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First Scenario / Phase
The first scenario or phase is that of robots or AI machines serving us, which is basically where we are right now. Various astonishing inventions are either in progress or complete, which help to make our lives easier. For example, the iRobot Home Robots are presently the new ‘revolutionizing’ way to clean the household. The award-winning iRobot Roomba floor vacuuming robots, in particular, include a powerful vacuum and two counter-rotating brushes, designed to really delve into the dirt. It is even designed to detect dirtier areas and spend more time and effort cleaning them. At the end of its cleaning cycle, or when its battery is running low, Roomba 560 automatically makes its way back to its home base to recharge for next time. There is even an iRobot Roomba pet series, specifically designed for pet-loving households, as its cleaning head pulls an incredible amount of ‘pet hair, pet dander, kitty litter and debris off the brushes and into the bin’.
This is just one of the many uses robots have or can have on human lives. IBM’s latest AI creation, ‘Watson’, a computer system which can answer questions asked in natural language, recently outdid the performance of its human counterparts. As a result, many have gone on to predict future uses for such robots. For example, medical centres might use the software to better diagnose diseases. As a patient’s symptoms can suggest many possible causes, a Watson-type program would be advantageous due to its capability to scan medical books faster than any human and suggest the best result. Of course, a human would inevitably make the final diagnosis, meaning the robot would still not be advanced enough to act as a doctor in itself… at least, not yet.
This takes us to our second scenario /phase.
Second Scenario / Phase
Can a robot come to possess enough intelligence to achieve equal status as a human? Not yet, as its failure to pass the Turing test shows. This is a test of robotic intelligence, based on its ability to manifest itself as human, when competing with another human. An observer, usually via chat-format, has to be convinced of the former’s human status, in order for it to pass the test. Though machines have not evolved enough to be mistaken for a human being just yet, it may well be that they are headed in that direction. What is currently lacking in AI robotic engineering is emotion. This is what scientists are presently attempting to at the very least simulate, if not create, in these machines. Though it is still somewhat of a jump to expect the achievement of emotion to establish equality of status between robots and humans, let us for now assume this to be the case.
The question then becomes: if a robot ‘upgrades’ to human status in terms of emotions, assuming it is already superior to us in many ways – as a faster processor, more efficient worker, and so on- how is a human to keep up? Professor Kevin Warwick from the University of Reading proposes a solution which he refers to as the ‘human cyborg’. Warwick carried out a series of experiments on himself to expand his mental capacity beyond that of any human. In August 1998, Warwick underwent an operation to implant a silicon chip transponder in his forearm. This experiment allowed a computer to monitor him as he moved through the Department of Cybernetics at the University, using a signal emitted by the implanted chip. He could generally ‘operate doors, lights, heaters and other computers without lifting a finger’.
Then in March 2002, in the second part of his project, a one hundred electrode array was implanted into the median nerve fibres of his left arm. He was able to control an electric wheelchair and an intelligent artificial hand, using the neural interface. The implant was also able to create an artificial sensation by stimulation. Warwick’s wife also took part in this experiment, with the aim of creating a sense of telepathy or empathy, which was also reported to be a success.
Both these experiments were deemed the ‘cyborg’ projects, thus emphasizing that human upgrading to such a status, or beyond, is not only possible, but also desirable. This is not only due to the excitement its inception might produce among the general public, but also the fear of an alternative, where failing to upgrade for humans would literally mean their doom. This takes us to our third scenario.
Third Scenario / Phase
This phase explores what science fiction writers have been warning us for decades; the ‘enslavement’ of the human race by the much more superior race of AI, not only in intelligence, but also in status. So it follows: we created them, and now we have to suffer the consequences. Those consequences could very well mean the end of humanity as we know it.
Professor Warwick has also taken pains to point to this possibility as a viable one, especially if humans are reluctant to upgrade to cyborg form. Scientists who disagree with this alternative either direct our attention to the other two more enhanced scenarios aforementioned, as more realistic alternatives, or discard the idea altogether, claiming that robots could never surpass us as we are ultimately their creators. This is a contested issue, which has for now at least served a purpose, if not in enabling us to reach a verdict about the fate of our world, then at least in providing us with some top quality entertainment.
What I think
To consider these as phases is indeed a feasible option, more so if we compare it to an already existing legacy – the evolution of humankind. Though we started out slightly ahead of the robots, in an already established second phase with equal status to other animals (Ardipithicus ramidus), we have rapidly made our way up and become ‘superior’ to all others (Homo Sapiens). Our ‘enslavement’ of these creatures is also exhibited, more favourably, as our keeping them as pets, or, more severely, as using them to suit our needs – like pulling our carts, or serving as our clothes. The problem, however with this comparison is, as you might have guessed, the inadequacy of the subjects being compared. In creating a being superior to humans, we should not assume they would follow suit.
Thus, not only is it problematic to view the third possibility as an inevitable phase, but even also as a working scenario. Presupposing humanity’s thirst for power to be intrinsically present in future AI machines means having to admit that we have plagued them with the same imperfections we ourselves possess, thus making any talk about the latter’s ‘superiority’ moot. Therefore hopefully, we can assume robots will remain in the first scenario for now, and possibly, at one point, in the more distant future move up to the second. However, even the latter itself seems somewhat idealistic at this stage, at least for someone who cannot think as far ahead – not in time, but rather, perspective- such as myself.
Maryam Ansari Shirazi | <urn:uuid:40325629-c72c-4c0b-bfa8-602ea691b357> | {
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Fragment-based drug discovery (FBDD) is gaining recognition for its many advantages over high-throughput screening. Key benefits include better hit-to-lead rates and broad chemical space for possible compound scaffolds. Due to the low affinity of fragments to the biological target, fragment libraries may contain weak hits and therefore scientists screen fragment libraries at high concentrations, sometimes as high as 200 mM.
Even though many fragments have high solubility in DMSO, environmental shocks introduced by DMSO hydration or repeat freeze/thaw cycles can cause compounds to crash out of solution and consequently affect the accuracy of FBDD screening results.
To resolve this issue, Microsonic Systems developed the Hendrix SM100 Ultrasonic Fluid Processor. At the core of the Hendrix SM100 is lateral ultrasonic thrust™ (LUT™) technology, a form of nonfocused ultrasonic energy generated using Fresnel lens elements.
LUT technology works by using a MEMS-based transducer, which when excited with RF power generates ultrasonic waves. These ultrasonic waves pass into the sample as broad beams of acoustic energy. As shown in Figure 1, the waves create regions of strong LUT energy that in turn create strong fluid motion in the form of a rapid vortex. | <urn:uuid:399c6298-cb13-4cef-a57a-f63c3a7d7400> | {
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Mi Casa Es Su Casa
"And write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates" (6:9)
Generally, a mitzva is defined by the object used to
perform the mitzva, such as shofar, lulav, and tefillin. However, the word
"mezuzah" means "doorpost"; the object itself has no defining name other
than the post upon which it is placed. This would be comparable to referring
to tefillin as "arm". What is different about mezuzah?
The Talmud teaches that upon vacating a home, if a person knows that the
next tenants will be Jewish, he is responsible to leave a mezuzah hanging on
the door. The Talmud relates a story concerning an individual who ignored
this responsibility and was punished with the loss of his
family.11 What is the severity of the transgression which
resulted in such a tragic punishment?
When leaving the land of Moav, Naomi attempts to dissuade her
daughter-in-law Ruth from embracing Judaism and accompanying her to Eretz
Yisroel. Among the precepts she mentions that Ruth will be required to
observe is the mitzva of mezuzah.22 Why is that an important
mitzva to mention to a person who is interested in converting?
In the secular world, a person has a right to his privacy, and no authority
can dictate to him what to do behind closed doors; man is king of his
domain. The manner in which a person makes it be known that his house is
under his control is by placing his name on either the door or doorpost. By
placing a mezuzah on his doorpost, man is affixing Hashem's name upon his
home, thereby submitting to Hashem that He is the authority of this abode.
Naomi understands that Ruth, coming from a society which entitles a person
to complete control over his actions within his own home, needs to be warned
that as a Jew this will not be the case.
Leaving a mezuzah behind when vacating a premises is an affirmation that
this is Hashem's home. A person who removes the mezuzah is denying Hashem's
control over his home. Therefore, the quid pro quo for this is that he loses
his own home, i.e. his family.
The mezuzah functions to make a home "Hashem's home". Therefore, the object
of the mitzva becomes the home, not the name affixed to it. Consequently,
the mitzva is defined by the doorpost of the house.
1.Bava Metzia102a 2.Rus Rabbah 2:23
"...Do not commit adultery...Do not desire your neighbor's wife..."
The seventh commandment of the Decalogue, "lo sinaf" prohibits
adultery. Included in the tenth commandment, "lo sachmod" is the prohibition
against coveting a friend's wife. It would appear that these two
prohibitions duplicate one another. Why are they both included in the Ten
Although "lo sinaf" addresses the prohibition against adultery,
the Torah does not explicitly state that it is referring to a married woman.
Why, when discussing "lo sachmod" does the Torah emphasize the woman's
The Mishna in Pirkei Avos records that Avraham Avinu successfully endured
ten trials.11 The Torah reports that Sarah, Avraham's wife was
abducted on two occasions, the first time by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, and the
second time by Avimelech the Philistine monarch. .22 Rabbeinu
Yonah registers both abductions separately in his enumeration of the ten
trials.3.3 The Ramban explains that the purpose of a trial is to
afford a righteous individual the opportunity to actualize his
potential.4.4 Once the individual successfully overcomes his
trial, actualizing his potential, repetition of the trial is pointless. Why,
then, is Sarah's second abduction included in Avraham's ten trials? The only
possible solution is that the two different abductions served to develop
different sensitivities. What is the difference between the two abductions?
As Avraham and Sarah approached the Egyptian border, Avraham told Sarah "Now
I know that you are a beautiful woman. When the Egyptians see you, they will
kill me in order to take you. Therefore, please tell them that you are my
sister." .55 Rashi explains that the local populace was not
graced with women of beauty, and Avraham was aware that the Egyptians' lust
for her would lead to his demise. .66 The Torah attests to the
fact that Avraham's fears were not unfounded, as the verse records that upon
their arrival in Egypt, the Egyptian officials saw Sarah's beauty and lauded
her for Pharaoh, after which she was abducted.7.7 In the verses
which record Avimelech's abduction of Sarah, we find no mention of her
beauty being a factor which motivated the act. The Ran explains that this
abduction, which occurred twenty-four years after the first one, was
motivated by Avimelech's desire to incorporate a member of Avraham's family
into his household.8.8 The verses make it clear that the Egyptian
abduction was motivated by lust; Egyptians were notorious for their
immorality. Avimelech's abduction of Sarah was motivated by the need for
domination and power. Avimelech was exercising his power as king to assert
himself over Avraham by taking a member of his household for a wife.
The intended victim of the first abduction was Sarah. Avraham's test was the
manner in which he would react to losing the woman he loved. The intended
victim of the second abduction was Avraham, over whom Avimelech was
attempting to exert his power and control. This test presented Avraham with
a completely different challenge than did the first abduction. The dynastic
names of the monarchs reflect their motivations; the name "Pharaoh" is
derived from "perah" or "paru'ah", which means "naked" or "immoral", while
the name "Avimelech" means "father of power".
The act of adultery can be motivated by two very different feelings; its
motivation can be either lust, or the desire to exercise control over the
married woman's husband. The tenth commandment, "Do not covet" is
emphasizing the prohibition against taking control of another person.
Therefore, in this prohibition, the Torah lists those items to which a
person senses the greatest connection: his wife, house, field and slave. The
Torah emphasizes the coveted woman's marital status, for that serves as the
motivating factor, the assertion of control over his friend. The seventh
commandment addresses the act of adultery motivated by lust. Therefore,
although it refers to consorting with a married woman, the relationship
between husband and wife is downplayed.
1.Avos 5:3 2.Bereishis 12:14-17, 20:1-7 3.Avos ibid 4.Bereishis 22:1
5.Ibid 12:14,15 6.Ibid 7.Ibid 8.Drashos HaRan | <urn:uuid:0cc8f809-850b-4e78-bbee-3c80476b1e1b> | {
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© Hendrik Meersschaert 2017
WORLD WAR II ORDERS, DECORATIONS AND MEDALS OF VARIOUS COUNTRIES
POLISH STATE AWARDS
Poland was invaded by Nazi Germany on 1 September 1939 and this invasion set off World War II. Eastern Poland was attacked by Stalin's Soviet Russian forces barely 16 days later, as agreed in a clause in the German-Russian peace treaty concluded in August and after the defeat of the Polish forces, the country was divided between the two agressors.
When Germany would, later in the war, attack Russia, the entire Polish territory came under Nazi rule until its liberation.
All through the war, Polish forces would continue to fight with the Allies, under their Exiled Government in London, in various resistance organisations active within the Polish territory or in resistance groups anywhere else.
The Order of Polonia Restituta
This order was instituted, in five classes, on 4 February 1921 and was renewed in 1944 with slight alterations to the original design by the National Polish Liberation Committee.
The obverse eagle became an uncrowned one and the reverse date was changed to "1944". Where appropriate (breast stars of the 1st and 2nd classes) the centre shows the letters "PRL".
The order was awarded for a services in science, art, literature, administration, industry etc. but also for acts of bravery.
The Virtuti Militari Order
Originally instituted in 1792, this order was restored a number of times and was even adopted by Russia as a commemorative award. After Polish independence, the order was again reinstituted on 1 August 1919 in five classes, predominantly for gallantry in action although the higher classes were intended for generals who achieved a decisive victory or effected a gallant defence. As with the previous order, the eagle became an uncrowned one in 1944 but the change to "PRL" on the breast stars was not applied and the earlier "PR" was retained.
The Cross of Valour
Instituted on 11 August 1920 to reward acts of bravery on the field of battle, the 1920 version of this cross was amended and shows an uncrowned eagle on the obverse as well as the date "1944" on the lower arm.
Originally the Polish Government in exile in London adopted a white ribbon with crimson side stripes but later the 1920 ribbon crimson ribbon with white stripes was reintroduced. Subsequent awards were displayed by ribbon bars.
The Cross of Merit
Established in 1923 to recognize services to the state, the three classes (gilt, silver, bronze) of this decoration adopted the "PRL" centre for WW2 awards. The reverse of these crosses is blank.
The Order of the Grünwald Cross
This order was created, in three classes, on 1 January 1944 to reward outstanding merit in WW2. Afterwards it was also awarded for services in training the Polish armed forces.
The obverse shows two swords, relating to an event before the Battle of Grünwald (1410) when the Teutonic Knights sent a blunt sword to the Polish army as an insult. The Poles sent the sword back with a sharp one of their own tied to it, thus showing their acceptance of the challenge. Ther reverse of the decoration shows the letters KG (Krzyza Grünwaldu = Grünwald Cross) and the dates "1410" and "1944".
The 1st class of the order is in gilt, the 2nd class in silver with gilt edges and the 3rd class is in silver. Both the 2nd and 3rd class are 45 mm across whereas the 1st class cross is 55 mm.
The Medal for Merit on the Field of Glory
First instituted, in three classes (gilt, silver, bronze), in 1943 for participation in the Battle of Lenino, a second type was created in 1944 to reward distinguished services in war actions. The original model depicts, on its obverse, the badge of the Virtuti Militari with a Polish and a Russian flag behind it. The reverse has the text "ZASLUZONYM NA POLU CHWALY 12-13.X.1943 LENINO". The second type is without the flags on the obverse and its reverse retains the title of the medal but without the date and reference to the Lenino Battle, instead of which it bears the year "1944".
The Partisan's Cross
This gilt bronze cross was instituted on 26 October 1945 for service with the partisan units. The obverse reads "ZA¨POLSKE WOLNOSC I LUD" (For Polish Freedom and People), the reverse shows "PARTYZANTOM" (To the Partisans) and the dates "1939" and "1945".
The Cross for the Silesian Uprising
Instituted on 18 October 1946, this cross commemorates riots and uprisings at Annaberg in 1921 and in Katowice in 1939 and in 1945.
The Medal for Warsaw 1939-45
This bronze gilt medal was created on 26 October 1945 for award to Warsaw's 1939 defenders, resistance members of the Warsaw area and those that took part in either the 1944 uprising or the 1945 liberation.
The Medal for the Oder, Neisse and Baltic
Also created on 26 October 1945, this bronze gilt medal was awarded to the member of the Polish People's Army that operated in this former German territory.
The Victory and Freedom Medal
Again instituted on 26 October 1945, this medal was widely awarded to both military and civilians who had participated in the fight against Nazi Germany, either in Poland or abroad. A 1st type, bearing the letters "KRN" at the top instead of the full title of the instituting body (National Council) and with a half red, half white ribbon, was replaced in 1946 by the type depicted above.
The Polish Armed Forces in the West Military Action Cross
This cross was established on 17 May 1989 for award to former members of the Polish Armed Forces of the Exiled Government in London that participated in any campaign.
The relevant campaigns are denoted by ribbon bars and the following were created : NARWIK, LAGARDE, MAICHE-St. HIPPOLYTE, BITWA O ANGLIE (Battle of Britain), TOBRUK, MONTE CASSINO, ANKONA, FALAISE-CHAMBOIS, AXEL, ARNHEM, BREDA, BOLONIA, WILHELMSHAVEN, DZIALANIA BOJOWE LOTNICTWA (Air Force war operations), BITWY I KONWOJE MORSKIE (sea battles and convoys).
The Auschwitz Cross
In spite of its title, this cross, instituted on 14 March 1985, was awarded to honour inmates of any Nazi concentration camp and not only those interned in Auschwitz. Honourable conduct while imprisoned was a prerequisite and the decoration could be awarded posthumously and to foreigners as well. The reverse inscription stands for "The People's Poland to Prisoners of Nazi Concentration Camps".
The War Medal 1939
This silvered medal was created on 7 July 1981 for award to veterans of the Polish Armed Forces, the Border Corps, the National Defence Forces and other organisations that participated in the defence of Poland in September and October 1939.
The Warsaw Uprising Cross
Instituted on 7 July 1981 for award to military or civilian participants in the 1944 Warsaw Uprising. The silvered cross bears the date "1 VIII 1944" and shows the insurgents' white and red armband in the centre. The letters "PW" stand for "Fighting Poland" while the reverse inscription means "To the insurgents of Warsaw".
The Battle of Lenino Cross
To commemorate the Battle of Lenino (at present in Byelorussia) which was fought on 12 October 1943 and which was the first battle in which units of the Polish People's Army, formed in the Soviet Union, participated, this silvered cross was created on 26 May 1988. Both the decoration's eagle and ribbon colours refer to the 1st Kosciuszko Infantry Division which took part in the battle.
The Monte Cassino Cross
Created as a commemorative cross on 26 July 1944 by the Commander-in-Chief of the Polish Armed Forces of the Government in exile, General Sosnkowski.
The dark bronze cross, with a serial number on its reverse, was awarded to members of the 2nd Polish Army Corps. The obverse reads "MONTE CASSINO MAJ 1944".
The ribbon bar depicted on the cross above is a non-regulation addition. A similar smaller bar, but in bronze, can be attached to the ribbon when ribbons alone are worn.
The Monte Cassino Cross was elevated to an official Polish decoration on 16 September 1992.
The Peasant Battalions' Cross
Elevated to a state decoration on 16 September 1992, this cross started life on 28 December 1988 through a decision of the Presidium of the United People's Party, a largely rural oriented political party. It was awarded to veterans of the Peasant's Battalions, an independent military resistance organisation, operating in the rural areas of Poland during WW2.
The National Military Action Cross
Another decoration to enter the state's awards system (on 16 October 1992) is this cross which was originally instituted on 14 December 1944 by the National Armed Forces, an independent nationalist military organisation, and awarded to its members for their services during the war. The reverse inscription reads "National Military Achievement".
The Grünwald Badge
Instituted on 22 July 1945, this silver (for generals) or bronze shield was awarded to all who served actively in a battle zone. As such one could compare it with the US Combat Infantry Badge. Its design refers to the Grünwald Cross Order.
The Medal for Participation in the Battle of Berlin
Those serving with the People's Army in the Berlin operations in April and May 1945, as well as others in active service in that period, received this commemorative medal. It was instituted on 21 April 1966 and is conferred by the Minister of National Defence (making this a ministerial award rather than a state decoration). The obverse shows the badge of the Grünwald Cross Order and the surrounding text reads "For Participation in the Battle of Berlin". The reverse has the inscription "Ministry of National Defence People's Republic of Poland".
The Home Army Cross
General Bor-Komorowski, former commander of the "Home Army", created this commemorative medal on 1 August 1966 for award to former Home Army members or members of resistance organisations which preceded the Home Army. The medal was elevated to a state decoration on 16 September 1992.
POLISH GOVERNMENT IN EXILE AWARDS
The Air Force Active Service Medal
Created on 3 July 1945 for award to all members of the Polish Air Force with at least 6 months of meritorious service with a unit engaged in military operations against the enemy or with at least one year's service with another unit. For each further period of resp. one or two years' service, a silver bar with oak leaves was placed on the medal's ribbon (max. 4 bars allowed). The reverse reads "Poland to her Defender".
Copies, having the air force emblem on the obverse executed in red and white enamel, have been found to exist.
The Army Active Service Medal
Instituted on the same day and with the same conditions for award as the previous medal, this decoration was destined for the Polish Army members. The bar for subsequent service periods is in bronze.
The Navy Active Service Medal
Instituted on the same day, this medal was awarded to Polish Navy members for service aboard ships meeting the same requirements as the previous 2 medals. The ribbon bar for subsequent service periods is in silver.
The Merchant Marine Active Service Medal
Institution, requirements etc. make this medal the exact counterpart of the Polish Navy medal but for award to Merchant Navy personnel.
The Cross of September Campaign 1939
As illustration of the various non-official awards for Polish resistance during WWII, I have included the medal below :
Created on 1 September 1984 by Decree of the President of the Polish Republic in Exile, this cross commemorates the September/October 1939 campaign against the German and Soviet invaders. It was awarded to all that took part in the fighting or aided the Polish Armed Forces in the said period. The reverse is plain.
POLISH RESISTANCE AWARDS
The Polish Resistance in France Medal
About 2,000 of this medal were struck in France in 1946. | <urn:uuid:0a46ae95-bda5-4508-b6fe-ac0b70b933ce> | {
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1. Garfield worked
on what boat as a teen?
2. What school did
Garfield enter in 1849?
3. How many students
got honors in Garfield's Williams class?
4. What religious
group did Garfield join?
5. How old was Garfield
when he entered Congress?
6. Garfield fell
ill with what disease during the Civil War?
7. At what age did
Garfield begin keeping a journal?
8. Which close friend
of Garfield's served as Lincoln's treasury secretary?
9. Which of the following
schools did Garfield NOT consider attending?
10. Which job did
Garfield list as his occupation while in Congress?
11. While in Congress,
Garfield was involved in a scandal over what?
12. From 1871 to
1875, Garfield served as chair of what important senate committee?
13. The Western Reserve
Eclectic Institute later became known as what college?
14. Whom did Garfield
officially support at the 1880 presidential convention?
15. Garfield once
used a fire extinguisher to punish which son?
16. What was the
highest rank Garfield achieved during the Civil War?
17. For which general
did Garfield serve as chief of staff?
18. What landmark
court case did Garfield argue in front of the Supreme Court?
19. Where did Garfield
20. Which party opposed
Garfield's fiscal policies in 1878?
21. What event did
Garfield's Secretary of State organize?
22. Garfield defeated
which Democrat for the presidency?
23. Who was Garfield's
24. Garfield fought
which New York Senator for control of the New York Customs House?
26. Garfield's death
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FRIDAY, April 7, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- Kids who play outdoors are more likely to be concerned about protecting nature as adults, a new study finds.
Canadian researchers interviewed 50 college students between the ages of 18 and 25. All of the women and 87 percent of the men expressed a love of nature.
Of those, 84 percent said protecting the environment was a priority, according to study author Catherine Broom, an assistant professor of education at the University of British Columbia Okanagan.
"Developing positive experiences in nature at a young age can influence our attitudes and behaviors towards nature as adults," she said in a university news release.
"It is important to study these childhood experiences in order to develop environmental awareness and action in the next generation," Broom added.
The study was published in the March issue of the Australian Journal of Environmental Education.
"Our findings imply that providing positive childhood experiences in nature, such as outdoor school programs, may help to develop care for the environment in adults. However, these may not be sufficient unless programs are building knowledge and self-awareness of environmental stewardship," Broom said.
She said educators need to connect positive experiences in nature to teaching students how they can protect the environment through such actions as recycling, turning off the lights and using eco-friendly transportation.
"Students need to learn and have a conscious understanding that the decisions we make each day can influence our environment, such as where we buy our food and how we use the Earth's natural resources," Broom said.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has more on environmental education.
-- Robert Preidt
SOURCE: University of British Columbia Okanagan, news release, March 17, 2017
Copyright © 2017 HealthDay. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:f4d2fe5a-2104-4cce-b2f8-0cc8e0aef201> | {
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Key Difference – Autocratic vs Bureaucratic Leadership
Leadership style should be carefully chosen depending on the type of the organization and the workforce. Autocratic and bureaucratic leadership are two popular styles of leadership among many. The key difference between autocratic and bureaucratic leadership is that autocratic leadership is a leadership style where the leader makes all decisions and exerts a high level of control over the subordinates whereas bureaucratic leadership style is based on following normative rules in management and decision making, and adhering to lines of authority. Both autocratic and bureaucratic leadership styles are criticized for being rigid and inflexible styles; however, are widely used for their merits and result-oriented nature.
What is Autocratic Leadership?
Autocratic leadership, also known as ‘authoritarian leadership’, is a leadership style where the leaders make all the decisions and exert a high level of control over the subordinates. Autocratic leaders are result oriented, make decisions based on their views and judgments and rarely accept advice from the subordinates. They believe that one-way communication is the most effective and dominates the interaction. Autocratic leadership style is mostly implemented in industries that operate complicated tasks and in ones that are highly performance or result oriented since this style is required in organizations that demand error-free products. While criticized by many as a rigid and inflexible style, it is also among the most commonly used leadership styles for its proven results.
Further, in a condition where the company is dealing with a crisis situation, an autocratic leader may be essential to reinstate the business to the previous condition prior to the crisis. Autocratic leadership style is ideal to use for inexperienced and less motivated employees. On the other hand, if the workforce is highly skilled and self-motivated, they will not be willing to be led by this leadership style since they prefer autonomy. Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, and Muammar Gaddafi are some of the historical figures who are famous for being autocratic leaders.
What is Bureaucratic Leadership?
Bureaucratic style is based on following normative rules in management and decision making, and adhering to lines of authority. Bureaucratic leadership is managed based on the hierarchy of the organization. Hierarchy is a system in which employees are ranked according to their status and decision-making power. Bureaucratic leadership style was introduced by Max Weber in 1947. This is a leadership style most commonly used in public sector organizations.
Characteristics of Bureaucratic Leadership
Clear Lines of Duties
All employees have comprehensive job descriptions where they have clear lines of authority, responsibility, and accountability.
Hierarchy of Authority
Positions in the organization are ordered in a hierarchy where employees who hold lower positions are accountable to and are supervised by line managers who hold higher level positions.
All information relating to job descriptions, lines of reporting, rules, and regulations are comprehensively documented in bureaucratic organizations.
The amount of control exerted over decision making under bureaucratic leadership style is extensive. However, the speed of decision making may be low since there is a tall organizational structure (many layers in the hierarchy). This is a major drawback of this leadership style since the decisions may not be sufficient to obtain a significant advantage due to the time lag between taking the decisions and actions. Further, this type of leadership style has very low level of flexibility and does not encourage creativity. Thus, it can be an efficient management style in companies that don’t require much creativity or innovation from employees.
What is the difference between Autocratic and Bureaucratic Leadership?
Autocratic vs Bureaucratic Leadership
|Autocratic leadership is where the leader is making all decisions and exerts a high level of control over the subordinates.||Bureaucratic style is based on following normative rules in management and decision making, and adhering to lines of authority.|
|Autocratic leadership style is most suitable for result oriented organizations.||Bureaucratic leadership style is most widely used in public sector organizations.|
|Speed of Decision Making|
|In autocratic leadership style, the speed of decision making is very fast since the leader takes the decisions.||The speed of decision making is slow in bureaucratic leadership style since there are many layers of authority.|
Summary – Autocratic vs Bureaucratic Leadership
The difference between autocratic and bureaucratic leadership depends on a number of factors such as their nature and the type of industries and companies that use the respective styles. Organizations that have complicated cost structures and complex processes can benefit from autocratic leadership. On the other hand, use of bureaucratic leadership mainly depends on the hierarchy of the organization by clearly defining responsibilities and authorities. Both leadership styles pay less attention to motivation and creativity of subordinates.
1. “Advantages & Drawbacks of the Autocratic Leadership Style.” Chron.com. Chron.com, 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 17 May 2017. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-drawbacks-autocratic-leadership-style-16616.html>.
2. “What Is Bureaucratic Leadership? – Definition, Examples & Disadvantages.” Study.com. Study.com, n.d. Web. 16 May 2017. <http://study.com/academy/lesson/what-is-bureaucratic-leadership-definition-examples-disadvantages.html>.
3. “What Are the Advantages and Disadvantages of a Bureaucratic Organization Structure?” Chron.com. Chron.com, 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 16 May 2017. <http://smallbusiness.chron.com/advantages-disadvantages-bureaucratic-organization-structure-2761.html>. | <urn:uuid:b8a41e0c-6f93-458f-b1f9-1350c03479a1> | {
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A publication of the Archaeological Institute of America
A Society's Sacrifice
Volume 65 Number 1, January/February 2012
Why the Chimú people of ancient Peru offered what was most valuable to them
Each year the technology used by archaeologists to locate sites becomes more sophisticated. Satellite images, Google Earth, and ground-penetrating radar are now combined with more traditional methods such as surface surveys and test trenches to determine how and where archaeologists will excavate. But sometimes one of the best sources of information about an area—and one that is frequently overlooked—is the knowledge of the local people who live there and whose families have been there for generations. Such is the case with a site in the small Peruvian coastal town of Huanchaquito that has come to be referred to by the locals as Las Llamas—The Llamas. It is a site that has a great deal to tell about the Andean Chimú culture and their religious and sacrificial practices.
Archaeologist Oscar Gabriel Prieto grew up in the town of Huanchaco, next to Huanchaquito. There, from the time that he was six years old, he would walk around sites in the area. He recently returned to excavate Pampas Gramalote, a small fishing village dating to between 2000 and 1200 B.C. While working there one day in August 2011, Prieto was approached by a resident of Huanchaquito who asked him if he was an archaeologist. When Prieto answered yes, the man said, “Then you have to come with me. Only 300 yards from here, there is another area filled with human bones, including skulls. I know these things are important.”
Jarrett A. Lobell is executive editor at ARCHAEOLOGY.Share | <urn:uuid:601932d0-a14a-4baf-a44b-7001bb5d0f19> | {
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It’s fair to say that for most of us the day doesn’t truly begin until we can feel the warm lick of caffeine coursing through our veins. Be it an espresso, flat white, latte or low-fat, soy, double-shot, moccacino. Whatever your poison very little in our lives is ever achieved before that first cup of black magic has passed our lips.
However despite our love affair with this bitter alkaloid, the exact manner in which caffeine interacts with our brains has been largely misunderstood. That is until now.
Not your average stimulant
It should be said right from the start that caffeine is not your average stimulant. Unlike more illicit uppers such as amphetamines and MDMA which exert their effects by increasing noradrenaline levels, caffeine exerts its effects by blocking, or antagonising, adenosine receptors. When our brains switch on each morning and the neurons begin firing away they also begin to produce the neuronal by-product, Adenosine. Throughout the day, the neurons keep firing, adenosine levels keep rising and adenosine receptors throughout the CNS begin to monitor the action. Once a certain level of adenosine has been reached the receptors in your brain and spinal cord tell you that perhaps it’s time to go to sleep. Or at least close your eyes for just a short while.
Enter caffeine. Whether from your coffee, your tea, your chocolate or your guarana, it flows into your body, heading straight for your adenosine receptors, or more specifically your adenylyl cyclase-modulating g protein-coupled A1 receptors. Once at the receptor it binds with great efficiency, due to its similarities with adenosine. However its differences mean that despite binding, caffeine doesn’t actually activate the receptor and so no sleep signal is sent to the brain. So with caffeine acting like “a block of wood under one of the brain’s primary brake pedals“, the brain’s natural stimulants, dopamine and glutamate, are left to do what they do best.
Of course we each have differing amounts of these natural stimulants floating around our heads at any given moment and so the effect of a coffee is somewhat variable from person to person and at different times of the day. The take home message is that coffee doesn’t act to wake you up, but rather it acts to stop you from going to sleep. Which isn’t quite the same thing, when you really think about it.
Next stop Hippo campus
Those of us who are regular partakers of the international psychoactive stimulant of choice know that coffee is so much more than just a drowse defying beverage. It is an elixir which increases our acuity and alertness. And it does this by acting on the hippocampus. Previous research has suggested that the inhibitory action of caffeine on the A1 receptors within the hippocampus, or more specifically the CA1 region, acts to evoke an enhancement in signal transmission between neurons, known as long-term potentiation (LTP). However a more recent study investigating the role of caffeine on the less well defined CA2 region, which just happens to contain the highest concentration of adenosine receptors, suggests that the role caffeine plays in our mental acuity might not be that simple.
The researchers found that excitatory post-synaptic currents were increased in the CA2 region, but not the CA1 region, of juvenile rats fed with caffeine for up to an hour after the caffeine was consumed. Furthermore when caffeine was added directly to naive slices of rat hippocampus, the increase in CA2 excitatory post-synaptic currents was measurable for up to three hours after the caffeine was applied. That is to say that caffeine was found to induce long-term potentiation through the CA2 region.
However the real interest of the article lies not in the fact that LTP was induced but rather in the manner in which caffeine acted to induce it. Within the CA1 region the induction of LTP is dependent on the activation of N-Methyl-D-aspartate, or NMDA, receptors and the consequential calcium dependent signalling pathway. As a result the addition of either an NMDA receptor antagonist or a calcium signalling inhibitor will act to prevent LTP in the CA1 region. However when added to the CA2 region neither the NMDA receptor antagonist nor the calcium signalling inhibitor had any effect on LTP. Instead LTP induction was found to involve the activation of the aforementioned adenylyl cyclase-modulating g protein which the A1 receptors are bound.
The results of this study hint towards ‘a more complex signalling mechanism governing the consolidation of‘ LTP and helps to shed some light on the largely unknown role of the CA2 in normal brain function. Perhaps most importantly though is that it gives those of us addicted to our daily grind another excuse for that extra cup.
- Simons, S., Caruana, D., Zhao, M., & Dudek, S. (2011). Caffeine-induced synaptic potentiation in hippocampal CA2 neurons Nature Neuroscience, 15 (1), 23-25 DOI: 10.1038/nn.2962 | <urn:uuid:d609643d-76ce-4d5e-ab31-f8c669666e79> | {
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The saying children can be so cruel rings true for many parents of children with disabilities, who are often anxious about their child being bullied at school—and wonder how they can encourage his young classmates to befriend him.
Unfortunately, some of this worry seems warranted—children with disabilities are more likely to be victims of bullying than their typically developing classmates. They’re more likely to be rejected—and less likely to be accepted—as workmates and playmates, and frequently have few, if any, friends in their class. This is found across the board, in different countries, in various types of schools and within a range of age groups (1). However, there’s no need to wring your hands about how your little one is treated in school—this situation isn’t necessarily inevitable. A lot depends on your child’s classmates’ understanding of his disability.
Fostering Sympathy and Support
Like adults, kids have expectations about how others should behave in particular situations—and seek to explain differences in ways that make sense to them. Often children with disabilities act in some ways that puzzle their classmates, such as struggling with speech, or lashing out at peers. If children think child is to blame for their behavior, then this will make them feel, and possibly behave, negatively toward their disabled classmate. On the other hand, if these kids understand that a child with a disability isn’t at fault for acting out, they’ll feel sympathetic and often offer help and support (2). When a child’s classmates understand that his disability affects his ability to meet classroom and social expectations, they’ll tend to be more accepting, while attempting to show them what to do, as they might with a younger kid (1).
Isn’t ‘Labeling’ a Bad Thing?
Schools are sometimes reluctant to point out the needs of a child with disabilities to his classmates, due to concerns about ‘labeling’—the risk that kids will only see and respond to the disability, not the person, with negative associations about the disability being translated into negative interactions with the child suffering from it. For example, administrators worry that telling a class of children that one of their peers has an Autism Spectrum Disorder may lead to name-calling.
In actuality, concerns about negative labeling have been exaggerated. Negative behavior is what is important in producing negative responses from others, not special education labels (3). Don’t simply provide a label, since with younger children, any special term may take focus away from the issue at hand, Instead, explain the child’s needs, how they link with behavior, and how classmates are expected to show positive support (4).
Helping Children with Disabilities
As the parent of a disabled child, it’s up to you to do everything in your power to facilitate a welcoming, safe environment at your kid’s school. Talk with his teacher about implementing some of the following ideas:
- Positive initial introduction. Ask your child’s teacher to introduce him to the class using upbeat, child-friendly language. Emphasize discussing your child as a whole person, his support needs and the reasons for them, and how best other children can help. You and your teacher must take the lead on providing the class with information, and modelling acceptable behavior (4).
- Address problematic social behavior. Help nip intolerance in the bud by brainstorming unacceptable actions with your child’s teacher, then presenting them to the class and asking for ideas about positive actions to use instead. Involving peers is often successful in helping your child feel included with his classmates. Set up a whole class meeting for a day that your child is absent to develop understanding of his difficulties, how these can be affected by a lack of friends, and how the children can each befriend and support your kid. Or, set up a small group of volunteers to meet and play weekly with your child during a recess period. Be sure this get-together is facilitated by an adult to help support, monitor and review meetings (5).
- Promote learning and social interactions in class. Set up a “buddy system” that pairs a child with disabilities with a peer, provide cooperative activities that require working in twosomes, along with books, puzzles, games or other materials that encourage sharing. These interactions are beneficial for promoting positivity and teaching children how to work well with others.
- Establish peer tutoring on an individual, small group or class-wide basis. Train a group of volunteers and your child on what to do and how to get any help they need. Tell parents about your group approach—parents of a typically developing child sometimes worry that their kid should be focusing on their own studies instead of helping out others. However, the peer-on-peer tutoring is beneficial on both sides. For example, children doing academic tutoring typically make even more progress than the students receiving the tutoring. It’s good if kids with disabilities have some opportunities to be the tutor as well, to allow him a social opportunity normally delegated to his peers (6).
Almost every parent worries about whether their child will successfully integrate into school with understanding friends, learning opportunities and positive daily interaction. By working with teachers to foster an inviting environment, children with disabilities can thrive in a safe, secure school setting.
This article is based on these research reports:
Frederickson, N. (2010). Bullying or Befriending? Children’s responses to classmates with special needs. British Journal of Special Education, 37(1), 4-12.
Juvonen, J. & Weiner, B. (1993). ‘An attributional analysis of students’ interactions: the social consequences of perceived responsibility’, Educational Psychology Review, 5(4), 325-345.
Law, G.U., Sinclair, S., & Fraser, N. (2007). Children’s attitudes and behavioural intentions towards a peer with symptoms of ADHD: does the addition of a diagnostic label make a difference? Journal of Child Health Care, 11(2), 98-111.
Morton, J. F., & Campbell, J. M. (2008). Information source affects peers’ initial attitudes toward autism. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 29(3), 189-201.
Frederickson, N., & Turner, J. (2003). Utilizing the classroom peer group to address children's social needs. An evaluation of the "circle of friends" intervention approach, Journal of Special Education, 36, 234-245.
Kamps, D. M., Barbetta, P. M., Leonard, B. R., & Delquadri, J. (1994). Class-wide peer tutoring: an integration strategy to improve reading skills and promote peer interactions amongst students with Autism and general education peers. Journal of Applied Behaviour Analysis, 27(1), 49-61. | <urn:uuid:b229ee3c-796a-4f0e-9a46-5c5b54652266> | {
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You can never be too prepared to survive an emergency situation. Every year, lack of preparedness for serious situations such as natural disasters cost hundreds of people their livelihoods, or worse, their lives. Often times these people were simply not ready for the difficult survival scenario they found themselves in.
No matter how prepared you are, however, there can be a number of misconceptions that will trip you up and get you into trouble. It is critical to come at survival with all eyes open and no biases. For instance, do not take modern navigation technology for granted, learn to navigate by following the stars.
Learning to navigate using stars is an obvious essential skill for many preppers. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are thinking of everything. As you prepare for the worst, remember that every person makes a difference, you are not immune to injury, and you may need to leave your designated hideaway.
Every Hand Counts
When facing a natural disaster, apocalypse, or any other survival situation, it is imperative to remember that every single person makes a difference in the survival of the group, regardless of their race or gender. Definitely do not let a hidden bias regarding gender roles trip you up. There are thousands of stories of incredibly brave and successful women who have saved lives throughout history.
Take for instance the incredible feats of some of America’s female military heroes. One example is Sergeant Leigh Ann Hester, who led her unit to a successful flanking position when surprised by insurgents in enemy territory in Iraq. Her quick thinking and courageous act saved lives and even earned her a Silver Star medal.
In difficult survival situations, the combined backgrounds and skills of your entire group will make a difference. A physically weaker group member may be a great coordinator who can organize where and how medical treatment is received. Or they may use their intelligence to devise a survival strategy that gets everyone through until help arrives.
Another important thing to remember in a survival situation is that injuries are bound to happen, and how you respond to them may make all the difference. For example, if you are surviving or seeking treatment in a rural area, help may be farther away. Already, healthcare workers have to go to greater lengths to extend treatment to rural areas — which means in the case of emergency, the availability of medicines in the area may be limited. Be prepared for this!
When injuries do happen it is critical to evaluate their severity and get the appropriate medical attention as quickly as possible if you cannot administer help yourself. One common misconception is that things like cuts or wounds will just go away if kept clean. Although this is usually the case, in more severe gashes there is a very real risk of infection that can ultimately lead to death if not properly treated.
Sepsis is the term used to describe the presence of harmful or toxic bacteria in the tissues of the body. It is a very serious, life-threatening condition that kills thousands of Americans every year. Symptoms include a fever, heart or breathing rate above normal when resting, discolored skin around infected area, extreme weakness, chills, decreased urination, and poor cognitive abilities.
When You Need to Move
Finally, regardless of your preparedness level in a particular bunker or home, there is always the possibility that it will be necessary for you to move locations. This can be the result of many things such as the severity of a natural disaster, a lack of necessary resources, or the discovery of your dwelling by unfriendlies. Whatever the reason, it is imperative to realize when it is time to move and act quickly.
In the case of a natural disaster, there are a number of general rules to follow to ensure you are both prepared and ready to make an exit if necessary. For any natural disaster, always be prepared with enough food and water to last a few days in case you are trapped in your home. Dehydration is one of the most significant causes of hospitalization during a prolonged natural disaster evacuation mission.
In the event that you do need to leave, it is best to have everything ready to go in a bag that you can easily travel with. Pack things such as necessary medications, food, water, blankets, and a first aid kit. Survival tools such as lighters or matches can also be important if there is a risk of needing to cook, boil water, or stay warm on cold nights.
Disasters can happen anywhere at anytime. The best thing we can do to get through them is to prepare to survive difficult situations. If you are preparing for a disaster, be sure to avoid misconceptions that can have severe consequences such as discounting the value of everyone in your group, failing to get medical help when needed, or not being prepared to change locations. Good luck out there.
Brooke Faulkner writes and raises her sons in the Pacific Northwest. She is always looking for ways to make healthy living an accessible part of every day life. Find more of her writing on twitter, @faulknercreek | <urn:uuid:78caf2b5-d22d-4a23-86b6-535a475527af> | {
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3Turner was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker, whose style can be said to have laid the foundation for Impressionism.Although renowned for his oil paintings, Turner is also one of the greatest masters of British watercolour landscape painting.He is commonly known as “the painter of light”.
4The significance of light was to Turner the emanation of God's spirit The significance of light was to Turner the emanation of God's spirit. He loved creating play of light on water, the radiance of skies and fires. He captured the overall moods of nature.J. M. W. Turner died at his cottage in Chelsea in He left some 300 paintings and 19,000 thousand watercolours to England. | <urn:uuid:afc67de0-dba4-4a20-b3f2-daa9b7682f6d> | {
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(National Hurricane Center )
You won't notice much difference, but the National Hurricane Center's cone of error has shrunk - again.
The center determines the size of the cone by averaging out its forecast track errors over the past five seasons - and in the past five years storm path predictions have become steadily more accurate.
Despite the progress, about two-thirds of the tropical storms stay within the cone and a third don’t, center spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.
“It is very important to remember that the storm can be anywhere in that cone 67 percent of the time, and is in no way representative of the areas that would feel the impacts of the storm," he said.
In the upcoming season, the cone will be about 9 percent smaller than last year:
The part of the cone that shows when a storm is five days out will be 526 miles across, 24 miles less than last year; four days out, 406 miles across, or 30 miles less and three days out, 294 miles across, or 36 miles less.
The part of the cone that shows when a storm is two days out will be 212 miles across, or 14 miles less than last year; 36 hours out, 166 miles across, or 16 miles less; 24 hours out, 120 miles across, or 8 miles less; and for 12 hours out, 76 miles across, or 3 miles less. | <urn:uuid:eafa68ab-dd7d-4751-ae32-964f820fee52> | {
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Grade Three is typically a time when children go through profound neurological and psychological shifts that occur between nine and ten years of age. We refer to this time as the “nine-year change.” Adults may notice that the children are becoming more critical as well as beginning to test everyone and everything. This is a natural process as children begin to see that they will one day have to leave the parental nest and make their own way in the world. This developmental process is met in the curriculum by connecting students with the practical experiences of life such as building, farming, and gardening, in addition to continuation of general academic subjects.
The stories of the Hebrew people reflect the child’s psychological experience. Like Adam and Eve, the children are leaving the paradise of childhood behind and are having to go out into the world and discover how to live with other people and with the land.
The study of gardening and shelters around the world meets the students’ needs to relate concretely to how they will make it one day on their own. Farming, gardening, food preparation, and house building are central themes of the curriculum and include planning and harvesting in the school garden; daily collection of compost buckets throughout the school to feed the garden; a visit to a working farm; and the study of shelter through the ages, around the world (influences of climate and environment on location and design of dwelling), usually including a small building project. | <urn:uuid:5228afd5-4f55-47d0-a65c-6e0ad6cb2e09> | {
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El Salvador Table of Contents
In 1988 the Salvadoran Navy, with at least 1,300 members, included the 600-man Marine Infantry Battalion (Batallon de Infanteria de Marina--BIM), a 330-man commando unit, and some conscripts. The principal naval base was located at La Union. A naval school was located at Army Headquarters in San Salvador. In the late 1980s, the navy had acquired thirty patrol craft (see table 9, Appendix).
Revived in 1952, after a lapse of more than forty years without any naval vessels, the new navy assumed the functions of the established coast guard and expanded them to include coastal patrol and fishery protection. The navy also absorbed patrol craft from the coast guard; these craft, principally British vessels, were decommissioned by 1981 and replaced by United States-built boats.
The Naval Commandos force was established in August 1982 as a sixty-man unit intended to improve response to guerrilla operations in coastal areas. By mid-1985 the force numbered 330 men, among them 12 frogmen, 90 base security troops, and 110 men who regularly handled the weapons aboard their high-speed patrol boats. The Naval Commandos prowled mangroves, coconut forests, and beaches in eight- to fifteen-man teams, ambushing guerrilla columns and raiding rebel encampments.
Data as of November 1988 | <urn:uuid:4dbd1d31-412d-4de8-b446-7cfc3306aefd> | {
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Professor Campion's Mechanical Marvel
Boilerplate was a mechanical man developed by Professor Archibald Campion during the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.
Built in a small Chicago laboratory, Boilerplate was originally designed as a prototype soldier for use in "preventing the deaths of men in the conflicts of nations."
Although it was the only such prototype, Boilerplate was eventually able to exercise its proposed function by participating in several combat actions, charging alongside such famous figures as Teddy Roosevelt and Lawrence of Arabia.
Professor Campion and his robot also circled the planet with the U.S. Navy, trekked to the South Pole, made silent movies, and hobnobbed with the likes of Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla.
Boilerplate is one of history's great ironies, a technological breakthrough that languished in obscurity—until now | <urn:uuid:ee47b9bf-25ef-40ab-90e2-a0c31cca7051> | {
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by Kate Sierzputowski on This is Colossal
Two new species of peacock spiders have been discovered in southeast Queensland, Australia—one appearing with vivid reds and blues while the other’s details exist in stark black and white. Peacock spiders, named after their bright patterns and dancelike courtship, measure in at just under 0.3 inches. Madeline Girard, a graduate student at UC Berkeley, discovered the two species while in the field, nicknaming the brightly colored spider “Sparklemuffin” and the other “Skeletorus” after its bonelike pattern.
Jürgen Otto, an entomologist who specializes in photographing the arachnids said Skeletorus, officially namedMaratus sceletus, is completely different than any peacock spider previously discovered. “Despite the large number of species we have discovered just in the last few years, I can’t help feeling that we may have just scratched the surface of this most exciting group of spiders, and that nature has…
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China Will Become a Major Astronautical Player
China has been developing a very ambitious space program for the past few decades, and 2013 will be its landmark year. They plan to launch 20 spacecraft over the course of the year, including a new line of manned space laboratories. In addition, Chang'e-3, an unmanned lunar lander and rover, will be launched this year, marking China's first lunar landing. Chinese officials hope to achieve a manned moon landing by 2020. | <urn:uuid:c487748f-9202-4da0-81a9-edb0fcb778a4> | {
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Most State Temperature Records Set In 1936 | NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT
Only one record high maximum temperature was set or tied in either 2011 or 2012, in South Carolina at the Columbia University, (incidentally an urban site likely to be heavily influenced by UHI).34th Daily Record of Year for Antarctic Sea Ice Extent | sunshine hours
By contrast, 15 states set record highs in 1936, and there were also 4 records set in 1934.
August 30 (Day 242) saw the 34th Daily Record of the Year for Antarctic Sea Ice Extent.Arctic Daily Ice Melt Approaching Zero | sunshine hours
Arctic Sea Ice melt is rapidly approaching zero and it is only day 242.Snowstorms kill 70,000 animals in Bolivia
By my calculations, the earliest Arctic minimum was day 245 in 1987. The latest minimum was day 265 in 1989 and 2005. in 2012 it was day 260.
Four farmers killed while trying to rescue the animals.
A report by the Vice Ministry of Civil Defense said that the snow storms impacted on livestock killing “40 000 head of sheep and 30,000 cattle and camels in Cochabamba , Chuquisaca , Potosí and La Paz.” | <urn:uuid:6057eb4d-1259-4903-b7de-b9234027764c> | {
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The Protection of Expressions of Folklore:
The Attempts at International Level*
Attempts to Protect Expressions of Folklore by means of Copyright
The need for intellectual property protection of expressions of folklore emerged in developing countries. Folklore is an important element of the cultural heritage of every nation. It is, however, of particular importance for developing countries, which recognize folklore as a means of self-expression and social identity. All the more so, since, in those countries, folklore is truly a living and still developing tradition, rather than just a memory of the past.
Improper exploitation of folklore was also possible in the past. However, the spectacular development of technology, the newer and newer ways of using both literary and artistic works and expressions of folklore (audiovisual productions, phonograms, their mass reproduction, broadcasting, cable distribution, and so on) have multiplied abuses. Folklore is commercialized without due respect for the cultural and economic interests of the communities in which it originates. And, in order to better adapt it to the needs of the market, it is often distorted or mutilated. At the same time, no share of the returns from its exploitation is conceded to the communities who have developed and maintained it.
Those developing countries which made the first attempts to regulate the use of folklore creations tried to provide protection in the framework of their copyright laws (Tunisia, 1967 and 1994; Bolivia, 1968 and 1992; Chile, 1970; Iran, 1970; Morocco, 1970; Algeria, 1973; Senegal, 1973; Kenya, 1975 and 1989; Mali, 1977, Burundi, 1978; Cote d'lvoire, 1978; Sri Lanka, 1979; Guinea, 1980; Barbados, 1982: Cameroon, 1982; Colombia, 1982; Congo, 1982; Madagascar, 1982; Rwanda, 1983; Benin, 1984: Burkina Faso, 1984; Central African Republic, 1985; Ghana, 1985; Dominican Republic, 1986; Zaire, 1986; Indonesia, 1987; Nigeria, 1988 and 1992; Lesotho, 1989; Malawi, 1989; Angola, 1990; Togo, 1991; Niger, 1993; Panama, 1994). The 1990 Copyright Law of China indicates that it is the intention to protect expressions of folklore by copyright but Article 6 of the Law only provides that "[r]egulations for the protection of copyright in expressions of folklore shall be established by the State Council." The 1994 Copyright Ordinance of Vietnam contains a similar provision: "Protection of copyright granted to folklore works shall be prescribed by the Government."
The majority of the above-mentioned national laws provide for the protection of what they call "works of folklore"; some other laws (the laws of Benin, Indonesia, Kenya, Mali, Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Zaire) refer simply to "folklore," and two of them (the laws of Chile and China) use the term that the International Bureau of WIPO considers the most appropriate one: "expressions of folklore."
Some national laws (those of Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Madagascar, Mali and Tunisia) do not provide a substantive definition; at most, they mention that what is involved is common national heritage.
The other laws provide more or less detailed definitions. The Copyright Law of China contains no definition, but this seems only to follow from the fact that the regulation of the protection of expressions of folklore is left to another piece of legislation.
Only two national laws (the laws of Algeria and Morocco) provide definitions that, in substance, correspond to Article 15(4)(a) of the Berne Convention, quoted below, in the sense that they use the general notion of literary and artistic works, and only add one element to differentiate folklore creations from other works, namely that the authors are unknown, but there is reasonable ground to presume that they are citizens of the country concerned.
All the other national laws include into the definitions those more essential elements which differentiate "folklore" or "work of folklore" from literary and artistic works proper; namely, that it is traditional cultural heritage passed on from generation to generation; which means that-in contrast with the individual, personal nature of the creativity represented by literary and artistic works proper-it is the result of impersonal creativity of unknown members of the nation or communities thereof. The definitions in some of those laws (the laws of Burundi, Cote d'lvoire, Guinea, Kenya, Rwanda and Senegal) refer to unknown authors as creators, some others (the laws of Barbados, Cameroon, Central African Republic and Sri Lanka) to communities, or groups of communities, while the Law of Congo to both unknown authors and to communities. The law of Zaire does not deal with the question of who are the creators of national folklore.
The definitions, in general, only cover traditional literary and artistic creations; however, the definitions in the laws of Benin and Rwanda are much broader and also extend to other aspects of folklore; for example to scientific and technological "folklore" (such as, acquired theoretical and practical knowledge in the fields of natural science, physics, mathematics and astronomy; the "know-how" of producing medicines, textiles, metallurgical and other products; agriculture techniques). The protection of such elements of folklore is obviously alien to the purposes and structure of copyright.
It follows from the fact that folklore is part of traditional heritage that it would not be appropriate to leave its protection to some individual "owners of rights." In principle, it could be a solution to entrust the communities concerned with exercising - through their representatives - the rights granted for the protection of the folklore developed by them. However, all the national laws providing for "copyright" protection of folklore rather authorize various national bodies to exercise such rights. In certain countries, those bodies are the competent ministries or similar national authorities, while in some other countries (in Algeria, Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d'lvoire, Guinea, Morocco, Rwanda and Senegal), the national (state) bureaus for the protection of author's rights.
Some national laws go so far in the assimilation of folklore creations to literary and artistic works that they do not contain any specific provisions concerning the rights protected in respect of folklore creations; thus, the general provisions on the protection of works seem to be applicable (this seems to be the case in Barbados, Burundi, Cameroon, Chile, Ghana, Indonesia, Kenya, Madagascar, Rwanda, Sri Lanka and Zaire). The other national laws provide for special regime, different from the regime of the protection of literary and artistic works. The latter laws make certain specific acts, if carried out for profit-making purposes, dependent on the authorization to be given by a competent authority, either only the fixation and reproduction of folklore creations (in Algeria, Mali and Morocco), or, in addition to those acts, also the public performance of such creations (in Benin, Central African Republic, Congo, Cote d'lvoire, Guinea and Senegal).
The national laws of some countries (Barbados, Burundi, Congo and Ghana) also provide for a kind of "right of importation." Under those laws, it is forbidden to import and distribute in the countries concerned any works of national folklore, or translations, adaptations and arrangements thereof, without the authorization of the competent authorities.
Certain national laws (those of Benin, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chile, Congo, Ghana, Guinea, Morocco and Senegal) prescribe that, in cases where folklore creations are used for profit making purposes, fees determined by law or by the competent authority, must be paid, while other laws (those of Algeria, Mali, Rwanda and Tunisia) only provide that payment of fees may be required.
A few national laws also determined the purposes for which the fees collected are to be used; those laws, in general, provide that the fees must be used for cultural and welfare purposes of national authors. Under the laws of Central African Republic, Guinea and Senegal, a part of the fees is to be paid to those who have collected the "works of the folklore" concerned, and only the rest of the fees is to be used for the said purposes of national authors.
It follows from the very nature of folklore-namely, from the fact that it is the result of creative contributions of usually unknown members of a number of subsequent generations - that its protection could not be reasonably limited in time. In the case of the majority of laws providing for the protection of folklore creations, it can be deduced from the context of the various provisions that such protection is perpetual, but the laws of some countries (Congo, Ghana and Sri Lanka) also state this explicitly.
The sanctions of infringements of the rights in "works of folklore," in many countries, are the same as in the case of infringements of authors' rights. The laws of some countries, however, provide for special sanctions; they include fines and seizures, and, in certain cases, also imprisonment.
Article 15(4) of the Berne Convention
The 1967 Stockholm Diplomatic Conference for revision of the Berne Convention made an attempt to introduce copyright protection for folklore also at the international level. As a result, Article 15(4) of the Stockholm (1967) and Paris (1971) Acts of the Berne Convention contain the following provision: "(a) In the case of unpublished works where the identity of the author is unknown, but where there is every ground to presume that he is a national of a country of the Union, it shall be a matter for legislation in that country to designate the competent authority which shall represent the author and shall be entitled to protect and enforce his rights in the countries of the Union. (b) countries of the Union which make such designation under the terms of this provision shall notify the Director General [of WIPO] by means of written declaration giving full information concerning the authority thus designated. The Director General at once communicate this declaration to all other countries of the Union." This article of the Berne Convention, according to the intentions of the revision conference, implies the possibility of granting protection for expressions of folklore.
Difficulties in applying copyright to the protections of folklore
It seems that copyright law may not be right, or certainly the only, means for protecting expressions of folklore. This is because, whereas an expression of folklore is the result of an impersonal, continuous and slow process of creative activity exercised in a given community by consecutive imitation, works protected by copyright must, traditionally bear a mark of individual originality. Traditional creations of a community, such as the so-called folk tales, folk music, folk dances, folk designs or patterns, may often not fit into the notion of literacy and artistic works. Copyright is author-centric and, in the case of folklore, an author - at least in the way in which the notion of "author" is conceived in the field of copyright - is absent.
Because the existing system of copyright protection was not adequate for the protection of folklore, attention turned to the possibilities of a sui generis solution.
WIPO/UNESCO Model Provisions for National Laws on sui generis Protection of Expressions of Folklore against Illicit exploitation and other prejudicial actions
At the meeting of WIPO's Governing Bodies in 1978, it was felt that, despite concern among developing countries as to the need to protect folklore, few concrete steps were being taken to formulate legal standards. Following that meeting, the International Bureau of WIPO prepared a first draft of sui generis model provisions for intellectual-property-type protection of folklore against certain unauthorized uses and against distortion.
At their sessions in February 1979, the Executive Committee of the Berne Union and the Intergovernmental Committee of the Universal Copyright Convention noted that the International Bureau of WIPO had prepared the said draft provisions and approved the proposals made by WIPO that special efforts should be made to find solutions to the intellectual property protection aspects of folklore, notwithstanding the global interdisciplinary study of the questions of identification, material conservation, preservation and reactivation of folklore, which had been undertaken by Unesco since 1973.
In accordance with the decisions of their respective Governing Bodies, WIPO and Unesco convened a Working Group in Geneva in 1980, then a second one in Paris in 1981, to study the draft Model Provisions intended for national legislation prepared by WIPO, as well as possible international measures for the protection of works of folklore. The outcome of those meetings were submitted to a Committee of Governmental Experts, convened by WIPO and Unesco at WIPO headquarters in Geneva in 1982, which adopted what are called "Model Provisions for National Laws on the Protection of Expressions of Folklore Against Illicit Exploitation and Other Prejudicial Actions" (from now on referred to as "the Model Provisions").
The Model Provisions were submitted to the joint meeting of the Executive Committee of the Berne Convention and the Intergovernmental Copyright Committee of the Universal Copyright Convention in Geneva in December 1983. The Committees welcomed the development of the Model Provisions as a first step in establishing a sui generis system of intellectual-property-type protection for expressions of folklore; they found them a proper guidance for national legislation.
Basic principles taken into account for the elaboration of the Model Provisions
The Committee of Governmental Experts which worked out the Model Provisions did not lose sight of the necessity of maintaining a proper balance between protection against abuses of expressions of folklore, on the one hand, and of the freedom and encouragement of further development and dissemination of folklore, on the other. The Committee took into account that expressions of folklore formed a living body of human culture which should not be stifled by too rigid protection. It also considered that any protection system should be practicable and effective, rather than a system of imaginative requirements unworkable in reality.
It was emphasized at the meeting of the Committee of Governmental Experts that the Model Provisions did not necessarily have to form a separate law; they might constitute, for example, a chapter of an intellectual property code or of a law dealing with all aspects of the preservation and promotion of national folklore. The Model Provisions were designed with the intention of leaving enough room for national laws to adopt a system of protection best corresponding to the conditions existing in the countries concerned.
Expressions of folklore to be protected
The Model Provisions do not offer any definition of folklore. For the purposes of the Model Provisions, Section 2 defines the term "expressions of folklore" in line with the findings of the Committee of Governmental Experts on the Safeguarding of Folklore, convened by Unesco in Paris in February 1982, and provides that "expressions of folklore" are understood as productions consisting of characteristic elements of the traditional artistic heritage developed and maintained by a community in the country or by individuals reflecting the traditional artistic expectations of such a community.
This definition also embraces the results of individual development of the traditional artistic heritage, since the generally applied criterion of "impersonal" creativity does not always correspond to reality in the evolution of folklore. The personality of the artist is often an important factor in folklore expressions, and individual contributions to the development and maintenance of such expressions may represent a creative source of enrichment of inherited folklore if they are recognized and adopted by the community as expressions corresponding to its traditional artistic expectations.The Model Provisions use the words "expressions" and "productions" rather than "works" to underline the fact that the provisions are sui generis, rather than part of copyright. It is another matter that expressions of folklore may, and often do, have the same artistic forms as "works."
Only "artistic" heritage is covered by the Model Provisions. This means that, among other things, traditional beliefs, scientific views (e.g. traditional cosmogony) or merely practical traditions as such, separated from possible traditional artistic forms of their expression, do not fall within the scope of the proposed definition of "expressions of folklore." On the other hand, "artistic" heritage is understood in the widest sense of the term and covers any traditional heritage appealing to our aesthetic sense. Verbal expressions, musical expressions, expressions by action and tangible expressions may all consist of characteristic elements of the traditional artistic heritage and qualify as protected expressions of folklore.
The Model Provisions also offer an illustrative enumeration of the most typical kinds of expressions of folklore. They are subdivided into four groups according to the forms of the "expressions," namely expressions by words ("verbal"), expressions by musical sounds ("musical"), expressions "by action" (of the human body) and expressions incorporated in a material object ("tangible expressions"). The first three kinds of expressions need not be "reduced to material form," that is to say, the words need not be written down, the music need not exist in musical notation and the dance need not exist in choreographic notation. On the other hand, tangible expressions by definition are incorporated in a permanent material, such as stone, wood, textile, gold, etc. The Model Provisions also give examples of each of the four forms of expressions. They are, in the first case, "folk tales, folk poetry and Riddles," in the second case, "folk songs and instrumental music," in the third case, "folk dances; plays and artistic forms of rituals," and in the fourth case, "drawings, paintings, carvings, sculptures, pottery, terra-cotta, mosaic, woodwork, metalware, jewelry, basket weaving, needlework, textiles, carpets, costumes; musical instruments: architectural forms."
The words "architectural forms" appear in the Model Provisions in square brackets to show the hesitation which accompanied their inclusion, and to leave it up to each country to decide whether or not to include such forms in the realm of protected expressions of folklore.
Acts against which expressions of folklore should be protected
There are two main categories of acts against which, under the Model Provisions, expressions of folklore are protected; namely, "illicit exploitation" and "other prejudicial actions" (Section 1)."Illicit exploitation" of an expression of folklore is understood in the Model Provisions, (Section 3) as any utilization made both with gainful intent and outside the traditional or customary context of folklore, without authorization by a competent authority or the community concerned. This means that an utilization-even with gainful intent-within the traditional or customary context should not be subject to authorization. On the other hand, an utilization, even by members of the community where the expression has been developed and maintained, requires authorization if it is made outside such a context and with gainful intent.
An expression of folklore is used in its "traditional context" if it remains in its proper artistic framework based on continuous usage by the community. For instance, to use a ritual dance in its "traditional context" means to perform it in the actual framework of the respective rite. On the other hand, the term "customary context" refers rather to the utilization of expressions of folklore in accordance with the practices of everyday life of the community, such as selling copies of tangible expressions of folklore by local craftsman. A customary context may develop and change more rapidly than a traditional one.
Section 1 of the Model Provisions specifies the acts of utilization which require authorization where the circumstances described above exist. It distinguishes between cases where copies of expressions are involved and cases where copies of expressions are not necessarily involved. In the first category of cases, the acts requiring authorization are publication, reproduction and distribution: in the second category of cases, the acts requiring authorization are public recitation, public performance, transmission by wireless means or by wire and "any other form of communication to the public."
Indigenous communities should not be prevented from using their traditional cultural heritage in traditional and customary ways and in developing it by continuous imitation. Keeping alive traditional popular art is closely linked with the reproduction, recitation or performance of traditional expressions in the originating community. An unrestricted requirement for authorization to adapt, arrange, reproduce, recite or perform such creations could place a barrier in the way of the natural evolution of folklore and could not be reasonable enforced in communities in which folklore is a part of everyday life. Thus, the Model Provisions allow any member of a community of the country to freely reproduce or perform expressions of folklore of his own community in their traditional or customary context, irrespective of whether he does it with or without gainful intent.
The Model Provisions do not hinder the use of expressions of folklore without gainful intent for legitimate purposes outside their traditional or customary context. Thus, for instance, the making of copies for the purpose of conservation, research of archival purposes is not hampered by the Model Provisions.
Section 4 of the Model Provisions determines four special cases regarding the acts restricted under Section 3. In those cases, there is no need to obtain authorization, even if the use of an expression of folklore is made against payment and outside its traditional or customary context. The first of these cases is used for educational purposes. The second case is used "by way of illustration" in an original work, provided that such use is compatible with fair practice. The third case is where an expression of folklore is "borrowed" for creating an original work by an author. This important exception serves the purpose of allowing free development of individual creativity inspired by folklore. The Model Provisions do not want to hinder in any way the creation of original works based on expressions of folklore. The fourth case in which no authorization is required is that of "incidental utilization." In order to elucidate the meaning of "incidental utilization," paragraph 2 mentions (not in an exhaustive manner) the most typical cases considered as incidental utilizations; utilization in connection with reporting on current events and utilization where the expression of folklore is an object permanently located in a public place.
The Committee of Governmental Experts was of the opinion that a general reference to copyright to the effect that, in all cases where the copyright law allows free use of works, the use of expressions of folklore should also be free, would not be of much help since many cases of free use in respect of works protected by copyright are irrelevant to the proposed sui generis protection of expressions of folklore (for example, reproduction in the press or communication to the public of a political speech or a speech delivered during legal proceedings; or reproduction for personal or private use, an act, which is not covered by the notion of the utilization of expressions of folklore subject to authorization, and needs no exception from the rule laid down in Section 3 of the Model Provisions).
"Other prejudicial actions" detrimental to interests related to the use of expressions of folklore are identified by the Model Provisions, as four cases of offenses subject to penal sanctions (section 6).
Firstly, the Model Provisions provide for the protection of the "appellation of origin" of expressions of folklore. Section 5 requires that, in all printed publications, and in connection with any communication to the public, of any identifiable expression of folklore, its source be indicated in an appropriate manner by mentioning the community and/or geographic place from where the expression utilized has been derived. Under Section 6, non-compliance with the requirement of acknowledgement of the source is a punishable offense.
Secondly, any unauthorized utilization of an expression of folklore where authorization is required constitutes an offense. It is understood that such an offense may also be committed by using expressions of folklore beyond the limits, or contrary to the conditions of any authorization obtained.
Thirdly, misleading the public by creating the impression that what is involved is an expression of folklore derived from a given community when, in fact, such is not the case is also punishable. This is essentially a form of "passing off."
Fourthly, it is an offense if, in the case of public uses, expressions of folklore are distorted in any direct or indirect manner "prejudicial to the cultural interests of the community concerned." The term "distorting" covers any act of distortion or mutilation or other derogatory action in relation to the expressions of folklore.
All four acts mentioned above only qualify as offenses if they are committed willfully. However, as regards non-compliance with the requirement of acknowledgment of source and the need to obtain authorization to use an expression of folklore, the Model Provisions also refer (in square brackets) to the possibility of the punishment of acts committed negligently. This takes account of the nature of the offenses concerned and the difficulties involved in proving willfulness in cases of omissions.
Authorization of utilizations of expressions of folklore
When the Model Provisions determine the entity entitled to authorize the utilization of expressions of folklore, they alternatively refer to "competent authority" and "community concerned," avoiding the term "owner." They do not deal with the question of the ownership of expressions of folklore since this may be regulated in different ways from one country to another. In some countries, expressions of folklore may be regarded as the property of the nation, while in other countries, a sense of ownership of the traditional artistic heritage may have developed in the communities concerned. Countries where aboriginal or other traditional communities are recognized as owners fully entitled to dispose of their folklore and where such communities are sufficiently organized to administer the utilization of the expressions of their folklore, authorization may be granted by the community itself. In the latter case, a community may grant permission to prospective users in a manner similar to authorizations granted by authors, that is, as a rule, at its own full discretion. In other countries, where the traditional artistic heritage of a community is considered a part of the cultural heritage of the nation, or where the communities concerned are not prepared to adequately administer the use of their expressions of folklore, "competent authorities" may be designated to give the necessary authorizations in the form of decisions under public law.
Section 9 of the Model Provisions provides for the designation of a competent authority, where that alternative is preferred by the legislator. The same Section also provides, in a second paragraph in square brackets, for designation of a "supervisory authority," if this should become necessary owing to the adoption of certain subsequent alternative provisions as regards activities to be carried out by such an authority (see paragraph 48, below). "Authority" is to be understood as any person or body entitled to carry out functions specified in the Model Provisions. It is conceivable that more than one competent or supervisory authority may be designated, corresponding to different kinds of expressions of folklore or utilizations thereof. Authorities may be already existing institutions or newly established ones.
The tasks of the competent authority (provided such an authority has been designated) are to grant authorizations for certain kinds of utlizations of expressions of folklore (Section 3), to receive applications for authorization of such utilizations, to decide on such applications and, where authorization is granted, to fix and collect a fee-if required by law - (Section 10, paragraph (1) and (2)), The Model Provisions also provide that any decisions by the competent authority is appealable (Section 10, paragraph (3), and Section 11, paragraph (1)).
The Model Provisions offer the possibility (in square brackets, that is, as an option) of providing in the law that a supervisory authority shall establish tariffs payable for authorizations of utilizations or shall approve such tariffs (without indication in the Model Provisions as to who will, in such a case, propose the tariffs, although it was understood by the experts adopting the Model Provisions that the competent authority would propose the tariffs) (Section 10), and that the supervisory authority's decision may be appealed to a court (Section 11, paragraph (1)).
Where the community as such is entitled to permit or prevent utilizations of its expressions of folklore subject to authorization, the community would act in its capacity of owner of the expressions concerned and would be free to decide how to proceed. There would be no supervisory authority to control how the community exercises its relevant rights. However, the Committee of Governmental Experts was of the opinion that, if it was not the community as such, but a designated representative body thereof, which was entitled by legislation to give the necessary authorization, such a body would qualify as a competent authority, subject to the relevant procedural rules laid down in the Model Provisions.
As regards the process of authorization, it follows from Section10 paragraph (1), of the Model Provisions that an authorization must be preceded by an application submitted to the competent authority. The Model Provisions allow oral applications too, by placing the words "in writing" with in square brackets. They also imply that the authorizations to be applied for may be "individual" or "blanket" authorizations, the first meaning an ad hoc authorization, and the second intended for customary users such as cultural institutions, theaters, ballet groups and broadcasting organizations.
As far as the contents of the applications are concerned, it is advisable to require the following data, indispensable to enable the competent authority to take a decision: (i) information concerning the prospective user of the expression of folklore, in particular his name, professional activity and address; (ii) information concerning the expression to be used, properly identifying it by mentioning also its source; (iii) information as regards the intended utilization, which should comprise, in the case of reproduction, the proposed number and the territory of distribution of the copies; and, in the case of recitals, performances and communications to the public, the nature and number of such acts, as well as the territory to be covered by the authorization. It will be easier to comply with such requirements if applications are required to be submitted in writing.
The Model Provisions (Section 10, paragraph (2)) allow, but do not make mandatory, collecting fees for authorizations. Presumably, where a fee is fixed, the authorization will be effective only when the fee is paid. Authorizations may be granted free of the obligation to pay a fee. Even in such cases, the system of authorization may be justified since it may prevent utilizations that would distort expressions of folklore.
The Model Provisions also determine the purpose for which the collected fees must be used. They offer a choice between promoting or safeguarding national folklore or promoting national culture, in general. Where there is no competent authority and the community concerned authorizes the use of its expressions of folklore and collects fees, it seems obvious that the purpose of the use of the collected fees should also be decided upon by the community.
Section 10, paragraph (3) provides that any decision of the competent authority is appealable. It specifies that the appeal may be made by the applicant (typically, where authorization is denied) and by "the representative of interested community" (typically, where authorization is granted). This paragraph is in square brackets since it does not apply where the authorization is granted directly by the community concerned.SanctionsSanctions should be provided for each type of offense determined by the Model Provisions, in accordance with the penal law of each country concerned. The two main types of possible punishments are fines and imprisonment. Which of these sanctions should apply, what other kinds of punishment could be provided for, and whether the sanctions should be applicable separately or in conjunction, depends on the nature of offense, the importance of the interests to be protected and the regulations adopted in a given country concerning similar offenses. Consequently, the Model Provisions do not suggest any specific punishment; they are confined to the requirements of penal remedy, leaving it up to national legislation to specify its form and measure.
As regards seizure and other similar measures, the Model Provisions are somewhat more explicit. Section 7 providing for such measures applies, in the case of any violation of the law, to both objects and receipts. "Object" is understood as meaning "any object which was made in violation of this [law]," while the receipts are "receipts of the person violating it [that is, violating the law]": typical examples are the receipts of the seller of an infringing object and the receipts of the organizer of an infringing public performance.
It should be noted that seizure and other similar measures are not necessarily considered under the Model Provisions confined to sanctions under penal law. They may be provided as well in other branches of the law, such as the law on civil procedure. Seizure should take place in accordance with the legislation of each country.
Attempts to establish an International System of sui generis Protection of Expressions of Folklore
The Model Provisions were adopted with the intention of paving the way for regional and international protection, since many countries consider it or paramount importance to protect expressions of folklore also beyond the frontiers of the countries in which they originate. Of course, national legislation on the protection of expressions of folklore could also provide an appropriate basis for protecting expressions of folklore of communities belonging to foreign countries. By extension of their applicability, national provisions might contribute for promoting regional or international protection.
In order to further such a process, the Model Provisions provide for their application as regards expressions of folklore of foreign origin either subject to reciprocity or on the basis of international treaties (Section 14). Reciprocity between countries already protecting their national folklore may be established and declared more easily than mutual protection by means of international treaties. However, a number of participants stressed at the meeting of the Committee of Governmental Experts which adopted the Model Provisions that international measures would be indispensable for extending the protection of expressions of folklore of a given country beyond the borders of the country concerned.
WIPO and Unesco followed such suggestions when they jointly convened a Group of Experts on the International Protection of Expressions of Folklore by Intellectual Property which met in Paris from December 10 to 14, 1984. The Group of Experts was asked to consider the need for a specific international regulations on the international protection of expressions of folklore by intellectual property and the contents of an appropriate draft.
The participants had at their disposal a draft treaty which had been based on the Model Provisions and had outlined a similar protection system at the international level, applying the principle of "national treatment."
The discussion at the meeting of the Group of Experts reflected a general recognition of the need for international protection of expressions of folklore, in particular, with regard to the rapidly increasing and uncontrolled use of such expressions by means of modern technology, beyond the limits of the country of the communities in which they originate.
However, the great majority of the participants considered it premature to establish an international treaty since there was no sufficient experience available as regards that protection of expressions of folklore at the national level, in particular, concerning the implementations of the Model Provisions.
Two main problems were identified by the Group of Experts: the lack of appropriate sources for the identification of the expressions of folklore to be protected and the lack of workable mechanisms for settling the questions of expressions of folklore that can be found not only in one country, but in several countries of a region.
It is quite obvious that no country could enter into an obligation under an international treaty for the protection of foreign expressions of folklore if it did not know what expressions of folklore of the other countries party to such a treaty should really be protected. Unfortunately, it is just in many developing countries that inventories or other appropriate sources for the identification of national folklore are not available.
The problem of "regional folklore" raises even more complex questions. To the competent authority of which country would a user have to turn if he wanted to utilize a certain expression of folklore being part -of the national heritage of several countries? What would the situation be if only one of those countries which share certain elements of folklore acceded to the treaty and the others did not? How could the questions of common expressions of folklore be settled among the countries of the regions concerned? Appropriate answers should be given to those and similar questions at the regional level before the idea of an international treaty for the protection of expressions of folklore might emerge in a more or less realistic manner.
The Executive Committee of the Berne Convention and the Inter Governmental Committee of the Universal Copyright Convention, at their joint sessions in Paris in June 1985, considered the report of the Group of Experts and, in general, agreed with its findings. The overwhelming majority of the participants was of the opinion that a treaty for the protection of expressions of folklore would be premature. If the elaboration of an international instrument was to be realistic at all, it could not be more than a sort of recommendation for the time being.
The use of the Rome, Phonograms and Satellites Conventions for an indirect Protection of certain Expressions of Folklore
As discussed above, there are various categories of expressions of folklore that are possible subjects of a copyright-type-but sui generis - protection. Some of them and particularly the productions of "folk art" (drawings, paintings, carvings, sculptures, pottery, terra-cotta, mosaic, woodwork, metalware, jewelry, textiles, carpets, etc.) obviously can not enjoy indirect protection by means of "neighboring rights." However, in the case of many other important categories of expressions of folklore, "neighboring rights" may be used as a fairly efficient means of indirect protection. Folk tales, folk poetry, folk songs, instrumental folk music, folk dances, folk plays and similar expressions actually live in the form of regular performances. Thus, if the protection of performers is extended to the performers of such expressions of folklore-which is the case in many countries-the performances of such expressions of folklore also enjoy protection. The same can be set about the protection of the rights of producers of phonograms and broadcasting organizations in respect of their phonograms and broadcasts, respectively, embodying such performances.
Such a protection is indirect because what is protected is not the expressions of folklore proper. "Neighboring rights" do not protect expressions of folklore against unauthorized performance, fixation in phonograms, reproduction, broadcasting or other communication to the public. Therefore, the Rome, Phonograms and Satellites Conventions do not offer protection against national folklore being performed, recorded, broadcast, etc., by foreigners. However, folklore expressions are normally performed by the performers of the community of the country, where those expressions have been developed. If the performances of such performers and the phonograms and broadcasts embodying their performances enjoy appropriate protection, this provides a fairly efficient means for an indirect protection of folklore, that is, protection in the form in which they are actually made available to the public.
The Rome, Phonograms and Satellite Conventions, in general, offer an appropriate basis for such an indirect protection at the international level. The notion of "phonograms" under the Rome and Phonograms Conventions is sufficiently broad and clearly covers phonograms embodying performances of expressions of folklore. The same can be said about the notions of "broadcasting" and "broadcast" under the Rome Convention as they extent to the transmission of arty kinds of sounds, or of images and sounds, including, of course, sounds, or of images and sounds, of performances of expressions of folklore. Also the notion of "program-carrying signals" under the Satellites Convention is sufficiently neutral and general; it includes any kinds of programs.
Interestingly enough-and unfortunately-there is, however, a slight problem just in respect of key notion of "performers' (and the notion of "performances" following indirectly from the notion of "performers") as determined in the Rome Convention. As discussed above, under Article 3(a) of the Rome Convention, "'performers' means actors, singers, musicians, dancers, and other persons who act, sing, deliver, declaim, play in, or otherwise perform literary or artistic works" (emphasis added). As discussed above, expressions of folklore do not correspond to the concept of literary and artistic works proper. Therefore, the somewhat casuistic and rigid definition of "performers" in the Rome Convention does not seem to extend to performers who perform expressions of folklore.
The less than fortunate definition of "performers" in the Rome Convention does not mean, however, that "neighboring rights" could not be used for the international protection of performers of expressions of folklore. The definition only determines the minimum scope of protection. If national laws define- as many of them do-"performers" in a more general and flexible manner to also clearly include performers of expressions of folklore, then, on the basis of the principles of national treatment, also foreign performers enjoy protection. The fact that the scope of application of the Rome Convention and, thus, also the obligation to grant national treatment, extends to the rights of all performers covered by such more general and flexible definitions is confirmed by Article 9 of the Convention which provides that "[a]ny Contracting State may, by its domestic laws and regulations, extend the protection provided for in this Convention to artists who do not perform literary or artistic works."
There is growing agreement at the international level that the protection of performers should extend to the performers of expressions of folklore. This agreement was reflected in paragraphs 17 and 28(a) of the memorandum prepared by the International Bureau of WIPO for the Committee of Experts on a Possible Instrument for the Protection of the Rights of Performers and Producers of Phonograms (WIPO document INR/CE/1/2). The memorandum proposed that the definition should explicitly include the performers of expressions of folklore. When the Chairman of the Committee prepared the basic proposal concerning the "New Instrument," he accepted this idea and included the proposed extended definition into the draft treaty (see Article 2(a) in WIPO document CRNR/DC/5). Such definition (as Article 2(a)) is included in the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty adopted in Geneva on December 20, 1996 (see WIPO document CRNR/DC/95).
Revisiting the issue of the International Protection of Folklore: The Unesco/WIPO World Forum, April 1997
The Committee of Experts on a Possible Protocol to the Berne Convention and the Committee of Experts on a Possible Instrument for the Protection of the Rights of Performers and Producers of Phonograms, at their sixth and fifth sessions, respectively, jointly held in Geneva from February 1 to 9, 1996, adopted the following recommendation:
"The Committees of Experts, "considering that the matters concerning expressions of folklore were, according to the decisions of the Governing Bodies of WIPO, subject to deliberations in the regional consultation meetings dealing with matters on the possible Protocol to the Berne Convention and the Possible Instrument for the Protection of the Rights of the Performers and Producers of Phonograms, organized by the WIPO prior to the present sessions of the two Committees, and taking into consideration the proposals which were resulting from these regional consultation meetings,
"considering the comments and suggestions made on these issues in the present sessions of the two Committees,
"unanimously agreed on the following recommendation on the matters concerning the expression of folklore:
"The Committees recommend to the Governing Bodies of WIPO that provision should be made for the organization of an international forum in order to explore issues concerning the preservation and protection of expressions of folklore, intellectual property aspects of folklore, and the harmonization of the different regional interests." (See document BCP/CE/VI/16-INR/CE/V/14, paragraph 269.)
After the adoption of the recommendation, the Delegation of Nigeria expressed the view that, due to the subject matter of the proposed forum, the involvement of Unesco would be desirable (see the same document, paragraph 270).The Director General of WIPO stated that WIPO would be glad to offer to Unesco to cooperate with it in that matter, and the representative of Unesco attending the said joint sessions of the Committees approved the idea of cooperation between WIPO and Unesco in that field (see the same document, paragraphs 271 and 274).
The Director General of the Department of Intellectual Property, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, still before the adoption of the above-quoted recommendation, in a letter addressed to the Director General of WIPO and dated January 5, 1996, indicated the readiness of the Government of Thailand to host a WIPO World Forum on the protection of folklore. This was confirmed after the adoption of the above-quoted recommendation by a letter addressed to the Director General of WIPO and dated June 4, 1996; the letter also contained specific alternative proposals concerning the venue and dates.
In June 1996, the representatives of WIPO and Unesco agreed on the joint organization of the "Unesco/WIPO World Forum on the Protection of Folklore" to deal with the issues mentioned in the above-quoted recommendation. On the basis of proposal of the Government of Thailand, it was agreed that the World Forum would be held in Phuket from April 8 to 10, 1997.
The Forum was attended by some 180 participants from about 50 countries.
Presentations were made by invited speakers from Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Cote d'lvoire, France, Ghana, India, Japan, Spain, Sweden, Thailand and the United States of America, as well as by two Unesco officials and one WIPO official. The following topics were covered: preservation and conservation of folklore in the various regions of the world; legal means of protection of expressions of folklore in national legislation; economic exploitation of expressions of folklore; and international protection of expressions of folklore.
At the end of the Forum, the following "plan of actions" was adopted by the participants:
"The participants from both public and private sectors of the member countries of WIPO and Unesco made an extensive exchange of views and experiences at the Unesco/WIPO World Forum on the Protection of Folklore during 8 to 10 April, 1997, in Phuket, Thailand. They noted the welcoming and keynote address by H.E. Somporn Asavahame who invited the participants to meet a challenge of creating a new international standard for the legal protection of folklore. They also took into account the Recommendation on the Safeguarding of Traditional Culture and folklore adopted by Unesco General Conference at its twenty-fifth session in Paris on 15 November, 1989.
"The participants were of the view that at present there is no international standard of protection for folklore and that the copyright regime is not adequate to ensure such protection. They also confirmed a need to define, identify, conserve, preserve, disseminate, and protect folklore which has been a living cultural heritage of great economic, social, and political significance from time immemorial. They emphasized the importance of striking a good balance of interests between the community owning the folklore and the users of expressions of folklore. They were convinced that closer regional and international cooperation would be vital to the successful establishment of a new international standard for the protection of folklore.
"The participants also urged both the WIPO and the Unesco to pursue their efforts to ensure an effective and appropriate international regime for the protection of folklore.
"In the light of above, most participants wish to suggest the following actions.
"- A Committee of Experts should be set up in cooperation with Unesco as soon as possible consisting of experts in both the conservation and protection of folklore and representing a fair balance of global geographical distribution.
"- Regional consultative for a should take place.
"- The Committee of Experts should complete the drafting of a new international agreement on the sui generis protections of folklore by the second quarter of 1998, in view of the possible convocation of a Diplomatic Conference preferably in the second half of 1998.
"The participants from the governments of the United States of America and the United Kingdom expressly stated that they could not associate themselves with the Plan of Action."
On May 6, 1997, the Director General received a letter from Mr. Somporn Asavahame, Deputy Minister of Commerce of Thailand, requesting, on behalf of his Government, the consideration of the above-quoted "Plan of Action" by the September-October 1997 sessions of the Governing Bodies of WIPO.
On May 21, 1997, the Director General received a note from the Permanent Mission of Ghana, Geneva, requesting that at the September-October 1997 sessions of the Governing Bodies "possible steps towards the adoption of a Treaty on the Protection of Folklore" be considered. The note indicates that the objective would be to "urge a decision on the establishment, by WIPO in cooperation with Unesco, as soon as possible, of a Committee of Experts consisting of experts in both the conservation and protection of folklore; the holding of regional consultative meetings; and the completion, by the Committee of Experts, by the second quarter of 1998, of the draft of a new international agreement providing for the sui generis protection of folklore with the view to the convening of a Diplomatic Conference preferably in second half of 1998."
The Governing Bodies of WIPO have taken into consideration the above-quoted "plan of action" during its series of meetings in September/October 1997.
* Reproduced from Intellectual Property in Asia and the Pacific, January-June 1998, No. 56/57 [ISSN 1014-336X, WIPO Publication No. 435(E)] by courtesy World Intellectual Property Organization | <urn:uuid:6c7be04b-0bca-4830-9ecd-d60d1f085720> | {
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Posted on Friday, April 27, 2012
The Westminster College Department of Mathematics and Computer Science hosted a Scratch computer programming workshop April 14 for Mercer Area Girl Scouts.
Scratch, developed at MIT, is a programming language that allows users to create interactive stories, animation, games, music, and art and share them on the web. Scouts at the workshop used Scratch to create an animated aquarium and a target game.
The workshop was directed by Dr. David Shaffer, Westminster associate professor of computer science, with assistance from Dr. Kathy Shaffer, chemistry instructor at Slippery Rock University, and Kate Shaffer, Mercer Area Elementary School student and one of the Girl Scout participants.
Contact Dr. David Shaffer at (724) 946-7292 or email for additional information. | <urn:uuid:c358a181-fd25-4bae-9e3b-cd49c086046e> | {
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In April of 2015 President Obama signed the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act also known as MACRA into law. CHIP stands for Children’s Health Insurance Program. Basically in a nutshell MACRA is going to change Medicare’s traditional fee-for-service method of reimbursement into a value based methodology. This could have a huge impact on how providers are reimbursed.
MACRA’s implementation will begin in 2019 but it will be based on the reporting year 2017. The problem is that many in the billing community do not understand what MACRA is or how it will impact their practice. Even though the implementation is still two and a half years away, the data that will be used to determine a provider’s fee schedule will be based on information reported in 2017 which is only six months away.
Many providers and their staff are totally unaware of the changes that will be implemented. These changes can greatly affect their cash flow and income. Ignoring MACRA could be a costly mistake.
So what exactly is MACRA? Basically the government wants to reimburse providers based on quality of care, not quantity. Currently providers are reimbursed on a fee for service basis. They see a Medicare patient and they are reimbursed for that service based on the Medicare fee schedule. The fee schedule amounts are determined by the SGR formula or Sustainable Growth Rate. MACRA will replace the SGR formula. Physicians will no longer be reimbursed based on volume of patients but on value of care.
Experts estimate that there are billions of dollars wasted due to wasteful, redundant and inefficient care. The SGR formula became too difficult to manage and needed to be replaced. MACRA will basically allow each provider to have an individual fee schedule based on their performance. Under MACRA providers will have two options:
Option 1: MIPS or Merit Based Incentive Payment System. MIPS combines parts of PQRS (Physician Quality Reporting System), VM (Value based payment modifier) & EHR (Electronic Health Records) incentive program into one program. Most physicians will be reimbursed based on MIPS.
Option 2: APM or Alternative Payment Model. APM provides ways to pay health care providers for the care they give to Medicare beneficiaries by sharing the risk. Accountable Care Organizations (ACOs), Patient Centered Medical Homes, and bundled payment models are examples of APMs. From 2019-2024 health care providers that qualify for APMs will receive a lump-sum incentive payment.
Most Medicare providers will fall under Option 1 or MIPS. There are four components of MIPS:
1. Quality – PQRS (50%)
2. Advancing Care Information (ACI previously known as EHR/meaningful use) (25%)
3. Clinical Practice Improvement Activities (CPIA) (15%)
4. Resource Use (10%)
MIPS defines the financial impact on providers by creating a composite score for each provider. The composite score will be between 1 and 100 and will be based on the four components above. This composite score will lead to each provider having their own individual fee schedule.
Composite scores will be posted on a CMS (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) public website know as Physician Compare. CMS hopes that this will motivate providers by having an effect on their reputation.
Providers who are not reporting PQRS measures receive a 2% penalty for 2016. Many providers choose to accept this penalty. Once MACRA is implemented PQRS could have a greater impact on a provider’s reimbursement. PQRS counts for 50% of a provider’s composite score.
The following is a chart of possible payment adjustments for providers based on their composite score:
• 2019: +/- 4%
• 2020: +/- 5%
• 2021: +/- 7%
• 2022: +/- 9%
Based on this chart, a provider with a low composite score may receive a payment adjustment of – 9%. This could have a big impact on a provider’s income.
Currently MU or Meaningful Use is an all or nothing program. This means that a provider either passes, or meets the requirements for Meaningful Use of EHR, or they fail by not meeting those requirements. Under MACRA, MU or ACI will no longer be all or nothing. In the past, a user with 31% was just as compliant as user with 75%. Under MACRA ACI (previously MU) will account for up to 25% of a provider’s composite score. The provider will receive credit for the amount of Meaningful Use they demonstrate.
The higher a provider’s composite score, the more they will be reimbursed for services provided to Medicare beneficiaries. Provider can choose to suffer the penalties but a low composite score will result in low reimbursement for services. They can also choose to mitigate or reduce the penalties by reporting PQRS and demonstrating meaningful use to increase their composite score. They can also compete for incentive dollars to improve their fee schedule.
From 2015 to 2019 there will be an automatic 0.5% increase to the current Medicare physician fee schedule. However this increase can be offset by penalties. 2019 to 2025 the reimbursement will be determined by MIPS or APM depending on what option the provider chooses.
It is urgent that providers prepare now so that their reported information in 2017 will not hurt their income in 2019. They will have to decide how much time and energy their office will devote to the process. Software companies are trying to make it easier for providers to reduce penalties by doing back end work to help reporting PQRS and ACI.
Many providers are still not reporting through the PQRS system. The current penalty does not impact them enough to make a difference. Many are also not demonstrating meaningful use. With MACRA PQRS and MU will count for up to 75% of their composite score so it will not be so easy to ignore.
In order to limit the financial impact of MACRA providers will have to report using PQRS, demonstrate MU or ACI, and balance compliance with financial prudence. It is important to start preparing now. | <urn:uuid:518eba2f-8712-419d-a579-d6f42b678594> | {
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Is your pre-schooler going to be starting school sometime within the next year?
Do you want to know what you can do to help make the transition as stress free as possible.
Preparing for the more formal learning days in the school system starts right from birth. And there are some specific things you as a parent can do right now to make a happy, relaxed transition to school.
The New Zealand Curriculum emphasises the importance of Key Competencies of; Thinking, Using Language, Symbols, and Texts, Managing Self, Relating to Others and Participating and Contributing. See the below link:
If you can help your child build a solid base in the Key Competence areas they will be well prepared to start and succeed at school. GrasshopperKnees has incorporated these Key Competencies into all their Activity Cards
and the Learning Leaps Programme
has been designed to guarantee children are well prepared to start the formal years of school and that there are NO big gaps in their learning.
Key Competencies/Attributes to start building in preparation for school include :
• Independent thinking – think before acting
• Transferring knowledge and applying to new situations
• Inquisitiveness, curiosity and using imagination
• Ability to ask questions and generate own ideas
• Using strategies of problem solving
• Confidence – taking risks/giving new things a go
• Communicating with others – working it out together
• Getting organised in advance
• Enjoying working and playing with others
• Independently doing chore tasks e.g dressing, feeding, carry own gear
• Persisting to complete tasks
• Taking pride and performing to the best of our ability
Schools today very much emphasise Literacy and Numeracy. The introduction of National Standards has increased the time and effort put into these subject areas.
To give your child the best possible start for the more academic side of school, focus heavily on reading to your child, talking about how a book works and building your child's vocabulary in everything that you do with them. This will give them the foundation they need for reading, writing, speaking and mathematics.
Whilst it isn’t so important to learn how to actually read words and do “sums” before school, make sure your child can listen attentively, discuss and understand what they are doing and can make special connections to their own experiences.
For more information go to http://www.minedu.govt.nz/Parents/EarlyYears/MovingOnToSchool.aspx
The most important thing you can do is give your child a solid foundation in all areas of development (social, emotional, academic and physical). The easiest way to ensure your kids are getting the solid foundation they need to start school is to check out the GrasshopperKnees Activity Cards
. You can use the cards to check you're on track with your child's development as well as use them to get loads of activities, games and tips that will help your child get that well rounded solid foundation they need.
Children who enter into school with a wide range of experiences across all areas will have more self confidence and well honed social skills to cope with the many changes they will encounter on a day to day basis at primary school level.
It is important to remember formal classes and drilling facts that push pre-schoolers to read, write words and do sums, do not help their development or make them do better in school.
In fact they can even make children feel like failures when they are pushed to do something they don't enjoy or that is beyond their readiness to learn a particular skill. | <urn:uuid:d0000b8e-70c5-4808-a7c8-29af6871a174> | {
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Researchers from the University of Melbourne believe they have discovered a way to help amputees and stroke victims, developing a robotic arm which will allow users to experience the sensation of touch.
The discovery could help return full movement and the sense of touch to amputees and aid recovery for patients with paralysis.
Research into the development is being overseen by the St Vincent’s Hospital-based Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery.
St Vincent’s Director for Orthopaedics Peter Choong said a prototype arm would be developed based on research and technology that allowed for an enhanced sensory element, which could restore the sensation of touch.
It will expand upon current robotic limbs that use electrodes – or “buzzes and clicks” – to assist a person’s senses, pushing boundaries in transmitting messages from the brain directly to the arm, Prof. Choong said.
The enhanced limb would function by “using the patient’s own nerves and tissue engineering, muscle and nerve engineering and hooking it up to the artificial limb to act in a normal way,” he told 9news.com.au.
“We’re trying to build up something that can also feel and perceive strength and pressure, feeding it back to the patient through an artificial means.
"What we really want is for the machine to talk back to the brain and that's where a lot of the science is."
University of Melbourne robotics engineer Denny Oetomo told 9NEWS the team working on the research don't think of the arm as a "tool".
"Essentially it would be a limb rather than a tool," he said.
The Aikenhead Centre combined forces with engineers from the University of Melbourne and the University of Wollongong to use 3D printing to create microchips for communication between limb tissues and electrodes. The chips allow movement messages to pass from the brain to the robotic arm.
A prototype will be developed by the University of Melbourne within the next year. It builds on the work of St Vincent’s Hospital neurologist Mark Cook, who decoded the signals of the brain to be able to control complex robotics.
Prof. Cook described the process as “turning thoughts into mechanical action”.
While there is no indication of costs for individual models, Prof. Choong said the outcome would be priceless.
“It will be costly, but for patients, losing an arm is costly,” he said.
The collaborative group is pushing for an Aikenhead Centre for Medical Discovery (ACMD) to be built, which would bring together leading research centres including St Vincent’s, University of Melbourne, St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research, Bionics Institute, O’Brien Institute, Australian Catholic University, University of Wollongong, Centre for Eye Research Australia, RMIT University, Royal Victorian Eye and Ear Hospital, and Swinburne University.
The proposed centre would continue developing biomedical solutions, and would be built on the corner of Nicholson Street and Victoria Parade for $180 million.
Researchers hope to continue their developments to include prosthetic legs, and technology to help people who have been affected by incontinence.
The proposal has seen leading centres chip in $60 million, along with a further $60 million pledged by the state government.
The team are now urging the federal government to follow suit.
“We’re now looking for the federal government to put their money where their mouth is – it says it’s in for innovation, that’s what it has to do,” he said.
Have a good news story you’d like to share? We’d like to hear from you. Email [email protected]
© Nine Digital Pty Ltd 2018 | <urn:uuid:008341f8-7764-48fb-8373-b9cc224302e8> | {
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Looking back on my years as a teacher, I can now say that ABA was the missing piece in my classroom (see: 5 ABA Principles I Wish I Knew as a Teacher). As a preschool and elementary teacher, I was struggling with the concepts of reinforcement and behaviour management. This is why I find the application of ABA to the classroom a rewarding part of my job now – it’s like coming full circle. I found the field of ABA as a solution to my problem and now I can help be a solution for other teachers.
I often consult to classrooms and teachers, both general and special education. The principles remain the same – how can we (or teachers) create a positive classroom environment, promote independence, and teach an individualized curriculum, all while managing any challenging behaviours that arise? In this series, we’ll tackle this issue and share the ideas that have worked (and maybe some that haven’t!) in classrooms we work with.
The Early Childhood Classroom
Look at the environment
Observation of the actual classroom can give us so much more insight than any parent or teacher report. With young children, our first line of defense is usually, “What can be changed in this environment to reduce negative behaviour?” Before putting in any behaviour protocol, check that the expectations are realistic and the environment is set up for success. I was once consulting to a student in kindergarten where the teacher was concerned that he was not able to sit during circle time. I observed the actual circle time and it lasted 45 minutes! Not only that, but there were hardly any visuals! No wonder our kiddo was getting antsy – so was I!
Simple changes to the environment often help:
- Include more visuals in teaching
- Keep expectations realistic and age-appropriate
- Separate a big group into 2 smaller groups (if possible)
- Offer more movement breaks
- Change desk locations or assign set seating for circle time
If the answer isn’t as simple as changing the environment, then we want to be able to give a function-based solution. Collecting ABC data or doing a functional analysis would be the next step. If it’s too cumbersome for teachers to have to write ABC data, a simple-check-off ABC data sheet might help. We’re looking for patterns throughout the day and the function that the behaviour is serving. This is another time to look for simple solutions. We had once filled in a scatterplot ABC data sheet for one of our student and found that his negative behaviour always occurred at 10:30am. Solution: Offer him snack at 10:15 – he was hangry!
“What’s in it for him?” – Reinforcement
Before even trying to reduce challenging behaviours, we have to have a plan in place to increase and promote positive behaviours. For many students, this might involve external reinforcement (at least at first) to make the positive behaviour more motivating than the negative behaviour. Remember, until now, the reinforcement for the negative behaviour was quick and easy. For more on this, check out Classroom reinforcement Systems that Work.
Remember: just because we think an item or activity is preferred doesn’t mean it will actually function as reinforcement (i.e., increase behaviour). Make sure to do accurate preference assessments when putting a plan in place.
How to access reinforcement
The student should be able to earn “points” (or tokens, chips, stickers, etc.) and then trade in those points for a preferred item or activity. This format can be as creative as you want it to be! This is the step that is often difficult for a teacher to do in a classroom. It might take more manpower to implement at first but then it can be faded so that the teacher can take over once the reinforcement is in place (see: The Shadow’s Role in the Classroom). At first, the system should be set up so that the student is more successful than not and should be accessing reinforcement pretty often.
Tip: Don’t wait for negative behaviour to remember to bring out the token board! It should be used as an antecedent strategy and always in place.
Put negative behaviour on extinction
Simply stated: DO THE OPPOSITE OF THE FUNCTION
If the function is tangible → they don’t get tangible for negative behaviour.
If the function is attention → don’t give them attention for negative behaviour
If the function is escape → don’t give them escape for negative behaviour
If the function is automatic (sensory) → redirect (look into RIRD)
Continue to Monitor
We want to continue to take data to know if the intervention is working and the negative behaviour is decreasing. Determine what the teacher is willing and able to do and then make it as simple as possible.
- Frequency data – record every time the behaviour occurs
- Duration data – record how long the behaviour lasts
- Intensity – record how intense the behaviour is
- Partial interval recording – check off intervals when the targeted behaviour occurs and look for whether the amount of intervals is decreasing
Sign up for our FREE training!
Join our free training and learn what you need to know about assessing a new client's skill level - beginner, intermediate, and advanced.
BONUS: You'll receive a download of our Intake Assessment Tool! | <urn:uuid:aa967026-6282-4bf2-8a82-290362125914> | {
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WESTERN AUSTRALIA: Route Numbering
A sample of route marking in Western Australia - State Route 8 at its junction with National Route 1 and National Highway 94 in Burswood. Source: Vi Ong, Feb 2006.
Western Australia operates with the traditional Australia system of shielded routes with three different tiers, viz: National Routes (including National Highways), State Routes, and Tourist Drives.
The National Route system has existed in Western Australia since 1966, albeit isolated from the rest of Australia until the sealing of the Eyre Highway in 1976.
State Routes and Tourist Drives were both introduced in April 1986 as part of a comprehensive re-jigging of the route marking system in Western Australia. Prior to 1986, metropolitan Perth had been expanding rapidly and many major new roads were being constructed, creating a need for an improved system of guidance.
Whilst most other states are bracing for a change to alpha-numeric route marking, if not implementing it already, MRWA has stated (correspondence with Josh Geoghegan in 2004) that they have no intention of switching to alpha-numeric route marking in the near future.
For a full overview of the National, State and Tourist route marking systems, follow the links below. Under each section will also be links to each individual route. | <urn:uuid:939c1cc3-70fa-4ecc-a65b-b9a56b469352> | {
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A 360 panorama taken from the top of Hengistbury Head in Dorset. The picture shows the spectacular views offered of the surrounding coastline from up here - all the way out to the Isle of Wight and over to Old Harry Rocks. It is a popular walk, even during stormy weather, and often quite windy.
Hengistbury Head - Christchurch visitor guide showing a virtual tour of 'Hengistbury Head' linked to an interactive map with local and travel information. 360° panoramas from Dorset.
Hengistbury Head is an important landmark on the Dorset coast, enclosing the southern half of Christchurch Harbour and forming the beginning of a stretch of beaches extending for miles through Bournemouth Beach all the way to the entrance to Poole Harbour, part of the Bournemouth Coast Path. The headland has a long history, a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) rich in wildlife and a popular tourist attraction.
Hengistbury Head Geology: Hengistbury Head lies inclined 3 degrees to the southeast. The geology is clearly exposed in the erroded cliffs on the southern edge, and dates back some 60 million years. At the bottom is a layer of Boscombe Sands, on top of which sit the Lower Hengistbury Beds, about 3 meters of greenish clay-sands. Above this is are 15m the Upper Hengistbury Beds, formed of brown clay sands containing boulders of ironstone. The next, 3m layer, are the wihte sands of the Highcliffe Beds. Above this is about 1m of river deposits, silt and gravel topped by a thin layer of sandy topsoil.
Hengistbury Head (Pre)History: The human love affair with Hengistbury Head dates back to the Stone Age (10,500 BC), when the English Channel would have looked like a large river. During the Bronze Age numerous people were buried here and several barrows have been excavated revealing a rich collection of jewellery ad other artefacts. By the end of the Bronze Age a small village was established on the headland and two defensive banks constructed at the base turning Hengistbury Head into a fortress.
During the Iron Age, Hengistbury Head continued to flourish, defended by the 'double dykes' and grew into an important port. The port declined during Roman rule, who favoured other port sites like Wareham. By the time the Romans left, Hengistbury Head had been abandoned. It was not occupied again, but quarried for ironstone during the 19th century, which has caused significant damage to both the head and surroundings, still felt today.
Hengistbury Head Today: Modern day Hengistbury Head is a popular attraction overlooking Christchurch and Mudeford, drawing about 1 million visitors a year. The spit is lined with expensive beach huts and various paths cross over the head itself, offering stunning views of the surroundings which, on clear days, extend all the way along Highcliffe and over to the Isle of Wight to the east and Old Harry Rocks to the west. A 'Noddy Train' runs from the cafe / restaurant along the headland to the beach on the spit at the end.
It is also home to the Hengistbury Head Research Station, often used by schools for teaching, and also has some water sports. The flat areas around Hengistbury Head are often full of kites on windy days. Visitors are asked to respect the area and keep to paths, reducing erosion and damage to several rare habitats.
Bus: Hengistbury Head Cafe
Car: From Christchurch take the B3059 south and turn left onto Bell Vue Road which runs along to the pay-&-display car park at the end. Free parking available on the approach road. From Bournemouth take the A35 and then B3059 to Bell Vue Road. | <urn:uuid:3a3ae442-57c7-4898-815f-9673e04bd1b3> | {
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A European plan to unblock UN climate talks with a new global treaty is being held up by India and some developing countries who feared it would take too long to negotiate and lead to weaker pledges by wealthy countries.
The "Durban roadmap" came to the fore on Sunday night during the climate talks because the first phase of the Kyoto protocol treaty will expire next year, with several rich countries refusing to commit to further emission cuts and deadlines.
The EU compromise proposal offers to preserve the Kyoto protocol with a legally binding parallel treaty which would force all countries to cut emissions, but at different speeds and timescales.
Europe and the South African chair of the talks are thought to have persuaded the 42-strong Alliance of Small Island States coalition and the 48 least developed countries to back the EU. "China is sending signals of flexibility, Indonesia, South Africa, and Brazil are sympathetic but India is still saying the current treaty is a red line," said an EU source.
As the UK energy secretary, Chris Huhne, and senior ministers from more than 190 countries flew to Durban for high-level negotiations, deep divisions remained between the world's biggest emitters and many smaller countries over finance, forests and how to raise the ambition of cuts.
Many African and Latin American countries said they feared richer countries were wasting time trying to re-negotiate the Kyoto protocol.
"Instead of concluding negotiations now, they are trying to launch a new route which is in danger of superceding what is already there with an even weaker system. We fear that we will not have legally binding targets and timetables", said a diplomat from one African country.
A spokeman for Venezuela said: "All the options so far from developed countries move towards a lowering of ambition."
Environment groups urged countries to renew their pledges under the Kyoto treaty and not be sidetracked by promises of a better deal. "Negotiating a new climate deal will take too long and be a recipe for inaction," said Andy Atkins, head of Friends of the Earth.
Ministers will this week try to whittle down a new draft of more than 130 pages to reach agreement. The best hopes are that agreements will be reached on finance and forests.
"After six days of talks, we seem to be moving backward, not forward," said Tasneem Essop, head of WWF international climate strategy. "It's time for governments to bravely stand side-by-side with their citizens. The stakes are enormous as we fight to secure enough food, water and energy for all." | <urn:uuid:767399f7-66a2-4383-90f8-1c8652543ccc> | {
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Science technology of Earth’s climate topic of essay contest
org) invites undergraduate and graduate students from around the world to submit an essay to its 2013 Student Essay Contest on “Science Technology for Observing Earth’s Climate.” The contest offers students an opportunity to sketch visions and raise critical thoughts that can be discussed with “Earthzine’s” global readership. Earth observation technology collects and processes data on climatic conditions on Earth. The 2013 Student Essay Contest is a platform to share views on Earth science technology, which includes hardware for data collection, computer infrastructures for data management, and software and algorithms for data analysis.
The essays can be reports on how you use Earth observation technology or your critical views on developments of these technologies.
What further technological advances do we need to understand Earth’s climate? What problems have been solved with Earth observation technology? What are your experiences with this kind of technology? What insights did you gain on climatic conditions on Earth from using Earth observation technology?
Accepted essays will be published at Earthzine.org and judged by a panel of experts, with $1,500 in prizes awarded to the top entry or entries. The process for judging will include two weeks of online discussion with “Earthzine” readers and judges. | <urn:uuid:bc1f1614-f9b3-43e2-ae72-e0bb215d0e23> | {
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Facing fears: How exposure therapy can help children with anxiety
An estimated 4.4 million children aged 3-17 have diagnosed anxiety, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Exposure therapy — a psychological technique that essentially helps people confront their fears — has been shown to be highly effective in treating anxiety disorders among children and adolescents.
A new book, “Exposure Therapy with Children and Adolescents,” (Guilford Press), by Michael A. Southam-Gerow, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Psychology in the Virginia Commonwealth University College of Humanities and Sciences, provides practical, developmentally savvy guidelines for conducting therapeutic exposure with 5- to 18-year-olds.
Southam-Gerow, co-director of the Anxiety Clinic, part of the Center for Psychological Services and Development at VCU, and an expert in mental health services for children and families, recently discussed the book and how exposure therapy can be a valuable treatment for children with anxiety.
What exactly is exposure therapy? How does it work?
Exposure therapy is an approach used mostly for folks with anxieties and fears. The idea is relatively simple: If you are afraid of some thing or situation and you are avoiding it and the thing or situation is not dangerous, then we expose you to the thing or situation in a gradual way that so you get more comfortable with the thing/situation and eventually learn that it is not dangerous.
What sort of anxiety disorders can exposure therapy help?
Exposure has been tested for a wide variety of anxiety problems, including specific phobias, separation fears, social anxieties, extreme worries, panic disorder, obsessions and compulsions and traumatic stress disorders. Exposure has also been used for some anger-related problems.
I imagine it must be a challenge to help a young person feel safe and comfortable facing a phobia or the source of their anxiety. Could you give an example of how you go about doing that?
Exposure treatment starts with a lot of education on the front end about the nature of anxiety and about how exposure works. The approach taken is a gradual one — a fear ladder is built with the client, starting with low anxiety situations and working toward tougher ones. We emphasize that the exposure practice sessions will always be in the control of the client — we pick the item we will practice each week together. And we emphasize the idea that we will start low and go slow. This is not the “toss the person in the deep end of the pool” kind of approach. It is more like the start outside the pool and work our way in slowly. The key is that although we will move slowly, we will always be moving forward. So eventually we get to the tough items.
An example might be someone who is fearful of social situations, like giving a speech in front of class in school. We would build a ladder with the person that might include easier items like watching someone on a video giving a speech and writing a speech and imagining delivering it, building to medium items like delivering the speech alone in a room and delivering the speech to the therapist only and then finishing with tougher items like delivering the speech with more people observing and delivering the speech with more people and making a few mistakes on purpose.
Is exposure therapy for children more challenging than with adults? How so?
Therapy with kids is generally more challenging because the client is often unwilling or at least was not the person who sought out treatment. For kids, the caregiver almost always is the person who starts treatment. As a result, the therapist is balancing the needs and preferences of more than one person. For exposure, this has some obvious challenges. The caregiver may see many reasons for the child to learn to face their fears that the child does not see.
The book appears to be geared toward clinical psychologists to help them treat children and adolescents. What do you hope it contributes to the field?
The book is meant for anyone who does clinical work with children and adolescents, including folks in psychology, social work, rehab counseling, marriage and family therapy, or other related fields. Exposure is a deceptively simple practice, relatively easy to describe but quite challenging to do well. The challenges are largely related to the fact that the client has learned many strategies to avoid feared stimuli. Avoidance works really well to quell anxiety but means that we don’t learn from the situation. And the avoidance strengthens our anxiety. Add to that the fact that many therapists express misgivings about trying exposure because the client might refuse. It can be easier to explore the reasons for a fear than it is to expose someone to that fear. However, we know from studies that exposure can be a major driver of positive therapeutic changes. My hope with the book was to inspire folks to consider exposure with their clients and to provide an accessible and thorough introduction to the ways it can be used flexibly.
How did you go about researching this book? Is exposure therapy something you've seen work in a clinical setting?
I was trained in exposure therapy in graduate school in the early 1990s and have been using and training folks in the approach since that time. The book draws on my experiences as therapist, supervisor and trainer of hundreds of clients treated using exposure therapy.
Anything else you'd like to add?
Anxiety disorders in children and adolescents are highly treatable and relief can come relatively quickly. Untreated, data suggests that as children age, anxiety can become more severe and can lead to other challenges, including depression and substance abuse. I hope that families of children or teens who are anxious will reach out for help. Exposure therapy and cognitive-behavioral approaches are strongly backed by science and are drug-free ways to help children and adolescents learn to deal with anxiety. | <urn:uuid:8f8ac2cd-9d31-431b-9c97-9cfb2536045f> | {
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By Timothy Brittain-Catlin
Have you desired to have the ability to inform the variation among tudor and mock-tudor? are looking to research what parts make a construction gothic? Ever puzzled what has inspired how our cities and towns have been outfitted? are looking to comprehend the foremost traditions of architecture?
Collins want to know? the best way to learn a development takes the reader in the course of the strategy of studying extra in regards to the outfitted surroundings. beginning with the fundamentals of analysing the house, then relocating onto taking a look at public structures and bigger and extra recognized buildings, Timothy Brittain-Catlin indicates the reader how good points are inherited and copied, in addition to tailored with every one new generation.
Whether you reside in a small flat or indifferent residence, you'll find strains of architectural historical past - and learn how to interpret the gains you notice and placed them into the broader context of your atmosphere. This e-book might help you begin to discover interesting facets of architectural variety and heritage from the constructions you move each day.
Introduction: structure is for everyone
Chapter 1: the weather of architecture
Chapter 2: The Classical tradition
Chapter three: The Gothic tradition
Chapter four: The 19th century
Chapter five: structure because 1900
Chapter 6: considering Architecturally
Also includes entire word list of phrases and fast reference identity courses.
Read Online or Download How to Read a Building: Interpret a Building's Character and Style (Collins Need to Know?) PDF
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This small booklet on small dwellings explores the various biggest questions that may be posed approximately structure. What starts off the place structure ends? What was once ahead of structure? The ostensible topic of Ann Cline's inquiry is the primitive hut, a one-room constitution outfitted of universal or rustic fabrics.
During the last 30 years the writings of Georges Bataille have had a profound impression on French highbrow concept, informing the paintings of Foucault, Derrida, and Barthes, between others. opposed to structure deals the 1st critical interpretation of this tough philosopher, spelling out the profoundly unique and radical nature of Bataille's paintings.
The Achitecture of Happiness is a stunning and generously illustrated trip in the course of the philosophy and psychology of structure and the indelible connection among our identities and our destinations. one of many nice yet frequently unmentioned motives of either happiness and distress is the standard of our surroundings: the categories of partitions, chairs, structures, and streets that encompass us.
One of many famed architect's earliest released works, the Wasmuth drawings seize Wright's first nice experiments in natural layout and inspiration. those a hundred plates have been reproduced from an extraordinary 1910 first variation. The full-page illustrations depict plans for houses, banks, cottages, places of work, temples, and Wright's personal studio.
Additional info for How to Read a Building: Interpret a Building's Character and Style (Collins Need to Know?)
77-85 Fulham Palace highway London, W6 8JB, united kingdom http://www. harpercollins. co. united kingdom usa HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 10 East 53rd highway long island, big apple 10022 http://www. harpercollins. | <urn:uuid:09346842-dd85-4dde-b150-109b1463379d> | {
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How to Develop a Concept Paper
A concept paper can play a valuable role in the initial stages of the grant seeking process. It serves as an initial outline of your project, providing a framework to guide discussions with potential partners, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, and funding agency program officers. A concept paper should be brief (1-3 pages) and succinct. Use language that is definite. Instead of stating, “We may carry out this task,” project confidence in the proposal and assert, “We will carry out this task.” Act as the salesperson for your idea by avoiding conditional language that minimizes your ability to carry out the project, such as “if,” “however,” and “but.” Depending upon what will be helpful in planning your proposal, a concept paper may include the following sections:
- Describe the question, problem, or need that will be addressed. Briefly note any evidence of this need (such as a statistic).
- Identify how the project will address this need.
- Identify how the project fits the mission/priorities of the funding agency.
What activities will take place?
- For example, will you be developing curriculum, starting a mentoring program, or holding a training workshop?
How is your approach unique, inventive, and/or transformative?
- Distinguish yourself from the sea of proposals the funder will receive. Define why the agency should fund you instead of someone with a similar idea.
Who will benefit?
- Think in broader terms than merely answering a research question. Consider the project’s effects upon students, curriculum, faculty professional development, the institution’s research environment, and society in general. The broader impacts should appeal to your targeted agency’s goals and funding priorities.
What do you hope to achieve?
- Objectives are more specific than the project’s overall goal(s) and should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and time-bound.
- What are your research questions?
- How will the project be carried out?
- What inventive techniques, processes, or methods will be employed?
- What is the anticipated timeline (in general terms)? How many months or years will the project span?
Make a general list of what you will need to carry out a project and, if possible, anticipated expenses.
- The Office of Research and Sponsored Programs can help you brainstorm what your needs may be and assign appropriate figures to those needs.
Consider what you may need within the following categories:
- Personnel – Don’t forget to include undergraduate or graduate student support.
- Equipment (> $5,000)
- Supplies (< $5,000)
- Travel – Do you need to travel for research purposes or dissemination?
- Consultants or subcontractors – Individuals under this category must be outside of the UW System. Partners employed within the UW System can be included as personnel.
- Participant support
- Space – Will you need to rent facilities off-campus? | <urn:uuid:d2c06602-31d9-4557-9890-17fbce51e93c> | {
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There are many definitions of instructional technology. One concentrates on devices teachers use in classrooms. Another definition focuses on the different ways that teachers have used such devices as tools to advance learning in lessons. Even other definitions frame technology as processes, ways of organizing classrooms, schools, and districts.
I examine the second definition in this post: the connection between writing tools students used and the perpetual demand over the past two millennia of teachers in every culture to find out what students have learned. Here I consider the quill and steel-tipped pen, pencil, ball-point pen, and yes, the computer.
I begin with the quill pen.
Here is how Robert Travers (1983, pp. 97-98) described quill pens.
The quill pen was first mentioned in the writings of Saint Isodore of Seville in the seventh century…. The quill seems to have been by far the best writing instrument invented in its time for it displaces all other forms. It became the main instrument used in schools, apart from the slate…. Even in the late 1800s, the quill pen was still the most widely used instrument for writing. Quills [came] from the wings of geese, but swan quills were also highly valued. For fine work, the quills of crows were sometimes used.
In 1809, an inventor, Joseph Bramah, developed a machine for cutting quills into lengths, and the short lengths were then inserted into a wooden holder….The separation of the point and the holder led to many inventions, and one of these was the [metal-tipped pen]….The first factory for the mass production of the steel pen was established in New Jersey in 1870….
When the steel pen entered education, a revolution in school practice [occurred]. Writing with the quill had been a slow, unhurried art…. [T]he writer had to stop frequently in order to reshape and sharpen the quill. Since writing was a slow art, pride was taken in it….The steel pen changed that. The steel pen made it possible to write continuously over long periods. There was ever increasing pressure on the pupil to produce written material in quantity. The new medium for written work then became used for examinations, which became substitutes for the form of oral examination provided by the recitation [where students would be quizzed in public for their knowledge]….
By 1890, students had become so used to the steel pen that examinations were commonly administered using this writing instrument as a tool to produce rapidly written answers.
In the Pittsburgh (PA) public schools as an elementary school student in 1940 at a now demolished Minersville elementary school, I sat at one of the above desks with the hole for the then-defunct inkwell.
What about pencils? Like metal-tipped pens, mass-produced pencils did not appear in most classrooms until the early decades of the 20th century. And with pencils, teachers assessed what students learned through hand-written homework, quizzes, essays, and multiple-choice tests (introduced in the U.S. during World War I). These inexpensive devices–mass-produced ball-point pens arrived in schools in the 1940s—made assessing students’ knowledge inexpensive–after all, no one pays students to take tests or for lost time learning–and efficient in judging promotion, retention, graduation, and other high-stakes outcomes.
Now arrives computer adaptive testing (CAT). Used a great deal in the private sector for employment and other purposes, over the past few decades, computerized testing has entered schools. In Measures of Academic Progress (MAP), for example, students sit in front of computer screens and take tests that are tailored to their ability. When a student answers an item (usually multiple-choice) correctly, then the student is given a harder item to answer. If the student gives a wrong answer, then the screen shows an easier question. This goes on until the computer bank runs out of items to administer students or the computer has sufficient information to give the student a score. Whichever happens first, then the test is over.
Highly touted by promoters and vendors–see McGraw-Hill YouTube segment for an example of hype–CAT is part of the package that new national tests accompanying Common Core standards will include by 2014. There are, as with any new technological device, clear advantages and disadvantages of this form of assessment (see Computer Adaptive Testing).
Like quill and steel-tipped pens dipped in ink, pencils, and ballpoint pens, here is another technological device that is being bent toward finding out what students know. Ideally, of course, there would be no need for CAT or the mountain high summative tests currently in vogue across the country were the nation’s teachers sufficiently trusted to use the many ways teachers assess daily what their students know and can do. And further, for districts to build and increase teacher knowledge and skills in assessment That kind of time investment in teacher knowledge and skills and the accompanying trust in teachers and schools to assess and report the results are, sad to say, missing-in-action.
So watch computer adaptive testing become the new steel-tipped pen of the late-19th century. | <urn:uuid:a48384d2-ee9c-448f-80ee-926c597b3d85> | {
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REALLY?; THE CLAIM: Zinc can help fight off ear infections.
By ANAHAD O'CONNOR
Published: March 16, 2010
As parents know, middle-ear infections are one of the most common and painful afflictions of childhood, striking three-quarters of children.
One suggested remedy is zinc, which has a long history as a cold-fighting supplement. Zinc, a micronutrient (a nutrient the body needs only in small quantities), is said to help strengthen the immune system and to help ease and prevent infections. But in recent studies, scientists have failed to find much support for its effectiveness.
One team of researchers combined data from 10 different randomized, placebo-controlled trials in which children were given zinc supplements at least once a week for a month to prevent ear infections. Over all, they found ''no convincing evidence'' that those children fared any better than those given a placebo. The results were published last month in The Cochrane Database.
One exception was in children who were malnourished; a study found that they had a lower risk of middle-ear infection after receiving zinc. But in otherwise healthy children the evidence was weak.
In general, experts say, the best course of treatment is a mild pain reliever combined with a wait-and-see approach. About 85 percent of bacterial ear infections clear up on their own. But when that does not work, and symptoms are still present after a couple days, an antibiotic is usually in order.
THE BOTTOM LINE
Generally speaking, zinc does not appear to lower the risk of childhood ear infections.
ANAHAD O'CONNOR [email protected]
DRAWING (DRAWING BY CHRISTOPH NIEMANN) | <urn:uuid:a4a2cecc-bd46-45a5-ad68-ba02a7d081b3> | {
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in Wisconsin History
Lead Mining in Southwestern Wisconsin
Although southwestern Wisconsin is best known today for its rich farmlands, place names such as Mineral Point and New Diggings evoke an earlier time when local mines produced much of the nation's lead. In the early nineteenth century, Wisconsin lead mining was more promising and attractive to potential settlers than either the fur trade or farming. Its potentially quick rewards lured a steady stream of settlers up the Mississippi River and into Grant, Crawford, Iowa, and Lafayette counties in the early nineteenth century. By 1829, more than 4,000 miners worked in southwestern Wisconsin, producing 13 million pounds of lead a year.
Europeans had known of the presence of lead ore in the upper Mississippi since the seventeenth century, and for hundreds of years before that, the Ho-Chunk, Mesquaki (Fox), Sauk, and other Indian tribes had mined its easily accessible lead. French fur trader Nicolas Perrot began actively trading in lead mined by Indians in the 1680s. When the French withdrew from the area in 1760, Indians guarded the mines carefully, revealing their locations only to favored traders such as Julian Dubuque.
Settlement in the region remained slow until a series of treaties between 1804 and 1832 gradually ceded all Indian lands south of the Wisconsin River to the U.S. This coincided with a strong demand for lead, which was widely used in the manufacture of pewter, pipes, weights, paint, and of course, ammunition for the firearms of an expanding U.S. military.
Miners who moved to the area in the 1820s and 1830s wasted little time in constructing shelters. Some simply burrowed holes into hillsides, earning miners the nickname "badgers." The tools and techniques involved in lead mining in these early years were relatively simple and inexpensive, allowing lucky miners to strike it rich with little personal expense.
Many of the first miners came to Wisconsin from Missouri, which had experienced a similar lead boom a few years earlier. Communities sprang up quickly around the mines, as other industries and businesses were founded to serve the residents that mining attracted. In the 1830s, experienced miners began arriving from Cornwall in southwestern England. The Cornish settled primarily in Mineral Point and constructed small, limestone homes similar to those they had left in England.
Wisconsin lead mining peaked in the 1840s. Although our state's mines then yielded more than half the national output, demand for Wisconsin lead was beginning to decline. Miners had exhausted the supply of easily obtainable ore, which made mining more expensive and less appealing to investors hoping to make money quickly. In 1844, a third of the region's residents left for copper and iron mines elsewhere and the discovery of gold in California caused many others to head west in 1849.
For those who remained, mining often became a part-time supplement to farming. Some men began to mine for zinc, and for a few years in the late nineteenth century, Mineral Point had the largest zinc smelting facility in the world. With mining restricted to only the most profitable localities by 1850, more than 90 percent of the land was free for farming. By 1860, the former lead mining region of southwestern Wisconsin had become recognized as one of the best agricultural areas in the state.
[Sources: The History of Wisconsin vol.2 (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin); Kasparek, Jon, Bobbie Malone and Erica Schock. Wisconsin History Highlights: Delving into the Past (Madison: Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2004); Gara, Larry. A Short History of Wisconsin. (Madison: State Historical Society of Wisconsin, 1962); Thwaites, Reuben Gold " Notes on Early Lead Mining in the Fever (or Galena) River Region" Collections of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin, vol. 13 (Madison, 1895)] | <urn:uuid:dd681aad-35dc-48a6-b043-b5c2eb11bdd5> | {
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- Special Sections
- Public Notices
Nearly 3 million men were involved in the Normandy invasion June 6, 1944. Later known as D-Day, the simultaneous landings on beachheads code-named Utah, Omaha, Gold, Juno and Sword by United States, British and Canadian forces was considered the single-most decisive event in the 20th century.
Planning the invasion took more than a year, with 5,000 large ships, 4,000 small landing craft and more than 11,000 aircraft involved. It was actually scheduled for June 5, but bad weather delayed the offensive.
If you currently subscribe or have subscribed in the past to the Leader Union, then simply find your account number on your mailing label and enter it below.
Click the question mark below to see where your account ID appears on your mailing label.
If you are new to the award winning Leader Union and wish to get a subscription or simply gain access to our online content then please enter your ZIP code below and continue to setup your account. | <urn:uuid:61d538c5-a8ea-404a-9d8a-5388179787f2> | {
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Pronunciation: (dis"u-lOO'shun), [key]
1. the act or process of resolving or dissolving into parts or elements.
2. the resulting state.
3. the undoing or breaking of a bond, tie, union, partnership, etc.
4. the breaking up of an assembly or organization; dismissal; dispersal.
5. Govt.an order issued by the head of a state terminating a parliament and necessitating a new election.
6. death; decease.
7. a bringing or coming to an end; disintegration; decay; termination.
8. legal termination, esp. of business activity, with the final distribution of assets, the fixing of liabilities, etc.
9. Chem.the process by which a solid, gas, or liquid is dispersed homogeneously in a gas, solid, or, esp., a liquid.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease. | <urn:uuid:756a000f-270e-4eab-be6a-6b58bdf1e56a> | {
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If you've ever eaten a thinly sliced vegatable, there's a good chance that it was cut using a mandoline slicer! Learn how to use this utility effectively.
Mandoline slicers are great tools for making evenly thin slices of fruits and vegetables.
Step 1: Place the slicer perpendicularly
Place the slicer perpendicular to you so that you'll have better control over the food.
TIP: Mandoline blades are very sharp. Use a safety guard and take precautions when using and cleaning a mandoline slicer.
Step 2: Cut a potato
Try the mandoline with a potato. Cut it in half to make a flat surface.
Step 3: Attach a potato half
Attach the rounded end of one potato half to the hand pusher.
Step 4: Slide the potato
Slide the flat side of the potato across the blades using even strokes and consistent pressure.
TIP: Adjust the thickness of each cut with the knob or lever on the side of the slicer.
Step 5: Slice the other half
Use the same process for the other half of the potato, using the hand pusher to make even and consistent pressure strokes.
Step 6: Clean the slicer
Clean the slicer immediately after use to prevent food from drying on the parts. Try it next with a variety of vegetables!
Did you know? An early illustrated culinary book, published in 1570, shows a board with a cutting blade to cut vegetables into thin sticks. | <urn:uuid:f54f730f-f79d-49dd-815f-ad2d5a05af2f> | {
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The verbs be (is, am, are, was and were), have and do are called auxiliary verbs when they are used with ordinary verbs to make tenses, passive forms, questions and negatives.
The verbs can, could, may, might, will, would, shall, should, must and ought are called modal verbs. Modal verbs are used before ordinary verbs and express ideas such as permission, possibility, certainty and necessity. Need and dare are also sometimes used like modal verbs.
The auxiliary verb be is used:
1) in the formation of the continuous tenses
- I am writing.
- She was singing.
- It was raining.
- They were playing.
2) in the formation of passive verb forms
- I was shocked.
- The boys were praised.
- He was questioned.
Be can be followed by an infinitive. This structure is used to talk about an arrangement, a plan, an agreement or a command.
- I am to see him tomorrow. (Arrangement)
- They are to be married next month.
- You are to leave at once.
Auxiliary verb have
The auxiliary have has the following uses:
1) in the formation of the perfect tenses
- She has come.
- They have returned.
- She has been waiting.
2) with the infinitive to indicate obligation
- I have to be there by 12 o’clock.
- She has to finish the work.
Had + infinitive can be used to talk about an obligation that existed in the past.
- I had to be there by 12 o’clock.
In questions and negatives, have to and had to are used with do, does and did.
- She had to go.
- Does she have to go?
- She doesn’t have to go.
- They have to go.
- Do they have to go?
- They don’t have to go.
- I had to go.
- Did I have to go?
- I didn’t have to go. | <urn:uuid:fd241008-503e-443a-964e-d22c797a55ff> | {
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ZEPHYR / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY ZEPHYR / SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY
Brain cancer. Coloured axial (horizontal) computed tomography (CT) scan sequence through the head of a patient with a glioblastoma (orange). The front of the head is at top in these views from below. The glioblastoma is in the left hemisphere of the brain. A glioblastoma is a particularly malignant brain cancer that arises from the supporting glial cells in the brain. Treatment is with a combination of surgery and radiotherapy, but the prognosis is poor. Death can occur within months. CT scanning uses X-rays to form slice images of the body.
Model release not required. Property release not required. | <urn:uuid:4c874fdb-9fda-4bab-9adb-804ce190895f> | {
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Wi-Fi at the Library
Patrons can connect their laptop computers to the Internet at the Johnson City Public Library using the library’s wireless network. The wireless network (also known as Wi-Fi) is a widely used technology that enables laptop computers and other portable devices to connect to the Internet. The wireless network at the library
supports the 802.11a, b, and g standards. Using wireless, patrons can work on the Internet at study tables, in reading chairs, and during meetings and events in the Jones Meeting Center.
- Your laptop must have a wireless adapter. If one is not already built in, one may be added to your laptop using a PCMCIA wireless adapter. (Wireless adapters are also called Wi-Fi or 802.11- A, B, or G adapters)
- Your laptop’s Wireless Network Connection must use Internet Protocol (TCP/IP). The TCP/IP properties must direct the laptop to obtain an IP address automatically and to obtain a DNS server address automatically. Patrons are advised to use any built-in firewall measures available to them by their laptop’s operating system
- The SSID for the library’s network is JCPL Open Network. Network Authentication is Open (that is, there is no authentication required), and Data Encryption is Disabled. These are subject to change, without notice, at any time.
- The library does not provide wireless adapters
- Wireless network users can not print to library printers
- The wireless network does not use data encryption. The library is not liable for intercepted data transmissions; use at your own risk
- Due to liability issues, the library staff will not provide any technical assistance to patrons experiencing problems using the wireless network at the library
- Usage of the wireless network at the library must be in accordance with all applicable library policies, including the Internet Use Policy and Acceptable Internet Use Guidelines
- The use of the wireless network at the library is strictly as-is, and the library assumes no liability for damage to the patron’s laptop due to electrical surges or network intrusions such as downloaded viruses, adware, spyware, Trojan-horses, etc. | <urn:uuid:2909e430-e0b2-44ed-b954-23f4ba4dab75> | {
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Crop Rotation in Raised BedsPosted in Category Organic Gardening | by Harrod
Crop rotation has been practiced in both agriculture and horticulture for centuries and plays an essential part in keeping your vegetable garden soil free from pests and diseases, ensuring the ground remains well cultivated and maintains as much of the natural soil fertility as possible - but in what order should we try to rotate our plant groups and is it necessary in raised beds?
Plant groups – usually root vegetables (with salads added), legumes (along with fruiting vegetables) and brassicas - are grown in different beds or locations in the garden over a 3 (preferably 4) year cycle to help reduce the threat of soil borne pests and diseases, arguably the most notorious of which is club-root which afflicts brassicas. If you’re unfortunate to get this in your garden through regularly planting brassicas in the same soil year after year, then you can say goodbye to growing cabbages, sprouts and the rest of the family for as long as 20 years!
Don’t be fooled into thinking rotating crops around in this fashion is a failsafe way of preventing these pests and diseases; you’ll still need to practice good garden husbandry but it certainly helps, especially if you follow a cycle in the plant group order listed above (eg. follow root veg with legumes etc).
Each group of crops will benefit from the previous; beans in the legume group will fix nitrogen into the soil ready for the hungry brassicas, which prefer a relatively firm, slightly alkaline and are followed by root crops (not to keen on nitrogen as it’s the root development we’re interested in, not leafy foliage) which require plenty of ground work – especially potatoes – and you start breaking up and mixing the soil without realising it!
Although crop rotation is still an integral part of raised bed gardening, it doesn't hold the same importance as in open soil beds, allotments and vegetable plots. That's because the soil in a raised bed is regularly topped up, replaced and generally has plenty of new material added each growing season, giving soil-borne diseases such as club-root less chance of taking hold. By all means practice crop rotation in your beds if possible, but don't get too hung up on it!
If you regularly top up your beds with organic matter (in the shape of home-made compost of well-rotted farmyard manure), prepare the ground properly for the forthcoming crop and generally feed and care for your plants well then you shouldn’t have any problems growing a real mix of plant groups in your raised beds. | <urn:uuid:1fae41a5-7fd3-4264-b7a3-babbff2d925a> | {
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One of the reasons why electric cars are poor sellers is because consumers have little understanding of the financial incentives and other benefits available to owners of the vehicles.
That’s the finding of two Indiana University researchers who surveyed more than 2,000 drivers in 21 of the nation’s largest cities. They discovered that 95% of respondents didn’t know about state and local subsidies, rebates and other incentives.
For example, only 2 out of 758 survey respondents living in areas where subsidies for home charging equipment are offered were aware of their availability, the researchers said.
A large majority, 75%, also was uninformed about the savings in fuel and maintenance costs that all rechargeable cars such as battery-electric and plug-in hybrid cars offer over traditional gasoline vehicles.
“It is well-established that current mainstream consumer interest in these vehicles is low,” said John D. Graham, one of the co-authors of the report. “What should be particularly troubling for plug-in electric vehicle proponents and manufacturers is that the respondents to our survey live in major urban areas, the places where PEVs make the most sense due to daily travel patterns.”
Americans will purchase about 50,000 rechargeable cars this year, a tiny fraction of the 15.5 million new vehicles that will be sold in the U.S. in 2013.
The trickle of sales comes despite a federal $7,500 tax credit, additional rebates in some states, including California, and other incentives such as permits to drive solo in carpool lanes.
The survey questioned drivers about the two major types of plug-in electrics: battery-electric vehicles such as the Nissan Leaf, and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, such as the Chevrolet Volt and some models of the Toyota Prius.
Most respondents also couldn’t answer basic factual questions about the cost of owning the cars.
“If consumers believe they have higher purchase prices, higher fuel and maintenance costs and lower driving ranges than they actually do, they’re not going to shop for them when it comes time to buy a new car,” said Sanya Carley, co-author of the report, which was published in Energy Policy, an academic journal.
Copyright © 2015, Hartford Courant | <urn:uuid:3bc9e5e7-195b-4630-ba25-6299d61ef297> | {
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Environmental Sciences is the interdisciplinary study of the environment and how we manage it. It draws on all the sciences, particularly ecology and earth sciences.
There is growing recognition, at local and global levels, of the need to manage our soil, ecological, marine, mineral and energy resources in a sustainable manner. As an environmental scientist or technician, you'll have the chance to become directly involved in the effective management of these precious resources.
If you decide to major in Environmental Sciences at the University of Waikato, you'll take a range of papers from across the biological, chemical and Earth sciences, giving you a broad base on which to build your career.
You will learn about the important role micro-organisms play in underpinning environmental processes, from recycling nutrients to bioremediation of contaminated sites.
Learn to use computer models to understand and predict changes in a range of environments such as estuaries, lakes, rivers, coastlines, climate, and the ocean.
Land and Freshwater Environments
Discover the importance of the sustainable management of soil and water resources for human survival, biodiversity and wider ecological values.
Explore marine organisms and the sustainable management of marine environments, including processes such as the effects of coastal erosion and sedimentation.
As an Environmental Sciences student at the University of Waikato, you will have access to the University's well-equipped laboratories, becoming familiar with complex research equipment and techniques. You'll be working alongside, and learning from, well-respected researchers, industry professionals and academics.
- Agricultural Adviser
- Biosecurity Officer
- Coastal Resource Manager
- Consent Planner
- Environmental Analyst
- Environmental Scientist
- Water Resource Manager
Study Environmental Sciences in any of these qualifications
|Principles of Ecology||BIOEB202||15.0 Points|
|Analytical Chemistry||CHEMY204||15.0 Points|
|Soil Science||EARTH221||15.0 Points|
|Water Resources, Weather and Climate||EARTH231||15.0 Points|
|Environmental Monitoring||ENVSC201||15.0 Points|
|Environmental Chemistry and Geochemistry||ENVSC202||15.0 Points|
|Applied Terrestrial Ecology||BIOL312||20.0 Points|
|Applied Freshwater Ecology||BIOL313||20.0 Points|
|Marine Biology and Monitoring||BIOL314||20.0 Points|
|Pedology and Land Evaluation||ERTH333||10.0 Points|
|Soil and Land Management||ERTH334||10.0 Points|
|Coastal Geomorphology and Management||ERTH343||20.0 Points|
|Coastal Oceanography and Engineering||ERTH344||20.0 Points|
|Catchment Hydrology||ERTH345||10.0 Points|
|Freshwater Resources and Hazards||ERTH346||10.0 Points|
Prescriptions for the PGCert(EnvSci), PGDip(EnvSci), BSc(Hons) and MSc (Research)
Students in masters degrees are normally required to take a thesis and a selection of papers. SCIE501 is compulsory, and it is strongly recommended that students include ENVS524. Normally, no more than 60 points from outside the field of Environmental Sciences may be taken as part of an MSc(Research) in this subject. Candidates for these graduate qualifications should select their papers in consultation with the Graduate Convenor.
To complete a BSc(Hons) in Environmental Sciences, students must complete 120 points at 500 level, including at least 60 points from the papers listed for Environmental Sciences, of which at least 30 points must be in research (normally ENVS591).
Scholarships and prizes
For students who are enrolled in the final year or have completed a Bachelors degree in Science, agricultural science, agricultural business or economics and are eligible to enrol in a masters degree at a New Zealand University. Up to three scholarships of $30,000 will be available each year + tuition fees.Closing Date: 2016-08-08 23:59:00
For students who are enrolled or are intending to enrol in the final year of a masters degree at the University of Waikato and are undertaking research that applies to the conservation or environmental issues in the Waikato region. The scholarship will have a value of up to $5,000.Closing Date: 2017-12-15 23:59:00
For school leavers who are intending to enrol full-time (120 pts) in the first year of a Bachelor of Science or Bachelor of Science(Technology) in the Faculty of Science & Engineering and are performing well academically in their final year of secondary school. The Scholarship has a value of up to $4,000.Closing Date: 2017-08-31 23:59:00
For students enrolling full-time in the first year MSc (research), MSc, MSc (Tech) ME or MEnvSci programme in the faculty of Engineering. Part-time applicants may be considered but any scholarship awarded will be on a pro-rata basis. The Scholarship will have a value of up to $2,000.Closing Date: 2017-03-15 23:59:00 | <urn:uuid:d2dc3d7c-ccfc-4089-9be4-64256525d863> | {
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It’s a 444-mile ribbon of road that winds through three states, traverses four unique ecosystems, crosses eight major watersheds, is a witness to thousands of years of human history, and most importantly, offers the traveler an opportunity to slow down and relish the beauty of rolling pastureland and lush, thick eastern hardwood forests. This unique and lovely highway is the Natchez Trace Parkway, a unit of the National Park System.
Having spent the past 7 months volunteering at a state park in the hill country of Texas and working as Gate Guards in south Texas, it was time to head north to Kentucky and Ohio. Since time was on our side, we began looking for a leisurely route towards those destinations. Pouring over the maps, dear hubby pointed to a swath of green stretching from south Mississippi to Nashville. “Natchez Trace Parkway, hmm, wonder what that is?” (Do I really dare to display my ignorance of this National Park site?) The more we researched the Trace, the more excited we became about experiencing it first-hand.
The Natchez Trace Parkway (NTP) follows the route of the Natchez Trace, a “superhighway” of sorts for the Natchez, Chickasaw, and Choctaw tribes. As the United States began expanding, the trace was used by early explorers, settlers, and traders to reach the lands of the “Old Southwest,” namely, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Texas. The Trace saw its heaviest use from the early 1800’s to the 1820’s as “Kaintucks” from the Ohio River Valley shipped their wares down the Mississippi River to New Orleans or Natchez where they sold their products AND the boats used for transport. To return home, they began the long walk north using the Natchez Trace. Thousands of people traveled that path, facing dangers such as injury, illness, and robbery. What a lesson in strength, fortitude, and bravery! When steamboats arrived on the scene, upstream travel became possible, thus leading to the abandonment of the trace. Due to the efforts of preservationists, the Natchez Trace Parkway was established as a unit of the National Park System in 1938 and officially completed in 2005.
Driving the NTP is not just a way to get from Point A to Point B, the road itself forces the traveler to slow down and drink in the scenery. The Parkway is a two-lane road. There are no stop signs or stoplights along the route. The speed limit is 50 mph, which is strictly enforced. No billboards or neon lights clutter the roadway. No commercial traffic is permitted, so, no having to compete with semis. RVs are permitted, but total length allowed is 55 ft. It is an active bicycle route, so you must be alert. No services, such as restaurants, gift shops, lodging, or gas stations are on the Parkway, but many towns offering those amenities are located just off the road. The NTP was purposely designed to encourage “meandering.” Over 100 points of interest line the route, offering a chance to pull over, read an interpretive sign, take a hike, have a picnic, or enjoy a scenic view.
Our trip up the Trace was certainly a highlight for us. We could not have ordered more perfect weather! Skies were sunny, temperatures were warm and pleasant, and we had not one drop of rain! After spending 4 months in the dusty oilfields of south Texas, being immersed in a lush, green hardwood forest was just what our souls had been craving.
Sites along the Trace
As I mentioned above, there are over 100 points of interest along the Parkway. Did we stop at all of them? Well, no. If we had, we’d probably still be on the Trace. A bit of research beforehand led us to map out our “must-sees.” We wanted to do some hiking, educate ourselves about the South, and see some new sights. Perhaps your list would be different. It all depends on your interests and abilities.
We began at the beginning, at mile marker 0.0 in Natchez, Mississippi. We were looking forward to spending one day exploring Natchez, but we were delayed by severe storms in southern Louisiana so we had to nix that idea. Natchez has much to do and see, including many restored Southern mansions, museums, and monuments. I was sorry we had to miss it. Maybe next time!
Our first stop was Rocky Springs. After securing a campsite, we explored the area, hiking a short trail which took us through the abandoned site of the once thriving town of Rocky Springs. It’s always amazing to me at how quickly a settlement can fall into ruin, with little to no reminders of its industrious past.
We also walked along the Sunken Trace. I was simply awe-struck imagining the amount of traffic the Trace must have received for it to sink like it has! Incredible! I have always been intrigued with walking in the same footsteps as those who have gone before me. Whether it is the well-worn marble steps of Union Station in Chicago (how many famous and infamous folks have hustled down those stairs?) or the path along Pike’s Peak where Katharine Lee Bates penned the words to “America, the Beautiful,” or following the tracks on the Oregon Trail made by the wagon wheels which took countless brave settlers to a new life out West, it thrills me beyond words. When walking along those paths, I try to picture myself in that time and place. What would I be thinking or feeling or eating or wearing? Would I have had the strength and fortitude to survive and thrive during that perilous journey?
Just north of Jackson, MS, is the Cypress Swamp. Growing up in Ohio, neither of us have seen many Tupelo or Bald Cypress swamps. A boardwalk through the swamp and between the cypress trees enveloped us in this incredible wonderland. We took our time strolling along the path, watching the sun and shadows filter through the leaves and play off the still waters. I always know when I’m in an amazing part of creation when the nature around me causes me to slow my step and whisper. I call it the “Cathedral Effect,” that moment when you see God’s Hand before you, shaping and designing this beauty for you to enjoy.
Many towns and cities are within easy distance of the Trace. We hopped off a couple of times and did some sightseeing in Tupelo, where we found Elvis!
And the Tupelo National Battlefield, which is a small lot, literally in the middle of town!
A drive over to Hohenwald led us to the home of the best sweet potato fries we’ve ever had at the Junkyard Dog Steakhouse!
No trip on the Trace is complete without a stop at the Loveless Cafe at the northern Terminus of the Parkway!
At mile marker 385.9, we visited the site of Meriwether Lewis’s death and grave. In 1809, just a few short years after his heroic and successful expedition with the Corps of Discovery, Lewis was en route to Washington via the Natchez Trace when he stopped for the night at Grinder’s Stand. During that moonless October night, gunshots were fired and Lewis was dead. Conflicting reports abound as to whether it was a botched robbery, outright murder, or suicide. But whatever the cause of death, America lost one of the finest, noblest men in its nation’s history.
About 40 miles from the northern terminus of the Parkway is Jackson Falls, one of the most popular stops on the NTP. It’s a steep walk down to the falls, but when the water is flowing, it is well worth the hike!
Hiking Along the Trace
Three of our favorite hikes on the NTP were
The Old Trace trail at the Rocky Springs Campground area. Along this trail is an even better example of the Sunken Trace than the one found at mile marker 41.5. There are a few parking spots at the trailhead in the campground near the amphitheater. Just follow the signs for the Old Trace.
The Little Mountain Trail at the Jeff Busby Campground area. This trail takes hikers up to one of the highest points along the NTP in Mississippi. A large pavilion with exhibits and restrooms are at the top of the mountain. You can also drive to the top, but, what fun is that?
The Devil’s Backbone Natural Area is a moderately challenging hike up and down along the ridgeline in this section of Tennessee. This is also where we managed to pick up quite a few ticks. YUK! We’ve read that this summer of 2017 is going to be a bad tick year, so get out the DEET and spray away!
Camping Along the Trace
There are 3 FREE, yes, I said “FREE” first-come, first-served campgrounds along the trace. Rocky Springs at mile marker 54.8, Jeff Busby at mile marker 193.1, and Meriwether Lewis at mile marker 385.9 all come equipped with flush toilets and water, but no electric or dump stations, so be prepared to dry camp. There are also countless state parks and privately owned campgrounds just off of the parkway in neighboring communities if you are in need of a FHU site. We are 50’ total length (30’ fifth-wheel plus a long bed pickup) and there were many sites at each campground that could accommodate our length.
We spent two nights at Rocky Springs campground. Though quiet and peaceful, this campground was a bit rough around the edges. It would appear that improvement projects had begun and were halted for whatever reason. The sites are a mixture of back-in, pull-thru, long, short,….so there’s something for everyone! We drove through the first wooded area and made our way up the hill where we found a nice sunny, pull-thru spot on our right. Each site had a picnic table and fire ring, though these particular fire rings were very deep, necessitating a giant bonfire if you wanted to enjoy watching the flickering flames. Only one restroom is open and that is located on the lower drive. It is older, but clean and well-maintained.
Jeff Busby campground is heavily wooded with nice, new blacktop roads and driveways. Again, it is a mixture of back-in, pull-thru, long, and short sites. The best spot we found for our camper was a pull-thru, the last one on the left before exiting the campground. Picnic tables and shorter fire rings (more conducive to fire light gazing) were at each site. The restrooms were immaculate.
Meriwether Lewis campground is the largest of the three with over 30 available sites. Again, a mixture of sites, picnic tables, fire rings, and clean restrooms. The first loop to the right could be a tad tight for larger motor homes to maneuver. We drove straight through, past the restrooms and chose a site on the upper loop.
***As a side note, we spoke with one camp host who said that you can most always find a spot to camp at any of the three campgrounds EXCEPT in the month of April, then it can get a little dicey. Word about the FREE campgrounds has circulated among the snowbirds and they fill the campgrounds to the brim, sometimes parking 2 and 3 deep in each site as they wing their way north in the spring.
Halfway through our trip we hopped off the NTP at Tupelo and camped at Trace State Park. The cost was $21 for a weekday night. Our main purpose was to dump our tanks and refill our fresh water. The park was virtually empty, not sure if it was because of the time of year or due to the fact that the lake had been drained because of dam repairs. At any rate, it was clean, peaceful, and a convenient spot to stay while exploring Tupelo.
Some NTP Tips for First-Timers
Before beginning your trek on the Trace, you have to get in the Trace frame of mind. Slow down. Take your time. Fill your mind with words like, stroll, meander, saunter, ramble, meditate, contemplate, gaze,….any word or phrase that causes you to put it all in low gear.
A lot of the historical points of interest stops are sites that “used to be here.” Only 2 of the stands are still in existence. Many villages, settlements, etc., have completely disappeared. So though there is a lot to read and learn about, you won’t SEE many of the sites.
Unless your children LOVE to ride for hundreds of miles in the car and read interpretive signs about life in the past, this probably won’t be one of their top 5 favorite family vacations. However, if your goal is to find miles of hiking trails and free camping, then you can’t go wrong on the Trace.
Traffic is very light on most of the Parkway. Traveling through and around the bigger cities like Jackson and Tupelo, we saw an increase of cars, but it was never what I would call congested.
Several times we were wishing we hadn’t sold the Harley. What a fantastic road for motorcycles! And with many restaurants and lodging accommodations just off the Parkway catering to the biker crowd, it would make for one memorable road trip.
The Wrap Up
Our trip up the Natchez Trace Parkway was “just what the doctor ordered.” After our 4-month, 24/7 working stint in dusty south Texas, our leisurely stroll up this gorgeous green highway refreshed and renewed our spirits. | <urn:uuid:49d9f0c9-7ce3-4fd2-b79e-10e03f134c32> | {
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Capital Volume II
Let us assume a circulating capital of £2,500, four-fifths of which, or £2,000, are constant capital (materials of production) and one-fifth, or £500, is variable capital invested in wages.
Let the period of turnover be 5 weeks: the working period 4 weeks, the period of circulation 1 week. Then capital I is £2,000, consisting of £1,600 of constant capital and £400 of variable capital; capital II is £500, £400 of which are constant and £100 variable. In every working week a capital of £500 is invested. In a year of 50 weeks an annual product of 50 times 500, or £2,500, is manufactured. Capital I of £2,000, constantly employed in the working period, is therefore turned over 12½ times. 12½ times 2,000 makes £25,000. Of these £25,000 four-fifths, or £20,000, are constant capital laid out in means of production, and one-fifth, or £5,000 is variable capital laid out in wages. The total capital of £25,000 is thus turned over 25,000/2,500, or 10 times.
The variable circulating capital expended in production can serve afresh in the process of circulation only to the extent that the product in which its value is reproduced has been sold, converted from a commodity-capital into a money-capital, in order to be once more laid out in payment of labour-power. But the same is true of the constant circulating capital (materials of production) invested in production, the value of which reappears in the product as a portion of its value. What these two portions — the variable and the constant part of the circulating capital — have in common and what distinguishes them from the fixed capital is not that the value transferred from them to the product is circulated by the commodity-capital, i.e., through the circulation of the product as a commodity. One portion of the value of the product, and thus of the product circulating as a commodity, of the commodity-capital, always consists of the wear and tear of the fixed capital, that is to say, of that portion of the value of the fixed capital which is transferred to the product during the process of production. The difference is really this: The fixed capital continues to function in the process of production in its old use-form for a longer or shorter cycle of turnover periods of the circulating capital (equal to constant circulating plus variable circulating capital), while every single turnover is conditioned on the replacement of the entire circulating capital passing from the sphere of production — in the form of commodity-capital — into the sphere of circulation. The constant circulating and variable circulating capital have the first phase of circulation, C' — M, in common. In the second phase they separate. The money into which the commodity is reconverted is in part transformed into a productive supply (constant circulating capital). Depending on the different terms of purchase of its constituent parts, one portion of the money may sooner, another later, be converted from money into materials of production, but finally it is wholly consumed that way. Another portion of the money realised by the sale of the commodity is held in the form of a money-supply, in order to be gradually expended in the payment of the labour-power incorporated in the process of production. This part constitutes the variable circulating capital. Nevertheless the entire replacement of either portion always originates from the turnover of capital, from its conversion into a product, from a product into a commodity, from a commodity into money. This is the reason why, in the preceding chapter, the turnover of the circulating capital, constant and variable, was treated jointly and separately without paying any regard to the fixed capital.
In the question which we shall now take up, we must go a step farther and proceed with the variable portion of the circulating capital as though it along constituted the circulating capital. In other words, we leave out of consideration the constant circulating capital which is turned over together with it.
A sum of £2,500 has been advanced and the value of the annual product is £25,000. But the variable portion of the circulating capital is £500; therefore the variable capital contained in £25,000 amounts to 25,000 divided by 5, or £5,000. If we divide these £5,000 by £500, we find the number of turnovers is 10, just as it is in the case of the total capital of £2,500.
Here, where it is only a question of the production of surplus-value, it is absolutely correct to make this average calculation, according to which the value of the annual product is divided by the value of the advanced capital and not by the value of that portion of this capital which is employed constantly in one working period (thus, in the present case not by 400 but by 500, not by capital I but by capital I plus capital II). We shall see later that, from another point of view, the calculation is not quite exact, just as this average calculation generally is not quite exact. That is to say, it serves well enough for the practical purposes of the capitalist, but it does not express exactly or properly all the real circumstances of the turnover.
We have hitherto ignored one part of the value of the commodity-capital, namely the surplus-value contained in it, which was produced during the process of production and incorporated in the product. To this we have now to direct our attention.
Suppose the variable capital of £100 invested weekly produces a surplus-value of 100%, or £100, then the variable capital of £500 invested over a 5-week turnover period produces £500 of surplus-value, i.e., one half of the working day consists of surplus-labour.
If £500 of variable capital produce a surplus-value of £500, then £5,000 produce ten times £500, or £5,000 in surplus-value. But the advanced variable capital amounts to £500. The ratio of the total surplus-value produced during one year to the sum of value of the advanced variable capital is what we call the annual rate of surplus-value. In the case at hand it is 5,000 to 500 or 1,000%. If we analyse this rate more closely, we find that it is equal to the rate of surplus-value produced by the advanced variable capital during one period of turnover, multiplied by the number of turnovers of the variable capital (which coincides with the number of turnovers of the entire circulating capital).
The variable capital advanced in the case before us for one period of turnover is £500. The surplus-value produced during this period is likewise £500. The rate of surplus-value for one period of turnover is therefore 500s/500v or 100%. This 100%, multiplied by 10, the number of turnovers in one year, makes 5,000s/500v, or 1,000%.
That refers to the annual rate of surplus-value. As for the amount of surplus-value obtained during a specified period of turnover, it is equal to the value of the variable capital advanced during this period, of £500 in the present case, multiplied by the rate of surplus-value, in the present case therefore 500 times 100/100, or 500 times 1, or £500. If the advanced variable capital were £1,500, then with the same rate of the surplus-value the amount of surplus-value would be 1,500 times 100/100, or £1,500.
We shall apply the term capital A to the variable capital of £500, which is turned over ten times per year, producing an annual surplus-value of £5,000 for which, therefore, the yearly rate of surplus-value is 1,000%.
Now let us assume that another variable capital, B, of £5,000, is advanced for one whole year (i.e., here for 50 weeks), so that it is turned over only once a year. We assume furthermore that at the end of the year the product is paid for on the same day that it is finished, so that the money-capital, into which it is converted, returns on the same day. The circulation period is then zero, the period of turnover equals the working period, namely, one year. As in the preceding case there is to be found in the labour-process each week a variable capital of £100, or of £5,000 in 50 weeks. Let the rate of surplus-value be the same, or 100%, i.e., let one half of the working-day of the same length consist of surplus-labour. If we consider 5 weeks, the invested variable capital is £500, the rate of surplus-value 100% and therefore the amount of surplus-value produced in 5 weeks £500. The quantity of labour-power here exploited, and the intensity of its exploitation, are assumed to be exactly the same as those of capital A.
Each week the invested variable capital of £100 produces a surplus-value of £100, hence in 50 weeks the invested capital of 50 × 100 = £5,000 produces a surplus-value of £5,000. The amount of surplus-value produced annually is the same as in the previous case, £5,000, but the yearly rate of surplus-value is entirely different. It is equal to the surplus-value produced in one year divided by the advanced variable capital: 5,000s/5,000v, or 100%, while in the case of capital A it was 1,000%.
In the case of both capitals A and B, we have invested a variable capital of £100 a week. The degree of self-expansion, or the rate of surplus-value, is likewise the same, 100%, and so is the magnitude of the variable capital, £100. The same quantity of labour-power is exploited, the volume and degree of exploitation are equal in both cases, the working-days are the same and equally divided into necessary labour and surplus-labour. The amount of variable capital employed in the course of the year is £5,000 in either case; it sets the same amount of labour in motion, and extracts the same amount of surplus-value, £5,000, from the labour-power set in motion by these two equal capitals. Nevertheless there is a difference of 900% in the annual rate of surplus-value of the two capitals A and B.
This phenomenon creates the impression, at all events, that the rate of surplus-value depends not only on the quantity and intensity of exploitation of the labour-power set in motion by the variable capital, but besides on inexplicable influences arising from the process of circulation. And it has indeed been so interpreted, and has — if not in this its pure form, then at least in its more complicated and disguised form, that of the annual rate of profit — completely routed the Ricardian school since the beginning of the twenties.
The strangeness of this phenomenon disappears at once when we place capitals A and B in exactly the same conditions, not only seemingly but actually. These equal conditions exist only when the variable capital B in its entire volume is expended for the payment of labour-power in the same period of time as capital A.
In that case the £5,000 of capital B are invested for 5 weeks, £1,000 per week makes an investment of £50,000 per year. The surplus-value is then likewise £50,000, according to our premises. The turned-over capital of £50,000 divided by the advanced capital of £5,000 makes the number of turnovers 10. The rate of surplus-value, 5,000s/5,000v, or 100%, multiplied by the number of turnovers, 10, makes the annual rate of surplus-value 50,000s/5,000v, or 10/1, or 1,000%. Now the annual rate of surplus-value are alike for A and B, namely 1,000%, but the amounts of the surplus-value are £50,000 in the case of B, and £5,000 in the case of A. The amounts of the surplus-value produced are now in the same proportion to one another as the advanced capital-values B and A, to wit: 5,000:500 = 10:1. But capital B has set in motion ten times as much labour-power as capital A within the same time.
Only the capital actually employed in the labour-power produces surplus-value and to it apply all laws relating to surplus-value, including therefore the law according to which the quantity of surplus-value, its rate being given, is determined by the relative magnitude of the variable capital. [See Karl Marx, Capital, Ch. XI. — Ed.]
The labour-process itself is measured by time. If the length of the working-day is given (as here, where we assume all conditions relating to A and B to be equal, in order to elucidate the difference in the annual rate of surplus-value), the working week consists of a definite number of working-days. Or we may consider any working period, for instance this working period of 5 weeks, as one single working-day of, say, 300 hours, if the working-day has 10 hours and the week 6 days. We must further multiply this number by the number of labourers who are employed conjointly every day simultaneously in the same labour-process. If that number is taken as 10, there will be 60 times 10 or 600 hours in one week, and a working period of 5 weeks would have 600 times 5, or 3,000 hours. The rate of surplus-value and the length of the working-day being the same, variable capitals of equal magnitude are therefore employed, if equal quantities of labour-power (a labour-power of the same price multiplied by the number of labourers) are set in motion in the same time.
Let us now return to our original examples. In both cases, A and B, equal variable capitals of £100 per week are invested every week throughout the year. The invested variable capitals actually functioning in the labour-process are therefore equal, but the advanced variable capitals are very unequal. In the case of A, £500 are advanced for every 5 weeks, of which £100 are employed every week. In the case of B, £5,000 must be advanced for the first 5-week period, of which only £100 per week, or £500 in 5 weeks, or one-tenth of the advanced capital, is employed. In the second 5-week period £4,500 must be advanced, but only £500 of this is employed, etc. The variable capital advanced for a definite period of time is converted into employed, hence actually functioning and operative variable capital only to the extent that it really steps into the sections of that period of time taken up by the labour-process, to the extent that it really functions in the labour-process. In the intermediate time, in which a portion of it is advanced in order to be employed later, this portion is practically non-existent for the labour-process and has therefore no influence on the formation of either value or surplus-value. Take for instance capital A, of £500. It is advanced for 5 weeks, but every week only £100 enter successively into the labour-process. In the first week one-fifth of this capital is employed; four-fifths are advanced without being employed, although they must be in stock, and therefore advanced, for the labour-processes of the following 4 weeks.
The circumstances which differentiate the relation between the advanced and the employed variable capital affect the production of surplus-value — the rate of surplus-value being given — only to the extent, and only by reason of the fact that they differentiate the quantity of variable capital which can be really employed in a stated period of time, for instance in one week, 5 weeks, etc. The advanced variable capital functions as variable capital only to the extent and only during the time that it is actually employed, and not during the time in which it remains in stock, is advanced, without being employed. But all the circumstances which differentiate the relation between the advanced and the employed variable capital come down to the difference of the periods of turnover (determined by the difference of either the working period, or the circulation period, or both). The law of production of surplus-value states that equal quantities of functioning variable capital produce equal quantities of surplus-value if the rate of surplus-value is the same. If then, equal quantities of variable capital are employed by the capitals A and B in equal periods of time with equal rates of surplus-value, they must generate equal quantities of surplus-value in equal periods of time, no matter how different the ratio of this variable capital employed during a definite period of time to the variable capital advanced during the same time, and no matter therefore how different the ratio of the quantities of surplus-value produced, not to the employed but to the advanced variable capital in general. The difference of this ratio, far from contradicting the laws of the production of surplus-value that have been demonstrated, rather corroborates them and is one of their inevitable consequences.
Let us consider the first 5-week productive period of capital B. At the end of the fifth week £500 have been employed and consumed. The value of the product is £1,000, hence 500s/500v = 100%. Just the same as with capital A. The fact that, in the case of capital A, the surplus-value is realised together with the advanced capital, while in the case of B it is not, does not concern us here, where it is only a question of the production of surplus-value and of its ratio to the variable capital advanced during its production. But if on the contrary we calculate the ratio of surplus-value in B, not to that portion of the advanced capital of £5,000 which has been employed and hence consumed during its production, but to this total advanced capital itself, we find that it is 500s/5,000v of 1/10, or 10%. Hence it is 10% for capital B and 100% for capital A, i.e., ten-fold. If it were said that this difference in the rate of surplus-value for equal capitals, which have set in motion equal quantities of labour equally divided at that into paid and unpaid labour, is contrary to the laws of the production of surplus-value, the answer would be simple and prompted by a mere glance at the actual relations: In the case of A, the actual rate of surplus-value is expressed, i.e., the relation of a surplus-value produced in 5 weeks by a variable capital of £500, to the variable capital of £500. In the case of B on the other hand the calculation is of a kind which has nothing to do either with the production of surplus-value or with the determination of its corresponding rate of surplus-value. For the £500 of surplus-value produced by a variable capital of £500 of variable capital advanced during their production, but with reference to a capital of £5,000, nine-tenths of which, or £4,500, have nothing whatever to do with the production of this surplus-value of £500, but are on the contrary intended to function gradually in the course of the following 45 weeks, so that they do not exist at all so far as the production of the first 5 weeks is concerned, which alone is at issue in this instance. Hence in this case the difference in the rates of surplus-value of A and B presents no problem at all.
Let us now compare the annual rates of surplus-value for capitals B and A. For capital B it is 500s/500v = 100%; for capital A it is 5,000s/500v = 1,000%. But the ratio of the rates of surplus-value is the same as before. There we had
(Rate of Surplus-Value of Capital B) / (Rate of Surplus-Value of Capital A)
= 10% / 100%
Now we have
(Annual Rate of Surplus-Value of Capital B) / (Annual Rate of Surplus-Value of Capital A)
= 100% / 1,000%
But 10% : 100% = 100% : 1,000%, so that the proportion is the same.
But now the problem has changed. The annual rate of capital B, 5,000s/5,000v = 100%, offers not the slightest deviation — not even the semblance of a deviation — from the laws of production known to us and of the rate of surplus-value corresponding to this production. During the year 5,000v have been advanced and productively consumed, and they have produced 5,000s. The rate of surplus-value therefore equals the above fraction, 5,000s/5,000v = 100%. The annual rate agrees with the actual rate of surplus-value. In this case it is therefore not capital B but capital A which presents the anomaly that has to be explained.
We have here the rate of surplus-value 5,000s/500v = 1,000%. But while in the first case 500s, the product of 5 weeks, was calculated for an advanced capital of £5,000, nine-tenths of which were not employed by its production, we have now 5,000s calculated for 500v, i.e., for only one-tenth of the variable capital actually employed in the production of 5,000s; for the 5,000s are the product of a variable capital of £5,000 productively consumed during 50 weeks, not that of a capital of £500 consumed in one single period of 5 weeks. In the first case the surplus-value produced in 5 weeks had been calculated for a capital advanced for 50 weeks, a capital ten times as large as the one consumed during the 5 weeks. Now the surplus-value produced in 50 weeks is calculated for a capital advanced for 5 weeks, a capital ten times smaller than the one consumed in 50 weeks.
Capital A, of £500, is never advanced for more than 5 weeks. At the end of this time it returns and can renew the same process in the course of the year ten times, as it makes ten turnovers. Two conclusions follow from this:
Firstly: The capital advanced in the case of A is only five times larger than that portion of capital which is constantly employed in the productive process of one week. On the other hand capital B which is turned over only once in 50 weeks and must therefore be advanced for 50 weeks, is fifty times larger than that one of its portions which can constantly be employed for one week. The turnover therefore modifies the relation between the capital advanced during the year for the process of production and the capital constantly employable for a definite period of production, say, a week. Here we have, then, the first case, in which the surplus-value of 5 weeks is not calculated for the capital employed during these 5 weeks, but for a capital ten times larger, employed for 50 weeks.
Secondly: The 5-week period of turnover of capital A comprises only one-tenth of the year, so that one year contains ten such turnover periods, in which capital A of £500 is successively re-invested. The employed capital is here equal to the capital advanced for 5 weeks, multiplied by the number of periods of turnover per year. The capital employed during the year is 500 times 10, or £5,000. The capital advanced during the year is 5,000/10, or £500. Indeed, although the £500 are always re-employed, the sum advanced every 5 weeks never exceeds these same £500. On the other hand in case of capital B only £500 are employed during 5 weeks and advanced for these 5 weeks. But as the period of turnover in this case is 50 weeks, the capital employed in one year is equal to the capital advanced for 50 weeks and not to that advanced for every 5 weeks. The annually produced quantity of surplus-value, given the rate of surplus-value, is however commensurate with the capital employed during the year, not with the capital advanced during the year. Hence it is not larger for this capital of £5,000, which is turned over once a year, than it is for the capital of £500, which is turned over ten times a year. And it is so big only because the capital turned over once a year is itself ten times larger than the capital turned over ten times a year.
The variable capital turned over during one year — hence the portion of the annual product, or of the annual expenditure equal to that portion — is the variable capital actually employed, productively consumed, during that year. It follows therefore that if the variable capital A turned over annually and the variable capital B turned over annually are equal and the employed under equal conditions of self-expansion, so that the rate of surplus-value is the same for both of them, then the quantity of surplus-value produced annually must likewise be the same for both of them. Hence the rate of surplus-value calculated for a year must also be the same, since the amounts of capital employed are the same, so far as the rate is expressed by (quantity of surplus-value produced annually) / (variable capital turned over annually). Or, expressed generally: Whatever the relative magnitude of the turned-over variable capitals, the rate of the surplus-value produced by them in the course of the year is determined by the rate of surplus-value at which the respective capitals have worked in average periods (say, the average of a week or day).
This is the only consequence of the laws of production of surplus-value and of the determination of the rate of surplus-value.
Let us see further what is expressed by the ratio
(Capital turned over annually) / (capital advanced)
(taking into account, as we have said before, only the variable capital). The division shows the number of turnovers made by the capital advanced in one year.
In the case of capital A we have:
(£5,000 of capital turned over annually) / (£500 of capital advanced)
In the case of capital B we have:
(£5,000 of capital turned over annually) / (£5,000 of capital advanced)
In both ratios the numerator expressed the advanced capital multiplied by the number of turnovers; in the case of A, 500 times 10; in the case of B, 5,000 times 1. Or it may be multiplied by the inverted time of turnover calculated for one year. The time of turnover for A is 1/10 of a year; the inverted time of turnover is 10/1 years; hence 500 times 10/1, or 5,000. In the case of B, 5,000 times 1/1, or 5,000. The denominator expresses the turned-over capital multiplied by the inverted number of turnovers; in the case of A, 5,000 times 1/10; in the case of B, 5,000 times 1/1.
The respective quantities of labour (the sum of the paid and unpaid labour), which are set in motion by the two variable capitals turned over annually, are equal in this case, because the turned-over capitals themselves are equal and their rates of self-expansion are likewise equal.
The ratio of variable capital turned over annually to the variable capital advanced indicates 1) the ratio of the capital to be advanced to the variable capital employed during a definite working period. If the number of turnovers is 10, as in the case of A, and the year assumed to have 50 weeks, then the period of turnover is 5 weeks. For these 5 weeks variable capital must be advanced and the capital advanced for 5 weeks must be 5 times as large as the variable capital employed during one week. That is to say, only one-fifth of the advanced capital (in this case £500) can be employed in the course of one week. On the other hand, in the case of capital B, where the number of turnovers is 1/1, the time of turnover is 1 year, or 50 weeks. The ratio of the advanced capital to the capital employed weekly is therefore 50 : 1. If matters were the same for B as they are for A, then B would have to invest £1,000 per week instead of £100. 2) It follows that B has employed ten times as much capital (£5,000) as A to set in motion the same quantity of variable capital and hence — the rate of surplus-value being given — of labour (paid and unpaid), and thus to produce also the same quantity of surplus-value during the year. The real rate of surplus-value expresses nothing but the ratio of the variable capital employed during a definite period to the surplus-value produced in the same time; or the quantity of unpaid labour set in motion by the variable capital employed during this time. It has absolutely nothing to do with that portion of the variable capital which is advanced during the time in which it is not employed. Hence it has likewise nothing to do with the ratio between that portion of capital which is advanced during a definite period of time and that portion which is employed during the same period of time — a ratio that is modified and differentiated for different capitals by the turnover period.
It follows rather from what has been set forth above that the annual rate of surplus-value coincides only in one single case with the real rate of surplus-value which expresses the degree of exploitation of labour; namely in the case when the advanced capital is turned over only once a year and the capital advanced is thus equal to the capital turned over in the course of the year, when therefore the ratio of the quantity of the surplus-value produced during the year to the capital employed during the year in this production coincides and is identical with the ratio of the quantity of surplus-value produced during the year to the capital advanced during the year.
A) The annual rate of surplus-value is equal to the
(quantity of surplus-value produced during the year) / (variable capital advanced)
But the quantity of the surplus-value produced during the year is equal to the real rate of surplus-value multiplied by the variable capital employed in its production. The capital employed in the production of the annual quantity of surplus-value is equal to the advanced capital multiplied by the number of its turnovers, which we shall call n. Formula A is therefore transformed into the following:
B) The annual rate of surplus-value is equal to the
(real rate of surplus-value × variable capital advanced × n) / (variable capital advanced)
For instance, in the case of capital B = 100 × 5,000 × 1 / 5,000 , or 100%.
Only when n is equal to 1, that is, when the variable capital advanced is turned over only once a year, and hence equal to the capital employed or turned over during a year, the annual rate of surplus-value is equal to its real rate.
Let us call the annual rate of surplus-value S', the real rate of surplus-value s', the advanced variable capital v, the number of turnovers n. Then S' = s'vn/v = s'n. In other words, S' is equal to s'n, and it is equal to s' only when n = 1, and hence S' = s' times 1, or s'.
It follows furthermore that the annual rate of surplus-value is always equal to s'n, i.e., to the real rate of surplus-value produced in one period of turnover by the variable capital consumed during that period, multiplied by the number of turnovers of this variable capital during one year, or (what amounts to the same) multiplied by its inverted time of turnover calculated for one year. (If the variable capital is turnover over ten times per year, then its time of turnover is 1/10 of a year; its inverted time of turnover therefore 10/1 or 10.)
It follows furthermore that S' = s' when n is equal to 1. S' is greater than s' when n is greater than 1; i.e., when the advanced capital is turned over more than once a year or the turned-over capital is greater than the capital advanced.
Finally, S' is smaller than s' when n is smaller than 1, that is, when the capital turned over during the year is only a part of the advanced capital, so that the period of turnover is longer than one year.
Let us dwell a moment on this last case.
We retain all the premises of our former illustration, except that the period of turnover is lengthened to 55 weeks. The labour-process requires a variable capital of £100 per week, hence £5,500 for the period of turnover, and produces every week 100s; s' is therefore 100%, as before. The number of turnovers, n, is here 50/55 or 10/11, because the time of turnover is 1 plus 1/10 of the year (of 50 weeks), or 11/10 years.
S' = 100% × 5,500 × 10/11 / 5,500 = 100 × 10/11 = 1000/11 = 90 10/11%. It is therefore smaller than 100%.
Indeed, if the annual rate of surplus-value were 100%, then during the year 5,500v would produce 5,500s, whereas 10/11 years are required for that. The 5,500v produce only 5,000s during one year, therefore the annual rate of surplus-value is 5,000s/5,500v, or 10/11 or 90 10/11%.
The annual rate of surplus-value, or the comparison between the surplus-value produced during one year and the variable capital advanced in general (as distinguished from the variable capital turned over during the year), is therefore not merely subjective comparison; the actual movement of the capital itself gives rise to this contraposition. So far as the owner of capital A is concerned, his advanced variable capital of £500 has returned to him at the end of the year, and £5,000 of surplus-value in addition. It is not the quantity of capital employed by him during the year, but the quantity returning to him periodically that expresses the magnitude of his advanced capital. It is immaterial for the present issue whether at the end of the year the capital exists partly as a productive supply, or partly as money- or commodity-capital, and in what proportions it may have been divided into these different parts. So far as the owner of capital B is concerned, £5,000, his advanced capital, has returned to him besides £5,000 in surplus-value. For the owner of capital C (the last considered, worth £5,500) surplus-value to the amount of £5,000 has been produced during the year (£5,000 invested and rate of surplus-value 100%), but his advanced capital has not yet returned to him, nor has his produced surplus-value.
S' = s'n indicates that the rate of surplus-value valid for the variable capital employed during one period of turnover, to wit,
(quantity of s produced in one turnover period) / (variable capital employed in one turnover period)
must be multiplied by the number of turnover periods, or of the periods of reproduction of the advanced variable capital, by the number of periods in which it renews its circuit.
We have already seen (Buch I, Kap. IV [English edition: Part II. — Ed.]) (The Transformation of Money into Capital), and furthermore (Buch I, Kap. XXI [English edition: Ch. XXIII. — Ed.]) (Simple Reproduction), that the capital-value is in general advanced, not expended, as this value, having passed through the various phases of its circuit, returns to its point of departure, and at that enriched by surplus-value. This characterises it as advanced. The time that elapses from the moment of its departure to the moment of its return is the time for which it was advanced. The entire circular movement described by capital-value, measured by the time from its advance to its return, constitutes its turnover, and the duration of this turnover is a period of turnover. When this period has expired and the circuit is completed, the same capital-value can renew the same circuit, can therefore expand anew, can create surplus-value. If the variable capital is turned over ten times in one year, as in the case of capital A, then the same advance of capital begets in the course of one year ten times the quantity of surplus-value that corresponds to one period of turnover.
One must get a clear conception of the nature of this advance from the standpoint of capitalist society.
Capital A, which is annually turned over ten times, is advanced ten times during one year. It is advanced anew for every new period of turnover. But at the same time, during the year A never advances more than this same capital-value of £500 and in actual fact never disposes of more than these £500 for the productive process examined by us. As soon as these £500 have completed one circuit A makes them start anew the same circuit; by its very nature capital preserves its character of capital only because it always functions as capital in successive production processes. It is, moreover, never advanced for more than five weeks. Should the turnover last longer, it proves inadequate. Should the turnover be curtailed, a part becomes superfluous. Not ten capitals of £500 are advanced, but one capital of £500 is advanced ten times at successive intervals. The annual rate of surplus-value is therefore not calculated for ten advances of a capital of £500 or for £5,000, but for one advance of a capital of £500. It is the same as if one shilling circulates ten times and yet never represents more than one single shilling in circulation, although it performs the function of 10 shillings. But in the pocket which holds it after each change of hands it retains the same identical value of one shilling as before.
In the same way capital A indicates at each successive return, and likewise on its return at the end of the year, that its owner has operated always with the same capital-value of £500. Hence only £500 return to him each time. His advanced capital is therefore never more than £500. Hence the advanced capital of £500 forms the denominator of the fraction which expresses the annual rate of surplus-value. We had for it the above formula S' = s'vn/v = s'n. Since the real rate of surplus-value, s', equals s/v, the quantity of surplus-value divided by the variable capital which produced it, we may substitute s/v for the value of s' in s'n, and get the other formula S' = sn/v.
But by its ten-fold turnover and thus the ten-fold renewal of its advance, the capital of £500 performs the function of a ten times larger capital, of a capital of £5,000, just as 500 shillings which circulate ten times per year perform the same function as 5,000 shillings which circulate only once.
“Whatever the form of the process of production in a society, it must be a continuous process, must continue to go periodically through the same phases... When viewed therefore as a connected whole and as flowing on with incessant renewal, every social process of production is, at the same time, a process of reproduction... As a periodic increment of the capital advanced, or periodic fruit of capital in process, surplus-value acquires the form of a revenue flowing out of capital.” (Buch I, Kap. XXI, pp. 588, 589.) [English edition: pp. 566 and 567. — Ed.]
In the case of capital A we have 10 five-week turnover periods. In the first period of turnover £500 of variable capital are advanced; i.e., £100 are weekly converted into labour-power, so that £500 are spent on labour-power at the end of the first turnover period. These £500, originally a part of the total capital advanced, have ceased to be capital. They are paid out in wages. The labourers in their turn pay them out in the purchase of means of subsistence, consuming means of subsistence worth £500. A quantity of commodities of that value is therefore annihilated; (what the labourer may save up in money, etc., is not capital either). As far as concerns the labourer, this quantity of commodities has been consumed unproductively, except inasmuch as it preserves the efficacy of his labour-power, an instrument indispensable to the capitalist.
In the second place however these £500 have been transformed, for the capitalist, into labour-power of the same value (or price). Labour-power is consumed by him productively in the labour-process. At the end of 5 weeks a product valued at £1,000 has been created. Half of this, £500, is the reproduced value of the variable capital expended in payment of labour-power. The other half, £500, is newly produced surplus-value. But the 5-weekly labour-power, through exchange for which a portion of the capital was converted into variable capital, is likewise expended, consumed, although productively. The labour which was active yesterday is not the same that is active today. Its value plus that of surplus-value created by it exists now as the value of a thing distinct from labour-power, to wit, of a product. But by converting the product into money, that portion of its value which is equal to the value of variable capital advanced can once more be exchanged for labour-power and thus again function as variable capital. The fact that the same workmen, i.e., the same bearers of labour-power, are given employment not only by the reproduced capital-value but also by that which has been reconverted into the form is immaterial. It is possible for the capitalist to hire different workmen for the second period of turnover.
In actual fact therefore a capital of £5,000, and not of £500, is expended successively in wages during the ten periods of turnover of 5 weeks each, and these wages will again be spent by the labourers to buy means of subsistence. The capital of £5,000 so advanced is consumed. It ceases to exist. On the other hand labour-power worth £5,000, not £500, is incorporated successively in the productive process and reproduces not only its own value of £5,000, but produces over and above that a surplus-value of £5,000. The variable capital of £500 advanced during the second period of turnover is not the identical capital of £500 that had been advanced during the first period of turnover. That has been consumed, spent in wages. But it is replaced by new variable capital of £500, which was produced in the first period of turnover in the form of commodities, and reconverted into money. This new money-capital of £500 is therefore the money-form of the quantity of commodities newly produced in the first period of turnover. The fact that an identical sum of money, £500, is again in the hands of the capitalist, i.e., apart from the surplus-value, precisely as much money-capital as he had originally advanced, conceals the circumstance that he is operating with newly produced capital. (As for the other constituents of value of the commodity-capital, which replace the constant parts of capital, their value is not newly produced, but only the form is changed in which this value exists.)
Let us take the third period of turnover. Here it is evident that the capital of £500, advanced for a third time, is not an old but a newly produced capital, for it is the money-form of the quantity of commodities produced in the second, not the first, period of turnover, i.e., of that portion of this quantity of commodities whose value is equal to that of the advanced variable capital. The quantity of commodities produced in the first period of turnover is sold. A part of its value equal to the variable portion of the value of the advanced capital was transformed into the new labour-power of the second period of turnover; it produced a new quantity of commodities, which were sold in their turn and a portion of whose value constitutes the capital of £500 advanced in the third turnover period.
And so forth during the ten periods of turnover. In the course of these, newly produced quantities of commodities (whose value, inasmuch as it replaces variable capital, is also newly produced, and does not merely re-appear as in the case of the constant circulating part of the capital) are thrown upon the market every 5 weeks, in order to incorporate ever new labour-power in the process of production.
Therefore what is accomplished by the ten-fold turnover of the advanced variable capital of £500 is not that this capital of £500 can be productively consumed ten times, or that a variable capital lasting for 5 weeks can be employed for 50 weeks. Rather, ten times £500 of variable capital is employed in the 50 weeks, and the capital of £500 always lasts only for 5 weeks and must be replaced at the end of the 5 weeks by a newly produced capital of £500. This applies equally to capitals A and B. But at this point the difference begins.
At the end of the first period of 5 weeks a variable capital of £500 has been advanced and expended by B as well as A. Both A and B have converted its value into labour-power and replaced it by that portion of the value of the product newly created by this labour-power which is equal to the value of the advanced variable capital of £500. For both B and A the labour-power has not only replaced the value of the expended variable capital of £500 by a new value of the same amount, but also added a surplus-value which, according to our assumption, is of the same magnitude.
But in the case of B the value-product, which replaces the advanced variable capital and adds to it a surplus-value, is not in the form in which it can function anew as productive, or variable, capital. It is in such a form in the case of A. And up to the end of the year B does not possess the variable capital expended in the first 5 and every subsequent 5 weeks (although it has been replaced by newly produced value plus surplus-value) in the form in which it can again function as productive, or variable, capital. True, its value is replaced by new value, hence renewed, but the form of its value (in this case the absolute form of value, its money-form) is not renewed.
For the second period of 5 weeks (and thus for every succeeding 5 weeks of the year) another £500 must again be available, the same as for the first period. Hence, regardless of credit conditions, £5,000 must be available at the beginning of the year as a latent advanced money-capital, although they are really expended, turned into labour-power, only gradually, in the course of the year.
But because in the case of A the circuit, the turnover of the advanced capital, is consummated, the replacement value after the lapse of the first 5 weeks is already in the form in which it can set new labour-power in motion for a term of 5 weeks — in its original form, the money-form.
In cases of both A and B new labour-power is consumed in the second 5-week period and a new capital of £500 is spent in payment of this labour-power. The means of subsistence of the labourers, paid with the first £500, are gone; at all events their value has vanished from the hands of the capitalist. With the second £500 new labour-power is bought, new means of subsistence withdrawn from the market. In short, it is a new capital of £500 that is being expended, not the old. But in the case of A this new capital of £500 is the money-form of the newly produced substitute for the value of the formerly expended £500, while in the case of B, this substitute is in a form in which it cannot function as variable capital. It is there, but not in the form of variable capital. For the continuation of the process of production for the next 5 weeks an additional capital of £500 must therefore be available and advanced in the here indispensable form of money. Thus, during 50 weeks, both A and B expend an equal amount of variable capital, pay for and consume an equal quantity of labour-power. Only, B must pay for it with an advanced capital equal to its total value of £5,000, while A pays for it successively with the ever renewed money-form of the value-substitute, produced every 5 weeks, for the capital of £500 advanced for every 5 weeks, i.e., never more than that advanced for the first 5 weeks, viz., £500. These £500 last for the entire year. It is therefore clear that, the degree of exploitation of labour and the real rate of surplus-value being the same, the annual rates (of surplus-value) of A and B must be inversely proportional to the magnitudes of the variable money-capitals which have to be advanced in order to set in motion the same amount of labour-power during the year.
A: 5,000s/500v = 1,000%; B: 5,000s/5,000v = 100%.
But 500v : 5,000v = 1 : 10 = 100% : 1,000%.
The difference is due to the difference in the periods of turnover, i.e., the periods in which the value-substitute of the variable capital employed for a definite time can function anew as capital, hence as new capital. In the case of B as well as A, there is the same replacement of value for the variable capital employed during the same periods. There is also the same increment of surplus-value during the same periods. But in the case of B, while every 5 weeks there is a replacement of the value of £500 and a surplus-value of £500, this value-substitute does not constitute new capital, because it does not exist in the form of money. In the case of A the old capital-value is not only replaced by a new one, but is rehabilitated in its money-form, hence replaced as a new capital capable of performing its function.
The conversion, sooner or later, of the value-substitute into money, and thus into the form in which variable capital is advanced, is obviously an immaterial circumstance, so far as the production of surplus-value itself is concerned. This production depends on the magnitude of variable capital employed and the degree of exploitation of labour. But that circumstance modifies the magnitude of the money-capital which must be advanced in order to set a definite quantum of labour-power in motion during the year, and therefore it determines the annual rate of surplus-value.
Let us look at this matter for a moment from the point of view of society. Let the wages of one labourer be £1 per week, the working-day 10 hours. In case of A as well as B 100 labourers are employed during a year (£100 for 100 labourers per week, or £500 for 5 weeks, or £5,000 for 50 weeks), and each one of them works 60 hours per week of 6 days. So 100 labourers work 6,000 hours per week and 300,000 hours in 50 weeks. This labour-power is taken hold of by A and B and therefore cannot be expended by society for anything else. To this extent the matter is the same socially with both A and B. Furthermore: In the cases of both A and B the 100 labourers employed by either side receive a yearly wage of £5,000 (or, together for the 200 labourers, £10,000) and withdraw from society means of subsistence to that amount. So far the matter is therefore socially the same in the case of both A and B. Since the labourers in either case are paid by the week, they weekly withdraw their means of subsistence from society and, in either case, throw a weekly equivalent in money into circulation. But here the difference begins.
First. The money which the A labourer throws into circulation is not only, as it is for the B labourer, the money-form of the value of his labour-power (in fact a means of payment for labour already performed); it is, counting from the second turnover period after the opening of the business, the money-form of his own value (equal to the price of the labour-power plus the surplus-value) created during the first period of turnover, by which his labour is paid during the second period of turnover. This is not the case with the B labourer. As far as the latter is concerned, the money is here, true enough, a medium of payment for work already done by him, but this work done is not paid for with the value which it itself produced and which was turned into money (not with the money-form of the value of the labour itself has produced). This cannot be done until the beginning of the second year, when the B labourer is paid with the value produced by him in the preceding year and turned into money.
The shorter the period of turnover of capital — the shorter therefore the intervals at which it is reproduced throughout the year — the quicker is the variable portion of the capital, originally advanced by the capitalist in the form of money, transformed into the money-form of the value (including, besides, surplus-value) created by the labourer to replace this variable capital; the shorter is the time for which the capitalist must advance money out of his own funds, and the smaller is the capital advanced by him in general in proportion to the given scale of production; and the greater comparatively is the quantity of surplus-value which he extracts during the year with a given rate of surplus-value, because he can buy the labourer so much more frequently with the money-form of the value created by that labourer and can so much more frequently set his labour into motion again.
If the scale of production is given, the absolute magnitude of the advanced variable money-capital (and of the circulating capital in general) decreased proportionately to the decrease of the turnover period, while the annual rate of surplus-value increases. If the magnitude of the advanced capital is given, the scale of production grows; hence, if the rate of surplus-value is given, the absolute quantity of surplus-value created in one period of turnover likewise grows, simultaneously with the rise in the annual rate of surplus-value effected by the shortening of the periods of reproduction. It generally follows from the foregoing investigation that the different lengths of the turnover periods make it necessary for money-capital to be advanced in very different amounts in order to set in motion the same quantity of productive circulating capital and the same quantity of labour with the same degree of exploitation of labour.
Second — and this is interlinked with the first difference — the B and A labourers pay for the means of subsistence which they buy with the variable capital that has been transformed in their hands into a medium of circulation. For instance they not only withdraw wheat from the market, but they also replace it with an equivalent in money. But since the money wherewith the B labourer pays for his means of subsistence, which he withdraws from the market, is not the money-form of a value produced and thrown by him on the market during the year, as it is in the case of the A labourer, he supplies the seller of the means of subsistence with money, but not with commodities — be they means of production or means of subsistence — which this seller could buy with the proceeds of the sale, as he can in the case of A. The market is therefore stripped of labour-power, means of subsistence for this labour-power, fixed capital in the form of instruments of labour used in the case of B, and of materials of production, and to replace them an equivalent in money is thrown on the market; but during the year no product is thrown on the market with which to replace the material elements of productive capital withdrawn from it. If we conceive society as being not capitalistic but communistic, there will be no money-capital at all in the first place, not the disguises cloaking the transactions arising on account of it. The question then comes down to the need of society to calculate beforehand how much labour, means of production, and means of subsistence it can invest, without detriment, in such lines of business as for instance the building of railways, which do not furnish any means of production or subsistence, nor produce any useful effect for a long time, a year or more, while they extract labour, means of production and means of subsistence from the total annual production. In capitalist society however where social reason always asserts itself only post festum great disturbances may and must constantly occur. On the one hand pressure is brought to bear on the money-market, while on the other, an easy money-market calls such enterprises into being en masse, thus creating the very circumstances which later give rise to pressure on the money-market. Pressure is brought to bear on the money-market, since large advances of money-capital are constantly needed here for long periods of time. And this regardless of the fact that industrialists and merchants throw the money-capital necessary to carry on their business into speculative railway schemes; etc., and make it good by borrowing in the money-market.
On the other hand pressure on society’s available productive capital. Since elements of productive capital are for ever being withdrawn from the market and only an equivalent in money is thrown on the market in their place, the effective demand rises without itself furnishing any element of supply. Hence a rise in the prices of productive materials as well as means of subsistence. To this must be added that stock-jobbing is a regular practice and capital is transferred on a large scale. A band of speculators, contractors, engineers, lawyers, etc., enrich themselves. They create a strong demand for articles of consumption on the market, wages rising at the same time. So far as foodstuffs are involved, agriculture too is stimulated. But as these foodstuffs cannot be suddenly increased in the course of the year, their import grows, just as that of exotic foods in general (coffee, sugar, wine, etc.) and of articles of luxury. Hence excessive imports and speculation in this line of the import business. Meanwhile, in those branches of industry in which production can be rapidly expanded (manufacture proper, mining, etc.), climbing prices give rise to sudden expansion soon followed by collapse. The same effect is produced in the labour-market, attracting great numbers of the latent relative surplus-population, and even of the employed labourers, to the new lines of business. In general such large-scale undertakings as railways withdraw a definite quantity of labour-power from the labour-market, which can come only from such lines of business as agriculture, etc., where only strong lads are needed. This still continues even after the new enterprises have become established lines of business and the migratory working-class needed for them has already been formed, as for instance in the case of temporary rise above the average in the scale of railway construction. A portion of the reserve army of labourers, which keep wages down, is absorbed. A general rise in wages ensues, even in the hitherto well employed sections of the labour-market. This lasts until the inevitable crash again releases the reserve army of labour and wages are once more depressed to their minimum, and lower.
Inasmuch as the length, great or small, of the period of turnover depends on the working period proper, that is, the period necessary to get the product ready for the market, it is based on the existing material conditions of production specific for the various investments of capital. In agriculture they assume more of the character of natural conditions of production, in manufacture and the greater part of the mining industry they vary with the social development of the process of production itself.
Inasmuch as the length of the working period depends on the size of the supply (the quantitative volume in which the product is generally thrown upon the market as commodities), it is conventional in character. But the convention itself has its material basis in the scale of production, and is therefore accidental only when examined singly.
Finally, inasmuch as the length of the turnover period hinges on that of the period of circulation, it is partly dependent on the incessant change of market conditions, the greater or lesser ease of selling, and the resultant necessity of disposing of part of the product in nearer or remoter markets. Apart from the volume of the demand in general, the movement of prices is here of cardinal importance since sales are intentionally restricted when prices are falling, while production proceeds; vice versa, production and sales keep pace when prices are rising or sales can be made in advance. But we must consider the actual distance of the place of production from the market as the real material basis.
For instance English cotton goods or yarn are sold to India. Suppose the exporter himself pays the English cotton manufacturer (the exporter does so willingly only if the money-market is strong. But when the manufacturer himself replaces his money-capital by some credit transaction, things are not so good). The exporter sells his cotton goods later in the Indian market, from where his advanced capital is remitted to him. Up to this remittance the case runs the very same course as when the length of the working period necessitated the advance of new money-capital to maintain the production process on a given scale. The money-capital with which the manufacturer pays his labourers and renews the other elements of his circulating capital is not the money-form of the yarn produced by him. This cannot be the case until the value of this yarn has returned to England in the form of money or products. It is additional money-capital as before. The only difference is that instead of the manufacturer, it is advanced by the merchant, who in turn may well have obtained it by means of credit operations. Similarly, before this money is thrown on the market, or simultaneously with this, no additional product has been put on the English market that could be bought with this money and would enter the sphere of productive or individual consumption. If this situation continues for a rather long period of time and on a rather large scale, it must have the same effect as the previously mentioned prolongation of the working period.
Now it may be that in India the yarn is again sold on credit. With this credit products are bought in India and sent as return shipment to England or drafts remitted for this amount. If this condition is protracted, the Indian money-market comes under pressure and the reaction on England may here produce a crisis. This crisis, in its turn, even if connected with bullion export to India, calls forth a new crisis in that country on account of the bankruptcy of English firms and their Indian branches, which had received credit from Indian banks. Thus a crisis occurs simultaneously in the market in which the balance of trade is favourable, as well as in the one in which it is unfavourable. This phenomenon may be still more complicated. Assume for instance that England has sent silver bullion to India but India’s English creditors are not urgently collecting their debts in that country, and India will soon after have to ship its silver bullion back to England.
It is possible that the export trade to India and the import trade from India may approximately balance each other, although the volume of the import trade (except under special circumstances, such as a scarcity of cotton, etc.) is determined and stimulated by the export trade. The balance of trade between England and India may seem equilibrated or may disclose slight oscillations in either direction. But as soon as the crisis breaks out in England it turns out that unsold cotton goods are stored in India (hence have not been transformed from commodity-capital into money-capital — an over-production to this extent), and that on the other hand there are stored up in England unsold supplies of Indian goods, and moreover, a great portion of the sold and consumed supplies is not yet paid. Hence what appears as a crisis on the money-market is in reality an expression of abnormal conditions in the very process of production and reproduction.
Third. So far as the employed circulating capital itself (constant and variable) is concerned, the length of the period of turnover, since it derives from the working period, makes this difference: In the case of several turnovers during one year, an element of the variable or constant circulating capital may be supplied through its own product, for instance in the production of coal, the ready-made clothes business, etc. In other cases this cannot occur, at least not within the same year.
32. In the manuscript, the following note is here inserted for future amplification: “Contradiction in the capitalist mode of production: the labourers as buyers of commodities are important for the market. But as sellers of their own commodity — labour-power — capitalist society tends to keep them down to the minimum price.
—Further contradiction: the periods in which capitalist production exerts all its forces regularly turn out to be periods of over-production, because production potentials can never be utilised to such an extent that more value may not only be produced but also realised; but the sale of commodities, the realisation of commodity-capital and thus of surplus-value, is limited, not by the consumer requirements of society in general, but by the consumer requirements of a society in which the vast majority are always poor and must always remain poor. However, this pertains to the next part. | <urn:uuid:2027258d-c9de-4865-9a2d-5b8a45714650> | {
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Durban - The UN warned of the potential “mass destruction” of the world’s $5-billion (R52.5bn) a year banana crop as a plant disease spreads to Africa and the Middle East.
The Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organisation said the TR4 strain of Panama disease, which has hit tens of thousands of hectares in south-east Asia, had been reported in Jordan and Mozambique.
Altus Viljoen, a plant pathologist from Stellenbosch University, who first identified the strain in Mozambique, has issued a contingency plan for the prevention of the disease’s entry and spread in South Africa.
Viljoen said a range of preventative measures should be introduced, including quarantine measures at all ports, that access control to banana farms should be improved and water baths containing disinfects should be built at all farm entrances.
Sandy la Marque, the chief executive of the Kwazulu-Natal Agricultural Union (Kwanalu), said: “We support any initiatives made by those involved in the banana industry as a matter of urgency.”
The Banana Growers Association of South Africa could not be reached for comment before going to print.
Panamadisease.org estimates the global banana crop is worth around $5bn and more than 100 million tons of bananas are traded every year. – Mercury Reporter and Sapa | <urn:uuid:72d5f784-2aa4-4780-8871-f1bb61f3b67e> | {
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Among births from March 2009 to March 2010, 350,000 newborns had at least one unauthorized parent, a number that statistically is no different from the estimate of 340,000 published by the Pew Hispanic Center for 2008-2009.
These newborns represented 8% of all births during this period, the same share as for the previous year. Unauthorized immigrants represent about 4% of the U.S. population but are relatively young and have high birthrates, which is why their newborns make up a higher share of all births.
Among all births in the U.S. in 2009-2010, 74% were to U.S.-born parents and 17% to legal immigrants.
The Pew Hispanic Center analysis also examined year-of-arrival patterns for unauthorized immigrant parents of babies born from March 2009 to March 2010, to see how long the parents had been in the United States before their children were born. If year of arrival was available for both parents, the analysis used the most recently arrived parent.
According to the analysis, 9% of these unauthorized immigrants who had babies in 2009-2010 had arrived in the U.S. in 2008 or later. An additional 30% arrived from 2004 to 2007, and the remaining 61% arrived in the United States before 2004.
As with previous analyses, the Pew Hispanic Center finds that among all children of unauthorized immigrants—an estimated 5.5 million in 2010—a growing share was born in the United States and therefore they are U.S. citizens by birthright.
Among children of unauthorized immigrants, an estimated 4.5 million are U.S.-born; 1 million are foreign-born and therefore unauthorized. The number of unauthorized children has declined from a peak of 1.6 million in 2005. The number of U.S.-born children has more than doubled from 2.1 million in 2000.1
The 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, adopted in 1868, grants an automatic right to citizenship to anyone born in the United States. In recent months, some prominent national and state elected officials have urged that this right be repealed at the national or state level, on the grounds that it attracts unauthorized immigrants to the United States. A nationwide survey by the Pew Research Center in October found that registered voters are split (46% to 46%) about whether to amend the Constitution to end birthright citizenship. A majority of Republican respondents (67%) favor amending the Constitution, compared with about half of independents (48%) and a minority of Democrats (30%).
Mexico is more dominant as a country of origin among unauthorized-immigrant parents than it is among all unauthorized immigrants. Among children with at least one unauthorized immigrant parent, 70% have parents from Mexico, 17% from other Latin American countries, 7% from Asia, 2% from Europe and Canada, and 3% from Africa and other nations. | <urn:uuid:423ff73d-468a-473a-b6e5-7799e5e923db> | {
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Athelas (Kingsfoil, asëa aranion)
"Asëa aranion" is mentioned as the Quenyan name of athelas. "Asëa" is a substantive form of a lost element with the meaning of "helpful, kind, beneficial", "aranion" appears to be the genitive plural of "aran" (= king). The Noldorin root is again a lost element, *ATHAYA (= helpful, kindly, beneficial), in Middle-earth the influence of the Sindarin converted it to athe + las (= leaf). It is possible that Tolkien developed the word from the Anglo-Saxon word "æðele", which means "noble, royal", but there are no documents to prove this.
Athelas is a long-leafed herb that grows in thickets and woods. Its appearance is unremarkable. The blossoms are probably small and not colourful. The leaves have a sweet and pungent smell that reminds of roses and orchards and heather. The fragrance is so strong that it can be found by its scent alone. The plant is native to Númenor and was introduced into Middle-earth by the Men of the West. In the Third Age athelas is scarce in the North of Middle-earth. It can only be found there in areas where the Númenoreans had settlements or camp sites in the past. In the South of Middle-earth, namely in Gondor, it is still quite common. In the Third Age the knowledge of athelas is still retained in traditional Gondorian herblore, though it is no longer in use in the "modern medicine" as it is practiced in the Houses of Healing.
Athelas is most famous for its use against the Black Breath. As a therapy of life-threatening cases the treatment with athelas has to be combined with the healing powers of the line of the Númenorean kings. But athelas is also used as a painkiller and as a means to prevent infection. In Gondor it is known as a remedy for headache and depression. It was probably also used to freshen the air in closed rooms. Its effects are calming, refreshing, strengthening and clearing the mind.
The leaves of athelas (either dried or fresh) can be crushed and the resulting fragrance can then be inhaled. Another method of preparation is to boil the leaves in water and to inhale the steam. The water in which the leaves have been steeped can be used externally to bathe wounds and bruises. It is also effective on poisoned wounds. It can also be prepared as an infusion and can be drunken as a tisane. The dried leaves lose some of their effectiveness but can still be used for up to three months after they have been gathered. The herb is very strong and should be used sparingly. One or two leaves per pot are sufficient.
A/N: Sources for the etymology and use of athelas
"From the pouch at his belt he drew out the long leaves of a plant. 'These leaves,' he said, 'I have walked far to find; for this plant does not grow in the bare hills; but in the thickets away south of the Road I found it in the dark by the scent of its leaves.' He crushed a leaf in his fingers, and it gave out a sweet and pungent fragrance. 'It is fortunate that I could find it, for it is a healing plant that the Men of the West brought to Middle-earth. 'Athelas' they named it, and it grows now sparsely and only near places where they dwelt or camped of old; and it is not known in the North, except to some of those who wander in the Wild. It has great virtues, but over such a
wound as this its healing powers may be small.'
He threw the leaves into boiling water and bathed Frodo's shoulder. The fragrance of the steam was refreshing, and those that were unhurt felt their minds calmed and cleared. The herb had also some power over the wound, for Frodo felt the pain and also the sense of frozen cold lessen in his side; but the life did not return to his arm, and he could not raise or use his hand."
(The Fellowship of the Ring, p. 261)
"'Good luck, Sam! ' he said. 'Many have received worse than this in payment for the slaying of their first orc. The cut is not poisoned, as the wounds of orc-blades too often are. It should heal well when I have tended it. Bathe it when Gimli has heated water.'
He opened his pouch and drew out some withered leaves. `They are dry and some of their virtue has gone, he said, but here I have still some of the leaves of 'athelas' that I gathered near Weathertop. Crush one in the water, and wash the wound clean, and I will bind it."
(The Fellowship of the Ring, p.440)
"…where he had been hurled against the wall. While the others set the food ready. Aragorn bathed the hurts with water in which the athelas was steeped. Thepungent fragrance filled the dell, and all those who stooped over the steaming water felt refreshed and strengthened. Soon Frodo felt the pain leave him, and his breath grew easy: though he was stiff and sore to the touch for many days. Aragorn bound some soft pads of cloth at his side."
(The Fellowship of the Ring, p.441)
"'I will judge that when I see,' said Aragorn. 'One thing also is short time for speech. Have you
'I do not know, I am sure, lord,' she answered, 'at least not by that name. I will go and ask of the
herb-master; he knows all the old names.'
'It is also called 'kingsfoil',' said Aragorn; 'and maybe you know it by that name, for so the country-folk call it in these latter days.'
'Oh that!' said Ioreth. 'Well, if your lordship had named it at first I could have told you. No, we have none of it, I am sure. Why, I have never heard that it had any great virtue; and indeed I have often said to my sisters when we came upon it growing in the woods: "kingsfoil" I said, " 'tis a strange name, and I wonder why 'tis called so; for if I were a king, I would have plants more bright in my garden". Still itsmells sweet when bruised, does it not? If sweet is the right word: wholesome, maybe, is nearer.'
'Wholesome verily,' said Aragorn. 'And now, dame, if you love the Lord Faramir, run as quick as
your tongue and get me kingsfoil, if there is a leaf in the City.'"
(The Return of the King, p.158f)
"Thereupon the herb-master entered. 'Your lordship asked for kingsfoil, as the rustics name it, he
said; or 'athelas' in the noble tongue, or to those who know somewhat of the Valinorean. . .'
'I do so,' said Aragorn, 'and I care not whether you say now 'asëa aranion' or 'kingsfoil', so long as you have some.'
'Your pardon lord!' said the man. 'I see you are a lore-master, not merely a captain of war. But alas! sir, we do not keep this thing in the Houses of Healing, where only the gravely hurt or sick are tended. For it has no virtue that we know of, save perhaps to sweeten a fouled air, or to drive away some passing heaviness. Unless, of course, you give heed to rhymes of old days which women such as our good Ioreth still repeat without understanding.
When the black breath blows
and death's shadow grows
and all lights pass,
come athelas! come athelas!
Life to the dying
In the king's hand lying!
It is but a doggrel, I fear, garbled in the memory of old wives. Its meaning I leave to your
judgement, if indeed it has any. But old folk still use an infusion of the herb for headaches. '"
(The Return of the King, p. 160)
"And at last Bergil came running in, and he bore six leaves in a cloth. 'It is kingsfoil, Sir,' he said; 'but not fresh, I fear. It must have been culled two weeks ago at the least."
(The Return of the King, p. 161)
"Then taking two leaves, he laid them on his hands and breathed on them, and then he crushed them, and straightway a living freshness filled the room, as if the air itself awoke and tingled, sparkling with joy. And then he cast the leaves into the bowls of steaming water that were brought to him, and at once all hearts were lightened. For the fragrance that came to each was like a memory of dewy mornings of unshadowed sun in some land of which the fair world in Spring is itself but a fleeting memory. But Aragorn stood up as one refreshed, and his eyes smiled as he held a bowl before Faramir's dreaming face.
'Well now! Who would have believed it?' said Ioreth to a woman that stood beside her. 'The weed is better than I thought. It reminds me of the roses of Imloth Melui when I was a lass, and no king could ask for better.'"
(The Return of the King, p. 161)
"Once more Aragorn bruised two leaves of 'athelas' and cast them into steaming water; and he laved her brow with it, and her right arm lying cold and nerveless on the coverlet. Then, whether Aragorn had indeed some forgotten power of Westernesse, or whether it was but his words of the Lady Éowyn that wrought on them, as the sweet influence of the herb stole about the chamber it seemed to those who stood by that a keen wind blew through the window, and it bore no scent, but was an air wholly fresh and clean and young, as if it had not before been breathed by any living thing and came new-made from snowy mountains high beneath a dome of stars, or from shores of silver far away washed by seas of foam."
(The Return of the King, p. 164)
"Then Aragorn laid his hand on Merry's head, and passing his hand gently through the brown curls, he touched the eyelids, and called him by name. And when the fragrance of 'athelas' stole through the room, like the scent of orchards, and of heather in the sunshine full of bees, suddenly Merry awoke, and he said:"
(The Return of the King, p. 165)
"The herb was known to the Noldor, who termed it "athea" from *ATHAYA
"helpful, kindly, beneficial." A later sound shift rendered it "asea" (cf. Aragorn's "asëa aranion" in "The Houses of Healing.") In Middle-earth the word was converted into regularized Sindarin form as athe- plus -las "leaf.""
(William Cloud Hicklin, online in: http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=35AE0B6B.1EFB1C19%40gamewood.net&output=gplain)
"I was the poster, and I'm pretty sure I didn't mispell the word, but I have no idea what subject line I used.
Athelas first appeared in the Weathertop chapter (although the name was added in the margin of the much earlier Lay of Leithian, where Huan brings a healing herb).
Christopher Tolkien and I have had an ongoing discussion about the origins of this word. It plainly contains -las 'leaf'. It is possible (but entirely speculative) that what Tolkien had in mind at that time (1938-39) was the Old English word aethele 'noble, royal.' This would translate 'kingsfoil,' near enough. At any rate, a very late note (1970 or later) says that Asea (cf.
Aragorn, 'asea aranion') was the name in Quenya, regularly adapted and compounded with -las in Sindarin. The plant was known to the medical loremasters of the Noldor. The root is *ATHAYA, 'helpful, kindly, beneficial.'"
(William Cloud Hicklin, online in: http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3634825A.EAF61453%40gamewood.net&output=gplain)
asëa aranion asëa is a Q variant of athaya, a lost element meaning 'helpful', 'beneficial'; ar(a) - royal, aran king [Sil]; the -ion suffix appears to form a genitive plural: 'of kings', although of note is YO, YON- son Q -ion, Nol -ion [Etym; patronymic suffix]; perhaps implied is anna- gift [Sil]; figuratively called 'Kingsfoil' [see Athelas], technically perhaps Balm of Princes
(online in: http://www.quicksilver899.com/Tolkien/LOTR/LOTR_AC.html)
Athelas S; kingsfoil; athaya [a lost element] helpful, beneficial; LAS¹- leaf, Q lasse [Etym], S las; a healing plant; AS æðele noble; Old French foil leaf; see asëa aranion
(online in: http://www.quicksilver899.com/Tolkien/LOTR/LOTR_AC.html)
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This is a work of fan fiction, written because the author has an abiding love for the works of J R R Tolkien. The characters, settings, places, and languages used in this work are the property of the Tolkien Estate, Tolkien Enterprises, and possibly New Line Cinema, except for certain original characters who belong to the author of the said work. The author will not receive any money or other remuneration for presenting the work on this archive site. The work is the intellectual property of the author, is available solely for the enjoyment of Henneth Annûn Story Archive readers, and may not be copied or redistributed by any means without the explicit written consent of the author. | <urn:uuid:554da7a0-e2bb-4254-9cea-0f8229be3fb2> | {
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Researchers have designed an entire molecular “assembly line” in bacterial cells that pieces together a kind of alcohol that isn’t normally made by known living organisms. This alcohol could serve as a biofuel that, unlike ethanol, has a high energy density and could be used in gasoline and jet fuel.
While the engineered bacteria are not yet efficient enough to produce biofuel on a commercial scale, the work shows that microbes can be designed to make chemicals that are beyond life’s natural repertoire, the researchers report online December 8 in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
“Previous metabolic engineering work typically produces compounds that already exist in nature,” says coauthor James Liao, a biomolecular engineer at the University of California, Los Angeles. “Our work here aims to produce compounds that are not synthesized in nature.”
Note: To comment, Science News subscribing members must now establish a separate login relationship with Disqus. Click the Disqus icon below, enter your e-mail and click “forgot password” to reset your password. You may also log into Disqus using Facebook, Twitter or Google. | <urn:uuid:2997614e-5790-4998-a166-da6259a95e69> | {
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By Stephen Johnson
What is the best way to rig an election? Do you steal blank ballot papers and fill them in? The more sophisticated way is to fix how the ballots are counted – and that is why, if you care about democracy, you should care about electoral systems.
In the 2010 UK General Election, using FPTP, Labour got 29% of the votes in the election, but 40% of the votes in the Parliament. The Liberal Democrats got 23% of the votes in the election, but 9% of the votes in the Parliament. Fraud? Conspiracy? Arguably, but those who benefit hide behind a rotten electoral system known as ‘First past the post’.
Direct Party and Representative Voting – a form of Proportional Representation that could replace the ‘First past the post’ voting system
Direct Party and Representative Voting is a form of Proportional Representation based on single member constituencies intended as a replacement for ‘First past the post’ (FPTP) voting used in the UK and some other democracies. In this article, I will argue that a change could be relatively simple, and show the advantages this system has, both in terms of process and outcomes, over FPTP and other systems.
There is nothing complicated about voting in a DPR Voting election. Voters cast two votes – one for the political party of their choice – the ‘Party’ vote, and the other to elect their constituency representative – the ‘Representative’ vote. Each vote is a single choice – the voter marks their choice with a single X.
The ‘Party’ votes are aggregated nationwide, and this determines proportionately the number of votes each parliamentary party has in the parliament and therefore which party, or parties, can form the Government.
The Representative vote elects an individual in each constituency. The candidate who gets the most Representative votes is elected as the constituency MP.
Thus voting (and counting) in DPR Voting is as simple as FPTP. It’s different because each voter has one vote for the party to form the Government, and another vote for the candidate to be the local MP, and although different, perhaps that is simpler in concept and more intuitive than FPTP.
For the purpose of votes (divisions) in parliament, each party’s parliamentary votes are shared out equally amongst its MPs.
As a result, each MP’s share of the party vote will have a decimal value which may be more or less than one. On ‘non party political’ issues, each MP has an equal vote.
For more on decimal voting in Parliamentary divisions follow the link to the website http://www.dprvoting.org/DPR_in_practice.htm#parliament
How different would a DPR Voting election be?
The mechanics of a DPR Voting election are very similar to an FPTP election, but different from most other PR systems. Voting is not preferential, multimember constituencies and party lists are not used.
Each constituency elects a single member. The number of MPs does not have to be changed, constituency boundaries do not have to be redrawn, and no significant changes are necessary to the election day routine. The retention of the familiar voting system would be a benefit to the election administrators, and would reduce the cost of the changeover.
DPR Voting retains the simplicity of voting which is essential for the system to be democratic and inclusive. Counting is also simple, transparent, and quick which makes fraud more difficult and gives people confidence in the process. Quick counting means even Election Night TV programmes would not be threatened.
The Democratic implications of DPR Voting
The consequences of the Party vote and the Representative vote are important benefits for democracy.
1 Proportional Representation
A form of proportional representation is achieved with minimal change to the FPTP voting system. The votes each party has in the Parliament are proportional to the votes each party wins in the General Election. This is fundamentally fairer, more democratic, than FPTP.
Every other PR system would require significant changes – new constituencies, and new methods of voting eg multimember constituencies, preferential voting, multiple choices etc. and this triggers objections, not least from MPs who would have to reapply to be adopted in the new constituencies. With DPR Voting this is not necessary. It is possible that MPs previously elected under FPTP could be re-elected under DPR Voting in their existing constituencies.
2 Wasted Votes
In a DPR Election each ‘Party’ vote in every constituency makes a difference to the result of the election. This addresses the issue of wasted votes. Not only are no votes wasted but every vote make a difference to the election result. It’s a small difference but mathematically, one extra vote changes the vote percentage of each party and this translates through into votes in the parliament. This might well have the effect of boosting voter turnout. If every vote makes a difference to the result, this provides an incentive to vote, at least for those who care about the result.
Another related consequence is that an election can no longer be decided by the voting in a few ‘marginal’ constituencies.
3 Safe Seats or better MPs
Separating the vote for the MP from the vote for the party has several implications. It means that the election of the individual MP is on personal merit, not party label. A consequence is that there are no ‘safe’ party seats. Lazy ineffective or dishonest candidates could not rely on the popularity of their party to ensure their election. Conversely, good candidates could still be elected when their party was unpopular. For this reason it also encourages independent and independent minded candidates, and makes the MP more directly responsive to his/her constituents. Similarly the central party organisation has less power over their MPs, and, for example, would be less likely to foist an unpopular candidate onto the local party organisation.
4 The makeup of the Parliament
DPR Voting results in a parliament of elected representatives. They are individuals elected for their personal characteristics to represent the interests of local people and make decisions in the Parliament, and as such they represent all their constituents, not just those who voted for them.
This parliament would not necessarily be a microcosm of British Society. Some want a parliament with a balance of politics, age, gender, ethnic origin, religion, sexual orientation etc to reflect society as a whole. DPR Voting can deliver this, but there is no bias in the system. Such political objectives have to be achieved by conventional political campaigning, and then it is up to the voter.
DPR Voting is a way of introducing proportionality to our multi party political system while retaining single member constituencies and much of the existing familiar electoral system.
Voting and counting is as simple, intuitive and quick as FPTP. Each MP is the local choice, elected on individual merit. It gets rid of safe seats and marginal constituencies. It encourages democratic participation because every vote makes a difference to the election result. As a replacement for FPTP, DPR Voting offers more advantages and fewer problems than any other system. The changeover of the electoral system from FPTP to DPR Voting would be easier than with any other form of PR.
DPR Voting would achieve greater equality for the voter, greater voter choice, and a form of proportional representation at minimum cost and with minimum disruption. It could be simply and powerfully presented to the electorate as a fairer electoral system for Westminster.
For more details about this go to www.dprvoting.org | <urn:uuid:35da33b8-a63d-4f3e-b812-f66615a02e57> | {
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Results Around the Web for Ruthe
Back to the Ruthe name page
Rutherford Birchard Hayes (October 4, 1822 – January 17, 1893) was the 19th President of the United States (1877–1881).
The English language exonyms Ruthenian, Ruthene or Rusyn (, Rusyny; , Rusyny/Rus'ki; , Rusyn: Русины, Rusyny) have been applied to various East Slavic peoples.
Ruthenium is a chemical element with symbol Ru and atomic number 44. It is a rare transition metal belonging to the platinum group of the periodic table.
In English, Ruthenia is a geographical exonym for a cross-border region of Eastern Europe. It can refer to significantly different and even mutually exclusive areas, dependent on the historical period and subject.
Rutherglen (,perhaps . The derivation may also however be Welsh, or Cumbric and mean "the valley of Rydderch". | <urn:uuid:f629a786-8513-47d2-a5dc-981768a93e87> | {
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Protection and Advocacy for Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PADD) The PADD program was created by the Developmental Disabilities Assistance and Bill of Rights (DD) Act of 1975. PADD was established to protect the legal and civil rights of individuals with developmental disabilities.
Protection and Advocacy for Individuals with Mental Illness (PAIMI) The PAIMI program was established by Congress in 1986 and receives funding from the National Center for Mental Health Services. The purpose of the PAIMI program is to protect and advocate for the rights of persons with mental illness and investigate reports of abuse and neglect.
Protection and Advocacy for Beneficiaries of Social Security (PABSS) The PABSS Program is a federally funded program authorized by the Ticket to Work and Work Incentive Improvement Act of 1999. The Act authorizes the Social Security Administration (SSA) to fund ADAP to provide work incentive assistance to SSDI and SSI beneficiaries seeking vocational rehabilitation, employment and other support services or seeking to secure or regain employment.
Protection and Advocacy for Individual Rights (PAIR) The PAIR program was established by Congress as a national program under the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1993. PAIR programs were established to protect and advocate for the legal and human rights of persons with disabilities who are not eligible to be served in the CAP, PAIMI, or PADD programs.
Traumatic Brain Injury Protection and Advocacy (PATBI) PATBI is a federally funded program authorized by the Traumatic Brain Injury Act of 1996 and its reauthorization as part of the Children's Health Act of 2000. The PATBI program ensures that individuals with TBI and their families have access to: information, referrals and advice; individual and family advocacy; legal representation; and specific assistance in self-advocacy.
Protection and Advocacy for Assistive Technology (PAAT) The PAAT program provides legal and non-legal advocacy services for individuals with disabilities who are denied access to assistive technology devices and/or assistive technology services.
Protection and Advocacy for Voter Accessibility (PAVA) The PAVA program ensures that every qualified person with a disability has the opportunity to vote. | <urn:uuid:d54a3682-f8f0-4612-a197-835f98ed67ef> | {
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Photo by afsart on Flickr.
This is part 4 in a series on the legislative history of the 1973 Home Rule Act. See previous parts on the act’s bipartisan support, nonpartisan elections, and the police chief.
While DC’s mayor appoints the District’s CFO, planning director, school chancellor, and despite some debate, the police chief, the mayor does not choose judges for DC’s courts. Instead, the President chooses among 3 nominees from a panel, and the Senate confirms them. However, the Home Rule Act almost gave this power to the mayor and council instead.
In states of the United States, there are 2 parallel court systems: state courts, which hear most cases, and then federal courts, which can only hear cases involving federal laws, including the US Constitution, or lawsuits between people from different states.
Each state government establishes its own state courts. Appeals from state courts go to higher state courts and up to a state supreme court (which has different names in various states).
Meanwhile, there are federal district courts in each state, whose appeals go up to circuit courts that span multiple states and up to the United States Supreme Court. If you’re on trial for robbery, or if you sue your neighbor for damaging your property, you’re almost certainly in state court; if it’s international smuggling or a patent case (since patents are a federal law and not state or local), you’re probably in federal court.
The DC Superior Court plays the equivalent role to a state court in the District’s judicial system. The court hears the same kinds of civil and criminal cases which go to state courts elsewhere. Appeals go to the DC Court of Appeals.
There’s also a separate federal court for DC, which only hears the same kinds of federal cases as other federal courts, as well as a lot of cases involving the federal government, and a DC Circuit at the appeals level. We’re not talking about the federal courts here at all, just the DC courts which play the same role as a state court.
States either have their governors appoint state court judges, or they elect the judges. In the District, however, the chief executive of DC does not appoint judges. Instead, as with many elements of the DC government, there is a federal-local hybrid process.
A Judicial Nominating Commission of local and federal appointees selects 3 candidates for a judicial vacancy. The President chooses among those candidates to pick a nominee, or can reject them all, in which case the JNC has to pick some more. The Senate then confirms (or doesn’t confirm) the nominee.
The authors of the Home Rule Act got the idea of the JNC from Missouri (p. 1732), which has a similar (but non-federal) commission they felt worked well there and would ensure well-qualified judges. (It seems, overall, to have worked pretty well at that.)
House Republicans changed the appointment from the Mayor to the President
The bill that passed the Senate in 1973, and the version that reached the floor of the House, gave the mayor the power to choose among the candidates from the JNC, and the DC Council the responsibility of confirming them. (1754-1755) On the floor, however, an amendment changed that.
Rep. William Harsha, Jr. (R-OH) proposed changing the original bill to give the President and the Senate the power over judges. (2364) He had the support of Attorney General Elliot Richardson, who would resign that year in the Watergate scandal.
Minority Leader Gerald Ford (R-MI, who would become Vice-President that year and President the following year) supported the amendment. He said,
It seems to me that each one of us from 435 districts each year has a tremendous number of our constituents coming to the Nation’s Capital. I believe that our constituents deserve the kind of judges that would be appointed by the President rather than the kind of judges appointed by a mayor. (2365)
On the other hand, Rep. Henry P. Smith III (R-NY) noted that “if one of [Mr. Ford’s] constituents comes to my home town and is apprehended there, he is tried by a judge elected by my home town people and not a judge elected by the people of the State of Michigan.” (2372)
The subject also came up during the prior Rules Committee meeting that some cities, like New York and Newark, have another municipal court, which handles some violations of city laws; there, mayors appoint the judges. (1765) Overall, though, in the many times it came up during committee deliberations, it seemed members of Congress variously thought of DC as equivalent to a state or as a city.
It acts like a state for many purposes, including judicial, but its chief executive is called a mayor, not a governor, and its legislature at the time bore the name City Council, though the Home Rule Act changed it to the less specific Council of the District of Columbia. A state chief executive appoints judges to state courts (when they’re not elected), but a city chief executive usually does not.
The Harsha amendment passed 228 to 186 with 20 not voting (2376).
Conference committee then switches the JNC
In the House version of the bill, while the Mayor originally held the power of appointment, members of the JNC were mostly federal: 2 chosen by the DC Bar Association, 2 by the Mayor, 1 by the Speaker of the House, 1 by the President of the Senate, and 3 by the President. That’s 5 federal, 2 local, and 2 from the bar, with the clear balance of power on the federal side.
During the debate on the Harsha amendment, Rep. Brock Adams (D-WA) explained that this was intentional: they made the commission mostly federal but put the appointment power in the local sphere.
Once the Harsha amendment passed, the conferees then went and switched around the JNC. They made it comprise 7 members: 2 from the DC Bar, 2 by the Mayor, 1 byt he DC Council, 1 by the Chief Judge of the US District Court for the District of Columbia (the lower federal court), and 1 by the President of the United States. Only 2 of these are federal. (3065-3066)
In other words, since the appointment power had shifted from local to federal, the members flipped the JNC from federal to local. That’s its composition to this day. Rep. Joel Broyhill, (R-VA), one of the main opponents of the Home Rule Act, denounced this change as he wanted to keep both the nomination and appointments powers federal, but the decision had been made and the bill passed with the system we have today. | <urn:uuid:799cbf6a-a050-4183-9b95-77caaa0d9a14> | {
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The phelonion (plural, phelonia) is a liturgical vestment worn by a priest over his other vestments. It was originally a sort of poncho, with a round hole in the middle for the head, and falling to the feet. In its present form, the front is largely cut away (from about the waist down) to facilitate the priest's movements. The use of the phelonion is not limited to the Divine Liturgy but is specified for any major liturgical function.
There are two main styles of phelonion. Byzantine or Greek phelonia are tailored to fit over the shoulders, while Russian phelonia have a high, stiffened collar that covers the back of the head. There is also a shortened phelonion that is worn by a reader at his tonsuring.
A bishop who wishes to serve a Divine Liturgy as a priest (i.e., without the special rites and prayers of the Hierarchical Divine Liturgy) will sometimes vest in a phelonion instead of his sakkos, but with the small omophorion around his neck. | <urn:uuid:cbc16e02-44f8-4ce0-8f68-8cdb137e217e> | {
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According to the new disability law, any college being planned must make provisions for the disabled. But the question is how many of them will comply.
It is a testimony to how far we are from realising the dream of smart cities that not even 1% of India’s 789 universities, 37,204 colleges and 11,443 stand-alone higher education institutions are disabled-friendly. This startling statistic was revealed by a forum for disabled students. Since 1995, when the government made it mandatory for educational institutions receiving aid from the State to reserve 4% seats for people with disability, there has been little improvement in the situation. Despite the enactment of the Right to Education Act in 2009, which promised free and compulsory primary education to every child in the country, less than 0.1% of India’s 2.68 crore people with disabilities are enrolled in schools. As they move from primary to secondary and higher education, the figure drops to a dismal .01%.
The dearth of infrastructure that facilitates access for the physically challenged — ramps, railings and accessible wash rooms – is just one of the reasons which prevent them from pursuing their studies. There is the absence of trained staff and alternative teaching aides. In order to compete with their peers, the partially sighted, for instance, need specialised books and material in Braille. Those are seldom provided. In the last decade, since the non-profit Samarthyam’s Centre for Accessible Environments began conducting access audits for educational institutions, co-founder Anjlee Agarwal doesn’t recall coming across even one college that can be termed disabled-friendly.
Despite the laws having acquired more teeth to deal with this issue, our planners and builders remain apathetic. The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Bill passed in 2016 sets the government a two-year deadline to ensure that those with disability get barrier-free access in infrastructure and transport systems. Additionally, it holds the private sector — builders and developers — accountable for creating an accessible environment. This, experts say, is a departure from the 1995 act which was largely toothless. The punitive action for non-compliance can be a five-year prison term. So, in accordance with National Building Code announced in 2016, any new school and college being planned has to be 100 per cent accessible.
Since building by-laws are a state subject, implementation across the country is uneven. The few exceptions to this appear to be government-led initiatives in Odisha, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. Still, putting up a ramp here and a disabled-friendly toilet there doesn’t really turn things around. One measure of a civilised society should be the sensitivity it displays towards the disabled. If a chunk of the 2.68 crore physically challenged people in the country cannot board a train, watch a movie or operate an ATM owing to lack of access, and if we make it difficult for many of them to attend college, all the talk of a demographic dividend amounts to little. | <urn:uuid:2d815089-672d-42ed-ba28-f0ba7fa6f66f> | {
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WASHINGTON, DC – Just over a hundred years ago, the United States led the world in terms of rethinking how big business worked – and when the power of such firms should be constrained. In retrospect, the breakthrough legislation – not just for the US, but also internationally – was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890.
The Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Bill, which is about to pass the US Senate, does something similar – and long overdue – for banking.
Prior to 1890, big business was widely regarded as more efficient and generally more modern than small business. Most people saw the consolidation of smaller firms into fewer, large firms as a stabilizing development that rewarded success and allowed for further productive investment. The creation of America as a major economic power, after all, was made possible by giant steel mills, integrated railway systems, and the mobilization of enormous energy reserves through such ventures as Standard Oil.
But ever-bigger business also had a profound social impact, and here the ledger entries were not all in the positive column. The people who ran big business were often unscrupulous, and in some cases used their dominant market position to drive out their competitors – enabling the surviving firms subsequently to restrict supply and raise prices.
There was dominance, to be sure, in the local and regional markets of mid-nineteenth-century America, but nothing like what developed in the 50 years that followed. Big business brought major productivity improvements, but it also increased the power of private companies to act in ways that were injurious to the broader marketplace – and to society.
The Sherman Act itself did not change this situation overnight, but, once President Theodore Roosevelt decided to take up the cause, it became a powerful tool that could be used to break up industrial and transportation monopolies. By doing so, Roosevelt and those who followed in his footsteps shifted the consensus.
Roosevelt’s first case, against Northern Securities in 1902, was immensely controversial. But the break-up, a decade later, of Standard Oil – perhaps the most powerful company in the history of the world to that date – was seen by mainstream opinion as completely reasonable. And the break-up of Standard Oil took place in great American style: the company was split into more than 30 pieces, the shareholders did very well, and the Rockefeller family went on to rehabilitate itself in the eyes of the American public.
Why are these antitrust tools not used against today’s megabanks, which have become so powerful that they can sway legislation and regulation massively in their favor, while also receiving generous taxpayer-financed bailouts as needed?
The answer is that the kind of power that big banks wield today is very different from what was imagined by the Sherman Act’s drafters – or by the people who shaped its application in the early years of the twentieth century. The banks do not have monopoly pricing power in the traditional sense, and their market share – at the national level – is lower than what would trigger an antitrust investigation in the non-financial sectors.
Effective size caps on banks were imposed by the banking reforms of the 1930’s, and there was an effort to maintain such restrictions in the Riegle-Neal Act of 1994. But all of these limitations fell by the wayside during the wholesale deregulation of the past 15 years.
Now, however, a new form of antitrust arrives – in the form of the Kanjorski Amendment, whose language was embedded in the Dodd-Frank bill. Once the bill becomes law, federal regulators will have the right and the responsibility to limit the scope of big banks and, as necessary, break them up when they pose a “grave risk” to financial stability.
This is not a theoretical possibility – such risks manifested themselves quite clearly in late 2008 and into early 2009. It remains uncertain, of course, whether the regulators would actually take such steps. But, as Representative Paul Kanjorski, the main force behind the provision, recently put it, “The key lesson of the last decade is that financial regulators must use their powers, rather than coddle industry interests.”
And Kanjorski probably is right that not much would be required. “If just one regulator uses these extraordinary powers [to break up too-big-to-fail banks] just once,” he says, “it will send a powerful message,” one that would “significantly reform how all financial services firms behave forever more.”
Regulators can do a great deal, but they need political direction from the highest level in order to make genuine progress. Teddy Roosevelt, of course, preferred to “Speak softly and carry a big stick.” The Kanjorski Amendment is a very big stick. Who will pick it up? | <urn:uuid:869bfdbc-b61d-4c96-ba16-efed1180cd49> | {
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Thermoplastic polymers such as polyester and polypropylene have one component in common; they rely on extruders at some stage of the process. Carded polyester and polypropylene fabric use bales of staple fiber for the raw material. Staple fiber is produced on spinning lines that use extruders to turn thermoplastic pellets into a melt which is extruded into fibers. Spunbond and meltblown lines use extruders on the line to make a melt which is laid down as a web or blown against a drum or conveyor.
An extruder consists of a long metal tube, called a barrel, usually 4 to 8 inches in diameter which contains a metal screw. It takes quite a bit of horsepower to turn the screw. A large motor drives a reducing gearbox which in turn drives the screw up about 120 rpm. Plastic pellets are fed into the entrance throat of the screw. The barrel is heated with electric heaters. Heat is also produced as the screw compresses the pellets, with the resulting heat and pressure causing the pellets to melt. All the parameters of temperature, pressure, screw speed, and feeding rate are very closely controlled to produce a consistent melt from the extruder.
Extruders often have a filter at the exit of the screw to prevent contamination from going into the spinnerets. Usually this filter works automatically to constantly remove contaminants. An extruder can be started and stopped when hot, but there is an extensive heating process that can take several hours when starting an extruder from a cold state. | <urn:uuid:46309d97-8060-4cde-9491-c98146ac10d3> | {
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CHEMICAL WASTES They Ruin the Earth and Poison Our Water!
Too few realize the tragedies just ahead if chemical wastes continue to be dumped into the earth. Even fewer realize the spiritual dimensions of the problem.
MOST of us do not live close to chemical waste dumps. But those wastes can poison us anyway. We still drink water. Half the American population takes its water supply from the ground. Yet groundwater is extremely vulnerable to pollution. Chemical wastes that seep into ground water supplies can pollute it for decades. Groundwater is far harder to cleanse than surface water. Once contaminated, it is not exposed to such factors as sunlight and motion, which clean surface water. Yet many chemical waste dumps are near, or even on top of, under-ground water supplies. Certainly chemical waste represents a terrible health hazard today. And it also represents something profound about the spiritual state of the world today.
Slimy, Toxic, Hazardous, and Deadly
The sludge dumped into chemical waste sites is some of the most deadly stuff ever manufactured. One chemical sometimes found at waste dumps is C-56. It is a by-product of making the insecticide Mirex. The chemical was once considered for use as nerve gas — but was rejected because it was too deadly! Another substance associated with chemical warfare, dioxin, has also been found at chemical dump sites. Still another chemical is acridine, found in the waste of synthetic fuel processes. When exposed to acridine, newborn crickets emerge with extra heads, eyes and antennae. And the list includes PCB, an incredibly toxic substance, which has been buried at various landfills and dump sites in quantities reaching about 300,000 tons. Some estimates are that 60,000 tons have already found their way into the water supply. The fumes alone of some of these waste chemicals are so deadly that dumpers themselves have been known to be overcome by their fumes when they discharge their cargo. Air samples near dump sites in Southern California turn up chemicals known to cause cancer, or damage the liver, lungs or nervous system. Chemical wastes also pack considerable explosive power. Sludge may be composed of a dozen substances — which together combine with unknown effects. As one state environmental official said speaking of the probability of a major explosion at a local dump, "if [that dump] ever goes up, I warn you to be nowhere near New York City, with all the unidentified chemicals in that mess. We just have no idea what might be the synergistic effect of the chemicals in the smoke that would spew out of there." In Elizabeth, New Jersey, when a chemical dump did catch fire and blow up, nearby residents came down with symptoms of chemical poisoning. And chemicals have been known to explode with little disturbance. A fisherman in the Gulf of Mexico was killed when a drum of waste that he hauled up in his net exploded. In West Virginia, the ground exploded when workers were digging near a manufacturing plant.
Each day, enough industrial waste is produced to fill the New Orleans Superdome from floor to ceiling, according to estimates based on Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) figures. Almost every type of manufacturer produces some kind of hazardous waste. Gasoline refining, plastics, batteries, tanning, even the clothing industries produce waste on an immense scale — 36 million tons annually. The chemical industry, as you would expect, produces the largest amount of toxic waste. The industry has enjoyed immense growth since World War II. Production and use of chemicals has increased 100 times during those years. New chemicals are produced at the rate of 1,000 a year. "We generate a... lot of [chemical waste] in this country, stuff we eventually have to put in the ground," notes a vice president of the Chemical Manufacturers' Association. Chemical dumps are altogether too likely to be on top of the local water supply or near populated areas. There are (no one knows for sure) somewhere between 50,000 and 100,000 industrial dump sites in the United States alone. This is in addition to another 40,000 sites used for sewage and solid wastes from cities and towns. For its part the EPA has listed close to 32,000 sites that could contain "hazardous" waste. The estimates are uncertain because past dumping practices have been so haphazard that no one can be sure just where all the toxic wastes are buried! Some recent disclosures of hazardous dump sites came about accidentally. In one case evidence came out during the course of a legal tangle unrelated to pollution. For decades the world has dumped chemicals so carelessly as to be, in one writer's phrase, "beyond belief." Many sites went for years with very little attention. Some of the sites have been covered over. "People can be living in a gorgeous, beautiful area and be totally unaware of the dangers underneath their feet," declares one EPA administrator. In the heady days after World War II, people believed in the slogan, "Better living through chemicals." Manufacturers did not realize at that time that they were dumping substances that could find their way into the local water supply, or combine with other elements to become hazardous. In some cases, in the words of one investigator, the companies "just pour[ed] 'em out on the ground. Glub, glub, glub." Today, for example, rivers and lakes in western Michigan are polluted from dumps created decades ago. An average of half a ton of toxic wastes has seeped into White Lake every day for years from an underground stream polluted by a dump site. Yet when the dump site was created, it was created in accord with the standard, legal practices of the day! The same is true for other sites across the United States. Of course, those practices today seem like the height of irresponsibility: workers would take 55-gallon drums, turn them on end, chop holes in them, fill them with the residue from insecticide making, put them on trucks, haul them to a dump and push them off. This slipshod process allowed some of the residues to spill on the ground. And, by not sealing the dump (with clay, for example), toxic wastes ate their way out of the sides of the drums, and then into the ground and water supply. But back in the 1940s and 1950s, the simple burial seemed good enough. Yet once waste is improperly buried, it sometimes becomes even more dangerous to disturb it! At least part of the tragedy at Love Canal, for example, stems from later construction in the waste disposal area, which allowed wastes to seep out of the canal itself (see accompanying story). In another instance, at a dump in Edison, New Jersey, a bulldozer driver hit a container of flammable chemicals. It exploded and the man died with hand still on the gearshift. In effect, the site itself may become a time bomb. Ten, even 30 years, later, disaster strikes. In Triana, Alabama, production of DDT was halted more than a decade ago. Yet 4,000 tons remain undumped on the bottom of a near-by stream. Residents of Triana today carry about 10 times the "normal" amount of DDT in their bodies. In New York, in the area around Bethpage and Farmingdale, dumped chromium from war factories during the 1940s now contaminates drinking water. Writes Jimmy Breslin, "Children are in danger of being poisoned by the same war that their grandfathers fought and won."
The Midnight Dumpers
While the legitimate dumping practices of chemical companies may have been less than desirable in years gone by, a far greater problem may be found by illegal, secret dumping in just any old dump site, even roadsides or near-by ponds! A New Jersey businessman, since convicted of illegal dumping, claims that 80 percent of waste is illegally dumped. Perhaps he was overestimating to make himself look less guilty. Even so, the EPA has said there is a virtual "army" of trucks that cruise country roads at night looking for places to dispose of unwanted waste. Often they dump their cargos into the nearest sewer, stream, lake, ditch or field. Part of the problem stems from the high cost of disposing of waste properly, which can be as much as $500 a barrel. Many businessmen faced with a choice between going out of business and laying off their workers, or illegal dumping, chose dumping. Moreover, in the words of one city attorney, "there's no way to police a dump." City dumps never intended to serve as chemical waste disposal sites become easy targets for the midnight dumpers. Even organized crime has seen the enormous amounts of money to be made in illegal dumping. Operating as supposedly legitimate disposal firms, organized crime charges high prices, supposedly to bury the waste properly, and then turns around and dumps the stuff on the nearest vacant lot, city dump or ditch beside a country road. "It's so easy to mix toxic wastes with ordinary garbage," one informer told a congressional committee. Probably the worst example of illegal dumping occurred in North Carolina. A Raleigh transformer company paid a midnight dumper to dump oil contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs). The dumper sprayed the oil along 210 miles of rural roads. One resident living near to those roads had a stillborn child and another child was born with massive heart defects. Physicians in the area reportedly have noticed an upsurge in birth defects in the year after the spraying. Roadside dumping would seem to be a common practice among illegal dumpers. Chemical wastes have even been dumped along the New Jersey Turnpike.
Much of the chemical dumping practiced over the past four decades was probably legal. ("Probably," because lawyers can argue forever about these things) Yet as of 1979, only a mere 10 percent of hazardous wastes was treated in ways that would be legal under laws that went into effect in 1980. The 1980 laws require an impermeable barrier between waste and groundwater. They require monitoring of the dump site, as well as fencing of the site. They require a system for capturing escaping discharges. Violators face $25,000-a-day fine and jail sentences. Yet the laws exempt the toxic wastes of small businesses, such as dry cleaners and gasoline stations, and there are few licensed waste-disposal sites available. Moreover, in an ironic twist, the new laws may have prompted an increase in illegal, on-land dumping, as producers of waste hurried to beat the deadline by dumping waste secretly. Thus there is serious question about the possibility, much less the practicality, of proper waste disposal. Theoretically, as one state government wanted one manufacturer to do, you could dig out everything already in a dump, plus the surrounding contaminated soil, install 10-foot clay vaults on the site, and then put back the waste (most of it in barrels) and soil. Obviously this would be incredibly expensive, and only the largest and most visible manufacturers would have the money to do it. High temperature incineration is another way to dispose of waste, a method that some of the larger companies have used for 40 years. Preferably this is done in ships out in the middle of the ocean. This incineration itself results in air pollution! But there are those who believe that there is no satisfactory answer to waste dumping. An EPA official, Gary N. Dietrich, has said: "There's no completely safe land disposal. Anytime you put hazardous waste on the ground, it will eventually leak into drinking water." At any rate, the future expense of careful chemical waste dumping will entail dreadful cost, be it in higher prices, lost jobs, fallen production or a "poorer" economy.
Whenever we escape from labor, whether it be in plastic products, fossil fuels for cars or modern power to run refrigerators, limitations pop up in a new form: hazardous waste, air pollution or dangerous radiation. Wisdom to solve our problems has escaped the ingenuity of man.
Man Apart from God
Chemical waste dumping confronts this world with hard choices. People want plastics, synthetic materials, and insecticide-protected food. Were the various chemical and manufacturing companies that produce waste to stop producing the stuff tomorrow, we would all be immensely poorer. Asbestos, for example, is deadly stuff. It is highly cancer-causing. Yet it is the only effective material for brake linings. Shall we do without cars? Most of us could not without losing our homes or our jobs or both. DDT also causes cancer. Yet its use has saved millions of people from malaria. If all American farms were to stop using pesticides, herbicides and fungicides tomorrow, food output would be cut in half. Countless millions who depend on U.S. food exports would face famine. Any semblance of civilized life for millions of people depends on an industrial base that produces horrendous, toxic wastes. Why is it that, in this world, material abundance seems to create horrible pollution? Why can't we have cars and chemical goods without smog and toxic waste? Why are efforts to clean up pollution so costly — often causing either workers to lose their jobs or the price of products to skyrocket? We have, probably, overlooked how these human troubles began. When the first man, Adam, chose to eat of the forbidden tree in the garden of Eden thereby signifying his desire to live apart from God, humankind cut itself off from the ultimate source of true knowledge and also, consequently, came under certain physical limits. After Adam's sin every advance that mankind has made, it seems, is paid for in some kind of hardship. Chemicals make life easier — but they also threaten life itself. Since Adam's sin, every good thing exacts a high cost. Whenever we escape from labor, whether it be in plastic products, fossil fuels for our cars or modern power to run our refrigerators, limitations pop up in a new form: hazardous waste, air pollution or dangerous radiation. Wisdom to solve our problems has escaped the ingenuity of man.
Where There Is No Vision the Water Is Polluted
The Bible sets forth ecological laws for life in this world today. The basic principle of properly disposing of organic waste is found in Deuteronomy 23:12-13, a reference to the disposal of human waste. The principle, of course, is isolation of wastes from human contact. Thus, in extending the principle, it condemns open pit, roadside dumping or dumping into rivers, lakes or wells. Another basic ecological principle is that "without vision, the people perish" (Prov. 29:18). The idea is that you should try to foresee the long-range effects of your own actions. Putting acidic sludge into a barrel and sealing it may not be a good idea if, years down the road, the sludge eats through the barrel and finds its way into the ground and water system. But notice — because man has had limits set on him, he may be unable to know, today, that other-wise proper disposal methods won't work. It may be years, for example, before he knows that the barrel will leak! Compounding the problem is mankind's basically selfish human nature. People don't dump their garbage into their own swimming pools. Yet they have been known, in the classic instance, to dump their garbage over their neighbor's fence. There is no immediate tragedy when a chemical company buys its own land and properly uses it as a dump. The tragedy comes when the dump leaks and pollutes the air that someone else breathes or the water that someone else drinks. To use a common example, why is it that most private yards are much cleaner than most public parks? It is human nature to "look after one's own things," and not the things of others (see Phillipians 2:4). It is all too human to be self-oriented; to be unconcerned for the other person. When property is held in common, it is human nature to let it deteriorate. No one feels responsible for it because 'no one feels he really owns it. Ranchers often over-graze public lands, keeping their own land lush. In West Africa the absence of private property rights led to overgrazing, which in turn was one of the reasons for the eventual denuding of vegetation that led to famine. When human government is the owner of land, it may be better managed than if no one owns it, yet the lack of feeling of personal long-term responsibility for that land still may lead to bad management. Political pressures may force decisions whose long-term effects for the land are harmful. For example, one of the recent administrations in Washington, trying to cut the costs of housing (and who can quibble with that objective?) stepped up lumbering in national forests. It may or may not have been a wise decision: the point is that it was a political decision. And yet the same factors that may make human governments inadequate managers of land can apply to private corporations. The whole idea of a corporation is limited liability. The owners aren't on the hook for any more than they invested in the first place. Like governments, there isn't the element of personal responsibility in land management. While some antipollution laws do indeed personally penalize individual corporation executives who cause pollution usually only the corporation itself suffers when it is caught polluting. The executives may lose their jobs if the corporation goes bankrupt, but their personal assets aren't touched. And yet in this world, who would undertake to make plastic or any of the hundreds of goods that make life easier (or at least more convenient) without the benefit of some limitations on his liability? And if the key to curbing pollution in this world is individual private responsibility and ownership, the problem of limits makes itself felt in this area as well. How can courts enforce property rights in air? If you live in Canada, for example, the 'acid rain that falls on your property and gradually pollutes it may have come from a factory hundreds of miles away in the United States! The good news of the Kingdom of God, which we announce in The Plain Truth, is that the nature of the world and man's own "human nature" will be changed after Christ returns to this earth to set up His government. Even the nature of animals will be changed! Poisonous animals and those with violent natures will be transformed by God into nonpoisonous and non-violent creatures (Isa. 11:6-9). It will also be a time of "restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21), when the "groanings" that afflict the natural creation (Rom. 8:22) will cease. While the Bible doesn't explicitly say so, the time of God's Kingdom will probably be an era when the very nature of certain physical processes will be transformed by new and surprising knowledge. Abundance can be possible without terrible, toxic, deadly wastes that threaten birth defects and cancer. But man will have to begin to live in contact with God and in harmony with God's law. If there is no really satisfactory solution for this world, there is one promised for the World Tomorrow.
Stony Hearts and Love Canal
The story of Love Canal, New York, is an interesting example of how human nature works to create an environmental tragedy. An Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) study has turned up an abnormally high incidence of serious genetic damage among a sample of area residents. The miscarriage rate among women almost tripled from what it was before they moved in. And informal surveys by area residents show an incredibly high rate of abnormal pregnancies by women who gave birth in recent years. In the late 1800s, entrepreneur William Love began the project of digging a hydroelectric canal in the Niagara Falls area. The project was later abandoned, but not before a 3,200-foot section had been dug. It was in this section that the Hooker Chemical Company, as well as the U.S. Army, dumped thousands of 55-gallon drums containing toxic wastes beginning in World War II. Hooker claims that soil in the area — impermeable clay — made the canal a wise choice for a dump site. In 1953, Hooker sold the property to the local school board for $1. There is some dispute over whether, before the sale, Hooker covered the dump with clay or just a combination of fly ash and dirt. There is also some mystery as to why Hooker sold out so cheaply. Eric Zuesse, writing an article basically favorable to Hooker in Reason magazine, February, 1981, speculates that the company's decision to deed over the property instead of letting it be taken by threat of condemnation by the school board was an act of concern for future owners. By deeding over the property, the company was able to put a warning in the deed itself of the risk of the toxic waste dumped on the property, as well as try to absolve itself of responsibility for the site. The deed states that the buyer "assumes all risk and liability incident to the use" of the property. It also recites that the buyer (school board) has been "advised" that the site was used for chemical dumping. In any case, the local school board took over the property in 1953. Mr. Zuesse points out that on several occasions since 1953 there was construction in the dump area that disturbed the waste, possibly causing it to escape. In 1953 and 1954, dirt was removed from the canal to be used as fill at a school construction site elsewhere. In 1957, city workers installed a sewer through the canal, puncturing the walls and clay cover. (Whether chemicals were buried at that exact location is not revealed) In 1960, the school board gave part of the canal to the city and the rest was sold to a private person in 1962, who was unable to develop the property because he could not get a building permit. In 1968, the canal was again disturbed, this time to build an expressway and work on a street adjacent to the property. The point of these facts is not to fix blame (the courts will have plenty of time for that) but to point out that the responsibility for the care and good management of the Love Canal dump site was just too fuzzy. Just as communal kitchens often become dirty messes because its users figure someone else will clean up after them, no individual or group of individuals felt personally responsible for the good care of the dangerous, toxic dump at Love Canal. Was Hooker's warning on the deed good enough to absolve it of responsibility? How much exactly did the school board know about the dump? These questions are all grist for the legal mill. What they do show is that everyone assumed responsibility for the dump site was someone else's job. In this world, in which man has turned his back on his Maker, personal legal responsibility works as a substitute for genuine love. The legal system assumes people will act out of fear of a policeman coming and putting them in jail or taking away their property, but not necessarily because of a genuine concern for others as human beings. In this world, it takes ownership to create a measure of responsibility. In a better world soon to come, love would do the same — only better. Instead of endless court fights trying to pin the blame on some hapless party, all parties concerned would have tried to do right by their fellow man from the beginning. In the World Tomorrow, people's hearts will be changed. In that future world, God told the prophet Jeremiah, "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts" (Jer. 31:33). In a similar message given to the prophet Ezekiel, God said, "I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you..." (Ez. 36:26-27). Such a world will not need legions of property lawyers and judges to straighten out what would never have been allowed to happen in the first place. | <urn:uuid:ed0ce556-c6f4-485a-91c4-c8e5b603d61a> | {
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We are sorry to announce that there will not be a summer science camp this summer, 2010. Please check back with us january 2011.
Do your children enjoy:
- Making discoveries?
- Working together in small teams?
- Exploring through hands-on activities?
- Interacting with scientists?
- Solving mysteries?
If so, then they will treasure an experience at our summer science workshops. Our workshops are designed to promote a better understanding of science and its impact on everyday life and health. Located in the Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, children will explore science in fun and empowering ways in a real laboratory.
Using state-of-the-art techniques and tools, children will experience the discovery process that scientists employ in the real world under the safe supervision of practicing researchers and educators.
Fun with Science 5TH-6th grade
Workshops will run Monday through Friday, from 9 am to 3 pm, and will conclude with Parent Participation Day when children become the teachers and explain the week's activities to their parents. Upon completion, children will receive certificates of achievement. Click here for a registration form (.pdf) or call the Weis Center for Research at 570-271-6659. Each workshop is limited to 20 children and acceptance is based on receipt of a fully completed registration form with check for $75. This nominal fee will cover the cost of a T-shirt and lab notebook. Parents are responsible for transporting children to and from the Weis Center for Research, Danville, PA, and providing children with a packed lunch.
Fun with DNA 6th-8th grade
Learn what makes you You! Trace your features back to the genetic material that formed your blueprint. Construct a DNA model and learn what makes humans both similar and unique.
Manipulate DNA as you participate in mock genetic engineering experiments. Observe genetic mutations in zebrafish and learn how they can be caused by changes in the environment. Specifically designed for this age group, this workshop will encourage critical and creative thinking, increase genetic literacy, and spark interest in the field of biotechnology. | <urn:uuid:869bf88c-2b28-43bb-bbf8-e880a4d480fe> | {
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And God is pure; there is no sin in Him. He is Holy.
But human beings are full of shameful sinfulness. When God first made the world, there was no sin. Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, were created pure and clean—sinless. God walked with Adam in the Garden of Eden. Adam could look at God's face and enjoy being with Him everyday.
But then, Adam and Eve did a terrible thing; they disobeyed God. So did their children after they were born. You and I are Adam and Eve's great, great, great, great, great, great, great… grandchildren, and we are full of sin, too.
Sin is the cause of all the bad troubles and suffering in our world.
Sin is a terrible, terrible thing. Because of our sins we are separated from God. He is clean and pure and Holy; human beings are polluted and stained with sin. | <urn:uuid:fc0c39a5-fd91-4d4d-b115-d537063d014d> | {
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Thailand is an Asian nation located east of Myanmar (Burma) and north of Malaysia. The majority of Thailand is tropical and humid throughout the year. However, Thailand generally experiences two distinct climate zones: the area north of Bangkok typically has three seasons, and the southern peninsular region typically has two. Tourists in Thailand should be prepared for hot, humid weather on average.
North of Bangkok, Thailand experiences three seasons. The dry season is divided into two periods: November to February, when the weather is mostly dry with cool monsoon breezes, and March to May, when northern Thailand experiences somewhat higher relative temperatures. From May to November, the area is susceptible to effects from the southwest monsoons, and rainfall is generally at its peak during this time, especially in September. Yearly rain accumulation in this region is about 55 inches per year.
During the cooler part of dry season, Bangkok is usually a comfortable 65 degrees Fahrenheit. During the hotter part of dry season, averages climb to about 93 degrees. It is not unusual for highs during this season to reach 105 degrees, however. During monsoon season, temperatures dip back to an average of 84 degrees Fahrenheit, but the increase in humidity brings little relief with the 10-degree drop.
South of Bangkok, especially along the peninsular region near Phuket, Thailand experiences just two distinct seasons. Although the Thai peninsula is narrow—only 15 miles across in some areas—these seasons occur at different times from the east to west. On the west coast, monsoon rains begin in April and last through October; on the east coast, the heaviest rainfalls occurs from September to December. Annual precipitation is approximately 95 inches.
Temperatures in Phuket are fairly consistent throughout the year, averaging about 83 degrees Fahrenheit. Unlike the north, however, the southern region of Thailand does not receive the cool monsoon breezes during the dry season, resulting in a climate that generally always feels hot and humid.
Peak Tourism Season
Depending on your itinerary, the best time to visit Thailand is between November and February, when cooler temperatures and a drop in humidity result in a climate favorable to touring Thailand's cultural sites. Prepare for occasional cool weather during this time because early morning and late evening temperatures can drop to the mid-40s. In the mountains, higher altitudes allow for even lower temperatures at morning and night, and freezing temperatures, although rare, are not unheard of.
April is Thailand's midsummer (hottest) month, both in the north and south of the country. If you are touring Thailand primarily for its beaches, you may be able to get better hotel rates because the temperature spikes above 100 degrees tend to deter most visitors. Remember sunscreen at this time, avoid the sun from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. if possible, and cool off frequently in the ocean to prevent discomfort.
According to the Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory, Thailand is situated in the North Indian basin, one of seven tropical cyclon basins in which storms occur on a regular basis. In December 2004, a massive tsunami devastated the region, including much of Thailand, resulting in heavy infrastructure damage, loss of life and environmental destruction. Although storms of this magnitude are uncommon, travelers visiting Thailand during monsoon season should be prepared for storms and purchase traveler's insurance if possible. Earthquakes, which can cause tsunamis along Thailand's extensive coast line, may also occur in Thailand.
Thailand's tropical climate increases the risk of exposure to certain tropical diseases. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that all travelers receive immunizations against typhoid, which is typically spread through water and food, especially if you plan to visit smaller cities, villages or rural areas. Japanese encephalitis may also be a risk if you are visiting rural farming areas.
Malaria is a problem in certain areas of Thailand, especially high-humidity areas in which mosquitoes can easily breed. Visitors with itineraries in rural, forested areas that border Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar (Burma) should take special precaution. Very few cases of malaria exposure have been reported in Phang Nga and Phuket.
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Collections of diverse objects such as books, coins, vintage cars, boats and farm machinery provide a link with our past. The preservation of such collections is an important part our Museums and Archive work.
The Heritage Council provides policy advice to Government and cultural institutions in relation to museums, archives and collections housing 'heritage objects', defined by the Heritage Act, 1995 [PDF 96KB] as objects over 25 years old which are works of art or of industry (including books, documents and other records, including genealogical records) of cultural importance. We promote the collection, preservation, management, interpretation, presentation and development of Ireland's cultural and material heritage, and seek to strengthen provisions for such material heritage through the development of strategies supporting museum, archive and conservation practices.
Museums Standards Programme for Ireland This important initiative, with participants from a wide range of Irish collecting institutions, sets out to raise standards of care across Irish museums and galleries.
The Declaration is an important step in improving understanding and awareness of archives among the general public and key decision-makers. It is a powerful, succinct statement of the relevance of archives in modern society. | <urn:uuid:5efa05ab-3340-4e0a-9a6f-85b134504853> | {
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Six-to nine-day-old embryos collected either surgically or nonsurgically from superovulated donor cows were transferred transcervically to recipient cows. Polyethylene tubes and plastic insemination pipettes were used to transfer the embryos. When embryos were transferred under controlled conditions (laboratory transfer) to 12 recipients, 10 (83.3 per cent) and eight (66.7 per cent) were tested pregnant at 45 and 90 days after transfer respectively. When transfers were made to 12 recipients under field conditions (paddock transfer), nine (75 per cent) and five (41.7 per cent) were tested pregnant at 45 and 90 days after transfer respectively. The difference in pregnancy rates between laboratory and paddock transfers was not statistically significant.
Statistics from Altmetric.com
If you wish to reuse any or all of this article please use the link below which will take you to the Copyright Clearance Center’s RightsLink service. You will be able to get a quick price and instant permission to reuse the content in many different ways. | <urn:uuid:23042fb4-9e31-425b-a0db-ce673f7d37b5> | {
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حوادث منفی زندگی، تنظیم احساسات شناختی و مشکلات عاطفی
|کد مقاله||سال انتشار||مقاله انگلیسی||ترجمه فارسی||تعداد کلمات|
|34870||2001||17 صفحه PDF||سفارش دهید||محاسبه نشده|
Publisher : Elsevier - Science Direct (الزویر - ساینس دایرکت)
Journal : Personality and Individual Differences, Volume 30, Issue 8, June 2001, Pages 1311–1327
A new questionnaire, named the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire, has been constructed, measuring nine cognitive coping strategies people tend to use after having experienced negative life events. A test–retest design was used to study the psychometric properties and relationships with measures of depression and anxiety among 547 high school youngsters. Principal component analyses supported the allocation of items to subscales, while alphas of most subscales exceeded 0.80. Cognitive coping strategies were found to play an important role in the relationship between the experience of negative life events and the reporting of symptoms of depression and anxiety. The results suggest that cognitive coping strategies may be a valuable context of prevention and intervention
Emotion regulation is assumed to be an important factor in determining well being and/or successful functioning (Cicchetti et al., 1995 and Thompson, 1991). The general concept of emotion regulation can be understood as “all the extrinsic and intrinsic processes responsible for monitoring, evaluating and modifying emotional reactions, especially their intensive and temporal features, to accomplish one's goals” (Thompson, 1994, p. 27). According to this definition, the concept of emotion regulation is a very broad conceptual rubric encompassing many regulatory processes, such as the regulation of emotions by oneself versus the regulation of emotions by others and the regulation of the emotion itself versus the regulation of its underlying features (Thompson & Calkins, 1996). Emotion regulation, therefore, can refer to a wide range of biological, social, behavioral as well as conscious and unconscious cognitive processes. For example, in a physiological way, emotions are self-regulated by a rapid pulse, increased breathing rate (or shortness of breath), perspiration or other concomitants of emotional arousal. In a social way, emotions are regulated by seeking access to one's interpersonal and material support resources, while in a behavioral way emotions are regulated through a variety of behavioral (coping) responses. Shouting, screaming, crying or withdrawing are examples of behaviors displayed to manage the emotions arisen in response to a stressor. Finally, emotions can also be managed by a range of unconscious cognitive processes, such as selective attention processes, memory distortions, denial, or projection or by more conscious cognitive (coping) processes, such as blaming oneself, blaming others, ruminating or catastrophizing. Although the concept is very useful as a theoretical description or explanation of the emotion system, the total process of emotion regulation is too complex and too broad to enable us to empirically focus on all aspects, mechanisms and processes at once. In this article we will restrict ourselves to the self-regulatory, conscious, cognitive components of emotion regulation. Although not many studies have explicitly been addressed to this aspect of emotion regulation, conscious cognitive components of emotion regulation have generated some interest in the form of research activities focused on coping strategies. Remarkably, however, cross-referencing between studies on emotion regulation and studies on coping, is scarce. | <urn:uuid:2b19e806-e34f-4966-9311-b974927d96d5> | {
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In America we fight about education. One of the key struggles today is centered on whether we should retool the college years so that we get students to be “job ready” and tracked into some specific task needed in the economy now. This retooled version of instrumentalism is diametrically opposed to our great tradition of liberal education that envisions learning as a vehicle for social mobility and effective citizenship. This tradition stretches back to the foundation of the country. “Wherever a general knowledge and sensibility have prevailed among the people,“ John Adams wrote, “arbitrary government and every kind of oppression have lessened and disappeared in proportion.”
But alongside commitment to education, there have always been suspicions about what really went on in colleges. As I show in Beyond the University: Why Liberal Education Matters, from Benjamin Franklin to today’s Internet pundits, critics of higher education have attacked its irrelevance and elitism—often calling for more useful, more vocational instruction. Franklin skewered learning that took pride in its freedom from labor (in its uselessness) as just a mask for snobbism—learning “to exit a drawing room properly.” Contemporary commentators question whether young people learn anything useful in their “four year party” that culminates (occasionally) with a diploma. Education, from this perspective, is a luxury bought with a loan.
But in his day Franklin went on to propose a compelling version of a broad education that was useful without being narrowly instrumental. And Thomas Jefferson thought that nurturing a student’s capacity for life-long learning within a university structure was necessary for science and commerce while also being essential for democracy. Neither believed a university should merely train young people for jobs that old folks had already picked out for them—but neither thought that college should be merely academic.
“Through ‘disruptive innovation,’ we are told, educational institutions can be ‘disintermediated’— like middlemen cut out of a market transaction.”
Over the past several years, however, we have seen a new sort of criticism directed at the academy. These critics no longer claim to be in search of “true liberal learning,” but instead call for an education that simply equips people to play an appropriate role in the economy. Economists wanting to limit access to education question whether it’s worth it for mail carriers to have spent time and money learning about the world and themselves when they could have been saving for a house. Sociologists wonder whether increased access to college creates inappropriate expectations for a work force that will not regularly be asked to tap into independent judgment and critical thinking. And then there’s the cost of a liberal education, its so-called disconnect from the real world, its political correctness. Columnists write that we must make it more relevant, while politicians growl about making it more efficient. Through “disruptive innovation,” we are told, educational institutions can be “disintermediated”— like middlemen cut out of a market transaction.
Many today are calling for us to create a much more vocational style of teaching. They claim that in today’s economy we should track students earlier into specific fields for which they seem to have aptitude. This is exactly the opposite of the American tradition of liberal education. From the revolutionary war through contemporary debates about the worth of college, American thinkers have emphasized the ways that broad, pragmatic learning enhances the capacities of the whole person, allowing individuals greater freedom and an expanded range of possible choices. Liberal education in this tradition means learning to learn, creating habits of independent critical and creative thinking that would last a lifetime.
The effort today to limit higher education to only a certain class of students or to constrict the college curriculum to a neat, instrumental itinerary is a critical mistake, one that neglects this deep current of humanistic learning. Under the guise of practicality, this is old-fashioned, elitist condescension combined with a desire to protect the status quo of inequality.
Since the founding of this country, education has been closely tied to individual freedom, and to the ability to think for oneself and to contribute to society by unleashing one’s creative potential. The pace of change has never been faster, and the ability to shape change and seek opportunity has never been more valuable than it is today. If we want to push back against inequality and enhance the vitality of our culture and economy, we need to support greater access to a broad, pragmatic liberal education. | <urn:uuid:5750cbfc-4d12-48eb-b7d7-46586eab363f> | {
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Let me try yet one more type of explanation, which I will confine to the PN junction diode (covers virtually all diodes used in modern circuits).
The diode consists of a p-doped region (p-type) slapped up against an n-doped region (n-type). In the p-type, the electron (e-) flow is largely accomplished by electrons moving from hole to hole. This is, electrically, exactly analogous (and is often visualized) as holes moving in a direction opposite to e- flow (although there is no physical movement of postivie charge) In the n-type, there are loosely bound e- which can be donated (moved).
At the PN junction of the diode, loosely bound e- in the n-type fall into the holes of the adjacent p-type. What you then have is an abundance of e- in a thin layer of the p-type layer at the junction, and a depletion of them (creating a net positive charge) in a thin layer of the n-type. This sets up a voltage field of positive in the n-type relative to negative in the p-type. This pushes any free e- in the n-type further away from the junction. The result is a thin PN layer which has no free holes and no free e-. The layer becomes an insulator.
Now, if you apply a positive voltage to the p-type and a negative at the n-type, e- in the p-type are removed, making free holes. Simultaneously, the positive voltage is conteracting the reverse voltage which had been set up in the PN junction, and e- in the n-type are force closer to the p-type, where they can cross over and fill up the new holes. Current flows.
If, however, you apply positive voltage to the n-type, and negative to the p-type ("reverse-biasing" the diode) you simply reinforce the voltage gradient which was already naturally set up in the PN junction. The e- are forced even farther away from the PN junction, and the insulative boundary (depletion region) thickens. No current flows.
To get more in-depth than that might take a good portion of a graduate course in materials science. I hope what I have written suffices. | <urn:uuid:c2e34422-74bb-4433-9161-d9184f248c1b> | {
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This website is a digital collection of texts from the Parthian empire, one of the biggest and longest-lasting empires of antiquity. Under the kings of the Arsacid dynasty (c. 247 BCE to 224 CE), the Parthians ruled a kingdom that stretched from central Asia in the east to the Euphrates river in the west. Their history is a crucial part of the legacy of ancient Iran, though in many respects it is still poorly understood.
Some of the texts here are in ancient Greek. Others are in Parthian, an Iranian language that outlasted the Arsacid empire and remained in use even after the overthrow of the dynasty. Coming soon are a few inscriptions in Latin composed by Parthians living in the territory of the Roman empire.
At the moment this site is a work in progress, with content being added on a regular basis.
This site is authored and maintained by Jake Nabel, a PhD student in the Department of Classics at Cornell University. His research focuses on Parthia’s relationship with Rome, its imperial peer (and sometimes rival) to the west. | <urn:uuid:99215298-927d-4541-b704-638b625d6840> | {
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1. The residue that remains when something is burned.
4. Of or relating to a pointed conical tooth.
10. A syndrome that occurs in many women from 2 to 14 days before the onset of menstruation.
13. Perennial herb of East India to Polynesia and Australia cultivated for its large edible root yielding Otaheite arrowroot starch.
14. (of reproduction) Not involving the fusion of male and female gametes reproduction".
15. A unit of length of thread or yarn.
16. A condition (mostly in boys) characterized by behavioral and learning disorders.
17. A thin tapered rod used by a conductor to direct an orchestra.
19. The seventh month of the Moslem calendar.
21. Filled with the emotional impact of overwhelming surprise or shock.
23. Submerged aquatic plant having narrow leaves and small flowers.
25. Squash bugs.
26. Viscera and trimmings of a butchered animal often considered inedible by humans.
29. Large burrowing rodent of South and Central America.
31. The sacred city of Lamaism.
33. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.
37. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.
38. A port city in southwestern Turkey on the Gulf of Antalya.
39. Conforming to truth.
41. The syllable naming the fourth (subdominant) note of the diatonic scale in solmization.
42. (Zoroastrianism) Title for benevolent deities.
43. Cubes of meat marinated and cooked on a skewer usually with vegetables.
46. Molten rock in the earth's crust.
48. An Arabic speaking person who lives in Arabia or North Africa.
50. Any of numerous local fertility and nature deities worshipped by ancient Semitic peoples.
54. A luminance unit equal to 1 candle per square meter measured perpendicular to the rays from the source.
59. A benevolent aspect of Devi.
60. (informal) Of the highest quality.
61. A city is east central Sweden north northwest of Stockholm.
62. A recurring sleep state during which dreaming occurs.
63. An interest followed with exaggerated zeal.
64. Capital and largest city of Iraq.
65. (Irish) Mother of the ancient Irish gods.
1. South American armadillo with three bands of bony plates.
2. Large genus of tropical subshrubs or herbs some of which yield fibers of mucilaginous substances.
3. A pilgrimage to Mecca.
4. An esoteric or occult matter that is traditionally secret.
5. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
6. Italian chemist noted for work on polymers (1903-1979).
7. The United Nations agency concerned with international maritime activities.
8. (Babylonian) A goddess of the watery deep and daughter of Ea.
9. An international organization of European countries formed after World War II to reduce trade barriers and increase cooperation among its members.
10. A public square with room for pedestrians.
11. In some classifications.
12. The main city of ancient Phoenicia.
18. (Irish) Mother of the Tuatha De Danann.
20. Type genus of the Anatidae.
22. Covered with paving material.
24. A person forced to flee from home or country.
27. The federal agency that insures residential mortgages.
28. At a great distance in time or space or degree.
30. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.
32. Mild yellow Dutch cheese made in balls.
34. An acute febrile highly contagious viral disease.
35. Relating to or characteristic of or occurring in the air.
36. The cry made by sheep.
39. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).
40. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.
44. Any plant of the genus Erica.
45. Held back.
47. Having the leading position or higher score in a contest.
48. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.
49. Type genus of the Nepidae.
50. A hard gray lustrous metallic element that is highly corrosion-resistant.
51. A sensation (as of a cold breeze or bright light) that precedes the onset of certain disorders such as a migraine attack or epileptic seizure.
52. A primeval personification of air and breath.
53. A Tibetan or Mongolian priest of Lamaism.
55. Give a nickname to.
56. White crystalline compound used as a food additive to enhance flavor.
57. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.
58. A coenzyme derived from the B vitamin nicotinic acid. | <urn:uuid:c705950f-45e3-471e-b1b1-ce7cdd7b3fe9> | {
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This resource is no longer available
Building a Highly Reliable SAN
System reliability is a vital component in Storage Area Network (SAN) design that keeps your production environment operating and avoids data loss and downtime. But since SANs are built using both mechanical and electronic parts, component failures due to usage, environmental factors, or manufacturing defects are not uncommon. Even in completely redundant systems, controllers can fail, fans can stop operating, power supplies can burn out, and disk drives can degrade or fail.
To eliminate downtime, IT managers should focus on total system design and how components work together to deliver reliability. A common mistake is to evaluate individual component reliability alone - you can "miss the forest for the trees" and significantly increase expenses with no improvement in overall system reliability.
- Dell, Inc.
- 25 Mar 2009
- 01 Dec 2008
- 2 Page(s)
- Technical Article | <urn:uuid:1178d241-0955-4954-b904-49bc04179ddf> | {
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Provided by: xymon_4.3.0~beta2.dfsg-9.1_i386
bb-services - Configuration of TCP network services
bb-services contains definitions of how bbtest-net(1) should test a
TCP-based network service (i.e. all common network services except HTTP
and DNS). For each service, a simple dialogue can be defined to check
that the service is functioning normally, and optional flags determine
if the service has e.g. a banner or requires SSL- or telnet-style
handshaking to be tested.
bb-services is a text file. A simple service definition for the SMTP
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This defines a service called "smtp". When the connection is first
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service. It will then expect a response beginning with "220". Any data
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included in the status message.
The full set of commands available for the bb-services file are:
[NAME] Define the name of the TCP service, which will also be the
column-name in the resulting display on the test status. If
multiple tests share a common definition (e.g. ssh, ssh1 and
ssh2 are tested identically), you may list these in a single
"[ssh|ssh1|ssh2]" definition, separating each service-name with
Defines the strings to send to the service after a connection is
established, and the response that is expected. Either of these
may be omitted, in which case bbtest-net(1) will simply not send
any data, or match a response against anything.
The send- and expect-strings use standard escaping for non-
printable characters. "\r" represents a carriage-return (ASCII
13), "\n" represents a line-feed (ASCII 10), "\t" represents a
TAB (ASCII 8). Binary data is input as "\xNN" with NN being the
hexadecimal value of the byte.
Define the default TCP port-number for this service. If no
portnumber is defined, bbtest-net(1) will attempt to lookup the
portnumber in the standard /etc/services file.
Defines test options. The possible options are
banner - include received data in the status message
ssl - service uses SSL so perform an SSL handshake
telnet - service is telnet, so exchange telnet options | <urn:uuid:cfe28d90-9176-41fa-9232-7b83045ef3bf> | {
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Health officials from six African countries meeting in Accra have resolved to work together to improve health screening during pregnancy to control and prevent the spread of malaria and transmission of HIV from mother to child.
Health officials say malaria alone causes more than 10,000 maternal deaths and 200,000 infant deaths in Africa each year.
Dr. Antoine Serufilira, the World Health Organization's Africa regional adviser on prevention of Malaria in pregnancy, stressed the importance of networking among healthcare providers in dealing with malaria and HIV in pregnancy. "We have to integrate our services, we have to reinforce collaboration of our programs, we have to work together, we have to plan, we have to monitor together, and we have to inform each other of what we are doing, so we can use efficiently the resources we have," he said.
Poor collaboration between national malaria control programs and reproductive health programs, resistance to drugs and cost of medicines are some of the new challenges facing health officials on the African continent.
Inam Chitsike is the WHO regional adviser for prevention of mother to child HIV transmission. She says health care services should be integrated, so that diseases such as malaria and HIV are detected and treated during pre-natal and ante-natal care. "Which means that, if a mother comes for ANC (antenatal care), you offer her interventions for malaria in pregnancy, you should also offer her at the same time prevention for mother-to-child transmission (of HIV). So, it's not like a small project here, or a small project there. If you are delivering a health service to a pregnant woman, and you do not take account the impact of malaria on the pregnancy, you do not take account the impact of HIV on the pregnancy, then, really, I'm afraid that service is not a quality service," she says.
Dr. Olusola Odujinrin, a reproductive healthcare specialist at the WHO country office in Nigeria, called on governments to do more to reduce the cost burden on their citizens. "When you are thinking of the people, especially in poor resource countries, it's not going to be that easy to get people to buy these drugs, some of them are quite expensive, their more expensive than what we used to use in the past. So, government must now be alive to its responsibilities, to see how best some of these drugs can be subsidized," he said.
The meeting was organized by the WHO and the John Hopkins University Organization Specializing in Maternal and Child Health.
Participants are from Nigeria, Gambia, Ghana, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda. | <urn:uuid:0c46b90e-683a-496f-aea0-9c07f4fb9340> | {
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Who are the Gurkhas?
The Brigade of Gurkhas are Nepalese soldiers who have been recruited to the British army since a peace treaty between the two countries was signed in 1815.
They have fought as British soldiers in two world wars and many other conflicts, including those in the Falklands, Sierra Leone, Iraq and Afghanistan.
They were described by a high court judge in 2003 as having "established a reputation as frontline troops which is second to none".
Do Gurkhas have the same rights as other foreign soldiers?
Since 1980, the Home Office has allowed foreign soldiers to settle in the UK in most circumstances, but Gurkhas have been excluded.
Home secretaries have said the terms of their service were different in order to maintain their links to Nepal.
While they were in active service, Gurkhas could enter and remain in the UK but, once finished, they were discharged to Nepal and not allowed to settle in Britain.
Is this still the case?
The government has become increasingly aware of public concern about the treatment of Gurkhas.
In 2003, the then prime minister and home secretary, Tony Blair and David Blunkett, delivered statements acknowledging that "the men of the Gurkha brigade have shown unquestioning loyalty to the Queen and people of the United Kingdom".
In 2004, the Home Office changed its policy and said Gurkhas who had been discharged from the army after 1997 could apply for indefinite leave to remain in the same way as other foreign soldiers.
What changed in 1997?
Until then, the Brigade of Gurkhas was based in Hong Kong. After the handover of Hong Kong to China that year, the brigade relocated to the UK.
Gurkhas discharged before 1997 would not have been based in the UK, whereas Gurkhas discharged after that point were, so the year became the cutoff point.
What about Gurkhas discharged before 1997?
Hong Kong-based Gurkhas discharged before the handover were only likely to be granted settlement if they had served in the UK for at least three years.
Many Gurkhas had served in the army for long periods in other parts of the world, but had not spent three consecutive years in the UK.
The Home Office had the discretion to allow these Gurkhas to settle if they had children being educated in the UK, or had a chronic, long-term medical condition where treatment would significantly improve their quality of life.
The Gurkhas in court today claim this policy has very rarely been used in their favour and that even those with substantial and threatening medical conditions have not been granted settlement.
Why did the Home Office stand its ground?
Two reasons were given for the government's stance.
Firstly, as the pre-1997 Gurkhas were discharged to Nepal, they were seeking permission to enter, rather than remain in, the UK, putting them on a different footing to other foreign soldiers.
Secondly, the fact they were based in Hong Kong rather than the UK meant they had not developed the same "close ties" with Britain as other foreign soldiers who were based in the UK.
What did the pre-1997 Gurkhas argue?
They said their treatment was discriminatory and a violation of the human rights and race relations acts because they were being treated differently to other foreign soldiers and to other Gurkhas who were discharged after 1997.
They argued that the home secretary behaved irrationally by making three years service at British barracks – as opposed to service abroad, including in conflict zones – the criterion.
The current policy, which does not apply to pre-1997 Gurkhas, does allow foreign soldiers to count time spent serving abroad towards their application for UK citizenship.
The Gurkhas argue that their long and distinguished record of service for the British army, heavy losses in conflict zones and dedication to the UK should be given more weight than the amount of time they actually spent on UK soil.
What are the implications of the case?
If the policy is changed, it is estimated that between 7,000 and 10,000 Gurkhas may settle in Britain. | <urn:uuid:8d82f473-b9a1-4603-ac7c-bd13df0f949b> | {
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Take the stairs, they tell you. It is a healthy alternative to elevators or escalators. What could possibly go wrong? Hopefully, nothing, but it is worth noting that according to a study published in the Journal of Emergency Medicine, over one million people yearly are injured on or in stairwells.
Study Highlights Stairway Injuries
The very young and the older population are most likely to be injured, but most hospitals report that people of all ages sustain injuries while taking the stairs.
One study that looked at stairway accidents between 1990 and 2012 found that there were about 38 stairway-related injuries per 10,000 U.S. residents. That comes to about one injury every 30 seconds.
Women had a slightly higher risk of being injured, but it is unclear why that is. Younger children sustained head injuries more often, while older people suffered fractures.
The causes of injures varied, with some saying they were distracted, while others reporting that they slipped or mis-stepped.
Safety Codes for Stairways
But a mis-step may not always be as clear as it seems, and some may be blaming themselves when in fact, the stairs’ design could play a role in a fall. There are a myriad of building codes and regulations that go into stairway safety.
For example, every step must be the same height, and the stepping surface of each stair must be uniform. Otherwise, the brain can mis-judge and the musculature will not be able to react appropriately to allow a person’s weight to cleanly lift up or drop down to the next stair.
Stairs are often required to have a lining on the edge, to help the user determine where one stair ends and the other begins. Without it, an optical illusion can result, making it difficult to determine where one stairway ends and the other begins.
Stairs that are outdoors, and thus subject to the elements, must have a surface that maintains friction even in bad weather.
Railings can Cause Problems
You probably know that stairwells need a handrail, but in many cases, building owners extend stairways or build a few steps, but do not bother to add to the length of the handrail.This leaves part of the stairway without handrail.
Handrails also must be a sensible height, allowing people of varying heights to use them. If they are not positioned properly, the user is left to contort into an uncomfortable position to grab the rail and navigate the stairs.
Even the width of the handrail must be calculated to allow the user to actually grab it. Handrails that are too thick or wide, or which may just be flat planks, do not allow for the user to actually wrap his or her hand around it.
Jury has Final Say
Remember that building codes are not the last word on stairway safety. A jury is, and a jury will be asked to determine whether a stairway was reasonably safe or not. Even a stairway that otherwise complies with building codes can still be dangerous in the eyes of a jury if the owner allowed the area to exist in a way that it was predictable that someone would be injured.
If you are injured due to a fall anywhere on someone else’s property, find out if negligence may be the cause. Contact the attorneys of Brassel, Alexander & Rice, LLC today for a free consultation to discuss your accident. | <urn:uuid:1e885035-a291-490c-a7bf-4bb6c729fd89> | {
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Earth Sans Earthlings
What will our planet be like post people?
By Victoria Schlesinger
Imagine if humans disappeared from Earth. All of us. In the blink of an eye. That’s just what science journalist Alan Weisman does for 311 pages in his bracing new book The World Without Us, published by St. Martin’s Press.
Broaching the notion in cheerful, fluid prose, Weisman surmises how planet Earth would carry on in the absence of humans, handily dismantling the edifices and accomplishments we hold most dear. The New York City subway system will flood two days after people vanish. In another 250 years the same city’s bridges will collapse and dams the world over crumble. Cockroaches will not rule the world, but instead they’ll retreat to warmer climes, where the exploding migratory bird population will feast on them. Ground into ever-finer particles, plastic will remain here until a microbe evolves that can digest it. And some 100,000 years from now atmospheric carbon dioxide will return to its pre-human level.Weisman tackles the fantastical scenario by exploring examples of destruction, abandonment and refuge, such as the mass demise of American megafauna after people arrived 13,000 years ago; the 30-year decay of lavish, abandoned resorts in Cyprus; and a glimpse of Europe’s sole remaining swatch of old growth lowland forest, still in tact thanks to its national park status.
While the notion of human disappearance is radical, Weisman shows us the result is eerily familiar. Life on Earth will rush forward to occupy the large niches our absence creates. Forces of nature will erode human construction, restoring them to simple particles. In time new species will evolve and fight to dominate the food chain, and little trace of intelligent creation will remain on Earth. Finally, in 5 billion years, our ever-expanding Sun will consume all of this resilient creation. And the greatest shame, Weisman quietly suggests, will be if we’re not there to see it.
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Widely-used pesticides are killing bees
Bees are still dying and EPA is still sitting on its hands. Luckily for those of us who like to eat, scientists have been hard at work cracking the "mystery" of colony collapse disorder (CCD). Today two new studies were published in Science, strengthening the case that neonicotinoid pesticides are indeed key drivers behind recent pollinator declines.
To avoid in advance some of the inevitable confusion on this topic, nobody is saying that neonicotinoids are the culprit behind CCD. Most scientists now believe that we have been losing more than a third of our hives each year since 2006 from a combination of factors acting in concert: pathogens, pesticides and nutritional stress. The debate has lately been over which is the more critical catalyst, and in the last year pesticides have rapidly risen to the top.
Regulators in the U.S. remain paralyzed by this debate, despite ongoing public demand for decisive action.
Today's studies come on the heels of a year of damning evidence for these pesticides: three separate studies in the last year confirmed that low-level exposures to neonicotinoids synergize with a common pathogen to dramatically increase bees' susceptibility to infection and the likelihood of death. In one long-awaited study published in January, exposure levels were so low as to be undetectable. And Italian researchers have proven, yet again, that in a single flight over freshly-sown corn fields, bees can be exposed to neonicotinoid-contaminated dust from planters depositing treated seeds at acutely toxic levels. This means they die right away. These same researchers have shown in 2010 and 2011 that sub-lethal exposures impair bees' learning and memory. | <urn:uuid:d64a3bec-a99c-442f-a3d7-582b0cf68978> | {
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Computer users could be open to attack from malicious hackers because of the way that Windows displays some images.
Microsoft has issued a warning about a critical vulnerability in Windows that could let carefully crafted pictures act as bearers of malicious code, according to BBC.
The flaw was found in the code that the operating system and other Windows programs use to display images prepared in the popular Jpeg format.
The vulnerability has been found in more than a dozen Microsoft programs.
At risk programs include Office XP 2003, Office 2003, Windows Server 2003, Internet Explorer 6 plus some versions of Digital Image Pro and Picture It.
The software giant urged all users who are at risk to download and install a patch for the vulnerability. More information available at news.bbc.co.uk | <urn:uuid:96b6e2b5-90ba-45f8-baa7-4249e960fc37> | {
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A volcanic winter is a climate cooling caused by an extremely large volcanic eruption. Such an eruption releases ash and sulfur dioxide in huge quantities. They form aerosols of sulfuric acid. When they reach the stratosphere more sunlight is reflected, and some is absorbed by the stratosphere. These reactions heat up the stratosphere, but lead to a drop in the temperature on the ground.
The Siberian Traps, Emeishan Traps, and Deccan Traps are huge flood basalt provinces caused by volcanism. They are the cause, or part of the cause, of several mass extinctions, especially the Permian–Triassic extinction event.
Recent events[change | change source]
The effects of recent volcanic eruptions on winters are modest in scale but historically their effects have been significant.
In 1883, the explosion of Krakatoa (Krakatau) created volcanic winter-like conditions. The next four years after the explosion were unusually cold, and the winter of 1887 to 1888 included powerful blizzards. Record snowfalls were recorded worldwide.
The 1815 eruption of Mount Tambora, a stratovolcano in Indonesia, occasioned mid-summer frosts in New York State and June snowfalls in New England and Newfoundland and Labrador in what came to be known as the "Year without a Summer" of 1816.
A paper written by Benjamin Franklin in 1783[source?] blamed the unusually cool summer of 1783 on volcanic dust coming from Iceland, where the eruption of Laki volcano had released enormous amounts of sulfur dioxide, resulting in the death of much of the island's livestock and a catastrophic famine which killed a quarter of the population. Temperatures in the northern hemisphere dropped by about 1 °C in the year following the Laki eruption.
In 1600, the Huaynaputina in Peru erupted. Tree ring studies show that 1601 was cold. Russia had its worst famine in 1601 to 1603. From 1600 to 1602, Switzerland, Latvia and Estonia had exceptionally cold winters. The wine harvest was late in 1601 in France, and in Peru and Germany wine production collapsed. Peach trees bloomed late in China, and Lake Suwa in Japan froze early.
References[change | change source]
- Brohan P. et al. (2006). "Uncertainty estimates in regional and global observed temperature changes: a new dataset from 1850". J. Geophysical Research 111: D12106. .
- University of Minnesota. "With a bang: not a whimper". http://climate.umn.edu/pdf/mn_winter_1887-1888.pdf.
- University of California - Davis (2008, April 25). "Volcanic eruption Of 1600 caused global disruption". ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2008/04/080423135236.htm.
- Cantor, Norman L. (2001). In the wake of the plague: the Black Death and the world it made. New York: Free Press. p. 74. .
- Nairn I.A. et al. (2004). "Rhyolite magma processes of the ~AD 1315 Kaharoa eruption episode, Tarawera volcano, New Zealand". Journal of Volcanology and Geothermal Research 131 (3–4): 265–94. .
Hodgson K.A. & Nairn I.A. (September 2005). "The c. AD 1315 syn-eruption and AD 1904 post-eruption breakout floods from Lake Tarawera, Haroharo caldera, North Island, New Zealand". New Zealand Journal of Geology and Geophysics 48 (3): 491. . | <urn:uuid:30d2a5e3-c301-4803-9864-fe85c7452368> | {
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UPDATE 4:23 p.m.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has denied a call to ban the plastic additive BPA from food packaging. The action comes after government scientists found little reason to think people are being harmed by the chemical.
The FDA was responding to a petition from the Natural Resources Defense Council, which called for the ban on BPA, also known as bisphenol A, from any use where it comes in contact with food.
Environmental groups said the ban would protect consumers from the health effects of BPA that leaches from products including some soup cans and water bottles. The chemical can act like estrogen in the body, and studies of animals show that large doses can affect the brain and sexual development.
But recent studies done by government researchers at the request of regulatory agencies suggest it's very unlikely that BPA poses a health risk to people. The body is extremely good at inactivating BPA — so good that the levels of potentially harmful BPA in the blood are too low to be detected, the scientists say.
The FDA relies heavily on this sort of in-house research for its decisions.
In its effort to review the safety of BPA, the FDA called on a high-powered team of government scientists to help answer several key questions.
One is: How much of the BPA a person ingests actually makes it into his or her bloodstream in a dangerous form?
That's an important question because the human body often inactivates potentially dangerous chemicals like BPA as they pass through the intestine and liver.
Once that happens, the chemical is no longer a health risk because it's no longer "bioactive," says Justin Teeguarden, a toxicologist and senior research scientist at the Pacific Northwest National Lab in Richland, Wash.
So with BPA, he says, "you may be exposed to relatively large amounts in the diet. But what matters most is how much of the bioactive form actually reaches your blood and your tissues."
Teeguarden studied 20 men and women who spent a day on a diet loaded with BPA from canned foods and juice in plastic containers. He wanted to know how much bioactive BPA would end up in their blood.
The answer: not enough to measure. "If it is present it is below our limit of detection," Teeguarden says.
Some studies that have found quite high levels of BPA in the blood, Teeguarden says. But he questions whether those results are reliable.
The reason is that to get blood levels that high,a person would have to ingest hundreds or thousands of times more BPA than people typically get in their diet.
"The question is, where did that bioactive BPA come from?" Teeguarden says. And he says one likely answer is that the chemical got into blood samples accidentally sometime after they were drawn from a person's body.
"Contamination is a common problem," Teeguarden says. "We observed it in our own study, but because we were monitoring for it we were able to overcome that particular problem."
The studies that found high levels of bioactive BPA in blood used samples collected in hospitals or doctors' offices, not research settings, Teeguarden says. And those studies did not include a common test to detect contamination.
Another big BPA question for the FDA is whether the chemical poses a special risk to newborn children.
So the agency asked Dan Doerge, a research chemist, to investigate. Doerge works at the FDA's National Center for Toxicological Research in Arkansas.
He studied newborn mice, rats and monkeys because it would have been unethical to use human babies.
In one study, Doerge looked to see whether a lot of BPA was getting into breast milk. His conclusion: "The transfer from mother into milk is extremely low."
In another study, he asked whether it's likely that human newborns are less able than adults to make BPA harmless by inactivating it.
He knew that was the case for newborn rats and mice. More toxic BPA does reach their bloodstream.
But monkeys are a much better indicator of what's happening with human babies.
And Doerge found that newborn monkeys had no trouble inactivating BPA. Levels in their bodies were about a 10th as high as in mice and rats because "they have a greater metabolic capacity to detoxify BPA than do either of the rodent species."
The studies by Doerge, Teeguarden and other government scientists weren't intended to prove that BPA is safe.
But the results do add some important context to the debate about BPA, Doerge says.
"It makes you think that this would have to be an extraordinarily potent compound to be causing effects at the really low levels that humans are exposed to," he says.
But many companies worried about BPA's bad image have already started using alternative chemicals in a wide range of products, especially those intended for kids.
These chemicals may be safe — but they haven't been scrutinized the way BPA has. | <urn:uuid:af8eb1d3-d18b-476c-8329-bd8fa46f8a80> | {
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So me behufyt quhilum, or than be dum,
Sum bastard Latyn, Franch or Inglys oys,
Quhar scant was Scottys.
( Gavin Douglas , Prologue to Book I, Æneid, 1513)
[Just as in Latin there are some Greek terms,
So it behoved me at times, rather than be dumb,
Some bastard Latin, French or English to use,
Where Scots was scant].
The term Scottis was opposed to Sotheroun or Suddroun (Southern: the English of England), a less ambiguous term than Inglis. Only from the early 18c was the present-day terminology consistently applied, Scots for the VERNACULAR of the Scottish Lowlands and English for the language of England and the standard variety being imported into Scotland.
"INGLIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. . Encyclopedia.com. (August 18, 2019). https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/inglis
"INGLIS." Concise Oxford Companion to the English Language. . Retrieved August 18, 2019 from Encyclopedia.com: https://www.encyclopedia.com/humanities/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/inglis
Encyclopedia.com gives you the ability to cite reference entries and articles according to common styles from the Modern Language Association (MLA), The Chicago Manual of Style, and the American Psychological Association (APA).
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First Programming Steps To Microcontrollers
Posted on May 16, 2019 by Brenda Botha
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For most of us, stress is simply a part of life and we try our best to manage it. But stress can lead to all sorts of short- and long-term health consequences, both mental and physical.
People who are under stress eat more junk food, drink more, smoke more, and avoid exercise more. That doesn’t mean you have to be one of them. If you feel like chronic stress is a problem, talk to your doctor. He or she can suggest ways you can deal with stress.
You can also consider the following tips to help keep stress at bay:
Want more helpful hints about reducing your stress levels? Visit the National Library of Medicine (NLM) Web site and explore an interactive tutorial about managing stress.
Talk to your doctor about prescription CRESTOR.
When diet and exercise alone aren't enough to lower cholesterol, adding CRESTOR can help.
In adults, CRESTOR is prescribed along with diet to lower high cholesterol and to slow the buildup of plaque in arteries as part of a treatment plan to lower cholesterol to goal.
Prescribing Information with Patient Information (PDF - 152k)
You are encouraged to report negative side effects of prescription drugs to the FDA. Visit www.FDA.gov/medwatch or call 1-800-FDA-1088.
This site is intended for US consumers only.
The information on this Web site should not take the place of talking with your doctor or health care professional. If you have any questions about your condition, or if you would like more information about CRESTOR, talk to your doctor or pharmacist. Only you and your health care professional can decide if CRESTOR is right for you. | <urn:uuid:6e65426d-3712-4d96-8f5f-b7fce711babd> | {
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Southern New Mexico Science, Engineering, Mathematics and Aerospace Academies (SNM SEMAA)
“To inspire the next generation of explorers… as only NASA can!” We are a NASA sponsored organization focusing on elementary, middle and high schools in southern New Mexico that primarily serve underrepresented students in the science, math and engineering fields. The goals of SNM SEMAA are to:
- Encourage normally underrepresented students in grades K-12 into the fields of science, engineering, mathematics, aerospace and technology (SEMAT);
- Engage students in inquiry-based learning, research, use of advanced technologies, peer support groups, and mentoring relationships with professionals in the SEMAT fields;
- Facilitate the successful transition of students from high school to post-secondary programs in the SEMAT fields;
- Develop partnerships with parents;
- Provide opportunities for pre-service teachers to work with local schools and communities and to assist in-service teachers with implementing curriculum.
Southern New Mexico SEMAA consists of a combination of school-based curriculum enhancements, university organized enrichment activities, and parent outreach. Each component is designed to work seamlessly with the others as a comprehensive program to improve student achievement and increase participation in science, mathematics, engineering and technology.
The major components of the project are as follows:
- Strengthen the K-12 math and science curriculum in southern New Mexico school districts to align with state standards and build interest in the SEMAT fields;
- Provide academic enrichment and career awareness for K-12 students and develop student interest and success in higher education SEMAT fields through summer, Saturday, and after school aerospace academies and college experience programs;
- Support student field trips that allow them to experiences state of the art technology and engineering and science wonders;
- Engage parents in their children’s academic learning and assist with developing pathways for student participation in higher education.
Southern New Mexico SEMAA seeks community partners to serve as student mentors, assist with parent outreach and student recruitment, and sponsor student activities. | <urn:uuid:2c86c220-3974-4053-80c3-386bc0477bf6> | {
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Obesity increases kidney damage risk in patients after heart surgery but effective antioxidants or other therapies that reduce oxidative stress might help lower this risk, according to a study.
Acute kidney injury (AKI), an abrupt decline in kidney function, is an increasingly prevalent and potentially serious condition following major surgery. Sometimes AKI arises after heart surgery because the kidneys are deprived of normal blood flow during the procedure.
AdvertisementTo see if extra body weight puts patients at increased risk for developing AKI following heart surgery, Frederic Billings IV, MD (Vanderbilt University School of Medicine) and his colleagues evaluated information from 445 heart surgery patients, 112 of whom (25%) developed AKI.
Among the major findings:
Obese patients (body mass index, or BMI, ≥30 kg/m2) had an increased risk of developing AKI; specifically, a 26.5% increased risk per 5 kg/m2 increase in BMI.
Oxidative stress, which generates harmful unstable reactive oxygen molecules, plays a role in the link between obesity and AKI.
"The identification of oxidative stress during surgery as a possible mechanism for the development of kidney injury following surgery provides an opportunity to develop and test therapeutic treatments for surgical patients," said Dr. Billings. | <urn:uuid:2800e067-fd46-40e7-aef5-85ded4408aef> | {
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The European Union Agency for Network and Information Security (ENISA) has published a paper on the security challenges that arise from the convergence of Internet of Things (IoT) and Cloud computing. The paper is directed at IoT developers, IoT integrators and Cloud service providers, and concludes with a number of suggested steps to achieve secure solutions.
ENISA defines IoT as “a cyber-physical ecosystem of interconnected sensors and actuators, which enable intelligent decision making”. This would include, for example, smart homes, Fitbits and Apple Watches. ENISA divides the IoT ecosystem into three components, (i) devices, (ii) communications and (iii) Cloud platform, backend and services.
The growth of IoT in recent years has put pressure on Cloud computing to evolve in order to accommodate IoT’s needs, including aggregating, storing and processing the data that it generates. This resulted in a new model, the “IoT Cloud”.
The emergence of the IoT Cloud poses potential security risks, and ENISA is primarily concerned about the fact that IoT devices provide access to Cloud systems, and therefore any attack on an IoT device can potentially lead to a more widespread attack.
The paper identifies seven specific security challenges, spanning across the three “security aspects of the IoT and Cloud computing”, as identified by ENISA: connectivity, analysis and integration. These security challenges are illustrated in a series of “attack scenarios”, which represent real life situations, highlighting the gravity of these risks.
A common theme in these security challenges is IoT’s increasing use of edge computing. The paper notes the IDC forecast that by 2021, 43 per cent of IoT computing will occur at the edge. While acknowledging that edge computing has many benefits, the insecure flow of data between the edge and Cloud, caused by limited processing and storage capabilities of some endpoints, is a security risk.
IoT devices are highly moveable, meaning they can be located anywhere, and scattered across multiple locations, including unsecure environments. Real-time edge computation can occur on these devices, regardless of the security level of where they are located, posing a security risk. Since edge computing represents a link between IoT devices and Cloud, both IoT devices and Cloud become vulnerable to attack.
The paper also raises concerns about IoT devices not being implemented with security elements at the development stage and not receiving software updates further down the line.
The paper provides suggested directions for achieving secure solutions for the IoT Cloud. ENISA suggests that:
- Data flowing between the edge and Cloud should be encrypted, both in transit and at rest;
- More secure hardware should be deployed in relation to IoT devices, to counter the risk of IoT devices being potentially located in unsecure environments;
- Additional security elements should be added to IoT devices, such as security appliances, routers and gateways;
- The API gateway should be incorporated at Cloud level to provide a control layer for the flow of data from edge devices; and
- A baseline of security measures should be adopted, in order to harmonise security across the IoT ecosystem, along with a system of automated, secure software updates.
Overall, the paper is positive about the developments in technology and the opportunities that the convergence of IoT and Cloud can bring. However, the paper makes it very clear that the security challenges arising from these developments must be addressed and cannot be ignored going forward. | <urn:uuid:4d1064b9-3e1d-4cbb-9253-52b003d47849> | {
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Bricks4Kidz is a partner of Newton's Attic and holds classes at our facility, but registrations must be done through them and payment made to them. Although their registration system doesn't show this option, Bricks4Kidz is offered on a class-by-class basis for $15 per class. Register without paying and pay for the class when you come. Register with them at https://my.bricks4kidz.com/index.php?action=location&location=259&ref=86640 Interesting Inventions - Ages 5+ Most objects we use on a daily basis were invented by someone. Find out the origins of things like the hand mixer, windshield wipers and conveyor belts. During this unit, students will discuss the difference between an invention and a discovery, learn how inventions solve problems, and find out how inventors get their ideas patented. Each week, students are encouraged to think of what they could invent, or improvements they could make to an existing object to solve a problem. So many things we use each day are someone’s invention. Introduce your student to the world of ideas, creativity, inventions and patents. We will construct different familiar objects each week such as a hand mixer, windshield wipers and a conveyor belt. Each model is motorized for maximum movement and fascination! Start creating! Attend 3 or more classes and build a mini-figure to keep! | <urn:uuid:60628769-a35f-489e-bae0-970feca4e0d0> | {
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Groundwater inflow represents an important part of groundwater assessment methodology within the hydrological cycle. This article reviews chief methodology for estimating the various inputs to groundwater inflow. Water balance techniques have been extensively used to make quantitative estimates of water resources and the impact of man’s activities on the hydrological cycle. The study of water balance requires the systematic presentation of data on the water supply and its use within a given study area for a specific period. The estimation of groundwater balance of a region requires quantification of all individual inflows to or outflows from a groundwater system and change in groundwater storage over a given time period. The basic concept of water balance is:
- Input to the system ? outflow from the system = change in storage of the system (over a period of time)
The general methodology of computing groundwater balance consists of the following:
- Identification of significant components,
- Evaluating and quantifying individual components, and
- Presentation in the form of water balance equation.
The various inflow components of the groundwater balance equation may be estimated through appropriate empirical relationships suitable for a region, field experiments or other methods, as discussed below:
Recharge from Rainfall (Rr)
Rainfall is the major source of recharge to groundwater. Part of the rain water, that falls on the ground, is infiltrated into the soil. A part of this infiltrated water is utilized in filling the soil moisture deficiency while the remaining portion percolates down to reach the water table, which is termed as rainfall recharge to the aquifer. The amount of rainfall recharge depends on various hydrometeorological and topographic factors, soil characteristics and depth to water table. The methods for estimation of rainfall recharge involve the empirical relationships established between recharge and rainfall developed for different regions, groundwater balance approach, and soil moisture data based methods.
(a) Empirical Methods
Several empirical formulae have been worked out for specific regions on the basis of detailed studies. Those relationships, tentatively proposed for specific hydrogeological conditions, need to be examined and established or suitably altered for application to other areas.
(b) Groundwater Balance Approach
In this method, all components of the groundwater balance equation (1), except the rainfall recharge, are estimated individually. The algebraic sum of all input and output components is equated to the change in groundwater storage, as reflected by the water table fluctuation, which in turn yields the single unknown in the equation, namely, the rainfall recharge. A pre?requisite for successful application of this technique is the availability of very extensive and accurate hydrological and meteorological data. The groundwater balance approach is valid for the areas where the year can be divided into monsoon and non?monsoon seasons with the bulk of rainfall occurring in former.
Groundwater balance study for monsoon and non?monsoon periods is carried out separately. The former yields an estimate of recharge coefficient and the later determines the degree of accuracy with which the components of water balance equation have been estimated. Alternatively, the average specific yield in the zone of fluctuation can be determined from a groundwater balance study for the non?monsoon period and using this specific yield, the recharge due to rainfall can be determined using the groundwater balance components for the monsoon period.
(c) Soil Moisture Data Based Methods
Soil moisture data based methods are the lumped and distributed model and the nuclear methods. In the lumped model, the variation of soil moisture content in the vertical direction is ignored and any effective input into the soil is assumed to increase the soil moisture content uniformly. Recharge is calculated as the remainder when losses, identified in the form of runoff and [[[evapotranspiration]], have been deducted from the precipitation with proper accounting of soil moisture deficit. In the distributed model, variation of soil moisture content in the vertical direction is accounted and the method involves the numerical solution of partial differential equation (Richards equation) governing one?dimensional flow through unsaturated medium, with appropriate initial and boundary conditions.
(d) Soil Water Balance Method
Water balance models were developed in the 1940s by Thornthwaite (1948) and revised by Thornthwaite and Mather (1955). The method is essentially a book?keeping procedure which estimates the balance between the inflow and outflow of water. When applying this method to estimate the recharge for a catchment area, the calculation should be repeated for areas with different precipitation, evapotranspiration, crop type and soil type. The soil water balance method is of limited practical value, because evapotranspiration is not directly measurable. Moreover, storage of moisture in the unsaturated zone and the rates of infiltration along the various possible routes to the aquifer form important and uncertain factors. Another aspect that deserves attention is the depth of the root zone which may vary in semi?arid regions between 1 and 30 meters. Results from this model are of very limited value without calibration and validation, because of the substantial uncertainty in input data.
(e) Nuclear Methods
Nuclear techniques can be used for the determination of recharge by measuring the travel of moisture through a soil column. The technique is based upon the existence of a linear relation between neutron count rate and moisture content (% by volume) for the range of moisture contents generally occurring in the unsaturated soil zone. The mixture of beryllium (Be) and radium (Ra) is taken as the source of neutrons. Another method is the gamma ray transmission method based upon the attenuation of gamma rays in a medium through which it passes. The extent of attenuation is closely linked with moisture content of the soil medium.
Recharge from Canal Seepage (Rc)
Seepage refers to the process of water movement from a canal into and through the bed and wall material. Seepage losses from irrigation canals often constitute a significant part of the total recharge to groundwater system. Hence, it is important to properly estimate these losses for recharge assessment to groundwater system. Recharge by seepage from canals depend upon the size and cross-section of the canal, depth of flow, characteristics of soils in the bed and sides, and location as well as level of drains on either side of the canal. A number of empirical formulae and formulae based on theoretical considerations have been proposed to estimate the seepage losses from canals.
Recharge from canals that are in direct hydraulic connection with a phreatic aquifer underlain by a horizontal impermeable layer at shallow depth, can be determined by Darcy's equation, provided the flow satisfies Dupuit assumptions.
where, hs and hl are water?level elevations above the impermeable base, respectively, at the canal, and at distance L from it. For calculating the area of flow cross?section, the average of the saturated thickness (hs + hl)/2 is taken. The crux of computation of seepage depends on correct assessment of the hydraulic conductivity, K. Knowing the percentage of sand, silt and clay, the hydraulic conductivity of undisturbed soil can be approximately determined using the soil classification triangle showing relation of hydraulic conductivity to texture for undisturbed sample (Johnson, 1963).
A number of investigations have been carried out to study the seepage losses from canals. U. S. B. R. recommended the channel losses based on the channel bed material as given below:
(cumec per million square meter of wetted area)
|Clay and clay loam||1.50|
|Sandy and gravely soil||8.03|
These values are valid if the water table is relatively deep. In shallow water table and water logged areas, the recharge from canal seepage may be suitably reduced. Specific results from case studies may be used, if available. The above norms take into consideration the type of soil in which the canal runs while computing seepage. However, the actual seepage will also be controlled by the width of canal (B), depth of flow (D), hydraulic conductivity of the bed material (K) and depth to water table.
Knowing the values of B and D, the range of seepage losses (Rc_max and Rc_min) from the canal may be obtained as
- Rc_max = K (B + 2D) (in case of deeper water table)
- Rc_min = K (B - 2D) (in case of water table at the level of channel bed)
However, the various guidelines for estimating losses in the canal system, are at best approximate. Thus, the seepage losses may best be estimated by conducting actual tests in the field. The methods most commonly adopted are:
Inflow ? outflow method: In this method, the water that flows into and out of the section of canal, under study, is measured using current meter or Parshall flume method. The difference between the quantities of water flowing into and out of the canal reach is attributed to seepage. This method is advantageous when seepage losses are to be measured in long canal reaches with few diversions.
Ponding method: In this method, bunds are constructed in the canal at two locations, one upstream and the other downstream of the reach of canal with water filled in it. The total change in storage in the reach is measured over a period of time by measuring the rate of drop of water surface elevation in the canal reach. Alternatively, water may be added to maintain a constant water surface elevation. In this case, the volume of water added is measured along with the elapsed time to compute the rate of seepage loss. The ponding method provides an accurate means of measuring seepage losses and is especially suitable when they are small (e.g. in lined canals).
Seepage meter method: The seepage meter is a modified version of permeameter developed for use under water. Various types of seepage meters have been developed. The two most important are seepage meter with submerged flexible water bag and falling head seepage meter. Seepage meters are suitable for measuring local seepage rates in canals or ponds and used only in unlined or earth?lined canals. They are quickly and easily installed and give reasonably satisfactory results for the conditions at the test site but it is difficult to obtain accurate results when seepage losses are low.
The total losses from the canal system generally consist of the evaporation losses (Ec) and the seepage losses (Rc). The evaporation losses are generally 10 to 15 percent of the total losses. Thus the Rc value is 85 to 90 percent of the losses from the canal system.
Recharge from Field Irrigation (Ri)
Water requirements of crops are met, in parts, by rainfall, contribution of moisture from the soil profile, and applied irrigation water. A part of the water applied to irrigated field crops is lost in consumptive use and the balance infiltrates to recharge the groundwater. The process of re?entry of a part of the water used for irrigation is called return flow. Percolation from applied irrigation water, derived both from surface water and groundwater sources, constitutes one of the major components of groundwater recharge. The irrigation return flow depends on the soil type, irrigation practice and type of crop. Therefore, irrigation return flows are site specific and will vary from one region to another.
For a correct assessment of the quantum of recharge by applied irrigation, studies are required to be carried out on experimental plots under different crops in different seasonal conditions. The method of estimation comprises application of the water balance equation involving input and output of water in experimental fields.
For surface water, the recharge is to be estimated based on water released at the outlet from the canal/distribution system. For groundwater, the recharge is to be estimated based on gross draft. Where continuous supply is used instead of rotational supply, an additional recharge of 5% of application may be used. Specific results from case studies may be used, if available.
Recharge from Tanks (Rt)
Studies have indicated that seepage from tanks varies from 9 to 20 percent of their live storage capacity. However, as data on live storage capacity of large number of tanks may not be available, seepage from the tanks may be taken as 44 to 60 cm per year over the total water spread, taking into account the agro?climatic conditions in the area. The seepage from percolation tanks is higher and may be taken as 50 percent of its gross storage. In case of seepage from ponds and lakes, the norms as applied to tanks may be taken. The Groundwater Resource Estimation Committee (1997) has recommended that based on the average area of water spread, the recharge from storage tanks and ponds may be taken as 1.4 mm/day for the period in which tank has water. If data on the average area of water spread is not available, 60% of the maximum water spread area may be used instead of average area of water spread.
In case of percolation tanks, recharge may be taken as 50% of gross storage, considering the number of fillings, with half of this recharge occurring in monsoon season and the balance in non-monsoon season. Recharge due to check dams and nala bunds may be taken as 50% of gross storage (assuming annual desilting maintenance exists) with half of this recharge occurring in the monsoon season and the balance in the non-monsoon season.
Influent Seepage (Si)
The river-aquifer interaction depends on the transmissivity of the aquifer system and the gradient of water table in respect to the river stage. Depending on the water level in the river and in the aquifer (in the vicinity of river), the river may recharge the aquifer (influent) or the aquifer may contribute to the river flow (effluent). The effluent or influent character of the river may vary from season to season and from reach to reach. The seepage from/to the river can be determined by dividing the river reach into small sub?reaches and observing the discharges at the two ends of the sub?reach along with the discharges of its tributaries and diversions, if any. The discharge at the downstream end is expressed as:
- Qd. Δt = Qu. Δt + Qg. Δt + Qt. Δt ? Qo. Δt ? E. Δt ± Srb
Qd = discharge at the downstream section;
Qu = discharge at the upstream section;
Qg = groundwater contribution (unknown quantity; -ve computed value indicates influent conditions);
Qt = discharge of tributaries;
Qo = discharge diverted from the river;
E = rate of evaporation from river water surface and flood plain (for extensive bodies of surface water and for long time periods, evaporation from open water surfaces can not be neglected);
Srb = change in bank storage ( + for decrease and ? for increase); and
Δt = time period.
The change in bank storage can be determined by monitoring the water table along the cross?section normal to the river. Thus, using the above equation, seepage from/to the river over a certain period of time Δt can be computed. However, this would be the contribution from aquifers on both sides of the stream. The contribution from each side can be separated by the following method:
where, IL and TL are gradient and transmissivity respectively on the left side and IR and TR are those on the right.
Subsurface Inflow from Other Basins (Ig)
For the estimation of groundwater inflow/outflow from/to other basins, regional water table contour maps are drawn based on the observed water level data from wells located within and outside the study area. The flows into and out of a region are governed mainly by the hydraulic gradient and transmissivity of the aquifer. The gradient can be determined by taking the slope of the water table normal to water table contour. The length of the section, across which groundwater inflow/outflow occurs, is determined from contour maps, the length being measured parallel to the contour. The inflow/outflow is determined as follows:
where, T is the transmissivity and I is the hydraulic gradient averaged over a length ΔL of contour line.
- Chandra, Satish and R. S. Saksena, 1975. "Water Balance Study for Estimation of Groundwater Resources", Journal of Irrigation and Power, India, October 1975, pp. 443?449.
- "Groundwater Resource Estimation Methodology ? 1997". Report of the Groundwater Resource Estimation Committee, Ministry of Water Resources, Government of India, New Delhi, June 1997.
- IILRI, 1974. "Drainage Principles and Applications", Survey and Investigation, Publication 16, Vol. III.
- Johnson, A. I., 1963. "Application of Laboratory Permeability Data", Open File Report, U.S.G.S., Water Resources Division, Denver, Colorado, 34 p.
- Karanth, K. R., 1987. "Groundwater Assessment, Development and Management", Tata McGraw?Hill Publishing Company Limited, New Delhi, pp. 576?657.
- Kumar, C. P. and P. V. Seethapathi, 2002. "Assessment of Natural Groundwater Recharge in Upper Ganga Canal Command Area", Journal of Applied Hydrology, Association of Hydrologists of India, Vol. XV, No. 4, October 2002, pp. 13-20.
- Mishra, G. C., 1993. "Current Status of Methodology for Groundwater Assessment in the Country in Different Region", National Institute of Hydrology, Technical Report No. TR?140, 1992?93, 25 p.
- Sokolov, A. A. and T. G. Chapman, 1974. "Methods for Water Balance Computations", The UNESCO Press, Paris.
- Sophocleous, Marios A., 1991. "Combining the Soilwater Balance and Water?Level Fluctuation Methods to Estimate Natural Groundwater Recharge : Practical Aspects". Journal of Hydrology, Vol. 124, pp. 229?241.
- Thornthwaite, C. W., 1948. "An Approach towards a Rational Classification of Climate". Geogr. Rev., Vol. 38, No. 1, pp. 55?94.
- Thornthwaite, C. W. and J. W. Mather, 1955. "The Water Balance". Publ. Climatol. Lab. Climatol. Drexel Inst. Technol., Vol. 8, No. 1, pp. 1?104. | <urn:uuid:39a5d985-2c24-4a80-9e39-892f046977ac> | {
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Byrd recounts 50 years
They call him the man who saved the eagles
Mitchell Byrd likes to tell people that his 50 years at William and Mary are due either to his perserverance or administrative benevolence.
“I’m not sure which it is,” Byrd, director emeritus at the Center for Conservation Biology at the College, says with a sly smile that accompanies his trademark dry wit.
Either explanation would be a severe understatement. Listed chronologically, Byrd’s contributions to the College during the past half century would fill pages, but his impact on the institution—and the world—is much more profound. Byrd is the man who, many say, has saved the bald eagle. They also say he is the man who brought the peregrine falcon back to life east of the Mississippi River. In Millington Hall, they say the nationally recognized biology program housed there truly took shape during the 13 years that Byrd chaired the department.
The humility and the gentle demeanor that define Byrd will not let him take such credit. Reminded of his reputation with bald eagles, Byrd turns his head, shrugs a bit and says, “I don’t know that I’ve saved it, but I have worked with the bald eagle for about 28 years now.”
Photo: Byrd holds a falcon. Courtesy of Mitchell Byrd.
It started in 1977, about two years after the bald eagle was added to the endangered-species list. The state of Virginia had decided to pursue non-game and endangered-species research but was without any in-house expertise. Byrd and William and Mary were tapped to conduct research on eagles, peregrine falcons and red-cockaded woodpeckers. Byrd started out doing aerial surveys to assess the eagle population. “At that time, in 1977, there were about 33 breeding pairs in the state of Virginia, and they produced a total of 18 offspring. Pretty pathetic,” Byrd said.
Years of DDT use had created that dire situation. Although the pesticide had been banned from use in the early 1970s, its effects lingered in avian populations. The chemical was discovered to have depressed a liver enzyme that prevented adequate shell formation. “This is kind of an insidious effect. It wasn’t so much direct mortality, although there was some of that. It was more of depressing reproduction. The thin-shelled eggs were not hatching properly, and of course, if eggs aren’t hatching, over time the population is going to decline,” Byrd said.
With few young birds coming along, their recovery started slowly. Byrd continued taking aerial surveys, fighting to protect habitats and raising the awareness of landowners. The result is that now, in the Tidewater region alone, there are about 428 active bald-eagle nests.
Byrd also led the Chesapeake Bay Bald Eagle Recovery Team, a group appointed by the U.S. Department of the Interior. The team developed a plan that called for the repopulation of 175 to 225 breeding pairs of bald eagles in the bay region—numbers Byrd called “a wild guess.” “We’re probably closer to 1,000 breeding pairs in the bay by now, so obviously that number was picked out of the blue,” he said.
Still, Byrd deflects most of the credit for the miraculous recovery of one of the country’s most revered species. “It’s been a combination of things—the ban on DDT and the protection afforded habitats under the provisions of the Endangered Species Act of 1973. I didn’t tell these eagles to get busy and start producing. This was a natural phenomenon. Our impact has been in calling attention to the conservation needs, and we’re still pushing that point,” Byrd said.
Protecting habitats is where much more work is needed. The Chesapeake Bay recovery team also sought to ensure that one-third of the suitable eagle habitats in the bay area had some sort of protected status, whether through conservation easements or actual land acquisitions. A study showed that only a small percentage of eagle habitats were on protected lands. “That is where we are going to continue to have conflict with the management of eagles—this increasing population of both eagles and people who want the same chunks of land, and we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg on this. In my experience, whenever in life there is a conflict between man’s interest and the interests of another species, I’ve never seen the other species win. It’s very unfortunate,” Byrd said.
People, in Byrd’s opinion, deserve the land no more than any other species. There is no way to know just how valuable a particular species—eagles or others—is to a natural ecosystem. “Why are we here? We’re not very important. If you look at us as a species, what do we have going for us—an opposable first digit and a large cerebral hemisphere. The only thing that enables us to do is to take input, integrate it and, hopefully, make a conscious decision to do the right thing, which we don’t always do,” Byrd said.
In coastal Virginia, land management is essential. The habitat is extremely desirable to many species, including peregrine falcons. Prior to concerted efforts to return the birds, peregrines had completely died out east of the Mississippi River. Leading the Eastern Peregrine Falcon Recovery Team, also appointed by the U.S. Department of the Interior, Byrd helped to re-introduce peregrines to the region. The hope was to re-introduce the birds to an area ranging from the coastal marshes of New Jersey down to Virginia, a habitat where, in the past, peregrines rarely nested.
“We viewed this as an experimental area. Could we breed these birds in captivity and introduce them into an area successfully where they don’t normally occur? Unfortunately, it worked too well. We want them in the mountains, but there seems to be something about Virginia,” Byrd said. “We would take them and release them in the mountains, and we find that they’re just zapping out of the mountains once they start fledging and going right to the coast. I’m sure it’s a food-related phenomenon—this is where all the good food is.” Regardless of why the birds prefer the region, ensuring they have adequate habitats is essential to their continued success. This is where Byrd and his colleagues continue to be extremely instrumental. In 1991, as he retired as Chancellor Professor of Biology at William and Mary, Byrd and one of his former students, Bryan Watts, co-founded the Center for Conservation Biology, a nonprofit organization within the College’s biology department. Watts now serves as the center’s director.
“My thought and Brian’s thought was that with the center, we’d have an opportunity to continue endangered-species research activities at the College, and, at the same time, provide some opportunities for students that they might not otherwise have because of directional changes. I’ve been here long enough to know that things change,” Byrd said.
Research emphases were beginning to shift away from endangered species, and Byrd was keenly aware of how much work still lay ahead. The need for research and continuing public-relations work with landowners was and still is as crucial as ever.
“Things have changed a lot. They inevitably do. Biology has changed along with a national trend, drifting away from things that are more organism-related or ecologically related to things that are more molecular [related] or cell biology [related],” Byrd said.
The Center for Conservation Biology preserves opportunities that might not fall into newer trends in biology. Byrd and Watts have worked with dozens of graduate students—sometimes on their own, unsupported time—to keep efforts focused on endangered species.
Interest in the work has never been an issue. Scholars from all over the world contact Byrd and Watts, hoping to work with the center, but resources are limited. “Nationally, the work has exploded, but the amount of resources going into it has not. I think it goes back to public interest,” Byrd said. “There is a gap in public knowledge about what’s happening to the avian species. Some of the declines are precipitous. It’s my general impression that the populace, as a group, may be interested in birds, but they really don’t have any concept of what’s happening to these species around the state, country and world. There are hundreds and hundreds of species around the world on the verge of extinction, and there will be in this country if we don’t make some radical changes.”
Those changes have to come in terms of land-use management, Byrd said. Land-use planning rarely, if ever, accounts for anything other than the economic aspects. It is a trend that must change, according to Byrd, and through the concentrated efforts of Byrd, Watts and their students—past and future—might begin to change, as things inevitably do.
“I think if we’ve done anything here at William and Mary to bring the bald eagle back, it was to call the attention of the state to where the population was and where it needed to go,” Byrd said. “Also, [it was important when] working with landowners to convince them that even though they were legally obligated to do something that they really ought to consider it—as I always put it—a status symbol to have an eagle on their property. I think we did a lot good public relations over the years with landowners,” Byrd said.
With the success of eagle and peregrine falcon populations in the state and across the nation, it is difficult to tell how many more species can be saved during the next half century. Byrd’s legacy will have been to give hope to the continued successful rebound of avian species. It is the Center for Conservation Biology—the accomplishment of which Byrd is most proud, that will keep that hope alive now and in the years to come. | <urn:uuid:c7870f40-a995-4256-83e9-52fbc7ac662d> | {
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For decades, electric power plants have quietly preyed on America's waterways and devoured our fisheries, but their actions have largely escaped government accountability. Now - after years of successful litigation brought by environmental groups - the federal Environmental Protection Agency and many states like California have the opportunity to do something meaningful to prevent this senseless slaughter.
Experts have long known that cooling water intake structures operated by the electric utility industry are "the single largest predators of our Nation's waters." Collectively, the power industry sucks in approximately 80 trillion gallons of water annually to cool their equipment - a number so staggering it is equivalent to four times the amount of water in all of the Chesapeake Bay.
In the process of using this water for cooling, power plants kill on a massive scale fish, larvae and other aquatic organisms - and often do so in sensitive or important spawning areas. These organisms are mangled on grates or superheated inside the power plants. And while a fisher might pay $40 or more a year for a local fishing license that limits with exacting specificity what kind and how much of a species he or she can catch, the power industry has an unbridled license-to-kill unlike anything seen in a summer action movie.
In New Jersey, the Salem Nuclear Plant - the nation's largest user of cooling water - withdraws more than 3 billion gallons of water per day from Delaware Bay, killing an estimated 845 million fish a year.
Combined, the 19 California plants using antiquated, once-through cooling technology are allowed to suck in 16 billion gallons of sea water every day and kill an estimated 79 billion fish, larvae and other marine life - including two dozen sea lions and a dozen seals - annually.
The Bay Shore power plant in Ohio kills 46 million Lake Erie fish and sucks in another 2 billion larvae a year.
This killing surpasses many types of commercial and recreational fishing in some areas, and is completely unnecessary. Widely available and affordable technologies reuse and recycle cooling water, preventing fish kills almost entirely.
Most new power plants use closed-cycle cooling, which recirculates water and can reduce fish mortality by 95% or more. Even better, dry cooling technology is currently used at dozens of power plants in the U.S. and hundreds worldwide. According to the environmental group Riverkeeper, which for years has led the environmental effort to modernize the nation's power plants, for every 10,000 fish killed by a once-through cooling plant, about 9,996 can be saved by dry cooling.
The costs can also be reasonably borne by industry. In Massachusetts, for example, the Brayton Point power plant, which provides approximately 6% of New England's electricity and fought improvements for years, is currently upgrading its plant at the modest expense to ratepayers of 6 to 18 cents a month. This revelation prompted one EPA official to note that the cost of compliance when added to other upgrades at the plant was less than the price of the postage stamp needed to mail the monthly electric bill.
But nearly 40 years after Congress first sought to solve this problem, the power industry continues its massive ecological destruction. Nationally, hundreds of outdated once-through cooling power plants remain on both fresh waterways and along our coasts.
It is time for EPA and the states to act and to do so definitively.
The U.S. Supreme Court earlier this year set the stage for new rules from EPA on the issue, and those rules should be forthcoming during President Obama's tenure. Ahead of these new rules, California stands poised to be a leader on this issue like it has on so many other environmental initiatives. A recent proposal by the California State Water Resources Control Board to phase out once-through cooling has a chance to end this pointless destruction along the state's entire coast. But while the intentions of the proposal are laudable and should be supported, the current draft still suffers from loopholes big enough to swallow a whale.
California should seize this opportunity and set a strong example by making clear the need to upgrade all power plants to the best technology available. No more excuses. No more delay. The federal government then should follow that lead and require modern technologies such as closed-cycle and dry cooling that drastically reduce the impact on our waterways.
If our current national situation has taught us anything it is that we can no longer take the seemingly endless wealth of this great country for granted. Our national assets include the bounty of our fisheries, and EPA and the states need to put a stop to this appalling and illegal waste.
New York City-based attorney Reed Super and Los Angeles-based marine biologist Tom Ford contributed to this post. | <urn:uuid:2e4e9796-0dda-42d3-9376-7cce0589a7da> | {
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Sub-fertility, or difficulty conceiving a child, affects some 10-15% of couples. Many of these will be offered In-Vitro Fertilisation (IVF) as a means of having a baby. IVF involves the stimulation of egg production, collection of eggs (oocyte collection), fertilisation of the eggs, and then transferring the embryo back into the mother’s uterus (embryo transfer). It is often an emotional journey, and prospective parents quite understandably want to do everything they can to ensure they are able to hold a baby in their arms one day.
In 1999 researchers in Sweden were testing the effect of acupuncture on pain relief during the egg collection procedure, and noticed that the group that received acupuncture had higher pregnancy rates and “take-home baby rates”. This finding sparked significant interest in the area of acupuncture to support IVF. A recent Cochrane review
analysed results from thirteen clinical trials and concluded that acupuncture performed on the day of embryo transfer results in a higher birth rate.
How acupuncture might work in supporting IVF
Researchers believe that acupuncture may work in several ways to increase the pregnancy and “take-home baby” rate. Firstly,acupuncture can affect hormonal systems in the body, including the systems that govern reproduction. Secondly, acupuncture can increase the blood flow to the uterus, which may assist with implantation. Thirdly, acupuncture may reduce stress, which increases the chance of conception.
What the research shows
The Cochrane review authors divided the clinical trials into three groups, depending on when acupuncture was given. In the first group, acupuncture was given on the day of embryo transfer. In the second, acupuncture was given on the day of embryo transfer as well as two or three days later. In the third group, acupuncture was given during the egg collection procedure.
In the first group, there was a higher live birth rate in the acupuncture group compared with women receiving no acupuncture or sham acupuncture. On average, 35% of women in the acupuncture group gave birth to live babies compared with 22% in the control group. Clinical pregnancy rate in the acupuncture group was also higher at 39%, compared with 30% in the control group.
In the second group, there was a higher clinical pregnancy rate in the acupuncture group (35%) compared with the control group (19%) but no difference in the live birth rate. In the third group, who received acupuncture during egg collection, there was no difference in either the clinical pregnancy rate or live birth rate between the acupuncture and control groups.
The authors concluded that acupuncture given on the day of embryo transfer shows evidence of benefit. They cautioned that this may be due to the placebo effect and called for more research into the area. They also cautioned against the use of acupuncture in early pregnancy when IVF is not used to conceive, because of the findings that acupuncture given repeatedly in early pregnancy resulted in a higher pregnancy rate but not a higher live birth rate.
Cheong YC, Hung Yu Ng E, Ledger WL. Acupuncture and assisted conception. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 4. Art. No.: CD006920. DOI: 10.1002/14651858.CD006920.pub2. | <urn:uuid:97307687-af7f-4b7a-85b2-2a36f8aec9d9> | {
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If the first four-legged animals had never emerged from water onto land, our world today would not exist. Yet how did this great step happen? For decades, scientists didn’t know. Now, the mystery is finally being solved – and fossils discovered in Scotland lie at the heart of the story.
360-345 million years ago, Scotland was a very different place. Lying close to the Equator, the vegetated land was hot, humid and subject to droughts and flooding. It was in this setting that a major evolutionary event occurred: tetrapods (backboned animals with four limbs) invaded land.
But, for many years, scientists had no idea how this had happened. There was a 15 million year ‘gap’ in the fossil record – no tetrapod fossils had been found dating from this missing time period, so there was no evidence to show how this giant step had taken place.
It was a Harvard professor, Alfred Sherwood Romer, who identified this hole in the fossil timeline, and so it became known by scientists as ‘Romer’s Gap.’
Long before vertebrates evolved legs, there was already life on land. Fossil evidence includes 475 million year old fossil spores of liverwort-like plants, and a 425 million year old air-breathing millipede from Stonehaven.
Scotland has evidence of the first terrestrial ecosystem in the world, preserved in a bed of sediment called Rhynie Chert, in Aberdeenshire. This 410 million year old rock is made from silica (the same material as glass), and was formed from hot volcanic springs. It contains plants with beautifully preserved cells, primitive spiders and the oldest known fossil insects. A fungus was also living at that time that grew up to 9m tall!
Yet there was no evidence of tetrapod life on land.
There were, however, tetrapods living in the water. Fossils show that they had four limbs, and looked as though they should be equipped for life on land. However, the limbs of these animals were not adapted to support them out of water. Their feet had as many as eight toes, and scientists now believe they used their legs to crawl along lake and river beds.
But how did these ‘fish-with-legs’ become adapted to life on land during Romer’s Gap?
Fast forward past the Gap, and there is ample evidence of tetrapod life on land. The earliest tetrapod fossils found after Romer’s Gap show that amphibians were now well adapted to walking on land. These new animals had long, slender limb bones and had evolved the ability to breathe on land. They also had no more than five toes on their feet - a basic foot pattern that has remained with every form of tetrapod since, from reptiles to humans.
Some of the best-preserved fossils of these animals were found in Scotland, particularly at the East Kirkton Quarry in West Lothian.
But how had the pre-Gap water-dwellers evolved into these almost reptile-like land lubbers? Without fossil evidence from the Romer’s Gap period, nobody knew.
Scientists had been searching for answers to the Gap mystery since it was first identified in the 1950s. Some scientists believed that oxygen levels were too low for tetrapods to survive on land, so they simply hadn’t existed. Stan Wood, a self-taught Scottish field palaeontologist, was not so sure.
Stan had found many important fossil-bearing sites during five decades of searching, including the site at East Kirkton Quarry where the earliest post-Gap tetrapods were discovered.
His friend and colleague, Tim Smithson, had found tantalising yet incomplete evidence that tetrapod fossils were to be found in the Scottish Borders. Armed with this knowledge, Stan and Tim began investigating outcrops of rocks at several sites across the Scottish Borders. These sites, especially Willie’s Hole at Chirnside, contained a diverse range of fossils, from fishes and scorpions to millipedes and plants. Eventually, Stan and Tim discovered tetrapod fossils dating from within Romer’s Gap. Part of the missing chapter had been found.
Spurred on by Stan’s discoveries, scientists went to excavate the site at Willie’s Hole, hoping to find more evidence of tetrapod life on land. What they found was truly amazing.
Buried within the river bed were remarkably complete fossils of animal bones, surrounded by fossilised plants and arthropods such as millipedes and scorpions. Such a complete ecosystem, alongside unique evidence of early land-based tetrapods, had never been seen before.
These fossils allow scientists to piece together the world and environment of the early amphibians, and give us important clues about the mystery of the tetrapod journey from water to land.
The Romer’s Gap tetrapods found in the Scottish Borders are extremely diverse. A wide range of body sizes have been discovered, including large tetrapods such as ‘Ribbo’ below, confirming that oxygen levels can‘t have been too low to restrict growth.
Many of the fossils found show that key adaptations were already becoming similar to those of the tetrapods living after Romer’s Gap. These include changes in limb structure, and well-developed lungs for breathing out of water. Such adaptations would have allowed these tetrapods to walk on land. However, detailed study has suggested that their legs were probably still too weak to allow them to walk without their body being in full contact with the ground.
Many of the Romer’s Gap fossils were discovered during a major research project funded by the Natural Environment Research Council (NERC). This project has been running since 2012 and, taking Stan Wood and Tim Smithson’s discoveries as a starting point, aims to discover more about life during Romer’s Gap. A group of leading experts from across the UK, including scientists from National Museums Scotland, are running the project.
In the summer of 2015, scientists from National Museums Scotland completed a major excavation at Willie’s Hole. This excavation was unusual because the fossil-bearing rocks were located in a river bed and covered by fast flowing water. The river had to be diverted to allow the scientists to remove the fossils from the bedrock.
The excavation site lies beneath the Whiteadder River.
A dam is erected around the excavation area to divert the river and drain the site.
The completed dam.
Once the dam is erected, the excavation site is drained.
Scientists at work at the excavation site.
Carefully splitting rocks in search of fossils.
Examining finds at the excavation site.
A fossil find.
Selected fossils are carefully packed away and removed for further study.
Fossils cannot be understood without placing them in the context of their age and environment. Clues about these can be pieced together from the sediments in which they were found. Scientists are able to extract fossil pollen and spores, which can indicate the age of the rock and reveal what kind of plants were present at the time. Structures in the rock, such as cracks caused by drought and traces of roots, can provide information about ancient environments, and chemical analyses allow scientists to learn about ancient climates.
Traditionally, fossils in rock could not be properly studied without exposing them using either mechanical tools or acid. These highly skilled processes are usually slow and difficult, and may damage the fossil or leave it in a fragile state.
A newer way to observe hidden fossils has radically altered this process. The use of X-Ray CT scanning allows scientists to scan the fossil before creating a digital model, which can then be enlarged and printed on a 3D printer. This technique was used by the NERC team to study the Romer's Gap fossils.
Fossils found in Scotland are beginning to answer many of the questions originally posed by the mystery of Romer's Gap. However, there is still more of this fascinating story of evolution to uncover and the research continues. As Romer's Gap closes, a new gap in our knowledge opens, as we still do not fully understand why tetrapods evolved the ability to walk and breathe on land.
Full independence from water came when one branch of tetrapods evolved waterproof skins and eggs that could hatch on land. These were the first amniotes, the next stage in tetrapod evolution.
Westlothiana lizziae was one of the fossils discovered by Stan Wood at East Kirkton Quarry in West Lothian. ‘Lizzie’ may be the oldest known amniote in the world, dating from 345 million years ago, and is on the the cusp of becoming one of the earliest reptiles.
Will Scotland’s rocks reveal the next stage in the evolution of life on land?
Header image: Illustration of tetrapods on land © Mark Witten.
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The main characterization of this religion is the secrecy associated with the particulars of the initiation and the ritual practice, which may not be revealed to outsiders. the mystery schools pdf century, the details of these religious practices are derived from descriptions, imagery and cross-cultural studies. Because of this element of secrecy, we are ill-informed as to the beliefs and practices of the various mystery faiths.
We know that they had a general likeness to one another”. Through the 1st to 4th century, Christianity stood in direct competition for adherents with the mystery schools, insofar as the “mystery schools too were an intrinsic element of the non-Jewish horizon of the reception of the Christian message”. They too were “embraced by the process of the inculturation of Christianity in its initial phase”, and they made “their own contribution to this process”. The Mysteries were thus schools in which all religious functions were closed to the uninitiated and for which the inner workings of the school were kept secret from the general public.
An individual could easily observe the rites of the state religion, be an initiate in one or more mysteries, and at the same time adhere to a certain philosophical school. In contrast to the public rituals of civil religion, participation in which was expected of every member of society, initiation to a mystery was optional within Graeco-Roman polytheism. Many of the aspects of public religion such as sacrifices, ritual meals, and ritual purification were repeated within the mystery, but with the additional requirement that they take place in secrecy and be confined to a closed set of initiates. The Roman establishment found Christianity objectionable, and even subversive, not on grounds of its tenets or practices but because early Christians saw their faith as precluding participation in the imperial cult. The mystery schools offered a niche for the preservation of ancient religious ritual, and there is reason to assume that they were very conservative. | <urn:uuid:18c69ed6-ee50-4258-ba4a-3d597bd466eb> | {
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For measuring motos speed there can Optical interrupter used like H21A1. This is a device where IR LED and photo-transistor is coupled in to plastic housing. The gap between then allows interrupting signal with opaque material and this way switching the output from ON to OFF.
This device can be connected to Microcontrollers ICP pin and this way measuring PWM disk (with hole in it) speed can be measured. Disk has to me fixed to axis of motor. Each time the hole of disk passes the gap, optical interrupter will form a pulse which goes to ICP pin to trigger the timer. If take measuring interval 1s, then counted pulses will be equal to turns in Hz.
Lets take Atmega8 microcontroller which is clocked at 8MHz. For this lets use timer pre-scaler 8, then timer will run at frequency equal 1MHz(period 1μs ). Each time the pulse reaches ICP(Atmega8 – PB0 pin) pin then on falling front of pulse input capture interrupt occur. Interrupt service routine counts the number of timer pulses between two pulses. Number of timer counts define the disk speed (RPM – revolutions per minute).
T – duration of one disk turn. The results will be displayed on 2×16 LCD. LCD is connected to AVR as follows:
LCD data pins to AVR PORTD;
LCD control pins to AVR PORTC (RS->PC0, R/W->PC1, E->PC2).
#define RPM 60000000u
#define ICP PINB0
//timer overflow counter For more detail: Measuring motor speed and display result on LCD using ATmega8 microcontroller
This free embedded project also found using:
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Title: Diagram of the State of Missouri
Description: Map of Missouri marked off into blocks of land, each six miles square, known as townships. Symbols indicate whether or not the townships have been subdivided by surveyors. Lead, iron, copper, coal mines are indicated, as well as salt works. Third in a series of four maps showing the progress of surveys in Missouri.
Dimensions: 19 x 24 in.
Notes: Surveyors Office, St. Louis, Oct. 30th 1845. S.Doc. No.16.
Creator: United States; United States Congress; F. R. Conway
Call Number: SC117, Series 3-9: Missouri #19
Local Subject: Missouri; Surveys; Boundaries; Surveyors; Mining
Digital Format: TIFF
Repository: Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri
Rights: Reproduction (printing, downloading, or copying) of images from Kansas City Public Library requires permission and payment for the following uses, whether digital or print: publication; reproduction of multiple copies; personal, non-educational purposes; and advertising or commercial purposes. Please order prints or digital files and pay use fees through this website. All images must be properly credited to: "Missouri Valley Special Collections, Kansas City Public Library, Kansas City, Missouri." Images and texts may be reproduced without prior permission only for purposes of temporary, private study, scholarship, or research. Those using these images and texts assume all responsibility for questions of copyright and privacy that may arise.
Item ID: 162844
Item Type: Map
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The term glaucoma refers to various eye disorders, all of which are progressive and tend to result in damage to the optic nerve (which is a bundle of roughly one million nerve fibers that are responsible for transmitting visual signals from the eye to the brain). Glaucoma is considered to be loss of vision as a result of damage to the nerve tissue.
Primary open-angle glaucoma is the form of glaucoma patients experience most often, and it’s caused by an increase in the pressure of the fluid in the eye. Such pressure can cause gradual damage to the optic nerve over time and loss of nerve fibers. It can ultimately result in vision loss and even blindness.
1) How Old You Are
Most people over 60 are at risk, but African Americans tend to experience an increased risk after age 40. After these markers, the risk for glaucoma goes up each year.
2) Your Race
African Americans are more likely than Caucasians to develop glaucoma and to experience permanent vision loss as a result. Asians are more likely to develop angle-closer glaucoma, with people of Japanese descent being especially more likely to get low-tension glaucoma. Latin Americans are most at risk in very elderly populations.
3) Your Family History
If your family has a history of glaucoma, you’re more likely to develop it yourself.
4) Other Medical Conditions
Having certain medical conditions can increase the chances you’ll also develop glaucoma. Heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, and low blood pressure have all been linked to glaucoma. Many people worry about high blood pressure (which can cause vision loss from glaucoma if left untreated), but few people worry about their blood pressure getting too low (hypotension). Nevertheless, hypotension is as serious a medical condition as hypertension and can cause damage to the optic nerve, resulting in vision loss.
5) Physical Injuries In And Around The Eye
Getting hit in the eye isn’t just extremely painful, it can also cause the pressure in the eye to escalate, either immediately after the injury and/or some time after the incident itself. Severe trauma to the eye can also dislocate the lens, which causes the drainage angle to close, thereby increasing pressure on the eye and causing all sorts of problems.
6) Other Risk Factors Related To The Eye
The anatomy of the eye itself varies slightly from person to person and the unique way your eyes are constructed might put you at an increased risk for glaucoma. For example, how thick your cornea is and the appearance of your optic nerve can both provide an idea of your personal risk for glaucoma. Conditions you might have developed over time, such as retinal detachment, tumors and any kind of inflammation in or around the eye, can all cause and/or exacerbate glaucoma. Some studies have also suggested you might be at increased risk for glaucoma if you’ve experienced a lot of nearsightedness.
7) Use Of Corticosteroids
Use of corticosteroids for an extended period of time has been linked to secondary glaucoma.
Glaucoma is a frightening prospect that can seriously inhibit our independence along with our vision. Because age is a primary factor in the development of glaucoma, you should be especially vigilant in looking out for it as loved ones get older, especially if they have one or more of the other risk factors.
At Stillwater Senior Living, we do everything we can to answer the questions of our seniors in our community. If we do not have the answer, we will find someone that does.
CONTACT US TODAY for more information and a tour of our beautiful state-of-the-art community.
It can be hard enough to move one family member into an assisted living facility, but what if both parents are still living and one or both of them require professional care? Even if one spouse is perfectly healthy and active, they may not be able to fully care for their ailing partner, especially in the case of degenerative illnesses, such as Alzheimer’s and dementia, in which they need to be monitored full time.
As people continue to live longer, it is becoming increasingly common for people over the age of 60 to report that they are still married, rather than single or widowed. Assisted living facilities all over the country are adapting and coming up with solutions to accommodate the varying needs of aging couples.
Here’s what you can do if you’re thinking about moving your parents into an assisted living facility:
1) Do Your Research
Depending on where you live and your financial situation, you may have a variety of facilities to choose from. Find out what each facility offers, including their options for couples, their ratings, their pay scales, etc.
The earlier you do your research the better. Don’t wait until you already need the facility because then you’ll be pressed for time and an emergency situation might develop. Be prepared with your information so that, as soon as you start seeing warning signs, you can begin talking to them about their options for assisted living.
2) Know the Costs
Long-term care for elderly family members can place a high financial burden on families, and again, the earlier you prepare, the better off you’ll be. In addition to saving early and often, your research into facilities should include the types of payment they receive. Not all of them accept Medicaid and which facilities you can afford will depend on which ones accept the types of payment you can provide.
In the case of couples where one partner needs more assistance than the other, it’s good to know that most facilities only charge each partner for the services they use. This means that, if one partner is still fairly independent while the other needs extensive care, the independent partner will only pay for room and board while the other will be charged for their medical expenses and necessary monitoring.
3) Be Prepared to Compromise
The aging process is different for everyone, but that doesn’t mean couples have to be separated. Just as compromises had to be made when they first moved in and started their lives together, they will be equally necessary when the time comes to move to an assisted living facility. Each partner will have different physical, medical, and emotional needs and it’s important to make sure they all get met. That will inevitably require some sacrifices on both sides, but for many couples, the process of moving into the next phase of their lives in an assisted living facility can be made that much easier if they can stay together.
There are many options available to help a seniors stay together. Here at Stillwater Senior Living, our staff will do everything they can to ensure a smooth transition into the next adventure of their marriage.
CONTACT US TODAY to find out ore and take a tour of our beautiful state-of-the-art community. | <urn:uuid:6b633160-bdd9-44f4-8f4f-2c42ec01dd21> | {
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The rEDI Educational Board can be powered via the USB connection or with an external power supply. You can not use power from both at the same time. Jumper JP1 selects the power from either the USB connection, or the power jack/battery. Jumper JP3 selects the voltage regulator source as either from the jack or the battery terminals.
External (non-USB) power can come either from an AC-to-DC adapter (wall-wart) or battery. The adapter can be connected by plugging a 2.1mm center-positive plug into the board’s power jack. Leads from a battery can be inserted in the battery screw-down terminals.
The board can operate on an external supply of 7 to 12 volts. If supplied with less than 7V, however, the 5V pin may supply less than five volts and the board may be unstable. If using more than 12V, the voltage regulator may overheat and damage the board. The recommended range is 7 to 12 volts.
The power pins are labeled as follows:
- VIN. The input voltage to the board when it’s using an external power source (as opposed to 5 volts from the USB connection or other regulated power source). You can supply voltage through this pin, or, if supplying voltage via the power jack, access it through this pin.
- VCC/5V. The regulated power supply used to power the microcontroller and other components on the board. This can come either from VIN via an on-board regulator, or be supplied by USB or another regulated 5V supply.
- 3V3. This power pin is supplied by the 3V3 voltage regulator within the FTDI FT232RL USB to serial converter. It can supply a maximum of 50 mA.
- GND. Ground pins.
The ATmega644P has 64 KiB of flash memory for storing code (of which 2 KiB is used for the bootloader). The ATmega644P has 4 KiB of SRAM and 2 KiB of EEPROM (which can be read and written with the EEPROM library).
Input and Output
Each of the 32 digital pins on the rEDI can be used as an input or output, using pinMode(), digitalWrite(), and digitalRead() functions. They operate at 5 volts. Each pin can provide or receive a maximum of 40 mA and has an internal pull-up resistor (disconnected by default) of 20-50 kOhms. Some pins have specialized functions:
- Serial: 0 (RX) and 1 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. These pins are connected to the corresponding pins of the USB connection, used to communicate externally or upload sketch code.
- Serial1: 2 (RX) and 3 (TX). Used to receive (RX) and transmit (TX) TTL serial data. This hardware serial port is free for use.
- External Interrupts: 2, 3, and 8. These pins can be configured to trigger an interrupt on a low value, a rising or falling edge, or a change in value. See the attachInterrupt() function for details. The external interrupts (pins 2 and 3) can not be used at the same time as Serial1.
- PWM: 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10. Provide 8-bit PWM output with the analogWrite() function.
- The servo headers are connected to pins 4, 5, 6, and 7 (Servo 1, 2, 3, 4, respectively).
- (optional) If an LCHB is connected, pins 9 and 10 are used for 1EN and 2EN respectively.
- SPI: 10 (SS), 11 (MOSI), 12 (MISO), 13 (SCK). These pins support SPI communication.
- I2C: 24 (SCL) and 25 (SDA). Support I2C (TWI) communication using the Wire library.
- AREF. Reference voltage for the analog inputs. Used with analogReference().
- Reset. Bring this line LOW to reset the microcontroller. Typically used to add a reset button to shields which block the one on the board.
- Switch/LED combos: 28, 29, 30, and 31. These can be either used as switches, or as LEDs. To utilize both the LED and the switch at the same time, you can use the LitSwitch library.
The rEDI Educational Board has 8 analog inputs, each of which provide 10 bits of resolution (i.e. 1024 different values). By default they measure from ground to 5 volts, though is it possible to change the upper end of their range using the AREF pin and the analogReference() function. Some pins have specialized functions:
- Thumb wheel trim-pot: A6. You can use this for easy 10 bit digital wheel input.
- Jack/Battery voltage monitor: A7. This analog input monitors the input voltage just before the voltage regulator. You can use it to monitor the battery voltage for display or other control.
The rEDI Educational Board has a number of facilities for communicating with a computer, another Arduino, or other microcontrollers. The ATmega644P provides dual UART TTL (5V) serial communication, which is available on digital pins 0 (RX0), 1 (TX0), 2 (RX1), and 3 (TX1).
The SoftwareSerial and NewSoftSerial libraries allows for serial communication on any of the rEDI’s digital pins.
The ATmega644P also supports I2C (TWI) and SPI communication. The Arduino software includes a Wire library to simplify use of the I2C bus; see the documentation for details. To use the SPI communication, please see the ATmega644P datasheet.
The rEDI Educational Board can be programmed with the Arduino software (download). See the downloads and installation information for configuring the Arduino software to work with the rEDI Educational Board.
The ATmega644P on the rEDI Educational Board comes preburned with a bootloader that allows you to upload new code to it without the use of an external hardware programmer. It communicates using the original STK500 protocol.
You can also bypass the bootloader and program the microcontroller through the ICSP (In-Circuit Serial Programming) header; see these instructions for details.
Automatic (Software) Reset
Rather then requiring a physical press of the reset button before an upload, the rEDI Educational Board is designed in a way that allows it to be reset by software running on a connected computer. When this line is asserted (taken low), the reset line drops long enough to reset the chip. The Arduino software uses this capability to allow you to upload code by simply pressing the upload button in the Arduino environment. This means that the bootloader can have a shorter timeout, as the lowering of DTR can be well-coordinated with the start of the upload.
This setup has other implications. When the rEDI Educational Board is connected to either a computer running Mac OS X or Linux, it resets each time a connection is made to it from software (via USB). For the following half-second or so, the bootloader is running on the rEDI. While it is programmed to ignore malformed data (i.e. anything besides an upload of new code), it will intercept the first few bytes of data sent to the board after a connection is opened. If a sketch running on the board receives one-time configuration or other data when it first starts, make sure that the software with which it communicates waits a second after opening the connection and before sending this data.
The rEDI Educational Board contains a trace that can be cut to disable the auto-reset (remove R6). The pads on either side of the trace can be soldered together to re-enable it.
The maximum length and width of the rEDI Educational Board PCB are 4 and 3 inches respectively, with the USB connector and power jack extending beyond the former dimension. Four screw holes allow the board to be attached to a surface or case. Note that the distance between digital pins 7 and 8 is 160 mil (0.16”), not an even multiple of the 100 mil spacing of the other pins. | <urn:uuid:e1848a7d-69cd-4903-895a-7d0c6e65d166> | {
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Use of Banana Peels (Musa Sapientum L.) Waste Material as Potential Low-cost De-leading Agent in Contaminated Water
1.1 Background of the Study
At present age there is a rapid increase of contaminants in the environment, but one of the major global concerns is the heavy metal concentrations in the environment as a result of man’s activities and since the biosphere is a closed system this heavy metals remains on earth and continuously increase as the human population increase. The acute and chronic effects of these heavy metals especially lead have been a worldwide concern. In fact in April 2000 the use of leaded gasoline was phased out in Metro Manila, such movement was partly due to the implementation of Clean Air Act of 1999 as well as the environmental concern of previous president Fidel V. Ramos .
Add an intro here about the presence and sources of lead and correlate it with the possibility of contaminating waters.
Conventional methods for metal removal in water include chemical precipitation, lime coagulation, ion exchange, reverse osmosis and solvent extraction . Although this methods for the removal of heavy metals from wastewaters, however, are often cost prohibitive having inadequate efficiencies at low metal concentrations, particularly in the range of 1 to 100 mg/L. Some of these methods, furthermore, generate toxic sludge, the disposal of which is a burden on the techno-economic feasibility of treatment procedures .
The search for new technologies involving the removal of toxic metals from wastewaters has directed attention to biosorption, based on metal binding capacities of various biological materials. Biosorption can be defined as the ability of biological materials to accumulate heavy metals from wastewater through metabolically mediated or physico-chemical pathways of uptake . Biosorption for the removal of heavy metal ions may provide an attractive alternative to physico-chemical methods .
The major advantages of biosorption over conventional treatment methods include low cost, high efficiency of metal removal from dilute solution, minimization of chemical and/or biological sludge, no additional nutrient requirement, and regeneration of biosorbent and the possibility of metal recovery .
In this present study, Musa sapientum L. peels, which are available in large quantities or from business operations may have potential to be used as low cost de-leading agent, as they represent unused resources, widely available and are environmentally friendly.
1.2 Significance of the Study
The researcher aims to generate a low-cost de-leading agent that may be beneficial to the following:
Readers –Generating awareness of the readers about the prevalence and increasing concern for heavy metal contamination of Philippine waters.
Researchers – To help them in developing an inexpensive and effective biosorbent that is easily available in large quantities in the Philippines and feasible economically for lead contaminated water.
Policy Makers – They would be able to create policies about waste water treatments in factories and as well as those who are engaged in the treatment facility of water consumed by the public like MAYNILAD.
1. 2 Statement of the Problems
Conventional methods of removing lead from the environment are said to be cost-prohibitive and generate toxic sludge. In this study the researches sought answers to the following problems:
1. Can the peels of Musa sapientum (L.) (Fam. Musaceae) reduce the level of lead ions from contaminated water. 2. What is the optimum pH of the solution for banana peels to exhibit maximum Biosorption capacity? 3. What is the effect of contact time on the Biosorption capacity of banana peels? 4. What is the effect of initial metal concentration of lead in the solution to the amount of lead...
References: Saikaew, W., Kaewsarn, P. and Saikaew, W., 2009. Pomelo Peel: Agricultural Waste for Biosorption of Cadmium Ions from Aqueous Solutions. World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology, 56 [online]. Available at: http://www.waset.org/journals/waset/v56/v56-56.pdf. Accessed 25 June 2012.
AjayKumar, A.V., Darwish, N.A., and Hilal, N., 2009. Study of Various Parameters in the Biosorption of Heavy Metals on Activated Sludge. World Applied Sciences Journal, 5 (Special Issue for Environment), pp. 32-40 [online]. Available at: http://www.idosi.org/wasj/wasj5(s)/5.pdf. Accessed 25 June 2012.
Volesky, B., 1990. Biosorption of Heavy Metals. USA: CRC Press, p. 408.
Fourest, E.; Roux, J. C., (1992). Heavy metal biosorption by fungal mycelia by-product mechanisms and influence of pH. Appl. Microbiol, Biotech. 37 (13), 399-403 (5 pages).
Kapoor A, Viraraghavan T (1995). Fungal biosorption- an alternative treatment option for heavy metal bearing wastewater: a review. Bioresource Technol., 53(3): 195-206. Doi:10.1016/0960-8524(95)00072-M. R. Dart ed., Medical Toxicology, 3rd ed., 2004, Lippincott Williams and Wilkins, USA.
Riddell, T. J., et al., Elevated Blood-Lead Levels Among Children Living in the Rural Philippines, World Health Organization, vol. 85, no. 9, 2007, pp649-742.
C. Klassen ed., Casarett and Doull’s Toxcology, 6th ed., 2001, McGraw Hill Companies, USA.
B. Volesky and Z. R. Holan, Biosorption of Heavy Metals, 1995, Department of Chemical Engineering, McGill University, Canada.
Anhwange, B. A. et al., Chemical Composition of Musa Sapientum (Banana) Peels, Electronic Journal of Environmental, Agricultural and food Chemistry, vol. 8, no. 6, 2009, pp 437-442.
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Buddhism has a powerful influence in all forms of life in Bhutan. Buddhist ethos has molded the thinking, cultural values and traditional beliefs of Bhutanese society. Buddhism believes in interdependency and compassion. Two sects of vajrayan Buddhism – Drukpa Kagyud and Nyingma – are practiced in Bhutan.
Guru Padmasambhava, also popularly known as Guru Rinpoche, “the precious master”, first introduced Buddhism in the8th century A.D. Until then, bonism was in vogue. Guru’s teachings laid the foundation for Buddhism to flourish and also gave birth to Bhutan’s unique culture and tradition. Subsequent to Guru Rinpoche’s visit, numerous Buddhist masters from Tibet visited and settled in Bhutan, further spreading and strengthening the legacy of Buddhism that prevails even to this day.
Bhutan’s landscape is dotted with numerous Buddhist temples, stupas, and monasteries, built centuries ago. Bhutanese are generally a spiritual people and old and young would be seen circumambulating chotens (stupas) and offering butter lamps. Spirituality has been a cornerstone of Bhutanese society. | <urn:uuid:cd750dda-c34d-418b-a07e-db92bf6317d5> | {
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A pentagon has five sides and five interior angles which add up to a total of 540 degrees. To determine the number of degrees of the interior angles in a pentagon requires subtracting two from the number of sides (five) and multiplying by 180.
The prefix penta- in pentagon is from the Greek and means "five," according to Dictionary.com. Regular pentagons have all equal sides and all equal angles, while the degrees of angles and lengths of sides vary in an irregular pentagon. The angles are each 108 degrees in a regular pentagon. The Pentagon in Washington, D.C. is a large five-sided construction that houses the Department of Defense for the United States government. | <urn:uuid:64486719-5b0b-4331-84f8-7517031f37bc> | {
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Dai Ethnic Group
The Dai ethnic group lives in the southern part of Yunnan Province, mainly in the Xishuangbanna region. The area is subtropical, with plentiful rainfall and fertile land.
Local products include rice, sugar cane, coffee, hemp, rubber, camphor and a wide variety of fruits. Xishuangbanna is the home of China's famous Pu'er tea. The dense forests produce large amounts of teak, sandalwood and medicinal plants, and are home to wild animals including elephants, tigers and peacocks.
The Dai language belongs to the Chinese-Tibetan language family and has three major dialects. It is written in an alphabetic script.
The history of contact between the Dai and Han peoples dates back to 109 B.C., when Emperor Wu Di of the Han Dynasty set up Yizhou Prefecture in southwestern Yi (the name used to signify the minority areas of what are now Sichuan, Yunnan and Guizhou provinces). The Dais in subsequent years sent tribute to the Han court in Luoyang, and among the emissaries were musicians and acrobats. The Han court gave gold seals to the Dai ambassadors and their chieftain was given the title "Great Captain."
According to Chinese documents of the ninth century, the Dais had a fairly well developed agriculture. They used oxen and elephants to till the land, grew large quantities of rice and had built an extensive irrigation system. They used kapok for weaving, panned salt and made weapons of metal. They plated their teeth with gold and silver.
In the 12th century, a Dai chieftain named Bazhen unified all the tribes and established the Mengle local regime with Jinghong as the capital, and called it the "Jinglong Golden Hall Kingdom." According to local records, the kingdom had a population of more than one million, and was famous for white elephants and fine-breed horses. It recognized the Chinese imperial court as its sovereign. When Bazhen ascended the throne, he was given a "tiger-head gold seal" by the Emperor, and the title "Lord of the Region." Previously, the Dais in the Dehong region had established the Mengmao Kingdom, with Ruilijiang as the capital.
During the Yuan Dynasty (1271-1368), the Dai area was subordinate to Yunnan Province and the system of appointing hereditary headmen from among the ethnic minorities was instituted; this system was consolidated during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
Dai Ethnic Group | <urn:uuid:9d703316-7144-4299-9dfc-28856101d0f6> | {
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