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For many SERC scientists, field research comes to a halt in the winter. Some manage to head off to the tropics to investigate invasive species or mangroves, but not photobiologist Pat Neale. Neale and his assistants are spending a good part of their time these days in his lab with the Beast.
The Beast does not bite, but if you look at it the wrong way it will hurt you. In fact it can char your corneas if you’re not careful. That’s because it reflects and filters ultraviolet light. UV rays are invisible to the naked eye, but are high in energy and potentially damaging to animals and plants. As a photobiologist Neale studies how UV rays affect aquatic environments and the organisms that live in them.
Click to continue » | <urn:uuid:16040016-d574-4c32-90ee-9e9e8554bc03> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sercblog.si.edu/?tag=phytoplankton | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00176-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951973 | 164 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Summer nights are getting hotter faster than summer days. What does it mean for agriculture?
May 8, 2014
By Chad Kruger
Nick Bond, the Washington State Climatologist, pointed out an interesting observation at a meeting I attended last week. For summers from 2000-2010, nighttime temperatures (T-min) in many locations in the Pacific Northwest have shown a strong warming trend while daytime temperatures (T-max) have shown a general cooling trend (Panel 1). Each circle on the map is scaled based on the station’s temperature trend with red indicating increasing temperature and blue decreasing. This could be part of the reason I’ve had trouble sleeping at night in recent summers – more below!
Panel 1: Summer Min (nighttime) and Max (daytime) Temperatures: 2000-2010; Source: http://www.climate.washington.edu/trendanalysis/
The long-term trend (1910-2010) is similar, for both annual (Panel 2) and summer temperatures (Panel 3) with nighttime temperatures trending warmer and daytime temperatures trending cooler or trending warmer to a lesser degree than nighttime. The intermediate-term trend (1960-2010) also follows the general pattern for summer temperatures, though the contrast is less stark (Panel 4).
Panel 2: Annual Min (nighttime) and Max (daytime) Temperatures: 1910-2010; Source: http://www.climate.washington.edu/trendanalysis/
Panel 3: Summer Min (nighttime) and Max (daytime) Temperatures: 1910-2010; Source: http://www.climate.washington.edu/trendanalysis/
Panel 4: Summer Min (nighttime) and Max (daytime) Temperatures: 1960-2010; Source: http://www.climate.washington.edu/trendanalysis/
I would encourage you to go to the State Climatologist Office website and play with this tool a bit after reading the tutorial. Not only can you change the parameters as I have presented in these panels, but you can select a specific weather station and graph the data specific to that station. I selected three time periods to present (short, intermediate and long) focusing primarily on the summertime temperature differentials I was interested in. If you select different time periods (or seasons, or months), you’ll notice that the pattern I’ve showed above doesn’t always hold true (for instance 1980-2010 summertime doesn’t show much contrast between changes in T-max or T-min).
This raises an important point. We have to be extremely careful when interpreting a trend and not over-state the data or our expectations of what it means for the future. From the panels above, we can interpret that for the short (decadal), intermediate (half-century) and long-term (century) there has been a trend toward greater summertime increases in nighttime temperatures (T-min) than daytime temperatures (T-max) in the region, but the magnitude of change (increase in temperature) and contrast (difference between day and night) are not linear for the selected time periods. There is also a lot of noise in the data on a year to year basis. For instance, just looking at the Ellensburg station, there has been about a 0.43 degree F increase per decade in summer T-min over the century, but nearly double that increase (0.8 degree F) just from 2000-2010. During the same decade, the Cle Elum station “next door” experienced about the same magnitude decrease in summer T-min. Furthermore, any single year of the last decade may have been above or below the trend. So, depending on where you are, nighttime temperatures may or may not be a good explanation for summer insomnia.
When considering what this trend might mean for agriculture, there are two immediate thoughts that come to mind. First, for livestock production, particularly large mammals like cattle, the effects of this trend are likely to be similar in concept to what we humans experience: more discomfort and stress during warm summer nights. Mauger et al. (in press) found that milk production is likely to be reduced by increased temperatures, particularly during summer in regions with more severe summer temperature and humidity impacts like Florida. One reason Washington is a relatively good place for dairy farming is that our low-humidity climate during summer tends to provide a lot of relief to the animal (or human) even when daytime temperatures approach 100 degrees F.
We also know that increased nighttime temperatures during summer can affect crops. A 2004 experiment conducted at the International Rice Research Institute and published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (Peng et.al. 2004) found that rice yields were decreased by 10% for each 1 degree C increase in nighttime temperature during the growing season while increases in daytime temperature did not have an effect.
Our efforts to date to project crop yields under future climate do include consideration for projected changes in T-max and T-min, but we have only presented and evaluated the results for aggregate changes in temperature. We have yet to really tease out the relative effect of changes in T-min vs. T-max, but based on the observations above this is something that we’ll start to look at more closely.
Mauger, GS, Y Bauman, TD Nennich, and EP Salathé: Impacts of Climate Change on Milk Production in the United States. American Geographer (in press).
Peng S, Huang J., Sheehy JE, Laza RC, Visperas RM, Zhong X, Centeno GS, Khush GS, Cassman KG. (2004). Rice yields decline with higher night temperature from global warming. PNAS. 2004 101(27):9971-5.
Washington State Climate Office N.W. Temperature, Precipitation, & SWE Trend Analysis tool. | <urn:uuid:229ec4c9-75cb-48cb-8033-e27692e5c29d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://csanr.wsu.edu/summer-nights-are-getting-hotter/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.908268 | 1,225 | 3.140625 | 3 |
A wireless router is a device in a wireless local area network (WLAN) that determines the next network point to which a packet should be forwarded toward its destination. A wireless router works in the same way as the router in a hard-wired home or business local area network (LAN), but allows greater mobility for notebook or portable computers. The individual computers are equipped with small wireless transceivers that can be plugged into either a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port or a PC card slot.
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For home and business computer users who have high-speed Internet connections, a wireless router can also act as a hardware firewall. This is true even if the home or business has only one computer. Many engineers believe that the use of a router provides superior protection against hacking because individual computer IP addresses are not directly exposed to the Internet. A wireless router also does not consume computer resources as a firewall program does.
Wireless router technology has improved in recent years, providing more bandwidth and allowing for the connection of more computers to a WLAN. The newer wireless routers use the 802.11g specification, a standard that offers transmission over short distances at up to 54 megabits per second (Mbps), compared with the 11 Mbps theoretical maximum with the earlier 802.11b standard. | <urn:uuid:10ccbd57-19eb-476f-a053-ca3ed562dcf8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://searchmobilecomputing.techtarget.com/definition/wireless-router | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935943 | 300 | 3.25 | 3 |
Tissue Type Test
A tissue type test is a blood test that identifies substances called antigens on the surface of body cells and tissues. Checking the antigens can tell if donor tissue is safe (compatible) for transplant to another person. This test may also be called HLA typing. Antigens can tell the difference between normal body tissue or foreign tissue (for example, tissue from another person's body). Tissue type helps find the best match for tissues or blood cells (such as platelets). In some cases, a tissue type test may be done to see whether a person has a chance for developing certain diseases that cause the body to attack its own cells, such as autoimmune diseases.
A special pattern of antigens (called tissue type) is present on each person's cells and tissues. Half of each person's antigens come from (inherited) the mother and half from the father. Identical twins have the same pattern, but everyone else has his or her own special pattern. Brothers and sisters have a 1-in-4 chance of having an identical match. Each person's antigen pattern can be "fingerprinted" through a tissue type test.
- The closer the match of antigens, the more likely that an organ or tissue transplant will be successful.
- The more similar the antigen patterns are from two people, the more likely it is that they are related.
- Some diseases (such as multiple sclerosis or ankylosing spondylitis) are more common in people who have certain antigen patterns. The reason for this is unknown.
Two main antigen groups are used for a tissue type test. Class I has three classes of antigens (HLA-A, HLA-B, HLA-C) that are found on some kinds of blood cells. Class II has one class of antigens (HLA-D) that are found only on certain cells in the body. There are many different types of antigens in each category.
Why It Is Done
A tissue type test is done to:
- See if the antigen pattern for donated tissue or organs (including a blood platelet transfusion or bone marrow transplant) is a match. The success of a transplant depends on how closely the antigen patterns match. The antigen patterns are most likely to be similar when the donated organ or tissue comes from a close relative of the person.
- See how likely two people are related. If the antigen patterns are very similar, they are likely to be related. But a tissue type can't prove definitively that two people are related. A tissue type test may be done as part of a paternity test to check to see if a man could be the father of a child.
- Find people who may have a high chance of certain autoimmune diseases. | <urn:uuid:57f62962-a4d8-4a49-b67b-7569188933d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/tissue-type-test | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948513 | 575 | 4.15625 | 4 |
A pediatric occupational therapist, Cris Rowan, hit the headlines last summer when she made a plea for a total ban of handheld devices for all children under the age of twelve! You can imagine the reactions. It really got parents worked up. Of course, Rowan made some very valid points but the real solution is to allow kids to use these handheld devices, but not too often. As usual, the key is finding the right balance as there are all sorts of health and development issues. In this post I want to outline 8 reasons why children should not use these frequently. There is no need for a total ban, except for babies.
1. Children are not turning their brains on.
If you allow a kid to play with her phone, computer games or tablet all day long, what happens? The child will not get enough exercise. Physical exercise is not only good for building muscles but also essential for turning our brains on. This applies especially to children, as outlined by Dr. John Ratey of Harvard Medical School, in his famous book, Spark. The Naperville School District (IL) kids were able to score top grades in the TIMSS (Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study) tests because they were doing regular physical exercise. They came out at number one in science and sixth in math – worldwide! More physical exercise and less use of electronic devices will help to improve grades and also reduce behavior problems.
“What Naperville provides is a powerful case study on how aerobic activity can transform not only the body but also the mind. It also happens to be a wonderful template for reshaping our society.” – Dr. John Ratey
2. Children may be exposed to too much radiation.
The problem with using cell phones and also cordless phones too much is that the brain may be exposed to radiation and this has been linked to cancer. There are no conclusive studies on this but the American Cancer Society says it is advisable to limit cell phone use, especially among young children.
The best solution is to encourage kids to make shorter phone calls and send more text messages. You could also take out a monthly subscription which will enable you to cut off your kid’s phone in the late evening and early morning. Set the example for your kids by encouraging them to take “tech time-out” especially at mealtimes. Everybody puts their phone in a designated place so that they actually get to talk to each other!
3. Children are not getting enough sleep.
When kids are allowed all their gadgets in the bedroom, this is a guarantee that the blue screen light is going to affect their sleep. There are loads of studies on this and one shows that the kids who have been playing on their tablets or phones just before sleeping, take longer to get off to sleep and do not sleep so well, either.
There is an easy solution to this in that parents can ban all devices from their kids’ bedrooms and make sure that they use their computer time in the common area before actually going to bed. Encourage the reading of bedtime stories and switching off TV one hour before bedtime.
4. Children will take ages to do homework.
Kids might consider multi-tasking cool when they have to do homework. Checking their Facebook account and emails are just part of the normal distracted process. But studies show that it takes four times longer to recognize each new activity, than if you were just concentrating on one task.
Parents differ in their approaches. Some parents just ban the use of phones during homework and when teens protest that their friends are allowed to do so, they just say “our house, our rules.”
I favor the “interval training” approach. Here teens are asked to try half an hour of homework with no distractions at all from any device. After that, they are allowed to check Facebook and so on. But they quickly realize how much more efficient they are when they are not distracted. This may work better than having a total ban. We also have to keep in mind that tablets are really useful for some homework tasks and more and more students are using them efficiently. Maybe we just have to draw the line at social media and text messaging.
5. Toddlers’ brain development may be at risk.
Dr. Jenny Radesky works at the Developmental –Behavioral Pediatrics Department at the University of Boston. Her research has shown that allowing these toddlers of two or three years of age to play excessively with these gadgets will affect their cognitive development negatively. At this age they need to develop motor, visual and spatial skills which are essential for healthy development. Even more alarming is the practice of handing a device to a child who is having a tantrum! This is no substitute for learning how to interact and control strong emotions.
The best solution is probably to ban devices for these babies and toddlers. They do not need to update their status on Facebook just yet! Parents should ensure that they have plenty of normal kids’ toys and games which will help them to develop their manual dexterity. A touch screen cannot do that.
6. Children may be at increased risk of mental illness.
Can it really be true that increased rates of child depression, attention disorders, bipolar disorder and other mental health issues are due to excessive use of handheld devices? Studies on this have revealed that this exaggerated use may indeed be a cause. Aggression and problematic child behavior are the usual manifestations that there may be a problem.
How about a screen-free day for everyone in the family to help reduce the risks? Another idea is to make sure that you can monitor your child’s use and set limits accordingly. Obviously you will be setting the example by being a role model and not listening to your child with one ear while the other is glued to your smartphone!
7. Children may become couch potatoes.
It does not take rocket science to understand that too much sedentary activity which is mostly watching TV, surfing, chatting and gaming will lead to obesity. There are countless studies on this one. First, TV ads are full of low nutrient and high calorie foods which are aimed at a young audience, as evidenced by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) report. A lot of these commercials are now shown on smartphones and tablets.
More time with these devices will lead to fewer physical activities and sports. This means that kids are just not getting enough exercise and also they are consuming far too many calories. Wrong food choices aggravate the problem.
The best approach to take is to ensure that all the family are taking part in some physical activity whether it is just playing sports, jogging or walking the dog. It becomes a ritual and there should be set times for this. This helps to get the child weaned off those electronic devices. A total ban never makes sense as the kid will discover ways round that.
8. Children may suffer from eye strain.
It is now becoming more and more common for children to suffer from eye strain after staring at screens for hours and hours. This is sometimes known as computer vision syndrome. Watch out for dry, red and sore eyes. Sometimes, children may experience blurry vision and have problems with words moving on the screen because their eyes are not properly aligned. Eye fatigue, focus issues and even double vision are other problems as reported by the Singapore Health Xchange.
You can avoid eye problems setting in at an early age by making sure that sessions involving near screen work are limited to 30 minutes a time. Make sure that there are plenty of breaks and that outdoor activity is not neglected.
Who wants to raise a child who is attached to a screen? At the other extreme, we do not want our kids to miss out on connecting with our fascinating world. They can chat to grandparents on Skype, play games, learn facts, read and socialize. We just have to make sure that they get the balance right.
Featured photo credit: Kids with Education Tablet Computers/ Inter Free Press via flickr.com
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Love this article? Share it with your friends on Facebook | <urn:uuid:84da677e-36d0-487e-bd7f-a58912c2ee78> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/8-reasons-why-children-should-not-use-handheld-devices-frequently.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967262 | 1,653 | 2.59375 | 3 |
Infographics have become a staple in our business and social media world. Page through a Forbes magazine and you’ll find a number of colorful poster-like images illustrating statistics and data to help represent the article’s message. Scroll through your Linkedin home feed and find posts of articles with titles declaring Infographic. As the education field moves forward in the 21st Century, K-12 schools are now finding ways to incorporate technology that better suit students for the real world. With the advent of the Common Core Standards in most of our fifty states, preparing college and career ready students is at the forefront of curriculum design.
Data visualization developed as a means to read material quickly and easily. As technology continues to advance, information is overwhelmingly vast, making readers quick to discard a text and move to the next piece. Infographics allow for an ease of information retrieval by quickly displaying a large amount of data in an easy-to-read format, rich of images , statistics, and symbols.
When incorporating infographics in the classroom, the educator’s role is simply to break down the real-world material in order to build a foundation for the student at his or her level.
Here are some helpful steps to incorporate infographics in the classroom:
1. Determine a real-world, inquiry- based research topic, such as natural disasters or bullying.
2. Show students a side-by-side image of an infographic and a text article on the same topic and ask students to determine the differences.
3. Find a business or media article that describes the purpose of an infographic, how they’re used in the real world, and the effective way of creating visual data.
4. Show three examples of infographics and have students critique the elements of each based on the information they learned from the article.
5. Create a planner template for students to map out their research information to be used in the infographic: statistics, images, symbols, color scheme.
6. Find one free Web 2.0 infographic creator that is easy to use/ learn: Easelly, Infogram, or Piktochart.
7. Create an example using the chosen tool and record the steps for instruction. (Use the Help link if you're not familiar with the program.)
8. Walk students through the creation process by examining the tool bars and various options.
9. Now students are ready to create their own infographic!
The business world provides a mecca of educational tools for the secondary school. Reading through the news each day, subscribing to a technology blog, and speaking with the school technology coordinator/ library media specialist will allow for developing creative ways to incorporate technology and writing lessons that build a foundation to prepare students as competitive, global citizens. | <urn:uuid:de0f15df-ed8d-4d84-aace-d5e9865eb3b1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.examiner.com/article/how-to-teach-your-students-infographics-1?cid=rss | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.916613 | 562 | 3.859375 | 4 |
A record number of people were infected with HIV around the world this year, a report says.
Around 14,000 people are infected with HIV every day
Figures from UNAids and the World Health Organization put the number of new infections at five million.
The report also estimates that three million people died from the disease this year.
But it warns that the figures could rise sharply in the years ahead, with Eastern Europe and Central Asia on the verge of epidemics.
Africa hit hardest
The report, which is published ahead of World Aids Day on 1 December, estimates 40 million people around the world are infected with HIV/Aids. Of these, 2.5 million are children.
Around 14,000 people are infected with the disease every day.
Officials say the figures are more reliable than previous year's estimates, following improvements in the way the data is collected.
People living in sub-Saharan Africa continue to be most at risk. About 26.6m people are living with HIV/Aids are in this part of the world.
South Africa, alone, is home to 5.3 million people with HIV - more than any other country in the world. In Botswana, 39% of the population is HIV positive, the report says.
Two out of three new HIV infections occur in sub-Saharan Africa. Three out four deaths from the disease occur in this part of the world.
However, the report also shows that other countries are standing on the verge of major epidemics.
The number of reported infections is rising sharply in China, India, Indonesia and Russia, mostly due to HIV transmission through injecting drug use and unsafe sex.
The report says better prevention programmes are needed to stop the spread.
It says countries around the world must introduce better treatment programmes if millions of deaths are to be avoided.
Dr Peter Piot, executive director of UNAids, praised recent efforts to step up the fight against the disease. However, he said much more needs to be done.
"It is quite clear that our current global efforts remain entirely inadequate for an epidemic that is continuing to spiral out of control.
"Aids is tightening its grip on southern Africa and threatening other regions of the world.
"Today's report warns regions experiencing newer HIV epidemics that they can either act now or pay later - as Africa is now having to pay."
UNAids and the WHO have drawn up a strategy to bring antiretroviral treatment to three million people by 2005 - the so-called "3 by 5" initiative.
Dr Lee Jong-Wook, director general of the WHO, said details of the strategy will be released on World Aids Day next week.
However, he said more money is needed if the strategy is to work.
"This represents an unprecedented drive to increase the number of people receiving treatment," he said.
"For '3 by 5' to succeed, however, and for treatment access to increase further in the future the international community must continue to increase its financial and logistical support."
Nick Partridge, chief executive of the UK charity Terrence Higgins Trust, welcomed the report.
"The HIV epidemic continues to devastate communities across the world and we're increasingly feeling its impact here in the UK.
"Now more than ever, we must step up our efforts to tackle the epidemic in this country, as well as fulfil our responsibilities in the international fight against HIV.
"We will fail if we don't understand that we are all part of a global epidemic," he said.
"Strong political leadership is vital to promote education, access to treatment for all and renewed vigour in the quest for vaccines and a cure."
Derek Bodell, chief executive of the UK's National Aids Trust, said: "Today's statistics continue to cause us concern.
"By now it should be evident to all that HIV does not respect borders." | <urn:uuid:bd969497-e21b-426c-91cf-3738827e9bb2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/3236200.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399425.79/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00164-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961684 | 804 | 2.859375 | 3 |
It’s my pleasure to pass on a terrific piece, written for S21, by Daniel Levitin. In addition to teaching at McGill University and being a real mensch, Levitin is the best-selling author of “This is Your Brain on Music,” which I personally recommend to all. Below, he gives us a look at his new book “The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature.” — David Salvage
. . . . . .
It is unlikely that either language or music were invented by a single innovator or at a single place and time; rather, they were shaped by a large number of refinements, contributed to by legions of developers over many millenia and throughout all parts of the world. And they were no doubt crafted upon structures and abilities that we already had, structures we inherited genetically from proto-humans and our non-human animal ancestors. It’s true that human language is qualitatively different from any animal language, specifically in that it is generative (we can combine elements to create an unlimited number of utterances) and self-referential (we can use language to talk about language). The evolution of a single brain mechanism – probably located in the pre-frontal cortex – created a common mode of thought that underlies both the development of language and of art. I describe this in my new book The World in Six Songs: How the Musical Brain Created Human Nature.
One of the things that humans are good at and animals are not is encoding relations. We can easily learn the idea of something being bigger than another. If I ask even a five-year old to select the larger of three blocks in front of her, she will do this effortlessly. If I then bring in a new block that is twice the size of the one she just selected, she can shift her thinking, and choose that when I reask the question. A five-year old understands this. No dog can do this, and only some primates. This understanding of relations turns out to be fundamental for music appreciation; it is a cornerstone of all human musical systems. It permits us to recognize Happy Birthday as the same song regardless of what key it is sung in. It is also the basis of composition in nearly every musical style we know of. Take the opening to Beethoven’s Fifth. We hear three notes of the same pitch and duration, followed by a longer note at a lower pitch. Beethoven takes this pattern and moves it lower in the scale, so that the next four notes follow the same contour and rhythm. Our ability to recognize that this pattern is essentially the same, even though none of the notes are the same, is relational processing.
These modes of processing and the brain mechanisms that gave rise to them were necessary for the development of language, music, poetry, art and even science. Music may have played an important role in allowing us to communicate before there was language, and in forming a mental exercise that was fundamental to being able to manipulate objects in the real world. The available evidence is that music has been with our species from the very beginning, shaping social bonds, social systems, cooperative work projects, and the transmission of knowledge. Our current love of music is deeply rooted in evolutionary biology – our brain responds favorably to music because those of our ancestors who had musical brains found themselves at a distinct survival advantage. | <urn:uuid:2c6dfc6b-3a58-4e6e-b46c-ba26901d2ef2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sequenza21.com/2008/09/special-daniel-levitin-for-s21/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968447 | 699 | 2.875 | 3 |
November 6, 2007
Plasma cutting has become a process of choice for many because of its cost-effectiveness. However, this wasn't the case when the technology was introduced because of short consumable life. Technological innovations over the years, however, helped to change that.
Metal cutting has existed as long as the welding process itself. One popular early method involved using a welding-type torch with a wire continuously feeding at 300 to 650 inches per minute (IPM). The wire was surrounded by a high flow of shield gas composed of argon, helium, nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, air, or a combination of those gases, at currents ranging from 300 to 800 amps. This technique cut 1-inch-thick stainless steel plates at 15 IPM and 1-in.-thick aluminum at 20 IPM.
However, the plasma cutting process as we know it today did not exist until Dr. R. M. Gage's invention at Union Carbide's research labs in 1955. As described in Gage's patent, the constriction of a welding arc by wall stabilization leads to increased arc energy density and momentum.
One end of the arc is attached to the negative electrode inside the torch (cathode), and the other end is attached to the metal to be cut (anode). This configuration often is referred to as transferred arc.
The challenges that faced plasma cutting at its inception are the same it faces in today's metal fabricating environment. Improvements still are aimed at increasing cutting speed, better cutting quality, and consumable life.
To the credit of the early researchers and engineers, a significant number of innovations occurred in the first 15 years of the life of this process. These innovations included increasing the arc energy density and stability, varying plasma composition, improving component cooling, controlling fluid dynamics, and using exotic materials.
The early plasma cutting torch comprised a tungsten rod electrode surrounded by the constricting nozzle. At that time the shield gas was an inert gas that shielded the tungsten electrode from the reactive atmosphere to increase its life. To help constrict and stabilize the arc and further cool the torch, water was injected coaxially downstream of the electrode. Later the water was swirled to improve arc stabilization, and it became known as the liquid turbine.
Plasma cutting proved to be an effective process for cutting nonferrous metals, but it would be able to compete with oxyfuel cutting on mild steel only if it took advantage of the reaction between iron and oxygen. Its limitation was the very short electrode life, since tungsten readily reacts with oxygen.
Service life was improved by introducing the oxidizing gas in the nozzle, below the tungsten electrode, while maintaining the shielding gas around the electrode. Swirling the main plasma gas further stabilized the arc.
Unfortunately, the cut quality still was not comparable to oxyfuel's. Injection of a second fluid (air, oxygen, water) around the arc jet downstream of the nozzle exit marked a significant process improvement. It is known as dual flow cutting, and today the second fluid is referred to as the shield or secondary gas. This auxiliary flow protects the torch front end from slag, molten droplets, and even metal vapor, preventing a metallic conducting bridge between the torch and the workpiece.
This invention improved quality by reducing the top edge rounding of the cut. Moreover, the secondary gas drove the arc deeper into the cut, minimized the adherence of dross at the bottom of the cut (especially with water), and doubled cutting speeds.
The cutting currents were raised continually (300 amps and higher) to increase cutting speeds. Such high currents, however, significantly increased the wear rate of the emissive element (thoriated tungsten), affecting efficiency and productivity.
A breakthrough came with the invention of the button-type electrode. The electrode, when embedded into a water-cooled copper holder, enhanced emissive element cooling. Moreover, thoriated tungsten was replaced by zirconium when the plasma forming gas was air. The electrode life increased from a few minutes with tungsten to a few hours with zirconium, and air cutting of mild steel became popular.
However, it was practically impossible to use zirconium cathode at arc currents higher than 300 amps. At the end of the 1960s, the use of hafnium in the former Soviet Union to replace zirconium, lanthanum, and strontium further improved electrode life in air plasma cutting.
The early years of development were very fruitful. The basics of the process were well understood. The low-voltage start technique was invented in 1957, even though it wasn't widely used until the mid-1980s, and the electromagnetic noise emitted during arc ignition was eliminated. These innovations would become perfected in the three decades to follow.
Process improvements continued throughout the 1970s and '80s. However, plasma cutting really took off when it became automated. It started with the implementation of NC, CNC, and DNC and the development of height controllers and workpiece-sensing systems, all of which are critical in maintaining high cut quality. Advanced gas consoles ensured the proper delivery of fluids to the torch to minimize downtime.
The cutting market was driven by cost reduction. At the time the process of choice was water injection, as it gave the best quality, the highest speeds, and the longest consumable life. The process was versatile, cutting low-carbon steel and nonferrous metals with varying current and the same consumables and fluids, and it minimized downtime.
Soon efforts were invested in designs for the arc chamber. Similarly, current ramping and smooth pressure buildup in the arc chamber were shown to improve consumable life and cut quality. These were the first attempts at controlling the process transients. These extreme transitions raise gas temperatures to about 35,000 degrees F (from room temperature) and increase speeds to about 4,500 MPH (from less than 600 MPH) in just tens of milliseconds.
The rate of advancements in plasma cutting slowed in the 1980s compared to previous decades. Single-gas (air) portable units for manual cutting became popular in the U.S. with chopper and inverter power supply technologies, while Japan saw the birth of what came to be called high-definition plasma cutting at the end of the decade.
The 1990s marked a turning point in the evolution of plasma cutting. Major breakthroughs were made in the wear rates of hafnium electrodes when used with oxygen plasmas, increasing consumable life, cutting speed, and quality. It was then determined that the arc shutdown is a key stage because of the interaction of the molten hafnium, the plasma arc, and the gas flow.
Plasma cutting became as competitive on mild steel as it was on stainless steel and aluminum. It became a cost-effective alternative to the emerging laser and the traditional oxyfuel.
In the last 10 years, the process has taken full advantage of automation with integration of power supplies, gas controllers and CNCs, table technology, and nesting software. Significant R&D has been devoted to consumable life, cut speed, and quality, as well as transients at the start (arc ignition, pilot, and transfer) and at the end of the cut to improve process reliability.
Today manufacturers are developing automated systems using microprocessors and state-of-the-art control for current, gas delivery, and torch motion. Plasma cutting has become a cost-effective process, with relatively low expenditures for capital and operation. For NC and non-NC plasma and electron-beam machines, exports grew 20 percent, to $1.28 billion between 1995 and 2000, and imports tripled to about $0.4 billion during the same period.1
This success wasn't obvious 20 years ago, when consumable life was short, but heavy investment in R&D to improve consumable life turned things around. Plasma cutting equipment manufacturers continue the effort to improve the process through internal measures (building high-end teams of scientists and engineers) and external developments (collaborations with research institutes and universities). This activity has doubled consumable life in the last 15 years so that it now is one of the main selling points of a plasma cutting system.
Cut quality expectations and terminology have evolved from high quality in the 1960s to square cut in the 1970s to high definition in the 1980s and '90s. These terms all refer to a good-quality cut at high speed with long-life consumables in their respective decades (see Figure 1). More than 50 years of effort have made plasma cutting an economically competitive choice for today's metal fabricators.
The FABRICATOR® is North America's leading magazine for the metal forming and fabricating industry. The magazine delivers the news, technical articles, and case histories that enable fabricators to do their jobs more efficiently. The FABRICATOR has served the industry since 1971. Print subscriptions are free to qualified persons in North America involved in metal forming and fabricating. | <urn:uuid:cee117dd-1814-41dc-815c-325898220f71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thefabricator.com/article/plasmacutting/the-life-and-times-of-plasma-cutting | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00197-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963913 | 1,847 | 3.90625 | 4 |
Tara Delaney's Book is now available for order online! Click on the book at the right to order.
The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book provides straightforward answers to the most pressing questions parents who are struggling though to make sense of an overwhelming amount confusing, and often times conflicting information. Children with Sensory Processing Disorder misinterpret everyday sensory information, such as touch, sound, and movement, which can lead to behavioral problems, difficulties with coordination, and other issues.
Written by a pediatric occupational therapist who specializes in Sensory Processing Disorder and who also deals with the disorder as a parent, The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book includes between 250 - 300 questions and answers covering such topics as:
What is Sensory Processing?
Do Sensory Processing Difficulties Effect Social Skills?
Can you see sensory processing difficulties in an infant?
Is Sensory Processing Disorder a sign of Autism?
What is sensory integration therapy?
How can SPD be mistaken for ADHD?
Written in an easy-to-read Q&A format, The Sensory Processing Disorder Answer Book helps parents understand and accept their child and develop a plan for success. | <urn:uuid:61af1e01-8ea1-4723-8a02-868c22806a4c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.stepstherapyinc.com/book | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914897 | 231 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The Americans with Disabilities Act
“Soul of a People: Voices from the Writers’ Project” Online Site Support Notebook
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) (PL 101-336), which went into effect in July 1992, guarantees that people with disabilities shall have equal access to employment, public services and accommodations, transportation and telecommunications services.
As public service providers, libraries must make reasonable efforts to give people with disabilities the same access to information, programs and resources enjoyed by those who do not have disabilities.
Each library in the “Soul of a People” project will have varying capabilities for providing equal access to people with disabilities. We urge you to do as much as you reasonably can to make programs accessible to this population.
Local or regional agencies which are responsible for services for people with disabilities may be helpful. We offer the following suggestions to enhance the accessibility of “Soul of a People.”
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After an investigation and further blood tests on an Illinois man who was thought to be infected with Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has confirmed that the patient did not actually have the disease.
The announcement means that the virus has not spread between any person in the U.S. Thus far, all of the MERS cases found worldwide have been linked to the Arabian peninsula, where the virus originated. There have only been two cases in the U.S., the original one occurring in Indiana after a health care worker flew from Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, to Indiana via London and Chicago; and the second was confirmed in Florida earlier this month. The two cases were not linked.
On May 17, health officials found that initial blood tests showed that a businessman in Illinois might have contracted the disease. It made sense at the time, seeing as his symptoms lined up with MERS characteristics: fever, coughing, difficulty breathing, and overall flu-like features. In addition, the Illinois man had been in contact with the original Indiana patient; they had met face-to-face on business and shaken hands. Typically, MERS is spread through close contact, and is most likely to be transmitted from infected patients to health care workers who are treating them.
Despite the signs pointing to a potential infection in the Illinois man, further blood tests showed he was MERS-free. “After completing additional and more definitive laboratory tests, CDC officials have concluded that an Indiana MERS patient did not spread the virus to an Illinois associate during a business meeting they had before the patient became ill and was hospitalized,” a CDC press release states.
When testing for MERS, state labs and the CDC take respiratory samples to identify whether a person had an active infection of the virus. These respiratory tests are called polymerase chain reaction, or PCR. Other blood tests — known as serology — are designed to see whether MERS antibodies exist in a person’s bloodstream. If so, that means the person was previously infected with the virus and has developed an immune response.
Serology involves three separate tests — enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), immunofluorescent assay (IFA), and neutralizing antibody assay. “The initial ELISA and IFA serology results indicated the possibility that the Illinois resident had been previously infected with MERS-CoV,” Dr. David Swerdlow of the CDC said in a statement. “This compelled us to notify and test those people with whom he had close contact in the days following his interaction with the Indiana MERS patient.”
After completing the longer blood tests, it turned out the patient was fine, but health officials believe it’s better to be safe than sorry. “While we never want to cause undue concern among those who have had contact with a MERS patient, it is our job to move quickly when there is a potential public health threat,” Swerdlow said. “Because there is still much we don’t know about this virus, we will continue to err on the side of caution when responding to and investigating cases of MERS in this country.” | <urn:uuid:dd03426d-713a-444e-b4c8-323feee813fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medicaldaily.com/illinois-mers-case-turns-out-be-negative-after-cdc-investigation-us-still-mers-free-285276 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393332.57/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00201-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973209 | 658 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Almost half of all Americans over the age of 60 develop diverticulosis: small, bulging pouches (diverticula) in the colon. In most cases, these diverticula do not cause any discomfort. However, in perhaps 15% of people with diverticulosis, diverticula may become inflamed or infected. The result is a condition called diverticulitis. Symptoms of diverticulitis include pain, nausea, and sometimes fever.
It is thought that the main cause of diverticulosis is the relatively low-fiber diet consumed in developed countries. Treatment of diverticulitis includes dietary changes, antibiotics, and, sometimes, surgery.
Fiber supplements have shown promise for both preventing and treating diverticulosis and diverticulitis.
Studies suggest (but do not prove) that diets high in fiber and low in total fat and red meat may help prevent diverticular disease. 1
Furthermore, high fiber consumption may help prevent diverticulitis from developing in people with diverticulosis. 2 However, this has not been proven, and the results of the scant published controlled trials on the topic have been inconsistent. 3,4
Common fiber supplements include psyllium, glucomannan , and methylcellulose.
Note: Use of fiber supplements during an active bout of diverticulitis is not advisable, because the colon needs to rest.
Contrary to some reports, there is no evidence that obesity or consumption of caffeine or alcohol increases risk of diverticular disease. 5 However, high levels of physical activity may reduce the risk of developing the condition.
Last reviewed September 2014 by EBSCO CAM Review Board
Please be aware that this information is provided to supplement the care provided by your physician. It is neither intended nor implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice. CALL YOUR HEALTHCARE PROVIDER IMMEDIATELY IF YOU THINK YOU MAY HAVE A MEDICAL EMERGENCY. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider prior to starting any new treatment or with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition.
Copyright © 2012 EBSCO Publishing All rights reserved.
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Teaching more than math
Debate over the utility of high school math courses often accompanies the beckoning school year. I revisit Andrew Hacker's New York Times column “Is Algebra Necessary?” from last summer and provide the obvious, unpopular, answer: Yes.
Will students ever need to graph a linear function or find points of discontinuity in their later professional lives? No. Most students' use of high school algorithms ends with formal education.
So why learn it? Because, when taught with the goal of creating powerful habits of mind, mathematics empowers students to flex their creative and analytic problem-solving skills in ways that no other discipline does. Yes, the classroom experience can be mind-numbing. If regurgitating an algorithm is all that's required, a student will, and should, glaze over in bored frustration.
I used to be a stultifying teacher, devoted to the lecture and concerned primarily with content coverage. Thankfully, experience and strong mentors revealed a truth obvious to master educators: Students are capable of far more than copying and pasting. Dialogue, debate and challenge of generalization fill my current classroom. I have higher hopes for my students than the ability to merely duplicate a task. I want them to actively engage, demand proof and justify cogently. Are these skills necessary for the welfare of future generations? Yes.
The next time you engage in the algebra debate, ask yourself, “Is your aversion to algebra or to the classroom?” If the latter, the focus should be on the quality of instruction. Don't throw out algebra with an inexperienced teacher.
The writer teaches mathematics at The Ellis School's Upper School.
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Richard Ornstein, a Jewish refugee from Austria, contracted to purchase a home for his family in the Sand Point Country Club area of Seattle in late 1952. Unknown to both Ornstein and the seller, the property’s deed contained a neighborhood-wide restrictive covenant barring the sale or rental of the home to non-Whites and people of Jewish descent. In spite of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that deemed racial restrictive covenants unenforceable in 1948, Ornstein’s case reveals that this ruling yielded little power over the application of these restrictions on the individual level. Daniel Boone Allison, Head of the Sand Point Country Club Commission, approached the realtor negotiating the sale and announced: “the community will not have Jews as residents.” Over the next several weeks Allison campaigned to stop the sale by both citing the covenant barring the sale of homes to Jews and by threatening Ornstein with a list of ways intolerant area residents “could” respond to the presence of the Ornstein family in the neighborhood. Despite the willingness on the part of the home seller, despite the support of civil rights activists, and despite the 1948 court ruling, Ornstein eventually became a victim of Allison’s threats and “made it clear that he [had] no intention of moving” into an area that did not accept his presence.
What happened to Richard Ornstein is part of a long and extensive history of racial restrictive covenants and housing segregation in Seattle. Throughout the 1920s, 1930s and 1940s, restrictive covenants played a major role in dictating municipal demographics. Neighborhoods in North Seattle, West Seattle, South Seattle and in the new suburbs across Lake Washington adopted deed restrictions to keep out non-White and sometimes Jewish families. Some central neighborhoods in Capitol Hill, Queen Anne, and Madison Park also armed themselves with covenants. By the end of the 1920s, a ring of deed restrictions meant that people of color had few options. The older areas of the Central District and Chinatown were nearly the only “open neighborhoods” in Seattle. African Americans, Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans and some of the region’s Jewish population shared a ghetto that followed an L-shape from the International District, east along a corridor of blocks surrounding the Jackson Street, then north in another corridor surrounding 23rd Avenue to Madison. Covenants lost the force of law after 1948, but the map of segregation they helped to create lasted much longer.
What is a Racial Restrictive Covenant?
The Civic Unity Committee, in a 1946 publication, defined racial restrictive covenants as: “agreements entered into by a group of property owners, sub-division developers, or real estate operators in a given neighborhood, binding them not to sell, lease, rent or otherwise convoy their property to specified groups because of race, creed or color for a definite period unless all agree to the transaction.” When a restrictive covenant existed on a property deed or plat map, the owner was legally prohibited from selling to members of the specific minority group or groups listed in the covenant. These contracts thus hampered the individual freedoms of the signer and all future property owners to sell to whomever they chose. If an owner violated the restriction, they could be sued and held financially liable. Because of this legal obligation, racial restrictions were rarely contested, which is the key reason why they were so effective. In addition, the use of racial restrictive covenants removed the need for zoning ordinances. In that way, they served to segregate cities without any blame being placed on municipal leaders.
The popular use of racial restrictive covenants emerged in 1917, when the U.S. Supreme Court deemed city segregation ordinances illegal. In Buchanan v. Warley, the court ruled that outright segregation ordinances violated the Fourteenth Amendment. In the aftermath of this ruling, segregationists turned to restrictive neighborhood covenants and a decade later, the Supreme Court affirmed their legality. The 1926 ruling in Corrigan v. Buckley stated that while states are barred from creating race-based legislation, private deeds and developer plat maps are not similarly affected by the Fourteenth Amendment. This is because individuals entering into covenant agreements are doing so of their own volition, whereas segregation ordinances were forced upon populations from the state and municipal levels. Racial restrictive covenants consequently superseded segregation ordinances as instruments to promote and establish residential segregation among races in U.S. cities.
The National Housing Act of 1934 also played a part in popularizing these covenants. Passed during the Great Depression to protect affordable housing, the Housing Act introduced the practice of “redlining,” or drawing lines on city maps delineating the ideal geographic areas for bank investment and the sale of mortgages. Areas blocked off by redlining were considered risky for mortgage support and lenders were discouraged from financing property in those areas. This legislation was intended to ensure that banks would not over-extend themselves financially by exceeding their loan reserves, but it resulted in intensified racial segregation.
The Housing Act encouraged land developers, realtors and community residents to write racial restrictive covenants to keep neighborhoods from being redlined. This trend can be seen on the red-lined “residential security maps,” which essentially divided cities according to their racial demographics in order to determine the economic desirability of certain neighborhoods. This practice provided a financial justification for racial restrictive covenants and allowed for their popular use. On top of this, redlining made it exceedingly more difficult for non-Whites to purchase property because financing was refused in the only neighborhoods they were able to live.
In 1945, an African American couple named J.D. and Ethel Shelley knowingly purchased a restricted home in St. Louis, Missouri. They made the purchase in order to protest the legitimacy of the restrictive covenant that had been drafted by the St. Louis Real Estate Exchange, resulting in the court case titled Shelley v. Kraemer. The following year, the circuit court decided that the restrictive covenant was unenforceable because it had been haphazardly assembled. The Missouri Supreme Court, however, rejected that ruling and upheld the covenant by invoking Corrigan v. Buckley. Traveling up to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1948, the final court decision in the case of Shelley v. Kraemer favored the Shelleys. The Court ruled that although racial restrictive covenants are private, not government contracts, they are nonetheless legally unenforceable, as they are in violation of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. This ruling was a milestone in the campaign against racial restrictive covenants, but it did not put a stop to their use. Although racial restrictive covenants were no longer legally enforceable, they were not illegal to establish and privately enforce. Despite the court decision, these null and void restrictive covenants continued to govern where minority individuals were able to reside.
Social enforcement had always been as important as legal enforcement by the courts in upholding racial restrictions. This is apparent in the threat tactics employed by Daniel Boone Allison to prevent the Ornstein family from moving to Sand Point. According to a report by Leonard Schroeter, Director of the Anti-Defamation League, Allison “warned that Mr. Ornstein would not be allowed to move in or that if he moved in, he would regret it.” “Mr. Allison also warned that if the Ornsteins moved in, their child ‘could’ be made uncomfortable, their driveway ‘could’ be blocked off, and the streets and their utilities ‘could’ be cut off.” More details emerge in a questionnaire developed by Sand Point Methodist Community Church, which was meant “to determine the attitudes of the residents of Sand Point on restrictive covenants.” Residents were asked to respond to a hypothetical scenario that was very similar to the Ornstein Case, in which an area leader “tells the realtor who brought buyer and seller together that the sale must be stopped. He says that if it is not stopped that restrictive covenants will be used to see that the buyer does not move in.” More ominously, “[if] the buyer manages to move in anyways he is to be warned that the community will make him very uncomfortable.”
“The discomfort that a violator of these rules may suffer may include such things as having his realtor blacklisted from business activity in the community. Or it may mean that the buyer will be given a lot of difficulty in obtaining sewer, water, roadway and other services. Sometimes it means that his driveway is blocked off, his children are roughed up, and his property is damaged or littered up. Sometimes it only means that the family is given a very cold shoulder by the community”
Respondents to this survey were asked a series of questions asking how they felt about the given situation and how realistic they found the proposed outcome to be.
The report notes that “unfortunately, the night before the survey was to be conducted, Mr. Allison and those working with him called or visited most of the residents in the Sandpoint development and warned them not to participate in the survey.” As a result, only 34 residents of the 158 homes visited participated, and only a small percentage of those respondents indicated that they opposed Allison and the use of racial restrictive covenants.
Despite the fact that the law no longer supported restrictive covenants, Allison and his allies successfully prevented the sale and upheld the covenant. The Civic Unity Committee and the Anti-Defamation League held meetings and discussed establishing educational programs to combat prejudices but, in the end, it was the social enforcement of the restrictive covenant that held the most weight in determining how the situation was resolved.
The success of social enforcement in upholding racial restrictive covenants even after Shelley v. Kraemer was enhanced by the growing involvement of realtors in the matter. In his study of St. Louis, historian Colin Gordon wrote that "the use of restrictive covenants grew alongside the modern real estate industry and the urban boom of the early twentieth century.” And, according to the Code of Ethics for the National Association of Real Estate Boards that was enforced in Seattle in the early 1950’s, a realtor “should never be instrumental in introducing into a neighborhood a character of property or occupancy, members of any race or nationality, or any individuals whose presence will clearly be detrimental to property values in that neighborhood.” As the “residential security maps” illustrated, it was genuinely believed that the presence of racial minorities in Seattle neighborhoods would bring down real estate values. Therefore, realtors encouraged racial segregation in order to maintain property values and sell housing.
Twenty years after the Supreme Court ruling in Shelley v. Kraemer, The Fair Housing Act of 1968 was passed. This prohibited “discrimination of sale, rental, and financing of dwellings and other housing-related transactions, based on race, color, national origin, religion, sex….” This law officially made the use of racial restrictive covenants in housing illegal. The 1968 law essentially filled in the gap that Shelley v. Kraemer left, and prohibited restrictive covenants from being upheld both privately and judicially. Actions taken to uphold racial restrictive covenants, such as those taken by Allison against Ornstein, were finally banned. However, this ruling did not force the removal of racial restrictions from property deeds. As a result, a language of segregation remains in the fine print of deeds all over the country and acts as a historical reminder of the segregationist systems that for so long mapped Seattle and other cities.
Database of Covenants
Seattle’s first known racial restrictive covenant was written in 1924 by the Goodwin Company and applied to three tracts of land and one block of the company’s development in the Victory Heights neighborhood in north Seattle. Over the next two and a half decades, until 1948, hundreds of other covenants were written. To date, student researchers for the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project have located 414 racial restrictive covenants and deed restrictions in the King County Recorders office, covering tens of thousands of homes in Seattle and suburban King County. This database provides a wealth of information about the geography of segregation, about the developers and homeowners who practiced this form of segregation, and about the curious language of racial exclusion.
Land developers and real estate companies wrote most of the region’s racial restrictive covenants. The easiest way to impose deed restrictions on large areas was before the parcels were sold and developed. Some developers included restrictions in the plat maps filed with the County Recorder. Others affixed deed restrictions as they sold off parcels or blocks. As a result, properties that were subdivided after 1926 were more likely to be restricted than those in the older areas and that means that North and South Seattle and the suburbs were more thoroughly restricted than neighborhoods that are more centrally located.
The biggest names in land development were also the biggest names in Seattle’s segregation industry. The Goodwin Company, South Seattle Land Company, Seattle Trust Company, Puget Mill Company, Crawford & Conover Real Estate partnership—these firms subdivided hundreds of acres and laid out neighborhoods throughout the region, always with racial restrictions permanently following the deeds. No name was bigger than W.E. Boeing, the founder of Boeing Aircraft Company Between 1935 and 1944, Bill Boeing and his wife Bertha set aside a massive tract of land north of Seattle city limits for subdivision, including the future communities of Richmond Beach, Richmond Heights, Innis Arden, Blue Ridge and Shoreview. As they plotted those developments, Bill and Bertha added racial restrictive covenants to property deeds. A typical covenant for one of Boeing’s developments reads as follows:
“No property in said addition shall at any time be sold, conveyed, rented, or leased in whole or in part to any person or persons not of the White or Caucasian race. No person other than one of the White or Caucasian race shall be permitted to occupy any property in said addition of portion thereof or building thereon except a domestic servant actually employed by a person of the White or Caucasian race where the latter is an occupant of such property.”
Although the language varies among W.E. Boeing’s covenants, each states that only White or Caucasian individuals may live on Boeing property, with the exception of domestic servants.
The Goodwin Company used very similar verbiage in the covenants attached to the subdivisions it developed in the Northgate, Hawthorne Hills, Lake City, Lake Ridge, and Windermere neighborhoods from 1924 to 1938. The Goodwin property deeds similarly stated that property could not be sold: “to any person not of the White race; nor shall any person not of the White race be permitted to occupy any portion of said lot or lots or of any building thereon, except a domestic servant actually employed by a White occupant of such building.” The Seattle Trust Company, another large developer which developed large areas of Shoreline, parts of Lake Forest Park, and the Bryant and Haller Lake areas, likewise allowed only members of the White or Caucasian race to purchase or rent their restricted properties.
Not all developers used homologous and consistent language regarding “any person not of” the White or Caucasian race in their restrictive covenants. Developers like the South Seattle Land Company often listed the specific races restricted from purchasing their properties. For example, covenants established by the South Seattle Land Company frequently maintained that no “part of said property hereby conveyed shall ever be used or occupied by any person of the Ethiopian, Malay, or any Asiatic race.” In a 1930 covenant, the South Seattle Land Company also listed “Hebrews” among the races restricted from occupying their properties in the McMicken Heights and Beverly Park neighborhoods. To clarify, from the 1920s to 1940s terminology, “Hebrews” meant Jews; “Ethiopians” meant African ancestry; “Malays” meant Filipinos; and “Asiatic” meant anyone from the Asian continent.
Some of Seattle’s racial restrictive covenants made use of even more specifically exclusionary terms. A set of 1946 restrictive covenants established by the Puget Mill Company for the Lake Forest Park area listed Hawaiians as a restricted race. The Puget Mill Company also named specific Asian countries in covenants applied to Sheridan Park, prohibiting Chinese and Japanese individuals from moving to that neighborhood. In covenants applied to the Broadmoor neighborhood developed by the Puget Mill Company, property could not be “occupied by any Hebrew or by any person of the Ethiopian, Malay or any Asiatic Race.” Interestingly, no restrictive covenants that excluded Mexicans or Native Americans have been found to-date, although such restrictions were common in Los Angeles and a few other U.S. cities.
White Neighbors Organize
Land development companies were responsible for most but not all of the racial restrictive covenants in Seattle. In some areas, homeowners themselves organized campaigns to restrict their own properties. This was most common in the older areas of the city that had been developed before the 1920s. Much of Seattle had already been plotted and developed before the era of racial covenants. In those neighborhoods, homeowners’ associations and homeowners themselves engaged in a more complicated process of establishing deed restrictions.
The best example of this occurred in Capitol Hill. Worried that African American families might seek housing north of Madison Ave, a group of white homeowners in the upscale neighborhood of Capitol Hill began a campaign in 1927 to change all of the deeds in the area. This was a more complicated undertaking than adding a restriction to newly subdivided property. An extensive effort was required to convince the hundreds of homeowners to sign on to the restrictive covenant that would bind their property and limit their freedom and that of future owners. Just who led the campaign is not clear, but it seems to have been associated with the Capitol Hill Community Club. In a letter written 20 years later, Martha B. Cook, a club leader, stated that “a small group of interested people worked and kept 90 blocks [of Capitol Hill] safe through racial restrictions.” She went on to extol the “mutual benefits, protection, preservation and promotion of the value of that land and properties” achieved through the covenant campaign. According to Katherine Pankey, a University of Washington student who examined the Capitol Hill covenants in 1947, the restrictions ultimately covered 183 blocks and required the signatures of 964 homeowners.
The campaign lasted more than three years as organizers persuaded block after block of white property owners to sign the agreement in the presence of a notary. The first of the covenants was filed with the County Recorder on October 10, 1927. It covered the twenty properties in the block surrounded by 21st and 22nd Ave N between Aloha and Prospect. E.A and Lillian Goetz were listed first among the nineteen property owners, mostly couples, who signed. Targeting African-Americans but not mentioning Asian Americans, its wording was shared by most of the Capitol Hill covenants:
“The parties hereto signing and executing this instrument and the several like instruments relating to their several properties in said district, hereby mutually covenant, promise and agree each with the other, and for their respective heirs and assigns, that no part of the lands owned by them as described following their signatures to this instrument, shall ever be used or occupied by or sold, conveyed, leased, rented or given to Negroes, or any person or persons of the Negro blood.”
Interestingly, the Capitol Hill covenants specified that they would expire in 21 years. This was in contrast to the restrictions placed on plat maps and deeds by land developers which were intended to be enforced in perpetuity. This expiration date came into play during the campaign to stop the use of racial restrictive covenants and will be discussed in more detail later in this essay.
Campaigns for restriction occurred in other neighborhoods, including Montlake, Madrona, and Queen Anne. Two real estate firms, F.W. Keen Company and J.L. Grandey, Inc., organized most of the racial restrictive covenants for Queen Anne from 1928 to 1931, using tactics nearly identical to those for Capitol Hill. They did change the language of restriction, specifying that “No person or persons of Asiatic, African or Negro blood, lineage, or extraction shall be permitted to occupy a portion of said property, or any building thereon; except domestic servants may actually and in good faith be employed by white occupants of such premises.”
One of the more interesting examples of a neighborhood-based campaign took place in the area known as Squire Park in the late 1920s. Located between Alder Street and Cherry Street from Fourteenth to 22nd Avenue, this two block area today is in the Minor neighborhood of the Central District. In 1928 white homeowners organized a covenant campaign and agreed to restrictions similar to the Capitol Hill campaign, again specifying that the signers “hereby mutually covenant … that no part of said lands owned by them … shall ever be used, occupied by or sold, conveyed, leased, rented or given to negroes, or any person or persons of the negro blood.”
Unlike most of the covenants which accomplished their segregationist goals, the Squire Park agreement at some point fell apart. The details are obscure. We don’t know how the covenant was broken and what kinds of efforts were made to enforce it. It appears from the list of 19 property owners who signed the document that not all houses in the two block area were covered. That might have undermined its effectiveness. In any case, by the late 1940s, some African American families were living in the neighborhood and in the next decade many more joined them.
White residents also failed to create effective covenant campaigns in other areas of Seattle. To date, few deed restrictions applying to Wallingford or Fremont neighborhoods have been discovered. It is not clear why Whites did not produce covenant campaigns in these areas. They may have had other means of maintaining exclusivity, as few non-whites managed to find homes in either area. In 1960 only 27 African Americans lived in Wallingford or Fremont, along with 21,823 Whites and 335 persons identified in the census as “other races.” This can be seen on the residential distribution maps on the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project’s website. The maps suggest little difference in the demography of Wallingford, where no covenants have been located, from the demography of Ballard, Loyal Heights, and Greenlake, where they were common. This reemphasizes the point that social enforcement of segregation was every bit as important as legally enforcing deed restrictions.
Racial Restrictive Covenants in Cemetery Deeds
Racial restrictive covenants affected non-White individuals in death as in life. Several Seattle cemeteries enforced “White Only” policies, with the racial restrictive covenants written into the deeds for individual grave-sites. According to a 1948 investigation by the Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE), this practice “made it difficult or impossible for non-Caucasians to purchase burial plots.” In 1948, “a Japanese citizen, Mr. Itoi Sr., passed on and his family suffered great difficulty, consuming a week’s time, before eventually finding a plot to bury the body.” That same year, another Japanese American was left unburied for upwards of five months “because most of the cemeteries [were] limiting interment to Caucasians.” Acacia Memorial Park in the Shoreline neighborhood of Seattle was one of the cemeteries preventing these two Japanese-Americans from purchasing burial plots, having made use of a restrictive covenant from 1929 through 1947. The Acacia Memorial Park covenant stated: “the grantee agrees that no transfer of said (lot) or portion thereof shall be valid unless conveyed to a member of the Caucasian race.” Washington Memorial Park also had a racial restrictive covenant established in 1934 by the Washington Cemetery Association.
Seattle's Campaign Against Racial Restrictive Covenants
Seattle’s minority populations resented and resisted racial restrictive covenants from the very beginning. The history of resistance actually starts earlier than the establishment of the first racial covenant in Seattle. In his book, The Forging of a Black Community (1994), Quintard Taylor details the life of African American journalist and politician for the Republican Party, Horace Cayton, and his family’s fight against racial discrimination. The Caytons were a prominent middle class Seattle family. Each member individually fought discrimination in the educational, labor, housing and other sectors in Seattle. In 1903, before restrictive covenants prevented Blacks from purchasing homes, the family moved to the Capitol Hill neighborhood. Six years later, in 1909, “a white realtor went to court, charging that the Horace Cayton family.…had caused real estate values to depreciate and asked that they be removed.” The Caytons fought back and prevailed in the court case, winning a victory that was important for the entire black community. Unfortunately, the victory was short-lived. Five months after this triumph, financial downfall forced the family to sell the house and leave the neighborhood.
The experience of the Cayton family demonstrates that members of the minority community were not content to remain inside of Seattle’s “ghettos.” Taylor further explains the continued effort by minority populations to move out of the Central District after the implementation of racial restrictive covenants. He writes of Elva Moore Nicholas, who remembered people walking all over the city in 1938 in search of adequate housing with “For Rent” signs. Nicholas maintained that when minorities viewed homes, “[they] had no protection, and they [the realtors] could say anything they wanted to say, and you just had to take it or else.”
These stories from Taylor’s book illustrate that while minority individuals tried to obtain better housing, a collective rather than an individual effort would be necessary to effect change. The Seattle chapters of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and the National Urban League campaigned against racial restrictive covenants from the 1920s and on. In the 1940s, the Christian Friends for Racial Equality and the Civic Unity Committee added their voices to the fight. Their combined effort yielded some victories.
The CFRE was founded in Seattle in 1943 and was a mostly female, multiracial, religious civil rights group that focused on examining and campaigning against inequalities in a variety of community areas. "Though rarely involved in legal campaigns, the CFRE pioneered in race and religious relations and laid the groundwork required to change community attitudes, thus enabling the success of political and legal campaigns in the Seattle area." Combating restrictive covenants was part of the agenda from the beginning. In its founding year, the CFRE began to collect the “satanic [c]ovenants” with the goal of publishing and distributing informational brochures. These brochures were meant to spread awareness of the existence of racial restrictive covenants and also “made an earnest effort to find Caucasian owners willing to sell to non-Caucasians.”
One victory in the struggle against racial restrictive covenants in Seattle came in 1946, when White residents of the Rainier District launched a campaign to impose restrictive covenants in response to an African American’s attempt to purchase a home there. The Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE) held a meeting protesting the restriction, and “circulated a list of people who might be called upon to help in such an emergency.” As a result of this effort, the Rainier racial restrictive covenant was successfully blocked.
The CFRE was also active during the 1940s and 1950s in working to desegregate cemeteries. In response to the refusal to bury the two Japanese Americans in 1948, Madeleine Morehouse Brake, the chairman of the CFRE, sent a letter to the Civic Unity Committee (CUC), a multiracial organization formed in 1944 to combat fears of racial violence in Seattle, requesting support for their campaign to “banish this undemocratic custom” of discrimination. After bringing this issue to the attention of other civil rights organizations, the CFRE also joined with the Puget Sound Association of Congregational Christian Ministers, an organization that went on record that year for “denouncing the discriminatory practices of certain Seattle cemeteries, in enforcing Restrictive Covenants and practicing segregation based on color or racial group.” It is not clear whether these actions changed cemetery policies.
A more successful campaign against racial restrictive covenants in Seattle centered in the Capitol Hill neighborhood in 1948, the year most of the Capitol Hill covenants were up for renewal. The Capitol Hill Community Club petitioned for area residents to extend their covenants in order to ensure the continued “protection” of the neighborhood. Furthermore, the Community Club hoped for a possible addition of residential blocks covered by restrictive covenants. In order to extend the covenants, new property titles needed to be notarized and filed with the city. The Community Club was asking for donations amounting to $3,000 from community members in order to cover this cost.
In response to this move on the part of the Community Club, the Civic Unity Committee (CUC), in alliance with the CFRE and NAACP, attempted to convince area residents not to extend their covenants. As part of this campaign, CUC published an informational booklet that answered questions on the scope and definition of racial restrictive covenants. This booklet maintained that having a non-White neighbor was not detrimental to either the quality of the neighborhood or to the real estate value of homes: “White people are apt to associate ill kept and unsightly neighborhoods with Negroes,” with the result that when a black family moves nearby, “white people may offer their property for sale at less than it is worth and move out with almost panic speed.” The CUC was compelled to mention this fact in their informational booklet because real estate devaluation was one of the most widely cited reasons for upholding racial segregation in Seattle. This publication was thus an attempt to educate Whites about the faulty logic behind certain prejudices, in order to persuade them to change their mind about the necessity for racial restrictive covenants.
Along with the pamphlet, the CUC sent letters to area residents, urging them not to sign the petition to renew the covenants. One Capitol Hill resident, a jewelry dealer named Harry Druxman, thoughtfully responded by stating that he could not “be party to deprive any one of their rights,” and as such had already declined to sign the petition prior to receiving the letter from the CUC. Harry Druxman’s response illustrates that some Whites by 1948 opposed racial segregation in Seattle. CUC’s letter campaign was a success, as not one of the Capitol Hill covenants was extended in 1948. The fact that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that summer that covenants would no longer have the force of law probably helped the CUC campaign.
Also joining the campaign against covenants in 1948 was The New World, a weekly Seattle-based Communist newspaper, which ran a series of articles exposing the effects of restrictive covenants. The first article, by editor Terry Pettus, plainly states that “citizens of Negro and Oriental ancestry, and (in some cases) Jews are prevented from buying or renting the homes of their choice,” due to restrictive covenants. No similar articles have yet been found in any of Seattle’s major newspapers. This newspaper, therefore, provided readers with information that had not been widely circulated.
As with publications distributed by the CFRE and the CUC, articles in The New World attempted to explain why minority populations remained so heavily concentrated in the city center and essentially acted as a primer explaining the “blight” of Seattle. In one such article, Pettus encouraged White readers to identify with minorities by describing the universally difficult experience of finding suitable housing. In the article, he maintains: “[Our] fellow citizens are subjected to an additional ‘handicap’—their color or religion.” Not only was this statement an attempt to appeal to readers’ consciences and inspire them into identifying with people of different skin colors or religions, it was also an effort to convey the difficulties racial minorities encountered due to restrictive covenants that had prevented them from finding adequate housing. Pettus states that covenants had “spread like a plague in Seattle” and that “these restrictive covenants account for Seattle’s notorious ‘Ghetto.’”
The New World attributed much of the factual information on covenants to the research accomplished by University of Washington student Katharine Pankey. For an Anthropology assignment, Pankey cataloged “eighty-five covenants for twenty different districts,” especially those covering the Capitol Hill neighborhood. She concluded by stating, “even though a non-White person surmounts the formidable barriers of economic inequalities, he still is not permitted to live where he might on the basis of his choice and the availability of homes.” This statement, and Pankey’s work in general, provided a candid portrayal of the experiences of non-Whites in an era when most Whites were still blissfully ignorant of the profound effects of racial restrictions.
Shelley v. Kraemer Decision
Efforts to block new restrictive covenants continued even after the Supreme Court ruled them unenforceable in the 1948 Shelley v. Kraemer case. The CFRE wanted “to believe that with the court decision such monstrosities [would] automatically die.” In reality, little changed. Realtors and white homeowners continued to refuse to sell to minorities while land owners filed new covenants. Nonetheless, the 1948 decision provided legal legitimacy to the campaign against the use of racial restrictive covenants.
In one early example, the Seattle City Council refused to accept a plat map for Windermere because it had a racial restrictive covenant. P. Allen Rickles of the CFRE sent a letter to the City Council in 1949, commending the Council for their action. According to Rickles, this “was the first time that this courageous position taken by the Seattle City Council on the subject of restrictive covenants was made public. It was especially commendable since it happened long before restrictive covenants were outlawed by our Supreme Court, and at a time when they enjoyed a certain popular approval.”
However, the City Council may have later waffled on their refusal to accept plat maps, as four years later the president of the Civic Unity Committee, John H. Heitzman, recommended to the City Council “that the city of Seattle establish a policy that no new plat of city property will be approved if it contains racial restrictive covenants." While M. B. Mitchell from the City Council replied that “it has long been the policy of the City Council that no new plats of city property be approved if they contain such restrictions,” it is doubtful that the CUC would have sent this letter if issues involving covenants had not persisted. After all, this was the same year that Richard Ornstein was bullied out of moving to the Sand Point Country Club area on the grounds of a racial restrictive covenant. Clearly, changes in municipal and legislative policy had not yet solidified.
1960s Open Housing Campaign
The campaign against racial restrictive covenants won several modest victories but did little to change overall housing patterns until the 1959 to 1968 fight for Open Housing in Seattle. Even though Shelley v. Kraemer prevented the enforcement of covenants, many White Seattleites still believed that the covenants were an acceptable form of social practice in the exchange and sale of housing. Well into the 1960s it was very difficult for African Americans or Asian Americans to find housing outside of the Central District, International District, Rainier Valley, or Beacon Hill.
In 1964, the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE) tested the discriminatory practices of Seattle’s housing industry by separately sending Black and White individuals of the same socio-economic standing to view the same apartment. Joan Singler, co-founder of Seattle CORE, said that she “could not remember a test for rental units where a black person went to apply for a rental unit and was actually given the rental unit. Almost 99% of the time the White person was offered the unit.”
While CORE was working to change social discrimination practices, in 1962 the Mayor’s Citizen Advisory Committee on Minority Housing advised the Mayor and City Council to create an ordinance for fair housing. This advice was initially ignored until March 10,1964, when a fair housing ordinance was put to a vote. That day, an ordinance proposing to prohibit discrimination in the sale, lease, or rental of housing based on race was voted down from 115,627 to 54,448. White Seattle was still not ready to desegregate. It was not until April of 1968 that an “open housing ordinance was passed unanimously by the City Council, with an emergency clause making it effective immediately.”
The road to “open housing” was a lengthy and arduous one. Arguments in support of racial restrictive covenants and segregation were premised on a faulty logic veiled with hypocrisy and difficult to change through any appeal to reason. Seattle realtors opposed open housing not only on the grounds that housing integration would cause real estate devaluation, but also by insinuating that open housing would force White people to relinquish both liberty and equal rights. Realtors printed and distributed flyers with banners proclaiming “Personal Freedom” and “Your Rights Are at Stake” as if open housing would frustrate rights rather than foster them. This approach was highly effective in swaying the general public. For example, a White Seattleite named Caroline Root sent a letter to the City Council in 1961, emphatically asking: “Why should 27,000 Negroes in this city tell 600,000 people how they may live, rent and sell?”
The realtors’ charge that an open housing law would limit fundamental freedoms and property rights was tragically hypocritical. A few years before, many of these same realtors had helped to write and defend restrictive covenants that expressly limited property rights, restricting owners’ freedom to sell to whomever they chose. Now the segregationists embraced the concept of freedom in a desperate attempt to maintain the system that was in place. Despite the faulty logic, the opposition was quite successful in convincing voters to reject the open housing law in 1964. Four year later, in 1968, the U.S. Congress finally passed the Fair Housing Act banning all forms of housing discrimination and bringing the campaign against racial restrictive covenants to a successful close.
Racial restrictive covenants have had a profound and lingering impact on the Seattle area, reflected even today in the distribution of minorities through the city and its suburbs. A look at the demographic maps from 2000 on the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project website, demonstrates that the majority of African Americans continue to live below the ship canal, primarily in the Central District and sprawling southward through Rainer Valley and into the southern suburbs. Asian Americans are more widely distributed, but are also more heavily concentrated in Central and South Seattle rather than in the North, which remains, along with Queen Anne, Magnolia, and West Seattle, largely White.
As this paper has illustrated, there is a long history behind these race-based housing patterns. From the 1920s to the 1960s, racial restrictive covenants prevented non-Whites from moving out of the "ghetto" and into neighborhoods where today they are still underrepresented. The history of racial restrictive covenants and racial segregation, while generally forgotten, is an immensely important aspect of Seattle’s past. It has left its mark on all Seattle neighborhoods and has shaped the demographics of Seattle’s residential neighborhoods.
Copyright © Catherine Silva 2009
HSTAA 498 Autumn 2008
Memo written by John H. Heitzman, 29 January 1953, Civic Unity Committee (CUC) Collection. University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections. Accession 479, Box 13, Folder 2.
Katharine I. Grant Pankey, “Restrictive Covenants in Seattle: A Case Study in Race Relations,” 1947, CUC Collection, Box 17, Folder 19.
Colin Gordon, Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the Fate of the American City (Philadelphia: University of Philadelphia Press, 2008), 71.
Several texts discuss the trajectory of racial restrictive covenants, including: Colin Gordon, Mapping Decline; Xavier De Souza Briggs, ed., The Geography of Opportunity: Race and Housing Choice in Metropolitan America (Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institution, 2005), 220-223; and Michael Klarmen, From Jim Crow to Civil Rights: The Supreme Court and the Struggle for Racial Equality (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 142-146.
The purpose of these maps was to graphically portray the trend in [economic] desirability in neighborhoods from a residential viewpoint. See Richard B. Pierce, Polite Protest: The Political Economy of Race in Indianapolis, 1920-1970 (Indianapolis: Indiana University Press, 2005), 60-62; Craig Steven Wilder, “Vulnerable People, Undesirable Places,” in A Covenant With Color: Race and Social Power in Brooklyn (New York: Columbia University Press, 2000), 175-200; Gordon, Mapping Decline, 109-111.
Gordon, Mapping Decline, 73.
Gordon, Mapping Decline, 82.
“Fact Sheet on Residential Discrimination with Proposed Plan of Action,” 30 January 1953, CUC Collection, Box 13, Folder 2.
“Sand Point Community Survey,” 1953, CUC Collection, Box 13, Folder 1.
“Fact Sheet on Residential Discrimination with Proposed Plan of Action.”
Gordon, Mapping Decline, 71.
Terry Pettus, “Greed of Real Estate Interests Reason for ‘Racial Covenants’,” The New World, 5 February 1948.
For details on the Fair Housing and Equal opportunity laws, see Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Information available online at: http://www.hud.gov/offices/ fheo/FHLaws.
Covenants for Victory Heights, 1924, from the Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants, in the possession of James Gregory and the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. For more on covenants, see:
Covenant for Innis Arden, 28 August 1941. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
Covenant for Windermere/Hawthorne Hills, 30 December 1938. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
Covenant for Beverly Park, 1933. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
“Racial Restrictive Covenants,” from the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Covenant for Broadmoor, 1928. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
Letter written by Martha B. Cook of the Capitol Hill Community Club, CUC Collection, 7 January 1948.
Katharine I. Grant Pankey, “Restrictive Covenants in Seattle: A Case Study in Race Relations.”
There may have been earlier petitions. This is the earliest date of those in the database. Covenant for Block 41, Capitol Hill addition to Seattle, District No. 6. Notarized by J. L. Fitzpatrick on 10 October 1927. In the possession of Professor James Gregory and the Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
Covenant for Squire Park, 17 August 1928. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
“Seattle Segregation Maps 1920-2000,” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Christian Friends for Racial Equality, “Chapter Seven: May 1948 to May 1949,” Twenty Year History (unpublished ms, n.d.), in Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE) Records, University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, Box 1, Folder 2.
Letter From: Madeleine Morehouse Brake To: Irene Miller, CUC Collection, 21 August 1948, Box 17, Folder 19.
Covenant for Briarcrest/Acacia Memorial Park, 1929. Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants.
The party responsible for establishing the covenant, as listed in the covenant, was The Washington Cemetery Association. See the Covenant for Washington Memorial Park, 1934, in the Database of Racial Restrictive Covenants. Also see the Washington Cemetery Association website: http://www.wcfa.us/. The Washington Cemetery Association created the racial restrictive covenant for the cemetery the same year that the organization was established (1934).
Michelle L. Goshorn, “Susie Revels Cayton: ‘The Part She Played,” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Quintard Taylor, The Forging of a Black Community: Seattle’s Central District from 1870 through the Civil Rights Era (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2003), 82.
For additional information on the Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE), see Johanna Phillips, “Christian Friends for Racial Equality: 1942-1970,” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project. Also see HistoryLink: http://www.historylink.org /index.cfm? DisplayPage=output.cfm&file_id=3164.
Johanna Phillips, “Christian Friends for Racial Equality: 1942-1970,” Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Christian Friends for Racial Equality, “Chapter Six: May 1947 to May 1948,” Twenty Year History.
Letter from Dorothy McClaine to Frank Bayley Sr., 29 April 1946, CUC Collection, Box 11, Folder 19.
Christian Friends for Racial Equality ,“Chapter Four: May 1945 to May 1946,”,Twenty Year History.
Letter From: Madeleine Morehouse Brake To: Irene Miller, CUC Collection, 21 August 1948, Box 17, Folder 19.
Christian Friends for Racial Equality, “Chapter Seven: May 1948 to May 1949,” Twenty Year History.
Letter written by Martha B. Cook of the Capitol Hill Community Club, CUC Collection, 7 January 1948
Pankey, “Restrictive Covenants in Seattle: A Case Study in Race Relations.”
Letter from to the Civic Unity Committee from Harry Druxman, CUC Collection, 1 May 1948.
Terry Pettus, “Seattle is Blighted by Restrictive Covenants,” The New World, 15 January 1948.
Pankey, “Restrictive Covenants in Seattle: A Case Study in Race relations.”
Christian Friends for Racial Equality, “Chapter Six: May 1947 to May 1948,” Twenty Year History.
Letter from Christian Friends for Racial Equality to City Council, 12 May 1949. Comptroller File 203110. Comptroller Files, 1802-01. Seattle Municipal Archives.
Letter from Civic Unity Committee to City Council, 12 June 1953, “The Seattle Open Housing Campaign, 1959-1968 - Digital Documents,” Seattle Municipal Archives, available online at: http://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits/Openhous/1953 Jun12.pdf, accessed 8 June 2009.
Interview, 6 October 2006, by Trevor Griffey and James Gregory and Trevor Griffey. Seattle Civil Rights and Labor History Project.
Caroline Root Statement, 5 December 1961, “Seattle Open Housing Campaign," Seattle Municipal Archives.
This sign at the entrance of Innis Arden advertised to all entering the Shoreline subdivision that it was a "restricted community."
The Communist Party Newspaper, New World, published articles attacking racial restrictive covenants in 1948.
[click to enlarge images]
A New World Map Shows Seattle's "Ghetto," 1948.
A January 22, 1948 New World column addresses the 1948 court struggles against racial restrictive covenants.
In 1948, theSupreme Court ruled 6 to 0 that agreements to bar racial minorities from residential areas are discriminatory and cannot be enforced by the courts.
The Ornstein Case
Fact Sheet on Ornstein's Residential Discrimination and Proposed Plan of action, January 30, 1953.
The questionnaire developed by the Sand Point Methodist Community Church, to reveal resident's attitudes towards racial restrictive covenants.
Civic Unity Committee Memo summarizing the Ornstein family's situation.
Housing restriction was publically condoned and enforced.
A Victory Heights plat map in the North Seattle area.
W.E. Boeing Neighborhood Developments
A pamphlet cover advertizing the Blue Ridge "restricted" neighborhood as "a beautiful place to build and own your home." Blue Ridge was one of several neighborhoods developed by Bill and Bertha Boeing.
This Blue Ridge list of "protective restrictions" is included in the same pamphlet that described the Blue Ridge area as "a beautiful place to build and own your home."
Lake Ridge was developed by the Goodwin Company and sold to the public as a "restricted" community. Click above to see the 1930 promotional brochure for the south Lake Washington neighborhood.
Restrictive covenants were a source of big profits for powerful real estate interests.
Capitol Hill Covenant Campaign
Capitol Hill Racial Restrictive Covenant.
27 property owners signed this 1927 petition to restrict property use on their block.
Plat map of Capitol Hill showing some of the blocks covered by the restrictive covenants filed by homeowners after 1927.
A letter from the Capitol Hill Community Club petitioning Capitol Hill residents to donate the funds necessary to protect Capitol Hill's racial restrictive covenants.
The Campaign Against Racial Restrictive Covenant
The Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE) Committee Against Discrimination appointed a cemetery committee to combat the problem of cemetery discrimination.
The Civic Unity Committee (CUC) issued this fact sheet on racial restrictive covenants in 1948 to educate others about the abuses of restrictive housing covenants.
This Christian Friends for Racial Equality (CFRE) Resolution to condemn Restrictive Covenants.
Carl Brooks, an outspoken civil rights activist, labor leader, and member of the Communist Party (CP), speaks out against racial restrictive covenants.
Civic Unity Committee (CUC) Meeting minutes from one of several meetings organized to combat racial restrictive covenants.
This January 1948 article from the New World argues that the race bans in Seattle's restricted housing areas created the "ghetto" in the city.
Katharine I. Grant Pankey's Report, "Restrictive Covenants in Seattle: A study in Race Relations."
Windermere racial restrictive covenant.
Because restrictive covenants often pushed black people out of restricted communities, the National Association of Real Estate Boards gathered to discuss housing provisions for "Negroes."
Realtors advertised housing developments to Nisei, even though they were restricted from purchasing housing in those developments.
With the help of the Seattle Urban League, one residential community sought to prevent an elderly Black woman from purchasing a home, all in the name of democracy.
Wedgewood Plat Map, 1948.
Broadmoor Restricted Residential Park, ca. 1934.
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Freedom's call is a global challenge
The world falls well short of the ideal of universal human rights but its people increasingly insist upon it.
'We want peace and we want freedom." The speaker was one Lebanese among hundreds of thousands who turned out in Beirut in the Arab world's biggest demonstration of modern times. The rally was held a month after the assassination of opposition leader Rafiq Hariri and was twice as big as a rally by the Syrian-backed Hezbollah last week. This week's rally drew from every main sect, with estimated numbers varying from 300,000 to 800,000. Even the lower figure is an astonishing show of popular will in a country with a population of fewer than 4 million. The assassination was a catalyst for ordinary Lebanese to protest against military and political domination by their dictatorial neighbour, Syria, and its proxies in Lebanon. Yet the rally exposed a problem: the lack of a leader with the singular authority to take their demands further. This underscores the crucial role of the world community, and of United Nations mediation in particular. International help is needed to ensure Syria relinquishes its grip on its neighbour.
The Lebanese still have many issues of their own to negotiate, but their aspirations are common to all people. They were even formally endorsed half a century ago: "The advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspirations of the common people," the preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights declares. Ever since, country after country has trampled upon this ideal and the global response has been wretched. When UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan accepted the 2001 Nobel peace prize, some observers regarded his speech's advocacy of the primacy of human rights over state sovereignty as radical. But that is what the 1948 declaration said.
What debate on the Iraq war exposed so uncomfortably is the lack of global will or clear legal mechanisms to intervene in countries whose people cry out for their rights and, all too often, for their lives. As with all law, hopes for international law, and its promise of peace and justice, will stand or fall on the universal observance of rights. The pattern of events in Lebanon and other areas of conflict is hopeful. It remains to be seen whether the free world fully understands why no people, with no individual or national exceptions, must be left to fight their own horribly uneven battles for human rights. | <urn:uuid:ae1ecf06-f364-4bc2-93dc-f86788ee987c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theage.com.au/news/Editorial/Freedoms-call-is-a-global-challenge/2005/03/16/1110913663573.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.96839 | 495 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Needle-Free 'Breathalyzer' for Daily Diabetes Testing Shows Promise
But first, device must undergo clinical studies
By Serena Gordon
WEDNESDAY, Nov. 13 (HealthDay News) -- People with diabetes have to prick their fingers multiple times a day to monitor their blood sugar levels, but researchers report that someday patients may be able to do that simply by checking their breath.
A hand-held device would measure levels of the chemical acetone in someone's breath. Acetone levels rise when blood sugar levels rise, and acetone is responsible for the sweet, fruity smell on the breath of people with diabetes who have high blood sugar levels.
What hasn't yet been proven is whether or not blood sugar levels reliably rise and fall with acetone levels, according to the study's lead researcher, Ronny Priefer, a professor of medicinal chemistry at Western New England University in Springfield, Mass.
"If we can successfully show that there is a linear correlation between acetone levels and blood glucose [sugar] levels, the ease of which an individual with diabetes can monitor their disease state should be dramatically simplified," Priefer said.
He added that a simple breath test to measure blood sugar levels might help patients better manage their disease, too, because it won't hurt like a finger prick to get the information needed to guide treatment decisions.
Results of the study were scheduled to be presented Wednesday at the annual meeting of the American Association of Pharmaceutical Scientists, held in San Antonio, Texas.
People with either type 1 or type 2 diabetes have to measure their blood sugar levels to monitor how well treatments are working. Blood sugar checks are especially important for people with type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disease that always requires treatment with insulin. People with type 1 diabetes may check their blood sugar levels as many as six or more times a day, according to JDRF (formerly the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation).
People with type 2 diabetes who use insulin also need to check their blood sugar levels more frequently than those who don't use insulin. For those dependent on insulin, a blood sugar check tells them whether or not they need more insulin, and helps guide the decision on how much insulin is needed. | <urn:uuid:5d898b55-8b77-447e-96fc-152f3525ec0e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.webmd.com/diabetes/news/20131113/needle-free-breathalyzer-for-daily-diabetes-testing-shows-promise | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936488 | 453 | 2.6875 | 3 |
- the act of inhabiting; occupancy
- a place in which to live; dwelling; home
- a colony or settlement
Origin of habitationMiddle English habitacioun ; from Old French habitacion ; from Classical Latin habitatio: see habitable
- The act of inhabiting or the state of being inhabited.
- a. A natural environment or locality.b. A residence.
Origin of habitationMiddle English habitacioun, from Latin habitati&omacron;, habitati&omacron;n-, from habitatus, past participle of habitare, to dwell; see habitable.
From Old French habitacion, abitacion (“act of dwelling”) | <urn:uuid:a61ed6cd-0d29-4e8d-ac8a-4abbfa9668df> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourdictionary.com/habitation | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.726826 | 146 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Is The Christmas Tree In Crisis? [Headlines]
Scientists in North Carolina are trying to blend characteristics to make the hardiest 'perfect' Christmas tree.
Christmas tree geneticist John Frampton rubs the sprigs of a two-inch seedling, planted two years ago from the seed of a fir cone from the Uludag Mountain region in western Turkey.
This Uludag seedling tube is one of thousands in a greenhouse at North Carolina State University, where Mr. Frampton tests DNA and blends characteristics of trees from around the world in search of the perfect Christmas tree. Wall Street Journal | <urn:uuid:8be74930-aecf-4e60-b244-b34ef2d930b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.psfk.com/2011/12/is-the-christmas-tree-in-crisis-headlines.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403826.29/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00048-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.863133 | 124 | 2.515625 | 3 |
(d. ca. 1587)
Copperplate etching with watercolour on paper
Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Sigmund Elsässer was a court painter of Archduke Ferdinand II. He recorded pageants, weddings, and other court festivities.
The so-called Kolowrat Wedding was carried out in copperplate etching, painted with watercolour, with explanatory text and captions printed in Gothic script. It depicts the tournament events arranged on the occasion of the marriage of Johann Lipsteinsky of Kolowrat with Katharina of Payrsberg, which took place from 14 to 16 February 1580 in Innsbruck. Although it deals with the marriage of a courtier - Kolowrat was the chamberlain of the Tyrolian sovereign, Archduke Ferdinand II - the Archduke used the occasion to stage these events as a triumph in the style of the courtly festivals of the era. He made them into a demonstration of his sovereign and dynastic authority and documented them through a series of prints. The printing was executed by the court painter Elsässer in accordance with the imperial printing privilege by Hans Baur (Johannes Agricola) in Innsbruck. | <urn:uuid:b325742b-41f7-4637-bf4f-241e00cbbba4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wga.hu/html/e/elsasser/wedding1.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956464 | 258 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Have you ever fried vinegar?
I don't know why I tried it, but if you try it you'll notice at least three things.
1. the vinegar drops shrink as the water in them evaporates
2. they become darker as the percentage of vinegar increases to 100%
3. they skate across the pan due to the Leidenfrost effect
I wondered about how this would look if you could stand on one of those vinegar drops.
From this relative perspective the other drops would appear to be moving further away.
Then I wondered, how would the universe look, if viewed externally.
Could it be like frying vinegar?
What if the size of the universe was fixed, and it was the matter that was shrinking?
What would that tell us about how the laws of physics would need to change so that we, the inhabitants, wouldn't notice?
At the very least, some physical constants would need to change:
1. the speed of light
2. how mass warps space
3. (add more constants here)
The one thing that couldn't be hidden by all this is quantum physics.
In quantum physics matter and energy are converted to each other with no loss.
Atoms are formed from protons and neutrons and the equations balance out perfectly.
It's fundamentally at odds with our everyday experience - where putting something together or taking something apart involves work, effort, energy.
What if the quantum world were no different from our world, except that quantum particles get their energy from the condensing universe? | <urn:uuid:f4631db7-06eb-4273-b03c-b7e8bdf1931a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://philipashmore.blogspot.ie/2012/08/the-condensing-universe.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.962332 | 319 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Although settlements existed on the site of Warsaw in the 11th cent., the city probably grew around a castle built in the 13th cent. by a duke of Mazovia. In 1413, Warsaw became the capital of the duchy of Mazovia, which was incorporated with Great Poland in 1526. After Kraków burned, Warsaw replaced it (1596) as Poland's capital. Warsaw grew rapidly as a commercial and cultural center, despite frequent invasions and pillages. It fell temporarily to the Swedes under Charles X (1655–56) and Charles XII (1702), was occupied by the Russians in 1792 and 1794, and passed to Prussia in 1795.
Liberated by Napoleon I in 1806, it became (1807) the capital of the grand duchy of Warsaw (see Poland) and was the scene in 1812 of a diet that proclaimed the reestablishment of Poland. In 1813, however, the city fell to the Russians, and in 1815 it became the capital of the nominally independent kingdom of central Poland, awarded by the Congress of Vienna to the Russian crown. Warsaw was the principal center of unsuccessful Polish uprisings against Russian domination in 1830 and 1863.
German forces took the city in 1915, during World War I. In Nov., 1918, it was liberated by Polish troops and proclaimed capital of the restored Polish state. In 1920 the Polish defense of Warsaw, led by the French general Maxime Weygand, turned the tide of the Russo-Polish War. The city was the scene in 1926 of a military coup that established Marshal Joseph Piłsudski's dictatorship.
During World War II the city was occupied (1939–45) by German troops and subjected to systematic destruction. In 1940 the Germans isolated the Jewish ghetto, which in 1942 contained about 500,000 persons. In reprisal for a Jewish uprising (Feb., 1943) in the ghetto, the Germans killed an estimated 40,000 of the Jews who had survived the battle. When Warsaw was liberated (Jan., 1945) by Soviet troops, only about 200 Jews remained.
From Aug. to Oct., 1944, some 40,000 members of the Polish nationalist underground and German troops battled for Warsaw. While the battle was raging the Soviet army, which was camped across the Vistula and which the partisans had hoped would come to their aid, remained inactive. The Germans routed the rebels and following their victory carried out severe reprisals, killing or expelling Warsaw's inhabitants and deliberately demolishing the city. By October about 15,000 partisans and more than 200,000 civilians had been killed and the city lay in ruins. The postwar decision to retain Warsaw as the national capital resulted in a large-scale reconstruction. In 1955, the Warsaw Pact established the now-defunct Warsaw Treaty Organization, the Eastern European counterpart to NATO. | <urn:uuid:df808df2-5c7f-4850-afb4-ed78333dacd9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.factmonster.com/encyclopedia/world/warsaw-history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395621.98/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00007-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977303 | 591 | 3.859375 | 4 |
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Former prisoners of Japanese internment camps seeking [#permalink]
15 Oct 2003, 02:47
50% (02:34) correct
50% (02:05) wrong based on 4 sessions
HideShow timer Statistics
1. Former prisoners of Japanese internment camps seeking monetary reparations from the government are often told, тАЬThere is neither wealth nor wisdom
enough in the world to compensate in money for all the wrongs in history.тАЭ Which of the following most weakens the argument above?
A) Prior wrongs should not be permitted as a justification for present wrongs.
B) Even though all wrongs cannot be compensated for, some wrongs can be.
C) Since most people committed wrongs, the government should compensate for wrongs with money.
D) Monetary reparations upset social order less than other forms of reparation.
E) Since money is the basic cause of the wrongs, should it not be the cure?
It is a myth that U.S. workers are pricing themselves out of the market. The wages of U.S. manufacturing workers increased at a slower rate in the 1970's than those of workers in other major countries. Between 1970 and 1980, pay increased 489% in Japan and 464% in Germany, compared to 128% in the United States. Even though these countries experienced faster productivity growth, their unit labor costs still rose faster than in the United States. During the 1970's, unit labor costs rose 192% in Japan, 252% in Germany, and only 78% in the United States.
According to the above passage:
A) unit labor costs in the 1970's were higher in Japan than they were in Germany or the United States
B) the wages of U.S. workers need to be increased to be consistent with other countries.
C) U.S. workers are more productive than Japanese or German workers
D) the wages of U.S. workers in manufacturing increased at a slower rate in the 1970's than the wages of workers in Japan or Germany
E) Workers in Japan and Germany work harder than workers in the U.S., and their wages have increased accordingly.
(B) The argument states that there can be no compensation for "all the wrongs in history," but the argument is about just one wrong of history. Even though all wrongs cannot be compensated for, some wrongs can be.
(D) Answers A and C are incorrect because they are simply not supported by the facts stated in the passage. Answer B is not necessarily true because the passage compares wages in terms of percentage increases, not actual wages. Answer D is almost identical to the second sentence in the passage, and is correct. | <urn:uuid:2d928c07-776d-45e5-9349-57038480d829> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gmatclub.com/forum/former-prisoners-of-japanese-internment-camps-seeking-3005.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.2/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950462 | 611 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Luba, A Traditional Ngada Village
Luba Village (pop: 200 people) was small, quiet and had just a few villagers sitting around. Ricardos referred to them as “Ladanese” ethnicity but even by surfing, spelling “Ladanese” differently, I couldn’t come up with any information. Ngada villages are composed of wooden pile houses with shake roofs that surround a main square. Organization has a lot to do with your clan, and its status in the pecking order. We entered Luba, registered, paid a 10,000 IDR donation and Ricardos got sidetracked by a man making machetes. A long discussion with him until Ricardos placed an order for a machete that wll be hung in his house to ward off evil spirits. I guess Machetes serve more than one function in Flores. Meanwhile, machete maker’s 90-year old mother sat in the shade sorting through her stash of betel nuts in preparation for a fast chew.
The Ngada are Roman Catholic, but still cling to animist beliefs: ancestor worship and sacrifice. Family members are buried next to their houses with an occasional bottle of Arak and other libations placed on the graves.
Many of the thatched roofs had unusual decorations on top; spears for protection, effigies, and small house replicas. Each had a meaning and was displayed on roofs of the most important clan members. I remember seeing a witch doctor’s house in West Africa with an effigy on top that, supposedly, could see visitors coming, and warn the witch doctor.
Houses were decorated with buffalo horns and pig jawbones that showed the family’s prosperity (similar to Toraja-land in Sulawesi). Luba had four male ancestor parasols (ngadhus) in the center square. I’ll refer to them as “totems” for ease. Each belonged to a specific clan and had different rituals associated with them. Before a male totem is built, a baby pig or dog is sacrificed and buried in this spot. The totem is completed and big stones piled around the main post; representing this clan’s generations, male and female descendants. A water buffalo, a symbol of fertility, is then tied between the male ancestor symbol and a wall; its throat cut in a way so blood spatters on the totem; and the ceremony is over. Time to dance, drink Arak and celebrate
There were also three female ancestor houses (bhagas) opposite the male ancestor houses that resembled small rice granaries. Unlike the male totems, Female ancestor houses are only built when someone has a vision. The fourth bhaga had fallen apart, and until someone in the clan has a vision, it will not be rebuilt. (The embedded video will tell you everything!)
It was only a short walk from Luba downhill to Bena Village.
Sharing is caring: | <urn:uuid:9eb96c19-ec75-4cad-9043-c381395aeacc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://travelswithsheila.com/luba-a-traditional-ngada-village.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973099 | 617 | 2.625 | 3 |
For release: Wednesday, March 26, 2003
Researchers have developed a genetic test that detects a common form of muscular dystrophy with 99 percent accuracy. The accurate diagnosis of myotonic muscular dystrophy type 2 (DM2) allows researchers to fully describe its clinical features for the first time.
"So many DM2 patients have been undiagnosed or misdiagnosed," says John W. Day, M.D., Ph.D., of the University of Minnesota Department of Neurology and Institute of Human Genetics in Minneapolis. "By establishing a correct diagnosis, we can start to treat people much more effectively and estimate risks in families with a history of the disease."
The study, co-authored by Dr. Day and Laura Ranum, Ph.D., and their colleagues in the University of Minnesota Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development and the Institute of Human Genetics, was funded in part by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke and appeared in the February 2003 issue of Neurology. 1
The muscular dystrophies (MD) are a group of genetic diseases characterized by progressive weakness and degeneration of the muscles that control movement. Myotonic dystrophy, the most common type of MD in adults, affects the eyes, heart, hormonal systems, blood, and muscles.
DM2 has been difficult to diagnose for two main reasons. First, DM2 affects many different parts of the body, so people with the disease often visit several specialists to treat different symptoms and rarely get a diagnosis of DM2. Second, there has been no simple and reliable test for the disease. Although the DM2 mutation was identified by this group in 2001, the mutation is so large and unstable that standard methods of genetic testing do not reliably detect the abnormality.
Drs. Day and Ranum designed an improved method for detecting the DM2 mutation and then characterized the clinical features of the disease in 379 individuals with genetically confirmed DM2.
The new test, dubbed the DM2 "repeat assay," uses a two-step procedure that allows the detection of large mutations missed with standard testing. The researchers basically combined a genomic test called Southern analysis with a modified version of the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test.
This repeat assay successfully detected the DM2 mutation in 99 percent of cases, compared to 80 percent by genomic Southern analysis alone.
"Now that we have the ability to genetically diagnose the disorder, we’re realizing that DM2 is much more common than was previously recognized," says Dr. Day. Before this study, only 2 percent of myotonic dystrophy cases were thought to be DM2.
Dr. Day says DM2 may turn out to be as common as the more severe form, DM1, which was thought to account for about 98 percent of myotonic dystrophy cases before this study.
DM1 occurs in about one of every 7,000 people worldwide. DM1 is found in all ethnic groups, but DM2 had previously been found only in people of European origin, particularly those of German descent.
Among DM2 patients with a genetically confirmed diagnosis, the researchers found that the clinical features of DM2 closely resemble those of adult-onset DM1, with common features including progressive weakness, difficulty relaxing muscles after voluntary contraction has stopped, muscle and cardiac problems, cataracts, and insulin insensitivity.
Despite the striking similarities between the two diseases, Dr. Ranum notes that there are important differences, namely that DM1 has a broader range of ages of onset and sometimes presents with significant symptoms at birth, while DM2 usually starts in early adulthood.
"We wanted to define the clinical features of DM2 not only to compare it to DM1, but also to gain a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms of the disease," says Dr. Ranum. "The clinical similarities between DM1 and DM2 tell us that the mutations causing them have similar effects at the cellular level." Both forms of the disease are caused by large, unstable repetitive DNA sequences in genetic regions that lack instructions for proteins.
The researchers plan to continue studying the biological mechanisms of DM2. "We’re excited about this new test and this new information about myotonic dystrophies," says Dr. Ranum. "Our research efforts are now focused on understanding the biology of the mutations that lead to these diseases."
The new DM2 test is available to the general public from Athena Diagnostics of Worcester, Massachusetts.
The NINDS is a component of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, part of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, and is the nation's primary supporter of biomedical research on the brain and nervous system.
Reference:1 Day JW, Ricker K, Jacobsen JF, Rasmussen LJ, Dick KA, Kress W, Schneider C, Koch MC, Beilman GJ, Harrison AR, Dalton JC, Ranum LPW. "Myotonic dystrophy type 2: molecular, diagnostic and clinical spectrum." Neurology, February 2003, pp. 657-664.
- By Tania Zeigler
Last Modified April 16, 2014 | <urn:uuid:24b6ede9-e508-4bb1-9d59-bcdc7e01c2ad> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ninds.nih.gov/news_and_events/news_articles/news_article_myotonic_dystrophy.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00131-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.950932 | 1,063 | 3.40625 | 3 |
After three years and $2.2 billion of construction, California has just flipped the switch for the planet's largest solar thermal plant—the 392 megawatt Ivanpah Solar Electric Generating System.
Ivanpah's 300,000 heliostatic mirrors—they reflect and concentrate light around a central molten salt-filled tower, rather than convert light to electricity like photovoltaics—sit on 3,500 acres of federal land in Mojave, CA. The project has received major funding not only for the DoE but also Google, NRG Energy, BrightSource Energy, and Bechtel.
While only the first of the system's three central towers has begun operating, it's already feeding power back into the PG&E (Pacific Gas & Electric) grid. And when the remaining two will be activated in the coming weeks, Ivanpah is expected to produce enough energy at peak to power 140,000 homes while reducing carbon emissions by some 400,000 tons per year over its 30-year service life. [Inhabitat] | <urn:uuid:7cec05ce-5b29-4e40-8e1a-0338dc37feec> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gizmodo.com/the-worlds-largest-solar-thermal-power-plant-is-now-on-1402335331 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00092-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917204 | 218 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Category: Health & Hygiene
Author: Donna J. Shepherd www.donnajshepherd.com
Artist: Kevin Scott Collier www.kevinscottcollierhomepage.blogspot.com
Hardcover ISBN: 9781616336530
Print ISBN: 9781933090603
eBook ISBN: 9781933090818
Donna J. Shepherd’s snappy rhymes along with the 15 colorful and fun illustrations by Kevin Scott Collier help children see the need to protect their skin in the sun. Sun Safety Tips in the back of the book reinforce the book’s theme.
Purchase Hardcover Book is a Double Doozie! 2 BOOKS IN ONE! NO MORE GUNK and OUCH! SUNBURN retail $19.95 ON SALE NOW FOR $15.95+$6.95 S&H
"Ouch! Sunburn is a cute story that warns against the potential of sunburn. In rhyme form, we watch a young child enjoying the sun. Mother warns that too much sun will cause sunburn and the little one finds out the hard way that this Mother was telling the truth. After this difficult experience, the child is more willing to take the precautions so that sunny days can be enjoyed without the worry of sun damage.
Sometimes, it is really difficult to get little ones to take precautions to protect themselves from sunburn. As adults, we know that sunburn isn’t just an irritation. The potential realities can be quite terrifying. Ouch! Sunburn is a good story that reiterates the necessity of being careful without scaring the little ones."
--Tami Brady, TCM Reviews http://tcm-ca.com/reviews/1968.html
"Sunburn is a big problem. Parents, adults and kids are out under the sun without considering the long-term consequences and they can be severe. As a kid, I seldom thought about sunscreen. Few did. Getting the message down to their level is one way to start. OUCH! SUNBURN gets the message of sun protection across with a simple story told in rhyme with illustrations dished up with color, movement and a hint of humor. Recommended that parents and kids read this book together—then follow the suggestions."
--Carolyn R Scheidies, Reviewer, Author's Choice Reviews (http://idealinhope.com/bookreviews/pictureBooks.html)
"The charming rhyming prose Donna uses along with Kevin's fun, colorful illustrations, make this book lots of fun for children to learn how to protect their skin from sunburns. At the end, Donna again gives Ouch! Sunburn Extra Tips, of course, in rhyme. My favorite: "When you're out from ten to two. Play in Shade. Smart Kids do." WHERE WAS THIS BOOK WHEN I WAS GROWING UP? This is a must-have to teach your child safety in the sun at an early age."
-- Gayle Jacobson-Huset, Assistant Editor, Stories for Children Magazine (http://storiesforchildrenmagazine.org/)
"Ouch! Sunburn tells the story of a boy who decides that protecting himself from the sun is too much work. You’ll have to read the story to find out what happens! Donna J. Shepherd has written another fun story for kids to help learn why suntan lotion and sunglasses are important. Kevin Scott Collier’s illustrations are bright and fun".
--Nancy Cavanaugh, Editor, Fandangle Magazine
"FIVE STARS ! A Valuable Mixture of FUN and Practical Some books for children from ages 4 to 8 are just fun to read--over and over. NO MORE GUNK combines fun with practical. Parents are able to help their children understand the value of consistently brushing their teeth and removing gunk. The snappy rhymes combine with vivid illustrations from Kevin Collier and the combination is irresistible. While not evident on the front cover, you get two books for the price of one with this title. OUCH SUNBURN! teaches the danger from the sun and how small children can protect themselves. Simple thoughtful words combine with terrific artwork. If you have small children, this book could become a read aloud favorite."
--W. Terry Whalin- reviewer, Agent / Editor / Writer | <urn:uuid:e16201ca-5c20-4359-b363-1c74f0cbbf88> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.guardianangelpublishing.com/ouch!sunburn.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397797.77/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00089-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897619 | 902 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Growing twice as fast as forced unionization states
There have been many studies debating the merits of right-to-work legislation. Because state economies are so large and complex, it is difficult to tease out exactly how much of an effect different policies can have.
For example, consider that Michigan gains and loses approximately 800,000 jobs every year.
In the past few decades, and certainly in the 10 years and since the national recession, low-tax, right-to work states have been gaining the most in population, jobs and income. Some economists attribute this at least partly to those policies while others claim different factors, like weather, family or college connections.
Where people move does not always tell you which states are pursuing good policies. But because people are taking in the bulk of economic results — job creation, income growth, housing costs, etc. — and then making a decision to move or stay, migration is perhaps the most important general statistic to consider when evaluating states.
And right-to-work states are still significantly outperforming their counterparts.
According to the latest Census numbers, right-to-work states (excluding Michigan, which switched during the year) grew twice as fast as non-right-to-work states in 2013. And since 2010, worker freedom states grew 3.2 percent (by 3.95 million people) compared to 1.6 percent (2.71 million people) in forced unionization states.
Government policies can make people’s lives better or worse. Right-to-work laws make states better. | <urn:uuid:cefcc979-c1f1-4096-ae59-55df7cc9685d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mackinac.org/19545 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00174-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961207 | 317 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Did you ever wonder why some species have a lot of offspring and provide only short-term limited care for their young, while others have few offspring and provide long-term intensive care? These differences in reproductive strategies have been the object of scientific investigation and debate for years.
Some scientists believe that animals living in variable environments (those subject to periodic droughts, etc.) can maximize their reproductive success by having numerous young when conditions are favorable, so that at least some will survive. When conditions are poor, these same species reduce reproductive output by either choosing not to breed that year or by limiting their breeding attempts. In contrast, for animals that live in more stable environments, more of their offspring would be expected to survive, and their energy is better spent raising only a few very healthy young who can successfully compete with others.
Taking a bit of a different angle, other scientists have argued that animals at the bottom of the food chain must have many offspring to compensate for the large numbers lost to predators, resulting in a large reproductive effort each year. This is purely a numbers game: Get enough young out there, and chances are good that some will survive the gauntlet.
Prairie-nesting ducks have evolved under both of these selective pressures, variable environments and high rates of predation. In ducks, one visible result of natural selection under high rates of predation is the drab coloration of females. Their drab plumage has been genetically shaped over many years, allowing hens to blend with the grasses and sedges where they place their nests, so that they are less conspicuous to predators.
Although there is variation among species, female ducks also lay about 10 eggs per nesting attempt, and most species show a strong tendency to renest if their first nest is destroyed. The overall strategy is to get as many eggs out there as they can when conditions are good, in the hopes that at least some will make it.
Scientists also believe that the behavioral and physical characteristics that have the greatest impact on reproductive success (i.e., the ability to pass on one's genes to the next generation) will undergo the strongest selective forces. Our current understanding of waterfowl population dynamics strongly suggests that nesting success and female survival during the breeding season are the two factors most limiting waterfowl reproductive success and population size. Therefore, natural selection should favor those traits and behaviors that increase nest success and survival. For example, brighter plumage in females might improve the frequency of courtship and pairing, but at the same time it would increase detection of nesting females by predators. If survival during the breeding season (drab coloration) is more limiting to reproductive success than early courtship and pairing (bright coloration), drab females will be more successful and pass their genes down to subsequent generations.
Today, waterfowl nest success across the prairies averages 15 percent, and only 72 percent of females survive the breeding season. This results in only 5 percent of all eggs that are layed surviving to produce a flying duck in the fall. What is interesting, though, is that these nest success percentages do not appear to be drastically lower than historic levels. Scientists estimate that before most of the wetlands were drained and the grass plowed under, waterfowl only experienced nesting success around 40 percent. No wonder females are drab and lay so many eggs. Predators have always been good at finding a needle in the haystack, and waterfowl have evolved strategies and behaviors to allow for this, while at the same time maintaining viable population levels.
The problem today is that the haystack has gotten much smaller. Ninety percent of the grasslands and 70 percent of the wetlands on the prairies have been lost. Under historic prairie circumstances, the prey community was undoubtedly very diverse, with predators choosing prey among several species of birds and small mammals such as rabbits, mice and voles. (Natural selection also worked to shape the appearance of all these species to improve their ability to avoid being detected.) But waterfowl today have fewer wetlands and grasslands to nest in, and the fragmentation of this habitat has also changed the predator community from one dominated by wolves and coyotes, which focus preying on small mammals, to one dominated by foxes, raccoons and skunks, species that tend to focus on ducks and their eggs.
Biologists also speculate that fewer small mammals such as mice and voles are available in small grassland fragments. The availability of this alternate prey can have significant impacts on waterfowl nest success. A recent study in California found that nest success was much higher in fields with abundant mice and voles across similar amounts of nesting cover. Experiments with several species of animals have documented that when looking for food, individuals choose situations that provide the highest probability for reward, and that they are able to learn from past and present experiences.
Based on this theory, prairie predators encountering mice and voles at high rates might shift their search patterns to focus on these prey items instead of nesting ducks and their eggs. In contrast, when mice and vole populations are low, predators may become more focused on duck nests. Unfortunately, our understanding of what drives mice and vole population dynamics on the prairies and the relationships of these small mammal populations to waterfowl nest success is lacking.
Despite all these changes, waterfowl continue to adapt as best they can. More birds are now settling in the prairies of the United States, where the Conservation Reserve Program and efforts of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Ducks Unlimited and other partners have provided extensive grasslands for upland-nesting ducks. In contrast to historic patterns, the U.S. prairies are now producing as many young each year as their prairie habitat counterparts in Canada. Current research in the U.S. prairies sponsored by DU shows that on landscapes containing 70 percent or more grassland, duck nest success rates are averaging 32 percent, with several at the 40 percent level, which scientists speculate was common before the prairies were so drastically altered. Compare this to 16 percent on landscapes containing less than 70 percent grassland. Enlarging the haystack not only makes nests more difficult to find, but it also favors a predator community dominated by coyotes and badgers instead of foxes, skunks and other species that favor preying on ducks and their eggs.
Predators and their prey have been involved in evolutionary warfare for eons, each changing and adapting to either improve efficiency at detecting and capturing prey, or improve efficiency at hiding from and escaping predators. Given time and a fairly natural environment, they have been able to strike a balance that allows populations of both to persist, although they may wax and wane with changes in weather and local habitat conditions.
The drab coloration of female ducks, selection of nest sites in dense upland cover, large number of eggs and propensity to renest have allowed waterfowl populations the ability to coexist with predators on the prairies for thousands of years. Over long periods of time, prey have been able to stay ahead of predators in the evolutionary arms race because they have a shorter generation time and, therefore, can genetically adapt faster. But, recently, man has changed this landscape drastically, quickly shifting the balance away from waterfowl and toward predators.
Our challenge is to protect and restore enough grassland in the right places to allow enough nests to hit their mark in favorable cover, so that waterfowl populations can be sustained well into the future. We owe these majestic and resilient creatures nothing less. | <urn:uuid:ba1a93b9-7eb0-4e0d-bfd0-60273e8e8a71> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ducks.org/printPage.aspx?documentID=1499 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00128-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958753 | 1,533 | 4.5 | 4 |
IceBite Blog: Setting Up an IceBreaker
The Science Cargo yard: due to the large number of researchers in the field this year, some cargo had to be stored between buildings. We were happy to find all of the drill parts among the boxes. Credit: M. Marinova
Since the arrival to the McMurdo station in the Antarctic two days ago, most of our time has been spent on assembling and testing our Mars prototype drill: the Icebreaker. Icebreaker was built to break into the hard icy soil of Mars.
On our first day at the McMurdo station we went to our laboratory and found that only two out of the eight boxes we shipped to Antarctic two months ago actually made it here. We were worried that the remaining six boxes may still be in New Zealand, or even worse in the US!
However, while walking to the Science Cargo building, we found all of our remaining boxes among other shipped items, lying on the frozen ground and waiting for their owners. We were ecstatic.
The following day, the McMurdo crew moved our boxes into the warm laboratory where we could put together the drill and test it.
Honeybee Robotics engineers Kris Zacny (l) and Gale Paulsen with the assembled Icebreaker drill outside the team’s laboratory in McMurdo Station, Antarctica.
At this time, all boxes are unpacked and every part that makes up the drill has been inspected.
We carefully looked at our rotary-percussive drill head that rotates the drill bit and also generates percussive or hammering action (similar to a hardware store drill). We wanted to make sure that all the internal mechanisms such as motors, gears, and bearings survived the trip to Antarctica. The drill head is quite complicated since it has to work in the extreme cold of Antarctic, and the combined extreme cold plus vacuum environment on Mars.
IceBreaker’s auger, a metal rod with an external thread, brings samples up from below the surface. A brush (center of image) then scrapes the samples off the auger into a sample-collection jar (lower-left of image).
We also inspected our Z-stage, that lowers the drill one meter down into the subsurface, and an auger bit – a slender one meter long rod that looks likes a screw with deep threads and a bit at the end.
The bit has a small thermocouple that measures the bit’s temperature and in turn tells us how much the surrounding soil heats up during drilling. After all, we don’t want to accidentally melt the ice during drilling, and then freeze the drill in as the drilling stops and everything cools down very quickly.
The temperature sensor and all other drill parts looked fine.
It took us almost a day to assemble all the parts into a fully functional drill. We did a system level check (rotated the drill, moved the drill up/down, measured the bit temperature) to make sure everything works as planned.
We also set up a teleoperation routine. We used a laptop connected to the Internet in another room, to operate a drill in an adjacent room. We will use the same routine next week, however, next week all the drill commands will be sent not from an adjacent room but from a school in San Francisco and through a satellite! A group of students will be able to drill a hole in the Antarctic permafrost thousands of miles away. We will also have Skype so they can see whether indeed the drill penetrates the ground. | <urn:uuid:b405f5ed-e56e-4f14-b69d-b44aafaf625a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.astrobio.net/expedition/icebite-blog-setting-up-an-icebreaker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959453 | 729 | 2.890625 | 3 |
Paying for College
If you’re a junior, you’re right on time. If you’re a senior, you’re pushing the limits. But it’s never too late—or too early—to begin reviewing your finances and looking for financial aid for college. You don’t have to have an overflowing checking account to pay for a degree. Loans, scholarships and grants are yours for the taking.
Why should you be interested in federal student aid? Shouldn’t your parents take care of it? Nope—those scholarships, grants and loans are going to be in your name. Don’t you want to know how much debt you’ll have after paying for college -or how much you won’t? Follow these steps and you will be well on your way to creating a beneficial financial-aid package.
Federal Student Aid Tips
1. Research and make contact. Make use of your high school counselors, college financial aid office and the Web. Call the financial aid offices of your top-choice schools, let them know you’re a prospective student, and ask if you have all the forms needed. You don’t need to be planning to attend a specific school in order to call and ask questions or even set up a meeting with financial aid officers. It’s best to find out your options before applying. If you won’t go in search of the information, it will probably find its own way to you. Look in your high school, college fairs or in The Next Step Magazine for information on federal student aid sources.
2. Fill out the FAFSA. The Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) is as important as filling out your college application. If you don’t fill out the FAFSA, you won’t be eligible for federal student aid. Check in your counselor’s office for a form, or apply online at www.fafsa.ed.gov.
3. Apply for scholarships. The best money is free money. Scholarships are one way to cover the cost of paying for college without getting into debt. Give yourself plenty of time to search for scholarships and write essays. You can get scholarships based on your ethnicity, academic achievements and extracurricular activities and special skills, just to name a few.
4. Apply for grants. Paying for college with grant money should be your first choice. Like scholarships, grants are funding that doesn’t need to be repaid. The Pell Grant, a grant through the federal government, is the form most taken advantage of by college students. However, you may also receive a grant through the college you will attend or through an educational grant foundation.
5. Apply for federal loans. Due to the high cost of paying for college, scholarships and grants often don’t cover the cost of your education entirely. In this case, you may find yourself relying on loans. Federal loans, such as the Perkins Loan, Stafford Loan or PLUS Loan, are examples. The Stafford Loan may be subsidized, meaning you won’t have to pay interest on it while enrolled in school, or unsub-sidized, meaning the interest payments fall on your shoulders even while you attend classes. Both the Stafford and the Perkins loans are taken out in your name. Your parents, on the other hand, can borrow through the PLUS loan program. Ask at your school’s financial-aid office to see which lenders they prefer. Then, shop around to see who can offer what you need.
When federal student aid isn’t available...
6. If necessary, apply for private loans. If you must take out a private loan, pay close attention to the interest rate and repayment terms. Make sure you know when the loan will be collecting interest, when you can expect to pay it back and how to defer loan payments if you end up jobless for a while after graduation.
Learn more about paying for college with federal student aid, scholarships, and loans and enter to win Free tuition - Enroll in NextStepU today. | <urn:uuid:171aeb4c-c3ba-49e2-9509-0ff067fd336e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nextstepu.com/federal-student-aid.art | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00009-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944869 | 848 | 2.53125 | 3 |
After Nuclear fission, India experiments with fusion
Image: Getty Images
n the 1940s, attempts by the UK and the US to build the hydrogen bomb had a few useful byproducts, such as technologies that were able to use the power of the atom to generate electricity. The process of nuclear fission, which produces dangerous waste, was developed, and has been used since then to produce power the world over. Sadly, the other technological byproduct of the hydrogen bomb—nuclear fusion, which uses abundantly available fuel sources and emits no harmful radiation—never quite made the cut.
But this is fast changing. After the Fukushima disaster in March 2011, conventional nuclear plants that use fission technology are being shuttered in many parts of the world. The rush for the Holy Grail has begun. Activity to prove that fusion is feasible and economically viable has picked up, and new breakthroughs are speeding things up.
India, with its huge power deficit, is among the countries that have taken the lead in developing these technologies. The government has sealed its commitment through a sanction of Rs 2,500 crore to seed research of nuclear fusion. The funds are expected to be increased, as the work spearheaded by the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), grows. At the focus of much of this activity is one reactor being built in the south of France.
The $20 billion project that aims to generate just 500 MW, which could indeed change the world, is called Iter (Latin for ‘the way’). It is being built by a consortium of seven partners—the European Union, the United States, Russia, China, Korea, Japan and India—to demonstrate the viability of harnessing energy from nuclear fusion on the scale of a power station.
Before this project, electricity from nuclear fusion has been produced only in laboratories. As the host-partner of the project, the EU is the largest contributor with a 34 percent stake. India has taken up 9 percent, which will be executed by the Gandhinagar-based Iter-India, a division of the Institute of Plasma Research. The seven partners will contribute in kind by bringing components to the project. In India, a lot of this work will be done by the private sector.
“Indian companies—both in the public and private sectors—with capabilities in nuclear and space industries are being awarded contracts,” says Shishir Deshpande, Iter-India project director. Nine large components, amounting to almost a tenth of the project, will be fabricated and sourced from India. The biggest of these, to build the cryostat—a 3,800 tonne pressure chamber the size of a 10-storey building—was awarded to Larsen & Toubro in August. The component, worth over Rs 1,000 crore, will be built in India and shipped to France in sections.
What it means for Indian firms
For L&T and MV Kotwal—board member and head of heavy engineering, who also spearheads the company’s ambitions in the nuclear industry—the Iter-India contract is a chance to establish the company’s reputation. L&T has sunk about Rs 1,800 crore in a forge shop at Hazira through a joint venture with Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL).
But nuclear projects are few and far between in the post-Fukushima era. Doubts have been raised about the viability of the shop that was set up for heavy forgings needed for nuclear and hydrocarbon reactors. The Iter cryostat will be fabricated at this facility. Kotwal says that with its current energy shortages, India simply cannot afford to stop working on nuclear energy.
Iter-India had awarded an earlier contract for the shielding vessel to Bangalore-based Avasarala Technologies. It is also working closely with TCS and Inox India for cryogenics, ECIL for power electronics, and several other vendors. Deshpande says their work will be subjected to international scrutiny and this will surely help the companies prove themselves and gain confidence. Most are looking for opportunities to step up their abilities to emerge as high-end, global suppliers in the nuclear business.
Over the next few years, more work will be contracted, including the work of building a lab in France for testing the systems.
India has had a nuclear fusion programme since 1986 and about 500 scientists have been working on various facets of it, Deshpande says.
Iter shares IP equally, so the partner countries can use the knowledge gained to set up their own demonstrator reactors at home. Deshpande and Iter-India hope that India can begin work on this as soon as gaps in its knowledge are bridged.
Deshpande says the fusion project could provide neutron sources for fission reactors. This could help fast-forward India’s thorium programme. India’s nuclear power was envisaged as a three-step programme; the final stage involved moving from uranium, of which we have limited reserves, to thorium, which is plentiful.
Fusion is something that was jokingly said to be ‘always the fuel of the future’. Lab experiments have now proved it is a viable concept. But practical problems of building and sustaining the process remain; materials that can withstand the heat and neutron damage need to be developed. But much of it is now in the realm of the possible. Energy-starved India would do well to push the process. | <urn:uuid:9e6b51b2-f670-4949-87aa-820fa8bbeb57> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://forbesindia.com/article/briefing/after-nuclear-fission-india-experiments-with-fusion/33941/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.72/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.967511 | 1,111 | 3.578125 | 4 |
It is the way of aiki in what ever language you choose to name. The target is aiki, and the techniques provide the method to find it.
How are things?
I think Japanese is commonly thought to be fairly flexible on how the elements of a compound word can be subdivided, especially for words like 合気, which are not in common use. I have had many discussions about this with Japanese colleagues who profess Japanese language and linguistics. Morihei Ueshiba does not use the term consistently and in terms of kotodama
the term 合気道 could be broken down into its three elements, with each element given its own interpretation. I think the problem for Mary E (I am sure she will come back and correct me if I am wrong) is that 合気 and 合気道 lack a commonly accepted English translation and so need to be replaced by an acceptable definite description. As I stated in my earlier post, we do not need to do this here in Japan, since 合気 and 合気道 do just fine. | <urn:uuid:41089a1b-7804-4c1a-8253-1cbb38591b0a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.aikiweb.com/forums/showpost.php?p=328093&postcount=11 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963074 | 235 | 2.90625 | 3 |
2009 Spotlight on Science Festival
Kids of all ages are invited to participate in exciting science themed activities.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 1, 2009
4:00 to 8:00 p.m.
WHERE: Cal State San Marcos
WHAT: Free science festival for kids of all ages
Have you ever wondered about the shape of water or if animals can communicate with one another? Have you been curious about rockets or how climate change is affecting our world? What about the complexities of the human mind and the inner workings of the brain? Meet with leading Cal State San Marcos scientists, professors, and students at the 2009 Spotlight on Science in the Valley of Discovery as they provide lectures, demonstrations, hands-on activities, and exhibits that will showcase and illuminate the many wonders of our world! Visit www.csusm.edu/sciencefestival/events.html for a listing of events.
The 2009 Spotlight on Science at Cal State San Marcos in the Valley of Discovery is held in conjunction with the San Diego Science Festival, which is partnering with more than 125 collaborators county wide. Inspired by international science festivals that currently draw crowds in the hundreds of thousands, the goal of the San Diego Science Festival is to increase community awareness of science and inspire our nation's youth to consider entering science-related careers. At the same time, the festival will unite our community, inspire educational dialogue within participating families, and showcase the amazing science and innovation taking place in San Diego. A fitting location, San Diego is on the forefront of scientific research and development and is home to many top scientific corporations.
For more information regarding the 2009 Spotlight on Science at Cal State San Marcos in the Valley of Discovery, please email [email protected]. If you would like to receive regular updates about the festival, please type "subscribe" in the subject line.
The 2009 Spotlight on Science at Cal State San Marcos in the Valley of Discovery is held in conjunction with the San Diego Science Festival which is partnering with more than 125 collaborators county wide. | <urn:uuid:2d5586bc-3e86-466e-8ad5-0057b7e29f91> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.csusm.edu/news/topstories/articles/2009/04/tsScienceFest.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91001 | 412 | 2.765625 | 3 |
In a forgotten corner of The Washington D.C. Public Library, a photo archivist has discovered what may be a momentous piece of history.
It’s a list of signatures from public figures of the early 1800’s, including President Thomas Jefferson, offering their own money for a seemingly humble proposal: to build a simple pair of elementary schools. But Jefferson’s ultimate goal, we learn, is far loftier. With this venture, he is quietly floating his plan to launch the nation’s first public school system.
Eventually he would go broke through such acts of charity, but Jefferson’s ideals of public education would transform the nation. Could it all have begun with a modest $200 pledge?
History Detectives investigates the beginnings of public education in the United States.
- Related Investigation Koranic School Book Why does this 200 year old schoolbook contain two translated passages from the Koran?
- Related Investigation Bonus Army Stamp Is this stamp connected to a moment when the U.S. Army fought fellow soldiers in the nation’s capital?
- Also with Wes Cowan General Lee's Farewell Address Could this be a signed copy of one of the most famous documents in the history of the Civil War?
- Also with Wes Cowan Civil War Sabotage? The steamship Sultana exploded one night in 1865, killing more than 1,800 people. Was the disaster a result of Civil War sabotage?
- Also with Wes Cowan Vietnam War Diary Why did this story capture international interest?
- Also in Season 5 Atocha Spanish Silver What are these markings on a silver bar discovered in the wreck of a Spanish ship?
This is a place for opinions, comments, questions and discussion; a place where viewers of History Detectives can express their points of view and connect with others who value history. We ask that posters be polite and respectful of all opinions. History Detectives reserves the right to delete comments that don’t conform to this conduct. We will not respond to every post, but will do our best to answer specific questions, or address an error. | <urn:uuid:6d8b52cb-19a4-4955-a6a7-fa1c154e2b17> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pbs.org/opb/historydetectives/investigation/jefferson-pledge/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921807 | 435 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 1854 – 30 November 1900) was an Irish writer and poet. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of London's most popular playwrights in the early 1890s. Today he is remembered for his epigrams, plays and the circumstances of his imprisonment, followed by his early death.
Wilde's parents were successful Dublin intellectuals, and their son showed his intelligence early by becoming fluent in French and German. At university Wilde read Greats; he proved himself to be an outstanding classicist, first at Dublin, then at Oxford. He became known for his involvement in the rising philosophy of aestheticism (led by two of his tutors, Walter Pater and John Ruskin), though he also profoundly explored Roman Catholicism, to which he would later convert on his deathbed. After university, Wilde moved to London into fashionable cultural and social circles. As a spokesman for aestheticism, he tried his hand at various literary activities: he published a book of poems, lectured in the United States of America and Canada on the new "English Renaissance in Art", and then returned to London where he worked prolifically as a journalist. Known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress, and glittering conversation, Wilde had become one of the most well-known personalities of his day.
At the turn of the 1890s, he refined his ideas about the supremacy of art in a series of dialogues and essays, and incorporated themes of decadence, duplicity, and beauty into his only novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). The opportunity to construct aesthetic details precisely, and combine them with larger social themes, drew Wilde to write drama. He wrote Salome (1891) in French in Paris but it was refused a licence. Unperturbed, Wilde produced four society comedies in the early 1890s, which made him one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London. | <urn:uuid:6d36b3e4-0bdf-47cf-b2cd-dd6a8504b230> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.upi.com/topic/Oscar_Wilde | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00126-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.988693 | 409 | 3.078125 | 3 |
Across Canada, habitat loss, pollution, invasive species, climate change, and unsustainable harvesting have pushed over 500 species dangerously close to extinction. Species of every description, from lichens to leatherback turtles, whooping cranes to wood bison are at risk.
Encouragingly, the peregrine falcon and the sea otter have made a comeback. Less positively, the Committee on the Status of Endangered Wildlife in Canada (COSEWIC) assessed 18 new species as being at risk of extinction in Canada, including the black-footed albatross, basking shark and eastern flowering dogwood.
WWF-Canada aims to tackle the global trade in endangered species through our international TRAFFIC program; and reduce the effects of climate change on species, especially on northern species such as polar bears.
What does endangered mean?Not every species at risk is an “endangered animal.” Officially, threatened species are those listed as Critically Endangered (CR), Endangered (EN) or Vulnerable (VU).
Practically this means:
- Critically Endangered (CR): A species facing an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.
- Endangered (EN): A species considered to be facing a very high risk of extinction in the wild.
- Vulnerable (VU): A species considered to be facing a high risk of extinction in the wild.
View the full list of WWF’s priority species (links to WWF International). | <urn:uuid:69c1b79a-9d0a-4816-9bee-822d08a82f26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wwf.ca/conservation/species/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00172-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.903062 | 308 | 4.125 | 4 |
Where is the Navajo Nation?
Among some 500 Indian tribes and 318 reservations recorded in the country
by the 2000 Census, the Navajo Nation is the home of the largest Indian
tribe, and sprawls across northeast Arizona, New Mexico and Utah. It
has an area of over 27,000 square miles and is situated on the southwestern
Colorado Plateau. Very often, the size of the Navajo Nation is compared
to that of the state of West Virginia.
The topography of the Navajoland is characterized by arid deserts and
alpine forests with high plateaus, mesas, and mountains reaching as
high as 10,500 feet in altitude. And then, there are low desert regions
with an altitude of as low as 5,500 feet. Volcanic activities, wind
and water erosions have formed and carved the Navajo Nation's many
majestic mesas, mountains and canyons. Navajoland boasts a number of
world-renowned scenic wonders of the Southwest, e.g., Canyon de
Chelly, Shiprock Peak, Monument Valley, Chuska Mountains,
Window Rock, and so on. The beauty and the culture of the Navajo
Nation draw over three million tourists annually from all over the
world to this majestic land.
(requires Adobe Acrobat Reader 5.0 download)
Types of Navajo Nation Lands and Leases
Visitation to the the Navajo Nation and Vicinity | <urn:uuid:8979f8cf-0a26-4cfd-8c49-8dac1dd876d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.navajobusiness.com/fastFacts/locationMap2.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395992.75/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.887769 | 300 | 3.203125 | 3 |
Testing how well preschoolers can recognize sounds such as “dah” predicts reading difficulties, according to a Northwestern study published in PLOS Biology.
Early intervention could help children develop their auditory processing skills, said senior author Nina Kraus, director of Northwestern’s Auditory Neuroscience Laboratory.
The new study used an EEG to directly measure the brain’s response to sound, attaching electrodes to children’s scalps and recording the patterns of electric activity as nerve cells fired. The youngsters sat still to watch a video of their choice, listening to the soundtrack in one ear while an earpiece in the other periodically piped in the sound “dah” superimposed over a babble of talking.
The 30-minute test predicted how well 3-year-olds performed a language-development skill and how those same youngsters fared a year later on several standard pre-reading assessments, the team reported.
In tests of older children, the EEG scores correlated with their reading competence. | <urn:uuid:b50d714b-2ecc-4bf0-87c1-5ee03e9af366> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.joannejacobs.com/tag/hearing/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.951587 | 205 | 3.484375 | 3 |
This video steps you through eight types of animal behavior: instinct, fixed action pattern, imprinting, associative learning, trial and error learning, habituation, observational learning and insight. It also explains how behavior varies from innate to learned.
BasicStudents matched to this level have a partial mastery of prerequisite knowledge and skills fundamental for proficient work.
At Grade (Proficient)Students matched to this level have demonstrated competency over challenging subject matter, including subject matter knowledge, application of such knowledge to real-world situations, and analytical skills appropriate to subject matter.
AdvancedStudents matched to this level are ready for material that requires superior performance and mastery. | <urn:uuid:b7fea8c3-c57f-40ad-86d9-4e09ef021251> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ck12.org/life-science/Animal-Behaviors-in-Life-Science/?difficulty=at+grade&by=community | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00052-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918316 | 131 | 3.5 | 4 |
Four new studies of carbon isotopes in the fossilized tooth enamel of human ancestors and baboons in Africa shows how a dietary switch to tropical grasses and possibly animals led to the expansion and diversification of early hominins, or human-like species.
Before 3.5 million years ago, hominins ate a forest-based diet of fruits and leaves similar to modern primates.
Two species, Australopithecus afarensis and Kenyanthropus platyops moved into the widespread grassy savannas and grassy woodlands in East Africa. They began to eat grasses, maize, sorghum and sugar cane, sedges, and possibly grazing animals.
Matt Sponheimer, a University of Colorado anthropologist and lead author of one study, notes that changes in diet have been linked to larger brain size and the advent of upright walking roughly 4 million years ago.
"If diet has anything to do with the evolution of larger brain size and intelligence, then we are considering a diet that is very different than we were thinking about 15 years ago," said Thure Cerling, principal author of two of the studies.
Several hominin species managed to co-exist with each other and the apes, and now it seems there was less competition for food as different species diversified their diets, and non-human primates stuck with fruit.
The move into the grasslands "may signal a major and ecological and adaptive divergence from the last common ancestor we shared with African great apes, which occupy closed, wooded habitats," wrote University of South Florida geologist Jonathan Wynn, chief author one study.
Spearheaded by the University of Utah, the studies are published together in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. | <urn:uuid:87c8d7e9-8ac8-4563-b0d4-e0bd9d021fc5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2013/06/04/Human-ancestors-diet-switched-to-grass-35-million-years-ago/9021370349924/?rel=3571370365287 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00152-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.953413 | 358 | 3.90625 | 4 |
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The lack of ability, knowledge, legal qualification, or fitness to discharge a required duty or professional obligation.
The term incompetency has several meanings in the law. When it is used to describe the mental condition of a person subject to legal proceedings, it means the person is neither able to comprehend the nature and consequences of the proceedings nor adequately able to help an attorney with his defense. When it is used to describe the legal qualification of a person, it means the person does not have the legal capacity to enter a contract. When it is employed to describe a professional duty or obligation, it means that the person has demonstrated a lack of ability to perform professional functions.
A person who is diagnosed as being mentally ill, senile, or suffering from some other debility that prevents them from managing his own affairs may be declared mentally incompetent by a court of law. When a person is judged to be incompetent, a guardian is appointed to handle the person's property and personal affairs.
The legal procedure for declaring a person incompetent consists of three steps: (1) a motion for a competency hearing, (2) a psychiatric or psychological evaluation, and (3) a competency hearing. Probate courts usually handle competency proceedings, which guarantee the allegedly incompetent person due process of law.
In criminal law a defendant's mental competency may be questioned out of concern for the defendant's welfare or for strategic legal reasons. The defense may request a competency hearing so that it can gather information to use in plea bargaining, to mitigate a sentence, or to prepare for a potential insanity defense. The prosecution may raise the issue as a preventive measure or to detain the defendant so that a weak case can be built into a stronger one.
A motion for a competency hearing must be made before sentencing takes place. In federal court a motion for a hearing will be granted "if there is a reasonable cause to believe that the defendant may be suffering from a mental disease or defect rendering him mentally incompetent" (18 U.S.C.A. § 4241 (a)). A psychiatric or psychological evaluation is then conducted, and a hearing is held on the matter. If the court finds that the defendant is incompetent, the defendant will be hospitalized for a reasonable period of time, usually no more than four months. The goal is to determine whether the defendant's competence can be restored.
This type of mental commitment is authorized by the U.S. Supreme Court only for defendants who "probably soon will be able to stand trial" (Jackson v. Indiana, 406 U.S. 715, 92 S. Ct. 1845, 32 L. Ed. 2d 435 ). The possibility that a defendant committed a serious crime does not warrant an extended commitment period, because that would violate the defendant's due process rights.
At the end of a four-month commitment, if it appears that the defendant's competence can be restored but more time is needed to do so, the defendant may be hospitalized for an additional 30 days to 18 months. The length of stay varies by state. If a hospital director certifies that the defendant's competence has been restored, the court holds another hearing. If the court agrees the defendant is competent, they are released and a criminal trial date is set. Such a competency ruling cannot be used as evidence against the defendant if they later pleads insanity as a defense in the criminal trial. (An insanity defense refers to the defendant's inability to know or appreciate right from wrong at the time of the alleged crime.)
The Jackson ruling also specified that "treatment must stop if there is no substantial probability that the defendant will regain trial competence in the near future." If that decision is reached, the defendant can continue to be detained only if they are declared permanently incompetent in a civil commitment proceeding.
The development of powerful drugs has given the government the opportunity to medicate mentally incompetent defendants to the point whre they are competent to stand trial. By 2003, the federal government was medicating hundreds of defendants each year but a small number objected to medication. The Supreme Court, in Sell v. United States 539 U.S. ___, 123 S. Ct., 2174, 156 L. Ed. 2d 197 (2003), issued a major setback to prosecutors, when it placed strict guidelines on medicating defendants accused of less serious, nonviolent crimes.
Civil law requires a person to be legally competent in order to enter a contract, sign a will, or make some other type of binding legal commitment. A person may be judged incompetent by virtue of age or mental condition.
In contract law a person who agrees to a transaction becomes liable for duties under the contract unless they are legally incompetent. A person under the age of 18 or 21 (depending on the jurisdiction) is not bound by the legal duty to perform the terms of a contract he signed and is not liable for breach of contract. Public policy deems it desirable to protect an immature person from liability for contracts that he or she is too inexperienced to negotiate.
If a party does not comprehend the nature and consequences of the contract when it is formed, they are regarded as having mental incapacity. A distinction must be made between persons who have been adjudicated incompetent by a court and had a guardian appointed, and persons who are mentally incompetent but have not been so adjudicated. A person who has been declared incompetent in a court proceeding lacks the legal capacity to enter into a contract with another. Such a person is unable to consent to a contract, since the court has determined that he does not understand the obligations and effects of a contract. A contract made by such a person is void and without any legal effect. If there has been no adjudication of mental incompetency, a contract made by a mentally incapacitated individual is voidable by them. This means that the person can legally declare the contract void, making it unenforceable. However, a voidable contract can be ratified by the incompetent person if the person recovers the capacity to contract.
Contract law also holds that a contract made by an intoxicated person is voidable, as the person was incompetent at the time the contract was formed.
A marriage contract may be annulled if one of the parties was legally incompetent. Grounds for incompetency include age (under the age of majority), mental incompetence such as insanity, and a preexisting marriage.
A person who executes a will must be legally competent. The traditional recital in a will states that the testator (the maker of the will) is of "sound mind." This language attempts to establish the competency of the testator, but the issue may be challenged when the will is probated.
Lawyers, doctors, teachers, and other persons who belong to a profession are bound either by professional codes of conduct or by contracts that contain standards of conduct. A professional person who fails to meet the duties required of that profession may be judged incompetent. Such a ruling by a court, a professional disciplinary board, or an employer may result in professional discipline, including loss of a license to practice, demotion, or termination of employment.
Grisso, Thomas, with Randy Borum, et al. 2003. Evaluating Competencies: Forensic Assessments and Instruments. 2d ed. New York: Kluwer Academic/Plenum.
Hubbard, Karen L., Patricia A. Zapf, and Kathleen A. Ronan. 2003."Competency Restoration: An Examination of the Differences Between Defendants Predicted Restorable and Not Restorable to Competency." Law and Human Behavior 27 (April): 127–39.
Moriarty, Jane Campbell, ed. 2001. The Role of Mental Illness in Criminal Trials: Insanity & Mental Incompetence. New York: Routledge.
Scott, Charles L. 2003. "Commentary: A Road Map for Research in Restoration of Competency to Stand Trial." Journal of the American Academy of Psychiatry and the Law 31 (March): 36–43.
Tewksbury, Jane E., chair, et al. 2001. Going to Trial: Criminal Defendants & Mental Illness: Competency and Criminal Responsibility. Boston, Mass.: Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education. | <urn:uuid:497e88ee-a36f-4a24-9e1b-36ddc1b47d6f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://lawbrain.com/wiki/Incompetency | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00130-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944118 | 1,681 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Much of the debate over the response to Hurricane Katrina has centered on the question of the division of responsibilities among the different levels of government--federal, state, and local. Concern has been expressed that for the federal government to have played a more aggressive role, for example by taking command of all response efforts and perhaps placing them in the hands of the regular army (as distinct from the National Guard, which is state rather than federal although the President is authorized to "federalize" it in situations of war, insurrection, or civil disturbance and thereby place it under federal military command), would have violated the tenets of federalism and perhaps specific provisions of the Constitution allocating powers between federal and state (including local) government, and specific statutes such as the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, which limits military participation in law enforcement.
Issues of federalism cannot be resolved solely by reference to economic criteria. The reason is that, the Revolution having been waged by states (the former British colonies) linked in a loose confederation, the Constitution, while tightening the federation, recognizes the states as quasi-sovereign entities. Even if it would be efficient to do without states and have as centralized a government as France has, this could not be done without amending the Constitution, and indeed perhaps without replacing it with a completely new Constitution adopted in a constitutional convention.
Nevertheless, it is of course possible to analyze the economizing principles of federalism, and that is what I shall try to do in this posting.
From an economic standpoint, federalism is a scheme of decentralized governance, designed to optimize the provision of government services. In the governmental as in the private business setting, there are disadvantages to a strictly hierarchical ("U-form"--unified or unitary), as distinct from a more loosely coupled or "horizontal," method of organization ("M-form"--multidivisional). With strict hierarchy, information flows from the bottom of the enterprise up to the top echelon of management, and commands flow back down based on decisions made at the top. Inevitably, information will be filtered and otherwise lost or garbled on its way up, and as a result the top managers will perforce base their decisions on information that is frequently incomplete or inaccurate; and likewise commands will tend to be misunderstood on their way down the successive links in the chain of command. The centralizing of decisionmaking power will reduce competition, diversity, and flexibility; mistaken decisions will be more costly because they will bind the entire enterprise; and mistakes will be frequent because the top managers will not be given a full array of alternatives to choose among because their subordinates will filter out most of the alternatives on the way up in order to spare the top managers from being overwhelmed by information.
The other side of this coin, which is illustrated by the regime that preceded the Constitution--namely the Articles of Confederation, which created a very loose-knit federation of the states to conduct the Revolutionary War, and the inadequacies of which led directly to the Constitution--is that the lack of a central authority can result in suboptimal performance. Each division of the firm (or state or other regional or local government in a federal system) will tend to ignore the effects of its actions on the other divisions; each will be reluctant both to incur costs that benefit the other divisions (external benefits) or to avoid imposing costs on the others (external costs). Centralization is a way of internalizing costs and benefits throughout the enterprise by coordinating the divisions and making sure they are pulling together.
Since there are both costs and benefits to centralization, we can expect that usually the best organization will be one that has elements of both central control and divisional autonomy--one that has some hierarchy but not too much, and divisions that are only semi-autonomous. And so we observe in our federal system as a result of the provisions of the Constitution and, in particular, their (loose) interpretation by the Supreme Court. The states are allowed a considerable degree of autonomy in matters of taxation and regulation (including licensure), administration of schools and prisons, highways and other infrastructure, criminal law enforcement, etc., but Congress, the Supreme Court, and the President have a considerable override power. Congress is empowered to regulate interstate and foreign commerce; and the Supreme Court, by interpretation of the commerce power, has forbidden the states to impose tariffs and other impediments to interstate trade and travel, even if Congress fails to act. Because the states have a degree of autonomy, they function, much as the divisions of a software or pharmaceutical firm would, as laboratories for (social) experimentation. Policies invented in one state, if successful, can be copied by others. Also, people can sort themselves between states in accordance with their preferences; the right to move to a different state supplements voting power in controlling the action of government officials.
In the case of response to emergencies, one of the factors I discussed earlier--the effect of hierarchy on information flows and command responses--figures prominently, along with (depending on the scale of the emergency) externalities. The officials closest to a problem have the best information and also can act most quickly on it. We wouldn't be well served by having (only) a Federal Fire Department, so that in the event of a local two-alarm blaze the local fire chief would have to inform Washington and get permission to fight the fire. This is the point made by those who believe that the Federal Emergency Management Agency, even under competent leadership, should not be in charge of emergency responses to catastrophes.
But not all catastrophes are local. What is more, given mobility of responders, it does not make sense for every locality to invest in achieving self-sufficiency in responding to an emergency, regardless of the scale of the emergency. Suppose, as in the case of Hurricane Katrina, that the catastrophe simultaneously engulfs a large number of cities and towns in several states. Insofar as a coordinated response is optimal, and given transaction costs, which are especially high in an emergency situation, it doesn't make much sense to leave the response to state and local governments. Each state will seek to optimize its response to the damage caused it, and each locality to the damage caused that locality, disregarding the costs and benefits of its actions to the other states and localities. Moreover, as in a military situation in which one doesn't know where the enemy will attack, an effective response to an emergency requires the maintenance of reserves that can be deployed to the threatened spot, and those reserves have to be held and controlled centrally.
I conclude that while state and local government can and should be given exclusive responsibility for responding to run-of-the-mill local emergencies, the federal government should have standby responsibility for regional and (of course) national emergencies, as well as for emergencies that, as in the case of the flooding of New Orleans as a result of Katrina, wreak destruction on a scale that it would not have been efficient for the local government to prepare to meet. If you tell a city that it will receive no assistance in the event of a disaster, however great, it will overinvest in preparing to respond to disaster. Suppose for the sake of simplicity that the country has only two cities, that the cost of responding to an average disaster is 1 and to a cataclysm is 20, but that the probability that there would be two cataclysms at the same time is close to zero. Then if the federal government refuses to assist in local disasters, no matter how destructive, the two cities may incur a total cost of prevention of 40, whereas if the government invests in providing the necessary backup capability, the total cost of prevention will fall to 22 (1 + 1 + 20).
If this analysis is correct, then it was the federal government's responsibility to prepare to assist in an emergency of the scale of Hurricane Katrina. Such preparations would have been consistent with an optimal allocation of responsibilities between central and local government. | <urn:uuid:422e882f-a390-4fc7-a7a3-425ee2689ccc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.becker-posner-blog.com/2005/10/federalism-economics-and-katrina--posner.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402516.86/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.960483 | 1,623 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Harvard biologists suggest using diatomaceous earth as a natural pesticide. Chensheng Lu, an associate professor at the T.H.Chan School of Public Health, has published a study on links between the use of chemical pesticides and childhood cancer (2).
Diatomaceous earth has been shown to be effective as well as safe.
Many studies have been performed on the efficacy of diatomaceous earth in controlling pests (3). It’s even hailed as more effective than chemical pesticides (4). For this reason it’s often added to food processing facilities to ward off bugs in stored grain.
How to use diatomaceous earth to combat household pests.
Get bugs before the enter the home. Spread diatomaceous earth around the foundation of your home, if you live in a free-standing house. The tiny rough edges of the diatomaceous earth particles will actually shred the bodies of intruding bugs, according to a Tucson pest control company.
All those tiny cuts cause the bugs’ exoskeletons to dry out and they die of dehydration.
If you can’t get the bugs before they enter, get them where they live and hide. Inside the home, apply diatomaceous earth to the cracks and crevices where bugs (i.e.cockroaches) are hiding.We all suspect that household chemicals may be harmful to children. But now there’s proof that pesticides used inside the home are linked to higher rates of childhood cancer.
A new study out just this month highlights the dangers of using chemicals to fight pests such as cockroaches and ants. Published in the journal “Pediatrics”, managed by the American Academy of Pediatrics, the meta-analysis draws from 277 studies on record in the nation’s PubMed database (1).
The results showed that children who are exposed to indoor insecticides have a higher risk of hematopoietic cancers (cancer related to the blood).
Why household chemical pesticides are harmful to kids.
Children’s immune systems are still developing and are therefore not as effective as the immune systems of adults. When kids’ immune systems encounter the chemicals present in household pest sprays, they simply cannot provide the protection kids need.
Not only that, but kids also have less fully developed detox systems. When exposed to harmful chemicals, the detox systems of adults are much more adept at flushing out toxins.
Kids, on the other hand, suffer because their detox systems are less developed and because the total effect on their bodies will be greater. Their bodies are smaller, after all, so the same amount of harmful chemicals will have a much greater effect on them than on adults.
Compare it to alcohol consumption: the effects are much stronger on smaller people.
The study recommended that parents take preventive measures to avoid their kids’ exposure to insecticides in the home. There have been other natural supplements out there (forskolin comes to mind) that are safe, and silica can also fall into that category.
So, go natural. It could help you – and your kids.
All references retrieved October 26, 2015.
- Hosseini, Seyyed Akbar et al.
The insecticidal effect of diatomaceous earth against adults and nymphs of Blattella germanica. National Institutes of Health. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4025297/
Chen, Mei et al. Residential Exposure to Pesticide During Childhood and Childhood Cancers: A Meta-Analysis. Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2015/09/08/peds.2015-0006.abstract?sid=b7090daa-bc95-45df-87f5-a64529d4ef3f
- Lorini I and Beckel H. Efficacy of “diatomaceous earth” to control the main stored grain pests. Kansas State University. Retrieved from http://spiru.cgahr.ksu.edu/proj/iwcspp/pdf2/9/6250.pdf
- Hill, Stuart B. DIATOMACEOUS EARTH: A Non Toxic Pesticide. McGill University. Retrieved from http://eap.mcgill.ca/publications/eap4.htm | <urn:uuid:65596dae-c13c-4507-9c8c-ba1043504911> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.beachbumreads.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914058 | 920 | 2.875 | 3 |
paper, 112 pp., $32.95
Soils rich in clay present some of the greatest challenges to gardeners in every season. Peter Jones, a British gardening expert and nursery owner, has long experience dealing with such problems in Europe and particularly Britain where he was trained. He provides details in this work on drainage, management, fertilization, and mulching of clay soils, aimed at British gardeners and applicable to those dealing with clay soils everywhere. He suggests using hardy plants to shelter soils from excessive winds; improved planting methods and lawn preparation; and plant selection for both gardens and containers. Looking to the future, he addresses the timely topic of the effect of climate change on plantings in clay soils.
— Marilyn K. Alaimo, garden writer and volunteer, Chicago Botanic Garden | <urn:uuid:5e896c5b-5594-4789-8445-0b78d095256b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chicagobotanic.org/book/gardening_clay_0 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00107-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942198 | 162 | 2.9375 | 3 |
Optical and Mechanical Resolution Optical resolution tells you how many pixels the scan element can see at once across the width of a page. Mechanical resolution tells you how many steps the scan element takes going down the page (or how many the page takes going past the scan element). A spec like "600-by1,200-dpi optical" really means "600-ppi optical by 1,200-ppi mechanical."
N by M Optical Resolution. Not.
Even ignoring the distinction between optical and mechanical resolution, a spec such as "600-by-1,200 optical resolution" is misleading. The scanner can't pass a 600-by-1,200-ppi image to your computer, so the top resolution you'll get without interpolation is 600-by-600 ppi.
High Optical Resolutions Even high optical resolutions usually don't matter. For typical office tasks such as copying, faxing and scanning to PDF files, and even for scanning photos to print at the same size, a 600-ppi scanner is almost always all you need. Higher resolutions are rarely useful unless you're scanning, say, slides or otherwise need to resize the image. | <urn:uuid:34507caf-1f87-4f9f-90ad-516251dfd142> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eweek.com/c/a/Printers/Playing-Fast-and-Loose-with-Scanner-Specs/1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402479.21/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917945 | 240 | 2.546875 | 3 |
A nifty new study says that you may be casting a spell on your kids by letting them read Harry Potter series—one that vamooses prejudice. Research just published in the Journal of Applied Social Psychology finds that young people who J.K. Rowling’s book wildly popular book series are more likely to have improved attitudes toward stigmatized groups—especially when identifying with the protagonist. More from The Week:
The researchers from the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia in Italy noted that the books provide plenty of examples of bigotry, on which children can then form an opinion. From Harry’s defense of “mudbloods” like his friend Hermione, to Voldemort’s obsession with “pure-blood” witches and wizards, kids were able to recognize the unfairness in these instances and subsequently attach them to real-world examples of prejudice.
One caveat in the research: The “improved attitudes towards immigrants,” (researchers asked study participants about their feelings toward either immigrants, homosexuals, or refugees following the readings) were contingent on the kids identifying positively with Harry Potter.
No word on if just watching the movies counts. | <urn:uuid:1a84f6df-7a6a-4a66-812b-d762cedd417a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.phillymag.com/ticket/2014/07/30/study-kids-read-harry-potter-books-tolerant-minorities/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00088-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.952314 | 242 | 3.03125 | 3 |
When Russia affirmed it ceased its military operations in the Caucasus on 12 August, it accepted the peace agreement put forward by French and current EU president Nicolas Sarkozy. Over to Tskhinvali, the capital of South Ossetia, where Giulietto Chiesa was just last spring. Giulietto Chiesa’s life is marked by the recent history of Russia and its former soviet republics. After having held important positions in the Italian communist party (dissolved in 1991) in the seventies, he worked as a correspondent in Moscow for daily newspapers Unità and La Stampa, and wrote numerous books on the post-soviet era transition. He left Russia in 2000.
In 2004, Giulietto Chiesa was elected a member of the European parliament (MEP), where he was a member of the alliance of liberals and democrats for Europe, before switching to the party of European socialists. He continues to write for Italian, European, Russian, and American publications.
What were the predominant political orientations of the Ossetians before the war?
Each South Ossetian family lost at least one member in the war against Georgia in 1992
During my recent trip to South Ossetia, I spoke Russian with dozens and dozens of people of all ages, and I can assure you that not one of them told me they wanted Georgia to take control of the region. This is easily explained: each South Ossetian family lost at least one member in the war against Georgia in 1992.
When Georgia declared its independence in 1991, South Ossetia and Abkhazia declared their own independence, which triggered the war. Moreover, in its latest aggression, Georgia proved that it does not consider the Ossetians as its citizens, by putting in place a true ethnic purge and forcing the Ossetians to leave their own country.
What do you think of Russia’s reaction?
Russia did precisely what had to be done. Georgia left two alternatives to Russia. The first option was to retreat after its military units in Ossetia suffered losses, bearing in mind that these units are there legally, according to the Dagomys agreements signed in 1992 by Georgia. Plus, retreating would have meant leaving the Ossetian population without protection - approximately 100, 000 people, of which a majority have a Russian passport. The other option was to push back the Georgian invasion troops outside the territory of the autonomous Republic of South Ossetia, which was done.
What is the EU’s role in the Caucasus crisis?
The meeting between French and Russian presidents Nicolas Sarkozy and Dmitry Medvedev on 12 August and the EU proposal for a peace agreement seemed to be a good initiative. It was useful for everything to get back in order, although it came a bit late. Nevertheless, I think Europe is partly responsible for this war: by unconditionally supporting Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili and his claims in South Ossetia and Abkhazia, Europe gave him an alibi.
It is not surprising that the EU flag was behind Saakashvili when he announced that his troops were going to attack South Ossetia
One does not declare war without a reason. If Mikhel Saakashvili did it, it is because he thought that the United States would protect him as well as the EU, which he wants his country to join in a near future. It is not surprising that when Mikheil Saakashvili announced on television that his troops were going to attack South Ossetia, the EU flag was behind him. Why would the EU flag be placed there, behind the president of Georgia, considering that Georgia is not in the EU? Europe should have been more cautious with Georgia. And it was precisely to assess the state of relations between the EU and Georgia that I travelled to South Ossetia last spring.
How would you assess the way the media covered the war?
Generally, the information given by the media is a shame for the west. Western news channels broadcasted images and titles that were politically biased. Some claimed Russia wanted to conquer Georgia, although no evidence whatsoever backs up that argument. Saakashvili was portrayed as the unfortunate victim of Big Bad Putin, and very often, images of Tskhinvali razed by bombs were not shown. It is the worst coverage I have seen since the war in Iraq. | <urn:uuid:f395eebb-426a-4a7b-8a07-1e8542dac509> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cafebabel.co.uk/lifestyle/article/giulietto-chiesa-on-russia-georgia-war-europe-is-responsible-too.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402746.23/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.980574 | 910 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Water-Supply Paper 2460
The lower Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint River Basin is underlain by Coastal Plain sediments of pre-Cretaceous to Quaternary age consisting of alternating units of sand, clay, sandstone, dolomite, and limestone that gradually thicken and dip gently to the southeast. The stream-aquifer system consists of carbonate (limestone and dolomite) and elastic sediments, which define the Upper Floridan aquifer and Intermediate system, in hydraulic connection with the principal rivers of the basin and other surface-water features, natural and man made.
Separate digital models of the Upper Floridan aquifer and Intermediate system were con structed by using the U.S. Geological Survey's MODular Finite-Element model of two dimensional ground-water flow, based on conceptualizations of the stream-aquifer system, and calibrated to drought conditions of October 1986. Sensitivity analyses performed on the models indicated that aquifer hydraulic conductivity, lateral and vertical boundary flows, and pumpage have a strong influence on ground-water levels. Simulated pumpage increases in the Upper Floridan aquifer, primarily in the Dougherty Plain physiographic district of Georgia, caused significant reductions in aquifer discharge to streams that eventually flow to Lake Seminole and the Apalachicola River and Bay. Simulated pumpage increases greater than 3 times the October 1986 rates caused drying of some stream reaches and parts of the Upper Floridan aquifer in Georgia.
Water budgets prepared from simulation results indicate that ground-water discharge to streams and recharge by horizontal and vertical flow are the principal mechanisms for moving water through the flow system. The potential for changes in ground-water quality is high in areas where chemical constituents can be mobilized by these mechanisms. Less than 2 percent of ground-water discharge to streams comes from the Intermediate system; thus, it plays a minor role in the hydrodynamics of the streamaquifer system.
First posted February 18, 2010
This publication is in PDF format. | <urn:uuid:8bfb0c73-68d9-43d7-be3d-8d411bbaae2a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pubs.usgs.gov/wsp/wsp2460/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912606 | 422 | 3.171875 | 3 |
I might not write exactly the same standards if I ever wrote a book on art in bridge design, but good solid thinking from a century ago, still very readable and germane. I don't think I've ever seen anything similar in modern engineering curricula. Lots of nice illustrations.
This is a great find, Nathan!
Clark is right about portal ornamentation on truss bridges. Metal truss bridges in the late 19th century were viewed as utilitarian and adding finials and portal cresting were often seen as superficial attempts to make the ugly look beautiful. At the same time, note that these ornamentations do not cloak the design and materials of the bridge. However, I would argue that the use of concrete urn balustrade railings and embossed lines on a concrete arch would be an example of true aesthetic design because the railings serve a function purpose on the bridge, but have been designed in a manner that makes them look beautiful. Embossed lines on a concrete arch, provided they did not simulate stone patterns, would be good aesthetics.
This early 20th Century text on bridge aesthetic theory summarizes an aesthetic bridge here: http://www.archive.org/stream/artisticbridgede00tyrr#page/20...
These are the elements of an aesthetic bridge:
1. Conformity with environment.
2. Economic use of material.
3. Exhibition of purpose and construction.
4. Pleasing outline and proportions.
5. Appropriate but limited use of ornament.
Note that superficial ornamentation is NOT forbidden, but just need to be used modestly and should not be the only and primary source of beauty.
Looking at Michael's example of a pre-stressed slab with arch facade, that bridge, likely billed by the DOT as a beautiful "context sensitive" bridge actually fails #2 (slab, box-beam, and stringer bridges are VERY inefficient in use of materials), #3 (arch hides the box-beam design). It might fail some others too, but those points could be argued either way.
To me these things are like Costume Jewelry.
Some of them might look good... But they have no real value.
These adorned modern structures hold little appeal to me although they do invoke a slight nostalgia for the old forms. Embossed concrete at least resembles the old ashlar abutments and is an improvement over the unadorned brutalist style of the last part of the 20th century.
I am pleased when I see on an older bridge an attempt to provide some visual interest. Urn shaped railings, portal ornamentation, or a few lines embossed in the "streamline moderne" style were not needed and may have drawn scorn from people who hated to see wooden or stone bridges replaced with iron or concrete.
We may at least be encouraged to see designers again seeing bridges as structures that should be visually appealing.
I agree with Nathan. There is a big difference between a bridge that actually historic or at least represents an attempt at creative engineering, and one that is an imposter. In my opinion, all fake historic bridges (by fake I mean structural elements concealed) and all MOBs do not belong here.
I am fine with including a modern suspension bridge, modern arch, or modern truss if the design is also the actual structure. Those modern bridges could be considered unique, and may be appreciated by future generations. MOBs are mass-produced and IMHO do not represent anything special.
A modern bridge with superficial decorations is nothing special, just a bunch of fakery. Instead of simply MODERNE/NON HISTORIQUE, it is ROUGE A LEVRES A UN COCHON! (LIPSTICK ON A PIG). Courtesy of translate.google.com
The use of things like stone-shaped concrete formliners and the use of arch-shaped facades that cover up a box beam superstructure go directly against what the bridge engineers of old thought. Engineers like David Steinman felt that aesthetics should be derived directly from the bridge structure. They absolutely despised the idea of covering up the reality of a structure with fake adornments to create a false sense of design.
In David Steinman's "Bridges and Their Builders" he states "The story of each bridge also includes a revealing and illuminating record of the life of the times in which it was built."
The question, then, that I would post to this discussion is "What message do our bridges send to future generations?" Bridges like these, composed of super and substructures whose design is beyond ugly and have been made tolerable by the addition of facades and superficial embellishments send a message that in today's society we are content with a lie. We are content with a bridge that is fake and sends a false message.
The decision to demolish and replace a historic bridge that could be rehabilitated (often for less than the cost of replacement) is a choice. It is also a choice to build a concrete box beam bridge and cover it up with fake arch facades. Future generations will look back at these bridges and what will they see? They will see a society that was wasteful, shallow, and simply did not care. Don't believe me? Ask a historian what they think about the urban renewal period of the 1960s, where some of the greatest structures ever built in the United States were destroyed to make way for strip malls and freeways.
The pylons in the bridge are most likely stamped concrete and are painted to look like brick, and chair rail, and whatever--the stamped concrete concept is very popular on new bridges these days. A bridge in Minnesota, I-694 over CR-81 in Brooklyn Park, has pylons that appear to be made entirely out of classic brick, along with the abutments--they're not, though...all stamped and painted concrete.
I am torn when in comes to modern bridges and slap on aesthetics. On one hand I agree that the bridge looks “cheap” and why both dressing up an eyesore concrete bridge. Then I think about the future and realize that not everything lasts forever. Historic bridges will continue to be replaced and concrete bridges will continue to be constructed.
With this in mind, I think I would rather see an attempt to add some aesthetic charm to a bridge rather than just another eyesore side of a girder or plain concrete face.
Here are a couple modern dressed up concrete bridges that I think the attempt was somewhat successful. However, I will not be adding any of these structures to this site.
1. Moffett Creek Bridge - Interstate 84 - Multnomah Co. Oregon - Stone verneer covering prestressed girder bridge
2. Williams Creek Bridge - OR 138 - Douglas Co., Oregon -
Arch facade covering prestressed slabs
Thanks. I wouldn't be surprised if they were covering something else up either. I'll be heading that way in February. Maybe I'll take a closer look...or maybe I'll just focus more time on locating those 1940s arch bridges in the area.
Hard to say for certain about those arches. My personal suspicion is they just cover some very plain looking concrete pylons, but I don't know for certain.
What repulses me is when non-historic elements are treated as being something special: http://historicbridges.org/truss/shanley/
In the above case, a new bridge utilized unpainted steel and stone veneer as if these materials were somehow special.
These arches are probably in the same category.
Do the arches in pic#2 provide structural support or are they just cosmetic? I'm not very knowledgeable in this area.
When adding a modern bridge, I consider which elements of the bridge actually serve a function of supporting the structure. If the bridge is interesting due to actual structural elements, I am generally okay with it being on here. However, superficial decorations like those that are found on this bridge do not make it interesting. To me, artificial decorations such as fake stone, etc just look cheap. Thus this bridge in my opinion does not belong.
Neither would this one as far as I am concerned, which is why I have not added it:
This one could be argued as notable given it's attempt to have some character rather than be bland.
I feel that the original contributer really liked the hacienda motif. | <urn:uuid:50b3cddd-e533-4a0f-859d-7fc8aec3ce3f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bridgehunter.com/ms/adams/bh38384/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.957917 | 1,743 | 2.59375 | 3 |
J Hered. 2006 Feb 17; [Epub ahead of print]
Iberian Origins of New World Horse Breeds.
Luis C, Bastos-Silveira C, Cothran EG, Oom MD.
Fossil records, archaeological proofs, and historical documents report that horses persisted continuously in the Iberian Peninsula since the Pleistocene and were taken to the American continent (New World) in the 15th century. To investigate the variation within the mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) control region of Iberian and New World horse breeds, to analyze their relationships, and to test the historical origin of New World horses, a total of 153 samples, representing 30 Iberian and New World breeds, were analyzed by sequencing mtDNA control region fragments. Fifty-four haplotypes were found and assigned to seven haplogroups. Reduced levels of variation found for the Menorquina, Sorraia, and Sulphur Mustang breeds are consistent with experienced bottlenecks or limited number of founders. For all diversity indices, Iberian breeds showed higher diversity values than South American and North American breeds. Although, the results show that the Iberian and New World breeds stem from multiple origins, we present a set of genetic data revealing a high frequency of Iberian haplotypes in New World breeds, which is consistent with historical documentation. | <urn:uuid:503f91e2-7095-4230-8b70-20129e3a797e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dienekes.blogspot.com/2006/02/iberian-origins-of-new-world-horses.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917726 | 280 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Poodle-Dog Bush, Eriodictyon parryi, is common in parts of Southern California. Touching it can cause a significant allergic reaction.
This pretty purple flowered plant has been rearing its ugly head in the San Gabriel Mountains. Reports from the PCT are that the plant is widespread and sometimes unavoidable in the Station Fire and other burn areas. Turricula is a fire follower that thrives in disturbed soils. It does especially well along the PCT.
Various reports from 2012 hikers have bad Poodle-Dog Bush on the PCT starting around either mile 419 or 421 or 425 and extending through Messenger Flat at mile 430.6.
To avoid Poodle-Dog Bush, some hikers are detouring off the PCT either at the Mill Creek Ranger Station [mile 418.8] or Mount Gleason Rd [mile 421.4] or the dirt road at mile 425.1 [follow the dirt road 4/10 mile S to Mount Gleason Rd] and then following Mount Gleason Rd to Messenger Flat. [Major work has been done to remove Poodle-Dog Bush and we think that hikers can stay on the PCT instead of alternating off of it.]
Touching the plant can cause anything from a mild rash and blistering to severe respiratory distress. It is a contact dermatitis and can be transmitted in the same way that poison oak is transmitted. For many people, symptoms are worse than a reaction to poison oak. Symptoms generally appear hours or days after touching the plant. All contact should be avoided.
Unfortunately, long sleeves and pants do not fully protect travelers. You may contaminate yourself by touching clothing that has been in contact with the plant. Regardless, it is recommended that you wear long sleeves while traveling through the area.
Hydrophyllaceae family. Many trail users would be familiar with related plants such at Yerba Santa, Eriodictyon sp., and Phacelia. | <urn:uuid:a65d520a-ed30-48c5-bc6a-846e641b4651> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pcta.org/2013/poodle-dog-bush-warning-8891/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00008-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935775 | 398 | 2.5625 | 3 |
|KANSAS COLLECTION BOOKS|
Early in July, 1854, Mr. Charles H. Branscomb, of Holyoke, Mass, and Mr. Charles Robinson visited Kansas as agents of the New England Emigrant Aid Society, to make an exploration of the country and select a suitable location for a settlement, preliminary to the starting of the first party of emigrants. After examining various localities, the gentlemen selected the present site of the city of Lawrence, as well adapted to the purpose required, and on the 17th of the same month (July, 1854) the "Pioneer Party" of Eastern emigrants left Massachusetts for Kansas.
It was the original design to send forward at that time a large party who should arrive before the ratification of the Shawnee Treaty, when the lands would be thrown open for settlement, but on account of the prevalence of cholera in the valley of Missouri, this plan was abandoned and a small number of men were sent ahead to secure claims and make preparations for the larger company which was to follow a little later.
The pioneer party, consisting of twenty-nine men, left Massachusetts Tuesday, July 17, 1854, arrived at St. Louis on the night of the following Friday. They were met there by Charles Robinson, who directed them to the site of the chosen city, assisted them in procuring transportation, and himself returned East for the second party, while they moved on toward the promised land. On Tuesday, the 24th, they left at 4 P. M. on the steamer Polar Star, Capt Blossom, for Kansas. They arrived at Kansas City Friday evening and left the steamer Saturday morning July 28. The account of the journey of the party from thence to their destination is given in a letter written by B. R. Knapp, one of the party, and published in the Boston News The letter is dated August 9, 1854. Mr. Knapp says:
We prepared at once for starting; an ox team was purchased to transport the baggage and on Saturday evening at 10:00 o'clock we started on foot for our destination across the prairie. We traveled as much as possible during the night as the weather was very hot in the middle of the day, the mercury nearly 120 degrees or thereabouts. We saw occasionally a log house as we passed along, inhabited by farmers from whom we obtained milk, etc. On the evening of Sunday we encamped on the lands of the Shawnee Indians. This tribe of Indians are friendly and are in possession of some of the finest lands in the countryBelow are the names of those comprising the party, as given by Mr. Ferdinand Fuller, himself one of the company:
E. Davenport, lawyer, Massachusetts; N. Philbrick, mechanic, Massachusetts; Ezra Conant, mechanic, Massachusetts; Benjamin Miriam, mechanic, Massachusetts; B. R. Knapp, Edwin White, mechanic, Massachusetts; G. W. Hewes, Massachusetts; W. H. Hewes, merchant, Massachusetts; George Thatcher, sportsman, Massachusetts; John Mailey, mechanic, Massachusetts; I. W. Russell, mechanic, Massachusetts; A. Holman, mechanic, Massachusetts; J. D. Stevens, mechanic, Massachusetts; F. Fuller, architect, Massachusetts; J. F. Morgan, farmer, Massachusetts; A. H. Mallory, speculator, Massachusetts; S. C. Harrington, physician, Massachusetts; Samuel F. Tappan, reporter, Massachusetts; J. C. Archibald, builder, Massachusetts; J. M. Jones, farmer, Massachusetts; Edwin White, mechanic, Massachusetts; Augustus Hilpath, laborer, New York; D. R. Anthony, banker, New York; John Doy, physician, New York; Hugh Cameron, farmer, New York; A. Fowler, farmer, Vermont; Oscar Harlow, merchant, Vermont; G. W. Hutchinson, speculator, Vermont; George W. Goss, farmer, Vermont; Arthur Gunther, clerk, Wisconsin. This list embraces four or five who joined the party en route for Kansas.
The party arrived at the site of the present city of Lawrence about noon on Tuesday, August 1 and ate their first meal on the ridge, or "backbone" of the high hill, upon which now stands the State University. A meeting was held the same day of which Mr. Ferdinand Fuller of Worcester, was President and Mr. Ed Davenport, of Boston, Secretary, at which after a full discussion as to the advantages and capabilities of the selected spot, it was voted to make a permanent location, and to proceed on the next day to make claims, with the understanding that the Emigrant Aid Company would make the site thus taken the base of its future operations and forward all men and means to carry out the enterprise. Mr. Fuller had inscribed on his tent the name "Mount Oread" in memory of Mount Oread Seminary at Worcester, Mass., which was founded by Eli Thayer, the benefactor of the Emigrant Aid Society and the name was also very appropriately given to the spot upon which the party first encamped. It was a fearfully hot day; a severe drought had parched the earth and prairie fires had destroyed the grass and encroached on the line of forest trees bordering the river. The sun poured down with terrific fierceness and the hot wind swept over the prairies like a blast from a furnace. The strangers were thankful for the shelter of their tents and glad to defer any special survey of the land they had "come to inhabit" until the following morning. After remaining encamped on the hill a day or two, they went onto the proposed town site and pitched their tents on the west side of what is now Massachusetts street near the river. At the expiration of five day, after claims had been secured, and matters arranged for future operations, about half the party departed some to the East to make preparations for returning with their families in the fall or following spring and some to spend the winter in St. Louis. John Mailey, J. C. Archibald, B. R. Knapp and J. D. Stevens took claims four miles out on the California road. But fifteen of the original party remained on the town site to greet the second party on their arrival.
The second party under the direction of Dr. Charles Robinson and Samuel C. Pomeroy, left Boston from the Boston & Worcester depot August 29, 1854. The company numbered sixty-seven, eight or ten being ladies, and about a dozen children. Among the emigrants were a party of three or four musicians from Hartford, Vt., who had their musical instruments with them.* Before starting the party assembled in the ladies room of the Lincoln street depot and sang Whittier's beautiful hymn, commencing:
"We cross the prairies as of old The pilgrims crossed the sea To make the West, as they the East The homestead of the Free"Also another hymn, written for the occasion, one stanza of which was:
"We'll seek the rolling prairies, In regions yet unseen Or stay our feet unweary By Kansas flowing stream; And there with hands unfettered Our altars we will raise, With voices high uplifted We'll sing our Maker's praise."
The party received an accession of twenty-one on arriving at Worcester, and was presented by Hon. William C. Bloss at the depot with a beautifully bound Bible on the cover of which was inscribed:
TO ESTABLISH CIVIL AND RELIGIOUS LIBERTY IN KANSAS.They reached Albany, the same evening, where they were joined by a company of twenty-five from New York and were tendered a public reception from the citizens of Albany at the Delavan House. They arrived at St. Louis on Saturday, September 2, at 4 P. M. and took passage immediately on board the steamer New Lucy for Kansas City. They arrived at Kansas city September 6 at 8 o"clock in the morning and pitched their tents-twenty-five in number-just outside the town. The main body of this party afterward encamped near the Quaker Mission, some of them boarding at the Mission and remained there some days.
* These gentlemen were Messrs. Joseph and F. Savage, N. Hazen and A. Hazen
On Saturday, the 9th, the first ladies and children - an advance party - reached "Wakarusa". On the 11th, Messrs. Robinson & Pomeroy, with other members of the party, arrived, and the following day a meeting was held to agree upon the terms of a union between the two parties. a committee was appointed who drafted a plan which was unanimously agreed to and was in substance as follows: "The old party to throw up all claims into the common association and receive compensation for their time and improvements. Then after reserving a city plot two and one half miles on the river, and one and one half miles from the river south, to proceed on the arrival of the second party to survey farm lots in number equal to the number of claimants in both parties - the choice in these lots to be sold to the highest bidder - sufficient time being given for payment to enable all to bid, whether rich or poor; besides the farm lots. each person to receive an equal share in the city property. The money from the sale of farm lots to be invested as a city fund. After making these arrangements, Mr. Pomeroy returned to Kansas City, which, for a time, he made headquarters as financial agent of the company. Dr. Robinson remained at "Wakarusa" as it was then called, and made himself useful in every way - advising, assisting, working and doing everything and anything to help the emigrants along in their new and strange way of life. The main party of emigrants arrived from the Friends' Mission September 15. The whole party numbered 114. the names, as given to F. G. Adams, Secretary of State Historical Society were: James F. Ayer, Joseph W. Ackley, S. F. Atwood, L. H. Boscom, Ed. Bond, Mrs. Bond, F. A. Bailey, William Bruce, Mrs. Bruce, H. N. Bent, Owen T. Bassett, Mrs. S. Basett, H. L. Crane, Joseph Cracklin, Jared Carter, Mrs. Carter, Willard Colburn, Ed. Dennett, James S. Emory, George F. Earle, Milton Grout, Mrs. Grout, Leo Gates, Mrs. Gates, George Gilbert, Joel Grover, Azro Hazen, H. A. Hancock, O. A. Hanscom, W. A. Hood, Franklin Haskell, Lewis Howell, W. H. Hookey, R. J. Hooted, C. Hobert, S. N. Hartwell, Alfonso Jones, Mrs. Jones, Mary K. Jones, H. W. Fick, Wilder Knight, Mrs. Knight, Ed. Knight, Sally Knight, W. Ritcherman, D. B. Trask, E. D. Ladd, John A. Ladd, L. P. Lincoln, Lewis T. Litchfield, Mrs. Litchfield, Lewis L. Litchfield, Otis. H. Lamb, Samuel Merrill, J. S. Mott, John Mack, J. N. Mace, Mrs. Mace, J. H. Muzzy, Caleb S. Pratt, L. J. Pratt, S. C. Pomeroy, A. J. Payne, Charles Robinson, T. F. Reynolds, E. E. Ropes, J. Sawyer, C. W. Smith, Joseph Savage, Forrest Savage, Jacob Strout, Mrs. Strout, M. H. Spittle, A. D. Searle, F. A. Tolles, J. B. Taft, Owen Taylor, Mrs. Taylor, John Waiter, S. J. Willis, Mrs. Willis, Sol Willis, E. W. Winslow, Silas Wayne, Mrs. Wayne, Ira W. Younglove.
On the 18th of September, the Lawrence association was formed and a constitution adopted. It provided for the usual form of city government; the determining and registry of claims upon the public lands in the absence of laws of the United States; the conditions upon which persons could become members, etc. On the following day the officers of the association were elected as follows; President, Charles Robinson, Fitchburg, Mass.; Vice- President, Ferdinand Fuller, Worcester, Mass.; Secretary, C. S. Pratt, Boston, Mass.; Treasurer, L. Gates, Worcester; Register of Deeds and Claims, and Clerk of Court, E. D. Ladd, Milwaukee, Wis.; Surveyor, A. D. Searle, Brookfield, Mass.; Marshal, Joel Grover, Richmond, New York; Arbitrators, Messrs. John Mailey of Linn; Owen Taylor of Boston; John Bruce, of Worcester. Councilmen, Messrs. J. Emery, J. F. Morgan, Franklin Haskell, S. C. Harrington, A. H. Mallory, Samuel Tappan, L. P. Lincoln, S. J. Willis, N. T. Johnson, Joseph Cracklin.
The farm claims, or the choice of them were sold for the aggregate sum of $5,040 fifty-six claims being sold. The highest bid, by J. A. Ladd, was $327*. Lots were reserved for a college, schools, State buildings, etc. By a subsequent arrangement, the city was divided into ordinary city lots - every alternate lot to be drawn by members of the association and of the balance half to be drawn alternately by Emigrant Aid Society and half gratuitously distributed to such persons as would agree to build on the lots within a year. This arrangement was made in October, and after other companies had arrived. The survey of the city was commenced September 25 by A. D. Searle. On the 3rd of October, an amendment to the constitution, embracing the principles of the Maine Law, was proposed to the association, at its meeting on that date, and passed almost unanimously at the next meeting. The immediate occasion of this clause was a drunken Indian brawl in the vicinity of the town. The town which had been called Wakarusa, New Boston and Yankee Town, was regularly christened on the 6th, the name Lawrence City being given, as stated at the meeting," first to honor Amos A, Lawrence of Boston, both as an individual and officer of the company, and second, because the name sounded well and had no bad odor attached to it in any part of the Union."
On the arrival of the advance members of the second party, a "boarding house" was established "on the hill" by Mrs. Levi Gates and Mrs. William Bruce, who, with Mrs. Lewis Litchfield, were for a short time the only ladies in the Yankee town.
A book was published late in 1854, of which Rev. Charles B. Boynton and T. B. Mason were the authors, thus describes Lawrence and this first boarding house: "few tents were pitched on the high ground overlooking the Kansas and Wakarusa Valleys, others were scattered over the level bottoms below, but not a dwelling besides was to be seen. It was a city of tents alone. We were cordially received by the intelligent and active agent, Dr. Robinson, from whom we learned, with much satisfaction, the plans and expectations of the company. *** We had a comfortable night's rest in Dr. Robinson's tent and in the morning were introduced to the only "boarding-house on the hill." Two very intelligent ladies from Massachusetts had united their forces and interests and had taken"boarders". In the open air, on some logs of wood, two rough boards were laid across for a table, and on wash tubs, kegs and blocks, the and their boarders were seated around it. This was the first boarding house in the new city of Lawrence. All were cheerful, hopeful and full of energy and the scene reminded me of Plymouth Rock."
* None of this "bid money" was ever paid - the Association afterward voting not to collect it.
The first "hotel" located on the bottom lands, and facetiously called the "Astor House" was opened on the 25th of September by Mr. and Mrs. Lewis T. Litchfield. it was constructed of poles, or staves, the roof attached with prairie grass and the sides and ends covered with cotton cloth. It was fifty feet long, twenty-five feet wide and about fifteen feet high in the center. Price of board, "for members" $2.50 per week. The "Astor House" stood on the bank of the river, not far from where the jail is now located. Another hotel similar to this was constructed in preparation for the third party which was to leave Boston on the 26th of September. This was called the "St. Nicholas". During this month (September) the financial agent of the company purchased the "Union Hotel" in Kansas City, for the sum of $10,000 and placed it under the proprietorship of Mr. Morgan, of Massachusetts, to serve as a place of reception for the fast-coming emigrants, on their arrival at Kansas.
On the 1st day of October occurred the first religious service, and also the first death and burial in the new colony. The following extract from a private letter, afterward published in the Puritan Recorder, Boston, gives a detailed account of these events. The letter is dated October 5, 1854. the writer says:
Last Sabbath, was my first Prairie Sabbath; it was the first Sabbath our parties had assembled for the "hearing of the Word" The Rev, Mr. Lum, sent us by way of the American Home Missionary Society, preached very acceptably. The place f worship was in our large receiving and boarding houses; we have two nearly adjoining each other, each of them about 20 X 48 feet, covered and thatched with prairie grass, very warm and very good. We had a large and attentive audience. The Rev, Mr. Boynton, of Cincinnati, sent us two boxes of books and pamphlets, which I distributed at the interval to a very eager crowd. All our people as well as others, miss their home papers and books, and are anxious to get anything to read. Those sent us were invaluable.
Though the Sabbath was delightful as my first Prairie Sabbath, still there was one cloud that settled dark upon us; we had to open our first prairie grave The call now was for one of our own party, a near neighbor of mine, Moses Pomeroy, a fine young man, an only son, leaving parents and two sisters to grieve (when they learn it) for his loss. I have just finished long and very minute letters to each of them. Mr. Pomeroy left the party at Illinois and spent the Sabbath with some friends. He joined Dr. R. and myself upon the following Tuesday at St. Louis and came up river with us. he said to me that all his Illinois friends were sick of a fever, and after he was taken sick, he sent for me to come and see him, for "he had got an Illinois fever" I went to see him on Thursday evening September 28, found Dr. R. * and Dr. H. + in attendance. I saw he was very sick and at his request I sat by him all night and ministered to his wants. Friday I was very busy at our settlement; at evening he sent for me again. (He was boarding with Mr. Wood, whose name is to a letter in the first number of the Herald Freedom In company with Mr. Searle of our place, I stayed with him also Friday night. In the morning we were all fearful he would die. I was absent during the day; at evening Dr. R. and myself went again to see him; we both sat with him until 3 o'clock on Sabbath morning, when he quietly breathed his last. He had his reason, and was very grateful for all our kindness to him. Mr. and Mrs. Wood did everything in their power for him. He had fallen among the kindest of friends, but they could not save him.
Sabbath evening at 4 o'clock, his funeral was attended in our New England way service, very solemn and impressive, at our grass church. All our large family followed in solemn procession to the grave, and as the sun was setting in a golden west, and all nature sinking to repose, we gently laid him down to the long sleep of the tomb.
There is something very pathetic in this simple story of the early death of this young man - this only son, far from the waiting father and mother and sisters. He found kind friends during his brief life in Kansas, and in the wagon that carried his remains to the prairie grave, tenderly shielding them from jar or injury rode a young maiden of seventeen, Sarah Lyon, now Mrs. Mack and then the only unmarried lady in Lawrence.
On this first Sunday in October, the first Bible class was also formed, and for many weeks the citizens of Lawrence were called to the house of worship by the ringing of a large dinner bell. On Sabbath evening, October 15, a meeting was held at "Oread Hall" (a large tent for religious services), for the purpose of forming the First Congregational Church in Kansas Territory Deacon Dickson, of Massachusetts, was Moderator, and O. A. Hanscom (of Dr. Kirk's Church, Boston) Clerk. After the object of the meeting had been fully explained by Rev. S. Y. Lum, and the matter fully discussed, it was voted that Rev. S. Y. Lum, S. C. Pomeroy, Deacon Dickson, A. D. Ladd and M. H. Spittle be a Committee to draft the articles of faith and a covenant as a basis for the formation of a church. The meeting then adjourned to Wednesday evening when they again assembled, heard the report of the Committee read, and cordially accepted it - then signed the articles drafted and formed a church to be know as the "Plymouth Church of Lawrence City." A religious society or parish was also formed the same evening - Dr. Charles Robinson, S. C. Pomeroy and Mr. S. J. Willis, trustees.
Mr. Lum was an active and earnest young minister, who had been settled as pastor of a church in Middletown, N. Y. His health failing, he went to California and traveled though the State, working awhile in the mines. His health being restored, he came to Kansas as the pioneer missionary of the American Home Missionary Society. He brought with him his wife and two children. His expenses were, for the first year, paid by one church alone - the old South Church in Worcester. besides Mr. Lum, there was another minister in Lawrence at this time - Rev. W. C. Hall, sent out by the Baptist Association.
The Emigrant Aid Company purchased a steam saw mill in Rochester, N. Y., as early as the 1st of September, and shipped it immediately for Lawrence. Owing to various causes it was delayed in transit. After waiting until out of patience for its arrival, another steam mill was purchased in Kansas City and at great labor and expense, the entire works, frame and everything moved a distance of forty miles to the city. After getting the mill on the ground there was no brick for chimneys and arches, and they had to built of stone, cemented with lime made from the stone in the neighborhood. When the mill was fairly in operation - which was about the first of December - the Missourians offered the Association $2,000 for it, which offer was refused and the mill ran night and day sawing out lumber for the buildings of the city, a contract having been made with the Delaware Indians for lumber. In January, 1855, the mill was leased to S. & F. Kimball, with a proviso that it should be run a certain portion of the time in cutting lumber for the new hotel in process of construction.
* Dr. Robinson + Dr. Harrington | <urn:uuid:b3a08b1d-381c-44b5-95fc-eb62774b0e2b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kancoll.org/books/cutler/douglas/douglas-co-p4.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00090-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975885 | 5,058 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Featured on these pages are biographies of famous women throughout
history and from around the world. This list of famous women
serves to recognize them for their contributions to society,
culture and science. Famous and notable females and their
contributions will be factually presented. In addition, at
the end of some sections may be a little known secret about
each of our famous women. And this may not be so factual in
nature. LOL. :) Did I say that we like fun?
Joan of Arc in Battle
Notable women throughout history have achieved fame by giving
of their wisdom, generosity, empathy and leadership skills.
Some of the most famous females of all time include artists,
writers, entertainers, scientists, explorers, rebels, political
leaders, religious leaders, educators, lawyers, athletes and
titans of industry.
Noteworthy females have run countries, won Nobel Prizes and
led revolutions. Many of these women include celebrities and
other notables. But also presented on this site are those
who simply stood up for themselves, their families and their
beliefs and changed the world by doing so.
Patchwork or Quilt?
In a patchwork of patriarchal societies like we have on this
planet, women often go unnoticed and under recognized. Even
in today's modern world there are still some countries like
India and China where birthing a boy is more "valued"
than birthing a girl.
Social, political and economic realities have weighed heavily
on most societies since civilized mankind began. The famous
women listed on this site, resisted, broke through barriers,
crushed glass ceilings and otherwise had an impact on the
world as we now know it.
Just in the last 2 centuries the Women's Suffrage Movement
in the 18th to 20th centuries, the Women's Liberation Movement
starting in the 1960's and the Feminist Movement to follow
from the 1990's to today have shown many female leaders in
action, thought and decision.
These pages are a celebration of the notable females in history
who have shaped our world progressively for the betterment
of all people. These pages are not a statement on equal rights
or gender equality although these items will come into play.
In Conclusion ...
Famous women throughout history need to be celebrated for
their forward thinking, contributions, desire and action.
These females have made a positive impact amongst the societies
in which they had lived and they have long-lasting implications
of today. So, check out the information and even humor about
the notable females on these pages and let us know if there
is anyone you would also like included in this celebratory
space as well.
Updated October 05, 2015 | <urn:uuid:e0f82b3c-00f6-4de3-bcda-0040fb8150a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.femstory.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954173 | 565 | 2.5625 | 3 |
RHODE ISLAND COASTAL ZONE PROGRAM
Coastal Resources Management Council
The Rhode Island Coastal Zone Buffer Program
Adopted April 1994, RI CRMP
This document is downloadable in WordPerfect format. Click graphics to view full size.
Section 140 Setbacks
Amend Section 140. C to read as follows:
"C. Setbacks shall extend a minimum distance of either fifty (50) feet from the inland boundary of the coastal feature or twenty-five (25) feet inland of the edge of a Coastal Buffer Zone, whichever is further landward. In areas designated by the Council as Critical Erosion Areas-(Table 2), the minimum distance of the setback shall be not less than 30 times the calculated average annual erosion rate for less than four dwelling units and not less than 60 times the calculated average annual erosion rate for projects proposing more than 4 dwellings units.
SECTION 150 COASTAL BUFFER ZONES
1. A Coastal Buffer Zone is a land area adjacent to a Shoreline (Coastal) Feature that is, or will be, vegetated with native shoreline species and which acts as a natural transition zone between the coast and adjacent upland development. A Coastal Buffer Zone differs front a construction setback (Section 140) in that the setback establishes a minimum distance between a shoreline feature and construction activities, while a buffer zone establishes a natural area adjacent to a shoreline feature that must be retained in, or restored to, a natural vegetative condition (Figure 2). The Coastal Buffer Zone is generally contained within the established construction setback.
Figure 2: Coastal Buffer Zone
1. The establishment of Coastal Buffer Zones is based upon the CRMC's legislative mandate to preserve, protect and, where possible, restore ecological systems.
2. Vegetated buffer zones have been applied as best management practices within the fields of forestry and agriculture since the 1950s to protect in-stream habitats from degradation by the input of sediment and nutrients (Desbonnet et. al. 1993). More recently, vegetated buffer zones have gained popularity as a best management practice for the control and abatement of nonpoint source pollutants (contaminated runoff) and are routinely applied in both engineered and natural settings (Desbonnet et. al. 1993; EPA 1993).
3. Coastal Buffer Zones provide multiple uses and multiple benefits to those areas where they are applied (Desbonnet et. al. 1993). The multiple uses and benefits of Coastal Buffer Zones include:
a. Protection of Water Quality: Buffer zones along the perimeter of coastal water bodies can be effective in trapping sediments, pollutants (including oil, detergents, pesticides, herbicides, insecticides, wood preservatives and other domestic chemicals), and absorbing nutrients (particularly nitrogen) from surface water runoff and groundwater flow. The effectiveness of vegetated buffers as a best management practice for the control of nonpoint source runoff is dependent upon their ability to reduce the velocity of runoff flow to allow for the deposition of sediments, and the filtration and biological removal of nutrients within the vegetated area. In general, the effectiveness of any vegetated buffer is related to its width, slope, soil type, and resident species of vegetation. Effective buffers for nonpoint source pollution control, which remove at least 50%, and up to 99%, of sediments and nutrients entering them, range from 15 feet to 600 feet in width.
The removal of pollutants can be of particular importance in areas abutting poorly flushed estuaries that are threatened by an excess of nutrients or are contaminated by runoff water, such as the South Shore Salt Ponds and the Narrow River. Large, well flushed water bodies, such as Narragansett Bay, are also susceptible to nonpoint source pollutant inputs, and can be severely impacted by nonpoint source pollutants as has been documented in studies completed for the Narragansett Bay Project.
b. Protection of Coastal Habitat: Coastal Buffer Zones provide habitat for native plants and animals. Vegetation within a buffer zone provides cover from predation and climate, and habitat for nesting and feeding by resident and migratory species. Some species which use coastal buffer zones are now relatively uncommon, while others are considered rare, threatened or endangered. These plants and animals are essential to the preservation of Rhode Island=s valuable coastal ecosystem.
The effectiveness of vegetated buffers as wildlife habitat is dependent upon buffer width and vegetation type. In general, the wider the buffer the greater its value as wildlife habitat. Larger buffer widths are typically needed for species that are more sensitive to disturbances (e.g., noise). Furthermore, those buffers that possess vegetation native to the area provide more valuable habitat for sustaining resident species. A diversity of plant species and types (e.g., grasses, shrubs and trees) promotes biodiversity within the buffer area, and the region overall.
c. Protection of Scenic and Aesthetic Quality: One of the primary goals of the Council is to preserve, protect, and where possible restore the scenic value of the coastal region in order to retain the visual diversity and unique visual character of the Rhode Island coast as seen by hundreds of thousands of residents and tourists each year from boats, bridges, and such vantage points as roadways, public parks, and public beaches (Section 330). Coastal Buffer Zones enhance and protect Rhode Island's scenic and visual aesthetic resources along the coast. Coastal buffers also preserve the natural character of the shoreline, while mitigating the visual impacts of coastal development. Visual diversity provides for both contrast and relief between the coastal and inland regions, leading to greater aesthetic value of the landscape.
d. Erosion Control: Coastal Buffer Zones provide a natural transition zone between the open coast, shoreline features and upland development. Natural vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone helps to stabilize the soil, reduces the velocity of surface water runoff, reduces erosion of the soil by spreading runoff water over a wide area, and promotes absorption and infiltration through the detrital (leaf) layer and underlying soils. The extensive root zones often associated with buffer zone vegetation also help prevent excessive shoreline erosion during coastal storm events by stabilizing underlying soils.
e. Flood Control: Coastal Buffer Zones aid in flood control by reducing the velocity of runoff and by encouraging infiltration of precipitation and runoff into the ground rather than allowing runoff to flow overland and flood low lying areas. In addition, Coastal Buffer Zones often occupy the flood plain itself and thus add to coastal flood protection.
f. Protection of Historic and Archaeological Resources: Coastal Buffer Zones protect area of cultural and historic importance such as archaeological sites by helping prevent intrusion while protecting the site's natural surroundings.
1. The establishment of a Coastal Buffer Zone is based upon the CRMC's legislative mandate to preserve, protect and, where possible, restore ecological systems. The determination of the inland boundary of the Coastal Buffer Zone must balance this mandate with the property owner's rights to develop and use the property.
2. The Council shall require Coastal Buffer Zones in accordance with the requirements of this section for the following: a) new residential development; b) commercial and industrial development; c) activities subject to Section 300.8 and Section 300.13; and d) inland activities identified in Section 320. For existing residential structures, the Council shall require a Coastal Buffer Zone for category "A" and "B" activities when the RIDEM requires the modification or expansion of an existing septic system or when the footprint of the structure is expanded.
3. The vegetation within a buffer zone must be either retained in a natural, undisturbed condition, or properly managed in accordance with the standards contained in this section. In cases where native flora (vegetation) does not exist within a buffer zone, the Council may require restoration efforts which include, but are not limited to, replanting the Coastal Buffer Zone with native plant species.
4. Coastal Buffer Zones shall remain covered with native flora and in an undisturbed state in order to promote the Council's goal of preserving, protecting, and restoring ecological systems. However, the Council may permit minor alterations to Coastal Buffer Zones that facilitate the continued enjoyment of Rhode Island's coastal resources. All alterations to Coastal Buffer Zones or alterations to the natural vegetation (i.e., areas not presently maintained in a landscaped condition) within the Council's jurisdiction shall be conducted in accordance with the standards contained in this section as well as all other applicable policies and standards of the Council. In order to ensure compliance with these requirements, the Council may require applicants to submit a Buffer Zone Management Plan.
Table 2a. Coastal Buffer Zone designations for residential development.
Water Use Category
Residential Lot Size
3, 4, 5, & 6
1 & 2
Required Buffer (ft)
10,000 - 20,000
20,001 - 40,000
40,001 - 60,000
60,001 - 80,000
80,001 - 200,000
5. In order to enhance conservation, protect water quality, and maintain the low intensity use characteristic of type 1 and 2 waters, greater buffer widths shall be applied along the coastline abutting these water types.
6. In critical areas and when the property owner owns adjoining lots, these lots shall be considered as one lot for the purposes of applying the values contained in Table 2a and ensuring that the appropriate buffer zone is established.
1. All Coastal Buffer Zones shall be measured from the inland edge of the most inland Shoreline (Coastal) Feature.
2. Coastal Buffer Zone Requirements for New Residential Development: The minimum Coastal Buffer Zone requirements for new residential development bordering Rhode Island's shoreline are contained in Table 2a. The Coastal Buffer Zone requirements are based upon the size of the lot and the CRMC's designated Water Types (Type 1 - Type 6). Where the buffer zone requirements noted above cannot be met, the applicant may request a variance in accordance with Section 120. A variance to 50% of the required buffer width may be granted administratively by the Executive Director if the applicant has satisfied the burdens of proof for the granting of a variance. Where it is determined that the applicant has not satisfied the burdens of proof, or the requested variance is in excess of 50% of the required width, the application shall be reviewed by the full Council.
3. Coastal Buffer Zone Requirements for Existing Residential Structures that Expand the Footprint of the Structure and for Structures Required by the RIDEM to Modify or Expand an Existing Septic System: When an existing residential structure does not meet the Council's Coastal Buffer Zone requirements contained in Table 2a (e.g., the existing structure does not have a buffer zone or has a buffer zone with a width less than the value contained in Table 2a), the following Coastal Buffer Zone requirements shall apply to each modification of the residential structure until the property's Coastal Buffer Zone equals, but does not exceed, the value contained in Table 2a:
a. Where alterations to a residential structure result in the expansion of the structure's footprint (square footage of the ground floor area encompassed by the structural foundation of an existing building), the Coastal Buffer Zone requirement shall be established with a width equal to the percentage increase in a structure's footprint as of April 15, 1994 multiplied by the value contained in Table 2a ([square foot increase of footprint/square footage as of April 15, 1994] X value contained in Table 2a = Coastal Zone Buffer Requirement);
b. Where alterations to a residential structure result in an increase in flow to the Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS) and the RIDEM has required the modification or expansion of the existing ISDS, the Coastal Buffer Zone requirement shall be established with a width equal to 25% of the value contained in Table 2a (0.25 X value contained in Table 2a Coastal Buffer Zone requirement).
These requirements only apply to category "A" and "B" assents. In addition, the Executive director shall have the authority to grant a variance to these requirements for category "A" assents in accordance with the burdens of proof contained in Section 120.
4. Coastal Buffer Zone Requirements for all Commercial and Industrial development and activities subject to the requirements of Section 300.8, Section 300.13, or Section 320: Coastal Buffer Zones shall be determined on a case-by-ease basis by the Council. Table 2a may be used as appropriate guidance. However, depending on the activity proposed and its potential impacts on coastal resources, the Council may require a Coastal Buffer Zone with a width greater than that found in the Table 2a.
5. All property abutting critical habitat areas, as defined by the Rhode Island National Heritage Program or the Council, shall possess a minimum vegetated buffer zone of 200 feet between the identified habitat and any development area. The Executive director shall have the authority to grant a variance to these requirements in accordance with the burdens of proof contained in Section 120.
6. All property abutting Coastal Natural Areas (Section 210.4) shall have a minimum vegetated Coastal Buffer Zone of 25 feet from the inland edge of the coastal feature. The Executive director shall have the authority to grant a variance to these requirements in accordance with the burdens of proof contained in Section 120.
7. All property located within the boundaries of a Special Area Management (SAM) Plan approved by the Council shall meet additional buffer zone requirements contained within these SAM plans. When a SAM plan's buffer zone requirements apply, the buffer width values contained in this section will be compared to those required by the SAM plan, and the larger of the buffer widths applied.
8. The setback (Section 140) for all new residential, commercial, and industrial structures shall exceed the Coastal Buffer Zone requirement by a minimum of 25 feet for fire, safety, and maintenance purposes. Where the 25 foot separation distance between the inland edge of the buffer and construction setback cannot be obtained, the applicant may request a variance in accordance with Section 120. The Executive Director shall have the authority to grant variances to this requirement. However, a vegetated Coastal Buffer Zone shall not directly contact any dwelling's footprint.
E. Buffer Management and Maintenance Requirements
1. All alterations within established Coastal Buffer Zones or alterations to natural vegetation (i.e., areas not presently maintained in a landscaped condition) within the Council's jurisdiction may be required to submit a Buffer Zone Management Plan for the Council's approval that is consistent with the requirements of this section and the Council's most recent edition of Buffer Zone Management Guidance. Buffer Zone Management Plans shall include a description of all proposed alterations and methods of avoiding problem areas such as the proper placement and maintenance of pathways. Applicants should consult the Council's most recent edition of Buffer Zone Management Guidance when preparing a buffer management plan.
2. In order to promote the Council's goal to preserve, protect and, where possible, restore ecological systems, Coastal Buffer Zones shall be vegetated with native flora and retained in a natural, undisturbed condition, or shall be properly managed in accordance with Council's most recent edition of Buffer Zone Management Guidance. Such management activities compatible with this goal include, but are not limited to:
a. Shoreline Access Paths: Pathways which provide access to the shoreline are normally considered permissible provided they are less than or equal to 6 feet wide and follow a path that minimizes erosion and gullying within the buffer zone (e.g., a winding, but direct path). Pathways should avoid, or may be prohibited in, sensitive habitat areas, including, but not limited to, coastal wetlands. Pathways may be vegetated with grasses and mowed or may be surfaced with crushed stone or mulch.
b. View Corridors: Selective tree removal and pruning and thinning of natural vegetation may be allowed within a defined corridor in order to promote a view of the shoreline. Only the minimal alteration of vegetation necessary to obtain a view shall be acceptable to the Council. Shoreline access paths shall be located within view corridors to the maximum extent practicable in order to minimize disturbance of Coastal Buffer Zones. View corridors shall be prohibited in sensitive or critical habitat areas.
c. Habitat Management: Management of natural vegetation within a buffer zone to enhance wildlife habitat and control nuisance and non-native species of vegetation may be allowed. Homeowner control of pest species of vegetation such as European bittersweet and nuisance species such as poison ivy is normally considered acceptable. However, the indiscriminate use of herbicides or the clear-cutting of vegetation shall be prohibited. The use of fertilizers is generally prohibited within the Coastal Buffer Zone except when used to enhance the replanting of native vegetation (e.g., hydro-seeding) approved by the Council. However, the clearing or outright elimination of natural vegetation for such purposes as controlling ticks or pollen shall not be permitted.
d. Safety and Welfare: Selective tree removal, pruning and thinning of natural vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone may be allowed by the Council on a case-by-case basis for proven safety and welfare concerns (e.g., removal of a damaged tree in close proximity to a dwelling). In order to promote child safety and manage pets in areas harboring ticks, fences along the inland edge of a Coastal Buffer Zone and along shoreline access pathways may be permitted.
e. Shoreline Recreation: The CRMC recognizes that shoreline recreation is one of the predominant attractions for living on, or visiting the Rhode Island Coast. In order to allow for such uses, minor alterations of buffer zones may be permitted along the shoreline if they are determined to consistent with Council=s requirements. These alterations may include maintaining a small clearing along the shore for picnic tables, benches, and recreational craft (dinghies, canoes, day sailboats, etc.). Additionally, the CRMC may allow small, non-habitable structures including storage sheds, boat houses and gazebos within Coastal Buffer Zones, where appropriate. However, these structures may be prohibited in sensitive or critical habitat areas. Due to the potential for these structures to impact values provided by Coastal Buffer Zones, the Council shall exercise significant discretion in this area.
Rhode Island Coastal Buffer Zone Management Guidance
Revised January 7, 1994
CRMC Coastal Buffer Zone Management Guidance
A. Guidelines for preparing an application for Coastal Buffer Zone Management:
1. All proposals for buffer zone management must be designed with respect to the one or more of the Management Options identified in Section AB of these guidelines and must utilize appropriate techniques for managing vegetation as defined in Section AC.
2. Photographs and site plans must be submitted for all applications in order to minimize the need for on-site inspections. Actual field inspections will only be performed when deemed necessary by CRMC staff. All applications should be complete, clear and concise. Applications which are unclear or imprecise will be returned.
3. Applications which propose acceptable alterations within Coastal Buffer Zones (as determined by CRMC staff) will be processed as a Category AA and will receive administrative approval. In cases where CRMC staff determines the application to be unacceptable, an effort will be made to negotiate a resolution with the applicant. If a favorable resolution cannot be reached. CRMC staff will make a recommendation to the Executive Director that the application be processed as a Category AB review requiring final decision by the full Coastal Council.
4. All proposals for Coastal Buffer Zone management should involve minor alterations which do not depreciate the values and functions of Coastal Buffer Zones as defined by Section 150 of the RICRMP. At a minimum, at least sixty percent (60%) of a buffer zone shall remain completely unaltered. Typically, Coastal Buffer Zone Management Plans which affect 25% or less of a buffer zone are more likely to be approved. Areas to remain unaltered should be clearly identified on the proposed plans. An exception to the requirement is allowed for ASuburban Coastal Buffer Zones - see Section B.6 of this Guidance material.
5. Where appropriate, Coastal Buffer Zone management may be applied to Coastal Banks. However, the CRMC may impose greater restrictions on alterations affecting coastal banks.
6. Tree damage and removal - in cases where a small number of dead, diseased, or storm damaged trees need to be removed from a buffer zone, the applicant may request an expedited review. In such cases, a description of work and a photograph of the area may be sufficient for CRMC review.
B. Management options within coastal buffer zones:
1. Shoreline Access Paths - Pathways which provide access to the shoreline are normally considered appropriate. Pathways may be 6' wide or less and follow a winding, but direct path that does not promote erosion within the buffer zone. Shoreline access paths must be designed to minimize disturbance and may be prohibited in sensitive habitat areas, including but not limited to, coastal wetlands. Pathways may be vegetated with grasses and mowed or may be surfaced with crushed stone or mulch. Fertilizers may only be allowed for the initial establishment of grassed pathways. Proper site plans must be submitted which show the location of the proposed path through the buffer zone. Applicants may also be required to delineate the path on site for CRMC staff inspection.
2. View Corridors - Selective tree removal and pruning and thinning of natural vegetation may be allowed within a defined corridor in order to promote a view of the shoreline. Only the minimal alteration of vegetation necessary to obtain a view shall be considered acceptable (clear cutting is not allowed). Shoreline access paths (if proposed) should be located within a view corridor to minimize disturbance within the buffer. Applicants proposing a view corridor must prepare a plain showing the view corridor=s location within the Coastal Buffer Zone with respect to view points from a dwelling or other viewing area. View corridors are typically trapezoidal in shape, being narrow at the inland edge and expanding toward the shore. On residential lots of 2 acres or less, only one view corridor is typically considered acceptable. View Corridors may not affect more than 25% of the length of the Coastal Buffer Zone as measured along the shoreline feature. View Corridors may be prohibited in sensitive or critical habitat areas.
3. Habitat Management - The management of natural vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone to wither enhance wildlife habitat or control nuisance and/or non-native species of vegetation may be allowed where it is demonstrated that the existing environmental conditions will be improved for native plantlife and wildlife. Additionally, homeowner control of nuisance species of vegetation such as European Bittersweet and poison ivy are considered acceptable within managed portions of Coastal Buffer Zones. However, the indiscriminate use of herbicides is prohibited and fertilizers may only be used to enhance the replanting of native vegetation. In addition, maintaining a buffer zone in a Alandscaped condition, or establishing lawn are not considered appropriate habitat management activities and are prohibited. In Coastal Buffer Zones encompassing one acre or more, clearing may be allowed to establish field conditions which contain native grasses and herbaceous plants. In such cases, clearing for field establishment shall not affect more than 25% of the Coastal Buffer Zone. All Buffer Zone Management plans involving habitat management within a Coastal Buffer Zone of one acre or more, or in sensitive or critical habitat areas (as determined by CRMC staff) shall submit a buffer zone management plan prepared by a qualified environmental professional or biologist.
4. Safety and Welfare - Selective tree removal and pruning and thinning of natural vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone may be allowed on a case-by-case basis for proven safety and welfare concerns (e.g., removal of a damaged or diseased tree in close proximity to a dwelling). In order to promote child safety and manage pets in areas harboring ticks, fences along the inland edge of a Coastal Buffer Zone and along shoreline access paths or shoreline recreation areas may be permitted (fences must be of an open type construction to permit the passage of wildlife, e.g. split rail or similar). Coastal Buffer Zone management plans shall include methods of avoiding problem areas such as the proper placement and maintenance of paths.
5. Shoreline Recreation - The CRMC recognizes that shoreline recreation is one of the predominant attractions for living on, or visiting the Rhode Island coast. In order to allow for such uses, minor alterations of Coastal Buffer Zones may be permitted along the shoreline if they are determined to be consistent with CRMC's goals and policies as noted in the Rhode Island Coastal Resources Management Program (RICRMP). Appropriate alterations typically include maintaining a small clearing along the shore for picnic tables, benches, and recreation craft (dinghies, canoes, day sailboats, etc.). Additionally, where appropriate, the CRMC may allow small (200 sq. ft. total floor space, or less), non-habitable structures including storage sheds, boat houses, and gazebos within Coastal Buffer Zones. Due to the potential for these structures to impact natural values provided by Coastal Buffer Zones, the Council shall exercise significant discretion in this area.
6. Suburban Coastal Buffer Zones - Where the Coastal Buffer Zone requirement is 25' or less (as per RICRMP Section 150, Table 2a), the CRMC shall consider such buffer zones "Suburban Coastal Buffer Zones." Suburban Coastal Buffer Zones may be managed in their entirety (100%) by selective tree removal, selective pruning, selective thinning and restorative planting. However, the CRMC may require that several trees be maintained or planted to protect scenic quality.
C. Appropriate techniques for managing vegetation within a coastal buffer zone:
1. Selective Tree Removal - In cases where the applicant wishes to remove a few select trees, trees proposed to be cut must be specifically identified for CRMC staff review. In most cases, photographs of the buffer area may be sufficient provided the affected trees are clearly shown in relation to the surrounding buffer and shoreline. Trees may also be marked on-site to allow inspection by CRMC staff. In order to minimize disturbance and allow monitoring by CRMC staff, tree stumps of fallen trees shall not be removed. CRMC staff may make a follow-up inspection to verify that only marked trees were cut based upon stump counts. Should the applicant wish to remove a fallen tree from the buffer zone, this must be performed in a manner which does not disturb remaining vegetation. Selective tree removal is often a preferred technique for the establishment of a view corridor.
2. Selective Pruning - Pruning as defined for CRMC purposes involves cutting branches from trees, tree saplings and shrubs. For certain Coastal Buffer Zone Management options, pruning the tops of shrubs and forest undergrowth (topping) may be appropriate to discourage growth in height. On level ground, shrubs and forest undergrowth should be pruned to a height of not less than 4'-5'. In areas where the ground surface descend toward the shoreline, topping should only be performed to a height that allows a view of the water. Applicants proposing pruning must describe in detail the work proposed, provide photographs and a site plan, and/or mark those portions of the Coastal Buffer Zone where vegetation to be pruned should be identified since some species of vegetation cannot tolerate excessive pruning or topping. Selective pruning is often a preferred technique for the establishment of a view corridor.
3. Selective Thinning - Thinning as defined for CRMC purposes involves the selective removal of tree saplings, shrubs and vines occurring in brush areas and in the undergrowth of forested buffer zones. Applicants proposing thinning must describe in detail the work proposed, provide photographs and a site plan, and/or mark areas to be thinned on-site. The species of vegetation to be removed from a Coastal Buffer Zone management area must be differentiated from those species which are to be retained and encouraged. Selective thinning is often a preferred technique in areas where habitat management will be performed.
4. Restorative Planting - For purposes of Coastal Buffer Zone Management, restorative planting shall be strictly defined as the planting or replanting of natural vegetation native to the Rhode Island shoreline. However, naturalized species such as Rugosa Rose may be allowed, as determined by CRMC staff. The planting of non-native, landscape and exotic species, in most cases, shall not be considered appropriate in Coastal Buffer Zones.
5. Mowing - In most cases, mowing of vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone shall be prohibited unless associated with the establishment and maintenance of shoreline access path or approved shoreline recreation area. However, for certain habitat management options, annual or biannual mowing may be allowed to maintain field vegetation where such vegetation is considered valuable to wildlife and other natural values. In such cases, mowing shall be confined to 25% of the Coastal Buffer Zone area, or less.
6. Clearing - Clearing or clear-cutting of vegetation within a Coastal Buffer Zone shall only be allowed for the establishment of shoreline access paths, shoreline recreation areas and in certain cases, habitat management options which are designed to maintain a field of native grasses and herbaceous plants. Clearing shall not affect more than 25% of the Coastal Buffer Zone area. Clearing for habitat management shall not be allowed in Coastal Buffer Zones of less than one acre.
7. Filling and grading - Minor filling (10 cubic yards or less) and grading shall only be allowed in Coastal Buffer Zone areas for the establishment of shoreline access paths and shoreline recreation areas. Certain minor cutting and filling activities may also be allowed on a case-by-case basis to promote these uses. Filling and grading shall not be allowed for habitat management options.
Figure 10. Example of an adequate buffer zone management plan drawn by owner. | <urn:uuid:799936a7-8995-41f4-a6a5-40f1c2a09086> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://stormwatercenter.net/Model%20Ordinances/rhode_island_buffer_ordinance.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00137-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.91411 | 6,116 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Traveler's DiarrheaPage address: http://www.mnsu.edu/shs/travelersdiarrhea.html
How Can I Avoid Traveler's Diarrhea?
- Do not drink tap water and do not use it to brush your teeth.
- Do not drink bottled water if the seal on the bottle has been broken.
- Do not use ice that has been made from tap water.
- Do not drink milk or eat dairy products that have not been "pasteurized" (heated to a temperature where all germs are killed).
- Do not eat raw fruits or vegetables unless they can be peeled and you are the one who peels them. (e.g. avoid salsa or guacamole.)
- Do not eat lettuce and other leafy raw vegetables (like spinach), and do not eat cut–up fruit salad.
- Do not eat raw or rare (slightly cooked) meat or fish.
- Do not eat food from people who sell food on the street.
What is Safe to Drink or Eat?
- You can drink soft drinks that are "carbonated" (drinks with a gas called carbon dioxide in them).
- You can have hot drinks such as hot tea or coffee.
- You can drink carbonated or noncarbonated bottled water as long as you are the one who breaks the seal.
- You can eat raw fruits or vegetables that can be peeled, as long as you are the one who peels them.
- You can eat food that is served hot.
- You can eat meat that is well cooked. | <urn:uuid:c3894583-a68a-4f32-b4be-0c859d7a5f76> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mnsu.edu/shs/travelersdiarrhea.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945374 | 335 | 2.796875 | 3 |
The ties between Traditional Chinese Medicine and Martial Arts is strong and based on the similar concepts which support both – the basis of those concepts being an understanding of the human body.
In the study of medicine, be it Eastern or Western, there is the belief that understanding what hurts us improves our abilities to overcome the disease. In fact, some of the most common drugs and treatments come from things that can conversely hurt. For instance, the basis for penicillin, the wonder drug of eastern medicine in curing many infections, comes from cultivating mold and harnessing something negative for a positive use. The most common treatment for cancer, lies in the idea of killing off the harmful cells using radiation.
In Martial Arts, some of the deadliest techniques come from understanding pressure points and the flow chi (and thus blood) through the body. By stopping the chi and striking the body in key spots, one can disable, maim or kill their opponent.
This knowledge can also heal. To damage an opponent using pressure points, you are effectively stopping or disrupting the flow of chi in that person's body. To heal a person, you are opening the channels of chi to flow.
The concepts are also echoed in studying the five-elements and the constructive and destructive cycles of the elements. By going in one direction and order, we are destroying, which is what Martial Arts is doing. Going in a different (and not necessarily the reverse) direction can become helpful and cure. Acupuncture utilizes the constructive patterns to repair the body.
When a Martial Artist begins to study pressure points and their application, they must take time to learn both positive and negative aspects of this side of the art in order to be most effective. Study into this area must be taken with great care and patience. It does the student no good if they only learn the negative side and never pick up how to cure the negative effects they learn.
For some, this naturally leads into deeper interest and understanding of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Thus, many who study this deep into Martial Arts also embrace and become proficient in Eastern medical techniques. Some go on to formalize this training by becoming doctorates in this art.
Likewise, those that study Traditional Chinese Medicine often become proficient in Martial Arts techniques, especially internal arts such as Tai Chi. This is a natural progression of their studies in understanding the total picture of both constructive and destructive cycles. | <urn:uuid:0f1afc70-b9c4-4b81-8f4d-467531cbc386> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bellaonline.com/ArticlesP/art56737.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00016-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95061 | 483 | 2.71875 | 3 |
One reason we insist that teachers "play" with the hardware and software in our computer classrooms during training sessions is that they discover they already know how to answer many of the questions students will have about our computer tools. ("How do I save on the network drive?" "I clicked on Open but I don't see my DAILY prompt?") These "play" sessions also give us time to cover some of the basic troubleshooting teachers can do in the classroom--rebooting the printer after they clear a paper jam, making sure students haven't kicked the plug out of the wall when a computer screen suddenly goes blank, and so on.
We emphasize, however, that we don't expect our teachers to be computer experts. Instead we highlight two strategies that generally calm most of their fears of technical glitches: | <urn:uuid:050af4f0-45ae-4c72-8e8a-19f1c50d4663> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://writing.colostate.edu/guides/teaching/pcteacher/pop6g.cfm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961338 | 162 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Asteroid near misses are disconcertingly common
Posted by Emily Lakdawalla
28-01-2008 16:43 CST
I've been investigating some of the recent excitement about dangers from the skies, and particularly asteroid 2007 TU24, which will pass harmlessly by Earth tonight, considerably farther from Earth than the Moon. Here's some recent radar images of the near-Earth object, which is roughly 250 meters in diameter.At 250 meters in diameter, it'd be roughly half the size of Itokawa, which was lately investigated by the Hayabusa mission. That is not insignificant-sized for a near-Earth asteroid, which is what makes the close approach by TU24 so interesting. For one thing, a 250-meter-diameter object passing relatively close to Earth is a very worthwhile target for amateur and professional astronomers alike; the Goldstone radar images I posted above will be followed up by even better ones from Arecibo that they're planning on taking over the next couple of days. Also, there's the fear factor: even though I can assure you that TU24 is NOT going to hit us, it is worthwhile to stop and think about what could happen if it did. I plugged TU24's numbers into the neato Solar System Collisions tool written by Douglas Hamilton, and such an impact onto land would give you roughly a 10-kilometer crater, a bang the size of five nuclear bombs, and a magnitude 7-ish earthquake. If you want to control the impact parameters much more (and see what happens if it hit water), you can check out the Impact Effects online tool by Marcus, Melosh, and Collins.
Astronomers are more excited about TU24's size than its miss distance. It'll pass by at about 1.4 lunar distances, which is really pretty far away (the Moon is about 30 earth diameters away, so the asteroid will miss us by a distance that is 40 or 50 times our diameter -- that's pretty far). This image from MESSENGER's Earth flyby illustrates that separation: 1.4 lunar distances is not even close.We get buzzed much more closely by asteroids all the time. I checked the records kept by JPL's Near Earth Asteroids program, and for all of 2007, I found that there was a total of 17 objects that came closer to us than the Moon -- which is what I consider a close approach. But here's what I think is the most interesting fact about those closely approaching objects: every one of those 17 things that whizzed by us last year were also first discovered last year. Most of them would do little harm to us even if they did hit -- many are probably smaller (though they are moving faster) than the great big American spy satellite that is supposed to deorbit and crash next month. Still, it's a little bit disconcerting to know that we're essentially flying through a crowd of rocks that we can't see until they're right on top of us.
Or read more blog entries about: | <urn:uuid:fa6b3648-a396-4aff-8513-e9b32cd0144e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2008/1309.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968503 | 624 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Here is a brief sampling of African-American heritage and historical sites in Brunswick and on St. Simons Island and Jekyll Island.
After the Civil War, African Americans who had lived at Hofwyl and other rice plantations along the Altamaha River – Hopeton, Elizafield, Grantly, New Hope and others – settled into small communities nearby while continuing to work, for pay, at the same jobs they had previously done as slaves. Many of these communities had very descriptive names. Needwood, a nearby settlement, was so named for the shortage of "fat wood" for cooking fires. Another community bore a name that needs no explanation: Freedman's Rest.
Rice harvesting ceased at Hofwyl in 1915 and the plantation became a state historic site in 1974. Today, visitors can learn about plantation life and the endless labor required through exhibits, an orientation film and tours of the plantation home and former rice paddies. Located 10.6 miles north of the Brunswick Golden Isles Visitor Center on US Hwy. 17. Information: 912-264-7333 or www.gastateparks.org/HofwylBroadfield.
|Entrance, Selden Park|
|Colored Memorial School|
|First African Baptist Ch.|
St. Athanasius' Church. Home to Brunswick's second oldest black congregation. 1321 Albany Street, 912-264-3985.
St. Paul AME Church. Home to Brunswick's third oldest black congregation. 1520 Wolfe Street, 912-264-2734.
ST. SIMONS ISLAND
|Neptune Small marker|
Neptune Park, St. Simons Island
Neptune returned to war accompanying a second King son, R. Cuyler King, until Confederate forces surrendered in 1865. After the war, freedman Neptune, having chosen the surname "Small" for his slight stature, was given a tract of land at the southern end of St. Simons Island by the King family. He died in 1907 and was laid to rest in the old Retreat Burying Ground, where a bronze tablet recounts his story. Part of his former home is today a popular waterfront park, named in his honor.
Neptune Park is located in the St. Simons Island village area, along the waterfront between Mallery and 12th Street. The park is open daily from dawn to dusk.
|Emmanuel Baptist Church|
St. Simons Island
Emmanuel Baptist Church. 1407 Demere Road. 912-638-3852.
Retreat Plantation Slave Cabin. Though many of the structures from St. Simons Island's numerous 19th plantations have disappeared, a few cabins built to house slaves remain. These dwellings, built in the early 1800s, often housed two families. This cabin was part of Retreat Plantation. It now houses a gift shop. Located at the intersection of Frederica and Demere Roads, at the southeast corner of the roundabout.
Retreat Plantation Hospital ruin. Once the hospital for the enslaved Africans of Retreat Plantation, the tabby structure was two and a half stories and contained ten rooms. Two women lived there as nurses, and a doctor from Darien occasionally visited to care for the ill. Located on the grounds of the Sea Island Golf Club (private).
St. Paul Missionary Baptist Church. 2700 Demere Road. 912-638-4460.
|Hamilton Plantation slave cabins|
Gascoigne Bluff, St. Simons Island
Ebo Landing. The term, Igbo (pronounced "ee-bow") refers to persons from the West African area known as Igboland, now Nigeria. In May 1803, a mass drowning of slaves occurred at a point now called Ebo Landing, located along Dunbar Creek, a tributary of the Frederica River. A group of Igbo tribesman, captured and destined for slavery, rebelled as their boat neared shore. Led by an Igbo chieftain, the proud tribesmen marched into the waters of the creek, chanting an Igbo hymn and trusting in the protection of their God, Chukwu, rather than submit to slavery. Survivors were taken to Cannon's Point Plantation on St. Simons Island, and to Sapelo Island, where their story was recounted. Their tale forms the basis of a well-known local legend, of Igbo spirits still roaming the banks of Dunbar Creek. The general area of Igbo Landing is on private property. It can be seen from a distance along Sea Island Road, by looking to the northeast from the Dunbar Creek bridge.
|Harrington Graded School|
St. Simons Island
Harrington has been the site of numerous historical and cultural events, according to the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition. In the 1930s, interviewers from the Georgia Writers Unit of the Works Progress Administration (WPA) visited St. Simons Island, Their report, published as Drums and Shadow, describes Harrington's homes and residents and includes an interview with Ben Sullivan whose father, Belali, was butler to James Couper of Altama. In 1949, Lorenzo Dow Turner interviewed Harrington resident Belle Murray for his study, "Africanisms in the Gullah Dialect." Turner also recorded several songs for Lydia Parrish, author of Slave Songs of the Georgia Sea Islands." Parrish's book included a photo of Harrington School, taken by photographer Forestra Hodgson Wood.
In 1961, Alan Lomax filmed the orginal Georgia Sea Island Singers at the camp located between North and South Harrington Road. These recordings are today part of the Library of Congress and Smithsonian Folkways Collection. The 1974 movie, "Conrack," starring Jon Voight, was filmed on St. Simons Island at Harrington School. The movie is based on Pat Conroy's book, The Water is Wide, which details his experience teaching Gullah-Geechee children on Daufuskie Island, South Carolina.
Today, Harrington is considered to have the island's largest concentration of residents who trace their ancestry directly back to African-American slaves. Efforts are under way to restore Harrington School, which served as the main educational structure for three African-American communities on St. Simons Island until desegregation in the 1960s. The restoration is being undertaken by the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition in cooperation with the St. Simons Land Trust. Harrington School is located on South Harrington Road, which intersects Frederica Road near Benny's Red Barn. Information: www.ssaahc.org.
|First African Baptist Church|
St. Simons Island
St. Simons Island
Never forgetting his family's slave background, Abbott returned to St. Simons Island in the 1930s and erected an obelisk, honoring his father, Thomas Abbott, and two beloved aunts, Celia Abbott and Mary Abbott Finnick, on the grounds of Fort Frederica. Abbott's often lonely struggles for positive race relations in the early 20th century led author Roi Ottley to call him "The Lonely Warrior," the title of Ottley's 1955 biography of Robert S. Abbott. Located on the grounds of Fort Frederica National Monument. Open daily, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Information: 912-638-3639 or www.nps.gov/fofr.
|Hampton slave cabin ruins|
St Simons Island
Jekyll Island History Center. Housed in the former Jekyll Island Club stable, the history center displays exhibits devoted to Jekyll Island's past. Among items displayed are a painting of the slave ship, Wanderer, and images of Red Row, living quarters for African-Americans who were employed by the Jekyll Island Club when the island was a retreat for America's wealthiest families. Red Row was named for the red roofs of its 12 cottages. The small community included a schoolhouse and a church. Located on Stable Road in the Jekyll Island National Historic Landmark District. Open daily except Christmas from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Information: 912-635-3636 or www.jekyllisland.com.
Special thanks to Dee C. Lubell, executive director of A Project for Cultural Affairs (APCA), who graciously reviewed this material and provided insight into the area's African American heritage. APCA's mission is "to learn, teach, and heal through the arts; to preserve the way of life, heritage, arts and letters of the African American and African societies throughout the Diaspora. APCA carries out its mission through a variety of programs including the annual Sea Islands Black Heritage Festival, Island Club Cabaret and Coastal Youth Theatre of Voices. APCA also conducts African American heritage tours of St. Simons Island. For information visit them online.
Additional information was provided courtesy of the St. Simons African American Heritage Coalition (SSAAHC). Founded in 2000, its mission is "to educate, preserve, and revitalize African American heritage and culture." SSAAHC sponsors and is engaged in several activities including the annual Georgia Sea Islands Festival, and the preservation and restoration of the historic Harrington Graded School. SSAAHC also offers African American heritage tours and other community outreach programs. For information, visit their website.
These highlights are by no means intended to fully represent that complete scope of African American cultural heritage in Brunswick and The Golden Isles of Georgia. If you have information regarding the black history and heritage of Brunswick, St. Simons Island, Jekyll Island, Sea Island or Little St. Simons Island, please contact the Convention and Visitors Bureau at 912-265-0620, or send an email to [email protected] so that future information on the topic may be more complete.
View African American heritage sites in Brunswick and The Golden Isles of Georgia in a larger map | <urn:uuid:5e521bf7-d4d6-49af-ac28-e9197f36272c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://goldenislesnews.blogspot.com/2011/02/african-american-heritage-in-brunswick.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396147.66/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948052 | 2,066 | 2.671875 | 3 |
The latest news from academia, regulators
research labs and other things of interest
Posted: August 12, 2008
2028 vision for mechanical engineering - bio- and nanotechnology will dominate
(Nanowerk News) Mechanical engineers over the next two decades will be called upon to develop technologies that foster a cleaner, healthier, safer and sustainable global environment. According to the ASME report, 2028 Vision for Mechanical Engineering, mechanical engineers will need to collaborate with partners worldwide in order to apply innovative solutions and best practices to improve quality of life for all people.
“Mechanical engineers can be at the forefront of developing new technology for environmental remediation, farming and food production, housing, transportation, safety, security, healthcare and water resources,” says the report, which is based on the proceedings of The Global Summit on the Future of Mechanical Engineering, held April 16-18, 2008, Washington, D.C. The summit, hosted by ASME at the U.S. National Academy of Engineering, convened more than 120 engineering and science leaders from 19 countries for the purpose of defining the elements of a shared vision that will keep the profession at the forefront of grand challenges and great contributions over the next 20 years.
Among the challenges, sustainable development, says the ASME report, will be a shared vision in the worldwide technical community, involving collaboration tools that allow “mechanical engineers to tap into the collective wisdom of an organization or network of stakeholders.”
Collaboration also will facilitate the development of innovations in nanotechnology, biotechnology, and large-scale systems. According to the report, nanotechnology and biotechnology will dominate technological development in the next 20 years and will be incorporated into all aspects of technology that affect lives on a daily basis. “Nano-bio will provide the building blocks that future engineers will use to solve pressing problems in diverse fields including medicine, energy, water management, aeronautics, agriculture and environmental management.”
Other topics examined at the summit and discussed in the report include intellectual property, engineering education and lifelong learning, diversity, virtual design environments, and home-based fabrication.
“Engineers will be able to act as independent operators interacting with colleagues around the world,” the report says. “Engineers can design at home with advanced CAD systems or in collaboration with their global colleagues in virtual worlds. They will be able to use home-based fabrication technology to test many of their designs.”
The report said “As mechanical engineering looks to 2028, leaders will value people with diverse expertise and experience. They will bring this global profession together to keep the promise of technology serving people. They will inspire men and women everywhere to believe that grand challenges are a rally cry for a profession that is ready for the adventure of making the difficult doable.”
The full report, 2028 Vision for Mechanical Engineering, is available online at http://www.asmeconferences.org/asmeglobalsummit/index.cfm
Founded in 1880 as the American Society of Mechanical Engineers, ASME is a not-for-profit professional organization promoting the art, science and practice of mechanical and multidisciplinary engineering and allied sciences. ASME develops codes and standards that enhance public safety, and provides lifelong learning and technical exchange opportunities benefiting the engineering and technology community. | <urn:uuid:cea21d32-972f-446c-be49-9e4dcadbeb39> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nanowerk.com/news/newsid=6720.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923806 | 687 | 2.59375 | 3 |
May 3, 2010
Sleep Disturbances Linked To Behavior Problems In Children With Autism
Reports have suggested that sleep problems in children and adolescents with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are associated with challenging daytime behaviors.
A new study on a large group of youths with ASD confirms these reports and will support the development of treatments for sleep disturbances as a way to improve behavior, according to researchers from Autism Speaks' Autism Treatment Network (ATN).Results of the study, and three others conducted by the ATN, were presented Sunday, May 2 at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
An estimated one in 110 U.S. children has autism, a group of complex developmental brain disorders that affect behavior, social skills and communication.
The ATN, which includes 14 treatment and research centers in the United States and Canada, enrolls patients ages 2-18 years with a diagnosis of autism, Asperger's syndrome or pervasive developmental disorder-not otherwise specified (PDD-NOS).
Parents of children participating in the ATN completed the Children's Sleep Habits Questionnaire and the Child Behavior Checklist. An analysis of 1,056 children found an association between sleep problems and problematic daytime behaviors, especially emotional problems and anxiety. Children who got less sleep had more emotional problems, and children who had parasomnias, including nightmares, night terrors and sleepwalking, had more behavior problems overall.
"This study contributes to our understanding of sleep issues and helps us to plan future work addressing more specific symptoms and treatments," said Daniel Coury, MD, medical director of the ATN and professor of pediatrics and psychiatry at The Ohio State University. "A better understanding of the relationship between sleep problems and daytime behavior could lead to more effective treatments for both."
On the Net:
- American Academy of Pediatrics
- To see the abstract, go to http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS10L1_3036&terms | <urn:uuid:9dcb4d11-e8c0-46a3-9d4d-61bf19ad22a9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.redorbit.com/news/health/1858607/sleep_disturbances_linked_to_behavior_problems_in_children_with_autism/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00159-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.936957 | 423 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Cancers associated with moles and warts
World wide over 3 million cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed this year! More than half of all the new cancers are skin cancers. About a million new cases of skin cancer will be diagnosed in the United States, alone, this year. 80 percent of these new cases will be basal cell carcinoma, 16 percent will be squamous cell carcinoma, and 4 percent melanoma.
Both basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell carcinoma have a better than 95 percent cure rate if detected early.
About 1,200 people died from basal cell and squamous cell carcinoma in 1998. The numbers will be higher this year.
There were about 41,000 cases of malignant melanoma in 1998, a 3 percent increase from 1997.
7,300 deaths were attributed to malignant melanoma in 1998. Of theses deaths, 4,600 will be men, 2,700 women. Older Caucasian males have the highest death rates.
The incidents of malignant melanoma doubled among white males between 1973 and 1991.
Six out of seven cancer deaths are from malignant melanoma.
Melanoma is more common than any non-skin cancer among people between 25 and 29 years old. (SOURCE: American Cancer Society)
Certainly, these are frightening statistics and there is every reason to be alarmed. However, there is hope. You can reduce your risk of developing skin cancer significantly by following two very simple rules.
The rule is emphasized twice because once doesn’t seem to be enough.
Study after study shows that exposure to ultra-violet rays from the sun and tanning beds are the single greatest source of skin cancers. Australia, where everyone seems to be outdoors, has the greatest incidents of skin cancer on the earth, but every country is experiencing dramatic rises in reported cases. Some researchers believe the increase is due to a thinning of the ozone level, but this has not been proven conclusively. Many studies seem to contradict one another. Initially, we were warned to use sun screen lotions while in the sun, but now studies seem to indicate that these lotions might not be reducing skin cancer growth. Until these initial studies are confirmed USE SUNSCREENS.
Basal Cell Carcinoma. The most common type of skin cancer strikes 750,000 Americans yearly. Almost 100 percent curable when detected in the early stages. Basal cell carcinomas have a pearly appearance.Basal cell carcinoma is the most common form of skin cancer. The second most common type of skin malignancy is squamous cell carcinoma. Although these two types of skin cancer are the most common of all malignancies, they account for less than 0.1% of patient deaths due to cancer. Both of these types of skin cancer are more likely to occur in individuals of light complexion who have had significant exposure to sunlight, and both basal cell carcinoma and squamous cell skin cancers are more common in the southern portion of the Northern hemisphere and other global areas of more sunlight.
The overall cure rate for both types of skin cancer is directly related to the stage of the disease and the type of treatment employed. However, since neither basal cell carcinoma nor squamous cell carcinoma of the skin are reportable diseases, precise 5-year cure rates are not known. PREVENTION IS THE BEST CURE!
Basal Cell carcinomas
Squamous Cell Carcinoma.
Squamous cell tumors tend to occur on sun-exposed portions of the skin such as the ears, lower lip, and dorsa of the hand. However, squamous cell carcinomas that arise in areas of non-sun-exposed skin or that originate on areas of the sun-exposed skin are prognostically worse since they have a greater tendency to metastasize. Chronic sun damage, sites of prior burns, arsenic exposure, chronic cutaneous inflammation as seen in long standing skin ulcers, and sites of previous x-ray therapy are predisposed to the development of squamous cell carcinoma.
Localized squamous cell carcinoma of the skin is a highly curable disease. The traditional methods of treatment involve the use of cryosurgery, radiation therapy, electrodesiccation and curettage, and simple excision. Each of these methods may be useful in specific clinical situations. Of all treatment methods available, Mohs micrographic surgery has the highest 5-year cure rate for both primary and recurrent tumors. This method uses microscopic control to evaluate the extent of tumor invasion
Melanoma is a disease of the skin in which cancer (malignant) cells are found in the cells that color the skin (melanocytes). Melanoma usually occurs in adults, but it may occasionally be found in children and adolescents. Your skin protects your
body against heat, light, infection, and injury. It is made up of two main layers: the epidermis (the top layer) and dermis (the inner layer). Melanocytes are found in the epidermis and they contain melanin, which gives the skin its color. Melanoma is sometimes called cutaneous melanoma or malignant melanoma.
Melanoma is a more serious type of cancer than the more common skin cancers, basal cell cancer or squamous cell cancer, which begin in the basal or squamous cells of the epidermis.
Like most cancers, melanoma is best treated when it is found (diagnosed) early. Melanoma can spread (metastasize) quickly to other parts of the body through the lymph system or through the blood. (Lymph nodes are small, bean-shaped structures that are found throughout the body; they produce and store infection-fighting cells.) You should see your doctor if you have any of the following warning signs of melanoma: change in the size, shape, or color of a mole; oozing or bleeding from a mole; or a mole that feels itchy, hard, lumpy, swollen, or tender to the touch. Melanoma can also appear on the body as a new
mole. Men most often get melanoma on the trunk (the area of the body between the shoulders and hips) or on the head or neck; women most often get melanoma on the arms and legs.
(From the National Cancer Institute)
Three features that help patients and physicians recognize melanoma are A) Asymmetry, or an irregular shape of a mole, B) Borders which are irregular, or C) Color within the mole that is variable or very dark. A mole that increases in size, changes shape or color, itches or bleeds is also suspicious.
NOTE how similar the three images above are. The first is a common mole, the second an atypical mole and the last a malignant cancerous mole. Frequently, it takes a trained doctor to differentiate between a dysplastic nevi and a melanoma. BIO-T can eliminate moles and dysplastic nevi, however if you are in doubt about any moles, see you health care provider before using the product.
Disclaimer: This information is not meant to be a substitute for professional medical advise or help. It is always best to consult with a Physician about serious health concerns. This information is in no way intended to diagnose or prescribe remedies. | <urn:uuid:1e052552-7ad1-4752-a4cd-213382bcf728> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://no-moles.com/skin-cancer/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00044-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941655 | 1,509 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Acetone Breath: A Warning Sign for Diabetes
Try this quick test to see how you are handling your diabetes.
If your diabetes isn’t being managed effectively, there isn’t enough functioning insulin to help deliver glucose to your body’s cells that need it. Deprived of glucose—its main fuel source—your body will launch into a backup plan: burning fat for energy. The breakdown products of the process, called ketones, can accumulate in your blood and eventually in your urine. One type of ketone, called acetone, has a telltale “fruity” smell; if you’re making ketones, you’ll likely have fruity-smelling breath. (Since acetone is a key ingredient in nail polish remover, it might more accurately be called “nail polish remover breath.”)
A high level of ketones is a warning sign that your diabetes isn’t under good control. If not treated immediately with insulin, the ketone buildup can progress to a dangerous condition known as diabetic ketoacidosis, and even diabetic coma. Your diabetes care plan should include guidelines for monitoring your ketones—either by testing your blood for ketones or dipping a test strip in your urine. | <urn:uuid:db3e9efb-1ecd-436f-838c-7a951384b0d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mobile.eatingwell.com/diet_health/diabetes/acetone_breath_a_warning_sign_for_diabetes | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.907654 | 264 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Despite the known health benefits of doing so, most US children do not consume enough fruits and vegetables (FV). School-based interventions can be effective in increasing FV consumption, but the most effective of these require that schools allocate their time, effort, and financial resources to implementing the program: expenditures that schools may be reluctant to provide in climates of academic accountability and economic austerity. The present demonstration project used a behaviorally based gamification approach to develop an intervention designed to increase FV consumption while minimizing material and labor costs to the school. During the intervention, the school (N = 180 students in grades K-8) played a cooperative game in which school-level goals were met by consuming higher-than-normal amounts of either fruit or vegetables (alternating-treatments experimental design). School-level consumption was quantified using a weight-based waste measure in the cafeteria. Over a period of 13 school days, fruit consumption increased by 66% and vegetable consumption by 44% above baseline levels. Use of an alternating-treatment time-series design with differential levels of FV consumption on days when fruit or vegetable was targeted for improvement supported the role of the intervention in these overall consumption increases. In post-intervention surveys, teachers rated the intervention as practical in the classroom and enjoyed by their students. Parent surveys revealed that children were more willing to try new FV at home and increased their consumption of FV following the intervention. These findings suggest that a behaviorally based gamification approach may prove practically useful in addressing concerns about poor dietary decision-making by children in schools.
Citation: Jones BA, Madden GJ, Wengreen HJ, Aguilar SS, Desjardins EA (2014) Gamification of Dietary Decision-Making in an Elementary-School Cafeteria. PLoS ONE 9(4): e93872. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0093872
Editor: Gozde Ozakinci, University of St Andrews, United Kingdom
Received: November 21, 2013; Accepted: March 10, 2014; Published: April 9, 2014
Copyright: © 2014 Jones et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Funding: This research was supported by grants from the United States Department of Agriculture (ERS 59-5000-1-0033 & ERS 59-5000-0-0065). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.
Competing interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.
Most children in the US do not consume the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (FV) on a daily basis , . These dietary decisions are a public health concern because FV are rich in vitamins and minerals and have been associated with long-term health benefits such as a reduced risk of hypertension, coronary heart disease, some types of cancer, and stroke . In addition, consuming the recommended amounts of FV may play a role in helping children and adults to maintain an appropriate body weight , . FV have low energy density and are often high in fiber and consuming them can produce satiety that may decrease the consumption of calorie-dense, nutrient-poor foods .
A wide variety of school-based programs have been implemented with the goal of increasing FV consumption among elementary-school aged children. According to a recent meta-analysis, interventions that provide access to or education about FV tend to not produce the large and lasting increases in FV consumption that are required to impact public health . By contrast, what Evans et al. referred to as “multicomponent interventions” tended to produce larger increases in FV consumption than education- or access-based interventions; however, many of the studies reporting these outcomes rely exclusively on children's self-reported FV consumption –. Because of the children's experience with the intervention (clearly designed to increase their FV consumption), concerns about the Hawthorne effect (sometimes referred to as the “good subject effect;”) , influencing self-reports in a direction desired by the experimenter diminishes confidence in the outcomes of these studies. Of those studies that objectively measured FV consumption, the most effective approaches have used a combination of role-modeling and tangible rewards for the repeated tasting of FV –. For example, children participating in the Horne et al. , studies watched videos of heroic role models as these characters derived benefits from consuming FV. Concurrently, participating children who consumed FV earned tangible prizes as rewards. This combination of role models and rewards for repeated tasting produced 45–73% increases in FV consumption in these studies.
As noted by Hoffman et al. (2010) , two shortcomings of this latter, multicomponent approach are its labor and material costs and lower probability of being implemented properly. Specifically, teachers and cafeteria staff may not have time to carry out tasks such as showing videos, managing a token reinforcement program, or monitoring children's consumption of FV. Hoffman et al. decreased the material costs of their multicomponent approach by using free videos produced by a fruit company and inexpensive stickers as rewards for consuming FV. Objectively measured FV consumption increased in the first year (Cohen's d = 0.86 for fruit and 0.34 for vegetables) but by the second year of the intervention vegetable consumption had returned to baseline levels despite the continued implementation of the multicomponent intervention. By the end of the third year when the intervention was no longer in place, both fruit and vegetable consumption returned to baseline levels (Hoffman et al., 2011) . Although material costs of the intervention were low, significant labor costs remained (e.g., each day in the cafeteria, 1 staff member per 30 children was required to observe and reward FV consumption). Nonetheless, implementation fidelity was generally high and school staff rated the program as highly acceptable.
The present study was conducted to further reduce the material and labor costs of a multicomponent intervention designed to increase FV consumption in an elementary school. Like past multicomponent interventions, we used role models and operant reinforcement contingencies to encourage FV consumption. To address concerns about the material costs of tangible rewards (in addition to concerns about the possible negative side-effects of such rewards) , a gamification approach was taken in which rewards were virtual – existing only in the game. Gamification describes efforts to use effective video-game design principles to influence workplace and/or socially significant human behavior . A well-designed video game will provide, for example, a compelling narrative in which a character(s) under the player's control completes quests, earns in-game currency, and purchases in-game equipment to aid in these quests. Compelling video games adjust to the skill level of the player so that the game plays as neither too easy nor too difficult. In the gamification intervention employed here, the school played a cooperative game in which, by consuming FV, they helped hero characters to complete quests to find and capture a band of evil villains, to earn virtual currency, and to purchase virtual equipment that aided in their quests. The difficulty level of the game was designed to be neither too easy nor too difficult. To achieve this, virtual rewards were obtained when the school met a daily fruit or vegetable consumption goal, and that goal was set at the 60th percentile of the range of consumption during the preceding 10 days. Thus, the students at the school had consumed the amount of the goal or greater on 4 of the last 10 days.
In addition to reducing material costs by using virtual rewards, our gamification intervention was designed to reduce labor costs relative to other multicomponent interventions. Classroom time spent watching role-model videos was replaced by placing the role models in the brief science-fiction episodes that were read by teachers to their students. Because reading to students is an important part of elementary education, the labor requested of teachers was time spent engaged in a curricular-consistent activity. In the cafeteria, labor costs were reduced by using a school-wide waste-based measure of FV consumption. By having children sort their FV waste into color-coded bins, we quantified daily consumption by comparing FV-supply weights to FV-waste weights. Because we had access to only one school, we employed an alternating-treatments time-series experimental design to evaluate the effects of the game on FV consumption .
All procedures involving human subjects were approved by the Utah State University Institutional Review Board (USU IRB). An opt-out consent procedure was used in which all students participated unless a parent or legal guardian returned the consent form indicating that (s)he did not want the student to participate. Students who were opted out (n = 3) were not included in data collection procedures such that informed consent was obtained from all participating subjects. Written informed consent was not required; our opt-out, passive consent was approved by the USU IRB because of the group curricular aspect of the intervention and the extremely low risks to participants within data collection procedures (see General Procedures).
Participants and Setting
All kindergarten through 8th-grade students (N = 180, minus students who were absent on any given day) enrolled at a charter school in Northern Utah were invited to participate in the program. Kindergarteners were 5–6 years old during the study, and each subsequent grade was one calendar year older than this. The charter school did not participate in the US Department of Agriculture's National School Lunch Program (NSLP), though a portion of fruit and vegetables was included with all purchased school lunches each day. The student body was comprised of 54% boys and 46% girls; 87% of students were Caucasian, 6% Hispanic, and 5% Asian.
A 317-kg capacity scale with a resolution of 100 gm was used to measure food weights (LW Measurements, LLC; Santa Rosa, California). A smaller scale with a resolution of 1 gm was used to measure portion weights (Ozeri; San Diego, California). Different-colored 62.5-liter storage bins were used as fruit- and vegetable-waste receptacles. A game display measuring 2.1×1.1 m, made from colored poster boards, was mounted approximately 1.5 m above the floor on a wall in the cafeteria; icons for the game display were created using commonly available materials (e.g., construction paper, pipe cleaners). Poster boards (55.9×71 cm) were used on days when participating children voted on the direction of the game narrative.
Throughout the study, one variety of fruit and one variety of vegetable (see Table 1 for varieties) were served daily to all students according to the pre-planned school lunch menu. A total of five varieties of fruit (three fresh and two canned) and five varieties of vegetables (three fresh and two canned) were served throughout the study. Students who brought lunch from home were allowed to take servings of the FV at no cost; parents and students were informed of this prior to the onset of the study. Fruits and vegetables were provided in volumetric servings (just under ¼ cup for K-2 grade, approx. ¼ cup for 3–5 grades, and approx. 1/3 cup for 6–8 grades). Students were allowed to return to the serving area to take additional servings of fruits, vegetables, or both. Upon finishing lunch, students placed their FV waste into the differently colored fruit- and vegetable-waste receptacles; one cafeteria staff member supervised students in this activity throughout the experiment.
Daily school-wide consumption of fruit and vegetable were calculated separately using a weight-based measure: (Equation \;1)where P is the total weight of the supply of fruit or vegetable prepared for serving that day, U is the weight of the unserved supply of fruit or vegetables, W is the weight of the fruit or vegetable waste collected in the lunchroom waste receptacles, S is the weight of a single serving of fruit or vegetable, and N is the number of children in attendance on the school day. The numerator of Equation 1 yields school-wide consumption, the denominator converts this to the number of single servings consumed, and dividing by the number of students in attendance provides a between-student average proportion of a serving consumed. On days when salad or vegetable sticks were served, the weight of the salad dressing used was subtracted from the numerator of the vegetable consumption equation (a subtraction that erred on the side of underestimating the amount of vegetables consumed because all numerator subtractions translate to less consumption). Inedible portions of fruit (orange peel and banana peel) were removed prior to weighing the single servings (i.e., S).
Baseline fruit and vegetable consumption were measured across a ten-day baseline using the procedures outlined above. Consumption of fruit and vegetables decreased over the baseline revealing either a reactivity to measurement effect , or a reduction in novelty to the availability of unlimited free fruits and vegetables to all students. Because consumption of vegetables was stable over the final five days of baseline (runs test indicated the slope of the regression line did not significantly deviate from zero, p = .84), vegetable consumption during the Gamification phase was compared to these final five days of baseline. Fruit consumption continued to decline over the final five days of baseline. Because the intervention was anticipated to reverse this trend, the Gamification phase was initiated despite this continued decline in fruit consumption. The final five days of baseline fruit consumption was used for comparison purposes with data from the Gamification phase.
An alternating-treatments experimental design was employed throughout the Gamification phase. Each day, the intervention sought to increase either fruit consumption or vegetable consumption by giving the school a goal to consume more of the food targeted for an increase on that day. The targeted food (fruit or vegetable) was randomly selected with the constraint that no food category could be selected on more than three consecutive days.
Goals were set daily using a percentile schedule of reinforcement with the goal being the 60th percentile of the preceding 10 days' consumption. For example, if the targeted food was fruit, the prior 10 days of fruit consumption on fruit-target days were rank-ordered and the 60th percentile of this array of values served as the goal. On each new day in which fruit, for example, served as the target food, a new fruit goal was calculated using the same procedure except that the oldest fruit-consumption data point in the array was discarded and replaced with the amount of fruit consumed on the last day that fruit was the targeted food. This was designed to gradually increase the consumption goals over the course of the phase. Table 1 shows the targeted foods and quantitative consumption goals on the 13 days of the Gamification Phase.
Daily consumption goals were communicated to students by instructing them to eat more fruit or vegetable than they would normally consume during lunch (no specific amounts [e.g., half a serving] were mentioned because this goal might be too difficult for some [e.g., vegetable refusers] and might lower consumption in others [those who already consume full portions of FV]). The first of these goals was communicated during a school-wide assembly held just before lunch on the first day of the Gamification phase. During the assembly, the heroic and villainous characters were introduced and students were told that over the next few weeks they would play a game in which they could help the heroic characters to capture each of the villains. This help would come in the form of energy that the students could harness for the heroes by eating fruits or vegetables in the cafeteria. On subsequent days, just before lunchtime, teachers identified the target food (fruit or vegetable) and encouraged them to eat more of it than normal.
At the conclusion of the assembly that opened the Gamification phase, students had the opportunity to visit seven tasting stations where small portions of three fruits and four vegetables were served. Five of the seven fruits and vegetables were those that regularly appeared on the school lunch menu. Students who consumed six of seven tasting portions earned a small prize (e.g., temporary tattoo), and students who consumed all seven foods earned a small prize plus a large prize (e.g., mechanical pencil, flying disc, etc.). Tangible rewards were arranged at the beginning of the intervention because we anticipated that virtual rewards might be insufficient to encourage some children to try foods that they normally avoided. No other tangible rewards were used for the remainder of the study.
Throughout the remainder of the Gamification phase, when goals were met, on the next school day and just before lunch classroom teachers read to their students the next episode (approximately 3 min in duration) of a science-fiction adventure story that was written for the purpose of this study by the second author of this paper (available upon request; [email protected]). Each episode described the exploits of the heroic characters as they attempted to find and capture the villains. Each episode concluded by encouraging students to eat more of the targeted food than normal so that the heroes would have enough energy to continue their struggles against evil. If the school failed to meet a goal, no new episode was read; instead, teachers read a message from the fictional heroes that encouraged them to eat more of that food than normal. When the first consumption goal was met, the first villain was captured on a planet chosen by the school. The second villain was captured after the 8th goal was met and the game concluded after meeting the 11th goal, and with the capture of the third and most fearsome of the villains (i.e., the boss battle).
A game display made of construction paper and commonly available art materials was posted on the wall of the cafeteria. The display showed hand-drawn depictions of the planets to which the heroes travelled within the narrative, the villains captured during the course of the game, and the cumulative amount of a game currency that the school had earned. Game currency was earned by exceeding the daily quantitative consumption goal; one currency unit was awarded for every 1% of a portion by which the goal was exceeded. A research assistant updated the game display daily before lunch.
On Days 2-4, 6, and 11-13 of this phase, students voted in the cafeteria to influence events happening in the narrative episodes. For example, students sometimes voted on the planet on which to search for the villains. The planet that received the most votes was inserted into a blank placeholder space in the pre-written episode to be read the next day (e.g., “Wow, you met your goal to eat more vegetables than normal so the heroes flew their ship to the ______ planet”). This allowed use of the same episode regardless of the outcome of the vote. As a second example, on the final day of the Gamification phase, students voted on which tool to purchase with their accumulated game currency (e.g., a tornado gun, a dirty-sock cannon). During voting, each student made a check mark on a poster board near hand-drawn or clip-art depictions of the alternatives (e.g., the three nearby planets). A research assistant supervised voting.
At the end of the Gamification Phase, teachers, parents, and students were encouraged via e-mail notification to complete an online satisfaction survey. The student response rate (<5%) was too low to interpret. The other surveys of teachers and parents are shown in Table 2. Both surveys used a five-point Likert scale where 1 = Strongly Disagree, 3 = Neither Agree nor Disagree, and 5 = Strongly Agree. The exception was the final two questions of the parent survey, which asked parents to categorize their child's daily FV consumption before and after the intervention (1 = less than one cup, 2 = 1–1.5 cups, 3 = 2–2.5 cups, 4 = 3–3.5 cups, 5 = 4 or more cups).
All statistical analyses were performed using the proportion of portions metric yielded by Equation 1. These values were also converted to grams (weight-based measure) and cups (volume-based measure) after the study was completed for reporting purposes. Some varieties of fruits and vegetables weighed different amounts despite similar volumes; for example, a ¼-cup serving of fresh salad weighs 14.25 grams, and a ¼-cup serving of canned green beans weighs 38.25 grams. Examining changes in consumption as measured by weight (grams) may be misleading because of these weight differences. For example, large increases in salad consumption volume would translate to small increases in vegetable consumption weight compared to small increases in green bean consumption volume.
To evaluate the effects of the game-based intervention, we first used a Simulation Modeling Analysis (SMA) to determine if post-baseline fruit and vegetable consumption (analyzed separately) increased above baseline levels in the Gamification phase. The two time-series of fruit and vegetable consumption included all post-baseline days (i.e., vegetable consumption on days in which fruit was targeted by the game were included in the vegetable time series). This analysis evaluated if FV consumption increased significantly despite only one food being targeted for change on most days of the Gamification phase.
The SMA is appropriate for brief time-series data because it takes into consideration autocorrelation within the data stream . An ANOVA is inappropriate for time-series data. Likewise a generalized estimating equation could not be used because i) the baseline was too brief and ii) only one school participated in the study. Briefly, the SMA estimates autocorrelation in the obtained baseline and intervention phases and corrects for small-n bias . It then obtains a Pearson correlation coefficient (R) between the obtained time-series data and the dummy-coded (0 and 1) baseline and intervention phases. Spearman rank-order correlation coefficients may also be used within the SMA. We report Pearson's coefficient values because the statistical significance of the outcome was unaffected by the correlation coefficient selected. The SMA then randomly generates 5000 random-normal time-series data streams with the same autocorrelation and the same number of observations in each phase as the observed data. The proportion of randomly generated data streams with a correlation coefficient (against the phase vector) greater than or equal to the obtained correlation coefficient serves as the p-value.
The second analysis was designed to evaluate if the Gamification intervention was responsible for increased consumption of FV. If it was, then on days when fruit (vegetable) consumption was targeted by the game, fruit (vegetable) consumption should be significantly higher than during baseline and vegetable (fruit) consumption should not be significantly elevated relative to baseline. To evaluate the role of the intervention on consumption we used the Conservative Dual Criteria (CDC) method developed by Fisher, Kelly, and Lomas : a method developed using Monte Carlo simulations to yield acceptable power and low rates of Type I error with time-series data sets as small as five observations in baseline and treatment. The two criteria in the CDC are binomial tests that determine if the treatment data are significantly elevated above (i) the baseline mean plus 0.5 standard deviations (i.e., a moderate effect size) and (ii) the baseline-trend-predicted level (assessed via linear regression) elevated by 0.5 standard deviations. Applied to our data, if binomial tests indicated that consumption of the target food was significantly higher than the baseline level (+0.5 SD) and the projected trend (+0.5 SD), then both criteria in the CDC were satisfied and the difference was considered significant. We predicted that the consumption of FV would meet the dual criteria only on days when that particular food (fruit or vegetable) was the target food.
For parent post-intervention satisfaction surveys, a Wilcoxon's Signed-Ranks test was used to determine if item ratings deviated significantly from 3 (the response indicating neither a positive nor negative opinion). Although the proportion of teachers that completed their satisfaction survey was high (87.5%) the number of teachers in the sample was small (N = 8). Therefore, if a single teacher provided a rating at or below 3 the Wilcoxon's test was rendered nonsignificant. To avoid this overly conservative criterion, item ratings were considered significantly higher than 3 if the lower 95% confidence interval (CI) was greater than 3.
Figure 1 shows the average (+ SEM) cups of fruit and vegetable consumed per day in the Baseline and Gamification phases (all data may be obtained from the second author upon request). The right side of each panel separates consumption on those days when the target food was the food indicated in each panel. Baseline levels of fruit and vegetable consumption were 0.11 cups (17.71 gm) and 0.09 cups (11.41 gm), respectively. The SMA indicated that fruit (R = .57, p<.01) and vegetable (R = .48, p<.05) consumption increased significantly following the Baseline phase. The R values are Pearson's correlation coefficients obtained when consumption data are plotted as a function of the dummy coded baseline (0) and intervention (1) phases. Recall that this analysis ignored what food (fruit or vegetable) was targeted by the intervention, evaluating instead the overall level change following the Baseline phase (i.e., the left sides of the graphs in Figure 1). During the Gamification phase, fruit consumption increased by 66% to an average of 0.18 cups (32.56 gm, an 84% increase) per day. Similarly, vegetable consumption increased by 44% to an average of 0.13 cups (14.65 gm, a 28% increase) per day.
The left sides of the panels show fruit (top panel A) and vegetable (bottom panel B) consumption (in cups) from the last 5 baseline days and all 13 days of the Gamification Phase. The right side of each panel separates consumption on days when the food indicated in the panel was targeted by the intervention for increased consumption (hatched bar) and on days when that food was not targeted (grey fill bar). * p<.05. ** p<.01.
The CDC analysis revealed that consumption of fruit (p<.01) and vegetables (p<.05) were significantly higher than baseline on days when these were the target foods during the Gamification phase. Consistent with the hypothesis that the contingent relation between target-food consumption and game-based rewards was responsible for elevated consumption, there was no significant increase in fruit or vegetable consumption when these foods were the non-target foods (i.e., the foods unassociated with goals and game-based rewards; both p's>.5).
The results of the post-intervention teacher and parent satisfaction surveys are presented in Table 2. Response rate was high for teachers (87.5%) and moderate among parents (23%, a response rate that falls well within the range of rates empirically demonstrated to produce valid outcomes when compared with higher response rates) . Noting only the significant findings, most teachers indicated that they were able to read the episodes in their class, the students enjoyed the episodes, and they believed the program would be beneficial if implemented at other schools. The principal of the school invited our research team to return to the school next year to play the FV game again. Among parents, several survey items obtained scores significantly greater than 3 (e.g., my child enjoyed the change in school culture toward eating FV). Of greatest interest was that parents reported that after the intervention their children were consuming more FV at home and that they were more likely to try a new FV. Parents were highly satisfied with the intervention and indicated it would be beneficial if implemented at other schools. On those survey questions that asked parents to estimate their child's FV consumption before and after the gamification intervention (not shown in Table 2), parents indicated that consumption had increased by an average of 0.41 cups per day and a Wilcoxon Signed Rank test applied to pre-post difference scores indicated that this increase was significantly different from zero (p<.01).
Cafeteria-based FV consumption among K-8th grade students increased significantly above baseline levels when a low-cost, behaviorally based gamification intervention was introduced. Across all days of the intervention, fruit and vegetable consumption increased above baseline levels by 66% and 44%, respectively when measured in cups, and 84% and 28%, respectively when measured in grams. Importantly, because consumption of the targeted food (fruit or vegetable) increased significantly above baseline levels but consumption of the non-targeted food did not, the overall increases in FV consumption may be attributed to the efficacy of the intervention. After the intervention had ended, teachers indicated that other schools would benefit by playing the game. Likewise, parent responses were significantly positive on survey items inquiring about FV consumption and satisfaction with the school-based intervention. Therefore, the goal of positively impacting children's dietary choices at school, and to do so in a fun, low-cost, low-labor fashion, was achieved.
Although FV consumption was increased by the gamification intervention, the amounts of FV consumed still fell below the per-meal amounts recommended by the USDA. Where the USDA recommends children grades K-8 consume 0.5 and 0.75 cups of fruit and vegetables, respectively at lunch, our participants consumed an average of 0.18 and 0.13 cups, respectively during the gamification phase. Even when nontarget days are excluded (because the game targeted the other food for increased consumption), fruit (0.2 cups+0.05) and vegetable (0.17 cups+0.02) consumption were still below the USDA guidelines.
The gap between baseline levels of FV consumption and the USDA guidelines might be further decreased if the game were played for a longer duration. Daily consumption goals were set modestly above recent consumption (always the 60th percentile of the last 10 days' consumption) and were updated daily. Assuming that the school would continue to meet its consumption goals during a longer version of the game, this dynamic goal-setting algorithm would continue to gradually increase the consumption goal until consumption approximates the USDA standards. An empirical research base supports the use of these percentile schedules of reinforcement for producing gradual changes in socially significant behavior –; the technique is used in basic behavioral pharmacology and toxicology research with nonhuman animals –. Investigating the efficacy of a longer version of the gamification intervention should be a direction for future research, while maintaining the goal of minimizing its material and labor costs.
Minimizing Material and Labor Costs
As noted earlier, multicomponent school-based interventions are effective in improving healthy eating in schools . However, these multicomponent interventions may require the purchase of materials (e.g., stickers, videos, tangible rewards) and always require some amount of teacher labor (e.g., passing out stickers during lunch , ; managing a point system for delivering intermittent tangible rewards, , ). In our gamification intervention material costs were minimized. The game display that hung in the cafeteria (and perhaps served to remind children of the game and their goal to consume more FV) was made of construction paper and other readily available art supplies. Although our research team made the game display and updated it daily, children in an art class and/or in a before/after-school club could undertake these activities. Because all of the rewards were delivered within the narrative (e.g., learning if a villain was captured by searching on a planet) or on the game display (e.g., game currency) the material costs of the game-based rewards were nominal.
Teacher labor in the current study was confined to reading the science-fiction episodes before lunch (approximately 3 min for 13 days) and, as noted above, teachers reported that they were able to complete this task daily. Nonetheless, future game-based interventions should seek to lower this labor cost, as it may be a barrier to school adoption. One solution is to play audio-recorded versions of the episodes over a school-wide public-address system. This would allow teachers to pursue other academic-preparatory tasks while potentially increasing the production quality of the episodes. Perhaps the largest labor-cost of the present intervention was placed on the kitchen staff, who was asked to weigh FV before and after lunch. In addition, if a school were to implement this intervention without outside assistance, they must allocate one cafeteria employee to monitor children's sorting of FV waste. Although weighing tasks were typically completed in less than 10 minutes, and monitoring the sorting of FV waste is not onerous, some schools may not agree to these reallocations of labor. A low-labor alternative would be to install automated tray-photo stations where pictures of pre- and post-lunch trays are taken and advanced software estimates FV consumption . Of course, this low-labor approach increases the materials cost of the intervention.
Four other limitations of this pilot project are noteworthy. First, the intervention was conducted in a single charter school in Utah that did not explicitly follow the USDA's NSLP guidelines and were thus serving smaller amounts of FV than typical schools. Whether the intervention would work as well in other larger, culturally more diverse, or rural schools is unknown. Likewise, the acceptability of the program to other teachers and parents cannot be evaluated from this single-school study. Answering these questions of generality and between-school replicability will have to await future studies.
Second, the intervention began with a school-wide tasting session in which children earned tangible rewards for consuming small portions of FV. Some children may have anticipated that additional tangible rewards would be obtained for consuming FV during the gamification phase, and this may have played a role in the significant increases in FV consumption. Three pieces of evidence argue against this. First, the narrative episodes made it clear that game based rewards (e.g., new episodes, game currency) were the only rewards for increased FV consumption. Second, if tangible rewards were anticipated but never delivered, one would expect a decreasing trend on FV consumption during the intervention phase. No such decrease was detected by runs tests applied to the slope of regression lines fit to the time-series fruit (p = .36) or vegetable (p = .93) data from the gamification phase. Third, in a recently completed systematic replication of our game-based intervention (unpublished data), we obtained significant increases in FV consumption when no tangible rewards were used at any time during the gamification phase.
A third limitation is that the school-wide consumption measure developed for this study did not allow us to evaluate the effects of the intervention on the FV consumption of individuals. Thus, the source of the increased consumption is impossible to identify: did all students consume more than normal or did a smaller group of students drastically increasing their consumption? When rewards are given to the group based on the collective performance of the group, there may be a tendency for some within the group to exert less effort; i.e., social loafing . At present, we know only that FV consumption increased significantly following the intervention and that the intervention was responsible for this increase; we do not know how this increased consumption was distributed across individual children. As above, automated analysis of lunch tray photos offer one avenue for addressing this limitation.
Fourth, the duration of the intervention was brief, so we do not know if the increased levels of FV consumption could be maintained if the duration of the Gamification phase were extended by, for example, playing a game that required more accomplishments be made before the ultimate goal was met. For example, a number of industry-based gamification interventions involve earning virtual trophies and/or leaderboards. One way in which the present game could be extended would be to place the school on a leaderboard with fictional schools from, for example, other planets, and with whom the school competes for trophies and to qualify to play the science fiction game played in the present study.
Learning Theory and Gamification
The gamification intervention employed here is theoretically grounded in social learning theory and operant learning theory . Role-model heroes encouraged students to consume more FV and when students met these goals, a variety of game-based reinforcers were delivered. The game context adds to the incentive-based approach by providing a platform for delivering low-cost virtual reinforcers for FV consumption. That platform was the science-fiction adventure game and the reinforcers were the episodes that teachers read to their students, the capturing of villains, the acquisition of virtual currency and the goods purchased with that currency, etc.
Gamification proponents have argued that the game-design techniques used by video-game programmers can improve the efficacy of behavior-change interventions. A potentially important one of these techniques is to create a compelling narrative in which the game is played. In our game, the narrative pitted the heroes against the villains and enlisted the school in this battle. The narrative clearly established the object of the game (find and capture the villains) and clearly connected player behavior to game outcomes (if the school meets its FV consumption goal, then episodes in the narrative will be read, currency will be earned, villains will be captured, etc.). Within behavior analysis, these functions of the narrative are identified as establishing operations ; that is, stimulus changes that enhance the value of a consequence as a reinforcer. The science fiction adventure episodes were often written with cliff-hanger endings designed to enhance the value of a virtual reward. For example, one episode ended with a giant eating the hero's spaceship, leaving them stranded on a planet with no communication abilities except for that with the school. However, if the school met their consumption goal on that day, the heroes could purchase a new ship with the virtual currency earned. An empirical challenge for future research is to quantify the value-enhancing effects (if any) of contextualizing reinforcers within a game narrative. A trinket reward, like a rubber ball, may have reinforcing value, but can the value of that reward be enhanced if the student must earn the rubber ball before a hero in the game-narrative may acquire the same ball and use it in a battle with a high-level villain? The widespread sale of toys that appear in cartoons and video games and the purchasing with real money of virtual items earned within video games suggests that virtual rewards have quantifiable value that may enhance or replace more costly incentive-based interventions.
As previously mentioned, another question for future research is if using game-based virtual rewards can enhance student interest in the game and, as a result, can sustain increases in FV consumption in longer duration interventions. Video game programmers use the acquisition of virtual rewards to increase the probability of sustained game play. For example, when a player earns a magic scroll or unlocks a new area of the game, the player may be less likely to quit because they want to use the scroll or to explore the new area of the game. Translated to a gamified intervention, virtual rewards may enhance engagement with the game, with the characters in the game, and with the goal of consuming more FV. How long increased FV consumption can be maintained is an empirical question. Designing an effective game will employ principles of social learning theory (e.g., role models), behavior analysis (e.g., schedules of incentives, establishing operations, token economies, etc.), and newly emerging principles of gamification .
Because a) the majority of children in the US do not consume recommended amounts of FV , b) the health benefits of doing so are well established , c) some evidence suggests eating FV plays a role in maintaining an appropriate body weight , and d) schools offer a venue in which more than 30 million US children consume at least one important meal each day; developing and empirically evaluating practical, low-cost, low-effort, school-based interventions should be a national priority. The present study demonstrates the initial feasibility and efficacy of a gamification-based intervention for increasing school-wide FV consumption.
We thank our undergraduate research assistants at Utah State University for their assistance in conducting this project.
Conceived and designed the experiments: BAJ GM HW. Performed the experiments: BAJ GM. Analyzed the data: BAJ GM. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: BAJ GM HW SA EAD. Wrote the paper: BAJ GM HW SA EAD.
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- 42. Castronova E (2001) Virtual worlds: A first-hand account of the market and society on the cyberian frontier. EESifo Working Paper Series no 618. Munich: Ifo Institute for Economic Research. | <urn:uuid:38ed83e4-20fd-4e67-9632-1582274d0e00> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0093872 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946691 | 10,956 | 3.734375 | 4 |
Cheeseman ESA Home
The Cheeseman ESA, located next to the Kirsch Center for Environmental Studies on the southeast corner of campus, is a lush natural garden containing some 400 species of plants representing 12 California natural communities. In addition to the native plant communities, there is a xeric native plant display at the entrance.
California's Biological Richness
California is a naturalist's paradise. Our state has hundreds of habitat types and plant communities, with more than 5,000 species of native plants. You can experience many of these special wonders with a walk through our 1.5 acre garden.
At least a third of California's native species are found naturally nowhere else on Earth. California's plants support nearly 1,000 vertebrate animals-fish, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals. Among animals as a whole, including insects and other invertebrates, at least 50% of the species and subspecies are found only within our state. In short, we are very fortunate to live in such a biologically vibrant place!
Cheeseman ESA Facts:
12 Native Plant Communities:
Experience the ESA!
Building: Kirsch Center
Contact: Dianna Martinez
Office: KC 228 | <urn:uuid:b7484041-2e4f-488d-bc70-723839643d1d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.deanza.edu/es/esa/index.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00047-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.900869 | 245 | 2.734375 | 3 |
The Prévost Reaction allows the synthesis of anti-diols from alkenes by the addition of iodine followed by nucleophilic displacement with benzoate in the absence of water. Hydrolysis of the intermediate diester gives the desired diol.
The Woodward Modification of the Prévost Reaction gives syn-diols.
Mechanism of the Prevost Reaction
The initial addition of iodine leads to a cyclic iodonium ion, which is opened through nucleophilic substitution by benzoate anion:
A neighbouring-group participation mechanism prevents the immediate nucleophilic substitution of iodine by a second equivalent of benzoate that would lead to a syn-substituted product. Instead, a cyclic benzoxonium ion intermediate is formed:
Opening of this intermediate by a second addition of benzoate gives the anti-substituted dibenzoate:
Hydrolysis then delivers the diol.
In the Woodward-Modification, added water decomposes the above benzoxonium intermediate directly to a syn-substituted diol.
The use of expensive silver salts, the requirement for a stoichiometric amount of molecular halogen, and the formation of a relatively large amount of organic and inorganic wastes are definite drawbacks to this reaction. Sudalai recently reported on catalytic versions of both the Prévost Reaction and the Woodward-Modification.
The proper choice of stoichiometric oxidant allows either syn- or anti-selective dihydroxylations. NaIO4 as the oxidizing agent generates H2O as a side product of the oxidation and therefore enables the Woodward Reaction to take place.
High-valent iodine reagents are still relatively expensive, and the identification of a less costly stoichiometric oxidant would be a significant improvement for this process. | <urn:uuid:037cc6c2-eb7a-4e2c-97cf-ff9cf8328439> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.organic-chemistry.org/namedreactions/prevost-reaction.shtm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.881107 | 386 | 2.75 | 3 |
(section: 3 / paragraph: e / line: 1)
No. A wheel and axle (as a simple machine) requires an input on the wheel or axle and an output on the other end (axle or wheel). A toy car rolling down a ramp does not satisfy the requirements of transferring from one simple machine to another (see rule 3.d).
Each simple machine must complete the requirement listed in the rules before the next machine's requirements start to be counted. If this does not happen only one of the simple machines will count for a score as long as it completes its listed requirement.
(section: 3 / paragraph: h / line: 1)
Parallel tasks have no direct relationship to one another and if one of the two tasks fails, the overall sequence of events can still continue or lead to a “dead-end” path. Parallel tasks are not measured in a chronological manner but in a causality manner. That is to say, if one task causes the next task, then they are not parallel. A Dead End Path does not lead to the Final Task.
(section: 3 / paragraph: J / line: J)
No, there does not need to be a non-scorable simple machine between two scorable transfers. Scorable transfers are based upon the first simple machine in a transfer. The second simple machine of the first transfer can then become the scored first simple machine of the next transfer.
(section: 4 / paragraph: c / line: 1)
Yes, there can be a release of stored energy between the two simple machines in a transfer. No, the output of the first simple machine does not have to directly drive the input of next one.
No, you can not have a scorable transfer from one Class Lever to a different Class of Lever. They are classified as the same type of Simple Machine, just different classes. See rule 4.c.
(section: 4 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: iii / line: 1)
Yes, an object must travel upward at least 10 cm along the surface of an inclined plane. The 10 cm minimum required distance is not the vertical distance between the lower starting point of the object and the higher point where the object ended.
(section: 4 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: iv / line: 1)
No, this will not qualify as a wedge separating two touching objects.
(section: 4 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: IV / line: 1)
A wedge as a simple machine functions by converting a force applied to its blunt end into forces perpendicular (normal) to its inclined surfaces.
(section: 4 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: v / line: 1)
According to rule 4.d.v., the "screw must complete at least one full rotation..." An object moving around the threads of a stationary screw will not satisfy this requirement.
(section: 4 / paragraph: d / sub-paragraph: vi / line: 1)
The simple machine of a Wheel and Axle is a larger wheel fixed to a smaller axle and a mechanical advantage is gained by the ratio of the difference in their diameters. So if the wheel turns 360 degrees and the axle does not turn 360 degrees, it is not a wheel and axle simple machine because they are not fixed together.
(section: 4 / paragraph: j / line: 1)
Yes, the student may ring the bell. They will incur a 15 point penalty for a touch and they will not receive the final task points. rule 4.l. Any obvious stalling to gain a time advantage must result in disqualification. Rule 4.j.
(section: 5 / paragraph: h / line: 1)
The completed Start Task - "dropping an unaltered, regulation-sized racquetball into the device to initiate the first action" can not be listed as the first scoreable transfer. The first action (simple machine) initiated by the Start Task may be the initial type of machine in the first scoreable transfer (rule 4.c.1.) and must be listed on a separate line on the TSL. See posted TSL sample on the National website. | <urn:uuid:12a17cee-6bb0-4649-ad9b-1d7e08021a05> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://www.soinc.org/book/export/html/265 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392069.78/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00142-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913353 | 868 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Time to remember unsung heroes
Memorial Day awakens old memories of loved ones who gave their lives in service to their country. Almost every family can lay claim to an ancestor or a recent family member, relative, friend or acquaintance that was lost to the ravages of war. Most often we think of them as soldiers, sailors and pilots who served in the Armed Forces.
However, there also needs to be included on this day of honoring and remembrance, a group of citizens and civilians who often took on some of the most dangerous tasks of all to aid in the battle against enemy forces. These are the secret mediators, spies and undercover agents who risked and sacrificed their lives in pursuit of valuable information that often was the impetus that could turn the tide of battle from probable defeat to unlikely victory.
Often, these cloak and dagger types were never recognized by the general public for their contributions because of the nature of the business they were involved in.
One such individual was Hungarian born Ehrich Weisz who at a young age immigrated with his parents to Appleton, Wisconsin. For a while young Ehrich lived a normal childhood and soon gained his American citizenship. His early pride and patriotism for America would later lead him to serve his country in a way no man had before or since.
As a young lad, he became interested in magic, specializing in picking locks and escaping from handcuffs and locked containers. Once while performing a show in England, he was invited to visit Scotland Yard by the inspector who would eventually create the famous spy unit known as MI-5. Thus began a career of aiding war-torn countries around the world.
One of his first enterprises involved helping Algeria in quelling an uprising by forces that wanted to overthrow that country’s government. As a world famous travelling entertainer, Ehrich was often able to travel inconspicuously to countries that would normally be unreachable. He often performed behind enemy lines where he was able to obtain valuable information.
On a more practical level, he often trained spies and other military special forces in the art of escaping not just handcuffs and restraints, but also prison cells. As a civilian, he was often hired by police units to both teach and at times utilize his skills in the battle against crime. He often demonstrated the limitations of the restraints the police used and showed how they could be overcome.
During his short lifetime, Ehrich worked both for and against Germany, aided Russia during the Anarchist’s uprising and spent considerable time collaborating with his old friends at Scotland Yards. But it was his adopted country of America where he did most of his performing and spying and earned the right to be called America’s First Superhero.
Although he died on Halloween Day at the young age of 52, few men lived as full and adventurous a life as the legend that became known as Harry Houdini, famous magician and American spy. | <urn:uuid:7af3270a-a6ab-4057-93b7-c5402d78d13a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mlstargazette.com/story/2013/05/30/opinion/time-to-remember-unsung-heroes/595.html?m=false | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00187-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.990214 | 588 | 2.515625 | 3 |
by Rajah Smart
Published: August 16, 2012.
Race and culture is commonly used to differentiate or celebrate people. On the flipside, race can be used to promote stereotypes and dissension. These superficial differences and common beliefs in people cause a disconnection; however, there sometimes takes an event to effect change in people from all walks. | <urn:uuid:dcb52c40-d3c0-46d7-965c-dfa73bf4088d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.smashwords.com/books/tags/interacial | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.905469 | 70 | 2.921875 | 3 |
MONDAY, Dec. 29 (HealthDay News) -- Obese teenagers who have gastric bypass surgery not only lose weight but see their type 2 diabetes disappear, a new study finds.
Also called bariatric surgery, the procedure works by limiting the size of the stomach and thereby reducing the amount of food one can eat. In this study, researchers used the Lapband method, which involves placing an adjustable band to block off most of the stomach. The band limits how much food the body absorbs.
"Previous studies have shown frequent remission of type 2 diabetes in adults following bariatric surgery, but until now, no research had been done to provide information about outcomes of adolescent diabetics who are considering surgical weight loss," said lead researcher Dr. Thomas H. Inge, an associate professor of surgery and pediatrics at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center.
"Our study found that, in most cases, teens can lose one-third of their weight and come off diabetes medications with remission of their diabetes one year after bypass surgery. This is certainly not the case for similar diabetic teenage patients who did not undergo surgery," Inge noted.
The report is published in the January issue of Pediatrics.
For the study, Inge's group looked at 78 teens with type 2 diabetes. Eleven patients underwent gastric bypass surgery, while the other 67 patients received usual care for their diabetes.
For the teens who had surgery, not only did they have an average 34 percent reduction in their weight, but their diabetes went into remission. Teens that did not have surgery saw an average weight loss of less than two pounds and still needed their diabetes medication.
"In addition to the impressive weight loss and type 2 diabetes results, patients undergoing the gastric bypass surgery also showed significant improvement in blood pressure, insulin, glucose, cholesterol and triglyceride levels," Inge said.
Type 2 diabetes takes a huge toll on the body, and the earlier it starts, the more of an impact it can have, Inge explained.
"These early surgical research findings suggest that diabetes may not be a diagnosis kids have to live with for the rest of their lives," Inge said. "They may not have to face diabetic retinopathy, progressive coronary heart disease and renal failure. In fact, there is good reason to be optimistic about their future cardiovascular health."
"If you are a type 2 diabetic and morbidly obese, gastric bypass surgery should be considered in the treatment pathway," Inge added.
Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine, thinks that while surgery is effective it does not deal with the cause of the obesity epidemic among teens.
"Bariatric surgery is clearly effective in treating severe obesity, preventing and reversing type 2 diabetes, and even extending survival when applied to adults," Katz said. "That similar benefits ensue when the procedure is applied to adolescents is important, but by no means surprising."
Despite the success of surgery, these results should be viewed with caution, Katz said.
"A large and growing proportion of all children and adolescents are subject to obesity, and its complications," Katz said. "Surgery can mitigate those complications, but can we really condone ushering more and more young people through the OR doors for a major surgical procedure to fix what policies and programs that foster healthful eating and regular activity could have prevented in the first place?"
Gastric bypass surgery is an effective last resort for severe obesity in adolescence, as in adulthood, Katz said. "But a last resort it should be, and we should do all we can to minimize the need for this procedure by combating the root causes of obesity in our society."
For more on gastric bypass surgery, visit the U.S. National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases.
SOURCES: Thomas H. Inge, M.D., Ph.D., associate professor, surgery and pediatrics, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center; David L. Katz, M.D., M.P.H., director, Prevention Research Center, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.; January 2009 Pediatrics | <urn:uuid:f89786a5-f8c1-48f1-b232-5890caf4520d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://abcnews.go.com/Health/Healthday/story?id=6541667&page=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956004 | 850 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Making Music with Early Years Children, Monday 18 November 2013
A course for people interested in helping babies and young children (0 to 5) to make music.
The course will look at:
- How the very young acquire and develop musical skills
- Good ways to lead singing
- Working with instruments
- Working with props and puppets
- Making music with babies
- Making music with toddlers
- Great songs and good things to do with them
Cathryn Dew is the Education Consultant at the National Centre for Early Music. She has many years' experience of making music with the very young. With Sue Hollingworth, she developed Melody Monkey's Marvellous Music Box for Music4U, containing songs, stories and other resources to aid music making in Early Years settings. She runs Small Sounds, a music group for children in Norfolk, and enjoys singing and playing instruments with her own two-year-old. For further information please contact Cathy at [email protected] .
Cost: £5 including tea/coffee (children free). To book tickets click here
Please note - lunch is not provided. There are many local outlets where food can be purchased, or you are welcome to bring a packed lunch.
Download course notes and songs Good Songs for Early Years.pdf
Download audio files of songs (a zipped folder) Making Music with Early Years.zip | <urn:uuid:ea27f665-74b2-451f-89f3-c4003df4884e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ncem.co.uk/?idno=1218 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00150-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941444 | 290 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Fall 2005, Vol. 11 No. 4
In this issue...
Are We Underestimating Corn Production Potential?
Chad E. Hart
As Figure 1 shows, the 2004 and 2005 corn crops in Iowa are the two highest yielding corn crops the state has ever seen. But producers had questions about both crops going into harvest. Precipitation was below average over both growing seasons and the 2004 and 2005 summers were at the extremes for temperature. In fact, since 1993, Iowa corn yields have not fallen below 120 bushels per acre. For the last eight years (counting 2005), state-average corn yields have exceeded 140 bushels per acre. While Iowa has not experienced a statewide drought or weather disaster over this period, the weather conditions have not been what is typically considered ideal for crop production.
Figure 2 shows Iowa corn yields per planted acre over the 1980 to 2005 crop years. The graph highlights the significant yield declines in the drought years of 1983 and 1988 and during the 1993 floods, but it also shows the amazing yield run since 1993, topped by last year's record. Using this period to estimate a linear yield trend for Iowa corn (the black line), we see trend yields growing by 2.38 bushels per planted acre per year. But this estimate of trend includes the three disaster years and assumes that yield growth has been constant over the entire period. To create a better trend yield estimate, we remove the three disaster years from the yield trend estimation and allow the trend yield growth rate to vary over different periods within the 1980-2005 timeframe. For each year between 1982 and 2001 (which we call the break-point year), we estimate a trend yield equation that has a different trend yield growth rate for the period 1980 to break-point year than for the period break-point year to 2005. The trend estimate is also required to give the same trend estimate for the break-point year under both trend lines (that is, the trend yield estimate for the break-point year is the same under the 1980 to break-point year trend and the break-point year to 2005 trend). From the various estimates using the Iowa corn yield data, we see a break point in 1994. The "adjusted trend" (the gray line) in Figure 2 shows the new trend estimate with the 1994 break point. Trend yield growth was 1.11 bushels per planted acre from 1980 to 1994 but jumped to 3.43 bushels per planted acre from 1994 to 2005. This trend shows that corn production potential in Iowa may have been underestimated over the last few years.
Under the linear trend, the trend yield for 2006 is 159.9 bushels per planted acre. This would grow to 181.3 bushels per planted acre in 2015. Under the break-point trend, the trend yield for 2006 is 169.1 bushels per planted acre, 9.2 bushels per acre higher. The 2015 trend yield is 200.0 bushels per planted acre, roughly 10 percent higher. The 1994 break point in corn yield trend seems to be related to technological improvements in corn production. Seed companies have significantly invested in creating higher-yielding corn varieties over the past 25 years. The introduction of these new varieties and of genetically modified corn in 1996 represented a major technological change in corn production, and this change may be the main driver of the sizable trend yield growth rate we see since 1994. Figure 3 shows the adoption of genetically modified corn in Iowa. In 2000, 30 percent of all Iowa corn was genetically modified. By 2005, that percentage had doubled. The continuing growth in the adoption of genetically modified corn and the accompanying growth in trend corn yields point to a future of increasing supplies of Iowa corn to fuel the budding ethanol industry in Iowa, to feed Iowa livestock, and to export to other markets. ♦ | <urn:uuid:28ad4144-3941-4286-826b-b6006eb31453> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.card.iastate.edu/iowa_ag_review/fall_05/article3.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.917834 | 778 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Communities Uniting to Confront HIV/AIDS in Africa
Communities Uniting to Confront HIV/AIDS in Africa:
from the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies
Communities throughout Africa face the difficult realities of living with HIV/AIDS. This disease affects all aspects of life. Yet communities are coping with the AIDS pandemic, using various methods of public education.
This virtual exhibit highlights the numerous materials used to inform some African communities about HIV/AIDS with the hope of slowing infection rates, shattering myths and misconceptions about the disease, while teaching people to live with and support HIV positive individuals.
Most of the materials included in this virtual exhibit were originally displayed between November 2002 and January 2003 at the Northwestern University Library. The exhibit entitled "Celebrating World AIDS Day: HIV/AIDS in Africa" included books, journals, pamphlets, videos, posters, music, dolls, quilts, embroideries, and other crafts presenting educational messages about HIV/AIDS to some communities in Africa. All materials displayed on this site are part of the collections at the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies. The Herskovits Library also includes a wide variety of printed materials supporting the research of HIV/AIDS in Africa.
This page was conceived and composed by Jason Schultz, African Studies Librarian. Special thanks to David Easterbrook, Curator of the Melville J. Herskovits Library of African Studies and the staff at the Herskovits library, Melissa Jacobi of Network and User Support Services, Kearsley Stewart of the Anthropology Department, as well as the staff at Digital Media Services, Northwestern University Library.
Melville J. Herskovits
Library of African Studies
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston, IL 60208-2300
Reference Desk Phone: 847-467-3084
Office Phone: 847-491-7684 | <urn:uuid:181e9a85-c014-492f-a9b9-065bb514d2c4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://exhibits.library.northwestern.edu/africana/aidsexhibit/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395620.56/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00099-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89948 | 388 | 2.703125 | 3 |
Do you grind your teeth at night? Wake up with a sore jaw? Has your dentist talked to you about abnormal teeth wear? You might be suffering from a condition called Bruxism
Bruxism is the medical term for grinding, clenching or gnashing one’s teeth unconsciously and uncontrollably. It usually happens at night while we sleep, especially with children, however adult bruxism can occur either in daytime or nighttime. Those that suffer from bruxism during the day often feel anxious and tense or some other form of psychological stress, which leads to the clenching of the jaw muscles. Though when this disorder occurs in one’s sleep it is accompanied by the grinding and gnashing of the teeth; this is referred to as SLEEP BRUXISM. Certain cases of bruxism are mild and may not even require treatment. However, since most cases of bruxism occur at night, in one’s sleep, many do not even know they are doing it. So it is important to be aware of the signs and symptoms of bruxism and learn how to prevent grinding teeth.
Symptoms of bruxism include dull headaches in the morning as well as jaw pain and tenderness. A dentist can better determine if there are signs of abnormal wear on the teeth. Excessive grinding of the teeth can also lead to fracturing, loosening or even the loss of teeth. Though, conversely, damaged and misaligned teeth (malocclusion)can lead to bruxism. Bruxism is not only a dental issue but a medical one as well. Severe grinding of the teeth can lead to further complications in the jaw area and even hearing loss and TMJ. TMJ or temporo mandibular joint (TMJ) is the area directly in front of the ear on either side of the head where the upper jaw (maxilla) and lower jaw (mandible) meet. Grinding your teeth can lead to a breakdown in the cartilage lining of the TMJ. TMJ disorders are a group of complex problems of the jaw joint. TMJ disorders are also sometimes referred to as myofacial pain dysfunction and Costen’s syndrome. Because muscles and joints work together, a problem with either one can lead to stiffness, headaches, ear pain, bite problems (malocclusion), clicking sounds, or locked jaws. The following are behaviors or conditions that can lead to TMJ disorders. Therefore, again, serious bruxism can lead to serious medical issues beyond dental issues. So it is important, if you think you may be suffering from bruxism to immediately consult with a dentist.
How can you tell if you have Bruxism?
• Painful teeth in the morning
• You jaw hurts in the morning
• You feel pain around the upper jaw below the temples while eating.
• Your teeth a flat and worn away
• You have unexplained chips on your teeth
• Your teeth are sensitive to cold and citrus.
• You have constant headaches
• You constantly wake up during the night
A dentist can fit you with a mouth guard to wear while you sleep to help protect your teeth. Though if it is more serious, the causes of one’s bruxism need to be addressed as the clenching and grinding of the jaw can lead to far more serious disorders like TMJ as mentioned previously. Furthermore, a jaw clenching guard only protects the teeth, and does not address the real problem. Certain personality traits are also linked with bruxism. People that are very high strung and controlling need to address the ways in which they manage and control stress. If a quicker approach to reducing stress is required certain types of muscle relaxers can be prescribed by your doctor. But for a more natural, long term approach to preventing grinding teeth you can review this book: A Cure for Bruxism: Save Your Smile, Stop Grinding. It’s a fast, easy and natural approach to cure teeth grinding and if you don’t want to wear a mouth guard for the rest of your life, this is a cure to stop bruxism once and for all.
Do You Know What Bruxism Is?
Do you suffer from headaches when you first wake? Are your jaw muscles sore when you wake? If you can say yes to one or both of these questions you may have bruxism. Other signs of bruxism are an ach… | <urn:uuid:31bcc93c-032f-4e26-ab2b-d39b0337c37f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://preventgrindingteeth.com/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783402699.36/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155002-00133-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949874 | 910 | 2.90625 | 3 |
Histories of Penn State
Fulfilling a need
Penn State Hazleton first opened its doors to help the unemployed during the Great Depression
By Susan Bartal
During the depths of the Great Depression, the Pennsylvania State College was seeking a way to continue its tradition of bringing education to the people. Since this was a time when many people could not afford to come to college, the college came to the people. At the request of Hazleton's community leaders, a community survey was completed by the college's extension services to determine the actual extent of the need and community support for a center.
The Hazleton Undergraduate Center opened in September 1934 with 47 full-time and 60 part-time evening students. The freshman and sophomore students began their studies in their hometown and then completed their degree at University Park or another institution.
Over the next several years, the center was housed in various locations -- first in the upper floors of the Markle Bank Building on Broad and Wyoming Streets, then in the former Broad Street School. To accommodate the influx of men and women returning from service in World War II, additional space was leased in the A.D. Thomas Elementary School and the former Walnut Street School.
A permanent home came in December 1948 when the college purchased 66 hilltop acres in Sugarloaf Township which, for nearly 25 years, had served as the residential estate of a local entrepreneur. The site consisted of four buildings that gave the college the space it so desperately needed.
The estate, built by Alvan Markle Sr. in 1924 and known as "Highacres," featured a 32-room fieldstone mansion with every modern convenience available at the time, as well as domestic staff quarters, a greenhouse and five formal gardens.
The Markle family
One of the most affluent families ever to live in the area, the Markles started their business interests in coal around 1858. Family patriarch and Alvan's father George Markle not only owned a coal mining co mpany, but invented and patented several tools used in the mines.
The family branched out into banking when George, along with two other men, founded Hazleton's first banking business. In 1892, Alvan Markle expanded the family's holdings when he organized the Lehigh Traction Co., the parent company of several trolley lines and which eventually included the Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton Railway. This third-rail electric railroad, which ran on what is now part of the Hazleton campus, pioneered the use of a "protected" third rail, a feature that was immediately adopted by the Interborough Rapid Transit Subway system in New York and the Long Island Rail Road electrification, to name a few.
In 1998 the first Markle family reunion was held at Penn State Hazleton, drawing more than 130 people from 12 states and several countries to visit the familial homestead. After this event, the family established the Alvan Markle Jr. and Gladys Jones Markle Scholarship.
From estate to Penn State
The Markle mansion quickly became the administration building and, at various times during its life, housed offices, classrooms, library, health services, kitchen and dining room.
The domestic staff's quarters were transformed into the library, dormitory and infirmary. The greenhouse became the botany laboratory, and a new building, known today as Laurel Cottage, served as the chemistry laboratory.
Over the years, many facilities were added to Penn State Hazleton including:
* The Slusser/Bayzick Building, formerly the Commons (1958), which houses the offices of Student Affairs, Continuing Education and student clubs and organizations;
* The Kostos Building (1970), named for former Campus Director Frank C. Kostos, which contains biology, chemistry and computer laboratories, as well as many classrooms;
* The Library (1972), which today houses not only the research and reference materials, but a computer lab, as well as the only working Penn State campus weather station outside of University Park;
* The Physical Education Building (1976), containing free-weight, Cybex and aerobic rooms; main and auxiliary gyms; as well as an Olympic-size swimming pool;
* Outdoor playing fields for tennis, beach volleyball and basketball, as well as a full-size, illuminated soccer/softball field;
* The bookstore located on the campus mall;
* North, South and West residence halls, housing 485 students, along with the recently remodeled Highacres Café, which offers a variety of convenient and affordable meal plans for both on- and off-campus students; and
* The Evelyn Graham Building (1991), which has state-of-the-art, multimedia-style classrooms, an amphitheater, computer lab and study areas.
Today, the administration building is the most recognized Penn State Hazleton structure, serving as one of the symbols of the campus. Recently, the island in the semi-circular driveway became the home to another Penn State icon -- the new Nittany Lion statue, a three-fourth's scale replica of the original at University Park.
Through gifts and purchases, Penn State Hazleton now consists of 104 acres of land, with the historic standing side-by-side with new and modern academic buildings, a manicured garden, a scenic overlook/picnic area, and a number of nature trails.
* John Madden, CEO
* 104-acre campus overlooking the Conyngham valley.
* Student enrollment of about 1,400
* 55 full-time and 34 part-time faculty members
* Student/faculty ratio of 18 to 1
* First two years of about 160 Penn State majors
* Complete two bachelor's and seven associate degrees
* Professional development programs available
* Seven varsity sports
* More than 20 student clubs and organizations | <urn:uuid:5a3485a0-6b5e-412b-86f4-ffd802c093a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.psu.edu/ur/archives/intercom_2002/Jan17/hazleton.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966554 | 1,194 | 2.625 | 3 |
Let's begin with an apology. Occasionally, we'll throw out terms like arrhythmia, or M-I, or stroke and expect that everyone will know exactly what they mean and how they apply to everyday life. Sorry about that.
So, here are some common definitions for heart terminology:
Myocardial infarction, or M-I: This is the fancy word for a heart attack.
Heart Attack: The not-so-fancy word for a M-I. It's also what happens when blood flow to part of your heart is blocked long enough to damage the muscle.
Atherosclerosis or "Hardening of the Arteries": When fat and cholesterol build up in the walls of arteries to form plaque. Over time, that plaque can block blood flow, leading to heart attacks.
Cholesterol: It's complex, but essentially, cholesterol is a waxy, fat-like substance that – depending on certain characteristics – can be either helpful for your body or detrimental. The rule here is that you should eat foods that are LOW in cholesterol (check the nutritional label).
Arrhythmia: Your heart beats as the result of electrical impulses, but when those impulses deviate from the normal heart beat sequence (fast or slow), that's known as an arrhythmia.
Heart failure: Simply put, your heart has – for some reason – been weakened and is not pumping as well as it should be. There is no cure for heart failure, but many people live with it for years.
Diabetes: There are two types of diabetes (Types 1 and 2), but generally, it means that your body is not producing enough insulin to process the sugar in your bloodstream. Excess sugar in the bloodstream can starve your cells for energy and, over time, damages the eyes, kidneys, nerves and heart.
Stroke: There are multiple types of stroke, as well...but generally, it means that blood flow to part of your brain has been blocked. It's like a heart attack, but in your brain.
Look for more simple definitions in the weeks to come. With roughly 82 million Americans suffering from some form of cardiovascular disease, there will always be questions to clear up. If you have a term you want defined, let us know via social media (below) and we'll work on it. | <urn:uuid:7d1e3eca-7e5b-4ae3-be65-dbd0b716d3cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.al.com/heart-beat/2012/11/simple_definitions_for_not-so-.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398209.20/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.943605 | 482 | 3.5625 | 4 |
A small boat carried on board a ship.
- The ultimate was a ‘flogging round the fleet’ with so many lashes given at the gangway of each ship with the victim and punishment party in a ship's boat.
- The wooden decking is still reasonably intact, though crowded with fittings to support the ship's boats, remains of davits, and small cleats and bollards for securing the boats.
- Other features along this side of the hull are davits for the ship's boats, the last of which hosts the buoy line.
For editors and proofreaders
Syllabification: ship's boat
Definition of ship's boat in:
What do you find interesting about this word or phrase?
Comments that don't adhere to our Community Guidelines may be moderated or removed. | <urn:uuid:8c0a8fb8-befb-431d-8f84-d61db2860a21> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/ship's-boat | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955404 | 172 | 2.75 | 3 |
Methods | Statistics | Clinical | Educational | Industrial | Professional items | World psychology |
Writing may refer to two activities:
Written language is the system of signs and symbols, the inscribing of characters on a medium, with the intention of forming words and other constructs that represent language or record information. aAticles included in this area are:
- Cursive handwriting
- Handwriting legibility
Written communication is an aspect of verbal communication and is the expression of information in written form, the creation of material to be conveyed through written language. (There are some exceptions; for example, the use of a typewriter to record language is generally called typing, rather than writing.) Related articles include;
Writing refers to both activities equally, and both activities may often occur simultaneously.
Means for recording information Edit
Writing systems Edit
The major Writing systems, i.e. methods of inscription, broadly fall into four categories: logographic, syllabic, alphabetic, and featural. Another category, ideographic (symbols for ideas), has never been developed sufficiently to represent language. A sixth, pictographic, is insufficient to represent language on its own, but often forms the core of logographies.
A logogram is a written character which represents a word or morpheme. The vast array of logograms needed to write a language, and the many years required to learn them, are the major disadvantage of the logographic systems over alphabetic systems. However, the efficiency of reading logographic writing once it is learned is a major advantage.
No writing system is wholly logographic: all have phonetic components as well as logograms ("logosyllabic" components in the case of Chinese, cuneiform, and Mayan, where a glyph may stand for a morpheme, a syllable, or both; "logoconsonantal" in the case of hieroglyphs), and many have an ideographic component (Chinese "radicals", hieroglyphic "determiners".) For example, in Mayan, the glyph for "fin", pronounced ka', was used to represent the syllable ka whenever clarification was needed. However, such phonetic elements complement the logographic elements, rather than vice versa.
The main logographic system in use today is Chinese, used with some modification for various languages of China, Japanese, and, to a lesser extent, Korean in South Korea. Another is the classical Yi script.
A syllabary is a set of written symbols that represent (or approximate) syllables. A glyph in a syllabary typically represents a consonant followed by a vowel, or just a vowel alone, though in some scripts more complex syllables (such as consonant-vowel-consonant, or consonant-consonant-vowel) may have dedicated glyphs. Phonetically related syllables are not so indicated in the script. For instance, the syllable ka may look nothing like the syllable ki, nor will syllables with the same vowels be similar.
Syllabaries are best suited to languages with relatively simple syllable structure, such as Japanese. Other languages that use syllabic writing include the Linear B script for Mycenaean Greek; Cherokee; Ndjuka, an English-based creole language of Surinam; and the Vai script of Liberia. Most logographic systems have a strong syllabic component.
- See also: History of the alphabet
An alphabet is a small set of symbols, each of which roughly represents or historically represented a phoneme of the language. In a perfectly phonological alphabet, the phonemes and letters would correspond perfectly in two directions: a writer could predict the spelling of a word given its pronunciation, and a speaker could predict the pronunciation of a word given its spelling. As languages often evolve independently of their writing systems, and writing systems have been borrowed for languages they were not designed for, the degree to which letters of an alphabet correspond to phonemes of a language varies greatly from one language to another and even within a single language.
In most of the alphabets of the Mid-East, only consonants are indicated, or vowels may be indicated with optional diacritics. Such systems are called abjads. In other, vowels are indicated through diacritics or modification of the shape of the consonant. These are called abugidas. Some abugidas, such as Ethiopic and Cree, are learned by children as syllabaries, and are often called "syllabics". However, unlike true syllabaries, there is not an independent glyph for each syllable.
Sometimes the term "alphabet" is restricted to systems with separate letters for consonants and vowels, such as the Latin alphabet.
Featural scripts Edit
A featural script notates the building blocks of the phonemes that make up a language. For instance, all sounds pronounced with the lips ("labial" sounds) may have some element in common. In the Latin alphabet, this is accidentally the case with the letters b and p; however, labial m is completely dissimilar, and the similar-looking q is not labial. In Korean Hangul, however, all four labial consonants are based on the same basic element. However, in practice, Korean is learned by children as an ordinary alphabet, and the featural elements tend to pass unnoticed.
Another featural script is SignWriting, the most popular writing system for many sign languages, where the shapes and movements of the hands and face are represented iconically. Featural scripts are also common in fictional or invented systems, such as Tolkien's Tengwar.
Historical significance of writing systems Edit
Historians draw a distinction between prehistory and history, with history defined by the advent of writing. The cave paintings and petroglyphs of prehistoric peoples can be considered precursors of writing, but are not considered writing because they did not represent language directly.
Writing systems always develop and change based on the needs of the people who use them. Sometimes the shape, orientation and meaning of individual signs also changes over time. By tracing the development of a script it is possible to learn about the needs of the people who used the script as well as how it changed over time.
Creation of text or information Edit
- Main article: Creativity
In order to write a creative essay or short story, there are several tools one can employ:
dialogue (conversation and your thoughts) sensory imagery (the five senses and your feelings) dialect concrete details (as opposed to abstract ideas) literary devices (such as similes, metaphors, metonymia such as personification, hyperbole, and understatement)
- Main article: Author
Writers will often search out others to evaluate or critique their work. This can give the writer a better product in the end. To this end, many writers join writing circles, often found at local libraries or bookstores. With the evolution of the internet, writing circles have started to go online.
See also Edit
- Boustrophedon text
- Composition studies
- Creative writing
- Mirror writing
- Scientific communication
- Word processing
- Writing disorders
- Writing process
- Writing systems
Further reading Edit
- A History of Writing: From Hieroglyph to Multimedia, edited by Anne-Marie Christin, Flammarion (in French, hardcover: 408 pages, 2002, ISBN 2080108875)
- Das "Anrennen gegen die Grenzen der Sprache" Diskussion mit Roland Barthes, André Breton, Gilles Deleuze & Raymond Federman by Ralph Lichtensteiger
- Origins of writing on AncientScripts.com
- History of Writing
- Writing.Com: Online Writing: A site for writers to exchange feedback
- On ERIC Digests: Writing Instruction: Current Practices in the Classroom; Writing Development; Writing Instruction: Changing Views over the Years
- MyWritingGroup.Com: A writing group site run by writers. Get private feedback, discuss the writing life.
|This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia (view authors).| | <urn:uuid:746f7d83-2bc0-49a5-a71d-028c32f8390b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychology.wikia.com/wiki/Written_text | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396538.42/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.923847 | 1,704 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Working Group on Climate Change and Disaster Risk Reduction
At its ninth session, the Task Force appointed a new working
group on climate change and disaster risk reduction, to be co-chaired
by UNDP and WMO. Its timeliness and importance were noted, as
well as the work already underway among some stakeholders.
The WG was recognized as a key opportunity to share information
between the disaster reduction and climate change communities,
supported by the ISDR Secretariat (see
also UN GA resolution 58/215 on Natural disasters and vulnerability).
Group’s timeframe is 2004-2005.
Within this period the following activity areas have been identified
the Working Group:
a process of consultations to develop a policy paper on adaptation
to climate change, disaster reduction and sustainable development.
Prepare a systematic inventory of regional, national and where
possible sub-national initiatives that aim at building capacities
for adaptation to changing climate extremes.
- Make recommendations
at the IATF12 to strengthen the integration between adaptation
to climate change and disaster reduction
at policy, program-design and operational levels through
existing institutional mechanisms.
UNDP and WMO, with the support of the ISDR secretariat, developed
of reference and the first meeting of the group was
held on 6 October 2004. | <urn:uuid:54467481-cd76-4bfc-aa81-b648c44ea5cb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.unisdr.org/2005/task-force/tf-working-group-cc-drr-eng.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00190-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913448 | 272 | 2.65625 | 3 |
We all know that Apple is pro-environment, boasting environmentally friendly materials used for the construction of their products, so despite the fact that there are now rumors that Apple and Samsung are looking into building solar powered devices, we can’t say that it’s not too big a stretch of the imagination.
According to Digitimes, it seems that both companies have been “evaluating” solar technologies to power future products, focusing particularly on organic photovoltaic cells, a technology that yields a lower sunlight-to-electricity conversion ratio than large solar panels, but at the same time can be fitted into small gadgets, which we’re guessing won’t require a huge amount of power anyway.
Samsung already has a couple of solar-powered devices, most recently with their Android-powered Replenish smartphone and their upcoming NC215S netbook. Apple on the other hand does not have any solar-powered products yet but have a couple of patents filed away with concerns to solar technology.
No word on when we will start seeing this technology being implemented, it is noteworthy that given the organic nature of photovoltaic cells, the degradation may cause the cells to lose their efficiency over time, which could in turn affect the warranty of the device. | <urn:uuid:fb22e82a-6b17-4805-9fde-4a3b542b6178> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/07/apple-and-samsung-rumored-to-be-evaluating-organic-solar-powered-devices/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00198-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956641 | 262 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Additional Links :
Modern designers of phone systems in Frederick MD are taking advantage of a new philosophy of communication known as Social Context Cues Theory. This theory develops a framework for measuring and understanding the effectiveness and reliability of different forms of communications, and it can be used to help match phone system design to the processes of a company.
Originally, the standard for social context cues was measured against face to face communications, which represented the maximum number of cues available during a conversation. Besides the content delivered from the speaker to the listener, other cues include the tone of the voice (strained, dry, reedy); the inflection of the voice (haughty, condescending, smooth, loud); and the facial expressions and the body language. Secondary cues included how the person was dressed and how they were groomed. Tertiary cues involved the senses other than sight or sound, for instance, the perfume the person was wearing. These cues combined to deliver a total message consisting of the content and the supporting cues.
One of the first forms of communications involved phone systems in Frederick MD. It was an attempt to recreate as closely as possible the ability to have a face to face conversation. The phones were successful at transmitting content and voice inflection, but no more. This was a great breakthrough and enabled effective personal and business communications for a wide range of applications. Of course, certain situations still called for a face to face meeting. (Perhaps the most socially important of these was breaking up with a boyfriend or girlfriend.)
As technology progressed, phone systems could produce more effective communications through phone systems in Frederick MD, by increasing the number of cues transmitted. One of these included video communications, which added the video cues to the conversation. This helped the reliability of communications, where sometimes verbal responses were sometimes taken out of context without the support of the visual cues. In one sense, it made for richer communication, and from another perspective, it reduced the number of conversations requiring a face to face meeting. As businesses became more globalized and fuel costs increased, travel become more difficult and costly, and the improvement in communication became in important logistical consideration as well.
Conversely, the effectiveness of certain communications was purposely cue limited. For instance, a telecommuter would not want to be part of a video conference when dressed in his pajamas. Similarly, some communications were important enough to limit to emails, in order to allow measured responses and prevent interruptions.
Phone Systems Frederick MD - To implement the phone systems in Frederick MD with the proper cue bandwidth, contact professional communications firms. Use phone systems in Frederick MD to provide the most appropriate form of communication for each process of your company. | <urn:uuid:67d7dc4c-e025-4e2e-a183-20590c67335f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.toparticles.org/Using-Social-Context-Cues-Theory-To-Optimize-Phone-System-Performance.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397865.91/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00083-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.961811 | 540 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Grand Canyon National Park Vegetation Mapping Project
Grand Canyon National Park--one of the Seven Wonders of the Natural World--is also one of the most spectacular and ecologically diverse parks in the United States. Together with the portions of the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument, the area spans some 1.41 million acres (571,00 ha) of land ranging from less than 1,000 to over 8,000 feet in elevation. Vegetation types vary from sub-alpine spruce-fir forests on the North Rim to warm desert shrublands and warm desert riparian forests along the Colorado River tributaries, and from hanging gardens to ephemeral springs and seeps.
The National Park Service has embarked upon a project to map the composition and distribution of vegetative communities within Grand Canyon National Park and those areas of the Grand Canyon Parashant National Monument under the control of Lake Mead National Recreation Area. The project is already well underway, with over 2,200 vegetation plot and observation points collected over the last two years.
Kass Green & Associates has been chosen by the National Park Service to use airborne ADS40 imagery, image segmentation, ancillary data, GIS biophysical modeling, photo interpretation, and field visits to map the vegetation of the project area using a National Vegetation Classification Scheme (NVCS) compliant classification scheme . Kass Green & Associates (currently doing business as The Alta Vista Company), is a small woman owned business, specializing in GIS and remote sensing technology transfer, strategic planning, and the semi-automated classification of high resolution imagery.
Joining Kass Green & Associates in this effort are:
- Sanborn Map Company of Colorado Springs, Colorado has been in business since 1866 and is a full-service company that offers comprehensive remote sensing, photogrammetric mapping and GIS services. Sanborn’s team of over 250 mapping and GIS professionals has decades of experience in all facets of the industry, proven project management skills, and expertise in many database systems and GIS platforms. Sanborn is a worldwide leader in vegetation mapping using remotely sensed data. The company’s experience covers areas on every continent apart from Antarctica. Throughout the company’s history, Sanborn has kept itself on the forefront of automated or semi-automated image processing techniques. One of Sanborn’s strengths is that the company has repeatedly and successfully applied cutting-edge research into a production environment.
- Far Out Botany of Flagstaff, Arizona specializes in botanical inventory and survey in remote, inaccessible lands of the Southwest. Mr. Glenn Rink, the sole proprietor of Far Out Botany has hiked in nearly all of the Grand Canyon’s backcountry areas and collected and identified plants from many remote areas of Grand Canyon. Far Out Botany has produced plant checklists for four National Park areas in the region and is currently working on checklists for the Kaibab Plateau portion of Grand Canyon National Park and for Surprise Canyon of western Grand Canyon. With this experience, Rink has shown that he can access nearly any part of the Park and identify the plants found in the remote parts of the Park.
- Fugro EarthData of Frederick, Maryland: With more than 370 employees in offices worldwide, EarthData is one of the largest spatial data organizations in the world, operating a unique suite of airborne sensors and technical processes designed for GIS and mapping applications. EarthData provides a full range of customized mapping products and GIS services to support customers’ needs in natural resource management, urban planning, economic development, national defense, and engineering activities
- Geospatial Innovation Facility (GIF) of University of California, Berkeley. Developed in 2005, the mission of the GIF is to provide access to training, services, and a community that focus on cutting-edge geospatial technology in support of the environmental sciences in both natural and social systems. They aim to build geospatial capacity within natural resources science and management, and to offer innovative approaches to solving complex research problems. GIF clientele includes students, faculty, and staff of the University of California, UC Cooperative Extension, governmental agencies, non-profit organizations, and the general public. | <urn:uuid:16db1ff1-8a57-46bf-8fae-1a17de93b8de> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kassgreen.com/grand_canyon/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.912615 | 861 | 2.75 | 3 |
- freely available
Stories of Snow and Fire: The Importance of Narrative to a Critically Pluralistic Environmental Aesthetic
AbstractWritten narratives enable humans to appreciate the natural world in aesthetic terms. Firstly, narratives can galvanize for the reader a sense for another person’s experience of nature through the aesthetic representation of that experience in language. Secondly, narratives can encode and document for the human appreciator as writer an experience of nature in aesthetic terms. Through different narrative lenses, the compelling qualities of environments can be crystallized for both the reader (who vicariously experiences nature through language) and the human appreciator (who directly experiences nature through the senses). However, according to philosopher Allen Carlson’s “natural environmental model” of landscape aesthetics, science provides the definitive narrative that represents nature on its own terms and catalyzes appropriate appreciation. In this article, I examine Carlson’s claim and argue for an environmental aesthetic philosophy of narrative multiplicity. Such a model would draw from scientific, indigenous, and journalistic narrative modes toward a critically pluralistic environmental aesthetic of the natural world. The ethical framework I propose—the function of which I characterize simply as narrative “cross-checking”—acknowledges the value of narrative heterogeneity in expressing and generating aesthetic experience of environments. This article’s thesis is forwarded through extensive treatment of these three narratives expressed within two examples, one of geographical place and one of environmental practice. As I will suggest, Denali, the prominent Alaskan mountain, can be aesthetically appreciated through the diverse narratives enumerated above. As a second case study, the traditional burning regimes of indigenous peoples reveal collectively how a critically pluralistic environmental aesthetic of narratives can be applied to—and identified to exist within—ecocultural practices, such as firing the landscape.
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Ryan, J.C. Stories of Snow and Fire: The Importance of Narrative to a Critically Pluralistic Environmental Aesthetic. Humanities 2013, 2, 99-118.View more citation formats
Ryan JC. Stories of Snow and Fire: The Importance of Narrative to a Critically Pluralistic Environmental Aesthetic. Humanities. 2013; 2(1):99-118.Chicago/Turabian Style
Ryan, John C. 2013. "Stories of Snow and Fire: The Importance of Narrative to a Critically Pluralistic Environmental Aesthetic." Humanities 2, no. 1: 99-118.
Notes: Multiple requests from the same IP address are counted as one view. | <urn:uuid:51cd8637-e629-4c37-9a08-5c59bfff9ec4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mdpi.com/2076-0787/2/1/99 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408828.55/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.89576 | 527 | 2.65625 | 3 |
New Brunswick's francophone community wants its children to learn more than just the ABCs in school, an education summit in Fredericton was told over the weekend.
The message was that education must include the culture, history and language of Acadia.
"For us, this is an exercise in empowerment, in some ways," said Gino LeBlanc, who heads a commission looking into challenges facing francophone students in the province.
The commission heard from more than 1,200 people at 11 public hearings. All the input was discussed at the weekend conference.
In July, the New Brunswick government appointed LeBlanc to review the province’s French-language school system. LeBlanc is an associate researcher at the Canadian Institute for Research and Public Administration at University of Moncton.
As a minority, francophones see a need for school programs to focus on their heritage. LeBlanc said.
"It’s not just about service in French and English to all citizens. It’s thinking about how the Acadian community is going to develop itself — particularly, differently in harmony with the anglophone community," he said.
LeBlanc said his commission is preparing a report for government that will recommend solutions for the concerns of francophones.
Duality in New Brunswick education is fine, he said, but French-speaking students need to be educated about who they are.
"The school is not just a place where kids are learning to add, to write, science; they’re learning to be part of a culture, to be proud of their language," LeBlanc said.
Student Alexis Couture, with the New Brunswick Federation of Young Francophones, agrees.
"We need to form our youth to be self-aware, to be conscious of their identity and to be proud of that same identity," he said. | <urn:uuid:4efaee2c-e30b-475d-aa47-99928871d66b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/new-brunswick-schools-should-teach-acadian-culture-history-summit-told-1.773883 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00193-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969963 | 386 | 2.671875 | 3 |
Money is a wonderful invention of man. In the primitive-society human needs were simple and limited. In course of time ‘Barter system’ prevailed and commodity to commodity exchange came into existence. So, direct exchange of goods for goods is known as barter system. With the passage of time and growth of civilisation, human wants multiplied.
Neither it was possible to be self-sufficient nor was it possible to carry on exchange through the barter system. The importance of money stems from the fact that it does away with the main inconveniences of barter system.
Money came into picture to facilitate exchange. Now-a-days, we realise the significance of money in the field of consumption, production, exchange, distribution and public finance.
Now-a-days, commodities are exchanged for money and with that money we can have the commodities (or services) we require (it is known as C-M-C exchange system).
However, direct exchange of goods for goods (barter system) continued for a pretty long period of time. People experienced the difficulties of barter system. The difficulties of barter system like;
1. Lack of double coincidence of wants;
2. Lack of common measure of value;
3. Difficulty of sub-division;
4. Absence of store of value and
5. Difficulty in transfer of value paved the way for the invention of money.
Money plays a crucial role in the determination of income, output, employment, general price level and it is significant in the field of consumption, distribution, exchange, public finance etc.
So it is worthwhile to know the meaning of money. To have a clear-cut idea on money, let us examine some of the definitions given by different economists from time to time. | <urn:uuid:db2241ad-139e-4151-9061-8a28b051de30> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.shareyouressays.com/113816/short-essay-on-money-275-words | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395160.19/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.955675 | 364 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Axel Rottmann, Oscar Martinez Mozos, Cyrill Stachniss, Wolfram Burgard
Indoor environments can typically be divided into places with different functionalities like kitchens, offices, or seminar rooms. We believe that such semantic information enables a mobile robot to more efficiently accomplish a variety of tasks such as human-robot interaction, path-planning, or localization. This paper presents a supervised learning approach to label different locations using boosting. We train a classifier using features extracted from vision and laser range data. Furthermore, we apply a Hidden Markov Model to increase the robustness of the final classification. Our technique has been implemented and tested on real robots as well as in simulation. The experiments demonstrate that our approach can be utilized to robustly classify places into semantic categories. We also present an example of localization using semantic labeling.
Content Area: 17.Robotics
Subjects: 17. Robotics
Submitted: May 10, 2005 | <urn:uuid:b2b4cdbb-d37d-4a6f-bfd0-82c57cb5db6c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://aaai.org/Library/AAAI/2005/aaai05-207.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395039.24/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00112-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.886265 | 195 | 2.578125 | 3 |
escript provides support for running short Erlang programs without having to compile them first and an easy way to retrieve the command line arguments.
escript runs a script written in Erlang.
Here follows an example.
$ cat factorial #!/usr/bin/env escript %% -*- erlang -*- %%! -smp enable -sname factorial -mnesia debug verbose main([String]) -> try N = list_to_integer(String), F = fac(N), io:format("factorial ~w = ~w\n", [N,F]) catch _:_ -> usage() end; main(_) -> usage(). usage() -> io:format("usage: factorial integer\n"), halt(1). fac(0) -> 1; fac(N) -> N * fac(N-1). $ factorial 5 factorial 5 = 120 $ factorial usage: factorial integer $ factorial five usage: factorial integer
The header of the Erlang script in the example differs from a normal Erlang module. The first line is intended to be the interpreter line, which invokes escript. However if you invoke the escript like this
$ escript factorial 5
the contents of the first line does not matter, but it cannot contain Erlang code as it will be ignored.
The second line in the example, contains an optional directive to the Emacs editor which causes it to enter the major mode for editing Erlang source files. If the directive is present it must be located on the second line.
On the third line (or second line depending on the presence of the Emacs directive), it is possible to give arguments to the emulator, such as
%%! -smp enable -sname factorial -mnesia debug verbose
Such an argument line must start with %%! and the rest of the line will interpreted as arguments to the emulator.
If you know the location of the escript executable, the first line can directly give the path to escript. For instance:
As any other kind of scripts, Erlang scripts will not work on Unix platforms if the execution bit for the script file is not set. (Use chmod +x script-name to turn on the execution bit.)
The rest of the Erlang script file may either contain Erlang source code, an inlined beam file or an inlined archive file.
An Erlang script file must always contain the function main/1. When the script is run, the main/1 function will be called with a list of strings representing the arguments given to the script (not changed or interpreted in any way).
If the main/1 function in the script returns successfully, the exit status for the script will be 0. If an exception is generated during execution, a short message will be printed and the script terminated with exit status 127.
To return your own non-zero exit code, call halt(ExitCode); for instance:
Call escript:script_name/0 from your to script to retrieve the pathname of the script (the pathname is usually, but not always, absolute).
If the file contains source code (as in the example above), it will be processed by the preprocessor epp. This means that you for example may use pre-defined macros (such as ?MODULE) as well as include directives like the -include_lib directive. For instance, use
to include the record definitions for the records used by the file:read_link_info/1 function.
The script will be checked for syntactic and semantic correctness before being run. If there are warnings (such as unused variables), they will be printed and the script will still be run. If there are errors, they will be printed and the script will not be run and its exit status will be 127.
Both the module declaration and the export declaration of the main/1 function are optional.
By default, the script will be interpreted. You can force it to be compiled by including the following line somewhere in the script file:
Execution of interpreted code is slower than compiled code. If much of the execution takes place in interpreted code it may be worthwhile to compile it, even though the compilation itself will take a little while.
As mentioned earlier, it is possible to have a script which contains precompiled beam code. In a precompiled script, the interpretation of the script header is exactly the same as in a script containing source code. That means that you can make a beam file executable by prepending the file with the lines starting with #! and %%! mentioned above. In a precompiled script, the function main/1 must be exported.
As yet another option it is possible to have an entire Erlang archive in the script. In a archive script, the interpretation of the script header is exactly the same as in a script containing source code. That means that you can make an archive file executable by prepending the file with the lines starting with #! and %%! mentioned above. In an archive script, the function main/1 must be exported. By default the main/1 function in the module with the same name as the basename of the escript file will be invoked. This behavior can be overridden by setting the flag -escript main Module as one of the emulator flags. The Module must be the name of a module which has an exported main/1 function. See code(3) for more information about archives and code loading.
In many cases it is very convenient to have a header in the escript, especially on Unix platforms. But the header is in fact optional. This means that you directly can "execute" an Erlang module, beam file or archive file without adding any header to them. But then you have to invoke the script like this:
$ escript factorial.erl 5 factorial 5 = 120 $ escript factorial.beam 5 factorial 5 = 120 $ escript factorial.zip 5 factorial 5 = 120
- Compile the escript regardless of the value of the mode attribute.
- Debug the escript. Starts the debugger, loads the module containing the main/1 function into the debugger, sets a breakpoint in main/1 and invokes main/1. If the module is precompiled, it must be explicitly compiled with the debug_info option.
- Interpret the escript regardless of the value of the mode attribute.
- Only perform a syntactic and semantic check of the script file. Warnings and errors (if any) are written to the standard output, but the script will not be run. The exit status will be 0 if there were no errors, and 127 otherwise. | <urn:uuid:e886bf06-537e-4241-8efd-a1856c61e1a1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://erlang.org/documentation/doc-5.7.5/erts-5.7.5/doc/html/escript.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.831242 | 1,389 | 2.59375 | 3 |
|View from the steps to the Cave of the Apocalypse|
This island is one of the original Dodecanese (meaning “12″) Greek islands. The earliest known temples on the island were the fourth century B.C. sanctuary of Diana. It’s believed that the name Patmos might come from Latmos, or Mt. Latmos of Turkey, where the goddess Diana was worshiped.
Patmos was populated beginning in about 500 B.C. by Dorians, then Ionians, and then the Romans in the second century B.C. It was during this time that the island fell into decline and was used as a place to banish “criminals and religious and political troublemakers.”
Not long after, according to some, Patmos makes its mark in the history books. The story has been subject to much scrutiny, but legend has it that John the Apostle (sometimes referred to as John of Patmos) received his first visions while living in exile on the island. These visions inspired the writings of the Book of Revelation, the last document of the New Testament.
It’s for this reason that Patmos is a frequent destination for Christian pilgrimage. So for obvious reasons, the shore excursion that takes Friendly Planeteers to the Monastery of the Apocalypse, Cave of the Apocalypse, and Monastery of St. John are very popular. This was the excursion my friends and I opted to go on, as did almost all of our tour group.
|The port of Skala: View from the Monastery of St. John|
We boarded buses in Skala that took us on a short drive up the hillside to the village of Chora where these three sites are located. The first stop was the Monastery and Cave (or Grotto) of the Apocalypse. The Monastery is small, beautiful, and peaceful with amazing views of Skala and the Aegean.
Next to the Monastery is a long stone staircase leading to the cave where St. John is believed to have written the Book of Revelation. We saw niches left in the wall marking the pillow where he rested his head and ledge used as a desk. Above your head is the crack in the rock said to be made by the voice of God honoring the Holy Trinity.
Further up the hill is the Monastery of St. John, built 900 years ago. The main church, still in use today, is known for its intricate frescoes and decoration. We were there the day before Palm Sunday, and leaves tied into delicate crosses were hung inside the building. Nearby is a small museum that houses priceless ecclesiastical treasures, books, manuscripts, mosaics, icons, splendid medieval textiles, vestments, and jewelery.
|Drinking Ouzo on Patmos|
After two hours of sightseeing, we headed back down to Skala to explore on our own. We went into the little white-washed shops to find gifts for our families, and sat outside of a cafe where we shared pastries — baklava and kataifi — and had our first tastes of ouzo.
Ouzo is typically mixed with water, which turns it from clear to cloudy. We forgot until about halfway through our drinks that we’d been warned about the drinking water on the islands. But luckily, we lived to tell the tale. When we asked the waitress where we could get our own ouzo glasses to commemorate our day in Patmos, she said, “You can keep these!” It was the perfect souvenir to bring home with us.
As night fell, it was again time to head back to the ship for dinner. This was one of my favorite stops on the tour — very beautiful, peaceful, and seemingly untouched by the rest of the world. If I had to choose one place to spend the whole week, this would be it. The next morning we’d be arriving at Crete to make an 8 a.m. wine tasting appointment. More on that in my next post. | <urn:uuid:b2361d29-d857-45b3-984d-0d5518d139ce> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.friendlyplanet.com/tag/cave-of-the-apocalypse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.974732 | 837 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The mandibular arch muscles (MAMs) are a major constitute of the branchiomeric craniofacial muscles which control feeding, breathing and facial expression. These muscles originate in the pharyngeal mesoderm and are characterized by a genetic program similar to that of the adjacent second heart field, progenitor cells which gives rise to the majority of the heart. The cranial paraxial mesoderm and head lateral (splanchnic) mesoderm cells heavily contribute to formation of these muscles. Mandibular arch muscle anlagen eventually split, via an unidentified mechanism, to form different facial and mastication muscles: mandibular adductors, masseter, temporalis, lateral/medial pterygoid anterior digastric, mylohyoid and suprahyoid muscles. MAMs are innervated by the trigeminal ganglion. | <urn:uuid:38242912-674c-4fa2-a99d-92fff3cf90aa> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://discovery.lifemapsc.com/in-vivo-development/skeletal-muscle/mandibular-arch-muscles | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00085-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.838403 | 187 | 2.828125 | 3 |
By its very nature, the social science study of space is an interdisciplinary endeavor, drawing on technical material, traditional humanities disciplines, and the variety of social science disciplines that evolved during the 19th and 20th centuries. Consequently, a single course or activity incorporating many social science disciplines requires careful structuring. Maintaining coherence is a genuine challenge in the face of the centrifugal forces inherent in any discussion of space topics.
Generally, instructors develop coherence by selecting a theme or analytical tool to serve as an "integrator." For example, future studies or intercollegiate debate (both discussed subsequently in this chapter) can act as such a theme (as well as serve as an interdisciplinary analytical tool). The Space Transportation System represents a technological integrator; in general, primary space technological systems are useful foundations for building an interdisciplinary approach to space into a single course or activity without succumbing to overly narrow issues. Additionally, a particular type of space activity, such as exploration or economic utilization of space, can provide course focus.
Any integrating theme must be carefully defined beforehand. Such care is vital because college students‹usually approaching space for the first time in a systematic, academic way‹tend to have broad-brush images and impressions of the space program, merging disparate space projects and technologies that should be clearly differentiated. For instance, a space-based, high-energy astronomical observatory and a communication satellite represent significantly different technologies arrd purposes despite the fact that both employ the space environment. Activities such as scientific exploration and economic utilization of space serve fundamentally different roles in society; however, these activities often are grouped together in the mind of a student new to space studies.
The utility of an integrating theme is illustrated in Appendix Three through a case study of a course taught at Georgetown University. Moreover, the genesis of the case study suggests that careful planning must precede a course which successfully interweaves complex technologies and a variety of social science disciplines.
This chapter also can provide insights useful to instructors whose courses have a predominant focus in one discipline but of necessity must incorporate interdisciplinary analyses for full understanding.
The analytical tools described by Joels (future studies) and Snider (debate) encompass several interesting approaches to teaching interdisciplinary topics (exclusively or as a subsection of a course). Moreover, both future studies and debate tools can be adapted successfully for classroom use and can be used to focus discussions of the social science implications of Shuttle, Shuttle-related, and longer-term technology. Appendix Three provides more specific materials: several scenario topics, a brief reading list, and several course descriptions supplement the Joels paper; instructors' observations and guidelines for in-class use of debate complement the Snider paper.
Case Study: The Teaching of an Interdisciplinary Course in the Social Science Aspects of Space and the Course Syllabus
T. Stephen Cheston
I. The Course
In Spring 1978, Georgetown University offered an undergraduate interdisciplinary social science course on space, "The High Frontier: Technology, Diplomacy, and Human Values." A year prior to the course, Georgetown established a faculty coordinating committee comprising professors in physics, history, philosophy, political science, business administration, and theology. Following careful deliberation, the group chose as an integrating theme a space technological system with major economic implications, specifically, an Earth-Moon industrial operation drawing raw materials from the Moon or asteroids parked in Earth orbit and generating energy from solar arrays in space. With the technological integrator in place, the committee decided to provide further focus by emphasizing the impact of the technological system on international relations and fundamental human values (e.g., social justice, freedom).
The committee then devised a specific teaching plan, dividing the course into five major units:
(1) Technological potential and limitations;
(2) Economic constraints and business opportunities;
(3) Literary, historical, and religious analogies and insights;
(4) Diplomatic and political constraints; and
(5) Social organization and experimentation.
Committee members then proposed topics for each lecture, noting two or three issues that the lecture should either address directly or encompass by providing relevant information or analytical techniques to students. Each unit concluded with a discussion session to clarify the lecture materials, stimulate student activity and reflection, and apprise the faculty coordinating committee of student views on issues raised by the course. This built-in feedback system helped the faculty assess the need to modify materials in the latter part of the course and provided general guidance relevant to offering the course in the future.
The committee then considered the question of course staffing. By committee appointment, one of the members assumed the responsibilities of course coordinator and incorporated the course into his regular teaching schedule. The committee members scheduled themselves for many of the lectures. However, the committee felt that certain lecture topics were within the specialties of either Georgetown faculty not on the coordinating committee or, in some cases, professionals not affiliated with the University. The commit:ee decided that guest speakers should be strictly limited‹despite the wealth of qualified professionals in the Washington area‹beause guest speakers would be unfamiliar with the structure and aims of the course and, consequently, would lecture largely on their own terms. After a careful review of available professionals, the committee invited three guest speakers: a physics instructor from Princeton University, a NASA official specializing in advanced technological planning, and a State Department official familiar with international space policy issues. The course coordinator familiarized the professionals about the course beforehand, and the resulting lectures were well synchronized with the material presented by the Georgetown faculty.
The lecture schedule and discussion topics included the following elements.
(A) Technological potential and limitations
A Georgetown physicist, a Princeton physics instructor, and the NASA expert discussed:
(1) the current state of space technologies and projected development schedules.
(2) space industrial facilities, including precise descriptions of manufacturing, energy production, and service activities.
(B) Economic constraints and business opportunities
Members of the departments of economics, philosophy, and theology and of the School of Business Administration presented lectures, including analyses of issues such as:
(1) probable costs of the proposed industrial system and possible economic benefits.
(2) implications of the proposed system for national energy policy and general economic policy.
(3) the role of public and private institutions and corporations in the development of the proposed system.
(4) ethical norms relevant to investment decisions and public policy questions, including: What should be done? How should the industrial system be structured to avoid demeaning important societal values? Who should make the policy? Who should implement policy? Who should benefit?
(C) Literary, historical, and religious analogies and insights. A physicist with expertise in science fiction and members of the departments of history, political science, philosophy, andtheology analyzed:
(1) the image of the frontier and the relation of the proposed technological system to American history and culture.
(2) the role of science fiction in stimulating the collective imagination and molding attitudes toward technology.
(3) the effects of the proposed system on human self-awareness, especially with regard to the problems of human autonomy, creativity, and manipulation.
(4) the moral limits to technology and their likely effectiveness.
(5) the images of technological humans in contemporary society in literature, sociology, and philosophy.
(D) Diplomatic and political constraints Lectures were delivered by a history department member specializing in the impact of technology on international relations and the State Department expert in space affairs. The speakers addressed the relationship of the proposed system to:
(1) East-West problems, such as: possible military uses, destabilizing effects, and impacts on Soviet-American cooperation.
(2) North-South problems, such as: use of scarce resources and participation by newly developed countries.
(E) Social organization and experimentation Faculty from the departments of psychology, history, and political science discussed:
(1) Human behavior in closed environments.
(2) The proposed system's long-term relationship to experimental societies, including: comparisons of utopian models in colonial experience with communities envisioned in contemporary science fiction; and the impact on social processes in a colonial society, including dependence on and autonomy from a parent society and freedom and authority within a colonial society.
(3) Colonial societies as a mirror of and metaphor for a parent society and as learning tools to understand contemporary social organization and policy.
The principal course requirement for students was preparation of a term paper, developed in consultation with the lecturer having the greatest expertise in relevant subject matters. The course coordinator reviewed all papers to maintain consistency in grading standards. Following completion of the course, a University administrator met privately with students to obtain their frank assessments of the course. Students were uniformly favorable in their appraisals, noting the importance of ensuring that each speaker was fully aware of the preceding lectures to avoid redundancy or unwarranted assumptions that the students have knowledge prerequisite to the lecture.
An interdisciplinary course is a labor-intensive activity, requiring a great deal of advance planning, especially if a number of speakers are scheduled. Inadequate advance planning can severely jeopardize the quality of the course. Additionally, one individual should be charged with the principal responsibility for course coordination, even if an activist coordinating committee exists. Basic course logistics, continuity, and standards require such an approach.
On balance, the Georgetown course seemed very worthwhile. A number of students indicated that the course had provided fresh insights into other University course work.
Course: The High Frontier: Technology, Diplomacy, and Human Values
Instructor: T. Stephen Cheston
This interdisciplinary course is intended to explore the relevance of considerations drawn from the social sciences and the humanities to the development of technology, specifically, the industrial utilization of space. The course will consist of a series of lectures on different questions raised by the prospect of industrialization and colonization in space. These lectures will be given by specialists (see below) in physics, business, economics, philosophy, theology, history, government, and social psychology.
The issues to be covered include:
(1) an introduction to physical and technological possibilities and limitations for projected industrial activities in space;
(2) economic assessment of the project and business opportunities;
(3) the project as seen in relation to the American social and intellectual traditions and in relation to religious and political imagination;
(4) political constraints and international demands on the project; and
(5) problems of colonial society in space.
Other topics to be considered will be: the history of the U.S. space program, space law, and parallel experiences of colonization. While the course deals with possibilities presented by current technology, the methods of reflection used in the course will be mainly those characteristic of the humanities and the social sciences. After each section of the course, there will be a session for discussion of issues.
Lectures to be given by:
Dr. O'Leary, Physics Department, Princeton University
Dr. Matthews and Dr. Morelli, Physics Department, G.U.
Dr. Cheston, associate dean, G.U. Graduate School
Dr. Sieber, the Kennedy Institute
Dr. Tesar, School of Business Administration, G.U.
Dr. Ferkiss, Government Department, G.U.
Rev. Curran, S.J., History Department, G.U.
Rev. Murphy, S.J., German Department, G.U.
Rev. Langan, S.J., Woodstock Theological Center
Mr. von Puttkamer, Office of Space Flight, NASA
Mr. Michaud, State Department
Dr. Pinkard, Department of Philosophy, G.U.
Dr. Davids, History Department, G.U.
Course coordinator: Rev. John Langan, S.J. Woodstock Theological Center | <urn:uuid:911093eb-fd6c-4477-8c99-c1bacd0605a3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://er.jsc.nasa.gov/seh/discipline.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00040-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.913943 | 2,419 | 2.984375 | 3 |
The interval between the holidays of Passover and Shavuot, between the commemoration of the Exodus from Egypt and the giving of the law at Mount Sinai, is marked by the ceremonially counting of omer. Special calendars are used to count off the seven weeks of the omer.
Painter and sculptor Tobi Kahn has created an evocative version of the omer calendar. Saphyr is intended to encourage viewers to engage with Jewish traditions and invest them with personal meaning. The pegs were conceived as miniature houses, each with a unique shape. One can count each day by removing a single peg corresponding to the relevant day and placing it on top, or by removing all the pegs and inserting them back in one day at a time. The interior of the compartments that hold the pegs is painted gold to symbolize the spiritual journy embodied in the interval between Passover and Shavuot.
In the collection of The Jewish Museum. More info here. | <urn:uuid:b3d997aa-85da-47bb-88a2-f8a5f621f2e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.jewishartsalon.com/2012/04/omer-counter-by-tobi-kahn.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00094-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.956351 | 202 | 3.234375 | 3 |
There is no doubt that the mind can affect the body.
You only need to think of something that you're afraid of and you release stress hormones from the pituitary gland in your brain that target the adrenal glands, resulting in adrenalin pumping through your body, and this increases blood volume to your major muscles. Just from a thought!
Similarly, a thought of something that embarrasses you will turn your face red.
But the question is -- can we harness this connection to make health-giving changes in our bodies?
There are a growing number of scientific studies that would say so. Take the "mental practice" study with stroke patients that was led by researchers at the Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation of Cincinnati College of Medicine, for instance.
Thirty-two chronic stroke patients, who suffered a stroke between one and 14 years earlier, were involved. Half received twice-weekly physical therapy sessions over six weeks, which included a 30-minute relaxation session. The other half received the same physical therapy, but instead of relaxation they did a 30-minute session in "mental practice," where they had to imagine carrying out simple tasks like reaching for and grasping a cup or turning the pages of a book.
After the six weeks those in the mental practice group showed large reductions in arm impairment, which were significantly greater than those who did not do the mental practice. Through mental practice they were able to move better.
In many ways, moving and imagining moving is processed the same in the brain. But could this be applied to other things, like dieting perhaps?
To the brain, could imagining eating food be similar to actually eating food? And therefore, would your appetite for a food lessen the more you imagined eating it, just as it does when you actually eat?
A new scientific report seems to say so. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University asked volunteers to imagine eating before they actually ate.
The study involved 51 people who were asked to imagine eating either three or 30 units of a particular food. The food in one of their experiments was M&Ms.
One set of volunteers had to imagine eating three M&Ms and they also had to imagine putting 30 coins into a laundry machine. Another set of volunteers had to do it the other way around. They imagined eating 30 M&Ms but were to imagine placing only three coins into the machine. A third set of volunteers just imagined placing 33 coins into the machine.
The reason for the coins in a machine was because the muscles used are similar to lifting food into your mouth.
After they did this, they were invited to eat some M&Ms from a bowl in preparation for what they were told was going to be a "taste test." Actually, it was really so that the experimenters could secretly record how many M&Ms they ate.
Incredibly, they found that those who imagined eating the most M&Ms ate much less from the bowl than those who imagined eating least or none at all.
The conclusion of the study was that imagining eating a particular food suppresses our appetite to eat more of it. The more we imagine eating, the less we want to eat.
What does this mean for many people who try to lose weight by reducing their intake of certain foods?
Typically, dieters try to suppress thoughts of certain foods. But as counterintuitive as it might sound, the best strategy might actually be to imagine really eating the food.
Thinking about, say, the smells of our favorite foods cooking can increase our appetite for the food and even cause us to salivate. This is why people try to suppress thoughts of foods when they are dieting. But imagining actually eating it is something else entirely.
The researchers found that if a person imagined the process of eating -- i.e., repetitively chewing and swallowing the food -- then it would produce a similar effect to actually eating the food. That is, less desire to eat more.
This is known as habituation. It is where a person's desire to eat an 11th square of chocolate is less than their desire to eat the first square. As we eat more, there comes a point when our appetite reduces. Otherwise we'd keep on eating. But the same thing happens when we just imagine eating. Our appetite also reduces.
Indeed, in discussing the research, Carey Morewedge, an assistant professor at Carnegie Mellon University who led the study said, "The difference between imagining and experiencing may be smaller than previously assumed."
This research certainly opens up new vistas for weight control if a person overeats a particular food that might be unhealthy for them.
The study didn't go as far to actually do this and we should be cautious about trying it too much, at least without speaking first to a physician, because we have as yet no idea what imagined eating does to, say, blood sugar levels.
But it's certainly something to think about...or imagine.
David R Hamilton Ph.D. | <urn:uuid:800c3679-52db-4d74-9f97-7f7c4a4ca61b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-r-hamilton-phd/can-we-think-ourselves-sl_b_820611.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00138-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981207 | 1,013 | 3.015625 | 3 |
Ethanol And Older Engines
Over the past few years — since ethanol has become common for boat engines — Seaworthy has received hundreds of calls and e-mails complaining about problems that ethanol has created for their engines. The majority of these inquiries have one thing in common: They concern older engines, those made before around 1990, and a high percentage of them involve outboard engines. Seaworthy talked to Ed Alyanak, Mercury Marine's manager of engine test and planning development, and Frank Kelley, Mercury's fuels and lubricants technical specialist — who between them have over 60 years of experience — to find out why older engines suffer more than newer ones and what owners of these engines can do to minimize the problems.
Boat engines comprise one of the largest segments of "legacy" engines in the country. Unlike cars, boats often operate for decades, which means that there are hundreds of thousands of older engines — many of which were built 20, 30, or more years ago — still churning the water. According to Alyanak, these engines were engineered and built without the knowledge that they would be vulnerable to new fuels in the future. "No one knew ethanol would be a common additive to gasoline 20 or 30 years ago. We designed engines to run on straight gas," he says. And it's not just the engines that are affected by ethanol. Alyanak says that hundreds of boatbuilders who designed the engines' fuel systems from the gas tank to the engine were also unaware of the future challenges from ethanol. And the very simplicity of older carbureted outboard engines seems to make them particularly susceptible.
The issues for older engines fit into three categories: old vulnerable components not designed for ethanol use, ethanol's ability to dissolve deposits, and its ability to absorb enough water to separate.
In the mid-1980s, a committee made up of people from the U.S. Coast Guard, the Society of American Engineers (SAE), the American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC), the National Fire Protection Agency (NFPA), and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) got together. Ethanol (known as gasohol back then) was being introduced for automobile use and it quickly became evident that it would find its way to boats. New standards for hoses were necessary since ethanol was known to attack rubber and plastics. The result was a standard called SAE J1527. Since 1984, all hoses approved for marine use in gas engines have had to be built to this standard and hoses marked "SAE J1527" are capable of withstanding ethanol blends. Hoses not J1527-compliant will quickly deteriorate, potentially causing dangerous leaks, and should be replaced immediately. Something else to consider: Fuel hoses don't last forever and those from the 80s — even if they are properly marked — should be replaced. Most manufacturers advise replacing gasoline fuel hose after 10 years, and any hose that is 20 years old is way past its life; all marine-grade fuel hose has its manufacture date stamped on it.
Plastic and Aluminum Problems
Frank Kelley, Mercury's fuel specialist, says that other plastic and rubber parts on older engines are susceptible to ethanol as well. These include seals and O-rings in the fuel system and carburetors. "Rubber materials tend to get hard and brittle with exposure, which can cause problems with needle valves in carburetors," he says. Some of these rubber components can be partially dissolved with constant exposure to ethanol, and bits and pieces can be carried into the engine's fuel system, causing clogs and misfires. Some older boats may still have plastic fuel filter bowls, which will degrade with exposure to ethanol and could leak, spilling gasoline into the bilge (old plastic fuel filter bowls should be replaced immediately with metal bowls).
One other troublesome area, according to Alyanak, is aluminum carburetors. Before about 1990, carburetors were built with alloys that are much more prone to corrosion from ethanol. When ethanol contacts the older aluminum carburetor housings, corrosion can cause tiny orifices to clog, which results in hard starting and poor running, two of the most common complaints, especially from outboard owners. This is one of the most serious problems for older outboards because there is often no upgraded carburetor that can be fitted. The only effective solution is to run ethanol-free gasoline (see sidebar). Alyanak says that manufacturers now use new alloys that are far more corrosion resistant.
Non-engine-related problems on older boats involve the fuel-fill gasket, which with age and ethanol exposure can allow rainwater and spray into the fuel tank (more on that later), and fiberglass gas tanks. Not many boats have fiberglass tanks, which have been shown to leach out chemicals that can gum up intake valves and wreck engines. The leaching process also severely weakens the tanks, which in some cases has caused gasoline to leak into the bilge. The only sure cure is to replace the tank with an aluminum one.
Older aluminum carburetors tend to suffer from the corrosive effects of ethanol much more than newer ones, which are made out of more resistant alloys. Corrosion can block tiny orifices, causing hard starting and rough running.
Ethanol the Solvent
Another one of ethanol's properties that causes headaches for older boats is its solvent ability. According to Kelley, over the years, gasoline — especially gasoline that may be more than one season old — oxidizes and creates gums and sludge that coat the inside of fuel tanks and even hoses. When gas containing ethanol is introduced, it begins to dissolve the gunk, which is carried to the fuel filter. Initially, this is more of a nuisance since simply changing the filters a few times usually solves the problem. But anything that gets past the filter, or is already downstream of the filter, can cause havoc in the carburetor. Carburetors have tiny orifices that get easily clogged, leading to hard starting, rough running, or even a complete shutdown. Simply getting the carburetor cleaned or rebuilt is often just a short-term solution; preventing the gunk from getting to the carb again is critical. A finer grade filter (10 microns) will prevent most particles from getting to the carb, though the filters may clog up more frequently as the ethanol dissolves the gunk. (Carry spares and a galvanized bucket to keep old filters prior to disposal.) Any hoses that lead from the filter to the carburetor should also be replaced since they may have deposits inside them that get washed into the carburetor by ethanol.
Ethanol Loves Water
Ethanol is hygroscopic, which means it readily absorbs water. This is good news and bad. According to Kelley, the good news is that small amounts of water in gasoline are absorbed and simply get burned along with the fuel. The bad news is that gas with ethanol will keep absorbing water until there is so much that most of the ethanol and water will separate and sink to the bottom of the tank. This is called phase separation. The process is more common in older boats that may have had water in the bottom of the tank for years. Kelley says that once ethanol is introduced, the water — along with more that may be coming through a leaking deck fitting — will be absorbed and can eventually lead to phase separation. This leaves a layer of water/ethanol on the bottom of the tank. If the fuel pickup — resting at the bottom of the tank where the mixture is — picks up a slug of water, the engine will quit. If that isn't bad enough, there's more: "This water/ethanol mixture is quite corrosive, too, and aluminum fuel tanks are at risk of corroding from the inside if they are in contact with this stuff," says Kelley. Preventing water from getting into the tank is much easier than removing it so make sure the fuel fill gasket has a tight fit and keep your tank full — this limits the amount of water that can get into the tank from condensation. If you suspect you may have water in your tank, contact a company that specializes in cleaning out tanks. Seaworthy has reported on several insurance claims for damage and injuries caused by using improper equipment (such as a wet vac) to clean out a tank — leave it to the pros. Not sure if you have water in your tank? You can buy a product called Kolor Kut that's dabbed on the end of a stick and lowered into your fuel tank; it changes color on contact with water. One more thing to mention: Don't plug the fuel tank vent in an attempt to keep moisture out. It's doubtful much gets in that way and plugging the vent could lead to pressure in the tank, which could cause a spill.
More On Carburetors
"Carburetors are dumb," says Alyanak. "From the factory, they're calibrated to run on one kind of fuel and can't make adjustments on their own, like modern electronic fuel injection can." Engines that were built many years ago, before ethanol, were calibrated to run on straight gas, he says. "Ethanol has extra oxygen in it, which throws off the air/fuel ratio, making the engine run too lean," he says. Lean engines run hotter and have what are euphemistically called "drivability problems" — hard starting and rough running. It's possible, he says, to recalibrate a carburetor to tolerate E10; a good mechanic can do it. New carbureted engines come calibrated for E10.
Tips For Older Engines:
- Fuel-system components on older engines, those built prior to about 1990, should be inspected before starting the engine in order to identify any signs of leakage or corrosion.
- Mercury's fuel expert Kelley says if you are going to run on E10 for the first time, check for the presence of water in your tank, which is common in older boats. Ideally, your tank should be empty of all fuel and water before you add E10.
- Make sure your fuel-fill gasket doesn't leak, or rainwater and spray can get into the tank.
- Don't add a fuel dryer, which is often ethanol — it will just compound the problem. Kelley recommends using a fuel stabilizer each time you fill up (also true of newer engines). Watch out, he warns: Some octane boosters contain ethanol as well — read the label before you add any. Incidentally, according to the chemical engineers, there is no way to recombine separated water
— Published: April 2012
Seaworthy, the damage-avoidance newsletter, is brought to you by the BoatUS Marine Insurance Program. For an insurance quote, please call 1-800-283-2883 or apply online at BoatUS.com.
To comment on this article, please contact [email protected]
The U.S. must increase its biofuel capacity in the next decade, but does it have to be ethanol?
While E10 is not an ideal fuel, we need to get to the bottom of how E10 is affecting our boat engines
The question is when winterizing your boat should you keep the tank full, or empty it completely
Ethanol, The Scapegoat
Ethanol has been blamed for everything from rough-running engines to high food prices. And while there are challenges to boaters using ethanol, it can't be blamed for everything that goes wrong. Here are some issues we've heard from boaters that weren't caused by ethanol:
"I haven't used my boat for four years but when I topped it off with ethanol last spring, it wouldn't start." Four year-old gas — any gas — can gum up carburetors and prevent an engine from starting. (It's good practice to empty the carburetor completely whenever the boat is being laid up for more than a few weeks.)
"My boat won't get up on plane since I started using ethanol." E10 has about 3 percent less energy than E0, which is hardly noticeable performance-wise. Something else — a nicked or bent prop, fouled sparkplugs, for instance — is a more likely culprit.
"Since I started using E10, my gas tanks are full of water!" Ethanol attracts water from the air but it wouldn't likely be enough to cause phase separation — condensation and leaks from deck fittings can, though. Ethanol can cause the water to separate if there is enough already there. The best advice is to keep the tank topped off to reduce condensation, and make sure there is no way water can leak into the gas tank, either through the deck fill or sending unit cover.
"My boat gets vapor lock since I topped up with E10 last winter." Winter blends of fuel have different vapor pressures than summer blends (whether they have ethanol or not). Vapor lock can be caused by using winter blends in hot weather so try to top off in the fall before winter blends are sold.
"My mechanic says the engine runs rough because of ethanol." While E10 can cause some problems, especially in older engines, it's often used as an excuse when the real problem can't easily be found. Tired carburetors, faulty ignition systems, and worn engines can mimic the symptoms of E10 problems.
Finding Non-Ethanol Gas
The best way to eliminate the worry about the effects of ethanol on an older engine is simple: Don't use gas containing ethanol. Fortunately, that has become easier lately, with many marinas now stocking E0, and websites showing where it's available. Below are two sites that list non-ethanol gas — most are auto gas stations (available for trailer boaters), though marinas are listed too.
Before you fuel up at one of these places, you should know a few things. Gas composition tends to change quickly and the availability of E0 is dependent on whether or not it's available from local distributors, so be sure and ask the station if the fuel is still ethanol-free. Also, pump labels are not always reliable. Even though the pump states that gas contains 10-percent ethanol, it could be any number below that as well; it's just not legal for it to be more. In some states, marinas are exempt from listing ethanol content, so just because there's no label, that doesn't mean there's there is no ethanol — ask the operator. In most areas, E0 is considered a "boutique fuel" and costs more than E10. Finally, if you want to know exactly how much ethanol there is in gas, you can test it yourself. Simple reusable kits are available online that will accurately find the ethanol content. | <urn:uuid:aa1e885b-2764-4a16-b6c0-f6c6c0ed8f44> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.boatus.com/seaworthy/magazine/2012/april/ethanolandolderengines.asp | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964771 | 3,060 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Mice can be quite a nuisance in the garden and home. Find out how to identify them and get rid of them.
Mice live near humans. Though it's probably impossible to get rid of every single mouse, you need to keep them under control before they chew your garden and house apart.
These small rodents are especially active at night and also before a storm or rainy weather. Unfortunately, this means they often try to move indoors or bulk up by eating food in your garden.
How to Identify Mice
Mice love to tunnel and chew. Partially eaten potatoes or carrots are a sign of mice activity. They also love to eat newly sown seeds. In the home, they'll chew small holes in cloth materials. Mice leave small droppings too, so if you see any, you might have an infestation.
How to Get Rid of Mice
Here are a few tips for getting rid of mice. Try some of these methods for your garden and home:
- In the home, check for pathways that are allowing mice to gain easy access. Seal them up. Try stuffing steel wool into the cracks and holes around your foundation.
- Remove easy food and water. Clean up pet food dishes and keep garbage bins closed.
- Try using dryer sheets to keep mice out of linen closets or stored clothes.
- In the garden, avoid using straw as mulch or any fluffy mulch that provides nesting places.
- There are several herbs that are believed to repel mice. Mint, pennyroyal, garlic and onion are just a few. Try planting them in your garden.
- To protect bulbs, cage them or surround the bulb with crushed gravel in the planting hole.
- Wrap tree trunks with tree wrap or hardware cloth at their base.
- Mice are also repelled by camphor, lavender, and wormwood. You can find dried lavender in health food stores and some garden centers.
- Try a repellent containing ammonium; see your local garden center.
- Get a cat! Sometimes, even just the scent of cats will be enough to deter mice from returning to an area.
- Use a live trap or snap trap baited with peanut butter near mouse paths.
- Sonic deterrants placed in the garden may help to keep mice away. | <urn:uuid:a9f212c0-a576-4185-bc61-45624d9f0616> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.almanac.com/content/mice?quicktabs_2=1 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949296 | 480 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Ramsar Evaluates Risk to Wetlands from Climate Change-Induced Sea-Level Rise
3 December 2012: The Scientific and Technical Review Panel (STRP) of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance especially as Waterfowl Habitat (Ramsar Convention) has released a Briefing Note, titled "Evaluating the risk to Ramsar Sites from climate change induced sea level rise," together with its web map service and data sets. These resources present a preliminary assessment of coastal Ramsar Sites that are at risk of inundation as a consequence of sea level rise.
The web map service and data sets were developed by and available from the Center for International Earth Science Information Network (CIESIN) of Columbia University.
The Briefing Note evaluates two scenarios: a 0-1 meter sea level rise, which is close to what the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicts for this century; and 0-2 meter sea level rise, which is an upper bound for sea level rise in this century if land-based ice sheets respond faster than expected to temperature changes. The Note underscores that sea level rise will not be consistent globally, is affected by coastal bathymetry and local topography and tides, while the extent of areas periodically submerged will also be affected by storm surges. It further stresses that sea level rise will have various secondary impacts, such as displacement of human populations and agricultural activities, which could have additional consequences for wetland and biodiversity loss.
STRP underscores the importance of having accurate geospatial data on boundary locations of all Ramsar Sites for use in spatial analyses that can contribute to inter alia site management planning and monitoring and climate change adaptation measures. [Ramsar Press Release] [Publication: Evaluating the Risk to Ramsar Sites from Climate Change Induced Sea Level Rise] | <urn:uuid:91145ef0-a1e8-4690-940b-b2c18b2442a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://climate-l.iisd.org/news/ramsar-evaluates-risk-to-wetlands-from-climate-change-induced-sea-level-rise/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.910837 | 375 | 3.234375 | 3 |
Kronsnest (also known as Cronsnest, Kransnest, and Crohnest; now known as Rachowo; coordinates: 54.028333, 19.3975 [54° 1′ 42″ N, 19° 23′ 51″ E]; population in 1905, 290; in 2013, 198) is located approximately 15 kilometers (9 miles) south of Elbląg (Elbing), 23 km. (17 miles) east of Malbork (Marienburg), and 28 km. (17 miles) south-east of Nowy Dwór Gdański (Tiegenhof).
The area that eventually became Kronsnest was formed as a result of the recession of a lake shore. Initially, the area was covered by a marsh and later by wet-ground forest. The forest was cleared beginning in 1558, and Dutch colonists settled in the cleared area ca. 1590. Kronsnest was first mentioned as a village in 1609. Until 1772 Kronsnest was located in what was known as Royal Prussia (also known as Polish Prussia) in the Kingdom of Poland. The First Partition of Poland in 1772 resulted in the creation of a new province on 31 January 1773, called West Prussia, in which Kronsnest was located. Kronsnest was situated in the district (Kreis) of Marienburg until the establishment of the Free City of Danzig in 1920. The village came under the control of Nazi Germany during World War II until February 1945, when it was occupied by Soviet forces and returned to Poland. In 2013 Kronsnest (now Rachowo) was a village in the administrative district of Gmina Markusy, within Elbląg County, Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship.
The 1776 Prussian census lists mentioned the following Mennonite surnames: Dircksen, Engbrecht, Fraetz, Froese, Kaettler, Kleewer, Kneiphoff, Martens, Penner, Quiring, and Unger. In 1820, the village had 292 residents, including 73 Mennonites. In 1885, the village had 45 włókas (808 hectares) of land, 56 houses, and 355 residents, including 68 Mennonites.
Mennonites who were residents of Kronsnest were members of the Thiensdorf-Markushof Mennonite Church.
Stowarzyszenie Konserwatorów Zabytków. "Rachowo." Catalogue of Monuments of Dutch Colonization in Poland. 2005. Web. 4 April 2013. http://holland.org.pl/art.php?kat=obiekt&id=424&lang=en.
Wikipedia. "Rachowo." Web. 4 April 2013. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachowo.
Wolf, Hans-Jürgen. "Familienforschung in Westpreußen." Web. 4 April 2013. http://www.westpreussen.de/cms/ct/ortsverzeichnis/details.php?ID=3654.
|Author(s)||Richard D Thiessen|
|Date Published||April 2013|
Cite This Article
Thiessen, Richard D. "Kronsnest (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland)." Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. April 2013. Web. 27 Jun 2016. http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kronsnest_(Warmian-Masurian_Voivodeship,_Poland)&oldid=124286.
Thiessen, Richard D. (April 2013). Kronsnest (Warmian-Masurian Voivodeship, Poland). Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. Retrieved 27 June 2016, from http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kronsnest_(Warmian-Masurian_Voivodeship,_Poland)&oldid=124286.
©1996-2016 by the Global Anabaptist Mennonite Encyclopedia Online. All rights reserved. | <urn:uuid:6a92e966-3bfe-47ed-869b-3fa96b4af505> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://gameo.org/index.php?title=Kronsnest_(Warmian-Masurian_Voivodeship,_Poland) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00180-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.921507 | 916 | 3.171875 | 3 |
Sohini Ramachandran was 15 years old when she first walked into mathematical geneticist Marcus Feldman’s laboratory at Stanford University. Feldman, had advised Ramachandran’s older sister, Raga, a few years earlier. “I thought Raga was exceptionally smart, but she told me that Sohini was even smarter,” he says. Feldman ended up offering the younger Ramachandran a research position in his lab for the summer.
So after her junior year of high school, Ramachandran studied genetic variation in Arabidopsis. Based on a mathematical analysis of DNA sequences, she discovered that the plants’ spread around the globe mirrored human movement: Arabidopsis entered the Americas as humans were crossing the Bering land bridge. The research won her fourth place in the 1998 national Westinghouse Science Talent Search (now the Intel Science Talent Search), that year’s youngest winner.
“I was hooked from then on,” says Ramachandran. She went on to study math and computer science at Stanford as an undergraduate, and then pursued her PhD with Feldman. “We were battling with other schools to get her,” says Feldman. “She’s the most accomplished young woman that I’ve seen since I’ve been at Stanford.”
METHODS: Ramachandran’s first graduate project involved the Human Genome Diversity Panel (HGDP), a collection of samples from 1,000 individuals from globally distributed indigenous populations. The HGDP was the brainchild of renowned Stanford geneticist L. Luca Cavalli-Sforza, with whom Ramachandran became close. “It was wonderful to sit and have discussions with him about all the hypotheses he wanted to test in human genetics,” she says. “That really put me on the path of being interested in human data.”
Using the HGDP, Ramachandran demonstrated that genetic diversity within modern human populations decreases systematically with distance from Africa, humanity’s likely birthplace.1 She also contributed to a Science paper that constructed a phylogenetic tree of the HGDP indigenous populations based on genetic relationships.2
RESULTS: Ramachandran was named a junior fellow by the Harvard University Society of Fellows in 2007 and completed a postdoc at Harvard with theoretical geneticist John Wakeley. She combined X-chromosomal data from the HGDP with a population genetics model called coalescent theory, which estimates human migration rates by tracing all the alleles of a gene back to a single ancestral copy. The resulting paper set forth a mathematical framework to describe how X-chromosomal data can be used to infer migration rates and other evolutionary patterns.3
“She has real quantitative, computational, and statistical strengths in the area of human evolution, which is really where a lot of today’s important questions lie,” says David Rand, an evolutionary geneticist and Ramachandran’s mentor at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, where she started her own lab in July 2010.
DISCUSSION: Ramachandran is now teasing apart the influence of genetic variation on languages and asking why alleles that predispose ethnic groups to genetic diseases are maintained, with leukemia researchers at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis as collaborators.
“She continues to be extremely good with people as well as with science,” says Feldman. “I predict one day she’ll be president of a university.”
- S. Ramachandran et al., “Support from the relationship of genetic and geographic distance in human populations for a serial founder effect originating in Africa,” PNAS, 102:15942-47, 2005. (Cited 331 times)
- J.Z. Li et al., “Worldwide human relationships inferred from genome-wide patterns of variation,” Science, 319:1100-04, 2008. (Cited 516 times)
- S. Ramachandran et al., “Population differentiation and migration: Coalescence times in a two-sex island model for autosomal and X-linked loci,” Theor Popul Biol, 74:291-301, 2008. (Cited 8 times) | <urn:uuid:ff079eef-6a33-4eff-af43-af703659a0fc> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.the-scientist.com/?articles.view/articleNo/32161/title/Sohini-Ramachandran--Population-Tracker/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00057-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946001 | 893 | 2.921875 | 3 |
We once thought no-one could run a mile in less than four minutes – and yet the current world record stands at three minutes, 43 seconds. So will records keep tumbling as people get fitter and technology takes off? Or is there a limit to human performance?
For physiologists, human performance is limited by the processes involved in energy production and muscle contraction.
Performance in a 100m sprint depends on many processes, including the rate at which energy can be produced and used, the speed at which electrical signals can reach muscles, and the rate at which calcium can initiate muscle contraction and relaxation.
By comparison, marathon performance is dependent on the ability to use oxygen, store and use fat and glycogen for energy, and to keep muscle calcium levels high to maintain contractions. In hot conditions, the ability to sweat is also important for endurance performance.
Based on current knowledge, there should be a limit to these processes, and therefore a limit to human performance. But athletic performance does not depend solely on physiological processes, and improvements in other factors have helped us to far exceed the limits previously placed on human performance.
Causes of athletic improvement
Other factors contributing to athletic performance include psychology, nutrition, training methods and technology. Over the past few decades, leaps and bounds in each of these areas have advanced athletic performance.
Technology is constantly evolving. In swimming, there have been major advances in the design of Olympic swimming pools, reducing turbulence and improving performance. Olympic pools are now deeper, have ten lanes instead of eight, and anti-wave lane ropes.
But it was the advent of “super suits” (pictured above) in 2008 that caused the greatest improvements in performance. The super suits used polyurethane material to reduce drag and improve buoyancy: 255 world records were broken during the two years they were deemed legal.
The suits enabled swimmers to sit in a higher and more streamlined position in the water, and took away the advantage held by swimmers such as Michael Phelps, who naturally sat higher in the water. The suits were finally banned in 2009; but world records set by athletes using super suits have been allowed to remain.
As a result, world records since the super-suit era have been, and will continue to be, few and far between.
Doping and performance-enhancing drugs have been obvious contributors to improvements in athletic performance. As our knowledge of the human body and the processes limiting athletic performance increases, so does the ability to illegally alter these processes to enhance performance.
Whether a ceiling to athletic performance will ever be reached depends on many variables, discussed below:
1) The first of these is the type of event. In sprint events - where physiological factors are the main determinant of performance - it’s possible we’ll one day reach a ceiling of human performance.
But this is based on what we currently understand about the limits of physiological and biomechanical performance. There’s a lot about the human body that we still don’t understand, and improvements in our knowledge may reveal new limits to athletic performance.
Performance in endurance events doesn’t just rely on physiology and biomechanics. Because other variables are continuously evolving, it’s likely to take longer for a ceiling to be reached on endurance performance. We may never get there.
2) The answer also involves technology and the limits that are placed on technological advancements. In sports that rely heavily on technology – such as swimming and cycling - a ceiling might not be reached if limits are not placed on the magnitude of performance enhancement that new technology can bring.
3) A third variable involves doping and other illegal performance-enhancing practices. The success of the fight against doping depends on scientists' ability to come up with tests to detect doping.
This can be problematic when the doping involves manipulating proteins that are normally present in the human body. As long as the authorities remain one step behind those developing the latest doping technologies, it will be difficult for a ceiling on human performance to ever be reached.
4) Finally there are athletes, such as Usain Bolt, who have a physique and running technique we have never seen before, and all of the ceilings that we put on normal physical ability are simply thrown out the window.
There is no doubt improvements in athletic performance have slowed down; but with athletes such as Bolt, and advancements in technology and our understanding of the human body, a ceiling to human performance still seems a long way off. | <urn:uuid:d3ef9994-46f6-4183-80e1-bb150157616d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://theconversation.com/is-there-a-limit-to-athletic-performance-8073 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.69/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954194 | 914 | 3.828125 | 4 |
The circumstances leading to the formation of the Apopka Volunteer Fire Department are not known. The first records available date back to the year 1912. Records show that the department utilized a hand drawn hose cart which included two 40 gallon water tanks, 100 feet of 3/4" rubber hose, a hydrant wrench, an axe, and some other small tools. The water tanks were pressurized by a soda-acid charge tank, normally riding in an upright position inside the tops of each water tank. When the firefighters arrived at the fire scene, they would turn the tanks upside down, allowing the chemical reaction to occur. This, in turn, caused the tank to become pressurized, expelling the water from the tank and forcing it to travel through the attached hoses. The hose cart was housed in a small wood and tin structure on the east side of Central Avenue, between Third and Fourth Streets. Volunteer Firefighters were alerted to respond to a fire by the ringing of a bell located high on a pole beside the fire station.
In 1922, the department purchased its first motor driven vehicle, a 1922 Model T Ford truck, and the two water tanks from the hose cart were placed on the truck. In 1936, a 1935 Ford truck was purchased to replace the 13 year old Model T. During this time, a new City Hall was constructed and a garage large enough to house the new engine and a street truck was built directly behind it for $188. This garage saw many structural additions over the years and was in use until 1967. Some time during the early 1930s, an electric siren was purchased and installed, replacing the "old bell" that had served as the fire alarm for so long. Other improvements during that decade included the installation of hydrants, more fire hose and a new, 363 foot deep well to replace Dream Lake as the City's water supply. For many years, the Apopka Fire Department was the only fire department in northwest Orange County.
With an average of 12 to 15 volunteer firefighters and a fire chief, it was not unusual for the Apopka Fire Department to respond to calls in areas outside of Apopka such as Zellwood, Tangerine, Forest City, Lockhart, Mount Plymouth, Clarcona, and Lake Apopka. In the early 1940s, Apopka continued to grow and the department increased its roster to about 20 volunteers. Fire Chief Don Kenney made some additional improvements as well. Chief Kenney appointed five assistant chiefs, improved the department's training, and instituted a pay rate of $1 per call for volunteers. This pay was used to assist with costs associated with the cleaning and replacing of clothes that were damaged while fighting fires. Chief Kenney also purchased a copy of the "Fire Chief's Handbook" and joined the International Association of Fire Chiefs. Moreover, Apopka passed its first two city ordinances in the 1940s which pertained to the fire department. The first ordinance prohibited vehicles from following a pumper from a distance of 500 feet or less and prohibited any vehicle from parking or passing a pumper within the same distance. The second ordinance gave the fire chief full authority at a fire scene, as well as the authority to establish a "safety zone".
As war broke out in December of 1941, Chief Kenney and many other Apopkans left to serve in the military. Due to the shortage of young men left in the area, the Apopka High School agreed to let some of the senior class boys become volunteer firefighters to help protect the city. By the end of the war, the city council agreed that more improvements for the fire department were in order. Former Chief Grossenbacher, then a city commissioner, wrote the specifications for a new pumper and proposed plans to improve the fire fighting capability of the 1935 pumper. This was a very progressive step in providing firefighters with access to more readily available water at fire scenes. The plans were approved.
In 1947, a second fire pumper was purchased and a 500 gallon water tank was added to the 1935 pumper. The new pumper, purchased from General Corporation, was placed in service in early 1948. It included a 500 G.P.M pump, a 350 gallon water tank, a hose bed containing 1200 feet of 2 ½ inch hose, a 24 foot extension ladder, a 14 foot roof ladder, a booster reel with 150 feet of hose, portable fire extinguishers, 2 straight tip nozzles, a fire axe and several other small fire fighting tools.
Another major improvement took place with the purchase of 1½ inch hose and new fog nozzles. Since there were no pre-connect compartments, a hose box was made to carry the hose above the hose bed. Both pumpers soon had these new lines that allowed firefighters to make fast attacks on fires, and also allowed firefighters to maneuver hose lines easier. The second pumper was originally purchased to protect the city in the event that the first pumper was needed at a fire located outside of Apopka. The Insurance Services Organization (ISO) had made this request in order to keep the insurance rates from rising in the city.
In 1948, the Apopka Fire Department added a 1919 Ladder Truck to its fleet. The history of this vehicle dates back to 1919, when a bright red American LaFrance Service Ladder Truck rolled into the Orlando Fire Department. It sported a 55-foot wooden ladder and a tank beneath the driver's seat where soda and acid could be combined to create a chemical that extinguished fires. The fire engine cost $7,650 which was a fair price to pay back in 1919. It was lettered as Orlando Fire Engine No. 3 and remained in service with Orlando for 29 years. On May 17, 1948, the then Mayor of Apopka, Dr. Charles Damsel, purchased the ladder truck from the Orlando Fire Department for $1. It may have been the best deal Apopka had ever made. Retired Fire Chief Roy Gilliam said the truck was worth thousands of dollars and was "the darling of the Apopka Fire Department".
The type 14, 4 cylinder ladder truck was the ultimate in firefighting equipment. It had the ability to carry a full range of scaling ladders plus all of its original ladders and equipment, which included a safety net that could be used to rescue persons who were trapped on upper floors. The truck still rode on wooden wheels and carried four Dietz King lanterns, the forerunners of the modern flashlight. The fire engine, with its hand operated bell and hand cranked engine, was the pride of the department. The truck was used regularly from 1948 until 1955, when newer equipment pushed the old ladder truck aside. According to Mayor Land, the truck deteriorated until the fire department made the restoration of the LaFrance one of its projects. They cleaned and polished the old truck and it became a favorite at area parades and exhibitions. It also participated in Orlando's annual fire prevention programs. In 1979, the ladder truck was officially taken out of service and never used again. Unfortunately, as it was stored in an empty bay at the old city garage, a garbage truck accidentally backed into the front of the LaFrance and caused damage to the radiator that was just too expensive to repair. The fate of the truck appeared unknown and dismal. However, in 1990, the City of Apopka approved a permanent loan of the truck to the Orange County Historical Museum where it is proudly displayed in one of Orlando's first fire stations. The Apopka name remains on the truck and the museum maintains and cares for this special piece of Apopka history.
The first all-service masks, used to protect firefighters from smoke, and the first foam and foam nozzles were purchased and placed into service in 1949. In the 1950s, more growth brought even more improvements to the Apopka Fire Department. A third pumper, purchased from the American La France Corporation, was put into service in 1953. And in 1955, Roy Gilliam, who was a member of the Orlando Fire Department, was appointed Training Officer for Apopka. Volunteers met twice a month for training sessions and instructors from the State Fire College were brought in to train recruits. In 1955, the Apopka Jaycees presented the department with a rescue boat, motor, and trailer. Since none of the current vehicles could pull the boat, volunteer firefighters raised money to purchase a 1951 ½ ton truck and sparked the beginning of what would later become known as the Apopka Fireman's Association.
The 1950s also brought many new rescue tools capable of handling all types of emergencies. Firefighters were not only trained how to use these latest tools, they were also taught how to administer first aid to victims. Records show that the department responded to a total of 61 alarms in 1958. In 1959, a new Class A 750-G.P.M. pumper was purchased from American La France for $24,000. This pumper would be the first of many Class A pumpers purchased throughout the years by the Apopka Fire Department. Another important acquisition in this decade was the purchase of turnout gear, which included fire helmets, turnout coats, and fire boots. The first self-contained air packs were also purchased from Scott Corporation, allowing the firefighters to enter almost any fire situation to make more aggressive attacks. During the 1950s the department's standard operating procedures included a response of 2 pumpers and the rescue truck to all structure fires. The third pumper was held in reserve in the event of a second call, which met the requirements of ISO. In 1960, Mayor John Land appointed Roy Gilliam as Fire Chief, a position he would hold until his retirement in 1981. Chief Gilliam, a former Lieutenant from the Orlando Fire Department and Training Officer for the Apopka Fire Department since 1955, was well versed in all phases of fire fighting and had the necessary experience to lead the department into a new era.
In the early 1960s, the Apopka Fire Department received its first VHF 2-Way mobile radios, base station, and 24 hour dispatching. During this time, many areas in Orange County, including Zellwood, had begun forming their own fire departments. As the fire calls increased in Apopka, so did the rescue calls which prompted the department to purchase its first resuscitator. Once again, the firefighters used their own funds to purchase a larger, 1957 1-Ton Chevrolet panel truck to replace the older rescue truck that was involved in an accident. Fortunately, the firefighters on board were not seriously injured in the accident and none of the equipment inside the truck was damaged. During the 1960s, the highest amount of calls answered in one year was 108 and took place in 1962.
It was common practice in the days prior to EMS that local funeral homes handled the ambulance service. However, on February 14, 1966, Brewster Bray, owner of Bray-Altman Funeral Home, met with Mayor John Land to inform him that he was discontinuing ambulance service in the Apopka area. With new regulations regarding the training of employees and added equipment on the ambulances, the costs kept mounting day by day. Mr. Bray had been operating at a substantial loss. Orlando ambulance companies said that they could not put a sub-station in Apopka and these private ambulance firms wanted the city to subsidize them a minimum of $30,000 to provide service to the area. When this was learned, Mayor Land met with Chief Gilliam to discuss how long it would take Apopka to enact an ambulance service of their own. It was decided that since the volunteer firemen were already trained in advanced first aid and the Apopka emergency truck could be used, the Apopka Fire Department would begin ambulance services in Apopka the very next day. Brewster Bray was regretful that he could no longer provide this service and offered his equipped, 1962 Pontiac ambulance to the city free of charge. The Apopka Fire Department was the first city in Orange County to provide ambulance services to its citizens - a service which is still provided today. An organizational meeting was held that February 14th at the fire department for the new free Volunteer Ambulance Service. A committee of the Chamber of Commerce and a committee of Volunteer Firemen were in attendance. This new ambulance service would not only be for the City of Apopka, but for the entire Apopka area, which included Fullers Corner, Clarcona, Lockhart, Wekiva Springs, Welch Road, Mount Dora, Tangerine, Lake Ola, out on the muck and back to Fullers Corner. Roy Gilliam would become head of the Volunteer Ambulance Service, since he was Chief of the fire department, and the ambulance service would be a branch of the fire department. The First Aid and Rescue Squad would operate on a non-profit, voluntary basis collecting no set fees for providing the ambulance on call, but would be set up on a donation basis whereby the entire community and surrounding area would participate in the operation. There would be no paid personnel, but the service would be called by an alerting system similar to that for volunteer firemen. The Rescue Squad would operate with the City's blessing, but would not be a department of or owned by the City. The City agreed to help finance some of the expenses involved in purchasing new equipment, which included a new ambulance. Fund drives were established and donations were accepted to help in repaying the City.
The first fund drive for the new service was unofficially started with a $25 donation made by Townsend's Bait and Tackle Shop, and The World of Suds Coin Laundry agreed to do all the linens for the Emergency Ambulance free of charge. Several other local businesses and citizens helped support the squad with donations. The Chamber of Commerce kept a permanent committee to assist in future fund drives in order to perpetuate this ambulance service.
In May of 1966, only three months into the new service, a new International ambulance was received along with new first aid equipment. This unit was immediately placed into service and the 1962 Pontiac was placed in reserve status. In September of this first year of service, a WESH-TV 2 camera crew spent two days in Apopka filming a half-hour show. The subject of this documentary concerned the fate of ambulance services since funeral homes throughout the state were discontinuing service. Apopka's portion of the show dealt with the setting-up, manning, and operation of the Apopka Emergency Ambulance Service. A camera crew spent most of two days in Apopka filming sequences to be used. Considerable time was spent filming a pre-planned ambulance "call". The call was set up to show the rapid response of members of the Emergency Squad when a call was received. The ambulance was filmed in its shed, on the way to the call, and at the scene. For the call, a squad of football players at Apopka Memorial High School pretended to be holding a practice session. One of them supposedly suffered a broken arm during the practice causing an ambulance to be summoned. Many shots of the ambulance crewmen working on the injured player and removing him to the hospital were taken. The show was aired in November, just in time for the start of the next annual fund drive to get under way.
The new service celebrated its first anniversary in February of 1967, marking a year of faithful and extensive service to the citizens of Northwest Orange County. During this first year, an astounding 358 calls were answered. No one in need was ever refused assistance. It was a year of service without compensation and in so many cases the service was deeply in the red. This volunteer service had operated at a loss for two reasons. First, not all calls were emergencies and secondly, the public was not supporting this free service by donations. Many who had used the service failed to give even a token amount. Several large industries helped support the new service in its first year including Plymouth's American Can Company which donated $500 and Minute Maid Company which donated $300. Individual donations of smaller sums helped increase the fund, as well. The service now had 15 men who were trained in first-aid and qualified to drive and assist in the calls. The original 1962 Pontiac was still used as a back up unit when the International was out on another call. The City worked very closely with the Volunteer Ambulance Service, which was soon to be housed in the new City Fire Station located on Fifth Street. And as operational expenses increased, so did the City's support of the service. All donations that were collected, which never seemed to be enough, went toward wiping out the deficit. It wasn't long before the Emergency Squad owed the City $2,200. Something had to be done to lessen the debt incurred by this new service.
Friday, September 28, 1967, became the official starting date of the Apopka Emergency Squad Ambulance fund drive. A ceremony for the initial membership purchase was held at the Apopka Fire Department where the two Emergency Squad ambulances were housed. Dr. T.E. McBride, a pioneer resident, as well as the oldest practicing physician in the Apopka area, purchased the first membership card for the drive. "This will be a historic moment since this is the method that will be used from now on to support the Emergency Squad," Chief Gilliam was quoted as J.B. Ragsdale of the Plymouth based American Can Company handed over a check for $500. Also donating was J.A Vickery, President of the United Steel Workers of America, who handed a check to C.L. Christiansen, Chairman of the Apopka area Chamber of Commerce.
In the next several weeks, volunteers attempted to canvass every home in the entire Emergency Squad coverage area to have them join the membership. It would cost only $1 per family member per year. A membership card would then be issued entitling the member to free transport to the hospital for one year. Non members would be charged $25 per call after the drive. For such a nominal fee, this gave the residents of the area a modern, well-equipped pair of ambulances ready to respond night or day to any emergency. The goal for the drive was to raise $7,000 and with this money the City could be paid back and the Squad would have enough money to operate the service through 1968. On September 30, the first membership card was turned in for service. A woman, who had just purchased her membership that morning, had fallen that afternoon and sustained a broken shoulder. She was transported to Mercy Medical Center. In just the first three days of the fund drive, over $2,700 was raised, 2,200 cards were sold and $500 was outright donated to start the fund in fine style. By October 10, 65 percent of the $7,000 goal had been collected and turned into the Apopka City Clerk. By October 23, the Apopka Emergency Squad Ambulance Fund Drive exceeded the $7,000 goal set less than a month earlier. The Zellwood Volunteer Fire Department continued to solicit funds for the ambulance and cards were still available at the Zellwood fire station. On November 10, Chief Gilliam had the pleasure of presenting Mayor John Land a check in the sum of $3,114.43. This completely paid off the debt owed to the City and for the first time in 18 months, the Apopka Emergency Squad was out of the red. The formal drive for operating funds for the squad was now at an end and a total of $8,244.04 had been collected through Christmas. In the second year of service, the Emergency Squad transported 450 patients with the busiest day having nine transports in one 24-hour period. On December 7, 1967, Chief Gilliam announced that a new ambulance was ordered for the Apopka Emergency Squad. It was a 1968 model Chevrolet Suburban Carryall and would be purchased through funds collected during the membership drive. The 1962 Pontiac, which was being used as a backup ambulance, would be sold and some of the equipment transferred to this new ambulance. The arrival of the Chevrolet allowed the Emergency Squad the use of two late model ambulances. It was put into service on March 14, 1968.
With fire calls increasing and equipment aging, the city council agreed to purchase two new Class A pumpers from W.S. Darley is 1967. The two new Darley pumpers arrived in 1968 and the 1935 and 1947 Ford Pumpers were retired from service. In addition to the completion of a new Fire and Police Headquarters, the Apopka Fire Department hired its first full-time firefighter, Hollis Nesmith, who manned the station by day, while volunteers manned the station by night. From this time forward, the Apopka Fire Department was staffed 24 hours a day. Soon after, volunteers received plectrons (FM receivers that could be placed in their homes) allowing firefighters to receive the dispatch information immediately. This meant they could now respond even faster to emergency calls. As ambulance calls continued to increase, a third ambulance was added to the fleet. Additional ambulance calls also meant additional recruitment of volunteers. Since there was no budget for the new ambulance, the firefighters raised money to support this service and purchase additional equipment. Passes were sold for $1 per person, or $5 per family. The pass entitled the holder one free use of the ambulance, during a one year period, if needed. Businesses and citizens alike contributed to the fund for several years until the city instituted a budget for the ambulance services.
In 1970, Chief Gilliam was hired on full-time which gave the department two full-time employees during the day: one to respond by fire engine and one to respond by ambulance. Volunteers still covered the evenings and weekends. As rapid growth continued in the Apopka area, a special taxing district was approved by the State Legislature. The district collected monies and paid the Apopka Fire Department on a contractual basis for fire protection in the area. The fee was $10 per home and $20 for businesses. With this new revenue coming in, the Mayor and Council decided it was time to hire additional personnel and in November 1972, nine additional men were hired (most of whom were volunteers) as full-time firefighters and ambulance attendants. Three shifts were created, with three men on each shift. Four full-time dispatchers were also hired to monitor the phones and radios on a 24 hour basis. Three additional firefighters were added to full-time status in 1973, and again in 1975, bringing the on-duty shift personnel to five men per shift. In 1975, the fire department responded to 2,296 calls, a substantial increase from the 426 calls that they responded to in 1966. The 1970s also saw the purchase of a 5,000 gallon tanker truck, a woods truck, a new (walk-thru type van) rescue truck and equipment, new ambulances, extrication equipment and training, and the department's first four paramedics. These paramedics were enrolled in the first paramedic program offered in Orange County. As the state mandated that firefighters receive at least 200 hours of firefighter training, the Apopka Fire Department began offering classes to all firefighters in the Central Florida area. A new training tower was constructed at the fire station to accommodate fire training standards. Training was maintained at a very high level throughout the 1970s as many new tools and equipment became available to the fire and EMS service. One of the most important tools that first became available to the fire service in the 1970s was the "Hurst Tool". This power tool could exert a much greater force than any other tool available and would allow rescue efforts to be more aggressive, safer and less time consuming. The cost, however, was over $4000 and many departments could not afford them. Through local organizational donations and community support, Apopka was able to purchase this life-saving tool. In 1977, another new pumper from W.S. Darley was purchased which boasted the department's first "5-man" cab and a 1978 Ford 1,000 G.P.M. 5-man cab was purchased and placed into service in 1979 to replace one of the older pumpers that was declared a total loss as a result of an auto accident.
On August 5, 1977, the department received its newest engine in almost ten years: a 1000 gallon per minute Ford Pumper built by the Darley Corporation. It was the first of its kind for Apopka and was equipped with a "jumpseat" for firefighters to sit and be fastened in while en route to an incident. This was a much safer way of transporting firefighters to and from a fire as it was a common practice in the past for firefighters to ride on the tailboard of the fire truck. The cost of this new engine was $50,000 and came with the latest and some of the most advanced equipment available to the fire service. It was the pride and joy of the department but would be short lived.
On Wednesday November 12, only three months after the arrival of the new engine, near tragedy struck the department. The new engine was responding to a report of a mobile home fire on Lewis Street off of Rock Springs Road when it collided with a car at the intersection of Welch Road and Rock Springs Road flipping the engine on its side and landing in a deep ditch. Lieutenant Jim Page and firefighter David Murphy were both injured in the accident. Lt. Murphy received a back injury and both were transported to Florida Hospital Apopka and admitted. The driver of the car was uninjured. The new engine was a total loss and by the time the second fire engine arrived at the mobile home fire, the home was also a complete loss.
The late 1970s also brought about the retirement of the 1919 Ladder Truck, which was replaced by the purchase of a 1950 Seagrave 85' Ladder Truck. As growth continued, both in the city and county, it became necessary to change the tax district fee system to a millage method of taxation in the early 1980s. The continued growth of the city to the north created the need for a second fire station to be built on West Welch Road, the purchase of a new pumper, and the hiring of six additional firefighters. The new station, Station #2, housed a pumper, an ambulance, a woods truck, and the new full-time firefighters. Station #3, built by firefighters to house one pumper in Clarcona (manned by volunteers in the Clarcona area) was moved onto city owned property in 1982. A double wide mobile home was added to house six full-time firefighters, as well as an ambulance and woods truck. As more firefighters successfully completed the paramedic program, the department was now capable of assigning a least one paramedic to each of the three stations on each of the three shifts.
In late 1981, Chief Leroy F. Gilliam retired from the Apopka Fire Department. As Chief Gilliam had played a vital part in the training of firefighters during his more than 25 years of service, funds were raised to build a training center in his honor across from Station #1. Upon completion of the building in 1982, it was named the "Leroy F. Gilliam Training Center". With the rapid growth of the city and department, a larger training facility was needed and construction was completed in 2009. The new training center is located on East Cleveland Street and still holds the title of the "Leroy F. Gilliam Training Center". Along with this training center is a large classroom building with three separate rooms, a four story training/burn tower, an emergency vehicle driving/skid pad, and a vehicle training extrication site. The training center is utilized by the fire department, as well as other city departments, for continuing education and training sessions.
In 1985, EMS Coordinator/Lieutenant Richard Anderson, became the department's newest Fire Chief. Chief Anderson began his career as a dispatcher for the department, he then became a full-time firefighter/EMT, and successfully completed the requirements to become one of the first paramedics in Orange County. Chief Anderson had been responsible for many positive and progressive changes as Apopka's Fire Chief. Today, the department is led by Chief Chuck Carnesale and has maintained its ISO Class 1 rating. This puts the Apopka Fire Department in the top .09% of the country. Apopka currently boasts 75 full-time firefighters, an administrative staff of 8, 30 volunteers, 4 fire stations, and a host of the latest technological and state-of-the art equipment available to the fire and EMS services.
As the Apopka Fire Department advances further into the 21st Century, we will continue to look for ways of enhancing our life-saving capabilities, the safety of our firefighters, the fire safety education of our citizens, and reducing the loss of lives and property. The members of the Apopka Fire Department are proud of our heritage, and are proud to continue to provide the citizens of Apopka with the same dedication and professional services they have relied on for the past hundred years. | <urn:uuid:66aab0b7-bbd8-479c-9b8b-5fbb6f918780> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.apopka.net/departments/fire/administration/history.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395548.53/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981964 | 5,963 | 2.78125 | 3 |
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