We are passionate about the things we do for the sake of living. But, the physical environment that we work in is equally important. However, it’s an individual decision. Two key aspects are part of our workplaces. It includes the people who live in our space. It also encompasses the appearance, the environment (how the space is laid out), and how it reflects on the business and its staff. Let’s begin by defining “positive” within our context in this piece.
The Importance of a Positive Environment
In the article, positive is the capability to create a mental attitude to improve an event or environment that results in the most optimum level of goodness. It requires time and effort to build an environment that is appealing to various people. A few characteristics that a “positive” environment should ultimately comprise.
1. To enhance creativity
Every business will fail if they don’t have a creative plan. Creativity is evident through the services or products provided and in the capacity to conquer and flourish against an endless stream of business challenges. Individual creativity can thrive within a positive working environment and be able to integrate into the other creative initiatives of the business.
2. To create an environment that encourages creativity
Innovation is the capacity to develop or create everything that needs to be considered in business-like creativity. It could be anything from products or services provided, how they are provided, and the everyday issues that companies face. Innovation will not only help aid businesses in overcoming these issues. However, it can also raise it to a higher level, where it can enhance its offerings now and in the near future.
3. To promote individual self-worth
If employees feel an appreciation for themselves and trust each other, they will collaborate to create the business successful to the very best of their ability. In other words, If everyone in the company believes that they are a part of something meaningful and meaningful, they will be themselves and show it by their most effective contribution.
4. To enhance the character of all those who are a part of the organization.
The other participants and stakeholders in the business, like customers, vendors, and investors, can make people feel like they are part of something special. The best in each of us will eventually be revealed due to the uniqueness and emotional connection.
5. To increase the overall output
The more positive the environment is positive, the more productive it is. The spirit of each person will be able to transfer to those around them (even if it’s not physically present) and create a general unifying feeling that affects the overall positive impact of the work that is done and will be greatly better.
Since the most important element of the work environment is the employees who work in it, the decor is designed to motivate and inspire them not to fall prey to an unplanned and random arrangement.


Long before adventurous travelers from Europe made their way to explore the North American continent, the indigenous people of this land had already explored and shaped the land to their liking. Over a span of about five centuries (200 BC - 300 AD), the people of the Hopewell culture thrived in the now-Ohio Valley as they traded goods, traveled the continent to gather goods and constructed mounds and works of earth to honor their own and to establish places for gathering. We encourage you to learn more about these mysterious and ingenious people and to learn about the park by exploring these pages in this section.
Photos & Multimedia
History & Culture
Kids & Youth
Six Important Archeological Sites.....
Last updated: May 15, 2017


Who is this wide-eyed mask of tragedy of Antiquity with its arched eyebrows, frizzy hair frozen in mimicry, garish colours and an enormous opening for a mouth? A character but who? That of person on the threshold of the abyss. He is a warning!
The masks used in tragedies in ancient Athenian antiquity go back to the 6th century BC to Thespis, an author and renowned actor of his age. He, or his pupil Phrynicos, have been attributed with starting the tradition of pulling faces when acting which turned into the manufacture and wearing of masks. They were used in all the great tragedies written in the following century (that are still acted today) by the great masters Aeschylus (525-456), Sophocles (496-406) and Euripides (485-406).
They were made from plant material, linen, wood, wax or leather. During the many centuries of Hellenic, Hellenistic and then Roman culture that followed, these theatre masks continued to be used and to evolve. But they never missed the call of the actor’s role play. Only terracotta reproductions have remained.
The Romans used the word persona to describe these masks which reveals their function in ancient theatre. The verb personare (literally: to resonate) means to reverberate, to ring on all sides, to carry the voice. Persona nods to these masks as having huge gaping mouths probably to carry the actor’s voice as far as possible into the stands.
And the mask could be identified from far off because it had the features of a known archetype with criteria recognised by all (length of hair and beard, colours amongst other signs), hence the noble by birth, the master, the warrior, the servant, the slave, the old man, the youth, the mother, the adolescent girl etc. And certain exaggerated projections on these masks nodded to the nature of a character or a psychological trait such as nobility of spirit, good humour, an angry disposition, vanity etc.
These masks could therefore be used in all plays, they were not the personification of an individual but of a character type that everyone had met or could become with the exception of some individual masks (Œdipus with his tired eyes, the Minotaur, a God or deity…). The mask had meaning for all… or simply put, this persona was no-one in particular and a little bit of everyone at the same time.
Great philosopher Cornelius Castoriadis brilliantly explains the meaning of tragic theatre by dismissing the common expression of “Greek tragedies” as false: tragedy is from Athens, born in an ancient democratic city subjected to philosophical questions about the limits of human action in the face of divine decrees.
For the Greeks had no single God, no sacred books, no prophets, no notion of sin imposed by Christianity. Their mythological Gods carry out their dealings between themselves and with human beings whom they punish severely if they are wronged or if their preferences are violated in the process. But the men who follow their own rules, as in a democracy, can then come into conflict with divine prerogatives. But where is the line beyond which they must not cross? The line is the threshold where human action, carried away by its passions, gives into excess. Go past this point and you reach “hubris”, an excess of humour or exaggerated self-pride that leads man to overstep sacred laws, question those of the City, despise reason and violate the laws of destiny set by the Gods…
Tragedy is putting this pride on stage and showing a being who dares to demand more from destiny than the part afforded to him or her. This theatre thus had an edifying role to play for members of the public. It taught moral reflection. And the mask worn by the actor addressed each person in the audience individually, it was grimacing warning.
Persona is therefore this mask via which a voice is carried and which brings us back in line. The ambiguity in French means that it is not a person but concerns everyone… During the 20th century, psychiatrist and philosopher Carl Gustav Jung had persona designate a social figure, the identity of which existed only in the reflection created in the eye looking at it. But it is only in the 21st century, after several millennia of plays that science has perfected the only real mask to go the distance, one that removes the old face to reveal the real face lying beneath: the beauty mask!


Daniel Kirkwood, an American Astronomer, born September 27, 1814 in Harford County, Maryland, lived a humble and simple life. His journey towards academic excellence started at the very young age of nineteen, when he first ventured the life of teaching at a country school at Hopewell, York County, Pennsylvania. One of his pupils was keen to learn Algebra, something described by the young Daniel Kirkwood as something that uses the letters of the alphabets instead of figures. With a used textbook copy of Bonnycastle?s Algebra secured from a neighbour, both teacher and student explored to understand the subject, and later on for Daniel Kirkwood, conquered it.
The following year, 1834, Kirkwood enrolled himself at the York County of Academy, at York Pennsylvania, majoring in Mathematics. After four years of mastering his major, he graduated and was immediately appointed first assistant and instructor in mathematics. He held this position for five years, until 1843, until he became Principal of the Lancaster Pennsylvania High School, and it was here in the year 1845 that he married his wife, Sarah A. McNair of Newton, Pennsylvania. And after another five years in Lancaster Pennsylvania, he moved to the Pottsville Academy in Pottsville, Pennsylvania, to become the Principal.
His teaching years extended for three decades more, in the year 1851, he became Professor of Mathematics in Delaware College, and again in Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, where he remained until he retired in 1886, with the exemption of years 1865-1867, where he shared his knowledge in Mathematics at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. At the age of seventy-seven, he moved to Riverside, California together with his wife, Sarah A. McNair. In Stanford University, he was named non-resident lecturer of Astronomy. Here, he was very popular to his pupils, with them citing him to be an inspiration for them to broaden their interest in the matter learning in general, and not only the love of mathematics. Although he was considered a devout Presbyterian, this never caused any conflict in his studies.
His works in mathematics appeared early on in his learning years. His first noted publication appeared in the year 1848, which consisted of demonstrations ?that the square of the number of rotations per orbital revolution of a planet is proportional to the cube of the radius of the sphere of attraction given by the Laplace nebular hypothesis?. His other known works, like the ?Kepler-type? law and the nebular hypothesis has shown to need several amendments.
Many of his works have been used in today?s scientific literature to verify and slightly modify the Nebular Hypothesis. But perhaps his most important work, the ?gaps? or ?chasms? in the distribution of the mean distances of the asteroids from the sun, was discovered as early as 1857, when on fifty asteroids were known. All in all, he wrote 129 publications, including three books, two of which are his books entitled Meteoric Astronomy (1867) and Comets and Meteors (1873). In his honor, Indiana University named their observatory after him, the Kirkwood Observatory. Kirkwood died in Riverside, California on June 11, 1895. He was buried alongside his wife and daughter in Rose Hill Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana.


FHSST Physics/Atomic Nucleus/Detectors
How can we observe such tiny tiny things as protons and -particles? There is no microscope that would be able to discern them. From the very beginning of the sub-atomic era, scientists have been working on the development of special instruments that are called particle detectors. These devices enable us either to register the mere fact that certain particle has passed through certain point in space or to observe the trace of its path (the trajectory). Actually, this is as good as watching the particle. Although the particle sizes are awfully small, when passing through some substances, they leave behind visible traces of tens of centimeters in length. By measuring the curvature of the trajectory of a particle deflected in electric or magnetic field, a physicist can determine the charge and mass of the particle and thus can identify it.
The most familiar device for registering charged particles is the Geiger counter. It cannot tell you anything about the particle except the fact that it has passed through the counter. The counter consists of a thin metal cylinder filled with gas. A wire electrode runs along the center of the tube and is kept at a high voltage (V) relative to the cylinder. When a particle passes through the tube, it causes ionization of the gas atoms and thus an electric discharge between the cylinder and the wire. The electric pulse can be counted by a computer or made to produce a click in a loudspeaker. The number of counts per second tells us about intensity of the radiation.
The very first detector was the fluorescent screen. When a charged particle hits the screen, a human eye can discern a flash of light at the point of impact. In fact, we all use this kind of detectors every day when watching TV of looking at a computer (if it does not have an LCD screen of course). Indeed, the images on the screens of their electron-ray tubes are formed by the accelerated electrons.
Another type of particle detector, dating back to Becquerel, is the nuclear photographic emulsion. Passage of charged particles is recorded in the emulsion in the same way that ordinary black and white photographic film records a picture. The only difference is that nuclear photoemulsion is made rather thick in order to catch a significant part of the particle path. After the developing, a permanent record of the charged particle trajectory is available.
In the fields of sub-atomic physics and nuclear physics, Wilson's cloud chamber is the most fundamental device to observe the trajectories of particles. Its basic principle was discovered by C. T. R. Wilson in 1897, and it was put to the practical use in 1911.
The top and the side of the chamber are covered with round glasses of several centimeters in diameter. At the bottom of the chamber, a piston is placed. The air filled in the chamber is saturated with vapor of water. When pulling down the piston quickly, the volume of the chamber would be expanded and the temperature goes down. As a result, the air inside would be supersaturated with the vapor. If a fast moving charged particle enters the chamber when it is in such a supersaturated state, the vapor of water would condense along the line of the ions generated by the particle, which is the path of the particle. Thus we can observe the trace, and also take a photograph. To make clear the trace, a light is sometimes illuminated from the side. When placing the cloud chamber in a magnetic field, we can obtain various informations about the charged particle by measuring the curvature of the trace and other data. The bubble chamber and the spark chamber have taken place of the cloud chamber which is nowadays used only for the educational purposes. Wilson's cloud chamber has however played a very important role in the history of physics.
Bubble chamber is a particle detector of major importance during the initial years of high-energy physics. The bubble chamber has produced a wealth of physics from about 1955 well into the 1970s. It is based on the principle of bubble formation in a liquid heated above its boiling point, which is then suddenly expanded, starting boiling where passing charged particles have ionized the atoms of the liquid. The technique was honoured by the Nobel prize award to D. Glaser in 1960. Even today, bubble chamber photographs provide the aesthetically most appealing visualization of subnuclear collisions.
Spark chamber is a historic device using electric discharges over a gap between two electrodes with large potential difference, to render passing particles visible. Sparks occurred where the gas had been ionized. Most often, multiple short gaps were used, but wide-gap chambers with gaps up to 40 cm were also built. The spark chamber is still of great scientific value in that it remains relatively simple and cheap to build as well as enabling an observer to view the paths of charged particles.


Single File System: Virtual File System Delphi Library
for Archive / Backup with Transparent Compression and Strong Encryption
Positions the current file pointer in a previously opened file within a single file system.
function FileSeek(Handle: Integer; const Offset: Int64; Origin: Integer): Int64;
Use FileSeek to position the file pointer in a file that was opened with FileOpen or FileCreate. Handle contains the file handle that was returned by FileOpen or FileCreate.
Offset specifies the number of bytes from Origin where the file pointer should be positioned. Origin is a code with three possible values, denoting the beginning of the file, the end of the file, and the current position of the file pointer.
0 The file pointer is positioned Offset bytes from the beginning of the file.
1 The file pointer is positioned Offset bytes from its current position.
2 The file pointer is positioned Offset bytes from the end of the file
If FileSeek is successful, it returns the new position of the file pointer; otherwise, it returns -1.
Use of the file handlers such as FileSeek is not encouraged. These are low-level file access routines. For normal file operations use TSFSFileStream instead.


HORNED FIG Ficus cereicarpa Corner (1960) SECTION: SYCOCARPUS
Greek: Homed fruit referring to the bracts on the fig.
Habit: Large shrub or small tree to 9m in damp forests by streams and on damp slopes and rocky ravines.
Leaf: One of the most varied leaves in shape and size in SECTION Sycocarpus. The largest leaves including the petiole (leaf stalk) can exceed one meter in length and are probably the largest leaves of any Bornean fig. Young leaves are covered in dense silky hairs
Fig: The large figs 4-8 cm vary in shape and size, are covered in sturdy bracts and grow on short thick stolons at the base of the trunk. The fig is normally very dark brown but according to Berg (2005) it ripens orange. It is also said to be edible. At Lambir the figs were eaten by large rats (Harrison 2000).
Distinguish: Similar to Ficus francisci but larger in all parts. Distinguished by the figs which are have large bracts on the surface of the fig fruit. Ficus francisci figs never have bracts on the fig fruit. Ficus cereicarpa & Ficus francisci compared
Distribution: The TYPE is from Belalong (Brunei) and this fig is also found in Lambir south to Kapit in central Sarawak but is most common in the hills of the Crocker Range and on Kinabalu where it occurs up to 1,600m. Along the KK-Tambunan Road it is common above 1,000m, the branches overhanging the busy road. Also recorded from Tabin where according to Dr Zainal of BORA at Tabin the leaves are a popular food of Sumatran Rhinoceros.
Range: Endemic to Borneo.
Ecology: Ficus cereicarpa on Kinabalu “The most interesting places to explore for figs are the streams in deep gullies at 900-1,000m. Here one meets the coarse sapling like F. cereicarpa with large leaves up to 55 x 15 cm, and twice as big in its saplings, which always seems to be sterile until one looks at the base of the stem and discovers, partly hidden by fallen leaves a mound of scaly brown figs which reach 5-7.5cm wide. It thrives in steep gorges or chasms where it projects from ledges in the rock and extends horizontally until, with increasing weight, it hangs down and eventually falls off; the big leaves continually flutter in the breeze that blows along these clefts”. Prof. J.H. Corner (1978) in Kinabalu-Summit of Borneo recounting his experiences on the Royal Society Expediton to the east ridge of Kinabalu in 1960-61
Ecology: Ficus cereicarpa fruiting strategies: Steady State or Big Bang ? The majority of tall stranglers which reach canopy level, fruit erratically at long intervals in one “big bang” attracting nomadic flocks of pigeons, hornbills and fruit bats from afar.
In contrast many under storey and earth figs ripen fruit one by one, over a long period a “steady state” strategy to attract mammalian dispersers such as bats, civets and deer to visit the plant each night on what is known as a “traplining route” ensuring that each fig is dispersed as soon as it is ripe. At Lambir, Harrison (2000) found that” a large male individual of F. cereicarpa maintained continuous production of fig wasps over an 18 month period meaning that this one fig tree was producing figs continuously throughout the 18 month period one after another.


A new study has found that women who habitually take strenuous exercise might be at risk of damaging their cognitive skills later in life.
Too much exercise raises the levels of oestrogen in a woman's body and lead to irregular menstruation cycles, reports New Scientist.
And low levels of oestrogen in premenopausal women has been linked to impaired mental function in earlier studies.
Mary Tierney at the University of Toronto, Canada, conducted a study amongst 90 healthy post-menopausal women, who reported their life-long exercise habits, and then tested their cognitive ability.
She found that in women who practiced much too heavy exercise, there was a decrease in performance in various cognitive tasks.
Tierney said that although exercising is beneficial in general, too much exercising can lead to a negative impact and this possibility should be investigated further.
The results will be reported in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease.


How Does the Screen Printing Process Work?
Our customers often ask us, “how does the screen printing process work?” So, after countless conversations on the topic over the years, we figured it was time to reveal our secrets step-by-step. Let’s take a deeper look at how silk screen printing works and why we chose this process.
What is Handmade Silk Screen Printing?
Silk screen printing is the process of transferring viscous ink onto a surface (often fabric or paper) through a stenciled, mesh screen to create a printed design. The process is also often referred to as serigraphy, serigraph printing, or most commonly, screen printing.
Handmade silk screen printing has been practiced for centuries, but it has changed significantly over time. Before we get into the details of how the process works, let’s take a quick look at the history of silk screen printing.
The History of Silk Screen Printing
Screen printing originated in China during the Song Dynasty (960-1279 AD) as a means to transfer designs onto fabric. Inspired, the Japanese adjusted the Chinese technique and developed it further. They cut stencils out of paper, wove human hair together to create mesh screens, and used brushes to force ink through the screen.
By the 1700s, screen printing had moved to Europe, and printers began to make screens with silk fibers while continuing to use brushes for pushing ink. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that the squeegee was invented, making the process much easier and more precise.
Then, in 1960, American inventor Michael Vasilantone created a garment screen printing machine, further revolutionizing the silk screen printing process. Since then, Vasilantone’s original machine has evolved into the modern press that we use today.
What Equipment Is Used for Small Batch Screen Printing?
We try to honor the long history of handmade silk screen printing by sticking to the basics when it comes to equipment. Here are the main tools that we use to create our hand-printed products.
Screen Printing Press:
While it’s certainly possible to print with just a screen, ink, and squeegee, a press helps simplify and speed up the process by holding the screen in place between prints.
In our Print Shop, we use a manual, six-color press. The machine can hold up to six screens at a time, making it much easier to apply designs that require multiple colors. The press located within our retail store is the original one we used for mobile, print-your-own (PYO) events when we first started our business. It’s now only used for in-store PYO events.
The silk screen is the most important tool for our printing process. It serves as a matrix through which ink is transferred to create a printed design on a shirt or paper. Typical screens have a wooden or metal frame with a mesh fabric stretched across it. Silk fibers are traditionally used to create the mesh, but synthetic materials such as nylon are often used as cheaper alternatives.
A squeegee is a wooden block with a rubber edge that’s used to push ink through the silk screen, distributing it evenly onto the surface below.
Ink is the liquid pigment that’s forced through the mesh onto the item being printed. Our team carefully evaluates ink color and consistency before we print a new design, and we consider many factors, such as current trends, during the process.
When creating colors, we weigh the ink and keep a recipe card in case the need for ink matching arises in the future.
Emulsion is a light-sensitive, liquid substance that’s painted on a silk screen to make a stencil. The emulsion hardens when set for a specific amount of time, creating an ink-resistant coating in the negative space around the design.
How Does the Screen Printing Process Work?
Once our graphic designer, Ryan, creates a new design and digital rendering, it’s time to get printing! Here are the six steps to our small batch silk screen printing process.
Step 1: Print Design on Transparency Paper
First, we print the digital design onto transparency paper. The film is used to create a stencil on the silk screen.
Step 2: Prep the Silk Screen
To produce the highest quality prints, we prepare our silk screens in house. There are five steps to prep a screen before it can be emulsified.
- Cut the mesh.
- Clean the frame.
- Stretch the mesh to the screen.
- Degrease the mesh to remove any oils.
- Dry the screen.
We repurpose our screens and replace the mesh when necessary. The tightness of the mesh is critical to having a clear print, so when the mesh deteriorates or loosens, it must be changed.
We use a manual hand stretcher to stretch our silk screens. The machine grabs the mesh on four sides, and we wind each side by hand. If the stretch is not tight and even, the screen can tear as we apply pressure when printing.
When properly stretched and maintained, one screen can last over 1,000 prints.
Step 3: Create the Stencil
Next, we create a stencil by applying emulsion to our screen. Because the emulsion is light-sensitive, we store the emulsified screen in a dark room and leave it to set for a few hours. Once the emulsion has hardened, we place our film onto the screen and use a light to expose the design on the emulsified mesh (similar to film photography).
From there, we wash the screen again to ensure that the image is clear and oil-free. Next, we place the screen in a high-temperature dryer. And finally, we tape around the edges of the stencil to prevent any excess ink from accidentally passing through. Now, our screen is ready for printing!
Step Four: Prepare to Print
Once we have our materials together, we prep the press machine. We measure and align the image according to the pallet on the press. Then, we secure the screen into the press. Next, we load some ink onto the screen and do a few practice prints on recycled fabric to ensure consistency.
Occasionally, a color combination that we love ends up not contrasting well on the shirt. This can happen due to the reflection of the ink and the undertones of a shirt. If we get to the point of printing and determine that something is off, then we go back and troubleshoot to create better contrast.
Step 5: Print
Here comes the fun part—printing! (Well, we think it’s all fun.)
- Line up the first shirt in the run.
- Put ink on top of the silk screen.
- Use a squeegee to pull the ink along the length of the stencil.
- Remove the printed shirt.
- Line up a new shirt and repeat.
In the case of multicolored designs, the inks must be applied in individual layers using separate stencils for each. Fortunately, that’s where our six-color press comes in handy.
Step Six: Cure the Ink
After printing, we heat treat all of our apparel in a special dryer. The plastisol ink that we use must be heated to 300 degrees Fahrenheit for proper adhesion. After a few seconds at 300+ degrees, the ink softens and settles into the fibers of the fabric. Then, after a few additional seconds in the same heat, the ink clings to the fibers and bonds to the fabric permanently.
Once the ink is fully set, we check the product thoroughly to ensure that it meets our quality standards. If so, we get it ready to sell.
Why Screen Printing?
Now that we’ve explained how the screen printing process works, we’d be remiss if we didn’t explain why we chose it for our business.
Before Foxduck was born, we simply wanted to find a meaningful way to get Ryan’s designs out into the world. After some brainstorming, we decided that creating custom T-shirts could be the best method.
Our intention wasn't to sell T-shirts solely for the sake of turning a profit, though. Rather, we wanted to produce with honor and authenticity by giving community members products that were made with heart by human hands.
Our team was inspired by the meticulous process of handmade silk screen printing, and upon learning it together, we fell in love with the craft. Sure, there are more simple, efficient, and cost-effective printing options out there, but taking the easy way out and cutting corners has never appealed to us.
Small batch screen printing offers a higher quality print with longer-lasting clarity, less cracking, and less fading risk. But more than that, the silk screen printing process allows us to have a greater role in the production of each piece. We’re proud to say that we lovingly press every single one of our prints by hand.
We built our business on the art of small batch screen printing, and we’ll never look back.


The Aluminum Manufacturing Process
Aluminum is an essential material in modern manufacturing. Aerospace, construction, healthcare, transportation, and other leading industries all depend on it in some form. Aluminum has a number of desirable properties, including strong electrical and thermal conductivity, low weight, and high malleability. Because of its versatility, it can be used to manufacture products of any shape or size, whether it’s a can of soda or the fuselage of a commercial airliner.
At Continental Steel and Tube, we’ve provided companies in nearly every major industry with high-performance aluminum parts through our aluminum manufacturing process for nearly three decades. Regardless of the scope or scale of your project, we can source and supply any component you need.
The Bayer Process
Aluminum manufacturing begins with bauxite, an ore that consists of aluminum oxide, iron, and other metals. As soon as the bauxite is mined, it’s subjected to the Bayer process—a method named in honor of the Austrian chemist who developed it in the late nineteenth century.
Since aluminum oxide must be separated from any surrounding impurities before it can be processed, it must be extracted from bauxite before it can be used for any industrial purpose. During the first stage of the Bayer process, the bauxite is placed in a chemical solution and heated between 150 °C and 200 °C, which dissolves the aluminum oxide. In its liquid form, the aluminum compound travels through a series of filters before settling in a precipitation tank, where it begins to crystallize. The crystals are then heated to approximately 1,100° C in a kiln, resulting in pure aluminum oxide.
The Hall—Héroult Process
Aluminum manufacturing then continues with the Hall—Héroult process, named for the American and French chemists who developed them independently in 1886. It remains in widespread use today with only minor adaptations.
Since aluminum oxide contains oxygen atoms, it needs to be refined into pure aluminum before the material can be used in manufacturing. The process of refinement begins by placing the heated aluminum oxide crystals into a vat of molten cryolite, which immediately dissolves the crystals to create an electrolyte solution. A direct current then enters the vat through a carbon lining and leaves it through a pair of carbon rods suspended above it. The electric current initiates a chemical reaction that causes the aluminum to separate from the oxygen atoms and accumulate at the bottom of the vat.
After undergoing this process, the aluminum becomes molten metal of 99.8% purity. The molten metal can then be cast into a mold, cooled with water, and finished in the desired shape. The result is industrial-grade aluminum.
The Continued Strength of Aluminum
Aluminum manufacturing hasn’t changed much since the late nineteenth century, but as the technology used to refine it improves, the quality of the aluminum produced continues to increase.
At Continental Steel and Tube, we’ve always worked with the most innovative manufacturers in the industry to ensure that we can supply our clients with the strongest aluminum on the market today. Over the years, we’ve established a diverse network of suppliers that specialize in every application involving aluminum. With these longstanding relationships supporting us, we’re able to provide you with an aluminum product that meets any application need.
Continental Steel and Tube is proud to supply manufacturers across the world with the finest aluminum in the industry. If you’re interested in our products, give us a call at 877-292-2290 or contact us online.


An historical event associated with an object or group of objects, not including production and collections management events. Use the Object history note to describe details about the nature of the association.
How to record
Use a single term, using punctuation only where it forms a part of the event name and capitalisation for proper names. Maintain a list of standard terms.
The Goose Fair; The Charge of the Light Brigade
As many times as required for an object or group of objects.


What is Acne?
‘Acne’ the term comes from a word called ‘Acme’ meaning the highest point or spot during 1835.
Acne is a skin disease that involves the oil glands at the base of our hair follicles, also medically known as acne vulgaris.
Commonly acne occurs during the puberty stage, when the sebaceous or oil glands come to maturity. It involves a process infected with bacteria, resulting in to swellings.
Acne can occur in the facial skin, neck, chest, back.
Why does Acne occur?
There are a number of studies stating different reasons for acne. Scientifically, it’s believed that rise in Androgen (hormone) level is one of the primary cause of acne. The level rises when a human approaches puberty and hence, most of the time teenagers are affected with acne.
Basically this hormone induces oil glands to grow under the skin, increasing higher oil production. The excessive sebum breaks the cellular wall aiding bacterial infection.
Can you get affected by Acne?
Scientific studies say most of the people get affected by acne once in their life time in a span of 11-30 years. For some, it may be continued thereafter. The lifestyle and eating habits are one of the major reasons that we don’t get rid of acne very easily. “Age no bar” when it comes to skin problems like Acne.
It’s also believed acne problems in males last longer than females due to certain hormonal influences.
In India, 80% of youth possess acne or acne related issues.
Acne is really not a dangerous skin disease but it may lead to extremely bad appearance. Often Acne leaves a mark of acne scars especially on the facial skin.
What are the chances of getting Acne Scar?
First let’s elaborate on the definition of Acne Scar:
Acne scars occur from the severe types of acne. Generally the severe types of acne which causes nodules and the skin is punctured too deep in the layer. The scar develops in the second layer of the skin which is well protected by the outer layer of the skin. Acne scars causes the loss in collagen content in dermis layer and this is why the scars are depressed or pitted. Depending on the acne the scars could get wide and deep pitted resulting in to an extremely bad appearance.
How would you know your acne can cause scar?
Not all the acne results in to scarring as mentioned previously.
Check if you have a purple or brown bump, that’s too painful there are high chances that you will get scars.
Can home remedies be helpful to reduce scars?
It’s very important to understand that scars occur in the dermis (2nd) layer of the skin well protected by the epidermis i.e. the 1st layer of the skin.
While there’s myth that picking any acne may cause scars, it’s not true.
Once the scar tissue is formed, it stays deep in the skin. Hence, tropical use of any home remedy is not at all helpful as it doesn’t reach the inner layer.
You need to take medical treatments that reaches the inner layer in order to correct those scars from within.
The golden thumb rule is
“To prevent Acne Scars Prevent Acne”.
What are the usual causes of Acne?
Apart from the age factors, here’s a few habits that can get you acne.
- Oily skin
- Bad diet
- Lack of sleep
- Anxiety and stress
- Contraceptive pills
- Heat and humidity
Stages of Acne:
Types of Acne:
Comedones – 1] Black head – Passive acne 2] White head – Active acne
Popular Acne – Active acne
Pustular Acne – Active acne
Cystic Acne – Passive acne
Nodular Acne – Passive acne
Acne Vulgaris – Inflammatory acne or Adolescent acne
Sites of Acne – Face, Neck, Back, Upper chest, Shoulder
Complication – Scar, Pigmentation, Pits, Cosmetical Complication
Acne Scar Treatments:
1. Face Care:
Face care is the regular prevention norms that you need to follow for your facial skin. This will protect the skin to get worse, to some extent. These are very easy home procedures that you need to follow daily.
Keep your skin clear –
Use a mild face wash to clean the impurities of your skin. Wash your face after you wake up in the morning and before going to bed. Washing your face twice daily should be a minimum.
Chose moisturizer wisely –
Do not use oil-based products if you have acne or acne prone skin. Use a mild moisturizer depending on your skin type and do not dry out your skin. Also check for the word ‘Noncomedogenic’ in the label as it means it shouldn’t cause acne.
Do not wear any make up –
If you have break-out, avoid make up as much as possible or chose a make-up product having Noncomedogenic in the label.
Do check your hair-products –
Oily scalp can add up to the oil you have on your face. Use a scalp cleaning gentle shampoo for daily usage. In case you are oiling your scalp, prevent the oil to come off to your forehead. Also, take care of the dandruff problems if you have any, as an itchy scalp with dandruff can cause acne.
Strong recommendation – “Keep those hands off your face”
THE BEST TREATMENTS TO TREAT ACNE EFFECTIVELY WITH VISIBLE RESULTS
While we move on to the most effective acne treatments, please note these are non-surgical and non-invasive method on your skin. There is no risk of brutal side effects as seen after surgeries. These methods treat acne for good, along with skin rejuvenation. Each method work overall to give you a supple skin that you could imagine.
As most of the tropical creams or facials fail to provide visible results without marks, this procedure clears the skin and induces healthy skin renewal.
All you need a great medical supervision to offer you the right care. You will start noticing the difference in your skin after a few sittings. Needless to say, patients suffering from painful acne swear by these as the most effective treatments.
Peel remove dead skin cells from superficial layer. It is lipophilic & hence an excellent agent for acne.
The results are amazing. Post treatment your skin becomes brighter and smoother. Visible reduction in acne and acne scars. It also helps to fade away post acne pigmentation.
Brighter & smoother skin appearance
Reduction in Acne & Acne Scars
Reduction in post Acne pigmentation
3. Nano Perfector
WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF NANO PERFECTOR… PURE ANALOGUE MULTISINE WAVEFORM
It composed of up to 2000 sine waveforms, synchs with body’s endogenous signals, awakens the processes that have diminished with aging, true anti-aging technology which restores the signals
How it works
reduces free radical damage to DNA, increases ATP production (fuel of body), increases protein function, increases cell’s natural ability to repair & regenerate, increases secretion of collagen & elastin and improves skin’s elasticity, increases microcirculation, increases cellular oxygenation
- Reduction in acne
- Reduced pigmentation
- Improved skin texture
- Reduction in scarring
- Reduced wrinkles & lifting of muscles
- Reduction in dark circles


What Are the Signs of a TBI?
Traumatic brain injuries are among the most devastating injuries that a person could suffer. The American Association of Neurological Surgeons defines a traumatic brain injury as a disruption in the normal function of the brain that can be caused by a blow, bump or jolt to the head, the head suddenly and violently hitting an object or when an object pierces the skull and enters brain tissue. This disruption of brain function can have a profound impact on the quality of life of the sufferer.
Traumatic brain injuries are a common occurrence in injury cases where there is some form of head trauma. According to the CDC, there were nearly 3 million emergency visits, hospitalizations and deaths in the United States related to TBIs. Thankfully we’ve gotten better and preventing TBI-related deaths. Unfortunately, however, the rate of ER visits related to TBIs has been increasing. The best way to prevent a TBI from getting worse is to seek appropriate treatment. But before you can get appropriate treatment, you need to be properly diagnosed.
What Causes a Traumatic Brain Injury?
As the name implies, a TBI is caused when the brain suffers from a traumatic injury. There are many causes of TBIs:
- Falling: Tripping, slipping, and falling are common causes of TBIs, especially in children or older adults who don’t have the dexterity or motor control to protect their heads when falling.
- Sports Accidents: Playing certain sports is commonly associated with head trauma. Getting tackled in football, falling off a skateboard and striking your head, or getting checked in hockey are all frequent culprits. While violent sports–such as boxing or football–carry a higher risk of causing trauma, TBIs frequently occur in sports with less routine physical contact, such as soccer or baseball.
- Vehicle Accidents: Traffic collisions often result in head trauma and TBI. Modern safety standards have decreased the likelihood of serious injury, but they have far from eliminated it. The risk of TBI is greater for drivers in motorcycles, ATVs, or in other vehicles in which drivers have no protection between themselves and the road.
- Work Accidents: In the workplace, TBI-inducing accidents are typically caused from slips and falling objects. However, each workplace is different and has its own unique risks. Construction workers, for example, frequently suffer TBIs as a result of falling debris, or from mishandled explosives or gear.
- Physical Altercations: Punching and kicking in the midst of a physical confrontation can easily cause TBI. So can the striking of a victim’s head on the ground when she is pushed or knocked over.
- Self-Harm: Unfortunately, self-harm is the leading cause of traumatic brain injury related deaths.
These are common causes of TBIs. But anything that can strike the head or push the head into another object with force can cause a TBI.
What Are the Different Types of Brain Injury?
Below are some of the common ways in which TBIs are categorized.
- Open and Closed TBIs
Open TBI: An open TBI happens when the skull is broken or fractured. A gunshot wound is an easy to understand example, as the bullet has to pass through the skull to damage the brain. But these injuries can happen from a fall or any other form of head trauma so long as there is enough force to damage the skull itself as well as the brain.
Closed TBI: A closed TBI is a traumatic brain injury in which the skull remains completely intact. With a closed TBI, the brain itself and the tissue that surrounds it are injured without the bone breaking. Closed TBIs can be accelerating (caused by movement of an unrestrained head moving at a high speed) or non-accelerating (where the head is restrained). A common type of closed TBI is concussion. Concussions are commonly associated with a range of potential cognitive symptoms, such as memory loss, nausea or a lack of coordination that are short lasting immediately following the blow to the head.
- Area of Brain Damage:
Contrecoup: A contrecoup injury is one that occurs on the opposite side of the brain from where the impact was. A contrecoup injury typically occurs when a moving head strikes a stationary object.
Coup: A coups injury is a brain injury on the brain just below where the impact occurred. While trauma is the cause of the coup, the coup itself is associated with swelling or bruising of the brain. A coup injury typically occurs when a moving object strikes a stationary head.
Coup-Contrecoup: A coup-contrecoup injury refers to an injury of the brain that happens both under the site of impact and on the opposite side from where the trauma occurred. This happens because the impact rocks the brain so that it strikes the skull. For example, a blow to the forehead can cause the brain to rock backwards and strike the back of the skull from the inside.
What Are the Signs That I Might Have Suffered a TBI?
If you have suffered a blow to the head and are worried that you might have suffered a TBI then be on the lookout for the following physical symptoms:
- Blurred Vision
- Lack of Appetite
- Loss of Vision
- Ringing in the Ears (Tinnitus)
Psychological symptoms that can result from TBI are:
- Lack of Concentration
- Short Term Memory Loss
Along with psychological and physical symptoms, TBIs are also commonly associated with the following emotional symptoms:
- Mood Swings
- Unexplained and Unusual Changes in Personality
How Can I Get Compensation for My TBI?
TBI can be expensive to diagnose and treat. Patients with TBIs are typically sent to a slew of specialists and are sent for extensive and costly imaging. In addition, symptoms of traumatic brain injury can be long-lasting, or even permanent.
If your TBI was the result of a workplace accident, a motor vehicle collision that was someone else’s fault, or it was caused by other negligent or intentional conduct, you should not have to face the costs of a TBI alone. Gideon Asen can help you determine whether you have a potential claim. If you do, Gideon Asen will make sure you are fully and fairly compensated for your injuries. Please call us to see how we can help you to deal with this difficult experience.


An exotic particle made up of five quarks has been discovered a decade after experiments seemed to rule out its existence.
The short-lived ‘pentaquark’ was spotted by researchers analysing data on the decay of unstable particles in the LHCb experiment at the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN, Europe’s particle-physics laboratory near Geneva. The finding, says LHCb spokesperson Guy Wilkinson, opens a new era in physicists’ understanding of the strong nuclear force that holds atomic nuclei together.
“The pentaquark is not just any new particle—it represents a way to aggregate quarks, namely the fundamental constituents of ordinary protons and neutrons, in a pattern that has never been observed before,” he says. “Studying its properties may allow us to understand better how ordinary matter, the protons and neutrons from which we’re all made, is constituted.”
Protons and neutrons are made up of three kinds of quarks bound together, but theorists calculate that, in principle, particles could be made of up to five quarks. Such particles would be rich testing grounds for quantum chromodynamics (QCD)—the theory that describes the forces that hold quarks together.
In 2002, researchers at the SPring-8 synchrotron in Harima, Japan, caused a stir when they announced that they had discovered a pentaquark, roughly 1.5 times heavier than a proton, inferring its existence from the debris of collisions between high-energy photons and neutrons. Within a year, more than ten other labs had reported finding evidence for the particle by reanalysing data.
But numerous others saw no evidence for such a state and, in 2005, the discovery was pronounced a mirage. The final straw came with an experiment at the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia, that repeated the SPring-8 measurement with more data and ruled out the pentaquark’s existence.
The episode has since been held up as an example of how scientists can be tricked by data into seeing more than is there. In 2008, the annual Review of Particle Physics—the discipline’s official record—described the pentaquark as “a curious episode in the history of science”, and its most recent listings do not include a dedicated entry for the particle.
Those listings will have to be corrected, because the LHCb result leaves little doubt that pentaquarks are real, researchers say. Physicists saw a signal showing the unexpected appearance of two short-lived objects weighing 4.38 and 4.45 gigaelectronvolts (4.67 and 4.74 times heavier than a proton) during the decay of trillions of subatomic particles known as ‘Lambda B’ baryons, by analysing data that were recorded between 2009 and 2012.
After measuring the new objects’ properties and exhausting other known particles as candidates, the team concluded that they correspond to a pentaquark in two different configurations. The particle contains two ‘up’ quarks, a ‘down’ quark, and a ‘charm’ quark–antiquark pair, making it a ‘charmonium’ pentaquark. A preprint about the particle has been posted on the arXiv server, and has been submitted for publication in Physics Review Letters.
Haunted by pentaquark
The result, which first caught the attention of physicists on LHCb in 2012 as a bump in their data, was a total surprise, says LHCb’s Sheldon Stone, at Syracuse University in New York. “In the old days we searched for new particles by bump–hunting, but in this case the bump found us!” he says. “We were studying something else at the time so at first we ignored it. For historical reasons we were quite haunted by the word pentaquark, so we did every conceivable check we could,” he says.
The researchers have high confidence in their finding: they say that there is a vanishingly small chance of the signal appearing if no new particles existed. The statistical bar—known as 9-sigma—is far higher than the 5-sigma usually required for a discovery in particle physics, such as the announcement of the Higgs boson in 2012.
The result could be interesting because it could reveal more about QCD, says theorist Frank Close of the University of Oxford, UK. "If I have an immediate feeling of worry it is that they claim two states: is this because they have found a process that favours production of pentaquarks, or because they have not really found the best interpretation of the data?" he says.
The new pentaquark is not the one, known as the theta+, seen back in 2002, however: it is almost three times heavier, and contains different kinds of quarks.
“I think our result will energize the search for many different pentaquark states including the debunked theta+,” says Stone. “One important difference with the theta+ and other states is that our pentaquarks have charm–anticharm quarks present which can cause a much stronger binding. So pentaquarks with these constituents may exist while ones with lighter ones may not.”
This article is reproduced with permission and was first published on July 14, 2015.


Waterholes are drying up, and cattle are finding brittle yellow stalks where green grass once was. So far, tens of thousands of cattle have died due to the drought. (Photo: Bobby Bascomb)
This year's El Niño that’s causing extreme droughts in parts of the world is causing skyrocketing food prices in southern Africa. But nature has also used drought through the ages to adjust the balances among prey and predators. Bobby Bascomb reports from Johannesburg, South Africa. .
CURWOOD: The deep drought is painful for people across the whole of southern Africa. But as reporter Bobby Bascomb found, the picture is more complex for the continent’s iconic wildlife.
[SFX AMBIANCE SOUNDS, MUSIC]
BASCOMB: It’s a scorching hot day at the Fourways Farmer’s market in Johannesburg, South Africa. Market goers take refuge in the shade of big leafy trees and sip on icy drinks from mason jars.
Local farmer Clint Halkett-Siddel stands behind his stall of organic vegetables. He says locals should be able to count on rain this afternoon to cool things off.
HALKETT-SIDDEL: In Johannesburg we’re used to it being four o’clock everyday of the week we get an afternoon thunderstorm. That has changed dramatically over the years.
BASCOMB: This year South Africa is experiencing its worst drought since 1910, when they began keeping records. Halkett-Siddel says the lack of rain is making it difficult for him to farm, and what food he can grow will be more expensive for consumers.
HELKETT-SKIDDEL: We are lucky to have a nice aqueduct under our property and we use borehole water for our irrigation, but it obviously means that we’ve got more labor intensive production happening. Pushes up the cost of the produce that we are able to produce because we have to employ staff to water the grounds every day, instead of relying on the natural rain.
BASCOMB: The drought has been particularly severe in the agricultural heartland of the country. Normally South Africa exports corn, but this year they will have to import it, from as far away as South America. And currency devaluation is making imports particularly expensive. Already the staple food here, a cornmeal called pap, has gone up in price by roughly 50 percent.
Other countries in the region are even worse off. In Mozambique the price of corn has nearly doubled and in Zimbabwe, where crops are failing and tens of thousands of cattle have already died, the government has declared a state of disaster.
Roughly 14 million people in Southern Africa don’t have reliable access to affordable food – they’re what David Orr of the World Food Program in Johannesburg calls food insecure.
ORR: Vulnerable people are experiencing issues with being able to feed themselves and their families. We hear of families who are reducing the number of meals, cutting meals, often selling their prized livestock to earn some money.
BASCOMB: Orr expects even more people will be struggling with food security in Zimbabwe once the full effects of the drought are felt in April – the month when the year’s crops are normally harvested.
ORR: They’re talking about the harvest in at least one province, three-quarters of the crop, being a write off.
BASCOMB: A drought like this that’s so devastating for farmers and people struggling to feed themselves also affects wildlife. Waterholes are drying up, and instead of succulent green grass animals are finding brittle yellow stalks. But the drought can actually be good for wildlife in the long run. That’s according to Isak Smit, a scientist with the South African National Park Service.
SMIT: We’ve got sympathy with agriculture and local communities. A lot of human beings’ welfare and livelihoods are severely affected by these droughts. However, in these natural systems like national parks, we realize that droughts are actually a natural and important event that’s been happening over millennia.
BASCOMB: Smit says a drought is nature’s way of resetting the ecosystem. And for wildlife, there will be winners and losers.
SMIT: So, some species will be disadvantaged — for example, hippo, buffalo, warthog, and water buck. And then there are other species that are actually favored by drought conditions. Think about your predators and scavengers, because there’s so much more food available, and the animal’s conditions are lowered so it’s easier to catch prey. One should also see there are some really fat lions walking around and that the wild dogs are having big litter sizes.
BASCOMB: But of course, the ecosystem can only support a limited number of predators, so those many wild dogs and fat lions will ultimately face more competition to catch a reduced number of prey animals. But Smit says increased mortality is actually good for the species.
SMIT: During drought some of the weaker and the diseased animals are the first to die. So, the animals that are the fittest and have got the best genetic material actually then form the basis of your population after the drought.
BASCOMB: So survival of the fittest individuals now will make the species as a whole more equipped to survive drought again in the future.
Smit says some animals have already died from lack of food and water, and rivers and watering holes that are low now will be even more depleted in July and August when the normal dry season arrives.
So, the worst of this drought is still to come, for wildlife and people alike.
For Living on Earth, I’m Bobby Bascomb in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Living on Earth wants to hear from you!
P.O. Box 990007
Boston, MA, USA 02199
Donate to Living on Earth!
Living on Earth is an independent media program and relies entirely on contributions from listeners and institutions supporting public service. Please donate now to preserve an independent environmental voice.
Sailors For The Sea: Be the change you want to sea.
Innovating to make the world a better, more sustainable place to live. Listen to the race to 9 billion
The Grantham Foundation for the Protection of the Environment: Committed to protecting and improving the health of the global environment.
Energy Foundation: Serving the public interest by helping to build a strong, clean energy economy.
Contribute to Living on Earth and receive, as our gift to you, an archival print of one of Mark Seth Lender's extraordinary wildlife photographs. Follow the link to see Mark's current collection of photographs.
Buy a signed copy of Mark Seth Lender's book Smeagull the Seagull & support Living on Earth


By Zama Coursen-Neff and Bede Sheppard
Of the 72 million primary school-age children not currently attending school worldwide, more than half -- 39 million -- live in countries afflicted by armed conflict. In many of these countries, armed groups threaten and kill students and teachers and bomb and burn schools as tactics of the conflict. Government security forces use schools as bases for military operations, putting students at risk and further undermining education.
In southern Thailand, separatist insurgents have set fire to schools at least 327 times since 2004, and government security forces occupied at least 79 schools in 2010. In Colombia, hundreds of teachers active in trade unions have been killed in the last decade, the perpetrators often pro-government paramilitaries and other parties to the ongoing conflict between the government and rebel forces. In northern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the rebel Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted large numbers of children from schools and taken revenge on villages believed to be aiding LRA defectors by, among other things, looting and burning schools.
"We warn you to leave your job as a teacher as soon as possible otherwise we will cut the heads off your children and shall set fire to your daughter," read a threatening letter from Taliban insurgents in Afghanistan, where between March and October 2010 20 schools were attacked using explosives or arson, and insurgents killed 126 students.
While attacks on schools, teachers, and students in Afghanistan have perhaps been most vivid in the public eye -- men on motorbikes spraying pupils with gunfire, girls doused with acid -- intentional targeting of education is a far-reaching if underreported phenomenon. It is not limited to a few countries but a broader problem in the world's armed conflicts. Human Rights Watch researchers have documented attacks on students, teachers, and schools -- and their consequences for education -- in Afghanistan, Colombia, the DRC, India, Nepal, Burma, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Thailand. The United Nation's Education, Science, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reports that attacks occurred in at least 31 countries from 2007 to 2009.
While only a few non-state armed groups openly endorse such attacks, too little is being done to document, publicize, and take steps to end them. Nor is the negative impact of long-term occupation of schools by military forces fully appreciated. Access to education is increasingly recognized as an important part of emergency humanitarian response, particularly during mass displacement and natural disasters. But protecting schools, teachers, and students from deliberate attack in areas of conflict is only now receiving greater attention. Humanitarian aid groups increasingly are alert to the harm and lasting costs of such attacks and human rights groups have begun to address them in the context of protecting civilians in armed conflict and promoting economic and social rights, including the right to education.
An effective response to attacks on education will require more focused policies and action by concerned governments and a much stronger international effort. Making students, teachers, and schools genuinely off limits to non-state armed groups and regular armies will require governments, opposition groups, and other organizations to implement strong measures that are enforced by rigorous monitoring, preventive interventions, rapid response to violations, and accountability for violators of domestic and international law.
Non-state armed groups target schools, teachers, and students for a variety of reasons. Rebel groups often see schools and teachers as symbols of the state. Indeed in rural areas, they may be the only structures and government employees in the vicinity, serving multiple purposes. In India, Pakistan, and Afghanistan, for example, armed opposition groups have attacked schools used as polling places around elections.
Teachers and schools make high-visibility "soft" targets: they are more easily attacked than the government security forces, and attacks are likely to garner media attention to the assailants and their political agenda, and undermine confidence in government control. Opposition groups may also view schools and teachers as symbols of an oppressive educational system. A teacher in southern Thailand told Human Rights Watch how he became a target of both sides of the separatist conflict there. Muslim insurgents warned him that, as a Muslim, he should not be teaching at a government school. Later, local government paramilitary troops also threatened him for allegedly supporting the insurgents. Soon after, unidentified assailants shot him on his way home from daily prayers at his mosque, seriously wounding him.
Sometimes schools are attacked because armed groups are hostile to the content of the education being delivered or because of the students they educate. In some countries, schools have been targeted because their curriculum is perceived to be secular or "Western," others simply because the schools educate girls. Not all the violence is ideological: criminal elements may want to drive out competing sources of authority; some attacks are simply local disputes that may or may not have to do with education.
Schools and the routes students take to reach them can also be preyed upon by rebels, paramilitaries, and others seeking children for their armies, for indoctrination, or for coerced sex. During the prolonged civil war in Nepal, for example, Human Rights Watch documented how Maoist rebels used a variety of techniques for recruiting children, including the abduction of large groups of children, often from schools, for indoctrination.
The impact of attacks can be devastating. Large numbers of teachers and pupils may be injured or traumatized, in some cases killed. And attacks often lead to dramatic decreases in school attendance rates. When attendance remains low over the long term there are negative knock-on effects on the economy and on key development indices such as measures of maternal and child health.
In the worst cases, hundreds of schools are closed. For example, Afghanistan's Ministry of Education reported in March 2009 that roughly 570 schools remained closed following attacks by the Taliban and other insurgent groups, with hundreds of thousands of students denied an education.
Attacks can also damage facilities and teaching materials, requiring extensive repairs and costly new materials before schools can reopen. If not shut down entirely, classes may be suspended for days, weeks, or even longer and, when resumed, held in dangerous, partially destroyed structures or even outside. Other valuable services provided to communities in school buildings, such as adult education and community health and other services, may also be lost.
When governments fail to rebuild after an attack, the impact is even greater. For example, in India, none of the schools attacked by Maoist rebels (known as Naxalites) that Human Rights Watch visited in 2009 had received any government assistance to repair or rebuild. The attacks had occurred between two and six months earlier, and state governments had stated that they had the funding to rebuild.
Attacks on schools and teachers traumatize students and affects teachers' work performance. Even where school buildings remain intact or the physical infrastructure is restored, teachers and students may be too fearful to return. Qualified teachers may refuse to work in the area, leaving those who remain stretched thin.
For example, in rural Bihar state in India, local residents described to Human Rights Watch how a large Maoist force blew up the middle school building in their town. In response, local paramilitary police established a camp inside the remaining structures. School classes were being held in a travelers' shelter partially exposed to the elements, without toilets or the government-mandated midday meal. As one parent told Human Rights Watch, "When people hear about these problems, parents take their children out [of the school]."
Attacks can also have a ripple effect on surrounding schools and affect the overall calculation that parents and students make in assessing the costs and benefits of attending school. In conflict areas, the quality of education is often already weak and families may be highly sensitive to violence. When two teachers were assassinated on their way to a local market in southern Thailand in September 2010, for example, the local teachers' federation suspended classes in all government schools in the province for three days.
Threats alone can be very effective in shutting down schools in environments where violence is widespread and perpetrators go unpunished. A teacher in rural Laghman province, Afghanistan, told Human Rights Watch that a third of her students dropped out after a so-called "night letter" was left at the mosque, which stated: "We warn you to stop sending your girls to these classes or you cannot imagine the consequences. Your classes will be blown up by a bomb, or if any of your daughters is raped or kidnapped, you cannot complain later on."
Closely related to targeted attacks on schools is the use of school facilities by national armed forces or other armed groups. Attracted by schools' central locations, solid structures, and electrical and sanitation facilities, some security forces take over schools for weeks or months, and sometimes years. In Bihar and Jharkhand states in India, for example, where government security forces took over dozens of schools as outposts in conflicts with Maoist rebels, all of the 21 school occupations Human Rights Watch investigated in 2009 and 2010 had lasted between six months and three years. Military use of schools not only disrupts students' education, it may itself provoke attacks from opposing forces.
Even when schools are not being used for classes, military use is problematic because attacks by opposing forces can destroy school infrastructure and blur the lines between civilian and military installations, potentially exposing schools to attack when students return. When security forces take over a school, they frequently fortify and militarize the school buildings and grounds-for example, by establishing reinforced sentry boxes, digging trenches, and constructing protective walls of barbed wire and sand bags. When security forces leave, they often leave these fortifications behind. This places the school in ongoing danger by giving the appearance of a military presence long after the forces have left.
In some instances, security forces entirely displace students. In none of the cases investigated by Human Rights Watch had governments taken steps to provide alternative educational facilities of comparable quality to children displaced by military occupations of school facilities.
In other cases, militaries occupy only certain areas within schools, with classes continuing to be held in the unoccupied parts. Such partial occupation of schools is also problematic. In partially occupied schools visited by Human Rights Watch in India and southern Thailand, students, teachers, and parents variously complained about problems as diverse as overcrowding of classrooms, loss of kitchens that had provided mid-day meals, and inability to use school latrines. (Lack of access to toilets is a globally recognized factor contributing to lowered school attendance by girls.) Students try to continue their studies alongside armed men whose often poor behavior-ranging from beating criminal suspects in front of students to gambling, drinking, and using drugs-are all counter to a safe and positive learning environment for children.
When security forces move in, there is typically an immediate exodus of students. And long-term occupations deter new enrollments. Girls appear more likely to drop out or fail to enroll, motivated in part by fear of harassment by occupying soldiers or police. Students and teachers in Jharkhand and Bihar in India, for example, complained that security force personnel bathed in their underwear in front of girls. Girls in southern Thailand told us that paramilitary Rangers had asked them for their older sisters' phone numbers. This kind of behavior obviously has no place on school grounds.
Under international human rights law-namely the widely-ratified Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights -- states are obligated to make primary education compulsory and available free to all, and secondary education available and accessible. They must work to progressively improve regular attendance at schools and to reduce drop-out rates for both boys and girls. In order to ensure the right to education, states have an obligation to prevent and respond to attacks by non-state armed groups so that the schools function and children receive an education. Attacks on students, teachers, and schools will violate various provisions of domestic criminal law.
In situations that rise to the level of armed conflict, international humanitarian law -- the laws of war -- also applies. International humanitarian law is binding on all parties to a conflict, both the government and opposition armed groups. Applicable law includes the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and its two additional protocols and customary international law. Under international humanitarian law, schools and educational institutions are civilian objects that are protected from deliberate attack unless and only for such time as they are being used by belligerent forces for a military purpose. Thus a school that serves as a headquarters or an ammunition depot becomes a military objective subject to attack.
International humanitarian law also forbids acts or threats of violence with the primary purpose of spreading terror among the civilian population.
When government forces or non-state armed groups take over schools during an armed conflict, they have an obligation to take all feasible precautions to protect civilians from attack and to remove them from the vicinity: it is unlawful to use a school simultaneously as an armed stronghold and as an educational center. The longer a school cannot be used for educational purposes, the greater the obligation on the state to ensure the affected students' right to education by other means. When a structure ceases being used as a school, the authorities must relocate the school's teachers and students to a safe locale where education can continue or they are denying children the right to an education under international human rights law.
* * *
Putting an end to attacks on schools, teachers, and students requires action at national and international levels on three fronts:
- Stronger monitoring systems;
- Targeted preventive measures, and more decisive and timely response when incidents do occur; and
- Effective justice mechanisms that hold violators of domestic and international law accountable.
A more effective deterrence to attacks on education needs to begin with acknowledgment of the problem, including clear public statements by officials and, wherever possible, rebel group commanders, that attacks on students and teachers are prohibited and the use of schools for military purposes should be off limits. Too often, government policies and regulations on use of schools for military operations in conflict zones are ambiguous or nonexistent. A notable positive model is the Philippines, which specifically criminalizes attacks against education buildings, and prohibits the use of school buildings by government forces as command posts, detachments, depots, or other types of military facility.
Information is also critical. Officials need to put in place monitoring systems that ensure that attacks on schools, teachers, and students are tracked: it is impossible to devise an effective response if the scope of the problem is not known. Too often attacks on education have fallen between the cracks of protection and education agencies and thus have not been addressed as a systematic problem requiring monitoring and a coordinated response. And while governments are in the best position to monitor attacks, some lack the capacity or will to do so, or are themselves implicated. Here, the UN and other international actors have an important role to play.
International monitoring is especially important for overlooked conflicts, including low level conflicts that have not produced widespread displacement but which involve attacks on education. Militaries, embassies, political affairs offices, and other peace and security institutions should also be encouraged to view-and thus monitor-access to and attacks on education at all levels as a critical measurement of security.
The UN Security Council's Monitoring and Reporting Mechanism (MRM) on Children and Armed Conflict provides a vehicle that, if more focused on such attacks, could have particularly far-reaching impact. The MRM was established in 2005 and now operates in 13 countries, feeding information on abuses against children in conflict from the field to the Security Council. The Security Council in turn has the power to take strong action against parties who commit abuses against children during armed conflicts, including imposing sanctions and arms embargoes and referring perpetrators of war crimes and crimes against humanity to the International Criminal Court.
At present the MRM is only "triggered" by evidence of the war crimes of recruitment and use of children as soldiers, sexual violence against children in conflict, and killing and maiming of children. Once it is operational in a country, however, the mechanism is required to monitor other abuses, including attacks on education. The Security Council has rightly urged parties to conflicts to refrain from "attacks or threats of attacks on school children or teachers as such, the use of schools for military operations, and attacks on schools that are prohibited by applicable international law." It has, however, made far fewer recommendations on education via the MRM than on higher profile issues such as child soldiers. The MRM is also not present in some places, such as southern Thailand and India, that continue to suffer repeated attacks on school facilities and personnel.
Supported by the MRM, the UN has achieved substantial successes reducing the use of child soldiers by negotiating action plans with both governments and armed groups to demobilize children from their forces and end new recruitment of children. To achieve similar success in ending attacks on education, the UN-led country teams that monitor violations against children in armed conflict should improve their monitoring of attacks on education, providing the Security Council with more information and recommendations for action. Additionally, the Security Council should include attacks on education as a "trigger" to start up the MRM.
When attacks occur or even loom as a possibility, officials need to take immediate measures to protect teachers and students from further harm. For example, by enhancing community participation in school construction and management, education providers may draw on local information about how to best deter threats and increase incentives among community members to support their schools. Other steps may include providing private guards or escorts for school buildings and transport; exploring alternative schools sites and schedules; prohibiting the use of schools for any military or police purpose; and negotiating with all parties the status of schools as protected or demilitarized zones as provided for under international humanitarian law. In some contexts, opposition groups may be influenced by statements from influential religious leaders or even those leaders' active participation in schools, by interaction with community leaders, and other steps that would discourage rebel attacks on education.
For example, in Nepal the Schools as Zones of Peace initiative and the Partnerships for Protecting Children in Armed Conflict (PPCC) are often cited as effective partnerships of non-governmental organizations and international agencies that, among other things, have helped keep armed groups out of schools. In contrast, in Afghanistan in the lead up to the 2009 elections, a group of humanitarian agencies and the Minister of Education used data on attacks to call for schools to be used as polling places only as a last resort. Their call was unheeded, and according to the ministry, 26 of the 2,742 schools used as polling places were attacked on election day.
The government's immediate response to an attack, including repairing buildings and replacing materials, is important for mitigating its effects and getting students back to school as quickly as possible. As governments and education agencies try out responses, a "tool kit" of proven preventive measures and responses would be useful to assist their efforts.
Finally, accountability for attacks on education-including prosecuting perpetrators-is critical. Countries that have not done so should explicitly criminalize within domestic law and military codes attacks on schools and place greater restrictions on the military use and occupation of schools. The United Kingdom's Ministry of Defense Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict, for example, includes specific references to the protection of education buildings. In addition to stating that attacks on schools are unlawful unless being used for military purposes, the manual notes that the "use of a privileged building for an improper purpose" is a "war crime traditionally recognized by the customary law of armed conflict." In another example, the Indian Supreme Court and various Indian state courts have ordered police and paramilitary forces engaged in military operations to vacate occupied schools; however, security forces have often ignored these orders.
Domestic prosecutions for attacks, including of non-state actors, are indispensible. For example, in the DRC, an Ituri Military Tribunal in August 2006 convicted Ives Kahwa Panga Mandro ("Chief Kahwa"), founder of the Party for Unity and Safeguarding of the Integrity of Congo, on six charges, including the war crime of intentionally directing attacks against a primary school, a church, and a medical center. Citing the DRC constitution's provision allowing courts and military tribunals to apply international treaties, the tribunal directly applied the crime under the International Criminal Court's Rome Statute of intentionally directing attacks against institutions of education. Kahwa received a 20-year sentence. In a decision light on both legal and factual reasoning, however, an appeals court cancelled the verdict, and the case remains in legal limbo at this writing.
Where governments are unwilling or unable to prosecute, international courts can play an important role in punishing perpetrators and deterring future violations. The International Criminal Court, for example, has explicit jurisdiction over intentional attacks against buildings dedicated to education in both international and internal armed conflicts, provided they are not military objectives. The court has yet to include attacks on education in its charges and should give specific consideration to the issue during relevant investigations and pursue cases where the evidence indicates that such attacks are among the most serious crimes of concern to the international community and which are of sufficient gravity to warrant ICC prosecution.
Outside of formal justice mechanisms, commissions of inquiry and truth and reconciliation commissions should address attacks on education. The 1998 final report of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, for example, recognized that a variety of state and non-state actors had bombed, burned, and occupied schools, and assaulted and killed teachers. Many individual perpetrators came before the commission to admit to their own involvement in attacks against schools, students, and teachers.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child, which monitors the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, is also well-placed to highlight how attacks and occupations violate the right to education. It has already commented on the problem in at least four countries: Burundi, Ethiopia, Israel, and Moldova. As a next step, the Committee could issue a "General Comment", a statement that expands upon and clarifies provisions within the Convention. In 2008 it held a day of discussion on education in emergency situations, collecting information and recommendations that could be turned into a General Comment. Such an interpretation of the Convention on this issue could assist states to protect students, teachers, and schools during times of emergencies, as well as give the Committee and other international and domestic bodies a set of standards by which to judge government action.
In too many conflict-afflicted countries, combatants are able to target schools, teachers, and students with few if any consequences for the perpetrators. The consequences instead fall heavily on the affected teachers, students, and families, with long-term negative consequences for the affected society as a whole.
The formation in 2010 of a new international coalition of UN agencies, humanitarian organizations and other civil society groups on protection of education signals renewed attention to the issue. The coalition's experience to date already suggests concrete steps governments can take to minimize attacks on education. Lasting improvements in the protection of schools, teachers, and students from attack, however, will require far more focused and coordinated national and international action.
As a tribal elder from northern Helmand province in Afghanistan noted: "The people want schools, even for girls. We are losing a golden opportunity now to lift our children."
Zama Coursen-Neff is deputy director of the Children's Rights Division at Human Rights Watch; Bede Sheppard is senior researcher in the division.
 Save The Children, "The Future is Now: Education for Children in Countries Affected by Conflict", 2010, pg viii.
 Brendan O'Malley, Education under Attack 2010, (Paris: UNESCO, 2010).
 An Act Defining and Penalizing Crimes Against International Humanitarian Law, Genocide and Other Crimes Against Humanity, Organizing Jurisdictions, Designating Special Courts, and for Other Related Purposes, Republic Act No. 9851, 2009- criminalizes attacks on school facilities; An Act Providing for Stronger Deterrence and Special Protection Against Child Abuse, Exploitation and Discrimination, Providing Penalties for its Violation, and for Other Purposes, Republic Act No. 7610, 1992- prohibits use of such facilities for military operations.
 United Nations Security Council, "Presidential Statement on Children and Armed Conflict", UN Doc. S/PRST/2009/9, April 29, 2009.
 "Afghanistan: Over 20 Schools Attacked on Election Day," IRIN News, August 24, 2009, http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=85831 (accessed October 8, 2009).
 UK Ministry of Defence, Manual of the Law of Armed Conflict (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004).
 Ibid.,16.16.1, 16.29(c), pp. 428-29, n. 122.
 Tribunal Militaire de Garnison de l'Ituri, Jugement Contre Kahwa Panga Mandro, RPA No. 039/2006, RMP No. 227/ PEN/2006 (August 2, 2006).
 Cour Militaire de la Province Orientale, Arrêt Contre Kahwa Panga Mandro, RPA No. 023/2007, RMP 227/PEN/2006 (July 28, 2007).
 Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa, Report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of South Africa (1998), vol. I, p. 34, vol. II, pp. 154, 150, 380, 387, 431, 436, and 661-662, vol. III, pp. 59-60, 236, 311, 370, 408, and 617; vol. IV, p. 266; and vol. V, pp. 255 and 355.
 United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Burundi, CRC/C/15/Add.133 (October 16, 2000), paras. 64-65; CRC, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Ethiopia, CRC/C/ETH/CO/3 (November 1, 2006), paras. 27-28; CRC, UN Committee on the Rights of the Child: Concluding Observations, Israel, CRC/C/15/Add.195 (October 9, 2002), para. 52; CRC, Consideration of Reports Submitted by States Parties Under Article 44 of the Convention: Convention on the Rights of the Child: 2nd and 3rd Periodic Reports of States Parties Due in 2005: Republic of Moldova, CRC/C/MDA/3 (July 10, 2008), paras. 423 and 435.
 The Global Coalition for Protecting Education from Attack (GCPEA) includes the Council for Assisting Refugee Academics, Education Above All, Education International, Human Rights Watch, Save the Children International, UNESCO, and UNICEF, the UN Children's Fund. The coalition is dedicated to raising awareness about the scope of attacks on education and their consequences, and mobilizing a more effective international response.


January 27th is Multicultural Children’s Book Day and to celebrate I am reviewing Bijoy and the Big River. Learn about the daily lives through a young boy’s journey through the Brahmaputri River, also known as the Burha Luit or “Big River” in his Indian village of Assam.
Bijoy loves living near the water because it has many facets, one of which is the xihu, (pronounced hihu). Xihu is an endangered Gangetic river dolphin that lives and swims sideways in the Big River, and one of the native animals that Bijoy has come face to face with. Other animals native to India in the book are silkworms and their unique cocoons, elephants, and the endangered one-horned rhino. Learn also about materials from trees native to India, including bamboo and cane, that are used to build houses in Bijoy’s village of Assam.
Bijoy and the Big River is a great book to read to your child who is interested in India, has family in India, or children who simply like learning about different countries. Not only does it tell of native animals and plants, it explores native foods and festivals.
Reading Bijoy and the Big River is a great way to introduce your child to another culture! Take it one step further and introduce your child to the food of India by going to and Indian restaurant or making a home-cooked meal of mustard greens and bamboo shoots, both foods that are native to India. However you choose to celebrate the day, make sure that you make it fun!
Bijoy and the Big River
Written by: Meera Sriram and Praba Ram
About Multicultural Children’s Book Day2015 (MCCBD)
Mission: To raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these of books into classrooms and libraries. Despite census data that shows 37% of the US population consists of people of color, only 10% of children’s books published have diversity content. Using the Multicultural Children’s Book Day, Mia and Valarie are on a mission to change all of that. Their mission is to not only raise awareness for the kid’s books that celebrate diversity, but to get more of these types of books into classrooms and libraries. Another goal of this exciting event is create a compilation of books and favorite reads that will provide not only a new reading list for the winter, but also a way to expose brilliant books to families, teachers, and libraries.
“MCCBD team hopes to spread the word and raise awareness about the importance of diversity in children’s literature. Our young readers need to see themselves within the pages of a book and experience other cultures, languages, traditions and religions within the pages of a book. We encourage readers, parents, teachers, caregivers and librarians to follow along the fun book reviews, author visits, event details, a multicultural children’s book linky and via our hashtag (#ReadYourWorld) on Twitter and other social media.”
Bronze Sponsors:Double Dutch Dolls, Bliss Group Books, Snuggle with Picture Books Publishing, Rainbow Books, Author FeliciaCapers, Chronicle Books Muslim Writers Publishing ,East West Discovery Press.
Co-hosts: Find a list of co-hosts on the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website here.
Virtual Book Drive w/ First Book: MCCBD is partnering with First Book to offer a Virtual Book Drive that will help donate multicultural children’s books through their channels during the week of the event. We want to help get diversity books into the hands of kids who most need it and now we have a way to do it! The Virtual Book Drive is LIVE and can be found HERE.
Special Contributor: Children’s Book Council: MCCBD is collaborating with Children’s Book Council to highlight wonderful diversity books and authors on an ongoing basis all year.


Lipedema, also known as ‘skinny feet syndrome’ and ‘lipomatosis of the legs’ is a state in which both lower extremities are obese in comparison to the rest of the body and especially in comparison to the feet. Other names for lipedema include ‘riding breech thighs’ and ‘stove pipe legs’. The fat deposition is in the areas over the buttocks, thighs and shins. Lipedema may be mistaken for lymphedema and other causes of swollen legs. However, in lipedema the feet remain unaffected (hence, ‘skinny’), while a clear demarcation line exists between the feet and the shins.
Lipedema is estimated to effect as many as 10% of women in the world. It is a female disease. Sometimes it is preceded by pregnancy or hormone supplementation. It usually starts during early age and may occur in several members of the same family.
Treatment options for lipedema are scarce and treatment focuses mainly on skin care. Unfortunately, weight loss does not affect the size of the legs. As the American president, Barack Obama reportedly remarked about his wife, Michelle: “It does not matter how much weight she loses, her legs are never thin”. Perhaps the most important treatment for lipedema patients is actually refraining from treatment and unneeded imaging studies.