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In the past few years, significant progress has been made in rare diseases; in 2014, orphan drugs constituted 17 of the 41 new molecular entities approved by the Food and Drug Administration. An average of 140 drugs have been designated as orphan drugs by the FDA each year over the past decade, compared with 64 in the previous 10 years, according to the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America.
The Orphan Drug Act, passed in 1983, was designed to provide incentives to manufacturers to research and develop drugs for rare diseases, defined as diseases that affect fewer than 200,000 people in the United States. The law has helped bring more than 450 new drugs to the market. During the decade before 1983, only 10 new treatments were developed for rare diseases. Since 1983, more than 3,000 products have been designated orphan drugs.
Driving recent approvals of rare diseases is the addition of the FDA’s breakthrough designation, says Maria Whitman, managing principal, at ZS.
“The breakthrough designation within the FDA in particular played a role in oncology where biomarkers have enabled targeting of an increasing number of subpopulations of patients even in larger cancers where therapies can target diseases at a more personalized level,” she says.
Robert Ryan, Ph.D., CEO at Scioderm, says the breakthrough designation provides a different level of engagement with regulators.
“We received a breakthrough designation in March 2013 when we were raising our Series A funding,” he says. “The breakthrough designation had a tremendous impact on our ability to sit down with the agency in a larger forum. It made a huge difference to be able to get everybody into the same room to discuss our IND.”
Scioderm’s lead product, Zorblisa, is in Phase III trials for treating skin effects associated with all subtypes of epidermolysis bullosa, a genetic connective tissue disorder.
Currently, America’s biopharmaceutical research companies are developing 452 medicines and vaccines to treat rare diseases, according to PhRMA. In particular, researchers are focusing on rare cancers, genetic disorders, neurological conditions, infectious diseases, and autoimmune disorders.
But despite these efforts, there is a huge unmet need in rare disease. In fact, about 95% of the estimated 6,000 to 7,000 rare diseases do not have a single FDA-approved drug treatment. At the current rate of approval, it will take more than 100 years to have therapies for all rare diseases, says Steve Smith, senior director, patient value, at Medidata.
The biggest unmet need in rare diseases — in addition to the inherent unmet medical need in most rare disease indications — has been the lack of multi-stakeholder alignment and collaboration, says Scott Schliebner, VP, scientific affairs, rare diseases, federal programs, at PRA Health Sciences.
“To make significant strides in these disease areas, we need stronger partnerships between industry and nonprofit patient advocacy groups; between regulators, payers, and drug developers; and between patients, families, and caregivers,” he says.
This, however, is beginning to change. An initiative that began last year within the U.S. Congress is aiming to understand how to advance innovative medical research and to accelerate the development of safe, effective medical treatments and cures, particularly for patients with unmet medical needs.
21st Century Cures Initiative
Many leaders in the rare disease space say while the Orphan Drug Act has been successful, enhancements and changes are needed to solve some of the challenges related to conducting trials in small patient populations.
“The Orphan Drug Act provided incentives for corporations to develop therapies, which many people have said is very effective,” says Wendy White, senior VP, for rare diseases, at Dohmen Life Science Services. “Now we need a more coordinated effort and more directed support to move products to the market faster.”
That effort, the 21st Century Cures — an initiative within the House of Representatives — seeks to understand how to advance innovative medical research and to accelerate the development of safe, effective medical treatments and cures, particularly for patients with unmet medical needs.
In May, leaders from the Energy and Commerce Committee released a discussion draft of the 21st Century Cures initiative. The bipartisan initiative, led by Reps. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) and Diana DeGette (D-Colo.), began in April 2014 to look at ways to accelerate the pace of medical breakthroughs in the United States. The committee has held eight hearings, issued a number of white papers, and committee members have hosted more than two dozen roundtables across the country to generate ideas for this initiative.
John Crowley, CEO of Amicus Therapeutics, says the 21st Century Cures Initiative will go a long way to addressing the gaps in the Orphan Drug Act.
“It is the most patient-centered piece of legislation that I’ve seen proposed in Congress,” he says. “It addresses a really important point: how do we develop medicines in the most patient-focused way,” he says. “The 21st Century Cure Initiative takes a pro-patient view, but it is also pro-science. It doesn’t put patients first at the expense of rigorous scientific evaluation of data. But it does approach the science in a much more flexible, responsive, and appropriate way.”
Amicus is conducting two Phase III global studies of migalastat HCl monotherapy in Fabry disease and a late-stage preclinical study of AT-B200 for treating Pompe disease. Mr. Crowley’s two youngest children have Pompe disease, a lysosomal storage disease (LSD) that interferes with the body’s ability to break down molecules inside the lysosomes. He founded Novazyme Pharmaceuticals, a specialty biopharmaceutical company, to research enzyme replacement therapies for Pompe. Since then the company was sold to Genzyme.
(Editor’s Note: Mr. Crowley’s journey to find therapies for his children was profiled in PharmaVOICE in January 2009, as well as in a movie Extraordinary Measures.)
The 21st Century Cures draft includes provisions to: incorporate the patient perspective in the discovery, development, and delivery process, as well as increase funding for the National Institutes of Health, both through reauthorization and $10 billion over five years in mandatory funding, starting in fiscal year 2016. The draft also looks at how to break down barriers to increased collaboration and data sharing among patients, researchers, providers, and innovators, and help the development of personalized and precision medicines so the right patient can receive the right treatment at the right time.
“This initiative is charged with examining what is wrong with drug development,” Mr. Smith says. “We needed all stakeholders to have a consolidated discussion with Congress so Congress can pass new laws to change the FDA’s clinical trial process. This is historic; we haven’t had this sort of collaboration before.”
One of the biggest components of the draft, Mr. Smith says, is that it puts patients at the center of drug development.
“It will do this by compelling the FDA to take patients’ own assessment of risk and benefit into account and using risk vs. benefit in a methodological way,” he says. “It’s also important for clinical trial protocols that allow for small patient populations and allows us to use the data we do generate to prove whether the drug is working or not. This relates to endpoints and biomarkers. Using genetic biomarkers as an endpoint can bring us faster and better trials. The new legislation would mean that the FDA develops guidance so that biomarkers can be used more often.”
“The 21st Century Cure legislation will restore America’s ability to lead in the 21st century of drug development,” Mr. Smith says. “We are a country that has traditionally led in medicine, but our leadership is in danger of being eroded by the weakening of the NIH and by inference, the weakening of the FDA.”
Mark Rothera, chief commercial officer, PTC Therapeutics, says an analysis of the risk-benefit trade offs that patients and families are prepared to make in order to have access to an effective therapy is important for a better understanding of the patient and family perspective, especially in the regulatory process.
“The European Medicines Agency is willing to provide approvals based on a single trial where it believes that the evidence is sufficient in terms of efficacy and safety,” he says. “The agency is prepared to give early approval subject to a subsequent confirmatory trial. This is a compelling approach when dealing with progression and devastating disorders. It would be beneficial to patients if the FDA adopted a similar approach when looking at rapidly progressing and deadly diseases, because time is of the essence.”
In February 2015, the Senate’s Health Committee began its effort to look at how to improve biomedical innovation. Led by Sens. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) and Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee is holding hearings to examine the process for getting products to the market.
Researching Rare Diseases
Phil Vickers, Ph.D., global head of R&D, Shire, says the research of rare diseases is different from more common diseases.
“With rare diseases we are not following a well-trodden path; we’re making the path,” he says. “There is usually no effective standard of care and no drug has gone through the regulatory process.”
Shire has been active in the rare disease space since the acquisition of Transkaryotic Therapies (TKT) in 2005 and most recently established a three-year research agreement with the Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center for rare diseases. In February 2015, the company also acquired NPS Pharma, a company focused on rare diseases.
Dr. Vickers says rare diseases are not fully understood and so companies in rare disease research often have to do natural history studies. They have to work closely with key opinion leaders to try to understand the disease.
“As this research then transitions into clinical and regulatory, we need to work very carefully with physicians to understand what biomarkers may be relevant to disease, and we need to engage with regulators early in the process to ensure that we are aligned on the appropriate biomarkers and clinical endpoints to focus on,” he says.
Understanding the basic biology of disease is a challenge, Mr. Crowley agrees.
“But we are understanding more about the genetic mutations that lead to these diseases and how those result in different severities of disease, different onsets, different organ involvement, and different responses to various medicines and technologies that might be applicable to treat the disease,” he says.
The challenges of developing drugs for rare diseases are often underestimated, says Kevin Lee, Ph.D., senior VP and chief scientific officer, Pfizer. He says partnering is the most effective way for drug discovery and the most rapid way in an area like rare disease. Pfizer’s current pipeline includes clinical and preclinical programs in sickle cell disease, hemophilia, muscular dystrophies, spinal muscular atrophy, cystic fibrosis, and other rare diseases.
Scientific collaboration is crucial, says Eric Althoff, head of global media relations, Novartis. Novartis has nine marketed drugs that have been designated orphan drugs as well as a robust clinical pipeline, including more than 40 active preclinical and clinical research projects in the rare diseases area.
“Researchers must work together toward the goal of creating a global knowledge base, a necessary step to tackling the challenges of these diseases where basic knowledge is limited and the small patient populations are dispersed across the globe,” he says. “Knowledge derived from the thorough analysis of a rare disease has high scientific and societal value, because insights into rare disorders may also provide scientists with a clear understanding of disease mechanisms that could be useful to treat more common disorders.”
Industry experts identify numerous challenges specific to each particular disease state, including investigator cultivation and site identification; patient identification, recruitment, and retention; understanding the patient pathway and selection of endpoints; and engaging and including various stakeholders to the drug development process.
“There are strategic and tactical considerations that can be used to address and overcome the various challenges to rare disease drug development,” Mr. Schliebner says. “We use an evidenced-based approach that leverages medical informatics to drive study design and trial positioning; natural history studies and registries can be developed to shed light on the disease state and the optimal selection of endpoints; early and transparent engagement with patient advocacy groups can help to build trust and collaboration to accelerate rare disease drug development.”
Rare disease studies are often restricted by the number of patients available. And while patient recruitment continues to be a challenge for all trials, it is even more so for trials of rare diseases. Every patient counts in a clinical study to drive statistical significance.Partnering with advocacy organizations can go a long way to helping pharmaceutical companies reach patients.
“Patientricity is becoming a buzz word and is especially relevant to the rare disease arena,” Mr. Schliebner says. “We are also seeing bigger industry players begin to enter the rare disease space, make acquisitions, and broaden their focus on orphan drug development. There are more agents in development and more awareness. This will continue.”
Dr. Vickers agrees that having strong links with patient associations is particularly important in the rare disease space.
“We are working in areas where there is no effective standard of care and in many cases, there have been no drugs that have gone through the regulatory path,” he says. “In fact, there is little published on some of the rare diseases that we work on, so just defining what are the appropriate factors to measure in clinical studies is something we spend a lot of time on.”
Yuval Cohen, Ph.D., CEO of Corbus Pharmaceuticals, says patient groups are important partners in helping companies develop and execute trials in the best possible way. Corbus is working with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Therapeutics Development Network on a Phase II trial for Resunab, which is being investigated for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. They are also launching a Phase II clinical trial in diffuse systemic sclerosis.
Dr. Vickers says working closely with patient advocacy groups is essential to understand the patient’s and caregiver’s perspectives on the most significant unmet needs and the most devastating effects or consequences of these diseases on their daily lives in order to design studies to best meet patients’ needs.
In many rare diseases, however, there is no patient advocacy organization. In this case, biopharmaceuticals companies are working on their own to reach patients.
One such company is Catalyst Pharmaceuticals. The company’s lead program is Firdapse. An NDA for this product is expected to be submitted to the FDA in the third quarter of 2015 to treat patients with Lambert-Eaton Myasthenic Syndrome (LEMS). LEMS is a rare autoimmune disorder with the primary symptoms of debilitating muscle weakness. While this disease would fall under the Muscular Dystrophy Association, no specific LEMS organization exists. Catalyst recently worked with the National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) to set up a patient meeting this spring in Orlando for patients and caregivers and their physicians.
“This meeting gave us an opportunity to better understand the patient’s journey,” says Pat McEnany, CEO of Catalyst. He says this was the company’s first patient meeting and others are planned around the country for continued patient outreach.
Patient-to-patient connection is a powerful means of communications, says Dan Bobear, principal, managing director at The Patient Experience Project.
“In rare diseases, there is an interesting dynamic in that many patients have never, or rarely, spoken to someone else with the same condition,” he says. “So when patients speak to, hear stories, or get advice from someone in the same situation it has deep meaning and the potential for connection and engagement is incredible.”
Fewer than 20% of rare diseases have patient registries, and most are operated by patients’ organizations or academic researchers, according to the National Institutes of Health.
One such program is the Global Rare Diseases Patient Registry Data Repository/GRDR program from the NIH’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. This program aims to develop a Web-based resource that aggregates, secures, and stores de-identified patient information from many different registries. NORD has been instrumental in helping set up a number of patient registries, the most recent is the Foundation for Prader-Willi Research, which launched in May. Prader-Willi is a rare genetic disorder that affects development and growth.
Patient registries are important to gather additional information about how a drug is performing in patients, says Stella Blackburn, VP of global risk management, in Quintiles’ real world and late-phase research division.
“All the evidence before registration is from clinical trials,” she says. “A lot of the patients who will get the drug will have more complex diseases and may be different age ranges or they may be taking other drugs as well. These registries aim to answer questions that couldn’t be answered pre-authorization.”
Commercializing Drugs for Rare Diseases
Sales of drugs designated as orphans by regulators in the United States, Europe, or Japan will grow at an annual rate of almost 11% per year through 2020, compared with only about 4% for drugs treating larger populations, according to a 2014 report from EvaluatePharma. In fact, orphan drug sales will constitute 19% of the total share of prescription drug sales by 2020, totaling $176 billion.
Launch strategies for products for rare diseases need to be different from other product launches, says Kristin Keller, executive VP, client engagement, Discovery USA. She says in the rare disease ecosystem, the stakeholders tend to be more connected and they tend to be communicating with each other more. This means pharma companies have make to sure brands have a very holistic and innovative strategy at a brand, commercial, and communications level.
“Typically there is a heavy burden put on the patients both by the disease and by the dynamics of the treatment,” Ms. Keller says. “Patients may be dealing with more intensive treatment regimens, and are typically dealing with life-long chronic diseases. It’s important to provide as much support and value at a high level of service to the patient community.”
Ms. Keller says these services make sure that patients are at the center of the treatment and can include anything from reimbursement, patient support, or nurse counselors who come to the home; patient mentors; or wrap around services that are designed to addressed the unmet needs of the patient and their family.
Physicians are challenged in dealing with patients with rare diseases. Physicians — both primary care and specialists — have limited resources and information to properly diagnose/manage patients with rare diseases as compared with the more common diseases they see. Frontline Medical Communications conducted a survey of healthcare professionals, and found that 88% of the HCPs surveyed agreed there is a need for professional content around rare diseases. HCPs have an average of 12 patients who have either been diagnosed with, are being treated for, or are suspected to have and remain undiagnosed with a rare disease.
“A survey of our readers found physicians know they lack understanding of rare diseases and want more information,” says Elizabeth Katz, publisher of Neurology Reviews, Frontline Medical Communications.
Unless patients are seeing a key opinion leader in the disease area, they may not be receiving the highest standard of care, Ms. White says.
“Primary care physicians just don’t have the time to learn about diseases they may never see in their practice,” she says. “They are doing exactly the same thing that patients and caregivers do when a patient presents with something they don’t recognize — they look it up on the Internet. If we, on behalf of manufacturers, can help them know that there is a treatment available and how to get to the right diagnosis and provide that in a timely way, then we can help physicians be more effective.”
Ms. White says it’s important to bring payers into the discussions about new therapies for rare diseases early on.
“Bringing payers in as a company is developing its clinical trial and thinking about what kind of proof is going to be needed to cover costs is critically important,” she says.
Ms. Whitman says pharma companies have not had a high burden to communicate value in rare diseases so far. Communicating value to payers is becoming challenging with orphan and rare diseases as more products launch and budget impact goes up. More companies are launching products into rare indications, and while there is a limited breadth of patients and data, many drugs will expand into broader indications.
Ms. Whitman recommends companies consider constructing a cohesive value story for payers, physicians, and patients. While each of these stakeholders is making different decisions in the patient journey, in rare diseases there is much more collaboration among the stakeholders across the journey of a patient.
“We haven’t gotten to a point yet in most rare diseases where there are multiple products to determine if certain endpoints outweigh others,” she says. “With more rare approvals and comparators emerging impact is harder to prove. The value will be in demonstrating differentiation in disease modification and how this is going to make a difference to the patient. A rare disease is one of the areas where we can still truly change the course of a patient’s life.” (PV)


If you watch a lot of cop shows or court dramas, you’ve probably heard the terms ‘bail’ and ‘bond’ a thousand times or more. But what do they mean? Is it simply two ways of saying the same thing? Or are they actually different words with different definitions? The answer is simple – here in Michigan the terms “bail” and “bond” mean exactly the same thing!
Bail (or bond) is the amount of money ordered by the court that a defendant has to pay in order to secure their release and their attendance in court. In other words, bail and bond refer to the specific amount of money that a judge or magistrate decides has to be posted in order for a person to be released from jail before their trial. If the person granted bail doesn’t appear in court for their scheduled hearings, they forfeit that amount of money.
So how does it work? Well, if a judge or magistrate decides that Danny Drug-Possession has to post $1,000 in order to secure his temporary release from custody, and Mr. Drug-Possession‘s family pays that money, he has been bailed (or bonded) out of jail. If however the court grants Sally Sex-Crime a bail amount of $10,000 and neither she nor her family can come up with that amount of money, they could turn to a bail bondsman for help.
Being bailed or bonded out of jail by a bail bonds company means that the defendant or their family wasn’t able to come up with the amount of money needed to post bail. They then hire a bail bondscompany who fronts the money on their behalf. In other words, the defendant in effect, purchases an insurance policy from the bail bond company. The premium is normally 10% of the amount of bail required. When the defendant pays the bond company their 10% fee, the bond company then posts the full bond, or an insurance policy for the full bond, at the court.
If the bond amount is high, in addition to a 10% charge paid to the bail bond company, this is usually done by providing the bail bond company with valuable collateral, like a home or a car. The bail bond company then pays the court the bail, and guarantees that the defendant will appear for their hearings. If the defendant doesn’t show up for their scheduled hearings, the bond company is required to pay the remainder of the bail amount.
Obviously, the bond company would rather avoid this, so they have a vested interest in making sure that the defendant shows up to court when they’re supposed to be there. This is where bounty hunters, or ‘skip tracers’ comes in – people who are hired by the bail bondsman to ‘trace’ and retrieve people who ‘skipped’ on their court hearings.
While bail and bond are the same thing here in Michigan, there are different types of bonds:
Personal Recognizance Bond:
A personal recognizance bond doesn’t require that a person put down any collateral in order to secure their release, it simply penalizes them at whatever rate the bond is set at if they don’t show up for their court dates.
For example, if Cathy Computer-Crimes is granted a personal recognizance bond of $10,000 and he skips town, missing his next court date, Mrs. Computer Crimes will owe the court a total of $10,000 for her failure to appear.
Cash or Surety Bond:
A cash or surety bond requires that the defendant either provide cash, or some type of surety (property) which is equal in value to the bail amount ordered by the court. The defendant can either provide the court with the surety themselves, or hire a bail bondsman to do it for them in return for a fee (usually 10% of the total.)
So if the court grants Harry Home-Invasion a bail of $10,000 but he doesn’t have that much in cash available, he might offer to pay $2,000 in cash and put up his 2010 pickup truck as surety. In the event that Mr. Home-Invasion skips town, the court has the right to seize his car.
There is also a variation of the cash bond where a defendant pays a percentage of the bond instead of the entire amount. In certain situations where the judge allows a person to only pay a portion, that amount is usually 10% of the total bail amount.
Either way, being arrested is a very scary process, and we understand that you want to be out of jail and back with your family as soon as possible. So if you or a loved one have been arrested, call The Kronzek Firm immediately at 866 766 5245. We can help with every aspect of your defense, including arguing on your behalf for a reasonable bail amount, and providing you with an aggressive defense against the charges.


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Unit 2.4: Market Failure and the Role of Government
Chapter 28 - Government and Market Failure: In this chapter you will learn:
Click on a chapter to visit its wiki page:
- How public goods are distinguished from private goods.
- The method for determining the optimal quantity of a public good.
- The basics of cost-benefit analysis.
- About externalities (spillover costs and benefits) and the methods to remedy them.
- How information failures can justify government interventions in some markets.
Chapter 29 - The Economics of Taxation: In this chapter you will learn:
- The different tax philosophies and ways to distribute a nation's tax burden.
- The principles relating to tax shifting, tax incidence, and efficiency losses from taxes.
Econ in the News - Unit 2.4 "Market Failure"
Latest page update: made by welkerjason
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|firstname.lastname@example.org||RE: Role of government||0||Jun 7 2011, 6:38 PM EDT by email@example.com|
Thread started: Jun 7 2011, 6:38 PM EDT Watch
I do agree that with the role of government, there will be some inefficiency in the economy.however in my opinion, the greatest problem existing now is the abusive of monopoly power. Externalities may be able to be solved by individuals alone. But there must be someone to keep those monopolies in control.
I think there must be at least a degree of government intervention in the market to protect the society's welfare.
|welkerjason||Role of government (page: 1 2 3 4)||60||Dec 15 2008, 10:37 AM EST by mkaga|
Thread started: Jan 13 2008, 12:55 AM EST Watch
My question for you guys is this: Just how much of a role should the government play in a modern market economy? Many politicians and economists argue that the government should play a smaller and smaller role as our market economy becomes more developed. Eventually, all goods and services can and should ultimately be provided by the free market. Education, health care, transportation, even parks and open spaces... if individuals get utility from consuming these things, they should have to pay for them in the market.
And when it comes to correcting negative externalities, let the market take care of that too. If someone is being harmed by a spillover from someone elses economic transaction, they should be able to settle on their own, the government should play no role in solving conflicts of interest in a free market.
So, what do you think? Should the future be a place of more or less government in the economic lives of the people in free countries? Discuss.
1 out of 4 found this valuable. Do you?
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The Pont Notre-Dame is a bridge that crosses the Seine in Paris, France linking the quai de Gesvres on the Rive Droite with the quai de la Corse on the Île de la Cité. The bridge is noted for being the "most ancient" in Paris, in the sense that, while the oldest bridge in Paris that is in its original state is undoubtedly the Pont Neuf, a bridge in some form has existed at the site of the Pont Notre-Dame since antiquity; nonetheless, it has been destroyed and reconstructed numerous times, a fact referred to in the Latin inscription on it to honor its Italian architect, Fra Giovanni Giocondo. (See below.) The bridge once was lined with approximately sixty houses, the weight of which caused a collapse in 1499. HistoryIt was on this spot that the first bridge of Paris, called the Grand-Pont, crossed the Seine from antiquity. In 886, during the siege of Paris and the Norman attacks, this structure was destroyed and replaced by a plank bridge, named the Pont des Planches de Milbray (Milbray plank bridge). This bridge was destroyed by the floods of 1406. On May 31, 1412, Charles VI of France ordered the construction of the first version of the bridge to be named "Notre-Dame". This structure was composed of solid wood and connected the Île de la Cité to the rue Saint-Martin. The bridge took seven years to build and had sixty houses atop it, thirty on each side. The houses were noted by Robert Gauguin as being "remarkable for their height, and the uniformity of construction" and was called the "handsomest in France."King Charles' wooden bridge collapsed on October 25, 1499 near 9 a.m., likely due to structural instabilities caused by the lack of repairs. Stone foundations were laid for a new bridge that same year, while a ferry filled the transportation void. This time, the bridge was built with stone, as an arch bridge under the direction of Italian architect, scholar and Franciscan Friar, Fra Giovanni Giocondo, who had also overseen the building of the Petit Pont. The construction was completed in 1507, still overhung with sixty stone and brick buildings all built to one tall gabled design, and would become a spot of frequent commerce and trading: here was located the tiny boutique of the marchand-mercier Edme-François Gersaint, whose shop-sign was painted by Antoine Watteau. The houses upon the bridge were the first to be given numbers. In 1660 the bridge was refurbished to honour the arrival in Paris of the daughter of the king Philip IV of Spain, Maria Theresa of Spain who became queen of France by marrying Louis XIV.Between 1746 and 1788 the houses along the bridge were demolished for sanitary purposes and because of the danger the structures caused to the bridge's stability. In 1853, a new stone structure was completed atop the existing stone foundation, although this reincarnation was only composed of five arches. The new bridge was subsequently the cause of not less than thirty-five water traffic accidents between 1891 and 1910 and was given the unofficial name the pont du Diable (Devil's Bridge). Thus, in order to facilitate the passage of boats and the flow of the Seine, a decision was made to rebuild the bridge, this time in metal. The new work was directed by Jean Résal, who had also worked on the Pont Mirabeau and Pont Alexandre III; it was inaugurated in 1919 by Raymond Poincaré, President of the French Republic. The structure has remained the same since.
Source : Wikipédia – Reproduction of extracts of original text.
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.


CodeIgniter was originally released in 2006, and is often noted for its speed when compared to other PHP frameworks. Unlike Symfony, CodeIgniter is ideal for shared hosting accounts or for when you want a framework with a small footprint.
Why We Love CodeIgniter
In addition to featuring an extensive library of video tutorials, great compatibility with standard hosting and databases (including MySQL), a low need for configuration, forums, a user guide, and a wiki available for support, CodeIgniter is also relatively easy to learn. Developers at all skill levels love working with it.
CodeIgniter is built on the Model-View-Controller (MVC) software architecture. Though it sounds complicated, MVC is simply a way to build a user interface by splitting a software application into three interconnected parts:
- Model: This controls the behavior, data, logic, and rules of the software application.
- View: This is any type of output of information for the user. It is what the user actually sees.
- Controller: This is what captures input from the user. This input is then converted into commands for the Model or View.
The interaction between the Model, View, and Controller of an application is what makes the software application function. Though it may look complex, MVC architecture is actually quite simple.
When the user gives input to an app, the app’s Controller takes that user input and sends commands to update the Model’s state. For example, when a user edits a document, the user is providing input to the word processing app. The app’s Controller then uses that input to update the Model’s state, which could be as simple as changing a comma to a period in the document. The Controller also sends a command to the app’s View to change its state based on the new information in the Model (that the comma was changed to a period). So now, the user sees a period on their screen instead of a comma.
Why Does MVC Matter?
By using MVC software architecture, developers are essentially able to separate the core functions of an app, allowing developers to modify the separate segments of the application code while leaving other parts unaffected. In the end, this allows developers to work faster, more efficiently, and with fewer complications.
Though originally developed for desktop computing, MVC architecture is now widely adopted as an architecture for web-based applications in many of the most popular programming languages. Many open-sourced and commercial web frameworks also continue to enforce the MVC pattern, though they may vary in their interpretations of where most of the processing work takes place (ex: on the server vs. the user’s computer or device). Programming languages and frameworks typically employ either server-side or client-side methodology, depending on the application and the need.
Our Experience with CodeIgniter
At White Sunrise, we love working with CodeIgniter, and we’ve used it to create some pretty cool software and web apps. A few examples include:
- Online boat reservation software
- Online real estate applications
- Online web payment portals
- Online inventory management tools
- Online sports league management software
- Custom eCommerce platforms
- Custom sales tracking software
The flexibility, scalability, and popularity of CodeIgntier has made it one of our favorite frameworks, and it has allowed us to make some great web-based applications that we are really proud of.CodeIgniter


Russia To Bring Space Shuttle Back From The Grave
Baikonur - June 30, 2001
Russia plans to reassert itself as a major power in space by resurrecting the Buran space shuttle, a relic of the Soviet era. It will pay for the development programme in part by taking more space tourists like Dennis Tito up to the space station.
Buran was mothballed in the early 1990s by the cash-strapped Russian government. But with the satellite launching business expanding and the International Space Station running behind schedule, Russian space officials think Buran's time has come.
Last week Energia, the state company which built Buran, opened its hangars at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan to show Western aerospace engineers that Buran is ready and waiting for relaunch.
"There is a future for this programme," says Leonid Gurushkin, director of launch operations at Baikonur.
"Buran is the only launcher with a 100-tonne payload," he says. "By extending the length we can carry 200 tonnes. There is no alternative to Buran and I don't see any coming."
The largest load possible in a Western launcher is little more than 20 tonnes. So far, the giant craft has made only one flight, in 1988. Flying without a crew, it orbited the Earth twice, before landing on a purpose-built strip at Baikonur.
Energia built two Buran shuttles and three main boosters to carry them. While the Soviet Union was crumbling around them, Energia's engineers continued to get funding because the military saw Buran as vital to any missile defence system similar to America's Star Wars. Buran's only imported component was heat-resistant paint.
The Buran project would have employed 30,000 people, and there were plans for up to 30 launches a year. The new Russian government finally cut off funding in 1992.
Now the buildings where Buran was designed and built are being renovated to accommodate Western engineers who come to Baikonur for commercial satellite launches by Russian Proton rockets.
The 4.5-kilometre landing strip that was built for Buran was recently refurbished by an American company to land Russian Antonov cargo aircraft, the only planes large enough to carry big satellites.
Like all Russian space vehicles, and the nuclear-armed missiles on which they were based, Buran is assembled horizontally and moved by rail to the launch pad, where it is raised to vertical. The process takes only a few days.
All the necessary machinery is still in place at Baikonur, and the hangars are stacked with spare rocket motor parts and fuel tanks.
"The launcher is powered by hydrogen, oxygen and kerosene," says Gurushkin. "The strap-on boosters are reuseable. They drop back to the airstrip. In fact only the core unit is lost."
Energia thinks there is now a role for Buran because the International Space Station is creating the need to carry ever larger loads into low orbit. "We have been dreaming of this time," says Gurushkin.
Russia's other state space company, Khrunichev, is a rival to Energia, but its director Alexander Kondratiev says he welcomes any opportunity for Russian space engineers to compete with the West on an equal footing. "Until 1990 we couldn't tell anyone what we were doing. But now we can show the world our worth."
Ironically, the money for Buran's revival will be coming from the West. In the past 17 months, Russian Protons have launched 17 commercial satellites, earning Russia more than $100 million per launch.
And despite NASA's opposition, Gurushkin says Russian flights to the space station will soon carry more space tourists. "We already have many applications. We are currently considering them all and will take whoever pays most," he says.
This article will appear in the June 30, 2001 issue of New Scientist.Related Links
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The Future Of Russia's Manned Space Program
Moscow (Interfax) April 8, 2001
After the Mir space station was brought down into the Pacific Ocean on March 23 the International Space Station will become Russia's priority piloted space program. Russia must meet its obligations and occupy a worthy place in the International Space Station program.


!! LONG ANSWER !!
Here's how you'd go about solving this problem.
Your reaction will initially form liquid water at
- Heating the water from
- Convert the water from liquid at
#100^@"C"#to vapor at #100^@"C"#- this represents a phase change.
- Heat the water vapor from
#100^@"C"#to whatever the final temperature will be.
So, start with the balanced chemical equation for the formation of liquid water
You know that the standard enthalpy of formation for water is
SIDE NOTE The standard enthalpy of formation is defined at 25 degrees Celsius, but since your temperature is very close to that, I'll assume it to be equal to the value measured at standard conditions.
However, your reaction doesn't produce 1 mole, it actually produces 6 moles of water. Because hydrogen gas and water have a
So, 6 moles of hydrogen gas react
Since you have 6 moles of water, you'll have
So, to heat water from
To go from liquid at
From this point on, you'll use the heat given off by the formation reaction to heat the vapor from
The remaining amount of enery will be
Now solve for the final temperature of the water vapor
Rounded to two sig figs, the number of sig figs given for 6.0 and 3.0 moles, the answer will be


Even as adults, we sometimes struggle to stand up to peer pressure, so there’s no wonder that parents worry about their children falling in with the wrong crowd. With that said, it’s absolutely crucial that parents teach their children the various skills involved in resisting certain influences, such as confidence and independent thinking. Here’s some advice from a senior school in Bath.
First of all, if you want your child to resist peer pressure, you’ll need to teach them what it actually is. Perhaps you could share some of your own experiences of peer pressure, to make it more relatable for them. Talk to them about the differences between peer pressure and peer influence. The latter can actually be quite beneficial, like if their friends are all volunteering to help a charity, inspiring them to do something positive. The former, however, is what can be dangerous; when someone tries to convince your child to do something that makes them uncomfortable.
It’s also important to help your child understand that it’s okay to disagree with people and say no. Remind them that it’s normal to have a difference in opinion with people from time to time and being different is what makes them special. You could practise ways to disagree in a friendly manner or come up with compromises. For instance, if someone is pressuring your child to do something they don’t want to do, they could say “I’m not sure if X is safe, maybe we could do Y instead?”.
Find opportunities to talk to your child about their moral values and the difference between right and wrong. You will need to model these values if you want your child to respect and follow them too. For instance, if you value honesty, don’t say things like “Don’t tell your mum/dad I let you stay up late”, as this promote dishonesty. Once your child has established a clear set of principles, they will find it easier to know when they being pressured to do something unfavourable.


According to the 2000 Census, Floyd County, Kentucky has a population of 42,441 people. Of those, 41,478 (98%) are White, 546 (1%) are Black, and 260 (619%) are Latino. However, 665 (or 2% of the 42,441 people) are not residents by choice but are people in prison.
Even though prisoners cannot participate in the local community, the Census Bureau nevertheless counts them as residents of the county where they are incarcerated.
A more accurate description would not include the prisoners. This would give Floyd County a population of 41,776 with a demographic that is 98% White, 1% Black, and 1% Latino.
The numbers for Whites, Blacks and Latinos may not add up to the total number because we have not included racial groups other than Whites and Blacks and because the Census Bureau considers "Latino" to be an ethnicity, not a race. Most of the people reported as being Latino are also counted as being White or Black.


Valentine's Day is tomorrow, so we had our Valentine's celebration this afternoon. In the meantime, we had class! Don't let your child fool you.... we had class!!!
To begin, we created a Google Drawing page. I assigned a problem (3/4 x 5), and asked the students to show the answer to the problem using models. While this was to assess understanding, it was also the platform needed to introduce the tools in Google Drawing. By the end of the allotted time, most students had a drawing that looked like this:
Then we learned how to turn in a Google Drawing using Classroom. We also revisited Discovery Education to get the link to their "board" that they built yesterday. We pasted the link into our homework assignment in Classroom and submitted both projects at once! There are a still a few glitches that I need to learn to make the process smoother, but overall it was a great learning experience.
Then, it was on to Valentine Math! I do so love when kids love math! We explored the following problem:
Would You Rather....
This was assigned to the kids using Classroom. Each student opened a Google Doc that had the prompt, a section for predicting, a section for data, and a section for their conclusion.
To begin, I asked each student to make a prediction as to which they would rather have and explain why they thought it was the best choice. I explained that there wasn't really a right or wrong, I just wanted them to explain their thinking.
Next, I handed each student a sheet of white paper and a "dollar" and asked them to trace the dollar twice on the paper. Then I traded the "dollar" for a "quarter". The students used the quarter to trace around the outside perimeter of the dollar. Once they knew how many quarters were needed, then they multiplied this by the dime. That was an eye opener.... they did not know how to write the notation for a dime (.10)....
Next, they traded their quarter for a box of candy hearts and they placed the candy hearts around the dollar, problem solving when there were not enough, and determined the number of hearts that would fit. My favorite was the student who STOOD the hearts UP so that he could fit more around the perimeter! One they had their number, this time they had to multiply by a nickel. EYE OPENER... they kept writing a nickel as .5!
Once they had determined both amounts, they wrote about their data on their Doc, wrote their conclusion, and turned the assignment in. But we weren't done...
I gave them a sheet of paper with 6 hearts on it, and the following chart:
I had them write a term from one of their candies in the first heart and determine its value. Feeling nice, I allowed them to use a calculator! They were looking to see if any of the sayings equaled 100. Once they knew a heart was not the right value they could eat it! Oh, happy day!
Overall, the kids really enjoyed the math!


Like people, ants have long fought with each other and with other species over food and territory. But ants have been going at it for a lot longer than us—at least 99 million years.
“That’s a trait of ants,” says Phillip Barden, a fossil insect expert who works in the lab of Jessica Ware, assistant professor of biological sciences at Rutgers University. “Many ant species do that all the time. They’re always warring with either other individuals of the same species from different colonies or with different species.”
Fighting ants trapped in ancient Burmese amber from Myanmar suggest the ant wars began in the Cretaceous period, when dinosaurs still thrived.
“These early ants belong to lineages distinct from modern ants,” Barden says. “That is, they aren’t necessarily the direct ancestors of modern ants. They’re kind of their own branch doing their own thing.”
A new study, published in the journal Current Biology, provides strong evidence that ancient ants—like modern ones—were social, Barden says.
“We have one piece of amber with as many as 21 worker ants trapped, and that’s significant because at this time period, ants are very rare to find in fossils. They make up less than 1 percent of all insects in amber. So to find 20 in one piece is highly suggestive of social behavior.”
Today, scientists have described 13,000 species of living ants and some researchers believe at least twice as many exist. Some may be related to ones that lived 99 million years ago.
Ants’ social behavior may be one reason why they’ve done so well over the years, Barden says. Instead of competing as one individual, they compete, in some cases, as tens of thousands, if not millions, and most aren’t reproducing. Instead, most work for a colony—a beneficial trait.
Some of these ancient ants also had a weapon modern ones don’t: mammoth, tusk-like jaws that were probably used to impale prey. Despite the social behavior and the fearsome jaws, the “hell ants” are extinct and no one knows why.
“It seems like they probably went extinct sometime in the 10 million years or so before or after dinosaurs went out,” Barden says. “It could have been climate. We also think it’s possible that the modern lineages actually out-competed these early ants.”
Source: Rutgers University


The AWS wave energy converter is a cylinder shaped buoy, moored to the seabed. Passing waves move an air-filled upper casing against a lower fixed cylinder, with up and down movement converted into electricity.
The concept has been proven at full-scale in 2004 via a pilot plant that was installed off the coast of Portugal. Engineering for a pre-commercial demonstrator is now ongoing.
The converters are at least 18 feet underwater, can survive violent storms, and produce more power in less space than other wave generation methods. Unlike solar or wind, wave power is steady and reliable, the waves are always there. In the coming world, we’ll generate power any number of ways, and wave power sure looks promising.


The rainbowfishes are a family of small, colourful, freshwater fish that are found in northern and eastern Australia and New Guinea and some other nearby islands.
In Oktedi rainbowfish , body colouration is coppery brown above a prominent mid-lateral line and pale mauve to white below. Body slender and laterally compressed but depth increasing with age. Two dorsal fins, very close together, the first much smaller than the second. May reach a maximum size of 12 cm, but usually less than 10 cm.
Spawning occurs from October to December, with females producing between 100 and 200 eggs. Eggs adhere to water plants and hatching occurs around 9 to 12 days at temperatures between 24 to 28° Celsius. Essentially a carnivore, their natural diet consists of terrestrial insects, small aquatic crustaceans, and insect larvae. Aquatic algae, plant pollens, and small pulpy seeds are also ingested.


Definitions for furiousˈfyʊər i əs
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word furious
ferocious, fierce, furious, savage(adj)
marked by extreme and violent energy
"a ferocious beating"; "fierce fighting"; "a furious battle"
angered, enraged, furious, infuriated, maddened(adj)
marked by extreme anger
"the enraged bull attached"; "furious about the accident"; "a furious scowl"; "infuriated onlookers charged the police who were beating the boy"; "could not control the maddened crowd"
angry, furious, raging, tempestuous, wild(adj)
(of the elements) as if showing violent anger
"angry clouds on the horizon"; "furious winds"; "the raging sea"
Transported with passion or fury; raging; violent; as, a furious animal.
Rushing with impetuosity; moving with violence; as, a furious stream; a furious wind or storm.
transported with passion or fury; raging; violent; as, a furious animal
rushing with impetuosity; moving with violence; as, a furious stream; a furious wind or storm
Furious is the only album by the supergroup Soopa Villainz released in 2005. The album peaked at #9 on the Billboard "Top Independent Albums" chart, #42 on the "Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums" chart and #92 on the Billboard 200.
British National Corpus
Rank popularity for the word 'furious' in Adjectives Frequency: #845
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
He was really furious.
Furious activity is no substitute for understanding.
There was a furious scramble to find somebody in the motorcade.
Nevadans are furious about the decision and we will continue to fight it.
I installed a skylight in my apartment. The people who live above me are furious!
Translations for furious
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- furiósCatalan, Valencian
- ξέφρενος, μανιασμένοςGreek
- kolerega, furiozaEsperanto
- fiadhaichScottish Gaelic
- tomboló, őrjöngőHungarian
- ad indignandum facilisLatin
- rasende, med voldsom kraft, olmNorwegian
- яростный, разъярённыйRussian
Get even more translations for furious »
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Medical use of x-rays for diagnosis and treatment has proven to be immensely beneficial to the society at large. However, unsafe use of x-ray radiation has health risks associated with it and hence it is required that proper care is exercised throughout the life cycle of the equipment i.e. from manufacture, supply, installation, use, maintenance, servicing and ultimately decommissioning.
The Atomic Energy (Radiation Protection) Rules, 2004 [AE(RP)R-2004], promulgated under the Atomic Energy Act, 1962, provides the legal framework for the safe handling of radiation generating equipment. As per Rule 3 of AE(RP)R-2004 it is mandatory for all the manufacturers/Suppliers/Users to obtain requisite Licence from AERB for carrying out any of above activities.
To facilitate online submission of applications for various regulatory consents, AERB has launched e-governance application e-LORA (e-Licensing of Radiation Applications) System. All the Manufacturers/Suppliers/Service Agencies and X-ray institutions are required to obtain all the requisite consents from AERB through e-LORA. Detailed guidelines for all the stakeholders are available on homepage of eLORA
AERB has taken serious note of unauthorized manufacture, supply and usage of medical diagnostic x-ray equipment without possessing statutory Licence from AERB and issued a ‘WARNING’ that facilities of the said stakeholders found operating in such contravention hereafter shall be sealed without further notice.
Public at large is also requested to visit only AERB licenced facilities in the interest of their own safety. All radiation facilities are required to display the copy of AERB Licence at the conspicuous place at their facility.
Considering the large number of wide spread x-ray facilities, AERB has initiated steps for formation of Directorate of Radiation Safety (DRS) under Health and Family Welfare Department of every state, to carry out regulatory inspections of x-ray facilities (of the state) and support the utilities in obtaining licence/registration from AERB. First such DRS was formed in Kerala in 1999, as on today the DRS are established and functioning in states of Kerala, Mizoram, Chhattisgarh, Tripura and Punjab.
Besides for decentralization of regulatory activities for effective implementation of regulations in the country, AERB has established its Regional Regulatory Centers (RRC) at Chennai , Kolkata and Delhi respectively for southern, Eastern and northern regional regulatory center.
Dr. A.U. Sonawane,


The Dogs of War: The U.S. Army’s Use of Canines in WWII
Written by Seth Paltzer
Throughout history, dogs have accompanied man at work and play. Even in the midst of men’s wars, dogs have been found serving in functions ranging from mascots to weapons of war. Therefore, it was not without precedence that in 1942, following the attack on Pearl Harbor and the entrance of the United States into World War II, a small group of civilian dog enthusiasts approached the Army about creating a program that would utilize the special traits and skills of “man’s best friend” in order to further the war effort.
When the Japanese attacked on 7 December 1941, the U.S. Army possessed only a small number of sled dogs for use in arctic regions. Drawing on the lessons of the past, a group of civilians came together in the belief that dogs could serve the Army in a variety of other functions. These dog fanciers formed a coalition called Dogs for Defense, Inc. (DFD). This organization encouraged dog owners across the country to donate their dogs for training as sentry dogs that would be used to patrol borders, beaches, and industrial facilities in order to prevent sabotage. With the endorsement of the American Kennel Club, DFD quickly began procuring dogs for experiments in training the animals for guard duty under the nominal oversight of the Plant Protection Branch of the Office of the Quartermaster General. In short order, some 100 dogs were procured by DFD and an ad hoc training program was initiated.
At first, the volunteer organization was responsible not only for procuring the dogs, but also for their housing and training. However, it soon became apparent that the varying levels of experience among the volunteer civilian trainers and the inconsistent courses of training in different locations led to dogs that were often incapable of performing the duties expected of them. At the same time, the military began to show interest in a variety of different roles for dogs, both on the home front and in combat theaters. As a result, on 16 July 1942, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson issued a directive that assigned responsibility for procuring and training dogs to the Remount Branch of the Quartermaster Corps (QMC) and expanded their mandate to include the training of dogs for both sentry duty and possible tactical missions as well.
At the outset of the program, DFD and the Remount Branch accepted many different breeds of dogs as long as the dogs were healthy and showed the proper disposition. It was soon discovered, however, that certain breeds were superior to others in performing the types of duties the Army desired, and by 1944, the list of acceptable breeds had shrunk to just seven: German shepherd, Doberman pinscher, Belgian sheepdog, collie, Siberian husky, malamute, and Eskimo dog. These dogs all proved to be hearty in various conditions, eager to work, and capable of the tasks assigned them by the Army.
After narrowing the field of acceptable breeds and consolidating control of the program under the Remount Branch, the stage was set for an expansion and formalization of dog training in the Army. The expertise necessary was put down on paper by one of the organizers of DFD, Mrs. Alene Stern Erlanger, who wrote TM-10-396-WAR DOGS, the Army’s first formal training manual on the subject of dogs in warfare. In addition, by the end of 1942, the QMC opened four dog training facilities at Front Royal, Virginia; Fort Robinson, Nebraska; Camp Rimini, Montana; and San Carlos, California. At these facilities, the Army began an ambitious program to train dogs for duties on the front lines and at home.
The training of the dogs was certainly important in a successful war dog program, but just as important was the training of each animal’s human handler. It was quickly learned that the dogs worked best if they were trained with their handler and assigned to duty as a pair. This allowed for continuity and the formation of a bond between handler and dog, which would be important once they were in the field. Handlers were taught to care for their dogs’ diet, exercise, ongoing training, and housing. Only handlers were allowed to feed their own dogs, and petting and playing were also limited so that dogs soon considered all but their handler to be a threat. This made the dogs extremely effective at detecting and alerting to unauthorized presences. This sort of training did not always stick with the dog, however, and some became detrained by too much interaction with people on beaches or in other public places.
The first of the Army’s canine members were trained for sentry duty. This was deemed the most pressing need since German and Japanese submarine activity off both coasts raised concerns about the potential landing of saboteurs who might be able to gain access to military facilities and important war industries. In response to this threat, dogs were trained to alert their handlers to any strangers in their vicinity, and on command, to attack those intruders. One of the most vital missions performed by these early sentry dogs was the patrol of America’s coastlines. For this task, the QMC-trained dogs were assigned to Coast Guard handlers who used the dogs’ keen senses to patrol the beaches and other areas along the coast. Within a year, more than 1,800 dog teams patrolled the coastlines. By the end of the war, the QMC would assign 3,174 dogs to the Coast Guard.
As the tide of the war changed and the threat of submarine-landed saboteurs diminished, emphasis shifted in the training program from sentry dogs for domestic industry to tactical scout and messenger dogs. It was at this time that one of the most bizarre programs in Army history was conceived, a plan to train canines to recognize and kill Japanese soldiers without a handler or other human guidance.
The idea for these killer dogs came from an unlikely source. William A. Prestre, a Swiss expatriate living in Santa Fe, New Mexico, approached the government with a bold plan to train dogs for the task. The Army was intrigued by the idea which, if successful, might help keep soldiers out of direct contact with the enemy. Prestre was given control of a contingent of dogs and handlers. In order to mimic conditions in the Pacific theater, the Army leased a small island off the coast of Mississippi. Ironically, this small strip of land in the Gulf of Mexico was known as Cat Island.
The entire Cat Island program was predicated on the assumption that Japanese soldiers, whether from diet or racial characteristics, had a distinct odor which dogs could be trained to recognize and attack. Unsurprisingly, the program soon ran into difficulties. First, Prestre had to find Japanese “bait” to train his dogs. It was quickly determined that using prisoners of war was unacceptable. Instead, twenty-five Japanese-American servicemen from Company B, 100th Infantry Battalion (Separate), stationed at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin, were “volunteered” for the assignment. Among those selected was Ray Nosaka, a second-generation Japanese-American (often referred to as Nisei) from Hawaii.
On 3 November 1942, Nosaka and his comrades boarded a plane in secret and headed south to a location unknown to them. They made a short stop in Memphis, Tennessee, in order to refuel, but security was so tight that the soldiers were not allowed to deplane, instead eating a hasty lunch of sandwiches delivered to the aircraft while still onboard. When they arrived in Gulfport, Mississippi, they once again were forced to wait. Only when darkness fell were they allowed to exit the plane, and then they were quickly ushered into boats for the trip out to Ship Island, which served as the living quarters for the men involved in the project. Each day, the men would climb into a boat and make the short trip to nearby Cat Island to conduct training.
Training the dogs was a slow and brutal process, both for men and dogs. Cat Island was swampy and humid, and while the dogs were being trained to track down the Nisei bait, the men had to simply wait and hide in these unpleasant conditions. Then things got worse. In order to instill an aggressive spirit in the dogs, Prestre insisted on such brutal methods as whipping and shocking the dogs. Nosaka and the others were also forced to abuse the dogs in order to make them more vicious. Then the dogs would be set loose upon the Nisei. For the most part, the men were protected by their padded gear, but a few bites got through, and most of the men ended up with scars from their service on Cat Island.
Despite these measures to maximize the aggressiveness of the dogs, they continued to perform poorly. Prestre’s plan to use packs of unguided dogs was further undermined when Master Sergeant John Pierce arrived at the project. Pierce, an army dog trainer, firmly believed that the dogs required human handlers, and he quickly proved his point by training a small contingent of dogs to alert their handlers to enemy presence, and to attack only on command. These dogs attacked with much more ferocity, and proved to be much more effective despite having only a few weeks of training, as opposed to the months Prestre had spent trying to train his dogs. The final straw came on 12 January 1943, when a demonstration was held for officers of the Army Ground Forces (AGF). It was plainly apparent to the officers that the program was not working. In short order, Prestre was released, and the project was abandoned.
Assault dog packs were not the only idea being considered, and the Army also conducted experiments in teaching dogs to detect mines. The Germans had begun to use several varieties of non-metallic landmines, which made detection by standard methods all but impossible. It was believed that dogs, designated M-dogs, might be able to detect the mines, and a training program was established. At the time, it was not yet understood how acute the canine sense of smell truly is, and, as a result, training practices were based on false assumptions and incomplete data. The dogs were trained to detect disruption of the ground by humans through a method of self-preservation. Dogs were exposed to partially buried live wires. When the dogs discovered a wire, they received an electric shock. They quickly learned to be wary of any human disturbances in the ground, as presumably, this would allow them to detect mines. In initial demonstrations, these dogs displayed an eighty percent success rate, and this was deemed sufficient.
This system was believed to be effective from the one demonstration carried out stateside in a controlled environment, and the 228th Engineer Mine Detection Company (Dog) was established in November 1943. On 5 May 1944, the men and dogs of the unit boarded a ship and embarked for Africa, arriving in Oran, Algeria, on 30 May. They then crossed the Mediterranean to Naples, Italy, and went to work. Unfortunately, the dogs did not perform as expected, and casualties, both of dogs and handlers, quickly mounted in the unit. Another controlled test was performed in Italy, and it was discovered that the dogs had a mine detection rate of only thirty percent. The unit did not perform any further mine clearing tasks, and by February 1945, the company had returned to the United States to be inactivated.
The M-dog project was innovative but ultimately doomed to failure. It was determined that the dogs could not distinguish between the deliberately turned earth of mine placement and the rubble and debris caused by shells and bombs. In addition, testing was conducted assuming the dogs would be working behind the front lines, but in actual use, they often had to endure combat conditions which further degraded their efficacy. It was only after the war that it was discovered that the canine’s sense of smell is so acute that they can be trained to pick out the chemical components of explosives. As a result, dogs are currently used to detect bombs and mines with great success.
At the same time that the M-dogs were falling out of favor, other tactical dogs began to prove their abilities on the battlefield. In the spring of 1943, a detachment of six scout dogs and two messenger dogs was sent to the Pacific in a test of their usefulness in combat situations. An observer was sent along, and after following the dogs around New Guinea from July to December of that year, he reported back that the animals had performed “consistently excellent.” The most important discovery in this report was that the scout dogs warned their handlers of the presence of Japanese forces at ranges up to 1,000 yards, allowing the Americans to avoid ambush and to gain the element of surprise. The messenger dogs fared just as well. They were observed delivering messages over rough terrain and in short amounts of time over distances of 600 to 1,000 yards. In addition, they presented a much smaller target than a human runner. This was the first true success of the Army’s canine programs in combat, and while some weaknesses were exposed, training in these fields was quickly modified and expanded with superb results.
Two major weaknesses were identified by the 1943 report. First, the stateside training of the dogs included acclimatization to gunfire, but the program failed to address a major component of frontline combat: artillery. The dogs had no experience with artillery fire, and once on the front, they quickly became skittish and ineffective when in the presence of an artillery bombardment. The other shortcoming was that, from time to time, the dogs would bark at night or when they sensed the enemy, effectively giving away their position and that of any accompanying troops. As a result, the Army adjusted its training regimen to address these issues, adding artillery fire to the course and stressing silence at all times.
By June 1944, the War Department had authorized the creation of fifteen Quartermaster war dog platoons. These units had their own Table of Organization and Equipment that included eighteen scout dogs, sixteen messenger dogs, twenty enlisted men, and one officer. All fifteen platoons were shipped overseas by the end of the year, seven to Europe and eight to the Pacific.
Once in theater, another obstacle revealed itself. While in the United States, both dogs and handlers were provided and trained by the QMC, so when they arrived at the front and were attached to infantry units, they often lacked the tactical expertise necessary to effectively carry out their duties. This brought on more changes, and by December 1944, the table of organization had changed once more, eliminating all messenger dogs. In addition, handlers were picked from AGF units so that they entered dog training already having the skills necessary for infantry operations.
Even before all these issues had been addressed, army dogs and their handlers got to work assisting soldiers on the battlefield. The first unit to go overseas was the 25th Quartermaster (QM) War Dog Platoon which left San Francisco on 11 May 1944 and arrived at Guadalcanal on 6 June. By the end of June, they had travelled to Bougainville and joined the 164th Infantry in mopping up the Japanese forces on the island. The dogs performed well, and reports indicated that the infantry troops appreciated the dogs and the service they performed. The second platoon to arrive, the 26th, accompanied soldiers of the 41st Infantry Division on New Guinea and the surrounding islands. It was shortly thereafter assigned to the 31st and 32d Infantry Divisions. On Morotai, in the Dutch East Indies, the 31st Division used the 26th QM War Dog Platoon to help conduct 250 patrols in the course of two-and-a-half months. In this period, not a single one of these patrols was ambushed, proving the invaluable nature of the scout dogs who could alert soldiers to the presence of the enemy at distances ranging from seventy to 200 yards away. Often, the advanced warning of the scout dog enabled GIs to reverse the odds and surprise Japanese defenders.
For the invasion of the Philippines, the 25th, 26th, 39th, 40th, 41st, and 43d QM War Dog Platoons were attached to various infantry units. By this time, the effectiveness of the dogs was well known, and there were not enough to go around for all the units that requested them for their patrols. The dogs were invaluable in the jungle warfare that characterized much of the combat the Pacific Theater. The thick jungle limited human effectiveness, reliant on eyesight and hearing, but the dogs could smell the presence of the enemy despite the obstacles.
Dogs were found to be much less effective in the open, fast-paced fighting in Europe, though they found use there as well. Artillery was more commonly used in Europe, and despite training, intense shelling still caused dogs to become skittish and lose effectiveness. Often Allied troops were making such rapid advances against the Germans, especially in the closing days of the war, that dogs were of little use, so they were relegated to sentry duties. Still, dogs did prove themselves useful in some situations.
In a report to the Quartermaster, Fifth Army, dated 25 December 1944, First Lieutenant Austin Risse told the story of the actions of Corporal Robert Bennett and his dog assigned to the 33d QM War Dog Platoon in Italy. According to the report, Bennett and his dog were leading a patrol in enemy territory to reconnoiter a small village. As they approached, the dog halted, nose pointed and hair bristling. When the patrol leader crept forward, he discovered a large group of German soldiers waiting in ambush less than 200 yards away. As a result of the dog’s action, the patrol withdrew without casualties and ordered in mortar fire on the enemy position, wiping it out.
Another dog in Europe also had the distinction of being the only canine to receive decorations for action. “Chips” was a German shepherd-husky-collie mix who, along with handler Private John Rowell, was attached to the 30th Infantry, 3d Infantry Division. On 10 July 1943, the division landed on Sicily, and Chips and Rowell went to work. As they approached a grass-covered hut, a machine gun opened fire. The hut was, in fact, a camouflaged bunker. Chips quickly escaped Rowell’s control and made a beeline for the bunker. Within seconds, the machine gun fell silent and an Italian soldier tumbled out with Chips chomping at his throat and arms. In short order, three others exited the bunker with arms raised. Chips was lightly wounded in the incident, suffering powder burns and several cuts.
On 24 October 1943, Headquarters, 3d Infantry Division, issued General Order No. 79, which included a citation for the award of the Silver Star to “Chips, 11-A, U.S. Army Dog.” A short time later, he was awarded the Purple Heart. Regulations technically prohibited such an award, and there was some controversy over whether awarding medals intended for humans to dogs was appropriate. In the end, the awards were rescinded, and future such awards banned. Chips went on to serve the Army for another two years and was discharged to his prewar owners on 10 December 1945.
Following the war, many dogs were returned to owners or given to their wartime handlers. This involved retraining so the dogs would be able to function safely in a peacetime civilian setting. Due to their classification as government property, any unclaimed dogs had to be sold as surplus, with the new owner footing the bill to return the shipping crate and food bowl to the Army. Still, this program allowed some civilians to purchase a well-trained and physically fit animal for a bargain price.
The Army took great care in retraining its dogs. The program included handling by multiple people to lessen the dogs’ aggressive tendencies. They were encouraged to play and rewarded for good social behavior. Eventually they would be exposed to an aggressive person and trained not to react aggressively. A few dogs were incapable of retraining or had untreatable diseases and were destroyed, but the vast majority were carefully processed by the QMC and eventually sent to civilian homes. In the end, more than 15,000 applications were received for the returning dogs, and each dog was given a certificate of faithful service and an honorable discharge certificate. Of all the dogs returned to civilian life, about 3,000 in total, only four were returned to the Army as unsuitable for civilian life.
Both dogs and handlers provided an invaluable contribution to the American war effort in World War II. Despite the almost constant peril and close combat experienced by scout dog platoons, handlers were ineligible for the Combat Infantryman Badge due to their assignment to the Quartermaster Corps. Though man and beast alike may not have received the credit they deserved during the war, they proved their worth and pioneered many new tactics. Their legacy can still be found in the military working dogs of the modern Army and the explosives-detecting dogs used by both the armed forces and government agencies.


Fall is an amazing time of the year. The brilliant colors of the leaves as they change and fall from the tree is fascinating as well as all the activities that this weather brings. This enjoyable Fall Printable Pack, aimed at children in preschool and kindergarten, will have children falling in love with this season. These fall activities for preschoolers and toddlers are a great way to do some seasonal learning all about Autumn.
Fall Theme Activities For Kids
Aimed at children ages three through eight, this massive Fall Printable Pack includes a variety of math and literacy activities as well as some exciting animal activities.
Please note that affiliate links are used in this post.
Here are some items that pair well with these activities. You will use each of these items over and over during all my printable preschool activity packs.
- Do a Dot Art Markers
- Card stock(to print everything out on.)
- A pocket chart(I have this one and this mini one too.)
- Write and wipe Dry Erase Pockets
- Laminator with pockets (If you want to make it reusable.)
- Clothespins (for the clip cards)
- Color Pencils, Crayons or Markers
- Lead Pencils
This Fall Printable pack contains over 80 pages and includes many activities.
In this printable pack, children enjoy learning about the animals that can be found during this fun season. There are also many other fall objects such as an acorn, pumpkin, colored leaves, a scarecrow and a pumpkin pie.
Children will love building the pumpkin, basket and scarecrow as art of the number puzzles as well as a dog and acorn as part of the word building puzzles.
They can enjoy creating their own bingo set before sitting down and having fun enjoying their hard work.
Don’t forget to check out all of our preschool printables and activity packs.
DOWNLOAD THIS FREE ACTIVITY PACK HERE


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Topology optimization and its seductive biomorphic shapes are what many think of when they hear the word “optimization” in engineering design. But topology optimization is just one kind of structural optimization—and that, in turn, is only one of five broad classes of optimization technology available to engineers today. Equally if not more valuable, depending on the nature of the design problem, are parameter optimization, multidisciplinary optimization (MDO), multi-objective or Pareto optimization, and robustness-and-reliability optimization.
The power of all these numerical methods is their ability to rationally and rapidly search through design alternatives for the best possible design(s). Parameters in a design that can be varied to search for a “best” design are called design variables. Given these variables, design can be structured as a process of finding the minimum or maximum of some attribute, which is termed the objective function. For a design to be acceptable, it must also satisfy certain requirements, or design constraints. Optimization is the process of automatically changing the design variables to identify the minimum or maximum of the objective function while satisfying the design constraints.
Here’s how these methods work, and what kinds of problems they help engineers solve:
Structural optimization is optimization of a structure’s shape, size, topology, topometry or topography to satisfy operating limits imposed on the response of the structure, and by further limits on the values that the structural parameters can assume. Structural optimization methods apply optimization algorithms to solve structural problems by means of finite element analysis.
Shape optimization means optimizing structural shapes by adjusting the surface shape of a 2D or 3D solid to minimize volume while satisfying stress and displacement constraints (generically termed a cost functional).
Size optimization consists of modifying size-related properties of structural elements, such as shell thickness, beam cross-sectional properties, spring stiffness and mass, to solve the optimization problem.
Topology optimization denotes optimizing material layout within a given physical design volume, for a given set of loads and boundary conditions, so that the resulting layout meets prescribed performance targets. This is often used to identify a conceptual design that best meets specified design requirements, which is then refined for performance and manufacturability. It frequently yields biomorphic-appearing shapes best suited to additive manufacturing methods, before being modified for production by conventional subtractive manufacturing.
Topometry optimization is similar to topology optimization but applied to 2D elements, with the variables restricted to the element-wise thicknesses.
Topography optimization, like topometry optimization, is applicable only to 2D or shell elements, and aims at finding the optimum bead pattern in a component.
Parameter optimization, in some respects a more generalized version of structural optimization, is a procedure for finding values for any parameter(s) in a design—not just structural parameters—that are optimal in some defined respect, such as minimization of a specified objective function over a defined data set.
Multidisciplinary optimization (MDO) incorporates all relevant disciplines—structural (linear or nonlinear, static or dynamic, bulk materials or composites), fluid, thermal, acoustic, NVH, multibody dynamics, or any combination—simultaneously in an optimization problem. By exploiting interactions among disciplines, MDO can identify design solutions that are superior to those arrived at by optimizing each discipline sequentially, with substantially less expenditure of engineering time and labor.
Multi-objective or Pareto optimization is a method for numerically addressing the fact that real-world optimization problems usually have more than one objective, and these objectives often conflict or compete with one another. For example, in optimizing a structural design, the desired design will be both lightweight and rigid. Because these two objectives conflict, a tradeoff must be made: there will be one design that is lightest, another design that is stiffest, and an infinite number of possible designs that are some compromise of weight and stiffness. The set of tradeoff designs that cannot be improved on according to one criterion without harming another criterion is called the Pareto set, and the curve plotting the Pareto set is called the Pareto frontier. Once the Pareto frontier has been identified, the action of comparing these various Pareto-optimal solutions with one another to choose the preferred solution is based on exogenous factors (outside the computer model), and is carried out by human decision-makers.
Robustness and reliability optimization are methods for managing the fact that product designs are nominal, while manufacturing and operating conditions are real world. Finite geometric tolerances, variations in material properties, uncertainty in loading conditions, and other variances encountered by a product either in production or in service can cause it to perform slightly differently from its nominal, as-designed values. Therefore, robustness and reliability as design objectives beyond the nominal design are often desirable. Performance of robust and reliable designs is less affected by these expected variations, and remains at or above specified acceptable levels in all conditions. To evaluate the robustness and reliability of a design during simulation, its variables and system inputs are made stochastic by being defined in terms of both mean value and a statistical distribution function. The resulting system performance characteristics are then measured in terms of a mean value and its variance.


Author: Shernide Delva
Have you ever wondered what jobs have the highest suicide rates?
It’s been estimated that the average person will spend 90,000 hours at work over their lifetime. Where you work plays a role on your mental health. Therefore, if you detest your job, it’s going to impact your mental health negatively.
Here are some CRAZY fast facts about work:
- Marriages in which one partner spends 10+ hours more than average at work divorce at twice the average rate
- 25% of employees say work is their main source of stress
- 40% say their job is “very or extremely stressful”
- More than 13 million working days are lost every year because of stress-related illnesses.
- The average American spends over 100 hours commuting
- Japan has a word for “working to death” called Karoshi. In Japan, 10,000 workers per year drop dead at their desks as a result of working excessively.
- A report from 2010 noted that half of Americans canceled their vacation plans to work.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there are far more suicides seen in certain professions than others.
Can you guess which jobs have the highest rate of suicide?
Believe it or not, the occupation with the highest suicide rates are farmers, lumberjacks, and fisherman. These workers commit suicide at the highest rate, according to the broad federal study.
This CDC report is conceivably the largest U.S study to compare suicide rates among occupations. However, the results are not comprehensive. The study covers 17 states, looking at about 12,300 of the more than 40,000 suicide deaths reported throughout the nation in 2012.
One of the authors of the study, Wendy McIntosh, points to the main takeaway from the study:
“Knowing suicide rates by occupation provides employers and other prevention professionals with an opportunity to focus on suicide prevention programs and messages.”
Overall, studies like this can help guide employers to develop better strategies to improve mental health in the workforce and lower rates of suicide. These plans include providing assistance and workplace programs in place to help managers, and another staff recognizes warning signs.
Because of the limited data, they could only calculate suicide rates for broad occupation categories, not for specific jobs. Therefore, the occupational categories are grouped together, sometimes awkwardly like for the category “athletes and artists.”
Regardless, there are some beneficial insights from this study that can help future employees and employers. For example, jobs that have increase isolation and stress result in higher stress levels and higher suicide rates.
“Occupational groups with higher suicide rates might be at risk for a number of reasons, including job-related isolation and demands, stressful work environments, and work-home imbalance, as well as socioeconomic inequities, including lower income, lower education level, and lack of access to health services,” the CDC said in the report. “Previous research suggests that farmers’ chronic exposure to pesticides might affect the neurologic system and contribute to depressive symptoms.”
Wondering what other jobs have the highest rate of suicide? Let’s take a look.
These 10 occupations have the highest rate of suicide, according to the CDC:
- Farmworkers, fishermen, lumberjacks, others in forestry or agriculture (85 suicides per 100,000)
- Carpenters, miners, electricians, construction trades (53)
- Mechanics and those who do installation, maintenance, repair (48)
- Factory and production workers (35)
- Architects, engineers (32)
- Police, firefighters, corrections workers, others in protective services (31)
- Artists, designers, entertainers, athletes, media (24)
- Computer programmers, mathematicians, statisticians (23)
- Transportation workers (22)
- Corporate executives and managers, advertising and public relations (20)
Is your job on the list? If not, your job might have been in the top 15 or top 25. Some jobs that were close runner-ups were lawyers, doctors, scientists, and accountants.
We spend a HUGE amount of our time at work. Suicide is not anything to take lightly. Therefore, it is important to make our mental health our priority along with our career. If you feel overwhelmed at work, please remember to make yourself a priority. If you are struggling with mental illness or addiction, please call now.


After nearly 18 months of development, the labor of educational love known as “Uncle Percy’s Adventures in Space” is ready for launch!
See below for official press release:
Flagstaff, Ariz. — The wonders of the solar system are now on display for young kids in the new animated series “Uncle Percy’s Adventures in Space!” Geared to kids aged 4 to 8, the 11-part series is produced by Lowell Observatory, where each episode begins.
Created to further Lowell’s educational outreach mission, the series takes kids to the eight major planets, the Sun, the Moon, and, of course, Pluto! In each episode, an animated version of Percival Lowell and a robotic assistant named Miss Kitty travel from the Observatory’s campus to study these solar-system objects in a spaceship version of Mr. Lowell’s car, a functioning 1911 Stevens-Duryea nicknamed “Big Red”.
Each episode includes an accompanying workbook produced in cooperation with Northern Arizona University’s College of Education. The series and workbooks were developed to fit state and federal science teaching standards.
“Uncle Percy’s Adventures in Space” is a unique educational tool meant to introduce appropriate scientific concepts to young kids through the engaging lens of astronomy. Major funding for the project comes from Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona, the Robert Martin Ayers Sciences Fund, and the David and Stacy Lerner Foundation (in memory of David Lerner).
Today, we launch Uncle Percy’s Adventures in Space! Would you like to join us?
Visit http://www.lowell.edu/unclepercy.php for episodes and workbooks.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Chuck Wendt, Lowell Observatory, (928) 233-3201, cwendt[at]lowell[dot]edu
About Lowell Observatory
Lowell Observatory is a private, non-profit research institution founded in 1894 by Percival Lowell. The Observatory has been the site of many important findings including the discovery of the large recessional velocities (redshift) of galaxies by Vesto Slipher in 1912-1914 (a result that led ultimately to the realization the universe is expanding), and the discovery of Pluto by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930. Today, Lowell’s 22 astronomers use ground-based telescopes around the world, telescopes in space, and NASA planetary spacecraft to conduct research in diverse areas of astronomy and planetary science. The Observatory welcomes about 80,000 visitors each year to its Mars Hill campus in Flagstaff, Arizona for a variety of tours, telescope viewing, and special programs. Lowell Observatory currently has four research telescopes at its Anderson Mesa dark sky site east of Flagstaff, and is testing and commissioning a 4-meter class research telescope, the Discovery Channel Telescope. For more information, visit lowell.edu