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Your intervertebral discs are found between the vertebrae (bones) of your spine. They cushion the joints and allow your spine to move in different directions, such as forward and backward.
Disc injuries are common and they often heal without treatment. However, if a disc is damaged in such a way that it can’t function normally, disc replacement surgery might be recommended.
Disc replacement surgery involves taking out an old damaged disc and replacing it with an artificial disc. The goal is to replicate the form and function of the spine’s natural disc, so you can move normally again.
During the procedure, a small incision is made over the affected disc area from the front of the spine. The damaged disc is removed in order to relieve pressure on the spinal cord and nerve roots that are causing the pain. Once the damaged disc is removed, the artificial disc is implanted and secured.
A disc replacement is an alternative to spinal fusion surgery, which involves removing the disc and “fusing” the two neighboring bones together.
Disc replacement might be needed when some experiences significant low back pain due to disc injuries or degenerative spinal discs. It’s most commonly performed in the lumbar spine (lower back) because this is where we typically find painful degenerative discs. A disc replacement may be helpful for patients suffering from:
That said, not all patients with chronic low back pain or damaged discs are suitable for disc replacement surgery – your specialist can talk you through all the options available depending on your condition and medical history.
You might be a candidate for disc replacement surgery such as a lumbar disc replacement if you meet the following criteria:
You may also need various scans, such as an MRI scan, to determine if disc replacement surgery is the right procedure for your needs.
Even if you’re not a candidate for disc replacement surgery, other options may be open to you. It all depends on your condition and the severity of your symptoms – your spine specialist can provide more information.
All surgical procedures carry some risk. However, lumbar disc replacement is generally considered safe and effective for the right candidates.
The risks associated with surgery such as disc replacement include:
Your specialist can talk you through the risks so you can make an informed decision about your health.
The recovery time varies depending on individual patients.
After the procedure, you will be monitored in hospital for a day or two. It’s generally advised you start standing and walking gently within the first few days of disc replacement surgery to keep your spine and muscles mobile.
Once you’re deemed fit to go home, you will probably need to restrict some movements for a short period. Your specialist will discuss your rehab and recovery needs before you’re discharged; however, it’s usually advised you should avoid extending (arching) your back for a few weeks at least until your back heals.
Recovery can take a few months, depending on how quickly your body heals. However, recovery from disc replacement is quicker than with some other back surgeries.
No procedure is 100% effective; disc replacement surgery is no exception. Although disc replacement surgery may reduce your pain, there’s a chance it won’t eliminate it completely. The surgery does not prevent you from developing further spinal conditions in the future, either, so it’s important to remember there’s no guarantee you won’t experience pain at a later date.
Disc replacement surgery has, on average, between a 50% and 90% success rate depending on the candidate. Our team has helped many patients resolve their pain through spine surgery – contact us for more information or to arrange a consultation.
It all depends on your condition and your previous medical history. If you decide against disc replacement surgery, or if you’re not a suitable candidate, you may try non-surgical interventions such as:
You may also explore surgical options including:
A spine specialist can discuss your options and help you devise a treatment plan based on your condition. Our team offers a wide range of surgical and non-surgical interventions for patients with spinal conditions – contact us to find out more.


Ruptured Ovarian Cysts - Symptoms and Treatment
Last Updated: December 27th, 2010
Each month as a woman goes through her menstrual cycle follicles in the ovary grow. Among these a single follicle will house an egg and expel it after maturation. The follicle or sac within which the egg is contained dissolves. In some cases the egg may not be released from the sac or the sac does not dissolve and gets filled with fluid. This will result in an ovarian cyst. The ovarian cyst may grow and eventually be dissolved or absorbed by the body.
There are occurrences however, wherein the ovarian cyst is not dissolved and bursts instead resulting in a ruptured ovarian cyst. This is potentially harmful and can even be life threatening.
Symptoms and Treatments
A common cause of a ruptured ovarian cyst is disordered folliculogenesis- this is brought about by the lack of leutenizing hormones (LH). Leutenizing hormones are released from the pituitary gland of the brain. This is what signals the ovary to release the egg from the follicle. A lack of this will cause eggs to remain attached to the follicles and later develop into cysts that may rupture.
Symptoms of a ruptured ovarian cyst may include:
- Menstrual irregularities- this refers to problems within the menstrual cycle. This can be manifested by getting periods too frequently, not getting periods or unpredictable menstrual periods.
- Pelvic pain- this is characterized by a pain that can radiate from the lower back to the thighs that can be constant or dull. This can also occur shortly before or after menstrual periods
- Dyspareunia- pelvic pain felt on the onset or in the process of sexual intercourse
- Nausea and vomiting- a queasiness in the stomach that may or may not include an urge to let out the contents of the stomach similar to that experienced during pregnancy
- Breast tenderness- a sensitivity in the breasts
- Fullness or heaviness of the abdomen- a feeling of pressure or being bloated in the abdominal region
- Pressure on the rectum or bladder- a weight in the areas of the rectum or bladder
- Excretion problems- difficulty emptying the bladder completely and difficulty with bowel movements.
- Weight gain- an increase in body mass
Treating a ruptured ovarian cyst can be treated with any of the following:
- Oral contraceptives- taking in birth control pills or hormone supplements can help regulate the menstrual cycle and prevent the development of follicles which can grow into ovarian cysts
- Pain relievers- non steroidal drugs and anti inflammatory medication can help reduce pelvic pain
- Warm compress- applying warmth to the lower abdomen next to the ovaries can relax muscles and reduce cramping and discomfort.
- Surgery- in cases where the ruptured ovarian cyst becomes a threat, it may be removed through surgery
See our main page for step by step ovarian cyst treatment.
Required Disclaimer: I am not a doctor or certified healthcare practitioner. The Ovarian Cysts Treatment program and www.ovariancyststreatment.com contain information that is based on personal experience, the experiences of other women suffering from ovarian cysts and PCOS, online and offline research. Medical doctors were consulted in the creation of Ovarian Cysts Treatment, but the information on this website and in the Ovarian Cysts Treatment ebook is not intended to be a substitute for visiting your own doctor.
Most doctors are not aware of alternative treatment methods for ovarian cysts and we recommend you share the information in Ovarian Cysts Treatment with your doctor and proceed with their approval. There are risks involved with any medical treatment and you should consult your doctor before beginning treatment.
Natural Cure For Ovarian Cysts - Ovarian Cyst Symptoms - Ovarian Cyst Treatments - Ruptured Ovarian Cysts Symptoms and Treatment - What Are The Type of Ovarian Cysts - What Causes Most Ovarian Cysts
Copyright © 2016 Yew First Publishing, Inc - All Rights Reserved


The Kasai river slides far across the plain. When the rains come, the sandbars in the middle – where fishermen have built temporary encampments consisting of straw huts – will disappear, making the river wider still.
Local people will tell you it’s just a rivière; in this country, they reserve the word fleuve, a big river, for the mighty Congo alone.
Mushie is built on one bank of the Kasai river, in the way that towns in other countries spawn from main roads. The town is two hours in a fast boat from Bandundu, and seven hours along the river in the other direction from the provincial capital, Inongo. There is no road. It’s only when you travel these inland waters, passing the standing fishermen paddling their pirogues – passing the dugout canoes and the big, flat cargo boats, laden perilously low in the water with families sitting on top of their goods – that you get a true sense of the scale of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The country is as big as western Europe, with its people scattered across small villages lying along the rivers, in the forests and on the plains.
If you were going to try to stamp out a lethal disease, you wouldn’t want to be doing it here. Yet that is what’s happening. In DRC, a country tarnished in international eyes by war and violence, Congolese doctors are finally winning the battle with sleeping sickness, a disease of west and central Africa that became an epidemic thanks partly to the enforced displacement of peoples and poverty caused by the policies of invading European colonialists.
Rowing pirogues along the river.
At the turn of the millennium, there were roughly 30,000 cases in DRC. Last year, there were 1,100. In the first half of this year, 350 were recorded. On the horizon is the tantalising prospect of elimination. The vast majority of the world’s remaining cases, 85%, are in DRC. “If DRC eliminates sleeping sickness, the world eliminates sleeping sickness,” says Dr Victor Kande, former head of the government programme to fight the disease.
Kande, the man they call the father of sleeping sickness, is 68 now and walks carefully, eyes on the uneven ground, taking the long way around to avoid steps to the hospital ward at Mushie. He is venerated. And passionate. “You have to love it,” he says of the work.
Dr Victor Kande in the sleeping sickness ward at Bandundu general hospital.
At the age of 27, shortly after finishing medical school, he was the only doctor for 11,000 people in a village in Équateur province, to the north of Bandundu. A 12 year-old boy was brought in by his parents, tied up with ropes. His name was Jérome.
“He was talking a lot. He was angry. His parents said we brought him here because he can’t be with other people. He is very agitated,” says Kande. “They took him to a traditional healer but he could do nothing.”
Kande had been briefed on the diseases he would see in this region and the symptoms rang a bell. He went away to look through his medical textbooks: sleeping sickness. The early stages were innocuous – headaches, joint pains, fever. Then the symptoms would apparently go away. Sometimes it would be several years before the madness began. Victims would shout, accuse people, get violent. And start sleeping a lot. Then a lot more, until they could barely be woken for food. Finally, they would slip into a coma and die.
The parasite that causes sleeping sickness, trypanosome, is seen here magnified under a microscope. These parasites are transmitted to humans by tsetse flies, resulting in sleeping sickness.
“I went back to see the patient and felt his lymph nodes,” he says.
They were lumpy, the most telling sign. He took a fluid sample. The lab confirmed that the trypanosome could be seen under the microscope, the parasite that causes sleeping sickness, transmitted from one person to another through a bite from the tsetse fly, which feeds on human blood.
“I asked the nurse how we treat sleeping sickness,” says Kande. “He said that there was a store where there were drugs from Belgian times.”
This was in 1977. The Belgians left after independence in 1960.
“We opened the box and found melarsoprol. There was no expiry date,” says Kande. “I read in my book how to use it.”
Melarsoprol was an arsenic-based drug introduced in 1949.
The rapid spread of sleeping sickness during the late 19th century was a result of the opening up of Africa, and followed the sequence of the European invasion along the Congo River.
Melarsoprol, an arsenic-based drug, was introduced for the treatment of sleeping sickness in 1949. For over half a century, it was the only drug for the late stage. It kills 5-10% of the patients treated. Jérome was among the lucky ones, probably because he was young. He had nine injections over three weeks and was cured.
“I was really happy. The young man became really close to me. He came to my house and ate with me and became like my son,” says Kande.
An image of a tsetse fly outside a sleeping sickness treatment ward at Bandundu general hospital.
DRC, a country riven with problems, is an ever present near the bottom of global leagues for development indicators. The war that raged in the country from 1998 to 2002 war was the most lethal anywhere in the world since the second world war. A second Ebola outbreak in a year is now slow-burning in the worst possible region of the country, conflict-riven North Kivu, where UN peacekeepers try to deter rival factions from slaughtering each other.
But amid political uncertainty and disturbances, Congolese doctors have not wavered in their determination to end the scourge of sleeping sickness. The national programme for the control of African human trypanosomiasis sends out screening teams to actively search for cases in villages, offering blood tests, lymph node fluid testing and even lumbar punctures. They target settlements in the forests and on the river banks, where the tsetse flies live and feed on the blood of fishermen, farmers and their families.
In these remote rural areas, where there is no running water or electricity without a generator, Congolese doctors and nurses have been running clinical trials of a new drug that could transform treatment.
Flying over Bandundu.
Bandundu alone, where most cases occur, spans 300,000 sq km – an area bigger than the UK. And it’s what they call “dynamic”. Whole villages move. They run from sleeping sickness and are not on the map. The government does not know they exist. Using satellite technologies, heat sensors that can suggest where there are inhabited houses in the forests, and sampling data from census teams that give an idea of how many generally live under one roof, the programme has found 10,000 villages that nobody knew were there.
Life on the riverbank.
In the bigger villages, mobile screening teams set up under shelters made from palm leaves and branches. A massive, battered register on the first of three tables lists every family in the village – with spaces for children yet to be born – and the years in which they have been screened. Everyone who arrives is allotted a number and joins the queue, sitting on a snaking row of plastic chairs, moving up one chair at a time until they reach the second table, where basic screening – the card agglutination test for trypanosomiasis (Catt) – is performed. They get to choose which finger is pierced with a needle, and their blood is then collected in a thin plastic tube. The screener, in a white coat, mixes a drop with a deep-blue coloured fluid containing antigen on a paper slide. When 12 blood spots are ready, the paper is gently vibrated for five minutes in a small machine. If there is a clumping of dark specks in a blood spot, the person is recalled and sent to a third table for further tests.
Mobile screening teams perform card agglutination tests.
Some faces show fright, even horror, as they sit alone at the third table. Belinda Bizaka, 17, in school uniform with two blue biros twisted in her hair, looks bored and embarrassed. She’s back for a rescreen because this happened three months ago. The confirmatory tests that time were negative. There are three, involving two more blood tests and a sample of lymph node fluid from her neck.
Belinda says she didn’t know tsetse flies carried sleeping sickness. “I was bitten on the farm,” she says, muttering the words with teenage hostility. “This month. I go to school every day and then work on the farm.” Once more, the tests are negative. Belinda stares into the middle distance.
Mini mobile teams on motorbikes access the remoter villages, carrying all the screening kit they need. The tablets they bear – which have the potential to transform not only the fight against this disease but, in future, others too – record information about the location and health of individuals that is automatically uploaded to a data bank owned by the ministry of health in Kinshasa. Malaria cases, childbirth, vaccinations. One day, all that knowledge could be collected and acted upon.
The motorbikes could not get to Chaida’s village, however. The little boy is seven, but looks like a four-year-old. He has been ill for years, says his father, Zindo, and suffers from headaches, fever and lack of appetite.
Zindo: ‘My son was sleeping and whining all the time’
“He used to cry all the time,” says Zindo. “We went to health clinics and were told it was malaria. When the treatment the boy had did not work, we thought it was sorcery. We went to a traditional healer.”
Chaida got no better and was falling asleep all the time. His father heard about the screening team visiting Lebida village. He put his small son in a pirogue and paddled the half hour along the river to get there. The tests revealed the parasites. A lumbar puncture in the base of the spine showed it was stage two sleeping sickness, affecting the brain. Chaida and his dad were put on the back of motorbikes and taken straight to Mushie hospital.
Chaida was given fexinidazole, the new drug that Congolese doctors have been trialling. It was discovered by the Drugs for Neglected Diseases Initiative (DNDI), an international collaboration that grew out of the frustrations of volunteer doctors of Médecins sans Frontières, who did not have the treatments they needed to save lives.
Because he is in a trial, run according to strict protocol, we are not allowed to use Chaida’s full name or show his face. But after two weeks of daily pills, he has become a happy little boy with a cute grin and an infectious laugh. He capers around the ward and chases chickens in the hospital grounds. The doctors say he sings and dances. His father sticks both thumbs up at this reincarnation of the boy he barely remembers. “He couldn’t play with others. In the classroom he was sleeping all the time,” he says. He now intends to take his wife to the screening team. “My wife may also have sleeping sickness. She sleeps. She can’t cook well for the children.”
If anyone suggests she is under a spell, he says: “I will tell them it is not witchcraft.”
This belief that sleeping sickness is caused by sorcery has destroyed lives. Alfred Mpayambe, 55, was a fisherman in Mushie, with his own dugout canoe and an income that supported his wife and two children. Then he started suffering headaches, developed skin lesions and lost weight. Over two years, he spent 300,000 Congolese francs – roughly £146 - visiting health clinics (where he was told it was hypertension) and traditional healers (who said he’d been bewitched by his uncle).
Alfred Mpayambe: ‘I thought it was witchcraft’
“I stopped working because it was very serious. My mother, my brother and friends thought I was going to die,” he says.
Marie Kibuku Bizier, 74, his mother, was almost sure it was sleeping sickness. Her generation had seen a lot of it. “When he was ill he had many troubles and he was very aggressive,” she says. “He shouted that I was a witch. He even beat me. I ran away. That is why my brother was angry.”
When the disease brings on its madness, family and neighbours believe the victim has been cursed. Witch hunts are not unknown and have sometimes ended horribly, with a blazing tyre around the neck of the accused.
In the end, Alfred went to Mushie hospital, where Dr Tim Mayala, lead investigator there of the fexinidazole trial, diagnosed and enrolled him, at a very late stage. His left arm and leg were partly paralysed. “He was sleeping in the day and in the night. We had to take him to bathe, to wash or to clean his clothes,” says the doctor.
Alfred took the fexi tablets he was given in hospital once a day for 10 days and was cured. His problems are not over: his arm is still too weak for paddling or fishing; his wife has left him; and someone stole his boat while he was ill.
“I want my wife to come back but now it is not possible because I must bring money into the family,” he says. His uncle is still not speaking to him. “I must find a solution, because living this way is not good. My mother and I are just alone. We need to make it up, but my uncle doesn’t want that.”
Dr Wilfried Mutombo Kalonji and his team.
Dr Wilfried Mutombo Kalonji of DNDI, the coordinator of the trials, cannot forget two patients who died from melarsoprol in 2004, when he was a young doctor in Kasai province. It marks you. “Both men were about 20 or 25, and young and strong. I was the only medical doctor for about 800 people. They came in and we did the lab tests and found they had sleeping sickness and I gave them the only treatment we had. The guys started feeling worse and worse. They had seizures and confusion, went into a coma and died.
“They come with their parents and they trust you. Sometimes the family will look at you like a criminal, as if to say: ‘You killed my son.’ This was a very, very bad experience.
“Melarsoprol was terrible. We also had many relapsed cases. In Kasai, half the patients relapsed. Half were cured but half were not.”
Kande, who rose to become the first director of DRC’s sleeping sickness programme, lobbied for diagnostic tests and treatments with the World Health Organization, donors, European tropical medicine institutions, NGOs and anyone else who would listen. The arrival of the Catt test was his first triumph. But he, like every other doctor who had nothing else to give his patients, was appalled by the deaths from melarsoprol.
A sleeping sickness patient at Mushie hospital.
“I asked the question at that time, at the WHO – ‘We don’t have drugs, the few drugs we have cause severe side effects, they kill, people die. What are we to do?’” he says. None of the pharmaceutical companies wanted to help. There was no chance of any financial reward.
DNDI was set up in 2003 to find drugs for a group of tropical diseases for which there could be no profit for pharma. For sleeping sickness, it decided to trial a combination including a drug called eflornithine, which worked in the second stage but was prohibitively expensive – although it made money in the west in hair removing cream. Combined with other drugs as nifurtimox-eflornithine (Nect), less of it would be needed, making it cheaper.
Clinical trials are complicated, bound up with rules and protocols that make them difficult even in Europe and the US. Running such a thing in the heart of DRC was at the very least ambitious.
Dilapidated local hospitals had to be refurbished. Wards needed paint; they needed new, easily cleanable floors, better beds, an incinerator for hospital waste, microscopes, centrifuges, ECG machines to check the health of hearts, and other equipment to meet standards required in the western world. Hospitals had to be selected that were reachable by the small planes run by the Mission Aviation Fellowship, which transports aid workers. Local medical staff had to be trained in record-keeping and how to gain informed consent from a sick patient who cannot read or write and has no concept of what a clinical trial might be.
“We developed tools and pictures, explaining in a very easy way,” says Dr Wilfried. “Most patients are poor. We provide food and the treatment is free. So to be fair, we give food and free care to all the patients with sleeping sickness, whether or not they are on a trial.”
Nect was licensed with the help of trial evidence from DRC in 2009. But it has to be given through twice daily infusions by trained staff in a hospital for a week. The kit for one patient weighs 10 kilos. DNDI’s investigators were given access to some of the big pharmaceutical companies’ compound libraries, where records are kept of molecules that have been discovered but for which a commercial use has not yet been found. They hit on fexinidazole, which Hoechst, now part of Sanofi, had begun testing in the 1970s but abandoned when it appeared there was no longer a big market in the affluent west for drugs against infectious diseases. Pharma focused on cancer, heart disease and other chronic illnesses instead.
Dr Helene works at Bandundu General Hospital.
DNDI’s trial compared patients on NECT with those on fexi. The cure rate was much the same, but the advantages of fexinidazole were great. It works in both stages one and two, obviating the need for a painful, invasive lumbar puncture to identify the relevant type. It is in pill form, which makes it easy to transport and administer. The Congolese doctors are now waiting to hear whether fexi will be approved by the European Medicines Agency.
It’s a triumph for the Congolese doctors, who are now moving into trials of another pill, which they hope will be a single-dose cure that patients could take at home.
Dr Erick Miaka, with his tsetse fly trap.
Dr Erick Miaka, the head of DRC’s sleeping sickness programme, says the hardest cases are the last ones – not only villagers in the remotest places, where motorbikes can’t reach, but also people in more accessible homes who don’t come for screening because they no longer fear it. He is looking forward to getting 15m tsetse fly traps in place on the rivers to cut the chain of transmission. “In 2019 it is necessary to intensify all the activities, if possible,” he says.
He is proud of what they have achieved in DRC. It is a quiet triumph for a country that has such a bad image. “On the TV they talk more of the war in the east than the medical success story,” he says with a wry smile.
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Colors are an essential part of human life. They keep us alive, gives a sense of freshness and have always made human life meaningful. We see colors all around us and most of us who either go to paint their house or works in a graphic field would know about the color wheel.
Sir Isaac Newton developed the first color wheel in 1666. Since then the wheel has been improvised, enhanced and varied numerous times by artists and scientist. The color wheel is distinguished into different color groups.
Colors have been improved a lot and modified into different types. This color theory is described in 3 types:
The three colors derived from hues, who cannot be further mixed or formed with any combination of other colors. Such as Yellow, Red, and Blue.
The second type is secondary colors, these are the colors that are formed by the mixture of primary colors. Such as Purple, Orange, and Green.
This third type of color is a mixture of primary and secondary colors, which is why the colors are two named such as red-violet, blue-green, and yellow-orange.
Warm Colors Vs Cool Color
According to the psychologists, colors have different psychological effects on our brain. The color wheel is categorized in sequence with colors being located with similar colors in a suitable position. These colors are then distributed into warm colors and cool colors according to their effect.
We decide colors from the color pallets and use them according to their effects. Warm colors are originated from the idea of sun and fire. They provide feelings of warmth. They are considered to provide energizing, comforting, and inviting spirits. Such as red, yellow and orange.
Yellow is a source of light and attracts attention. It stimulates the brain, which is a reason it is used as a warning sign when combined with black.
Yellow is also a sign of happiness, enjoyment, and entertainment. It alters the brain, increases focus and concentration and brain memory.
Red is used as a warning sign and creates an alarming situation, which is a reason it is a dominant color. It helps to gain attention and has high impact. It brings feelings of excitement and happiness.
Red has been always associated with love, anger, and pain as well as energy and food.
Orange is an effective color, that boosts energy and refreshes the human brain. A more similar effect to what yellow color has, such as bringing positivity and optimism as well as high spirit.
The other half of the color wheel that makes us feel calm, relax and in peace. They are blue undertones, the sky, ice, water, and grass. They provide soothing feelings. Such as blue, green, and purple.
Both tones of colors provide different effective effects on our brain. According to those effects we use these colors in graphic designing. They provide perception and depth to a design. The colors weather, warm or cold releases waves, such as red waves are longer than blues.
Mixing both tones or using them together we must focus on the contrast of temperature and controlling the intensity.
Blue is a lucid and balanced color. Brings calmness, coolness, and peace. Blue is associated with meditation, deepness, security, safety. As well as helps in brain development and improves concentration.
Green is associated with growth and prosperity, provides a sense of security and relief as well. Green is used for logic and is linked to nature. It is soothing for the eyes as well as the brain.
Green is said to have an impact on language skills, artistic activities, dancing and cooking schools as it helps in learning.
Purple is a sign of luxury, wisdom, and creativity. It is formed with a mixture of Blue and Red. It also provides a sense of power and magic. Purple is said to have an effect of calmness and usually is used in home décor.
Purple used for brands shows, royalty and premium services as it used to be one of the most expensive colors to reproduce.
The mixture of both warm and cold colors gives us neutral colors. They are dull and clam colors. Neutral is not a part of the color wheel but is both cool and warm colors. Such as shades of browns, tans, golds, beige, and black, are usually considered to be warm neutrals, while shades of white, cream, ivory, gray, and silver are usually considered to be cool neutrals.
Types of Color a part of Web and Print Design
Colors are an essential part of a design. Whether its web, graphic or print design we need colors to enhance our designs. In Web and Print Design different types of colors are used from what is on the regular color wheel.
RGB colors are used in our computers and T.V sets. RGB is a combination of Red, Green and Blue, the primary colors. As we all know any color could be produced with the combination of these three colors. This type is based on light and light sources are doesn’t apply to print.
The name CYMK stands for Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black pigments. These four colors could be used to achieve any color, but less in comparison to RGB colors. This type is used for printers, especially in Newspaper printing.
Pantone (PMS) Spot Color
The last printing color method is PMS, stands for ‘Pantone Matching System’, created by Pantone Corporation. This type is created to replace CYMK colors, to make the colors pigments more refine and pure.
These spot colors are expensive but useful when the color is used on a minimum scale in design. PMS colors give a very specific color and always prints the same if once created. Based on a vast library of colors, updated yearly as well.
Psychological Effects of Warm and Cool Colors
As both colors are important, both have a different psychological effect on our brain and mood. Colors have a deep impact on our perception and we show a different reaction to different objects according to their color.
The combination of an effect of colors is used in graphic designing to create an impact on consumers. Such as advertisers often use warm colors to provide a sense of urgency, such as with red clearance signs, as well as optimism and joyfulness.
While cool colors have the opposite effects, as they provide a sense of calm and relaxation. The cool colors are used in designs to show a sense of health, tranquility, and wisdom. Blue, purple and green are used in marketing to carry a sense of trustworthiness and growth.
Create Balance with Colors
To create a design and use colors from all types, there should be a balance between the colors. If your design is warm and shows excitement, the warm color should show dominance. But if your design has elements of comfort and trust cool colors should lead the way.
In web designing, it is very important to work on a composed and balanced design, covering all important elements and contrast. To start a project, you need to consider the message you want to provide with the design you are designing.
Whether you are showing optimism, clarity or peace and strength. Knowing the difference between warm and cool colors is the first step.
Both groups of colors show variety and are an essential part of life as well as in designing. Colors could be used according to a person’s aesthetic sense and artistic appeal. Different shades evoke different effects on the human brain as well as on their moods.
If you’d like to read more about colors and web designs, read our blogs and comment below your suggestions.


Economic Indicators Project
Question #1: Economic Indicators:
a. What is an economic indicator?
An economic indicator is a statistic about an economic activity. Economic indicators allow analysis of economic performance and predictions of future performance. One application of economic indicators is the study of business cycles. Economic indicators include various indices, earnings reports, and economic summaries.
b. Briefly define of each of the following, and say why each may be considered an economic indicator:
i. Real GDP：
The production of goods and services valued at constant prices.
Why: Because GDP includes the market value of the housing services provided by the economy’s stock of housing. It is an important data for economic indicator, compared with nominal GDP; real GDP depends on constant prices.
ii. Consumer Price Index
A measure of the overall cost of the goods and services bought by a typical consumer.
Why: it is an important data to know the situation for consumer. iii. Consumer Confidence Index
A survey by the Conference Board that measures how optimistic or pessimistic consumers are with respect to the economy in the near future.
Why: CCI will influence how people consume in recent time and how they consume in near future.
iv. Unemployment Rate
The percentage of the labor force that is unemployed.
Why: A important data to know how many people are unemployed, it also can analyze the income and consume.
v. Housing Starts
Housing starts is an economic indicator that reflects the number of privately owned new houses (technically housing units) on which construction has been started in a given period. This data is divided into three types: single-family houses, townhouses or small condos, and apartment buildings with five or more units.
Why: it can influence the number of new houses, important part of investment. vi. Retail Sales
Retail is the sale of goods and services from individuals or businesses to the end-user. Retailers are part of an integrated system called the supply chain.
Why: according to the data of retail, people can know the situation of consume for whole economy. vii. S&P 500
The S&P 500 is a stock market index based on the market capitalizations of 500 large companies having common stock listed on the NYSE or NASDAQ.
Why: People can look the data of S&P 500 to choose stocks, influence saving and investment.
viii. Manufacturing Inventories
Manufacturing Inventories refers to the goods and materials that a business holds for the ultimate purpose of resale (or repair).
Why: the sales status of manufacturing can be analyzed by inventories, people also can know the financial situation.
ix. The Prime Rate
The Prime Rate is a term applied in many countries to reference an interest rate used by banks.
Why: People need to think about the prime rate then decide to save money on bank or not, also an important data of percent value and future value.
Question #2: GDP
a. Obtain data for the following variables for the United States in 2012.
i. Gross Domestic Product (Y) ii. Consumption (C) iii. Investment (I) iv. Government Spending (G)
v. Exports (EX) vi. Imports (IM)
According to the table by National Income or Expenditure:
i. Y=15681.5 (Billions of dollars) ii. C=11,120.9 (Billions of dollars) iii. I=2058.6 (Billions of dollars) iv. G=3062.9 (Billions of dollars)
v. EX=2182.6 (Billions of dollars) vi. IM=2743.3 (Billions of dollars)
b. Confirm and illustrate that Y = C + I + G + (EX – IM)
Take the data outlined above as an example:
Y = C + I + G + (EX – IM)
According to calculator, 11120.9+2058.6+3062.9-560.8=15681.7, because all numbers is billions of dollars, so there is a little error.
c. What share of GDP is composed of consumption? What share of GDP is composed of investment? What share of GDP is composed of government


The standard ignition system in SR20DET engines is quite good. It features coil on plug ignition instead of a distributor (SR20DE) . Most misfires and other problems come from the age of the components rather than an inherent design deficiency.
The ECU references its internal tables and sets a target ignition timing for a given load and RPM. It then creates a signal to stimulate the coil pack and fire the spark plug at the correct time.
From the FSM:
The ignition signal from the ECM is sent to and amplified by the power transistor. The power transistor turns on and off the ignition coil primary circuit. This on-off operation induces the proper high voltage in the coil secondary circuit.
The key concept of the ignition coil is that it is a step up transformer. It actually has two coils inside. There is a huge difference in the amount of windings in these primary and secondary coils. The primary coil receives current and creates an electromagnetic field. Once this current is removed, the magnetic field breaks down and the secondary coil, which has many many more windings than the primary, converts the energy to a voltage in the tens of thousands range. For example, if the secondary has 100 more windings than the primary, the spark will be 100 times the initial voltage. Enough to create a strong enough spark in the heat and pressure of the combustion chamber.
It’s important to note that while current through the ignition coil charges it, it discharges automatically once that input current is removed. This means the ECU needs produce its signal to start the charging BEFORE it wants the actual spark to occur. Each brand of coil has a set ‘dwell’ time for this. If the ECU uses too short a dwell, the coil will not have charged enough energy, if the ECU uses too long a dwell time, the coil may be over charged, over heated and be damaged.
The ECU produces a 5 V signal that is not strong enough to energise the primary coil sufficiently. Even if it were, the resulting high current through the ECU pin would damage it. Therefore, the signal pin from the ECU for each cylinder feeds into a power transistor, commonly called the igniter chip. The 5 V signal from the ECU is used in this transistor to switch the 12 V power supply to the primary coil. A 12 V input is always supplied to the primary coil, but the circuit is incomplete until the 5 V signal causes the power transistor to connect ground. This explains why the power transistor is said to be an amplifier. It uses a 5 V signal to send 12 V to the coil packs.
The igniter chip is simply a set of transistor switches for completing the circuit. They cannot be upgraded for ‘more power’ because all they do is act as a switch. It either works or it doesn’t. A failure would necessitate replacement, perhaps to a unit from another car because of convenience or availability. There is no such thing as a more powerful unit.
A really long but really good video exists that breaks down the entire ignition system of the engine. It starts with old school points style distributor based systems, and then covers more modern coil on plug systems. It’s Australian too.
Differences in S13/14 to S15 SR20DET
S13/14 have what can be referred to as ‘dumb’ coils, as they require an external igniter chip. S15 have a ‘smart’ coil, as the igniter is inbuilt into each coil pack, meaning the raw ECU signal can be wired to them directly. It should be clear then that S15 coil packs are not compatible with earlier model SR20DETs due to this.
The S14 ignition schematic below shows the power transistor unit in place. You can see that the 12 V feed comes from the bottom black line, through the primary coil (left hand squiggle in coil packs), and into the power transistor. The small black arrows show the flow of current from positive (12 V) to negative (ground):
The S15 ignition schematic shows a lack of separate power transistor. The ECU signal wires go straight to the coil packs. The power transistor is inside each coil pack. When 5 V is received on pin 3 and grounded on pin 2, it switches the transistor on and allows the 12 V input from pin 1 to travel through the primary coil (upper squiggle) and also ground on pin 2.
Many cars develop a miss as they wind in additional boost. This is known as ‘blowing out’ the spark. The easiest fix is to gap the spark plugs narrower, so that less electrical energy is required for the spark to bridge the gap.
Many claim that a new set of factory coil packs can support high boost and power, so it’s likely that the units that misfire have a perished section of insulation. The spark travels sideways through the unit to the head rather than going through to the spark plug. The spark simply finds the path of least resistance. It only takes a tiny crack or split to induce this, so visual inspection might yield no result.
My grey 180 never had any issues with misfires at 220 rwkw. The components probably weren’t old enough. The white Sileighty has slowly developed a misfire, however, probably due to the age of the coil packs. I was after a solution that was cheap, not too hard to install and at least as effective as a set of new, factory coil packs.
Option 1 – Replacement Factory Coil Packs
These are available from Taarks for $126 each. Straight plug and play replacement, super easy. Likely to support high boost with gapped down plugs for thousands of kilometres.
Option 2 – Spitfire/Yellow Jacket replacement Coil Packs
These are also plug and play. The Spitfires are a pretty blue colour but internet wisdom says they are not actually any stronger than factory. There are also mixed reports about reliability with stories of dead on arrival units. Some people claim to have gotten better results switching back to new factory coils. Available for $169 each from Just Jap.
Yellow Jackets are cheaper alternative available by searching on eBay.
Option 3 – LS Coil Packs
These coil packs are ‘smart’, and pack a lot of electrical punch. They are also fairly cheap, around $130 each from eBay. The pick is the ‘LS2 truck’ unit, called the LQ9. They are high output and have a built in heat sink. The trouble with any LS coils is that they are not coil over plug (‘COP’), which means they won’t fit snugly inside the rocker cover. Instead they will need to be mounted on some sort of custom bracket, with spark plugs leads routed to the top of each spark plug:
Option 4 – Yaris 1NZ Coil Packs
Toyota coilpacks from Yaris 1NZ and similar engines have a similar size to the factory Nissan units. They are ‘smart’ coils, with the igniter built in. They should be readily available for a long time to come because they are from a much newer car. Best of all, they are very, very cheap. Goleby’s Parts have a kit with four new coil packs, new plugs and little adaptor brackets for $270.
Other late model coil packs might be suitable as well. Ultimately all that needs to match is the shape. If they have a built in igniter, then the wiring will always be 12 V, ground and a 5 V ECU signal. Newer coil packs have a strong spark to help with modern emissions standards. Ensuring the air/fuel mixture is completely combusted helps with emissions, so even non performance cars such as the Yaris will have high power coil packs.
My Choice: Yaris
I couldn’t go past the value of the Goleby’s kit. I addition to the value, Yaris coil packs are said to support comfortably more than 100 hp per cylinder at over 20 psi boost. There is a detailed thread here which compares the late model Toyota coil packs. Searching Google will yield numerous results about how these have been used on high power 1JZ and 2JZ engines, as well as some serious SR20s. Goleby’s claim the upgrade is good for 1000 hp!
The only issues come around the wiring, with the factory igniter chip needing bypassing and the plugs needing changing in the coil pack harness.
Deleting the Igniter Chip
As the Yaris coils have a power transistor built in, The factory SR20DET igniter chip needs to go. The new coils are expecting a 5 V signal, so connecting them to the standard chip which aims to ground a 12 V current when switched by the ECU will not get us very far. It is the equivalent of connecting the new coil’s input signal to ground.
The cheapest way to eliminate the power transistor is to wire straight across it. The loom could be cut and soldered either side of the unit, or the unit could be opened, its internals removed and wires bridged from one side to another. Each wire goes straight across and the ground (labelled ‘G’) is ignored:
Instead of this, I found a bypass connector from a shop in the states: SR20DET Ignition Chip Bypass. Shipping and exchange rate brought it up to about AU $120, but you can’t beat the ease of install and reversibility.
Modifying the Coil Pack Harness for the New Plugs
Another win for me was that I had previously purchased a spare coil pack harness for $40 second hand. This meant I could use it to cut and crimp the new 1NZ connectors to, leaving the original intact. Doing it this way ensures that the mod is reversible by reinstalling the factory harness.
The wiring for the new coil packs is as follows (from http://www.sq-engineering.com/tech-articles/coilpack-info-guide):
[Pin 1] Earth / common ground: This grounds each coil to the body / earth, an electric connection to to the cam cover alone is not at all suggested.
[Pin 2] IGT / trigger: The signal wire to activate the firing of the coil, triggered directly from the ECU’s ignition output. These can paired with another coil for a waste spark connection, for example using two ECU ignition outputs to run four coil packs. See the next section for more on this subject.
[Pin 3] IGF / ignition feedback: Used by OEM ECU’s to confirm the firing of the ignition coil. If a coil malfunctions the ECU will sense the lack of this fire confirmation and put itself into a fault / limp mode. This is not normally used at all with an aftermarket /stand-alone ECU and hence only three wires are used for each coil.
[Pin 4] Power (+) / ignition power: This is the main power supply for all of the coils, this power feed is activated when the key is turned to the “Ignition” position. The most common and suggested method of connection during a conversion on a four cylinder is to remove the power feed from the original single ignition coil and use it to power all four of the new coil packs.
The wiring for the old harness is as follows:
Small Black (with yellow boot under plug) – Ground
Black with yellow stripe – 12 V
Thick Black – Signal
Small Black (with yellow boot under plug) – Ground
White – 12 V
Red with stripe (stripe colour varies for each cylinder) – Signal
Although there is variation in colour, the 12 V is always the middle wire, ground is always the small black outer wire, and signal is the remaining wire.
On my spare harness, I busted open the factory plugs. It doesn’t matter if you break them, so be firm if necessary. After the yellow central retainer is removed, there will be a small plastic lever that is bent away to allow the corresponding wire to pull out easily. The crimped connectors are very similar to the new ones that will be fitted. The yellow boot on the ground pin can be seen below:
Bend the standard crimped section to reveal as much wire as possible and cut the wire, leaving it as long as you can. Strip back a bit more of the sheathing, slide the new rubber boot over and crimp the connector that came with the new Toyota plugs. I found the ground was so small it needed to be doubled over, and the 12 V wire was so big it hardly fit. Because of this, I ended up soldering over the top of the crimp for maximum reliability.
Using the diagrams above I inserted each wire into the connector until they produced a satisfying click. When looking from the orientation shown in the picture below (release clip up), the sequence is as follows: ground, signal, empty, 12 V. The pictured connector is for cylinder 1.
A bit more electrical tape to tidy and insulate and all the parts are ready to plug and play. Everything looks factory, which is ideal for me. It took me about 90 minutes to change the four plugs. As the standard connectors were disassembled and snipped, the harness length should be close to stock and have no trouble reaching.
First is the igniter chip bypass. It simply clips in as shown, with a cable tie through the lower bolt hole of the removed igniter to keep it against the edge:
Next is the coil pack harness. The large connector plugs right in, and the ground terminal is secured with a 12 mm bolt near the rear corner of the rocker cover.
Next is the actual coil packs. I purchased the car with some snapped coil pack bolts inside the rocker cover so I’m unable to install the little brackets from Goleby’s at this stage. Number one coil pack is a little tight for clearance on the rocker cover, I’m not sure how well the bracket will fit. Goleby’s does say the kit is for S13 non VTC in fairness. The new coil packs fit more snugly over the spark plugs than the old ones. More force is needed to pull them up and off the top of the spark plugs. The modified harness fits as well as factory.
Start Her Up!
At this point you can verify everything is wired correctly by starting the car. Mine fired up immediately and idled a little smoother than before. Great to know that a lot of research and theoretical knowledge was verified. The car should run and drive perfectly at normal loads without any other changes. This mod isn’t to improve gentle running, however, so an ECU tweak is needed for performance.
Dwell Changes in the ECU
The factory coil packs have a dwell time of 1.9 ms (0.0019 seconds). According to the Toyota coil page linked above, the 1NZ coils need 2-3 ms. Without the ECU tweak the primary coil will not be energised long enough to deliver its full capacity and misfires may still result.
3 ms is 1.5789 times the factory 1.9 ms. I opted to multiply the factory dwell values by 1.5 which will put them at 2.85 ms, with the 2-3 ms range but at the upper end. There are two tables in Nistune for dwell. ‘Dwell time’ sets the dwell vs battery voltage. The lower the voltage, the longer the dwell needs to be to compensate and maintain performance. This is the main alteration required. For each value, multiply by 1.5. If it puts the value over the 255 maximum, enter 255.
The before and after is shown below. The new values are shown in the table and graphed in red. The original values are graphed in purple.
Update: After losing a new coil pack, I have lowered the dwell time. I previous aimed for 1.5 times the factory 1.9 ms (2.85 ms). After some more googling I have now adjusted to be 1.26 times the factory 1.9 ms (2.394 ms). Hopefully this setting is more reliable. Ultimately you want the lowest value possible that still makes enough spark under load at boost. I can always creep it up if the engine misfires.
A second table exists called ‘Dwell duty cycle’. This aims to alter the dwell at specific RPM. It might be adjusted to help at idle or to add some oomph at higher RPM. At this stage I will be leaving it alone.
Wow! The car must have been running sub optimal for quite some time because it really feels amazing now. The engine is smoother in general and there is no longer any hesitation and matching muted engine note on boost. During tuning, winding in boost gave little return, but now there is a clear difference between the 16.5 psi low boost and 21.7 psi high boost. The car really sits me back in the seat, the most it ever has, even on a really hot day. I can’t wait to take it to the drags to see what it can do.
An important point is that I can feel such a distinct difference because the previous coil packs were on the way out. Replacing working units with these would probably only yield results once the boost and power were greatly increased.
If you are starting to push for significantly more power or can sense any form of misfire, this mod is really worthwhile. My new coils are powerful, cheap to replace and give a factory appearance once installed. For $450 (coil pack kit: $270 + Igniter chip bypass: $120 + spare coil pack loom: $40) and about 2 hours of time, the improvement is amazing.


Jonathan Carlyon is an associate professor of Spanish in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures.
When Spanish conquerors first arrived to Cuba, they were struck by the new varieties of food. One writer, Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo (1478-1557), wrote in his Summary on the Natural History of the Indies that the New World held numerous meats and fruits. For example, in his chapter on armadillos, Oviedo declared: “They are a delicious treat … I have eaten them sometimes, and they are better tasting than goat.”
In a later chapter, he discussed vines and grapes, saying: “in those parts of the main land in the mountains and wooded forests one often finds very good wild vines, very full of bunches of grapes, not small, but even larger than those in Spain raised in groves, and not so sour, but better and of better taste, and I have eaten them many times and in great quantity.”
At first glance, one sees the Spanish Conquistador cataloging the spoils of conquest. However, Oviedo’s reference to grapes betrays a hidden grammar of an earlier conquest of the Iberian peninsula by the Roman empire. His focus on grapes, that is, speaks to Spain’s own legacy as a conquered country. The Celts and Iberos of indigenous Spain may have known about wine, but they grew wheat and barley, and they made beer.
Beer and wine form a counterpoint. Wine belongs to the conqueror. Beer, so we are told, pertains to a lower class. In his book Cuban Counterpoint, Fernando Ortiz wrote similarly of tobacco and sugar. He argued that tobacco and sugar, “contradict each other economically and socially.”
This cultural tension, according to Ortiz, served to define Cuba’s relatively quick, 500 year cultural evolution. However, if in Cuba sugar and tobacco achieved some harmony, in Spain the counterpoint between beer and wine took a more dissonant turn.
For example, the Roman historian Pliny the Elder (23AD – 79AD) explained: “From the cereals are also made beverages called zythum in Egypt, caelia and cerea in Spain; the froth of all these is used by women as a cosmetic for the face. But to the beverages themselves, it will be best to pass on to a discussion of wine.”
Additionally, Paulus Orosius (375 AD – 418 AD) indicated these indigenous Spaniards (known as Celtiberians) would fight the conquering Romans, “after having drunk a large quantity, not of wine–which doesn’t abound in his area–but of an elaborately made wheat juice, a juice they call ‘caelia’ because it is necessary to heat it.”
In these examples, we see the cultural tension between beer and wine in pre-Roman Spain. Furthermore, we notice that before Spain imposed its colonialism on the Caribbean, turning Armadillos into exotic fare, the Romans subordinated Celtiberian beer to the development of their imperial wine.
Culinary decisions reflect cultural decisions. In a city like Fort Collins, well-known for its many quality beers, the example of pre-Roman Caelia reminds us of the need always to expand our participation in a diversity of cultural counterpoints.


Photonis to Supply Photosensors for PANDA Barrel DIRC
The Planacon™ square-shaped MCP-PMTs from Photonis have been selected as the photosensors for the Barrel DIRC detector of the PANDA experiment. (PANDA is an acronym of antiProton ANnihilation at DArmstadt.) PANDA is a large particle physics experiment at the Facility for Antiproton and Ion Research (FAIR), an accelerator complex under construction in Darmstadt. Figure 1 shows a cross-section of the PANDA experiment, and indicates the location of the Barrel DIRC detector. DIRC stands for Detection of Internally Reflected Cherenkov light. A total of 128 Planacons will be needed to instrument the whole detector.
Figure 1: The PANDA experiment, with the two DIRC detectors highlighted:
(left) the Barrel DIRC, (right) the endcap DIRC (image courtesy GSI).
A particle traveling at nearly the speed of light passes through a long bar made of synthetic fused silica (quartz), and generates a very small amount of so-called Cherenkov light. After being internally reflected many times, part of this light is detected by panels of extremely sensitive photosensors, see Figure 2. DIRC detectors are crucial for identifying the sorts of particles that pass through, in this case primarily to tell pions (π) apart from kaons (K). This application puts extreme demands on the photosensors. They must sustain good position and timing resolution, while maintaining excellent sensitivity for a number of years. All these requirements must continue while operating under the harshest radiation conditions and in an intense magnetic field. The photosensors cover a total active area of more than 3,300 cm², making it the biggest application of MCP-PMTs worldwide.
Figure 2: The working principle of a DIRC detector illustrated: Cherenkov light reflects multiple times inside a quartz bar, after which it is focused on a plane of photosensors. The particle is identified using the position information. Shown here is how different Cherenkov emission angles between pions (in red) and kaons (in green) lead to different focal points on the photosensor plane. (image: Serge Duarte Pinto, Photonis)
The selection of Planacon as the photosensor of choice for PANDA’s DIRC detector is the result of many years of study, design and testing by research groups in Darmstadt and Erlangen. Beam tests at CERN and other facilities (see Figure 3) have shown the feasibility of this DIRC design, and demonstrated the excellent performance of the Planacon.
This is the latest in a series of tender wins for Photonis’s flagship MicroChannel Plate PhotoMultiplier Tube (MCP-PMT). In recent years Planacons have been selected as photosensors for the MPD experiment at the JINR facility near Moscow, and for the ALICE experiment at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider (LHC), along with many smaller scale applications.
Figure 3: Beam test setup with an array of Planacons behind a quartz expansion prism,
on the right a single quartz bar. CERN, 2018 (photo courtesy Jochen Schwiening/GSI).
The next challenge for both Photonis and the PANDA experiment will be to build the Endcap Disc DIRC (also shown in the Figure 1, to the right), which puts even higher demands on the photosensors. Prototypes have already been made and are under test. More detailed information on both the PANDA DIRC detectors can be found on the GSI website.
To request more information or a quotation for any Photonis products, contact IL Photonics.


Feds: Gas build-up led to fatal Conn. plant blast
MIDDLETOWN, Conn. An industrial practice that involved the widespread release of natural gas at a Connecticut power plant shortly before it exploded is "inherently unsafe," and should be curbed to prevent similar incidents, a federal safety investigator said Thursday.
Six people were killed in the Feb. 7 explosion at the Kleen Energy Systems plant, where workers were cleaning pipes in a common procedure known as a "gas blow."
The 400,000 cubic feet of natural gas blown through the pipes was released into the air in tight quarters, creating an explosive mixture large enough to fill a professional basketball arena, said Donald Holmstrom, lead investigator for the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.
With the U.S. building more natural gas power plants, he said, it is important to develop standards and new methods - such as cleaning pipes with air, steam or other substances - to prevent similar accidents.
"Thousands and thousands of workers across the country will be involved in constructing these plants. The safety of these workers and the nation's energy independence are at stake as these gas-fired plants are built over the next 20 years," he said.
The Middletown explosion comes as power generators are increasingly relying on natural gas to produce electricity because it's plentiful and cleaner than coal, and the use of gas is growing to power factories and heat homes.
Gas is used to make about a fifth of America's electricity. That's expected to grow to 26 percent by 2018 as older, coal-fired plants are retired. There are 35 gas-fired power plants in the U.S. either under construction or built but not yet operational.
The explosion ripped apart the nearly completed 620-megawatt Kleen Energy Systems plant as workers for O&G Industries Inc. purged the gas line.
Exactly what sparked the blast has not been determined, though Holmstrom said there were "several" potential ignition sources nearby.
He would not say what they were, but said that in general, natural gas can be sparked by anything from welders' tools and electrical devices to static electricity.
Several other industrial accidents involving natural gas have occurred in recent years, including one that killed four people last year the ConAgra Foods Inc. plant in Garner, N.C.; and another in 1999 at a Ford Motor Co. power plant in Dearborn, Mich., that killed six.
"Companies must ensure that flammable gases are not vented into close proximity with ignition sources and workers. That is a vital safety message from all these tragedies," Holmstrom said.
The Middletown blast, heard and felt for miles, occurred about an hour after some workers at the site complained of a heavy gas smell.
While some victims' relatives and blast survivors questioned safety standards at the plant and workers' long hours, other workers said the job was handled safely. The plant was scheduled to begin operation in June.
The U.S. Chemical Safety Board investigates serious chemical accidents. State and local authorities have interviewed survivors and sifted through debris for evidence as they conduct a separate investigation into whether there was any criminal negligence.
Holmstrom said the board is examining how the accident could have been prevented; determining exactly what ignited the gas at the Middletown plant is not a major focus of the its investigation.
"Our focus is not on finding out blame," Holmstrom said.
Middletown South District Deputy Fire Chief Marc Fongemie said Thursday that its investigation is continuing. State and local police and the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration also are investigating.
The Associated Press


|Abstract or Summary
- Population attributes, behavior, and activity patterns of
Nuttall's cottontails (Sylvilagus nuttallii) inhabiting a
juniper-sagebrush scabland community in central Oregon were studied
between June 1980 and August 1981. Cottontails were trapped, marked
for individual recognition, and released at their sites of capture.
Data collected by periodic trapping and censusing of cottontails on
the study area indicated that population densities, and rates of
natality and survival of cottontails were similar to those that
occurred during the preceeding 8 years on the same area.
Behavioral and environmental data were collected during systematic
observation periods conducted on a selected portion of the study
area, and during cruises that covered the entire 116-ha study area.
Postures, body movements, and behaviors exhibited by Nuttall's
cottontails were cataloged and compared with those reported for other
leporids. Observed behaviors were classified into the following
categories: feed, rest, locomote, groom, tree-climbing activities,
interspecific interactions, transitional acts, coprophagy,
vocalizations, reproductive social interactions, and nonreproductive social interactions. Of 1,192 behavioral acts recorded during 352 h of
systematic observation, 92.9% represented nonsocial behaviors and
accounted for 92.6% of the total time cottontails were in view.
Behavior of cottontails appeared to be directed towards maintenance of
favorable energy balance; when in view during daytime hours,
cottontails spent most of their time feeding (58.5%) and resting
(23.0%). Nuttall's cottontails were observed to climb in juniper
trees, and this behavior was believed to be an adaptation for
acquiring water in times of moisture stress. Adult social behavior
was observed only during the reproductive season, and accounted for a
relatively small portion (7.4%) of the activity budget of cottontails.
Indices of cottontail activity were examined in relation to
reproductive condition of cottontails collected near the study area
and to environmental conditions at the time of observation.
Correlation coefficients and principal component analysis suggested
the absence of a single dominating environmental influence on
cottontail activity patterns. Seasonal variation in activity of adult
cottontails, particularly males, was related to reproductive
condition; activity increased from the second through fourth breeding
periods then declined during the last breeding period within the
reproductive season. A dramatic decline in activity of adult males
corresponded with regression of testes among cottontails collected
nearby and with cessation of breeding.
Nuttall's cottontails exhibited a bimodal pattern of daily
activity that appeared related to temperature and moisture requirements of rabbits and combinations of environmental constraints
that influenced those requirements. An early morning peak of activity
corresponded with increasing ambient temperatures and near-maximum
plant water content; activity reached a low point during midday, when
air temperatures often were above the zone of thermoneutrality for
rabbits and water availability was minimal; an evening peak of
activity that corresponded to more favorable air temperatures may be
related largely to metabolic demands for energy.


Lyme Disease Treatment
Antibiotic Treatment, Doxycycline, Amoxicillin, Cefuroxime Axetil, Lyme Disease Complications
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has funded several studies on the treatment of Lyme disease. These studies have shown that most patients can be cured with a few weeks of antibiotics, especially if treatment is begun early in the course of illness, taken by mouth.
Antibiotics commonly used for oral treatment include doxycycline, amoxicillin, or cefuroxime axetil. Patients with certain neurological or cardiac forms of illness may require intravenous treatment with drugs such as ceftriaxone or penicillin.
Patients treated with antibiotics in the early stages of the infection usually recover rapidly and completely. However, a small percentage of patients with Lyme disease have symptoms that last months to years after treatment with antibiotics.
These symptoms can include muscle and joint pains, arthritis, cognitive defects, sleep disturbance, or fatigue. The cause of these symptoms is not known. There is some evidence that they result from an autoimmune response, in which a person's immune system continues to respond even after the infection has been cleared.
A few patients, particularly those diagnosed with later stages of disease, may have persistent or recurrent symptoms. These patients may benefit from a second 4-week course of therapy. Longer courses of antibiotic treatment have not been shown to be beneficial and have been linked to serious complications, including death.
Studies of women infected during pregnancy have found that there are no negative effects on the fetus if the mother receives appropriate antibiotic treatment for her Lyme disease. In general, treatment for pregnant women is similar to that for non-pregnant persons, although certain antibiotics are not used because they may affect the fetus. If in doubt, discuss treatment options with your health care provider.


Rep. Zoe Lofgren says the United States has a long history of welcoming immigrants.
During a House Judiciary Committee hearing on Feb. 5, 2013, Lofgren, D-Calif., turned to the history books for perspective on the question of what status to grant newcomers to the United States.
"What makes America special is that people come here, assimilate and become American with all of the rights and responsibilities citizenship bestows," Lofgren said. "With the exception of slavery and the Chinese Exclusion Act, our laws have never barred persons from becoming citizens, and we should not start now."
Lofgren is an immigration lawyer and law professor, which made us that much more interested in checking out her claim that only twice in history has the U.S. "barred persons from becoming citizens."
As the debate over immigration reform cranks up, a key point of contention is citizenship vs. legal residence. On one side are those who favor an arduous checklist that, once completed, grants immigrants all the rights of natural-born Americans. Opponents call that amnesty and argue that immigrants should be limited to a status such as permanent legal residence.
In the hearing, Lofgren warned that anything less than full citizenship could create a "permanent underclass," then mentioned slaves and Chinese immigrants. It’s clear from the context of the discussion that Lofgren was talking about ethnic groups in history who were subject to sweeping bans. But we would point out that even current law prohibits some groups of people from becoming U.S. citizens, namely those convicted of crimes. The law says applicants must be of "good moral character" who adhere to "the principles of the Constitution of the United States."
"The ‘attached to constitutional principles’ (provision) is rarely invoked," said Kevin R. Johnson, dean of the law school at the University of California-Davis. "It previously was used to bar communists, anarchists and sympathizers from naturalization. It also was invoked previously to bar Jehovah's Witnesses who rejected mandatory military service. Criminal convictions are the most likely modern exclusion for naturalization."
Criminals aside, we are focusing in this fact-check on Lofgren’s claim regarding ethnic groups in history.
Starting with slavery, it might seem self-evident that slaves were not considered citizens, but here’s a bit of background.
Delegates to the Constitutional Convention in 1787 clashed over how to count slaves for purposes of representation in Congress and distributing taxes. Southern slave owners wanted them counted, while Northern delegates argued to count only free people. They ultimately reached a compromise that three-fifths of the slave population would be considered for apportioning seats in the House of Representatives. Even though their owners argued for slaves’ "personhood" in this conflict, in all other ways slaves were considered property, not people.
Nearly 100 years later, the U.S. Supreme Court case Dred Scott v. Sanford provided some of the most explicit direction on the subject. Scott was a former slave who had moved to a free state and petitioned the court to grant him his freedom.
Chief Justice Roger Taney wrote the opinion that slaves "were not intended to be included under the word ‘citizens’ in the Constitution, and can therefore claim none of the rights and privileges which that instrument provides for and secures to citizens of the United States."
The decision was overturned in 1868 by the adoption of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution, which proclaimed citizenship for "all persons born or naturalized in the United States," regardless of race.
Now, about the Chinese. About 20 years after the 14th Amendment was adopted, Congress passed the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1882 in reaction to the flood of Chinese immigrants drawn by the California gold rush. The act suspended immigration of Chinese laborers and required any who were already here to obtain certification to re-enter if they left the country. It also explicitly prevented state and federal courts from granting citizenship to Chinese resident aliens.
We asked several immigration historians if Lofgren’s statement was accurate and learned that it needs some clarification and additional information.
Erika Lee, director of the Immigration History Research Center at the University of Minnesota, pointed to the 1790 Naturalization Act as the first U.S. law to limit the rights of naturalized citizenship to "free, white men." We think that falls under the heading of slavery, as Lofgren mentioned, but it’s interesting to note that that law remained in effect until 1952.
What’s more, Chinese immigrants were not the only group besides slaves to be blocked from citizenship. Bill Ong Hing, a law professor at the University of San Francisco and author of the book Making and Remaking Asian America Through Immigration Policy, 1850-1990, said the naturalization laws of 1870 were intended and later interpreted by the Supreme Court to bar all Asian immigrants from becoming U.S. citizens, not just the Chinese.
"The law restricted naturalization to ‘white persons’ and people of ‘African descent,’" said Carl Bon Tempo, a history professor at the University of Albany. "This had the effect of barring certain persons from naturalizing as citizens – most importantly Asians. The Supreme Court, in fact, upheld this racialized naturalization process in the 1920s. In Ozawa v. U.S., the court ruled against the application for citizenship of a Japanese immigrant on the grounds of his race."
Chinese were finally allowed to naturalize in 1943, Hing said, when the Exclusion Act was repealed; Filipinos and Asian Indians in 1946, and other Asians including Japanese in 1952.
Lofgren said that, "with the exception of slavery and the Chinese Exclusion Act, our laws have never barred persons from becoming citizens."
Immigration experts told us that history is more complicated than Lofgren described, with the most important point being that other Asian groups were also targeted by federal immigration laws. Her statement is accurate but for that detail. We rate it Mostly True.


Children can avoid most activity-related injuries by:
- wearing appropriate safety gear, such as a helmet, shin guards or a mouth guard, particularly when playing with bikes or other wheeled toys
- playing in areas that are free of hazards
- doing activities that are gentle and varied – this is especially important for young children, so that developing bones, joints and muscles aren’t strained
- playing against other children of similar size and age when playing competitive sports
- having a break after doing half an hour of physical activity
- not staying too long in cold water when swimming
- drinking water before, during and after playing
- wearing sunscreen and hats during hot weather
- getting the right treatment if an injury does occur
- playing ‘modified’ sports designed for kids.
You can teach your child the correct technique for skills such as throwing and catching. Your child will also need to follow and understand the rules of any sport being played – you can help with this too.
It’s also important to look after your child’s self-esteem. It can get bruised and knocked about during physical activity too!
- If your child doesn’t want to do a particular type of physical activity, it’s best not to force it. Try to find a more enjoyable activity for your child.
- Physical activity is meant to be about fun, rather than criticism, abuse or shouting. Try to keep your child away from any of these, whether from other players, spectators, a coach or parents.
Praise your child’s efforts, point out personal bests, and notice when your child improves at something.


IBIS-FLORA is an interactive platform which proffers a humongous database comprising a working checklist of angiosperms of India embodied with species related information such as synonyms, place of publication, regional bibliography, distributional details, other references, photographs and book excerpts.
The database would provide a baseline data for Indian Flora.
Home page comprises of information on Indian flora, and a tab on recent activities by users
On the landing page of IBIS, user will find a search button, specifying ALL and TAXONOMY.
A comprehensive search for entire database will be provided by selecting ALL and specific species profile page will be provided by selecting TAXONOMY
This Page comprises two major sections-
On left side a Species directory is given wherein the names are arranged in hierarchical manner and the frame on right will provide the species related data.
a. Tree of Taxonomic hierarchy
b. Species Profile
This gives information on the taxonomy i.e. family, genus, place of publication, synonyms etc.
This gives State wise distributions maps for species available
2. IUCN Data
Provides information on IUCN data
3. NCBI Data
Provides information on NCBI data
Provides photographs of plant species in the database
Provides references for the species in the various Indian Floras, books and research articles
Provides Morphological description of species available in copyright free literature
Provides extensions for Biodiversity Heritage library and ReFindit
Maps are providing GBIF point location Data
Centralized repository of bibliography available for 1, 65, 000+ citations, covering major publications from India and world across


Overall, the Catholic system emerges as "relatively moderate and tolerant" (23) in comparison with the Waldensian, and more geared toward developing moral sensitivity than the Catharist
. An analysis of the 14th-century Memoriale presbiterorum and an edited text of part of its interrogatories (both by Michael Haren) likewise show a concern with official corruption, both lay and clerical.
Instead, he tells us that it is "likely" that the intellectual roots of the Catharist heresy lie in "Jewish neo-Gnosticism, the early phase of Cabalism in southern France." Thus, the Jews are really to blame for the Albigensians, and at least partly got what they deserved.
Thus, by a kind of intellectual sleight of hand, it becomes possible to blame the Jews not only for the Catharists but also for their inquisitors.
Both authors discuss the Catharist revival of the late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries, accenting different aspects of it, and both offer epilogues on the later legacies of Catharism.
Lambert and Barber agree on the origin and spread of Catharist dualism.
Italian Cathars and their sixteenth-century heretical cousins do not have much in common, despite Carol Lansing's rather implausible concluding suggestion that Catharist ideas of human perfection somehow fed into Renaissance humanism.
Similarly, although Lansing proposes to place her Cathars in social and political context, the shortcomings of the local records are well illustrated by her ability to identify only three Cathars as from merchant families (really only two, since one of these was guilty through his son), a result which nevertheless helps to support the conclusion that Catharist ideas of self-restraint appealed to rising commercial classes.


After completing my first year as an English teacher, I looked back at some of the most important lessons I learned and one of them was how to overcome students' resistance to writing. I kept hearing the same complaints and excuses whenever they had to write an essay: "I'm not good at writing", "I'm not going to finish in time", "I don't know what to write", etc., etc. At first, I would not accept any excuses and simply expected them to write. Not surprisingly, the essays I received were incomplete and often lacking structure and cohesion. Even when I gave them templates, the students still struggled.
As I was researching different methods of teaching, I found this video on YouTube created by Musings from the Middle School. The information in this video helped me to restructure how I was teaching English and I was able to begin developing my own style of teaching that actually helped my students overcome their fears of writing.
Although I eventually came up with a different method of teaching that does not involve a writer's notebook, I was able to incorporate many ideas into my classroom. It was largely in part to the ideas I picked up from this video that most of my students transitioned from being unable to successfully write a 5 paragraph essay to being able to breeze through an essay in less than two hours. I even had a few students who expressed a desire to become novelists. One student even claimed that she learned to "like" essay writing.
Here are some things I learned:
1. Break Down the Barrier with Creative Writing
Before focusing heavily on essay writing, it helps to start out with fun creative writing activities. Short story assignments help students express themselves through writing without causing them the stress and uncertainty that an essay usually produces. I had my students write short stories and share them in the class. They enjoyed having the liberty of choosing their own topic to write about and when we shared stories, they were very interested in hearing their peers' stories.
Story-writing builds confidence and helps students understand that writing really isn't as terrible as they sometimes think it is. I purchased the writer's notebook package on TPT from Musings from the Middle School and used it with my sixth grade class. They enjoyed many of the writing prompts.
Another option that you have is that you can look for creative writing prompts on Pinterest and other websites and simply put it on the SmartBoard for your students to write about on loose leaf paper or in a journal.
2. Create a Simple Rubric that Encourages your Students
When I first saw the video, I was somewhat skeptical about creating a more lenient rubric. I wasn't sure if it was going to work in my classroom. Prior to the more lenient rubric, I had a much more complicated system of grading and I realize now that it was more challenging than it should have been. My students probably felt that they couldn't meet those expectations. The rubric I created after seeing this video makes it extremely difficult to fail an essay, but it also makes getting a perfect score as challenging as it should be. This helped ease students' anxiety and it also motivated them to continue improving. You can download my writing assignment rubric for free or use it as an example to create your own.
3. Use Effective Writing Templates
The first few times I used templates to help my students write essays, they were not every informative or detailed. The students were just as confused if not more so than if I wouldn't have provided a template to begin with. After attending a few classes at the FACCS, I heard a bit more about essay templates as a guide to help students become more comfortable with the essay writing process. I couldn't find templates that I liked, so I created my own.
For the template I created, my main focus was on the introductory paragraph because I felt that students have the most trouble beginning an essay (they usually don't know how to start). Throughout the year, I worked on creating some essay notes and added them to the template to help my students understand it better.
Although this is a work in progress, it helped them grasp the necessary elements to begin an essay strong and maintain a sense of focus throughout the rest of the essay. The essay template I created is for literary response essays. Students can use this template for any essay that is a response to a story, article, book, or poem.
4. Essay Write-Alongs
The essay write-along is another idea that I incorporated from Musing from the Middle School. She recommended writing an essay live so that students could see that writing is a messy process and that even as teachers we also make mistakes as we write. I partnered the essay write-along with my template and as a class, we wrote an entire essay from start to finish on the SmartBoard. We worked collectively to discuss how we would organize the essay, to decide on our thesis, and to select our supporting details. I encouraged my students to take notes so that they would have examples to look at for future essay assignments.
Had I simply given them a template and explained it, the students may have still struggled with writing. The essay write-along helped them observe how I applied the template and completed a successful essay by simply plugging in my ideas and organizing my supporting details.
5. Anonymous Kudos
For every essay assignment that we completed, I selected the best student work and read it aloud to the class. I often selected between 3 and 4 essays to share. I kept the student's name confidential to avoid students becoming embarrassed. Although I only shared the best essays, students in middle school tend to like being low key and they appreciated the anonymity. As a class, we discussed what the student did well and we also observed some things that could be improved. The anonymous kudos helped the students who did well feel good about themselves while not putting them in spotlight and it also helped the other students realize that essay writing was within their reach. The more anonymous kudos I gave, the more the students were reassured that they were getting better and could successfully write essays.
The End Result
It took a lot of hard work to help my student overcome their fear of writing and master essays. I also spent a lot of time in the classroom explaining the process and answering questions. A lot of students also wanted me to read their essays constantly for reassurance that they were on the right track. Despite the hard work and the time that it took for me to implement these steps, it was well worth the effort. I still had a few students who struggled to the very end, but the majority improved tremendously. More importantly, their attitude in regards to writing changed for the better. And that is definitely a win in my book.
Hello!!!! Thank you for stopping by my teaching blog! I hope you enjoy these free resources. Please share this site with a teacher friend if you found it helpful!


The Customs and Traditions of Yom Kippur
By Avi Lazerson
On the day before Yom Kippur, it is customary to rise early to perform the ceremony of kappores. Dawn is considered the best time since dawn is the time of divine mercy. For more information on the kappores ceremony see www.jewishmag.com/25mag/kapora/kapora.htm
The custom is to pray the afternoon service early, before the final meal. Many have the custom to ask their neighbor for "food", (lekakh in Hebrew) meaning begging for a piece of honey cake. The reason is that if it had it been declared in heaven that the person was to become a beggar, through this request for "food", the decree has become fulfilled and therefore it may be annulled.
There is also the custom of flagellation. Many have the custom to request their friend to give them a flogging. This is done with a leather belt. No, it is not done with any force or pain, but like the "food" begging, mentioned above, the purpose is that if a decree was made in heaven that would mean receiving flogging, we have already received the punishment and therefore can be annulled.
It is the custom to feast on the day before Yom Kippur. Feasting on this day for the sake of having strength to properly fast and pray on Yom Kippur is considered as one actually fasted on two days. Towards the evening we eat the final meal before the fast. It is the custom to dip our bread in honey as we do on Rosh Hashanah. We eat only food which is easily digested, such as fowl.
It is the custom not to eat fish at this meal. Fish is generally eaten earlier in the day. We try to eat those foods which do not generate bodily heat such garlic, eggs, etc. Many do not partake of very salty foods such as pickles etc. which can cause a desire to drink.
It is important to finish this meal before the actual sunset. In this manner we can add from the profane day to the Holy day. Hence we start our fast slightly earlier than the exact time necessary, showing that we welcome the Holy day of Yom Kippur with happiness.
Since Yom Kippur is a festival, it must be honored by wearing our Yom Tov clothing. Yet since it is connected with the day of Judgement, we refrain from wearing showy and gaudy clothing. We must dress as if we had to appear in a court of law before a judge, in a respectable and honorable manner. Women traditionally do not wear jewelry on this day. Men have the custom to wear a white kittle, the traditional garment in which men have been buried in. This is to arouse the solemn feeling necessary for proper prayer on this day.
Candles are lit in the house, just like on any Jewish festival. They must be lit before the sunset. In addition, some married couples have the practice of lighting a candle in the bedroom to remind them that cohabitation is forbidden on this day. In addition, the traditional Yartzit candle, the candle that is lit in memory of the deceased is lit. This candle burns for 25 hours.
It is traditional for parents to bless their children before they go to the synagogue, imploring G-d to grant their children a year of good life, health, prosperity and peace. Others go to distinguished rabbis to ask them for a blessing for the New Year.
Although men traditionally wear the large prayer shawl, the talit, only in the day; on Yom Kippur, the talit is worn also at night. It is put on before the night so that a blessing can also be made on it.
Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement for sins. Those sins that are between man and G-d, are easily forgiven, but the sins between man and man, require some prior work. To attain forgiveness for these sins, we must ask the person to whom we have harmed for his forgiveness, not always an easy task. It has become the custom to contact friends and family before the great Day of Atonement to beseech them that if we have hurt or harmed them, will they forgive us. How much more so must we actually approach some one that we really harmed! Only if when those whom we have hurt or harmed have forgiven us, then will G-d forgive us too.
On Yom Kippur, five things are forbidden: eating, drinking, wearing shoes, anointing with oil, and having sexual intercourse. When washing, as when coming out from the toilet, we only wash the very minimum possible. If a person is ill, he should consult a Rabbi regarding his or her specific needs.
Many people have the custom to smell spices on Yom Kippur. Hence in many synagogues, spice boxes are passed around the synagogue. The smelling of these fragrant spices helps to give strength to the person. In addition we are able to make blessings to G-d which increases our merits.
On the conclusion of Yom Kippur, the shofar is again blown, indicating that the Holy day has come to an end. We eat and drink and rejoice. We are confident that G-d has heard and accepted our heart felt prayers. The custom on this night is to begin is some manner to build the Succah, in this manner we show to G-d our love and involvement with his commandments.
from the September 2001 Edition of the Jewish Magazine


Spirulina is a superfood and one of the most powerful and nutritionally broad foods on the planet. A blue-green algae, it provides an abundance of protein, vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, essential fatty acids, phytonutrients, and antioxidants.
Spirulina is a tiny blue-green algae in the shape of a perfect spiral coil. Biologically speaking, it is one of the oldest inhabitants of the planet. Its scientific name is Arthrospira Plantensis.
Appearing 3.6 billion years ago, it provided an evolutionary bridge between bacteria and green plants. This water plant has renewed itself for billions of years and has nourished many cultures throughout history, in Africa, in the Middle East and in the Americas.


Climate change: Southeast Asia's preparation falls short
The Asian Development Bank says the cost of inaction could be severe for the region's agrarian-based economies and rapidly growing coastal cities.
Facing rising sea levels, extreme weather patterns, and lower crop yields, countries in Southeast Asia are slowly waking up to the impact of climate change. Coastal towns in Vietnam are strengthening their sea walls. Communities in Thailand are replanting degraded mangroves. Forest practices are being overhauled in the Philippines.
But economists warn that these reactive efforts don't go far enough to tackle the threat to agrarian-based economies, which face potentially huge losses from failed crops and disaster relief. Far better to invest now, they argue, in adapting to more volatile weather before the full impact crashes through the region.
"Each government must realize that this investment is much cheaper now than later. They must realize this," says Tae Yong Jung, co-author of a new report by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) on the economic impact of climate change in the region.
Such investments would include climate-proofed infrastructure, energy-efficient industry, and forest-fire protection systems. Governments must also jointly safeguard common resources like rivers and cooperate on controlling disease outbreaks and managing disaster relief, the report advises.
Southeast Asia is seen as highly vulnerable to the impact of climate change because of its reliance on forestry and agriculture, which employs 43 percent of the workforce, and the concentration of large populations along exposed coastlines and rivers. Tens of millions of people live in fast-growing cities along the coast.
Under a scenario where global emissions continue to rise, the ADB predicts that sea levels could rise by 70 centimeters (27 inches) by the end of this century in a region where four in five people live within 65 miles of the coast.
Using models based on Britain's 2006 Stern Review, the ADB predicts that the cost of inaction on climate change could reach 6.7 percent of economic output by 2100 in Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and the Philippines. This outstrips a global loss of 2.6 percent using the same scenario. It includes potential losses from weather events like typhoons and floods, as well as the cost of relocating millions of vulnerable people.
A warmer climate also poses unexpected challenges to health authorities, as the peak period for mosquito-borne diseases is extended. For vulnerable communities, shifts in such outbreaks go hand in hand with increased flooding, violent storms, and other climate-driven threats.
"It's very obvious when a cyclone hits you…. It's much harder for the collective consciousness to grapple with the idea that there is a changing pattern of disease in a city," says Ashvin Dayal, managing director in Asia for the New York-based Rockefeller Foundation, which is funding adaptation projects in six cities in Vietnam and India as part of a five-year, $70 million program.
Scientists generally agree that global temperatures will continue to rise, even if efforts to cap greenhouse-gas emissions bear fruit. But forecasting exact temperatures and how they affect various ecosystems is complex. Moreover, climatologists say that monsoon patterns are equally, if not more, crucial to farmers in regions like Southeast Asia.
The ADB predicts that Indonesia, Thailand, and Vietnam will face drier conditions over the next two to three decades, before the pattern reverses mid-century and brings more rainfall. By contrast, the Philippines should expect increasing precipitation. Using a 1990 baseline and a high-emissions scenario, annual temperatures in the four countries by 2100 could rise by 4.8 degrees C., as hot seasons become even hotter, putting greater stress on water resources.
Perhaps the biggest single negative impact could be on rice output. Thailand and Vietnam, which are among the world's largest rice exporters, face declining yields if rainfall patterns shift and low-lying fields are inundated by sea water. Another factor is crop pests that may emerge under new climatic conditions.
But while Southeast Asia is a victim of climate change, it also contributes to the problem by producing greenhouse gases that accounted for 12 percent of global emissions in 2000. That puts the onus on governments to invest in more efficient energy usage and switch to gas and renewable sources, says Zhuang Juzhong, assistant chief economist for the ADB.
By far the biggest polluter in the region is its forestry sector, however, in contrast to energy-derived emissions in rich countries like the United States. This stems from the logging of primary forests and of carbon-rich peat land, practices that have vaulted Indonesia into the top rung of carbon emitters. A boom in palm-oil exports has spurred countries to clear more tropical forests. Environmental campaigners have lobbied for a carbon-trading program that would reward countries for safeguarding their forests. A United Nations conference in December in Copenhagen is expected to incorporate this and other proposals into a new accord on curbing carbon emissions.
Some of these proposals may clash with the development goals of poor countries like Indonesia, particularly during a global downturn. But governments need to factor climate change into their stimulus plans while making sure that people living in vulnerable areas are part of the debate, says Emil Salim, a former environment minister in Indonesia.
"It's poverty alleviation first, coping with unemployment first," he told an ADB press conference, "before you talk about climate change."