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Dedicated to the Preservation and Restoration of the Whole of Creation: Humans - Animals - Environment
"And God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good.
And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day" (Genesis 1:31)
(Sow-Thistle, Common (Sonchus oleraceus) - 01) We believe that this wild flower is a common sow-thistle because of its smooth stem, unlike the hairy stem of the field sow-thistle, and its base leaves are pointed, unlike the rounded lobed leaves of the spiny-leaved sow-thistle.
Previous | Sow-Thistle, Common (Sonchus oleraceus) | Next
Presented here are just a few of the countless components of God's creation. Just as we cannot have human and animal life without water and plants, neither can we have lasting peace without love and compassion. It is our hope and prayer that this series will motivate people to live and act in a cruelty-free manner; that we would no longer hurt or destroy each other, the animals or our environment.
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The Flying Platform
A fabulous way for picking up friends and nipping in to town. The flying platform was created in 1955 by the US Navy. It used a direct lift rotor aircraft, using contra-rotating ducted fans (controlled by the pilot shifting his body weight around).
Sadly development ceased because they were considered too impractical as combat vehicles due to their small size, limited speed and they barely flew out of the ground cushion effect. How different life could have been...
Film: Hovering UFO invention
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They may be small enough to sit comfortably on a pencil or fingertip, but Taronga Zoo’s new Veiled Chameleon hatchlings are already making a big impression.
Taronga has welcomed more than 20 baby chameleons, with the last of three clutches of eggs hatching this week.
About 5cm long, the hatchlings are the first born at the Zoo in over five years.
Currently housed in a special temperature-controlled area behind the scenes at Taronga’s Reptile World, the hatchlings have begun feeding on crickets and turning on a bright green colour display for keepers.
Reptile supervisor, Michael McFadden said the chameleons, which are native to Yemen and Saudi Arabia, would be mature and able to showcase their full colour palette within a year.
“Veiled Chameleons are a visually amazing species that we’re fortunate to have at Taronga. While they’re not endangered, they do play an important educational role in helping us to get people excited about reptiles and reptile conservation,” said Michael.
Normally a shade of green or brown while at rest, Veiled Chameleons can change colour when frightened, courting or defending territory.
“You’ll see shades of green, yellow, aqua and even very dark brown or black depending on their temperature, mood and reproductive behaviour. However, they don’t change colour to match a particular background like you see in cartoons,” said Michael.
Built for a life in the trees, Veiled Chameleons also have zygodactyl feet that can easily grasp branches, their eyes can rotate independently and look in two directions at once and their tongue can project 1.5 times their body length to capture prey.
“They can literally look forwards and backwards at the same time, which enables them to be on the watch for predators and food at all times,” said Michael.
Visitors will be able to see these amazing adaptations in action when up to four of the new hatchlings go on display once they reach maturity. The remaining hatchlings will move to other Australian zoos and wildlife parks once they reach 2-3 months of age.
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House Members Issue Bi-Partisan Call for Human Exploration Strategy Using Space Launch System, Orion
A bi-partisan letter from 32 members of the U.S. House urges the White House to structure a “safe, focused and expeditious return of American astronauts to deep space exploration on an American rocket launched from American soil.”
The lawmakers, led by Steven M. Palazzo, chair of the House Science Subcommittee, and Donna F. Edwards, the ranking Democrat on the same panel, hail from 14 states and every region of the U. S. Palazzo, a Republican, comes from Mississippi and Edwards, from Maryland.
The White House laid out a strategy last April, the Asteroid Redirect Mission, which would robotically find, capture and steer a small asteroid into a stable lunar orbit as a destination for U. S. astronauts launched aboard the new NASA Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and the Orion crew capsule. President Obama directed NASA to reach an asteroid with U. S. astronauts by 2025. The directive, issued four years ago, characterized the asteroid visit as a stepping stone to Mars, a destination for the 2030s.
The lawmakers supporting the March 21 letter to the president do not mention ARM or recommend a destination, though they urge Obama to articulate an exploration strategy incorporating the SLS and Orion, which were key features of NASA’s most recent authorization measure, passed and signed by the president in 2010.
Many lawmakers have expressed a preference for the moon as a destination rather than an asteroid. The previous administration’s Constellation program would have established a human lunar base. It was cancelled during the president’s first term because of insufficient funding.
“Since the early 1960s, the U.S. has benefitted greatly from the technological advancements, global space leadership and inspiration that result from NASA’s human spaceflight program,” write the lawmakers. “The achievements in science and technology that we have derived from human space exploration are crucial in advancing our nation’s innovation agenda, and the discoveries yet to be made inspire our future scientists and explorers to pursue studies in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) education.”
NASA’s half dozen Apollo moon landings concluded in 1972. NASA’s three decade space shuttle program was retired in mid-2011. Without a ready shuttle replacement, the U. S. has turned to Russia to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. President Obama has called for a 2020 to 2024 extension of activities aboard the space station in part to establish a business case for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to replace dependence on Russia’s Soyuz with competing U. S. crew space transportation services.
“We must prioritize U.S. leadership in space exploration, especially in light of the expansion of human spaceflight programs in countries such as China and Russia over the past decade,” according to the Congressional letter.
China has a human tended space station in orbit, with plans for a permanently occupied replacement. In December, China’s Chang’e-3 lander reached the lunar surface with a small rover. Though still in communication, the Yutu rover has experienced major technical difficulties.
A U. S. push into deep space will bring benefits to the nation’s economy as well as its national security, according to the lawmakers. The letter makes no mention of recent U. S. and Russian tensions over the Ukraine, which has prompted the two countries to issue a series of competing sanctions affecting economic and international relations.
So far, U. S. and Russian space ties have not been affected.
“It has been often stated that NASA’s funding is an investment, not an expenditure,” according to the letter. “As you are aware, total investment in the agency is less than one half of one percent of the overall federal budget, and less than half of the agency’s budget goes toward human spaceflight. Therefore, less than one-fourth of one penny of each taxpayer dollar is invested in human spaceflight but the rewards are substantial”
The president requested $17.5 billion for NASA in fiscal year 2015, a $190 million decline over the current budget. However, annual out year spending is expected to rise to $18.16 billion in 2019.
In an accompanying statement released March 24, Palazzo added:
“I have always believed that maintaining American leadership in space is a matter of national pride as well as a matter of national security. In these times of international uncertainty, it has never been more evident that NASA must once again commit its focus to the mission of human space exploration. The next few years provide a crucial window in which we must redouble our efforts to once more launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil. I will continue doing everything in my power to restore that focus to NASA’s budgets as we revisit these matters in the NASA Authorization Act later this year.”
Edwards released a March 24 statement of elaboration as well.
“Human space exploration is a catalyst for American innovation and economic growth. Since President Kennedy issued his challenge, our nation has lead the way in pushing the envelope for human space exploration, inspiring generations of young Americans to pursue careers in the sciences. We must once again put forth a compelling vision for American exploration, a vision that will inspire our engineers, scientists, researchers, and students today – for generations to come. Funding for NASA’s exploration programs is an investment, not an expenditure, and history has proven that the economic returns from these investments are significant.”
In 1962, JFK challenged the nation to reach the moon with human explorers ahead of the former Soviet Union.
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Comprehensive DescriptionRead full entry
The family Blenniidae is the largest family in its suborder, consisting of six tribes with 53 genera and 345 species. A slender, elongate body and cryptic coloring assist many blennies in their secretive lifestyle in crevices and holes on the bottom of inshore waters. Blennies are known for their distinctive teeth, which are close-set in a single row on each jaw, and some blennies have a huge canine on each lower jaw, hence the descriptors “comb-toothed” and “saber-toothed." Blennies possess interesting traits ranging from mimicry and hopping over terrestrial rocks to adopting separate colors for courtship. Most blennies feed on algae and small invertebrates, but some attack other fish to steal bites of fin, scales, or skin.
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Anxiety poses one of the core challenges for people with Asperger’s Syndrome and other types of autism. There is a great deal of anxiety already inherent in the condition itself, which is then further intensified by social pressure and hypersensitivity to outside stimuli, another common symptom of autism.
According to conservative estimates, 65% of adults with Asperger’s Syndrome suffer from anxiety and depression compared to 18% of the general population
Everyone experiences the effects of Anxiety slightly differently can come in many forms including:
People suffering from panic disorder can experience sudden and repeated attacks of fear. The person senses that impending disaster is close by and that they will lose control of the situation. It can result in shortness of breath, hear palpitations, chest pain, hot flushes or light headidness.
Social phobia is a fear of being judged by others. It often represents itself by excessive self consciousness and anxiety in every day sitatuations. Its also possible that it triggers off panic attacks that are associated with panic disorder. Often this fear makes us withdraw from society, being afraid to go out.
Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)
GAD represents itself in the form of worrying excessively. It may be combined with symptoms such as headaches or insomnia.
Obsessive Compulsive disorder (OCD)
This form of anxiety represents in the need to check things repeatedly and unnecessarily, such as checking the door is locked or one has washed their hands.
Often the presence of anxiety in people with Asperger’s is overlooked because one’s internal state or mental setting is hard to communicate and explain to non-autists. But living with anxiety can affect body image, motivation, behavior, and even the ability to think correctly.
Anxiety has long been known as the main cause of so called brain fog, a condition where one feels as if thoughts are obscured by cotton wool. A heavily crowded classroom for example, might result in worse grades on an exam due to social anxiety alone. While certain autistic individuals may be very high functioning, if they have anxiety it can go as far as to make them feel or act as if they are not.
A common approach to this problem is withdrawal from whatever causes said anxiety. Yet obviously this is not a solution. It’s irresponsible to isolate oneself as a response to the outside world, and it may ultimately prove counterproductive since it leads to more severe anxiety in the long run. If the anxiety is moderate to severe, it should be the primary focus for treatment.
While many search for a cure all pill, it is important that this issue is dealt with in more ways than at a purely pharmaceutical level. While medication makes up a significant part of a successful treatment plan, the mindset itself has to be remedied before lasting improvement can be noted. Do not just see medication as an easy way out, it is merely a tool to assist you in self improvement.
Autism related anxiety is typically characterized by depression, overwhelming discomfort around people, heart palpitations, profuse sweating, mutism or pressured speech, obsessive and repetitive thoughts, and an overwhelming desire to escape the current surroundings. Firstly paying attention to, and becoming aware of these symptoms already leads to a noticeable improvement. If it is appropriate to the given situation, listening to downtempo (chill) music greatly alleviates anxiety.
If you are experiencing intrusive thoughts, imagine them floating away beyond the top of your head. After a while, they will slow down or cease. Try to inhale slowly through your nose, and exhale slowly through your mouth. In severe cases of anxiety: breathe in, hold for 8-10 seconds, breathe out. Repeat this until you feel better. Eventually your body and your unconscious mind will get used to doing this, and automatically adapt your breathing pattern.
If you are looking for more techniques in dealing with day to day anxiety, we cover the issue in more depth the issues surrounding Anxiety in our book emotional mastery for adults with Aspergers.
Please tell us what your experience with anxiety is by leaving us a comment below.
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The long history of field research at Grasshopper, a massive, 500-room pueblo in an isolated mountain meadow in east-central Arizona, has produced a wealth of architectural information. Drawing on this extensive research, Charles Riggs reconstructs the pueblo, and provides a glimpse into the everyday life of the community at a critical time in Southwest prehistory.
Between AD 1300 and 1330, a group consisting mainly of newcomers to the area established and then enlarged Grasshopper. From the architectural remnants excavated by the University of Arizona Archaeological Field School it is possible to determine that the earliest arrivals settled Grasshopper relatively quickly and that subsequent groups from the region and the Colorado Plateau built their houses next to kinsmen. The houses of locals and immigrants remained separate in discrete room blocks despite their occupants' participation in communal groups.
Ultimately short-lived, by AD 1330 the influx of immigrants tapered and the architecture came to reflect a more seasonal, less intensive use of the area. Eventually the community was abandoned and the walls were left to crumble. In "The Architecture of Grasshopper Pueblo," Riggs gives us a new view of community life at this ancient Puebloan site.
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"An endocrine disruptor is an exogenous substance or mixture that alters function(s) of the endocrine system and consequently causes adverse health effects in an intact organism, or its progeny, or (sub)populations" 'Community strategy for endocrine disruptors'
Some chemicals can act on the endocrine system to disturb the homeostatic mechanisms of the body or to initiate processes at abnormal times in the life cycle. The chemicals can exert their effects through a number of different mechanisms:
Oestrogens: a group of chemicals of similar structure mainly responsible for female sexual development and reproduction. They are produced mainly by the ovaries but also by the adrenal glands and adipose (fat) tissue. The principal human oestrogen is 17beta-oestradiol.
Androgens: chemicals responsible for the development and maintenance of the male sexual characteristics. They are structurally similar to oestrogens ; indeed, oestrogens are produced in the body from androgenic precursors. Testosterone, produced mainly by the testes, is the principal human androgen.
More recently, research has indicated that some chemicals may disrupt thyroid function, with concerns focusing particularly on the role of the thyroid in the developmental process.
There is some evidence that known endocrine disruptors may affect the immune system and may also have some neurotoxicity although the mechanisms by which these effects may occur have not been elucidated.
The main evidence suggesting that exposure to environmental chemicals can lead to disruption of endocrine function comes from changes seen in a number of wildlife species. Effects suggested as being related to endocrine disruption have been reported in molluscs, crustacea, fish, reptiles, birds and mammals in various parts of the world.
There is also some limited evidence in humans that adverse endocrine-mediated effects have followed either intentional or accidental exposure to high levels of particular chemicals. The clearest example of an endocrine disruptor in humans is diethylstilbestrol (DES), a synthetic oestrogen prescribed in the 1950s and 1960s to five million pregnant women for the prevention of spontaneous abortion. It was found that some of the children who had been exposed in the uterus had developmental abnormalities, and that some of the girls developed an unusual form of vaginal cancer when they reached puberty. As a consequence, DES was banned in the 1970s. In addition, a number of adverse changes have been suggested to have occurred in a population living near a chemical plant in Seveso, Italy as a result of the accidental release of the chemical dioxin, a suspected endocrine disruptor.
Chemicals with hormonal activity, i.e. potential endocrine disruptors, include :
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1. Who is the first character to speak in Act 1, Scene 1?
2. What do Bolingbroke and Mowbray accuse one another of?
3. "What my tongue speaks my right drawn sword may prove." Who says this?
4. How many gold coins does Bolingbroke accuse Mowbray of withholding from the army?
5. Who was Richard's uncle and Gaunt's brother?
6. What was Mowbray supposed to be doing with Richard's uncle when he died?
7. Who does Mowbray admit to have scheming against in the past?
8. Who is Bolingbroke's father?
9. Why don't Bolingbroke and Mowbray forgive one another?
This section contains 3,872 words
(approx. 13 pages at 300 words per page)
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Banks are refer to lending institutions that intermediate (they compete for deposits to write loans) and subsequently, they hold two legal commitments across their balance sheets (equity, traded on the stock exchange and deposits) and hold exchange settlement accounts with Reserve Bank of Australia, the Australia’s central bank. ESAs streamline the settlement of interbank transactions. Bank that acquires the rival bank cheques are presented to the clearinghouse for redemption. After processing, the net balances are posted on ESAs. Bank that accumulate adverse balances observe a fall in the ESA and creditor bank observe an increase in ESA balances.
Banks do not only do business in retail banking market where they supply deposits and buy consumer and commercial loan. They pay competitive interest rate on liabilities and earn interest on assets. Besides, banks also involve in wholesale banking market by trading in money market. They buy corporate and government securities and issue their own type of security called certificates of deposits (CDs). Moreover, banks also provide other services and products such as insurance. They provide broader range of services can be explained by growing preference of one stop shopping and economies of scale.
Other the other hand, banks acts as financial intermediaries where they solve the problems that savers would face if they invest in corporate equities and securities such as liquidity cost, price risk and agency cost. For example, bank deposits from saver can be withdrawn on demand and full value of the deposits can be redeemed which overcome the liquidity risk and price risk that an investor would face if he invests in corporate sector.
Furthermore, banks also act as asset transformers when they perform liquidity transformation and maturity transformation. Agency cost can be alleviated when savers delegate the banks the...
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By: Theresa Beer, Communications Specialist
More than three years have passed since the devastating Fukushima nuclear power plant accident in Japan, and an innovative crowd-sourced citizen science seawater sampling project is starting to yield information.
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Thirty sampling sites have been funded along the Pacific Coast. We've been the point group for sites on Haida Gwaii and at Bamfield on Vancouver Island for this Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution initiative.
Concerned citizens, First Nations, foundations and businesses have come together to monitor North American coastal waters. "Because of this unique collaboration, we've been able to begin building the most comprehensive dataset on radioactivity levels in the ocean along the west coast of North America since the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster," said Ken Buesseler, WHOI marine chemist, in a news release.
So far, none of the citizen-collected seawater samples taken from the Pacific Coast has contained any trace of radiation from Fukushima, but continued support for monitoring is needed as the cesium isotopes reach our coast with levels possibly increasing over the coming few years. Data from samples is posted at How Radioactive Is Our Ocean? Participating communities learn whether cesium-137 or 134 — the short-lived isotopes used as indicators of the release from Fukushima — are present. They get informed about radioactivity in the ocean and what the levels mean.
More than 320 donations have been received and $50,000 raised to analyze seawater samples. Detecting marine radiation requires a large sample of seawater, which is analyzed by sophisticated cesium gamma detectors at WHOI. Some locations have raised funds for multiple samples.
Buesseler doesn't think levels in the ocean or seafood on the Pacific Coast will become dangerously high because of the Fukushima disaster, but he stresses the importance of monitoring.
It's important too to reflect on the impact of the accident on communities near Fukushima that face a ban on fishing, radioactive release in to the ocean from the plant and health concerns for workers and others.
Ken Buesseler is speaking in B.C. at two events.
June 5 Presenting Fukushima: A View from the Ocean at the Vancouver Aquarium at 9 a.m. in Vancouver. More info and RSVP.
June 5 Presenting Fukushima: A View from the Ocean at St. Anne's Academy Auditorium at 7 p.m. in Victoria.
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COREContraception JournalQuick Reference Guide for CliniciansChoosing a Birth Control MethodDiagnosis and Management of IC/PBSDiagnosis and Management of Overactive BladderFish Consumption to Promote Good Health and Minimize ContaminantsSexually Transmitted Infections and Associated ConditionsNon-hormonal Contraceptive MethodsManaging HPV: A New Era in Patient CareManaging Premenstrual SymptomsManual Vacuum AspirationPostpartum CounselingClinical Fact SheetsClinical Practice ToolsStudies & SurveysPatient ResourcesLinks
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Managing HPV: A New Era in Patient Care
(Published May 2013)
Lack of Information About HPV
- Data from a national survey show that only 40% of women had ever heard of human papillomavirus, or HPV.1
- Of these, less than half were aware that HPV causes cervical cancer.
General Educational Messages About HPV
- HPV is sexually transmitted.
- HPV is very common.
- Most women with HPV will not get cervical cancer.
- HPV infection usually clears by itself.
- HPV tests are used to detect the virus that causes cell changes and cancer of the cervix.
- Pap tests are used to detect cell changes and precancer caused by HPV.
- Most women who test positive for HPV do not have precancer or cervical cancer.
- However, some women with HPV infection that doesn’t clear quickly will develop cervical cell changes.
- A positive Pap test result probably indicates that a woman has cell changes caused by HPV.
- A positive Pap test result usually means that a woman will need additional testing to make sure she doesn’t have serious cell changes or cancer.
- If a woman is found on additional testing to have serious cell changes or cancer, effective treatment is available.
- HPV vaccines prevent the two types of HPV (16 and 18) that cause 70% of cervical cancers.
- Because 30% of cervical cancers are associated with HPV types that are not covered by the vaccine, women will continue to need cervical cancer screening even if they are vaccinated.
Educational Messages for Women Who Test Positive for HPV
- HPV is very common. Almost 8 out of 10 women will get HPV at some point in their lives.
- There is no way of knowing how long HPV has been present or who transmitted the virus.
- Having HPV is not a sign of infidelity or promiscuity.
- Most women who have HPV do not develop abnormal cells or cancer.
- Women who have HPV in their cells for a long time are at greater risk for developing abnormal cells or cancer.
- If you have a positive HPV test result and a normal Pap test, your health care provider will either:
- Retest you in 12 months with cotesting. If HPV is still present, colposcopy will be recommended even if your Pap test is still normal.
- Test immediately for HPV 16/18 genotypes. If you have HPV 16/18, colposcopy will be recommended.2
General HPV Counseling Tips
- Proactively dispel the myths that abound about HPV. Ask your patients what they know about the virus and provide accurate information as needed.
- Provide information about HPV relevant to the clinical situation; then ask your patients whether they have any questions. Tell them how to contact you if they have questions after leaving your office.
- To minimize patient anxiety, be sure to clarify that a positive HPV test result is not a cancer diagnosis. Explain that because of the high prevalence of HPV infection and the relatively small risk of cancer, many patients will have positive test results but never develop cervical cancer.
- Clearly communicate about any necessary follow-up, including the timing, of any procedures or testing that will be done and the approximate length of the follow-up appointment.
- Tiro JA, Meissner HI, Kobrin S, Chollette. What do women in the U.S. know about human papillomavirus and cervical cancer? Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007;16:288-94.
- Saslow D, Solomon D, Lawson HW, et al. American Cancer Society, American Society for Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology, and American Society for Clinical Pathology screening guidelines for the prevention and early detection of cervical cancer. CA Cancer J Clin. 2012;62:147-72
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Australia is expected to come under growing pressure in the coming year to raise its emissions reduction target from its current level of 5 per cent, as negotiations accelerate to try to achieve a global treaty on climate change that binds all nations by 2015, and meets the science.
Australia’s official position at the international climate change talks is to have a range of ambition from a 5 per cent reduction in 1990 emissions by 2020, out to 25 per cent, depending on what other countries do.
The Climate Institute is one of several groups that argues that action by other nations, including China and the US, justifies Australia to move to 10-15 per cent. This estimate has been supported by separate analysis by former government climate change advisor Ross Garnaut and the Australian National University.
However, Mark Dreyfus, the parliamentary secretary for climate change who led Australia’s team in Doha, told RenewEconomy at the conclusion of the dramatic final plenary that there was no case for Australia lifting its ambition just now. “The circumstance are not yet there,” he said.
If not in 2013, the crunch year will come in 2014. That is when the Climate Change Authority delivers its first report on Australia’s ambition, and this will be in the same year as the IPCC delivers its next assessment of the climate change science, and UN president Ban Ki-moon gathers world leaders in a summit focused on raising emission reduction targets before 2020. It is hard to imagine Australia concluding 2014 with a target as weak as its current 5 per cent reduction.
Dreyfus said he was satisfied with the outcome of the talks – despite their lack of ambition – describing them as a “working COP” (in reference to the Conference of the Parties).
“We achieved what we set out to achieve,” he said. “We are on track as comfortably as we can be for 2015.”
Australia has in the past been portrayed as a spoiler at these negotiations – famous for the “Australia” clause that allowed it to actually increase its target in the first period of Kyoto, and then for not signing the document until Kevin Rudd was elected.
At Doha, however, Australia was seen as a mostly constructive influence – it had, after all, succeeded in implementing its domestic carbon price and is the only nation outside of Europe to sign up to the second period of the Kyoto Protocol. It was happy to allow frustrations to be vented towards New Zealand and Canada, which overshadowed questions over Australia’s own level of ambition, or its contribution to the climate fund which was such a flashpoint at the meeting.
It also played a key role in the dramatic last hours of the negotiations, which were all about isolating Russia from its eastern European allies on the issue of hot air. The last week of the talks had been dominated by financing issues on one hand, and the treatment of an estimated 13 billion of surplus credits that remained from the first period of the Kyoto Protocol, and which threaten to offset all the gains from the second period, and could yet dilute a future treaty. Some form of agreement was found on finance – essentially to delay its resolution for another year – but Russia was not going to concede.
In the dramatic last few hours, Europe was tasked to bring Poland into its fold, while the Umbrella group led by Australia was tasked to assuage Belarus, the Ukraine and Kazakhstan. Hurried meetings were held between ministers on the plenary floor, and in adjoining rooms, while the secretary of the Department of Climate Change Blair Comley could be seen haggling with counterparts on the podium in some last-minute negotiations.
At the end, the ploy succeeded. Qatar had been criticised for its ponderous leadership of negotiations – the Qatari president kept on repeating that he just lived down the road and was happy to continue for weeks, if not a year – but finally gaveled the agreement through the plenary.
Russia objected strongly, but it had been successfully isolated and gained no support. Australia also received a big round of applause at the end of the meeting when Dreyfus said the country would not purchase any of the excess credits to meet its own emissions reduction targets, a pledge matched by seven other countries, plus the 27 nations of Europe.
RenewEconomy Free Daily Newsletter
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Hutchins, Thomas, 1730–89, American frontiersman, surveyor, and geographer, b. Monmouth co., N.J. He took part in the French and Indian War and gained a reputation for his engineering ability through planning Fort Pitt and other works. His journals of military expeditions in the Western country are valuable historical sources. A captain in the British army and in London at the opening of the American Revolution, Hutchins refused to bear arms against the Revolutionaries and was imprisoned and charged with high treason. Released in 1780, he escaped to France and ultimately to Charleston, S.C., where he joined the Revolutionary forces. In July, 1781, he became geographer to the United States. In 1785 he took charge of the survey of the Northwest Territory.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2012, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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Overview of the Modern Separation of Church and State Doctrine
The modern Separation of Church and State doctrine, created by the United States Supreme Court in 1947, prohibits any federal, state or local government preference or support for religion. This federal judicial doctrine generally eliminates religion from the public square.
This modern Separation of Church and State doctrine has no basis in the Constitution. The First Amendment is a superfluous restraint on federal power. As discussed below, nowhere was Congress delegated the power to establish a national church, but the First Amendment’s Establishment Clause was drafted to make this explicit. In addition, nowhere was Congress delegated the power to interfere with the free exercise of religion, but the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause was drafted to make this explicit. As such, Congress has no power over religious affairs. Moreover, because the First Amendment is a superfluous restraint on federal power, federal courts do not have power to review or interfere with the religious affairs of the states.
To create the modern Separation of Church and State doctrine, two things occurred. First, the Supreme Court created the Incorporation Doctrine in the early twentieth century. The Incorporation Doctrine takes the Bill of Rights, which was meant to protect the states from the federal government, and turns it into a weapon the federal courts can wield against the states. Second, the Supreme Court had to interpret an “establishment of religion” as prohibiting any government preference or support for religion.
Where does Separation of Church and State come from?
Thomas Jefferson and the Danbury Baptists
As used in the United States, the term “Separation of Church and State” originated from a letter Thomas Jefferson wrote in response to a letter he had received from Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut. Jefferson’s January 1, 1802 response (while he was sitting President) used the phrase, “wall of separation between Church and State.”
The Danbury Baptists wrote Jefferson to complain about the “degrading” way in which they were treated in Connecticut; under Connecticut’s established Congregational church. The Danbury Baptists said, “what religious privileges we enjoy (as a minor part of the state) we enjoy as favors granted, and not as inalienable rights; and these favors we receive at the expense of such degrading acknowledgements as are inconsistent with the rights of freemen.” The Baptists then acknowledged the President did not possess the ability to interfere with Connecticut’s established religion. The Baptists said they were, “sensible that the president of the United States is not the national legislator, and also sensible that the national government cannot destroy the laws of each state; but our hopes are strong that the sentiments of our beloved president… will shine and prevail through all these states and all the world, till hierarchy and tyranny be destroyed from the earth.”
Jefferson’s response expressed sympathy for the Danbury Baptists, and acknowledged a, “wall of separation between Church and State” at the federal level. Jefferson concluded by stating he looked forward to seeing, “with sincere satisfaction the progress of those sentiments” expressed by the Danbury Baptists. Jefferson’s response implied he had hope Connecticut would one day adopt laws similar to the one Jefferson drafted in Virginia – the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom.
Nowhere in Jefferson’s response to the Danbury Baptists, nor in his personal writings, does Jefferson express sentiments to abolish religion or the public acknowledgement of God from the public square. It’s worth noting, the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom begins by stating, “Almighty God hath created the mind free.”
Proponents of the Separation of Church and State Doctrine
The American Civil Liberties Union (“ACLU”) is the most prominent supporter of the current Separation of Church and State Doctrine. For an overview of the ACLU’s position, click here. According to the ACLU, “The question whether a religious monument should be erected on public property or whether religious activities should be subsidized [by any government] is not one to be made by the politically influential or by local majorities.”
Essentially, the ACLU is against local self-governance. The ACLU is driven purely by its policy objectives and not by any sort of intellectual integrity or historical objectivity. The ACLU is an advocate of the current state of “Constitutional Law,” whereby federal courts have perverted the Constitution and usurped power. With this usurped power, the federal courts have inverted the First Amendment and used the modern doctrine of Separation of Church and State as a political weapon to eradicate religion from the public square.
Separation of Church and State – Policy versus Procedure
Whether states and localities should or should not permit religious expression or displays on public property is a separate policy question. The Constitution is a procedural document which answers the question of “who decides?” For purposes of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the First Amendment, and the so-called Separation of Church and State doctrine, the religious affairs of the states and the people are none of the federal government’s business. Religious affairs were reserved to the states, and the federal government was explicitly barred from interfering in state and local religious matters by the First Amendment.
Congressional Debates around the First Amendment and Religious Affairs
With the exception of James Madison, those who debated the wording of the First Amendment’s Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses merely sought to ease the concerns of the Anti-Federalists in the state ratifying conventions. The Bill of Rights as a whole was intended to provide these assurances. The First Amendment, in particular, was intended to ease these concerns by providing express assurances the federal government would not create a national religion or interfere with the religious affairs of the states or the people.
During these debates in the House of Representatives, Congressman Elias Boudinot from New Jersey proposed a modified version of an earlier draft amendment submitted by James Madison. Boudinot’s proposal said, “no religion shall be established by law, nor shall the equal rights of conscience be infringed.” Congressman Peter Silvester of New York expressed concern over this language, stating it could be misconstrued, “to abolish religion altogether.” James Madison responded that his intention was to provide, “that Congress should not establish a religion, and enforce the legal observation of it by law, nor compel men to worship God in any manner contrary to their conscience.” Congressman Benjamin Huntington from Connecticut affirmed the concerns of Peter Silvester, stating that words of the proposed amendment, “might be taken in such latitude as to be extremely hurtful to the cause of religion.” Huntington then expressed concern that the amendment might impact his state’s religious policy. James Madison assured him the amendment would not have that effect.
James Madison then proposed an amendment that would have delegated power to the federal government to enforce language similar to that of the eventual First Amendment against the states. The amendment read, “no State shall infringe the equal rights of conscience, nor the freedom of speech or of the press, nor of the right of trial by jury in criminal cases.” Madison strongly pushed for this imposition upon the states, but the proposal was rejected by the committee. Congressman Thomas Tucker of South Carolina said Madison’s proposed amendment, “goes only to the alteration of the constitutions of particular States. It will be much better, I apprehend, to leave the State Governments to themselves, and not to interfere with them more than we already do.”
Role of Religion when the Constitution and Bill of Rights were Ratified
It is well beyond the scope of this single page to explain all the ways in which religion played a prominent and integral role both in federal and state governmental affairs around the time the Constitution and Bill of Rights were ratified. For a thorough explanation of this topic, we recommend The Theme Is Freedom: Religion, Politics, and the American Tradition, by M. Stanton Evans. Below is a quick list of facts to consider in light of the modern Separation of Church and State doctrine.
Random Examples – Role and Influence of Religion in Federal and State Affairs
- Nine states had established colonial churches in 1775. The number of established colonial (and eventually state) churches decreased over time as religious diversity created political pressure to disestablish formal state churches.
- Vermont was admitted to the Union in 1791. Vermont’s relatively liberal constitution had a provision requiring public officials to take the following oath: “I do believe in one God, the Creator and Governor of the Universe, the rewarder of the good and punisher of the wicked. And I do acknowledge the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments to be given by divine inspiration and own and profess the Protestant Religion.” Similar provisions could be found in other state constitutions.
- James Madison, whose views on religion are grossly mischaracterized by historians and legal scholars, did introduce the bill in Virginia’s legislature to disestablish the Church of England. This bill was submitted on October 31, 1785. However, on the same day, Madison introduced another bill punishing individual Virginia citizens who broke the Sabbath by performing activities other than household duties on Sundays. Thus, Madison introduced a bill authorizing Virginia to coerce its citizens into religious compliance on the same day he sought to disestablished the state’s church.
- Massachusetts’ was the last state to disestablish its state church in 1833.
- North Carolina’s requirement that only Protestants could hold public office lasted until 1835, but the requirement that only Christians could hold public office lasted until 1868.
- Maryland’s requirement that only Christians could hold public office lasted until 1826.
- The First Amendment passed in the United States House of Representatives on September 24, 1789. The next day, the House of Representatives passed a resolution calling for a national day of prayer and thanksgiving. The resolution said, “We acknowledge with grateful hearts the many signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peacefully to establish a constitutional government for their safety and happiness.” This same House of Representatives called on President George Washington to issue a proclamation to designate this national day of prayer and thanksgiving. President Washington responded, “It is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey his will, to be grateful for His benefits and humbly to implore His protection and favor… That great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that ever will be, that we may then unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people…” These sentiments were expressed by the House of Representatives and the President of the United States the day after the First Amendment passed the House of Representatives. This evidence makes it clear the House of Representatives did not draft the First Amendment to secularize the federal government.
- In his Farewell Speech in 1796, President George Washington said, “Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity, religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man claim the tribute of patriotism, who should labor to subvert these great pillars of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens. The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and to cherish them. A volume could not trace all their connections with private and public felicity. Let it simply be asked: Where is the security for property, for reputation, for life, if the sense of religious obligation desert the oaths which are the instruments of investigation in courts of justice ? And let us with caution indulge the supposition that morality can be maintained without religion. Whatever may be conceded to the influence of refined education on minds of peculiar structure, reason and experience both forbid us to expect that national morality can prevail in exclusion of religious principle.”
- the last line of the Constitution, says, ”done in Convention by the Unanimous Consent of the States present the Seventeenth Day of September in the Year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and Eighty seven and of the Independence of the United States of America the Twelfth…” (emphasis added).
- In his second inaugural address, President Thomas Jefferson affirmed the proper scope of federal power with respect to religion when he said, “In matters of religion, I have considered that its free exercise is placed by the constitution independent of the powers of the [federal] government. I have therefore undertaken, on no occasion, to prescribe the religious exercises suited to it; but have left them, as the constitution found them, under the direction and discipline of state or church authorities acknowledged by the several religious societies.”
Incorporation Doctrine – how Federal Courts used the First Amendment as a weapon against religion in the public square
Modern jurists and those who support the eradication of religion from public life cite the Fourteenth Amendment and the Incorporation Doctrine as grounds for inverting the First Amendment to create the modern Separation of Church and State doctrine. The Incorporation Doctrine is based on the Orwellian notion that constitutional amendments added to protect the states from the federal government can be used by the federal courts as weapons against the states. Click here to learn about the Incorporation Doctrine.
Ten years after ratification of the Fourteenth Amendment, Speaker of the House, James G. Blaine, proposed an amendment to the United States Constitution that would have applied part of the First Amendment against the states. The proposed amendment passed the House of Representatives, but failed to pass the Senate by four votes. The relevant part of the amendment said, “No state shall make any law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof…” If the Fourteenth Amendment had applied this exact same language from the First Amendment against the state governments via the Incorporation Doctrine, why would this so-called “Blaine Amendment” have been proposed in the first place? It should not come as a surprise the Supreme Court has never addressed this question.
The Blaine Amendment is just part of an overwhelming mountain of historical evidence that makes clear there is no federal constitutional basis for the modern Separation of Church and State doctrine.
Separation of Church and State Supreme Court Decisions
Cantwell v. Connecticut, 1940 – First Religious Usurpation by the Supreme Court
Newton Cantwell and his two sons went door to door in a heavily Roman Catholic neighborhood in New Haven, Connecticut proselytizing his religion and criticizing Catholicism. The Cantwell’s actions incensed some neighbors and almost sparked a physical confrontation. The Cantwell’s were arrested, charged and convicted with a common law breach of the peace, and for violating a Connecticut statute requiring solicitors to obtain a certificate from the state before soliciting funds from the public. The Connecticut Supreme Court upheld the legality of the solicitation statute as a legitimate anti-fraud measure to protect the public.
The United States Supreme Court decreed the First and Fourteenth Amendment empowered the Supreme Court to stand in review of all state laws and policies impacting religious affairs. With this new usurpation of power, the Supreme Court struck down Connecticut’s solicitation statute.
Everson v. Board of Education, 1947 – Creation of Separation of Church and State Doctrine
Everson v. Board of Education marks one of the most tyrannical abuses of judicial power in American history and serves as the foundation for the modern Separation of Church and State doctrine. For an overview of the Everson case, click here.
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black’s opinion for a split court said the Fourteenth Amendment “incorporated” and applied the First Amendment against state and local governments. Justice Black’s opinion savaged both Constitutional and American history in reaching its conclusion, but it also hijacked and distorted Thomas Jefferson’s words from his letter to the Baptists in Danbury, Connecticut regarding, “a wall of separation between Church and State.” Read the rest of this page and our page on the Incorporation Doctrine to understand why Everson was a tragic and tyrannical usurpation of federal judicial power.
Supreme Court Justice Hugo Black – Anti-Catholic member of the Ku Klux Klan
To illustrate the purely political nature of Justice Black’s opinion, consider his background.
Hugo Black was virulently anti-Catholic. In 1921, Black successfully defended a man charged with murdering a Catholic Priest named James E. Coyle. Black then joined the anti-Catholic Ku Klux Klan (KKK) as a way to gain support for election to the United States Senate from Alabama. As a Senator, Black supported Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the unconstitutional New Deal. Black also supported President Roosevelt’s court packing scheme that attacked the perceived “independence” of the Supreme Court. President Roosevelt rewarded Black for his support with a nomination to the Supreme Court in 1937 following the retirement of Justice Willis Van Devanter.
The Irish Potato Famine of the mid-1800s led to a large influx of Irish Catholic immigrants to the United States. The KKK, nativists, Protestants and others were vehemently anti-Catholic and sought to eliminate state support for Catholic schools. Many efforts had been made through the years (including the aforementioned Blaine Amendment) to pass a Constitutional amendment prohibiting state support for Parochial schools. All of these efforts failed. However, Hugo Black found his chance to bypass Article 5 and the Amendment process once he was on the Supreme Court. Justice Black, an anti-Catholic member of the KKK, proceeded to disregard the plain meaning of the Constitution, and concoct a historically dubious opinion that set the foundation for the eradication of religion from the public square throughout the United States.
Did political motivations and personal prejudice guide Justice Black’s decision making, or was he providing his honest, objective interpretation of the Constitution and American history? You be the judge.
Ramifications of Everson v. Board of Education
Supreme Court removes religion from public school curriculum. McCollum v. Board of Education, 1948.
Supreme Court strikes down Maryland’s requirement that public officials swear a belief in God. Torcaso v. Watkins, 1961.
Supreme Court creates the “Lemon” test, establishing secularism as a defacto national religion, and, in exercising the powers of the legislature, creates a three prong test for determining whether legislation violates the Establishment Clause. Lemon v. Kurtzman, 1971.
Supreme Court strikes down Alabama law authorizing public school teachers to set aside a minute before class at the start of each day for a moment of silent meditation or voluntary prayer. Wallace v. Jaffree, 1985.
Supreme Court decides a Christian Nativity scene on the stairs of the Allegheny County Courthouse violates the Establishment Clause. However, the court decides an eighteen foot tall Hannakuh Menorah in front of the City-County Building did not violate the Establishment Clause. Allegheny County v. American Civil Liberties Union, 1989.
A three-judge panel on the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that reciting the Pledge of Allegiance at a public school violated the doctrine of Separation of Church and State because the Pledge included the phrase, “under God.” On appeal, the Supreme Court dismissed the case based on a procedural technicality unrelated to the substance of the Ninth Circuit’s decision. Elk Grove Unified School District v. Newdow, 2002.
Under the Supreme Court’s modern Separation of Church and State doctrine, many city and county names, such as those throughout California, are likely “unconstitutional.” San Francisco is named after Saint Francis of Assisi. Los Angeles is often mistakenly referred to as “the City of Angels.” Los Angeles is really the City of Mary (referring to the mother of Jesus Christ). The full, original Spanish name of Los Angeles was, “El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora, Reina de los Angeles”, meaning “The City of Our Lady, Queen of Angels”. Santa Barbara is named after Saint Barbara. San Luis Obipso is named after Saint Louis of Anjou. Many other city and county names in California were also given by Spanish missionaries.
Moreover, the Gregorian Calendar used by most of the world begins with year zero marking the Nativity (the birth of Jesus Christ). Under the modern Separation of Church and State Doctrine, perhaps our calendars are unconstitutional? It would not be surprising to one day see a push in the United States for a secular calendar, much like the calendar the French implemented for twelve years following the French Revolution. It could be both interesting and depressing to one day see the absurdity of the Supreme Court’s Separation of Church of State doctrine taken to its logical conclusion.
United States Constitution – First Amendment – Separation of Church and State
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;
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Teachers will sing the praises of your child's reading and writing skills if she gets a head start with this sight words exercise featuring the word 'sing'.
Learning how to read and write numbers is an important building block. This worksheet focuses on reading and writing the word "eight."
Heat up your child's sight word learning with this worksheet, featuring the word "hot."
This worksheet makes learning sight words a hands-on activity as your child traces the word "cold" then practices writing it himself.
Looking for a fun way to give your child some writing practice? On this worksheet, he'll get to trace and write the word "many."
On this sight word worksheet, kids write and trace the word "green," then break out that green crayon and do some coloring, too.
As your child completes this sight word worksheet, featuring the word "three," she'll get practice with writing, drawing, and counting, too!
By tracing and then writing the sight words on their own, your preschooler will practice penmanship and broaden his vocabulary at the same time.
If you want to give your child great phonics practice, you could always give her this great worksheet, featuring the word "always."
After tracing and writing the word "walk" on this worksheet, your child will use his imagination to draw a picture about the featured word.
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Gearboxes are arguably the most important component in wind turbines. Their reliability is paramount, especially as turbines grow in size. OEMs now focus on proper load assessing and ensuring all drivetrain components can function properly.
A better understanding of the loads on a wind-turbine gearbox is one lesson the industry has learned. For instance, the constant pounding of the wind on the rotor and main shaft of older designs slowly hammers away at the gearbox. Higher loads would slowly damage bearings, then gears, and eventually require a gearbox swap. Recent bearing designs now handle much of the loads. The industry is beginning to gain a better understanding of transient loads affecting the gearboxes as well. If these loads, such a transient torque reversals, are not addressed, then bearings in the gearboxes will continue to fail. Recent measurements show torque on main shafts oscillating from positive to negative several times during normal shutdowns.
Early main shaft gearboxes on kilowatt-sized machines were off-the-shelf industrial units with minor modifications. The obvious gearbox trend is that they have gotten bigger with megawatt outputs, and each is designed for its turbine model. Each gearbox is designed for the turbine platform and in collaboration with the OEM. Inside, the slow, high-torque rotor speed is initially stepped up with a planetary stage followed by two more stages. Generally below three megawatts, the second or intermediate stage uses helical gears. But three-megawatt-and-larger turbines need a planetary design in the second stage and a helical stage for the high-speed output. If OEMs continue designing larger turbines, that last stage will also use a planetary design.
One developer of software for gearbox simulations sees a trend to integrate bearings which support the main shaft and rotor into the gearbox. This can have significant advantages and reduce the overall drivetrain size. It also allows reducing gearbox stresses due to high rotor loads.
In addition, the market is seeing more integration between gearboxes and permanent magnet generators. This has advantages in reducing overall size, weight, and cost. In some cases, the number of bearings can be reduced in the drivetrain. The gearbox would consist of just one or two planetary gear stages with no high-speed shaft. The concern with this design is that when failures occur, both units – gearbox and generator – may have to be replaced. WPE
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Quick facts and figures about UK immigration and asylum
Unheard Voices has teamed up with a number of leading asylum and migration organisations to find the answers to frequently asked questions about asylum, refugees and the immigration system in the UK and the world.
Asylum Seeker Facts & Figures
- Between 2002 & 2006 the UK received 4.3 asylum applications per 1,000 of its inhabitants. It rated sixteenth out of a list of fifty European and non-European industrialised countries. The figure of 4.3 was slightly above the average of 3.75 asylum applications per 1,000 inhabitants.
- Europe as a whole only takes 19% of the world’s refugee population. Asia and Africa have accepted 45% and 30% respectively. The developing world bears the greatest burden in offering shelter to refugees. Iran and Pakistan between them have taken in over 4 million refugees.
- Asylum seekers coming to the UK are not entitled to mainstream welfare benefits. A single person aged 25 or over who qualifies for support via the National Asylum Support Service (NASS) must survive on £41.41 per week, 30% below the official poverty line. If such a person received full-board accommodation from NASS then they would only get £10.00 per week.
- Asylum seekers are not allowed to work in the United Kingdom. A 2007 opinion poll carried out by ORB found that two thirds of UK adults supported giving asylum seekers and those overstaying their visa the possibility of working in order to support themselves.
- By definition there is no such thing as an “illegal asylum seeker” or an “illegal refugee”. By signing the 1951 Convention on Refugees the UK must allow new arrivals the right to apply for asylum and to remain here until a final decision on their application is made.
Facts & Statistics from The Migrant Helpline and UNHCR, Human Rights Watch, European Council on Refugees & Exiles, Opinion Research Business.
Find out more about the asylum system from a former immigration solicitor here
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Wind power in 2010: On the rise
Predicting what might happen a week or a month or a year from now is an uneasy art that a later historical review will reveal is wrong as often as it is right.
Still, during the earliest moments of this very new year in a very new decade, much can be gained by connecting seemingly unrelated jigsaw-like pieces of information that taken together form a bigger, more complete picture.
That is especially true of the continued rise of wind power which increasingly finds itself at the epicenter of humankind’s most complex and important conundrum: how to lead the charge towards a necessary transformative green energy revolution that replaces lethal, polluting, expensive fossil fuels with clean electricity generated by harnessing Earth’s abundant, ever-flowing breezes.
One of the key jigsaw pieces in 2010 that wind power is related to involves international negotiators finally brokering a legally binding agreement on limiting greenhouse gasses so that the destructive emissions peak by 2015 and then rapidly decrease, allowing global temperature rise caused by oil and coal to be kept to a somewhat manageable 2°C increase.
A vast knowledge of peer-reviewed scientific evidence tell us that such an agreement, which would strengthen the Kyoto Protocol that lapses at the end of 2012, is vitally important if we are to avoid catastrophic consequences associated with unchecked global warming. It is perhaps ironic to note that while last December’s climate change conference in Copenhagen failed to come up with a binding agreement on limiting greenhouse gasses, symbols of the emissions-free wind power success story — a large turbine erected onsite that endlessly created electricity, an impressively massive rotor blade on display, photographs of wind farms onshore and off — dominated the event.
As the year plays out, nation states will have to realize that agreeing to a binding climate change agreement is a more daunting challenge than all other problems facing society today. Before the US, the world’s number one economy, can play a pivotal role in fighting global warming, its Senate must pass domestic climate change legislation so that President Barack Obama can sign an international agreement, perhaps later in the year in Mexico. China, the world’s largest emitter of greenhouse gasses, must understand that there is a huge environmental cost to nurturing its rapidly developing economy with deadly coal-fired energy plants. If the European Union wants to retain its so-called climate change leadership role, it must do more to prove to the US, China and the rest of the world that policies and technologies — which include wind power — to fight global warming already exist. Perhaps the most important thing for the EU to do is work even harder at galvanizing the necessary political will, both at home in the 27-member trading bloc and around the world, to stop runway climate change now, before it is too late.
Europe’s position on global warming, energy policy and wind power and other renewables is expected to be defined and articulated this year by Gunther Oettinger, as Energy Commissioner, and Connie Hedegaard, who will take on the new climate change portfolio. It will help the EU that both Oettinger and Hedegaard are already well aware of the vast and many benefits associated with wind power production.
While the onshore wind sector will keep developing a steady, dependable and financially successful upward trend in 2010, the still fledgling offshore sector will continue attracting supporters who realize the awesome potential of harnessing Europe’s largest indigenous source of energy.
One of those admirers is the consulting firm Emerging Energy Research which in December published a report saying that the offshore sector is now one of the largest opportunities for growth in the global wind industry.
The global offshore wind market, expected to install nearly 43 GW by 2020, has recently accumulated turbine orders exceeding 6 GW, covering demand through 2013,” said the consulting firm, which The New York Times noted has predicted that the $10 billion offshore sector will surge to $30 billion in the next decade. “Europe is set to lead global offshore expansion with around 76% of global offshore wind installed between 2009 and 2020,” the consulting firm added.
Indeed, European wind power will continue to succeed as improvements to the somewhat antiquated onshore grid system are carried out and a dedicated offshore grid is established to effectively channel the huge surges of green power created in the ocean far away from coastlines.
Finally, the annual European Wind Energy Conference, to be held this year in Warsaw in April, will provide the wind power industry another opportunity to show why it has become so successful at generating increasing amounts of green electricity and providing tens of thousands of well-paying jobs while also sparking a rise in research and development.
Simply put, wind power’s muscular growth will continue to escalate in 2010 because it is a proven technology that is rapidly deployable. Private businesses, governments and environmentalists not only understand that remarkably positive message, they are responding to it enthusiastically.
By Chris Rose, EWEA
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Unnumbered snows have come and gone since The Great Spirit led a band of his favorite children into the mountains, and bade them rest in this beautiful Valley of Ah-wah-nee. They were weary and footsore, and were glad to rest after their long journey. Here they found food in abundance. The streams held swarms of fish, meadows were knee-deep in sweet clover, great herds of deer roamed the forests in the Valley, and on the high mountains, oak trees were bending under the weight of their acorns, grass seeds and wild fruits and berries grew in bountiful profusion. Here they stayed and built their villages. They were happy, and multiplied, and prospered and became a great nation.
To their chief came a little son to gladden his heart. They wanted this son to become a great chief, capable of the leadership of a great people. He was made to sleep in the robes of the skins of the beaver and the coyote, that he might grow wise in building and keen of scent. As he grew older he was fed the meat of the fish, that he might become a strong swimmer, and the flesh of the deer, that he might be light and swift of foot. He was made to eat the eggs of the great crane, that he might be keen of sight. He was wrapped in the skin of the
Click to enlarge
YO-SEM-I-TE FALLS (CHO-LACK) AND LOST ARROW (HUMMO)
Photo A. C. Pillsbury
monarch of the forest, the grizzly bear, that he might grow up fearless and strong in combat.
And, when he grew to manhood, he was a great chief and beloved of all the people. His people prepared for him a lofty throne on the crown of the great rock which guards The Gateway of the Valley, and he was called Tu-tok-a-nu-la, after the great cranes that lived in the meadow near the top. The people of Ah-wah-nee were happy, for Tu-tok-a-nu-la was a wise and a good ruler. From his high rocky throne he kept watch over the Valley and the people whom he loved. He called on The Great Spirit who sent timely rains, so that the acorns grew in abundance, the hunters returned from the forests with game, and the fishermen from the streams with fish. There was peace and plenty throughout the Valley of Ah-wah-nee, and when Tu-tok-a-nu-la held speech with his people from his high throne his voice was deep and strong like the deep sound of the waterfall.
One day as Tu-tok-a-nu-la sat gazing into the glowing colors of the west, he saw approaching his valley a strange people, led by a maiden of wondrous loveliness. He called to them and the maiden answered him, saying, "It is I, Tis-sa-ack. We have come from the land of my people in the far south to visit with you. We have heard of the great and good chief, Tu-tok-a-nu-la, of his great people and his wonderful valley. We bring presents of baskets and beads and skins. After we have rested we will return to my people in the far south." Tu-tok-a-nu-la welcomed the fair visitor from the land to the
south and had prepared for her and her people a home on the summit of the great dome at the eastern end of the Valley. There she stayed and taught the women of Ah-wah-nee the arts of her people. Tu-tok-a-nu-la visited her often in her mountain home. He was charmed by her wonderful beauty and sweetness, and begged her to stay and become his wife, but she denied him, saying: "No, I must soon return with my people to their home in the far south." And, when Tu-tok-a-nu-la grew importunate in his wooing, she left her home in the night and was never seen again.
When the great chief knew that she was gone, a terrible loneliness and sorrow came to him, and he wandered away through the forests in search of her, forgetting his people in Ah-wah-nee. So strong was his love for her, and so deep his sorrow, that he forgot to call upon The Great Spirit to send the timely rains. So great was his neglect that the streams grew smaller and smaller and finally became dry. The crops failed. The hunters came back from the forests without meat, and the fishermen returned from the streams empty-handed. The leaves and the green acorns fell from the trees, and the bright flowers and green grasses became dry and brown.
The Great Spirit became very angry with Tu-tok-a-nu-la. The earth trembled with his wrath so that the rocks fell down into the Valley from the surrounding cliffs. The sky and the mountains belched forth smoke and flame. The great dome that had been the home of
Tis-sa-ack, was rent asunder and half of it fell into the Valley. The melting snows from the high mountains came down into the Valley in a flood and drowned hundreds of the people. But the wrath of The Great Spirit was quickly spent, and the heavens again grew quiet. The floods receded, the sun shone, and once more peace and calm reigned over Ah-wah-nee. The life-giving moisture from the renewed streams crept into the parched soil. The oak trees put on new leaves and acorns. The grasses again became fresh and green, the flowers lifted their drooping heads and took on their old gay colors. The fish came back to the streams, and the game to the forests.
And, when the Valley was once again clothed in beauty and plenty, there appeared on the rent face of the dome which had been her home, the beautiful face of Tis-sa-ack, where it can still be seen to this day. And the dome was named Tis-sa-ack, in memory of the fair visitor who had been loved by all the people of Ah-wah-nee. At the same time, that all might hold his memory in their hearts, there appeared on the face of the great rock supporting his throne, the majestic figure of the great chief, dressed in a flowing robe and pointing a finger to where he had gone, to El-o-win, the happy land beyond the setting sun.
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The Nintendo 3DS is the next iteration of the popular Nintendo DS series of handheld gaming devices. What sets the 3DS apart from its competitors (basically the Sony PSP and the Apple iPod Touch) is that one of its two screens (hence the name DSmeaning Dual Screen) is a stereoscopic 3D display whose depth can be changed at will from flat 2D to full 3D, without the need for any clunky glasses. Previewers were struck at just how amazing the screen was in real life, and that you’d need to use it to feel the 3D effect as it is lost in cameras.
However, Nintendo’s Japanese website has issued a warning about their (normally) child-friendly device saying that the 3D mode should not be used by children below six years of age as the view has potential impact on the growth of children’s eyes. Stereoscopic 3D on the 3DS works by (mostly) sending the images at angle to each other to each eye. This means that when your brain reads these two images there’s a parallax barrier created between the eyes, creating a 3 dimensional effect. This effect may confuse developing eyes and thus the overarching warning was issued by Nintendo.
However, I cannot help but agree with Business Insider in that Nintendo is basically sticking up a DO NOT BUY THIS FOR YOUR KIDsign for parents on their newest model. Nevertheless, more light will come to this matter once the product is actually released to the English speaking countries.
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HOW TO OVERWINTER CITRUS PLANTS OUTSIDE
With the effects of global warming becoming ever more prominent in the news, our seemingly milder winters are making possible for those living in a northern European climate to grow some of the hardier varieties of citrus plants. But not just outside over the summer period, with a little forethought and preparation you can successfully overwinter them too.
The talk of citrus plants thriving in our northern climate does sound a little challenging. This is especially so when you consider that the citrus genus originated from the areas of India, Indonesia and southern China where the climates are more tropical rainforest. However, given the right conditions, varieties such as the Meyers lemon, the Satsuma, Mandarin, Clementine and Calamondin are capable of surviving temperatures as low as -9° Celsius, although to be fair they may not look like much come the spring.
Perhaps the biggest factor on whether your citrus plant will survive the winter is soil type and positioning. Citrus like a rich, slightly acidic, free-draining soil that will get as much sun throughout the day as possible. If you intend to grow your citrus as a wall shrub you can increase the available light by fixing a mirrored surface to the wall behind your trellis or wire work. If the use of glass is unacceptable due to risk of damage then consider the following alternatives as mirrored acrylic, aluminium sheets or even humble tinfoil will also do the job. Alternatively, if you have a well positioned pond you can plant your citrus near the southern end of it to make the most of the additional reflective light.
WHERE TO POSITION YOUR CITRUS PLANTS
The positioning and distance that your citrus plant is from the house can also be a crucial factor and is often overlooked. Plant your citrus as near as you can to the south side of your house but without leaving it in the shade. Most cold weather will come down from the north and northwest so you will be using your house as a windbreak, forcing the cold air up and over your citrus trees and leaving the area near the south side somewhat warmer. The house itself will also radiate a certain amount of heat, some of which will be absorbed by your adjacent citrus plants. Overhanging trees can also maintain a slightly higher air temperature within their canopy and will also reduce the incidence of ground frost. Although this does give a clear overwintering temperature advantage, growing citrus plants beneath other trees is not a fantastic option as their summer shade will result in poorer growth and lower fruit yields.
PREPARE THE GROUND FOR OVERWINTERING
The ground below and around a citrus tree should be completely free of weeds, grass, mulch or anything else for that matter during the winter period as these will all act as an insulator barrier. This will prevent solar heat from entering the soil during the day which will mean that there is less heat stored for release from the soil at night.
Moist soils will absorb more heat than dry soils, so trees should be carefully watered 2-3 days before a bad frost or freeze is predicted. Water too much though and you will risk waterlogging the root environment which can cause root death so make sure that before you plant your citrus you have provided a free-draining soil!
Good tree health and nutrition is also important when it comes to helping citrus trees withstand freezing temperatures so make sure that you follow a good maintenance regime during the growing season. Fertilization and pruning should come to an end in August or September as this will allow the trees to harden off completely before severe frosts are encountered.
Young citrus trees should be ‘banked’ for the first 3-5 winters until they are mature enough to withstand the colder temperatures. Banking is a technique where the surrounding soil is pulled up into a mound around the tree to cover the bud union and lower trunk. Even if the exposed parts of the tree are completely killed off through cold damage, the bud union under the bank should still survive to grow back in the spring.
Citrus trees may be covered temporarily with blankets, quilts, paper or other material as a protective barrier against hard frosts or snow. Remember to remove all covering protection in the morning to allow citrus trees to take full advantage of the warmth and light – however weak – from the available sun.
For related articles click onto the following links:
COLD HARDY CITRUS VARIETIES FOR OVERWINTERING OUTSIDE
HOW TO GROW A LEMON TREE IN A POT
How to Grow a Lemon Tree from Seed
HOW TO GROW A LEMON TREE FROM SEED
HOW TO MAKE LIMONCELLO
HOW TO OVERWINTER THE GLORY LILY – Gloriosa rothschildiana
HOW TO OVERWINTER ROSES
HOW TO OVERWINTER STRAWBERRIES
HOW TO TAKE CARE OF A LEMON TREE OVER THE WINTER
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Sickle cell anemia
Other Names for this Disease
- HbS disease
- Hemoglobin S Disease
- Sickling disorder due to hemoglobin S
See Disclaimer regarding information on this site. Some links on this page may take you to organizations outside of the National Institutes of Health.
anemia (low number of red blood cells). The sickle cells also get stuck in blood vessels, blocking blood flow. Signs and symptoms of sickle cell disease usually begin in early childhood and may include anemia, repeated infections, and periodic episodes of pain (called crises). This condition is caused by mutations in the HBB gene and is inherited in an autosomal recessive pattern. Treatment typically focuses on controlling symptoms and may include pain medicines during crises; hydroxyurea to reduce the number of pain episodes; antibiotics and vaccines to prevent bacterial infections; and blood transfusions.Sickle cell anemia is a disease in which the body produces abnormally shaped red blood cells that have a crescent or sickle shape. These cells do not last as long as normal, round, red blood cells, which leads to
Last updated: 12/14/2015
- Sickle cell anemia. MedlinePlus. February 2014; http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/000527.htm. Accessed 12/14/2015.
- Sickle cell disease. Genetics Home Reference. August 2012; http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/condition/sickle-cell-disease. Accessed 12/14/2015.
- Genetics Home Reference (GHR) contains information on Sickle cell anemia. This website is maintained by the National Library of Medicine.
- MedlinePlus was designed by the National Library of Medicine to help you research your health questions, and it provides more information about this topic.
- The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) provides leadership for a national program in diseases of the heart, blood vessels, lung, and blood; blood resources; and sleep disorders. Since October 1997, the NHLBI has also had administrative responsibility for the NIH Woman's Health Initiative. Click on the link to view information on this topic.
- The National Human Genome Research Institute's (NHGRI) mission encompasses a broad range of studies aimed at understanding the structure and function of the human genome and its role in health and disease. Click on the link to view the information page on this topic.
- The National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) is a federation of more than 130 nonprofit voluntary health organizations serving people with rare disorders. Click on the link to view information on this topic.
- The Screening, Technology And Research in Genetics (STAR-G) Project has a fact sheet on this condition, which was written specifically for families that have received a diagnosis as a result of newborn screening. This fact sheet provides general information about the condition and answers questions that are of particular concern to parents.
- The Monarch Initiative brings together data about this condition from humans and other species to help physicians and biomedical researchers. Monarch’s tools are designed to make it easier to compare the signs and symptoms (phenotypes) of different diseases and discover common features. This initiative is a collaboration between several academic institutions across the world and is funded by the National Institutes of Health. Visit the website to explore the biology of this condition.
- Online Mendelian Inheritance in Man (OMIM) is a catalog of human genes and genetic disorders. Each entry has a summary of related medical articles. It is meant for health care professionals and researchers. OMIM is maintained by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
- Orphanet is a European reference portal for information on rare diseases and orphan drugs. Access to this database is free of charge.
- PubMed is a searchable database of medical literature and lists journal articles that discuss Sickle cell anemia. Click on the link to view a sample search on this topic.
- Frenette PS, Atweh GF. Sickle cell disease: old discoveries, new concepts, and future promise. Journal of Clinical Investigation. 2007 Apr;117(4):850-8.
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Each cat in your household should have his or her own food and water dishes. The dishes should be shallow and heavy enough to avoid floor movement as your feline eats.read more
Did you know that 8 to 10 percent of the population is allergic to cats? If you’re one of those individuals, then the itching, watering eyes and sneezing associated with cats are all too familiar.
Now, a new vaccine holds promise of not just diminishing cat-allergy symptoms, but of curing the problem altogether. An added perk is that, unlike drugs that come with a laundry list of scary side effects, this vaccine has next to none, according to its creator Mark Larche and his team. Here, Larche, a professor at McMaster University’s School of Medicine, explains how the cutting-edge new vaccine could help you or your cat-allergic friends and relatives.
Cat Allergy Cause and Effect
It is a common myth that cat fur itself causes all of the sneezing and wheezing in those who suffer from pet allergies. What’s on the fur, however, turns out to be more important. “Allergies to cats are caused by proteins that are secreted by the cat and spread onto its fur by grooming,” says Larche. “Our vaccine is composed of synthetic fragments of one (the most important one) of these proteins.”
To identify the protein and to learn more about it, he and his team analyzed blood samples from 100 patient volunteers who are allergic to cats. Doing this allowed the scientists to see which components of the protein activate T-cells in certain people. T-cells are helper cells that fight infection in the immune system.
“Allergies are a form of hypersensitivity,” explains Larche. “We all make immune responses to allergens that we encounter in the environment, but most people make a tolerant response that results in no inflammation. However, for reasons that are incompletely understood, some people make the wrong kind of response -- an allergic response.” By providing low doses of the allergen -- tweaked so they don’t contain the parts that may stimulate the immune system -- the researchers came up with the new vaccine.
How Patients Receive Treatments
The vaccine is still only available in drug trials, but it appears that four to eight doses may be required in the first year, with possibly none required for subsequent years. Larche thinks a needle-less injection system could be used to administer the needed doses in the future.
Stephen Durham, head of the Allergy and Clinical Immunology department at Imperial College London, says the data about the new vaccine is very encouraging. “A significant proportion of cat owners develop allergy to their cats, which varies from bothersome eye and nasal symptoms through to moderate-severe disease or even life-threatening asthma attacks,” says Durham. “Avoidance strategies may be impossible or refused.”
Durham mentions that traditional allergy shots pose a risk of serious side effects, “particularly in asthmatics.” This new vaccine promises to provide “good symptom-control and disease remission, while avoiding the risk of side effects,” he adds. Cat-allergy sufferers both with and without asthma have participated in the trials, and so far so good.
Other Ways of Curbing Cat Allergies
Until the new vaccine becomes widely available, the Humane Society of the United States suggests that you try these five steps if your household includes one or more cat-allergy sufferers:
1. Clean your house often to remove dust and cat dander. Vacuum or wash curtains, furniture covers, pet beds and other items.
2. Bathe your pet often. Consult with your veterinarian to make sure that you are doing this correctly and using products that will not deplete your cat’s skin and fur of necessary oils.
3. Set up an allergy-free area. Close this area, such as the bedroom, off to your cat.
4. Consider purchasing a HEPA air cleaner, perhaps just for the allergic individual’s bedroom. Central heating and cooling systems can also be outfitted with stronger filtration systems to help clean the air.
5. Make sure it’s a cat allergy. Many things in the home can cause allergic reactions. Even people who are allergic to cats can be allergic to other things, so be sure the individual receives a thorough checkup from an appropriate specialist.
Some very good news is that the same research know-how that resulted in the new cat-allergy vaccine is being applied to allergies caused by dust mites, ragweed, grass, birch tree and moulds. In the future, most allergies may therefore figuratively bite the dust.
Jennifer Viegas is the managing editor of The Daily Cat. She is a journalist for Discovery News, the news service for the Discovery Channel, and has written more than 20 books on animals, health and other science-related topics.
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We are fortunate that one of the foremost historians of the American
presidency lives in Chapel Hill. William E. Leuchtenburg, a native of
New York City and former professor at Columbia University, ventured
south as a fellow at the National Humanities Center in Research
Triangle Park, and later became a William R. Kenan Jr. Professor at
UNC-Chapel Hill. Although now retired from his professorship,
Leuchtenburg continues his scholarly studies of American political
history with an emphasis on events, people and places.
In The White House Looks South, he focuses on Presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman and Lyndon B. Johnson and their relationships with and policies toward the South. In great detail, Leuchtenburg describes the connections of the three presidents with the region, the changes they brought about and their effects on the nation. Roosevelt, a New Yorker, spent much time in Warm Springs, GA, at his “Little White House,” where he endeared himself to many Southerners, sometimes even patronizing their ways in words Leuchtenburg excuses as merely “ham-fisted.” Truman, a border-state Missourian, grew up in a pro-Confederacy, “Lost Cause” environment, but looked Westward for his bearings. Johnson, from the former Confederate state of Texas, was a Westerner, except when advantageous to act as a Southerner. All three were Democrats.
Roosevelt forged the New Deal coalition that also elected Truman and Johnson and consolidated Democrat congressional power for decades. As aptly described by Wilfred M. McClay in Commentary magazine, Roosevelt’s coalition was “a political philosopher’s nightmare but a political scientist’s joy, a hodgepodge of conflicting political principles and starkly opposed regional coalitions, the most notable of which was the now nearly incomprehensible alliance of Northern liberals and Southern segregationists.”
Prior to this coalition, Republicans had largely dominated national politics since the Civil War. Because the underlying sectional strains that erupted in conflict continued afterward, Republicans largely ignored the South and won in the North by margins sufficient to rule. Democrats ruled the South, however, after their “redemption” from Republicans through terror — first with the Klu Klux Klan and later with the Red Shirt Brigades. At the turn of the 20th century throughout the South, Democrats established white supremacist rule, disfranchised black voters and enacted Jim Crow segregation laws.
Three decades later, the Great Depression enabled Roosevelt to overcome those sectional strains and build his Democratic coalition of Northern liberals and segregationist Southerners. Here in North Carolina, a prominent participant in the coalition was Josephus Daniels, publisher and editor of The News & Observer. A white supremacist, Daniels had been an instigator of the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, a white Democratic reaction to black participation in statewide Republican election victories in 1896. The riot became a coup d’etat, with whites overthrowing that city’s elected biracial government and imposing white Democratic rule. Those events set the stage for the 1900 statewide elections, won by the Daniels-inspired Democrats with a white-supremacy campaign and horseback-riding Red Shirt Brigades that intimidated black Republicans from voting. The 1900 elections began Democratic control of the state for most of the 20th century. Daniels, who heralded Democratic control in his newspaper, served as Secretary of the Navy in the Woodrow Wilson administration with Roosevelt serving as an undersecretary. Later, Daniels became an ardent supporter of Roosevelt and the New Deal. Daniels changed over time, perhaps explaining why Leuchtenburg ignores Daniels’ racist past and lauds him as a “progressive” and a “statesman.”
The Democratic coalition changed, too. It divided over the critical issue of civil rights for black Americans. Roosevelt had played both sides, but in the 1940s, Truman began to take sides with his President’s Committee on Civil Rights, his integration of the military and his support for the Democratic Party’s 1948 civil rights platform. By the 1960s, a decade after the Supreme Court held that public-school segregation was unconstitutional, the divide deepened for the Democrats. Johnson, serving in the US Senate, aggressively pushed passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 — assuring equal access for blacks to places of public accommodation — and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, creating special rules in designated states to facilitate black access to the ballot box. Because of opposition by Southern Democrats within their own Party-controlled Congress, passage of both acts required Republican votes. Despite regional division between Democrats and Republicans, Johnson predicted that the passage of the 1965 Act would deliver the South to the Republicans. His prediction proved true, although for other reasons.
Although Johnson split the Democratic coalition, he bridged American principles across racial differences, and thereby changed the South. In an epilogue, “The South on the Move,” Leuchtenburg concludes his book with a personal look at the changed South. He maintains he likes many of the changes he has seen, especially the enforcement of civil rights for blacks and the enhancement of relations between races. In a frank acknowledgment, but one not surprising for a New Deal liberal, Leuchtenburg laments the political shift of the South from the Democrats to the Republicans in national elections. He sees racial politics underlying the shift, but as other scholars have shown, the South shifted for other reasons, as well, including new “R” words — not race, but Ronald Reagan.
The Reagan Revolution
In The America That Reagan Built, Clemson University political science professor J. David Woodard, a rare conservative in academia, explains that Reagan’s landslide 1980 election and 1984 re-election not only ended a string of failed presidencies stretching from Johnson to Carter, but they also changed America: “Just as Lincoln re-made the country after the Civil War, and Roosevelt after the Great Depression, Reagan changed America for the new century.”
The America That Reagan Built is about more than Reagan, however. Woodard analyzes the three subsequent presidencies to Reagan’s by applying three premises. First, Woodard says that our culture has shifted from a “modern” reliance on objective meaning and reasoning to a “postmodern” society that rejects objectivity and rests on impulses and emotions. Second, we are divided politically more along cultural than economic lines. And third, those who win elections can change the cultural values of the country. Reagan then personified the modern, and Bill Clinton personified the postmodern. Both presidencies reflected cultural divides, and both presidents changed the culture.
As a result, Woodard finds our politics caught in strident and partisan conflict between two cultures. A quarter of a century after the nation appeared to turn away from Roosevelt’s big-government liberalism to Reagan’s limited-government conservatism — and a decade after Clinton declared that “the era of big government is over” — debate continues between those conflicting visions. This divide between postmodernism and modernism — and their underlying cultures — are today recast as “blue” and “red” America.
The America That Reagan Built illustrates the chasm between the old liberalism of Roosevelt, Truman, and Johnson and the modern conservatism of Reagan. An example came in the person of Clark Clifford, adviser to two of the earlier presidents and lion of the old liberal establishment. After insisting on a meeting with the new president in 1981, he came away unimpressed with Reagan and declared him to be “an amiable dunce.” Within a decade, however, history had cast Clifford as the dunce, leaving the liberal insider in disgrace and his condescending liberalism in disarray. History has vindicated the amiable Reagan as an effective leader who extended freedom at home and abroad. Reagan’s free-market economic policies had restored American prosperity, and his defend-freedom foreign policies helped end the Cold War by contributing to the collapse of Soviet Communism.
For better understanding of our political history over the past three quarters of a century, both Leuchtenburg and Woodard, from their different perspectives and with works on different historical periods, provide valuable texts. From them we can summarize: The Roosevelt coalition required the South; the South left that coalition for Reagan; and the “Reagan Revolution” began.
Yet, as Woodard notes, in the three post-Reagan presidencies, “the ruling majorities were always tenuous.” As the 2006 elections suggest, they may continue that way for some time, fraught with fissure between the old Roosevelt liberalism and modern Reagan conservatism, the new divide between postmodernism and modernism, and the caricature of “blue” and “red” America. And the South continues to be central in the politics of the nation.
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A more than 30-year-long study is revealing further clues about how HIV hijacks the immune system.
Research published today in mBio, the journal of the American Society for Microbiology, provides yet another theory to explain why a very small number of people with HIV are slow to develop AIDS. Even without medication, some people with HIV can go a decade or longer without enough immune system damage to cause serious illness.
Scientists at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health analyzed data and biological samples from 16 HIV-positive men over the course of 11 years. Eight of them, even without medication, showed little disease progression. The other half showed normal progression.
Among the slowly progressing patients, called "nonprogressors," the researchers found low levels of cholesterol in immune system cells called dendritic cells. They believe that the cholesterol-deprived dendritic cells, which transfer HIV to T-cells, may not be able to do their job. If HIV cannot get to the body's T-cells, also known as CD4 helper cells, the virus has no way to replicate, the scientists hypothesize.
None of the study participants were taking cholesterol-lowering medications, known as statins. The low cholesterol in their immune system cells was the natural result of their genetic makeup.
Professor Charles Rinaldo is the chairman of the University of Pittsburgh's department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology. He told Healthline that scientists have known for 20 years that if you put “a smidge of virus” in a test tube with dendritic cells, then mix in T-cells, you have “explosive infections.” But if you put the same small amount of the HIV virus into a T-cell directly, it doesn’t replicate well, he said.
Infections flared up even when dendritic cells and T-cells from HIV-negative men were used. But when the researchers mixed HIV with T-cells and dendritic cells from the HIV-positive nonprogressors in a test tube, the virus did not replicate.
“This was striking, and that’s why we took several years to work this up,” Rinaldo said. “It was really almost unbelievable.”
Cholesterol Is Critical for HIV Infection
Rinaldo, who established the Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study (MACS) in Pittsburgh more than three decades ago, has contributed extensively to HIV research. MACS is comprised of 7,000 gay and bisexual men living in Baltimore, Chicago, Pittsburgh, and Los Angeles. The long-term study has allowed scientists to explore how the virus works by including non-infected men as well, some of whom later became HIV-positive.
The University of Pittsburgh scientists found that the nonprogressors had low levels of cholesterol in their dendritic cells even before infection, suggesting that it is a genetic trait. They were also seen to have low cholesterol in their B lymphocyte cells. Rinaldo said his team is now trying to find genetic markers for these traits.
Scientists have long suspected that dendritic cells play a role in infection. But the assumption has been that they participate simply by living in mucus membranes, such as the rectum and vagina, which are common locations of HIV infection.
Scientists have also known for some time that cholesterol is needed for the HIV virus to replicate. Cholesterol is essential for cell function, but the role it plays in HIV infection, specifically, is still unknown.
An HIV Superhighway
Previous research has shown that HIV uses a unique system called tunneling nanotubes, or TNT, to spread among cells. It is a form of cell-to-cell communication that avoids interference by antibodies sent to kill the virus.
“These dendritic cells shoot out long tubes to other dendritic cells,” Rinaldo said. “We think about it as a highway that can take molecules from one cell to another. HIV takes this highway, too.”
Many scientists believe that studying clues hidden in the bodies of nonprogressors will ultimately lead to a cure for the disease, or even a vaccine to give people who don't carry these beneficial gene mutations the same edge over HIV.
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Spinning and weaving have been usual domestic activities during all the Middle Ages. Thus, it is not a surprise to find traces of them in Colletière. What is surprising is the number and the variety of the tools.
Linen and hemp, cultivated nearby the site, were relieved
of their seeds by means of wooden jagged mortars. After the steeping on the
shore, in low water, plants were crushed to take away the fibres.
|Vegetable or animal fibres were then carded on wooden combs with long and solid iron teeth. The hanks obtained were set on distaffs. The spindles were moulded to obtain threads rolled up on bobbins ; more than 300 of them have been brought to light, showing how important the textile activity was.|
|Two shuttles, probably coming from an horizontal loom, have also been found.|
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NASA aims to capture asteroids, park them in space for astronauts to explore
WASHINGTON — NASA is zeroing in on the asteroids it wants to capture, haul near the moon and have astronauts visit.
Officials on Thursday described a prime candidate: A tiny asteroid that whizzed about 7,600 miles above Earth in 2011.
At 20 feet long, it is "the size of a delivery truck; we might actually be able to put this asteroid in a garage," said Northern Arizona University astronomer Michael Mommert, who studied the rock, which goes by the inelegant name of 2011 MD.
That asteroid also could be a pile of smaller rocks that fly together in formation.
NASA's plan is to grab an asteroid with a giant claw or capture it with a giant inflatable bag. The asteroid would be parked above the moon, with astronauts exploring in a later mission.
NASA executive Lindley Johnson said there will eventually be about 10 possible rocks for capture in the early 2020s, but they may not all be small asteroids.
There's a second option NASA is considering: Sending a spacecraft to a much larger asteroid, using a claw to pluck off a boulder that's less than 30 feet and taking it near to the moon.
NASA will decide which option to pursue by the end of the year, said Michele Gates, program director for the asteroid mission.
So far, NASA has three candidates for each option. But Johnson said he expects more to be identified. NASA doesn't have to choose its final target until a year before launch, which could be as early as 2019.
But Thursday's press conference highlighted 2011 MD. That's because when it came close to Earth in 2011, it was examined by telescopes on Earth and the Spitzer Space Telescope. Details of the asteroid were published in an astronomy journal Thursday.
Those observations showed that it probably weighs around 100 tons but is so porous that about two-thirds is empty space and only one-third is rock, Mommert said.
NASA has touted the asteroid mission since the space shuttle fleet retired as a stepping stone to send crews to Mars.
The robotic cost of the mission would be about $1.2 billion, Gates said. But there's no good estimate yet for the astronaut part, which includes using a yet-to-be-built giant rocket, officials said.
Seth Borenstein can be followed at http://twitter.com/borenbears
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Date: January 2006
Source: CFR (Council on Foreign Relations)
How dangerous could biological terrorism be?
The anthrax-laced letters mailed in the fall of 2001 infected twenty-three people and killed five—a toll that only hinted at the damage bioterrorism could cause. In a 2001 government exercise called Dark Winter, a simulated “worst-case” terrorist attack with smallpox virus—a germ more worrisome than the anthrax bacterium because it’s contagious—was projected to cause some 300,000 smallpox cases within three weeks, about one in three of which would be fatal. Plague, anthrax, and other diseases could also be major killers.
Have terrorists experimented with biological weapons before?
Yes. CIA Director George Tenet has testified that documents found in Afghanistan showed that the al-Qaeda terrorist network was pursuing sophisticated biological weapons research in Afghanistan. Aum Shinrikyo, a doomsday cult in Japan, had an ambitious biological weapons program and released anthrax spores and botulinum toxin in Tokyo on several occasions, but none of the attacks inflicted any known casualties. Iraq, the Soviet Union, and other countries experimented extensively with anthrax bacteria and other germs as recently as the 1990s. (The United States abandoned its offensive biowarfare program in 1969 and destroyed its biological arsenal in the early 1970s.)
Through a wide variety of measures including:1. The Department of Health and Human Services has established a new Office of Public Health Preparedness to address bioterrorist threats.
2. In July 2002, Dr. Julie Gerberding, an infectious diseases expert noted for her work combating anthrax and bioterrorism, was named director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
3. In December 2002, the Bush administration announced plans to start inoculating some ten million health-care, emergency, law-enforcement, and military personnel against smallpox before making the vaccine available to the general public on a voluntary basis in 2004.
4. In January 2003, the Bush administration created a system designed to detect the release of deadly germs like anthrax and smallpox within twenty-four hours by adapting many of the Environmental Protection Agency’s 3,000 air-quality monitoring stations nationwide.
Funding to combat bioterrorism, which was increasing even before September 11 and the 2001 anthrax letters, has shot up in their wake. A June 2002 bioterrorism law provided $4.6 billion for stockpiling medicines and vaccines, enhancing inspections of the nation’s food supply, increasing water-system security, and improving hospital preparedness. In President Bush’s January 2003 State of the Union address, he proposed spending $6 billion more for research and production of vaccines and other treatments against agents like anthrax, botulinum toxin, Ebola, and plague.Will the increased spending help?
It should, experts say. The threat from bioterrorism is serious, but quick and effective public health and medical responses could save many lives. Preparedness has improved significantly in recent months, and public health authorities are on alert. Nevertheless, state and local governments are inadequately prepared to cope with a major bioterrorist attack. The new spending is earmarked for scientific research, public health initiatives, vaccine and drug stockpiles, hospital preparedness, and disease surveillance and response systems at the federal, state, and local levels. Down the road, the planned expenditures should also produce indirect benefits for public health in general, experts say. What diseases are authorities most worried about?
The “Category A” list of biological threat agents—as classified by the CDC—includes the germs that cause anthrax, botulism, plague, smallpox, tularemia, and hemorrhagic fever viruses such as Ebola. These infectious diseases cause potentially high death rates, could trigger public panic, and require special action to cure and contain. A few are contagious (smallpox, plague, and Ebola). More than a dozen other types of biological disease threats are classified by the CDC as generally less dangerous but still capable of killing many victims.How would health authorities discover that a biological attack was underway?
Bioterrorism can be hard to detect, experts say. Environmental monitoring might be able to pick up signs of an airborne release of germs, assuming authorities knew where to look. But an attack could go unnoticed until victims feel sick and visit hospitals. A 1984 outbreak of food poisoning in a small Oregon town that sickened 751 people was initially believed to be a natural outbreak; only a year later did authorities realize that a religious cult called the Rajneeshees had deliberately contaminated salad bars with salmonella bacteria (CFR, 2006).
Title: New York State Ill-Prepared For Major Pandemic Breakout
Date: January 11, 2006
Source: Homeland Security News Wire
Abstract: New York state had better hope that no avian flu pandemic break, because the state is just not ready
If the bird flu epidemic or another major outbreak were to strike New York state, the state emergency health care system would be poorly prepared to handle a surge of patients, according to a report released yesterday. The national report card by the American College of Emergency Physicians does gave the state high marks in areas of public health and injury prevention, ranking New York first in the nation for its low incidence of fatal job-related injuries, second for its low incidence of fatalities in alcohol-related crashes and third for annual per capita expenditure on hospital care.
“But that says nothing about the state’s ability to react to the bird flu,” said Sandra Schneider, ACEP board member and chair of the Department of Emergency Care at the University of Rochester. New York state received an overall C+ grade for its emergency care system, slightly higher than the C- rating given to the nation as a whole. The state was ranked 30th in its ratio of board-certified emergency room doctors to 100,000 people and ranked 49th with only 7.7 emergency departments for every 1 million people.
The U.S. overall grade on health emergency preparedness: C-
We would probably be upset if one of our children came home with a grade of C- in basket weaving or ballroom dancing. How upset should we be when the governments of the fifty states receive a C- on the ability of the United States to cope effectively with emergency health crises such as pandemic or bioterror attacks? If you say we should be very upset, we would respond with that line from Tom Cruise in “Mission Impossible”: “You’ve never seen me very upset.”The National Report Card on the State of Emergency Medicine in the United States says in its report that the emergency medicine system of the United States as a whole has earned a grade of C- — barely above a D. This represents an average of the overall grades for all states and the District of Columbia, as well as data received from ACEP’s Government Services and Puerto Rico chapters. No state scored either an A or F for its overall grade. California, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the District of Columbia led the nation with overall grades of B. Rating worst in the nation with overall grades of D+ or D were Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Idaho, Indiana, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Dakota, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wyoming. More than 80 percent of states earned poor or near-failing overall grades (C+ to D) (Homeland Security News Wire, 2006).
Title: Advances In Life Sciences May Offer Terrorists Novel Bioterror Weapons
Date: February 3, 2006
Soure: Homeland Security News Wire
Abstract: As is the case with other aspects of technology, the onward march of biotechnology holds both promise and peril
A committee of the U.S. National Academy of Science says advances in the life sciences have made it possible to manipulate living organisms in useful ways, leading to improvements in public health, agriculture, and other areas. There is a dark side, too, however. The panel points out the growing risk that biomedical advances will be used to make novel biological weapons or misused by careless groups and individuals. The panel has issued a new report outlining the risks and recommending ways of identifying and avoiding them.
As a start, the panel says the global scientific community should broaden its awareness of what bioterrorism can do. Panelist Joshua Epstein, an economist with the Brookings Institution in Washington, emphasizes the importance of looking ahead and considering not merely current biomedical threats.
“We are acutely aware that these technologies are developing at an unprecedented pace, that they are distributed globally, and that these trends — we only expect them to gain momentum,” he noted.The group recommends creation of an independent advisory board to analyze and forecast these fast changing scientific and technological trends to keep U.S. intelligence and national security officials informed of potential life science threats (Homeland Security News Wire, 2006).
Title: Invest In Biotech To Fight Bioterror, Say Researchers
Date: February 27, 2006
Source: Science Daily
Abstract: Wealthy nations should promote the use of biotechnology in developing countries as this would combat the risk of 'bioterrorism' — the use of living agents such as bacteria to attack people or plants — says a report released today.
It urges the G8 group of most industrialised nations to create a global network of experts, leaders and citizens to help poorer nations develop and regulate biotechnology by providing training and policy advice.
The report says that boosting developing countries' capacity to use biotechnology as a tool for development would increase vigilance against the science being misused.
It highlights the ways biotechnology can assist developing countries, ranging from producing vaccines to breeding improved crop varieties.
But fears are growing that, with so much scientific information in the public domain, individuals, groups or even states could use biotechnology to develop chemical weapons fairly easily.
Co-author Abdallah Daar of the University of Toronto's Joint Center for Bioethics, Canada says the network would be particularly useful in Africa, as many nations there lack policies regulating biotechnology research.Last year, delegates at a meeting in Uganda warned that a failure to address concerns over biological weapons could undermine efforts to develop and instill confidence in science (Science Daily, 2006).
Title: Infectious Defense
Date: June 14, 2006
Abstract: In the fall of 2001, five people died after exposure to weapons-grade spores of the Bacillus anthracis bacterium—anthrax—delivered in postal letters. The crime, which remains unsolved, brought national and international attention to the looming danger of bioterrorism and biological warfare. Future bioterror attacks may be unavoidable, says retired United States Army Colonel David R. Franz, who has spent more than 25 years studying—and preparing medical countermeasures against—biological warfare and bioterrorism. Franz, who worked as a veterinarian before earning a doctorate in physiology, is currently the vice president and chief biological scientist at the Midwest Research Institute. He is the also the first director of the National Agricultural Biosecurity Center. In the late 1990s, Franz served as the chief inspector on three biological warfare inspections to Iraq for the United Nations Special Commission. During your inspections of Iraq, you found bioweapons.
DF: We did. In that era, 1998, we found them. I don't think it was a high-quality program.
Were you surprised bioweapons weren't found in the recent inspections?
DF: No. Right before we went in the second time, I was on record for both MSNBC and CNN saying that I won't be at all shocked if we don't find biological weapons this time.
It sounds like I had a lot of wisdom, but in my next breath, on MSNBC and CNN, I said that we will absolutely find chemical weapons.
Why hasn't a biological terrorism attack happened?
DF: The hardest question I am asked is why it hasn't happened. It is not necessarily as easy as everyone says. When you work through all the possible scenarios, you find technical difficulties for the bad guys, fortunately. That is why, I think, I'm less concerned about it than [the average person] who just knows that bad things can happen with biology.
I think of a spectrum of technical barriers. On the very low end, something like foot-and-mouth disease in cattle… On the far end of the spectrum there are the classical agents—anthrax, plague, tularemia. There are significant technical issues there.
Why hasn't an attack at the lowest level occurred? That's a behavioral issue, not a technical issue. It is one of intent, it seems to me. And, for some reason it hasn't been done.
Can't we just develop sensors that will detect an attack—anthrax in the air?
DF: If we had that, we might not need to think about vaccines. We would all have a little thing in our pocket or our purse that we could put on to protect our airways. But, I don't think we are going to get there. Biological detectors are complicated. You need antibodies to the bugs, or PCR primers, and the detectors take a lot of care and feeding.
Is there a relationship between emerging disease and bioterror?
DF: Not everyone agrees with me, but I use a very simple equation to think about it: bioterrorism equals emerging infectious disease plus intent.
Could we stop a would-be terrorist if they were intent on causing harm?
DF: I think it would be really tough. If we do, it would likely be through something we pick up in intelligence. We hear something is planned, or someone has this little laboratory in their basement or in a cave somewhere, or we have a scientific colleague, somewhere in the world, working with someone who hears something.
Assuming you can't stop it, then what?
DF: I looked at the bugs and said that for medical countermeasures we can't make a "1-to-N" list and say we are going to go down the list and make a vaccine for each one—there are just too many. So I looked at the [dangerous] outliers.
We now have enough vaccine for smallpox to immunize the population. We have vaccines now for anthrax and antibiotics for anthrax, and we have some stockpiles and a lot of other preparations for foot-and-mouth disease.
Then under that, where we can't afford to do specific countermeasures, I like surveillance, general diagnostics. It is a lot easier to get diagnostics through the FDA. Anything you have to stick into people or that people take orally, there are a lot more hoops to jump through.
And then under that a strong biotechnology and basic bioresearch infrastructure. In the future, I think we'll come up with more generic countermeasures that may boost our immune system a little bit.
How far in the future?
I always say 30 years.
Over the long haul, aren't you going to drive the evolution of the bugs toward being craftier, more resistant?
DF: Probably, to some degree. It depends on the bug.
Is there anything else we can do?
DF: There is no perfect solution. We can't stop a bioterrorist. We might stop some with deterrence, and if it occurs we have these generic countermeasures and a good public-health system, and then for what that can't deal with we need to have our people resilient.
What do you mean by that? Accept that it's going to happen, and just deal with it?
DF: Sort of. Not ever accept terrorism—we're going to do everything we can do to fight this—but be able to deal with it, more mentally than any other way.
I don't think the public would be ready to hear that message. They want to hear that it is not going to happen, and that they're protected if it does.
DF: I think of two examples. One is Israel. They've become a more resilient society. But it isn't by chance. They've focused on education, on understanding terrorism.
And then I remember a snippet of the news I saw after Katrina on the Cajun families out in the rural areas. They just got their boats, their shotguns, checked on their neighbors. They are used to living off the land, and have a close-knit social structure. Those kinds of things can make a great difference. I consider that resilience as well.
Has anyone calculated the odds that an individual person will ever be attacked by a bioterrorist?
DF: You're more likely to be hit by a truck. We lose 440,000 people to smoking related illnesses every year... We lose 20-80,000 people to influenza every year, 120,000 people to automobile accidents. We lose five people to bioterrorism.
I'm sure you know where I'm going: Why spend money on this, which might not ever happen, instead of on these known things?
DF: One reason is that we're willing to let our fellow citizens die if they know it is going to take a long time and they kind of enjoy what leads up to it. Like smoking. We are willing to let people die of influenza if they are old and their immune systems aren't very good and they are probably going to die soon anyway. We are not wiling to have even a very low risk of dying if someone intentionally does it. We can do it to ourselves, but nobody can do it to us.
If you were an ingenious bioterrorist, wouldn't you work on some unexpected, not-so dangerous organism, and make it worse?
DF: The bad news is biology is very squishy; the good news is biology is very squishy. For those of us interested in countermeasures, you think you've got a vaccine nailed, or you think you have the perfect antiviral drug – then you find out it is toxic, or the vaccine protects mice but not primates. Fortunately the same holds true for the person who would use biology against us. You can get a group of experts, molecular biologists, virologists, together in a room and they say "I can do this" but you get in a lab and it is not as easy as in the conference room.
What are you most worried about?
DF: I am probably most concerned about the highly contagious human agents—influenza, smallpox—which could have a huge impact on this world, because the world is smaller and we have HIV/AIDS today.
Why does that matter?
DF: I don't think we would ever eradicate smallpox again, because you couldn't immunize AIDS patients or maybe even HIV patients [because they would be vulnerable to the virus in the vaccine].
The other thing that I worry about a concept called "reload." Say you have two kilos of high-quality, powdered anthrax in ten American cities. It might not be totally efficient but can infect a lot of people. Then you say 'in two weeks, I'm going to do the next city and I won't tell you what it is,' then you do the next city. That is feasible, and would be very hard to deal with.
Because of the injuries or the psychological damage?
DF: If they said 'it's going to be Detroit next,' you could deal with it. If they didn't say [where], it would have a real psychological impact. Would you want to go downtown or anywhere if you knew that there were 10,000 people suffering from inhalational anthrax and a lot of them would die?
If anything is scary to me, it is the contagious agents, because an outbreak can start with such a small group of people and just... go.
DF: I think we would change our lifestyles very quickly. We would probably travel a lot less, we would probably wear masks when we go to the grocery store, we would probably wash our hands a lot more.
How much should we worry about agricultural bioterrorism?
DF: The ag threats fall below the threshold that we might compare to large natural disaster. But foot-and-mouth disease is one I worry about because it could devastate our economy. Foot-and-mouth could take us into tens of billions of dollars of economic damage.
If you rewrite history and the 9-11 attacks never happened, would anyone have thought it likely that planes would be hijacked and crashed into targets? So isn't it possible that future attacks will be things you're not looking for?
DF: Go back to my equation that bioterrorism is emerging infectious disease plus intent. We have a good medical infrastructure and public health infrastructure looking for emerging infectious disease. So I think we're in better shape with regard to biology than we are to the next terror event—someone flying airplanes into bridges, those off-the-wall kinds of things (Discovery, 2006).
Title: The Secretive Fight Against Bioterror
Date: September 15, 2006
Source: Security Info Watch
Abstract: On the grounds of a military base an hour's drive from the capital, the Bush administration is building a massive biodefense laboratory unlike any seen since biological weapons were banned 34 years ago.
The heart of the lab is a cluster of sealed chambers built to contain the world's deadliest bacteria and viruses. There, scientists will spend their days simulating the unthinkable: bioterrorism attacks in the form of lethal anthrax spores rendered as wispy powders that can drift for miles on a summer breeze, or common viruses turned into deadly superbugs that ordinary drugs and vaccines cannot stop.
The work at this new lab, at Fort Detrick, Md., could someday save thousands of lives -- or, some fear, create new risks and place the United States in violation of international treaties. In either case, much of what transpires at the National Biodefense Analysis and Countermeasures Center (NBACC) may never be publicly known, because the Bush administration intends to operate the facility largely in secret.
In an unusual arrangement, the building itself will be classified as highly restricted space, from the reception desk to the lab benches to the cages where animals are kept. Few federal facilities, including nuclear labs, operate with such stealth. It is this opacity that some arms-control experts say has become a defining characteristic of U.S. biodefense policy as carried out by the Department of Homeland Security, NBACC's creator.
Since the department's founding in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks, its officials have dramatically expanded the government's ability to conduct realistic tests of the pathogens and tactics that might be used in a bioterrorism attack. Some of the research falls within what many arms-control experts say is a legal gray zone, skirting the edges of an international treaty outlawing the production of even small amounts of biological weapons.
The administration dismisses these concerns, however, insisting that the work of NBACC is purely defensive and thus fully legal. It has rejected calls for oversight by independent observers outside the department's network of government scientists and contractors. And it defends the secrecy as necessary to protect Americans.
"Where the research exposes vulnerability, I've got to protect that, for the public's interest," said Bernard Courtney, NBACC's scientific director. "We don't need to be showing perpetrators the holes in our defense."
Tara O'Toole, founder of the Center for Biosecurity at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and an adviser to the Defense Department on bioterrorism, said the secrecy fits a larger pattern and could have consequences. "The philosophy and practice behind NBACC looks like much of the rest of the administration's philosophy and practice: 'Our intent is good, so we can do whatever we want,' " O'Toole said. "This approach will only lead to trouble." Although they acknowledge the need to shield the results of some sensitive projects from public view, critics of NBACC fear that excessive secrecy could actually increase the risk of bioterrorism. That would happen, they say, if the lab fosters ill-designed experiments conducted without proper scrutiny or if its work fuels suspicions that could lead other countries to pursue secret biological research.
The few public documents that describe NBACC's research mission have done little to quiet those fears. A computer slide show prepared by the center's directors in 2004 offers a to-do list that suggests the lab will be making and testing small amounts of weaponized microbes and, perhaps, genetically engineered viruses and bacteria. It also calls for "red team" exercises that simulate attacks by hostile groups.
NBACC's close ties to the U.S. intelligence community have also caused concern among the agency's critics. The CIA has assigned advisers to the lab, including at least one member of the "Z-Division," an elite group jointly operated with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory that specializes in analyzing and duplicating weapons systems of potential adversaries, officials familiar with the program confirm.
Bioweapons experts say the nature of the research envisioned for NBACC demands an unusually high degree of transparency to reassure Americans and the rest of the world of the U.S. government's intentions.
"If we saw others doing this kind of research, we would view it as an infringement of the bioweapons treaty," said Milton Leitenberg, a senior research scholar and weapons expert at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy. "You can't go around the world yelling about Iranian and North Korean programs -- about which we know very little -- when we've got all this going on."
Created without public fanfare a few months after the 2001 anthrax attacks, NBACC is intended to be the chief U.S. biological research institution engaged in something called "science-based threat assessment." It seeks to quantitatively answer one of the most difficult questions in biodefense: What's the worst that can happen?
To truly answer that question, there is little choice, current and former NBACC officials say: Researchers have to make real biological weapons.
"De facto, we are going to make biowarfare pathogens at NBACC in order to study them," said Penrose "Parney" Albright, former Homeland Security assistant secretary for science and technology.
Other government agencies, such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, study disease threats such as smallpox to discover cures. By contrast, NBACC (pronounced EN-back) attempts to get inside the head of a bioterrorist. It considers the wide array of potential weapons available. It looks for the holes in society's defenses where an attacker might achieve the maximum harm. It explores the risks posed by emerging technologies, such as new DNA synthesizing techniques that allow the creation of genetically altered or man-made viruses. And it tries in some cases to test the weapon or delivery device that terrorists might use.
Research at NBACC is already underway, in lab space that has been outsourced or borrowed from the Army's sprawling biodefense campus at Fort Detrick in Frederick. It was at this compound that the U.S. government researched and produced offensive biological weapons from the 1940s until President Richard M. Nixon halted research in 1969. The Army continues to conduct research on pathogens there.
In June, construction began on a $128 million, 160,000-square-foot facility inside the same heavily guarded compound. Space inside the eight-story, glass-and-brick structure will be divided between NBACC's two major divisions: a forensic testing center tasked with using modern sleuthing techniques to identify the possible culprits in future biological attacks; and the Biothreat Characterization Center, or BTCC, which seeks to predict what such attacks will look like.
It is the BTCC's wing that will host the airtight, ultra-secure containment labs where the most controversial research will be done. Homeland Security officials won't talk about specific projects planned or underway. But the 2004 computer slide show -- posted briefly on a Homeland Security Web site before its discovery by agency critics prompted an abrupt removal -- offers insight into NBACC's priorities.
The presentation by NBACC's then-deputy director, Lt. Col. George Korch, listed 16 research priorities for the new lab. Among them:
"Characterize classical, emerging and genetically engineered pathogens for their BTA [biological threat agent] potential.
"Assess the nature of nontraditional, novel and nonendemic induction of disease from potential BTA.
"Expand aerosol-challenge testing capacity for non-human primates.
"Apply Red Team operational scenarios and capabilities."
Courtney, the NBACC science director, acknowledged that his work would include simulating real biological threats -- but not just any threats.
"If I hear a noise on the back porch, will I turn on the light to decide whether there's something there, or go on my merry way?" Courtney asked. "But I'm only going to do [research] if I have credible information that shows it truly is a threat. It's not going to be dreamed up out of the mind of a novelist."
Administration officials note that there is a tradition for this kind of biological risk assessment, one that extends at least to the Clinton administration. In the late 1990s, for example, a clandestine project run by the Defense Department re-created a genetically modified, drug-resistant strain of the anthrax bacteria believed to have been made by Soviet bioweaponeers. Such research helped the government anticipate and prepare for emerging threats, according to officials familiar with the anthrax study.
Some arms-control experts see the comparison as troubling. They argued, then and now, that the work was a possible breach of a U.S.-negotiated international law.
The Bush administration argues that its biodefense research complies with the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, the 1972 treaty outlawing the manufacture of biological weapons, because U.S. motives are pure.
"All the programs we do are defensive in nature," said Maureen McCarthy, Homeland Security's director of research and development, who oversees NBACC. "Our job is to ensure that the civilian population of the country is protected, and that we know what the threats are."
Current and former administration officials say that compliance with the treaty hinges on intent, and that making small amounts of biowarfare pathogens for study is permitted under a broad interpretation of the treaty. Some also argue that the need for a strong biodefense in an age of genetic engineering trumps concerns over what they see as legal hair-splitting.
"How can I go to the people of this country and say, 'I can't do this important research because some arms-control advocate told me I can't'?" asked Albright, the former Homeland Security assistant secretary.
But some experts in international law believe that certain experiments envisioned for the lab could violate the treaty's ban on developing, stockpiling, acquiring or retaining microbes "of types and in quantities that have no justification" for peaceful purposes.
"The main problem with the 'defensive intent' test is that it does not reflect what the treaty actually says," said David Fidler, an Indiana University School of Law professor and expert on the bioweapons convention. The treaty, largely a U.S. creation, does not make a distinction between defensive and offensive activities, Fidler said.
More practically, arms experts say, future U.S. governments may find it harder to object if other countries test genetically engineered pathogens and novel delivery systems, invoking the same need for biodefense.
Already, they say, there is evidence abroad of what some are calling a "global biodefense boom." In the past five years, numerous governments, including some in the developing world -- India, China and Cuba among them -- have begun building high-security labs for studying the most lethal bacteria and viruses.
"These labs have become a status symbol, a prestige item," said Alan Pearson, a biologist at the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation. "A big question is: Will these labs have transparency?"
When it opens in two years, the NBACC lab will house an impressive collection of deadly germs and teams of scientists in full-body "spacesuits" to work with them. It will also have large aerosol-test chambers where animals will be exposed to deadly microbes. But the lab's most controversial feature may be its secrecy.
Homeland Security officials disclosed plans to contractors and other government agencies to classify the entire lab as a Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility, or SCIF.
In common practice, a SCIF (pronounced "skiff") is a secure room where highly sensitive information is stored and discussed. Access to SCIFs is severely limited, and all of the activity and conversation inside is presumed to be restricted from public disclosure. There are SCIFs in the U.S. Capitol, where members of Congress are briefed on military secrets. In U.S. nuclear labs, computers that store weapons data are housed inside SCIFs.
Homeland Security officials plan to operate all 160,000 square feet of NBACC as a SCIF. Because of the building's physical security features -- intended to prevent the accidental release of dangerous pathogens -- it was logical to operate it as a SCIF, McCarthy said.
"We need to protect information at a level that is appropriate," McCarthy added, saying she expects much of the lab's less-sensitive work to be made public eventually.
But some biodefense experts, including some from past administrations, viewed the decision as a mistake.
"To overlay NBACC with a default level of high secrecy seems like overkill," said Gerald L. Epstein, a former science adviser to the White House's National Security Council and now a senior fellow with the Center for Strategic and International Studies. While accepting that some secrecy is needed, he said the NBACC plan "sends a message that is not at all helpful."
NBACC officials also have resisted calls for the kind of broad, independent oversight that many experts say is necessary to assure other countries and the American public about their research.
Homeland Security spokesmen insist that NBACC's work will be carefully monitored, but on the department's terms.
"We have our own processes to scrutinize our research, and it includes compliance to the bioweapons convention guidelines as well as scientific oversight," said Courtney, the NBACC scientific director.
In addition to the department's internal review boards, the agency will bring in small groups of "three or four scientists" on an ad-hoc basis to review certain kinds of potentially controversial experiments, Courtney said. The review panels will be "independent," Courtney said, but he noted that only scientists with government security clearances will be allowed to participate (Security Info Watch, 2006).
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If we want to act on data to get fit or reduce heating bills, we need to understand not just the analytics of the data, but how we make decisions.
“Many programs and services are designed not for the brains of humans but of Vulcans. Thanks in large part to Kahneman and his many collaborators, pupils, and acolytes, this can and will change.”
— Rory Sutherland, Ogilvy & Mather1
Two overdue sciences
Near the end of Thinking, Fast and Slow, Daniel Kahneman wrote, “Whatever else it produces, an organization is a factory that produces judgments and decisions.”2 Judgments and decisions are at the core of two of the most significant intellectual trends of our time, and the one-word titles of their most successful popularizations have become their taglines. “Moneyball” is shorthand for applying data analytics to make more economically efficient decisions in business, health care, the public sector, and beyond. “Nudge” connotes the application of findings from psychology and behavioral economics to prompt people to make decisions that are consistent with their long-term goals.
Other than the connection with decisions, the two domains might seem to have little in common. After all, analytics is typically discussed in terms of computer technology, machine learning algorithms, and (of course) big data. Behavioral nudges, on the other hand, concern human psychology. What do they have in common?
When the ultimate goal is behavior change, predictive analytics and the science of behavioral nudges can serve as two parts of a greater, more effective whole.
Quite a bit, as it turns out. Business analytics and the science of behavioral nudges can each be viewed as different types of responses to the increasingly commonplace observation that people are predictably irrational. Predictive analytics is most often about providing tools that correct for mental biases, analogous to eyeglasses correcting for myopic vision. In the private sector, this enables analytically sophisticated competitors to grow profitably in the inefficient markets that exist thanks to abiding cultures of biased decision making in business. In government and health care, predictive models enable professionals to serve the public more economically and effectively.
The “behavioral insights” movement is based on a complementary idea: Rather than try to equip people to be more “rational,” we can look for opportunities to design their choice environments in ways that comport with, rather than confound, the actual psychology of decision making.3 For example, since people tend to dislike making changes, set the default option to be the one that people would choose if they had more time, information, and mental energy. (For example, save paper by setting the office printer to the default of double-sided printing. Similarly, retirement savings and organ donation programs are more effective when the default is set to “opt in” rather than “opt out.”) Since people are influenced by what others are doing, make use of peer comparisons and “social proof” (for example, asking, “Did you know that you use more energy than 90 percent of your neighbors?”). Because people tend to ignore letters written in bureaucratese and fail to complete buggy computer forms, simplify the language and user interface. And since people tend to engage in “mental accounting,” allow people to maintain separate bank accounts for food money, holiday money, and so on.4
Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein call this type of design thinking “choice architecture.” The idea is to design forms, programs, and policies that go with, rather than against, the grain of human psychology. Doing so does not restrict choices; rather, options are arranged and presented in ways that help people make day-to-day choices that are consistent with their long-term goals. In contrast with the hard incentives of classical economics, behavioral nudges are “soft” techniques for prompting desired behavior change.
Proponents of this approach, such as the Behavioural Insights Team and ideas42, argue that behavioral nudges should be part of policymakers’ toolkits.5 This article goes further and argues that the science of behavioral nudges should be part of the toolkit of mainstream predictive analytics as well. The story of a recent political campaign illustrates the idea.
Yes, they did
The 2012 US presidential campaign has been called “the first big data election.”6 Both the Romney and Obama campaigns employed sophisticated teams of data scientists charged with (among other things) building predictive models to optimize the efforts of volunteer campaign workers. The Obama campaign’s strategy, related in Sasha Issenberg’s book The Victory Lab, is instructive: The team’s data scientists built, and continually updated, models prioritizing voters in terms of their estimated likelihood of being persuaded to vote for Obama. The strategy was judicious: One might naively design a model to simply identify likely Obama voters. But doing so would waste resources and potentially annoy many supporters already intending to vote for Obama. At the opposite extreme, directing voters to the doors of hard-core Romney supporters would be counterproductive. The smart strategy was to identify those voters most likely to change their behavior if visited by a campaign worker.7
So far this is a “Moneyball for political campaigns” story. A predictive model can weigh more factors—and do so more consistently, accurately, and economically—than the unaided judgment of overstretched campaign workers. Executing an analytics-based strategy enabled the campaign to derive considerably more benefit from its volunteers’ time.
But the story does not end here. The Obama campaign was distinctive in combining the use of predictive analytics with outreach tactics motivated by behavioral science. Consider three examples: First, campaign workers would ask voters to fill out and sign “commitment cards” adorned with a photograph of Barack Obama. This tactic was motivated by psychological research indicating that people are more likely to follow through on actions that they have committed to. Second, volunteers would also ask people to articulate a specific plan to vote, even down to the specific time of day they would go to the polls. This tactic reflected psychological research suggesting that forming even a simple plan increases the likelihood that people will follow through. Third, campaign workers invoked social norms, informing would-be voters of their neighbors’ intentions to vote.8
The Obama campaign’s combined use of predictive models and behavioral nudge tactics suggests a general way to enhance the power of business analytics applications in a variety of domains.9 It is an inescapable fact that no model will provide benefits unless appropriately acted upon. Regardless of application, the implementation must be successful in two distinct senses: First, the model must be converted into a functioning piece of software that gathers and combines data elements and produces a useful prediction or indication with suitably short turnaround time.10 Second, end users must be trained to understand, accept, and appropriately act upon the indication.
In many cases, determining the appropriate action is, at least in principle, relatively straightforward. For example, if an analysis singles out a highly talented yet underpaid baseball player, scout him. If an actuarial model indicates that a policyholder is a risky driver, set his or her rates accordingly. If an emergency room triage model indicates a high risk of heart attack, send the patient to intensive care. But in many other situations, exemplified by the challenge of getting out the vote, a predictive model can at best point the end user in the right direction. It cannot suggest how to prompt the desired behavior change.
I call this challenge “the last-mile problem.” The suggestion is that just as data analytics brings scientific rigor to the process of estimating an unknown quantity or making a prediction, employing behavioral nudge tactics can bring scientific rigor to the (largely judgment-driven) process of deciding how to prompt behavior change in the individual identified by a model. When the ultimate goal is behavior change, predictive analytics and the science of behavioral nudges can serve as two parts of a greater, more effective whole.
Push the worst, nudge the rest
Once one starts thinking along these lines, other promising applications come to mind in a variety of domains, including public sector services, behavioral health, insurance, risk management, and fraud detection.
Supporting child support
Several US states either have implemented or intend to implement predictive models designed to help child support enforcement officers identify noncustodial parents at risk of falling behind on their child support payments.11 The goal is to enable child support officers to focus more on prevention and hopefully less on enforcement. The application is considered a success, but perhaps more could be done to achieve the ultimate goal of ensuring timely child support payments.12 The Obama campaign’s use of commitment cards suggests a similar approach here. For example, noncustodial parents identified as at-risk by a model could be encouraged to fill out commitment cards, perhaps adorned with their children’s photographs. In addition, behavioral nudge principles could be used to design financial coaching efforts.13
Several US states either have implemented or intend to implement predictive models designed to help child support enforcement officers identify noncustodial parents at risk of falling behind on their child support payments. The goal is to enable child support officers to focus more on prevention and hopefully less on enforcement.
Taking the logic a step further, the model could also be used to identify more moderate risks, perhaps not in immediate need of live visits, who might benefit from outreach letters. Various nudge tactics could be used in the design of such letters. For example the letters could address the parent by name, be written in colloquial and forthright language, and perhaps include details specific to the parent’s situation. Evidence from behavioral nudge field experiments in other applications even suggests that printing such letters on colored paper increases the likelihood that they will be read and acted upon. There is no way of knowing in advance which (if any) combination of tactics would prove effective.14 But randomized control trials (RCTs) could be used to field-test such letters on treatment and control groups.
The general logic common to the child support and many similar applications is to use models to deploy one’s limited workforce to visit and hopefully ameliorate the highest-risk cases. Nudge tactics could help the case worker most effectively prompt the desired behavior change. Other nudge tactics could be investigated as a low-cost, low-touch way of prompting some medium- to high-risk cases to “self-cure.” The two complementary approaches refine the intuitive process case workers go through each day when deciding whom to contact and with what message. Essentially the same combined predictive model/behavioral nudge strategy could similarly be explored in workplace safety inspections, patient safety, child welfare outreach, and other environments.
Let’s keep ourselves honest
Similar ideas can motivate next-generation statistical fraud detection efforts. Fraud detection is among the most difficult data analytics applications because (among other reasons) it is often the case that not all instances of fraud have been flagged as such in historical databases. Furthermore, fraud itself can be an inherently ambiguous concept. For example, much automobile insurance fraud takes the form of opportunistic embellishment or exaggeration rather than premeditated schemes. Such fraud is often referred to as “soft fraud.” Fraud “suspicion score” models inevitably produce a large proportion of ambiguous indications and false-positives. Acting upon a fraud suspicion score can therefore be a subtler task than acting on, for example, child welfare or safety inspection predictive model indications.
Behavioral nudge tactics offer a “soft touch” approach that is well suited to the ambiguous nature of much fraud detection work. Judiciously worded letters could be crafted to achieve a variety of fraud mitigation effects. First, letters that include specific details about the claim and also remind the claimant of the company’s fraud detection policies could achieve a “sentinel effect” that helps ward off further exaggeration or embellishment. If appropriate, letters could inform individuals of a “lottery” approach to random fraud investigation. Such an approach is consistent with two well-established psychological facts: People are averse to loss, and they tend to exaggerate small probabilities, particularly when the size of the associated gain or loss is large and comes easily to mind.15
A second relevant finding of behavioral economics is that people’s actions are influenced not only by external (classically economic) punishments and rewards but by an internal reward system as well. For example, social norms exert material influences on our behaviors: People tend to use less energy and fewer hotel towels when informed that people like them tend to conserve. Physician report cards have been found to promote patient safety because they prompt physicians to compare their professional conduct to that of their peers and trigger such internal, noneconomic rewards as professional pride and the pleasure of helping others.16 Similarly, activating the internal rewards system of a potential (soft) fraudster might provide an effective way of acting upon ambiguous signals from a statistical fraud detection algorithm. Behavioral economic research suggests that a small amount of cheating flies beneath the radar of people’s internal reward mechanism. Dan Ariely calls this a “personal fudge factor.” In addition, people simply deceive themselves when committing mildly dishonest acts.17 Such nudge tactics as priming people to think about ethical codes of honor and contrasting their actual behavior with their (honest) self-images are noneconomic levers for promoting honest behavior.
Physical and financial health
Keeping health care utilization under control is a major goal of both predictive analytics and behavioral economics. In the United States alone, health expenditures topped $2.8 trillion in 2013, accounting for more than 18 percent of the country’s GDP.18 Furthermore, chronic diseases, exacerbated by unhealthy lifestyles, account for a startling proportion of this spending.19 All of this makes health spending an ideal domain for applying predictive analytics: The issue is one of utmost urgency; unhealthy behaviors can be predicted using behavioral and lifestyle data; and models are capable of singling out small fractions of individuals accounting for a disproportionate share of utilization. For example, in his New Yorker article “The Hot Spotters,” Atul Gawande described a health utilization study in which the highest health utilizers, 5 percent of the total, accounted for approximately 60 percent of the total spending of the population.20
Of course, identifying current—and future—high utilizers is crucial, but it’s not the ultimate goal. Models can point us toward those who eat poorly, don’t exercise enough, or are unlikely to stick to their medical treatments, but they do not instruct us about which interventions prompt the needed behavior change. Once again, behavioral economics is the natural framework to scientifically attack the last-mile problem of going from predictive model indication to the desired action.
In contrast with the building inspection and fraud detection examples, it is unlikely that purely economic incentives are sufficient to change the behavior of the very worst risks. In this context, the worst risks are those with multiple chronic diseases. A promising behavioral strategy, described in Gawande’s article, is assigning health coaches to high-utilizing patients who need personalized help to manage their health.
Such coaches are selected based more on attitudes and cultural affinities with the patient than on medical training. Indeed, this suggests a further data science application: Use the sort of analytical approaches employed by online matchmaking services to hire and match would-be health coaches to patients based on personality and cultural characteristics. Gawande recounts the story of a diabetic, obese woman who had suffered three heart attacks. After working with a health coach, she managed to leave her wheelchair and began attending yoga classes. Asked why she would listen to her health coach and not her husband, the patient replied, “Because she talks like my mother.”21 In behavioral economics, “messenger effects” refer to the tendency to be influenced by a message’s source, not just its content.
Closely analogous ideas can be pursued in such arenas as financial health and back-to-work programs. For example, a recent pilot study of a “financial health check” program reported a 21 percent higher savings rate compared with a control group. The health check was a one-hour coaching session designed to address such behavioral bottlenecks as forgetfulness, burdensome paperwork, lack of self-control, and letting short-term pleasures trump long-term goals.22 Predictive models (similar to credit-scoring models) could be built to identify in advance those who most need such services. As with the child support case study, this would enable prevention as well as remediation. But behavioral science is needed to identify the most effective ways to provide the coaching.
Viewed through a traditional lens, the telematics black-box devices increasingly used by insurance companies are the ultimate actuarial segmentation machine. They can capture fine-grained details about how much or abruptly we drive, accelerate, change lanes, turn corners, and so on.
In 3D: Data meets digital meets design
The discussion so far has focused on behavioral nudge tactics as a way of bridging the gap between predictive model indications and the appropriate actions. But nudge tactics are more commonly viewed in the context of a more everyday last-mile problem: the gap between people’s long-term intentions and their everyday actions. An overarching theme of behavioral economics is that people’s short-term actions are often at odds with their own long-term goals. We suffer inertia and information overload when presented with too many choices; we regularly put off until “tomorrow” following up on important diet, exercise, and financial resolutions; and we repeatedly fool ourselves into believing that it’s okay to indulge in something risky “just this once.”23
Just as behavioral science can help overcome the last-mile problem of predictive analytics, perhaps data science can assist with the last-mile problem of behavioral economics: In certain contexts, useful nudges can take the form of digitally delivered, analytically constructed “data products.”
Consider that much of what we call “big data” is in fact behavioral data. These are the “digital breadcrumbs” that we leave behind as we go about our daily activities in an increasingly digitally mediated world.24 They are captured by our computers, televisions, e-readers, smartphones, self-tracking devices, and the data-capturing “black boxes” installed in cars for insurance rating. If we refocus our attention from data capture to data delivery, we can envision “data products,” delivered via apps on digital devices, designed to help us follow through on our intentions. Behavioral economics supplies some of the design thinking needed for such innovations. The following examples illustrate this idea.
Driving behavior change
Viewed through a traditional lens, the telematics black-box devices increasingly used by insurance companies are the ultimate actuarial segmentation machine. They can capture fine-grained details about how much or abruptly we drive, accelerate, change lanes, turn corners, and so on.
But in our digitally mediated world of big data, it is possible to consider new business models and product offerings. After all, if the data are useful in helping an insurance company understand a driver’s risk, they could also be used to help the driver to better understand—and control—his or her own risk. Telematics data could inform periodic “report cards” that contain both judiciously selected statistics and contextualized composite risk scores informing people of their performance. Such reports could help risky drivers better understand (and hopefully improve) their behavior, help beginner drivers learn and improve, and help older drivers safely remain behind the wheel longer.
Doing so would be a way of countering the “overconfidence bias” that famously clouds drivers’ judgment. Most drivers rate themselves as better than average, though a moment’s reflection indicates this couldn’t possibly be true.25 Peer effects could be another effective nudge tactic. For example, being informed that one’s driving is riskier than a large majority of one’s peers would likely prompt safer driving.
It is worth noting that employing nudge tactics does not preclude using classical economic incentives to promote safer driving. For example, the UK insurer ingenie uses black-box data to calculate risk scores, which in turn are reported via mobile apps back to drivers so that they can better understand and improve their driving behavior. In addition, the driver’s insurance premium is periodically recalculated to reflect the driver’s improved (or worsened) performance.26
Resisting the siren song
Self-tracking devices are the health and wellness equivalent of telematics black boxes. Here again, it is plausible that appropriately contextualized periodic feedback reports (“you are in the bottom quartile of your peer group for burning calories”) could nudge people for the better.
It is reasonable to anticipate better results when the two approaches are treated as complementary and applied in tandem. Behavioral science principles should be part of the data scientist’s toolkit, and vice versa.
Perhaps we can take the behavioral design thinking a step further. In behavioral economics, “present bias” refers to short-term desires preventing us from achieving long-term goals. Figuratively speaking, our “present selves” manifest different preferences than our “future selves” do. An example from classical mythology is recounted in Homer’s Odyssey: Before visiting the Sirens’ island, Odysseus instructed his crew to tie him to a mast. Odysseus knew that in the heat of the moment, his present self would give in to the Sirens’ tempting song.27
Behavioral economics offers a somewhat less dramatic device: the commitment contract. For example, suppose Jim wants to visit the swimming pool at least 15 times over the coming month but also knows that on any given day he will give in to short-term laziness and put it off until “tomorrow.” At the beginning of the month, Jim can sign a contract committing him to donate, say, a thousand dollars to charity—or even to a political organization he loathes—in the event that he fails to keep his commitment to his future self.
Commitment contracts digitally implemented on mobile app devices offer an intriguing application for self-tracking devices that goes beyond real-time monitoring or feedback reports. Data from such devices could automatically flow into apps preprogramed with commitment contracts that reflect diet, exercise, or savings goals. Oscar Wilde famously said that “the only way to get rid of temptation is to yield to it.” Perhaps. But Wilde wrote long before behavioral economics.28
Washing our hands of safety noncompliance
I yield to the temptation to give one final example of data-fueled, digitally implemented, and behaviorally designed innovation. A striking finding of evidence-based medicine is that nearly 100,000 people die each year in the United States alone from preventable hospital infections. A large number of lives could therefore be saved by prompting health care workers to wash their hands for the prescribed length of time. Medical checklists of the sort popularized in Atul Gawande’s The Checklist Manifesto are one behavioral strategy for improving health care workers’ compliance with protocol.29 An innovative digital soap dispenser suggests the possibilities offered by complementary, data-enabled strategies.
The DebMed Group Monitoring System is an electronic soap dispenser equipped with a computer chip that records how often the members of different hospital wards wash their hands.30 Each ward’s actual hand washing is compared with statistical estimates of appropriate hand-washing that are based on World Health Organization guidelines as well as data specific to the ward. Periodic feedback messages report not specific individuals’ compliance but the compliance of the entire group. This design element exemplifies what MIT Media Lab’s Sandy Pentland calls “social physics”:Social influences help shape individual behavior.31 In such cases, few individuals will want to be the one who ruins the performance of their team. Administered with the appropriate behavioral design thinking, an ounce of data can be worth a pound of cure.
In predictive analytics applications, the last-mile problem of prompting behavior change tends to be left to the professional judgment of the model’s end user (child support enforcement officer, safety inspector, fraud investigator, and so on). On the other hand, behavioral nudge applications are often one-size-fits-all affairs applied to entire populations rather than analytically identified sub-segments. It is reasonable to anticipate better results when the two approaches are treated as complementary and applied in tandem. Behavioral science principles should be part of the data scientist’s toolkit, and vice versa.
Behavioral considerations are also not far from the surface of discussions of “big data.” As we have noted, much of big data is, after all, behavioral data continually gathered by digital devices as we go about our daily activities. Such data are controversial for reasons not limited to a basic concern for privacy. Behavioral data generated in one context can be repurposed for use in other contexts to infer preferences, attitudes, and psychological traits with accuracy that many find unsettling at best, Orwellian at worst.
In addition, many object to the idea of using psychology to nudge people’s behavior on the grounds that it is manipulative or a form of social engineering. These concerns are crucial and not to be swept under the carpet. At the same time, it is possible to view both behavioral data and behavioral nudge science as tools that can be used in either socially useful or socially useless ways. Hopefully the examples discussed here illustrate the former sort of applications. There is no unique bright line separating the usefully personalized from the creepily personal, or the inspired use of social physics ideas from hubristic social engineering. Principles of social responsibility are therefore best considered not merely topics for public and regulatory debate but inherent to the process of planning and doing both data science and behavioral science.
Behavioral design thinking suggests one path to “doing well by doing good” in the era of big data and cloud computing.32 The idea is for data-driven decision making to be more of a two-way street. Traditionally, large companies and governments have gathered data about individuals in order to more effectively target market and actuarially segment, treat, or investigate them, as their business models demand. In a world of high-velocity data, cloud computing, and digital devices, it is increasingly practical to “give back” by offering data products that enable individuals to better understand their own preferences, risk profiles, health needs, financial status, and so on. The enlightened use of choice architecture principles in the design of such products will result in devices to help our present selves make the choices and take the actions that our future selves will be happy with.
EndnotesView all endnotes
- See the edge.org conversation “On Kahneman,” March 27, 2014, <http://edge.org/conversation/on-kahneman>.
- See “Conclusions” chapter of Daniel Kahneman, Thinking, Fast and Slow (Farrar, Straus and Giroux), 2011.
- I use the terms “behavioral insights” and “nudge tactics” interchangeably to denote the application of the “choice architecture” principles outlined in Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s book Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth, and Happiness (New Haven, CT: Yale University Press, 2008). Many of these ideas were in turn anticipated in the fall 2003 University of Chicago Law Review article “Libertarian paternalism is not an oxymoron,” by Sunstein and Thaler <http://faculty.chicagobooth.edu/Richard.Thaler/research/pdf/LIbpatLaw.pdf>. To the best of my knowledge, the term “behavioral insights” originates from the UK Cabinet Office’s Behavioural Insights Team <http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/>, led by David Halpern and advised by Richard Thaler.
- Richard Thaler’s Nudge blog reports such a mental accounting scheme by ING Direct; see Thaler and Sunstein, “Nudge in the classroom part II,” Nudge, June 10, 2010, <http://nudges.org/tag/mental-accounting/page/2/>. A pioneer of using behavioral science to reduce power consumption is Opower <http://www.thermostat.opower.com/>. See the discussion of Opower in William D. Eggers and Paul Macmillan, “A billion to one,” Deloitte Review 16, January 2015. EAST: Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights (April 11, 2014, <http://behaviouralinsights.co.uk/publications/east-four-simple-ways-apply-behavioural-insights>) by the Behavioural Insights Team reports that six months after employees in a sample of large firms were automatically enrolled in pension schemes (that is, the default was changed from “opt in” to “opt out”), participation rates rose from 61 to 83 percent.
- For information about the Behavioural Insights Team and ideas42 see the organizations’ respective websites: <http://www.behaviouralinsights.co.uk/about-us> and <http://www.ideas42.org/about/background/>.
- Eric Hellweg, “2012: The first big data election,” HBR Blog Network, November 13, 2012, <http://blogs.hbr.org/2012/11/2012-the-first-big-data-electi/>.
- The analytical technique is known as “uplift modeling,” and is also used in marketing applications. See, for example, Eric Siegel, “The real story behind Obama’s campaign victory,” Fiscal Times, January 21, 2013, <http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2013/01/21/The-Real-Story-Behind-Obamas-Election-Victory>.
- Benedict Carey, “Academic ‘dream team’ helped Obama’s effort,” The New York Times, November 12, 2012. Note that I am highlighting the Obama campaign’s behavioral nudge tactics that can be viewed as complementary to predictive model-guided voter outreach. The article discusses other behavioral science-motivated tactics unconnected with the use of predictive models. For example, the campaign’s Consortium of Behavioral Scientists suggested ideas on how to counter such false rumors as the notion that Barack Obama is a Muslim: Don’t deny the charge, since doing so would not remove the association that has been planted. Instead, affirm a competing notion.
- I do not suggest that the Obama campaign deliberately set out to pursue a unified predictive modeling/behavioral nudge strategy. It is possible that different parts of the campaign independently pursued different strategies that proved complementary. This narrative weaves together threads from different news articles, each highlighting a different aspect of the campaign’s scientific strategies. However, I do suggest that in applications where behavior change is the desired result, the story of the Obama campaign helps motivate viewing behavioral nudge methods as part of the business analytics toolkit.
- This is often easier said than done. Alex Madrigal’s November 2012 Atlantic article “When the nerds go marching in” <http://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2012/11/when-the-nerds-go-marching-in/265325/> recounts the dramatic story of the team that managed and continually stress-tested the Obama campaign’s IT infrastructure. The team’s efforts were crucial to the success of the campaign’s predictive modeling strategy. This story is consistent with our (admittedly more mundane) experience that data cleansing, model implementation, and various model risk mitigation activities often account for the bulk of the work in major predictive modeling projects. This is a basic “no free lunch” principle of business analytics. Interested readers might also wish to consult the personal website of Harper Reed <www.harperreed.com>, the campaign’s chief technology officer who was profiled in Madrigal’s article.
- Daniel Richard et al., “Leveraging advanced analytics: The evolution of Pennsylvania’s child support enforcement program,” Policy & Practice, February 1, 2014, <http://www.readperiodicals.com/201402/3280496061.html>.
- For example in 2012 the application was recognized by a “bright idea award” by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation. <http://www.ash.harvard.edu/ash/Home/News-Events/Press-Releases/Innovations/Harvard-s-Ash-Center-Announces-111-Bright-Ideas-in-Government/2012-Bright-Ideas>.
- For example, the Behavioral Interventions to Advance Self-Sufficiency (BIAS) program, funded by the US Department of Health and Human Services, used behavioral design thinking to eliminate hassle factors and devise coaching programs to increase the rate of incarcerated noncustodial parents applying for modifications of their child support orders. See Mary Farrell et al., Taking the first step: Using behavioral economics to help incarcerated parents apply for child support order modifications, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation, August 2014, <http://www.acf.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/opre/bias_texas_executive_summary_2014.pdf>.
- For example, the above-mentioned BIAS child support program used blue paper in letters sent to prisoners. Peer effects were famously used by the UK Behavioural Insights team to increase tax collections. Using a randomized control trial, the team demonstrated that adding a line informing that most people pay their taxes on time led to a 5 percent increase in tax collection. Adding a (behavioral science-motivated) line to a letter therefore yielded millions of pounds of additional tax collections. See EAST: Four simple ways to apply behavioural insights by the Behavioural Insights Team. < http://behaviouralinsights.co.uk/publications/east-four-simple-ways-apply-behavioural-insights>.
- Random inspections and activating a “sentinel effect” are certainly not new ideas in fraud prevention, but behavioral science helps explain their usefulness. The Behavioural Insights Team’s research highlights the idea of including very specific information in communications: When letters sent to nonpayers of a road tax included photographs of the offending vehicle, payments rose from 40 to 49 percent. See Behavioural Insights Team, EAST.
- “How physician report cards can improve health care,” Knowledge@Wharton, August 28, 2014, <http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article/how-physician-report-cards-can-improve-health-care/>. The blog discusses findings of the health economist Jonathan Kolstad.
- Nina Mazar and Dan Ariely, “Dishonesty in everyday life and its policy implications,” Journal of Public Policy & Marketing, 2006, <http://people.duke.edu/~dandan/Papers/PI/dishonesty.pdf>; Dan Ariely, “Our buggy moral code,” filmed February 2009. TED Talks video, 16:17, <http://www.ted.com/talks/dan_ariely_on_our_buggy_moral_code?language=en>. Here, Ariely calls people’s tendency to cheat a little bit without changing their honest self-images a “personal fudge factor.” For specific examples of randomized control trials of behavioral nudges for prompting honesty, using social norms, and so on, see Behavioural Insights Team, Applying behavioural insights to reduce fraud, error, and debt, UK Cabinet Office, February 2012, <https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/60539/BIT_FraudErrorDebt_accessible.pdf>.
- Ian Duncan, “Predictive modeling of healthcare costs using hierarchical regression,” University of California at Santa Barbara, 2014.
- For example, the Centers for Disease Control estimated that chronic diseases accounted for 75 percent of 2005 health care spending in the United States. See Johnson & Johnson, “Prevention and wellness,” <http://www.jnj.com/sites/default/files/pdf/prevention-and-wellness.pdf>, accessed October 29, 2014.
- Atul Gawande, “The hot spotters,” The New Yorker, January 24, 2011, <http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/24/the-hot-spotters>. A more recent presentation reports that the 5 percent of the highest utilizers account for 50 percent of utilization; see Michael Breslow, “Corporate and executive spotlight: Michael Breslow, Philips Healthcare,” filmed at 2012 mHealth Summit; Healthcare IT News video, 15:58; <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zY88SfsmGg>, posted December 3, 2013.
- Antoinette Schoar and Piyush Tantia, “The financial health check: A behavioral approach to financial coaching,” ideas42, March 2014, <http://www.ideas42.org/publication/view/the-financial-health-check-a-behavioral-approach-to-financial-coaching/>. The above-referenced BIAS child support study can be viewed along similar lines.
- “Report: Texting while driving okay if you look up every couple seconds,” The Onion, May 27, 2013, <http://www.theonion.com/articles/report-texting-while-driving-okay-if-you-look-up-e,32583/>.
- James Guszcza and Bryan Richardson, “Two dogmas of big data: Understanding the power of analytics for predicting human behavior,” Deloitte Review Issue 15, July 18, 2014, <http://dupress.com/articles/behavioral-data-driven-decision-making/>.
- This phenomenon from behavioral economics, the tendency to overestimate one’s abilities, is also known as the “Lake Wobegon Effect” in homage to Garrison Keillor’s radio show The Prairie Home Companion. The show is set in the fictional town of Lake Wobegon, “where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking, and all the children are above average.”
- ingenie, “How it works” (video), <http://www.ingenie.com/how-it-works>, accessed October 29, 2014. Our previous Deloitte Review, Issue 14, article “The personalized and the personal: Socially responsible innovation through big data,” published January 2014, <http://dupress.com/articles/dr14-personalized-and-personal/> explored the idea of behavioral science-motivated and digitally delivered driving feedback reports.
- For the record, the first draft of this article is being written several days after the deadline. In his preface to Behavioral Economics and Policy Design: Lessons from Singapore (World Scientific, October 2011), Donald Low brilliantly invokes another modern illustration, from the comedian Jerry Seinfeld: “I never get enough sleep. I stay up late at night because I’m Night Guy. Night Guy wants to stay up late. ‘What about getting up after five hours’ sleep?’ Oh, that’s Morning Guy’s problem. That’s not my problem. I’m Night Guy—I stay up as late as I want. So you get up in the morning . . . you’re exhausted, you’re groggy. ‘Oh I hate that Night Guy!’ Night Guy always screws Morning Guy. There’s nothing Morning Guy can do. The only thing Morning Guy can do is try to oversleep often enough so that Day Guy loses his job and Night Guy has no money to go out anymore.”
- stickK (http://www.stickk.com/) is a service founded by the Yale professors Dean Karlan (a prominent researcher of commitment devices) and Ian Ayres (well known as the author of Super Crunchers). Interestingly, adding a social element dramatically increased the effectiveness of the commitment contracts administered by stickK. When users name a referee to keep themselves honest, the success rate is 80 percent. Without a referee, it is only 29 percent. See Michael Blanding, The business of behavioral economics, Harvard Business School, August 11, 2014, <http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/7588.html>. Beeminder <https://www.beeminder.com/> is an app-based commitment contract service. Parmy Olson’s Forbes article “Wearable tech is plugging into health insurance” (June 19, 2014; <http://www.forbes.com/sites/parmyolson/2014/06/19/wearable-tech-health-insurance/>) reports that BP, which self-insures for employee health, offers its 14,000 employees free self-tracking devices. Employees that take over 1 million steps qualify for lower insurance premiums. One can envision such data feeding commitment contracts as well.
- Although medical checklists are not always characterized in behavioral nudge terms, they can be viewed as an example of what behavioral economists call “heuristics”: simple rules of thumb that enable an individual to make the right decision without the need to process large amounts of information. The daily diet “food pyramid” is another familiar example. See Antoinette Schoar and Saugato Datta, “The power of heuristics,” ideas42, January 2014, <http://www.ideas42.org/publication/view/the-power-of-heuristics/>.
- “First, wash your hands,” the Economist, July 17, 2013, <http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21584441-biomedicine-smart-antiseptic-dispensers-promise-save-lives-subtly-encouraging>.
- See Alex Pentland, Social Physics: How Good Ideas Spread—The Lessons from a New Science, (Penguin, 2014).
- James Guszcza, David Schweidel, and Shantanu Dutta, “The personalized and the personal,” Deloitte Review, Issue 14, January 17, 2014, <http://dupress.com/articles/dr14-personalized-and-personal/>; Eggers and Macmillan, “A billion to one,” Deloitte Review, Issue 16, January 19, 2015.
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on Dec 29, 2012
by Alyssia Granger
Glucophage was not designed or developed as a fertility treatment, but it has been shown to help with some aspects of fertility.
Glucophage, also known as Metformin, is a medication used as a fertility treatment that is a little bit “out of the box”, so to speak. Glucophage was not designed or developed as a fertility treatment, but it has been shown to help with some aspects of fertility. Let’s find out more about Glucophage and what it can do to help with fertility. Claim Your 20 Free Pregnancy Tests – Click Here
Glucophage is primarily used as a drug to treat Type 2 Diabetes. Its job is to help the body respond more effectively to insulin. It helps to improve blood sugar levels in Diabetes patients. For women with PCOS, Glucophage can be a helpful way to regulate the erratic insulin levels that PCOS can cause. The ovaries can not work properly without the proper levels of insulin, so Glucophage can help to maintain those levels. Some doctors also think that it is a good idea to use Glucophage once you do become pregnant, to decrease risk of miscarriage, and help to avoid developing gestational diabetes.
Glucophage is an oral medication, and it is usually very well tolerated. It is sometimes combined with Clomid for even better results. Glucophage is considered to be a “helper drug”. That is, it does not induce ovulation on its own, but it helps the body get to a better place where it can handle insulin on its own and ovulation can resume normally. It has been shown to be very effective in women with PCOS, or who are otherwise insulin resistant.
While Glucophage is generally well tolerated in patients, sometimes it can have a few negative side effects. The most common side effects are gastrointestinal ones, stomach ache, vomiting, diarrhea and gas. Other common side effects are a “metallic” taste in the mouth, weight loss and loss of appetite. While these side effects are not really very harmful, they can be annoying. If you get any less common, but serious side effects, such as loss of energy, confusion, nightmares, etc, contact your doctor immediately.
Glucophage can be a great choice for women who are trying to conceive but need a little extra boost. Glucophage can help to counteract some of the annoying and bothersome effects of PCOS, and can help make it much easier for your body to process insulin, and in turn, easier for you to get pregnant on your own.
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Alyssia is mom to 2 giggley twin girls, Sophia and Emma, and son Hunter. She's a Southern girl, passionate about photography, travel and her husband Josh.
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Boost.Function has several advantages over function pointers, namely:
Boost.Function allows arbitrary compatible function objects to be targets (instead of requiring an exact function signature).
Boost.Function may be used with argument-binding and other function object construction libraries.
Boost.Function has predictible behavior when an empty function object is called.
And, of course, function pointers have several advantages over Boost.Function:
Function pointers are smaller (the size of one pointer instead of four or more)
Function pointers are faster (Boost.Function may require two calls through function pointers)
Function pointers are backward-compatible with C libraries.
More readable error messages.
Function object wrappers will be the size of a struct containing a member function pointer and two data pointers. The actual size can vary significantly depending on the underlying platform; on 32-bit Mac OS X with GCC, this amounts to 16 bytes, while it is 32 bytes Windows with Visual C++. Additionally, the function object target may be allocated on the heap, if it cannot be placed into the small-object buffer in the
Copying function object wrappers may require allocating memory for a copy of the function object target. The default allocator may be replaced with a faster custom allocator or one may choose to allow the function object wrappers to only store function object targets by reference (using
ref) if the cost of this cloning becomes prohibitive. Small function objects can be stored within the
boost::function object itself, improving copying efficiency.
With a properly inlining compiler, an invocation of a function object requires one call through a function pointer. If the call is to a free function pointer, an additional call must be made to that function pointer (unless the compiler has very powerful interprocedural analysis).
The use of virtual functions tends to cause 'code bloat' on many compilers. When a class contains a virtual function, it is necessary to emit an additional function that classifies the type of the object. It has been our experience that these auxiliary functions increase the size of the executable significantly when many
boost::function objects are used.
In Boost.Function, an alternative but equivalent approach was taken using free functions instead of virtual functions. The Boost.Function object essentially holds two pointers to make a valid target call: a void pointer to the function object it contains and a void pointer to an "invoker" that can call the function object, given the function pointer. This invoker function performs the argument and return value conversions Boost.Function provides. A third pointer points to a free function called the "manager", which handles the cloning and destruction of function objects. The scheme is typesafe because the only functions that actually handle the function object, the invoker and the manager, are instantiated given the type of the function object, so they can safely cast the incoming void pointer (the function object pointer) to the appropriate type.
Many people were involved in the construction of this library. William Kempf, Jesse Jones and Karl Nelson were all extremely helpful in isolating an interface and scope for the library. John Maddock managed the formal review, and many reviewers gave excellent comments on interface, implementation, and documentation. Peter Dimov led us to the function declarator-based syntax.
Last revised: July 14, 2008 at 19:32:29 +0100
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Antidepressants make for sad fish
The drugs are becoming more common in river waters and can play dangerous head games with fish
By Janet Raloff
December 20th, 2008; Vol.174 #13 (p. 15) Link to Original (sciencenews.org)
Some hybrid striped bass exposed to Prozac eventually began hanging vertically in the water — a highly anomalous pose — and stopped eating.Clemson University’s Institute of Environmental Toxicology
TAMPA, Fla. — In the fish world, baby is just another word for lunch. So it behooves aquatic larvae to be ever vigilant. Yet those who as embryos or hatchlings encountered water polluted with trace concentrations of an antidepressant are much more likely to become lunch.
Tons of medicine ends up in the environment each year. Much has been excreted by patients. Leftover pills may also have been flushed down the toilet. Because water treatment plants were never designed to remove pharmaceuticals, water released into rivers by these plants generally carries a broad and diverse array of drug residues.
In 2006, a pair of chemists reported that antidepressants downstream of water treatment plants were making it into the brains of fish.
Meghan McGee of St. Cloud State University in Minnesota studies larval fathead minnows. Recently she set out to see whether exposure to specific antidepressants would affect the fish. Fish exposed as embryos or hatchlings to trace concentrations of the antidepressant venlafaxine, marketed as Effexor, didn’t react as quickly as normal to stimuli signaling a possible predator. This laid-back reaction could prove to be a “death sentence,” she observes.
McGee’s is one of many studies probing behavioral impacts on aquatic wildlife from pharmaceutical pollution, especially antidepressants. Emerging data from these studies were reported in Tampa, Fla. November 16-20 at the North American annual meeting of the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry, or SETAC. Overall, the studies show that antidepressants can impair a fish’s ability to eat, to avoid being eaten — and perhaps even to attract a mate.
“I was surprised how often I was seeing these antidepressants,” recalls Melissa Schultz of the College of Wooster in Ohio, one of the chemists who documented at a SETAC meeting in 2006 that antidepressants reach fish brains. “Pretty much any water sample in the vicinity of a wastewater treatment plant will test positive for some group of antidepressants,” she finds.
The most common ones showing up in water: venlafaxine, bupropion — marketed as Wellbutrin, and citalopram — sold as Celexa. What showed up in fish brains were both the drugs and their metabolites, or breakdown products. “The most common ones we saw were metabolites of Prozac [fluoxetine] and Zoloft [sertraline],” Schultz says. The second most abundant were the parent compounds: Prozac and Zoloft. “So profiles of these drugs in the brain weren’t matching the profiles we were seeing in the water.” Why remains a mystery.
In their new study, the St. Cloud State researchers exposed minnows to venlafaxine alone or as a mix of four antidepressants and quantified how quickly fish reacted to a stimulus signaling a possible predator. For the stimulus, the researchers chose to send a vibration into the fish’s water. “My wife’s cell phone got hijacked for the task,” explains study leader Heiko Schoenfuss. An electronic chip that allowed the phone to vibrate was removed and placed beneath the dish in which each tiny hatchling was placed. Pressure sensors along the sides of fish naturally detect vibrations, which can signal an approaching big fish.
Incubating eggs were exposed to the drugs for five days before hatching, then the larvae spent 12 days in clean water before testing. In another set of experiments, new hatchlings swam in drugged waters for 12 days before encountering the chip's vibrations. McGee’s team selected antidepressant concentrations for this study based on values that had been measured downstream of water treatment plants.
Only venlafaxine slowed the time it took minnows to recognize and respond to the vibrations. The mix of antidepressants slowed the velocity at which fish fled. When the response time and swimming velocity were accounted for, the new study found that drugged fish reacted slowly to avoid predators. Untreated fish “responded about twice as fast as the pharmaceutically exposed larvae,” McGee says.
That wouldn’t be so bad if predators were comparably slowed by these similarly low concentrations of antidepressants — billionths of a gram per liter of water. But such nanogram concentrations of fluoxetine didn’t slow the speed at which hybrid striped bass scarf down fathead minnows, according to preliminary data reported at this year's SETAC meeting by Joseph Bisesi Jr. and his colleagues at Clemson University’s Institute of Environmental Toxicology in Pendleton, S.C.
To see what concentrations would affect feeding, Bisesi’s group upped water concentrations to between 10 and 40 micrograms per liter — values 100 to 1,000 times higher than needed to affect minnow-escape responses in the St. Cloud study. Only then did some of the normally aggressive and hungry bass start to lose their voracious appetites.
Each bass was offered four minnows once every three days. Any not eaten in 25 minutes were removed. Prior to drug exposures, young-adult bass quickly devoured prey, sometimes all four within 10 seconds, Bisesi notes. But six days into a 27-day exposure to fluoxetine, several fish in the higher concentration groups began to show behavior changes. Some waited a minute or two before going after their first fish. Some spit a minnow out after capturing it or failed to eat more than two. A few developed severely aberrant swimming patterns — such as hanging vertically in the water or resting at the surface, dorsal fin exposed — as minnows cavorted beneath them.
Many of the antidepressants in these tests work in people by altering levels of serotonin, a neurotransmitter, in the brain. However, Schoenfuss reported at SETAC that fluoxetine also functions like an estrogen — at least in adult male fathead minnows. It triggered the minnows’ production of vitellogenin, a yolk protein normally made only by egg-laying females. The drug also diminished the macho facial bumps and coloration that females prize in their mates.
So clearly these drugs may have multiple modes of action, Schoenfuss says, particularly “once they enter the water and are taken up by nontarget organisms” — like fish. Ironically, his feminized male minnows actually proved more aggressive at guarding nests than did unexposed males. Joanne Parrott of Environment Canada and her colleagues reported at the meeting on a similar boost in males’ nest-protecting aggression among fathead minnows exposed to venlafaxine.
Of course, all these experiments are quite artificial. Explains Schultz: “When a fish is exposed to wastewater, it’s not just getting a dose of antidepressants, it’s also encountering lots of other things” — including other drugs. In the future, she says, “we’ll have to look at how these might all interact.”
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Unemployment is high everywhere, but it is hitting young people especially hard. Of the jobs available in this tough economy, most require a postsecondary degree, which can be very costly. Young people have difficulty covering all of life’s expenses, much less paying for school.
What can we do to help our young people succeed? We must find ways to keep a postsecondary education affordable, and we owe it to our young people to help more of them be successful. Poverty in America is increasing, and education is the most reliable and consistent way to avoid that fate.
For millions of Americans, our community colleges are a proven pathway to the middle class. And, that’s why, even in spite of the challenges we face, I’m optimistic for the future of America.
Community colleges are uniquely structured to help today’s student. They come to college with life challenges – work, families, academics – that make it difficult to complete their studies. Happily, we are making progress in helping more of them achieve their dreams. Community colleges are smartly and nimbly attuned to the needs of their communities, and they have shown the world how to remove barriers to college for people who are otherwise shut out.
But we need to help more of these students successfully complete their educations – in America right now, barely 20 percent of community college students earn a degree within three years of enrolling.
To improve their success, we should be focused on three things. First, going to college must result in students gaining the knowledge and skills that help them launch a career. Second, barriers -- like increasing tuitions, schedules that conflict with work schedules, classes held in only brick-and-mortar locations, and inadequate support systems -- must be removed. Third, students must be engaged and motivated, and they must complete their programs with a valuable credential.
More students will complete their degrees at community colleges if we offer them solid support. For example, at Sinclair Community College we have found that a one week “boot camp” in math, reading, or writing provides just enough of a refresher that many students are now testing into college-level courses, thereby avoiding remedial classes and saving them time and money as they progress toward a degree. We have also found that counselors providing constant guidance throughout the academic term to at-risk students results in these students performing as well as all other students in the classroom.
Community colleges now serve more than 7 million students, and are surviving with extraordinarily meager resources. Yet we are virtually the only pathway from poverty to the middle class for many who seek it. For our working classes, and those on the edge of poverty, a high-quality, affordable, accessible education is their best shot at a better life for themselves and their families. We owe it to them to do all we can to make that experience a successful one.
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The Payoff From Globalization
The battle over the Central American Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA) recalls some familiar themes. The "modern" debate over trade barriers can be traced to the 19th century. Then as now, the debate has been dominated by special interests (land barons vs. merchants in the 19th century; the AFL-CIO vs. the Chamber of Commerce today). There is no question that trade liberalization creates winners and losers. Affected citizens and companies have every right to plead their case.
But Congress should consider how freer trade affects the nation as a whole. Since World War II the United States has led the international quest to liberalize world trade and investment. With leadership from the White House, Congress has slashed the simple average tariff rate from 40 percent in 1946 to 4 percent today, and other industrial nations have done much the same. After a half-century of steady liberalization it is fair to ask, what do Americans have to show?
As it turns out, quite a lot. Using four different methods, we estimate that the combination of shrinking distances -- thanks to container ships, telecommunications and other new technologies -- and lower political barriers to international trade and investment have generated an increase in U.S. income of roughly $1 trillion a year (measured in 2003 dollars), or about 10 percent of gross domestic product. This translates to a gain in annual income of about $10,000 per household.
Unfortunately for the cause of continued liberalization, Americans do not receive this money as a check marked "payoff from globalization." Instead, the payoff is hidden within familiar channels: fatter paychecks, lower prices and better product choices (compare the telephones available now with the standard black model of 1980).
Nevertheless, each of our four methods uncovers a large payoff. First, we parse international data that correlate the expansion of international trade with economic growth. This shows that the increase in U.S. income sparked by more intense trade equates to 13.2 percent of GDP. In the second method, we calculate how lower tariffs stimulate U.S. productivity through competitive forces and bring greater product choices to U.S. producers and consumers. The estimate for these benefits comes to 8.6 percent of GDP. Third, we draw on a computable general equilibrium model to suggest how today's economy would react to the restrictive Smoot-Hawley trading environment of the 1930s. That exercise indicates an estimate of 7.3 percent more in GDP from liberal trade. Finally, we calculate the productivity benefits arising from use of imported components and find a benefit of 9.6 percent of GDP. While none of the four estimates is perfect, the broad result is clear: The benefits of trade and investment liberalization are positive and large.
Given the large gains from past liberalization, and today's low tariffs and modest investment barriers, skeptical commentators might say, "Been there, done that." But our estimates of future policy liberalization alone (excluding likely benefits from better communications and transportation) indicate that a move from today's commercial environment to global free trade and investment could produce an additional $500 billion in U.S. income annually, or roughly $5,000 per household each year. Much of the benefit would come from sectors of the economy that were effectively ignored during earlier rounds of liberalization: services, agriculture, transportation and trade with developing countries. No single trade or investment agreement can confer the entire range of benefits on Americans; instead, the prize requires steady liberalization -- through agreements such as CAFTA and the World Trade Organization's Doha round, each providing a steppingstone toward the eventual goal.
Despite the huge payoff to the United States, maintaining political support for trade liberalization has never been easy. Poli Sci 101 gives the explanation: Large gains are widely dispersed, and much smaller private losses are highly concentrated. Surveying several estimates, we arrive at a middle-of-the-road figure of roughly 225,000 trade-related job losses per year. Most dislocated workers find new jobs in six months, many far sooner; but some are unemployed for an extended period. Even workers who are re-employed may face significant pay cuts. Taking these features into account, we estimate that the lifetime costs of a year's worth of trade-related job losses is roughly $54 billion, about $240,000 per affected worker. This is a huge loss on a personal level, but only about 5 percent of the annual national gains from liberalization. Moreover, a rough estimate of the adjustment costs to agricultural landowners suggests that the progressive removal of trade barriers and farm subsidies over a decade could lower agricultural land values by $27 billion a year. The strident opposition to CAFTA from sugar barons such as the Fanjul family confirms that this is a sensitive matter. Yet again, lower property values are a one-time private loss and a fraction of national gains.
America's national interest will best be served by staying the course of free trade and investment. At the same time, it is morally imperative to address private losses incurred by dislocated workers; as well, it may be politically necessary to cushion the blow to agricultural land values. The federal government spends less than $2 billion per year helping trade-dislocated workers. Over the past decade, the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development estimates that U.S. government policy has boosted domestic farm incomes by an average $40 billion per year through direct subsidies ($23 billion) and trade barriers ($17 billion). Given the enormous dividends from international trade, more should be done for workers forced to bear the burden of economic adjustment. Meanwhile, U.S. farm subsidies should be spent in ways that help farm owners adjust, rather than encouraging them to fight liberalization with all their political energy.
The writers are associated with the Institute for International Economics. An extensive version of this study is published in the institute's new book, "The United States and the World Economy."
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Researchers have found a new way to measure the pull of gravity at the surface of a star. For distant stars with planets orbiting them, this information is key in determining whether any of those planets can harbour life.
The new method is described in a study published today in Science Advances. The research was led by University of Vienna's Thomas Kallinger and involved UBC Professor Jaymie Matthews as well as astronomers from Germany, France and Australia.
Knowing the surface gravity of a star is essentially knowing how much you would weigh on that star. If stars had solid surfaces on which you could stand, then your weight would change from star to star. The Sun is hotter than a sauna, but don't expect to lose weight there. You'd weigh 20 times more than on Earth. A red giant star (the far-future fate of our Sun) has a much weaker pull at its surface, so you'd be 50 times lighter.
The new method allows scientists to measure surface gravity with an accuracy of about four per cent, for stars too distant and too faint to apply current techniques. Since surface gravity depends on the star's mass and radius (just as your weight on Earth depends on its mass and radius), this technique will enable astronomers to better gauge the masses and sizes of distant stars. It will play an exciting role in the study of planets beyond the Solar System, many so distant that even the basic properties of the stars they orbit can't be measured accurately.
"If you don't know the star, you don't know the planet," said study co-author, UBC Professor Jaymie Matthews. "The size of an exoplanet is measured relative to the size of its parent star. If you find a planet around a star that you think is Sun-like but is actually a giant, you may have fooled yourself into thinking you've found a habitable Earth-sized world. Our technique can tell you how big and bright is the star, and if a planet around it is the right size and temperature to have water oceans, and maybe life."
The new technique called the autocorrelation function timescale technique, or timescale technique for short, uses subtle variations in the brightness of distant stars recorded by satellites like Canada's MOST and NASA's Kepler missions.
Future space satellites will hunt for planets in the 'Goldilocks Zones' of their stars. Not too hot, not too cold, but just right for liquid water oceans and maybe life. Future exoplanet surveys will need the best possible information about the stars they search, if they're to correctly characterize any planets they find.
"The timescale technique is a simple but powerful tool that can be applied to the data from these searches to help understand the nature of stars like our Sun and to help find other planets like our Earth," said Kallinger, the study's lead author.
Jaymie Matthews, UBC Physics & Astronomy, Vancouver, Canada
Thomas Kallinger, University of Vienna, Austria
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There are some pretty old bonsai techniques which have been passed on through generations of bonsai artists.
Most of these techniques find their origin in Japan, where the art of bonsai got its modern day form. These are very useful in giving your bonsai a look of old age. Although your plant could be only 10 years old, but it will look like a much older plant.
This is technique which is used for recreating an image of natural damage and wear on a plant. Trees might have there branches broken during storms, or bigger branches might block the inner branches from receiving enough sunlight, making these branches die back.
Many bonsai artists take clue from nature, to create an impression of old age. To practice this on your plant, you need to carefully cut off a branch by making an incision into the branch using a branch cutter, and then use pliers to twist the branch of the plant. After removing the branch apply a good quality wood putty to seal of the exposed wood. This will protect the exposed part from fungal and insect attack.
In this technique you remove the bark from one side of the plant. This recreates the effect of bark die back which is usually found on old trees. To make a shari on your bonsai, first make an outline on the plant surface, clearly demarcating the area of the bark you want to cut. Then use a sharp edged knife to cut through the bark along the contours of the line you have already marked. After you have run through the outline, peel of the bark exposing live wood. Apply a good quality cut paste to seal the exposed parts.
The technique of promoting surface root formation, in a circular manner around the base of the plant is called as nebari. Many plants growing in the wild have such root padding, and this makes them look very mature and old, many bonsai artists use this technique to give a old age effect to their bonsai plants.
Many a times trees growing in the wild tend to have a hole in their trunk due to rot in the wood, or some other reasons, this make the trees look very old and mature. This is one of the bonsai techniques adopted by artists to recreate the impression of old age.
Another popular bonsai technique is carving. Use good quality tools like chisel and grinders and cutters to help you in carving out the bark from the surface of your tree.
Other bonsai techniques like creating splits and cuts on the plant, recreating an impression of root rot are also very popular amongst bonsai artists. To create the image of root rot, use a grinder to make a series of cut on the bark of the bonsai plant. Make the cut in downward motion of the grinder; this replicates the effect of root rot.
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Your middle back is made up of three main muscles: the latissimus dorsi, middle trapezius and rhomboids. Collectively, these muscles control the movements of your shoulder girdle and shoulder joints. Tight mid-back muscles are often the result of long periods of sitting, especially if you are working at a computer or driving. Stretching these muscles will help to maintain proper flexibility and may also reduce tension and prevent further discomfort. Stretch your middle back once or twice a day or whenever you feel your muscles begin to tighten up.
Warm muscles stretch more easily than cold ones, so spend a few minutes preparing your body for the exercises you intend to perform. Do 5 to 10 minutes of light cardio and mobilize your shoulder joints and mid and upper back by performing shoulder shrugs, arm circles and spine twists. Once you are warm, you can begin stretching. Hold each stretch for 10 to 20 seconds to maintain your current flexibility or 30 to 60 seconds to increase it. Only stretch to the point of mild discomfort and ease off if you feel any pain or your muscles begin to shake. Ease in and out of each stretch smoothly and gradually. Bouncing and jerky movements are not effective stretching methods.
The cat-cow pose is two yoga asanas, or exercises, rolled into one, which will stretch your mid-back muscles and also mobilize your spine. Kneel on all fours with your arms straight, your shoulders over your hands and your hips over your knees. Exhale and lift your middle back up toward the ceiling. Lower your head slightly and curl your pelvis under. Next, inhale and tilt your tailbone up to the ceiling, raise your head and arch your lower back to lower your chest and ribs toward the floor. Continue for three to five cycles.
Seated Mid-Back Stretch
This exercise can be performed just about anywhere, even sitting at your desk at work or school. Long periods of inactivity can leave your mid-back muscles feeling tight, so perform this exercise any time you feel tension building in your mid-back muscles. Clasp your hands together in front of you and raise them to shoulder height. Roll your shoulders forward and imagine you are spreading your shoulder blades apart. Hold for the desired duration and then relax. This exercise can also be performed in the standing position.
Monkey Lat Stretch
The monkey lat stretch uses gravity to stretch your back muscles and also decompress your spine. This stretch feels really good after a long day hunched over your desk or a heavy gym workout. Although it probably won't actually make you taller, it feels like it should. Grasp a sturdy overhead bar and bend your legs so your weight is supported by your arms only. Hang straight down for 20 to 60 seconds. Slowly transfer your weight back onto your feet -- don't just drop off the bar. If you are unable to safely support your weight with only your arms, use your feet to take some of your weight; you'll still get good results this way. This exercise can also be combined with a shrugging action to strengthen the muscles of your shoulders.
- George Doyle/Stockbyte/Getty Images
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On Friday, the world had its eyes focused on the big asteroid flyby. For weeks, we knew it was coming, and we watched it buzz by with mild curiosity. But, that same day, we were all caught off guard by a ten-ton meteorite that blasted into the Siberian town of Chelyabinsk, injuring 1,200 people and causing considerable structural damage. (Watch footage here.) This abrupt and unexpected event has given governments a reason to start taking the risk of asteroid impacts a bit more seriously. And it might renew interest in a tool created by scientists at Purdue University and Imperial College London in 2010.
In a nutshell, Impact: Earth! is an interactive tool that lets anyone calculate the damage a comet or asteroid would cause if it happened to collide with our planet. You can customize the size and speed of the incoming object, and then find out if mankind survives. (Usually it does.) A grainy primer appears below. You can enter the website and start running your own scenarios right here.
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The emperor Constantine permitted Christians to legally worship in the Roman Empire in 313 after 250 years of persecution. In 335, he erected the Church of the Holy Sepulcher at the site where Jesus’ tomb was believed to have been. Processions of pilgrims to the church, especially during Holy Week, began soon after its completion.
Devotions to the Way of the Cross began in earnest after 1342, when the Franciscan friars were given custody of the holy sites in the Holy Land. The Franciscans have been closely identified with the devotion ever since; for years, Church regulations required a set of the stations to be blessed by a Franciscan when possible.
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Lincoln High's significance to the black community
Like many interviewees who attended Lincoln High School, Peerman looks back on the school as a magical place: "This is almost like a church," she says. Lincoln, according to Peerman, prepared black students for life after school through strict discipline and rigorous academics. Activities like band and sports were rallying points for the black community.
Citing this Excerpt
Oral History Interview with Joanne Peerman, February 24, 2001. Interview K-0557. Southern Oral History Program Collection (#4007) in the Southern Oral History Program Collection, Southern Historical Collection, Wilson Library, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Full Text of the Excerpt
BG: I want to go back to the emotion that I saw on your face when you said Lincoln High School, there was a broad smile on your face and your eyes lit up. You don’t remember it. But it was very clear to me that Lincoln High School meant something to you, to the black community. Maybe you can address that—how you perceived Lincoln High School, how the black community perceived Lincoln High School.
JP: To me it was just one place for bettering one’s self. A lot of kids at that time may not have been able to go any higher than high school. So that may have been their last ( ) of academically bettering themselves. To get a high school diploma at that time was the ending point for a lot of black kids. So if you succeeded there, if you met all the rigors that all the teachers were putting you through—and they were tough, those teachers were tough! Even though I was never there, you could just see it in the yearbooks, and you could see it on the expressions on their faces, and you can see how students acted in their presence, how they would even stand up straight for anything, if they were around a teacher. It was just a place of excellence. When you go into Lincoln, you act like you got some sense. Don’t come in here with none of that street stuff. This is almost like church. It’s just a place of reverence, a place to get your act together and preparing for the outside world.
It was also a place for learning to play instruments, learning to use your voice and sing, learning to excel in athletics. It was a place for entertainment. Weekends, Friday nights you had games, either basketball, football, whatever the season is.
The basketball games were great. I remember the smell of popcorn in the air. Music playing in the background. It was just so festive. Everybody was happy at these athletic events. It was just parents and students and teachers and sisters and brothers, everybody sitting in the stands shouting and yelling. It was just a very community-bonding experience. It was great.
Even at the football stadium in Carrboro. It was that same feeling of community. All rooting for, you know, everybody happy, everybody on the same accord. No worrying about getting shot or checking on metal detectors.
And there was the smell of liquor in the air at those games. There were certain sections that you knew these men were rowdy and laughing and talking a little too much in between touchdowns. And there was the smoke hovering over the air from people smoking their cigarettes. But it was all in fun. You can tell everybody was enjoying in their own special way. Lincoln was a family. Lincoln was a family.
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A Decision Process for Examining the Possibility of Sending Communications to Extraterrestrial Civilizations
By John Billingham, M.D.
This open document is a proposal to begin serious international consultation on the controversy over whether groups or individuals should attempt deliberately to transmit electromagnetic signals from Earth to extraterrestrial civilizations, and whether such attempts have bearing on the long-term well-being and security of humankind. Following many years of preparation, the original version of this International Academy of Astronautics (IAA) Position Paper was approved by the IAA Board of Trustees in 1996, making the document a formal IAA Position Paper. The Position Paper was then endorsed by the Board of Directors of the Institute for Space Law (IISL).
Both organizations considered that the questions raised in the document were of sufficient import to warrant sending it to many nations with a request that they consider bringing it to the attention of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS) of the United Nations for further study, and possible action, on behalf of all humankind. In September of 1996, the IAA Position Paper was sent by the Academy to the sixty-three member states of COPUOS. Only seven responded. None was prepared to introduce the Paper as an item for discussion by COPUOS, although Australia said it would be willing to support any other nation that did.
In June of 2000, the Position Paper was presented by Jill Tarter, Chair of the IAA SETI Committee, and by officials of the IAA and the IISL, to COPUOS in Vienna. Subsequently, the General Assembly voted to approve the COPUOS report that included this presentation and the IAA Position Paper on which it was based. No further action will be taken on it until it is formally introduced as a COPUOS agenda item by a member state or states.
What follows below is the first revision of the Position Paper.
[image from Xenology: The Science of Asking Who's Out There]
This position paper outlines an approach to an international process for deciding whether and how to send a communication to an extraterrestrial civilization.
For forty-five years, humans have conducted searches for electromagnetic signals bearing evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence (ETI). Collectively, these efforts are known as the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI).
If SETI is successful in detecting unequivocal evidence of the existence of an extraterrestrial civilization, it will raise many new questions, prominent among which will be of whether and how humanity should attempt to communicate with the other civilization. How should that decision be made? What should be the content of such a message? Who should decide? The same questions apply to proposals that signals be transmitted by us in the hope that they might be detected by an extraterrestrial civilization, even though we have not detected their signals first.
The first section of this paper introduces the idea of extraterrestrial intelligent life, and describes our growing scientific and technological capabilities in SETI. The second section addresses the issue of humanity's sending a communication. The third section proposes the development of a Declaration of Principles concerning the sending of communications to ETI.
[image from "Those Eyes"]
I. The Science of SETI
Speculation about intelligent life on other worlds has a very long history, dating back at least as far as Classical Greece. The Copernican revolution, which displaced the Earth from the center of the universe, accelerated speculation about intelligent life elsewhere. Subsequent advances in astronomy and the study of evolution have made it seem more probable that life, including intelligent life, may be widespread in the universe. Elegant overviews of the history of the extraterrestrial life debate are available in books by Guthke and Dick . An excellent book on "Life in the Universe," now known also as astrobiology, has been recently been published by Bennett, Shostak, and Jakosky .
The central hypothesis of SETI is that we now have the means to discover evidence of the existence of ETI by detecting electromagnetic signals their society may transmit. In 1959, Giuseppi Cocconi and Philip Morrison, noting the existence of powerful radio telescopes, proposed that a search be made at frequencies near the hydrogen line (21 centimeters) . In 1960, the American radio astronomer Frank Drake independently carried out the first search using a radio telescope, aiming at two nearby stars . Since then, over 100 searches have been carried out by American, Russian, Canadian, French, German, Italian, Australian, and Argentinian astronomers, though without detecting credible evidence of ETI . Most searches to date have been carried out in the microwave region of the spectrum, but a few are in are in the optical region. For recent surveys of SETI activities, and plans for the future, see Tarter , and "SETI 2020: A Roadmap for the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence", by Ekers, et al. >
The last ten years have seen the astronomical discovery, mostly by Marcy and his colleagues , of over 100 extra-solar planets. Although none of these has been Earth-sized, it is reasonable to expect that further improvement in search technology will reveal terrestrial planets. Theories of the possible widespread distribution of extraterrestrial life and ETI would then be strengthened.
Within the radio spectrum, there is a region known as the free space microwave window, between 1 gigahertz and 60 gigahertz. This is the quietest region of the radio spectrum. It is the region in which it is easiest to detect a faint radio signal emanating from another civilization against the noise of the natural background. The 21-centimeter line is at the low frequency end of this window. Most radio searches for ETI have concentrated on this region of the radio spectrum.
While the scientific and technological sophistication of these searches has grown in recent years, the central strategy of SETI remains to listen. However, proposals also have been made to send our own signals in the hope that they will be detected by another civilization and will generate a response. Whichever strategy we pursue, our improving capabilities are making detection more likely.
A signal we detect could range from a simple carrier wave conveying little information to a message rich in information. We currently have no way of predicting what this information might include. The signal from ETI could have been transmitted to attract the attention of other civilizations, or, as eavesdroppers, we might overhear communications within their own solar system. It is conceivable that we might even intercept transmissions between two other civilizations. In any of these cases, we would know for the first time that we are not alone. Note that it is also possible that others might already have discovered us by detecting our own civilization's internal transmissions, for example, planetary or military radar signals, or by some other means.
In recent years, authors have addressed questions surrounding a putative discovery of ETI. Billingham reviewed possible actions following detection . D. Tarter considered response policy in the context of different complexities of a signal from ETI , and also interpreting and reporting on a discovery . Almar examined the consequences terms of different discovery scenarios . Societal implications were studied in some depth in a series of Workshops conducted by the SETI Institute on the cultural aspects of SETI and involving experts in the fields of sociology, psychology, anthropology, history, comparative religion, space law, the media, education, and the science of SETI . Almar and J. Tarter have constructed the "Rio Scale", as a measure of the broad significance of a detection depending on the circumstances of the discovery and on various characteristics of the signal .
If we detect the existence of ETI, our conception of the universe and our future as a species would surely change, as it did after the Copernican revolution.
Twenty years ago, the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics began discussing the question of what Humankind should do after a detection. One result of these exchanges was a series of papers in a Special Issue of Acta Astronautica, edited by J. Tarter and Michaud, entitled "SETI Post Detection Protocol" . The discussions also led to the formulation of a "Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence" (see Annex I, page 8, for full text). By 1992, that document, intended for voluntary agreement among researchers, had been endorsed by six international space and astronomy organizations. It also had the support of nearly all SETI scientists. While most of the principles in the Declaration deal with the dissemination of knowledge of the discovery, one principle deals with the question of sending a communication from Earth in response to the discovery.
[image from An Open Letter to Alien Lurkers]
II. Sending a Communication from Earth
Principle 8 of the Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence states that "No response to a signal or other evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence should be sent until appropriate international consultations have taken place. The procedures for such consultations will be the subject of a separate agreement, declaration, or arrangement".
This Position Paper proposes that separate instrument. It includes a draft Declaration of Principles Concerning Sending Communications to Extraterrestrial Civilizations. See Section III and Annex 2 below. Note that it applies to transmissions sent under two different conditions. The first is in response to a signal from ETI which we detect. The second deals with transmissions from Earth sent de novo, that is, in the absence of our having detected the existence of ETI. Transmissions under either condition have been contemplated or studied by a number of interested people across several decades, notably in the SETI Committee, now the SETI Permanent Study Group, of the IAA, and their colleagues in the IISL. These studies led to the Position Paper, now a formally approved IAA document, with endorsement from the IISL.
The detection of a signal from an extraterrestrial civilization would raise an important question: Should we humans send a message back to the civilization that we have detected, a "Response from Earth"? Proposals to send messages to attract the attention of other civilizations we have not yet detected (sometimes called "active SETI") raise essentially the same question. Lemarchand and J. Tarter, and others, have addressed the issue of whether we should send messages to civilizations we have not detected in the hope that they might detect us and respond . Active SETI is not just an academic discussion of some putative future event. In spite of the existence of the original version of this Position Paper since 1996, at least one transmission from Earth has already been sent, without international consultations having taken place .
The international context of transmissions from Earth has been discussed by several authors. In the mid-1980s, Goodman , and Ney , proposed international agreements on this issue, and Goldsmith suggested that the International Astronautical Federation and the International Astronomical Union create a committee to attempt to reach a consensus on an international "Reply from Earth" . Michaud et al. proposed that an agreement be developed creating an international process by which Humankind would decide whether and how to reply if a detection were made .
In 1956, Andrew Haley [22,23] coined the term "metalaw," to refer to the study and development of a workable system of laws that could be applied to all our relations with ETI. Fasan has derived eleven metalaws of postulated universal validity . Metalaw issues have been reviewed in a recent paper by Sterns .
However one chooses to address the issue of transmitting from Earth, an array of questions emerges. One is whether it is worth the expenditure of any significant effort to address the question now. It could be years, decades, or even centuries before we detect a signal, if we ever do. Despite this uncertainty, the fact remains that we could detect a signal in the near future, particularly because of the increased scale and sensitivity of SETI searches. Further, while the probability of detection is unknown, the consequences of success would be profound. It would therefore seem prudent now to begin the process proposed in this IAA Position Paper.
As we are discussing the potential for contact between civilizations with vastly different sets of technologies, cultural values, perceptions and capabilities, it would seem prudent to contemplate some guiding principles.
How should we go about it? Should we make a decision in advance of a detection that humanity should or should not send a message? Should we attempt to design a generic response, or should we wait until we have a signal to analyze? If we decide to send a message, what should be its content? Should humanity respond with one voice, or with many different messages from separate nations or organizations? Who should decide on the answers to these questions? How and by whom should the decisions be implemented?
The issues involved in sending messages to extraterrestrial civilizations raise profound philosophical and political questions. These questions are of such weight for the future of our own civilization that they merit extensive discussion in the years to come. Such discussions have begun. Michaud has asked "If Contact Occurs, Who Speaks for Earth?" . Michaud has also published a seminal paper on "Ten Decisions that could Shake the World" . Billingham has constructed decision trees that involve both scientific and societal questions and answers . Vakoch has published extensively on the content of messages that might be transmitted . In his "Dialogic Model", he has also argued for the representation of diversity in messages to extraterrestrials .
There is also the question of the institutional context for such discussions. Clearly, sending a message to another civilization is more than just a scientific research project. It is a broad policy question that should be addressed by policy bodies. The most universal of existing international policy bodies is the United Nations. Hence, it would seem appropriate for the issue to be addressed there, beginning with the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS). However, given their existing agendas of more politically pressing issues, United Nations bodies are unlikely to give much attention to SETI issues in advance of a confirmed evidence of the existence of ETI.
Initial steps have already been taken by interested non-governmental bodies. As a starting point, the IAA, in consultation with the IISL, developed, as part of this proposal (See III below), a draft declaration of principles for consideration by others. In the initial stages, this draft declaration could be a focal point for discussion rather than a finished, formal document. Many mechanisms can be used to stimulate discussion, including workshops, public debates, university seminars, and media coverage. This implies a long, complex process that is unlikely to produce a quick agreement. Given the magnitude of the questions involved, it will be important to allow time for the development of some degree of consensus.
In June of 2000, the original version of this IAA Position Paper was presented to COPUOS by the Chair of the IAA SETI Committee, Jill Tarter, and officials from the IAA and the IISL. The document was accepted without amendment. However, the substance of the document has not been discussed as a formal action item at a COPUOS meeting. For this to happen, one or more member States would have to introduce the Position Paper and its Draft Declaration of Principles as a formal action item on the COPUOS agenda. Any agreement resulting from these discussions might subsequently be pursued by COPUOS and the General Assembly as a draft for a statement of international policy.
Periodic reports or presentations by interested non-government bodies to the COPUOS would be useful to keep governments informed and to facilitate subsequent approval of a draft declaration. If evidence of the existence of ETI were confirmed, the COPUOS might be willing to devote more time and attention to the transmission issue and to texts.
[image from Professional Communications blog]
III. A Draft Declaration of Principles Concerning Sending Communications to Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Rather than trying to decide the substance of our decisions in advance, it may be more fruitful to focus on the process by which the human species as a whole might decide whether and how to send a message. It probably is premature to try to develop the text of a formal international agreement on the subject. However, this is not the only option. A technique used with some success in the United Nations system is to first address issues through the development of non-binding declarations of principles. For example, the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 originated from such a declaration. A declaration of principles could establish consensus on procedures enabling all humans, through appropriate representatives, to participate in the making of decisions on the sending of communications to an extraterrestrial civilization.
As a starting point for discussion, the draft agreement or declaration might include the following basic principles:
The decision on whether or not to send a message to extraterrestrial intelligence should be made by an appropriate international body, broadly representative of Humankind.
If a decision is made to send a message to extraterrestrial intelligence, it should be sent on behalf of all Humankind, rather than from individual States or groups.
The content of such a message should be developed through an appropriate international process, reflecting a broad consensus.
Annex 2 presents a proposed text of a declaration of principles on the sending of a communication to extraterrestrial intelligence. This is simply a draft, to be revised as necessary in later discussions. However, it provides a starting point for an important and intellectually exciting debate with potentially profound consequences.
Annex 1: Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Annex 2: Draft Declaration of Principles Concerning Sending Communications with Extraterrestrial Intelligence
Annex 1: DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES CONCERNING ACTIVITIES FOLLOWING THE DETECTION OF EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
This is a revision of a document intended as a series of guidelines for individuals or organizations, national or international, engaged in carrying out scientific searches for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). It deals primarily with steps to be taken after evidence is thought to have been identified, and subsequently after a detection has been unambiguously confirmed.
The Declaration was originally, and is now, intended as a basis for a voluntary compact among those engaged in SETI, rather than for a formal legal agreement between governments.
The original Declaration was developed during the 1980s by the SETI Committee of the International Academy of Astronautics, with the assistance of many experts interested in the issues involved. In April of 1989, it was approved by the Board of Trustees of the Academy, and also by the Board of Directors of the International Institute of Space Law. Over the next three years, it was endorsed by the Committee on Space Research, by the International Astronomical Union, by the members of Commission J of the Union Radio Scientifique Internationale, and by the International Astronautical Federation.
Annex 2: DRAFT DECLARATION OF PRINCIPLES CONCERNING THE SENDING OF COMMUNICATIONS TO EXTRATERRESTRIAL INTELLIGENCE
The Parties to this Declaration,
Recognizing that the scientific search for evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence is being conducted with increasingly effective means,
Acknowledging the possibility of discovering such evidence,
Recognizing the potentially profound importance of such a discovery for Humankind,
Noting the acceptance within the international scientific, legal, and diplomatic communities of the Declaration of Principles Concerning Activities Following the Detection of Extraterrestrial Intelligence, including procedures for the verification and announcement of evidence of extraterrestrial intelligence,
Noting the Report of the Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to the General Assembly of the United Nations of June 26, 2000, A/55/20, paras 16 and 157, whereby the Committee agreed that the Office for Outer Space Affairs retain a copy of the position paper on file for review, and that the issue of the international process relating to possible communication with any eventually discovered extraterrestrial civilization....should be given serious consideration in connection with the future work of the Committee and its Legal Subcommittee,
Conscious of the question of whether Humankind should send a communication in an active search for extraterrestrial intelligence, or in response to a verified detection of extraterrestrial intelligence,
Recognizing the scientific, legal, political, and technical issues to be considered in formulating and communicating a message to extraterrestrial intelligence,
Desiring to establish an orderly process for resolving such issues,
Agree to the following Principles:
Any message from Earth directed to extraterrestrial intelligence should be sent on behalf of all Humankind, rather than from individual States.
The content of such a message should reflect a careful concern for the broad interests and well-being of Humankind, and should be made available to the public in advance of transmission.
The content, formulation, and transmission of a message should draw on the knowledge of a wide variety of persons with relevant interests and expertise.
As the sending of a communication to extraterrestrial intelligence could lead to an exchange of communications separated by many years, consideration should be given to a long-term institutional framework for such communications.
No communication should be sent to extraterrestrial intelligence by any State until appropriate international consultations have taken place. States should not cooperate with attempts to communicate with extraterrestrial intelligence that do not conform to the Principles in this Declaration.
States should encourage governmental and non-governmental organizations to initiate international studies and discussions to consider the issues of sending a message to extraterrestrial civilizations.
These studies and discussions should be open to participation by all interested parties, should accommodate participation by qualified, interested individuals, organizations and groups that can provide diversity of opinion and multiple perspectives, and should be intended to lead to recommendations reflecting consensus.
States should urge the United Nations Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space to place on its agenda consideration of the issues to be examined in the sending of a message to extraterrestrial intelligence.
The Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space should report the results of these discussions to the United Nations General Assembly for appropriate consideration.
States should encourage the establishment by the United Nations Office of Outer Space Affairs of an international archive for the deposit of the record of the international deliberations and the content of any message to be sent to or received from extraterrestrial intelligence, which archive shall be open and available to researchers and other interested parties.
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Education is the most crucial tool to build one’s triumph. Parents and students should work together for this to attain success. Parents support is indeed a big help for the child to jump high on his aim. Apart from the vast necessities that a college learner vital to meet, especially when financial assistance is the subject, this must be one of the primary problem of parents to prop up their child if the salary is only adequate for their daily needs.
Financial issues of college education have been the difficulty of many. Therefore, thanks to government’s student loan programs, for what a great number of students in college thought that they have no chance to achieve their educational purposes, now they have accommodating solution.
But this is not only the issue to shore up by parents and students in higher education prerequisites; deciding which career to embark in is the second most important issue to mull over. Initially, for effective consideration, students need to distinguish:
What are the Academic Degrees?
The academic degrees are frequently calling for the initiation to work in plethora of career field, wherein most colleges and universities honor these upon completion of definite programs of study. Awarded by higher education institutions, one can pursue an academic degree for preparation in career, personal development, and of course to accomplish employment requirements.
For more information about academic degrees the most common of those conferred by institutions in higher education, according to gradation, is listed below:
1. Associate’s College Degree – is usually in a community colleges but it is also provided by 4-year universities. To complete this academic degree, 60 credit hours must be fulfill, which is normally required 2 years of study. Associate’s College Degrees are categorized with Arts, Science or Applied Science.
2. Bachelor’s College Degree – this is typically honored in all academic degrees. It requires a completion of no less than 120 semester hours. This 4-year undergraduate is important for any field of employment. This also stands as a requirement for graduate school. Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts are the 2 general bachelor’s degrees.
3. Master’s College Degree – ideal for professionals including the teachers, social workers, architect, and more, to hold a master’s academic degree; classified as MBA or Master of Business Administration, Master of Science and Master of Arts, though several are specialized, these normally took 2 to 4 year programs of study for completion.
4. Doctoral College Degree – is known to be the premier of all academic degrees. In most cases, this is the prerequisite of a definite career. The most common academic doctoral degrees are as follows that can be received in many disciplines:
(M.D.) for the Doctor of Medicine, (J.D.) for Juris Doctor, (Ph.D.) for Doctor of Philosophy
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Cashew cultivation and research in Malaysia.
Abdul Ghani, I. and Abdul Razak, A. (1979) Cashew cultivation and research in Malaysia. In: International Cashew Symposium, Mar. 1979, Coachin, Karalla, India.
Cashew, Anacardium occidentale is being grown extensively along the East Coast of West Malaysia. It is estimated that 3500 hectares are planted with Cashew plants. The area is covered with sandy bris soil where agriculture has not being able to establish itself. The growing of cashews provide raw materials for the setting up of processing plants, as well as opportunities for more employments. The cultivation of cashew have many problems. For example, the limiting factors affecting the yields are the poor fertility of the bris soil and the presence of mansoon an the East Coast. To make the matter worse, there is a shortage of harvesters at the peak of fruiting seasons. Many preliminary trials had been attempted by various agencies such as CIMA, MARDI and Department of Agriculture and Universities to solve some of the basic problems. In the past, there was a lack of inter-organisational research activities. The trend now is to have joint investigational work between various agencies with the hope of reducing duplication. The paper discusses the major problems of Cashew cultivation and some aspects of research in solving the problems.
Repository Staff Only: Edit item detail
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|Find College Courses and Degrees
A degree in English literature can open up many doors for graduates by developing their research, writing and communication skills as well as encouraging in them a high level of cultural literacy and critical sophistication. It will teach students those valuable transferable literary skills that will allow them to clearly express in oral and written form their ideas, arguments and how they feel. Subsequently the most popular choice of careers for graduates tend to be those that are based around areas where the understanding and marketing of language is required, such as; publishing, journalism, research, teaching, theatre, TV / Radio, public relations and advertising.
|Students will get the opportunity to study English from its origins in Anglo-Saxon England right through to the literature of the early 21st century. It provides them with opportunities to work on literature from many contemporary perspectives and gives them a exploratory and stimulating education in core modules. Many courses are very flexible and allow students a considerable amount of choice over which topics and periods they would like to concentrate on. Studies and lectures are geared towards encouraging students to become more questioning of written work, particularly when selecting, reviewing and arranging written material.
It is a subject that can inspire a person’s initiative, imagination and curiosity and is a unique opportunity for them to broaden their knowledge beyond the traditional boundaries of ‘English Literature’.
English literature degree overview
The programme aims to help students develop a good knowledge of literary studies, English syntax and the nature of Language. The degree will provide you with a good all round education in creative writing, poetry & prose as well as a introduction to English grammar through time.
Explore aspects of literary traditions, syntactic theory, sociolinguistics & the sociology of language. Whatever your chosen area of practise students will undertake some core and some optional modules, all of which will encourage innovation and creativity. You can broaden your knowledge with theatre trips, poetry readings, and workshop sessions.
Much of the learning and ideas will be gained through critical debate, individual discussion and consultation with staff. A English Literature degree course will encourage you to read widely and to think critically about writing and its contexts.
Students are encouraged to develop criticisms and theories for examination and discussion. They are also pushed towards developing specialist knowledge of the way literary and cultural texts have been produced over the centuries.
On a English literature degree course areas of study will include:
- English Historical Linguistics.
- Introduction to language acquisition.
- History of English.
- The relationship between literature and other media i.e. film, radio, television and journalism.
- Study a wide range of celebrated authors i.e. William Blake and Ted Hughes.
- Understanding the importance of children’s literature in development.
- The arts, past and present.
- Shakespeare text and performance.
- The nineteenth century novel.
- English literature across multiple cultures and historical periods.
- Romanticism, gender, post-colonialism and contemporary writing.
- Critical reading which is essential for studying literary texts.
- Interpreting drama and fiction.
- Reading contemporary literature.
- Classic realism and its decay.
- Contemporary literature in a global context.
- Renaissance literature.
- Looking at key literacy concepts such as form, structure and metaphor narrative.
- Examine adaptation, authorship and reviewing.
- The use of language in children's literature.
- How romantic writers championed and encouraged imagination.
- Linguistics and psycholinguistics.
- Sociolinguistics and the relationship between society and language.
- Tools for language analysis i.e. word-structure (morphology).
- Topics for discussion will include discussions on issues like ‘ Do men dominate conversation more than women?’.
- Modern and contemporary poetry.
- 18th-Century Literature 1750-1830.
- Modern prose.
- Bibliography, palaeography and theories of text.
- Gender and creativity.
- American literature.
- The field of words and metaphors.
- Literature, contexts and approaches.
- English as a world language.
- Introduction to text design
- Studying the way in which literature engages with other forms of culture.
- Medieval and Tudor literature.
- The literature of terror
Skills you will learn on a English literature degree course
- Gain a firm foundation in the necessary critical and theoretical skills required to analyse literary texts.
- Sophisticated reading skills.
- Modes of reading and practices of criticism.
- Methods and approaches.
- Developing your own intellectual independence.
- Improve your writing, research and analysis skills.
- The ability to express complex ideas and arguments.
- Developing imagination.
- How to structure arguments.
- Preparing and writing an essay.
- Bibliographic skills.
- How to use learning resources.
- Learning how to quickly and accurately describe, analyse and interpret primary data.
English literature personal statement
Below are some professionally written English literature personal statements. You can use these examples to gain an idea of how to structure and put together your own one. You are strongly advised not to copy or plagiarise them, instead use them as resources to inspire your own creative writing.
English literature personal statement example 1
"My love of the English language and literature has continued to grow since my childhood, this is primarily because I enjoy reading and writing, and have an active interest in culture, creativity and language. We all use language every day in almost everything that we do, by talking to people and explaining things about ourselves, or simply by listening. I feel that by studying it further I will be able to firstly better understand why and how we use language, and secondly learn a range of sophisticated methods that will help me to analyse the way language is used in both text or speech. Right now I am keen to study it at the highest academic levels.
It’s not just the personal enjoyment I get out of it that attracts me, I also realise that a English Degree is a qualification that is highly valued by many employers in various industries. As a graduate I will leave university with something that is both personally and academically valuable, and will demonstrates to potential employers that I have vital skills in communication and critical thought. The skills I will gain through studying English are marketable in many career areas, and a degree in this subject will definitely boost my employability. I feel it will prepare me to do anything, the analytical and communication skills I will learn can be used every day and anywhere.
All my academic and ‘work’ experiences to date have given me a comprehensive understanding of English literature, language, culture and history. I have become quiet good at ‘analysing’ literature and text, and using my skills to strengthen or construct discussions or arguments I am having. I have excellent communication skills, both in speech and in writing, and am able to use advanced literacy skills to communicate effectively in an appropriate style, and apply sustained written and oral arguments coherently and persuasively.
At college I explored the development of literature, from its ancient roots, right up to the present day. My tutors actively encouraged me to consider all sides of an argument, which I feel is invaluable to thinking broadly and to respecting others in the event of a disagreement. I learnt how to gather, sift, interpret and organise substantial quantities of diverse information in structured ways. I developed great organisational, analytical and critical thinking skills, all while having a great time with fellow students. The tutors were incredibly supportive in many ways and I left college with terrific memories. All in all the experience helped to further develop my academic knowledge and understanding of English, as well as enhance my ability to read properly and effectively.
To gain further practical experience I have recently taken to writing freelance articles for newspapers, magazines and online blogs. This experience has helped me to exercise independent thought and judgement, and handle information and arguments in a critical and self-reflective manner. I now consider myself to have a good writing style, and feel confident in writing product descriptions, articles, press releases and short narratives. I have good computer skills, can work quickly and accurately and am capable of working on my own initiative.
I want to study English at your university primarily because your institution has a reputation for attracting the best and brightest students, and allow me to be around people who are as passionate about English literature as I am. Your English school offers a huge range of modules to choose from, which ensures that I can choose subjects and modules that I am really interested in. Upon visiting your campus a couple of times, I found it to be a brilliant place in which to learn and develop whether you intended to continue to study or move on to the job market. To summarise I feel that a degree from a reputable university such as yours is an excellent start to any future career. My motto is ‘you never know what you are capable of until you try it’, with this closing statement I would like to thank you for taking the time to read my personal statement, and I hope you will look favourably on my application."
English literature personal statement example 2
"I have chosen to study English Literature because I don’t as yet have a clear idea of what career I want to enter and feel it is a subject that will give me plenty of options after my education has ended. Furthermore I believe that it will provide me with the basis for the kind of innovative thinking necessary in any job as well as give me a broad range of transferable skills that many employers would appreciate.
The one thing that I really enjoy doing and would never get tired of is reading and am constantly looking out for stimulating and thought-provoking material. It was therefore only natural that I drifted towards studying English Literature at college. That experience gave me an excellent introduction to the world of academia, as well as wetting my appetite for the subject by enabling me to fully see the many literary issues and themes that were available for research, discussion and analysis. College also made me realize just how valuable good writing, researching and presentation skills are to communicating and finding employment.
I am currently looking for a university where modules are taught in a atmosphere of discussion and where independent thought and contribution is encouraged and valued. It is for these reasons that I have chosen to further my studies at your university and also because of its good academic environment and strong professional reputation. Since my first prospective email right through to when I attended your open day (where I walked around and talked to staff) I realised that your institution had a warm and welcoming environment and was a intellectually stimulating place in which to be a undergraduate. I was also pleased to discover that although it is a big university, it's very easy to get around. I firmly believe that your university is the place to be for anyone with a serious interest in English literature."
More English literature personal statement examples
University interview questions
Why do you want to enrol on a English literature degree course?
- I have never become tired of reading and writing and want to bring these two passions of mine up to a professional standard.
- My long term ambition is to become a professional writer, therefore obtaining this degree is a necessary first step towards reaching my goal.
What made you apply to our university?
- It’s a very diverse environment and there are all sorts of student societies to get involved in, these are factors that greatly appeal to me.
- I like the fact that your courses can be individually tailored allowing them to encompass areas of personal interest.
- You library contains a huge reference only collection of books, which means that I do not have to buy every single book that I need for my studies.
How long will a English literature degree course last?
Fully time courses are generally speaking last for three years.
More online degrees
Online degree courses
Online English degree course
Introduction to graduate fasttrack schemes
Student loan company
UCAS personal statement
University interview questions
More useful career links
A English teachers job description
English teacher CV template
Part time language courses
Evening English courses London
Evening language courses London
French evening classes London
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A 1904 W.S. Nott, horse drawn, steam operated, fire engine was involved with gold mining in Freedom around 1930. But that is jumping to the middle of the story.
“This steamer was purchased by [the city of] Spokane in 1904,” said Guy Haynes of Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue in Oregon. Haynes spent his life working as a fireman and now is focused on preserving fire fighting history.
“It was put to work immediately fighting fires and saving lives,” he said. “It could pump a lot of water.”
According to Haynes, most of the new steamers in 1904 did not have a long life on the front line of fire service. The country was transitioning from teams of horses to horse power under the hood.
“The first motorized fire engines began showing up around 1910,” he said.
According to Haynes, the old 558 had some serious power when it came to fighting fires. Engine 558 remained in service in the City of Spokane until 1920, making fire runs right alongside its more modern counterparts for a number of years because it could pump so much water.
That’s when the story of the little fire engine that could begins to get a bit hazy, according to Haynes.
“In 1930 it was reported to be on sight of a gold mining operation at Freedom, being used to pump water for placer basins,” he said. “It was identified by the Number 558 production number which is displayed in plain sight as a part of the machinery casting.”
The trouble is, no written history or pictures of the engine in use at the mining operation in Star Valley have been discovered.
“This Nott steamer was capable of pumping 900 gallons per minute, close to some of today’s fire engines,” said Haynes.
From Star Valley, the engine made its way to Lewiston, Idaho, Haynes said. The machine was discovered in a wrecking yard by a family interested in collecting horse drawn equipment.
“A family who owned a collection of horse drawn carts, wagons and equipment from the 1800’s noted seeing the 558 Nott in 1936 in a wrecking yard in Lewiston, Idaho,” Haynes said. “After seeing it several times over the years they purchased the Nott in 1952 from that yard.”
The family begin working to restore the piece. They cleaned the old 558 for display in their own collection. That collection eventually ended up in the Yakima Valley Museum in Washington.
“It was displayed in an indoor setting at the museum,” said Haynes. “In 1972 the museum sold off the Nott along with other displays.”
“Over the next few years the old 558 was meticulously restored to an incredible degree and was recertified to pump water,” said Haynes. “It now is the new old Number 558.”
Last year the Curtis Family donated the piece to the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue. The donation was given in honor of Myron’s son, Milo, who served as a fire fighter for the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue until his retirement.
According to Haynes, the steam engine is now on display in a museum and the search is on to find the missing pieces of the old engine’s life story.
“The Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue is excited to have this fire engine for public display,” he said. “We are interested in displaying the detailed true story of this piece of equipment.”
Haynes is eagerly seeking any information from the Star Valley area regarding Engine 558.
“The Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue is very excited to correctly document this fire engines history and especially the Freedom part of that history,” he said. “If you have any knowledge or pictures of the 558 in action in Freedom please contact the Star Valley Independent.”
Editor’s Note: Any information received regarding Engine 558 will be passed along to the Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue and/or Guy Haynes for inclusion in the history of the fire engine at the museum.
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A nanite was a microscopic molecular machine, a form of nanotechnology. Nanites had a variety of uses, such as in medicine, to alter or manipulate the inside of living cells.
Weapons and defencesEdit
The Borg Collective made use of nanites on their Diamond vessels as a method of disrupting enemy communication and computer systems. These nanites were injected into an enemy ship where they began to scramble the computer interface, causing chaos on the target vessels. (TNG video game: Armada)
- This served as a special ability among the Borg Diamond which, when used, caused the interface to move randomly across the screen making it difficult to issue commands to an infected unit.
The Heran Modality deployed nanites all over their homeworld of Hera, which worked as a method of suppressing enemy ground weaponry. This worked by the nanites affecting the power linkages of the weapons, making them useless in a battle on the planet, thus forcing invaders to make use of simpler methods to combat the Heran defense forces. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
In the mirror universe, the Obsidian Order developed a way to use nanites as passive recording devices, to spy by secretly recording conversations. The Order's research and development team developed a way to deploy them, using miniature particle ejectors containing programmable cylinders containing thousands of nanites. These nanites were capable of recording through tissue from inside the lungs or intestines of a living being with some being capable of clinging to a target's hair or clothes for a day or so. Once loaded into the ejector, it was a simple matter to implant the machine to the users lips. After which, a certain amount of pressure activated the nanites which blew towards the target and recording everything relating to them. They were capable of being remotely triggered at a later time and once they were retrieved, it was possible to gain an entire day's worth of conversations from the machines as they worked together for redundancy.
The head of the Order, Enabran Tain, planned on using this technology on Gul Skrain Dukat in order to learn his secrets so that Tain could destroy his career. At the time, Tain did not share any of the secrets of the technology within the rest of the Klingon-Cardassian Alliance or even his own government. (DS9 novel: Dark Passions)
The short lived Borg-Romulan alliance made use of nanites that were not constructed from Borg technology to help regenerate the body of James Tiberius Kirk as a plot to use him against the Federation. (TOS novel: The Return)
Nanites were responsible for the legendary healing properties of the Ilaiyen Archipelago. This nanotechnology had been given to the Ilaiyenai by extra-planetary explorers sometime prior to or during the 13th century. (TOS - Constellations short story: "As Others See Us")
In 2366, Wesley Crusher experimented with nanites, causing them to evolve into sentience. After threatening the computer core of the USS Enterprise, these nanites were transported to planet Kavis Alpha IV to create their own civilization. (TNG episode: "Evolution")
In 2367, use of the nanites to defeat the Borg was blocked because a case was brought before the Federation to prevent their use without their consent (TNG novel: Vendetta) (Geordi Laforge: "The nanites have lawyers?!")
That same year, Elias Vaughn and Ruriko Tenmei used trillions of nanites to find and unwrite the code of Cren Veruda's artificial intelligence, which the Borg had found at Uridi'si. (DS9 - Mission Gamma novel: Lesser Evil)
In 2370, during the invasion of the Heran homeworld, the Klingon and Federation forces discovered their hand-held energy weapons to be useless due to the Heran use of nanites. (TNG novel: Infiltrator)
In 2376, Simon Tarses used medical nanites to treat injuries that Ro Laren suffered after Taran'atar's attack. They were able to limit the genetronic matrix's activity at the molecular level and prevented accidental metastasization. (DS9 novel: Warpath)
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UT’s Ramki Kalyanaraman spoke to a leading journal about a breakthrough in thin films.
Ramki Kalyanaraman News
Phones, tablets, computers, and even televisions use touchscreen technology, which relies on substances that contain rare and costly elements. Now, thanks to a breakthrough led by UT’s College of Engineering and Oak Ridge National Laboratory, that problem could soon be in the past.
The phrase “cloaked in secrecy” can often be used to describe research projects, but thanks to breakthroughs in the College of Engineering, optical cloaking is no longer just the domain of science fiction.
Two College of Engineering faculty members have received an honorable mention for their entry in the 2013 “Create the Future” sustainable-technology design contest. Their patent-pending design is for an ultra-light, high-efficiency solar fiber, with the aim of creating fabric and clothing that would convert light into energy.
Imagine a material that could make most everything around you more energy efficient. Its development is underway at UT. Ramki Kalyanaraman and Gerd Duscher, associate professors in the Department of Materials Science are designing an ultra-light, high-efficiency solar fiber with the aim of creating fabric and clothing that would convert light into energy. Metal filaments within the fibers allow the energy to be sent to batteries or other devices.
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Maryville College's Good Wood
McCall says he wants to do an energy study of the plant's efficiency, to find out exact costs. He would like to recruit graduate students to come and do the study for a thesis project.
McCall further explains that burning wood is also okay for the environment and its carbon dioxide emissions are in line with the 1990 Clean Air Act. "Wood has no chemical residues, like coal, and it does not produce hydrocarbon pollutants like coal and oil," he says. "And gas is not renewable nor does it get rid of waste that would find its way to the landfill, like burning wood remnants does." McCall says that energy officials have told him that if you look at the smokestack and see nothing but heat waves coming out, the wood is burning clean. If you don't see visible particulates - smoke - then it's okay. "Also, if the furnace is well maintained, the wood will burn clean," he adds.
That's not to say that burning wood does not pollute. Dr. Carol Norman, environmental engineering researcher at the University of Tennessee, says it's true that burning wood doesn't produce the dangerous sulfur emissions that contribute to acid rain formation like coal and oil, but burning wood does have its share of pollutants. Nitrogen is emitted, as it is when burning coal and oil, and some particulate matter from ashes of the burned wood. She explains that whether burning wood is good or bad for the environment depends on the area of the country and what pollutants are in that area.
But Norman does agree that using a renewable energy source, such as wood, is a good idea.
Maryville College is ideally situated in Maryville, Tenn., between the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and Knoxville, the state's third largest city. Founded in 1819, it is the 12th oldest institution of higher learning in the South and maintains an affiliation with the Presbyterian Church (USA). Known for offering its students a rigorous and highly personal experience that includes an undergraduate research requirement, Maryville College is a nationally ranked institution of higher learning that successfully joins the liberal arts and professional preparation. Total enrollment for the fall 2015 semester was 1,213.
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By Stephanie Stahl
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – Philadelphia’s fight against childhood obesity is paying off. While it’s still a huge problem, students are losing weight, especially minorities which is a first. 3 On Your Side Health Reporter Stephanie Stahl has more on the new report.
Childhood obesity rates are going down in Philadelphia schools, according to new research. The biggest drops were seen among African Americans and Hispanics, which have the highest obesity rates.
Recent changes in Philadelphia school cafeterias appear to be paying off. There’s lower fat milk, no more sugary drinks or deep fried food.
The new CDC journal study says there’s been a five percent decline in childhood obesity rates between 2006 and 2010.
“We’re pleased that our children may have the opportunity to not suffer as much as we were afraid kids would, with growing rages of obesity. Maybe we’ve begun to turn a corner,” said Dr. Donald Schwarz, the Philadelphia Health Commissioner.
He says the study covered 120,000 students between the ages of five to 18.
The study also found an eight percent decrease among African American boys and a seven percent decrease among Hispanic girls. Philadelphia minority students are the only ones in the country who are losing weight.
“Philadelphia is the first to report that, first to see it, so we’re excited,” said Dr. Schwarz.
Dr. Schwarz hopes the new Get Fit Philly campaign, which includes selling fresh produce in corner stores, adding more bike lanes, and offering farmers markets, that take food stamps, throughout the city will soon show even greater progress.
“Making people aware of obesity and then providing people with the opportunity to control their weight by exercise and better diet we think could make a substantial difference to the rates of obesity in Philadelphia,” said Dr. Schwarz.
Studies show obesity puts children at risk for conditions including high cholesterol, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
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Research has been continually held to track the added sugar consumption in this country. These stats refer to extra sugar used to sweeten foods, not naturally occurring sugars like fructose in fruit. One of the biggest culprits of added sugar consumption is found in soda. The quarter drop in sugar consumption was due majorly to the decrease in soda consumption.
The experts believe that the initiatives to remove sodas and sweetened drinks from schools had a large effect on the numbers. Also, the multiple campaigns to make consumers aware of the extreme amounts of sugar in small amounts of soda are believed to have been effective.
The study also leads the experts to believe that people were simply not able to afford as many calories as they were in previous years due to the economy. Hopefully, as the recession ends, this will be one number that will stay low and not increase.
While the overall sugar consumption number decreased, it’s important to note how the sales of energy drinks increased during the study.
And in the same vein, while it’s a good thing that the overall number dropped, health experts still say it’s not good enough. The amount of sugar that most are consuming is nearly 15% of our diets. And furthermore, the study may be deceiving as it did not include fruit juice or juice concentrate as food and drink sweeteners. These items contain high amounts of sugar and are used in many products.
It’s clear that there are still many hurdles to jump before the country can truly claim victory over added sugar consumption. However, as every other number regarding our terrible health seems to climb, it is nice to see a decrease, even if it is a small one.
Via: Yahoo! News
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Banking in Switzerland is characterised by stability, privacy and protection of clients' assets and information. The country's tradition of bank secrecy, which dates to the Middle Ages, was first codified in a 1934 law. All banks in Switzerland are regulated by Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA), which derives its authority from a series of federal statutes.
Switzerland is a prosperous nation with a gross domestic product (GDP) higher than that of some larger western European nations. In addition, the value of the Swiss franc (CHF) has been relatively stable compared to that of other currencies. In 2003, the financial sector comprised an estimated 14% of Switzerland's GDP and employed approximately 180,000 people (110,000 of whom work in the banking sector); this represents about 5.6% of the total Swiss workforce.
Swiss neutrality and national sovereignty, long recognized by foreign nations, have fostered a stable environment in which the banking sector was able to develop and thrive. Switzerland has maintained neutrality through both World Wars, is not a member of the European Union, and was not even a member of the United Nations until 2002.
Currently an estimated one-third of all funds held outside the country of origin (sometimes called "offshore" funds) are kept in Switzerland. In 2001 Swiss banks managed US$ 2.6 trillion. The following year they handled US$400 billion less which has been attributed to both a bear market and stricter regulations on Swiss banking. By 2007 this figure has risen to roughly 6.7 trillion Swiss francs (US$5.7 trillion).
The Bank of International Settlements, an organization that facilitates cooperation among the world's central banks, is headquartered in the city of Basel. Founded in 1930, the BIS chose to locate in Switzerland because of the country's neutrality, which was important to an organization founded by countries that had been on both sides of World War I.
Foreign banks operating in Switzerland manage 870 billion Swiss francs worth of assets (as of May 2006).
The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) is a public law institution that supervises most banking-related activities as well as securities markets and investment funds. Regulatory authority is derived from the Swiss Financial Market Supervision Act (FINMASA) and Article 98 of the Swiss Federal Constitution.
The office of the Swiss Banking Ombudsman, founded in 1993, is sponsored by the Swiss Banking Ombudsman Foundation, which was established by the Swiss Bankers Association. The ombudsman's services, which are offered free of charge, include mediation and assistance to persons searching for dormant assets. The ombudsman handles about 1,500 complaints raised against banks yearly.
The Swiss Parliament passed the Banking Law of 1934, which codified the rules of secrecy and criminalizes violation of it. The secrecy provisions were not included in the first draft of the law, which mainly concerned administrative matters such as bank supervision. The provisions, found in Article 47(b), were added before passage of the bill due to Nazi authorities' attempts to investigate the assets of Jews and "enemies of the state" held in Switzerland.
Swiss banks, as well as the post office (which handles some financial transactions) use an electronic payments system known as Swiss Interbank Clearing (SIC). The system is supervised by the Swiss National Bank and is operated via a joint venture. SIC handled over 250 million transactions in 2005, with a turnover value of 41 trillion Swiss francs.
As of 2006, there are 408 authorized banks and securities dealers in Switzerland, ranging from the "Two Big Banks" down to small banks serving the needs of a single community or a few special clients.
UBS AG and Credit Suisse are respectively the largest and second largest Swiss banks and account for over 50% of all deposits in Switzerland; each has extensive branch networks throughout the country and most international centres.
Due to their size and complexity, UBS and Credit Suisse are subject to an extra degree of supervision from the Federal Banking Commission.
UBS came into existence in June 1998, when Union Bank of Switzerland, founded in 1862, and Swiss Bank Corporation, founded in 1872, merged. Headquartered in Zürich and Basel, it is Switzerland's largest bank. It maintains seven main offices around the world (four in the United States and one each in London, Tokyo, and Hong Kong) and branches on five continents.
UBS has used the slogan "You & Us" in their marketing communication. The slogan aims to highlight the firm's client-based approach. Source: UBS branding
Credit Suisse is the second-largest Swiss bank. Based in Zürich, it was founded in 1856; its market capitalization (as of 2007) is $95.2 billion, and the company has about 40,000 employees. Credit Suisse Group offers private banking, investment banking and asset management services. It acquired The First Boston Corporation in 1988 and merged with the Winterthur insurance company in 1997; the latter was sold to AXA in 2006. The asset management services were sold to Aberdeen Asset Management in 2008 during the GFC
The Swiss National Bank (SNB) serves as the country's central bank. Founded by the Federal Act on the Swiss National Bank (16 January 1906), it began conducting business on 20 June 1907. Its shares are publicly traded, and are held by the cantons, cantonal banks, and individual investors; the federal government does not hold any shares. Although a central bank often has regulatory authority over the country's banking system, the SNB does not; regulation is solely the role of the Federal Banking Commission.
The term private bank refers to a bank that offers private banking services and in its legal form is a partnership. The first private banks were created in St. Gallen in the mid 1700s and in Geneva in the late 1700s as partnerships, and some are still in the hands of the original families such as Hottinger and Mirabaud. In Switzerland, such private banks are called private bankers (a protected term) to distinguish them from the other private banks which are typically shared corporations.
There are, as of 2006, 24 cantonal banks; these banks are state-guaranteed semi-governmental organizations controlled by one of Switzerland's 26 cantons that engage in all banking businesses. The largest cantonal bank, the Zürich Cantonal Bank, had a 2005 net income of CHF 810 million.
Swiss bank secrecy does not protect private banking information; the protections afforded under Swiss law are similar to confidentiality protections between doctors and patients or lawyers and their clients. The Swiss government views the right to privacy as a fundamental principle that should be protected by all democratic countries. While secrecy is protected, in practice all bank accounts are linked to an identified individual, and a prosecutor or judge may issue a "lifting order" in order to grant law enforcement access to information relevant to a criminal investigation.
Swiss law distinguishes between tax evasion (non-reporting of income) and tax fraud (active deception). International legal assistance is only granted with respect to tax fraud. In domestic prosecutions, banking secrecy may be lifted by court order in cases of tax fraud or particularly severe cases of tax evasion.
In 2001 and 2002, an amnesty was offered by the government of Italy in which taxes and penalties on repatriated funds were limited on funds repatriated from Switzerland; 30 to 35 billion euros worth of deposits were returned to Italy. In 2003, a similar amnesty was approved by the government of Germany.
Swiss bank accounts cannot be opened without the holder signing a legal document asserting that they have no outstanding financial obligations to the IRS. Despite this, Swiss banks have been criticized for improperly shielding individuals practicing tax evasion. Because only tax fraud (actively lying to authorities) is a crime in Switzerland, while tax evasion (passively neglecting to report income) is not, it is believed that many tax evaders have been able to take advantage of the Swiss privacy provisions.
In January 2003, the United States Department of Treasury announced a new information-sharing agreement under the already extant U.S.-Swiss Income Tax Convention; the agreement was intended to facilitate more effective tax information exchange between the two countries. However, Swiss policy has continued to come under international criticism, and in March 2009 Switzerland agreed to renegotiate more effective tax cooperation with the United States and other countries.
There are several measures in place to counter money laundering. The Money Laundering Act sets forth requirements of account holders' identification, and requires reporting of any suspicious transactions to the Money Laundering Reporting Office.
According to the CIA World Factbook, Switzerland is "a major international financial center vulnerable to the layering and integration stages of money laundering; despite significant legislation and reporting requirements, secrecy rules persist and nonresidents are permitted to conduct business through offshore entities and various intermediaries..." However, Switzerland's cooperation in transnational financial issues has been praised by several major U.S. officials. A Federal Bureau of Investigation anti-terrorism official noted that Switzerland was one of several countries to participate in joint task forces targeting financing of Al-Qaeda terrorist cells; a former Assistant Secretary of the Treasury praised Swiss cooperation and the country's assistance in the finding and freezing of terrorist and Iraqi assets.
Some bank accounts are afforded an extra degree of privacy. Information concerning such accounts, known as numbered accounts, is restricted to senior bank officers, rather than being accessible to all the employees of a bank. However, the information required to open such an account is no different from that of an ordinary account; completely anonymous accounts are not allowed by law. Should a criminal investigation take place, law enforcement has access to information related to a numbered account in the same way it has access to information about any other account.
Several inquiries have been made into the conduct of Swiss banks during the Nazi Germany period (1933–1945), especially regarding funds deposited by or stolen from victims of the Holocaust. The campaign causing the highest outlays ($1.25 billion in 1999) on the part of the Swiss banking industry as of 2009 was the World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks launched by Edgar Bronfman, president of the World Jewish Congress, in concert with US Senator Alfonse d'Amato of New York.
In October 1996, as this campaign was underway, Swiss ambassador to the United States Carlo Jagmetti admitted that some banks prevented Holocaust survivors from accessing their funds, although he disputed the amounts claimed in lawsuits by survivors. Union Bank of Switzerland security guard Christoph Meili became a prominent whistleblower when he removed Holocaust-era records from the bank and alleged that records of accounts of Holocaust victims were being destroyed (see main article on Meili).
In 1998, an international panel of historians released a study that claimed a significant amount of gold had been stolen from Holocaust victims, as well as the treasuries of conquered countries, and deposited in the Swiss National Bank. The panel found that, despite evidence of theft and wrongful acquisition of the gold, the SNB continued to accept the deposits. In 2000, Judge Edward R. Korman of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York approved a US$1.25 billion settlement between several Swiss banks and the plaintiffs, a group of Jewish organizations.
An estimated 50,000 accounts in Switzerland were opened by victims during the Nazi era; some banks refused to make payments to victims' families because of the lack of death certificates. However, an article published on October 13, 2001 in The Times of London reported that the tribunal entrusted with tracing Holocaust era accounts found that only 200 of the 5,570 abandoned foreign accounts in question, containing about $12 million, could be traced back to Holocaust victims; most of the abandoned accounts were owned by wealthy gentiles, and half the accounts contained less than 1,000 francs.
With recent changes in the Swiss bank secrecy regime, other states, such as Singapore, have attracted depositors seeking privacy and protection. Having taken steps to make its banks more attractive, Singapore strengthened penalties for violators of bank secrecy (and now imposes steeper fines and longer jail sentences for offenders), and modified its laws on trusts and inheritance. Singapore is also now the location of Credit Suisse's international banking headquarters.
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| 0.964819 | 2,490 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Haldane, J.B.S. 1964. A defense of beanbag genetics. Perspectives
in Biology and Medicine
Mayr, E. 1959. Where Are We? Cold Spring Harbor Symp. Quant. Biol
. 24. pp1-14.
Introduction for students
This exercise illustrates the phenomenon of sampling error, which is the
mechanism whereby genetic drift changes allele frequencies in populations.
In this example a haploid model is used for simplicity. This exercise is
designed to accompany an in-class discussion of genetic drift.
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Title: Soil microbiology under drought stress Author
Submitted to: Acres USA
Publication Type: Popular Publication
Publication Acceptance Date: September 20, 2012
Publication Date: October 1, 2012
Citation: Kremer, R.J. 2012. Soil microbiology under drought stress. Acres USA. 42(10):18-21. Technical Abstract: he severity of the 2012 drought affecting much of the Midwestern U.S. is readily observed in the extremely stressed conditions of crops and natural vegetation. However, we may not realize that the extent of drought effects is just as severe on the biology below the soil surface. Detrimental effects on soil organisms due to drought conditions have consequential impacts on important biological cycles in soil. The soil microorganisms that drive decomposition to form organic matter and release essential nutrients including nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and sulfur for plant uptake are affected mainly by the lack of adequate soil moisture under drought. Despite potential survival mechanisms available to soil microorganisms, many microbes succumb to heat stress under severe drought conditions. Some studies report decreases of more than two-thirds of the original microbial biomass following drying of soils. Heat stress damage may be caused by desiccation - the removal of water from living cells during the drying process. Different microbes are affected differently under heat stress and the overall microbial diversity in soil changes. High microbial diversity means that all biological processes in soil are functioning as a balanced system. However, if a component of the microbial community is highly sensitive to drought stresses, then the system becomes imbalanced due to loss of the function carried out by the sensitive microbes. Soil moisture deficit not only adversely affects microbial diversity, it also affects the availability of organic substances for microbial metabolism. Organic substances must be in a dissolved or in a soluble form for movement to microbial cells and then transferred across cellular membranes for ultimate breakdown into nutrients and energy. Thus we can readily see how extreme soil temperatures and moisture deficits profoundly affect soil biological processes by reducing, if not inhibiting, availability of organic food sources (substrates) to microbes. Soil microorganisms are resilient and eventually return to pre-stress population levels when conditions adequate for growth return. However, we do not know whether all processes associated with a healthy ecosystem will be immediately and fully operational. Isolated areas of green vegetation within the drought-affected landscape indicate that soil management practices were previously established that allowed the plant-soil biological system to withstand drought stress better than those sites under less intensive management. When we amend soils with organic materials and/or maintain living roots by growing continuous plant cover, soil aggregates form that not only promote soil structure but also protect microbes. Crop rotation is also important in maintaining the water status of the production or cash crop. Recent studies show that wheat growing after legume cover crops extracts 67% more soil water compared with continuously grown wheat because the root systems were more extensively developed under rotation. Such management practices as these for moderating effects of drought on soil microbial activity may well be applicable in most agroecosystems for improving crop and forage growth and development and providing preventive measures against effects of drought. Amendment with organic materials increases soil organic matter, which influences physical, chemical, and biological properties, all of which work together to maintain high soil quality. High soil quality under sustainable management may greatly aid vegetation and soil microbes in withstanding effects of drought.
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| 0.936678 | 686 | 2.609375 | 3 |
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Note: Many topics at this site are reduced versions of the text in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications." Search results will not be as extensive as a search of the book's CD-ROM.
A virtual circuit is a point-to-point communication link between two end stations on a switched network (ATM, frame relay, IP, or Internet). A virtual circuit is designed to emulate the characteristics of a physical circuit on a switched network. An example of a physical circuit is the analog telephone line between your home and the telephone company central office. It is physical wire that is dedicated to single call. No one else uses it. The bandwidth is not shared.
This topic continues in "The Encyclopedia of Networking and Telecommunications."
Copyright (c) 2001 Tom Sheldon and Big Sur Multimedia.
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| 0.873014 | 239 | 3.21875 | 3 |
Annual herbs, often small and tender, sparingly branched from the base, erect to prostrate, hairy with simple or branched, usually minute hairs. Basal leaves lyrate-pinnate or deeply dissected, lobes linear to large; cauline leaves usually few or none, variable. Racemes lax in fruit, not many flowered. Flowers small, white or pinkish; pedicels not thickened in fruit, often elongated. Sepals not saccate at base. Petals slightly to c. twice as long as the sepals. Nectar glands minute, Lateral ± annular, not angular, middle torose and joining the laterals, often slightly conical in between the stamen bases. Siliquae linear, 1-veined with subconvex valves; stigma short, depressed on short style; seeds not mucilaginous when wet; radicle incumbent.
About 5 species, mostly Himalayan and C. Asian; only 2 present in our area.
Hardly distinct from Arabidopsis Heynh., from which it differs only by its seeds not mucilaginous when wet. Similarly differs from Torularia (Coss.) Schulz by the technical character of presence of middle nectar glands only. However, a revaluation of the three genera is much needed.
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| 0.942067 | 280 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Showing 251 to 266 of 266 records.
André Citroën manufactured armaments during World War I, adapting to mass-production of motor cars by 1919.
Designed for rural use, the Deux Chevaux was conceived as “an umbrella on four wheels”, capable of carrying two people and fifty kilos of produce or a small barrel. Able to brave almost any road surface, this air-cooled car was cheap to run and allowed instant open air motoring. Prototypes were built in 1937, the 2CV’s simple but imaginative design lending itself to limited resources available in post-war France. Production began in 1949.
After purchase, this example was put straight into storage and has covered just 24 miles from new.
|Output||29hp @ 5,750rpm|
Site by Surface Impression
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| 0.929088 | 174 | 2.6875 | 3 |
What does DSCA mean in Military?
This page is about the meanings of the acronym/abbreviation/shorthand DSCA in the Governmental field in general and in the Military terminology in particular.
Find a translation for DSCA in other languages:
Select another language:
What does DSCA mean?
- Defense Support of Civil authorities
- Defense Support of Civil Authorities is the current process by which United States military assets and personnel can be used to assist in missions normally carried out by civil authorities. These missions have included: responses to natural and man-made disasters, law enforcement support, special events, and other domestic activities. A recent example of the use of DSCA is the military response to Hurricane Katrina. DSCA is the overarching guidance of how the United States military can be requested by a federal agency and the procedures that govern the actions of the military during employment. The military can offer a variety of assistance which includes personnel or equipment. Among the most sought-after assets are transport; fuel; communications; commodities including food, building supplies and medicines; manpower; technical assistance and the use of military facilities.
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Dazzling colour images illuminate this award-winning story of game-changing scientific theory.
Explore the world of science and technology with the Folio Society’s collection of beautiful books - from fascinating studies of the natural world, to revealing the mysteries of quantum physics and molecular biology. Each Folio book includes original illustrations or carefully researched photographs and comes in a unique hardback binding. See below for the full list of Folio Popular Science and Natural History books.
Richard Holmes presents an entertaining study of the extraordinary figures that changed the face of science.
In his ‘Intimate History’, Richard Fortey unlocks the geological secrets of the earth – its origin and the constant processes that destroy and create it. His aim is to unite the natural and human history of particular places with the geological realities that underlie them.
The first illustrated edition of Barzun's synoptic journey through the history of Western thought, from the Reformation to the dawning ‘decadence’ of the 21st century.
G.E.R. Lloyd traces the birth of science from Thales to Galen. A new foreword by Lewis Wolpert, Emeritus Professor at University College London, pays tribute to the Ancient Greeks and to Lloyd’s exploration of their fundamental role.
No book has revolutionised our view of life on earth more than Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species. Yet its enduring popularity is a testament to the immense energy and startling simplicity with which Darwin makes his revelations.
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Hiking the Milford Track
This New Zealand Hiking Trail Might Just Change Your Life
While most hiking trails evolved from historic trade routes or old horse packing trail, the Milford Track was commissioned purely to facilitate a young country’s citizens’ enjoyment of its natural beauty.
Despite the comfortable motorcoaches that regularly make the two-hour drive from Te Anau to Milford Sound, the best way to make the journey is on foot, through muddy rainforest, across rockfalls and up over a 3,000-foot snow-covered mountain pass on a 125-year-old trail called the Milford Track. To hike this greatest of New Zealand’s so-called “Great Walks” is to literally walk in the footsteps of countless pilgrims — and see a land largely the same as it was in the late 19th century. It may well be the closest you can come to time travel, not only connecting you with other hikers that have gone before but also to our earliest ancestors, and what it actually means to be human, walking upright in the forest.
Modern life has separated us so much from our bipedal beginnings, but New Zealanders seem slightly more connected than the rest of us. Little boys and girls almost go straight from crawling to hiking — or “tramping” as they call it — and doing one of the Great Walks is a rite of passage. Instead of taking photos of the Grand Canyon or Niagara Falls from behind a guardrail like so many North Americans, New Zealanders put on a pack and hike the Routeburn, the Kepler or the Milford, their own national treasures. In fact, it was with hiking in mind that the Milford Track was born.
The old 6 Mile Hut in the 1960s (photo by Ray Willet).
In the late 1800s, what was then thought to be the world’s highest waterfall, Sutherland Falls, was discovered inland from Milford Sound. Word spread about the 2,000-foot cascade, and tourists braved the long boat journey around the Southern Island to reach the sound, and then endured days of hiking to reach the falls. It was around this time that the government commissioned Scottish explorer Quintin MacKinnon to find an overland route to reach the falls, a trek that would require hiking over a 3,000-foot pass in the rugged Darren Mountains. While most hiking trails evolved from historic trade routes or old horse packing trail, the Milford Track was commissioned purely to facilitate a young country’s citizens’ enjoyment of its natural beauty.
Today, there are two ways to hike the Milford Track. The first, and perhaps purest way, is entirely self-supported. Nights on the trail are spent in the spartan accommodations of the huts built by the Department of Conservation — clean, well-built structures with group bunk rooms that provide some measure of comfort against the rain and sandflies. But you have to carry all your food for the four days of hiking, as well as a sleeping bag. The second, and more traditional way to hike the Milford Track is with paid guides and with comfortable lodges waiting at the end of each day’s trek, complete with hot meals, soft beds, laundry facilities, even — gasp —beer. To be fair, guided hiking on the Milford may be cushier, but it is also more traditional, dating back to the very beginning of the trail itself. McKinnon himself was arguably its first guide, leading intrepid Kiwis over the pass that bore his name. Today, the only group licensed to guide on the track is a company called Ultimate Hikes, and in early November, I joined them for the four-day “walk” during the first week of the historic 125th season.
Have a question? Get it answered by AskMen's guyQ.
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The U.S. Census Bureau today released a 2010 Census brief on the nation's Hispanic population, which shows the Hispanic population increased by 15.2 million between 2000 and 2010 and accounted for more than half of the total U.S. population increase of 27.3 million. Between 2000 and 2010, the Hispanic population grew by 43 percent, or four times the nation's 9.7 percent growth rate.
Detailed Hispanic Origin Distribution
About three-quarters of Hispanics in the United States reported as Mexican, Puerto Rican or Cuban origin in the 2010 Census. Mexican origin was the largest group, representing 63 percent of the total U.S. Hispanic population — up from 58 percent in 2000.
The Mexican origin population represented the largest Hispanic group in 40 states, with more than half of these states in the South and West regions of the country, along with two states in the Northeast and all 12 states in the Midwest.
Puerto Ricans, the second largest group, comprised 9 percent of the Hispanic population in 2010 — down from 10 percent in 2000. The Puerto Rican population grew by 36 percent, increasing from 3.4 million to 4.6 million. Puerto Ricans were the largest Hispanic group in six of the nine states in the Northeast and in one western state — Hawaii, with a population of 44,000.
The Cuban origin population increased by 44 percent, growing from 1.2 million in 2000 to 1.8 million in 2010. Cubans made up approximately 4 percent of the total Hispanic population in both the 2000 and 2010 Censuses and were the largest Hispanic origin group in Florida in 2010 with a population of 1.2 million.
Since 2000, three detailed Hispanic origin groups surpassed a population of 1 million: Salvadoran (1.6 million), Dominican (1.4 million) and Guatemalan (1.0 million).
Regional Geographic Distribution
The Hispanic population grew in every region of the United States between 2000 and 2010, and most significantly in the South and Midwest. The South saw a 57 percent increase in its Hispanic population, which was four times the growth of the total population in the South (14 percent). Significant growth also occurred in the Midwest, where the Hispanic population grew by 49 percent. This was more than 12 times the growth of the total population in the Midwest (4 percent).
While the Hispanic population grew at a slower rate in the West and Northeast, the regions still saw significant growth between 2000 and 2010. The Hispanic population grew by 34 percent in the West, which was more than twice the growth of the total population in the West (14 percent). The Northeast's Hispanic population grew by 33 percent, or 10 times the growth of the total population in the Northeast (3 percent).
More than half of the Hispanic population in the United States resided in just three states: California, Texas and Florida. In 2010, 37.6 million, or 75 percent, of Hispanics lived in the eight states with Hispanic populations of 1 million or more: California, Texas, Florida, New York, Illinois, Arizona, New Jersey and Colorado. Hispanics in California accounted for 28 percent (14.0 million) of the total Hispanic population, while the Hispanic population in Texas accounted for 19 percent (9.5 million). Hispanics in Florida accounted for 8 percent (4.2 million) of the U.S. Hispanic population.
The Hispanic population experienced growth between 2000 and 2010 in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. In eight states in the South (Alabama, Arkansas, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee) and in South Dakota, the Hispanic population more than doubled in size between 2000 and 2010. Even with this large growth rate, the percentage of Hispanics in 2010 in each of these states remained less than 9 percent, far below the national level of 16 percent.
Hispanics in New Mexico comprised 46 percent of the total state population, the highest proportion for any state. Hispanics were 16 percent or more of the state population (matching or exceeding the national level) in eight other states: Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas.
Asian American citizens trying to bring overseas family members to the States may face setbacks…
Seven API candidates, five of whom are female, look to make waves in the August…
(FinalCall.com) - Angry protestors took the streets with demonstrations, marches, “read-ins,” and prayer vigils in…
Michael Cabral has served ten years on a 15-Life sentence for murder, beginning when…
Fifty years ago, an eloquent drifter from Florida changed the American justice system. Clarence Earl…
While there are many family traditions I hope to pass down to my children one…
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A Tale of Two Cities Morals and Ethics Quotes
How we cite our quotes: Citations follow this format: (Volume.Chapter.Paragraph)
No fight could have been half so terrible as this dance. It was so emphatically a fallen sport—a something, once innocent, delivered over to all devilry—a healthy pastime changed into a means of angering the blood, bewildering the senses, and steeling the heart. Such grace as was visible in it, made it the uglier, showing how warped and perverted all things good by nature were become. (3.5.32)
Multiple descriptions of mob mentality emphasize the ways that just about anyone can get "warped" by the sweeping violence of the revolution.
In seasons of pestilence, some of us will have a secret attraction to the disease—a terrible passing inclination to die of it. And all of us have like wonders hidden in our breasts, only needing circumstances to evoke them. (3.6.6)
And just in case you thought this was a self-contained history, Dickens makes sure you know that the French Revolution is also a cautionary tale. We all have the capacity to become as violent and irrational as the mob of revolutionaries.
Miss Pross recalled soon afterwards, and to the end of her life remembered, that […] there was a braced purpose in the arm and a kind of inspiration in the eyes, which not only contradicted his light manner, but changed and raised the man. (3.8.53)
Sydney’s choice to sacrifice himself is made all the more honorable because he doesn’t choose to share his plans with anyone. Instead of his own reflections, we get observations from Miss Pross.
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Her eyes start to focus:Provide the right stimulation.
Newborns can only see an object clearly if it's very near to them, which is probably why most parents instinctively get close when they talk to their babies.
"Babies see about 20/200 at 3 to 4 months, which is when they also develop precise depth perception," says Jane Kivlin, M.D., a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics Section on Ophthalmology.
They start learning how to focus on objects during this time, but a little "wandering" of the eyes is normal in the first three months, she adds.
According to Kivlin, there is an argument to be made for those black-and-white products aimed at babies. "High-contrast pictures are easy to see at any age," she says. "In research studies, infants noticed colors but did not distinguish between them. At 2 months they could see a difference between red and green, and at 4 months they could recognize similar hues within a color group, such as different blues."
There is really nothing you need to do to stimulate your baby's vision, Kivlin says: "Ordinary interaction—talking to him face-to-face—is plenty." In fact, faces are what a baby likes to look at most. So resist the urge to constantly wave things in front of his face; this often makes babies cry.
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This text was copied from Wikipedia on 26 June 2016 at 3:24AM.
The Court Secret is a Caroline era stage play, a tragicomedy written by James Shirley, and first published in 1653. It is generally regarded as the final play Shirley wrote as a professional dramatist.
Though The Court Secret can seem, to a modern taste, a confection of romantic fluff, exaggerated and wildly unrealistic (see the Synopsis below), it has been read as an index of the social anxieties and stresses of England at the crisis point of 1642, suggesting the conflict "between royalty and the rest," between the demands of royalist absolutism and the urges of ordinary humanity at the start of the English Civil War.
Date and performance
The play's title page in its first edition states that The Court Secret was never acted, but was intended to be produced at the Blackfriars Theatre. This identifies the play as belonging to the final phase of Shirley's professional career: he wrote regularly for the King's Men at the Blackfriars in the 1640–42 era, after he had returned from Ireland and the Werburgh Street Theatre. The implication is that The Court Secret would have followed The Sisters on the Blackfriars stage, but was forestalled when the theatres closed in September 1642.
The play, however, was staged during the Restoration era, by the King's Company at their Bridge Street theatre. Samuel Pepys recorded in his Diary that his wife saw the play the afternoon of 18 August 1664. (She didn't like it: "My wife says the play...is the worst that ever she saw in her life.") "The Court Secret stands almost alone as a play composed for the Caroline, but produced first on the Restoration, stage." Another production occurred in 1682, again by the King's Company, at Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
The play was published in 1653 in the octavo collection Six New Plays, issued by the booksellers Humphrey Robinson and Humphrey Moseley. The other five Shirley plays in that collection are The Sisters, The Brothers, The Cardinal, The Doubtful Heir, and The Imposture. Each play has a separate title page and (except for the first) a separate dedication; Shirley dedicated The Court Secret to William Wentworth, the son of the executed Earl of Strafford, whom Shirley had praised in the Epilogue to his The Royal Master (1638).
The play also exists in a manuscript text, probably created in 1642, that displays significant differences from the later printed version. The manuscript shows the play in an early stage of its development; it is in the hand of a professional scribe, but contains corrections and additions in Shirley's handwriting. The MS. "contains scenes and portions of scenes" not in the 1653 printed text; "there are several characters...that were afterwards dropped." The MS. also shows signs of preparation for production, so that it is uncertain which version of the play, the MS. or the printed text, was acted onstage in 1664.
A Spanish nobleman named Piraquo was banished from Spain in his youth; after a very profitable career as a pirate and a stay at the royal court of Portugal, his banishment has been lifted by Don Carlo, the heir to the Spanish throne. Piraquo's son Don Manuel is a close friend to Don Carlo, and returns to Spain with his father. Don Manuel quickly falls in love with Clara, the daughter of Duke Mendoza. Clara loves him in return and agrees to marry him – but the Spanish princess, Maria, also falls for Manuel, even though she is betrothed to marry Prince Antonio of Portugal. Don Carlo is also engaged to a Portuguese princess, Isabella – though Carlo too is in love with Clara.
Carlo's and Maria's father, the King of Spain, is unhappy about all of this. The King's brother, Roderigo, informs Prince Antonio that Carlo courts Clara instead of Maria; he provokes Carlo's anger at the idea that Manuel is courting Maria. The fact that this is not strictly true does not bother Roderigo; the play's Machiavellian stage villain, he creates as much trouble as he can.
Yet another complication arises: Pedro, who is both a kinsman to Piraquo and Manuel and a servant to Duke Mendoza, knows a secret — the "court secret" of the title, which somehow involves Duke Mendoza and a mysterious treasure, and Carlo and Manuel too. The jealous Prince Antonio meanwhile provokes a duel with Manuel, which leads to Manuel's imprisonment. A meeting between Clara and Princess Maria shows them that they are rivals for Manuel's love; similarly Carlo and Manuel learn that they are rivals for Clara. Don Carlo gains Manuel's release and reconciles him with Prince Antonio; Manuel responds by releasing Clara from their marriage contract and letting her choose for herself — though Clara once again chooses Manuel. Carlo, stung by her rejection, challenges Manuel to a duel; Clara suspects, but Manuel pacifies her fears.
Arriving at the place appointed for the duel, Manuel hears cries of alarm; a page runs to him and says that a Moor has killed Don Carlo. Manuel rushes to Carlo's rescue, meets, fights with, and defeats the Moor...who turns out to be Carlo is disguise. At the same time, Princess Isabella arrives from Portugal, and the court is thrown into disorder when Don Carlo cannot be found. Manuel reveals what has happened; and Duke Mendoza is prominent among the voices that call for Manuel's punishment. But Prince Antonio reveals that the dying Carlo confessed his ruse, and that Manuel though he was rescuing Carlo rather than killing him. More crucially, Piraquo and Pedro reveal the "court secret" — a baby switch: the dead man is actually Mendoza's son Julio, whom Mendoza and his wife, the baby's nurse, had put in Carlo's place when the royal infant was stolen by pirates. (Which means that the false Don Carlo, in pursuing Clara, was courting his own sister.)
Clara and Princess Maria meet in Manuel's prison cell. Manuel, who does not yet know the truth about Carlo/Julio, tries to persuade Maria that she must renounce him, since he killed her brother — but Maria still will not yield. Manuel asks Clara to play Maria's part, to show how impossible the situation is; but Clara, knowing the court secret, also says that she can still love him despite the death. The exasperated Manuel tells Clara-playing-Maria that their love can never be — and Clara faints. Watching Manuel trying to revive Clara and seeing the strength of their mutual bond, Maria yields her interest in Manuel, and informs him of Carlo's true identity. Maria ultimately accepts her original intended spouse, Prince Antonio.
Yet since this is a tragicomedy, Julio the false prince is not really dead; he recovers from his wound. While recovering, he sends messages to Isabella begging her forgiveness for his duplicity; and Isabella, taken with his contrition, decides she wants to marry Julio, phony prince or not. So, two happy couples are united...though the King of Spain does not share their joy, since he is effectively down one heir to the throne. He swears to punish Duke Mendoza — which prompts Piraquo and Pedro to reveal the rest of the court secret: that they were the pirates who kidnapped the infant Carlo...who is actually Don Manuel. Happy ending.
The play's "extraordinary complexity of plot" has been noted by critics; Arthur Nason maintained that "Rarely among the complicated plots of Shirley is the complication at once more elaborate and more finely knit...Shirley, in The Court Secret, shows his greatest mastery."
- Martin Butler, "The condition of the theatres in 1642," in Milling and Thomson, pp. 454–7.
- Shirley did not give up playwriting during the Civil War and Interregnum; earning his living as a schoolteacher, he wrote theatrical works for his students to perform. His plays in this final phase of amateur dramatic activity — The Triumph of Beauty, Cupid and Death, The Contention of Ajax and Ulysses, and Honoria and Mammon — all fall into this class of pedagogical drama.
- Randall, p. 342.
- Howarth, p. 304.
- The first five plays in the collection are dated 1652, while The Court Secret is dated 1653.
- Howarth, p. 307.
- Forsythe, p. 249.
- Nason, pp. 377–8.
- Forsythe, Robert Stanley. The Relations of Shirley's Plays to the Elizabethan Drama. New York, Columbia University Press, 1914.
- Howarth, R. G. "A Manuscript of James Shirley's The Court Secret," Review of English Studies 7 (1931), pp. 302–13.
- Milling, Jane, and Peter Thomson, eds. The Cambridge History of British Theatre, Vol. 1. Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2004.
- Nason, Arthur Huntington. James Shirley, Dramatist: A Biographical and Critical Study. New York, 1915; reprinted New York, Benjamin Blom, 1967.
- Randall, Dale B. J. Winter Fruit: English Drama 1642–1660. Lexington, KY, University Press of Kentucky, 1996.
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• previse •
pri-vaiz, prê-vaiz • Hear it!
Part of Speech: Verb, transitive
Meaning: 1. To foresee, to forecast, to predict, to know in advance. 2. To forewarn, to notify in advance.
Notes: Today's Good Word belongs to the vision family, a family semantically related to seeing. The noun for this verb even contains the word vision; it is, in fact, prevision. This word has an adjective, previsional, and an adverb previsionally. Someone who has the powers to previse is known as a previsor. Careful of the suffix: -or, not -er. It is conjugated like its cousin advise.
In Play: The first meaning of this word is simply "foresee": "Lawmakers cannot previse how people will contrive to circumvent the laws they make." The second meaning of today's word is "forewarn": "Be prevised not to use the saltshaker at any table where Benny is sitting: he always loosens the saltshaker cap when no one is looking."
Word History: Today's word comes from the Latin praevis-, past participial stem of praevidere "to foresee", made up of prae- "before, pre-" + videre "to see". The first person singular of videre is video "I see", which the world has now adopted for a small-screen motion picture. The Proto-Indo-European root weid- "see" spread throughout the Indo-European language family. In English it became wise, since previsors are perceived to be wise people. In German it because wissen "know", because wise people know a lot. The Old English word for "know" was witan; all we have left of this word is wit. (Luciano Eduardo de Oliveira, one of the staunch editors of the Good Word series, prevised a need for a Good Word today, and recommended this one.)
Come visit our website at <http://www.alphadictionary.com> for more Good Words and other language resources!
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Windstorms can cause serious damage and destruction in Minnesota forests. The storms in early July 2012 caused extensive damage in both urban forests and rural forests and woodlots. We’ve pulled together some resources that may be of assistance to homeowners and landowners as they clean up after the storm and plan for what’s next in their woods and yards.
Research by University of Minnesota Department of Forest Resources researchers after the massive July 4, 1999 blowdown in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness identified several factors that affect a tree’s vulnerability to blowdown. (Rich, R.L., L.E. Frelich, and P.B. Reich. 2007. Wind-throw mortality in the southern boreal forest: effects of species, diameter and stand age. Journal of Ecology 95:1261-1273.)
The following factors made forest trees more vulnerable to blowdown:
Species: Early successional, shade intolerant (often fire dependent) species tend to allocate more energy to fast height growth than to adaptations to improve windfirmness. Their greater height also leaves them more exposed to wind. In the BWCA research, species like jack pine, red pine, and trembling aspen were generally most vulnerable to blowdown.
Stand development stage: Mature (~90 yrs) stands were vulnerable than old and very old stands (126-200 yrs), likely because old stand have already lost early successional and transitioned to multi-aged stage of development. These stands include more gaps and wider spacing between dominant trees, so the dominant trees have been more exposed to wind for a long time and have adapted accordingly.
Size: Taller trees with larger diameter stems were more vulnerable.
Management history: The BWCA research occurred in an area of the wilderness that had never been harvested. However, other research has shown that dense stands in which individual trees have little room to grow are more vulnerable. Tall, spindly stems offer little resistance to strong wind.
Disease status: Armillaria root rot and other diseases tend to affect older trees, near end of natural life disproportionately. Decay at various points in the tree can make the tree more vulnerable to breakage.
The following factors made forest trees less vulnerable to windthrow:
Species: Later successional, more shade tolerant species like northern whitecedar and red maple were less vulnerable to blowdown. Fast growth is less of a priority, so these species invest more in strength. Also protected to some degree from wind by dominants. Spire-formed trees like balsam fir and black spruce also less vulnerable. Paper birch, while not commonly viewed as a late successional species, was also less vulnerable.
Long duration exposure to wind: Thinned stands or older stands in which trees have been exposed to high winds for decades have had time to develop wind resistance. While no stands are invulnerable, stands in which trees are more widely spaced tend to be less vulnerable because they’re better adapted to the effects of high winds.
What can landowners do to increase the resilience of their trees and woods to wind damage?
- Increase diversity. Be sure that your property includes some old and some young trees and stands, as well as some later successional species.
- Maintain young, healthy stands. Old stands that are beyond the natural life span of their dominant trees are naturally more vulnerable to disease that can destabilize them. Armillaria root rot and a whole host of diseases in aspen stands (most importantly hypoxylon and white rot) are particularly problematic.
- Thin stands (carefully) to increase wind firmness. While thinning can have important long-term benefits, in the short term it can actually make stands more vulnerable to wind (and ice) damage, as it increases the exposure of the residual trees. Until those trees develop more windfirmness, they will be vulnerable. Frequent light thinnings may be the best approach, particularly in old and very tightly spaced stands.
- Monitor your woods for health problems, and take action as necessary.
Other useful links and resources:
- Stem-girdling roots: The underground epidemic killing our trees. Stem-girdling roots often lead to stem breakage at the ground level.
- Storm Damage to Landscape Trees: Prediction, Prevention, Treatment.
- Pruning Trees and Shrubs. Among other benefits, pruning can help trees to produce strong, windfirm architecture.
- Storm damaged trees repair and replacement checklist (MN DNR)
- How to detect and assess hazardous defects in trees (see chapter 3 at the link)
Looking for more or different content? Feel free to post your questions or comments below.
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On December 7, 1940, the U.S. Army Air Corps announced that the Fairfax Industrial District in Kansas City, Kansas, would host a North American Aviation B-25 bomber production plant to prepare for the possibility of the United States entering World War II . The medium-sized bombers would eventually prove crucial to the American strategic bombing campaigns in the European and Pacific theatres.
The War Department , in conjunction with the president of North American Aviation, J. H. Kindelberger, selected the Fairfax District as a result of its geographic location and the heavy lobbying on the part of Kansas City business leaders. The war industry had become concentrated on the east and west coasts, where military strategists feared potential attacks from the Germans or Japanese if the U.S. entered the war. Due to its location near the center of the country and a significant population of potential laborers, Kansas City fit the basic requirements for a war plant. The Kansas City Chamber of Commerce unsurprisingly agreed that it was the "logical location" for war plants.
The other draw to Kansas City came from local business leaders who stressed Kansas Citians’ productive potential and loyalty. J. C. Nichols , who served on the Advisory Council for National Defense, argued that Kansas City was a "sleeping industrial giant." Other business leaders stressed the city’s identity as the "Most American City" due to its unusually high percentage of white, American-born citizens, who were more likely to remain loyal. This presumably made the location resistant to sabotage by foreigners or unpatriotic citizens.
Over the next two years, in addition to North American Aviation, Inc., the area welcomed the Remington Arms Company near Independence, a Pratt and Whitney aircraft engine plant at Bannister and Troost, and the Darby Corporation shipyards at the confluence of the Missouri and Kaw Rivers. Precisely a year after the Fairfax plans were announced, the United States entered the war following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Although an estimated 40,000 local residents joined the army and left the area, the war industries fueled population growth. Kansas City, Missouri’s population surpassed 400,000. The Fairfax plant alone attained employment levels of 26,000 workers and produced 6,608 of the 9,816 total B-25 Mitchell bombers manufactured during the war.
With so many men enlisting in the military, the Kansas City war plants, like all American war plants, hired more women as production quotas increased and male laborers left for the military. At Fairfax, for example, forty percent of the workers were women in 1944. In addition, female pilots in the Women’s Air Force Service Pilots, a civilian service to transport military aircraft under direction of the Air Transport Command, flew many of the completed planes to their destinations. At the time, female employment on such a scale was unprecedented and resented by many, but it was necessary to maintain production.
Following the war, the Fairfax plant closed, and the airport was annexed by Kansas City, Kansas. Transcontinental and Western Air (which in 1950 was renamed Trans World Airlines or simply TWA) acquired the nearby B-25 Modification Center to use as an overhaul base until it was destroyed in the 1951 flood . In 1945, General Motors (GM) leased the B-25 plant and produced cars in the building until May 8, 1987. It then razed the historic bomber plant on January 19, 1989, to make room for the $1 billion Fairfax Assembly Plant.
View images of the Fairfax B-25 bomber plant that are a part of the Missouri Valley Special Collections.
Check out the following articles about the Fairfax B-25 bomber plant.
- "'We All Had a Cause': Kansas City's Bomber Plant, 1941-1945 ," in Kansas History, by Richard Macias; discusses the Fairfax plant and the demographics of workers, including the resistance toward hiring African American workers, includes images.
- "The Fairfax Airport and Its Role in World War II ," in the The Historical Journal of Wyandotte County, by Edwin D. Shutt.
View the documentary Over Here: The Story of Kansas City & World War II by Pamela Reichart.
Continue researching war industries and the Fairfax airport using archival material from the Missouri Valley Special Collections.
- A City At War: The Impact of the Second World War On Kansas City by Fredrick Marcel Spletstoser; thesis manuscript studying the war’s impact on the economy, industry, and demographics of Kansas City
- Manuscript: A Brief History of Manufacturing focuses on the Pratt & Whitney / Westinghouse plant in Kansas City
- Vertical File: Industrial Districts contains information on the Fairfax district
- Vertical File: Airports--Fairfax
- Vertical File: Sweeney, Emory J. local barnstormer who constructed the first buildings at Fairfax for his Sweeney Auto, Tractor, and Aviation School in the 1920s
Rick Montgomery & Shirl Kasper, Kansas City: An American Story (Kansas City, MO: Kansas City Star Books, 1999), 236-237, 239-246.
Henry C. Haskell, Jr. and Richard B. Fowler, City of the Future: A Narrative History of Kansas City, 1850-1950 (Kansas City, MO: Frank Glenn Publishing, 1950), 167.
George R. Bauer, A Century of Kansas City Aviation History: The Dreamers and the Doers (Kansas City, MO: Historic Preservation Press, 1999), 68, 86-91, 105-112, 168.
Richard Macias, "'We All Had a Cause': Kansas City's Bomber Plant, 1941-1945 ," Kansas History 28, no. 4 (Winter 2005-2006), 244-261.
About the Author
|Dr. Jason Roe is a digital history specialist and editor for the Library’s digitization and encyclopedia website project, Civil War on the Western Border: The Missouri-Kansas Conflict, 1854-1865 . He earned a doctorate in American history from the University of Kansas in May 2012 and is the author of the Library’s popular “This Week in Kansas City History” column. For assistance with general local history questions, please contact the Missouri Valley Special Collections .|
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ERC Advanced Grant for astronomer Huub Röttgering
Astronomer Huub Röttgering, Director of the Leiden Observatory, has been awarded an ERC Advanced Grant to study how and when the first quasars, galaxies and galaxy clusters were formed.
Quasars are galaxies containing a very luminous object in their centre. The light from this object irradiates through matter which is falling in the direction of a massive black hole. Galaxy clusters consist of many thousands of galaxies and are the most massive objects in the universe. One of the most fundamental questions in astronomy is how and when galaxy clusters and quasars were formed. Scientists are increasingly coming to the conclusion that the formations of the two kinds of systems go hand in hand.
For his research, Röttgering will be using LOFAR. LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is a revolutionary new radio telescope which is being built in the Netherlands. The telescope consists of 25,000 antennae spread over 48 fields in the north of the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, France and England. LOFAR will make it possible to make uniquely sensitive observations a the lowest radio frequencies. The analysis of these observations is expected to provide new insights into the role of cold and hot gas and magnetic fields in the formation of galaxy clusters and quasars.
The European Research Council (ERC) awards Advanced Grants to eligible excellent researchers who defended their thesis a minimum of nine years ago and who intend to use the grant to carry out pioneering research. The maximum amount of the grant is 3.5 million euro. Other Leiden astronomers who have also beenawarded an Advanced Grant are Ewine van Dishoeck, Xander Tielens and Marijn Franx.
(20 December 2012/HR/CH)
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Woodworking with Mind, Body, and Senses
What's the secret to producing beautiful furniture that you and your family will treasure for generations? It starts with the fundamentals--those essential, yet often overlooked principles upon which all of your skills should be based.
In The Foundations of Better Woodworking, craftsman, teacher and noted woodworking author Jeff Miller clearly lays out these basic concepts, helping you understand:
Follow the advice in this book and you'll build the foundation for making significant advances as a woodworker. Your time in the shop will be more rewarding, and your results more satisfying.
- How proper body position and mechanics improve your ability to cut precise joins, as well as add efficiency and safety.
- Just what it means to cut a line.
- How the wood works, so you can avoid such problems as tear out, splitting and warping--whether you use hand tools, machinery or both.
- How woodworking tools actually cut and work, so you learn to use them more easily, effectively and accurately.
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MUSAFFAK, MUSAFFAK (2010) REDUPLIKASI KATA DALAM BAHASA MADURA. Other thesis, University of Muhammadiyah Malang.
Download (55kB) | Preview
Studies on Reduplication in Madurese language word is based on several considerations, including the need to know the shape, pattern of reduplication in Madurese language words, and comparisons between the pattern of reduplication in Madurese language Indonesian. As for as researchers, research peeling about it has never helld, although there is no peeling of reduplication Madurese language. Reduplication in Madurese language word is very interesting because it has its own particularities, especially in the aspect perulangannya patterns. Reduplication that occurs in the language of Madura is very unique, because it rarely and in fact there is no repeat similar reduplication syllable The second basic form and most basic form is repeated in the second morpheme. Analysis or Reduplication in Madurese language words have a common goal, namely to exame the morphological process, while specically to describe the form of reduplication in Madurase language said, describing patterns of reduplication in Madurase words and describe the reduplication pattern comparison between the Madurese language with Indonesian. The method used in this research is descriptive method. The technique in this study include (1) data collection techniques, this technique applied in observation methods and techniques refer to, involved, and notes, which the researchers directly involved in dialogue, listening, and record data, and translate and find the form of vocabulary by giving a code, and (2) data-processing techniques performed qualitatively. As this study through several stages, namely (1) the preparation stage, (2) the implementation stage, and (3) stages of completion. Based on analysis of existing data can be concluded that (1) there are form of reduplication in Madurese language word, (2) there are patterns of reduplication in Madurese language words, and (3) there are differences ang similarities between the patterns of reduplication in Madurese language Indonesian. Form of reduplication in Madurese language words match and analysis of data that is used there are several forms, ie all forms of reduplication, Part reduplication form, the form of reduplication combined with the process of adding affixes, reduplication with phoneme change, and the apparent reduplication. After knowing the results of the study authors give three suggestions: (1) Madurese language usage should be more selective, so that no mistake in its use, (2) user Madurese language for negative speakers should familiarize himself in order to maintain the integrity of their use/preservation of regional language, and (3) it is important for subsequent researchers to conduct research about the Madurese language of the wider aspects and depth, such as aspects of syntax, phonology, and so on.
|Item Type:||Thesis (Other)|
|Subjects:||L Education > L Education (General)|
|Divisions:||Faculty of Teacher Training and Education > Department of Indonesian and Literature|
|Depositing User:||Rayi Tegar Pamungkas|
|Date Deposited:||10 May 2012 02:12|
|Last Modified:||10 May 2012 02:12|
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The Department of Transportation’s Maritime Administration has awarded a $350,000 contract to the Northwest-Midwest Institute’s Great Ships Initiative to develop appropriate protocols for ballast water discharge sampling.
Ballast water has been a major factor in the spread of invasive species. Proper and standardized ballast discharge sampling protocols are fundamental to verifying that ballast water treatment technology is effective aboard a working ship, as well as in the laboratory. The new contract is for targeted, empirical, engineering and biological research to design and validate a ballast sampling method that is reliable, replicable, and cost-effective for both the ship owner and the regulatory community.
The contract complements a cooperative program being conducted in the , for which the Maritime Administration provided vessels to test treatment technologies; and past support for the Great Ships Initiative construction of a world-class land-based ballast treatment testing facility in Duluth-Superior Harbor of Lake Superior.
The Great Ships Initiative is a collaborative effort to end the problem of ship-mediated introductions of invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System.
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|Marius and the End of the Roman Republic|
|The Conquest of Scandinavia|
|The Fall of the Roman Empire|
Marius and the End of the Roman Republic
To bring some light into the mysterious origin of Þrjótrunn I sent a request to the Institute of Parallel Histories to get some material about that issue. They sent back the following text. It seems to be an excerpt from a treatise of a local hobby historian. I added some footnotes, especially in the first part, with information that I thought might be useful for inhabitants of our particular corner of the multiverse.
...The event that finally triggered the end of the Roman Republic at about 100 BCE was the invasion of the Cimbri and Tevtoni. When their march on Rome began in 104, the desperate members of the Senate appointed the newly elected Consvl Gaivs Marivs, hero of the Jugurthine War as Dictator ‘until the security of Rome would be restored’ to organize the defense. Still in 104, Marivs managed to stop and threw back the enemy north of Rome with troops that were a conglomerate of veteran soldiers, recruited Romans and citizens of allied cities, and freed slaves. The danger was not over yet, as the enemy had been stopped but not ultimatively defeated and was gaining new strength through joining tribes of Celts. Marivs used the next years to finish his army reform, permanently opening the legions for poorer citizens that hadn't been eligible to enlist before. The well known tradition to reward veteran soldiers with a piece of land in the provinces also goes back to him. Marivs managed to defeat Cimbri and Tevtoni in three decisive battles in 101 in Gallia Cisalpina.
Marivs' victories had gained him immense popularity and had allowed him to remain Dictator for three years. Large parts of the Roman aristocracy were worried now that he might not be willing anymore to return the power he had. His interpretation of the phrase about the ‘restoration of Rome's security’ was indeed a very generous one. After his victory he made an attempt for a land reform to stabilize the Roman society and to satisfy the veterans of his war.
An intrigue was now started to destroy Marivs' almost unassailable status as war hero. Demagogues convinced the public that the threat of further invasions of Celtic and Germanic barbarians could best be averted by creating a Roman province in Gallia as a buffer zone. The expectations among Marivs' adversaries were that Marivs would probably refuse to undertake such an attempt or, less likely, try and fail.
Contrary to the expectations Marivs did indeed stand up to the challenge. The intrigue now fired back on its creators since it had given Marivs the perfect argument to prolong his dictatorship. In 99 BCE his legions crossed the border of free Gallia.
Marivs benefitted from the following Gallian War in various ways. Although this war was bloody and its fortune changed more than once, his supporters in Rome managed to paint a picture of a neverending sequence of glorious victories of his reformed troops. His promise to settle landless Romans in newfounded colonies in Gallia instead on the land of the aristocracy appeased the opposition in the Senate for some time. The immense loot allowed him to increase his support in Rome by buying off a couple of his enemies.
Marivs generously granted Roman citizenship to allied cities in Italia and beyond. Next to his troops, they became an important pillar of his reign, especially in the north, where the land had suffered under the Germanic invasions. In 95 all Italians became Roman citizens and Italian cities were granted the right to send their own representatives into the Senate.
In a last desperate attempt to restore the Republic and to preserve the Roman hegemony over Italia a group of conspirators under Lvcivs Cornelivs Svlla planned Marivs' assassination. Marivs was attacked in 94 while he was giving a report to the Senate. He could flee, but three Italian Senators that had tried to protect him were slain. This event was the begin of the Social War between Rome and the majority of her Italian allies, led by Marivs. This civil war lasted for two years. Supporters of the ‘traitor’ Marivs in the Senate were neutralized and some were killed.
Even though Rome's enemies controlled most of the supply routes, there had been a chance for Rome winning this war with Marivs' most loyal troops fighting in Gallia. Rome however had underestimated the well-organized structures that had been secretly created among her enemies. Although the war ended without an official victory and Rome was never been invaded by her former Italian allies, Marivs' supporters finally got the upper hand in the city after a series of important defeats. The extension of the Roman citizenship was confirmed, and Svlla and his group were sentenced to death. In the following cleansings over 400 members of the Roman nobility lost their lives. One accusation against Marivs' enemies was that their actions had put the war in Gallia at risk. But in fact there had been only minor problems between Roman and Italian troops in Gallia where both were facing a common enemy. The civil war in Italia was fought with local troops; the relocation of one single legion from the Gallian to the Italian battlefield Marivs had ordered had been a symbolic gesture at best.
Marivs' involvement in the Gallian War became less and less important and ended in 87, when he decided that the Mithridatic War required his presence in Asia. He died in 84, most likely of a combination of a fever and his old age, although rumors were quickly spread that he had been poisoned. The General Lvcivs Sergivs Celer to whom he had entrusted his affairs in Rome, declared himself his successor, but could secure his position only in 83 after smashing a new revolt in Rome. A new wave of executions followed.
Marivs is generally considered the first Emperor of Rome, although it was Sergivs who first took the title ‘Dictator et Imperator’ giving the title Imperator the present meaning. Until his deathbed, Marivs continued to claim that he wanted to restore the Roman Republic when things had changed for the better. Historians however believe that it was after the failed assassination attempt at the latest when be gave up his plans to return his power to the Senate which he, a homo novvs, i.e. a person without political traditions considered as unwilling and incapable to preserve and protect the Roman hegemony.
The conquest of Gallia was seen as his personal achievement, although the Gallian War ended only in 78 BCE when the Rhine became the border of the Empire for the next two decades.
The Conquest of Scandinavia
I just got some more material from the IPH, this time more obviously relevant to Þrjótrunn. (To tell the truth, at first I didn't have the slightest clue how the first text was related to our question – except that the Roman expansion in the north-west seems to have started a little bit earlier.) It seems that the current text is the first half of the main part whereas the first one was just meant as some additional, more detailed information about the point of divergence. The IPH said that they had wanted to send me all parts together but the translation of the second one from an obscure North Romance language (I don't remember the name but it wasn't Þrjótrunn.) to classical Latin to English took longer than anticipated. And they're still working on the last one. Well, the IPH and its (in)famous translation chains ... but I digress. I added a few footnotes again but otherwise left the text as it was.
|Roman Ruins in Scandinavia|
...By the mid of the first century CE the Roman Empire seemed to have reached its natural borders. Rome ruled over the whole Mediterranean basin, up to Oder and Danube in the north, the Sahara desert in the south, and the seemingly invincible Parthian Empire in the east. The inconsequent and hesitating course in the conquest of Britain (It took over 50 years, from 21 BCE to 33 CE, until the province Britannia had reached its final form) was already a sign of consolidation.
In retrospect, the conquest of Scandinavia beginning in 47 CE must therefore look like a complete folly. And indeed, it was already seen like this in the judgment of contemporaries. To understand its reasons one has to recall the state of the Roman Empire during that time.
Disregarding the small province of Germania Cisrhenania the expansion into Germania began in 57 BCE with the conquests of the Roman Senator and General Gaivs Ivlivs Caesar. Caesar was a brilliant strategist and designated successor of Emperor Decimvs Marivs Tranqvillvs. He was related to the Emperor's family. The conquest of Germania was probably also a test of his aptitude. Caesar however died in 51 BCE, during the later stages of the Germanic War in an uprising in the already conquered areas. That his publicity extends well beyond the circles of historians is of course due to his unfinished Commentarii de Bello Germanico (‘Germania est omnis divisa ...’) most students of classical Latin will know. His involvement in the conquest of Moesia and Pannonia is less well known.
The revolt was put down soon after Caesar's death. From 49 on the Elbe became border river of the Empire. As province Germania Transrhenania, the area between Rhine and Elbe would be Roman territory for the next centuries.
Germanic mercenaries had been no unusual view in the Roman military already since the Gallian War, when Marivs had occasionally formed alliances with Germanic tribes against the Gauls. After the conquest of a large part of Germania they became an important part of the Roman legions over the years. The Elbe, and later, from 7 BCE on, the Oder remained troubled borders and it wasn't unusual at all that a Germanic legionnaire would serve and finally settle in Germania. Legionnaires from the Mediterranean provinces on the other hand would try to avoid having to settle in Germania at the end of their career, a province that was considered a remote region with a harsh climate. This resulted in a certain form of particularism, leaving the old tribal structures intact below the romanized surface. The success of a Proconsul in the Germanic provinces depended very much on his ability to understand these structures and to use them to the benefit of Rome (or at least to his own), playing out the different tribes against each other. Two bloody uprisings under less skilled Proconsuls in 40 BCE and 2 CE demonstrated that in a painful way.
In 45 Emperor Geminivs Flavvs was assassinated during a visit in Africa. Flavvs had been an eccentric and cruel ruler, who had emptied Rome's treasury to finance a great number of megalomanic buildings all over the Empire. At the end of the nine years of his reign he had lost two legions in an ill-prepared and futile war against Parthia, probably the straw that broke the camel's back.
His assassination had been planned by his own family who now declared his cousin Geminivs Lepidvs his successor, the Proconsul of Africa. Lepidvs was probably the best choice the Geminii could come up with but in the army his abilities were doubted. He was immediately challenged by rivals that were appointed by the legions in Syria and the Praetorian Guard in Rome. Lepidvs wouldn't survive the first six months of his emperorship.
A crisis of succession was nothing new for the Empire but until now such crises had only lasted for months at maximum. This time however it led to a period of instability that would last for eight years and would see about ten Emperors. The latter number is only approximate, considering the difficulty to distinguish between a legitimate ruler and a rebel leader during this time.
In Germania, lying in the backwaters of the Empire and the conflict, Eqvitivs Sabinvs had been Proconsul since 37 CE. During the time of his office he had to witness a growing tension in the North, between Germanic tribes inside and outside of the Empire, namely the Jutes and Suiones on one side and the Saxons and a couple of less important tribes on the other. The quarrel had begun with a series of small raids and similar provocations and was fuelled mainly by the Saxons, acting under the safe protection of the Roman legions. There were frequent demands for an ‘adequate’ Roman answer to the ‘Northern invasion’ together with barely disguised threats to go alone if necessary. When the succession crisis began the situation in the North had already escalated in a way that the outbreak of a full-scale war outside of Rome's control had become a real possibility.
But this was not the only grave problem Sabinvs had to face at that point. Soon after Flavvs' assassination, there had been growing voices in the army saying that the military power concentrated in the province – four legions were based in Germania at that time – were an asset that should be used in the fight for Emperorship, to support one of the competing factions. Some even demanded that Sabinvs should declare himself Emperor.
After all we know about Sabinvs and despite later accusations, he was a considerate man, and far was it from him to attempt such an adventure, especially at a time where a reduction of the Roman military presence would practically have been an invitation to the Northern tribes to act on their own. But facing pressure from two sides, he was convinced that staying passive would have made the situation in Germania go out of control rather sooner than later.
With his decision to give in to the Germanic demands and intervene in Scandinavia Sabinvs attempted to kill two birds with one stone. On the one hand this action was aimed to appease the Germanic population in the province. On the other it should create military facts and bind forces, making it virtually impossible also to intervene in Rome.
Sabinvs integrated a large number of local troops into his
campaign. He did this not only to strengthen his forces but also to
cover his bases in the province, making sure that in the not unlikely
case of a ultimate defeat it would appear not only as a Roman but also
as a Germanic defeat, bringing further Saxon demands to silence. The
number of auxiliary troops the Romano-Germans were able to deploy within
merely a few weeks matched those of the two legions Sabinvs sent, a
clear sign of the excellent functioning of the parallel tribal
structures mentioned above.
|Aqvila Romana caelvm Frigoriterrae circvmvolitat, sed ad nidificandvm locvm satis calidvm reperiet?|
The war went much better than expected even by optimists. It ended in 51 CE with the establishment of the new Roman province Germania Borealis. In Rome however, only a small expansionist faction applauded Sabinvs. In general, the strategic uselessness of ‘Frigoriterra’ as Germania Borealis was mockingly called was clearly perceived. ‘The Roman Eagle now circles above Frigoriterra,’ as one senator put it, ‘but will he find a place warm enough to build a nest?’
It is interesting to note that the name ‘Frigoriterra’ stuck, even in Germania Borealis itself. Naturally, the term was disliked here and applied to the sparsely populated, barbarian (and much later one would add: heathen) Scandinavia north of the Roman border instead. In the Middle Ages, the meaning was expanded to include other not Romanized regions like Finland and even Siberia. Today, only the island Þrjótur reminds of this name.
Sabinvs was later blamed by Roman historians to have laid the foundations for later solo attempts like the eastern conquests up to the river Vistvla in 92 CE, that of Caledonia in 114 CE and Hibernia in 132 CE, and even the final breakaway of the Northern Roman Empire. He even was accused of having tried to build up his own Empire in the North, a second Rome around the Baltic Sea instead of the Mediterranean.
The latter accusation can be rejected as nonsense, a task beyond the military abilities of Rome, let alone Sabinvs' only four legions. But that Sabinvs had started a process that would end centuries later with the foundation of North Rome cannot be dismissed that easily. Although Sabinvs did not act on his own in theory he did so de facto, downplaying the extent of the ‘punishment action’ towards Rome and knowing that the Emperor would gladly allow it, also being aware about the military threat the legions in Germania could pose for him.
Present-day historians mostly agree that Sabinvs had acted in the best interest of the Empire, as we have tried to point out here. What would have happened if Sabinvs had decided not to intervene in the North? The temporary weakness of Rome was no secret and the Saxons received broad support among the Germanic tribal leaders. If they had come to the conclusion that the interests of Rome and Germania were diverging, a Germanic revolt both within the legions and the province itself would have been likely. It is also possible that Sabinvs would have been removed by the military leaders to clear the way for an intervention in Rome. In that case a following uprising would have been even more probable. In both cases, Rome would have temporarily lost her Germanic provinces, maybe even forever.
Still, it is true that Sabinvs' actions set a precedent in the eyes of the Germans, and his victory would soon be transfigured into a Germanic, not Roman success. During the time of the Northern Roman Empire the Italian Sabinvs even became a kind of Germanic national hero, to use a modern term. That even in Scandinavia the people began to identify themselves with his victory might seem paradoxical at first, but not anymore if one remembers that such an identification with the victors had always been a driving force of Romanization.
The Fall of the Roman Empire
Finally, the last part of the material I've ordered has arrived. The text deals mainly with the tripartition and fall of the Roman Empire. Although Þrjótrunn is mentioned only briefly the grand picture becomes clear, I think. We don't know if the colonization of the island we know as Iceland happened still in Roman times or afterwards (what I consider more likely), but I don't expect its course to contain any bigger surprises. That the Roman Empire of the Þrjótur world would finally go into decline despite its much greater size was already hinted at in the second part. Actually, the very existence of a living Romance language like Þrjótrunn already hints at that.
...It has been said that ironically the Roman Empire might have lasted longer if it hadn't so successfully eliminated all potential external threats to its heartland, allowing the ruling class to abstain from politics and forget about the necessities of military defense. Shielded by its Northern and Eastern flanks, and the great desert in Northern Africa, the Western Mediterranean enjoyed centuries of peace. Or so did the common Roman at least, who was hardly involved in the endless struggles for domination that concerned only the highest classes.
But not the whole Empire was peaceful, and not all internal frictions were restricted to a tiny power elite. The lines of fracture between the North, the West, and the East of the Empire were becoming clearly visible already at the beginning of the third century.
The cultural distance between the old East and the new, Germano-Roman centers in Northern Europe had always been almost too vast to be held together by Rome. Furthermore, both parts tended to look down on the West. The East considered itself as the inheritor of the older, superior Hellenic civilization, while the North saw itself as the defender of Roman culture and Empire at the always troubled border towards barbarian Eastern Europe, protecting the sunny, peaceful, and decadent ‘Roma Romana’.
At that time this was more self-perception than reality as large parts of the North enjoyed the same state of peace as the old Mediterranean provinces. But it was still true that it was the Northeastern region, and especially the Vistula border that required the largest concentration of troops and military expenses, although being closely followed by Mesopotamia, where Rome and Persia were almost constantly at or close to war, with full decades of unbroken ceasefire remaining the exception.
The cultural tripartition of the Empire became institutionalized for the first time in 286 when Emperor Rvbellivs decided to divide the Empire into three Regiones Magnas, each responsible for financing the legions on their soil. This move was obviously meant to ensure the loyalty of the Western Roman nobility whose tax burden could now be reduced since the West had virtually no own military expenses whereas that of the East and North was rising at the time that was – as we know today – the beginning of an era of mass migrations.
Rvbellivs probably underestimated the long-term consequences of his politics. Indeed, the outcry in the North and East wasn't as vehement as one might expect as the distribution of the financial burden had already been very unequal before. But that he wasn't totally blind to the possible dangers was proven by the fact that he tried at the same time to revive the tradition of positioning legionnaires away from their home provinces such that their loyalty would continue to lie with the Empire and not with the Regiones.
But at a time where Roman citizenship was common the legions had lost their attraction to the lower classes, let alone the prospect of being stationed at an unknown corner of the Empire with very different cultural traditions and climate. Those people in the West who were actually willing to serve under such conditions were greeted with disrespect and mistrust in the other Regiones. So the new politics of deploying troops remained mostly theoretical and would be forgotten already only a few decades later.
The bureaucracy that was set up in the Regiones to organize the military spending on the other hand would later prove to have been the nucleus of an administration strong enough to carry a new empire in the East.
But the unity of the Empire was preserved for about another century until the formal split in 398. At that time the era of migrations had reached its peak as waves of new peoples, like Huns, Slavs, and Bulgars as well as free Germanic peoples were threatening the borders and the very existence of Rome. The defense of the Danube border stretched the military abilities of the Eastern Regio to the limit.
The situation in the North was even more desperate, with a partial breakdown of the Roman order in large areas of Central Europe as new peoples settled here. In the geographically isolated Scandinavia however Roman culture continued to flourish. The distinction between the almost Creole-like continental Northern Romance languages and the maritime branch, including the most archaic Þrjótrunn stems from this time.
In the Western Regio the dangers to the Empire were mostly ignored or underestimated. After centuries of bloody feuds and quarrels the once ruling class of landowners was tired of politics and allowed the hereditary Emperors to rule freely as long as their numerous privileges weren't touched. With the absence of a class that would formulate political necessities and alternatives the Empire's borders seemed to be farther away than ever, and requests for help were routinely denied on the basis of the military independence of the Regiones.
According to Roman annalists the reason for the final breakaway of the Eastern Empire was a dispute over the succession of the late Emperor Pvblivs Cordivs. His oldest son Pvblivs had spent most of his life so far serving at the Persian Border and the family thus feared a shift of power towards the Eastern Regio. His younger brother Titvs became Emperor instead. Pvblivs actually had no interest in the Emperorship and saw his role as military strategist in the East. But his advisors convinced him to claim the title of Emperor for himself. Thus the era of two Roman Emperors began.
But in retrospect, it can be said that the struggle for the title was at best a trigger for the split, or simply a pretense. The situation in the East required a more centralized command than a headless administration could deliver, and a military leader of whatever form would have been installed sooner or later anyway. Pvblivs gave the breakaway a flavor of legitimacy, and his undeniable military abilities made him indeed an excellent choice.
The secession of the North followed only two years later. That this step was undertaken despite the grave situation the Regio was facing at that time clearly demonstrated how little hope the local proconsuls had for support from the West. The Northern Empire however never became an Empire by anything but name. It lacked a capital, and an Emperor was never appointed. From the start its character was more that of a military alliance, assuring the mutual support between the governing proconsuls, who were by that time already deeply integrated into the local structures as their status began to slowly transform into that of the medieval prokonsels.
The tripartition of the Roman Empire should not be exaggerated. All three parts continued to see each other as part of a Roman whole and a Western Roman for example would not have been considered a ‘foreigner’ in the North. It would have been unthinkable for an East Roman legionnaire to invade the West like enemy territory, something that might even have been possible despite the numerous wars the East was already involved in, considering that the West was probably already back then not really capable anymore to defend itself.
But it would still take almost three more centuries until the history of the Western Roman Empire ended. The power that would fulfill its fate came from a totally unexpected direction when in 642 parts of the Near East and especially the rich East Roman province of Egypt was conquered by the Muslim Arabs under Uthman. Uthman's advance was well calculated. East Rome was facing a financial and military crisis at that time, fighting wars against both the Bulgars in the North and the Persians in the East. It also appears that the Emperor had underestimated the threat that the new religion emerging from the unregarded center of the Arabian Peninsula could pose.
Although East Rome had been weakened by the loss of Egypt and its Mesopotamian provinces to Persia slightly later, and would never be able to reclaim them, Uthman and his successors were wise enough not to push further into East Roman territory immediately, as the way to West Rome was now open.
In the following decades North Africa and Hispania were conquered by the Caliphate and this conquest was slowed down more by internal fights than by Roman resistance. The expansion was stopped only in 694 at the Pyrenees Mountains by an alliance of Romano-Germanic peoples led by the Langobards that established a short-living dynasty in Gallia (hence the name Lombardie ).
What remained of the West Roman Empire was more or less only Italia itself. It became a de facto province of East Rome that now finally began to understand itself as a Hellenic Empire that would more and more forget about its Roman roots.
Ironically, it is the Northern ‘Empire’ that never found to a state of unity but continues a shadow existence until today, such that at least formally the Roman Empire never ceased to exist. The spread of Roman culture remains the Empire's legacy. Romance languages are nowadays spoken virtually everywhere in the Western part of the European continent. The common culture facilitated the rise of Christianity, and the antagonism between North and East Rome does still manifest itself in the differences between the north-western Arianism and the south-eastern Orthodoxy.
This seems to be the point of divergence. In our 104, Cimbri and Tevtoni were still fighting in Hispania and Gallia respectively. The invasion of Italia happened two years later and they never came close to Rome. Still, they were seen by contemporaries as the biggest threat since the Gauls had sacked Rome in 390. Marivs was elected Consul six times, in 107 and from 104 to 100 (a seventh time in 86 even, but he died a few days later), although only one Consulship had been allowed up to then. But he was never appointed as Dictator.
No differences to history here.
Without going into tedious details I might add that the problem of unequal land distribution and the attempts to solve that problem three decades earlier stood at the beginning of a period of instability that ended in our timeline only with Augustus.
Roman politicians being killed by their opponents was not unusual during this late phase of the Roman Republic. The Social War happened a few years later in our timeline. Rome won, but the price was the extension of Roman citizenship as described above. Both Marivs and Svlla fought for Rome. They were indeed enemies in later years. Svlla was the first to send Roman Legions into Rome and he, not Marivs, became the first Dictator since 216 BCE.
Never heard that name before.
Maybe roughly identical to the provinces Germania Svperior and Germania Inferior in our world.
Successor of Sergivs? I don't know. Relation to Gaivs Marivs? I don't know. I didn't recognize any of the names below either. We're probably too far from the divergence already.
Gaivs Marivs' wife was his aunt.
Provinces located south of the Danube, stretching from Bulgaria to Austria. In our world, they became Roman under Avgvstvs.
Our Emperors were wiser. Until Hadrian the policy was rather to avoid positioning troops in their home provinces.
The text contains a footnote by the IPH stating that ‘This hypothesis has been shown to be statistically wrong.’
Although this remark is quite vague and it is not clear which period of time it refers to exactly, it seems to me that the Romano-Persian relations were more strained than in our world.
I assume that the author, who is a historian and not a linguist, means ‘conservative’ where he says ‘archaic’. I also doubt that the continental branch is indeed ‘Creole-like’.
It seems that ‘proconsul’ was the generic name for the provincial governors, at least in the North. Our Imperial Rome knew a multitude of titles. Proconsuls were former consuls ruling in the senatorial provinces.
A sort of medieval king? Of course one should keep in mind that the author's understanding of the word ‘medieval’ might be drastically different from ours.
Uthmān ibn 'Affān was the name of the third Caliph in our world. His reign only began in 644 however. The name might of course be only a coincidence. The conquest of Egypt began four years earlier in our world.
Obviously the name of a geographical region or political entity somewhere in France, not Italy or maybe even the name for France as a whole.
Whatever that means. Is it a kind of defunct Commonwealth of Northern Romance speaking nations? Without more material from the IPH we will never know.
It seems that Catholicism and consequently Protestantism does either not exist (anymore?) or isn't important enough to be mentioned in this context. Again, one wishes the author had spoken to us, not to a historically interested audience in his own world.
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The Indonesian government recently announced plans to develop a hot new energy resource — real hot. The country’s leaders aim to generate 4,000 megawatts of geothermal energy from volcanoes by the year 2014. If the plan proves successful, the renewable energy generated would decrease the country’s reliance on coal-fired power plants, reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and help provide power to the 35 percent of Indonesia’s population who currently live without electricity.
Indonesia is really the perfect place to develop large-scale geothermal projects: the archipelago’s 17,000 islands hold hundreds of volcanoes, and all that heat could be converted to renewable electricity. But while the country holds about 40 percent of the world’s geothermal energy potential, it currently lags behind countries like the US and the Philippines in developing the technology.
Geothermal’s main limiting factor is its high upfront cost. Geothermal plants cost about twice as much as coal-fired power plants, and establishing enough plants to add 4,000 megawatts of energy will cost about $12 billion. Still, if developers can raise the dough, producing electricity from geothermal energy has lower overhead costs and causes far less pollution than coal plants.
Leaders plan to seek the funds to develop more geothermal plants from private investors, the World Bank, the US and Japan.
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en
| 0.905523 | 281 | 3.640625 | 4 |
|Native to||India and Bangladesh|
|Region||Tripura, Assam, Mizoram, Bangladesh, Burma|
|1.5 million (2011)|
|Koloma (obsolete), Bengali, Latin|
Official language in
trp – Kokborok (Tripuri/Tipra)
ria – Riang
tpe – Tippera (Khagrachari)
usi – Usui
xtr – Early Tripuri
The Borok language, Kók Borok (Kókborok) or Kak-Borak, also known as Tripuri, is any of the native languages of the Tripuri people of the Indian state of Tripura and neighboring areas of Bangladesh. The word Kók Borok is a compound of kók "language" and borok "people", which is used specifically for the Tripuri people. Kokborok is closely related to language of Dimasa Kacharies of Assam.
- 1 History
- 2 Classification and related languages
- 3 Kókborok sounds and phonetics
- 4 Tone
- 5 Morphology
- 6 Kókborok grammar
- 7 Counting and numbering
- 8 Dialects
- 9 Literature
- 10 Institutions and organisations
- 11 Statistics
- 12 Script
- 13 See also
- 14 References
- 15 External links
Kókborok has existed in its various forms since at least the 1st century AD, when the historical record of Tipra Kings began to be written down. The script of Kókborok was called "Koloma". The Chronicle of the Borok Kings were written in a book called the Rajratnakar, this book was originally written down in Kókborok using the Koloma script by Durlobendra Chontai.
Later, two Brahmins, Sukreswar and Vaneswar translated it into Sanskrit and then again translated the chronicle into Bengali in the 14th century. The chronicle of Tipra in Kókborok and Rajratnakar are no longer available. Kókborok was relegated to a common people's dialect during the rule of the Borok Kings in the Kingdom of Tipra, in contrast to Bengali language, from the period of the 14th century till the 20th century.
Kókborok was recognised as an official language of Tipra state in 1979. There currently is a debate over giving the language recognition as a National language of India. The official form is the Debbarma dialect, the language of the royal family.
Kókborok is not a single language, but a collective name for the several languages and dialects spoken in Tripura. Ethnologue lists Usoi (Kau Brung), Riang (Polong-O), and Khagrachari ("Trippera") as separate languages; Mukchak (Barbakpur), though not listed, is also distinct, and the language of many Borok clans has not been investigated. The greatest variety is within Khagrachari, though speakers of different Khagrachari varieties can "often" understand each other. Khagrachari literature is being produced in the Naitong and Dendak varieties. '
Kókborok sounds and phonetics
Debbarma Kókborok is a typical Sino-Tibetan language and consists of the following sounds:
Original writers decided to use the letter w as a symbol for a vowel which does not exist in the English language.[clarification needed]
N' is the pronunciation of the nasal sound; e.g., in' (yes).[clarification needed]
Ng is a digraph and is generally used in the last syllable of a word; e.g., aming (cat), holong (stone).
Ua is often used initially; e.g., uak (pig), uah (bamboo), uatwi (rain).
Uo is often used finally; e.g., thuo (sleeping), buo (beat).
A diphthong is a group of 2 vowels. The wi diphthong is spoken as ui after sounds of the letters m and p. Two examples are: chumui (cloud) and thampui (mosquito). The ui diphthong is a variation of the wi diphthong. Other less frequently occurring diphthongs such as oi are called closing diphthongs. A closing diphthong refers to a syllable that does not end in a consonant.
A majority of words are formed by combining the root with an affix. Some examples are;
- kuchuk is formed from the root chuk (to be high), with the prefix, ku.
- phaidi (come) is formed from the root phai (to come), with the suffix di.
There are no Kókborok words beginning with ng. At the end of a syllable, any vowel except w can be found, along with a limited amount of consonants: p, k, m, n, ng, r and l. Y is found only in closing diphthongs like ai and wi.
"Clusters" are a group of consonants at the beginning of a syllable, like phl, ph + l, in phlat phlat (very fast), or sl in kungsluk kungsluk (foolish man). Clusters are quite impossible at the end of a syllable. There are some "false clusters" such as phran (to dry) which is actually phw-ran. These are very common in echo words : phlat phlat, phre phre, prai prai, prom prom, etc.
There are two tones in Kókborok, a high and a low tone. To mark the high tone, the letter h is attached to the vowel with the high tone.
example: low tone High tone
- lai-easy laih-crossed
- bor-senseless bohr-to plant
- cha-correct chah-to eat
- nukhung-family nukhuhng-roof
Morphologically Kókborok words can be divided into five categories. They are the following.
(a) Original words: thang-go; phai-come; borok-nation; borog-men kotor-big; kuchu-youngest; kwrwi-not;etc.
(b) Compound words, that is, words made of more than one original words: nai-see; thok-testy; naithok-beautiful; mwtai-god; nog-house; tongthar-temple; bwkha-heart; bwkhakotor-brave; etc.
(c) Words with suffixes: swrwng-learn; swrwngnai-learner; nugjak-seen; kaham-good; hamya- bad; etc.
(d) Naturalized loan words: gerogo-to roll; gwdna-neck; tebil- table; puitu-faith; etc.
(e) Loan words: kiching-friend; etc.
There is a clear cut difference in Kókborok between nouns and verbs. All true verbs are made with a verbal root followed by a number of suffixes, these suffixes are not placed at random but according to definite rules.
Counting and numbering
Counting in Kókborok is called lekhamung. The basic numbers are:
There are many Kókborok-speaking tribes in the Indian states of West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Mizoram and the neighbouring provinces of the country Bangladesh mainly in Chittagong Hill Tracts. There are three main dialects which are not mutually intelligible, though the western dialect of the royal family, Debbarma, is a prestige dialect understood by everyone. It is the standard for teaching and literature. It is taught as the medium of instruction up to class fifth and as subject up to graduate level. The other dialects are Jamatia, Kalai and Noatia.
First effort for giving the language in printed book form and creation of literature of language Radhamohan Thakur wrote the grammar of Kókborok named "Kókborokma" published in 1900 AD. He wrote two other books: "Tripur Kothamala" and "Tripur Bhasabidhan". Tripur Kothamala was the Kókborok-Bengali-English translation book published in 1906. The "Tripur Bhasabidhan" was published in 1907.
Daulot Ahmed was a contemporary of Radhamohan Thakur and was a pioneer of writing Kókborok Grammar jointly with Mohammad Omar. The Amar jantra, Comilla published his Kókborok grammar book "KOKBOKMA" in 1897.
On 27 December 1945 the "Tripura Janasiksha Samiti" came into being, and it established many schools in different areas of Tripura.
The first Kókborok magazine "Kwtal Kothoma" was edited and published in 1954 by Sudhanya Deb Barma, who was a founder of the Samiti. "Hachuk Khurio" (In the lap of Hills) by Sudhanya Deb Barma is the first modern Kókborok novel. It was published by the Kókborok Sahitya Sabha and Sanskriti Samsad in 1987. One major translation of the 20th century was the "Smai Kwtal", the New Testament of the Bible in Kókborok language, published in 1976 by the Bible Society of India.
The 21st century began for Kókborok literature with the monumental work, the Anglo-Kókborok-Bengali Dictionary compiled by Binoy Deb Barma and published in 2002 A.D. by the Kókborok tei Hukumu Mission. This is the 2nd edition of his previous ground breaking dictionary published in 1996 and is a trilingual dictionary. Twiprani Laihbuma (The Rajmala - History of Tripura) translated by R. K. Debbarma and published in 2002 by KOHM.
The full Holy Bible in Kokborok language was finally published for the first time in the year 2013 by the Bible Society of India. The Baibel Kwthar is currently the largest work and biggest book published in the language with more than 1,300 pages and is now the benchmark for publications in the language.
The present trend of development of the Kókborok literary works show that Kókborok literature is moving forward slowly but steadily with its vivacity and distinctive originality to touch the rich literature of the rich languages.
Institutions and organisations
Many Tripuri cultural organisations have been working fruitfully for the development of the language since the last century. A list of the present organizations and publication houses are:
- KSS, Kokborok Sahitya Sabha now Borok Kokrwbai Bosong or BKB in short.
- KOHM, Kokborok tei Hukumu Mission
- KbSS, Kokborok Sahitya Sangsad
- HKP, Hachukni Khorang Publishers
- JP, Jora Publication
- DKP, Dey Kokborok Publishers
- KA, Kokborok Academy
Government research and publications organizations working in Kokborok development are:
- Tribal Research Institute (TRI), Agartala
- Language Wing, Education department of the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC)
Department of Kokborok, Tripura University
Kokborok Library, Khumulwng
A library of Kokborok books has been functioning in Khumulwng town since 2015. It has been set up by the Tripura Tribal Areas Autonomous District Council (TTAADC) through Government funding and is functioning in a building constructed for the library in Khumulwng town near the Khumulwng stadium.
The library currently holds more than 5,000 books of Kokborok language and related topics.
Kokborok Tei Hukumu Mission (KOHM)
'Kokborok Tei Hukumu' Mission is a Tripuri cultural organization which has been established to promote the language and culture of the Tripuri people. The mission was started by Naphurai Jamatia. It has its office in Krishnanagar in Agartala.
It is the largest publisher of books in Kokborok, most notable of which is the Kokborok Dictionaries by Binoy Debbarma, Anglo-Kokborok Dictionary (1996) and Anglo-Kokborok-Bengali Trilingual Dictionary (2002).
- Kókborok 761,964
- Others 607
-Census of India 2001 language report
Kók-borok had a script known as Koloma which has disappeared. Since the 19th century the Kingdom of Twipra used the Bengali script for writing in Kók-borok. But since the independence of India and Twipra's merger with India, the Roman Script is being promoted by non-governmental organizations. The script issue is highly politicized, with the Left Front government advocating usage of Bengali script and the Twipra Christians and ethnonationalists advocating for the Roman script.
At present both the scripts are used in the state in education as well as in literary and cultural circles.
- Kokborok literature
- Kokborok drama
- Kokborok day
- Kokborok grammar
- Bodo language
- Dimasa language
- Garo language
- Kokborok (Tripuri/Tipra) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Riang at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Tippera (Khagrachari) at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Usui at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
Early Tripuri at Ethnologue (18th ed., 2015)
- Nordhoff, Sebastian; Hammarström, Harald; Forkel, Robert; Haspelmath, Martin, eds. (2013). "Tipperic". Glottolog. Leipzig: Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology.
- Department of Kokborok, Tripura University
- Center of Tribal Language, Tripura University
- Pushpa Pai (Karapurkar). 1976. Kókborok Grammar. (CIIL Grammar series ; 3). Mysore: Central Institute of Indian Languages. OCLC 5750101
- François Jacquesson. 2003. Kókborok, a short analysis Paris. OCLC 284223242
- Binoy Debbarma. 2002. Anglo-Kókborok-Bengali Dictionary. 2nd edition. Agartala: Kókborok Tei Hukumu Mission (KOHM).
- Article in KOHM Anniversary magazine
- Department of Kokborok , Tripura University, Agartala
- borokpeople.com Kokborok Sahitya Sabha (Borok Kokrwbai Bosong) website
- kohm.twipra.com Kokborok Tei Hukumu Mission (KOHM) website
- Govt of Tripura Govt of Tripura website
- www.tiprasa.com Kókborok script issues
- twipra.com A website about Twipra (Tripura in Kókborok).
- Deccan Herald Article concerning the script issue.
- www.kokborok.org Kokborok Literature website
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| 0.878695 | 3,426 | 3.21875 | 3 |
In which Scrabble dictionary does GEODE exist?
Definitions of GEODE in dictionaries:
- noun -
(mineralogy) a hollow rock or nodule with the cavity usually lined with crystals
A hollow, usually spheroidal rock with crystals lining the inside wall.
There are 5 letters in GEODE:
D E E G O
Scrabble words that can be created with an extra letter added to GEODE
All anagrams that could be made from letters of word GEODE plus a
Scrabble words that can be created with letters from word GEODE
5 letter words
4 letter words
3 letter words
2 letter words
Images for GEODELoading...
SCRABBLE is the registered trademark of Hasbro and J.W. Spear & Sons Limited. Our scrabble word finder and scrabble cheat word builder is not associated with the Scrabble brand - we merely provide help for players of the official Scrabble game. All intellectual property rights to the game are owned by respective owners in the U.S.A and Canada and the rest of the world. Anagrammer.com is not affiliated with Scrabble. This site is an educational tool and resource for Scrabble & Words With Friends players.
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| 0.904229 | 269 | 2.9375 | 3 |
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Mount Hood, the tallest mountain in Oregon, has a secret, scientists revealed. Covered by trees and plants is an earthquake fault that stretches for miles from the iconic mountain.
The fault appears to have been recently active, and could be an earthquake threat today, reported the Portland Oregonian. Scientists said the last time the fault ruptured, possibly as a magnitude 6 or 7 earthquake, the ground ripped six feet (1.8 meters) apart.
The fault was discovered by scientists flying over Mt. Hood using lasers to scan the terrain. The fault is about 20 miles (32.2 kilometers) long and stretches from the northern flank of Mount Hood to the Columbia River.
Thursday, September 01, 2011 at 20:47:07 UTC
Thursday, September 01, 2011 at 01:47:07 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Depth 7.4 km (4.6 miles)
GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIFORNIA
6 km (4 miles) SE (133°) from Newhall, CA
7 km (5 miles) NNW (328°) from San Fernando, CA
8 km (5 miles) NNE (14°) from Granada Hills, CA
8 km (5 miles) SSE (164°) from Santa Clarita, CA
39 km (24 miles) NW (326°) from Los Angeles Civic Center, CA
horizontal +/- 0.6 km (0.4 miles); depth +/- 1 km (0.6 miles)
Nph= 28, Dmin=4 km, Rmss=0.25 sec, Gp= 68°,
M-type=local magnitude (ML), Version=4
California Integrated Seismic Net:
Lidar imaging revealed another fault near Mount Hood that runs to within a mile or two of the Columbia River Gorge, which raises questions about the earthquake resistance of hydropower dams. "None of the dams were designed with this kind of fault in the analysis," Madin says.
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| 0.872102 | 476 | 2.921875 | 3 |
|Artist / Origin||
Unknown artist, Tabriz, Iran
Region: West Asia
Period: 1000 CE - 1400 CE
|Material||Opaque watercolor, gold, and ink on paper|
|Dimensions||H: 23 ¼ in. (59.05 cm.), W: 15 5/8 in. (39.69 cm.)|
|Location||Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA|
|Credit||Courtesy of Bridgeman Art Library|
|Oleg GrabarProfessor Emeritus, Institute for Advanced Study|
“Alexander Fights the Monster of Habash” from the Shahnama
The Shahnama was written around the year 1000 by a poet named Ferdowsi, who was born and lived most of his life in what is now Northeastern Iran. It is the most celebrated epic poem in Iran. It deals with the mythical history of a country and with the real history a country. For instance, it has several sections on Alexander the Great who came to Iran, or in the history of the last independent Persian dynasty before the appearance of Islam. Those are historical events. They are treated in a non-historical manner, but they are historical. But most of the poem deals with the mythical history that begins with the creation of the universe and the first king appears. Alexander the Great is a great king who becomes a Persian, and he goes to the end of the earth in the Shahnama to find out the truth about eternal living. And at the end of the earth, there is a tree, and on that tree there were figures that spoke to Alexander the Great. And he asked them, ‘Am I going to live forever?’ They said, ‘No, you are going to die like everybody else.’ And that saddens him and he goes away and dies. But the point is that he was transformed into a figure both of history and of moral issue. How do you deal with death? How do you deal with the ambition of eternal life, versus the reality of everybody’s death? Ferdowsi wrote in extremely accessible Persian. People knew it by heart. It is the memory of a very broad ethnic group and depending on the provinces from which you came, there were variances to the story.
Illustrations of the Shahnama begin around 1300 when Iran was ruled by Mongols. From that moment on, they were constantly illustrated. There are many great manuscripts of Shahnama. One is a manuscript done around 1335, of which about sixty illustrations have remained. The painters wanted you to feel that the past was beautiful, that it was great, that the world was terrific. When you look at these paintings you immediately recognize the subject matter—a love scene, a fight, a battle, whatever it is. And you recognize all the people around, almost all of them. But then you realize that they never could sit or be placed the way they are. The setting makes you accept this as being real, and there is something very operatic about Persian painting. It’s all fake. The same people reappear, the same choruses reappear, from one scene to another scene, one story, another story, and are constantly there to do whatever those subject demands. And that’s a very original feature of that art.
After Khomeini took power in ’79, the Shahnama was banned in Iran, because it was a poem to the glory of kings, and not of the faith. Now it is back in some popularity.”
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Traditional Jewish text - Exodus 1:1-21 (midwives)
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shifra and Puah, 16 "When you help the Hebrew women in childbirth and observe them on the delivery stool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live." 17 The midwives, however, feared God and did not do what the king of Egypt had told them to do; they let the boys live. 18 Then the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and asked them, "Why have you done this? Why have you let the boys live?"
19 The midwives answered Pharaoh, "Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they are vigorous and give birth before the midwives arrive."
20 So God was kind to the midwives and the people increased and became even more numerous. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families of their own.
- It is somewhat ambiguous in the text whether these midwives are themselves Hebrews or whether they are midwives who serve the Hebrew community. Do you think it matters? How might their identities as Hebrews or non-Hebrews change the way we understand their actions?
- The midwives disobey Pharoah because they fear God. What do you think "fear of God" means? Is this a motivation that resonates with you?
- Would you characterize the actions of Shiphra and Puah as civil disobedience? Why or why not?
How to cite this page
Jewish Women's Archive. "Traditional Jewish text - Exodus 1:1-21 (midwives)." (Viewed on June 30, 2016) <http://jwa.org/teach/livingthelegacy/exodus-1-1-21-midwives>.
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There was a time when anyone could identify a drunk driver: He fell over when he got out of the car, reeked of alcohol, and if he could talk at all, his speech was incoherent or slurred. But with the legal blood alcohol concentration (BAC) limit now at .08% or lower throughout the country, judging if someone is legally intoxicated has become far more difficult.
Forensic Sobriety Assessment trains and certifies professionals in DWI/DUI enforcement and defense. FSA certification requires working knowledge of the scientific principles and research relating to sobriety testing in a DWI / DUI stop, including:
- The scientific literature on indications of intoxication, such as red eyes and slurred speech
- NHTSA's Standardized Field Sobriety Tests (SFSTs)
- Scientific principles, such as experiment design, reliability and valdity, and diagnostic statistics (e.g., false positive rates)
- Visual science pertaining to the Horizontal Gaze Nystagmus (HGN) sobriety test
- The scientific literature on sobriety tests other than the SFSTs
FSA Certification is the most advanced credential available to DUI professionals in behavioral sobriety assessment. Ideally, all attorneys, judges, and police officers who deal with DWI cases would be knowledgeable about these topics. While the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) trains police officers to assess intoxication, it does not provide training in important scientific topics or differential diagnosis, and does not address the many criticisms of the tests. FSA Certification is available to those who demonstrate proficiency by passing examinations in seven of the eight content areas (the module on statistical significance and effect size is currently optional).
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Hip & Elbow Dysplasia
Genetic joint diseases that lead to pain and debilitation.
Common Bone Disorders Affecting Dogs [offsite link]
Detailed information about Osteochondritis Dissecans (OCD), Hypertrophic Osteodystrophy (HOD), Elbow Dysplasia, and Hip dysplasia (HD) + Preventing Growth-Associated Bone Disorders, Drugs for the Prevention and Treatment, & Control Through Genetic Selection.
Elbow Disease In Growing Dogs [offsite link]
Elbow disease, or elbow dysplasia has received increasing publicity in recent years due to the high prevalence of foreleg lameness localised to the elbow joint. Read more...
Hip Dysplasia [offsite link]
Hip dysplasia is a genetic disorder in which dogs have a poor fitting hip joint. This ball and socket joint should fit together neatly, allowing dogs to move the legs freely and without pain. Because their bones do not fit properly, dogs with hip dysplasia are prone to develop arthritis and related joint pain as they age. Motion of the hip joints slowly causes erosion of soft cartilage in these joints. Hip dysplasia can affect either or both of the rear leg joints.
Hip Dysplasia: Treatment [offsite link]
Early treatment with acupuncture may help alleviate or retard the development of the disease. There are also four surgical procedures available to treat hip dysplasia. This article explains each of these procedures.
Ortthopedic Foundation for Animals (OFFA) [offsite link]
Originally created to assist breeders in addressing hip dysplasia, in recent years the OFA has added databases to assist breeders in assessing elbow and patella deformities, craniomandibular osteopathy, autoimmune thyroiditis, congenital heart disease, copper toxicosis, & DNA databases. The OFA also provides financial support to animal wellness activities & canine genetic research.
Pennsylvania Hip Improvement Program - PennHIP [offsite link]
PennHIP is a multifaceted radiographic technology (x-ray) for hip evaluation. It predicts the onset of osteoarthritis, also known as degenerative joint disease, the hallmark of canine hip dysplasia.
Links marked with the [offsite link] designation point to websites not associated with BellaOnline.com. BellaOnline.com is not responsible for the material found there.
Dogs Homepage | Editor's Picks Articles | Top Ten Articles | Dogs Site Map
Think your link belongs here? Use the contact page to let this editor know.
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Violence and the fear of violence can have serious implications in terms of performance, attendance, and reputation of a school. Violence causes negative side effects which can ruin the school atmosphere by disturbing concentration of teachers and students in there studies. Violence in school and the children who involve themselves with it cannot do well. It can also end up ruining their futures.
The students who participate in violent activities cause problems for their schoolmates. They involve themselves in bullying other students, causing victims of harassment to fear attending school, and hindering their fellow students’ future career prospects by creating an atmosphere that prevents them from concentrating on their class work.
Violence in school also damages the reputations of schools. It therefore becomes very difficult for parents to enroll their children to such schools for the fear their children may be involved in the violence or get hurt in it. A violent atmosphere is not conducive to learning and academic success of a student.
In order to improve the performance of schools and academic achievement of students, it seems clear that reducing or eliminating violence in the lives of children must be part of the solution. We know that hungry and malnourished children do not learn well. This is also the case with children who fear, experience or witness violence in their homes, the community and their schools.
While schools alone cannot fix all of this, there are things that schools can do to address the climate: teaching and promoting healthy social and interpersonal skills, addressing bullying and conflict resolution, and developing relationships with other community resources for family outreach support, and mental health services.
Schools, teachers and staff, and students and their families live with the serious consequences of violence and, in turn, must be an important part of the solution.
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by Teresa J. Mitchell
In the last decade, the importance of a dad's role has taken a back seat to issues like "working parents versus stay-at-home parents" and "mother-baby bonding."
This is most unfortunate. Fathers bring a unique perspective to the family and to the lives of their children. Dads influence healthy development of their sons and daughters.
Which parent rallies the kids to throw a little harder or run a little faster? Which parent encourages caution? Whether it's a sporting event, the playground or even around town, we'll often see moms protect while it's the dads encouraging their children to push their limits.
Why Dads Are Important
Dads are important because a child needs both male and female role models.
- Fathers who interact with their newborn children are usually more likely to support their wife in her new role as mother.
- Babies can distinguish their father's voice from a stranger's before they're a month old.
- Dads who played with their kids in sensitive, supportive and challenging ways at age two had stronger relationships with these same children during the tween and teen years.
- Roughhousing with dad during the preschool years helps kids develop the ability to manage emotions and thinking and physical action...all at the same time.
- Kindergartners who were less attached to their dads were more anxious, withdrawn and less self-confident at age 9, less accepted by peers and less well-adjusted at school.
- Girls with involved fathers are more likely to have healthier relationships with the opposite sex.
- Boys who grow up with dads are less likely to be violent.
Fathers Add Balance to a Child's Life
Dads influence kids differently than moms. Mounting research suggests that interactions with an involved father are as important, if not more important that interactions with a mom when it comes to a child's positive development.
Mom's influence has more to do with self-worth and the ability to form close, one-on-one relationships. Dad's involvement affects a child's acceptance by their peers and the level of confidence as the child enters adulthood.
Fathers Encourage Challenges
Dads see potential and encourage their kids to set goals and reach for them. Moms are more likely to see the consequences of risky behavior. Together, they help children expand their independence and confidence while remaining safe.
Fathers Challenge Vocabulary
Moms and dads talk with their children differently. Mothers might simplify their words and speak on the child's level. Fathers are less likely to modify their language for a child. Mom's way encourages immediate communication. Dad's way challenges a child to expand their vocabulary and linguistic skill.
Fathers Focus on Justice
When it comes to discipline, men and women aren't always on the same page. While there are exceptions, dad's discipline usually stresses justice, fairness and responsibility. Mom's focuses on sympathy, care and help. Together, these approaches offer kids a healthy balance.
Fathers Offer a Man's Point of View
Men think, dress and cope with life differently than women -- that's just a fact. Boys and girls who grow up with their dad's influence have a better understanding of the world of men.
Dad's influence helps girls learn how typical and healthy men act toward women. The relationship with their dad builds emotional security. Boys look to their fathers to affirm their masculinity and self-esteem. Boys learn different methods from their fathers on how to channel their strengths and weaknesses in positive ways.
Father's Help Kids Prepare for Adulthood
Dads help kids see consequences. They tell their kids that if they're mean, other kids won't want to play with them. Fathers let their kids know that not doing well in school means you'll have problems getting into a good college or landing a good job. Dads help kids understand the reality of living in the adult world.
Member's Share Their Favorite Memories
To see the importance of dad's in our lives, we asked our members to share their kids' special moments with us. Here are a few we enjoyed and thought you would too.
Helen says, "My little girl was only two-months-old, but when she hears his footsteps and his voice, she whips her eyes towards the door. When she spots him, she squeaks and starts kicking her feet and waving her arms. Of course, he's already wrapped around her tiny little fingers and obediently comes right over for a chat and a little play time."
Erica says her little one loves to play with dad and will, "...steal her daddy's sock. Dad wiggles his toes and then reaches for it. The kid holds it just where he can reach. Then he moves really fast and tickles and growls. The kid tickles back. Sometimes dad wins and gets his sock back and sometimes the kid gets away and runs."
John fondly remembers that, "I'd wait at the window, watching for dad. When he opened the gate, I would fly out into his arms. He dropped his coat and lunch sack, grabbed me and hugged. Now, I know how tired he was after working hard all day. Then I just knew I was the most important person that minute and that he was really happy to see me."
Carries reminisces, "Yesterday would have been my dad's 60th birthday. I celebrated by remembering the ways he encouraged me to plan ahead and be happy. My dad was a think first, measure, then cut kind of person. And if things did go wrong, his example showed me how see the humor."
While we do acknowledge that there are plenty of moms doing all these same activities, it's important to remind ourselves that dads do, too! Their significance and importance shouldn't take a back seat!
What's your favorite memory about your dad, or your hubby as dad? Share them with us!
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Masechet Makkot is a companion tractate to Masechet Sanhedrin, and effectively completes it, inasmuch as it also deals with criminal law and the punishments meted out by the Jewish courts. This stands in contrast to the earlier tractates of Seder Nezikin whose focus was on civil law and personal interactions. At the same time, Masechet Makkot differs from Masechet Sanhedrin in that Sanhedrin deals mainly with serious crimes that deserve capital punishment, while Makkot discusses other types of crimes whose punishments are less severe.
Aside from capital punishment, there are three types of punishments meted out by the Jewish courts. They are:
There are three general topics that are discussed mainly in Masechet Makkot, even though they appear in other places in the Talmud, as well. These are the laws of eidim zomemin (false witnesses), galut (exile) and malkot (lashes). While there is no clear connection between these topics, they are included here as a completion of the laws of bet din that were taught in Masechet Sanhedrin.
The source for edim zomemin appears in the Torah (Devarim 19:16-21). The main idea is that if witnesses offer testimony against someone that will potentially lead to punishment - a death sentence, lashes or a monetary payment - if another set of witnesses come and claim that the first set could not possibly have seen this incident because they were with them in another place at the time of the crime, the first group will receive whatever punishment would have been given to the accused. This ruling is considered to be a hiddush - a new, unusual concept taught by the Torah - since other types of contradiction, e.g. witnesses who say that they saw the incident and it happened otherwise, would not lead to this ruling. When there is simply contradiction - two witnesses say that one thing occurred and two witnesses say that they saw something else take place - the court throws out both testimonies, since we do not know which group to believe.
The concept of galut - exile - is also a unique ruling. According to the Torah (see Bamidbar 35:24-29 and Devarim 19:2-7), a person is sent from his home to one of the six arei miklat - cities of refuge - in the event that he killed his fellow accidentally. It appears that exile accomplishes three things -
The combination of these three purposes makes clear that not every accidental death will lead to the exile of the perpetrator. On occasion, the accident may be something that should have been prevented, and exile will not be an appropriate punishment, nor is it severe enough to offer atonement. Sometimes the accident may be something that could not possibly have been prevented, and there will be no need for punishment or atonement.
Malkot, or lashes, are also clearly mandated in the Torah (see Devarim 25:1-4), although the Torah does not specify what the rasha - the evildoer - who deserves malkot may have done to deserve this punishment. The oral tradition of the Sages on this matter is clear - someone who transgresses one of the negative commandments of the Torah is liable to receive lashes. The application of malkot accomplishes three things: punishment, atonement and deterrence. The punishment is severe enough that there is a requirement to examine the person who will be receiving the punishment to ensure that it will not cause permanent damage. Deterrence stems from the fact that aside from the physical pain, the lashes are given publicly in order to embarrass the perpetrator.
In point of fact, this punishment was not given very often, since there are many negative commandments that do not fall into the category of malkot. Furthermore, just as we find with regard to capital punishment, the court does not mete out this punishment unless they are certain beyond any doubt that he performed this crime purposefully and with malice aforethought. Thus we need not only two witnesses to the crime, but we must also know that the perpetrator was warned that the act was forbidden and that he would be punished for doing it.
While Masechet Makkot focuses on these matters, as in every tractate, other topics are discussed, as well. The tractate includes collections of aggadic material, most of which offer another perspective on these topics - on the reward for the performance of the commandments and how sometimes even things that appear to be negative may hint to the ultimate good in the World to Come.
This essay is based upon the insights and chidushim of Rabbi Steinsaltz, as published in the Hebrew version of the Steinsaltz Edition of the Talmud. To learn more about the Steinsaltz Daf Yomi initiative, click here.
To dedicate future editions of Steinsaltz Daf Yomi, perhaps in honor of a special occasion or in memory of a loved one, click here.
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Pittsburgh middle school student Suvir Mirchandani has come up with a novel idea to save the government millions of dollars: Mirchandani says a simple typeface change on the vast amounts of paperwork produced by the authorities each year could save as much as $400m every 12 months.
The 14 year-old attends Dorseyville Middle School and came up with the scheme as part of a study into how computer science could improve environmental stability. He analyzed teacher handouts to investigate the typefaces used and the ink required for the most common letters in each case. “Ink is two times more expensive than French perfume by volume,” the teenager told CNN.
Mirchandani did some calculations, working out that by sticking with the thin and lightweight Garamond rather than thicker alternatives, his school district could reduce ink consumption by 24 percent and save as much as $21,000 every year. “We were so impressed,” said Sarah Fankhauser, one of the founders of the Journal for Emerging Investigators (JEI), which eventually published the findings. “We really could see the real-world application in Suvir’s paper.”
JEI then challenged the middle school student to apply his findings to the government as a whole. With an annual printing budget of $1.8 billion to consider, the challenge was much harder, but the results were the same — around $400 million could be chopped off the annual budget. A spokesman for the Government Printing Office praised Mirchandani’s work but was non-committal on whether any typeface changes would be made, as the government looks to shift most of its paperwork onto the Web.
“I recognize it’s difficult to change someone’s behavior,” admitted Suvir Mirchandani. “That’s the most difficult part. I definitely would love to see some actual changes and I’d be happy to go as far as possible to make that change possible. Consumers are still printing at home, they can make this change too.”
You may not be able to chop $400 million off your own annual printer ink budget, but it’s something to consider the next time you click Print.
[Image: Wikimedia Commons]
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On This Page
Public Health Statement for Hexachlorobutadiene
This Public Health Statement is the summary chapter from the Toxicological Profile for hexachlorobutadiene. It is one in a series of Public Health Statements about hazardous substances and their health effects. A shorter version, the ToxFAQsTM, is also available. This information is important because this substance may harm you. The effects of exposure to any hazardous substance depend on the dose, the duration, how you are exposed, personal traits and habits, and whether other chemicals are present. For more information, call the ATSDR Information Center at 1-888-422-8737.
This Statement was prepared to give you information about hexachlorobutadiene and to emphasize the human health effects that may result from exposure to it. The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has identified 1,350 hazardous waste sites as the most serious in the nation. These sites comprise the "National Priorities List" (NPL): Those sites which are targeted for long-term federal cleanup activities. Hexachlorobutadiene has been found in at least 45 of the sites on the NPL. However, the number of NPL sites evaluated for hexachlorobutadiene is not known. As EPA evaluates more sites, the number of sites at which hexachlorobutadiene is found may increase. This information is important because exposure to hexachlorobutadiene may cause harmful health effects and because these sites are potential or actual sources of human exposure to hexachlorobutadiene.
When a substance is released from a large area, such as an industrial plant, or from a container, such as a drum or bottle, it enters the environment. This release does not always lead to exposure. You can be exposed to a substance only when you come in contact with it. You may be exposed by breathing, eating, or drinking substances containing the substance or by skin contact with it.
If you are exposed to a substance such as hexachlorobutadiene, many factors will determine whether harmful health effects will occur and what the type and severity of those health effects will be. These factors include the dose (how much), the duration (how long), the route or pathway by which you are exposed (breathing, eating, drinking, or skin contact), the other chemicals to which you are exposed, and your individual characteristics such as age, gender, nutritional status, family traits, lifestyle, and state of health.
1.1 What is hexachlorobutadiene?
Hexachlorobutadiene, also known as HCBD, perchlorobutadiene, or Dolen-Pur, is a colorless liquid. It does not evaporate or burn easily. Hexachlorobutadiene has a turpentine-like odor. Most people will begin to smell a mild to pungent odor if the compound is present in air at 1 part hexachlorobutadiene per million parts of air (ppm). It is not known how it tastes or at what level people can taste it.
Hexachlorobutadiene does not occur naturally in the environment. It is formed during the processing of other chemicals such as tetrachloroethylene, trichloroethylene, and carbon tetrachloride. Hexachlorobutadiene is an intermediate in the manufacture of rubber compounds and lubricants. It is used as a fluid for gyroscopes, a heat transfer liquid, or a hydraulic fluid. Outside of the United States it is used to kill soil pests.
1.2 What happens to hexachlorobutadiene when it enters the environment?
Hexachlorobutadiene is released to the environment in air, water, and soil, mainly as a result of its disposal following industrial use. Most of the hexachlorobutadiene wastes are destroyed by burning; some are released to the air in this process. It is not known what happens to hexachlorobutadiene after it enters the air. Based on the information we have on similar compounds, it may be broken down by sunlight and react with gases in the atmosphere. It is not known what chemicals are formed by these reactions or if the compounds formed are harmful. Based on the properties of similar compounds, one-half of the hexachlorobutadiene in the air is expected to be broken down to other chemicals within 60 days.
Hexachlorobutadiene may be released to water during disposal of factory waste. It is not known what happens to it in water or how long it remains there. Hexachlorobutadiene that is present in water may pass into the air or soil in small amounts. Small amounts of hexachlorobutadiene may be released to soil as a result of disposal of industrial wastes containing it. It is not known what happens to hexachlorobutadiene after it contacts soil. Because hexachlorobutadiene binds to most soils, it is expected to remain there for some time. The hexachlorobutadiene present in sandy soils may move through the soil to underground water. However, no information was found on how much reaches the underground water or how long it stays in the water. Hexachlorobutadiene can build up in fish and shellfish, where waters are contaminated. It is not known if hexachlorobutadiene builds up in plants.
1.3 How might I be exposed to hexachlorobutadiene?
You may be exposed to hexachlorobutadiene by breathing contaminated air, eating contaminated food, drinking contaminated water, or by direct skin contact with this chemical. People working in the industrial facilities where hexachlorobutadiene is formed or used may be exposed. Concentrations found in outside air were 2�3 parts hexachlorobutadiene per trillion parts of air (ppt). Levels were much higher in or near industrial facilities where hexachlorobutadiene is formed or used. One survey detected air concentrations ranging from 22 to 43,000 ppt in a production facility. No information is available on how many workers are potentially exposed to hexachlorobutadiene.
Although hexachlorobutadiene is not very soluble in water, small amounts may be found in some public drinking water (less than 1 part hexachlorobutadiene per billion parts water [ppb]). It may also be found in underground water near hazardous waste sites. Hexachlorobutadiene has no agricultural or food chemical uses in the United States.
Levels ranging from 0.1 to 4.7 milligrams per kilogram have been found in fish and shellfish because the compound is present in some surface water.
Exposure at waste sites is most likely to occur from the landfill disposal of waste by-products originating from chlorinated hydrocarbon manufacture.
1.4 How can hexachlorobutadiene enter and leave my body?
Hexachlorobutadiene may enter your body through the lungs when you breathe air contaminated with it. It also may enter your body if you drink water or eat food contaminated with hexachlorobutadiene. With the exception of fish and shellfish, however, hexachlorobutadiene has not been found in food. The amount of hexachlorobutadiene that enters your body by these routes depends on how much of the chemical you eat or drink.
What happens to hexachlorobutadiene when you breathe vapors of the compound is not known, but it most likely moves across your lungs into your bloodstream. In animal studies, most of the hexachlorobutadiene is changed by the body into more toxic compounds. It is not known how rapidly hexachlorobutadiene and its breakdown products are removed from your body through your urine and feces. Some is expected to remain in your body fat for long periods.
1.5 How can hexachlorobutadiene affect my health?
In one study of workers at a solvent production plant who breathed hexachlorobutadiene for long periods, the compound was shown to affect the function of the liver. Because the workers were also exposed to other solvents (carbon tetrachloride and perchloroethylene), it is not certain if this effect was caused by hexachlorobutadiene alone. Studies in mice showed that brief exposure to high concentrations of hexachlorobutadiene irritate the nose. The effects of breathing low levels of hexachlorobutadiene are not known.
Ingestion of hexachlorobutadiene damaged the kidneys of rats and mice and, to a lesser extent, the liver of rats. These effects occurred after both shortand long-term exposures at very low dose levels. Young rats were affected more than adult rats. The kidneys of female rats appeared to be affected more than those of males. On the other hand, the liver of male rats was affected, but the liver of female rats was not. It is not clear if the differences between the sexes might be seen in humans. Kidney, brain, and liver damage were also seen in rabbits after contact of their skin with the compound for a short period.
Hexachlorobutadiene decreased fetal body weight in rats, but did not affect fetal development or impair their ability to produce offspring. The lungs, heart, brain, blood, muscles, and skeleton in rats or mice were not damaged after short- or long-term exposure.
Studies in rats indicate that hexachlorobutadiene may increase the risk of kidney cancer if exposures occur for long periods. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that hexachlorobutadiene is not classifiable as to its carcinogenicity in humans, but indicated that there was limited evidence that hexachlorobutadiene was carcinogenic in rats. EPA has determined that hexachlorobutadiene is a possible human carcinogen.
1.6 Is there a medical test to determine whether I have been exposed to hexachlorobutadiene?
Exposure to hexachlorobutadiene can be determined by measuring the chemical or its breakdown products in blood, urine, or fat. These tests are not usually performed in most doctors' offices because special equipment is needed. Samples can be collected and sent to special laboratories to determine if you were exposed to hexachlorobutadiene. These tests cannot determine how much of the chemical you were exposed to or if adverse health effects will occur as a result of the exposure.
1.7 What recommendations has the federal government made to protect human health?
The federal government has developed guidelines and standards to protect the public from excess exposure to hexachlorobutadiene. EPA has recommended guidelines on how much hexachlorobutadiene can be present in drinking water for specific periods of time without causing adverse health effects in humans. EPA recommends that exposures in children should not exceed 0.3 milligrams per liter of water (mg/L) for 10-day periods, or 0.1 mg/L for more than 7 years. If adults are exposed for long periods (more than 7 years), EPA recommends that exposure levels should not exceed 0.4 mg/L.
Hexachlorobutadiene has been named a hazardous substance by EPA. If quantities equal to or greater than 1 pound are released to the environment, the National Response Center of the federal government must be notified immediately.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recommends that exposure to hexachlorobutadiene not exceed 0.02 ppm for an 8- hour workday over a 40-hour workweek. This limit is not enforced by the federal government, but it is the law in at least 25 states.
The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) classifies hexachlorobutadiene as a potential occupational carcinogen. Because there is potential for effects following contact of the chemical with the skin, measures should be taken to minimize skin exposure.
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR). 1994. Toxicological profile for hexachlorobutadiene. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service.
Where can I get more information?
If you have questions or concerns, please contact your community or state health or environmental quality department or:
For more information, contact:
Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
Division of Toxicology and Human Health Sciences
1600 Clifton Road NE, Mailstop F-57
Atlanta, GA 30329-4027
Phone: 1-800-CDC-INFO · 888-232-6348 (TTY)
Email: Contact CDC-INFO
ATSDR can also tell you the location of occupational and environmental health clinics. These clinics specialize in recognizing, evaluating, and treating illnesses resulting from exposure to hazardous substances.
Information line and technical assistance:
To order toxicological profiles, contact:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Phone: 800-553-6847 or 703-605-6000
Some PDF files may be electronic conversions from paper copy or other electronic ASCII text files. This conversion may have resulted in character translation or format errors. Users are referred to the original paper copy of the toxicological profile for the official text, figures, and tables. Original paper copies can be obtained via the directions on the toxicological profile home page, which also contains other important information about the profiles.
The information contained here was correct at the time of publication. Please check with the appropriate agency for any changes to the regulations or guidelines cited.
- Page last reviewed: January 21, 2015
- Page last updated: January 21, 2015
- Content source: Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry
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MARWELL zoo has announced a new woodland trail for walkers.
Ramblers will be guided by signs along the route, taking in ancient trees dating back to the 17th century.
It forms part of Marwell's project to restore its ancient semi-natural forest.
There are 30 hectares of woodland at the Zoo, featuring a range of plants not commonly found elsewhere in the UK.
Walkers will also need to keep their eyes peeled for unusual animals such as the rare yellow-necked mouse, and a variety of native and migrating wild birds.
Conservation biologist at Marwell, Martin Wilkie, said: “Marwell's woodlands are botanically diverse and of significant ecological value. With around 150 woodland species of flora and 50 species of Ancient Woodland Vascular Plants, we hope this new trail will encourage walkers, families and school children alike to discover this wonderful wildlife and marvellous habitat.”
The habitat restoration project, which includes coppice management and the removal of invasive plants like laurel and rhododendron, has been aided by The Veolia Environmental Trust, who awarded a grant of £14,708 through the Landfill Communities Fund.
Executive director of The Veolia Environmental Trust, McNabb Laurie, said: “The Trust supports community and environmental projects across the UK and it is always good to hear about the completion of a scheme we have funded. I hope the new woodland trail means people of all ages can explore and enjoy the woodland and its wonders. ”
The management of Marwell's woodlands can be traced back as far as the 14th century when huge oak trees were used to construct parts of Winchester Cathedral.
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From the front door to the living room, from the kitchen to the dining room, and from the boudoir to the bathroom, these five books use history and function to explore the hidden layers of the places we call home.
1. If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley
2. The Age of Comfort: When Paris Discovered Casual and the Modern Home Began by Joan DeJean
3. At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson
4. House Thinking: A Room-by-Room Look at How we Live by Winifred Gallagher
5. Geography of Home by Akiko Busch
(Images: as credited above)
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There are currently 150 members of the House of Representatives, each representing one geographic area of Australia. Members are elected for a 3 year term and when in parliament take part in debate on proposed laws and public policy, representing the views of the people in their electorate.
Members are often elected as representatives of a particular political party, although some members do not belong to any political party (and are known as independent members). The political party or coalition of parties with the support of the most members in the House forms the government.
At those times when parliament is not in session, members work in their electorates and perform various other duties. They deal with a range of issues affecting their electorates, including helping people who live in their area. Members also participate in committee inquiries from time to time.
For more information;
Infosheet 15: The work of a Member of Parliament (October 2010) (PDF 255KB)
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The largest and most sophisticated rover landed safely on Mars and the world’s most famous Moon visitor died, but the space event that most captured the public’s imagination in 2012 involved a journey to Earth.
On Oct. 14, YouTube counted 52 million streams of the Austrian daredevil Felix Baumgartner’s supersonic, record-breaking jumpfrom a balloon 24 miles above the New Mexico desert. YouTube called it “one of the most-viewed live events ever,” and it landed at No. 10 on the video-sharing site’s year-end trending list — the first time a science-related subject made the list, a YouTube spokeswoman said. (Google listed the leap as No. 7 in its Zeitgeist 2012 of trending events.)
And it was far from the only science story to go viral. To put it in 140 characters or less, social media and science found each other in 2012.
In surprising numbers, people posted, viewed and searched for science-related topics last year — sharing news from space and undersea, commenting on new discoveries and uploading photos and video in a full-out embrace of the ability to communicate with thousands of others about global subjects in real time.
The first Twitter message on Aug. 5 from @MarsCuriosity, NASA’s official rover handle — “Gale Crater I Am in You!!!” — was retweeted more than 72,000 times. Photos of the space shuttle Endeavour flying over the West Coast, on its way to its final resting place, ricocheted across the planet. And the director James Cameron’s claim to have sent the “deepest tweet” — from the Mariana Trench, about seven miles below the surface of the Pacific — was rated one of Twitter’s “moments of serendipity and just plain awesomeness” (though it was actually sent by a friend above water). Four science-related events made that list, with the Mars landing at No. 1.In an age of despair over math and science acuity, it appears that what was once considered uninteresting or unfathomable has become cool and exciting.
via The New York Times – MARY ANN GIORDANO
The Latest Streaming News: Science and Social Media updated minute-by-minute
Bookmark this page and come back often
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Motorcycle Mechanic Job and Training Information
Motorcycle mechanics are also sometimes called motorcycle technicians or motorcycle service technicians. They are all the same thing, although some professionals in the field do prefer to be called motorcycle technicians (especially if they work for a manufacturer or national racing team).
These highly skilled professionals perform the specialized, challenging work of ensuring that motorcycles are in safe and efficient working order. From customized choppers and touring editions to high-powered race bikes and off-road dirt bikes, they can work with an array of technologies, such as classic-style engines, finely-tuned computers, and more.
Plus, many work on more than just bikes. (They often have the skills to work on ATVs, snowmobiles, and other motorized vehicles powered by small engines.)
Depending on where they work and the level of their expertise, they perform duties such as:
Inspecting, Diagnosing, and Testing:
- Visually inspecting motorcycles
- Listening to engines for signs of problems
- Conducting tests on generator output, ignition timing, and engine performance
- Test-driving motorcycles to help pinpoint the source of any problems
- Diagnosing mechanical or electrical problems
- Inspecting and testing any malfunctioning parts
- Discussing diagnosed problems, necessary parts and labor, and estimated costs with clients
Maintaining, Customizing, and Repairing:
- Repairing broken parts
- Replacing parts that can't be fixed
- Adjusting or repairing motorcycle subassemblies (such as transmissions, drive chains, forks, and brakes)
- Dismantling engines or subassemblies
- Reviewing the technical manuals of motorcycle manufacturers
- Performing routine maintenance (e.g., replacing spark plugs, changing oil, lubricating parts, etc.)
- Scraping carbon build-up off of pistons, valves, cylinders, and other parts
- Performing complete engine overhauls
- Hammering out bends or dents in motorcycle frames
- Welding any breaks or tears in motorcycle frames
- Fitting custom accessories to new motorcycles
- Assembling, inspecting, and test-riding new motorcycles
Ensuring Shop Safety and Organization:
- Completing any necessary paperwork for warranty or insurance repairs
- Properly disposing of hazardous substances
- Keeping good records of all work performed and parts used
- Ordering spare parts
To complete these tasks, technicians must use a large variety of tools, including both hand and power tools, as well as sophisticated computerized diagnostic and tuning equipment.
Technicians can find work with a variety of different types of employers, including:
- Motorcycle dealerships
- Motorcycle repair shops
- Motorcycle racing teams
- Motorcycle manufacturers
- Automotive salvage yards
After plenty of experience, some also choose to open their own repair shops.
According to national estimates from 2014, the median hourly wage was $16.35, which translates to $34,010 annually. *
Though when starting out in the field it's not uncommon to earn approximately $10 to $11 per hour, added experience and skills can result in the chance to earn $50,000 or more per year.
Here are some other important things to keep in mind about pay:
- Most are not paid a regular hourly wage or salary. Rather, they get paid a flat rate or commission for each client repair or piece of work they perform. So, if you're efficient and good at your job, you could have the potential to up your take-home pay.
- Some employers, especially larger business provide valuable benefits packages.
- There can be a variance between a Harley-Davidson mechanic salary and that of a motorcycle technician who has more generalized training. However, one is not necessarily better than the other.
Being a motorcycle mechanic is challenging, and plenty of people in the field have turned their love of motorcycles into lasting careers. Additionally, here are some of the most common benefits of working in the field:
- Interesting work—Repairing motorcycles involves using your brain as well as your hands to solve complex problems. It can be a rewarding experience that produces personal satisfaction and a full sense of being engaged, and useful.
- A sense of pride—The feeling of independence that comes from working with a bike one-on-one can make the job a very pleasing experience.
- Potential for self-employment—With experience, you can have the option of running your own repair shop and greatly increasing your income potential and independence.
- Skills that transfer—It can be a good entry point into other mechanical trades. With additional training, many of the skills can be transferred into trades such as auto mechanics, diesel mechanics, or heavy vehicle repair.
- Personal fulfillment—Those who work in motorcycle repair are often passionate about the field. By choosing to enter this profession, you could be working side-by-side with others who are equally excited about motorcycles.
- Environmentally-friendly transportation—While not often highlighted as a perk, motorcycles are a form of "green" transportation, and working in this field can allow you to contribute to a cleaner environment.
The demand is expected to remain high for the foreseeable future. In fact, employment is projected to increase by 6 percent between 2014 and 2024.**
Most jobs in this field are likely to be found in the motorcycle dealer industry. And those who get formal training will probably have the best job prospects.
Those with the right skills, experience, connections, and attitude can advance or transfer into other positions within the industry, such as:
- Master service technician
- Service writer
- Service manager
- Shop foreman
- Shop owner
- Racing team technician
- Sales representative
- Manufacturer representative
In most states, a motorcycle mechanic doesn't technically need any formal qualifications to start training or performing work. But it is always best to check with the state you plan to work in to make sure. Some states do impose requirements, and formal education is usually encouraged by employers as a way to learn the basics.
For instance, a few states, such as Michigan and Hawaii, require motorcycle mechanics to obtain special state licensing or certification before they can perform work for the public. Getting state certification usually involves paying a fee and passing a written exam.
Beyond any state requirements, technicians can obtain individual manufacturer certifications to perform warranty or insurance work on specific makes and models. But it's important to know that there is no professional sanctioning body that certifies all motorcycle technicians. Rather, individual manufacturers award certifications themselves via special classes and workshops (e.g., Harley-Davidson awards Harley certifications and Honda awards Honda certifications). Some employers may also pay to send their mechanics to such workshops.
Aside from training qualifications, a motorcycle mechanic usually must have at least a high school diploma to get started, as well as a license for driving motorcycles. Successful technicians also tend to possess the following:
- A genuine passion for motorcycles
- Exceptional problem-solving abilities
- Strong hand-eye coordination
- Basic math skills
- A knowledge of basic electronics
- An eye for detail
- Physical stamina
- A strong safety mindset
Welding is also a great skill to have. A lot of what you can learn in welding school could actually enhance your qualifications as a motorcycle mechanic. And if you ever intend to open your own repair shop, training related to business can be very helpful as well.
Getting Into the Field
Today, the most common way to get started in this field is to attend a school that offers a diploma, certificate, or associate's degree in motorcycle service technology. Most programs take one year or less to complete, except for associate's degree programs, which take two years.
Another way to begin involves the apprenticeship route. In this scenario, you get paid as you learn the trade. And some employers will also pay for some formal schooling components required to help you learn the basics or to gain specific manufacturer certifications.
Home study courses, usually offered online, are another way to learn the theory and basic fundamentals.
Additionally, it's a smart idea to ask those who work at respected dealerships as well as reputable shop owners in your area for their advice on schooling options and other ways of getting started in the trade. Sometimes all it takes to get people talking is offering to buy them lunch in exchange for answering your questions.
Here are some other important things to consider:
On the Formal Training Path:
- Getting formal training at a reputable school can ensure that you learn how to do things the right way.
- A few schools have selective admission policies, which means that you may need to be currently employed as an apprentice before you can be admitted to certain motorcycle programs.
- When choosing a program, it's a good idea to consider whether you will have the opportunity to learn how to work on other small-engine vehicles such as snowmobiles, ATVs, and jet skis. Depending on the region you live in, having the skills to work on more than motorcycles can provide additional opportunities during the off-season.
- Depending on the school you attend, you might have the opportunity to meet important industry contacts such as manufacturer representatives. Such contacts can make all the difference in your career development since, everything else being equal, success in the motorcycle industry is frequently about who you know.
- You might want to focus on learning how to become a Harley mechanic or how to become a mechanic for another particular manufacturer. But, generally the both options will take the same amount of time to complete.
On the Apprenticeship Track:
- Training as an apprentice can also be an excellent way to learn the trade, but you have to make sure that your employer is truly committed to your development and isn't simply teaching you shortcuts or bad habits.
- Identifying the repair shops and dealerships that have excellent reputations is a step that shouldn't be ignored.
- You can sometimes get extra practice at developing your skills by checking out a motorcycle salvage yard and offering to dismantle bikes for them.
- Big-name dealerships can be a good place to work and make important industry contacts since manufacturer representatives sometimes visit. Staying visible with such representatives is especially important if you dream of landing a job with a popular manufacturer or national motorcycle racing team.
Types of Certification
Technicians can become certified to work on (or even specialize in) the bikes of individual manufacturers such as:
Programs range in cost depending on the type of school, the location, quality of school facilities, and the type of credential awarded. Most programs grant a diploma or certificate, but it is also sometimes possible to find one that grants an associate's degree.
Therefore, depending on the program you choose, tuition and fees could cost anywhere from about $3,000 to $25,000 or more. Within that cost, you may be provided with:
- Safety footwear
- Welding gloves and beanie
- Safety goggles
- Shop coveralls or smocks
- Various parts and other supplies as needed for different projects
Additionally, financial aid is usually available for those who qualify.
Most programs last about one year and are designed to help you learn about subjects such as:
Shop Operations and Theory:
- Hand and shop tools
- Workplace professionalism
- Hazardous materials
- Workplace safety
Motorcycle Components and Systems:
- Two- and four-stroke engine fundamentals
- Electrical systems
- Fuel systems
- Suspension systems
- Brake systems
- Chassis systems
- Exhaust systems
- Ignition systems
- Transmission and clutches
- Dirt bikes, mopeds, scooters, and ATVs
- Diagnostic methods
- Maintenance and repair methods
- Make and model identification
- Basic welding
Additionally, some programs incorporate an apprenticeship at an experienced repair shop, which can provide valuable experience in a shop setting, and possibly opening the door to a potential job opportunity after graduation.
Start Right Now
Check out the list of schools above to get a head start on finding the ones that offer programs in your area. With any luck, you could soon be turning your passion for motorcycles into a lasting career!
* The Occupational Information Network (O*NET), website last accessed on August 4, 2015.
** Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2016-17 Edition, website last accessed on February 18, 2016.
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Bright Ideas Press has so many products that are simply amazing. One that I have never used is their Christian Kids Explore Science series. Can I confess something here? (Can you stop me?) I've never tried this series because it just looked so light, and filled with silly hands-on projects -- not real science. I didn't want to make a jello model of a cell. (My kids loved that though. But I have to admit, I don't feel like they actually learned anything from that particular project.)
The series includes biology, chemistry, earth & space, and physics. Most are intended for roughly 3rd-8th grades, but in my family, I think that range would need to be a little lower, like 1st-6th. I'm not entirely sure that I am comfortable for these books in junior high. Not for my kids.
My understanding is that Christian Kids Explore Biology is the easiest one in the series, and that is what my 4th grader chose to do. CKEB is divided up into 35 weekly lessons in eight units. The units include Biology Basics, Plants, Birds, Mammals, Humans, Reptiles, Insects, and Water Creatures. Each unit contains 3-6 lessons. We dug right in and started off with virtually no teacher prep. Open and go.
The lessons are intended to be completed in a week, in two 60-90 minute sessions. At first, I had a really tough time figuring out what could possibly take even two hours -- but, of course, discovered I was missing a chunk. So, let's take a lesson further into the book as an illustration of what a week is supposed to look like. I'm skipping way to the back, because "bugs" tends to be something I get easily. And because we missed SO much in the lessons we have completed.
- Review flashcards and vocabulary. I am very impressed with the vocabulary. For the insect unit (three lessons), it includes 19 words, some as basic as head, abdomen and thorax. But it also includes words like chrysalis, incomplete metamorphosis, and pupa. And it includes a person, Karl von Frisch. But this does not need to be limited to just vocabulary. There is an appendix (that I totally missed) with a ton of great little lists... either for information or memorization. For insects, that includes general insect characteristics, characteristics of some specific insects, stages of complete metamorphosis, stages of incomplete metamorphosis, and a list of insect plural (like caterpillars are in an army, lice are in a flock, gnats are in either a swarm, cloud or horde, etc.)
- Discuss the last lesson.
- Read through the new lesson. This is a couple pages of text, and takes very little time to read. This was my hang-up. I kept thinking this was the bulk of the lesson.
- Talk about what you/they just read.
- Fill out a daily reading sheet. This is a reproducible form that includes some great little questions, like -- "I enjoyed learning about ____", "I never knew that ____", and "I would like to know more about _____" I have to work with my son on scribing, as all my boys are pretty pencil-phobic, but I love that they are being trained to think about what information is new, and more importantly what they want to learn more about. That helps me figure out what direction to take when it comes to the outside reading, below.
- Vocabulary -- create a vocabulary page or make flashcards. Obviously, these are what is going to be reviewed in future lessons. I'm typing words up, and having him type out the definition.
- Outside Reading Time -- an aspect I totally missed. They suggest 30 minutes or more for this, and there is an appendix with suggestions. For insects, there are suggestions by lesson that include general books like Eyewitness: Insect (DK) and The Practical Entomologist (I already put this on hold at the library -- I probably need to purchase it). There are also books about specific bugs, including A Ladybug's Life, Sorting Out Worms and other Invertebrates, and The Life and Adventures of Monica Monarch. Plus, there are literature suggestions, which includes insect poetry (something else I need to look for!).
- Memory Work, again. There is also an appendix that includes Scripture Memory work. For the insect unit, these include Proverbs 6:6 and Matthew 6:20.
- Hands-on Time. This could be the activity listed in the lesson. For the insect introduction, this involves going outside and looking for insects, with specific suggestions as to what to do and where to look. This is one hands-on activity we will do for sure. But the hands-on can also involve working on an ABC book (details in Appendix D), or working with some of the correlated resources from the "further reading" appendix. For insects, they suggest things like the Bug Game from Timberdoodle, various critter kits (butterfly garden, ant farm, worm composting), and something that would have greatly appealed to ME as a kid -- a Beeswax Candle kit.
- Appendix A: Reproducible Forms and Maps. This includes your basic blank forms -- experiment form, daily reading sheet, field trip, plant observation -- and a couple of maps.
- Appendix B: Memorization or Reference Lists. I mentioned this above. All kinds of little lists for extra memory work, or just to go over for informational purposes.
- Appendix C: Scripture Memory. These can be copied and cut into individual memory cards.
- Appendix D: ABC Book. This has the instructions and clip-art style artwork to create an ABC book. I can see my youngest son enjoying this. I can also see my daughter loving this.
- Appendix E: Coloring Pages. There is at least one coloring page per unit. And these are detailed pages. A lot of units have multiple pages.
- Appendix F: Recipes and Supplemental Activities. There are ten activities in here, including three word search puzzles, some research suggestions, and recipes for play-dough, papier mache, and turtle bread.
- Appendix G: Answer Key. Just what it sounds like.
- Appendix H: Suggested Further Reading. I referred to this above, but WOW. About 20 pages, arranged by unit, of book suggestions. Then another dozen or so pages of multi-unit books, nature journal resources, videos, field trip ideas, and magazines. Wow.
All in all, we are really enjoying Christian Kids Explore Biology. By adding appendix suggestions, we can really dig into each and every lesson -- or just dig into some of them. There is a lot more meat involved in this book than initially meets the eye. In fact, since we got through four lessons before I realized just how much stuff we were skipping, we decided to take a break, do some of the "extra" stuff from those first four lessons, maybe do Lesson 5 (the final lesson in Unit 1), and then put it away until January, when we'll pick it up with the unit on plants.
My recommendation, though, would be to actually do some teacher prep. At least read the "How to Use This Book" section. Don't just skim it, like I did. It's only three pages.
Christian Kids Explore Biology is available from the Bright Ideas Press Store for $34.95. The Activity Book is available for $12.95.
You can check out what my fellow crew-mates have to say about various Bright Ideas Press products at:
Any questions? I'd love to know what you would want to know in deciding whether or not this is something you want to purchase.
Disclaimer: As part of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I did receive products from Bright Ideas Press. The fact that I received complimentary products does not guarantee a favorable review. It does guarantee a review. A fair review. But I am not going to praise something unless I think it deserves the praise. If I don't like it, you'll hear that. And hopefully with enough detail as to why so you can decide for yourself if what I hate about it makes it perfect for your family. For more about my take on reviews, visit my blog post here.
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| 0.962348 | 1,735 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Vincent van Gogh
"...suffering as I am, I cannot do without something greater than myself, something which is my life -- the power to create. And if, deprived of the physical power, one tries to create thoughts instead of children, one is still very much part of humanity. And in my pictures I want to say something consoling, as music does. I want to paint men and women with a touch of the eternal, whose symbol was once the halo, which we try to convey by the very radiance and vibrancy of our colouring."
- letter to his brother Theo, 3 September 1888
Van Gogh's tragic and tempestuous life and lack of recognition during his own lifetime have now become the stuff of legend. The son of a Dutch pastor, van Gogh was a schoolteacher in England and a missionary to the desperately poor coal miners of Belgium before he taught himself to paint. In many ways, including the fact that he served no apprenticeship, sold no paintings, and laboured in almost total isolation, poverty, and obscurity, van Gogh is the prototype of the popular idea of the modern artist who sees art both as a calling and as a catharsis, and not as a profession, as was still considered by many artists in the second half of the nineteenth-century. It is apparent from van Gogh's letters that for him art was a source of spiritual experience and inspiration. Aside from his Dutch heritage, he was especially influenced by Degas, Seurat, Toulouse-Lautrec, and Gaugin. But although he partially built his style on these artists, he evolved an idiom expressive of his own passionate, open mind and heart. Trusting, innocent, and sometimes naively credulous, van Gogh was also a highly sophisticated artist with great formal skill.
Certainly the greatest period of van Gogh's short but highly productive career came at the end of his life, when he moved to the south of France, where, amidst bouts of serious mental illness, he produced a series of fervid paintings. Using much of what he had learned about form and colour from the Impressionists, but in a more expressive, personal way, van Gogh created summary forms with a heavily loaded brush. It is common to attempt connections between van Gogh's mental breakdowns and his style, but such simple linkages seem quite out of place with paintings like the Night Cafe, a picture of emotional turbulence conceived and executed with care and rationality.
That same intensity is seen again the self-portrait of January 1889, with the artist's head still bandaged from the recent self-mutilation of his ear. In the painting, the forms have been carefully constructed and defined by hundreds of brushstrokes of pure colour, which give the coat, face, and hat a bursting energy, even though there are very few colours in this painting - the blue of the coat, the black of the fur hat, the flesh colours, and the background. Above all, it is the haunting face with its deeply troubled eyes that rivets one's attention and sympathy and serves as the focus.
Not long after this incident, van Gogh was sent to the asylum of Saint-Rémy, where he painted between recurrent spells of insanity, and was treated by Dr Paul-Ferdinand Gachet, an artist himself and early supporter of the derided Impressionist painters. The troubled and prolific van Gogh produced over eight hundred paintings in his twenty-year career before committing suicide in 1890.
contributed by Gifford, Katya
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Lone wolf's arrival leads to protection petition
Lone wolf 1st in state since 1924
Updated 1:05 pm, Tuesday, December 24, 2013
A petition to protect the gray wolf under the California Endangered Species Act was filed Monday by four conservation groups eager to see the world's top canine predator re-established in the Golden State.
The petition was filed by the Center for Biological Diversity, Big Wildlife, the Environmental Protection Information Center and the Klamath-Siskiyou Wildlands Center amid intensive statewide interest in the first wolf to enter California in almost 90 years.
The wolf, known as OR7 because he originally came from Oregon, has traveled about 1,000 miles over dense forests and mountainous terrain. He has been tracked by game officials using signals from his GPS collar through Lassen and Shasta counties. The wolf is now in Siskiyou County, close to the Oregon border.
The move by the environmental groups requires the California Department of Fish and Game to review whether wolves should be considered for protected status. The Fish and Game Commission would make the final determination after a yearlong review process.
Gray wolves in California and other areas of their historic range are already protected under the federal Endangered Species Act. Adding them to the state listing would enhance their protection, requiring fish and game officials to prepare a wolf recovery plan, specify a target population and come up with ways to manage conflicts, including livestock depredation.
"The return of the gray wolf to California is exciting - it's a cause for celebration," said Noah Greenwald, the endangered species director for the Center for Biological Diversity. "The West Coast is crucial to wolf recovery in the United States, and California has hundreds of square miles of excellent wolf habitat. But if that one wolf is to become many, wolves need help so they don't get killed."
Wolves were exterminated in the lower 48 states, except Minnesota, in the 19th and early 20th centuries largely to protect livestock. The last known native California wolf was trapped and killed in Lassen County in 1924.
In the mid-1990s, 66 Canadian wolves were released in Yellowstone National Park and central Idaho in an attempt to bring the apex predator back. There are now more than 1,700 gray wolves in the northern Rocky Mountains. They have since moved into northeastern Oregon, where there are 29 wolves in four packs.
Last spring, the northern Rocky Mountain wolf population was removed from the endangered species list, but that does not include wolves in California. The delisting has resulted in more hunting of the canine carnivores, particularly in Idaho and Montana.
Looking for mate
California's wolf, also known as Journey, left what is known as the Imnaha Pack in Wallowa County, Ore., last year and crossed the California state line in December, apparently looking for a mate so he could start a new pack.
The historic journey is being followed intently by conservation groups, ranchers, farmers and hunters throughout the state.
Ranchers, the primary opponents of wolves, point out that OR7's former pack mates have killed 21 cows and calves over the past two years. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife killed two of the culprits and were planning to cull two other wolves, including the pack leader - OR7's father - before conservation groups filed a lawsuit.
Greenwald said wolves will need protection under the state's Endangered Species Act because, even though they are protected federally, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service never established any wolf management protocols.
The push for more protection comes as California's lone wolf appears to be contemplating a return to Oregon.
"The fact that he got here and that there are increasing numbers of wolves in Oregon and Washington indicates that it is only a matter of time before wolves head back into California and establish a pack," Greenwald said. "The return of wolves to California will help restore the natural balance and reverse the historic wrong done by people who shot, poisoned and persecuted wolves into oblivion."
Peter Fimrite is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. [email protected]
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| 0.958868 | 843 | 2.671875 | 3 |
This pocket guide, from a seasoned social work scholar, provides an introduction to narrative inquiry. It reviews the development of narrative inquiry within the social sciences and the humanities and establishes its relevance for social work. It draws distinctions among narrative analysis, discourse analysis, and conversation analysis and presents eight major approaches to the analysis of narratives. Each approach is considered in relation to the same set of dimensions including definition of narrative, theoretical orientation, central question, method, and strengths and limitations. Exemplary investigations that illustrate each approach are included. Issues pertaining to reflexivity, ethics, and validity of narrative inquiry are explored. The appendices contain an outline for a narrative research proposal. Ideal for academic researchers and graduate students for whom narrative study is new, this volume may be used as a guide to the development of research projects that depend on narrative methods, as a primary text for courses devoted to narrative research, or as a secondary text for qualitative research methods courses that include a section on narrative research.
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| 0.940228 | 196 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Maca is an indigenous Andean plant that belongs to the brassica (mustard) family. Maca is a vegetable that has been cultivated as a root crop for at least 2,000 years and used both nutritionally and medicinally. It can be found wild in Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, and Argentina, but has primarily been cultivated in the highlands of the Peruvian Andes. According to folk belief, Maca is an aphrodisiac and enhances sexual drive in humans and domestic animals, which tends to be reduced at higher altitudes.
Maca is known as an adaptogen, broadly contributing to overall well being and a healthy mood. Additionally, maca root has been touted to normalize energy levels and endurance and support a healthy libido.
Uses of Maca
This information in our Herbal Reference Guide is intended only as a general reference for further exploration, and is not a replacement for professional health advice. This content does not provide dosage information, format recommendations, toxicity levels, or possible interactions with prescription drugs. Accordingly, this information should be used only under the direct supervision of a qualified health practitioner such as a naturopathic physician.
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| 0.950398 | 240 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Tim Ferguson, Forbes Staff
I oversee Asia-Pacific content at Forbes Media
Below are the 12 largest countries, by population, with no known private billionaires. We cheekily call them “deprived,” and in a sense they are: Any modern economy that does not produce at least one huge fortune is, almost by definition, not creating the kind of wealth that is the earmark of a prosperous society.
Usually the failure to produce such wealth is a result of failed public policy–tyranny, confiscatory taxation of unfavored persons, restrictions on new or growing enterprises, or social conventions that inhibit entrepreneurship. Corruption and lack of financial transparency also matter. No question, many countries are disadvantaged by geography or a legacy of colonialism or communism, but other nations with similar deficits have overcome them.
|Country||Population, in millions|
The fault does not entirely rest with the deprived. Indeed, these and other nations often have been deprived of free and open markets for their output by protectionist trade policies in the wealthier world, or deprived of useful finance capital by shortcomings in the global banking system or bad direction from international lending agencies.
Finally, it should be noted that some of these nations are now attempting the kind of practices that will produce billionaires in the future, or may have–as in Poland–already produced wealth that Forbes journalists are still working to fathom.
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| 0.922393 | 281 | 2.53125 | 3 |
With New Horizons Ready to Wake Up, Scientists Prepare for Pluto Encounter
Posted by Jason Davis
14-11-2014 15:08 CST
Somewhere deep within the suburbs of our solar system, the New Horizons spacecraft is sleeping. It's been that way since late August, when it cruised past Neptune's orbit, yawned, and entered hibernation five days later. It was the 18th and final time the spacecraft went to sleep—all part of a routine crafted to conserve the load on NASA's pricey Deep Space Network satellite dishes.
On Dec. 6, New Horizons wakes up. Inside the spacecraft's control center at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory in Maryland, a flurry of activity will begin as scientists prepare the probe for its months-long encounter with Pluto, the icy is-it-a-planet-or-not world orbiting an average 6 billion kilometers from our sun. New Horizon's closest shave with Pluto occurs on July 14, 2015. The flyby will unveil details as small as the ponds in Manhattan's Central Park.
The trip to Pluto began in 2006, when New Horizons launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. The spacecraft's Dec. 6 wake-up call is a big milestone—but not a particularly worrisome one for Alan Stern, the mission's principal investigator. After all, New Horizons has slept through 66 percent of its journey. "I don't think there's any worry in the project about whether the 18th time is different from the first 17," Stern said, speaking to reporters at the 46th annual Division for Planetary Sciences of the American Astronomical Society meeting in Tucson, Ariz. Stern, who calls the Pluto encounter the most exciting planetary reveal since Voyager 2 passed Neptune in 1989, said New Horizons' pre-programmed wakeup sequence begins at 3 p.m. EST (20:00 UTC). By 4:37 p.m., the spacecraft will be out of hibernation. It will transmit a thumbs-up signal back to Earth—a signal that won't reach home until about 9:30 p.m.
Alice Bowman, the New Horizons Mission Operations Manager, said the spacecraft will spend six weeks in a checkout phase. Ground controllers will conduct extensive checks of the probe's memory system. Two 10-gigabyte data recorders—one of which is a backup—will be formatted to hold more than 1,000 images captured during closest approach. Final command sequences will be uploaded, along with the latest Earth-calculated navigation data. "All of this is being done to prepare for the big show, which begins Jan. 15, 2015," Bowman said.
From January to April, instruments aboard New Horizons will scan Pluto as it slowly comes into focus. By May, images of the icy world will be better than those currently available from the Hubble Space Telescope. As New Horizons gets closer to the Pluto system, scientists will look for new moons and rings. They'll see how the solar wind affects the dwarf planet's atmosphere. And a high-resolution telescope will sweep the surface, looking for evidence of cryovolcanoes. Hal Weaver, a New Horizons project scientist, said that while the mission's best results will probably come from observations made around July 14, all of 2015 is game for scientific surprises." I really want to emphasize that we'll have lots of juicy science—historic science—accumulated well before the day of the closest approach," he said.
New Horizons will collect so much data, it could take up to 16 months to transmit everything back to Earth. Alan Stern said representative samples of the most important images will be sent home on a frequent basis, allowing the public to come along for the ride. After New Horizons passes Pluto, it will turn back to image the dwarf planet's dark side, which will be dimly lit by light reflected from Charon, Pluto's companion world. As New Horizons' communications with Earth are temporarily blocked by Pluto's disc, two instruments named Alice and REX will attempt to characterize Pluto's atmosphere.
From there, New Horizons will plunge deeper into the Kuiper Belt, the band of icy objects beyond Neptune, of which Pluto is a member. A detailed survey by the Hubble Space Telescope recently revealed three Kuiper Belt members that the spacecraft could reach after its Pluto encounter. The most likely target is a 30 to 45-kilometer rock that could be visited in January 2019, at a cost of just 35 percent of New Horizons' remaining fuel. From an official standpoint, the extended mission doesn't yet exist, but it seems unlikely NASA would eschew the chance to re-purpose a healthy spacecraft for another one-of-a-kind flyby.
As Pluto is slowly revealed, the debate on its planethood status will likely reach a fever pitch. Stern, a longtime leader in the pro-planet camp, seems less concerned with semantics and more excited about showing Pluto off for what it is: the representative of a class of never-before-seen objects. "From when Pluto was discovered in 1930 to the 1990s, we wondered why it was a misfit in the architecture of the solar system," he said, turning to look at a chart of thousands of now-known Kuiper Belt objects. "Who's the misfit now?"
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| 0.945415 | 1,070 | 2.8125 | 3 |
The General Steps to solve an absolute value equation are:
- Rewrite the absolute value equation as two separate equations, one positive and the other negative
- Solve each equation separately
- After solving, substitute your answers back into original equation to verify that you solutions are valid
- Write out the final solution or graph it as needed
It's always easiest to understand a math concept by looking at some examples so, check out both of the examples below.
Absolute Value Equations Solver
Enter any any values and this solver will calculate the solution(s) for your equation and show all work, including checking for extraneous solutions! |AX + B| = D
Solve the equation: |X + 5| = 3
Click here to practice more problems like this example, problems that involve variables on 1 side of the equation.
Some absolute value equations have variables both sides of the equation. However, that will not change the steps we're going to follow to solve the problem as the example below shows:
Solve the equation: |3X| = X − 21
Solve the following absolute value equation: | 5X +20| = 80
Solve the following absolute value equation: | X | + 3 = 2X
This first set of problems involves absolute values with x on just 1 side of the equation (like example 2).
Solve the following absolute value equation: |3X −6 | = 21
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| 0.873712 | 298 | 4.375 | 4 |
Christmas in Sweden
Source: Babycenter Community
Instructions:Christmas in Sweden
Christmas begins in Sweden with the Saint Lucia ceremony. Before dawn on the morning of 13 December, the youngest daughter from each family puts on a white robe with a red sash. She wears a crown of evergreens with tall-lighted candles attached to it. She wakes her parents, and serves them with coffee and Lucia buns. The other children accompany her. The boys dressed as star boys in long white shirts and pointed hats.
The custom goes back to Lucia, a Christian virgin martyred for her beliefs at Syracuse in the fourth century. The Saint Lucia ceremony is fairly recent, but it represents the traditional thanksgiving for the return of the sun. Often she is followed by star boys, who wear pointed hats, and carry star wands.
Candle-lit processions to Church feature Scandinavian Christmases, where, in the home, it is mother who always lights the candles on Christmas Eve.
Christmas trees are usually found in Swedish homes two days before Christmas. Decoration may include candles, apples, Swedish flags, small gnomes wearing red tasseled caps, straw ornaments. The houses may filled with red tulips and smell like pepparkakor, which is a heart-star, or goat-shaped gingerbread biscuit.
Swedish Julafton, or Christmas Eve dinner may be a smorgasbord, or buffet with julskinka, or Christmas ham, pickled pigs feet,lutfisk, or dried codfish, and many different kinds of sweets. Risgryngrot a special rice porridge, has hidden in it an almond which as tradition has it the person who finds the almond in his or her bowl will marry in the coming year.
Christmas trees are usually brought into Swedish homes one or two days before Christmas. Decorations include: candles, apples, Swedish flags, small gnomes and tasseled caps, and straw ornaments. The house may be filled with red tulips and the smell of pepparkakor - a heart-star, or goat-shaped gingerbread biscuits.
After Christmas Eve dinner, a friend or family member dresses up as tomte or Christmas gnome. The tomte, unlike Santa Claus is supposed to live under the floorboards of the house or barn and ride a straw goat. The make-believe tomte, wearing a white beard and dressed in red robes, distributes gifts from his sack. Many are given with funny rhyme that hints at the contents.
Swedes eat lye-treated codfish and welcome the Christmas elves and the julbok which is the Christmas goat, who is responsible for the distributing of the presents.
In Sweden Jultomten, a little brownie helps Santa Claus give gifts to the children who have been good.
On Christmas morning, churches are lit up entirely by candles for the Christmas service.
Similar activities:Christmas Time, Christmas Games, Christmas Songs, The Bells of Christmas, Christmas Is Here, Christmas Polka, Let It Be Christmas, Blue Christmas, Christmas In The Carribean, First Christmas, Because It's Christmas, Christmas Dinner, Christmas In Dixie, Nuttin' For Christmas, Beautiful Christmas
Coloring book pages
- Arts & crafts for kids
- Birthday games
- Coloring pages
- Cooking with kids
- Educational activities
- Holiday activities
- Outdoor activities
- Quiet time activities
- Science projects
- Song and music for kids
- Tire kids out
- Activities for babies (first 12 months)
- Activities for toddlers (1-year-olds)
- Activities for preschoolers (2- to 4-year-olds)
- Activities for kids (5- to 8-year-olds)
- All tools
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| 0.917048 | 794 | 2.5625 | 3 |
It started out simple enough but ended up becoming so much more. During his visit to my classroom at the end of January, my second graders presented a penguin kite to Dr. Jim McClintock. They also had a request. Could the kite be flown over Palmer Station, Antarctica during his research trip? They were excited to hear Dr. McClintock promise that he would fly their kite and email them a photo.
The kite photo arrived and brought with it a "teachable moment." Dr. McClintock mentioned the kite was flown when the wind was gusting at 11 knots. "What are ‘wind knots'?" my seven and eight year olds asked. Our research to answer that question set into motion our study of weather.
My second graders enthusiastically absorbed all they could about weather in Birmingham and weather at Palmer Station as they daily checked the weather forecasts on the Internet. Using some materials from our Foss Air and Weather Science Kit, students carefully kept weather journals comparing the weather at the two places. A rain gauge and a simple anemometer were constructed by the students as they became knowledgeable about weather instruments. They also learned that knots are the unit of wind measurement given on weather charts and for water navigation, but knots are usually expressed as miles per hour on land to the general public (1.00 knot equals 1.15 miles per hour). Recess found the kids staring at clouds as they tried to predict the weather. Interest soared when the boys and girls read Chuck's "Stormy Weather" story and viewed photos Maggie took of Chuck and Jim at the Palmer weather station.
Further research by the students turned up some interesting Antarctic weather facts. Antarctica holds several records as the highest, driest, coldest, and windiest place on earth. The coldest temperature recorded in Antarctica was -129 degrees F. at Russia's Vostok Station in 1983. The highest wind speed recorded was 198.8 mph at Australia's Mawson Station. Blizzards typically produce little, if any, new snow. Instead, snow is picked up and blown along the surface by wind producing blinding conditions and making objects invisible only a short distance away. This is known as a "white out" to those working in Antarctica. While these facts are extremes in Antarctic weather, my students soon realized that scientists and others working in Antarctica must make extensive preparations and carefully monitor the weather conditions to work safely in this harsh environment.
I suspect the students' interest in weather in Birmingham and Antarctica may continue for quite some time. I do know they are waiting for just the right "wind knots" in Birmingham's forecast so they can fly high their identical penguin kite and email a photo to Dr. McClintock.
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| 0.975428 | 555 | 3.8125 | 4 |
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