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Throughout the history of the United States, certain groups have struggled and fought for the quintessential element of political citizenship- the right to vote. Triumphs are marked by the passages of the 14th, 15th, and 19th amendments to the constitution, granting voting rights to all citizens of the country. However, as people watched voting rights expand to the whole population, a quiet force worked behind the scenes contracting the electorate and slowly reversing the trend of expanding citizenship....
Felony disenfranchisement, denying voting rights to those convicted of felonies, became a widespread practice over the course of the 20th century. While these felony disenfranchisement laws originated as racist policies reacting to the group threat of African Americans, they remain to have a disproportionate negative effect on the voting strength of minorities. Furthermore, they catalyzed the election of government officials who did not serve as adequate representatives of the African American population.
While there are other countries that engage in practices of denying voting rights to people actively serving prison sentences, the United States uniquely denies voting rights to nonincarcerated felons. (Uggen &Manza, 778) These are people who have been released from their sentences, and are now on parole. In direct contrast with the United States, many European countries, including Ireland, Spain, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Australia and South Africa, allow their inmates to retain their voting rights even when they are in prison. (Uggen & Manza, 778) Also, among postindustrial democracies, the Untied States is essentially the only country that allows permanent disenfranchisement for ex-felons in some jurisdictions, and is the only nation to limit or deny rights of individuals convicted of crimes that are unrelated to treason or election-related offenses. (Uggen & Manz, 778) These comparisons expose the draconian and archaic nature of the United States’ felony disenfranchisement policy.
Furthermore, exacerbating the effects of these policies, the United States also exceeds countries for the rate at which it issues felony convictions. In 2000, the incarceration rate in the United States was 686 per 100,000 population, much higher than rates of 105 in Canada, 95 in Germany, and 45 in Japan. Similar higher proportions are found in ratios of nonincarcerated felons as well. (Uggen & Manz, 778) Generally, most states adopted some form of restricting felons’ voting rights, and by 2000, 48 of 50 states bar felons from voting. While in most cases this includes those on parole, 10 of those states also bar ex-felons from voting, and two states permanently disenfranchise recidivists, and one state requires a post-release waiting period. (Uggen & Manz, 782)
With these harsh laws, combined with blacks as a large percentage of the total prison population and only a small percentage of the overall population, the potential for disproportionate effects is evident. The unfortunate prevalence of African Americans in jail combined with other factors unique to African Americans creates a volatile mixture devastating to African American citizenship.
During the reconstruction period in the United States, the possible enfranchisement of newly freed African Americans posed a significant threat to the balance of power between blacks and whites in the Untied States. The threat of this power shift incited an adverse response among whites, as demonstrated repeatedly by an increase in lynching and racial violence. (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 560)
Similarly, an increase in felony disenfranchisement provisions can be tied to this backlash. While the 14th Amendment passed in 1868 granted citizenship to African Americans and punished states if they denied males the right to vote, states exploited the clause that voting rights could be denied based on “participation in rebellion, or other crime.” This provided a legal avenue for African American voting disenfranchisement, and served as a predecessor for the soon to come poll taxes, literacy tests, “grandfather” clauses, discriminatory registration requirements, and white-only primaries as clever tactics to strip African Americans of their newly granted freedoms. (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 563)
According to scholars Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, the “predominant interpretation has been that white Democrats form “black belt” regions with large African-American populations led the fight for systematic disenfranchisement in the face of regional political threat.” (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 566) The “group threat” of African Americans is clearly tied to felon disenfranchisement. “Racial threats in the political realm are potentially devastating to existing power relations because the extension of suffrage formally equalizes individual members of dominant and subordinate racial groups with respect to the ballot.” (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 572) Fears such as this trigger negative responses, and can explain the disproportionate effects of criminal disenfranchisement provisions. (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 574)
Statistical evidence supports the notion that felony disenfranchisement provisions originated as a tactic to suppress the black vote. Since felony disenfranchisement laws only affected those convicted of crime, the racial composition of prison populations should be explored to understand the racialized origins of the laws. According to research, each 1% increase in the percentage of prisoners who are nonwhite increases the odds that a state will pass its first disenfranchisement law by 10%. (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 586)
A similar correlation is found between the passage of the state’s first ex-felon disenfranchisement laws. These are laws prohibiting former felons, rather than incarcerated felons from voting. In one model done by the researchers, a 10% increase in a state’s nonwhite prison population raises the odds of passing an ex-felon disenfranchisement law by nearly 50%. Researchers Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, confident with their results, state their finding “can be summarized concisely and forcefully: the racial composition of state prisons is firmly associated with the adoption of state felon disenfranchisement laws.” (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 596)
Furthermore, other measures of racial threat such as state population composition became much more closely correlated with passage of felon voting restrictions after the passage of the Fifteenth Amendment. After the passage of the Fifteenth amendment states could no longer deny voting rights based on “race, color, or previous condition of servitude,” and thus the political threat of African Americans greatly increased. (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 597) These statistical findings corroborate the theory that felony disenfranchisement laws emerged in response to the political threat of African Americans.
In many other instances, the racialized motivation behind the disenfranchisement provisions was blatant and far more explicit. For example, in order to encourage the adoption of felony disenfranchisement laws in the South Carolina legislature, the Democratic leadership in the state made it known that “the potential colored voting population of the state was about forty thousand more than white.” During the states’ convention in 1895, lawmakers proceeded to expand their disenfranchisement provisions to include ex-felons. Similarly, in Alabama’s 1901 Constitutional Convention, the state expanded their disenfranchisement laws to include all crimes of “moral turpitude,” which applied to misdemeanors as well as acts not punishable by law. In the opening address, convention president John B. Knox vindicated the use of “manipulation of the ballot” to avoid “the menace of negro domination.” John Field, the man responsible for introducing the law, clearly had hopes that it would reduce the threat of African-American suffrage, as he estimated to his peers “the crime of wife-beating alone would disqualify sixty percent of the Negroes.” (Behrens, Uggen, and Manza, 572)
While it could be argued that our criminal justice system treats everyone fairly and the disparate effects on African Americans are not the result of discrimination, there is evidence that refutes this claim. The disenfranchisement laws with racist origins exacerbate historical discrimination and biases in the legal system that are unfair towards African Americans. To understand why criminal disenfranchisement so strongly affects African Americans, “it is necessary to examine the underlying factors that may account for such disproportionately large numbers.” (Harvey, 1155) Disparate targeting of African Americans is an important unjust element of our legal system. The 1990 Uniform Crime Report for the United States issued by the Federal Bureau of Investigations states approximately 29% of the total people arrested were black. Of the people arrested of voting age, and therefore potentially affected by disenfranchisement provisions, there was a slightly higher 29.4%. The disproportionate nature of this data could potentially be explained by the disparate targeting of blacks in the criminal justice system. (Harvey, 1145)
Perhaps the quintessential example of disparate targeting of African Americans is the “war on drugs.” In 1990, 33% of all felons were convicted of drug related crimes. Within that group, blacks accounted for 56%. Demonstrating the disparate targeting, blacks represent 41% of all drug arrests but only account for only 15% of the total drug using population. (Harvey, 1156) Some proponents of the “war on drugs” will attempt to explain the discrepancy in percentages by the fact that dealers, rather than users, are the targets of the war on drugs. However, in contrast to this claim, FBI statistics show that two-thirds of arrests on drug charges in 1991 were for possession rather than sales. During the 1990’s Philadelphia’s “drug czar” John Wilder bluntly admitted, “a black runs a much higher risk of getting stopped and frisked for drugs… than a white does in a white community.” (Harvey, 1145)
Unfortunately, many people still believe that targeting minorities is the easiest way to make drug arrests in response to political pressure. Scholar Alice E. Harvey explains that, “disruptive drug raids are more easily accomplished in inner-city neighborhoods where residents have relatively little political or economic power. Comparatively, drug sweeps are less likely to be attempted in white suburban communities.” (Harvey, 1157) Essentially, the war on drugs exploits the unfortunate socioeconomic conditions of African Americans. Similarly, “reverse sting” operations, where authorities sell drugs rather than try to buy them, are another manifestation of disparate targeting. In Minneapolis, for example, one of these operations netted forty-eight African Americans relative to 5 whites. (Harvey, 1157)
Disparate treatment of blacks in the legal system is also responsible for the devastating effect that felony disenfranchisement has on African Americans. This disparate treatment occurs after they have already been disparately targeted, compounding the consequences. A survey in 1994 shows that 89% of blacks and 43% of whites believe that blacks do not receive equal treatment in the criminal justice system, and there is evidence to corroborate their suspicions. A study by the RAND Corporation showed that 44% of black convicted felons were sent to prison, while only 33% of white convicted felons were sent to prison. An earlier study by the same organization also found that “Blacks and Hispanics are sentenced to prison more often and serve longer terms than whites convicted of similar crimes.” Further evidence is that in 1991, an investigation of 700,000 criminal cases showed that whites are more successful than minorities “at virtually every stage of pretrial negotiation.” The research reveals that of the 71,000 adults with no prior felony arrests, one third of the whites had the charges reduced, while only one fourth of blacks had charges reduced. (Harvey, 1145) It also showed that in Florida, in cases involving crimes that were not felonies, blacks accused of killing whites were found to be “twice as likely as whites accused of killing whites to have their cases upgraded to felony homicides.”(Harvey, 1145) Similarly, another study found that federal sentences for drug trafficking and firearms offenses were 49% higher for blacks compared to whites in 1990, compared to being 28% higher in 1984. (Harvey, 1145) This demonstrates that disparate treatment actually increased in some instances.
Some citizens and lawmakers attempt to attribute the disproportionate number of blacks behind bars and the resulting disenfranchisement simply to individual choices of African Americans. However, this ignores the aforementioned evidence that can impute the higher incarceration rates of blacks to disparate targeting of African Americans and disparate treatment in the legal system. The culmination of the effects is devastating on the political citizenship of African Americans - “After such discrimination removes more blacks from society than whites, disenfranchisement serves to remove them from the ranks of black voters, the numbers of which are already comparatively lower than whites.” (Harvey, 1159)
Felony disenfranchisement laws also have negative affects on the social citizenship of African Americans. “In terms of rehabilitation, the removal of voting rights negatively impacts any attempt by ex-offenders to enhance self-esteem, which is essential to the reformative process, by implying that they are unfit to cast their ballots.” (Harvey, 1171) Felony disenfranchisement also alienates felons from society, as they are not allowed to partake in the most important part of living in a democratic society. This prevents them from becoming involved in the community as well, and using the right to vote to voice their concerns. As a result of these negative effects, critics of felony disenfranchisement have suggested that it can lead to re-offending. (Harvey, 1171)
Anthony Papa, a former felon, wrote to the New York Times in 2002 to describe the negative affects of criminal disenfranchisement. He describes that he was a first-time nonviolent offender, but he served 12 years under the Rockefeller drug laws of New York State. He asserts “the right to vote is an important part of the rehabilitation process and should be given to those who have paid their debt to society.” When he was released on parole, he could still not vote. He describes this as a “great blow to my self-esteem.” Furthermore, he states that his “neighborhood was deteriorating, and there were many community issues I wanted to voice my opinion on through the vote. But I couldn’t.” (Papa A:16)
Perhaps the most interesting element of his editorial is that when he could vote after waiting five years, he states he “was finally accepted by society in my capacity as a citizen.” (Papa A:16) This supports the argument that “rehabilitation’s goal of fostering community acceptance of the ex-offender is undermined by disenfranchisement…” (Harvey, 1171) Furthermore, the “social stigmatization that disenfranchisement imposes upon ex-felons, by implying that they are unfit to exercise the franchise, is compounded by society’s negative perceptions of black individuals.” (Harvey, 1174) This is an area where felony disenfranchisement affects blacks differently than whites. Essentially, “The negative effects of felon disenfranchisement are felt two-fold by black ex-offenders who may already experience alienation and isolation in a racist society.” (Harvey, 1175) By asserting that they are incapable of asserting their rights of political citizenship, felony disenfranchisement reinforces racist notions and creates another barrier of acceptance in to the community. Disenfranchisement also encourages society to attribute the actions committed by felons solely to the individual, rather than taking in to consideration environmental conditions that may have led to the crime. One authority states, “Disenfranchisement is a prop in [the] act of communal self-delusion.
By rationalizing and facilitating a tendency to localize the blame for crime in the individual, disenfranchisement helps to obscure the complexity of the roots of crime and their entanglement with contingent social structures.” (Harvey, 1173) Rep. John Graham Altman (R- Charleston) exemplified this attitude of ignoring environmental factors as he advocated for harsher felony disenfranchisement laws in South Carolina in 2001. He stated, “If it’s blacks losing the right to vote, then they have to quit committing crimes. We are not punishing the criminal. We are punishing conduct… You need to tell people to stop committing crimes and not feel sorry for those who do…” (SOURCE) Factors such as poverty, racism, violence, and a lack of sufficient educational opportunities all affect the individual propensity to commit a crime. Unfortunately, the people experiencing these conditions are overwhelmingly African American.
Criminal disenfranchisement also serves to reinforce a sense of African-American cultural inferiority. Cultural inferiority, demonstrated by negative stereotyping, a tendency to blame African-Americans for racial gaps in socioeconomic standing (rather than the environment), and a resistance to policy efforts such as affirmative action to fight racist social institutions. As criminal disenfranchisement institutionalizes racial disparities in criminal punishment, it “both reflects and reinforces tacit stereotypes about young African-American men that are intensified through media coverage.” (Behrens, Uggen, and Manz, 569)
While there is not specific data available to the researchers on how the felons would actually vote, the felon population is matched to the rest of the voting-age population to determine their voting preferences. Models of political behavior include gender, race, age, income, labor force status, marital status, and education. (Uggen & Manz, 784) On average, it was determined that 35 percent of disenfranchised felons would have turned out to vote in presidential elections, and that 24 percent would have participated in senate elections during non-presidential years. While these rates are well below those of the normal population, they still demonstrate that a significant number of disenfranchised felons would have participated in the political process if given the opportunity. (Uggen & Manz, 786) The “hypothetical felon voters showed strong Democratic preferences in both presidential and senatorial elections.” (Uggen & Manz, 786) In more recent presidential elections, Democratic candidates would have obtained 70 percent of the felon vote. A similar percentage is also suggested for most recent senate election years.
“By removing those with democratic preferences form the pool of eligible voters, felon disenfranchisement has provided a small but clear advantage to Republican candidates in every presidential and senatorial election from 1972 to 2000.” (Uggen & Manz, 787) Felony disenfranchisement, using this data, likely had drastic impacts on election outcomes. For example, in the 1978 Virginia election, the researchers estimate that 15,434 of the state’s 93,564 disenfranchised felons would have voted. It is also estimated that 80.2 percent would have gone to the democratic candidate. This would have resulted in a net total of 9,268 Democratic votes lost as a result of disenfranchisement, which is almost double the actual Republican margin of victory of 4,721 votes. (Uggen & Manz, 787) However, this Republican victory as a result of felon disenfranchisement is not an isolated incident. The data applied to the 2000 presidential election, perhaps one of the contested in the history of the country, yields interesting results. In 2000, the outcome of the election hinged particularly on the swing state of Florida. According to the research of Uggen and Manz, “if disenfranchised felons in Florida had been permitted to vote, Democrat Gore would certainly have carried the state, and the election.” (Uggen & Manz, 792) Coincidentally, Florida holds the record for the most disenfranchised felons, with approximately 827,000 criminals stripped of their voting rights. If they had been permitted to participate in the election, and voted at the estimated rate of 27.2 and with a Democratic preference of 68.9 percent, Gore would have carried the state by more than 80,000 votes, and therefore won the presidential election. (Uggen & Manz, 792) To further demonstrate the impact of these voting restrictions, if the estimated voting rate is reduced by half, Gore’s margin of victory is still more than 40,000 votes. Furthermore, if only ex-felons are considered, and their estimated turnout rate is cut in half, Gore’s Margin of victory would have exceeded 30,000 votes.
While African Americans were prohibited from asserting their political rights through criminal disenfranchisement, the law also served to disproportionately suppress the voices of those who shared the same views aligned with the Democratic party. This continued to have an effect on African Americans. For example, the predicted democratic senate majority throughout the 1990’s could have “enabled the Clinton administration to gain approval for a much higher proportion of its federal judicial nominees, and key Senate committees would have shifted form Republican to Democratic control.” (Uggen & Manz, 794) The resulting Republican government from felony disenfranchisement, arguably, attenuated the government’s propensity to enact legislation favorable to African Americans.
In February of 2002, a U.S. Senate measure to restore suffrage to all ex-felons in federal elections failed to pass. In opposition to the bill, Republican Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky stated, “those who break our laws should not dilute the vote of law-abiding citizens.” This is the same senator who, shown above, likely benefited from disenfranchisement provisions throughout his entire career. As the Senate failed to pass this measure, they irresponsibly ignored the racist origins of these laws in America and their devastating effects on African American citizenship. Or, perhaps an even larger injustice to their constituents and the legislative process, they were ignorant of these facts. Instead, as many African Americans sit in jail, felony disenfranchisement similarly incarcerates the progress of African American citizenship.
Behrens, Angela, Christopher Uggen, Jeff Manza. "Ballot Manipulation and the "Menace of Negro Domination": Racial Threat and Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States, 1850-2002." American Journal of Sociology 109(2003): 559- 605
Harvey, Alice E.. "Ex-Felon Disenfranchisement and its Influence on the Black Vote: The Need for a Second Look." University of Pennsylvania Law Review 142(1994): 1145-1189.
Papa, Anthony. “Yearning to Vote.” New York Times 19 Oct. 2002: A16
Uggen, Christopher, Jeff Manza. "Democratic Contraction? Political Consequences of Felon Disenfranchisement in the United States." American Sociological Association 67(2002): 777-803.
|© 2009 Christopher Adams|
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Laser Ignition System
Published on Jan 10, 2016
Economic as well as environmental constraints demand a further reduction in the fuelconsumption and the exhaust emissions of motor vehicles. At the moment, directInjected fuel engines show the highest potential in reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Unfortunately, conventional spark plug ignition shows a major disadvantage with modern spray-guided combustion processes since the ignition location cannot be chosen optimally.
It is important that the spark plug electrodes are not hit by the injected fuel because otherwise severe damage will occur.Additionally, the spark plug electrodes can influence the gas flow inside the combustion chamber. It is well know that short and intensive laser pulses are able to produce an ”optical breakdown” in air. Necessary intensities are in the range between 1010- 1011W/cm2.1, 2 at such intensities, gas molecules are dissociated and ionized Within the vicinity of the focal spot of a laser beam and a hot plasma is generated. ThisPlasma is heated by the incoming laser beam and a strong shock wave occurs. The expanding hot plasma can be used for the ignition of fuel-gas mixtures.
Drawbacks Of Conventional Spark Ignition
Location of spark plug is not flexible as it require shielding of plug from immense heat and fuel spray.
It is not possible to ignite inside the fuel spray.
It require frequent maintenance to remove carbon deposits..
Leaner mixtures cannot be burned.
Degradation of electrodes at high pressure and temperature.
Flame propagation is slow.
Multi point fuel ignition is not feasible.
Higher turbulence levels are required.
What Is Laser?
Lasers provide intense and unidirectional beam of light. Laser light is monochromatic (onespecific wavelength). Wavelength of light is determined by amount of energy releasedwhen electron drops to lower orbit. Light is coherent; all the photons have same wavefronts that launch to unison. Laser light has tight beam and is strong and concentrated.
Tomake these three properties occur takes something called “Stimulated Emission”, inwhich photon emission is organized. Main parts of laser are power supply, lasing medium and a pair of precisely aligned mirrors. One has totally reflective surface and other is partially reflective (96 %). The most important part of laser apparatus is laser crystal. Most commonly used laser crystalis manmade ruby consisting of aluminum oxide and 0.05% chromium. Crystal rods are round and end surfaces are made reflective.
A laser rod for 3 J is 6 mm in diameter and70 mm in length approximately. Laser rod is excited by xenon filled lamp, whichsurrounds it. Both are enclosed in highly reflective cylinder, which directs light fromflash lamp in to the rod. Chromium atoms are excited to higher energy levels. The excitedions meet photons when they return to normal state. Thus very high energy is obtained inshort pulses. Ruby rod becomes less efficient at higher temperatures, so it is continuouslycooled with water, air or liquid nitrogen. The Ruby rod is the lasing medium and flashtube pumps it.
Laser Induced Spark Ignition
The process begins with multi-photon ionization of few gas molecules which releaseselectrons that readily absorb more photons via the inverse bremsstrahlung process toincrease their kinetic energy. Electrons liberated by this means collide with othermolecules and ionize them, leading to an electron avalanche, and breakdown of the gas.Multiphoton absorption processes are usually essential for the initial stage of breakdownbecause the available photon energy at visible and near IR wavelengths is much smaller than the ionization energy.
For very short pulse duration (few picoseconds) themultiphoton processes alone must provide breakdown, since there is insufficient time forelectron-molecule collision to occur. Thus this avalanche of electrons and resultant ionscollide with each other producing immense heat hence creating plasma which issufficiently strong to ignite the fuel. The wavelength of laser depend upon the absorptionproperties of the laser and the minimum energy required depends upon the number ofphotons required for producing the electron avalanche.
The minimum ignition energy required for laser ignition is more than that for electric spark ignition because of following reasons: An initial comparison is useful for establishing the model requirements, and for identifying causes of the higher laser MIE. First, the volume of a typical electrical ignition spark is 10^-3 cm3. The focal volume for a typical laser spark is 10^-5 cm3. Since atmospheric air contains _1000 charged particles/cm3, the probability of finding a charged particle in the discharge volume is very low for a laser spark. Second, an electrical discharge is part of an external circuit that controls the power input, which may last milliseconds, although high power input to ignition sparks isusually designed to last <100 ns.
Breakdown and heating of laser sparks depend only onthe gas, optical, and laser parameters, while the energy balance of spark dischargesdepends on the circuit, gas, and electrode characteristics. The efficiency of energytransfer to near-threshold laser sparks is substantially lower than to electrical sparks, somore power is required to heat laser sparks. Another reason is that, energy in the form of photons is wasted before the beam reach the focal point. Hence heating and ionizing the charge present in the path of laserbeam. This can also be seen from the propagation of flame which propagates longitudinally along the laser beam. Hence this loss of photons is another reason forhigher minimum energy required for laser ignition than that for electric spark.
Location of spark plug is flexible as it does not require shielding from immense heat and fuel spray and focal point can be made any where in thecombustion chamber from any point It is possible to ignite inside the fuel spray asthere is no physical component at ignition location.
It does not require maintenance to remove carbon deposits because of itsself cleaning property.
Leaner mixtures can be burned as fuel ignition inside combustion chamberis also possible here certainty of fuel presence is very high.
High pressure and temperature does not affect the performance allowing the use of high compression ratios.
Flame propagation is fast as multipoint fuel ignition is also possible.
Higher turbulence levels are not required due to above said advantages
More Seminar Topics:
Electro-Hydraulic Brake (EHB) System,
Electronic Fuel Injection,
Four-Wheel Steering System,
Full Authority Digital Engine Control,
Homogeneous Charge Compression Ignition HCCI,
High Speed Trains,
Hot Runner Technology,
Hybrid solar Desiccant Cooling System,
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105 Peavey Rd, Ste 116
Chaska, MN 55318
April 8, 2003
The following letter concerns the implementation of what is being referred to as "Character Education" in one state, Arizona. This bears close oversight, as Character Education comes to us through federal law, No Child Left Behind. And it certainly has a nice sounding name.
Keep in mind, however, that the core curriculum of the national standards (federal curriculum) is the belief that there are no absolutes of any kind -- except the idea that there are no absolutes. Consider what character education becomes in such an environment. What morality are we foisting upon our children in place of genuine right and wrong?--------------------------------------------------
7 April 2003
Dear Representative Gray,
As a concerned parent, I am writing to encourage withdraw of support for values based initiatives like Character Education and diversity/multiculturalism objectives. Simply put, these avenues are being used to bring psychotherapy into schools on a large scale. Programs are employed that use the "change process" to break down kids, with the intention of putting them back together in a new form. The invasive exercises used can induce extreme emotional stress, "unfreeze" a participant's stable equilibrium, and lead to personality collapse.
It is my hope that a tragedy will not have to occur before attention is drawn to this issue. The ethics and benefits of group psychotherapy in schools need public scrutiny. Following are examples of what occurred in a Tucson Unified School District high school this year.
On March 21, 2003, an Anytown workshop called "Personal Stereotypes and Leadership Opportunities" was conducted with T.U.S.D.'s University High sophomore class. Exercises required students to join one of a predetermined selection of stereotype groups, which included: Jewish, Gay/Lesbian/Transsexual, Anglo, Asian American, Native American, African American, Middle Eastern, and Hispanic.
As a result of workshop exercises, kids learned all kinds of nasty racial slurs and cultural stereotypes for each segregated category. There were students who broke down crying during an activity where they were told to read a list of slurs compiled for their group. Because of workshop activities, tension and division were created among UHS sophomores that previously did not have major problems getting along. Additionally, several related conflicts occurred on campus after the program.
Poor time management resulted in the lack of "process" completion for the last and largest group (Anglo). Failure to provide closure left many students distressed. A hint was dropped that kids could finish the exercise if they attended the Anytown summer camp. (The Arizona Anytown website lists the camp fee at $435 per participant.)
On January 16th, an Anytown "Gender stereotypes" workshop was conducted for the UHS junior class. Students were asked to acknowledge personal experience related to abuse, sexuality, drugs, violence, and more. Girls were asked whether they had ever been: hit or assaulted by a man; said yes to a man for fear of saying no; expected to be responsible for birth control; stopped themselves from hugging, kissing, or holding hands with a woman for fear of being called lesbian; sexually pressured by a man; and more.
Boys were asked whether they had ever been: hit to make them stop crying; called a wimp, queer, fag; hit by an older man; physically injured and hid the pain; stopped themselves from showing affection, hugging, or touching another man because of how it might look to others; drank or took drugs to cover up feelings or hide pain; been wounded by a knife or gun; hurt another person physically; and more.
"OPT-IN" requirements for the workshops did not exist, though parents of sophomores received an "opt-out" letter/form. The information provided about workshops was of a promotional nature, and did not include explanation of the "change process" and the potential harm to participants.
Outside organizations with self-interest agendas are being allowed to consume valuable class time. Public money is being spent on unnecessary programs when everyday classroom needs are not adequately funded. Public schools are being used for abusive activities to occur with our children. Please do not support legislation that allows these things to occur in our schools. Do support legislation that protects the privacy of students and families, and the right of parents to direct the values of their children.
Thank you for your time and consideration,
Sensitivity Training and Communist Thought Reform
Excerpt: "Dr. Harlan McNutt had been Director of the Pierce County Health Department (Washington). He had spent 16 years as a psychiatrist in private practice, and was on the staff of Western State Hospital. In private practice, he had dealt with more children than most other psychiatrists had. His following statements printed in the Auburn Globe News 2/14/71 is pertinent to these encounter groups. The headline was "Intermediate school members told Sensitivity training can be very dangerous, psychiatrist warns".
"He said he knew of more than one instance of adults going into some type of sensitivity training, in full possession of their faculties, and coming out, in some way damaged. It is confrontation, in which able people tear each other apart."
"The types of casualties of personality collapse, resulting from sensitivity training for adults, according to the psychiatrist, include depression, withdrawal, reactions, psychotic reactions, and suicidal states. These are major mental problems which should not be brought about, if possible, he said."
"As a rule, said McNutt, psychiatrists are much more conservative about meddling in peoples' minds than any other group. He observed that psychologists are less conservative in this way, and counselors even less so. And now, he said, teachers are becoming involved."
"The trouble is, he said that clinical training, clinical judgment, and the ability to put the pieces back together is not a part of teacher training or background, and it takes great responsibility ".
"...local school districts were being pressed to adopt sensitivity training, and the National Education Association was reported at the board session to be pushing for its use in the schools".
Tucson Unified School Districtıs University High School paid $2,000 for four Anytown workshops. Each workshop (one per grade level) was conducted on the UHS campus and consumed four periods of class time on four separate days.
The NTL Institute (formerly the National Training Labs) conducts seminars using the "change process." An NTL registration form (2000) warns: "There may be considerable emotional stress involved in an NTL program. Participants must take responsibility for self screening if stressful situations are a concern. NTL's programs must not be used as a substitute for psychotherapy. Attendance should be discussed with a therapist if a participants is currently in therapy." NTL participants must sign a disclosure statement: ² I understand that my participation in this NTL program may involve considerable stress. I have made an informed decision that my participation is appropriate for me at this time. In signing this registration form, I state that my participation is voluntary and I take full responsibility for my decision to attendS" A 1985 NTL brochure notes: "Persons who are experiencing personal emotional crisis should forego attendance at NTL programs."
Diversity and multiculturalism: the new racism | by Michael S. Berliner, Ph.D., and Gary Hull, Ph.D. ARI
Excerpt: "...The diversity movement claims that its goal is to extinguish racism and build tolerance of differences. This is a complete sham. One cannot teach students that their identity is determined by skin color and expect them to become colorblind. One cannot espouse multiculturalism and expect students to see each other as individual human beings. One cannot preach the need for self-esteem while destroying the faculty which makes it possible: reason. One cannot teach collective identity and expect students to have self-esteem. ..."
Individualism: the only cure for racism | by Edwin A. Locke, Ph.D.
Excerpt: "...If diversity is the cure, however, why, instead of promoting racial harmony, has it brought racial division and conflict? The answer is not hard to discover. The unshakable fact is that you cannot cure racism with racism. To accept the diversity premise means to think in racial terms rather than in terms of individual character or merit. .... People are individuals; they are not interchangeable ciphers in an amorphous collective. ..."
WHATS GOING ON IN OTHER STATES?
(Note: The process work used in Anytown workshops is similar to those conducted in "Challenge Day" and "Breaking Down the Walls" programs)
Warm embrace for kids, or merely 'psycho cry fest'? |by Keith Ervin | Seattle Times 4/10/02
Breaking down the wills | by Brent Duncan, MaOM | Letter to the Editor | Santa Cruz Sentinel
Excerpt: "The Breaking Down the Walls program seems to be a strong case proving that we are willingly allowing a government-mandated educational system to co-opt authority over our children. This "edgy" (emotionally abusive) program uses powerful behavior control techniques and peer pressure to make your developing child question his or her individual worth and values, then seek for esteem among a collective according to the values of an anonymous organization. In short, your child's will and your parenting are the walls the program seeks to break down. ..." -- Brent Duncan, MaOM, teaches Organizational Behavior and management courses at the University of Phoenix School of Business and Management."
Schools shouldn't endorse psycho-fests | Seattle Times Editorial 4/12/02
Excerpt: "It is alarming that nearly 300 Seattle Public Schools students have already participated in Challenge Day workshops. These 12- and 13-year-olds went through sessions reminiscent of est, or Lifespring encounter groups, courtesy of a for-profit company. While the goal of the seminars has merit < to create a safe school environment free of teasing and harassment < their methods don't belong under the imprimatur of public education."
"The emotional intensity of the workshops is troublesome. Schools should not assist in placing children in situations where adults break them down emotionally and, purportedly, rebuild them into better people. Better to leave intensive character building to parents. If parents endorse this therapy, they can arrange it privately for their child."
"Another disturbing aspect of encounter groups in the schools is their commercialism. The district has an anti-commercialization policy. Yet, students participating in Challenge Day received information packets about a seminar offered in Seattle next month by Resource Realizations, a Scottsdale, Ariz., company best known for its controversial work in residential behavior-modification for troubled teens."
Crossing the Line crosses the line, some parents say |by Donna Jones | Santa Cruz Sentinel | 4/12/02
See Dick and Jane weep | by Michelle Malkin | Townhall 4/19/02
In-class encounter sessions | Freedom 21 Santa Cruz*******
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How can we encourage children to seek wisdom? Wisdom is vital for children to have in order to fulfill God’s plan for their life…especially in today’s world. But only God can give true wisdom and help a child apply it to daily life. Thus, we want to encourage children to maximize God’s truth by helping them understand biblical wisdom.
W...orthy Knowledge From God “But the wisdom from above is first
pure, then peaceable, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and
good fruit, impartial, and not hypocritical.” James 3:17 NET
I...nvaluable Knowledge From God “By wisdom the Lord laid the
foundation of the earth; he established the heavens by
understanding.” Proverbs 3:19 NET
S...upreme Knowledge From God “Wisdom is supreme so acquire
wisdom, and whatever you acquire, acquire understanding!”
Proverbs 4:7 NET
D...istinct Knowledge From God “Now we do speak wisdom among the
mature, but not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who
are perishing. Instead we speak the wisdom of God, hidden in a
mystery, that God determined before the ages for our glory.”
1 Corinthians 2:6-7 NET
O...nly True Knowledge From God “Acquire truth and do
not sell it –wisdom, and discipline, and understanding.”
Proverbs 23:23 NET
M...ost Important Knowledge From God “He is the reason you have a
relationship with Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from
God, and righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so
that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1 Corinthians:1:30-31 NET
For a more in-depth study on wisdom, ask children ages 8 through 12 years old to find the word wisdom in the back of their Bible and answer these questions.
1. How many times is the word wisdom used in the Bible?
2. In how many books of the Bible does the word wisdom appear?
3. In what book is the word wisdom used the most?
Then have them read Proverbs 1:7 and answer:
4. Who despises wisdom and understanding?
5. What is the beginning of knowledge?
Then Proverbs 2 and answer:
6. Who gives wisdom?
7. Can we have wisdom and understanding without God?
8. What will wisdom do for you?
Then Proverbs 3:5-7 and answer:
9. What are you suppose to do?
10. What will God do for you?
After they have answered all the questions, have each child write a personal prayer to God asking Him for wisdom.
“Blessed is the one who finds wisdom, and the one who obtains understanding.” Proverbs 3:13 NET. My prayer is that all of the children in your ministry find wisdom and receive blessings from God.
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The HIV epidemic continues to be a major global health threat. A report by the World Health Organization (WHO) showed that by the end of 2014, a total of 36.9 million people around the world were living with the HIV infection. That same year, the organization recorded a total of 1.2 million deaths from the AIDS virus. Since the onset of the epidemic, almost 71 million people have been infected worldwide, accounting for about 34 million deaths, according to this article.
In the United States, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that by the end of 2012, an estimated 1.2 million people of ages 13 and older were living with HIV. Of these, 12.8% were unaware of their condition. There are about 50,000 new HIV cases in the country per year, CDC said.
The world of medical science still has to find a cure for the disease that continues to affect and threaten the lives of a substantial number of people. Through the years, various health agencies and communities have exerted significant efforts to combat the epidemic. Emphasis is placed on prevention, early detection, and immediate treatment. Though the end of the search for the ultimate antidote is not yet in sight, advances in therapies including contemporary antiretroviral drugs have shown to be effective in increasing life expectancy among HIV patients. Next to prevention, the key is early detection.
Types of HIV Tests
HIV tests are used to determine whether a person is infected with the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) which triggers a more deadly disease called Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS). These tests detect the presence of certain antibodies, antigens, or RNA in a person’s blood, saliva, or urine which signifies that the individual has been infected by the virus.
The tests are available in physician’s offices, clinics, hospitals, health centers, and health departments. Standard tests are either inexpensive or completely free. Testing centers implement a strict confidentiality policy for the protection of the patients. Anonymous testing is also available in most states.
The available types of HIV tests include the following:
These are the most common forms of HIV testing. These tests are done to detect the presence of antibodies to the virus in the person’s blood. Some tests can also detect these biomolecules in the saliva. With a normal antibody test, a patient waits for a few days to a few weeks before he gets a result. A rapid antibody test, however, can give the patient the results between 20 to 30 minutes.
There are two general types of antibody tests that are commonly used:
Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay (ELISA)
This is usually the first test conducted to determine the presence of antibodies to HIV. If such antibodies are detected in the blood, the test returns an HIV Positive result. It is usually repeated for the confirmation of the diagnosis. When the initial ELISA test returns an HIV Negative result, no further tests need be conducted.
This is performed when two ELISA tests return a positive result. This test is necessary to confirm the diagnosis. It is more difficult and takes longer to perform. Hence, it is also more expensive.
Both tests are highly accurate and when the combination shows positive results, a patient is clinically diagnosed to be HIV positive.
However, the antibody tests cannot successfully detect HIV immediately after exposure because it takes between 2 weeks and 6 months for antibodies to appear in the blood. This is called the “window period” within which a person may be infected and still may not test positive for the virus.
Ideally, antibody tests should be conducted beyond the window period. It is recommended that testing is done at 6 weeks, 3 months, and 6 months after exposure or contact with a person who is HIV infected, as reported in this article.
Here are some other tests that may be used to check for HIV:
Antibody / Antigen Tests
These are tests that can detect the presence of both antibodies to the virus and antigens or particles of the virus itself. Antigens of HIV typically show up within 2 to 4 weeks after infection. Thus, antigen/antibody combination tests can detect HIV much earlier than the standard antibody tests. These screening methods are available only for blood testing. A rapid antibody/antigen test can deliver results within as quickly as 20 minutes.
Polymerase Chain Reaction
The PCR test can identify the presence of the virus itself in a person’s blood. It checks to find genetic material of the virus (RNA or DNA) in the person’s white blood cells. PCR testing requires highly technical skills and costly laboratory equipment. Thus, it is not as common as antibody testing. Not all hospitals and clinics offer this service.
PCR can detect the virus within days or weeks after exposure. It is recommended to be performed when the results of antibody tests are uncertain such as when they were done within the window period. The test is also conducted for the screening of organs and blood intended for donation. In addition, it is done to determine if a baby born to an HIV-positive mother has likewise been infected.
In-Home Test Kits
Home test kits can screen either the blood or saliva for the presence of HIV antibodies. There are two tests currently approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
Some home testing kits are conducted by pricking the finger, placing drops of blood on the given card, and mailing the card to a licensed laboratory. The sample will be tested using the ELISA and Western Blot methods. The screening is done anonymously and the patient is given an identification number to be used when he claims results by phone call within three business days.
Meanwhile, others can detect antibodies in the saliva. To perform the test, the user swabs his upper and lower gums and places the collected sample in the given vial. This is sent to a laboratory for screening. Results can be expected within 20 to 40 minutes, but a follow-up test should be done if the initial results are positive.
Benefits of Early Detection
CDC recommends that all persons of 13 years of age and older must be tested for HIV, regardless of risk factors, based on the agency’s report. It is also advised that routine screening for adults, adolescents, and pregnant women be conducted in healthcare settings in the United States, according to this informational article.
Persons exposed to risk factors such as those having multiple sex partners, engaging in unprotected sex with a possibly HIV infected person, engaging in risky sexual behavior such as men having sex with men (MSM), and sharing needles for intravenous drug use should get themselves tested right after the lapse of the window period.
It is important to confirm a possible diagnosis as soon as possible for several reasons:
- To avoid transmitting the virus to others, including to other sexual partners or to an unborn child;
- To reduce the viral load in the blood;
- To get immediate treatment.
The earlier the virus is detected, the sooner can treatment and monitoring can begin. Treating the condition in the early stages can significantly slow down the growth rate of the virus. This increases life expectancy and delays the onset of AIDS.
Over the years, newer HIV treatment options have developed including advanced anti-retroviral medication which has shown to greatly increase a patient’s life expectancy.
Untreated, the HIV virus will spread rapidly and the illness will progress to AIDS, the most advanced stage. When the immune system is considerably damaged, the body will be susceptible to a host of life-threatening opportunistic diseases and cancers until death occurs.
Early medical attention can effectively delay progression and when administered properly, patients can continue to live normal and productive lives although they must employ special precautions to avoid contaminating other people.
HIV patients are treated with a combination of several medications. This regimen is called the antiretroviral therapy (ART). While the medicines cannot cure the virus, they control the spread and reduce the viral load or the number of HIV copies multiplied in the body. With a lower viral load, the immune system is maintained strong enough to fight off and recover from a number of infections and cancers. Having lesser HIV copies in the body also reduces the risk of transmitting the disease.
For instance, a research published in 1994 showed that the use of the drug called zidovudine or AZT by HIV-infected women and by their newborns reduced the risk of HIV transmission from about 25% to 8%. Another study showed that pregnant women who received at least two weeks of ART reduced the risk of perinatal transmission to less than 1 percent.
There are 6 major classes of drugs for HIV treatment, according to aids.gov. These are non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NNRTIs), nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitors (NRTIs), protease inhibitors (PIs), fusion inhibitors, CCR5 antagonists (CCR5), and integrase strand transfer inhibitors (INSTIs).
The 6 classes include several medicines, depending on how each fights the virus. There are 25 medicines that are currently approved for HIV treatment. A treatment regimen will usually combine at least three different medicines from at least two of the six categories, based on this article. A mixture of drugs is necessary to efficiently reduce the viral load and prevent resistance to medication.
In prescribing the medications, the doctor will consider several factors including the patient’s health history, results of other diagnostic tests performed after the diagnosis which measure the viral load in the patient’s body (e.g. CD4 Count), results of drug-resistance testing, possible side effects of the medicines, possible contraindications, convenience, and costs.
The drugs can cause several side effects. The most common reactions are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, anemia, fatigue, dizziness, headaches, skin rashes, and insomnia. In considering an ART regimen, doctors will consider a combination of drugs that will efficiently control the disease with the least possible side effects.
ART is a lifetime treatment plan to which a patient must religiously adhere. His commitment to the regimen and to certain lifestyle changes will determine the effectiveness of the therapy and the quality of life he can expect while living with HIV.
Any concerns that arise while on certain medications should be discussed immediately with the health care provider or physician. Barriers to effective treatment should be reduced or eliminated as soon as possible.
While research continues to provide critical information for the development of advanced treatment plans and therapies, medications will not solve the global epidemic. The thrust of government and health agencies should focus more on education and prevention methods. Controlling and combatting the crisis requires a combination of measures including increasing access to screening methods and testing facilities, intensifying health campaigns, providing more HIV and AIDS support programs, and strengthening partnerships between government health agencies, communities, and the private sector to maintain effectual prevention programs.
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Stress Management: Relaxing Your Mind and BodySkip to the navigation
Take a deep breath. Hold it for a moment, and then exhale. Feel more relaxed? Breathing exercises are one way to relax. Here you will learn about different ways to relax your mind and body. Being relaxed can help ease stress. It can also relieve anxiety, depression, and sleep problems.
- To relax means to calm the mind, the body, or both.
- Relaxing can quiet your mind and make you feel peaceful and calm. Your body also reacts when you relax. For example, your muscles may be less tense and more flexible.
- There are different ways to relax. You may find one or more ways help to calm you down and feel at peace.
How can you relax your mind and body?
There are lots of ways to relax. Some ways are designed to relax your mind and some to relax your body. But because of the way the mind and body are connected, many relaxation methods work on both the mind and the body.
You may want to try one or more of the following relaxation tips to see what works best for you.
Relaxing the mind
- Take slow, deep breaths. Or try other breathing exercises for relaxation.
- Soak in a warm bath.
- Listen to soothing music.
- Practice mindful meditation. The goal of mindful meditation is to focus your attention on things that are happening right now in the present moment. For example, listen to your body. Is your breathing fast, slow, deep, or shallow? Do you hear noises, such as traffic, or do you hear only silence? The idea is just to note what is happening without trying to change it.
- Write. Some people feel more relaxed after they write about their feelings. One way is to keep a journal.
- Use guided imagery. With guided imagery, you imagine yourself in a certain setting that helps you feel calm and relaxed. You can use audiotapes, scripts, or a teacher to guide you through the process.
Relaxing the body
- Do yoga. You can get books and videos to do at home or take a yoga class.
- Try progressive muscle relaxation. This process involves tensing and relaxing each muscle group. Progressive muscle relaxation can reduce anxiety and muscle tension. If you have trouble falling asleep, this method may also help with your sleep problems. When you relax your muscles, your body gets the signal that it is okay to fall asleep.
- Take a walk or do some other activity. Making time to do things you enjoy can also help you relax.
- Get a massage or have someone give you a back rub.
- Have a warm drink that doesn't have alcohol or caffeine in it, such as herbal tea or warm milk.
Other Works Consulted
- Anspaugh DJ, et al. (2011). Coping with and managing stress. In Wellness: Concepts and Applications, 8th ed., pp. 307–340. New York: McGraw-Hill.
- Freeman L (2009). Relaxation therapy. In Mosby's Complementary and Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach, 3rd ed., pp. 129–157. St. Louis: Mosby Elsevier.
To learn more about Healthwise, visit Healthwise.org.
© 1995-2016 Healthwise, Incorporated. Healthwise, Healthwise for every health decision, and the Healthwise logo are trademarks of Healthwise, Incorporated.
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|THE NATURE OF SCIENCE
and the Scientific Method
|Download this FREE Educational Resource from GSA|
|CURRENT CRITICAL ISSUES|
Critical Issues Explored
Used commercially since the 1940s, it has only relatively recently been used to extract gas and oil from shales and other tight reserves.
The current state of science related to the cause, occurrence, and potential impacts of induced seismicity (earthquakes likely triggered by human activities).
The GSA identifies as Critical Issues topics that are current and of particular interest to the geosciences community. These may include both issues that are likely to be impactful on the geosciences community and those for which the participation of geoscientists is important to an informed debate. Current Critical Issues are listed in the table to the right. Some posted Critical Issues have associated Position Statements and White Papers.
The GSA identifies Critical Issues to bring them to the attention of its membership, and thereby encourage and stimulate broader, informed participation in the public discourse. The Society does not necessarily take a position on each posted Critical issue, so a Position Statement may or may not have been developed for any given issue. When a Position Statement has been developed for a Critical Issue, a direct link to that Statement is provided on the Critical Issues page on the website. In addition, links to other information resources that can be accessed on the Internet are listed for each posted Critical Issue.
What is the relationship between Critical Issues and the GSA's Vision/Mission/Goals and Objectives and Position Statements?
Critical Issues are identified to provide a vehicle to inform and encourage engagement of GSA members on topics of current importance to the geosciences community in support of the Society's Vision and Mission. It is a stated Goal of the GSA to "… actively foster dialogue with the public and decision-makers on relevant geoscience issues …" Therefore, the identification and posting of select Critical Issues is one tool that the Society uses to put its Vision, Mission, and Goals and Objectives into action. In some cases, the nature of the issue and the state of the public dialog is such that it is appropriate and useful for the Society to take a formal position on the topic. In such cases, Council will approve adoption and publication of a Position Statement.
Critical Issues may be identified by Council, by the Executive Director, by the Geology and Public Policy Committee (GPPC), by representatives of one of the Society's divisions, or by individual members. Topics suggested for posting as a Critical Issue are submitted to the GPPC, along with (i) supporting rationale for why the recommended topic is currently relevant to the geosciences community and (ii) a list of links to web resources suggested for posting on the Critical Issues page on the GSA website. If the GPPC agrees that the suggested topic is sufficiently current and relevant, and that its posting would be consistent with the GSA Vision/Mission/Goals and Objectives, it will recommend to Council the inclusion of the topic on the Critical Issues page on the GSA website. Upon approval by Council, the topic will be added to the Critical Issues page on the website. The GPPC reviews currently posted Critical Issues at least twice a year to determine if each posted topic remains current and relevant, and that the posted links to information resources are appropriately up to date, and takes action accordingly.
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Considered to be a type of bush berry, this fruit is most often found growing in cooler climates. Surrounded by a pod that is a paper husk or calyx with visible veins, the Cape Gooseberry is a close relative to the Mexican tomatillo or the Ground Cherry, but it is not the same fruit. The Ground Cherry is smaller, somewhat sweeter but acidic, while the tomatillo is more tart in flavor. Caution is advised when using the Cape Gooseberry in foods, making sure no husks from the berry are eaten since the paper husk is poisonous. This type of berry is most often used for making desserts, jams, jellies, syrups, and sauces.
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| 0.95131 | 146 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Alabama Population 2013
The United States Census Bureau estimates that the population of Alabama in 2013 was 4,822,023, which is ranked the 23rd largest population in the United States. This estimate shows a 0.9% increase since the last census in 2010, also conducted by the United States Census Bureau. The population density of the state is 94.7 people per square mile, ranked the 27th largest density in the United States. The population of Alabama is expected to reach approximately 5.2 million people by the year 2025, which is an approximate 7.8% increase from the current population.
Alabama Land Mass
The greatest distance from east to west of the state of Alabama is 210 miles, and the greatest distance from north to south is 329 miles. It has an approximate square area of 52,423 square miles, making it the 30th largest state in the country. Of the 52,423 square miles, 1,673 square miles are covered by water. The highest point in the state of Alabama is Cheaha Mountain, which is 2,407 feet above sea level. The lowest point in the state is at the Gulf of Mexico, which reaches sea level. The geographic center of Alabama is located in Chilton County, 12 miles southwest of Clanton. Alabama is bordered by four states: Tennessee, Florida, Mississippi, and Georgia. The Gulf of Mexico borders the southern portion of the state.
Alabama can be broken up into five distinct geographic land areas: the East Gulf Coastal Plain, the Piedmont Upland, the Alabama Valley and Ridge, the Cumberland Plateau, and the Highland Rim. The East Gulf Coastal Plain makes up the majority of the state with differing types of landscapes. The southwest portion of the state has low and swampy areas. The southeastern portion is an important farming area. The northern portion is often times called the Central Pine Belt due to the many pines trees and hilly regions. The Black Belt Prairie is the portion that divides the Northern and Southern parts of the Gulf Coastal Plain. It used to be home to one of the country’s largest plantations due to the quality of the soil to grow cotton. The Piedmont Upland is in the eastern central section of the state, made up of low hills and sandy valleys. This area is also full of minerals and the highest point in the state. The Alabama Ridge and Valley is to the northwest of the Piedmont and it is made up of sandstone ridges and fertile limestone valleys. This area is rich with coal, iron ore, and limestone, which led to the high production of steel historically in this area. The Cumberland Plateau, located to the northwest of the Alabama Ridge and Valley, is made up of varying landscapes, made up of both rolling and flat terrains. Lastly, the Highland Rim is in the northwestern corner of the state. This area is mainly made up of farmland that grows corn and cotton.
Of the approximate 4.8 million people in the state of Alabama, about 51.5% of the population is female, while 48.5% is male. Also, approximately 70% of the population identifies as white (including Hispanic or Latino). But, out of that 70%, only about 4% do identify as Hispanic or Latino and the other 66% as Caucasian. Those that identify as Black or African American make up only 27% of the entire population of the state of Alabama. The rest of the population is made up of those that identify as Asian, American Indian, Alaskan Native, Hawaiian, other Pacific Islanders, or those that identify as two or more races. These other races make up about 3% of the Alabama population.
The population of Alabama identifies as religious at a much higher rate than the national average. About 63% of the state population identifies as religious, compared to the national average of 49%. Out of the 63%, about 37% identify as members of the Baptist Church, making it the largest denomination in the state of Alabama. The next largest denomination is Methodist, which makes up about 9% of the population. All the other Christian denominations make up about 16.6% of the population. Those who identify as Jewish, Islamic, or Eastern religions only make up 0.4% of the population.
Alabama Gulf Coast
While the state of Alabama does not have any professional sports teams, there is a large sports fan base in the state. The main attraction is college football. There are two main state universities in Alabama: University of Alabama and the University of Auburn. The common question in the state is whether you are an Alabama fan or an Auburn fan. College football has just as big, if not bigger, of a following than any professional sport could in the state. Whether Alabama fan are yelling “Roll Tide” or the Auburn fans are yelling “War Eagle”, there is a constant battle among friends and strangers between who is the better team. The two teams face off every year in what is called the “Iron Bowl”. Auburn won the first ever Iron Bowl, which took place in February of 1893. However, there was a hiatus from the years 1907 until 1948. Alabama won the Bowl the first year back. The series is currently held at 42-34-1 with Alabama leading the series.
Learn more about Alabama Population Statistics here
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Native Americans were the Chesapeake Bay region's earliest human residents. They did not leave written accounts of their time here. But they did leave records in the form of artifacts such as stone tools, animal bones and ceramic pots. These artifacts are the only way we can learn about the day-to-day lives of Native Americans, who once dominated the region.
Paleo-Indians were the first inhabitants of the Chesapeake Bay region. Archeologists recognize the Paleo-Indian culture by a stone tool called the Clovis point: an elongated, fluted spear head.
When Paleo-Indians lived, the region’s climate was much colder than it is now. Paleo-Indians spent their days roaming the area’s coniferous forests. They probably hunted large animals such as mammoths and mastodons for food.
The Archaic Indians lived from 9,000 to 3,000 years ago. They had to adapt to a rapidly changing environment by learning to use warmer-climate plants and new foods brought in from rising waters.
Archaic Indians traded with other groups for soapstone, which they made into pipes, beads and cooking utensils. Although the Archaic Indians lived away from the Chesapeake Bay shores, they made seasonal visits to fish, hunt, gather roots and harvest oysters.
In the 1970s, archeologists discovered Archaic-period stone tools while digging a hole for the White House swimming pool.
Woodland Indians dominated the Chesapeake region until European settlers arrived. Woodland Indians used of ceramic pottery, horticulture and, later, the bow and arrow.
Woodland Indians were more sedentary than previous Native Americans. They built small villages as farming progressively became more important. They still established small hunting camps to take advantage of the Bay's bounty.
Recorded Native American history in the Chesapeake region began around 1600, when newly arrived European settlers started keeping records. Captain John Smith, who explored the Bay in 1607, found primarily Algonquin-speaking Native Americans living by its shores.
Many distinct tribes with their own chief lived around the Chesapeake Bay, but they often grouped into one confederation. One of the most powerful was Virginia’s Powhatan Confederation, named for its leader.
Despite its strength and savvy, the region's Native American population fell catastrophically after European settlers arrived. Many Native Americans were killed or died of disease, while others migrated away from the region.
Scientists estimate there are at least 100,000 archeological sites in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Just a small percentage of these are documented.
Most archaeological sites are susceptible to destructive natural and man-made factors, such as development, farming practices and sea level rise. Fortunately, preserving historic artifacts goes hand-in-hand with efforts to clean up the Bay. For example, stabilizing shorelines and using agricultural conservation practices such as conservation tillage help reduce erosion and protect areas where Native American archaeological sites are most likely to exist.
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| 0.968376 | 615 | 4.125 | 4 |
Alternative Pet Care
Posted November 09, 2009
Many people have biases toward alternative forms of healthcare
because there is not much evidence based on research to support it.
For them, more science and clinical data is needed to support
acceptance of these therapies. Others are completely sold on the
idea of alternative or 'holistic' medicine because it is known to
be a cure for the source of problems and not just a treatment for
the symptoms that result from those problems, as has been suggested
of the role of traditional Western medicine. Alternative medicine
for pets is referred to as Complementary and Alternative Veterinary
Medicine (CAVM) and it integrates multiple modalities for
veterinary medical therapy such as acupuncture, acupressure,
botanical medicine, chiropractic care, homeopathy and massage
"Some of the modalities include acupuncture, which is one of the
oldest forms of traditional Chinese medicine and involves the
insertion of a tiny needle into the skin to a predetermined area
called an acupuncture point, to treat or prevent disease" said Dr.
M.A. Crist, clinical assistant professor at the Texas A&M
College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences. "With
today's modern medicine we can also stimulate these points with
electrical stimulation, injections, laser, ultrasound, ultraviolet
and magnetic induction. Acupressure is the use of finger pressure
on designated points on the body. Sometimes a few points are taught
to owners to supplement their acupuncture."
Alternative veterinary medicine includes a wide variety of
medicinal and herbal treatments other than acupuncture and massage.
The purpose of these medicines is to attack the 'root' of the
problem that the animal is experiencing.
"Other methods of alternative medicine include veterinary
chiropractic care, which is health care for animals involving
manual spinal manipulation" said Crist. "It is the interaction
between the neurological system and the biomechanics of the
vertebral column. Therapy is directed toward prevention and
treatment of disease. Aromatherapy is the use of essential oils
from herbal plants for cause and effect of physiological or
psychological response. Veterinary homeopathy is based on the
principle 'like is cured by like' founded by Samuel Hahnemann in
the 18th century. It is more important to understand that
homeopathic remedies are medications and the more diluted the
remedy, the more potent it becomes. Veterinary botanical medicine
includes the use of herbal medicine to treat or prevent disease.
This may involve Western herbs, Chinese herbal medicine, or herbs
Most alternative medicine treatments are based on clinically
accepted medicine. However, it is difficult to find scientific data
to support the theory that these modalities are safe and effective.
More clinical data is becoming available, but it is a very slow
process because funding for the research is not readily
"Owners need to understand that some of these modalities are
slow and gentle and take time to take effect" said Crist. "Others
may believe that alternative medicine does not work at all because
they might have waited too long in the disease process and despite
what therapy is used, nothing will work."
To practice in any of these modalities a veterinarian must be
certified and well versed in their area of interest within the
scope of complementary medicine.
"It is not just a weekend seminar" said Crist, "it includes
hundreds of hours of continuing education in that field, numerous
examinations, multiple case reports, and hours and hours of
shadowing an expert in the field. It is important that if an owner
requests any of these integrated modalities that they are referred
to a veterinarian certified in that field. It is also important
that if they are referred by their regular veterinarian, that the
two work together to do the best for your pet."
About Pet Talk
Pet Talk is a service of the College of Veterinary Medicine
& Biomedical Sciences, Texas A&M University. Stories can be
viewed on the Web at vetmed.tamu.edu/news/pet-talk.
Suggestions for future topics may be directed to [email protected].
Angela G. Clendenin
Director, Communications & Public Relations
Ofc - (979) 862-2675
Cell - (979) 739-5718
↑ Back to Top
« Back to Pet Talk
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Show image list »
Hanging of Amy Spain, the Negro slave...
Item # 172924
September 30, 1865
HARPER'S WEEKLY, New York, Sept. 30, 1865 Certainly the most notable print in this issue is the nearly quarter-page captioned: "View of Darlington Court House and the Sycamore Tree Where Amy Spain, the Negro Slave, Was Hung by the Citizens of Darlington, South Carolina". There is an article: "Amy Spain" beneath the print. See the hyperlink for much more on the case of Any Spain.
The front page has a large print of: "The Ocean Yacht Race Between the 'Fleetwing' and the 'Henrietta' ". Also a full page of: "The Dock Race Between the Double-enders 'Algonquin' and 'Winoski' at the Foot of Delancy Street, East River" and another: "The Turner Festival at Cincinnati, Ohio - Exercises at Parker's Grove". smaller prints include: "Buoy Showing the Last Known Position of the Atlantic Cable" "The Freedmen's Village, Hampton, Virginia" "The Turner Festival At Cincinnati, Ohio - The Procession".
There is a great doublepage centerfold: "The International Naval Festival at Cherbourg - The English and French Fleet Firing a Salute in Honor of the Emperor's Fete-Day". The back page has a cartoon: "Poor Mrs. Grundy!". Complete in 16 pages.
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| 0.873642 | 310 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A Guide to the National Council for the Social Studies Records, 1920-1976
Founded in 1921, the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) was created to support educators by promoting social studies in education. NCSS includes geography, economics, political science, anthropology, sociology, psychology, religion, and law, from the elementary to university level, in its scope. In service of the field, NCSS publishes curricula, organizes conventions and training, supports legislation promoting social science education, and conducts research. The organization’s first president, Albert Edward McKinley (1870-1936), served as publisher and managing editor of the publication Historical Outlook, which by 1937, evolved into the NCSS official journal Social Education. Other prominent presidents have included social studies theorist and author Edgar Bruce Wesley (1891-1980). The organization launched its first annual meeting in 1935 and established official headquarters in Washington, D. C., in 1940.
National Council for the Social Studies. "About National Council for the Social Studies." National Council for the Social Studies. Accessed February 3, 2011.
Wronski, Stanley P. "Edgar Bruce Wesley (1891-1980): His Contributions to the Past, Present and Future of the Social Studies." Journal of Thought 17, 3 (1982): 55-67.
Correspondence, meeting files, resolutions, reports, and publications comprise the National Council for the Social Studies Records, 1920-1976, documenting the organization’s administrative functions in its work promoting the social studies in education. The actions of National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) leadership are chronicled in records of the Board of Directors (1927-1974), Executive Committee (1936-1974), Executive Director (1920-1974), and House of Delegates (1958-1974) as well as the Associate Executive Secretary’s correspondence (1965-1975). Committee Records (1940-1974) concern the activities of operational, advisory, and ad hoc committees such as Civic Education, Postwar Policy, and World History Bibliography. Meeting records (1921-1972) concern the planning and proceedings of annual, joint, and regional meetings of NCSS and affiliate organizations like the National Education Association. Additionally copies of the NCSS publications Yearbooks (1930-1976), Social Education (1930-1969) the How To Do It series (1951-1954), and Resource Units (1940-1954); their associated records; and special projects files discuss the organization’s research, membership, and educational outreach.
This collection is open for research use.
These records are stored remotely. Advance notice required for retrieval. Contact repository for retrieval.
National Council for the Social Studies Records, 1920-1976, Dolph Briscoe Center for American History, The University of Texas at Austin.
Basic processing and cataloging of this collection was supported with funds from the National Historical Publications and Records Commission (NHPRC) for the Briscoe Center’s "History Revealed: Bringing Collections to Light" project, 2009-2011.
Detailed Description of the Papers
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Creating a GIS to Monitor the Shoreline of Connecticut's Largest Lake
Candlewood Lake Authority Responsible for Water Quality and Public Safety
By Melinda Tarsi, Graduate Intern, Candlewood Lake Authority; Kristen Ponak, Cartographer and Webmaster, Northwest Conservation District; and Larry Marsicano, Executive Director, Candlewood Lake Authority
Located in western Connecticut, Candlewood Lake's surface waters span some 5,420 acres and are surrounded by more than 60 miles of shoreline with approximately 60 percent of that residentially zoned and developed. The lake is one of the premier destination locations in the tri-state area (New York/New Jersey/Connecticut) because of the many recreational activities available, including boating, sailing, fishing, and swimming. However, the first and foremost use of the lake is as a pumping storage facility for FirstLight Power Resources, a hydroelectric company that owns the lake and the shoreline up to the 440-foot contour, or approximately 11 vertical feet above the recreational level of the lake (429 feet).
This means that those individuals with lakefront property do not own it down to the water but are instead "abutting property owners," i.e., those whose property borders the 440-foot contour and FirstLight property. Because of its use for recreation as well as power generation, the lake falls under the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), which required the owner of the hydroelectric facility to create and implement a Shoreline Management Plan (SMP) to help balance the public and private use of the lake. FirstLight's SMP outlines the need for a GIS system to monitor activities on the shoreline and keep track of licenses and other land-use documents issued to abutting property owners. Additionally, the SMP indicates that FirstLight should consult with the various other agencies that have a stake in the future of Candlewood in the establishment of the GIS system.
The Candlewood Lake Authority (CLA) is one such agency. Charged with monitoring the water quality of the lake and providing public safety, CLA sought to establish the prototype GIS system to help monitor the shoreline in conjunction with FirstLight. In addition, staff from the Northwest Conservation District (NCD) of Connecticut, a publicly funded natural resource conservation agency, provided technical support. The project lasted from August 2006 through January 2007 and took some 400 man-hours to complete.
The centerpiece of the project was ArcView software, which was used to store and analyze all the geospatial data collected for the project. ArcView was selected because of its basic desktop GIS capabilities, including extensions, to conduct simple queries, analyze spatial relationships, and create maps with simple edit functions. A digital Ricoh Pro G3 camera, lent to CLA by FirstLight, was instrumental in collecting pictures that had GPS points embedded within them and could thus be linked at a later time to the parcels they represented. Also, parcel information for the lots abutting the lake that was provided by the five municipalities surrounding the lake (Brookfield, Danbury, New Fairfield, New Milford, and Sherman, all in Connecticut), as well as the aerial imagery of the lake collected by the Connecticut Department of Transportation in 2004, was instrumental to the success of the project.
The data collection was broken into three main categories: document, picture, and parcel. For the document data collection, relevant land-use activity documents (provided by the municipalities' inland wetland commissions) were scanned into PDF format and sorted into folders by property address and town. These documents included applications, notices of violation, cease and desist orders, site plans, and commission minutes and were digitized and placed into the appropriate subfolder. For the purpose of the prototype project, CLA selected approximately 20 sites (all of which were ones CLA had provided some advisement or opinion on at the request of the property owner or town) and scanned some 165 documents. This provided the basis for the land-use document data, which would later be integrated using ArcView into the rest of the geospatial data.
The second type of data that was collected was picture data, or a photographic inventory of the shoreline. NCD and CLA staff members navigated the lake by boat and photographed the shoreline in front of each abutting parcel using the Ricoh Pro camera. Staff referenced parcel maps to ensure that each property was photographed, taking more than 2,500 pictures by the end of the summer of 2006. Afterward, the photographs were downloaded to GPS-Photo Link, software that converted the images into an Esri point shapefile, with each picture containing the GPS coordinates of the place where the photographer was standing when the photo was taken. After adding the shapefiles into ArcView, the picture points had to be moved from the spot where the photographer was standing (usually some 100 yards offshore) to the actual parcel that the image represented. After enabling hyperlinks for the picture layer, clicking on a point in the photo shapefile opened the image of the shoreline property. In this way, the entire lakefront (as of the summer of 2006) could be viewed in pictures.
The last set of data collected was parcel data. This required obtaining parcel line shapefiles from each of the five towns around the lake, as well as from the Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials (HVCEO), the regional planning agency that also assisted in many of the technical aspects of the project. These parcel lines were overlaid onto the aerial imagery. Additionally, tax assessor information from each municipality on the lake was collected, and the assessor database tables were joined to the parcel layer tables. This enabled the user to click on a parcel and see the owner name, address, and size of the lot.
Once the parcel, tax assessor, and picture data was compiled in ArcView, the last step was to link the property subfolders to the corresponding parcels. By inserting the path into the property subfolder in the hyperlink field, the user could select a highlighted parcel and be redirected to the file that held the land-use documents for that property.
Already, this GIS system has improved local efforts to monitor and report to regulatory agencies on shoreline activities. It has helped CLA pinpoint well over a dozen land-use violations since August 2006 and has aided CLA in working with the power company to monitor the use of its shoreline.
About the Authors
Melinda Tarsi, a graduate intern with the Candlewood Lake Authority, holds a B.A. in political science and a B.S. in justice and law administration from Western Connecticut State University. Kristen Ponak, a cartographer and webmaster for the Northwest Conservation District, holds a B.S. in GIS and Web technology from the University of Connecticut. Larry Marsicano, the executive director of CLA, holds a B.A. in biology from Western Connecticut State University, an M.A. in botany from Connecticut College, and graduate certification in GIS technology from the University of New Haven.
For more information, contact the Candlewood Lake Authority (tel.: 860-354-6928, e-mail: [email protected]).
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What Is Rosacea?
A rosy complexion is usually considered a glow of health. In some cases that rosy glow might signal a common skin problem know as rosacea blood vessels
A rosy complexion is usually looked upon as a glow of health. But in some cases that rosy glow might signal a common skin problem know as rosacea. Reoccurring patches of redness on the chin, forehead, nose or cheeks is the first sign of rosacea. This progresses until the skin redness becomes darker until it is permanently inflamed. In some cases bumps will appear. Rosacea can also affect the eyes causing itching and burning. Sever cases may see excess tissue developing around the nose area. Studies show that fair skinned people are at the highest risk for rosacea. One in twenty adults are afflicted.
It is unclear if environmental or genetic conditions cause rosacea to occur. The redness appears when blood vessels in the skin lose their elasticity and tend to dilate easily. Rosacea can be triggered by any food or activity that causes the skin to flush. Hot beverages, spicy foods, hormonal changes, exercise, some medications, stress, caffeine, alcohol and hot weather are some of the known triggers. This is a cronic condition that can not be cured but often can be controlled to prevent skin damage.
The classic symptoms of rosacea are burning, itching, bloodshot eyes, a feeling of tightness in the facial skin, swelling and redness on the nose, tiny red bumps or spots and prolonged redness in the areas mentioned above. It is believed that supplements can improve rosacea. Vitamins B complex, A, B12, C, Zinc, Riboflavin and essential fatty acids are said to help. Studies show that some people who suffer rosacea have much higher numbers of skin mites that can be controlled with the B vitamins. Splashing the area with a strong chamomile tea will sooth the inflamed area. Using fragrance free facial products has also proved helpful. Other ways of helping include careful blotting of the face instead of rubbing and using sun screens.
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I have spoken before about children having natural preferences for one type of play. Like Immy who turns everything play related into an imaginative game. I have also mentioned that as parents and educators we can extend our child’s play beyond that which they already know and love, you may remember this quote which I have previously shared:
“The ‘educator’ has a responsibility to move the child from what is comfortable to new areas of investigation. A child can’t stay in the block corner forever.”
But how do we move our child from one form of play to another? I am hopeful that sharing a few ways that literacy can be added to block play will help to answer this question.
- Add a clipboard stocked with some paper, a lead pencil and an eraser to your block building mat or table. Once your child has completed their building ask if they would like to draw what they have made so that they can make the same again another time.
- Take photographs as your child builds a structure (this is particularly good for complex lego constructions). Print out the photos and have your child put them in order from start to finish. Make a simple book or display panel, sticking the photos in order and transcribe your child’s description of the process they used to make their structure.
- Look at what it is your child likes to build and then think about ways of introducing early reading and writing related elements into the play. For example, if your child is always recreating a pirate’s treasure island then suggest making treasure maps together. Or if they like to build rocket ships you could draw/write a list of what the astronauts will need to take to the moon and then have fun making or collecting those items to use in future play.
- Visit your local library to find books or magazines which support your child’s interest in building. Think about what it is about blocks and building that they most enjoy and look for resources to support their interest, for example, you could find books with inspiring photos of different architectural projects or books showing processes for making things from wood or paper.
These are all simple ways to add elements of literacy to block play. By looking for ways of introducing new resources and ideas into your child’s play which are based on their existing interests and ideas you expand the possibilities for playful learning. And this has to be a good thing
What playful literacy learning has your child been enjoying this week?
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A medicinal salt, as the name suggests, has medicinal properties. The regular salt we use is devoid of essential minerals. Medicinal salts, on the other hand, contain essential minerals such as magnesium, zinc, sulfate, potassium, and others. These minerals, in turn, give medicinal salts their healing properties. Although the composition of different medicinal salts varies, nearly all of them offer certain health benefits.
The top 5 medicinal salts
While most medicinal salts are bath salts, a few, such as Himalayan Crystal salt, are used orally. Our list of top five medicinal salts contains both bath salts and salts that are consumed orally.
1. Dead Sea Salt
Harvested from the Dead Sea, this salt sits at the top of our list. Dead Sea salt is reported to have 21 important minerals including calcium, magnesium, sulfur, zinc, sodium, potassium, and bromide.
Dead Sea Salt is purported to be beneficial in the treatment of many health conditions such as:
- Psoriasis and other skin conditions – Studies show that taking a bath in warm water containing Dead Sea Salt can provide relief from psoriasis and other common skin conditions such as acne, skin allergies, eczema, dermatitis, and seborrhea. As a matter of fact, both the National Psoriasis Foundation and the International Psoriasis Community recommend Dead Sea Salt as a useful alternative treatment for psoriasis.
- Rheumatologic conditions – Bathing regularly in Dead Sea salt-enriched water may significantly decrease the severity of common symptoms of rheumatologic conditions such as joint stiffness, soreness, pain, and swelling.
- Stress and insomnia – Dead Sea salt can be a potent remedy for these two psychological conditions as it relaxes the muscles, improves blood circulation, and flushes toxins from the body.
- Slows aging – Studies show that the minerals present in Dead Sea salt are effective in preventing and reducing the intensity of wrinkles. Use Dead Sea salt a few times a week to maintain your youthful appearance for a longer time.
2. Epsom Salt
Epsom salt, name after a spring in Epsom, Surrey (England), is also a bath salt. Its main components are magnesium and sulfate. Some of the more important health benefits of Epsom salt are:
- Improves blood circulation– Regular use of Epsom salt can reduce the risk of conditions that occur due to poor blood circulation including heart attack, stroke, diabetes, and hypertension.
- Reduces stress, induces relaxation, and prevents insomnia – Using Epsom salt three times a week improves your response to stress and allows you to sleep better. Stress lowers the level of magnesium in the body. Since Epsom salt is rich in magnesium, your body regains the required amount of magnesium when you take an Epsom salt bath. This, in turn, reduces the symptoms of stress, improves blood circulation, and relaxes the muscles.
- Detoxifies the body – The sulfate in Epsom salt is effective in removing toxins from the body. Effective removal of harmful substances, in turn, makes you look younger and improves the health of vital organs such as the heart, liver, and kidneys.
3. Himalayan Crystal Salt
Himalayan Crystal Salt contains all 84 elements present in the human body. Procured from remote Himalayan regions, this salt can be used in food or as a bath salt. Double-blind studies have confirmed that it provides numerous health benefits such as:
- Improving skin health – This salt nourishes your skin, making you look healthier and younger.
- Improves sleep – Regular use of Himalayan Crystal salt improves sleep, boosts concentration, and aids weight loss.
- Supports respiratory health – Himalayan Crystal salt contains elements that have anti-inflammatory properties and, as such, may be beneficial to individuals with bronchial asthma or other respiratory conditions.
4. Aztec Artisanal Sea Salt
Aztec Sea Salt is organic, hand-harvested salt that is more powerful in flavor than your typical table salt. Aztec salt is harvested over a 45-day period each year and offers many benefits.
- Greater mineral content than many other sea salts, 80 essential minerals, to be specific.
- Supports metabolic function
- Higher moisture content (usually around 14%) than other sea salts and doesn’t pull the natural liquids out of foods. This makes it perfect for preparing foods like roasted vegetables or meats, where you want each bite to be rich and juicy.
- Improves athletic performance and speeds up recovery
5. Dendritic Sea Salt
A purified form of normal table salt, Dendritic Sea salt has a larger surface area and is therefore more capable of absorbing essential oils and bath salts. This salt ensures that other bath salts and oils retain their fragrance for a longer time.
Notes of Caution: People who have heart disease, high blood pressure, a kidney disorder, or a liver disease should consult their healthcare provider before using bath salts or increasing their salt intake.
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Study of Metal Truss Plate Connectors When Exposed to Fire.
Study of Metal Truss Plate Connectors When Exposed to
Harman, K. A.; Lawson, J. R.
NISTIR 7393; 19 p. January 2007.
metal plate; wood; wood truss; building collapse; fire
tests; construction; cost effectiveness; fire fighting;
structural collapse; injuries; fire fatalities; fire
departments; exposure; fire tests; thermal exposure;
heat transfer; char; thermocouples
The popularity of lightweight, metal plate connected
wood truss construction is increasing due to cost
effectiveness, versatility, and ease of construction.
This type of construction brings many concerns to the
firefighting community, since structural collapse has
caused numerous injuries and fatalities in the fire
service. In an attempt to determine the performance of
metal plate wood truss connections during fire
exposures, NIST conducted a series of twelve
instrumented tests exposing one side of the test
specimen to the thermal exposure. Load carrying ability
of the metal plate truss connections was not measured
during these tests. The tests were purely an attempt to
study the heat transfer between the metal plate and the
wood. Results from these tests suggest that the metal
plates help to protect the wood beneath the plates.
However, additional work is required to produce more
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| 0.878593 | 291 | 2.671875 | 3 |
On the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, it would be easy to write a sensational blogpost with a barrage of chilling statistics and passing reference to a handful of the many high-profile cases that have been in the news over the past 12 months. Gang rape, rape as a weapon of war, domestic violence, sexual exploitation. The list could go on.
In order to understand gender-based violence better, however, I think it helps not to look at the sensational cases. It’s a complex issue, with no easy answers. It’s vital to take on board the complexity, the cultural specificity and the sheer prevalence of violence against women and girls the world over.
Here’s one chilling statistic: worldwide, among women aged between 15 and 44, acts of violence cause more death and disability than cancer, malaria, traffic accidents and war combined.
Violence against women takes many forms. The internationally accepted definition is found in the 1993 UN Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women: ‘“Violence against women” means any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life’ (Article 1).
Because gender-based violence is such a massively complex issue, it’s true to say that there are no simple answers. And yet there are many many ways that we can make a difference. As today’s frontpage webstory points out, many of the projects IFAD supports do work to protect women against violence, or to enable women to protect themselves.
The UN Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women is a significant day on which to celebrate the projects that have won IFAD’s first Gender Awards, because it makes the point that many different kinds of interventions can work against gender-based violence.
Economic empowerment is key. The statistics show that women who have no form of income are more likely to suffer domestic violence. So we know that enabling women to earn a living, to get access to credit and to build up savings or take out insurance, will make them less likely to fall victim to gender-based violence.
Education is part of empowerment, of course, enabling women to find work, express their needs, participate in their communities and make their voices heard. Making girls safe against violence and exploitation while they are in school is vital to ensuring that they stay in education and reap the benefits.
Strength in numbers
|India: the Sukalyani Shakti Dala self-help group holds a|
meeting. The group campaigns against alcohol abuse
that is a main cause of domestic violence.
As in so many other fields of life, there is strength in numbers. Enabling women to form groups, for almost any purpose, creates solidarity. And this can give them the confidence and determination to challenge the perpetrators of violence and the social norms that condone coercive behaviours towards women and girls.
To give just one example: in India, a women’s self-help group supported by the Odisha Tribal Empowerment and Livelihoods Programme went from door to door in their village to campaign against the alcohol abuse that was one cause of the high rates of domestic violence. You can read more about their story and others in Trail Blazers – a book about IFAD-supported work with courageous women in India.
IFAD supports women's groups and associations all over the world. Some of their achievements are highlighted in the recently published regional gender briefs, which also give statistics on the position of women and girls.
A final thing to say is that violence against women is not an ‘us and them’ problem. It affects women and girls everywhere. Just a few days ago, a case emerged in my own country, the UK, of three women kept in domestic slavery for 30 years. Something that each and every one of us can do is to be aware that a colleague or a friend or a family member may need our support and our sensitivity.
#ifadgender #gender awards
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| 0.958446 | 854 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Windbreaks or shelterbelts are plantings of single or multiple rows of trees or shrubs established for environmental purposes. The height of the tallest row and overall density of foliage and branches of an individual planting greatly influence the size of the nearby area that is protected or sheltered.
Windbreaks or shelterbelts are “environmental buffers” that are planted in a variety of settings, such as on cropland, pasture, and rangeland, along roads, farmsteads, feedlots, and in urban areas. They are generally established to protect or shelter nearby areas from troublesome winds. Such plantings are used to reduce wind erosion, protect growing plants (crops and forage), manage snow, and improve irrigation efficiency. Windbreaks also protect structures and livestock, provide wildlife habitat, improve aesthetics, and provide tree or shrub products. Also, when used as a living screen, windbreaks control views and lessen noise.
OFS Foresters are available to provide on-site recommendations, information and design for new windbreaks and shelterbelts in addition to providing assistance to renovate existing plantings.
For more information about windbreaks, visit the National Agroforestry Center's Website.
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| 0.9157 | 247 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Retreating Into the Zulu Past
Buthelezi isolates himself from world contacts as he rallies Zulus to derail South Africa's vote
ZULULAND'S capital, set in a picturesque valley that evokes primal images of Africa, is more isolated today than at any time in the turbulent history of the Zulu tribe.
Ulundi, in 1879 the scene of a disastrous Zulu defeat at the hands of British colonial forces, has in the past decade or so been an obligatory destination for foreign diplomats and visiting dignitaries. But in recent months, KwaZulu's capital - a remote spot in northern Natal, about a three-hour drive from Durban - has become increasingly impenetrable to those scores of foreign dignitaries who used to visit.
After formation of the Inkatha Freedom Party in the mid-1970s, Chief Mangosuthu Buthelezi established himself as a major player on the political scene. He was the first internal black leader to explore power sharing and a federal option for South Africa. His influence grew dramatically in the 1980s, and he was a regular visitor to the White House, Downing Street in Britain, and the German Chancellory in Bonn.
Chief Buthelezi - despite pressure within his own ranks to take part - is leading a boycott of the country's first all-race elections, which could jeopardize the credibility of the entire ballot.
Since Inkatha withdrew from negotiations in July last year, visiting dignitaries have used all their powers to persuade the prickly Inkatha leader to join the political process and take part in the elections, scheduled for April 26-28. Today, Buthelezi would not be welcome at these venues unless he was prepared to abandon his election boycott and become part of the transition to democracy.
The political spotlight shone again briefly here last week when it was announced that African National Congress (ANC) President Nelson Mandela would hold his first meeting with the Zulu monarch, King Goodwill Zwelithini.
Instead, Buthelezi, the king's uncle, turned what was intended as a dignified meeting between the two leaders into a public open-air event that would almost certainly have humiliated Mr. Mandela and made his safety impossible to secure.
Clearly, Buthelezi and the king have withdrawn into an ethnic laager (fortress), threatened secession, and warned of a bloody battle ahead for Zulu sovereignty.
Heightened mistrust here of the ruling National Party and the ANC is almost tangible following the March 12 ousting of President Lucas Mangope of the (formerly) nominally independent homeland of Bophuthatswana.
Now, Ulundi is shunning the sanction of international norms and respectability and has chosen to take refuge in the past.
In attempts to talk with Buthelezi, ambassadors have been harangued with seemingly endless prepared speeches when all they wanted was a heart-to-heart discussion.
``It's not that we no longer have access to Chief Buthelezi,'' says one exasperated diplomat. ``It's that we don't have anything to say to him anymore.''
``Buthelezi is saying to the world: `I am going to punish you by unleashing a king bent on an ethnic Zulu state to show how reasonable my own demands were and how wrong you were not to accept them,' '' says Robert Schrire, a University of Cape Town political scientist who has maintained prolonged contact with the Inkatha leader.
Buthelezi made no secret of his displeasure at being overlooked when Mandela and President Frederik de Klerk met with President Clinton in Washington last July.
``I don't know what is going to happen,'' said mine recruitment manager Colin Christie, who is stationed here with the Employment Bureau of Africa. ``But my gut tells me that the Zulus will fight to the finish to defend their territory.''
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Voyager I Sailing In Cosmic Purgatory
Voyager I is now 11 billion miles from the sun and at the end of our solar system. NASA calls the area cosmic purgatory.
For the past year using the several instruments at its disposal Voyager I shows no solar wind is going either way. The stagnation area is where our solar system’s magnetic field has piled up and is slowly leaking into interstellar space.
Soon Voyager I will truly be in interstellar space and will be sending new and unseen information about this distant area of space. Many of Voyager I and II’s experiments are expected to be operating through 2020.
Voyager I was launched in 1977 and slowly reaching her destination.
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16th-century English male actors > Shakespeare's
16th-century English writers > Shakespeare's
17th-century English poets > Shakespeare's
17th-century dramatists and playwrights > Shakespeare's
16th-century English poets > Shakespeare's
16th-century dramatists and playwrights > Shakespeare's
17th-century English writers > Shakespeare's
Burials in Warwickshire > Shakespeare's
Shakespeare's Sister Stay video, their most popular and memorable hit. Thank you to everyone for over a million views! I appreciate the love everyone has ...
William Shakespeare - Mini Biography
Watch a short video biography of William Shakespeare, The Bard of Avon best known for his plays "Hamlet," "Romeo and Juliet," and "King Lear." Learn more ...
Shakespeare's Mother The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman BBC Documentary 2015
Shakespeare's Mother The Secret Life of a Tudor Woman BBC Documentary 2015.
Understanding Shakespeare's Language: Part 1
Matt Toronto Assistant Professor The School of Theatre at Penn State Originally created as part of THEA 107 by the eLearning Institute in the College of Arts ...
Video SparkNotes: Shakespeare's Hamlet Summary
Quick and easy synopsis of the Shakespeare play, Hamlet. For more Hamlet resources, go to http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/. For a translation ...
Insults by Shakespeare
"You're a fishmonger!" By taking a closer look at Shakespeare's words--specifically his insults--we see why he is known as a master playwright whose works ...
Shakespeare: Original pronunciation
TELL US WHAT YOU THINK and help us improve our Free Educational Resources https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2015_YouTube_descr For more like this ...
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar BBC
William Shakespeare's Julius Caesar BBC.
William Shakespeare's Grave (Documentary)
William Shakespeare's grave has long been subject to rumour and intrigue, but has never been investigated, until now. This programme reveals what lies ...
William Shakespeare’s Star Wars and the Power of Iambic Pentameter - Summer of Shakespeare the First
Ian Doescher's parody series is a fun read, but just how does it mimic Shakespeare's style so well? Here are just a few of the Bard's techniques. All third party ...
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| 0.895347 | 552 | 2.65625 | 3 |
Guest Author - Susan Hopf
The bacteria Salmonella consist of many different varieties. Regions, animal hosts and environmental factors contribute to the varying strains but regardless of which strains are present an infection resulting from any salmonella is something that needs prompt medical attention.
Salmonella is most often passed to the horse from birds, rodents and infected horses. This hardy bacterium grows in an anaerobic environment and can last for close to a year. Freezing does not kill it but a dry and sunlit habitat can help to eliminate it. Because the usual transmission occurs from fecal to oral contamination keeping a clean environment can help reduce the risk of infection. Keeping water sources clean of bird droppings, all areas free of rodents and stalls and paddocks free of manure can all help to battle salmonella from taking control of your barn and yards.
Most horses that succumb to salmonella do so because of physical or environmental stress. Horses kept in over-crowded paddock areas, or that are trailered for long periods of time without a break, those that are suffering from other illnesses or immune deficiencies and foals are those animals that are most susceptible to an acute attack of salmonellosis.
Once infected horses display a wide range of symptoms. Colitis and diarrhea that is fetid, watery and green or black are both very common. Colic sometimes accompanies the diarrhea and in milder cases you might see just colic. Fevers, cardio-vascular shock, dehydration and some changes in the effected animalsí blood counts are all common symptoms. In severe cases secondary issues can arise. Laminitis, secondary fungal pneumonia, kidney failure and a host of other very serious side effects can all occur while fighting a salmonella infection.
A positive fecal culture (for salmonella) will confirm diagnosis. Once confirmed treatment is supportive until the body rids itself of the bacteria. I.V. fluids, electrolytes and other parenteral (not in the stomach) feeding will help maintain the horse throughout the infection. Treating horses with anti-biotics is currently in debate and not generally recommended. Once the diarrhea ends most horses recover without added consequence. Those that present with diarrhea for 10 days or more are in danger of too much damage to their intestinal mucosa to recover completely and may in fact never recover.
Ridding the environment of all potentially infected fecal material is paramount to ending any spread of contamination or re-infection. Organic material must be removed and all items that come in contact with infected animals and feces should be disinfected. Isolation of the infected animal(s) until the results of at least five consecutive negative cultures are obtained is also recommended.
Vaccines against Salmonella are available but the efficacy is undertermined.
Salmonella is common in the environment but with proper hygiene can be kept at bay. Any animal that has been under stress due to any reason and that then displays diarrhea should be attended to promptly to avoid serious consequences.
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| 0.939493 | 619 | 3.578125 | 4 |
Design Operates at Multiple Levels
|February 19, 2010||Posted by Barry Arrington under Intelligent Design|
In a comment to a prior post lastyearon writes:
I’m simply not understanding how it is possible to detect that certain things were the result of design if everything is the result of design. If you hold that the laws of nature were Fine-Tuned for life, then that position seems incompatible with the notion that it is possible to detect that certain things were the product of Intelligent Design. IDers say they can detect design by distinguishing designed objects from products of natural ‘undirected’ causes. But if natural causes were designed for life, then doesn’t that invalidate that claim?
You seem to imply that “IDers” are the only ones who claim to be able to distinguish between designed objects and objects that are the result of undirected causes. This is simply untrue. Here are two strings of text:
String 1: Uq[49epfia[epfoias[efojafpojuawer89yup9fj0075v9aus[-er uqpw\\dflkjoigjeriodfdfioaergoierioadf;lkdfrgerkiergsdfvm
String 2: To be, or not to be–that is the question: Whether ’tis nobler in the mind to suffer The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune Or to take arms against a sea of troubles And by opposing end them.
Now you tell me. Which one of these strings of text is designed and which one is random gibberish. I am certain you will answer that it is obvious that string 2 is designed and string 1 is random gibberish, and so it is. There, you’ve detected design. And anyone else would reach the same conclusion whether they are an IDer or an inveterate opponent of ID theory.
To answer your question, consider this analogy. If I go to Home Depot I will see piles of lumber, nails, paint, wire, etc., in short, everything I need to build a house. No one believes those materials found their way into the aisles of Home Depot by natural undirected processes. They were manufactured and delivered by intelligent agents. But still there is no house. Thus we see that the materials at Home Depot are necessary, but they are not sufficient to build a house. The house will only ever be built if an intelligent agent assembles the materials in a complex and specified fashion.
In the same way, the ID proponent says that the finely tuned laws of nature are necessary for the existence of life, but they are not sufficient. What is missing? Complex specified information. And the fundamental premise of ID theory is that complex specified information arises ONLY as the result of the acts of intelligent agents. So you see, just as in the Home Depot example, design operates at two levels. It operates at the level of setting the conditions (building materials ready to be used; finely tuned laws of nature), and it also operates at the wholly separate level of the design of specific things (building the house; building the DNA molecule).
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Archibald Robinson (abt.1804 - 1884) and Martha Brooks Robinson (1811-1894) lived near Larimer's Station in North Huntingdon township, Westmoreland Co. PA. They had 5 children, James N., Harvey, Mary E., Anna M., and Martha. After Archibald died, his wife Martha moved to Beaver Falls with her daughter Mary, who had married John Mason Brooks (1836-1904). John and his brother James W. Brooks (1837-1918) were butchers in McKeesport. It is not known whether or how Martha Brooks Robinson was related to John Mason Brooks other than as his mother-in-law, but it seems possible that he might have been her naphew, since John's father James Moore Brooks (1797-1866) had two sisters, whose names are unknown.|
Archibald's son James Robinson and wife Sarah Knowles Robinson, both born in Pennsylvania, moved to Irondale in Jefferson County, Ohio around 1871 with their daughter Margaret. They lived there for about 10 years, during which time they had 5 additional children: Luella, Harry, Emma, Elizabeth, and Oron Newton. From the following account from History of Steubenville and Jefferson County by Doyle (1910), it appears that the Robinsons were attracted by the booming coal mining business. They left and moved back to Beaver County, Pennsylvania around 1880. Two more sons were born there, Robert in July 1881 and Charles in August 1884.
Beaver Co.tax records list James Robinson in Big Beaver township as follows:
Joshua Downer's discovery of salt-water on Yellow Creek in 1806 was on the present site of Irondale, and a well was put down by Samuel Potts. It furnished sufficient brine to make six barrels of salt per day, and soon after James Rodgers sunk two more wells, each yielding five barrels per day. This infant industry naturally built up a hamlet around it, and soon there was in existence a village, to which was given the name Pottsdale. A bank was opened by the Potts brothers, and as salt was in good demand at $16 a barrel the little community assumed quite a business-like aspect. The salt was hauled to the mouth of the creek by carts or wagons and then shipped by boat. In a few years the competition from larger wells in other parts of the county compelled a discontinuance of the salt industry here, and Pottsdale reverted to a rural community. Thus it remained until 1861 when coal mining was begun here. With John Hunter as manager, the railroad now furnishing transportation. A new village was laid out, taking the name of Huntersville. The advent of the Pioneer Coal Company in 1869, with its rolling mill employing 150 hands, gave a boom to every class of business. The town was enlarged and renamed Irondale. It first appears in the census of 1870 with 751 inhabitants. The same year a store was started in the village by Morgan and Hunter, r. G. Richards as manager, who was also the first postmaster. Mr. Richards served about two years, and was succeeded by C. P. Evans, Geo. Burnside, James Dennis, Burnside second time, John F. Gilson and T. A. Hoyt. The erection of the large blast furnace by the Morgan Coal and Iron Company in 1870, a large hotel built by Mrs. Mary Crans, and other improvements, made Irondale the most flourishing community in the county, and when the panic of 1873 came it had an estimated population of 1,500. When that panic came, however, the mills shut down and the declension was nearly as rapid as its rise. The census of 1880 showed a population of only 399, but with the inauguration of new enterprises noted in our chapter on manufacturing, the village began to pick up, and in 1890 there were 694 inhabitants, who had increased to 1,136 in 1900. Its permanent prosperity is now assured.
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A wall made of adobe bricks.
The homes of the Pueblo Indians in the Southwest U.S. are examples of houses built with adobe bricks.
- unburnt, sun-dried brick
- the clay of which such brick is made
- a building made of adobe, esp. in the Southwest
Origin of adobeSpanish ; from Arabic a?-??ba, the brick ; from al, the + Coptic t?be, brick
- a. A building material consisting of clay mixed with straw or dung, fashioned into sun-dried bricks or used as mortar or plaster.b. A brick of this material.c. The clay or soil used in making this material.
- A structure built with adobe bricks.
Origin of adobeSpanish, from Arabic a&tlowdot;-&tlowdot;&umacron;ba, the brick : al-, the + &tlowdot;&umacron;ba, a brick, singulative of &tlowdot;&umacron;b, bricks (from Coptic t&omacron;be, t&omacron;&omacron;be, from Egyptian &dlowmac;bt, brick).
Taos Pueblo, New Mexico
(usually uncountable, plural adobes)
adobe - Computer Definition
(Adobe Systems, Inc., San Jose, CA, www.adobe.com) The leading multimedia software company. Adobe products are used primarily by professional designers and editors. Founded in 1982 by Dr. John Warnock, Adobe helped pioneer the desktop publishing industry with its PostScript fonts. Initially developed for the Mac, PostScript became the standard among graphics and printing service bureaus. Adobe enhanced its offerings with the 1995 acquisitions of PageMaker and FrameMaker desktop publishing programs. Adobe's PhotoShop is the most widely recognized image editing program worldwide, and its Illustrator drawing program is another venerable application. In 2005, Adobe acquired Macromedia, adding Web-based authoring and multimedia tools to the product line (see Macromedia). See Adobe Creative Suite and Adobe Creative Cloud.
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| 0.875146 | 448 | 2.859375 | 3 |
Farm Dimension and Efficiency in Italian Agriculture: A Quantitative Approach
Technical efficiency and economic efficiency are useful research tools to analyse in a quantitative approach main relationships among inputs and output used in the productive process. The aim of this paper was to investigate if there is a connection between size of some Italian farms and efficiency using the FADN dataset. The latter is a sample of farms used by the European Union to assess some impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy on a sample of farms located in different European nations. In , over the last 10 years, there has been a rise by 44.4% of the average farm surface, which has increased the usable Agricultural Surface from to 7.9. In this paper, large farms have had the best performances in terms of invested agrarian capital and land capital. Medium-small farms have however had the highest growth rates in terms of agrarian capital and also in terms of land capital. Nevertheless, large farms have been the most efficient Decision Making Units (DMUs) in absolute value of technical and economic efficiency compared to small farms, which have values of technical and economic efficiency lower than 1. Small farmers, that are fairly widespread in Italian rural areas and typical of Italian agricultural productive paradigm may improve their technical efficiency only by increasing their activities through diversification and by intensifying their agrarian and land invested capital. To sum up, small agrarian enterprises can take advantage based on technical efficiency of scale predominantly through a growth in size of surface and invested liquid asset, reducing the marginalization of agrarian territories and rural depopulation.
At a glance: Figures
Keywords: data envelopment analysis, farm size, technical efficiency, economic efficiency
American Journal of Rural Development, 2013 1 (2),
Received April 04, 2013; Revised May 05, 2013; Accepted May 06, 2013Copyright © 2013 Science and Education Publishing. All Rights Reserved.
Cite this article:
- Galluzzo, Nicola. "Farm Dimension and Efficiency in Italian Agriculture: A Quantitative Approach." American Journal of Rural Development 1.2 (2013): 26-32.
- Galluzzo, N. (2013). Farm Dimension and Efficiency in Italian Agriculture: A Quantitative Approach. American Journal of Rural Development, 1(2), 26-32.
- Galluzzo, Nicola. "Farm Dimension and Efficiency in Italian Agriculture: A Quantitative Approach." American Journal of Rural Development 1, no. 2 (2013): 26-32.
|Import into BibTeX||Import into EndNote||Import into RefMan||Import into RefWorks|
In Italy there is a high diffusion of small farms, which are scattered largely in hilly and mountainous areas, with a surface that is below , which is by far less than the average size of Italian farms able both to guarantee business profitability and also to reduce the marginalization of rural areas due to a depopulation and migration towards urban areas. The latter areas, in fact, are considered appropriate to provide better socio-economic infrastructure, job opportunities, a good level of public amenities such as public transport, schools, education and social-health care and above all a satisfactory level of income.
Many actions financed by the European Union throughout the Common Agricultural Policy have tried to reduce rural depopulation and to get better the level of involvement of rural citizens and stakeholders in programming and planning generating in the areas of study several Italian rural districts able to promote certified quality food, artisan activities and to valorise territories and their rural heritages [2, 3], increasing the level of social capital and the sense of belonging to a rural community [4, 5].
The multi-functionality has given to European farmers a new role in protecting rural space in less favoured rural areas. The European Union has focused its financial and economic efforts towards small farms because the latter are pivotal to guarantee, through the production of services and activities, a good level of positive externalities against marginalization of rural areas and rural depopulation. Moreover, the farmer is the first and foremost responsible entity able to protect the environment in the countryside; thus, the small farms are considered by the European Union as material public goods with polyvalent social goals and an ecological responsible nature . As a result, agricultural activities have to involve, by an integrated and pluriactivity approach, many entrepreneurs, policy makers and stakeholders with the unique aim to protect rural space and to reduce the marginalization in rural territories .
In general, in Italy’s less favoured rural areas such as mountainous and hilly territories, are located several multifunctional farms, managed by a farmer and his/her relatives, able to offer niche quality food and at the same time to promote multifunctionality utilizing both limited factors of production, such as land, labour force and cultivated surface and also under spending a workforce far below the average value compared to big conventional farms . Conventional big farms as opposed small Italian agrarian enterprises are instead specialized in producing only commodities, such as cereals, other extensive crops and milk, without providing any action in protecting rural space or in producing certified quality food.
Between two variables such as farm size and output may be a relationship both in terms of income and also in terms of economic and technical efficiency. In the literature, many studies have investigated if there are some relationships between the variable dimension of farms and technical and economic efficiency. Scholars have argued whether small farms can be considered efficient and able to produce some positive effects on the performances and productivity in the primary sector . The size of farm affects economic decisions and management choices . Furthermore, several authors have described different types of efficiency in the primary sector using a quantitative method to estimate them ; in this case authors have taken into account only land productivity ruling out other factors of production [9, 10, 11, 12].
Many studies have investigated, using a stochastic frontier approach, the main relationships between technical efficiency and typology of management, such as part-time versus full time farms, or crop specialization as mixed or not mixed farms in a defined geographical area . Using the same approach (stochastic production function) in a small sample of American farms it has been possible to examine if there were some interactions between size and technical efficiency. Some studies have shown that many small enterprises are below the frontier of production; hence, they have not allocated efficiently different inputs. In fact, the first and foremost result was that 25% of the analysed farms, set up predominantly by the small enterprises, could get better their level of income by an improvement in used input, such as land, compared to the big size farms .
Earlier studies have investigated different kinds of farms, both in terms of size and also in terms of management and agrarian specialization, with the aim to find out which economic variables could be fundamental to improve the function of production in farm management in two European rural areas . Other authors have focused their studies in several developing and developed countries to analyze the main relationships between farm size, and agrarian specialization in cereal crops in North American rural areas [16, 17], using a balanced panel over 15 year time and in a sub Saharan area specialized in rice production .
A recent study has investigated using a quantitative approach in some Italian dairy farms forming part of FADN dataset the relationships between efficiency and cost of production ; in other research, technical efficiency in dairy farms has been compared in three different European countries with the aim to estimate which variables such as dimension of farms and factors of production can im affect efficiency. The studies have shown that the dimension of analysed samples is tightly linked to technical efficiency [21, 22]. Many authors using the Data Envelopment Analysis approach, have established some relationships between farm size and productive efficiency about specific and typical cultivations in developing countries [23, 4] or in large farms located in south American countries .
2. Aim of the Research
Production is a result of an efficient combination of factors of production or inputs such as land, labour, capital and organization thus, a different quantity of land in terms of size, is an important input to get better the level of economic and technical efficiency with positive impacts on the level of final output.
The goal of this research has been to determine whether the dimension of farms is directly and tightly connected to the level of output, or rather whether the size is able to guarantee to farmers a significant level of income throughout an assessment of the technical and economic efficiency in some Italian farms classified in function of classes of income collected by the Farm Accountancy Data Network (FADN) dataset and published by National Institute of Agricultural Economics (INEA) over 3 years from 2008 to 2010.
The FADN is a sample of farms used by the European Union to analyze some impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy on a small group of farms representative of different European nations. This paper uses the DEA to estimate the technical, allocative and economic efficiency values.
In microeconomic analysis efficiency is tightly connected to productivity. Efficiency is a ratio between obtained output and used inputs and is a pivotal tool to define the capability of each Decision Making Units (DMU) to produce a defined quantity of output using a specific quantity of input in different crosssectional data over time. In terms of productivity, if there are two DMUs such as A and B able to produce ya or yb using a specific quantity of input xa and xb the productivity is a simple ratio ya/xa and yb/xb. To estimate the efficiency considering the function of production
it is easy to find the maximum level of output at a level of input.
A model of analysis and estimation of the efficiency at the level of a specific frontier of production has been implemented by the introduction of a non-parametric model called Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and specific statistical programs to assess the efficiency in the primary sector [11, 26, 27, 28].
In this paper the DEA approach was used to estimate the economic efficiency in different kinds of farms or DMU, classified in function of their Standard Gross Margin (SGM) until the financial period 2009 and in terms of Standard Production (SP) since the financial year 2010 .
According to the description proposed in literature by Italian Institute of Agricultural Economics (INEA) and by the European Union, SGM is the difference between the value of standard production and the standard amount of some specific costs, correlated and related to a specific territorial area for each specific product within a given territorial level calculated by the National Institute of Agricultural Economics for 43 crops and 21 categories of livestock removing the depreciation and other costs of management, which are not linked to a single crop or type of livestock . The Standard Production is the Gross Marketable Output of farm production in Euros for each type of crop or livestock multiplying these values of production for cultivated hectares and or number of animals raised.
Table 1. Classification of analysed farms in function of their productive dimension based on income and production (Source: www.rica.inea.it/public/it/area.php)
The quantitative model used in this paper has classified farms in 5 classes in terms of produced output using a specific quantity of input in function of the economic and productive size given by FADN classification (Table 1).
The Italian sample of farms forming part of FADN is composed approximately of 12,000 farmers with different economic size and type of farming and animal breeding. It is a stratified random sample. The European Union Commission has stratified the FADN dataset using three criteria such as region, economic size and type of farming and or breeding.
This paper has used a Data Envelopment Analysis methodology because it is a non-parametric model and does not require a specification of the functional form. Hence, a DMU is able to be on the efficient front of a non parametric function of production or below this function if DMU is not efficient [10-30].
The non-parametric linear model throughout the Data Envelopment Analysis was introduced for the first time in 1978 and it is useful in estimating the relative efficiency in each Decision Making Unit based on different inputs and outputs with the aim of minimizing input used .
The goal of DEA linear programming is to minimize in a multiple-output model the multiple-input in each farm that is a ratio of efficiency which in a mathematical model is :
This model has many possible solutions and ur* and vi* are variables of the problem and they have to be greater or equal to a small and positive quantity with the consequence that a choice of an arbitrary weight given to a single unit of production not liked to any input and output could describe each unit efficiently [10-33]; hence, if h is equal to 1 there are no issues because this unit (DMUh1) is efficient compared to others DMUhn, but if h is above 1 there are many units more efficient than this unit (DMUh1) and every unit can be tightly linked to input and output making each unit efficient . To solve this negative aspect it is useful to transform the model in a linear paradigm by a linear programming proposed by Charnes, Cooper, and Rhodes and called CCR [28-34] written in this way :
s.t. dual variable
with j = 0, 1, ...n (for all j) λj.
and ε is a positive value si+.
and ε is a positive value sr-.
In the dual problem proposed by Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes in 1978 one has to give a dual variable in each constraint in the primary model; this paper has not taken into account in the dual model a constraint able to classify and to discriminate DMUs by the super efficiency proposed by Andersen and Petersen called A&P model . In mathematical terms the solution of the dual model is:
λj are shadow prices able to reduce the efficiency in each unit lower than 1 and a positive value of λj is able to show the peer group in some inefficient unit. If j is a firm size inefficient, the value of technical efficiency is lower than 1 .
Table 2. Main results over the time of invested capital in the sample of Italian farms in the dataset FADN (Source: www.rica.inea.it)
The Data Envelopment Analysis is a powerful approach to evaluate in each farm the combination of several and different factors of production costs and to estimate the best level of efficiency among different groups of farms characterized by a dissimilar size, given a certain level of technology and with a cost of production of a specific amount of output, which is minimized at the point where the budget line is tangent to the isoquant or rather where it is possible to maximize technical efficiency and so that it is the point of the best allocatively efficient technology .
4. Results and Discussion
The results showed that over three years there has been a sharp reduction in Italian farms. The number of farmers has decreased by 60% from 2.6 million farmers in 2000 (by the 5th National Agricultural Census) to 1.6 million farmers in 2010 (by the 6th National Agricultural Census), although there has been an increase in the average size of farms, which is above . The analysis of data from the 6th General Census of Agriculture made by National Italian Statistical Institute (Istat) showed that a decline in active farms has been associated with a growth of farms managed by agricultural capital companies and co-ops, which increased from 1,742 units in 2000 to more than 2010.
These results have corroborated the need for Italian farmers to increase total cultivated surfaces in order to amortize their investments in farm machinery, to better agrarian incomes and to make technically and economically efficient both the agricultural production and also the use of family workforce and farm machinery, increasing the productivity in the primary sector. The average size of farm has grown in a decade from of Usable Agricultural Surface (UAS) per farm of (+44.4%). This is a consequence of a sharp decline in the number of farmers and agricultural income (-32.2%). Some explanations of this decrease in active farmers might be found in the Eurozone crises. The effect of economic crises has been on the one hand the closing of small size Italian farms and on the other hand stimulating a merger of agricultural and livestock activities in larger units of production more efficiently. However, Italian farms are less competitive and efficient than other European farms because Italian agricultural enterprises have small parcels of land and the average size of farms is well spaced out compared to the average dimension of farms located in other EU nations such as France, Ireland, Germany and the United Kingdom.
The average size of Italian farms in terms of Total Agricultural Surface (TAS), formed by Usable Agricultural Surface, woodland and unproductive tares, increased compared to the analyzed data of the 5th National Agrarian Census carried out in 2000, from 7.8 to . However, in absolute value, the TAS has decreased by 8%, which is more significant than the drop of the UAS equal to -2.3%. This data has pointed out that, in Italian primary sector, there has been in progress actions of rural depopulation because many old farmers have retired and also land consolidation and diversification due to a new generation of young agrarian entrepreneurs. The latter have decided to replace uncultivated lands and portion of cultivated areas with woodlands using funds allocated by the European Union with the aim to protect the environment against building in rural areas and to promote recreational activities in the rural spaces. In 2010 Italian farms with a Usable Agricultural Surface less than were found to be inefficent both economically and technically. in fact they decreased in efficiency, compared to the 5th Italian Agricultural Census in 2000, by 50.6% .
Table 3. Average value over analysed time of main economic and financial parameters in the dataset FADN (Source: our elaboration on data www.rica.inea.it)
The results of efficiency analysis using DEA have been estimated by the DEAOS software (Data Envelopment Analysis Online Software) able to investigate the technical and economic efficiency in every DMU based on the size of the Italian dataset FADN.
Large farms have had the best performance in terms of invested agrarian capital and land capital; Medium-small farms have the highest growth rates over the three years of study both in terms of agrarian capital and also in terms of land capital. Unfortunately, farms classified as small enterprises have experienced during the three year time, a decrease in agricultural invested capital and a lower growth compared to the other (see Table 2). In terms of net worth the best performances have been found in large farms.
The three-year average of economic and financial parameters of the sample of farmers belonging to the Italian FADN dataset has shown that the medium-big farms and the big enterprises have had the best performances in terms of Gross Marketable Output, Added Value and Net Income (Table 3). Income from related activities such as sub contraction of tilling, agro-tourism, green tourism and educational farm have showed the best results in big enterprises and in medium-sized farms.
The analysis of fixed and variable costs over the three-year time of study has shown a growth of these especially in large farms that have doubled the percentage incidence of variable costs compared to fixed costs, while in the small farms both fixed and also variable costs did not increase significantly (Figure 1).
The three-year average of funds allocated by the European Union showed that large farms have received financial support above 50,000€ per year followed by those belonging to the medium-big size farms (Figure 2); small farmers have received less than 5,000€ per year.
Table 4. Average value over analysed time of main economic and financial parameters in the dataset FADN (Source: our elaboration on data www.rica.inea.it)
Table 4 explains indices of technical efficiency and scale efficiency calculated with the DEA based on the FADN dataset and classified by economic size in 5 groups related to single frontier of dimension. Large farms have been the most efficient Decision Making Units in absolute value, while small enterprises have values of technical and economic efficiency lower than 1. Over three-year time of observation in average value both in terms of efficiency index calculated under constant returns to scale (CRS) and also calculated in terms of variable returns to scale (VRS), the analysis of efficiency has confirmed that the size of the company did not produce an efficient size of scale.
The index of technical scale efficiency in the period of study (Table 5) showed a significant finding in big enterprises highlighting how other sizes of farms operate on a level of technical and economic efficiency lower than the optimal one, hence small farmers could improve their technical efficiency only by increasing their activities and their agrarian and land invested capital or rather increasing their level of productivity and technology. Big, medium small and small farms have been more sensitive to an increase of scale of production due to a more efficient use of inputs, such as arable land and invested agrarian capital and new technologies, with a value of technical efficiency increasing return to scale equal to 1.
Allocative efficiency is the ability in a technical sense of each DMU to produce the given output at minimum cost; this implies an optimal combination of inputs in function of their prices and their marginal productivities with the aim to obtain the specific and definite level of output. The best result, equal to 1, in terms of allocative efficiency in the three year time of observation, has been found in small size farms whilst the worst value, equal to 0.97 and 0.98, which implies a combination of factors of production far from the point of tangency between isoquant and isocost, has been found in medium enterprises and in medium-big size farms.
Table 5. Average value of technical efficiency in analyzed size of farms in the dataset FADN (Source: our elaboration on data www.rica.inea.it)
The study has investigated how the size of farms is a very important parameter to improve the performance of enterprises especially in those of small dimensions that characterize the 70% of Italian agricultural sector and are located mainly in areas at risk of marginalization and in which the productive diversification is the most and foremost incentive to get better economic and technical efficiency and profitability in small farms able to use less than of Usable Agricultural Surface compared to the big ones capable of having on average . The small farms, in fact, can take advantage according to the indices of technical efficiency of scale only through a growth in size of surface and investments in agrarian capital or rather invested liquid asset.
Technical efficiency is a useful in valuing which inputs are fundamental to improve it even if small agrarian enterprises can use more efficiently the workforce than big farms. Small agrarian enterprises have several issues to use in an efficient way the land capital and agrarian capital because they have difficulties in accessing credit due to their dimension. Small farms have less opportunities than big ones to improve their technical efficiency and their scale of production by enlarging cultivated surface, by investing money in new technologies labor saving and in lessening not efficient management linked to their small dimension. In fact, credit institutions do not consider small enterprises able neither to use efficiently nor to pay back loans. For the future European Rural Development Program, it would be pivotal that the European Commission decides to help small farms by providing specific funds and other subsides with the aim to stimulate investments in technology. Throughout the analysis of technical and economic efficiency using the FADN database the European Commission can investigate and decide how to support small farms reducing rural marginalization. In fact, small size enterprises, by the multi-functionality and pluriactivity such as agro-tourism and other rural activities, are able to lessen depopulation and marginalization in rural territories. Furthermore, the rural entrepreneur has a key role in environmental protection and also it is pivotal to increase the sense of belonging in rural communities and in the process of rural planning and development. This aspect is particularly true in less-favored rural areas in which are predominantly located small farms.
For the future, in particular for the next Rural Development Plan 2014-2020, it is pivotal that Italian government intervenes by supporting the opportunity of using public lands throughout lease contracts for fifteen years, renewable 2 times only, to improve the scale of land capital with the consequence of increasing levels of working capital and investment with a positive impact on the socio-economic development of rural areas solving the rural emigration from rural territories.
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Want to know the ups and down of vinyl siding?
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It isn't the most elegant of races.
In a study that attempts to elucidate one of the "central unsolved problems" in human reproduction — what separates the tens of sperm cells that find an egg, from the millions of cells ejaculated? — British researchers are reporting that sperm crawl, collide and crash head-on into the walls of the female reproductive tract in their frantic swim to the site of fertilization.
"Despite it being the thing that put all of us here, effectively, we still know almost nothing about how something so simple and key to life actually happens in the body," said Dr. Jackson Kirkman-Brown, a senior lecturer in reproductive sciences at the University of Birmingham in the U.K.
"Every time a woman gets or doesn't get pregnant, there is something going on where what to me is an incomprehensible number of sperm — two hundred million — get reduced to a countable amount, 10, maybe."
Popular wisdom holds that sperm follow each other in their swim through the female tract "rather like you or I might swim through a swimming pool," Kirkman-Brown said.
Instead, the researchers observed sperm travelling along walls, ceilings and particularly corners as they navigated the "narrow and convoluted channels" of the female tract, the team reports in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States.
Sperm failing to get to the egg dooms fertility. "But equally some of the most common things in contraception are based on sperm motility," Kirkman-Brown said. Oral contraceptives — the Pill — work by thickening cervical mucous and stopping sperm from getting to the egg.
With ever more people undergoing fertility treatment and the pharmaceutical industry looking to develop new contraceptives, "There has been a lot more interest in sperm motility," he said.
To try to get a better handle on the "individual and group behaviours" that occur, the researchers watched sperm swimming not on slides or in petri dishes, but through tiny, hair-thin mini-mazes etched into silicone and barely visible to the naked eye.
The micro-channels were filled with fluid mimicking the viscosity of fluid within the female reproductive tract, giving sperm a more realistic environment. The mini mazes "have lots of different twists and turns, so we can see how sperm cope with swimming around these," Kirkman-Brown said.
Most people think of the uterus as an empty balloon. "But on the scale of a sperm, its actually very, very ridged," he said. There isn't one large empty central cavity waiting for a baby, he said. Rather, "it's moist surfaces that touch each other."
With the micro-channels, "we've given sperm some dimensions that are more like they would see in the body," he said. "That way we've been able to see how they may possibly — and I only say possibly — be behaving in the body, and learn a little bit more about how we can affect how they swim."
They found that when the channel turns sharply, cells leave the corner, continuing ahead until hitting the opposite wall of the channel.
"If you change the direction of the wall, if it's a very slight curve they will tend to still swim along that corner, and follow the corner," Kirkman-Brown said.
"But if you make a very sharp bend — so 90 degrees or more — they break away and will swim and hit the opposite wall, find the corner and then swim along that corner and follow the next corner that they find."
The researchers observed sperm colliding with walls and head butting into one another. "When they hit each other, they don't just hit, go past and carry on in the direction they were going," Kirkman-Brown explained. "Sometimes they'll stop, swerve a bit and then they swim off, both of them in different directions from where they were heading."
Similarly, when one sperm hits another from behind, he said, "they'll both splay out in new directions" rather like a bowling ball knocking down pins.
Lots of sperm fall by the wayside, and what the researchers are still some way from knowing is, what properties make the "best" swimmers?
The research potentially could lead to news ways of selecting only the best sperm for fertility treatments — in other words, the "Usain Bolt" of sperm, Kirkman-Brown said.
Most sperm a man makes are bad sperm, he said. The vast majority are abnormal in some way. "Having something that helps pick the best is quite interesting."
Kirman-Brown said he was surprised at how tenacious sperm are at swimming against walls and trying to follow corners, and how, when they touch each other it affects the direction in which they're swimming. "No one has previously been able to visualize how populations of sperm behave in micro-channels." Traditionally scientists have been restricted to counting sperm on microscopic slides, he said.
But sperm counts alone "isn't a very good indicator of whether you can get someone pregnant," he said.
He said sperm can swim four or five centimetres in an hour through the viscous fluids in the female tract.
On a human scale, "It's the equivalent, in an hour, of me getting halfway up Everest crawling in cold butter," he said. "The fact thåt something so tiny can do it under its own power is pretty incredible."
© Copyright (c) Postmedia Network Inc.
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An immediate bestseller when it was first published in December 1843, A Christmas Carol has endured ever since as a perennial Yuletide favorite. Charles Dickens's beloved tale about the miserly Ebenezer Scrooge--who comes to know the meaning of kindness, charity, and goodwill through a haunting Christmas Eve encounter with four ghosts--is a heartwarming celebration of the spirit of Christmas. 'Whether the Christmas visions would or would not convert Scrooge, they convert us,' wrote G. K. Chesterton. 'The story sings from end to end like a happy man going home.'
The Modern Library edition also presents two more of Dickens's popular Christmas stories, The Chimes and The Haunted Man, Dickens's last Christmas tale, which features one of his greatest comic families, the Tetterbys. With an introduction by John Irving.
Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Portsmouth, England, where his father was a naval pay clerk. When he was five the family moved to Chatham, near Rochester, another port town. He received some education at a small private school but this was curtailed when his father's fortunes declined. More significant was his childhood reading, which he evoked in a memory of his father's library: 'From that blessed little room, Roderick Random, Peregrine Pickle, Humphrey Clinker, Tom Jones, The Vicar of Wakefield, Don Quixote, Gil Blas and Robinson Crusoe came out, a glorious host, to keep me company. They kept alive my fancy, and my hope of something beyond that place and time.'
When Dickens was ten the family moved to Camden Town, and this proved the beginning of a long, difficult period. (He wrote later of his coach journey, alone, to join his family at the new lodgings: 'I consumed my sandwiches in solitude and dreariness, and it rained hard all the way, and I thought life sloppier than I had expected to find it.') When he had just turned twelve Dickens was sent to work for a manufacturer of boot blacking, where for the better part of a year he labored for ten hours a day, an unhappy experience that instilled him with a sense of having been abandoned by his family: 'No advice, no counsel, no encouragement, no consolation, no support from anyone that I can call to mind, so help me God!' Around the same time Dickens's father was jailed for debt in the Marshalsea Prison, where he remained for fourteen weeks. After some additional schooling, Dickens worked as a clerk in a law office and taught himself shorthand; this qualified him to begin working in 1831 as a reporter in the House of Commons, where he was known for the speed with which he took down speeches.
By 1833 Dickens was publishing humorous sketches of London life in the Monthly Magazine, which were collected in book form as Sketches by 'Boz' (1836). These were followed by the publication in installments of the comic adventures that became The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club (1837), whose unprecedented popularity made the twenty-five-year-old author a national figure. In 1836 he married Catherine Hogarth, who would bear him ten children over a period of fifteen years. Dickens's energies enabled him to lead an active family and social life, including an indulgence in elaborate amateur theatricals, while maintaining a literary productiveness of astonishing proportions. He characteristically wrote his novels for serial publication, and was himself the editor of many of the periodicals--Bentley's Miscellany, The Daily News, Household Words, All the Year Round--in which they appeared. Among his close associates were his future biographer John Forster and the younger Wilkie Collins, with whom he collaborated on fictional and dramatic works. In rapid succession he published Oliver Twist (1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1841), and Barnaby Rudge (1841), sometimes working on several novels simultaneously.
Dickens's celebrity led to a tour of the United States in 1842. There he met Longfellow, Irving, Bryant, and other literary figures, and was received with an enthusiasm that was dimmed somewhat by the criticisms Dickens expressed in his American Notes (1842) and in the American chapters of Martin Chuzzlewit (1844). The appearance of A Christmas Carol in 1843 sealed his position as the most widely popular writer of his time; it became an annual tradition for him to write a story for the season, among the most memorable of which were The Chimes (1844) and The Cricket on the Hearth (1845). He continued to produce novels at only a slightly diminished rate, publishing Dombey and Son in 1848 and David Copperfield in 1850; of the latter, his personal favorite among his books, he wrote to Forster: 'If I were to say half of what Copperfield makes me feel tonight how strangely, even to you, I should be turned inside out! I seem to be sending some part of myself into the Shadowy World.'
From this point on his novels tended to be more elaborately constructed and harsher and less buoyant in tone than his earlier works. These late novels include Bleak House (1853), Hard Times (1854), Little Dorrit (1857), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), and Great Expectations (1861). Our Mutual Friend, published in 1865, was his last completed novel, and perhaps the most somber and savage of them all. Dickens had separated from his wife in 1858--he had become involved a year earlier with a young actress named Ellen Ternan--and the ensuing scandal had alienated him from many of his former associates and admirers. He was weakened by years of overwork and by a near-fatal railroad disaster during the writing of Our Mutual Friend. Nevertheless he embarked on a series of public readings, including a return visit to America in 1867, which further eroded his health. A final work, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, a crime novel much influenced by Wilkie Collins, was left unfinished upon his death on June 9, 1870, at the age of 58.
"A Christmas Carol] seems to be a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it a personal kindness."
--William Makepeace Thackeray
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Have a question about this product? Ask us here.
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| 0.983568 | 1,330 | 3.078125 | 3 |
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New Type Of Protein Action Found To Regulate Development - 04/24/2014
New Type Of Protein Action Found To Regulate Development
- The protein Notch helps regulates development.
- Another protein, Botch, blocks Notch activities.
- Researchers have figured out how Botch does it: by swapping chemical groups on Notch.
Johns Hopkins researchers report they have figured out how the aptly named protein Botch blocks the signaling protein called Notch, which helps regulate development. In a report on the discovery, to appear online April 24 in the journal Cell Reports, the scientists say they expect the work to lead to a better understanding of how a single protein, Notch, directs actions needed for the healthy development of organs as diverse as brains and kidneys.
The Johns Hopkins team says their experiments show that Botch uses a never-before-seen mechanism, replacing one chemical group with another that physically blocks the action of another enzyme. “We knew that Botch regulated Notch, and now we know it has its own novel way of getting the job done,” says Valina Dawson, Ph.D., professor of neurology in the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine’s Institute for Cell Engineering, who led the study. “What’s surprising is that Botch doesn’t pull from the usual toolkit of enzymatic mechanisms.”
Notch is, in fact, a family of four proteins with nearly identical properties and actions in mice and men. The proteins, Dawson says, dwell in the membranes surrounding cells, where they act as receptors, responding to specific signals outside of the cells by starting a chain reaction of signals inside. “There’s a laundry list of things Notch does, from getting stem cells to develop into different organs to helping produce red blood cells,” Dawson says. “The big question is how a seemingly simple signaling system could have such different effects.”
The research team led by Dawson and her husband and collaborator, Ted Dawson, M.D., Ph.D., discovered Botch while looking for proteins that could protect the brain from injury. Since it was a newly found protein, they looked for answers on how Botch functions by finding other proteins with which it could interact, and that resulted in discovering Notch.
After Notch emerges from one of the cell’s protein manufacturing centers, several things have to happen before it can go to work in the cell membrane. One of these is the addition of the chemical group glycine to a specific part of the protein. After that, an enzyme called furin cuts Notch near the glycine site. Botch removes the glycine from the spot where furin cuts. More surprisingly, Valina Dawson says, Botch then replaces the glycine with another chemical group that blocks furin from getting to the cut site. “Researchers are used to seeing enzymes change other proteins’ function through common mechanisms, like adding or subtracting a phosphate group,” Dawson says. “But Botch uses a tactic that no one has reported seeing before: It lops off glycine and adds a chemical structure called 5-oxy-proline.”
Now that scientists know what to look for, they’ll likely be able to identify other enzymes that use the same trick, Dawson says, and Botch itself may turn out to have other target proteins. Knowing how Botch works on Notch contributes to scientists’ understanding of the biochemistry of development. It may also have implications for the treatment of some leukemias that have been linked to a mutation in the area of Notch close to the Botch-targeted glycine, Dawson adds.
Other authors on the paper were Zhikai Chi, Sean T. Byrne, Andrew Dolinko, Maged M. Harraz, Min-Sik Kim, George Umanah, Jun Zhong, Rong Chen, Jianmin Zhang, Jinchong Xu, Li Chen and Akhilesh Pandey, all of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The study was funded by a McKnight Endowment Fund for Neuroscience Brain Disorders Award, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grant number NS40809), the National Institute on Drug Abuse (grant number DA00266) and the Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund (grant number MSCRFII-0429).
- Valina Dawson on preventing cell death in the brain
- Newly Discovered Protein Makes Sure Brain Development Isn't "Botched"
- What Doesn't Kill The Brain Makes It Stronger
- Johns Hopkins Scientists Discover "Thunder" Protein That Regulates Memory Formation
- Johns Hopkins Scientists Discover Brain's Guardian Protein
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Photo/video files to accompany this story are available for download.
We are providing this photo/video with the understanding that it will be used only to help illustrate the story in the corresponding news release. Please also find appropriate credit information with caption in the press release. If there is anything else you need, please email us at [email protected]. Thank you.
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Over the past two decades, most developing countries (35 of them in Africa alone) began to make direct cash transfers to their poor. Initially, this was meant to change the recipients' behavior -- say, we give you money if you vaccinate your children. But this social policy tool is beginning to transform the way citizens relate to the state.
To start with, the logistics of the transfer is simple and getting cheaper. In most cases, a debit card or a cell phone is all you need. At each transaction, information is generated -- on costs, preferences, impacts, needs. The accumulating data allows for better targeting, smarter design, less duplication, higher progressivity, closer monitoring, and more rigorous evaluation of social programs. You no longer have to second-guess people's needs; you can ask them directly. Your client is no longer "the people". It is the individual.
Of course, nothing prevents other public subsidies from being delivered in the same way. How about public services in general? And why using the direct-transfer technology only with the poor? Why not everybody? Let's work out a few examples to get a sense of the transformational power this would have.
Take tertiary education. Governments in Latin-America, the Middle East and other regions spend a fiscal fortune funding public universities. Most of their students are middle-class or rich. And the quality of the education they get is mediocre at best. What would happen if the equivalent subsidy were given directly to the students on their personal debit cards, for them to shop for colleges, public or private? Wouldn't good old public universities have to shape up? Wouldn't it then be easier to "means-test" the transfer, that is, to make it smaller for richer students? You get the point: by going directly to the individual you get a final outcome (education) that is better and fairer.
What works for education may also work for healthcare, for child nutrition, even for environmental protection. Rather than paying for public hospitals with all their running problems and poor service, couldn't you transfer the money to each citizen so they can choose health provider? And can't you load the debit cards of indigent mothers with baby formula or vitamins? Or with professional pest-control advice for farmers that can't afford it?
The new relationship does not stop at hand-outs from the state to the citizen. It involves trust too. Imagine if a percentage of the profits of a national oil company (think of Venezuela's oil giant PDVESA) were to be transferred directly to every resident, no questions asked. What do you think would happen with public interest in and scrutiny over the company's performance and transparency? There would be instant demand for "accountability" -- if they don't find and sell oil, you personally lose money. Now picture the same mechanism applied to Africa's bountiful extractive industries, from diamonds to gold to timber. Yes, it would make life less comfortable for foreign corporations and for the politicians that grant them concessions. That's exactly the point.
Finally, the mechanisms used to transfer money in one direction can also be used to transfer information in the opposite one. How about paying for people to fill out household surveys through their cell phones? Some of this is already happening. It is increasing not just the knowledge the state has of each citizen, but its frequency too. It will soon allow us to answer in real time (repeat, in real time) questions that, until now, took months if not years to answer, like: What jobs exactly did the global crisis destroy? How are rising food prices affecting families? Why people migrate? Are teenagers quitting high-school? Why is polio coming back? All this will help governments respond in more timely and more meaningful ways.
Needless to say, none of the above will happen overnight. The vested interests in the state-as-we-know-it are many. This is not only true in developing countries -- try to reform Europe's public universities. And there will be actual supply constraints -- what do you with a loaded debit card if your village has no hospital, or electricity for that matter? But the ballooning expansion, and collapsing cost, of communications technology even in the least developed parts of the world will put most of us in a direct relationship with our governments.
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2016 is Year of the Monkey and it will arrive on February 4, 2016. But Chinese New Year Day is on February 8, 2016. This is because Chinese New Year is from Chinese Lunar calendar. Chinese Zodiac signs are from Chinese Astrology Calendar.
What Is Chinese Zodiac
Chinese Sheng Xiao 生肖 (“birth resembling” literally) is also known as Chinese Zodiac. 12 animals, each with unique characteristics, were chosen to represent the years. Every person born in the year of the assigned animal is said to have personalities and traits resembling that animal. The 12 animals in Chinese Zodiac are: Rat 鼠, Ox 牛, Tiger 虎, Rabbit 兔, Dragon 龍, Snake 蛇, Horse 馬, Sheep 羊, Monkey 猴, Rooster 雞, Dog 狗, and Pig 豬. For Chinese Astrology and Horoscope analysis, the 12 zodiac animals are also assigned to the month, day and hour. Read More About Chinese Zodiac for details.
This site provides the zodiac analysis of personality, compatibility, fate, and career choices. It describes how you perceive yourself, or how others perceive you at a glace. Although it may seem very general, its purpose is to provide the tendency of your perfections and flaws, friends and foes, and the future trend.
Origin of Chinese Zodiac
The history of Chinese Zodiac can be traced back two thousand years ago to the Han Dynasty (206 BC – 220 AD). As
most of the people were illiterate in ancient China, 12 animals that
influenced people’s life the most were chosen to represent the 12 time
periods of a day as they were easier to use than the official terms (see
More About Chinese Zodiac). Then, the
use of the 12 animals to represent the hour also applied to the day,
month, and year. As a year representation, the animal sign changed
around the Chinese Lunar New Year, and people born in that year are said
to have personalities resembling that animal.
Solar vs. Lunar – The Biggest Misconception About Chinese Zodiac
You may find many websites about Chinese Zodiac. But you may not know
most of them have a common mistake of using Lunar New Year to determine
a person’s Zodiac Animal. The result will be wrong for people whose
birthday is around the Lunar New Year, which is in January or February.
So it is important to know that Chinese Zodiac is based on Solar
Terms節氣, not Lunar New Year. Read Chinese
Zodiac Year Cutoff to learn more.
Did you know it is more common for Chinese to ask “what is your Zodiac Animal” than “how old are you”? It is a much more polite way to ask, and it is more acceptable when asked. You may be surprised that people are willing to tell you his/her Zodiac Animal but not the age, even though we know it is very easy to look up the Zodiac Animal and figure out the age – unless someone looks more than 12 years younger or older than his/her age. Give this a try next time.
To find your Chinese Zodiac Animal and get a free complete analysis, click here.
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TRAINING AND EDUCATION
Training and Education are integral segments of the Commission. The purpose of training is to maintain a consistent, high standard of work or to introduce new, improved work methods. The intent of education is to convey to the public what Chapter 601A, Code of Iowa means and what its rights and duties are pursuant to the Iowa Civil Rights Act.
In FY 1980 training continued to be provided to staff through in-service training, and external training. Also, educational information was again disseminated through publications, public speeches, and workshops.
Two (2) novel educational projects were initiated in FY 1980. The first, "Lunch and Learn", was geared toward upgrading Commission staff. The educational topics were selected by group interest and with a new discussion leader each week. The sessions were fruitful and well received. Secondly, the Commission began a Speaker's Bureau. The Speaker's Bureau consisted of staff with proficiency and interest in public speaking. The five-member Speaker's Bureau was very active in FY 1980 in responding to requests for public speeches.
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Wild Mint, Slender Mint
About twenty-five species of Mentha are distributed throughout the world, six being endemic to Australia. Seven exotic species have naturalised. All have aromatic foliage, a characteristic of the Lamiaceae family, to which they belong.
Mentha diemenica occurs in grassland and forest habitats from the Mt Lofty Ranges in South Australia, throughout Victoria and Tasmania, and north to the Blue Mountains of New South Wales. It is a strongly suckering plant which in cold, dry conditions may become dormant, but when growing vigorously forms a dense ground cover 10-15 cm high.
The dull green, opposite leaves are ovate to lanceolate and 4-12 cm long. They are usually entire, but occasionally obscure teeth are noticed on the leaf margins. Leaves may be sessile or have a short petiole.
Flowers are borne in the upper leaf axils from late spring to summer. Each axil bears one to four flowers, giving two to eight flowers at each node. They are usually mauve or lilac with four small petals each extending 2-3 mm beyond the tubular calyx.
In cultivation, M. diemenica grows well in a slightly damp site in either reasonably heavy shade or full sun. In good conditions in a rockery it may become invasive and thus should be contained in a rock pocket or regularly controlled by removing suckers. It is a desirable plant between drive strips or near stepping stones where its fragrant aroma is noticed when it is trodden on.
Propagation is easy from cuttings taken at any time when the plant is growing vigorously, or by division when rooted pieces may be removed and re-established in a new situation. These new plants must be kept moist after transplanting.
Mentha diemenica is frost hardy, but it is susceptible to a rust fungus causing small brown spots on the underside of the leaves. This may be controlled with a suitable fungicide.
The leaves of this native mint may be used as a flavouring and garnish for cool summer drinks in a similar manner to the common introduced mint.
Text by John Wrigley, ANBG (1981)
Name meaning: Mentha diemenica
Mentha - from a Latin name for mint;
diemenica - of Tasmania (known earlier as Van Diemen's Land), where the species occurs.
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Get unlimited access to all of our
"What an inspirational quote! But what does it mean?" This 3-page worksheet supporting opinion writing for kids provides a quote and poses questions to help them organize their thoughts and write an opinion essay.
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| 0.93236 | 198 | 2.75 | 3 |
What is a Human Rights Community?
What do Mumbai, India, Rosario, Argentina, Tombouctou, Mali, Graz, Austria and Johnson County, Iowa have in common? At first glance, it would seem not much. These communities, however, along with several others throughout the world, have committed to being Human Rights communities. Libraries have very important roles in these communities in educating residents to be human rights advocates and helping them to change their municipalities through active participation.
First of all though, exactly where are these Human Rights communities and just what are they? Most continents have them, and the numbers are growing. As of the end of 2005, they included (in addition to the municipalities listed above), Porto Alegre (Brazil), Edmonton, Alberta (Canada), Nagpur (India), Nima/Mamobi, Bongo and Walewale (Ghana), Kati, Kayes and Sikaso (Mali), Abra (Philliphines), Thies (Senegal), Mogale (South Africa) and Kaoshiung (Taiwan).
As for their purpose, according the PDHRE (People's Decade for Human Rights Education) website, Human Rights communities are places where:
"...a whole community examines traditional beliefs, collective memory and aspirations as related to the Universal Declaration of human rights... --Guided by the commitment made and obligations undertaken by their governments - having ratified numerous human rights conventions- all its governing bodies and community institutions and groups, learn about human rights as related to their daily lives and concerns.. --to assure that all the laws, policies, resources and relationship in the community maintain the dignity and serve the well being of all its members.. -Moving to develop a sustainable Human Rights City."
Human Rights communities are thus built "from the bottom up", making education an essential component. If residents do not know about human rights and how local government works, they cannot effectively change their communities.
Education, however, is only the beginning. According to Minar Pimple, Executive Director of PDHRE, residents of Human Rights communities are expected to be citizens, not just inhabitants. This means taking an active role in community government - everything from planning budgets to training police to respect human rights.
What then is the role of libraries in a Human Rights Community? First of all, libraries are essential for informing residents about human rights - both what they are and how to sustain them. To accomplish this, libraries can select and librarians can recommend books and materials that teach and emphasize human rights issues and themes. Displays and programs can heighten and share awareness of pertinent issues. Human rights organizations can be added to directories - and referenced when needed.
The library's role, however, does not stop with education. Libraries are also vital for helping people access the information they need to participate in local government. With the help of librarians, residents can access historical records and artifacts, news articles, and many more materials beneficial and/or essential for awareness and activism.
Most importantly, perhaps, libraries are (or should be) community centers - gathering places for community residents whatever age, race, gender, creed, or any other distinguishing characteristic. Libraries can be instrumental in helping residents decide what human rights issues are most relevant to their communities - and the most effective means of addressing them. By coming together in a common place to learn and hopefully share, inhabitants of all communities can become active participatory citizens.
Developing sustainable human rights cities: Knowing, claiming and securing
our right to be human. (n.d.). Retrieved March 16, 2007 from
Minutes of the informal meeting of the Johnson County board of supervisors: July 7, 2005. (July 7, 2005). Retrieved March 16, 2007 from
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Diarrhea in cats is the passage of loose, unformed stools. Diarrhea is usually accompanied with an increase of volume of the stool and an increase in the number of bowel movements. A rapid transit of food substances through the small intestine to the bowel is the cause of feline diarrhea.
Causes of Cat Diarrhea
A common cause of cat diarrhea can be caused by poor diets which cause food intolerances. Foods that some cats seem unable to tolerate can include beef, pork, chicken, fish, eggs, spices, corn, wheat, soy, gravies, salts, spices, fats, and some commercial cat foods. Some medications (most antibiotics), can also cause cat diarrhea.
How Do I Stop Cat Diarrhea?
- Generally speaking, the main therapy for cat diarrhea would be to give your cat probiotics such as Probiotic Miracle, which will generally improve food intolerances and other causes of cat diarrhea such as lack of bile, or infection.
- Additionally, look for the following signs below where it would probably be wise to also add a digestive enzyme, such as Enzyme Miracle:
- Weight loss in cat
- Cat's stools are large and gray in appearance or are rancid or foul smelling
- Cat has three or four large stools in a day
- Make sure your cat drinks plenty of water.
- Consider a diet that is low in fat for a period, and parcel the food out in 3 meals for the first two days before switching back to the regular diet.
Treating Cat Diarrhea
When your cat has diarrhea, it is a sign that there is a lack of balance in the gut. For this reason, we recommend therapeutic doses of probiotics to restore your cat's natural balance of friendly flora.
1. PROBIOTICS: Give 2-3 times the recommended dosage of Probiotic Miracle for 1 week or until better health appears, then resume normal dosage as a wellness program. Probiotics help to support your cat's immune system and healthy digestion. Probiotic Miracle is guaranteed to be able to pass through the hostile environment of your cat's stomach to seed in the intestine. This benefits your cat against diarrhea and future occurrences of diarrhea.
Learn more about Probiotics »
2. ENZYMES: If your cat is suffering from weight loss, has three or four large stools in a day, or if your cat's stools are large and gray in appearance, then your cat will benefit from an enyzme supplement. We recommend Enzyme Miracle for best results. Add 1 scoop (approx 1/2 tsp) of Enzyme Miracle for evey cup of food you feed your cat.
Learn more about Enzymes »
What's Right for Your Cat? We Can Help.
At Nusentia, our goal is to elevate pet health to human standards and beyond. If you have questions about which products are right for your cat, give us a call or send us your question.
Toll Free (866) 315-2144
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Vanersea, Mark W. and Litaker, R. Wayne and Marancik, Katrin E. and Hare, Jonathan A. and Walsh, Harvey J. and Lem, Siya and West, Melissa A. and Wyanski, David M. and Laban, Elisabeth H. and Tester, Patricia A. (2008) Identification of larval sea basses (Centropristis spp.) using ribosomal DNA-specific molecular assays. Fishery Bulletin, 106(2), pp. 183-193.
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The identification of sea bass (Centropristis) larvae to species is difficult because of similar morphological characters, spawning times, and overlapping species ranges. Black sea bass (Centropristis striata) is an important fishery species and is currently considered to be overfished south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. We describe methods for identifying three species of sea bass larvae using polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) assays based on species-specific amplification of rDNA internal transcribed spacer regions. The assays were tested against DNA of ten other co-occurring reef fish species to ensure the assay's specificity. Centropristis larvae were collected on three cruises during cross-shelf transects and were used to validate the assays. Seventy-six Centropristis larva were assayed and 69 (91%) were identified successfully. DNA was not amplified from 5% of the larvae and identification was inconclusive for 3% of the larvae. Those assays can be used to identify sea bass eggs and larvae and will help to assess spawning locations, spawning times, and larval dispersal.
|Title:||Identification of larval sea basses (Centropristis spp.) using ribosomal DNA-specific molecular assays|
|Journal or Publication Title:||Fishery Bulletin|
|Page Range:||pp. 183-193|
|Issuing Agency:||United States National Marine Fisheries Service|
|Uncontrolled Keywords:||sea basses; Centropristis spp.; genetic identification|
|Depositing User:||Patti M. Marraro|
|Date Deposited:||17 May 2009 18:39|
|Last Modified:||29 Sep 2011 19:41|
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Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
The Nile monitor lizard is a large lizard that is part of the monitor lizard family. It is native to parts of Africa, particularly areas with moist climates. These monitor lizards are seemingly at home in the water as well as on land. Nile monitor lizards were once a popular pet in some parts of the world, but due to their size and disposition, many pet owners got rid of them. In recent years, some countries have begun to have trouble with Nile monitors as an invasive non-native species.
Known scientifically as Varanus niloticus, the Nile monitor lizard is a member of the Varinadae, or monitor lizard, family. It is actually an ancestor of the Mosasaur, a sea dinosaur that lived millions of years ago. Another one of its close relatives includes the Komodo dragon, which is considered to be the largest lizard alive today. This lizard is also sometimes referred to as a water or river leguaan.
Nile monitor lizards are mostly found on the continent of Africa. They tend to stay away from dry areas, and they are not usually found in the northwestern part of the continent. Instead, they can be found in and around Africa's bodies of waters. They are especially abundant around the Nile River, which is in the northeastern part of the continent.
The Nile monitor lizard is seemingly most comfortable in the water, but it is not unusual to find these creatures roaming around on the land as well. Their nostrils are located high on their snouts to help it breathe while under the water, and it is not uncommon for these large lizards to stay underwater for up to an hour. Also, although they have short legs, Nile monitors can also move very well on the ground. On land, they can reach speeds of up to 15 miles per hour (24 kilometers per hour).
These lizards are also proficient climbers. Their sharp claws, which can also be used for digging and self-defense, are used for this. A young Nile monitor lizard also has very sharp teeth for catching and eating prey. As the lizard ages, however, these teeth become duller.
The Nile monitor lizard is often considered to be the biggest lizard in Africa. Some of these lizards can grow to be around 0 feet (2.7 meters) long. They are usually dark brown or black, with very pale yellow bands and spots on its back.
As a pet, the Nile monitor lizard is typically considered difficult to care for. Due to its large size and less than sunny disposition, many pet owners may quickly find that they are no longer able to keep one of these lizards as a pet. In the past, some Nile monitor lizard owners have even freed their pets in non-native regions. When this happens, these lizards will often become an invasive species. In fact, scientists believe that this is exactly what happened in the state of Florida, where this once foreign giant lizard is now becoming a more common sight.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK!
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A 28-year-old woman in India came to her doctor with an unusual complaint: a sudden and persistent increase in her sex drive. She felt constantly aroused, often with no stimulation at all.
Unable to find an explanation, the woman's physician and gynecologist referred her to the department of emergency medicine at the Sri Gokulam Hospital and Research Institute in Salem, Tamil Nadu. Four days later, she was dead.
What disease could take a woman from distressing sexual symptoms to death in less than a week? The answer is a virus that has been nearly eradicated in humans in the U.S. but remains a scourge in the developing world: rabies.
Famous more for the symptomatic fear of water (actually a sign that the virus has paralyzed the swallowing muscles), rabies sometimes first shows up as unexplained hypersexuality, caused by the virus inflaming the brain. Unfortunately, by the time this symptom shows up, the disease is incurable. [Hypersex to Hoarding: 7 New Psychological Disorders]
In the case of the Indian woman, a small bite from a puppy two months earlier caused the disease, researchers reported online in June in the journal Archives of Sexual Behavior.
"Often people will say, 'Well, if I have any symptoms I'll go to the doctor,'" said Peter Costa, the communications director for the Global Alliance for Rabies Control. But by then, Costa told LiveScience, it's too late.
"If you've been bitten or suspect you've been licked or scratched by an infected animal, you should seek treatment within 24 hours," said Costa, who was not involved in the Indian woman's case.
A forgotten killer
Pet vaccination programs in the United States have been so successful at staving off rabies that Americans rarely think of the disease as a problem anymore, Costa said. But around the world, between 55,000 and 70,000 people die of rabies each year, he said. That's someone every eight minutes.
Most of the deaths are in children under age 15 and in regions where public health resources and preventive treatment such as vaccinations are lacking. Rabies-related human deaths in the U.S. have dropped from 100 a year at the turn of the century to one or two per year in the 1990s, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The No. 1 culprit for transmitting the disease is Fido.
"The dog is responsible for more than 99 percent of human rabies cases," Costa said.
In many cases in the developing world, he said, the dogs aren't family pets but strays or semi-strays that hang around communities.
Rabies at the gate
The Global Alliance for Rabies Control focuses on promoting vaccination for domesticated and semi-domesticated animals, including semi-feral dogs. When 70 percent of dogs in a country are vaccinated, Costa said, cases of human rabies plummet.
But to halt rabies' spread, education is also a key, Costa said. The Indian woman did not seek medical attention after her dog bite, because the bite was small and the dog just a puppy. But early treatment could have saved her life.
"If you've been bitten, wash the wound with soap and water for about 10 minutes and then seek appropriate medical treatment," Costa advised. If doctors determine that the bite put you at risk for rabies, they'll inject antibodies that fight rabies right around the wound. Then patients get four vaccinations over two weeks. These vaccinations used to be given in the stomach, but rest easy: They're now given in the arm like an ordinary shot.
"It's not nearly as painful as the horror stories of the abdomen shot," Costa said.
Cases like the Indian woman's are also a reminder of why mandatory vaccines for pets are so important, Costa said.
"The public health system in the United States and Europe has done just a tremendous job, to the point where I think people forget why we vaccinate our animals," he said. "Rabies is just outside the front door."
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Did the Khazars Convert to Judaism? New Research Says ‘No’
Hebrew University professor cites lack of reliable source for conversion story
Did the Khazars convert to Judaism? The view that some or all Khazars, a central Asian people, became Jews during the ninth or tenth century is widely accepted. But following an exhaustive analysis of the evidence, Hebrew University of Jerusalem researcher Prof. Shaul Stampfer has concluded that such a conversion, “while a splendid story,” never took place.
Prof. Shaul Stampfer is the Rabbi Edward Sandrow Professor of Soviet and East European Jewry, in the department of the History of the Jewish People at the Hebrew University’s Mandel Institute of Jewish Studies. The research has just been published in the Jewish Social Studies journal, Vol. 19, No. 3 (online at http://bit.ly/khazars).
From roughly the seventh to tenth centuries, the Khazars ruled an empire spanning the steppes between the Caspian and Black Seas. Not much is known about Khazar culture and society: they did not leave a literary heritage and the archaeological finds have been meager. The Khazar Empire was overrun by Svyatoslav of Kiev around the year 969, and little was heard from the Khazars after. Yet a widely held belief that the Khazars or their leaders at some point converted to Judaism persists.
Reports about the Jewishness of the Khazars first appeared in Muslim works in the late ninth century and in two Hebrew accounts in the tenth century. The story reached a wider audience when the Jewish thinker and poet Yehudah Halevi used it as a frame for his book The Kuzari. Little attention was given to the issue in subsequent centuries, but a key collection of Hebrew sources on the Khazars appeared in 1932 followed by a little-known six-volume history of the Khazars written by the Ukrainian scholar Ahatanhel Krymskyi. Henri Gregoire published skeptical critiques of the sources, but in 1954 Douglas Morton Dunlop brought the topic into the mainstream of accepted historical scholarship with The History of the Jewish Khazars. Arthur Koestler’s best-selling The Thirteenth Tribe (1976) brought the tale to the attention of wider Western audiences, arguing that East European Ashkenazi Jewry was largely of Khazar origin. Many studies have followed, and the story has also garnered considerable non-academic attention; for example, Shlomo Sand’s 2009 bestseller, The Invention of the Jewish People, advanced the thesis that the Khazars became Jews and much of East European Jewry was descended from the Khazars. But despite all the interest, there was no systematic critique of the evidence for the conversion claim other than a stimulating but very brief and limited paper by Moshe Gil of Tel Aviv University.
Stampfer notes that scholars who have contributed to the subject based their arguments on a limited corpus of textual and numismatic evidence. Physical evidence is lacking: archaeologists excavating in Khazar lands have found almost no artifacts or grave stones displaying distinctly Jewish symbols. He also reviews various key pieces of evidence that have been cited in relation to the conversion story, including historical and geographical accounts, as well as documentary evidence. Among the key artifacts are an apparent exchange of letters between the Spanish Jewish leader Hasdai ibn Shaprut and Joseph, king of the Khazars; an apparent historical account of the Khazars, often called the Cambridge Document or the Schechter Document; various descriptions by historians writing in Arabic; and many others.
Taken together, Stampfer says, these sources offer a cacophony of distortions, contradictions, vested interests, and anomalies in some areas, and nothing but silence in others. A careful examination of the sources shows that some are falsely attributed to their alleged authors, and others are of questionable reliability and not convincing. Many of the most reliable contemporary texts, such as the detailed report of Sallam the Interpreter, who was sent by Caliph al-Wathiq in 842 to search for the mythical Alexander’s wall; and a letter of the patriarch of Constantinople, Nicholas, written around 914 that mentions the Khazars, say nothing about their conversion.
Citing the lack of any reliable source for the conversion story, and the lack of credible explanations for sources that suggest otherwise or are inexplicably silent, Stampfer concludes that the simplest and most convincing answer is that the Khazar conversion is a legend with no factual basis. There never was a conversion of a Khazar king or of the Khazar elite, he says.
Years of research went into this paper, and Stampfer ruefully noted that "Most of my research until now has been to discover and clarify what happened in the past. I had no idea how difficult and challenging it would be to prove that something did not happen."
In terms of its historical implications, Stampfer says the lack of a credible basis for the conversion story means that many pages of Jewish, Russian and Khazar history have to be rewritten. If there never was a conversion, issues such as Jewish influence on early Russia and ethnic contact must be reconsidered.
Stampfer describes the persistence of the Khazar conversion legend as a fascinating application of Thomas Kuhn’s thesis on scientific revolution to historical research. Kuhn points out the reluctance of researchers to abandon familiar paradigms even in the face of anomalies, instead coming up with explanations that, though contrived, do not require abandoning familiar thought structures. It is only when “too many” anomalies accumulate that it is possible to develop a totally different paradigm—such as a claim that the Khazar conversion never took place.
Stampfer concludes, "We must admit that sober studies by historians do not always make for great reading, and that the story of a Khazar king who became a pious and believing Jew was a splendid story.” However, in his opinion, "There are many reasons why it is useful and necessary to distinguish between fact and fiction – and this is one more such case."
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Or, try a lab burger.
Several Gristmillians, myself included, believe that going veg is one of many ways to help prevent climate change. That belief is now supported by British scientist Alan Calverd, who wrote in the journal Physics World that “carbon emissions could be slashed by an incredible 21% overnight if we all stopped eating meat” (via edie news centre).
Can’t kick the animal flesh habit? Then maybe you want to look into lab burgers — that is animal tissue engineered in a laboratory:
Writing in the journal Tissue Engineering, Matheny said scientists could grow cells from the muscle tissue of cattle, pigs, poultry or fish in large flat sheets on thin membranes. These sheets of cells would be grown and stretched, then removed from the membranes and stacked to increase thickness and resemble meat.
Using another method, scientists could grow muscle cells on small three-dimensional beads that stretch with small changes in temperature. The resulting tissue could be used to make processed meat such as chicken nuggets or hamburgers.
Sounds appetizing doesn’t it? I’ll stick with good ol’ plant-based foods thank you.
Donate now to support our work.
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To the dairy farmers who bred her, she was disposable. To the workers at the stockyard where she was brought for auction, she was negligible. To her new family at Farm Sanctuary, however, Fanny is precious.
When dairy calves are taken from their mothers shortly after birth, the mother cow not only suffers the loss of her baby, she continues to suffer through milk production leading to an early death. Dairy cows spend their short lives in an unrelenting cycle of impregnation and lactation until, at about three or four years of age, they are deemed “spent” and sent to be slaughtered for ground beef or pet food. Fanny was headed toward that fate when we encountered her at the stockyard. In addition to the rigors of milk production, she had clearly endured egregious neglect. Her horribly overgrown hooves made every step excruciating, and her legs buckled under the weight of her enormous udders. Instead of trying to help her, stockyard workers hit Fanny with wooden poles to force her to move.
As soon as we could gain access to Fanny, we brought her immediately to Cornell – where, we assumed, she would need to be euthanized. Veterinarians determined that, in addition to the pain in her feet from lack of hoof care and years spent on concrete floors, Fanny was also severely dehydrated and suffering from milk fever. Despite her ailments, however, Fanny revived with treatment. Within hours, her eyes were brighter and by the next day she was standing on her own and greeted us with a loud moo.
Soon she was recuperating at our New York Shelter. Though Fanny will always have arthritis, the thick, fresh bedding in her barn now keeps her comfortable. She was immediately eager to mingle with her new friends, but had to be separated from the other cattle while our caregivers continued her treatment. During that time, she would call out to her future herd mates over the fence. When she was finally able to join our special needs herd, she could not have been more excited. Now, as we watch Fanny trotting through her new pasture, we witness a little of the youth that was stolen from her return to her bright eyes and confident steps.
Footage of Fanny’s rescue can be viewed in the documentary, Ghosts in Our Machine. To see a preview, click here.
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Is being physically strong still important in today's workplace? In our current high-tech world one might be inclined to think that only skills required for computer work such as reading, reasoning, abstract thinking, etc. are important for performing well in many of today's jobs. There are still, however, a number of very important jobs that require, in addition to cognitive skills, a significant amount of strength to be able to perform at a high level. Take, for example, the job of a construction worker. It takes a lot of strength to lift, position, and secure many building materials such as wood boards, metal bars, and cement blocks. In addition, the tools used in construction work are often heavy and require a lot of strength to control. When was the last time you tried to operate a jackhammer?
There are many more jobs such as electrician and auto mechanic that also require strength. An interesting applied problem that arises is how to select the best candidates from among a group of applicants for physically demanding jobs. One obvious way might be to take them to a job site and have them demonstrate that they are strong enough to do the job. Unfortunately, this approach might be too time consuming if you are having to select a large number of people from a large applicant pool. Also, you risk injury to applicants who are not strong enough to do the job. A solution to this problem is to develop a measure of physical ability that is easy and quick to administer, does not risk injury, and is related to how well a person performs the actual job. A study by Blakely, Quiñones, and Jago (1995) published in the journal Personnel Psychology reports on the research results of just such a measure. That study, and this case study, looks at methods for determining if these strength tests are related to performance on the job. The principles and methods associated with this case study also apply to any number of variables other than strength and job performance.
Case Study Objectives
The purpose of this case study is to describe the logic behind the statistical principles and procedures listed below within the context of an applied problem. After a thorough exploration of this case study and all associated links you should be familiar with the principles and be able to apply them to similar situations. In addition, you should be able to use one of several popular statistical packages to carry out the analyses described in this case study.
The specific statistical principles associated with this study are:
The principles presented in this case study have a number of issues associated with them. Therefore, we recommend that you take the time to explore the various links presented in this case study. Some of those links will take you to additional information regarding a particular statistical procedure or issue. Others will take you to simulations which demonstrate the principles or techniques being presented. These simulations give you hands-on experience with the various statistical procedures and principles.
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| 0.960505 | 581 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Cars that run on biofuels and liquefied natural gas can cost less, cut emissions, and reduce dependence on foreign fuels.
For help finding a researcher or other requests, please contact:
Cars that run on alternative fuels like biofuels and liquefied natural gas can cost less, cut emissions, and reduce dependence on foreign fuels, according to a report by MIT’s Energy Initiative (MITEI).
The report looked at the future of natural gas, biofuels and gasoline as fuels for light-duty vehicles over the next two to three decades. Specifically, it studied both “bi-fuel” vehicles able to run on either gasoline or natural gas, and “flex-fuel” vehicles able to run on a blend of gasoline, ethanol or methanol (or all three simultaneously).
The report is based on a 2012 MITEI symposium that brought together experts and policymakers to discuss the prospects for alternative fuel technologies for light-duty vehicles and how an expanded alternative fuel market might be achieved.
“Alternative fuel vehicles could have enormous benefits for our wallets and our health because they are cleaner and potentially cheaper fuels,” says John Deutch, one of the lead organizers of the symposium. “But there is also enormous uncertainty and disagreement surrounding the future of these fuels. This report, and our symposium on the topic, makes this abundantly clear.”
The report points to significant debate among industry, academics and policymakers about the direction of the market, the potential of future technologies, and the best actions for policymakers. One area of agreement: if alternative fuels are to become competitive in the car market, quickly, the new technologies must be able to be introduced into cars that are on the road today.
“Do these alternative-fuel technologies have a sensible path to the marketplace? We’re asking that question, and many more,” Deutch said. “There is much more research that needs to be done in this area – both in terms of developing the technology, and understanding the market and policy implications of our actions.”
While the future of alternative fuel vehicles is unclear, the report showed that the need for and potential of these cleaner cars grows more each day for three reasons:
The symposium was sponsored by MITEI’s Associate Members Cummins, Entergy, EDF and Hess.
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A technique for delivering individualised formative problems and examples
Full text not archived in this repository.
Active learning plays a strong role in mathematics and statistics, and formative problems are vital for developing key problem-solving skills. To keep students engaged and help them master the fundamentals before challenging themselves further, we have developed a system for delivering problems tailored to a student‟s current level of understanding. Specifically, by adapting simple methodology from clinical trials, a framework for delivering existing problems and other illustrative material has been developed, making use of macros in Excel. The problems are assigned a level of difficulty (a „dose‟), and problems are presented to the student in an order depending on their ability, i.e. based on their performance so far on other problems. We demonstrate and discuss the application of the approach with formative examples developed for a first year course on plane coordinate geometry, and also for problems centred on the topic of chi-square tests.
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| 0.934245 | 198 | 3.296875 | 3 |
Course Project: Team Project
Objective |Guidelines |Grading Rubrics |Best Practices
This capstone course concludes with a research Team Project that starts during the first week and continues throughout the duration of the class. It culminates with the submission of a formal team report and an oral presentation by each team during Week 7 and Peer Evaluations in Week 8.
Each team will identify and explore an emerging technology. This will be a technology that may already exist but is drawing attention because of new applications, anticipated impacts, or potential controversies. Examples could include
- nanotechnology in manufacturing;
- genetically modified organisms;
- remote or robotic surgery; or
- wireless electricity.
The team will explore the technical, social, cultural, moral, and ethical issues presented by the technology.
All teams will be assigned at the start of the first week. The first deliverable is due on the Sunday of Week 1, so students must get organized and into the project immediately. Each team will select a team leader who will be responsible for the coordination of the research and the submission of assignments. Team members will remain on the assigned team throughout the duration of the class (in the project world, project managers seldom have the opportunity to select their own team members). It is highly recommended that each team develop its own team contract to clearly define expectations, strategies, and timelines.
Emphasis is placed on both individual contributions and the team's final product. You will communicate with your team through team meetings (online) and team discussion threads. Team members who fail to participate in an assignment will not get points for that assignment.
With the parts of the Team Project where a group grade will be assigned, all team members must submit a copy of the team’s work. When an assignment is completed, the team leader will distribute the finished product to all team members, and each team member must submit this copy to the Dropbox.
The primary focus of the team is to research and assess the issues associated with a specific emerging technology. The team will produce a formal research paper in APA format, with each team member contributing 10 pages of text. The paper will provide the basis for a 20-minute Team Presentation.
The following required elements must be researched and included in the Final Project:
- A brief description of the technology and an explanation of the associated science
- The historical development and context of the technology
- Political and legal influences
- Economic questions and considerations
- Psychological considerations and sociological effects
- The technology in its cultural context, media influence
- Implications for the environment
- Moral and ethical implications
To properly analyze the various elements of the project, research will cut across disciplines and include academic, scientific, and industry sources. Complete project guidelines and suggestions can be found in Doc Sharing.
All students submit the project individually, not just the Team Leader. With respect to graded group work, the Team Leader must distribute the finished project to the team, so that each member may submit it individually to the Dropbox. With respect to individually graded segments of the project, each team member is responsible for compiling his or her own assignment and submitting it to the Dropbox.
- Research topic and outline (possible 50 points, group grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
- Each team will select a topic for research and a team leader. Using the list of required elements for the project, each member of the team will take responsibility for researching specific aspects of the technology. The team will then produce a detailed outline for the project, noting each team member’s research sections. Please note, the list of required elements is just that—a list—and does not constitute an outline.
- Although this assignment will result in a group grade, each person is required to submit a copy to the Dropbox by the due date. The team leader will distribute the finished product to each team member, whereupon each team member will submit the same assignment to the Dropbox.
- Resource review (90 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
- Each member of the team will assemble at least five scholarly academic references that will be used to write the paper (refer to Week 1’s tutorial on Scholarly References). Each student will list his or her references using APA format, and provide a brief explanation of each resource indicating how that resource will be used. The focus should be upon the student’s specific research assignment. An approximate length of this bibliography is between two to three pages.
- Each student will submit his or her assignment to the Dropbox by the due date and provide a copy to the team leader.
- Submit rough draft to TurnItIn (no points, but required).
- Each team leader will submit a single Team Paper to TurnItIn this week, leaving enough time for instructor review and team corrections. This is mandatory, and no papers will be accepted without having been submitted to TurnItIn. After the instructor reviews the paper through TurnItIn, general comments and suggestions for the paper will be directed back to the team.
- Final draft of the paper (200 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
- All written sections will be compiled into one cohesive Team Paper. All students should review the paper to ensure that the transitions are smooth, that the sections fit together, and that the bibliographies are compiled correctly.
- The table of contents should clearly indicate each student’s assigned sections. An introduction should clearly state the paper’s thesis, outline the scope of the investigation, and comment on any challenges the team faced with respect to research sources. Report sections should be clearly identified using level-1 and level-2 headings. The paper should conclude with recommendations for further research or possible solutions that could be evaluated. A complete list of references, in APA format, should follow along with any appendices.
- Although this assignment will result in one cohesive Team Paper, each person is required to submit a copy to the Dropbox by the due date. The team leader will distribute the finished product to each team member, whereupon each team member will submit the same assignment to the Dropbox.
Team oral presentations (150 possible points, group grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing. Each team will conduct a live Team Presentation with all classmates present.
Important note about attendance: If you fail to attend, you will not receive credit for the presentation. Exceptions to this policy will be made only for the following unique emergency situations:
- In the event that the area in which a student resides experiences an extended power outage due to a natural disaster (hurricane, flood, storm, etc.)
- A student is on active military duty and cannot complete coursework
- A student has a verifiable (documented) medical or other personal emergency
One hour before the presentation, the team will post their PowerPoint slides and test their microphones. Every member of the team is expected to participate and will be individually graded by the instructor. The Team Presentation is expected to be professional, with each team member expected to speak as if he or she was a speaker at a DeVry graduation; informal and slang language is not acceptable. Each team should rehearse its presentation so that the transition between each speaker is smooth and to ensure that the use of the PowerPoint slides is appropriate.
Online students: You will be using a Web conferencing tool. In order to give your presentation, you will need a computer microphone. Please plan ahead and be ready for this.
Each presentation should begin with an introduction of the team members, and then move to a discussion of each of the elements of the team assignment using PowerPoint slides. After the slides are presented and the sections have been discussed, the team members are to ask the class two to three questions about their technology that will promote discussion among the other class members. The presentation should end with recommendations for further research or assessments pertaining to the technology.
Peer Evaluation (30 possible points, individual grade). Guidelines for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
- Students will find a Peer Evaluation form in Doc Sharing. Each student is required to fully complete the evaluation of one other team’s presentation. The team to be evaluated should be clearly identified, and all questions should be answered using full sentences with correct spelling and grammar. Each student will submit this assignment to the week 8 Dropbox by the assigned due date.
Rubrics for this assignment can be found in Doc Sharing.
The following are best practices in preparing this paper:
- If possible, assign teams before the start of Week 1. Use this as a way to introduce students to each other. Assign five to six students per team. Teams can be assigned by time zone, alphabetically, or by interest.
- Watch the scope of some of these projects because some are too large (nanotechnology) and some are too focused. Get students to consider the scope of their topic while writing their thesis statement for the Week 1 outline.
- Emphasize from Week 1 the importance of the weekly readings and the requirement to tie the concepts from these readings into their Final Projects.
- Encourage students to draw up team contracts outlining expectations, strategies, responsibilities, and timelines. Suggest a Gantt chart.
- Find ways to get the teams to use the team meeting tools as soon as possible, perhaps to work out their team contracts. Routinely check in on the team Threaded Discussions to see who is participating.
- Clarify that the required elements list is just that; it is notthe outline. Provide suggestions for different ways of organizing the paper and the research.
- Be clear that while students are researching the history of their technologies, they have to compile more than just a timeline. A timeline is a good start, but they must also assess the cultural context and the various social factors that drove the development of the technology.
- Team projects are often a source of discontent with students. Try to head off potential disasters by checking in with the groups each week. Ask a lot of questions about their research and the status of the projects.
- If it can go wrong, it will. Because time is tight with the Final Presentations, make sure that students practice with the Web conferencing tools. Demonstrate by using the tools during your own office hours.
- You may wish to assign groups for the Peer Evaluation (e.g., Team A reviews Team B, Team B reviews Team C, etc.). Students should make notes during the presentations so that they are prepared to complete the evaluation form. Encourage students to submit these evaluations before Week 8, if possible, so that the grades can be up earlier.
- Students are graded individually on their sections of the research paper. However, there is one section of the rubric for a team mark, which are points awarded for how well the paper came together as a whole. For this part of the individual grade, students in a team should share the same number of points for the cohesiveness of the paper.
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<urn:uuid:6f5c7d2a-1884-4388-ba0f-61303a94b359>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.homeworkminutes.com/question/view/2865/Devry-LAS432-Course-Project
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en
| 0.935097 | 2,271 | 2.875 | 3 |
It is impossible to understand the Book of Ecclesiastes unless we realise that the author is pretending, until the last two verses, that we are living without consideration of the influence of God in our present and future lives. Thus, when he says in Ecclesiastes 1:14, “I have seen everything that is done under the sun, and behold, all is vanity and a striving after wind”, he is saying that life without God is meaningless.
In Ecclesiastes 3:21 we read
Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?
Presumably the Preacher (i.e., the author) knew that it says in Psalms 49:20, “Man in his pomp yet without understanding is like the beasts that perish”, and in Proverbs 15:24, “The path of life leads upward for the prudent, that he may turn from Sheol (i.e. the grave) beneath”. The first of these verses implies that there is no difference between men and animals and the second is saying that for human beings there is the opportunity to pursue a way of life that raises men above the animals.
In Ecclesiastes 3:21 he asks, on behalf of people who are trying to live without God, “Who knows whether the spirit of man goes upward and the spirit of the beast goes down into the earth?” The Preacher, himself, knew the answer to his question and in the last two verses of the book tells us what it is that gives meaning to life:
“Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment with every secret thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13-14)
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://bibleq.net/answer/867/
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en
| 0.962275 | 384 | 2.5625 | 3 |
A group of governmental, non-governmental, research and academic organizations developed a partnership programme to adapt, validate and test the farmer field school (FFS) approach for improved land mangement. The programme operated in eastern Uganda in Busia, Mbale, Pallisa and Tororo districts where soil productivity levels are low and continue declining. The experiential learning approach of FFS enabled farmers to be better equipped to understand the problems of soil productivity.
Three programmes/projects made up the consortium:
Piloting Farmer Field Schools for Soil Productivity Improvement (FFS-SPI) This programme aimed to strengthen and equip farming communities, farmers and service providers (extensionists, facilitators and NGOs) with better rain-fed land (including soil, water, crop and livestock) management skills, and decision-making capacity to overcome soil productivity limitations, and to enhance sustainable and economically viable land management practices.
The programme was launched early 2002 through a Letter of Agreement between FAO and Africa 2000 Network in collaboration with other stakeholders.
Piloting Conservation Agriculture for Improved Land Management and Livelihoods of Smallholder Farmers The main purpose of this pilot project was to introduce the principles and adapt techniques for Conservation Agriculture (CA) in Pallisa and Mbale districts as an integral part of improved land management and livelihood strategies of smallholder farmers. The project also monitored impact in selected micro-catchments, tested/developed appropriate tools and equipment and identified required support services.
Integrated nutrient management to attain sustainable productivity increases in East African farming systems (INMASP) This research and development project combined quantitative and qualitative research approaches within the framework of Farmer Field Schools, specifically in the area of Integrated Nutrient Management. More information on INMASP project.
These programmes/projects were initially designed separately but in view of many commonalties in the intended approach, the partnership programme was established. The idea was to develop the approach and FFS curriculum across Ugandan and not to restrict the work to the initial programme districts. Project Areas of Intervention Busia, Mbale, Palissa and Tororo Districts, Eastern Uganda.
Increase farmer’s ability to take advantage of new opportunities and to cope adequately with new problems in order to improve and sustain the productivity of his farm. To achieve this, farmers need to test and evaluate management options in line with their biophysical and socio-economic environment. A farmer’s capacity to respond to changing circumstances becomes all the more important where farmers have no access to regular and reliable technical support from extension agencies.A second objective is to increase farmer’s knowledge and skills in improved soil and nutrient management practices.
Farmer Field School approach
Activities and outputs
The main activity areas of the three Ugandan projcets included:
- awareness raising and demonstrations/field days of suitable technologies with stakeholders;
- training of trainers: subject matter specialists, extension staff and farmers groups;
- participatory technology development with farmers' groups;
- monitoring and validation of technologies with farmers and other stakeholders;
- assessment of technical options and their socioeconomic implications; and,
- development of larger-scale follow-up programme.
This programme developed a FFS curriculum ’tool box’ to enable farmers to develop and implement appropriate natural resource management techniques. This included diagnostic methods for crop nutrient deficiencies and toxicities, including simple bioassay methods to demonstrate for example procedures for effective fertilizer placement methods, and crop residue management for soil, water and nutrient conservation.
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<urn:uuid:a27694b7-e412-4d2a-91ea-648170ecc5c6>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.fao.org/nr/land/sustainable-land-management/farmer-field-school/spi-ffs-programme-at-a-glance/farmer-field-schools-for-soil-productivity-improvement-conservation-agriculture-and-nutrient-monitoring-in-eastern-uganda/en/
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en
| 0.915953 | 710 | 2.53125 | 3 |
|Distribution:||Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania, mainly coastal.|
|Common Name:||Wedding bush.|
|Derivation of Name:||Ricinocarpos; having fruit like Ricinus [castor oil plant).
pinifolius; a reference to the similarity of the foliage to the genus Pinus.
|Conservation Status:||Not considered to be at risk in the wild.|
Ricinocarpos is a genus of about 15 species, occurring in all States with one also found in New Caledonia. They are small to medium shrubs with conspicuous white or pink flowers which are unisexual.
Photo: Brian Walters
Ricinocarpos pinifolius is the most widespread member of the genus and is a conspicuous member of coastal heath and woodland communities when it is in flower during spring. It is usually found on sand dunes or on sandstone-derived soils. It is a small to medium shrub, rarely exceeding 1.5 metres in height with narrow, linear leaves about 30-40 mm long. The pure white male and female flowers are about 25 mm diameter. The flowers are similar in shape but the male flowers can be distinguished by the mass of yellow stamens. There is usually one female flowers to three to slx males. The flowers are followed by the fruit, which is a rough, globular capsule which splits when ripe to release 5 shiny seeds.
Wedding bush makes an attractive shrub for the garden, particularly for coastal areas on sandy soils. However, it is rarely seen in cultivation because of difficulties in propagation. Germination of seed is virtually impossible with present bknowledge and cuttings can be slow and difficult to strike. There is some evidence that some clones strike from cuttings easier than others.
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<urn:uuid:8b0337e2-d768-4fc5-9cfd-9d4a5af99c37>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://anpsa.org.au/r-pin.html
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s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00050-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz
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en
| 0.957222 | 382 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Today in History October 9
Today in History
28 BC The Temple of Apollo is dedicated on the Palatine Hill in Rome.
1470 Henry VI of England restored to the throne.
1760 Austrian and Russian troops enter Berlin and begin burning structures and looting.
1779 The Luddite riots being in Manchester, England in reaction to machinery for spinning cotton.
1781 Americans begin shelling the British surrounded at Yorktown.
1825 The first Norwegian immigrants to America arrive on the sloop Restaurationen.
1863 Confederate cavalry raiders return to Chattanooga after attacking Union General William Rosecrans' supply and communication lines all around east Tennessee.
1888 The Washington Monument, designed by Robert Mills, opens to the public.
1914 Germans take Antwerp, Belgium, after 12-day siege.
1934 In Marseilles, a Macedonian revolutionary associated with Croat terrorists in Hungary assassinates King Alexander of Yugoslavia and French Foreign Minister Louis Barthou. The two had been on a tour of European capitals in quest of an alliance against Nazi Germany. The assassinations bring the threat of war between Yugoslavia and Hungary, but confrontation is prevented by the League of Nations.
1941 President Franklin D. Roosevelt requests congressional approval for arming U.S. merchant ships.
1946 Eugene O'Neill's play The Iceman Cometh opens at the Martin Beck Theatre in New York.
1949 Harvard Law School begins admitting women.
1950 U.N. forces, led by the First Cavalry Division, cross the 38th parallel in South Korea and begin attacking northward towards the North Korean capital of Pyongyang.
1983 The president of South Korea, Doo Hwan Chun, with his cabinet and other top officials are scheduled to lay a wreath on a monument in Rangoon, Burma, when a bomb explodes. Hwan had not yet arrived so escaped injury, but 17 Koreans–including the deputy prime minister and two other cabinet members–and two Burmese are killed. North Korea is blamed.
Born on October 9
1837 Francis Parker, educator and founder of progressive elementary schools.
1859 Alfred Dreyfus, French artillery officer who was falsely accused of giving French military secrets to foreign powers.
1873 Charles Rudolph Walgreen, "the father of the modern drugstore."
1879 Max von Laue, German physicist.
1899 Bruce Catton, U.S. historian and journalist, famous for his works on the Civil War.
1909 Jacques Tati, French actor and director.
1940 John Lennon, English musician, one of the Beatles.
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<urn:uuid:20b3d3e6-2b44-4151-91fc-d501f5adb569>
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.conservativeunderground.com/forum505/printthread.php?t=52618&pp=10&page=1
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en
| 0.930271 | 536 | 2.84375 | 3 |
Index of Species Information
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
AUTHORSHIP AND CITATION :
Tesky, Julie L. 1994. Falco sparverius. In: Fire Effects Information System, [Online].
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service,
Rocky Mountain Research Station, Fire Sciences Laboratory (Producer).
Available: http://www.fs.fed.us/database/feis/ .
COMMON NAMES :
The currently accepted scientific name for the American kestrel is Falco
sparverius Linnaeus [1,2]. It is in the family Falconidae . Four
recognized subspecies occur in North America and are listed below :
F. sparverius sparverius
F. sparverius guadalupensis Bond
F. sparverius paulus (Howe and King): southeastern American kestrel
F. sparverius peninsularis Mearns
FEDERAL LEGAL STATUS :
OTHER STATUS :
Information on state- and province-level protection status of animals in the
United States and Canada is available at NatureServe, although recent
changes in status may not be included.
WILDLIFE DISTRIBUTION AND OCCURRENCE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
GENERAL DISTRIBUTION :
American kestrels breed from western and central Alaska and southern
Yukon to northern Ontario, southern Quebec, and southern Newfoundland
south to Mexico. They winter from south-central Alaska, southern
British Columbia, and northern United States south throughout the
breeding range to Panama [1,2,13,15,25]. Specific distributions of the
four North American subspecies are listed below:
Falco sparverius sparverius- Breeds from east-central Alaska and the
Northwest Territories east to Nova Scotia and south to northern Mexico,
southern Texas, Arkansas, Tennessee, northern Alabama, and northern
Georgia. This subspecies winters from southern British Columbia to
southern Ontario and New York, south to Nevada, the Gulf Coast of the
United States, Florida (to Key West), and the Bahama Islands; through
Mexico and Central America to eastern Panama .
Falco sparverius guadalupensis is a resident subspecies on Guadalupe
Island and in Baja California .
Southeastern American kestrels- This subspecies has now been extirpated
over most of its former range . The current range of southeastern
American kestrels was not described in the literature. Former breeding
range extended from Louisiana (except the coastal area), Mississippi,
central Alabama, and southern Georgia to southern Florida. Former
winter range extended from their breeding range south to the Gulf coast
of Louisiana and to Key West, Florida .
Falco sparverius peninsularis- Breeds in southern Baja California from
Santana south to Cape San Lucas and in the lowlands of Sonora and
Sinaloa. Winters south to Mazatlan, Sinaloa .
FRES10 White-red-jack pine
FRES12 Longleaf-slash pine
FRES13 Loblolly-shortleaf pine
FRES21 Ponderosa pine
FRES22 Western white pine
FRES24 Hemlock-Sitka spruce
FRES26 Lodgepole pine
FRES28 Western hardwoods
FRES30 Desert shrub
FRES32 Texas savanna
FRES33 Southwestern shrubsteppe
FRES34 Chaparral-mountain shrub
FRES36 Mountain grasslands
FRES37 Mountain meadows
FRES38 Plains grasslands
FRES40 Desert grasslands
FRES41 Wet grasslands
FRES42 Annual grasslands
BLM PHYSIOGRAPHIC REGIONS :
1 Northern Pacific Border
2 Cascade Mountains
3 Southern Pacific Border
4 Sierra Mountains
5 Columbia Plateau
6 Upper Basin and Range
7 Lower Basin and Range
8 Northern Rocky Mountains
9 Middle Rocky Mountains
10 Wyoming Basin
11 Southern Rocky Mountains
12 Colorado Plateau
13 Rocky Mountain Piedmont
14 Great Plains
15 Black Hills Uplift
16 Upper Missouri Basin and Broken Lands
KUCHLER PLANT ASSOCIATIONS :
American kestrels probably occur in most Kuchler Plant Associations
SAF COVER TYPES :
American kestrels probably occur in most SAF Cover Types
SRM (RANGELAND) COVER TYPES :
PLANT COMMUNITIES :
American kestrels occupy nearly all open shrubland, grassland and forest
vegetation types [29,40,54]. In Montana, American kestrels prefer
cottonwood (Populus spp.) forests over sagebrush (Artemisia spp.),
shrubland, and pine (Pinus spp.)-juniper (Juniperus spp.) woodland .
In California, they prefer large tree stages of succession. For
breeding in blue oak (Quercus douglasii) savannah and gray pine (Pinus
sabiniana)-oak (Quercus spp.) types, they prefer 40 to 70 percent crown
The sandhills habitats apparently provide the most suitable habitat for
southeastern American kestrels in Florida . In north-central
Florida, southeastern American kestrels nest in longleaf pine (Pinus
palustris) flatwoods, old-growth slash pine (Pinus elliottii) and
longleaf pine-turkey oak (Quercus laevis) sandhills communities [26,50].
During a 1981 through 1982 nesting survey, southeastern American kestrel
densities were higher in former and existing areas of the longleaf
pine-turkey oak sandhills association (0.41 pairs/sq km) than in areas of
former and existing hardwood hammocks (0.14 pairs/sq km) .
Additionally, the sandhill communities, particularly the pine-oak
woodland habitats, provide quality foraging sites for this subspecies
BIOLOGICAL DATA AND HABITAT REQUIREMENTS
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
TIMING OF MAJOR LIFE HISTORY EVENTS :
Age at sexual maturity - Both sexes of American kestrels are capable of
breeding as yearlings .
Breeding season - The breeding season varies depending on geographic
area. Pairs are sometimes formed from 6 to 14 weeks before laying
begins . In Ontario, laying begins in early April . In
California, American kestrels breed from early April to early September,
with peak activity between early June and late August . In Montana,
courtship begins in May and in Nevada, the breeding season occurs
from April to July . In Florida, the southeastern kestrel generally
begins laying eggs in early or mid-April .
Clutch size and incubation - American kestrels generally lay three to
seven eggs [17,54]. They may raise two clutches in one season. The
second clutch size is generally smaller than the first. Yearlings lay
repeat clutches less often than do older birds. American kestrels may
lay an additional clutch if the first clutch is destroyed . The
eggs are incubated for 28 to 30 days [13,17,25,40].
Fledging - Nestlings fledge in 25 to 31 days [13,25,40]. Fledglings
continue to be fed by the parents until feather development is complete,
usually 12 days after nest departure [25,40]. The fledglings may
continue to stay with parents for 30 days or more .
Spring migration - Spring migration begins in February from northern
South America and Central America and begins in March in northern
Mexico. In California, most birds have begun leaving wintering areas by
mid-February. American kestrels wintering in Florida begin leaving in
February, and almost all have left by April. In southern states from
the Rockies east, migration occurs from early March through April, and
in northern states mid-March to mid-April. On the southern Canadian
prairies, most spring migration is in the last 3 weeks of April, but it
continues to about mid-May .
Fall migration - The juveniles leave the breeding range before the
adults and mature female American kestrels generally arrive on
their wintering ground before males [46,47]. In warm climates some
adults stay on their breeding territories year-round .
Additionally, some American kestrels winter in northern urban areas that
have a year-round food supply and warm roosting places .
In Canada and the northern United States, fall migration begins in
September. Arrival in Florida begins in September and lasts at least
well into October. American kestrels arrive in southern Central America
south to Panama beginning in mid-October . Southeastern kestrels
stay on their territories year-round .
Longevity - American kestrels have been reported to live up to 11 years
. However, most do not live that long. Palmer reported an
annual average survival of 12.6 months, the oldest bird being aged 9
years, 10 months. Captives at the McGill University colony live an
average of 5 years and 2 months .
PREFERRED HABITAT :
American kestrels occupy a wide variety of open to semiopen habitats,
including farmland and urban areas from sea level up to 13,000 feet
(3,960 m) elevation [29,40]. They generally occur in any habitat that
contains an adequate prey base, perch sites, and (during the nesting
season) nesting sites . In the Sierra Nevada, American kestrels
range up to alpine zones, mountain meadows, and other open areas in late
summer and fall, but winter at lower elevations . In Montana, they
breed at forest edges and in groves, ranging out over adjoining
prairies, croplands, and badlands . In Nevada, the highest
densities of both breeding and wintering American kestrels are often
located near agricultural areas or riparian vegetation that support an
abundant prey base. Nesting densities in these preferred habitats often
exceeds one pair per square mile . In British Columbia, American
kestrels commonly occupy quaking aspen (Populus tremuloides) groves,
woodland edges, river bottomlands, wooded lakeshores, farmlands, burns,
meadows, orchards, marshes, and bogs .
Southeastern American kestrels inhabit mostly open pine forests and
clearings where snags occur . The decrease of isolated or scattered
pine snags in open habitats used by southeastern American kestrels was
closely correlated with the decline in the number of breeding pairs
Nesting habitat - Nest sites are usually located along roadways,
streams, ponds, or forest edges . Nests may be reused from year to
year. In Utah, twelve pairs used the same nest site for 2 consecutive
years and eight pairs used the same site again the third year .
Southeastern American kestrels often use the same nest site in
successive years . However, Hammerstrom and Hart found that
American kestrels in central Wisconsin did not use the same nest site in
succeeding years even after having raised a brood successfully.
American kestrels prefer to nest in natural cavities with tight-fitting
entrances, or in cavities excavated by other bird species in both live
trees and snags [15,24,29,40]. The diameter of 15 cavity openings used
by American kestrels in British Columbia ranged from 2.5 to 14.1 inches
(6.4-36 cm) . Trees with a d.b.h. greater than 12 inches (30 cm)
are preferred . The species of trees used differs among geographic
regions [13,24,56,58]. Cavities excavated by northern flickers
(Colaptes auratus) and natural cavities located 6.5 to 35 feet (2-10.7
m) above the ground are commonly used as nesting sites . If
cavities are unavailable, American kestrels nest in a variety of sites
including niches in rocky cliffs, under the eaves of buildings, in old
black-billed magpie (Pica pica) nests, in cavities in cacti, in unused
chimneys, or in nest boxes [15,17,24,54].
Herron and others reported that American kestrels in Nevada
generally nest about 20 feet (6 M) from the ground and seem to prefer an
Of 41 American kestrel nests in Utah, 28 were located in trees (19 in
old northern flicker holes, two in old magpie nests and seven in natural
cavities). The species and number of trees used were 18 cottonwood
(Populus spp.), 3 poplar (Populus spp.), 3 willow (Salix spp.), 3 maple
(Acer spp.), 1 elm (Ulmus spp.), and one apple. Two of the remaining
nests were located in rocky cliffs and the last 11 were found on
building tops . In southeastern Montana and northern Wyoming, most
American kestrel nests were in cavities of ponderosa pine (Pinus
ponderosa) and cottonwood or in sandstone cliffs. Other nests were in
fenceposts, under bridges, and in abandoned magpie nests. The greatest
number of nests occurred in ponderosa pine stands. The mean distance
between occupied nest sites on the survey plots was 0.4 miles (0.7 km)
In British Columbia, American kestrel nests were situated in woodpecker
holes or natural cavities in living and dead trees (73%), in man-made
structures (23%), and in holes in cliffs. Sometimes nests of other
species of birds were used, including those of belted kingfishers
(Ceryle alcyon), black-billed magpies, and American crows (Corvus
bachyrhynchos). Ponderosa pine (29%) and Douglas-fir (Pseudotsuga
menziesii) (10%) were the most often used species of coniferous trees;
important deciduous trees were black cottonwood (Populus trichocarpa)
(19%) and quaking aspen (8%). Man-made structures included nest boxes
(17%), buildings, power poles, and fence posts .
Nests of southeastern American kestrels are commonly located in old
woodpecker holes in snags 12 to 35 feet (39-114 m) above the ground
. Most nest cavities have been excavated by northern flickers,
red-headed woodpeckers (Melanerpes erythrocephalus), or red-bellied
woodpeckers (Melanerpes carolinus) . In north-central Florida,
southeastern American kestrels nested most frequently in longleaf pine
trees. Turkey oak and live oak (Quercus virginiana) were also occupied.
Natural cavities occurred solely in turkey oak, whereas all nest
cavities in longleaf pine were of woodpecker origin. The frequent use
of longleaf pine in this study indicates that this tree species is
particularly important for southeastern American kestrels nesting in
north-central Florida. Turkey oak snags may be important alternate nest
sites for southeastern American kestrels and may increase in importance
as longleaf pine becomes scarcer .
Foraging habitat - American kestrels generally forage in open habitats
that contain high perches . They probably use perch sites in tree
islands and along forest edges. They also hunt by hovering over areas
of short, open vegetation . American kestrels usually search for
prey from elevated perches such as fenceposts, utility poles and wires,
live trees, snags, and rock outcrops [15,36,40]. They prefer perches 16
feet (5 m) high or higher to perches over 8 feet (2.5 m) high .
Fischer and others found that American kestrels wintering in
central Utah predominantly used wire perches. Poles and trees were used
less often. In Venezuela, 25 feet (7.6 m) tall poles were more
acceptable for perches than 6 foot tall (1.8 m) poles .
Winter habitat - Winter habitat for American kestrels is generally the
same as nesting habitat, except that high elevation areas are not used
[15,29]. Several studies have found
differential habitat use by male and
female adult American kestrels in the southern United States and
northern Mexico. In areas of winter segregation, females often occupy
the best habitats which often includes open areas covered with short or
sparse ground vegetation. Males are found primarily in woodland
openings, along woodland edges, or in other less open habitats. This
differential habitat use may be due to the males arriving on the
wintering grounds later than the females. The females therefore may
establish their winter territories in the best habitats before the males
COVER REQUIREMENTS :
American kestrels most often select cavities with tight-fitting
entrances for nests, probably to protect the nest from ground predators
. The need for cover does not seem to affect foraging behavior.
When foraging, American kestrels are commonly found on high, exposed
perches where they can look out over wide stretches of grassland or
pasture to watch for prey . They prefer to hunt in open areas
covered only by short and sparse ground vegetation [12,24]. During the
winter, the availability of shelters may be a limiting factor. The
distribution of American kestrels wintering in Ohio was closely linked
to availability of old buildings and other sheltered roosts .
The thick understory created by pine regeneration in cut or unburned
forests in Florida may have an adverse effect on southeastern American
kestrel populations .
FOOD HABITS :
American kestrels eat primarily insects during the summer, but also take
mice and other small mammals, birds, lizards, toads, frogs, and small
snakes. They sometimes eat carrion [15,40,60]. During the winter in
northern latitudes they eat primarily small birds and rodents [17,24].
Invertebrates eaten by American kestrels include earthworms, spiders,
centipedes, scorpions, and insects of seven orders, including both
larvae and adult forms of Diptera, Lepidoptera, and Coleoptera.
Reptiles include five genera of lizards and at least six species of
snakes. Over 30 species of birds are listed as prey: They range in
weight from under 10 grams to over 150 grams. About 30 species of
mammals have also been listed as prey, with a weight range similar to
that of the avian prey . About seven genera of bats are listed as
Some specific prey items of American kestrels include grasshoppers,
dragonflies, crickets, June beetles, weevils, crayfish, snails, small
ground squirrels (Spermophilus spp.), wood rats (Neotoma spp.), pocket
gophers (Geomys spp.), red squirrels (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus),
chipmunks (Tamaia striatus, Eutamias spp.), least weasels (Mustela
rixosa), voles (Microtus spp.), cotton rats (Sigmodon spp.), house mice
(Mus musculus), and shrews (Sorex spp.). Many house sparrows (Passer
domesticus) are taken in rural and urban areas .
Some potential avian predators of American kestrels include great horned
owls (Bubo virginianus), golden eagles (Aquila chrysaetos), red-tailed
hawks (Buteo jamaicensis), and prairie falcons (Falco mexicanus) .
Other potential predators that have been reported preying on other
raptor species and their clutches include coyotes (Canis latrans),
bobcats (Lynx rufus), skunks (Mephitis mephitis and Spilogale putorius),
raccoons (Procyon lotor), and crows and ravens (Corvus spp).
MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS :
Although most American kestrel populations are currently stable or
increasing, there are numerous land use practices that could adversely
affect them . Agriculture, wetland drainage, mineral exploration
and mining, recreational activities, and general urban development can
lead to nest site unsuitability and reduction of prey populations .
Additionally, the increased demand for firewood in recent years has
reduced the number of trees which are most suitable for nesting and
perching American kestrels. Nest cavities excavated by woodpeckers are
seldom present in young stands. There is also evidence that many of the
pesticides used for insect control adversely affect American kestrel
populations. Accumulation of pesticide residues in the American kestrel
can result in lowered reproductive success or death of the individual
The lack of suitable nesting cavities has been suspected to be the
limiting factor for southeastern American kestrels . In areas
formerly dominated by longleaf pine flatwoods in north-central Florida,
southeastern American kestrels have declined an estimated 82 percent
since the early 1940's. Nest-site availability has decreased
significantly due to widespread logging of longleaf pine, plus the
clearing of isolated longleaf pine trees from agricultural fields.
Along the central Florida ridge in Lake, Orange, and Seminoli counties,
southeastern American kestrels declined with the conversion of the
original longleaf pine-turkey oak communities to citrus groves .
Nest boxes can provide nest sites for American kestrels in areas of
declining availability of natural cavities. Nest box program goals
should include expansion and reestablishment of nesting habitat. Nest
boxes require continuous maintenance so a program of snag management to
promote natural nest sites should occur along with a nest box program
Nest boxes are not always the optimal management tool. Both predation
and parasitism can increase after boxes are installed. Predator guards
must be installed on wooden poles and trees. Annual cleaning and
replacement of wood shavings reduces parasite loads. A major problem
with nest boxes is that European starlings (Sturnus vulgaris) also use
them. In Iowa, occupied boxes were used by starlings 62 percent of the
time. If starlings are controlled, American kestrels are more likely to
occupy the boxes .
American kestrels are fairly tolerant of human activity at the nest and
can be flushed from the nest and even caught on the nest without
abandonment . In Ohio, American kestrels used areas nearer centers
of human activity than did other raptors wintering in the same area
FIRE EFFECTS AND USE
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
DIRECT FIRE EFFECTS ON ANIMALS :
Direct mortality in raptors due to fire is rare . Adults can
probably easily escape fire. However, fire could directly reduce
American kestrel populations if the fire destroys occupied nest trees.
American kestrels have been reported to be attracted to fire and smoke
in search of prey [30,51]. They have been observed dashing close to
flames, sometimes landing on stumps or fallen branches in thick smoke
[44,49]. Low-severity fires probably have little effect on American
kestrels. Landers commented that light winter burning probably
does no substantial harm to raptors.
HABITAT RELATED FIRE EFFECTS :
American kestrels occur in the following 10 major fire-dependent plant
associations in the western United States: grasslands, semidesert
shrub-grasslands, sagebrush (Artemisia spp.)-grasslands, chaparral,
pinyon-juniper (Pinus spp.-Juniperus spp.) woodland, ponderosa pine,
Douglas-fir, spruce-fir (Picea spp.-Abies spp.), redwood (Sequoia
sempervirens), and giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) forests
. American kestrels occur in fire-dependent longleaf pine
communities in the eastern United States [26,58].
Although fire may reduce potential nest trees, it may also create snags
for nest and perch sites and enhance the foraging habitat of American
kestrels. In the Sierra Nevada, nesting American kestrels were two to
three times more numerous in a burned-over forest than in an unburned
forest nearby. This difference was attributed to the greater
availability of nest cavities in the burned forest . At Sagehen
Creek, California, American kestrels breed (but do not winter) in burned
forests and along edges between sagebrush and forest habitats. American
kestrels do not use areas of thick cover because they require an open
understory in which to maneuver and visually locate prey. American
kestrels often use fresh burns when foraging due to increased prey
visibility [16,32,49]. A decrease in the frequency of ground fires
leads to an increase in vegetative cover and, therefore, has a negative
impact on habitat quality for American kestrels [4,26]. In the Sierra
Nevada, Balgooyen found that open areas created by a severe fire in
ponderosa pine and lodgepole pine (Pinus contorta)-red fir (Abies
magnifica) forests provided only temporary habitat for American
kestrels. Eleven to twelve years after the fire, brush vegetation
including deerbrush (Ceanothus integerrimus) and snowbrush ceanothus (C.
velutinus) formed dense cover in the burned areas .
American kestrels are favored by fires that open up or clear
pinyon-juniper woodlands . Raptors associated with pinyon-juniper
woodlands depend upon edges of openings created by fire and scattered
islands of unburned woodlands . In pinyon-juniper woodlands on the
Humboldt National Forest, California, American kestrels were observed
only on burned areas and only during the second season. Surveys were
conducted in only two seasons .
American kestrels congregate at both controlled and naturally occurring
fires to hunt along the edge (usually the windward side) for insects,
small mammals, and reptiles [40,49,57]. Howell reported seeing 13
southeastern American kestrels feeding over a "raging" marsh fire.
During a January fire in scrublands near Immokalee, Florida, 15 American
kestrels were observed hunting along the approximate 492 feet (150 m)
windward edge of the fire. The linear concentration (1 bird/10 m) was a
hundredfold greater than that on utility lines in the area that same
winter. American kestrels preyed exclusively on insects which flew away
from the fire into the wind .
FIRE USE :
Prescribed fire can be beneficial to American kestrel populations by
enhancing habitat and increasing the prey base [16,32,33]. In the
sandhills communities of Florida, fire suppression has caused some sites
to have dense understories, particularly of fire-intolerant rosemary
(Ceratiola ericoides). Such sites may be unsuitable for southeastern
American kestrels and a program of prescribed burning in these habitats
is recommended . Several studies indicate that many prey
populations increase rapidly subsequent to burning in response to
increased food availability [16,32]. Fire suppression in grasslands was
detrimental to small bird and mammal populations due to organic matter
accumulation and reduced plant vigor .
Prescribed burning plans should strive for creation of maximum
interspersion of openings and edge, with high vegetative diversity.
Habitats should be maintained in a random mosaic of open areas and
standing trees and snags should be conserved. In most cases, burning
plans must be integrated with proper range management. Reseeding of
perennial grasses as well as a period of rest from livestock grazing may
be necessary to achieve desired goals. Burning should be deferred until
nesting is completed in areas where impact to breeding American kestrels
may occur. After logging, Benson suggested broadcast burning rather
than piling slash to reduce high temperature fires which may be
destructive to soil organisms and small mammals. For more information
regarding the use of prescribed fire in specific habitats for the
benefit of raptors, see Dodd .
An extensive body of research has been published on fire effects on animals
in semidesert grassland, oak savanna, and Madrean oak woodlands of southeastern
Arizona, including the response of American kestrel to fire. See the
Research Project Summary of this work for more information on
American kestrel and more than 100 additional species of birds, small
mammals, grasshoppers, and herbaceous and woody plant species.
FIRE REGIMES :
Find fire regime information for the plant communities in which this
species may occur by entering the species name in the FEIS home page under
"Find Fire Regimes".
WILDLIFE SPECIES: Falco sparverius
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23. Hamerstrom, Frances; Hamerstrom, Frederick N.; Hart, John. 1973. Nest
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24. Hardin, Kimberly I.; Evans, Keith E. 1977. Cavity nesting bird habitat
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27. Howell, Arthur H. 1932. Florida bird life. Tallahassee, FL: Florida
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28. Kingsley, Neal P.; Nicholls, Thomas H. 1991. Raptor habitat in the
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burning in pinyon-juniper woodlands. Reno, NV: University of Nevada. 55
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OH: The Ohio State University. 128 p. Dissertation. In: Dissertation
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Anne. 1982. Foraging by cattle egrets and American kestrels at a fire's
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Moscow, ID: University of Idaho, Wilderness Research Center. 6 p.
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southeastern American kestrels in relation to habitat use. Raptor
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Part 17. Tuesday, November 15, 1994. Federal Register. 59(219):
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What is Strabismus?
by Dr. Jeffrey Cooper & Rachel Cooper (no relation). © 2001-2016
Strabismus or Lazy Eye Surgery (Amblyopia)
Orthoptics: Pre- and/or Post-surgical Eye Muscle Training
Vision Therapy: Non-surgical or Pre- and/or post-surgical -- Nonsurgical treatment, but can be used in conjunction with eye surgery, as appropriate.
Orthoptics is the medical term for eye muscle training procedures, provided by orthoptists and/or optometrists, which address eye teaming and visual clarity (acuity) only. Technically, there are broad distinctions between Orthoptics and Vision Therapy (which includes Orthoptics). Orthoptics regards strabimus as an eye muscle problem and treatment is directed toward muscle strength. Optometrists who provide Vision Therapy look at the neurological control system of the eyes and thus treat the whole visual system (and whole person). Vision Therapy alters the entire nervous system and reflexive behavior, thus resulting in a lasting cure. In general, orthoptics is home-based therapy. In general, Vision Therapy is performed under supervision in an optometrist's office and home therapy is an adjunct. Recent scientific research has shown that office-based Vision Therapy with homework is more successful than home-based therapy alone. See National Eye Institute: More Effective Treatment Identified for Common Childhood Vision Disorder
Optometric Vision Therapy
Optometric Vision Therapy is an individualized, supervised, non-surgical treatment program designed to correct eye movements and visual-motor deficiencies. Vision Therapy sessions include procedures designed to enhance the brain's ability to control:
Visual-motor skills and endurance are developed through the use of specialized computer and optical devices, including therapeutic lenses, prisms, and filters. During the final stages of therapy, the patient's newly acquired visual skills are reinforced and made automatic through repetition and by integration with motor and cognitive skills.
- eye alignment,
- eye teaming,
- eye focusing abilities,
- eye movements, and/or
- visual processing.
While Vision Therapy includes the eye muscle training methods of orthoptics, it has advanced far beyond it to include training and rehabilitation of the eye-brain connections (neuroplasticity) involved in vision. Clinical and research developments in Vision Therapy are closely allied with developments in neuroscience and research continues.
In Vision Therapy programs, developmental optometrists look at the neurological control system and thus are treating the whole visual-motor system and altering reflexive behavior, which results in a lasting cure. Also, most optometrists rely on office based therapy, which they believe is more accurately performed and monitored.
Additional research by the National Eye Institute showed that older children with lazy eye (7 years - 17 years) improve significantly with therapy. If one considers the benefits of in-office therapy combined with home therapy and the likelihood that the older child with be more cooperative...it makes a case for more treatment of older children.
To learn more about Vision Therapy, go to:
A Parent's Choice: Choosing Between Surgery or Vision Therapy
Read what several parents and adult patients have written about Choosing Non-surgical Vision Therapy and going without Eye Surgery and/or experiences with Lazy Eye Strabismus Surgery and post-surgical Vision Therapy.
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Plants are essential to everyone's lives. Welcome to Plantlife.
"How the merry bluebell rings
To the mosses underneath..."
- Alfred Lord Tennyson, "Adeline"
A vibrant blue flower that probably needs no introduction. Its bell-like flowers with up-rolled tips are a sure sign that spring has arrived.
Where it grows
Woodlands, also hedgerows and grassland.
Best time to see
Late April and late May.
- In the Language of Flowers it symbolises everlasting love.
How's it doing?
Although still common in Britain, bluebells are threatened locally by habitat destruction, collection from the wild, and from the escape of the Spanish bluebell from gardens and subsequent cross-breeding and loss of true native populations. The latter is a particular concern - during our last survey around one in six bluebells found in broadleaved woodland was a Spanish rather than native bluebell.
Bluebells are now protected from illegal commercial harvesting.
3 things you may not know
- The UK is home to about half of the world’s bluebell population.
- Its sap was to glue feathers onto arrows in the Middle Ages and to stiffen ruffs in Tudor times.
- It is dedicated to England's Patron Saint, St George.
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February 26, 2013 > American Civil Rights heroes share personal stories
American Civil Rights heroes share personal stories
Submitted By Kristen Yasukawa, ACOE
The Alameda County Office of Education (ACOE), in partnership with Carlmont High School in Belmont will host an evening of American civil rights history on February 28 featuring personal accounts from:
Minnijean Brown Trickey - Minnijean will share her story as one of nine African American students who collectively desegregated Little Rock Central High School in 1957, one of the most important events in the African American Civil Rights Movement.
Anthony Chavez, Grandson of Cesar Chavez - Anthony will share his grandfather's story as a Latino farm worker to renowned civil rights advocate, national labor leader and founder of the United Farm Workers.
Karen Korematsu, Daughter of Fred Korematsu - Karen will share her father's story as a Japanese American who resisted placement in the government's internment camps in 1942.
The speaker presentations will begin at 7 p.m. and will conclude with a panel discussion. The event will be held at Carlmont High School and is free and open to the public. Curriculum will be provided to teachers during a special workshop at 6:30 p.m.
Although each individual story is unique, together they make up the story of civil rights in America and highlight the importance of taking a stance for what is right. This event is part of ACOE's ongoing efforts to connect educators with the resources and tools to teach civil rights to Alameda County students in grades K-12. As a partner with the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation for Service-Learning and the Fred T. Korematsu Institute for Civil Rights and Education, ACOE developed civil rights curriculum for elementary, middle and high school students and manages educator toolkits that incorporate projects focusing on social justice and civic responsibility.
"ACOE is committed to civil rights education and to teach our students to remember and appreciate these leaders' fight for equality for all of us," said Karen Monroe, Alameda County Associate Superintendent of Education. "In a time where we are coping with cyber-bullying and gender orientation equality, it is imperative that we foster courage and conviction in our students so they may have the strength to stand up for their own rights and the rights of others."
Personal Accounts from Three Civil Rights Heroes
Thursday, Feb 28
7 p.m. - 9 p.m.
(6:30 p.m. - Special workshop and curriculum for teachers)
Carlmont High School Performing Arts Center
1400 Alameda De Las Pulgas, Belmont
For information: Evan Goldberg at (510) 670-4233 or email [email protected]
Free event for students, teachers and community members
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A sea of celebrations to protect the Caspian
Five countries are hosting events to mark "Caspian Day". Beach-cleaning events, workshops and concerts will highlight the pollution problems faced by the sea and their effect on the Caspian region.
Geneva, 12 August 2010 - Renowned for its caviar among the world's epicureans, the Caspian Sea boasts much more wildlife than its famous sturgeon fish. The world's largest enclosed body of water is a unique ecosystem and home to over 400 endemic species. But for the last two decades, the Caspian Sea is increasingly exposed to the threat of pollution from agricultural run-off, oil and gas exploitation and industrial waste.
Today, five countries are celebrating "Caspian Day" to highlight the environmental risks faced by the sea and their effect on the wider region.
Beach-cleaning activities, conferences, thematic workshops, and concerts will be held throughout the day in Azerbaijan, Islamic Republic of Iran, Kazakhstan, Russian Federation and Turkmenistan. The events aim to show that protecting the marine environment of the Caspian Sea is essential for improving the living conditions of the 15 million people living in the region.
The celebrations will also mark the contribution made by the protection of the Caspian Sea environment to peace and stability in a region of global importance for oil and gas exploration, exploitation and transport.
Caspian Day marks the entry into force of the Framework Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea. Known as the Tehran Convention, the agreement was concluded on 4 November 2003 and is still the only legally binding agreement between the five states.
The first two protocols of the Tehran Convention have already been negotiated and are ready for adoption. They will introduce cooperation on preparation and response measures for oil spills, as well as common rules for dealing with the environmental impact of activities with potential trans-boundary effects.
It is expected that the protocols will be ready for signature when the Contracting Parties to the Tehran Convention meet for the third time in Kazakhstan in November 2010.
Caspian Day is also meant to raise awareness and solicit public engagement in conserving biodiversity and reducing pollution from land based sources. Binding protocols on these issues are in the process of being finalised.
In addition, cooperation between the environment community and the fisheries sector will address declining fish stocks and promote ecosystem resilience as a way to sustain the 140 species of fish living in the sea, sturgeon being one of the most important.
UNEP is proud to provide the secretariat services of the Tehran Convention pending the decision of the Contracting Parties on the location and arrangements for these services in the region. Such a decision was already called for by the presidents of the Caspian countries when they met in Tehran in October 2007 and is now urgently needed, in order to seal the ownership of the Convention process by the Caspian States. The issue will be high on the agenda of the Conference of the Parties of the Convention when it convenes for the third time on 24 - 26 November 2010, in Astana, Kazakhstan.
"Increased oil and gas production and transport, decline in fisheries and biodiversity, impacts of climate change - all these environmental threats that the Caspian Sea is facing have a strong impact on the daily lives of the people around the Sea", said United Nations Under-Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director Achim Steiner. "UNEP is proud and honoured to provide the secretariat services to the Framework Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment of the Caspian Sea, the Tehran Convention, which aims to assist the Caspian States to counter these threats and promote sustainable development. Sustainable development, however, is a matter for everyone. Caspian Day is held to inform the public of the unique and sensitive environment of the biggest inland water body on Earth. It is only when all stakeholders take responsibility and when they are involved in decision-making and environmental protection efforts, that the Caspian region can prosper in a truly sustainable manner".
At 1000km long, the Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth. It is a remnant of the ancient ocean Tethis, which connected the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans around 50 million years ago. Around 130 rivers feed into the Caspian Sea, the largest being the Volga.
Today's celebrations will mark both the achievements and the challenges of an ongoing process which should keep the Caspian environment safe for generations to come.
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ATLANTA (AP) — A federal advisory panel is recommending that people 65 and older who are around infants get vaccinated against whooping cough.
The Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices gave the advice Wednesday because of an outbreak of whooping cough this year in California, where more than 6,200 cases have been reported.
Nine of the 10 infants who have died were too young to be fully vaccinated against the disease.
Children get whopping cough vaccine in a series of shots beginning at 2 months.
Health officials believe elderly caregivers play a small role in spreading the contagious infection to infants. But a whooping cough vaccine is not currently recommended for the elderly.
Whooping cough cases tend to run in cycles. The last peak was in 2005.
(© Copyright 2010 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)
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As part of its overall strategy to become a carbon neutral city by 2025, Copenhagen has become the first Scandanavian city to adopt a policy that requires green roofs for all new buildings with roof slopes of less than 30 degrees. Copenhagen presently has 20,000 square meters (over 215,000 square feet) of flat roofs. It is hoped that as much as 5,000 square meters of new development each year will be covered with vegetation.
Vegetated roofs, or green roofs, provide several benefits for buildings and their surroundings. They can absorb as much as 80% of rainfall, helping to reduce stress on stormwater systems. They help reduce urban temperatures (the “heat island effect“). And, they protect roof membranes from the sun’s UV rays and the greatest temperature swings, such that roof membrane life is extended as much as double that of an unprotected membrane.
Thanks for the tip @mona_jensen!
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The attempts of the university of Minnesota officials to explain why they canceled the premiere of “Troubled Waters,” a documentary about the Mississippi River and the pollution therein, couldn’t get more clumsy.
From the time the story broke in the Twin Cities Daily Planet this week, university officials have paid the price for trying to get ahead of a story, which alleged undue influence by big agriculture, by releasing information in small pieces from different people, who often were unavailable for questions. It’s harder to find the smoking gun of influence that way, true, but it’s easier to notice that each person telling the real story, is telling a somewhat different real story.
The university is a land-grant institution which exists partly to serve agriculture. The film was made under contract to the Bell Museum of Natural History. The Bell is part of the university.
On Friday, Susan Weller, the Bell’s director, explained why she pulled the film:
“Our standard procedure at the Bell Museum is that our exhibits and educational products have at least one researcher who oversees the project’s scientific integrity from inception to completion. Unfortunately, this procedure was not followed by the Bell Media unit for production of the documentary, ‘Troubled Waters: A Mississippi River Story.’ As Director of the Bell Museum, I am responsible for ensuring these standards are followed, and I regret our error in this case.
Late on Friday, MPR reporter Stephanie Hemphill brought another story to the story. The dean of the U of M’s School of Agriculture — the Bell Museum is part of the School of Agriculture — said one reason the film was pulled was because it “vilified” agriculture.
Dean Al Levine said the film opens with a lot of drama, and spends too much time discussing agricultural pollution before considering any other sources of water pollution.
“Agriculture is a major contributor to these issues, we know that,” he said, noting the film takes a half-hour to talk about other sources of runoff, such as cities or lawn chemicals.
Levine says the film isn’t inaccurate, but it’s unbalanced. He said it should have included scientists who are trying to figure out how to feed 9 billion people by 2050.
Levine reveals the issue is actually editorial, not scientific as the U of M had asserted earlier in the day. He says it’s not inaccurate, but that the film should have included scientists who are trying to figure out how to feed 9 billion people in 2050. But that’s not science as much as perspective and that’s what asserting editorial influence looks like.
Levine’s suggestion seems to be that the Gulf’s “dead zone” may be the trade-off for preventing hunger. And maybe it is. It would make a great documentary about the environmental cost of eradicating hunger.
A person who has seen the film says it was fair. He has a perspective, too. He’s with an environmental organization.
That’s part of the problem. This isn’t independent journalism. It’s not a documentary. (Add) If content is changed by those outside the production process (/add), it’s an infomercial and the debate is over which self-interest owns its soul. That’s what often happens when a combination of private and public money — often with its own intent — is used to contract with an organization that may have “skin in the game,” to produce a piece that will end up being shown on public television under the label of journalism or backed by its journalistic credibility. Any time the word “promote” appears in a mission statement for any editorial
project process — it does in this one — it disqualifies itself from that classification. (Update: I acknowledge that a documentary is not by definition journalism)
The process in this case is not how journalism works. It’s how advertising works. Perhaps iit’s too late for “Troubled Waters.” By the time it airs on television — if it ever airs on television — it may have little integrity because the process that created it is too polluted. The larger question now is how many other “documentaries” around here are produced the same way?
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Tuesday, August 24th: Online Investigation of the 4 parts of the Earth's System
Today in class we investigated further the four parts of the Earth's system: Atmosphere, Hydrosphere, Biosphere and Geosphere. Scholars investigated online, using the two websites linked below, and they filled out the worksheet that you can download below that:
Wednesday, August 25th: Exploring the 4 parts of Earth's System outside!
Today we explored the nature outside Power Center Academy to make observations regarding the 4 parts of the Earth's system. Scholars were paired together, one scholar's job was to record observations, and one scholars job was to make observations. You can find the observation worksheet below.
Tonight's Homework:Go outside around your house and describe your observations of at least 3 of the 4 parts of the Earth’s system. For each part that you are observing, you must write 3 sentences each for a total of 9 sentences. Then, describe 3 interactions that you see between two different parts of the Earth’s system using a complete sentence to describe each one.Total : 12 sentences for this assignment. If you are not able to go outside, please look out a window or observe the nature out your car window on your drive home.
Today, scholars exhibited their knowledge and understanding of the 4 parts of the Earth's system by taking Weekly Quiz 3. Scholars are also starting to track their progress within Unit 2: Ecology. A copy of our Unit 2 Weekly Quiz Tracker can be downloaded below.
Today, we learned about three new vocabulary terms in our Ecology Unit: Ecology (the study of organisms and their interactions with each other and their environment), Biotic (living organisms such as plants and animals), and Abioti (non-living things such as temperature, light, and soil). We investigated these terms using our textbook (Chapter 2, Section 1, page 48) and the Power Point that you can download below. Also below are our Cornell Notes and Homework worksheet.
Tonight's Homework: Please observe three abiotic factors and three biotic factors from outside your home or apartment. Write at least one way that they depend on each other. Combine these observations into a descriptive, 5-sentence paragraph. You can write this assignment on the back of your Cornell Notes.
Tuesday, August 31st: Organization of our Environment!
Today, we finished our Cornell Notes by defining Population, Community, Ecosystem using pages 49,50, and 51 in our textbooks! Once we were done discussing these new terms, we started on a worksheet (that you can download below). This worksheet is for homework and will be due on Thursday, September 2nd.
After you've finished your research and are ready to complete your Power Point, download the following Power Point template and get started! Remember what you learned about Power Point in Ms. Simpson's class!!!
Thursday, September 2nd: Weekly Quiz 4: Everything is Connected!
Today, we demonstrated our knowledge of our 6 vocabulary terms from this week on Weekly Quiz 4. After completing today's weekly quiz, scholars were also asked to track their weekly quiz on their Weekly Quiz Tracker. Instructions for tracking our weekly quizzes can be found below:
Go to www.quia.com/web
Log in using your username and password for Quia in the upper left-hand corner of the screen.
Click on Science and your homeroom section
For whatever quiz you need to track, click on the bar graph symbol to the left of the quiz title --> this will let you view the results.
First, create a bar graph documenting your score on the front of your tracker.
Then, write down every question that you got wrong and the correct answer on the back.
If you need an extra sheet to continue writing questions that you got wrong, raise your hand for Ms. McGuirk.
Friday, September 3rd: Submitting our Favorite Animal Projects!
Today, we finished our Favorite Animal Projects, and submitted them to Ms. McGuirk's Teacher Projects Dropbox. Instructions for submitting student projects can be found below:
Locate the document that you want to submit to Ms. McGuirk
Make sure it has been saved like Ms. McGuirk has instructed.
Click on the Teacher Projects folder on your desktop.
Click on the folder with McGuirk --> you will see McGuirk Dropbox
Drag your document from your finder onto McGuirk Dropbox.
Click OK and you have successfully submitted your document!
Tuesday, September 7th: Living Things Need Energy
Today, we read Chapter 2, Section 2 (pages 52 & 53) in our textbook to learn 7 new vocabulary terms: Producer (autotroph), Consumer (heterotroph), Herbivore, Carnivore, Omnivore, Scavenger, and Decomposer. See attached Power Point below to look at our notes for today, as well as the Cornell Notes worksheet that we use to take our notes.
Wednesday, September 8th: Online Practice of our Knowledge!
Today, we used an excellent website to help us practice our knowlegde of Producers vs. Consumers vs. Decomposers & Herbivores vs. Omnivores vs. Carnivores. The games can be found by clicking on the below links:
Thursday, September 9th: Weekly Quiz 5 Producers and Consumers
Today, we demonstrated our knowledge of our 7 vocabulary terms from this week on Weekly Quiz 5. After completing today's weekly quiz, scholars were also asked to track their weekly quiz on their Weekly Quiz Tracker.
Today, scholars submitted their Favorite Animal Projects to Ms. McGuirk's Dropbox for grading. We began this assignment on last Wednesday (September 1st) and continued working on it last Friday (September 3rd), so this was the last opportunity for scholars to turn it in. Then, we watched a few clips from "Planet Earth" to see real-life decomposers, producers, and consumers as they exist in places like the Amazon Rainforest!
Monday, September 13th: Food Chains, Food Webs & Energy Pyramids
Today, scholars took Cornell Notes using the remainder of Chapter 2, Section 2 in their science textbooks. We learned about 6 vocabulary terms (Food Chain, Food Web, Energy Pyramid, Primary Consumer, Secondary Consumer, and Tertiary Consumer. The Power Point from today's lesson and a copy of today's Cornell Notes can be downloaded below:
Homework tonight: Using today's vocabulary terms (see above), make 6 notecards. On the front of each notecard, write the term (from the left side of your Cornell Notes), and on the back of each notecard, write the definition (from the right side of your Cornell Notes).
Tuesday, September 14th: Creating our own Food Web!
Today, scholars were assigned an animal/plant and they were told where they got their energy(what they ate) and what they gave their energy to (what ate them). Then, scholars constructed their own food chains in groups of three or four. From those separate food chains, we joined together to make an entire ecosystem's food web.
Wednesday, September 15th: Practicing our Knowledge of Food Webs
The concept of food chains and food webs can be tricky for some scholars, so we spent today's class practicing reading and deciphering food chains and food webs. The worksheets we used can be downloaded below.
Tonight's Homework: Using the worksheet that was given in class, cut out the animals/plants and construct your own food web on a separate sheet of paper. Then label your animals/plants as the following: producer, primary, secondary, tertiary consumer, herbivore, omnivore, carnivore. Finally, answer the five questions from your worksheet on the back of your worksheet.
Today, we demonstrated our knowledge of our 6 vocabulary terms from this week on Weekly Quiz 6. After completing today's weekly quiz, scholars were also asked to track their weekly quiz on their Weekly Quiz Tracker.
Friday, September 17th: Investigating the Food Web of an Owl
Today, scholars completed their second sixth grade science experiment! We investigated the food web of a barn owl by dissecting an owl pellet - the regurgitated bones and fur of what owls eat. Scholars identified the animals from which owls get their energy. They also learned to identify and classify bones of animals like the shrew, vole, rodents, and birds.
This weekend's homework:In preparation for our Biomes Research Project, scholars were given a research worksheet to complete over the weekend. Scholars need to use Chapter 4, Section 1 of their textbooks (pages 94-101) to fill in the chart on the front of their worksheet and answer the questions on the back.
Monday, September 20th: Biomes Presentation Project Overview
Today, we went over the expectations for our Biomes Presentation Projects! These projects will consist of an individual and group aspect, and the rubric can be found below. Scholars were given a research worksheet to fill out and complete by Tuesday, so that they could complete their virtual tour by the end of the week!
Tonight's Homework: Scholars were given a news article handout about how farmers have been affecting the food chain that surrounds them by accidentally poisoning scavengers in that food chain, vultures. There are five reading comprehension on the back of this worksheet for scholars to answer after reading.
Tuesday, September 21st: Individual Work Time Day 2
Scholars were given the majority of the period to individually research their biomes. Their research worksheets containing the information for all 4 components of their projects are due tomorrow!
Wednesday, September 22nd: Last day of individual work time!
Scholars were given their last day of individual work time, and so they needed to focus on creating their virtual tour of their biome! Scholars are encouraged to be creative, to put in lots of pictures, custom animations, and designs!
Tonight's Homework: Make 6 notecards for each of the 6 major land biomes (Tundra, Grassland, Desert, Coniferous Forest, Deciduous Forest, and Tropical Forest). On the back of each notecard scholars need to write the characteristic climate and animals/plants found in each biome.
Thursday, September 23rd: Weekly Quiz 7 & Group Presentation Meeting
Today in class, scholars completed a short, 10-question weekly quiz on the 6 land biomes of the world. Then, scholars met with the other scholars in the class that shared the same biomes as they did in order to prepare for their presentations on Friday or Tuesday. Download the below document to see the notes and information we gathered during today's meeting.
Click here to upload file
Friday, September 24th: Biomes Presentation Day 1
Monday, September 27th: Independent Ecology Unit Test Review
Tuesday, September 28th: Biomes Presentations Day 2
Wednesday, September 29th: Ecology Unit Jeopardy Review
Thursday, September 30th: Ecology Unit Test
Friday, October 1st: Making our Vocab Ring
This is the end of our Ecology Unit! Next Unit: Energy
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Disorders of arousal (i.e., sleepwalking, confusional arousals and sleep terrors) have sometimes been associated with violent behaviors against other individuals. A preliminary review of possible triggers for violence during disorders of arousal finds that violent behavior most frequently appears to follow direct provocation by, or close proximity to, another individual.
The review, authored by Mark R. Pressman, PhD, of Sleep Medicine Services at Lankenau Hospital in Wynnewood, Penn., was based on a review of 32 cases drawn from medical and legal literature. Each case contained a record of violence associated with disorders of arousal, as well as details of the violent behavior.
The review found that violent behaviors associated with provocations and/or close proximity were found to be present in 100 percent of confusional arousal patients and 81 percent of sleep terror patients. Violent behaviors were associated with provocation or close proximity in 40-90 percent of sleepwalking cases. The provocation was often quite minor, and the response exaggerated greatly.
According to the review, violent behavior occurs in slightly different ways in sleepwalking, confusional arousals and sleep terrors. In the case of sleepwalking, the violence occurs only after the sleepwalking episode has been triggered and is underway. During the sleepwalking episode, while moving about the environment, the sleepwalking individual encounters someone else – most likely a family member. This person may approach or make physical contact with the sleepwalker, triggering a violent reaction.
With confusional arousals, violence may be precipitated in one of two ways. An individual may have a confusional arousal associated with complex behaviors but never leave the bed. The bed partner or parent may try to calm or restrain the individual by grabbing or holding them. More often, a confusional arousal occurs when someone attempts to awaken a sleeping individual in bed.
Sleep terrors differ from sleepwalking and confusional arousals in that the individual appears to react to some type of frightening image. The individual may act in an improper or agitated manner without regard to reality. If another individual is encountered or is in close proximity, violent behavior may occur.
Dr. Pressman noted that, despite the findings made in the review, the overwhelming majority of sleepwalking, confusional arousal and sleep terror episodes do not involve aggression or violence.
“There is no evidence that individuals with these disorders are inherently violent or predetermined to seek out victims,” said Pressman. “Episodes of sleepwalking related violence against other individuals almost never occur more than once. At least among the cases reported here, the majority describe close proximity or direct provocation before violent behaviors. It is possible that the absence of physical contact or proximity to other individuals is the only factor that distinguishes violent sleepwalkers from nonviolent sleepwalkers. This suggests under the right circumstances that any sleepwalker might respond to a perceived threat or close proximity with violence. Families are frequently advised to not touch or grab sleepwalkers during episodes as they may resist physically.”
Sleepwalking occurs when you get up from bed and walk around even though you are still asleep. It can also involve a series of other complex actions. Sleepwalking is more common in children and affects both boys and girls. It can begin as soon as a child is able to walk. The rate of it in children is as high as 17 percent. It peaks by the time they are eight to 12 years old. Most children with it also had confusional arousals at a younger age.
Rarely, sleepwalking may begin at any time in the adult life, even when someone is in their seventies. Up to four percent of adults sleepwalk. In adults, men are much more likely to display aggressive behavior when they sleepwalk. Your chance of sleepwalking can increase if one or both parents had sleepwalking episodes as a child or adult.
Confusional arousals take place when you are waking up, or just after waking up. You act in a way that is very strange and confused. It appears that you don’t know where you are or what you are doing. Your behavior may consist of slow speech, confused thinking, poor memory or blunt responses to questions or requests. Confusional arousals occur at the same rate among both men and women. Rates are high among children and adults under the age of 35. It may occur in as many as 17 percent of children. About three to four percent of adults have confusional arousals. You are more likely to have this disorder if a relative also has it.
Sleep terrors is also called “night terrors”. In a typical episode, you will sit up in bed and pierce the night with a "blood-curdling" scream or shout. This scream can include kicking and thrashing. You may say or shout things that others are unable to understand. You will also have a look of intense fear with eyes wide open and heart racing. You may also sweat, breathe heavily and be very tense. At times, you may even bolt out of bed and run around the house. This response is more common in adults. It may also lead to violent actions. Sleep terrors are more common in children, and affects males and females equally. It may affect as many as 6.5 percent of all children. It tends to begin when a child is four to 12 years old. Children with sleep terrors will often talk in their sleep and sleepwalk. In rare cases, it can begin in adulthood. Overall, only about 2.2 percent of adults have it. Very few people over the age of 65 have sleep terrors. There is a strong genetic and family link. It can occur in several members of the same family.
Source: American Academy of Sleep Medicine
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You are here: Home » Tamilnadu Temples » Tanjore » Brihadeeswarar Temple
Tanjore Brihadeeswarar Temple
The Periya Koil or 'Big Temple' as Brihadeeswara temple is known turns 1000 years. Showcasing pure Dravidian architecture, the temple was built in the Chola capital of Tanjavur under the aegis of the Chola king Rajaraja Chola in 1010 A.D. Designed by Sama Varma, the architecture of Brihadeeswara temple is unique in that the temple casts no shadows on the ground at noon during any time of the year.
History of Brihadeeswarar Temple
The Brihadeeswarar Temple was built to display the emperor's vision of his power and his relationship to the universal order. On the 275th day of his 25th regal year (1010 A.D) Raja Raja Chola handed over a gold-plated kalasam (copper pot or finial) for the final consecration to crown the vimana. Located in the nerve centre of the Chola empire, the temple attracted musicians, scholars, craftsman and merchants. Most notably, it served as a platform for the dancers who excelled in the traditional dance form of Bharatha Natyam. The Cholas were ousted by the Pandyas. The Pandyas were followed by the Vijayanagara empire. In 1535, the Vijaynagar king installed a Nayak king, hence, the era of Tanjore Nayaks which lasted till mid-17th century. In 1674, the Marathas conquered Tanjore. Later, like the rest of the country, Thanjavur too fell into British hands. The inscriptions and frescoes on the walls of the temple record the rise and fall of the city's fortunes.
The Brihadeeshwara temple has over a 29 sq.m base. It has a soaring vimana (Srivimana) and a relatively short gopuram. The inner sanctum and the gopuram were constructed over a period of 12 years from a single piece of granite weighing around 80 tonnes. The dome was hauled into place along a 4-km earthwork ramp. The Srivimana or the central vimana has 16 tiers rising to a height of 216 ft, one of the tallest in the world. It symbolizes Mount Meru.
The presiding deity is Shiva in the form of a Lingam called Peruvudaiya, Rasjarajeshwaramudvya. The massive Lingam is housed in a huge 2-storey garbhagriha. The inner wall of the garbhagriha or the sanctum sanctorum has sculptures of 108 dance poses called karmas performed by Lord Shiva himself. A huge statue of Nandi measuring 6 m length and 3.7 m in height faces the inner sanctum. The statue of Nandi is a monolith and weighs 25 tonnes. It is, in fact, one of the largest Nandi statues in India.
Before you enter the sanctum sanctorum, you will see the two idols of Ganesha in the corridor. On tapping the two, you will feel the sound traveling through stone in one idol and through metal on the other.
There is a 16.5m (55ft) high temple dedicated to Lord Subrahmanya that is considered to have some of the best carvings in South India.
Note: The corridor is peaceful and welcoming and unlike other temples does not have shops.
The Brihadeeswara temple is one of the few great Indian monuments listed in UNESCO's World Heritage list of historical sites and monuments.
How to get to Tanjore?
Nearest Airport : The nearest Airport Tiruchirapalli (58 kms) and is connected by Indian Airlines. Indian Airlines also connects Trichy with Madurai and Chennai.
Nearest Railhead : Tanjore. There are trains to Chennai (9 hr, 3 daily), Chidambaram (3 hr, 4 daily), Rameswaram, Madurai (6 hr, 2 daily), Villupuram (for Pondicherry) (6 hr, 190km), Tirupati, Kumbakonam (1 hr) and Tiruchirappalli (1½ hr, several).
By Road: Thanjavur is connected with all major cities.
Places to Stay
Hotels In Tanjore :
- Hotel Tamil Nadu, (331421; fax 331970), Gandhiji Rd.
- Hotel Sangam (339451; fax 336695: Email: [email protected]), Trichy Rd.
- Hotel Parisutham (331801; fax 330318: Email: [email protected]), 55 Grand Anicut Canal Rd.
Other Places of Interest in Tanjore
- The Palace - The palace near the temple is a huge complex built partly by the Nayaks around 1550 AD and partly by the Marathas. The Sangitha Mahal (Hall of Music) on the first floor has a fine auditorium with excellent acoustics.
- Art Gallery - In the Palace there are a number of granite and bronze statues of the Chola period. Timings : 9.00 - 13.00 hrs. Wednesday Holiday.
- Schwartz Church ( In the Palace garden ) - Built in 1779 AD by Rajah Serfoji in token of his affection for the Rev. C.V Schwartz of the Danish mission.
Other temples near Tanjore
- Thirukandiyur (10 Kms) - Temples of Brahmasirekandeswarar and Harshavimochana Perumal.
- Kumbakonam (36 Kms) - Famous for Sarangapani, Kumbeswarar, Nageswarar, and the Ramaswamy temples. Mahamagam congregation takes place once in 12 years; last held in 1992.
- Swamimalai (32 Kms) - One of the six Abodes (Arupadaiveedu ) dedicated to Lord Subramanya.
- Darasuram (34 Kms) - This temple dedicated to Lord Siva, was built by Rajendra Chola.
- Thirubuvanam (45 Kms) - 13th Centuary Chola temple dedicated to Lord Siva.
- Thiruvaiyaru (13 Kms) - Where the famous Saint Thyagaraja lived and attained Samadhi. Music festival is held here every January in honour of the saint composer.
- Manora ( 65 Kms ) - The 8-Storey victory tower was built by Rajah Serfoji in 1814 to commemorate the victory of the British over Napoleon Bonaparte at Waterloo.
- Tiruvarur (55 Kms) - The Thyagarajaswami Temple here has the biggest temple chariot in Tamil Nadu. This is the birth place of Saint Thyagaraja - one of the musical Trinity. Arulmigu Thyagarajaswamy Car Festival is celebrated in March -April.
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Joint damage and cartilage repair
What can be taken for joint health that will cause the body to grow back the cartilage that the joint is missing?
The cartilage is essentially avascular (has no blood or nerve supply) and is therefore quite a difficult area to heal. Long term therapy is essential in ensuring healthy repair so that further complications are not experienced in the future. Cartilage is the soft tissue padding which is present between all joint and bones and acts like a shock absorber. Understandably the cartilage experiences a lot of wear, tear and damage over time. The best way to improve the health of the cartilage is to reduce wear and tear, inflammation, increase nutrients and antioxidants to the area and provide the joints with substances to rebuild. The damage that occurs to the cartilage occurs over a long period of time, any changes towards improvement will also take time. Depending on the severity of the degradation to the area depends on which supplement to choose and how long it may take to begin to notice beneficial results.
Diet tips for joint health
- Ensure adequate hydration as low water consumption can cause the cartilage to become dry and may contribute to further degrading of the cartilage material
- Reduce acidic foods as these can contribute to inflammation and acidity which wears down the cartilage and joints. Foods which are acidic are red meats, dairy, wheat, sugar, tea, coffee, alcohol, preserved and processed foods
- Increase alkalising foods to reduce inflammation and acidity. Foods which have an alkalising effect are water, lemon juice, sprouts, nuts, seeds, fish, grains and alive foods (Green Barley powder, Spirulina)
- Increase essential fatty acids in your diet from foods such as fish, avocadoes, flax seed oil and raw oils
Natural remedies for joint health
- Glucosamine and Chondroitin are two components of the cartilage structure which is needed to help repair and strengthen the joint. Breakdown of the soft, cushioning cartilage occurs when high amounts of inflammation are present and these nutrients help to further protect the joint and reduce damage. There are many studies to support the claim of using these joint nutrients long term to help stabilise the joint and rebuild cartilage.
- The Chinese medicine herb Tienchi Ginseng is traditionally used to invigorate the blood and to assist in the dispersal of stagnant blood and the resolution of inflammation, bleeding, trauma, swelling and pain. This herb may be of assistance to decrease inflammation, encourage better circulation and nutrients to the area and improve range of movement.
- Magnesium is needed to relieve muscle aches, pains and spasms. Many people are deficient in this important mineral for the nerve and muscles as it declines rapidly due to stress.
- Fish oil contains potent anti-inflammatory ingredients to reduce pain, inflammation and swelling and may also increase circulation to the site of injury.
- Methylsulfonylmethane (MSM) powder may be of assistance in reducing pain and inflammation and improve the formation of cartilage and reduce wear and tear on the joint.
- Topical application of warming and circulatory stimulant gels or creams may give some pain relief. A cream which contains natural anti-inflammatory herbs and applied at least 3-4 times each day.
- Herbs which have a direct anti-inflammatory effect on the musculo-skeletal system and may be taken internally are: White willow bark, Boswellia, Ginger, Curcumin, Cayenne, Eucommia, Acanthopanax and Devils Claw.
- Reduce free radicals by taking an anti-oxidant supplement containing Zinc, Vitamin C, B Vitamins, Vitamin A & E, CoEnzyme Q10 and Selenium to reduce the amount of damage to the cartilage.
Supplements to help with cartilage repair
Many people claim that taking a joint food supplement helps to decrease inflammation and improve their range of movement, however not every supplement works for everyone. For example if your joint problem is occuring due to the bone rubbing on bone there may be little in regards to natural supplements which can be done, this is because there is no cartilage present to build on. Osteoarthritis can respond well to joint supportive nutrients, however if your condition is rheumatoid arthritis this requires a different strategy.
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Implementation of Education Policy in Malaysia
Policy in Malaysia is designed generally upon the requirement of the political and social structure and the future demand of the nations as a whole. Since Malaysian community is a multi-ethnic society; therefore, any public policy formulation has to be carefully studied by taking into consideration many factors such as political, social and economic factors to give an acceptable norm of satisfaction among its citizen. Therefore, this term paper will briefly explain the influence of all these factors that eventually set up the current education policy in Malaysia.
Malaysian Political System
In order to understand the public policy in Malaysia; therefore, it is essential to get a clear scenario on the country’s political system and its social structures. Malaysian political system is based on Parliamentary Democracy and is ruled as a Constitutional Monarchy with his Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong (the King) as the Supreme Head of the country. Malaysia upholds federal constitution that divides authority into legislative, judicial and executive authorities. The doctrine of separation of power, check and balance are clearly stated in the Federal Constitution. Concept of federalism also becomes a basis for Government Administration between the state and the federal government. Such system is so effective to coordinate the public policy formulation and implementation processes with the assistance of the government machinery. Since independence (31 August 1957), National Front Party (Barisan Nasional), which composed of United Malay National Organization, Malaysian Chinese Association, Malaysian Indian Congress and other affiliation parties, has become the only ruling party in the country and three major races represent it: the Malay, the Chinese and the Indian. Malaysia’s total population is estimated at 20.56 million (1996). Three major races in Malaysia are the Bumiputras (sons of the soils) including Malay (59% or 12.13 million), the Chinese (26% or 5.34 million) and the Indian (8% or 1.52 million). The structure of the society has definitely influenced the development of the current Malaysian Education System through various series of events in reforming the education policy just to suit the current and the future demands of the nation.
Important Features of Policy Process
In Malaysia, the social and political systems are very closely related in formulating public policy. The establishment of public policy is complex due to involvement various interested parties during the process to derive to a decision. Public Policy in Malaysia can be created through one or combination of three processes. First is through political channel that means the policy is initiated through Cabinet orders or through the recommendation of several political reigning parties. Second is through administrative processes at the ministerial level. Since a policy has implication on the administrative machinery, the drafted policy is discussed at several high-level of government meetings. Third is through the combination of both processes via integrated interaction. Special Committees may be set up to study in-depth the policy before presenting it to the Cabinet. Hence, we can see in this paper that public policy in Malaysia such as Education Policy will always be revised from time to time adjusting itself to the contemporary requirement by applying these three processes.
In general, policy making process in Malaysia has to go through several stages such as identifying the arising problems, recommending suitable alternatives, implementing the suitable action policy, coordinating various events to suit the established policy and finally evaluating the effectiveness of such policy. Upon all processes, policy revision is vital nowadays due to the development of complex society in the modern era. Besides the policy process making, the roles played by certain groups are essential to provide a better input in the content of the policy. Generally three categories are identified: the politicians and government public administrators; the publics; and the related interest group. The first group is the major players to be responsible in ensuring the success of the policy implementation. This group can be refined as the Cabinet ministers, members of parliament, and high-level of government officials. The policy is implemented under the jurisdiction of the Constitution and government regulations. Under the Constitution, the federal, state and local governments are given constitutional rights to implement public policy. As for the publics, they can act individually or form interest groups to put forth their ideas and needs for government consideration. However, these individuals and interest groups do not automatically have the exact power to formulate a public policy or playing as a major actor. Still, their movement can sometimes get a kind of strong public support through their campaign and activities and they also can make the policymaker to understand a ground problem in a clear vision to resolve the arising problems. Now let us relate Malaysian education policy in a clear sense of its policy processes and implementations before and after independence.
Evolution of Malaysian Education Policy
During the British Colonialism, the government at that time identified a need to establish a systematic school system that would create a quality education for all races in the country. However it was made in the sense of satisfying the British interest not to the nation as a whole. In 1950, Barnes Committee headed by L.J.Barnes (Oxford University) was established to make a study upon meeting such requirement. Barnes Report was available in 1951 that highlighted the following recommendation. All Malay and English school would be preserved and should be given priority. Vernacular school would be closed and replaced by the National School. English would be the medium of instruction at the secondary level. Free education was guaranteed at the National School. The Chinese and the Indian felt dissatisfaction about such recommendation and voiced out that their system of education should also be emphasized. Fenn-Wuu Committee was then established to revise the education problem for the Chinese community. The committee recommended that the Malay, Chinese and Indian languages should simultaneously be a medium of instruction in the school system and therefore all schoolbooks should apply those languages. However, the government objected such proposal. In this case, the British administration had shown strong enforcement to implement its own education policy according to their interest not according to the nation’s interest.
At the end of British colonialism era, the society, especially from several group of educated Malay made a movement to revamp the colonial education system. The essence of having a new national education policy was to make it more representative to the nation. Such movement had made the education issue to be prioritized in the aspect of nation building. Hence, the government agreed to set up a special committee led by Tun Abdul Razak (first Minister of Education and the second Prime Minister of Malaysia) to make several recommendations. This committee composed of high level of government officials and education experts from various groups (local and foreign). This comprehensive recommendation was known as Razak’s Report 1956. The objective of this committee was to establish a national education system that would promote the cultural, social, economic and political development accepted by the nation as a whole, having regard that the Malay language would be the national language. Hence, Malay language should be the main medium of instruction in the education system. The content of the Razak’s Report was later became the basis feature to establish the Education Ordinance 1957. Furthermore, the Malaysian Government at that time started to make several evolutionary changes especially upon educational curriculum to suit the aspiration of the Malaysian outlook. Education Policy should reflect to the satisfaction of all society in Malaysia and this had become a part of the political agenda for the ruling party.
To speed up the process of national integration and unity, the Rahman Talib’s Report was made by new special committee to review the education policy in 1960 and became a basis to establish the Education Act 1961. The act provided the legal basis for enabling national language to be a compulsory subject in primary and secondary school and in all training institutions. The act required pupils to have a satisfied grade in national language subject to be awarded a certificate for public education examination especially at the end of the lower and upper secondary levels. All School using English as the medium of instruction were gradually adopting National language. Since national language is Malay and had already accepted by the Chinese, Indian and other races; therefore, such enforcement will enable the society as a whole to shape up the language proficiency in the Malay language.
In 1979, a report from the Special Cabinet Committee chaired by Dr. Mahathir Mohamad (Mahathir’s Report), who was the Minister of Education at that time (later become a Prime Minister since 1981), was finalized after a six-year study. The objectives were to achieve national unity in a multiethnic society besides increase the sense of patriotism, to produce skilled manpower for national development and to further extend the policy of democratization of education in order to strike a balance in all aspects of education between rural and urban areas. This report has become a guideline for reforming the education system in the recent years. In 1995 and 1996, the Education Act was amended to give sufficient need to meet the challenges in the 21st century beside making Malaysia as a center of excellence to the world. The national education philosophy indicates that it is essential to develop potential individuals who are responsible and capable of achieving high level of personal well-being as well as being able to contribute to the harmony and betterment of the family, the society and the nation at large. Pre-school education has become one of the important components of the formal education system after the Education Act in 1996 enacted. It guarantees access of pre-school education to children between the age of five and six in urban and rural area. This will guarantee that the rural society will get the same opportunity to develop their social status by having quality education. The New Primary and Secondary Education Curriculums have been introduced to focus on developing skilled and knowledge manpower for the nation.
From the brief explanation above, we can analyze that the education policy in Malaysia is always being changed from time to time in order to meet the current and the future demands. We also can observe that such policy will be effectively implemented through collaboration among races and also through enforcing it by legal binding.
Examplification of Policy Process Related to Education Reform
In brief, Public Policy in Malaysia can be created through legal action, planning, program and project. The implementation of education policy combines most of the factors mentioned above. Education Policy was initiated structurally through a set up of special committee that proposed several recommendations. Minister and Public Administrators in the Ministry of Education were held responsible to overview such recommendations. Several inputs were given by a group of experts (interest group) especially from the National Union of the Teacher Profession (NUTP) to strengthen the policy content. Finally, the proposed policy that portrayed a set of guidelines was put forth for the Cabinet approval and the Cabinet composed of Ministers that represent the affiliation political parties in the National Front Party. Therefore once decision is derived, it would be considered as representative to the nation at large. To enforce it, a set of regulations was introduced. Education Policy was then strengthened by the enforcement of Education Act.
To simplify, the Education Act 1996 was prepared in conjunction to the guideline set in the Education Policy. Public Administrators in the Ministry of Education were responsible to gather related materials to compose the drafted bill in two versions: Malay and English with the assistance from the expertise of the Attorney’s General Office before presenting it to the Cabinet. After having such draft, a memorandum (recommendation paper) was prepared to justify the concerned education bill and was sent to the related ministries and central agency such as Ministry of Finance, Economic Planning Unit, Implementation and Coordination Units, Attorney’s General Office; etc to get an advisory comment. The feedback is important to guide the Cabinet before making a decision. This Bill was prepared before the Parliament session begins, usually in one month before the session started. The Bill indicated certain parts of the existing law to be amended, if it involved amendments. After information was gathered, the Minister of Education gave approval to forward the memorandum and the drafted bill at the Cabinet weekly meeting (Wednesday) after getting the clearance from the Cabinet Secretariat. This secretariat is under the Cabinet, Constitution and Inter Government Relation Division, Prime Minister Department headed by the Chief Secretary to the Government who is also the Head of the Government Civil Service. When Cabinet approved the bill, the decision was conveyed to the Ministry and the Ministries concerned. The Ministry of Education proceeded to obtain a notice of Presentation on the Bill to the House of Representative and the Senate Office for debate and approval in both houses during the Parliament Session. The bill was passed by both houses (more 2/3 vote) and was submitted to His Majesty the Yang di-Pertuan Agong for the Royal Assent. The bill became law after gazetted. Finally, the decision was conveyed administratively to related parties and through several high-level of government meetings such as Meeting of the State Chief Minister; Meeting of Secretary-Generals of Ministries and Heads Of Services; Meeting of Heads of Federal Departments; Meeting of Chief Executives of Federal Statutory Bodies; and Meeting of Liaison Committee Between Federal and State Government.
Education reformation between countries may be different due to the characteristics of the nation, political and socio-economic establishment within one state. Hence, any kind of proposals on reforming education system in Malaysia has to be justifiable within the scope of the main vision of the country; in another word, the national policy. One way to collaborate is to proceed along the line with the vision of the country that has already been accepted by the whole nation and through structurally effective government machinery that has main players (the actors) to formulate and implement the policy effectively and efficiently.
Azman Mohd. Yusof
Graduate School of Policy Science, Saitama University
25 February 1998
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The Rapid Spread of Islam in America
In the previous chapter, we related that people were beginning to reject atheism and turn toward religion, and asked for what religion they were searching. The growing number of people turning to Islam in the last few years shows that the true answer to this question is starting to be discovered. Every day, interest in Islam is increasing throughout the world, and many people are converting after reading the Qur'an and studying the Prophet Muhammad's life. In addition, there are people who may have not started to practice Islam yet but who are very influenced by the Qur'an's moral teachings and say that the best way of life for human beings is the one described in the Qur'an.
Thirty or forty years ago, the great majority of people knew almost nothing about Islam; now, Islam has become the most talked about, written about, and researched religion in the world, as well as the religion about which the most programs have been prepared. Of course, this state of affairs has contributed to society's learning about Islam. On the one hand, those involved in such activities have expanded their knowledge about Islam; on the other hand, those to whom this information is directed may have taken the opportunity for the first time in their lives to gain knowledge about Islam. So, it is from the lack of information or wrong information that people who have had little contact with Islam are coming to this religion in droves.
This movement is quite noticeable in the United States, a country founded on religious values. When Americans speak about their country, one of the things they stress is that people from every religious background are free to live together in peace and security. This situation has given Muslims immigrants a place to practice their religion freely and to talk about their faith. As a result, the number of Muslims increases daily. In spite of this, for years Muslims have remained small in numbers and economically and politically weak.
But over the past 10 years, these economic, social, and political difficulties have begun to disappear. In some states, existing mosques are filled to overflowing and new ones have been built. Hundreds of Islamic schools, both full-time and weekend, have opened and have had to expand to meet enrollment figures. Many companies have begun to set aside rooms for their Muslim employees, many banks have begun to open departments that operate according to Islamic law, and many state institutions have begun to hire Muslims for high-level positions.
A recent issue of Christianity Today, one of America's best-known magazines, contained an article entitled "Are Christians Prepared for Muslims in the Mainstream?" It gives this account of Islam's rise in America:
Islam could be the second-largest religion in America by 2015, surpassing Judaism, according to some estimates. By other estimates, Islam has achieved that rank already.
Muslims moving to the West are changing the cultural and religious landscape. A hospital in Detroit offers Muslim patients copies of the Qur'an; Denver International Airport includes a chapel for Muslim prayers; the U.S. Senate has invited a Muslim cleric to open its session in prayer; the military has hired four Muslim chaplains; the White House sends greetings (like its Christmas cards) on Id al-Fitr, the feast that ends Ramadan; the Saudi Arabian Embassy in Washington D.C. sends 100 Qur'ans a month to prisons while imams (spiritual leaders) send volunteers to teach Arabic.
"On Capitol Hill … weekly Muslim prayer services and forums to expose congressional staffers to Muslim viewpoints have become regular fare," notes Ira Rifkin of Religion News Service (Nov. 30, 1999), "and a bill has been introduced in Congress to issue a postage stamp commemorating Ramadan."38
These striking developments have attracted the interest of many sociologists. One of the most important names associated with this issue is Professor Dianne Eck, known for coining the name "Pluralism Project" for an enterprise in interfaith dialogue. In her book, A New Religious America, she gives an account of what she has determined about Islam's rapid rise:
As Muslims become more numerous and visible in American society, public officials have begun to shift from speaking of "churches and synagogues" to "churches, synagogues, and mosques." The annual observance of the Ramadan month of Muslim fasting now receives public notice and becomes the occasion for portraits of the Muslims next door in the Dallas Morning News or the Minneapolis Star Tribune. The fast-breaking meals called "iftar" at the close of each day have become moments of recognition. In the late 1990s there were iftar observances by Muslim staffers on Capitol Hill, in the Pentagon, and in the State Department. In 1996 the White House hosted the first observance of the celebration of Eid al-Fitr at the end of the month of Ramadan, a practice that has continued. The same year also saw the U.S. Navy commission its first Muslim chaplain, Lieutenant M. Malak Abd al-Muta' Ali Noel, and in 1998 the U.S. Navy's first mosque was opened on the Norfolk Naval Base in Virginia, where Lieutenant Noel was stationed. When 50 sailors attend Friday prayers at this facility, they signal to all of us a new era of American religious life.39
Eck considers these developments a sign of the beginning of a new age, one in which Islam will spread quickly, not only throughout America but throughout the world.
Developments After 9/11
American interest in Islam reached its pinnacle in the last quarter of 2001. The most important reason for this was the 9/11 attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. Several studies undertaken to determine the roots of terrorist ideology, as well as investigations of Islam, have enabled people to learn that Islam is a peaceful religion that enjoins tolerance, justice, mercy, and love. Islam has suddenly become a major topic of discussion all over the world. More and more world-renowned statesmen, political scientists, researchers, and thinkers consider it necessary to understand Islam correctly, and have given speeches underlining Islamic tolerance and willingness to reach agreement. Americans have approached Muslim organizations in order to find the most accurate information about Islam and Islamic history. As a result of this interest, the Middle East Media Research Institute reported that after 9/11, 34,000 Americans converted to Islam.40
The Egyptian weekly al-Ahram al-Arabi published a letter by Dr. Walid A. Fatihi of the Harvard Medical Faculty. In it, he stated that when he first heard of the attack, he thought that the work he had done to introduce Islam to America would be set back by 50 years. However, he soon realized how wrong he was. He continues:
I read an official statement issued by the leading Muslim clerics condemning the incident [i.e., the attacks]. The statement explained Islam's stance and principles, and its sublime precepts. Afterwards, I read Koranic verses translated into English…
One said to me: "I do not understand the Arabic language, but there is no doubt that the things you said are the words of Allah."
On Sunday, September 16, the Islamic Society of Boston issued an open invitation to the Islamic Center in Cambridge, located between Harvard and MIT. We did not expect more than 100 people, but to our surprise more than 1,000 people came, among them the neighbors, the university lecturers, members of the clergy, and even the leaders of the priests from the nearby churches, who invited us to speak on Islam. All expressed solidarity with Muslims. Many questions flowed to us. Everyone wanted to know about Islam and to understand its precepts…
That same day, I was invited again to participate in a meeting in the church, and again I saw the same things. On Thursday, a delegation of 300 students and lecturers from Harvard visited the center of the Islamic Society of Boston, accompanied by the American Ambassador to Vienna. They sat on the floor of the mosque, which was filled to capacity. We explained to them the precepts of Islam, and defended it from any suspicions [promulgated in the media]. I again read to them from the verses of Allah, and [their] eyes filled with tears. The audience was moved, and many asked to participate in the weekly lessons for non-Muslims held by the Islamic Center…
On Friday, September 21, the Muslims participated in a closed meeting with the governor of Massachusetts. In the meeting, a discussion was held on introducing Islam into the school curriculum, to inform the [American] people and to fight racism against Muslims arising from the American people's ignorance regarding the religion …
These are only some of the examples of what happened and is happening in the city of Boston, and in many other American cities, during these days. Proselytizing in the name of Allah has not been undermined, and has not been set back 50 years, as we thought in the first days after September 11. On the contrary, the 11 days that have passed are like 11 years in the history of proselytizing in the name of Allah. I write to you today with the absolute confidence that over the next few years, Islam will spread in America and in the entire world, Allah willing, much more quickly than it has spread in the past, because the entire world is asking, "What is Islam!"41
On a television program broadcast one week after 9/11, Eck related what that event had changed:
And yet most of us don't really see it [positive changes]. I think one of the real gifts, if we could call it that, of the last week has been the recognition that we are religiously diverse in ways we had never imagined…42
This increased interest in Islam caught the American press' attention, and the issue became a topic on television news programs. One newspaper that took up this issue was The Los Angeles Times. An article entitled "Expressions of Support Surprising to Muslims" reported that one of the most unexpected results was that Americans had begun to study and investigate Islam, and that this interest was so intense that it even surprised Muslims:
Many Americans also are investigating, some for the first time, one of the world's great faiths and oldest civilizations. Bookstores are selling out of copies of the Koran. University classes and teach-ins on the Middle East and Islam are filled to capacity. Middle East scholars are being invited on television news shows repeatedly and being spotted on the street like celebrities. And many everyday Middle Easterners—Muslim or not—are fielding a daily barrage of questions about Islam from neighbors, co-workers and strangers… "We are overwhelmed," said Mahmoud Abdel-Baset, religious director of the Islamic Center of Southern California. Since the attacks, the Los Angeles-based center has hosted a steady stream of dignitaries, including Gov. Gray Davis, Los Angeles County Sheriff Lee Baca and Los Angeles Mayor James K. Hahn... Richard Hrair Dekmejian, a USC professor on Middle Eastern politics, said this thirst for knowledge about Islam is a result of the powerful impact of the Sept. 11 attacks and the general lack of religious knowledge in America.43
In America today, the interest begun with 9/11 continues to intensify and become more widespread. In the following pages, we will see the rise of Islam in America. As we look at all of these developments, we must keep in mind one basic fact: God has given the good news of His promise to believers that true religion will be established among human beings. The events we have experienced show us that, God willing, the fulfillment of this promise is very near. For this reason, we are living in a crucial period and a time of profound change. Believers must realize the value of this period, offer the best and most accurate information to those who are slowly turning to Islam, answer their questions in the most satisfactory way, and be zealous representatives of Islam. As the verse below says, this is an important charge given by God to believers:
Call to the way of your Lord with wisdom and fair admonition, and argue with them in the kindest way. Your Lord knows best who is misguided from His way. And He knows best who are guided. (Qur'an, 16: 125)
Muslims in America
There are between 6 and 7 million Muslims in America today. In other words, Muslims outnumber some Christian denominations and are equal to the number of Jews. Research done in the year 2000 by prominent American universities and Islamic foundations show that the number of Muslims is increasing rapidly and that Islam is growing stronger day by day.
The main theme of this research, known as the Mosque Study Project, is the establishment of mosques in America. The reason for this is that mosques occupy a very special place in any statistical compilations done with regard to the American Muslim community. Mosques in America are both houses of worship and gathering places for talking with one another and launching cultural activities to make Islam more widely known. Every mosque establishes a relationship with the press to introduce Islam to a wider audience, speaks with local politicians, visits schools and churches, engages in interfaith dialogue and carries on other such activities. Thus, research done on these mosques is one of the most useful tools for gathering accurate and enlightening information on this community's state.
According to this research, America now has about 1,209 mosques, most of which were constructed very recently. Thirty percent of these mosques were built in the 1990s, and 32% were built in the 1980s. Other statistics show that in 1994, the total number of mosques in America was 962; in 2000, there was a 25% increase in this number.
These data show a natural parallel with the growing number of Muslims. For example, according to determinations made in 1994, the number of Muslims attending mosque services was 500,000; in 2000, this figure had increased to 2 million—an approximately 300% increase. A significant part of this number is composed of people who converted to Islam. The same research shows that about 30% of those worshippers are converts. According to these data, about 20,000 Americans accept Islam every year.44
The above figures are the result of research done before 9/11 and rely on data from the year 2000. In 2001, especially after 9/11, these figures have increased several fold.
This rapid growth of Islam in America is related in a news article, "Islam Is Growing in America," on the American army Internet site (www.defenselink.mil)
Muslims, those who believe in Islam, are everywhere in the United States. They may be your doctor or drive your taxi. They may serve you in restaurants or advise you in law. And they increasingly may be in the same foxhole, manning the same position or working on the same aircraft as you … In the United States, Islam is the fastest growing religion …45
A New York Times article, "Islam Attracts Converts by the Thousands," contains interviews with converts, analyzes Islam's rapid rise in America, and states:
With some 6 million adherents in the United States, Islam is said to be the nation's fastest-growing religion, fueled by immigration, high birth rates and widespread conversion. One expert estimates that 25,000 people a year become Muslims in this country; some clerics say they have seen conversion rates quadruple since Sept. 11.46
An ABC News segment, "Islam: Rising Tide in America," reported that some sociologists predict that within 15 years there will be more Muslims than Jews in America.47
The continually rising influence of Islam has provided better opportunities for Muslims living in America. One place where this growth and development is most noticeable is in Dearborn, Michigan. An article in the Detroit News about the spread of Islam, particularly in Dearborn, mentioned the city's growing number of mosques. But, according to the article, this is not the only sign of Islam's rising influence; the effects of this growth can be seen in restaurants, shopping centers, and hospitals. For the first time in Michigan, in a McDonald's restaurant, meals are available using meat cut according to Islamic law. Prominent supermarkets in Dearborn have begun to sell "halal" meat. Oakwood Hospital officials have started to adjust the hospital's meal service especially for Muslim patients. Moreover, throughout the month of Ramadan, the cafeteria's service hours are arranged to suit Muslims.48
Like Dearborn, Muslims in Chicago are also quickly gaining influence. Here, the Muslim community is distinguished by its high level of education and prosperity. Research conducted in the 1990s demonstrated that 16% of the Muslim community's members were medical doctors, 33% were engineers, 44% had doctorate degrees, 84% had at least a bachelor's degree, and only 2% had less than a high school education. Moreover, Muslims' contributions to Chicago were highlighted. For example, the architect of the John Hancock Center and the Sears Tower was a Muslim: Dr. Fazlur Rahman. There is hardly a hospital without a Muslim doctor on its staff and there is hardly an engineering or electronic equipment manufacturer without Muslim engineers.49
Muslims in the American Army
The Muslim presence in the American army is increasing day by day. At the beginning of the 1990s there were 2,500 Muslims in the army; now there are between 15,000 and 20,000 soldiers.50 There are two reasons for this rapid increase: the general increase of the Muslim population in America and that some soldiers who served in Muslim countries converted. Their continual increase has allowed them to perform their religious duties in peace. The first of these was the army's appointment of a Muslim chaplain to minister to Muslim soldiers, an important indication that the Muslims' presence in the army has been officially recognized. Colonel Herman Keizer spoke of this fact in a 1994 speech: "This reflected the growing number of Muslims in the services over the past 10 years. It mirrors growth in the US society … where Islam is the fastest growing religion in the United States."51
As a result, the army has made some concessions to make life easier for Muslim soldiers. For example, pork is not included in their meals, they can perform their Friday congregational prayers, and those who wish to make pilgrimage have an easier time of fulfilling this obligation. These concessions were reported in the Washington Post in 1998:
During Ramadan, when Muslims refrain from food and drink during daylight hours, military commanders are urged to accommodate their fasting servicemen and women—excusing them, in some cases, from rigorous physical exercise. The commanders also allow flexible work hours so Muslims can take iftar, the traditional fast-ending meal, and attend the social gatherings and community prayers that usually follow.52
Thus the American armed forces are genuinely interested in Muslims and try to meet their needs when possible. One of the main reasons for this is certainly the religious character of the American people. The belief of many Americans in God has led them to adopt a respectful and tolerant attitude toward Muslims, especially after they have learned about Islamic values. On of the best instances of this can be seen in an address given by the former Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre:
I think that as Muslims and as Christians, we understand what it means to live under a world of authority—the authority that's been revealed to us by God…. We are partners and we are friends and we celebrate with our Islamic brothers and sisters tonight in this feast, and throughout the year. In an America that sometimes is too busy worrying about the latest fad in clothes, or the newest model of car or other material things, it is good to be with people who think in a broader way, who think about their relationship to God, who think about charity, alms giving, as one of the central mandates of life. This is a great thing. You're a great people to be with.53
Islam in the American Media
Today, the media is one of the most influential factors in forming public opinion, for it instills in people either a sympathy for or an aversion to a particular issue and gets them to accept or oppose it. How the media has influenced the American people's view of Islam is a case in point.
Until recently, Islam generally had a bad press in certain sectors of the American media, which tried to convince people that Islam was an Arab religion and that negative stereotypes of Arabs were generally true. But this false information and prejudiced view had exactly the opposite effect: Contrary to the expected alienation of public opinion from Islam, it became the fastest growing religion in America. These reports brought Muslims and Islam into the lives of the American people. In this way, many who knew nothing about Islam were informed and began to take an interest in it. This is also a realization of the Qur'anic verse: "It may be that you hate something when it is good for you, and it may be that you love something when it is bad for you. God knows and you do not know"(Qur'an, 2: 216)
The media reports that seemed negative at the first look became a means whereby more accurate reports were made that would prevent the dissemination of false information about Islam and present Islam in a better way. The media focused upon Muslims because of the rapid growth of the Muslim population. So, during the 1990s Islam and Muslims became one of the most important topics in the American media.
Nearly all of these reports highlighted accurately the way Muslims think and what they believe, and informed non-Muslims about Islam. They explained the daily lives and worldviews of Muslims, and gave prominence to the views of recent converts. At the same time, these reports often contained special sections on Islamic history, the fundamentals of Islam, and the Qur'an. Internet pages belonging to radio and television stations also presented the addresses of Islamic sites so that people could obtain information more easily.
This process of information accelerated as a result of the public interest after 9/11. Nearly all major newspapers began to ask whether or not terrorism was inherent to Islam and to offer comprehensive reports containing the views of academics, clergy, historians, and social scientists. As a result, the American people once again saw that Islam is a peaceful religion, and learned that their religious beliefs had many things in common with those of the Muslims.
This situation certainly played an important role in the growing interest in Islam. During this time, many people who were largely ignorant of Islam and did not have easy access to accurate information could now educate themselves with relative ease.
We desired to show kindness to those who were oppressed in the land and to make them leaders and make them inheritors (Qur'an, 28:5)
The Qur'an Has Become the Best Selling Book in America
The 9/11 tragedy caused the growth of Islam in America to accelerate greatly. One of the clearest indications of this is that after the attacks, the Qur'an became the best-selling book in many states for a long time. American interest in the Qur'an increased to such an extent that Penguin Books, one of the best-known publishers of the Qur'an in English, reported that it had printed 20,000 extra copies after 9/11.54
USA Today reported on this intense interest in "People Want to Know, so Koran is Bestseller," saying that sales of the Qur'an had increased by five times.55 When asked for his view on this matter, a leading expert in Islam, John Esposito, emphasized an important point:
The strength of the Qur'an is that a Muslim, or anyone, can open it to any page and get a message dealing with life's meaning.56
In addition to becoming a best seller, some public schools asked their students to memorize some Qur'anic verses. For example, seventh grade students in Byron, California, public school system were to take a three-week course to give them detailed information about the tenets of Islam. In this course, they were to memorize Qur'anic verses, learn about Islamic history and the life of Prophet Muhammad, and even make speeches to the class using Muslim names that they had chosen for themselves. And this program was put into effect immediately. Along with this, it was proposed that students learn how Muslims pray and what Islam's religious duties are.57
People in the state of Maine had a very keen interest in Islam. A few days after 9/11, there was a large increase in sales of the Qur'an and books on Islamic history. On September 22, the Bangor Daily News reported on the people's interest in Islam in "Mainers Studying Tenets of Islam." This article said, in part:
As Americans struggle to come to terms with last week's events, Mainers apparently are turning to encyclopedias, history books, biographies, textbooks and the Qur'an itself to understand what the majority of Muslims believe. Gig Weeks of Book Marc's in downtown Bangor said Wednesday the store had sold all but one copy of the Qur'an…. She said several of the titles are on back order until publishers can reprint them. Staffers at Borders Books, Music and Café in Bangor reported they had sold five copies of the Qur'an since Sept. 11, compared with the two copies that had been sold between Jan. 1 and Sept. 10.58
The article gave further information about this interest. For example, students at Bangor Theological School, who normally study about Islam toward the end of the school year, wanted to start the course right away, and so Dana Sawyer, one of the school's teachers, started a course about the Qur'an and the Prophet's life. In this course, Sawyer said that declaring all Muslims to be terrorists was the same as saying that all Christians are responsible for a crime committed by one Christian.59 The Guardian featured an article by Jeremy Rifkin, the well-known American economist, in which he said that he was ashamed that he had not read anything about Islam prior to 9/11, and that now he was not the only one engaged in learning about Islam:
I'm ashamed to admit it, but before September 11, I didn't pay much attention to Islam. I had a cursory knowledge of the historical struggle between Israel and its Arab neighbors. I knew a bit about the struggle with the west over oil.... It took the deaths of 5,000 Americans in a horrific act of terrorism to get my attention. Like so many others, I have been reading up on Islam—its tenets, internal struggles, . . . visions. . . , its similarities and deep differences with Christianity and the West... I'm not alone. Seven of the 15 lead books on the New York Times paperback bestseller list are devoted to Islam. The Koran has become a bestseller. The whole world, it seems, has been converted into a classroom as we try to make sense out of the tragic events of September 11 and its aftermath.60
The Rise of Islam will Continue
All of these developments indicate something striking: Islam is spreading quickly in America and gradually gaining power. The coming chapters will show how this growth is not limited to America, but how Islam is spreading everywhere in the world. These are very significant developments and, God willing, are signs of many more important developments. Therefore, thesew events are good news for believers and a cause for joy and excitement. In the Qur'an, God announces that true religion will indeed triumph, as in:
It is He Who sent His Messenger with guidance and the True Religion to exalt it over every other religion, though the idolaters hate it. (Qur'an, 61: 9)
Thus, while evaluating these developments we must not forget that all of them are promises of God. Such an attitude is important, if they are to be appreciated as they should be. Otherwise, these events will be regarded as ordinary happenings in the general flow of life and simply as the results of a few political developments. But the truth is quite different. In fact, God has determined every moment that we experience according to His Destiny for us. Where and how people approach Islam, how many Qur'ans a bookstore sells, how a state official begins to take in interest in Islam and when, where, and how this interest will be expressed are all developments that God has already determined.
Although we know that God creates a reason for every event, we must always remember that He has already determined our destiny. Given this awareness, we realize that we should thank God for the blessing of creating us to live in this time, when such important developments are taking place. We say this because every event that we experience is a step leading to greater and more important developments, and every such event announces the good news that the blessed time for which Muslims have been waiting for centuries is approaching. Our thanksgiving for this blessing must take the form of both words and deeds. In other words, we must work to quicken the spread of the Qur'an's moral teachings, struggle against any irreligious ideologies and ideas that impede this development, and take every opportunity to convey these teachings.
One other point also should be kept in mind: Along with this rise, Muslims could continue to face various pressures from certain quarters. However, such concerns are beyond the scope of this book. Nevertheless, they cannot make us ignore the fact of Islam's rapid growth throughout the world, the increasing interest in Islam, and the continued growth of the Muslim population. Thus we must not confuse interest in Islam, especially in the West, with the prejudiced, anti-Islam, and anti-Muslim attitudes and hostile stances observed in some circles. These two topics must be discussed separately.
Similarly, when the Western world examines Islam, it must consider the moral values of the Qur'an and those who have sincerely adopted them. If they do not, instead of making decisions and policies that would contribute to world peace and ensure security and well-being, differences could be magnified and dialogue impaired. The basis for a dialogue between two civilizations will be established by the goodwill of believers, who conscientiously live according to the high morality that God commanded. Strengthening such a dialogue means that every viewpoint and ideology that violently agitates against peace and well-being by fomenting conflict, argument, and war will be eradicated. The fundamental support for the struggle against terror, violence, and every movement that damages world peace must be negotiation, dialogue, and a discussion at the level of ideas. This approach is the best way to prevent steps taken to bring world societies into peace and security from inadvertently harming innocent people and being used for other purposes.
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The potential global impact of the space elevator is drawing comparisons to another great transportation achievement -- the U.S. transcontinental railroad. Completed in 1869 at Promontory, Utah, the transcontinental railroad linked the country's east and west coasts for the first time and sped the settlement of the American west. Cross-country travel was reduced from months to days. It also opened new markets and gave rise to whole new industries. By 1893, the United States had five transcontinental railroads.
The idea of a space elevator shares many of the same elements as the transcontinental railroad. A space elevator would create a permanent Earth-to-space connection that would never close. While it wouldn't make the trip to space faster, it would make trips to space more frequent and would open up space to a new era of development. Perhaps the biggest factor propelling the idea of a space elevator is that it would significantly lower the cost of putting cargo into space. Although slower than the chemically propelled space shuttle, the lifters reduce launch costs from $10,000 to $20,000 per pound, to approximately $400 per pound.
Current estimates put the cost of building a space elevator at $6 billion with legal and regulatory costs at $4 billion, according to Bradley Edwards, author of the "The Space Elevator, NIAC Phase II Final Report." (Edwards is also the Dr. Bradley Carl Edwards, President and Founder of Carbon Designs.) By comparison, the cost of the space shuttle program was predicted in 1971 to be $5.2 billion, but ended up costing $19.5 billion. Additionally, each space shuttle flight costs $500 million, which is more than 50 times more than original estimates.
The space elevator could replace the space shuttle as the main space vehicle, and be used for satellite deployment, defense, tourism and further exploration. To the latter point, a spacecraft would climb the ribbon of the elevator and then would launch toward its main target once in space. This type of launch would require less fuel than would normally be needed to break out of Earth's atmosphere. Some designers also believe that space elevators could be built on other planets, including Mars.
NASA funded Dr. Edwards' research for three years. In 2005, however, it only awarded $28 million dollars to companies researching the space elevator. Although it's still very interested in the project, for now it would prefer to sit back and wait for more concrete developments.
For lots more information on space elevators and related topics, check out the links on the next page.
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Natural Wonders of Western Kansas
- Monument Rocks
Steer down byways in Western Kansas, and you may stumble across some remarkable and unexpected scenery. In the state’s extreme northwestern corner, Parks Road leads to the Arikaree Breaks (a two-mile wide “break” in the terrain), a rugged badlands landscape of yucca-studded cliffs, caves and gullies. Formed during the Ice Age, the loess soils harbor two species of sage and16 rare native plants and grasses ideal for cattle and wildlife. Stop in St. Francis for a self-guided tour brochure.
Southeast of Oakley, a soft sedimentary layer known as Niobrara Chalk has been exposed and sculpted by eons of wind, water and river ice. The result is spots like Monument Rocks (from Oakley, 20 miles south on US-83, eight miles southeast) where otherworldly bright-white turrets, spires and other formations rise from the prairie like dissolving sand castles. Fifty miles east, Castle Rock (15 miles south of Quinter) resembles a moonscape, a bizarre maze of narrow cuts and canyons cleaved into green cropland.
- Cimarron National Grassland
Follow the past
“What we find out here either swam in the ocean or flew above it,” says Chuck Bonner, who has an educated eye that comes from a lifetime of fossil hunting. He and his wife, Barbara Shelton, have explored Western Kansas’ fossil beds for decades. They display their finds at Keystone Gallery and Museum (18 miles north of Scott City). Their guided fossil hunts—on nearby private land they have access to—give novices an opportunity to unearth prehistoric treasures dating back 80 million years.
Standing atop Point of Rocks in Cimarron National Grassland, hikers can sense—and see—the human history that passed this way. Washboard ridges furrow the prairie earth, a well-worn path left by thousands of covered wagons traveling the fabled Santa Fe Trail. Hikers can follow in their footsteps. Cimarron’s 108,000 acres in the southwest corner of Kansas protect 23 miles of the route designated as a national historic trail, one of the longest public segments between Missouri and New Mexico.
The Sandsage Bison Range and Wildlife Area (a half mile south of Garden City) offers the chance to see bison (commonly called buffalo) in a setting of native prairie reminiscent of what pioneers saw 150 years ago. A volunteer group, Friends of the Sandsage Bison Range, leads free guided tours of the 3,670-acre refuge. Visitors bump along the roads in a truck or open-air trailer, eager to spot the 100 or so bison that roam among feathery sage and blooming wildflowers.
- Webster State Park
Webster State Park fun
“Roughing it” is relative in Webster State Park (eight miles west of Stockton). A new knotty-pine cabin, one of many for rent in Kansas State Parks, stands atop a hill with a vast lake view. It makes a great base for exploring the park, where 3,700-acre Webster State Lake spills across the Solomon River Valley. Anglers and pleasure boaters share the waters, casting for walleye and bass, and skimming across the surface on wakeboards and water skis.
On shore, sand beaches and docks rim protected coves. Recreation areas provide plenty of diversions for campers, with a baseball diamond, sand volleyball court and horseshoe pits. The cabin provides the perfect respite after a day filled with activity. Stoke up a blaze in the fire ring, ready the fixings for s’mores for the kids, and settle back on the wide covered porch to watch a pastel sunset transform into a star-filled sky.
- Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge
The skies themselves seem to be in motion during spring and fall migration at Kirwin National Wildlife Refuge (15 miles southeast of Phillipsburg). Thousands of sandhill cranes and tens of thousands of geese—Canada, snow and white-fronted—settle at the refuge in February and March, and again in October and November. Occasionally, birders here thrill to the sight of a whooping crane, one of the most endangered birds in the nation.
The birds come to rest among 10,800 acres of prairie grasses, creeks and bottomlands. Visitors seek refuge in the landscape, too, biking on dirt roads and walking along dikes and interpretive nature trails, accompanied only by the trill of meadowlarks and the mutter of ducks. Many species make Kirwin their year-round home, including the greater prairie chicken and songbirds like Bell’s Vireo, Dickcissel and a variety of warblers. Overlooks and observation platforms with binocular stands provide good viewing opportunities. The best way to experience the beauty of this remnant prairie land is as the birds do—down among the waving grasses and wooded riverbanks.
- Kuhrt Ranch
The rumble of your car down a rural gravel road is enough to flush pheasants in northwestern Kansas, a region rich with the ringneck beauties. And, Kuhrt Ranch (20 miles northeast of Goodland) puts hunters right in the middle of the action. The four-generations-old working ranch covers 4,000 contiguous acres of prime bird habitat, a mix of pastures, creek bottoms, woodlands and fallow farm land. Pheasants, turkey and quail begin roaming the fields in the pre-dawn darkness. So do hunters. With ranch owner Brent Flanders as their guide and a good bird dog at their side, they seek out the birds’ favorite hiding places, hoping to flush them from cover to the broad and brightening skies above. Successful hunts end with a fine feast, gathered around the table at the ranch’s stately hand-quarried limestone “Prairie Castle” house or the casual apartment-style lodge next door.
- Gypsum Hills
Ride the outback
The subtle beauty of the Gypsum Hills really resonates from the seat of a bicycle. Surrounded by red-rock buttes and deep canyons, it’s easy to hear the cluck of a wild turkey, catch whiffs of honeysuckle and spot the occasional glare of a prairie falcon perched on a fencepost in this region known as the “Kansas Outback.” West of Medicine Lodge (75 miles southwest of Wichita), backcountry trails strike off into red-rock country: buttes, rocky spires and canyons thick with cedars that resemble the set for an old western.
Cyclists also can ride along the Gypsum Hills Scenic Byway, which winds through the hills for about 40 miles on US-160, extending from Medicine Lodge west to Coldwater. Startling scenery awaits around every turn on this route. Along some sections of the road, it’s more common to meet an armadillo or a Hereford than another rider or a car.
- Lake Scott
Lake Scott recreation
Giggles carry across the waters of Lake Scott (15 miles north of Scott City), echoing off bluffs of limestone that rise from the water and evaporating into the skies above. Two teenage girls zigzag their canoe toward a sandy crescent. They beach their craft and explore the shore.
Boating on Lake Scott, and the state’s many other recreational lakes, is an easygoing, unfussy affair. Take your pick at The Beach House, which rents canoes and paddleboats. Then, you can cruise along the cattails and spy on sunning turtles, cast a line for hungry bass, or set out on a scenic ride along a shoreline of shady cottonwoods. The 100-acre lake, with lots of coves and high canyon walls, provides easy-to-navigate protected waters perfect for a relaxing outing.
The Bridle and Mountain Bike Trail—ideal for horseback riding, hiking or mountain biking—has easy to moderately difficult terrain on a seven-mile path that circles the lake. A horse-camp area provides amenities for equestrian visitors.
- Keith Sebelius Lake
Fishing lakes are Kansas’ hidden gems, sparkling oases tucked in the folds and creases of prairie. Clark State Fishing Lake (70 miles southeast of Garden City) hides at the base of a golden limestone canyon. With a curvaceous shoreline that provides plenty of coves and shady cover, the protected waters harbor healthy populations of white and largemouth bass, walleye, channel catfish and panfish. And, waterfront campsites mean you can fish from dawn until dusk.
Smaller lakes like Clark are just the beginning of angling opportunities in Western Kansas. The 2,300-acre Keith Sebelius Lake (five miles west of Norton) is known for crappie, walleye and wiper, a feisty striped bass hybrid. Wiper and white bass also thrive at Cedar Bluff Lake (20 miles southeast of WaKeeney). No-wake rules keep the 80-acre lake serene at Meade State Park (12 miles southwest of Meade).
- Quivira National Wildlife Refuge
The low angle of the morning sun casts a bronze patina on the waters of Cheyenne Bottoms (nine miles northeast of Great Bend), silhouetting a striking array of birds. A slender white ibis stalks through the shallows. A pelican with its telltale pouch drifts in a nearby bay. Black-bellied plovers dip their wings and circle low for a landing.
That’s the kind of avian Grand Central Station you’ll find in west-central Kansas, where lush eastern and arid western prairies and low-lying wetlands converge. Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area and Quivira National Wildlife Refuge (18 miles southeast of Great Bend) provide a varied and abundant habitat that attracts more than 300 species of migrating birds from both the eastern and western United States. Naturalists believe more than half the nation’s shorebirds—as many as 500,000 geese and ducks—stop here for a rest on their way north.
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Alternate name: Allegheny Dusky Salamander
Family: Plethodontidae, Lungless Salamanders view all from this family
Description Medium sized, brownish in color with smooth skin and varying patterns, usually with a stripe down the back with dark spots in the centre and flanking either side.
Dimensions 7-11cm. (2 3/4-4 3/8")
Breeding Breeds in Fall. Up to 2 dozen eggs laid, attached to moss near water. female guards nest. Larvae hatch following summer. Sexually mature after 3 years.
Habitat Under stones, logs, and bark near springs, streams and other areas where the ground is saturated with water.
Range Found in Canada and the USA. From the Hudson River to Georgia and Alabama.
Discussion Needs to keep its skin wet to breathe since it is 'lungless'. Somewhat terrestrial. Congregates in groups around springheads during winter. This is also for breeding and serves as a good place to lay larvae. Diest consists of small invertebrates and insects.
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There's evidence that a multivitamin may be used to help prevent neuroblastoma, a deadly disease in the central nervous system that often affects children under three years old. If effective, children were 30 to 40 less likely to get the disease.
Researchers say the drug is still in its testing process to confirm the vitamin-cancer link. They also believe folic acid, and Vitamins A and C may reduce the chances of child cancer.
Researchers say neuroblastoma is not a common form of cancer and affects about nine out of one million children under 15-years-old.
However, it is the most common cancer among infants and few survive past five years.
Research was conducted at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
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Affirmative action is an affront to every American who pledges allegiance to the flag. ''Liberty and justice for all'' means that everyone should be treated equally and judged the same, regardless of race. Special consideration in school admissions or in the job market because of ethnicity is unfair.
If this nation lived up to its ideals of equality and justice, we would not need affirmative action. The policy exists because Americans have inequity ingrained in our collective consciousness. Our country was founded on injustices purposely done to people of color. This foundation still influences the way we operate both our public and private institutions.
Take the state of Georgia for example. It once belonged to an association of tribes known as the Creek Confederation. The Cherokees were the last of the confederation to cede their land to whites. On orders from President Andrew Jackson, the U.S. Army invaded the Cherokee Nation in 1838. Without being charged with any crime, the populace was imprisoned in crudely constructed concentration camps. The captives, 15,000 men, women and children were later forced to march 800 miles in bitter wintertime cold to Oklahoma. Lacking food, medical care and proper clothing, more than 4,000 Cherokees died from exposure, disease and malnutrition. Land stolen from the rightful landowners was divided up and given away free in Georgia's first state-run lottery. Only white males were eligible to play.
Lucky winners needed laborers to work their newly acquired property. As the amount of land taken from the Creek Confederation increased, there was a corresponding increase in slavery. In 1790 there were 29,264 slaves in Georgia. At that time the state only occupied the land east of the Oconee River. By 1840 the state expanded to its present-day boundaries, and the slave population had risen to 280,944 people.
White men got rich off Indian land worked by African slaves. Cotton production measured 1,000 bales statewide in 1790. After the great state-sanctioned land grab, economic life got significantly better for white folks. The slave population peaked at nearly 470,000 people in 1860, and cotton production exceeded 700,000 bales that year. While slaves worked sunrise to sunset, and the Creek people starved to death trying to scratch out a living in Oklahoma's unproductive soil, whites enjoyed the enormous prosperity associated with wildly successful cotton farming.
It's no wonder the South had a fit when President Lincoln took office in 1861. The huge economic engine pulling white peoples' gravy train was suddenly precariously close to being derailed by abolitionists. They believed Thomas Jefferson was onto something with that ''all men are created equal'' thing. Teamed up with liberty and justice for all, equality would end slavery and dethrone King Cotton. White folks would potentially become no more special than anyone else. Too many Americans still find the thought unsettling.
Old attitudes die hard. A century after the Civil War ''colored people'' couldn't sit with whites at a Southern sporting event, let alone in a public school. By the 1950s the federal government began to redress segregation and lay a foundation for equal education and opportunity. The Civil Rights Acts of 1957, 1960, 1964, 1968 and 1991 all help to remedy a discriminative and uneven playing field in America. But they are not enough.
President Kennedy believed that the federal government should work proactively to overcome the consequences of historical discrimination. He believed ''affirmative action'' was needed to bring about a more equitable society. The term and the policy originated during his administration.
Because our national character is not yet progressive enough to cast away our long history of racial injustice, we have no choice but to mitigate our failure to achieve a color blind society with policies such as affirmative action. When there truly is liberty and justice for all, and when every American is judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin, then special consideration based on race will become what it should be - a policy that has no place in America.
Steven D. Sacco is a public servant and U.S. Army veteran who received a master's of public administration degree from the University of Georgia.
Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Sunday, February 2, 2003.
© 2016. All Rights Reserved. | Contact Us
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To complement the critical and objective view from the study of the sixty buildings this design manual has been developed which provides a more synthetic approach to the principles which lie behind successful daylight design. These principles are illustra
Easy, inexpensive, do-it-yourself solar energy projectsFeaturing step-by-step instructions and useful photos and illustrations, this hands-on guide is filled with solar energy solutions you can put to use right away.Solar Power for Your Homeshows you how to set up a variety of simple, money-saving solar projects quickly and easily, such as a solar water heater, a solar pool pump, solar lighting, a solar oven--and even a solar-powered lawn mower!Learn all about the different types of solar technologies, including passive solar and photovoltaic, and determine which best suits your projects. You'll get details on assessing current energy use in your home, estimating the costs of solar installations, and calculating your overall savings. Reduce your carbon footprint--and your energy costs--with help from this practical resource.Solar Power for Your Homecovers: History, benefits, and potential detriments of solar energy Fundamentals of solar technologies--passive solar, photovoltaic, concentrating solar energy, and more Evaluating home electricity consumption Creating a personal energy plan How and when to contract your solar project Emerging technologies--thin film, nano, and hybrid solar and solar storage Funding options including rebates, incentives, and grants Standards, conversions, and helpful resources
Toward a zero energy home : a complete guide to energy self-sufficiency at home
David Johnston & Scott Gibson.
Newtown, Conn. : Taunton Press, c2010.
A zero energy home-a home that produces as much energy as it consumes-is an idea whose time has come. By reducing or eliminating utility bills, zero energy homes offer a new direction for housing in America. It is a win for the homeowner, for the planet, and for a new generation of builders who are building houses that better meet the energy challenges ahead of us all.
Save Energy Cut Your Bills is full of practical advice on how to cut your consumption and costs at home. From reducing your fuel and electricity use to generating your own energy, it has solutions that will work for you, however busy you are. Book jacket.
Green sense for the home : rating the real payoff from 50 green home projects
Eric Corey Freed and Kevin Daum.
Newton, CT : Taunton Press, c2010.
Green architecture guru Eric Corey Freed and business expert Kevin Daum team up to give you the real deal on going green at homewhat's worth paying for and what's not, where to find all the rebates and credits out there, and what kind of savings you'll seeso you know when to spend and how to save. That's Green$ense!
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Graphite, the material that gives pencils their marking ability, could be the basis for a new class of nanometer-scale electronic devices that have the attractive properties of carbon nanotubes - but could be produced using established microelectronics manufacturing techniques.
Using thin layers of graphite known as graphene, researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the United States, in collaboration with the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) in France, have produced proof-of-principle transistors, loop devices and circuitry. Ultimately, the researchers hope to use graphene layers less than 10 atoms thick as the basis for revolutionary electronic systems that would manipulate electrons as waves rather than particles, much like photonic systems control light waves.
"We expect to make devices of a kind that don't really have an analog in silicon-based electronics, so this is an entirely different way of looking at electronics," said Walt de Heer, a professor in Georgia Tech's School of Physics. "Our ultimate goal is integrated electronic structures that work on diffraction of electrons rather than diffusion of electrons. This will allow the production of very small devices with very high efficiencies and low power consumption."
Supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation and the Intel Corporation, the work was described March 13th at the March Meeting of the American Physical Society. Details of fabrication techniques have been reported in the Journal of Physical Chemistry.
Because carbon nanotubes conduct electricity with virtually no resistance, they have attracted strong interest for use in transistors and other devices. However, serious obstacles must be overcome before nanotube-based devices could be scaled up into high-volume industrial products, including:
- An inability to produce nanotubes of consistent sizes and consistent electronic properties,
- Difficulty integrating nanotubes into electronic devices using processes suitable for volume production, and
- High electrical resistance that produces heating and energy loss at junctions between nanotubes and the metal wires connecting them.
De Heer, who helped discover many properties of carbon nanotubes over the past decade, believes their primary value has been in calling attention to the useful properties of graphene. Continuous graphene circuitry can be produced using standard microelectronic processing techniques, potentially allowing creation of a "road map" for high-volume graphene electronics manufacturing, he said.
"Nanotubes are simply graphene that has been rolled into a cylindrical shape," de Heer explained. "Using narrow ribbons of graphene, we can get all the properties of nanotubes because those properties are due to the graphene and the confinement of the electrons, not the nanotube structures."
De Heer envisions using the graphene electronics for specialized applications, potentially within conventional silicon-based systems. Graphene systems could also be used as the foundation for molecular electronics, helping resolve resistance issues that now affect such systems.
"There is a huge advantage to making a system out of one continuous material, compared to having different materials with different interfaces - and large contract resistances to cause heating at the contacts," he said.
De Heer and collaborators Claire Berger, Nate Brown, Edward Conrad, Zhenting Dai, Rui Feng, Phillip First, Joanna Hass, Tianbo Li, Xuebin Li, Alexei Marchenkov, James Meindl, Asmerom Ogbazghi, Thomas Orlando, Zhimin Song, Xiaosong Wu of Georgia Tech and Didier Mayou and Cecile Naud of CNRS start with a wafer of silicon carbide, a material made up of silicon and carbon atoms. By heating the wafer in a high vacuum, they drive silicon atoms from the surface, leaving a thin continuous layer of graphene.
Next, they spin-coat onto the surface a photo-resist material of the kind used in established microelectronics techniques. Using optical lithography or electron-beam lithography, they produce patterns on the surface, then use conventional etching processes to remove unwanted graphene.
"We are doing lithography, which is completely familiar to those who work in microelectronics," said de Heer. "It's exactly what is done in microelectronics, but with a different material. That is the appeal of this process."
Using electron beam lithography, they've created feature sizes as small as 80 nanometers - on the way toward a goal of 10 nanometers with the help of a new nanolithographer in Georgia Tech's Microelectronics Research Center.
The graphene circuitry demonstrates high electron mobility - up to 25,000 square centimeters per volt-second, showing that electrons move with little scattering. The researchers have also shown electronic coherence at near room temperature, and evidence of quantum interference effects. They expect to see ballistic transport when they make structures small enough.
So far, they have built an all graphene planar field-effect transistor. The side-gated device produces a change in resistance through its channel when voltage is applied to the gate. However, this first device has a substantial current leak, which the team expects to eliminate with minor processing adjustments.
The researchers have also built a working quantum interference device, a ring-shaped structure that would be useful in manipulating electronic waves.
The key to properties of the new circuitry is the width of the ribbons, which confine the electrons in a quantum effect similar to that seen in carbon nanotubes. The width of the ribbon controls the material's band-gap. Other structures, such as sensing molecules, could be attached to the edges of the ribbons, which are normally passivated by hydrogen atoms.
De Heer and collaborators began working on graphene in 2001 and received support from Intel in 2003. They later received a Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) award from the U.S. National Science Foundation. They have filed one patent for their methods of fabricating graphene circuitry.
De Heer and his colleagues expect to continue improving their materials and fabrication processes, while producing and testing new structures. "We have taken the first step of a very long road," de Heer said. "Building a new class of electronics based on graphene is going to be very difficult and require the efforts of many people."
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Some two and a half years ago, we brought you the story of an ancient plant sprouting new hope.
That was then, this is now:
"A Judean date palm, long extinct, has been "brought back to life" by scientists who unearthed a 2,000 year-old seed of the plant and germinated it. A healthy 4-foot-tall seedling, named Methuselah after the oldest living man in the Bible, now holds the record for the oldest germinated seed."
Aside from the historical significance of the oldest young tree, it's hoped that it may also yield information to be used as alternative medicines.
A veritable Tree of Knowledge.
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General Etiquette in Cambodian Society
Cambodians traditionally greet each other with palms together, in a manner of prayer. They lift up their hands to the chest level and bow slightly. This is called Som Pas. In general, the higher the hands and lower the bow, the more respect is being shown. When meeting, Cambodians will Som Pas and say Choum Reap Sur (Hello). When departing, again they will Som Pas and say Choum Reap Lir(Goodbye). Cambodians use Som Pas for greeting and to display respect. When used for greeting, it would be impolite not to return a Som Pas; it is tantamount to rejecting an offered handshake in Western culture.
In Cambodia today, Western cultural influence is being accepted. Cambodian men often shake hands. Women, however, often adhere to the traditional greeting and are reluctant to shake hands, as Cambodians are not accustomed to touching, especially those of the opposite sex. In the U.S., many Cambodian women still are reluctant to shake hands, especially the older generation or new immigrants.
In formal situation, Cambodians address people with Lok (Mr.) or Lok Srey (Mrs.) followed by his/her given name or both given and family name. Rarely is the family name used by itself as Westerners do. For example, my name is Keo Mony. Keo is my family name and Mony my given name. I will be addressed Mr. Mony. In the U.S., I am often addressed Mr. Keo. Some Cambodians consider using only the family name impolite as that was the name of the individual's father, grandfather or ancestor.
In an informal situation, Cambodians will refer to an older man as Ta (grandfather), Po (uncle) or Bang (brother) and to an older woman as Yeay (grandmother), Ming (aunt) or Bang Srey (sister). They are also widely used in a situation where one is not sure the age of other parties, in deference to one who may be the senior. In Cambodia, for a younger person to address an older individual without using a title would be considered rude or a form of misbehavior. For instance, a fifteen year-old boy will call his thirty year-old neighbor Sokha Po Sokha or Bang Sokha. People of the same age or younger can be called by their given name without the use of a title.
The tradition has changed so that today, when people greet others in public they might use these titles to reflect differences in the social or professional class, and not only seniority or age. For example, older patients will often use one of these terms to greet their younger caseworker who is a professional at the hospital.
Head and Feet
Cambodians consider the head as highest part of the body and the focal point of intelligence and spiritual substance. The head is sacred. Therefore, it is an extreme insult to touch or to pat an individual’s head.
Feet, on the contrary, are considered the lowest part of the body and unclean.
Entering Wat (Temple) and Interacting with Monks
Cambodians are predominantly Theravada Buddhist. Buddhist monks have played an important role in the Cambodian society. Monks often serve as the educators and counselors. The Wat is the center of community life. In Cambodia, most villages have a Wat. In the U.S., there is also Wat in many Cambodian communities. Some are just apartments converted into a Wat. Here are some do's/don'ts when entering a Wat or interacting with a monk:
- Shoes or sandals must be removed before entering a Wat regardless of one's status in the society; this includes the king.
- Visitors should be appropriately attired. Men should wear shirts and pants; they should never go shirtless or in shorts. Women should not wear short skirts, low cut or open dresses that reveal the body, very colorful clothing or too much perfume.
- Inside the Wat, visitors sit with legs bent and both feet tucked to the side, Som Pas and bow to the floor three times.
- Women cannot touch a monk. If a woman wants to hand something to a monk, the object should be placed within reach of the monk, not handed directly to him. This restriction even applies to a monk’s mother.
- Monks sit on a platform or raised seat above the laity. However, if there is no platform or raised seat, monks are also allowed to sit on the floor or mat, if they sit upon a pillow or folded blanket which symbolizes a higher seating.
- Visitors always sit with their legs bent and feet tucked backward when the monks are seated.
- Never stand when talking to seated monks. It shows grave disrespect.
- A Buddha statue, well kept or in ruins, is a sacred object, so do not touch it or stand on the altar.
- A monk can be addressed with “Venerable” followed by his first name or whole name (last and first).
- Monks eat only breakfast and lunch, which have to be finished before noon. In the evening, monks are allowed to drink water, milk or tea. Any schedule or engagement should take this restriction into account.
- Food intended for monks should not be tasted before the monks eat it.
Entering a Home
There are a few points of etiquette when entering a Cambodian home:
- Visitors should remove their shoes before entering. Although it is not compulsory, Cambodians always insist upon removing their shoes even if they are told not to do so by the host. It is to show respect.
- Hats should be removed. Cambodians wear hats for protection from the sun or rain rather than for style. It is disrespectful to wear hats inside a home.
- Cambodians always offer drink such as water, tea or juice to their guests; sometimes food is also offered. To honor the host, the offer is accepted, even if the guest takes just a sip or a bite.
- Some homes use beds or mats for receiving guests. If that is the case, visitors should sit by tucking their feet backward. It is impolite to cross or stretch legs.
Cambodians demonstrate great respect toward their elders. This respect for elders is taught very early in life.
Here are some do's/don'ts when dealing with an elder:
- The younger person always Som Pas an elder first. For example, a guest would Som Pas his/her elder host when entering the house, but a younger host would Som Pas a visiting elder first.
- The younger individual should not sit elevated above an elder. Seating for the younger person should be at the same level or below the elder. To sit above the elder would be considered rude or misbehaved. Many homes in Cambodia as well as in the U.S. still use mats as well as chairs or couches. If an older person is sitting on a mat, it is impolite for a younger one to sit on a chair despite that he/she is told to do so. When sitting on a mat, the younger persons should bend their legs and tuck them to the side with both feet point backward. If sitting on a chair or couch, younger people should not cross or shake their legs.
- When walking in front of or passing an elder, a younger individual should bow to show respect. The lower the bow the more respect is conveyed.
- When accepting things from or handing things to an elder, the younger person has to do so with both hands. An elder will do so with only one hand.
- The elder's head should not be touched or patted. Cambodian parents always tell their children not to touch or pat another person's head because it is a sin.
- When standing or posing for a picture, a younger person never puts his/her hand on an elder's shoulder. It is considered very rude.
- When talking, take off hats and don't put hands in pockets.
- When eating, don't start before the elder.
In Cambodia even with so many changes, the respect of elders is still emphasized. In the U.S., on the contrary, the respect of elders seems to be declining, especially for the younger generation. Many parents are busy at work and children have less and less contact with other Cambodians. Westerners will be very appreciated and respected if they demonstrate respect toward the Cambodian elders.
Sensitive Care Provider Issues
- Cambodians tend to smile or laugh in both positive and negative situations, thus, it should not automatically be considered as expressing happiness, agreement, amusement, embarrassment or ridicule. Great caution should be taken in interpreting a smile or laugh in order to avoid misunderstanding.
- Cambodians are considered shy, especially women. It is advisable that healthcare providers consider this when trying to have a frank and open discussion with their patients. Same sex providers are preferred.
- Preventive medicine is uncommon to Cambodians. Healthcare remains a luxury to many Cambodians who cannot afford it. A long-held belief “if nothing broke, don't fix” also plays a part in Cambodians not utilizing preventive care.
- Cambodians have experiences inconceivable suffering and violence during thirty years of brutal wars. Chronic mental illness has affected many Cambodians. But, culturally, Cambodians are unaccustomed to opening up and discussing their feelings, especially the men, as they think it would make them look weak. They also equate mental illness to craziness. The stigma from being branded as crazy is enormous. Thus, Cambodians are often reluctant to talk about their experiences and their related illnesses.
- Counseling is an alien notion to Cambodians whether related to marriage or health, especially counseling offered by a trained or licensed counselor. When advice is needed, it is often sought from a monk, traditional healer/herbalist or the abbot.
- Traditional healers or herbalists (known as “kru-Khmer”) and laymen who arrange religious healing ceremonies (people known as “aa-jaar”) have the respect of the community. They are considered leaders in the community.
- Many Cambodians still depend heavily on traditional healers and traditional or herbal medicines for treatments of all kinds of illnesses. Modern medicines are available and easy to obtain in Cambodia. In fact, no prescriptions are needed in order to purchase them. However, they are too expensive for many people. Traditional medicines are made out of roots, barks and animal bones. They are believed to cure a wide variety of illnesses, even AIDS. No regulations govern traditional medicines. In the U.S., many Cambodians still use the traditional medicines with which they are familiar. They are available in many grocer stores or sent over from Cambodia.
- Cambodians tend to fear those in authority. Culturally, the fear is taught very early starting within the family. Children are taught to obey at home as well as school. At home, they are not allowed to challenge the authority of their parents, especially the father. Cambodian society remains very male dominated. At school, teachers are not to be challenged. And later at work, bosses are the authority. Obedience is the norm. In addition, kinds, foreign occupiers, and tyrannical leaders whose authority cannot be questioned have always ruled Cambodia. Punishment has always been swift and harsh for those who dare. The fear has been ingrained in many Cambodians for life.
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Now that we’ve moved into the realm of audio, we need to consider measurement tools and develop some procedures to test for linearity.
At the most basic level, of course, we can simply insert a sine wave test tone and use an oscilloscope to plot the signal amplitude and display the time required to complete one cycle. Or we could use a simple spectrum analyzer, which would display amplitude over the frequency as a line or bar.
A more sophisticated approach employs dual-channel FFT transfer measurements. This is a tool which, when properly used, can reveal shortcomings in any or all three of the main linearity requirements.
Transfer function measurements, using full bandwidth signals, can be used to qualify scaling and superposition (summing) properties of a system as well as the timing aspect of homogeneity. High resolution spectral analysis of single or multi-frequency tones can be used to readily identify system shortcomings in homogeneity which manifest as distortion products.
Theoretically, we could do all our testing using single tones and laboriously plotting the results. But it’s usually much faster to use broadband noise or program content with a spectrum analyzer, which looks at the full range of frequencies in real time.
However, this does not show the time relationship. By using dual-channel analysis you can look at the complex transfer function of the system, the difference between what was sent and what was delivered (Figure 8).
FFT analysis also lets us look at relative phase differences over a frequency range, to see if we are achieving linearity in the time domain. This is extremely useful in the time alignment of multi-way loudspeaker systems.
Finally, dual channel FFTs let us analyze the relative arrival time of energy. Do all frequencies present at the input arrive at the test microphone at the same instant, or do they spread out over time, with the system producing some frequencies later than others?
If there is a time offset between two signals, this will cause changes of magnitude across the spectrum, as signals at some frequencies will add as others will cancel. A typical example is the comb filtering caused by the relative phase differential between two signals. When two time offset signals are summed, their combined response looks like this (Figure 9).
Spectral analysis reveals other differences between input and output signals, such as the harmonics generated by a loudspeaker. In the example shown here, a 50 Hz signal is being sent and the level ratio of the fundamental versus the harmonics can be quantified. The more non-linear the loudspeaker is, the closer in level the harmonics will be to the fundamental (Figure 10).
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When the move to high-k, metal-gate processes was first mooted, a lot of the discussion was about cost. Gate-first proponents argued that the gate-last process – which Intel went with at 45nm – would increase cost although it simplified some of the materials choices. Modelling by Gold Standard Simulations indicate that gate-last – which seems to be the way that the industry is now headed – is the sensible choice from a design point of view, at least for bulk processes.
The issue with gate-first is to find a way of maintaining a high-quality gate electrode through all the following process steps that define the rest of the transistor. Gate-last avoids the problem by making a dummy gate, making the rest of the transistor and then sucking out the dummy material and replacing it with the true gate materials, using different material mixes for the NMOS and PMOS electrodes. Clearly, that adds to the number of process steps.
At 20nm, variability and its impact not only on the minimum-sized SRAM transistors but standard logic transistors signal big problems for gate-first processes, according to GSS. The company, founded by Professor Asen Asenov of the University of Glasgow and which gave us the current density simulations of Intel’s finFET structure, used its Garand software to model 10,000 bulk-CMOS MOSFETs, each with a subtly different, randomly generated dopant profile.
As expected for such small devices, variability has a big impact on SRAM behavior, which is proving to be a brake on scaling, although library designers are attempting to work around the problem using circuit-level assists.
But the simulations revealed “another sinister effect”, according to the GSS blog. This one is independent of transistor width, which is not good news for logic or analog devices. “The variability results in approximately one order of magnitude increase in the average leakage current of a single transistor or in the overall leakage current of the chip compared to ideal 'uniform' transistors without variability,” GSS argues.
The main source of the problem is the metal-gate granularity in gate-first processes – an effect that should not be seen to any significant degree in gate-last processes. “The elimination of MGG as a source of statistical variability in the 20nm metal-gate-last technology results in approximately a 10 mV reduction in the threshold voltage standard deviation,” says GSS. “This seemingly small reduction in the statistical variability has a dramatic impact, resulting in 100mV reduction in the SRAM Vcmin and a 50 per cent reduction in leakage.”
Graphs and a more detailed discussion are at the GSS blog.
Blog edited since publication: text added to clarify that simulations were for bulk CMOS processes.
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The Electoral College: Its Logical Foundations and Problems What (if Anything) Should Be Done About Improving the System of Electing a President?
Dr. Alexander S. Belenky, Visiting Scholar, MIT Center for Engineering Systems Fundamentals; Judith Best, Professor of Political Science at State University Of New York/Cortland; Robert Hardaway, Professor of Law University of Denver College of Law; John Fortier, Research Fellow American Enterprise Institute
Description: Give a hearty cheer for the Electoral College, and for the Founding Fathers, whose good sense (and good luck), say these panelists, have led to a durable, wise and relatively fair system for electing a president.
By way of introduction, Alex Belenky details the mechanics of the current Electoral College, and explains "to a certain extent, this is not in line with what was initially designed or meant by the Founding Fathers." The founders' idea was to appoint "some wise people from different states and they would come up with their own ideas. These wise people, a so"called independent congress, would elect a president." Belenky encourages panelists to debate whether the current system, in which electoral votes are determined by how states vote, should be abolished, or combined somehow with a popular vote. The people's belief that they vote for president and vice president directly "is definitely a far cry from reality," he says.
The greatest fear of the founders, says Judith Best, was that of a majority tyranny that could control the entire government, and use it to oppress a minority. This fear led to the concept of three branches of government with separation of powers, and a federal principle shaping all governing institutions and decisions, where no popular votes for anything can be added across state lines. These are "load"bearing walls of the Constitution," says Best.
Founders determined a method to balance nation and states, viewed as "little republics where selfish interests are forced to compromise early and often." But they struggled with the presidential election, especially how to prevent Congress from making the president its lackey. So they cleverly created a temporary congress to hire the president, with "no further influence or power over the winner." This ephemeral body, the Electoral College, "beats all alternatives," believes Best. The goal of an election is to "select a president who can govern a vast, heterogeneous nation," not serve as a public opinion poll. Requiring candidates to win states structures the election, forcing candidates to form broad cross"sectional coalitions, which unlike a popular vote, leads to a swift, sure decision to fill the world's most powerful office.
Robert Hardaway believes the Electoral College is part of a grand plan that works quite well. This "parallel parliament" has but one duty: to meet every four years to select a president. John F. Kennedy, whose election in 1960 raised questions about the electoral mechanism, described a solar system of government power, all in balance. JFK believed any attempt to rework the Electoral College would mean transforming the other branches as well. Alternatives such as direct elections can lead to a proliferation of splinter parties, and to runoff elections where a majority of the people might reject the runoff candidates, but still end up with one of them. Founding Fathers wanted a system that protected minority rights and that "would elect a candidate whose support was broad as well as deep," says Hardaway.
The Electoral College works pretty well in general, says John Fortier. There's not a great likelihood that the popular vote will head in one direction and electoral vote in another, and while small states exert substantial influence, they are relatively evenly split between the two parties. Our system takes "seriously the need to win a majority or strong plurality in states to do things, not just to elect a president, but to pass state laws." The most serious argument against the Electoral College is that campaigns don't take place as much nationally as in selected states, says Fortier, and he'd be "open to looking at some sort of proportional system where states would allocate electors that might open upgreater competition."
About the Speaker(s): Judith Best teaches about political theory, American government and American political thought and jurisprudence. She has numerous publications, including: The Choice of the People? Debating the Electoral College (1996) and The Case Against Direct Election of the President: A Defense of the Electoral College(1975). She has spoken frequently before Congress and the public on the Electoral College System. She received her M.A. from the University of Michigan and her Ph.D. from Cornell University. Best has been a member of the Cortland faculty since 1973.
After graduating Cum Laude from Amherst College in 1968 and Order of the Coif from New York University Law School, Robert Hardaway joined the U.S. Navy JAG Corps where he processed civil claims and also served as both a prosecutor and criminal defense lawyer. After serving four years, he joined the Denver law firm of Rovira, Demuth, and Eiberger where he practiced civil litigation. He also later served as a Deputy District attorney for Arapahoe County and rounded out his litigation career as a Colorado Deputy Public Defender, where he handled hundreds of felony cases, including death penalty cases. From there, he first entered academia as a clinical supervisor at the University of Denver College of Law, ultimately becoming a tenured Professor of Law.
He is the author of 14 published books on law and public policy, and 29 law review articles, reviews, and articles in professional journals. More recently, he has expanded the scope of his professional writing to include docudramas and law"related fiction and novels and appears frequently on television and in the media commenting on legal issues.
John Fortier is the principal contributor to the AEI"Brookings Election Reform Project and executive director of the Continuity of Government Commission. A political scientist who has taught at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Delaware, Boston College, and Harvard University, Fortier has written numerous scholarly and popular articles. His books include Absentee and Early Voting: Trends, Promises, and Perils (2006), After the People Vote: A Guide to the Electoral College (2004), and Second"Term Blues: How George W. Bush Has Governed (2007). Fortier writes a column for Politico and is a frequent radio and television commentator on the presidency, Congress, and elections. He received his B.A. from Georgetown University and his Ph.D. from Boston College.
Host(s): Sloan School of Management, MIT Sloan School of Management
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New finding paves way for easy, accurate test to detect pre-diabetesJuly 9th, 2010 - 11:57 am ICT by ANI
Washington, July 9 (ANI): A new discovery could lead to a simple, routine test for detecting the subtle onset of diabetes, say scientists.
Johns Hopkins scientists discovered a dramatic increase of an easy-to-detect enzyme in the red blood cells of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes - up to two to three times higher in people with diabetes and pre-diabetes than in those with no disease.
“That’s a big difference, especially in an enzyme that’s as tightly regulated as this one is,” says Gerald Hart, Ph.D., the DeLamar Professor and director of biological chemistry at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine.
Hart speculates that in diabetes and pre-diabetes, it’s not a good thing for the increased amount of sugar to be attached to proteins, so the cell is responding by elevating the enzyme that gets rid of it.
He added that his team’s pilot studies encourage further investigation of a method that potentially could fill the void that currently exists for an easy, accurate routine test for pre-diabetes. (ANI)
- Routine blood test may accurately identify pre-diabetics - Jan 07, 2011
- What babies eat determines risk of obesity - Aug 31, 2012
- Sugar plays vital role in cell division - Feb 06, 2010
- Studying sugars role in cells working may pave way for new therapies - Oct 21, 2008
- Reliable test to spot pre-diabetes developed - Sep 02, 2008
- New treatment shows promise in the fight against breast cancer - Mar 30, 2011
- Compound to starve cancers of sugar-based building blocks found - Nov 19, 2010
- New therapeutic target for some breast cancers discovered - Oct 05, 2010
- 'Key player' that facilitates Parkinson's disease found - Mar 04, 2011
- New guidelines urge blood test that gives blood sugar average for diagnosis - Dec 30, 2009
- Almonds 'could help prevent diabetes, heart disease' - Dec 30, 2010
- 'Survival protein' can help treat neuro-disorders - May 24, 2011
- Weight loss lowers diabetics' risk of heart attacks - May 04, 2012
- Sensor detects glucose in diabetics' saliva, tears - Aug 24, 2012
- Exercise pill for osteoporosis patients on the way - Apr 08, 2010
Tags: accurate test, biological chemistry, diabetes, dramatic increase, gerald hart, hopkins scientists, johns hopkins school, johns hopkins school of medicine, medicine, new discovery, pilot studies, pre diabetes, proteins, red blood cells, routine test, school of medicine, three times
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Botswana Chobe River
With a good tourist infrastructure, friendly people and over 500 regularly occurring species, Botswana offers many opportunities for the birdwatcher. It also contains the Okavango delta, one of the jewels of Africa and home to an amazing variety of wildlife. Birdwatching however, can start in and around the capital, Gaborone.
Formerly the British protectorate of Bechuanaland, Botswana adopted its new name upon independence in 1966. Following a long period of political stability and capital investment, it has one of the most successful economies in Africa and one of the world’s highest growth rates. It also has one of the highest known rates of HIV/AIDS infection, as well as a progressive and comprehensive programme for dealing with the disease.
The purpose of this document is to provide a summary of Botswana and its birds for birders interested in the country and potentially planning a visit. The information has been put together from a number of sources and it is intended to add new information as it becomes available. As such, readers are welcome to submit contributions by e-mail to [email protected]. You should note that the names of birds used in this document are those of the African Bird Club Checklist.
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Vitamin C or ascorbic acid is a water-soluble vitamin that is also a powerful antioxidant . Since the body does not store it, we must get a regular supply from foods rich in vitamin C or from supplements.
Health Benefits of Vitamin C
The health benefits of vitamin C are many for it is needed for repairing tissues, growth, forming collage, healing wounds, as an antioxidant in fighting free radicals and more. Here are some of the medical conditions that benefit from the right amounts of vitamin C in the body.
Benefits to Heart : There are mixed results from studies conducted on the health benefits of vitamin C for the heart.
Evidence shows that while cholesterol levels are not lowered by vitamin C, it does safeguard arteries from damage. As an antioxidant, vitamin C can slow the progress of atherosclerosis that results in hardening of arteries. Plaque that is built in arteries due to build up of LDL or bad cholesterol can be prevented by Vitamin C. Therefore the risk of strokes or heart attacks can be minimized. Vitamin C also maintains the flexibility of arteries.
Those who suffer from atherosclerosis can get peripheral artery disease that affects the blood vessels in the legs. This will result in pain while walking called claudication. While there is no direct evidence to link vitamin C supplements to these conditions, it is best to get enough of this essential vitamin through dietary sources.
Helps in High Blood Pressure : Large population studies have shown that people who eat antioxidant rich foods like vitamin C have a lesser chance of suffering from high blood pressure when compared to those who have a poor diet. Diet physicians suggest that those who stand a risk of contracting high blood pressure should consume a diet rich in fruits and vegetables.
Recommended Dosage of vitamin C
Helps in Common Cold : Popular belief holds that vitamin C can cure common colds. Scientific studies cannot support this claim. Daily intake of vitamin C can reduce the duration of common colds by only one day. However, studies conducted on those exercising in extreme climates like skiers, soldiers deployed in the Arctic and marathon runners can reduce the risk of contracting a cold if they take regular does of vitamin C.
Cancer : Breast cancer, skin cancer and cervical dysplasia rates can be lowered by eating foods loaded with vitamin C. such foods are also rich in other powerful antioxidants and nutrients. Hence, there is no evidence to prove that only vitamin C has anti-cancerous properties. Vitamin C supplements demonstrate no evidence of reducing risk of contracting various types of cancer. Once a person gets cancer, vitamin C in large doses cannot help in treatment. On the contrary, doctors worry that antioxidants taken in large doses can actually obstruct the effectiveness of chemotherapy medication.
Osteoarthritis : Vitamin C is needed to maintain healthy bones and cartilage. Osteoarthritis can damage cartilage by exerting pressure on joints and bones. Cartilage can also be destroyed by free radicals in the body that damage DNA and cells. As an antioxidant, vitamin C can reduce the damage caused by free radicals. It also helps the body manufacture collagen that constitutes normal cartilage. There is no evidence to suggest that vitamin C supplements prevent or treat osteoarthritis. A person is less likely to contract any form of arthritis if they eat foods rich in vitamin C. Similarly if you are on anti-inflammatory or non-steroidal drugs for OA, a vitamin C supplement will be needed.
Anti-aging properties : Since it is one of the top 5 anti-aging vitamins, the health benefits of vitamin C for protecting skin from damage are important. Free radicals are created when a person is exposed to pollution, radiation or cigarette smoke or when digesting food. As an antioxidant, vitamin C prevents this kind of ski damage and regenerates other antioxidants like vitamin E. Topical vitamin C creams protect the skin from damaging UV rays of the sun. Vitamin C produces collagen that helps the skin maintain a firm and youthful look.
Other health benefits of Vitamin C
Pre-eclampsia that affects pregnant women can be prevented by vitamin C and E supplements. This illness causes excessive protein in urine and high blood pressure that can result in premature births.
Asthma sufferers have low vitamin C levels in their body according to certain studies. Vitamin C can also reduce exercise-induced asthma symptoms.
Stress related symptoms can be alleviated with vitamin C, as it is sensitive to stress.
Scurvy sufferers lack vitamin C. Symptoms include weakening of blood vessels including collagen, connective tissue and bones. Since it has powerful antioxidant properties, vitamin C can be used to prevent occurrence of scurvy.
Vasodilation or improvement of blood vessel dilation is helped by vitamin C supplements in those suffering from congestive heart failure, atherosclerosis, angina pectoris, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Lead toxicity creates severe health problems in children such as abnormal growth and development. In adults it can lead to kidney damage and high blood pressure. Vitamin C supplements are essential to bring down lead levels in the blood.
Cataracts can be cured with adequate intake of vitamin C as it increases blood supply to the eye.
Moods of a person can be improved by vitamin C since it helps in the creation of neurotransmitters, norepinephrine, which is needed by the brain to function properly.
Immune system2 requires vitamin C to function properly.
Wounds heal quicker with the help of vitamin C that helps connective tissue growth essential for wound repair.
Diabetes is generally present in those with low levels of vitamin C. This nutrient helps to process glucose and insulin that help to cure diabetes.
Foods rich in Vitamin C
Health benefits of vitamin C can be derived from foods rich in this nutrient such as citrus fruits and juices, red and green peppers, berries, broccoli, spinach and tomatoes. Fortified breakfast cereals are also a good source . Other sources include watermelon, papaya, cabbage, cauliflower, turnips, pineapple and potatoes. Vitamin C is light, heat and air sensitive. Hence the best source of this nutrient comes from vegetables and fruits that are raw or mildly cooked.
Precautions when taking Vitamin C
Make sure that all vitamin C supplements are taken under medical supervision. Take a lot of fluids when consuming vitamin C supplements since it has a diuretic effect4. Toxicity from excessive consumption of vitamin C is rare although people can get diarrhea.
Apart from being a powerful antioxidant, health benefits of vitamin C extend to strengthening the immune system, eyes, heart, skin etc. It also protects people from different cancers and various cardiovascular diseases. So, make sure you get your daily dose of vitamin C from food sources or vitamin supplements.
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CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES - The Encyclopedia of Cleveland History
The CUYAHOGA COUNTY DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES, formed 1 Jan. 1948 as the Welfare Dept., assists and supervises the county's disabled and disadvantaged. The governmental division was preceded by several private and governmental efforts at providing WELFARE/RELIEF. The Welfare Dept.'s establishment by county commissioners John F. Curry, John J. Pekarek, and Joseph F. Gorman formally acknowledged the county (rather than private agencies, the city, or state) as responsible for human services. The Welfare Dept. was charged with administration of the public welfare sections of the Ohio code: aid to dependent children and the needy blind; poor relief and burials; emergency aid in war- or peacetime; and cooperation with state and federal authorities. John J. Schaffer was appointed as the first director, responsible to the commissioners.
As a result of national legislation and Ohio code changes, the Welfare Dept. took on more responsibility during the 1960s and 1970s. By 1983 it was the largest county governmental division, with 2,500 employees serving 250,000 residents each month. Functions were later divided into: social services (nonfinancial support, such as shelters for the abused, CHILD CARE, FAMILY PLANNING, homemaker services, and alcohol and drug rehabilitation); income maintenance (determination of eligibility for and administration of Supplemental Security Income, Aid to Dependent Children, Title XX funds, and general relief, through programs such as food stamps and home-delivered meals); and shared services (internally focused planning and training, management, administration, and finance). In 1983 the Welfare Dept.'s operation costs represented 38% of the county's general fund. On 20 July 1984, it was renamed the Dept. of Human Services. In 1993 the main office was located at 1641 Payne Ave. The director in 1995 was David Reines.Last Modified: 20 Jun 1997 10:27:30 AM
This site maintained by Case Western Reserve University
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The Hanukkah Story aka Miracle
The year was about 165 BC. A group of men led by Judah the Maccabee climbed to the top of a mountain overlooking Jerusalem. They were about to complete a great victory, a triumph that lives on as the miracle of Hanukkah.
After the death of Alexander the Great his Empire was divided among his generals and the land of Israel came under the rule of the Syrian-Greek King Antiochus, who wanted all Jewish people to convert to his own religion.
King Antiochus started being so ruthless when it came to religion that he earned himself the nickname Antiochus the Madman. He even filled the Jews' holy temple with his own idols (statues of gods) and forbade them from observing their own holidays and traditions.
Then Matthew came along, a man who wasn't afraid to stand up to Antiochus. With his five sons he started a war against the Syrian-Greeks. When he died, his sons, lead by Judah the Maccabee, continued the fight.
Judah and his men won many battles and defeated the mightiest armies of Syria. But then the enemy destroyed the Jews' holy temple. Judah and his men saw it happen as they stood on that mountain overlooking Jerusalem in 165 BC. And when they finally got to the ruined temple, they found that the only thing that the Syrians hadn't destroyed was one tiny jug of olive oil, which people used back then to fire up their oil lamps for light.
And here's the miracle: that one small jug of oil, which technically shouldn't have been enough to light one lamp for one night, lit Judah and his followers' special lamp (called a menorah) for eight whole nights! Those eight miraculous days were chosen as the eternal symbol to commemorate the miracle of Hanukkah. Today, we light the menorah for eight days to remember the miracle that happened 2000 years ago!
Video: How To Light The Menorah
Have Your Say
How do you celebrate Hanukkah? Let us know!
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Millions of women experience involuntary loss of urine called urinary incontinence (UI). Some women may lose a few drops of urine while running or coughing. Others may feel a strong, sudden urge to urinate just before losing a large amount of urine. Many women experience both symptoms. UI can be slightly bothersome or totally debilitating. For some women, the risk of public embarrassment keeps them from enjoying many activities with their family and friends. Urine loss can also occur during sexual activity and cause tremendous emotional distress.
Women experience UI twice as often as men. Pregnancy and childbirth, menopause, and the structure of the female urinary tract account for this difference. But both women and men can become incontinent from neurologic injury, birth defects, stroke, multiple sclerosis, and physical problems associated with aging.
Older women experience UI more often than younger women. But incontinence is not inevitable with age. UI is a medical problem. Your doctor or nurse can help you find a solution. No single treatment works for everyone, but many women can find improvement without surgery.
Incontinence occurs because of problems with muscles and nerves that help to hold or release urine. The body stores urine—water and wastes removed by the kidneys—in the bladder, a balloon-like organ. The bladder connects to the urethra, the tube through which urine leaves the body.
During urination, muscles in the wall of the bladder contract, forcing urine out of the bladder and into the urethra. At the same time, sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra relax, letting urine pass out of the body. Incontinence will occur if your bladder muscles suddenly contract or the sphincter muscles are not strong enough to hold back urine. Urine may escape with less pressure than usual if the muscles are damaged, causing a change in the position of the bladder. Obesity, which is associated with increased abdominal pressure, can worsen incontinence. Fortunately, weight loss can reduce its severity.
What are the types of incontinence?
|Stress ||Leakage of small amounts of urine during physical movement (coughing, sneezing, exercising). |
|Urge ||Leakage of large amounts of urine at unexpected times, including during sleep. |
|Overactive Bladder ||Urinary frequency and urgency, with or without urge incontinence. |
|Functional ||Untimely urination because of physical disability, external obstacles, or problems in thinking or communicating that prevent a person from reaching a toilet. |
|Overflow ||Unexpected leakage of small amounts of urine because of a full bladder. |
|Mixed ||Usually the occurrence of stress and urge incontinence together. |
|Transient ||Leakage that occurs temporarily because of a situation that will pass (infection, taking a new medication, colds with coughing). |
If coughing, laughing, sneezing, or other movements that put pressure on the bladder cause you to leak urine, you may have stress incontinence. Physical changes resulting from pregnancy, childbirth, and menopause often cause stress incontinence. This type of incontinence is common in women and, in many cases, can be treated.
Childbirth and other events can injure the scaffolding that helps support the bladder in women. Pelvic floor muscles, the vagina, and ligaments support your bladder. If these structures weaken, your bladder can move downward, pushing slightly out of the bottom of the pelvis toward the vagina. This prevents muscles that ordinarily force the urethra shut from squeezing as tightly as they should. As a result, urine can leak into the urethra during moments of physical stress. Stress incontinence also occurs if the squeezing muscles weaken.
Stress incontinence can worsen during the week before your menstrual period. At that time, lowered estrogen levels might lead to lower muscular pressure around the urethra, increasing chances of leakage. The incidence of stress incontinence increases following menopause.
If you lose urine for no apparent reason after suddenly feeling the need or urge to urinate, you may have urge incontinence. A common cause of urge incontinence is inappropriate bladder contractions. Abnormal nerve signals might be the cause of these bladder spasms.
Urge incontinence can mean that your bladder empties during sleep, after drinking a small amount of water, or when you touch water or hear it running (as when washing dishes or hearing someone else taking a shower). Certain fluids and medications such as diuretics or emotional states such as anxiety can worsen this condition. Some medical conditions, such as hyperthyroidism and uncontrolled diabetes, can also lead to or worsen urge incontinence.
Involuntary actions of bladder muscles can occur because of damage to the nerves of the bladder, to the nervous system (spinal cord and brain), or to the muscles themselves. Multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s disease, stroke, and injury—including injury that occurs during surgery—all can harm bladder nerves or muscles.
Overactive bladder occurs when abnormal nerves send signals to the bladder at the wrong time, causing its muscles to squeeze without warning. Voiding up to seven times a day is normal for many women, but women with overactive bladder may find that they must urinate even more frequently.
Specifically, the symptoms of overactive bladder include
- urinary frequency—bothersome urination eight or more times a day or two or more times at night
- urinary urgency—the sudden, strong need to urinate immediately. Urge incontinence—leakage or gushing of urine that follows a sudden, strong urge
- nocturia—awaking at night to urinate
People with medical problems that interfere with thinking, moving, or communicating may have trouble reaching a toilet. A person with Alzheimer’s disease, for example, may not think well enough to plan a timely trip to a restroom. A person in a wheelchair may have a hard time getting to a toilet in time. Functional incontinence is the result of these physical and medical conditions. Conditions such as arthritis often develop with age and account for some of the incontinence of elderly women in nursing homes.
Overflow incontinence happens when the bladder does not empty properly, causing it to spill over. Your doctor can check for this problem. Weak bladder muscles or a blocked urethra can cause this type of incontinence. Nerve damage from diabetes or other diseases can lead to weak bladder muscles; tumors and urinary stones can block the urethra. Overflow incontinence is rare in women.
Other Types of Incontinence
Stress and urge incontinence often occur together in women. Combinations of incontinence—and this combination in particular—are sometimes referred to as mixed incontinence. Most women don’t have pure stress or urge incontinence, and many studies show that mixed incontinence is the most common type of urine loss in women.
Transient incontinence is a temporary version of incontinence. Medications, urinary tract infections, mental impairment, and restricted mobility can all trigger transient incontinence. Severe constipation can cause transient incontinence when the impacted stool pushes against the urinary tract and obstructs outflow. A cold can trigger incontinence, which resolves once the coughing spells cease.
How is incontinence evaluated?
The first step toward relief is to see a doctor who has experience treating incontinence to learn what type you have. A urologist specializes in the urinary tract, and some urologists further specialize in the female urinary tract. Gynecologists and obstetricians specialize in the female reproductive tract and childbirth. A urogynecologist focuses on urinary and associated pelvic problems in women. Family practitioners and internists see patients for all kinds of health conditions. Any of these doctors may be able to help you. In addition, some nurses and other health care providers often provide rehabilitation services and teach behavioral therapies such as fluid management and pelvic floor strengthening.
To diagnose the problem, your doctor will first ask about symptoms and medical history. Your pattern of voiding and urine leakage may suggest the type of incontinence you have. Thus, many specialists begin with having you fill out a bladder diary over several days. These diaries can reveal obvious factors that can help define the problem—including straining and discomfort, fluid intake, use of drugs, recent surgery, and illness. Often you can begin treatment at the first medical visit.
Your doctor may instruct you to keep a diary for a day or more—sometimes up to a week—to record when you void. This diary should note the times you urinate and the amounts of urine you produce. To measure your urine, you can use a special pan that fits over the toilet rim. You can also use the bladder diary to record your fluid intake, episodes of urine leakage, and estimated amounts of leakage.
If your diary and medical history do not define the problem, they will at least suggest which tests you need.
Your doctor will physically examine you for signs of medical conditions causing incontinence, including treatable blockages from bowel or pelvic growths. In addition, weakness of the pelvic floor leading to incontinence may cause a condition called prolapse, where the vagina or bladder begins to protrude out of your body. This condition is also important to diagnose at the time of an evaluation.
Your doctor may measure your bladder capacity. The doctor may also measure the residual urine for evidence of poorly functioning bladder muscles. To do this, you will urinate into a measuring pan, after which the nurse or doctor will measure any urine remaining in the bladder. Your doctor may also recommend other tests:
- Bladder stress test—You cough vigorously as the doctor watches for loss of urine from the urinary opening.
- Urinalysis and urine culture—Laboratory technicians test your urine for evidence of infection, urinary stones, or other contributing causes.
- Ultrasound—This test uses sound waves to create an image of the kidneys, ureters, bladder, and urethra.
- Cystoscopy—The doctor inserts a thin tube with a tiny camera in the urethra to see inside the urethra and bladder.
- Urodynamics—Various techniques measure pressure in the bladder and the flow of urine.
How is incontinence treated?
Behavioral Remedies: Bladder Retraining and Kegel Exercises
By looking at your bladder diary, the doctor may see a pattern and suggest making it a point to use the bathroom at regular timed intervals, a habit called timed voiding. As you gain control, you can extend the time between scheduled trips to the bathroom. Behavioral treatment also includes Kegel exercises to strengthen the muscles that help hold in urine.
How do you do Kegel exercises?
The first step is to find the right muscles. One way to find them is to imagine that you are sitting on a marble and want to pick up the marble with your vagina. Imagine sucking or drawing the marble into your vagina.
Try not to squeeze other muscles at the same time. Be careful not to tighten your stomach, legs, or buttocks. Squeezing the wrong muscles can put more pressure on your bladder control muscles. Just squeeze the pelvic muscles. Don’t hold your breath. Do not practice while urinating.
Repeat, but don’t overdo it. At first, find a quiet spot to practice—your bathroom or bedroom—so you can concentrate. Pull in the pelvic muscles and hold for a count of three. Then relax for a count of three. Work up to three sets of 10 repeats. Start doing your pelvic muscle exercises lying down. This is the easiest position to do them in because the muscles do not need to work against gravity. When your muscles get stronger, do your exercises sitting or standing. Working against gravity is like adding more weight.
Be patient. Don’t give up. It takes just 5 minutes a day. You may not feel your bladder control improve for 3 to 6 weeks. Still, most people do notice an improvement after a few weeks.
Some people with nerve damage cannot tell whether they are doing Kegel exercises correctly. If you are not sure, ask your doctor or nurse to examine you while you try to do them. If it turns out that you are not squeezing the right muscles, you may still be able to learn proper Kegel exercises by doing special training with biofeedback, electrical stimulation, or both.
Medicines for Overactive Bladder
If you have an overactive bladder, your doctor may prescribe a medicine to block the nerve signals that cause frequent urination and urgency.
Several medicines from a class of drugs called anticholinergics can help relax bladder muscles and prevent bladder spasms. Their most common side effect is dry mouth, although larger doses may cause blurred vision, constipation, a faster heartbeat, and flushing. Other side effects include drowsiness, confusion, or memory loss. If you have glaucoma, ask your ophthalmologist if these drugs are safe for you.
Some medicines can affect the nerves and muscles of the urinary tract in different ways. Pills to treat swelling (edema) or high blood pressure may increase your urine output and contribute to bladder control problems. Talk with your doctor; you may find that taking an alternative to a medicine you already take may solve the problem without adding another prescription.
Scientists are studying other drugs and injections that have not yet received U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for incontinence to see if they are effective treatments for people who were unsuccessful with behavioral therapy or pills.
Biofeedback uses measuring devices to help you become aware of your body’s functioning. By using electronic devices or diaries to track when your bladder and urethral muscles contract, you can gain control over these muscles. Biofeedback can supplement pelvic muscle exercises and electrical stimulation to relieve stress and urge incontinence.
For urge incontinence not responding to behavioral treatments or drugs, stimulation of nerves to the bladder leaving the spine can be effective in some patients. Neuromodulation is the name of this therapy. The FDA has approved a device called InterStim for this purpose. Your doctor will need to test to determine if this device would be helpful to you. The doctor applies an external stimulator to determine if neuromodulation works in you. If you have a 50 percent reduction in symptoms, a surgeon will implant the device. Although neuromodulation can be effective, it is not for everyone. The therapy is expensive, involving surgery with possible surgical revisions and replacement.
Vaginal Devices for Stress Incontinence
One of the reasons for stress incontinence may be weak pelvic muscles, the muscles that hold the bladder in place and hold urine inside. A pessary is a stiff ring that a doctor or nurse inserts into the vagina, where it presses against the wall of the vagina and the nearby urethra. The pressure helps reposition the urethra, leading to less stress leakage. If you use a pessary, you should watch for possible vaginal and urinary tract infections and see your doctor regularly.
Injections for Stress Incontinence
A variety of bulking agents, such as collagen and carbon spheres, are available for injection near the urinary sphincter. The doctor injects the bulking agent into tissues around the bladder neck and urethra to make the tissues thicker and close the bladder opening to reduce stress incontinence. After using local anesthesia or sedation, a doctor can inject the material in about half an hour. Over time, the body may slowly eliminate certain bulking agents, so you will need repeat injections. Before you receive an injection, a doctor may perform a skin test to determine whether you could have an allergic reaction to the material. Scientists are testing newer agents, including your own muscle cells, to see if they are effective in treating stress incontinence. Your doctor will discuss which bulking agent may be best for you.
Surgery for Stress Incontinence
In some women, the bladder can move out of its normal position, especially following childbirth. Surgeons have developed different techniques for supporting the bladder back to its normal position. The three main types of surgery are retropubic suspension and two types of sling procedures.
Retropubic suspension uses surgical threads called sutures to support the bladder neck. The most common retropubic suspension procedure is called the Burch procedure. In this operation, the surgeon makes an incision in the abdomen a few inches below the navel and then secures the threads to strong ligaments within the pelvis to support the urethral sphincter. This common procedure is often done at the time of an abdominal procedure such as a hysterectomy.
Sling procedures are performed through a vaginal incision. The traditional sling procedure uses a strip of your own tissue called fascia to cradle the bladder neck. Some slings may consist of natural tissue or man-made material. The surgeon attaches both ends of the sling to the pubic bone or ties them in front of the abdomen just above the pubic bone.
Midurethral slings are newer procedures that you can have on an outpatient basis. These procedures use synthetic mesh materials that the surgeon places midway along the urethra. The two general types of midurethral slings are retropubic slings, such as the transvaginal tapes (TVT), and transobturator slings (TOT). The surgeon makes small incisions behind the pubic bone or just by the sides of the vaginal opening as well as a small incision in the vagina. The surgeon uses specially designed needles to position a synthetic tape under the urethra. The surgeon pulls the ends of the tape through the incisions and adjusts them to provide the right amount of support to the urethra.
If you have pelvic prolapse, your surgeon may recommend an anti-incontinence procedure with a prolapse repair and possibly a hysterectomy.
Recent women’s health studies performed with the Urinary Incontinence Treatment Network (UITN) compared the suspension and sling procedures and found that, 2 years after surgery, about two-thirds of women with a sling and about half of women with a suspension were cured of stress incontinence. Women with a sling, however, had more urinary tract infections, voiding problems, and urge incontinence than women with a suspension. Overall, 86 percent of women with a sling and 78 percent of women with a suspension said they were satisfied with their results. For more information, please visit www.uitn.net. Women who are interested in joining a study for urinary incontinence can go to www.ClinicalTrials.gov for a list of current studies recruiting patients.
Talk with your doctor about whether surgery will help your condition and what type of surgery is best for you. The procedure you choose may depend on your own preferences or on your surgeon’s experience. Ask what you should expect after the procedure. You may also wish to talk with someone who has recently had the procedure. Surgeons have described more than 200 procedures for stress incontinence, so no single surgery stands out as best.
If you are incontinent because your bladder never empties completely—overflow incontinence—or your bladder cannot empty because of poor muscle tone, past surgery, or spinal cord injury, you might use a catheter to empty your bladder. A catheter is a tube that you can learn to insert through the urethra into the bladder to drain urine. You may use a catheter once in a while or on a constant basis, in which case the tube connects to a bag that you can attach to your leg. If you use an indwelling—long-term—catheter, you should watch for possible urinary tract infections.
Other Helpful Hints
Many women manage urinary incontinence with menstrual pads that catch slight leakage during activities such as exercising. Also, many people find they can reduce incontinence by restricting certain liquids, such as coffee, tea, and alcohol.
Finally, many women are afraid to mention their problem. They may have urinary incontinence that can improve with treatment but remain silent sufferers and resort to wearing absorbent undergarments, or diapers. This practice is unfortunate, because diapering can lead to diminished self-esteem, as well as skin irritation and sores. If you are relying on diapers to manage your incontinence, you and your family should discuss with your doctor the possible effectiveness of treatments such as timed voiding and pelvic muscle exercises.
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|Introduction | Sustainability Factors | Content Categories | Format Descriptions | Contact|
|Full name||ISO Disk Image File Format|
Archive file containing the content from (or destined for) an optical disk, originally limited to data formatted to comply with the ISO 9660 standard (1988), hence the format name and the iso file extension. Beginning in the 1990s, the term ISO Disk Image File Format (or simply ISO image) has also been applied to data structured in terms of the Universal Disk Format (UDF) specification developed and maintained by the Optical Storage Technology Association (OSTA), standardized as ISO/IEC 13346 (1995 and 1999) and ECMA-167 (1997). UDF is used for computer data storage for a broad range of media, including DVDs and Blu-Ray disks, supplanting ISO 9660.
The ISO Disk Image File Format is typically used to package or bundle software, databases, authored DVD video programs, and the like. For example, most distributions of the open-source Linux operating system are distributed as ISO images of the installation media. Some independent filmmakers distribute their works (which may contain interactive elements) as downloadable ISO disk images to be consumed as if they were DVDs.
ISO image files, unlike normal files, are not opened but rather are mounted. ISO image files contain the data contents of every written sector of an optical disc, including the optical disc file system if one is present. Thus it is a media-independent version of a media-dependent format. However, for playback or exploitation of the content, the dependencies on players (including CD and DVD players), operating systems, rights-related technical protection systems, and other software remain, just as they do for the original (or to-be-produced) physical disk. For organizations seeking to preserve content, ISO Disk Image Format Files support the important goal of bit preservation but not long-term content management.
The term ISO Disk Image File Format is used to name a range of variants that are not governed by a single comprehensive specification. In addition to the ISO 9660 and UDF types identified above, the structure for an ISO disk image may employ extensions like the Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol, an IEEE standard that supports the preservation of POSIX (Unix-style) permissions and longer names; the Joliet filesystem specified by Microsoft that supports names stored in Unicode, thus allowing almost any character to be used, even from non-Latin scripts; El Torito, which enables CDs to be bootable on PCs; and Apple ISO 9660 Extensions, which add support for Mac-OS-specific file characteristics. Tools and operating systems offer varying support for these extensions; in some cases the media-independent entity may not be fully system independent. Comments welcome that clarify the impact of the use of these extensions on long-term data management.
|Production phase||Final-state package, although dissemination is most often via the actual disk and not the disk image file.|
|Relationship to other formats|
|Subtype of||Disk Image (family), not described at this Web site at this time.|
|Other||Apple Disk Image; functionally similar proprietary disk image format for the Mac OS X operating system, dmg extension. Not described at this Web site at this time.|
|Other||CFS (Compact File Set file format); open archive file format and software distribution container format that uses the Joliet file system and is very similar to ISO 9660. Not described at this Web site at this time.|
|LC experience or existing holdings||Used as the master file format for the preservation reformatting of physical disks (e.g., CD-ROMs) in the Tangible Media Project, beginning in 2011. Also used as the preservation master file format for write-once DVD disks containing oral histories received by the Veterans History Project, as specified on pages 21-25 in Determining Suitable Digital Video Formats for Medium-term Storage.|
|Disclosure||There is no comprehensive single specification for all of the variant formats called ISO image. Three international standards offer specifications for the relevant disk formats and, by implication, for the media-independent representation of disk content. Other relevant specifications have been published by standards bodies and corporate entities.|
ISO 9660:1988. Information processing -- Volume and file structure of CD-ROM for information interchange
ISO/IEC 13346, parts 1 through 5, 1995 and 1999; running title Information technology -- Volume and file structure of write-once and rewritable media using non-sequential recording for information interchange; see list under Specifications below.
ECMA-167. Volume and File Structure for Write-Once and Rewritable Media using Non-Sequential Recording for Information Interchange, 3rd edition (June 1997).
IEEE P1282, Rock Ridge Interchange Protocol Draft Standard, version 1.12, adopted 1994-07-08.
Joliet Specification, Extensions to the CD-ROM Recording Spec ISO 9660:1988 for Unicode, Version 1; May 22, 1995.
|Adoption||Widely adopted. A variety of tools exist to make an ISO Image file from a disk, but these tools may vary in the degree to which they support the various structural extensions that may be found on the original disk, and the degree to which they produce reports that describe the process and outcome of a given action. Computer operating systems also vary in terms of the degree that they support ISO Image files.|
|Licensing and patents||None identified|
|Transparency||Package is transparent but the elements in the package may be formatted as complex binary objects.|
|Self-documentation||A number of naming conventions and descriptors are required by the specification. These generally apply to the package structure and not to the data that it contains.|
|External dependencies||Operating system that permits mounting the disk image as a drive, or an application for the purpose.|
|Technical protection considerations||Not fully investigated. Data within the ISO 9660 structure may be independently encrypted. The use of filesystem extensions like Rock Ridge permits the use of POSIX (Portable Operating System Interface) and thus Unix-like permission settings for files within the package.|
|Internet Media Type||application/x-iso9660-image
||From the Wikipedia ISO Image article.|
|Magic numbers||Hex: 43 44 30 30 31
|From Gary Kessler's File Signatures page. This may be limited to strict ISO 9660 files. Kessler reports, "This signature usually occurs at byte offset 32769 (0x8001), 34817 (0x8801), or 36865 (0x9001)."|
|Uniform Type Identifier (Mac OS)||public.iso-image
||From the Wikipedia ISO Image article.|
ISO disk image files are employed by various organizations as a format for long-term, file-based management of data copied from a physical disk. As noted above, however, ISO file content (like the original disk) may have dependencies that, over time, make access difficult. For this reason, some organizations may additionally (or instead) copy files as individual files and present the content in terms of a filesystem hierarchy. But this method does not provide a way to get back to the bootable disk (if that's what was started with) and might overlook hidden files.
Multisession disks may cause difficulties in reformatting. One manufacturer of a tool for reformatting disks as ISO image files reported, "There are some instances of [multisession] UDF discs that may cause issue, but these will be flagged [in the reports provided by the tool]. This manifests itself by the rip only grabbing the first session or write on the disc." (Personal communication with the compiler of this page.)
Regarding the Joliet specification, a Microsoft support page ("last review" in 2011) reports, "Because the Joliet specification is ISO 9660 compliant, CD-ROM disks recorded according to the Joliet specification may continue to interchange data with non-Joliet systems. The designs for the System Use Sharing Protocol, RockRidge extensions for POSIX semantics, CD-XA System Use Area Semantics, and Apple's Finder Flags and Resource Forks all port in a straightforward manner to the Joliet specification. These protocols are not an integral part of the Joliet specification, however. Support for Joliet is included in Windows 95, and the spec is now included in the Win95 DDK docs. It will also be included in a future version of Windows NT." (This page consulted in July 2012.)
The ISO disk image format (and file formats that carry extensions like .img and .dmg) are associated with optical disk media. Other disk image formats are associated with magnetic media, i.e., floppy disks and hard drives (and probably solid state media as well). These formats--and the software applications that produce them--are intended to serve a variety of uses including safeguarding of "live" or active files on a disk, recovering data from a damaged disk, backing up data, and carrying out forensic work like legal discovery or the reconstruction of, say, a playwright's creative process. The pros and cons of logical and forensic copies of disk content are informally discussed in by a handful of librarians in How should archives decide between creating logical or forensic disk images of drives on computers accessioned as part of personal papers collections? Filename extensions in this zone of interest include .aff, .dd, .dim, .ad1, and others. Some of these will be described at this Web site in the future.
Readers may be interested in the extent of the specifications that apply to the content on an authored video DVD; see, for example, the specifications section of the Wikipedia article DVD (consulted July 20, 2012). Licenses and specification books are sold via the DVD Format/Logo Licensing Corporation in Japan. See also the Introductory DVD Authoring FAQ.
From the Wikipedia article ISO 9660: "[This format] traces its roots to the High Sierra Format file system [which] arranged file information in a dense, sequential layout to minimize nonsequential access by using a hierarchical (eight levels of directories deep) tree file system arrangement, similar to UNIX and FAT. To facilitate cross platform compatibility, it defined a minimal set of common file attributes (directory or ordinary file and time of recording) and name attributes (name, extension, and version), and used a separate system use area where future optional extensions for each file may be specified. High Sierra was adopted in December 1986 (with changes) as an international standard by Ecma International as ECMA-119 and submitted for fast tracking to the ISO, where it was eventually accepted as ISO 9660:1988." (Page consulted in July 2012.)
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Thanks to grad student David Gravano and his class project, commuters to campus can now learn the best route to UC Merced.
Professor Mike Colvin’sQuantitative and Systems Biology (QSB 280) class in spring 2007, Gravano studied advanced mathematical biology and needed to choose a computer modeling project.
Knowing many people who commute to campus from Madera, Modesto and Turlock, he thought it would be fun and interesting to figure out the fastest way to campus via Highway 99. Gravano hoped his project would not only help commuters save time, but would also save precious natural resources.
“Professor Colvin’s goal for the course was for us to create models that can be applied outside of his classroom,” Gravano said. “Our projects were practical and applicable.”
In talking with friends who commute daily, Gravano said, the fastest route wasn’t obvious. For his project, he looked at four different paths, two in each direction, strictly in terms of time.
His study compared two northbound routes - the Arboleda Drive exit and the G Street exit - and two southbound routes - the Buhach Avenue exit and the 16th Street exit.
He accounted for parameters like traffic, stop lights, stop signs and trains. Then he modeled the four routes using simulations based on probability, which Colvin taught in class.
To make sure the model coincided with actual traffic conditions, he physically drove the routes, estimated congestion and timed traffic lights to determine such factors as the probability of stop lights being red and the duration of the stop.
The computer simulator traveled each route 10,000 times.
The results? Commuters heading north can save an average of five minutes by taking the Arboleda Drive exit instead of G Street, and those heading south can shave off 1.5 minutes by choosing Buhach over 16th Street.
“Computer modeling is an efficient way of testing something,” Gravano said. “It would have been almost impossible for me to physically drive each route 10,000 times, but the computer accomplished it in about 10 seconds.”
Traffic isn’t the only thing Gravano examines. He’s doing his graduate studies with
Professor Jennifer Manilay, looking at T-cell development, trying to understand the molecular interactions that occur during the process of maturation.
But his computer modeling lessons are coming in handy.
“Computer modeling is something I learned from scratch, and I am already applying the techniques to my biological research in the lab.”
For more specifics on Gravano’s computer modeling project, e-mail him at
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OBESE NATION: It’s time to admit it - Australia is becoming an obese nation. Today we launch a series looking at how this has happened and, more importantly, what we can do to stop the obesity epidemic.
In Australia today, around two-thirds of adults and a quarter of children are overweight or obese. This is a dramatic change from the landscape just 30 years ago when we first collected national data on weight and height.
In 1980, around 60% of Australian adults had a healthy weight; today this has almost halved to around 35%. In 1980, just 10% of adults were obese. In 2012, this figure tips 25%. The infographic below shows just how quickly obesity is increasing in Australia. And why it’s not an exaggeration to call it an epidemic.
The same trend is seen around the world, with around a third of adults and almost one in five children in the United States obese. In some island nations, the prevalence is higher still, with more than half of Samoan and Tongan women classified as obese.
In Australia, we see a higher prevalence of obesity in a number of marginalised populations, such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults, Australians living outside the major cities, and those living in more socioeconomically deprived areas.
With excess weight and obesity increasing your likelihood of developing many major chronic diseases, disability and early death, governments and communities around the world are working to halt, or at least slow, this trend.
Some encouraging reports have emerged recently from Australia, the United States and several European countries that show rates of obesity are stabilising in children. But the good news is limited to specific age groups and time periods (and the studies are yet to be replicated to confirm the results). Overall, rates of childhood overweight and obesity remain high.
There are two key objectives in dealing with Australia’s collective weight gain: we must both prevent the ongoing shift towards a heavier population, and increase the proportion of children and adults at a healthy weight. But before we can even contemplate either, we need to understand the drivers of these trends.
Why do we gain weight?
A person’s weight gain is generally caused by an imbalance between energy intake and energy expenditure. This appears simple, but the factors driving this imbalance at a population level are incredibly complex, making simple solutions elusive.
It’s commonly understood that the overweight and obesity we experience today is a normal response to an abnormal environment – often referred to as the obesogenic environment. The premise of this idea is that as humans we’re programmed to conserve energy, storing it up for a time when food is scarce. But most of us now live in an environment where food is plentiful.
On top of this, our need to expend energy in daily life has disappeared. Within our lifetimes we’ve seen the dominant move towards sedentary jobs and leisure-time pursuits, such as watching television, playing computer games and shopping online. We all also recognise the ease and affordability of foods high in energy.
The data supports our anecdotal understanding of these trends. While difficult to measure accurately, a comparison of Australian energy intake from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s shows an increase in daily energy intake of around 13% for children and 3% to 4% for adults. This latter increase, of around 350kJ a day (approximately half a can of soft drink, or a slice of bread), equates to an eventual weight gain of around 3.5kg.
Similar trends have occurred in the United States, with a 2004 Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) report indicating daily energy intake between 1970 and 1990 increased by around 7% in men and 22% in women.
Unfortunately, it’s difficult to measure exercise and activity levels over time. A recent report of US workers suggested that while almost half of jobs in the 1960s entailed at least moderate levels of activity, less than 20% do so now.
Trends in overall physical activity levels are more difficult to compare, as different studies generally evaluate different aspects of total physical activity (leisure time, occupational activity, incidental movement, among other measurements). But most Australian and US data suggest recreational activity levels have decreased slightly over past decades.
A recent review by Boyd Swinburn and his colleagues proposes a framework for understanding the combined forces of changes in our energy intake and activity levels. Prior to the 1960s, the dominant change was decreased levels of physical activity, but this had no observable effect on population weight status as food remained a limiting factor. Subsequent to the 1960s, the rapid changes in food availability, composition and marketing drove rapid increases in population weight, now against a backdrop of minimal activity.
The authors also highlight the strong correlation between national economic status and obesity: the move to affordable and accessible high-energy foods requires a certain level of economic wealth and activity. In this sense, the obesity epidemic can be seen as a detrimental outcome of our society’s over-consumption.
Clearly, our food and activity environments require the dominant focus in our efforts to tackle population weight gain. But there are a number of other contributors to weight gain that are also being evaluated for their potential role in achieving healthy population weight.
At an individual level, we know that the in utero environment influences the future child’s weight and chronic disease pathways, with both under- and over-nutrition linked to excess weight gain later in life. We also know that factors such as lack of sleep, low-quality sleep, and use of particular medications, life stages such as pregnancy, and specific genetic variations are also predictive of weight gain. Work to determine the importance of these factors at a population level is ongoing.
There are also newly identified candidates predictive of weight gain, including exposure to environmental toxicants such endocrine disruptors, Bisphenol A (BPA), phthlates and persistent organic pollutants. New studies have also suggested a link between some viral infections, such as human adenovirus, and obesity.
Reversing the trend
Successful population health campaigns to improve the levels of healthy weight, activity and nutrition in our population will need to focus on addressing the overarching drivers of the food and activity environments, while also taking into account these other factors that predict individual variation in weight gain.
The launch last year of the Australian National Preventive Health Agency’s Strategic Plan recognises the importance of this approach. It’s critical that we continue to work towards implementing a range of interventions appropriate for each stage of prevention and treatment, from childhood to adulthood.
Currently, only a third of Australian adults have a healthy weight. If these trends continue, this could decrease to around one quarter over the next decade. There is a real risk that if we are not able to reverse these trends, very soon we will become conditioned to this new demographic, just as smoking was considered “normal” in the 1960s.
To prevent the burden of diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and cancer that will arise from these trends, we need strong and wide-reaching action to drive decreases in energy consumption, particularly within Australia’s vulnerable population groups.
This is the first part of our series Obese Nation. To read the other instalments, follow the links below:
Part two: Explainer: overweight, obese, BMI – what does it all mean?
Part three: Explainer: how does excess weight cause disease?
Part twelve: Putting health at the heart of sustainability policy
Part thirteen: Want to stop the obesity epidemic? Let’s get moving
Part fourteen: Fat of the land: how urban design can help curb obesity
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A Borderlands Massacre
and the Violence of History
The Shadows at Dawn website utilizes the rich array of primary sources generated by a single, troubling eventthe Camp Grant Massacre of 1871to illuminate the world of the mid-nineteenth-century U.S.-Mexico borderlands. This world was home to an unusually diverse collection of human communities: Anglo Americans, Mexican Americans, Tohono O'odham and Apache Indians. The records available on this site mirror this diversity and include court cases, Indian depredation claims, calendar sticks, newspaper articles, treaty negotiations, letters, speeches, early historical accounts, and U.S. Army reports.
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"Causality is not mystical or metaphysical.
It can be understood in terms of simple processes,
and it can be expressed in a friendly mathematical
language, ready for computer analysis." (Judea Pearl)
What is Chance?
"There are no uncaused effects." Thus it is very general principle in physics. Probability and statistics are still valid of course--they merely tell us how things happen, but we learn nothing from statistics about the causes which lead to these events. In science "causality" has always been a fundamental notion.
It is not unusual to hear people suggest that time plus chance will accomplish the evolution of simple organisms into more complex entities. There is a logical error in such statements. There is no such thing as chance. That is, chance is not an entity which causes things to happen.
In the tossing a coin we say that we can count on the coin coming up heads half the time, and tails the other half of the time. The odds are 50/50. What we forget is that one flip of the coin involves a whole chain of causal factors. The weight of the coin, the shape of the coin, the upward impulse of the toss, air resistance, spin--the initial conditions--all interact on each toss of the coin. It is a mathematical convenience to say that the probability of heads is 50% and the probability of tails is 50%. The more tosses of the coin we make the closer the spectrum will come to a pure 0.5000 probability. But every individual toss of a coin is controlled by the laws of physics. There is no mechanism called "chance" determining the outcome of any toss of the coin.
Any effect we observe has been caused by a combination of preceding events. usually the chain of causality is so complex we can not track it very far backwards. But thus far physics and philosophy insist that every effect we observe in the universe was caused by some preceding action or actions. Nothing happens by accident.
In the '50s the hypothesis of causality in Quantum Mechanics was questioned by the famous physicist David Bohm (Causality and Chance in Modern Physics, U. of Pennsylvania Press, 1957). But at the present time mainstream physics holds that causality holds at the quantum level, although our ability to detect and map what causes what may completely elude us.
Following are a few brief notes on the subject of chance to help the ordinary person perceive that it is quite certain that we live not in an "accidental universe" but in a universe where everything that happens has been caused to happen by something else.
by Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands
Causality is the Law of Identity applied over time. It is the identity of actions. An action requires an entity. It presupposes an entity. Without an entity, action is meaningless. There are no "floating" actions that aren't actions of an entity.
Action is a change in the identity of an entity. Every action has a particular nature. The action is determined by the entities involved. The change of the entities occurs based on the identities. A marble, when dropped, falls towards the ground. Its position (part of its identity) changes. This change, though, is dependent on the nature of the objects involved. It is dependent on the Earth and the Earth's gravity. It is dependent on the friction of the air.
A log that burns is also acting. Its identity is changing. In this case, its position stays the same, but its chemical structure is changing. It is changing into ash. It is releasing smoke into the air. The oxygen in the air is being combined with the carbon in the fire. Heat is being released. All of these changes are determined by the identity of the entities involved. As the entities change, so do their natures. With the altered identities, the actions change to match. This continual process of change is all determined by the initial identities.
Causality is the term used to describe this dependence of an action on the identities of the entities involved. The changes in the identities of the objects are a result of their identities interacting. This interaction, which is an action, is based on the previous natures of the objects involved. In short, for something to change (which is an effect), it needs to be acted on (caused) by a previous action. This previous action, or change, is an effect as well.
Every effect must have a cause. That cause, however, is an
effect of a previous cause. Causality is the law that states that
each cause has a specific effect, and that this effect is dependent
on the identities of the agents involved. (from http://www.importanceofphilosophy.com/Metaphysics_Causality.html,
by Jeff Landauer and Joseph Rowlands)
1. A great book by RC Sproul, is Not a Chance: The Myth of Chance in Modern Science and Cosmology
R.C. shows that the idea that the universe was formed by chance is illogical and scientifically impossible. Using the laws of logic, linguistic and scientific theories, and mathematical understandings, Dr. Sproul probes the undeniable reality of the cause-effect relationship.
"Not a Chance is R.C. Sproul at his best, which is very good. Reference to chance explains nothing, as he shows. But it is an essential factor in the struggle for atheism to appear rational in the face or the world where we live. He shows secularism to be what it now is: a desperate faith." - Dr. Dallas Willard, Department of Philosophy, University of Southern California.
The book argues from basic principles of logic. "There are no uncaused effects." This is a very general principle and directly applicable to physics. Probability and statistics are still valid of course--they merely tell us how things happen, but we learn nothing from statistics about the causes which lead to these events. In science "causality" has always been a fundamental notion in science.
"Chance" is an abstract concept. When you flip a coin, a whole host of factors are at work to determine which side of the coin lands upright. These factors on average will had to head 50% of the time and tails 50%. But no law (or force) of probability is at work causing anything to happen.
The evolutionary idea that "time plus chance" causes order to emerge from chaos is nonsense. "Chance" does not "cause" anything. Realizing that "chance" is not causing anything to happen is a huge blow for many evolutionary arguments.
This is a good book to have on the shelf or to give to friends. It is one of RC's better books I think.
"Chance as a real force is a myth. It has no basis in reality and no place in scientific inquiry. For science and philosophy to continue to advance in knowledge, chance must be demythologized once and for all." (page 214)
Baker Academic; (January 1, 1999) ISBN: 080105852X
Dallas Willard, Department of Philosophy University of
Not a Chance is Sproul at his best, which is very good. Reference to chance explains nothing, as he shows. But it is an essential factor in the struggles of atheism to appear rational in the face of the world where we live. He shows secularism to be what it now is: a desperate faith
Ravi Zacharias, author of The Shattered Visage of Atheism
Sproul has given us a powerfully argued, landmark work, in what has been an unremitting conflict between chance and agency. Here science, philosophy, and theology meet
As technology allows a better view of the universe, R. C. Sproul asks an important question: Can chance be responsible for all that is?
In a lively dialog with modern thinkers from Einstein and Hume to Niels Bohr and Carl Sagan, Not a Chance consults the laws of logic, linguistic and scientific theory, and mathematical understanding to probe the cause-effect relationship. Now in paperback, it is the only book-length critique of chance causation written by an evangelical. Sproul shows that the origin of the universe and humankind cannot be explained as a result of chance, and that chance can coexist neither with God nor with the natural sciences.
Readers interested in cultural apologetics and in the Bible
and science, and anyone seeking a rational defense of creation,
will be intrigued by this book. Twenty-five illustrations are
included to aid the readers understanding.
2. Another excellent book on this same subject (especially as related to evolutionary theory is Not by Chance: Shattering the Modern Theory of Evolution, by Lee M. Spetner. (Judaica Press, 1996).
Physicist Dr. Lee M. Spetner's new book has biologists and geneticists across the country praising this book as one of the most serious challenges to the modern theory of evolution. "Dr. Spetner has an extraordinary ability to present complex mathematical, statistical, and biological issues in a comprehensible manner."--Rabbi Joseph Elias, The Jewish Observer "It is certainly the most rational attack on evolution that I have ever read"--Professor E. Simon, Department of Biology, Purdue University
"The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the LORD."
Order out of Chaos
In the universe as we find it now, order can come out of chaos only by causal means. One must have a source of energy and a source of programming information in order to reverse the trend towards ruin and decay all around us. (The natural decay of all things with the passage of time is well-described by the Second Law of Thermodynamics). Werner Gitt's book, In the Beginning was Information, is highly recommended. (1997, Christliche Literatur-Verbreitung b. V. POB 100 01 35, D-33661, Bielefeld, Germany). See also The Mystery of Life's Origin, by Charles B. Thaxton, Walter L. Bradley and Roger L. Olsen http://www.ldolphin.org/mystery/
The First Cause Argument
by Peter Kreeft
The most famous of all arguments for the existence of God are the "five ways" of Saint Thomas Aquinas. One of the five ways, the fifth, is the argument from design, which we looked at in the last essay. The other four are versions of the first-cause argument, which we explore here.
The argument is basically very simple, natural, intuitive, and commonsensical. We have to become complex and clever in order to doubt or dispute it. It is based on an instinct of mind that we all share: the instinct that says everything needs an explanation. Nothing just is without a reason why it is. Everything that is has some adequate or sufficient reason why it is.
Philosophers call this the Principle of Sufficient Reason. We use it every day, in common sense and in science as well as in philosophy and theology. If we saw a rabbit suddenly appear on an empty table, we would not blandly say, "Hi, rabbit. You came from nowhere, didn't you?" No, we would look for a cause, assuming there has to be one. Did the rabbit fall from the ceiling? Did a magician put it there when we weren't looking? If there seems to be no physical cause, we look for a psychological cause: perhaps someone hypnotized us. As a last resort, we look for a supernatural cause, a miracle. But there must be some cause. We never deny the Principle of Sufficient Reason itself. No one believes the Pop Theory: that things just pop into existence for no reason at all. Perhaps we will never find the cause, but there must be a cause for everything that comes into existence.
If there is no first cause, then the universe is like a great chain with many links; each link is held up by the link above it, but the whole chain is held up by nothing.
Now the whole universe is a vast, interlocking chain of things that come into existence. Each of these things must therefore have a cause. My parents caused me, my grandparents caused them, et cetera. But it is not that simple. I would not be here without billions of causes, from the Big Bang through the cooling of the galaxies and the evolution of the protein molecule to the marriages of my ancestors. The universe is a vast and complex chain of causes. But does the universe as a whole have a cause? Is there a first cause, an uncaused cause, a transcendent cause of the whole chain of causes? If not, then there is an infinite regress of causes, with no first link in the great cosmic chain. If so, then there is an eternal, necessary, independent, self-explanatory being with nothing above it, before it, or supporting it. It would have to explain itself as well as everything else, for if it needed something else as its explanation, its reason, its cause, then it would not be the first and uncaused cause. Such a being would have to be God, of course. If we can prove there is such a first cause, we will have proved there is a God.
Why must there be a first cause? Because if there isn't, then the whole universe is unexplained, and we have violated our Principle of Sufficient Reason for everything. If there is no first cause, each particular thing in the universe is explained in the short run, or proximately, by some other thing, but nothing is explained in the long run, or ultimately, and the universe as a whole is not explained. Everyone and everything says in turn, "Don't look to me for the final explanation. I'm just an instrument. Something else caused me." If that's all there is, then we have an endless passing of the buck. God is the one who says, "The buck stops here."
If there is no first cause, then the universe is like a great chain with many links; each link is held up by the link above it, but the whole chain is held up by nothing. If there is no first cause, then the universe is like a railroad train moving without an engine. Each car's motion is explained proximately by the motion of the car in front of it: the caboose moves because the boxcar pulls it, the boxcar moves because the cattle car pulls it, et cetera. But there is no engine to pull the first car and the whole train. That would be impossible, of course. But that is what the universe is like if there is no first cause: impossible.
Here is one more analogy. Suppose I tell you there is a book that explains everything you want explained. You want that book very much. You ask me whether I have it. I say no, I have to get it from my wife. Does she have it? No, she has to get it from a neighbor. Does he have it? No, he has to get it from his teacher, who has to get it. . . et cetera, etcetera, ad infinitum. No one actually has the book. In that case, you will never get it. However long or short the chain of book borrowers may be, you will get the book only if someone actually has it and does not have to borrow it. Well, existence is like that book. Existence is handed down the chain of causes, from cause to effect. If there is no first cause, no being who is eternal and self-sufficient, no being who has existence by his own nature and does not have to borrow it from someone else, then the gift of existence can never be passed down the chain to others, and no one will ever get it. But we did get it. We exist. We got the gift of existence from our causes, down the chain, and so did every actual being in the universe, from atoms to archangels. Therefore there must be a first cause of existence, a God.
If there is no independent being, then the whole chain of dependent beings is dependent on nothing and could not exist.
In more abstract philosophical language, the proof goes this way. Every being that exists either exists by itself, by its own essence or nature, or it does not exist by itself. If it exists by its own essence, then it exists necessarily and eternally, and explains itself. It cannot not exist, as a triangle cannot not have three sides. If, on the other hand, a being exists but not by its own essence, then it needs a cause, a reason outside itself for its existence. Because it does not explain itself, something else must explain it. Beings whose essence does not contain the reason for their existence, beings that need causes, are called contingent, or dependent, beings. A being whose essence is to exist is called a necessary being. The universe contains only contingent beings. God would be the only necessary being-if God existed. Does he? Does a necessary being exist? Here is the proof that it does. Dependent beings cannot cause themselves. They are dependent on their causes. If there is no independent being, then the whole chain of dependent beings is dependent on nothing and could not exist. But they do exist. Therefore there is an independent being.
Saint Thomas has four versions of this basic argument.
* First, he argues that the chain of movers must have a first mover because nothing can move itself. (Moving here refers to any kind of change, not just change of place.) If the whole chain of moving things had no first mover, it could not now be moving, as it is. If there were an infinite regress of movers with no first mover, no motion could ever begin, and if it never began, it could not go on and exist now. But it does go on, it does exist now. Therefore it began, and therefore there is a first mover.
* Second, he expands the proof from proving a cause of motion to proving a cause of existence, or efficient cause. He argues that if there were no first efficient cause, or cause of the universe's coming into being, then there could be no second causes because second causes (i.e., caused causes) are dependent on (i.e., caused by) a first cause (i.e., an uncaused cause). But there are second causes all around us. Therefore there must be a first cause.
* Third, he argues that if there were no eternal, necessary, and immortal being, if everything had a possibility of not being, of ceasing to be, then eventually this possibility of ceasing to be would be realized for everything. In other words, if everything could die, then, given infinite time, everything would eventually die. But in that case nothing could start up again. We would have universal death, for a being that has ceased to exist cannot cause itself or anything else to begin to exist again. And if there is no God, then there must have been infinite time, the universe must have been here always, with no beginning, no first cause. But this universal death has not happened; things do exist! Therefore there must be a necessary being that cannot not be, cannot possibly cease to be. That is a description of God.
* Fourth, there must also be a first cause of perfection or goodness or value. We rank things as more or less perfect or good or valuable. Unless this ranking is false and meaningless, unless souls don't really have any more perfection than slugs, there must be a real standard of perfection to make such a hierarchy possible, for a thing is ranked higher on the hierarchy of perfection only insofar as it is closer to the standard, the ideal, the most perfect. Unless there is a most-perfect being to be that real standard of perfection, all our value judgments are meaningless and impossible. Such a most-perfect being, or real ideal standard of perfection, is another description of God.
There is a single common logical structure to all four proofs. Instead of proving God directly, they prove him indirectly, by refuting atheism. Either there is a first cause or not. The proofs look at "not" and refute it, leaving the only other possibility, that God is.
Each of the four ways makes the same point for four different kinds of cause: first, cause of motion; second, cause of a beginning to existence; third, cause of present existence; and fourth, cause of goodness or value. The common point is that if there were no first cause, there could be no second causes, and there are second causes (moved movers, caused causers, dependent and mortal beings, and less-than-wholly-perfect beings). Therefore there must be a first cause of motion, beginning, existence, and perfection.
How can anyone squirm out of this tight logic? Here are four
ways in which different philosophers try.
* First, many say the proofs don't prove God but only some vague first cause or other. "God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, not the God of philosophers and scholars", cries Pascal, who was a passionate Christian but did not believe you could logically prove God's existence. It is true that the proofs do not prove everything the Christian means by God, but they do prove a transcendent, eternal, uncaused, immortal, self-existing, independent, all-perfect being. That certainly sounds more like God than like Superman! It's a pretty thick slice of God, at any rate-much too much for any atheist to digest.
* Second, some philosophers, like Hume, say that the concept of cause is ambiguous and not applicable beyond the physical universe to God. How dare we use the same term for what clouds do to rain, what parents do to children, what authors do to books, and what God does to the universe? The answer is that the concept of cause is analogical-that is, it differs somewhat but not completely from one example to another. Human fatherhood is like divine fatherhood, and physical causality is like divine causality. The way an author conceives a book in his mind is not exactly the same as the way a woman conceives a baby in her body either, but we call both causes. (In fact, we also call both conceptions.) The objection is right to point out that we do not fully understand how God causes the universe, as we understand how parents cause children or clouds cause rain. But the term remains meaningful. A cause is the sine qua non for an effect: if no cause, no effect. If no creator, no creation; if no God, no universe.
* Third, it is sometimes argued (e.g., by Bertrand Russell) that there is a self-contradiction in the argument, for one of the premises is that everything needs a cause, but the conclusion is that there is something (God) which does not need a cause. The child who asks "Who made God?" is really thinking of this objection. The answer is very simple: the argument does not use the premise that everything needs a cause. Everything in motion needs a cause, everything dependent needs a cause, everything imperfect needs a cause.
* Fourth, it is often asked why there can't be infinite regress, with no first being. Infinite regress is perfectly acceptable in mathematics: negative numbers go on to infinity just as positive numbers do. So why can't time be like the number series, with no highest number either negatively (no first in the past) or positively (no last in the future)? The answer is that real beings are not like numbers: they need causes, for the chain of real beings moves in one direction only, from past to future, and the future is caused by the past. Positive numbers are not caused by negative numbers. There is, in fact, a parallel in the number series for a first cause: the number one. If there were no first positive integer, no unit one, there could be no subsequent addition of units. Two is two ones, three is three ones, and soon. If there were no first, there could be no second or third.
If this argument is getting too tricky, the thing to do is to return to what is sure and clear: the intuitive point we began with. Not everyone can understand all the abstract details of the first-cause argument, but anyone can understand its basic point: as C. S. Lewis put it, "I felt in my bones that this universe does not explain itself." (Posted at http://www.peterkreeft.com/topics/first-cause.htm. From Fundamentals of the Faith by Ignatius Press).
Addendum: The Convenience of Statistics and Chance in Mathematics.
The following discussion illustrates the usefulness of probability calculations in science.
Evolutionists say that by chance certain mutations happened to help one sort of thing become a new or better sort of thing. Let's look at this thing called chance. Suppose you have a coin and you want 'heads' to come up when you toss the coin. You have a one out of two chance you will get heads. Suppose you have A, B, and C on some blocks, and you toss the blocks up and want them to come down in the order ABC. What are your chances? Well, you can get any of the following:
ABC ACB BAC BCA CAB CBA
All of a sudden, our chances of getting a right combination have gotten lots worse. It is now one in six. What about if we have four different things, and we want them to happen to come together in a particular way? If we have ABCD, here are our possibilities: ABCD, ABDC, ACBD, ACDB, ADBC, ADCB, BACD, BADC, BCAD, BCDA, BDAC, BDCA, CABD, CADB, CBAD, CBDA, CDAB, CDBA, DABC, DACB, DBAC, DBCA, DCAB, or DCBA. That is one in 24 chances, with only four different things. The way we figure it mathematically is to say "four times three times two times one." That means 'four factorialized,' and we write it like this: 4! (the exclamation mark means 'factorialized.') The chances of one arrangement of three things was 3!, or 3 x 2 x 1, which equals 6. And we had six different arrangements above. Suppose we had eight different things that we wanted in the right order. By chance. That would mean we would have one chance in 8! , or 8 x 7 x 6 x 5 x 4 x 3 x 2 x 1. Or one chance in 40,320.
A protein contains hundreds or thousands of molecules called amino acids. First of all, there are twenty amino acids that go into building your body. They have to be in the right order at the right time to make the right protein. And several hundred or thousand of them have to line up and connect the right way. Can this happen by chance? My hand calculator will not go past 14!. So the idea of trying to get just a hundred amino acids in the right order by chance borders on mathematically impossible. And in order for a cell to be able to do something new, it needs new information to obey, which has to come from new proteins. Some evolutionists say that the cell can make more of the proteins it already has and that these proteins will find new things to do. But that is not enough. Suppose you had all the letters in the alphabet from A to M. You still could never write the word "zebra." You can duplicate letters from A to M all you want, but you won't ever get a 'z' or an 'r'. You have to have something new. The cell is the same way. It has to have some new proteins that give it new information to follow.
Suppose a cell defied all the odds and did make a new protein. What would it do with it? It's like adding an extra gear to a watch - unless it is in the right place at the right time operating in the right way, it can only mess up the works. The cell has to know what to do with that protein. What cells actually do do with old or defective proteins is disassemble them and reuse the amino acids to make the proteins it wants. So it's not just a question of probability where the initial proteins, or life itself, came from, but it is also a question of adding to that initial life with the kind of information the cell will understand how to use. Since what cells do with their proteins is already programmed into them, it is easy to see that you must find a way to multiply the odds of getting that new protein times the odds of a cell knowing what to do with it to get even one tiny step toward an evolutionary sequence.
Barry and Helen Setterfield
Chance as the Master Architect?
by Chuck Missler
The Myth of our Age
Jesus warned us, "Take heed that no man deceive you." 1 And we do, indeed, live in the Age of Deceit. Our entire society is totally driven by many myths, none more basic or insidious than the convictions of Evolution, the religion of our age. (Dismissing for this discussion the observations of microevolution, the variations within species, but rather using the term in its connotative sense, referring, in fact, to biogenesis: the notion that we are all the result of a series of cosmic accidents.)
The ancient cultures worshiped gods of wood and stone. It is difficult to comprehend the insanity of paganism: who can tally the blood that has been spilled on the altars of the gods who are not and the demons who are! We, however, in our contemporary paganism, have invented the most insulting "god" of all. Instead of ascribing the awesome magnificence of the Creation to any of the false gods of the past, we have chosen to ascribe it all to randomness, or chance. That has to be the most insulting ascription of all: we have decided that no Designer was necessary - it all "just happened." "First there was nothing. Then it exploded!" 2
The premise that we are all simply the accidental result of random chance underlies our entire culture, not just biology: the fields of psychology, our social and political sciences, our media, our entertainments, and, of course, the forced inculcation of our children in the government schools.
But there is a glimmer of good news.
The Death of Darwinism
The good news is that there is a rising awareness that Evolution is bad science. Science purports to follow the evidence, relying on empirical verification for its conjectures. And it is increasingly evident that the evidence is mercilessly denying randomness as an explanation for the elegant designs embodied in the machinery of the universe. The writings of Denton, Behe, Johnson, Dempski, and Meyer have turned the thinking world upside down.3 The rebuttals have come from virtually every field of science: paleontology, physics and, quite conclusively, microbiology. Interestingly, perhaps the most compelling refutations come from one of the newest of the sciences: the information sciences, the field which has given us advanced communications and computers.
The Spectrum of the Possible
William Dempski has exquisitely profiled the spectrum of possibilities from certainty, "a probability of 1.0," to impossibility, "a probability of 0." (All events, by definition, lie between these two boundary conditions.) Figure 1 summarizes this spectrum:
When events are characterized by a high degree of certainty, we call them "scientific laws," such as gravity, etc. Most events, however, are characterized by some level of uncertainty, and the exploration of their likelihoods occupy the attention of statisticians, businessmen, and professional investigators dealing with the circumstances in the "real world."
When we encounter events that are extremely improbable - that is, highly unlikely to have occurred by unaided chance alone - we attribute them to deliberate design. If we walked into the kitchen and found a scattering of alphabet soup letters on the floor that spelled out a meaningful sentence, we would recognize that it was the deliberate handiwork of someone doing the spelling. Cryptography is also an example of exploring discoveries which are highly improbable to be attributed to chance as the rival conjecture.
If we encountered a series of ostensibly "random" letters, but discovered that some systematic transformation rendered them into a meaningful sentence, we would infer that someone had hidden that message there deliberately. Random chance would be deemed too unlikely to have caused that unaided.
The forensic debates in a courtroom also typically deal with rendering random chance as the unlikely contributor to the evidence which points to deliberate intent or design.
The discovery that our DNA codes are three-out-of-four, error-correcting codes, which are stored, retrieved, copied, and processed to instruct machines to fabricate the complex proteins that make up living organisms, has rendered any attribution to unaided chance as absurd in the extreme. (For those of our readers with advanced technical aptitudes, we strongly recommend the writings of William Dempski listed in the bibliography at the end of this article.)
Michael Behe has upset the comfort of the Darwinists by highlighting a design attribute that he terms "irreducible complexity." Consider, as an example, the familiar household mousetrap in figure 2.
This simple device consists of five essential parts: (1) a platform which holds (2) a hammer driven by (3) a spring when restrained by (4) a holding bar until released by (5) a catch. This basic design has defied attempts to simplify it further, or to reduce its complexity. The significant feature is that with only four of the five parts one cannot catch 4/5ths as many mice! Its function depends on each of its essential elements, each of which involve substantial precision in their specification. "Natural selection" cannot operate until there is something to select from.
Behe then presents an example of "irreducible complexity" from nature by reviewing the tiny motor that powers the flagellum, which propels a bacterium through the water:
Figure 3: This tiny mechanism, positioned to penetrate the bacterium's protective outer membrane, consists of over 40 parts - each of which are essential to its functioning. Figure 4 presents a functional equivalent: with any of its 40 parts missing, this mechanism would not be functional and would be a casualty in the processes of "natural selection" postulated by the Darwinists. The bacterium, dependent upon its locomotion, would be likewise.
So how did it come about? All the Darwinists can do is assert rather than explain.
The Miniature City
Darwinists love to postulate the "simple cell." With the advent of modern microbiology, we now know "there ain't any such thing." Even the simplest cell is complex beyond our imagining.
As Michael Denton has pointed out, "Although the tiniest bacterial cells are incredibly small, each is in effect a veritable microminiaturized factory containing thousands of exquisitely designed pieces of intricate molecular machinery, made up of 100,000,000,000 atoms, far more complicated than any machine built by man and absolutely without parallel in the nonliving world."4
The "simple cell" turns out to be a miniaturized city of unparalleled complexity and adaptive design, including automated assembly plants and processing units featuring robot machines (protein molecules with as many as 3,000 atoms each in three-dimensional configurations) manufacturing hundreds of thousands of specific types of products. The system design exploits artificial languages and decoding systems, memory banks for information storage, elegant control systems regulating the automated assembly of components, error correction techniques and proofreading devices for quality control.
All by chance? All without a Designer? (How do you define "absurd?")
When I was at the Ford Motor Company, one of our proudest assets was the famous River Rouge Plant in Dearborn. It was the largest totally integrated manufacturing facility in the world. With 97 miles of railroad within the plant, raw iron ore and limestone entered one end; the necessary steel, glass, and paint were manufactured within the facility. The entire cars (including the engines on automated lines) were fabricated within the plant, and new Mustangs came out the other end. Yet this entire complex pales in comparison to the elegant high order of design demonstrated in the simplest cell, which can also replicate itself in a matter of hours.
The Darwinian Bankruptcy
An elegant design is more than the parts themselves: it involves information. It requires information input external to the design itself - and the deliberate involvement of a Designer.
The Darwinians cannot explain the origin of life because they cannot account for the origin of information. The technology that provides language - semantics and syntax, for example - is quite distinct from the technology of the ink and paper it may be written on. The physical features of the circuits in a computer provide no clue about the design of the software that resides within it. It is profoundly significant that the Title of the Creator is the Logos - The Word: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.ΚΚ - John 1:1-3
This article was excerpted from our featured Briefing Package, In the Beginning There Was...Information.
Posted 10/19/04, by Lambert Dolphin [email protected]
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What biblical symbolism is associated with the four cardinal directions?
Cardinal compass points in the Bible are rich in meaning. Knowing their symbolism can help interpret some biblical passages. We often orient ourselves by facing north. In the ancient world the point of orientation was east. The east was before them, the west behind, the south to the right, and the north to the left. The future wasn’t in front, but behind, that is to say invisible.
1. The East: The importance of the east as the main point of orientation may be related to the rising of the sun and its importance in the religions of the ancient Near East. In the Bible its symbolism emerges for the first time in Genesis. The Garden of Eden was placed in the East (chap. 2:8), and its entrance faced the east (chap. 3:24). After sinning, Adam and Eve left the garden and went toward the east (chap. 3:24). This eastward movement continued with Cain (chap. 4:16) and culminated in the movement of the human race toward the east (chap. 11:2-4).
Within this context the east is symbolically ambivalent. The garden placed there symbolized safety and security. After sin, when it was the direction of the exile, it represented a condition of alienation from God. It was also the place of the wilderness, from which destructive winds came, threatening life (Ps. 48:7; Eze. 27:26). To the prophets the east was a symbol of Babylonian exile and the saving presence of God. He traveled to Babylon and ultimately redeemed His people (Eze. 10:18, 19; 11:22, 23). The east became a place where God intervened on behalf of His people, bringing them salvation (cf. Rev. 16:12).
2. The West: The west symbolizes both negative and positive elements. To the west of the land was the sea, representing evil and death (Dan. 7:2, 3). In fact, the term “sea” often referred to the west (Num. 3:23). It is also the place of darkness because that’s where the sun sets (Ps. 104:19, 20).
The positive meaning is its association with the Israelite tabernacle/Temple. Although it faced east, access to it required movement toward the west. In that sense the west pointed toward restored unity with God; a return to the Garden of Eden. When the Israelites traveled to and worshipped in the Temple they faced the west and had the rising sun behind them. This movement to the west began with Abram, who left the east and went to Canaan in the west in obedience to God (Gen. 11:31). It is a symbol of divine blessing. Once the exiles were liberated from their enemies in the east, they traveled west, to the land of Israel. In that journey, the Lord Himself traveled with them (Eze. 43:2-5).
3. The North: Bible students have suggested that the north is a symbol of the permanent or the eternal, perhaps because the polar stars were permanently visible in the sky. It is the place of God’s celestial dwelling (Isa. 14:13) and from which His glory descends (Job 37:22) with blessings or judgments (Eze. 1:4). He is the true King of the North.
But the north—represented by the left hand—is also a symbol of disaster. The enemy of God’s people came from the north (Jer. 1:14, 15; Eze. 38:6), bringing destruction. In a sense, the enemy was the false king of the north who tried to usurp God’s role and is finally destroyed by the Lord (Zeph. 2:12; Dan. 11:21-45).
4. The South: The south is primarily a negative symbol. But the fact that it is represented by the right hand makes it also a positive one. It is negative because to the south of Israel was the wilderness, a region where life does not prosper (Isa. 30:6). To the south was Egypt, which opposed God’s power and oppressed His people. But the south was also the place where the Lord appeared to Moses, went with Him to Egypt, liberated His people, and appeared to them on Mount Sinai (e.g., Deut. 33:2).
The ambivalent nature of the symbols of the four cardinal directions seems based on the fact that evil was perceived to be present everywhere and that God’s saving presence was always accessible to His people from any corner of the world (Ps. 139:7-12). In a sense they pointed beyond the points of the compass to the cosmic conflict between good and evil.
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| 0.966688 | 1,000 | 3.5625 | 4 |
Psychologists Available to Discuss Child Abuse Prevention
April is national child abuse prevention month
Source Newsroom: American Psychological Association (APA)
An estimated 1,640 children died from abuse or neglect in the United States in 2012, while another 686,000 were victims of abuse, according to the most recent federal statistics. Psychologists who work with children and parents can explain why abuse occurs, its immediate and long-term effects on children and ways to prevent it. The following American Psychological Association members are available for interviews:
Ernestine C. Briggs-King, PhD
Phone: (919) 599-0572
Newswise — Briggs specializes in evidence-based practices to reduce child abuse and trauma. She is director of the data and evaluation program at Duke University’s National Center for Child Traumatic Stress, and was previously a fellow at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center and the Medical University of South Carolina, where she researched the impact of family violence, child abuse and other youth trauma.
Gail Goodman, PhD
Phone: (530) 752-6981
A professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis, Goodman has researched how abuse affects a child’s mental health and children’s ability to testify about abuse they have experienced or witnessed.
Yo Jackson, PhD
Resiliency of ethnic minority child victims of abuse and trauma is Jackson’s area of specialty. She is associate professor of clinical child psychology at the University of Kansas.
As director of the Yale Parenting Center, Kazdin focuses on domestic violence and children, child rearing and interpersonal violence. Kazdin is the John M. Musser professor of psychology and child psychiatry at Yale University. He was APA president in 2008.
Walker specializes in domestic violence’s impact on children and child abuse. She is a professor at Nova Southeastern University’s Center for Psychological Studies.
David A. Wolfe, PhD
Based at Ontario’s Centre for Prevention Science, Wolfe and his research team developed an international program to help reduce violence and abuse among youth. He is past editor-in-chief of Child Abuse & Neglect: The International Journal and a professor at the University of Toronto.
Congress designated April “National Child Abuse Prevention Month” in 1983. APA provides in-depth information and resources to raise awareness of and prevent child abuse at Protecting Our Children From Abuse and Neglect.
The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 130,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives.
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| 0.885516 | 594 | 2.71875 | 3 |
Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Development and Medal Totals
NBER Working Paper No. 7998
This paper examines determinants of Olympic success at the country level. Does the U.S. win its fair share of Olympic medals? Why does China win 6% of the medals even though it has 1/5 of the world's population? We consider the role of population and economic development in determining medal totals from 1960-1996. We also provide out of sample predictions for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.
Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w7998
Published: Andrew B. Bernard & Meghan R. Busse, 2004. "Who Wins the Olympic Games: Economic Resources and Medal Totals," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 86(1), pages 413-417, December.
Users who downloaded this paper also downloaded these:
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| 0.899011 | 184 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The Consumer Price Index (CPI) tracks the price of a market basket of goods and services purchased by U.S. households over time. Both monthly and annual changes are reported in the tables for the CPI in order to facilitate comparison with other series.
|Price Index (1982-1984=100)||Dec-01||Jan-02|
|Public transportation percent change from same month previous year||0.58||0.24|
|All items percent change from same month previous year||-0.17||0.17|
|All transportation percent change from same month previous year||-0.93||0.27|
|Private transportation percent change from same month previous year||-1.03||0.28|
|Price Index (1982-1984=100)||Jan-01||Jan-02|
|Public transportation percent change from previous month||7.22||-2.34|
|All items percent change from previous month||3.84||1.08|
|All transportation percent change from previous month||4.64||-4.05|
|Private transportation percent change from previous month||4.42||-4.23|
NOTE: 1982-1984=100: The consumer price index for a specific item is a weighted average of the prices for the individual components of the item. The weights are determined by the expenditure shares of the individual components based on a survey of consumer expenditure during the base year(s). The base year price is then normalized to 100. For some items, BLS establishes weights using several years of consumer expenditure surveys in order to smooth out the effects of short-term price shocks and of the business cycle. Weights formed using several years will give a more accurate measure of typical consumer expenditure patterns.
SOURCE: U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, available at: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/.
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| 0.797104 | 400 | 3.453125 | 3 |
According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, “arthritis is the leading cause of disability in the United States.” It is estimated that one out of every five, or 20 percent, of people living in the United States has experienced symptoms of arthritis in at least one joint, and about half of arthritis sufferers are under the age of 50. (2) Arthritis is a chronic disorder.
The two most common types of arthritis are osteoarthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The National Institutes of Health define OA is the gradual deterioration of cartilage and overgrowth of bone most commonly due to wear and tear, and RA as the inflammation of a joint’s connective tissues (eg. the synovial membranes) leading to the destruction of the articular cartilage. (4)
Gout, ankylosing spondylitis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE or Lupus), and psoriatic arthritis are other types of arthritis. (1)
Cartilage is nature’s “shock absorber,” and it provides a smooth gliding surface for the joint. When the cartilage becomes worn or is damaged or lost due to disease or trauma, the joint can no longer move painlessly.
The body attempts to make up for the lost cartilage by producing a fluid in the joint lining (synovium), to act like a cushion, but this fluid also causes swelling in the joint which restricts motion, and stretches the joint covering (capsule) which causes pain. (2)
Symptoms of Arthritis
“Symptoms of OA include:
• Stiffness on awakening or after prolonged rest
• Pain in a joint during or after use
• Discomfort in a joint before or during a change in weather
• Swelling and loss of flexibility in a joint
• Bony lumps (called Heberden and Bouchard nodes) that develop on the end or middle joint of the fingers” (1)
“Symptoms of RA include:
• Pain and swelling in any joint, but usually symmetrically (if one joint is affected, the other side will soon follow)
• Overall aching or stiffness, especially after sleeping or periods of motionlessness
• Joints that are swollen, painful, and warm to the touch during the initial attack and ensuing flare-ups
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| 0.929266 | 506 | 3.40625 | 3 |
Do you remember getting a little knot in your stomach the first time you heard Melissa Manchester sing “Looking Through the Eyes of Love?”
Do you remember humming the music from “The Sting?” Who doesn’t?
What if those songs did not exist? What if our favorite singer, composer or group never stepped before a microphone or sat down at a piano? That is the plight that may already exist or will soon occur because a young gifted child is not able to follow his or her dream.
How many children have been told to “be quiet” when they were banging drums in a basement or dusty garage and then walked away from the music because of the criticism?
Many of us grew up with a piano in our house but did not pursue a potential magnificent opportunity. But now, both parents and children can share the experience of a dream and understand why certain children hum with the birds.
“Marvin Makes Music” is a children’s book penned by Marvin Hamlisch shortly before his death and illustrated by Jim Madsen, who magically connects Hamlisch’s words to pictures.
“Marvin was excited about this book and thought it was exceedingly important for children to be involved in music and the arts at a young age,” said Terre Blair-Hamlisch, Hamlisch’s widow. “It is autobiographical and believes in a child’s potential.”
It is a wonderful tale through the eyes of a young Marvin as he follows his dream, albeit filled with some struggles. If someone hears music or words coming from blaring car horns or the chatter of seagulls, it is inherent in all of us to help foster those emotions and allow a child or even a grandma to express that special talent.
Hamlisch and Rupert Holmes also produced a musical CD for the book that is an excellent method to further explain how a car horn or a cricket’s chirp can help produce music. It is believed to be Hamlisch’s last recording before his death.
Lucy Carney, Children’s Department Manager for the Rocky River Public Library, can speak with authority on the quality of the book and its message.
Carney has a teaching license with a concentration in music and is certified to teach K-8 music classes. She taught music in public schools for four years.
“Illustrated in the rich grand style of the marvelous 1950s, Marvin’s story of a significant moment in his childhood demonstrates the conviction and courage required to follow one’s dreams,” Carney said. “His words are a song of inspiration to all ages!”
Carney went on to tell about how her husband and daughter met Hamlisch while her daughter was in the Cleveland Orchestra Children’s Chorus and she auditioned for a piece he wrote.
“Pretty cool,” she says.
“The library is delighted to bring ‘Marvin Makes Music’ to customers in our community,” said Hallie Rich, marketing and communication director for the Cuyahoga County Public Library. “The book and accompanying CD taps one of the five practices that we know helps build literary skills — the combination of music and reading.”
Rich added the Solon branch, 34125 Portz Parkway, has planned a Jan. 14 storytime program featuring “Marvin Makes Music.”
Anna Olswanger, literary agent for Liza Dawson Associates in New York City, recalls the idea that led to the book.
“Seven years ago when I became a literary agent, I wrote Marvin a letter to tell him that I had read his autobiography, ‘The Way I Was’ and that I was taken with a story he told in the book about being on the roof of Julliard with his father,” Olswanger said. “Marvin’s father had kissed Marvin (on the head) and told him he knew his young son would someday play his music for other people. It was a moment when Marvin’s demanding father admitted that his son had his own dreams.
“I thought it was the core of what could be a wonderful children’s picture book, and I asked Marvin if he would be interested in working with me to develop the story into a manuscript that I could submit to publishers. He called me a few days later to say yes. He seemed to love the idea of writing a children’s book and had other stories he wanted to tell. I thought he would write many more children’s books.”
“Marvin Makes Music” is an enjoyable book and a must-read for all who believe that dreams do exist and can come true. It should be shared with any child who is willing to listen.
See more Sun News stories at cleveland.com/community.
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| 0.973673 | 1,025 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Keywords: LEN, LEFT$, RIGHT$, MID$
Did you have any luck with your alphabetizing program? If not, don't despair; we will go through the development of the program in this chapter. Along the way, we will show you another trick or two. Let's get right to it.
To start off, we want our program to clear any clutter off the screen:
We will then ask the user for the number of words they will want to sort:
PRINT"How many words to sort"; INPUT NUMBER
Wait a minute! Have we forgotten something? If we are going to store and sort some variables, won't we need to dimension a subscripted variable? Yes. Here is our first trick! We will only set aside as much variable space as we need! How do we do that? QBASIC allows us to use a variable as the limit indicator in a dimension statement. Here is how our DIM statement will look:
Now we simply have to enter in all of our data. We will use a method similar to the test scores program in last chapter, that is, printing out the number of each word as it is entered. Here we go:
FOR N=1 TO NUMBER PRINT "Enter Word #"N; INPUT WORD$(N) NEXT N
Now we have all of our words entered into the subscripted variable, and we are using memory in the most efficient way possible at the same time! Incidently, if you enter a number of words that exceeds the available memory of the computer, you will get an Out of Memory message. Use a smaller number of words! We are not trying to store the entire dictionary here! The actual number at which the error message occurs is determined by many factors, including how QBASIC was loaded, and any other programs that are taking up memory. It is not our intention to explain the memory management capabilities of QBASIC, so don't worry about it.
Back to our program. Now that we have the words in our array, we simply need to sort them. To do this, we will use the exact same algorithm that we have been using to sort numbers. This time, instead of comparing and swapping numbers, we will be comparing and swapping words. Here is our next piece of program code:
FOR OUTER =1 TO NUMBER-1 FOR INNER=OUTER+1 TO NUMBER IF WORD$(INNER)<WORD$(OUTER)THEN SWAP WORD$(INNER),WORD$(OUTER) NEXT INNER NEXT OUTER
Let's stop here and discuss how the computer "sees" words. obviously, it knows that "A" comes before "B". But what happens when it sees "APE" and "BUG"? It simply looks at the first letter, and sees again that "A" comes before "B". Let's change it around. What about "APE" and "ABE"? First, the computer compares the first letter of the two words. If they are the same (as they are here), it goes to the second letter of each word. Here it sees that "B" comes before "P". How about something tricky like "SMITH" and "SMITHE"? The computer actually looks at the first five letters, and sees no difference. When it goes to the sixth letter, it sees that it runs out on one of the words. The computer then knows that the one with fewer letters is less than the one with more letters. In the case of "SMITH" and "SMITH", the computer considers them to be equal. They are, aren't they? Smart computer!
In any case, we may now simply print out our sorted list:
FOR N=1 TO NUMBER PRINT WORD$(N) NEXT N END
The easy way to test the program is to run it, and tell it that you have 26 words. As it asks for them, just type in one letter of the alphabet at a time. To make it easy to scramble the letters, just type them in as they appear on the keyboard:
You will see the sorted list printed out when the program finishes. Well, the first four letters will scroll off the top of the screen, but you get the idea.
What kind of fun commands can we use with string variables? Let's look at just a few of the things that QBASIC will let us do! First, switch into the immediate window. Enter:
LET A$ = "ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ"
Now we have A$ which contains the alphabet. To verify that it is in there correctly, type in:
Make sure you get the alphabet back. We know that there are 26 letters in the alphabet, but does the computer know that? We can ask it! Type in:
And the computer gives us the number 26! The LEN(string) function return the length of a string! Type in:
and the computer responds with 7. That's how many letters are in the word "letters". We can also look at parts of the string. Type in:
and the computer will respond with the first five letters of the alphabet! This command will take the leftmost characters of the specified string (in our case, A$), and return the requested number of characters. If we request more characters than there are in the string, we just get the whole thing back. QBASIC will not add any spare characters to it. Now let's type this:
Now we get the last five letters of the alphabet! This works almost identical to the LEFT$ function, except that it takes letters from the right side of the string instead of the left side. What if we wanted something in the middle? Type this in:
The computer responds with a "J". If you were counting, you will discover that this is the tenth letter of the alphabet. Can you figure what the 1 does? Let's find out by changing it:
Notice that the computer responds with "JKL". It tells us how many letters to return. If we ask for more letters than there are remaining, it will give us from the specified letter to the end. If we ask it for a starting position that is greater than the length of the string, the computer will give us a null string for an answer.
Here's a fun thing to try: Let's write a program that has the user type in a word or sentence, and we will print out the letters backwards! First, switch back to the program area, and clear out any program you may have. The first thing our program will do is clear the screen. After that, we will have the user enter the string:
CLS PRINT "Enter the sentence to print out backwards:"; INPUT A$
From here, all we have to do is look at one character at a time, starting from the end, and print it out. Have we seen an easy way to look at one character in the middle of the string? Sure! we used the MID$ function earlier to look at the tenth letter of the alphabet! We aren't stuck using numeric constants in our functions, we can use variables! Getting back to the program, the first thing we need to do is figure out how many characters are in our string. We can do that with the LEN function. In fact we will use this function as our starting loop variable. We will need to step backwards through the string variable, so our STEP will be -1. Our ending point will be the first character in the string. Using this information, our FOR statement will look like this:
FOR LETTER = LEN(A$) TO 1 STEP -1
Now we need to display each character at a time. Don't forget to suppress the automatic carriage return on the print statement!
PRINT MID$(A$,LETTER,1); NEXT LETTER
Since we suppressed the carriage return, and we have completed printing out our backwards sentence, we need to put in a carriage return. Do you remember how?
Now go ahead and run the program using this for input:
!SKROW MARGORP RUOY !SNOITALUTARGNOC
If you typed in everything correctly, you will see a neat little message.
Your project to try before the next chapter is a bit involved. The program will sort a list of names. Ask the user for the number of names to be entered. Then enter the names in first-name-space-last-name order, and then sort them by last name. To make the program easier, you are allowed to print out the names in last name - first name order.
HINT: In our solution, we will convert the name that the user enters into last name - first name order immediately after he types it in. It will be stored in the array last name first. We will also show you an option for printing out the sorted list in first name first order. You may try it on your own first if you are feeling bold!
Good Luck! See you next chapter!
Introduced In This Chapter:
Keywords: LEN(), LEFT$(), RIGHT$(), MID$()
Concepts: Dimensioning subscripted variables with a variable, rules for
comparing strings, disassembling a string variable.
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| 0.910437 | 1,947 | 4.46875 | 4 |
|Sharps Island Lighthouse|
Sharps Island lighthouse is a cast iron caisson filled with concrete with
a brick lined cast iron tower built on top. The tower is 37 feet tall
which sets the light 54 feet above the mean water level. This structure
was constructed in 1881-2 and first lit on February 1, 1882.
This is the third light at this site. The first was a simple wooden house with a lantern room on top that held the lamp and reflectors. This house was set up to be movable so that it could be pulled back from the receding shore line. The house was sited on five acres of land on the 900 acre island. By 1865 the water had reached a corner of the building and the five acres were gone and the entire size of the island was down to 450 acres. It was decided to build a screw pile lighthouse and to place it at the tip of the shoals that extended from the tip of the island. This structure was completed late in 1865. This light lasted until February 10, 1881 when during a winter thaw of the bay, the wind driven ice over ran and swept the building from the screw piles and carried it five miles down the bay with the keepers still inside. The house finally ran aground and the keepers were able to escape.
Congress approved $35,000 for the new current caisson light in 1881 and it was erected during that summer and fall.
The tilt of this light is unique
although not unexpected considering it's exposed location. During
the winter of 1976-7 large ice flows, some piling up on the flats to heights
of 40 feet, pushed against the tower and tipped it to the south at about
a 15 degree angle. There are questions as to what will happen if
we get ice flows on the bay like this again.
|D R I V
I N G D I R
E C T I O N S |
On the Eastern shore of Maryland at the intersection of the Easton, MD bypass, State Route 322, and State Route 33, go west toward Saint Micheals for 25 miles to the end of the road. The lighthouse is located SSW, 3.83 miles from this point.
While in Saint Micheals, you may want to check out the Hooper Strait lighthouse at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum.
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| 0.972773 | 487 | 3.015625 | 3 |
| || |
Contortionist species turns 200
March 26, 2012 - Rob Weaver
It’s not really an anniversary worth celebrating, but the term “gerrymander” now is 200 years old.
March 26, 1812, the term was used for the first time in reporting the redistricting of Massachusetts state senate election districts under the governor at the time, Elbridge Gerry. Gerry had signed a bill that redrew Massachusetts districts to benefit his Democratic-Republican Party. A map of one of the districts in the Boston area was said to resemble the shape of a salamander (see illustration).
Thus, the gerry-mander was born. Or created. Or drawn. Whatever.
Anyway, the practice of drawing convoluted district lines continues to this day. That’s why Voters First, a coalition of non-partisan organizations in Ohio — including the League of Women Voters of Ohio and Common Cause — marked the anniversary by releasing a Top 10 list in response to the gerrymandering apparent in Ohio’s new Congressional and legislative districts.
The list is from the news release. The first few actually are funny.
Top Ten Reasons for Ohioans to Reject Gerrymandering
1. Ohio's new Congressional Districts now look like they were drawn using an Etch A Sketch.
2. Ohio's new 9th Congressional District is so narrow that with a good long jump, you could leap right over it -- from the 4th District, right in to Lake Erie.
3. The mapmakers put The Ohio State University and Ohio University in the same Congressional District instead of the NCAA Elite 8.
4. Taxpayers had to foot the bill for a fancy hotel room -- the politicians called "The Bunker" -- so the mapmakers could have more privacy to gerrymander Ohio's new Congressional and State Legislative districts.
5. Washington political leaders had more of a voice drawing Ohio's lines than most members of the Ohio's General Assembly.
6. Washington politicians directed the mapmakers to include Timken headquarters in an incumbent Congressman's district in order to maximize contributions to his campaign.
7. The mapmakers came up with a brand new criteria for redistricting called “Save Our Politicians Millions in Future Campaign Spending.”
8. Partisan operatives got $150,000 to help draw the maps. Ohio's voters got the shaft.
9. Mapmakers ignored public input and protected their own political interests. Their efforts made a mockery of public redistricting hearings held across the state.
10. Congressional districts were rigged so most U.S. representatives were selected during the primary, robbing millions of general election voters of a voice.
Last year, more than two dozen nonprofit groups, including the League of Women Voters of Ohio, Common Cause/Ohio and Ohio Citizen Action, conducted a redistricting contest. Afterward, some of the groups formed Voters First to pursue reforms that would result in fairly drawn districts.
For more details on the proposal and redistricting, visit www.VotersFirstOhio.org.
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http://www.advertiser-tribune.com/page/blogs.detail/display/1012/Contortionist-species-turns-200.html
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Regular readers know the phenomenal work of Stéphane Guisard: he takes astrophotos showing stunning, deep views of the sky (see Related Posts at the bottom of this entry). And he's done it once again: using a fish-eye (very wide angle) lens, he captured stunning video of the entire sky from Chile. You can see the whole thing on that link, or he's uploaded the video to YouTube:
[I strongly urge you to set the resolution to its highest (1080p) and make this full-screen. Seriously.]
OK, this needs a wee bit o' explaining...
First of all this was taken on December 5, 2010, at the European Southern Observatory's Paranal Observatory in Chile. You can see the telescopes nearby. On Stéphane's page (and on YouTube), you can see the usual view where the sky appears as a circle, and the horizon wraps around. But what he did here is to "unwrap" the sky so it appears rectangular. It starts in the east on the left, goes through south, then west in the middle, then through north and back to east on the right. So you can see stars rising on the extreme right and left sides of the frame, moving toward the middle, and then down to the west. It takes a little getting used to!
The most obvious thing is the laser shooting up to the sky from the right-hand observatory; that's used to create artificial guide stars for the telescope, which aid the computers in reducing the effects of atmospheric turbulence (I wrote about this earlier, complete with magnificent picture). The beam looks curved because this was originally a distorted fish-eye picture and was unwrapped; straight things will look curved in unexpected ways.
The video starts at sunset and runs through sunrise. You can see the two Magellanic Clouds, dwarf companion galaxies to the Milky Way, in the center left. The wide streak of fuzz is the collected might of billions of stars from the Milky Way itself! And that bright "star"? It's not a star at all: it's Jupiter. And if your eyes are keen enough you'll spot Orion setting toward the end of the video; it comes in from the top just to the right of center; the fuzzy spot of the Orion Nebula gives it away.
Some bonuses: did you spot the Andromeda galaxy briefly peeking out between the two telescopes on the right side? How about the Pleiades on the right? Also, that diffuse glow of light pointing from the sunset to Jupiter at the start of the video is zodiacal light: sunlight reflected back to Earth from floating interplanetary dust particles. Incredible.
Sigh. So pretty. This video has it all, and is just another example of what you can do if you're clever, patient, and have an eye for beauty.
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CC-MAIN-2016-26
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http://www.slate.com/blogs/bad_astronomy/2010/12/08/amazing_wide_angle_time_lapse_night_sky_video.html
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| 0.934358 | 584 | 2.71875 | 3 |
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