Whenever there is a constantly increasing demand for a finite resource, two things can happen; the price of the resource goes up or government intervention comes into play. In today's socio-economic environment, both of these are happening in certain parts of the world, in regard to irrigation.
While micro-irrigation has been around, in one form or† another, for many years, its acceptance and use have often been a function of† water availability, its cost and government restrictions.
There are a variety of different types of micro-irrigation† systems on the market today, and most can be quite cost-effective in many, but† not all, situations.
Each type has its advantages and disadvantages, depending† on the specific application. Thus, it is important to conduct proper trade† studies to ensure that the optimum system is used for the appropriate† application. While micro-sprays are part of the micro-irrigation arsenal and† play an important role in the irrigation industry, this article will be devoted solely to drip† irrigation systems.
Of the various forms of micro-irrigation, drip irrigation† is the one most widely used because it can save water, reduce the use of† horticultural chemicals, is relatively insensitive to environmental effects, can reduce labor, and often promotes better† plant growth.
Drip irrigation is an effective irrigation system in terms† of water conservation. With drip, water is not wasted by irrigating areas† between plants or due to run-off, excessive evaporation, wind-effects,† overspray, and the like. Where plant spacing is 2.5' on center or greater,† experience has shown that drip irrigation is the most effective system of† choice. This is in comparison to overhead spray systems in terms of water† conservation and installed cost. The further the plant spacing, the more† cost-effective drip irrigation becomes, on a relative basis, when† compared with overhead spray systems.
Drip irrigation systems can be† categorized as either point source or line source dissemination systems.† However, each of these categories has variations within themselves. Other† systems, such as wick irrigation, are currently being evaluated but are not† discussed herein.
Several things are common to† all drip irrigation systems. They all consist of a transport system, usually† hose or pipe, and a water emission device, usually called emitters. In addition,† they all need a relatively fine mesh filtration and some level of pressure† regulation. Most micro-irrigation systems operate at pressures† between 10 psi and 50 psi.
Hypothetically, line source† emission would describe a system that seeps water uniformly along the full† length of the line. These are often referred to as soaker or porous hose lines.† They are often made of particulate matter,† such as ground-up tires, that have been compressed into a semi-solid hose-type† material. Some of these have been known to disintegrate over a period of time,† and thus the industry reception has not been overwhelming.
However, recently many types of† point source dissemination systems with pre-installed or pre-molded† dissemination devices have been classified as line source systems. These systems† have pre-installed dissemination devices (emitters or emitter discharge points)† spaced uniformly along the length of a drip line. These devices can be spaced† uniformly at distances ranging from six inches to 48 inches or more.
In a landscaping scenario,† where plants, in any given plot, can vary in size, spacing, and† species, this type of system may not be the preferred system of choice. These† systems can be installed either on or below the surface. If installed below the† surface, they depend on capillary action of the soil to override the forces of† gravity. While these are truly point source systems, they are often considered† as line source systems because in situations where they are used to irrigate† turf or closely spaced ground-cover, they are required to fully "wet" the† soil.
Where these systems have been† used above the surface for the irrigation of uniformly and closely spaced† plants, they have had a fairly good reception and have been quite effective as† an irrigation technique and as a water conservation vehicle.
When used for sub-surface† irrigation, the reception to this system has been mixed. While all irrigation† systems are sensitive to design, installation and soil conditions, sub-surface† types are particularly sensitive to these parameters. Where these systems have† been installed under laboratory or controlled conditions, they have performed† well. In the field, this has not always been the case. For example, if the soil† is too porous, the water may percolate through the soil before it travels† upwards and laterally to the root zone of the plants. On the other hand, if† there isn't enough porosity in the soil, the capillary action of the soil is† minimal.
Another potential problem with† subsurface irrigation revolves around the fact that whenever water is† disseminated under ground, there is a tendency for† a mud slurry to develop at the point of discharge. When the water is turned off,† a slight negative pressure may develop and some of the mud slurry can enter the† drip line from the point of discharge, and clog the system. This is particularly† apt to happen if there is a slight slope along the length of the line (even† though it may be at a constant depth in relation to the surface).
Another problem articulated by† installers and maintenance contractors is that they cannot readily see water† flowing, to determine if the system is working properly. Of course, this is true† of any drip irrigation system. Flow meters will tell them the quantity of water† that is flowing in any given zone, but not where it is flowing in relation to† the length of the line.
Yet another problem voiced by† maintenance contractors is that if there is a line failure or clogged emitter, the only alternative† is to dig up the turf or ground cover and repair the line. Again, the subsurface† application of drip irrigation for turf or ground cover can be extremely labor† intensive. This is because depth of installation, uniformity of depth in† relation to the surface, and uniformity of line spacing are extremely critical† parameters.
The point source drip† irrigation systems are classically defined as emitters mounted on water† transport lines. The water would then disseminate at the specific point where† the emitters are placed. An advantage of a point source dissemination system is† that the irrigation can be "customized" for any given landscape scenario. That† is, plants of different sizes and water requirements can all be accommodated in† the same watering zone by varying the number of emitters and/or their flowrate.
Another advantage of a point† source drip irrigation system is that it can be installed after the landscaping† is in place. Installation can be quite easy and, once installed and covered with† mulch or bark chips, it can look quite attractive. Of course, after the plant† material has matured, it will look even more attractive. An additional benefit† of drip irrigation is that the owner doesn't have to cope with overspray and any† associated lawsuits as a result of slips and falls. This is particularly† important for interiorscapes, streetscapes, crib-wall, amusement parks, or any† other application where heavy foot traffic is a factor during the† better part of a day.
Water Transport† Lines
The water transport line can be† either rigid or flexible. Flexible lines are classically made of either PE† (polyethylene) or PVC (polyvinyl chloride). Flexible PE hose requires either† barbed or compression-type connectors. Further, there is no widely recognized† standard in use in the irrigation industry for PE hose.
For example, there are at least† six different sizes of "half-inch" PE hose available in the marketplace, all† classically called "half-inch." Therefore, care must be taken to make sure that† the "half-inch" hose chosen is compatible with the corresponding "half-inch"† fitting. Also, PE does not have a particularly good "bend-radius," and thus† tends to kink during handling and installation. Of course, once having kinked,† the hose has a weak spot at the point of the "kink" and also a reduced† cross-sectional area, which impacts on the pressure drop characteristics of the† line.
PVC flexible hose usually has a† much heavier wall thickness, is considerably more flexible than PE, can be bent† in a fairly tight radius without problems and, if kinked, has a sufficiently† good memory so that it recovers to its original configuration. It is usually† available in standard "IPS" sizes, and glues or solvent welds to regular PVC† pipe fittings. Algaecides can be incorporated† into the basic formulation to generate an "algae-resistant" PVC flexible hose.Rigid pipe lines are usually† made of PVC pipe.
Emitters mounted on the line† can either be pressure-compensated or not. Pressure-compensated emitters are† designed to deliver a pre-designated amount of water, independent of the† pressure in the line. That is, the discharge flow stays the same with major† changes in pressure. This feature is particularly important with long lines,† where friction can cause significant pressure changes along its length. This is† also important where elevation changes and associated pressure variations occur† along the length of the line.
Pressure-compensated emitters† assure that every plant along the line gets its predesignated amount of water.† Pressure-compensated emitters are usually available at flow rates of 0.5, 1.0 or† 2.0 gallons per hour per outlet.
Some pressure-compensated† emitters are self-flushing or self-cleaning. That is, they spurt out water every† time the system is turned on or off. This offers a great advantage in terms of† minimizing emitter clogging, and in terms of life of the system. However, it may† result in a hydraulic penalty. The consequences of this "penalty" are that the size of† certain system components may have to be increased to compensate for the† additional flow rate associated with the "spurt" or flushing action.
Emitters are available in a† variety of configurations: single outlet, multiple outlet and bubbler type. Each† of these are available in a "barb" configuration, or in a "threaded base"† configuration. The number of outlets in multiple outlet emitters can vary from† two to twelve, and possibly more.
The output of emitters with† "barbed" outlets may be directed to any specific plant, through the use of† micro-tubing, which is oftentimes called "spaghetti." Thus, if the main hose run is† buried beneath the surface of the soil, the outlet can be directed to the† surface by end of the spaghetti helps to† prevent insects from crawling into the tubing and potentially plugging the line.† If the hose line is placed on the surface, and if it's in an area where there is† little or no foot traffic, micro-bubblers may be used, as well as barbed† emitters. Of course, the emitter can be placed at the end of the spaghetti† tubing.
As you can see, there are many† different types of micro-irrigation. Which to choose depends upon the specific† application, taking into consideration the soil, the spacing of the plant† material, and future maintenance.
Editor's Note: Sam Tobey is† president of Salco Products, Inc.


Definition - What does Vine Grafting mean?
Vine grafting is a viticulture process of extracting benefits from the shoot or scion and roots or rootstock of plants. Successful vine grafting saves vineyards from viral diseases. Vine grafting is known to control, phylloxera: a type of insect that causes whole batches of vines and grapes to be unusable. There was an epidemic in the 19th century when batches of wines were affected by phylloxera. The rootstock extracts from plants used for vine grafting have revolutionized winemaking and contained the threats caused by phylloxera and other viral diseases.
WineFrog explains Vine Grafting
The method of vine grafting was first invented by two French winegrowers, Leo Laliman and Gaston Bazille, as a possible cure to the Great French Wine Blight during the mid 18th century. During the Great French Wine Blight, there was an aphid and phylloxera outbreak that affected and caused many winemakers to go out of business.
Initially vine grafting consisted of a phylloxera-resistant, American rootstock and the scion from a vitis vinifer vine. The method of grafting vines to avoid the disease was a huge success, and the French wine industry was revolutionized, or "reconstituted" as per the term used by French wine growers.
Given that vine grafting also improves the resistance to viral diseases and improves the quality of grapes, it is widely used by modern winegrowers. Although the process of grafting improves the quality of vines, it does not cure sick or damaged vines, so attaching new cuttings to old and sick rootstocks does not heal them. Likewise, grafting does not affect the lifespan of a vine - so even if a new shoot is attached to an old rootstock, the vine will still be as young as the rootstock. The process of grafting is only useful when a healthy scion is grafted into a healthy rootstock.


Islam is a religion that aims to ascertain, uplift and sustain the honor and dignity of man. In Islam, man is God's vicegerent on earth. Every terrestrial component has been created for the purpose of accommodating and facilitating the fulfillment of man's noble mission of vicegerency. Man resides in the center of Islam's universe. As such, the creation of man stood for the last segment in a long formative process of creation during which everything that there is came into existence. It signified the pinnacle of God's act of universe creation that went through six stages. Moreover, God created Adam, the first man and father of humanity, with His own Hands and in His own Image, as Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) revealed. (Sahih Muslim) This means that "Adam has been bestowed with life, knowledge, power of hearing, seeing, understanding, but the features of Adam are different from those of Allah, only the names are the same, e.g., Allah has life and knowledge and power of understanding, and Adam also has them, but there is no comparison between the Creator and the created thing. As Allah says in the Qur'an: 'There is nothing like Him, and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer'" (al-Shura, 11).
Hence, when God created Adam, angels, the most sublime and infallible creatures, were summoned to witness the final divine act of creation. Upon its completion, they were asked to prostrate themselves before Adam, that is, to prostrate to God, for there is no prostration except to God alone, and to acknowledge thereby the merit and wisdom of God's handiwork, and to accord respect to Adam and his existential capacities as the crown of divine invention. The Qur'an describes the dramatic occurrence as follows: "And (mention, O Muhammad), when your Lord said to the angels: 'Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (khalifah, vicegerent).' They said: 'Will You place upon it one who causes corruption therein and sheds blood, while we declare Your praise and sanctify You?' Allah said: 'Indeed, I know that which you do not know.' And He taught Adam the names - all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said: 'Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful.' They said: 'Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who is the Knowing, the Wise.' He said: 'O Adam, inform them of their names.' And when he had informed them of their names, He said: 'Did I not tell you that I know the unseen (aspects) of the heavens and the earth? And I know what you reveal and what you have concealed.' And (mention) when We said to the angels: 'Prostrate before Adam'; so they prostrated, except for Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers." (Al-Baqarah, 30-34).
Islam exists because of man; it is meant for him. Man, in turn, exists because, and for, Islam, to be shown how to live in complete service to his Creator and Master, and to be shown the way to self-assertion and deliverance in both worlds. Thus, the most important knowledge that Islam grants man is the knowledge about himself, his Lord and his relationship with Him, and about the life phenomenon and his place as well as role in it. Indeed, this is the greatest blessing that man enjoys in Islam. It is a demonstration of man's honorable and dignified position that he occupies in the hierarchy of Islamic beliefs, values and principles. It is due to this that the Qur'an often articulates such testimonials as, for example, "We have indeed created man in the best of moulds." (Al-Tin, 4); "Verily We have honored the Children of Adam... " (Al-Isra', 70); "Do you not see that Allah has made subject to you whatever is in the heavens and whatever is in the earth and amply bestowed upon you His favors, (both) apparent and unapparent?" (Luqman, 20); "Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen, taught man that which he knew not." (Al-'Alaq, 3-5).
It goes without saying that the ultimate objective of the Islamic message is the preservation of a believer and his honor and dignity. This translates into the preservation of his religion, life, lineage, intellect and property. There is nothing on earth that is more inviolable than a believer, his blood, property and honor. There is nothing that supersedes him in importance. Everything on earth exists in order to make possible and then sustain a believer's lofty position. All things and events play second fiddle to his status. Even holy messengers were sent and revelations revealed for the purpose. Based on the divine Will and Letter, life systems, ordinances and practices are concocted for this same end as well. Accordingly, cultures and civilizations are judged only on the basis of how genuinely they were human honor and dignity-oriented and how much they succeeded in making such enterprise a reality. It was due to this that the Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have communicated to the Ka'bah while circumambulating (tawaf) it: "How pure you are! And how pure is your fragrance! How great you are! And how great is your sanctity! By Him in whose hands lies the soul of Muhammad, the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allah than even your sanctity (i.e., the Ka'bah). That is (the sanctity) of his property, his blood and that we think nothing of him but good." (Sunan Ibn Majah)
|Muslim volunteers help a guest during Human Dignity Day, an event to help needy people in Bay Area California.|
A companion of the Prophet (pbuh), 'Abdullah b. 'Umar (d. 74 AH/ 693 CE), once when he looked at the Ka'bah, reproduced the gist of those Prophet's words and said to the Ka'bah: "How great you are! And how great is your sanctity! But the sanctity of a believer is greater with Allah than even your sanctity (i.e., the Ka'bah)." (Sunan al-Tirmidhi)
The Prophet (pbuh) also said during his farewell pilgrimage in a sermon which denotes a blueprint for every Muslim civilizational awakening: "Verily, your blood, property and honor are sacred to one another (i.e., Muslims) like the sanctity of this day of yours (i.e., the day of Nahr or slaughtering of the animals of sacrifice), in this month of yours (the holy month of Dhul-Hijjah) and in this city of yours (the holy city of Makkah)."" (Sahih al-Bukhari)
It is thus natural that at a collective level, believers are seen as brothers and sisters to each other. (Al-Hujurat, 10). They constitute one Ummah or community. The best among them are only those who are most God-conscious, or most righteous. (Al-Hujurat, 13). The best among them, furthermore, are those who are most beneficial to the Ummah as well as to the whole of mankind. In their unity, mutual compassion and cooperation, the similitude of believers is like a wall whose bricks enforce and rely on each other. They are like a solid cemented structure held together in harmony and strength, each part contributing strength in its own way, and the whole held together not like a mass, but like a living organism. Believers are further related to each other in such a way that if one of them (a part of an organic and formidable formation called the Ummah or the community) is troubled by a problem of any kind, the rest of the body parts will remain disturbed and restless until the matter became cured. As a result, some of the most outrageous sins in Islam are those which are related to violating and damaging the honor and dignity of a believer, as well as those which are related to the betraying, dividing, weakening and undermining the Ummah or the community. The Qur'an proclaims: "Indeed, those who like that immorality or scandal should be spread (or publicized) among those who have believed will have a painful punishment in this world and the Hereafter." (Al-Nur, 19)
"And hold firmly to the rope of Allah all together and do not become divided. And remember the favor of Allah upon you -- when you were enemies and He brought your hearts together and you became, by His favor, brothers. And you were on the edge of a pit of the Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus does Allah make clear to you His verses that you may be guided." (Alu 'Imran, 103).
At any rate, Islam is as much a personal experience and struggle as it is a collective endeavor and mission. Islam cannot be totally and thoroughly accomplished individually, or in small groups. Islam is a religion of, and thus aims at, society, life in its totality, and civilization. Islam is a religion of collectively inhabiting the earth and making together the world a better place. Islam is a religion of pragmatism and human nature. It is a simple and natural thing. It denounces everything that is unnatural, injurious and inhuman. It denounces everything that stands on the way of people's individual spiritual and intellectual advancements, and collective civilizational affirmation and rise. Simply put, Islam denounces anything that puts man's honor and inviolability, as well as his communal predilection and responsiveness, at stake.
It was because of this underlining character of Islam, surely, that after Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) had received in the cave of Hira his first revelation, and with it his divine appointment as the final messenger of God to people, where heretofore he used to spend long periods contemplating and reflecting on the spiritual depression and failures of the world around him, he subsequently never returned to the cave. He did not return because Islam is not a religion of isolation and separation to be practiced by certain ascetic individuals or groups away from the masses and the pressing realities of life. It must be pointed out that the whole process of the Islamic transformation project started right in the cave of Hira, but not with the words of, for example, "pray" or "fast" or "perform pilgrimage", etc., but rather with the words "Read (iqra') in the name of your Lord Who created. He created man from a clot. Read and your Lord is most Honorable, Who taught (to write) with the pen, taught man that which he knew not." (Al-'Alaq, 1-5). The Prophet (pbuh) was asked - as is anyone who subscribes to Islam and Muhammad's mission - to read, study, try to solve and make known the problems and maladies of his people, as well as of the world and life in general. This is strongly suggested by the notions of God as the Creator and Guardian, and man as the guided and taught mortal completely dependent on God, which are enfolded in the above mentioned verses. Accordingly, the Prophet (pbuh) once said that a Muslim who socializes with people and puts up with their provocations and annoyances, is better than a Muslim who does not socialize with people - i.e., lives alone -- and does not put up with their unpleasant deeds. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi)
Dr. Spahic Omer, a Bosnian currently residing in Malaysia, is an Associate Professor at the Kulliyyah of Architecture and Environmental Design, International Islamic University Malaysia. He studied in Bosnia, Egypt and Malaysia. His research interests cover Islamic history, culture and civilization, as well as the history and philosophy of the Islamic built environment. He can be reached at spahicoyahoo.com; his blog is at www.medinanet.org .
believe is the only religion that in its core provides Human Dignity
to all men women children and provides them guidance so that they
respect dignity of each other and prtect rights other Allah's
creatures such as animal trees and others. Islam does not provide lip
service to human dignity like modern Roman religion of Hollywood.


- All through out Henry David Thoreau’s life his works have been rhetorically significant, in his piece Walden which was written in 1854 you can see what kind of strategical moves that me makes.
In chapter 8, The Village, of Walden Thoreau uses many strategies to get his stories of what happened in the town to the reader, he uses rhetorical moves, appeals, and also figurative language which was tied into how he used his words.
Life seemed simpler, where technology was not as advanced as it is currently.
Currently, everybody in the country uses the four resources mentioned in “Walden”, them being Food, Fuel, Shelter, Clothing, but some of these resources have become nothing but symbols of wealth whereas one hundred years ago, these resources were seen in that way.
In chapter three of Walden, Henry David Thoreau conveys the relevance of reading to his simplistic and naturalistic lifestyle portrayed throughout the novel by making use of themes and symbols such as immortality, mornings and veils....
[tags: Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Concord] - In the chapter The Village from the book Walden, Henry David Thoreau states that society loves to hear and spread gossip all around the town.In chapter 8, The Village, of Walden, Thoreau uses many strategies to get his stories of what happened in the town to the reader, he uses rhetorical moves, appeals, and also figurative language which was tied into how he used his words.[tags: Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Concord] - Henry David Thoreau 's “Walden” details and illustrates Thoreau’s time living away from cities and instead live in a secluded location at Walden Pond.Rhetorically, Thoreau has different ways of speaking that shows he purpose and goal for his writing....[tags: Henry David Thoreau, Walden, Concord] - Sofia Altamura November 30th, 2015 Mrs.Thoreau says throughout Walden that nature can be easily connected to our lives.When we live simply, we are able to see those connections for ourselves and gain a better understanding of our own lives....In Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, however, the term solitude takes on a much deeper meaning.To illustrate, Solitude is the fifth chapter in Walden, a book about self-discovery through acts of transcendentalism.Thoreau goes on to claim that because the citizens in the town are so focused on getting the next scandal, they have missed out on getting in touch with who they are and nature.He also subtly suggests that people should follow in the same footsteps as himself by removing themselves from society so that they can only focus on themselves and nature.


Written for parents as “insider advice on how to navigate the system and help your child succeed”, authors, Linda Wilmshurst, Ph. D. and Alan W. Brue, Ph. D. published their book entitled: A Parents Guide to Special Education. Included in this easy to read text are the revisions to the Individuals with Disabilities Act which offers a wealth of information about services and strategies for parents to understand when they have a child with learning problems who qualify for special services which gives them access to other educational support within the public school system.
One such program is an Individualized Education Program (IEP). The purpose of the IEP is to mobilize all of the educational team to bring a coordinated, goal oriented, measurable process of educational support services to the child who qualifies. Therefore, an IEP is the individual plan for the child who has been shown to have a learning problem or disability.
But, what if a child with an IEP also has a vision problem? Wouldn’t that pose a risk to the child responding effectively to their IEP? To attempt to answer this question, 3 states in the US (Illinois, Kentucky and Missouri) have mandatory eye examinations for children before Kindergarten. Only Arkansas, North Carolina, Oklahoma and Massachusetts require examinations for children who fail a school vision screening. And only Ohio and Massachusetts require examinations for children with learning difficulties. Sixteen states do not even require vision screenings for children. Regardless of the state laws, when an eye examination has not been performed by a qualified eye doctor, the school will typically provide a vision screening to determine that vision is functioning “normally”. However, here is where problems begin to surface. Vision screenings are predominantly an eye sight test. That is, if the child’s visual acuity (eye sight) is better than 20/40 they pass the vision screening!
Indeed, as an informed reader of the VisionHelp Blog you are aware of the fact that many vision problems exist that do not result in reduced distance visual acuity. For example take a look at this one minute video…
Yes, while there exists scientific evidence that shows vision problems can cause reading problems, what scientific evidence exists that shows children with learning problems, for example those with an IEP, are at higher risk of having vision problems compared to the general population?
To answer this question a team of researchers from Ohio State University, with support from the Ohio Optometric Association, conducted a study of 255 children with IEPs to determine the prevalence of vision problems. The age range was 5-18 years old with an average age was 9.6. The research was published in the latest JBO Volume 23/2012/Number 4. I first reported this in the VisionHelp Blog on November 5, entitled, Serious vision problems in children…what does it take to open our eyes? where the research team concluded, “There is considerable association between ocular anomalies and poor school performance. These problems are illustrated by the high prevalence of a variety of eye problems experienced in patients with IEPs.”
Even more critical to the question of the validity of a school vision screening was another startling conclusion of the team which found that out of the 179 that required treatment, 124 (69%) of the children with IEPs would have passed the school vision screening test. That is to say, nearly 70% of those children with an IEP were identified with treatable vision problems and yet would pass the vision screening because their vision problem did not affect their distant eye sight!
Here are more of the details in the study that shows the prevalence of vision problems that significantly exceeded the general pediatric population in the following diagnosis:
Convergence insufficiency: 17.5%, Accommodative dysfunction: 17.3%, Strabismus: 11.5%, Amblyopia: 8.4%. These four categories are effectively treated with vision therapy. For more insights on these categories click on the highlighted word above.
The category of refraction (myopia, hyperopia and astigmatism) showed a significantly higher prevalence than the general population. These refractive categories are effectively treated with prescription lenses.
The final concluding statement by the Ohio State University research team was, “Children with IEPs are likely to have a greater prevalence of nearly all vision-related problems compared to pediatric samples represented in the general population reported in the literature. Because students with IEPs are likely to experience vision-related problems more often than the general population, these children should undergo comprehensive vision examinations to identify and treat these conditions.”
Now as a reader of this post, how can you use this evidence-based research showing the link between learning problems and vision problems to help children? It is my hope that you will pass this on to parents, teachers, school administrators, doctors and all those who work with children who struggle. It will only take a moment of your time, to share on Facebook, Twitter, email or blog; but that little bit of time you spend could save a child from further frustration and the emotional consequences of struggling to learn. Children with vision-related learning problems should be identified with a comprehensive vision examination so that effective treatment can be prescribed. Please help share this message, won’t you?
Dan L. Fortenbacher, O.D., FCOVD


Controlling odors, GHG emissions from stored swine manure
By Ann Perry
By Ann Perry
Storing and reusing swine manure for fertilizer makes good environmental and economic sense, but managing foul-smelling manure is probably one of the least favorite tasks on a producer’s to-do list.
Recent findings by Agricultural Research Service microbiologists Terry Whitehead and Mike Cotta may someday give farmers options for odor control that will protect livestock health and help restore harmony between rural producers and nearby residents.
Odor from swine manure contains hundreds of compounds, so it’s difficult to find the specific ones that are the main culprits contributing to the bad smell. These compounds are made by microbes that break down undigested feed and other materials in the manure. Scientists have determined that one group of these microbes – sulfate-reducing bacteria – produces hydrogen sulfide. Hydrogen sulfide and other sulfur compounds make up about half of the offensive odorants from swine manure.
But manure generates more than just a distinctive odor. Bacterial activity in manure pits also generates methane and nitrous oxide, which are both greenhouse gases.
Research conducted by scientists elsewhere has indicated that tannins – compounds naturally present in tree leaves and other feed materials – can block bacterial activity in the guts of ruminant livestock such as dairy cows, which in turn lowers digestive efficiency and effectiveness. To Whitehead and Cotta, who are in the ARS Bioenergy Research Unit in Peoria, Illinois, this observation suggested that perhaps the tannins could be an effective agent for controlling the compounds that produce odor associated with manure.
The scientists conducted a laboratory study to evaluate the effectiveness of tannins from the quebracho tree, which have been used in other studies of ruminant digestion, in reducing the emission of odors and greenhouse gases from swine manure pits. The scientists collected swine manure from a local producer and incubated it under laboratory conditions that mimic on-farm conditions. This allowed them to test the effects of adding tannins to the manure by monitoring gas emissions. They also determined the levels of sulfate-reducing bacteria that typically flourish in that environment.
Seven days after the researchers added quebracho tannins to the manure, they found that hydrogen sulfide and methane production had been reduced more than 90 percent and that production continued to dwindle for another 3 weeks. Sulfate-reducing bacteria populations also significantly declined, by 70 to 90 percent, in the tannin-enriched mix.
Larger-scale testing at swine facilities is needed to determine whether the tannins have similar rates of efficacy in commercial swine production facilities. If these findings are replicated in field-scale studies, quebracho tannins could be used in manure pits to reduce the activity of sulfate-reducing bacteria and the amounts of hydrogen sulfide and methane. The benefits of this approach would be twofold: producers would have a cost-effective way of mitigating odors and greenhouse gas emissions, and when the manure is eventually spread onto the fields as fertilizer, the added tannins would not pose a risk to the environment.
Ann Perry is a staff writer with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service


Preschoolers will love learning about flamingos as they possess many unique traits. But instead of merely discussing what these animals are, introduce flamingo-inspired crafts to preschoolers to keep them engaged during class.
The flamingo-inspired crafts below are perfect for preschoolers as they’re fun and easy to make. Add these to your lesson plan and watch as preschoolers fall in love with flamingos!
Great Flamingo Preschool Craft
Using items found at home, this activity teaches preschoolers the importance of recycling.
To begin, instruct the class to trace their CD with pink cardstock and cut out the circle. Then, let them cut out the shapes for the flamingo’s head and tail (you can provide a template for this).
Have the children glue the circle piece onto the recycled CD and glue the bath pouf to the body of the flamingo. Teach them how to paste googly eyes to the head and attach the orange pipe cleaners to the body of the flamingo’s legs.
- Bath pouf
- Googly eyes
- Orange pipe cleaners
- Pink card stock
Check out iheartartsncrafts.com to see how cool and unique the flamingos look after completing this activity.
This colorful activity can be given any day of the week and will surely keep the class busy. It’s a perfect addition to any scrapbook and makes a unique keepsake!
Start by instructing the class to cut a strip of blue cardstock paper and glue it to the bottom of the white cardstock paper to make the water. Then, have the children cut and trace their handprints on pink cardstock. This should be glued on top of the blue paper.
Using pink cardstock, show the children how to make the flamingo’s neck and head. Use white cardstock and black construction paper for their eyes and beaks.
Now, let them add feathers and pipe cleaners to the handprint. For the finishing touches, make green plants by taking a strip of green paper, cutting small slits in it, and rolling it up.
- Black construction paper
- Blue cardstock
- Light pink feathers
- Pink and green cardstock
- Pink pipe cleaners
- Small googly eyes
- White cardstock
For other handprint crafts, visit thebestideasforkids.com.
Preschoolers can use this craft as decoration in the classroom or in their homes. This activity is a hit with children, so incorporate it into your lessons ASAP!
Begin this craft by cutting the flamingo’s body, head, and neck from the paper plate. Next, have the children paint and glue the pieces together.
Once everything is dry, instruct them to smear glue on the flamingo’s body using a brush. Then have them glue pieces of ripped pink tissue paper to the body.
Make sure they cover the whole bottom to give the flamingo a more realistic, feathery look. Finish the activity by letting the class add legs, wiggly eyes, and beaks to the flamingo.
- Construction paper
- Paper plate
- Tissue paper
- Wiggly eyes
To access other paper plate flamingo crafts for preschoolers, click makeandtakes.com.
Make lessons on the alphabet and animals more fun with this craft. Preschoolers can also use this as a card or keepsake!
Show the class how to cut different pieces of the flamingo’s body using cardstock paper. You can provide a template to them, so they can easily trace and cut the pieces.
Instruct them to glue a pink cupcake liner onto the light blue cardstock paper and then the leg under the liner. Next, glue the head at the front of the liner and the beak and googly eyes at the face. Add some blue strips at the bottom of the paper to make water.
To complete the activity, have the class cut out a triangle from another pink cupcake liner and glue it to their flamingos. And that’s it!
- 2 pink cupcake liners
- Dark blue, pink, and black cardstock paper
- Light blue cardstock paper
- Small googly eye
Learn more about this unique-looking craft by visiting iheartcraftythings.com.
This activity will teach preschoolers to make flamingos while highlighting their unique features: their pink feathers and long legs.
Show the class how to roll a pipe cleaner from the stem on one end and form a spiral pattern until there is a little left towards the other end. Twist the other end of the pipe cleaner to form an “S” shape, turning the end inside. Instruct the children to glue a small piece of black pipe cleaner in the loop.
Take another piece of pipe cleaner, fold it in half, and loop it through the bottom of the flamingo’s body. Have the children glue a pink feather to the body, stick an eye to the head, and they’re done!
- Glue and scissors
- Googly eyes
- Pink feathers
- Pipe Cleaners in black and two shades of pink
Pair this activity with other flamingo crafts, as shown on artsycraftsymom.com.
Reinforce alphabet and animal lessons by letting the class complete this craft. It’s also an excellent summer activity that encourages creativity among the little ones!
Begin by instructing the class to glue popsicle sticks to form the letter “F.” Let them paint the top of the sticks paint and the bottom orange.
Next, have them cut a nose and beak for their flamingos using cardstock. Finish off by telling them to glue a wiggle eye and then glue their flamingos in their cardstock.
- Black cardstock
- Jumbo popsicle sticks (1 per flamingo craft)
- Mini popsicle sticks (4 per flamingo craft)
- Orange craft paint
- Paint brushes
- Pink craft paint
- Wiggly Eyes
Click gluedtomycraftsblog.com to see how colorful these flamingos are!
Celebrate this year’s Valentine’s Day by introducing this craft to class. They can use it to practice their writing skills as they make sweet notes for their loved ones.
Guide the children on how to press a cookie cutter into a craft foam to form a heart shape and let them cut it. Show them how to make a head and beak from the craft foam and have them color it with a marker. Finish these facial features by gluing a googly eye.
Next, instruct them to tape a pipe cleaner to the back of the heart for the legs. Flip over and glue the head to the pipe cleaner. Let the class decorate their flamingos by adding feathers and a message to the flamingo’s body.
- Heart cookie cutter
- Pink craft foam
- Pink feathers
- Pink pipe cleaners
- Tiny googly eyes
Find more valentine-themed crafts on craftulate.com.
Preschoolers will love this activity as it uses their favorite toy — playdough! Let them hang their artwork in the classroom afterward to make the space more colorful!
Start by cutting a round shape from the white crafting paper and gluing it in the middle of the yellow-colored paper. Instruct the class to make small circles using the pink playdough to form the flamingo’s body and then a cylindrical shape strip for the neck.
Have the children decorate their flamingos by adding a beak, a googly eye, and a crown using yellow playdough. Let them draw the flamingo’s legs using a pink marker to complete this craft.
- A4 size sheet
- Color pen
- Crafting paper
- Wooden fork
Learn some interesting features about this craft by heading to kidsartncraft.com.
Tickle the class’s imagination and creativity by holding a puppet show after they’ve completed this craft. Let them use their flamingos in countless adventures with their peers!
Using pink and black cardstock, guide the class on cutting out the flamingo’s body, beck, head, and beak. Use a ¾-inch circle punch to cut two holes in the bottom of the flamingo’s body. This is where the children will insert their fingers to control the puppet.
Let the children glue everything together and finish off by adding a pink feather and googly eyes. Now, they’re ready for that puppet show!
- ¾-inch circle punch
- Pink and black cardstock paper
- Pink feather
- Small googly eyes
This craft teaches children to scrape painting. It’s a unique painting technique that allows the little ones to reveal hidden designs.
Download and print the flamingo template onto white cardstock. Provide three different shades of pink to the class and let them squeeze the paint onto the printable. They should drizzle the paint to avoid making huge clumps. Instruct them to scrape the paint away using an old hotel or credit card and set it aside to dry.
Have the children tear off light blue cardstock and glue these strips onto a sky-blue cardstock. This will be the background of the flamingo. Let them glue the flamingo’s body to the blue cardstock and finish off by adding straws for the legs.
- 2 shades of blue cardstock paper or construction paper
- 3 shades of pink acrylic paint
- Black Sharpie
- Flamingo printable
- Old credit card, hotel card, or stiff cardboard
- Pink paper straws
- White cardstock
- White glue and glue stick
Visit projectswithkids.com to download the template.
Teaching preschoolers about flamingos will never be boring with these activities. They’ll surely look forward to their classes as they’ll be able to create their own pet flamingos using various materials. They can even use their flamingos for creative play after!
Use our site as your resource for preschool activities centered on different themes!


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by Hana Brown
Each new wave of immigration to the United States has raised questions about whether immigrants will integrate into American society or undermine its core values. Public fears abound, but experts paint an optimistic portrait of immigrant adaptation. The available evidence suggests that incorporation proceeds apace, but that immigration integration trends are patterned by factors like geography, public policies, and legal status.
In a recent study, I identify another factor that influences immigrant incorporation: the physical body. I find that immigrants’ ability to incorporate economically and socially depends in part on their ability to incorporate bodily. That is, it depends on their ability to retrain their bodies to perform the kinds of physical movements required for full membership in the host society.
From a young age, individuals around the world learn how to perform the physical movements expected by their society. In the United States, children’s toys teach them to perform fine motors movements like pushing buttons on a telephone or tapping a keyboard with the appropriate level of force. These toys aren’t merely for entertainment. They teach children to perform the physical actions required to access the most influential institutions around them.
These socialized movements are so ingrained that we hardly notice them. But when people move between societies with radically different embodied expectations, the physical body can pose a real struggle in the adaptation process. This is precisely the situation in which the immigrants I studied found themselves.
In the three years I spent collecting data in a West African immigrant community in California, I routinely watched immigrants struggle to master physical movements that seem basic to most native-born Americans. Raised in rural, agrarian communities, their bodies were socialized to perform skills like bending low to the ground to harvest crops and safely and efficiently wielding machetes –skills that provided economic security and even opportunities for mobility in their countries of origin.
Physical movements that seem natural to most native-born Americans, like punching a time card or dialing a telephone, required a particular type of dexterity and coordination that they did not possess. As a result, the bodily incorporation process proved arduous and had profound implications on their ability to amass capital or achieve a modicum of economic security.
Encounters with the neighborhood ATM exemplify these struggles. Cash machines require customers to press a series of buttons to respond to automated commands. Patrons must hold a small, thin card and insert it in precise fashion into a narrow slot. For the immigrants in my study, visits to the ATM could take upwards of an hour. They struggled to position their cards in the right direction, insert them at exactly the right angle with the precise amount of pressure, and then navigate a sea of fine motor movements to retrieve their cash. If they failed at any one of these steps, their transaction would terminate prematurely, and they would start all over again.
The economic stakes were high at each visit to the ATM. Not only could a transaction time out, requiring a continued time investment, pushing the wrong buttons could be disastrous. They might withdraw more money than anticipated. If they did not withdraw enough money, each additional transaction cost them $2.00 in bank fees, a hefty sum for individual subsisting on low-wage work or public benefits. One time, single mother in the community lost $16.00 to failed transactions, five percent of her monthly cash budget.
Spending so long withdrawing cash from the ATM also posed safety risks. Passersby watched their efforts, including their multiple attempts to enter pin numbers. Given their bodily struggles, these individuals often relied on others to help with their transactions, but that made them legally vulnerable. Each time they passed their cards to another individual for assistance, they surrendered their legal rights should the card be used improperly. This was a risk not only at banks but at grocery stores where they often required help from store workers or the people behind them in line to swipe their cards to pay for food or to enter their pin numbers.
While many individuals in this community were able to amass and save some capital each month, their physical struggles with financial institutions (and their lack of confidence in their ability to withdraw their money at will) made them wary of using savings accounts which would allow them to accrue interest. Instead, they kept their savings in cash under their mattresses or hidden elsewhere in their homes.
The time they spent negotiating these bodily movements and the stress induced by the process limited their ability to acquire other assets, manage their resources independently, and incorporate economically in a way that would facilitate upward mobility or at least a more financially stable lifestyle. The physical body affected their economic incorporation even absent the legal status and skill barriers that commonly affect immigrants’ economic integration. Their struggle with bodily incorporation also proved a constant reminder to them of their outsider status in their new home.
Usually experts study immigrants’ economic, social, and linguistic incorporation, but these other more traditionally studied forms of incorporation are all predicated in part on bodily incorporation. My findings suggest that paying closer attention to the body and embodiment can help clarify the mechanisms driving immigrant incorporation and the inequalities produced by that process.
Hana Brown is an associate professor of sociology at Wake Forest University. This article summarizes findings from “Immigrant Bodily Incorporation: How the Physical Body Structures Identity, Mobility, and Transnationalism” in Social Problems.
Image source: themirs.org


The New Zealand Constitution, like that of the United Kingdom, is not written down in one place. In a forthcoming book former New Zealand Prime Minister Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Dr Andrew Butler will argue that this is not good enough and propose their own draft Constitution. In this post Sir Geoffrey Palmer explains why he believes that a single written Constitution for New Zealand is needed and elaborates on some of the detail of what he and Dr Butler are proposing.
The existing New Zealand Constitution derives from the Westminster model. In 1852 the Imperial Parliament enacted the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. Five years later responsible government was conceded. The 1852 Act lasted until 1986 when New Zealand enacted the Constitution Act 1986. By that time it was reduced to a rump of its former self, with only 12 provisions and these offered few clues on how the New Zealand government actually worked. Nevertheless, over the years on a couple of occasions statutory enactments were held in the courts to be inconsistent with the 1852 Act. The 1986 Act was followed by the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 that had some influence on the architecture of the United Kingdom’s Human Rights Act 1998. Despite these efforts, most of the New Zealand Constitution, like that of the United Kingdom, is not written down in one place the way most constitutions are.
There have been significant constitutional reforms in New Zealand, beginning with the establishment of the Office of Ombudsman in 1962. Since then the following developments have occurred:
- The Official Information Act 1982
- The Constitution Act 1986, which you may think sounds like a Constitution. It sets out the main features of the system. But it is skeletal and does not look like a written Constitution as that term is generally understood
- The New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990
- Various parliamentary reforms
- The introduction of the Mixed-member proportional system of electing members of parliament based on the German model
- Development of measures to recognise the Treaty of Waitangi between Māori and the Crown and to provide for redress of grievances suffered by New Zealand’s indigenous people.
New Zealanders think little about their constitutional arrangements and hardly ever discuss them. There is good reason for this. They cannot find their Constitution. It is not in one place. It is obscure in many respects. The current New Zealand Constitution consists of a hodge-podge of rules, some legally binding, others not. It is formed by a jumble of statutes, some New Zealand ones and some very old English ones; a plethora of obscure conventions, letters patent and manuals, and a raft of decisions of the courts.
There has also been much academic and professional commentary on constitutional practice, all of it hard to find. Other than parts of the Cabinet Manual, which has no legal status, no attempt has been made to bring the sum of the parts together.
An interested person cannot find a clear and coherent statement of the whole framework within which political decisions are made. Surely this is not good enough in a modern, mature democracy? That is the conclusion Dr Andrew Butler and I have reached. So on 21 September 2016 our book A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand will be published by the Victoria University Press in New Zealand. It will be accompanied by a website at www.constitutionaotearoa.org.nz.
On publication date the website will contain the draft Constitution and the reasons why it should be adopted. We then plan to take submissions and feedback from the public and make adjustments before an attempt is made to have it considered further. We thought the recent referendum on the flag in New Zealand disclosed a taste for some constitutional dialogue.
In the development of this project we have derived much help from Professor Robert Blackburn QC and the project he led for the House of Commons that produced in 2014 the rich report, A New Magna Carta? Professor Blackburn also organised a seminar of constitutional lawyers to consider an early draft of ours in February 2016 and we found that extraordinarily helpful.
In this project we have not contented ourselves by simply writing down the existing arrangements in one place. We have made suggestions for change in order to bring the Constitution up to date as well to improve accountability. To give a flavour of the range of the project here are the major components of Constitution Aotearoa New Zealand:
The proposal does not provide for a second chamber in the parliament – New Zealand has been unicameral since 1950. But, in order to enhance parliamentary scrutiny of legislation, other measures are proposed.
In New Zealand there has been an unbroken practice since 1956 that certain provisions of the Electoral Act that are fundamental fundamental to democracy should not be changed without a referendum of the people or by a 75 per cent majority in the House. We extend this principle of entrenchment to the whole of the proposed Constitution. That is to say, the Constitution can be amended either by a referendum of the people or by a 75 per cent majority in the House of Representatives. A Constitutional Commission is proposed to review the document every 10 years.
It needs also to be appreciated that a written, codified Constitution cannot save New Zealand or any nation from political disasters. A constitution can restrain the use of power but it cannot prevent intolerance, bad behaviour or cynicism about government. Nor can it stop all abuses of power. And it is worth bearing in mind the warnings of a famous American, Judge Learned Hand who said:
Liberty lies in the hearts of men and women; when it dies there, no constitution, no law, no court can save it; no constitution, no law, no court can even do much to help it.
While the written, codified Constitution we propose will be higher law, it does in the end give the last word to the House of Representatives where it can muster a 75 per cent majority in the House.
A Constitution for Aotearoa New Zealand, by Sir Geoffrey Palmer and Dr Andrew Butler, will be published in September. It is available to pre-order at this link.
About the author
Rt Hon Sir Geoffrey Palmer QC was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1989 to 1990, and before that Deputy Prime Minister from 1984 to 1989. He is now a barrister, Master of the Bench of the Middle Temple, Distinguished Fellow at the Faculty of Law at Victoria University of Wellington and a Global Affiliated Professor at the University of Iowa.


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Though the policy is voluntary, a dozen companies in the US and Canada that are trying to produce pharmaceuticals and industrial chemicals in plants have endorsed it, and newcomers would probably face strong industry pressure to go along.
"If you are in the Midwest corn belt with a test plot today, you will not be there as a BIO member company in 2003," Mr Phillips said.
The policy, he added, was designed to prevent a recurrence of the debacle that struck the food and biotechnology industries two years ago.
Genetically engineered StarLink corn, approved only as animal feed, appeared in taco shells and other food products. No illness was convincingly attributed to the contamination, but recalling the tainted products cost companies hundreds of millions of dollars.
The altered genes in StarLink corn merely made the plant more resistant to insects.
Biotech companies have far more ambitious plans - they say plants hold enormous promise as factories for producing drugs.
Tests have already shown that human genes inserted into the plants can prompt them to make large quantities of medically useful proteins, which can then be refined and bottled like any other drug.
Companies are preparing to test treatments made this way for herpes virus, respiratory disease and a host of other ailments. Useful industrial compounds could be made cheaply by the same techniques.
But there is growing fear among environmentalists, food producers and even many biotechnology companies, that the exotic genes in these plants could spread to food crops on nearby farms as wind or insects transfer pollens.
The industry fears that the ensuing public relations disaster - "your heart medicine in my corn flakes", in a common catchphrase - would kill the technology.
"I think we can all agree that this industry cannot afford StarLink II," said Michael Pauly, executive director of biotechnology for Epicyte Pharmaceutical of San Diego, which is a year away from testing a herpes drug grown in corn. "It's going to require a certain standard of behavior from the entire industry."
At the other end of the spectrum, many environmental groups are likely to find the voluntary action insufficient. A coalition of these groups, while acknowledging that the technology holds potential for human health, has called for producing gene-altered food plants only inside strictly segregated buildings, or making drugs only in plants never used as food.
"I'm sure the industry is feeling great about this policy, but I still think it's pretty weak," said Matt Rand, biotechnology campaign manager at the National Environmental Trust, in Washington.
He said the public should be specially concerned about a new technology when "even the industry lobby group recognizes that there's a problem".
- Washington Post
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Check Your Credit... ItÃâs Important
Check Your Credit... ItÃâs Important
Credit dominates our finances. The latest statistics show that as a nation we are carrying record-high installment debt, especially on credit cards. The national average is approximately $8,000 of personal debt per household; however, many people carry at least $20,000 to $180,000 in debt, including home mortgages, cars, college education, vacations, clothing, entertainment and groceries. The possibility of using credit is a good thing, but understanding why and when to use it is more important.
Five Steps to Financial Freedom
- Calculate How Much You Owe:
Assemble all monthly statements, making a list of the total amounts due on each card, and the monthly minimum payments. Determine which cards have the highest interest rates and close those accounts. There isnÃât any reason to have more than two cards and each card should have an interest rate less than 14%. Use your cards only for essential purchases. Use a debit card for large purchases, it will cut down on emotional spending.
- Change Your Lifestyle:
With the decline in the stock market and economy, the value of your assets may have been reduced. If this is the case, you may need to scale down your lifestyle. Change your lifestyle before you even consider bankruptcy.
- Budget, Budget & Budget:
Learn how to interpret your economic activity in a financial statement format. Learn about financial ratios and how the impact spending decisions. Living beneath oneÃâs means is an essential way to start financial recovery.
- Learn Money Management:
DonÃât leave all your financial health to the responsibility of others. Many business and personal relationships have been ruined over money issues, and an irresponsible partner can cause years of credit problems. Know how to read your own bank statement, balance your checkbook, and be aware of charges on your monthly bills. Be educated in the basics. Also, investigate your credit rating by contacting one of the national credit bureaus: Experian (888-397-3742); Trans Union (800-888-4213); or Equifax (800-685-1111). Learn how to interpret the information on the report. It should be reviewed on an annual basis to ensure there is no misuse of name, Social Security and credit card numbers.
- Control Debt:
If you have trouble keeping track of your payment obligations you should consider consolidating your debt into one loan. This will help you to feel more organized and ensure your debt obligations are paid on a regular basis.
Filing for bankruptcy can eliminate current financial debts and future obligations, but doing so will cause long term consequences. Bankruptcy is reported on your credit report for at least seven to ten years, and is public record. More than 1.47 million Americans are expected to file bankruptcy this year, an increase of 22% over 2001.
Investigate the types and cost of bankruptcy proceedings. Personal bankruptcy fees are nondeductible expenses, and most financial advisors would encourage clients to work hard to get out of debt. However, some people have no choice. Credit card companies will sometimes settle for a nominal amount, because their debt is unsecured and dismissible in bankruptcy.
There are two types of bankruptcy filings for individuals: Chapter 7, Liquidation, and Chapter 13, Adjustment of Debts of an Individual with Regular Income, often referred to as ÃâWage EarnerÃâs Reorganization.Ãâ Under Chapter 7, comprising 70% of all filings, the filer usually has all debts eliminated, including property. Chapter 13 allows for an individual with a regular income to repay debts over a three or five year plan. Filers can keep property and usually creditors will accept a reduced amount on loan obligations. Filers must, however, live within a budget approved and supervised by a bankruptcy trustee for five years. Consult with your CPA and bankruptcy attorney in the state, in which you live, and determine what assets are exempt from proceedings and what restrictions apply.
The bankruptcy court looks carefully at recent expenditures, including purchase of luxury items, vacation trips, loans, and cash advances made within 60 days of filing. These types of debts are usually not dischargeable in bankruptcy. Other non-dischargeable debts include certain tax claims under three years old, alimony, child support, injuries to a person or property, government fines and penalties, student loans, and certain condominium or cooperative housing fees.
Steps to Repair Credit
Negative information cannot be removed from a credit report but you can request an examination of information in your file that you want to dispute as outdated, incomplete or inaccurate. Once you have identified the item, you can explain why you dispute the information. If an item is changed or removed, the credit bureau cannot put the disputed information back in your file. Information is generally reported for seven years, except:
- Bankruptcy information can be reported for 10 years.
- Information concerning a lawsuit or a judgement against you can be reported for seven years or until the statute of limitations expires.
- Default information on student loans can be reported for seven years after guarantor actions.
The federal government instituted new legislation to require credit card or finance companies to report canceled debt on Federal Form 1099-C, Cancellation of Debt. This reporting is required for the forgiveness of $600 or more. For an individual, this canceled amount should be reported on the ÃâOther IncomeÃâ line of your 1040.
Once you have gotten your credit strategy back on track, you are ready to start rebuilding your credit. Consume, invest, and save wisely and do not add new debt to current expenses.
These articles are intended to provide general resources for the tax and accounting needs of small businesses and individuals. Service2Client LLC is the author, but is not engaged in rendering specific legal, accounting, financial or professional advice. Service2Client LLC makes no representation that the recommendations of Service2Client LLC will achieve any result. The NSAD has not reviewed any of the Service2Client LLC content. Readers are encouraged to contact their CPA regarding the topics in these articles.


The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (SVTC) believes that we still have time to ensure that the solar PV sector is safe for the environment, workers, and communities. We need to take action now to reduce the use of toxic chemicals in PV, develop responsible recycling systems, and protect workers throughout the global PV supply chain.
SVTC envisions a socially just and sustainable solar PV industry that:
- Takes responsibility for the environmental and health impacts of its products throughout their lifecycles, including adherence to a mandatory policy for responsible recycling.
- Implements and monitors equitable environmental and labor standards throughout product supply chains.
- Pursues innovative approaches to reducing and ultimately eliminating toxic chemicals in PV module manufacturing.
For over three decades, SVTC has been a leader in encouraging electronics manufacturers to take lifecycle responsibility for their products. This includes protecting workers from toxic exposure and preventing hazardous e-waste dumping in developing countries like India, Ghana, and China that lack the proper infrastructure to protect workers and the environment. SVTC also seeks to stop the practice of sending e-waste to U.S. prisons for dismantling, which results in toxic exposure to inmates.


Carcinogenic parasites are parasitic organisms that depend on other organisms (called hosts) for their survival, and cause cancer in such hosts. Three species of flukes (trematodes) are medically-proven carcinogenic parasites, namely the urinary blood fluke (Schistosoma haematobium), the Southeast Asian liver fluke (Opisthorchis viverrini) and the Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis). S. haematobium is prevalent in Africa and the Middle East, and is the leading cause of bladder cancer (only next to tobacco smoking). O. viverrini and C. sinensis are both found in eastern and southeastern Asia, and are responsible for cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile ducts). The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared them in 2009 as a Group 1 biological carcinogens in humans.
Other parasites are also linked to various cancers. Among protozoan parasites, Toxoplasma gondii, Cryptosporidium parvum, Trichomonas vaginalis and Theileria are associated with specific cancer cells. Plasmodium falciparum can also be an indirect cause of cancer. Tapeworms such as Echinococcus granulosus and Taenia solium may directly or indirectly cause cancer. Liver flukes such as Opisthorchis viverrini and Platynosomum fastosum can cause cancer in domesticated animals. Roundworms such as Strongyloides stercoralis, Heterakis gallinarum, and Trichuris muris are known to cause cancer in animals.
A rat roundworm Gongylonema neoplasticum was the first parasite discovered—allegedly—to cause cancer. A Danish physician Johannes Fibiger discovered it in 1907, and experimentally showed that he could induce stomach cancer in rats using the roundworm infection in 1913. In 1914, he gave the name Spiroptera (Gongylonema) neoplastica, but later changed it to Spiroptera carcinoma. Fibiger won the 1926 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine "for his discovery of the Spiroptera carcinoma". However, his interpretation was later found to be false, and that the roundworm was not carcinogenic on its own. Fibiger's Nobel Prize was described as "one of the biggest blunders made by the Karolinska Institute."
The first true carcinogenic parasite discovered was Schistosoma haematobium. Theodor Maximillian Bilharz, a German physician at the Kasr el-Aini Hospital in Cairo recovered the adult fluke from a dead soldier in 1851. He named it Distomum haematobium. The disease is often called bilharzia in honour of the discoverer. The infectivity and life cycle was discovered by Scottish physician Robert Thomson Leiper in 1915. A British Surgeon Reginald Harrison, at the Liverpool Royal Infirmary, was the first to note its role in cancer. In 1889, he found that four people out of five cancer victims had bilharzia. A German physician Carl Goebel confirmed in 1903 that bladder tumour occurred in most bilharzia patients. By 1905, he was convinced that carcinoma of bladder was due to bilharzia.
Group 1 carcinogens in humanEdit
Three flukes, urinary blood fluke (Schistosoma haematobium), Southeast Asian liver fluke (Opisthorchis viverrini) and Chinese liver fluke (Clonorchis sinensis) are classified as Group 1 carcinogens, i.e. they are substantiated and directly cancer-causing agents.
S. haematobium is a digenetic trematode found in Africa and the Middle East. It is the major agent of schistosomiasis, the most prevalent parasitic infection in humans. It is the only blood fluke that infects the urinary tract, causing urinary schistosomiasis, and is the leading cause of bladder cancer (only next to tobacco smoking). Its life cycle is transmission between humans and freshwater snail, species of Bulinus. The larvae live in water bodies from where they infect the hosts by penetrating the skin. Adults are found in the venous plexuses around the urinary bladder and the released eggs travels to the wall of the urine bladder causing haematuria and fibrosis of the bladder. The bladder becomes calcified, and there is increased pressure on ureters and kidneys (hydronephrosis). Inflammation of the genitals due to S. haematobium may contribute to the propagation of HIV. Antigens produced by the eggs induce granuloma formation. Granulomata in turn coalesce to form tubercles, nodules or masses that often ulcerate. This creates the pathological lesions found in the bladder wall, ureter and renal; and also tumour, both benign and malignant.
O. viverrini is a food-borne liver fluke that mainly attacks the area of the bile duct. Infection with the parasite, called opisthorchiasis is the major cause of cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the bile ducts, in northern Thailand, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Vietnam and Cambodia.O. viverrini has three successive host for its life cycle – the first intermediate hosts are freshwater snails of the genus Bithynia, the second intermediate hosts are different cyprinid fish, and humans are the definitive hosts. Generally opisthorchiasis due to O. viverrini is harmless without any clinical symptoms, but in rare cases, cholangitis, cholecystitis, and cholangiocarcinoma can develop. O. viverrini invades the bile ducts and, rarely, the gall bladder and pancreatic duct. Heavy infection can produce problems such as fibrosis in the liver, gall bladder and bile ducts. Pathological effects on the bile ducts including inflammation, epithelial desquamation, goblet cell metaplasia, epithelial and adenomatous hyperplasia and periductal fibrosis collectively promote cholangiocarcinoma. Though it is not immediately life-threatening, cancer develops after 30–40 years, and the ensuing death is rapid—within 3–6 months of diagnosis.
C. sinensis is also a food-borne liver fluke. It is the most prevalent human trematode in Asia, and is found in Korea, China, Vietnam and also Russia. 85% of the cases are found in China. It is transmitted similarly to O. viverrini, but the species of snails are varied, of which Parafossarulus manchouricus is the most common. The cyprinid fish hosts are also different. General clonorchiasis is indicated with fatigue, abdominal discomfort, anorexia, weight loss, diarrhea, liver cirrhosis and jaundice. The most severe infections cause cholangiocarcinoma and hepatic carcinoma.
Indirect or putative carcinogensEdit
Infection with malarial parasite Plasmodium falciparum is classified by IARC as probable (Group 2A) carcinogen. Schistosoma japonicum is a possible (Group 2B) carcinogen. There is a close association between the cat liver fluke Opisthorchis felineus and bile duct cancer among people in Russia.
Toxoplasma gondii and eye cancer (intraocular lymphoma) was detected by PCR from two human cases. Strongyloides stercoralis eggs and adult worms may be linked with gastric adenocarcinoma and colon adenocarcinoma in Korea. Cryptosporidium parvum infection is associated with colorectal carcinoma.
Carcinogens in animalsEdit
The roundworm Trichuris muris infection can increase the number of tumours in mice. Heavy infection with the trematode Platynosomum fastosum is associated with cholangiocarcinoma in cats. Cryptosporidium parvum infection can be the cause of carcinoma in the gut of mice.
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For many people, a clean house equals a healthy house. But could cleaning actually be impacting your health in a negative way? The cleaning products we use could contain harmful chemicals we don’t know about.
A 2018 study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, it showed that using chemical cleaning products could harm female workers’ lungs as much as smoking a pack of cigarettes every day for 10 to 20 years. Women who use sprays and other cleaning products at home as little as once a week may also harm their lungs, although the study did not quantify the impact by comparison with smoking.
How does exposure to cleaners with harmful chemicals affect your health?
Links to new-onset asthma and aggravated asthma, wheezing, respiratory infections and irritation from exposure to chemical cleaners are well documented in the scientific literature. The study thought to be the first to assess occupational or domestic cleaning product exposure as it relates to the decline of lung function. Diminished lung function is a sign of lung disease or possible future development of the disease, which can be fatal.
Women face disproportionate exposures to the hazardous agents in cleaning products because – as this study and data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, among others, supports – they are responsible for the majority of cleaning chores at home and represent the majority of the domestic cleaning workforce. While it is unlikely that a single, brief exposure to any one chemical will cause a health problem, cumulative exposure to the many different chemicals contained in the wide variety of household products that people use routinely can be more problematic.
How can you reduce your exposure to harmful chemicals?
- Avoid spray cleaners. If you do use them, spray into a cloth rather than directly on a surface, which helps reduce your inhalation of tiny cleaning solution droplets.
- Skip chemical cleaning products. Regular cleaning with non-fragranced soap and water or baking soda and water will remove typical household grime and keep mold levels in check.
- Opt for products labelled “fragrance-free.” Avoid products with added “fragrance” as they are likely to contain synthetic chemicals. Even products some labelled “unscented” can contain synthetic fragrances designed to mask odor. Read our blog on minimizing chemical exposure here.
- Abrasive sponges and microfiber tools are also effective alternatives to harsh chemicals.
Visit EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning, which provides safety ratings for more than 2,500 products. This can help you make better choices for products to use at home. Learn more about reducing your exposure to harmful chemicals, and do proper chemical storage at home by reading our action plan here.
Hayward Score can help you discover what may be going on in your home in minutes! Simply answer a quick set of questions about your home developed by our healthy home experts, then get a personalized list of action items designed to help you address issues in your home. Start transforming your home today! Get your Hayward Score now.
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