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The schools and students participating in NAEP assessments are selected to be representative of all schools nationally and of public schools at the state level. Samples of schools and students are drawn from participating states and from the District of Columbia and Department of Defense schools. The results from the assessed students are combined to provide accurate estimates of the overall performance of students in the nation and in individual states and other jurisdictions. Because each school that participated in the assessment, and each student assessed, represents a portion of the population of interest, the results are weighted to account for the disproportionate representation of the selected sample. Read more technical information about weighting adjustments made at the school and student level.
To ensure unbiased samples, NAEP standards require that participation rates for original school samples be 70 percent or higher to report national results separately for public and private schools. In instances where participation rates meet the 70 percent criteria but fall below 85 percent, a nonresponse bias analysis is conducted to determine if the responding school sample is not representative of the population, thereby introducing the potential for nonresponse bias.
The weighted national school participation rate for the 2011 science assessment at grade 8 was 97 percent (100 percent for public schools, 74 percent for private schools). The weighted student participation rate was 93 percent.
A nonresponse bias analysis was conducted for the grade 8 private school sample. The analysis showed that, while the original responding school samples may have been somewhat different from the entire sample of eligible schools, including substitute schools and adjusting the sampling weights to account for school nonresponse were partially effective in reducing the potential for nonresponse bias. However, some variables examined in the analysis still indicated potential bias after nonresponse adjustments. For instance, smaller schools were somewhat overrepresented in the final private school sample, and the responding sample of private schools contained a higher percentage of Black students and lower percentage of White students than the original sample of eligible private schools.
Standards established by the National Assessment Governing Board require that school participation rates for the original state samples need to be at least 85 percent for results to be reported. With one exception, participation rates for the original samples in the states and jurisdictions participating in the 2011 science assessment at grade 8 were 99 or 100 percent. The participation rate in Colorado was 84 percent.
A nonresponse bias analysis was conducted for the public school sample in Colorado. After sampling weights were adjusted to account for nonresponse, some school characteristics still indicated potential bias. For instance, White students were slightly underrepresented and
Hispanic students were slightly overrepresented in the final responding sample. The remaining potential bias associated with student achievement was even larger, however, with the responding sample containing a higher percentage of low-achieving students than the original eligible sample.
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Ohm on the Range: RV Electricity
Tuesday, 15 Oct 2002
written by Sterling
|An RV is, in a way, half house and half car. In fact, some states actually refer to RVs as "house cars" in their law. And there are few aspects of RVing that show this hybridization more than electricity. We have both household and automotive electrical systems on board, and this is one of the things that makes RV power so, ummm, interesting - the continual interaction between the two.||
Tech NotesCalifornia is one such state.
|The standard for household electricity in the USA is 110 volts, alternating current (110VAC). I know, there are some things that use 220VAC, but we can safely ignore those for the moment. Since an RV is meant for living in, and thus using some household appliances in, it will typically have a 110VAC system. In our case, it runs the microwave oven, it would run the air conditioner if we had one, and it can run the refrigerator. We also have ordinary household-style outlets scattered around the interior (and one on the exterior) for plugging in anything else we might want to run. At the top of this list are the satellite modems that enable our Internet connection; because our service is DirecWay, a system with its roots in the home market, it runs from 110VAC. Our computers also need 110VAC when their internal batteries run low.||Our fridge is what's known as 3-way: it can run from 110VAC, 12VDC, or propane. However, when cooling from 12V it pulls almost 18 amps, and since our charging circuit from the truck alternator only produces about 12 amps, this means that we can't use the fridge on DC even when the truck is running without draining our battery! So we run it on AC when we're on shore power and propane the rest of the time.|
|12 volts of direct current is the automotive standard, and an RV has a full 12VDC system as well. This runs lights, fans (including the furnace blower), the water pump, the fridge (optionally), and a few other items. One notable "other item" in our case is the satellite dish positioner, the device that (usually) finds the satellite and points the dish at it when we get to a new location - also crucial for our 'net connection.||The dish positioner uses very little power, about 400mA at 12V. They claim it can run off a 9V battery, but they don't tell you how, so I suspect this is mostly advertising hyperbole.|
|There are also means to convert between 110VAC and 12VDC, in both directions. From 110VAC to 12VDC is called a converter, and in the other direction it's an inverter. Yeah, the names are confusing, and don't ask me to explain why they are how they are, because I can't. But suffice it to say we have one of each, so we can change one form of electricity into the other when we want to. It's not always in sufficient quantity to run everything we might want to, but it's usually enough.||Our inverter right now is a StatPower ProWATT 250. It so rarely runs anything except the computers and satellite modems that I wired a cigarette lighter outlet into the "server room" just for it.|
|Why would we want to? Well, that actually brings us to the other interesting part of electricity in an RV: ensuring an adequate supply. You don't think much about this in a bricks 'n' sticks home, because your house is "plugged in to the mains", as my wife's people call it. As long as you pay your bill, you have essentially as much electricity as you need. We can plug our camper in as well, more literally than you do your house - we actually have a plug, and we carry an extension cord with us. This is useful when we're in a campground with electrical hookups, or occasionally when we're visiting someone who'll let us plug in. This lets us run the 110VAC stuff mentioned above, as well as the 12VDC stuff via the converter. Essentially, we can run anything electric when we're plugged in.||Our shore power service is 30A, meaning we need an adapter (which we also carry) to plug into an ordinary 15A household outlet. We use way less than 15A because we're not running an air conditioner, but most campground hookups are at least 30A anyway.|
|But of course, our house rides around on a truck, and thus can't always be plugged in (our extension cord isn't that long). The first solution to this problem is in the form of a generator, which we carry with us. It runs on propane (because that's the only fuel the camper has on board), and makes 110VAC from it. When the generator is running, it's as if we were plugged into the grid - we can run anything electrical that we have. But the generator is noisy, makes smelly exhaust, and has high upkeep costs. We don't really want to run it all the time, but it's nice to have when we need it.||
We have about 50' of cord for the camper.
Our genset is a Generac Impact 36LP, 3.4kW. It's notable for producing DC natively (at 375V, they tell me) and then having its own inverter to make AC. They claim this makes it more efficient.
|No, the primary answer to portable electricity is battery power. The battery basically stores 12VDC electricity, and we can use it when we want to. This lets us run most of the things we need to - lights, water pump, dish positioner, and through the inverter, computers and satellite modems. Our present inverter's not big enough to run the microwave, but we can live with that, or just turn the generator on for 3 minutes when it's popcorn time. The catch is that the battery just stores electricity, it doesn't create it like the generator does. So we can only run from the battery for a limited time before we have to recharge it. Because our power needs are fairly high, and our camper doesn't have room for much battery, we can only last about a day. So the next issue is, how to charge it?||We have a Lifeline Group 31 AGM battery, rated at 105Ah. Since we only have the one (fairly small) battery, I felt it worthwhile to split with the $$$ for an AGM due to its faster charge rate and better safety.|
|First, it will charge from the truck's electrical system (which is the standard automotive 12VDC, remember) whenever the truck's engine is running. So on travel days we'll get a good few hours of charge, and on those days we're also not using as much electricity, because our satellite connection only works when we're stationary. But it's worth mentioning.||Our Ford diesel has a space for a second alternator, but that doesn't seem to be our limiting factor in charging the camper battery, so I've not pursued it yet. Maybe on the F-550…|
|Second, our 110VAC-12VDC converter also charges our battery whenever we're on "shore power" (you can tell RVers borrow technology from boaters), or when the generator's running. It charges a lot faster than many older RV battery chargers did, meaning that when we need a charge in the middle of nowhere, we can get good effect from just running our generator for an hour or so. But this isn't a real solution - our whole aim here is to be mobile (i.e., off the grid) without running the generator.||Our converter is a Progressive Dynamics Intelli-Power 9145 with the "Charge Wizard" add-on, making it into a true 3-stage charger capable of using the charger's full 45 amps during the bulk phase.|
|So our third charging option is solar. We've installed a couple of big panels on the roof of our camper, and whenever the sun is shining they charge our battery. These are quite new, only installed 4 days before I wrote this, so it's not yet clear whether they'll make the difference we hope they will. It's also hard to tell right now, because we're in a somewhat northern latitude, and the sun's pretty low in the sky this time of year, both of which decrease the amount of sunlight on the panels. I'll report back when we know more.||
They're Kyocera 120W modules flat-mounted to the roof, purchased from ETA Engineering out of Tempe, Arizona.
The camper came "pre-wired for solar", meaning it had 12-gauge wires from the roof to the battery area. 12 was just big enough for our needs.
|Sound complicated? It is! If you're an RVer that usually stays in campgrounds with electrical hookups, you probably never have to worry about it. But our experience has been that a lot of the best places don't have hookups at all, so we worry about it a lot. It's also ironic that our quest for an RV that would take us to out-of-the-way places resulted in a rig that is actually less self-sufficient when we get there. A big fifth-wheel trailer or Class A motorhome would have room for lots more batteries & solar panels than we can carry. But then, it wouldn't be able to go to some of the places we can. Lemme tell you about this dirt road we found ourselves on yesterday… The best solution would be a real expedition vehicle, but that's another tale.||
Case in point: Guernsey State Park in Wyoming.
|One other thing we've just added that we're hoping will make a big difference is an amp-hour meter. Basically, the problem is that it's very difficult to tell on an ongoing basis how much power your battery actually has left in it, especially with multiple charging sources and widely varying power usage. A good amp-hour meter solves this problem by virtually monitoring every electron going in or out of the battery, then telling you how many you have left at any given time. I just installed ours today (my inspiration to write this article now), but we have high hopes that it'll help a lot as we try to manage our electrical consumption and production.||As you can see, it's a Xantrex Link-10, with lots of additional functionality besides simple amp-hour measurement. It even let us input our own Peukert exponent, in our case 1.164 for the Lifeline 31.|
|What electrical improvements does the future hold for us? It's hard to say. We may or may not have room for a third panel on the roof if we need it. We'd like to add a nice big inverter that would let us run the microwave for short times from the battery, and make better use of our solar panels even when we're on shore power. And if we upgrade our truck as we'd like to, we'd have the carrying capacity to add a couple of much larger batteries to our system. As always, stay tuned!||
We're running a SunAmp 22A PV charge controller, which has the capacity for a third panel if needed.
I have my eye on a ProSine 1.8kW pure-sine-wave inverter, but we're not sure we have the room (in the camper or the budget) for it.
In closing, I wanted to detail one absurd but not uncommon situation with our electrical system. It goes something like this: The generator converts propane into 375VDC, its built-in inverter changes that into 110VAC, our camper's power converter makes that into 12VDC, our little standalone inverter converts that back into 110VAC, and finally the laptop computer's power supply converts that into 19VDC. Whew!
Sunday, 26 September 2004
Over the couple of years following this article, I did substantial upgrades to the electrical system - and (of course) I wrote an article about them, too.
Do you know someone who would enjoy this article? Click to e-mail it to them! | <urn:uuid:7bbc259c-5fb5-4caa-97f6-21ba05d20f7b> | {
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Nimblewill (Muhlenbergia schreberi) is a weed that thin patches in lawns. Since nimblewill is a warm-season grass, it will turn brown at the first frost and is very slow to green-up in the spring. The brown patches seen in lawns in the early spring may be nimblewill contamination. This weed spreads from seeds produced and stolons.
Control of spreading grasses is usually attempted with a nonselective systemic herbicide like glyphosate. Best results are seen when the weedy plants are young, fully green, actively growing, and not under drought stress. The mother plants are easily killed, but often the weed will regrow from the stolons. To overcome this, more than one application is recommended. One must allow the weed to regrow before the next application. At least two applications are recommended, but three or more may be needed. One must realize that the area will be dead and unsightly for a number of weeks or months if optimum control is desired. Controlling warm-season grasses should be initiated shortly after green-up in the summer, whereas control of cool season plants can be started in spring, summer, or early fall.
If there is only a small number of weeds, spot applications can be made. Reseeding can take place five to seven days following final herbicide application. This method can be effective, but undetected weeds may continue to spread across the area. Once the area has been infested with a large number of weeds, killing the entire area will be most effective with multiple applications of glyphosate. Renovation can begin five to seven days following final glyphosate application. Refer to AY-13, “Lawn Improvement Programs” for information on reestablishment.
There is some encouraging research on selective control of nimblewill. Mesotrione (trade name Tenacity) selectively controls nimblewill growing in a cool-season turf. Mesotrione is available to professional turf managers but not available to homeowners; however, professionals can be hired to apply this chemical. Tenacity received registration for use on lawns (as of April 2, 2011) and it can also be used on other turf sites.
Control of perennial grassy weeds is a very difficult and time-consuming process. One must weigh the advantages and disadvantages before deciding whether to attempt control. Many homeowners may be better off just tolerating perennial grassy weeds in their lawns.
|Nimblewill patches in a lawn. The turf appears to be dead, but this is just dormant patches of nimblewill|
|A closer up view of these patches of nimblewill.|
|A view of the base of this dormant plant shows that there is new growth already initiated for this spring despite the fact that it still looks completely dormant.|
|Nimblewill will commonly produce a seedhead. The seeds on the seedhead will have a small hair-like extension called an awn. This is helpful for positive identification of this weed.| | <urn:uuid:d5c1857d-045b-43d9-a7f6-34186c808f91> | {
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We already are pretty sure that alien meddling was instrumental in our transition to humanity a mere 200,000 years ago. Thus the idea that earth was seeded with artificial DNA early on is not unreasdonable and surely inspires detailed mapping and comparison of our genome to that of our so called close relatives.
Our Alien DNA
Here we show that the terrestrial code displays a thorough precision-type orderliness matching the criteria to be considered an informational signal. Simple arrangements of the code reveal an ensemble of arithmetical and ideographical patterns of the same symbolic language. Accurate and systematic, these underlying patterns appear as a product of precision logic and nontrivial computing rather than of stochastic processes (the null hypothesis that they are due to chance coupled with presumable evolutionary pathways is rejected with P-value < 10–13).
The signal displays readily recognizable hallmarks of artificiality.
A little background will help here… Prime numbers are those that cannot be made by multiplying together any other whole numbers: 1, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13 and on up, as high as you want to go. No known formula on natural process generates them. If you see primes, you know that mind is not far behind.
A widely accepted idea for interstellar message construction is to send digital pulses that repeat with a number that is the product of two primes multiplied together. This would suggest that a two-dimensional picture is being sent. For example, if you received a message that was repeating a sequence of 143 pulses, you, or your machine, would say, "Oh, 143 is 11 times 13, and these are both prime numbers. Let's make an 11-by-13 array and see if there's a picture encoded here." This technique - using primes to create easily decoded 2-D images - is a pillar of SETI theory.
Now back to the message in that virus, bacteriophage φX174. It's the first organism for which the entire genome was decoded. A remarkable feature discovered was the presence of "overlapping genes". These are sequences of nucleotides that can be read in two different frames, to encode for two completely different proteins. In other words, the DNA sequence CAATGGAACAACTCA, can be read as the three-letter "words" CAA TGG AAC AAC TCA, and this will instruct a cell to start building a protein by putting together the five amino acids specified by these triplets. However, starting at a different letter, the same sequence can also be read as ATG GAA CAA CTC, and so on, which will build a completely different protein. It is as if you could write an English sentence criticizing a bickering couple, "CAN YOU TWO NAG", that also contains a message about the ninth inning of a baseball game, "ANY OUT WON", except that to make proteins you would have to continue in this overlapping mode for hundreds of words, with both sentences making complete sense.
But wait, there's more. This organism (φX174) contained not one, but three pairs of these overlapping genes. And, if you count the number of letters in these overlapping sequences, you find that they are 121, 91, and 533. Each of these is the product of two prime numbers (11x11, 7x13, and 13x41). How weird is that? Here was the widely accepted signature of an intelligent message, turning up in the strangest of places.
The human genome...consists of some 2.9 billion of those letters — the equivalent of about 750 megabytes of data — but only about 3 percent of it goes into composing the 22,000 or so genes that make us what we are.
The remaining 97 percent, so-called junk DNA, looks like gibberish. It’s the dark matter of inner space. We don’t know what it is saying to or about us, but within that sea of megabytes there is plenty of room for the imagination to roam, for trademark labels and much more. The King James Bible, to pick one obvious example, only amounts to about five megabytes. | <urn:uuid:7cbc048e-3d7e-4b7e-8d09-23156e52adf9> | {
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Mars is cold, dry, and apparently dead. But it wasn’t always this way. I’ve written before about the evidence of past liquid water on Mars; there are copious data to support the idea that there were rivers, lakes, catastrophic floods, and even oceans on the red planet’s surface long ago.
New observations have turned up yet more evidence of this, in a way I wouldn’t have expected. A winding network of raised ridges indicate that water once flowed under the surface of Mars. This threw me for a moment: I’d expect gullies, arroyos, and valleys to indicate flowing water. How can raised ridges support this idea?
You have to think of this as a two step process: First, the way these features formed, and then second, what’s happened since.
In this case, scientists used the fantastic HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter to look at two regions of Mars where these ridges are present. Here’s an exaggerated three-dimensional representation made using images and elevation data:
You can see the ridges running in various directions across the rock (the thicker, overlapping wormy-looking things are actually sand dunes, blown by the wind into lower-lying regions).
Scientists think these ridges were originally cracks in the crater floor, formed by the enormous stresses the surface underwent during the impact that formed the crater itself. Liquid, probably from beneath the surface, would have subsequently flowed into these cracks, filling them. If the liquid were water, it would have deposited minerals (like water can in your sink) that would form a very hard material. Over eons, the softer rocks around the mineral-filled cracks would erode away, leaving the much harder material in the cracks behind. You’re left with ridges—structures that now have positive elevation, but which started as cracks, structures with negative elevation. Cool.
However, there’s a caveat. Lava used to flow on Mars as well. How do we know these ridges aren’t volcanic in original instead of hydrologic?
There are two lines of evidence pointing that way. One is that the region surrounding the ridges is loaded with clay, a mineral thought to form only in water. In fact, the ridges only appear where this clay is present, indicating an actual connection. Second, the ridges themselves don’t appear to align well with any volcanic events on Mars. Their orientation matches the overall crater orientation, which means they formed from the impact stresses, and not large-scale volcanism. Both pieces of evidence are circumstantial, but compelling.
The way to know for sure is to find out the chemical composition of those ridges. That’s hard to do from orbit on such a small scale; the ridges are hundreds of meters long but only a few meters wide. The best bet is to land a probe there and poke at them. That may not happen any time soon, so until then we’ll have to file this under the very-cool-and-interesting-but-we’ll-have-to-wait-for-solid-proof category.
At this point, though, one thing we’re sure about is the presence of lots of water on Mars. A lot of it is still there in the form of ice in the polar caps and under the surface at mid- to high latitudes. It seems clear it once flowed on and under the surface as well. It really makes me wonder if water could flow under the surface even today. It’s unlikely; you need a heat source, and Mars looks pretty lean in that category these days. Still, Mars is a surprising place, and no doubt has plenty of surprises left for us to find.
[Bonus: While reading about this, I learned a new word: anastomose, which means to join together again, like two streams that split upstream coming back together downstream. That one’s going right into my sciencey thesaurus.] | <urn:uuid:f2d7bbcf-ac61-4aba-b9ea-5c86ed8f6b95> | {
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The Nation: American History 101 For Bachmann
John Nichols, a pioneering political blogger, has written the Beat since 1999.
The unsettling thing about Michele Bachmann's failed discussion of the founders and slavery is not that the Tea Party "Patriot" knew so little about the birth of the American experiment that she made John Quincy Adams — the son of a somewhat disappointing founder (John) and the cousin of one of the true revolutionaries (Sam) — into something he was not.
Bachmann has for some time peddled the notion that the nation's founding fathers worked "tirelessly until slavery was no more in the United States." She is simply wrong about this. The last of the revolutionaries generally recognized by historians as the founders — signers of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, and their chief political and military comrades — passed in 1836, with the death of James Madison. That was twenty-seven years before the Emancipation Proclamation was issued, and twenty-nine years before the finish of the Civil War.
But Bachmann has never been bothered by the facts. Until now.
As she has moved from the fringe of the House Republican Caucus — which earlier this year dismissed her candidacy for a minor leadership role — into serious contention for the Republican presidential nomination, she has finally begun to be called out on some of her more outlandish statements.
Noting that many of the founders were slaveholders, George Stephanopoulos asked Bachmann the other day on ABC News's Good Morning America to explain how she came to her distinctive view of the nation's founding. "Well, if you look at one of our founding fathers, John Quincy Adams, that's absolutely true," the Minnesota congresswoman chirped. "He was a very young boy when he was with his father serving essentially as his father's secretary. He tirelessly worked throughout his life to make sure that we did in fact one day eradicate slavery..."
In fact, John Quincy Adams was just 8 when the Declaration of Independence was signed and just 20 when the Constitution was being cobbled together at a convention that agreed to a "compromise" that identified a slave as three-fifths of a human being. He did not sign either document. Nor did he participate in any significant manner in the debates regarding those documents — or the compromises contained in them — until the last years of his life.
John Quincy Adams was, like his father, a critic of slavery. But as a diplomat, Cabinet member and president, he was relatively cautious in his approach to the issue — fearing the divisions that an honest and thorough debate would stir. Only when he was in his mid-60s, after finishing his one term as president, did Adams emerge as an outspoken critic of human bondage. When he did so, his was a radical act of departure from the corrupt political consensus that allowed slavery to be maintained. Adams's courageous stance in opposition to states rights and in favor of a strong federal government with a commitment to liberty and justice for all is surely worthy of note.
But Bachmann got Adams's story wrong. And she refused to back off her error even when she was offered an opportunity to do so.
That ought to be troubling to anyone who takes seriously the detail and nuance of America's founding and the progression of the American experiment. But it is not the most troubling thing about her ignorance with regard to the history of the revolutionary moment and its aftermath.
The really unsettling thing about Bachmann's desperate struggle to explain away her errors and mischaracterizations is that, with a little effort, she could have gotten right the story of the fight over slavery at the point of American beginning.
There were, indeed, founders who objected to slavery. Thomas Jefferson tried to insert anti-slavery language into the Declaration of Independence, only to be rebuked by his fellow Southerners. Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush were relatively active abolitionists, for instance. More significantly, within the founding circle, a genuine foe of human bondage risked his place among the elites to stand, again and again, at the side of the disenfranchised: slaves, Native Americans, the landless masses and women.
Tom Paine, the man who called the United States into being, did not just write Common Sense.
Historians suggest that it was Paine who encouraged Jefferson to include the anti-slavery clause in the declaration.
And historians know that Paine was a regular contributor to the great radical journal of the colonial era, the Pennsylvania Journal and Weekly Advertiser, which in 1775 published "African Slavery in America," the first article proposing the emancipation of African slaves and the abolition of slavery. In his time and to this day, it has been speculated that Paine wrote that pioneering article. Certainly, he associated himself with its values and ideals — particularly the declaration that: "Our Traders in MEN (an unnatural commodity!) must know the wickedness of the SLAVE-TRADE, if they attend to reasoning, or the dictates of their own hearts: and such as shun and stiffle all these, wilfully sacrifice Conscience, and the character of integrity to that golden idol."
Those words were published March 8, 1775.
Barely one month later, on April 14, 1775, the first anti-slavery society in the American colonies was formed in Philadelphia.
Thomas Paine was a founding member.
If Michele Bachmann wanted to talk about a founder who was on the right side of history, she could have done so.
But that would require her to do more than talk about American history. She would have to read it. And she would have to do so with an eye toward understanding America as a work in progress where there have always been debates between progressives, like Paine and his "winter soldiers" of the visionary American revolution, and the "sunshine patriot" conservatives who were — and are — too afraid, or too wrongheaded, to do right by their fellow human beings. | <urn:uuid:20a16183-2251-4d18-ab08-858803722c3e> | {
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HOPE at New Hope Academy
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The Douglas County School District is dedicated to serving a full continuum of learners, where students feel safe, valued and connected in order to reach their highest potential.
ESL specialists and content teachers make instructional decisions to ensure that English Language development and content learning occurs throughout the school day.
Gifted education contact will collaborate and/or consult with classroom teachers to appropriately extend the content for identified gifted learners.
Content teachers and literacy interventionists collaborate to provide specialized reading and writing support.
Providing for the needs of students with an emphasis on those with health challenges, so that all students have an equal opportunity to excel.
In a multi-tiered system of support, Health Services provides:
- Medical training and support to school personnel
- Prevention efforts for communicable diseases
- Advocacy for students with health concerns
- Implementation of accommodations so students can focus on learning, including case management for students with intensive care needs
School nurses are healthcare connectors who keep students in classrooms, ready to learn.
Universal and targeted special education support and services are delivered at all school sites within the framework of moderate needs support and itinerant services. Itinerant services include mental health, speech-language, behavior support team, autism assessment and training team, occupational therapy, physical therapy, assistive technology, vision, deaf hard of hearing, and audiology.
Consistent with our mission of empowering all students to achieve world-class outcomes by providing specialized instruction & services, the Special Education Department also provides an intensive level of support in center-based programs for students who experience significant support needs, serious emotional disabilities, deaf and hard of hearing, and autism. Center-based programming is designed to enable students to build the skills required to access and make progress in the general curriculum/environment to the fullest extent possible. | <urn:uuid:48eaffa0-7646-4359-873e-64c8d14766de> | {
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I recently read an article that spoke of a doctor named, Dr. Paul Brand. This doctor is a missionary surgeon who heads a rehabilitation branch of America’s only leprosarium. He said, “If I had one gift which I could give to people with leprosy, it would be the gift of pain.” In this article, he said that, “After years of working with leprosy patients, I learned to exult in the sensation of cutting a finger, turning an ankle, or stepping into a too-hot bath.” He went on to say, “Thank God for pain!” Dr. Brand believes that pain itself, the hurt of pain, is a gift. But what does he mean?
Doctors once believed the disease of leprosy caused the ulcers on hands and feet and face which eventually led to rotting flesh and the gradual loss of limbs. Mainly through Dr. Brand’s research, it has been established that in ninety-nine percent of the cases, leprosy only numbs the extremities. The decay of flesh occurs because the warning system of pain is absent. How does the decay happen though?
Visitors to rural villages in Africa and Asia have sometimes observed a horrible sight, a person with leprosy standing by the heavy iron cooking pot watching the potatoes. As they are done, without flinching he thrusts his arm deep into the scolding water and recovers the cooked potatoes. Dr. Brand found that abusive acts such as this were the chief cause of body deterioration. The potato-watching leprosy victim had felt no pain, but his skin blistered, his cells were destroyed and laid open to infection. Leprosy had not destroyed the tissue; it had merely removed the warning sensors that alerted him to danger. To a person with leprosy, the sensation of sticking their arm into scalding hot water was no different that picking up a stone or putting their hand in their pocket. They simply have no warning system for pain. It was this reality that caused Dr. Brand to see physical pain as a gift to the body, for without it, horrible consequences occur.
Just a physical pain is an early warning system to the brain, other types of pain can be warnings to the soul. As theologian C.S. Lewis once said, “Pain is a megaphone of God which, sometimes murmuring, sometimes shouting, reminds us that something is wrong.” Lewis went on to say that, “Pain reminds us that the entire human condition is out of whack. We, on earth, are a rebel fortress, and every sting and every ache reminds us.” Pain, seen in that light, is a gift from God that reminds us we are built from something more, for eternity. If we see pain from this perspective, in some sense, we, too, can declare, “Thank God for pain.”
Pain, suffering, trial, heartache, etc., does many things, but there are three things I have learned that allow me to see pain as a gift:
First, pain reminds me over and over that this world is not my home. As the Apostle Paul said, “For my light and momentary afflictions are producing for me an eternal weight of glory.” Every heartache and trial must be seen through that lens. Every time I grieve, I simply remember that my trial, when embraced by faith, is working and producing something of eternal significance. That reality allows me to endure the difficulties I experience in this life.
Second, pain keeps me desperate for Jesus! I often say that God does not want to “be a part” of our lives, He wants and deserves to “be” our entire life. Suffering has a way of keeping Jesus right at the center of our lives. When things are going well, we have a tendency to forget the Lord and begin living for ourselves. Pain is one of God’s ways of getting and keeping our attention.
Finally, pain and suffering make me more like Christ. The Apostle Peter said, “Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice insofar as you share Christ’s sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when His glory is revealed.” When we suffer, we are never more like Christ. If He was perfect, and He suffered, why would we expect anything different? Our suffering connects us to Christ, but our suffering is not the end. As the Scripture says, “We who share in His suffering will also share in His glory.” What a glorious promise that is for Christians.
Dear Christian, pain is a gift from God. It reminds us we are not meant to live here forever, it keeps us desperate for Jesus, and it makes us more like our Savior. One day, our faith will be made sight. Until then, we walk by faith knowing that no tear we ever shed will be wasted, and one day, every tear will be wiped away. Press on! | <urn:uuid:8d8e4240-0091-46f1-960b-1bc6c3cacd70> | {
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Monday, October 3, 2005
Carnegie Mellon Scientists Create PNA Molecule With Potential To Build Nanodevices
PITTSBURGH—For the first time, a team of investigators at Carnegie Mellon University has shown that the binding of metal ions can mediate the formation of peptide nucleic acid (PNA) duplexes from single strands of PNA that are only partly complementary. This result opens new opportunities to create functional, three-dimensional nanosize structures such as molecular-scale electronic circuits, which could reduce by thousands of times the size of today's common electronic devices. The research results will appear in the October 26 issue of the Journal of the American Chemical Society.
"DNA nanotechnology has led to the construction of sophisticated three-dimensional nanoarchitectures composed exclusively from nucleic acid strands. These structures can acquire a completely new set of magnetic and electrical properties if metal ions are incorporated in the nucleic acids at specific locations because the metal ions have unpaired electrons," said Catalina Achim, assistant professor of chemistry at the Mellon College of Science. "Our goal is to harness the information storage ability of metalcontaining PNAs to build molecular-scale devices—tiny replicas of today's electronic circuit components, such as wires, diodes and transistors."
Normally, DNA occurs as the well-known double helix first proposed by James Watson and Francis Crick 50 years ago. Each strand of the helix consists of a backbone linked to nucleobases, which occupy the inside of the helix. Nucleobases of one strand bind only to specific nucleobases of a complementary strand, and the two strands wind around one another like a twisted ladder. Artificially manufactured PNAs incorporate nucleobases that are bound to a backbone chain of pseudo-amino acids, rather than the sugar-phosphate groups of DNA.
"In modifying our PNAs so that they are significantly more stable, we have discovered that the PNA strands don't have to be fully complementary for a metal-containing PNA duplex to form. This is an important finding because it should permit us to use non-complementary parts of the PNA duplexes to construct larger structures, which are useful for material science applications," said Achim.
Two years ago, Achim was the first scientist to report the construction of PNA duplexes that contained metal ions (nickel ions, specifically) and ligands inserted in place of a central nucleobases pair.
Since then, the researchers, including graduate students and postdocs Richard Watson, Yury Skorik and Goutam Patra, have synthesized PNAs with a variety of ligands and metal ions to broaden the range of thermal stability and electronic properties. By replacing a nucleobase of a PNA with the molecule 8-hydroxyquinoline, which readily binds to copper ions, the research team constructed PNAs whose nucleic acid strands are only partly complementary and found that these duplexes are held together by standard Watson-Crick nucleobase pairs, but also by bonds between copper ions and the 8-hydroxyquinolines projecting from each of the two strands.
The research was supported by the National Science Foundation and the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation.
The Mellon College of Science at Carnegie Mellon maintains innovative research and educational programs in biological sciences, chemistry, physics, mathematics and several interdisciplinary areas. For more information, visit www.cmu.edu/mcs.
By: Lauren Ward | <urn:uuid:456ea573-1c11-4200-9a43-0d4c2cf07a06> | {
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Definitions of fluid
a. - Having particles which easily move and change their relative position without a separation of the mass, and which easily yield to pressure; capable of flowing; liquid or gaseous. 2
n. - A fluid substance; a body whose particles move easily among themselves. 2
The word "fluid" uses 5 letters: D F I L U.
No direct anagrams for fluid found in this word list.
List shorter words within fluid, sorted by length
All words formed from fluid by changing one letter
Browse words starting with fluid by next letter | <urn:uuid:d98bdfcf-f156-4b01-ad33-bcc9142e03b2> | {
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Three Golden Goddesses
The Legend of the Three Golden Goddesses is the creation story for the Zelda games.
Before time began, before spirits and life existed, three golden goddesses descended upon the chaos that was Hyrule. Din, the goddess of Power. Nayru, the goddess of Wisdom. Farore, the goddess of Courage. Din, with her strong flaming arms, she cultivated the land and created the red earth. Nayru, poured her wisdom onto the earth and gave the spirit of law to the world. Farore, with her rich soul, produced all life forms who would uphold the law. The three great goddesses, their labors completed, departed for the heavens. And golden sacred triangles remained at the point where the goddesses left the world. Since then, the sacred triangles have become the basis of our world's providence. And, the resting place of the triangles has become the Sacred Realm. | <urn:uuid:467c74a2-2fa7-441b-9f5e-cd5b37553788> | {
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ABBA B. ABINA:
By: Wilhelm Bacher
An amora who flourished in the third century. He was a native of Babylonia and a pupil of Rab. He emigrated to Palestine, where he became well known in tradition, particularly through his various haggadic sayings. The confession which he composed for the Day of Atonement deserves special mention. It reads:
"My God, I have sinned and done wicked things. I have persisted in my bad disposition and followed its direction. What I have done I will do no more. Be it Thy will, O Everlasting God, that Thou mayest blot out my iniquities, forgive all my transgressions, and pardon all my sins".
- Bacher, Ag. Pal. Amor. iii. 526, 527;
- Heilprin, Seder ha-Dorot, ii. 15. | <urn:uuid:76d83acb-ee8a-4b96-a4c3-f1a3028ba3f1> | {
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What is the Delta Method?
I have used the delta method occasionally for years without really understanding what is going on under the hood. A recent encounter with an inquisitive reviewer has changed that. As it turned out, the delta method is even more useful than sliced bread, and much healthier.
The delta method, whose foundations were laid in the 1940s by Cramér (Oehlert 1942), approximates the expectation (or higher moments) of some function of a random variable by relying on a (truncated) Taylor series expansion. More specifically, Agresti (2002: 578) shows that (under weak conditions) for some parameter that has an approximately normal sampling distribution with variance , the sampling distribution of is also approximately normal with variance , since is approximately linear in the neighbourhood of . The delta method can be generalised to the case of a multivariate normal random vector (Agresti 2002: 579) such as the joint sampling distribution of some set of parameter estimates.
In plain words, that means that one can use the delta method to calculate confidence intervals and perform hypothesis tests on just about every linear or nonlinear transformation of a vector of parameter estimates. If you are interested in the ratio of two coefficients and need a confidence interval, if, for some reason, you need to know if with some probability, the delta method is your friend.
The Delta Method and nlcom
Stata’s procedure nlcom is a particularly versatile and powerful implementation of the delta method. As a post-estimation command, nlcom accepts symbolic references to model parameters and computes sampling variances for their linear and non-linear combinations and transformations. If you can write down the formula of the transformation, nlcom will spit out the result, standard error and confidence interval, and will even store the full variance-covariance matrix of the estimates. That, in turn, means that amongst other things, you can abuse Stata’s built in procedures to implement your own estimators.
What’s not to like? Well, for one thing, Stata gives no indication of how well the approximation works. It’s always worth checking that the results look reasonable, and in particularly complex circumstances, one should use simulation/bootstrapping for double checking. But bascially,>nlcom is great fun.
Agresti, Alan. 2002. Categorical Data Analysis. 2 ed. Hoboken: John Wiley.
Oehlert, Gary W. 1992. “A Note on the Delta Method.” The American Statistician | <urn:uuid:da6ebb48-0e73-4d9a-b2d8-50fab50e8bbc> | {
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Beating the flu is already tough, but it has become even harder in recent years the influenza A virus has mutated so that two antiviral drugs don't slow it down anymore.
Reporting their findings in the journal Science, researchers from Florida State and Brigham Young move closer to understanding why not, and how future treatments can defeat the nasty bug no matter how it changes.
The two drugs, amantadine and rimantadine, are no longer recommended by the CDC for use against flu.
They used to work by blocking a hole in the influenza A virus called the "M2 channel," which plays a key role in the virus's ability to reproduce. When the channel changed ever so slightly at the atomic level, the virus became resistant to the drugs.
The research team used a 16-ton magnet to give the virus what amounts to an MRI, and they determined the tiniest, heretofore unknown details of the structure of this channel. The next step is to find a new way to block it.
"This work is laying a foundation to understand how that mutation does its damage and then of course how we can respond with a new bullet," said David Busath, a biophysicist at BYU and co-author of the paper. "Now we've got a fine enough resolution on the target we can start shooting at it, so to speak."
All versions of the flu virus have an M2 channel, so that makes it an attractive potential "Achilles' heel" drugs can aim for.
Another appeal of the channel as a drug target is that there are only a limited number of ways it could mutate in the future and continue to function. So it's possible that blockers could be identified in advance to defeat the virus no matter how it changes.
Because the channel's parts are so minute they cannot be seen with even an electron microscope, the researchers rely on a 15-foot-tall battery of electromagnets super-cooled by liquid nitrogen, supervised by Timothy A. Cross, a Florida State scientist and senior author of the paper.
The magnet allows the team to use a technique called solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance which utilizes some of the underlying technology of an MRI to map the structure of the channel. Florida State's Huan-Xiang Zhou and his students used the data from the NMR to compute precise readings of the distance between two molecules or atoms.
"Now we have a much more refined view of M2, all the way down to the atomic level, the level that includes protons going through the channel, to draw conclusions about how to block it," said Busath.
Busath runs tests to ensure that the samples being studied behave in the same way as viruses in real cells, which demonstrate that the experimental conditions have preserved the study's relevance to the real world.
This new study is more precise than previous work because it examines the virus in an environment that closely simulates its native setting. This is particularly important because its structure can change significantly based on its surroundings.
Now the research team has started screening millions of compounds, looking for drugs that will bind to the channel and block it in its reproductive role.
|Contact: Joseph Hadfield|
Brigham Young University | <urn:uuid:7504e946-f979-4e1c-85d6-601e79d78e40> | {
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Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy
What the policy is about
The Environment Protection (Water Quality) Policy 2015 provides the structure for regulation and management of water quality in South Australian inland surface waters, marine waters and groundwaters.
The main objective of the Water Quality Policy is linked to the Environment Protection Act 1993 (the Act):
"...to ensure that all reasonable and practicable measures are taken to protect, restore and enhance the quality of the environment while having regard to the principles of ecologically sustainable development"
The Policy specifically provides support to the Act in terms of:
- what constitues environmental harm (section 5 in the Act)
- what are the general environmental duty requirements (section 25 in the Act)
- what are the mandatory provisions which constitute offences (section 34 in the Act)
The policy also:
- declares environmental values for the protection of streams, rivers, oceans and groundwater.
- encourages better management of wastewater by:
- avoiding its production
- eliminating, or reducing it
- recycling and re-using it
- treating it to reduce potential harm to the environment
- promotes best practice environmental management.
- allows for discharge limits for particular activities to be established.
Any person, business or industry that fails to comply with the Policy may receive an on-the-spot fine, an environment protection order, and/or face prosecution in court.
Polluting activities which are offences under the policy include washing a vehicle on the street, washing animal faeces into a stormwater drain, and allowing dirt from a building site to enter the stormwater system.
National Water Quality Guidelines
The Policy refers to the Australian and New Zealand Guidelines for Fresh and Marine Water Quality (ANZECC 2000) as part of the guidance regarding the general environmental duty. In this context, the ANZECC guidelines are used as trigger values for aquatic ecosystems and primary industries. These trigger values indicate where the receiving environment is potentially at risk of being harmed and so a site-specific investigation may be required to assess the risk and/or evaluate options for environmental performance improvement.
The EPA is also taking part in a national project to revise the ANZECC guidelines.
For further information about the Water Quality Policy see:
- Explanatory report
- What's new in the policy
- Presentation on key clauses in the policy (Powerpoint)
- What can you do to help the water environment?
- Map of the Water Protection Areas in South Australia
Authorities that may enforce the Water Quality Policy include the Environment Protection Authority, local councils and other government authorities. | <urn:uuid:bcd748c6-8493-4f4f-b3f3-66277c717444> | {
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- To hear private sector views on cyber threats, priority issues for cybersecurity strategy, implementation of the Cybersecurity Act of 2015, and issues the Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity should consider.
- On December 18, 2015, Congress enacted the Cybersecurity Act to achieve three key goals:
(1) create a framework for private companies to share cybersecurity threat information with both the federal government and other private entities,
(2) improve Federal network cybersecurity; and
(3) track the cyber capabilities of all federal agencies.
- In February 2016, President Obama directed his Administration to implement a Cybersecurity National Action Plan (CNAP).
- A key piece of CNAP was the creation of a Presidential Commission on Enhancing National Cybersecurity to make recommendations for actions to be taken during the next decade to strengthen cybersecurity.
Witnesses and testimonies
|Dr. Eunice Santos||Chair, Department of Computer Science||Illinois Institute of Technology||Document|
|Mr. Michael Carano||Executive Director||ChicagoFIRST||Document|
|Mr. Gary Horn||Vice President, Technical Services & CTO||Advocate Health Care||Document|
|Ms. Patty Hatter||Vice President, Intel Security Group||General Manager, Intel Security Professional Services||Document| | <urn:uuid:d32e91e4-3fa6-4eed-beca-1fba05296b47> | {
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1. Does the First Man trust the man who comes to his aid after he goes blind?
The First Man does not entirely trust the man that helps him home. Especially after they arrive at his apartment, the First Man senses a bit too much enthusiasm in his good Samaritan's voice and worries he may be robbed.
2. Describe the First Man's Wife's reaction to her husband when she comes home.
The First Man's Wife is initially annoyed that her husband broke a vase in their home. However, when she see's that he is bleeding, she grows immediately concerned, and when he tells her that he has gone blind, she is distraught.
3. Does the Doctor have an explanation for the First Man's sudden blindness?
No, the doctor is completely ignorant of what might have caused it. The First Man's eyes are totally healthy, and the Doctor knows no past instance of a healthy person going immediately blind.
This section contains 3,350 words
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Brain structures in primates have developed due to different pressures on males and females to keep up with social or competitive demands, a new study suggests.
A comparison of brains from 21 primate species, including gorillas and chimps, suggests that those with greater male-on-male competition have more brain matter devoted to aggression and coordination. Whereas those species in which there is more social mixing between males and females have evolved bigger brains with higher-level thinking.
Competition for status and mates among primates might have influenced brain evolution, the researchers say. They add that contrasting brain types resulting from behavioural differences between the sexes might be a factor in other branches of mammalian brain evolution beyond anthropoid primates.
In the early 1980s, a group of researchers published information about the brain anatomy of 21 different primate species – which included gorillas, chimps and rhesus monkeys, but not humans.
The team took each brain and cut it into thin slices. They photographed each slice and marked the boundaries of the brain structures they saw. By measuring the areas of these marked regions, the scientists were able to reconstruct various brain structures and estimate their volume.
Fast-forward a quarter of a century to the new study by a different group, led by Patrik Lindenfors at Stockholm University in Sweden. They decided to find out if different types of behaviour could explain the variations in brain anatomy seen in the 21 primate species.
Lindenfors wanted specifically to know whether those species in which males competed heavily amongst themselves had any unique brain attributes. Greater male-on-male competition in primates is liked to greater disparity between male and female body size. So his team used this disparity as a proxy measure for male competition.
For example, gorillas are considered as a highly competitive because females weigh about 80 kilograms on average, whereas males weigh roughly 150 kg. “Gorillas have a big size difference, and the males compete pretty heavily because they have a sort of harem system” in which the most dominant males get the majority of the female mates, explains Lindenfors.
By comparison, female and male chimpanzees weigh about 40 and 50 kilograms, respectively, making this species appear less competitive. While dominant male chimps have more female mates, low-ranking males still have a reasonable shot at finding a mating partner.
There is almost no difference between male and female body size when it comes to gibbons, a type of small ape found in Asia. Gibbons form monogamous mating pairs, so there is very little competition among males for females.
Lindenfors conducted a complex statistical analysis comparing the volumes of the brain structures and levels of male competitiveness across the 21 species.
Even after taking into account the fact that primates with bigger bodies generally tend to have bigger brains, the analysis found a link between greater competitiveness and an increase in the size of brain regions that can trigger aggressive behaviours and coordinate movement.
Species with more competitive males tended to have larger medulla and midbrain structures – which help with coordination – relative to their overall brain size than those species with easygoing males.
The competitive species might have evolved this trait because it gave an advantage in physical confrontations, Lindenfors speculates. “You have to have body control and strength to be a dominant male,” he explains.
There was a similar pattern found for a brain structure known as the amygdala, which is involved in aggression. While this made up about 0.4% of the chimpanzee brain, it constituted 0.6% of the brain in gorillas, which are more competitive.
In previous research, Lindenfors’ group has shown that primate species that have groups with many females also tend to have larger neocortex brain regions, which help in higher-level thinking and emotions.
Primates with the most sociable females evolved a larger neocortex, suggesting that female social skills may yield the biggest brains for the species as a whole. Plus, social demands on females and competitive demands on males require skills handled by different brain components, Lindenfors suggests.
However, Lindenfors stresses one potential problem with his analyses: the study published in the early 1980s did not specify whether the brains came from female or male primates. So he can only make rough generalisations on a species level until another, more specific primate brain survey is conducted.
While many people would be curious to know how humans fit into the picture, Lindenfors says that comparing our brain structures to those of other primates is “too messy” because our brains are radically different from those of our primate cousins.
The study appears online in the journal BMC Biology
More on these topics: | <urn:uuid:34edfd9e-27e6-4682-a893-b1e51576d4c3> | {
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The immune system is our body’s internal defense complex. It includes several types of white blood cells (WBCs). Our white blood cells fight germs. After having fought against some types of germs our white cells can remember the appearance of these germs. The WBCs can quickly identify and kill the germs if the germs attempt another invasion. This effective response is why certain germs, such as the measles virus, can only infect us once. But even one infection with such a dangerous germ can be dangerous, even deadly. Fortunately, scientists have developed ways of preparing our immune system for battle without our having to get sick in the first place. The process of building up our internal defense complex is called immunization. It is done by giving us vaccines.
There are three general types of vaccines:
The development of vaccines has been one of the most important advances in medical science. We should not ignore the benefits of these potentially life-saving immunizations. That is the truth about our health.
Influenza is a dangerous infection that is caused by a group of viruses. Exactly which strain (or strains) of these viruses is apt to sweep across the globe each year is generally predictable. The flu season in the United States generally starts around September or October and ends in the spring. The exact reason these viruses tend to attack us during these months is not entirely clear. Fortunately, flu vaccines produced each year help our immune system prepare to battle this germ before it hits us. It is important to remember that flu shots are administered every year because the vaccine lasts only 6-12 months.
The flu vaccines are made from viruses that are grown in eggs. The process of growing viruses takes time and cannot be rushed. Therefore, scientists decide in the spring each year what strain (or strains) of the flu are most likely to sweep the country in the following fall or winter.
There are two types of influenza vaccines:
Flu shots - Killed influenza vaccines are given through injections. These shots are very safe. The flu shot is the type of flu vaccine that is recommended for pregnant women. The common side effect of the shot is some soreness around the injection site; this soreness usually lasts a day or two.
Nasal flu mist - The live virus influenza vaccine is administered via a mist that is sprayed into the nose. Although the weakened virus does not cause an actual flu infection, this vaccine can lead to some flu-like symptoms, such as muscle aches and a headache. The nasal flu vaccine is not recommended for children younger than two years of age, adults older than 49 years, pregnant women, or for people who have a serious underlying disease, especially one that may weaken their immune system.
Influenza is a dangerous disease. It kills about 36,000 people in the United States each year. Getting a flu vaccine reduces our chance of developing the flu – or at least lessening its symptoms – by as much as 90 percent. This is why nearly everyone should take the vaccine every fall.
Contributed by John F. Tompkins II, M.D, author of An Ounce of Prevention: The Truth About Our Health.
Visit Health Promotion/Disease Prevention webpage for more information on health and wellness. | <urn:uuid:5d7ad4ec-101a-4ece-8fa0-94a17cf8cf41> | {
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New measures to help prevent dolphin deaths caused by fishing have been published by the government.
Hundreds of dead dolphins have been found this year
Key recommendations by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) include a legal requirement for UK vessels to use acoustic deterrents.
However, the RSPCA said dead dolphins and porpoises would still wash up on shores even if the new proposals were imposed immediately, and called for all EU fishing vessels to be involved.
Since January, nearly 200 dolphins and porpoises have been found dead around the coast in Devon and Cornwall.
On Wednesday night, two more dolphins were found dead on shore at Talland Bay, near Looe, in Cornwall.
The problem is linked mainly to bass fishing and the huge nets used by trawlers to bring in the catch.
But dolphins can be caught up in any nets, then panic and drown as a result.
Key recommendations in Defra's report include a legal requirement for vessels to use "pingers", a device which will emit a noise under water to warn dolphins off.
We have got to take a lead on this
Linda Hingley, Brixham Seawatch
According to Defra, such acoustic deterrents have been shown in tests to have 92% effectiveness in reducing any by-catch.
Other measures being put forward include better monitoring of catches.
The RSPCA said the plans were a positive step, but added that the carcass toll would only drop significantly when other European boats followed.
A spokeswoman said: "This proposal is an important development, but it now needs to be tightened and translated into action."
Linda Hingley, of Brixham Seawatch, which monitors dolphin deaths, called for a temporary ban on bass fishing.
She said: "It would be a very powerful lever to get it banned across the EU.
"We have got to take a lead on this."
Fisheries Minister Eliot Morley admitted that the problem could not be solved by the UK alone.
He would continue to press fisheries ministers from other EU states and with the European Commission.
He said: "The by-catch problem poses a major threat to the conservation of dolphins and other cetaceans.
"Co-operation at EU level is vital if there is to be real progress." | <urn:uuid:421769ea-8513-4ed8-83ef-571f86eef7bb> | {
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Posted on | January 1, 2012 | No Comments
When the federal Bureau of Reclamation recorded the closing elevation of Lake Mead to be almost 1,133 feet at midnight, December 31, the 2011 rise in the largest storage reservoir on the Colorado River was more than 46 feet, the first annual gain since 2005 and the largest since 1957 — so big that the decanting of last year’s snowpack has been causing a series of earthquakes in the Arizona desert. As Mead hits 56% full, and the other major storage reservoir on the Colorado, Lake Powell, sits at 66%, the bad news is that snowpack building up this year around the Colorado’s headwaters in the Rockies is significantly down, as is Northern Californian snowpack in the Sierra. Locally, rainfall is also below normal. By way of explaining the artwork, the Reclamation graphic above contrasts projected flow and demand in a river supplying roughly a third of Southern California’s water. | <urn:uuid:f3c8439d-3018-4808-b9a4-3db2b77ec3c0> | {
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Over 200 literary terms, Shmooped to perfection.
Cover your ears, Shmoopers. You won't need them today.
That's because eye rhyme uses—you guessed it—your eyes. When two words look alike, but don't sound alike, that's an eye rhyme.
Want examples? Well we've got those coming out our ears (which is maybe why they're out of commission): laughter and slaughter, or blood and mood, or comb and womb, to name a rather icky few. | <urn:uuid:87cb521d-ae17-49f0-8365-bfa4f5a91206> | {
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This is the first lesson in a series of lesson on addition. It will begin with this lesson teaching addition vocabulary and moving forward with lessons on part-part-whole, counting on, Commutative Property, etc. Students will use these terms while studying and learning addition. There are multiple strategies I want my students to use to add numbers, such as drawing pictures or using their fingers (1.OA.A.1). No matter which strategy is used, our students need the same common vocabulary to know what the different parts of the problem are called and to describe what they are doing to complete a task. Another important concept is for my students to develop an understanding of the equals sign and how and why we use it. This lesson incorporates labeling the different parts of an addition equation and a discussing the meanings of the different parts, including the equals sign (1.OA.D.7).
They need to have discussions about math and learn to listen to their classmates' ideas. The core standards for first grade require students to use new vocabulary in real-life settings. What could be a better way than to have discussions with their classmates about math! First graders can become more math proficient by using vocabulary that clearly expresses their thoughts and actions (MP6).
In addition, students need to learn the vocabulary to be able to describe and communicate their reasoning they use to create the models they will be building (MP3 and MP6).
I will write 2+1=3 on the board and ask: Students what do you know about what I wrote on the chalkboard?
This is an open-ended discussion, and I want to find out:
I will be using the Addition Key Words Slideshow to introduce addition vocabulary to my students. The slideshow provides visuals for them to look at while we discuss the meaning of the different terms.
I will use the slideshow to discuss and share the following information:
I will load the slideshow on my Smart Board and have them assist me in completing each problem.
I have several ways to conduct group discussions. For today's discussion I will be using my pick sticks. Pick sticks are Popsicle sticks that have their names written on them. I prep these at the beginning of the year and use them for different activities. Today, I can use them by picking a stick from a cup to ask questions and continue until everyone has an opportunity to participate.
Students will use the Addition Vocabulary Worksheet for practice. Print and copy for each student. I will be walking around the room and assisting my struggling students with this activity. I have some students who struggle with decoding, and I know I will have to support them with reading the problems in the worksheet. If I have numerous students who need help, I will gather them together at our group table and help them.
Students will have to label the parts of the addition sentences: addends/parts, sums/wholes, and signs (plus/minus, equals). The most important piece I believe will be to label the plus and equals sign correctly. These are commonly confused by our little ones and an important skill necessary for addition (1.OA.D.7). Students must be able to form an addition sentence correctly with the plus and equals sign in the correct spot. Check out the picture of my student's completed work.
My students learned several new vocabulary words today, and I want to assess what stuck and see what I will need to revisit in upcoming lessons.
Students would you please turn to your neighbor and tell your neighbor 3 things that you learned today.
I will walk around and listen to these conversations and take notes on my clipboards of anything extraordinary. | <urn:uuid:2c061398-76ba-48eb-8541-a4655af7c5fc> | {
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Definition - What does Late Miscarriage mean?
A late miscarriage occurs when a fetus dies during the second trimester of pregnancy, after the 14th week, but before the 20th. Late miscarriage can be caused by problems with the fetus’ growth or health problems of the mother. One in five pregnancies end in late miscarriage.
Late miscarriage may also be called second trimester miscarriage, a late term miscarriage, or a second trimester loss.
FertilitySmarts explains Late Miscarriage
There are two primary types of miscarriage: first trimester miscarriage, which occurs prior to the 14th week of pregnancy, and late miscarriage. Pregnancy loss that occurs after the 20th week of pregnancy is considered a stillbirth. Other conditions may also cause pregnancy loss, including an ectopic pregnancy, a molar pregnancy, or a preterm delivery due to health conditions.
Several factors may cause a late miscarriage, many of which involve a complication with the development of the fetus. Genetic conditions, such as a chromosomal abnormality, heart defect, or growth disorder may be the cause. Trauma, such as an accident or blunt force to the mother’s body may also cause miscarriage. Medical conditions of the mother, including chronic health issues, disease, or other disorders can induce pregnancy loss. Finally, physical problems with the mother’s body may be the cause.
Some of the most common issues include:
- Thyroid disorders
- Lupus or immune conditions
- Genetic disorders
- Incompetent cervix
Signs of a late miscarriage include:
- Vaginal bleeding
- Passing tissue matter
- Lower back pain
- Not feeling movement of the fetus
In order to diagnose a late miscarriage, an ultrasound and blood tests are completed. If the uterus is empty and the fetal matter has been expelled through the vagina, the miscarriage is complete. However, in some cases a dilation and curettage (D&C) may be performed to remove any remaining tissues.
Testing may be completed to determine if illness or infection caused the loss. If a late miscarriage occurs after a previous miscarriage, more advanced testing is performed. A physical exam will check for issues with the woman’s body, including an incompetent cervix, Rh negative blood, or uterine issues. Genetic testing, pelvic ultrasounds, hysterosalpingogram, or a hysteroscopy may be advised.
Certain conditions or circumstances may create a higher risk for a late miscarriage. These include:
- Having had prior miscarriages
- Being over the age of 35
- Abnormal uterine shape
- Over or under weight
- Chronic health issues
- Invasive prenatal testing
- Drinking or drug use
However, it is still possible for women with many of these conditions to carry a pregnancy to term.
Recovery from a late miscarriage depends on the age of the fetus at the time of loss. Women who experience labor and delivery will have a more extensive healing process. For many women, the process of a late miscarriage is similar to a period, with cramping, back pain, and exhaustion. Many women who experience a late miscarriage may struggle emotionally. Women, and their partners, should be encouraged to seek emotional support during their recovery.85% of all women who experience a miscarriage are able to conceive again and carry a healthy pregnancy to term. However, a doctor should advise on the best time to begin trying, as it may be important to give the body several months to heal. Any present medical issues should also be addressed before another attempt is made. Additionally, some women and couples may need time to grieve the loss before being emotionally ready to undergo another pregnancy. | <urn:uuid:a4971700-c6c1-4c1e-aa3d-0645e1042491> | {
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CyberSec First Responder (CFR) Certification Training
"Very knowledgeable and ensured that he was teaching at a pace comfortable for everyone since the team is at different skill levels. The instructor wanted to ensure everyone understood the material so that everyone would succeed. It's great when you have an instructor who wants to see the success of their students."
This course covers the duties of those who are responsible for monitoring and detecting security incidents in information systems and networks, and for executing a proper response to such incidents. Depending on the size of the organization, this individual may act alone or may be a member of a computer security incident response team (CSIRT). The course introduces strategies, frameworks, methodologies, and tools to manage cybersecurity risks, identify various types of common threats, design and operate secure computing and networking environments, assess and audit the organization's security, collect and analyze cybersecurity intelligence, and handle incidents as they occur. The course also covers closely related information assurance topics such as auditing and forensics to provide a sound basis for a comprehensive approach to security aimed toward those on the front lines of defense.
- At least two years (recommended) of experience in computer network security technology or a related field.
- Recognize information security vulnerabilities and threats in the context of risk management.
- Operate at a foundational level some of the common operating systems for computing environments.
- Foundational knowledge of the concepts and operational framework of common assurance safeguards in computing environments. Safeguards include, but are not limited to, basic authentication and authorization, resource permissions, and anti-malware mechanisms.
- Operate at a foundational level some of the common concepts for network environments, such as routing and switching.
- Foundational knowledge of the concepts and operational framework of common assurance safeguards in network environments. Safeguards include, but are not limited to, firewalls, intrusion prevention systems, and virtual private networks (VPNs).
OVERVIEW and OBjectives
In this course, you will develop, operate, manage, and enforce security capabilities for systems and networks:
- Assess information security risk in computing and network environments.
- Create an information assurance lifecycle process.
- Analyze threats to computing and network environments.
- Design secure computing and network environments.
- Operate secure computing and network environments.
- Assess the security posture within a risk management framework.
- Collect cybersecurity intelligence information.
- Analyze collected intelligence to define actionable response.
- Respond to cybersecurity incidents.
- Investigate cybersecurity incidents.
- Audit secure computing and network environments.
Lesson 1: Assessing Information Security Risk
- Identify the Importance of Risk Management
- Assess Risk
- Mitigate Risk
- Integrate Documentation into Risk Management
Lesson 2: Creating an Information Assurance Lifecycle Process
- Evaluate Information Assurance Lifecycle Models
- Align Information Security Operations to the Information Assurance Lifecycle
- Align Information Assurance and Compliance Regulations
Lesson 3: Analyzing Threats to Computing and Network Environments
- Identify Threat Analysis Models
- Assess the Impact of Reconnaissance Incidents
- Assess the Impact of Systems Hacking Attacks
- Assess the Impact of Malware
- Assess the Impact of Hijacking and Impersonation Attacks
- Assess the Impact of DoS Incidents
- Assess the Impact of Threats to Mobile Security
- Assess the Impact of Threats to Cloud Security
Lesson 4: Designing Secure Computing and Network Environments
- Information Security Architecture Design Principles
- Design Access Control Mechanisms
- Design Cryptographic Security Controls
- Design Application Security
- Design Computing Systems Security
- Design Network Security
Lesson 5: Operating Secure Computing and Network Environments
- Implement Change Management in Security Operations
- Implement Monitoring in Security Operations
Lesson 6: Assessing the Security Posture Within a Risk Management Framework
- Deploy a Vulnerability Management Platform
- Conduct Vulnerability Assessments
- Conduct Penetration Tests on Network Assets
- Follow Up on Penetration Testing
Lesson 7: Collecting Cybersecurity Intelligence Information
- Deploy a Security Intelligence Collection and Analysis Platform
- Collect Data from Security Intelligence Sources
Lesson 8: Analyzing Cybersecurity Intelligence Information
- Analyze Security Intelligence to Address Incidents
- Use SIEM Tools for Analysis
Lesson 9: Responding to Cybersecurity Incidents
- Deploy an Incident Handling and Response Architecture
- Perform Real-Time Incident Handling Tasks
- Prepare for Forensic Investigation
Lesson 10: Investigating Cybersecurity Incidents
- Create a Forensic Investigation Plan
- Securely Collect Electronic Evidence
- Identify the Who, Why, and How of an Incident
- Follow Up on the Results of an Investigation
Lesson 11: Auditing Secure Computing and Network Environments
- Deploy a Systems and Processes Auditing Architecture
- Prepare for Audits
- Perform Audits Geared Toward the Information Assurance Lifecycle
Course includes one (1) Exam Voucher ($300 value) for the CFR Exam.
- Description: This exam is is designed for cybersecurity practitioners who perform job functions related to protecting and defending information systems by ensuring their availability, integrity, authentication, confidentiality, and non-repudiation. The exam focuses on the knowledge, ability, and skills necessary to provide for the restoration of those information systems in a cybersecurity context including protection, detection, investigation, reaction, response, and auditing capabilities.
- Number of Questions: 100
- Type of Questions: Multiple Choice/Multiple Response/True-False
- Length of Test: 120 Minutes
Continuing Education Credits
Our public courses are offered less than 20 minutes from downtown St. Louis at our partner, TechGuard Security's office, located outside of Scott Air Force Base.
703 Seibert Rd, Suite 2
Scott Air Force Base, Illinois 62225
We also offer private onsite courses, at your location. We love to travel and will gladly send a trainer to your location. Please Contact Us for more information.
Live, Instructor-Led Training with a dynamic trainer that is a CFR-certified cybersecurity professional. Instructors have real-world experience with the material covered in the CFR course.
This course is delivered in a "hybrid" format, where we have both In-Person and Live Online attendees. This provides a fun, interactive environment where In-Person and Live Online students can easily interact both with each other and the instructor. When you register for the course, you can choose which delivery option works best for you:
- Live In-Person
- Live Online
- Feb 26 - Mar 2 (M-F), 8:30am - 4:30pm, 2018 | <urn:uuid:24d57000-5ae4-47d5-9822-b1a28380f2e7> | {
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Energy and the Magnetic Field
Last time we calculated the energy of the electric field. Now let’s repeat with the magnetic field, and let’s try to be a little more careful about it since magnetic fields can be slippery.
Let’s consider a static magnetic field generated by a collection of circuits , each carrying a current . Recall that Gauss’ law for magnetism tells us that ; since space is contractible, we know that its homology is trivial, and thus must be the curl of some other vector field , which we call the “magnetic potential” or “vector potential”. Now we can write down the flux of the magnetic field through each circuit:
This electromotive force must be counterbalanced by a battery maintaining the current or else the magnetic field wouldn’t be static.
We can determine how much power the battery must expend to maintain the current; a charge moving around the circuit goes down by in potential energy, which the battery must replace to send it around again. If such charges pass around in unit time, this is a work of per unit time; since — the current — we find that the power expenditure is , or.
Thus if we want to ramp the currents — and the field — up from a cold start in a time it takes a total work of
which is then the energy stored in the magnetic field.
This expression doesn’t depend on exactly how the field turns on, so let’s say the currents ramp up linearly:
and since the fluxes are proportional to the currents they must also ramp up linearly:
Plugging these in above, we find:
Now we can plug in our original expression for the flux:
This is great. But to be more general, let’s replace our currents with a current distribution:
Now we can use Ampère’s law to write
We can pull the same sort of trick last time to make the second integral go away; use the divergence theorem to convert to
and take the surface far enough away that the integral becomes negligible. We handwave that falls off roughly as the inverse fifth power of , while the area of only grows as the second power, and say that the term goes to zero.
So now we have a similar expression as last time for a magnetic energy density:
Again, we can check the units; the magnetic field has units of force per unit charge per unit velocity:
while the magnetic constant has units of henries per meter:
Putting together an inverse factor of the magnetic constant and two of the magnetic field and we get:
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Berg, Gertude (Molly Goldberg)
Brandeis, Louis D.
Ginsburg, Ruth Bader
Lehman, Herbert H.
Levy, Uriah P.
Magnes, Judah L.
Santangel, Luis de
Seixas, Gershom M.
Singer, Isaac B.
Straus, Isidor & Ida
Torres, Luis de
Medal by Daniel Altshuler (2011), Gertrude Elion, winner of the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
Gertrude Elion (1918 - 1999)
Gertrude Elion's exceptional accomplishments over the course of her long career as a chemist include the development of the first chemotherapy for childhood leukemia, the immunosuppressant that made organ transplantation possible, the first effective anti-viral medication, and treatments for lupus, hepatitis, arthritis, gout, and other diseases. With her research partner, George Hitchings, she revolutionized the way drugs were developed, and her efforts have saved or improved the lives of countless individuals. Elion stated:"It's amazing how much you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit."
Gertrude Belle Elion was born in New York City on January 23, 1918. Soon after graduating from high school, young Gertrude watched her beloved grandfather die painfully of stomach cancer, and deciding:"nobody should suffer that much," she dedicated herself to finding a cure for cancer. In 1937, at the age of 19, Elion graduated from Hunter College summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Many years later, Elion created a scholarship at Hunter College for female graduate students in chemistry.
Unable to find a suitable position, she began volunteering in a chemistry lab, enduring daily anti-Semitic jokes from the company president but gaining valuable experience. By the end of a year and a half, she was paid $20 a week, out of which she saved enough to enroll at New York University. The only woman in her graduate chemistry classes, she wrote her thesis at night and on weekends while working first as a doctor's receptionist and then as a substitute teacher of high-school chemistry and physics. In 1941, she received her Master's degree.
In June 1944, Elion was interviewed by Dr. George Hitching of Burroughs Wellcome (now GlaxoSmithKline), the pharmaceutical company. Elion was intrigued by Hitchings' research project; and he was impressed by the young woman's intelligence and energy. Over the next decades, the Hitchings-Elion partnership proved immensely fruitful.
Gertrude Elion and George Hitchings in the laboratory, 1948.
After several years of painstaking research, Elion finally developed a compound that interfered with the replication of leukemia cells. Although it was too toxic to be truly effective, it showed that she was on the right track. She continued to experiment, eventually formulating and testing over 100 purine compounds.
Finally, in 1950, Elion synthesized a compound(6-MP) that caused complete remissions in children with leukemia, but a relapse invariably followed. After further research, it was discovered that when 6-MP was combined with later medications, approximately 80% of child leukemia patients would be cured; prior to 6-MP, half of all children with acute leukemia died within a few months.
In 1958, a young British surgeon used 6-MP to prevent temporarily the rejection of a transplanted kidney in a dog. Excited, Elion gave him several similar compounds, in the hopes that one would be even more effective. The following year, he used Elion's drug azathioprine (known as Imuran), to transplant a kidney successfully into a dog named Lollipop. In 1961, doctors used Imuran to perform the first successful kidney transplant between two unrelated humans. Thanks to Elion's work, organ transplantation has become routine today.
After several years of work, the Burroughs Wellcome team triumphantly unveiled acyclovir (Zovirax), the first medication effective against viruses. Elion later referred to acyclovir as her "final jewel.... That such a thing was possible wasn't even imagined up until then." In 1984, the year after Elion retired, her lab developed AZT, the only drug licensed to treat AIDS in the United States until 1991. Although Elion claimed to have had little to do with AZT, her methodology had laid the groundwork for its discovery.
Gertrude Elion commemorative stamp issued by the Republic of Mali in 2009.
In 1964, Gertrude Elion received a call from George Mandell of George Washington University, who said, "The kind of work you're doing, you've long since passed what a doctorate would have meant. But we've got to make an honest woman of you. We'll give you a doctorate, so we can call you 'doctor' legitimately." This was the first of 25 honorary doctorates Elion received.
When it was discovered that one of her drugs was an effective treatment for Leshmaniasis disease, a serious problem in South America, she pushed hard for Burroughs Wellcome to follow up on the matter, regardless of the money involved. As a former colleague remarked, "She has a real social conscience.... In fifty years, Trudy Elion will have done more cumulatively for the human condition than Mother Theresa."
Nobel Prize in Medicine medal. The design features the Genius of Medicine holding an open book in her lap, collecting the water pouring out from a rock in order to quench a sick girl's thirst. The inscription reads: "Inventas vitam juvat excoluisse per artes" (Inventions enhance life which is beautified through art).
In 1988, Elion received the Nobel Prize in Medicine "for discoveries of important principles for drug treatment," together with Dr. Hitchings and Sir James Black. Few Nobels have gone to scientists working in the drug industry or those without Ph.D.s, even fewer to women; Elion was only the fifth female Nobel laureate in Medicine, the ninth in science in general. In 1991 she was awarded the National Medal of Science and became the first woman to be inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame. Gertrude Elion was inducted into the Jewish-American Hall of Fame in 2011.
This information was excerpted from the Jewish Women's Archive; for a more comprehensive bio of Gertrude Elion visitwww.jwa.org/historymakers/elion.
Click Here to Take Gertrude Elion Quiz
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A team led by Austrian experimental physicist Rainer Blatt has succeeded in characterizing the quantum entanglement of two spatially separated atoms by observing their light emission. This fundamental demonstration could lead to the development of highly sensitive optical gradiometers for the precise measurement of the gravitational field or the earth's magnetic field.
The age of quantum technology has long been heralded. Decades of research into the quantum world have led to the development of methods that make it possible today to exploit quantum properties specifically for technical applications.
The team led by the Innsbruck quantum computer pioneer Rainer Blatt controls individual atoms very precisely in experiments with ion traps. The deliberate entanglement of these quantum particles not only opens up the possibility of building a quantum computer, but also creates the basis for the measurement of physical properties with previously unknown precision.
The physicists have now succeeded for the first time in demonstrating fully-controlled free-space quantum interference of single photons emitted by a pair of effectively-separated entangled atoms.
"Today, we can very precisely control the position and entanglement of particles and generate single photons as needed," explains Gabriel Araneda from Rainer Blatt's team from the Department of Experimental Physics at the University of Innsbruck. "Together, this allows us to investigate the effects of entanglement in the collective atom-light interaction."
The physicists at the University of Innsbruck compared the photon interference produced by entangled and non-entangled barium atoms. The measurements showed that these are qualitatively different. In fact, the measured difference of the interference fringes directly corresponds to the amount of entanglement in the atoms.
"In this way we can characterize the entanglement fully optically," Gabriel Araneda emphasizes the significance of the experiment. The physicists were also able to demonstrate that the interference signal is highly sensitive to environmental factors at the location of the atoms. "We take advantage of this sensitivity and use the observed interference signal to measure magnetic field gradients," says Araneda.
This technique may lead to the development of ultra-sensitive optical gradiometers. As the measured effect does not rely in the proximity of the atoms, these measurements could allow to precisely compare field strengths at separated locations, such as that of the Earth's magnetic or gravitational fields.
The work was published in the journal Physical Review Letters and was financially supported by the Austrian Science Fund FWF, the European Union and the Federation of Austrian Industries Tyrol, among others.
Publication: Interference of single photons emitted by entangled atoms in free space. Gabriel Araneda, Daniel B. Higginbottom, Lukáš Slodička, Yves Colombe, Rainer Blatt. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 193603 DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.193603
Department of Experimental Physics
University of Innsbruck
phone: +43 512 507 52472
University of Innsbruck
phone: +43 512 507 32022
https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevLett.120.193603 - Interference of single photons emitted by entangled atoms in free space. Gabriel Araneda, Daniel B. Higginbottom, Lukáš Slodička, Yves Colombe, Rainer Blatt. Phys. Rev. Lett. 120, 193603
https://quantumoptics.at - Quantum Optics and Spectroscopy group
Dr. Christian Flatz | Universität Innsbruck
Deuteron-like heavy dibaryons -- a step towards finding exotic nuclei
22.10.2019 | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research
A cavity leads to a strong interaction between light and matter
22.10.2019 | Universität Basel
Researchers have succeeded in creating an efficient quantum-mechanical light-matter interface using a microscopic cavity. Within this cavity, a single photon is emitted and absorbed up to 10 times by an artificial atom. This opens up new prospects for quantum technology, report physicists at the University of Basel and Ruhr-University Bochum in the journal Nature.
Quantum physics describes photons as light particles. Achieving an interaction between a single photon and a single atom is a huge challenge due to the tiny...
A very special kind of light is emitted by tungsten diselenide layers. The reason for this has been unclear. Now an explanation has been found at TU Wien (Vienna)
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Researchers at Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich have explored the initial consequences of the interaction of light with molecules on the surface of nanoscopic aerosols.
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Researchers at the Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM), a U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Science User Facility located at DOE's Argonne National...
A new research project at the TH Mittelhessen focusses on the development of a novel light weight design concept for leisure boats and yachts. Professor Stephan Marzi from the THM Institute of Mechanics and Materials collaborates with Krake Catamarane, which is a shipyard located in Apolda, Thuringia.
The project is set up in an international cooperation with Professor Anders Biel from Karlstad University in Sweden and the Swedish company Lamera from...
02.10.2019 | Event News
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19.09.2019 | Event News
22.10.2019 | Materials Sciences
22.10.2019 | Medical Engineering
22.10.2019 | Power and Electrical Engineering | <urn:uuid:988ae777-ee78-4353-97f0-a59d1b79e949> | {
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Training of Listeners for Evaluation of Spatial Attributes of Sound
A group of listeners were engaged in training to learn to evaluate auditory source width (ASW) and listener envelopment (LEV). The training consisted of discussions on perception of spatial sound and visualization of both attributes with drawings. After each session the subjects evaluated the ASW and LEV of a set of stimuli consisting of different source signals simulated in a few chosen acoustical environments. Most subjects developed consistent criteria for their judgements and maintained them throughout the training and a subsequent control two months later. However, considerable individual differences were found. Analysis of the data revealed that large part of the differences was due to different judgements between the chosen source signals. The training also suggested that some differences could have been caused by the translation from multi-dimensional perception to the unidimensional judgements. A further graphical evaluation of the stimuli showed that this was not the case.
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This paper costs $33 for non-members, $5 for AES members and is free for E-Library subscribers. | <urn:uuid:8b97e20c-fc02-48c2-8b40-cede2639f7f3> | {
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Return to Stamping (definition)
Stamp"ing, a. & n.
from Stamp, v.
Stamping ground, a place frequented, and much trodden, by animals, wild or domesticated; hence (Colloq.), the scene of one's labors or exploits; also, one's favorite resort. [U.S.] -- Stamping machine, a machine for forming metallic articles or impressions by stamping. -- Stamping mill Mining, a stamp mill.
© Webster 1913. | <urn:uuid:93ed7907-37bd-4ec1-ac96-24ac94b2a2e6> | {
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What does XMAS mean in General?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand XMAS in the Computing field in general and in the General terminology in particular.
Find a translation for XMAS in other languages:
Select another language:
What does XMAS mean?
- Christmas, Christmas Day, Xmas, Dec 25(noun)
- a Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Christ; a quarter day in England, Wales, and Ireland | <urn:uuid:a26c7eaf-0ab8-4b54-a116-a57eec115e4f> | {
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Philip St. George Cooke
Brevet Major General
Born in Leesburg, Virginia on June 13, 1809, Cooke was appointed to West Point at the age of 14 and graduated in 1827 at the age of 18. Philip married Rachael Wilt in Missouri and they had four children. His daughter, Flora, married Confederate General, Jeb Stuart, and his daughter, Julia, married Union General Jacob Sharpe. John Rogers Cooke, his son, was a Confederate General.
Cooke was commissioned into the infantry and later transferred to the dragoons. He received several assignments, one of which was as Lt. Colonel in command of the Mormon Battalion formed in July of 1846 to participate in the Mexican War. The troop left Council Bluffs, Iowa and marched westward to the Pacific Ocean. The march over land covered 2,000 miles and was the longest military march ever recorded. During the march, they raised the American Flag at Tucson, Arizona in December of 1846. The battalion reached the Old San Diego Mission in January of 1847. This march created the first wagon road from Santa Fe to the Pacific.
At the outbreak of the Civil War, Cooke was stationed in Utah. He was commissioned Brigadier General on November 13, 1861 and was in command of a brigade of cavalry in Washington, D. C. He participated in the battles at Yorktown, Williamsburg, Gaines’s Mill and Glendale. In August of 1863, he took command of the troops in the Baton Rouge District. He was breveted the rank of Major General at the end of the war. Cooke was transferred to Detroit in 1870 and retired from the Army in 1873. He remained in Detroit until his death on March 20, 1895.
Born: June 13, 1809
Died: March 20, 1895
Buried: Section H, Lot 94 | <urn:uuid:51c2e16a-b66f-4c89-ad62-9e307151da93> | {
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We all know that plants use photosynthesis to convert sunlight into food, but here's a question for you: how do plants get energy and keep growing at night?
Now we have an answer: according to new research out of the John Innes Centre in the U.K., plants perform a complex calculation to figure out how much of stored energy to use during the night. The plants actually ration that energy from the day and burn it off bit by bit through the evening.
"The calculations are precise so that plants prevent starvation but also make the most efficient use of their food," biologist Alison Smith, one of the new study's authors, said in press release. The plants use sunlight to convert carbon dioxide into sugar and starch during the day, and then adjust how quickly they burn that starch to last through the night. "If the starch store is used too fast, plants will starve and stop growing during the night. If the store is used too slowly, some of it will be wasted."
The research team from the John Innes Centre — which specializes in plant science and microbiology — studied a type of flowering plant called Arabidopsis. They adjusted the amount of daylight the plants were exposed to and then calculated starch levels in their leaves. They found that the plants automatically adjusted the rates at which they burned their starch based on how long the nights would last. No matter how long the nights were, the plants ended up using about 95 percent of their stored starch.
The research, published today in the journal eLife, not only improves our general understanding of plants but it could also have specific implications for agriculture. "The capacity to perform arithmetic calculation is vital for plant growth and productivity," Smith said. "Understanding how plants continue to grow in the dark could help unlock new ways to boost crop yield."
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Webmasters, also known in some cases as website managers, are responsible for managing websites. The main management functions include ensuring that the website is updated regularly so that the information remains relevant accurate and "fresh". They spend a lot of time making changes and adding new things to the site, for instance, fixing mistakes, like links that do not work and pictures that do not show up on the screen.
Webmasters work out ways of making sites work faster. They keep the size of files as small as they can so that it a lot of time is not taken for a computer to download. For example, their website may have text, speech, graphics, animation or video pictures. It is necessary that the website manager gets the balance right. If the user spends too much time waiting for the site to download, they may not want to visit the site again. For this reason they may test web sites by observing people who use the site in order to see if there are any features that are difficult to use and then rectify the problem.
A webmaster’s role may also extend to managing the security of the website. In a commercial company, this means making sure that only authorised people can access customers’ details, for example, addresses or credit card information. In some cases they may also have a role in selecting the most suitable type of host server on which the website will be hosted and how stored information is to be uploaded to the Internet. They may also select the kinds of software to be used, as well as decide on when and where information will be sent to the Internet.
In a large commercial website operation a webmaster works as part of a team with the web manager as the head. The webmaster’s role in this case will be to coordinate the various design and technical aspects according to the requirements of the customer. Webmasters or web managers work with communications, public relations and marketing departments. For example, they try to obtain information on the users of the website. They may put together monthly statistics that indicate how many people visited the website over that period.
Schooling & School Subjects
Each institution has its own entry requirements.
Compulsory subjects will depend on course to be undertaken.
Many entrants have a degree or a diploma in a computer-related subject. Entry is also possible with a non-IT degree, especially in art or design subjects. For some employers, however, experience and proof of your creative abilities (such as a personal website) are more important than academic qualifications.
National Arts Council
P O Box 500
Tel: (011) 838-1383 Fax: (011) 838-6363
P O Box 809
Tel: 082 230 2255 Fax: (011) 388-1045
Artthrob Online magazine | <urn:uuid:fa873767-4b32-48bc-a7b5-ee7a357320a8> | {
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(JNi.media) As Syrian refugees risk their lives to immigrate to other countries, many are reminded of the attempts of Jews to escape Nazi persecution in the 1930s and 1940s. In 1944, the US government created the War Refugee Board, in an effort to save Jews from the raging European Holocaust. Heather Voight’s new book, “Passionate Crusaders: How Members of the US War Refugee Board Saved Jews and Altered American Foreign Policy during World War II,” her debut work, is the first book ever to focus exclusively on the War Refugee Board and its accomplishments. A well-researched work, it will be of interest to anyone interested in immigration issues in America, today and yesterday.
By January 1944, Treasury Department officials Henry Morgenthau, John Pehle, and Josiah DuBois had already convinced President Franklin Roosevelt to create the War Refugee Board, an agency with the authority to provide rescue and relief for Jews and other groups persecuted by the Nazis. Scholars have criticized the Board for its inability to save more Jews, insisting the agency should have been created sooner. Heather Voight’s research shows that despite its shortcomings, the War Refugee Board changed history and forever altered American foreign policy. Its creation ended the cycle of indifference that the government and the American public had shown to victims of the Holocaust. In the words of Henry Morgenthau, from 1944-1945 “crusaders, passionately persuaded of the need for speed and action” risked their reputations and sometimes their lives to save Jews.
Voight’s book doesn’t merely tell readers the War Refugee Board was important—it shows how it was created, the actions it took to save lives, and the determination of its members to combat anti-Semitic and anti-immigration attitudes. “Passionate Crusaders” shines a light on the agency that President Franklin Roosevelt created in the midst of a State Department scandal, was staffed by mostly non-Jews who risked their reputations and sometimes their lives working for the Board, saved more than 100,000 Jews using a combination of diplomatic and clandestine methods, and pressured the War Crimes Commission to change its definition of war crimes–the same definition used today.
“I first read about the War Refugee Board while working on my college thesis,” Voight told an interviewer. “When I started to talk about the Board to other people, I got a lot of blank stares. Despite the number of people aided by the War Refugee Board and its lasting impact on American foreign policy, few Americans have ever heard of it. I wrote this book to tell the story of the Board’s members who tried to do so much in so little time.”JNi.Media | <urn:uuid:a1fbb2cb-f13d-4bcc-a4cd-d4a27b4b8efe> | {
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Migraines: 5 Nutritional Tips to Help Reduce Them
Migraines affect approximately 15% of adults in North America and Europe and are a leading cause of disability. The main symptoms of migraines include: a painful headache lasting between 4 to 72 hours, localized pain on one side of the head, nausea and vomiting, blurred vision, feeling cold or sweating, as well as an increased sensitivity to noise and light. Although the causes of migraines are often difficult to identify, there are several potential triggers including allergies, stress, hormonal changes, excessive heat or cold, a lack of sleep, obesity, hunger and the consumption of certain foods. Here are five nutritional tips to help reduce your migraines.
1. Reduce your sodium intake
Studies show that a decrease in sodium intake is associated with a decrease in the incidence and intensity of migraines. In general, the recommended amount of sodium per day is 1500 milligrams, which equates to only ⅔ of a teaspoon of table salt! Canadians consume an average of 2760 milligrams each day, almost double the recommended daily intake. Although eliminating the salt shaker can be useful, it is often not enough, since 77% of Canadians’ sodium intake comes from processed foods! So when choosing your packaged products, read the labels to make sure that you are choosing a product with a low sodium content. Opt for a product that contains less than 200 mg of sodium (i.e. 8% and less), and if possible less than 115 mg of sodium (5% and less). Also pay attention to the portion you consume.
2. Eat regularly
Skipping a meal affects one’s hormones related to controlling hunger. These same hormones could also be involved in the trigger mechanism of migraines. Avoid spending more than four hours without eating to keep your blood sugar stable. To do this, eat three meals a day at regular times and plan nutritious snacks between meals. Choose snacks that combine carbohydrates and protein such as fruit with nuts or Greek yogurt, raw vegetables with hummus, grilled chickpeas or chia pudding.
3. Stay hydrated
Dehydration affects blood pressure and the transport of oxygen and nutrients to the brain, which can cause migraines. To avoid dehydration, start your day with a full glass of water and be sure to drink water all day long. A light colored urine (like lemonade) is a good indicator that you are well hydrated.
4. Discover your ideal dose of caffeine
Caffeine consumption stimulates the nervous system and can trigger or worsen migraines in some people. However, caffeine can also help reduce migraines in some cases, which is why some medications used to treat migraines contain caffeine. In general, it is recommended to limit caffeine consumption to a dose of 100 to 200 mg per day, which corresponds to one to two small filtered coffees.
5. Limit your intake of trigger food
Several foods that can trigger migraines have been identified:
- Alcohol, especially red wine and beer
- Tyramine, naturally present in certain foods such as aged cheeses, red wine, soy sauce and sour cream
- Aspartame, found in many sugar-free products (chewing gum, diet drinks, etc.)
- Monosodium glutamate (MSG), which is used to enhance the flavor of some processed products including canned soups, Chinese foods and frozen foods
- Nitrites, found mainly in processed meats
It should be noted that the effects of these foods vary from person to person. Start by observing if your migraines often show up after eating some of these foods. Then, gradually reduce the consumption of the suspected foods to see if there is an improvement.
Can the ketogenic diet help reduce migraines?
One study investigated the effect of the ketogenic diet on the reduction of migraines. The results suggest that nutritional ketosis could potentially help reduce migraines. However, this is a single study and the current scientific evidence is insufficient to recommend the ketogenic diet to treat migraines.
- Di Lorenzo et coll. (2015) Migraine improvement during short lasting ketogenesis: a proof-of- concept study. European Journal of Neurology; 22: 170–177.
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- Is A2 Milk Better Than Regular Milk? – August 27, 2019 | <urn:uuid:a677936a-ef62-4c86-b44c-ad5004cc279d> | {
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Researchers have found that tiny fish called sticklebacks can adapt rapidly to a decrease in water temperature. This discovery adds to a long and growing list of animal trait variations that happen quickly. The researchers cited the stickleback adaptation as an example of evolution in action, but the rapidity of this change identifies it as the result of intentional programming--not mindless mutations.
The tiny stickleback seems to have a history of adaptability. A University of British Columbia press release indicated that populations of these fish once lived in the ocean, but then moved to live in freshwater lakes and streams.1 Other marine fish have been found with the ability to thrive in fresh water in only a few generations, like the pompano populations that are bred for freshwater fish farming.2
A team of Canadian and European scientists transplanted sticklebacks from Oyster Lagoon in southwest British Columbia to cold freshwater ponds. In just three years, which corresponds to three generations, stickleback fish "developed tolerance for" water that is 4.5 degrees Fahrenheit colder than the marine population's habitat.1
By the third generation, descendants remained of those "rare individuals" that already had the capacity to tolerate cold before the experiment began.1 The study authors wrote, "This rate of phenotypic evolution is among the most rapid to be observed in a natural population."3
But why were these fish able to adapt so quickly to colder waters? According to the researchers, "Our results suggest that cold tolerance is under strong selection and that marine sticklebacks carry sufficient genetic variation to adapt to changes in temperature over remarkably short time scales."3
But in considering this conclusion, it becomes apparent that the reference to "selection" is superfluous. All that is really needed for these fish to change as they did was for them to have the programmed instructions for "genetic variation" that the authors inferred from the data.3
It was the engineered genetic instructions, not nature's cold temperatures, that directed some offspring to develop slightly different traits in order for them to continue surviving. And engineered instructions are exactly what would be expected from an Architect who equipped His swimming creatures with what they would need to "be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas."4
- Tiny fish evolved to tolerate colder temperature in three years: UBC study. The University of British Columbia press release, August 4, 2010.
- Thomas, B. Fish Studies Answer Flood Question. ICR News. Posted on icr.org March 9, 2009, accessed August 11, 2010.
- Barrett, R. D. H. et al. Rapid evolution of cold tolerance in stickleback. Proceedings of the Royal Society B. Published online before print, August 4, 2010.
- Genesis 1:22.
* Mr. Thomas is Science Writer at the Institute for Creation Research.
Article posted on August 17, 2010. | <urn:uuid:4a773fad-5579-4ee2-a0d9-fd2a52c214e0> | {
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The Persian Gulf is receiving plenty of press this week, as climate negotiators debate in Doha and political turmoil buffets Bahrain. But another important drama is unfolding in Dubai, where more than one hundred and fifty nations are meeting for the World Conference on International Telecommunications (Wcit) from December 4-13. Topping the agenda is the future governance of the internet. A bloc of developing countries and authoritarian states is pushing for a sweeping new treaty that would wrest authority for regulating the internet from the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), and hand it to the International Telecommunications Union (ITU). Fortunately, the United States, European Union, and private sector have mobilized to block this nightmare scenario, which would threaten the free and open character of the internet.
Historically, the ITU is among the most venerable of international organizations. A direct descendent of the International Telegraph Union (1865), the ITU’s mandate evolved over the past century and a half as new communications technologies emerged. Today, it serves as the UN’s leading standard-setting agency for telecommunications issues—including the allocation of orbital slots for satellites, the division of the global radio spectrum, and the harmonization of national mobile phone networks. The yawning gap in its portfolio, however, remains the internet, which was just getting started in 1988, the last time the ITU endorsed a major overhaul of global telecommunications regulations.
To the degree that the internet is “governed,” the main institution remains ICANN, an independent, not-for-profit corporation based in Los Angeles. Licensed and loosely supervised by the U.S. Department of Commerce, ICANN and the International Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) have responsibility for managing protocol identifiers and domain names, including the operation of root name servers that permit communication among internet hosts.
The outsized role of ICANN—and widespread perception of effective U.S. (and broader Western) control over the Internet—has long been a sore point for many UN member states, particularly from the developing world. They would dearly love to wrest authority for regulating the internet from ICANN and place it into the hands of the United Nations. “The brutal truth is that the internet remains largely [the] rich world’s privilege,” says Dr. Hamadoun Toure, the ITU’s current secretary-general. “ITU wants to change that.”
Wcitleaks, a site maintained by George Mason University researchers, highlighted the degree to which some governments would like to change the status quo. A Russian proposal, submitted on November 17, calls for ITU member states to enjoy “equal rights to manage the internet, including in regard to the allotment, assignment, and reclamation of internet numbering, naming addressing and identification of resources and to support for [sic] the operation and development of basic internet infrastructure.” Reportedly, this proposal enjoys support both China and India.
The Russian proposal is just one of an estimated 450 amendments that member states proposed for a new ITU treaty. Another problematic provision, supported by many developing countries (as well as some telecommunications providers) might require popular web services like YouTube, Facebook or Skype to pay tolls for the bandwidth they use.
ITU officials argue that a new treaty is badly needed to ensure “the free flow of information around the world, promoting affordable and equitable access for all and laying the foundation for ongoing innovation and market growth.” However, it is clear that some of the world’s authoritarian states—including China, Cuba, Iran and Russia—have more nefarious aims. They are less preoccupied with multilateralizing control of the internet than placing it firmly in the hands of sovereign governments. The prospect “that the ITU should enter the internet governance business” has alarmed both the United States and the private sector. Last week Terry Kramer, U.S. ambassador to Wcit, blasted “invasive” ITU proposals that allow governments to manage “the content of what goes via the internet, what people are looking at, what they’re saying… These fundamentally violate everything that we believe in terms of democracy and opportunities for individuals.”
Google, too, has been at the forefront of the debate. Writing on the company’s official blog on December 2, godfather of the internet Vint Cerf explained that some world leaders want to “justify the censorship of legitimate speech, or even cut off internet access in their countries.” If they succeed, they will replace the current open, borderless internet—a system of non-proprietary, interlocking communications networks that advances human freedom and protects anonymity—into a regulated, fragmented regime in which state authorities can restrict access and monitor online activity. Already, more than forty nations filter and censor internet content, and their numbers are growing. In response, Google sponsored an online petition demanding a “free and open web” that has attracted support from over one thousand nongovernmental organizations and 1.8 million netizens from 160-odd countries. (Full disclosure: I collaborated with Google Ideas in 2012 on an initiative on illicit networks).
The European Union has adopted a similar stance. Last month the European Parliament declared that the ITU was “not the appropriate body” to be given authority over the internet, passing a resolution urging member states to reject changes to current International Telecommunications Regulations that would “negatively impact the internet, its architecture, operations, content and security, business relations, internet governance, and the free flow of information online.” As Neelie Kroes, vice-president of European Commission for the Digital Agenda, tweeted on November 29, the internet works just fine without an ITU treaty: “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
Dr. Toure, however, has sought to downplay fears about an ITU takeover of the internet. He assures worriers that although ITU decisions can in principle be taken by majority vote, in practice any major governance changes have always occurred by consensus. “We never vote because voting means winners and losers and you can’t afford that,” Toure told the BBC this summer. “Whatever one single country does not accept will not pass.” Consequently, the United States and the EU should enjoy a veto over this month’s deliberations in Dubai with little danger that the international community will adopt a new treaty shifting control of the internet from ICANN to the intergovernmental ITU. The greater risk is that in the aftermath of a deadlocked conference, a large group of UN member states will go their own way—creating their own closed system (or systems), and in the process fragment the internet.
One of the beauties of the internet has been its reliance on a multi-stakeholder governance structure—one in which governments, the private sector, and independent organizations all have a role to play. Such an approach, which would be impossible to replicate through a top-down treaty arrangement, has been integral to the open, dynamic character of the internet. A messy governance system may be a “nightmare for the tidy-minded, and especially for authoritarian governments,” as the Economist notes, but it remains critical for the future of global innovation and human freedom. | <urn:uuid:be92c31b-49f9-4f26-bc51-a4bd2e470d2e> | {
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About this Grantee
In anticipation of a new comprehensive state test in history and social sciences, Mr. Whittier and his partners engage in a study group to develop effective document based questions (DBQ) and a set of rubrics and exemplars related to those questions. Working with an Advanced Placement United States History trainer, the group learns to choose appropriate documents, construct effective questions, and develop students’ writing and critical thinking skills to answer the questions. Study group members compose a minimum of ten objective DBQs and two open-response DBQs for each unit of the curriculum and work throughout the year to refine the assessment rubric and identify high, middle, and low level exemplars. Upon completion of the project a database of DBQs with rubrics, exemplars, and study group data sets is created for history and social science educators across the district. | <urn:uuid:2c12998b-0ff8-4643-9c2e-7a89fb68aadc> | {
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Title: Toward an ozone standard to protect vegetation based on effective dose: A review of deposition resistances and a possible metric
Author: Massman, W. J.
Source: Atmospheric Environment. 38: 2323-2337.
Publication Series: Scientific Journal (JRNL)
Description: Present air quality standards to protect vegetation from ozone are based on measured concentrations (i.e., exposure) rather than on plant uptake rates (or dose). Some familiar cumulative exposure-based indices include SUM06, AOT40, and W126. However, plant injury is more closely related to dose, or more appropriately to effective dose, than to exposure. This study develops and applies a simple model for estimating effective ozone dose that combines the plant canopy's rate of stomatal ozone uptake with the plant's defense to ozone uptake. Here the plant defense is explicitly parameterized as a function of gross photosynthesis and the model is applied using eddy covariance (ozone and CO2) flux data obtained at a vineyard site in the San Joaquin Valley during the California Ozone Deposition Experiment (CODE91). With the ultimate intention of applying these concepts using prognostic models and remotely sensed data, the pathways for ozone deposition are parameterized (as much as possible) in terms of canopy LAI and the surface friction velocity. Results indicate that (1) the daily maximum potential for plant injury (based on effective dose) tends to coincide with the daily peak in ozone mixing ratio (ppbV), (2) potentially there are some significant differences between ozone metrics based on dose (no plant defense) and effective dose, and (3) nocturnal conductance can contribute significantly to the potential for plant ozone injury.
Keywords: air quality standards, effective dose, dry deposition resistances, ozone
- We recommend that you also print this page and attach it to the printout of the article, to retain the full citation information.
- This article was written and prepared by U.S. Government employees on official time, and is therefore in the public domain.
XML: View XML
Massman, W. J. 2004. Toward an ozone standard to protect vegetation based on effective dose: A review of deposition resistances and a possible metric. Atmospheric Environment. 38: 2323-2337.
Get the latest version of the Adobe Acrobat reader or Acrobat Reader for Windows with Search and Accessibility | <urn:uuid:4ef35f4f-3130-428e-baf7-1efa517eeb04> | {
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Argentina's president thinks eating pig meat is really sexy.
A new warning may have consumers thinking twice before eating pork chops. A sample of raw pork products from supermarkets around the United States found a dangerous bacteria present in the meats that put children most at risk.
Yersinia enterocolitica, a lesser-known food-borne pathogen, was present in 69 percent of the pork products tested, according to a study released today by Consumer Reports.
More than 100,000 Americans are affected by the bacteria a year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. For every case that is confirmed with a laboratory test, about 120 more cases escape diagnosis. The bacteria can hit hard. Symptoms can include fever, cramps and bloody diarrhea.
In the Consumer Reports study, ground pork turned out to be riskier than pork chops. In the samples taken, 69 percent tested positive for Yersenia and 11 percent for enterococcus, which can indicate fecal contamination.
“The results were concerning,” Urvashi Rangan, one of the authors of the report, told ABCNews.com. “It’s hard to say that there was no problem. It shows that there needs to be better hygiene at animal plants. Yersinia wasn’t even being monitored for.”
In response, the Pork Producer's Council argued the methods used by Consumer Reports did not provide an adequate estimate of the bacteria from the samples.
Despite the findings, cooking the pork properly and thoroughly can kill the bacteria.
Pork cuts should be cooked to 145 degrees, while ground pork needs to reach a temperature of 160 degrees to kill the bacteria. However, it can easily spread to various kitchen surfaces.
“Anything that touches raw meat should go into the dishwasher before touching anything else,” Rangan said. ”Juices from raw meat that touch the counter should be washed with hot soapy water.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said the findings “affirm that companies are meeting the established guidelines for protecting the public’s health.
In a statement, the department says:
“USDA will remain vigilant against emerging and evolving threats to the safety of America’s supply of meat, poultry and processed egg products, and we will continue to work with the industry to ensure companies are following food safety procedures in addition to looking for new ways to strengthen the protection of public health." | <urn:uuid:7c9db35e-938e-4445-8374-5600e6971d03> | {
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The likelihood that the plain old telephone system will not endure unchanged over the next decade seems pretty well accepted within the telecommunications industry. All of the major communications equipment manufacturers, including those whose primary business has been traditional telephony, have committed substantial resources to developing equipment for networks in which voice is carried as digital data, often compressed, along with nonvoice data over a common packet-switched infrastructure.
These networks are of various kinds, both wireline and wireless. Central to the thinking behind them is the assumption that, in the future, voice will constitute only a minor fraction of the total traffic to be carried. It will therefore be wisest, the reasoning goes, to optimize the networks for data communication and to fit voice in as well as possible.
That is easier said than done. While data networks are designed to provide large amounts of capacity whenever they can, they may delay data packets until such capacity is available. Such behavior is a poor match for voice traffic, which needs only modest capacity but can tolerate only short delays.
Before long, therefore, most of these data-oriented networks will be fitted with mechanisms for dedicating or reserving capacity for time- and loss-sensitive voice data. But, at present, few have such capability. As a result, voice conversations can be plagued by delays, echoes, and dropped fragments. These effects are aggravated by speech compression, which is implemented to conserve transmission capacity.
Natural speech is compressible because it has a lot of redundancy, so dropping a few packets of uncompressed speech may not affect the perceived quality very much. Compression, though, removes most of the redundancy, so every lost packet hurts. In any event, sending compressed speech over a data-oriented network with no special provisions for handling it generally degrades voice quality.
That loss of quality is one of the main barriers to widespread acceptance of voice-over-packet networks. Consumers, long trained by the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to expect what is known as toll-quality voice, will inevitably compare the new voice networks with the old one for quality. Manufacturers and network operators must therefore be able to make such comparisons as well.
Subjective measures, like taking the mean of the opinions of a group of listeners, were an obvious starting point. Newer, more objective techniques, developed in Britain, the Netherlands and elsewhere, involve comparing the received sound with the transmitted sound and scoring the differences. But how? What exactly is voice quality, and how can it be quantified in an objective and reproducible manner? With some answers in hand, it is possible to pin down the factors that influence the perception of voice quality by the users of these networks, and the steps that can be taken to ensure that an acceptable level of quality is met.
Speech coding and compression
Both speech coding and compression have been used in the PSTN for over 20 years. With the exception of the local customer loop (normally analog, but increasingly digital), almost all voice is carried in digital format. In traditional phone networks, the standard method for converting analog voice signals to digital form is to sample them 8000 times per second and then encode each sample as an 8-bit binary word, as specified in detail in ITU-T standard G.711 (the ITU-T being the Telecommunication Standardization Sector of the Geneva-based International Telecommunication Union, a specialized agency of the United Nations). The result is the familiar 64-kb/s digital data stream known in telephony as a DS-0, the lowest rung in the digital signal hierarchy.
Speech compression is associated by most engineers with digital signal processing, but has actually been practiced in the telephone network since the all-analog era. In the early days it took the form of low-pass filtering of the analog signal. Although the human auditory range is generally regarded as extending up to about 20 kHz, telephone networks band-limit voice signals to approximately the bottom 4 kHz of the speech signal. Doing so greatly simplifies the design (and lowers the cost) of low-noise amplifiers and network equalization circuitry, but not without compromising speech quality. Although most of the energy in human speech falls below 4 kHz, the small fraction at higher frequencies does affect intelligibility: just try to distinguish between the words "fine" and "sign" over the telephone. | <urn:uuid:e2883e9c-db32-49c0-855f-a25a292947a4> | {
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A few weeks ago, i went to the graduation show of the Interactive Architecture Studio – Research Cluster 3 at the Bartlett School of Architecture UCL. The unit, headed by Ruairi Glynn and Ollie Palmer, focuses on kinetic and interactive design looking at the latest robotics, material and responsive systems while at the same time borrowing from a long history of performative machines and performing arts. As you can guess, i was quite enthusiastic about many of the works developed over this one-year postgraduate course.
One of the most interesting for me was William Bondin’s research project which explores the gap between digital simulation and physical prototyping in the performance of dynamic architectural systems.
Bondin’s proposal involves a colony of self autonomous creature-like structures, called Morphs, which very slowly navigate public parks. Their moves are not just dictated by a set of pre-programmed rules, they also rely on their physical and social environment.
Morphs exist and wander freely as individual nuclei but they can also join together and adopt certain geometries according to their needs and circumstances.
This is still very much a work in progress but a very promising one.
Simulations for tetrahedron and octahedron nuclei were carried out. In addition, one tetrahedron nucleus was fabricated as a proof of concept in order to understand the limitations of the technology employed.
Video documenting the whole research:
The morph performing one step:
I contacted the young architect for a quick interview:
Hi William! If i understood correctly, your self autonomous creature-like structures are inspired by a species of brainless slime mould. Can you tell us what you found interesting about that type of slime and how this translated into the Morphs?
The interesting thing about slime mould, in particular Physarum polycephalum, is that its cognitive processes occurs within its environment rather than a centralised brain. It is an example of an organism which has developed a clever way of exploiting its surroundings in order to perform navigational tasks and memory-related processes. For instance, when foraging for food it deposits slime in areas which have already been explored, and then avoids the same slime so that it will not re-explore the same area twice. This simple feedback technique inspired me to develop a form of mobile architecture which, analogously to slime mould, deposits digital data into its environment in order to off load its computational processes such as path finding and spatial memory. In fact, Morphs are very low-level creatures in terms of computational abilities and their complex trajectories are a result of the complex environments in which they are placed.
Proposal for Mobile Reconfigurable Polyhedra (MORPHs) to occupy a site and encourage interaction through play
MORPHs during winter might experience neglect
Could you describe the behaviour of the Morphs?
Morphs, which stands for MObile Reconfigurable PolyHedra, have a behaviour which is dictated by the sites in which they are located and their physical morphology. They are attracted to areas with high pedestrian traffic which ensures a higher probability of engagement with the public, and they stay clear of vehicular roads due to their very slow movements. Therefore, characteristics which are embodied within a site become highly influential to their “desired” locations. Similarly, their physical composition dictates the way they perceive their environment and consequently the way they behave. For example, due to their solar powered circuitry, they avoid shaded areas and do not travel during night time or overcast weather. They are also terrified of water and do not operate in wet conditions, in order to protect their electronics. These are their basic low-level behaviours which, similarly to our primary instincts, ensure their own protection and survival in complex environments. Therefore as an end result, you have these creatures which are very playful and gather in areas where people are likely to meet, but they get scared easily and become very introvert when threatened.
Fabricated fully-actuated tetrahedral truss performing a walking action
Because Morphs move so fluidly and elegantly, i couldn’t help but think of Strandbeests. But they have nothing to do with Theo Jansen’s creatures, right?
I really enjoy Jansen’s work and appreciate it in its context; as beautiful objects which occupy and travel across landscapes. However, as an architect, I’m not only interested in the spaces which man-made creatures inhabit but also in the spaces which they create. Morphs have the ability of joining together into complex formations to create spaces which can be occupied by people, and respond to these temporal inhabitants. Additionally, Theo Jansen’s creatures are automatons which are unaware of their surroundings and the people within their “personal space”. Morphs, on the other hand, are responsive spatial structures which communicate between them and their users in order to perform collective tasks. If you threaten one Morph you might send a whole community into hiding, while if one of them enjoys learning a new dance routine it might teach it to others and perform it in groups.
The Morphs move super super slowly. Can’t you make them move faster? Why?
All buildings move. They do so over a very prolonged timescale, and it can take centuries for a building to move a couple of millimetres. So if we had to speculate on how buildings view time, because after-all Morphs are architectural creatures, we have to acknowledge the fact that architecture operates on a very different timescale than its users. Morphs operate on a mediated timescale, because although we perceive them as very slow movers they are lightning fast compared to their ‘static’ counterparts. In terms of time, they exist somewhere in between. This also gives us practical benefits, such as very low power consumption and risk mitigation.
The “Morphs rely on environmental cues and human participation in order to attain purposeful behaviour.” Which kind of environmental cues and human participation are you talking about?
Morphs continuously assess light intensity and water presence in order to take informed decisions about their next steps. This ensures that they will not get trapped in ponds or under trees, and helps them to locate themselves in sunny and dry areas. However, Morphs are not completely self autonomous.
There are four classes, or sub-species, of Morphs and each of them has different purposes and degrees of control. The music-enabled units, which are finished in bright orange, are very slow and rarely change their location. They allow musicians to play music within their enclosure, and transmit the sounds they pick up via wi-fi, as a sort of a free-for-all radio station. The purple ones, which relate to dance, are very fast movers and they respond to push-pull action by their choreographers. They are able to store unique geometries in sequence and play them back when instructed to. The architectural ones, identified by their blue colour, are very slow movers but they can carry a significant amount of load. They are ideal for assembling large configurations and can be attached to different coloured units to create complex spaces. An additional class of these polyhedrons is also envisioned to cater for open-source development, whereby users can design and build bespoke components which can be plugged into existing units.
Do the machines learn in the course of their ‘life’?
It is envisioned that over time these machines start to learn about their environment, participants and even themselves. This will give them the ability to take better informed decisions about their future actions. For example, if a tetrahedron breaks one of its edges it will then have to learn a new way how to roll over without using that side. In addition, it might ask for collective help from its peers to help it travel or become permanently bonded to another Morph for successful locomotion. Another suggested form of learning is the ability to predict participants’ preference and behaviour. This will ensure that the right amount of units are present at the right location when needed.
However, in practice machine learning is a very complex area of research. So far we have been exploring this field in simulation, with limited degrees of success. The intention is to collaborate with robotics engineers and computer scientists in order to actualise these processes into the next generation prototypes.
Do you see applications for the Morphs? In architecture, robotics or other areas?
Morphs started out as a research project into adaptive behavioural architecture. Over the course of a year, it has developed into a semi-speculative project which brings together robotics, computer science, public art, landscape architecture and urban design.
What is next for the Morphs?
Morphs are planned to be unleashed by the end of 2015 as an autonomous but sociable reconfigurable architecture. Prototyping of a tetrahedron nucleus started in March 2013 and has resulted in one functional unit. Current research involves the programming of these nuclei, development of their digital communication and the simulation of their social behaviour. The next fully mobile, untethered, Morph is aimed to be completed by the end of 2013 before larger assembles are explored through 2014. | <urn:uuid:58971c30-703d-4672-a087-636ab744a29a> | {
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Natural consequences are one of the best ways to discipline children. It works because it’s real life.
However, this is easier said than done. There are many ways in which a parent can sabotage a lesson in natural consequences. They are:
- rescuing the child
- lecturing the child
- getting angry with the child
What I mean by rescuing a child is taking some of the responsibility, not following through or not letting the natural consequence occur. For example:
- Your child waits until 9 PM to start writing her 10 page paper; rescuing would be helping her in some way: typing it for her if you can type faster or letting her stay home sick from school
- Your child spills water all over the floor; rescuing would be you cleaning up the mess, not him
- Your child looses a toy or they break it (on purpose); rescuing would be buying them a new toy
Lecturing and Anger
Lecturing or getting angry with your child about a bad choice takes the attention off of them and puts in on you as a parent. Children will often times stop listening and tune out. They are no longer thinking about what choice they made and the consequence, but rather on how annoying their parent is.
Obviously, if your child is going to get majorly hurt than you will need to rescue them (like trying to jump off the roof). However, a little hurt to the body or pride is alright.
- your child makes a mess; consequence = they clean it up
- your child jumps on a bed; consequence = they bonk their head
- your child takes a toy somewhere outside the house and they loose it or it breaks; consequence = they no longer have the toy to play with
- your children don’t sort their clothes in the laundry when asked; consequence = they don’t have any clean clothes to wear
- your child doesn’t complete their homework; consequence = a consequence at school
It can sometimes be hard to think of a natural consequence at the exact moment you need it (if it doesn’t happen naturally), so I like to take a couple of seconds and think about what I would have to do or what would happen to me if I were in the child’s position.
We were visiting my dad for the Fourth of July. Our room set up was a blow up mattress and bunk beds for the kids. We explained to the kids that it probably would not be a smart idea to jump on the mattress. We asked them why and they replied, “because you may fall off and bonk your head.” The next day we hear some crying from the bedroom. Our three year old daughter comes out holding her head. She told us that she bonked her head on the bed because she was “jumping like a kangaroo.” I gave her a hug and a kiss and told her I was so sorry (and I meant it, I wasn’t sarcastic). When it was time to go to bed, she pointed at the mattress and said, “I no jump on dere no mo, I bonk my head, it hurt and I cried.” We simply replied, “I’m so glad I didn’t jump on there, I don’t want my head to hurt.” Sure enough, she did not jump on the mattress for the rest of our visit, however, she had a nice little bruise on her head.
I have not read the following book, but plan on trying to look into it more soon: | <urn:uuid:6d6f69e9-b096-4dd4-8dbf-6d2cae143d49> | {
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Definition of coco de mer in English:
1A tall palm tree that is native to the Seychelles and has an immense, seaborne nut in a hard, woody shell, which is the largest known seed.
- Lodoicea maldivica, family Palmae
- The so-called coco de mer, or ‘double coconut’, is not a true coconut, and is described separately.
- As we weave among almond trees and coco de mers, our driver tells us that some guests never leave their cottages.
- The huge seed of the coco de mer is unique to the Seychelles islands in the western Indian Ocean.
Early 19th century: from French coco-de-mer, literally 'coco from the sea' (because the tree was first known from nuts found floating in the sea).
Definition of coco de mer in:
- British & World English dictionary
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
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Use our equipment to measure the half-life of a radioactive isotope, barium-137m!
Announcer: Frostbite Theater presents... Cold Cuts! No baloney!
Joanna and Steve: Just science!
Joanna: Hi! I'm Joanna!
Steve: And I'm Steve!
Steve: The half-life of a radioactive substance is the amount of time it takes for half of that substance to undergo decay. Now, half-lives can range from billions of years to a tiny fraction of a second. Happily, the half-life of metastable barium-137 isn't too long and isn't too short. It's perfect for doing a half-life experiment like this within a reasonable amount of time.
Joanna: First off, we need a sample of radioactive barium. We're going to get it from this thing. This device contains a salt made from radioactive cesium-137. As it decays, the cesium turns into barium-137 through beta decay.
Now, barium-137 is a little unusual. Some of the barium-137 atoms that are produced are stable and don't decay any further. Most, however, are what's called metastable. This means that their nuclei contain a little extra energy that isn't released right away. When it is released, it's usually released in the form of a gamma ray. This type of radioactive decay is known as 'isomeric transition.' Unlike alpha and beta decay, it doesn't change the composition of the nucleus. So, you start with metastable barium-137 and you end up with stable barium-137.
So, how do you separate the barium from the cesium? Well, luckily, that's the easy part. Cesium and barium are chemically different from one another. We can easily separate the barium and cesium salts by using a solution of hydrochloric acid and sodium chloride. We simply wash the solution through the generator and the barium is eluted out!
Steve: Now that we have a source, we need a way to measure its activity. We're going to do that using two different detectors. #noname The first one is a Geiger-Müeller tube. It's a cylinder surrounding a wire that's kept at a high voltage. The cylinder is filled with a low pressure gas and when ionizing radiation passes through it, it can knock electrons off of some of the gas particles. Those electrons are then accelerated towards the central wire. As they accelerate towards the central wire, they pick up speed and eventually they're able to knock other electrons off of other gas particles. Those are then accelerated and can knock other electrons off of other gas particles. What you eventually end up with is an avalanche of electrons that strikes the central wire. That creates a current that can be detected and counted with the scaler.
The second one is a scintillator attached to a photomultiplier tube. The scintillator is a crystal of sodium iodide and when ionizing radiation passes through it, it gives off a little flash of light. That light then strikes the front of the photomultiplier tube, and it knocks an electron off the surface of the coating. That electron is then accelerated through a series of little paddles called dynodes. And the trick here is that when an electron strikes a dynode, more than one electron pops off. So, by the time you reach the end of the dynode chain, you again have an avalanche of electrons that can be detected and counted with a scaler.
We're going to place the source between the two detectors and you can choose which one to use. The GM has a lower count rate than the photomultiplier tube, so it'll be easier to read because the numbers won't be flying by really fast. But since it has a lower count rate, it has greater statistical error. You'll get better data using the photomultiplier tube, even if you can't tell what the last couple of digits are.
Joanna: Now we're ready to start! We're going to do a series of trials and place them in their own separate video. Then we're going to do a video to show you how to calculate the half-life using the data that you collected. #noname But, for now, thanks for watching! I hope you'll join us again soon as we continue this experiment!
Watch one of the following videos when you are ready to collect data:
Data Run 1
Data Run 2
Data Run 3
Data Run 4
Data Run 5
Subscribe to Jefferson Lab's YouTube channel and be notified when we post new videos! | <urn:uuid:76665a8c-7161-48ec-83bd-8652f5ece3cd> | {
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Vietnam a question still haunts americans - did the war in vietnam have an impact on basic values in counter culture it had affected large sections of society the war probably produced the greatest polarization of american politics and. Analyze the ways in which the vietnam war heightened social, political, and may have errors that do not seriously detract from the quality of the essay political 17th parallel “advisors” agnew, spiro american independent the intent of the question was for students to evaluate the effect of the vietnam war on the. Forty years after millions of vietnamese were killed in the war, in which students in hanoi learn about the american war for the first time in see the potential for producing social change outside the formal political system.
Five key legacies of the vietnam war stand out as having shaped the to flex their political muscle and to make sure that america did not. Until the vietnam war ended in 1975, australian forces had been fighting somewhere had never known an australia that had not been shaped by conservative politics 'according to the american recipe for a modern industrial society' what did not help, was that society had been slowly changing at home already. Key milestones open government initiative a short history of the department us involvement in the vietnam war: the tet offensive, 1968 saigon had a strong psychological impact, as they showed that the nlf troops were not as clear to the american public that an overall victory in vietnam was not imminent. Schulman's narrative weaves together politics, economics, social outcome of the vietnam war theorized a new foreign policy, based on american the seventies will prove insightful reading for anyone wishing to reflect.
The story of the vietnam war given here is one many historians would he was friendly to the us, admired much of american politics, and preferred the us to the most incredible political ineptitude, ngo dinh diem kept that ordinance in effect program of federal spending in history, called the great society program. The conflict in vietnam spurred a series of policy changes almost immediately on the eyes of american people, government leaders were no. As the vietnam war dragged on there were mounting casualties, ever less this shift echoed changes in the broader american culture of the. The film's grim depiction of young americans' loss of innocence tanen himself was confronted by a beefy auto worker who stormed out of the theater the deer hunter mirrored the divisions the war wrought in american society vietnam's effects--in an article sunday on the vietnam war's effects on.
It was a decade of extremes, of transformational change and bizarre racial preferences, abortion, the vietnam war, and america's use of and censorious political correctness, says social policy essayist bruce bawer. Five periods: world war ii, the korean war, the vietnam war, and the the paper does not debate the moral, political, or philosophical justifications for these conflicts, but still thought it didn't have any impact on america's economic position 2 as the economic foundations of society do help determine its security 3. The vietnam war through the lens of politics describing communism in vietnam, eisenhower explained to the american people, you have a row of dominoes as well as the vital resources necessary for the success of his great society legislation american policies hadn't changed only the stakes had been altered.
Vietnam was a civil war between anti-communist and communist factions of our course, we should reconsider the course, and very likely change it as if it were some idle political plaything of a society gone mad on war,. The vietnam war was the country's first “television war but how did this really impact what people thought about our involvement in vietnam jacob hillesheim teaches high school american history and government in. Before the vietnam war, most americans were like me vietnam changed the way we looked at politics schools and universities, institute the great society, fight a major war, and go to the moon, which we did in the 1960s. This article is adapted from the american war in vietnam: crime or but intentional and intrinsic to the us's strategic and political premises hostile to the numerous movements for social change taking place at the time.
Too often, when people are asked to talk about the vietnam war, it is doubt that , in the 1960s, the nature of media coverage of war and society changed, people believed that american society could do what it needed to do in many americans were asking themselves while at the same time questioning their politics in. What was the lasting effect of war on america and vietnam so much that president johnson's great society programme of social reform had to be cancelled.
Today, 40 years after the american war in vietnam ended in of what was once an impoverished, war-devastated peasant society into a modern nation about 40 percent of the economy is capitalist, and the government is making although these changes did not provide a panacea for the nation's ills. The vietnam war also known as the second indochina war, and in regardless of political policies, us commanders were johnson did not, however, communicate this change in strategy to the media economy and had a profound effect on south vietnamese society. Worry about the moral health of american society is suppressing the vietnam and watergate eras, while performance failures are more important with the successful end of the cold war and the vigor of the american economy their country and government, its impact has been greatest on americans. During the first stage, “the traditional society”, a country was limited in its economic growth and american politics to the global situation after world war ii the united stated the vietnam war had changed proving that. | <urn:uuid:5ad6c65c-1a5c-4ccb-aade-68464b7aad56> | {
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Does your dog seem to have a nose for bees? These remedies can help ease the pain if he or she is stung by a bee or wasp.View Article
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Dental disease is the most common disease seen by veterinarians. Some signs that your pet may have dental disease are
It is important to have your pet checked for dental disease as this can have major impacts on your pet's organs, including the heart, liver and kidneys.
Our doctors at CVH can preform routine dental cleanings as well as extraction of loose teeth. This will benefit your pet by reducing the amount of plaque and tarter creating better smelling breath. Good oral hygiene at home can also increase the time between professional cleanings. | <urn:uuid:00c7ea9a-1559-45b3-becc-dc0c81816e89> | {
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1) What is spyware?
Forget viruses, spam and hacker attacks..."spyware" is now the single largest problem facing internet users today. These nasty little rogue programs have become so widespread and so infectious, their volume far outstrips spam and regular viruses. The spyware problem has grown to such an immense breadth and depth, we cannot even agree on what to call it.
2) Spyware = "malware"
Most people historically call these rogue programs "spyware". That name comes from the 1990's where nasty little programs secretly observed and logged your web surfing habits. The spyware problem, however, has now grown into dozens of other malicious formats, including sneakware, adware, keyloggers, browser hijackers, porn servers, trojans and worms
Because the spyware problem has mutated so much, we now describe spyware as part of a much larger category of rogue software called "malware" (malicious software programs)
At its most basic definition, malware is when insidious little software programs covertly install themselves on your computer, and then perform secret operations without your permission. Once in place, malware programs may do hundreds of nasty things to your computer. Malware will log your keystrokes, steal your passwords, observe your browsing choices, spawn pop-up windows, send you targeted email, redirect your web browser to phishing pages, report your personal information to distant servers, and serve up pornography. This malware will operate invisibly, often without displaying itself in your Task Manager. To top it off, malware usually refuses to be uninstalled through your control panel, and requires special tools to delete them from your drive. Yes, this is a direct cousin to viruses, but with a broader portfolio of wicked intentions.
3) What does spyware/malware specifically do to my computer?
Malware will perform a variety of nasty activities, ranging from simple email advertising all the way to complex identity-theft and password-stealing. New nasty functions are created every week by malware programmers, but the most common malware functions are:
- Malware steals your personal information and address book (identity theft and keystroke-logging).
- Malware floods your browser with pop-up advertising.
- Malware spams your inbox with advertising email.
- Malware slows down your connection.
- Malware hijacks your browser and redirects you to an advertising or a phishing-con web page.
- Malware uses your computer as a secret server to broadcast pornography files.
- Malware slows down or crashes your computer.
Spyware/malware programs are authored by clever programmers, and then delivered to your computer through covert Internet installs. Usually, malware will piggyback on innocent-looking web page components and otherwise-benign software such as game demos, MP3 players, search toolbars, software, free subscriptions, and other things you download from the web. Subscribing to online services is especially bad for getting malware. In particular, whenever you sign up for a so-called "free" service or install new software, you must accept an "end user license agreement" (EULA). The fine print of the EULA will often include the phrase "the vendor is allowed to install third-party software on your computer". Since most users don't bother to read this EULA fine print, they naively click "accept", and install malware out of sheer ignorance.
5) What kind of personal information does spyware/malware steal?
This varies from the non-confidential to the extremely-personal. The malware may simply steal a listing of your MP3s or recent website visits. Malware may also harvest your email address book. At its very worst, malware will steal your banking PIN, your eBay login, and your Paypal information (aka "keystroke logging" identity theft). Yes, spyware/malware is a very serious Internet problem that threatens everyone's personal privacy, and network administrators everywhere are deeply concerned.
Next: How to Detect and Destroy Spyware/Malware on Your Computer. | <urn:uuid:8cd36131-430b-4ee6-ad10-63c9e7765e39> | {
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As cities become more conscious of their environmental and social impact, smart growth has become a ubiquitous umbrella term for a slew of principles to which designers and planners are encouraged to adhere. NewUrbanism.org has distributed 10 points that serve as guides to development that are similar to both AIA's Local Leaders: Healthier Communities through Design and New York City's Active Design Guidelines: Promoting Physical Activity and Health in Design. Planners all appear to be on the same page in regards to the nature of future development. But as Brittany Leigh Foster of Renew Lehigh Valley points out, these points tend to be vague; they tell us "what" but they do not tell us "how". 10 Rules for Smarter Smart Growth by Bill Adams of UrbDeZine San Diego enumerates how to achieve the various design goals and principles that these various guides encourage.
Follow us after the break for more.
These days, a lot of projects are crashing through the gates of community plans and dashing existing neighborhood character under the banners of smart growth or transit oriented development. Typically, such projects are simply high density or near transit corridors, or sometimes they include gratuitous green space and walking paths. However, they fail in many of the finer points of smart growth, new urbanism, or transit oriented development. - Bill Adams
This introduction makes a most poignant point about how runaway development is possible under the guise of "smart growth" by using specific principles while ignoring important factors that contribute to community development. Adams begins by discouraging the use of the term NIMBY. "Every criticism or opposition to a high density project is now labeled as NIMBYism, with little further discussion of community concerns." This behavior dismisses community concerns and fails to create compromise between developers and affected communities. Adams also notes that community involvement in the planning process of future development is crucial to accounting for community needs and respecting the kind of development that has gone in to building existing neighborhoods.
It follows that new projects are most successful when they integrate into the urban fabric, or at the very least engage the community and avoid "building islands or erecting barriers", as Adams puts it. In this way, it is more likely to be welcomed and incorporated within the community, encouraging the walkability and accessibility of the environment - a tenet that is touted by many of these guidelines. In the same sense, the characteristics and identity of the communities should be preserved and should be compatible with the context and type of land use.
It is also important for transit oriented development (TODs) to avoid becoming complicit to programs that encourage car use. Adams notes that TODs are not as successful when the areas that they service are just as easily accessible by personal cars. He writes, "they are usually just as close to major thoroughfares, imbued with ample off-street parking facilities (usually required by the municipality), and pedestrian deterring exteriors. These project rarely enhance walkability, and the convenience of public transit is offset by equal or greater auto amenities and convenience."
Density is frequently a high priority in "smart growth" and Adams mentions that this should be done incrementally, encouraged by municiple governments through zoning and code development. For example, Adams suggests that infill development should be prioritized over lot-clearing projects or incrementally reducing setback requirements that encourage small lots to be built higher without challenging the character of the street life. He warns that maximizing density is not as effective as increasing density in a responsible way
"The antithesis of smart growth and the trademark of sprawl are wide streets, dispersed development, and parking lots." Narrow streets and usable open space bring people to the street, and create engagement with the surrounding programs, whereas "parking lots and wide streets directly undermine the attraction. Conversely, people come to successful traditional commercial districts despite the auto inconveniences. Auto inconvenience means pedestrian orientation." Along the same vein, Adams suggests making exclusive opportunities to for pedestrians and cyclists that cannot be accessible by automobiles. This not only prioritizes specific functions, but also encourages their use. And they should be considered as a higher priority than road building. This is also an issue of scale. Where major roadways provide one means to a destination, but local traffic is encouraged through public transit systems, walking or biking.
These principles are not ground-breaking, but they provide a fundamental reasoning to the rhetoric that has been circulating among urban planning and design texts. When we hear terms like "walkability", "sustainability", "accessibililty", or "density" we can understand them better within the context of a specific community in regards to transit orientation, building design, and zoning codes. Ultimately, it is most important that the jargon of urban planning does not overpower a community's ability to participate in its own development. Bill Adams' breakdown of the ways in which "smart growth" can be smarter does just that. | <urn:uuid:0c6c3fb6-1391-4dc1-b2db-c9436e41cf73> | {
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This site is privately supported reference providing information of interest to the land surveyor (also known as the Cadastral Surveyor) involved in the preservation and retracement of the Public Land Survey System (PLSS) in the United States. The term Cadastral, in the U.S., is most often associated with the Federal Land Surveying Authority. The PLSS is also known as the "rectangular system", and was a key factor in the orderly expansion west in the early history of the country.
|*Cadastral is What?
The Manual of Surveying Instructions - 1973 info etc. updated 11/19/2001
2017 Solar and Polaris Surveyors Ephemeridesupdated 01/08/2017
Papers and miscellany...updated 8/11
Cadastral Survey is an operational program within the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior whose mission and focus includes:
So fine, but what is Cadastral really? The term comes from Latin base term Cadastre referring to a registry of lands. So actually Cadastral Surveying is surveying having to do with determining and defining land ownership and boundaries. Seems like a pretty boring thing perhaps? Well a lot of people think surveys are relatively unimportant until they find they have located many hundreds of thousands of dollars of improvements, buildings, etc. on someone else's land. Suddenly the value of knowing where your land is comes into perspective.
The practice of finding boundaries is neither a purely legal process, nor a purely scientific process. It is something in between with a twist. The boundary surveyor in finding an old survey must be cognizant of the legal description of the land and any conflicts which may affect it. This involves not only knowledge but skills in research and investigation. Then the surveyor must be part archeologist to find physical evidence of previous surveys and occupation on the ground. Throughout the process the surveyor must understand the concepts of good measurements to find and describe what is found, and be able to interpret it's relationship to the record. In the end those that do it well find it can be rewarding and fun, sort of as mathematical detective work, with archeology, dendrology, geology and paralegal aspects thrown in. So we sometimes use the old saying "Land Surveying" is both an art and a science.
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Teaching approaches in medicine made easier
Teaching professional attitudes and basic clinical skills to medical students: a practical guide. Jochanan Benbassat. Springer, 2015 (143 pp, €51.99). ISBN 9783319200880.
Training, learning styles, role modelling and behaviours vary among doctors. As a result, students experience different approaches to teaching, which later shape their own approaches to patient interviewing, data collection and problem solving as doctors. Some doctors encourage patients’ narratives by using open-ended questions; others favour closed questions. This can leave medical students confused by the different techniques.
Teaching professional attitudes and basic clinical skills to medical students: a practical guide aims to help tutors, clinicians and teachers by providing an approach to teaching patient interviews, physical examination and clinical reasoning and by bringing the reader closer to the behavioural and social sciences.
The book is easy to read and provides a thorough description of the paradigm shift seen in the teaching of medicine in recent decades. It includes analyses of the difficulties in teaching patient interview and communication techniques, physical examination, data recording and clinical… | <urn:uuid:ca555084-dba7-4c26-9c71-3225538934bb> | {
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Acupuncture focuses on Qi ("Chi"). Qi is energy that runs through the body. This energy travels through the body by channels called meridians. There are 12 main meridians in the body and 8 secondary meridians. Disease is one way energy can be disrupted through the meridians. Meridians conduct energy between the surface of the body and its internal organs. Each point has a different effect on the Qi that passes through it.
Acupuncture is a technique that uses thin needles to stimulate points on the body to prevent or treat illness. Acupuncture does not rely on needles alone but also on electro meridian imaging. Meridian therapy is a more appropriate name for this chines method of therapy and can be administered in many ways.
Chiropractic Acupuncture Health Center offers the following Acupuncture techniques:
- Needle (disposable)
- Electrical EMI | <urn:uuid:a8dd33e7-1e58-4766-aee7-26f7b638ee19> | {
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For the first time since 2002, Japan's Earth Simulator is not the most powerful supercomputer on the planet.
IBM Corp. has assembled a 16,000-processor version of its BlueGene/L supercomputer, which on Sept. 16 edged out the Earth simulator, built by IBM rival NEC Corp., according to benchmarks run by Big Blue.
"This is a kind of seminal announcement for us," said Dave Turek, vice president of deep computing at IBM. "Their reign as the most powerful supercomputer in the world has come to an end."
Running the Linpack benchmark, which is used to evaluate supercomputing power during the biannual Top500 list of supercomputers, BlueGene was able to achieve a sustained performance of 36.01 teraflops (a teraflop is a trillion calculations per second). On the June version Top500 list, the Earth Simulator was benchmarked at 35.86 teraflops.
Assembled at IBM facilities in Rochester, Minnesota, the Blue Gene system is an 8-rack prototype of the $100 million system IBM plans to deliver to Lawrence Livermore National Labs in the early part of 2005. The Lawrence Livermore supercomputer, however, will be a 64-rack 130,000 processor system that will dwarf the Rochester system with an estimated peak performance of 360 teraflops, according to Turek.
Its long reign as maker of the world's most powerful supercomputer has been a point of pride for Japan's NEC, which was effectively shut out of the U.S. market at one point by a 454 percent duty on its machines.
Built in 2002 to model climate change simulations for the Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, the Earth Simulator took five years to construct and cost ¥50 billion ($450 million). It consists of 5,120 processors housed in 64 cabinets in the center of a 50-meter-by-64-meter room.
The eight-rack Blue Gene system will take up only about 30 square meters (320 square feet) and consumes 216 kilowatts, only a fraction of the 6,000 kilowatts required by the Earth Simulator, Turek said.
IBM's benchmark results are big news, for the U.S. as well as IBM, said Horst Simon, associate laboratory director of computing sciences at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and a maintainer of the Top500 list. "Winning back the number one spot by a U.S. vendor with U.S. technology and for a U.S. site is an important change politically," he said in an e-mail interview.
IBM intends to produce a number of systems using the Blue Gene components, Turek said, including systems for Argonne National Laboratory, the Dutch astronomical organization ASTRON, and The Computational Biology Research Center (CBRC) of Japan’s National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology.
Whether or not Blue Gene will be number one on the next official Top500 ranking in November remains to be seen, however.
IBM is working with customers on a number of systems that could potentially perform in the 40 teraflop range, Turek said. "There are activities in our part that would get us in that range and I can only assume that our competitors are doing the same," he said.
NASA Ames's Project Columbia, a 10,240-processor supercomputer being built by Silicon Graphics Inc. could very well be such a contender, Simon said. | <urn:uuid:4d7de4df-3b6c-47c3-85ce-7f19f6b56567> | {
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There are various all-natural methods you may use for growing a vibrant, healthy, and bright organic garden. In order to use these methods, all you have to do is learn a little bit about them.
Asprin will actually help your plants out by killing diseases. An aspirin and a half, combined with a couple of gallons of water, will do amazing things for your plants. Spray the plants with the aspirin solution to help your plants fight disease. Try spraying your plants with this around every three weeks.
Preparing a plot for planting a perennial garden can be done quickly and without difficulty. Use your spade in a slicing motion to cut a flap of turf. Carefully turn the flap over, then cover the area with a three-inch layer of untreated wood chips. Let the area sit for a fortnight, then turn the earth and set up your new perennial bed.
After seeds have sprouted, they require less warmth than they did prior to sprouting. Sprouting plants can be removed from the heat source. If you have plastic films on your containers, remove them. Observe your seeds carefully so that you can make these changes as soon as they start sprouting.
Add used coffee grounds to your soil. Coffee grounds are rich in nitrogen, an essential nutrient for plant growth. Using coffee grounds or any other source of nitrogen contributes to the growth of taller, fuller blooms.
When the time has come to gather up the produce, you need to use an old laundry basket. A benefit of using something like a laundry basket is that it can strain for you, as well as hold a large amount of produce. The basket won’t be affected by the water and it will drain right off as though it were poured into a large sieve.
When you’re making a compost pile, you should use fresh and dried plants to get it started. Garden wastes, such as grass clippings, are classified as green materials. Dried material includes straw, shredded paper, and cardboard. Do not include charcoal, ashes, meat, carnivorous animal manure or diseased plants.
It is a great idea to help your garden by ruffling seedlings, either with cardboard or with your own hands, a couple of times each day. That may sound like a silly thing to do, but it’s been proven to help plants grow larger than they would otherwise.
Build raised beds with untreated stone, brick or wood. If you choose to use wood to construct your bed, choose a species that is naturally resistant to rot and avoid treated wood entirely. Some good choices include locust, cypress, and cedar. Do not use treated wood in your vegetable garden. You may have previously used treated lumber; if so, you should use a plastic liner to cover it.
While any person can make a garden, the people who know what they are doing will get the best results. Be sure to apply the useful tips you have read here and enjoy. | <urn:uuid:1ca38a41-998d-4d3c-9375-aeeccfaba5bd> | {
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Ordnance Survey, the body responsible for mapping Great Britain from top to toe, have recreated 86,000 square miles of it in Minecraft. The map was built in two weeks by intern Joseph Braybrook and OS's Innovation Labs team using the mapping authority's OpenData products, and can be downloaded to explore for free.
Ordnance Survey’s data covers England, Scotland, Wales and their surrounding islands. The resulting Minecraft map incorporates 224,000 of Great Britain’s 229,848 square km.
“We think we may have created the largest Minecraft world ever built based on real-world data,” OS Innovation Lab Manager Graham Dunlop told the BBC.
“The resulting map shows the massive potential not just for using Minecraft for computer technology and geography purposes in schools, but also the huge scope of applications for OS OpenData too.”
Once downloaded, the map starts new players on the spot of OS’s head office in Southampton. From there, they can make mainland Britain - 22 billion blocks of it - their playground.
Using a combination of two programs - OS Terrain 50 and OS VectorMap - the mapping authority has managed to port a 3D model of the earth surface into the game, and overlay it with accurately placed bodies of water, woodland and roads. The entire generation process took about seven hours on a “modest” desktop PC.
OS have found equivalent materials for each of the key terrain types in their maps. Motorways are built in diamond, for instance, and B Roads from pumpkin.
“Each blocks represents a ground area of 50 square metres,” write OS. “The raw height data is stored in metres and must be scaled down to fit within the 256 block height limit in Minecraft. A maximum height of 2 500 metres was chosen, which means Ben Nevis, appears just over 128 blocks high.
“Although this exaggerates the real-world height, it preserves low-lying coastal features such as Bournemouth's cliffs, adding interest to the landscape.”
Bloody hell, eh? You can find the map to download here - it’s approximately 3.6GB uncompressed. OS have also provided coordinates for some notable geographical landmarks, including Mount Snowdon, the site of London, and Lake Windermere. | <urn:uuid:1c80695c-bb4e-42d0-bf47-096330d4af09> | {
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2006b), pale flowers set more seed when hawkmoths are present (Miller, 1981), and in manipulative studies hawkmoths preferentially visit pale flowers (Hodges et al., 2002). To consider trends in color shifts when anthocyanin production is maintained, we inferred the color produced at ancestral nodes in the Aquilegia phylogeny by using the inferred pollination syndrome as a guide (Whittall and Hodges, 2007). Given that hummingbird-pollinated flowers in general tend to be red (Cronk and Ojeda, 2008) and all but 1 hummingbird-pollinated species of Aquilegia have red flowers (Aquilegia flavescens has yellow flowers), we inferred ancestral nodes reconstructed as hummingbird-pollinated anthocyanin producers to be red-flowered (Fig. 2.2). Similarly, given that bee-pollinated flowers tend to be blue and all but 1 bee-pollinated species of Aquilegia have blue flowers (Aquilegia laramiensis has white flowers) we inferred ancestral nodes reconstructed as bee-pollinated anthocyanin producers to be blue-flowered (Fig. 2.2). These reconstructions suggest that there have been 2 shifts from blue to red flowers and 2 shifts from red to blue. Thus, color shifts in Aquilegia, where anthocyanin production is maintained, do not exhibit an evolutionary trend.
The significant trends in pollinator evolution in Aquilegia, together with field experimentation on the functional relevance of specific traits, make variation in spur length, flower orientation, and flower color obvious targets for understanding the genetic basis of adaptive traits and traits affecting reproductive isolation. However, focusing on the genetics of flower color evolution is also advantageous for practical reasons. Since Mendel’s first experiments, flower color has been a primary system for dissecting the genetics of a biochemical pathway because the phenotype is readily observable and relatively simple. Many genes in the anthocyanin biosynthetic pathway (ABP) and their regulators have been described, thus facilitating efforts to identify the likely targets of selection. Reds and blues of most flowers result from the accumulation of anthocyanin pigments in the vacuoles of floral tissue cells (Fig. 2.1A, D, and G). When anthocyanins are absent, flowers are yellow or white, largely depending on, respectively, the presence or absence of carotenoid pigments (Fig. 2.1C and E). Anthocyanin biosynthetic genes are a central core to the larger flavonoid biosynthetic pathway and are expressed in multiple tissues other than flowers (Grotewold, 2006). The production of all anthocyanins involves 6 enzymes [in functional order chalcone synthase (CHS), chalcone flavone isomerase (CHI), flavanone-3-hydroxylase (F3H), dihydroflavonol 4-reductase (DFR), anthocyanidin synthase (ANS), and UDP flavonoid glucosyltransferse (UFGT); Fig. 2.3]. There are 3 basic types of anthocya- | <urn:uuid:1cbc96f1-9542-4342-b7dc-c8d6e018862b> | {
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In the new paperback version of Cartographies of Time, written by professors Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grifton, the timeline, one of the most fundamental human tools, offers a frame for understanding Western intellectual history. In the first “comprehensive history of graphic representations of time,” we get a sense of how modern American and European knowledge and values shaped the understanding and modeling of time. As the authors, two professors of history, explain, the simple, linear timeline we all rely on now took a long time to get to. Evolving over time, the timeline itself is rich with history.
While the writing can be a bit confusing in parts as the authors jump back and forth in time (there doesn’t seem to be a very linear history for the timeline), the images, which have been carefully curated for the book, almost speak for themselves, providing a sense of how this “most important tool for organizing information” has changed since 1450.
Beginning with the ancient Western world (there’s no discussion of Asian maps), the authors describe how Greek and Roman scholars liked to make lists of lots of things: priests, Olympic winners, elected officials, etc. Finally, though, Eusebius of Caesarea, a fourth-century theologian, composed the “model for later timelines for centuries to come.” Moving through the ancient world, Eusebius used rows and columns to trace the rise and fall of empires, “coordinating all these histories,” but ended up funneling history down into a “single story.”
Still, not everyone in Medieval Europe got the memo about rows and columns. Trees, depicting families or histories, were popular, too. The authors point to Peter of Poitier’s work (see image above), which was created in the 1200s, as a “visually spare, elegant record of English history from Alfred the Great to Henry III.” They write that these could almost be viewed as a visual aid you might see in a classroom. It certainly helped royalty keep straight who was who.
Rich with visual examples, it’s difficult to select ones to highlight. Here are a few others worth seeing:
In the 1600s, Johannes Buno used “unforgettable figures, curios details, and riddles” to create a “virtual memory theatre.” This was a very old-school mnemomic designed to help people remember names and dates.
Zooming ahead to the mid-1700s, Rosenberg and Grafton spend a lot of time with Joseph Priestley, who’s New Chart of History is described as almost revolutionary. “Priestley regularized the distribution of dates on the chart adn oriented it horizontally to emphasize the continuous flow of history.” Here’s just a slice of one of his charts plotting the shifting of empires:
One favorite map is Edward Quinn’s An Historical Atlas, published in the early 1800s, which takes a step back and looks at the state of knowledge in the West. In a sequence of maps, Quinn rolls back the clouds, indicating how much of the world was known at different stages of history.
In the late 1800s, the diversity of chronologies increases, and more and more historical statistical data is presented visually, often to make a political case or boost a social cause. An example by Luigi Perozza beautifully plots male births vs. the number of war survivors over time.
While Florence Nightingale, one of the original “social entrepreneurs” who revolutionized sanitation, used historical diagrams to show how infection and disease caused more English deaths than combat during the Crimean War.
The authors move through spirtually-inspired chronologies, all the way through to Modern ones, increasingly viewing timeline as an art form. Seen below is the Histomap, designed and produced by amateur historian John Sparks. According to the writers, Sparks would fill pads with names and dates, cut his notes into slips, and paste them onto a massive chart. That chart later became a bestseller for Rand McNally for over 50 years.
Rosenberg and Grafton end up looking at the Web, particularly Web 2.0, and discuss how start-ups are working on “new ways to aggregate and integrate chronological data from many sources.” Still, they wonder if all these user-generated timelines will be easy to use and “function well as a tool,” which is what all the successful timelines have done over time.
Image credits: Cartographies of Time: A History of the Timeline by Daniel Rosenberg and Anthony Grafton, Published by Princeton Architectural Press, Hardcover 2010, Paperback 2012 | <urn:uuid:e1123844-b92c-42e4-9236-a97e78e0e09b> | {
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The White House just released a "Women in America" report that shows that women's salaries still lag behind men's. Handout
It might be time for American women to start the bra burning again—but could they afford a trip to Victoria’s Secret to replenish?
The White House kicked off Women’s History month today with a report on the status of women in America, providing the first such overview of its kind since 1963. The new government report finds that women are more educated and better represented than ever before in the workforce, but they earn about 75 percent of what their male counterparts make.
The study, which highlighted areas including income, family, health, education, employment, and crime and violence against women, found that women are outpacing men in getting college degrees, marrying at a later age, and having fewer children on average as a result of their focus on careers.
As is the case with other reports in recent years, such as studies that look at women in corporate America and find them stagnating or even backsliding, the report suggests that women have not closed the gender gap just yet.
The labor force participation rate for women—the percentage of all adult women who are working or looking for work—increased from about 33 percent in 1950 to 61 percent in 1999. In contrast, men’s labor force participation rate has steadily fallen from about 89 percent in 1948 to 75 percent in 2009.
Still, women at every educational level and at every age spend fewer weeks in the labor force than do men (perhaps due to leaving the office to have children), although the time clock disparity diminishes for those with college degrees or greater education.
Among the key findings from the study, which includes data from 2009 are the following:
After getting an MA in journalism from Syracuse University, Teresa worked as a general assignment newspaper reporter—general on purpose because besides the usual city hall and police articles, there was the chance to fly an F-18 with the Blue Angels and tag along with bounty hunters on a stakeout—all good preparation for covering entrepreneurs.
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Sign up to receive Upstart Business Journal’s free daily email newsletter, weekend edition and breaking news alerts. | <urn:uuid:82f1a427-d3fc-4463-8a84-705e0c457c67> | {
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Many more articles are available through the Energy Bulletin homepage
True to form, Bush administration still refuses to regulate greenhouse gases
Gerry Karry, Platt's
Shortly after taking office in 2001, President Bush reneged on a campaign pledge to regulate greenhouse gas emissions from US power plants. Last week the administration, in office for only six more months, closed the circle and announced that it still would not regulate greenhouse gas emissions.
Given what the Washington Post called seven years of administration "denial, inaction and foot-dragging," the decision should have surprised no one. But what set it apart from business-as-usual was that it was in response to a US Supreme Court ruling that the Environmental Protection Agency has the authority to regulate GHG emissions under the Clean Air Act...The Clean Air Act, in fact, was not intended to control greenhouse gas emissions. But because the administration (and Congress) have failed to develop an alternative, it is the only vehicle currently available.
(15 July 2008)
White House buries climate change deaths report
The Daily Telegraph
The White House buried a report prepared by US government scientists which detailed a rising death toll from heat waves, fires, disease and smog they predicted would be caused by global warming.
Environmental advocates accused President George W Bush's administration of delaying the release of the 149-page report so that it could avoid regulating greenhouse gases.
The Bush administration has worked to discourage a link between public health and climate change, fearing this would compel the government to regulate greenhouse gases
It was prepared as part of a response to a 2007 Supreme Court ruling under the Clean Air Act, which found the Environmental Protection Agency must regulate greenhouse gases unless there was a scientific reason not to, but was not made public until Monday.
The report lays out for the first time the scientific case for the grave risks that global warming poses to people, and to the food, energy and water on which society depends...
(15 July 2008)
Diary: Colorado River drought
Matthew Price , BBC Online
The south-western US is suffering its eighth consecutive year of drought. There are concerns that the Colorado River, which has sustained life in the area for thousands of years, can no longer meet the needs of the tens of millions of people living in major cities such as Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
The BBC's Matthew Price is travelling along the river to investigate the scale of the problem and is sending a series of diary items from there.
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Why Does the Vaccine/Autism Controversy
Find a Conversation
|Tue, 05-12-2009 - 10:30am|
Research has soundly disproved the alleged connection, yet fears about vaccines continue to be a major risk to public health.by Chris Mooney
Vaccines do not cause autism. That was the ruling in each of three critical test cases handed down on February 12 by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in Washington, D.C. After a decade of speculation, argument, and analysis—often filled with vitriol on both sides—the court specifically denied any link between the combination of the MMR vaccine and vaccines with thimerosal (a mercury-based preservative) and the spectrum of disorders associated with autism. But these rulings, though seemingly definitive, have done little to quell the angry debate, which has severe implications for American public health.
The idea that there is something wrong with our vaccines—that they have poisoned a generation of kids, driving an “epidemic” of autism—continues to be everywhere: on cable news, in celebrity magazines, on blogs, and in health news stories. It has had a particularly strong life on the Internet, including the heavily trafficked Huffington Post, and in pop culture, where it is supported by actors including Charlie Sheen and Jim Carrey, former Playboy playmate Jenny McCarthy, and numerous others. Despite repeated rejection by the scientific community, it has spawned a movement, led to thousands of legal claims, and even triggered occasional harassment and threats against scientists whose research appears to discredit it.
You can see where the emotion and sentiment come from. Autism can be a terrible condition, devastating to families. It can leave parents not only aggrieved but desperate to find any cure, any salvation. Medical services and behavioral therapy for severely autistic children can cost more than $100,000 a year, and these children often exhibit extremely difficult behavior. Moreover, the incidence of autism is apparently rising rapidly. Today one in every 150 children has been diagnosed on the autism spectrum; 20 years ago that statistic was one in 10,000. “Put yourself in the shoes of these parents,” says journalist David Kirby, whose best-selling 2005 book, Evidence of Harm, dramatized the vaccine-autism movement. “They have perfectly normal kids who are walking and happy and everything—and then they regress.” The irony is that vaccine skepticism—not the vaccines themselves—is now looking like the true public-health threat.
The decadelong vaccine-autism saga began in 1998, when British gastroenterologist Andrew Wakefield and his colleagues published evidence in The Lancet suggesting they had tracked down a shocking cause of autism. Examining the digestive tracts of 12 children with behavioral disorders, nine of them autistic, the researchers found intestinal inflammation, which they pinned on the MMR (measles, mumps, and rubella) vaccine. Wakefield had a specific theory of how the MMR shot could trigger autism: The upset intestines, he conjectured, let toxins loose in the bloodstream, which then traveled to the brain. The vaccine was, in this view, effectively a poison. In a dramatic press conference, Wakefield announced the findings and sparked an instant media frenzy. For the British public, a retreat from the use of the MMR vaccine—and a rise in the incidence of measles—began.
In the United States, meanwhile, fears would soon arise concerning another means by which vaccines might induce autism. Many vaccines at the time contained thimerosal, a preservative introduced in the 1930s to make vaccines safer by preventing bacterial contamination. But thimerosal is 50 percent mercury by weight, and mercury is known to be a potent neurotoxin, at least in large doses. In 1999 new federal safety guidelines for mercury in fish stirred concerns about vaccines as well.
The U.S. government responded by ordering that thimerosal be removed from all vaccines administered to children under age 6, or reduced to trace amounts. (Some inactivated influenza vaccines were exempted.) The step was described as a “precautionary” measure. There was no proof of harm, government researchers said, just reason to worry that there might be. Meanwhile, scientists launched numerous studies to determine whether thimerosal had actually caused an autism epidemic, while some parents and their lawyers started pointing fingers and developing legal cases.
Within weeks of this year’s federal court decisions—which examined and vindicated both the MMR vaccine and thimerosal—environmental lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote a column in The Huffington Post in which he continued to press his case that the government has peddled unsafe vaccines to an unsuspecting public. It is a cause he has championed since 2005, when he published “Deadly Immunity” in Rolling Stone and Salon magazines. The article was a no-holds-barred denunciation of the U.S. public-health establishment, purporting to tell the story of how “government health agencies colluded with Big Pharma to hide the risks of thimerosal from the public…a chilling case study of institutional arrogance, power, and greed.” Half a decade after the original thimerosal concerns were first raised, Kennedy claimed to have found the smoking gun: the transcript of a “secret” 2000 meeting of government, pharmaceutical, and independent researchers with expertise in vaccines. Kennedy’s conclusion: The generational catastrophe was real; our kids had been poisoned. If true, it would be perhaps the greatest biomedical catastrophe in modern history.
“It’s not hard to scare people,” says pediatrician and leading vaccine advocate Paul Offit. “But it’s extremely difficult to unscare them.”
But for Kennedy to be right, a growing consensus in the medical establishment had to be wrong. Indeed, Kennedy blasted a leading organ of science that had just vindicated both the MMR vaccine and thimerosal, the Institute of Medicine (IOM). “The CDC paid the Institute of Medicine to conduct a new study to whitewash the risks of thimerosal,” Kennedy wrote, “ordering researchers to ‘rule out’ the chemical’s link to autism.” In reality, the IOM—a branch of the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), the government’s top independent scientific adviser—carefully creates firewalls between the funding it receives to conduct scientific assessments and the results it ultimately produces. “Funders don’t control the composition of the committee, and they don’t meet with the committee,” says Harvard public-health researcher Marie McCormick, who chaired the IOM vaccine-safety committee in question. “And on no NAS or IOM committee are the members paid; they all work pro bono. There’s no reason for them not to look at the data.”
The same year Kennedy’s article came out, journalist David Kirby published Evidence of Harm—Mercury in Vaccines and the Autism Epidemic: A Medical Controversy. He followed a group of parents from the Coalition for SafeMinds, an autism activist organization. They had grown convinced that vaccines and other environmental factors had caused their children’s conditions. Kirby’s chronicle of the parents’ efforts to publicize the dangers of vaccines became a best seller and greatly advanced SafeMinds’ cause.
Yet even as vaccine hysteria reached a fever pitch in the wake of Kennedy’s and Kirby’s writings, the scientific evidence was leaning strongly in the other direction. In discounting the dangers of both the MMR vaccine and thimerosal, the IOM had multiple large epidemiological studies to rely on. For MMR, the IOM examined 16 studies. All but two, which were dismissed because of “serious methodological flaws,” showed no evidence of a link. For thimerosal, the IOM looked at five studies, examining populations in Sweden, Denmark, the United Kingdom, and the United States (studies that vaccine critics contend were flawed). Since then, further research has strengthened and vindicated the committee’s original conclusion. It is a conclusion that has been “independently reached by scientific and professional committees around the world,” as a recent science journal commentary noted. Either the scientific community has found a clear, reassuring answer to the questions raised about thimerosal in vaccines, or there is a global scientific conspiracy to bury the truth.
Whether the public is hearing the scientific community’s answer is another matter. “It’s not hard to scare people,” says pediatrician and leading vaccine advocate Paul Offit, who himself coinvented a vaccine. “But it’s extremely difficult to unscare them.”
A backlash against vaccine skeptics is beginning to mount. Standing up to fellow celebrities, actress Amanda Peet, who recently vaccinated her baby daughter, has become a spokeswoman for the pro-vaccine group Every Child by Two. Offit’s book Autism’s False Prophets has further galvanized vaccine defenders—not only by debunking the science of those who claim vaccines are dangerous but also by contending that the parents of autistic children and the children themselves are indeed victims, not of vaccines but of medical misinformation.
The provaccine case starts with some undeniable facts: Vaccines are, as the IOM puts it, “one of the greatest achievements of public health.” The CDC estimates that thanks to vaccines, we have reduced morbidity by 99 percent or more for smallpox, diphtheria, measles, polio, and rubella. Averaged over the course of the 20th century, these five diseases killed nearly 650,000 people annually. They now kill fewer than 100. That is not to say vaccines are perfectly safe; in rare cases they can cause serious, well-known adverse side effects. But what researchers consider unequivocally unsafe is to avoid them. As scientists at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health recently found while investigating whooping cough outbreaks in and around Michigan, “geographic pockets of vaccine exemptors pose a risk to the whole community.”
When it comes to autism, vaccine defenders make two central claims. First, the condition is likely to be mostly genetic rather than environmentally caused; and second, there are reasons to doubt whether there is really a rising autism epidemic at all.
It is misleading to think of autism as a single disorder. Rather, it is a spectrum of disorders showing great variability in symptoms and expression but fundamentally characterized by failed social development, inability to communicate, and obsessive repetitive behavior. Autism generally appears in children at early ages, sometimes suddenly, and its genetic component has long been recognized. Studies have shown that if one identical twin has autism, there is at least a 60 percent chance that the other also does. “From my point of view, it’s a condition associated with genetic defects and developmental biology problems,” says Peter Hotez, a George Washington University microbiologist and father of an autistic child. Hotez, who is also president of the Sabin Vaccine Institute, says, “I don’t think it’s possible to explain on the basis of any vaccine toxin that is acquired after the baby is born.” Still, scientists cannot fully rule out environmental triggers—including various types of toxicity—that might interact with a given individual’s preexisting genetic inclination. Autism is a complex disorder with multiple forms of expression and potentially multiple types of causation that are incompletely understood.
As for whether autism is rising, a number of experts say it is hard to know. Is the increase real, or is it largely the result of more attention to the condition, an expansion of the autism spectrum to embrace many different heterogeneous disorders, a new focus on children classified as autistic in federal special education programs during the 1990s, and other factors? It could be some combination of all these things.
But if environmental triggers of autism cannot be ruled out, the idea that those triggers can be found in the MMR vaccine or in thimerosal has crumbled under the weight of scientific refutation. Epidemiological studies have cast grave doubt on Andrew Wakefield’s MMR hypothesis—and so have subsequent scandals. Nearly all of Wakefield’s coauthors have since retracted the autism implications of their work; The Lancet has also backed away from the study. A series of investigative stories published in The Times of London unearthed Wakefield’s undisclosed ties to vaccine litigation in the U.K. and, more recently, suggested he fabricated his data (which Wakefield denies).
As for thimerosal, government precautions notwithstanding, it was never clear how threatening it might be. The federal mercury standards that first heightened concern were developed for methylmercury, not ethylmercury, the form contained in thimerosal. Ethyl | <urn:uuid:de824c33-4546-4211-8751-8c4a5bc29b30> | {
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Primary sources are documents created during the time period that is being studied such as newspaper accounts from WWII, raw data like census statistics, oral histories from participants/observers of a particular time period or event, or articles/reports that present research methodology and detailed findings from original research studies.
Primary sources are original materials that have not been evaluated or interpreted.
Autobiographies & Memoirs
Works of literature
Statistical Data/Survey Research
- "We Can Do It." Color poster by J. Howard Miller. 179-WP-1563. Courtesy of NARA.
- "An eager school boy gets his first experience in using War Ration Book Two. With many parents engaged in war work, children are being taught the facts of point rationing for helping out in family marketing." Alfred Palmer, February 1943. 208-AA-322H-1. Courtesy of NARA.
- War Manpower job flyer promoting women to register for War Jobs., 1942. Courtesy of NARA.
Resources for Librarians and Educators, Credits
Original UI&U Library Research Guide © 2006 by Union Institute & University Library. This tutorial incorporates material from Searchpath, a tutorial developed by Board of Trustees of Western Michigan University © 2001-2002, from SBU Library Research Guide material © 2004 by the Stony Brook University Libraries, from TILT, a tutorial developed by the Digital Information Literacy Office for the University of Texas System Digital Library, © 1998-2002, and from TIP, a tutorial developed by University of Wyoming Libraries © 2005. This material may be reproduced, distributed, or incorporated provided that appropriate credit is given. | <urn:uuid:00f65694-8c14-450e-8b37-2008dacb8519> | {
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'Two states for two peoples' is a "framework based on expulsion and exclusion" and is based on the "need to 'save' Israel as a 'Jewish and democratic' state" [GALLO/GETTY]
The slogan 'two states for two peoples' has long been used by those who support the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Ironically, however, such a framework risks cementing Israeli apartheid and Jewish privilege, evoking the same sorts of arguments put forward by defenders of South Africa's historical regime of systematic discrimination. There are three problems with the 'two states for two peoples' formulation. Firstly, the meaning of a Palestinian "state" has changed to the point that it is problematic to even use the term. Support
The 'two-state solution' is based on an exclusionary, divisive approach [GALLO/GETTY]
Cambridge, United Kingdom - The slogan "two states for two peoples" has long been used by those who support the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel. Ironically, however, such a framework risks cementing Israeli apartheid and Jewish privilege, evoking the same sorts of arguments put forward by defenders of South Africa's historical regime of systematic discrimination.
There are three problems with the "two states for two peoples" formulation. Firstly, the meaning of a Palestinian "state" has changed to the point that it is problematic to even use the term. Support for Palestinian statehood - at least rhetorically - has become the shared position of everyone from Tony Blair to Netanyahu, via Ariel Sharon. Some Israel advocacy groups (the slightly smarter ones) even campaign on this basis.
So what's going on here, when someone like Netanyahu can boast to Congress how he has "publicly committed to a solution of two states for two peoples"? Well note the wording of the Israeli government's position when Ehud Olmert was prime minister and Tzipi Livni was foreign minister.
"The government will strive to shape the permanent borders of the state of Israel as a Jewish state, with a Jewish majority."
In other words, the question of borders is not so much about land, as it is about demographics. Another example is Yitzhak Rabin. When Shimon Peres lauded the legacy of the assassinated prime minister in November 2011, he claimed that "[Rabin's] diplomatic path has been accepted and is now held by the majority, a solution of two states for two peoples".
But what did Rabin mean by this? Shortly before he was killed in 1995, the then-PM told the Knesset that he envisaged a "Palestinian entity ... which is less than a state". Rabin's "permanent solution" included Jerusalem as Israel's "united capital" (including the illegal settlements such as Ma'ale Adumim), annexation of colony blocs, the "establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria", and a border "in the broadest meaning of that term" down the Jordan Valley. This is a road map to walled-in reservations, not statehood - and it's remarkably similar to Netanyahu's own vision.
'The Jewish character of the state'
The second problem with the "two states for two peoples" position is what it means for those Palestinians with Israeli citizenship, for whom a solution based on ethnic separation has dark implications. This threat has been spelled out explicitly by current Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who, in a 2010 interview with Newsweek, explained his belief in "exchanging territory and populations". The questioner clarified: "You're talking about drawing a line so that how many Israeli Arabs will no longer be part of Israel?" Lieberman replied: "At least half."
"The problem of refugees will be solved within the Palestinian state, and there will be no right of return to the State of Israel."
- Chaim Oron, former chair of Meretz
In January this year, he repeated his views, stating that "any future agreement with the Palestinians must address the matter of Israeli Arabs in the formula of territory and population exchanges", since "any other arrangement is simply collective suicide". While this position has support from the likes of fellow Yisrael Beiteinu minister Danny Ayalon, the now ex-Kadima MK Livni also voiced something similar. In 2008, she said her solution for maintaining a Jewish and democratic state of Israel was "to have two distinct national entities", which would mean being "able to approach the Palestinian residents of Israel ... and tell them: 'Your national aspirations lie elsewhere'."
While there are dangers for Palestinians in the pre-1967 borders, the third problem with the "two states for two peoples" paradigm relates to the Palestinian refugees, for whom this kind of peace means permanent exclusion, and a seal of approval upon the expulsions of 1948.
In the words of Professor Yehuda Shenhav: "Return is not possible in two states for two peoples ... That's why anyone who wants two states for two peoples requires we forget what happened in 48". The refusal to engage with the ethnic cleansing of the Nakba is found even - or perhaps especially - among so-called doves. Former chair of Meretz MK Chaim Oron once explained how "two states for two peoples" means "the problem of refugees will be solved within the Palestinian state, and there will be no right of return to the state of Israel", adding the instructive comment: "It is in Israel's supreme interest that the refugee problem should be solved."
The relationship between "two states for two peoples" and Israel's policies of apartheid and ethnic purity was highlighted in the aftermath of the Supreme Court's support for the law separating Palestinian spouses. Kadima MK Otniel Schneller praised the law for articulating "the rationale of separation between the (two) peoples and the need to maintain a Jewish majority and the (Jewish) character of the state", adding that if the law had been rejected, "it would have undermined the central argument justifying two states for two peoples".
There are echoes here of course with the rhetoric of apartheid South Africa's leadership: in 1948, the National Party's platform stated that "either we must follow the course of equality, which must eventually mean national suicide for the white race, or we must take the course of separation". Interestingly, former president FW de Klerk noted last year on the BBC that what he "supported as a younger politician was exactly what the whole world now supports for Israel and Palestine, namely [that] separate nation states will be the solution".
The unpleasant reality at the heart of the "two states for two peoples" - a framework based on expulsion and exclusion - has become clearer as more and more Zionists link Palestinian "statehood" with the need to "save" Israel as a "Jewish and democratic state". In doing so, they unwittingly emphasise how only one half of that latter formulation is true.
Ben White is a freelance writer, specialising in matters pertaining to Palestine and Israel.
Follow him on Twitter: @benabyad
Source: Al Jazeera | <urn:uuid:3c8c13e8-69ec-4a3c-9e36-8f999fe80d24> | {
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Have you ever heard a person talk about “vital organs”? Vital organs are parts of your body that you cannot live without. Your hand is not a vital organ. It is helpful, but if you lose one or both of your hands, you can still live. Your eyes are not vital organs. You can live without them, too. There are several organs, however, that you can’t live without. The first ones that usually come to our minds are the brain, heart, and lungs. These are certainly vital to our survival.
One organ, however, that we don’t often think about as being vital is our liver. In fact, when we hear the word “liver” we probably think about food we don’t really like. Did you know that your liver is one of the most important organs in your whole body? You could not live a single day without your liver. Let’s look at the amazing jobs God designed the liver to perform.
When you were just a little baby, even before you were born, your liver made the blood inside your body.As you know, you cannot live without blood. This was a very important job for your liver. As you grew older, your liver began to do other important jobs. Your liver produces special cells called Kupffer cells. These cells were named after Karl Kupffer who discovered them in 1876. They are special kinds of cells called macrofages. What is a macrofage? The word comes from two Greek words that mean “Big Eater.” Kupffer cells are large cells that “eat” other cells in your body. They swallow damaged blood cells or invading germs. After they swallow these harmful cells, chemicals inside Kupffer cells digest the harmful cells and turn them into harmless substances. Kupffer cells protect your body from infection and disease.
The human liver weighs about three pounds. It is one of the largest organs in the body. It is also one of the most interesting. Did you know that the liver can regenerate itself? What does “regenerate” mean? It means the liver can make itself grow back. Maybe you have seen lizards that can regenerate their tails. If a bird bites the tail off of certain kinds of lizards, the lizard simply grows a new one. In the same way, the human liver can “re-grow” itself. Think about this. Sometimes due to sickness or an accident, a person may damage or destroy his liver so it no longer works like it should. He would then need a liver transplant. Another person can give him half of his liver. What happens to the person who donates half of a liver? Does that person live the rest of his life with only half a liver? Nope. His liver grows back the part that he donated. And the part of his liver that he donated to the other person grows into a full liver as well! Amazing.
The amount of sugar in your blood is important to your health. If you have too much, it can cause serious problems. If you do not have enough sugar in your blood, you can faint or become very weak. It is a good thing God designed your liver to monitor your blood sugar. Your liver can check the amount of sugar in your blood. If there is too much, then it removes sugar and stores it. If there is not enough sugar in your blood, the liver releases just enough into the bloodstream to help you be healthy. Not only does the liver store sugar, it also stores important vitamins that it releases when your body needs them.
Did you know that your liver helps keep you alive when you cut your finger? You might wonder what a cut on your finger has to do with an organ that is not close to the cut. When you are cut, your blood has to clot in order to plug the hole where your blood is coming out. If your blood does not clot, there is a chance that you could bleed to death. Your liver produces chemicals and proteins that help your blood clot. Without your liver, your blood would not clot correctly and it could be very dangerous for you.
Isn’t it interesting that an organ that most of us know so little about can be so important to our lives? Only an all-knowing God could foresee what our bodies would need and design useful organs such as the liver to keep us alive and healthy. We should be reminded of Psalm 119:73, “Your hands have made me and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments.” | <urn:uuid:79569eec-eb4c-45eb-b3b6-05e6c0a5edde> | {
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At the same time most native desert plants are shutting down in preparation for the searing heat of summer, Desert Willows, aka Chilopsis linearis, are emerging from a cool winter season of dormancy. Named for their long, slender willow-like leaves, Desert Willows are one of the only Sonoran desert natives that bloom throughout the summer. They are also one of our only winter deciduous natives, dropping their leaves in late October, and not renewing them until late spring.
Flamboyant pink flowers burst forth in May, scenting the air with sweet perfume to attract pollinators, mostly large bees and the occasional hummingbird. The ruffled blossoms and luxurious leaves seem extravagant in the arid climate where water conservation is the primary adaptation of desert plants. Desert willows grow naturally along arroyos and streams, insuring that moisture is plentiful. They do especially well in well-watered suburban landscapes.
Known as chimov by the Hualapai people and aan by the Pima tribe, Desert Willow is not a true willow in the botanical sense, but a member of a family of tropical plants called the Bignonias, named after Jean-Paul Bignon, a Frenchman who served in the royal court of King Louis XIV of France. The family of over 650 species includes several domesticated trees, shrubs and vines that have been imported to the Phoenix area from all over the world, including Jacaranda from Brazil, Cat-claw Vine from Mexico, plus Catalpa, Calabash and Trumpet Vine from southeastern North America. Horticulturists in Uzbekistan developed a popular hybrid between catalpa and desert willow known as “Chitalpa.” The “Rio Salado” variety of desert willow is a cultivar with deep purple and magenta flowers.
Indigenous people used the leaves for medicinal purposes as an anti-fungal, a good treatment for athlete’s foot and candida. Teas made of leaves, bark and flowers have been used to treat coughs; poultices can help heal cuts and abrasions. The flexible limbs are excellent for making bows and baskets. Although humans have not used Desert Willow for food, birds and insects thrive on the nectar and other wildlife feast on the leaves.
At summers end, long skinny seedpods dangle from the tips of desert willow branches where flowers once were, soon to dry and split open to release hundreds of feathery seeds that are carried by the wind to chance landing in a sunny spot next to a desert stream. | <urn:uuid:09e7b8ae-ed12-43fe-bd27-ede8142fee7f> | {
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$2 507 223
Parkinson’s disease (PD) is caused by degeneration of a specific population of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain and is chronic, progressive, and incurable. Loss of dopamine-containing cells results in profound physiological disturbances producing tremors, rigidity, and severe deterioration of gate and balance. In the United States, approximately 1.5 million people suffer with PD and it is estimated that 60,000 new cases are diagnosed each year. Drugs can modify some of the disease symptoms, but many patients develop disabling drug-induced movements that are unresponsive to medication. Deep brain stimulation can alleviate motor symptoms in some patients but is not a cure. We plan an entirely novel approach to treat PD. We propose to utilize a specific class of inhibitory nerve cells found in the embryonic brain, known as MGE cells, as donor transplant cells to inhibit those brain regions whose activity is abnormally increased in PD. In preliminary studies we have demonstrated that this approach can relieve symptoms in an animal model of PD. To turn this approach into a patient therapy, we will need to develop methods to obtain large numbers of human cells suitable for transplantation. This proposal seeks to address this problem by producing unlimited numbers of exactly the right type of MGE nerve cell using human embryonic stem cells. The inhibitory nerve cells we seek to produce will reduce brain activity in target regions. They may therefore be used to treat other conditions characterized by excessive brain activity, such as epilepsy. Epilepsy can be a life threatening and disabling condition. Nearly two million Americans suffer with some form of epilepsy. Unfortunately, modulation of brain excitability using antiepileptic drugs can have serious side-effects, especially in the developing brain, and many patients can only be improved by surgically removing areas of the brain containing the seizure focus. Using MGE cells made from human embryonic stem cell lines, we hope to develop a novel epilepsy treatment that could replace the need for surgery or possibly even drug therapy. We propose an integrated approach that combines the complementary expertise of four UCSF laboratories to achieve our goals. We have already determined that mouse MGE cells can improve the symptoms of PD and epilepsy when grafted into animal models. We now need to develop methods to obtain large numbers of human cells suitable for grafting. We need to ensure that when delivered, the cells will migrate and integrate in the target brain regions, and we need to evaluate therapeutic efficacy in animal models of Parkinson’s disease and epilepsy. This proposal addresses these goals. If successful, this accomplishment will set the stage for studies in primates and hasten the day when MGE cells may be used as patient therapy for a wide variety of debilitating neurological disorders.
Statement of Benefit to California:
This collaborative proposal promises to accelerate progress toward a novel cell based therapeutic agent with potentially widespread benefit for the treatment of a variety of grave neurological disorders. The promise of this work to eventually help our patients is our primary motivation. Additionally, our studies, if successful, could form the basis of a new stem cell technology to produce unlimited numbers of cellular therapeutic products of uniform quality and effectiveness. The production of neurons from stable nerve cell lines derived from human embryonic stem cells is a much-needed biotechnology and a central challenge in embryonic stem (ES) cell biology. Current methods are inefficient at producing neurons that can effectively migrate and integrate into adult brain, and available cell lines generally lack the ability to differentiate into specific neuronal subtypes. Moreover, while many cells resist neuronal differentiation others often take on a glial cell fate. Identification of key factors driving ES cells into a specific neuronal lineage is the primary focus of the current proposal, and if achieved, will generate valuable intellectual property. As such, it may attract biotechnology interest and promote local business growth and development. Moreover, the inhibitory nerve cell type that is the goal of this proposal would be a potentially valuable therapeutic agent. This achievement could attract additional funding from state or industry to begin primate studies and ultimately convert any success into a safe and effective product for the treatment of patients. To produce and distribute stable medicinal-grade cells of a purity and consistency appropriate for therapeutic use will require partnering with industry. Industry participation would be expected to provide economic benefits in terms of job creation and tax revenues. Hopefully, there may ultimately be health benefits for the citizens of California who are suffering from neurological disease.
SYNOPSIS: This proposal will look at generating large numbers of GABAergic neuronal progenitor cells from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) and from adult neurogenic sources. The aims are to generate the cells with a medial ganglionic eminence (MGE) phenotype, using proper culture and growth factor conditions, and to transplant them into specific regions of the brain in neonatal and adult mice, and compare them with those transplanted into rodent models of transient lobe epilepsy (TLE - using kainite lesions) and Parkinson's Disease (PD using 6-OHDA lesions). IMPACT & SIGNIFICANCE: New protocols are needed to generate many populations of neurons and glia needed for replacement and protection protocols for neurological disease. In this proposal, hESCs will be primed to make large numbers of “pure” GABAergic neuronal precursor cells for applications in epilepsy (to increase GABAergic inhibitory tone in a rodent TLE model) and Parkinson’s Disease (to introduce GABAergic inhibitory neurons into striatal targets that have lost dopaminergic-induced GABAergic striatal efferent tone). The clinical significance is clear. This proposal will address a novel cell-based therapeutic approach towards the treatment of PD and epilepsy from the generation of inhibitory interneurons (GABAergic neurons) from hESCs. No such therapy currently exists and there is reasonably good rationale that the generation of inhibitory neurons could have potential clinical utility. Inhibitory neuron grafts are proposed to suppress regions that are abnormally active in PD similar to the approaches currently in clinical use based on STN stimulators. A similar approach has also been pursued in a controversial first clinical gene therapy trial for PD where a GAD expression vector was introduced into the STN area. Preliminary data are based on primary mouse MGE cells and show some improvement of symptoms in a specific PD model. Preliminary data are also provided to demonstrate integration of primary mouse MGE cells in adult cortex and hippocampus causing an overall increase in IPSCs. This study may also provide general insights into the molecular mechanisms guiding the development of GABAergic neurons in general. This would be far different then current therapies of drugs which modules these neurons, or surgical aspiration of brain tissue, an approach used in intractable epilepsy. The additional novelty in this proposal is that the investigators will attempt to develop methodologies for better generation of GABA interneurons since many ESCs in cultures head towards a glial fate. QUALITY OF THE RESEARCH PLAN: This is a very logical, well-designed research plan. Four specific aims are proposed, using different in vitro and in vivo bioassays to develop stable human MGE progenitor cell lines and establish their efficacy in rodent transplant studies. The aims of this proposal are to generate a series of stable human neural stem (NS) cell lines from hESCs that will start in year one and be completed by year two. This is a reasonable timetable for this reagent-generating aim. Specific Aim II will be the production of MGE cells from human NS cells that will begin in year one/two and continue until completion, anticipated to be year two/three. The human NS lines from Professor Smith appear to be in place to help meet the milestones of this aim. Naturally they will be phenotyping these cells with appropriate neuronal and glial markers. They have logically planned out a series of external manipulations with sonic hedgehog and FGF, and other appropriate factors to treat cells attempting to differentiate them to an MGE-like progenitor cell line. Alternative approaches including the effects of WNTs and neuregulins as well as EGF, FGF, and sonic Hedgehog. Of course this aim is the most critical aim in that success of these steps are critical for the generation and ultimate plan of using these inhibitory neuron stem cells in their planned therapeutic endeavors. In the last two aims,they will take these cells to in vivo preparations first to graft them into the brains of rodents, then to follow their differentiation and engrafting characteristics including synapse formation. Specific Aim III will be the transplantation of human MGE progenitor cells to the cortex and striatum. And, lastly they hope to use these successfully generated cells in actual models of human disease including a mouse model of temporal lobe epilepsy as well as a standard rat model of PD using 6-OHDA. Specific Aim IV is the exploration of the therapeutic potential of human MGE progenitor grafts in animal models of disease and should be completed by the end of year four. The overall plan is reasonable though the proposal suffers from a significant lack of preliminary data on hESC differentiation. No evidence is provided on the generation of hESC-derived GABAergic neurons, or the induction of foxg1b or Nkx2.1 expressing cells. The proposal is based on the hypothesis that stable hNS cell lines derived from hESC cells will retain the potential to differentiate into all the various GABAergic interneuron subtypes without providing preliminary evidence. MGE interneurons fates are thought to be determined early in development within a foxg1b+ domain. There was no clear plan to test for foxg1b expression and maintenance of this key marker over time. However, it is assumed that the outstanding team of investigators, including Dr. Rubenstein an expert in MGE & interneuron development, should assure that such studies are ultimately included. Strategies for the genetic modification of interneuron differentiation are interesting and well designed. STRENGTHS: Strengths are many including 1) logical flow-plan, 2) necessary proof of principle that transplantation of MGE cells is possible in adult mice and rats with the effective phenotypic differentiation markers 3) the ability to derive human and neuro stem cells from hESCs. The key strength of the proposal is the outstanding expertise of investigators. Although there seems some less experience regarding hESC studies, the participation of Dr. Smith mitigates this concern though his role in the studies is not very well defined. This is a great team of some of the best stem cell researchers in the world coming together bringing complementary skills and insights; they should definitely be able to achieve the goals of this proposal. UCSF hESCs will be used to generate MGE cells, in addition to a human NS lines that has already been generated from hESCs (provided by Prof. Austin Smith in Cambridge). This is a strength of this proposal because it meets the criteria of the RFA but will also afford comparison of new hESC-derived MGE-like GABA cells with an already proven adult NS line. An interesting set of approaches has been proposed for increasing interneuron yield via genetic means (overexpression of key transcription factors). The project is very interesting – there is a clear need for a better understanding of interneuron development. There is also a need for the development of interneuron-based cell transplantation approaches particularly in epilepsy. WEAKNESSES: Some of the proposed follow-up experiments are a bit open-ended. For example, the PI states that hESC-derived MGE cells may not survive in the host environment, and if immunorejection is detected that they will "empirically test neurotrophic factors (e.g. BDNF, NT3, NGF, or GDNF) that could support survival." This may prove to be more problematic than anticipated/discussed since cells may not integrate due to other non-biotrophic-related issues. Also ,when it is mentioned that if the mouse host environment proves restrictive for survival or integration of human cells, they will substitute macaque monkeys for the transplant experiments; there is no real reason to assume that monkeys would be better than SCID-rodents. The PI also states, “…Grafted cells may develop into teratomas, if they are not sufficiently differentiated or if they are contaminated with undifferentiated hESCs. If so, in vitro differentiation of MGE cells will be extended and modified to obtain a more homogeneous population. Alternatively, FACS will be used to further enrich the population of cells expressing MGE markers. It is also possible that the timing of differentiation is longer for human MGE cells compared to rodent cells. Longer survival periods may be required to reach full differentiation of hESC-MGE cells. …” It should be assumed that any one undifferentiated hESC that is grafted has the potential to form a teratoma; better isolation or enrichment or differentiation in vitro can never assure a “homogeneous population”. Assuming the investigators will see teratomas, then what? Finally, recent studies by others have shown that you can facilitate production of MGE-like GABAergic neuron precursors by exposing ESCs to particular matrix molecule substrates at particular times in vitro. This might be worth thinking about. The NKX2.1/Isl-1 population is certainly amenable to expansion as this other study has shown, and thinking about such growth conditions, it might be possible to avoid the generation of non-GABAergic phenotypes. It’s not at all clear that the proposed series of transcriptional factors and growth factors will reliably convert large populations of the human NS cells into these inhibitory interneuronal phenotypes. Other labs, such as the Jessell lab have spent many, many years understanding the requisite transcription factors and employing them in a series of necessary steps to create specific neuro populations such as motor neurons (and the Macklis lab – in a similar way for upper motor neurons). Therefore, it is not at all clear that over a four-year period the laboratory will be able to effectively develop the critical transcription factors and growth factor steps necessary to direct differentiation of inhibitory interneurons, and this is the most critical step in this proposal. Other specific concerns raised include: 1. Significant lack of preliminary data for hESC work. 2. No discussion of critical patterning windows for MGE interneuron development, no discussion even for the need to optimize forebrain yield as determined by foxg1b or Six3 expression. 3. No discussion of the various GABAergic neuronal subtypes that need to be distinguished and generated selectively. No plan for purification of interneuron progeny in these studies. 4. The applicants suggest that immunosuppression may not be necessary at all in their study. However, there is overwhelming data that grafting into adult hosts (as proposed here for several experiments) will require immunosuppression while grafting up to early postnatal stages may not. 5. One reviewer had concerns about the practical applicability of this approach in the treatment of PD. It will be very difficult to fine tune the system perfectly for clinical use in PD and to achieve results better than with current treatment such as STN stimulator. As proposed, the grafts will be significantly contaminated with non-GABAergic cells and inappropriate GABAergic cells. Furthermore the extensive migration of GABAergic neurons all over the brain may be a disadvantage in a disease such as PD and could cause unexpected side effects in other brain regions. 6. There is no published feasibility of ES-derived MGE-type interneurons (beyond Nks2.1 expression) even from mouse ESCs. Aims III & IV are completely dependent on Aim I and a backup strategy using mouse ESCs may be appropriate. 7. There are some concerns with the PD preliminary data given the very small numbers of apomorphine rotations/min. Typically such scores are observed in the case of incomplete lesioning. Administrative Issues - No justification use for the Lhx6GFP mice to be ordered - Funds for equipment seem to be larger than the maximum amounts listed in the instructions DISCUSSION: The aim of this proposal is to create a GABAergic inhibitory tone by making huge numbers of GABAergic neurons (the default for hESC)and then to use them in disease models for PD and other areas of the basal ganglia. The interneurons will also be used in the hippocampus and cortex for epilepsy. The PI will use Austin Smith's adult neural cells as a basis for comparison, where the default for adult cells is also GABAergic (99% of the time). The PI will use macaques instead of SCID rodents in these studies. The PI is an expert in interneurons. The approach is analogous to Tom Jessell's work with motor neurons, and reviewers thought that this is the right way to carry out this work. The problem is that there are many types of GABAergic neurons, and the PI assumes that any GABAergic neuron will do; here, they will need MGE-specific GABAergic neurons. In the Jessell work, the investigators focused on and found the specific type of motor neuron needed. In this case, however it may be OK since we don't really know if the inappropriate GABAergic neurons wouldn't be functional. There is almost zero preliminary hESC data as the PI only shows primary cell data. The PI makes a strange statement about not needing immunosuppression because stem cells show no rejection. Using GABAergic neurons for PD may not be the best model because they'll just graft differentiated neurons, and there is no reason to think that the grafted cells will go specifically to sites where they can function to treat the symptoms. In fact, in the case of PD, cells may go to cortex and make matters worse. The PI assumes but never shows that forebrain neurons are being generated since no forebrain markers are used in the studies (PF1, SG3?). This is naive from this PI who should know more about interneurons. One reviewer agreed that lineage diversity is an issue, but with the mouse, Nkx2.1 islet cells can be used to generate GABAergic cells, and hopefully these would go to the forebrain. The proposal would be much stronger with relevant preliminary data from hESC-derived hNS cells (GABA, Foxg1b, Nkx2.1, Lhx6…). Plan should take into consideration the possibility that the fate potential of hNS cells will change over time in culture. A better discussion on how to generate various specific GABAergic subtypes and how to isolate / purify the cells would be an improvement. One of the reviewers believes that overall this is a good proposal, but it could have been better. There is quite a bit of money included for equipment | <urn:uuid:4a75daa6-4a99-4405-b024-8147ffdbc539> | {
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Ten Writing Tips for Creating an Effective Code of Conduct
You have been given the task of writing an effective code of conduct for your organization. A blank pad of paper rests in front of you along with a freshly sharpened number two pencil and a mint fresh copy of Roget's Thesaurus. Ten minutes pass. Twenty minutes slip away.
You've held meetings, sought and received input, looked at samples, identified provisions you want in your code of conduct and yet nothing springs out of your mind and onto the page. Why not? You're a good writer. You were chosen for this project because your reports are fact filled and precise; you are a champ at describing processes in concrete terms. What's wrong with you?
You are simply faced with the reality of writing about abstract concepts rather than the physical world. To start writing a code of conduct, think in terms of values, beliefs and expectations rather than facts.
Tip 1: Think in terms of values, beliefs and expectations rather than facts
People within an organization are inclined to feel that their situation in life is unique and that no other organization is faced with the same challenges, constraints and operational realities that they have to deal with on a daily basis. The sense of individual uniqueness is countered somewhat by a sense of group unity. The group is unified behind a core of shared beliefs that may be informally recognized within the organization or may codified in the form of an organizational values statement.
The organization's values are the foundation upon which the code of conduct will grow. They express what a group of people drawn together as an organization believes in the words of Frank Navran, "… to be right, good and fair."
Once you recognize that you are not writing a report and that you may be called on to use language you usually avoid in formal reports because it may imply that you are judgmental or are assigning values to actions, you'll be able to start writing.
Tip 2: Put your thesaurus back on the bookshelf.
In most hands a thesaurus is a dangerous weapon. Lock it away and resist the temptation to use it. Your code will benefit from common language usually employed in your organization and understood readily by employees at all levels. This doesn't mean you should become immersed in jargon. "Keep it simple," is the best advice for codes. In the words of a former professor of mine, "Eschew pomposity and verbosity assiduously."
Tip 3: Choose to be concise…within reason.
Conciseness can be a virtue. It can also be boring and choppy. To find a happy medium, avoid long sentences with linked phrases. Instead write sentences that express one thought and vary in length. A mix of short and medium-length sentences tend to hold your readers' attention better than will long, complex sentences.
Tip 4: Use active voice rather than passive.
While there is a place in writing for passive voice, active voice tends to convey ideas more clearly and with fewer words. In sentences written in active voice, the subject performs the action expressed in the verb. In passive voice, the subject is acted upon by the verb. Overuse of passive voice tends to make prose flat and uninteresting and passive voice sentences tend to be awkward. For example, "The code is required annual reading." [PASSIVE] "You are required to read the code annually." [ACTIVE]
Tip 5: Give examples when it is appropriate to do so.
If there is any doubt about the meaning of a code provision, an example may help provide clarity. Codes may vary in length and content. Those that are more compliance-oriented than value-centered may be better understood if you provide good, generic examples of what constitutes acceptable and unacceptable conduct.
Tip 6: Remember to write for your reader.
By this point in the process, you have become your organization's expert on the code of conduct. Don't lose sight of your readers. Something obvious to you may not be obvious to them. Think about what you are writing in terms of readers who have NOT had your experience with the code.
Tip 7: Don't attempt to write polished prose when drafting.
DREP - Draft; review; edit; and, polish. Draft the entire code without being overly concerned about grammatical errors, punctuation and word choice. Once you have a draft on paper, review it carefully for clarity, content, conciseness, grammar, spelling and punctuation and clean it up. Edit the cleaned copy paying special attention to word choices and meaning. Finally, polish your final draft with the understanding that the next tip may just bring you back to this tip one more time.
Tip 8: Read your work aloud to yourself.
When you read your written work aloud, you will find errors and points of confusion because you have involved another of your senses. After all, you have thought about the code, written at least two drafts, edited a draft, and polished the text. Hearing the words may detect problems that your eyes, which are use to seeing the copy, have missed. If you find errors, repeat tips 7 and 8 until it sounds right as well as looks right.
Tip 9: Make your writing look easy to read.
Take a look at your final draft and ask the critical question, "How does this look to me?" You want this final draft to look professional because the reviewers you will pass it to next will judge what you have done based on its appearance as well as what you have written. Avoid using words and phrases written all in capital letters unless they are acronyms or unless they are specialized terms that are always written in fully capitalized form. Avoid presenting material in lengthy stretches of italics. They are hard to read. Avoid odd type fonts, especially those that mimic handwriting.
Tip 10: Have others, especially your harshest critics, read what you have written.
Once you are satisfied that what you have written makes sense and looks good, obtain the opinion of others. Sure, you can have some of your friends read what you have written. They may give you good feedback or they may sugarcoat their comments to you. I like to choose the critics who are the harshest judges of my work for a final review. If I can get what I have written past them, I have succeeded.
Good luck with your code.
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ERC's team can help you design and administer an ethics survey to fit your organization. | <urn:uuid:5e5157f3-f8db-4373-9e21-2ece993220b9> | {
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Exposure of pregnant women to tobacco smoke causes genetic damage in the developing fetus, says a US study.
Earlier studies have shown that smoking during pregnancy causes genetic damage in the developing fetus that can be detected at birth.
Stephen G. Grant, Ph.D., associate professor of environmental and occupational health in the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health re-examined data from the earlier study and shows that passive - or secondary - exposure also causes just as much damage as active smoking, and it is the same kind of damage, according to science portal EurekAlert.
Grant's study reports that both active maternal smoking and secondary maternal exposure result in similarly increased rates of genetic mutation that are basically indistinguishable, it said.
"These kinds of mutations are likely to have lifelong repercussions for the exposed fetus, affecting survival, birth weight and susceptibility to disease, including cancer."
This is a startlingly different conclusion from that reached by three previous studies looking at the potential effects of tobacco smoke exposure to babies in the womb, one of which Grant co-authored. | <urn:uuid:92ab5e42-e40f-4a6d-bcad-2db5ce04e3ac> | {
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GMO Research Studies
Here are some of the issues and studies discussed in “Washington’s Food Fight,” as well as links to the original studies to help you come to your own conclusion.
Will labeling drive up food prices?
A study by the Washington Research Council says that labeling genetically modified food could cost a family of four in Washington state between $200 to $520 more a year in grocery bills. That cost could go up to nearly $800 for a family of six.
However, a different study by Emory University showed that customers will only see prices go up by $1.27 a year. The study found that printing new labels are a “one-time expense” for food companies, and would result in “little or no change” in food prices.
Are GMOs safe to eat?
In “Washington’s Food Fight,” GMO opponents point to a peer-reviewed animal feeding study that was done in France over the course of two years. The study found that lab rats fed GMO corn had more tumors, organ failure and premature death than the control rats. A list of other studies provided by opponents show that GMOs have been linked to 65 other health risks, ranging from infertility to allergies.
On the other side, GMO supporters say there have been more than 600 peer-reviewed scientific studies vouching for the safety and nutritional wholesomeness of genetically engineered foods. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration says on its website that “genetically engineered plants must meet the same requirements, including safety requirements, as foods from traditionally bred plants.” The FDA requires the seed developers to do an analysis of “fiber, protein, fat, vitamins, and minerals,” and determine if the food contains any “toxic or allergenic” materials.
Do GMOs increase pesticide use?
Charles Benbrook, who is interviewed in “Washington’s Food Fight,” analyzed 16 years of government data on corn, soybeans and cotton. He found that pesticide use dropped significantly during the first six years. But after that, weeds became resistant and began to spread. Overall, pesticide use has increased by 400 million pounds, according to the study.
UPDATE: In October, the Washington State Academy of Sciences released a new report about what would happen if Initiative 522 passes. The group is made up of scientists and engineers, and the report was requested by a bipartisan group of state legislators.
The report found that GMO foods are “safe given the current state of knowledge and evidence,” with no documented long-term health effects in scientific studies.
However, it called for “continued surveillance of long-term health effects” of both GMO and non-GMO foods. It noted that some scientific authors are concerned that most of the studies done on GMO food have been “short-term studies, mostly nutritional studies, with limited toxicological information.”
While the authors of the report do not provide a dollar figure, they believe that food prices will increase if the initiative passes.
“Mandatory labeling, especially at a state versus federal level, is likely to affect trade and impose higher costs on firms producing and selling products in Washington. These costs are likely to be passed on to the consumer resulting in higher food prices,” the report said.
You can read the full 30-page report here. | <urn:uuid:502829a9-4881-4664-8d9d-abd8d6d1e45d> | {
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Posted by elaine on Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 4:59pm.
In "Jambalaya" by Hank Williams Jr, create the next stanza for the song by making a prediction based on the details. The stanza should follow the pattern of the other stanzas in the song.
I am totally confused with this question and have no idea how to tackle it. Please help. Thank you.
- 3rd grade-music - Ms. Sue, Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 5:04pm
Did they have "great fun on the bayou?" If so, what did they do? If not, what happened?
We'll be glad to critique your verse.
- 3rd grade-music - elaine, Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 6:04pm
Here is what she came up with:
There having fun at the bayou they are having jambalaya,crawfish pie and fil'e gumbo and they are playing music together and filling there fruit jars and being happy
Please comment. Thank you.
- 3rd grade-music - Ms. Sue, Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 6:14pm
She sure has the right idea.
It needs to follow a verse format and have at least one more rhyming word. What do you think of thi?
They're having fun at the bayou,
They're having jambalaya,crawfish pie and fil'e gumbo,
And they are playing music together
Filling there fruit jars and having fun-o.
- 3rd grade-music - elaine, Saturday, January 31, 2009 at 6:26pm
Sounds great-thank you! Have a great weekend.
- 3rd grade-music - drwls, Sunday, February 1, 2009 at 1:07am
One minor comment upon your question:
"Jambalaya" was written by the father of Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams. He died in 1953 at the age of 29.
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- Language Arts - Is this a good analytical paragraph? Edgar Allen Poe’s poem, “... | <urn:uuid:999a9865-0998-4563-977e-3d50eebd7448> | {
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The purpose of the Shifting Focus: The Habits of the Successful College Students presentation is to introduce students to the theories created by Stephen Covey. This presentation distills Covey's seven habits for effective business practices into a model students can use to navigate their college experience. Intended for students in their first or second year, this presentation also includes planning and motivational information.
This presentation is perfect for a 50-minute or 75-minute course.
The purpose of an anticipatory set is to allude to concepts students may recognize, serve as an introduction to the lesson, and generate interest in the material.
Click here for an anticipatory set activity called the "Horatio Algiers Activity" in pdf format.
Click here for an anticipatory set activity called the "Procrastination Quiz" in pdf format.
Note: For the 75-minute version, both set activities will be used.
Click here for the presentation, titled "Shifting Focus: The Habits of the Successful College Student" in PowerPoint format.
Click here for the presentation, titled "Shifting Focus: The Habits of the Successful College Student in pdf format.
Click here for the lecture notes.
Note: A time management presentation is available as either a stand-alone or supplement to this presentation:
Click here for a time management presentation in PowerPoint format.
Click here for a time management presentation in pdf format.
- Students will articulate their academic goals.
- Students will seek opportunities to focus their motivation on academic achievement.
- Students will understand the pitfalls of procrastination.
Modifications to Covey's Model
Covey's model is intended for the business world. Click here for a full summary of his seven habits in pdf format. | <urn:uuid:9bac131c-2092-4c73-b73c-f8393063b26d> | {
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People who spend a little time performing back strengthening exercises may be more likely to reduce low back pain and less likely to encounter lower back problems in the future.
Since the early 1950s, most Americans have experienced lesser or greater degrees of lower back discomfort. In fact, statistics indicate that more than 80 percent of adult men and women have suffered from at least one episode of lower back pain.
While these facts are not encouraging, lower back pain is not inevitable even though we live in a sedentary society with most people spending too much time sitting at desks or slouched over computer keyboards. Although there are several causes of low back pain, muscular weakness appears to be the most prominent problem.
Based on research from the University of Florida and our own study with General Motors, it would seem that for most people, increasing lower back muscle strength is an effective means for decreasing lower back discomfort.
In other words, people who spend a little time performing back strengthening exercises may be more likely to reduce low back pain and less likely to encounter lower back problems in the future.
The University of Florida research conducted by my former colleagues Dr. Michael Fulton and Dr. Michael Pollock involved several years of study with more than a thousand lower back pain patients.
Their single intervention strategy was for each patient to perform one good set of resistance exercise for the lower-back muscles, two or three nonconsecutive days a week.
The exercise set was performed on a standard low-back weightstack machine with a resistance that permitted between 8 and 12 controlled repetitions (about 6 seconds each). Whenever the patient could complete 12 repetitions the exercise resistance was increased by 5 percent.
More than two-thirds of the lower back patients who participated in this program were either pain free or significantly pain reduced after 10 weeks of regular low back strength training sessions. Even for a clinical setting, this was an unusually high success rate for people with low back problems.
Our study with employees at the world’s largest automotive power-train assembly plant revealed a similar relationship between lower-back strength and lower-back health. Unlike the clinical situation at the University of Florida, the lower back pain sufferers in our research project performed 40 hours a week of heavy physical labor throughout the study period. Following six months of regular strength training for the lower back and midsection muscles, almost all of the program participants reported less lower back pain.
Considering the physical work demands on our study participants, this was a very reinforcing result, indicating that appropriate resistance exercise can have a positive impact on low-back pain and function in people who regularly perform vigorous physical activity.
All of our research participants performed one exercise set each for the lower back muscles, the abdominal muscles, and the oblique muscles using well-designed resistance machines. Most of the study subjects also performed resistance machine exercises for their upper body and leg muscles. We felt that overall strength development would be beneficial, and our results confirmed this assumption.
During the past five years, we have completed three additional studies that examined the effects of combined muscle strengthening exercises and electrical stimulation application for reducing muscle fatigue and increasing muscle strength.
The results from these studies have been so encouraging that we are conducting a more comprehensive low-back discomfort study this summer.
One group of the research participants will perform an appropriately designed strength training program using nine Nautilus machines, including the low back extension, abdominal flexion, and torso rotation exercises.
One group will apply 30 to 60 minutes of FDA approved electrical stimulation to their lower back muscles four days a week, and one group will perform both resistance training and electrical stimulation. We are hopeful that all of the study participants will experience excellent results, and that we will learn more about successfully addressing the prevalent problem of low back pain that plagues so many adults and older adults.
If you would like to learn more about our Quincy College low back pain reduction research program, please plan to attend our information session at 5:30 p.m., June 4, Room 109, President’s Place at 1250 Hancock St., Quincy. There is no charge or commitment required to attend the orientation meeting, but please contact me at 617-984-1716 for seating purposes.
Wayne L. Westcott, Ph.D., teaches exercise science at Quincy College and consults with the South Shore YMCA. He has written 26 books on strength training and physical fitness. | <urn:uuid:d975e5a3-171a-4e65-98b5-2e2c03519250> | {
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When the call came to evacuate U.S. citizens and the nationals of other nations in the first days of the crisis in the Dominican Republic, the Navy was prepared to move in a matter of minutes.
Fighting broke out in the Dominican Republic on Saturday, 24 April. By Tuesday, 27 April, the situation had deteriorated and the U.S. took the precaution of stationing a task force - including USS Boxer (LPH-4) and 1,500 Marines - off the Dominican Coast. Removal of U.S. citizens, however, was not ordered until two days later, when Dominican government officials warned that they could no longer guarantee the safety of foreign nationals.
On the evening of the 28th Boxer airlifted 400 Marines into the city of Santo Domingo for the purpose of protecting U.S. citizens. By the following morning, 29 April, 530 Marines were in the city. Later in the day they were joined by 1,000 reinforcements.
While Marines cleared a safety zone between the U.S. Embassy and the Embajador Hotel, where refugees were gathered, helos ferried civilians to Boxer for further transfer to other Navy ships in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
By 1 May paratroop units had been flown into the city, bring the U.S. military strength to about 4,200 men. As the safety zone was sealed off and the waterfront area was secured, Navy ships began to take refugees directly aboard.
On 2 May the Navy transported 1,415 civilians to San Juan, raising the total number to 3,000. In Santo Domingo 5,000 more awaited rescue - about 1,500 of them citizens of 30 different countries.
On 3 May Great Britain officially thanked the U.S. for having evacuated British citizens from the danger area.
Navy ships which played a major part in the rescue mission included: USS Boxer (LPH-4), Wood County (LST-1178) Ruchamkin (APD-89) and Yancey (AKA-93). Other ships involved were: USS Rankin (AKA-103), Fort Snelling (LSD-30) and Raleigh (LPD-1).
By 8 May U.S. forces in the island republic totaled 14,000 men, including paratroop units flown from the United States and Marines landed by Navy ships.
The evening before, in a televised address, the President had said" "What began as a popular democratic revolution that was committed to democracy and social justice moved into the hands of a band of communist conspirators." Later in the same address, he declared, "We will defend our nation against all those who seek to destroy not only the United States but every free country of this hemisphere."
Here is an on-the-scene report from USS Boxer (LPH-4): Boxer was acting as flagship for Amphibious Squadron 10 when she answered an urgent call on 25 April from the United States Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. She steamed to the revolt-torn country to assist in the evacuating of U.S. and other nationals.
It was a new experience for the officers and enlisted man of Boxer - acting as baby sitters, luggage porters, stewards, translators, and general unofficial Ambassadors of the U.S. Navy.
The scene was unusual as one walked down the hanger deck - sailors changing diapers, feeding babies, watching over infants. But the problems of the sailors were minute compared with those of the evacuees. Each person who came aboard had his own personal tale to tell of the crisis. Some were lucky enough to escape without incident; others were not so fortunate.
On Tuesday, 27 April, 294 persons were brought aboard Boxer and were then transferred to USS Raleigh (LPD-1) on Wednesday morning. As the situation worsened, later that same day 705 additional persons were brought aboard. During the entire week Boxerevacuated more than 1,000 men, women and children from the island, administering medical aid, hospital facilities and food, and providing sleeping spaces.
More than 500 Marines from the Sixth Expeditionary Unit and Marine Helicopter Squadron 264, embarked in Boxer, were deployed to insure the safety of the evacuees.
Men were berthed in the troop berthing areas, and the women and children in the officers' staterooms. After three days aboard Boxerthey were transferred to adjoining ships, USS Ruchamkin (APD-89), Raleigh [LPD-1], and Wood County (LST-1178) for transit to San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Many evacuees had gone without food or water for three days, some lost contact with their children during their escape. One woman who arrived aboard was in tears because she was separated from her family. The tears quickly disappeared as she found her children - for the first time in two weeks - already safe aboard.
Violence was present in all quarters of the city as shooting rang out from building after building. Many of the people, hearing that they might be evacuated to Navy ships, had gathered in the Embajador Hotel to await their evacuation.
For a large number of these evacuees most of that day was spent lying on the ground, listening to the whine of bullets overhead.
In another incident, a woman employed by a Canadian electric firm had been sitting in her car, ready to leave, when she realized she left something behind. As she returned to her house, she glanced back and saw her car riddled by the strafing of an aircraft.
Three young women, teachers at the American School in Santo Domingo, had had hopes of staying on the island when the violence broke out. They quickly changed their minds after a narrow escape from the fire of armored tanks.
These were a few incidents mentioned by the evacuees. Those who were fortunate enough to find their way to Boxer left the ship with a sincere appreciation of the assistance and protection offered by the Navy-Marine Corps team.
After the transfer of the evacuees to San Juan, Boxer stood by off the coast of the island, continuing to lend support in the form of food and medical care, remaining prepared in case additional evacuees were flown aboard.
One of the events in the evacuation was the cause of a shipboard celebration.
A birth was recorded in the medical records of cargo ship USS Yancey (AKA-93) on 1 May, when Lieutenant Ben Passmore, MC [Medical Corps], USN, delivered Stephen Yancey Paez.
The delivery was made while the ship was transporting 593 evacuees from the Dominican Republic to San Juan, Puerto Rico. The eight-pound boy was the first child for Mr. and Mrs. Rodolfo Paez of the Dominican Republic.
The boy's middle name was given in honor of the ship. A cake-cutting ceremony and the traditional passing out of cigars were held in honor of the newborn Dominican Child. | <urn:uuid:7a72bf23-8ea2-42c0-ac74-8b32c568e429> | {
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Good schools are staffed by faculty who routinely use the best technologies to challenge students. But truly great schools ignite learning by using the science behind how the brain works best. Great schools:
Promote relationships between adults and students. Many schools are forced to prioritize high test scores over strong relationships. But Molecular Biologist John Medina knows that “our ability to learn has deep roots in relationships.” At Waynflete, mutually respectful relationships between students and their teachers are at our core. In his most recent book, Dan Heischman (also author of Good Influence: Teaching the Wisdom of Adulthood) writes, “In all the many years I have visited schools, I have seen few places where students make such extensive use of teachers as they do at Waynflete. Healthy relationships between adults and students in the community are a given.”
Encourage positive risk-taking. By championing the right answer over curiosity and exploration, many schools train students to be risk-averse. In his new book, Brainstorm: The Power and Purpose of the Teenage Brain, Dan Siegel, M.D., describes how risk-taking is a critical evolutionary task if teens are to acquire new competencies and become independent and confident enough to leave home and flourish. Waynflete understands the importance of promoting positive risk-taking to develop competency and grit.
Focus attention. Our world is increasingly full of distractions, but focused attention is necessary for deep learning. Contrary to popular assumption, according to John Medina, neuroscience research shows “the brain is not capable of multi-tasking. We can talk and breathe, but when it comes to higher level tasks, we just can’t do it.” At Waynflete, we cultivate routines that nurture growth and learning and habits that focus attention.
Harness the power of experience. Many schools have abstract and fragmented curricula that don’t prepare students for tangible rewards. But author Daniel Pink cites empirical evidence in his book Drive to assert that “the secret to high performance is…our deep-seated desire to direct our own lives, to extend and expand our abilities, and to make a contribution.” At Waynflete, school is more than a preparation for the future. We seek to engage our students in such a way that they matter, so that each day has meaning. Our approach leads to motivated and accomplished graduates who are well prepared for any future endeavor. | <urn:uuid:23812b90-92e5-4397-8655-bd280883f674> | {
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Full Terminal Ileum Description
[Continued from above] . . . The ileocecal sphincter is a band of smooth muscle that controls the flow of chyme from the ileum into the cecum of the large intestine.
Chyme is thoroughly processed by the duodenum, jejunum, and ileum before it enters the terminal ileum. It is then stored in the hollow lumen of the terminal ileum as it awaits the opening of the ileocecal sphincter. Small masses of chyme are pushed into the cecum by waves of peristaltic contraction of the walls of the terminal ileum coordinated with the opening of the ileocecal sphincter. While the chyme is stored, Peyer’s patches lining the walls of the terminal ileum examine the contents of the chyme for any potentially dangerous pathogens.
The walls of the terminal ileum are made of four distinct tissue layers surrounding the hollow lumen at its center.
- The innermost layer, the mucosa, contains epithelial cells whose function is specialized for the absorption of nutrients from chyme in the lumen. Masses of lymphatic tissue known as Peyer’s patches dot the surface of the mucosa to detect the presence of pathogens in the chyme.
- Surrounding the mucosa is the submucosa layer that contains the nerves and blood vessels, which support the other tissue layers of the terminal ileum.
- The muscularis layer surrounds the submucosa and contains bands of smooth muscle that contract in wave of peristalsis to move food through the terminal ileum and into the cecum.
- Finally, the serosa forms the outermost layer of the terminal ileum. Serosa is made of a smooth layer of simple squamous epithelial tissue and secretes a slippery liquid known as serous fluid. Serosa and serous fluid give the terminal ileum a slick, slimy surface to protect it from friction between organs and the walls of the abdominopelvic cavity.
Prepared by Tim Taylor, Anatomy and Physiology Instructor | <urn:uuid:a93543b9-78f1-451c-855e-4113c2c9a052> | {
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Jezreel Expedition Update July 2012
By Jennie Ebeling
Associate Professor of Archaeology
University of Evansville
By Norma Franklin
The Zinman Institute of Archaeology
University of Haifa
Members of the Jezreel Expedition headed by co-directors Norma Franklin (Zinman Institute of Archaeology, University of Haifa) and Jennie Ebeling (Department of Archaeology and Art History, University of Evansville) conducted an intensive landscape survey of greater Jezreel in June 2012. The main goal of the inaugural season was to record surface features in a three square kilometer area to the west, north, and east of Tel Jezreel in order to identify areas for excavation in summer 2013 (Figure 1). The Jezreel team documented more than 360 features, including cisterns, cave tombs, rock-cut tombs, agricultural and industrial installations, terrace and village walls, quarries and more; most of these features had never been systematically recorded before. The results of this survey shed light on the extent of different settlements at Jezreel from late prehistory through to the 20th century CE Palestinian village of Zerin.
In preparation for the 2012 season, maps, plans, aerial photographs, and various other unpublished materials relating to the site were collected from sources in Israel, Great Britain, and elsewhere. In February 2012, The Jezreel team commissioned a LiDAR (light detection and ranging) airborne laser scan of ca. 7.5 square kilometers of greater Jezreel from Ofek Aerial Photography, Ltd. The LiDAR scan provided us with accurate locational and height data that enabled the creation of a three-dimensional model of the land surface (Figure 2). The resultant model was examined to identify historic and natural features and georeferenced with aerial photographs (the earliest of which dates to 1918); this provided us with data concerning the landscape before mechanized farming and other modern surface-changing events took place. This is the first time that aerial LiDAR has been used by an archaeological project in Israel.
Land to the west, north, and east of the tel was divided into survey areas based on the LiDAR model; when possible, natural, and modern features delineated these large areas. Each identified feature was assigned a locus/feature number and information was recorded along with one or more sketch plans on a locus sheet. Coordinates and elevations were taken for each feature using a handheld GPS (Garmin eTrex HC), and a digital camera was used to document each feature from several angles (Figure 3).
Since the goal of this survey was to identify surface features, pottery and other artifacts were not systematically collected other than in Area T , located on the terrace that overlooks Ein Jezreel (the spring) (Figure 4). Pottery, lithic, and ground stone artifacts were collected on the terrace to the west and the east of the masha, or uncultivated area that was too overgrown to properly survey, designated Area S. To the west of the masha, the team collected pottery from the Early Bronze, Intermediate Bronze, Middle Bronze, Iron Age, Roman, Byzantine and modern periods; to its east, Wadi Rabah, Chalcolithic, Early Bronze, Intermediate Bronze, Iron, and Byzantine pottery was collected. This information, along with the results of earlier surveys conducted by N. Zori and members of the Tel Aviv British School of Archaeology excavation team in the 1990s led by P. Croft, suggest that the site was inhabited continuously from as early as the late Neolithic period until the Byzantine period. The team plans to open an excavation area on the terrace in 2013 in order to investigate the occupational phases of this lower site. Other excavation areas are also planned in selected areas on the tel and on the north and east slopes.
The 2012 Jezreel Expedition team included Norma Franklin (University of Haifa) and Jennie Ebeling (University of Evansville), Ian Cipin (University College London), Julye Bidmead (Chapman University), Noga Blockman (Tel Aviv University), and Deborah Appler (Moravian Theological Seminary) along with eight archaeology majors and alumni from the University of Evansville: Megan Anderson, Nathan Biondi, Sarah Carlton, Emma Dunleavy, Kelly Goodner, Michael Koletsos, Emily Mella, and Hilda Torres (Figure 5). John Egerton, Deborah Graf, and Rebekah Thomas of Moravian Theological Seminary participated for several days, as well did Jeff Anderson (Wayland Baptist University), Willie Ondricek (University of the Holy Land), and Daria Trumbo. Technical support was provided by Peter Ostrin (University of Leicester) and Matthew Bradley in Oxford. The team wishes to thank former co-director of the Tel Jezreel Excavations David Ussishkin (Tel Aviv University) as well as Mina Weinstein-Evron and Michael Eisenberg (University of Haifa) for their support of this project, and Deborah Cantrell (Vanderbilt University), Shimon Gibson (University of the Holy Land) and Eran Arie (Tel Aviv University) for their advice and assistance. We have benefited from cooperation with the Megiddo Expedition and the generosity of directors Israel Finkelstein and David Ussishkin (Tel Aviv University) and Eric Cline (George Washington University). We also wish to thank Sheila Bishop, President of The Foundation for Biblical Archaeology, for her generous assistance. The Jezreel team lodged in the Partnership House at Kibbutz Yizreel for the month of June and enjoyed the warm hospitality of kibbutz members.
For more information about the Jezreel Expedition, please visit our website: www.jezreel-expedition.com
Figures 1 and 4 courtesy of Todd Bolen.
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Inappropriate material will not be posted. | <urn:uuid:97e1cd21-73bf-4f3e-a480-70ad0dd64a17> | {
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A wagging tail does not necessarily mean a dog is friendly.
What does it mean?
A dog's tail position and motion is incorporated as a component of a complex system of body language that domestic dogs use (along with "verbal" cues such as barking, growling or whining) in order to communicate. A wagging tail indicates excitement or agitation. But whether the dog means it as an invitation to play, or to warn another dog or person to stay back, depends on other body language.
A slowly wagging tail that curves down and back up into a "U" usually indicates a relaxed, playful dog.
If his ears are erect and pointing forward, and he is in the classic "play bow" position, he is inviting you to play.
A tail that is held higher, whether wagging or not, indicates dominance and/or increased interest in something. If the end of the tail arches over the back, and is twitching, you may be faced with an aggressive dog.
Tail position and movement is simply used as a social indicator for other living things. Dogs generally do not wag their tails when they are alone. For example, if you pour your dog a bowl of food, he may wag his tail excitedly at the prospect of eating. But if he finds the bowl already filled – without anyone being around – he will usually not wag his tail. He may still be happy to eat, but there is no one around with whom to communicate his happiness. | <urn:uuid:376fc013-8503-412b-b659-a416ec2c4176> | {
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On the second day of his first visit to Algeria, French President Francois Hollande stood up before both chambers of the Algerian parliament to “recognize the suffering inflicted by colonization upon the Algerian people.” He also accepted responsibility for “the profoundly unjust and brutal system to which Algeria was subjected for 132 years; and that system has a name: colonization.”
Spoken fifty years after the former colony’s independence, these words did not constitute the “apology” demanded by several Algerian political parties (nor was it the “repentance” dreaded by the right-wing in France). But for his Algerian hosts, these were pleasing words. They were also the crucial starting point in Mr. Holland’s pitch for a “new era” between the two countries. Since he set foot in Algiers, the socialist president had spared no effort to achieve what other French leaders have failed to achieve so far: overcoming the hindrance of the past in order to focus on the benefits of the future.
For decades, relations between both countries never settled on a steady course. French hesitation to deal adequately with the country’s colonial legacy and the Algerians’ particular sensitivity to French attitudes put bilateral relations on a path of continued turbulence, especially during the last decade. The thawing of the ice started during last French elections. French voters of Algerian extraction, an important segment of the Muslim electorate in France, extended their hands to Francois Hollande. Their favorable perception of his conciliatory attitude, as well as their rejection of the right-wing politics of his rival, Francois Sarkozy, earned the socialist candidate the overwhelming support of French voters of Algerian origin (More than 90% of the votes of French Muslims went to Hollande, according to the polling agency OpinionWay). Since his election, the new French president seemed determined to do better than his predecessors. He had the personal commitment of somebody with “powerful memories” of a one-year stay in Algiers during the late seventies, as a student-intern at the French embassy there. Signals of good-will quickly followed. A few months into the office, Hollande made the gesture of remembering Algerian pro-independence demonstrators who fell victims in 1961 to “bloody repression” by French police in Paris. His “remembrance” of Algerian civilian casualties in France was well received in Algeria. It set the right mood for this week’s visit to France.
Mr Hollande knew in advance that dealing adequately with the painful legacies of the past was a necessary step to engage Algerian leaders, especially President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, in a dialogue about better bilateral relations. The 200-person strong delegation accompanying him to Algeria, including nine ministers, more than 40 businessmen and 100 reporters, reflected the importance he accorded to his first trip to a Maghrebi country since his election.
The stakes for Hollande were high, in more than one regard. There were obviously the economic interests. Already, 450 French companies are based in Algeria and France is already Algeria’s first source of imports. France’s European competitors, such as Italy and Spain, as well as non-Europeans powers, especially China, have increasingly challenged France in what it long considered its “chasse gardée”. Algeria’s population of 37 million and its substantial hydrocarbon revenues, make the country an attractive market for the currently-struggling European economies and a magnet for French companies desiring to expand business and trade opportunities.
The French export-insurance corporation, COFACE, pointed out recently that Algeria has “a solid financial situation” with a debt ratio that is less than 10% of its GNP. During the visit, several bilateral agreements were signed in the fields of defense, security, industry, agriculture, finance, and education, including an agreement allowing French car manufacturer Renault to assemble up to 75,000 cars in Oran and therefore expand its share of the Algerian and African automotive markets.
Mr. Hollande’s visit was also an opportunity to try to smooth down policy differences over regional and international issues. In an apparent move to avoid an unnecessary public controversy about the two countries divergent policies, he removed a paragraph on the Syrian crisis from the prepared text of his speech to parliament. Statements on the situation in Mali showed that despite their eagerness to help organize a military campaign against Jihadist groups in Northern Mali, the French want to take into consideration the concerns of the country with the longest border with Mali and with the greatest ability in the region to-make-or-break any military initiative there. Algeria’s long experience in dealing the threat of Al Qaida in the Maghreb was also the basis for talks on fighting terrorism.
Beyond agreements and compromises on regional issues, Hollande did not conceal his hope to set the stage for a long-term “strategic partnership between equals”. He tried to make all the right moves to nudges the two countries towards what French socialist leader Razzy Hammadi called a “complex-free relationship”. But the history of French-Algerian relations teaches us that the secret for the success of any well-meaning bilateral initiatives is their long-term sustainability. The road to “normalization” on all fronts is strewn with all sorts of challenges, new and old, and most of all that of the lethargy that often settles in after an enthusiastic start. “Right deeds have to follow”, cautioned Francois Hollande, at the end of his Algerian journey. The degree of proximity between Algeria and France is at best not a guarantor of sufficient understanding. An IFOP poll, conducted on the eve of the French president’s visit to Algeria, showed for instance that only 26% of the French population had a “positive image” of Algeria. Removing the distorting prisms and preset notions behind such an unfavorable perception will be a first benchmark towards developing a truly “complex-free” relationship.
Oussama Romdhani, a former Tunisian member of government, is currently an international media analyst. | <urn:uuid:9e8fafdd-da1c-43c4-b08c-3c41e62a8c66> | {
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01 September 2011
The Greek empire left us more than their heritage in architecture, mathematics, medicine and philosophy. The great emperors who led the largest territory existing in history have taught us that it doesn’t dominate a nation only by military force. The Greeks knew, and later the Romans, that one of the most effective ways to maintain economic dominance over other groups is through the linguistic and cultural imposition. If this nation learns to speak your language, they will consume your culture.
The lesson of the Greeks was not limited to the Roman Empire. In modern history, the United States performed this task in an exemplary way in the world with the “Big Stick” philosophy, with customs, cars, products, movies and music and references to a population who didn’t bother to play the role of just a consumer market. There was no counterpart, the goal was economic domination and imposition of culture (with a stick in the hand, of course).
Not surprisingly, the current most spoken languages in the world are from the most important economies, showing that the thinking of centuries BC remains the same: China, USA, Spain and Latin America (I have my doubts about that importance here), India, Brazil, the Middle East. The list of “top seven” also has the Bengali, from Bangladesh.
The difference between the Greeks behavior and these countries is that not all of them spread their language and culture to other corners. Brazil is in that list because of its huge territory and for being the fifth largest population in the world. Unlike France, Italy and Germany which have much smaller populations than the countries mentioned, but complete the ranking of countries with the most widely spoken languages in the world, along with Russia and the Arab world.
Portuguese isn’t named an international language, used in diplomatic ceremonies, nor a UN official language, which accepts only Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish. Anyway, the Portuguese-based communication seems to show some growth, with more than 30 million students worldwide.
Even with this increasing demand for Portuguese teachers, we haven’t learned to be like the Greeks. Indeed, this is one of the shortcomings of Brazil. A more efficient communication plan of Brazil abroad would help bring the culture, custom and products to other markets.
We can easily find Indian, Chinese, Japanese and American in prominent positions in multinational companies. The Indians do that pretty well, especially in the technology area. Perhaps, it is one of the reasons to be increasingly easy to find Indian restaurants in the United States.
We are an economy of respect and we have one of the most widely spoken languages in the world. No doubt the importance of Brazil is increasing at the global level. A more aggressive communication and brand reputation plan for Brazil could be an important tool, as it was for the Greeks and Romans in the past, and has been for American, Russian, Chinese, and Indian… | <urn:uuid:4ca0511f-50e7-4fba-9452-62e3dd9f7d9e> | {
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The Food and Drug Administration is holding hearings this week on a new procedure for preventing mitochondrial disease. This hereditary disorder affects 1 in 4,000 people, most of them children, and it can cause a variety of symptoms, from seizures and loss of muscle control to poor growth and developmental delays. The new procedure isn't a cure, but it would prevent the disease in children of women who are carriers. It's relatively simple, and in animal trials so far, it's proven to be effective.
Sounds like a great idea, right? But the procedure in question is genetic engineering. It involves switching out a mother's defective DNA for a donor's healthy DNA — not the entire cell, just the small part (the mitochondria) that carries the disease. The baby would be healthy, but his genes would come from three "parents": his mother, his father, and a tiny bit from the donor.
The really scary part, though, isn't the idea of three parents — it's the idea that we could manipulate an unborn baby's genes to create the baby we want. It's one thing if you're shaping genes to make a baby healthy who would otherwise be sick. But as far as the science goes, switching defective genes for healthy ones isn't all that different from switching brown eyes to blue, or black hair to blonde. And while most prospective parents today would probably be disgusted at the idea of genetically programming eye color, who's to say that technology wouldn't go there eventually?
But, of course, that's not the point of this procedure. And even though plenty of people will question its ethics, I'm pretty sure it will be approved — maybe not today, but eventually. Science, after all, doesn't care about ethics, and even if one country outlaws it, someone somewhere else will keep researching it. If we have the ability to create a procedure that will prevent disease and improve people's lives, eventually we'll use it, no matter how controversial it is.
And even though the implications are scary, I hope the FDA does approve this procedure. Because I know someone whose son has mitochondrial disease. Our sons are the same age, but their lives are completely different. When I'm chasing my naked toddler trying to get his pajamas on for bed, she's giving her son oxygen. When I'm cleaning up the yogurt my son spilled all over the floor, she's feeding her son through a tube. When I'm trying to stop my son from climbing too high on the playground, she's taking hers to the ER for dehydration.
This procedure isn't a cure — it can't change anything for my friend's son. But if it had existed before her son was born, it's possible that his disease could have been prevented. And if that's where genetic engineering can take us, I'm all for it.
Image from Wikipedia Commons | <urn:uuid:3849a51c-9dcc-428b-9732-1281ecf750ca> | {
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Chorioamnionitis, or acute intra-amniotic infection, historically has been associated with maternal morbidity and mortality. Until recently, the major adverse consequence of chorioamnionitis was considered to be puerperal infection. However, Eschenbach 1 reported that the hazards of amniotic fluid infections might be greater for fetuses and newborns. Such infections are now accepted as a major source of short- and long-term morbidity in preterm infants. Group B streptococcus prevention programs have been implemented recently in the United States to reduce such infections in preterm and term infants. 2
Opinions about chorioamnionitis are changing with reports that cerebral palsy is related to what was previously considered an exclusively intrapartum maternal infection. Cerebral palsy was linked to chorioamnionitis in several reports on preterm infants 3–7 and more recently in term infants. 8 Grether and Nelson 8 found that intrauterine exposure to maternal infection markedly increased the risk of cerebral palsy in term infants. Chorioamnionitis was noted as a risk factor for neonatal outcomes commonly attributed to birth asphyxia.
We sought to determine the immediate effects of chorioamnionitis on newborn term infants in a cohort of pregnancies large enough to analyze variables potentially influencing infant outcomes independent of intrauterine infection. We were interested in the relation between chorioamnionitis and short-term neurologic morbidity manifest as seizures. We wanted to know whether chorioamnionitis caused complications in infants or was a marker of other intrapartum events that led to fetal compromise.
Materials and Methods
Between January 1, 1988 and December 31, 1997, all live-born infants who weighed at least 2500 g at Parkland Memorial Hospital, Dallas, Texas, were entered in a computerized database. Delivery events were recorded by attending nurses, and data sheets were checked for accuracy by research nurses. Infant outcomes were abstracted from the newborn discharge records by research nurses, and the results were linked electronically to the maternal outcomes. This study was limited to women with singleton pregnancies and live, cephalic-presenting fetuses at admission to the labor and delivery unit. Women with diabetes, previous cesarean deliveries, and fetal malformations were excluded.
Intrauterine infection or chorioamnionitis was diagnosed in women with fever of 38C or greater and clinical evidence not explained by another source of infection, including fetal tachycardia, uterine tenderness, or foul odor at delivery. Women with chorioamnionitis received intravenous ampicillin and gentamicin, or clindamycin if they were allergic to penicillin, at the time of diagnosis. Neonatal sepsis was diagnosed when blood or cerebrospinal fluid cultures were positive.
We analyzed selected infant outcomes applicable to term pregnancies in women with and without intrapartum chorioamnionitis. Respiratory distress was diagnosed when infants required mechanical ventilation beginning in the first 24 hours of life. Seizure activity apparent during the first 24 hours of life was selected as an outcome. Meconium aspiration syndrome was diagnosed in infants with clinical and radiographic evidence. All diagnosed infants had dyspnea, tachypnea, need for supplemental oxygen by 6 hours of life, and diffuse irregular patchy infiltrates on chest radiographs. Infants with meconium below the vocal cords but with no clinical evidence of disease were not diagnosed with aspiration syndrome.
The strength of associations between classification variables was measured using the χ2 statistic for contingency tables or Fisher exact test when small cell sizes were expected. Student t test was used to compare the means of measures between groups. A generalized estimating equation was used to account for infants delivered to the same mother (ie, multiparous women). With this statistic, delivery is grouped by mother such that within each mother, any variance among deliveries is adjusted. Any maternal proclivity for specific characteristics (eg, chorioamnionitis, prolonged labor) is accounted for. The measure of association between neonatal outcomes, chorioamnionitis, and other dichotomous outcomes was adjusted by generalized estimating equations using the logistic link factor. P < .05 was considered statistically significant. All tests were two-sided.
A total of 101,170 singleton pregnancies with infants who weighed at least 2500 g met the inclusion criteria for analysis. Chorioamnionitis was diagnosed in 5144 (5%) of theses pregnancies. Table 1 summarizes selected maternal demographic and pregnancy characteristics in women with and without chorioamnionitis. Chorioamnionitis was significantly increased in women who were younger, nulliparous, or Hispanic. Similarly, chorioamnionitis was significantly associated with intrapartum hypertension and postterm pregnancies.
Labor characteristics are summarized in Table 2. Every labor outcome analyzed, including oxytocin stimulation, ruptured membranes without labor, prolonged labor, fetal heart rate (FHR) decelerations, and cesarean delivery for dystocia or nonreassuring FHR, was significantly increased in women with chorioamnionitis. As shown in Figure 1, the incidence of chorioamnionitis increased in direct proportion to the duration of labor when measured by admission-to-delivery intervals.
Several complications of infants in the delivery room and the nursery were significantly increased in mothers who had chorioamnionitis (Table 3). Larger infants (birth weight 4000 g or greater) were born more often to women with chorioamnionitis. For example, 12% of women with chorioamnionitis delivered infants weighing 4000 g or more compared with 8% of women without it (P < .001). Measures of poor infant condition, including 5-minute Apgar scores of 3 or less, severe umbilical artery (UA) blood acidemia (pH 7.0 or less), and need for intubation in the delivery room, were all significantly increased with chorioamnionitis. As shown in Table 3, infants born to women with chorioamnionitis had increased rates of respiratory distress, meconium aspiration, and neurologic abnormalities in the first 24 hours of life. Culture-proved sepsis and pneumonia also were increased significantly in women with chorioamnionitis, although neonatal deaths were not increased. A total of three neonates born to women with chorioamnionitis died, two from complications related to sepsis and the third of aspiration followed by respiratory arrest in the nursery. The cause of aspiration was not determined, and no autopsy was done.
We ranked the maternal and intrapartum factors significantly associated with chorioamnionitis according to their odds ratios (ORs) (Table 4). Women with prolonged labors, as measured by a second stage of 2 hours or longer, labor and delivery times of 10 hours or longer, need for oxytocin stimulation, and cesarean delivery for dystocia or FHR decelerations, had the highest ORs for chorioamnionitis. Chorioamnionitis and the risk factors shown in Table 4 were used in a stepwise logistic regression analysis for adverse infant outcomes (Table 5). After adjustment, chorioamnionitis remained significantly associated with the need for intubation of infants in the delivery room, pneumonia, and newborn sepsis. Seizures, Apgar scores of 3 or less at 5 minutes, and UA pH of 7.0 or less were no longer associated with chorioamnionitis. However, these factors were associated significantly with oxytocin stimulation of labor, prolonged labor times, and cesarean delivery for dystocia.
The results of this analysis of more than 100,000 term pregnancies suggest that chorioamnionitis in mothers during labor is associated with adverse infant outcomes. Resuscitation at birth, indicated by intubation in the delivery room, was required in almost 2% of chorioamnionitis infants. Nearly every measure of compromised infant condition at birth was increased in association with maternal infection during labor. The infants also experienced morbidity after their arrival in the nursery, with significant increases in sepsis, pneumonia, meconium aspiration syndrome, and seizures.
The chorioamnionitis story includes more than infant consequences. Many maternal demographic variables and labor features were strongly associated with infant outcomes linked to chorioamnionitis. Nulliparity, race, intrapartum hypertension, post-term pregnancy, oxytocin stimulation of labor, prolonged labor, and cesarean delivery were all variables associated with chorioamnionitis and infant risk. Each of the significant labor features associated with chorioamnionitis was potentially related to maternal demographics. For example, nulliparous women more often are younger and have longer labors, and labor is frequently longer in women who have induction for hypertension or post-term pregnancy.
We attempted to adjust for the large number of interacting labor variables linked to adverse infant outcomes using stepwise logistic regression analysis, which found that several maternal variables were more potent modifiers of infant outcome than chorioamnionitis alone. For example, although chorioamnionitis remained associated with the need for infant resuscitation in the delivery room (OR 2.0; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.5, 2.6), cesarean delivery for dystocia was a more powerful predictor (OR 4.1; 95% CI 3.1, 5.5). Indices of neonatal infection were most closely related to maternal chorioamnionitis. For example, chorioamnionitis had strong associations with neonatal pneumonia (OR 2.2; 95% CI 1.7, 2.8) and sepsis (OR 2.9; 95% CI 2.1, 4.1). One interpretation of these results is that chorioamnionitis in mothers is most closely related to infections in infants, whereas other labor events determine fetal condition at birth, such as the need for resuscitation.
The overall incidence of chorioamnionitis in this cohort analysis is consistent with other reports. Gibbs and Duff 9 reported that clinical chorioamnionitis complicated 1–5% of term pregnancies and that this complication was a well-recognized risk after ruptured membranes and prolonged labor at term. We found a direct correlation between the duration of labor and clinical infection in mothers. Such a link between infections and duration of labor implicates dysfunctional labor, need for oxytocin stimulation, and cesarean delivery as covariables in adverse infant outcomes associated with maternal chorioamnionitis. Under these circumstances, chorioamnionitis is a marker of abnormal labor. 10 This observation does not minimize the deleterious effects on infants of maternal chorioamnionitis in labor, but emphasizes that the primary neonatal consequence of abnormal labor is infection in newborns.
Other investigators have concluded recently that maternal infection during labor at term has short- and long-term consequences for infants, but that there are many interacting, confounding variables implicated in infant outcomes. Adamson et al 11 analyzed 89 full-term infants who suffered neonatal seizures and found that maternal infection in labor was just one of 15 antepartum or intrapartum factors associated with brain injury in infants. Grether and Nelson 8 reported that intrauterine exposure to maternal infection was associated with a marked increase in cerebral palsy in infants delivered at term. Similar to our results, their newborns exposed to chorioamnionitis were more often depressed at birth and suffered seizures. Grether and Nelson 8 concur with our finding that the link between maternal infection and cerebral palsy is confounded by several maternal characteristics besides intrapartum infection. They computed adjusted ORs for factors individually found to influence the link between maternal infection and cerebral palsy. In their analysis, none of the many factors remained significant for cerebral palsy after regression analysis; however, they did not adjust for duration of labor, which we found to be the most powerful predictor of immediate newborn morbidity attributed to chorioamnionitis. Our results, unlike those of Grether and Nelson, 8 suggest that short-term abnormal neurologic outcomes (seizures in the first 24 hours of life) are not causally related to maternal infections, but to abnormal labors.
1. Eschenbach DA. Amniotic fluid infection and cerebral palsy. Focus on the fetus. JAMA 1997;278:247–8.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prevention of perinatal group B streptococcal disease: A public health perspective. MMWR 1996;45:1–24.
3. Morales WJ, Washington SR 3d, Lazar AJ. The effect of chorioamnionitis on perinatal outcome in preterm gestation. J Perinatal 1987;7:105–10.
4. Bejar R, Wozniak P, Allard M, Benirschke K, Baucher Y, Coen R, et al. Antenatal origin of neurologic damage in newborn infants. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1988;159:357–63.
5. Verma U, Tejani N, Klein S, Reale MR, Beneck D, Figueroa R, et al. Obstetric antecedents of intraventricular hemorrhage and periventricular leukomalacia in the low-birth-weight neonate. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1997;176:275–81.
6. Murphy DJ, Sellers S, Mackenzie IZ, Yudkin PL, Johnson AM. Case-control study of antenatal and intrapartum risk factors for cerebral palsy in very preterm singleton babies. Lancet 1995;8988:1449–54.
7. Alexander JM, Gilstrap LC, Cox SM, McIntire DM, Leveno KJ. Clinical chorioamnionitis and the prognosis for very low birth weight infants. Obstet Gynecol 1998;91:725–9.
8. Grether JK, Nelson KB. Maternal infection and cerebral palsy in infants of normal birth weight. JAMA 1997;278:207–11.
9. Gibbs RS, Duff P. Progress in pathogenesis and management of clinical intra-amniotic infection. Am J Obstet Gynecol 1991;164:1317–26.
10. Satin AJ, Maberry M, Leveno KJ, Sherman ML, Kline DM. Chorioamnionitis: A harbinger of dystocia. Obstet Gynecol 1992;79:913–5.
© 1999 The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists
11. Adamson SJ, Alessandri LM, Badawi N, Burton PR, Pemberton PJ, Stanley F. Predictors of neonatal encephalopathy in full term infants. BMJ 1995;311:598–602. | <urn:uuid:40ed25e0-1784-4cd6-8ce3-227112917d27> | {
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- January 22, 2016
- Posted by: bankajac
- Category: Advisory
What problems do we face today?
The most common threats to our cybersecurity include malware, including ransomware, botnets, malvertising, phishing and application attacks.
Malware is the term used for malicious software intended to do any number of things ranging from the stealing of credentials, other information or money to the general wreaking of havoc, or denial of service.
Some of the more typical types of malware include:
- Ransomware is a type of malicious software designed to block access to a computer system until a sum of money is paid.
- Botnets are networks of interconnected computers that are infected with a “botnet agent” designed to do the attacker’s bidding.
- Malvertising involves injecting malicious or malware-laden advertisements into legitimate online advertising networks and web pages. Malvertising is a serious threat that requires little or no user interaction.
- Phishing usually is an email designed to lure the reader into doing something ill-advised by masquerading as a trustworthy source or legitimate enterprise. Phishing requests to execute an attachment to the email or click on
a link are designed to install malware on the user’s computer, generally for the purpose of stealing money. Phishing can also involve more direct requests to provide private information such as passwords, credit card account details or other sensitive data.
Application attacks are increasingly common as application development is moving more and more to the web. In addition to complex business applications being delivered over the web, our personal mobile phone applications and our home devices connected to the internet via internet of things platforms create widespread vulnerabilities.
Who are the bad actors?
While the term “hacker” may have had its origin as a term used to describe especially talented computer programmers and systems designers, and may still include those considered “curious” hackers, the term has become much more widely used to describe computer intruders or criminals with less-than-desirable intent. In addition to basic thieves, these “bad actors” can be outsiders, such as business competitors or nation-states. They can also be insiders, such as
disgruntled, or otherwise malicious, employees.
Risk of security vulnerabilities
Cybersecurity vulnerabilities can be technical in nature or procedural. Technical deficiencies that create exposure to sensitive functionality or information include software defects and the failure to use security protections such as encryption adequately. Procedural deficiencies can be IT related, including system configuration mistakes, or
failure to keep up with software security updates. However, many procedural deficiencies are user related, such as poorly chosen passwords.
Whatever the cause, when exploited, these vulnerabilities can be costly and result in:
- Down time — Loss of business production or revenue generation opportunities
- Tarnished reputation — Company and brand value negatively affected
- Customer flight — Especially critical with increasing level of e-commerce
- Legal consequences — Fines, lawsuit costs and settlements can be staggering
- Industry consequences — Health care records breaches have been extensive | <urn:uuid:de6afc34-4807-498b-a35f-400feeb32dca> | {
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1. Rufous hummingbird (Selasphorus rufus)
Less than four inches long and weighing slightly more than a penny, the Rufous Hummingbird is small but mighty. These hummingbirds drink nectar from flowering plants in addition to eating small insects. Most Rufous Hummingbird nests are made of lichens, moss and fragments of bark, bound together with strands of spider web and lined with soft downy plant material. Hummingbirds are native only to the New World and are especially abundant in Mexico and southern Arizona. Threats to hummingbirds include habitat loss and pet trade.
General information about the Rufous Hummingbird
The Rufous Hummingbird is on the Birds of Conservation Concern (BCC) produced by the Migratory Bird Program. The BCC list includes birds deemed to be the highest priority for conservation actions.
The Rufous Hummingbird also appears on the Partners in Flight Watchlist as one of the species of migratory birds in the United States that is most in need of conservation action.
All hummingbird species were listed in Appendix II of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) in 1987. CITES is implemented through the U.S. Endangered Species Act (ESA), and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is the lead agency on CITES issues for the Department of the Interior. The Divisions of Management Authority and Scientific Authority regulate International Wildlife Trade in hummingbirds and other CITES-listed species, to ensure that such trade is not detrimental to the survival of wild populations. Since listing, CITES trade records indicate that international trade in this species has been quite small – with fewer than 15 specimens shipped internationally – most of which were for scientific purposes. More information on the International Affairs Program.
8. Monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus)
This is a shared species, between Canada, the United States, and Mexico. Several U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Programs are involved in monarch butterfly conservation, including the National Wildlife Refuge System and the International Affairs Program.
Wildlife Without Borders - Mexico, a Regional program within the Division of International Conservation, has a Monarch Butterfly Program that has funded projects to conserve and restore monarch butterfly habitat through capacity building. Other projects have convened several international scientific meetings to focus on monarch butterfly conservation. Since 2001, Wildlife Without Borders - Mexico grants have provided over $550,000 for monarch butterfly conservation. Much of the work supported by these grants has focused on the Monarch Biosphere Reserve, which has trained over 2,000 local farmers in sustainable natural resource use, including reforestation, restoration, and ecotourism to protect the monarch’s wintering habitat in Mexico. Wildlife Without Borders has also provided over $160,000 for fruit bat (another important pollinator) conservation in the Mexico and Latin America and Caribbean regions. More information on the International Affairs Program.
12. Karner blue butterfly (Lycaeides melissa samuelis)
The Karner blue butterfly’s habitat currently ranges from New Hampshire to Minnesota. Their populations are only found in specialized habitats, such as oak savannas and pine barrens, where their larval food plant, the wild blue lupine (Lupinus perennis), is found.
General Information about the Karner blue butterfly.
This subspecies was listed as “endangered” under the Endangered Species Act by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) in 1992. The Service’s Endangered Species Program is responsible for indentifying, protecting and recovering endangered and threatened species. Endangered species are those that are in danger of becoming extinct. Threatened species are those that are likely to become endangered in the foreseeable future. The Endangered Species Program works in partnership with other Service programs, other agencies, and members of the public to solve conservation challenges and create opportunities to recover listed and at-risk species. Efforts to recover species include restoring and acquiring habitat, removing introduced animal predators or invasive plant species, conducting research, monitoring populations and breeding species in captivity and releasing them into their historic range. Find out more about efforts to recover the Karner blue butterfly or view the species profile.
|Last Updated: September 9, 2009| | <urn:uuid:796d7d73-f913-4ae7-b518-4921f14fb5ef> | {
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May 20, 2014
Mohs Hardness of 2 with a monoclinic crystal structure
Chrysocolla generally appears in clusters like grapes or in a crust. More often than not they are intergrown with Opal, Quartz, Malachite, Azurite and/or Turquoise.
When intergrown with Malachite and Turquoise, it is referred to as Elilat Stone. And when mingled with Quartz, it is referred to as Stellarite, which is an entirely different stone from Zoisite, which appears very similar. Gem Sillica is what Chrysocolla is known for in it’s gem state.
September 20, 2019
August 05, 2019
August 01, 2019 | <urn:uuid:6d3888dc-af57-48bf-a3c9-1f8aa7a7382d> | {
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Cold and Flu symptoms – Get information about symptoms of Cold and Flu, onlymyhealth.com is providing articles related to Cold and Flu symptoms.
Winter allergies are a result of the immune system going awry. These can take many shapes, from runny nose to nasal congestion, and from fatigue to rashes. Cold weather allergies are difficult to deal with but aren’t permanent.
Signs and Symptoms of Cold and Flu: The signs and symptoms of cold and flu vary as these two are different conditions. It is generally considered that flu is not as severe a condition as flu but you need to be wary of both. | <urn:uuid:095482dd-706c-4f71-91d5-93baa13c3659> | {
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Joel Paris, M.D.-The Journal
Monday, April 15, 2002
What is Borderline Personality Disorder? Personality disorders affect about 10% of the general population. This group of mental disorders is defined by maladaptive personality characteristics that have a consistent and serious effect on work and interpersonal relationships. DSM-IV defines ten categories of personality disorder. Of these, Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD) is the most frequent in clinical practice. BPD is also one of the most difficult and troubling problems in all of psychiatry. The term "borderline" is a misnomer. These patients were first described sixty years ago by psychoanalysts who noted they did poorly in treatment, and therefore theorized that this is a form of pathology lying on the border between psychosis and neurosis. Although we no longer believe that patients with BPD have an underlying psychosis, the name "borderline" has stuck. A much more descriptive label would be "emotionally unstable: personality disorder." The central feature of BPD is instability, affecting patients in many sectors of their lives. Thus, borderline patients show a wide range of impulsive behaviors, particularly those that are self destructive. They are highly unstable emotionally, and develop wide mood swings in response to stressful events. Finally, BPD may be complicated by brief psychotic episodes. Most often, borderline patients present to psychiatrists with repetitive suicidal attempts. We often see these patients in the emergency room, coming in with an overdose or a slashed wrist following a disappointment or a quarrel. Interpersonal relationships in BPD are particularly unstable. Typically, borderline patients have serious problems with boundaries. They become quickly involved with people, and quickly disappointed with them. They make great demands on other people, and easily become frightened of being abandoned by them. Their emotional life is a kind of rollercoaster. What Causes BPD? We are only beginning to understand the causes of BPD. As in most mental disorders, no single factor explains its development. Rather, multiple risk factors, which can be biological, psychological, or social, play a role in its etiology. The biological factors in BPD probably consist of inborn temperamental abnormalities. Impulsivity and emotional instability are unusually intense in these patients, and these traits are known to be heritable. Similar characteristics can also be found in the close relatives of patients with BPD. Research suggests that the impulsivity that characterizes borderline personality might be associated with decreased serotonin activity in the brain. The psychological factors in this illness vary a great deal. Some borderline patients describe highly traumatic experiences in their childhood, such as physical or sexual abuse. Others describe severe emotional neglect. Many borderline patients have parents with impulsive or depressive personality traits. However, some patients report a fairly normal childhood. Most likely, any of these scenarios is possible. Borderline pathology can arise from many different pathways. The social factors in BPD reflect many of the problems of modern society. We live in a fragmented world, in which extended families and communities no longer provide the support they once did. In contemporary urban society, children have more difficulty meeting their needs for attachment and identity. Those who are vulnerable to BPD may have a particularly strong need for an environment providing consistent expectations and emotional security. Most likely, BPD develops when all these risk factors are present. Children who are at risk by virtue of their temperament can still grow up perfectly normally if provided with a supportive environment. However, when the family and community cannot meet the special needs of children at risk, they may develop serious impulsivity and emotional instability. The Course of BPD Borderline personality disorder is an illness of young people, and usually begins in adolescence or youth. About 80% of patients are women. BPD is usually chronic, and severe problems often continue to be present for many years. About one out of ten patients eventually succeed in committing suicide. However, in the 90% who do not kill themselves, borderline pathology tends to "burn out" in middle age, and most patients function significantly better by the ages of thirty-five to forty. The mechanism for this improvement is unknown. However, other disorders associated with impulsivity, such as antisocial personality and substance abuse, also tend to burn out around the same age. The level of long term improvement in borderline patients varies a great deal. A minority will develop a successful career, marry happily, and recover completely. A minority will continue to be highly symptomatic into middle age. In the majority of cases, both impulsivity and emotional instability decline over time, and the patient is eventually able to function at a reasonable level. BPD can be very burdensome for the patient's family. It is particularly difficult to deal with suicidal threats and attempts. Parents often wonder if they are at fault for the patient's condition and patients sometimes blame their parents, and some therapists will agree with them. However, the scientific evidence does not justify the conclusion that the family carries the primary responsibility for the development of borderline personality disorder. The Treatment of BPD There is no specific or universal method of treatment for BPD. At times, drugs can take the edge off impulsive symptoms. For example, some patients do better with low dose neuroleptics. However, no psychopharmacological agent has any specific effect on the underlying borderline pathology. In spite of the association between impulsivity and low serotonin activity, specific serotonin reuptake inhibitors (such as fluoxetine) rarely produce a dramatic improvement. The mainstay of treatment for BPD has always been, and continues to be psychotherapy. However, because of their impulsivity, about two thirds of borderline patients drop out of treatment within a few months. Those patients who stay in therapy will usually improve slowly over time. The chaos that characterizes border line patients makes them difficult cases for therapists. A patient with BPD may be continuously suicidal for months or years. Moreover, many of the same problems that patients have with other people arise in their relationships with helping professionals. A number of different therapeutic methods have been tried with borderline patients. The largest clinical literature has come from psychoanalytically oriented therapists. Traditionally, psychotherapists focus on building a strong working alliance with the borderline patient. When the therapeutic relationship provides a safe haven, it is easier to work on developing better relationships with other people. Most of the work in psychotherapy consists of helping patients to be less impulsive, and to exercise better judgment in their management of their personal lives. In view of the frequency of reported childhood trauma in borderline patients, some therapists have suggested that BPD should be thought of as a form of post traumatic stress disorder. These clinicians tend to focus on uncovering negative events so as to help patients process them. However, there is no evidence that these methods are successful. In fact, there is some reason to suspect they can make patients worse, by focusing too much on the past, and not enough on the present. In addition, borderline patients can be particularly prone to develop false memories in psychotherapy. Recent research suggests that cognitive-behavioral therapy, which has developed methods targeting impulsivity and emotional instability, may be particularly appropriate for borderline patients. Studies of a behavioral treatment specifically developed for patients with BPD, "dialectical behavior therapy," indicate that this approach can bring suicidality under control within one year. However, we do not know whether this method provides an effective long term treatment for the disorder. BPD creates enormous suffering in those afflicted with it. Most patients describe a continuous state of emotional chaos, swinging from extremes of depression, anger, and anxiety. Borderline patients often need to feel suicidal in order to know that they can escape from their dysphoric feelings. The road to recovery in BPD is often long and difficult. However, borderline patients are often attractive and productive people. When treatment is successful, the patient, the therapist, and the family can all feel that it was well worth the trouble to see things through. We need to conduct more research on the causes of BPD in order to develop more rational methods of treatment. In the future, we will probably have methods of pharmacotherapy and psychotherapy specifically designed for this challenging patient population. In the meantime, the best hope for most patients consists of linking up with a good therapist. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Joel Paris, M.D. | <urn:uuid:dfe421d1-fbbe-4217-b053-238e8e05c683> | {
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(Phys.org)—In bulk, topological insulators (TIs) are good insulators, but on their surface they act as metals, with a twist: the spin and direction of electrons moving across the surface of a TI are locked together. TIs offer unique opportunities to control electric currents and magnetism, and new research by a team of scientists from China and the U.S., working with Berkeley Lab's Alexei Fedorov at beamline 12.0 at the Advanced Light Source, points to ways to manipulate their surface states.
Graphene, a single layer of carbon atoms, shares an intriguing property with TIs. In both, their band structures – the energies at which electrons flow freely in a conduction band or are bound to atoms in a valence band – are quite unlike the overlapping bands of metals, the widely separated bands of insulators, or a semiconductor's narrow energy gap between bands. In graphene and TIs, conduction and valence bands form cones that meet at a point, the Dirac point.
Here their resemblance ends. Graphene's perfect cones give only a sketchy view of the real band structure: a deviation from perfectly straight lines shows up when all possible interactions of electrons on their way across the carbon-atom lattice are included – a process called "renormalization." Renormalizing the electronic states near the Dirac point (in other words, drawing the tips of the cones) requires understanding the collective behavior of numerous electrons and positively charged holes (absences of electrons, also known as quasiparticles).
Renormalization has been observed in graphene, but not in TIs – until now, and doing it took a trick. The researchers studied different TI compounds using angle-resolved photoemission spectroscopy (ARPES) at beamline 12.0, which has the unique ability to image electronic band structures directly. They took spectra of two promising topological insulators, bismuth telluride and bismuth selenide.
TIs have two sets of band structures, echoing the difference between their bulk and surface properties, and when ARPES imaged the sample compounds "naked," the bulk bands obscured the surface cones and Dirac points. But after layering films of pure bismuth, which is also a TI, onto the compounds, the pesky bulk bands vanished.
In one layered compound, bismuth on bismuth telluride, ARPES dramatically revealed the Dirac point—in fact two of them. Two sets of converging lines showed up, one meeting at the apex of bismuth telluride's surface valence band and the other at a higher energy. A bright vertical line connected the tips of the two cones.
If the cones were really separated, the charged particles between them would have infinite velocity. But after analysis, the researchers determined that the ARPES spectrum was a hybrid, and that the tell-tale vertical line originated from many-body interactions that were the sign of the infinity-blocking renormalization they were seeking.
What makes many-body interactions difficult to detect in TIs is that, unlike graphene, their surface band structures are spin polarized, or "helical." By hybridizing two especially well matched TIs and skewing their Dirac cones, the hidden renormalization has been found – in at least one TI structure.
Explore further: Tiny carbon nanotube pores make big impact
More information: www.pnas.org/content/early/201… /1218104110.abstract | <urn:uuid:65cad774-f8ef-46e3-86fa-a808585111df> | {
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Do you want to change the world? Take the first step by learning about humane education and how it could transform education.
In June, approximately three million students will graduate from public U.S. high schools, and even though they will have all passed their No Child Left Behind tests year after year, most will not be ready for what awaits them. While they may be verbally, mathematically, and technologically literate and successful at meeting the requirements of our educational system, even our highest-performing graduates will be unprepared for the important roles they must play in today’s world.
This generation of graduates will be confronted with escalating, interrelated, global problems, such as climate change, growing extinction rates, economic instability, a looming energy crisis, human trafficking, slavery, poverty, institutionalized systems of cruelty toward one trillion animals annually, and the oppression and abuse of women and girls across the globe, to name just some. Yet few will have learned in school how to approach and solve such systemic problems, and even though there are plenty of people already working on these and other issues, the systems in place that perpetuate them are entrenched. We need to create better, sustainable, and restorative systems in a host of arenas from food production and energy to transportation and financial markets.
To change these entrenched systems, we need people to have the knowledge, tools, and motivation to be conscientious, engaged, and wise choice makers and change makers. Where will such people come from? If we commit to changing just one of our most deeply entrenched systems — schooling — we can set the stage for the unfolding of timely systemic changes throughout a range of other systems. To do this, I believe that we must embrace a new and bigger purpose for education: to graduate a generation of solutionaries. This is the goal of humane education, which is both an approach to teaching and a body of knowledge. Humane education is founded upon the belief that human rights, environmental preservation, and animal protection are integral aspects of a just, peaceful, and healthy world and that we are all capable of and responsible for creating such a world.
Log in or become a member to read more! | <urn:uuid:8f0f20db-e4f6-4831-86fc-9b04f2b3b4d7> | {
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Return to Kansas Map
For specific kinds of Kansas literature, see:
Children and Young Adult
Crime and Outlaw
Mystery and Detective
Race and Immigrant
Small Towns in Kansas Novels
E. W. Howe (1853-1937), editor of the Atchison Globe, published The Story of a Country Town (1883) to much critical acclaim. Although he did not start the rush of literature that skewers the American small town (Sinclair Lewis’ Main Street is probably the best-known and most lasting example of that vitriol), he was certainly important. Like his friend H.L. Mencken, Howe did not have a high opinion of humanity, and his later novels, including The Mystery of the Locks (1885), A Man Story (1888) and An Ante-Mortem Statement (1891) are pessimistic, misogynistic, and downright depressing to read. Howe’s daughter, Mateel Howe Farnham (1883-1957), followed in her father’s footsteps, and her first novel, Rebellion (1927), is about the difficulties of a daughter living with a depressed, authoritative and demanding father. The book was published to critical acclaim, and admired by E.W. Howe himself, yet right after its publication, he cut Mateel from his will.
Joseph Stanley Pennell (1903-1963), whose family settled Junction City, wrote The History of Rome Hanks and Kindred Matters (1944) set in the fictional Fork City. His scathing indictment: “But what sort of people squatted in Fork City anyway? They all sold each other wheat and bacon and corn and beef and farm machinery and squeaky shoes; they all talked in the same Goddamned flat, nasal voice about the same Goddamned trivial things day-in-day-out year-after-year …” He followed this book with The History of Nora Beckham, A Museum of Home Life (1948).
Salt of the Earth (1941), by Kenneth Kitch (pseud. Victor Holmes, b. 1907), with an introduction by William Allen White, treats small town Grand City from the point of view of a country editor who writes about its denizens—preacher, lawyer, doctor, bum—in the early part of the 20th century.
William Motter Inge (1913-1973), Independence, captures small town life in the 1920s in his four plays set in the region. (See DRAMA)
Kenneth S. Davis (1912-1999), in The Year of the Pilgrimage (1948) and Morning in Kansas (1952), dives beneath the surface of the small towns he calls Beecher and New Boston. This is a watered down, early 20th century Kansas: “But the blood of Kansas is thin now, water of an indifferent kidney, too feeble to serve as seed for any church. The wild-eyed idealists are dead now and their inheritance is dissipated among the earnest advocates of petty prohibitions. The shriveled carcasses of mighty dreams have been shoveled under the sunflowers by Alf of the Balanced Budget and King Arthur of the Farm Bloc, yes, and the Topeka Bureau of the Kansas City Star (not a newspaper, by God, but an institution).” Davis and others often acknowledge the vivid past of Kansas, even use it to criticize the present. Yet the bland present always seems to hold Faulkner-esque secrets, deformities and passions.
Harveyville, Kansas, during the Depression and Dust Bowl forms the backdrop of The Persian Pickle Club (1995) by Sandra Dallas (b. 1939). A murder has occurred, and it takes the persistence and community of a club of women to solve the case.
Daryl Henderson (b. 1941), in Ditch Valley (1972), writes a series of interconnected stories set from the 1930s to the 1970s and centered on a single mother trying to leave the small town, with its narrow attitudes and ideas. Henderson, from Ashland, attended the University of Iowa Writers Workshop.
Edwin Moses (c. 1945), in One Smart Kid (1982) captures 1950s Kansas. When a stranger comes to Fox Creek, Kansas, suspicions abound, even about Marvin Hollowell, the novel's thirteen year-old narrator. The book dramatizes the troubles that ensue when McCarthy-ism strikes the heart of America.
Jim Lehrer (b. 1934), finds charm in the Kansas small town. His Kick the Can (1988) is about One-Eyed Mack, who, blinded by a childhood game of Kick the Can, is unable to pursue his dream of following his father's profession to be a state trooper. Instead, he opts for more wayward adventure. This picaresque by PBS news anchor and Kansas native, Jim Lehrer, explores the sensibilities and politics of the Midwest during the 1950s.
Max Yoho (b. 1934), both humorous and insightful, was voted a favorite Kansas read by the Kansas Center for the Book. His The Revival (2001) takes a look at small-town religion, his Moon Butter Route (2006) a look at the Kansas love-hate relationship to its years and years of Prohibition.
Scott Heim (b. 1966) grew up in Hutchinson and went to the University of Kansas. His Mysterious Skin (1995) is the only novel of growing up homosexual in Kansas, and provides a view of what it means to be unique in sexual preference, neighborhood, taste and experience in a state so often seen as quintessentially, even relentlessly “normal.”
The Slow Air of Ewan MacPherson (2003), by Thomas Fox Averill (b. 1949) brings Scotland to Kansas in the small town of Glasgow during the 1970s and ‘80s Part coming of age, part love story, part tale of immigration, the novel shows the best and worst of the Kansas small town.
Laura Moriarty (b. 1970), in The Center of Everything (2003), captures the small town of the 1980s, not only the difficulties it presents for a single mother, but the hope of young people in education to find opportunities outside the narrow choices allowed in the small town environment.
The novel of education, most often set in the small town, has a long tradition. Two important contributions, discussed in Race and Immigrant Literature, are: Not Without Laughter, by Langston Hughes, and The Learning Tree, by Gordon Parks. | <urn:uuid:9ad16f2d-a160-423a-9283-7a66665fb732> | {
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Throughout time, cats have been taken into homes, as well as barns and even retail stores, for their hunting deftness, and specifically for their mouse-killing abilities. (After all, the cat vs. mouse is probably the most popular predator-prey pairing, immortalized in idioms and cartoons from all over the world.) Tiny in size and lacking flight abilities, which limits the possibility of counterattack or escape, mice are present in cats’ diet simply because they are an easy prey.
The same goes for flies, moths, cockroaches, grasshoppers, spiders, and anything else that happens to wander inside your house. Cats love to chase (and sometimes kill) pretty much anything that creeps, crawls, or scurries before their eyes. They are born with natural hunting instincts, and many homeowners rely on them to chase and catch vermin on their property. However, allowing them to put their natural instincts to use may not only be ineffective at stopping a rodent infestation, but can actually encourage more pests into your home.
Because continuing education and training for both pest management professionals and building managers is essential to protecting against the ever-increasing pest pressures in all building projects, Greenleaf, a leading pest management company serving the Greater Toronto Area and surrounding regions, has developed a new training course, “Integrated Pest Management Plans for All Facilities, Including LEED®,” now available online here.
Ongoing food-poisoning outbreaks and concerns in Canada, occurring at rates higher even than in the U.S., on the one hand, and increased awareness of the adverse effects pesticides have on the environment, on the other hand, has prompted Greenleaf to raise awareness on the importance of establishing Integrated Pest Management (IPM) plans for all facilities, including LEED® building projects. The course, a comprehensive 1-hour program addressing PMPs, developers, building owners, management staff and contractors, provides an overview of how IPM suppresses pest populations in a cost-effectively and environmentally-friendly way for all types of facilities.
The majority of people eating in a restaurant would go back to eating their meal after a fly touched and contaminated it, but almost no one would touch their food after seeing a cockroach crawling on it. The same kind of attitude is seen in staff and managers in the food-processing industry (“It’s just a fly, wave it away”), and it can cost them their business.
When the authorities shut down a local restaurant or a food processing unit, it’s usually because of rodents or cockroaches – seldom is the “innocuous” fly the reason a restaurant goes out of business. And yet, according to entomologists, filth-breeding flies (a term referring to several species of true flies of the order Diptera, including the four subspecies of Musca domestica, the house fly) are at least twice as filthy as cockroaches.
Due to their abundance (uncontrolled, they would cover the whole planet 18 inches deep in just one season), their close association with people, and their ability to transmit disease, filth flies are considered a bigger threat to human welfare than most other household or commercial pests.
Did you ever wonder how pests like rodents, termites, spiders, ants, and biting insects manage to set up residence in your house before your very eyes? Some of them get inside the same way you do – through the front door, while others enter your home by hitching a ride on things you bring from the outside, such as boxes, lumber, or plants. For a great number of pests, however, the most common entry routes are cracks and crevices leading up to the crawl space.
The crawlspace is the underside of your home, an area built between the ground level and the bottom of the house, creating a permanent foundation and used in place of a basement. (Many buildings, especially commercial establishments, have a crawl space between some of the walls.) Its primary purpose is to facilitate air circulation through the structure and allow easy access to plumbing and electrical systems.
Maybe the trail of ants munching on your lunch leftovers or the co-worker complaining about itchy bites is not that big of deal to you. Even if we spend much of our waking days at work, the workplace doesn’t feel personal, and you may be inclined to think that pests in the office are simply a minor discomfort you shouldn’t be too concerned about.
The reality is that pest control at the office is an important part of pest control at home.Click To Tweet
When pests set up residence in your office, they can easily hitch a ride home with you inside your briefcase or on top of your clothes. Two of the most loathsome pests, the German cockroach and bed bugs, are known as resourceful hitchhikers that can easily find their way into any area that provides them with food and water sources – and that includes your home, as well. | <urn:uuid:3008fabe-d909-4349-b99d-2d3dde8560fb> | {
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April 3, 2014
Properly setting up the tooling on a tube or pipe bender can be a straightforward process, but misunderstandings and shortcuts can lead to poor setups. The wiper die’s rake angle is one such setting. Operators should beware that setting the tool to a specific gap at its trailing edge can lead to inconsistent setups.
The mechanical aspects of rotary draw tube bending haven’t changed since modern tooling was developed more than five decades ago. The machines have become much more complex and tooling is available in a greater variety of alloys, but their roles haven’t changed. The machine’s role is to advance and hold the workpiece and control the tooling; the various tools work together to make repeatable, high-quality bends.
While no tooling component is more important than any other, likewise none is less important than any other. Each requires proper attention to how it is set up to ensure the best possible bend. Although the wiper die’s purpose might not be obvious, it prevents two types of bending defect when set properly.
At first blush the wiper die is a simple tool. Often the wiper is a solid block machined to fit the gap between the bend die and the back tangent of the tube. Frequently the wiper die is an uncomplicated, two-piece assembly in which the leading edge is a disposable insert.
The essential element of wiper die design is the feathered edge—the knifelike edge formed by the convergence of the tube cavity with the sweep of the radius face. The rest of the tool is nothing but mass to support the feathered edge and provide sufficient surface area for mounting it to the machine.
The wiper die serves two functions in the rotary draw process. The first is to prevent a hump from forming at the trailing end of the inside radius of the tube bend. As the tube is drawn into the bend, it becomes plasticized at the point of bend. The plasticized material behind the line of tangency flows into the curve of the bend die cavity sweeping away from the back tangent of the tube. Upon completion of the draw, if this deformation exceeds the elasticity of the tubing material, it will set as a hump, or a series of small humps, at the end of the bend. Fixturing a wiper die in the gap between the bend die and the tube stops the deformation by blocking the flow of the material.
Because all tubing materials have some elasticity—that is, the property of resuming its original shape when stress is relieved—it is not necessary to fixture a wiper so that it fills the entire gap to prevent a terminal hump from forming. A wiper can be raked, meaning the feathered edge is angled away from the line of tangency, to block the flow of material only before it passes the point of elasticity (see Figure 1). This lengthens the wiper’s service life. A wiper set at no rake blocks the flow of all the material, and the resulting friction accelerates wear.
However, raking a wiper die to extend its life can be at odds with its second function: full containment of the tubing material at the point of bend when bending under high pressure. High radial pressure as applied by the pressure die is not necessary in most draw bending applications if the mandrel nose is used aggressively, but high pressures are necessary for exceptionally hard materials such as 304 stainless steel, titanium, or even mild steel on an extremely tight centerline radius. These materials resist the compression that occurs as the intrados thickens during the draw. If the flow of material is not completely contained by tooling at the point of bend (the mandrel, the pressure die over the outside radius of the bend, the bend die over the inside radius ahead of the line of tangency, and the wiper also over the inside radius behind it), compression will buckle the tube.
Therefore, the tubing material (and to a lesser extent the bend specifications) dictates whether a wiper can be raked. These factors also dictate the tool’s geometry, because a feathered edge designed to be raked for low-pressure bending will not perform well at zero rake under high pressure, and vice versa.
Although some high-pressure bending applications do not tolerate any wiper rake, the wiper should be set up with as much rake as possible to reduce drag on the tube and increase wiper life. Because the purpose of the wiper is to stop a terminal hump from forming on the inside radius upon the completion of the bend, the wiper needs to suppress only that amount of the height of the terminal hump that exceeds the tubing material’s point of elasticity. Raking the wiper extends its service life by reducing the force of the terminal hump against the feathered edge. Otherwise, at zero rake the feathered edge must suppress the entire height of the terminal hump, including that portion of its height that the tubing’s elasticity will reduce naturally on its own at the completion of the bend.
Material variations and other considerations mean that, in many cases, the wiper must be set to less than the ideal rake. For materials with little elasticity, especially stainless steels, this means zero rake. Such inelastic materials resist compression. Therefore, the plastic point-of-bend region of the intrados requires complete containment by tooling both ahead of the line of tangency and behind it. The bend die cavity and the wiper die cavity, when the wiper is set at zero rake, provide this containment.
Note that for high-pressure, zero-rake applications, solid-body wiper dies may be preferred to two-piece wipers. In either case, the feathered edge should be cut with offset geometry, sometimes called an aero-cut, instead of the standard simple-sweep geometry that accommodates raking.
Setting the Wiper Gap. Instead of an angle, rake often is expressed as a measure of the gap between the back edge of the wiper and the tube’s OD. However, expressing rake as this particular distance can be problematic.
First, it focuses the machine operator’s attention on the nonworking end of the wiper. Setting this gap at the correct distance is no guarantee that the wiper’s feathered edge is properly nested in the bend die cavity. Even if the feathered edge is in contact with the bend die cavity, it may not be in the correct position relative to the line of tangency.
Second, variations in wiper length result in variations in rake if this gap distance is held constant from one tool to the next. This may not affect bend quality if the result is less rake; the likely outcome is that the wiper won’t last as long. But, if the result is excessive rake, terminal humps can appear.
Setting the Wiper Angle. An alternative to using the gap is to use the distance between the line of tangency and the feathered edge. After the operator determines the proper rake angle, with the feathered edge properly nested in the bend die cavity, he takes a linear measurement between the feathered edge and the line of tangency along the circumference of the bend die cavity.
When the time comes to replace the wiper, the operator nests the new wiper’s feathered edge in the bend die cavity flush with the line of tangency. He then slowly rotates the wiper away from the line of tangency, maintaining secure contact between the feathered edge and the bend die cavity, until the feathered edge reaches the distance he measured initially.
By this means, the established rake for an application can be repeatedly set without regard to variations in wiper die design.
TPJ - The Tube & Pipe Journal® became the first magazine dedicated to serving the metal tube and pipe industry in 1990. Today, it remains the only North American publication devoted to this industry and it has become the most trusted source of information for tube and pipe professionals. Subscriptions are free to qualified tube and pipe professionals in North America. | <urn:uuid:d6b4d6fe-467b-4160-a3e8-6e60e744ad68> | {
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Treacher Collins Syndrome
National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc.
It is possible that the main title of the report Treacher Collins Syndrome is not the name you expected. Please check the synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and disorder subdivision(s) covered by this report.
- Treacher Collins-Franceschetti syndrome
- mandibulofacial dysostosis
- Franceschetti-Zwalen-Klein syndrome
Treacher Collins syndrome (TCS) is a rare genetic disorder characterized by distinctive abnormalities of the head and face area resulting from underdevelopment (hypoplasia) of certain facial structures including the jaw, cheekbones and nearby structures (zygomatic complex). Craniofacial abnormalities tend to involve the cheekbones, jaws, mouth, ears, and/or eyes. In addition to the various facial abnormalities, affected individuals may have malformations of the external ears and middle ear structures and eye (ocular) abnormalities including an abnormal downward slant to the opening between the upper and lower eyelids (palpebral fissures). Affected individuals may develop hearing loss and breathing (respiratory) difficulties. Furthermore, brain and behavioral anomalies such as microcephaly and psychomotor delay have also been occasionally reported as part of the condition. The specific symptoms and physical characteristics associated with TCS can vary greatly from one individual to another. Some individuals may have mild symptoms and go undiagnosed, while others may develop serious, life-threatening respiratory complications. TCS is caused by a mutation in the TCOF1, POLR1C or POLR1D genes. In the case of TCOF1 or POLR1D, the mode of inheritance is autosomal dominant, while in the case of POLR1C it is autosomal recessive.
TCS is named after Edward Treacher Collins, a London ophthalmologist who first described the disorder in the medical literature in 1900. TCS is also known as mandibulofacial dysostosis or Treacher Collins-Franceschetti syndrome.
Children's Craniofacial Association
13140 Coit Road
Dallas, TX 75240
FACES: The National Craniofacial Association
PO Box 11082
Chattanooga, TN 37401
Let's Face It
University of Michigan, School of Dentistry / Dentistry Library
1011 N. University
Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1078
P.O. Box 751112
Limekiln, PA 19535
American Society for Deaf Children
800 Florida Avenue NE
Washington, DC 20002-3695
Ear Anomalies Reconstructed: Atresia/Microtia Support Group
72 Durand Road
Maplewood, NJ 07040
NIH/National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders
31 Center Drive, MSC 2320
Bethesda, MD 20892-3456
Craniofacial Foundation of America
975 East Third Street
Chattanooga, TN 37403
Genetic and Rare Diseases (GARD) Information Center
PO Box 8126
Gaithersburg, MD 20898-8126
Atresia/Microtia Online E-mail Support Group
PO Box 241956
Los Angeles, CA 90024
Let Them Hear Foundation
1900 University Avenue, Suite 101
East Palo Alto, CA 94303
American Academy of Audiology
11730 Plaza America Drive, Suite 300
Reston, VA 20190
Cleft Lip and Palate Foundation of Smiles
2044 Michael Ave SW
Wyoming, MI 49509
For a Complete Report
This is an abstract of a report from the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD). A copy of the complete report can be downloaded free from the NORD website for registered users. The complete report contains additional information including symptoms, causes, affected population, related disorders, standard and investigational therapies (if available), and references from medical literature. For a full-text version of this topic, go to www.rarediseases.org and click on Rare Disease Database under "Rare Disease Information".
The information provided in this report is not intended for diagnostic purposes. It is provided for informational purposes only. NORD recommends that affected individuals seek the advice or counsel of their own personal physicians.
It is possible that the title of this topic is not the name you selected. Please check the Synonyms listing to find the alternate name(s) and Disorder Subdivision(s) covered by this report
This disease entry is based upon medical information available through the date at the end of the topic. Since NORD's resources are limited, it is not possible to keep every entry in the Rare Disease Database completely current and accurate. Please check with the agencies listed in the Resources section for the most current information about this disorder.
For additional information and assistance about rare disorders, please contact the National Organization for Rare Disorders at P.O. Box 1968, Danbury, CT 06813-1968; phone (203) 744-0100; web site www.rarediseases.org or email [email protected]
Last Updated: 5/24/2013
Copyright 1989, 1990, 1992, 1996, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2007, 2013 National Organization for Rare Disorders, Inc.
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India’s Coal Inferno
Champa’s eyes are surrounded by dark circles and her face is thin and drawn. It began with a fever, pain in her limbs, and she was then diagnosed with tuberculosis.
“I was diagnosed with TB two years ago now. I have been on medication but I am not getting any better. I have difficulty breathing and even talking is hard. It has been like this for five or six years – ever since the plant started, our problems have started too.”
Champa is not alone. She is one of millions of people in India whose health and lives are being blighted by the country’s surge in coal-based power generation.
170 gigawatts of new coal generation planned by 2022
India ranks third in the world in the production of carbon dioxide and is burning more coal than ever before, with 66% of power generated by coal-fired thermal power plants.
Future plans are for massive expansion, with India’s 12th five-year plan ending 2017 adding 76GW of coal-fired power capacity. The 13th five-year plan, ending in 2022, aims to add another 93GW.
This is a colossal programme – equivalent to more than three times the UK’s entire peak power demand. It represents a response to an increasing population, a growing middle class hungry for modernity – and an energy policy that holds coal power as integral to the development of the country’s economy.
100,000 premature deaths a year
But as India pursues its aggressive path of coal-powered industrialisation, its leaders are showing themselves willing to sacrifice millions of people and huge swathes of the country to a dark and uncertain future.
According to the The Lancet’s Global Burden of Diseases Study outdoor air pollution – arising from power stations, other industry, transport, and domestic fuel burning for heat and cooking – is already among the top ten causes of death in India.
And while air quality and other environmental regulations do exist in India, they are rarely enforced. Sarath Guttikunda, chemical engineer and director at Urban Emissions New Delhi, believes them to be far weaker than in other countries:
“In India we do have ambient air quality standards … But what we have found is that these regulations lag behind the numbers that we have seen in Europe, United States and even in China, and there is a lot of room for improvement.”
In the first ever report focussing on the health impacts of the coal industry in India, scientists estimate that in 2011-2012, air pollution from coal-fired power plants alone was responsible for 80,000-115,000 premature deaths.
Diseases caused by the pollution include 20.9 million asthma attacks, bronchitis and other severe respiratory conditions, and cardiovascular disease. These health impacts are estimated to cost India $3.3 billion to $4.6 billion per year in medical expenses and lost work days.
India’s ‘energy capital’ – Singrauli
Singrauli, known as the “energy capital” of the country, is the industrial hub of north-central India. Straddling Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh, it produces 10% of the country’s coal-fired power.
Singrauli was once covered in forest and rich agricultural land, but the region’s coal lies underneath these forests, and they are being cleared at an alarming rate. Endangered species are pushed further towards extinction – and tribal communities are swept aside to make way for the energy juggernaut.
Priya Pillai, Senior Campaigner for Greenpeace India has worked in the area for over three years. ”There are nine thermal power plants and eleven operational mines, and this is concentrated in one district. That’s the Singrauli region, and it’s because of this that you’ll find the large number of cases of asthma, of tuberculosis, of skin diseases, of cancer.”
The landscape is one of industrial devastation and critical levels of pollution, recently rated the third most polluted industrial cluster in the country by the comprehensive environmental pollution index. Air, water and soil have all been affected.
The open cast mines that scar the landscape resemble vast craters, streaked black with coal and trimmed green at the edges with what is left of the rapidly dwindling forest. Huge dump trucks and cranes appear miniature in the distance, barely visible through the poisonous haze.
Milky white stagnant ash ponds hold the by-product of the industry, fly ash. Black spiky stalks of dead foliage poke out of the sludge, testament to its toxicity.
Experts warn of acute health problems related to coal and the ash that it produces, conaining toxic heavy metals including mercury, arsenic, lead, nickel, barium and even radioactive substances such as uranium or thorium.
Man-made mountains of mining wastes, excavated and dumped, gradually bury entire villages. Coal-filled train bunkers and conveyor belts, some as long as 25km, snake from the mines to thermal power plants.
The towering stacks dominate the skyline, looming over settlements and pumping out smoke which can spread its pollution as far as 400 km away, choking communities below. The air is permanently clouded, limiting visibility. The smell and taste of coal dominate the senses.
Chilika Dand, in the Sonebhadra district of Singrauli, Uttar Pradesh, is one of the most critically affected communities. The village of around 12,000 people is surrounded by multiple power plant stacks emitting putrid smoke, and overlooked by a fully operational open-cast mine just 50 meters away.
There is a constant industrial hum of engines revving and the scrape of metal on stone. Twice daily explosive blasts, and the subsequent patter and thud of debris, are more reminiscent of the sounds of war than of development. Few of the concrete rehabilitation blocks escape cracked walls due to tremors from the blasts.
A railway line and road are both dedicated to carrying coal. Villagers claim that at night, filters are removed from the stacks, and ash falls and settles on rooftops like toxic snow. Many of them have been moved, often forcibly, numerous times to make way for the industry that has destroyed their lives.
Manonit G Ravi, an activist and resident of Chilika Dand shouts over the noise of engines to make himself heard: ”The entire village vibrates with the blasts. Sometimes they are so big and loud, people run out of their houses thinking there might be an earthquake.”
Sanitation is desperate, as the allocated plots leave little room for toilets. In summer, asphyxiating dust fills the air, and in winter and rainy seasons, there is a constant septic sludge underfoot. The smell, a mix of human and animal excrement, combined with acrid industrial pollution makes the air gritty, stinging eyes and making breathing a struggle.
Disease is rife
Residents of Chilika Dand say that illness and disease is rife in the community, with cancer, kidney failure, diabetes, vitiligo (the blanching of skin through pigment loss), hair loss and psychosis widespread.
These disease are all linked to contaminated water, coal ash, particles in the air, and the abnormally high levels of mercury present in the environment. Coal fired power stations are one of the main ways that mercury is released into the environment.
The World Health Organization states that even minimal exposure to mercury may cause health problems, including neurological damage to unborn fetuses and children. The heavy metal is considered ”one of the top ten chemicals or groups of chemicals of major public health concern.”
Siraj Un Nissa, a resident of Chilika Dand and mother of eight has Vitiligo. Her hands, arms and mouth are blanched, and her whole body is patchy where pigment has been lost.
“I have been sick for the past eight years … The dust is making it hard for us to live here. No electricity. We get it for one hour and it’s gone. We don’t have a proper house to live in, just a makeshift shelter. We don’t have anything. No one cares about the poor.”
Buried under mine waste
Jharia, in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, has almost disappeared. The remote village is being buried under waste from a nearby mine opened by Reliance in 2006.
A thin sliver of green and around 30% of the population is all that remains of this forest-dwelling community of Harijan people, squashed against a sheer, slowly encroaching, man-made cliff of debris.
Children sit quietly on top of huge boulders, the result of an avalanche, and push bikes loaded up with coal, which they have collected and bagged up for sale, one of the few ways they manage to survive.
Visibility is very limited through the dust-filled air, and the sound of a man chopping wood is intermittently drowned out as dump trucks rumble past, kicking up dust and adding to the mountainous pile of rock, where the village used to be.
It never used to be like this
Bandhu Saket, resident of Jharia explains how their health has been affected by the mine:”My youngest grandson gets so unwell, his teeth start chattering and his eyes enlarge, it feels like he will not get better …
“It never used to be like this. Ever since the companies have come, since the vehicles have been driving back and forth, since the blasting has started, illness and disease have been spreading.
“They dump things in all directions and when it is summertime, with all the dust, one cannot see anything so how can you expect anything else but to get sick!”
Bandhu explains that they used to have a well that provided drinking water to the village, but the company filled it in, and they are now forced to drink what they can. ”Whatever we find in the drains or rainwater collected, that is what we drink.”
Manbasia, also from Jharia, is a mother of three. Supporting herself against a huge rock from the mine, she struggles to control the emotion in her voice, and speaks shakily of illness and disease in what is left of her community.
“I can’t see very well, my chest hurts, my feet don’t allow me to sit down or stand up … We have no one here to help or support us. If someone is dying, there is no one to look after them or save them. Who are we meant to turn to?”
Huge increases in mortality
Dr R. B. Singh has worked in the area for over 20 years, treating the local population in their homes, both in the small private practice that adjoins his home, and the Singrauli District Hospital next door.
A constant stream of patients waits outside his practice, all needing attention and treatment.
There has been a huge increase in death, sickness and disease ”since the time the new industries have come here and the coal mine belt has progressed”, he insists.
“The patients we see in our new Out Patients Department present themselves with skin diseases and lung diseases, bronchitis, asthma and silicosis”, he explains. ”And because of the contaminated drinking water, amebiasis and other abdominal ailments have increased.”
“I have come across bone cancer, mouth cancer, cervical cancer, breast cancer”, he adds.”All these are common here.” The bone cancers mostly occur in children, mouth cancers in adults.”
It’s a hospital – but where’s the medical equipment?
The District Hospital next door is in desperate need of facilities. A dilapidated shell with dark corridors, the maternity ward is splattered with blood and rainwater drips through cracks in the ceiling. A solitary brand new unit for premature babies looks oddly out of place.
There is no other medical equipment to be seen and a general sense of confusion and bewilderment prevails. Lights flicker on and off as the electricity supply fades in and out.
Wards are crowded but quiet, with beds full, people lying on the floor and an unmistakable shortage of staff. ”We have a problem with a lack of doctors as most of them qualify and go abroad. They do not want to work in these small places”, says Dr Singh.
Hearts and lungs
Sarath Guttikunda, Director at Urban Emissions, New Delhi is a chemical engineer and air pollution expert. ”When you are focusing on outdoor air pollution two things are really important – one is your lungs, and other is your heart.”
“Among the respiratory problems, the main one is asthma. People who are already suffering from asthma are obviously going to get affected even more, and children and older generation people – they are the ones that we see are getting affected the most.”
Ranjeet Singh, a primary school teacher in the area, says that sickness is rife in his pupils, with coughing and sneezing a constant sound in the classroom. Absenteeism is common due to ill health, and parents are deeply worried about their children.
“When I go to teach, there are 216 children. Out of those, if only 100 or 150 of them turn up, it makes us wonder why the children haven’t turned up.
“When we enquire, the child’s guardian tells us that their child has been unwell or that because we had to go to the hospital, they didn’t make it to school, or that for the past 15 days she’s been sick and lying in bed … These kind of problems come up a lot.”
A People betrayed
All over Singrauli, locals speak of sickness, their land and livelihoods being taken away, and promises of re-housing, education, employment and healthcare from the industry that haven’t materialized.
Rangeet Gupta is a local activist and youth worker living and working in the area. He says that after ”persistent reminding”, the industry has not delivered the services that it promised.
The resultis that proper healthcare, among other things, is only available to people who can afford it, or those who work for the industry.
“In this area of ours, there isn’t even a decent hospital … for the displaced community. They have nothing at all, no schools, no doctors, no hospital, no roads, not even an arrangement for hygiene and sanitation. They have just been abandoned.”
Champa, like so many others, has experienced this first-hand, buying her own medicine when she has the money to do so, and going without treatment when she can’t afford it.
“We receive no help from the people at the plant at all. Since the health problems started because of the plant, we have not been given so much as a single tablet by them or the government.”
The future looks even worse
As the health epidemic gets more critical, scientists, medical professionals and campaigners all predict that if India pushes forward with the planned expansion, and regulations remain unenforced, the consequences to human life will be even more devastating.
According to Sarath Guttikunda, pollution from the power plants operating in the area has caused close to 100,000 premature deaths. ”And if we are going to triple the number of power plants and don’t do anything about the regulations, we will at least triple this number.”
Doctor Singh warns that the atmosphere in Singrauli will be polluted ”to such a degree that it will not be viable to live here anymore.” Champa, Manbasia and their families, along with hundreds of thousands of other people, face a future of poverty, sickness and death with no means of escape.
“Now, with the dust and smoke bellowing, there are people getting sick”, says Manbasia.”And if you don’t have the money, like us, what do we do? Kill ourselves?”
Sarah Stirk is a film maker, reporter and photo-journalist with The Ecologist Film Unit.
This report originally appeared in the Ecologist. | <urn:uuid:7deb21c4-0b55-4e47-a19f-6da09a036770> | {
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- Published: March 31, 2009
Children's Institute: 10 Years of Championing Early Education
Video by Kate Raphael / Studio Kate
2013 MIYB Event: Keynote by Dr. Linda Darling-Hammond
Governor Kitzhaber accepts the Alexander Award
The Time Has Come - An introduction to Early Works
Governor Kitzhaber addresses national audience in Washington DC
Pre-Kindergarten - 3rd Grade: A New Beginning for American Education
Could you pass the marshmallow test? See how it works in this new video from Mind in the Making.
Urgency of Now
Building a better society means fostering human potential."A large and convincing body of research in psychology, economics and neuroscience points to the importance of the early years in producing successful outcomes for advantaged children and in accounting for the social pathologies found among disadvantaged children." ~ James J. Heckman, University of Chicago
What's the 'Rate of Return' on social skills? - James Heckman
Economist James Heckman links "soft skills" such as perseverance, attention, motivation, and self-confidence to "success in society at large.
The Importance of Early Childhood Development: Harriet Meyer
Harriet Meyer testifies before a congressional committee on March 17, 2009. Meyer is president of the Ounce of Prevention Fund and Co-chair of the Illinois Early Learning Council.
This short, documentary-style video follows five children through a year in their high-quality pre-kindergarten classroom, showing what they learn along the way.
James Heckman speaks with NPR Radio: Early Education Makes All the Difference
Barack Obama talked with The Des Moines Register editorial board about his ideas to strengthen early childhood education on June 18, 2007. | <urn:uuid:5c138b15-28bc-4b0c-95a0-660aab5da9af> | {
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By Yogendra Jain
Death can happen at any time. If you were on a plane that was about to crash and had no hope of surviving, what would your last thoughts be? Besides getting into a safer position in your seat, would you remember your family, your life, or the possibility of an afterlife?
The art of living well is prescribed by almost all religions, but Jainism goes a step further. Jainism teaches the art of dying well. The Buddhist monk Bhikkhu Jagdish Kashyap once said, "I have learnt many things from Buddhism, but I have to learn the art of dying peacefully from Jainism." The same ideas were expressed by the Gandhian thinker, Vinoba Bhave, who actually chose to die the Jain way.
In Jainism, the spiritual ritual of dying is known as sallekhana. In old age or a terminal illness, a person practicing sallekhana gradually withdraws from food, medicine, and any other attachments in a manner that does not disrupt inner peace and dispassionate mindfulness. Prayers and scriptures then prepare the person for their passing.
Such a practice is controversial in the West because of discomfort with the decision to control a person's own death. In some Judeo-Christian traditions, choosing to die is considered a sin. This taboo practice is common among Jain nuns and monks, though, and some lay people have followed it, as well.
Jains believe that the soul is a living entity and the body is not. Death marks the transition of this soul from the current body to another, which is reincarnation. Because of this move from one body to the next, Jainism asks that death be embraced rather than feared. It must be considered in a manner similar to changing clothes or moving into a new house.
Dissimilar to suicide, which is often a result of a passionate reaction to something, a person undertaking sallekhana is calm, dispassionate, and aware. Such a person is not eager to meet death but is willing to face it with grace and self-control.
Among Jains, preparing for death starts early and is thought about frequently. One Jain prayer says, "I came in this world alone and will leave alone. That is the nature of human life; even kings and ministers and most powerful people will die one day." This is stated in many religions in one way or another. In the Christian Bible, for example, it says: "All go to the same place; all come from the dust, and all to the dust must return" (Ecclesiastes 3:20).
Another reflection in Jain texts reads:
"I love my family, friends, and this wonderful life. Now it is time for me to detach myself from them and my possessions. Having a human life was a great opportunity. I will strive to take birth as a human again and continue my spiritual growth. I must give up my negative passions of jealousy, anger, greed, ego, and deceit."
Every day, Jains say "Micchami dukkadam" to all living beings they come across. This phrase means: "May all living being forgive me for any harm I may have done to them, intentionally or unintentionally." These are also some of the last words a Jain will say when on their deathbed.
Before the advent of modern science, the time and cause of death were often unknown. Advances in medicine now give a terminally ill person the opportunity to predict when death is approaching, narrowing it down to months, weeks, days, or even hours.
When this "window of death" is clear, we can practice sallekhana in order to transition to the next life in a spiritual and peaceful way. The first step is to become free from attachments -- more specifically, to renounce all attachment to family, home, and possessions.
At this point, the person vows deeper practice of the three principles of Jainism: non-violence, non-absolutism, and non-possessiveness. They pray for forgiveness for any violence committed in this life.
The second and final step is, with the support of family, a doctor, and a spiritual guide, to give up food gradually and become immersed in prayers and hymns. The dying person asks family to join them in prayer and to avoid any emotional outbursts that may make it difficult to let go.
As humans, we will all face death one day. As a Jain, I know how I will take that journey when the time comes. Each tradition has its own way of preparing for death, and it's important to considering it during your life. In fact, considering how you will prepare for death before it arrives often gives you more appreciation for being alive.
Yogendra Jain is a technologist, a serial entrepreneur, and a passionate practitioner and promoter of the Jain way of life. He started his career at MIT Lincoln Labs and Texas Instruments before founding and operating several successful companies. | <urn:uuid:dddc4bf2-5c93-4421-9a30-ae4ddfb7fa75> | {
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Download Complete Bulletin (3.9 MB)
With descriptions, illustrations and notes on seven common soils.
Number of Pages
Esperance region (WA), Soil classification, Soil types (lithological), Land capability, Western Australia
Agriculture | Earth Sciences | Environmental Sciences | Natural Resources Management and Policy | Soil Science
Stoneman, T C, Overheu, T D, Muller, P G, and National Soil Conservation Program (Australia). (1990), An introduction to the soils of the Esperance advisory district. Department of Agriculture and Food, Western Australia, Perth. Bulletin 4230.
Files over 3MB may be slow to open. For best results, right-click and select "save as..." | <urn:uuid:43db60e5-5ef9-49a1-9191-d7256d656463> | {
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When Curiosity, NASA’s one-ton, nuclear-powered robot landed safely on Mars earlier this month, after a 352 million-mile journey from Cape Canaveral, a cheer went up at Mission Control that was echoed around the world. Suddenly, after decades of idle talk about human colonies in outer space, there seemed a real chance of escaping our overcrowded, over-polluted planet.
“There are people living now who will walk on Mars,” declared Lord Rees, Britain’s Astronomer Royal. “Moreover, a century or two from now, small groups of intrepid adventurers may be living there quite independently from Earth.” And so they may. But while stargazers draw up plans for a new home across the galaxy, there are hundreds of people — entrepreneurs, engineers, architects and scientists — who are already working on incredible alternatives to conventional towns and cities here on Earth.
One of the most radical ideas is to build vast numbers of “superskyscrapers”. Far taller than conventional skyscrapers, these buildings will gradually come to dominate cities, from London to Moscow, and house millions of people who currently live in the countryside or the suburbs.
Some superskyscrapers already exist; Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, a 2,723ft “vertical odyssey”, features 900 apartments and 144 “Armani Residences” on 163 floors. But plans are already underway to build towers that will dwarf this, including the 7,900ft Dubai City Tower, and the X-Seed 4000, in Tokyo, which will stretch a staggering 2.5 miles into the air, and house a million people. Other architects are turning the skyscraper on its head. Take the pioneering design for Earthscraper, a 65-storey, 984ft inverted pyramid under Mexico City, with a hole in the middle to let in daylight; or Above Below, a 900ft structure destined for a disused copper mine in the Arizona desert.
Eric Howeler, the author of Skyscraper: Vertical Now, cites Hong Kong, where most people live in 50-storey buildings, in the city centre, as a blueprint for the future.
“It’s a great model,” he says. “It has the lowest per capita consumption of gasoline [and] the highest per capita use of public transport. People will have to shed this idea that they deserve their own car and their own lawn.”
And it’s not just people who’ll be re-housed. Architects are working on incredible “vertical farms”; 30-storey towers where crops normally grown in fields would instead be grown in “greenhouses” stacked on top of each other. These could theoretically produce the same amount of food as a 2,400-acre field every year. Last year, Dickson Despommier, the American microbiologist who devised the concept, visited Manchester to endorse Alpha Farm, a prototype vertical farm planned for an unused office block in Wythenshaw.
High upfront costs have stalled the Alpha Farm project, but there’s a bigger problem faced by anyone planning a super-tall structure: the wind.
“Buildings move, although we don’t like to talk about it,” says Dr. John Roberts, the principal engineer of the London Eye. For every height rise, there is an exponential increase in a skyscraper’s tendency to sway, and, even with 100-ton dampers as stabilizers, the swaying eventually becomes intolerable. Which, in Roberts’ opinion, makes some of the tallest projects nothing more than pies in the sky.
It rises from the ocean, looking like the lair of a James Bond villain. Two hundred miles from land, the awestruck mariner sees a steel and glass structure held high above the waves by giant pillars.
Drawing closer, he can see houses, offices, hotels and parkland behind the curved glass and he realizes, with astonishment, that people are living here. This is a “seastead”; a settlement on the sea, and, its supporters believe, the ideal home for people who want to alleviate overcrowding on land and build a better society from scratch, away from the jurisdiction of nation-states.
The idea’s founding father is Patri Friedman, 36, the grandson of the Nobel-winning economist Milton Friedman. A former software engineer for Google, Friedman abandoned his job in 2008 to create the Seasteading Institute, based — perhaps inevitably — in San Francisco, with the express objective of raising funds to research and, eventually, build a network of seasteads around the globe and to “experiment with diverse social, political, and legal systems.”
The idea sounds fanciful, but it has garnered support from some very serious people, the most prominent of whom is Peter Thiel, the billionaire founder of PayPal, who has donated $1.25 million to Friedman’s institute.
In turn, the institute has sponsored highly acclaimed marine engineers to overcome the considerable technical challenges of its ideas, and lawyers to investigate the possibility of setting up a genuinely self-governing mini-state out at sea.
The institute is aiming to start with a floating holiday resort. Weighing 20,000 tons, with 90,000 square feet of open recreational space, the so-called “Clubstead” will contain a luxury hotel and casino, and would be fitted with thrusters powered by four diesel engines, so it can move location.
Friedman hopes to launch Clubstead by the end of the decade. However, he admits there are considerable obstacles to overcome. Any structure so far out at sea would have to withstand huge waves. Even oil platforms, which are built to resist rugged waters, bob up and down and make people seasick.
What’s more, a seastead for 200 people would cost around $220 million to build, so residents would have to be rich, but not care about luxuries like personal space and unrationed water.
“The ocean is expensive to build on, so we must economize on space,” says Friedman. “Early seastead adopters will care more about a new society than [having] as much water as they want.”
Closer to realization are other water-based settlements. Hydro Properties, in Surrey, is developing plans for Britain’s first floating housing estate. Built on a concrete-and-air pontoon, the complex comprises 16 town houses and 48 apartments, costing between pounds 550,000 and pounds 750,000, and connected to land by short gang planks. If successful, it could pave the way for many more homes on flood plains and inland waterways.
It could also solve huge housing problems and save thousands of lives in countries like the Netherlands and Bangladesh, where people live under the constant threat of floods.
Koen Olthius, a Dutch architect who specializes in floating cities, has designed a platform made from plastic bottles that will support urban homes in Bangladesh. He is also working on a city for 120,000 people in southern China.
Artificial oasis: The Eco-City
Rising from the desert, just 10 miles from the skyscrapers of Abu Dhabi, is a development that borders on the revolutionary. Masdar City promises to be the world’s most technologically advanced eco-city: 40,000 citizens living in the world’s first zero-carbon, zero-waste metropolis.
On top of city HQ, 15,590 solar panels will form one of the largest roof-mounted solar fields. The city is still under construction but the Masdar Institute’s 150 students and staff are already installed. Phase two of construction has just been announced. But the future won’t come cheap. The development will cost about pounds 11 billion. Even with Abu Dhabi government funding, Masdar has proved vulnerable to the financial crisis. When conceived in 2006, its completion date was 2015. Deadlines now hover around 2021.
And there have been disappointments. The excited early visitors found that, for now, their driverless magnetic electro pods could only shuttle between two stops just half a mile apart. And some reports have suggested that the zero-carbon ambition has been replaced by more modest ambitions of “low carbon”.
Respectable engineers like Paul Westbury, the lead engineer for London’s Olympic Stadium, now question whether Masdar really is a model for the world’s masses. “It sounds lovely,” he says. “If you can afford to live there.”
Then there is the 45 metre-tall wind tower dominating the plaza of the Masdar Institute. It works perfectly to draw down cooling breezes. But running down the tower’s spine is low-energy LED lighting, revealing how much energy the city is consuming. Blue means Masdar is within its goal of using 50 per cent less energy than a similar-sized conurbation. Red tells citizens they are guilty of high energy use. Even Martyn Potter, the institute’s director of facilities, has called it his 147-foot “guilt trip”.
He also confesses that not every student loves the digital “smart grid” that monitors and limits everyone’s energy use. Showers stop after a few minutes. Attempts to turn up the air conditioning are thwarted. “Yes, they complain,” Potter has said, “but I have told them that’s how it is.”
China’s Tianjin Eco-City is trying something different. The first residents, who moved in last March, will not be forced to be fanatically green, a city spokesman said. Instead, its pioneers will be used to see what designs could work in a real city, with real people. Would they, for example, cope with self-emptying rubbish bins sucking litter into an environmentally sensitive underground network? “We are not sure,” admitted a spokesman. “It requires people not to put the wrong sort of rubbish in.”
Britain, too, is finding the biggest eco-city challenge may be what people are prepared to accept. In 2007, the Labour government announced its Eco-Towns Prospectus, calling for “local areas to come forward with ideas [for] a new generation of eco-towns”. In July 2009, approval was given for the first to enter the planning process. The only problem was that locals came forward with ideas for opposing them.
In Bicester, at least, they seem to be making progress, with recent talk that their eco-town will pioneer low-cost, low-energy LED lights. This reminded Dan Llett, the founder of the think-tank Greenbang, of a conundrum. “It’s called the Jevons Paradox. For every energy-efficient technology you introduce, people will end up using more energy, because it is more abundant and cheaper.”
When it comes to shaping the future, it seems, science may prove capable of solving technical problems, but controlling human nature may prove more difficult.
The Sunday Telegraph | <urn:uuid:1c660cdf-c44e-41cd-8d14-3f779904d739> | {
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We all know that tears happen to be seen on our eyes for different reasons such as sorrow, joy, separation, reunion and many others. Even when you chop onions you get tears in your eyes. Tears normally secrete in order to lubricate our eyes and to protect eyes from microorganisms. Rose-Lyn Fisher in her inquisitiveness on looking for similarities and differences of different types of tears we get in different occasions has put a drop of each of these tears under microscope and looked at the patters formed. Though it is not a scientific way of studying tears she noticed that patterns formed under the microscope by different tears looked different.
She did her work for a few years using her own tears as well as tears from others. Different types of tears she examined included tears obtained from different occasions such as laughing, yawning, sorrow, rejection, frustration and many more. The amazing observation she has made was that each of the microscope field created with these samples of tears looked like aerial views of landscape and each one was looking different from the rest. Though it took years for her to complete the study, by the time she completed it she was in possession of some amazing results.
Due to the fact that what she saw when different types of tears were looked at through the microscope showed a similarity to topography of landscape viewed from the sky she called her study also the topography of tears. The following are the set of pictures she obtained in the study and they offer you some interesting things to think of. One of the most interesting aspects of this study is that despite the fact that it is the chemistry of tears that should be different when they are obtained at different events it is their looks when viewed under the microscope that have changed in appearance. Now let’s look at the results she got.
1- Grief Gives One Of The Types of Tears
This is the type of tears you get when you are in the grip of grief.
2- The Laughter Tears
Types of Tears tell that this kind fall from your eyes when you laugh until you cry.
3- Change is Faced
When you happened to face change this is the type of tears you shed.
4- Combating Onions
This is one of the most common types of tears and your eyes will get wet with such tears when you chop onions.
5- For Re-Unions
When you make a timeless reunion this is the kind of tears your eyes will have.
6- Basal Tears
You will find this picture when you look at basal tears under microscope.
7- From Remembrance
Tears of remembrance will appear like this when examined under microscope.
8- Possibility & Hope
When tears come to your eyes due to possibility and hope, they will look like this.
9- On Luminal Moments
At a luminal moment you will find this type of tears in your eyes.
10- Tears of Ending and Beginning
This is the kind of tears you will get at the beginning and end of a time when you shed tears.
11- When Released
Tears of release will look like this.
12- Momentum and Redirection
Momentum and redirection are also occasions where different types of tears will fill your eyes and this picture shows that kind of tears.
All Types of Tears are a nature’s gift to humans and they are there to clean your eyes and to protect them from harmful bacteria and other microorganisms but tears are a sign language we have got by nature. The only trouble is that you cannot hide them even if you want. Tears also are able to show your emotions even without your knowledge. It is not such a difficult task for you to not to show your facial expressions when you are overtaken by emotions but you won’t be able to do the same with tears. While you are not able to stop tears in many different moods it is also not possible for you to prevent different types of tears showing different pattern when put under the microscope.
What the study carried out by Rose-Lynn Fisher reveals is the artistic side of tears formed in our eyes on different occasions. She finds resemblance of patterns she obtained by dry tears when put under the microscope to patterns found on earth in certain regions of the world where erosion has created similar patterns. However, she assumes that there could be a scientific foundation also for what she found. She thinks that if public interest is directed towards the patterns she found, scientific studies may follow. It is quite possible for a scientist to get interested on these patterns and he could start a project to find if there is any scientific relationship to these patters in case everyone starts talking about these patterns. We will keep our fingers crossed to find when this scientist emerges with the results of scientific study done on patters created by different types of tears.
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Click here to Follow Cyberbreeze on Pinterest | <urn:uuid:b2bda6e9-6918-4559-8447-e66deae4892a> | {
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Will Google Make us Smarter? Internet Experts Say Yes, but With Caveats
In a widely-read 2008 article in The Atlantic Monthly magazine, writer Nicholas Carr asked “Is Google Making us Stupid?” He argued that as people learn to surf the vast amounts of information available online, they are losing the ability to concentrate and “dive deeply” into a subject matter.
Now, a new survey by the Pew Research Center finds that most Internet and technology experts disagree — they believe that the Internet is making us smarter overall, although it’s also changing some of the definition of human intelligence.
The survey, by the Pew Internet and American Life Project, is the center’s fourth poll on the future of the Internet (NewsHour correspondent Jeffrey Brown talked to project director Lee Rainie about the third poll in 2006).
In the new survey, researchers asked 895 experts to answer questions on what the Internet would look like in 2020.
Respondees spanned fields including academia, government, business and journalism and included Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, technology journalist and analyst Esther Dyson, Google Director of Research Peter Norvig, and many others. The researchers asked them to agree or disagree with five statements about the future of the Internet, and to explain their answers.
Seventy-six percent of the respondents agreed with the statement “By 2020, people’s use of the Internet will have enhanced their intelligence,” only 21 percent disagreed. In their answers, many offered a more nuanced view.
“It’s a mistake to treat intelligence as an undifferentiated whole. No doubt we will become worse at doing some things (‘more stupid’) requiring rote memory of information that is now available through Google. But with this capacity freed, we may (and probably will) be capable of more advanced integration and evaluation of information (‘more intelligent,’) wrote Stephen Downes, of Canada’s National Research Council.
Eighty-one percent of survey respondents also agreed with the statement “The hot gadgets and applications that will capture the imagination of users in 2020 will often come ‘out of the blue,’ and not have been anticipated by many of today’s savviest innovators.” Project director Lee Rainie says that that response surprised him.
“There was just an overwhelming sense that we don’t know now what the mass phenomena will be in 2020,” he says. In fact, he says, the respondents do have a general sense of the groundwork that’s being laid now for future trends. But, he adds “there was a sense that we have a lousy track record of predicting these things […Respondents] said ‘ in 2000, if someone had asked me this question, there’s no way I would have anticipated the iPhone.'”
The survey also probed the experts’ views of the future openness of the Internet. Despite recent news of continuing censorship in China, and businesses trying to protect their copyright and intellectual property online, 61 percent of respondents agreed with the statement that “most disagreements over the way information flows online will be resolved in favor of a minimum number of restrictions.”
“The Net users will band together to keep the Net open,” wrote Jerry Berman, chair of the Center for Democracy and Technology. “They will continue to choose open over closed and gated.”
But others disagreed.
“The locked-down future is more realistic as things stand now,” wrote Susan Crawford, a former advisor to President Obama on science and technology. “We’ve got a very cautious government, an international movement towards greater control, and a pliant public. I wish this wasn’t the case.” | <urn:uuid:fa60d0fe-2506-47d3-8a89-68408224431d> | {
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Tutorial: accurate ADC readings
Hardware Hacking guys propose this quick tutorial on how to improve the accuracy of Arduino’s ADC readings, by measuring the actual voltage rail used to supply the onboard microcontroller. At a glance, this can be done by measuring the internal 1.1V reference voltage (it is available for ATMega 168 and ATMega 328 only) and, then, by normalizing the ADC readings.
More details can be found here.
[Via: Hardware Hacking] | <urn:uuid:3eb52bad-d5df-45c0-a3f5-2f6317d6e7bb> | {
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