There are a lot of people promoting the fear that–especially for The Children™—
“Vaping might be a Gateway to Smoking”.
A lot of scientists have already examined existing survey data and shown conclusively that there isn’t even a hint of that gateway. No need for me to repeat it. When you think about it, you don’t need rocket science to realise that this “Gateway theory” is utter bollocks. Common sense is enough.
1. Starting vaping
So far the data show that the vast majority of people (any age) who really start vaping are already smokers. The number of never-smokers to start regular vaping (with nicotine) is totally negligible. It might increase slightly in the future when vaping is “normalized”. But for the gateway to smoking this would be just the first step in a series of increasingly improbably events. Moreover: This would only be relevant if the same person never would have started smoking without vaping first.
2. Addiction to nicotine
The evidence is mounting that nicotine alone is about as addictive as caffeine. Only in combination with other active substances in tobacco smoke it may create a strong physical addiction. And even once this smoking addiction exists, it still can be reduced by switching to pure nicotine like I explain in Diminishing Dependency. Professor Fagerström elaborates on the complexities in Dependence on tobacco and nicotine. Several studies about the possible effects of pure nicotine on neurological disorders were done. Obviously the subjects had to be non-smokers. No one developed a nicotine addiction even after six months of treatment: Nicotine, the Wonder Drug?
And look at the study by Etter & Eissenberg: Dependence levels in users of electronic cigarettes, nicotine gums and tobacco cigarettes
We found that e-cigarettes users were less addicted to e-cigarettes than smokers were addicted to tobacco cigarettes and nicotine gum users to the nicotine gum.
So, it seems very unlikely to develop a physical addiction to nicotine this way. Maybe the habit of vaping and enjoying the pleasurable effects of nicotine. Like many people enjoy caffeine. Especially the first cup of coffee or tea in the morning. We physically can do without. Unless there is a real medical reason, why deprive ourselves of this pleasure?
Update: Paradigm shift
Recently some official surveys have begun to query the nicotine content. To the dismay of many proponents of the Gateway myth they showed that the vast majority of the few never-smoking juvenile experimenters prefer to try vaping without nicotine.
Did that shut them up? Of course not. They just changed the tune they sing. Now they claim that these Children™ are getting hooked by “learning smoking behavior”. Superficially this argument may sound reasonable and is often used to justify bans on anything that resembles smoking. For any learning effect to materialize the use must be practised often (several times a week) and regularly. Most surveys don’t provide data on the frequency of use.
But this assumption already is flawed. What they are presumably learning is vaping behavior. And while both have some superficial similarities, there are many subtle differences, that require a host of adaptations in the behavior when switching. -> Haptic Habit
But even if that should happen, the next step is the ultimate killer for that “theory”:
3. Switching from vaping to smoking
The proponents of the theory just postulate this step as if it were likely or even nigh inevitable. But what are their arguments for this, if they even bother to provide any?
“Want more nicotine” — Ridiculous! If you want to vape more nicotine, you simply chose a stronger liquid. Period.
“Use the real thing” — Bovine excrement! Just think about it:
Lots of long term smokers like me (see My Story) switch to vaping. Not just for health reasons or to “quit” anything. Some–like me–simply for the vastly greater pleasure. And we fight vehemently against the people trying to force us back to the inferior experience of smoking. I elaborate on it in Pleasure Principle.
When people like me don’t want to switch back to a habit that was formed in decades, why would any rather hypothetical never smoking vaper be incited to switch to smoking?
Imagine you have inexpensive access to a vast selection of beverages. From fruit juices to exquisite spirits. Now you get the chance to forsake this all and switch to vastly overpriced harsh prohibition-style moonshine. With all the blinding methanol as a bonus. Would you?
Or another fitting analogy from the net: A lot of people today are using mobile phones. How many will be happy to exchange them for land lines and phone booths?
But wait a minute! There is a way to
Create the “Gateway”
How could that happen?
The scaremongering about this hypothetical “Gateway” is used as an argument to make vaping “unattractive for The Children”. Usually they propose doing that by “regulating” flavors. Now, what is the logical consequence if they get their will? They would remove the decisive advantage vaping has on smoking. Remove the pleasure. Destroy the reason why vaping can successfully replace smoking where NRTs usually fail.
This fanatical insistence on crippling vaping against all scientific evidence and common sense makes me wonder. Do they really care about health or “The Children™”? Are there ulterior motives involved? Financial motivations to reduce vaping to the uselessness of NRTs?
Clive Bates: http://www.clivebates.com/?s=gateway
Carl V Phillips: http://antithrlies.com/?s=gateway
Dick Puddlecote: http://dickpuddlecote.blogspot.de/search?q=gateway
Christopher Snowdon: http://velvetgloveironfist.blogspot.de/search?q=gateway
Brad Rodu: http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.de/search?q=gateway
Latest numbers from the CDC: http://rodutobaccotruth.blogspot.de/2015/02/memo-to-cdc-tell-whole-truth-about-e.html
Dr. Colin Mendelsohn (NNA AU): http://www.nnalliance.org.au/journals/Are_ECs_a_Gateway_to_Adolescent_Smoking.pdf
Sally Goetsch: Does the Gateway Effect Really Exist?


This equity initiative that the Oregon legislature passed and Gov. Brown signed will not improve the education standards of high school students.
Gov. Kate Brown of Oregon signed a bill in July removing the requirement that high school students must be able to read, write, and do math before graduation. Brown’s office justified the bill saying it will help “Oregon’s Black, Latino, Latina, Latinx, Indigenous, Asian, Pacific Islander, Tribal, and students of color.” Equitable graduation requirements in this case means eliminating them altogether. Gov. Brown is now making it impossible for any student to fail out of public high school in the state. According to a 2020 report, African American and Native American students have graduation rate that is 10 percent lower than their peers. Oregon’s overall high school graduation rate is 83 percent, which is below the national average of 86 percent.
There is significant data that shows giving high school students a rubber-stamp of approval will set them up for failure down the road. This equity initiative that the Oregon legislature passed and Gov. Brown signed will not improve the education standards of high school students. Instead, it only makes the graduation rates look better on paper. The students of Oregon have been let down badly in the name of racial equity. Holding students accountable for their success or failure is the only way to improve educational achievement. With Gov. Brown’s blessing, Oregon’s high school diplomas are not worth much at all.
To read more about Oregon’s low high school competency standards visit www.dailysignal.com
The Latest from the Gingrich 360 team
- Our Latest Poll: How Many Congressional Retirements Will There Be?
- Newt Gingrich on Fox & Friends | December 13, 2021
- Our Latest Poll: Was the Call Between President Biden and Vladimir Putin Successful?
- Newt Gingrich on Fox & Friends | December 6, 2021
- Newt Gingrich on Hannity | December 3, 2021


Statistics indicate that nearly 30 percent of all mesothelioma cases in South Africa are tied to environmental exposure, most commonly in the Northern Cape. Asbestos is the primary cause of mesothelioma, a type of cancer caused years after the damage from asbestos fibers that get lodged in the lining of the lungs or abdomen.
The Northern Cape Department of Education is aware that there were six ordinary classrooms (including Grade R), a computer room, a laboratory and several storerooms that were constructed from asbestos material at Delta Primary School.
There are, however, eight classrooms that were constructed from brick and mortar, as well as the administration block. This resulted in the school being classified as a ‘partial replacement’. Therefore, it is being prioritized in outer years (2024/25) for partial replacement, as schools constructed fully from inappropriate material takes preference. “If funding becomes available before the planned financial year, the school can be re-prioritized,’ department spokesperson Geoffrey van der Merwe said.
“The department will, however, conduct maintenance at the facility and an inspector will be sent to evaluate the asbestos panels in order to determine whether the painting of the asbestos panels to contain the asbestos fibres will be viable”.
The proposed Asbestos Management Action Plan (AMP) is geared towards identifying the objectives, scope, management, practices and procedures required to ensure that NCPG remediate all affected sites effectively. It provides an outline of responsibilities and management procedures for dealing with asbestos products and materials. The AMP and its associated plans, instructions, registers, forms and procedures integrate and operate under the Northern Cape Provincial Government (NCPG).
Asbestos is a carcinogenic, fibrous mineral, which was once widely used in construction, usually for insulating purposes. Asbestos fiber has been used in everything from building materials, car parts, roads, and school playgrounds to clothing, bedding, and even tampons.
Mesothelioma is a rare incurable cancerous disease usually caused by exposure to asbestos, in which malignant cells form a tumour in the mesothelium (the outer lining that protects the body’s major organs such as the stomach, heart, and lungs) – the most common site is the pleura (the outer lining of the lungs and chest cavity).
How does one get mesothelioma?
This form of cancer is almost always a direct result of unprotected exposure to asbestos. Most people who develop mesothelioma have worked in areas where they inhaled asbestos particles, or have been exposed to asbestos dust and fibre in other ways – for example, by washing the clothes of a family member who worked with asbestos, or by home renovation using asbestos cement products. There is no association between smoking and mesothelioma.
Symptoms of mesothelioma
Symptoms include chest or abdomen pain, persistent coughing or coughing of blood, fatigue, and weight loss.
Asbestos mining in South Africa
Blue asbestos (crocidolite) was discovered in South Africa in 1805 (originally called woolstone) and within a couple of years was being mined. In 1907 amosite (brown asbestos) was discovered in (what was then known as) the Transvaal province of South Africa. The word amosite derived from an acronym of “Asbestos Mines of South Africa” from the Amosa mine [one formula given for Amosite is Fe7Si8O22(OH)2], and is a trade name for the amphibole (Amphiboles are minerals of either igneous or metamorphic origins) known as Grunerite.
Asbestos mining peaked in 1977 with 20,000 miners employed. There are also large deposits of white asbestos (chrysotile) and brown asbestos (amosite) in South Africa (which have been mined extensively). Most of the Asbestos mining was done in the Northern Cape.
The problem with asbestos arises when the fibers become airborne and are inhaled. Because of the size of the fibers, the lungs cannot expel them.
Mesothelioma in South Africa
With the highest rate of mesothelioma diagnosis on earth, South Africa has been called the “Mesothelioma Capital of the World”.
In 1960, the link between mesothelioma and asbestosis was established in the Kimberley area of South Africa. The majority of reported mesothelioma cases resulted from exposure to asbestos in secondary industry (incidence of the condition among miners was also significant).
Mesothelioma-related claims in South Africa
Feb 2004: A settlement of R460 million was reached between Gencor and South African asbestos victims.
Dec 2001: 7500 claimants received a settlement of £21 million from Cape PLC, the largest British-owned asbestos mining company in South Africa. However, the company was soon facing serious financial problems and reneged on the settlement.
1956: Wagner published his article on mesothelioma in the British Journal of Industrial Medicine.
1956: Chris Wagner, a pathologist studying asbestos, was unable to find a publisher in South Africa. Wagner documented thirty cases of mesothelioma in the Northern Cape of South Africa. His research identified tumors in miners, road workers and water well drillers from the region.
1805: Blue asbestos (crocidolite) was discovered in South Africa.
There are 3 different types of mesothelioma cells:
1. Mixed Cell Type – This cell type is a mixture of the cancer cells and is normally labeled as an intermediate form of the cancer.
2. Epithelial Cell Type – These cells are the most treatable, and have the best prognosis.
3. Fibrosarcomatous Cell Type – This cell type is the worst type of mesothelioma, and has a negative prognosis.
Treatment of Mesothelioma cancer
There are generally 3 types of treatment:
1. Surgery in which case the cancerous portion is removed from the body.
2. Radiation therapy (using x-rays or other high-energy rays to kill cancer cells).


3.1.1 Layout-based vs. content-based formatting
Layout-based formatting accommodates the medium being used to present information. The constraints of the medium, or the layout design created by the graphic artist, often demands absolute positioning, column location specification, or page number specification. For example, a magazine may need a particular columnist's article to appear on the right-hand edge of page 7, while the three lead stories must be headlined within the first four pages.
This focus on layout places more emphasis on the appearance and location of information than on the information itself, dictating the quantity and presentation of the content. Such layout is typically unstructured in both the authoring and the formatting processes, as typified by desktop publishing, journalism, etc.
Content-based formatting accommodates the information being presented with the available medium. The constraints of layout are expressed as rules associated with the information dictating how given information is to be positioned or presented. For example, a single aircraft maintenance manual cannot have each of its 40,000 to 60,000 pages individually formatted.
This focus on information places more emphasis on the content and rules of layout than on the medium, dictating the automatic layout and presentation of constructs found in the information stream. Such layout is usually highly structured in both the authoring and the formatting processes, as typified by technical publications found in pharmaceutical , aerospace, automotive, or other industries where either vast amounts of information are presented, or the information must be interchanged in a neutral form with other players.
XSL-FO 1.0 is oriented more to content-based formatting than to layout-based formatting, though there do exist certain controls for the positioning, cropping, and flowing of information to particular areas of pages in page sequences. XSL-FO can express the repetition of page geometries, mechanically accommodating the content as flowed by a transformation of the information into the formatting vocabulary. There is only limited support for specifying the order of page sequences, and high-caliber copy-fitting requirements often cannot be met with mechanical unattended transformations.
Note that while XSL-FO is not oriented to loose-leaf publishing, perhaps that will not prevent it from being used by a vendor to express the content of pages being maintained in a loose-leaf-based environment. A loose-leaf environment supports "change pages" (a.k.a. "A pages") through a database of effective pages and page contents.
XSL-FO has no inherent maintenance facilities for past versions of individual pages, and no inherent support for lists of effective pages. Such facilities could be provided outside the scope of individual page presentations. XSL-FO is more oriented to the unrestricted flowing of information to as much of the target medium as required to accommodate the content.
3.1.2 Formatting vs. rendering
When creating XML we should be designing the structures around our business processes responsible for maintaining the information, instead of the structures used for presentation. An XSL-FO instance describes the intent of how that stream of information is to be formatted in the target medium in a paginated fashion. This instance is typically generated by a stylesheet acting on an instance of XML information, rearranging and restructuring it into the order and presentation desired.
This reordering takes the element, attribute, and data content of the instance and repackages it according to our intent based on our understanding of the semantics of the XSL-FO vocabulary. We can reify this hierarchical reordering as an intermediate file of XML syntax which we can use for diagnostic purposes. We could also take the opportunity to store this reordering as an XML instance for "store and forward" strategies where the formatting takes place later or remotely from where the transformation takes place.
Unlike interactive formatting tools, such as desktop publishing products, there is no feedback loop from the XSL-FO formatter to the stylesheet creating the XSL-FO vocabulary. Therefore, the XSL-FO information must be complete with respect to all desired behaviors of the formatter. Any special formatting cases or conditions can be accommodated through contingencies expressed in the XSL-FO semantics.
The information arranged in the elements, attributes, and data of our source vocabularies is repackaged into the elements and attributes of the XSL-FO formatting vocabulary and the data of the XSL-FO instance that express the formatting objects and their properties of the XSL-FO semantics. Each formatting object specifies an aspect of either layout, appearance and impartation, or pagination and flow.
The layout semantics express the intent of locating information positioned on the target medium. Areas of content are specified as located and nested within other areas, in a hierarchical tree of rectangles on each page.
The appearance and impartation semantics express the intent of how the information is to be conveyed to the reader. For visual media, this conveyance includes font, size, color , weight, etc. For aural synthesis, this conveyance includes voice, volume, azimuth, pitch, etc.
The pagination and flow semantics express the intent of how the stream of information being presented is to be parceled within the layout areas. The final pagination is the result of accommodating the amount of flow being presented within the areas that have been defined.
Each of the formatting objects is expressed in an XSL-FO instance as an element. It is not necessary to know all formatting objects to get effective formatted results.
An XSL-FO formatter is responsible for interpreting the rendering intent, as expressed in the XSL-FO semantics corresponding to the elements and attributes in the instance. Following the Recommendation, the formatter determines what is to be rendered where by interpreting the interaction between formatting objects. How the formatter does this interpretation is defined in excruciating detail in the W3C Recommendation, as this document is written more for implementers than for stylesheet writers or XSL-FO instance creators .
The properties expressed for each of the objects influence or are included in the structure of the resulting areas. Some of these properties are specifically targeted for certain media and are otherwise ignored by media for which they do not apply.
The Recommendation does not describe in detail the semantics of rendering. Any device-specific rendition is effected from the final interpretation of the semantics of the formatting objects that create the trees of areas and the traits found in those areas that are derived from the properties. How the rendering agent actually accomplishes the task of effecting the result of formatting to the target medium is entirely up to the agent, as long as it produces the same result as the intent described by the Recommendation.
The rendering itself may be a multiple-step process, producing the final form through a staged expression of rendering through interpretation on a given medium. For example, the rendering may require production of another intermediate formatting language such as T E X. Rendering may directly produce a final-form page description language such as the Portable Document Format (PDF), or the Standard Page Description Language (International Standard ISO/IEC 10180). The physical final form would then be produced from the intermediate form or final page representation. Indeed, there could be many steps to obtain a final result, e.g. XML to XSL-FO to T E X to PDF to paper.


Thanksgiving Day is a special day for those following the peak oil news. Geologist Kenneth Deffeyes, author of Hubbert’s Peak, predicted that Thanksgiving Day 2005 would mark the peak in world oil production. After that, oil production would decline, irreversibly. And he may have been right. Crude oil production figures have been removed from the most widely influential official statistics, so it’s not easy to check. Even if crude production numbers were easily available, the numbers are so uncertain that it’s hard to see anything other than the biggest trends.
When Deffeyes made the prediction, almost two years before Thanksgiving 2005, his tongue was only slightly in his cheek. Oil production data are not nearly precise enough to establish a peak day.
Was Deffeyes at least right about the year of peak oil?
I looked for the answer in the official figures from the US Department of Energy and the International Energy Agency in Paris. The main tables on world oil production no longer report what’s called crude oil and condensate. Condensate is a byproduct of natural gas production. What they call “oil production” now includes all manner of liquid fuels, including ethanol and synfuels, synthetic fuels. Peak oil is about, well, oil. Not how much alcohol is produced.
Probably if I dug down into the web sites, or made some phone calls, I could find the crude oil data again. But when the two primary public energy reporting agencies in the world change the most prominent way they report oil production, and they do it in a way that could hide peak oil, I’m suspicious.
Second, even if I found the crude oil and condensate numbers, it requires a leap of faith to believe them. Matthew Simmons is an investment banker with decades of experience in the oil industry. The way he tells it, the unaudited oil production figures sound suspiciously like the finance industry’s CDOs, collateralized debt obligations. The ones that played a big role in bringing down the world economy last year, when they turned out to be worth a lot less than people thought. Like CDOs, no one really knows what’s in the oil production figures from each country. Incredibly enough, there’s no outside auditor to check them out.
Simmons thinks that 2005 was the peak year for oil production. If so, Deffeyes might even have been right about oil production peaking on Thanksgiving that year.
Deffeyes’ prediction looks pretty good even if we look at the unreliable and misleading data on total liquids, including ethanol and synfuels. There was a rapid run-up in price from 2005 to 2008, which you’d think would lead to greater production. But no, production stagnated in 2006 and 2007, and only increased slightly in 2008. Since then, economic collapse has reduced demand, so production in 2009 is down again, below 2005 levels. According to the official figures.
Regardless of the actual date of peak oil, we can give thanks for oil’s blessings. As Deffeyes put it: “Thanks for the services of the first half of recoverable world oil. Thanks for the automobile, the airplane, diesel trains and ships, two-lane blacktop, warm houses, plastics, and a huge range of petrochemicals. [The Thanksgiving dinner itself] was produced with fertilizers, tractor fuel, pesticides, and transportation provided by oil and natural gas.”
Of course, oil has been a mixed blessing. The age of oil has also brought the age of World Wars, poisonings from pollution on an unprecedented scale, destruction of cities for parking lots and ugly suburbs, and habitat destruction, climate change, and other pressures that threaten most species on the planet, including ours.
As we give thanks for the blessings of oil, let us keep in mind the curses of oil, and let us ask for the wisdom to use the remaining half of the world’s oil reserves more for useful, durable products than throw-away plastic cutlery, more for insulating homes and constructing wind turbines than for heating drafty homes and generating electricity, and more for medicines and food production than for guns and warplanes.
Happy Thanksgiving![This is an updated version of a post from 2007.]


Help future teachers create the best programs for young children ages three through eight.
The authors’ goal in writing
The Sixth Edition addresses all aspects of classroom life, including the roles of children and adults, the physical and social environments, and teaching and learning within multiple developmental domains for children age three to eight. It provides a comprehensive, cohesive approach to curriculum development, which results in greater continuity for children and practitioners in group settings in childcare, preschool, and the early elementary grades.
Concentrating as much on the “how” of curriculum development as on the “what and why,” the authors provide practical, research-based guidelines for translating theory into best practice that accommodates age-appropriateness, individual differences, and social and cultural diversity. Students learn how to conceptualize, plan, implement, and evaluate curriculum through detailed application opportunities in each chapter.
NOTE: This is the loose leaf edition.
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Quality for All Students
Dancing Classrooms programs address several pressing needs simultaneously: the in-school residency provides high quality arts education where it is otherwise lacking, and the extra-curricular programs offer consistent positive engagement with the support of a network of Teaching Artists and peers. Dancing Classrooms provides an equal emotional, cognitive and behavioral education to children of all backgrounds, whether their home lives are chaotic, or organized and protective. By cultivating a positive support network with ballroom dance at the core, Dancing Classrooms’ ultimate goal is to create motivated, engaged students with essential skills for a successful life.
The Dulaine Method
Engage participants and make them the catalysts
for positive change and direction in their lives
Respect & Compassion
Participants are referred to as “Ladies and Gentlemen” and emphasis is placed both on mutual and self-respect.
Teaching Artists are actively and dynamically engaged in each interaction with students, staying in the “here and now.”
Creating a Safe Space
The classes are havens in which each student’s feelings are respected – everyone is equal.
Command & Control
Teaching Artists are taught to understand how to use the group to help the individual.
Verbal & Body Language
Teaching Artists’ physical effect is one of openness, warmth, and genuine affection, while the verbal repertoire consists of positive reinforcement.
Humor & Joy
Teaching Artists are appropriately playful so that students can sense that the lessons are meant to be enjoyable.


In The Field
That concludes our whirlwind tour of the basics of linearity in audio systems. And, fortunately, we know we have good tools at our disposal to isolate and measure deviations from linearity in audio systems. Sound level meters and spectrum analyzers give us good information about the real-time performance of an audio system at one measurement point, whether at a mic location or a point in the signal path, but they don’t make input-to-output comparisons.
It’s really the modern dual-channel FFT analyzer that gives us the powerful tool to make comprehensive comparisons in both frequency and time domains. By applying various test signals – noise, swept sine tones, fixed sine tones, multiple fixed sine tones, and pulses – we can isolate and measure potential non-linearities in an audio system.
Using these concepts and tools, we can set out to design and manufacture linear audio systems, and then configure, tune and operate them to perform in a linear fashion.
But first we need to define the operating parameters. Are we talking about linear performance only in the digital or analog electrical domain, or also in the domain of acoustical sound pressure? And do we need linearity across the entire audio bandwidth, above and below it as well (some say we do), or only a portion of it?
If we stay completely in the realm of signal recording and electrical amplification, audio systems have become remarkably linear in recent decades. Digital recording and mixing systems, when used within their wide but strictly defined operating parameters, exhibit a degree of linearity unheard of 50 years ago. (Outside those parameters, their non-linearity is off the charts.)
Recently, modern audio amplifiers as a rule are exceptionally linear. Progress has also been made to better convert electrical voltage to the acoustic realm of sound pressure in air, but this is an area where the limits of linear behavior are still often encountered.
But before we examine that in detail, let’s consider the elements of our complete sound reinforcement system and set some parameters within which we expect to maintain a linear relationship between signal input and acoustic output.
For our purposes here, we’ll assume that all the “artistic decisions” have been made, and we’re taking the signal from the main output of a mixing console. From here on out, the goal is to transfer that electrical signal into an acoustical signal at the desired level throughout the intended listening area, without changing anything.
To accomplish that, the signal first must pass through some kind of signal distribution, crossover and limiter devices, either in the analog or digital domains. By the time we get to the power amplifier, we must by necessity return to analog, as loudspeaker drivers (and subsequently our ears) remain stubbornly analog.
Then, assuming an active multi-amped system, the power amplifiers outputs connect to the mechanical motors of the loudspeaker drivers. These drivers, in turn, are mounted in cabinets with a specific acoustical environment defined by cabinet volume, baffling, ports and waveguides (Figure 11).
It’s at this transition stage between electrical voltage and acoustic pressure where linearity becomes particularly problematic, and the higher the SPLs involved, the more difficult it is to maintain linear behavior. For contrast, think of a condenser microphone, in which a capsule diaphragm need move only a few micrometers to generate a few millivolts of signal. Even a relatively inexpensive condenser microphone can exhibit excellent linearity.
Compare that to a high-power loudspeaker system, where an amplifier can pump peaks of around 200 volts and 80 amps into a stiffly mounted 18-inch loudspeaker, moving it rapidly several inches. Maintaining linearity here is not easily so easily accomplished, and requires a good bit of creativity along with diligent engineering.


MESSENGER data has also identified and mapped surface rock units that correspond to lava flows, volcanos, and other geological features. At the same time, the spacecraft's suite of instruments has confirmed an apparent planet-wide iron deficiency in Mercury's surface rocks.
MESSENGER (short for MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) is the first spacecraft to visit Mercury since NASA's Mariner 10 made three flyby passes in 1974 and 1975. MESSENGER, which is operated for NASA by the Applied Physics Laboratory of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, will make two more Mercury flybys (Oct. 6, 2008 and Sept. 29, 2009) before going into orbit around the planet, March 18, 2011.
Mercury and MESSENGER form the subject of 11 papers in a special section devoted to the January flyby in the July 4, 2008, issue of the scientific journal Science.
Mark S. Robinson of Arizona State University is the lead author for a paper in the issue which spotlights data on composition variations in Mercury's surface rocks using their multispectral colors. Robinson, a professor of geology in ASU's School of Earth and Space Exploration, part of the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, is a co-investigator on the MESSENGER geology science team. Besides Robinson, the multispectral paper has 12 additional co-authors from other institutions.
"We have now imaged half of the part of Mercury that was never seen by Mariner 10," says Robinson. "The picture is still incomplete, but we'll get the other half on October 6." Back in 1974-1975, the orbital trajectory that let Mariner to make three passes at Mercury limited it to photographing less than half the planet's surface. This left the rest of Mercury unknown until MESSENGER's arrival in January let scientists begin to fill in the gaps.
MESSENGER's big-picture finding, says Robinson, is the widespread role played by volcanism. While impact craters are common, and at first glance Mercury still resembles the moon, much of the planet has been resurfaced through volcanic activity.
"For example, according to our color data the Caloris impact basin is completely filled with smooth plains material that appears volcanic in origin," Robinson explains. "In shape and form these deposits are very similar to the mare basalt flows on the moon. But unlike the moon, Mercury's smooth plains are low in iron, and thus represent a relatively unusual rock type."
The Caloris plains, he adds, cover at least a million square kilometers (390,000 square miles), or big enough to engulf Arizona, Nevada, and California put together. The plains' size implies the existence of large sources of magma in Mercury's upper mantle.
Multispectral imaging also shows that besides lava flows, Caloris has "red spots," which also appear volcanic. "Red spots have diffuse boundaries and sometimes lie centered on rimless depressions," Robinson says. "Right now they look to be caused by explosive, pyroclastic eruptions."
In addition, Robinson notes, three major rock units stand out in MESSENGER's multispectral imaging.
"We mapped the new hemisphere using moderate resolution images of 5 kilometers [3 miles] per pixel," he says. "As on the Mariner hemisphere, we saw three major units defined by their colors. These units are relatively high-reflectance smooth plains, average cratered terrain, and low-reflectance material."
Where's the iron?
The low-reflectance material is particularly enigmatic, says Robinson. "It's an important and widespread rock that occurs deep in the crust as well as at the surface, yet it has very little ferrous iron in its silicate minerals."
That, he says, makes it unusual. "You expect to find low-reflectance volcanic rocks having a high abundance of iron-bearing silicate minerals, but that's not the case here." One possible solution, he says, is that iron is actually present but invisible to MESSENGER's spectrometers because it's hidden within the chemical structure of minerals such as ilmenite.
Solving the paradox should help scientists unravel Mercury's history. "If you want to understand how a planet has evolved," Robinson explains, "you need to know about the minerals in its crust and mantle. Unfortunately, we are not going to be able to drill into Mercury for a long time to come. All we can do is study its volcanic rocks in detail. They give a glimpse into the planet's mantle."
"Right now," says Robinson, "it looks as if Mercury formed with a deficiency in ferrous iron. But we'll know more about its bulk composition, and thus its history, once MESSENGER gets into orbit in 2011. That's when the surface rocks can be studied much more closely, using the full set of instruments."
Besides Robinson, the other authors are Scott L. Murchie, David T. Blewett Deborah L. Domingue, S. Edward Hawkins III, Ralph L. McNutt Jr., Louise M. Prockter (Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory), James W. Head (Brown University), Gregory M. Holsclaw, William E. McClintock (Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics, University of Colorado), Sean C. Solomon (Carnegie Institution of Washington), Timothy J. McCoy (National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution), Thomas R. Watters (National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution).Robert Burnham, email@example.com
Robert Burnham | EurekAlert!
GPM sees deadly tornadic storms moving through US Southeast
01.12.2016 | NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center
Cyclic change within magma reservoirs significantly affects the explosivity of volcanic eruptions
30.11.2016 | Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
A multi-institutional research collaboration has created a novel approach for fabricating three-dimensional micro-optics through the shape-defined formation of porous silicon (PSi), with broad impacts in integrated optoelectronics, imaging, and photovoltaics.
Working with colleagues at Stanford and The Dow Chemical Company, researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign fabricated 3-D birefringent...
In experiments with magnetic atoms conducted at extremely low temperatures, scientists have demonstrated a unique phase of matter: The atoms form a new type of quantum liquid or quantum droplet state. These so called quantum droplets may preserve their form in absence of external confinement because of quantum effects. The joint team of experimental physicists from Innsbruck and theoretical physicists from Hannover report on their findings in the journal Physical Review X.
“Our Quantum droplets are in the gas phase but they still drop like a rock,” explains experimental physicist Francesca Ferlaino when talking about the...
The Max Planck Institute for Physics (MPP) is opening up a new research field. A workshop from November 21 - 22, 2016 will mark the start of activities for an innovative axion experiment. Axions are still only purely hypothetical particles. Their detection could solve two fundamental problems in particle physics: What dark matter consists of and why it has not yet been possible to directly observe a CP violation for the strong interaction.
The “MADMAX” project is the MPP’s commitment to axion research. Axions are so far only a theoretical prediction and are difficult to detect: on the one hand,...
Broadband rotational spectroscopy unravels structural reshaping of isolated molecules in the gas phase to accommodate water
In two recent publications in the Journal of Chemical Physics and in the Journal of Physical Chemistry Letters, researchers around Melanie Schnell from the Max...
The efficiency of power electronic systems is not solely dependent on electrical efficiency but also on weight, for example, in mobile systems. When the weight of relevant components and devices in airplanes, for instance, is reduced, fuel savings can be achieved and correspondingly greenhouse gas emissions decreased. New materials and components based on gallium nitride (GaN) can help to reduce weight and increase the efficiency. With these new materials, power electronic switches can be operated at higher switching frequency, resulting in higher power density and lower material costs.
Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE together with partners have investigated how these materials can be used to make power...
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- Improve critical thinking skills
- Teaches creative problem solving
- Helps improve concentration
- It exercises both sides of the brain
Chess is one of the most played board games historically worldwide. It is played in almost every country and players ranging from small children all the way up to the elderly are able to enjoy what it has to offer. Why is this board game so popular, and for so long? Why do we teach children to play from an early age in schools? The answer is simple, this board game has been proven over time and many studies to be great developmental tool for education and mental abilities.
Chess is a fun game that challenges the brain, and the players’ abilities of strategic planning and patience. Scientists have studied the brain activity of people while playing chess and have found that both sides of the brain light up, engaging both the creative as well as logical functions, just like a musician playing an instrument. A player needs to visualize their moves beforehand, anticipating their opponents turns, and at the same time be present in a game that requires a high level of focus. A child can benefit from the multiple levels of thought needed to play a good game of chess in all aspects of life. Increasing their memory, logic, and mental capacity in general while enjoying some healthy competition, it is easy to see how the longevity of this game has come to be.
Mainly, chess is a game that works with and improves a person’s critical thinking skills. It helps children to think ahead of what they are doing as they strategize their next moves. Making plans and backup plans, assessing the situation, and deducting your opponent’s next moves are some of the skills that children acquire in chess. A person who plays chess learns to be detail-oriented, organized, and prepared. In the long run, those are great skills that apply to nearly any situation life can throw at you.
Chess directly teaches about problem solving and plan execution. Because of how the game is set up, players must think in creative ways to find solutions when their opponent challenges them. The child learns to see the different angles of a problem to decide what will be the right course of action. The child is building the cognitive skills that are crucial to success in life with every game they play. This kind of problem solving and strategic logic can be applied to other subjects like math and critical reading as they advance in their schoolwork.
For children who have difficulty paying attention, chess can be a great tool to help them to focus on one thing at a time. The game requires a high degree of concentration which helps children acquire the skills to stay focused on their ultimate goal, to checkmate the opponent and claim victory. One of the valuable lessons taught in chess is to not get distracted and be aware of the pieces and their potential moves, both for themselves and their opponents. Players need to devote all their attention to the board in order to play well – a good lesson to learn early on in life. Once you learn to play chess, including the more advanced strategies, the game is very entertaining and can be a definite source of lifelong pride.


North Carolina History - Tar Heel State
North Carolina has its name coined from in honor of King Charles I of
England, from his Latin name "Carolus." Its capital is Raleigh and
currently governed by Mike Easley. North Carolina is positioned as the
eleventh state in terms of population (approximately 8 million people)
and the 28th in land area (52,669 square miles). The state is also known
as "Tar Heel State" and was rooted from the fact that tar, pitch and
turpentine were the primary exports during the colonial period.
North Carolina has been living up with the motto, "Esse quam videri" (To
be rather than to seem) and has the following as State Symbols: dogwod
(flower), pine (tree), cardinal (bird), gray squirrel (mammal), honeybee
(insect), eastern box turtle (reptile), emerald (gemstone), scotch
bonnet (shell), milk (beverage), granite (rock), plott hound (dog), red
and blue (colors) and scuppernong grape (fruit). It's official song,
“The Old North State” is composed by Judge William Gaston in 1927.
North Carolina was initially a part of the bigger British colony called
"Carolina" until in 1775 when it became the first colony to depart away
from the colony and declare independence. In 1775, it became the twelfth
state of the Union. Jumping forward, the state has steadily embraced
modernity; one monumental event is when the Wright Brothers put a spot
in history, making man's first successful flight in Kitty Hawk., North
Carolina in 1903.
A number of interesting facts on North Carolina lies on its antique
history, example of which is the incorporation of Bath, the state's
oldest town, in 1705 and the establishment of the first state university
in the country, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which
started admitting students in 1795.
It also houses the first school of forestry in the country, and it
was established by Dr. Carl A. Schneck in 1898 at Transylvania County.
The North Carolina School of the Arts is also the first state-supported
institution to offer and emphasize performing arts in their curriculum.
It is also the home of Belmont Abbey, the first abbey cathedral in North
America and was built in 1910, and Cape Hatteras lighthouse, built in
1870, the tallest brick lighthouse in the United States at 208 feet
North Carolina is now hailed as the largest producer of furniture,
brick and textile in the nation. Other important industries include
metalworking, chemicals, paper, agricultural products (tobacco, corn,
peanuts and other vegetables), mica and lithium. The state is currently
one of tourists' havens, with countless recreation and activities to
choose from including skiing, golfing, hinting and fishing. The state
also has a number of attractions and exhibits to visit, which are
actually are remnants of its very interesting past, including the Blue
Ridge National Parkway, Cape Lookout National Seashores, the Wright
Brothers National Memorial and Moores Creek National Military Parks and
a lot more.


Japan PM says Fukushima nuclear site finally stabilised
- 16 December 2011
- From the section Asia
The crippled nuclear reactors at Japan's Fukushima power plant have finally been stabilised, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda has announced.
An earthquake and tsunami in March knocked out vital cooling systems, triggering radiation leaks and forcing the evacuation of thousands of people.
Mr Noda's declaration of a "cold shutdown" condition marked the stabilisation of the plant.
The government says it will take decades to dismantle it completely.
The six-reactor Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was badly damaged by the 11 March earthquake and tsunami. Blasts occurred at four of the reactors after the cooling systems went offline.
Workers at the plant, which is operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (Tepco), have been using sea water to cool the reactors. Waste water has built up and some contaminated liquid has been released into the sea.
A 20km (12m) exclusion zone remains in place around the plant.
'Battle not over'
"The nuclear reactors have reached a state of cold shutdown and therefore we can now confirm that we have come to the end of the accident phase of the actual reactors," Mr Noda told a news conference.
"We are now moving from trying to stabilise the nuclear reactors to decommissioning them.
"The Japanese government promises to clarify the roadmap from here and do our utmost, while ensuring we operate the nuclear reactors as safely as possible, to decommission them."
The "battle is not over", he said, adding that the next phase would focus on the clean-up operation, including decontaminating the ground around the plant.
With the reactors stable, Mr Noda said the government would review the evacuation zones established in the immediate aftermath of the incident.
Earlier this year, the government said it was aiming for a cold shutdown by the end of the year.
This is where water that cools nuclear fuel rods remains below boiling point, meaning that the fuel cannot reheat.
Tepco has also defined it as bringing the release of radioactive materials under control and reducing public radiation exposure to a level that does not exceed 1mSv/year at the site boundary.
Speaking to cabinet ministers of his nuclear task force earlier on Friday, Mr Noda said: "We can now maintain radiation exposure at the periphery of the plant at sufficiently low levels even in the event of another accident."
But some nuclear experts have said that the repairs made to the plant after the accident are makeshift and could break down without warning.
More than 80,000 people had to leave the area, but radiation levels in some places remain too high for them to return home.
Earlier this week, the government said it could take up to 40 years to fully decommission the plant and clean up surrounding areas.
Spent fuel rods and melted fuel inside the reactors must be removed. Waste water must also be safely stored.
Contamination has been found in foodstuffs from the region including rice, beef and fish, while radioactive soil has also been found in some areas.
Some experts have also warned that the plant could be further damaged if a powerful aftershock were to strike.
Engineers are also continuing to encounter new problems - last week Tepco officials confirmed that 45 cu m (1,590 cu ft) of water had leaked into the sea from a crack in the foundation of a water treatment facility.


During Passover, Jews remember the story of when the Israslittes were slaves in Eygpt. This celebration of Passover lasts for seven days. Â Â Days 1 and 7 are full rest days. Other days are intermediate holidays. However, Jewish people celebrate it for eight days. The first and last two days are days of full rest.
Pretend you were alive at this time in history. You can be anyone you wish: an Israelite, an Egyptian or even the Pharoah himself.
Write a diary entry about one of the plagues of your choice.
How do Jewish people today celebrate Passover? Find out and add either a comment or a separate post of your own.
What is this? Where can we find it? What is inside it? Why do Jewish people have one? Let’s see if we can build up a bank of interesting facts about this. Can you find out something new?
What is this? What do you know about it? How is it linked to Catholicism? Add a comment to build up a bank of knowledge.
Last week, both Year 5 and 6 went on a visit to Muswell Hill Synagogue. It was linked to our studies in class based around Judaism Week. We all learned such a lot from Rabbi Anthony.
Write a comment below about something you enjoyed or learned from our visit.


The Hebrew term Abaddon (Hebrew: אֲבַדּוֹן Avaddon, meaning “doom”), and its Greek equivalent Apollyon (Greek: Ἀπολλύων, Apollýōn) appear in the Bible as both a place of destruction and an angel of the abyss. In the Hebrew Bible, abaddon is used with reference to a bottomless pit, often appearing alongside the place שְׁאוֹל (Sheol), meaning the realm of the dead.
In the New Testament Book of Revelation, an angel called Abaddon is described as the king of an army of locusts; his name is first transcribed in Greek (Revelation 9:11—”whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, The Angel of Death”) as Ἀβαδδὼν, and then translated (“which in Greek means the Destroyer”, Ἀπολλύων, Apollyon). The Latin Vulgate and the Douay Rheims Bible have additional notes (not present in the Greek text), “in Latin Exterminans”, exterminans being the Latin word for “destroyer”.
According to the Brown Driver Briggs lexicon, the Hebrew abaddon (Hebrew: אבדון; ’ăḇaddōn) is an intensive form of the Semitic root and verb stem ’ăḇāḏ (אָבַד) “perish” (transitive “destroy”), which occurs 184 times in the Hebrew Bible. The Septuagint, an early Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders “Abaddon” as “ἀ απώλεια”, while the Greek Apollyon is the active participle of apollymi (ἀπόλλυμι), “to destroy”.
The term abaddon appears six times in the Masoretic text of the Hebrew Bible; abaddon means destruction or “place of destruction”, or the realm of the dead, and is accompanied by Sheol.
Job 26:6: the grave (Sheol) is naked before Him, and destruction (Abaddon) has no covering.
Job 28:22: destruction (Abaddon) and death say.
Job 31:12: it is a fire that consumes to destruction (Abaddon).
Psalm 88:11: Shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave (Sheol) or thy faithfulness in destruction (Abaddon)?
Proverbs 15:11: Hell (Sheol) and Destruction (Abaddon) are before the LORD, how much more the hearts of the children of men?
Proverbs 27:20: Hell (Sheol) and Destruction (Abaddon) are never full; so the eyes of man are never satisfied. (KJV, 1611)
Second Temple era texts
The text of the Thanksgiving Hymns—which was found in the Dead Sea Scrolls—tells of “the Sheol of Abaddon” and of the “torrents of Belial [that] burst into Abaddon”. The Biblical Antiquities (misattributed to Philo) mentions Abaddon as a place (destruction) rather than an individual. Abaddon is also one of the compartments of Gehenna. By extension, it can mean an underworld abode of lost souls, or Gehenna.
In some legends, Abaddon is identified as a realm where the damned lie in fire and snow, one of the places in Gehenna that Moses visited.
The Christian scriptures contain the first known depiction of Abaddon as an individual entity instead of a place.
A king, the angel of the bottomless pit; whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon, and in Greek Apollyon; in Latin Exterminans.
— Revelation 9:11, Douay-Rheims Bible
In Revelation 9:11, Abaddon is described as “Destroyer”, the angel of the abyss, and as the king of a plague of locusts resembling horses with crowned human faces, women’s hair, lions’ teeth, wings, iron breast-plates, and a tail with a scorpion’s stinger that torments for five months anyone who does not have the seal of God on their foreheads.
The symbolism of Revelation 9:11 leaves the identity of Abaddon open to interpretation. Protestant commentator Matthew Henry (1708) believed Abaddon to be the Antichrist, whereas the Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary (1871) and Henry H. Halley (1922) identified the angel as Satan.
In contrast, the Methodist publication The Interpreter’s Bible states: “Abaddon, however, is an angel not of Satan but of God, performing his work of destruction at God’s bidding”, citing the context at Revelation chapter 20, verses 1 through 3. Jehovah’s Witnesses also cite Revelation 20:1-3 where the angel having “the key of the abyss” is actually shown to be a representative of God, concluding that “Abaddon” is another name for Jesus after his resurrection.
In the 3rd century Acts of Thomas, Abaddon is the name of a demon, or the devil himself.
Abaddon is given particularly important roles in two sources, a homily entitled “The Enthronement of Abbaton” by pseudo-Timothy of Alexandria, and the Apocalypse of Bartholomew. In the homily by Timothy, Abaddon was first named Muriel, and had been given the task by God of collecting the earth that would be used in the creation of Adam. Upon completion of this task, the angel was appointed as a guardian. Everyone, including the angels, demons, and corporeal entities feared him. Abbaton was promised that any who venerated him in life could be saved. Abaddon is also said to have a prominent role in the Last Judgement, as the one who will take the souls to the Valley of Josaphat. He is described in the Apocalypse of Bartholomew as being present in the Tomb of Jesus at the moment of his resurrection.


Colon cancer or colorectal cancer is the third most common cancer in the United States (U.S) that occurs here. The large intestine or color locates where the body takes out salt and water from the solid wastes. Then the waste moves through your rectum that makes the body out via the anus. This cancer develops in the rectum or large intestine, but it grows slowly. Before it develops cancer the abnormal growth of cell calls polyp on the inner line of the rectum and the large intestine. If you have this cancer, you have family members who found it previously. While polyps grow slowly, some of them can turn into colon cancer over the time. It’s an area in your lining of the rectum or color where the cells seem abnormal, but not like true cancer.
Read More –
- Head and Neck Cancer
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- endometrial cancer causes
- Oral cancer causes
- Skin Cancer Causes
- Causes of Cervical Cancer
- Causes of Liver Cancer
- Ovarian Cancer Causes
Stages of Colon Cancer & Colorectal Cancer
If someone diagnosed with colon cancer or colorectal cancer, doctors try to figure out how it spreads. When it spreads, how far it’s going. The process of finding out the measuring the range calls staging, which describes how much it’s in your body. This also helps to determine how it’s serious and how best to treat it. The earliest stage of this cancer, which calls stage 0 and then the wideness from stages I (1) to the IV (4). According to the rule, its lower number indicates the fewer spreads of cancerous cells while higher numbers indicate the higher risk of spread. Also, the lower number is easy to cure, but the higher ones are hard to do. Although, every person’s cancer is unique in nature similar stages tend to be similar outlook. Their treatment is also similar way while thinking to cure.
What are the Signs and Symptoms of Colon Cancer & Colorectal Cancer?
Most of the time, it doesn’t come with any signs or symptoms, but it may cause these symptoms. It bleeds often into your digestive tract, which causes stool with blood or makes it darker. Sometimes its first sign is a blood test while showing lower blood cell count. Some of the symptoms may cause the conditions other than this cancer, like hemorrhoids, or infection. If you persist any of these problems, you must meet your doctor. So, you can treat these causes if your doctors think needed. Sometimes it causes abdominal pain with cramping, fatigue, and weakness that happens for unwanted weight loss.
How to Prevent Colon Cancer or, Colorectal Cancer?
It’s not easy to prevent colon or colorectal cancer, but there are some factors that can reduce its chance. So, let’s learn some facts that can help to prevent this cancer.
Screen or Test for it: Screenings are the tests that look for cancer prior to signs and symptoms develop. Screenings of your color can often find the growth of polyps that can be a sign of cancer. The tests are helpful to find your cancer early stage.
Vegetables, fruits, and whole grains: Eat diets that include huge vegetables, whole grains, and fruits that decrease the risk of cancer. You also should reduce eating pork, beef or lamb along with processed meats.
Regular exercise: When you’re physically inactive, you’re at great risk of this cancer. So, increase physical activities that help to reduce the risk.
Moreover, you should watch your weight regularly along with leaving smoking and alcohol consumption.
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History is about real people who lived, and real events which happened in the past. History is concerned with sequence, time and chronology and is the study of evidence about the past; it gives us a sense of identity, set within our social, political, cultural and economic relationships. History fires the children's curiosity about the past in Britain and the wider world and plays an essential part in preparing us for living and working in the contemporary world. Pupils consider how the past influences the present, what past societies were like, how these societies organised their politics, and what beliefs and cultures influenced people's actions. As they do this, children develop a chronological framework for their knowledge of significant events and people. They see the diversity of human experience and understand more about themselves as individuals and members of society. What they learn can influence their decisions about personal choices, attitudes and values. In history, children find evidence, weigh it up and reach their own conclusions. To do this they need to be able to research, sift through evidence, and argue for their point of view - skills that are prized in adult life.
- To know more and remember more and so increase children’s cultural capital as they learn about historic events and how they have impacted upon society
- To understand that history is a study of the past.
- To stimulate a curiosity and interest in the past.
- To introduce children to sources and how to examine them.
- To understand that our present has been shaped by the past.
- To develop an understanding of the concept of time.
- To gain and use terms associated with time.
- To encourage questioning and develop investigational skills.
- To provide natural links with other subjects.
- To develop a sense of worth in their own heritage.
- To increase children’s knowledge and understanding of other countries and cultures.
- To help pupils develop a sense of identity through learning about the development of Local, European and World History.


Thousands of students around the world are leaving class Friday, going on "strike" to demand immediate action against climate change. But critics say they miss these important big-picture facts.
1. GRETA THUNBERG, WHO STARTED THE CLIMATE STRIKE, CALLS CLIMATE CHANGE AN "EXISTENTIAL EMERGENCY" — BUT U.N. ESTIMATES ARE LESS ALARMING.
Some climate scientists say the term "existential emergency," meaning the existence of humanity itself is endangered, is scaremongering.
"Climate strikers and others (including most of the Democratic presidential candidates) refer to climate change as an existential crisis. This is nonsense," Judith Curry, a climate scientist and former professor at Georgia Tech, told Fox News.
The United Nations' average models forecast a further rise of between 2 to 5 degrees Fahrenheit by the year 2100.
Curry says the high end of the U.N.’s estimates are “based on implausible scenarios of future greenhouse gas emissions.”
But others say "climate strikers" are right to fear.
“The reason that the forecast temperature rise is an existential crisis for many species on Earth is that it is happening so fast,” Alasdair Skelton, Professor of Geochemistry at Stockholm University, told Fox News.
“Species, including ourselves, are unlikely to be able to adapt at the pace of ongoing human-induced climate change,” he added.
Economists, however, say humans will adapt.
A 2018 study by economist Richard Tol in the journal Review of Environmental Economics and Policy found that climate change "will likely have a limited impact on the economy and human welfare in the 21st century."
“Climate activists take a dim view of human ingenuity,” Tol told Fox News regarding past failed environmental doom stories.
2. “EMISSIONS-FREE” BOAT TRIP POLLUTED MORE THAN AIR TRAVEL.
Greta Thunberg took an “emissions-free” boat from Europe to the U.S. — but her sea voyage actually spewed more carbon emissions than flying would have.
That was first reported by left-leaning German news outlet TAZ, which interviewed a spokesman for the boat operators and found that the boat trip required at least six flights — more than if she had simply flown to the U.S. and back.
Critics say it shows that Thunberg's trip is not really about reducing carbon.
"It's nothing more than virtue signaling," said Marc Morano, publisher of Climate Depot, a website that's skeptical about the impact of climate change.
"Greta took this carbon-fiber, very expensive yacht... The media is completely whitewashing this," he added.
But others defend the trip for raising awareness.
"I think that Greta is showing a point how difficult it is to go fossil free as an individual without changing the system. That is why it is so important to change the system," Ingmar Rentzhog, the founder of "We Don't Have Time" and the man who first publicized Thunberg's climate strike, told Fox News. Rentzhog noted that he didn't speak for Thunberg.
3. SOME LOCAL GOVERNMENTS SUPPORT THE "CLIMATE STRIKE."
The San Diego Unified School Board unanimously resolved that the board is "proud of students’ leadership in calling for aggressive climate action."
The board also pushed teachers to “support student Global Climate Walkout events.”
“Schools should not be political tools,” Anthony Watts, who runs the skeptical climate site WattsUpWithThat.com, told Fox News.
“As a former school board member, I'm concerned that enabling this sort of behavior... will encourage... school protests on a variety of topics.”
Some major cities, including New York City and Boston, have announced that kids are allowed to skip school for the climate strike if they have a note from their parent.
Others, including Chicago, San Francisco, and Philadelphia, have not granted blanket amnesty for class-skipping students.
4. THE ‘CLIMATE STRIKE’ WEBSITE ATTACKS ALL FOSSIL FUELS, EVEN THOSE THAT HELP REDUCE EMISSIONS.
The International Climate Strike website states: "People everywhere are at risk if we let oil, coal and gas companies continue to pour more fuel on the fire." It demands "100% renewable energy access for all" to happen "swiftly."
Skleton defends that, noting, “burning natural gas puts carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas which causes global warming.”
Others say that misses the mark, noting that in the United States, greenhouse gas emissions fell over the last ten years thanks to increased production of relatively-clean natural gas.
“The U.S. is doing better than most European countries at reducing emissions, and it's because of tech advances in fracking and natural gas — which activists are just ideologically opposed to,” Morano said.
"The strategy for only using renewables in the near term is a fantasy," Curry said, adding that nuclear power is the only feasible option for such a switch — but it is not trendy.
5. THUNBERG'S STRIKE WAS PARTLY BUILT UP BY ACTIVISTS.
Many media outlets cover the climate strike and Greta Thunberg uncritically. A Vice article described her as “the girl who changed the world” and “the voice of a generation” who spontaneously started the climate strike.
But critics say that her strike was timed within weeks of a book release by her mother about activism, and the climate strike idea was proposed to her by climate activist Bo Thorén.
When Thunberg decided to do it, Thorén told another activist, Ingmar Rentzhog, who photographed her one-girl strike and used his "We Don't Have Time" organization to spread the word.
“This is no secret,” Rentzhog told Fox News of the tip-off, adding that rumors he knew Thunberg’s parents were false.
“Ideas mean nothing if not that someone is willing to make a reality of them,” Rentzhog added in defense of Thunberg. “And Greta... has a great talent to express herself in a very clear and direct way about the problem.”
But critics say the "climate strike" is a sad testament to activists' successful efforts to scare kids.
“Polling data shows kids are fearful about climate, coming into school with anxiety – even when the U.N. models don’t justify that fear,” Morano said.


It's been a while since I've browsed the Hack a Day pages. Moving, new job, new school for the kids, new house -- it all takes up a lot of time. But I took a look and found a project that made me laugh out loud. The user mrigsby has collected a flock of Dippy Birds and taught them how to tell time. He only has four, so they only tell the current hour, but the idea is entertaining nonetheless.
You've seen the Dippy Bird before. A glass tube in the vague shape of a bird is filled with a colored fluid. When the fluid warms to room temperature, it boils and rises into the head, causing the bird to dip down. The beak then dunks into a glass of water, causing the fluid to cool and fall back into the reservoir at the bottom, and the bird stands up again. We have one somewhere, and my kids always get a kick out of playing with it. (Thanks to Hack a Day, I now know that the fluid is dichloromethane, with a boiling point of about 100F.)
The clever mrigsby has removed the glass of water and placed a resistor directly under the Dippy Bird reservoir. When current passes through, the resistor warms, lighting a metaphorical fire under the bird's posterior and setting it into motion. This flock tells the current hour in binary language -- a Dippy Bird in motion counts as one, and a Dippy Bird at rest counts as zero.
I'd like to see Dippy Birds count off minutes, as well, and it would be great if the bird's position, rather than whether it is in motion, indicated the binary digit. How to achieve that level of control? The first thing I'd try would be a small Peltier device attached directly to the reservoir. You apply heat to make the bird dip and cold to make it stand up. That also removes any dependency on ambient temperature to provide the return function. You'd have to try it out to see if it gave you enough control to count seconds (probably not) or minutes (seems like it should work).
For Christmas many years ago, my sister gave me an LED binary digital clock. (Technically, it's BCD, not binary, and I quite ungraciously pointed that out to her after I plugged it in.) Now I'm thinking a Dippy Bird array clock would be a great return present. However, if I actually put that much work into building one, I'd probably keep it for myself.


Fertilizer consumption measures the quantity of plant nutrients used per unit of arable land. Fertilizer products cover nitrogenous, potash, and phosphate fertilizers (including ground rock phosphate). Traditional nutrients--animal and plant manures--are not included. For the purpose of data dissemination, FAO has adopted the concept of a calendar year (January to December). Some countries compile fertilizer data on a calendar year basis, while others are on a split-year basis. Arable land includes land defined by the FAO as land under temporary crops (double-cropped areas are counted once), temporary meadows for mowing or for pasture, land under market or kitchen gardens, and land temporarily fallow. Land abandoned as a result of shifting cultivation is excluded.
It's a one pager PDF full of live links to agriculture-related data, statistics, and dashboards from leading industry sources. It will be a useful resource for any analyst, business executive, or researcher with an interest in the food security and prices, agricultural production and supply and much more.


More can and will be done to improve the health of New Zealand children, the Ministry of Health has highlighted today on United Nations Universal Children’s Day, November 20.
The day was established in 1954 and is celebrated each year to improve children's welfare, and to promote awareness of children’s issues and rights worldwide.
November 20 was the date in 1959 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Declaration of the Rights of the Child. It was also the date in 1989 when the UN General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Over the last decade in New Zealand, immunisation of children against measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases among primary school children has markedly improved, with 89% of 5-year-olds now fully immunised, although more work needs to be done with secondary school children, says Deputy Director of Public Health Dr Harriette Carr.
‘There are a large number of teenagers and young people who have lower levels of immunisation. This has resulted in a number of outbreaks of vaccine preventable diseases over the past 10 years. We are currently experiencing a large number of mumps cases in this age group, due in part to their lower immunisation rates.
Read the full article at the link below.


When labor approaches your body undergoes changes as it prepares for the birth of your baby. Knowing the signs of labor will help you wait through "false labor" without anxiety and be prepared for "true labor" when it arrives.
Once you reach the third trimester, you should talk to your health care provider or midwife about labor and delivery, you should consider your options for pain relief, find out how to reach your health care provider when you go into labor, and ask at what point in labor should you call or go to the hospital. Additionally, before you reach the last few weeks of your pregnancy, it is a good idea to visit the hospital or birthing center to make sure you know how to get there, where to check-in and how to pre-register.
It is important to remember that your due date is only an estimate and that the beginning of labor is unpredictable. In fact your labor may begin as much as 2 weeks before or after your due date and still be considered normal.
Many women, especially with their first babies, think they are in labor when they in reality they are not. However, since you may not know whether you are in true labor or not, if you think labor has begun you should call your doctor or midwife no matter what time of day or night.
Typical signs of labor include:
Contractions between 5 and 10 minutes apart that come at regular and increasingly shorter intervals. Contractions should also become stronger over time.
You can no longer walk or talk during contractions.
Your water breaks (can be a large gush or a continuous trickle).
You experience vaginal bleeding.
You have a bloody (brownish or red-tinged) mucous discharge. This is probably the mucous plug that blocks the cervix.
You have lower back pain (back labor) that does not go away.
You have constant, severe pain.
You feel reduced fetal movement.
Labor and Delivery Pain
Almost every woman is concerned about how they will manage the pain of labor and delivery. No one can predict the amount of pain you will feel during labor since every labor and birth is different and the pain depends on your pain tolerance, the size and position of your baby, the size of your pelvis, and the strength of the contractions.
Different women respond to the pain of labor and delivery in different ways. Childbirth education classes can help you learn breathing and relaxation techniques to help you deal with the pain. Many women get some form of pain relief through medication. For additional information please visit the page Managing pain.
Where to Deliver and Who Should Deliver
You may have a choice in where to deliver your baby. You will need to contact your health insurance to find out what options are available. In general, you can choose to deliver at a hospital, birthing center or at home.
Healthy women who are at low-risk for problems during pregnancy, labor and delivery may choose to deliver at a birth or birthing center.
Healthy pregnant women with no risk factors for complications during pregnancy, labor or delivery can consider a planned home birth. Home births are common in many European countries but in the U.S. they are still controversial.
You also may have a choice in the type of health care provider you would like to deliver your baby. An obstetrician-gynecologist (OBGYN) is a medical doctor who specializes in the care of pregnant women and in delivering babies.
A certified nurse midwife (CNM) and a certified professional midwife (CPM) specialize in prenatal care, labor, and delivery. Both can be a good option is you are at low-risk for problems during pregnancy, labor, or delivery.
You may also be able to choose to have a doula assist with labor and delivery. A doula is a professional labor coach who gives physical and emotional support to women during labor and delivery. They offer advice on breathing, relaxation, movement and positioning. Doulas also give continuous emotional support and comfort to women and their partners during labor and birth.
With a c-section your baby is delivered through surgery instead of coming out through your vagina. In a C-section the doctor will make a cut into your abdomen and uterus and remove the baby. For additional information about C-sections, please visit the page cesarean birth.
In the last several weeks of pregnancy you may notice that your abdomen gets hard and then gets soft again. These irregular cramps are called Braxton-Hicks contractions, or false labor pains. False labor can occur just at the time when labor is expected to start so it is frequently hard for you to determine if what you are experiencing is true labor or false labor. Do not be upset or embarrassed if you are not able to tell the difference since sometimes the difference can only be determined by a vaginal exam.
The following labor-related information has been adapted from the University of Michigan website.
One good way to tell the difference between true and false labor is to time the contractions. Time how long each cramping period lasts and the length of time in between each contraction. During true labor the contractions last about 50-80 seconds, they occur at regular intervals, and they do not go away when you move around
The table below gives you easy reference to some of the differences between true labor and false labor. However, remember that with the health of you and your baby it is best to be cautious so do not wait to call your health care provider if you think you are going into labor.
|Table: Differences Between False Labor and True Labor|
|Type of Change||False Labor||True Labor|
|Timing of contractions.||Often are irregular and do not consistently get closer together (called Braxton-Hicks contractions)||Come at regular intervals and, as time goes on, get closer and closer together.|
|Change with movement||Contractions may stop when you walk or rest, or even may stop with a change of position.||Contractions continue despite movement.|
|Location of contractions||Often felt in the abdomen||Usually felt in the back coming around to the front.|
The following list, adapted from the March of Dimes website, can help you prepare for your trip to the hospital or birth center.
A nightgown or big shirt to wear during labor
Washcloths and towels
A few nightgowns, pajamas or T-shirts and sweat pants
Several pairs of underpants
Large, self-adhesive sanitary pads
Toothbrush and toothpaste
Any other toiletries, cosmetics or hairstyling equipment you want
Phone numbers for people you want to call
A telephone charge card
Clothes to wear home (be sure they are loose fitting)
For Your Baby
Most hospitals provide the basics for newborns during their hospital stay: a knit cap, an undershirt, diapers and blankets. When it comes time to take the baby home, you will need your own things.
A receiving blanket
Clothes to wear home, including an undershirt, cap and socks
Disposable diapers (most hospitals provide these)
Bunting or a warm blanket if it’s cold outside
A car seat (if baby is to be driven home)
All states screen newborn babies for certain metabolic disorders soon after birth. Before delivery, discuss the tests with the health care provider who will take care of your baby.
|Indiana||New Mexico||West Virginia|


An interactive touch screen feedback system, designed by 1,000 Birmingham school pupils, has been unveiled at a key centre for children’s health services in the city.
Fifteen primary and secondary schools took part in the two-year project, which gave children aged between seven and 14 the opportunity to determine the content and design of an interactive, computer-based system enabling young people to give instant opinions and ratings about the quality of service they have received.
The first feedback system of its kind in healthcare, it was unveiled at Birmingham Community Healthcare NHS Trust’s Carnegie Centre in Hockley, where it will be used by ‘looked after children’ attending clinics to give feedback.
Through role play, design work and discussion, school pupils across the city drove the conception of the system by describing their experiences as healthcare service users and the type of features, such as touch screen inputting and special applications for pupils with learning difficulties, that would encourage them to give immediate feedback.
The project was delivered in partnership between BCHC and the non-profit social enterprise Reflective Learning-International, whose director Prof Tony Ghaye said: “The aim was to find a systematic and confidential way to encourage young people to tell us about their experience of healthcare services and then use the information to drive improvement.
“The core principal was that the design and content of the feedback system should be based upon what children and young people wanted to tell us, which could be quite different from what we think we want to know.
“As a result, the whole look, feel and content of the system reflect what young people want to tell adults. It’s the real voices of young people; it’s quick to use, fun to do and gives adults vital information. It is fully animated with an audio option and data can be fed back to healthcare staff in realtime”


This article will hopefully shed some light on what we know about the H1N1 virus in animals.
We now know that this virus does pass from people to some domestic animals. There was recently reported a cat in Lebanon, Oregon that died due to pneumonia caused by the H1N1 virus. The cat was 13 years old, was an indoor only cat and was living with a human who had been diagnosed with the virus. There is no evidence yet that the virus has gone from domestic animals to humans. This possibility cannot be entirely ruled out but it has not been documented. The virus has also recently been isolated in turkeys and one unconfirmed case in a dog.
The H1N1 was originally named the “Swine Flu” because of its genetic similarity to a flu virus that was isolated from pigs. However, it is unfortunate that pigs were implicated as a source of infection to humans since this has never been proven.
Symptoms in dogs and cats will most likely have respiratory symptoms but they may also just have general malaise or loss of appetite. There is now a test for H1N1 that is available through a commonly used veterinary laboratory. If you see these symptoms in your dog or cat and they may have been recently exposed to a human case of H1N1 then consult your veterinarian.
Information on this virus is rapidly unfolding and changing. I hope this article has given you some valuable information and I will try to update it as more is known.


Tougher than nails, and versatile too
Because he fought tenaciously at the Battle of New Orleans in 1815, General Andrew Jackson’s soldiers nicknamed him Old Hickory. His Tennesseans knew the wood well enough to make that comparison because it grew abundantly in their state. If something had to be tough and strong, they made it of hickory–from ax, hammer, pick, and shovel handles to wagon spokes, hitch trees, and rims. Worked green, it became chairs.
The Choctaws and other Indians of the lower Mississippi River Valley had long used hickory for bows and baskets, but they also drew on its sap for sweet syrup and sugar and its nuts for cakes and meal. The pioneers who followed Davy Crockett valued hickory as firewood, too. (It produces 24 million BTUs per cord, about the same output as 200 gallons of No. 2 fuel oil.) They also smoked ham and bacon with hickory. Our craftsman have been working with this wood for years and have produced many heirloom pieces


Now we will discuss the consensus without identity in the block chain. In the discussion section this time, we will look at the technical details of the Bitcoin consensus algorithm. Keep in mind that the Bitcoin node does not have a long-term identity. And it will remain like that.
One reason for this lack of identity is because the Bitcoin system uses peer-to-peer networks . So there is no central authority to determine the identity of its users. There is also no central authority for all nodes in the Bitcoin network.
This kind of condition is likened to having the potential of a Sybil attack . This Sybil Attack acts like a copy of a node. But the node is potentially damaging, and it appears as though there are many different nodes. When in fact all nodes with “pseudo” are controlled by the same person. While on the other hand the formation of a pseudonym as an identity is actually also the main objective of Bitcoin.
Although it is possible to provide an identity for the node but it will still not be used by Bitcoin. Bitcoin does not guarantee full anonymity. Especially in relation to transactions carried out in it. There are properties that cannot force users to reveal their real identities. Like the name of an identity or IP address connected to the Bitcoin system. That is an important characteristic of the design of the Bitcoin system.
Let’s move on The assumption is that if a node already has an identity, the design of the bitcoin system can be easier. First the identity allows to be included in the protocol. User identities such as numeric IDs must pass a number of steps. But if the node is without identity, then there needs to be a special set of instructions that can limit it. What is clear is that the node must have an identity. The question is, what kind of identity do nodes use in bitcoin? You will find out yourself later.
After the identity of the node can be identified, it is also easy to create a new identity in Bitcoin. Let’s just say we assume that there will be a number of potentially dangerous nodes. Nodes can indeed create a new identity again. That is why the potential for Sybil Attack could occur. Nodes that do not have this identity will become a barrier to the Bitcoin consensus protocol.
In order to compensate for that, it can be overcome with a simple assumption. For example, how about randomly selecting nodes in the system? We can take an example in a lottery or lottery. Unfortunately, this method becomes difficult to trace, provide identity and verify identity.
There is an alternative that can be done. The trick is giving them some kind of token or ticket. Then the token or ticket can be chosen at random ID. Until then call the owner of the ID.
This assumption is based on a random number of nodes and is called an implicit consensus . There are several rounds in the protocol. Each is different in a block chain. At each round, a node can be randomly selected. Furthermore, these nodes can propose the next block into the block chain (blockchain).
But the drawback is that there is no specific algorithm so that the node can choose a new block. Even though the node chosen unilaterally, it can propose what blocks will be included in the next block chain. What if the selected node is a potentially dangerous or malicious node?
This implicit consensus will handle this. Keep in mind that each block has a hash value for every block that has been entered. This technical mechanism is intended so that the node can send a signal that a block has been inserted into the block chain.
Simple Bitcoin consensus algorithm
Simply put, the algorithm will look like the one below. To be able to assume the ability to select nodes randomly, and be resistant to Sybil attacks.
- New transactions are broadcast to all nodes
- Each node collects new transactions into blocks
- In each round, the node will randomly get its broadcast block
- Other nodes accept blocks – only if all transactions in them are valid (used, and signed)
- Nodes express block acceptance by entering a hash in the next block.
Overcoming the Bitcoin Theft Potential
How will this algorithm work?
To be able to see it, we take an example. Suppose there is an attacker named Nita who wants to frustrate the process of this algorithm. Can Nita steal steals from other users? The answer is no. Although Nita can propose the next block, Nita cannot steal Bitcoin from other users. Because Nita must make a transaction that is completely valid for the Bitcoin.
In addition, Nita also has to forge or fake the signature of the owner of Bitcoin. While that cannot be done by Nita. So as long as the cryptography underlying this system is solid enough, Nita cannot steal Bitcoin from other users.
Overcoming Potential Denial of Service Attack
Now we try whether the algorithm can work if there are other forms of attack. For example, suppose Nita doesn’t like another user named Rudi. Then Nita decided not to include transactions from Rudi’s Bitcoin address. So in each of the blocks proposed by Nita, Rudi’s transaction must not be included either. An example of this condition means that Nita is attempting a Denial of Service Attack on Rudi.
When Nita attacked Rudi, what Nita did was nothing but an attempt to reorder the transaction. This kind of thing is nothing more than a small disturbance. Why is that? If Rudi’s transaction is not included in the next Nita block, Nita will only continue to wait until he gets a chance that the block is included in the block chain. So that Nita’s attack on Rudi could only be said to be a good attack. In fact, Nita must be quite difficult to put the proposed block on the blockchain.


Public perception on globalisation often focuses on the costs domestic industries endure as they lose protection from foreign competition through lost revenue, lower wages, and lost jobs. What is often overlooked is that domestic firms also can, and do, benefit from lower tariffs through access to cheaper, more sophisticated, and new types of intermediate inputs from abroad (Rivera-Batiz & Romer 1991; Romer 1994).
Our recent research shows that the expansion in the number of products produced by Indian manufacturing firms has been in part a direct consequence of the large-scale trade liberalisation that India implemented in the early 1990s (Goldberg, Khandelwal, Pavcnik, Topalova 2008a).
Indian trade liberalisation
Twenty years ago, Indian firms operated in an environment with substantial government intervention. Draconian labour laws prevented firms above a certain size from releasing employees. The infamous “license raj” required firms to obtain official permission to expand into new product lines and upgrade capacity. While Indian firms enjoyed protection from foreign competition due to restrictions on FDI and a wall of tariff barriers, they remained further constrained by a byzantine system of import restrictions on intermediate and capital goods. Importing certain intermediate goods was outright banned under India’s import substitution strategy, while imports of other intermediates were either restricted by import licenses. India’s average tariff rate on intermediate goods (also known as “input tariffs”) in 1985 was nearly 150%, substantially higher than other economies at similar levels of economic development at the time, including the Philippines (22%), Pakistan (75%) and China (79%) (Economist, 1991).
In August 1991, the Gulf War accelerated a severe balance-of-payments crisis. Then finance minister (and current Prime Minister) Manmohan Singh turned to the IMF for support and embarked on a dramatic liberalisation of the economy. An important component of the reform was to abandon India’s restrictive trade policies that had shielded firms from product market competition and prevented them from freely importing critical imports from abroad. Between 1991 and 1997, India slashed the average tariff rate from 90% to 30%, which contributed to imports of intermediate goods more than doubling between 1987 and 2000.
New imports and new products
Simply looking at the overall imports naively misses an important element of the reform. Two-thirds of this growth in intermediate imports occurred in products that India had not previously imported. Many of these new imports in the mid 1990s occurred in detailed product categories within machinery, mechanical appliances, and computers. Thus, the tariff reductions not only lowered prices and increased volumes of existing imports but also enabled firms to gain access to new types of intermediate products from the outside world.
The liberalisation dismantled many (but not all) of the economic shackles that had constrained Indian firms since Independence. The economy broke from its characteristically low growth rate, the so-called “Hindu” rate of growth, to achieve per capita GDP growth of 6% per year during the 1990s. Our analysis of medium and large Indian manufacturing firms suggests that manufacturing output increased by 200% between 1989-2003 (Goldberg, Khandelwal, Pavcnik, Topalova 2008b). Digging a bit deeper into the sources of this gain, we discovered that nearly a quarter of this manufacturing growth was driven by the introduction of new domestic products into the Indian economy. So, similar to the analysis of the intermediate imports, new products were an important component to the growth in India’s manufacturing output during this reform period.
Our research demonstrates that the increase in firms’ product scope, or number of products manufactured by the firm, can be explained, in part, by firms’ access to new types of intermediate imports made possible by the 1991 trade liberalisation. Economists have longed hypothesised that economies could grow through this “variety in, variety out” model.
Here’s how this model works.
When an economy liberalises its tariff regime, the gains from trade are captured through a lower import price index. The conventional story is that prices of goods previously imported fall as tariffs decline. However, Feenstra (1994) pointed out that the import price index can also fall because trade increases product variety and consumers (in our case firms that demand imported inputs) value different types of varieties. This new imported variety channel turns out to be quite important for India. Accounting for new imported varieties lowers the import price index by an additional 5% per year relative to conventional gains through lower prices of existing imports.
The lower price index of intermediate imports represents a boon for domestic firms since their manufacturing costs fall. Firms can use their cost savings to cover the fixed costs of entering new product lines, such as purchasing new equipment. Moreover, the access to higher quality intermediate inputs and capital equipment relaxes technological constraints. In other words, access to cheaper intermediate imports boosts a firm’s productivity, enabling them to expand into new product lines. This mechanism leads to the “variety in, variety out” model of economic growth.
Just how important is access to new imported intermediates for the development of new goods? About 30% of the growth in new products is attributable to lower tariffs on intermediate imports. We decompose the sources of this growth into gains from cheaper existing imports and new intermediate imports. Our results indicate that firms’ access to new varieties in the source of the growth in firms’ increase in product scope: more varieties were manufactured (“variety out”) because more (intermediate) varieties were allowed to enter into the economy (“variety in”).
One quarter of India’s manufacturing output growth during the 1990s came in products that were not manufactured prior to the reforms. And these new goods were a direct consequence of new imported intermediates in the economy. Access to imported intermediates therefore played an important role in the overall growth of the Indian economy.
The importance of access to foreign intermediate and capital goods for growth is likely not unique to India. This point was underscored by a recent visit to the Coca-Cola bottling factory outside downtown Shanghai, China. Coca-Cola’s (virtually) automated bottling factory relies exclusively on German and Japanese machinery to maintain Coca-Cola’s renowned quality. This machinery is also flexible enough to allow the plant to switch product types (from Coke to Sprite) quickly and efficiently. So, despite China’s emergence of a manufacturing powerhouse that has the ability to produce everything from cotton shirts to hydraulic turbines, Coca-Cola still relies on imported capital equipment from abroad for its production.
Indeed, more than half of China’s exports today are processed exports. Firms operating in China assemble final products from intermediate inputs that were imported, often from nearby neighbouring East Asian economies. A laptop from China can therefore be seen as a box that simply contains thousands of subcomponents originally manufactured in other countries. Thus, an important policy implication that emerges from these anecdotes and recent research suggests that importing may be crucial for spurring domestic production and exporting.
On a more macro level, recent work by Estevadeordal and Taylor (2008) also emphasises the importance of imported intermediate and capital goods for differences in growth across countries. Using aggregate data for over 70 countries, they show that trade reforms implemented by countries during the past 30 years boosted GDP growth mainly through lower tariffs on intermediate and capital goods.
Given the current crisis, policy makers may be inclined to raise tariffs to weaken product market competition and combat downturns in domestic output. Our results point to an additional gain from trade that would be cut off by increased protectionism.
Economist (1991). "CAGED: Plain tales of the license raj." May 4 Issue.
Estevadeordal, A. and A. Taylor (2008). "Is the Washington Consensus Dead? Growth, Openness, and the Great Liberalization, 1970s and 2000s," NBER Working Paper 14264.
Feenstra, R.C. (1994). “New Product Varieties and the Measurement of International Prices”. American Economic Review, 84(1): 157-177.
Goldberg, P.K., A. Khandelwal, N. Pavcnik and P. Topalova (2008a). “Imported Intermediate Inputs and Domestic Product Growth: Evidence from India,” NBER Working Paper No. 14416.
Goldberg, P.K., A. Khandelwal, N. Pavcnik and P. Topalova (2008b). “Multi-product Firms and Product Turnover in the Developing World: Evidence from India,” NBER Working Paper No. 14127.
Rivera-Batiz, L. and P. Romer (1991). “Economic Integration and Endogenous Growth”. Quarterly Journal of Economics, pp. 531-555.
Romer, P. (1994). "New Goods, Old Theory, and the Welfare Costs of Trade Restrictions," Journal of Development Economics, 43, pp. 5-38.