyes are the person’s eyes,” said Dr. Martin Coster, Angell’s other participating ophthalmologist. “If those eyes go, it’s the person who suffers.”
To test a dog’s vision, veterinary ophthalmologists can place the dog in “unfamiliar surroundings”—like an obstacle course or a maze—and watch how the dog navigates the challenge, Coster told the Gazette. The doctors also inspect the eyes for general health and talk to the owners.
“People will often know” if their dog’s vision is failing, Coster said. He added that doctors also check for cataracts. Like its human variation, cataracts can blind a dog and can also be fully cured.
“Restoring a blind pet’s vision means a lot to the owners,” Coster said.
This was Coster’s second year participating in the program, which has been occurring since 2008.
Any person with a service animal—including seeing-eye dogs or guide dogs; therapy or handicap assistance dogs; and public service, search-and-rescue or explosives detection dogs—can sign up for the free screening, which takes place every May.
More information on the screening program is available at acvoeyeexam.org. | <urn:uuid:80d558c8-c183-4617-9ae9-377d47cef9a7> | {
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Shrubs and trees with opposite toothed leaves, which can be opposite or simple. Inflorescence usually flat-topped, cymose, with many small flowers, flowers 5-merous or 4-merous, calyx open during development, rotate corolla, style short, with a drupaceous fruit.
This order has been undergoing revision in recent years. Current research indicates that the entire lineage has been undergoing major diversification in relatively recent times (about 10 million years). The synapomorphies of the order are that the leaves are opposite and often basally connate, the margins are gland toothed, the inflorescence is cymose, with often monosymmetric flowers, and the calyx is persistent in fruit. There are between 2 and 7 familes (depending on the phylogeny), 45 genera, and about 1100 species. Adoxaceae was recently segregated from Caprifoliaceae. | <urn:uuid:23a17cc4-a5fa-4f4a-bfb1-472cf4609b65> | {
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Even before South Sudan became independent in July of this year, (North) Sudan was suffering from high inflation and other economic woes. Inflation rates began to climb in the winter of 2010-2011 (.pdf, see figure 6), driven in part by rising costs for staple foods. The loss of the South (which produced around 75% of the unified Sudan’s oil) compounded Sudan’s economic problems, and inflation has remained high (around 20%), though it fell slightly in October. Continued violence and uncertainty in border areas and in Darfur has no doubt added to economic volatility.
In July, the government in Khartoum announced austerity measures and launched a three-year economic recovery program. Now Khartoum is taking at least three more steps to address the economic crisis:
- Boosting oil production from the current level of around 117,000 barrels per day to 180,000 bpd in 2012.
- Upping its food exports.
- Maintaining and deepening its relationship with China.
Khartoum’s political problems, especially the issues connected to its relations with the newly independent South, are central concerns for the government. But the economic crisis has huge domestic importance, and the course of Sudan’s internal politics in 2012 could be strongly affected by the success or failure of the measures listed above. | <urn:uuid:b1ce56e3-04a3-456d-bc77-75c2d59b856b> | {
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Mayor of the District of Columbia
The Mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of Washington, D.C.. The Mayor has the duty to enforce city laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Council of the District of Columbia. In addition, the Mayor oversees all city services, public property, police and fire protection, most public agencies, and the public school system within the District of Columbia. The mayor's office oversees an annual city budget of $8.8 billion.
|Mayor of the District of Columbia|
|Term length||Four years, renewable|
|Inaugural holder||Walter E. Washington|
The Executive Office of the Mayor is located in the John A. Wilson Building in downtown Washington, D.C. The Mayor appoints several officers, including the Deputy Mayors for Education and Planning & Economic Development, the City Administrator, the chancellor of the city's public schools, the Office of Latino Affairs, and the department heads of city agencies.
The structure of Washington, D.C.'s city government has changed several times since the City of Washington (a smaller municipality within the District of Columbia) was officially granted a formal government in 1802. From 1802 to 1812, the mayor was appointed by the President of the United States; Washington's first mayor was Robert Brent, appointed in 1802 by Thomas Jefferson. Between 1812 and 1820, the city's mayors were then selected by a city council. From 1820 to 1871 the mayor was popularly elected.
Originally, four separate municipalities were located within the District of Columbia, and each was governed separately: the City of Washington, Georgetown, Alexandria County (retroceded to the state of Virginia in 1846), and unincorporated territory known as Washington County. With the District of Columbia Organic Act of 1871, the District of Columbia was united under a single territorial government, whose chief executive was governor. This office was abolished in 1874, after only two governors (Henry D. Cooke and Alexander Robey Shepherd) and replaced with a three-member board of commissioners appointed by the president. This system existed until 1967, when President Lyndon B. Johnson created the office of mayor-commissioner, to be appointed by the president. This office had only one occupant in its eight years of existence: Walter E. Washington.
In 1973, Congress enacted the District of Columbia Home Rule Act, providing for an elected mayor and 13-member legislative council, with the first elections to take place the following year. Incumbent mayor-commissioner Walter Washington was elected the first home-rule Mayor of the District of Columbia on November 5, 1974.
The city's local government, particularly during the mayoralty of Marion Barry, was criticized for mismanagement and waste. Barry defeated Mayor Washington in the 1978 Democratic Party primary. Barry was then elected mayor, serving three successive four-year terms. During his administration in 1989, The Washington Monthly magazine claimed that the District had "the worst city government in America". After being imprisoned for six months on misdemeanor drug charges in 1990, Barry did not run for reelection. In 1991, Sharon Pratt Kelly became the first black woman to lead a major U.S. city.
Barry was elected again in 1994 and by the next year the city had become nearly insolvent. In 1995, Congress created the District of Columbia Financial Control Board to oversee all municipal spending and rehabilitate the city government. Mayor Anthony Williams won election in 1998. His administration oversaw a period of greater prosperity, urban renewal, and budget surpluses. The District regained control over its finances in 2001 and the oversight board's operations were suspended.
Williams did not seek reelection in 2006. Councilmember Adrian Fenty defeated Council Chairwoman Linda Cropp in that year's Democratic primary race to succeed Williams as mayor and started his term in 2007. Shortly upon taking office, Fenty won approval from the city council to directly manage and overhaul the city's under-performing public school system. However, Fenty lost a Democratic Party primary to former Council Chair Vincent Gray in August 2010. Mayor Gray won the general election and assumed office in January 2011 with a pledge to bring economic opportunities to more of the city's residents and under-served areas.
Official residence controversyEdit
The mayor of the District of Columbia has no official residence, although the establishment of one has been proposed several times in the years since the office was established in 1974. In 2000, Mayor Anthony A. Williams appointed, with the DC Council's approval, a commission to study the possibilities of acquiring property and a building to be used as the official residence of DC's mayor. The commission examined several possibilities, including the Old Naval Hospital on Capitol Hill, the warden's house at St. Elizabeth's Hospital, and several former embassies and chanceries before issuing a final report recommending a plan proposed by the Eugene B. Casey Foundation to privately finance the construction of a residence in D.C.'s Foxhall neighborhood and donate it to the city under the name of The Casey Mansion.
The Council approved the plan in 2001. However, residents objected to the plan on the grounds that it aggrandized and insulated the mayor from his constituents; that the location, rather than symbolizing D.C.'s economic and ethnic diversity, would place the mayor in one of the city's whitest, wealthiest, and most exclusive communities; and, especially, that the Casey Foundation's plan required the acquisition of four acres of national park land to be used as private grounds for the mansion. After several months of delays caused by these political entanglements, the project began movement in October, 2003; that December, however, the Casey Foundation suddenly announced that it was abandoning plans for a mayoral residence and donating the land to the Salvation Army. Plans for an official residence have remained inactive ever since.
The mayor serves a four-year term and can be re-elected without term limits. Candidates must live and be registered to vote in the District of Columbia for one year prior to the date of the election. Elections take place in the same year as the midterm Congressional elections on election day in November. However, since the electorate of the District is overwhelmingly (over 80 percent) Democratic, in practice the mayor is determined in the primary election, held on the second Tuesday in September.
The mayor is sworn in on January 2 following the election, taking the following oath:
I, (mayor’s name), do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the laws of the United States of America and of the District of Columbia, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, and will faithfully discharge the duties of the office of Mayor of the District of Columbia, which I am about to enter.
If the mayor dies in office, resigns, or is unable to carry out his/her duties and he/she did not designate an acting mayor, the Chairman of the DC Council becomes acting mayor until a special election can be held and certified by the DC Board of Elections and Ethics. At least 114 days must pass between the mayoral vacancy and the special election, which is held on the first Tuesday thereafter. As of January 2016, no such vacancy has ever occurred.
Duties and powersEdit
The mayor has the responsibility to enforce all city law; administer and coordinate city departments, including the appointment of a City Administrator and heads of the departments (subject to confirmation by the Council); to set forth policies and agendas to the Council, and prepare and submit the city budget at the end of each fiscal year. The mayor has the powers to either approve or veto bills passed by the DC Council; to submit drafts of legislation to the Council; and to propose federal legislation or action directly to the president and/or Congress of the United States. As head of the city's executive branch, the mayor has the power to draft and enact executive orders relative to the departments and officials under their jurisdiction and to reorganize any entities within the executive branch (except in the case of formal disapproval by the Council). Additionally, the mayor reserves the right to be heard by the Council or any of its committees.
List of mayorsEdit
Although the structures and constituencies of the executive branches in the District have varied in its 200-year history, the office of Mayor of the District of Columbia (as opposed to the earlier, separate offices of Mayor of Washington and Georgetown) has remained in place since its establishment in 1975. There have been eight Mayors of the District of Columbia:
|Mayor||Entered Office||Left Office||Political party|
|1||Walter Washington||January 2, 1975||January 2, 1979||Democratic|
|2||Marion Barry||January 2, 1979||January 2, 1991|
|3||Sharon Pratt Kelly ||January 2, 1991||January 2, 1995|
|4||Marion Barry||January 2, 1995||January 2, 1999|
|5||Anthony A. Williams||January 2, 1999||January 2, 2007|
|6||Adrian Fenty||January 2, 2007||January 2, 2011|
|7||Vincent Gray||January 2, 2011||January 2, 2015|
|8||Muriel Bowser||January 2, 2015||Incumbent|
- "District of Columbia Home Rule Charter, Sec. 422". U.S. Congress. Abfa.com. 1973-12-24. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- "District of Columbia Approved Fiscal Year 2010 – Excecutive Summary" (PDF). Government of the District of Columbia. Government.dc.gov. 2009-09-28. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- https://web.archive.org/web/20040925011541/http://wyllie.lib.virginia.edu:8086/perl/toccer-new?id=JefThom.sgm&images=images%2Fmodeng&data=%2Ftexts%2Fenglish%2Fmodeng%2Fparsed&tag=public&part=246&division=div2. Archived from the original on September 25, 2004. Retrieved October 10, 2010. Missing or empty
- "District of Columbia Home Rule Act". U.S. Congress. Abfa.com. 1973-12-24. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- Mathews, Jay; Bowman, LaBarbara (November 6, 1974). "Washington Winner In Mayoral Election: Washington Wins Mayoral Election". The Washington Post. p. A1.
- Powell, Michael (July 20, 2007). "Poor Management, Federal Rule, Undermine Services". The Washington Post. p. A01. Retrieved June 10, 2008.
- DeParle, Jason (January 1, 1989). "The worst city government in America.". The Washington Monthly. Retrieved June 6, 2009.
- "Marion Barry". WETA Public Broadcasting. 2001. Archived from the original on March 24, 2005. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
- "Sharon Pratt Kelly". WETA Public Broadcasting. 2001. Archived from the original on April 27, 2006. Retrieved September 25, 2008.
- Janofsky, Michael (April 8, 1995). "Congress creates board to oversee Washington, D.C.". The New York Times. Retrieved May 27, 2008.
- "District Government Achieves Balanced Budget and Clean Audit Opinion for FY 2003". D.C. Office of the Chief Financial Officer. January 30, 2004. Retrieved June 23, 2008.
- DeBonis, Mike (January 30, 2011). "After 10 years, D.C. control board is gone but not forgotten". The Washington Post. Retrieved July 11, 2011.
- Nakamura, David (April 20, 2007). "Fenty's School Takeover Approved". Washington Post. Retrieved December 2, 2008.
- Stewart, Nikita (January 2, 2011). "Vincent Gray inaugurated as D.C. mayor". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 2, 2011.
- "Mayors Official Residence Commission, final report, April 24, 2001". Dcwatch.com. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- "Gary Imhoff, Futile testimony on the Mayor's mansion, April 17, 2001". Dcwatch.com. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- "Mayor Anthony Williams, security rationale for adding parkland to mayoral mansion area, September 24, 2003". Dcwatch.com. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- Nakamura, David (2003-12-13). "District's Mayoral Mansion Scuttled: Casey Foundation Donates NW Site To Salvation Army". The Washington Post. Retrieved 2 January 2011.
- "District of Columbia Home Rule Charter, Sec. 421". U.S. Congress. Abfa.com. 1973-12-24. Retrieved 23 November 2014.
- D.C. Official Code, § 1–604.08.
- Elected as "Sharon Pratt Dixon," but remarried in December 1991.
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By Edgard Garrido
CANCUN, Mexico, Nov 12 - The Mexican beach resort of Cancun, with its white-sand beaches, coral reefs and nightlife, attracts more than 3 million tourists a year.
The area's transformation in the 1970s from a small Caribbean fishing village into a strip of nightclubs and high-rise hotels has reduced biodiversity and polluted water resources as infrastructure struggles to keep up, critics say.
Furthermore, the loss of mangrove swamps, which form a natural barrier against hurricanes, to make way for hotels and other buildings has increased the risk when natural disasters strike, according to environmentalists.
In the high season from about December to early April, tourists from the United States, Europe and further afield crowd the resort to swim and snorkel off usually pristine white beaches, party in the resort's many nightclubs and play golf. Cancun is also popular with Mexicans.
"Tourism is now one of the major drivers of the country’s economic growth," Tourism Minister Enrique de la Madrid Cordero said last month at a travel fair in Cancun.
Mexico will attract 30 million visitors this year, generating more than $17 billion in revenue, the government says. Top resorts include Cancun, the nearby Riviera Maya, and Puerto Vallarta on the Pacific coast.
Following the hotel building boom, Cancun's population expanded too, reaching more than 600,000 by 2010.
Mass tourism has changed the landscape. Mexico has already lost 65 percent of its mangroves, according to environmental group Greenpeace, and more are disappearing with each passing year.
Fewer mangroves lead both to coastal erosion and greater risk of damage when hurricanes do strike, according to CEMDA, the Mexican Center for Environmental Law.
"Tourists don't come to Cancun just for the hotel buildings," Alejandra Serrano, an environmental lawyer and coordinator of CEMDA's Cancun office, told Reuters by telephone. "They come because of the sea and the beach."
Beachgoers have had another environmental challenge to contend with recently. Tonnes of brown seaweed have choked beaches in resorts throughout the Caribbean including Cancun this season, prompting local authorities to launch a large-scale clean-up operation. The Sargassum algae releases a pungent smell as it decomposes and even before then contains biting sand fleas.
Theories vary as to the cause of the seaweed in such quantities, from rising sea temperatures to a change in currents. Tourists in Cancun were heard complaining of how the seaweed hampered their access to the sea, and some even talked of cutting short their stay because of it.
Forty years after the first tourism developments, building continues in Cancun. Current projects include Malecon Tajamar Cancun, a 69-hectare (170-acre) beachside site containing offices and more than 2,500 homes, according to a promotional video on YouTube.
Mexico is among countries likely to see tourism playing a larger role in the economy in the next decade, the World Travel and Tourism Council says. Reconciling that with environmental concerns is part of the challenge faced by resorts such as Cancun. Bodies including the United Nations World Tourism Organization are prodding countries including Mexico in that direction.
"Cancun can be an attractive destination," CEMDA's Serrano says. "What we need is lower impact tourism."
(Writing by Brian McGee; Editing by Frances Kerry) | <urn:uuid:7312e30e-b16d-4121-875f-b0e8ee8b4fba> | {
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The disc offers far more storage capacity than existing DVD-Roms, which can store up to 17Gbytes.
The 100Gbyte disc is expected to become available in 2004, when applications such as high-definition TV will create demand for larger storage capacities, said Din Ping Tsai, professor at NTU and leader of the research team.
The disc, which was developed with the backing of Taiwanese optical disc maker Ritek and Taiwan's National Science Council (NSC), is able to achieve a higher density of data and greater storage capacity than existing CDs and DVDs through the use of near-field optics.
Unlike other recent advances in optical storage that require the use of blue lasers, the 100Gbyte disc developed by the NTU team works with the read-write heads found in CD and DVD players that employ red lasers, which have a longer wavelength than blue lasers.
Near-field optics technology increases the disc's storage capacity by allowing a red laser to make recording marks smaller than its diffraction limit. These smaller marks can be spaced more closely together, increasing both storage density and capacity, according to Tsai.
To achieve this, two layers have been added to the near-field region of the recording media.
The first layer is a transparent layer, called a spacer, which is between 10 nanometres to 20 nanometres thick. The second layer, the active layer, interacts with the laser's focusing spot to create a very small mark size.
Because the interaction between the laser and the recording media takes place in the near-field region, there is no diffraction limit, according to Tsai.
The only hardware change required to accommodate the disc's higher storage capacity is an upgrade to the player's chipset that supports the smaller mark size, Tsai added.
The disc can also be used with players that do not have an upgraded chipset, though the mark size would not be as small.
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Authors: Gocho Sharlanov
In the article the "ether" is considered to be the "warped space-time of the Universe" itself. Unambiguous results for the presence of anisotropy of the speed of light are obtained up to now. The approach in this paper is that fairness requires that experiments have to be related to the reference system, associated with the space itself, where the Earth moves and warps the space around. The results: - Constant speed of light in time-spatial domains with equal gravitational potential. - Explanation of the anomaly in the acceleration of Pioneer 10 and 11 at escaping from the Sun's gravity with "acceleration of the speed of the electromagnetic radiation" emanated from the spacecrafts.
Comments: 5 Pages.
[v1] 15 Jul 2011
Unique-IP document downloads: 88 times
Add your own feedback and questions here:
You are equally welcome to be positive or negative about any paper but please be polite. If you are being critical you must mention at least one specific error, otherwise your comment will be deleted as unhelpful. | <urn:uuid:65c6f4c7-64f8-4aa8-a308-e20062bfdbd9> | {
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Microsoft is has been a famous company for many years, and it does not need any explanation of the reasons for its success. However, after decades of using the waterfall model, the new rules dictated by the World Wide Web could not help but influence it. Namely: a modern approach to software development, which is divided into iterations and lets you respond to changes with more flexibility.
The Visual Studio team was one of the first ones to start using Agile in Microsoft. And while the whole of Microsoft were using the waterfall model, Visual studio developers decided to switch to Agile. Thanks to such principles as 3-week sprints, frequent updates, frequent releases and, as a result, well-timed fixing of bugs and errors, Visual studio managed to create software of a higher quality and to release products more often.
Moreover, the new approach to treating the source code and its management was established. It’s a well-known fact that communication and experience exchange is what makes Agile succeed. In the past, each Microsoft team used to jealously guard their own work, and sharing was out of the question. That’s why members of one team had a very limited access to the work of others: they couldn’t get a glimpse of the source code written by other developers.
With the Agile’s introduction, everything changed. Even though the parallel coding was not introduced, creating “forks” for the short-term outlook was already in practice. For example, this is exactly how Microsoft Hyper-V was developed. Another fact: if people in the Bing team want to take a look at the Windows OS’s code, no problem! They can even change it. It can only be done after the approval and with the help of a few people, but still, it’s possible.
The development and testing combination, the so-called combined technique (which was first used by the Bing team), is being introduced in other Microsoft teams. In the Bing team, the task to create program tests was given to developers, and not to testers. It doesn’t mean that QAs are not needed anymore, but they usually test the end product manually. Bing showed good results in this experiment, by developing high quality software.
As we can see, right after DevDiv (Microsoft’s Developer Division) started using the flexible developing methods, the first results came in. Then, the other teams such as Skype / Lync and Microsoft Studios began adopting their experience. Sometimes they changed those management methods — for example they used 2 weeks sprints — but the whole idea remained the same. But what best shows the usefulness of Agile are users who are very pleased with the software quality, frequent releases and updates.
Next, let’s talk about a little less famous but nevertheless successful company Exigen Services. It’s a private multinational company that specialises in the software development on a by-order basis.
This company is also so interesting to us because it makes active use of the flexible Agile methodology. They have been doing it since they started using extreme programming in their project in 2002. And in 2004 they started working on a project together with the Dynix company using the Scrum methodology. According to Jeff Sutherland (one of the inventors of this methodology), at that point in time this project was one of the most productive ones among all of the Java projects of the same level of around 1 million lines of code.
In 2008, Sun Microsystems (the company that was practicing software development at that time; the same year they bought the manufacturer of the database management system MySQL for $1 billion) signed the 3-year outsourcing agreement with Exigen Services. It was by using Agile that allowed Exigen Services to leave 23 rivals behind. The Sun Microsystems corporation chose Exigen Services because of their unique approach to build relations of partnership with clients and because of their experience in working with Agile development methodology — SCRUM and eXtreme Programming (XP).
Next time we will find out not only about a few more companies that use Agile but in what countries it’s used as well.
Stay with us for the most interesting part! | <urn:uuid:a742119c-bd63-4dc7-861c-234a208fb02f> | {
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Former Japanese islands held by Russia since the end of World War II and claimed by both nations.
Related categories 2
Japan-Russia Relations (Territorial Issues)
Article from the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the state's claim of the Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands which it refers to as the Northern Territories.
Secret of Sakhalin Island (Karafuto)
Overview of history and discovery of Sakhalin Island (Karafuto), one of the territories still disputed between Japan and Russia from a Japanese perspective.
Other languages 1
Last update:February 27, 2013 at 6:24:07 UTC | <urn:uuid:4a1fb35a-3166-4e1d-ae3d-0ed6f4fbc8cc> | {
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Whooping Cough Vaccine Less Effective After 5 Years, Booster Shots Suggested
Michael Harper for redOrbit.com — Your Universe Online
In the early years of life, children are given immunization shots against all types of potential dangerous illness, including whooping cough, or acellular pertussis. According to a new study, however, children older than 6 and even some teenagers could benefit from an extra round of booster shots.
“We found that the effectiveness of the vaccine wanes 42% on average each year during the five years after the fifth dose,” said Dr. Nicola Klein, lead author of a study concerning the effectiveness of the whooping cough vaccine. This study was published in today´s New England Journal of Medicine.
Without a longer-lasting vaccine available, Dr. Klein suggests parents should continue to vaccinate their children saying, “parents should know that some protection is better than no protection.”
Dr. Klein and her team were the first to study such a large population of children who had received the diphtheria, tetanus, acellular pertussis (or DTaP) vaccine since birth and for whom enough time has passed to evaluate the effectiveness of these shots.
These researchers were prompted to conduct this study following a recent outbreak of whooping cough cases in California in 2010.
Dr. Klein and team compared 277 4 to 12-year old children with positive signs of whooping cough versus 3,318 children of the same age who did not have the cough. The team then compared both groups of children to a control group of more than 6,000 children. In comparing these groups of children, the researchers found that protection from whooping cough after the fifth dose of the DTaP vaccine can decrease by as much as 40%. Furthermore, the amount at which this protection decreases depends heavily upon the effectiveness of the fifth and final dose, said Dr. Klein. For instance, if the initial and final dose of DTaP was 95% effective in protecting against whooping cough, this effectiveness would decline dramatically – up to 71% – after 5 years. If the initial effectiveness was 90%, the effectiveness of the DTaP would only decline by as much as 42%.
“The findings suggest that whooping cough control measures may need to be reconsidered. Prevention of future outbreaks may be best achieved by developing new pertussis-containing vaccines or reformulating current vaccines to provide long-lasting immunity,” said Klein in a statement.
“That said, the DTaP vaccine is effective and remains an important tool for protection against whooping cough for children and the communities in which they live, and following current CDC recommendations remains important.”
Currently, the Center for Disease Control (CDC) recommends giving children 5 DTaP shots at 2, 4 and 6 months of age. The fourth shot should ideally be given between 15 and 18 months of age, with the final shot administered between ages 4 and 6.
Though this study has revealed that the current vaccine isn´t performing as well as some doctors would like, Dr, Klein concluded her study by saying she is hopeful this study will encourage drug manufacturers to start working on a better, more effective version of the vaccine.
“Prevention of future outbreaks will be best achieved by developing new pertussis-containing vaccines that provide long-lasting immunity.” | <urn:uuid:ecdf91ba-c0b4-4acb-9b6f-19ea4a61f10d> | {
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Elements | Blogs
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Is There Oxygen in Space?
Yes, this summer astronomers using the Herschel Telescope identified oxygen molecules in space. They found these molecules in the Orion nebula, 1,344 light years away. Oxygen is the third most abundant element in the universe. Until now, scientists have only seen individual oxygen atoms in space. We do not breathe individual oxygen atoms, but rather oxygen molecules. (A molecule is a group of atoms banded together and it is the smallest unit of chemical compound that can take part in a chemical reaction.) Oxygen molecules make up 20% of the air we breathe. Scientists theorize that the oxygen molecules were locked up in water ice that...
Thursday, March 10, 2011
I'm Atoms (Scientific Cover of Jason Mraz's I'm Yours)
Here in Chicago it has been gray for the last three weeks – no sun, just melting snow and rain. This song made our day. It has sunshine, great music and atoms! The lyrics include fabulous lines such as: “Atoms bond together to form molecules Most of what’s surrounding me and you…” This science verse has been set to the music of Jason Mraz’s “I’m Yours”. This is a must watch!
Saturday, February 26, 2011
The Deep Carbon Observatory
Here at SuperSmart Carbon, we love learning about carbon. Apparently, we are not alone. There is a project being launched called the Deep Carbon Observatory that is being funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. The purpose of this group is to study carbon deep inside the earth. Carbon makes up somewhere from 0.7% to 3.2% of the earth’s elements. We know that there is carbon trapped under the earth’s crust, but we don’t know how much. The Deep Carbon Observatory is going to study how much carbon there is in the earth and what happens to it. Another question is what form is the...
Friday, February 25, 2011
Where does gas come from?
Carbon! (We always love it when the answer is carbon.) The gas we use to power our cars comes from decomposing organic matter. What does that mean? All life has carbon in it -- this includes everything living from you and me to zebras, tapeworms, tulips and seaweed. Since all living things have carbon in them, they are referred to as organic matter. Non-organic matter includes things like rocks, water and metals. When something organic dies, it goes into the earth’s surface. For example, when a leaf falls off a tree, it settles on the ground. Over the next months, it slowly rots and...
Friday, February 11, 2011
How to Name an Element After Yourself
Here on the SuperSmart Carbon blog, I will talk about the elements a lot because "Carbon" is an element. SuperSmart Carbon is a blue guy with a green hat and in this blog, he looks like he is 1 1/2 inches high. He has two rings around him with six yellow spheres. Although cute, SuperSmart Carbon does not exactly look like elements in the real world. Elements are really, really, small. You cannot see them with the naked eye, or even with a microscope. Although you can't see elements, they are all around you. Everything is made up of elements: the computer you are reading this blog on, the table the computer sits on, the air you... | <urn:uuid:b5177112-be1e-4086-9d85-858522f9c4b9> | {
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New data from the World Bank show that California's economy was equivalent to the sixth largest in the world last year.
The World Bank's annual rankings of countries' gross domestic products - or G-D-P - echoes an analysis published last month by the California Department of Finance.
The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis reported in June that California's GDP was $2.5 trillion in 2015, that's up 4.1 percent from a year earlier.
The dollar figure represents the value of goods and services produced in California.
If California were a country, it would have the sixth largest economy in the world.
The move up is partly due to weaker economies in Brazil and France.
California saw more economic growth than the United States as a whole, which was up 2.4 percent.
The state's economy has grown faster than the U.S. as a whole since the late-1990s.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | <urn:uuid:78979cee-4e80-417d-ae9d-fe679e8f1b28> | {
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HORSE WINTER HOOF CARE
It is important to maintain the condition of your horse's hooves throughout the year, especially in the winter.
If your horse's hooves become infected with thrush or damaged from stones, your horse will have a hard time walking and functioning as a horse. In order to keep your horse's hooves healthy and your horse active, you should check and clean them on a daily basis.
By following these steps, your horse should have healthy hooves all winter long:
- Always keep a hoof pick on hand for a quick cleaning of the inner hoof area. Use the hoof pick like the Luckystar Hoof Pick to get out debris such as mud, dirt, rocks, snow and more that is stuck is stuck in the hoof. To clean the hoof with a hoof pick, support the hoof with one hand and point the hoof pick away from you with the other hand.
Clean the area around the frog, but do not touch the frog with the hoof pick.
- Use a hoof brush to remove smaller particles from the hoof.
A hoof brush is more gentle than a hoof pick and great for exposing stones and other stuck debris that will need to be removed by a hoof pick.
Clean the outer part of the hoof with the brush once the inner hoof area has been cleaned.
- Examine the hoof once it has been cleaned to see if there is an infection or another problem with the hoof.
If your horse hooves are exposed to mud, snow or rain, apply a coat of Hoof Mud Shield Powder to help make the hoof waterproof.
This powder may be applied daily to your horse's legs and hooves to help keep them healthy and to help prevent the hooves from softening. In addition, the Keratex Hoof Gel is great for dry or cracked hooves and works to help repair damage to the hooves. | <urn:uuid:867a2910-bb03-4bff-a02c-c4f3f508099b> | {
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The PPA Top Ten
In view of the current controversy concerning the 1,495-page Carbon Confusion Document just released by the EPA, I thought readers might appreciate a similar document on pipe. This is a proposed federal pipe specification from the Plumbing Protection Agency (PPA; relative of the EPA) under the Department of Homeland Security.
Government Pipe Regulations (PPA Doc. 18975BS.762)
1. All pipe is to be made of a long hole, surrounded by metal or plastic centered around the hole.
2. All pipe is to be hollow throughout the entire length - do not use holes of different length than the pipe.
3. The I.D. (inside diameter) of all pipe must not exceed the O.D. (outside diameter) – otherwise the hole will be on the outside.
4. All pipe is to be supplied with nothing in the hole so that water, steam or other stuff can be put inside at a later date.
5. All pipe over 500 ft (153m) in length should have the words "long pipe" clearly painted on each end, so the Contractor will know it is a long pipe.
6. Pipe over 2 miles (3.2 km) in length must have the words "very long pipe" painted in the middle, so the Contractor will not have to walk the entire length of the pipe to determine whether or not it is a long pipe or a very long pipe.
7. All pipe over 6" (152 mm) in diameter must have the words "large pipe" painted on it, so the Contractor will not mistake it for small pipe.
8. Flanges must be used on all pipe. Flanges must have holes for bolts quite separate from the big hole in the middle.
9. When ordering 90 degrees, 45 degrees or 30 degrees elbow, be sure to specify right hand or left hand; otherwise, you will end up going the wrong way.
10. Be sure to specify to your vendor whether you want level, uphill or downhill pipe. If you use downhill pipe for going uphill, the water will flow the wrong way.
11. All couplings should have either right-hand or left-hand thread, but do not mix the threads – otherwise, as the coupling is being screwed on one pipe, it is unscrewed from the other.
(They go on for another 362, or so, pages. You should see the specs for toilet seat holes.) | <urn:uuid:8fdd5147-8010-4be2-b3b1-534af21b7222> | {
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By MELISSA CROCKETT MESKE
When coal is burned to produce energy, the resulting byproduct is ash. Coal ash disposal, especially in ash ponds, continues to be an environmental hot topic. However, one local firm is applying an approach for decommissioning ash ponds that not only protects the environment and addresses concerns, but also aligns with Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and USEPA guidelines.
Headquartered in St. Louis, Geotechnology, Inc. has locations in eight states including one in Fairview Heights. A recent project involved closing four eastern Illinois coal ash ponds, where they provided construction quality assurance and construction management services.
Dr. Anna Saindon of Geotechnology explained that there are two methods for removing coal ash commonly used in the industry. One is the dry method, where dry ash is transported to a landfill similar to household waste. The second is a wet method known as sluicing, where ash and water are mixed, then pumped to ponds. The wet method is used less today, but historic and current ponds must be addressed.
For this project, Saindon said that three of the four ponds were managed through a clean closure process. They were smaller in nature, so all of the coal ash was removed and placed in the fourth, larger pond.
The fourth pond was constructed so that storm water would flow off and not get into the ash. This pond was lined and capped with a geomembrane that would keep rainfall out and prevent leaching. To protect the cap from damage, a three-foot soil cap is placed over the geomembrane and seeded to limit erosion.
Saindon said that in addition to helping carry out the closure and Construction Quality Assur ance plans, Geotechnology provided soil laboratory testing, field sampling and testing, slope stability evaluation, and assessment of soil and clay cover sources. | <urn:uuid:1c1bbe0b-fed2-4d42-99d2-3d297fbb7b74> | {
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Seven more saints including the first Native American, were canonized Sunday morning by Pope Benedict XVI.
Kateri Tekakwitha, a 17th century Mohawk Indian, was born in what is now New York in 1656.
Orphaned at age 4 by Smallpox that left her scarred and partially blind, Tekakwitha was one of the most devout Native American converts.
Since Tekakwitha's death in 1680 at age 24 in Montreal, many miracles have been attributed to her, the most recent occurred in 2007 when a 7-year-old boy was inexplicably cured of a flesh eating disease that according to doctors was supposed to have killed him.
"Near death, he was given last rites. At that point, the local priest suggested praying to Kateri for an intervention. Jake recovered and the cure was deemed by the Vatican to be medically inexplicable - a miracle," said Canada's Globe and Mail.
The road to sainthood is difficult and complicated. "The Vatican's complicated saint-making procedure requires that the Vatican certify a "miracle" was performed through the intercession of the candidate - a medically inexplicable cure that can be directly linked to the prayers offered by the faithful," said the Associated Press. "One miracle is needed for beatification, a second for canonization."
Tekakwitha was beatified in 1980 by Pope John Paul II. | <urn:uuid:354ce7bc-4814-4139-90da-43cd70b695df> | {
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[Jeff Keyser] from mightyohm.com got a chance to show off this interesting take on ambient music. He’s using his geiger counter kit to detect beta and gamma radiation. This then sends a pulse down the line to an Arduino to turn it into a musical note. The geiger counters put out a 1.ms 3v pulse though, so he first has to run this through a 74Ls04, which spits out the 5V the arduino wants. He’s admittedly no musician, but you can hear in the video it sounds fine. Especially considering they are all just C in different octaves. Those of us that are musicians probably would have gone with a B#.
The ambient noise is interesting, but when you realize it is due to radioactive decay, it becomes somehow more attention getting. We often forget about the invisible world around us. He even drops a few Uranium marbles onto the geiger counters to spice things up. | <urn:uuid:045d4f66-e42f-43fe-a859-17fb6c0952a0> | {
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US Department of Agriculture Forest Service
We assessed the effects of fire on the quality of herbaceous and browse forage for elk (Gervus e/aphus) and domestic sheep in the aspen (Populus tremu/oides) forest type. Selected forage species were sampled on burned and adjacent unburned areas during the summers of the first and second years after autumn prescribed burning of three sites in southeastern Idaho. These samples were analyzed for in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), crude protein, calcium, and phosphorus. This aspen type has a highly nutritious understory irrespective of burning. We found additional improvement in forage quality as a result of prescribed burning. In the middle of the first summer, aspen on the burned areas had higher crude protein and phosphorus contents, higher elk IVDMD, lower calcium contents, and lower calcium/phosphorus ratios than aspen had on the unburned areas. A month later, only crude protein levels of aspen remained higher on the burns. All of the shrubs analyzed in the first summer had higher crude protein levels on the burned areas. A year later, none of the shrubs or forbs on the burns had better forage quality than those under nearby unburned aspen. Pinegrass (Ga/amagrostis rubescens) on the burned areas in the second summer had more robust growth but lower IVDMD and crude protein values, likely due to more extensive flowering and seed production, than did pinegrass on unburned areas. Prescribed burning on these sites changed species composition from dense shrub motts to more palatable and nutritious forbs than were found on the unburned areas.
DeByle, N.V., Urness, P.J., & Blank, D.L. 1989. Forage quality in burned and unburned aspen communities. US Department of Agriculture Forest Service. Odgen, UT. 404. | <urn:uuid:8e45fba2-be82-4631-b44d-e0a0e487ad0c> | {
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The rise and fall of the sea level is called a tide. The tide is caused by a giant wave that is thousands of kilometers long. As the crest of this wave approaches the shore, the sea level rises, causing high tide. As the trough of the wave approaches the shore, the sea level falls, causing low tide.
Tides are caused by the interaction of gravity between the Earth and the moon. The moon’s gravity exerts a strong pull on the Earth and the oceans respond to this pull. This pull results in high tide. As the earth rotates, the high tide travels across the ocean. The sun also affects the Earth’s tides. During spring tides, the earth, moon, and sun are in alignment. This causes the high tides to become higher and the low tides become lower. During neap tides, the sun, moon, and earth form a right angle, causing the high tides to become lower and the low tides are a bit higher.
As the Earth rotates, different locations on the Earth’s surface pass through the high and low positions. A regular pattern of one high and one low tide each day is a diurnal tide. Some coasts such as the Atlantic and Pacific coasts experience two high tides and two low tides each day. This is known as a semi-diurnal tide. One high-tide-low-tide cycle takes 12 hours and 25 minutes. A cycle of two tides takes 24 hours and 50 minutes. Most shorelines have a tidal range between 1 to 2 meters. Other shorelines such as the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia have a tidal range as large as 15 meters.
In some areas, a rising tide will enter a shallow narrow river from a wide area of the sea and cause a wave called a tidal bore. A tidal bore can have a breaking crest or it can be a smooth wave. Tidal bores tend be found in places with large tidal ranges. | <urn:uuid:3ede3664-5856-4a4a-be52-b837df010752> | {
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Shakespeare’s gem, “As You Like It,” is still going strong after nearly four centuries. The play hits all cylinders: strong characters, plot and themes, great comedy, and language that’s a treat for the ears, especially if one reads the play before seeing it.
First published in 1623, the play was already at least 270 years old when the acclaimed Helena Modjeska starred as Rosalind in an 1893 production.
I caught a performance of “As You Like It” last week at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival in Normal, Illinois. (The festival runs through August 11.) Gracyn Mix and Amanda Catania are superb in the roles of Rosalind and Celia, the two young women who dress up as men and flee a cruel duke by escaping to the Forest of Arden. Dylan Paul as Rosalind’s lover, Orlando, is also excellent. He and Mix have great chemistry on stage and, with Catania, carry the play.
Now, here are five quick reasons to see “As You Like It.”
It’s funny. Reading the play, I laughed out loud at the jokes and puns, often thanks to the “clown” Touchstone who accompanies Rosalind and Celia into the forest. This play is full of satire and parodies that are best understood by reading the text. Believe me, Shakespeare is much more satisfying when the audience gets the jokes and knows when to laugh!
It’s serious. One of many things Shakespeare does wonderfully well is presenting themes with contrasting plot elements that move the story forward. In expressing the play’s “love conquers all” theme, Shakespeare will use a tense, serious scene – when the life of Rosalind or Orlando is threatened, for instance – and then follow it with a comedic scene, all the while maintaining a steady pace and flow.
It’s fascinating. Watching Shakespeare is like watching people that lived four centuries ago, resurrected before your eyes. This is how our ancestors thought, spoke and behaved. In some ways they are quite different from us − for example, they believed that “falling in love” resulted from beams shooting from lovers’ eyes and entangling with each other − and in other ways they are exactly the same. In this sense, Shakespeare provides a very interesting (and entertaining) history lesson – not just about language and culture, but about our very consciousness, showing us where we came from.
It’s music to the ears. There’s a lot of music and poetry in “As You Like It,” and wonderful speeches such as the “All the world’s a stage” monologue given by the melancholy Jacques. The bonus is that Shakespeare also delivers parodies of songs and poems, almost as if he were making fun of himself.
It’s relevant. “As You Like It” still connects with audiences with a message of hope about the magical power of love, which can transform even the cruelest of people. It’s a feel good play – there are no deaths, except for deer and a lioness that live in the forest. Shakespeare extends compassion even for the poor animals, sounding like an early animal rights activist.
Maybe that’s part of the staying power of Shakespeare. He’s so ahead of his time he’s never outdated. | <urn:uuid:92a8801a-dfba-427a-a61c-eafa9a6a6c3c> | {
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This week, citizen scientists discover a new planet, why you probably shouldn't make your own lava, and a wireless charger that can be cut to fit your needs.
Rolling the dice with social media
As we learn more about the social media revolution that’s changing most aspects of our lives, evidence mounts about the dangerous side effects of a life lived online. Recently, a study from Michigan State University found that gamblers and drug addicts have more in common with frequent social media users than previously thought.
Not surprisingly, someone with a gambling problem makes risky decisions. However, this study showed that those who spend a lot of time on social media platforms exhibit similar behavior. The researchers had participants identify outcome patterns within decks of cards to see if they could choose a successful deck.
The scientists found that people who use social media frequently performed poorly at this task, much like gamblers and drug addicts do. Their conclusion was that people who can’t stop checking Facebook aren’t as good at decision making as those who check it less.
This old lava
In today’s consumerist culture, it’s nice to see people taking the time to craft their own products at home. That said, those involved in the resurgent DIY culture may want to avoid cooking up lava in their own backyards. That’s best left to professionals like these scientists at the University of Buffalo.
Wanting to better understand how water reacts with molten rock, researchers decided to create their own lava by melting basalt in a 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit (1,315.56 degrees Celsius) oven. Basalt is solidified lava, so this is more akin to repurposing leftovers rather than cooking from scratch.
The scientists then poured the lava into containers and injected it with water. The resulting explosion launched lava up to 15 feet into the air. When water alone didn’t work, a sledgehammer was brought in to generate the desired explosion. These experiments can help scientists gain deeper knowledge of lava and volcanos, which could go on to help people affected by their eruptions.
One charger fits all
Packing for a long trip can be a nightmare, especially when you’re trying to keep all of your electronic devices charged. Hopefully, work coming out of the University of Tokyo will one day alleviate this. These scientists developed a wireless charging method that's more versatile than any other.
Their device looks like a sheet of plastic, but can wirelessly charge a multitude of electronic devices. Even better, this sheet can be cut to any size while retaining functionality. This way, you could turn anything—from a table to a coaster—into a charger.
Groceries of tomorrow
Just about everything is getting digital these days, and grocery stores aren’t going to be left behind. Supermarket giant Kroger seems to be leading the charge, with a long list of upgrades to their stores.
Working with Microsoft, Kroger has implemented sensors all over a few of its stores. The new technology can direct shoppers to particular items on the shelves and display changing prices instantly. What’s more, the store is using a self-checkout app to speed up shopping. Over the last 18 months, this last technology has found its way into 92 Kroger stores.
Citizen scientists prove their worth
Unlike boiling your own lava, there are some areas where home science is both safe and effective. Smartphones and other tech are making it easier for average people to contribute to scientific knowledge.
This was the case with K2-288Bb, an exoplanet that was recently discovered by citizen scientists. The planet is about twice the size of Earth and is considered to be inside the habitable zone of the star that it orbits. While we don’t know for sure, these conditions could mean that liquid water exists on the planet.
In fact, K2-288Bb is a perfect example of professionals and amateurs working together. NASA’s Kepler mission collected an enormous amount of data, some of which included planets moving in front of their stars—a phenomenon known as planet transits. However, there was too much information to comb through, and NASA uploaded the light curves online to allow average people the opportunity to study them.
After much examination, including time devoted to data that NASA originally ignored due to unforeseen issues, citizen scientists found three transits of K2-288Bb in front of its sun. This is the number of transits needed to consider a planet worth studying, which means that the citizen scientists in this project may have saved K2-288Bb from obscurity. | <urn:uuid:f1824168-8a15-4740-83ad-be804ae47ce0> | {
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We have been following innovative uses for social media in the biotech and healthcare industry here on the blog. Recently, a comprehensive paper was published in PLoS ONE outlining the use of “infoveillance” tools on the web to track the public response to the H1N1 epidemic. Dr. Gunther Eysenbach and Cynthia Chew, both researchers at Toronto’s Centre for Global eHealth Innovation, mined and archived over 2 million Twitter posts between May 1 and December 31, 2009. After carrying out an in depth analysis of these “tweets”, they validated Twitter as an effective medium to capture real-time content, sentiment, and public attention trends. Infoveillance methods include data mining, aggregation, and categorizations of online text and together form the toolkit for the new study of “infodemiology”. In the paper, Eysenbach points out that Twitter is particularly amenable to textual mining and analysis due to the concise nature of tweets that users share with their respective followers.
The concept of infodemiology began to crop up in the early 2000s when several different researchers began playing with the idea of using Internet health-related searches to provide epidemiological data that could be used to inform public health. In 2004, Eysenbach became interested in tracking flu-related searches using online syndromic surveillance. Historically, syndromic surveillance systems have typically relied on data from patient encounters with health professionals. But what if we could track the health concerns of citizens before they ever see a physician? It turns out we can. The study of infodemiology on the World Wide Web has the potential to provide automatic, continuous, and virtually real-time snapshots of public opinion and behavioural trends. In the context of public health this means capturing public health concerns at their earliest stages and even predicting major influenza pandemics weeks before they happen.
In 2006 Eysenbach published findings from a rather clever experiment he had completed over the 2004/2005 flu season. In order to track the number of people in Canada that were searching for either “flu” or “flu symptoms” he created an ad “campaign” through the keyword-triggered advertising program Google AdSense. For the purposes of optics the flu keywords led searchers to an advertisement that linked them to a generic patient education website after a click. Eysenbach then gathered FluWatch data, including influenza cases, positive lab test results, and influenza-like illness reported by sentinel physicians (“ILI-SPR”) around the country, and correlated these disease surveillance metrics with his Google advertisement data. Incredibly, Eysenbach found that clicks on the flu advertisement he had created correlated more strongly and in a more timely fashion (statistically significant on both accounts) with influenza cases and positive lab test results than did the ILI-SPR data. In a nutshell, his online experiment was more accurate at predicting rises in influenza cases than was the nation-wide sentinel physician program.
Three years later in 2009 a research paper funded by Google was published in Nature describing an influenza surveillance system piggy-backing on the popularity of certain Google search queries. The model underlying the surveillance system was generated by processing hundreds of billions of previous individual Google searches stored in web search logs. (Despite Eysenbach’s earlier work being cited in the Google paper, most journalists failed to recognize that Google’s idea wasn’t entirely new). Today Google Flu Trends can be accessed online to follow worldwide estimates of influenza-like activity. Google may have to go back to the drawing boards and refine its model however, as a new study published this past summer shrouds the accuracy of the system in some doubt. Researchers at the University of Washington evaluated Google Flu Trends against the gold standard positive influenza virus infection and its accuracy came up short – about 25% short.
The new H1N1 Twitter study reaffirms Eysenbach’s status as a visionary in the field of infodemiology. With “Web 2.0” upon us, and tsunamis of user-generated content flooding the web, the Internet “has made measurable what was previously immeasurable” in Eysenbach’s words. What we could not measure 10 years ago due to the (comparatively) static nature of the Internet, is now readily measurable with infoveillance tools. In the context of H1N1 Eysenbach says:
“H1N1 marks the first instance in which a global pandemic has occurred in the age of Web 2.0 and presents a unique opportunity to investigate the potential role of these technologies in public health emergencies.”
To carry out analysis of tweet content in the H1N1 study Chew and Eysenbach used an open-source infoveillance system known as Infovigil (Eysenbach’s own creation) that automatically and continuously dissects textual information from Twitter. They created a “codebook” with three primary variables: 1) tweet content, 2) mode of expression, and 3) type of link posted, if any. Each of these categories had several subcategories allowing for good separation of different tweet “types”. The study had some interesting findings. Over the duration of the study the relative proportion of tweets using “H1N1” increased from 8.8% to 40.5%, indicating that the public gradually began to adopt the WHO-recommended terminology as opposed to “swine flu”. With respect to tweet content, personal accounts of H1N1 increased over time while humorous content declined, indicating that the public’s perception of the subject became more serious. The public attention was aroused in certain instances, especially following the WHO pandemic level 6 announcement on June 11, 2009, which gave rise to a large spike in tweets. Only 4.5% of tweets were identified as misinformation.
Overall the study is a nice proof of concept and displays the fact that Twitter is a rich source of public opinion for the health authorities. Infoveillance can be used in the future not only for capturing sentiment, experiences, and behavioural trends, but importantly for tracking misinformation and identifying the informational needs of the human population. More studies of this kind should elucidate the value that social media will have for knowledge translation research and help refine the precision and accuracy of infoveillance tools for future infodemiology studies. | <urn:uuid:bcc3f19a-c78e-4dfd-ad92-39a72237bb79> | {
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mHealth for Chronic Diseases in Developing Countries
Wednesday, July 10, 2013
Non communicable diseases (heart diseases, strokes, cancers, diabetes, and chronic lung disease) cause an estimated 36 million deaths every year, including 9 million people dying prematurely before the age of 60. mHealth solutions can provide solutions such as improving glycaemic control in type 2 diabetes as well as improving outcomes among patients with obesity and cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, mHealth is a cost-effective solution that can improve the quality of care among underserved populations, in turn promoting equity in access to healthcare. For example, research by the Telenor Group showed that mHealth can reduce the costs of medical care among the elderly by 25 percent, double access to physicians by those living in rural areas, and improve chronic disease treatment compliance by 30-70%.
Here are some of the ways mHealth can achieve these results:
- Health Care | <urn:uuid:16382eed-67b3-4c16-9abd-255917d49c71> | {
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A project to convert books into online resources looks set to pave the way for the future of university libraries.
The initiative is digitising content from a variety of locations and bringing them together under one virtual roof.
More than 365,000 books have been converted into online format and are available to academics, researchers and students in the UK via the JISC Historic Books platform.
Mimas, an academic research centre based at Manchester University, and software company Autonomy, joined forces to make the literature more readily available and claims to "revolutionise" research in the UK by opening up a "world of resources".
Vic Lyte, Head of Technology Services at Mimas, said: "This represents a massive advance for the research community, showing, for the first time in this sector, how meaning based technology can be used to unlock some of our country’s most valuable assets – its literature."
The news will no doubt be welcomed by students considering to stay at home due to increasing financial pressure but concerned about access university resources, and libraries in particular.
Hannah, a third-year student at Reading, said she considered staying at home as the distance was easily commutable but had worries about the feasibility of accessing the Library after-hours.
"I could have stayed at home, which would have saved a lot of money," she told The Huffington Post UK. "But I was worried it would affect my studies. What if I was making last-minute adjustments to an essay and urgently needed to use a book at the Library? I couldn't really risk that happening and me not being able to get there because the trains had stopped running."
Additionally, the online resources may alleviate the hidden costs of textbooks. Exeter University estimates the cost of books averages at £320 per year, while a survey of students in 2010 found a quarter of students were caught out by the "high prices" of their textbooks. | <urn:uuid:a72c63cb-1583-4ba8-86ea-e6b5a8347a47> | {
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California quail migrate to Colorado River
On Feb. 22, the Division of Wildlife Resources participated in the migration of 24 California quail from Utah County to the Colorado River. Assistance came in the form of ground transportation.
Along the Wasatch Front, the quail population is at capacity and then some. Unhappy homeowners have asked the DWR for help in finding the partridge-size birds a new home. As a result, two dozen birds were trapped, boxed and delivered to their new home the same day.
Trapping and relocation has been an effective means for reducing damage to homeowners, while providing for population expansion in suitable habitat elsewhere.
Quail are fist-size fowl with a black head plume. They prefer to run rather than fly. More quail transplants to southeastern Utah are expected to follow in the weeks ahead. | <urn:uuid:99b49dc5-3f2d-44fd-b227-89f10afcca7d> | {
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Risk of Alzheimer’s disease might be predicted by a new non-invasive test developed by researchers from the University of Texas.
While fairly affordable, the test has identified that people who suffer from amnestic mild cognitive impairment (aMCI) have a different and specific variation in brain waves that’s consistent with a doubled risk of developing Alzheimer’s in their age group.
Experiments detected a sort of delayed neural activity that is known to be the cause of severe impairment of one’s cognitive performance. This ability was tested with the help of a word finding task and it led scientists to believe it could indicate an early onset of the neurocognitive regression that Alzheimer’s disease comes with.
One of Alzheimer’s hallmark symptoms is impaired episodic memory, which messes with the patient’s ability to remember new memories – including recent events, conversations or upcoming meetings.
The new approach in diagnosing the disease uses electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, a non-invasive alternative that might prove more affordable for the everyday people dealing with Alzheimer’s; this technology basically measures how the participant’s brain waves react when they try to access long-term or semantic memory.
According to one of the leading researcher John Hart, head of Medical Science at the Centre for Brain Health, this is a promising start in applying the technology on patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI), who appeared to take their time when asked to do the semantic memory task; their results were also less accurate than those offered by the healthy control group.
During the study, researchers monitored by EEG 16 individuals with MCI and 17 healthy individuals who were used as controls, as they were showed pairs of words that either led the subject to think of an object, or were just randomly paired.
For example, ‘summer’ and ‘frozen’ would have the participants think of the word ‘ice cream’, but pairing ‘summer’ and ‘monitor’ together would be just a random pair. All the participants had to do was to press a button whenever the presented pair would evoke a particular object memory.
Previous studies related to EEG have focused on observing the mind ‘at rest’, but the new study was keen on monitoring the brain precisely when it was engaged in the process of retrieving object memories.
Senior author Hsueh-Sheng Chiang, a post-doctoral fellow at UT Southwestern Medical Centre, explained that certain cognitive deficits – such as semantic memory issues – are easier to be identified by using this sensitive technology, as EEG looks directly at the neural activity.
Image Source: Daily Mail
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- Google Launched the Latest OS Android Oreo - August 23, 2017
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- Google Pushes Buggy Apps Down in the Play Store List - August 6, 2017 | <urn:uuid:1f458cf3-a5bd-40c3-be87-ec6ce69542c9> | {
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Scientists discover addition of new brain cells in highest brain area
johnhkm at netsprintXXXX.net.au
Mon Oct 18 03:44:15 EST 1999
"PRINCETON, N.J. -- In a finding that eventually could lead to new methods
for treating brain diseases and injuries, Princeton scientists have shown
that new neurons are continually added to the cerebral cortex of adult
monkeys. The discovery reverses a dogma nearly a century old and suggests
entirely new ways of explaining how the mind accomplishes its basic
functions, from problem solving to learning and memory.
Elizabeth Gould and Charles Gross report in the Oct. 15 issue of Science
that the formation of new neurons or nerve cells -- neurogenesis -- takes
place in several regions of the cerebral cortex that are crucial for
cognitive and perceptual functions. The cerebral cortex is the most complex
region of the brain and is responsible for highest-level decision making and
for recognizing and learning about the world. The results strongly imply
that the same process occurs in humans, because monkeys and humans have
fundamentally similar brain structures."
"Within the cerebral cortex, the researchers found neurogenesis in three
areas: 1) the prefrontal region, which controls executive decision making
and short-term memory; 2) the inferior temporal region, which plays a
crucial role in the visual recognition of objects and faces, and 3) the
posterior parietal region, which is important for the representation of
objects in space.
Interestingly, there was no sign of neurogenesis in a fourth area, the
striate cortex, which handles the initial, and more rudimentary, steps of
visual processing. That contrast suggests that neurogenesis may play a role
in performing higher brain functions. Virtually all theories of learning and
memory hold that memories are formed by modifications at the synapse, which
is the transmission junction between neurons. On the basis of the new
findings, it is now conceivable that the introduction of new neurons into
the circuitry of the brain may play a role in memory.
Gould and Gross emphasize that any ideas about the functions of the new
neurons are highly speculative. But the fact that there is neurogenesis in
the cognitive and executive portions of the brain opens vast new areas that
can be explored.
Gould and Gross, both faculty members in the Department of Psychology,
collaborated with graduate student Alison Reeves and research staff member
Michael Graziano. The work was supported by grants from the National
Institutes of Health and the James S. McDonnell Foundation. "
Remove XXXX in reply address
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|Scientific Name:||Carcharias taurus (Southwest Atlantic subpopulation)|
|Species Authority:||Rafinesque, 1810|
|Taxonomic Notes:||See Compagno (1984, 2001) for a detailed discussion of the taxonomical background for this species and for its separation from the genus Odontaspis. Off India it appears to have been referred to as C. tricuspidatus (Compagno 1984) but this name was synonymized with C. taurus (Compagno 2001).|
|Red List Category & Criteria:||Critically Endangered A2abcd ver 3.1|
|Assessor/s:||Chiaramonte, G., Domingo, A. & Soto, J.|
|Reviewer/s:||Musick, J., Dudley, S., Soldo, A., Francis, M., Valenti, S.V. & Kyne, P.M. (Shark Red List Authority)|
A large migratory coastal shark with one of the lowest reproductive rates known among chondrichthyans, giving birth to only one or two large young every two years. As a result, annual rates of population increase and ability to sustain fishing pressure are extremely low. Although the species is widespread in subtropical and temperate waters of the Atlantic, Indian and western Pacific Oceans, as well as the Mediterranean Sea, regional populations are isolated and are not thought to mix. In the Southwest Atlantic, the species ranges from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (21°S) to San Matías Gulf, Argentina (41°30’S). Although it is not directly fished in this region, it does have commercial value as a bycatch in benthic trawling and gillnet fisheries and is harvested throughout this range by commercial, artisanal and recreational (mainly in Argentina) fishing. In Uruguay, this species has been taken for over 50 years by the artisanal fleet and it formed an important component of gillnet catches off southern Brazil in the 1980s. Catches have declined dramatically off Uruguay from 784 kg per fishing day in 1985 to 32 kg per fishing day in 2001 and off southern Brazil from a CPUE of 11.7 to 0.3 sharks per 1,000 meters of net during the 1980s and 1990s, respectively. Recent surveys (2005) also appear to indicate that catches in the gillnet fisheries off southern Brazil have declined considerably relative to levels in the 1980s. Aggregations off Brazil were also targeted by spear-fishers for sport in the 1970s and 1980s. This species is assessed as Critically Endangered due to a combination of a severe depletion along the Brazilian coast since the 1970s and declining trends in the Uruguayan coastal fisheries. Coastal fishing pressure is intense and continuing within its range along the South Atlantic coast of South America. The species is listed as threatened with over-exploitation on Annex II of the Brazilian federal law of Threatened and Overexploited Aquatic Species. However there are no known species-specific management measures in place for it within the region and protection measures are urgently required.
Carcharias taurus has a broad but disjunct distribution in littoral and sub-littoral waters, primarily in subtropical to warm temperate regions around the main continental landmasses, except in the eastern and central Pacific (Compagno 1984, 2001; Gilmore et al. 1983). It is not known from deepwater, unlike Odontaspis ferox.
Southwest Atlantic subpopulation: in the Southwest Atlantic C. taurus ranges from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (21°S) to San Matías Gulf, Argentina (41°30’S) (Menni 1986, Soto 2001).
Native:Argentina (Buenos Aires, Rio Negro); Brazil (Paraná, Rio de Janeiro, Rio Grande do Sul, Santa Catarina, São Paulo); Uruguay
|FAO Marine Fishing Areas:||
Atlantic – southwest
|Range Map:||Click here to open the map viewer and explore range.|
|Population:||Morphometric and meristic analysis indicate that the Southwest Atlantic subpopulation is a probable “closed group” with common characteristics, but not a distinct species (Sadowsky 1970, Compagno 2001). Although there is no information on the population size of C. taurus in the Southwest Atlantic, past and present fishing pressures have led to significant declines in catches (see Threats section below).|
|Habitat and Ecology:||
Carcharias taurus generally occurs in warm-temperate and subtropical waters, ranging from the surf zone and shallow bays to approximately 200 m depth on the outer continental shelf. The species is most usually found on or near the bottom in reef areas but may occasionally occur in midwater or at the surface (Compagno 1984). Embryonic oviphagy and intra-uterine cannibalism occurs in this species and only two large pups are produced per litter every second year (Gilmore et al. 1983, Goldman 2002, Goldman et al. in press). As a result, annual rates of population increase are very low, greatly reducing its ability to sustain fishing pressure. Size at birth is about 95 to 105 cm TL (Gilmore et al. 1983).
Maximum size attained is 300 to 320 cm TL (females) and 220 to 270 cm TL (males) (Compagno 2001). Age and size at maturity varies regionally. Age at maturity is reported at 7.7 years (females) and 4.5 years (males) in the Southwest Atlantic by Lucifora (2003). Lucifora (2003) reports size at maturity in the Southwest Atlantic as 218 to 235 cm TL (females) and 193 cm TL (males). Longevity is estimated at 18.3 years in females and 12.8 years in males in the Southwest Atlantic (Lucifora 2003).
Average reproductive age is 17.1 yrs from demographic analysis (Goldman 2002). Natural mortality is MHoenig = 0.205, MJensen = 0.211 and MPauly = 0.198 from analyses from the Southwest Atlantic (Lucifora 2003).
Because this species typically inhabits shallow inshore areas it is rarely, if ever caught by large-scale industrial fisheries operating on the high seas. However, its nearshore distribution makes it susceptible to small-scale multi-species and artisanal fisheries as well as recreational fisherman, spearfishers and shark control programs. As a bycatch in other fisheries it is often reported as unidentified shark or not reported at all and as such the extent of the impact that these fisheries have had on C. taurus is unknown for most of its geographic range. Consequently this species could be at a high risk of unrecognized depletion in many countries.
The sand tiger is not subjected to directed fishing in South America, but nevertheless does have commercial value (including the jaws) as a non target catch in benthic trawling and gillnet fisheries and is harvested throughout its regional range by commercial, artisanal and recreational (mainly in Argentina) fishing (Chiaramonte 1998, Nion 1999, Lucifora et al. 2002). Coastal species are the most important commercial elasmobranchs in the Southwest Atlantic and coastal fishing pressure is intense in this region (Bonfil et. al. 2005). The exposure of its coastal habitat to fisheries and its vulnerable life-history characteristics provide little capacity for recovery.
Captures of C. taurus from Central-North Rio Grande do Sul, southern Brazil have declined dramatically throughout the 1980s and 1990s from a CPUE of 11.7 to 0.3 sharks per 1000 meters of net (Soto 2001) (a decline of approximately 97%). In Rio Grande do Sul C. taurus were fished with gillnets during the 1980s, at which time the species was considered abundant and could be captured in aggregations (Vooren et al. 2005). However there are no records of the species from monitoring of the shore based fishery during the summer of 2003, and the species occurred in only 3 of 43 fishing trips (11 individuals captured in total) by the Passo de Torres gillnet fishery monitored during November-March 2005 (Vooren et al. 2005). Vooren et al. (2005) note that this species is now considered rare in this area and that the scarcity of recent records of neonates is of great concern. Adult C. taurus can still be found inshore along the coast between Tramandaí and Saint Simão (30 to 31°S) (Vooren et al. 2005). Although no information exists on the population size of C. taurus, fishing pressure is intense and continuing within its coastal habitat off southern Brazil. Large aggregations of C. taurus were also systematically wiped out in Santa Catarina state, Brazil, by spear fishermen in the 1970s and 1980s.
In Uruguay, this species has been taken for over 50 years by the artisanal fleet. Captures increased in the late 1970s, mainly in summer, reaching a peak in the mid 1980s. Thereafter there was a continued decline, with catches decreasing from 784 kg per fishing day in 1985 to 32 kg per fishing day in 2001 (A. Domingo pers. obs). Only occasional captures are recorded from 2000 to the present. There are also occasional captures in the trawl net and longline fisheries.
Lucifora (2003) estimated that 889 sharks (CI 95%=625 to 1,140) were captured by anglers during three consecutive summers (1999-2001) in Anegada Bay, Argentina. Out of 175 sharks observed, 153 suffered serious injuries of the internal organs caused by hooks. Crespo and Corcuera (1990) report extensive damage to shark catches in gillnets by marine mammals (sea lions bite out the belly of entangled sharks and eat the liver).
|Conservation Actions:||Further studies of the biology and reproduction of this species in the Southwest Atlantic are needed. This species has been listed as a species threatened with over-exploitation on Annex II of the Brazilian federal law of Threatened and Overexploited Aquatic Species since 2004 (Vooren and Klippel 2005). Also the prohibition of trawl fishing within three nautical miles from the coast of southern Brazil is now being enforced satisfactorily. However, the species is still caught as bycatch in the legally permitted coastal gillnet fisheries and offshore trawl and gillnet fisheries. It is recommended that the species is protected throughout its inshore range along the Southwest Atlantic coast of South America, particularly in areas of critical habitat and areas where the adult population still exists. A management plan is being considered for development for this species in the Bahía San Blas Reserve (Anegada Bay, Argentina).|
|Citation:||Chiaramonte, G., Domingo, A. & Soto, J. 2007. Carcharias taurus (Southwest Atlantic subpopulation). In: IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 19 June 2013.|
|Feedback:||If you see any errors or have any questions or suggestions on what is shown on this page, please fill in the feedback form so that we can correct or extend the information provided| | <urn:uuid:4df33a97-e517-4b04-b82b-274197b189ae> | {
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How to protect black girls in America: Experts weigh in
Over the summer, researchers at the Georgetown Center on Poverty and Inequality published a study that offered proof of a phenomenon in American black communities that has existed since slavery: By being perceived as more mature, black girls fall victim to what researchers are calling a “perception trap,” and are treated negatively as a result.
While the study, “Girlhood Interrupted: The Erasure of Black Girls’ Childhoods,” revealed many things that black women—especially mothers—already knew, it also offers the possibility of opening eyes and minds in white America to the loss of innocence that black girls have experienced as a result of this perception trap.
With this new information, I wanted to figure out what people can do to actually start changing this damaging view of black girls, so I spoke to some experts to find solutions. These experts—Lieutenant Tamara F. McCollough of the Indiana State University Police Department, forensic nurse Angela Bates of Indiana University Health in Indianapolis, and school psychologist Jeni Vandenbergh of the Rolling Prairie School District in Rolling Prairie, Indiana—work with black girls from the age of 5 to adulthood. Two of them are also raising black girls of their own.
The women’s answers fell into three major areas: empowerment, protection, and ending the silence.
Empowering our girls
The Georgetown researchers found that black girls are perceived as sexually mature from the age of 5. Once they are seen this way, the girls are assigned characteristics and subjected to stereotypes normally placed on adult black women. Negative views of girls—such as having “loose morals” or being aggressive or unscrupulous—are a result. Such made-up traits come out of slavery, some scholars argue. The transference of these imagined features of women to girls is due to what author Monique W. Morris calls “age compression.” Morris is quoted in the report that as saying that this compression “renders Black girls just as vulnerable to these aspersive representations.”
The too early perceived maturity of black girls works against them when they are punished or accused of wrongdoing. In fact, black girls are five times more likely to be suspended as white girls, and twice as likely to be suspended as white boys, according to the study. Also, black girls are nearly three times as likely to be referred to the juvenile justice system as white girls. Too many punitive measures wear on the girls’ self-confidence, making them see their own worth in an unhealthy way. Low confidence then continues to feed the perception trap as girls grow into adulthood.
McCollough says one way to help heal this rupture in childhood is to empower these girls. “We can start by helping black girls see that they are unique and there is nothing wrong with them,” she says. “We can also start by empowering black girls to be comfortable in their own skin.” By building up their confidence, girls can begin to see their own value.
Telling young black girls that they are beautiful, smart, and worthy can go a long way in building their self-worth. Such simple, free gestures can have a powerful impact.
Protecting our girls
The “Girlhood Interrupted” study also found that once the girls are perceived as older than their real age, they are deemed untrustworthy, loud, angry, and deceitful. This leads to girls being punished in school and in the juvenile court system for crimes they did not commit. It also leads to harsher sentences because the girls are deemed more mature and thus more likely to have committed an intentional crime. The perception culminates in the belief that black girls need less protection and nurturing than their white peers. They are considered less innocent, which forces a 5-year-old to grow up fast—and long before her white girl peers do.
As a forensic nurse who assists police in evidence collection in crimes, Bates often sees girls who are in danger. “This study does not shock me,” she says. “It is disheartening that these perceptions still exist and knowing that my daughters have to deal with being expected to navigate life in a mature fashion when they aren’t given the time to even develop.”
The desire to help victims, as well as the need to protect her own daughters, has Bates looking toward keeping all black girls safe.
She suggests that adults must become actively involved in young girls’ lives. “Adults should be aware of society’s perceptions of their children, proactively create (and display) healthy conflict resolution skills, and consistently provide positive reinforcement where applicable,” she says. Adults can step in during conflicts, too—they can help the girls learn how to solve their fights constructively. Adults can be role models for children’s behavior.
These tools can help black girls navigate away from the perception trap or work their way out of it. If adults remain vigilant, someone can intervene before the girl gets a record or becomes the victim of a predator.
Ending the silence
The Georgetown study emphasized the fact that teachers and officials who perpetuate the perception trap do so without even realizing. Bates is adamant about the importance of breaking the silence around what is happening to these children. “We can start by shedding light on this issue to help bolster change for the better,” she says. “We should also speak out against instances of over-sexualization. We can protect [girls] by educating others. Some people may not realize that they are subjecting black girls to such disparities.”
As a psychologist, Vandenbergh views the solution as top-down education that will not only protect black girls but rid the system of the implicit bias and institutionalized racism that feeds the perception trap. She advocates training for educators and police officers, social welfare officers, and Child Protection Services workers so they can begin to work together on dismantling this bias. “As a society, I think it is imperative that we acknowledge how greatly implicit biases impact our interactions with others—and the long-lasting and far-reaching impact these interactions have on the recipients of our biases,” she says.
Ask any black mother about this perception trap, and they will sadly nod before starting to tell a story of their own. The black girl in the story could be the mother herself, or the girl she is raising—or maybe even a girl unrelated to her that she witnessed falling into the perception trap. I have a few stories of my own, too.
No matter how we are connected to black girls, there are ways that we can protect them and begin to unravel the trap adults have made for them. By empowering these girls, protecting them, and speaking out against the issue, we can help produce a generation of black women who made it through their childhood with their innocence intact and with bright ideas for the future.
More articles by Category: Body image and body standards, Girls, Race/Ethnicity
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Urethral Cancer Treatment (PDQ®): Treatment - Patient Information [NCI]
This information is produced and provided by the National Cancer Institute (NCI). The information in this topic may have changed since it was written. For the most current information, contact the National Cancer Institute via the Internet web site at http://cancer.gov or call 1-800-4-CANCER.
Urethral Cancer Treatment
General Information About Urethral Cancer
Urethral cancer is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in the tissues of the urethra.
The urethra is the tube that carries urine from the bladder to outside the body. In women, the urethra is about 1½ inches long and is just above the vagina. In men, the urethra is about 8 inches long, and goes through the prostategland and the penis to the outside of the body. In men, the urethra also carries semen.
|Anatomy of the male urinary system (left) and female urinary system (right) showing the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra. Urine is made in the renal tubules and collects in the renal pelvis of each kidney. The urine flows from the kidneys through the ureters to the bladder. The urine is stored in the bladder until it leaves the body through the urethra.|
Urethral cancer is a rare cancer that occurs more often in women than in men. There are different types of urethral cancer that begin in cells that line the urethra. These cancers are named for the types of cells that become malignant (cancerous):
- Squamous cell carcinoma is the most common type of urethral cancer. It forms in cells in the part of the urethra near the bladder in women, and in the lining of the urethra in the penis in men.
- Transitional cell carcinoma forms in the area near the urethral opening in women, and in the part of the urethra that goes through the prostate gland in men.
- Adenocarcinoma forms in glands near the urethra in both men and women.
Urethral cancer can metastasize (spread) quickly to tissues around the urethra and is often found in nearby lymph nodes by the time it is diagnosed.
Age and a history of bladder cancer can affect the risk of developing urethral cancer.
Risk factors include the following:
- Having a history of bladder cancer.
- Having conditions that cause chronicinflammation in the urethra, including:
- Sexually transmitted diseases (STDs).
- Frequent urinary tractinfections (UTIs).
- Being 60 or older.
- Being a white female.
Possible signs of urethral cancer include bleeding or trouble with urination.
These and other symptoms may be caused by urethral cancer. Other conditions may cause the same symptoms. Sometimes early cancer of the urethra does not cause any symptoms at all. A doctor should be consulted if any of the following problems occur:
- Bleeding from the urethra or blood in the urine.
- Weak or interrupted ("stop-and-go") flow of urine.
- Frequent urination.
- A lump or thickness in the perineum or penis.
- Discharge from the urethra.
- Enlarged lymph nodes in the groin area.
Tests that examine the urethra and bladder are used to detect (find) and diagnose urethral cancer.
The following tests and procedures may be used:
- Physical exam and history: An exam of the body to check general signs of health, including checking for signs of disease, such as lumps or anything else that seems unusual. A history of the patient's health habits and past illnesses and treatments will also be taken.
- Laboratory tests: Medical procedures that test samples of tissue, blood, urine, or other substances in the body. These tests help to diagnose disease, plan and check treatment, or monitor the disease over time.
- Urine cytology: Examination of urine under a microscope to check for abnormal cells.
- Urinalysis: A test to check the color of urine and its contents, such as sugar, protein, blood, and white blood cells. If white blood cells (a sign of infection) are found, a urine culture is usually done to find out what type of infection it is.
- Digital rectal exam: An exam of the rectum. The doctor or nurse inserts a lubricated, gloved finger into the lower part of the rectum to feel for lumps or anything else that seems unusual. This procedure may be done while the patient is under anesthesia.
- Pelvic exam: An exam of the vagina, cervix, uterus, fallopian tubes, ovaries, and rectum. The doctor or nurse inserts one or two lubricated, gloved fingers of one hand into the vagina and places the other hand over the lower abdomen to feel the size, shape, and position of the uterus and ovaries. A speculum is also inserted into the vagina and the doctor or nurse looks at the vagina and cervix for signs of disease. This may be done while the patient is under anesthesia.
Pelvic exam. A doctor or nurse inserts one or two lubricated, gloved fingers of one hand into the vagina and presses on the lower abdomen with the other hand. This is done to feel the size, shape, and position of the uterus and ovaries. The vagina, cervix, fallopian tubes, and rectum are also checked.
- Cystoscopy: A procedure to look inside the urethra and bladder to check for abnormal areas. A cystoscope (a thin, lighted tube) is inserted through the urethra into the bladder. Tissue samples may be taken for biopsy.
- Biopsy: The removal of cells or tissues from the urethra, bladder, and, sometimes, the prostate gland, so they can be viewed under a microscope by a pathologist to check for signs of cancer.
Certain factors affect prognosis (chance of recovery) and treatment options.
The prognosis (chance of recovery) depends on the following:
- The stage and size of the cancer (whether it is in only one area or has spread to other areas).
- Where in the urethra the cancer first formed.
- The patient's general health.
- Whether the cancer has just been diagnosed or has recurred (come back).
Treatment options depend on the following:
- The stage of the cancer and where it is in the urethra.
- The patient's sex and general health.
- Whether the cancer has just been diagnosed or has recurred.
Stages of Urethral Cancer
After urethral cancer has been diagnosed, tests are done to find out if cancer cells have spread within the urethra or to other parts of the body.
The process used to find out if cancer has spread within the urethra or to other parts of the body is called staging. The information gathered from the staging process determines the stage of the disease. It is important to know the stage in order to plan treatment. The following procedures may be used in the staging process:
- Chest x-ray: An x-ray of the organs and bones inside the chest. An x-ray is a type of energy beam that can go through the body and onto film, making a picture of areas inside the body.
- CT scan (CAT scan) of the pelvis and abdomen: A procedure that makes a series of detailed pictures of the pelvis and abdomen, taken from different angles. The pictures are made by a computer linked to an x-ray machine. A dye may be injected into a vein or swallowed to help the organs or tissues show up more clearly. This procedure is also called computed tomography, computerized tomography, or computerized axial tomography.
- MRI (magnetic resonance imaging): A procedure that uses a magnet, radio waves, and a computer to make a series of detailed pictures of the urethra, nearby lymph nodes, and other soft tissue and bones in the pelvis. A substance called gadolinium is injected into the patient through a vein. The gadolinium collects around the cancer cells so they show up brighter in the picture. This procedure is also called nuclear magnetic resonance imaging (NMRI).
- Blood chemistry studies: A procedure in which a blood sample is checked to measure the amounts of certain substances released into the blood by organs and tissues in the body. An unusual (higher or lower than normal) amount of a substance can be a sign of disease in the organ or tissue that produces it.
- Complete blood count (CBC): A procedure in which a sample of blood is drawn and checked for the following:
- The number of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.
- The amount of hemoglobin (the protein that carries oxygen) in the red blood cells.
- The portion of the blood sample made up of red blood cells.
There are three ways that cancer spreads in the body.
The three ways that cancer spreads in the body are:
- Through tissue. Cancer invades the surrounding normal tissue.
- Through the lymph system. Cancer invades the lymph system and travels through the lymph vessels to other places in the body.
- Through the blood. Cancer invades the veins and capillaries and travels through the blood to other places in the body.
When cancer cells break away from the primary (original) tumor and travel through the lymph or blood to other places in the body, another (secondary) tumor may form. This process is called metastasis. The secondary (metastatic) tumor is the same type of cancer as the primary tumor. For example, if breast cancer spreads to the bones, the cancer cells in the bones are actually breast cancer cells. The disease is metastatic breast cancer, not bone cancer.
Urethral cancer is staged according to which part of the urethra is affected. Treatment is also based on this grouping.
Urethral cancer is staged and treated based on the part of the urethra that is affected and how deeply the tumor has spread into tissue around the urethra. Urethral cancer can be described as anterior or posterior.
Anterior urethral cancer
In anterior urethral cancer, the tumors are not deep and they affect the part of the urethra that is closest to the outside of the body.
Posterior urethral cancer
In posterior urethral cancer, the tumors are deep and affect the part of the urethra closest to the bladder. In women, the entire urethra may be affected. In men, the prostategland may be affected.
The following stages are also used to describe urethral cancer:
Stage 0 (Carcinoma in Situ)
In stage 0, abnormalcells are found in the inside lining of the urethra. These abnormal cells may become cancer and spread into nearby normal tissue. Stage 0 is also called carcinoma in situ.
In stage A, cancer has formed and spread into the layer of tissue beneath the lining of the urethra.
In stage B, cancer is found in the muscle around the urethra. In men, the peniletissue surrounding the urethra may be affected.
In stage C, cancer has spread beyond the tissue surrounding the urethra, and:
- in women, may be found in the vagina, vaginal lips, or nearby muscle;
- in men, may be found in the penis or in nearby muscle.
Stage D is divided into stage D1 and stage D2, based on where the cancer has spread.
- In stage D1, cancer has spread to nearby lymph nodes in the pelvis and groin.
- In stage D2, cancer has spread to distant lymph nodes or to other organs in the body, such as the lungs, liver, and bone.
Urethral cancer may be associated with invasive bladder cancer.
A small number of patients who have bladder cancer are also diagnosed with cancer of the urethra, or will develop it in the future.
Recurrent Urethral Cancer
Recurrenturethral cancer is cancer that has recurred (come back) after it has been treated. The cancer may come back in the urethra or in other parts of the body.
Treatment Option Overview
There are different types of treatment for patients with urethral cancer.
Different types of treatments are available for patients with urethral cancer. Some treatments are standard (the currently used treatment), and some are being tested in clinical trials. A treatment clinical trial is a research study meant to help improve current treatments or obtain information on new treatments for patients with cancer. When clinical trials show that a new treatment is better than the standard treatment, the new treatment may become the standard treatment. Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Three types of standard treatment are used:
Surgery is the most common treatment for cancer of the urethra. One of the following types of surgery may be done:
- Open excision: Removal of the cancer by surgery.
- Electro-resection with fulguration: Surgery to remove the cancer by electric current. A lighted tool with a small wire loop on the end is used to remove the cancer or to burn the tumor away with high-energy electricity.
- Laser surgery: A surgical procedure that uses a laser beam (a narrow beam of intense light) as a knife to make bloodless cuts in tissue or to remove or destroy tissue.
- Lymph node dissection: Lymph nodes in the pelvis and groin may be removed.
- Cystourethrectomy: Surgery to remove the bladder and the urethra.
- Cystoprostatectomy: Surgery to remove the bladder and the prostate.
- Anterior exenteration: Surgery to remove the urethra, the bladder, and the vagina. Plastic surgery may be done to rebuild the vagina.
- Partial penectomy: Surgery to remove the part of the penis surrounding the urethra where cancer has spread. Plastic surgery may be done to rebuild the penis.
- Radical penectomy: Surgery to remove the entire penis. Plastic surgery may be done to rebuild the penis.
If the urethra is removed, the surgeon will make a new way for the urine to pass from the body. This is called urinary diversion. If the bladder is removed, the surgeon will make a new way for urine to be stored and passed from the body. The surgeon may use part of the small intestine to make a tube that passes urine through an opening (stoma). This is called an ostomy or urostomy. If a patient has an ostomy, a disposable bag to collect urine is worn under clothing. The surgeon may also use part of the small intestine to make a new storage pouch (continent reservoir) inside the body where the urine can collect. A tube (catheter) is then used to drain the urine through a stoma.
Even if the doctor removes all the cancer that can be seen at the time of the surgery, some patients may be given chemotherapy or radiation therapy after surgery to kill any cancer cells that are left. Treatment given after the surgery, to lower the risk that the cancer will come back, is called adjuvant therapy.
Radiation therapy is a cancer treatment that uses high-energy x-rays or other types of radiation to kill cancer cells. There are two types of radiation therapy. External radiation therapy uses a machine outside the body to send radiation toward the cancer. Internal radiation therapy uses a radioactive substance sealed in needles, seeds, wires, or catheters that are placed directly into or near the cancer. The way the radiation therapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
Watchful waiting is closely monitoring a patient's condition without giving any treatment until symptoms appear or change.
New types of treatment are being tested in clinical trials.
This summary section describes treatments that are being studied in clinical trials. It may not mention every new treatment being studied. Information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
Chemotherapy is a cancer treatment that uses drugs to stop the growth of cancer cells, either by killing the cells or by stopping the cells from dividing. When chemotherapy is taken by mouth or injected into a vein or muscle, the drugs enter the bloodstream and can reach cancer cells throughout the body (systemic chemotherapy). When chemotherapy is placed directly into the cerebrospinal fluid, an organ, or a body cavity such as the abdomen, the drugs mainly affect cancer cells in those areas (regional chemotherapy). The way the chemotherapy is given depends on the type and stage of the cancer being treated.
Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial.
For some patients, taking part in a clinical trial may be the best treatment choice. Clinical trials are part of the cancer research process. Clinical trials are done to find out if new cancer treatments are safe and effective or better than the standard treatment.
Many of today's standard treatments for cancer are based on earlier clinical trials. Patients who take part in a clinical trial may receive the standard treatment or be among the first to receive a new treatment.
Patients who take part in clinical trials also help improve the way cancer will be treated in the future. Even when clinical trials do not lead to effective new treatments, they often answer important questions and help move research forward.
Patients can enter clinical trials before, during, or after starting their cancer treatment.
Some clinical trials only include patients who have not yet received treatment. Other trials test treatments for patients whose cancer has not gotten better. There are also clinical trials that test new ways to stop cancer from recurring (coming back) or reduce the side effects of cancer treatment.
Clinical trials are taking place in many parts of the country. See the Treatment Options section that follows for links to current treatment clinical trials. These have been retrieved from NCI's listing of clinical trials.
Follow-up tests may be needed.
Some of the tests that were done to diagnose the cancer or to find out the stage of the cancer may be repeated. Some tests will be repeated in order to see how well the treatment is working. Decisions about whether to continue, change, or stop treatment may be based on the results of these tests. This is sometimes called re-staging.
Some of the tests will continue to be done from time to time after treatment has ended. The results of these tests can show if your condition has changed or if the cancer has recurred (come back). These tests are sometimes called follow-up tests or check-ups.
Treatment Options for Urethral Cancer
A link to a list of current clinical trials is included for each treatment section. For some types or stages of cancer, there may not be any trials listed. Check with your doctor for clinical trials that are not listed here but may be right for you.
Anterior Urethral Cancer
Treatment of anterior urethral cancer is different for men and women.
For women, treatment may include the following:
- Radiation therapy followed by surgery (anterior exenteration and urinary diversion).
- Surgery (open excision, electro-resection with fulguration, lymph node dissection, or anterior exenteration and urinary diversion).
- Laser surgery.
- External and/or internal radiation therapy.
For men, treatment may include the following:
- Surgery (open excision, electro-resection with fulguration, lymph node dissection, or partial or radical penectomy).
- Laser surgery.
- Radiation therapy.
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with anterior urethral cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
Posterior Urethral Cancer
Treatment of posterior urethral cancer is different for men and women.
For women, treatment may include the following:
- Radiation therapy followed by surgery (anterior exenteration with lymph node dissection and urinary diversion).
- Radiation therapy with or without surgery (other than anterior exenteration and urinary diversion).
- Surgery (other than anterior exenteration and urinary diversion) alone.
For men, treatment may be radiation therapy followed by surgery (cystoprostatectomy, penectomy, lymph node dissection, and urinary diversion).
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with posterior urethral cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
Urethral Cancer Associated with Invasive Bladder Cancer
Treatment of urethral cancer that develops with invasivebladder cancer may include the following:
- Surgery (cystourethrectomy or cystoprostatectomy).
- Watchful waiting.
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with urethral cancer associated with invasive bladder cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
Recurrent Urethral Cancer
Treatment of recurrenturethral cancer that comes back near the urethra depends on the type of treatment the patient received before, as follows:
- Surgery: For patients who were first treated with radiation therapy.
- Radiation therapy with surgery: For patients who were first treated with surgery alone.
Treatment of recurrent urethral cancer that comes back in distant parts of the body is usually a clinical trial of chemotherapy.
Check for U.S. clinical trials from NCI's list of cancer clinical trials that are now accepting patients with recurrent urethral cancer. For more specific results, refine the search by using other search features, such as the location of the trial, the type of treatment, or the name of the drug. General information about clinical trials is available from the NCI Web site.
To Learn More About Urethral Cancer
For more information from the National Cancer Institute about urethral cancer, see the following:
- Urethral Cancer Home Page
- Lasers in Cancer Treatment
For general cancer information and other resources from the National Cancer Institute, see the following:
- What You Need to Know About™ Cancer
- Understanding Cancer Series: Cancer
- Cancer Staging
- Chemotherapy and You: Support for People With Cancer
- Radiation Therapy and You: Support for People With Cancer
- Coping with Cancer: Supportive and Palliative Care
- Cancer Library
- Information For Survivors/Caregivers/Advocates
Get More Information From NCI
For more information, U.S. residents may call the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237) Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., Eastern Time. A trained Cancer Information Specialist is available to answer your questions.
The NCI's LiveHelp® online chat service provides Internet users with the ability to chat online with an Information Specialist. The service is available from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. Eastern time, Monday through Friday. Information Specialists can help Internet users find information on NCI Web sites and answer questions about cancer.
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For more information from the NCI, please write to this address:
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Search the NCI Web site
The NCI Web site provides online access to information on cancer, clinical trials, and other Web sites and organizations that offer support and resources for cancer patients and their families. For a quick search, use the search box in the upper right corner of each Web page. The results for a wide range of search terms will include a list of "Best Bets," editorially chosen Web pages that are most closely related to the search term entered.
There are also many other places to get materials and information about cancer treatment and services. Hospitals in your area may have information about local and regional agencies that have information on finances, getting to and from treatment, receiving care at home, and dealing with problems related to cancer treatment.
The NCI has booklets and other materials for patients, health professionals, and the public. These publications discuss types of cancer, methods of cancer treatment, coping with cancer, and clinical trials. Some publications provide information on tests for cancer, cancer causes and prevention, cancer statistics, and NCI research activities. NCI materials on these and other topics may be ordered online or printed directly from the NCI Publications Locator. These materials can also be ordered by telephone from the Cancer Information Service toll-free at 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
Changes to This Summary (07 / 01 / 2011)
The PDQcancer information summaries are reviewed regularly and updated as new information becomes available. This section describes the latest changes made to this summary as of the date above.
Editorial changes were made to this summary.
PDQ is a comprehensive cancer database available on NCI's Web site.
PDQ is the National Cancer Institute's (NCI's) comprehensive cancer information database. Most of the information contained in PDQ is available online at NCI's Web site. PDQ is provided as a service of the NCI. The NCI is part of the National Institutes of Health, the federal government's focal point for biomedical research.
PDQ contains cancer information summaries.
The PDQ database contains summaries of the latest published information on cancer prevention, detection, genetics, treatment, supportive care, and complementary and alternative medicine. Most summaries are available in two versions. The health professional versions provide detailed information written in technical language. The patient versions are written in easy-to-understand, nontechnical language. Both versions provide current and accurate cancer information.
The PDQ cancer information summaries are developed by cancer experts and reviewed regularly.
Editorial Boards made up of experts in oncology and related specialties are responsible for writing and maintaining the cancer information summaries. The summaries are reviewed regularly and changes are made as new information becomes available. The date on each summary ("Date Last Modified") indicates the time of the most recent change.
PDQ also contains information on clinical trials.
A clinical trial is a study to answer a scientific question, such as whether one treatment is better than another. Trials are based on past studies and what has been learned in the laboratory. Each trial answers certain scientific questions in order to find new and better ways to help cancer patients. During treatment clinical trials, information is collected about the effects of a new treatment and how well it works. If a clinical trial shows that a new treatment is better than one currently being used, the new treatment may become "standard." Patients may want to think about taking part in a clinical trial. Some clinical trials are open only to patients who have not started treatment.
Listings of clinical trials are included in PDQ and are available online at NCI's Web site. Descriptions of the trials are available in health professional and patient versions. Many cancer doctors who take part in clinical trials are also listed in PDQ. For more information, call the Cancer Information Service 1-800-4-CANCER (1-800-422-6237).
Last Revised: 2011-07-01
If you want to know more about cancer and how it is treated, or if you wish to know about clinical trials for your type of cancer, you can call the NCI's Cancer Information Service at 1-800-422-6237, toll free. A trained information specialist can talk with you and answer your questions.
Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated. | <urn:uuid:34eaf7cc-6e33-4175-9338-71c530feb0f0> | {
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What is a beam restricting device?
A device that restricts the size of the x-ray field to only the anatomic structure of interest
What is collimation?
the restriction of the useful beam to reduce patient dose and improve image contrast
What is off-focus radiation?
X-rays produced in the anode but interact at positions on the anode other than the focal spot
What is a positive beam limitation device?
A feature of radiographic collimators that automatically adjusts the radiation field to the size of the IR
What is scatter radiation?
X-rays scattered back in the direction of the incident x-ray beam. They go in a direction other than straight. Produced by compton interactions.
List the two principle characteristics of any image
Spatial resolution (ability to image small objects that have high subject contrast), and contrast resolution (ability to distinguish between and to image similar tissues)
How does each factor contribute to scatter radiation?
kVp affects penetrability of beam--an increase causes fewer x-rays to interact with matter, but more compton interactions ; Field size is controlled by the tech and as it increases the scatter increases ; Patient thickness is a factor because the thicker the body part, the more scatter it yields
How do we reduce the effect of the factors contributing to scatter?
kVp should be used at the lowest reasonable setting ; Field size should be decreased, but to keep the same OD exposure factors should be increased ; Using compression is a way to reduce scatter for thicker patient parts
Three types of beam restrictors
Aperture diaphragm, cones and cylinders, variable aperture collimator
What is the physical makeup of each beam restrictor?
Aperture diaphragm=flad sheet of lead w/ hole in center. It attaches to the tube port ; Cones and cylinders=circular diaphragms with extensions. These extensions are added to the tube port. Cones flare or diverge and cylinders do not. Cylinder more frequently used ; Variable aperture collimators=light localizing and can be automatic (PBL)
When is each beam restrictor used?
Aperture diaphragm: trauma, chest rooms, dental radiography ; Cones and cylinders: sinus series, nasal, orbits, dental, and mammography; Variable aperture collimator: most commonly used
What are the advantages of each beam restrictor?
Aperture diaphragm: simple in design, low cost, easy to use; Cones and cylinders: inexpensive, simple to use, can be used with other beam restricting devices; Variable aperture collimator: reduce patient dose and increase contrast
What are the disadvantages of each beam restrictor?
Aperture diaphragm: increase in penumbra, increase in off-focus radiation, fixed field size; Cones and cylinders: increase in penumbra (cones), alignment sensitive (cone cutting), and fixed field size; Variable aperture collimator: costly, not all x-rays are emitted precisely from the focal spot of the x-ray tube
Why do we use beam restrictors?
Because they limit the area being irradiated, produce less scatter by reducing number of compton interactions taking place which in turn reduces patient dose and increases contrast
What two things are improved by compression and the one thing that is lowered by it?
Spatial resolution and contrast are improved; Patient dose is lowered
What is increased when scatter fog is decreased?
Number of shades of gray in image (increased contrast)
What determines size of the aperture diaphragm?
Desired exposure field, SID, and distance from the focal spot | <urn:uuid:463dc829-a350-403e-b170-45f0f49e6268> | {
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Hubble’s view of massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745. The large field of view is a combination of 18 separate Hubble images. Credit:
NASA, ESA, Harald Ebeling (University of Hawaii at Manoa) & Jean-Paul Kneib (LAM)
Earlier this year, astronomers using the Hubble Space Telescope were able to identify a slim filament of dark matter that appeared to be binding a pair of distant galaxies together. Now, another filament has been found, and scientists a have been able to produce a 3-D view of the filament, the first time ever that the difficult-to-detect dark matter has been able to be measured in such detail. Their results suggest the filament has a high mass and, the researchers say, that if these measurements are representative of the rest of the Universe, then these structures may contain more than half of all the mass in the Universe.
Dark matter is thought to have been part of the Universe from the very beginning, a leftover from the Big Bang that created the backbone for the large-scale structure of the Universe.
“Filaments of the cosmic web are hugely extended and very diffuse, which makes them extremely difficult to detect, let alone study in 3D,” said Mathilde Jauzac, from Laboratoire d’Astrophysique de Marseille in France and University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, lead author of the study.
The team combined high resolution images of the region around the massive galaxy cluster MACS J0717.5+3745 (or MACS J0717 for short) – one of the most massive galaxy clusters known — and found the filament extends about 60 million light-years out from the cluster.
The team said their observations provide the first direct glimpse of the shape of the scaffolding that gives the Universe its structure. They used Hubble, NAOJ’s Subaru Telescope and the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope, with spectroscopic data on the galaxies within it from the WM Keck Observatory and the Gemini Observatory. Analyzing these observations together gives a complete view of the shape of the filament as it extends out from the galaxy cluster almost along our line of sight.
The team detailed their “recipe” for studying the vast but diffuse filament. .
First ingredient: A promising target. Theories of cosmic evolution suggest that galaxy clusters form where filaments of the cosmic web meet, with the filaments slowly funnelling matter into the clusters. “From our earlier work on MACS J0717, we knew that this cluster is actively growing, and thus a prime target for a detailed study of the cosmic web,” explains co-author Harald Ebeling (University of Hawaii at Manoa, USA), who led the team that discovered MACS J0717 almost a decade ago.
Second ingredient: Advanced gravitational lensing techniques. Albert Einstein’s famous theory of general relativity says that the path of light is bent when it passes through or near objects with a large mass. Filaments of the cosmic web are largely made up of dark matter which cannot be seen directly, but their mass is enough to bend the light and distort the images of galaxies in the background, in a process called gravitational lensing. The team has developed new tools to convert the image distortions into a mass map.
Third ingredient: High resolution images. Gravitational lensing is a subtle phenomenon, and studying it needs detailed images. Hubble observations let the team study the precise deformation in the shapes of numerous lensed galaxies. This in turn reveals where the hidden dark matter filament is located. “The challenge,” explains co-author Jean-Paul Kneib (LAM, France), “was to find a model of the cluster’s shape which fitted all the lensing features that we observed.”
Finally: Measurements of distances and motions. Hubble’s observations of the cluster give the best two-dimensional map yet of a filament, but to see its shape in 3D required additional observations. Colour images , as well as galaxy velocities measured with spectrometers , using data from the Subaru, CFHT, WM Keck, and Gemini North telescopes (all on Mauna Kea, Hawaii), allowed the team to locate thousands of galaxies within the filament and to detect the motions of many of them.
A model that combined positional and velocity information for all these galaxies was constructed and this then revealed the 3D shape and orientation of the filamentary structure. As a result, the team was able to measure the true properties of this elusive filamentary structure without the uncertainties and biases that come from projecting the structure onto two dimensions, as is common in such analyses.
The results obtained push the limits of predictions made by theoretical work and numerical simulations of the cosmic web. With a length of at least 60 million light-years, the MACS J0717 filament is extreme even on astronomical scales. And if its mass content as measured by the team can be taken to be representative of filaments near giant clusters, then these diffuse links between the nodes of the cosmic web may contain even more mass (in the form of dark matter) than theorists predicted.
More info in this ESA HubbleCast video:
Source: ESA Hubble | <urn:uuid:2a8b992f-401e-4d70-a38a-21858a149ef5> | {
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Wednesday, 21 December 2011 19:50
An ATM card is a plastic card issued by a financial institution that allows the card holder to get basic financial services from an automated teller machine. These services include: deposits, withdrawals up to a specified limit per day, and account balance inquiries. An ATM card requires that a personal identification number (PIN) be used in order to access the account.
A debit card is a plastic card issued by a financial institution that can be used like a credit card. The difference is that a credit card allows the card holder to borrow money for a purchase, and a debit card makes an electronic payment immediately from the card holder's checking account or savings account. A debit card is also called a "check card" or a "cash card."
Many financial institutions issue an ATM/Debit Card. This card has the functionality of both an ATM Card and a Debit Card.
Do you have an ATM or debit card, and how often do you use it?
Don't forget to include your Aware Teens Username when you respond so you can be entered to win the monthly rewards points for commenting on the blog! | <urn:uuid:9afa70df-5bfe-453e-b107-9b0ef44f9442> | {
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New Mexico became the 47th state in the United States on Jan. 6, 1912. Before statehood, the country purchased the land in 1853 as part of the Gadsen Purchase. At that point in history, New Mexico became a U.S. territory called New Mexico Territory.
The state features the oldest seat of government in the country, the Palace of the Governors, constructed in 1610. The building sits in the state's capitol of Santa Fe. Originally, Spain colonized the land, and a quarter of the million residents in the state and in southern Colorado speak a Spanish dialect that features Castilian origins.
The state has a close history with the military, as it hosted the country's first atomic bomb tests in 1945 at the Trinity Site, which sits in the central part of the state. Los Alamos National Laboratory, which opened in 1943, researched and developed the atomic bomb.
New Mexico's nickname is the "Land of Enchantment," and the state spans 121,590 square miles, making it the fifth largest state in the country. However, most of the square mileage is land, as the state ranks 49th in the country in water area.
Some of the famous landmarks in the state include Carlsbad Caverns and the White Sands National Monument, which features the largest dune field of gypsum on Earth. | <urn:uuid:f176b1f2-19f0-4913-93ea-0c9df18e4d80> | {
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Professor James Kirtley is working with EECS graduate students Michael Zieve and Jared Monnin to build a laboratory-scale microgrid that they will use to verify and further investigate results from simulation studies performed by Masdar Institute collaborators. In their lab-scale microgrid, they are using off-the-shelf equipment plus computer controls to replicate the behavior of key electricity generating and consuming devices—for example, the “solar farm” shown in the photo. On the wall behind them are switches and controllers that connect and disconnect the power supplies and loads as well as circuit breakers that link and unlink the microgrid from the local power system. (Photo: Justin Knight)
Read the article appearing Jan. 31, 2012 by Nancy Stauffer spotlighted on the James L. Kirtley, Jr., professor of electrical engineering at MIT, and Hatem H. Zeineldin, associate professor of electrical power engineering at the Masdar Institute, have been collaborating on studies focusing on the microgrid. Working with others at MIT and Masdar, they are performing analytical and experimental studies designed to help bring about a future of abundant microgrids, each one tailored to serve its particular customer base as smoothly, reliably, and cost-effectively as possible.
A powerful planning toolIn designing a new microgrid, a major challenge—and opportunity—is deciding what components to choose and then how best to operate them to meet demand. “To serve my customers, I have to make a certain number of kilowatts at times of peak load and a certain number of kilowatt-hours per year,” says Kirtley. “Now the question is, How much generating capacity do I buy in solar PV panels and windmills? What do I need in diesel generators and batteries for backup? What mix will give me the performance I need at the least cost, or with the lowest possible emissions, or with some mix of the two?”
Unfortunately, those two objectives are inherently contradictory. In general, low costs mean high emissions, and vice versa. But system designers and operators may care more about achieving one objective than the other. Given those preferences, they need to decide how to configure and operate their microgrid.
To help in that decisionmaking process, Ahmed Saif, graduate student at the Masdar Institute, developed an analytical method based on “multi-objective optimization” techniques. Because system configuration and operations planning are interdependent, his method analyzes those two factors simultaneously, determining the costs and emissions associated with all possible options. Based on the results, the method generates a set of optimal designs and operating strategies that will minimize costs and emissions, assuming different weighting on those two objectives.
To demonstrate his method, he performed a case study that involved planning a stand-alone microgrid for a city of 50,000 residents—a size similar to that of Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, the location of the Masdar Institute and a city designed to be the first zero-waste, “net zero”-carbon community relying entirely on renewable energy sources. Based on published data, he calculated a pattern of demand similar to that of Abu Dhabi but scaled down to his community of 50,000.
In the case study, the proposed microgrid could include PV panels, wind turbines, diesel electric generators, and sodium sulfur batteries. The system should run as much as possible on its renewable technologies, using the diesel generators or batteries when more power is needed. Finally, the system should provide perfect reliability—that is, it should never fail to meet total customer demand.
Saif used information from commercially available sources to determine the capital, operating, and maintenance costs associated with each component. Based on fuel consumption, he calculated the operational carbon dioxide emissions of diesel generators—the only component in the system that produces emissions when it runs. But for every device in the system, he included “embedded” emissions, that is, emissions associated with making, installing, maintaining, and decommissioning the device. Including embedded emissions is critical to accurately represent the full environmental impacts of different generation options. Excluding them will yield a sub-optimal choice.
Results from his analysis appear in the figure below. The curve is the “Pareto front,” where each point is the optimal combination of design and operating choices for a given emphasis on one objective over the other (say, minimizing cost more than emissions). At any point on the curve, it is impossible to make one objective better without making the other one worse.
Micrigrid design and operation: Optimal choices for minimizing cost versus minimizing emissions
This figure shows results from a case study in which various component configurations and operating strategies were simultaneously evaluated for a microgrid being planned for a city of 50,000 people. Each point on the Pareto front is the optimal combination of design and operating choices for a given emphasis on minimizing cost versus emissions. At the extremes, point “a” minimizes emissions regardless of cost, and point “b” minimizes cost regardless of emissions.
The point marked “a” is the best choice if the only goal is to minimize emissions; point “b” is best to minimize cost, regardless of emissions. Interest- ingly, those two points differ by less than 1% in cost and 3% in emissions. The system configuration that minimizes cost also brings emissions close to the minimum attainable level, and vice versa. In both cases, the optimal system selected includes wind turbines, diesel generators, and batteries—but no PV panels.
Why is that? Because the wind turbine generators have the lowest cost and lowest emissions per kilowatt-hour of electricity delivered. When supplemented by large-scale storage, they can satisfy demand on the microgrid at most times. However, diesel generators are still needed when another generating unit fails and when storing wind-generated energy has not been feasible for long periods of time.
Relaxing the reliability
In another series of analyses, Saif assumed different levels of reliability and excluded the sodium sulfur battery option. (While that battery technology is promising, it has not yet been demonstrated at the scale needed here.) In these runs, he defined reliability in terms of “expected unserved energy” (EUE)—the expected amount of energy not supplied by the microgrid due to capacity deficiency.
Results of those analyses appear in the figure below. The Pareto front for 0% EUE—perfect reliability—shows the impact of excluding the battery option. Compared to the curve on this page, both costs and emissions are significantly higher at every point. That result demonstrates the importance of developing viable energy storage technology. But as the reliability constraint is relaxed—through accepting higher values of EUE—cost and emissions both decrease dramatically, largely because fewer system components are needed. Such results quantify the trade-offs available to the microgrid planner.
Microgrid design and operation: Impacts of varying reliability requirements
These results are from analyses that exclude the battery option and permit different levels of reliability, measured as “expected unserved energy” (EUE)—the expected amount of energy not supplied by the microgrid. Without batteries to store energy, both costs and emissions are higher. But permitting less reliable service (through higher EUEs) dramatically reduces costs and emissions. There is less need to buy and run expensive equipment to ensure continuous generation, for example, when the sun is down and there is no wind.
Testing microgrid behavior—at the laboratory scaleSimulation studies suggest that one of the biggest challenges for an operating microgrid may be disconnecting and then reconnecting with the central power system. When the power system shuts down, the microgrid may need to ramp up generation and possibly cut service to some customers; and when the power system comes back on, the microgrid must resynchronize with it for smooth operation. “Those changes should be made automatically, immedi- ately, and seamlessly,” says Kirtley. “I like to call it a bump-less transition.”
Simulation studies by Ali H. Kasem Alaboudy, postdoctoral fellow at the Masdar Institute, and Zeineldin indicate one potential cause of problems during such transitions: the presence of inductive motors, the workhorses that run air conditioners, lathes, and other equipment common in industrial and commercial facilities. Simulation results show that when those motors are suddenly cut off by the central power system and restarted by the microgrid, voltage on the microgrid can become unstable.
To verify and further investigate those and other simulation results, Kirtley and his students at MIT are building a lab-scale analog—a “micro-microgrid”—on which they hope to replicate such operating challenges. They are using standard, low-tech devices (DC motors and switches and capacitors) plus sophisticated computer modeling based on detailed understanding of how specific generating components and energy-consuming devices work. As Kirtley says, “We’re phony-ing up a lot of things.”
For example, graduate student Michael Zieve of electrical engineering and computer science (EECS) is simulating a diesel engine using a DC motor and some power electronics. Jared Monnin, also a graduate student in EECS, is using the same approach to simulate a solar farm. Several other students are contributing to a simulated wind turbine, including the dynamics of wind gusts that contribute to the variability of electric power generated by wind turbines.
On the other side, the system will include a variety of “customers.” The team is incorporating inductive loads such as fans, and adjustable resistive loads such as light bulbs controlled by dimmers. The loads will be wired into the system through switches that can connect and disconnect them. All will be computer controlled.
Once the lab-scale microgrid is complete, the researchers will link it to the local power system through a standard utility circuit breaker box. They will then add one more critical component: a device that will protect the local power system from harmful effects as they create short circuits and other conditions intended to challenge their micro-microgrid. During those tests, the team will carefully monitor the behavior of every component as well as the overall system, gathering information that will provide guidance to designers who are planning microgrids with full-sized components and customers.
This research was supported by the Masdar Institute, a Founding Public Member of the MIT Energy Initiative. Further information can be found in:
A. Saif, K. Gad Elrab, H. Zeineldin, and S. Kennedy. Multi-Objective Capacity Planning of a PV-Wind-Diesel-Battery Hybrid Power System. IEEE International Energy Conference and Exhibition, Manama, Bahrain, December 18–22, 2010. DOI: 10.1109/ENERGY-CON.2010.5771679.
A. Alaboudy and H. Zeineldin. Critical Clearing Time for Isolating Microgrids with Inverter and Synchronous Based Distributed Generation. IEEE Power and Engineering Society General Meeting 2010, Minneapolis, Minnesota, July 25–29, 2010. DOI: 10.1109/PES.2010.5590125. | <urn:uuid:14da6b7c-59f3-4e69-bcf1-5d69bfd495bb> | {
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Hungary is a parliamentary democracy with a freely elected legislative assembly. Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the leader of the FIDESZ-Hungarian Civic Party, heads a coalition Government formed after elections in May 1998 by FIDESZ, the Independent Smallholders' Party, and the Hungarian Democratic Forum. The Government generally respects the constitutional provisions for an independent judiciary.
The internal and external security services report directly to a minister without portfolio, and the police report to the Interior Minister. Police committed human rights abuses.
The country's population is approximately 10.1 million. Most international financial institutions agreed that the country has completed successfully its transition from a centrally directed economy to a fully functioning and prosperous market economy. By year's end, the economy had grown by approximately 4 percent, unemployment had fallen to 5.5 percent, and inflation had dropped to 6.9 percent. The Government maintained a strong commitment to a market economy, but has done little to address several remaining problems in agriculture, health care, and tax reform. The private sector accounts for more than 80 percent of gross domestic product (GDP). Despite the economy's performance, an estimated 25 percent of the population lives in poverty, with the elderly, large families, and the Roma most affected. The per capita GDP was approximately $4,500 (1.3 million HUF) in 2000.
The Government generally respected the human rights of its citizens; however, there were serious problems in some areas. Police continued to use excessive force against, beat, and harass suspects. Police also abused and harassed both Roma and foreign nationals. In practice the authorities do not always ensure due process. Prosecutors and judges may impose what amounts to unlimited pretrial detention. The authorities have attempted to evict Roma from some cities. There have been several reported incidents of interference in state-owned radio broadcasts by politically appointed board members. Violence against women, including spousal abuse, remained serious problems. Sexual harassment and discrimination on the job also remained serious problems. The Government has taken steps to improve the rights of persons with disabilities and continued to implement legislation to improve the status of women. Anti-Semitic and racial discrimination persisted and a number of racially motivated attacks, particularly against Roma were reported during the year. Societal discrimination against Roma remained a serious problem. Trafficking in persons, particularly women and children, for the purpose of prostitution and forced labor remained a problem.
RESPECT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
Section 1 Respect for the Integrity of the Person, Including Freedom From:
a. Arbitrary or Unlawful Deprivation of Life
There were no reports during the year of the arbitrary or unlawful deprivation of life committed by the Government or its agents.
In 2000 a Cameroonian asylum seeker, Ebune Christian Ecole, died while being deported. A government autopsy concluded that the cause of death was a congenital heart defect. Local nongovernmental organizations (NGO) called for a thorough investigation of the circumstances surrounding Ecole's death; however, in March the Budapest Public Prosecutor declined to conduct an investigation and closed the case.
Trials continued in a number of cases of persons charged with crimes against humanity for shooting into crowds of demonstrators with machine gun fire and for throwing hand grenades during the 1956 Revolution. The defendants originally were tried in 1993 for their actions in connection with these events. They were charged with murder but were acquitted because the 15-year statute of limitations for murder had passed. However, in 1999 the Supreme Court overturned the previous verdicts, stating that the defendants should be charged with war crimes, which have no time limit, and retried. In 2000 at total of 10 of the defendants were convicted. Those found guilty were sentenced to short prison terms that subsequently were suspended, and had their pensions reduced. Former military officials found guilty during these trials also were reduced in rank, which affects their pension rights. Eight cases remained pending before the courts at year's end.
There were no reports of politically motivated disappearances.
c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
The law prohibits such practices; however, police abuses continued, including the excessive use of force, beatings of suspects, and harassment. Police continued to harass and physically abuse Roma and foreign nationals.
During the year, the Interior Ministry reported 92 cases of police abuse, 26 cases of forced questioning, and 14 cases of unlawful detention. Although the Government's data protection law prohibits the identification of individuals by ethnicity in government statistics, the Interior Ministry stated that Roma were the targets of police abuse in 19 cases. Local NGO's estimated the total number of cases to be significantly greater than Government figures indicated. In 2000 a total of 27 complaints filed against police officers resulted in court cases. However, in the majority of cases no investigation has occurred. Many of the cases that did not make it into the court system remained pending at year's end. Historically 10 to 15 percent of such cases result in convictions. In 2000 two cases involving the use of force during interrogation resulted in convictions against police. Punishments for police abuses include fines, probation, and the imposition of suspended sentences. According to a report by the Hungarian Helsinki Committee (HHC) in 2000, persons detained by police complained of abuse, but very few file official complaints because they do not expect positive results and fear that the complaint may affect their cases adversely. However, some sources attributed the increase in the numbers of reports of police abuse to a growing willingness to seek official redress in these instances.
The Romani minority community and dark-skinned foreigners are the most common victims of police abuse, with Roma bearing the brunt of such abuse. In April police raided a funeral wake in Bag, a predominately Roma village in Pest county. The Roma Civic Rights Foundation alleged that police assaulted several individuals while entering a private home during the raid; an investigation by Pest county authorities was ongoing at year's end (see Section 5). During the year, the Government Office of Ethnic Minorities received regular complaints of police misconduct and abuse from Roma.
In June 1999, after several incidents of police brutality against Roma in Hajduhadhaz, the Ministry of Interior admitted that the town had the highest level of reported police violence in the country, and that half of the town's police force was under investigation for allegations of abuse. During the year, four police officers were dismissed in Hajduhadhaz as a result of a government investigation. The Roma Civic Rights Protection Foundation reported that in Budapest in June 1999, three police officers beat and kicked a Romani university student as he walked through a park. When the man told the officers that he would report their abuse, they beat him further. The Rom filed a lawsuit against the officers; in October he withdrew the lawsuit. Despite such occurrences, the Ombudsman for Minority Affairs, which investigates constitutional violations in the public sector, believes that the situation was, at worst, remaining constant, and possibly was better, but only marginally.
NGO's reported fewer cases of police harassment of foreign residents, particularly of non-Europeans; however, police showed indifference towards foreigners who had been victims of street crime.
Border guards facilitated trafficking in persons by taking bribes from traffickers (see Section 6.f.).
The police and Interior Ministry continued to work to change the authoritarian image of the police, and human rights organizations report that police generally were more cooperative with outside monitoring of police behavior.
Prisons are overcrowded but generally meet international standards according to the HHC who conducted a monitoring program that ended during the year. In 1 detention facility the study found that 5 percent of inmates alleged mistreatment by prison guards, which included 49 cases of minor physical assault. The Military Prosecutor's Office, which has responsibility for such cases, declined to conduct an investigation and simultaneously determined that no mistreatment had occurred. As of September, the population of prisons and detention centers was 17,170 persons, or 156 percent of capacity, which represents an increase of 9 percent from 2000. Tougher maximum sentences have contributed to the increase in the prison population. According to officials, the general health of prisoners declined in the last few years.
Between 65 and 70 percent of prisoners earn wages while in prison, either from work performed in prison or from work-release programs. The HHC reported that the wages prisoners received were lower than those of workers outside of penal institutions. The organization also expressed its concern that the period of time spent working in penal institutions by prisoners does not count towards social security service time. Some programs allow prisoners to spend weekends at home. There are sports facilities, as well as radio and television, in each penal institution. Libraries also were available and prisoners may attend training programs to assist their eventual return to life outside of prison. Civic organizations, foundations, charity organizations, and churches assist in the rehabilitation process. In response to a report by the chief Ombudsman, a new predetention center was opened in 2000, reconstruction work on two prisons continued, and a new prison is scheduled to open in early 2003. Men and women are held separately, juveniles are held separately from adults, and pretrial detainees are held separately from convicted prisoners.
The Government permits visits by independent human rights monitors, which conducted such visits during the year.
d. Arbitrary Arrest, Detention, or Exile
The Constitution prohibits arbitrary arrest and detention, and the Government generally observes these prohibitions.
The law requires that police obtain warrants to place an individual under arrest. Police must inform suspects upon arrest of the charges against them but may hold detainees for a maximum of 72 hours before filing charges. The law requires that all suspects be allowed access to counsel prior to questioning and throughout all subsequent proceedings, and that the authorities provide counsel for juveniles, the indigent, and persons with mental disabilities; however, credible reports suggest that police do not always allow access to counsel, particularly for minor crimes. There is no system of bail.
Pretrial detention, based on a warrant issued by a judge, initially is limited to 1 year while criminal investigations are in progress; it may be extended indefinitely on the prosecutor's motion, provided that a judge concurs. Under the new Criminal Procedure Law that is scheduled to take effect in January, 2003, pretrial detention is to be limited to a maximum of 3 years, after which a case expires automatically if formal charges are not brought. The lack of a bail system gives a great deal of flexibility to judges. The Prosecutor General's Office reported that the average length of pretrial detention during the first 6 months of the year was 108 days, compared with 106 days in 2000, although nearly 10 percent of detainees were held for periods ranging from 8 to 12 months. In addition aliens usually were held until their trials, since they are considered likely to flee the country. Roma allege that they were kept in pretrial detention longer and more frequently than non-Roma (see Section 1.e.). The law provides for compensation when a detainee or victim of forced medical treatment is released for lack of evidence, but the procedure rarely is exercised since detainees must undertake a complicated legal procedure to pursue such claims. The Minister of Justice, on behalf of the State, decides upon compensation. The amount is decided on a case by case basis, and may cover the costs of the trial, attorney's fees, lost wages, and some other miscellaneous sums.
The law permits police to hold suspects in public security detention (PSD) under certain circumstances, including when a suspect has no identity papers, when blood or urine tests must be performed to determine blood alcohol content, or when a suspect continues to commit a misdemeanor offense in spite of a prior warning. Suspects may be held in PSD for up to 24 hours. Such detainees are not always informed of the charges against them, because such periods of "short" detention are not defined as "criminal detention" and so are not considered to be covered by the Criminal Code. However, there were no reports that police abuse these rights in practice.
The law does not provide for forced exile, and the Government does not employ it.
e. Denial of Fair Public Trial
The Constitution provides for an independent judiciary, and the Government generally respects this provision in practice.
Under the Constitution, the courts are responsible for the administration of justice, with the Supreme Court exercising control over the operations and judicial procedure of all other courts. There are three levels of courts. Original jurisdiction in most matters rests with the local courts. Appeals of their rulings may be made to the county courts or to the Budapest municipal court, which have original jurisdiction in other matters. The Supreme Court is the final court of appeal, while the Constitutional Court is the final court on constitutional matters. Appeals of decisions by military courts also may be heard by the Supreme Court.
Under the new Criminal Procedure Law that is scheduled to take effect in January 2003, an intermediate court of appeal is to be established between the county courts and the Supreme Court. These intermediate courts were designed to alleviate the backlog of court cases and permit lower courts to hear simple cases; however, critics of the new system charged that it would slow court procedures and increase costs. The Government has delayed indefinitely the implementation of the new level of courts, citing budgetary constraints.
The Constitutional Court is charged with reviewing the constitutionality of laws and statutes brought before it as well as the compliance of these laws with international treaties that the Government has ratified. Parliament elects, with a two-thirds majority, the 11 members of the Constitutional Court, who serve 9-year terms. In theory their mandates may be renewed, but no judge has been reelected. The judges elect the president of the Constitutional Court from among themselves by secret ballot. Citizens may appeal to the Constitutional Court directly if they believe that their constitutional rights have been violated. The Constitutional Court is required to address every petition it receives; however, no deadline is specified for the Court to render a decision. Consequently a considerable backlog of cases has developed. No judge or member of the Supreme or Constitutional Courts may belong to a political party, or a trade union. Members of the Constitutional and Supreme Courts also may not be members of Parliament, or be employed in local government. The retirement age of the Constitutional Court judges is 70 years.
A National Judicial Council nominates judicial appointees other than the Constitutional Court and oversees the judicial budget process.
The law provides for the right to a fair trial, and an independent judiciary generally enforces this right. Trials are public, but in selected cases, judges may agree to a closed trial to protect the accused or the crime victim, such as in some rape cases. Judicial proceedings generally are investigative rather than adversarial in nature. Defendants are entitled to counsel during all phases of criminal proceedings and are presumed innocent until proven guilty. Counsel is appointed for indigent clients, but the public defender system provides generally substandard service. There is no public defender's office; private attorneys may or may not choose to serve in this capacity. Public defenders are paid poorly--less than $5 (1,000 HUF) for the first hour of the trial and less than $2.50 (500 HUF) for each additional hour--and do not give indigent defendants priority. Lawyers often meet indigent clients for the first time at trial.
Judicial proceedings vary in length and delays of several months to a year are common prior to the commencement of trials. Cases on appeal may remain pending before the courts for indefinite periods, during which time defendants are held in detention. There is no jury system; judges are the final arbiters. Recent changes to the law, which are scheduled to take effect in 2003, would limit the length of judicial proceedings to 3 years.
Under the new Criminal Procedure Law, which is scheduled to take effect in 2003, prosecutors are to have greater influence over their cases. Plea bargaining, which is known as a trial waiver, is a tool available to prosecutors. Police believe that plea bargaining may be an important weapon in the fight against organized crime.
Many human rights and Romani organizations claimed that Roma receive less than equal treatment in the judicial process. Specifically they alleged that Roma are kept in pretrial detention more often and for longer periods of time than non-Roma. This allegation is credible in light of general discrimination against Roma; however, there is no statistical evidence because identifying the ethnicity of offenders is not allowed under the data protection law. Since the majority of Roma fall into the lowest economic strata, they also suffer from substandard legal representation.
Military trials follow civil law and may be closed if national security or moral grounds so justify. In all cases, sentencing must take place publicly. The law does not provide for the trial of civilians in military courts.
During the year, the Ministry of Interior established a Victim Protection Office in each county to provide psychological, medical and social services assistance to victims of crime. At the conclusion of judicial proceedings, victims may apply through the National Public Security and Crime Prevention Public Foundation for financial compensation, which is to be paid by the person convicted of the crime. In 2000 a total of 183 out of 347 applicants were given compensation totaling more than $100,000 (30 million HUF). The White Ring Nonprofit Association, which is a member of the European Victim Protection Forum, supports the work of the Victim Protection Offices. A book on victim protection, used to train policemen and activists, also contains a list of all NGO's that provide protection to victims of crime. In December Parliament enacted legislation that expanded legal protection of persons involved in court cases; however, the law had not been implemented by year's end.
There were no reports of political prisoners.
f. Arbitrary Interference with Privacy, Family, Home, or Correspondence
The law prohibits such actions and the Government generally respects these prohibitions in practice. The law provides that the prosecutor's office may issue search warrants. Police must carry out searches of private residences in the presence of two witnesses and must prepare a written inventory of items removed from the premises. Wiretapping, which may be done for national security reasons and for legitimate criminal investigations, requires a court's permission. These provisions appear to be observed in practice.
Section 2 Respect for Civil Liberties, Including:
a. Freedom of Speech and Press
The Constitution provides for freedom of speech and the press, and the Government generally respects this right in practice; however, during the year, the FIDESZ-led coalition Government continued to attempt to counterbalance what it considered a leftwing bias in news coverage through its influence on personnel decisions within the state-owned media. Nonetheless a wide variety of views and opinions were available among the highly competitive print and broadcast media.
After the transition from communism, the majority of print media outlets were purchased by foreign publishing companies. There were numerous publications that made the local print market much more competitive. Political opposition sources and media outlets critical of the Government made credible claims that the FIDESZ-led Government, in its attempt to "balance" the print media, promoted certain media outlets over others. For example, advertisements from state-owned companies and financial institutions were awarded to progovernment papers, which also tended to receive better access to government sources.
The Media Law created institutions designed to foster a free and independent electronic media. The law provided for the creation of nationwide commercial television and radio boards and was intended to insulate the remaining public service media from government control. The National Television and Radio Board monitored news broadcasts for equal treatment of all political parties and censured and fined public and private broadcasters.
Only FIDESZ-led coalition Government delegates served on the truncated media boards for Hungarian Public Radio and Hungarian Public Television, despite the fact that the law requires politically proportional representation on the boards. Political opposition leaders claimed that the FIDESZ-led Government had extended its power within the state-owned media through its influence over personnel decisions.
There are minority-language print media, and the state-run radio broadcasts 2-hour daily programs in languages of the major minority groups in Romani, Slovak, Romanian, German, Croatian, and Serbian. State-run television carries a 26-minute program produced by and for each major minority group; programs serving the smaller minority communities may be seen every other week or on a monthly basis. All of the programs are repeated on the weekends. In October Radio C, a nonprofit station sponsored by public foundations that began broadcasting in February, was granted a 7-year license; 80 percent of its staff are Roma.
In November charges were filed against Aron Modus and six other persons for publishing the anti-Semitic "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," on the grounds that the book was a misleading account of Jewish history.
The Government does not restrict or monitor access to the Internet.
Academic freedom is respected.
b. Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association
The Constitution provides for the freedoms of assembly and association, and the Government generally respects these rights in practice.
There essentially are no restrictions on peaceful public gatherings. The Government does not require permits for assembly, except when a public gathering is to take place near sensitive installations, such as military facilities, embassies, or key government buildings. The Government may alter or revoke permits for assembly, but there were no reports that they used this authority during the year.
Any 10 or more persons may form an association, provided that it does not commit criminal offenses or disturb the rights of others. Associations with charters and elected officers must register with the courts. Registration of associations is granted routinely and without bias.
c. Freedom of Religion
The Constitution provides for freedom of religion, and the Government generally respects this right in practice.
There are 100 officially recognized religions. A group must provide 100 signatures to register as a religion, which it may do in any local court. While any group is free to practice their faith, formal registration makes available to a religious group certain protections and privileges, and grants access to several forms of state funding.
There is no preferred religion, although not all religions receive state support. The Government provides subsidies to some religious groups in amounts negotiated each year between the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and the Finance Ministry. During the year, the Government provided subsidies to 90 religious groups, compared with 76 in 2000.
The Government has demonstrated a willingness to treat the larger or more well-established religions more favorably than minority religious communities. In 2000 Parliament amended the tax code and set criteria under which direct contributions to churches are tax deductible; these criteria limit the benefit to 14 of the 100 registered churches in the country. In February several of the smaller churches whose members cannot participate in this tax deduction took the case to the Constitutional Court, which chose not to review it.
In 2000 the Hungarian Tax Authority (APEH) initiated investigations of the Church of Scientology, based on questions regarding the registration of its clergy. The investigations took place at the Church's office where APEH investigators requested files and conducted interviews. The investigations have not affected the usual management of the Church and have not required the expenditure of large amounts of Church funds. The APEH had not completed its investigation by year's end.
Between 1997 and 1999, the Government signed separate agreements with the country's four "historic churches" (the Roman Catholic, the Lutheran and Reformed Churches, and the Jewish community), and with two smaller churches (the Hungarian Baptist and the Budai Serb Orthodox). The Government and these churches agreed upon a number of properties to be returned that had been confiscated during the Communist regime, and an amount of monetary compensation to be paid for properties that could not be returned. In 1999 the Government paid churches $21 million (5 billion HUF) in compensation for assets. By 2011 the Government is expected to pay an estimated total of $179 million (42 billion HUF) to religious groups for buildings that are not returned. While these agreements primarily addressed property issues and restitution, they also have provisions that addressed the public service activities of the churches, religious education, and the preservation of monuments.
Overall 7,220 claims have been made by churches for property restitution under the Compensation Law; of these cases, 1,600 were rejected as inapplicable under the law; the Government decided to return the property in 1,129 of them; and the Government made cash payments in another 1,770. Approximately 1,000 cases were resolved directly between former and present owners without government intervention. In the remainder (approximately 1,660 cases), the Government must decide whether to return the real property that once belonged to the various religious groups by 2011. Religious orders and schools are among those that have regained some property confiscated by the Communist regime.
In 2000 the Council of Europe's Commission Against Racism and Intolerance published a report that criticized the blatant anti-Semitism in some media, in Parliament, and in society (see Section 5). Jewish community officials concerned about blatant anti-Semitism claimed that the Government does not distance itself sufficiently from the extreme rightwing MIEP party's coded anti-Semitic pronouncements.
d. Freedom of Movement within the Country, Foreign Travel, Emigration, and Repatriation
The Constitution provides for these rights, and the Government generally respects them in practice; however, local authorities in some cases have tried to expel Roma from towns. Authorities have taken advantage of situations such as the eviction for nonpayment of bills or condemnation of Roma homes to relocate and concentrate Romani populations, in effect creating ghettos (see Section 5).
The Government may delay but not deny emigration for those who have significant court-assessed debts or who possess state secrets. Those with approximately $40,000 (over 10 million HUF) or more in public debt may be denied travel documents. The Government requires that foreigners from countries that do not have a visa waiver agreement with Hungary obtain exit visas each time they leave the country, although blanket permission at times is available.
Discrimination, poverty, and unresolved social problems continued to drive Roma emigration, particularly to Canada (see Section 5).
In June Parliament passed the Status Law, which is scheduled to take effect in January 2002, and provides certain social, educational, and economic benefits to ethnic Hungarians living outside the country in neighboring states, with the exception of Austria. Under this law, ethnic Hungarians living abroad may qualify for temporary work permits, and the Government would promote Hungarian minority education in neighboring states.
The law provides for the granting of asylee or refugee status in accordance with the 1951 U.N. Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. The Government cooperates with the office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other humanitarian organizations assisting refugees. The Government provides first asylum. According to the UNHCR, approximately 9,554 asylum seekers entered the country during the year (a 22.5 percent increase over 2000) of which 4,311 were from Afghanistan. In 2000 the Government granted 197 out of 7,801 applicants refugee status under the Geneva Convention; 680 applicants were granted temporary protected status. During the first 8 months of the year, 125 out of 5,787 applicants were granted refugee status and 193 were granted temporary protected status. Of 7,801 applicants for asylum in 2000, 2,185 were from Afghanistan, 1,656 were from Bangladesh, 889 were from Iraq, 249 were from Sri Lanka, 220 were from Pakistan, and 692 were from the former Yugoslavia. While the high number of Afghan refugees is not unusual, the relative decrease in Yugoslav applicants in 2000 reflected the changes in Yugoslavia.
In January 2000, the Government established the Government Office of Immigration and Naturalization (OIN), (formerly the Office of Migration and Refugee Affairs) as the central authority for asylum and immigration matters. Refugee applicants are housed in three government-owned camps and two temporary camps run by NGO's. The camps have been operating since the early 1990's, largely as a result of the influx of refugees fleeing the various conflicts and incidents of ethnic cleansing to the south. The Government estimated that there were as many as 5,000 asylum seekers and as many as 40,000 to 60,000 immigrants (the vast majority from Romania) living in the country in unregistered status; however, the local office of the UNHCR believes that these figures are too high. In October Parliament passed amendments to the Laws on Asylum and on Aliens, aimed at streamlining and simplifying the court process for asylum; the amendment is to take effect in 2002. The HHC expressed regrets that the amendment to the Aliens Act lacked provisions that would take into consideration the family ties in Hungary of those deported.
The increase in asylum caseload resulting from a change in the law in 1998 and from events in Kosovo and the resulting NATO action in 1999 placed a tremendous strain on the OIN's resources, leading to a large number of pending cases and an increased processing time per application. Prospective refugees who seek only to transit to other European countries are encouraged to return to their countries of departure. As of October 2, there were approximately 2,187 asylum seekers located in 3 permanent and 2 temporary reception centers. In October in anticipation of an increase in the number of refugees, the immigration authorities opened a former military barracks south of Budapest to serve as an additional center to house refugees. Several NGO's and human rights organizations support asylum seekers and provide legal information
Foreigners caught trying to cross the border illegally either may apply for refugee status if they have valid travel documents, or are housed temporarily at one of eight border guard facilities throughout the country, pending deportation. During the first 6 months of the year, 6,964 persons occupied these facilities; in 2000 there were 11,570 persons. On average there are 691 persons in the facilities per day. In 2000 the greatest number of aliens in the border guard facilities came from Romania (5,846), Moldova (1,372) and Afghanistan (434); in the first 8 months of the year, there were 2,985 Romanians, 896 Moldovans, and 545 Afghans in the border guard facilities. While police seek the timely deportation of detainees who do not qualify for refugee status, a shortage of funds and the detainees' lack of property or documentation, such as passports, often resulted in lengthy stays. Unlike in the previous year, there were no reports of abuse during deportation. In 2000 a Cameroonian asylum seeker, Ebune Christian Ecole, died while being deported (see Section 1.a.).
NGO's and foreign governments have criticized the Government for inhumane conditions in the border guard facilities and for the arbitrary application of asylum procedures. In 1999 the Parliament's human rights ombudsman criticized the conditions in border guard community shelters for foreigners, including asylum seekers, as "uncivilized and intolerable." Partly in response to this criticism, in 2000 the Government closed the worst centers and additional unsuitable facilities during the year; construction began on new detention centers during the year. The Government has sought to work with NGO's to improve conditions.
There were no reports of the forced return of persons to a country where they feared persecution during the year.
Section 3 Respect for Political Rights: The Right of Citizens to Change Their Government
The Constitution provides citizens with the right to change their government peacefully, and citizens exercise this right in practice through periodic, free, and fair elections held on the basis of universal suffrage. Elections are held at least every 4 years.
Members of Parliament are elected every 4 years through a complex, multistate process, in which voters cast ballots for individual candidates and party lists. The FIDESZ ruling parliamentary faction heads the ruling coalition, which includes the Smallholders' Party and the Hungarian Democratic Forum (the latter two parties formed the government coalition between 1990 and 1994 with the Christian Democrats, one segment of which later merged with FIDESZ). The opposition includes the extreme rightwing Hungarian Justice and Life Party and two leftwing parties, the Hungarian Socialist Party and the Free Democrats.
The law on ethnic minorities and the election law provide for the establishment of minority self-governments (see Section 5).
The percentage of women in government and politics does not correspond to their percentage of the population, although there are no legal impediments to women's participation. Only 33 of 386 parliamentary representatives are female, and 1 woman serves in the Cabinet. Few women occupy other leadership positions in the Government or political parties. The level of women's political participation is greater in provincial and municipal governments than at the national level. The Hungarian Women's Alliance holds weekend courses throughout the year to promote the participation of women in public life.
The percentage of minorities in Government and politics does not reflect their percentage of the population. Despite the lack of ensured minority representation, there are several Members of Parliament, including one ethnic German and one ethnic Slovak, who are members of ethnic minorities; however, none specifically represents their respective minority populations. There are no Romani Members of Parliament; however, in December FIDESZ signed an election cooperation pact with the leading Romany association Lungo Drom to promote the election of Roma to Parliament in 2002 under the FIDESZ ticket.
Section 4 Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights
A number of domestic and international human rights groups in general operate without government restriction, investigating and publishing their findings on human rights cases. Many NGO's report that the Government increasingly was responsive to their requests for information. Human rights groups indicated improvement in the degree of cooperation from Government Ministries and prosecutors' offices on cases involving Roma and police abuse. An increasing number of NGO's are involved in the law-making process; however, NGO's claimed that the Government's cooperation in this area was insufficient.
The Government does not interfere with activities of international NGO's and several have established offices in the country, including Human Rights Without Frontiers and the Helsinki Committee.
There is a 21-member parliamentary Committee for Human, Minority, and Religious Rights, which conducts hearings and participates in the law-making process. The Committee is composed of both majority and opposition Members of Parliament, which reflects the proportion of party representation in Parliament. During the year, the Committee vetoed a government proposal to amend the law on religions, which would have placed restrictions on the establishment of religious groups.
In 1995 the Parliament established the creation of separate Ombudsmen for human rights, data protection, and minority affairs. The Ombudsmen offices are independent from the Government, and prepare annual reports to Parliament on their activities and findings. Parliament elects Ombudsmen for six 2-year terms and they may be reelected. In June the Minority Affairs Ombudsman was reelected for a second 6-year term. Persons with complaints who have not obtained redress elsewhere may seek the assistance and investigative authority of the Ombudsmen's office.
Section 5 Discrimination Based on Race, Sex, Religion, Disability, Language, or Social Status
The Constitution provides for individual rights, equality, and protection against discrimination; however, in practice discrimination persisted, particularly against the Roma.
Spousal abuse is believed to be common, but the vast majority of such abuse is not reported, and victims who come forward often receive little help from authorities. The NGO Women Against Violence reported that 20 percent of women are threatened by or are victims of domestic violence and that one woman per week is beaten to death. NGO's also reported that there is insufficient emphasis on the protection of female crime victims. During the year, there were no known prosecutions for domestic violence. Police and prosecutors usually are unsympathetic to victims of domestic abuse. The laws criminalize spousal rape. Women's rights organizations claim that 1 woman in 10 is a victim of spousal abuse and that societal attitudes towards spousal abuse are archaic. During the year, Parliament enacted legislation that prohibits domestic violence and establishes criminal penalties for those convicted of such acts.
While there are laws against rape, often it is unreported for cultural reasons. Police attitudes towards victims of sexual abuse reportedly are often unsympathetic, particularly if the victim was acquainted with her abuser. In the first 6 months of the year, women were victims of 44,447 reported crimes; in 2000 women were the victims of 88,521 reported crimes. During the first 6 months of the year, there were 5,059 reports of crimes against family, youth, and sexual morality. NGO's claimed that the police were unable to assist victims in one-third of the reported cases. The Ministry of Social and Family Affairs was dealing with this issue and is reported to be working on remedial legislation.
Victims of domestic violence may obtain help and information via a national hot line or at one of several shelters. The hot line operates intermittently for 3-hours each day; a message system exists for the time when a counselor is unavailable. Shelters provide short-term refuge, and their locations are concealed to protect victims.
Prostitution is illegal; however, in accordance with the law, there are "tolerance zones" where such activity may occur.
Trafficking in women for the purposes of sexual exploitation was a serious problem (see Section 6.f.).
The law does not prohibit sexual harassment in the workplace. A 1995 report on the country prepared under the auspices of the U.N. to evaluate compliance with the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women found that sexual harassment in the workplace was "virtually epidemic." Women's groups reported that there is little support for efforts to criminalize sexual harassment, and that sexual harassment is tolerated by women who fear unemployment more than harassment. The Labor Code regulates questions of security in the workplace; acts of sexual harassment may be prosecuted under the defamation statutes (if violent, such acts are considered sexual misconduct). Sentences of up to 3 years' imprisonment may be imposed for sexual harassment. During the year, no charges were brought under this provision of the Labor Code.
Women have the same rights as men, including identical inheritance and property rights. The Office for Women's Issues operated an antidiscrimination hot line, which operates 10 hours a day and offers free legal advice to women who believe that they were discriminated against with respect to employment. According to the head of the office, the hot line receives 20 to 30 calls per day. While there is no overt discrimination against women, the number of women in middle or upper managerial positions in business and government remained low, and in practice women receive lower pay compared to men in similar positions and occupations. Nevertheless, the number of women in the police and the military has risen over the past several years, and women are represented heavily in the judiciary and in the medical and teaching professions. A Women's Representative office was established in the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs to address women's issues. As of 2000, the Women's Representation Secretariat became an independent department within the Ministry.
The Government is committed to children's rights. Education is mandatory and free through 16 years of age. The Ministry of Education estimates that 95 percent of school-age children, with the exception of Roma children, are enrolled in school. Roma are far more likely than non-Roma to stop attending school before age 16. The percentage of the country's Roma graduating from high school in 1993 was 1.6 percent compared with 23.8 percent for non-Roma.
Roma and other civic organizations highlighted the practice of placing Roma children in remedial education programs designed for children with mental disabilities or low academic performance, resulting in a form of de facto segregation. Although the children could be returned to the regular school system, only a small percentage return. In 1999 the Minister of Education and the parliamentary Ombudsman for Minority Rights announced at a press conference that there is segregation in the country's educational system. The statement followed the publication of a report by the Ombudsman's office that found that the high proportion of Romani children in "special schools" for the mentally disabled was a sign of prejudice and a failure of the public education system. The Government Office of Ethnic Minorities reports that 7 percent of Roma children go to special schools for children with mental disabilities. The Roma Civic Rights Foundation found that there were 132 segregated schools throughout the country. The Government contests the claims of human rights organizations and states that the Romani schools are designed to provide intensive help for disadvantaged children.
In September the Government converted the family allowance into a school attendance allowance. This measure was intended to force children to go to school, but some Romani NGO's fear that this may be another form of discrimination against Roma, many of whom live in small villages with no high schools within manageable distance. Furthermore, the extreme poverty of many Roma makes it difficult for them to clothe their children appropriately for school. Taking away the family allowance is thus seen by Roma as punishment for neglecting to do something that they cannot afford.
There are programs aimed at increasing these numbers (the Romaversitas program supports Romani students finishing degrees in institutions of higher education), and there are Departments of Roma Studies in the Teachers' Training College in Pecs and Zsambek. The Government provides a number of scholarships to Roma children at all levels of education through the Public Foundation for the Hungarian Roma. However, the impact has yet to be significant.
School-age children may receive free medical care at state-operated institutions and most educational facilities. Psychologists are available to evaluate and counsel children, and provisions exist for children to obtain dental care; the Social Security Office provides these services.
Child abuse was a problem. A 1999 survey showed that over 25 percent of girls were abused by a family member before they reached the age of 12. NGO's reported that neglect and abuse were common in state care facilities. A number of laws have been passed to address family violence, including a law on the protection of children. The Criminal Code provides for serious sanctions against the neglect and endangerment of minors, assault, and preparation of child pornography. During the first half of the year, children were the victims of 1,450 crimes; in 2000 they were the victims of 2,929 crimes.
Child prostitution is not a common practice, although isolated incidents exist. Severe penalties exist under the law for those persons convicted of engaging in such acts. Trafficking in children for the purpose of sexual exploitation was a problem (see Section 6.f.).
Persons with Disabilities
There is no discrimination against persons with disabilities in employment, education, or in the provision of other state services. Government sources estimated that there were between 600,000 and 1 million persons with disabilities (6 to 10 percent of the population). Of these persons, 300,000 to 350,000 were considered seriously disabled and receive increased government benefits. Persons with disabilities faced societal discrimination and prejudice.
A Council for the Disabled was established in 1999 under the chairmanship of the Minister of Social and Family Affairs. The Council serves as an advisory board to the Government. A 1997 decree requires all companies that employ more than 20 persons to reserve 5 percent of their jobs for persons with physical or mental disabilities, with fines of up to 75 percent of the average monthly salary for noncompliance. In 1999 such fines yielded $6 million (approximately 1.77 billion HUF) for rehabilitation funds for the disabled. The foreign NGO Mental Disability Rights International (MDRI) and the local NGO Hungarian Mental Health Interest Forum (PEF) noted that no procedures exist to oversee the treatment and care of persons with disabilities who are under guardianship. The MDRI and the PEF also criticize the use of cages in government facilities for persons with mental disabilities.
The law mandates access to buildings for persons with disabilities; however, services for persons with disabilities are limited, and most buildings are not wheelchair accessible.
In 2000 the Council of Europe's Commission Against Racism and Intolerance published a report that criticized the blatant anti-Semitism in some media, in Parliament, and in society.
According to police reports, there were 33 cases of persons vandalizing gravestones in 2000. There also were 98 reports of vandalism in cemeteries during the first half of the year; there were 343 such cases in 2000. There is no data on which churches the cemeteries belonged to. The Jewish Community (MAZSIHISZ) claimed that there were fewer acts of vandalism in Jewish cemeteries than in 2000, and most of the cases were committed by youths; the MAZSIHISZ does not consider these incidents anti-Semitic actions.
During the year, the Jewish community and the Roma worked together as the Roma began to turn to the MAZSIHISZ for information and advice on the Holocaust and compensation issues.
MAZSIHISZ and international Jewish organizations criticized as unfair a 1998 decision by the Government to provide $128 (30,000 HUF) each to the heirs of Holocaust victims. In 1999 the president of MAZSIHISZ stated that hundreds of Holocaust survivors were returning compensation payments to the Government, protesting that the small amounts were an insult. The Orban Government stated that the $128 (30,000 HUF) was all that could be paid out without budget imbalances. The figure of $128 was accepted originally by the leaders of the Jewish Community who had negotiated with the Government; however, in December 2000, the Constitutional Court ruled that the negotiated amount was unconstitutional. In response to this ruling, the Ministry of Justice proposed an amended compensation amount of $1,100 (303,000 HUF), plus retroactive interest. The Hungarian Jewish community tentatively accepted the Government's proposal, but negotiations continued over the payment of accrued interest.
The law recognizes individuals' minority rights, establishes the concept of the collective rights of ethnic minorities, and states that it is their inalienable collective right to preserve their ethnic identity. The law also permits associations, movements, and political parties of an ethnic or national character and mandates the unrestricted use of ethnic languages. For an ethnic group to be recognized it must have at least 100 years' presence in the country, and its members must be citizens. On this basis, minority status is granted specifically to 13 national or ethnic groups (among which the Roma are by far the most numerous). Other groups may petition the Speaker of Parliament for inclusion if they believe that they fulfill the requirements.
The law considers that the establishment of local minority self-governments is a necessary precondition for the enforcement of the rights of ethnic minorities. With some funding from the central budget and some logistical support from local governments, local minority self-governments seek to influence and oversee matters affecting minorities, particularly in the fields of education and culture. Local minority self-government elections, in conjunction with local government elections, have been held since 1994. Any of the 13 minorities can set up a minority self-government if at least 50 valid votes are cast in settlements with fewer than 10,000 inhabitants and if at least 100 votes are cast in larger settlements. Since ethnicity is not registered officially, voting on minority self-governments is not limited to the minorities themselves; all the voters receive a minority ballot in addition to the local government ballot. The elected local minority self-governments can elect their national minority self-governments; all 13 minorities have formed national self-governments. Several Roma self-governments formed regional groupings to facilitate cooperation. Minority self-government has been criticized mainly on two grounds; first, several minority representatives have objected to the fact that members of the majority can vote for minority candidates and thus influence minority politics; second, critics call for an increase in the competence of the minority self-governments and considerably more financial resources for them.
There were 770 Romani minority self-governments elected in the local elections in October 1998, a significant increase over the 477 elected self-governments in the first minority elections held in 1994. The new self-governments began operating in January 1999. Of these, 719 continued to function; a number of self-governments have ceased functioning since 1999 due to a lack of funds. During the first half of the year, there were a total of 1,321 minority self-governments. The Romani minority poses a special challenge for the system of national minority self-governments. In contrast to other minorities for whom the preservation of their identity and culture is the basic goal, the Roma also have to contend with the fact that they generally belong to the lowest socioeconomic strata of society. Ethnicity and poverty both are problems that the Roma must deal with. The Romani self-governments, unlike other self-governments, are faced with the task of improving the lives of their constituents with no additional resources.
The Minority Affairs Ombudsman--an ethnic German reelected in June--is charged specifically with defending minority rights. There is 1 Roma lawyer out of a total of 11 lawyers in the Ombudsman's office. The Ombudsman continued to promote a uniform antidiscrimination law. In March the Minister of Justice established an interministerial antidiscrimination committee that considered the antidiscrimination bill drafted by the Ombudsman; committee members include representatives of relevant ministries, the Government Office of Ethnic Minorities, and the Ombudsman.
Education is available to varying degrees in almost all minority languages. There are certain minority schools where the minority language is the primary language of instruction, and there are some schools where minority languages are taught as a second language.
Roma constitute at least 5 percent of the population, with some estimates as high as 9 percent. In view of the higher birth rate among Roma compared with the general decline in the majority population, observers believe that this percentage is likely to remain constant or grow, which causes concern among a substantial portion of the majority population. Germans, the second largest minority group, constitute approximately 2 percent of the population. Smaller communities of Slovaks, Croats, Romanians, Poles, Ukrainians, Greeks, Serbs, Slovenes, Armenians, Ruthenians, and Bulgarians also are recognized as ethnic minorities. The results of a census conducted during the year are scheduled to be released in 2002.
Conditions of life for the Romani community were significantly worse than among the general population. Roma suffer from government and societal discrimination, racist attacks, and are considerably less educated, and have lower than average incomes and life expectancy. The unemployment rate for Roma is estimated to be 70 percent, more than 10 times the national average. Once unemployment benefits are exhausted, and with social services stretched thin, the majority of Roma live in desperate poverty. As of 2000, the Government reduced the limit on unemployment benefits from 1 year to 9 months, which affects the Romani community disproportionately and exacerbates the poverty of this large segment of society. As a result, negative stereotypes of Roma as poor, shiftless, and a social burden persist. Roma continued to suffer widespread discrimination in education, housing, and access to public institutions, including restaurants and pubs. There have been at least two cases where bar owners who have refused to serve Roma customers were fined by the courts. NGO's believe that the fines imposed were insufficient. Schools for the Roma are more crowded, more poorly equipped, and in markedly poorer condition than those attended by non-Roma. Only 1.6 percent of the Romani community graduate from high school, compared with 23.8 percent for non-Roma, while 0.24 percent graduate from college or university, compared with 9.45 percent for non-Roma. The Minister of Justice leads an interministerial Roma affairs committee that is tasked with assigning Roma-related issues in the Government.
Local government officials have punished Roma who were unable to pay utility fees by evicting their families from residences without providing alternative housing. For example, in the town of Ozd, ERRC visited apartment buildings from which Roma were forced to leave for renovations, many without having been given alternative housing for the duration and who may return only if they pay high fees for the costs of renovation. In some areas, the relocation and concentration of Roma populations has, in effect, created ghettos. During the summer of 2000, laws on the tenancy of flats were amended to ease administrative procedures for evicting squatters. Under the new procedures, notaries public may authorize evictions and are required to enforce the order within 8 days, even if an appeal has been filed against the decision. Roma families bore the brunt of the new rules, which expand the power of local officials to remove Roma from their homes. The Roma Civic Rights Foundation visits and reports on cases of forced eviction, and works on urging local governments to provide temporary shelters. The Government developed a program to facilitate mortgages for middle and lower income Romani home buyers; it took effect during the year. Some of these loans are to be given at favorable interest rates and may reduce the number of forced evictions.
The country evaluation reports issued by the European Commission and the European Parliament both emphasized the pressing and urgent character of the Roma problem. For example, the Government sponsors programs both to preserve Romani languages and cultural heritage and to assist social and economic assimilation. The Ministry of Justice has oversight and budgetary control of the Coordination Council for Roma Affairs and the Office of National Ethnic Minorities. In 1999 the Government published an action plan designed to improve living conditions in Romani communities, with specific focus on public health, education, and work training; however, the plan provides no additional funds, it merely redistributes already inadequate resources. Despite this constraint, the program has been marginally successful.
Widespread popular prejudice against Roma continued. Police commonly abuse Roma (see Section 1.c.). In April in the village of Bag, a group of policemen attacked and beat a Roma family that was participating in a vigil over a dead body. Several policemen were fined $5,000 (1.5 million HUF). In response the Office of Ethnic Minorities, together with the Ministry of Interior, conducted a conflict management program in the village. Police also fail to intervene to prevent violence against Roma. The European Roma Rights Center reported that on May 5, in Fiserbocsa, five Roma men were shot at and threatened in the presence of a police officer. After several failed attempts to register a complaint with the police, one of the Rom took a hidden camera to the police station and recorded the police officer threatening to beat him and stating that it was unfortunate he had not been killed during the incident. The investigation continued at year's end.
According to Human Rights Watch, on June 17, in Hencida village, gasoline bombs were thrown at the house of the leader of the Roma Minority self-government; two of his daughters suffered burns from the firebombs.
Foreigners of color also reported harassment by police and at border control checkpoints. The Martin Luther King Organization (MLKO), which documents assaults on nonwhites, reported a gradual decrease in the number of such incidents over the past several years, with three such cases in the first 9 months of 2000. However, MLKO sources believe that many cases go unreported.
Changes to the Penal Code have made it easier to enforce and stiffen penalties for hate crimes committed on the basis of the victim's ethnicity, race, or nationality. The law already has been applied several times; there was one case pending at year's end.
In 2000 47 members of a Roma clan from the village of Zamoly applied for refugee status in France and indicated their intent to file suit against the Government at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). In March 15 a total of Roma from Zamoly were granted asylum in France; the Roma claimed they were threatened, physically attacked, and that their homes were destroyed. The asylum claims came after 3 years of tensions in Zamoly between the clan and the local community over housing issues. Nine of the 12 Roma families received refugee status in France. The ECHR has agreed to review that asylum case and is temporarily housing and maintaining the remaining applicants.
Section 6 Worker Rights
a. The Right of Association
The Labor Code recognizes the right of unions to organize and permits trade union pluralism. Workers have the right to associate freely, choose representatives, publish journals, and openly promote members' interests and views. There are six trade union federations; each is targeted broadly at different sectors of the economy. The largest labor union organization is the National Confederation of Hungarian Trade Unions, the successor to the former monolithic Communist union, with over 735,000 members. In 2000 the Democratic League of Independent Unions and the Federation of Workers' Councils had approximately 100,000 and 56,000 members, respectively.
With the exception of military personnel and police officers, workers have the right to strike.
There are no restrictions on trade union contacts with international organizations, and unions have developed a wide range of ties with international trade union bodies.
b. The Right to Organize and Bargain Collectively
The Labor Code permits collective bargaining at the enterprise and industry level, although the practice was not widespread and has discouraged actively in the growing private sector. Labor organizations appeared willing to cooperate with one another; this particularly was evident in their relationship in forums such as the National Labor Affairs Council (OMT), which succeeded the Interest Reconciliation Council in 2000, and which provides a forum for tripartite consultation among representatives from management, employees, and the Government. The OMT discusses issues such as wage increases and the setting of the minimum wage, which is negotiated centrally within the OMT in order to control inflation (see Section 6.e.). Individual trade unions and management may negotiate higher wages at the plant level. Under a separate law, public servants may negotiate working conditions, but the final decision on increasing salaries of public servants rests with Parliament. In 1998 the Government disbanded the Ministry of Labor and split its work between the Ministry of Economy, which is responsible for policy issues, and the Ministry of Social and Family Affairs, which is responsible for employment issues and drafting labor-related legislation.
Employers are prohibited from discriminating against unions and their organizers. The Ministry of Economy enforces this provision.
There are no export processing zones, but individual foreign companies frequently have been granted duty-free zone status for their facilities. Employees in such facilities and zones are protected under the labor laws.
c. Prohibition of Forced or Compulsory Labor
The law prohibits forced or compulsory labor; however, trafficking in women for sexual exploitation and in men for forced labor was a problem (see Section 6.f.).
The law prohibits forced or bonded labor by children; however, trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 6.f.).
d. Status of Child Labor Practices and Minimum Age for Employment
The Government has adopted laws to protect children from exploitation in the workplace. The Labor Code prohibits labor by children under the age of 15 and regulates labor conditions for minors (14 to 16 years of age), including prohibitions on night shifts and hard physical labor. Children may not work overtime. The National Labor Center enforces these regulations in practice, and there were no reports of any significant violations of this statute.
The law prohibits forced and bonded labor by children; however, trafficking in children was a problem (see Section 6.f.).
e. Acceptable Conditions of Work
The OMT establishes the legal minimum wage, which subsequently is implemented by a Ministry of Economy decree. However, in 2000 the OMT and the Ministry of Economy were unable to reach an agreement, which entitled the Government unilaterally to establish a minimum wage. The Government increased the minimum wage from $90 (25,500 HUF) to $140 (40,000 HUF), an increase of 56 percent; however, the national minimum wage does not provide a decent standard of living for a worker and family. The minimum wage is only 42 percent of the average wage. Many workers supplement their incomes with second jobs, and there are reports that many citizens, while officially earning the minimum wage, actually were paid higher wages informally so that their employers could avoid high payroll taxes. Since the establishment of the National Labor Affairs Supervising Authority, approximately 48,000 employers have been audited on an annual basis.
The Labor Code specifies various conditions of employment, including termination procedures, severance pay, maternity leave, trade union consultation rights in some management decisions, annual and sick leave entitlement, and labor conflict resolution procedures. Under the Code, the official workday is set at 8 hours; however, it may vary depending upon the nature of the industry. A 48-hour rest period is required during any 7-day period. In July Parliamentary amendments to the Labor Code entered into effect, which incorporate into law nine European Union (EU) directives that cover protection and rights of employees, conditions of employment, and equal opportunity in employment; the amendments brought the Labor Code into conformity with EU standards. However, labor groups have criticized the amendments for allowing employer flexibility in scheduling the obligatory 2 days of rest per week.
Labor courts and the Ministry of Economy enforced occupational safety standards set by the Government, but specific safety conditions are not consistent with internationally accepted standards. The enforcement of occupational safety standards is not always effective, in part due to the limited resources. Under the Labor Code, workers have the right to remove themselves from dangerous work situations without jeopardy to continued employment; this right is respected in practice.
f. Trafficking in Persons
The law prohibits trafficking in persons; however, trafficking in persons is a serious problem. Border officials facilitated trafficking.
The country primarily is a transit, but also is a source and destination country for trafficked persons. Women and children are trafficked for sexual exploitation mostly from Romania, Ukraine, Moldova, Poland, Yugoslavia, and China to and through the country to Austria, Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Italy, France, Switzerland, and the United States. Trafficking victims from Hungary typically are women from the eastern part of the country, where unemployment is high. They are trafficked to other European countries or other parts of the world, primarily to Austria, Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the Netherlands, but also to Canada, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and Turkey. Men trafficked for forced labor through Hungary to the EU and the United States come from Iraq, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Afghanistan.
Many of the victims of trafficking are brought to the country by organized crime syndicates, either for work as a prostitute in Budapest or for transit to Western Europe or North America. Hungarian trafficking rings also exploited victims by using them as babysitters, housekeepers, and manual laborers. Russian-speaking organized crime syndicates are active in trafficking women primarily from Ukraine and other countries of the former Soviet Union to the EU through Hungary. Hungarian victims mainly are young women, although they also include men, middle-aged women, and children. They are recruited at discos and modeling agencies, through word-of-mouth, or even through open advertisements in local papers and magazines. Some know that the purpose of the trip is to perform illegal work; others believe that they are using an alternative means of attaining a visa, and others plan to work but believe that the appropriate papers and permission will be obtained by the organizers, who turn out to be traffickers. Once at their destination they are forced into prostitution or other exploitation. Traffickers often confiscate identification documents, and severely restricted the freedom of movement of victims.
Corruption is a major problem among border officials, who generally do not earn a living wage and thus often take bribes from traffickers. In many villages in the eastern part of the country, the local police know who the traffickers are, but are reluctant to pursue investigations for fear of reprisals from the better financed, better equipped, and better armed traffickers.
Parliament has amended the Penal Code to add a trafficking law that provides penalties commensurate with those for rape. Under the law, even preparation for the trafficking of persons is a criminal offense. The penalty for trafficking is between 2 and 8 years in prison; the trafficking of minors is punishable by up to 10 years in prison. However, if an organized trafficking ring is involved, the sentence can be life imprisonment or asset confiscation. An amendment to the alien law provides for immediate expulsion from the country of foreign traffickers. Prosecution of traffickers is difficult because there is no legislation to protect victims; however, in 2000 a total of 13 trafficking cases were brought to trial, all of which remained pending at year's end. The police Organized Crime Task Force investigates trafficking cases involving organized crime, and the Government cooperates with foreign countries to facilitate improved police cooperation to combat organized crime and trafficking in persons.
The Government provides limited assistance to victims of trafficking. In theory assistance with temporary residency status, short-term relief from deportation, and shelter assistance are available to trafficking victims who cooperate with police and prosecutors; however, there are no documented cases in which such assistance was provided. Allegedly police and immigration officials often treat trafficking victims as criminals and refuse to accept reports of kidnaping against young women.
Parliament passed a resolution in July 1999 that called for a victim protection plan to be implemented by August. The Ministry of Interior has established a Victim Protection Office, has established a victim protection fund, and has posted information brochures on victim protection in every police station. Branches of a new Victim Protection Office, which provide psychological support services and legal advocacy for victims, safeguard their rights, and attempt to minimize the trauma of trials, operate in 42 localities (see Section 1.e.). However, the women's NGO Women Against Violence Against Women (NANE) reported that the Victim Protection Office does not deal exclusively or even primarily with victims of trafficking.
The International Organization of Migration (IOM) continued a program funded by the EU to raise awareness of the problem of trafficking and to educate potential victims. Women's rights organizations, the IOM, and the Ministry of Youth and Sport Affairs are conducting preventive programs for teenagers in schools. NANE established an information hot line that ran in parallel with the IOM campaign to provide information on types of trafficking-associated advertisements and situations that young women should avoid. In December NANE, the IOM, the public fund For a Safe Hungary, and foreign government funding established a joint project to continue and enhance the operation of the hot line.
The relationship between the Government and NGO's who work on trafficking problems is poor, with little or no contact between them. However, the Government reportedly was consulting with NGO's to provide antitrafficking sensitivity training to police. The Ministry of Social and Family Affairs conducted training of Government officials in techniques to identify and combat human trafficking. | <urn:uuid:48969f8e-eb6d-4649-8eb6-ac026de4d26b> | {
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A National Historic Landmark, Eleutherian College was constructed between 1854 and 1856, and was the first college in Indiana to admit
students without regard to race or gender. Some of the college's trustees were among the most
active participants in the Underground Railroad in and around Lancaster. From the Greek
Eleutheros' meaning "freedom and equality," the school embodied its founders antislavery
sentiments, and the school's location, atop the highest hill in the area, was a physical and symbolic
statement of the community's beliefs. Continuing to operate as a private, coeducational secondary school until the mid-1880s, the college was purchased by Lancaster Township in 1888 and used as a public school until 1938. Today, Eleutherian College Classroom and Chapel Building stands vacant.
Lancaster was a known stop for fugitive slaves traveling from Madison, Indiana to Indianapolis.
Three of Eleutherian's trustees, Samuel Tibbetts, Lyman Hoyt, and James Nelson, were frequently
mentioned in connection with the Underground Railroad and its efforts in the vicinity of Lancaster
and Madison. James Nelson was arrested by a local sherrif under the Indiana Fugitive Slave Act of 1851 for "encouraging Negroes to come into the state." Judge Stephen C. Stevens, sympathetic to the antislavery cause, had the case thrown out of court.
Eleutherian College Classroom and Chapel Building is located on State Route 250, just east of
Lancaster. Though currently not open to the public, the building is owned by Historic
Eleutherian, Inc. who is seeking funds for a long-range plan for the site.
Previous | List of Sites | Home | | <urn:uuid:9e758ee2-fa01-4c27-918b-b40c6c4b6782> | {
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Reviewed November 2006
What is the official name of the DFNA5 gene?
The official name of this gene is “deafness, autosomal dominant 5.”
DFNA5 is the gene's official symbol. The DFNA5 gene is also known by other names, listed below.
What is the normal function of the DFNA5 gene?
The DFNA5 gene provides instructions for producing the DFNA5 protein, which appears to be important for normal hearing. Researchers believe that this protein plays a role in the development and maintenance of the cochlea, a snail-shaped structure in the inner ear that converts sound waves into nerve impulses. The specific function of this protein is not known, however.
How are changes in the DFNA5 gene related to health conditions?
- nonsyndromic deafness - caused by mutations in the DFNA5 gene
At least three mutations in the DFNA5 gene have been identified in a small number of families with nonsyndromic deafness (hearing loss without related signs and symptoms affecting other parts of the body). These mutations cause an abnormally shortened version of the DFNA5 protein to be made. Families affected by mutations in this gene experience progressive hearing loss that resembles age-related hearing loss (presbyacusis). Generally, hearing loss begins at an earlier age in people with DFNA5 mutations compared to people without a DFNA5 mutation.
Where is the DFNA5 gene located?
Cytogenetic Location: 7p15
Molecular Location on chromosome 7: base pairs 24,737,973 to 24,797,638
The DFNA5 gene is located on the short (p) arm of chromosome 7 at position 15.
More precisely, the DFNA5 gene is located from base pair 24,737,973 to base pair 24,797,638 on chromosome 7.
See How do geneticists indicate the location of a gene? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/howgeneswork/genelocation) in the Handbook.
Where can I find additional information about DFNA5?
You and your healthcare professional may find the following resources about DFNA5 helpful.
You may also be interested in these resources, which are designed for genetics professionals and researchers.
- PubMed - Recent literature (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=((DFNA5%5BTIAB%5D)%20OR%20(deafness,%20autosomal%20dominant%205%5BTIAB%5D))%20OR%20((deafness,%20autosomal%20dominant%205%20protein%5BTIAB%5D)%20OR%20(ICERE-1%5BTIAB%5D)%20OR%20(nonsyndromic%20hearing%20impairment%20protein%5BTIAB%5D)%20OR%20(Inversely%20correlated%20with%20estrogen%20receptor%20expression%201%5BTIAB%5D))%20AND%20((Genes%5BMH%5D)%20OR%20(Genetic%20Phenomena%5BMH%5D))%20AND%20english%5Bla%5D%20AND%20human%5Bmh%5D%20AND%20%22last%203600%20days%22%5Bdp%5D)
OMIM - Genetic disorder catalog
- DEAFNESS, AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT 5 (http://omim.org/entry/600994)
- DFNA5 GENE (http://omim.org/entry/608798)
Research Resources - Tools for researchers
- Atlas of Genetics and Cytogenetics in Oncology and Haematology (http://atlasgeneticsoncology.org/Genes/GC_DFNA5.html)
- GeneCards (http://www.genecards.org/cgi-bin/carddisp.pl?id_type=entrezgene&id=1687)
- Harvard Medical School Center for Hereditary Deafness (http://hearing.harvard.edu/db/genelist.htm)
- HUGO Gene Nomenclature Committee (http://www.genenames.org/data/hgnc_data.php?hgnc_id=2810)
- NCBI Gene (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1687)
- The Hereditary Hearing Loss Homepage (http://hereditaryhearingloss.org/)
What other names do people use for the DFNA5 gene or gene products?
- deafness, autosomal dominant 5 protein
- Inversely correlated with estrogen receptor expression 1
- nonsyndromic hearing impairment protein
See How are genetic conditions and genes named? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/mutationsanddisorders/naming) in the Handbook.
What glossary definitions help with understanding DFNA5?
age-related hearing loss ;
autosomal dominant ;
You may find definitions for these and many other terms in the Genetics Home Reference
- Bischoff AM, Luijendijk MW, Huygen PL, van Duijnhoven G, De Leenheer EM, Oudesluijs GG, Van Laer L, Cremers FP, Cremers CW, Kremer H. A novel mutation identified in the DFNA5 gene in a Dutch family: a clinical and genetic evaluation. Audiol Neurootol. 2004 Jan-Feb;9(1):34-46. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14676472?dopt=Abstract)
- Finsterer J, Fellinger J. Nuclear and mitochondrial genes mutated in nonsyndromic impaired hearing. Int J Pediatr Otorhinolaryngol. 2005 May;69(5):621-47. Review. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15850684?dopt=Abstract)
- NCBI Gene (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/gene/1687)
- OMIM: DEAFNESS, AUTOSOMAL DOMINANT 5 (http://omim.org/entry/600994)
- Van Laer L, Huizing EH, Verstreken M, van Zuijlen D, Wauters JG, Bossuyt PJ, Van de Heyning P, McGuirt WT, Smith RJ, Willems PJ, Legan PK, Richardson GP, Van Camp G. Nonsyndromic hearing impairment is associated with a mutation in DFNA5. Nat Genet. 1998 Oct;20(2):194-7. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9771715?dopt=Abstract)
- Van Laer L, Vrijens K, Thys S, Van Tendeloo VF, Smith RJ, Van Bockstaele DR, Timmermans JP, Van Camp G. DFNA5: hearing impairment exon instead of hearing impairment gene? J Med Genet. 2004 Jun;41(6):401-6. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15173223?dopt=Abstract)
- Yu C, Meng X, Zhang S, Zhao G, Hu L, Kong X. A 3-nucleotide deletion in the polypyrimidine tract of intron 7 of the DFNA5 gene causes nonsyndromic hearing impairment in a Chinese family. Genomics. 2003 Nov;82(5):575-9. (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/14559215?dopt=Abstract)
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a personal genetic disease, syndrome, or condition should consult with a qualified
See How can I find a genetics professional in my area? (http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/handbook/consult/findingprofessional) in the Handbook. | <urn:uuid:a4ebc41e-4d13-4ddc-8303-5cd13463471b> | {
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Tokyo: Japanese scientists have succeeded in creating what they called the first-ever artificial crater on an asteroid, a step towards shedding light on how the solar system evolved, the country’s space agency said Thursday. The announcement comes after the Hayabusa2 probe fired an explosive device at the Ryugu asteroid early this month to blast a crater in the surface and scoop up material, aiming to reveal more about the origins of life on Earth. Also Read – Saudi Crown Prince ‘snubbed’ Pak PM, recalled jet from USYuichi Tsuda, Hayabusa2 project manager at the Japanese space agency (JAXA), told reporters they confirmed the crater from images captured by the probe located 1,700 metres (5,500 feet) from the asteroid’s surface. “Creating an artificial crater with an impactor and observing it in detail afterwards is a world-first attempt,” Tsuda said. “This is a big success.” NASA’s Deep Impact probe succeeded in creating an artificial crater on a comet in 2005, but only for observation purposes. Also Read – Record number of 35 candidates in fray for SL Presidential pollsMasahiko Arakawa, a Kobe University professor involved in the project, said it was “the best day of his life”. “We can see such a big hole a lot more clearly than expected,” he said, adding the images showed a crater 10 metres in diameter. JAXA scientists had previously predicted that the crater could be as large as 10 metres in diameter if the surface was sandy, or three metres if rocky. “The surface is filled with boulders but yet we created a crater this big. This could mean there’s a scientific mechanism we don’t know or something special about Ryugu’s materials,” the professor said. The aim of blasting the crater on Ryugu is to throw up “fresh” material from under the asteroid’s surface that could shed light on the early stages of the solar system. The asteroid is thought to contain relatively large amounts of organic matter and water from some 4.6 billion years ago when the solar system was born. In February, Hayabusa2 touched down briefly on Ryugu and fired a bullet into the surface to puff up dust for collection, before blasting back to its holding position. The mission, with a price tag of around 30 billion yen ( 270 million), was launched in December 2014 and is scheduled to return to Earth with its samples in 2020. Photos of Ryugu — which means “Dragon Palace” in Japanese and refers to a castle at the bottom of the ocean in an ancient Japanese tale — show the asteroid has a rough surface full of boulders.
NEW YORK — It’s been a fabulous start to the year for investors — as long as you ignore all those simmering worries about a possible recession.S&P 500 index funds are on pace to close out their best quarter in seven years, having returned nearly 12.5 per cent in 2019 through Wednesday, and many other investments from junk bonds to foreign stocks have also bounced back from their dismal end to 2018. But the returns would have been even better if not for concerns that slowing growth around the world may drag down the U.S. economy.The quarter’s twists are just the latest for the markets, which have yo-yoed from record heights to fear-induced sell-offs for more than a year.The big swings have left stock and bonds looking fairly valued, said Frances Donald, head of macroeconomics strategy at Manulife Asset Management. She’s optimistic markets can keep climbing this year, but she anticipates more swings along the way. When she talks with big institutional investors, the mood is usually one of nervousness, she says.“The 2020 recession calls, whether they’re right or wrong, have permeated all individual investor mentalities,” she said.The Fed was again one of the market’s main drivers, and it flipped to hero from antagonist in the eyes of many investors.As last year was closing, investors were worried that the Federal Reserve would raise interest rates too quickly and choke off the economy. The central bank raised short-term rates in December for the seventh time in two years, and the S&P 500 fell more than 19 per cent from late September through Dec. 24, nearly taking down the longest bull market for U.S. stocks on record.But on Jan. 4, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell told a conference for economists that the central bank would be flexible in deciding when to raise rates. It was an immediate balm for investors, and the S&P 500 leaped 3.4 per cent that day. It kept climbing until hitting a peak on March 21, the day after the Fed said that it may not raise rates at all this year.All the while, companies were turning in yet another round of blockbuster profit reports aided by lower taxes. Earnings per share for S&P 500 companies surged 13 per cent during the last three months of 2018 from a year earlier, led by big gains for energy and communications companies.But the momentum for stocks stalled last week when a surprisingly weak report on the European economy and other worries triggered concerns about the global economy. Investors sought the safety of bonds, and that in turn triggered the alarm on one of the market’s more reliable recession indicators.Investors drove the yield for the 10-year Treasury lower than for the three-month Treasury bill for the first time since a little before the Great Recession. Such an “inverted yield curve” does not have a perfect track record as a recession predictor, but it has preceded each of the last seven by a year or two.Here’s a look at some of the moves that shaped the last quarter for investments:— STOCK FUNDS SOAREDDuring the fourth-quarter swoon the S&P 500 fell as much as 19.8 per cent from its all-time high set Sept. 20. The Fed’s pledge for patience helped the index rally back to within 2.6 per cent of the peak this quarter.Technology stocks again did much of the work, but the gains were widespread. Funds specializing in small stocks or large, energy companies or real estate, all logged gains. The largest mutual fund by assets, Vanguard’s Total Stock Market Index fund returned 12.8 per cent for the quarter through Wednesday, on pace for its best performance since a 12.9 per cent return at the start of 2012.Stock funds that focus on high-growth companies, such as tech, again easily bested their counterparts that look for low-priced stocks, called value funds. The average mid-cap growth stock fund returned 16.3 per cent, for example, versus 12 per cent for mid-cap value funds.Value stock funds trailed partly because they often have lots of banks and other financial stocks, which lagged during the quarter on worries that lower interest rates and slower economy will hurt their profits.— BOND FUNDS CLIMBED AS YIELDS FELLInflation is still low, the Fed is holding the line on interest rates and worries are rising about the strength of the economy. All those help push up prices for bonds, and pull yields down, and bond funds of all types powered to gains during the quarter.Vanguard’s Total Bond Market Index fund, the largest bond fund by assets, has returned 2.8 per cent and is on track for its best quarter in three years.The Fed’s patient stance was particularly helpful for funds that focus on short-term bonds, whose prices are more dependent on the central bank’s moves than longer-term bonds. The average short-term bond fund has returned 1.8 per cent through Wednesday, according to Morningstar. That’s more than triple the return in any of the prior seven quarters.— WHAT’S AHEAD?Like the global economy, growth is also slowing for U.S. corporate earnings. Analysts say first-quarter profits likely fell nearly 4 per cent from a year earlier, according to FactSet. If they’re right, it would be the first decline in nearly three years. That’s setting the stage for some potentially disappointing reports when the next quarter opens on April 1.So, investors may want to ready themselves for even more turbulence in the coming quarter. Besides earnings reports, they’ll also be getting more clues about the strength of the global economy and whether the United States and China can make progress on their trade dispute to help the global outlook.Stan Choe, The Associated Press
In a letter to the President of the Security Council, Mr. Annan says that Victor D. Comras of the United States will replace Michael D. Langan, also a US national, who “resigned from the group for personal reasons.” The team is headed by Michael Chandler of the United Kingdom. Its other members are Philippe Graver of France, Hasan H. Ali Abaza of Jordan, and Surendra Bahadur Shah of Nepal. The monitoring group was originally set up last July when the Security Council requested that the Secretary-General establish a mechanism – comprised of a New York-based Monitoring Group and a Sanctions Enforcement Support Team – which will offer assistance to “States bordering the territory of Afghanistan under Taliban control and other States, as appropriate.” The team was initially mandated to help those countries increase their capacity to implement the sanctions against the Taliban, which were imposed in 1999 and tightened the following year to compel the group to hand over indicted terrorist Usama bin Laden and to close all terrorist training camps in Afghanistan. Experts were also mandated to collate, assess, verify wherever possible, report and make recommendations on information regarding violations of the sanctions. In January of this year, the Council adopted resolution 1390 assigning the group the task of monitoring the implementation by Member States of updated sanctions against Usama bin Laden, the Al-Qaida organization, the Taliban, and their associates. These measures require all countries to freeze the financial assets of individuals, groups or organizations on a list compiled by its sanctions committee for Afghanistan, and to continue a travel ban and arms embargo on the remaining elements of the Taliban, Al-Qaida network and its supporters.
In a new report which will be presented to the agency’s annual conference next week, the ILO examines both the “deep humanitarian crisis” facing Palestinian families as well as the “very negative impact” of the current situation on Israel’s economy.Real wages for Palestinian workers in Israel dropped by nearly 46 per cent in 2001 compared to the preceding year, while the revenue of the Palestinian Authority plummeted by more than 70 per cent, according to the report. Preliminary ILO estimates suggest that “unemployment could have reached nearly 43 per cent in the occupied territories during the first quarter of 2002.” Israel has not escaped the upheaval, the report states. Economic activity in the country suffered a severe contraction during 2001, with GDP declining by 0.5 per cent that year after an increase of 6.4 per cent in 2000.ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said the report “must be read with a sense of empathy and compassion for all concerned.” Any resolution of the conflict, he stressed, must be based on a dialogue which provides a “fair hearing” for workers in the occupied Arab territories and their families. “At the same time, the voices of workers in Israel must be heard and listened to,” he said. “No one can be satisfied with the present situation or, worse still, a further escalation of conflict.”Mr. Somavia said the international community, notably those countries with greater influence, “need to reassess the means of action so we can respond to what all families in the region want: parents at work, children at school, security in the streets and peace in the community.” The ILO Director-General called peace “the innermost aspiration of the large majority of Palestinians and Israelis” and added, “The world must help them to get there.”
Then-sophomore midfielder Jesse King (19) advances the ball during a game against Detroit Feb. 9 at the Woody Hayes Athletic Center. OSU won, 14-8.Credit: Lantern file photoFor most college athletes, playing beyond their school’s season is unheard of.The same cannot be said about Ohio State’s incoming senior lacrosse midfielder Jesse King.Following a junior season which saw him named a third team All-American and a Tewaaraton Award nominee, King can now add another accolade to that list: Federation of International Lacrosse World Lacrosse champion.Two weeks ago, Canada avenged its pool-play loss to the United States by shutting down the Stars and Stripes, 8-5, to win its third ever gold medal at the World Championships. Canada also won the event in 2006 and 1978.King, a native of Victoria, British Columbia, where he attended Claremont Secondary School, said the importance of the tournament went far beyond just winning the gold medal.“It was pretty amazing,” King said. “My whole family was out watching the (championship) game. They came down and watched all my games which was pretty special for me because at school they don’t get to watch me play very often.”“Winning the gold medal was pretty emotional. It was just kind of like unbelievable and it still hasn’t kicked in right now.”OSU coach Nick Myers said the opportunity King got to learn from the best players in the world will give him a leg up during his final season in Columbus.“Certainly with Jesse being a part of the team currently, having one more year, what an incredible experience to take away for a young man his age to have a world championship under his belt,” Myers said.In his three seasons with the Buckeyes, King has compiled 131 points on 77 goals and 54 assists, good for 17th on OSU’s career points list. Continuing that success with Canada, King recorded one goal and three assists in seven games despite being one of only four current collegiate athletes on the team.Appearing in every game for his country, King provided a physical presence at the midfield position by using his 6-foot, 3-inch frame to ward off defenders, something Myers and erstwhile OSU defenseman Joe Meurer said can be a matchup nightmare.“I think anytime you have a player who is 6-foot-3, 200 plus pounds, can see the field very well, can beat his man, and work just as hard off the ball, there is a lot to think about there,” Myers said.“He is one of the smartest lacrosse players I’ve ever played with,” Meurer said. “His knowledge of the game, his instincts and awareness, I think those three things make him such a dominant player and sets him apart from a lot of other players.”However, before donning the iconic maple leaf, King first had to make the cut from the initial 51 players who were invited to Team Canada’s selection camp which was held on the campus of Canisius College in Buffalo, N.Y., from Oct. 11 to 14, 2013.A total of 97 players submitted tryout applications which were considered by The Canadian Lacrosse Association.Among those invited to camp included reigning Major League Lacrosse MVP Kevin Crowley, attackman John Grant Jr., who is widely regarded as one of the finest players to ever play the game, and OSU’s all-time leading goal scorer Logan Schuss.“It was very intimidating,” King said. “I’m going up against guys that I hear about in the news or all over social media about how well they play in the NLL or MLL, and I just kind of moseyed on in and got the opportunity to try out.”Even though more seasoned players, such as Schuss, got cut and Grant Jr. was forced to watch the tournament from the sidelines after his application for a Therapeutic Use Exemption was denied, King played his way onto the 24-man roster that traveled to Denver, Colo., in early July.Then, on July 10, King and his fellow Canadians stepped into the limelight.After an opening ceremony which saw a record 38 nations, including nine first-time nations, Canada took the field for a primetime showdown against arch-rival USA in a clash of lacrosse heavyweights.In what was widely considered a preview of the gold medal game, Canada struck first, jumping on top of the defending champions, 3-0. However, the lead was short-lived.The USA proceeded to score the next eight goals before holding off a late Canadian rally to steal the first game, 10-7.King said after the game the team didn’t hang its head and instead, focused on getting better throughout the tournament with the mindset that they would see the USA again.“You really have to take into perspective that a lot of the guys on the American team, who are unbelievably talented, don’t play the box lacrosse that we play and they have a lot more time to practice together,” King said. “Our first practice together as a team, was four days before that game.”True to his word, King and Team Canada bounced back immediately, rattling off four wins in four days by taking down fellow Blue Division opponents England, the Iroquois Nationals, Japan and Australia.King scored his lone goal of the tournament in Canada’s 12-4 romp over Australia, which saw them finish pool-play with a 4-1 record to earn an automatic berth into the semifinals.There, Canada faced its toughest challenge to date in a rematch against a determined Iroquois Nationals squad.However, just like they had the first time around, Canada managed to slow down the Iroquois’ potent offense to advance to the finals with a 12-6 victory.With the USA’s semifinal win against Australia, the rematch was set. But with the USA coming in undefeated and loaded from top to bottom, experts gave Canada little shot at an upset.Undeterred by the predictions swirling around, Canada came out of the gates swinging, building up some early momentum on the USA as they carried a 3-1 lead into the half.With the USA backed into a corner, Canada held off a late rally that brought the gold medal back to the Great White North with an 8-5 win.King described the whole experience as once in a lifetime, adding that it was a “treat” to get a chance to be around players from countries such as Uganda as well as suiting up with players he admired growing up.“The guys we were talking with, Team Uganda, they’ve been playing for four years and the stick skills that they were able to have in that short amount of time was really outstanding,” King said.As if playing against the world’s best wasn’t enough, King has also been competing for his native Victoria Shamrocks, a Senior A box lacrosse club which plays in the Western Lacrosse Association and competes for the Mann Cup, which is awarded annually to the winner of a championship series played between the WLA champion and Major Series Lacrosse champion.Last summer, while playing for the junior Shamrocks, King posted an otherworldly 111 points in 15 games and he hasn’t slowed down since making the jump to the senior level.In 10 games this season, King has tallied 41 points, good for third on the team. Victoria currently sits in first place in the WLA with a 14-2-2 record as they look to win their first Mann Cup since 2005.“I was born in Victoria and I was really fortunate to get drafted by Victoria as well,” King said. “Playing box in the summer, it may not be the same style of lacrosse, but it does translate over to field lacrosse. It makes you smarter, it makes you more aware, it makes you more alert.”Later this month, King will be arriving back in Columbus where he will look to lead the Buckeyes back to the NCAA tournament after failing in 2014 to manufacture back-to-back trips for the first time in 10 years.“Every year, the Ohio State Buckeyes are always contenders, not because we are the most talented, but because we have the grit and the work ethic and we are always willing to do whatever it takes to win,” King said. “I’m very excited to get back on campus, get back in the snake pit and play some games.”Myers said King has developed more and more as a leader every year since coming to OSU, but there is still some work for him to do to get the most out of his game as well as his teammates.“You do that by leading by example, encouraging your teammates while at the same time challenging them to a degree,” Myers said. “I think that Jesse has found a balance at that and he’s done better and better every year.”In January, the talk around Columbus centered around King stepping into that leadership role for Myers and the Buckeyes. Meurer said King has thrived in that role and comes ready to play everyday.“I know us as a team put a lot of pressure on him last year but he handled it really well,” Meurer said. “He brings his lunch pail to work everyday and at the end of the day that’s all that really matters.”Success hasn’t been uncommon to King as he has been a winner at every level of the game. A true leader on and off the field, fans can only get excited for what’s in store for King and the Buckeye program in 2015.
OSU coach Urban Meyer flashes a grin while on the podium celebrating the Buckeyes’ 44-28 victory over Notre in the Fiesta Bowl on Jan. 1. Credit: Samantha Hollingshead | Photo EditorThe Ohio State football program already had one of the nation’s top recruiting classes as Feb. 3, the date of this year’s National Signing Day, inched closer. But a wave of three major verbal commitments crashed upon the shores of the college football world Monday , which now leaves coach Urban Meyer’s 2016 class sitting alone at the top, according to multiple outlets. Scout.com, 247Sports and Rivals all now have the Buckeyes owning the No. 1 spot after the addition of a trio of four-star prospects. The three outlets each had OSU with the third-ranked class prior to the announcements. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins, linebacker Keandre Jones and wide receiver Binjimen Victor all declared on Martin Luther King Jr. Day their plans to play collegiately in Columbus, bringing the number of commitments for Meyer in his 2016 class to 21. Victor’s destination was largely up in the air until around noon on Monday when he posted on Twitter, whereas Haskins and Jones were previously verbally committed to Maryland.The Fort Lauderdale, Florida, native Victor had narrowed his choices down to West Virginia, Tennessee and OSU before selecting the Scarlet and Gray. “I would like to thank everyone for being there for me throughout this whole recruiting process,” he wrote in a screenshot on his Twitter. Victor continued, writing that there was only “one school” that he could see himself playing for, and that was OSU. With receivers Michael Thomas and Jalin Marshall departing for the NFL draft, a cloud of uncertainty hangs over the pass-catchers for OSU next season. Whether Victor will be able to contribute as a true freshman remains to be seen, of course, but even if he doesn’t contribute in 2016, he will likely make an impact somewhere down the line. For Victor, who played in the Army All-American Game in January, to step in and play right away, he will need to add weight to his slender 6-foot-4 frame. Currently, he listed at just 177 pounds. That number will have to increase for him to step on the field this fall, as college football is much more physical than high school and he might not hold up playing at that weight. Fortunately for Victor and his new team, OSU strength coach Mickey Marotti is considered one of the best in the business. Even though OSU returns redshirt junior quarterback J.T. Barrett, the addition of Haskins to the recruiting class is an enormous lift. Meyer and the Buckeyes had been targeting Haskins for quite some time, according to Ari Wasserman of Cleveland.com, but the Potomac, Maryland, native chose to stay in-state and play for the Terrapins after OSU received a verbal commitment from Tristen Wallace, a four-star athlete from Texas. Wallace changed his mind, though, and chose to play wide receiver at Oregon. Once that happened and Maryland fired Randy Edsall, the door for Meyer to land Haskins swung open, Wasserman reported. Haskins walked through the door, locked it and all but threw away the key Monday. He announced his intent to become a Buckeye in an essay posted to a blog powered by Weebly, to which he tweeted the link. The 6-foot-2, 188-pounder discussed his reasons for decommitting, which largely centered on Edsall’s firing, before telling the world where he would play collegiately. “At the age of 8 years old, I went to numerous Ohio State camps, loved watching their games and idolized the university,” Haskins wrote. “Finally, my dream to attend Ohio State will come true.” Barring any unforeseen injuries, which, based off recent history, wouldn’t be unheard of for OSU, Haskins is unlikely to contribute right away. But, 247Sports’ seventh-ranked pro-style quarterback is certainly a guy Meyer would entrust at the helm of his offense, based upon his vigorous recruitment of Haskins. Making the flip-flop from Maryland to OSU along with Haskins was Jones, the four-star linebacker from Olney, Maryland. Pegged by 247Sports as the No. 9 linebacker, Jones’ journey to Columbus was an interesting one. Wasserman reported Jones was a “surprise Ohio State official visitor” over the weekend. By sunset Monday, he had already declared his intentions to switch to OSU. Haskins posted a picture of himself with Jones on his Twitter account, saying they are “like brothers.” Jones, who Rivals.com lists as a five-star prospect, joins a linebacking unit at OSU that lost two starters. Although there is plenty of talent already at linebacker for the Buckeyes, such as juniors Raekwon McMillan and Chris Worley, tossing Jones in the mix is certainly not a bad thing. With all three players, just how much they play in 2016 remains unseen but for a program to maintain success over long periods of time, like OSU always does, these types of commitments are the foundation for prolonged dominance. They, however, might not be the last of splashes that the Buckeyes make from now until National Signing Day on Feb. 3. “Big day for the Buckeyes!” OSU offensive coordinator Ed Warinner tweeted Monday. “More to come!!”
2.Flensburg-H.292333865:72249 7.Goppingen2816111769:71533 dkb bundesligaSG FlensburgTHW Kiel 5.Fuchse Berlin281639785:71635 13.Bergischer298120729:81517 17.N-Lubbecke292423725:8408 11.Leipzig2911315761:81525 4.MT Melsungen291937820:74341 8.Gummersbach2915311793:77733 9.Hannover-Burgdorf291379811:80133 14.HBW Balingen-Weilstetten296320762:83515 1.Rhein-Neckar292504831:63950 16.Eisenach284222705:87610 10.SC Magdeburg2811710771:76929 THW Kiel are out of the Championship race! Germany will get the new champions! SG Flensburg beat “Zebras” at Sparkasse Arena 28:26 (14:12) and stayed in the run with Rhein Neckar Lowen for the title in DKB Bundesliga.THW Kiel – SG Flensburg-Handewitt 26:28 (14:12)THW Kiel: Landin (17 saves), Katsigiannis () – Duvnjak (6), Brozovic, Dissinger (2), Canellas, Vujin (2), Wiencek (2), Ekberg (7/5), Klein (4), Jaanimaa (3)SG Flensburg-Handewitt: Andersson (16 saves), Møller () – Karlsson, Glandorf (5), Mogensen (6), Svan (3), Wanne (3), Djordjic, Jakobsson, Toft Hansen (1), Gottfridsson (2), Mahé (6/5), Kozina (2)Schiedsrichter: Schulze/Tönnies (Magdeburg/Dodendorf); Zeitstrafen: 8:18 Minuten (Duvnjak 2, Dissinger 2, Wiencek 2, Ekberg 2 – Karlsson 4, Kozina 4, Mogensen 2, Svan 2, Jakobsson 2, Toft Hansen 2, Mahé 2);Results: 0:2 (2.), 2:3 (5.), 2:5 (6.), 3:7 (11.), 5:7 (12.), 5:8 (13.), 8:8 (18.), 9:10 (24.), 12:10 (27.), 14:11 (30.) – 14:13 (32.), 16:14 (34.), 16:17 (36.), 18:17 (38.), 19:18 (40.), 19:22 (43.), 20:22 (46.), 20:25 (49.), 22:25 (52.), 24:26 (57.), 24:28 (58.)STANDINGS: 6.HSG Wetzlar3015411775:76934 12.Lemgo298219768:85718 3.Kiel292225882:75046 15.TVB Stuttgart294619719:83214 ← Previous Story HBC Nantes and FA Goppingen for EHF Cup trophy! Next Story → FA Goppingen win EHF Cup for the third time!
Share87 Tweet Email7 Short URL We saw them for what they were: scared kids who acted out and hurt others, and often themselves too. Tweet thisShare on FacebookEmail this article 16,537 Views Opinion: I want to change the way society sees ex-offenders so I organised a TEDx Talk in Mountjoy Ex prisoners took to the stage to deliver talks to an audience of prisoners, senior policymakers, politicians, activists, education-providers, and employers, writes Nikki Gallagher. By Nikki Gallagher In 2015 I became the Communications Director at SOLAS, the Further Education and Training Authority. SOLAS is a progressive public body, where we’re encouraged to be innovative and explore creative approaches to tackling issues.My job is to promote an appreciation of further education and training as a great post-secondary option. This is how I discovered TED.The first TEDx (independently organised TED talks) event I managed was all about re-imagining Further Education and Training. It was a great success and I got the TEDx bug.At an event for TEDx organisers in London 18 months ago, I was fascinated to hear about a TEDx event that was held in a prison in Leicester. It tapped back into my experiences with the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, and St. Patrick’s Institution. I decided at that moment that I would help facilitate the first TEDx Talk in an Irish Prison. Back in Ireland, I approached the Dóchas Centre – and subsequently the Irish Prison Service – with trepidation: I assumed we would be met with a conservative response. I was completely wrong. The Irish Prison Service and Mountjoy Prison welcomed the idea with open arms. We agreed that the event would be held in the chapel in Mountjoy with its amazing acoustics and stunning stained-glass window. The theme was re-integration: ‘Beyond Walls, from Custody to Community’. SOLAS, through Education and Training Boards, helps fund prison education in Ireland, offering over 700 courses annually. Education is important, but without the prospect of meaningful employment on release – it’s hard to see how ex-offenders can successfully transition back into society. We wanted our TEDx talk to challenge prevailing attitudes and spark a conversation about what society can do to support offenders beyond the prison walls. I GREW UP in a family where my parents instilled social justice values in me and my siblings. Of course, they never used that term – I’m not sure they’d even understand what it means today.But it’s not surprising that my sister now manages an advocacy service for people with disabilities, my brother is a probation officer, and I have spent much of my career promoting human rights and trying to positively influence public policy and laws. Saturday 6 Apr 2019, 7:30 AM I knew we needed to find a way to communicate their stories and vulnerability to policymakers, legislators and the wider public. In addition to a policy report, we produced a DVD using drawings by the boys themselves and got actors to narrate their actual words.The impact was unprecedented: the then Minister for Justice, Alan Shatter, changed the law to allow the Ombudsman for Children investigate complaints from the boys in St. Pat’s, and newly detained boys were sent to Oberstown Children Detention Campus. Eventually, St. Pat’s as an institution was shut down. 42 Comments https://jrnl.ie/4578964 Apr 6th 2019, 7:31 AM Nikki Gallagher The speakers were handpicked and included an ex-offender, a probation officer, the Mountjoy Governor and Dublin GAA star Philly McMahon. We were thrilled when the inspiring Norah Casey agreed to be our MC.After weeks of working with speaking coaches, and hours of practices and rewrites, the eight speakers were ready to stand on the famous TED red dot and present to a packed chapel.Each of the 100-odd guests was handpicked too.Prisoners, senior policymakers, politicians, activists, education-providers and employers sat shoulder to shoulder in rows of wooden pews.Hairs stood on end as the SOLAS workplace choir joined the Mountjoy choir on stage at the half-time interval.As the poignant chorus of ‘The Auld Triangle’ reverberated around the chapel, it was hard not to become emotional: at that moment, we all felt the incredible privilege of witnessing a ground-breaking event; and something shifted in the room.We suddenly saw the humanity, not just the crimes of the prisoners on stage, singing in harmony with the SOLAS staff choir.When it was the turn of ex-offender Wayne Harte to speak, he delivered some hard-hitting messages for all of us.For the first time that evening, people became uncomfortable in their seats as this bright, high academic achiever told us that – despite his impressive list of qualifications, work and life experience – he struggled to get even a job interview because of his criminal past.Phones weren’t allowed in the prison, but we trended on Twitter later that night anyway. That was the first hint of the impact we think this very special event has had.I have spent the days since Tuesday talking to many employers and policymakers about the changes we would like to see as well as exploring the next steps.I am extremely grateful to the Irish Prison Service and the Governors of Dóchas and Mountjoy for humouring a woman who wanted to talk to them about an idea she heard in London.Nikki Gallagher is Director of Communications and Secretariat at SOLAS where she is responsible for governance, public affairs and communications. Prior to this, she spent over a decade at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office promoting children’s rights and welfare. She is the Chair of BeLonGTo, Ireland’s largest LGBTI+ youth organisation. She also played a key role in the Together for Yes campaign. My interest in prisoners’ rights was sparked both by my brother’s career and my own experiences eight years ago, when, as the Communications Manager at the Ombudsman for Children’s Office, I worked on a ground-breaking project with a group of teenage boys incarcerated in St. Patrick’s Institution. In Ireland, anyone under 18 years of age is legally considered a child. These 16 and 17-year-old children were incarcerated in an adult prison and denied access to the complaints process of the Children’s Ombudsman.However, the Ombudsman for Children’s Office was established under a very powerful piece of legislation that obliged the Office to ask children and young people their views on issues that mattered to them. Emily Logan, the first Ombudsman for Children was incredibly progressive and tenacious in the promotion of children’s rights and welfare.Because of both these things, we were able to negotiate with St. Patrick’s Institution and the Irish Prison Service to specifically talk to the boys about their experience of being in St. Pat’s. What we heard was really profound.The boys told us, with humour and honesty, what daily life was like for them; their hopes; their dreams and, most poignantly, their fears.
Facebook Twitter: @NeosKosmos Instagram The Greek economy contracted in the second quarter for the first time since 1993 as the global recession hit consumption, investments and exports, data showed last week.Experts said the tourism sector will play a key role in determining the economy’s performance for 2009, describing third-quarter figures on gross domestic product as crucial.The overall economy declined by 0.2 percent in the second quarter in comparison to the same period a year ago, after a 0.3 percent expansion in the first quarter, according to figures released by the Greek National Statistical Service.“Economic activity contracted on an annual basis for the first time in the last 16 years, the result of stagnant private consumption and an ongoing slump in private investment and lower income from export services,” National Bank economist Nikos Magginas said.The economy declined 0.3 percent in the second quarter after a 1.2 percent growth in growth in the first three months of the year. The growth in the second quarter reflects a fall in imports and the government’s financial stimulus package, according to experts.The Greek economy has enjoyed a 16 year economic boom but it now faces the risk of protracted slow growth if the government fails to adopt structural reforms to boost competitiveness and correct its fiscal imbalances, the European Union and the International Monetary Fund have said.Economists point to the need for a new export-oriented growth model for Greece to prosper after the consumption driven growth of the last decade.
Olympic Champion Usain Bolt is not phased by criticism about his obsession to become a professional footballer, he is not giving up.The dream of becoming a footballer wasn’t going to be easy from the very start, this is something that Usain Bolt already knew and he won’t give it up that easy.The Olympic gold Medalist attempted to play professionally with the Central Coast Mariners from Australia and even scored with them during a match, but the club ultimately decided to not let him become a pro footballer and prevented him from fulfilling his dream.He recently said that a final decision about his possible future as a pro will come by the end of November, but recent criticism from other professional players might have changed his mind and could make him push the dream further in order to see how much of a chance he really has with other clubs.There have already been reports of other offers on the table for him, something that keeps him awake at night and always thinking about the possibilities.Usain Bolt is a confessed Manchester United fan, he’s had conversations with several Premier League stars and he confessed that he keeps getting encouraged by several of them to not give up his dream because they believe in him.”I’ve talked to Pogba and Sterling and they are happy to see me trying, they say ‘come on, you can do it’.”Can Bolt fulfill his dream of becoming a footballer? ⚡Usain Bolt supported by Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling over football career: https://t.co/2L2QBVcGH6 pic.twitter.com/9pe9GxFIBz— Sky Sports Football (@SkyFootball) November 15, 2018The criticism in question that may have sparked his interest again, came from Irish player Andy Keogh who stated that Bolt’s first touch is like a “trampoline”.This kind of trash-talking is not very elegant to say, but the Jamaican sprinter responded with class to this criticism by reminding Andy of the “great” player that he is.“People are going to say what they want, I’m used to this. I used to do track and field, people used to think badly of me when I started and I proved them wrong every year,” said Bolt to Sky Sports. “Football is something that I want. I’m sure he [Keogh] is not at the level he was when he started, you know what I mean?”“I don’t take it personally, I just laugh at these things because I’ve met Patrick Vieira, I’ve met so many big football players,” added Bolt.Report: Up to seven first team players out for United George Patchias – September 13, 2019 Manchester United have some serious injury problems with up to seven first-team players out.This Saturday, United have a Premier League clash with Leicester City….“I’ve talked to Pogba and Sterling and they are happy to see me trying, they say ‘come on, you can do it’.”“They support me, so I’m not going to worry about some simple players saying some things about me because I have high-level players knowing this is a dream and what I want to do.”“This is not about all about the money. This is a dream, and I want to try and see how good I can be,” he concluded.Usain Bolt says he has received support from Paul Pogba and Raheem Sterling in light of Andy Keogh’s comment that he had ‘a touch like a trampoline’.https://t.co/si1zZ3UMFN pic.twitter.com/tytraVrstd— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) November 15, 2018The offers that Usain Bolt has on the table are currently unknown, he has refused to share any of them as maybe he doesn’t believe that the clubs making such offers are good enough for him to give it another try.It’s unclear what will happen to Usain Bolt’s career as a football player, but we will report any new development or decision as soon as the Olympic gold Medalist makes it public.In our personal opinion about him, Bolt has a decent touch of the ball and he moves very well inside the box from what we were able to see during the match he played for the Central Coast Mariners where he scored.Having the support of football top players like Vieira, Pogba, and Sterling himself must be a great reason for him to stay motivated and just keep trying until he can accomplish his goal.But time might be running out for Bolt, as he is already 32 years old and the average prime for a footballer has already passed in his particular case.Los secretos del WR de 100m.Usain Bolt⚡9.58.pic.twitter.com/Z2u5x6Cymp— Run4Fun (@_r4fun_) November 14, 2018Do you think Usain Bolt should keep fighting for his dream or should he call it quits already? Please share your opinion in the comment section down below.
The Hill has added four of new senior VP hires to its marketing team in the wake of what it called “incredible audience growth” over the past year:Agency veteran Andrew McLean has joined The Hill as senior VP and head of business development. McLean joins from Quigley-Simpson, where he served as chief development officer, and has held senior roles at Mercury Media, GroupM, and Omnicom’s PHD.Anissa Frey was named senior VP of branded entertainment and creative solutions. She joins from DailyMail.com, where she was VP of custom content solutions and head of marketing, and previously served as VP of branded content at Condé Nast Entertainment. Courtney Howell has joined The Hill as senior VP and head of national sales. Howell was previously VP of sales at content marketing firm WhoSay, and also spent time in Twitter’s client partnerships division.Finally, The Hill named Ron Prince senior VP of marketing. Prince, who served as head of marketing for InStyle from 2009 to 2013, spent the last four years running his own marketing consulting business for clients like Condé Nast, The Hollywood Reporter, and WME/IMG.All four appointments take effect immediately, with the new hires reporting to The Hill president Richard Beckman.The Hill, which claims to have doubled its traffic year-over-year in each of the last three years, received 28 million unique visitors in October 2017, per comScore data.“In this era of consumers being bombarded with irrelevant content, politics has become the most important passion point,” said Beckman in a statement. “We are building a best in class sales, marketing and branded content organization to capitalize on this unique moment in time.”Kira BindrimHere are the rest of this week’s People on the Move:Quartz has promoted Kira Bindrim (pictured) to managing editor. The former Newsweek managing editor originally joined Atlantic Media last year as editor of the Quartz Talent Lab.“There is surely little surprise at Kira taking on this role,” wrote Quartz editor-in-chief Kevin Delaney in a memo to staffers. “Since joining Quartz in April 2016 as Talent Lab editor, she’s demonstrated a remarkable ability to get things done, always with wisdom and humor. Kira is gifted at listening to ideas and feedback, but also at providing clear-eyed suggestions and direction.”Aaron Boyd has joined Government Executive as senior editor of technology and events for NextGov, which covers the intersection of government and technology. Boyd will be charged with leading NextGov’s event programming as well as reporting on trends in federal technology. He joins from Sightline Media Group, where he served as editor of Federal Times and founding editor of Fifth Domain.Forty-five year-old Hudson Valley Magazine has named Dan Burnside its new publisher. Burnside joins the regional title after spending the last 15 years at The Blue Book Building & Construction Network, a publisher and SaaS provider to the commercial construction industry. He succeeds Ralph Martinelli, who has ascended to group publisher of the magazine as well as sister titles Westchester Magazine, Westchester Home, 914INC., and Westchester/Hudson Valley Weddings.Jennifer HicksMOD Media has hired Jennifer Hicks (pictured) to serve as the new publisher of New York Spaces magazine, as well as the company’s director of business development. It’s a reunion for Hicks, who had previously served as publisher of the title in 2010, under different owners. MOD Media acquired the title back in June. Hicks most recently spent two years as a senior VP and head of luxury at The Economist, and has held senior roles at Condé Nast Traveler, The New Republic, and Smithsonian Magazine.Mackenzie Weinger will join National Journal as policy editor, effective January 3. Weinger arrives from The Cipher Brief, where she was a national security reporter, and brings previous experience from Financial Times and Politico. Weinger also interned at National Journal back in 2010.Politico promoted Bobby Moran to chief revenue officer and Danica Stanciu to VP of Politico Pro, its subscription-based service for policy professionals. Moran has spent the past seven years at Politico, most recently as VP and general manager of Politico Pro. Stanciu joined the company in 2015 and most recently served as Politico Pro‘s managing director of account management.Tracy Le has joined Access Intelligence as marketing coordinator within the Aerospace Events group, which includes the Satellite, OilComm/FleetComm, and DC5G conferences. Access Intelligence is the parent company of Folio:.Refinery29 laid off 34 staffers, representing about 7.5 percent of its overall workforce, citing a need to “tighten our belt in order to invest in the future,” according to a staff memo from co-CEOs Philippe von Borries and Justin Stefano.
Federal scientists will begin using drones to monitor beluga whales in Cook Inlet as part of an effort to restore the endangered animals.Download AudioPhoto: NMFS National Marine Mammal LaboratoryThe National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will use the unmanned aircraft to gather more information on belugas that have stranded.NOAA biologist Barbara Mahoney says the drones will provide details that aren’t available from a horizontal perspective, such as whether the animals are in a pool of water or partially submerged. She says the additional information could be crucial to determining a whales’ chance of survival.Scientists tested the drones in August on a pair of stranded belugas on a mudflat in the Turnagain Arm. Mahoney says the drone produced quality images. Cook Inlet is home to about 340 belugas.
Cyberabad: The first anniversary of Cyberabad police ‘Jagruthi Kala Brundam'(cultural groups) was celebrated on grand note in the presence of Commissioner V C Sajjanar.Addressing the gathering, he stated that creation of public awareness through the cultural groups has yielded good results like in the case of Khammam, Kadapa and Medak districts where he had worked as SP. Also Read – Governor felicitates Sai Praneeth Advertise With Us He said since July 6 last year the cultural groups had conducted 111 demonstrations creating awareness among 91,580 persons, including 66,030 students, on social topics, evils and problems. Sajjanar complimented in-charges of cultural groups ASI Rama Rao, ARSI Gopal, members Sathayya, Prameela, Jaipal, Mahendra Singh, Venkatesh, Srinivas, Raju, Narahari, Sudarshan, Srisailam, Bhanupriya, Arun Kumar, Anand, Pradeep Kumar. Also Read – Golden 90’s Music Superstars – Alka Yagnik & Kumar Sanu LIVE in Concert will be performing together for the very 1st time in the city of pearls,… Advertise With Us DCP Anasuya of Women and Child Protection Cell and Rama Rao spoke. The group members rendered songs which received wide appreciation. Sajjanar presented commendation letters to the members and cut a cake along with them to mark the occasion. He felicitated Rama Rao with a shawl. Among those present included SHE Teams ADCP Indira, CR Headquarters ADCP Manic Raj, CAR Headquarters ACP Lakshminarayana, ACP Vidyasagar, Estate Officer Santosh Kumar, ACP Chandrakanth, CAO Accounts Officer Chandrakala, MTOs Mattayya, Venkataswasmy, RI Vishnu, AR staff.
Buses queued up at the Sayedabad bus terminal, Dhaka during the 48-hour country-wide transport strike called by the transport workers on Sunday. 28 October, Dhaka. Photo: Abdus SalamPeople continued to suffer as the countrywide transport strike demanding amendments to the recently passed Road Transport Act entered second day on Monday.In the capital, there was no public transport on the roads like the previous day, reports UNB.Transport workers also took position at several points in the capital and obstructing movement of vehicles.CNG-run auto-rickshaws, private vehicles, rickshaws, were seen plying roads with a large number of commuters waiting on roads for transport to reach their destinations.The passengers ride on rickshaw van as no buses were running in the city on the second day of the 48-hour countrywide transport strike. Jatrabari, Dhaka on 29 october. Photo: Dipu MalakarThe number of government-run Bangladesh Road Transport Commission (BRTC) bus service is also very negligible.No inter-district buses left Gabtoli, Mohakhali or Sayedabad terminals in the morning.The passengers ride on rickshaw van as no buses were running in the city on the second day of the 48-hour countrywide transport strike. Jatrabari, Dhaka on 29 october. Photo: Dipu MalakarUNB correspondents from different districts reported that no long-route buses left their respective bus stands following the strike.The demands of the transport workers include making all the offences by road accident ‘bailable’, cancellation of the provision of fining Tk 500,000 for involvement in a road accident, keeping a representative from their federation in any probe body formed for road accident, fixing minimum educational qualification for getting driving license to class-V, and stopping police harassment on roads.The passengers ride on rickshaw van as no buses were running in the city on the second day of the 48-hour countrywide transport strike. Jatrabari, Dhaka on 29 october. Photo: Dipu MalakarEarlier on 12 October, the workers’ association decided to stage demonstrations by going on a two-day work abstention from 28 October to press home their eight-point demand that included amendments to the Road Transport Act, if their demands are not met by 27 October.
Oikya Front leaders join 2nd round of talks with PM HasinaThe opposition coalition of Jatiya Oikya Front has demanded formation of an election-time government with a 10-member advisory council in the light of the current constitution.The Front leaders submitted the proposal during the talks with the ruling Bangladesh Awami League-led 14-party alliance at the prime minister’s official Ganabhaban residence on Wednesday.However, the two sides could not reach any agreement on the pending issues especially on 7-point demand raised by the Front for free and fair elections in the country, Prothom Alo’s Lutforzaman reported from outside the Ganabhaban.Front leaders Kamal Hossain who led the opposition coalition at the talks with Awami League chief, prime minister Sheikh Hasina-led delegation, placed the demands in writing.The AL side rejected the proposal for election-time government terming it unconstitutional.The ruling camp also declined to accept the opposition’s demand for reconstitution of the election commission, which the opposition earlier called biased, especially after the recent city corporation elections plagued by complaints of rigging.The three-hour talks beginning at 11:00am failed to make any decision on the release of Khaleda Zia, chairperson of the BNP, the major component of the Front.”The two sides remained rigid on their demand and stand. There was no consensus on any issue,” said Sheikh Selim, AL presidium member. He mentioned that the Front leaders demanded further talks but no decision was taken on this as well.Senior AL leader and commerce minister Tofail Ahmed termed the Front’s demands unconstitutional and said the dialogue came to an end. “If they want to sit after announcement of the polls schedule, that can be considered,” he added.The Front leaders earlier sat with the ruling camp leaders led by the prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, on 1 November. It was followed by a series of talks with other parties.
Share Patrick George, editor-in-chief at Jalopnik, says car dealers in Texas are offering steep discounts on new cars, and there has been a corresponding surge in sales.Used cars can be more of a challenge after a storm, George says.“I think in the coming years in places like Texas and Louisiana, buyers are going to need to be extra-vigilant about flood-damaged vehicles,” he says.George says when considering a used car, check for stains, rust, odd smells, mildew and whether all of the car’s parts match. Next, have the car evaluated by a reputable mechanic before you buy. MARTIN DO NASCIMENTO/KUTFlooding in Bastrop, TX, on Aug. 27, 2017. Martin do Nascimento/KUTUp to 500,000 cars took on water during Hurricane Harvey. Not having a vehicle in car-dependent Texas could be a significant hardship. And those looking for a used car to replace a flooded one should be wary of buying storm-damaged rides.
Listen To embed this piece of audio in your site, please use this code: 00:00 /00:53 Courtesy of the University of HoustonTony Hoagland The University of Houston, where Tony Hoagland taught creative writing, confirmed he died on October 23, 2018.Hoagland published several collections of poetry, including 2003’s What Narcissism Means to Me, which was a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award.He was known for a straightforward style of writing and his witty take on modern life, as in these lines from a poem titled Romantic Moment – which he read to laughter at the 2006 Dodge Poetry Festival:“It is just our second date, and we sit down on a bench,holding hands, not looking at each otherand if I were a bull penguin right now I would lean overand vomit softly into the mouth of my beloved …”Hoagland also published two essay collections about poetry and received the Poetry Foundation’s Mark Twain Award. He was 64. X Share
Harris County Flood Control DistrictA view of the bridge over Brays Bayou at Buffalo Speedway.The Harris County Flood Control District has temporarily reopened the bridge over Brays Bayou at Buffalo Speedway. The Flood Control District began coordinated construction November 19 to modify or replace three existing bridges over Brays Bayou with new higher, wider and/or longer spans that will improve the conveyance of storm water along Brays Bayou in south central Harris County.The bridge at Buffalo Speedway is expected to remain open while issues involving utility lines attached to the bridge are addressed. There will be a two-week notification period, with public notice and detour signs in the construction area, before the bridge is again closed for construction.The Buffalo Speedway, Ardmore Street and Stella Link Road bridges will be the 18th, 19th and 20th bridge modifications constructed by the Flood Control District as part of $480 million Project Brays, a cooperative effort between the Flood Control District and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.Project Brays includes the widening of 21 miles of Brays Bayou in 13 separate channel modification project segments, the modification of 32 bridges, and the construction of four storm water detention basins with a combined capacity of 3.5 billion gallons.When Project Brays is complete, it is expected to provide a 1 percent (100-year) level of flood protection upstream (west) of the Sam Houston Tollway. In areas downstream (east) of the tollway, Project Brays will reduce the number structures at risk from a 1 percent (100-year) flood from 16,800 to 1,800. Share
Print Friendly Version Parking: Fans are encouraged to utilize the parking garage on Floyd Street (enter from Floyd Street, adjacent to the Ralph Wright Natatorium). There is a flat $5 fee for parking. The schedule for the University of Louisville’s Cardinal Classic has been altered due to snow in the forecast for Sunday. Louisville (7-6) will open the tournament on Friday with a 10:30 a.m. matchup against Indiana State and will face Missouri following the conclusion of game one. On Saturday, the Cards play Indiana State again at 10:30 a.m. and take on IUPUI at approximately 4:30 p.m. All of Louisville’s games will be televised on ACC Network Extra with Don Russell handling play-by-play duties and Suzanne Bush providing analysis. The Cardinals will welcome Indiana State, IUPUI and Missouri to Ulmer Stadium for the tournament which will now take place March 1-2. Admission is free. Cardinal Classic Schedule (revised)Friday, March 110:30 AM Indiana State vs. Louisville12:30 PM Missouri vs. Louisville2:30 PM IUPUI vs. Indiana State4:30 PM IUPUI vs. MissouriSaturday, March 210:30 AM Indiana State vs. Louisville12:30 PM IUPUI vs. Missouri2:30 PM Indiana State vs. Missouri4:30 PM IUPUI vs. LouisvilleAll game times EST and subject to change.The team listed first will occupy the first base dugout, while the second team will occupy the third base dugout. Story Links
T-Mobile has been partnering with Major League Baseball to offer its customers free access to MLB.tv for a couple of years now, and customers of the telco streamed 3 million hours of MLB coverage in 2018 alone. T-Mobile announced earlier this year that it had renewed its partnership with the league for an additional four years. T-Mobile is once again giving its customers free access to MLB.tv, Major League Baseball’s streaming service. The telco began giving away access to the streaming service Tuesday; anyone interested in signing up has until April 1 to do so.MLB.tv allows subscribers to stream regular season games on mobile and TV connected devices, and is giving baseball fans a chance to watch nearly 300 out-of-market games. The service usually costs $119 per year, or $25 per month.T-Mobile subscribers who want to take advantage of the offer do have to keep a few things in mind: Signing up for the offer only works from a mobile device that is connected to T-Mobile’s network, with T-Mobile stating that “redemption (is) not available over Wi-Fi or while roaming.”Users can add the perk directly via the T-Mobile Tuesdays app on Android, but iOS users were reporting Tuesday that they could only sign up via T-Mobile’s website. ×Actors Reveal Their Favorite Disney PrincessesSeveral actors, like Daisy Ridley, Awkwafina, Jeff Goldblum and Gina Rodriguez, reveal their favorite Disney princesses. Rapunzel, Mulan, Ariel,Tiana, Sleeping Beauty and Jasmine all got some love from the Disney stars.More VideosVolume 0%Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcutsKeyboard Shortcutsplay/pauseincrease volumedecrease volumeseek forwardsseek backwardstoggle captionstoggle fullscreenmute/unmuteseek to %SPACE↑↓→←cfm0-9Next UpJennifer Lopez Shares How She Became a Mogul04:350.5x1x1.25×1.5x2xLive00:0002:1502:15 Popular on Variety | <urn:uuid:28fbd902-37e8-4aac-a583-d843b387c77c> | {
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Our bodies are a true miracle- containing trillions of cells that work in symphony with each other. Whatever individual role each cell has, be it a heart cell or a brain cell, it depends on cell-signaling codes to optimally perform it’s own unique function. The translation of mRNA into proteins follows different codes in the nucleus and in the mitochondrion. The nutrients we eat and the environment in which we live determine which genes are read and with what intensity.
What is cell-signaling?
All the cells that make up our body are able to detect what is going on around them. They then respond and communicate with each other using chemical signaling molecules. These chemical signals, which are proteins or other molecules produced by a sending cell, are secreted from the cell and released into the extracellular space in order to travel to neighboring cells. Receiving cells that contain the correct molecular receptors are able to interact with the signaling molecules. When a signaling molecule binds to its receptor, it alters the shape or activity of the receptor, triggering a change inside of the cell and a specific response.
Why should we care about cell-signaling?
Our cells are constantly communicating to each other through cell-signaling to turn on and off countless important bodily functions. These functions include influencing our gene expression, activation of our immune system, activation of nerve impulses, growth and repair of our cells. Basically, cell-signaling runs every function in our body!
How is the food we eat considered information?
Scientists have discovered that the food we eat can also act as informational messengers to stimulate specific cell-signaling pathways. Depending on the quality and type of food, these messengers can have a positive or a negative effect. Human cells have evolved at a molecular level to respond positively to a diversity of plant-based phyto-chemicals and secondary plant metabolites. Thus the now common knowledge that a diet rich in fruits and vegetables is beneficial to health.
Poor dietary choices lead to misinformation:
Our bodies are not evolved to eat man made, processed foods and synthetic chemicals. Those convenient boxed meals and snack foods that are so popular are introducing chemicals your cells do not recognize as food. We are also exposed to many more environmental toxins in our daily lives. Combining poor food choices with toxins influences cell-signaling pathways that frequently set off a chain of events that lead to poor health.
What is cell-signaling technology?
By studying and thoroughly understanding the principles of cell-signaling mechanisms, USANA Health Sciences has been able to identify which plant compounds more significantly influence a certain set of cell-signaling pathways. Introducing a revolutionary Patent-Pending InCelligence Technology™ in August of 2016, USANA can design products that focus on a particular condition, system or function that is broad, providing multiple health advantages.
Click HERE to learn more about the USANA’s Patent-Pending InCelligence Technology™ | <urn:uuid:7a5cb772-5d5f-4f04-acbe-4722584911af> | {
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The lost harbour of Pisa revealed
The key to Roman mercantile power turned into a lake more than 500 years ago. Now, researchers think they’ve found it again. Andrew Masterson reports.
The “lost harbour” of the Italian city of Pisa has been located, researchers say.
For more than 1000 years, across the Roman and Medieval periods, the city was a highly influential seaport, serviced by its port, known as the Portus Pisanus.
Evidence suggests the port was established around 200 BCE in a naturally protected lagoon that connected with the Ligurian Sea.
In the fifth century CE it was described as “a large, naturally sheltered embayment” that was used by maritime vessels. In the period between 1000 and 1250 CE, however, the surrounding coastline changed significantly, shifting more towards the sea and restricting access. By 1500 CE the lagoon had all but disappeared, transforming into a coastal lake.
A new maritime port, Livorno, was built in the sixteenth century.
Since then, the exact location of the original Portus Pisanus has been a mystery.
“Despite its importance, the geographical location of the harbour complex remains controversial and its environmental evolution is unclear,” write a team headed by David Kaniewski from France’s Université Paul Sabatier-Toulouse in the journal Scientific Reports.
To try to resolve the confusion, Kaniewski and colleagues used a combination of biological and geological approaches to reconstruct relative sea levels over a period of 10,500 years and thus model the effects of sea level rise in shaping the harbour basin.
They also created an 8000-year history of the environmental dynamics affecting the basin. Written accounts and archaeological artefacts arising from the Roman period were then compared to the findings, producing clearest indications yet of the lost harbour.
The results show how wetlands that developed around river outflows gradually developed into a navigable lagoon as sea levels rose, spurring the construction of the port.
The harbour facility became one of the most important assets for the Mediterranean world and remained so for many centuries. However, the modelling reveals that the same geographic process that formed it also doomed it. From the time the first ship docked, the clock was ticking.
“The site where the harbour complex was located was both its strength and its weakness because,” the researchers conclude.
“Like other deltaic contexts, sediment supply eventually entrained its demise. Portus Pisanus was destined to disappear due to long-term coastal dynamics and environmental change.” | <urn:uuid:698249c6-a198-46e5-a27c-951e35436fcd> | {
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Guerrero wrote two settings of this joyful Antiphon. In an intimate four-part version he used the local Spanish chant melody, but he produced the present grand eight-part one using the Roman melody, well known throughout Christendom. This came out in the Liber Vesperarum
of 1584. Not startlingly antiphonal, it nevertheless is for eight voices distributed as two equal choirs. The ringing ‘Alleluia’ endings of each section show how vigorous Guerrero could be. It gives the lie to the impression that used to be passed on by music histories that would have Guerrero over-sweet, lacking the strength of Morales and Victoria.
from notes by Bruno Turner ę 1999 | <urn:uuid:60cdedcf-6ee2-4ffd-9f04-634d87c3e9f7> | {
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Research on 1,200 patients in the UK, European and Australia has found that the use of positron emission tomography (PET) scans can spare patients with advanced Hodgkin lymphoma the serious side effects of chemotherapy.
The study, led by Peter Johnson, Professor of Medical Oncology at the University of Southampton, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, showed that those who had a clear PET scan were split into two groups – one group continued with chemotherapy including the drug bleomycin and the other had chemotherapy without the drug.
The study found that after they had been given two cycles of standard chemotherapy, patients who stopped having bleomycin had the same survival rates as those who continued it.
But, importantly, they were spared side effects. Patients on the trial who did not have a clear PET scan after two rounds of chemotherapy, suggesting they had a more resistant form of the disease, were given more intense chemotherapy treatment.
The three year progression-free survival rate for chemotherapy without bleomycin was 84.4 per cent. Three year progression-free survival for chemotherapy with bleomycin was 85.7 per cent.
Bleomycin has been an important drug to treat Hodgkin lymphoma for 30 years, but it has a potential risk of severe effects on the lungs, with the risk of scarring, even years later, that can lead to serious breathing problems.
Due to these risks the researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK and international partners in Europe and Australasia, wanted to explore the potential of adapting treatment by stopping bleomycin for patients with a good outlook and escalating treatment only for those at highest risk of the treatment not working.
“The majority of people diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma can be cured – in this trial more than 95 per cent of patients are alive after three years,” said Prof. Johnson, Cancer Research UK’s chief clinician based at the University of Southampton.
“But we worry about the long-term side effects from the treatments we use. As we’ve done in this trial, personalising treatment based on how well it works is a major development for patients with Hodgkin lymphoma, and sets a new standard of care.
“Knowing which patients have a more difficult to treat form of the disease means we can select those who need stronger chemotherapy, while sparing everyone else the severe side effects such as infertility. This approach, along with a reduction in the need for radiotherapy, should substantially reduce damage to healthy tissues and the risk of second cancers caused by treatments.”
Dr Sally Barrington, clinical lead of the UK National Cancer Research Institute PET lab at Guy’s and St Thomas NHS Foundation Trust, London said: “We have made a big investment in developing and using PET scans to select the best treatments for our patients in the UK, and this trial conducted in seven different countries is a great example of how we can work together to help patients have healthier lives beyond cancer.” | <urn:uuid:ab22835e-3b00-4046-a80d-c4f9974291b2> | {
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Teaching children to help their communities will allow them to develop compassion for others and they will gain a better understanding of ways to share God's love. They will learn skills that help them build positive relationships. It will also empower them to make a difference in the world around them.
Below are ten, simple ways children can show kindness:
1. Read a book to a local senior in the community.
2. Write a letter of appreciation to a U.S. soldier and his/her family.
3. Hold a door for someone.
4. Bake cookies for a friend.
5. Help a neighbor with their yard work.
6. Send a thank you card to the local police department.
7. Visit an animal shelter.
8. Clean up after yourself.
9. Pick flowers for someone who is sick.
10. Plant a flower or a tree.
Please feel free to add other suggestions of ways children can show kindness!
Shelter From the Rain, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit, based out of Savannah, Georgia, designed to enrich the lives of low-income single mothers and children in need through acts of kindness that nurture the mind, body, and soul.
Shelter From the Rain, Inc.
Community Outreach For Single Mothers
P.O. Box 24195, Savannah, Georgia 31403
Monday - Friday | 5:00 PM - 9:00 PM
Saturdays 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
In-Take Specialist & Volunteer
Donation Drop-Off & Pick-Up Address:
Savannah Church of God
3033 Martin Luther King Blvd., Savannah, Georgia 31405
Drop-Off & Pick-Up Hours:
Monday - Friday | 9:00 AM - 3:00 PM
Saturdays | Closed | <urn:uuid:77f581d1-158a-4ac5-a7fd-a12f1d23f47e> | {
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Learn about this topic in these articles:
...chains grow off the long chain at certain intervals, so that a branched structure is formed. In other polymers the branches become numerous and cross-link to other polymer chains, thus forming a network structure. (These three polymer structures are illustrated in Figures 1A, 1B, and 1C of industrial polymers, chemistry of.)
...the monomer or monomers and on the polymerization method employed, polymer molecules may exhibit a variety of architectures. Most common from the commercial standpoint are the linear, branched, and network structures. The linear structure, shown in Figure 1A, is illustrated by high-density polyethylene (HDPE), a chainlike molecule made from the polymerization of ethylene. With the chemical... | <urn:uuid:af740b4b-6d0c-42e1-a6b1-254168336065> | {
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Saddle Brook High School offers robust band and choir programs to its students. Mr. Frank Ortega and Mrs. Cindy Verost teach roughly 80 high school students in the musical arts. Over the past few years, they have kept track of the number of those students getting onto the honor roll. “I check the honor roll every marking period to see how many members of the chorus make it. We usually average between 45-50 percent,” Mrs. Verost said. This past quarter, 65 percent of high school chorus members were on the honor roll. This is the highest it has been since Mrs. Verost started keeping track of grades.
Studies have suggested that students participating in ensembles have increased discipline and focus. According to The National Association of High School Principals, students who participate in ensembles have a higher attendance rate, make new acquaintances, and form lasting friendships with other ensemble members.
“I am not a 'Mozart Effect' proponent. However, since the auditory sense uses the greatest percentage of the brain, music can be considered a kind of 'calisthenics' for the mind,” Mrs. Verost said.
Mrs. Verost outlined the top reasons why an ensemble can be beneficial to a student: contributing as a member of a team whose focus is preparing and performing works of art; being introduced to music of different styles, time periods, and cultures, and relating that to their studies in social studies and language arts; and a strong work ethic that carries over into all other areas of study.
- Live Games | <urn:uuid:c6492691-d732-4c1d-85eb-480fd5a88c26> | {
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Courtesy of EarthSky
A Clear Voice for Science
There is a partial eclipse of the moon visible before dawn on Saturday, June 26, visible to those living in the western half of the United States, Canada or South America. The best view in the U.S. will be from the Pacific states, just before sunrise Saturday. Everyone in Mexico and Central America can also see the partial eclipse – everyone willing to wake up before dawn on Saturday morning.
Some will see it and think it is an ordinary waxing or waning crescent moon. However, you will know it is an eclipse – a full moon partly submerged in Earth’s shadow – as shown in the image below. (Image Credit: Moogpartytime)
A partial eclipse of the moon takes place when the full moon is partly immersed in Earth’s shadow. At the eclipse of June 26, 2010 about half of the moon will be in shadow, much like the image above.
Today’s sky chart shows stars near the moon as the lunar eclipse takes place. This chart shows the view from the west coast of the United States. No, that is not a crescent moon on our chart, but a full moon partially obscured by the Earth’s shadow. Our chart cannot adequately convey the look of a lunar eclipse, with its mysterious shadow and the subtleties of color befalling the lunar terrain. The darkness of the shadow on the eclipsed moon depends on atmospheric conditions. Since it’s a partial eclipse – not a total one – it’s doubtful you’ll see the coppery color characteristic of total lunar eclipses, caused by sunlight refracted and dispersed in the Earth’s atmosphere. But try to notice the shadow’s color, and tell us what you see.
In the U.S., it will be next to impossible to see this eclipse anywhere east of the Mississippi River. In other words, the moon will set before the eclipse takes place. Even in the American Midwest, the lunar eclipse will be hard to see because it will be obscured in the early morning twilight. The best view of the eclipse will be from the Pacific states, during the dark hour before dawn.
On June 26, the eclipse starts at 10:17 Universal Time (5:17 a.m. Central Time, 4:17 a.m. Mountain Time or 3:17 a.m. Pacific Time). Mid-eclipse, or the greatest eclipse, falls at 11:38 Universal Time (6:38 a.m. Central Time, 5:38 a.m. Mountain Time or 4:38 a.m. Pacific Time). The moon reaches full at 11:32 UT.
The whole production lasts for over 2.5 hours.
Elsewhere around the world. This eclipse can be seen in its entirety from the Hawaiian Islands and the southern half of Alaska, starting at or somewhat after midnight tonight. As seen from East Asia, Australia and New Zealand, the eclipse will be visible on Saturday evening. No eclipse takes place in India, western Asia, the Middle East, Africa or Europe.
A lunar eclipse can only happen at full moon, when the moon stands most opposite the sun in the Earth’s sky for the month. Most months, the full moon eludes the Earth’s dark shadow by passing to the north or to the south of it. This month, however, the northern half of the moon sweeps right through the Earth’s shadow. Watch for the partial lunar eclipse Saturday morning, June 26!Print This Post | <urn:uuid:5176ebfb-469f-4f64-b956-163cdf224709> | {
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While St Faustina’s vision of the Divine Mercy overflows with the love and boundless compassion of God, it is equally articulate about God’s wrathful judgement. In what sense can we say that God is wrathful, and how does his wrath connect with his mercy?
Would a good God send anyone to hell? Many object to the idea of God as no more than an “invisible moral enforcer” and it is legitimate to do so. Such an idea of God is primitive and immature.
Nevertheless, there is an aspect to God which we call his wrath, and his wrath is associated, paradoxically, with his mercy. Too often, however, when the wrath of God is discussed we are given a picture of a petty and petulant tyrant–a spoil sport of the worst kind. This is not what God is like. He isn’t angry with wickedness the same way our fifteen-year old is angry, so he refuses to tidy his room. God does not slam the door and stamp his foot. Neither is God angry the way we are when we don’t get our way. He does not sulk, dish the ice and then pretend nothing is wrong. If God is angry with the wicked it is not because he is an arbitrary and babyish tyrant who loses his temper when is disobeyed.
Instead we should see God’s wrath as linked with his justice. We must ask those who are uncomfortable with the idea of God’s wrath whether they are ever upset at blatant injustice in the world.
Do they not get angry about corrupt politicians and financiers who get away with their crimes? Do they not feel righteous anger at the fat cat banker who has been ripping people off legally his whole life and dies peacefully in his bed surrounded by his family and friends? Do they not get annoyed by the dictators and genocidal maniacs who slip away and retire to their beach hideaway?
We think of God being angry in a selfish way, but what if, instead, God’s anger is the sort we feel when we hear of a young boy being abducted, raped, killed and chucked into a ditch? What if God’s anger is the sort of anger and revulsion you feel when you see a young African woman whose hands have been cut off by rampaging soldiers, and who cannot cuddle the child those same soldiers gave her when they raped her? What if God’s anger is the disgust you feel when you hear of a dowager who leaves her vast estate to her poodles, in a world of starving children? When you hear such news don’t you respond with an element of rage as well as disbelief, horror and grief? Aren’t you righteous to do so?
God is angry at the wicked in the same way. He sees the everlasting beauty of goodness, the vibrant potential of each human being and the stunning radiance of his creation and when it is soiled, trampled, raped and chucked into a ditch by humanity’s folly, greed, stupidity and violence he is full of fury, frustration, sorrow and compassion.
Does that mean God would cast someone down into hell to be tortured forever? Perhaps this too, can be seen the other way around. Is God too good to send someone to hell? It could be that God is so good that he gives everyone exactly what he or she wants. If we have spent our whole lives pursuing love, goodness, beauty and truth, then after death we may get exactly what we always wanted and find ourselves in a land where love, goodness, beauty and truth are as natural and abundant as light.
On the other hand, if our whole lives are spent in an insane flight from all that is good, beautiful and true, then perhaps God in his goodness will also give us exactly what we always wanted; and that would be existence in a madhouse with no exit where love, beauty, goodness and truth were unknown: an existence in the outer darkness with gibbering maniacs like ourselves.
God’s wrath, therefore is simply the other side of his mercy. In his mercy he loves and has compassion on the suffering world. Part of this boundless mercy and compassion is righteous anger at the evil ones who have perpetrated the horror. Their punishment is also part of his mercy for, despite his anger, he would have them repent and live in his light. The damned, however, will see his light and life and despise it. For them his mercy would be a torment and to be with him forever would be everlasting torture.
To put it more simply, it may be that the redeemed will experience God’s mercy as everlasting bliss while the damned experience that same mercy as everlasting torment.
Fr Dwight Longenecker’s latest book is The Romance of Religion–Fighting for Goodness, Truth and Beauty. Visit his blog, browse his books and be in touch at dwightlongenecker.com Fr. Dwight Longenecker Website: www.dwightlongenecker.com Blog: Standing on My Head | <urn:uuid:4adaebf2-22f9-43bb-b909-0ff0eed4c462> | {
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What is lock re-keying?
Lock rekeying is the process of replacing the pins of a lock with new pins. It was first invented by New Jersey locksmith Solomon Andrews in 1836 with his lock having adjustable tumblers and keys that allows the owner to rekey it at any time.
Rekeying is usually done if the keys to the lock were lost or stolen, as in the case of an employee who resigned but brought along the keys to the office, or a family moving in to a new home.
It is also done if the pins are already worn out and become too short to reach the shear-line.
With rekeying, all previous keys used to open the lock will be inoperative and will no longer fit into the lock’s pins.
If you move in to a new house and you found the house’s locks still in good condition, assess if the locks are of high quality. If they are, call a locksmith to do a rekeying of all the locks.
Rekeying an old but top quality lock costs less than buying new locks made with cheaper materials.
Lock rekeying is also done to build a master-key system, make a set of locks that share a common key, or to eliminate compromised keys.
Rekeying a lock involves removing the lock cylinder from the housing. The cylinder will then be disassembled and the plug removed using a plug follower so as not to lose the springs, top pins and master-wafers.
The plug contains cylindrical chambers with the pins inside. The new pins are then placed correctly in each of the chamber. | <urn:uuid:cd9e6a6e-33bd-4b96-a1c5-c9c9a41c764e> | {
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The Bay Bridge shines in the light of 25,000 LEDs
Instagram/ User submitted/Promo image
In 1865, William Stanley Jevons noticed that James Watt's efficient new improved steam engine did not reduce coal consumption, but led to a dramatic increase in the use of steam power, so that in fact coal consumption went up. The Jevons Paradox states that "the efficiency with which a resource is used tends to increase (rather than decrease) the rate of consumption of that resource."
Poor Stanley has been dragged around for the last few years, by those who would claim that the paradox proves that encouraging energy efficiency is pointless, to those who try to prove that it's just not true in a world of rising, rather than shrinking, energy prices (Like I did.)
The problem is, Stanley was right. You can see it all around you; the latest and greatest example is the Bay Lights project...
...the world’s largest LED light sculpture, 1.8 miles wide and 500 feet high. Inspired by the Bay Bridge’s 75th Anniversary, its 25,000 white LED lights are individually programmed by artist Leo Villareal to create a never-repeating, dazzling display across the Bay Bridge West Span through 2015.
The eight million dollar project would not have even been considered before the invention of LEDs; it would have burned too much electricity. Now it can be built because LEDs use a whole lot less power, but the Bay Bridge project is using a whole lot more than nothing. There is also the issue of the energy, water and carbon footprint of manufacturing 25,000 LEDs and 48,000 clips to hold them.
Bay Lights/Promo image
Everyone is excited about Leo Villareal's installation. But it might have been more compelling if it was coupled with a pile of solar panels, batteries and wind turbines to produce renewable energy on site, instead of just another beautiful and clever way to demonstrate that indeed, Stanley Jevons was right.
Lots more images at The Bay Lights | <urn:uuid:a022de60-11be-46bd-a251-2a7fd6449020> | {
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A UN report compiled by a coalition of international climate and policy experts has warned that “rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society” are required if global warming is to be limited to just 1.5°C.
The report also sets out some of the dire consequences for both humanity and life on Earth if that threshold is exceeded, and points out that, conversely, limiting global warming would give people and ecosystems “more room to adapt and remain below relevant risk thresholds”.
Decisions made by world leaders today are critical in ensuring a safe and sustainable world for everyone, the authors warn.
“One of the key messages that comes out very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the consequences of 1°C of global warming through more extreme weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other changes,” said Panmao Zhai, co-chair of one of the report’s scientific working groups.
“The good news is that some of the kinds of actions that would be needed to limit global warming to 1.5°C are already underway around the world, but they would need to accelerate,” added Valerie Masson-Delmotte, co-chair of the same group.
To limit the damage caused by climate change, global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45% from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050 — which means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air.
If world leaders do not succeeding in keeping warming to 1.5°C humanity will face a range of far more severe impacts, with a 2°C rise meaning an extra 10cm rise in sea levels by 2100 — which would inundate scores more coastal cities and low lying areas, increasing the amount of people who would be displaced in future.
Climate-related risks to health, livelihoods, food security, water supply, human security, and economic growth are also projected to be more severe at the higher temperature rise.
While the report says that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would reduce risks to marine biodiversity, fisheries, and ecosystems, and their functions and services to humans.
Even with a 1.5°C rise coral reefs would still be severely impacted, declining by 70-90% — but virtually all (>99%) reefs would be lost with a 2°C rise.
While the likelihood of an Arctic Ocean free of sea ice in summer would be once per century with global warming of 1.5°C, compared with at least once per decade with 2°C, according to the report.
Likewise, on land, impacts on biodiversity and ecosystems, including species loss and extinction, are projected to be lower at 1.5°C of global warming vs 2°C.
Impacts associated with other biodiversity-related risks — such as forest fires, and the spread of invasive species — would also be less severe if climate change can be contained to a smaller rise.
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) compiled the Special Report on Global Warming in response to an invitation from the UN’s Framework Convention on Climate Change when 195 global leaders adopted the 2015 Paris Agreement to tackle climate change — an accord which President Trump turned his back on last year when he withdrew the US from the agreement.
The report will be a key scientific input for the Katowice Climate Change Conference, which takes place in Poland in December, when other heads of state will meet to review the Paris Agreement.
The group of 91 authors and review editors from 40 countries who prepared the report argue that keeping global temperature rise to 1.5°C would also support a more sustainable and equitable society.
“Limiting global warming to 1.5°C compared with 2°C would reduce challenging impacts on ecosystems, human health and well-being, making it easier to achieve the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals,” said Priyardarshi Shukla, co-chair of IPCC Working Group III, in a statement.
“Every extra bit of warming matters, especially since warming of 1.5°C or higher increases the risk associated with long-lasting or irreversible changes, such as the loss of some ecosystems,” added Hans-Otto Pörtner, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group II.
Any ‘overshoot’ of 1.5°C would mean a greater reliance on techniques that remove CO2 from the air to return global temperature to below 1.5°C by 2100.
But policymakers are warned that the effectiveness of such techniques are unproven at large scale and some may carry significant risks for sustainable development. | <urn:uuid:20686a5b-8247-4239-b478-3a1f68d05ff9> | {
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of citizenship, a just, honest and upright man ; he belonged to the class that worked for the happiness of the people among whom he lived; and if the almost unremembered kindnesses bestowed upon the rich and poor alike were recounted, they would fill a large book. His money and his name saved many from insolvency ; his word was his bond, never violated. It recurs to the writer in this connection that Mr. Slaughter, with others, was once on a contractor's bond, and default of compliance was made and payment of damages demanded on the obligation, when it was suggested that payment could be averted. This suggestion Mr. Slaughter resented, and to his honor be it said that he paid without murmur the full liability of all, running into thousands of dollars.
James Alfred McFaddin of Victoria, Texas, was as closely identified with Texas and its development as any man in the state. His grandparents, James McFaddin and wife, came to Texas from Tennessee in 1817, stayed about a year, moved to Louisiana and returned to Texas in 1821, when J. A. McFaddin's father, William McFaddin, was about two years of age. They settled in Liberty county and after a few years moved to Jefferson county. His grandfather and father were soldiers in the Texas army in the War of Independence between Texas and Mexico.
William McFaddin was married to Miss Rachel Williams, and the subject of this sketch was their oldest child, born May 5, 1840, at Beaumont, Texas. He received his schooling at Beaumont, finishing his education at a private school in Galveston, Texas.
When J. A. McFaddin was fifteen years of age he was doing a man's work. In 1855 he helped drive a herd of cattle from Jefferson county to Refugio county, about 400 head owned by his father and Mr. Herbert. In 1858 | <urn:uuid:56ec0450-39ae-4bf7-a927-8f2cb48a13f9> | {
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Creating Security Accounts
New Information - SQL Server 2000 SP3.
Each user must gain access to an instance of Microsoft® SQL Server™ through a login account that establishes the user's ability to connect (authentication). This login then has to be mapped to a SQL Server user account, which is used to control activities performed in the database (permissions validation). Therefore, a single login is mapped to one user account created in each database the login is accessing. If no user account exists in a database, the user cannot access the database even though the user may be able to connect to an instance of SQL Server.
Security Note Avoid using the guest account; all logins without their own database permissions obtain the database permissions granted to this account. If you must use the guest account, grant it minimum permissions.
The accounts used to log in to SQL Server are either created in SQL Server (and use SQL Server Authentication) or are created in Microsoft Windows NT® 4.0 or Windows® 2000 and granted login rights (using Windows Authentication).
Security Note When possible, use Windows Authentication. | <urn:uuid:ee5fe4ae-dfd3-41ba-bf00-557a716f869a> | {
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Organizational change is a difficult process. Complex systems composed of people don’t behave in a mechanical fashion. The people in the organization are arranged into formally defined groups and given formal roles, but they also are members of informal groups within the organization. Informal goals and the formal goals of the organization are often in conflict.
Communication is often a problem within the organization. The language and culture of different groups in the organization are very different. Technical people don’t speak the same language as say a middle manager. The technical person works every day in a group of people who value highly detailed technical information. When they speak about their job it is in technical terms. Middle managers on the other may not even know what some of the terms mean, and they have little use for all those acronyms.
To add the essential difficulties of organizational change, the organization is not at rest. The entire organization is in motion, working to meet the demands of their jobs. The pressure to perform makes change much more difficult. The organization has developed patterns of behavior to “get the job done”. These patterns are familiar and provide predictable outcomes, both personally and professionally. Change is inherently risky.
Besides the risk the organization has already made its choices. The complex compromise between the interests of many groups, the political bargains and the plans for the future have already been made. Why would the organization change? This is the key question, because unless the question can be answered there is no means for inducing change in the organization.
The naive may say, “we will just order them to do it differently”. Top down authority can always make the organization behave differently for a time. The question is will the new behavior be desirable and how long will it last. One example of this is an antidote from Microsoft. In an effort to increase productivity the order was given to pay each person for the number of lines of code shipped in their product. The size of the product ballooned out of control. Was this the desired outcome? | <urn:uuid:2687494f-b775-4d7b-be7b-0692bc0805ee> | {
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FRIDAY, July 29, 2016 (HealthDay News) — Women in Zika-affected countries might reduce their risk of infection during pregnancy by timing conception with periods of low mosquito activity, according to a perspective piece published July 28 in PLOS Biology.
Micaela Martinez, a postdoctoral researcher at Princeton University’s Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology in New Jersey, looked at birth data from a number of countries. She estimated that planning conception during seasons with low mosquito activity for as few as 3 percent of all births could prevent Zika-related birth defects in thousands of babies. For example, this approach could reduce the risk for about 1,000 births a year in Puerto Rico, and more than 88,000 births a year in Brazil.
“Instead of telling women in these countries to not get pregnant, what if we take advantage of the fact that the virus can be avoided if pregnancy is aligned with a time of year when there are fewer mosquitoes?” Martinez said in a university news release. “All other animals time their reproduction to match favorable environmental conditions. Why couldn’t we?”
Martinez said she created a computer program that could help local officials, health care workers, or scientists pinpoint by calendar week when it’s safe for women in their region to conceive; however, more study of the seasonal patterns of the Zika virus is needed before any policy suggestions can be made.
Copyright © 2016 HealthDay. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:d9058d2f-004d-4154-ac2d-f0c1d510f502> | {
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Foreign Office Files for Japan, 1919-1952
Back to top ^
SOURCES FROM THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES, UK
Discover the rise of modern Japan and its relations with global superpowers through official British Government documents.
During the first half of the twentieth century Japan rose to superpower status. Explore documents covering the shifting nature of Anglo-Japanese relations through extensive British Government Foreign Office files.
From triumph at Versailles in 1919, to the devastation of two atomic bombs and American occupation, these documents remain crucial for understanding Japan’s changing political state, revealing the role it was carving itself on a global stage, and how it was viewed by other superpowers.
Providing significant insight into this fascinating period of Japanese history, these Foreign Office files provide full-text searchable access to formerly restricted top level discussions and correspondence from the British Embassy and consulate in Japan.
Files consist of wide-ranging material, including memoranda, reports, minute sheets and correspondence, along with detailed assessments of key events, speeches and topics of special interest.
The collection includes Japan-specific files from the FO 371 and FO 262 series and is supplemented by files from the Western and American Department papers in FO 371.
PUBLISHED IN THREE SECTIONS
- Section I: Japanese Imperialism and the War in the Pacific, 1931-1945 (Available Now)
- Section II: Occupation of Japan, 1946-1952
- Section III: Japan and Great Power Status, 1919-1930
Foreign Office Files: Japan, 1919-1952 is an Archives Direct collection and is cross-searchable with other collections within the Archives Direct portal, including Foreign Office Files: China, 1919-1980. | <urn:uuid:0e2bdcd3-4fce-4f4c-874f-4147cd5723cc> | {
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The Japanese word for "lunar eclipse" is "gesshoku" which is written with the kanji 月 (moon) and 食 (eat) because an the eclipse is the imagined as the moon being eaten by the shadow of the earth.
The lunar eclipse on 1/31/2018 was a rare combination of a super moon (when the moons orbit is unusually close to the earth), a blue moon (second full moon during the same calendar month) and a lunar eclipse (or blood moon); a combination that is sometimes called the "lunar trifecta" but was trending on social media as #SuperBlueBloodMoon.
The lunar eclipse started 20:48, reached full eclipse at 22:29 and finished at 24:11.
The following photos are presented in chronological order.
The first photos were taken at Tennoji Temple as the Moon was at the lowest altitude of the event (about 45 degrees above horizon) making it ideal for photographing the moon with buildings in the foreground.
Using the Tanimachi subway line to move north to Osaka Castle I photographed the blood moon at about 60 degrees over Osaka Castle. Such a steep angle makes it difficult to photograph the moon in frame with buildings, so photos had to be taken near the foot of the castle.
|The beginning of the eclipse over Shitennoji|
|Midway into the lunar eclipse.|
|Blood red moon over Osaka Castle|
|Photographers who all had the same idea of shooting the eclipse beside Osaka Castle.|
|Lunar eclipse near Osaka Castle|
|The clouds started to obscure the eclipse.|
|The cloud cover started clearing near the end of the eclipse|
|Too bad that clouds obscured much of the eclipse for Osaka| | <urn:uuid:08c01002-2e2f-4a07-a316-9048381a24c2> | {
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Most children who struggle with reading, spelling, and writing do NOT get the right type of help in school. So they grow into adults who don’t read well.
Without the right type of reading instruction, most adults with dyslexia – no matter how smart they are – can’t read or write above the third-grade level.
In the United States, that is considered functionally illiterate. At the third-grade level, they don’t read well enough to fill out a job application, read a memo from their boss, pass the drivers license test, write a note to their child’s teacher, or read their child a bedtime story.
Their job options – and earning power – are limited, their success in college is rare, and they drop out of high school at a much higher rate than the national average.
The good news is that it is NEVER too late to improve the reading, spelling, and writing skills of adults with dyslexia.
Two types of organizations provide FREE tutoring to adults who read, write, or spell below an eight-grade level:
- Adult or Family Literacy Programs – based in public libraries
- Adult or Family Literacy Programs – through churches or synagogues
Both of these programs use volunteer tutors. In fact, Susan Barton started as a volunteer tutor in a library-based Adult Literacy Program.
She created the Barton Reading & Spelling System with volunteer tutors in mind. To be effective with adults who have dyslexia, volunteer tutors need an Orton-Gillingham-based program that provides good and consistent training along with scripted lesson plans. So that’s what Susan Barton created. Nothing in the Barton System will offend an adult student.
Many Adult Literacy Programs have discovered that the Barton Reading & Spelling System is an ideal way to quickly train volunteer tutors to work with adults who have, or may have, dyslexia – which is the most common learning disability.
If you are an Adult Literacy Coordinator and don’t know how to tell which of your adult students may have dyslexia, ask the students how many of the warning signs of dyslexia they remember from childhood. Or ask them these questions during an information interview.
If your adult students have many of those warning signs, the Barton System is a great way to improve their reading, writing, and spelling. And our tutor training DVDs provide an easy and consistent way to train volunteer tutors. Plus we offer free unlimited support to every tutor using the Barton System.
What they say
To see what Adult Literacy Program Coordinators and tutors say, click here.
The “Adult Literacy in America” study initiated by Congress in 1988 and reported upon in 1993 was a $14 million 5-year study by the National Assessment Governing Board in conjunction with the National Center for Educational Statistics based upon lengthy interviews with 26,000 adults from 16 to 65 years old in a dozen states.
They reported in 1993 that 92 million Americans – over 47 % of adults read and write so poorly that it is difficult for them to hold a decent job.
Click here to see that study.
Click here to see shocking statistics from ProLiteracy.
High School Graduation Rate
In 1997-98, only 30.5% of students with specific learning disabilities graduated with a standard diploma. (U.S. Department of Education, pIV-17, Table IV-4)
According to the NIH, 80% of student with a specific learning disability actually have dyslexia.
An analysis of data from the National Adult Literacy Survey, 1992, found the following for adults with self-reported learning disabilities, ages 25-64:
The high school dropout rates were:
57.6% for men with self-reported learning disabilities, compared to 15.3% of men without self-reported learning disabilities. (Vogel, p55, Figure 3.6)
The consequences of low literacy skills:
In 1997, the poverty rate among children under age 6 whose best-educated parent had:
a high school degree was 29.2%;
some college was 15.2%; and
a college degree was 2.8%.
Inmates in American prisons have a four times greater percentage of learning disabilities, such as dyslexia, than the general public.
U.S. Department of Education figures show that “75% of prison inmates and 85% of juveniles in correctional facilities are functionally illiterate.”
This compares to 47% of all adults in the U.S. who are functionally illiterate.
Illiteracy is a prison within a prison.
Statistics on the Corrections Educational System:
Canada has similar problems:
“When talking about illiteracy, we must also talk about poverty and unemployment. People with literacy problems in Canada have two-thirds the income of other Canadians, are twice as likely to be unemployed, and many times more likely to receive some form of social assistance. Jobs available to lower-literacy adults tend to be the lowest-paid, and the most insecure.”
National Anti-Poverty Organization:
NAPO Facts, October, 1992
How does literacy in the US compare with other countries?
The International Adult Literacy Survey (IALS), a 1997 survey similar in design to the National Adult Literacy Survey (NALS), compared the literacy skills of adults in Australia, Belgium, Canada, Germany, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
The results showed that the US has more adults in Levels 1 and 2 than any of the other countries except Poland.
For a detailed report on the IALS, go to
Important sites on Adult and Family Literacy:
National Coalition for Literacy
But there are solutions for adults that even volunteer tutors in adult literacy programs can use. | <urn:uuid:63af63e7-a166-46c7-9bfb-51f88cd223c2> | {
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