During my last year of veterinary school, I recall how scary it was when a new canine virus—parvovirus—seemed to appear out of nowhere. Highly contagious, it spread like wildfire throughout the United States, causing severe illness and often death. It was a downright frightening time for veterinarians and the clients they served. Fortunately, an effective vaccine was rapidly developed, and this horrible new virus was downgraded from a rampant deadly infection to a preventable disease. Thank goodness for vaccines! They provide a remarkable means of preventive health care for dogs.
As invaluable as vaccinations are for protecting canine health, determining which vaccines are appropriate and how frequently they should be administered are no longer simple decisions. In my book, vaccinations are no different than any other medical procedure. They should not be administered without individualized discussion and consideration of the potential risks and benefits. Gone are the days of behaving like a “Stepford wife” when it comes to your dog’s vaccinations — it’s no longer necessarily in his best interest to vaccinate simply because a reminder postcard has arrived in the mailbox.
Consider the following:
• There are currently 14 canine vaccinations to choose from! Back in the days when I was just a pup there were only five, and decision-making regarding vaccine selection for an individual dog was far less complicated.
• Over the past decade we’ve learned that, for some vaccines, the duration of protection is far longer than previously recognized. In the past we vaccinated for the core diseases (distemper, parvovirus, and rabies) annually. We now know that these vaccinations, when given to adult dogs, provide protection for a minimum of three years and, in some cases protection is life-long.
• The duration and degree of immune protection triggered by a vaccine is variable, not only based on manufacturer, but from dog to dog as well.
• Other than for rabies (state mandated), vaccination protocols are anything but standardized. There are no set rules veterinarians must follow when determining which vaccines to give and how often they are administered. Unfortunately, some vets continue to vaccinate for distemper and parvovirus annually even though we know that these adult vaccines provide protection for a minimum of three years. Some vets give multiple inoculations at once, others administer just one at a time.
• Increasingly clear-cut documentation shows that vaccines have the potential to cause many side effects. While vaccine reactions/complications are still considered to be infrequent, they can be life threatening.
What you can do:
So, as your dog’s savvy and courageous medical advocate, what can you do to be sure that he is neither under or overvaccinated? Here are some guidelines for making wise vaccine choices for your best buddy:
1. Educate yourself about available canine vaccinations and the diseases they are capable of preventing (in some cases treating the disease, should it arise, might be preferable to the risks and expense associated with vaccination). Learn about duration of vaccine protection and potential side effects. Talk with a trusted veterinarian and read the chapter called “The Vaccination Conundrum” in Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life. It provides detailed discussion about all aspects of canine vaccinations including the diseases they prevent, adverse vaccination reactions, and vaccine serology (blood testing that helps determine if your dog is truly in need of another vaccine). The American Animal Hospital Association’s “Canine Vaccine Guidelines” is also an excellent source of information.
2. Figure out which diseases your dog has potential exposure to. A miniature poodle who rarely leaves his Manhattan penthouse likely has no exposure to Lyme disease (spread by ticks); however a Lab that goes camping and duck hunting may have significant exposure.
3. Alert your veterinarian to any symptoms or medical issues your dog is experiencing. It is almost always best to avoid vaccinating a sick dog — better to let his immune system concentrate on getting rid of a current illness rather than creating a vaccine “distraction.” If your dog has a history of autoimmune (immune-mediated) disease, it may be advisable to alter his vaccine protocol or even forego ongoing vaccinations — be sure to discuss this with your vet.
4. Let your vet know if your dog has had vaccine side effects in the past. If the reaction was quite serious, she may recommend that you forego future vaccinations, necessitating an official letter to your local government agency excusing your pup from rabies• related requirements.
5. Consider vaccine serology for your dog. This involves testing a blood sample from your dog to determine if adequate vaccine protection still exists (remember, vaccine protection for the core diseases lasts a minimum of three years). While such testing isn’t perfect, in general if the blood test indicates active and adequate protection, there is no need to vaccinate. Serology may make more sense than simply vaccinating at set intervals.
6. Ask your veterinarian about the potential side effects of proposed vaccinations, what you should be watching for, and whether or not there are any restrictions for your dog in the days immediately following vaccination.
I will tell you right up front that I am not a fan of vaccine clinics – a “factory line” approach to vaccinating dogs. Their only redeeming quality seems to be their low cost that makes it possible for some dogs to be vaccinated that otherwise wouldn’t be. Know that, if you choose to use a vaccination clinic you may be sacrificing quality of care for your dog in the following ways:
• You may not receive adequate counseling about which vaccinations are appropriate for your dog based on his age and lifestyle.
• Serologic testing will not be an option.
• A thorough physical examination will not be performed prior to vaccination administration. Abnormalities such as a fever, irregular heart rhythm, or abdominal mass will go unnoticed. Not only might the vaccination do more harm than good in a dog that is sick, but a golden window of opportunity for early disease detection and treatment will be missed.
• Records pertaining to prior adverse vaccination reactions may not be available.
• The vaccination clinic veterinarian may not be available to tend to your dog should he experience an adverse reaction, especially one that occurs hours to days later.
Have you had difficulty figuring out which vaccines your dog really needs and how often they should be administered? If so, please share your story with me.
Now, here’s wishing you and your four-legged best friend abundant good health!
Nancy Kay, DVM
Diplomate, American College of Veterinary Internal Medicine
Recipient, American Animal Hospital Association 2009 Animal Welfare and Humane Ethics Award
Recipient, 2009 Dog Writers Association of America Award for Best Blog
Recipient, 2009 Eukanuba Canine Health Award
Author of Speaking for Spot: Be the Advocate Your Dog Needs to Live a Happy, Healthy, Longer Life
Become a Fan of Speaking for Spot on Facebook
Please visit http://www.speakingforspot.com to read excerpts from Speaking for Spot. There you will also find “Advocacy Aids”- helpful health forms you can download and use for your own dog, and a collection of published articles on advocating for your pet’s health. Speaking for Spot is available at Amazon.com, local bookstores, or your favorite online book seller.
Tags: American Animal Hospital Association, American Animal Hospital Association Vaccine guidelines, autoimmune diseaase, immune mediated disease, Lyme disease, overvaccinated, preventive health care, rabies, serology, Speaking for Spot, Stepford wife, Ticks, titer testing, undervaccinated, undervaccinating, vaccination, vaccination clinic, vaccination clinics, vaccination reactions, vaccination side effects., vaccine clinic, vaccine clinics, vaccine reaction, vaccine serology, vaccine side effects, vaccine titer


"Motherless babies created from skin cells could be on the horizon after scientists discovered a method of creating offspring without the need for a female egg.
The landmark experiment on mice by the University of Bath in the UK rewrites 200 years of biology teaching and could pave the way for a baby to be born from the DNA of two men.
It was always thought that only a female egg could prompt the changes in a sperm required to make a baby, because an egg forms from a special kind of cell division in which just half the number of chromosomes are carried over.
Sperm cells form in the same way, so that when a sperm and egg meet they form a full genetic quota, with half of the DNA coming from the mother and half from the father.
Scientists have shown embryos could be created from cells that carry all their chromosomes, which means that, in theory, any cell in the human body could be fertilised by a sperm.
Three generations of mice have already been created using the technique and are fit and healthy, and now researchers are planning to test the theory using skin cells.
Tony Perry, a molecular embryologist, and senior author of the study said: "Some people say, 'start the day with an egg', but what this paper says is that you don't necessarily have to start development with one. It has been thought only an egg cell was capable of reprogramming sperm to allow embryonic development to take place.
"Our work challenges that dogma, held since early embryologists first observed mammalian eggs around 1827 and observed fertilisation 50 years later, that only an egg cell fertilised with a sperm cell can result in a live mammalian birth. Imagine that you could take skin cells and make embryos from them. This would have all kinds of utility."
The technique raises the possibility that gay men, for instance, could have a child whose DNA was half of each of the couple, although a woman would still need to act as a surrogate to carry the baby. A man could even fertilise his own cells to produce offspring containing a mixture of genes inherited from him and his parents.
More realistically, the technique could allow women whose fertility has been wiped out by cancer drugs or radiotherapy to have their own children. It may also help women to continue having children later in life. For the experiments, scientists "tricked" an egg into developing into an embryo using chemicals which make the egg think it has been fertilised.
Crucially the cells in an embryo copy themselves when they divide, and so mirror closely most other cells in the body, such as skin cells.
When scientists injected the embryos with sperm, they grew into mice which went on to produce their own litters. Although the researchers began with an egg cell, they do not believe it is required to start the same development. In theory, the technique should work with any cell in the body as long as half the chromosomes are removed first to allow them to fuse with the sperm's chromosomes."
Robin Lovell-Badge, of The Francis Crick Institute, said it was "a very interesting paper, and a technical tour de force".
- The Telegraph, London


The loss of hearing at an early age can be a traumatic experience for any child. Hearing loss at any age can be difficult to accept, but for younger children the effects may be even severe since it interferes not only with their daily life but also hampers their ability to learn.
Pediatric hearing loss can occur at any age in children and thankfully, some forms of hearing loss can be treated if detected early. Hearing loss ranges in severity from mild to severe. Mild forms of hearing loss include a child’s inability to distinguish noises made in hushed tones, especially the sound of someone whispering. Moderate hearing loss can occur when a child is able to hear speech in a loud volume, while severe hearing loss results in complete lack of hearing.
There are two main types of hearing loss, the most widespread of which is conductive hearing loss which occurs in blockage of sound transmission from the outer or middle ear. Causes for conductive hearing loss can be due to impacted cerumen (or earwax), perforated eardrums, birth defects, or otitis media. Most forms of conductive hearing loss can be treated through medications or surgery.
Another type of hearing loss is sensorineural hearing loss which occurs as a result of damage caused in the inner ear, primarily the cochlea and/or the auditory nerve. This type of hearing loss can be innate while other factors such as premature birth, certain ailments, and ototoxic medications can also result in sensorineural hearing loss. This type of hearing loss is usually untreatable through medical intervention, although cochlear implants or hearing devices can be used to alleviate the hearing loss.
Central hearing loss is another form of hearing loss that occurs in the auditory areas within the brain that results in impairment of speech processing or interpretation of auditory information. This type of hearing loss is known as central auditory processing disorder or auditory processing disorder.
The symptoms of hearing loss can be different at different ages. In newborn children they may show have no startled response to loud noises, may not be able to locate the source of sounds, or may show no regular attempts to develop their speech.
Toddlers and older children may indicate delays in their language development, difficulties in following academic activities and instructions, requiring verbal repetitions for tasks, report difficulty in hearing or listen to television at a louder volume than acceptable.
If you suspect that your child may have some form of hearing loss, ensure that you get their hearing checked in a timely manner so that their hearing impairment can be adequately addressed.
Schedule Your Appointment Today
Our educated, experienced staff is dedicated to providing you with the highest quality of hearing care in a personalized, caring environment.


A coffee pot is also known as a carafe. It is a flask or container which is used to serve coffee or drinks. Moreover, the pots in a coffee machine are also known as a carafe or a coffee pot. This is used for all types of brewed coffee. It helps to serve a cup of coffee in a much efficient manner.
Uses Of A Coffee Pot
A coffee pot is not only used to brew coffee. It is also used to:
- Boil spinach or other green leafy veggies
- Make oatmeals
- Helps to melt chocolate for a perfect chocolate fondue
- It also helps to steam vegetables.
- Boil eggs
- It is useful for mixing herbs.
Coffee pots were first introduced in France during the early seventeenth century. Making coffee used to be pretty easy. Moreover, the roasted coffee was put in a pan and hot water was poured into it. People used these coffee pots primarily to brew coffee. The 18th century saw the designing of coffee pots as this was the year when consumption of coffee increased immensely. Initially, coffee was boiled until it smelled perfect for drinking. Further, with the rising popularity, both coffee and coffee pots saw major changes. Brazil is the best source of coffee in the world as it exports the maximum amount of coffee. It nearly exports 40% of the total coffee production in the world.
The year 1672 saw the emergence of silver coffee pots when it was used in the St. German’s fair in Paris. Following this, Americans as well as Englishmen started crafting mesmerizing silver coffee pots. The years 1740s saw the rising popularity of pear-shaped coffee pots. These pots were basically designed too complement the Turkish coffee which had a real thicker consistency.
Cost Of Different Coffee Pots And Machines
Different designs of coffee pots are available at different prices. The price of a coffee pot can vary from 25$ to 90$. Coffee machines have become popular over time. Price of a good coffee machine differs according to various factors like brewing quality, preference, and the brand all determine the cost.
Espresso machines vary from 55$ to 5000$. All those who love brewing expresso can easily get a wide range of brands available with different price ranges. Filter machines range from 125 $ to 699$ approximately. Prices of capsule models pots vary from 110$ to 470$. The combination of espresso and filter coffee machine can range from 120$ to 200$ and more. Prices differ from one brand to another.
A pot of coffee can be refreshing after a long and tiring day. Moreover, various designs of the coffee pot are also available in the market to enhance the coffee-sipping experience. Coffee is the best beverage, which one can have at any time during the day. But make sure to not to consume it after sunset or one may have a sleepless night. Nowadays coffee pots are available in glass only. Many attach it to the coffee machine itself to give a much easier coffee brewing experience.


Web-based video games mark their growth in popularity with an expanding player base, in terms of both size and diversity. Game-makers today rely heavily on data captured from player interactions to analyze and improve the game's experience. This trend gives rise to the idea of games serving as a virtual laboratory, allowing scientists to observe large human populations and understand social phenomena in ways never previously available. This talk details a two-year internal research effort at Sandia National Labs partnering with a game development company to explore data from a browser-based massively multiplayer online game (MMOG) and how to use it to validate, or improve, theories on social issues developed through traditional means.
Jon Whetzel is a Senior Member of Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories and Adjunct Professor of the Interdisciplinary Film & Digital Media program at the University of New Mexico. His work in serious games and interactive simulations have been deployed to the US Navy, US Air Force, Department of Homeland Security, and Department of Energy. He also leads Sandia’s Serious Gaming Consortium, an interest group between the Sandia, academia, and members of the game development industry.


Mackerel, a general name for fish of the Acanthopterygian family Scombridae, which includes many valuable food-fishes. The species are abundant in all tropical and temperate seas. The elongated, generally spindle-shaped body is naked or covered with small scales; two dorsal fins and, usually, finlets are present. They are extremely active, and wander in large shoals, approaching the coast periodically, probably in pursuit of the smaller fishes on which they feed. The type-genus Scomber, with seven species, has nearly the range of the family, but is absent from the eastern shores of South America. The body is covered with small scales, and there are finlets behind the dorsal and anal fins. S. scomber, the Common Mackerel, ranges over the north Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. It is a very valuable food fish, of an average length of about fifteen inches, shapely in form, and beautiful in coloration. The upper surface is greenish-blue, with vertical black bars; below the hue is silvery white. The British mackerel-fishery is an important industry. The first shoals appear early in the year, and about the end of May, when the fish are in the best condition, immense numbers are met off the Scilly Isles. The bulk of these come up Channel, but some go northwards into the Irish Sea. Nets are chiefly used in their capture, but very many are taken with lines baited with anything bright. They spawn at some distance from land, and the eggs float on the surface. S. colias, the Spanish Mackerel, sometimes taken on the Cornish coast, is spotted on the sides, and differs from the Common Mackerel in having a swim-bladder.


Fundamental combinatorial structures including hypergraphs, transversal sets, colorings, Sperner families, intersecting families, packings and coverings, perfect graphs, and Ramsey theory. Algebraic and topological methods, applications.
- Ramsey Theory - Ramsey's theorem (finite and infinite), Ramsey numbers, lower and upper bounds, graph Ramsey theory, Erd\"os-Szekeres' theorem, van der Waerden's theorem, Hales-Jewett's theorem
- Hypergraphs - Sperner families, the Littlewood-Offord problem, Kruskal-Katona's theorem, intersecting hypergraphs (Erd\"os-Ko-Rado's theorem), saturated hypergraphs
- Packing and Covering - The Chinese postman problem, Seymour's theorem and application to multicommodity flows, Lucchesi-Younger's theorem, introduction to polyhedral combinatorics
- Colorings - Rado's selection lemma (compactness principle), graphs with large girth and chromatic number, algebraic approach to coloring, choosability, edge-colorings, perfect graphs
- Topological Methods - The necklace problem, the chromatic number of Kneser graphs, Gyori's theorem
- Matroid Theory - Axiom systems of a matroid, examples, Rado's theorem, matroid intersection, regular matroids and totally unimodular matrices


Article 44 directs the state to secure for its citizens a Common Civil Code which is applicable throughout the territory of India.
Eventhough the state has not yet made any efforts to introduce a Uniform Civil Code in India, the Judiciary has recognised the necessity of uniformity in the application of civil laws. But, as it is only a Directive Principle, it cannot be enforced in a court of law.
The issue of applicability of a Uniform Civil Code has been Controversial right from the very beginning. Big opposition was faced in the Constituent Assembly for incorporating Article 44 in the Constitution, particularly from the Muslim Community.1
The contention of the opposition was that there cannot be a Uniform Civil Code for such a diverse population with different religious faiths, customs, festival, food and culture.
Shri K.M. Munshi said:
~ “if the personal law of inheritance, succession, etc. is considered as a part of religion, the equality of women can never be achieved.”
Dr. B.R. Ambedkar stated following arguments in favour of insertion of Article 44 in the Constitution:
- There is already a common criminal code in India for all irrespective of one’s religion.
- Even the Civil laws are uniform upto a great extent like applicability of Transfer of Property Act, 1882 and Negotiable Instrument Act, 1881 to all.
- He cited the example of the North-West Frontier Province which was not subject to Shariat Law prior to 1935.
- He also affirmed that it is just being inserted as a Directive to the State. Therefore, it is not enforceable and the state can make endeavours when considered appropriate.
Not much of progress has so far been made towards achieving the ideal of a Uniform Civil Code. The only Tangible step so far has been the Codification and Secularisation of Hindu laws. Codification of Muslim Personal Laws still remains a sensitive matter.
It is imperative that law be divorced from religion for any substantial development in this field.
- JUDICIAL BUILDOUT
The Judiciary, especially the Hon’ble Supreme court of India, has wasted a lot of ink while writing numerous judgements in which it has expressed the urge for the uniformity in civil laws in India. Some Landmark rulings are hereby mentioned below.
Mohd. Ahmed Khan v/s Shah Bano Begum
The Court, while upholding the right for maintenance to a Muslim Woman has expressed its regrets and said that Article 44 has remained to be a DEAD LETTER as there is no evidence of any official activity for framing of a Common civil Code.
The Court emphasized: “A common civil code will help the cause of National Integration by removing disparate loyalties to laws which have conflicting ideologies.”
It also has said, “A beginning has to be made if the Constitution is to have any meaning.”
Sarla Mudgal v/s Union of India
The Supreme Court directed the Prime Minister to take a ‘Fresh Look’ at the Article 44 of the Constitution which enjoins the state to secure a uniform civil code which, according to the court is imperative for both, protection of the oppressed and promotion of national unity and integrity. The Division Bench [Kuldeep Singh and R.M. Sahai, JJ] in their separate but congruent judgements observed the following:
- Since 1950, a number of governments have come and gone but they had failed to make any efforts towards implementing the constitutional mandate under article 44 of the constitution.
3 A.I.R. 1985 S.C. 945
4 1995 3 SCC 635
- There is no necessary connection between religion and personal law in a civilised society.
- Marriage, Succession and like matters are of a secular nature and therefore, they can be regulated by law.
John Vallamattom v/s Union of India
In this judgement, the then C.J.I., V.N. Khare had observed:
“…It is a matter of regret that Article 44 of the Constitution has not been given effect to. Parliament is still to step in for framing a common civil code in the country. A common civil code will the cause of national integration by removing the contradictions based on ideologies….”
Seema v/s Ashwani Kumar
The Supreme Court recommended that the Registration of Marriages shall be compulsory for all and it would be an effort in order to bridge the gap towards Uniformity in Civil Laws.
Jose Paulo Coutinho v/s Maria Luiza Valentina Pereira
In a very recent judgement delivered on September 13, 2019, Justice Gupta said, “It is interesting to note that whereas the founders of the Constitution in Article 44 in Part IV dealing with the DPSD had hoped and expected that the state shall endeavour to secure for the citizens a Uniform Civil Code throughout the territories of India
Goa is a shining example:
The bench stated, “Goa is a shining example for an Indian state which has a uniform civil code applicable to all, regardless of religion except while protecting certain limited rights. Muslim men whose marriages are registered in Goa cannot practice polygamy. Further, even for followers of Islam, there is no provision for Verbal Divorce.
- Law Commission of India’s view: Formulation of a UCC is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage.
In its consultation paper on ‘Reform of Family Law’, the Law commission had highlighted the importance of recognition of difference that exists in the Indian Society and opined that formulation of a Uniform Civil Code is neither necessary not desirable at this stage.
While diversity of Indian Culture can and should be celebrated, specific groups, or weaker sections of the society must not be dis-privileged in the process. Resolution of this conflict does not mean abolition of difference. This Commission has therefore dealt with laws that are discriminatory rather than providing a uniform civil code which is neither necessary nor desirable at this stage. Most countries are now moving towards recognition of difference, and the mere existence of difference does not imply discrimination, but is indicative of a robust democracy.
The uniform civil code will in the long run ensure equality. Also, UCC will help to promote Gender Equality. Not only this, it will lead to national integration and draw minorities into the mainstream. Also, it will encourage communal harmony.
To understand the spirit of UCC, education, awareness and sensitization programmes must be taken place and the Uniform Civil Code should act in the best interest of all religions and sexes.
About the author
Shivam Srivastava is a 4th-year law student at IIMT & School of Law. He has been a perceptive writer and a keen learner. He has actively taken participation and has represented its institute in numerous National Events. Also he has won many Quizzes, Parliamentary Debates, and Moot Courts.
Shivam sees that world to be a place where everyone is seen with one eye and not as a place where survival of the fittest prevails.


The Golden Apples is a collection of seven short stories, interrelated and held together by their characters, a common setting in Morgana, Mississippi, and their common theme of the wanderer’s search for happiness. The stories, which were initially published separately, cover about forty years in the lives of the inhabitants of Morgana and outline the complete drama of their lives. The list of a dramatis personae on the first page of the book indicates that readers are to consider the work as a unified whole. The book is in some ways Eudora Welty’s attempt to create a regional world such as William Faulkner’s, but her focus is on comfortable members of the upper middle class and such everyday activities as piano recitals, camping trips for the young girls, gossip between neighbors, and funerals. This world is examined from all sides and points of view. Thus the first story, “Shower of Gold,” is narrated by the gossipy Mrs. Rainey, whose matter-of-factness contrasts with the mystery of what she reveals about King MacLain and his influence on the community. “June Recital” is described through the eyes of Loch Morrison, the young boy who sees everything wrong yet peculiarly right, and Cassie, his older sister, who sees correctly but does not share the insights or life force of her brother. “The Whole World Knows,” told through the eyes of Randall MacLain, is a somewhat blurred vision that reveals a certain truth in reenacting what has been observed. Whatever the point of view, Welty gets beneath the veneer of middle-class comfort to the hidden springs and mysteries of her characters.
Beyond the common setting in MacLain County, the stories are held together by William Butler Yeats’s poem, “The Song of the Wandering Aengus,” from which the title of the collection is taken. This poem breaks into Cassie’s mind as she tells her narrative, and in a very real way it provides the key to the meaning of the entire work. The poem is about a search for golden apples that represent beauty, poetry, and ultimate meaning. The search is marked by the pursuit of a vision in which a silver trout becomes a “glimmering girl” before the eyes of Aengus. Welty’s people are also wanderers in search of meaning to transform the commonness of their lives and make the name of the town, Morgana, as magical as the name from which it is derived, Morgan le Fay. Their search reveals the mysterious beauty beneath the surfaces of their lives, which Welty brings out as part of the process of transformation that is typical of most of her work.
The tone of the stories, on the other hand, is rather unlike Welty’s earlier fiction. There is not as much variety of mood here as in her early work but rather a pervasive feeling of solemnity and sadness. This is true even in such works as “Moon Lake,” in which a “silver trout,” this time a girl named Easter, is presumably drowned and brought back to shore but then resurrected by Loch Morrison. Here the trout does not become a “glimmering girl” but remains a choking twelve-year-old with mud and blood coming from her mouth. The mystery of life is here, but the beauty is somewhat harder to perceive. Welty accepts the symbols of Yeats but is unwilling to accept the direction in which the symbols point. Only the search is there, accompanied by the sadness of the knowledge that there will be no glimmering girl.
Despite a measure of solemnity and sadness, there is affirmation of human life and values in The Golden Apples. The journey from innocence to experience and meaning is painful, and often the wanderers’ knowledge is only of their predicament, not of its solution, but it is knowledge won from experience. This affirmation is tied to the region but becomes symbolic of the universality of the human condition, as is so often the case with southern writers. Welty’s manner of achieving this...
(The entire section is 1591 words.)


Samaritan Hospital, Detroit, Michigan (1929-1966)
Mrs. Bertha MacKenzie and Dr. Ossian Sweet
503 E. Palmer, Detroit, Michigan (35 beds)
Howard University-trained nurse Bertha McKenzie and Dr. Ossian Sweet opened Good
Samaritan as a general and maternity hospital, increasing the medical resources for
African American physicians and patients in Detroit. Because of the racial
discrimination at facilities such as Herman Keifer Hospital, Good Samaritan was converted
to a tuberculosis hospital in 1936.
In 1945, after medical discoveries such as antibiotics began to successfully
combat the tuberculosis problem in Detroit, as well as the shortage of nurses caused by
WWII, Good Samaritan changed course again and became a convalescent hospital caring for
chronically ill and post-operative patients. The institution closed its doors in
1966 because of economic pressures.
Detroit, Michigan (1931-1965)
Dr. Alfred E. Thomas, Sr.
544 E. Garfield, Detroit, Michigan (83 beds)
The problem of racial segregation in Detroit hospitals and a raging tuberculosis
epidemic led to the opening of the hospital in 1931. The facility was primarily used
as a tuberculosis treatment hospital as its founder, Dr. Alfred Thomas, Sr. and son, Dr.
Alfred Thomas, Jr., sought their own private solutions to the serious health problems
facing the African American community in Detroit.
Six years later, Bethesda was joined by its "sister" institution,
Edyth K. Thomas Memorial Hospital, which Dr. Thomas, Sr. opened for the care of the
acutely ill patient. The combined capacity for both institutions allowed them to
care for approximately 197 patients.
Detroit, Michigan (1934-1977)
Dr W. Harold Johnson
Dr. Frank Raiford, Jr.
Dr. Chester C. Ames
E. Congress and DuBois (1934)
681 E. Vernor - 140 beds (1942) Detroit, Michigan
Trinity Hospital may be best known for its post-graduate surgical training and
residency program for African American physicians, and as Detroit's first African American
hospital to operate a cancer detection center.
At the time, there
was a need, not only for the housing and treatment of the ill, but for the training and
guidance of the African American medical community.
Included among some of its pioneering procedures were deep x-ray therapy for
treating cancer and physiotherapy. Trinity Hospital sought to grow as a training
facility and as an institution of excellence until its merger with Southwest Detroit
Hospital in 1977.
Public Health Students of African Descent (PHSAD), UM School of Public Health,
12th Annual Minority Health Conference, Ann Arbor, Michigan, March 20-21, 1998
UM, 20 March 1998
Norman L. Foster, MD, presented a poster with Dr. Judith L.
Heidebrink, MD entitled Alzheimer's Disease is Particularly Under-reported in Women
Harold W. Neighbors, Ph.D., presented a poster exhibit with Marc A.
Musick and David R. Williams, Ph.D. entitled The African American Minister as a Source
of Help for Serious Personal Crisis: Bridge or Barrier to Mental Health Care.
The Kellogg Project Team also presented a poster exhibit
highlighting the project goals, purpose, and narrators that participated in the 1st phase
of the project.
Kellogg Project Web Site
Our web site includes excerpts from the taped oral history
interviews, digital images, other materials from the collections, oral history training
materials, a bibliography, and links to other resources.
A historic photo gallery of African American Health Care
Professionals and Black Proprietary Hospitals in Michigan is under development.
The web address is: www.med.umich.edu/haahc
Oral History Collections
The collections are located at:
Bentley Historical Library at the University of Michigan-Ann
Walter P. Reuther Library at Wayne State University
Burton Historical Collection at the Detroit Public Library
Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in
Center for Afro-American and African Studies at the University of
The Project Team is currently conducting the second cycle of interviews. We are
also planning for the National Conference and health care exhibit which will be held at
the Dr. Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History in Detroit on February 26,
The summer quarterly newsletter will feature 3 more of the seventeen Black-owned
and operated hospitals in the Detroit Metropolitan area during this century, along with
We welcome your comments and suggestions. Please feel free to mail them to:
George Myers, Project Coordinator
University of Michigan Medical School
300 North Ingalls Building, Room 3D019
Ann Arbor, Michigan 48105
Norman L. Foster, M.D., Professor, University of Michigan Medical School
Harold W. Neighbors, Ph.D., Professor, University of Michigan School of Public
Vence Bonham, J.D., College of Human Medicine; Michigan State University
Joel Howell, M.D., Ph.D., Professor, University of Michigan Medical School
Martin Pernick, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Richard Candida Smith, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Nicholas Steneck, Ph.D., Professor, History Dept., University of Michigan
Brian Williams, M.L.S., Associate Archivist, Bentley Historical Library, University of
Kellogg Project Team
Student Research Assistant
|Ms. Amy Hawkins, a research associate with this project, gave birth
to a beautiful 7lb. 8oz. baby boy, named Charles Vincent Patrick Hawkins on May 10, 1998.
Mother and son are doing well.


Rotate the device
The yellow submarine is back, and this time your mission is to find the correct geometric shapes on the bottom of the sea.
Level of education: Elementary School
Age: 05 to 07 years old
Geometric shapes and the elementary relationships of geometry are everywhere. They are of fundamental importance to the development of the child's notion of space, as it explores the nature in which he circulates even before starting the counting process. The teaching of geometry is related to the child's daily life through problem solving, games, arts, exploration and manipulation of objects, among other activities. We designed this game to allow children to expand their knowledge and become familiar with flat geometric shapes, identifying their differences and similarities, awakening the need to observe their surroundings.


What shall we as Christians think and do regarding the ongoing controversies between teachers and their employing school districts? I offer these principles and practices for your consideration.
Traditionally United Methodists favor strong public schools and the rights of people to bargain collectively. Specifically, we have adopted the following social principles and resolutions.
- We believe that every person has the right to education. We also believe that the responsibility for education of the young rests with the family, faith communities, and the government. In society, this function can best be fulfilled through public policies that ensure access for all persons to free public elementary and secondary schools and to post-secondary schools of their choice. Persons should not be precluded by financial barriers from access to church-related and other independent institutions of higher education. We affirm the right of public and independent colleges and universities to exist, and we endorse public policies that ensure access and choice and that do not create unconstitutional entanglements between church and state. We believe that colleges and universities are to ensure that academic freedom is protected for all members of the academic community and a learning environment is fostered that allows for a free exchange of ideas. We affirm the joining of reason and faith; therefore, we urge colleges and universities to guard the expression of religious life on campus.
- Once considered the property of their parents, children are now acknowledged to be full human beings in their own right, but beings to whom adults and society in general have special obligations. Thus, we support the development of school systems and innovative methods of education designed to assist every child toward complete fulfillment as an individual person of worth. All children have the right to quality education, including full sex education appropriate to their stage of development that utilizes the best educational techniques and insights. Christian parents and guardians and the Church have the responsibility to ensure that children receive sex education consistent with Christian morality, including faithfulness in marriage and abstinence in singleness. Moreover, children have the rights to food, shelter, clothing, health care, and emotional well-being as do adults, and these rights we affirm as theirs regardless of actions or inactions of their parents or guardians. In particular, children must be protected from economic, physical, emotional, and sexual exploitation and abuse.
- We support the right of all public and private employees and employers to organize for collective bargaining into unions and other groups of their own choosing. Further, we support the right of both parties to protection in so doing and their responsibility to bargain in good faith within the framework of the public interest. In order that the rights of all members of the society may be maintained and promoted, we support innovative bargaining procedures that include representatives of the public interest in negotiation and settlement of labor-management contracts, including some that may lead to forms of judicial resolution of issues. We reject the use of violence by either party during collective bargaining or any labor/management disagreement. We likewise reject the permanent replacement of a worker who engages in a lawful strike.
We have historically taught that public education is a great healer of divisions between groups of people. It is the primary way people learn about the world. It is the first source of critical thinking that leads to breakthroughs in both the sciences and the humanities. We support teaching because there is no industry with as great a consequence on the health and well-being of our planet than teaching.
Applying the Principles
Looking at these principles, where does the church stand in our local circumstances? Strong-arm tactics-such as taking teachers’ health-care coverage in order to ‘win’ an argument-are an egregious violation of fair bargaining. Mudslinging of public officials on either side also is outside of acceptable Christian practice. How we bargain is very important. Truth ultimately must prevail.
I look at it this way: given that our society shows value through money (salaries, wages and benefits), and given truth and knowledge are among the great goods, it seems like ample pay for teachers is a good thing. I would welcome the day when my local Division 1 university paid its Physics professors more than the football coach. Same goes for primary and secondary levels. Ultimately public education is a public trust: we all pay into it because we all benefit from it. Like a friend once said: your future heart doctor is sitting in high school Biology right now. Do we want her teacher worrying about how to make ends meet?
Finally, these matters will eventually get resolved. Teachers will return to work, and our kids will return to the classroom. Lawyers and mediators will go home. Everyone else at the bargaining table will have to figure out how to restore trust. Administrators who claim to support teachers will have to demonstrate it. Teachers will have to realize that administrating is complicated. I would hope that the Christians on both sides will lead the way in rebuilding that trust.
Actions out of Principles
What then are we to do? Yes, pray. For teachers, administrators, mediators, board members, kids, classified staff (all the non-teachers in a school), etc. Also, be a civil witness reminding people to seek truth and walk humbly. Organize our space for that time when parents need a place to go or send their kids. Picketing is fine, do it civilly. Supporting the board is okay, do it civilly. Denounce bullying tactics and ugliness. Encourage resolution. Embody fairness. See the other as human, not just an enemy. Think and act as ambassadors for the students. Stay involved. Get ready for the aftermath.
Finally, in as much as you talk abut this, make sure to listen. The feelings of disrespect are real. The feelings of vilification are real. Listening and not adding to people’s anxieties are very valuable skills to be employing.
That’s my take. What’s yours? What spiritual principles are you leaning on through all this? What do you want/need at the resolution of this controversy? I’d love to hear you.


The “I Can’t Draw” Fallacy.
If you are an adult, and someone asks if you can draw, you most likely would answer: “I can’t draw a stick figure or a straight line.” You have believed this since you were seven or eight. Ask a five-year old to draw anything, from the people that live in the moon to the Battle of Gettysburg, and the child will set about with crayons and enthusiasm.
The enthusiastic child doesn’t have extraordinary talent. What that child has is a lack of fear. The assignment sounds like fun, a challenge to their imagination. The same challenge, to your ears, sounds like an uncovering of everything you don’t know about the topic.
In fact, if you spent 10 days with the right teacher, you would “remember” how to draw. But you had that knowledge taken away from you at just the time you were most creative.
Get back that lost skill, and get rid of that fear. In January, I’m starting a class for visual journaling that will let you keep the journal you always wanted–with colorful drawings and symbols. You don’t have to know how to draw anything. You don’t need a single talented bone in your body. All you have to have is the desire to keep a visual journal an a sense of fun and wonder.
You’ll discover the world of ideaglyphs–symbols and designs of your own invention that will delight you and spark your creativity and imagination.
To read about the class, which will be held online and start on January 6, 2009, and continue on January 11 and 15, see the second column of my December 15 newsletter. There’s a link to send me an email if you have questions.
–Quinn McDonald is a writer and creativity coach. She runs workshops in visual journaling.


starch, Kiselov Yuri a white, granular, organic chemical that is produced by all green plants. Starch is a soft, white, tasteless powder that is insoluble in cold water, alcohol, or other solvents. The basic chemical formula of the starch molecule is (C6H10O5)n. Starch is a polysaccharide comprising glucose monomers joined in α 1,4 linkages. The simplest form of starch is the linear polymer amylose; amylopectin is the branched form.
Starch is manufactured in the green leaves of plants from excess glucose produced during photosynthesis and serves the plant as a reserve food supply. Starch is stored in chloroplasts in the form of granules and in such organs as the roots of the tapioca plant; the tuber of the potato; the stem pith of sago; and the seeds of corn, wheat, and rice. When required, starch is broken down, in the presence of certain enzymes and water, into its constituent monomer glucose units, which diffuse from the cell to nourish the plant tissues. In humans and other animals, starch is broken down into its constituent sugar molecules, which then supply energy to the tissues.
Most commercial starch is made from corn, although wheat, tapioca, and potato starch are also used. Commercial starch is obtained by crushing or grinding starch-containing tubers or seeds and then mixing the pulp with water; the resulting paste is freed of its remaining impurities and then dried. Aside from their basic nutritional uses, starches are used in brewing and as thickening agents in baked goods and confections. Starch is used in paper manufacturing to increase the strength of paper and is also used in the surface sizing of paper. Starch is used in the manufacture of corrugated paperboard, paper bags and boxes, and gummed paper and tape. Large quantities of starch are also used in the textile industry as warp sizing, which imparts strength to the thread during weaving.


Overall Health Support
L-Selenomethionine Background and Benefits
Selenomethionine is an amino acid that contains selenium. It exists in two forms known as enantiomers, including L-selenomethionine and D-selenomethionine. L-selenomethionine is biologically active in humans and many other life forms.
The primary value of L-selenomethionine in health supplements is to provide a bioavailable form of selenium, which is an essential human nutrient. L-selenomethionine may be easier to absorb than selenite, which is an inorganic form of selenium commonly used in health supplements. One clinical trial showed that L-selenomethionine has an absorption rate 19 percent higher than that of selenite.
Selenium plays an essential role in many biochemical reactions, especially as a cofactor for reducing antioxidant enzymes. L-selenomethionine oxides readily, allowing it to reduce the level of reactive oxygen compounds. These compounds include free radicals, which can cause cellular damage.
The best dietary sources of selenium include cereal grains, legumes and soybeans, with Brazil nuts typically having the highest level of selenium. However, the selenium content of plants generally depends more on the amount of selenium in the soil than the species of plant. Additional sources of selenium include fish, crustaceans, organ meats, mushrooms and eggs. The adult human body contains up to 20 milligrams (mg) of selenium, and the minimum daily requirement of selenium for adults is at least 55 micrograms (mcg) per day.
Uses of L-Selenomethionine
As a source of selenium, L-selenomethionine has many specific uses. The most common reasons for taking L-selenomethionine in a health supplement include support for the thyroid gland, heart, immune system and management of healthy cholesterol levels.
Some studies show that selenium may help to support thyroid function, which can contribute to a general feeling of well-being. The regimen in these studies consisted of 200 mcg of selenium per day.
Immune system support
Selenium may support white blood cell activity, which helps to fight off infections.
Healthy cholesterol level management
An intake of up to 200 mcg selenium per day can help to maintain a healthy cholesterol profile, according to one study. The subjects in this study had low selenium levels at the beginning of this study.
Heart health support
Selenium supplements may help to manage blood clotting, which is useful for maintaining heart health.
Signs You May Need L-Selenomethionine
The relatively high abundance of selenium in the soil and its low nutritional requirement means that a selenium deficiency is rare in humans. This is most likely in patients with severely compromised gastrointestinal function, which may occur after gastrointestinal bypass surgery or in very elderly patients. The most common signs that you may need L-selenomethionine include poor heart function and degeneration of cartilage. General fatigue and a weak immune system may also mean that you may benefit from L-selenomethionine.
Synonyms and Similar Forms of L-selenomethionine


Remember when the en vogue term 'manmade global warming' shifted to the use of the term 'manmade climate change'? Many skeptical pundits felt that this was an adjustment to blame all harsh weather--cold or warm--on man's use of fossil fuels. This story implies that Copen-faken's miserable failure (though heralded by Obamaniacs as a success) is KILLING THESE PERUVIAN PEOPLE.
Climate change campaigners and development NGOs say that the failure of Copenhagen has signed the death warrant for hundreds of thousands of the world's poorest and that a quarter of a million children will die before world leaders meet again to try to thrash out another deal at the United Nations next climate change conference in Mexico in December. Among them may be these children of the high mountains.
Enduring prolonged sub-zero temperatures is a matter of course for Peru's indigenous mountain people, many of whom live at more than 3,000m above sea level. Scores die every year from the cold, but in recent years the number of people succumbing to the freezing temperatures has triggered talk of a national crisis.


North America's gray wolf is the last and only indigenous wolf species on the continent, researchers have discovered, despite the long-held belief that there are three different kinds of wolves.
Even the US government currently recognises the red, eastern and gray wolf. But after researchers studied the genomes of the three types of wolves — along with coyotes —they found "no evidence for distinct eastern or red wolf species," study author and UCLA evolutionary biologist Robert Wayne told the Los Angeles Times.
Scientists found that the red wolf of the southeastern region of the US is about 25% gray wolf and 75% coyote, while the eastern wolf of central Ontario is about 75% gray wolf and 25% coyote.Scientists believe the two species began mixing hundreds of years ago in the American South and about a century ago in the Great Lakes area.
Previous studies have come up with different results, so the most recent findings could still face challenges. But the new research could be bad news for the animals. The Endangered Species Act doesn't currently recognise hybrids.
The red wolf was declared an endangered species in 1973 and 12 "pure" animals were used for captive breeding program and a population was eventually released into the wild.
Scientists are arguing that hybrids deserve protection, especially the red wolf, which is a hybrid of coyote and a type of southern gray wolf that is now extinct.
The hybrid red wolf's small size may mean it is better adapted than a pure gray wolf to life in the southeastern US. "Maybe we can't put a grey wolf in the American southeast," he said. "Maybe the top predator has to be a smaller wolf."
Other researchers believe hybrids merit protection. Roland Kays of the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh told New Scientist: "What we're finding with today's high-resolution genetic tools is that hybrids are everywhere," . "To say it's a hybrid, so it's not worth protecting, just doesn't work anymore."
The gray wolf is currently protected under the Endangered Species Act based on a traditional geographic range including the Great Lakes region and 29 eastern states. But that status is in jeopardy.
In 2014, the US Fish and Wildlife Service proposed removing the protections because it found the eastern wolf occupied that territory, which officials argued should invalidate the gray wolf listing.
But Wayne believes the animal should keep its endangered species status and be protected because the "reason for removing it is incorrect." The gray wolf does in fact live in the Great Lakes area and used to live in the 29 eastern states.
Once common throughout North America and among the world's most widespread mammals, the gray wolf is now extinct in much of the US, Mexico and Western Europe, and lives mostly in wilderness and remote areas. Gray wolves still live in the Great Lakes area — but not in the eastern states.
A decision on whether to delist the gray wolf could come this autumn (2016).


Yale Researchers Discover Potential Treatment for Rare Degenerative Disease
July 17, 2020
Rare Daily Staff
Researchers at Yale University have uncovered a mechanism driving the rare and progressive degenerative disease Wolfram Syndrome and also a potential treatment.
Their findings appear in the July 6 edition of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Wolfram Syndrome is characterized by the onset of diabetes in childhood, and, in teen years, psychiatric symptoms, loss of vision, deafness, and incontinence. It affects about one in 500,000 people worldwide. Most patients die in their 30s, and there are no treatments.
The new study confirmed that calcium inside the body’s cells play a key role, and proposed a potential treatment involving two existing drugs.
While most of the body’s calcium can be found in the bones and teeth, one percent is found in solution inside cells and bodily fluids and supports a variety of critical biological functions such as muscle contraction, nerve function, and insulin secretion. It is this latter form of calcium that her lab scrutinized in relation to Wolfram Syndrome.
“Calcium is a signaling molecule,” said Barbara Ehrlich, professor of pharmacology at Yale and head of the research team. “It will signal, for instance, when insulin should be secreted.”
Calcium-binding proteins, including neuronal calcium sensor-1 (NCS-1), a protein Ehrlich’s lab has studied for the past 20 years, regulate calcium signaling. When a research group from Europe proposed that NCS-1 was involved in Wolfram syndrome pathology, Ehrlich started investigating the disease.
The researchers confirmed that when the protein Wolframin is lost in cells in the pancreas calcium signaling gets out of kilter, resulting in reduced cell viability and lower insulin secretion, which, in turn, trigger the debilitating symptoms of the disease.
The researchers tested a number of compounds for their effectiveness in restoring calcium signaling and improving cell functions, and found two drugs that worked — ibudilast and a calpain inhibitor. Ibudilast has been approved for nearly 20 years to treat asthma in South Korea and Japan, and is currently being tested in a number of clinical trials in the United States, including for possible treatment of multiple sclerosis and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and, in a trial underway at Yale, for COVID-19.
Ehrlich’s team will begin a mouse study within the next six months to further confirm the effectiveness of the drugs in correcting calcium signaling and preventing the progression of Wolfram Syndrome. If the results of the animal study show promise, the researchers said, they could move quickly into human trials.
Although Wolfram syndrome is a rare disease caused by genetic mutations in a single gene, it is tied to a number of other diseases that could be viable targets for this treatment, including diabetes and bipolar disorder, the researchers said.
“Some people with bipolar disorder also have mutations in Wolframin,” Ehrlich said. “This might be one of the first genetically identified mood disorders — and we will definitely be exploring this more.”
The Yale research team collaborated with Fumihiko Urano at Washington University, a leading clinical expert on Wolfram syndrome who maintains an international registry and provided the models needed for the study.
Photo: Barbara Ehrlich, professor of pharmacology at Yale
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Jellyfish, fireflies, angler fish—we know they all glow. But how, exactly? It feels a little bit magical. But there's scientific reason, of course.
Animals uses one of two different mechanisms, bioluminescence and fluorescence, to light up, and this cute little animated video from the Vancouver Aquarium will help you forever remember the distinction.
As the video explains, the basic difference is that bioluminescence is a chemical reaction that creates light. Fluorescence requires light to be seen. So the firefly and angler fish are bioluminescent. Jellyfish and corals are fluorescent—they glow when light shines onto them.
Bioluminescence usually gets most of the glory, since it's a bit flashier. Here's a video that explains just a few of the uses and ways animals create light:
More from Smithsonian.com:


Computers, television and video games are major sources of entertainment for the present generation. Unfortunately, this often produces couch-potatoes. Adults and children alike are spending their free time indoors in front of the tv or computer screen. The generations before the creation of the internet believed an outdoor sport was not only recreational but also therapeutic. Outdoor sports can give the body needed physical strength, alleviate anxiety, improve one’s mood and encourage problem solving and leadership.
Just like all good things, outdoor sports come with their own set of problems too. They can result in injuries ranging from mild sprains/strains to severe disabling conditions. Some of the injuries resulting from outdoor sport activities are sprains, strains, tennis elbow, golfer’s elbow, torn ligaments like ACLs (Anterior Cruciate ligament of the knee), Ulnar Collateral Ligament of the arm, head injuries, severe concussions, backaches, fractured vertebrae of the spine, broken ribs or bones of the body and so on. Common outdoor sports that can lead to such injuries are soccer, basketball, cricket, football or rugby, skiing, running, among others.4
The treatments for these injuries will depend on the severity and the location of the injury. When the injuries are not severe they can be managed at home or by a general physician. In cases of severe injuries, one should consult an orthopedic surgeon to treat and manage such conditions optimally. With less severe injuries one can follow the PRICE therapy.
- P - Protection – A support or a splint can be used to protect the injured part from further injury. Immobilize the part.
- R - Rest – Rest helps in faster recovery of the injured part. Avoiding weight bearing in cases where the leg or the foot is injured.
- I - Ice – Apply ice packs immediately to the injured limb for 20-30 minutes every 2-3 hours for next 48 hours.
- C - Compression – Wrap the injured limb with an elastic bandage to limit the swelling. Tying the bandage too tight can cut off the circulation to the injured limb leading to more damage and delayed healing.
- E - Elevation – Elevate or prop up the injured limb so that it is at a level higher than the heart. This will reduce the bleeding if there is a wound.
Physiotherapy exercises and manipulations can also improve range of motion and strengthen the muscles.
In some cases, surgery might be needed to repair torn connective tissues or to realign bones with compound fractures. Many injuries can result in a lifelong handicap due to permanent damage to the nerves or bones. Due to advances in technology and new procedures most of the conditions which were once considered non-treatable can be treated and players can return to the game over a period of few months and put their best foot forward. To help get back in the game, contact Dr. Hayden now!
Penned by Dr. Rachita Narsaria, MD


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A Balletmaker's Handbook: Sources, Vocabulary, Styles
A teacher, lecturer and writer on the subject of ballet technique and dance history, Joan Lawson here provides an in-depth examination of the tasks and art of choreography. In A Balletmaker's Handbook, Lawson looks at sources of inspiration, balletic materials, choreographic vocabularies, and dance styles from the perspective of the beginning balletmaker. She employs numerous examples from a range of nineteenth and twentieth century ballets, some of the best known choreographed by Coralli and Perrot, Petipa and Ivanov, Nijinska, Balanchine, Ashton and MacMillan.
Artfully combining history, analysis, and reference, ABalletmaker's Handbook is a hands-on guide for dancers, choreographers, and teachers of ballet.
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For most of us, building applications to run in a cloud environment is a new ball of wax. But to exploit the flexibility...
of a cloud environment, you need to understand which application architectures are properly structured to operate in the cloud, the kinds of applications and data that run well in cloud environments, data backup needs and system workloads. There are three architectural choices for cloud environments:
- Traditional architecture;
- asynchronous application architecture (i.e., one focused on information processing, not end-user interaction); and
- Synchronous application architecture.
This article outlines these architectures and indicates when each is most appropriate based on system needs and cloud provider capabilities.
Cloud environments differ
As part of your system design, you need to research and design your application appropriately for the particular environment offered by your cloud provider.
Cloud environments are not all created equal: They offer different mechanisms to implement applications. Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2), for instance, delivers "empty" virtual machines into which any type of software may be installed and run; achieving scalability for individual applications is left up to the application creator.
By contrast, Google and Microsoft provide programming frameworks (Google Apps, a component-based framework, and Microsoft's Azure Services Platform, a .NET-based framework, respectively) that transparently scale, relieving the app creator of that burden; however, these frameworks limit a system designer's architectural options.
Your environment: The considerations
- Data and applications. The first step is to determine which applications and data sources used by the application will run in the cloud. These apps or data probably reside within the corporate data center, requiring that the cloud-based app be able to reach into the data center to access them. In these cases, the best option is for apps or data sources to be made available as services that can be called remotely. Despite service-oriented architecture fervor, though, many applications and data sources have not been front ended with service interfaces. And even with workarounds such as screen scaping, these approaches are inelegant, make a cloud-based application more complex and tend to be fragile.
Data backup. While Infrastructure as a Service (Iaas) offerings allow traditional SQL Server databases to run, you still need to perform data backups to ensure recoverability in case of crashes. Since the data and applications may reside in different places, the established backup mechanisms won't work. Amazon's Simple Storage Service (S3) can store system recovery data via the backup capabilities of the system database itself. For system recovery, the application itself can also be protected via snapshots into S3.
Because of its internal replication of S3 data, Amazon makes a recovery scenario less likely, but it's important not to rely on that capability blindly. Several startups have released products to back up system data. Amazon has also released Amazon Elastic Block Storage (EBS) that can "persist" system data without needing S3. You can install a database on EBS, which is then protected against system failure due to Amazon's redundant internal backup inside its data centers. EBS will not, however, create point-in-time backups, so you must do them manually or use a third-party product
Traditional apps in the cloud
These applications follow an enterprise architecture model and are designed to meet roughly stable demand rather than tolerate huge variations in system load. They don't require an architecture that can scale up or down, so an architecture scoped for a steady state works fine. A traditional architecture calls for one or more Web server systems interacting through a middle-tier software framework, ultimately interacting with a database.
The good news is that Infrastructure as a Service cloud providers; such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) as well as GoGrid and Rackspace accommodate this architecture. The bad news is that so-called Platform as a Service (PaaS) offerings, such as those from Microsoft, Google, and Salesforce.com, do not: These offering have pre-built frameworks within which your application must operate. So unless you design for one of these frameworks, your application won't run.
But one reason cloud computing draws such interest is that applications expected to have stable demand don't: In these cases, hardware and architecture designed with a certain load in mind often prove inadequate in the real world..
There are two kinds opplications that need the scalability of cloud environments: user-facing and, for lack of a better word, batch. Another way to define them is synchronous (i.e., a user interacts with the system and waits for an answer) and asynchronous (i.e., data is input, processed, and eventually concludes being worked up, with no one sitting around waiting for the results).
Synchronous cloud applications
For synchronous apps end-user interaction is the primary factor, such as with Web usage. With these kinds of applications, large numbers of users may hit the system in a short duration and potentially overwhelm the system's capacity or create poor performance. As a result of these usage issues, there are several system design implications.
- Provide enough Web servers to handle total traffic. The key here is to monitor each Web server's load and, when performance passes a given threshold, start another Web server system to share traffic. This can be done in both directions (i.e., more servers can be started as load increases, and unneeded servers stopped as load decreases). Load-balancing software spreads the traffic across all live Web servers so that capacity can be dynamically increased as needed. It's also easy to remove Web servers from a pool and shut them down. While many companies use load-balancing appliances within their data centers, cloud providers offer software-based load-balancing capabilities. If these capabilities are not sophisticated enough, you can add more load-balancing software in a cloud environment to distribute the load.
- Provide enough middleware to manage demand. Just as end-user demand can overwhelm a Web server layer, the middle layer gets overloaded. So this layer must be designed to scale as well and enable traffic to be transparently spread across middle tier servers. It's common for a load-balancing strategy to be used here as well, with dynamic registration and de-registration of middle-tier servers to enable end-user traffic to flow across the appropriate number of servers.
Provide a data tier that scales. The data layer often proves to be the Achilles' heel of scalable systems. In many designs, all these multisystem tiers funnel down to a single database.
There are several ways to avoid overwhelming a database. First, plan your data approach to minimize trips to the database. So get as much data as is needed for the entire session, which can prevent subsequent calls to the database.
Second, set up a caching mechanism between the database itself and the middle tier. The open source product memcached is often used to store frequently retrieved data; it is filled on the first call for a given piece of data, but subsequent calls pull the data from memcached's storage rather than calling all the way down to the database.
Third, consider more sophisticated database uses. You can use replication technology to run multiple copies of a database and keep databases consistent. Finally, you can minimize use of relational database technology and create a file-based data storage mechanism. This method is more complex in terms of data schema planning and requires application-level concurrency control, but it can provide better data performance characteristics.
But how do you do all this monitoring and management of instances? While every cloud provider offers a way to view individual system components and determine whether they're operational, providers' tools don't typically monitor load or provide the ability to dynamically (i.e., without manual intervention) spawn new server instances to manage Web interaction or middle-tier functionality.
Asynchronous cloud applications
The term asynchronous might also be thought of as batch, to conjure a term from the early days of computing. In other words, these applications do not support end-user interaction, but rather work on a set of data: an extract from a database, a set of files, and so on. Batch processing doesn't necessarily experience fluctuations in demand, but it can experience transitory loads (such as once-a-month reporting or a onetime processing request).
So while a system designer need not plan for end-user deluge, he may need to design a system that can sustain occasional large loads. Cloud computing offers an attractive system design feature: scalability of resources. A batch job that might have taken days or weeks when assigned to a single system within a data center can be processed in a much shorter time frame in a cloud environment, where multiple machines can be brought up to share the processing load.
The general rule is to separate functionality into processing components that can be linked by asynchronous communication mechanisms. The most common form of communication mechanism is the message queue; fortunately, all major cloud providers offer a secure, persistent queue mechanism for inter-component communication. Queues enable the output of one component to be made available to a subsequent component. If the next component in the chain is not ready to take on the work due to load, the work item sits in the queue safely, waiting for the next component to read the work item and perform its task.
In this way, systems that have components that complete their work quickly, along with other components that take longer to do their job, can operate without logjams. Further, a queue mechanism is ideal for load balancing: If a particular step in processing takes a long time, multiple versions of that component can be operated, each of which reads off the input queue. Thus the numbers of individual components can be balanced to ensure overall system throughput.
The trick is how to ensure that each component has the properly operating number of instances. And that leads us to the last piece of the architecture puzzle: systems management.
Managing systems in the cloud
The obvious questions are, How do you know when you have to add new resources or can remove resources, and how do you implement their addition or subtraction?
Framework cloud systems (e.g., Microsoft Azure and Google Apps) take care of these tasks for you. They feature a monitoring mechanism that views system load and spawns new instances as required. An infrastructure-based system like Amazon provides Web service calls that can be used to start or stop individual instances. A couple of tools perform the same work via a graphical user interface: Amazon provides an Ajax-enabled AWS management page, and Firefox features the handy plug-in Electric Fox that performs the same function. But these are still manual approaches. You have to look at the system and then intervene to change the resources available to the application.
Now, however, several system management companies specialize in providing cloud management tools that can not only monitor the general health of the systems (i.e., whether the system up and running) but also track the load factor of machines and, based on pre-assigned levels, automatically spawn new instances to handle system load. Naturally, when system loads decrease below assigned minimums, they release system resources. In this way, you can be assured that your application can achieve desired performance levels while avoiding the cost of leaving unneeded resources up and running.
System management is evolving among traditional and new vendors. Spend the time to sort through your options. It's hard to get the full benefit of cloud computing without having a more sophisticated management mechanism than merely examining ElasticFox to determine whether a particular system is up and running.
For IT shops, cloud computing offers great promise. System architectures that are difficult to implement in capacity-constrained data centers are much easier to create in cloud environments. But making your application flexible enough to respond to changing demand or short-duration use requires a different architectural approach than that used for traditional applications. Planning for systems that can easily accommodate adding or subtracting computing resources is key for cloud system design.
About the author:
Bernard Golden has more than 20 years of experience in the technology field and has worked in global consultancies, enterprise software companies, and large IT organizations. Today he is the CEO of HyperStratus, a consulting firm that helps its clients define and implement cloud strategy and systems.
Golden is the author of Virtualization for Dummies. He also serves as the virtualization and cloud computing adviser for CIO magazine. Golden is a popular speaker, appearing at many conferences like CloudWorld, OSCON, and Educause.
Learn the differences between asynchronous and synchronous communication


Why are 7,000 languages the tip of the iceberg?
The International Standards Organization has cataloged seven thousand languages. You can go online and find the names of the languages, the number of speakers, and where they are located.
You can even get maps showing the boundaries of these languages.
But in addition to those seven thousand languages, we have collected the names of some ten thousand possible dialects.
Researchers are still checking and verifying many of these names. Nevertheless, this gives us a possibility of seventeen thousand speech varieties.
That is a huge challenge and it complicates our aim to communicate the gospel to everyone.
Question: Why should we care about dialects?


By Claire Preston
As mystical and ancient as the notion of the wolf howling at the moon may seem, there is actually no scientific correlation between a howling wolf and the appearance of the moon. It is in fact more of a coincidence since wolves are predominantly nocturnal animals, and are therefore naturally associated with darkness and with the moon.
But where did this romantic idea come from? This is one we can blame on our ancestors’ ancestors. Dating back to the Neolithic Age, wolves have continually been paired with the moon, whether in images or in literature. Even the Greek goddess of the moon, Hecate, kept company with dogs; same goes for Diana, the Roman goddess of the moon and Hunt. Native American Seneca tribes believe that it was actually a wolf that sung the moon into existence. With all of this historical significance, it really isn’t surprising that this ancient folklore has evolved into today’s popular belief.
So what are wolves actually doing, howling with great gusto at the celestial body in the sky? Since wolves are nocturnal, naturally they will be more vocal at night. They point their faces to the sky to howl simply because of the acoustics generated from this gesture – the higher they send the sound, the further it will travel. Wolves howl as a means for long-distance communication, and can convey a range of information with different pitches and suspension of notes.
Some of the primary reasons why wolves howl include rallying their pack, providing a signal to let others know of the packs’ location, and delivering a warning to other wolves to remain outside of the packs’ territory. Although we often associate howling with the image of the lone wolf, wolves also frequently participate in chorus howling, where members in a pack will howl simultaneously into the night. This can act as protection for the pack as it can deceive enemies as to how many pack members are actually grouped together, making it sound like many more than there might actually be.


WebMD Medical News
Laura J. Martin, MD
Oct. 3, 2011 -- Smoking is considered one of the major risk factors for strokes. Now research shows that smokers tend to have strokes close to one full decade earlier than nonsmokers.
Smokers were age 58, on average, when they had a stroke, while nonsmokers were 67, on average, according to a study presented at the Canadian Stroke Congress in Ottawa.
A stroke or brain attack occurs when blood flow to the brain is blocked by a blood clot (ischemic stroke) or when a blood vessel ruptures (hemorrhagic stroke).
Smokers in the study were two times more likely to have an ischemic stroke and two to four times more likely to have a hemorrhagic stroke compared to nonsmokers.
"We have always known that the more you smoke, the more you stroke, and now we know that the more you smoke, the younger you stroke," says study researcher Andrew Pipe, MD. He's chief of the division of prevention and rehabilitation at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute and a professor in the faculty of medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Researchers examined the differences between 264 smokers who had a stroke and 718 nonsmokers who had a stroke between January 2009 and March 2011. Smokers were found to have strokes earlier. They were also more likely to experience complications after their stroke, including a second stroke.
The good news is that quitting smoking can help offset these risks, Pipe says.
"We have neglected smoking and have not been as resolute or resourceful in helping patients who are smokers as we have in addressing other risk factors like high blood pressure and cholesterol," he says. "Most of them know they shouldn't smoke and know that they should quit and are prepared to make a quitting attempt.
"The benefits of quitting smoking accrue so rapidly," Pipe says.
"We have always known smoking is bad for you, but we didn't know how bad," says Antoine M. Hakim, MD, PhD. Hakim is CEO and scientific director of the Canadian Stroke Network in Ottawa.
"Smokers are younger when they get their strokes and when they do have strokes, they are much more complicated," says Hakim. "Please quit, and when you do, your risk level is back down as if you have never smoked within two years."
Smokers tend to have strokes close to 10 years before nonsmokers. "That's pretty significant," says M. Shaman Hussain, MD, a neurologist at Cleveland Clinic's Cerebrovascular Center in Ohio.
"Strokes are hitting smokers much earlier in life when they are still the breadwinners and having a devastating stroke is a burden on them and the family who they support," he says.
Besides quitting smoking, smokers need to focus on reducing other risk factors for stroke. These include:
"Smokers especially need to be paying very close attention to the health of their blood vessels," Hussain says.
Quitting smoking is not easy, but there are more tools available to help a person do so today than ever before, he says. "Smoking takes a hold on people and quitting is a very difficult thing do."
If you are reading this article and you smoke, "contact your primary care doctor and see what is out there to help you quit tobacco," he says.
This study was presented at a medical conference. The findings should be considered preliminary as they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.
SOURCES:Antoine M. Hakim, MD, PhD, CEO and scientific director, Canadian Stroke Network, Ottawa.M. Shazam Hussain, MD, neurologist, Cerebrovascular Center, Cleveland Clinic, Ohio.Andrew Pipe, MD, chief, division of prevention and rehabilitation, University of Ottawa Heart Institute; professor, faculty of medicine, University of Ottawa.Canadian Stroke Congress, Ottawa, Oct. 2-4, 2011.
The Health News section does not provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. See additional information.


THE AZTECS & MEXICO
History of the Americas
The British Museum
Visit the museum digitally and their exhibition about the Americas. What do the artefacts teach us?
Geography of the Americas
Take a close (and far!) look at the continent of South America. Where is it? Which countries lie in it's borders? Which oceans surround it?
Race Across the World
Follow the six racing pairs who are travelling from Mexico across South America with a limited budget, no phone and a map.
Earth's Festival of Life - MEXICO
Earth's Festival of Life - Series based around the human and physical geography of MEXICO, including animals and their habitats and some of the early history of Mexico
Activities to try at home
Creative ideas for Victorian Project


Inseparable from the smile, dental veneers were created to restore or optimize this facial expression, the social role of which is well established. Since it is well known that the beauty of a smile rests on its harmony and its balance, more and more people resort to artifices aiming to erase its defects: shape, dimension, surface state, color… The facets are precisely among these artifices.
The very first dental veneers date from 1886, a relatively recent date if we compare to that of the remains of dental prostheses in the 6th century BC 1, . At the time, they consisted of sticking ceramic covers 3 on the teeth . In 1928, Doctor Charles Pincus, dental surgeon from California, developed new facets to strengthen the aesthetics of the smile of Hollywood actors 4 . With a very low bonding force, they are only placed during filming. Subsequently, and over the years, the adhesion to the dentin is improved and the veneers less and less invasive.
A dental veneer is an artifice in the form of a prosthesis, generally composed of a thin ceramic film, and which allows the structure, position, shape and especially the color of a tooth to be modified. The key point of the success of this artifice lies in the gluing: the facet is indeed glued to the email. Thin thickness, they are a less invasive alternative to sealed prostheses.
In which cases should we think about it?
a) Color correction
In the event of color anomalies, various chemical techniques such as lightening or micro-abrasion will first be dispensed with. Nevertheless, several coloring defects involving various actors can be the object of an orientation towards dental veneers in the event of failure of the less invasive techniques:
Colorations due to tetracyclines . These antibiotics, prescribed mainly to treat respiratory infections and acne, cause discoloration abnormalities due to a phenomenon of chelation with calcium ions .
Too much fluoride . In high doses, fluoride causes the appearance of dyschromia and dental porosities.
Some acute trauma . Slight hemorrhages can lead to inflammatory reactions, which in turn induce the creation of a substance that will seal the endodont: dentin. The tooth will therefore have a more opaque color, which will tend either towards orange or towards grayish.
b) Correction of the shape
Some teeth, mainly the lateral incisors and premolars, can be conoid in shape: they are then called riziform teeth.
In addition, some people suffer from black inter-dental “triangles”, in other words “holes”, formed following bone loss, trauma or periodontal disease.
These two shape problems can be masked by dental veneers.
c) Correction of the structure
As a result of some trauma, there is a loss of tissue. When this is low, people are recommended to use the composite layering technique. When this is important, rehabilitation by the dental veneer can be considered.
In which cases should it be waived?
There are several parameters to evaluate before considering the installation of dental veneers.
Bruxism . We call “bruxism”, the unwanted grinding or clenching of the teeth, apart from periods of chewing or swallowing. Such a disease affects children as well as adults, night and day. But it is at night that it poses the most problems, because the lack of any control increases the risk of violent shocks and significant dental friction. For this reason, it constitutes a formal contraindication to aesthetic facet rehabilitation. The failure rate would be 7 times higher than in a person without it.
Colorimetric anomaly . If the color defect is too great, the facet treatment becomes very complicated. The more discolored the tooth, the thicker the veneer will need to be to mask the unsightly color.
Periodontal disease . Periodontal diseases affect bonding due to multiple micro-infiltrations . They are a contraindication to dental veneers.
Tobacco and lack of hygiene . The dental veneer may stain faster than the rest of the teeth, if tobacco is consumed. In addition, in the event of a lack of oral hygiene and excess tobacco, the risk of cavities under the prosthesis is greatly increased.
How it works ?
Dental veneers should be considered when less invasive treatments have failed. They can only be offered when the contraindications have been ruled out. If this is the case, the success rate, twelve years later, reaches almost 95%.
Before the validation of the therapeutic project, the practitioner imposes a preview called the mock-up. It allows the person to realize the final aesthetic result, which can sometimes be sudden: the teeth can be perceived as excessively large and certain speech problems can arise due to new pressure exerted on the lips.
There are 2 types of dental veneers which are complementary techniques and each have their advantages and disadvantages:
Ceramic veneers . The most commonly used ceramics for dental veneers are feldspar ceramics, leucite reinforced feldspar ceramics and infiltrated aluminous ceramics. The preparation necessary for the installation of these veneers is a difficult exercise reserved for practitioners with extensive clinical experience and unparalleled dexterity. They also involve a significant investment.
– Veneers in composite resin . These veneers are less expensive but their biomimicry is not always as convincing as ceramic veneers. The improvement of their range of opacities is interesting but the mechanical properties of composites will have to follow the same path to increase the number of indications.
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Winston Smith is the main character in the famous novel Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell. In his apartment there is an “oblong metal plaque like a dulled mirror which formed part of the surface of the right-hand wall.” The description of this flatscreen television goes on to state that the “instrument (the telescreen, it was called) could be dimmed, but there was no way of shutting it off completely. The telescreen received and transmitted simultaneously.” This system provided a method for controlling citizens in the totalitarian society that Smith had to endure.
We have now arrived at a technological phase in history where the infrastructure is in place to make Orwell’s dark vision a reality. In millions of living rooms we find personal computers, laptops, and game consoles that are simultaneously connected to a camera and to the internet. Even better than Orwell imagined, billions of people are now walking around with mobile devices that are constantly online, and also have built-in cameras.
Apple recently took the next step with the launch of FaceTime, a video calling system and service. This is ironic since they used the doom and gloom of Nineteen Eighty-Four in their television commercial during the 1984 introduction of the Macintosh computer. It was meant as a stern warning against their competitor IBM behaving like “Big Brother”.
But now that the technology has arrived, it may already be outdated as a method of mind control. The power systems in the Western world have developed much more sophisticated techniques. Noam Chomsky critically analyzed one of its methods as “manufacturing consent”. He convincingly explains the biases of news media from their preference for corporate profit over public interest.
Interestingly, Orwell himself provided a similar analysis in his unpublished foreword to Animal Farm (1945). It is called “The freedom of the press” and he points at the phenomenon of self-censorship: “The sinister fact about (…) censorship in England is that it is largely voluntary. Unpopular ideas can be silenced, and inconvenient facts kept dark, without the need for any official ban.”
Will we ever suffer the same fate as Winston Smith? Or will we be conned into believing the oldest trick in the book: “The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)