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Located on the north shore of Long Island not 40 miles east of Manhattan, Cold Spring Harbor, at the beginning of the 19th century, was a small community that was home to a lesser-known whaling business run by John H. and Walter R. Jones. These brothers, along with a long list of investors, oversaw forty-four voyages with nine ships. A small firm by New Bedford or even Sag Harbor standards, the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company lasted more than twenty-five years and changed the community in durable ways. Many questions regarding the company, its investors, and its sailors remain. However, one thing is clear: John and Walter Jones, despite having no actual whaling experience, made some savvy choices that benefited all those involved.
The Jones Brothers’ Background
By the early 19th century, Walter R. Jones and older brother John H. Jones were partners in key Cold Spring Harbor businesses. These included a gristmill, a general store, and two woolen mills, all businesses built by the previous generation. Motivated by the slow decline of their award-winning mill and a drop in flour prices, both turns caused by domestic and international economic factors, the brothers made a dramatic and potentially risky business decision. They started a new venture: the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company.
The foundations for their new endeavor were laid by the previous generation, when their parents, John Jones and Hannah Hewlett, married in 1779, conjoining two influential local families. While theirs was a predictable union, the families seemed particularly close-knit even considering the customs of the time as they intermarried, deeded land to one another, and engaged in shared business ventures. Unlike some Long Island movers-and-shakers, however, they extended their influence beyond the north shore of Long Island. The families made their mark in New York City as well as in Albany, becoming judges, justices of the peace, and businessmen. Political and religious concerns during this tumultuous time may have encouraged the families to forge closer bonds. Many Long Island families found themselves split along political and religious lines. Regardless, these relationships were the base of industry in the region. The Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company, a successful venture, was part of a larger web of economic choices made by the families.
Between 1819 and 1825, both families shifted their holdings in the gristmill and the two woolen mills. They also transferred deeds to various properties, including shoreline parcels to the next generation. After these changes, John H. and Walter R. Jones were responsible for a substantial portion of family undertakings. Both brothers had demonstrated business acumen and dedication to the family’s well being.
Walter R. Jones, born in 1793, became increasingly involved in the marine insurance business during this time, joining the first Atlantic Insurance Company in 1824 as an associate of Archibald Gracie. On April 15, 1828, Walter was appointed trustee to oversee the dissolution of the company – something that would not be resolved until long after his death in 1855. During his time, Walter helped settle the company’s debts and even paid capital stockholders dividends, avoiding litigation – a popular tool at the time.
The second Atlantic Insurance Company was founded in 1829, with Walter R. Jones named as President. The second company, later reorganized and renamed Atlantic Mutual, became fantastically successful, reaping profits of more than six million dollars in the ten years after its conversion. The company remained in business until 2011 and many of the Jones family members were integral over the years. Walter’s experience with managing risk and returns for investors certainly played a key role in family choices going forward. He was well known in New York City and although his funeral took place at Trinity Church, he remained connected to Cold Spring Harbor and was buried there.
John H. Jones, born in 1785, spent much of his childhood living with and caring for his grandfather and namesake, John Hewlett, who died in 1812. Before Hewlett’s death, his son, John H. Jones’ maternal uncle, Devine Hewlett, deeded property on the east side of the harbor to John, who was just 19 at the time. His father held the trust. When the property was transferred three years later, in 1807, the parcel included additional land John received from a cousin on the west side of the harbor for his son. In 1810, his parents also gave him an interest in the lower mill, associated dam and canal, the gristmill, its site, and half the Cooper shop, as well as shore and harbor rights.
That same year, John H. Jones married Loretta, daughter of Devine and Ann Hewlett. The property became John and Loretta’s home. It also became the site of the general store. That store eventually served as the core of the Jones brothers’ whaling endeavor. John provisioned the whaling ships moving from Cold Spring to New York as needed. Like the majority of their business partners, John H. Jones remained a farmer. He even was awarded honors for growing the largest pumpkin in 1852 at the 11th Annual Exhibition of the Queens County Agricultural Society in Flushing. It weighed in at more than 175 pounds! Like his brother and partner Walter, John cared about those they chose to do business with, many of whom were relatives and neighbors. Neither brother had any experience actually whaling. Working as a team, the brothers brought together land, existing businesses, and financial acumen to found the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company.
Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company
A discussion of Cold Spring Harbor’s whaling history can be a convoluted affair. The brothers and their investors blended tools emerging from the new economy with traditional business relationships to form a hybrid firm. Together with investors, they purchased two ships, one in 1836 and the second a year later. This represented a significant investment in a short period of time. The first ship, the Monmouth, required outfitting to make it suitable, as it was not originally a whaler. The Tuscarora, already a proven whaling ship, was purchased from the Billings brothers, the ship’s captain, and another investor—all of New London. N. & W.W. Billings was among the most successful whaling firms in that port. Built in 1819, the Tuscarora was already an old ship, but came fully rigged.
Both of these purchases involved an unusual number of investors for the time. According to Hilt, the average number of owners invested in a single vessel at the time was nine – but the Monmouth had thirty-three. Together, the two ships had 50 investors, with many individuals investing in both. It could be argued this was less a partnership and more a community affair.
The year following the purchase of the Monmouth, a recession began, which lasted until the mid 1840s. This period of economic unevenness, emanating from New York City, was felt keenly in the whaling industry. The lack of capital generally available may have required a larger number of investors. The large number of investors may have supported the firm’s quick growth. Regardless, the Jones brothers, including eldest brother William, several community members, and their New York lawyer, joined together in a wave of incorporation becoming popular in the whaling business.
An Act of Incorporation, passed on March 24, 1838, cleared the way for the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company. It was at this point that the company bought the Monmouth and Tuscarora from the initial investors. However, it did not have the minimum amount of initial capital dictated by the Act to legally begin operations. This was no deterrent, and the ships still went out. Groups of investors, rather than the company itself, went on to purchase more ships. It was not until after a second legislative act passed in 1840, revising the initial capital investment downward, that the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company officially began operations. At least six voyages had already been made.
Strictly speaking, before 1840, the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company was incorporated but unable to do business. Each voyage, therefore, was treated as a separate venture, like those of traditional whaling companies. The Jones brothers and investors bought six more ships between 1843 and 1845. The final addition to the fleet came in 1852. All voyages except those made by the two ships owned by the corporation –– the Tuscarora and the Monmouth –– were traditional whaling ventures. After 1840, whaling out of Cold Spring Harbor was not a company business but a hybrid community affair. These choices highlight how Long Islanders put together economic opportunities emanating from the city and traditional relationships to engage the new economy they faced mid-century.
It was well known that whaling offered potential high returns for investors but carried great risks. Large outlays of credit or cash were required to outfit a whaler for a voyage. Ships wrecked due to storms or human error may not have had enough cargo to satisfy creditors or crew, much less to compensate investors. Investments in the two “corporate” ships were protected by limited liability, as outlined in the Act of Incorporation.
The history of legislation regarding incorporation demonstrated changing concerns for both investors and creditors over time. The question focused on the weight of responsibility for debts amassed by a company. When companies dissolved, in the case of unlimited liability, creditors could seek payment from investors regardless of their initial outlay. In this situation, a small investor could literally be risking everything he owned. This initial concern for creditors shifted more toward protection for investors –– who rarely saw compensation. The development of limited liability held investor responsibility to a level equal to their investment, protecting them from open-ended exposure to the company’s debts. This change also encouraged smaller investors by protecting them. With a limited initial outlay, small investors could make even a little capital work, without risking everything if disaster occurred.
This may have been a consideration for Cold Spring Harbor. In 1841, 12 of the company’s 50 stockholders owned fewer than five shares. The shift toward limited liability was advantageous for these small investors, particularly in the case of a whaling company –– where capital investments were almost as great as the risk involved. The outfitting ships often required could only be accomplished with large lines of credit. These debts were paired against the profitability of any particular voyage. Limited liability decreased exposure to losses beyond what investors chose to risk in the first place. For Cold Spring Harbor, most local investors were farmers whose source of capital, and therefore family wealth, was land. Protecting land from a company’s creditors would have been in the forefront of everyone’s mind. Limited liability allowed investors to risk only what they could bear to lose.
However, discussing Cold Spring Harbor whaling as a single corporate venture obscures much of the complexity of whaling in the region. While the Jones brothers were certainly a driving force, many others helped make it happen. For example, in 1840, investors with the surname Jones comprised only 16% of the total number of stockholders. Together, they owned only 22% of the outstanding stock. The Hewletts represented an additional 10%, with less than 5% of the outstanding stock. Together, the extended families, including members of the Jones, Hewlett, Cole, Gardiner, and Gracie families, owned less than 31% of Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company stock in 1840. The Jones family members were neither detached company directors seeking to take advantage of corporate protection nor were they big investors using the company as a type of family trust.
John and Walter’s intentions in entering the whaling business are unclear, not to mention curious. In 1836, its first year of involvement, Cold Spring Harbor joined thirty-four other whaling ports, a year when New Bedford alone launched 66 whalers. This count does not include those ships not yet returned from voyages begun in years prior. The golden age of American whaling was arguably approaching a saturation point, conditions that could drive prices down and potentially put firms out of business. Whaling was at this point a business full of experienced competitors, where risks were occasionally incalculable. Four years into what was otherwise a traditional whaling venture, the Jones brothers, accompanied by local investors and New York business contacts, chose to incorporate a portion of the business, joining a wave of new whaling firms. However, they had no actual whaling experience, a hybrid firm structure, and a large number of investors to keep happy.
Whaling Companies in the 1830s
Traditional whaling ventures were often referred to as “companies,” possibly due to arrangements of shared ownership. However, these more closely resembled partnerships, rather than formal corporations. Incorporation at this time required an act of legislature. Unlike today, where a company registers as a corporate entity in a particular state, a business seeking to incorporate proposed a bill before legislature who in turn dictated the general structure of the company and terms for the sale of stock. Beginning in the 1830s, entrepreneurs increasingly sought incorporation as a tool for financing whaling ventures. However, in a study of 846 voyages of incorporated firms, Hilt concluded that none of these corporations lasted beyond the 1840s and few were profitable. Incorporation of whaling companies, according to Hilt’s study, typically placed a corporate structure on top of traditional whaling ventures, rather than reorganizing company relationships top to bottom. In these cases, the people who were key to a voyage’s success did not fare as well. Agents’ compensation, for example, declined from a peak of as much as 44 % interests in partnerships to as little as 5% in corporate ventures. By taking on this structure, Hilt argues, owners decreased the motivation for agents to act in the interest of all those invested.
Hilt found other problematic commonalities among those who chose to incorporate whaling ventures. More often founded by newcomers, these companies were based in areas new to whaling. This served to compound the already substantial outlays facing any voyage by adding inexperience and higher costs for outfitting ships in non-specialized ports. Higher local production costs came in the form of increased time, the necessity of retooling existing products and producing new ones, and sourcing new materials. Alternately, expenses incurred purchasing needed supplies from elsewhere included added transportation costs. This meant a larger haul was required to pay creditors and crew before turning a profit.
In some ways, Cold Spring Harbor reflected these problematic commonalities. The port was certainly new to whaling, as were the Jones brothers. The local economy was not built to support whaling, lacking the local industries of New Bedford or even Sag Harbor. However, the Jones family had resources other than capital that they were willing to contribute. Barrels were made for whale oil as well as for flour by the family-owned cooper shop, and the family’s mills began to produce rough cloth for sailors’ clothes. This offset some of the higher costs of doing business.
Thanks to his diverse business dealings, Walter realized the myriad things that could go wrong with a high-risk venture like whaling. This was despite his lack of firsthand experience. Not only concerned with material losses, in 1849, he was elected the first President of the Life Saving Benevolent Association, an organization that made ready supplies needed to save lives in case of a shipwreck. These activities would have kept him informed about costs, as well as enabling him to build business relationships with suppliers. Dry goods merchant Abner Chichester, for example, was a large stakeholder in the Cold Springs Harbor Whaling Company, owning almost 5% of the stock. Walter also took advantage of his other relationships in New York City. Five voyages set sail from there, allowing ships to be outfitted in that port and potentially avoiding difficulties with customs.
The critical distinction between the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company and others of its time is found in its organization. Instead of placing a corporate structure on top of a traditional firm, the brothers formed a hybrid company that extended the blending of traditional and corporate ventures. First, John H. Jones served as the company agent. In this way, motivation to perform was as high as in traditional firms. Next, there was little distinction between investors in the company and its directors, as noted. William and Walter R. Jones were tied as the second largest single investors, and many other investors were local farmers in the area.
By comparison, the Staten Island Whaling Company, which was incorporated at the same time, had little local involvement. To the contrary, members of the surrounding community expressed deep reservations about the company. Much of their anxiety centered on the overlap between local bank directors and proposed directors of the whaling company. The Staten Island Whaling Company made at least one voyage and built a processing plant in the port that burnt down. It seems that not only was the company unsuccessful but that community concerns about it were warranted. Long after it ceased operations, the company apparently continued to deal in and transfer bonds, actions that landed it in the New York State Supreme Court.
Cold Spring Harbor’s initial investors availed themselves of new options afforded by incorporation and kept key components of traditional firms intact. The owners’ assessment for the sale of the Tuscarora to the company detailed accounting from the 1840 change of ownership and included old subscribers for both the Tuscarora and Monmouth. Subscribers at the time all became shareholders in the company and appear on the formal list of investors. Subscribers to the Tuscarora were charged a fee per share –– a fee not charged to Monmouth subscribers. That column was labeled as lay to be paid by the Tuscarora and debt charged to the Tuscarora. This accounting, related to the transfer of the ships from a traditional venture to corporate ownership, also appears to use the transfer as a means to settle debt. Even more interesting, Edward Halsey, or possibly Edward Halsey Jr., sailed as captain of the Tuscarora in 1839 and the Monmouth in 1846. Captain Halsey owned ten shares of stock in 1840, converted from his initial investment in the Tuscarora. The Tuscarora was at sea for 22 months, whaling in the South Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and South Pacific. Halsey’s investment in the early voyages of the Tuscarora would not have been unusual. His conversion to stockholder ensured that traditional relationships remained part of the corporate structure.
The Jones brothers did not just join a wave of incorporation. There is evidence that they considered their options carefully. As noted, Walter had served as a trustee, settling with creditors and investors of the first Atlantic Insurance Company. He was aware of the challenges faced by investors when a company dissolves. In 1827, John H. and Walter R. Jones, seeking to grow the family businesses, announced their intent, along with other local investors, to incorporate the Cold Spring Steam Ship Company. The American Eagle ferried passengers to and from New York under the guidance of Captain Peck. The Jones brothers were jointly listed with Owen and George D. Coles, both likely relatives of John H.’s mother-in-law, as well as Robert W. Mott. However, no act of incorporation appears in records for 1827 or subsequent years. The American Eagle and Captain Peck advertised in the July 27, 1838 Evening Post, but made no mention of either the company or the Jones family. It seems they did not or could not go through with the incorporation of that entity. There is no indication they ever owned the American Eagle or its successor the Croton. Why the brothers did not pursue this incorporation is unknown. As it was over a decade earlier, debates about degrees of liability for corporate entities may not have been as favorable at the time. In 1822, an amendment clarified that corporate trustees could mortgage property owned by the company to pay debts. This additional source of credit may have seemed inviting against the potential risks of a steamship line. Also, since the Peck family was not mentioned in advertisements announcing intent to incorporate, that arrangement may have been less inviting for them. Walter and John may have had difficulty securing outright ownership of the vessel by a potential future company. This would make incorporation impossible.
Although the brothers mitigated many of the pitfalls associated with incorporation, they were perhaps ill-advised in hiring captains who had little or no offshore whaling experience. Of the forty-four voyages, at least eleven captains either started their career in Cold Spring Harbor or sailed their second voyage as captain for the Jones brothers. The job of captain was difficult, requiring skills beyond seafaring. Jeremiah Eldridge, captain of the Monmouth in 1857, failed to negotiate with the crew for their labor, necessary to take on extra oil while in port. This required outside arbitration, costing time and money. The Richmond, commanded by Philander Winters, struck rocks in the Bering Straits and wrecked in 1849. The cargo was salvaged by several ships. One, the Elizabeth Frith, was under the command of Captain Winters’ brother. The salvage was long contested in the courts by the Richmond’s owners. In another instance, Captain Samuel C. Leek sailed his first voyage, a successful voyage to the South Atlantic, as captain out of Sag Harbor. His next voyage, as captain of the Tuscarora, was a bit more difficult. Leek took on needed sailors in the Cook Islands, who changed their minds and subsequently left. It was not long before the crew discovered large holes drilled in the hull. Captain Leek sailed to Australia and negotiated the sale of the ship after it had been condemned. It seems, however, that he may have been tricked, as the ship was refitted and sailing under another name in under a year.
Labor troubles were not limited to captains. Cold Spring Harbor ships often had difficulty finding experienced crew when signing men on in New York and Cold Spring Harbor. With the bustling port of Sag Harbor nearby, experienced sailors were difficult to find and keep. The captains of Cold Spring Harbor, as was common, took on sailors along the way. Not all were like the sailors encountered by Captain Leek; many were valuable crewmembers. Some sailors appear on crew lists several times with common European first names followed by “A. Kanaka” written like a family name, rather than a designation of their Pacific Island heritage. On other ships’ logs these sailors were listed as “Canaka” or “Canaca.” Three sailors named Canaka appear on the 1841 log of the Tuscarora, two from the Society Islands and one from South Hampton. All listed Cold Spring Harbor as their current residence, but no census records connect them to a particular household. It is possible the company housed the sailors by paying locals to take them in. Housing expenses are often noted on receipts and ships’ log books but rarely indicate the name of the sailor. The importance of these sailors to the company is suggested by John H. Jones’ pocket daybook. A small note, one of very few pertaining to sailors, appears in his accounts “to Cash in gold to exchange for silver for pay Kancas.” These sailors helped ease labor shortages and contributed experience to the crew.
As important as they were to the business, it also appears the Canakas became a part of local lore. It is said that when the ships came in, Main Street was renamed “Bedlam Street” and the Pacific Islanders could be seen carving on the steps of the Stone Jug, a boarding house friendly to them. However, no documentation of the boarding house or the men in Cold Spring Harbor has been found. Captain Manuel Eños, a native of the Azores, was an exception. He sailed often from Cold Spring Harbor as part of its regular crew. The Azores were uninhabited until the mid-15th century, when the Portuguese and others started to colonize the islands. Jews, Moorish prisoners, African slaves, Spanish, Flemish and French people were all early colonists. Captain Eños’s home still stands in Cold Spring Harbor.
Although a large community of free African Americans resided in the area, and many historians discussed the impact of whaling on African American communities, there is little to suggest the Jones brothers employed many local African Americans on their ships. The same log from the 1841 voyage of the Tuscarora is often cited as evidence that local African Americans sailed aboard these ships. However, clear connections to local households are difficult to find. Sailors who stated they were born in Cold Spring Harbor, currently lived there, or both do not appear in the census records of Cold Spring Harbor or surrounding communities. Other ships’ logs, like that for the 1851 voyage of the N. P. Tallmadge, included notes on the crewmembers’ physical appearance. Physical descriptions were not always noted and occasionally conflict. William Price is on a version of the Monmouth crew list for 1846 and identified as dark. An earlier crew list for the same ship in 1840 has no physical description of him or any other sailor.
Again, potential connections to households are difficult. Whalers new to the area and to some degree transient by occupation would be difficult to find as 1830 and 1840 censuses only record heads of household. Many African Americans with different last names appear in single households in the 1850 census. These individuals would be “invisible” in earlier census records. Two African American households apparently took in mothers with young children between 1830 and 1840 when whaling began in the region. It is possible these were sailors’ families but without additional information, it is impossible to know for certain.
Many African Americans were being squeezed out of whaling in other ports during this period by racism. Some turned to working coastal waters so they could stay home tending crops. Three men are listed as being in the coastal trade in 1850 but no connection between them and crew lists has been found. For now, the impact of the whaling business on African American households in Cold Spring Harbor is unclear.
Success, Community and Change
In spite of the challenges, Cold Spring Harbor’s whaling business was successful by many definitions. The Jones brothers built a rhythm with the first two ships key for flows of capital. For the first voyage, the Monmouth went both in and out of Sag Harbor where crew, supplemental supplies and knowledge abounded. Subsequent voyages of the Monmouth were efficient and short, with an average four-month turn around time. In the meantime, the Tuscarora was outfitted and set sail. Then, in 1846, the Monmouth, with an experienced captain at the helm, left New York for the firm’s longest voyage yet. In 1844, 1846 and 1848 the firm had between six and seven ships out at a time. Despite their initial inexperience in whaling, they were able to put the growing fleet to work.
The year 1849 was successful for Cold Spring Harbor. The Monmouth, N.P. Tallmadge, Splendid and Tuscarora were all out on long voyages. Between February and April, the Alice, Huntsville and Sheffield all came in with an estimated 88,000 pounds of bone and more than 10,000 barrels of oil between them. Between August and September, the Alice, Huntsville and Sheffield all set sail again. This balanced and well-timed exchange smoothed flows of capital and allowed accounts to be settled, ships to be re-outfitted, and left investors encouraged.
However, in 1850, this cycle changed. The Monmouth returned and did not go back out for almost sixteen months, idle for the longest period since the ship was purchased. In fact, in 1850, no whaling ship departed from Cold Spring Harbor at all. Having set sail in 1848, the N.P. Tallmadge, Splendid, and Tuscarora were all still in the South Pacific, Alaska, or other whaling grounds. The Alice, Huntsville and Sheffield joined them the following year. All but the Sheffield, out for the second longest voyage the firm would sail, returned in March of 1851.
This change in timing followed on the heels of the loss, in 1849, of the Richmond and its cargo. The ship sent 430 barrels of oil home, but wrecked with an additional 3,500 barrels aboard. The legal battle over the salvage of the Richmond‘s cargo went all the way to the Supreme Court. The case was not decided until 1858 providing little help to the owners with immediate capital needs. The corporation appears to have been dissolved in 1851; the Tuscarora was sold, but whaling continued.
Although 1850 may have been a difficult year great rewards came with the five whalers returning to port. According to Schmidt, Cold Spring Harbor’s best voyage brought the Jones brothers, their investors and crew a record cargo worth $100,000. This was delivered by the Sheffield, which set sail in 1849 and returned in 1854 to New York, He estimated the fleet brought in bone and oil worth 1.5 million dollars during its years of operation. The bark Alice was the last ship home in 1862. Both Walter and John had died, passing in 1855 and 1859 respectively. Only three voyages went out after Walter’s death. Two were relatively long voyages. The Monmouth, however, did not return to Cold Spring Harbor and was sold in Chile.
The durable impact of this venture on Cold Spring Harbor and the surrounding communities may lie beyond the business of whaling. By mid-century, the shift from agriculture to manufacturing was occurring in many places, including Cold Spring Harbor. Between 1850 and 1870, for example, wage labor jobs increased by about 82 % in near-by Oyster Bay. Non-population statistics show the transition from piecework to light industry, represented by sewing machines, rolling mills and lathes. By 1870, industry included specialists. Although hand power still dominated, steam had begun to take hold and one person listed his business as refurbishing machines. This growth was driven in part by investments in capital, purchasing machines, and paying wages.
In the preceding decades, volatility in money supplies and structural changes in the economy made banks risky for small investors. Often, wealthy neighbors made loans using land as collateral. Farmers borrowed against land to mediate the cyclical needs of the agricultural seasons. These debts were converted to mortgages, with land as a medium of exchange and of equal value to all parties. If the farmer defaulted, the person making the loan had more land to borrow against. For the farmer, neighbors, unlike banks, could more readily be negotiated with, which helped lengthen repayment schedules and buffered against the ups and downs of agriculture. Few had money to purchase additional land to leverage for capital to invest in new ventures.
Corporate ventures like the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company offered small investors limited liability and a new means to gain interest on capital. For a relatively small investment that was far less than the price of more land, they could expect some return, or at least recourse, in the event of corporate failure. Walter R. Jones demonstrated his honor in these affairs during the dissolution of the first Atlantic Marine Insurance Company. Also, the brothers were rooted in several longtime local families. In this manner, the whaling venture and company could stimulate local economies in different ways and may have helped shape how a community entered the new national economy. By combining traditional investment options (ones that favored the whalers and wealthy owners) with the sale of stock in a company (which protected small investors and helped organize a large number of investors), the Jones brothers made it possible for the local community to participate in the ventures.
Certainly this transition was taking place across the country, but in Cold Spring Harbor a durable whaling community co-existed with an industrial identity. How integral the whaling component of this shared identity was became clear in 1938, when the American Museum of Natural History offered to donate a ship to Cold Spring Harbor if they had a proper means of housing it. The announcement came in July, and in August a call went out for neighbors to “search their garrets, cellars and closets for relics of the days of ships and industry from Cold Spring Harbor.” Plans to create a new museum soon became contentious when so-called outsiders, from neighboring Oyster Bay and Lloyd Neck, sought to participate, invoking the wrath of one of the Jones brothers’ direct descendants ––Mrs. Phoebe Hewlett Willets. Her impassioned letter, read to the Town Board and reprinted in the paper, spoke of a community of whalers still in Cold Spring Harbor seventy-six years after the Alice came in. These were histories held by families and made present by the whalers’ papers, handed down and cared for over generations. Mrs. Willets represented a group who felt the organizers lacked historical accuracy and sufficient local ties; in her words, it was impossible that “. . . we who have family museums in our homes would be lured into placing sacred relics in the hands of those who have no relation to them and no relation to Cold Spring Harbor’s important age.” Nonetheless, the museum was founded shortly thereafter and remains an important part of the community.
Cold Spring Harbor’s history of investment in early industry is equally important. The recent publication by the town historian, Robert Hughes, connects the earliest mills in the community to more recent history. The Cold Spring Harbor Laboratories, for which the area is best known today, still use several buildings that belonged to the whaling company and were donated by John H. Jones’ son. These histories are intertwined.
Whaling out of Cold Spring Harbor was a successful hybrid venture and had a clear impact on the area and its cultural heritage that is still visible today. It does not appear this was a story of elite families expanding the family empire at the expense of others. The combined Jones-Hewlett families worked for themselves and with the local community. It is possible this was out of necessity, with the families lacking capital to undertake the venture themselves. Regardless, it is certain the business grew bigger and faster with community help.
Incorporation may have served as a useful tool on several fronts. The structure of the corporation, with its board of directors and voting rules, may have seemed an attractive method for managing the large number of investors. Provisions for limited liability may have attracted additional smaller investors. Coupled with traditional financing options, larger investors could participate in multiple ventures––some corporate, others not. Laws of incorporation also allowed the company to mortgage corporate property to cover debt. In this way, the ships served the company much like land served farmers–– by providing capital to hedge against seasonal fluctuations.
In the end, the Jones brothers did serve as some sort of glue, whaling ceasing shortly after their deaths. However, this was not a cult of personality. The brothers willingly repurposed family resources to serve what was, at best, a risky venture. If the whaling business failed, then their efforts to create a specialized port for outfitting by turning family businesses to that end meant they were risking a large proportion of the family wealth. They also made evenhanded choices that relied on traditional ways of doing business on Long Island. They adhered to key aspects of traditional whaling firms that helped foster success. This included keeping agents and captains invested in each voyage’s success. In the long run, it is possible these efforts stimulated capital growth in the community through encouraging and supporting its entrance into industrial endeavors.
In addition to ongoing research on the long-term economic impact of whaling, work on the relationship between the African American community and whaling in the region is still required, as is research regarding those sailors named “Kanaka” who appear on ships’ logs. Both of these represent internally diverse groups who were underrepresented in documentary records. The relationships these sailors had with Cold Spring Harbor and the surrounding communities are still unclear.
I would like to thank the Gardiner Foundation for its support as well as Jennifer Anderson and all the authors involved in this special issue. The research presented here emerged from a Paul Cuffe Memorial Fellowship given by the Munson Institute, Mystic Seaport. I would also like to express my thanks to Nomi Dayan and the Cold Spring Harbor.
“It will be noticed how strongly the members of the family were tied together; living near the boundary line between Queens and Suffolk Co., through a long civil war, the hostilities and jealousies which convulsed the whole country doubtless taught them to adhere firmly to each other and avoid giving offence. (MSS. C. B. Moore.)” John H. Jones, The Jones Family of Long Island; Descendants of Major Thomas Jones (1665-1726) and Allied Families (New York: Tobias Write, 1907), 19. Mr. Charles B. Moore was a charter member of the New York Genealogical and Biographical Society and friend of Jones. He assisted with methods and research. His work is cited throughout the larger work.
Gracie’s widow and daughter would later invest in the whaling company, and his granddaughter married Walter’s youngest brother. David W. Armstrong Jr., William Otis Badger, Jr., and Edwin Warren De Leon. International Insurance Encyclopedia: A Descriptive Record of the History, Theory, and Practice of All Branches of Insurance Throughout the World from the Earliest Times to the Present Day (Chicago, IL: American Encyclopedic Library Association, 1910), 341, 413.
Freeman Hunt, Lives of American Merchants (New York, NY: Hunt’s Merchant Magazine, 1856), 415–428.
Jones, The Jones Family of Long Island, 140–143.
John H. Jones Pocket Daybook, Knight Collection, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company. Folder Z, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum.
Long Island Farmer & Queens County Advertiser, Oct 12, 1852.
N. & W.W. Billings Papers, Coll 233 Box 7/5; Frederick P. Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale: Long Islands Ships to Distant Seas (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Whaling Museum Inc., 1971), 10–15.
Eric Hilt, “When Did Ownership Separate from Control? Corporate Governance in the Early Nineteenth Century,” The Journal of Economic History 68, no. 3 (2008), 260.
New York State Legislature, Senate. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York at their Sixty-First Session, Begun and Held at the Capital in the City of Albany on the Second Day of January, 1838 (Albany, NY: E. Croswell, 1838), 177, 234, 296, 305.
New York State Legislature, Senate. Journal of the Senate of the State of New York at their Sixty-Third Session, Begun and Held at the Capital in the City of Albany on the Seventh Day of January, 1838 (Albany, NY: E. Croswell, 1840), 1190–1197.
Meeting of the Commissioners of the Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company, 11 July 1840. Knight Collection, Folder S, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum Company Meeting. Nancy Grace, widow of Archibald, an early employer of Walter R. Jones in marine insurance, had several children, including a daughter, Fanny R. Gardiner. Both these women owned shares of the Cold Spring Harbor Company in 1840. After her death in 1847, Walter R. Jones, Charles H. Jones and Michael Ulehoeffer executed Nancy’s will. Ulehoeffer was Nancy’s son-in-law, married to her oldest daughter MaryAnn. It also appears that Charles H. Jones was married to Fanny’s daughter Elizabeth. He would therefore be Nancy’s grandson by marriage, explaining why he and his brother served as Nancy’s executors and why she and Fanny owned stock in the company. They are two of the four women listed as stockowners.
It should also be noted that the ships were a risky investment in themselves. The Monmouth was known to be leaky. The Edgar, purchased in 1846, had been rebuilt after it was wrecked running as a packet ship out of New Orleans. (Schmitt, 21–22). The Jones brothers did not convert it to a whaler until 1852, possibly testing its seaworthiness. That ship wrecked amidst an otherwise successful voyage. Some oil and bone was salvaged and the ship and its rigging insured.
Hilt (2008), 198.
Advertisement, Motor Boating (June 1938), 11.
Oliver Lorenzo Barbour, Reports of Cases in Law and Equity in the Supreme Court of the State of New York (Albany, NY: W.C. Little & Co., 1876), 113.
Knight Collection, Folder Z, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum.
For example, the National Digital Maritime Library (NDML) has both Edward Halsey and Edward Halsey, Jr. sailing out of Cold Spring Harbor. However, the dates of these voyages and earlier voyages for the same individual listed in the case of Edward Halsey seem unlikely. Edward Halsey is listed as captain of the Warren in 1812 and the Monmouth in 1846. It is likely the second voyage belongs to the Captain Edward Halsey, Jr. listed in the database. Other inconsistencies exist in the record. An Edward Halsey found in the 1850 census was a seaman and by 1870 is listed as a farmer. His birth date is approximately 1812, making him 16 when the NDML lists him as captain of the Union. More research is necessary.
Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale, 138-139
Apparently several Captain Pecks took charge of the ship over time. In 1838 a Richard Peck was captain and in 1840 a Charles Benson Peck is listed as captain. Apparently Charles Benson Peck died young. It is unclear who took over next. House Documents, Otherwise Published as Executive Documents, 13th Congress 2nd Session –– 49th Congress 1st Session. Accessed Google books (8 August, 2015). J. Disturnell, The New York State Register (New York State, 1845), 259.
Charles M. Haar, “Legislative Regulation of New York Industrial Corporations 1800-1850,” New York History 22, no. 2 (April 1941), 191–207. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23134666
Judith N. Lund, Elizabeth A. Josephson, Randall R. Reeves and Tim D. Smith, American Offshore Whaling Voyages: A Database. http://www.nmdl.org. (Accessed August 7, 2015).
Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale, 63.
Lund, et al.
Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale, 62.
John H. Jones Pocket Daybook. Knight Collection, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Company. Folder Z, Cold Spring Harbor Whaling Museum.
James Arthur Harris, The Cold Spring Harbor Library: Containing a Sketch of the Library, the Addresses Delivered on the Occasion of the Opening of the New Library Building October Twenty-third 1913; together with an Historical Sketch of Cold Spring Harbor (Cold Spring Harbor, NY: Gillis Press, 1914), 24, 51.
Linda Day, Making a Way to Freedom: A History of African Americans on Long Island (Interlaken, NY: Empire State Books, 1997), 75; Schmidt, Mark Well the Whale, 142–143.
W. Jeffrey Bolster, Black Jacks: African American Seamen in the Age of Sail (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997), 165.
N.P. Tallmadge, Huntsville, Richmond, Splendid, Alice, and Sheffield were all purchased between 1843 and 1845. The Edgar was purchased in 1852.
Jones v. The Richmond, New York, April 26, 1858.
Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale, 122.
The Splendid was out for more than 43 months and the Alice for 44 months. Schmitt, Mark Well the Whale, 139.
“Cold Spring Harbor Has Novel Exhibit,” The Long Islander, May 29, 1936.
“Whaling Museum Starts Arguments,” The Long Islander, Aug 7, 1936.
Robert Hughes, Cold Spring Harbor (Images of America), (Mount Pleasant, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2014). | <urn:uuid:87cd2d03-e7bf-4870-a04e-8775d09cc571> | {
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Wed November 20, 2013
Not Enough (Cod)Fish In The Sea?
There’s long been a debate over exactly how many fish there are in the sea — especially cod. Cod has been overfished for decades and because of that, strict catch limits were put in place, particularly in the Gulf of Maine where cod were once plentiful.
Author Rowan Jacobsen recently volunteered on one of the research expeditions that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration runs to count cod and other fish off the Northeast coast, to determine if fishing cod is as sustainable as fishermen say it is.
They didn’t find much cod, but they did find several other types of fish, including the intimidating monkfish, one of the “trash fish” species that sustainable fisheries advocates say consumers should be eating more of now that cod is depleted.
Rowan Jacobsen speaks with Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson about his expedition out to sea.
“The real story from, what I’ve seen, is cod are pretty much done — you can just cross them off the list for the foreseeable future,” Jacobsen says. “But there’s a lot of other fish out there — and that’s actually one of the big things we need to do and kind of wrap our heads around, is switching the fish that we look for in a store or in a restaurant from the few that we are familiar with, like cod, to ones that we might not be familiar with, but are abundant and delicious.”
- Rowan Jacobsen, whose article “Counting Fish” appears in the current edition of Yankee magazine. He tweets @rowanjacobsen.
JEREMY HOBSON, HOST:
This is HERE AND NOW.
There has long been a debate about how many fish there are in the sea, especially cod, which scientists say is overfished but fishermen say is plentiful. The government has put strict catch limits in place for cod, but the law that sets those catch limits is up for re-authorization. And there is talk in Congress of reforming it. So scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration as busily counting fish on research expeditions in the Gulf of Maine to help set catch limits.
Author Rowan Jacobsen volunteered on one of the recent expeditions. He wrote the article "Counting Fish" for the current edition of Yankee magazine, and he joins us now from the studios of Vermont Public Radio in Burlington. Rowan, welcome.
ROWAN JACOBSEN: Thanks, Jeremy.
HOBSON: So are there enough cod or is there a shortage? What's the real story?
JACOBSEN: The real story from what I've seen is that cod are pretty much done. You can just cross them off the list for the foreseeable future.
HOBSON: Really? Done?
JACOBSEN: Done. We're at historical lows in the populations that we're seeing. We seem to be at a similar place to where the Canadian fishery was in '92 when they had a moratorium on their cod fishery. And despite that, their cod numbers have not come back up in, you know, 20, 20 plus years of no fishing.
HOBSON: But the fishermen would say - and they do say - they're catching hundreds of them at a time. So why the discrepancy there?
JACOBSEN: Yeah. You know, that was one thing that I really hadn't understood before I went out on this NOAA boat. There are certain spots in the gulf, kind of like hotspots, where cod will concentrate. And if you're fishing in that spot, you know, your nets are coming up with hundreds of cod in them. You think things are great. But it turns out that a significant amount of the cod in the Western Atlantic will concentrate at these spots. And once you catch them, not only do you get a false sense of what's out there, but you've also just scooped out quite a few of the remaining ones.
Based on the quotas that were set, NOAA expected cod to rebound, and it really hasn't rebounded nearly as quickly as they thought it had. So that's one of the big questions is why isn't cod coming back?
HOBSON: Well - and you've been looking into this. I wanted you to tell us about your expedition. You went out onto the Bigelow - a ship called the Bigelow. Tell us about what you did and what you found.
JACOBSEN: Since the '60s, NOAA has been doing these surveys in U.S. fishing waters where they very scientifically fish and count every single fish that they catch. And based on what they see in those numbers, they set the quotas for what fishermen are allowed to catch. And I found out that they actually take volunteers on these boats. There are certain things we can do and certain things we can't do. Like I was, you know, online 12 hours a day with this conveyor belt of fish coming at us. And we would be cutting open every fish, weighing every fish, measuring it, cutting open its stomach and documenting the prey species inside.
HOBSON: So what did you find? What kind of fish did you catch and count and what about the cod?
JACOBSEN: We found an amazing abundance of fish. It was actually, I guess kind of heart-warming in a way to be out there and see all this fish load after load day after day, although that was also a lot of work. But I guess that's the good news, is that even though cod - the quotas on cod are incredibly low and are going to be incredibly low for years to come, but there's a lot of other fish out there. And that's actually one of the big things we need to do and kind of wrap our heads around is switching the fish that we look for in a store or in a restaurant from the view that we are familiar with, like cod, to ones that we might not be familiar with but are abundant and delicious.
HOBSON: Well, how difficult will it be to do that? Because people do have a hard time going with things that they don't know, especially fish, which many people don't even like to eat at all. What should we be looking for in the supermarket or at a restaurant when we decide we want to have some fish?
JACOBSEN: You know, the big one that could actually make a real difference - and there's groups of chefs pushing this fish right now and hoping that they can make it into a market - is dogfish. When all the cod disappeared, dogfish, which are basically these two- to three-foot sharks, kind of rushed in to fill that niche in the ecosystem. So there are an unbelievable number of dogfish out there.
When I was out on the Bigelow, you know, our nets would just come in almost bursting with dogfish. And there's no market for this fish, because people just aren't used to eating it and they think it tastes bad. But now, it all gets shipped to England for fish and chips at a very, very cheap price.
JACOBSEN: Hence the vinegar on the fish and chips.
HOBSON: Ah, I see. So you're saying it wouldn't be tasty if you just filleted it with some olive oil.
JACOBSEN: If it is actually delicious. I've had it a few different ways from various chefs, and it's been fantastic. But what - if you don't get to it right away, it can get rancid pretty quickly.
HOBSON: What about a monk fish? You encountered a monk fish. Tell us what that looks like and what happened.
JACOBSEN: Monk fish are definitely the tastiest fish in the North Atlantic, I think. It sometimes gets called poor man's lobster, which now doesn't make sense because it's actually pricier than lobster at the moment, but - delicious fish, but also just a completely freaky fish. We cut a lot of monk fish. It's like a bear trap with a tail attached. It's just this huge jaw full of incredibly sharp teeth stretched wide open, and it just waits there for other fish to come along, and then it snaps down on them.
And one actually snapped down on the finger of my partner I was working with in the Bigelow because we thought it was dead. It was just playing possum on us, and it actually got his finger in its mouth and wouldn't let it go.
JACOBSEN: I took a knife, a fillet knife, and jammed, like, the handle into its mouth to try to pry the mouth open, and it actually ripped the knife away from me.
JACOBSEN: And then it was, like, slashing around the table with the knife blade poking out of its mouth.
HOBSON: Maybe that's why we haven't caught very many of those and eaten them over the years.
JACOBSEN: They're a little scary to work with.
HOBSON: At the end of all of this and your expedition and talking to researchers, are you optimistic that we will be able to reverse the trend here of over-fishing and destroying the populations of fish-like cod, or do you think that we'll be able to turn some kind of a corner?
JACOBSEN: I actually wound up being quite optimistic, partly it was because I got to see NOAA in action, you know, really up close, where they couldn't hide anything for many days. And it's worked - the Sustainable Fisheries Act, which basically tasked NOAA with taking every fish stock that was overfished and bringing it back up to sustainable levels, it's worked for about two-thirds of the species that we fish for with a few exceptions like cod. So the thing that's going to make it work is not pressuring the scientists to try to raise those quotas higher than they know they need to be.
HOBSON: And to eat more dog fish, I guess.
JACOBSEN: More dog fish, lots of lobster.
HOBSON: Rowan Jacobsen is the author of the book "A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America." His article "Counting Fish" is in the current edition of Yankee magazine. We've got a link at hereandnow.org. Rowan, thanks so much.
JACOBSEN: Thanks, Jeremy.
HOBSON: You're listening to HERE AND NOW. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR. | <urn:uuid:fda3cdd7-b46e-4a3a-b12b-6c21c9739ee2> | {
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To help Americans make better decisions about what they eat, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) earlier this year proposed significant changes to the Nutrition Facts label found on nearly every food product in the U.S. An article in Chemical & Engineering News (C&EN), the weekly news magazine of the American Chemical Society, explains the suggested updates - and the fight that has ensued.
Britt Erickson, a senior editor at C&EN, points out that while the Nutrition Facts label has remained largely the same for two decades, nutrition science has not - and neither have Americans' eating habits. In response, the FDA is considering several changes. These include listing added sugars, vitamin D and potassium on every label, making the serving size reflect the amount of food people actually consume, using larger type for the calorie count and lowering the daily value for sodium. Industry groups have quickly voiced their opposition to many of the edits. Among other positions, they argue that because added and natural sugars are chemically the same, the distinction is unnecessary. They are also lobbying to keep the daily value for sodium the same.
One area all sides seem to agree on is that the FDA should launch a consumer education campaign to explain any eventual changes to the label. The agency is closing the period for comments on August 1. It will likely take several months to review them and finalize any changes. After that, companies will have two years to implement the new rules. | <urn:uuid:9e1474a6-4690-45b4-a067-da210b541ca3> | {
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182 HEART ATTACKS
Danger Uncomfortable squeezing in the chest that gradually becomes more intense as the heart is starved of oxygen.
Body count Cardiac arrest ranks nearly as high as drowning for deaths in the backcountry. Altitude, vigorous exercise, and reduced oxygen levels can exacerbate existing medical problems and trigger an attack. Even scarier: Half of all heart attacks kill before help arrives.
Best defense If you’re over 40 and unaccustomed to strenuous activity, ask your doctor about taking a stress test before attempting any serious hiking, especially at higher altitudes.
Danger A 50,000°F bolt of electricity that sears your skin, makes your muscles spasm, and in some cases, stops your heart instantly.
Body count Last year, lightning killed 45 people in the United States, including four hikers and five anglers. July is the deadliest month; this year, at press time, 23 people had already gotten shocked.
Best defense Get below treeline well before summer mountain thunderstorms roll in (most strikes occur in the afternoon). If you’re caught in an exposed location, discard any metal objects and crouch on your sleeping pad. Stay 20 feet apart from others so that one bolt doesn’t incapacitate an entire group. Administer CPR immediately to strike victims who aren’t breathing.
Danger Frostbite, trench foot, and hypothermia–which leads to a drop in core temp, coma, and death
Body count Cold claims about 600 victims each year in the U.S. Of the 137 total deaths reported on Mt. Washington since 1849, 20 percent were due to hypothermia (second only to falls). And it doesn’t take much: A few inactive hours in freezing, windy weather will turn your muscles to bricks–meaning you’ll stumble, collapse, and pee your pants before dying.
Best defense Pack as if you might have to survive a night out. Put on warm, dry layers and stay under shelter if you start to shiver and lose coordination. Hypothermia can kill in temps as high as 50°F, and wet clothes increase conductive heat loss by a factor of five.
142 MOUNTAIN LIONS
Danger A snapped neck after the alpha predator sinks its teeth into your spinal cord
Body count Cougars kill an average of one person and injure six each year in the U.S. Kids, trail runners, and mountain bikers are most at risk (anyone small or moving quickly can trigger a lion’s hunting instinct). Based on fatalities alone, mountain lions barely rank, but they rose this high on intent: They’re hunting you.
Best defense Don’t hike alone at dawn and dusk, especially in California and Colorado, where most attacks have occurred. If you are ambushed, fight back. Cougars will quickly realize you’re not a deer. | <urn:uuid:34c8f917-c10c-475e-ab97-a09bef546521> | {
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Cylinder Preservation and Digitization Pilot Project - Technical Information
(These pages are slightly modified versions of the original pilot project pages put online in 2002)
Digitizing the Cylinders
In order to transfer the cylinders to digital format and subsequently the web, the Library's Archeophone, a specially made machine designed by Henri Chamoux, was used. The Archeophone is a universal cylinder player that uses electrical reproduction and modern styli (such as Stanton or Shure cartridges) to play back any of the varieties of cylinders made including 2 and 4 minute standard, intermediate and concert cylinders. The Archeophone allows for very fine control over the playback speed, correction of eccentricity, playback at half speed, and when used concurrently with the computer program Sound Forge (or another digital audio editing software program), transferring a cylinder to the digital .wav format is usually straightforward and quick. Correcting eccentricity is the most time consuming portion of the process. All cylinders were played back on the Archeophone, using either a two minute stylus or a four minute stylus as appropriate. Cylinders were played at standard Edison speeds, typically 160 for black wax and Blue Amberol cylinders. Brown wax cylinders were pitched by ear and usually ended up being recorded at 140rpm. Actual cylinder recording speeds may vary and thus our playback speeds may not be entirely accurate. However, attempting to correctly pitch each individual cylinder would not only be incredibly time consuming, but would probably not result in a greater percentage of accurately pitched cylinders. Each cylinder was captured as a .wav file on the library's Digital Audio Workstation. Some transfers sound better than others, but after consulting with Chamoux we feel that a wider variety of styluses to match with individual cylinders would be helpful.
Compressing the Audio for Web Delivery
After recording the cylinders as a .wav file, we chose a set of standard file formats that would satisfy the need for durability and posterity, ubiquity and public accessibility in making the files available over the web. While we could deliver uncompressed audio over the web, with modern compression technology there is really no need. Selecting a compression codec (a codec, or COmpression DECompression algorithm reduces the size of files) was initially somewhat daunting, due to the great number of audio file formats and compression codecs in existence and the potential of the technologies becoming obsolete in a few years. After careful consideration, we chose two file formats for web delivery of audio--mp3 and Quicktime. We ruled out Realmedia and Windows Media for two reasons: both require streaming servers to deliver streaming content on the web and the files can't be converted back to editable formats. Streaming servers are necessary for projects with many simultaneous users such as streaming audio course reserves or webcasting of radio which may have dozens or hundreds of simultaneous users. For delivery of digitized audio in a library context with a few users accessing many different files at different times, we believe a streaming server would be an added expense and maintenance issue and it would be unlikely that hundreds of people would be listening to these files simultaneously. Windows Media and Realmedia also are not fully compatible across platforms like Quicktime and the files can't be "decoded" back into files like .wav or other editable files. While Microsoft and others do this to protect copyright holders, we felt it was unacceptable for a project using public domain material where people have a right to do whatever they want with the audio. Quicktime also offers the use of a streaming server, but also allows progressive download, where the file begins to play as soon as a portion of the file has begun to download. We chose the progressive download format and in most cases it will give users the appearance of streaming, though there is no streaming server to manage the flow in the case of network problems which Realserver and Quicktime server both do. With progressive download Quicktime files, the only server needed is a http server (a regular web server) which the library already maintains.
We wanted a downloadable file that people could load onto their computers, and mp3 was chosen for its near ubiquity for distribution of non-streamed audio. For streamed audio we tested 7 different compression codecs. As it turned out, the mp3 compression codec turned out to be by far the best compromise between file size and quality for streaming audio as well. As a result, we also chose mp3 compression for the Quicktime files. In the process of testing we made about 250 test files at different bit rates, sampling rates, and with different codecs. Some of the more revealing examples from our tests concerning the various compression codecs are offered below. We were surprised that some of the highly lauded codecs such as the QDesign codec, did not handle the noise inherent in the cylinder recordings and produced unacceptable artifacts in the compressed audio.
In compressing the files from .wav format we have used Cleaner 5 software to compress the files. For mp3 file compression we have chosen the Fraunhoefer mp3 Codec at a sampling rate of 22.5 kHz with a data rate of 56 kbits/sec. Through extensive comparison, we found that there was nothing to be gained by using higher sampling rate (cylinders just don't contain any musical information over 11Khz) and the 56 kbits/sec data rate produced a file of acceptable quality. Higher bit rates such as 96, 128 or even 256 which are clearly beneficial when encoding modern stereo recordings proved to be of no value in encoding the cylinder recordings.
For the streaming audio format, two Quicktime file format options were made for those who want instantaneous playback: a larger, higher-quality broadband version in Quicktime format using an mp3 codec at a sampling rate of 22.5 kHz with a data rate of 56 kbit/sec (the same as the mp3 format file), and a smaller, lower-quality 56k modem dial-up connection version in Quicktime format using an mp3 codec at a sampling rate of 16 kHz at a data rate of 20 kbits/sec. We found this file would stream over a 56K modem connection, with fairly good quality.
Additionally, we set up Cleaner 5 to normalize the audio at 96%, and encode them on the slowest setting even though we could detect no difference between the slower and faster encoding of the files. The files were encoded as batches overnight so we didn't care if the computer took longer to compress the files! Maybe somebody else could tell the difference even if we couldn't. However, there was a noticeable decrease in quality using the fastest compression speed.
The listener may find the sound quality on some of the cylinders to be quite poor at times, especially with the brown wax-cylinders. Although we have tried to select both interesting and high-quality cylinders, it is important to keep in mind that in comparison to modern mediums like LPs or CDs, or even electrically recorded 78s, the cylinder format had its limitations and furthermore, time has not always been kind to many cylinders. Certainly, there are a variety of noise reduction methods, both hardware and software, but we found that when applying them to our cylinder collection, it not only reduced the background noise and hiss, but took out some of the music as well and in some cases left artifacts. Therefore, the cylinders presented are essentially unaltered from their original sound. If we had access to Cedar noise reduction equipment or another system of sufficiently high quality, we would have made at least one cleaned up and de-noised file for web delivery.
Without cataloging the collection, there is no point in digitizing it. People need to have an access point to the bibliographic information on the cylinders. Item level cataloging is an important component of UCSB's program for managing our collections of historic audio recordings. Syracuse University's Belfer Audio Archive has cataloged many of their cylinders and while there is overlap between the collections, a large percentage of our collection is unique. We used and expanded on their source copy whenever possible. We upgrade cataloging to the standards set for cataloging of historical sounds recordings at UCSB, including complete tracings for composers and performers, uniform titles when necessary and subject headings. All cylinders digitized for this project are cataloged in Pegasus, the UCSB Libraries' online catalog. In the advanced search mode, the patron can limit their search to just cylinder recordings. Click here for a typical catalog record.
Additionally, links are provided in the catalog record which take the library patron directly to the audio file. One of the largest deterrents to using a collection of historical sound recordings such as this is that because of the fragility of the media, patrons do not handle the recordings and library staff have to make a copy of each requested item. For all but the most dedicated or desperate researchers, this is usually too much work. Library patrons are increasingly becoming used to online journals, e-books and electronic indexes. To have to use a physical object, let alone one that may require a wait of several days to be copied and access, is becoming too much for the patron who simply wants to hear a particular style of music, or an old pop song, or an example of early 20th century performance practice.
Selected samples of audio files compressed Cleaner 5
Test of compression codecs available in Quicktime
Test of mp3 at various sampling and bit rates
Quicktime file with Qdesign codec
Quicktime files with mp3 compression at various sampling rates and bit rates
An initiative of the UC Santa Barbara Library • (805) 893-5444 • Santa Barbara, CA 93106-9010. Direct questions or comments about the project or this page to the project staff or visit the help pages.
Stars and stripes forever march - Sousa's Grand Concert Band. (Columbia Phonograph Co.: 532), [between 1904 and 1909].
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Rev. Alban Butler (171173). Volume VI: June. The Lives of the Saints. 1866.
St. Eskill, Bishop and Martyr in Sweden
THIS saint was an Englishman by birth; but so long as the Catholic religion flourished in the northern kingdoms of Europe, was honoured in that part of the universe as one of the most illustrious martyrs of the gospel of Christ. St. Anscharius, archbishop of Bremen, having by his zealous labours laid the foundation of a numerous church in Sweden, was obliged to return into Germany. After his departure the Swedes returned to their paganish superstition, and expelled Simon, whom St. Anscharius had left bishop of that church. The news of this apostacy afflicted extremely the servants of God who inhabited the northern provinces of England, and St. Sigefride, archbishop of York, resolved to undertake a mission in person to rescue so many souls that were running upon the very brink of perdition. Eskill, his kinsman, desirous to have a share in this laborious and dangerous enterprise, accompanied him thither, and behaved in that country with so much zeal and prudence that, at the request of the king and people, St. Sigefride, before his return to England, consecrated him bishop at a place called Nordhans Kogh. By his zealous labours, which were supported by the example of his apostolic life, the church was exceedingly propagated, till good King Ingon was slain by the infidels, and the wicked Sweno, surnamed the Bloody, placed on the throne. Upon this revolution they revived their most impious and barbarous superstitions, with which they celebrated a most solemn festival at a place called Strengis. St. Eskills zeal was enkindled at such abominations, and attended by several of his clergy and of the faithful, he hastened to the place of the sacrilegious assembly. There he strongly exhorted the idolaters to renounce their impious worship. Finding them deaf to his remonstrances, he addressed his prayers to the Almighty, beseeching Him by some visible sign to give evidence that He alone was the true God. Instantly a violent storm of hail, thunder, and rain fell upon the spot, and destroyed the altar and sacrifices. This prodigy the infidels ascribed to art or magic, with which they charged the saint, and by the kings orders they stoned him to death. His sacred body was buried in the spot upon which he suffered martyrdom, and soon after a church was there built, in which his sacred remains were exposed to the veneration of the faithful, and were honoured with miracles. He glorified God by martyrdom in the eleventh century. His festival was formerly kept on this day in Sweden, Poland, and other northern countries. See his life published by the Bollandists; Messenius, Seondia Illustrata, p. 31. and Benzelius, Monum. Eccles. Suevogoth. ex MSS. Upsal. 1709, p. 29. | <urn:uuid:1f7a93d3-d0e5-4d99-8ee2-07ec382de248> | {
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What is an emblem book? It is a form that was tremendously popular during the Renaissance. It is believed that the Italian lawyer Andrea Alciato devised the first such book. The books themselves contained small illustrations (a bit like a modern thumbnail image) that were accompanied by “a brief title or motto, an edifying verse epigram, and often an additional explanatory text in verse or prose.” (Gordon Collection: Emblem Books http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/rmds/portfolio/gordon/emblem/)
These books were created by individuals and reveal their own outlook, but they also “communicate moral, political, or religious values in ways that have to be decoded by the viewer.” (Glasgow University Emblem Project. http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/) They often have classical or humanist sources, such as Erasmus’s Adages. (Gordon Collection: Emblem Books http://www2.lib.virginia.edu/rmds/portfolio/gordon/emblem/)
Alciato introduced the first Emblematum liber, published by Heinrich Steyner and printed in Augsburg in 1531. Scholarship suggests that Alciato himself had nothing to do with this series of editions, but that his associate and friend Conrad Peutinger commissioned the publications based on unillustrated epigrams, etc., that “had circulated among Alciato’s friends in manuscript” (Andrea Alciato’s Emblematum. Alciato at Glasgow. http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/books.php?id=A31a&o=). Several versions were printed in continental Europe and were collected widely.
This month’s CABS Book-of-the-Month is a version printed, we believe, in Leiden by Franciscus Raphelengius (son-in-law of Christoph Plantin) in 1608. We don’t know for sure because the title page is a hand drawn copy that was added at some stage, possibly to replace the original title page which was destroyed. But one inclined to conspiracy theories might think that it was a deliberate attempt to associate an inferior copy with a renowned publishing house and established edition of the book. Who knows?
This book is fascinating for a number of other reasons, mostly relating to its binding. First of all, the book has no writing on the spine, but Alciatus is written vertically on the fore-edge of the book, two letters per row. Anyone interested in library history will know that bookshelves as we know them only came into common usage well into the era of the printed book. Manuscripts and early printed books were usually laid flat on lecterns or shelves and were often chained to the furniture. It was only with the mass production of books that forced libraries to find a more space-efficient way of storing them. Initially they were shelved upright, fore-edge facing out. Blind-tooled decoration was common in northern Europe into the 17th century and that did not lend itself well to spine titles. With the spread of gold-tooling from northern Africa via Italy and Spain, which was a more visible way of marking the spine, books began to be shelved spine outwards.
We know very little about the book’s provenance other than it was given to the Courtauld in 1978 in accordance with the bequest of the art historian and collector Dame Joan Evans. But if the book was published in The Netherlands it was northern Europe and the binding tells us a bit more. The book has been sewn onto pasteboard boards using 4 parchment thongs, which are visible because there are no pastedowns. These are all features of that suggest the binding is contemporary to the publication of the book, if 1608 is correct.
The covering is brown calf, blind tooled with floral and compass motif stamps, one of which incorporates the initials RW. The initials could be those of the owner of the book, although they are more likely to have been those of the binder or the finisher (the person who decorated the binding). The initials also suggest a northern European origin, as the letter W appears in Spanish, Italian and French words usually only of foreign borrowings.
The book has a shelfmark of CABS Z7483 ALC. We have another edition (Emblemata ad quae singula, praeter concinnas insciptiones, imagines…) in the Anthony Blunt bequest. This was published in Lyon in 1626. Its shelfmark is BLUNT ALICIATI. The library has a other emblem books, including a copy of Ripa’s Iconologia, which is not an emblem book per se, but has similar elements, Jacob Cats’s Proteus ofte minne-beelden verandert in sinne-beelden, for an example of a Flemish emblem book, and an 1883 facsimile of Jean Cousin’s Liber: Fortunæ centũ emblemata, et symbola centũ, continens…, as well as a number of books about emblem books.
There are numerous emblem projects, so if you are interested:
OpenEmblem Project – University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign – http://media.library.uiuc.edu/projects/oebp/
Alciato’s Book of Emblems – Memorial University at St. John’s, Newfoundland – http://www.mun.ca/alciato/index.html
Glasgow University Emblem site – http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/
Alciato at Glasgow – http://www.emblems.arts.gla.ac.uk/alciato/
The English Emblem Project – Penn State University – http://emblem.libraries.psu.edu/home.htm
Emblem Project Utrecht – http://emblems.let.uu.nl/index.html | <urn:uuid:da8b7e13-f3eb-4428-8c45-c65d053cbe8e> | {
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How Much to EatTweet
Figuring out your daily calorie needs is the foundation of any weight goal. Gaining, losing or maintaining your weight requires you to eat different amounts and if you don't know how to figure that out, you won't be able to reach your goal.
Every single calorie that you put into your body either gets burned or stored (if everything is working properly). Think of your body as a car. When you put 20 gallons of fuel into your car, if you don't burn those 20 gallons right away, they are 'stored' in the gas tank for later use. The same thing happens in your body. If you eat 3,000 calories in a day but don't burn all that energy up, your body will store what's left over (as fat in various areas around your body and as glycogen in the liver and muscle).
A gallon of gas weighs about six pounds. If you fill your car up with 20 gallons and burn off only 10 of those gallons, your car will have gained 60 pounds. The same goes for food. A pound of body weight equals about 3,500 calories. If you eat 5,000 calories and burn 1,500 in a day, you will gain one pound.
Depending on how much you eat, you will either gain weight, lose weight or maintain your current weight. Maintaining weight is the easiest to understand. Remember, if you eat too much, your body will store the extra calories for later use which will lead to weight gain. If you don't eat enough, your body will go to that stored fat and start burning it causing weight loss.
How Many Calories You Burn
To figure out how many calories you use each day use the calorie calculator. It uses the Harris-Benedict Equation which estimates your daily calorie expenditure using your height, weight, age, gender and activity level. It's just an estimate so you will need to monitor your weight and adjust your calorie intake accordingly.
Once you figure out how many calories you burn each day, all you need to do is eat that much. If you constantly burn and eat 2,500 calories per day, your body won't start using its fat stores for energy. It also won't store any fat for later use because all the energy is coming from the food you eat.
Losing weight requires you to eat less than you burn. If you don't provide your body with 100% of its energy needs, it will find that energy mainly in your body fat. Over time, this will lead to weight loss. With some diets, you can probably lose a lot of weight in a short period of time. These weight loss solutions are usually temporary because the amount of calories you need to cut will leave you hungry all day long. You won't be able to sustain that for very long and once you start eating regularly, the weight will come back.
Healthy weight loss is about 1-2 pounds per week. Those that lose weight at this rate are much more likely to keep it off. Remember, to lose one pound, you need to burn 3,500 calories more than you eat. You can't do this in one day (healthy weight loss isn't 1 pound per day, it's 1-2 pounds per week) so you need to spread this calorie deficit (difference between calories eaten and burned) over an entire week. If you divide 3,500 calories by seven days per week, you get 500 calories per day. That means that each day, you need to burn 500 calories more than you eat to lose 1 pound.
If you want to lose 2 pounds per week, double your calorie deficit to 1,000 calories per day. This might seem like a huge deficit but you can create it with a combination of eating less an exercising more. You don't have to cut 500 calories out of your diet. You can burn an extra 250 calories each day and cut 250 calories out of your intake to reach the 500 calorie per day deficit.
Gaining weight is the exact opposite of losing it. To gain weight, you need to eat more than you burn so that your body can use that excess energy to build muscle. There is no way to gain weight if you aren't creating a calorie surplus (eating more than you burn). The same numbers that apply to losing weight can be applied to gaining it. To gain 1 pound per week, you need to create a surplus of 500 calories per day. Double it to 1,000 calories per day to gain 2 pounds per week.
If you're trying to gain muscle, you also need to engage in strength training. If you don't exercise on a regular basis, your body will store those extra calories as fat instead of building up your muscles. Gaining weight is easy, gaining muscle is a bit harder. Healthy weight gain is 1-2 pounds per week. If you try and gain weight faster than that, you'll be putting on more fat than muscle.
Even though at the end of the day, weight is controlled by how many calories you eat, not all calories are equal in health. If you're trying to lose weight, you can't just remove healthy foods from your diet to decrease your calorie intake. You have to get rid of the bad foods so that your health isn't negatively affected. The same goes for gaining weight; you can't just eat everything in sight because then you'll start to get unhealthy.
The Bottom Line
To be successful, you need to monitor your progress. You need to weigh yourself on a regular basis to ensure that you're moving in the right direction. Not losing weight a week or two after you start a diet isn't reason enough to quit. If you aren't moving towards your goal and think you're taking all the right steps, you're not. Your exercise levels and/or calorie requirements might need to be tweaked. Tweaking leads to success while quitting leads to digging yourself further into your problem. | <urn:uuid:677023f7-8950-4165-9abf-7bc87a644d48> | {
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Last week, I worked with our 2nd grade teachers on a lesson to help them with character analysis. Yes! Can you believe it? 2nd graders doing character analysis! I took me back to my secondary English days. *Sigh*
So, the teachers were focusing on helping the students understand the difference between character traits (who a character is) and the character’s feelings. Oftentimes, students get confused. For instance, a character may be celebrating a victory, so they FEEL happy. We want the students to understand that the character is good at the skill that brought them the victory which maybe makes the character dedicated or strong willed, but that the character is feeling happy or content.
Easy to see where the confusion came in.
So, we decided that the book Oddrey by Dave Whamond would be a great book to use to for this lesson. So, I worked with the teachers to understand what some of the character traits were that the students would be learning about. I wrote the Oddrey Character Analysis Station Questions . The teachers read the book to the students a couple of times this week, so that the kids would familiar with the book and the character.
Then, the kids came to the library and went around to stations where they answered the questions I made on the activity by looking closely at the pictures from the book and talking with a partner. Oddrey Character Analysis Activity Sheet
The teachers took this activity for a grade, so I also gave each of them an answer key.
The kids really loved the book, and the activity!
Click in the link below to see student pictures: | <urn:uuid:2230a362-5b54-4210-a7e6-54aaf07a728a> | {
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Subaru Deep Field
Mouseover to see the farthest galaxy
Click here for a large scale picture.
Read the article...
A Glimpse of the Early Universe
|For thirty nights over a two year period, teams of researchers contributed exposures of an apparently vacant portion of the northern sky to create an image that provides a unique peek at the Universe when it was very young. Featuring over 200,000 galaxies, these exposures were re-processed by the author with permission of the NAOJ, at the reguest of Norwegian organizers hosting a 2009 International Year of Astronomy exhibition, called Discover the Universe.. Read more...
Exposure dates: Thirty nights between April 2002 - March 2004
Exposure location: Mauna Kea, Hawaii
Exposure length: 9.9 hours (B filter), 10 hour (R filter), 9.4 hours (z' filter)
Instrumentation: 8.2 meter Subaru Telescope
custom Suprime-Camera (5 X 2 mosaic of 2k X 4k CCDs- 80 megapixel total)
Target location: RA:13:24:21.38 DEC: +27:29:23.034
(midway between M3 and Beta Comae Berenices)
Image size: 34 arc minutes X 27 arc minutes
Data acquisition: Subaru telescope, National Astronomical Observatory of Japan (NAOJ)
Image processing: R. Jay GaBany | <urn:uuid:bb22fadd-3847-4523-9530-1b57185daa8c> | {
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Tuesday, October 4, 2005
Parent to Parent: Responsibility
Learning your abc's and 123's is a basic part of growing up. But teaching your child responsibility requires a certain degree of patience. In tonight's Parent to Parent, Dr. Sally has advice on how to make our kids accountable for their actions.
WSVN--Seven-year-old Bryce Walden and his mom Althea like to watch cartoons together every night. But for awhile, Bryce wasn't allowed to watch any TV after having problems at school.
Althea Walden: "The teacher called me and said he told the teacher I don't care if you call my mom because I was acting up."
Faced with arguments at school. Not cleaning up at home. And not listening in general...
Althea Walden: "Bryce you need to do this. Bryce you need to do that and I have to say it three times sometimes before he even moves."
Althea wasn't sure what to do to get Bryce to take responsibility.
Althea Walden: "Whatever punishment you seem to come up with doesn't seem to have an effect on him. Doesn't phase him. Doesn't phase him."
Althea Walden: "How can I teach him responsibility, taking responsibility for his actions, that's what I need to know."
And that's when we turned to 7 News Parenting Expert Dr. Sally.
7 Parenting Expert Dr. Sally Goldberg: "Many parents don't realize it but they present it as a chore or a task or something that really isn't meaningful and fun to do."
Instead, teach your children that everyone has a job to do for the family to function.
Dr. Sally Goldberg: "Around the toddler age or even twos there's something very natural that happens, children like to help."
Start, by finding a task that sparks your child's interest. Next read them a story or show them a video about a responsible child. Then once your child's old enough, create a chart and let them check off their accomplishments.
Dr. Sally Goldberg: "That act of checking it off actually brings pleasure to the child and that feeling of accomplishment, that feeling that he was counted on to do something and he did it."
And finally, follow the fair, firm and positive rule. Be fair -- by asking for help. Firm -- by withholding a favorite pasttime for not doing their chores. And positive -- by thanking them for being responsible.
Dr. Sally Goldberg: "The goal is to see your child actually turn around and feel the joy of playing his role in the family."
Althea's says the fair, firm and positive approach is working with Bryce not only is he not acting up in school anymore, he's even making his bed at home without even being asked.
Althea Walden: "It's all good, he's doing good and I'm proud of him."
Parents, our expert says you can also choose to offer a special reward at the end of the week. But if your child still acts up, make sure it's clear there will be consequences.
E-MAIL QUESTIONS TO:
DR. SALLY GOLDBERG'S WEBSITE: | <urn:uuid:298061d4-dd96-465c-a559-16a07d6ba009> | {
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We'll Get Rid of Your Unwanted Guests
Your Local Pest Control Service
Why control Rodents? There are a few issues to consider if you discover a mouse or rat infestation:
In the UK there are two types of rat which have a tendency to cause problems for homes and businesses – brown (common) rats and black rats. Although black rats (Rattus rattus) are more rare, they are excellent climbers and tend not to burrow. Brown rats (Rattus norvegicus) are more common, spend their time burrowing outside and can also be found in sewers. Rats are persistent animals and once they gain access to your property, they can spread bacteria, diseases and cause a lot of damage.
Although you may not have seen any rats, you may have heard scratching noises or found some small dark brown droppings. There may also be greasy rub marks on smooth surfaces, rat holes where they have created shelter, rat nests made from soft materials or footprints in dusty areas. Rats are mainly active at night so it’s possible that you may never actually see them.
There are a few issues to consider if you discover a rat infestation:
In the UK there are many species of mice but only a few are considered as pests and are therefore subject to control. The main species you may encounter in your home, garden or business are:
Field mice (Apodemus sylvaticus) rarely go into houses but will find sheds and barns during the winter. They have a passion for fruit and vegetables so are a particular threat to farms and small holdings.
House mice (Mus domesticus) are active all year round and often be found making themselves comfortable within your home or business premises.
Yellow necked field mice (Apodemus flavicollis) are mostly found in rural areas, however, they’re also well known to cause a fire risk by chewing through electrical wiring.
How do you know if you have a problem?
Cockroach faeces can cause respiratory allergies such as sneezing and exacerbate asthma symptoms, and can also transmit E Coli.
Cockroaches can contaminate by picking up bacteria from drains or waste areas and transferring this from their body to utensils, food and sterile goods. The presence of cockroaches in premises may result in enforcement action by the Local Authority. This will impact on food premises leading to loss of business and reputation with customers.
There are many species of cockroach. A few species such as the Oriental, German and American cockroaches have colonised urban areas and are therefore considered serious pests. All cockroaches are nocturnal and require access to water.
Bed bugs (Cimex Lectularius) are around 4 to 5mm long, red or brown in colour, oval in shape and do not have wings. Usually found in bedrooms, bed bugs feed on our blood through our skin. They are also attracted to our body heat and carbon dioxide from our breath. Their habit is to travel via clothes, luggage or furniture and easily move through properties using wall or floor cavities. Bed bug bites cause red, irritating marks on our skin and some people can experience severe allergic reactions. They can also cause sleep disturbance and damage to business reputations, especially for hotels and other accommodation providers.
If you notice dark or black stains on a bed mattress, linen or surrounding area, these could be bed bug excrement. There may be an unpleasant sweet smell, small dark blood spots (‘faecal pellets’) or you may even see actual live bugs. Although individual bed bug bites may not be very noticeable to begin with, they can continue to occur in rows along the skin as the insects travel along blood vessels to feed.
There are a few issues to consider if you discover an infestation:
The most prevalent species that invades properties is the black garden ant, which is actually very dark brown. They are highly organised social insects and it is the foraging worker ants that invade buildings in search of food. These are from 3 to 5mm in length and are attracted to sweet foodstuffs which they take back to the nest to feed the larvae and queen.
If you see lots of ants inside your house or business premises, then you will know that you have a problem. If you find them in your kitchen, then the infestation must be dealt with quickly to avoid contamination. Outside, you may see small piles of earth around holes in soil, in the cracks between paving slabs and at the base of walls which indicate entry and exit points to the ants’ nest.
There are a few issues to consider if you discover an infestation:
Here in the UK, wasps are mainly classed as common wasps (Vespula vulgaris) or German wasps (Vespula germanica). Both are yellow and black striped and are known for their painful stings which can cause allergic and sometimes dangerous reactions. Often seen as an aggressive insect, the wasp will only attack when threatened but it tends to emit a distress pheromone which can make other members of its colony highly defensive and more prone to sting. When wasps are causing problems in a public area or are endangering human health, it may be necessary to prepare for wasp nest removal.
If you see a large number of wasps in and around your house, garden or office, there’s probably a wasp nest nearby. Queen wasps emerge from hibernation in the Spring and start working on a new wasp nest, which is made from chewed wood and saliva. She is joined by hundreds of “worker” wasps who continue to build the wasp nest and by the Summer, 300 eggs can be produced daily with up to 5,000 adults feeding grubs and maintaining the wasp nest. Wasps are likely to make their nests in sheltered spots so you’re likely to find them under trees, in bushes, in wall cavities, under eaves or in your shed or garage. They are at their peak in August and September when their work in the wasp nest is done and they start to become a nuisance!
There are a few issues to consider if you discover a wasp nest:
The cat flea causes the most problems for British home owners and if an animal is not around or there are a lot of fleas, they resort to biting humans, usually around the ankles and legs.
Once fleas have established themselves within a home, animals will need to be carefully treated as well as the home itself by a flea control technician. Off the shelf aerosol products are not normally effective.
Grey squirrels are considered pests and are part of the rodent family. The grey squirrel is a non-native species in the UK and is responsible for the decline of red squirrels.
The front incisors of grey squirrels are always growing and require constant filing, and this is achieved via gnawing. Unfortunately, they do not discriminate as to the material they chew. Naturally, this can cause problems especially if they are living in a roof space where wires (a fire hazard) or the structure can be damaged.
Flour beetles can be found in the household and can grow to large infestations living off food in furniture, cracks and crevices in cupboards.
Biscuit beetles can affect storage businesses, food preparation businesses which need to store foods and households. The biscuit beetle can get into any packaged foods being stored which are not completely sealed and tend to favour cereals, grains and other stored food products.
Adult larvae will bore their way through packaging or food to emerge. If you think a packaged product may be infested with biscuit beetle larvae, you need to make steps to remove this infestation.
All too often, flies are tolerated in our homes, properties and businesses. However, all species of fly will feed by vomiting saliva onto food surfaces and then sucking up the resulting liquid. In the course of doing so, the fly contaminates food with bacteria from its feet and gut. This increases the likelihood of food poisoning.
If you suspect that you have a pest infestation and need professional pest control in London, call us now.
Contact us by telephone or email
We’ll arrange a site survey with you to assess the pest and cost to control the problem
For a no obligation quotation or a site visit please call us now !
If you need pest control in London, please do not hesitate to get in touch.
Quick response service from point of contact – within 24 hours.
Competitive rates and free quotes with no obligation for treatment services.
Visit your premises and business in an unmarked discreet vehicle to ensure your privacy.
Registered company info 11849677 | <urn:uuid:636125b8-7245-4ba6-8206-892cfcd4ae49> | {
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In recent decades, the plight of Atlantic cod off the coast of New England has been front-page news. Since the 1980s in particular, the once-seemingly inexhaustible stocks of Gadus morhua — one of the most important fisheries in North America — have declined dramatically.
In 2008, a formal assessment forecasted that stocks would rebound, but by 2012, they were once again on the verge of collapse. Two years later, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration instituted an unprecedented six-month closure of the entire Gulf of Maine cod fishery to allow stocks to recover.
While overfishing is one known culprit, a new study co-authored by researchers at UC Santa Barbara and Columbia University finds that the climatological phenomenon known as the North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) is also a factor. And it contributes in a predictable way that may enable fishery managers to protect cod stocks from future collapse. The group’s findings appear in the journal PLOS ONE.
“In the 1980s, the North Atlantic was stuck in a positive phase of NAO,” said lead author Kyle Meng, an economist at UCSB’s Bren School of Environmental Science & Management. “We show not only that positive NAO conditions diminish a few consecutive cohorts of cod larvae but also that this effect follows a cohort as it matures.”
The NAO is a periodic climatic phenomenon that, like El Niño, causes changes in water temperatures, although the mechanism is different and the NAO affects the North Atlantic rather than the Pacific. Also like El Niño, the NAO may be affected in terms of both strength and frequency by climate change. The researchers found that, since 1980, NAO conditions have accounted for up to 17 percent of the decline in New England cod stocks.
“The Atlantic cod fishery has been the poster child of fishery science and challenges in the field,” said co-author Kimberly Oremus of Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. “This study does something new in that we followed the effect of climate variability on cod throughout their life cycle. We also find evidence suggesting how — through fishing — human actions might be exacerbating the effect.”
As co-author Steve Gaines, a fish ecologist and the dean of UCSB’s Bren School, explained: “Fishery managers face big challenges in predicting how many new fish will come into the fishery each year. They use models to predict the average, but actual values vary wildly. Climate variation is one of the big challenges, especially if the recruitment forecasts turn out to be repeatedly too high, as we saw following NAO events. Then the mistakes compound and yields can be compromised for a long time.”
Because the cod stock is well defined over a large but specific area and has been studied extensively for more than a century, the researchers had access to abundant data. This enabled them to determine that warmer NAO conditions reduced cod larval recruitment by 17 percent, resulting in fewer young fish. They also found that while the NAO-induced population decrease persisted until the fish were 6 years old, it affected cod catch for up to two decades. That empirical link means that NAO can be used to predict the future size of the stock, which would allow for improved management.
“It would provide us with an early warning before the declines appear,” Meng said. “So we now know to expect that 17 percent drop in adult fish during a positive phase of NAO, which gives management enough time to adjust practices.”
“We’re not just saying that the climate is part of the problem; we’re showing how it can be used to forecast and respond in an appropriate and cheap way,” Gaines said. “Many papers show that cod are in bad shape and identify climate as part of the problem, but what they don’t do is give us a management solution.”
Gaines noted that fishery closures like the one in 2014 are controversial and hugely disruptive to fishing communities and local economies. “If we know the state of the NAO, managers can respond by reducing catch appropriately in the short term to avoid long-term closures,” he added.
“People haven’t applied these kinds of approaches to this problem previously,” Gaines continued. “Climate change may have costs for fisheries, but you don’t have to make bad choices that accentuate it for decades.” | <urn:uuid:e8d46d2d-b680-4e02-b9e2-87ca8bb161dd> | {
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Some one in eight women in the United States will be diagnosed with breast cancer at some point in their lives, making it the most common cancer diagnosis in women, according to the National Cancer Institute. And early detection and treatment have been instrumental in lowering overall mortality rates in recent years. But a new study suggests that body issues will stop some women from doing breast self-exams — and keep them from getting proper medical attention early enough to lower their overall risk. What’s more, the less satisfied study participants were with the size and shape of their breasts, the less likely they were to perform this important act of self-care, researchers found.
Published this month in the journal Body Image, the study focused on 384 British women surveyed by researchers from Anglia Ruskin University and University College London. The majority of women struggle with body image issues, and the research participants were no different. According to the report, most participants said they were unhappy with the size of their breasts (31 percent wanting smaller breasts and 44 percent wanting larger breasts). The study's findings suggest that having a negative view of one's body made women less likely to perform routine cancer checks: one third of the women (33 percent) in the study admitted they “rarely or never” performed breast self-examinations, the researchers wrote.
What’s more, one in 10 participants admitted that if they did find a change in their breasts, they would either delay for as long as possible (8 percent) or not see their doctor at all (2 percent).
Viren Swami, Professor of Social Psychology at Anglia Ruskin University and lead author of the study, explained the possible connection in a statement on the university's website:
For women who are dissatisfied with their breast size, having to inspect their breasts may be experienced as a threat to their body image and so they may engage in avoidance behaviours. Breast size dissatisfaction may also activate negative self-conscious emotions, such as shame and embarrassment, that results in avoiding breast self-examination.
A 2016 survey of more than 10,000 women and girls in 13 different countries found that making unhealthy choices as a result of poor body image is alarmingly common. According to The Dove Global Beauty and Confidence Report, at least nine in 10 women surveyed reported putting their health at risk in some way because of body issues.
Swami added that society’s tendency to view breasts in sexual or aesthetic terms, rather than functional (such as their role in breastfeeding and nurturing infants), only added to women’s body image issues. “Promoting greater breast size satisfaction may be a means of empowering women to incorporate breast self-examinations and breast awareness into their health practice,” she wrote in the study.
And when it comes to breast cancer, increasing awareness can literally save lives. Early screenings (either through breast exams or mammograms) have been credited with helping to lower breast cancer mortality over the past decade, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2014, more than 41,000 women and 200 men died from breast cancer, according to the CDC, but the American Cancer Society notes that the rate of death from breast cancer has dropped more than 39 percent since the 1980s.
The researchers told The Independent that these findings signaled a need to make practitioners aware of the emotional barriers that keep women from getting care, and the need to make early screenings more accessible.
On its website, the National Breast Cancer Foundation describes how to do a breast self-exam quickly in a couple of steps. Exams can be done while standing up in the shower or in front of a mirror, or while lying down flat on your back, according to the NBCF.
What’s most important is to get familiar with the look and feel of your breasts so that you can spot any lumps, knots, dimpling, or puckering, should they occur: move the pads of your fingers in a circular motion from the outside of your breast to the center, being sure to cover the entire breast and armpit area. Then, look for any visual changes as you raise your arms overhead or flex your chest muscles, according to the NBCF.
For more information on getting an early screening, locate free mammograms in any state, or learn how to perform a breast self-exam from a local health professional, visit the National Breast and Cervical Cancer Early Detection Program website. Run by the CDC, the program offers free or low-cost breast cancer screenings in every state.
Check out Romper's new video series, Romper's Doula Diaries:
Watch full episodes of Romper's Doula Diaries on Facebook Watch. | <urn:uuid:386cf5f0-4bb0-4065-ac3d-0662340e0bb9> | {
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The U.S. Department of State defines terrorism as "premeditated, politically motivated violence perpetrated against non-combatant targets by sub-national groups or clandestine agents, usually intended to influence an audience." Likewise, as terrorism against tourists often involves international citizens, international terrorism is defined as "terrorism involving citizens or the territory of more than one country."
WHY DO TERRORISTS TARGET KENYA?
Geographic location, poverty and unstable neighbours are some key elements that have contributed to past terrorist attacks faced by Kenya.
Kenya's unique geographic location acts as a passageway from the Middle East and South Asia to East Africa and beyond. Therefore, Kenya had to cater for the many activities that would now exist because of this pathway so an extensive seaport was constructed as well as two international airports, one in Mombassa and one in Nairobi along with rail, road and communication infrastructure. With these additions, travel and entry into and around Kenya is quite easy and usually obscure due to its penetrable borders coupled with its surrounding neighbours and unmonitored coastline. In particular, the Arabs in Kenya that occupy the coastal areas are closely linked to the Arabs in the Middle East as they both share a common religion and language. This has made it quite convenient for terrorist to blend into the community.
For these reasons, Kenya is a preferred choice for terrorist to strike.
DISCUSSION ON TERRORISM'S IMPACT ON THE HOSPITALITY & TOURISM INDUSTRY IN KENYA (25 MARKS)
Tourism, one of the foundation blocks of Kenya's economy, constitutes 25% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and has been adversely affected by the repercussions of terrorism.
Firstly, the influx of tourist to Kenya can be estimated to over 500,000 visitors each year. Europe and the United States of America (USA) represent Kenya's traveller generating region with 70% of the market being Europeans (Switzerland, Italy, Belgium France and Britain account for the bulk of tourists). In addition, visitors come from Japan, Asia, Scandinavia, and other African countries.
USA, Germany, Great Britain and some other countries, upon receiving the news about the terrorist attacks on Kenya's US Embassy in Nairobi, immediately issued travel advisories to their citizens and imposed travel bans to refrain travel to Kenya as it was deemed unsafe. Moreover, the extensive media coverage of the attacks particularly focused on Kenya's vulnerability to terrorism severely tarnished its image. These responses lead to a decline in travel to Kenya and some neighboring countries as travelers feared the spillover of the terrorist attacks. For example, tourism businesses were terribly affected by the travel warnings. Tourism brought in US $500 million in annual revenue and was losing at least $1 million everyday due to the decline in tourism. ( ) Consequently, Kenya's tourism industry was paralyzed.
Kenya suffered a decrease in tourist arrivals. This had a ripple effect on all sectors of the industry. The cancellation of leisure trips and business conferences were rapidly on the rise. Kenya's reputation plummeted and this lead to the loss of its competitive value. Kenya was no longer an option to be considered for vacation or investment. Tourism catered to the employment of 500, 000 Kenyans ranging from tour operators, tour guides, travel agencies, safari driver, dancers, hoteliers, restaurateurs, small business operators to airport and airline personnel. Subsequently, there was a significant increase in unemployment as many Kenyans lost their jobs. Employees that were still employed received salary cuts. For instance, at the Carnivore restaurant; all of the 330 staff had their salaries reduced, including Dunford the chairman (National Geographic 2010).
The bombing of the US Embassy had a massive impact on Kenya's infrastructure. The Embassy was stationed at the crossroads of two streets in Nairobi, adjacent to the Ufundi Building and the Co - op Bank Building. The explosion destroyed these three buildings and other buildings and amenities within a two to three block radius.( ) The rubble consisted of broken glass from windows, window frames, furniture and fixtures, concrete block walls, cars, buses, electric poles, street lights and the list goes on. The transportation sector within Kenya suffered major setbacks as the streets were seriously damaged and likewise vehicles. Additional problems surfaced as resources (medical) were delayed as it was difficult to get in and around Nairobi. Access was restricted to rescue and emergency personnel. Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, was known for its many tourist attractions but these business operations declined as a result of the bombing. With the loss of power and telecommunication, tour operators, travel agencies and hotels were unable to update their websites or communicate with potential visitors who would usually book their reservations, tours or tickets online.
Another hindrance to Kenya's tourism industry in light of the terrorist attacks is the slump in foreign direct investment (FDI). Investors were inclined to nullify their FDI in Kenya due to some of the 'shocks' felt by the terrorist attack such as the direct destruction of infrastructure, the rise of operating costs due to an increasing need of security measures, and the rise of recruiting costs due to missing incentives to work in terrorism - prone regions. ( ). This further contributed to the loss of revenue specifically for tourism development initiatives.
An important issue on the agenda of Kenya's government to combat terrorism is now the introduction of more security. The notion about safety is not confined to the citizens of Kenya alone but is extended to the tourist as well. For this purpose, government spending had to be diverted from productive investment designed to promote growth, eradicate poverty and sustain tourism development. ( ) Expenditure on high tech security equipment such as surveillance cameras, metal detectors and screening machines had to be implemented as strategies to counteract terrorism.
Kenya's financial costs continued to escalate in aftermath of the terrorist attack as more funding was required for the cleanup, restoration and reconstruction of the infrastructure, buildings and other amenities destroyed in the blast including tourists' facilities. As an illustration,
Similarly, another expense incurred is that of extensive advertising to attract more and new tourists to Kenya. This strategy was employed to portray Kenya as a once again safe place and to neutralize the negative media attention received after the bombing.
Apart from the above mentioned negative effects of terrorism on Kenya's tourism industry, some positive effects were identified. With the decrease in tourist arrivals to Kenya, domestic tourism was being promoted. Locals provided a portion of revenue needed to sustain some tourism businesses. Likewise, a new 'must see' tourist attraction was developed. The August 7th Memorial Park was constructed on the site where the US Embassy was once situated. This memorial was built to commemorate the lives that were lost and represents a tribute to the courage of the several thousand others who have had to cope with permanent injury and/or the loss of loved ones. It is a place where people come to reflect, remember and relax. ( )
With regard to the Kenya's transit route region, terrorism is no exception. The airline industry was also hit hard after the terrorist attack on the US Embassy.
Cancellation of flights
Merging of airlines to survive
Closure of some airlines
Loss of revenue
Increase security surveillance
Cruise ships no longer include Kenya on their route
Increase cost of ticket to visit country with terrorism
DISCUSSION ON KENYA'S RESPONSE TO IMPACT OF TERRORISM (20 MARKS)
There is a need for the development of an anti-terrorism legislation in Kenya: following the 1998 bombing of the US Embassy in Kenya the government recognized that there were no adequate measures in place to deal with such acts and therefore the need to develop and implement legislation to deal with terrorism was essential. According to Kenya's Counter Terrorism committee, the Government on two occasions made attempts to implement such laws with the 'Suppression of Terrorism Bill' in 2003 and the 'Anti-Terrorism Bill in 2006 respectively. However, both bills failed to be introduced to parliament. (Google 2010)
There is also a need for revamped management policies to be set in place for Kenya's border line and costal security control. (Google 2010) also stated that the need for heightened security is vital in these areas, for example: the border between Kenya and Somalia poses a great threat to Kenyan nationals and tourist due to fact that Somalia has been without a government of over sixteen years and is known to be politically unstable. This can be done by putting measures in place such as; heightened security checks for persons entering Kenya through Somalia, denial of entry for suspicious entrants and denial to unnecessary travelers especially during the peak tourist seasons. Proper execution of security in these areas may allow tourist's to feel safer and therefore increase overall tourist visits to Kenya.
The tourism board of Kenya could try to mitigate some of the negative impacts of the past terrorism attacks on the country by recreating a new image for the destination. Though terrorism would ultimately have a devastating impact on any country being affected, repositioning Kenya in the minds of tourists and other tourists' destination by focusing on the positives rather than the negative aspects of terrorism can aid in the process of moving forward. An example of this is the use of the US Embassy bombing as a memorial site where locals and tourists can visit.
There needs to be a crisis management portfolio that distinguishes terrorism from other forms of crisis. It should also outline in detail the measures that should be implemented before and after such a crisis. Then the portfolio should assist in painting a clear and clutter free process that should be followed after an act of terrorism to facilitate a timely recovery for Kenya's image. Because terrorism has so severely tarnished the image of Kenya's tourism product it is very crucial that only specified and highly qualified individuals should address the public and medias issues. Therefore, the portfolio will also outline all individuals that should be involved in this process with clearly defined roles and objectives.
The tourism board of Kenya could try to mitigate some of the negative impacts of the past terrorism attacks on the country by creating a new image for the destination. Though terrorism would ultimately have a devastating impact on any country being affected, repositioning Kenya in the minds of tourists and other tourists' destination by focusing on the positives rather than the negative aspects of terrorism can aid in the process of moving forward. An example of this is the use of the US Embassy bombing as a memorial site where locals and tourists can visit. With repositioning in mind the tourism board can also shift some of their attention to local tourist by packaging their offerings in such a way that would be attractive to the local population. | <urn:uuid:833fcc83-7328-4716-b648-45ca0e47fdf0> | {
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EMBL: High-res Ebola model could spark new questions
Although the ravages of the Ebola virus are no secret, the structure of some of the virus’ most minute components have remained a mystery. EMBL’s John Briggs explains the key finding of a recent paper published in Nature that reveals the make-up of a critical part of the Ebola virus, called the nucleocapsid.
EMBL researchers have collaborated with researchers from the University of Marburg in Germany and the Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences in Japan to create a 3D model of the Ebola virus’ nucleocapsid. By creating a model of this structure that surpasses the resolution of existing models, the team hopes to have provided the scientific community with a catalyst for answering important questions about how the Ebola virus replicates and infects new host cells.
What did you do?
We created a 3D model of a crucial part of the Ebola virus called the nucleocapsid. The Ebola virus is like a long tube. Inside that tube is the nucleocapsid: the genetic material of the virus (RNA) wound up with a large number of proteins into a structure that looks sort of like a spring. The nucleocapsid is important because it packages the RNA in order to make a new virus. In addition, when the virus fuses with a new cell and releases its RNA into the host, the protein helps protect the genetic material against the cell’s defence mechanisms. Proteins in the nucleocapsid are needed for the process of copying the RNA, too.
Using cryo-electron tomography, we calculated a 3D model which allows us to see how the proteins that compose the nucleocapsid are folded up and how the different components are connected – how the proteins are bound to the RNA and to one another.
Why is this important?
Our team’s 3D models provide a starting point for understanding the structure of the virus. Although other groups, including ourselves, have modeled the Ebola nucleocapsid before, we have now done our imaging at a much higher level of detail, and have done it within the virus itself. This level of detail wasn’t available for Ebola or any other related viruses with this same kind of spring-shaped nucleocapsid.
Since this is basic science, it’s tricky to pinpoint one particular way this will prove to be important later on. But if a future researcher is trying to understand how the Ebola virus works and has a 3D model of the nucleocapsid that she can rotate on a computer, even if the model doesn’t directly answer the question she’s been thinking about right then, hopefully our model could—consciously or unconsciously—help inform the questions she may ask in the future.
Combined cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging enables scientists to study structures inside irregular viruses like HIV, or within cells. In essence, the scientists use an electron microscope to obtain a 3D image of the sample. They then identify all the copies of the object they want to study and use software to rotate the 3D image of each copy so that they are all facing the same way. By repeating this procedure with thousands of images, the scientists can obtain an accurate picture. With this approach, researchers can study such samples without having to purify them in a test-tube, which means that they see them in their real state. | <urn:uuid:aeb54f55-d255-4299-b5cd-cb2c8766ab5d> | {
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Shield: From the Provincial Seal of Camarines Norte where Municipality belongs.
Year: Year when Municipality of Talisay was founded.
Coconut: Sectoral area of twenty-five (25%) for coconut, root crops, fruits and vegetable production which are mostly found in upland Barangays.
Fish: Sectoral area of twenty-five (25%) devoted to fishing which is a major source of income of four coastal Barangays of Municipality.
Rice: First sectoral area of fifty (50%) is arming activity devoted to rice production. Talisay, being a rice producing locality where most of family income is attributed to rice production, best explained why rice farming was given a large part of Municipality seal. | <urn:uuid:e6938db9-bddf-4927-9eb3-a614dbb0720f> | {
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Coding for kids is cool with Raspberry Pi and this elementary guide!
Even if your kids don't have an ounce of computer geek in them, they can learn to code with a Raspberry Pi and this wonderful book. Written for 11 to 15-year-olds and assuming no prior computing knowledge, this book uses the wildly successful, low-cost, credit-card-sized Raspberry Pi computer to explain fundamental computing concepts. Young people will enjoy going through the book's nine fun projects while they learn basic programming and system administration skills, starting with the very basics of how to plug in the board and turn it on.
The second edition is updated for the latest revision of the Raspberry Pi Model B+!
Each project includes a lively and informative video to reinforce the lessons. It's perfect for young, eager self-learners—your kids can jump in, set up their Raspberry Pi, and go through the lessons on their own.
- Written by Carrie Anne Philbin, a high school teacher of computing who advises the U.K. government on the revised ICT Curriculum
- Teaches 11 to 15-year-olds programming and system administration skills using Raspberry Pi
- Features 9 fun projects accompanied by lively and helpful videos
Help your children have fun and learn computing skills at the same time with Adventures in Raspberry Pi.
Shipping rates Australia wide
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|Above 5 kg
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|Australia Post international service|
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|Above 1 kg
||Available on request|
- How do I estimate shipping for my order?
- Add products in the shopping cart and head to a checkout page to estimate the shipping.
All orders placed before 11 am AEST (Monday to Friday) will be processed on the same day.
Note- Please make a note during purchase if you required any item urgently.
*Go to Australia post delivery time calculation to get various Australia post service in your area please use our shipping postcode Rosanna, 3084- https://auspost.com.au/parcels-mail/delivery-times.html?ilink=tools-open-deliv-times.
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We ship all the products Australia wide - Including Darwin, Melbourne, Sydney, Tasmania, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth, all metro and regional area where Australia post delivery network is available. | <urn:uuid:055610d6-a5ff-4838-88a1-5d54e4ac129e> | {
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Be on the lookout for indoor tomato pests that can attack your plants – most often aphids, spider mites, and whiteflies. With a little bit of care you can control them and keep your tomato plants healthy.
Most often, pests ride along with when outdoor plants are brought inside or nursery plants are brought home.
Outdoors pests have to contend with wind, rain and predators. Indoors, they are sheltered. It's a comfortable place to be.
A good first step to clearing up indoor tomato pests from plants is to put them outside for a while, weather permitting.
Indoors, only non-toxic controls are acceptable since humans occupy the same space as plants. Use these methods in combination to control pests and keep indoor tomato plants healthy.
capture flying indoor tomato pests. You can buy them or make your own by cutting strips of yellow cardboard, covering them with petroleum jelly, and hanging them near your tomato plants. Or insert houseplant sticky stakes in the soil to nab pests in and around plants.
's fatty acids remove an insect’s protective waxes and cause disruption of insect cell membranes. They are effective when applied directly to the insect on the plant. Mix with water to produce a 2-3% dilution. One advantage of using insecticidal soap is less residual effects on other organisms.
and as ready-to-use
) is derived from seed extracts of the neem plant. Oil-based sprays block an insect’s air holes, interfere with an insect’s metabolism, disrupt feeding, or inhibit insect growth.
Photo: University of Kentucky
Aphids attack the tip of the stems and the leaves, sucking out plant sap. Affected plants may wilt, drop leaves, or have yellowing leaves. Look for a light-colored residue (“honeydew”) on leaves and stems, which can turn black and promote the growth of mold. Aphids on tomatoes reduce tomato quality, fruit yield, and can cause stunted growth.
If possible, identify and control aphids in the early stages, since they multiply rapidly and will spread over your entire plant and to other plants, too. Aphids will start to produce live young almost as soon as they are born.
around plants or insert sticky stakes
in the container to thwart them.
, to control aphids.
Photo: Tulsa Master Gardeners
Spider mites are tiny, single-bodied insects about 1 mm long – almost microscopic. Look for them on leaf undersides. You may even need a magnifying glass.
Spider mites pierce leaves and feed on plant sap, beginning on leaves’ undersides. They work from the lower part of the plant to upper leaves. Small wounds on plants that look like white specks tell you that spider mites have been hard at work. If left unchecked, affected leaves develop a bronze or gray color, turn brown, and fall off. Spider mites also leave their signature webbing strung between plant parts or beneath leaves. They are active year- round.
Spider mites are difficult to control and have stumped many a tomato gardener. With a life cycle of 1-2 weeks in optimum conditions, spider mites multiply rapidly and feed continuously. Identify and control spider mites quickly to prevent them from spreading through your entire indoor tomato crop.
) to control spider mites. Oils are only effective when wet, so repeat applications at systematic intervals to eliminate a colony.
work on pests when wet. Apply them repeatedly to eliminate spider mites.
Photo: University of California IPM
Whiteflies suck juices from leaves, causing wilting, leaf damage, brown leaves, and stunted growth. If left unchecked, white flies can quickly defoliate your indoor tomato crop.
around plants or sticky stakes
in containers to thwart them.
, to control whiteflies.
FREE! 10 Must-Know Tomato Growing Tips: 20-page guide
Get yours here: | <urn:uuid:2afcc77c-83bb-4385-86cc-1cbd97df8022> | {
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By Andy Frampton, M.S., R&D Manager, NOW Foods
In past centuries, foods were preserved using salt, smoke and vinegar. Modern science however, often uses synthetic compounds, such as butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT), parabens, tertiary butylhydroquinone (TBHQ), and others. At NOW Foods, our goal is to use natural preservatives wherever possible. We have thoroughly researched more natural preservation possibilities, especially those available from plant and citrus extracts, organic acids, organic solvents, and even enzymes.
The use of natural or nature identical preservatives as a single ingredient, or in combination with each other, requires stringent microbiological, chemical, and sensory testing. Ultimately, these measures are taken to ensure that the system(s) in question are capable of adequately preserving the product throughout its designated shelf life. The preservative system is an essential component of each and every product design. It is key in controlling microbial growth and oxidation, which directly influences the product’s safety and organoleptic properties such as aroma, color, texture, and taste.
The most critical aspect of any preservative system is the control of microorganisms. Microorganisms are introduced from users when they put their hand in the jar or against the mouth of the tube. Those microorganisms of greatest concern include pathogens (harmful bacteria), spoilage microorganisms, yeasts, and mold. Each one poses a serious hazard and therefore must be prevented from growing in the finished product.
Pathogens are the greatest concern, as they’re capable of causing intoxification and infection. This makes them a primary focus, despite being less virulent in comparison to yeast and molds. Molds produce mycotoxins and yeasts will spoil the product through various fermentation reactions. In order to control all of the potential microorganisms, NOW often uses an assortment of ingredients to create an environment that is unfavorable to microbes, though perfectly healthy for humans. But regardless of which particular preservative is used, all NOW products are tested to validate the efficacy of the preservative system. Two different tests - the antimicrobial efficiency test (AET) and the shelf life test - are initiated simultaneously and must be completed before a product can be approved for introduction.
The AET Test inoculates a finished product sample using two forms of bacteria (gram negative & gram positive), yeast, and mold at quantifiable concentrations. The sample is placed in an incubator and then tested four different times over the duration of twenty-eight days. Ideally, and in order to pass this test, each microorganism should either die off at predetermined levels, or demonstrate no signs of proliferation.
In similar fashion, Shelf Life Tests are performed using a chamber that has been specifically designed to maintain temperature and humidity levels over the course of three months, in order to accelerate the challenge. Product samples initially tested for baseline measurements are placed in the chamber. The samples are then tested at one-month intervals for microbiological growth, oxidation analysis (acid values), and organoleptically (human sensory evaluation). Upon completion, NOW scientists evaluate the results in order to determine a “pass” or “fail” status based on the compilation of the test results. At this point, the new product can be introduced.
Another important function of the preservative system involves delaying or preventing oxidation, especially in high lipid foods and oils. Several factors contribute to oxidation, including light, temperature, environmental oxygen, metals, and moisture content. The oxidation of lipids occurs in three different phases: initiation, propagation, and termination; the greatest amount occurs during the first two phases. This can be reduced in terms of time by adding natural antioxidants or controlling the environmental oxygen content. Depending on each product’s unique solubility requirements, NOW utilizes several varieties of natural or nature identical antioxidants to combat oxidation. These include Rosemary extract, d-alpha tocopherol, vitamin A palmitate, ascorbic acid, and organic acids.
In addition to the inclusion of anti-oxidation ingredients, further protection can shield the product from environmental oxygen. NOW accomplishes this by using oxygen scavenging packets in finished products, prior to being sealed with heat induction technology. Oxygen scavenging packets are highly versatile in application, and can be used in virtually every NOW dietary supplement package, as needed.
For some products, NOW uses a nitrogen flush system for preservation. This is especially important for hulled nuts, such as sunflower seeds, walnuts, flax meal, and other lipid-containing bulk items. The system forces nitrogen into the package while the product is being dispensed, causing an oxygen displacement. This ultimately creates an environment that is oxygen-free, or as low as 0.02 percent. The addition of oxygen-scavenging inserts, as well as the use of nitrogen flushing, has significantly improved NOW product quality, prolonging our products’ shelf life.
Through the implementation of an effective preservative system using the NOW philosophy that “natural is better”, consumers can rest assured that each product has been carefully designed and tested to ensure safety, freshness, and quality. NOW continues to seek out new science and technology that is focused on preserving products naturally.
There is great promise in exploring alternative ways to reduce or eliminate the use of chemical preservatives in fragile natural products, some of which require such assistance to assure that they are safe and have a useful shelf life. This is a landscape with the potential to expand the availability of truly natural products that would otherwise have to be chemically preserved. Our vision is to develop more ways of doing this without the use of synthetic chemicals. | <urn:uuid:015fe301-f653-464c-8851-ed17a9739a3e> | {
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Share 'How Long Would It Take LHC to Defrost a Pizza?'
Forget black holes. Here's the real question about the Large Hadron Collider: How fast could it defrost a pizza?
The forward thinking editors at Scientific American was all over this question in the June 2007 issue. Our staff made an estimate based on the rate and energy of particle collisions when the machine's two beams meet head on. (SA actually considered lead ion beams—which the…
You can share this discussion in two ways…
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Send it with your computer's email program: Email this | <urn:uuid:a75f83e5-09f5-4b76-859d-1d6e9bcd3c03> | {
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"The Greeks proposed the existence of five basic elements. Of these, four were the physical elements – fire, air, water and earth – of which the entire world is composed. Alchemists eventually associated four triangular symbols to represent these elements.
The fifth element, which goes by a variety of names, is more rarefied than the four physical elements. Some simply call it Spirit. Others call it Aether or Quintessence (literally "fifth element" in Latin).
In traditional Western occult theory, the elements are hierarchical - spirit, fire, air, water and earth – with the first elements being more spiritual and perfect and the last elements being more material and base. Some modern systems, such as Wicca, view the elements as equal."
What the alchemy symbol air represents in term of the vampire is their evolution from human (the bottom) to something more (the vampire.)
The circle symbol represents the labyrinth, which in turn represent their long lives. | <urn:uuid:66f2c50b-b31f-4108-b630-6c371797d44d> | {
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Almost all carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in the electricity sector are produced by power plants burning fossil fuels. The range in emission rates stem from differences in the type of fossil fuel used (generally coal or natural gas) and efficiency. Carbon capture and storage (CCS) is another option to reduce power plant emissions.
The objective of a CO2 performance standard is to reduce power plant emissions by directly or indirectly requiring designated sources to employ technology or other measures to limit CO2. Designated sources might include only new plants, only existing plants, or both. Various criteria can be used as the basis for a performance standard. For example, the standard might require individual coal-fired generators to use the "best available control technology" (BACT), or operate at the "lowest achievable emission rate" (LAER).
Performance standards that limit CO2 emissions could apply to individual units, to a collection of generators, or to entities that sell (rather than generate) electric power. For example, generator performance standards place the burden on electric generators (requiring them to demonstrate compliance during permitting or monitoring processes) while retailer obligations place the burden on electric retailers (preventing them from obtaining electricity from non-complying generators).
An alternative to this regulatory approach is cap and trade. Several Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic states are currently participating in a regional cap-and-trade program that limits CO2 emissions from the electricity sector (a cap and trade system covering multiple economic sectors is also under development in California). Cap and trade ensures that total emissions from all covered entities fall below a cap that typically declines over time; it does not mandate limits for individual entities, as is the case for performance standards. For more information: Detailed Table of State Electricity GHG Performance Standards Cap and Trade 101 Coal Initiative Series: A Performance Standards Approach to Reducing CO2 Emissions from Electric Power Plants Coal Initiative Series: State Policy Options to Advance CCS
Detailed Table of State Electricity GHG Performance Standards
Cap and Trade 101
Coal Initiative Series: A Performance Standards Approach to Reducing CO2 Emissions from Electric Power Plants
Coal Initiative Series: State Policy Options to Advance CCS | <urn:uuid:08b66f04-f41a-4c1d-a392-2d9b24f520ec> | {
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HISTORICAL EVENTS THAT TOOK PLACE ON THIS DAY IN CANADA
Wheat Shipped East
You have been blessed with an abundant harvest, and soon I trust will a railway come to carry to those who need it the surplus of your produce, now - as my own eyes have witnessed - imprisoned in your storehouse for want of the means of transport.
- LORD DUFFER1N at Winnipeg, 1877
Perhaps the most important contributing factor in the development of Canada has been the growing of wheat. The first shipment of wheat from Manitoba to eastern Canada took place on October 21, 1876. It was 857 bushels of Red Fife grown in Kildonan, Springfield and Rockwood. The order had been for 5,000 bushels, but it was not possible to gather that much so late in the season. The first shipment of wheat overseas took place in 1884, and went from Brandon, Manitoba, to Glasgow, Scotland.
Red Fife was developed originally by David Fife, near Peterborough, Ontario. There is a memorial to him on the highway between Toronto and Peterborough. Fife had been sent a sample of wheat by a friend in Glasgow. He thought it was wheat to be planted in the autumn and harvested the following summer, but only three plants grew. Two of them, it is said, were eaten by a cow. Fife kept the remaining seed and planted it the following April. This time it grew far more successfully. It was harder than other spring wheats and ripened nearly two weeks faster than other seed of its type, thus lessening the risk of being spoiled by early September frost. He called it Red Fife.
Fife's first market for the new wheat was the Middle West of the United States. In 1868 the Red River crops were destroyed by a plague of grasshoppers and the settlers had to buy seed from their neighbours across the border. That was the way Red Fife came to be tried on the Canadian Prairies, and it was a tremendous success. It not only proved to be the most suitable wheat for the soil already under cultivation, but it enabled wheat to be grown much farther north.
Of course improvements were made on Red Fife. The introduction of the wheat, followed by the production of better harvesting machinery and better milling processes, soon made "Canadian Number 1 Hard" the finest wheat in the world. It led to the great immigration to western Canada that brought more than 2 million new settlers to Canada in 15 years.
OTHER NOTABLE EVENTS ON THIS DAY IN CANADIAN HISTORY
-1755 Another large group of Acadians was sent to British colonies in the south.
-1852 Robert Campbell began the 3,000 mile snowshoe walk of his 9,000-mile journey to find a wife (see September 6)
-1880 A contract was signed with the present Canadian Pacific Railway Company to build the transcontinental railway.
-1886 Canada protested the seizure of United States fishing vessels in the Bering Sea.
-1887 Premiers met at Quebec to discuss grievances against the Federal Government. Premier Mercier of Quebec mentioned the possibility of his province's leaving Confederation and becoming the "Laurentian State."
-1963 The House of Commons concurred in a report of the Committee on Privileges and Elections to give precedence in the House to the Thompson Social Credit Party. It also recognized the Caouette Social Credit Rally.
Canada and Britain agreed to develop heavy water reactors using a Canadian nuclear process.
-1965 Governor - General Vanier officially opened the Concordia Bridge, linking Montreal Island with the man-made islands of the Expo '67 site. | <urn:uuid:6d0d3aee-7496-40eb-bec2-208a9111f8d1> | {
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Part 4: Images
The previous post in this series described how to create a custom PowerPoint template. Today’s post is about how to incorporate images more effectively into your slides. As always, for clarity’s sake, the instructions here are written for Windows PC users on fairly recent versions of the PowerPoint software.
As a historian, no matter what kind of presentation you’re giving, you want to use images to help your audience see historically. In a classroom, you are training your students to be careful observers. So images shouldn’t be included haphazardly or for mere decoration. Whether you are using them as primary or as secondary sources, they are evidence for your students to learn how to interpret.
In using images this way, you’ll want to think about three key practical aspects of the way you present any image in your PowerPoint presentation:
- Size and shape
- Sharpness, brightness, and contrast
Size and Shape
First—and most importantly!—use only images with a high enough resolution to be seen clearly at the size you want. For an image that will fill the screen, I usually look for something no smaller than 1200 pixels in width; this will display well on most projector screens today. Images that fill only part of the screen, of course, can be smaller. Regardless, make sure the image doesn’t look blurry or blocky at your chosen display size—not even a little.
Professors are often tempted to use images that are too small, enlarging them so they can be seen “better.” This temptation is strong because sometimes there is no high-resolution version of an image available. But the temptation must be resisted every time.
Low-resolution images destroy the professional credibility of the presentation and fail to accomplish what you want. They’re fundamentally distracting, and they make it impossible for your audience to see fine details or appreciate the information they should be conveying. Also, you should bear in mind that an image that looks marginally acceptable on your desktop computer screen often looks much worse on a big classroom projector screen. So with images, go high-resolution or go home.
In addition to size, you want to respect the image’s shape. When you resize an image, never change its proportions. Click and drag the corner of the image, not the sides. Or else right-click on the image, choose Size and Position > Size, and make sure to check the box called “Lock aspect ratio” when you use the sidebar menus to resize the image.
Squashed images, like blurry pixelated images, look tacky and distracting. Period.
But what if you want to use an image file that starts out too large? This can be a legitimate concern too. PowerPoint presentations full of high-resolution photographs can become enormous—I have some 80-megabyte PowerPoint files on my hard drive—and that can cause problems when you try to display them on slower classroom computers. And resizing or cropping an image inside PowerPoint doesn’t solve the problem of a large file size; the full image file is still saved inside your presentation.
There are a couple of ways to address this problem. The method most people know (and which is often best) is to resize the image in a separate program—perhaps MS Paint, which does the job just fine—and save the smaller image in a new, smaller file to use in your presentation. But sometimes you can also save time by “compressing” an image inside PowerPoint itself.
Here’s how that works. Double-click the image you want to change. That will bring the Format/Picture Tools tab at the top of the window into focus. Select Compress Pictures. In the box that pops up, check “Delete cropped areas of pictures.” Depending on the size of the original image, you may also have the option of changing the image resolution. If so, check the appropriate box—in general, the “Web (150 ppi)” option is easily good enough to use in your presentation. Then click OK. This will delete the cropped-out areas of the image and compress it so that the image is a smaller file.
However, here’s a cautionary note: I have found that the image compression option does not always work properly. Sometimes, when I close and then reopen the presentation, I find that the compression tool weirdly squashed an image instead of deleting its cropped areas. You should double-check before giving your presentation.
Sharpness, Brightness, and Contrast
This is where, with a tiny amount of extra work, you can give your PowerPoint presentation a lot more zip and clarity.
If you have done PowerPoint presentations often, you have probably noticed that images that appear crisp and bright on your desktop computer monitor may not look that way on a classroom projector screen. Often your images turn out surprisingly dim; sometimes a lot of fine detail is lost. (Indeed, because projectors vibrate and screens drift in the air, most presentations will be ever so slightly out of focus despite your best efforts.)
One surprisingly effective way to solve this problem is to slightly increase the sharpness of an image. In other words, if you are worried about fine detail being lost, punch up the detail a bit—i.e., a bit beyond what you need to see the detail clearly on your own monitor. (If you overdo it, the image will start to look pixelated and grainy.)
This is really easy. Double-click the image. This will bring the Format/Picture Tools tab into focus in the ribbon at the top of the screen. Select the pull-down menu called Corrections. This shows you a grid of thumbnail images. The top row of thumbnails is Sharpen/Soften. The middle thumbnail shows the image without any alterations. If you move your cursor to hover over the thumbnails to the right, they will preview your image at 25% and 50% greater sharpness. If you hover over the thumbnails to the left, they will preview your image at 25% and 50% greater blurriness.
Ordinarily, to sharpen your image so that it displays well on a projector screen, 25% greater sharpness is perfect.
While you have this grid open, though, note that you also have options for changing the contrast and brightness of the image. In the Brightness/Contrast section of the menu, the thumbnail in dead center shows the image without any corrections. Each of the thumbnails around it will show a preview of the image at different settings (at 20% intervals).
Which brightness and contrast settings are best for your image will depend on a lot of different factors. You’ll have to make your own judgments based on what details you want your audience to see clearly and how your room’s ambient lighting is set.
Note that if you get ambitious, there are ways to change the sharpness, brightness, and contrast of the image in many more subtle degrees. But this is a post about PowerPoint basics, and most of the time the 125 different options in the Corrections menu are more than enough.
Sometimes you may want to display multiple images on the same slide. If you get creative, you may let them overlap each other a bit. This can look chaotic and distracting if you do it poorly. On the other hand, if you do it well, this gives you another way to enhance the way your presentation looks. It can also be a way to guide your audience’s eyes to where you want them, teaching your students to be observers.
A great way to do this is to layer your images so that your slide has a simulated foreground and background. You’re creating an illusion of depth. This is actually very easy if you pay attention to three aspects of each image.
First is the actual order the images are in. PowerPoint understands that each image you use (and actually, every element you use, including things like text boxes) is a separate layer on top of the slide background. You can change the order of the layers, putting some things in front of others. To do this with an image, right-click on it. In the menu that opens, select either Bring to Front or Send to Back, or hover over the arrows next to these options to move the image just one layer at a time (forward or backward).
Second is the illusion of depth created by drop shadows. For an image that goes in front, double-click on the image, choose Picture Effects > Shadow, and choose one of the options to place a subtle shadow behind your image. (For the best results, choose the same shadow style each time, so that it looks like your images are being hit by a single consistent light source.) Your audience may not consciously notice the shadow, but it will give them the unconscious sense of depth.
Third are sharpness and brightness. For images in the background, if you don’t need the audience to see crisp detail, consider blurring the image, so that it looks slightly out of focus, and darkening it. Conversely, you may want slightly to increase the brightness and sharpness of an image that’s supposed to be in the foreground.
There it is. If you successfully take control of all of these things—size and shape; sharpness, brightness, and contrast; and depth—I think you have all the fundamental tools to produce a truly vibrant and professional image-filled PowerPoint presentation.
Next time: After a long break, Part 5 of this series will make the case for thinking like a filmmaker. | <urn:uuid:bd7f8065-1e5b-4b58-b001-3a0332e0e350> | {
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These look like fairly large rocks, but they're actually very small grains of sand. The ball bearings that you can see -- one at the top and another near the bottom -- in the photograph were placed there to provide a sense of scale; they each measure two millimeters across (0.08 inches in diameter); the entire picture is just one inch square. In the reflection of those bearings you can see the four white LEDs from the special camera that took this picture.
Shot on a sand dune near Christmas Lake, Oregon, this photograph was a test shot for NASA's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) camera on Curiosity. "This image has a resolution of 15.4 microns per pixel, which is about twice as high as the camera resolution on Mars Rovers Spirit and Opportunity," NASA explained. "Geologists can examine an image like this for information about the composition of the sand. In this case, the largest white grains are pumice fragments and the dark black and gray grains are fragments of basalt. Nearly transparent, slightly yellow crystals are feldspars. The crystals and pumice were erupted by Mount Mazama in its terminal explosion about 7,700 years ago; the volcano is known today as Crater Lake."
View more Pictures of the Day. | <urn:uuid:b681b9e8-f7d0-4938-adcc-8be4dcabad90> | {
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The early novels of May Sarton were set in Europe or the British Isles, with her second novel being set in Belgium, the land of her birth. These novels reflect her interest in the impact of the Old World on the New. Some of the themes which Sarton continues to develop in her writing are apparent in these early books. How love, suffering, marriage, and family affect the individual are critical points for study in her fiction.
Beginning with Faithful Are the Wounds (1955), Sarton turned increasingly to New England as a setting for her fiction. This academic novel centers on Edward Cavan, a professor of American literature who commits suicide. (Cavan was based in part on the distinguished scholar and Harvard professor F. O. Matthiessen, who committed suicide in 1950.) Loneliness and the cost of repressed emotion are important themes developed in this work, and they are important in The Small Room as well, the second book in which Sarton makes use of the academic world.
Frequently Sarton uses intelligent professional women as central characters in her fiction. In The Small Room, the main characters are women whose struggles in the academic world are treated with dignity and understanding. Of this book, Virgilia Petersen says, “a more eloquent appraisal of teaching it would be hard to find.” Sarton, who did not attend college, draws upon her experiences teaching in such institutions as Harvard and Wellesley, where she...
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The Network layer is responsible for routing within an internetwork. It combines information about the sets of
links using path determination, path switching, and route processing functions. It can use addresses to provide relay capability. Consistent end-to-end addressing streamlines performance and enables this layer to find the most efficient/best path to a destination. | <urn:uuid:6511e7da-cdfa-4a6c-a4f7-e90e683ab9bf> | {
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you know that you have missed a lot when you just give up on fedora and turn to Ubuntu , remember that fedora is the beta of Redhat releases which is one of the must supported linux distributions , so if you are aiming to learn Linux to become admin , only fedora will work for you and this days the have made it like MS windows it is just too easy , give it a shoot and i will be here to give help .
I have always heard if you lean Red Hat you will know Red Hat, but if you learn Slackware you will learn Linux. Don't get to into the extras that each distribution gives out until you get used to doing everything in Linux, thats the only way to learn in my opinion.
Try 'Linux in a nutshell' by Ellen Siever. It contains all the commands and explanations. This book helped me get started, although it is more of a reference book than a tutorial. [ July 09, 2007: Message edited by: Sam Bluesman ]
I have used Linux in college to create a NFS and DNS although I forgot some of the commands I still remember a few of them, enough to get around. I have am wanting to find some online resources that talk about the important files in Linux and what they do, also whats called when kinda stuff, along with how it works in general. I am wanting to become good enough with Java and Linux to be able to develop in Linux. As as some of you may know I need alot of help with Java. | <urn:uuid:4f5f710a-76c5-4304-a952-2362e04fc2a0> | {
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First Solar, which is presently the largest manufacturer of solar panels in the United States, has officially begun construction of its new and highly-touted manufacturing facility in Lake Township, Ohio – just south of Toledo. The plant, which is less than 10 miles from a current facility in Perrysburg, is expected to be up and running by late next year. The $400 million plant will be capable of producing solar modules with a total of 1.2 GW of annual capacity.
Sustainability, recycling, and circularity are without a doubt the biggest trend of the year in design. From the Salone del Mobile manifesto decreeing that sustainability was the name of the game at this year’s Milan design week, to David Attenborough’s gut-wrenching Blue Planet II, suddenly we all care about waste. It’s not yet clear if all this recent environmental virtue signalling will result in widespread cultural change, but there are significant studios taking steps in the right direction.
Date: April 23, 2018
Source: Carnegie Mellon University
Summary: Walls are what they are — sizable, pulseless dividers. With a few applications of conductive paint and some electronics, however, walls can become smart infrastructure that sense human touch, and detect things like gestures and when appliances are used. Researchers found that they could transform insensible walls into smart walls at relatively low cost using simple tools and techniques, such as a paint roller. Read More:
Studies show that LEED buildings are typically 30 percent more efficient than other buildings and have other benefits like reduced air pollution indoors. And at least one study suggests people working in LEED buildings are more productive, according to Delmas. “There is an increase in rent for those that have LEED buildings—about 50 cents per square foot annually,” says Magali Delmas.
Buildings are deceptively complex. At their best, they connect us with the past and represent the greatest legacy for the future. They provide shelter, encourage productivity, embody our culture, and certainly play an important part in life on the planet. In fact, the role of buildings is constantly changing. Buildings today are life support systems, communication and data terminals, centers of education, justice, and community, and so much more. They are incredibly expensive to build and maintain and must constantly be adjusted to function effectively over their life cycle.
The emergence of Downtown Los Angeles, dubbed DTLA, is no news flash: The area has been on the rise since the late 1990s. But that was the start of a long uphill climb. By 2009, it had already undergone the transition from bleak badlands to vibrant cultural mecca, thanks to early pioneers like the L.A. Live entertainment complex and the Standard Hotel. Since then, a slew of new hotels, restaurants, and museums have joined, and the neighborhood is showing no sign of slowing down. | <urn:uuid:a7ecc31d-9740-472e-9219-6f1868ed5272> | {
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Tree of Life
This is a tree of life--a diagram that shows how different types of living things, or species, are related. If you follow the lines connecting any two species on the tree, you'll get an idea of how closely related they are. The longer the path is, the more distant the relationship. The 479 species listed on this tree represent only a tiny fraction of the more than 1.7 million species scientists have identified. Many millions more species are believed to exist. Our species, Homo sapiens, is labeled in green in the top left part of the tree.
How was it made?
Generations of scientists have created tree-of-life diagrams by studying and comparing the physical features of different species. But this tree of life was made by comparing DNA sequences, with physical features playing a supporting role. All living things have some DNA sequences in common because they evolved from a single ancestral species. Closely related species have more DNA in common than distantly related species do, so they are positioned closer to each other on the tree. | <urn:uuid:d9793264-e7aa-404d-b436-b6555ec8d06f> | {
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Towns historians and officials are connecting the recent low flows of the Blue River through Breckenridge to historic dredge mining at the turn of the century, which was the huge economic driver of the economy until the 1940s.
Even before the ski resort was founded in Breckenridge, the Blue River often saw low flows, according to historians. As a result of the dredging, the river appears to dry out. However, the water table lowers under the riverbed before re-emerging and draining into Dillon Reservoir, said Gary Roberts, the water division manager for the town of Breckenridge.
Robin Theobald, a longtime Breckenridge resident and historian, said that during the dredging in the early 20th century, environmental standards were not like they are today and low flows appear yearly as a result.
"They didn't care - the dredging has had lasting effects on the Blue River but it created so many jobs for the people back then," Theobald said. "Year after year, fish would survive the dredging - it was easy for them to justify that type of work when it contributed to the well-being of so many residents of Breckenridge during that time."
Thinking the dredge mining would provide jobs during The Depression, the town of Breckenridge allowed miners to operate from northern town limits through to the south end of Main Street.
Dredge boats were capable of digging up ground within the Blue River up to 70 feet in the riverbed. The dredge removed vegetation, cobblestone, sediment "literally turning the riverbed upside down, devastating its normal flow," according to information from the Breckenridge Heritage Alliance.
After dredging was outlawed in Breckenridge, the population of the town declined to approximately 254 individuals. What was once the livelihood of Breckenridge's economy, dredge mining left behind piles of excess rock, sediment and cobblestone extracted from the devastated riverbed.
Then, in 1982, the town of Breckenridge began restoration of the Blue River. Certain areas through town were lined to keep flows above the surface while other areas were rehabilitated.
However, drought conditions and low snowpack levels contribute to the the river's low flow in many areas through town, according to Troy Wineland, Summit County water commissioner.
The minimum bypass flows at the diversion point for Breckenridge Ski Resort's snowmaking is 2 cubic feet per second. Downstream on the river near Tiger Road, the minimum streamflow requirement is 10 cfs.
"The minimum bypass flows are being met, but the streamflows are so deficient the river is not flowing above the surface of the streambed - I need to stress that the water is there, you just can't see it because it's sub-surface in some sections," Wineland said.
Though the town of Breckenridge rehabilitated through-town sections of the river that were devastated from historical dredge work, the section with lowest flows Tuesday was a restored area that was left without an impermeable liner to keep streamflows above the surface, Wineland said.
Roberts said the same minimum flow requirement of 2 cfs at Maggie Pond will be required for the town, which holds the senior water right of the Goose Pasture Tarn.
"We don't want to approach the low level requirements," Roberts said. "When Breckenridge Resort is done with snowmaking in January, the town will lower the flow and store extra water in the Tarn reservoir."
The drying of the river in certain areas is normal and has been common during the early winter months, according to Wineland and longtime residents of the area.
"When I was a little boy, water disappeared in August," said C.J. Mueller, a resident of Breckenridge. "The river flows now, as a result of the rehabilitation by the town, is a major improvement over what it used to be. Low flows are just a fact of life."
During the drought conditions, Wineland said all entities utilizing water from the river are meeting the minimum flow requirements.
"It's important to realize the combination of factors: Historic low flows, snowmaking and the streambed is simply more visible during this time absent the snow cover," Wineland said. "I'm responsible for monitoring and keeping track of the river flow so once the town or the ski areas start approaching those then that's when I start having those conversations about what we can do to curtail water use and make sure those minimum flows are being met." | <urn:uuid:c374a867-cee6-4312-b2ce-eba57600e467> | {
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Road crews getting ready for the stormy winter that the almanacs and AccuWeather are forecasting.
Municipalities and the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation have locked in road salt supplies at a price 13 percent higher than last winter's.
Suppliers say demand is up and supplies are down after last winter's harsh weather. It was Shippensburg's 10th coldest winter in 82 years of recordkeeping and its 21st snowiest winter. PennDOT used a near record amount of road salt on local roads.
What's in store this winter? Have you noticed an unusual abundance of acorns? Are spiders spinning larger than usual webs? Did you have heavy, numerous fogs in August?
These are all signs of a hard winter, according to the Farmer's Almanac. The Maine publication predicts a "crisp and very stormy" winter in the mid-Atlantic states.
"We are red-flagging the first 10 days of January and the first week of February along the Atlantic seaboard for active wintry weather featuring bouts of heavy precipitation and strong winds," said Caleb Weatherbee, the official forecaster for the Farmers' Almanac.
The Old Farmer's Almanac in New Hampshire is calling for much colder than normal temperatures in the Appalachians (from Elmira, N.Y., to Ashville, N.C.) with slightly below normal snowfall — the heaviest falling in mid-December and early February.
AccuWeather, too, has gazed into the crystal snow globe.
Conditions in northern Canada are to get cold and unsettled quickly, as they did last fall, according to AccuWeather.com. The pattern could become a source of colder air that will dip into the United States. El Niño will make its debut early this winter and make for an early winter snow across the Northeast.
"December could get kind of wild due to the very active southern jet stream that is going to provide the moisture for bigger snowstorms," AccuWeather Lead Long-Range Forecaster Paul Pastelok said. "The Northeast could have a couple of big storms in December and early January."
El Niño, a huge patch of warming equatorial water in the Pacific Ocean, has an impact on weather worldwide.
Pennsylvania could be just outside El Niño impact zone in the Northeast.
"The impacts of El Niño are generally far less here in Pennsylvania compared to other parts of the country or world," said Tim Hawkins, Shippensburg University geography and earth science professor. "Based on historical data, Pennsylvania on average is just slightly warmer and just slightly wetter during the winter of an El Niño. Given the small changes, it is unwise to say definitively that El Niño will have a significant impact on Pennsylvania winter weather."
The chances of an El Niño has slipped in recent weeks. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on Thursday was giving it a 65 percent chance of forming this fall or winter. Most models predict a weak El Niño.
"I'm skeptical of any winter forecast this far in advance and would hesitate to give one myself," Hawkins said. "There's too much that can change between now and December to have much confidence in a winter forecast at this point."
And so, road crews go ahead in a whiteout of reliable pronostications.
"Obviously we have no idea what kind of demand we will have this winter," Chambersburg Borough Manager Jeffrey Stonehill said. "We would hope to have adequate supplies. Currently the inventory in our salt bin is full with roughly 700 to 1000 tons."
PennDOT District 8, which includes Franklin County, was able to order 70,000 tons at last year's price, according to spokesman Greg Penny.
"With what we have on the ground already and what has been ordered, we should have about 95,000 tons of salt distributed to our stockpiles district-wide by the beginning of November," he said. "That's our goal."
PennDOT District 8 set a record last winter for spreading salt — 133,000 tons of it to de-ice highways in the eight-county region. The usage eclipsed the previous record winter of 2002-3 by 21 percent.
Washington Township has some salt left from last winter's stockpile and expects to order in November or December without any issue, according to township Manager Michael Christopher.
Most local municipalities participate in the COSTARS program that allows them to piggyback on the PennDOT contract for road salt.
The price is up from a year ago, but is about what it was two years ago, according to Stonehill. This year the price is $68.11 a ton with Morton Salt, compared to $60.61 a ton in 2013-14 with International Salt and $66.20 a ton in 2012-13 with International Salt.
The Department of General Services governs the bidding process for road salt. The state currently has four salt suppliers. Three of them supply counties in District 8. Morton supplies salt to Adams, Franklin, Cumberland, Dauphin, and York counties. Oceanport supplies Lancaster County. American supplies to Lebanon and Perry counties. The fourth supplier is Cargill.
Some mid-west states and their municipalities are seeing greater increases in salt prices.
Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine in 2012 filed a lawsuit claiming Morton and Cargill schemed to set high salt prices for over a decade. Morton has said the accusations are baseless. | <urn:uuid:0a934f5b-0b50-4c65-b4b4-a7a16f9bd106> | {
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Introduction A high fibre diet involves much more than taking unprocessed wheat bran. The wide variety of different types of dietary fibre should be included in the daily diet. In this respect it is also worth noting that dietary fibre is usually a “marker” of other important nutrients. By contrast, low fibre foods frequently lack other nutritional benefits. Dietary fibre occurs only in foods of vegetable origin. Those include:
- Breads, cereals, grains and grain products
Most foods within these groups contribute some dietary fibre, but some foods have more than others. For example, white bread contains some dietary fibre, where-as wholemeal breads have 4 times as much. Some highly processed breakfast cereals are almost totally devoid of fibre while oats and whole wheat products are good sources. The best food choices can be made as follows:
Bread and related Products
- Choose breads from wholemeal, wholegrain, high fibre with added oatbran, multigrain, wholemeal lebanese or pita breads.
- Purchased or home made muffins made from wholemeal flour with added oats, oatbran or wheatbran.
- Wholegrain biscuits such as Ryvita, Wholemeal Crackerbread, Bran and Malt Cruskits,Vogels Crispbread (these all have no added fats or Sugar) or home made oat crackers. Vita wheat, Wholemeal Salada, Sesame Wheat, Scottish Oatcakes, Shredded Wheatmeal all contain fibre, but also contain fat.
- Cakes, biscuits or scones made with wholemeal flour.
- Rolled oats (traditional or one minute), wholemeal porridge.
- Oatbran (make into porridge) or unprocessed wheat bran (2 tablespoons)
- Bran Cereals (All Bran, Bran Flakes, Sultana Bran)
- Wholegrain Breakfast Cereals (Weetbix, Ready Weets, Vita Brits, Bran Bix, Puffed Wheat, Wheat Flakes,>
- Shredded Wheat, Natural Muesli (Toasted muesli has a high content of saturated fat and in most brands added sugar), Sustain, Fibre Plus.
- Wholemeal pasta, brown rice or cracked wheat (use as rice).
Oats, wheat, cracked wheat (or burghul), brown rice, millet, corn, buckwheat, rye, barley. These can be used in casseroles and soups, or with vegetable, chicken or meat dishes. They can also be used in some desserts.
Peas, baked beans and haricots, mung, kidney, navy,soya, blackeyed and butter beans Root Vegetables Potatoes, carrots, kumara, celery, beetroot, sweet potatoes, parsnips and turnips
Especially peas, spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, brussels sprouts, beans, cabbage, leeks, eggplant and cauliflower.
Dried apricots, passionfruit, prunes, berry fruits, raisins, dates, pears, apples, bananas, mandarins, oranges, avocados, mangoes, nectarines, rhubarb and melons. Where practical include the skin of these fruits.
Nuts and Seeds
All nuts, plus sunflower, sesame seeds and pepitas.
- Refined products made with white flour, refined breakfast cereal, most biscuits, cakes and pastries
- Fruit and Vegetable juices – eating the whole fruit is a much better source of fibre
- Fatty foods and large quantities of sugar
Fluids Dietary fibre absorbs water and it is important to drink plenty of fluids. A minimum of 8 glasses of water a day is recommended. Filling or fattening? Many people confuse filling with fattening. Foods with plenty of dietary fibre are filling but that does not necessarily make the fattening. A bowl of porridge for example, is much more filling than a bowl of cornflakes yet each contain a similar number of kilojoules. Eating more filling foods can actually help reduce the total amount eaten and can be valuable for those who need to lose weight. How much fibre? The average Australian diet contains about 15grams of dietary fibre, less than half the quantity usually recommended. Amounts greater than 40-50grams of fibre per day will do no harm. However, any increase in fibre should be introduced gradually to prevent excessive flatus (wind).
Fibre Levels In Foods At Your Supermarket
|Breads||–Dietary Fibre— In Grams||Breakfast Cereals||—Dietary Fibre— In Grams||Other||—Dietary Fibre– In Grams|
|Wholemeal Roll||15.1||Allbran||9.5||Popped Corn 1 cup||1.0|
|Wholemeal bread||2.4||Muesli||8.0||Corn chips packet||0.5|
|Multigrain||2.0||Branflakes||7.0||Meats -all types||0.0|
|High fibre white||1.8||Porridge||5.0||Dairy Products||0.0|
|White roll||1.4||Muesli Flakes||3.6||Eggs||0.0|
|Muffin (half)||1.2||Unprocessed Bran||3.0||Fats||0.0|
|Toast thick white||0.9||N-Grain, Rice Bubbles||0.0|
|Beans -green||3.0||Parsnip||3.0||Brazil Nuts 30gms||2.7|
|-Kidney, soya||9.5||Peas||7.5||Cashews 30gms||2.4|
|Beansprouts||0.5||Potato-with skin||3.0||Coconut fresh||10.0|
|Broccoli||4.0||Potato – peeled||1.5||Coconut dried||3.5|
|Brussels sprouts||3.0||Pumpkin||1.5||Hazel Nuts 30gms||1.8|
|Cauliflower||2.0||Sweet Potato||2.5||Peanut paste-serve||3.0|
|Corn 1 cob||6.5||Yam||4.0|
|Apple – with skin||3.3||Kiwifruit||2.2||Plums x2||3.2|
|Apricots 100gms||2.0||Mango||3.5||Prunes x6||8.0|
|Avocado – half||2.0||Melon – 200gms||2.0||Raisins/Sultanas||3.0|
|Banana||4.0||Nectarine x2||2.5||Raspberries half punnet||9.3|
|Blackberries half pun||9.0||Orange||3.0||Rhubarb – cooked||4.0|
|Cherries 150gms||2.5||Passionfruit x2||6.5||Strawberries||2.8|
|Figs – fresh||2.5||Pawpaw -150gms||3.5|
|Figs – dried||9.0||Peach||1.8|
|Grapes – 200gms||1.8||Pear||3.5|
|Low Fibre||Dietary fibre – (in grams)||High Fibre||Dietary fibre – (in grams)|
|– Cornflakes||0.0||– Porridge (or Weetbix)||4.0|
|– Milk||0.0||– Milk||0.0|
|– 2 slices white toast||1.0||– 2 slices wholemeal toast||5.0|
|– Sandwiches – white||2.0||– Sandwich – wholemeal||5.0|
|– Meat & tomato sauce||0.0||– Chicken & salad||3.0|
|– Chocolate bar||0.0||– Apple||3.0|
|-Grilled chops||0.0||– Grilled chops||0.0|
|– Chips||2.0||– Jacket potato||3.0|
|– Salad||3.0||– 2 or 3 vegetables||8.0|
|– Icecream||0.0||– Fruit salad||4.0|
|Fruit 1 piece||3.0||Fruit 2 pieces||6.0|
|Crisps||0.5||Wholemeal bread -1slice||2.5|
|Sweet Biscuits||0.5||Rye crackers||2.5|
|TOTAL FIBRE||12grams||TOTAL FIBRE||46grams| | <urn:uuid:fb649c4a-d65d-45a2-a738-6c73ef2e12b1> | {
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Published on 11/10/12 at 23:09:05 GMT by Redaksjonen
Norway: A new study at NTNU University in Trondheim suggests that a good short-term memory is probably the most important component for learning both native and foreign languages. Short-term memory, often called "working memory" depends largely on our genes.
NTNU researchers also found close correlation between the learning of the mother language and foreign language or second language.
Short Memory is perhaps the most important factor for learning the mother tongue and foreign languages, says NTNU researchers who tested Norwegian school children's language skills.
The research group at NTNU has tested the language skills of hundred school children, a group from a small rural school and a group from a big city . They were tested in Norwegian and English, while researchers tested their working memory.
Tests were conducted orally to avoid incorrect results from various earlier writing skills.
- Our language tests of nearly a hundred children showed a clear statistical relationship between linguistic competence and well-functioning working memory. The relationship between good language and good working memory was clear. It applies to all individual tests performed as a whole, says NTNU professor, Mila Vulchanova, who led the study to SINTEF and NTNU research magazine Gemini
The traditional theories of language and cognitive science suggest that children learn languages regardless of cognitive functions such as perception, spatial and working memory: Children need not learn the language as such. It just comes "naturally".
- Our results contradict this. Working memory greatly affects language learning and language skills. Working memory is important not only to learn new words, but for general language skills such as grammar. Working memory is related to the ability to absorb information and process, analyze and store linguistic input and other input, says Vulchanova.
Vulchanova believes that the results of the study showed that working memory is one of the most important biological factors in language development in children and the findings may affect the way we look at school performance and learning outcomes of students.
NTNU researchers also found close correlation between the learning of the mother tongue and foreign language or second language. This is an important finding because the language sciences has a tradition to say that learning mother language is qualitatively different than learning a foreign language.
- We now believe, first, that there is a connection between language development and working memory capacity. Probably there are some common cognitive mechanisms that support the ability to learn both the language and the second language, says Vulchanova. Vulchanova explain that to learn a language, a memory storage in the brain is continuously maintained. This occurs when the brain processes new linguistic information in the form of words and phrases with information that is already stored from before.
- This is not so easy for those with poor short-memory. But it is not hopeless. It is possible to train working memory, but it is not easy - especially since the capacity of working memory is hereditary. But games with words, and to say numbers in reverse order, are easy and good ways to train working memory, says Vulchanova.
Children use working memory to connect between images and the brain processes these memories in memory slots. The slots spread out in several directions as the network between nerve cells in the brain, transmitted via synapses, are becoming tighter. When a child is memorizing a word, the word goes via another word or through new paths in what we call association. If the child uses often the language, the nerve cells will connect together again and the data will be sent I a loop. This is why repetition often makes it "sits better".
- Children take this process quite easy. They have biological factors on their side. Children's flexible brain is their strength. They have all the preconditions for learning and building networks in the brain. The denser the network, the more skills are stored Vulchanova says.
Vulchanova explains that in order to learn a language, children must constantly make verbal input, process and store the information they receive. To make the most efficient storage of new words is important that children are reflecting and working with words to find out things such as look up in the dictionary.
Vulchanova recommends short memory training using both computer software and hand writing.
- Handwriting and shaping the letters themselves, make language like material, literally palpable. Children enter the realm by using handwriting rather than on a PC where the keys are the same. When the child writes by hand, he read the picture of the word, how it's written while the brain sends signals to the hand that forms the word, she said.
Reading can also help connecting between written language (visual codes) and between words (sound and meaning) that are stored in the brain. Books are also important in stimulating the senses in a different way than a data file on your computer, adds Vulchanova.
This site was made with WebAPP, Web Automated Perl Portal. v1.0 build SE , a web portal system written in Perl. All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their
respective owners. Comments are owned by the Poster. 2002-2011 morsmal.org. | <urn:uuid:b821cf94-ea44-4f48-a19b-70489bc1f6b4> | {
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A tiny implantable drug delivery system controlled by Bluetooth could help patients manage chronic diseases.
The implant, about the size of a grape, was created by a team from Houston Methodist. After the medication has been loaded into the device, it is implanted under the skin, where it will release the drugs in a controlled manner for up to a year before needing to be refilled. Changes in dosage amounts, if required, can be made by the doctor via a Bluetooth signal specific to the device.
According to Alessandro Grattoni, author of a paper on the research, "Some chronic disease drugs have the greatest benefit of delivery during overnight hours when it's inconvenient for patients to take oral medication. This device could vastly improve their disease management and prevent them from missing doses, simply with a medical professional overseeing their treatment remotely."
More Info about this Invention: | <urn:uuid:d6162a49-7d22-4b45-a308-aef57209cf91> | {
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October 29, 1901: President William McKinley's assassin, Leon Czolgosz, was executed. He shot McKinley on Sept. 6; the President died eight days later.
October 29, 1929: The stock market crashed. President Herbert Hoover, not wanting to call it a "panic" (like other downturns), called it a "depression." It was more than that. It was a "Great Depression." The stock market eventually collapsed 89 percent, unemployment reached 25 percent by 1933, wages fell 60 percent and poverty swept across the land. The Great Depression really did not end until a dozen years later, when the U.S. entered World War II. Head here to see The New York Times' front page from the stock market crash.
Quote of the Day
"We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poorhouse is vanishing from among us." — Herbert Hoover
More from West Wing Reports...
THE WEEK'S AUDIOPHILE PODCASTS: LISTEN SMARTER
- How U.S. special forces are preparing for the worst-case scenario in North Korea
- Why you should really take a nap this afternoon, according to science
- Why Israel can no longer let the Palestinian Authority be responsible for security in the West Bank
- Why you shouldn't eat dog. Not even once.
- What would a U.S.-Russia war look like?
- Here's the schedule very successful people follow every day
- How social conservatives became a minority in need of protection
- The safest seats are at the back of the plane — and 5 other surprising facts about airline crashes
- Why charity can't solve society's deepest problems
- I hate Ayn Rand — but here's why my fellow conservatives love her
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Posted on July 28th, 2015 by msequeira
A team of scientists at the University of New Mexico Cancer Center published a research paper showing that a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) called ketorolac helped women with ovarian cancer to survive longer.
Ovarian cancer has no symptoms. Often, it is discovered only after it has spread to other organs. Fewer than half of women diagnosed with ovarian cancer are still alive five years later. This survival rate has not changed much in the last 20 years.
Ketorolac, marketed as Toradol®, is approved for clinical use in the United States for pain after surgery. The drug is given as an equal mixture of S-ketorolac and R-ketorolac. The R- and S-ketorolac have the same chemical formula but, like right and left hands, they are mirror images of each other in three dimensions.
The new research tested the equal mixture of R- and S-ketorolac in women with ovarian cancer. The research demonstrated that when ketorolac is injected into the bloodstream, the body removes S-ketorolac more rapidly and allows R-ketorolac to move to and gather in the peritoneal cavity.
The peritoneal cavity contains the ovaries, fallopian tubes and the surfaces of other organs where ovarian cancer starts and grows. In gathering here, the R-ketorolac is ready to turn off the GTPases that increase the tumor cells’ ability to grow and spread. GTPases are like molecular switches inside cells. The GTPases that control cellular growth and spread are more active in cancer cells, making them important drug targets for cancer.
The scientists also studied the medical records of women who underwent ovarian cancer surgery between 2004 and 2006. They found that after five years, women who had received ketorolac after surgery to ease their pain were more likely to have survived their cancer.
The scientists are planning a series of human clinical trials to better understand how ketorolac works in women after ovarian cancer surgery.
Authors of the paper are: Yuna Guo, S. Ray Kenney, Linda Cook, Sarah F. Adams, Teresa Rutledge, Elsa Romer, Tudor I. Oprea, Larry A. Sklar, Edward Bedrick, Charles L. Wiggins, Huining Kang, Lesley Lomo, Carolyn Y. Muller, Angela Wandinger-Ness, Laurie G. Hudson.
The paper “A novel pharmacologic activity of ketorolac for therapeutic benefit in ovarian cancer patients” was published in the June 12, 2015 online edition of Clinical Cancer Research (clincancerres.aacrjournals.org/).
Watch the interview with Dr. Wandinger-Ness and Dr. Hudson on "The Morning Brew."
The UNM Cancer Center is the Official Cancer Center of New Mexico and the only National Cancer Institute-designated Cancer Center in the state. One of just 68 premier NCI-Designated Cancer Centers nationwide, the UNM Cancer Center is recognized for its scientific excellence; contributions to cancer research; delivery of high quality, state of the art cancer diagnosis and treatment to all New Mexicans; and its community outreach programs statewide. Annual federal and private funding of more than $72 million supports the UNM Cancer Center’s research programs. The UNM Cancer Center treats more than 60 percent of the adults and virtually all of the children in New Mexico affected by cancer, from every county in the state. It is home to New Mexico’s largest team of board-certified oncology physicians and research scientists, representing every cancer specialty and hailing from prestigious institutions such as M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University, and the Mayo Clinic. Through its partnership with Memorial Medical Center in Las Cruces, the UNM Cancer Center brings world-class cancer care to the southern part of the state; its collaborative clinical programs in Santa Fe and Farmington serve northern New Mexico and it is developing new collaborative programs in Alamogordo and in Roswell/Carlsbad. The UNM Cancer Center also supports several community outreach programs to make cancer screening, diagnosis and treatment available to every New Mexican. Learn more at http://www.cancer.unm.edu.
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The Current Sky above Australia
The map shows the current view of the starry sky above Perth, Western Australia. Besides the known constellations, the map also shows the positions of the sun, the moon, the planets, and the brighter star cluster, gas nebulae, and galaxies. While the sky view was calculated for Perth, the map should be accurate enough for observations with the naked eye from anywhere in south-western Australia.
To use the map, please hold it above your head and align the labels with the corresponding cardinal directions. The map will then show a projected view of the sky above, i.e. the outer edge of the map corresponds to the horizon and the centre of the map to the zenith. | <urn:uuid:8d9f0f67-4799-4a74-aa67-257c147fcf42> | {
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Provide a two or three sentence response that argues for or against (indicate which) each of these statements:
a. Accounting is an exact science
b. Mangers choose accounting procedures that produce the most accurate picture of the company's operating performance and financial condition.
c. Accounting standards in the United States are influenced more by politics then science or economics.
d. If the FASB and the SEC were not around to require and enforce minimum levels of financial disclosure, most companies would provide little (if any) information to outsiders.
e. When managers possess good news about the company (that is, information that will increase the stock price), they have an incentive to disclose the information as soon as possible.
f. When managers possess bad news about the company (that is, information that will decrease the stock price), they have an incentive to delay disclosure as long as possible.
g. An investor who uses fundamental analysis for investment decisions has little need for financial statement information.
h. An investor who believes that capital markets are efficient has little need for financial statement information.
i. Managers who disclose only the minimum information required to meet FASB and SEC requirements may be doing disservice to shareholders.
j. Financial statements are the only source of information analysts use when forecasting the company's future profitability and financial condition.
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|Preventing social isolation and loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions
|Cattan M, White M, Bond J, Learmouth A
This review assessed the effectiveness of health promotion interventions that target social isolation and loneliness among older people. The authors concluded that educational and social activity group interventions that target specific groups of people can alleviate social isolation and loneliness among older people. This was a well-conducted systematic review and the authors' conclusions are likely to be reliable.
To assess the effectiveness of health promotion interventions that target social isolation and loneliness among older people.
The authors searched MEDLINE, the Science Citation Index (via BIDS), the Social Sciences Citation Index, EMBASE, PsycINFO, ASSIA, CINAHL, SweMed, FirstSearch, Academic Search Elite, SIGLE, LILACS and the Cochrane Library; the search terms were reported. They also handsearched relevant books, journals, indexes, abstracts, and the reference lists of foreign language articles. Experts in the field were contacted. The authors also searched Nordic journals and reports in the University of Helsinki Medical School Library by systematically searching two journals. Studies published in any language between 1970 and 2002 were eligible for inclusion in the review.
Study designs of evaluations included in the review
Experimental studies, quasi-experimental studies and before-and-after studies were eligible for inclusion in the review.
Specific interventions included in the review
Studies of health promotion interventions that aimed to prevent or alleviate social isolation and/or loneliness in full, or in part, were eligible for inclusion. Health promotion was defined as the process of enabling older people to increase control over and improve their health. Social isolation was defined as the objective absence or paucity of contacts and interactions between an older person and a social network. Loneliness was defined as the subjective unwelcome feeling of lack or loss of companionship.
The majority of studies used group interventions such as education, skills-training, discussion, social activities, self-help support, caregiver support, bereavement support, therapy, telephone communication, training, physical activity and counselling. One-to-one interventions included home visiting, directed support, social network building, service provision, problem-solving, social support, telephone communication, assessment, supportive therapy, telephone counselling, screening, caregiver support, information and advice. Interventions concerning service provision included transport, recreation, the coordination and provision of services, and medical intervention (fitting of a hearing aid). Community development interventions included social activities, outreach and service influencing.
Participants included in the review
Studies that included older people, as defined in the included studies, were eligible for inclusion. The studies included older women living alone, older men and women, caregivers, bereaved men and women, registered blind men and women, physically inactive men and women, sedentary men and women, men and women with mental health problems, daughters and widowed mothers, lonely women, widows, care receivers, frail men and women, low income women living alone, men and women at risk of suicide, isolated men and women, hospital patients, and men and women with hearing impairment. The ages of the patients ranged from 38 to 93 years, where stated, and the majority were older than 65.
Outcomes assessed in the review
Studies that investigated social isolation and/or loneliness and recorded some form of outcome measure, with or without process measures, were eligible for inclusion. The majority of the studies used a validated measurement tool, such as the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) loneliness scale, the de Jong Gierveld loneliness scale, another type of loneliness scale, or an existing scale with loneliness added to it.
How were decisions on the relevance of primary studies made?
Two reviewers independently assessed studies for inclusion in the review, with any disagreements resolved by discussion with a third reviewer.
Assessment of study quality
Study validity was assessed on the basis of study method and design and how these were reported, along with the appropriateness of the study design and methods in relation to the objectives of the study. Studies with flawed methodology were categorised as 'inconclusive'. The authors did not state how the papers were assessed for validity, or how many reviewers performed the validity assessment.
The authors did not state how the data were extracted for the review, or how many reviewers performed the data extraction.
Data were extracted into a pre-designed data extraction form of 67 questions. A judgement of 'effectiveness' was made on the basis of evidence of a reduction in social isolation and/or loneliness and whether the reported outcomes took into account the stated aims, the study design, quality and appropriateness of the intervention, and the stage of the research. Studies with sound methods were categorised as 'effective', 'ineffective' or 'partially effective', depending on the extent of significant outcomes:
'effective' interventions demonstrated a significant reduction in loneliness and/or social isolation;
'partially effective' interventions demonstrated significant changes in outcomes related to social isolation and/or loneliness, but a non-significant change in social isolation or loneliness;
'ineffective' interventions did not demonstrate significant changes in any of the relevant outcome measures.
Methods of synthesis
How were the studies combined?
A narrative synthesis was presented.
How were differences between studies investigated?
The authors did not state a method for assessing heterogeneity, but stated that the interventions were too heterogeneous to perform a meta-analysis. The results were presented according to the different types of health promotion programme: group intervention, one-to-one intervention, interventions concerning service provision, and community development. These were further subdivided by the method of intervention.
Results of the review
Thirty studies, with over 6,556 participants, were included in the review. Of these, 16 were randomised controlled trials (RCTs) and 10 were non-randomised controlled trials.
Group activities with an educational input: five of the nine group interventions with an educational input demonstrated a significant reduction in loneliness. Two studies demonstrated that a structured approach to physical activity decreased loneliness.
Group interventions providing social support: a social activation programme in a senior citizens' apartment building, bereavement support for recently widowed older people, therapy-type discussion groups for older people with mental health problems, and peer- and professionally-led counselling or discussion groups for adult daughters and daughters-in-law who were primary carers, all reported a significant reduction in loneliness or social isolation.
One-to-one interventions: the majority of one-to-one interventions did not show a significant effect in reducing social isolation and/or loneliness.
Home visits to provide assessment, information or provision of services: the only study in this category to demonstrate a significant reduction in social isolation and loneliness was a one-off home visit by a nurse to patients aged 75 years or more, which included a health assessment, advice, written health information and referrals if required. Three other RCTs did not show a significant effect in reducing social isolation and/or loneliness.
Home visits or telephone contact to provide directed support or problem-solving: the four studies that investigated the effectiveness of directed support and problem-solving did not show a significant effect in reducing social isolation and/or loneliness.
Social support in one-to-one interventions: the two studies that investigated one-to-one social support did not show a significant effect in reducing social isolation and/or loneliness.
Effective interventions shared several characteristics: they were group interventions with a focused educational input, or they provided targeted support activities; they targeted specific groups; they stated that the experimental sample was representative of the intended target group; they enabled some level of participant and/or facilitator control or consulted with the intended target group before the intervention; they evaluated an existing service or activity or were developed and conducted within an existing service; the participants were identified from agency lists, obituaries or mass-media solicitation; they included some form of process evaluation and their quality was judged to be high. Physical activity interventions were also effective.
Ineffective interventions shared one characteristic, they were one-to-one activities conducted in people's own homes.
Educational and social activity group interventions that target specific groups of people can alleviate social isolation and loneliness among older people. The effectiveness of home visiting and befriending schemes remains unclear.
The review question was clear in terms of the study design, participants, interventions and outcomes of interest. The search strategy was very thorough and attempts were made to identify unpublished and foreign-language studies, thus reducing the potential for publication and language bias. Two reviewers independently selected studies for inclusion, thereby reducing the potential for reviewer bias and error. However, the authors did not state how the studies were assessed for validity or how the data were extracted; the potential for reviewer bias and error cannot, therefore, be assessed for these parts of the review process. The included studies appear to have been assessed for validity using appropriate criteria. Adequate details of the participants, setting and interventions of the included studies were presented; however, no details of the control interventions were provided. The narrative synthesis was appropriate given the differences between the included studies. This was a well-conducted systematic review and the authors' conclusions are likely to be reliable.
Implications of the review for practice and research
Practice: The authors stated that programmes that involve older people in the planning, development and delivery of activities are most likely to be effective.
Research: The authors stated that some of the poorer quality studies included interventions not reported elsewhere and therefore deserve further evaluation; these interventions included peer social-support in the home, focus-group discussions on the telephone, the provision of a hearing aid, and the provision and use of the Internet to alleviate loneliness. They stated that other services and activities in the field have not been evaluated, including socio-political and environmental-ecological interventions, and require well-designed evaluations. The authors also recommended further work to identify appropriate methods for public health and health-promotion evaluations. Future reviews should appraise multiple levels of evidence from practitioner-led project evaluations to complex community trials.
Northern and Yorkshire NHS Research and Development Research Fellowship, grant number 1996-98.
Cattan M, White M, Bond J, Learmouth A. Preventing social isolation and loneliness among older people: a systematic review of health promotion interventions. Ageing and Society 2005; 25: 41-67
Subject indexing assigned by CRD
Aged; Aged, 80 and over; Health Promotion; Loneliness; Social Isolation
Date bibliographic record published
Date abstract record published
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On 22nd March 1924, as Olympic was backing out from Pier 59 in New York, with 1,170 passengers aboard, she collided with Furness Withy’s Fort St George. The Furness ship had been heading down the Hudson, apparently in a race with Royal Mail’s Arcadian: both vessels were competitors on the service to Bermuda. The damage to the smaller vessel was quite extensive: the mainmast was snapped off and there was considerable damage to her decks, later estimated at £35,000. Passengers were transferred to Arcadian, which had also stopped at the scene.
Initially it was thought that damage to Olympic was relatively slight, and after an hour at Quarantine while the steering mechanism was checked, she continued with her crossing. However it was later found that the cast steel stern frame had been broken and would need extensive and expensive repairs. On a later arrival at Southampton on 16th October 1925, Olympic was sent back to Belfast for an overhaul and refit, during which her stern frame was replaced, a major operation. The three castings needed were delivered in December and by early January had been fitted. The opportunity was also taken to weld repairs to hull cracks that had been found. Unfortunately the new stern frame was not successful, and in following years various efforts were made to reinforce it and to stop the corrosion that was occurring. In July 1927 a Federal Court attributed complete fault for the collision to Fort St George proceeding at high speed and not navigating far enough to the New Jersey shore, and then not porting soon enough when she saw Olympic.
Fort St George had been built by Beardmore’s for Adelaide Steamship Co., as Wandilla, in 1912. After serving as a troop transport in the Great War, she was acquired by Furness Withy for the Bermuda service in 1921. In 1935 she was sold to Lloyd Triestino and renamed Cesarea, and in 1940 was requisitioned by the Italian navy and renamed Arno. She was sunk on 10th September 1942 by aerial torpedoes dropped by the RAF. | <urn:uuid:472e28e8-f2b0-472a-b079-4f6ffb553162> | {
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Can meat-eaters get their juicy steaks without a single cow ever being killed? That's the dream of one animal rights group, and they're putting their money where their tofu-and-sprouts-loving mouths are.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is no longer just encouraging people to avoid meat. Now the organization is offering a $1 million prize to anyone who can create meat in a lab.
Earlier this week, PETA offered the prize to the first person to produce commercially viable in vitro meat at a competitive price. Simply put, in vitro, or "cultured," meat is created from cells taken from an animal. The cells are then grown in a lab as meat without the messy process of raising and killing livestock.
"There are always going to be people who say, I don't care. I want my steak," PETA co-founder and president Ingrid Newkirk told ABCNEWS.com. "Fine. Let's escalate the commercial production of lab-grown steak so you can have the steak where it won't hurt anyone."
While Newkirk likes the meat because it allows meat-eaters to partake without harming animals, nutritionists and even animal rights activists believe the potential innovation could face its own challenges, both ethically and commercially.
Researchers have been investigating the possibilities of lab-grown meat for years but have yet to make the kind of advances that could bring something like mass-grown lab meat to market. Newkirk hopes that the prize will be just the kind of thing that could kick-start research that she says is going on at NASA and at Scandinavian universities.
"So we thought, let's just light a fire," Newkirk said. "People are stunned we would do this, but it's practical."
There is a limit to the prize. Winners would have to put their plan into motion by 2012.
Whether test-tube meat can become a reality in just four years is questionable, according to researchers.
"What it's going to take is a lot of money to develop the technique to do this," said Douglas McFarland, a South Dakota State University professor who researches cellular muscle growth and co-wrote a 2005 paper on cultured meat. "Others have done it with small, very small strains of muscle tissue. ... But with something like what PETA is looking at, it would have to be a large 3-D structure."
McFarland first became interested in cultured meat for its interstellar potential.
"My interest back when we wrote that paper was in having a protein source for long-term space travel. ... So we could maybe have plants providing nutrients to grow muscle cells. Muscle protein is an extremely efficient and nutritious product," McFarland said. "Engineering protein with muscle could be used for a source of protein for people who have allergies."
Dr. Vladimir Mironov, Tan Chin Tuan Fellow at Nanyang Technical University and an in vitro meat researcher, said it's not the technology that will be a problem, but rather funding for research.
"I think it is a right move in right direction. But $1 million for development technology at industrial scale is not realistic. It will probably take 10 years and at least $50 to 100 million to develop this technology at industrial scale," Dr. Vladimir Mironov, the Tan Chin Tuan Fellow at Nanyang Technical University and an engineered meat researcher, wrote in an email. "It is naive to believe that at least initially the price for tissue engineered meat will be competitive. It will be very, very, very expensive."
But for Elizabeth DeCoux, a professor at the Florida Coastal School of Law and a vegetarian for more than 20 years, the potential benefits of cultured meat are all about the animals.
"I think that animals suffer horribly, and we all have an obligation to do something about that," DeCoux said. "I believe that in vitro may hold the latest promise that I've ever known of to eliminate almost all the suffering of food animals."
DeCoux spoke last week at the first symposium on in vitro meat in Norway. As a longtime vegetarian, DeCoux said that she doubts she would switch back to eating meat, but cultured meat might offer an alternative for concerned meat-eaters.
"I think the great effect of in vitro meat is that people who love animals, but who are meat eaters, will switch," she said.
The animal rights' community, however, has been far from unanimous in its reaction to PETA's proposal.
The award caused a "near civil war in our office," Newkirk said. "After all, our job is ... to hammer into people's heads that they don't need flesh and that [it] is morally offensive. So how could we be saying, why don't you eat this lab-grown meat?
"But to me, it's an important thing to do. It isn't hurting anyone. ... You've got exactly what you want, and there are no bad consequences," she continued.
"We have been trying for centuries to get people to stop eating tortured animals. We wanted them to do it by going vegetarian," she said. "But now we have a real chance to get them to switch, and I don't think we can squander that chance over an internal philosophical squabble."
But some nutritionists doubt whether cultured meat would be accepted by consumers and the medical community at large.
"There's a 'yuck factor' involved," said Marion Nestle, the head of New York University's Department of Nutrition, Food Studies and Public Health. "But whether that yuck factor is greater than the one that is associated with the way we produce animals in this way" remains to be seen, she said.
While Nestle sees philosophical contradictions with PETA's award, she said there are other reasons to consider alternatives to raising animals in traditional ways. For one, it could reduce our carbon footprint by eliminating factory farms, and it's a way to combat the seemingly ever-rising price of food.
But as the organics market grows, Nestle questioned the commercial viability of such a product if it came to market.
"I know a lot of vegetarians who have been lifetime vegetarians, who have started eating meat again because of the availability of humanely raised animals," she said. "I cannot imagine this is going to be the solution. It smacks of soylent green."
In addition to the "fear factor," for Keith-Thomas Ayoob, a pediatric nutritionist and director of the Rose F. Kennedy Children's Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center, said in vitro meat would have to pass another hurdle.
"The nutritional content would have to be similar, and it would have to pass both the smell and the taste test," Ayoob said. "There's more to meat than just protein. ... And frankly, if it doesn't taste good, then consumers won't eat it."
According to Ayoob, a huge part of eating is aesthetics.
"Part of the overall appeal of food is something that may not be able to be produced in a petri dish," he said. "You can survive on liquid nutrition. ... We could also have food fed directly to our stomachs. Just because you can, doesn't mean you should." | <urn:uuid:a3dce81c-756e-4d11-a188-b7d99f550770> | {
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Our homes and businesses will always use energy. Reducing the energy load is the easiest and most efficient way to reduce our carbon footprint. After reducing energy the next best option is to use energy from a source that has an endless supply. This is where renewable energy production can help achieve our goals. Renewable energy includes energy created by the sun (solar), energy from the wind (wind power), and energy generated and stored in the earth (geothermal energy) to name a few. These types of energy systems are safer for the environment, and will help America reduce greenhouse gas emissions and become energy independent.
Renewable Energy Ordinance
On October 10, 2011, the City Council adopted a Renewable Energy Ordinance. The ordinance promotes energy systems that have positive impacts in energy conservation and includes regulations that will allow for wind, solar, and geothermal energy systems in residential and commercial zoning districts. | <urn:uuid:ec4d167b-13d5-46de-b76e-5dced0f870a9> | {
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Posidonius (pohs-ih-DOH-nee-uhs), a Stoic philosopher, studied under Panaetius of Rhodes before the latter’s death in 104 b.c.e. He then became a citizen of Rhodes. Probably in the 90’s b.c.e., he toured the Mediterranean world to collect material for his studies. Returning to Rhodes, Posidonius was elected to the office of the prytany and was sent on an embassy to Rome in 87/86 b.c.e. Eminent Romans, such as Pompey the Great and Cicero, came to hear him. He died shortly after a second embassy to Rome in 51 b.c.e.
Posidonius’s writings show a wide range of interests. For example, in his analysis of natural phenomena, he was most well known for his explanation of the relation between tides and the Moon. In ethics, his most profound contribution was in the field of psychology and the examination of the emotions. His Histories (now lost) continued Polybius’s work, extending it from 146 to 86 b.c.e. An obsession with etiology, the examination of causes, underlies his exploration of all these subjects.
The writings of Posidonius survive only in citations in later writers’ works. His investigation of natural phenomena and history drew most interest in antiquity. Unfortunately, the fragmentary remains of his work do not adequately indicate his interest in etiology, which links the various parts of his once vast corpus.
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Before you turn up the thermostat to ward off the winter chill that’s creeping into your house, take these simple, inexpensive steps to make your home more comfortable and energy efficient.
If you’re like most folks, the majority of your energy dollars go toward heating and cooling your home. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the average U.S. family spends about US$1,500 per year on home energy, a figure that will probably rise beyond US$2,000 this year due to increasing natural gas and electricity prices. The good news is that because heating and cooling is the biggest chunk of energy usage, is it also the place where you can make the biggest impact. Think of it as an insurance policy against continually rising fuel prices. As prices continue to escalate, your savings become more and more significant.
When addressing home energy use, most people go for the most visible and dramatic improvements, like replacing old furnaces and windows. But investments such as these are often not the most cost-effective places to start. In many cases, the less obvious (and less expensive) fixes like weatherstripping and insulating offer considerable upfront savings—in money and energy.
Heating and cooling costs are largely influenced by two factors—infiltration (air movement into and out of the house) and insulation. Controlling infiltration is really the first step to improve the energy efficiency of your home. According to the Rocky Mountain Institute, the average U.S. home has enough holes, cracks, and crevices in it to make up the equivalent of a 16-square-foot hole in the wall.
Air leakage accounts for 25 to 40 percent (or more) of heating and cooling bills, so you can save big by doing a thorough job of buttoning up your home. Once air leakage is controlled, insulation can help to further reduce your bills.
Air Sealing Priorities. People are often quick to notice minor air leaks in their home, such as those around doors and windows, or through fireplaces and chimneys. But these easy-to-spot leaks are not always the worst offenders in terms of energy efficiency or indoor air quality issues. Air also can enter your home from other, often unheated, parts of the house, such as attics, basements, or crawl spaces. Besides allowing outside air in, these areas can foster moisture development in wall cavities as air travels from cooler to warmer areas.
These less-obvious leaks are driven by the “stack effect”—the tendency for warm air to rise and cool air to fall. Since you only need to stop an air leak at one end, the attic is often the best place to start with your air-sealing activities. Before you add insulation, seal openings around:
• Plumbing vent stacks and pipes
• Electrical, plumbing, and chimney chases
• Open tops of interior wall partitions
• Attic hatches
• Gaps around penetrations for any mechanical equipment (ductwork, air handlers, etc.)
• Recessed lighting. Most recessed lights are designed to be cooled by air movement, so they cannot be sealed or come into contact with insulation without potentially overheating. Replace them with IC-rated (insulation-contact) fixtures. If that is not possible, seal the lights between the fixtures and the ceiling openings.
• Bath fans. These often pump more warm air into the attic than to the outdoors. This can lead to major moisture problems in the attic or ice damming along the eaves, which can force moisture up under the shingles, causing water leaks. | <urn:uuid:f65dcc01-7c5f-4886-bd2b-da2e112664a4> | {
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Miami is an international melting pot for culture and entertainment and that is even more evident in its music. From merengue and calypso to reggae and cumbia, Miami is truly a hot spot for music styles from across the globe. In the early 1970's the Miami disco sound became popular with bands such as KC and the Sunshine Band. The 1980's brought the syncopated sounds of Gloria Estefan and the Miami Sound Machine and Freestyle dance music featuring acts such as Debbie Deb, Stevie B, Expose, Pretty Tony and others.
The 90's also brought the high energy sounds of Miami Bass to dance floors and car sub woofers across the country. Miami Bass popularized artists like 2 Live Crew, 95 South, Tag Team, 69 Boyz, and Quad City DJ's. More recent artists out of Miami include Trick Daddy, Trina, Pitbull, Rick Ross, and Jackie-O.
It would also be impossible to ignore that all of these incredible artists, at some point in time, have had to employ the services of an audio engineer.
In commercial production of a recording, there are four distinct steps. Recording, editing, mixing, and mastering. Typically, each is performed by a sound engineer who specializes only in that part of production.
Either a sound engineer working in a studio together with a producer, or a producing sound engineer working in a studio.
Recording engineers manipulate audio consoles to mix sound and dubbing machines to record dialog, music and sound effect tracks.
A mixing engineer creates mixes of multi-track recordings. It is not uncommon for a commercial record to be recorded at one studio and later mixed by different engineers in other studios.
A mastering engineer is trained and skilled in the art of taking audio that has been previously mixed (in either the analog or digital domain as mono, stereo, or multi channel formats) and preparing it for use in distribution, whether by physical media such as a CD, vinyl record, or as some method of streaming audio.
Other Related Career Fields:
- Game Audio Designer
- Live Sound Engineer
- Foldback or Monitor Engineer
- Systems Engineer
- Audio Post Engineer
Audio Engineering Degree Programs
Obtaining an audio engineering degree is the best first step to getting a job, or starting a career in audio engineering. Several community colleges, technical schools, junior colleges, and many universities in Seattle offer degree programs in audio sciences leading to an associate, bachelor, or graduate degree.
Areas of study may include:
- Music Theory
- Digital Audio
- Audio Recording Sessions
- Sound for Film & Video
- Concert Sound
- Audio Technology
- Fundamentals of Editing
While usually associated with music production, an audio engineer also deals with sound for a wide range of applications, including post-production for video and film, live sound reinforcement, advertising, multimedia, and broadcasting. When referring to video games, an audio engineer may also be a computer programmer.
Outlook & Salary
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 29 percent of sound engineering technicians worked in broadcasting (except Internet broadcasting), and 15 percent worked in the motion picture, video, and sound recording industries. About 13 percent were self-employed.
Employment is expected to grow about as fast as the average through 2018. However, people seeking entry-level jobs as technicians in broadcasting are expected to face keen competition in major metropolitan areas. The National median annual wages of audio and video equipment technicians in May 2008 were $38,050. For Miami, the average salary was $53,200 (7.1% higher than the national average). | <urn:uuid:38641602-8502-424d-90ce-28da9e125068> | {
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posted by Angela .
Two newly discovered planets follow circular orbits around a star in a distant part of the galaxy. The orbital speeds of the planets are determined to be 43.5 km/s and 54.0 km/s. The slower planet's orbital period is 6.53 years. (a) What is the mass of the star? (b) What is the orbital period of the faster planet, in years? | <urn:uuid:6f7bfa3f-28a1-4b3b-9e9b-7921806db847> | {
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December 3 is the International Day for Persons with Disabilities. Disabled people in Africa often cannot get an education or even a job to survive. Can development aid make a difference?
Being dependent on two crutches and a brace on her right leg, Jemimah Kutata learned to struggle against all odds very early in her life. "In Africa, going to school is a dream for most people with disabilities," the 41-year-old Kenyan said. "Boys are given the first priority. When you are a woman with a disability, it is a double tragedy."
Attending a local primary school was out of the question for Kutata, although her parents wanted her to get an education. This meant that she could not walk long enough to reach it. Fortunately, her parents sent her to a boarding school. But when she landed first job later in life, she soon realized again what it means to live with a disability.
"Those days, as a person with disabilities, it would take you years to get a promotion. You are seen as a sick person, you are on your table, you cannot be in the position of a manager," Kutata said.
A tough life
Despite her challenges, Jemimah Kutata is among the better off. Just about 10 percent of all children with disabilities in Africa attend school and close to 80 percent of all disabled persons in Africa are unemployed. For many, it means a life of poverty, misery and discrimination.
"The situation of people with disabilities in Africa is extremely complex. There are many challenges related to the African context," said Facundo Chavez Penillas, Advisor on Human Rights and Disabilities in the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.
According to Penillas, many countries in Africa have introduced legislation to help people with disabilities but money to implement it is what's lacking.
"Most of the issues are development-related. [The question is] how countries can afford the necessary services and changes required," Penillas said.
Help from abroad?
But many development projects failed to take the needs of persons with disabilities into account. Article 32 of the International Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities requires them to do so. It came into force 10 years ago, but progress has been mixed.
"We still have a long way to go," said Kenyan disability activist Kutata. "International programs need to have systems that will include people with disabilities."
Germany is a case in point. "We have extended our programs. We currently have more than 40 projects in more than 20 countries," says Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, parliamentary state secretary of Germany's Ministry for International Cooperation and Development.
"Our ongoing large-scale projects for refugees, such as the cash for work program in the countries around Syria, have structures for persons with disabilities, so we are taking concrete action," said Fuchtel. The ministry is also working on a new strategy to include the needs of people with disabilities in the projects it funds. But a lot of work remains to be done for the ministry.
Work still needed
"Germany is not at the bottom of the countries which are implementing Article 32 but could learn from other donors," German law professor Theresia Degener, who helped negotiate the treaty, said at a recent conference at the Ministry.
Jemimah Kutata has already learned the lessons from her own struggle for a dignified life. She's now running a micro-finance program for persons with disabilities on the Kenyan coast. The program is organized by the Association of the Physically Disabled of Kenya.
"I'm so happy about it," said Kutata. "Many participants can now put food on their tables. But I feel that more needs to be done for people with disabilities to really realize their rights and their dreams." | <urn:uuid:a9559b64-7b80-432a-b5db-c402507661e4> | {
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Smaller Not Necessarily Better, School-Size Study Concludes
When it comes to high school size, smaller might not be better, concludes a national study presented yesterday at a conference sponsored by the Washington-based Brookings Institution.
The study raises questions about high-profile efforts taking root across the country to reshape the nation’s high schools. Spurred by generous financial support from groups such at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, school districts in New York City, Chicago, Houston, and other major cities have undertaken extensive efforts in recent years to pare down high schools and establish smaller, more personal learning environments for students. But Barbara Schneider, the lead researcher for the study, said her data suggest those efforts may be headed in the wrong direction.
“In an effort like this you are dismantling large high schools and putting money into creating small high schools,” Ms. Schneider, an education professor at Michigan State University in East Lansing, said in a recent interview. “And we can’t afford to continue down this path without serious and rigorous assessment of this thing.”
Ms. Schneider and her co-authors, Adam E. Wysse and Vanessa Keesler, based their conclusions on data from the Education Longitudinal Study of 2002, a federal survey that tracks students beginning in 10th grade. The more than 11,000 students in the researchers’ study sample were surveyed twice—once in 10th grade and again in 2004 when they were seniors. Of the 660 schools in the study sample, the smallest tended to be in rural and suburban areas and to have mostly white student enrollments. The largest schools, most often located in urban areas and in some suburbs, enrolled higher-than-average numbers of poor and minority students.
Using a technique pioneered in the 1970s by Harvard University statistician Donald Rubin, the researchers attempted to put all of the schools on more equal footing by carefully matching students on 98 different characteristics. Those characteristics included the kinds of courses the students had taken and the extracurricular activities in which they participated, as well as traditional socioeconomic traits such as race and family-income levels. To measure students’ academic progress, the researchers examined their 12th grade achievement levels in mathematics, whether they planned to attend college or had applied, and whether they chose a two- or four-year college or some other higher education institution.
The researcher found that the only students who performed better in small schools were those who were most likely to attend them, mostly white rural and suburban students. For the urban and minority students in the largest schools, the smaller settings would have offered no significant advantages for the kinds of educational outcomes the researchers tracked.
“My thought really is that size doesn’t matter,” Ms. Schneider said. “It’s also about what goes on in schools.”
But other experts attending Brookings’ May 22-23 conference raised questions about the study. They noted, for instance, that the survey began in 10th grade, a year after students had entered high school and well after many students had already dropped out.
“It’s very hard to talk about school effects when kids have already experienced half of high school at the beginning of the study,” said Valerie E. Lee, an expert on school size and an education professor at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
The study would have been better, Ms. Schneider conceded, if it had followed the students beginning in 8th grade. She got the same results, however, from analyzing the data in different ways as well.
A longtime proponent of smaller high schools, Ms. Schneider said she was prompted to rethink her position a few years ago after attending a meeting in Chicago with high school sports coaches who complained that the small-schools movement was threatening the existence of school-sponsored athletic teams. The coaches told her that the teams were key to keeping marginal students in school and in generating college scholarships for students who might not otherwise see college as an option.
“I’m afraid we have done a terrible disservice to kids,” she added.
Other Studies Presented
Her study was among 11 reports presented at the meeting, which focused on sorting out the research on the educational benefits and disadvantages of changes in the sizes of schools or classes. In her own study conducted with Douglas Ready, an assistant professor of education at the University of Oregon, Ms. Lee also found that school size did not seem to have a direct impact on learning for kindergarteners and 1st graders in elementary school.
However, that was not the case for changes in class size, Ms. Lee and Mr. Ready said. Using federal data from a nationally representative sample of 7,740 children, the two researchers found that kindergartners and 1st graders learned at about the same pace in both medium-sized classes—those with 17 to 25 students—as they did in classes with fewer than 17 students. Only large classes, those with 25 or more students, seemed to have a negative impact on children’s mathematics and literacy learning, according to their study.
The researchers said their findings raise questions about expensive investments by some states and districts to shrink classes to fewer than 17 students in the early grades because most children already experience medium-sized classes during those years. | <urn:uuid:50fc26ef-0b05-4d17-82c7-8abdb9ef529b> | {
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nov 7, 1885 - Construction of the
The finished railway made it easier to transport goods and people around Canada. The railway makes Canada more attractive for businesses looking to export their goods to foreign markets since it connected the interior of Canada to the Coasts.
Added to timeline:
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Block houses in Eastern front. German engineers digging the ground for the foundation of block houses. Men with axes cut tree logs for the block house. Men place tree logs in foundation and construct the block. A man works with bricks beneath the log roof. Men cover the rooftop of the houses with mud and straw bedding. A man with a horse comes out from the block house. German engineers engage in constructing rooftops.
This historic stock footage available in HD and SD video. View pricing below video player.
Have a correction or more info about this clip? Edit Now
Be the first to correct or edit this clip's info! Edit Now | <urn:uuid:319a1ee5-e0a8-4bbc-8ae0-a1c47313d4dd> | {
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March 8 is International Women’s Day, with celebrations all over the world commemorating women’s contributions to family, country and world. Improving the lot of women has been a goal of the international community for the last 50 years. Enormous progress has been made. Much remains to be done.
In mid-February UN Women, the Inter-Parliamentary Union and the New York-based Equality Now sponsored a conference at the United Nations on Sustainable Development Goal 5.1, which calls for an end to discrimination in laws and policies at every level. Enforcement of women’s legal rights is an indispensable factor in their empowerment.
In 2016 the World Bank found 100 economies where women faced gender-based job restrictions. Forty-six countries had no laws specifically protecting women from domestic violence. In many places husbands can legally prevent their wives from working.
There are also wide disparities in women’s ability to open a bank account, to take out a business loan, to having their testimony equal to that of a man’s in court proceedings, to being able to inherit property and pass it on to their children.
One can add to this the fact that two-thirds of the world’s illiterates are women. Imagine your world if you couldn’t read. Imagine also that because of poverty your family forces you to marry at 14. In all likelihood your choices in life will be few and far between.
Yet all over the world women are overcoming barriers, becoming entrepreneurs, earning income, running for office at all levels, reducing societal conflicts and caring for their families and villages. Their lives are many-faceted and worthy of celebration.
My particular interest is in women’s access to reproductive health and family planning. When George W. Bush refused to release $34 million to the U.N. Population Fund (UNFPA) in 2002, I started asking 34 million Americans for one dollar. Please see www.34millionfriends.org. UNFPA is the largest reproductive health care agency in the world, working in over 150 countries. Making sure women survive childbirth and offering them contraceptive choices is their primary task. For instance in the Zaatari refugee camp in Jordan where thousands upon thousands of Syrians have gathered, there have been more than 7,000 births and no fatalities thanks to UNFPA.
And quite honestly, you who are reading this have probably used or will use family planning/contraception in your life. It’s a great gift of science to humanity. The ability to choose whether and when to have children is absolutely necessary for women to be able fulfill all the myriad roles available to them. And it’s a great saver of women’s and children’s lives.
Unfortunately, funding for UNFPA has become political in this country. President Trump, with his enhanced Global Gag Rule, will no doubt defund. What a tragedy!
But enough of politics! Wednesday and every day let us celebrate the role of the female half of the human race for being, in their myriad ways, the glue that holds our world together.
Jane Roberts is the author of “34 Million Friends of the Women of the World” (Ladybug Press, 2005). She lives in Redlands. | <urn:uuid:2cb458b2-fbb7-4cf9-841a-d6504e7af569> | {
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Also: Talyesin, Talyessin, Taliessin, Thelgesinus
"As soon as Elphin saw the forehead, he said, 'behold the radiant forehead!' (i.e. tal iesin)."
--Ystoria Taliesin, 16th C.
The figure of Taliesin is a complex one, as it seems to encompass both a god and a sixth century bard, both of whom seem to have been combined into one figure. He is the ultimate bard in Welsh myth and legend, and his story of transformation is one of the great Celtic tales.
The first written reference to Taliesin is found in Nennius' Historia Brittonum, from the ninth century:
§62. ...At that time, Talhaiarn Tataguen was famed for poetry, and Neirin, and Taliesin and Bluchbard, and Cian, who is called Guenith Guaut, were all famous at the same time in British poetry. The great king, Mailcun, reigned among the Britons, i.e. in the district of Guenedota[.]Here we see reference to Taliesin, Aneirin, and Talhaiarn, placed in the time of Maelgwn Gwynedd, which is later corroborated in the Hanes Taliesin. As Maelgwn is said to have died in 547, this puts Taliesin squarely in the middle part of the sixth century. At this time, Urien of Rheged is also said to have lived (ca. 530-590), and thus the hypothesis that Taliesin served as bard to Urien (as is demonstraited by the poems in the Llyfr Taliesin) would also fit into this time scheme. It would also locate much of the historical Taliesin's life in Northern Britain and North Wales.
This historical Taliesin, it is thought, was probably born in Powys, as demonstrated by the poems to Cynan Garwyn king of Powys (also of this time period). Based on the content of the LT, it is thought that later he went to the court of Urien of Rheged in the north; many of the poems in the LT are praise poems to Urien and his son Owein (the Uriens and Yvain of Arthurian Romance). It is typical for these particular poems to end with
And until I fail in old age,which lends credence to at least one of the Taliesins to have been a bard of Urien.
In the sore necessity of death,
May I not be smiling,
If I praise not Urien.
The History of Taliesin, in which we encounter the godlike figure, places his birth during the time of King Arthur, at Llyn Tegid (modern Lake Bala) in Gwynedd. This would agree with a northern home for the historical Taliesin, but this could also be a later interpolation. At any rate, this Taliesin was originally named Gwion Bach. He was a boy recruited to stir the magic cauldron of inspiration, belonging to the witch Cerridwen. In this cauldron was a potion that would make Cerridwen's son Afagddu into the wisest man in Britian; unfortunately, three drops splattered out while Gwion was stirring it, and he instinctually stuck them in his mouth. These were the three drops of awen, which resulted in Gwion's enlightenment. Upon learing this, Cerridwen pursues him; they go through numerous shapeshifting phases, until finally he is a grain of corn and she is a hen who eats him. This impregnates Cerridwen, who gives birth to the boy and sets him out to sea. He is then found by Elphin, son of Gwyddno Garanhir, who raises the boy and names him "Taliesin" for the radient brow the infant posesses. The infant is preternaturally gifted, able to speak at birth, and at thirteen is able to win a contest against Maelgwn's bards.
The early portion, wherein his awen is gained from Cerridwen's cauldron, is also seen in the Llyfr Taliesin:
I will address my Lord,
To consider the Awen.
What brought necessity
Before the time of Cerridwen.
The Childhood Achievements of Taliesin
Shall not my chair be defended from the cauldron of Cerridwen?
May my tongue be free in the sanctuary of the praise of Gogyrwen.
Song Before the Sons of Lly
There will be a slaughter, let there be the speech of Avagddu.
The Hostile Confederacy
While the subject of his delivering of Elphin from prison is also explored in the poems:
I am Taliesin,
I will delineate the true lineage
Continuing until the end,
In the pattern of Elphin.
The Hostile Confederacy
A task deep (and) pure
To liberate Elphin.
The Chair of the Sovereign
There is even the rather curious two stanzas in the Black Book of Carmarthen's "Stanzas of the Graves" which would seem to indicate that it originally was penned as if by Taliesin:
Truly did Elffin bring me
To try my primitive bardic lore
Over a chieftain--
The grave of Rwvawn with the imperious aspect.
This is not the only poem connected to Taliesin in that manuscript; a portion of "Tenby" is also there, as well as a poem called "The Dialogue of Taliesin and Ugnach".
Then there is the mythical history of Taliesin given in the Llyfr Taliesin, wherein he claims relationships with Pryderi, Pwyll, Gwydion, Math, and Lleu--all different and at times opposed figures in Welsh mythology. A small--and I do mean small--example of mythological persons in the Llyfr Taliesin shows the following:
I was enchanted by Math,And then there is his elegy for Dylan eil Ton, Lleu's twin. As for his assocation with Gwydion, Math, and Lleu, it is also interesting to note that in the Latin history of the Breton king St. Iudicael, "Taliosinus bardus filius Donis"--that is, Taliesin the bard, son of Don--appears, having been visiting with St. Gildas (it is interesting to note that in the Vita Merlini, Taliesin is also said to have just returned from Brittany, having studied with Gildas). He acts as a prophet, certainly fitting his mythology. Other figures referenced in the Llyfr Taliesin include Myrddin, Arthur, Arianrhod, Owein ap Urien, and other figures familiar (and some not so familiar) from the Mabinogion and elsewhere.
Before I became immortal,
I was enchanted by Gwydyon
The great purifier of the Brython
The Battle of the Trees
I have been in the battle of Godeu, with Lleu and Gwydion,
They changed the form of the elementary trees and sedges.
I have been with Bran in Ireland.
I saw when Morddwydtyllon was killed.
Complete is my chair in Caer Siddi,
No one will be afflicted with disease or old age that may be in it.
Manawyddan and Pryderi know it.
Song Before the Sons of Llyr
Math and Eunyd, skilful with the magic wand, freed the elements.
In the life of Gwydion and Amaethon, there was counsel.
The Death-Song of Aeddon
There is also reference to Taliesin in the Mabinogi, wherein he is listed among the seven survivors of the Battle of Ireland; he is in the company of the Blessed Head of Bendigedfrân, in the story of "Branwen uerch Lyr". This story, when in context of the rest of the Red Book of Hergest, would take place around the end of the first century BCE; thus, we see a Taliesin active some five or six hundred years before the supposed days of Gwion, and it associates him with heroes from southern Wales, not necessarily northern Wales. This could, of course, be an interpolation (there is no other mention of Taliesin in the Four Branches), but it could also point to his god-like status, for the poems of the LT also indicate the belief that Taliesin has lived in many times and incarnations.
The Mythical Taliesin
As a god, Taliesin is similar to Fionn MacCumhill, who gained knowledge from the Salmon of Wisdom. He is a shape-shifter, and is often associated with the Children of Llyr. His original name was Gwion Bach--literally, "Fair Boy"--"Gwion" and "Fionn" are the same name, but in different branches of the Celtic languages. However, upon drinking the magic potion of Cerridwen, he became enlightend--"gained awen" (poetic inspiration), much like Fionn's eating of the salmon of wisdom; both became enlightened by sticking their burning thumbs in their mouths.
The Historical Taliesin
A 6th century bard, possibly from Powes in Wales, but later migrated to Rheged where he became the court bard to Urien of Rheged and friend of Owain (the Arthurian Yvain/Ywein). This Taliesin is said in some manuscripts to have been the son of a St. Henwg and descended of Llyr, and to have raised the church Llanhenwg at Carleon. He is said to have been at the battle of Catterick (The Gododdin), and comforted Merlin/Myrddin at the Battle of Arthuret. His son is said to be variously named Aeddon, Adaon, or Afaon.
In these traditions (preserved in manuscripts which may or may not have been forgeries of Iolo Morgannwg), Taliesin is originally the bard of Urien; as he is out fishing one day with Elffin ap Urien, a storm comes up, and his coricle is washed up on the shore of Gwyddno Garanhir's lands. In another version, he is (like St. Patrick) kidnapped by Irish pirates, but escapes to Gwyddno's kingdom.
The Literary Taliesin
An anonymous scribe who composed poems in the 9th century and took on the persona of both the mythical and historical. From him come the majority of the poems in The Book of Taliesin, dating to the thirteenth century.
The amalgamation of these different Taliesins has also been seen in fantasy literature; in the Prydain Chronicles, Taliesin is Chief Bard of Prydain and leader of the bardic college--much in line with his medieval character. He is the one who gave Fflewddur Fflam the truthful harp, and it was his son Adaon who was killed in The Black Cauldron (book, not film). In Susan Cooper's The Dark is Rising series, he is bard of Gwyddno Garanhir in The Silver on the Tree. Also called Gwion, he helps Will Stanton and Bran Davies gain the sword Eirias and end the enchantment on Gwyddno and his submerged realm.
To say that Taliesin was a bard is to admit that what we know of the status of "bard" in the sixth and seventh century is very small. Originally, bards were a subset of the druids, the priestly caste of the Celts. As such, they had a religious and social function. What of this function continued into the Christian era is up to debate. Certainly, even in the very late Llyfr Taliesin, which was presumed to have been transcribed at a monestary (Strata Florida is the general supposition), yet the poems are filled with allusions to gods and druids. One doubts that the monks were ignorant of the original role of the bards. However, whether this reflects the role of the historical Taliesin is unknown.
Editions of Taliesin's Poetry
Facsimile & text of the Book of Taliesin. ed., amended, & tr. by J. Gwenogvryn Evans. Llanbedrog (N. Wales) : [s.n.], 1910.
Poems from the Book of Taliesin. ed., amended, & tr. by J. Gwenogvryn Evans. Tremvan, Llanbedrog, N. Wales : [n. p.], 1915.
Skene, W.F. The Four Ancient Books of Wales. Edinburgh, Edmonston and Douglas, 1868.
Williams, Ifor. Canu Taliesin. English version by J. E. Caerwyn Williams. Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1968.
-------- Armes Prydein Vawr : the prophecy of Britain from the Book of Taliesin. English version by Rachel Bromwich. Dublin : Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1972.
Anonymous. "De Sancto Iudicaelo rege Historia." trans. John Carey. The Celtic Heroic Age. 2003.
---------. The Mabinogion. trans. and ed. Lady Charlotte Guest. 1848. reprint: London: J.M. Dent. 1932.
Ford, Patrick. The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales. Berkeley : University of California Press, 1977.
--------. Ystoria Taliesin. Cardiff: Board of Celtic Studies, UWP, 1991.
Geoffrey of Monmouth. The Life of Merlin. ed. and trans. Basile Clarke. Cardiff: UWP, 1967.
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Mary Jones © 2004 | <urn:uuid:f18db567-27a8-42d7-9fd6-8e3951955ef2> | {
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This qualitative case study examines the professional development practice of Lesson Study as a vehicle for teacher learning. Through observing the participation and analyzing interviews of a group of United States middle school mathematics educators as they engaged in Lesson Study, this study examines teachers’ learning with respect to a) mathematical knowledge, b) beliefs about teaching and learning, c) study of teaching resources, and d) participation in the social practice.
Despite continued efforts by educators, some researchers assert that teacher professional development in the United States has not improved classroom instruction. For this reason, researchers have looked beyond the U.S. to international models to advance teacher learning. The Trends in International Math and Science Study (TIMSS), a prominent international comparison study, has brought into awareness countries that have models for improving teachers’ practice. The Japanese model of Lesson Study (Jugyokenkyu) was identified as a highly developed form of professional learning that facilitates the transmission of expert teaching knowledge among colleagues. Researchers proposed that this Japanese professional development approach had the potential to improve teaching and learning in U. S. classrooms. Other literature also points to the Japanese model of Lesson Study as an exemplary standard of how to share knowledge of best teaching practices among teachers by providing teachers the opportunity to learn from each other. Limited research exists examining teacher learning in cases of Lesson Study as used in U.S. school settings. This case study adds to the literature by offering an understanding of how Lesson Study influenced the learning of a group of United States middle school mathematics educators. Further, this study provides insights into how the practice of Lesson Study impacted teachers’ learning in order to offer evidence on ways Lesson Study could improve teaching and learning in other U.S. schools.
|Commitee:||Ebby, Caroline B., Watanabe, Tadanobu|
|School:||University of Pennsylvania|
|Department:||Educational and Organizational Leadership|
|School Location:||United States -- Pennsylvania|
|Source:||DAI-A 80/01(E), Dissertation Abstracts International|
|Subjects:||Mathematics education, Teacher education|
|Keywords:||Lesson study, Middle school mathematics, Professional learning communities, Teacher professional learning|
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China has long been the leader in imported recyclable materials, just as it is in much of the world’s international trade. However, the decision by China to no longer accept recyclable imports has sent much of the world into disarray.
On 18 July of last year, China informed the World Trade Organisation that it would ban imports of 24 categories of recyclables and solid waste by the beginning of 2018. The decision has come on the back of the Chinese Ministry of Environmental Protection’s campaign against ‘foreign garbage’ for the sake of the environment and public health.
The documentary ‘Plastic China’ focuses on a makeshift recycling plant, located just outside of Qingdao in China. It is one of many remote toxic towns that process the world’s plastic. Impoverished Chinese families work amongst mountains of filthy plastic rubbish, inundated with dirty water, toxic fumes and plastic of all variations.
The impact of the Chinese decision is far-reaching and drastic for many countries across the EU, Asia, the Americas and also for Australia. Considering that China imported an incredible $5 Billion (AU) of foreign rubbish in 2016, billions of dollars of trade will be disrupted,. The decision is expected to cause significant damage to various economies, including the US Dollar, the Euro and the Australian dollar. But the most pressing question for waste recycling and disposal is ‘where does the waste go now?’ Where on earth will the 7.3 million metric tonnes of waste plastic imported by China in 2016 (according to the International Solid Waste Association), go?
There are other options, but none come close to the size of the sink that China has been for receiving foreign waste. South East Asian countries and India are set to massively increase their imports. At home, waste giant Visy has warned China’s decision will help produce “a glut of recyclable materials with ‘no home’.” “The impacts of the China ban are already being experienced, with stockpiling of product in the hope that prices will improve,” Visy said. “This excessive stockpiling is an environmental hazard and significantly increases the risk of fires.”
Visy’s reaction points to the fact that Australia does very little real recycling. The programs we call recycling are really collection programs with the collected products shipped overseas, mainly to China.
In view of this, the dramatic global disruption may be a chance to overhaul a system that desperately needs to be reformed for the sake of our environment. Christine Cole, a staff writer at The Conversation writes, “The problems we are now facing are caused by China’s global dominance in manufacturing and the way many countries have relied on one market to solve their waste and recycling problems.”
‘The current situation offers us an opportunity to find new solutions to our waste problem, increase the proportion of recycled plastic in our own manufactured products, improve the quality of recovered materials and to use recycled material in new ways.’
So what happens to the plastic Australia collects through household recycling systems now that China refuses to accept it? Well, the alternatives could completely alter the landscape of our recycling and waste system. The plastic disposal crisis has been simmering away for decades, and now Victoria has an opportunity to respond in a positive manner. Sustainability Victoria estimates it will cost between $3.6 billion and $5 billion in the next 30 years to manage the increase in waste and improve the state’s recycling regime so that less rubbish goes to landfill. With the pressing matter of a closed off China, Victoria is at risk of being overrun by a giant pile of rubbish.
Nina Springle, The Greens waste spokesperson, stated in response to Victoria’s growing waste issue, “It’s time to stop the production of easily disposed of waste products at its source, because people are not regulating themselves. We are consuming so much and we are not thinking about the end product.” It is clear the world cannot continue with the current wasteful consumption model based on infinite growth in a finite world. The new era is not just about effective recycling; it is also about tackling our waste problem at the source, by drastically reducing the production of billions of plastic goods every year.
The call for community action has already been incentivised by one of our neighbours. New South Wales has introduced the NSW Container Deposit Scheme where most drinking containers can be returned for refund of a deposit paid on purchase. Drink container litter makes up 44% of the volume of the state’s litter and costs more than $162 million to manage, according to the NSW EPA. The policy is called ‘Return and Earn’ and it is expected to be a huge part of the Premier’s goal to reduce the volume of litter by 40% by 2020.
The opportunities are obvious, for more jobs, a more stable environmental landscape and better public and community health. Future Recycling’s role is not to present a straight replacement for China. It’d be nice if we had the time, money and resources for such a task! But we are an important piece of the solution. Our infrastructure allows customers to recycle their scrap metal in a safe and environmental friendly way and through our transfer station in Pakenham, all recoverable materials will be recycled and or disposed of in a safe and environmentally responsible manner as well. It is also an essential part of the changing face of waste management and disposal. A movement that sends recyclable materials around and around again.
“The real opportunity in Australia is to create that circular economy that’s happening overseas and that’s what China is moving towards, where they’re saying we produce that material, we actually want to recycle that material and reuse it back in the economy,” said Gayle Sloan, the chief executive of the Waste Management Association of Australia (WMAA).
Although the Chinese decision is one that is drastic and overwhelming for countries across the globe, it also presents an almost impassable opportunity to alter the way we consume, minimise our use of unrecyclable plastics, improve the quality of recovered materials and to use recycled material in new ways.
Like China has done in its own backyard, it could be the perfect chance to consider just how vital our waste and recycling system is for our environment, our public health and our very future. | <urn:uuid:bca861d3-316a-4e5b-8985-4ad943021a4d> | {
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In young infants the clinical and investigative features of coeliac disease (CD) may be mimicked by other conditions such as cow's milk intolerance or secondary disaccharidase deficiency. It is therefore especially important to confirm a diagnosis of CD by later gluten challenge in such infants. Sixteen children in whom the diagnosis of CD had been made before the age of 12 months had an oral gluten challenge, after being treated with a gluten-free diet for periods of one month to 5 years. In 15 we showed intestinal xylose malabsorption by the one-hour blood xylose level within 1-28 days of starting ingestion of gluten. One child, with a persistently normal one-hour blood xylose test after gluten challenge for 3 months, had normal absorption and normal jejunal histology after 18 months on a gluten-containing diet; she is considered not to have CD. The one-hour blood xylose test before and after gluten challenge can help to confirm the diagnosis in coeliac patients diagnosed in infancy.
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If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. | <urn:uuid:7659d390-cf3f-4c6c-9d8d-312b2c706e83> | {
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By Stuart Thornton, National Geographic Roving Reporter
AshEl SeaSunZ stalks the main stage at BioBlitz’s Biodiversity Festival rapping about alternative energy—while seven kids and adults furiously pedal stationary bicycles nearby. It turns out the cyclists in the tent are an important component of SeaSunZ’s show: their pedaling provides energy for the stage’s audio system.
When the power starts to get low, a red light turns on and then a man holds up a sign that simply says, “Pedal.”
“If everyone stops [pedaling] at the same time, the concert would stop in about two minutes,” says Paul Freedman of Rock the Bike who provided the unique electricity generation equipment.
The Oakland-based company has generated power for music festivals and blenders. Freedman says all of the bikes are fitted with a generator that then sends the power to the stage’s audio system.
Covered in sweat from his own turns pedaling, Freedman says BioBlitz has been an ideal event for his sound system due in part to all of the nice children who are helping to keep the power going by pedaling.
“I also like the emphasis on education.” | <urn:uuid:f1dfad15-6220-46dc-9a77-62c9fbe91961> | {
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Oral hygiene is a must to boost dental health and general well being, fortunately the process is easy. Everyone interested in keeping their teeth are encouraged to brush their teeth two times a day for at least two minutes a session, floss at least once a day to help remove excess dental plaque, eat nutritious foods that not only prevent dental plaque development but provides additional boosts to dental health and to exercise for the same reasons. Unfortunately all those efforts can be easily undone by some bad dental habits.
Despite the appearance of teeth being strong and impermeable, nothing is further from the truth. The fact is teeth are made of of an integral network that is susceptible to dental problems such as cavities, tooth decay and gum disease which can be triggered by innocent mistakes regarding dental care. If despite your best efforts your last dental check up was sub-par, paying special attention to how oral hygiene is implemented can be the secret to breaking bad dental habits and improving dental health.
The war against dental plaque buildup is a battle that must be fought on a daily basis to keep levels and oral health in check. Since most individuals have been warned about how harmful dental plaque, they may attempt to tackle the task of flossing teeth with the gusto and enthusiasm of Americans fighting WWII. While the passion for both tasks may be high, when it comes down to flossing, gently doing the job will be much more effective than storming the area.
Flossing teeth involves breaking off a suitable length of dental floss (approximately 18.00-inches), wrapping a bit of material around each finger and then gently maneuvering the thread behind and between ever single tooth. This gentle motion should never involving "snapping" or pulling the thread too aggressively as that act can increase the odds of cutting delicate gum tissue.
Flossing and brushing go together like peanut butter and jelly, it is not right to have just one without the other. Brushing is another crucial oral hygiene behavior as the act of taking toothbrush and toothpaste will help scrub away excess dental plaque buildup. While individuals may also view this practice as a war against dental problems, this battle must be fought with tender loving care.
Brushing too hard can result in receding gums. According to 1-800-DENTIST, "Receding gums occur when the gums and bones in the mouth begin to move away from the teeth," and can cause a myriad of dental problems. Receding gums can contribute to tooth sensitivity and if left unchecked "Exposed roots are also prone to develop tooth decay, eventually leading to tooth loss and gum disease."
The best war strategies don't involve a bomb now, explain later philosophy, they tend to require thought, patience and controlled action. The same mantra should be used in regard to brushing teeth as individuals are advices to wait at least 30 minutes after eating to fight dental plaque buildup in order to minimize the risks associated with that oral hygiene practice.
Temporarily softened tooth enamel is a common side effect of eating and drinking and it can take up to 30 minutes for that porous surface to restrengthen. Brushing teeth during this settling period can erroneously cause excessive wear and tear on dental enamel resulting in tooth sensitivity, yellow looking teeth (as the removal of enamel can expose the naturally hued yellow dentin underneath) and tooth decay. Waiting just a bit before taking brush to teeth can help.
No matter if your bad dental habit is brushing teeth too aggressively or ingesting a non-stop stream of soda, your dentist will have the best advice on what risks are associated with the behavior and can provide valuable advice on how to improve. Individuals who need to find a dentist can call 1-800-DENTIST, 24/7 to get the name of a dental care expert. | <urn:uuid:3c1862e7-1621-4129-a744-11c1bf3a160f> | {
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town image [February 2009]
US Commission No. SLCE000291.
Sered is located in Galanta, SE of Trnava.
Last known Jewish burial was 1955. The flat and isolated urban hillside has Jewish symbols on gate or wall. Reached by turning directly off a public road, access is open to all via a masonry wall and locking gate. The pre- and post-WWII size of the cemetery is 45x150 meters. 500-5000 18th-20th century marble, granite, and sandstone flat shaped stones, finely smoothed and inscribed stones, or double tombstones with Hebrew and German inscriptions are in original locations. Some have metal fences around graves. The cemetery is divided into special sections for symbolic graves of Holocaust victims. Within the cemetery limits are a pre-burial house with inscriptions, a well, and a gravedigger's house. The local Jewish community owns the property. Adjacent properties are agricultural. Occasionally, private visitors stop.
Restoration: re-erection of stones, patching broken stones, cleaning stones, and clearing vegetation. A regular caretaker cares for the cemetery. Erosion is a moderate threat.
Map of Town
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A meteor weighing about 10 tons struck west of the Chelyabinsk region of Russia, near the town of Chebarkul. The strike point is about 1000 miles (1700 km) to the East of Moscow and about 640 miles (1000 km) Northwest of Astana, Kazakhstan (the capital).
Chebarkul lies within the Chelyabinsk Oblast of Russia, in the Ural mountains. Industries around Chebarkul include: gold, iron and steel forging, forestry, sawmill, clothing, food processing, and small health resorts. The Chelyabinsk oblast experiences humid continental climate with short summers. It's a major industrial and mining region, with textiles, and agricultural centers. Closed to foreigners until 1992 because nuclear weapons and military testing were conducted in the vicinity. The area suffers from radioactive contamination due to nuclear waste and accidents since World War II.
Chelyabinsk is one of 46 provinces (oblasts) inside the Russian Federation, along with 21 republics, four autonomous regions; nine krays; two federal cities; and one autonomous oblast. Russia is the largest country in the world (17,098,242 sq km) - approximately 1.8 times larger than the United States. It borders 14 countries and has a coastline of 37,653 km. Russia's climate ranges from steppes in the south through humid continental in much of European Russia, subarctic in Siberia to tundra climate in the polar north; its winters vary from cool along Black Sea coast to frigid in Siberia; its summers vary from warm in the steppes to cool along Arctic coast. The terrain varies from a broad plain with low hills west of Urals to a vast coniferous forest and tundra in Siberia to uplands and mountains along southern border regions.
Founded in the 12th century, the Principality of Muscovy, was able to emerge from over 200 years of Mongol domination and to gradually conquer and absorb surrounding principalities. In the early 17th century, a new Romanov Dynasty continued this policy of expansion across Siberia to the Pacific. Under Peter I (ruled 1682-1725), hegemony was extended to the Baltic Sea and the country was renamed the Russian Empire. During the 19th century, more territorial acquisitions were made in Europe and Asia. Defeat in the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05 contributed to the Revolution of 1905, which resulted in the formation of a parliament and other reforms.
Overthrow of the imperial household occurred after widespread rioting and repeated defeats during World War I. The Communists under Vladimir Lenin seized power soon after and formed the USSR. The brutal rule of Josef Stalin (1928-53) strengthened Communist rule and Russian dominance of the Soviet Union at a cost of tens of millions of lives. The Soviet economy and society stagnated in the following decades until General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev (1985-91) introduced glasnost (openness) and perestroika (restructuring) in an attempt to modernize Communism. These initiatives inadvertently released forces that by December 1991 splintered the USSR into Russia and 14 other independent republics.
CIA World Factbook; The Columbia Gazeteer, 2/2013; 2/2013 | <urn:uuid:6d8906af-f049-4945-823f-558064d60304> | {
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When scientists search for new physics, they compare what they observe to what theories predict they will observe. The background is the set of results scientists expect to see. If an experiment sees more instances of a certain type of event (see “Excess”) than they expect to see as part of the background, it might be evidence of new physics.
Confidence Level (CL)
Confidence level is a statistical measure of the percentage of test results that can be expected to be within a specified range. For example, a confidence level of 95% means that the result of an action will probably meet expectations 95% of the time.
Most massive particles like the Higgs boson are unstable and decay into other particles over time. Just as a vending machine might return the same amount of change using different combinations of coins, a particle can decay into different combinations of particles. These sets of secondary particles are called decay channels. If the Standard-Model Higgs boson exists, it could decay into several different channels, such as two photons or two W bosons or two Z bosons. Physicists have calculated how often a Standard Model Higgs boson would decay into these different channels depending on its mass. They search for excesses of events in those decay channels, which could indicate the presence of a Higgs.
An event is a snapshot of a collision in the LHC. Because energy is equivalent to mass, highly energetic collisions can create particles more massive than those involved in the collisions (protons, in the case of the LHC). These massive particles quickly decay into lighter, stable particles (see “Decay channel”). Physicists study the decay products of collisions to determine what more massive particles were created in the events.
When scientists observe more of a certain type of event than expected in a data plot, they call that an excess. Scientists measure the statistical significance (See “Standard deviation / sigma”) of excesses to determine how certain they are that they result from new physics and not simply random fluctuations.
If searches for a particle reveal statistically that it is unlikely to exist with certain characteristics (e.g. a particular mass), a particle with those characteristics can be excluded. This narrows the search parameters within which the particle might be found. Establishing such exclusions is important in the search for undiscovered particles.
Look-elsewhere effect (LEE)
When physicists see more of a certain type of event than predicted, they must consider the look-elsewhere effect in determining the statistical significance of that excess of events. To calculate the look-elsewhere effect for a certain observation, scientists take into account the probability of seeing something similar in any particular spot over the mass range in question. The chances of a statistical fluctuation causing an excess of events at one point on a plot are lower than the chances of a statistical fluctuation leading to an excess of events at any point in a range of points on a plot. Other things being equal, the smaller the range one considers, the smaller the look-elsewhere effect.
Standard deviation / sigma
A standard deviation is a measure of how unusual a set of data is if a hypothesis is true. Physicists express standard deviations in units called “sigma.” The higher the number of sigma, the more incompatible the data are with the hypothesis. If the data are incompatible enough with a hypothesis that says the experiment will find only background (See “Background”), that could constitute a discovery. Typically, the more unexpected or important a discovery, the greater the number of sigma physicists will require to be fully convinced.
The Standard Model is a collection of theories that embodies all of our current understanding about the behaviour of fundamental particles. | <urn:uuid:593b54c4-3776-4dcb-83b7-eb629c0b4b92> | {
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Standardized tests are only one small tool for measuring student learning and planning effective instruction. Such tests do, however, provide some external validation of program effectiveness. ASB School students in grades 2-8 take the Measures of Academic Progress (MAP) tests three times each year (fall, winter, and spring). The MAP measures students’ academic progress, or growth. By having precise measurement of student achievement, teachers are able to monitor academic progress and parents are kept informed of the progress their children make in basic skill areas.
Learn more in the MAP Parent Guide. | <urn:uuid:4e5f4e5d-430f-4a6a-9673-ef48b814168e> | {
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There are some 200 or more texts entitled as Upanishads, although some are lost, only known about because of being referenced in other Upanishads. It is estimated that the Upanishads were written in the period from the fifth to tenth centuries BCE, although the principles had been taught orally for a very long period prior to that; some say by thousands of years more. There are 108 Upanishads (listed in Muktika Upanishad) traditionally studied and practiced, and of these, there are twelve (some say ten or eleven) known as "major" Upanishads. These twelve are considered thorough in themselves.
The twelve major Upanishads are: Aitareya, Brihadaranyaka, Chandogya, Isha, Katha, Kauhsitaki, Kena, Mandukya, Mundaka, Prasna, Svetasvatara, and Taittiriya. It has been said that most important, all inclusive of these is the brief twelve verses of the Mandukya Upanishad.
Here are a few of the
Swami Rama Describes Upanishads
The Upanishadic literature is not a religious scripture and is free from dogma and doctrines. It is not a part of any religion but is philosophy for all times and for all. This philosophy does not oppose any school of thought, religion, or interpretation of the scriptures, but its methods for explaining its concepts are unique. The Upanishads should not be confused with the religious books of the East; there is a vast difference between the philosophy of the Upanishads and the preachings of any of the religious scriptures of the world.
In religion and religious books, there is little practicality and much theory. One is not supposed to interpret religious sayings, for there is the possibility of distortion. For this reason, their explanation is delegated to a few teachers and preachers who are considered to be the custodians and authorities on these scriptures. Common people do not have the opportunity to study the scriptures in depth, but instead must rely on the interpretations of such preachers who may show no signs of enlightenment and yet have influence over the conscience of the masses.
Whether these clerics actually know and practice religious truths or not is never questioned, and those who do question are considered to be atheists and heretics. Intellectual bankruptcy such as this leads the masses to blind faith and causes many wars and divisions in the human race. For the younger generation today, however, empty religious preachings are not fulfilling, for the modern mind likes to use reason and logic before it accepts anything as truth.
The Upanishads prepare, inspire, and lead the student to know and realize the Ultimate Truth. First of all, the philosophy of the Upanishads frees one to cast away his intellectual slavery to blind faith, superstitions, sectarian beliefs, and dogmas. Then it helps one to expand his individual consciousness to Universal Consciousness; thus one's personality is transformed, and one becomes a universal being.
An individual is essentially Brahman, or identical to Universal Consciousness, and direct realization of that truth is called enlightenment. Current religious preachings, on the other hand, are enveloped in a thick layer of dust, and they need a complete shakeup. Religion needs modification to suit the needs of modern man.
There seem to be two options for humanity: either it stops listening to the preachings, starts seeking the truth, and rejoices in the broader awareness of truthful living; or it continues to follow religious dogma, fails to attain the next step of civilization, and remains in ignorance and suffering. Upon careful analysis of the living and thinking structure of modern human society, anyone can see that the process evolution is in a state of stagnation.
All current research is directed to the external world; thus the human goal has become materially oriented and superficial. Human beings today have nothing better to live for than acquiring many comforts. These may be necessities and means, but because attaining them lacks a goal or aim, they create a hollow and empty philosophy that brings only strain and stress.
The preachings of religion make a person dependent on priests, temples, idols, blind faith, and dogma, and dependence is a habit of the lower mind. Such crutches may be useful at a certain stage for some people, but they do not lead to Ultimate Truth. A dependent mind is not free, and without freedom, enlightenment is impossible.
Religious dogmas are full of beliefs and myths that do not satisfy the human intellect and that bind believers to a narrow view of life and human potential. Such preachings instill more fear than love in the hearts of the masses. Religion either promises salvation or threatens the tortures of hell, but it does not provide sound solutions to the hellish problems and situations that plague human beings here and now. Nor does it satisfactorily explain life before birth or after death.
One of the main themes of Upanishadic philosophy, however, is to attain a state of fearlessness, cheerfulness, and self-confidence. In addition, the Upanishads lead the student to know life in its totality. Knowledge of life before birth, knowledge of now, and knowledge of life hereafter can be realized through the methods given in the Upanishads. The Upanishads provide systematic methods for self-training, self-transformation, and self-enlightenment. They lead aspirants "from the unreal to the Real," from darkness to Light, and from mortality to Immortality. | <urn:uuid:21eaa89d-c740-43c7-bb6a-1aa1db018192> | {
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The right to petition the government for redress of grievances includes a right to file suit in a court of law.
The U.S. Supreme Court has collapsed or folded in the distinct right to petition with other protections for group speech. In NAACP v. Button,Virginia attempted to enforce its prohibition of attorney solicitation against the NAACP, which was soliciting and promoting litigation designed to end racial segregation. In its 1963 decision, the Court found that such lawsuits were a form of "political expression" and that the NAACP was a political association. As such, the Court upheld a First Amendment right of judicial access without special reliance on the petition clause.
When right-to-sue claims do not involve issues of constitutional magnitude, the Court has grounded its First Amendment analysis in associational freedoms inherent in a collective resort to the courts. But when neither constitutional issues nor collective action is present, the Court has addressed claims of the right to seek redress in court as a due-process or equal-protection challenge.
In its 1971 decision Boddie v. Connecticut, for example, the Court ordered the waiver of court costs for indigents seeking a divorce — not because of the right to petition, but because marriage and its dissolution have been recognized as fundamental private interests. The Court reasoned that to deny a divorce for lack of ability to pay the state’s court costs was to deny a fundamental right entirely. Though the petitioners in Boddie raised the petition clause as a basis for their challenge, the federal courts at every level viewed the complaint through the prism of due process, which is the right to fair administration of justice.
Due process, not the petition clause, likewise supports prisoners’ access to law libraries and legal advisers in order to attack their sentences and challenge the conditions of their confinement.
The most significant confirmation of a petition-based right to seek judicial redress comes not from free-speech jurisprudence but from antitrust law. In a series of cases beginning with Eastern Railroad Presidents Conference v. Noerr Motor Freight Inc. in 1961, the Supreme Court recognized that antitrust statutes should not penalize petitioners who join to seek passage and enforcement of laws.
In Noerr, 41 truck drivers and their trade unions sued a collection of railroads, railroad presidents and the public relations firm hired to influence legislation concerning truck weight limits and tax rates for heavy trucks. The Court found that the railroad defendants’ influence campaign was immune from antitrust liability under the Sherman Act because "the right to petition is one of the freedoms protected by the Bill of Rights, and we cannot, of course, lightly impute to Congress an intent to invade these freedoms."
Even if, as was true four years later in United Mine Workers v. Pennington, the defendants specifically intended to eliminate competition through their petitioning efforts, they remain immune from liability. In the 1972 decision California Motor Transport v. Trucking Unlimited, the Court capped the so-called "Noerr-Pennington doctrine" by explicitly linking antitrust immunity to the petition clause:
"The same philosophy governs the approach of citizens or groups of them to administrative agencies (which are both creatures of the legislature, and arms of the executive) and to courts, the third branch of Government. Certainly, the right to petition extends to all departments of the Government. The right of access to the courts is indeed but one aspect of the right to petition."
The shelter afforded by the petition clause from application of antitrust laws has been expanded by lower courts to include immunity from state tort laws and the Civil Rights Act for activities designed to elicit government action. An example would be a 1980 case, Missouri v. NOW, in which Missouri claimed economic damage from a National Organization for Women boycott to induce states to ratify the Equal Rights Amendment. The court held NOW’s activities to be political, a form of petition that was thereby immune from Missouri’s effort to stop them.
Excepted from such immunity, however, is a "sham" petition that is baseless, objectively unreasonable, and undertaken for an improper purpose unrelated to the vindication of rights. In Landmarks Holding Corp. v. Bermant (1981), for instance, a court found in favor of real-estate developers seeking to build a shopping center. The developers alleged a campaign of meritless lawsuits and moves for delay by property owners and competing shopping centers.
In a June 2002 decision, BE&K Construction Co. v. National Labor Relations Board, the high court, though not ruling on First Amendment grounds, nevertheless noted that it had long viewed the right to sue in court as a form of petition.
"We have recognized this right to petition as one of the most precious of the liberties safeguarded by the Bill of Rights," Justice Sandra Day O'Connor wrote for the Court, "and have explained that the right is implied by the very idea of a government, republican in form."
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The Muscatatuck River drains over 1000 square miles of southeastern Indiana and is a major tributary of the East Fork of White River. The river follows a very winding course although the drainage is generally described as a typical dendritic pattern as it flows southwesterly. The river flows through a rather sparsely populated agricultural region and the stream is characteristically a muddy color with mud banks and a silt bottom.
The Muscatatuck is "bifurcate" (divided into two main segments) with both forks flowing roughly parallel toward the southwest. The Vernon Fork is the more westerly of the two while the other branch is known as the East Fork of the Muscatatuck.
The town of Vernon was founded about 1812 on "The Stream of Many Turns" as the river was then known. There was a hope at the time that the river could be used for navigation and that Vernon would become a flat boat port. Grist mills and saw mills also were located on the stream. Another historical point of interest is the fact that on July 11, 1863 Morgan's Raiders were turned away by union defenders at Vernon. This raid marks one of only two Civil War confrontations fought on northern soil. The other was at Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.
Fishing is generally good for largemouth and smallmouth bass, sunfish, bluegills, rock bass and channel catfish. Wildlife which may be seen includes herons, water snakes, wood ducks, owls, red-tailed and red-shouldered hawks, turkey vultures, kingfishers and many of the typical game species. Trees along the banks are primarily sycamore, willow and box elder with silver maple predominating in the lower reaches.
Camping is available at the Muscatatuck County Park located between Vernon and North Vernon. Hunting and fishing opportunities are of course available at Crosley Fish and Wildlife Area and along the river itself with permission from the owners. Medical assistance and hospitals are located in North Vernon and Seymour.
A float of about 4 hours duration can be arranged beginning at the town park in Vernon. Put in at the town park located at the end of Factory Rd., just north and east of the S. R. 3 and 7 bridge across the Muscatatuck River. The park is still being developed and may not be well marked. Ask a local resident if you have difficulty finding the park. For the first three or four miles you will float by some outstanding scenic limestone bluffs which border the river and have been mentioned in Natural Areas in Indiana by Lindsey, Schmelz, and Nichols. The bottom through this area is rock and rubble gradually becoming a soft silt downstream. The take out is at the County Road 400W bridge. To reach this take-out by car take State Road 7 north to U. S. 50, turn left (west) and proceed about 3 1/2 miles to County Road 450W where you will turn south to road 150S. Turn left (east) and go to 400W where you will turn south to road 150S. Turn left (east) and go to 400W, take 400W south to the river. The south side of the bridge is easiest to take out.
The second stretch of the Vernon Fork would be from the 400W bridge to the U. S. 31 bridge, a distance of about 13 1/2 miles. The lower end of this stretch has a number of shallow spots which will require getting out and pulling the canoe through some of the riffles. This float should take 4 1/2 or 5 hours. Access at the 400W bridge is poor with little if any room to park a car and a fairly steep bank to the river. The take out at the U. S. 31 bridge is better. Park along the shoulder on the southeast side of the bridge and utilize the concrete drainage trough to get up or down the bank. To reach the take-out by car, return to U. S. 50 and take it west to U. S. 31 and drive 4 miles to the third bridge. Note the sign indicating "Vernon Fork of Muscatatuck".
A point of interest within this stretch is that it passes along the southern boundary of the Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge.
It is possible to canoe to the mouth of the Muscatatuck, but Rider Ditch is straight to the point of being boring and often blocked with log jams.
This section covers the Muscatatuck itself which is formed after the confluence of the Vernon and East Forks. The river gradually widens as you float down until it reaches about 150 feet in width. The banks are tree-lined and there is little evidence of man even though the river is flowing through an agricultural area.
A float of approximately 19 miles and about 6 1/2 or 7 hours is available on this stretch. The trip begins on the Muscatatuck southwest of Tampico in Jackson County and finishes with about 6 miles of the East Fork of the White River to Sparksville. The use of part of the White River is necessary due to the lack of an access point at the confluence of the two rivers.
The put-in site is most easily reached from State Road 39 in Tampico, Indiana. Take Tampico Road southwest from town to 700S, turn right and proceed to 200E. Turn left (south) on 200E and continue to 740S then left until you come to the bridge over the river. The south side of the bridge provides the best entry point.
To reach the take out at Sparksville, take State Road 235 south from U. S. 50 to Medora. At the south end of town take Sparksville Road until you come to the bridge on the north side of Sparksville. Parking is limited to the southeast side of the bridge. Take out on the northwest side of the bridge to avoid the crop fields. For the car shuttle take Sparksville Road north to Medora. From there take State Road 235 east to State Road 135. Turn right (south) on 135 then left on 600S. Turn right (south) on 200E, left on 740S, and proceed to the bridge.
Two Public Access Sites are located along the river; one at Millport where State Road 135 crosses the river, and the other 3 miles west of Millport, also on the south side of the river. The Millport site is a good take out, offering a ramp and parking spaces. | <urn:uuid:c5da5535-b8a0-4bf2-8c42-2a00fd5da1a7> | {
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The back yard is the best place for children to explore. set aside some space just for exploration and you will find your kids outdoors playing and wondering about the world, how it works and who lives here. Sounds like a great idea, but where do you start, how hard will it be to create this oasis?
Take one small area and remove the grasses so that children can dig. Allow them to dig and play on wet and dry days as this will create a whole new experience. Don’t worry about the mess so long as children are dressed for mess.
Kids of course are drawn to water. Add a hose, sprinkler, bucket and scoops, watering cans, plastic pvc pipes of varying lengths. Oh, and don’t forget to send them out in the rain so long as it isn’t storming. take in the senses. What things do they notice when the weather is wet? Since water can be dangerous, make sure to supervise, but also stay back enough to allow them to explore without our input into the activity.
Consider adding a few large rocks (large enough so that they cannot be picked up and thrown, but small enough that they can be turned over to explore underneath. Is there a tree in this environment? I remember playing for hours in an old lilac bush when I was a child. So much fun moving about its branches. It could be anything and it was!
Don’t forget to add plants and perhaps allow children to help in the planting. In my yard I need to make sure to have shade loving plants, but you will need to choose depending on your yards unique lighting.
Lastly, allow for some building materials. A sheet for a fort, a variety of boards or long sticks can make for some great temporary forts and doesn’t have to cost a lot. Have a few boards that you can allow to sit for a day or two and then go back to move these to see who has moved in. I know in my yard we find all sorts of critters and the children just love it!
If you have enjoyed these ideas, please consider sharing one of your favorite back yard ideas. I just love adding to our back yard fun and I bet you do too!
Kim Woehl is a licensed real estate agent and early childhood educator. Please feel free to contact her at 651-214-1459 for information. | <urn:uuid:28c4ec16-ee23-4a2d-a047-1e3fd0106f6b> | {
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This section is from the book "Cyclopedia Of Architecture, Carpentry, And Building", by James C. et al. Also available from Amazon: Cyclopedia Of Architecture, Carpentry And Building.
Churches may be warmed by furnaces, indirect steam, or by means of a fan. For small buildings the furnace is more commonly used. This apparatus is the simplest of all and is comparatively inexpensive. Heat may be generated quickly, and when the fires are no longer needed they may be allowed to go out without danger of damage to any part of the system from freezing.
It is not usually necessary that the heating apparatus be large enough to warm the entire building at one time to 70 degrees with frequent change of air. If the building is thoroughly warmed before occupancy, either by rotation or by a slow inward movement of outside air, the chapel or Sunday-schoolroom may be shut off until near the close of the service in the auditorium, when a portion of the warm air may be turned into it. When the service ends, the switch damper is opened wide, and all of the air is discharged into the Sunday-school loom. The position of the warm-air registers will depend somewhat upon the construction of the building, but it is well to keep them near the outer walls and the colder parts of the room. Large inlet registers should be placed in the floor near the entrance doors, to stop cold drafts from blowing up the aisles when the doors are opened, and also to be used as foot-warmers.
Ceiling ventilators are generally provided, but should be no larger than is necessary to remove the products of combustion from the gaslights, etc. If too large, much of the warmest and purest air will escape through them. The mam vent flues should be placed in or near the floor and should be connected with a vent shaft leading outbound. This flue should be provided with a small stove or flue heater made especially for this purpose. In cold weather the natural draft will be found sufficient in most cases. The same general rules follow in the case of indirect steam as have been described for furnace heating. The stacks are placed beneath the registers or flues and mixing dampers provided. If there are large windows, flues should be arranged to open in the window sills so that a sheet of warm air may be delivered in front of the windows, to counteract the effects of cold down drafts from the exposed glass. These flues may usually be made 3 or 4 inches in depth, and should extend the entire width of the window. Small rooms, such as vestibules, library, pastor's room, etc., are usually heated with direct radiators. Rooms which are used during the week are often connected with an independent heater so that they may be warmed without running the large boilers, as would otherwise be necessary.
LITTLE GIANT BOILER AS INSTALLED FOR FIRE DEPARTMENT SERVICE.
Pierce, Butler & Pierce Mfg. Co.
When a fan is used it is desirable, if possible, to deliver the air to the auditorium through a large number of small openings. This is often done by constructing a shallow box under each pew, running its entire length, and connecting it with the distributing ducts by means of a pipe from below. The air is delivered at a low velocity through a long slot, as shown in Fig. 36.
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Three red snakelike devices bobbing in the waves three miles (4.8 kilometers) off the coast of Agucadoura, Portugal, represent the first swell of what developers hope will be a rising tide of wave power projects. Edinburgh-based Pelamis Wave Power, Ltd., (PWP) has since September been working with asset management firm Babcock & Brown, energy provider Energias de Portugal, and Efacec (a Portugese maker of electromechanical devices) on the Agucadoura project. This first phase will cost about $13 million and generate up to 2.25 megawatts. The company hopes to by early next year begin building installing another 25 wave-energy converters to increase the output to 21 megawatts, which is expected to serve the electricity needs of more than 15,000 Portuguese households.
Earth's oceans and rivers, pushed by wind and tugged by the moon and sun, ebb and flow over more than 70 percent of the planet, but only recently have researchers and scientists developed the materials and methods to finally harness some of that kinetic energy. There may not yet be a market for underwater turbines or wave-riding electrical generators designed to use ocean turbulence as a source of renewable energy, but that has not stopped a handful of entrepreneurs from trying to create one.
Although all renewable energy sources—sun, water and wind—suffer from peaks and troughs in productivity, "we consider wave energy to be more predictable than wind," says PWP CEO Phil Metcalf. "You look at the ocean 1,000 miles [1,600 kilometers] out, you'll get a good idea of what to expect over the next 24 to 48 hours. We think it's actually going to be easier to dispatch to the grid."
Pelamis's devices are big red cylindrical tubes, each 426.5 feet (130 meters) long, 13 feet (four meters) in diameter, weighing around 750 tons (635 metric tons), and with a life expectancy of up to 20 years. The tubes are connected by hinges so that they float like a snake in the water. As the tubes' sections rise up and down on the passing waves they tug on the hinges, which are resisted by hydraulic rams that pump high-pressure fluid through hydraulic motors and turn electrical generators to produce electricity. Power derived from the joints on each wave-energy conversion is fed down via a cable to a central undersea export cable, which carries the collective power generated from site to shore.
"Our machine works by reacting against itself," says Max Carcas, Pelamis's business development director. Most other technology developed for harvesting wave power—including Finavera Renewables's AquaBuOY, WaveBob Ltd.'s wave-absorbing buoy and another buoy-mounted generator made by SRI International—absorbs energy from riding the waves as they bob up and down.
Pelamis's tubes work best at a depth of more than 165 feet (50 meters) and roughly 3.7 miles (six kilometers) from the shore, where the waves are strong but a crew can still connect a cable from the tubes to the shore. "Waves lose energy once you get to get to less than half a wavelength depth—typically deep swell waves are 100 to 140 meters (330 to 460 feet) in wavelength—hence why we focus on being out above 50 to 70 meters (165 to 230 feet) of water," Carcas says. The distance off the coastline to get to this depth contour will vary from place to place but typically is two to 15 kilometers (1.2 to 9.3 miles), he adds.
Another approach operates at the bottom of New York City's East River, where in 2006 Verdant Power, Inc., planted six windmill-like turbines—each 16 feet (five meters) in diameter—30 feet (nine meters) below the surface and churning at a peak rate of 32 revolutions per minute to transform strong tidal forces into electricity. Despite a few setbacks—the river's powerful flow damaged the rotors and broke off some of the original fiberglass and steel blades—the company has managed to keep two of the turbines operational, supply electricity to a nearby supermarket and, more recently, attract $8.5 million in funding from sources including the U.S. Department of Energy and the Canadian government to further develop and test its technology.
Verdant's turbines require tides that move at least six feet (1.8 meters) per second in order to generate enough energy for them to be cost-effective, and the East River is more than obliging. "The East River is a good tidal channel that links the Long Island Sound to the ocean," says Trey Taylor, the company's president and head of market development. "Plus, New York is an expensive place to buy power, so it would be easier here to prove that this could help."
Verdant plans to next year test a new type of turbine in Canada on the Saint Lawrence River, near Cornwall, Ontario, that is heavily weighted and sits on the riverbed rather than being moored to the bottom. These two turbines are expected to generate more than 120 kilowatts of energy and will be easier for the company to remove when repairs are needed. (They have to wait for slack tide to do any work on the turbines in the East River.)
The East River site produced nearly 50,000 kilowatt-hours of energy from December 2006 to May 2007, and the testing spot has the potential to support as many as 300 turbines and nearly 10 megawatts of installed capacity. By 2010, Verdant's hope is to increase its turbine farm in New York City to 30 devices producing more than a megawatt of energy (800 households use about one megawatt). The company is also looking at sites in China and India.
Verdant is the main player in a market trying to catch on. Another tidal power company, East Yorkshire, England–based Lunar Energy, in March began working with Korea Midland Power Company to create a giant 300-turbine field in the Wando Hoenggan Water Way off the South Korean coast. The plant is expected to provide 300 megawatts of renewable energy to Korea Midland Power by December 2015. Researchers at Florida Atlantic University's Center of Excellence in Ocean Energy Technology in Dania Beach are using a $5-million state research grant awarded in late 2006 to develop technologies that tap into the powerful Gulf Stream and take advantage of large water temperature differences off Florida's shores. The researchers envision thousands of underwater turbines producing as much energy as 10 nuclear power plants and supplying one third of the state's electricity.
The U.S. government has made it clear that advanced water-power projects are a priority. Including its plans to help Verdant, the Energy Department in September said it would dole out up to $7.3 million over the next five years to advance commercial viability, cost-competitiveness and market acceptance of new technologies that can harness renewable energy from oceans and rivers.
It is unclear just how much it will cost to tap into energy from large bodies of water. Verdant's Taylor says his company is at least two years away from being able to quote costs to potential customers. That said, a rough cost estimate for Verdant's marine renewable energy technology is up to $3,600 per kilowatt—a higher price tag than wind power, fossil fuels or hydroelectric dams today, he says. He also points out, however, that Verdant will be able to lower its costs over time through the mass production of its technology and the reduction of inefficiencies in the licensing and implementation processes.
Verdant, which operates its kinetic (non-dam) hydropower project in the East River under a preliminary permit from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), plans to by the end of the year apply for a FERC pilot commercial license that would allow the company to create a field of up to 40 underwater turbines with up to 1.5 megawatts of capacity. It took four years to secure the necessary permits from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to get the project to where it currently is. Verdant has spent at least $9 million thus far on its East River project; one third of funds were spent on studies to gauge the potential impact of the turbines on vessel navigation, aquatic life and fish migration.
Taylor hopes to eventually have two fields of underwater turbines in the East River with a total installed capacity of up to 10 megawatts. Other opportunities abound throughout New York State, he adds. "One estimate predicts as much as 1,000 (megawatts) of potential installed capacity for the state," whose State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) chipped in $3 million toward the East River project. "With a commercial license issued, and with the field built, we will continue with operational tests, generating and delivering grid-connected power to paying customers." | <urn:uuid:44dc24e9-dd77-41fe-aaa6-85967871ac4b> | {
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From the World Heritage inscription:
As one of the earliest established towns with a fortified port in the Caribbean network of military and maritime-mercantile outposts of the British Atlantic, Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison was the focus of trade-based English expansion in the Americas. By the 17th century, the fortified port town was able to establish its importance in the British Atlantic trade and became an entrepôt for goods, especially sugar, and enslaved persons destined for Barbados and the rest of the Americas.
Historic Bridgetown’s irregular settlement patterns and 17th Century street layout of an English medieval type, in particular the organic serpentine streets, supported the development and transformation of creolized forms of architecture, including Caribbean Georgian.
Historic Bridgetown’s fortified port spaces were linked along the Bay Street corridor from the historic town’s centre to St. Ann’s Garrison. The property’s natural harbour, Carlisle Bay, was the first port of call on the trans-Atlantic crossing and was perfectly positioned as the launching point for the projection of British imperial power, to defend and expand Britain’s trade interests in the region and the Atlantic World. Used as a base for amphibious command and control, the garrison housed the Eastern Caribbean headquarters of the British Army and Navy. Historic Bridgetown and its Garrison participated not only in the international trade of goods and enslaved persons but also in the transmission of ideas and cultures that characterized the developing colonial enterprise in the Atlantic World.
My visit to Barbados was far shorter than I had hoped and my visit to this World Heritage site was also not all it could have been. My time in Barbados happened to overlap the Crop Over festival which is the biggest celebration of the year in the country. Normally, that would be a great thing, except that it screwed up my flights in and out of Barbados. I had a very tight deadline and several islands I had to visit, so my stay in Barbados ended up only being 36 hours.
Most of Bridgetown was shut down so there wasn’t much to see in the city. I ended up visiting the garrison, which is a major part of the site, and wasn’t really that impressed. Today the garrison is horse track and the buildings surrounding it weren’t that impressive.
I think Bridgetown is worthy of a return visit at some point in the future. There is a big chunk of the site that I didn’t get to see because of the circumstances of my visit. | <urn:uuid:d6ad9bde-6865-4e76-b1fd-c4c947145985> | {
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On 15 October, Ada Lovelace Day marked the annual celebration of women's achievements in science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Ada Lovelace (1815-1852) was a gifted mathematician and pioneer theorist of artificial intelligence. As the daughter of Lord Byron, perhaps she should also represent the host of science-inspired poets now enriching our cultural ecosystem? A significant number of these are women, among them Anne Stevenson, who was mining that particular seam long before today's gold rush. In this week's poem, "The Miracle of the Bees and the Foxgloves" from her newest Bloodaxe collection, Astonishment, it's the intricacies of foxglove pollination which fascinate her.
"See Darwin's pages on his foxglove summers" the fourth line advises, an elegant footnote incorporated into the poem's text. The pages can be found in Charles Darwin's 1876 study, The Effects of Cross- and Self-Fertilisation in the Vegetable Kingdom. In his section on Digitalis purpurea (L), or Common Foxglove, Darwin stresses that it's only "the larger humble-bees" which participate in the plant's fertilisation. So the sonnet begins with a reminder of that conclusion, translated into glowing metaphor: "Because hairs on their speckled daybeds baffle the little bees,/ Foxgloves hang out their shingles for rich bumbling hummers …" Darwin's "humble-bee" and the more familiar term, bumblebee, cross-fertilise to produce "rich bumbling hummers", a description encapsulating the insect's sounds, movement and cushiony, gilded plumpness. The relationship of foxglove to bee is densely honeycombed with metaphors of seduction. The flowers are "speckled daybeds" and "tunnels-of-delight". Plied with nectar, the client-bees visit "every hooker" in an intoxicated ecstasy.
The word "hooker" has a function beyond the metaphorical. Inside the foxglove flower are hairs which, like small hooks, help the bee gain footholds as it climbs. For the reader, internal rhymes imitate the effect. "Hooker", for example, leads to a near-rhyme with "liquor" at the end of line six. In the previous line "heckles" (a form of "hackles"), also denoting an uneven surface, similarly connects in an internal near-rhyme with "speckled". The "k" sounds add thickness to the summery weight of "um" sounds. But the last line of the septet introduces a pragmatic note amid sensory entrancement. The nectar-lure has evolutionary purpose – to keep the foxglove from "propagating in a corner with itself". Darwin's comparative studies showed that cross-fertilised plants were frequently healthier than the self-fertilised.
Stevenson restructures the harmonious machinery of the sonnet into two septets, adding a further refinement, a (mostly) seven-beat line. A little lighter on internal rhymes, though still finding delicate inner sound patterns, the second septet maintains and develops the sexual drama. The anthers "let fly" their pollen prematurely, and "Along swims bumbler bee and makes an undercoat of this". The nicknaming informality here adds piquancy to the poet's voice, and generates a shared creaturely warmth. Darwin's own language is anthropomorphic at times, with words like "carry", "crawl", "footholds", "ease". The poem's linguistic abundance makes room for everyday domestic nouns like "daybeds" and "undercoat", faintly slangy idioms and the naturalist's precise vocabulary ("anthers", "dehisc", "Digitalis") when necessary.
The task of the poet as science-writer is not simply to dramatise unadorned narrative with figurative but subtly exact "lay" observations, but to visualise "bigger-picture" analogies. Here, for example, the consummation when "ripeness climbs the bells of Digitalis flower by flower" seems to mirror and expand the earlier movements of the bee as it mounts the individual foxglove corollae.
The last line is cunningly placed. The reader may have relished a vision of "design" and "desire" (which necessitate some sort of originating "mind") in the relations between bees and flowers. The poem's title adverted to a "miracle", in fact. Now the scientist in the poet might seem to be throwing cold water on those satisfying and beautiful elaborations. But this would be a misunderstanding, I think. What the poem is saying all along is that the real miracle is that such a perfectly functioning system has evolved without design. It's a reminder that Creationism doesn't simply deny the science – it betrays its wonder.
The Miracle of the Bees and the Foxgloves
Because hairs on their speckled daybeds baffle the little bees,
Foxgloves hang their shingles out for rich bumbling hummers,
Who crawl into their tunnels-of-delight with drunken ease
(See Darwin's pages on his foxglove summers)
Plunging over heckles caked with sex-appealing stuff,
To sip from every hooker an intoxicating liquor
That stops it propagating in a corner with itself.
And this is how the foxglove keeps its sex life in order.
Two anthers – adolescent, in a hurry to dehisce –
Let fly too soon, so pollen lies in drifts about the floor.
Along swims bumbler bee and makes an undercoat of this,
Reverses, exits, lets it fall by accident next door.
So ripeness climbs the bells of Digitalis flower by flower,
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Medical Discovery News
“When I was younger, I could remember anything, whether it had happened or not; but my faculties are decaying now and soon I shall be so I cannot remember any but the things that never happened.”
While American novelist Mark Twain can invariably add his iconic sense of humor to any situation, it is no laughing matter when patients lose their memories and cognitive function to dementia. And for their family members, there is hardly anything harder than caring for a loved one who can no longer remember them or any shared experiences. But lowering a person’s risk of dementia may be as simple as changing his or her lifestyle.
The incidence of dementia increases with age. As the average age of Americans increases, the number of people with dementia also increases. In 2010, more than 30 million people worldwide had dementia, and this figure is estimated to more than triple by 2050.
Despite the many medical advances over the past 20 years, there are no effective pharmacological therapies for dementia yet. Some drugs are being evaluated and still others are in development, but it could be some time before there is a truly successful treatment for this disease.
However, studies have uncovered risk factors that can lead to dementia, such as low physical and mental activity, obesity, hypertension and hyperlipidemia. The good news is that all these risk factors can be controlled by changes in a person’s lifestyle and behavior.
A group of scientists at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm examined the effects of lifestyle modification on dementia risks. One of the strongest correlations to reducing the risk of dementia is increasing physical activity. Changing from a sedentary lifestyle to one with at least moderate physical activity will also improve cognitive performance. Both aerobic exercise and strength training may delay of the onset of dementia.
For those with nutritional deficiencies, taking vitamin supplements did help prevent dementia onset, but those with normal levels did not affect their dementia risk by taking supplements.
Computer games have become a popular way to enhance mental abilities in older people. There are some positive effects of gaming on cognitive performance, but these effects decline with age. A recent study showed that improvements in language skills and reasoning abilities lasted for a full year after computerized training. While encouraging, more clinical trials are needed to establish the benefits of these activities on cognitive functions and the delay of dementia.
For now, the best advice to delay or prevent dementia is to engage in physical exercise and maintain a healthy weight and diet. | <urn:uuid:b145fc33-a1bb-4935-a8a1-0614e51e653f> | {
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The hike is a healthy walk around the oak-dotted limestone hills of Pella near the archaeological site of Tabaqat Fahl, the name of the nearby village.
With sweeping views of the Jordan Valley, there are Byzantine and Roman ruins as well as evidence of Bronze and Iron Age settlements spread throughout the area.
The site is actively researched and excavated by the Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation in conjunction with the Pella Excavation Project of the University of Sydney. Archeologists have been working on the site for over thirty years unearthing many important discoveries.
Pella is a magnificent 10 hectare site, set in beautiful surroundings beside a perennial spring in the eastern foothills of the north Jordan valley. Human occupation in the region around Pella stretches back over half a million years and the site itself has been continuously occupied from around 8000 BC.
The Pella Excavation Project of the University of Sydney
The trail is not far from the Syrian border and near the Jordan valley north of Amman. The ancient site of Pella is located on the slope of Jebel Sartaba.
Soundtrack: A Lo Largo - Nocturnal Overtures by Renich
Licensed Under: CC BY-SA 3.0
The videos are part of the "Hiking in Jordan Collection" by Grant & Maassen published by Wandel Guides. With 3D trail animation and trail statistics. Produced with Nasa World Wind Under NASA Open Source Agreement Version 1.3. The videos are distributed under: CC BY-SA 3.0.
NASA is not affiliated with this project. We use software released under NASA's World Wind program for 3D trail rendering.
Opening title music for videos: Aulendia II, Album: Aulendia By: Terepin. Licensed Under: CC BY-SA 3.0.
See our disclaimer below before hiking in Jordan or elsewhere.
You can watch more hiking videos on our Youtube channel.
Near Eastern Archaeology Foundation - The Pella Excavation Project of the University of Sydney: http://sydney.edu.au/arts/sophi/neaf/excavations/index.shtml
Pella in Jordan, a Brief History of the Site, by Ben Churcher - Astarte Resources 2008 - www.astarte.com.au - with reference to the Pella Project, University of Sydney
Charles Leonard Irby and James Mangles (1823) - Travels in Egypt and Nubia, Syria, and the Holy Land: Including A Journey Round the Dead Sea, and Through the Country East of the Jordan. | <urn:uuid:63ca6224-fce4-48a4-a2fe-d6b94a69451e> | {
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Meet a next-generation scientist making the next generation of biofuel. 17-year-old Sara Volz invented a process that increases the amount of biofuel produced by algae to win this year’s Intel Science Talent Search. The Colorado Springs student claimed the $100,000 grand prize with her project, which uses artificial selection to pinpoint which organisms are churning out the most fuel. This new method not only helps to bring down the overall cost of algae biofuel, but it was developed primarily in her bedroom under a lofted bed!
As dedicated a scientist as her adult colleagues, Sara Volz took to sleeping with the same light cycles that her algae required to grow. In a homemade lab under her loft bed, Volz grew algae in a medium containing the pesticide sethoxydim to kill the algae that produced low levels of acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACCase), an enzyme that is important in lipid synthesis. The remaining algae could produce substantial amounts of oil that could make the biofuel commercially viable in the future. Since algae requires little land mass and comparatively few inputs to sustain, the biofuel stands as a great renewable alternative to petroleum.
The Intel Science Talent Search included seven other finalists, among them young researchers who received a combined $1.25 million by the Intel Foundation for their efforts. Society for Science & the Public has held the competition since 1942. “Society for Science & the Public is proud to join Intel in congratulating Sara Volz for her scientific accomplishments,” said Elizabeth Marincola, president of the organization. “Sara’s work demonstrates how a young person who is fascinated by science, which she has been since a kindergarten science fair, can work with few sophisticated resources and have real impact on society.”
Sarah was selected from a pool of 1,712 high school seniors. Her investigations into algae have not only earned her a major distinction, but have contributed to efforts in curbing climate change through clean energy production. | <urn:uuid:069c4ef4-8e2f-40ac-b1fb-082a67a865e9> | {
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Marketing communications according to the encyclopedia are messages and related media used to communicate with a market. Marketing communications is the “promotion” part of the “marketing mix” or the “four Ps”: price, place, promotion, and product.
Marketing communication is also a strong, fundamental and complex part of a company’s marketing efforts. Marketing communication also includes advertising, direct marketing, branding, packaging, your online presence, printed materials, PR activities, sales presentations, sponsorships, trade show appearances and more.
Marketing communications is a subset of the overall subject area known as marketing. Marketing has a marketing mix that is made of price, place, promotion, product (know as the four P’s),
Forms of marketing communication include the following:
- Advertising (above and below the line).
- Merchandising (and point-of-sale).
- Email Marketing (and Internet promotions).
The communication process is [sender-encoding-transmission device-decoding-receiver], which is part of any advertising or marketing program. Encoding the message is the second step in the communication process, which takes a creative idea and transforms it into attention-getting advertisements designed for various media (television, radio, magazines), and others. Messages travel, to audiences through various transmission methods. The third stage of the marketing communication process occurs when a channel or medium delivers the message. Decoding occurs when the message reaches one or more of the receiver’s senses. Consumers both hear and see television ads. Others consumers handle (touch) and read (see) a coupon offer. One obstacle that prevents marketing messages from being efficient and effective is called barrier. A barrier is anything that distorts or disrupts a message. It can occur at any stage in the communication process. The most common form of noise affecting marketing communication is clutter.
Social commercials market share is rising, thanks to services like YouTube, Facebook and Vimeo. According to a 2011 study, “88% of all companies that have conducted social media advertising are satisfied with it.” Indeed, social commercials are steadily permeating our everyday lives, in the forms of billboards, apps, TV, and even print media. There is a large increase of businesses using video via YouTube for local business pages such as Google Local (formerly known as Google Places) which was integrated as part of the Google Plus network in 2010.
Email marketing is a direct marketing a commercial message to a group of people using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It usually involves using email to send ads, request business, or solicit sales or donations, and is meant to build loyalty, trust, or brand awareness. Email marketing can be done to either to a sold list or a current customer database. Broadly, the term is usually used to refer to sending email messages with the purpose of enhancing the relationship of a merchant with its current or previous customers, to encourage customer loyalty and repeat business, acquiring new customers or convincing current customers to purchase something immediately, and adding advertisements to email messages sent by other companies to their customers.
In branding, every opportunity to impress the organization’s (or the individual’s) brand upon the customer is called a brand touch point (or brand contact point.) Such examples include everything from TV and other media advertisements, event sponsorships, webinars, and personal selling to even product packaging. Thus, every experiential opportunity that an organization creates for its stakeholders or customers is a brand touch point. Hence, it is vitally important for brand strategists and managers to survey all of their organization’s brand touch points and control for the stakeholder’s our customer’s experience. Marketing communications, as a vehicle of an organization’s brand management, is concerned with the promotion of an organization’s brand, product(s) and/or service(s) to stakeholders and prospective customers through these touch points.
For effective marketing, you need to know that marketing communication is one of the best ingredients of marketing. So therefore, Marketing is the beginning and end of a product.
Brought to you by:
- Wow !…….These are the right tips to Set Yourself Up For Blogging Success
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- 10 Laws of Social Media Marketing | <urn:uuid:a9677267-95e6-47ee-a9b2-b5bfd6f7121f> | {
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The anterior lobe of the pituitary gland produces six hormones that the body requires for growth, reproduction and regulation, according Emory Healthcare. Pituitary tumors affect one in five individuals. When this gland, that weighs less than a gram, malfunctions, it causes problems with the endocrine system and the neurological system.Continue Reading
Growth hormone, produced by the anterior pituitary, stimulates linear bone growth in children. In adults, this same hormone helps to maintain the health of bones and other tissues, according to Encyclopaedia Britannica. Thyroid-stimulating hormone causes the thyroid gland to release hormones that control the body's metabolism and maintain body weight.
Follicle-stimulating hormone and luteinizing hormone both regulate the formation of testosterone and estrogen. These pituitary hormones are essential for the production of sperm in men and eggs in women. Emory Healthcare indicates these hormones ensure the maturation of the egg and its release by the body. Once a baby is born, the pituitary releases prolactin to stimulate the mother's milk production. Males with low prolactin levels often experience sexual dysfunction.
Adrenocorticotropic hormone stimulates the adrenal glands to produce cortisol. Cortisol regulates the blood pressure and the body's response to stress, according to The Hormone Health Network. This hormone also regulates the body's use of proteins, carbohydrates and fats.Learn more about Glands & Hormones | <urn:uuid:a1e9ca28-a6af-4bbe-a660-81f3e5965d1b> | {
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Submission date: 18 January 2008
Submitted to: Ministry of Research, Science and Technology
General comment from the NZCA
The NZCA is concerned that there is almost no mention of the environment in the New Zealand Research Agenda. Although sustainability and climate change are mentioned they seem to be disconnected from any real understanding of the research that is required to enable New Zealand to manage its environments effectively and to support sound decision making.
Are the four outcomes government has identified as critical for creating value from New Zealand RS&T the most important outcomes? Are there other critical outcomes which you consider should be added?
NZCA is concerned that so little regard is being paid to the environment within this Research Agenda. The lack of focus on the centrality of the environment to our future is alarming. Failure to appreciate non-market values such as ecosystem services carries a risk of deterioration of natural capital in New Zealand, with a wide range of consequences including damage to our clean, green image as well as negative impacts of a range of economic outcomes.
Ecosystem services, include a broad range of things, from regulating services such as flood risk mitigation, water quality, erosion control and sediment reduction, and an ability to meet New Zealand’s international climate change commitments through enhanced carbon storage, as well as supporting services such as soil formation, nutrient recycling, extraction of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, replenishment of oxygen and decomposition of wastes, provisioning services such as fresh water for drinking, hydro and irrigation, as well as cultural services such as ecosystems and habitats that provide attractive places to visit for recreation (e.g. tramping, mountain-biking, camping, sightseeing, photography, snorkelling and diving), in which people may pursue improved health and wellbeing, and/or for spiritual and/or cultural purposes, as well as the scenery that provides the backdrop to New Zealand’s clean, green image, and draw overseas tourists and film-makers to New Zealand.
A very high percentage of the indigenous species found in New Zealand are found nowhere else e.g. it is estimated that within the New Zealand EEZ we have 10% of the world’s global biodiversity. Our most diverse groups of indigenous species on land (fungi, insects and worms) are the least known and appreciated. For example, there are an estimated 20,000 species of fungi that play a vital role in ecosystems in breaking down and recycling nutrients – yet our current knowledge of these organisms remains critically low.
“Collectively invasive pests pose the single greatest threat to our remaining natural ecosystems, habitats and native species. New Zealand has the highest number of introduced mammals of any country and the second highest number of introduced birds. New Zealand has more introduced vascular plants in the wild than native ones, and, at least 240 invasive weed species are considered harmful to native species.” (quote from: Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry 2007/08. Enhancing New Zealand’s natural advantage: Reporting MAF’S Outcomes Performance 2007). Yet New Zealand still does not have a comprehensive list of plant species that occur in cultivation. We have very limited knowledge of which species have a potential to escape into the wild and become harmful.
At present in New Zealand there is limited capacity to respond to Biosecurity threats appropriately and in a timely way across a number of groups of taxa, in terrestrial, freshwater and marine environments, and in natural and productive (aquaculture, farming forestry) contexts. A functioning Biosecurity system is predicated on the capacity to distinguish native from non-native.
We need to know which species we have in the country – a basic requirement of good decision making and resource management. We have a global responsibility to document and describe indigenous species unique to our country and also to understand the introduced flora and fauna in order to manage risks, protect ecosystem services and conserve and protect unique biota, as well as securing a sustainable economic future for New Zealanders.
Despite the perspective given in the foreword by Dr Anderson about the increasing funds available for science, over the past decade the funding in the Ecosystem Portfolio has declined to critically low levels. The introduction of the OBIs appear to have been yet another experiment by New Zealand’s research managers – and meanwhile the capacity to carry out critical underpinning environmental research is declining, experienced scientists are leaving New Zealand for better opportunities overseas and New Zealand institutions are unable to replace staff because of the impact of the falling FTE funding within the declining Ecosystem pool.
Loss of species is irreversible. The need for sustainable practices in order to protect and enhance our environment and to treasure and protect the species and ecosystems services they provide has been recognized by the government. It is critical that the need for underpinning research to enable sound decision making is supported.
Are there aspects of the current RS&T system, as described in the sections “What will endure” which need further strengthening to support the achievement of the outcomes?
- Engagement & Society: NZCA supports the need for strong dialogue and engagement between the public and the science community, and the importance of education at all levels of society.
- Business: New Zealand will not be globally competitive if it doesn’t tackle environmental goals in tandem with economic goals and it is of concern that the Agenda is silent on key linkages. New Zealand runs the risk of being disadvantaged in terms of export markets and in relation to, for example, the tourism industry if it does not address environmental issues as a fully integrated component of the business strategies.
- It does not appear to the NZCA that there is sufficient support for basic research. There is no recognition that innovation and advanced platforms also relate to environmental and ecosystem research.
- RS&T Focus: There is a need to do more than “maintain our bioscience capability…” e.g. in the 2004 MoRST review of the Ecosystem Portfolio it was recognised that “Capability (for example, the number of scientists) in many environmental research areas is declining....CRIs advise MoRST that they are finding it increasingly difficult to support both the maintenance of the databases and the human capability associated with these.” ….MoRST 2004. Evaluation of the Environmental Output Class. 61 + vi pp.
- Research Organisation: NZCA is concerned that the market model and funding approach used in New Zealand makes it difficult for community groups including iwi, individuals and small businesses to access public good research. In situations where the beneficiaries of the research are diffuse (and sometimes the research has intergenerational timeframes/applications), the cost-recovery approaches that were established with the creation of the CRIs has resulted in limited access to information for many groups. If we are seeking engagement by society we need to make sure that the transfer of knowledge is not constrained by costs, particularly where this relates to public good.
Outcome one: Engagement and society
Are there other changes that government or the RS&T sector could initiate to improve New Zealanders’ sense of ownership of RS&T and innovation?
Current cost recovery and funding models inhibit access to information. Enabling New Zealanders to apply new knowledge and insights gained from research should be a priority of the RA& T system.
Outcome three: RS&T focus
Do you have any comment on the six Transformational Research, Science and Technology opportunities identified?
The absence of any recognition of the underpinning resourcing and support for the research required to strengthen environmental management is of great concern. Page 31 states : “As a country with abundant water and land resources…” This reflects a disturbing naivety and a lack of understanding of the huge pressures currently on the water resources of New Zealand. There are severe threats facing the fragmentary remaining wetlands (more than 95% of New Zealand wetlands no longer exist), as well as very significant environmental impacts of increasingly intensive dairying on a number of regions (e.g. Canterbury, North Otago, Southland) which have not yet been adequately addressed, and there are serious biosecurity impacts on natural values and biodiversity as well as on hydro developments, tourism etc (e.g. water weeds, Didymo, pest fishes).
Page 31 also states: “our fisheries are generally in good shape..” yet only 29% of the demersal fish stocks in New Zealand currently fished under the QMS system have assessments that indicate a current biomass that is greater than the biomass at which maximum sustainable yield would be maintained. The QMS system has been in place for more than 20 years. One of the assumptions made by many supporters of the system was that rights holders would act in a way that maintained the long term value of their asset and that they would be interested in the sustainability of their investment. The past 20 years have shown that there are other pressures and incentives, particularly economic ones, that do not have a long term focus, and rights holders have been shown often to resist research or interpretations of research that would result in their catches being reduced or their costs increased.
Pressures to live sustainably in a world in which climate is changing requires we have a much better appreciation of cumulative impacts of diverse activities. The Research Agenda does not recognise the need to integrate across areas of research. The environment is critical for all activities that occur in New Zealand – economically, socially, and culturally.
Do you consider there are higher priorities for the creation of additional Roadmaps than those suggested?
The NZCA was not impressed by either the process in reaching the Environment Roadmap – or the final outcome, and has yet to see any value in the exercise or any uptake or implementation. It is unclear if any of the other Roadmaps have been more successful.
What actions or changes would you suggest to foster a spirit of innovation, creativity and opportunity in research of relevance to Māori?
Whilst the sentiments expressed on page 32 are worthy ones, it is unclear how these will be implemented or given effect within Māori communities or the wider New Zealand society.
Outcome four: Research organisations
What progress do you consider has been made in creating a more stable RS&T funding environment? Do you consider that further changes are required? If so, what further changes would you like to see, and why?
It is not clear to the NZCA that there has been any progress in this area over the past year. There is a need for stable funding for underpinning environmental research. By “stable” the NZCA does not use the definition previously used in MoRST documents that pays no regard to the impact of inflation and rising costs of science (currently assessed to be rising at a rate higher than the CPI).
Given likely funding constraints, what are your thoughts about the proposal to focus the bulk of any additional government RS&T investment on strategic research to create value from our existing capability, with benefits over the medium (5-15 years) term?
In the Ecosystem area research capability and capacity are declining (as documented in MoRST’s own analysis in 2004) – there is a need to prevent loss of skills and knowledge and a need to invest in the people that are already in the system. There needs to be succession planning and long-term resourcing – this will provide evidence for students that there are career opportunities in science.
For the New Zealand Research Agenda as a whole, do you consider that there might be unforeseen implications of the directions proposed? What are they?
New Zealand’s security, both in terms of Biosecurity (protection from aliens coming in) and security of continued supply of essential services, is heavily dependent on sustainably managed ecosystems. Security is affected both by changes in provisioning services, which affect supplies of food and other goods and the likelihood of conflict over declining resources, and by changes in regulating services, which could influence the frequency and magnitude of floods, droughts, landslides, or other catastrophes. Quality of life, and human health are strongly linked to provisioning services - environmental degradation compromises these as well as future economic choices.
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If you are diagnosed with cervical cancer , chemotherapy may be part of your treatment plan. Chemotherapy uses drugs to kill cancer cells. The drugs enter the bloodstream and travel to the tumor in order to kill cancer cells. Chemotherapy also kills normal cells, though. The advantage is that the cancer cells are more sensitive to the drugs being used.
Chemotherapy may be given either alone or along with radiation therapy . When given alone, it is given in a higher dose designed to kill off cancer cells. When given along with radiation therapy, it is delivered at a lower dose and is designed to make the cancer more sensitive to the radiation.
A wide variety of chemotherapy drugs may be used, such as:
Chemotherapy is usually given by vein, but some forms can be given by mouth. Your oncologist will tell you how many cycles or courses of chemotherapy are best for you. Usually there are between 4-6 cycles of chemotherapy given when the chemotherapy is delivered on its own, and up to 10 cycles of chemotherapy when the drugs are given along with the radiation therapy.
The side effects and amount of time required in the doctor’s office depend on the type of chemotherapy you receive, as well as how many cycles you receive and how often. The most common side effects are:
- Nausea and vomiting
- Fatigue or tiredness
- Hair loss
- Increased frequency and urgency of bowel and bladder function
- Bleeding problems
- Soreness of mouth and gums
When chemotherapy is given at a lower dose, these side effects are less common. But most people feel very fatigued. A variety of drugs is available to manage side effects, including nausea and fatigue that results from anemia.
Long-term side effects may also occur. The chemotherapy drug adriamycin has been associated with damage to the heart muscle. Some very rare cases of leukemia may also result from treatment with chemotherapy drugs.
- Reviewer: Mohei Abouzied, MD, FACP
- Review Date: 12/2014 -
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Print version ISSN 0259-9422
Herv. teol. stud. vol.68 no.1 Pretoria 2012
Gillian P. Williams; Magdel le Roux
Department of Old Testament and Ancient Near Eastern Studies, University of South Africa
This article investigates the 'illness' of King Saul (as narrated in the Old Testament). The 'anti-Saul narrative' states that 'God's spirit had left Saul' and 'an evil one had taken its place' (1 Sm 16:14; also cf. e.g. of his behaviour in 1 Sm 19:24; 1 Sm 18:28-29). The latter years of Saul's reign were marred by his pre-occupation with David's growing popularity. He eventually became mentally unstable and suspected everyone of plotting against him. Saul's battle against the Ammonites, as well as his last battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, was fraught with difficulty. It is postulated that Saul experienced epileptic-like fits and assumedly suffered from some kind of 'depression' as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (cf. 1 Sm 18:9; 1 Sm 18:28, 29; 1 Sm 19:24). This was possibly exacerbated by the enemy herem principle. Talmudic and other perspectives were also provided in the article where possible.
According to the Old Testament narrative, King Saul, the first king of Israel,1 who reigned in Jerusalem from c.1029-1005 BCE (Oded 2007:78) was the son of the wealthy and influential Kish from the tribe of Benjamin (1 Sm 9:1). An enigmatic figure, he was chosen by God to be the first King of Israel in response to the people's request (1 Sm 8:5), although this was contrary to the old theocratic ideal that God alone was King of Israel (1 Sm 8:22). Saul's kingdom was a confederacy of states rather than a united kingdom, with their capital at Gibeah, 6 km north of Jerusalem (Boshoff, Scheffler & Spangenberg 2000:77). Myers (1962a:232) is convinced that Saul's supporters were the tribes of Benjamin, Ephraim and Manasseh (2 Sm 2:8-9). It is tragic that, according to the narrative, Saul's son, Ishbosheth, was later murdered by two of his own kinsmen - Baanah and Rechab (2 Sm 4:7).
An examination of the description of the period of Saul's rule in 1 Samuel discloses a complex literary situation (Amit 2000a:171; cf. Dell 2008:80-83). Apparently, two versions of Saul's life are combined in the book of Samuel - one pro-Saul and the other anti-Saul.2 The pro-Saul version, probably written first (Boshoff et al. 2000:82), was in favour of the monarch, believing that he was a brave and humane king who was later rejected by God (1 Sm 15:26) in favour of another (1 Sm 15:28) and that one of his sons should reign after him. Ishbosheth, the sole survivor of the battle of Mount Gilboa, did reign (Boshoff et al. 2000:82), but was assassinated, as mentioned above. Carson et al. (1995:306, 308) believe that Saul was appointed king because Israel needed a strong and united government that would be able to maintain security throughout the kingdom.
Saul's military talent was evident when he received God's support and, according to the narrative, re-assembled the Israelite tribes to crush the Ammonites (1 Sm 11:11; according to the pro-Saul version). Saul fought many battles - against the Moabites, the Edomites and kings of Zobah, but the Philistines were his greatest challenge and posed the most serious and constant threat to Israel. The pro-Saul camp believe that Saul was regarded as a sort of charismatic prophet or judge-king by his people (1 Sm 10:11; Boshoff et al. 2000:83; cf. Siegman 1967:1096; Bright 1972:185; Amit 2000a:171-175).
During the last years that Saul was on the throne, he was very pre-occupied with David's increasing fame which severely depressed him (1 Sm 18:9, 28, 29; Carson et al. 1995:314). The anti-Saul narrative stated that Saul had lost God's spirit and an evil one had replaced it (1 Sm 16:14; also cf. e.g. of his behaviour in 1 Sm 19:24). He eventually became mentally unstable and suspected everyone of plotting against him (Siegman 1967:1096). Saul's last battle against the Philistines at Mount Gilboa was fraught with difficulty (1 Sm 28). The distinction between the two spirits, 'the spirit of the Lord' and 'the evil spirit from the Lord' supports the explicit positions in the polemic (Amit 2000a:172). The reader of this text needs to distinguish between the Saul who is good in the eyes of the Lord and the one who, as a result of his behaviour, has lost favour.
The purpose of this article is not to provide an intensive exegesis of the different passages, neither is it to determine the historicity of the Saul narratives. Rather, its aim is to contribute towards the understanding of the possible cause of the 'condition' (or 'bad behaviour') of Saul as suggested in 1 Samuel.
It is suggested by some scholars that Saul suffered from 'depression' or 'heaviness of heart' as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and many other reasons. Others describe Saul's behaviour as it manifests in 1 Samuel 19:23, 24, as epileptic-like fits, possibly exacerbated by the enemy herem principle. Saul's strange behaviour in some cases could also be as a result of a tumour in his brain or on his cranium. A few possibilities will be examined to determine the most likely cause of Saul's sometimes strange behaviour and a multi-disciplinary approach will be applied to this study throughout.
Saul's mental state
Saul's 'epileptic-like fits'
Epilepsy is defined as 'a neurological disorder involving recurring temporary loss of consciousness with or without convulsions, muscular spasms or automatic movements' (Coulson et al. 1980:282). During an attack the patient often falls down (Anderson :385), shouts or cries out (cf. 1 Sm 19:23), becomes unconscious and falls to the floor, whilst the body goes into severe muscular spasms. The patient usually sleeps for several hours afterwards (1 Sm 19:24). Anderson (:385) states that the cause of epilepsy is unknown but he is certain that it is the abnormal discharge of electrical currents in the brain. Berkow and Talbot (1977:1404) maintain that it is caused by birth trauma or a metabolic disorder. Brain tumours, whether benign or cancerous, can also cause epileptic-type seizures in all patients (Simon 2006).
Rosner (1978:299), a doctor and medical historian, suggests that Saul 'may have had frequent epileptic seizures', which are also termed 'convulsive disorders' (Berkow & Talbott 1977:1404). He justifies his viewpoint with reference to 1 Samuel 19:24: Saul had followed the messengers to Naioth. 'And he also stripped off his clothes and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night ...' (1 Sm 19:24). Carson et al. (1995:315) understand the word 'prophesy' to mean 'an abnormal trance-like state', which concurs with the views of Rosner (1978:229).
If Saul (as described in the biblical narrative) had some kind of epilepsy it is possible that such a condition may have been caused by a brain tumour or a tumour on or inside his cranium. The description of his behaviour in 1 Samuel 19:24 is, to a certain extent, reminiscent of an epileptic fit. However, it is perplexing that Saul ruled for about 34 years, yet he only suffered one such episode (as depicted in the Bible). If this character had been suffering from a brain tumour, he would have had many more such episodes with the progression of the disease (Berkow & Talbott 1977:1437-1438).
Saul's 'depression' and 'post-traumatic stress disorder'
Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)3 is the name given to a psychiatric disorder caused by partaking in, or experiencing, traumatic events. The symptoms, according to Young (1988:203), would include: images and nightmares of the trauma as the original event is 're-played', depression and anxiety, insomnia and waking up at night screaming.
Young (1988:204) explains that events which cause severe trauma are usually those acts which are contrary to good or sound morals. During combat, troops fight for their lives and kill the enemy in a sort of 'autopilot mode' without internalising the seriousness of their acts, enabling a numbness of moral responsibility to set in at that time (Young 1988:208). Examples of this would be the slaughter of innocent women and children in a combat situation, which Saul was commanded by God to carry out (1 Sm 11:6-11). He also witnessed King Agag of the Amalekites being hacked to pieces by the prophet Samuel (1 Sm 15:33). Young does not mention King Saul at all, but when the principles of PTSD are being applied to assess Saul's condition according to his stress situations (as they appear in 1 Samuel), the application appears to be relevant to Saul's situation.
The passage of 1 Samuel 16:14 makes it clear that Saul was at times possessed by 'an evil spirit sent by God' which was 'tormenting' him (as displayed by the anti-Saul version). However, it is possible that mental images of the original trauma were re-playing in his mind at times. According to Sanford (1985:61-62), Saul suffered from depression; his servants suggested music therapy administered by the harpist, David (1 Sm 16:16), which seemed beneficial (1 Sm 16:23). The 'evil spirit' from God that troubled Saul (according to the anti-Saul version) and his attempt to kill David by throwing a spear at him, also indicate that the king was very irritable and prone to displays of aggression (1 Sm 18:10-12). His paranoia indicates that he suffered from delusional thoughts, a symptom common to most manic patients (Ben-Noun 2003:274). Ben-Noun (2003:274) believes that David ministered music therapy to Saul at night because of the king's insomnia (1 Sm 16:23). He is also of the opinion that the king's apparent depression with characteristic insomnia, feelings of worthlessness (1 Sm 18:28-29), indecisive behaviour (his dependence on Samuel) and paranoia complex (1 Sm 18:9), indicate that his condition eventually developed into a psychosis as a result of his troubled relationship with David (Ben-Noun 2003:275). Saul felt threatened by David, and with good reason, because by that time, David, unbeknown to Saul, was already the new king-in-waiting (1 Sm 16:13). Perhaps Saul was far more perceptive than anyone had ever realised!
The other classic symptoms of PTSD - the nightmares and waking up screaming - are not mentioned in the Old Testament. However, it is mentioned that Saul flew into jealous rages and ranted (1 Sm 18:10) and although the Bible does not mention at what time of day or frequency this took place, it could well be regarded as part of his possible PTSD.
As stated above, King Saul's PTSD was most probably exacerbated by the ancient Israelite's adherence to the principle of herem.4 This principle is translated as 'forfeited property' (Alcalay 1990:826), where forbidden people or things are sacrificed to God. Greenberg (2007:10) maintains that the category of herem applicable in this case is Israelites who worship other gods. This would include groups or individuals, their idols and objects of worship. The total destruction of the enemy was regarded as an act of homage to God, whilst the Israelite troops were merely God's assistants (Jdg 5:23). Dunn and Rogerson (2003:224) agree that this sacrifice was regarded as a type of burnt offering to God because it usually took the form of a conflagration destroying the entire population, their livestock, crops and dwellings.5 Greenberg (2007:11), though, is convinced that there are too few incidents to state that herem was a general rule of ancient Israelite warfare.
The lives of most people in ancient times were very stressful, especially those of kings, who were expected to judge (2 Sm 15:2), rule in a morally correct way (2 Sm 23:3), obey the law (1 Ki 2:3), formulate law (Dn 3:29), and declare war and give pardon (1 Sm 11:5-11; 2 Sm 14:1-11). Most of 1 Samuel narrates Saul's gradual mental decline, including Saul's later symptoms of re-active depression, paranoia, hysteria, violence and mood swings (Young 1988:196). Because Saul had witnessed atrocities in battle, possibly even been part of them, the chances are that he had suffered from PTSD. The attack on the Amalekites in the city of Amalek, where Saul was instructed by God to annihilate an entire people, their possessions and livestock (1 Sm 15:3), comes to mind as an example of one such trauma.
Biblical perspectives on the life of Saul
Saul's condition and the stress of his royal responsibilities
Besides the traumas of war, one cannot help but wonder whether Saul really wanted to become king. He was not ambitious - he was appointed by God without a choice in the matter (Carson et al. 1995:305). The way he hid behind the supplies at Mizpah (1 Sm 10:22) is clearly part of the anti-Saul narrative, which caused some to question his willingness to reign (1 Sm 10:27). Dunn and Rogerson (2003:219) are unsure whether Saul's hiding demonstrates mere modesty or a character flaw. Sanford (1985:26-27), however, believes that Saul was ego-centric and had run away from a situation which he perceived was a threat to him; he was too insecure within himself to handle the heavy responsibilities of kingship. Green (2003:43), a Biblical historian, agrees with this point of view and observes that Saul was uncomfortable and hesitant. This was borne out by the fact that after being proclaimed king at Mizpah, Saul returned home. Carson et al. (1995:307) maintain that everyone went home, including Saul, who was, for a time, dependent on his farm for a living because a taxation system was not yet in place at the beginning of the monarchy. Green (2003:40), on the other hand, feels that this was done to escape his royal responsibilities.
The narratives in the Old Testament tell us how the spirit of God boosted Saul's kingly self-confidence and enabled the real royal personality of Saul to manifest, replacing all his insecurities (Sanford 1985:30) in such a way that he led Israel to victory (1 Sm 11:11) against the Ammonites (1 Sm 11:4) and the Philistines. Dunn and Rogerson (2003:220) refer to this as a 'God - Saul transfer' which won the day (this was most probably written by the pro-Saul supporters).
The relationship between Saul and the prophet Samuel
The relationship between Saul and the prophet Samuel was a difficult one (Carson et al. 1995:310). Samuel had promised to meet Saul at Gilgal to perform a sacrifice prior to the battle at Michmash (1 Sm 13:8). As the prophet was late in arriving and Saul's troops were deserting, the king performed the sacrifice himself (1 Sm 13:9). This 'error of judgement', which was 'not intentional' and under no circumstance accompanied by 'even the slightest hint of challenging of authority', and which could not thereafter be corrected, creates a feeling of compassion towards the tragic hero (Amit 2000a:174). Samuel, who appeared soon afterwards, was furious, saying 'your kingdom shall not continue' (1 Sm 13:14). Oded (2007:79) maintains that the prophet may have regarded Saul's action as an attempt to usurp his own ritual power. There was no clear separation between political and religious leaders during this period and Saul was regarded as the bridge in Israel's transition from judge-rule to king-rule (Myers 1962b:231). According to Oded (2007:79), this was the main reason for the clashes between the two.
Samuel was opposed to kingship; he regarded God as his only king because his own mother, Hannah, had dedicated him to God in answer to her prayer for a child (1 Sm 1:27). Although the people demanded a king (1 Sm 12:3, 18), Samuel was still determined to continue to wield power over Israel through Saul (1 Sm 12:22-25; cf. Oded 2007:79). Green (2003:46) emphasises that there was no kingly mentor from whom Saul could learn. If Saul had been supported by a more sympathetic prophet such as Nathan, his story may have been a more positive one (Myers 1962a:232; cf. Boshoff et al. 2000:77).
The love-hate relationship between Saul and David
The love-hate relationship that Saul experienced with David warrants some attention. At first Saul welcomed David into his domain: initially as a musician to heal his dark moods - and grew very fond of him in the process (1 Sm 16:21-23) - then, as a champion 'giant-killer', he joined Saul's army (1 Sm 17:51; 18:5). Saul became very jealous of David's fame and feared that he would become the next king (1 Sm 18:9). 'But when Saul saw and knew that the Lord was with David ... Saul was still more afraid of David. So Saul was David's enemy continually' (1 Sm 18:28-29). From this stage onward there begins a long period of suffering, during which Saul behaves like a man pursued, suspecting those who are closest to him. At about that time, Samuel had secretly anointed David as the next king. Although his act had been sanctioned by God, it was still fraught with treason and deceit; Samuel had to ensure that Saul never found out (1 Sm 16:1-13; Carson et al. 1995:313; Amit 2000a:175). Clearly these chapters were penned by the anti-Saul narrators.
Saul and the medium at Endor
Because God had not answered his pleas for help and guidance before the battle, Saul then committed an 'unthinkable act' - he consulted a medium at Endor, contravening his own edicts in the process for he had banished all soothsayers from Israel (1 Sm 28:9). The medium got in touch with the spirit of the dead Samuel, who was angry at being disturbed (1 Sm 28:15-16). Samuel's message to Saul was that both he and his sons would die during the battle and Israel would be defeated.6 This was confirmation of Saul's worst anxieties (1 Sm 28:19), which could explain his 'heroic' suicide, (so called by the pro-Saul authors), before his inevitable capture at Mount Gilboa. He did not want his body to be dishonoured by the Philistines, his enemies (1 Sm 31:4).
It is ironic that, in his despair, Saul broke the law by consulting a banned medium. Sorcery, which included soothsaying, divining, necromancy and casting spells, was contrary to God's holy law (Rosner 2000:287; Dt 18:9-14). Witchcraft was outlawed and those found guilty were killed (Ex 22:18). This incident merely confirms Saul's depressed state of mind at his rejection by God (Carson et al. 1995:319; Dunn & Rogerson 2003:228). Saul was convinced that he saw Samuel and heard what he most feared - that he was doomed to die7 (1 Sm 28:19; Carson et al. 1995:319; cf. Dunn & Rogerson 2003:228). However, Rosner's (1978:313) view is that Saul did not actually see the ghost of Samuel at Endor, but presumed it was the old prophet from the description of his garb as provided by the medium.
Saul's fear of capture by the Philistines during his final battle was justified. He fell on his sword and committed suicide (1 Sm 31:5) rather than be taken prisoner and humiliated by the Philistines (1 Sm 31:4 - pro-Saul version; Boshoff et al. 2000:83). Rosner (1978:312) finds Saul's behaviour understandable in view of the emotive circumstances. Nevertheless, it is uncertain why Saul's bones were burnt; Carson et al. (1995:320) suggest that it was meant to honour the bodies of the king and his sons and to prevent abuse of them at the hands of the Philistine victors (1 Sm 31:9-10 - pro-Saul version?). Dunn and Rogerson (2003:229), however, believe that this passage is part of the anti-Saul narrative because burning was regarded as desecration of the body.
Possible remedies during biblical times
Sanford (1985:65) notes that the king's courtiers did not summon a doctor to treat Saul's illness, although there must have been well-trained physicians in Israel as there were in Greece, for instance. Yet, no mention is made of herbalists or herbal medications. The reason for this was that the prophets, who had a special relationship with God, were spiritual leaders not healers and regarded illnesses as coming from God - healing also would come only from God through prayer (Sanford 1985:66).
No medication is mentioned in the Old Testament to combat a condition similar to depression, only indirect avoidance techniques, such as seeking out the positive (Dt 26:11), laughter (Dt 28:47) and counting one's blessings (Ps 2:11), were recommended. If one can accept that Saul suffered from depression and some kind of epilepsy, the following could have been prescribed as possible treatments for both during biblical times:
Germer (1993:35) mentions that frankincense (Boswelia serrata) was used during biblical times to ward off evil spirits. Saul may have received this remedy because he was, according to some authors of the Old Testament narratives, 'possessed by an evil spirit', which we would recognise as depression or something similar.
Pomegranate (Punica granatum) rind was regarded as a very important aid in warding off the demons that caused sickness and disease. The tree was even held to be sacred because no demon would come near it (Harrison 1966:27). However, there is no indication that it was used in Saul's case.
Sigerist (cited in Powell 1993:53) believes that magical incantations, the power of suggestion and the patient's religious beliefs were used to induce them into a receptive frame of mind so that the body could stimulate its own healing mechanisms.
Originally cultivated in Assyria and found in Israel, laurel or sweet bay (Laurus nobilis) seed was used as an antidote for seizures (possibly epileptic). The leaves and fruit were believed to have narcotic properties (Jacob 1993:40). Pliny the Elder is in agreement with this view (Jacob 1993:41).
There are few archaeological skeletal remains available in Israel because Jewish religious law (halakhah) views the grave of a deceased as sacred and any skeletal remains discovered in the course of an archaeological dig have to be re-buried as fast as possible (Greeff 2005:84). This religious belief unfortunately does not encourage scientific examination of any remains found (Greeff 2005:85) because the type of testing that can be performed on such remains is also restricted (2005:84). Autopsies were similarly forbidden by the Talmud as they would dishonour the deceased (Talmud - Baba Bathra 155b; cf. Rosner 2000:35; Dell 2008:87-88).8
Talmudic prespectives on Saul
Although the Talmudic9 sages were very pro-Saul, there is surprisingly little Talmudic material available on Saul's 'condition'. Rosner (2000:115) believes that Saul may have suffered from epilepsy10 based on the words 'fallen down' in 1 Samuel 19:24. Moses Maimonides (cited in Rosner 2000:184) interprets this as referring to kordiakos11 , as discussed in the Mishnah when a man suffering from delirium requests a bill of divorce for his wife (Mishnah - Gittin 7:1). If Saul had been an epileptic (nikpheh - literally meaning 'one who writhes' - Rosner 1978:300), then the rabbis believed that his disorder may have been caused by: indecent behaviour during cohabitation (the nature of which is not clarified), or standing naked in front of a lit lamp. Cohabitation by lamplight would also result in an epileptic child, and the same applied when a child younger than one year lay at the foot of the cohabitants (Talmud - Pesachim 112b), whilst cohabitation immediately after defecation (Talmud - Gittin 70a) and blood-letting also resulted in the birth of a child afflicted with epilepsy (Midrash - Leviticus Rabbah 16:1). There is no mention in the Talmud that Saul suffered from melancholy12 , although remedies were prescribed for this condition.
A decoction of Wild rue (Ruta graveolens) plant was recommended by Dioscorides13 (3:52) for epilepsy. This plant is native to the Mediterranean region and Daniel (2006:77) also documents its modern anti-epileptic use (cf. 1984:270). The seeds of the Chaste Tree (Agnes castus vitex; Dioscorides 1:135) would be applied to the body generally as a poultice with oil and vinegar to remedy epilepsy. Chiej (1984:157) believes that a branch of the Chaste Tree would be hung over a doorway to discourage evil spirits in ancient times but provides no further information in this regard.
A Midrashic remedy for epilepsy would include being cared for by a suitable physician (Leviticus Rabbah 26:5). The Talmud refers to depression as 'melancholy' or 'heaviness of heart' and the sages said that this problem would be treated by eating three barley cakes topped with a Persian milk sauce (Talmud - Gittin 69a) or consuming dates (Talmud - Kethuboth 10b). The use of amulets for healing was also permitted according to halakhah (Jewish religious law), as long as idolatry was not involved. Wearing the image of a pagan god was prohibited, although it was regarded as superstitious, rather than heretical, if the patient believed that it was therapeutic (Rosner 1978:147). The rabbis recommended the use of 'approved'14 amulets for medical purposes to ward off or to treat epileptic fits, although they could not be displayed in the street because that was forbidden as idolatry (Talmud - Shabbath 61a). Those worn around the neck had to be hidden underneath the clothing of the patient. Two types were permitted: an amulet consisting of parchment with words of the Torah written across it, or an amulet of herbs, as is the practice in African cultures today.
The story of Saul as portrayed in the pages of the Old Testament is a complex one. It is difficult to give an objective opinion, if at all, on Saul's condition because the narrative is fraught with the subjective tension between the pro-Saul and anti-Saul camps. If an unbiased view can be gleaned from the polarised writings, it would be that Saul was king for about 34 years and that he fulfilled the peoples' need for a king to stand up for them against the Amalekite, Ammonite and Philistine threats (Oded 2007:78). Most of his reign was characterised by freedom from conscription and taxation. At Gilgal (1 Sm 11:12-13) 'he was again proclaimed king and portrayed as a magnanimous person who spared the life of his foes' (Scheffler 2001:67). War was fought by volunteers and funds were made available by donations received (Siegman 1967:1096). His reign was largely burdened with war stress and the defences of his territory.
The personality and power clash between Saul and Samuel can be explained by the probability that there was, in those times, no clear separation between 'church and state'. Saul's relationship with his son-in-law that 'he loved to hate', was difficult and it contributed to his deteriorating mental health. As such, he vented his rage onto David.
Although reluctant to rule (1 Sm 10:22), Saul won many battles and was more humane towards his enemies than many others of his time. He was a free spirit who did not accept Samuel's brutality in killing King Agag. Apparently, Saul did not seem to think and react in the way that kings of his day were expected to.
The Saul narrative clearly displays his humaneness as well as his errors of judgement. His paranoia regarding David's kingly ambitions may have initially been absurd but there must have been an intuitive side to Saul, as his fears proved to be well founded - God had indeed chosen another king, leaving Saul on the throne until 'his time was up', seemly sidelining him until his death. The incident with the spirit medium at Endor was born out of desperation. It is almost as if Saul expected confirmation that he would not win the battle of Mount Gilboa. Perhaps, in Saul's case, it was a matter of living with so much fear and negativity that his anxieties eventually became his reality and, as such, it is not surprising that he took his own life. To a certain extent Saul's suicide could be justified under the circumstances.
Unlike the Old Testament, the Talmud mentions epilepsy in some detail, as well as its many causes and treatments, but there is no mention of King Saul ever suffering from it. Some rabbis recommended the care of a physician (Midrash - Leviticus Rabbah 26:5), whilst others preferred the use of amulets because it was efficacious practice (Talmud - Shabbath 61a; cf. Rosner 1978:147). The Talmud also acknowledges depression but refers to it either as 'melancholy' or 'heaviness of heart' for which the sages prescribed treatments. However, there is no indication in the Talmud that Saul was inflicted with this problem.
Archaeological evidence of skulls manifesting tumours is very sparse in Israel on account of the strict laws of halakhah, which requires that any skeletal discoveries be reburied hastily to avoid desecrating the grave. Unfortunately, this procedure does not favour acquisition of new archaeological knowledge and only certain tests can be performed on the human remains. It is very difficult in Israel for 'science' and 'religion' to co-operate in this discipline and, as such, the subject is a very contentious one.
Rosner (1978:311) is not certain that Saul suffered from a mental illness at all. His opinion is that the king was simply overwrought and terribly stressed by various events in his kingdom, particularly the guerrilla warfare with his neighbours, the Philistines; when he tried to prevent his army from deserting, he was upbraided by Samuel. He knew that his days as king were numbered, that his kingdom would be given to another and he was rejected by both Samuel and God and humiliated before his people. The Old Testament mentions symptoms which could be described as an epileptic fit (1 Sm 19:23-24), but there is mention of only one such possible episode. If he had many attacks, the Bible does not document this, nor does it mention whether Saul had any pre-existing disorders before becoming king.
It might be reasonable to conclude that Saul's mysterious malady was most likely 'depression', which was initially brought on by PTSD and was especially exacerbated by Samuel's bloody execution of King Agag (in strict compliance of the enemy herem principle) after the battle against the Amalekites.
I would like to thank the University of South Africa for the study bursary that enabled me to write the dissertation from which this article is an extract, as well as Prof. M. le Roux for her valuable assistance.
The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationship(s) which may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.
This article was written by G.P.W. (University of South Africa) with meaningful and concise contributions throughout the text by M.l.R. (University of South Africa).
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Magdel le Roux
Postal address: 404 Portland Place, London Road
Sea Point 8005, South Africa
Received: 05 July 2010
Accepted: 21 Apr. 2011
Published: 20 Jan. 2012
© 2012. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS OpenJournals. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License.
1. It is not within the scope of this article to deal with the issue at stake surrounding the existence of the 'state of Israel' or surrounding the persons of Saul or David.
2. Boshoff et al. (2000:82) state that the narrative of Saul in 1 Samuel contains at least two contradictory elements. 'The earlier pro-Saul and pro-monarchic narrative appears in 1 Samuel 9:1-10:16; 11; 13-14; 31' and 'the later anti-Saul and anti-monarchic narrative appears in 1 Samuel 8; 10:17-27; 12 and 15. This was most probably because the Deuteronomist who compiled the larger narrative of Deuteronomy to 2 Kings, combined the two narratives about Saul' (cf. Amit's 2000b:647-661 discussion on the significant differences of the Chronicler's presentation of King Saul, and the version in 1 Samuel & cf. Knoppers 2006:187-213).
3. The Institute for the Treatment of PTSD is part of the United States Veterans Administration Medical System and its findings were that almost all of its patients were Vietnam War veterans (Young 1988:203). The Institute's psychiatrists discovered that the veterans' emotional disorders originated because of their involvement in, or enforced observation of, war-related atrocities, such as the torture and violent killing of prisoners-of-war, civilians and their fellow Americans (Young 1988:203).
4. This means 'forbidden or to become sacred' (Greenberg 2007:10).
5. Almost similar to the so-called 'scorched earth policy' practiced by the Zulu king, Shaka, and in later times, the British during the Anglo-Boer War (Coulson et al. 1980:762).
6. Although not mentioned by Boshoff et al. (2000:83) as an anti-Saul view, these passages also depict Saul as weak and powerless.
7. This was probably part of the anti-Saul narrative, because it shows the king to be a weak and criminal character.
8. Evidence of brain tumours and other such medical conditions has been recorded in some cases where scientific examination of archaeological remains has been conducted. A simple benign bony tumour called an osteomata consists of a 'button' tumour that manifests as a small mound on the outside of the cranium on the skull and is depicted diagrammatically in Brothwell and Sandison (1967:142, Figure 54B). The remains date back to the Neolithic period. An X-ray of an adult skull excavated from Lima, Peru in 1936 displays a small tumour situated on the right side of the skull (Ortner & Putschar 1981:379). Another type of simple tumour called a compact osteoma, displays very little demarcation between the bone and the tumour itself. Some tumours of this kind, however, can appear inside the skull, where they can exert pressure on the surface of the brain leading to epilepsy (Zivanovic 1982:139).
9. Despite the fact that the Talmud is much younger than the biblical narratives, it is still valuable because it was written in order to elucidate the biblical text.
10. Also called a 'falling sickness' (Rosner 2000:184).
11. The Talmud describes this to mean 'being overcome by new wine from the vat' (Gittin 67b).
12. Described as 'habitual tendency to sadness and depression' (Coulson et al. 1980:529).
13. A physician in the Roman army during the 1st century CE.
14. An approved amulet (kemiya) was one that had healed three men simultaneously. | <urn:uuid:b1951b39-9d66-4dbb-a3d4-8c545afe6c30> | {
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Macrophages - immune cells that engulf and digest particles and pathogens - provide a first line of defense against bacteria and viruses and can also help destroy cancer cells. Macrophages play a paradoxical role, with M1 macrophages rousing the immune system to action and M2 macrophages quelling inflammation. Researchers have found that cancer cells evade destruction by macrophages in two ways - by converting cells to become docile, M2 macrophages, and by sending out an "eat me not" signal that tricks M1 macrophages into letting them be. Investigators from Brigham and Women's Hospital have developed a therapeutic that delivers a double whammy to knock out both mechanisms. In preclinical models, the new approach has yielded promising results. The team's findings are published today in Nature Biomedical Engineering.
"Clinicians are increasingly realizing that one drug or a one-size-fits-all approach is not enough when combatting cancer, and that a combination immunotherapy, such as blocking two distinct targets in the same immune cell, is the future of immuno-oncology. Our approach capitalizes on this concept," said co-corresponding author Ashish Kulkarni, PhD, a former instructor in the Division of Engineering in Medicine at BWH and assistant professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
Kulkarni and colleagues have previously reported on the design and engineering of supramolecules - therapeutics that are built from component molecules that click together like building blocks. To reinvigorate macrophages, the team designed a supramolecule that could block the "don't eat me" signal that cancer cells can produce and simultaneously inhibit signaling that converts macrophages to M2 subtype.
The researchers tested the supramolecular therapeutic in animal models of aggressive forms of breast cancer and skin cancer, comparing their drug directly with a drug currently available in the clinic. Mice that were untreated formed large tumors by Day 10. Mice treated with currently available therapies showed decreased tumor growth. But mice treated with the new supramolecular therapy had complete inhibition of tumor growth. The team also reported an increase in survival and a significant reduction in metastatic nodes.
"We can actually see macrophages eating cancer cells," said co-corresponding author Shiladitya Sengupta, PhD, BWH associate bioengineer and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, citing confocal microscopy images published in the paper that show macrophages (red) engulfing cancer cells (green).
The researchers plan to continue testing the new therapy in preclinical models to evaluate safety, efficacy and dosage. The supramolecular therapy they have designed has been licensed and they hope to move the therapeutic into clinical trials in the years ahead should preclinical testing continue to show promise.
Funding for this work was provided by a Department of Defense Breakthrough Award (BC132168), an American Lung Association Innovation Award (LCD-259932-N), an NCI UO1 (CA214411), a National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health (P50CA168504) and Hearst Foundation/Brigham and Women's Hospital Young Investigator Award.
Paper cited: Kulkarni, Ashish et al. "A designer self-assembled supramolecule amplifies macrophage immune responses against aggressive cancer" Nature Biomedical Engineering DOI:10.1038/s41551-018-0254-6 | <urn:uuid:312c36f9-9285-48fd-b7bd-c6e6953709b3> | {
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The Flag of Ladonia
The Ladonian Flag, also known as “the Glorious Green”, was standardised by Hendrik Lönngren in February of 2008.
The flag is a green field with a green cross. The background and the cross have the same colour, which is expressed in sRGB: 0, 144, 0 (#x009000). The flag is 13 by 21 units in height and length, the cross arms 3 units. Horizontal parts is 5 : 3 : 13, vertical 5 : 3 : 5. Only fibonaccital have been used. As is the nature of the Fibonacci numbers, the flag propotion 21:13 is near the Golden Ratio 1.618.
On physical flags, the stitching on the fabric makes the cross discernible. In 2D graphics or on flags that are screen printed (as opposed to sewn or embroidered), the cross can be very difficult to see, so it is acceptable to use a very light white outline around the cross (see Figure A).
There are two national anthems. One is composed by Greve Jan Lothe von Eriksen and is executed when a stone is thrown into the water. The other is composed by the Minister of Health and can be described as a tone poem on the development of Ladonian freedom.
The Ladonian language consists of two words: “waaaall” and “ÿp”. The official language is phrased latin, but English, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Finnish, German and French are also accepted. A new citizen will choose a latin phrase (or a latin word) and thus be able to communicate with this.
The currency is Örtug, 1 Örtug is around 1 Euro or 10 Swedish Krona. | <urn:uuid:c7725493-db0e-43d7-812b-e76ca81caf2d> | {
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The Thecodontosaurus meaned socket toothed lizard. Fossils for this Triassic dinosaur were found in South England and Wales. The first fossils of the Thecodontosaurus was destroyed by bombings from Germany in WWII in 1940. More skeleton fossils had been found what was thought in Australia, but probably from England instead.
The Original classification of Thecodontosaurus was a Prosauropoda which was in 1998. but shortly after it was realized that this dinosaur should've been under the Sauropod classification because this dinosaur existed during the timeline where a prosauropod classification was created. Thecodontosaurus just was a little too primitive to fit under the Prosauropoda category.
The Thecodontosaurus was about 1.3 meters long, with a short neck, large skull, large eyes, and leaf shaped teeth. This herbivores hands and feet each had five digits, the hands were long and rather narrow with an extended claw on each. The front limbs were also much shorter than the legs, and the tail was much longer than the head, neck and body put together.
There has also been a major claim that this dinosaur is actually an already described different dinosaur called Pantydraco. | <urn:uuid:b24458d4-8bf9-42f4-80b4-0c4a01ea0b8b> | {
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Title: Florence Nightingale
Publisher: Henry Holt and Company
Publication Date: 2014
Audience: Grades 1-4
Summary: Florence Nightingale was reared with every advantage: wealth, devoted parents, a fine library and a classical education, travel, and association with the great artists, writers and politicians of the day. What really interested Florence, though, was playing hospital and caring for sick dolls. As Florence grew, she felt God wanted her to help people and sensed that nursing was her calling. The idea horrified her family because nursing in 1850 was not a respectable profession for a girl of her social standing. Still Florence continued to educate herself about the world of medicine by visiting hospitals and orphanages on the European continent, talking with doctors, and keeping copious notes, until her parents reluctantly accepted her decision. Her first work was with a charity hospital in London where she stressed cleanliness, organization, nutritious meals and bells so that patients could summon nurses. In 1854 England was at war with Russia and Florence was asked to take 38 nurses to work in the military hospitals of the Crimean War. The doctors at first refused her help until increased fighting, casualties and death forced them to turn to Florence where her practice reduced the numbers of deaths by two-thirds. It was here that she earned the name “The Lady with the Lamp” as she walked through the hospital at night with a lantern checking on patients. This time of service affected her health and she was an invalid for much of the remainder of her life. Returning to England Florence found that she was famous. People gave money for her cause and she established the Nightingale Training School for Nurses in London, sending her nurses to transform hospital care around the world. Because of her health she could no longer be a nurse; she could still continue to write and influence medical care for the army and for the poor. The Red Cross is an outgrowth of her work.
Literary elements at work in the story: This book demonstrates the problems and the blessings of biographies for the young. It is large, colorful and inviting with simple clear text but the “ birth to death” overview omits events and ideas that would bring her story to clearer light. The author had to choose. The pictures are done in water colors that recreate Victorian rooms vividly; the hospital pictures are almost too spacious and sanitary, the children too precious and clean. Pictures and the reality they represent are at odds. As an adult, Florence is easily identified because she always wears a dark blue dress. A useful time line and suggestions for further reading are included at the end.
How does the perspective on gender/race/culture/economics/ability make a difference to the story? It took patience, courage, and determination for Florence to realize her dream when the only suitable future for a woman was marriage and children. Doctors at the front were prejudiced against women. Both the advantages of wealth and the needs of the poor are evident.
Theological Conversation Partners: “Florence was a religious person, and she felt that God wanted her to help people”. With one sentence Demi deals with the prime motivation of Nightingale’s life. (Nightingale was, in fact, a devout, though unorthodox, Christian who experienced a strong call from God and who was influenced by a Lutheran orphanage and Catholic sisters. She was a universalist and appreciative of other faiths but she was a member, a critical member, of the Church of England all her life.) Should children be curious about her religious motivation the answers will need to be found outside these pages. Her life opens the themes of “call” or “vocation”, of the gifts we receive and our stewardship of them. She is a model of disciplined preparation, of perseverance in practice, of broad compassion. Her influence, as salt and light, has permeated medical care around the world. The Bible is full of instances of specific calls, some to heal: Isaiah 6: 8; Matt 1:18-22; Luke 9:1,2.;Romans 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1. Paul reminds us that the Spirit has given gifts to each member of the Body of Christ, 1 Cor: 12:4-7. 1 Peter 4:10 is an admonition to use our gifts to serve. Jesus’ parable of compassion, Luke 10:25-37, is well illustrated by Florence’s life.
Faith Talk Questions:
- Have you ever been in a hospital? It can be very good place to get well, thanks to Florence Nightingale. Look at some of the pictures in the book and see what hospitals were like before she changed them.
- Florence Nightingale was a very gifted person. What were some of these gifts? What were some of her abilities and experiences. How can an experience be a gift?
- Paul tells us the Spirit gives every Christian gifts to be used for others. Do you know people with gifts or abilities? What gifts has God given you to help others?
- Florence felt that she was called by God. Another word for call is “vocation.” Some people feel this call at an early age and it becomes the work of their lives. How did Florence hear this call?
- What did this call mean for Florence’s life? How did she prepare for it?
- Can you think of other people in the Bible who were called?
- Read one of the stories about Jesus’ healing. Florence read these stories. How do you think they influenced her? (Luke 4:12-16; Luke 5:17-25; Luke 14:1-6;Mark 8:22-26; Matthew 14:34-35; Matthew 15:29-31)
- What does God call you to do today ?
Regular contributor Virginia Thomas offers the third review in a six book series of biographies for children and young people.
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You are here
We know your kids are excited to learn to drive, and this can be a good thing for you, too. Use their interest in this topic to have conversations about safety and what the rules will be in your household when they begin to drive. Your driver will need to be a safe passenger, not just in your car, but in every car. But this is an area where safety must come first, and it’s never too early to start. Here are few steps that will help.
Top Safety Tips
- Talk to your kids about driver and passenger safety. We’ll make it easy for you. Check out our Countdown2drive program, which helps you put together a passenger agreement and guidelines for teens that are specially tailored to your family.
- Kids are always watching, even when you think they’re not. So be a good example. Try to eliminate distractions by not using a cell phone or texting while driving. Teach your teen or preteen to read maps and help with finding locations.
- Make it a rule that kids younger than 13 ride like a VIP – in the back. This is the safest place for preteens and younger children to sit.
- When carpooling, make sure you have enough seating positions and booster seats for every child in your car and that kids enter and exit curbside. Child no longer need booster seats when they can pass the following Safety Belt Fit Test:
- The child’s knees should bend at the edge of the seat when his or her back and bottom are against the vehicle seat back;
- The vehicle lap belt should fit across the upper thighs; and
- The shoulder belt should fit across the shoulder and chest. Children are usually between 8 and 12 years old when the seat belt fits them properly. | <urn:uuid:883a7435-5bbf-4e53-8bb8-a61a040af310> | {
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Gallstones are solid lumps or "stones" which form in the gallbladder or bile duct. They are formed when some of the chemicals stored in the gallbladder harden. They may be as tiny as a grain of sand or as big as a golf ball, and resemble small stones or gravel. Some people get just one large stone, others may have hundreds of tiny ones. Having gallstones is not uncommon. It may be present in 10% of the population, and usually without symptoms. Only if they begin to obstruct the bile system do problems such as infection and inflammation begin.
This information was published by Bupa's health information team and is based on reputable sources of medical evidence. It has been peer reviewed by Bupa doctors. The content is intended for general information only and does not replace the need for personal advice from a qualified health professional.
Sometimes, gallstones cause no symptoms at all. These are called "silent stones" and require no treatment.
The most common symptoms produced by gallstones are:
- Abdominal pain that can become severe, lasting from 30 minutes to several hours,
- Pain under the right shoulder or between the shoulder blades,
These tend to occur after a fatty meal or during the night. Other symptoms may include abdominal bloating, gas, and indigestion.
Serious symptoms that need immediate medical consultation are:
- Yellowing of the skin or the whites of the eyes,
- Dark urine and pale clay-coloured stools.
The factors that contribute to getting gallstones include:
- Obesity – a major factor, especially in women.
- Excess oestrogen, one of the female sex hormones, from pregnancy, oral contraceptive pills or hormone replacement therapy (HRT).
- Gender - women aged 20 to 60 are twice as likely as men to develop gallstones.
- Age – people over 60 are at higher risk.
- Cholesterol-lowering drugs. These decrease the amount of cholesterol in the blood but increase the amount of cholesterol in the bile.
- Diabetes – this causes high levels of fatty acids which increase the risk of gallstones.
- Rapid weight loss – causes the liver to secrete extra cholesterol.
- Fasting – decreases gallbladder movement.
Sometimes gallstones, especially "silent stones", are found by chance during tests for other problems. If stones are suspected, doctors can perform a variety of tests to identify them:
- Ultrasound - soundwaves are used to create images of the internal organs and pinpoint the location of any stones,
- Imaging with iodine - an iodine pill is given the night before the test, or an injection of special iodine dye, which makes the biliary system show up on X-ray images.
- ERCP (Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography) - a long, flexible, telescope with a light at the end is guided through the mouth and down through the stomach into the small intestine. This enables the doctor to view the ducts directly and locate any stones.
- Blood and/or urine tests - these may be used to check for signs of infection and inflammation.
Bile is made up of water, cholesterol, other fats, bile salts and a pigment called bilirubin. Gallstones form when the usual balance of these substances is upset.
There are two types of gallstones:
- Cholesterol gallstones are the most common, accounting for about 80% of cases. These are formed when there is too much bilirubin or cholesterol in the bile, or not enough bile salts. They may also occur when the gallbladder does not empty as it should. Cholesterol gallstones are usually yellowish green.
- Pigment stones are small and dark and made of bilirubin. Their cause is uncertain although they tend to develop in people who suffer from liver disease, bile tract infections or hereditary blood disorders such as sickle-cell anaemia.
People can live healthily without a gallbladder, and the most common treatment for problem gallstones is surgical removal of the gallbladder. There are several surgical options:
- Laparoscopic cholecystectomy (keyhole surgery). This is the most common treatment. After a general anaesthetic, a number of tiny cuts, usually four, are made in the abdomen, through which surgical instruments and a miniature video camera are inserted. The gallbladder is removed without cutting through any abdominal muscles, and if necessary, ERCP (see above) can be used to locate and remove stones in the bile duct. Keyhole surgery causes less pain and fewer complications than surgery involving larger cuts in the abdomen.
- Open surgery. Sometimes, keyhole surgery is not possible and an "open" cholecystectomy is necessary. This involves the removal of the gall bladder under general anaesthetic through a cut in the abdomen.
- The operation is generally safe, and for most people the benefits are greater than the disadvantages. However, all surgery does carry some risk. The most common complication in gallbladder surgery is damage to the bile ducts, which may require additional surgery.
Other treatments options
In special situations (for example, if a patient cannot be given an anaesthetic), non-surgical treatment of stones may be necessary. One approach is to use medicines to dissolve the stones, but this treatment is not suitable for everyone and may take a very long time. Another approach, extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL), uses shock waves to break up the stones into tiny pieces that can then pass easily out of the system. However, attacks of intense colic pain are common after ESWL and the success rate is not high.
Factors that reduce the risk of getting gallstones include:
- Maintaining normal weight and avoiding fasts or very low-calorie diets
- Taking regular vigorous exercise
- Eating a diet rich in vitamin C
- Two or three cups of coffee per day may lower the risks for men. However, the benefits and risks of caffeine intake vary from individual to individual.
This information was published by Bupa Group's Health Content Team and has been reviewed by appropriate medical or clinical professionals. To the best of their knowledge the information is current and based on reputable sources of medical evidence, however Bupa (Asia) Limited makes no representation or warranty as to the completeness or accuracy of the Content.
The information on this page, and any information on third party websites referred to on this page, is provided as a guide only. It should not be relied upon as a substitute for professional medical advice, nor is it intended to be used for medical diagnosis or treatment. Bupa (Asia) Limited is not liable for any loss or damage you suffer arising out of the use of, or reliance on, the information.
Third party websites are not owned or controlled by Bupa and any individual may be able to access and post messages on them. Bupa is not responsible for the content or availability of these third party websites. Last updated August 2017.
Digestive Disorders Foundation
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases
Talk to us
Contact our health management consultant to get details and advice.2517 5860
Mon-Fri 9am-9pm, Sat 9am-1pm (except public holidays) | <urn:uuid:f97d8093-6f68-4e21-8e05-bf1df98eb87e> | {
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Potholes are more than just a driving annoyance, they can actually damage a vehicle. So in addition to providing traffic warnings, Google now wants to use a car’s GPS navigation system to detect potholes on a road and use that info to plot a more comfortable route to a destination.
Hitting a particularly nasty pothole can throw off a vehicle’s steering alignment, or cause even worse damage. But they can also result in slower traffic as cars try to sneak around them on a busy road. So Google has filed a patent for a system that automatically monitors and reports on road quality, allowing the company to create a database of the smoothest roads in a city for improved navigation. And presumably, for also making it easier for Google’s tiny autonomous cars to get around.
The vast majority of vehicles on the road already come with some sort of GPS-based navigation system, and when connected to motion sensors mounted somewhere in the vehicle, the devices could be used to collect info on where the vehicle is being bounced around, which indicates the presence of a pothole.
The system could easily be smart enough to ignore motion sensor data from a vehicle that’s driving off-road, based on its location. And as hundreds of vehicles report in, a fairly accurate map of the most pothole-riddled streets in a city could be accumulated, allowing Google Maps to provide a faster, and smoother, route to a destination. | <urn:uuid:33cf0ed5-d120-4d21-8747-b26b9ab94d5c> | {
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Rufus King was born on March 24, 1755, at Scarboro, Massachusetts. After Maine achieved statehood in 1820, King’s hometown became Scarborough, Maine. He was the eldest son. His parents were Richard King and Sabilla Blagden King, and his father was a prosperous farmer-merchant. His father – who had fought in the French and Indian War in the successful assault on the French Fortress at Louisbourg, Canada, was a staunch Loyalist. He supported the unpopular Stamp Act – and had his home ransacked by local Sons of Liberty in 1766. In 1774 a force of local militia visited the King home, demanding the elder King recant publically his support for the Crown. The elder King died soon after, and his death instilled in his son a true passion for law and order – and a society controlled by rational men.
He received an elementary education at local schools, and at the age of 12 received a classical education at Dummer Academy in South Byfield, Massachusetts. In 1777 he would graduate from Harvard.
During the American Revolution, King would serve briefly in the Massachusetts militia as an aide to Brigadier General John Glover – whose Massachusetts “Marbleheaders” had ferried Washington and his troops across the Delaware to the Battle of Trenton two years earlier. King would serve as a Major in the militia, and participated in the siege of Newport, Rhode Island.
While his military career was short-lived, it did broaden King’s political horizons. Instead of viewing the war and the world from simply a New England perspective, his view was now more encompassing and national in outlook. It also illustrated to King the need for a strong central government that could protect interstate commerce to help the nation grow.
After his experiences in the military, he decided to pursue a legal career – studying under noted lawyer and legal philosopher, Theophilus Parsons – and entered the legal practice in 1780 in Newburyport, Massachusetts.
King had an oratorical gift, and a personal presence and bearing that soon led him into a political career. He was a member of the Massachusetts legislature from 1783 to 1785, and was sent to the Continental Congress from 1784 to 1786. He gained a reputation in the Continental Congress both as a brilliant speaker and an early opponent of the institution of slavery.
He married Mary Alsop, the daughter of a wealthy New York merchant, on March 30, 1786 during the close of his tour in the Continental Congress. She was described at the time as a great beauty, and between her appearance and her father’s prestige, she found herself a much sought-after lady of society.
“her face was oval, with finely formed nose, mouth, and chin, blue eyes, a clear brunette complexion, black hair, and fine teeth. Her movements were at once graceful and gracious, and her voice musical”King performed his final duties to his home state of Massachusetts by representing her at the Constitutional Convention. King was – at the age of 32 – one of the youngest of the delegates at the Philadelphia Convention – but was also one of the most capable orators there. He attended every session, and became – along with James Madison – one of the leading figures in promoting a true national concept of government. He took numerous notes during the proceedings – which have been studied and analyzed by historians since then.
After these duties were discharged in 1789, he moved permanently to New York to pursue his legal and political career.
In New York he was elected to the state legislature in 1789 and, just prior to the opening of the state’s legislative session, was appointed to the U.S. Senate as one of New York’s first Senators. King represented New York as a U.S. Senator for two terms.
During that time he was one of the Senate’s Federalist leaders and demonstrated a keen and insightful understanding of military issues. He became one of the key proponents for the permanent establishment of a U.S. Navy. He also supported Alexander Hamilton’s fiscal program, as well as being a strong proponent of the unpopular Jay’s Treaty. In 1791 he also became one of the directors of the First Bank of the United States.
King declined President Washington’s offer of a Cabinet post, but after his reappointment as Senator in 1796 did accept the offer to become the U.S. Ambassador to Great Britain. He would hold this position during the administration of three Presidents, and was a key figure in Britain during a difficult time of relationships between the two countries. He was instrumental in negotiating a settlement of Revolutionary War issues with the British, as well as initiating discussions on European interests in Latin America that would ultimately be expressed in the Monroe Doctrine.
King returned to the United States in 1803 – returning to his career in politics. In 1804 and 1808 he was the Federalist Vice Presidential candidate – with fellow Constitution signer Charles Cotesworth Pinckney as the Presidential candidate. He was defeated. He would run as the Federalist candidate for President in 1816 – losing to another signer of the Constitution, James Madison.
In 1805 he purchased a farm on Long Island and built a home there known as King Manor, which is a museum today. He enjoyed the peace – as well as the occasional political discussions with guests invited to dinner – during his years out of political office.
He was reappointed to the U.S. Senate by New York, where he served from 1813 – 1825. An early critic of the War of 1812, he changed his view after the British burned Washington, D.C. in 1814, because he became convinced that the U.S. was fighting a defensive war. He lent his considerable support to the war effort during the final part of the conflict.
In 1820 King expressed his views on slavery by denouncing the Missouri Compromise. In 1817 he had voted to end the slave trade. Now, three years later, he believed that there should be no compromise on the issue of slavery, but that the issue must be settled immediately and forever by the establishment of a system of compensated emancipation and resettlement of the former slaves in a colony in Africa.
King retired from the Senate n 1825 because of ill health. However, his country called on his services again in the form of President John Quincy Adams, who persuaded him to once again be the U.S. Minister to Great Britain. However, illness forced him to resign from that task a year later, and on , 1827, he died at the age of 72.
He was buried near his beloved King Manor in the cemetery of Grace Episcopal Church, Jamaica, Long Island, New York.
King was a realist, and therefore willing to change his views when the practical outweighed the philosophical. His changing view from sectional to national politics; increased power of a central government; and his dealing with Great Britain allowed him to serve his country faithfully, honorably and well.
National Archives: America’s Founding Fathers
National Park Service
Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution
Oil Portrait of Rufus King by Charles Wilson Peale: Soldier-Statesmen of the Constitution
Portrait of Mary Alsop King: Women of the Republican Court
Portrait of King: Public Domain blog
King Manor: King Manor Museum
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The numbers in this infographics speak for themselves. The first step in solving a problem is to recognize that there is one. The second step is to realize that the problem is not impossible to solve. As Dana Gunders of the Natural Resources Defense Council has stated in an interview with Vox, "Of all the challenging problems out there, reducing the amount of food we are wasting is one of the easiest". The third step is finding and implementing solutions. The amount of food we waste should shock and lead to immediate action. Food waste occurs at every level of the value chain, and solutions have to occur at all of these levels, too. Thankfully, from giving the food away to the needy to social campaigns to creating businesses based on food that would otherwise to go waste, there are many examples that should and must be followed.
You have probably heard about the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the context of its famous alumni such as Kofi Annan, the former Secretary-General of the United Nations, and world-changing inventions like GPS, the World Wide Web, or the fax machine. Not so well-known, but definitely brilliant in terms of combating food waste, is an MIT invention that dates back to the 1990s: the FoodCam. In MIT's Media Lab, a camera that beams a photo of leftovers to the entire lab has been installed. Whenever there are leftovers from, say, a scientific conference, the organizers can bring the leftovers to the kitchen, leave them under the FoodCam, and simply press the button which activates the camera and sends an alert through Twitter, an e-mail list, and Slack to everyone in the building. Considering that an invention this smart came into being in the 1990s, long before modern social media, we must conclude that we have the tools to move from a FoodCam that reaches the people in one building to larger-scale solutions.
"Of all the challenging problems out there, reducing the amount of food we are wasting is one of the easiest", says Dana Gunders of the Natural Resources Defense Council in the interview with Vox.
Think globally, act locally
Hunger is one of the most pressing world issues. However, global problems such as food waste can be tackled only when addressed locally. Copia is a San Francisco-based real-time excess food management solution for organizations of all sizes. The founders recognized the problems that arose from the lack of possibilities to deliver food to those who needed it and created a solution which is referred to as the “Uber of food recovery and distribution”. For example, if a company has a surplus of food from a corporate event or there are leftovers from a big party, one just needs to prepare and package the food and schedule a pickup through the app. Copia's certified food handlers will then collect the food and deliver it to the needy.
Waste is not profiting anyone – fighting waste does
Generally speaking, waste does not bring profit anyone. Also taking into consideration purely economic considerations – food which is wasted does not generate profit for the sellers. In Italy, the Last Minute Sotto Casa app solves the problem of food waste at the level of distribution and is a perfect example of collaborative economics at work as every party involved wins. The app – with a name which translates to “last minute next door” – sends alerts to registered users whenever shop owners have perishables to sell at discounted prices.
In 2010, the town council of Brno, a city in Czechia, joined efforts with local businessmen to combat food waste in restaurants. Unsold meals prepared as “meals of the day” are given to homeless people. In just one year, thanks to this initiative, approximately 14 thousand servings of quality food were distributed to the needy. The cost of the whole project has been minimal as it relies on the central office for social services in the city, which has its own cars and drivers. The organizers of the initiative keep on involving new Brno companies and have even managed to attract the attention of other cities in the country. That is definitely a great example to follow!
Recovering every bit
Even though some by-products developed during food processing might seem to be unrecoverable as they are traditionally considered waste, researchers and innovative companies keep on finding ways to use them to their fullest. For example, in Denmark, the hospitality and restaurant sector owners have formed a partnership to develop an Omega 3-rich fish chip product from otherwise inedible fish waste. According to recent studies, given that over 50% of fish is discarded as inedible waste, this is an excellent use for a product that would otherwise be wasted.
Be the change you wish to see
Need some tips on how to be a sustainable consumer of food? Check out another text we have prepared for you – Food Waste: Solutions Are Easier than You Think. | <urn:uuid:84006280-5aee-4c63-b5e9-4ddcb88400e6> | {
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Flashcards in Chapter 4 Deck (18):
A defined group most likely to buy a firm's products.
When a company implements strategies that attempt to shape the external environment within which it operates.
The practice of choosing goods and services that meet one's diverse needs and interests rather than conforming to a single, traditional lifestyle.
The study of people's vital statistics, such as their age, race, and ethnicity, and location.
Ages 8 to 12
all about discovery and the latest viral sensations
styles don't reflect those of their parents
respond favorably to being able to control
' or create their own experiences.
Recognize commercials as ""just advertising"""
Make the product modern and convenient
Engage teens through promotion that gets them involved"
born between 1979 & 1994 - impatient, family oriented, inquisitive, opinionated, diverse, time managers, "street smart", Quick shoppers, want fulfillment, multitaskers - care about the environment
born between 1965 & 1978 - independent, resilient, adaptable, cautious, and skeptical
born between 1946 & 1964
cohort that grew up in the great depression and fought in WWII
a comparison of income vs. the relative cost of a set standard of goods and services in different geographic areas.
a measure of the decrease in the value of money, expressed as the percentage reduction in value since the previous year.
a period of economic activity characterized by negative growth, which reduces remand for goods and services
Pure research that aims to conform an existing theory or to learn more about a concept or phenomenon.
An attempt to develop new or improved products.
A federal agency establised to protect the health and safety of consumers in and around their homes.
Consumer Product Safety Commission
A federal agency charged with enforcing regulations against selling and distributing adulterated, misbranded, or hazardous food and drug products.
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CO2CRC has been awarded funding to conduct important research into reducing greenhouse gas emissions in steel production.
The year-long study has been made possible by a grant from the NSW Department of Planning and Environment (Coal Innovation NSW Fund).
The project will explore pathways for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in steel production, including carbon capture from major emission sources and geological sequestration. Importantly, emerging technologies for emissions reduction at BlueScope Steel’s facility in Port Kembla NSW will be explored. A major component of the study involves investigation of options to utilise a steel plant waste stream, converting carbon monoxide which would otherwise be flared and emitted as CO2, into a value-added product.
The project has strong support from BlueScope Steel, who will be supplying relevant information for this study from their Port Kembla steelworks.
“An exciting aspect of this research is that it will examine how to capture greenhouse gas emissions and turn them into something useful. One option to be investigated includes using bio-chemical processes to convert a waste stream into ethanol, a valuable transport fuel.
“Developing a deeper understanding of these innovative technologies will help steel manufacturers select technologies which can dramatically reduce emissions in a commercially viable manner,” said CO2CRC CEO David Byers. | <urn:uuid:be16194f-c372-481d-b8d2-6e7218f00511> | {
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|Municipal Bond Insurance|
Owners of municipal bonds can purchase insurance on them. Although municipal bonds are considered safe, some investors sleep better at night knowing that their investments are protected against loss. As a wise investor, you should know about municipal bond insurance and its pros and cons. By knowing the advantages of insuring, you should be able to choose whether you want your own insurance or not.
A municipal bond is an obligation of debt issued by states and city and local governments to raise money for the public funding of projects and services such as schools and housing. Municipal bond insurance is an insurance policy on the bond and is underwritten by a private insurance company.
Insurance provides investors with the security that no matter what happens to the finances of the government that issues the bond, the bond's interest and principal payments will be made.
Like other bonds, municipal bonds have certain risks associated with them. A bond's primary risk is that it could default. If a bond defaults, it means the government that issued the bond does not have the funds to make timely payments of interest and principal.
Municipal bonds also count on the projects they finance to bring in expected revenues. The governments that issue municipal bonds often rely on these revenues to pay back the bonds they issue. Municipal bonds therefore also run the risk that these projects will fail to produce the revenue needed to pay off the bonds. Insurance provides investors with the security that no matter what happens to the finances of the government that issues the bond, the bond's interest and principal payments will be made.
Bonds with low default risk are given high credit ratings, which influence the market prices of the bonds. A bond that is insured will have a higher credit rating than a non-insured bond. Insured bonds receive the highest credit rating possible: AAA. The higher credit rating enables the bond issuer to pay a lower interest rate on the bonds when they are sold. There are four major agencies that provide bond credit ratings. These agencies are the following:
Insuring a municipal bond also increases the bond's marketability. The insurance helps smaller issuers who are unknown or do not issue bonds frequently to be taken seriously by investors.
[subsection What Does Municipal Bond Insurance Cover? >>
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If you have questions or comments please contact Morningstar. | <urn:uuid:942c871f-109b-4406-a63a-0645245f90f9> | {
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Every contact leaves a trace—it’s the fundamental principle that guides forensic science. But the many types of evidence now available to investigators only reveals its value when a battery of trained professionals comes together to make sense of it and use it appropriately.
“The way we think about the administration of justice is changing, and FIU is at the forefront of the movement,” says Kevin Lothridge, director of FIU’s Global Forensic and Justice Center. “Incorporating information more broadly across the criminal justice process is the future.”
The key: creating a culture of connectivity. No longer does anyone work in isolation but, rather, with a clearer view of how steps taken at the crime scene and in the lab impact what happens in the courtroom and, ultimately, society.
The Global Forensic and Justice Center is a collaborative hub that today has contracts and grants that exceed $10 million, educates more than 60 current undergraduate and graduate students and brings together those who study science and those who administer justice. The idea originated with Kenneth G. Furton, FIU provost and executive vice president, who co-founded the International Forensic Research Institute on campus more than 20 years ago.
“The original concept back then was to be a highly interdisciplinary research institute,” Furton says. “The Global Forensic and Justice Center advances that dream as it is arguably the most interdisciplinary forensic center in the world.”
Creating such a comprehensive center took bringing together four university entities that collectively work to improve forensic education, update the skills and knowledge of professionals already in the field, develop new scientific tools, influence policy decisions and set the standard for the use of forensic evidence in the administration of justice. The goal is to connect science and society to effect fair and just outcomes.
For an illustration of that interconnectedness, one need look no further than the National Forensic Science Technology Center (NFSTC) and the Center for the Administration of Justice (CAJ), to understand how science and society intersect. The two centers have different missions—the one providing technical, scientific training and support, and the other working to advance the practical application of justice—and each is making a global impact in pursuit of truth.
For example: With funding from the U.S. Department of State and the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, NFSTC welcomed 14 forensic scientists from Honduras, Guatemala, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Panama to train them on improving crime scene processes, DNA testing and laboratory operations. The upgrading of skills and procedures can have a profound effect in a region scarred by protracted civil wars and foreign occupations that combined have left a sad legacy of mass graves. Analysts there now have the tools and education to pursue giving names to previously unidentified bodies—and answers to families that have waited years to learn the fate of their loved ones.
The NFSTC is also consulting with Central American crime labs and crime scene professionals to improve practices with a goal of helping facilities meet international testing standards to secure laboratory accreditation, a stamp of approval that should have a positive impact on individual countries’ justice systems.
It was with the help of the NFSTC at FIU that the North African nation of Morocco earned international forensic laboratory accreditation. In only eight months, the team from FIU translated material from French to English, coordinated training with personnel, reviewed all pertinent documents and addressed other related issues to achieve success.
Complementing these efforts in support of science-backed and technical-based improvements is the work of the Center for the Administration of Justice (CAJ). It has longstanding relationships throughout Latin America, where it has collaborated with governments and NGOs to develop procedures related to institutional legal reform. Funders such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank have contributed some $50 million in grants for its activities over the years.
Leading the center is Luis Salas. The criminal law professor has been at FIU for 45 years and, beginning in the mid-80s, spent a solid decade in a regional office in Costa Rica, from which he ran numerous projects throughout Central America. The efforts coincided with U.S. government efforts to promote the rule of law and human rights in that part of the world at a time of heightened crises, Salas explains.
Among the center’s signature projects is one in Colombia, where researchers cooperated with government officials and community organizations to establish a dozen “justice houses” throughout the country. The locations accommodate legal offices and courts and provide citizens with easy access to services such as dispute resolution. The concurrent implementation of 20 virtual courtrooms has since allowed defendants in rural or conflict-compromised areas to come before the court in instances where transportation or security issues might otherwise bar their participation. These years-long efforts have gone hand-in-hand with the training of judges, prosecutors, public defenders and others, and the drafting of legislation (later brought before Colombia’s congress for passage) as part of the country’s formal transition to a new legal system.
Furthering the ongoing transition, Salas’ team regularly welcomes to campus law students from Colombia for a week at a time to educate them through lectures, visits to local courts and meetings with judges and attorneys in South Florida.
“The purpose is [for them] to understand the good and bad of our system,” Salas says. “All of these countries are trying to implement something similar [to the U.S.], and I think it’s very useful for them to understand how the system has worked, and failed.” To that end, he wants to disabuse young people of the idealized view of justice one might glean from American TV shows and movies. He hopes to provide a reality check that makes clear the inherent messiness of adjudicating the law.
Today the office in San Jose first opened by Salas all those many years ago continues to operate in earnest (albeit in a new location), with both Salas and co-director Ana Carazo Johanning spending weeks-long stretches there. Progress has been made throughout Central America over the decades, say the two, even as corruption and the massive drug trade hammer away at the integrity of what are today still-shaky democracies, many having cast off military rule only a few short years ago.
“The basis of any democracy, to a large extent, is respect for the rule of law,” Salas explains. “When you have organized crime and you have massive amounts of narcotics and the money that comes with that, it’s very hard to successfully implement a democratic system. I think that there is a lot of hope for the region,” he continues, “but it’s very difficult.”
Carazo Johanning agrees. “It’s always a struggle, a challenge, like anything that you do in justice administration,” she says, even as she reaffirms her dedication to the cause: “Both Dr. Salas and I like challenges.”
Research and development
The science and technology behind forensic science work is evolving at a breakneck pace, and the Center for Advanced Research in Forensic Science (CARFS) plays a critical role in new developments. Funded by the National Science Foundation and part of a four-university cooperative, the center is actively pitching original research ideas as well as developing projects of interest to industry and other organizations. Partner institutions include the FBI Laboratory, the Drug Enforcement Administration Office of Forensic Sciences and several Department of Defense forensic organizations as well as private companies.
“We ask them, ‘What are your most pressing problems of today that we could put our considerable research capacity toward solving,’” explains Jose Almirall, CARFS director and himself an active researcher with several forensics-related patents and more than 20 years invested at FIU. (Overall, FIU has secured some 30 forensics-related patents since 2000.)
Roughly 10 researchers—largely from the chemistry and biology departments, although one specialized in forensic psychology and another from engineering are currently in the mix—and between 30 and 35 graduate students annually participate in the research work, which includes testing instrumentation and developing new products, processes and materials.
For example, a current pressing need of the DEA is to help agents differentiate between industrial hemp, legal since President Trump’s signing of the 2018 Farm Bill, from marijuana, which is still illegal at the federal level. CARFS researchers are developing an inexpensive and easy test that can be used in the field to distinguish between the two and have applied for multiple patents on the technology, which a startup company is already moving to commercialize.
Internationally, CARFS has conducted a database project for the Dubai Police Force in the area of forensic entomology— the study of insects and arthropods that inhabit decomposing remains—to improve estimates of time of death in arid countries. The center also works with a company in the United Kingdom that makes chemical “taggants” used to coat various materials as a way of tracking them in the event of theft.
FIU’s research remains critical in promoting fairness and impartiality, Almirall says. New innovations can make possible establishing someone’s criminality with a greater level of certainty but, he adds, “also exonerating those who are wrongfully convicted.”
“That’s the other side of justice,” he says. “We know that mistakes have been made by forensic scientists in the past, and we’re all about developing tools that can help prevent those mistakes in the future.”
Training the next generation of professionals
As anyone who has watched the CSI television programs or read the news in recent years can attest, the impact of forensic science is burgeoning. Providing the human resources needed to keep up with the accelerated pace of that science remains critical.
To meet growing demand for qualified forensics professionals, FIU has honed its graduate academic programming with a focus on forensic chemistry and biology. Beyond rigorous coursework, students in the master’s and Ph.D. programs actively work on research projects that they design and conduct on their own. Access to mentors and resources associated with the Global Forensic and Justice Center translates into unparalleled opportunities for those who will soon take up the baton. (An intensive two-week summer camp draws high-achieving high schoolers with an interest in pursuing the discipline in college.)
“This center helps our graduates understand the greater ‘why’ to their work,” says DeEtta Mills, deputy director of the Global Forensic and Justice Center. “By connecting research to practical applications and then to justice outcomes through industry and government partners, our graduates will be worlds ahead when they enter the workforce.”
Lilliana Moreno benefitted from that approach. The alumna earned both a master’s, in 2005, and a doctorate, in 2015, from FIU and today is a forensic biologist in the DNA support unit at the Federal Bureau of Investigation Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. Moreno remains convinced that the requirement to design and run her own research project, as well as strong encouragement to take an internship, led to her success in obtaining an excellent job.
“When you try to fix something and you fail, and you break it and you get up and you fail and you do it again, that’s the way that you learn,” Moreno says. (Her research looked at the microbial content of various types of soils—which can get lodged in the grooves of tires and the soles of shoes—as a way of potentially establishing suspects’ recent activities.) “I feel like that experience put me ahead of so many other people that applied [for the FBI job]. That experience was priceless.”
As someone who now participates in interviewing potential employees for jobs at the bureau, Moreno sees firsthand why FIU graduates have the upper hand. “It’s something that we actually miss,” she says of the research component too many newcomers lack. “When applicants come through who don’t have that research experience, they know how to follow protocol, but they cannot necessarily think on their own.”
As for taking an internship with the FBI, it was her mentor, chemistry professor Bruce R. McCord, who insisted on it, she says. The temporary position led immediately into a full-time job, during which both McCord and a mentor within the bureau helped to keep Moreno on track to finishing the Ph.D. That kind of support proved invaluable, she says.
Today, FIU forensic science alumni work across the country and around the world. Graduates have a near-perfect employment rate, with many securing jobs within a year of graduation with federal organizations, among them the CIA, DEA, Secret Service and Naval Research Laboratory, as well as state and local crime lab teams.
The sheer breadth and depth of work under the umbrella of the Global Forensic and Justice Center points to the growing power of science to establish truth and, ultimately, help individuals and society arrive at justice, or some measure of it. Today, forensic science remains the lifeblood of the investigator by providing the incontrovertible proof upon which a judge, jury or tribunal can base a verdict. FIU remains committed to ensuring that such proof serves the interest of humanity. | <urn:uuid:ad969ea1-8921-4937-be9a-c50375302d90> | {
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Herstory. The term was coined in the early 1970s, at a time when feminist scholars were beginning to dismantle in a systematic way the generations of male bias that had long characterized male-dominated historiography. It suggests pithily that what scholars in the past described simply as "history" is really often a chronicle of specifically male activities, often presented and analyzed to the exclusion of women's activities or roles within the same chronological period. Men writing about men; men equating male experience with "general" experience; men selecting concerns and interests to focus on in ways that privilege masculine values and marginalize feminine. Male bias has not been exclusively produced by men, of course, nor is it the case that male scholars have consistently ignored female experience in their writings and analyses. But the point is a good one: any received history will display the biases of the people who wrote it, sometimes to the point of erasing other versions of the story entirely. And that has certainly happened, as the authors of the three main essays in this issue contend, in the case of the disciplinary history of folklore and folklife studies, where the work and roles of men have often been allowed to overshadow or even eclipse the substantive contributions of their female counterparts.
The magazine before you—nestled in your hands, or, more likely today, residing on your screen—is the five hundredth issue of the Journal of American Folklore. The American Folklore Society was founded in 1888—125 years ago—and, with four issues per year, that makes the present issue, predictably, inevitably, number 500. Any field, any journal, ought to pause to savor such a moment: reaching 500 is no small feat, and represents in fact the combined effort of a vast number of folklorists, past and present, male and female. And folklorists do like to pause; call it an occupational hazard: the product of training that reminds us to view the present always with a cognizance of the past, and often with a level of discomfort at the changes we see around us. So readers of JAF might well expect that issue 500 would take note of its number, and they will not be disappointed on that score.
So excited were we, your editors, about the approaching anniversary that we started the commemoration early. You may have noticed if you are a regular reader of the JAF that the last several issues of the journal have focused on communities and topics that were identified as important in the formative years of the American Folklore Society. Issue 497 presents new research on African American folklore; issue 498 on children's folklore. Issue 499 looks at Native American folklore. And here, in issue 500, we focus on women workers of our field. The articles are celebratory in some ways but sobering in others: they focus attention on women who did remarkable work for our field, but they also give us a means of viewing our disciplinary history that is [End Page 117] not altogether flattering. And that, we hope, makes these an especially appropriate way of marking our five hundredth issue.
In the three main articles of this issue, three female folklorists examine the careers and disciplinary profiles of past female folklorists. The reader will find many points of comparison and occasional moments of contrast in the lives and experiences of the women discussed here, be it in Deirdre Ní Chonghaile's examination of Sidney Robertson Cowell, Elaine J. Lawless's presentation of Zora Neale Hurston, or Barbro Klein's chronicle of women associated with both the Swedish outdoor museum Skansen and the ethnographic collections that became the Nordiska museet. Issues recur in each of these studies: questions of career choices, of exclusion and discrimination, of glass ceilings, of trade-offs between marital or filial duties and the supposed dangers or improprieties of fieldwork. Written with sensitivity and acumen by women who are themselves folklorists, these essays invite the personal reflection of any folklorist reader, female or male, as they examine the norms of feminine behavior both within the academy and within... | <urn:uuid:716bb91c-a682-4dce-9870-76990a2e9285> | {
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The following lesson includes recommendations for adding an additional layer of difficulty for more advanced classes.
Objective: Learn about New Jersey’s water supply and why water conservation is important.
Materials: two empty plastic cups; one cup each of rocks, gravel, and sand; tap water; Water Wisdom Student Worksheet 3
Time required: 40 minutes
1. Place two clear plastic cups on a table at the front of the class. Ask students to create three layers of sediment in one of the cups: rocks (bottom), gravel (middle), sand (top). The cup should be filled 2/3 of the way. Fill the other cup with tap water.
2. Pour the tap water (slowly) into the sediment-filled cup. Ask students to write down their observations: Does the water flow more quickly through certain layers? Can you see the water in between the rocks, gravel, or sand? (Advanced classes: Separate students into teams for this activity. Have each team make a hypothesis before starting.)
Using the Student Worksheet:
3. Write the word aquifer on the board and explain that an aquifer is nature’s way of storing water underground. When rainwater seeps into the ground, it squeezes through layers of earth until it is stopped by a layer of porous rock (rock with pores or holes) or sediment (sand or gravel) and collects into an underground reservoir.
4. Ask: What is a drought? (A water shortage) Have you ever had to reduce the amount of water that you use due to shortages? Moderate a classroom conversation about recent water restrictions in New Jersey. (Advanced classes: Conduct an online search for more information about your local aquifer.)
5. Separate students into groups and distribute Water Wisdom Student Worksheet 3. Read the worksheet together.
6. Ask: Do you think New Jersey is running out of water? Explain that the number of people living in New Jersey has outgrown what the local aquifers can support. In addition, saltwater and pollution have damaged the water supply and reduced the amount of drinkable water.
7. Encourage students to get the word out about the importance of conservation! Provide class time for groups to complete the worksheet and implement their plans.
8. Use what your students have learned to build a model water system! Follow the Build a Model Water System instructions within this program.
Photos: water © Shutterstock | <urn:uuid:69d4908f-d1e7-419b-930a-e9bdcf414aab> | {
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jjp9999 writes "Recent findings published on Jan. 27 in the journal Nature Neuroscience may inspire you to get some proper sleep. Researchers at UC Berkeley found that REM sleep plays a key role in moving short term memories from the hippocampus (where short-term memories are stored) to the prefrontal cortex (where long-term memories are stored), and that degeneration of the frontal lobe as we grow older may play a key role in forgetfulness. 'What we have discovered is a dysfunctional pathway that helps explain the relationship between brain deterioration, sleep disruption and memory loss as we get older – and with that, a potentially new treatment avenue,' said UC Berkeley sleep researcher Matthew Walker."
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- An old bike wheel (absolute minimum: a rim and seven spokes)
- A matching worn-out tire (new tires might smell)
- An LED garland, either 230 V or battery powered (the LEDs should fit into the spoke openings)
The LEDs in the chandelier design highlight the regular pattern of the spokes in a wheel, resulting in a circle of lights. At least three spoke-openings are used to suspend the rim with a hanger from spokes. These openings are thus unavailable for an LED, as a result of which the circle of LEDs is interrupted at three locations.
The use of scrapped bicycle parts together with the low electricity consumption of the LED garland qualifies the lamp as green design. The power rating of the LEDs is 1.3 W, resulting in a maximum annual electricity consumption of 11.4 kWh (assuming that the lamp is switched on during all hours in a year). Based on electricity price ranges for household consumers in the European Union the corresponding maximum annual electricity costs vary between 1.10 and 3.50 euro (source: Eurostat). Likewise for the United States, based on the range in retail price of electricity to ultimate customers in the residential sector by state the corresponding maximum annual electricity costs vary between 0.90 and 4.20 US$ (source: U.S. EIA).
The chandelier gives enough light to read in the evening, but don't expect to light an entire room. At night the shadows of the three spokes result in a regular pattern on the ceiling.
The use of a battery instead of connecting the lamp to the mains makes it safer to operate the lamp. Also, avoid using a conventional light bulb garland, see step 1 on safety issues for more background.
The circular shape and the considerable amount of lights makes this lamp excellently suited for controlling the LEDs with an Arduino, which offers plenty of new possibilities. This however has not been documented in this instructable.
Previously, openproducts has released two other lamp instructables: the Giant Ceiling Light with Multiple Functionality a.k.a. the UFO (CC-BY, September 13th 2012) and the Double Function Rail for combined hanging of paintings and indirect lighting (CC-BY, January 7th 2013). | <urn:uuid:08540633-4b2b-4cb9-a774-edbc313cdc8f> | {
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Friday, April 5, 2013 | 2:02 a.m.
There was a time when middle-class parents in America could be — and were — content to know that their kids’ public schools were better than those in the next neighborhood over. As the world has shrunk, though, the next neighborhood over is now Shanghai or Helsinki. So, last August, I wrote a column quoting Andreas Schleicher — who runs the global exam that compares how 15-year-olds in public schools around the world do in applied reading, math and science skills — as saying imagine, in a few years, that you could sign on to a website and see how your school compares with a similar school anywhere in the world. And then you could take this information to your superintendent and ask, “Why are we not doing as well as schools in China or Finland?”
Well, that day has come, thanks to a successful pilot project involving 105 U.S. schools recently completed by Schleicher’s team at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which coordinates the Program for International Student Assessment, or PISA test, and Jon Schnur’s team at America Achieves, which partnered with the OECD. Starting this fall, any high school in America will be able to benchmark itself against the world’s best schools, using a new tool that schools can register for at www.americaachieves.org. It is comparable to PISA and measures how well students can apply their mastery of reading, math and science to real world problems.
The pilot study was described in an America Achieves report entitled “Middle Class or Middle of the Pack?” that was released Wednesday. The report compares U.S. middle-class students to their global peers of similar socioeconomic status on the 2009 PISA exams.
The bad news is that U.S. middle-class students are badly lagging their peers globally. “Many assume that poverty in America is pulling down the overall U.S. scores,” the report said, “but when you divide each nation into socioeconomic quarters, you can see that even America’s middle-class students are falling behind not only students of comparable advantage, but also more disadvantaged students in several other countries.”
U.S. students in the second quarter of socioeconomic advantage — mostly higher middle class — were significantly outperformed by 24 countries in math and by 15 countries in science, the study found. In the third quarter of socioeconomic advantage — mostly lower middle class — U.S. students were significantly outperformed by peers in 31 countries or regions in math and 25 in science.
The good news, though, Schnur said, “is that, for the first time, we have documented that there are individual U.S. schools that are literally outperforming every country in the world.”
“BASIS Tucson North, a nonselective high school serving an economically modest middle-class student population in Arizona, outperformed the average of every country in the world in reading, math and science,” the report said. “Three nonselective high schools in Fairfax, Va., outperformed the average of virtually every country in the world.” One of them, Woodson, outperformed every region in the world in reading, except Shanghai.
But the pilot also exposed some self-deception. “One school, serving students similar to Woodson’s, lags behind 29 countries in math but received an A on its state’s accountability system based primarily on that state’s own test,” Schnur said.
Paul Bambrick-Santoyo is managing director of North Star Academies in Newark, N.J., an Uncommon Schools network of nine low-income charter schools that took part and cracked the world’s Top 10. “We have always had state tests and SATs,” he told me, “but we never had an international metric. This was a golden opportunity to see where we stand — if we have to prepare our kids to succeed not only in this country but in a global marketplace.” He said he was particularly motivated by the fact that Shanghai’s low-income kids “could outperform” most U.S. schools, because this gave his school a real international peer for a benchmark.
“We got 157 pages of feedback” from participating in the pilot, added Jack Dale, the superintendent of Fairfax County’s schools, which is so valuable because the PISA test exposes whether your high school students can apply their math, science and reading skills to 21st-century problems. “One of my principals said to me: ‘This is not your Virginia Standards of Learning Test.’ ”
So what’s the secret of the best-performing schools? It’s that there is no secret. The best schools, the study found, have strong fundamentals and cultures that believe anything is possible with any student: They “work hard to choose strong teachers with good content knowledge and dedication to continuous improvement.” They are “data-driven and transparent, not only around learning outcomes, but also around soft skills like completing work on time, resilience, perseverance — and punctuality.” And they promote “the active engagement of our parents and families.”
“If you look at all the data,” Schnur concluded, it’s clear that educational performance in the U.S. has not gone down. We’ve actually gotten a little better. The challenge is that changes in the world economy keep raising the bar for what our kids need to do to succeed. Our modest improvements are not keeping pace with this rising bar. Those who say we have failed are wrong. Those who say we are doing fine are wrong.”
The truth is: America has world-beating K-12 schools. We just don’t have nearly enough.
Thomas Friedman is a columnist for The New York Times. | <urn:uuid:66f8f496-9490-4155-ba17-6ab3ba4a9529> | {
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In Search of Life
SETI has come a long way over the years, but is the search really important?
What do you think about when you look up at the stars?
As a child, astronomer Jill Tarter couldn’t help but think of extraterrestrials. In those days, she often gazed at the diamond-filled sky while walking along the beaches of southern Florida with her father. Peering into the vastness of space, Tarter thought that surely there were planets orbiting at least some of the stars she saw, and on those planets were beaches, and on those beaches were alien children walking with their alien fathers, looking up at stars like our sun and wondering about the beings that could be looking back at them.
Today, Tarter is still thinking about aliens on other planets. As the director of the Center for SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) Research at the SETI Institute, she looks for evidence of their technology, like radio signals they may be sending out into the universe.
According to its mission statement, the SETI Institute, which is based in Mountain View, California, sets out to “explore, understand and explain the origin, nature and prevalence of life in the universe.” Although the institute was founded in 1984, the idea of other life in the universe has existed for centuries.
“We didn’t wake up yesterday,” said Tarter. “Humans have wondered forever how we fit into this universe. Now, are we one of many or are we singular?”
Our enduring interest in extraterrestrial life—intelligent or otherwise—is evident in the many current research projects focused on its discovery. Some small-scale projects are investigating possible microbial life in our own solar system, particularly on Mars and some moons, like Saturn’s Titan. Other efforts are scouring the heavens for alien homes: planets that are sitting in the habitable zones of other stars, where liquid water, and thus life, could exist. Recently, researchers reported finding Gliese 581g, the so-called “Goldilocks planet,” 20 light-years from Earth, which may be the first of many Earth-like planets astronomers will find in the coming years. Its existence, however, is now being questioned by another research team.
Additionally, there are large projects like NASA’s Kepler Mission, which is also hunting for habitable planets. Utilizing the Kepler space telescope orbiting the Sun, the mission locates planets as they pass in front of their stars and block out a tiny bit of light. “We are looking for shadows of Earth-like planets around Sun-like stars,” said Jeffrey Van Cleve, an astronomer and scientist for the mission.
An artist’s rendition of the Kepler space telescope. [Image Credit: NASA]
In November, the search for life inspired global collaboration when observatories across 13 countries pointed their telescopes towards several star systems in our galaxy, forming the beginnings of a worldwide network that could confirm and follow up on possible extraterrestrial signals detected in the near future.
With all the projects out there, one can’t help but wonder what drives scientists’ quest to find extraterrestrial life. Why is it so important to find life on other worlds?
Like Tarter, Van Cleve traces his interest in extraterrestrial life—and the worlds they inhabit—back to his childhood. He grew up in what he calls “the age of Apollo and Aquarius,” a period of immense space exploration by NASA alongside immense self-exploration by hippies and others influenced by 1960s counter-culture. People at the time were “finding new worlds, both outer and inner,” Van Cleve said; this ignited his own drive to find habitable planets and the life they may harbor.
But it’s not all about chasing childhood dreams. Van Cleve pointed out that discovering extraterrestrial life is vital to the biological sciences because it would give scientists an example of life that arose apart from Earth. With a second example of life, Van Cleve explained, biologists will be able to test hypotheses about how life originates and hopefully answer that age-old question: Where do we come from?
Mike Shara, curator of the Department of Astrophysics at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City, agrees with Van Cleve, saying that his assessment is “right on.” Although Shara isn’t part of the grand quest himself, he does “strongly support searches for extraterrestrial life, from microbes to intelligent civilizations.” But even though Shara may support radio searches for extraterrestrials like those done by the SETI Institute, he believes our efforts may be in vain, emphasizing that the searches so far have found nothing.
Princeton University philosopher Daniel Cloud doesn’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. While finding life would be momentous for science, Cloud believes that searching and not finding intelligent life could be just as interesting. “What would it mean if it turned out there wasn’t any intelligent life at all?” he asked. “What would it mean if we searched and searched and there’s nobody out there?”
It would mean that scientists would need to explain the unique position we hold in our galaxy, Cloud said. Currently, there are theories that imply a low density of intelligent life in our universe, though they’re anything but simple. “If the density of intelligent life is low,” Cloud said, “it means we’ll find planets but no [intelligent] life. But then we must entertain some really weird cosmological theories.” Some of these theories even involve the hypothetical creation of additional universes.
If there is life out there, chances are we won’t find it unless we look harder. Tarter believes that the public should join scientists in the search, so the SETI Institute is developing what she calls a “citizen science program,” which is expected to launch in a year or so. The project, setiQuest, would give people the opportunity to visually inspect radio telescope data and look for possible radio signals from extraterrestrials, explained Tarter. Interested citizens would be able to sift through the SETI Institute’s radio telescope data from the comfort of their own homes. If someone spots an interesting pattern or anomaly in the data, something that looks like it’s more than just random noise from the universe, SETI researchers would then investigate it.
Most of the anomalies the project finds will likely turn out to be interference created by our own technology, but the chances of finding other life in the universe will only increase with each person that joins the project. And while finding extraterrestrials is the ultimate goal of setiQuest, Tarter believes that the collective effort of searching for life could transform the mindset of the world and possibly reduce the continual conflict over our perceived differences.
“By getting people actively involved,” she said, “you have an opportunity to encourage them to see themselves in a more cosmic perspective and realize that all humans on this planet are identical when compared to life evolved elsewhere. We want to change the world.” | <urn:uuid:bf9fa4ff-d77d-439d-9346-2f4918307358> | {
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Art dwarf trees in pots or known among lovers of bonsai plants is not a new technique. Even in Japan and China, this technique has been evolved from the time of the imperial dynasties hundreds of years ago. Only, the development of bonsai as no significant change. The trees are dwarfed merely ornamental and flowering plants.
Now, the lack of housing land to make the lovers of plants begin to innovate. Techniques membonsai plant was eventually begin to touch the tree to bear fruit. “Plant the fruit at first lived in a planting medium that takes land area. Then, they began to be cultivated in pots known as tanbulampot. Because tanbulampot considered still need big land, currently being developed bonsai fruit, “said AF Margianasari, Head of Production and Research Gardens PT Mekar Unggul Sari, Mekarsari Park management.
Although both in pots, bonsai fruit and tanbulampot have differences. “Most notably, more dwarf bonsai fruit size and there is the aesthetic. While tanbulampot not see the aesthetic side. The important thing is bearing fruit and the plant remains healthy despite being in the pot, “said Riris, call Margianasari AF.
In terms of media any, bonsai fruit using a lot less media. “Bonsai is minimal nutritional fruit. Therefore, the media used must be able to maintain high humidity so that the plant is not prone to dryness and die, “said Riris. It should be noted, if the media seemed to have less and less or too dense, it needs to be added or replaced with new media in order to keep plants growing well.
Bonsai planting medium that is commonly used is a mixture of soil, husk fuel, ground sand, and gravel. How, bonsai is released from the pot, then half of the growing media attached to the roots removed and the other half is left still attached.
There Condition, Well!
Keep in mind, not all kinds of fruit trees can be a bonsai fruit. “The main requirement should be chosen to be bonsai perennials and woody. Generally, these plants have fruit shape is unique, attractive fruit color, and form a good branching, “explained Riris. So, what plants have been used as bonsai fruit?
“Plants Barbados cherry, sour Selong, tamarind, mango, mulberry, orange Triphasia, oranges kasturi, green coconut, and palm oil,” said Riris. For the location, although these plants do not require large tracts of land, but you still have to put the bonsai fruit in places exposed to direct sunlight. Minimum, the plants exposed to the sun for 3 hours in a day. | <urn:uuid:523f5621-4850-4643-8fbb-743c2c7878cb> | {
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Whether you believe the first recorded Canadian women’s hockey game was in Barrie, Ont., or behind Rideau Hall in Ottawa, Ont., one way or another, it all began in Ontario.
Two centuries ago in the 1890s, Ontario women were not satisfied to sit placidly on the sidelines. They
got into the mix with those early hockey games. And they’ve been raising the bar – actually, more like
pushing, the bar – ever since.
Early driving forces behind women’s hockey in Ontario were varsity teams such as the University of Toronto and Queen's University in Kingston, Ont. The popularity of women’s hockey soon became widespread and by the turn of the 20th century, women’s teams were sprouting up all over the country.
As more women took to the ice, players realized that, although long skirts had certain goaltending advantages, they were impractical. In no time, women’s teams started sporting new, more appropriate wear, such as shorter woollen skirts (and then trousers!) with long stockings, toques and gloves.
The Ottawa Alerts were one of the early teams to adopt reasonable, even stylish, hockey wear for women.
But what about safety? Knee pads and heavy gloves soon became the norm. In fact, some women played a leading role in the safety of the game. Long before Jacques Plante popularized the hockey mask, for example, Elizabeth Graham, a goalie for the Queen's University team, wore a fencing mask to protect herself in goal.
With the growing popularity of women’s hockey came the desire for competition. And Ontario was in the forefront again. In 1914, the first provincial championship was held in Picton, Ont., with six teams competing for bragging rights.
Nothing, it seemed, could stop Ontario female teams. And on , several of those teams came together to announce the forming of the Ladies Ontario Hockey Association (LOHA). The newly formed association included the Toronto Hockey League, in addition to London, Ottawa and St. Thomas clubs. The infamous Preston Rivulettes joined the LOHA in 1931.
The Rivulettes. Now they posed a bit of a problem for other women’s teams, simply because they were so good, losing only two games in 350 played. As a result, other women’s teams did not want to join the LOHA because they felt they had no chance of winning. At first, the league rearranged itself to accommodate an A league for teams with a high skill level and a B league for less seasoned teams. In the end, the LOHA was dissolved and amalgamated with the Women’s Amateur Athletic Federation in 1941.
Most unfortunately, something could, and did, stop women’s hockey skates in their tracks: the war years.
The right to play hockey, however, had been a hard-won battle, one women in Ontario and across the country were still fighting. So while many women stopped playing hockey to help with the war effort, a handful of tough-minded players would simply not give it up, keeping the hockey home fires burning.
Players like Hazel McCallion, whose dazzling speed led the three-team Montreal league during the war years. On the east coast, the Gallant sisters were among the ragtag players fostering flagging P.E.I. teams, while in the west, teams like the Moose Jaw Wildcats kept women’s hockey alive.
With every set back, women’s hockey worked harder. They had faced enormous challenges, met each one face on, and swatted them away with one deft swipe of a hockey stick. Even a world war could not extinguish the passionate flame of women’s hockey. Through sheer determination, they’d made it, though beleaguered and bruised, into the 1950s.
But after all they’d been up against, women’s hockey was dealt yet another blow: funding cuts to women’s inter-collegiate sports teams – including the great Canadian game – a training ground for many accomplished Canadian female hockey players.
Lobbied by female survivalists like Cookie Cartwright, a leader in the formation of the Ontario Women’s Hockey Association (OWHA), funding was eventually granted at various universities, which helped the resurgence of women’s hockey across the province. Soon, teams and leagues sprouted up across the country and the game was on again!
During the 1960s and early 1970s, teams like the Brampton Canadettes, the Kingston Red Barons and the Don Mills Satan’s Angels were making names for themselves.
And with the growing legions of women playing, came competitions, such as the Brampton Canadettes Dominion Ladies Hockey Tournament, the Wallaceburg Lipstick Tournament, Preston Tournament and Picton Tournament. Teams and players from Ontario, other provinces and even the United States came together in hockey rinks throughout the country to share their love of hockey.
As interest in women’s hockey spread again throughout Ontario, it was obvious that an organizing body was needed and in 1975, the Ontario Women's Hockey Association was formed. The OWHA is the governing body of female hockey in Ontario and promotes, provides and develops opportunities for girls and women of all abilities to play female hockey in Ontario.
While a new association did not translate immediately into more women’s hockey teams, financial support for those teams or even convenient ice time, it did provide female hockey players with a common voice.
For example, that voice, the OWHA, lobbied for and hosted the first national women’s championship in Brantford in 1982 and secured its first title sponsor – Shopper’s Drug Mart. This work by the OWHA was also critical in the formation of a national female hockey council that same year.
Following the success of the creation of a national women’s championship, the OWHA continued to follow its vision to have the game recognized at the international level with a world championship and Olympic participation.
Denied the right to host a world championship, the OWHA persevered and hosted the first Women’s World Hockey Tournament in North York and Mississauga, Ont., in 1987. Teams from Holland, Japan, Sweden, Switzerland the United States – and of course host country Canada – participated in the exciting event. Delegates from Australia, China, Great Britain, Norway and West Germany also attended.
This international tournament was the turning point for female hockey, as it was immediately followed by a European championship in West Germany in 1989 and a full world championship in 1990 in Ottawa, which hosts the official IIHF event for a second time this year in April. The lobby for inclusion into the Winter Olympic Games became a reality in Nagano, Japan in 1998, when Canada’s National Women’s Team won a silver medal. Since then, the red and white have won three gold medals at the Olympic Winter Games, including most recently at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver, B.C.
Through intense competition on the ice and tireless cooperation off the ice, women’s hockey had achieved the impossible dream. It had shown the world the amazing victories that can be accomplished through international unity. Young girls throughout the world enrolled in hockey, as they had exceptional role models to follow.
While women across Canada can take pride in helping to make the female game popular around the world, Ontario and the OWHA have a special place of honour. They gave birth to women’s hockey and kept it breathing when it wasn’t fairing very well. Keep pushing the bar, girls!
For sources used in this story, please CLICK HERE.
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