text
stringlengths 199
648k
| id
stringlengths 47
47
| dump
stringclasses 1
value | url
stringlengths 14
419
| file_path
stringlengths 139
140
| language
stringclasses 1
value | language_score
float64 0.65
1
| token_count
int64 50
235k
| score
float64 2.52
5.34
| int_score
int64 3
5
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bacteria come in three different shapes: (1) coccus
or sphere shaped; (2) bacillus or rod shaped; (3) spirillum or spiral,
corkscrew shape. Bacteria have a tough outer coating which gives
them a cell-like shape.
Viruses are non-living and cannot reproduce without using the
mechanisms of a host cell. Once a virus enters a host it can cause great
damage. Viruses come in different shapes. Viruses are smaller
than bacteria, have no nucleus, no cytoplasm, and no surrounding cell membrane.
There are, however, some viruses, that produce a "fake" cell membrane that
is used in tricking the immune system. Actually, a virus can almost
be considered a chemical crystal.
Bacteria and viruses that cause disease are called pathogens.
Pathogens can enter a body through the air, water, or through contact with
an infected body. Diseases caused by bacteria can usually be cured
with medication. Viral diseases on the other hand cannot be cured
because there is no medication that will stop viruses. The immune
system of the human body has to fight the viruses, sometimes the body wins
but many times it loses. Vaccines can help prevent the virus in the
first place. Viruses are very difficult to study.
- Go over the characteristics of bacteria and
viruses using the student's lab sheet.
- Instruct the students to cut out the viruses and bacteria
and try and sort them into their respective groups. Tell students
to write their answer on the back site of each picture with the reason
for the student putting it in its group. This is not an easy lab,
because the weird shapes that both bacteria and viruses take.
- The bacteria and viruses on the chart are:
a virus that invades the cells of bacteria
- Influenza virus, causes influenza
- generalized mycoplasma (bacteria)
mosaic virus, results in disease of tobacco plants
- smaller tobacco
- micrococcus radiodurans (bacteria)
- spirillum bacteria
- crystal of adenovirus particles within the nucleus
of a human cell
- polio virus
- bacillus bacteria
- tumor virus
- pseudomonad bacteria
- prochloron bacteria
- spirillum bacteria
- cell invaded by bacillus bacteria | <urn:uuid:0854b52b-bc7f-4ba1-82af-4e6f735eda29> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/lc/humanbio/6/lchb6_5a.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.889907 | 503 | 4.03125 | 4 |
90 Years Ago
Time and Again
Congress enacts daylight saving time on March 19, 1918. Backers herald benefits, from increased production of war materials to improved worker health and morals. But farmers cry foul, and with World War I's end, national DST is repealed in 1919. Implemented locally, DST makes scheduling—of buses to broadcasts—confusing until uniform start and end dates are declared in 1966. In 2008, all states but Arizona and Hawaii spring forward March 9.
75 Years Ago
King Kong takes on New York City at its première there, March 2, 1933. The film's special effects—including stop action photography, miniaturization and rear projection—turn an 18-inch rabbit-fur-covered model into a "menace extraordinary" and set a new standard for animation. While provoking, according to one reviewer, "many a giggle to cover up fright," Kong grosses $90,000 its opening weekend—a new record.
50 Years Ago
Out in the Cold
After two years of preparation and a 99- day, 2,158-mile journey, 12 men (led by British explorer Vivian Fuchs, far right), make the first crossing of Antarctica, March 2, 1958. The Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition, driving Sno-cats—which they must keep extracting from crevasses—is aided by a team (led by Sir Edmund Hillary) coming from the opposite direction laying in supplies. The feat will not be repeated until 1981. Fuchs dies in 1999, Hillary in 2008.
90 Years Ago
Army cook Albert Gitchell falls ill at Fort Riley, Kansas, March 11, 1918, with the first case of an influenza that quickly spreads worldwide (precautions in Seattle). By the pandemic's end in 1919, more than 50 million people die. In 2005 scientists discover the flu strain may have been avian; its source remains unknown.
70 Years Ago
Saudi Arabia strikes it rich when large quantities of accessible oil are discovered March 4, 1938. More than 1,500 barrels of oil gush that day into the 4,727-foot-deep Dammam No. 7 well, dug by American wildcatters working in the area since 1934. Today, at more than eight million barrels a day, Saudi Arabia is a top world producer of oil; each day the country ships 1.5 million barrels to the U.S., the world's largest consumer.
75 Years Ago
It's Off to Work We Go
On March 31, 1933, President Roosevelt signs the Civilian Conservation Corps into being. The CCC hires some three million unemployed men (ages 17 to 28) over nine years for public works. They plant 3 billion trees, lay 97,000 miles of road and drain 84 million acres of farmland before World War II ends the job shortage. | <urn:uuid:85d4d0dd-c7b4-484b-9b7d-5caf5558ed8a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/march-anniversaries-3-20195106/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392527.68/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918097 | 585 | 2.515625 | 3 |
There was an interesting piece in the New York Times last week in which Sara Reistad-Long delves into recent studies that indicate the forgetfulness plaguing me and many other writers of a certain age is actually an indication of higher brain function.
Here's a little bit fromOlder Brain Really May Be a Wiser Brain:
When older people can no longer remember names at a cocktail party, they tend to think that their brainpower is declining. But a growing number of studies suggest that this assumption is often wrong.
Instead, the research finds, the aging brain is simply taking in more data and trying to sift through a clutter of information, often to its long-term benefit.
The studies are analyzed in a new edition of a neurology book, “Progress in Brain Research.”
Some brains do deteriorate with age. Alzheimer’s disease, for example, strikes 13 percent of Americans 65 and older. But for most aging adults, the authors say, much of what occurs is a gradually widening focus of attention that makes it more difficult to latch onto just one fact, like a name or a telephone number. Although that can be frustrating, it is often useful.
“It may be that distractibility is not, in fact, a bad thing,” said Shelley H. Carson, a psychology researcher at Harvard whose work was cited in the book. “It may increase the amount of information available to the conscious mind.”
For example, in studies where subjects are asked to read passages that are interrupted with unexpected words or phrases, adults 60 and older work much more slowly than college students. Although the students plow through the texts at a consistent speed regardless of what the out-of-place words mean, older people slow down even more when the words are related to the topic at hand. That indicates that they are not just stumbling over the extra information, but are taking it in and processing it.
When both groups were later asked questions for which the out-of-place words might be answers, the older adults responded much better than the students.
“For the young people, it’s as if the distraction never happened,” said an author of the review, Lynn Hasher, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and a senior scientist at the Rotman Research Institute. “But for older adults, because they’ve retained all this extra data, they’re now suddenly the better problem solvers. They can transfer the information they’ve soaked up from one situation to another.”
So here's to soaking up information, storing it in the Narnian wardrobe of our brains, and somehow, somewhere, someday, leaking it back out onto paper.
And while we're on the topic, check out this hilarious list of Things Younger Than McCain. | <urn:uuid:c85f431f-cb38-4693-bf2a-8c147adc1a1f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.boxocto.com/2008/05/older-really-is-wiser-or-id-be-at-mensa.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00027-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95617 | 586 | 2.640625 | 3 |
(Juan Martin de Boil)
Born at Villa de Valencia, Spain, about the middle of the fifteenth century; died in the odour of sanctity at Tlalmanalco, Mexico, 31 August, 1534. He entered the Franciscan Order at Mayorga in the Province of Santiago, built the monastery of Santa Maria del Berrogal, and was the thief founder of the Custody of San Gabriel, for which he visited Rome. In 1523 he was chosen to head a band of twelve Franciscans who were to labour for the conversion of the Mexican natives. They reached their destination on May, 1524, and to the amazement of the Mexican chiefs were received with the most profound veneration by Hernando Cortes shortly after their arrival. (See FRIARS MINOR IN AMERICA.) Fr. Martin, as apostolic delegate, presided at the first ecclesiastical synod in the New World, 2 July, 1524. At the same time he established the Custody of the Holy Gospel, of which he was elected the first custos . After an interval of three years he was re-elected in 1830. He led a most penitential life, and he and his eleven companions the band known as the Twelve Apostles of Mexico, are said to have baptized several million natives.
The Catholic Encyclopedia is the most comprehensive resource on Catholic teaching, history, and information ever gathered in all of human history. This easy-to-search online version was originally printed between 1907 and 1912 in fifteen hard copy volumes.
Designed to present its readers with the full body of Catholic teaching, the Encyclopedia contains not only precise statements of what the Church has defined, but also an impartial record of different views of acknowledged authority on all disputed questions, national, political or factional. In the determination of the truth the most recent and acknowledged scientific methods are employed, and the results of the latest research in theology, philosophy, history, apologetics, archaeology, and other sciences are given careful consideration.
No one who is interested in human history, past and present, can ignore the Catholic Church, either as an institution which has been the central figure in the civilized world for nearly two thousand years, decisively affecting its destinies, religious, literary, scientific, social and political, or as an existing power whose influence and activity extend to every part of the globe. In the past century the Church has grown both extensively and intensively among English-speaking peoples. Their living interests demand that they should have the means of informing themselves about this vast institution, which, whether they are Catholics or not, affects their fortunes and their destiny.
Copyright © Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company New York, NY. Volume 1: 1907; Volume 2: 1907; Volume 3: 1908; Volume 4: 1908; Volume 5: 1909; Volume 6: 1909; Volume 7: 1910; Volume 8: 1910; Volume 9: 1910; Volume 10: 1911; Volume 11: - 1911; Volume 12: - 1911; Volume 13: - 1912; Volume 14: 1912; Volume 15: 1912
Catholic Online Catholic Encyclopedia Digital version Compiled and Copyright © Catholic Online | <urn:uuid:3bbf0cf1-113d-42b8-a2f4-016c8cf78505> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.catholic.org/encyclopedia/view.php?id=7644 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393442.26/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00168-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95716 | 646 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Let me begin this post by saying, "I agree."
I agree that students should have recess and play outside.
I agree that young children need to interact in a face-to-face setting.
I agree that it is developmentally critical to engage with paper, paint, blocks, crayons and even the dirt on the ground, because elementary students need to experience the physical world.
However, I also agree that social media pervades all aspects of modern society, and it has become an imperative for us as educators -- and parents -- to model appropriate digital citizenship to even our youngest learners. Do I really believe that toddlers should have Twitter handles? Not really. But we do need to introduce children to the virtual, social world around them in appropriate and meaningful ways? Definitely.
I have worked with and spoken to dozens of educators who strongly feel that engaging in social media is irrelevant for them because of their students' age. These are wonderful elementary school teachers who value effective technology integration, yet when it comes to social media, concerns include:
- Students already have enough screen time.
- Students need to be able to communicate in person.
- Students don't need to know about social media at this point -- it isn't age appropriate.
If we honestly think about it, we were all taught the "social media" of our time in early elementary school. Remember the friendly letter? How about thank you notes? Telephone etiquette? In early grades, none of us were expected to master these skills independently, but they were integrated into our curriculum so that effective social behavior could be modeled at a young age.
As I said, I agree. However, if used effectively, social media can transform a student's learning experience. Here are three examples from classrooms that also agree, but who also leverage social media to extend the learning context, model effective communication, and empower young students to develop their voice.
1. Extend the Classroom
Lately, the grade 1/2 students in Kristen Wideen's class have been studying tadpoles and frogs. I know this because I've seen their Padlet wall of questions, witnessed the delivery of tadpoles, and watched a young boy read to his amphibian friend -- all through Twitter. Following is an excerpt from this teacher's blog post about "How My Learning Environment Has Evolved":
If you step into my classroom you will quickly find out that we are a classroom with no walls. Video conferencing, blogging, creating videos and books, teaching and learning from other peers in the classroom, in the school and in the world about what they are interested in is embedded into the daily instruction of my classroom. The result of this purposeful connectivity is that my group of grade 1/2 students has begun to develop a global perspective of issues that could not have been authentically discovered if they were solely engaged in books in our classroom.
In just the past few weeks, Kristen Wideen's students have shared math stories with a class in Iowa and frog data with a class in Singapore. Engaging in social media is part of their daily routine: checking their class Twitter account (@MrsWideensClass), blogging during literacy centers, and even checking on their tadpoles via live web cam. This recent post provides an amazingly detailed view of life in a connected classroom.
Kristen Wideen originally created a class Twitter account so that her students could begin to engage in the cultivation of their own Personal Learning Networks (PLNs). Her students not only learn, but also share their learning with a broader community. Whether through whole-group Twitter activities and Skype, calls or individual KidBlogs, these students recognize that there are connections to be made beyond their Ontario classroom -- all while working on their reading, writing, communication and collaboration.
2. Connected, Empowered Learners
Social media enables the creation of meaningful connections. In Kristin Ziemke's first grade class in Chicago, this occurs through use of Twitter (@Burley106) and KidBlogs. Initially, the process began with Tweets from the Rug. As a class, the students shared, and continue to share, their learning with parents, other students and a broader community. Collectively, they would discuss their learning experiences as a class, before Tweeting out their thoughts, questions and ideas to their broader learning community.
This fall, however, they uncovered a new dimension for Twitter. In October, one member of the class found himself trapped in New York during Hurricane Sandy. Kristin Ziemke and her students used Twitter and their blogs to learn about the storm while also checking on their classmate's well being. She describes the experience in her blog:
My students were empowered to be part of a learning network that was for students, by students. So often, young children only have access to information that is filtered through an adult channel. While oftentimes that is appropriate, kids also need the model of other children as information providers. By watching a peer research, report and field questions, student now have a mentor experience for what it looks like and sounds like to be an information sharer.
On February 1, one of Kristin Ziemke's students, Becca S. taught adults how to use Croak.It on her KidBlog. Not only did social media empower this student, but it also provided her with a global audience. In 18 days, she received 42 comments from teachers, family members and other adults from across the continent. By empowering her students with the use of social media, Kristin Ziemke connects them to a global audience and introduces them to the complex communication required to be effective digital citizens.
3. Getting Started: Developing Voice
For teachers who have only started to explore the uses of social media for their own professional development, much less with their students, setting children loose on blogs or Twitter can seem daunting. However, as illustrated by Ashley Johnston and Jack Parrish at the Trinity School in Atlanta, paper could be the best teaching tool.
Last fall, when visiting the school, I walked past their blog walls. To teach the concept of posting and commenting, the students created physical blogs on bulletin boards in the hallway of the school. This allowed the teacher to focus on the writing process within a familiar context, while providing students with the broader audience of the school community. Students gained experience with posting, tagging and commenting without any of the concerns often associated with "being online." Ashley Johnston explains:
Before we could ask our students to set up a blog on the Internet, they needed to understand the building blocks. What catches the eye? How do you express yourself? How do you express your topic and yourself?
Whether you introduce social media to students through a class blog, individual student blogs, Twitter or paper, there is no "right way" to begin. Do I really feel that toddlers should Tweet? Probably not. However, what's important is that we introduce all children to social media in appropriate and meaningful ways, regardless of their age, such that they can connect to a global audience and develop as empowered, networked learners. | <urn:uuid:5866edfc-b206-4ad3-8189-206a948824d7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edutopia.org/blog/introducing-social-media-lower-elementary-beth-holland?page=3 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00002-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969572 | 1,444 | 3.4375 | 3 |
“They knew that their skin did something weird, but they didn’t know what it was.”
People who reach out to Ariana Page Russell, an artist in Brooklyn, often see their own skin in hers. Many have epidermal reactions like Russell’s, furrowing into palpable welts at the provocation of even a light scratch of the neck or rub of the eye.
“It’s fascinating the way people respond,” Russell told me. “People email me from all over. China, Colombia, Brazil, Turkey—I have a ton of people emailing me from Turkey.” For many who find her photography online, Russell says, a once alienating condition becomes a point of solidarity.
“They see the photos and say, ‘Hey, my skin does that, too.’ I didn’t know it was a thing with a name,” Russell said. “They feel better having a name for it, and knowing they’re not alone.”
That name is dermatographia urticaria, usually just called dermatographia or dermographism (literally "writing on the skin"). It’s a type of "trauma-induced urticaria," but the trauma in this case can be almost nothing—basically an allergic reaction to minimal physical stimulation. Scratching, stroking, rubbing, or slapping the skin makes cells release inflammatory chemicals like histamine, and that results in fluid leakage from superficial blood vessels.
Of course, slap or scratch anyone and it will inflame their skin. In dermatographia the reaction is distinctly more severe. There is puffiness and extensive redness (in fair skin). Everyday things like wearing a belt or scratching an itch can make a person appear to have endured significant injury. If Russell scratches her face, it swells. “It looks like I have a black eye or something,” she said. “I have to be careful and not rub my eyes. I definitely have had people ask, ‘Whaaat happened to you!?’”
The reaction can also be brought on by cold weather, strong emotions, hot water, or exercise. The finding is usually incidental and requires no treatment, but some people with severe or especially itchy versions take antihistamines to minimize the allergic-type symptoms, which can then spread to parts of the skin that were not stimulated. Russell doesn’t take medication. Her treatment has consisted of owning her skin and turning the condition into something positive.
“Thank you for making what we have an art form and giving me a way to explain to people it’s perfectly normal and beautiful,” a reader from Belgium wrote to Russell recently. “I have lived with it for years trying to hide it and now I can say it’s my art.”
Russell realized that she had dermatographia in an understated fashion. “I just thought my skin was really sensitive, and then I started photographing the drawings and people were like, ‘What is this?’” Russell was in graduate school at the time and went to a University of Washington physician who gave her the diagnosis. “It was like, here you go, congratulations. Everything else I kind of learned on my own.”
Russell started taking the photos in 2003. She later began a website with some of her skin-writing photos and in 2008, without telling Russell, a friend submitted one of the images to a site called “It’s Nice That.” They published it, and her site “started going crazy.”
“And then I got this email with the subject line, ‘Hello from Kelsey at ABC News,’ and I thought, is this spam?” It wasn’t. It led to a 20/20 segment. Since then, she has become a modern face of the condition. Also the body and voice.
“I’ve become this unofficial expert on dermatographia since there’s not a whole lot out there about it. People will just write me and ask for my opinion on how they should treat it. Sometimes they send me photographs of their own skin, even without me asking them to, which I love receiving.”
“Some people write their name or my name on their arm,” Russell said. “Other people do elaborate drawings and have a friend photograph it.”
Those responses led Russel to start a site called Skin Tome, where she is forming a dermatographia community predicated on sharing and lack of shame. She is also collecting information about dermatographia to help those with the condition, about which there aren’t many mainstream resources. Most doctors have little to offer on the subject, and as diseases go, addressing it is usually a relatively low priority. But the effects can be insidious. Skin conditions also manifest well inside of the skin.
“Most of the people who write me are embarrassed by their skin, they feel shame and try to hide the condition from other people,” Russell said. She sees consequence in her work. “I’ve had people say they’re afraid to be intimate. I also get a lot of teenagers who reach out to me. It’s so hard to be a teenager anyway, especially if you’re ashamed of how you look.”
That’s typified by the story of Jes Blackwell, who keeps in touch with Russell over their shared skin sensitivities. Blackwell writes, “Being an awkward, dorky, queer outcast in high school in Wisconsin was enough of an ordeal that I had to live with, but every time I had a tiny little itch on my face and I wasn’t thinking… BLAM!! A gigantic welt would appear on my already hormonally confused face. Needless to say, I did not date.”
But it’s not entirely lament; there's good in most of the confessionals. Blackwell goes on to write about being a child playing tic tac toe on her legs during long car rides, and leveraging her propensity for looking victimized to get her sister in trouble.
“A lot of people don’t know they have it, and I think my images have played a big part in spreading the word about it,” Russell said. They might think they have blotchy or irritable skin. They try scratching their skin, realize it’s a condition with a name and a community, and that is therapy.
“There’s this statistic out there that five percent of people have it,” Russell said. “But I think it might be more common than that.”
#SkinWriting is an active hashtag among people with dermatographia on Twitter; and the Facebook page, “I’m a Skin Writer, I Have Dermatographism,” which Likes Russell’s work, has an active community of over 2,400 people. Many post skin-writing photos. Their skin is a responsive, living canvas that ages and changes; a barrier to the world that’s also connection to it. They share art and stories and triggers and treatments. Russell, for one, feels like her symptoms have become less noticeable since improving her diet and general health. “I drink a ton of water, go easy on alcohol and sugar, and eat whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables.”
“When I first started photographing my dermatographic drawings I thought nobody would be interested in them,” she wrote recently on her site, “or even worse, people would find them totally gross.” | <urn:uuid:df1cb324-b5f5-40d0-90b4-a3206dcd9e35> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/allergic-to-touch/360333/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00081-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975337 | 1,616 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Among the treasures of the National Archives is a little valentine showing the courtship of George Washington and Mistress Martha Custis in 1758. The catalog citation indicates that it was published as a vignette in "A Valentine. Col. Geo. Washington to Mistress Martha Custis. 1758," by Arthur Guiterman, Collier's weekly, 50:14 (Feb. 15, 1913).
In 1758, George Washington was 26 years old. By modern standards, he would be just a young man barely old enough to be trusted with a credit card, and probably still more interested in his X-box than starting a family. In Washington's eyes and for his time, he was already an Army Colonel, a war veteran, state legislative representative, a Virginia land owner, and looking for a wife.
And Mistress Custis was quite a catch. Born Martha Dandridge, she found herself a widow at the age of 26 when her husband Daniel Parke Custis died and left her with two young children, John and Martha. Two children (Daniel and Frances) already in the grave, Martha was no stranger to sorrow.
|Martha Dandridge Custis 1757|
In the spring of 1758, George met the lovely widow Custis. He was visiting Williamsburg during his first meetings as a member of the Virginia provincial legislature, the House of Burgesses. He heard of her through an acquaintance and decided he had to meet this woman, so he rode the 35 miles to her home on March 16, 1758. For he efforts, he was rewarded with permission to visit again a few days later before he returned to the war. In his French and Indian War uniform, Washington must have been dashing and swept Martha off her feet. Martha's website says:
Their attraction was mutual, powerful, and immediate. Martha was charming, attractive, and, of course, wealthy. George had his own appeal. Over six foot two inches tall (compared with Martha, who was only five feet tall), George was an imposing figure whose reputation as a military leader preceded him...
For her part, Martha must have believed that in George she had found someone she could trust as well as love. Although some widows wrote legally binding premarital contracts that protected the assets they had from their previous marriage, Martha did not. For as long as she lived Washington would have the use of Martha’s “widow’s third,” the land, slaves, and money which would be handed down to the Custis heirs after Martha’s death.
The two must have planned to settle down and raise a family, manage their plantations and live the life of Virginia gentry. They could hardly know that in less than 20 years, George would go from state representative and retired veteran to Commander in Chief of a revolutionary force and member of the Continental Congress. They could never have dreamed that they would become the first president and lady of the United States. It seems fitting that their courtship should grace a Valentine's Day vignette, reminding us of the love behind the hero.
For more about Martha Dandridge Custis Washington and George Washington's romance: | <urn:uuid:99d4d432-9e52-4ea7-8cb9-e027960933f9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://yourstoryiswaiting.blogspot.com/2011/02/founding-romance.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985382 | 652 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Definition of amanita
: any of a genus (Amanita) of white-spored basidiomycetous fungi that typically have a volva and an annulus about the stipe and include some deadly poisonous forms
Origin and Etymology of amanita
New Latin, genus name, from Greek amanitai, plural, a kind of fungus
First Known Use: 1899
Seen and Heard
What made you want to look up amanita? Please tell us where you read or heard it (including the quote, if possible). | <urn:uuid:d02f56d4-3225-43b3-9102-2368fd94408b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/amanita | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00084-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.878108 | 117 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Molecular basis of gene expression
Transcription, copying genetic information into RNA, is the first step of gene expression. In all living organisms transcription is accomplished by conserved multi-subunit RNA polymerases, one of the most ancient enzymes on the planet. Understanding functions of RNA polymerase are essential for understanding evolution of Life of the planet. Importantly, malfunctions of RNA polymerases are linked to various human diseases including cancer and Alzheimer. Also transcription is the potent target for antimicrobials. Many mechanistic details of the functioning of RNA polymerases are not clear. Furthermore RNA polymerases are imbedded in intricate relations with other cellular machineries, such as translation in prokaryotes or replication and repair in all organisms. Regulation of these interactions is pivotal for coordination of cellular processes, correct gene expression and ultimately for survival of organisms. The mechanisms underlining these interactions and their regulation are also poorly understood.
We are investigating transcription. All possible aspects: from mechanisms of reactions and inhibition by antibiotics to regulation and interactions with other cellular machineries, such as translation and replication. We use classical biochemistry and molecular biology, some unique experimental systems as well as novel techniques. In vitro we investigate bacterial and archaeal RNA polymerases as well as eukaryotic RNA polymerases I, II and III. In vivo we are focusing on bacterial transcription.
The main goal of our study is to understand how RNA polymerase evolved to the enzyme we know today, and how it functions and is regulated in the modern cells. Another important aspect of our work is to look for the ways of manipulation of RNA polymerases (such as specific inhibition) in order to control pathogenicity.
Bacterial defence systems
Bacteria invented several mechanisms to fight against their enemies –bacteriophages and antibiotics. One of such systems, toxin-antitoxin (TA) systems, involves a large number of small proteins, called toxins, which reversibly target essential processes in the bacterial cell to stop these processes and bring the cell to dormancy. Such dormant cells become temporarily resistant to antibiotics (phenomenon called persistence) because antibiotic targets are temporarily non-functional in them, as well as become “not interesting” to bacteriophages, because they cannot propagate in dormant cells. There are also some other biological important phenomena, such as programmed cell death and addiction to plasmids, linked to TA systems. TA systems involve large number of activities and targets, many of which are not yet known or characterised.
We are interested in mechanistic and catalytic details of functioning of TAs and the outcomes of their action for their targets.
Toxin-antitoxin system described above is a “passive” one, i.e. the cell uses it to wait through the harsh conditions. Recently an “active” defensive immune system of bacteria (CAS/CRISPR system) was discovered. Bacteria store information about bacteriophages that have attacked them in the past, and use this information to kill bacteriophages if they enter the cell again. Bacterial immune system, however, is not related to the known immune systems. Information about the phage is stored in bacterial genome as short sequences (called CRISPRs) complementary to the phage genome. Upon phage invasion, the sequences are transcribed and the processed RNA along with large protein complex (CAS proteins) recognises phage genome and/or phage mRNA and destroys it.
The process of phage recognition and destruction is well studied. We are interested in the mechanism of acquisition of the immunity memory by CAS/CRISPR system, which remain a mystery.
Specific: cellular machineries working with nucleic acids.
General: molecular evolution, physics of high gravities and velocities.
1. Castro-Roa, D., Garcia-Pino, A, van Nuland, N. A. J., Loris, R., and Zenkin, N*. (2013) The Fic protein Doc uses an inverted substrate to phosphorylate and inactivate EF-Tu. Nat Chem Biol 9:811-7
2. Germain, E., Daniel Castro-Roa, D., Zenkin, N*., and Gerdes, K. (2013) Molecular Mechanism of Bacterial Persistence by HipA. Mol Cell 52:248-54
3. Nielsen, S.U., Yuzenkova, Y., and Zenkin, N*. (2013). Mechanism of RNA polymerase III transcription termination Science, 340: 1577-1580.
4. Bochkareva, A., Yuzenkova, Y., Tadigotla, V. and Zenkin, N*. (2012). Factor-independent transcription pausing caused by recognition of the RNA-DNA hybrid sequence. EMBO J 31, 630-639
5. Yuzenkova, Y., Tadigotla, V.R., Severinov, K., and Zenkin, N*. (2011). A new basal promoter element recognized by RNA polymerase core enzyme. EMBO J 30, 3766-3775.
6. Yuzenkova, Y., Zenkin, N*. (2010) Central role of the RNA polymerase trigger loop in intrinsic RNA hydrolysis Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 107(24):10878-83
7. Zenkin, N., Kulbachinskiy, A., Yuzenkova, Y., Mustaev, A., Bass, I., Severinov, K. and Brodolin, K. (2007). Region 1.2 of the RNA polymerase sigma subunit controls recognition of the -10 promoter element. EMBO J 26, 955-64.
8. Zenkin, N*., Yuzenkova, Y. and Severinov, K. (2006) Transcript-assisted transcriptional proofreading. Science, 313, 518-20.
9. Zenkin, N*., Naryshkina, T., Kuznedelov, K. and Severinov, K. (2006) The mechanism of DNA primer synthesis by RNA polymerase. Nature, 439, 617 | <urn:uuid:64b6f596-464a-44a5-b58b-af8eabb6fc68> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ncl.ac.uk/cbcb/staff/profile/nikolay.zenkin | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.25/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00020-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.897512 | 1,287 | 2.75 | 3 |
The EBIPM Model
(To print or enlarge, click on the model to view the PDF)
What is EBIPM?
Over many decades, rangeland managers have focused weed management on controlling weeds with little regard to either the existing or the resulting plant community. The approach is simplistic in that only the symptoms (weeds) are treated without regard to why the weeds are there to begin with. Future weed management must be based on our understanding of the biology and ecology of rangeland ecosystems.
Sustainable invasive plant management requires restoring diverse plant communities that function in maintaining ecological processes. In order to achieve diverse, desired plant communities invasive plant management must modify the processes and mechanisms directing plant community dynamics and structure.
EBIPM – the acronym for Ecologically-based invasive plant management is a process based model for weed managers to implement site specific integrated weed management strategies to address ecological processes. EBIPM combines state and transition models and successional management models to make the best decisions for a given areas. It can be used for any weed species but for this area-wide project EBIPM will be demonstrated for cheatgrass and medusahead.
The EBIPM model was developed based on the 3 general causes of succession:
- Site Availability –In order for succession to occur, a niche must be available for desired species and unavailable for undesirable ones.
- Species Availability – Once a site is available for desired species, they must be occupied before the weeds establish. Processes that must be exploited include seed dispersal, and vegetative reproduction.
- Species Performance –When sites for desired species are created and they become established factors that favor the desired species must be considered, such as grazing, disease, resource availability, etc. | <urn:uuid:9f3f0f93-8911-4198-92ba-c0949a4d3d43> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.ebipm.org/the-ebipm-model | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00111-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915289 | 354 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Spores of the dreaded Bacillus anthracis have already been used as a bioweapon against the civilian population. Once inhaled, the anthrax pathogen almost always leads to death if the victims are not treated within 24 to 48 hours. Rapid and accurate diagnosis is thus vital. A team from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich, the Swiss Tropical Institute, and the University of Bern has now developed a new immunological approach that can be used to specifically recognize anthrax spores.
A number of tests for the diagnosis of anthrax already exist, including some highly accurate but also extremely complex, time-consuming, and expensive genetic methods. In contrast, immunological tests are very simple; however, it has not yet been possible to develop a truly reliable immunoassay. The similarity of the anthrax spore surface to the spores of other bacteria that commonly occur in humans has been a major problem: previous anthrax antibodies were not sufficiently specific.
Some time ago, a special carbohydrate consisting of four sugar components was discovered on the surface of anthrax spores. This carbohydrate contains a sugar component that occurs nowhere else and has been named anthrose. Peter H. Seeberger and his team targeted this carbohydrate as their point of attack.
In order to produce antibodies against a molecule, one first needs a large enough amount of the molecule in question, or antigen. However, it is exceptionally difficult to isolate a carbohydrate bound to the surface of a cell in its pure form. Seeberger and his team thus chose an alternative route: they synthesized the carbohydrate in the laboratory, attached it to a special "carrier" protein and injected this compound into mice. The carrier protein stimulated an immunological reaction, which is normally rather weak for carbohydrate antigens. The researchers were then able to obtain monoclonal antibodies from these immunized mice. These antibodies were found to bind very specifically to anthrax spores; in contrast, they do not react to bacteria closely related to Bacillus anthracis. "Our results demonstrate that small differences in the carbohydrates on cell surfaces can be used to obtain specific immune reagents," says Seeberger. "Our new antibodies will be used as the basis for highly sensitive anthrax diagnosis and will contribute to the development of new therapeutic approaches." | <urn:uuid:8205818f-d2e1-4e4e-90ce-df11ab1ca5f8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2006-08/jws-add081606.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00185-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959291 | 464 | 3.609375 | 4 |
Don't let the scientific term vegetative propagation
scare you—it just means growing new plants from established specimens rather than seed. It can be an easy and economical means of increasing your plant stock. "Propagation is a wonderful way to make more of your favorite varieties to fill in blank spots in your yard or keep a few backups of a prized plant in case your original dies," says horticulturist Marc Hachadourian, who manages the Nolen Greenhouses at The New York Botanical Garden.
Many gardeners also enjoy increasing the number of their favorite specimens to share with friends as gifts.
Some of the more advanced techniques, like grafting, take a bit of skill. But there are easier techniques that suit beginners—including rooting stem and leaf cuttings, root division, and ground layering—no greenhouse required. You can propagate most plants on a windowsill that gets only indirect light (harsh sunlight will bake tender cuttings). Follow the advice on the following pages—and be patient. "Sometimes it can take longer than you think to get adequate roots," says Hachadourian. "Plants won't be rushed." | <urn:uuid:a31a91e4-6d24-438a-8af6-9412b9408730> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20390485,00.html?xid=shine-110611pm-moreplants | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00043-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944836 | 241 | 3.046875 | 3 |
How to Brush and Floss
How to Brush and Floss Your Teeth Properly
How do I brush my teeth?
- Place your toothbrush at a 45-degree angle where the teeth and gums meet.
- Move the brush back and forth gently in short (tooth-wide) strokes.
- Brush the outer, inner and chewing surfaces of the teeth.
- Use the “toe” of the brush to clean the inside surfaces of the front teeth, using a gentle up-and-down stroke.
- Brush your tongue to remove bacteria and freshen breath.
How do I floss my teeth?
- Break off about 18 inches of floss and wind most of it around one of your middle fingers. Wind the remaining floss around the same finger of the opposite hand. This finger will take up the floss as it becomes dirty. Hold the floss tightly between your thumbs and forefingers.Guide the floss between your teeth using a gentle rubbing motion. Never snap the floss into the gums.
- When the floss reaches the gum line, curve it into a C shape against one tooth. Gently slide it into the space between the gum and the tooth.Hold the floss tightly against the tooth. Gently rub the sides of each tooth, moving the floss with up and down motions.
- Repeat this method on the rest of your teeth.
- Don’t forget the back side of your last tooth!
Changing your toothbrush
Cold and flu season never ends and, if you want to stay healthy, practicing good hygiene habits is more important than ever. This includes good toothbrush hygiene.
The American Dental Association recommends replacing your toothbrush at least every three to four months. When bristles become frayed and worn with use, cleaning effectiveness decreases. Toothbrushes will wear out more rapidly depending on factors unique to each patient. Check brushes often for this type of wear and replace more frequently if needed. Children’s toothbrushes often need to be replaced more frequently than adult brushes.
Other best practices for toothbrush hygiene include:
- Do not share toothbrushes. Sharing a toothbrush could result in an exchange of body fluids and/or microorganisms between the users of the toothbrush, placing the individuals involved at an increased risk for infections. This practice could be a particular concern for persons with compromised immune systems or existing infectious diseases.
- Thoroughly rinse toothbrushes with tap water after brushing to remove any remaining toothpaste and debris. Store the brush in an upright position if possible and allow the toothbrush to air-dry until used again. If more than one brush is stored in the same holder or area, keep the brushes separated to prevent cross-contamination.
- Do not routinely cover toothbrushes or store them in closed containers. A moist environment such as a closed container is more conducive to the growth of microorganisms than the open air.
Source: American Dental Association | <urn:uuid:9671995f-bb66-4cfd-be1c-ffee93301a4a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wda.org/your-oral-health/own-your-smile/brushing-and-flossing-basics | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00161-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.915947 | 617 | 3.484375 | 3 |
'Space Weather' Affects the Earth
The weather conditions that NASA's Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) reports won't change our plans about going to the beach. But the information it provides will help scientists understand how events on the Sun have the ability to disrupt Earth's communications, overload power grids, present a hazard to astronauts, and affect weather patterns. We call this effect on Earth "space weather."
The Earth is continually bombarded with accelerated
particles from the Sun and other galactic sources. ACE gives scientists the ability to study these energetic particles and further their understanding of the formation and evolution of the Solar System. The information ACE provides also helps to develop ways to protect the planet from their effects, including space weather.
The spacecraft is about five feet across and three feet high, not including the four solar arrays and the magnetometer booms attached to two of the solar panels. At launch, it weighed 785 kg, which included hydrazine fuel for orbit insertion and maintenance.
So what is happening on the Sun that can cause serious effects on Earth? The Sun has an 11-year cycle of increasing and decreasing sunspots and solar storms. In one of the biggest types of storms, a Coronal Mass Ejection (CME
), up to 100 million tons of solar material can be ejected from the Sun's surface at speeds greater than two million miles per hour. This amount of material is comparable to the amount of water in the Mediterranean Sea. As CMEs leave the Sun, they can accelerate particles to nearly the speed of light.
When a CME reaches Earth, it can transfer its energy to Earth’s magnetic field and disable satellites. As a result, spacecraft sometimes feel the effects of major increases in "killer" electrons
and other particles energized by the storms. The high-energy particles from the CME can penetrate the walls of the International Space Station and other near-Earth spacecraft and pose a health hazard for NASA's astronauts. High electric currents can also be generated in Earth's power grids, which can destroy large transformers and temporarily shut down neighboring power grids.
ACE is stationed between our planet and the Sun one million miles from the Earth.
The spacecraft carries nine instruments, each designed to observe different aspects of the solar and galactic neighborhood. ACE detects information about the energy, speed and magnetic field of each solar disturbance that is headed toward Earth, and it transmits radio warnings to us up to an hour before they arrive.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)
makes ACE data available on the Web within minutes. It is used by space agencies, the military, electric power and communication industries, and universities around the world. With enough warning, the damaging effects of these disturbances can be decreased.
The Advanced Composition Explorer was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in August 1997. ACE is managed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and the Agency's Office of Space Science Mission and Payload Development Division.
For further information, visit:
NASA's John F. Kennedy Space Center and Goddard Space Flight Center | <urn:uuid:3efd1097-b99a-4d36-b05c-bccf512fc29e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/f_ace.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918289 | 627 | 3.890625 | 4 |
Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
Power supplies are computer components that provide electricity to the system by converting AC (alternating current) from a wall outlet to DC (direct current) for the computer. They are located at the rear of the computer case and usually contain one or more cooling fans. The back plate features a power cord receptacle and off/on switch. Most also have a rear voltage switch that can be changed for operating in different countries. Some come with LED lights, which are popular with modders.
Various components in the computer have different voltage requirements. Power supplies typically provide 3.3v and 5v rails for digital circuitry, and a 12v rail for running drives and fans. Since more components today, including processors, are feeding off the 12v rail, many now provide multiple 12v rails.
Power supplies are rated for power by wattage. As computers become laden with more components, such as RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks), the need for larger ones grows. A typical one has gone from 150 watts in the early 1990s to 450 watts and greater, although the public might be over-buying, according to some experts.
In most computers, the power supply draws only the current that it requires at any given time. A 450w model won't draw more than 200 watts if that is all the system is demanding. All system components are not in use simultaneously, so the amount of power required varies. This has led many to believe an advantage exists for getting the largest power supply possible, as it safeguards against under-powering the system, while only drawing the electricity required. Some contend this notion has gone too far, however, as larger ones generate more heat. The situation becomes one of diminishing returns, considering more wattage costs more money. In many cases, this extra money may be wasted when a smaller supply would do the same job while generating less heat.
In the past, manufacturers followed a number of different standards, but today, the predominant standard is the ATX-form factor, made for standard ATX cases and motherboards. This makes it very easy to swap out a supply when needed. There are also less common standards, like TFX (Thin Form factor) for slim workstations or small PCs, and BTX (Balance Technology Extended) for BTX cases. These cases incorporate computer components on a 3-D plane, rather than the 2-D arrangement of ATX cases. The design purportedly increases airflow.
Power supplies feature Molex connectors for the motherboard, drives, fans and other components. The connectors are color-coded and only fit one way to make installation easy. If a motherboard has a 24-pin power connector, the user needs to be sure to get a matching power supply. The old standard was 20-pin, while 24-pin was usually reserved for motherboards used in servers, but high-end motherboards now come with 24-pin interfaces. Users should check for Serial ATA (SATA) connectors as well, even if they do not currently own SATA drives. Inexpensive power supplies can be noisier than more expensive models.
In some cases, AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) and Intel will approve specific models of power supplies that can be safely used with their high-end processors. These models are not required, just recommended, insofar as they have been officially tested with the CPU and received a stamp of approval. This information can be found on their respective websites.
I'm coming over to the US from Australia.
I'm not sure whether I'll need to buy just the adapter plug or I'll need to buy a currency converter for when I use my laptop. Would this also apply when charging my camera?
Thanks for any advice.
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:5729c894-bcec-4eb1-8c8a-2beeac38ef2b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wisegeek.org/what-are-power-supplies.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403502.46/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00167-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95581 | 821 | 3.9375 | 4 |
Educational administrator, professor, and author, Florence Bamberger devoted her life and career to developing and implementing her progressive views on teaching, teacher education, and scientific educational supervision. Her commitment to supervisory models of pedagogy continues to influence schools of education today.
Florence Bamberger was born on October 19, 1882, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Ansel and Hannah (Eilau) Bamberger. She was educated at Columbia University, receiving a B.S. from Columbia Teachers College in 1914, an M.A. in 1915, and a Ph.D. in 1922.
Bamberger’s early career in the Baltimore public school system led to her position as the first female school supervisor in Baltimore. In 1916, she launched a long association with Johns Hopkins University, beginning as an instructor of education in 1916 and becoming in 1924 the first woman elected to the faculty of the school of philosophy as a full professor. From 1930 to 1937, Bamberger served as the executive secretary of the executive committee of the Johns Hopkins College for Teachers, and in 1937, she was appointed director of the College for Teachers.
A prolific contributor to educational journals, she also wrote several books in the field. Bamberger lectured on parental education under the auspices of the Child Study Association of America and taught pedagogy courses at the Universities of Pennsylvania and Chicago. Bamberger focused her life around her professional concerns and commitment to improving education for children. She maintained numerous professional affiliations, including the National Society for Study of Education, the National Society of College Teachers of Education, the National Education Association, the Baltimore Educational Society, and the American Academy of Political and Social Science. Her membership in Phi Beta Kappa, the American Association of University Women, the International Peace Council, and the Baltimore League of Women Voters reflected her political interests in women’s achievement and influence.
After retiring from Johns Hopkins, she taught at several private elementary schools in Baltimore and served as the chair of the board of trustees of the William Deiches Fund, an organization providing scholarships to Baltimore public school students. In later years, Bamberger’s work centered on designing curricula for teacher training.
Florence Bamberger died in Baltimore on December 18, 1965.
Effect of Physical Make-Up of the Book on Children’s Selection (1922); Guide to Children’s Literature, with A.M. Broening (1931); Syllabus Guide for Observation of Demonstration Lessons (1938).
AJYB 24:116; Bamberger, Florence Eilau. Files. Maryland Room, Enoch Pratt Free Library, Baltimore, Md.; BEOAJ; EJ (1972); Helmes, Winifred G., ed. Notable Maryland Women (1977); Marcus, Jacob Rader. The American Jewish Woman, 1654–1980 (1981); NYTimes, December 2, 1926, February 13, 1928, May 18, 1938; “Personalities and Projects: Social Welfare in Terms of Significant People.” Survey 86 (December 1950): 564–565; UJE; WWIAJ (1926, 1928, 1938).
How to cite this page
Klapper, Melissa R.. "Florence Bamberger." Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia. 1 March 2009. Jewish Women's Archive. (Viewed on July 1, 2016) <http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bamberger-florence>. | <urn:uuid:4f5f612b-7115-47d5-8fe9-949c7b13993d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/bamberger-florence | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93144 | 731 | 2.671875 | 3 |
I assume AESCrypt uses AES.
AEScrypt uses AES-256 in CBC mode. However, the program also uses SHA-256.
When a file is encrypted with AEScrypt, there is no limit to the length of the password.
The Linux implementation of AEScrypt limits password to 1024 characters. This means: it is practically unlimited, and you can use even very long passphrases. (The other versions of the program may vary in password length.)
What is the relation between the AESCrypt password and the key size of the underlying AES encryption?
Nothing. The AES key will be always 256 bits. However, if the password has insufficient entropy, the AES key although 256-bits long will not be secure against password brute-forcing attempts.
The program uses salted (128 bit IV) SHA-256 to derive key to use from password. The hash is invoked 8192 times, which is quite small. This means that possible attackers are able to try brute-forcing quite a w few hundred thousand or a million passwords per second. Thus, passwords containing e.g. little entropy or just few dictionary words are likely broken with ease.
It is very likely that password is the weakest link. To have as much entropy as full AES-256 key, passphrase needs to contain around 25 words. Password would need to be somewhere around 50-100 characters. Generally, nobody often uses that long passwords (AEScrypt would allow it, see above).
The result of key derivation is a key that is used for AES (encryption/decryption) and HMAC-SHA256 (protect file integrity/prevent modifications). The same key is used for both purposes.
Issues (detected when analyzing code)
- Ad-hoc salted hashing would be better replaced with scrypt. I'd like PBKDF2 more than hash, because it is well studied construct although it gives little other benefits.
- It is not recommended to use one key for different purposes. (It does not seem to vulnerable, though.)
- The AES implementation used is not side-channel free.
- The /dev/urandom is used much more than is minimum needed. (Works badly together with any software that uses /dev/random.)
None of these appears very bad (i.e. easy to exploit in usual usage). | <urn:uuid:635edace-b5ad-4c7a-a275-fb5372695fb1> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://crypto.stackexchange.com/questions/12767/how-is-the-aescrypt-password-related-to-the-underlying-aes-key | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397744.64/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.945327 | 485 | 2.921875 | 3 |
How we change what others think, feel, believe and do
Groups sometimes fall into a style of thinking where the maintenance of the group’s cohesion and togetherness becomes all-important and results in very bad decision-making.
Janis (1972) defines it as "a way of deliberating that group members use when their desire for unanimity overrides their motivation to assess all available plans of action."
The eight primary symptoms of groupthink are:
As a result, groups 'suffering' from group think are more likely to:
Groupthink happens most often when the group is already cohesive, is isolated from conflicting opinions and where the leader is open and directive. The lack of a formal decision process is also common.
Problem-solving and task-oriented groups are particularly susceptible.
Resulting decisions are often based on incomplete information and fail to consider alternatives and risks.
The most famous example of Groupthink is the presidential advisory group who almost led Kennedy into invading Cuba and potential nuclear war in the Bay of Pigs affair.
The Challenger disaster was another effect where NASA officials disregarded engineer’s concerns and decided to launch the shuttle.
For an enjoyable example, watch the movie 'Twelve Angry Men', which is about blind agreement and dissent on a jury.
The leader should avoid being too directive and be vigilant for groupthink effects. External opinions should be taken seriously or even having external people included in meetings. The group should be split into subgroups for reporting back and discussion. Individuals should be privately polled for personal opinions.
And the big | <urn:uuid:ffc1ed21-77ce-477a-9ac9-51bc84cc68ef> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://changingminds.org/explanations/theories/groupthink.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783408840.13/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155008-00053-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.933268 | 322 | 3.4375 | 3 |
Details about Geography: The World and Its People, Volume 1, Student Edition:
The National Geographic Society took an integral role in creating this exceptional program, which is unsurpassed in ensuring geographic literacy. The world-renowned organization'Â’s maps, charts, and graphs and stunning photography engage students and show them the world in a whole new way. Vol. 1 of 2.
Back to top
Rent Geography: The World and Its People, Volume 1, Student Edition 1st edition today. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by McGraw-Hill Education.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now. | <urn:uuid:6952360b-a2cf-45c9-bd7c-e2ccca784f1e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/geography-the-world-and-its-people-volume-1-student-edition-1st-edition-9780078249402-0078249406?ii=19&trackid=1a13799e&omre_ir=1&omre_sp= | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00024-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.920876 | 156 | 2.515625 | 3 |
From the World Heritage inscription:
Schokland was a peninsula that by the 15th century had become an island. Occupied and then abandoned as the sea encroached, it had to be evacuated in 1859. But following the draining of the Zuider Zee, it has, since the 1940s, formed part of the land reclaimed from the sea. Schokland has vestiges of human habitation going back to prehistoric times. It symbolizes the heroic, age-old struggle of the people of the Netherlands against the encroachment of the waters.
If you visit Schokland, you will find a lighthouse and a harbor in the middle of a farm field. This is because it was an island prior to the sea around it be reclaimed. Of all the world heritage sites in the Netherlands, this is probably the most dubious to be on the list. It is seems to be of national importance to the Netherlands but not really of world importance. I think the “human habitation going back to prehistoric times” was just part of the PR campaign to get this included on the World Heritage list. | <urn:uuid:e680e2ef-808e-4971-b8f3-4c68f7da20e0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://everything-everywhere.com/2009/10/12/unesco-world-heritage-site-84-schokland-and-surroundings/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396224.52/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00015-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968226 | 227 | 2.71875 | 3 |
In the parlance of the electric power industry, a "trip" means a piece
of machinery stops operating. A series of feedwater system pumps
supplying water to TMI-2's steam generators tripped on the morning of
March 28, 1979. The nuclear plant was operating at 97 percent power at
the time. The first pump trip occurred at 36 seconds after 4:00 a.m.
When the pumps stopped, the flow of water to the steam generators
stopped. With no feedwater being added, there soon would be no steam,
so the plant's safety system automatically shut down the steam turbine
and the electric generator it powered. The incident at Three Mile
Island was 2 seconds old.
The production of steam is a critical function of a nuclear reactor.
Not only does steam run the generator to produce electricity but also,
as steam is produced, it removes some of the intense heat that the
reactor water carries.
When the feedwater flow stopped, the temperature of the reactor
coolant increased. The rapidly heating water expanded. The pressurizer
level (the level of the water inside the pressurizer tank) rose and
the steam in the top of the tank compressed. Pressure inside the
pressurizer built to 2,255 pounds per square inch, 100 psi more than
normal. Then a valve atop the pressurizer, called a pilot-operated
relief valve, or PORV, opened -- as it was designed to do -- and steam
and water began flowing out of the reactor coolant system through a
drain pipe to a tank on the floor of the containment building.11
Pressure continued to rise, however, and 8 seconds after the first
pump tripped, TMI-2's reactor -- as it was designed to do -- scrammed:
its control rods automatically dropped down into the reactor core to
halt its nuclear fission.
Less than a second later, the heat generated by fission was
essentially zero. But, as in any nuclear reactor, the decaying
radioactive materials left from the fission process continued to heat
the reactor's coolant water. This heat was a small fraction -- just 6
percent -- of that released during fission, but it was still
substantial and had to be removed to keep the core from overheating.
When the pumps that normally supply the steam generator with water
shut down, three emergency feedwater pumps automatically started.
Fourteen seconds into the accident, an operator in TMI-2's control
room noted the emergency feed pumps were running. He did not notice
two lights that told him a valve was closed on each of the two
emergency feedwater lines and thus no water could reach the steam
generators. One light was covered by a yellow maintenance tag. No one
knows why the second light was missed.12
With the reactor scrammed and the PORV open, pressure in the reactor
coolant system fell. Up to this point, the reactor system was
responding normally to a turbine trip. The PORV should have closed 13
seconds into the accident, when pressure dropped to 2,205 psi. It did
not. A light on the control room panel indicated that the electric
power that opened the PORV had gone off, leading the operators to
assume the valve had shut.13
But the PORV was stuck open, and would remain open for 2 hours and 22
minutes, draining needed coolant water -- a LOCA was in progress. In
the first 100 minutes of the accident, some 32,000 gallons -- over
one-third of the entire capacity of the reactor coolant system --
would escape through the PORV and out the reactor's let-down system.
Had the valve closed as it was designed to do, or if the control room
operators had realized that the valve was stuck open and closed a
backup valve to stem the flow of coolant water, or if they had simply
left on the plant's high pressure injection pumps, the accident at
Three Mile Island would have remained little more than a minor
inconvenience for Met Ed.
To a casual visitor, the control room at TMI-2 can be an intimidating
place, with messages coming from the loudspeaker of the plant's paging
system; panel upon panel of red, green, amber, and white lights; and
alarms that sound or flash warnings many times each hour. Reactor
operators are trained how to respond and to respond quickly in
emergencies. Initial actions are ingrained, almost automatic and
The burden of dealing with the early, crucial stages of the accident
at Three Mile Island fell to four men -- William Zewe, shift
supervisor in charge of both TMI-1 and TMI-2; Fred Scheimann, shift
foreman for TMI-2; and two control room operators, Edward Frederick
and Craig Faust. Each had been trained for his job by Met Ed and
Babcock & Wilcox, the company that supplied TMI-2's reactor and
nuclear steam system; each was licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory
Commission; each was a product of his training -- training that did
not adequately prepare them to cope with the accident at TMI-2.15
Indeed, their training was partly responsible for escalating what
should have been a minor event into a potentially devastating
Frederick and Faust
were in the control room
when the first alarm sounded, followed by a cascade of alarms that
numbered 100 within minutes. The operators reacted quickly as trained
to counter the turbine trip and reactor scram. Later Faust would
recall for the Commission his reaction to the incessant alarms: "I
would have liked to have thrown away the alarm panel. It wasn't giving
us any useful information."
Zewe, working in a small, glass-enclosed office behind the operators,
alerted the TMI-1 control room of the TMI-2 scram and called his shift
foreman back to the control room.
Scheimann had been overseeing maintenance on the plant's Number 7
polisher -- one of the machines that remove dissolved minerals
from the feedwater system. His crew was using a mixture of air and
water to break up resin that had clogged a resin transfer line. Later
investigation would reveal that a faulty valve in one of the polishers
allowed some water to leak into the air-controlled system that opens
and closes the polishers' valves and may have been a factor in their
sudden closure just before the accident began. This malfunction
probably triggered the initial pump trip that led to the accident. The
same problem of water leaking into the polishers' valve control system
had occurred at least twice before at TMI-2. Had Met Ed corrected the
earlier polisher problem, the March 28 sequence of events may never
With the PORV stuck open and heat being removed by the steam
generators, the pressure and temperature of the reactor coolant system
dropped. The water level also fell in the pressurizer. Thirteen
seconds into the accident, the operators turned on a pump to add water
to the system. This was done because the water in the system was
shrinking as it cooled. Thus more water was needed to fill the system.
Forty-eight seconds into the incident, while pressure continued
falling, the water level in the pressurizer began to rise again. The
reason, at this point, was that the amount of water being pumped into
the system was greater than that being lost through the PORV.
About a minute and 45 seconds into the incident, because their
emergency water lines were blocked, the steam generators boiled dry.
After the steam generators boiled dry, the reactor coolant heated up
again, expanded, and this helped send the pressurizer level up
Two minutes into the incident, with the pressurizer level still
rising, pressure in the reactor coolant system dropped sharply.
Automatically, two large pumps began pouring about 1,000 gallons a
minute into the system. The pumps, called high pressure injection (HPI)
pumps, are part of the reactor's emergency core cooling system. The
level of water in the pressurizer continued to rise, and the
operators, conditioned to maintain a certain level in the pressurizer,
took this to mean that the system had plenty of water in it.19
However, the pressure of reactor coolant system water was falling, and
its temperature became constant.
About 2-½ minutes after the HPI pumps began working, Frederick shut
one down and reduced the flow of the second to less than 100 gallons
per minute. The falling pressure, coupled with a constant reactor
coolant temperature after HPI came on, should have clearly alerted the
operators that TMI-2 had suffered a LOCA, and safety required they
maintain high pressure injection. "The rapidly increasing
pressurizer level at the onset of the accident led me to believe that
the high pressure injection was excessive, and that we were soon going
to have a solid system,"
later told the Commission.20
A solid system is one in which the entire reactor and its cooling
system, including the pressurizer, are filled with water. The
operators had been taught to keep the system from "going solid" -- a
condition that would make controlling the pressure within the reactor
coolant system more difficult and that might damage the system. The
operators followed this line of reasoning, oblivious for over 4 hours
to a far greater threat -- that the loss of water from the system
could result in uncovering the core.21
The saturation point was reached 5-½
minutes into the accident. Steam bubbles began forming in the reactor
coolant system, displacing the coolant water in the reactor itself.
The displaced water moved into the pressurizer, sending its level
still higher. This continued to suggest to the operators that there
was plenty of water in the system. They did not realize that water was
actually flashing into steam in the reactor, and with more water
leaving the system than being added, the core was on its way to being
uncovered.22 And so
the operators began draining off the reactor's cooling water through
piping called the let-down system.
Eight minutes into the accident, someone -- just who is a matter of
dispute -- discovered that no emergency feedwater was reaching the
steam generators. Operator Faust scanned the lights on the control
panel that indicate whether the emergency feedwater valves are open or
closed. He first checked a set of emergency feedwater valves designed
to open after the pumps reach full speed; they were open. Next he
checked a second pair of emergency feedwater valves, called the
"twelve-valves," which are always supposed to be open, except during a
specific test of the emergency feedwater pumps. The two
"twelve-valves" were closed. Faust opened them and water rushed into
the steam generators.23
The two "twelve-valves" were known to have been closed 2 days earlier,
on March 26, as part of a routine test of the emergency feedwater
pumps. A Commission investigation has not identified a specific reason
as to why the valves were closed at 8 minutes into the accident. The
most likely explanations are: the valves were never reopened after the
March 26 test; or the valves were reopened and the control room
operators mistakenly closed the valves during the very first part of
the accident; or the valves were closed mistakenly from control points
outside the control room after the test. The loss of emergency
feedwater for 8 minutes had no significant effect on the outcome of
But it did add to the confusion that distracted the operators as they
sought to understand the cause of their primary problem.
Throughout the first 2 hours of the accident, the operators ignored or
failed to recognize the significance of several things that should
have warned them that they had an open PORV and a loss- of-coolant
accident. One was the high temperatures at the
drain pipe that led
from the PORV to the reactor coolant drain tank. One emergency
procedure states that a pipe temperature of 200°F indicates an open
PORV. Another states that when the drain pipe temperature reaches
130°F, the block valve beneath it should be closed.25
But the operators testified that the pipe temperature normally
registered high because either the PORV or some other valve was
leaking slightly. "I have seen, in reviewing logs since the accident,
approximately 198 degrees," Zewe told the Commission. "But I can
remember instances before . . . just over 200 degrees."26
So Zewe and
his crew dismissed
the significance of the temperature readings, which Zewe recalled as
being in the 230°F range. Recorded data show the range reached 285°F.
Zewe told the Commission that he regarded the high temperatures on the
drain pipe as residual heat: ". . .[Kjnowing that the relief valve had
lifted, the downstream temperature I would expect to be high and that
it would take some time for the pipe to cool down below the 200-degree
At 4:11 a.m., an
alarm signaled high water in the containment building's sump, a clear
indication of a leak or break in the system. The water, mixed with
steam, had come from the open PORV, first
falling to the
drain tank on the containment building floor and finally filling the
tank and flowing into the sump. At 4:15 a.m., a rupture disc on the
drain tank burst as pressure in the tank rose. This sent more slightly
radioactive water onto the floor and into the sump. From the sump it
was pumped to a tank in the nearby auxiliary building.
Five minutes later, at 4:20 a.m., instruments measuring the neutrons
inside the core showed a count higher than normal, another indication
-- unrecognized by the operators -- that steam bubbles were present in
the core and forcing cooling water away from the fuel rods. During
this time, the temperature and pressure inside the containment
building rose rapidly from the heat and steam escaping via the PORV
and drain tank. The operators turned on the cooling equipment and fans
inside the containment building. The fact that they failed to realize
that these conditions resulted from a LOCA indicates a severe
deficiency in their training to identify the symptoms of such an
About this time, Edward Frederick took a call from the auxiliary
building. He was told an instrument there indicated more than 6 feet
of water in the containment building sump.
queried the control room computer and got the same answer.
recommended shutting off the two sump pumps in the containment
building. He did not know where the water was coming from and did not
want to pump water of unknown origin, which might be radioactive,
outside the containment building.29
Both sump pumps were stopped about
4:39 a.m. Before they were, however, as much as 8,000 gallons of slightly
radioactive water may have been pumped into the auxiliary building.30
Only 39 minutes had passed since the start of the accident.
George Kunder, superintendent of technical support at TMI-2, arrived
at the Island about 4:45 a.m., summoned by telephone. Kunder was duty
officer that day, and he had been told TMI-2 had had a turbine trip
and reactor scram. What he found upon his arrival was not what he
expected. "I felt we were experiencing a very unusual situation,
because I had never seen pressurizer level go high and peg in the high
range, and at the same time, pressure being low," he told the
Commission. "They have always performed consistently."31
Kunder's view was shared by the control room crew. They later
described the accident as a combination of events they had never
experienced, either in operating the plant or in their training
5:00 a.m., TMI-2's four reactor coolant pumps began vibrating
severely. This resulted from pumping steam as well as water, and it
was another indication that went unrecognized that the reactor's water
was boiling into steam. The operators feared the violent shaking might
damage the pumps -- which force water to circulate through the core --
or the coolant piping.33
Zewe and his operators followed their training. At 5:14 a.m., two of
the pumps were shut down. Twenty-seven minutes later, operators turned
off the two remaining pumps, stopping the forced flow of cooling water
through the core.
There was already evidence by approximately 6:00 a.m. that at least a
few of the reactor's fuel rod claddings had ruptured from high gas
pressures inside them, allowing some of the radioactive gases within
the rods to escape into the coolant water. The early warning came from
radiation alarms inside the containment building.
continuing to stream out the open PORV and little water being added,
the top of the core became uncovered and heated to the point where the
zirconium alloy of the fuel rod cladding reacted with steam to produce
hydrogen. Some of this hydrogen escaped into the containment building
through the open PORV and drain tank; some of it remained within the
reactor. This hydrogen, and possibly hydrogen produced later in the
day, caused the explosion in the containment building on Wednesday
afternoon and formed the gas bubble that produced such great concern a
few days later.34
Other TMI officials now were arriving in the TMI-2 control room. They
included Richard Dubiel, a health physicist who served as supervisor
of radiation protection and chemistry; Joseph Logan, superintendent of
TMI-2; and Michael Ross, supervisor of operations for TMI-1.
6:00 a.m., George Kunder participated in a telephone conference call
with John Herbein, Met Ed's vice president for generation; Gary
Miller, TMI station, manager and Met Ed's senior executive stationed
at the nuclear facility; and Leiand Rogers, the Babcock & Wilcox site
representative at TMI. The four men discussed the situation at the
plant. In his deposition,
Rogers recalled a
significant question he posed during that call: He asked if the block
valve between the pressurizer and the PORV, a backup valve that could
be closed if the PORV stuck open, had been shut.
QUESTION: What was
George's immediate response was, "I don't know," and he had someone
standing next to the shift supervisor over back of the control room
and sent the guy to find out if the valve block was shut.
QUESTION: You heard
him give these instructions?
Yes, and very shortly I heard the answer come back from the other
person to George, and he said, "Yes, the block valve was shut. . .
The operators shut the block valve at 6:22 a.m., 2 hours and 22
minutes after the PORV had opened.
It remains, however, an open question whether Rogers or someone else
was responsible for the valve being closed. Edward Frederick testified
that the valve was closed at the suggestion of a shift supervisor
coming onto the next shift; but Frederick has also testified that the
valve was closed because he and his fellow operators could think of
nothing else to do to bring the reactor back under control.36
In any event, the loss of coolant was stopped, and pressure began to
rise, but the damage continued. Evidence now indicates the water in
the reactor was below the top of the core at 6:15 a.m. Yet for some
unexplained reason, high pressure injection to replace the water lost
through the PORV and let-down system was not initiated for almost
another hour. Before that occurred, Kunder, Dubiel, and their
colleagues would realize they faced a serious emergency at TMI-2.
In the 2 hours after the turbine trip, periodic alarms warned of
low-level radiation within the unoccupied containment building. After
6:00 a.m., the radiation readings markedly increased. About
6:30 a.m., a radiation technician began surveying the TMI-2
auxiliary building, using a portable detector -- a task that took
about 20 minutes. He reported rapidly increasing levels of radiation,
up to one rem per hour. During this period, monitors in the
containment and auxiliary buildings showed rising radiation levels. By
high radiation levels existed in several areas of the plant, and
evidence indicates as much as two-thirds of the 12-foot high core
stood uncovered at this time. Analyses and calculations made after the
accident indicate temperatures as high as 3,500 to 4,000°F or more in
parts of the core existed during its maximum uncovery.37
At 6:54 a.m., the operators turned on one of the reactor coolant
pumps, but shut it down 19 minutes later because of high vibrations.
More radiation alarms went off. Shortly before
7:00 a.m., Kunder and Zewe declared a site emergency, required by
TMI's emergency plan whenever some event threatens "an uncontrolled
release of radioactivity to the immediate environment."38
Gary Miller, TMI station manager, arrived at the TMI-2 control room a few minutes after 7:00 a.m. Radiation levels were increasing throughout the plant. Miller had first learned of the turbine trip and reactor scram within minutes after they occurred. He had
had several telephone conversations with people at the site, including the 6:00 a.m. conference call. When he reached Three Mile Island, Miller found that a site emergency existed. He immediately assumed command as emergency director and formed a team of senior employees to aid him in controlling the accident and in implementing TMI-2's emergency plan.
Miller told Michael Ross to supervise operator activities in the TMI-2 control room. Richard Dubiel directed radiation activities, including monitoring on- and off-site. Joseph Logan was charged with ensuring that all required procedures and plans were reviewed and followed. George Kunder took over technical support and communications. Daniel Shovlin, TMI's maintenance superintendent, directed emergency maintenance. B&W's Leland Rogers was asked to provide technical assistance and serve as liaison with his home office. Miller gave James Seelinger, superintendent of TMI-1, charge of the emergency control station set up in the TMI-1 control room.40 Under TMI's emergency plan, the control room of the unit not involved in an accident becomes the emergency control station. On March 28, TMI-1 was in the process of starting again after being shut down for refueling of its reactor.
TMI personnel were already following the emergency plan, telephoning state authorities about the site emergency.41 The Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency (PEMA) was asked to notify the Bureau of Radiation Protection (BRP), part of Pennsylvania’s Department of Environmental Resources. The bureau in turn telephoned Kevin Molloy, director of the Dauphin County Office of Emergency Preparedness. Dauphin County includes Harrisburg and Three Mile Island. Other nearby counties and the State Police were alerted.
Met Ed alerted the U.S. Department of Energy's Radiological Assistance Plan office at Brookhaven National Laboratory. But notifying the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Region I office in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania, took longer. The initial phone call reached an answering service, which tried to telephone the NRC duty officer and the region's deputy director at their homes. Both were en route to work.
By the time the NRC learned of the accident -- when its Region I office opened at 7:45 a.m. -- Miller had escalated the site emergency at Three Mile Island to a general emergency. Shortly after 7:15 a.m., emergency workers had to evacuate the TMI-2 auxiliary building. William Dornsife, a nuclear engineer with the Pennsylvania Bureau of Radiation Protection, was on the telephone to the TMI-2 control room at the time. He heard the evacuation ordered over the plants paging system. "And I said to myself, 'this is the biggie,' " Dornsife recalled in his deposition.
At 7:20 a.m., an alarm indicated that the radiation dome monitor high in the containment building was reading 8 rems per hour. The
monitor is shielded by lead. TMI’s shielding is designed to cut the radioactivity reaching the monitor by 100 times Thus, those in the control room interpreted the monitor's alarm as meaning that the radiation present in the containment building at the time was about 800 rems per hour. Almost simultaneously, the operators finally turned on the high pressure injection pumps, once again dumping water into the reactor, but this intense flow was kept on for only 18 minutes. Other radiation alarms sounded in the control room. Gary Miller declared a general emergency at 7:24 a.m. By definition at Three Mile Island, a general emergency is an "incident which has the potential for serious radiological consequences to the health and safety of the general public.
As part of TMI's emergency plan, state authorities were again notified and teams were sent to monitor radiation on the Island and ashore. The first team, designated Alpha and consisting of two radiation technicians, was sent to the west side of the Island, the downwind direction at the time. Another two-man team, designated Charlie, left for Goldsboro, a community of some 600 persons on the west bank of the Susquehanna River across from Three Mile Island. Meanwhile, a team sent into the auxiliary building reported increasing radiation levels and the building's basement partly flooded with water. At 7:48 a.m., radiation team Alpha reported radiation levels along the Island's west shoreline were less than one millirem per hour. Minutes later, another radiation team reported similar readings at the Island's north gate and along Route 441, which runs parallel to the Susquehanna's eastern shore.
Nearly 4 hours after the accident began, the containment building automatically isolated. Isolation is intended to help prevent radioactive material released by an accident from escaping into the environment. The building is not totally closed off. Pipes carrying coolant run between the containment and auxiliary buildings. These pipes close off when the containment building isolates, but the operators can open them. This occurred at TMI-2 and radioactive water flowed through these pipes even during isolation. Some of this piping leaked radioactive material into the auxiliary building, some of which escaped from there into the atmosphere
In September 1975, the NRC instituted its Standard Review Plan, which included new criteria for isolation. The plan listed three conditions -- increased pressure, rising radiation levels, and emergency core cooling system activation -- and required that containment buildings isolate on any two of the three. However, the plan was not applied to nuclear plants that had already received their construction permits. TMI-2 had, so it was "grandfathered" and not required to meet the Standard Review Plan, although the plant had yet to receive its operating license.45
In the TMI-2 design, isolation occurred only when increasing pressure in the containment building reached a certain point, nominally 4 pounds per square inch. Radiation releases alone, no matter how intense, would not initiate isolation, nor would ECCS activation.
Although large amounts of steam entered the containment building early in the TMI-2 accident through the open PORV, the operators had kept pressure there low by using the building's cooling and ventilation system. But the failure to isolate early made little difference in the TMI-2 accident. Some of the radioactivity ultimately released into the atmosphere occurred after isolation from leaks in the let-down system that continued to carry radioactive water out of the containment building into the auxiliary building.
At 8:26 a.m., the operators once again turned on the ECCS's high pressure injection pumps and maintained a relatively high rate of flow. The core was still uncovered at this time and evidence indicates it took until about 10:30 a.m. for the HPI pumps to fully cover the core again.
By 7:50 a.m., NRC Region I officials had established direct telephone contact with the TMI-2 control room. Ten minutes later, Region I activated its Incident Response Center at King of Prussia, opened a direct telephone line to the Emergency Control Station in the TMI-1 control room, and notified NRC staff headquarters in Bethesda, Maryland. Region I officials gathered what information they could and relayed it to NRC headquarters, which had activated its own Incident Response Center. Region I dispatched two teams of inspectors to Three Mile Island; the first left at about 8:45 a.m., the second a few minutes later.
Around 8:00 a.m., it was clear to Gary Miller that the TMI-2 reactor had suffered some fuel damage. The radiation levels told him that. Yet Miller would testify to the Commission: ". . . I don't believe in my mind I really believed the core had been totally uncovered, or uncovered to a substantial degree at that time."
Off the Island, radiation readings continued to be encouragingly low. Survey team Charlie reported no detectable radiation in Goldsboro. Miller and several aides concluded about 8:30 a.m. that the emergency plan was being properly implemented.
WKBO, a Harrisburg "Top 40" music station, broke the story of TMI-2 on its 8:25 a.m. newscast. The station's traffic reporter, known as Captain Dave, uses an automobile equipped with a CB radio to gather his information. About 8:00 a.m. he heard police and fire fighters were mobilizing in Middletown and relayed this to his station. Mike Pintek, WKBO's news director, called Three Mile Island and asked for a public relations official. He was connected instead with the control room to a man who told him: "I can't talk now, we've got a problem." The man denied that "there are any fire engines," and told Pintek to telephone Met Ed's headquarters in Reading, Pennsylvania.
Pintek did, and finally reached Blame Fabian, the company's manager of communications services. In an interview with the Commission staff, Pintek told what happened next:
Fabian came on and said there was a general emergency. What the hell is that? He said that general emergency was a "red-tape" type of thing required by the NRC when certain conditions exist. What conditions? "There was a problem with a feedwater pump. The plant is shut down. We’re working on it. There's no danger off-site. No danger to the general public." And that is the story we went with at 8:25. I tried to tone it down so people wouldn't be alarmed.
At 9:06 a.m., the Associated Press filed its first story -- a brief dispatch teletyped to newspaper, television, and radio news rooms across the nation. The article quoted Pennsylvania State Police as saying a general emergency had been declared, "there is no radiation leak," and that Met Ed officials had requested a State Police helicopter "that will carry a monitoring team." The story contained only six sentences in four paragraphs, but it alerted editors to what would become one of the most heavily reported news stories of 1979.
Many public officials learned of the accident from the news media, rather than from the state, or their own emergency preparedness people. Harrisburg Mayor Paul Doutrich was one, and that still rankled him when he testified before the Commission 7 weeks later. Doutrich heard about the problem in a 9:15 a.m. telephone call from a radio station in Boston. "They asked me what we were doing about the nuclear emergency," Doutrich recalled. "My response was, 'What nuclear emergency?' They said, 'Well, at Three Mile Island.' I said, 'I know nothing about it. We have a nuclear plant there, but I know nothing about a problem.' So they told me; a Boston radio station. "
At 9:15 a.m., the NRC notified the White House of the events at Three Mile Island. Seven minutes later, an air sample taken in Goldsboro detected low levels of radioactive iodine-131. This specific reading was erroneous; a later, more sensitive analysis of the sample found no iodine-131. At 9:30 a.m., John Herbein, Met Ed's vice president for generation, was ordered to Three Mile Island from Philadelphia by Met Ed President Walter Creitz. And at 10:05 a.m., the first contingent of NRC Region I officials arrived at Three Mile Island.
In the days to follow, the NRC would dominate the public's perception of the events at Three Mile Island. But the initial NRC team consisted of only five Region I inspectors, headed by Charles Gallina. The five were briefed in the TMI-1 control room on the status of TMI-2. Then Gallina sent two inspectors into the TMI-2 control room and two more out to take radiation measurements; he himself remained in the TMI-1 control room to coordinate their reports and relay information to both Region I and NRC headquarters.
While the NRC team received its briefing, monitors indicated that radiation levels in the TMI-2 control room had risen above the levels considered acceptable in NRC regulations. Workers put on protective face masks with filters to screen out any airborne radioactive particles. This made communications among those managing the accident difficult. At 11:00 a.m., all non-essential personnel were ordered off the Island. At the same hour, both Pennsylvania's Bureau of Radiation Protection and the NRC requested the Department of Energy to send a team from Brookhaven National Laboratory to assist in monitoring environmental radiation.
About this time, Mayor Robert Reid of Middletown telephoned Met Ed's home office in Reading. He was assured, he later told the Commission, that no radioactive particles had escaped and no one was injured.
I felt relieved and relaxed; I said, "There's no problem." Twenty seconds later I walked out of my office and got in my car and turned the radio on and the announcer told me, over the radio, that there were radioactive particles released. Now, I said, "Gee whiz, what's going on here?" At 4:00 in the afternoon the same day the same man called me at home and said, "Mayor Reid, I want to update our conversation that we had at 11:00 a.m." I said, "Are you going to tell me that [radioactive] particles were released?" He said, "Yes." I said, "I knew that 20 seconds after I spoke to you on the phone "
Throughout much of the morning, Pennsylvania's Lieutenant Governor William Scranton, III, focused his attention on Three Mile Island. Scranton was charged, among other things, with overseeing the state's emergency preparedness functions. He had planned a morning press conference on energy conservation, but when he finally faced reporters in Harrisburg, the subject was TMI-2. In a brief opening statement, Scranton said:
The Metropolitan Edison Company has informed us that there has been an incident at Three Mile Island, Unit-2. Everything is under control. There is and was no danger to public health and safety. . . There was a small release of radiation to the environment. All safety equipment functioned properly. Metropolitan Edison has been monitoring the air in the vicinity of the plant constantly Since the incident. No increase in normal radiation levels has been detected . . ..56
During the questioning by reporters, however, William Dornsife of the state's Bureau of Radiation Protection, who was there at Scranton's invitation said Met Ed employees had "detected a small amount of radioactive iodine.... " Dornsife had learned of the iodine reading (later found to be in error) just before the press conference began and had not had time to tell Scranton. Dornsife dismissed any threat to human health from the amount of radioactive iodine reported in Goldsboro.
Shortly after the press conference, a reporter told Scranton that Met ED in Reading denied any off-site radiation. While some company executives were acknowledging radiation readings off the Island, low-level public relations officials at Met Ed’s’ headquarters continued until noon to deny any off-site releases. It was an error in communications within Met Ed, one of several that would reduce the utilities credibility with public officials and the press. "This was the first contradictory bit of information that we received and it caused some disturbance," Scranton told the Commission in his testimony.
At Three Mile Island, the control room was crowded with operators and supervisors trying to bring the plant under control. They had failed in efforts to establish natural circulation cooling. This essentially means setting up a flow of water, without mechanical assistance, by heating water in the core and cooling it in the steam generators. This effort failed because the reactor coolant system was not filled with water and a gas bubble forming in the top of the reactor blocked this flow of water. At 11:38 a.m., operators began to decrease pressure in the reactor system. The pressurizer block valve was opened and high pressure injection cut sharply. This resulted again in a loss of coolant and an uncovering of the core. The depressurization attempt ended at 3:08 p.m.59 The amount and duration of core uncovery during this period remains unknown.
About noon, three employees entered the auxiliary building and found radiation levels ranging from 50 millirems to 1,000 rems (one million millirems) an hour. Each of the three workers received an 800-millirem dose during the entry.
60 At 12:45 pm., the Pennsylvania State Police closed Route 441 to traffic near Three Mile Island at the request of the state's Bureau of Radiation Protection. An hour later, the U.S. Department of Energy team began its first helicopter flight to monitor radiation levels. And at 1:50 p.m., a noise penetrated the TMI-2 control room; "a thud," as Gary Miller later characterized it.
That thud was the sound of a hydrogen
explosion inside the containment building. It was heard in the control
room; its force of 28 pounds per square inch was recorded on a
computer strip chart there, which Met Ed's Michael Ross examined
within a minute or two.62
Yet Ross and others failed to realize the significance of the event.
Not until late Thursday was that sudden and brief rise in pressure
recognized as an explosion of hydrogen gas released from the reactor.
The noise, said B&W's Leland Rogers in his deposition, was dismissed
at the time as the slamming of a ventilation damper.63
And the pressure spike on the strip chart, Ross explained to the
Commission, "we kind of wrote it off . . . [as] possibly instrument
Miller, Herbein, and Kunder left for Harrisburg soon afterwards for a 2:30 p.m. briefing with Lieutenant Governor Scranton on the events at Three Mile Island. At 2:27 p.m., radiation readings in Middletown ranged from 1 to 2 millirems per hour.
The influx of news media from outside the Harrisburg area began during the afternoon. The wire service reports of Associated Press
and United Press International had alerted editors here and abroad to the accident. The heavy flow of newspaper and magazine reporters, television and radio correspondents and photographers and camera crews would come later as the sense of concern about Three Mile Island grew. But at 4:30 p.m., when Scranton once more met the press, he found some strange faces among the familiar crew of correspondents who regularly covered Pennsylvania's Capitol.
Scranton had discussed the TMI situation with his own people and listened to Met Ed officials. "I wouldn't say that they [Met Ed] were exactly helpful, but they were not obstructive," he later testified. "I Think they were defensive." Scranton was disturbed by, among other things, Herbein's comment during their 2:30 p.m. meeting that Herbein
had not told reporters about some radiation releases during an earlier
Met Ed press conference because "it didn't come up."66
So Scranton was less assured about conditions at Three Mile Island
when he issued his afternoon statement to the press:
This situation is more complex than the company first led us to believe. We are taking more tests. And at this point, we believe there is still no danger to public health. Metropolitan Edison has given you and us conflicting information. We just concluded a meeting with company officials and hope this briefing will clear up most of your questions. There has been a release of radioactivity into the environment. The magnitude of the release is still being determined, but there is no evidence yet that it has resulted in the presence of dangerous levels. The company has informed us that from 11:00 a.m. until about 1:30 p.m., Three Mile Island discharged into the air, steam that contained detectable amounts of radiation....
Scranton’s statement inappropriately focused public attention on the steam emissions from TMI-2 as a source of radiation. In fact, they were not, since the water that flows inside the towers is in a closed loop and cannot mix with water containing radioactive materials unless there is a leak in the system.
Scranton went on to discuss potential health effects of the radiation releases:
The levels that were detected were
below any existing or proposed emergency action levels. But we are
concerned because any increased exposure carries with it some
increased health risks. The full impact on public health is being
evaluated as environmental samples are analyzed. We are concerned most
about radioactive iodine, which can accumulate in the thyroid, either
through breathing or through drinking milk. Fortunately, we don't
believe the risk is significant because most dairy cows are on stored
feed at this time of year.
Many Americans learned about the accident at Three Mile Island from the evening newscasts of the television networks. Millions, for example, watched as Walter Cronkite led off the CBS Evening News:
It was the first step in a nuclear nightmare; as far as we know
at this hour, no worse than that. But a government official said that
a breakdown in an atomic power plant in Pennsylvania today is probably
the worst nuclear accident to date….
At 7:30 p.m., Mayor Ken Myers of Goldsboro met with the borough council to discuss the accident and the borough’s evacuation plan. Then Myers suggested he and the council members go door-to-door to talk with residents of the small community.
Everyone listened to what we had to say. We mainly told them about what we had heard through the radio, TV, and even our own public relations and communications department in the basement of the York County
court house…. Then we told them also of our evacuation plans in case the Governor would declare an emergency and that we would all have to leave. Of course, right away they gave us questions; "Well, what should we do? Do you think it’s safe that we should stay or do you think we should go?" The ones that I talked to, I told them; "Use your own judgment. We dare not tell you to leave your homes." | <urn:uuid:56aa1e95-22f5-45b0-a467-fe9f4931ff01> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.pddoc.com/tmi2/kemeny/wednesday_march_28_1979.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969957 | 9,189 | 3.546875 | 4 |
Why do dolphins help people?
There are many stories dating back into history of dolphins helping people. Why they should do this is a mystery, especially as man has killed countless dolphins over the years, and continues to do so. In some cases these are ongoing relationships. There are many instances where wild dolphins cooperate with local fisherman to capture fish together, in places as far apart as Brazil, Mauretania and Myanmar. The dolphins are not taught to do this by the humans; in most cases the dolphins originally initiated the behaviour. They will herd fish towards the waiting fishermen and signal to them when to deploy their nets. These fishermen are careful to ensure that the dolphins get their fair share of the resulting catch.
Perhaps more surprising is that dolphins will sometimes chose to intervene in a chance encounter to save another creature from a different species. For example, they have been observed apparently trying to help whales in distress who have become trapped in shallow water. There are also many stories over history of dolphins helping people in distress in the sea.
Here are few recent examples taken from the press; it may well be that some of the details are exaggerated by the media or the individuals concerned, but there is clearly some basis to these phenomena.
July 1996 – Associated Press
Martin Richardson, a Briton, was swimming in the Red Sea off Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula when he was attacked by a shark. Companions aboard a diving boat heard him scream.
“Something took a bite of my side,” Mr. Richardson, a 29-year-old diver, told The Associated Press by telephone from el-Tur on Wednesday. “I started panicking for a bit, then it took another chunk of my upper arm.”
Mr. Richardson’s companions then watched as three bottlenose dolphins encircled the wounded man, flapping their fins and tails and scaring off the shark.
“This defensive behaviour of dolphins is common when mothers are protecting their calves from predators,” said a statement by the Recanati Center for Maritime Studies at the University of Haifa in Israel.
The statement said the dolphins continued to circle for several minutes until Mr. Richardson’s companions reached him.
Mr. Richardson was rushed to an Egyptian military hospital at el-Tur, 55 miles to the northwest. He recovered.
August 2000 – Daily Record – Scotland
A friendly dolphin has saved a teenage boy from drowning. Non-swimmer Davide Ceci, 14, was within minutes of death when dolphin Filippo came to his rescue.
The friendly 61-stone creature has been a popular tourist attraction off Manfredonia in south-east Italy for two years. But now he is a local hero after saving Davide from the Adriatic when he fell from his father’s boat.
While Emanuele Ceci was still unaware his son had fallen into the waves, Filippo was pushing him up out of the water to safety. Davide said: “When I realised it was Filippo pushing me, I grabbed on to him.” The dolphin bore down on the boat and got close enough for Davide’s father to grab his gasping son.
Davide’s mother Signora Ceci said: “It is a hero, it seems impossible an animal could have done something like that, to feel the instinct to save a human life.”
Filippo has lived in the waters off Manfredonia since he became separated from a visiting school of dolphins. Maritime researcher Dr Giovanna Barbieri said: “Filippo seems not to have the slightest fear of humans. I’m not surprised he should have done such a wonderful thing as to save a human.”
October 2004 – Guardian
Four swimmers were saved from a great white shark by a pod of altruistic dolphins, who swam in circles around them until the humans could escape.
Rob Howes, a British-born lifeguard, had gone swimming with his daughter, Niccy, and two of her friends off Ocean beach near Whangarei on the North Island, New Zealand, when the dolphins suddenly appeared. At first, he thought the mammals were being playful, but he soon realised the danger the swimmers were in.
“They started to herd us up, they pushed all four of us together by doing tight circles around us,” Mr Howes told the New Zealand Press Association.
He tried to drift away from the group, but two of the bigger dolphins herded him back – just as he spotted a three-metre great white shark heading towards him. “I just recoiled,” he said. “It was only about two metres away from me, the water was crystal clear and it was as clear as the nose on my face. They had corralled us up to protect us.”
The dolphins kept their vigil for 40 minutes until the shark lost interest, and the group could swim 100m back to the shore.
August 2007 – MSNBC Interactive
Surfer Todd Endris needed a miracle. The shark — a monster great white that came out of nowhere — had hit him three times, peeling the skin off his back and mauling his right leg to the bone.
That’s when a pod of bottlenose dolphins intervened, forming a protective ring around Endris, allowing him to get to shore, where quick first aid provided by a friend saved his life.
Nearly four months later, Endris, who is still undergoing physical therapy to repair muscle damage suffered during the attack, is back in the water and on his board in the same spot where he almost lost his life.
“[It] came out of nowhere. There’s no warning at all.
Maybe I saw him a quarter second before it hit me. But no warning. It was just a giant shark,” Endris said. “It just shows you what a perfect predator they really are.”
The shark, estimated at 12 to 15 feet long, hit him first as Endris was sitting on his surfboard, but couldn’t get its monster jaws around both surfer and surfboard. “The second time, he came down and clamped on my torso — sandwiched my board and my torso in his mouth,” Endris said.
That attack shredded his back, literally peeling the skin back, he said, “like a banana peel.” But because Endris’ stomach was pressed to the surfboard, his intestines and internal organs were protected.
The third time, the shark tried to swallow Endris’ right leg, and he said that was actually a good thing, because the shark’s grip anchored him while he kicked the beast in the head and snout with his left leg until it let go.
The dolphins, which had been cavorting in the surf all along, showed up then. They circled him, keeping the shark at bay, and enabled Endris to get back on his board and catch a wave to the shore.
Click for article on: dolphins working with fishermen | <urn:uuid:7f98b114-7e16-4f07-820d-dfc3315849d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dolphin-way.com/dolphins-%E2%80%93-the-facts/dolphins-helping-humans/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399106.96/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00028-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.982086 | 1,481 | 2.921875 | 3 |
Chronic Fatigue and Sugar Addiction
Chronic stress activates the adrenal glands to produce stress hormones like cortisol and epinephrine. Overproduction of these hormones drops your blood sugar because stress hormones make you burn circulating blood sugar for energy instead of body fat. When blood sugar drops, your brain turns on the sugar cravings to replace the burned-off sugar.
When you’re stressed out all the time, your adrenal glands can’t keep up with the constant workload, so they lose their ability to continue churning out enough hormones to keep glucose in your system. The result is a consistent underproduction of cortisol, which in turn yields low blood sugar, chronic fatigue, and more sugar cravings.
Chronic fatigue doesn’t come just from stress; it comes from excess sugar, too. Insulin resistance causes the cells to refuse the action of insulin trying to bring sugar into cells to be burned for energy. The result is more sugar circulating in the bloodstream and less sugar available to be metabolized for energy.
This makes you tired — unspeakably tired, no matter how much you sleep. Cells are unable to take up the glucose they require, and muscles can’t restock their fuel supplies of glycogen. The whole system begins to shut down and becomes an exhausted, nonfunctional mess. | <urn:uuid:90b4b54b-6821-46db-aff1-ad6a859e2596> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/chronic-fatigue-and-sugar-addiction.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00143-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.877807 | 271 | 2.796875 | 3 |
1. An agency of the United Nations affiliated with the World Bank.
4. German organist and contrapuntist (1685-1750).
8. Thickening of tissue in the motor tracts of the lateral columns and anterior horns of the spinal cord.
11. (usually followed by `of') Released from something onerous (especially an obligation or duty).
12. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
13. (British) A waterproof raincoat made of rubberized fabric.
14. A metal-bearing mineral valuable enough to be mined.
15. The Tibeto-Burman language spoken in the Dali region of Yunnan.
16. A vinyl polymer used especially in paints or adhesives.
17. A silvery soft waxy metallic element of the alkali metal group.
19. Unknown god.
21. The blood group whose red cells carry both the A and B antigens.
22. Any of a number of fishes of the family Carangidae.
24. A logarithmic unit of sound intensity.
26. A soft silvery metallic element of the alkali earth group.
27. A member of the Iroquoian people formerly living east of Lake Ontario.
32. A master's degree in business.
33. A federal agency established to coordinate programs aimed at reducing pollution and protecting the environment.
34. A river in north central Switzerland that runs northeast into the Rhine.
35. A public promotion of some product or service.
37. A small pellet fired from an air rifle or BB gun.
39. African tree having an exceedingly thick trunk and fruit that resembles a gourd and has an edible pulp called monkey bread.
43. Open-heart surgery in which the rib cage is opened and a section of a blood vessel is grafted from the aorta to the coronary artery to bypass the blocked section of the coronary artery and improve the blood supply to the heart.
47. (Old Testament) In Judeo-Christian mythology.
48. Resinlike substance secreted by certain lac insects.
51. The cry made by sheep.
52. Tastelessness by virtue of being cheap and vulgar.
54. A cgs unit of work or energy.
55. Hormone secreted by the posterior pituitary gland (trade name Pitressin) and also by nerve endings in the hypothalamus.
56. According to the Old Testament he was a pagan king of Israel and husband of Jezebel (9th century BC).
57. A nucleic acid consisting of large molecules shaped like a double helix.
1. Metal shackles.
2. English theoretical physicist who applied relativity theory to quantum mechanics and predicted the existence of antimatter and the positron (1902-1984).
3. A sweetened beverage of diluted fruit juice.
4. A small cake leavened with yeast.
5. Title for a civil or military leader (especially in Turkey).
6. The 22nd letter of the Greek alphabet.
7. One who works hard at boring tasks.
8. The basic unit of electric current adopted under the System International d'Unites.
9. Rock that in its molten form (as magma) issues from volcanos.
10. Someone who works (or provides workers) during a strike.
18. A federal agency established to regulate the release of new foods and health-related products.
20. (informal) Of the highest quality.
23. A loose sleeveless outer garment made from aba cloth.
25. An early form of modern jazz (originating around 1940).
28. Tag the base runner to get him out.
29. A state in midwestern United States.
30. An official prosecutor for a judicial district.
31. A colorless and odorless inert gas.
35. A defensive missile designed to shoot down incoming intercontinental ballistic missiles.
36. A white metallic element that burns with a brilliant light.
38. Date used in reckoning dates before the supposed year Christ was born.
40. (Babylonian) God of storms and wind.
41. Profane or obscene expression usually of surprise or anger.
42. Pompous or pretentious talk or writing.
43. An expression of greeting.
44. In bed.
45. An outlying farm building for storing grain or animal feed and housing farm animals.
46. Mentally or physically infirm with age.
49. A flat wing-shaped process or winglike part of an organism.
50. A compartment in front of a motor vehicle where driver sits.
53. A rare silvery (usually trivalent) metallic element. | <urn:uuid:cdf2d4e7-9b49-4ff9-aa70-a6abf8e1985e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.crosswordpuzzlegames.com/puzzles/gt_355.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00177-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.87862 | 1,000 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Avoid Domestic Violence Over the Holidays
An expert warns that although the holidays are supposed to be a time for family bonding and merriment, for many women and children, they are instead a time of fear and violence.
David Schneider, M.D., chair of family and community medicine at Saint Louis University, remarks that the additional stress of the holidays, combined with increased alcohol consumption can cause a tipping point for domestic violence.
“There’s a lot of stress associated with the holidays, from pressure to provide for the family and money issues to spending more time with distant family. Domestic violence often revolves around high stress times,” said Schneider, who is nationally recognized for his work with the Academy on Violence and Abuse.
“Additionally, people tend to drink more alcohol around the holidays, and about half of all domestic violence occurs when either the perpetrator or victim is under the influence of alcohol.”
While men can be the victims of domestic violence, in the vast majority of domestic disputes women are the victims, Schneider says. Too often, women do not realize how serious the issue is until it becomes very dangerous or even fatal.
“When a partner is threatening suicide or there are guns in house — these are very dangerous situations. If you find yourself in one of these situations you need to find a way out,” Schneider said.
Schneider says it’s important that family members be aware of signs of abuse. Bruises, cuts and broken bones are the most obvious signs, but not the most common.
Schneider recommends being on the lookout for people who frequently skip family gatherings and provide excuses and stories that just don’t add up. Low self esteem, fear of conflict and excessive self blame are other red flags.
If you suspect that a family member or friend is the victim of domestic violence, Schneider says the most important thing you can do is offer support and encouragement.
“The most important thing you can do is let her know she’s not alone and there’s a way out. Help her find a local battered woman’s shelter, get a restraining order or arrange transportation,” Schneider said.
Nauert PhD, R. (2015). Avoid Domestic Violence Over the Holidays. Psych Central. Retrieved on June 28, 2016, from http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/12/17/avoid-domestic-violence-over-the-holidays/10255.html | <urn:uuid:3a3a4954-ef64-49d7-aca1-37a007e93d24> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://psychcentral.com/news/2009/12/17/avoid-domestic-violence-over-the-holidays/10255.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942119 | 513 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Key: "S:" = Show Synset (semantic) relations, "W:" = Show Word (lexical) relations
Display options for sense: (gloss) "an example sentence"
- S: (v) prolong, sustain, keep up (lengthen or extend in duration or space) "We sustained the diplomatic negotiations as long as possible"; "prolong the treatment of the patient"; "keep up the good work"
- S: (v) suffer, sustain, have, get (undergo (as of injuries and illnesses)) "She suffered a fracture in the accident"; "He had an insulin shock after eating three candy bars"; "She got a bruise on her leg"; "He got his arm broken in the scuffle"
- S: (v) nourish, nurture, sustain (provide with nourishment) "We sustained ourselves on bread and water"; "This kind of food is not nourishing for young children"
- S: (v) sustain, keep, maintain (supply with necessities and support) "She alone sustained her family"; "The money will sustain our good cause"; "There's little to earn and many to keep"
- S: (v) hold, support, sustain, hold up (be the physical support of; carry the weight of) "The beam holds up the roof"; "He supported me with one hand while I balanced on the beam"; "What's holding that mirror?"
- S: (v) sustain (admit as valid) "The court sustained the motion"
- S: (v) confirm, corroborate, sustain, substantiate, support, affirm (establish or strengthen as with new evidence or facts) "his story confirmed my doubts"; "The evidence supports the defendant" | <urn:uuid:14d657c0-9208-4d35-88dd-168d713f95b5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?o2=&o0=1&o8=1&o1=1&o7=&o5=&o9=&o6=&o3=&o4=&s=sustain&i=2&h=0000000 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00119-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.930676 | 369 | 3.59375 | 4 |
24.251 Introduction to Philosophy of Language (MIT)
In this introductory course on the philosophy of language, we examine views on the nature of meaning, reference, truth, and their relationships. Other topics may include relationships between language and logic, language and knowledge, language and reality, language and acts performed through its use. No knowledge of logic or linguistics presupposed.
- Source: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
- Language: English
- Author: Holton, Richard
- Lisence Terms: Content within individual OCW courses is (c) by the individual authors unless otherwise noted. MIT OpenCourseWare materials are licensed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike). For further information see http://ocw.mit.edu/terms/index.htm
- Tags: philosophy of language, nature of meaning, nature of reference, nature of truth, language and logic, language and knowledge, language and reality, language and acts performed through its use,
- Course Publishing Date: Oct 24, 2006 | <urn:uuid:7317d1ac-4268-4368-b6e8-7a50760c51a8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edumojo.com/elearning/free_open_course.php?name=24.251+Introduction+to+Philosophy+of+Language+(MIT) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00003-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.902535 | 217 | 3.21875 | 3 |
If you are drinking 4 or more units a day on average then the first problem is that alcohol can cause high blood pressure, and high blood pressure is the major cause of strokes, the risk is not particularly high but when you look at the population as a whole it makes quite a big impact. The major health problem with drinking too much is that it damages the liver.
Firstly a few myths about alcohol and the liver.
You do not need to be an alcoholic to get liver disease; only 1 in 5 patients with alcohol induced liver failure are alcohol dependent or alcoholic.
You do not need to drink spirits to get liver disease. Approximately 1/3 of our patients drink mainly spirits, 1/3 lager, cider or beer and 1/3 wine. Twenty or thirty years ago to get liver disease from drinking wine was pretty unusual in the UK, it was something that happened in France, Spain or Italy. However many of us drink wine regularly now, and liver disease from drinking wine regularly is increasing. The threshold for liver disease is around 4 bottles a week, above this the incidence of liver disease goes up rapidly. It is also only a matter of time before we see cirrhosis from alcopops.
Everyone who drinks more than 4 or 5 units each day is likely to get what is called fatty infiltration of the liver.
You don't have to be old to get health damage, as I write this we have a 29 year girl on the ward with alcoholic cirrhosis. Our youngest patient so far with severe alcohol induced liver disease was 22 - and he very nearly died. It is unusual however to get serious liver disease at this age, it's more common in your late 30's, 40's and 50's.
As far as your body is concerned alcohol acts both as a food and a poison. For example 2 glasses of wine comes to around the same calories as a bag of chips.
If you drink too much alcohol it poisons your brain - as everyone is pretty well aware. One of the main jobs for your liver is to remove poisons and toxins and make them safe - as the liver does this with alcohol it is turned into another poison that damages the liver cells. Alcohol damages the liver when the toxins produced by drinking outstrip the defences against them - later in this article we will discuss how you can increase these defences. A strange thing about alcohol is that a single big dose doesn't really do the liver much harm. The problem lies when people drink too much over a long period of time - months or years.
Alcohol is a drug. It is an addictive drug, like nicotine, heroin or cocaine. The withdrawal symptoms from severe alcohol dependence are at least as severe as those from heroin, and much more so than those from cocaine. Like these drugs people who drink too much develop something called tolerance. This means you need to take more of the drug to get the same 'buzz'.
With alcohol this tends to happen when you drink heavily and regularly. Western society is very familiar with tolerance, in fact is often highly praised as an ability to 'hold your drink'.
There is a very positive side to tolerance - if you are drinking too much, and you are starting to need more booze to get the same buzz it is a sign that you drinking too much. If you cut out the booze for a while - go on a detox for a few weeks, to use an increasingly popular term - then your tolerance will drop. You will need to drink much less to get the same 'buzz', and you will be very much healthier as a result - a win / win situation, for everyone except the drinks industry. If this scenario is familiar to you then you should read the section on alcohol dependence, and you should also check out the DRINKULATOR if you haven't already.
Alcohol dependency units have a different type of detox - they use drugs like valium to prevent the physical withdrawal effects of severe alcohol dependence. These effects include visual hallucinations, feelings of severe acute anxiety and fits. Acute alcohol withdrawal can be utterly terrifying, and can also be fatal if not properly treated. | <urn:uuid:f0f60c6c-8f4c-4285-a67e-a4bbbeef6dd2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.drinksafely.info/DrinkingAdvice/DrinkingTooMuch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396959.83/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00034-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971569 | 836 | 2.65625 | 3 |
This organization was formed in the late summer and early fall of 1863 from units which had served as independent volunteer companies in different parts of the State. These companies were commanded by Captains John C. Chambers, John W. Pearson, Samuel Hope, James Tucker, A.A. Stewart, J.C. DuPree, S.M.G. Garry, and Lieutenant James Washington Pearce. Prior to Olustee, elements of the unit had garrisoned different points in north and central Florida, but had seen little combat.
Major Pickens Bird led the Sixth at Olustee, where it lost eighty-two men, including nine killed or mortally wounded (one officer and eight enlisted men), and seventy-three wounded (four officers and sixty-nine enlisted men) for a total of eighty-two casualties according to the published compilation in the Official Records.
An historian of the unit lists an additional two men as having deserted during the battle. A company-by-company casualty total compiled by the same historian (broken down by company as it existed when it was the Ninth Florida Infantry Regiment) is as follows:
After the Battle of Olustee, the troops between Waldo and Jacksonville were combined and Lieutenant Colonel John Marshall Martin was placed in command of the Battalion.
Early in May 1864, General Patton Anderson, Commanding the District of Florida, received from the War Department an order to send a good brigade to Richmond Virginia with all possible expediency. Brigadier General Joseph Finnegan was ordered to immediately proceed to Virginia with his brigade, which included the 6th Florida Battalion under Lieutenant Colonel Martin. The brigade arrived at Richmond, Virginia 25 May 1864, and joined Anderson's Division, of which Holmes was then commander, and then Hill's Corps at Hanover Junction, 28 May 1864. A number of other companies were added to the 6th Battalion, which then became the 9th Florida Regiment under the command of Colonel Martin.
The unit participated at the Battle of Cold Harbor, where Major Pickens Bird was killed. After Cold Harbor, Finnegan's Brigade, which now consisted of the 2nd, 6th, 8th, 9th, 10th and 11th Florida Regiments, took up the line of march for Petersburg. On 23 June 1864, they moved from the breastworks under heavy fire of shell and canister, and marched down the Weldon Road six miles below, and drove back the enemy who were tearing up the railroad.
On 30 June 1864, at the Battle of Ream's Station, the Florida Brigade marched, reached the battlefield at daybreak, and attacked the enemy, driving them back in a running fight four miles, capturing seven pieces of artillery, many horses, a few prisoners and 1,300 freed negro slaves. On the morning of 21 August, the Florida Brigade advanced within one hundred yards of the Federal breastworks on the Weldon Railroad, where the enemy was strongly entrenched. Repeated charges were made to dislodge them, but failed. The loss in killed and wounded was very severe. Lieutenant Colonel John W. Pearson was so severely wounded in this fight that he died in Augusta, Georgia while on his way home, and was buried in Laurel Grove Cemetery in Savannah, Georgia.
The death of Lieutenant Colonel Pearson left the 9th Regiment with no field officers, except Colonel Martin. An attempt was made to have outsiders appointed to these positions, but Colonel Martin objected on the ground that Captains in his regiment had earned promotion and were entitled to the offices. For some reason the War Department failed to make these deserved promotions, and the 9th Regiment served to the close of the war without either a Lieutenant Colonel or Major.
On 7 December 1864, the Florida Brigade, of which the 9th was a part, made a forced march of 30 miles and attacked Union troops at Bellfield on 9 December 1864, but the enemy numbering 20,000, who had been on a raid, declined to accept battle and retreated. The Florida Brigade returned to camp foot-sore, having marched over frozen roads and through sleet and snow for more than one hundred miles.
Early in February 1865, the 9th was engaged at Hatcher's Run, opposing the Federal attempt to extend their line of battle.
The Brigade then was ordered to winter quarters, but before reaching them received orders to return to reinforce General Gordon south of Hatcher's Run. In this engagement, the Brigade numbered but 3,500 effective men. After a charge the enemy fled in confusion, and night ended the battle.
On the morning of 2 April 1865, General Lee's lines were broken, and the retreat began. The 9th Regiment retreated by way of High Bridge and marched to Farmville, Virginia. There it halted and fortified for an attack which was repulsed with heavy loss to the enemy. This was the last battle in which the 9th Regiment was engaged. The 9th Florida surrendered 9 April 1865 at Appomattox Court House, with an effective strength of 15 officers and 108 enlisted men.
The field officers of the 6th Battalion/9th Regiment Florida were Colonel John M. Martin, Major Pickens B. Bird, and Acting Colonel Robert B. Thomas. The regiment served with Perry's-Finegan's Brigade, Anderson's-Mahone's Division, 3rd Army Corps, Army of Northern Virginia.
David Pearce ([email protected]) provided most of the history of the 6th Battalion/9th Regiment that appears above.
Confederate Order of Battle
Battle of Olustee home page | <urn:uuid:48cfc4b1-9678-442e-9308-65461b6aa765> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://battleofolustee.org/6th_fl_inf.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397565.80/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00036-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.981471 | 1,142 | 2.5625 | 3 |
Located in Tanouan Ibi, a village within Mali's Dogon region, the school complex is made up of several blocks but the main teaching areas are located in one single-storey classroom building.
Levs Architecten positioned three identically sized classrooms in a row along the central axis of this building, then added a pair of sheltered verandas to the two long sides to provide spaces where students can sit down between classes.
"The verandas, equipped with small stone benches, offer pleasant exterior room to the students," said the architects.
The arched roof structures of these arcades also function as buttresses, supporting the weight of the main vault running along the building's centre.
The architects enlisted students from a nearby university and members of the local community to help construct the building, using the compressed clay bricks to build walls, floors and roofing.
"The use of these blocks of compressed earth leads to a supple integration into the environment, corresponding to the way almost all Dogon villages fit into the landscape," they said.
Ceramic pipes puncture the roof of the building, bringing light and ventilation into the classrooms. These can be blocked up during the two-month-long rainy season, during which time a waterproof layer of clay mixed with cement prevents ceilings from leaking.
Each classroom accommodates up to 60 students and there's also an office and storage closet. Doors and window shutters are painted pale yellow to complement the red tones of the clay.
Here's a project description from Lev Architecten:
Primary School Tanouan Ibi
The village of Tanouan Ibi is situated on the plain, one hour driving from the main village Koundou in Dogon country, next to the rockface of Bandiagara in Mali (World Cultural Heritage of Humanity, Unesco 1986).
The ensemble is composed of different buildings. The first block is a school of three classes with two verandas and a curved roof. Next to this the installation of the sanitary block is arranged. The enclosure and the planting of trees will follow afterwards. The school is complying with the demands imposed by the government and by the CAP (Centre d'Animation Pédagogique). A classroom has a surface of 7 x 9 m² and offers space to about 60 students. In total the school delivers space to minimally 180 students (3 classrooms) and an office with storage facilities for the director.
The architecture of the school building is a search for a connection with the local traditions of building, of culture and of architecture. Through the use of a newly developed hydraulic-compressed earth block, the building withstands the climate of both hot sunlight and heavy rainfall. The stones are produced on the spot from locally mined clay. Processed in vaults, they provide an optimal cooling climate. The search for connection also implies seeking an expression joining itself to an architecture applying partitions of surfaces, openings and closures, windows and door frames and decorative forms. The use of these blocks of compressed earth, leads to a supple integration into the environment, corresponding to the way almost all Dogon villages fit into the landscape. The language of forms is a clear consequence of functional requirements.
The structure of the school building is unique with two verandas running parallel to the class rooms. The two verandas operate like buttresses to be able to capture the weight of the barrel vaults in the roofs over the classrooms. Next to this, the verandas, equipped with small stone benches, offer pleasant exterior room to the students. The verandas have been built in strokes of blocks of compressed earth. At the entries the blocks follow the tension lines of the arcs, which lead to characteristic openings. The roof and the eaves have been accentuated by an additional layer of stones and by dilatation stones, separating the barrel vaults.
The roof has been covered by a thick layer of 20-30 mm of red earth, mixed with cement in order to achieve a water proof and water resistant layer. The gargoyles, manufactured by the local people named Bozo, guarantee the swift drainage of rainwater. In the roof, custom-made ceramic tubes have been inserted, providingventilation for a pleasant inside climate and allowing daylight through the roof, like a starry sky. During the rainy season (2 months), taking place out of the school period, these tubes can be closed.
The openings in the facades, with their window frames and with blinds, are painted in a fresh and yellow colour. The floor stones have been laid down in a decorative pattern.
Project: Primary School
Architects: LEVS architecten, Amsterdam
Client: Foundation Dogon Education, Amsterdam
Contractor: Enterprise Dara, Sevaré, Mopti and executor Amayoko Tagadiou, in collaboration with students of the Lycée Technique in Sevaré and with the local population of Tanouan Ibi.
Construction: March – July 2013
Occupancy: October 2013
Site: 2.5 ha
Gross Floor: 200 m2
Costs: 45.000 Euro
Sign up for a daily roundup
of all our stories | <urn:uuid:98c97e2a-20c8-4cf7-85b5-2937909fe83f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.dezeen.com/2014/02/12/vaulted-brick-primary-school-mail-levs-architecten/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395166.84/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00102-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.944083 | 1,063 | 2.6875 | 3 |
Wasps are mainly predatory carnivores. They hunt small insects for their own food, and to feed their young. You will see wasps visit flowers, however, for two reasons. They drink flower nectar for quick energy while they hunt, and they use flowers as a hunting ground for smaller insects that are also attracted there. In fact, several kinds of wasps are beneficial in gardens, since they are predators of insects that damage plants.
The most common wasps that you will see in Canada are yellow jackets, bald faced hornets and paper wasps. These are all social insects that live in colonies. The colonies mostly die over winter; only mated females survive, starting a new brood of female worker wasps each spring. Because the colonies increase in size during the summer, you will probably notice more of the social wasps in late summer and fall. If you see many wasps of the same kind in your observations, especially late in the season, they are probably one of the social wasps. If you see only one or two of a particular kind in late summer, it is likely a solitary wasp.
There are many species of solitary wasps, such as the Vespid wasps. They shelter in small holes in logs or in the ground, and live an independent lifestyle. Like all wasps, they are mainly predators of small insects, but some species collect pollen to feed their young.
Wasps can be identified by their slender, needle-thin waists, oval eyes and long antennae. They also generally have smooth bodies, unlike the hairy bodies of bees and flies. Most wasps sting, but only the females, since the stinger is a modified ovipositor (egg laying structure) in infertile worker females. | <urn:uuid:8d0bb787-2dbb-46e0-a6b4-df717ad8c0f9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.seeds.ca/pollination/pollinator-profiles/wasps | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397695.90/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973784 | 360 | 3.78125 | 4 |
"Sociologists have a different way of looking at how people respond to discrimination on a personal level and what it's like to live in a country where the media portrays your group in a certain way. Even policy-makers in the United States sometimes speak in code because ours is a racialized society," Hicken says.
Using survey results from the Chicago Adult Community Health Study, a population-representative sample of 3,105 people, the team conducted two studies that measured the possible health effects of remaining hypervigilant about encountering racism when engaging in simple, everyday activities.
Health and the Stress Response
The first study was "'Every Shut Eye, Ain't Sleep': The Role of Racism-Related Vigilance in Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Sleep Difficulty," published in the June 2013 issue of Race and Social Problems. The results suggested that Black, but not Hispanic, adults were most likely to maintain high levels of racism-related hypervigilance (also called anticipatory stress), and toss and turn during the night. The Black adults reported 15 percent more hypervigilance-related sleep problems than the White adults.
The second study revealed far more striking differences among racial groups. In the article, "Racial/Ethnic Disparities in Hypertension Prevalence: Reconsidering the Role of Chronic Stress," published online November 18 in the American Journal of Public Health, the team reported large differences in rates of hypervigilance and hypertension between Black and White study participants, and only a small difference among Hispanics.
Not only were the Blacks surveyed more likely to be hypervigilant about experiencing discrimination, that hypervigilance may have contributed to significantly higher levels of hypertension in them. At the lowest levels of hypervigilance, Black and White study participants had similar levels of hypertension. However, at the highest levels of hypervigilance, 55 percent of Black study participants had hypertension while 20 percent of the White study participants had hypertension.
The study findings may contribute greatly to the understanding of differences in health between racial groups, because disparities in hypertension are considered a significant contributor to health disparities in America.
The Racism/Hypertension Link
"We think that the chronic activation of the biological stress response system that takes place when a person anticipates a negative event like encountering discrimination is what contributes to the higher rates of hypertension among the Blacks in our study," Hicken says.
After controlling for variables such as income, gender, age, and socioeconomic status, study respondents' feelings were measured through questions that included:
- In your day-to-day life, how often do you do the following things: (a) try to prepare for possible insults from other people before leaving home; (b) feel that you always have to be very careful about your appearance to get good service or avoid being harassed; and (c) try to avoid certain social situations and places.
The researchers wrote, "the anticipatory nature of vigilance sets it apart from traditional notions of perceived racial discrimination. For decades, a large body of scientific and lay literature has provided evidence of the pervasive consequences of interpersonal and societal discrimination. In qualitative studies, social scientists often report on the way Blacks continually think about the potential for discrimination."
"Overall, the work shows that in cases where racism-related vigilance is low or absent, Blacks and Whites have similar levels of hypertension. But when people report chronic vigilance, the rates in Blacks rise significantly. They rise a little in Hispanics, but not at all in Whites," Hicken explains.
"For our next study," she adds, "we are going to expand the questionnaire to gather better data and explore how or if the impact of hypervigilance can be mitigated."
Learn more about the RWJF Health & Society Scholars.
For an overview of RWJF scholar and fellow opportunities, visit RWJFLeaders.org. | <urn:uuid:54025cb0-a8d8-4114-a086-79479522900a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.rwjf.org/en/library/articles-and-news/2013/11/living-with-discrimination-can-take-a-toll-on-health.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393518.22/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00019-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948831 | 797 | 3.109375 | 3 |
Genetic factors may render some women more vulnerable to the pressure to be thin, results of a study in twins showed.
When female twins, ages 12 to 22, were asked about their idealization of thinness, those who were identical (monozygotic) had closer levels of thin idealization than fraternal twins (dizygotic), suggesting a significant role for genetics (P=0.02), reported Kelly Klump, PhD, of Michigan State University in East Lansing, and colleagues, in the International Journal of Eating Disorders.
Further analysis showed that the heritability of thin idealization was 43%, they wrote in an accompanying statement, which is "remarkably" similar to the heritability of disordered eating and eating disorders, they added.
"Current research on the etiology of thin-ideal internalization focuses on psychosocial influences (e.g., media exposure)," they wrote. "The possibility that genetic influences also account for variance in thin-ideal internalization has never been directly examined."
More than 300 participants were recruited through the Michigan State University Twin Registry. Twin zygosity was established through physical similarity questionnaires. Participants answered questions about thin idealization through a subscale of the Sociocultural Attitudes towards Appearance Questionnaire.
Twin correlations for thin-ideal internalization were significantly greater in monozygotic versus dizygotic twins, the authors reported (r=0.44 versus r=0.24). They also found that differences between twins' environments had a greater role in the development of thin ideal internalization compared with wider cultural attitudes about thinness.
"Large differences between monozygotic and dyzygotic twin correlations, and a monozygotic correlation less than 1.00, suggested that shared environmental influences were small, but nonshared environmental influences likely contributed to the variance in thin-ideal internalization," they wrote.
Nonshared environmental influences typically include experiences that twins do not share with one another. This could include involvement by one twin in a weight-focused sport like dance, one twin being exposed to more media that promotes thinness than the other, or one of the twins having a friendship group that places importance on weight.
The authors said they were surprised that environmental factors, such as exposure to the same media, did not have a major impact. "Instead, nonshared factors that make co-twins different from each other had the greatest impact," said co-author Jessica Suisman in a statement, although the group cautioned that they did not look specifically at environmental triggers.
The study was limited by small sample size, lack of study of specific genes, and lack of study of specific environmental mechanisms. They also operated under the equal environments assumption that environment should not affect phenotypes in monozygotic twins versus dizygotic twins, which requires additional research confirmation.
They also noted that "it is unclear whether and how these findings might replicate in other populations, particularly those in which the thin idea is not prominent."
Future studies should accrue twin-study data in cultures where mean levels of exposure to the thin ideal are more variable or even lower than in the U.S. "These data can be used to understand possible differences in etiology across cultures and enhance understanding of thin-ideal internalization as a risk factor for eating pathology," the group said.
The study was supported by grants from the National Institute of Mental Health.
The authors reported no conflicts of interest.
- Reviewed by Dori F. Zaleznik, MD Associate Clinical Professor of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston and Dorothy Caputo, MA, BSN, RN, Nurse Planner
International Journal of Eating DisordersSource Reference: Klump KL, et al "Genetic and environmental influences on thin-ideal internalization" Int J Eat Disord 2012; DOI: 10.1002/eat.22056. | <urn:uuid:09b782fd-0ba1-4997-9691-755da8953ed8> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.medpagetoday.com/Genetics/GeneralGenetics/35099 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391634.7/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00188-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965379 | 819 | 2.703125 | 3 |
The Nobel Prize in Physics 2011 honored revolutionary, completely unexpected observations of the inflation of our universe. The Award was divided: One half was awarded to Saul Perlmutter and the other half jointly to Brian Schmidt and Adam Riess "for the discovery of the accelerating expansion of the Universe through observations of distant supernovae."
The expansion of our universe was already noticed by astronomer Hubble long time ago in 1929, forcing Einstein to revise his famous equations about space, time and masses. So what made these new observations so special for the Scandinavian Award Committees? It was actually not the discovery that something inflates the universe, but that it expands with an increasing speed.
The scientists' approach to evaluate this expansion was very smart; the science teams observed special types of so-called Ia supernovae - explosions of aged stars that are as heavy as our sun, but with a size of Earth. They did a great job to discover more than 50 distant supernovae and to register that their light intensity was surprisingly lower than expected (so called redshift), drawing thereof the conclusion that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. Einstein's formulas have been already revised a second time to cope with this new situation.
Two exciting, yet unsolved questions came up: What type of super force or super energy could be capable of pushing entire galaxies away from each other, revolting against the strong and far reaching gravitational forces of huge galactic mass clusters; and what stabilizes these galaxies on top in a way that the outer stars move much faster on stable orbits than Newton's and Einstein's formulas allow?
Some years ago, scientists introduced the term "dark energy" to describe the accelerating expansion and the term "dark matter" to grasp the phenomenon of stable galaxies despite very fast moving remote stars. Dark energy and dark matter add up to astonishing 96% of total energies of our universe, in case the new pictures are balanced against the earlier views of theoretical physicists and subsequent historical discoveries of astrophysicists.
This brings us right back to Einstein's imaginations of space and time, one hundred years ago: Is it possible to enrich his formulations of space, time and masses for the third time to cover the new discoveries as well? Might this revision navigate science finally towards a first solution to combine Heisenberg's and Planck's quantum physics with Einstein's space-time continuum?
The answer seems to be yes, because there is still one peculiarity in Einstein's formulations that has not yet been used in the reflections about an accelerating expansion of the Universe, extensively: Einstein's equating of length and time. Einstein introduced time as an equal fourth dimension to the three space dimensions length, width and height.
Let us now theoretically suppose there are two or more universes overlapping in a simple way that one spatial dimension coincides with Einstein's time dimension of all others, respectively. The result is as astonishing as it is exciting, because what we get are flat, overlapping 2D-spaces around us, utmost difficult to detect, since they have only two spatial dimensions. We could try to assign such flat spaces around us, for example to electromagnetism, in case electromagnetic waves turn out to be flat - and they are in fact flat, as everybody can prove it simply with horizontally and vertically polarized 3D-glasses for 3D-movies. These glasses use the flat 2D-nature of these waves to filter light and to differentiate between information for the right eye and for the left eye. This example proves that such flat spaces around us in fact exist and that they become visible by electromagnetism, just generating turbulences on these coinciding dimensions.
What would happen if the coincidence of Einstein's time progress axis with one spatial dimension of these flat 2D-spaces around us would get slowly lost? The answer is simple: Space of an observer expands with increasing speed at the expense of remaining time reserves for the future. From this point of view these flat spaces around us turn out to be one possible source of dark energy for the accelerating expansion of the universe. Serial space points in time leap into simultaneous points in space.
This is sort of a leakage from a potential future time span to space expansion towards a lower energy state, as the storage of events in time needs additional energy, just like battery charging.
Finally, we could rotate two overlapping flat space dimensions further against each other, until they oppose each other's time progress and space dimensions. We can do this without conflict to any of Einstein's descriptions only if we introduce Planck's proven quantization scheme for length minima and time minima. Below these Planck units time and length do not anymore appear as such. This way we derive a remarkable dark matter effect, accumulating as halos below undisputed Planck units and structuring together with dark energy NASA's confirmed 96 percent of energy processes throughout the universe. | <urn:uuid:1d45596b-0a94-4ede-8343-61b13f80d445> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/henryk-frystacki-phd/physics-nobel-prize_b_1066823.html?ref=uk-space | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392159.3/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00139-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942031 | 985 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Fingerprints: The Origins of Crime Detection and the Murder Case That Launched Forensic Science (2001)
Perhaps the most startling thing we learn in this terrific book by Colin Beavan is that fingerprint identification was not originally developed in order to figure out who had committed crimes, but to help police figure out who they had actually arrested. Seems that in the 19th Century, criminals would routinely avoid the stiffer penalties for repeat offenders by simply lying about who they were. Their deceptions were only exposed if beat cops, specifically stationed in courtrooms and jailhouses for the purpose, happened to recognize them and expose their real identities. It's details like this, and the fascinating ways in which developing ideas about penology intertwined with modern forensic techniques that really lift this book a cut above most true crime fodder.
In addition, Beavan is able to draw upon a cast of characters--seemingly out of Dickens or Wilkie Collins or even Sherlock Holmes--and a wide array of dramatic situations--bureaucratic infighting, gruesome murders, a tragic case of mistaken identity and false imprisonment, academic fraud and courtroom drama--to keep the story humming along like a good Victorian thriller. At the center of the story is Dr. Henry Faulds, who did more than any other man to develop and proselytize for fingerprinting, but who was cheated out of the glory for this innovation by Francis Galton, a cousin of Darwin, who was born to the manor and felt no compunction about claiming credit for the good work of "lesser" men. And the whole story is framed by a "shocking tragedy at Deptford," a 1905 robbery and double-murder in which the only piece of evidence was a single bloody fingerprint found on a cashbox at the scene.
Colin Beavan, who has previously written for magazines like Esquire and Atlantic Monthly, handles the wide cast of characters deftly and explains the underlying science clearly. There are also numerous helpful illustrations and a pretty good website companion to the book (http://www.fingerprintbook.com/). The book is being marketed as similar to Longitude and The Professor and the Madman, and though that is high company, it's entirely worthy of the comparison.
See also:True Crime
-Book Site : Fingerprintbook.com
-BOOK SITE : Fingerprints (Hyperion)
-ESSAY : Underwater Daredevils : Divers compete to see who can go deepest on just one breath -- and who can survive the yet-more-perilous ascent to air (Colin Beavan, May 1997, Atlantic Monthly)
-ESSAY : Lock Up Your Content (Colin Beavan, Dec 11 2000, Inside.com)
-ESSAY : Smoking Gun's Men in Black (Colin Beavan, Wired)
-PROFILE : First Success : Colin Beavan's Fingerprints : "For me, research was the easy part because you know you're getting results. And so you procrastinate the scary part, which is the actual sitting down and writing the story by convincing yourself that you're being productive by doing more research ... I researched for seven months." (Kelly Nickell, from the May 2001 issue of Writer's Digest)
-PROFILE : Book probes origins of fingerprinting (Robert Lovinger, South Coast Today)
-REVIEW : of Fingerprints (J. Kingston Pierce, January Magazine)
-REVIEW : of Fingerprints (Michael Sims, Book Page)
-REVIEW : of Fingerprints (Robyn Glazer, About.com)
-REVIEW : of Fingerprints (Daniel Stashower, Washington Post)
Copyright 1998-2015 Orrin Judd | <urn:uuid:1ec1ab19-b7f6-4539-b6c3-0ec91a841d75> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://brothersjudd.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/reviews.detail/book_id/521/Fingerprints.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395560.14/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00110-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938406 | 760 | 2.921875 | 3 |
2011 was a rough year, with all kinds of challenges, both political and economic (not to mention natural-disaster related). So it comes as no surprise that climate change is having some unpredicted effects, one of which is a dearth of mistletoe for holiday partygoers to kiss underneath.
Due to extremely dry weather this year in Texas, where most of the country's mistletoe comes from, it's pretty much not available at all. According to the New York Times, about 70 percent of the harvest was "compromised" this year. And what is out there is so low-quality that many people are turning to plastic versions, which, when hung up in a doorway or other spot passersby can't miss, can be hard to distinguish from the real thing.
What do droughts in Texas have to do with climate change?
Temperature and precipitation extremes are all a part of global warming. As the Earth's climate systems work overtime to control warming, that in turn creates floods in some places, droughts in others, and unseasonable weather of all sorts everywhere.
As those of us in the Northeast "enjoy" a practically balmy Christmas Eve and an only slightly less tropical Christmas Day — definitely sans snow — and now without mistletoe too, we can only blame ourselves. And expect years to come to include more devastating tropical storms, floods, droughts and weird weather conditions that affect more than just a plant that we'd like to see once a year. | <urn:uuid:0333935f-a072-4c4e-969b-92c40029637d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mnn.com/your-home/organic-farming-gardening/blogs/global-warming-means-fewer-kisses-this-season | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397428.37/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00096-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95787 | 310 | 3.09375 | 3 |
Sports play a powerful part in molding the character of the nation -- especially the character of millions of our nation's youth who participate in organized sports programs. The following guidelines can help make youth sports programs (K-12) positive character-building endeavors. They are intended for coaches, as well as other stakeholders in a sports program -- administrators, teachers, parents, game officials, players, students, boosters, and fans:
Create and implement a guiding sports philosophy that promotes core, ethical values. A sports program that seeks to build character in youth needs a shared philosophy that guides all aspects of athletics. This overarching philosophy should define a set of core ethical values such as respect, responsibility, caring, compassion, honesty, cooperation, fair play, and perseverance. Sports-program leaders should communicate to all stakeholders the importance of the philosophy and the idea that character development is pursued for its own intrinsic value.
A sports contract is one way to help players and others live the shared philosophy. At the beginning of the season, players read and sign a contract -- often in the presence of their parents and coaches -- pledging to uphold the sports program's core values and to abide by its behavioral rules. All players are then held accountable for following the terms of their contract.
Define the program's values behaviorally. For players to adopt and exhibit core ethical values, parents, players, and coaches need to spend ample time discussing specific behaviors -- both acceptable and unacceptable. For example, so-called trash talking is a disrespectful behavior that players can see, hear, and understand. Implementing a rule that requires players to help an opponent up after a hard hit drives home values like compassion and caring.
Balance the drive to win with the program's core values. There is nothing wrong with playing to win -- virtually no one plays to lose. But winning can just as certainly become a character-defeating concept when competitive attitudes, behaviors, and strategies begin to undermine basic values. Even at the secondary school level, where the emphasis on winning is often greater, coaches can cultivate an environment in which all players feel involved, valued, challenged, and safe. This is why it is critical for programs to choose and develop coaches who recognize that winning is only one part of a larger education process.
Design a proactive game plan for building character. Coaches should have a game plan for character education, just as they do when they teach athletic skills. Warm-up and cool-down meetings provide excellent opportunities to set specific goals with the team -- such as stronger teamwork or greater self-discipline -- and explore examples of the program's values in action. For real learning to occur, incidents of values being followed or not upheld need to be addressed explicitly.
Create a positive learning environment. Healthy, meaningful relationships are often cited as the primary factor contributing to students' positive athletic experiences. Coaches and parents must strive to cultivate relationships based on respect and caring. Adults who consistently exemplify these values help students form trusting, respectful, and caring relationships. Coaches should make every effort to get to know each player on their team as an individual. Understanding what each boy or girl enjoys about the sport, what motivates them to excel and learn new skills, and what teaching style each young athlete best responds to will help coaches develop the self-confidence of all players.
Promote positive role modeling. Coaches are often the first significant adult role models beyond a player's parents and teachers; this factor makes their influence particularly important. Coaches are particularly important in developing the value of self-respect in players by encouraging proper nutrition and training techniques and care for one's physical and emotional well-being. Student athletes are equally important as role models, especially at the secondary school level. Programs that actively promote character education will help these young athletes understand the power of their example and the positive impact they can have on and off the playing field.
Respect individual and developmental differences. Research in developmental psychology suggests that children move through various stages of social and psychological development, with each stage influencing when and how the students understand concepts such as teamwork and responsibility. For example, a young child's understanding of how a team works tends to be egocentric in nature, explaining why younger children play "beehive" soccer (swarming around the ball). As children mature, they better understand collaboration and teamwork.
Develop communitywide support for character-based sports. A youth sports program that promotes character will be far more effective if it enjoys broad-based support and forms partnerships with other community groups, such as store owners, police, libraries, community leaders, town officials, and so forth. Information about a sports program's philosophy and core values can be shared through preseason handouts, newsletters, articles in local newspapers, team brochures, and community meetings.
Link sports to other areas of an athlete's life. A sports program that consistently promotes character links lessons learned on the playing fields to other areas of the young person's life. For example, self-discipline and perseverance are necessary for achieving academic success and reaching personal goals. And respect for others is key to getting along with classmates and succeeding in a career. By applying the core values to home, school, and the larger community, athletes learn to live with integrity.
This approach is critically important within the larger school community. Due to the star status of professional athletes and the emphasis on sports in many secondary schools, young athletes are often encouraged to think of themselves as more important than those who do not play sports. They must understand that their athletic status does not give them special rights or privileges, nor make them in any way better than their peers who are not athletically inclined. Coaches, teachers, and parents must help young athletes understand that it is a privilege to play and that they have an obligation to uphold their program's values on and off the field.
Evaluate the program's effectiveness. Coaches, school administrators, and student athletes need to evaluate their efforts and use the results in their program planning. For example, coaches can help players establish team and individual goals that reflect their program's philosophy and core values. A team can monitor the number of put-downs heard during practice or a game, and individual players can reflect on their progress in assisting younger or less-skilled players. Whatever goals are established should be attainable and measurable.
The American Sports Institute's programs and workshops incorporate the positive aspects of sport culture into the academic setting to improve attitudes and skills in concentration, self-discipline, and personal leadership and responsibility.
The Character Education Partnership is a nonpartisan coalition of organizations and individuals dedicated to the development of character-education programs in our nation's schools. Visit the CEP site for its excellent resources on character education, including the full article "Guidelines for Effective Character Education Through Sports," by Jeffrey P. Beedy and Russell W. Gough, from which this article is excerpted.
The Citizenship Through Sports Alliance, an organization of ten member groups, including the National Federation of State High Schools, the National Junior College Athletic Association, the National Collegiate Athletic Association, and the United States Olympic Committee, is a joint effort by the school-college community and professional sports organizations to promote the values of citizenship that are realized through sportsmanship and ethical play in athletics.
Sports Plus is a nonprofit organization dedicated to promoting athletics as a positive educational medium. The organization develops research-based programs that foster character and moral growth of children and youth through sports.
This article is an edited excerpt from "Guidelines for Effective Character Education Through Sports," by Jeffrey P. Beedy and Russell W. Gough, and is used with permission. © 2000, the Character Education Partnership, Washington, DC. For the complete article visit their Web site. | <urn:uuid:8ea43375-391e-4e43-9e15-c3a7b39b57f6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.edutopia.org/take-action-what-coaches-can-do?page=2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397567.28/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00114-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958933 | 1,569 | 3.875 | 4 |
Aboard the Noble Bully 1, Gulf of Mexico—The Noble Bully 1, a new kind of drill ship developed by Royal Dutch Shellto help extract oil in once inaccessible regions of the deepest oceans, doesn’t look anything like a conventional vessel of its kind. Equipped with a new generation of digital technologies, the ship—a 30,270 gross ton behemoth that is the length of two football fields—is able to guide a 21.5 inch wide drill bit thousands of feet below the surface to the center of a target that is only about four by four feet in size.
The new design helps Shell drill wells faster, more safely and at lower cost than ever before—part of a revolution in industrial technology that has been an important factor in the increased energy production—and independence—of the U.S. and North America.
Innovations in IT, including powerful new data imaging and predictive analytics, are making it possible for companies such as Shell BPand Chevron to map and exploit previously uncharted oil and gas fields locked in shale and “tight” rock formations, or buried far below the ocean floor and obscured by thick layers of salt.
“Since I started out, the water has gotten deeper, the wells have gotten deeper and the technology has gotten much more challenging,” says David Loeb, Shell’s deepwater operations manager in the Gulf of Mexico, who joined the company in 1975.
Seven to eight feet narrower, and 160 to 260 feet shorter than conventional such vessels, the Noble Bully 1 can operate in depths of 150 feet to 8,250 of water—and as deep as 12,000 feet with some safety upgrades. It can drill as much as 40,000 feet below the floor of the sea.
The Bully’s great distinguishing feature, however is its fully enclosed white tower—which replaces the typical open-derrick style towers that have characterized oil rigs for generations and look something like smaller versions of the Eiffel Tower. The enclosed tower encompasses two hoists—one for active drilling, and the other to assemble the 40-foot pipes that are linked together to create drill pipes that extend from the ship into the earth, miles below.
Although smaller, Shell says the Bully has as much thrusting power and storage capacity as conventional ships.
Technology on the Bully, which includes built-in GPS, wind sensors, motion sensors and compasses, a hydraulic system, and computer-controlled thruster propellers on the bottom of the vessel, allows Shell to drill wells with new precision.
Mr. Loeb helped conceive and now manages the Noble Bully drill ship that was developed by Shell and Frontier Drilling, now owned by Noble Corp. It is drilling wells for Shell in the Mississippi Canyons section of the Gulf about 120 miles south of New Orleans. It’s an important place in the history of deepwater drilling—Shell made the first deepwater discovery, called Cognac, there in 1975. And in 2010, the canyons were the site of the historic Deepwater Horizon spill. The Horizon, drilling about 40 miles south of the Louisiana shore, at the Macondo field, sank and caused catastrophic damage. A second ship using the same design, the Noble Bully 2, operates off the coast of Brazil.
The Noble Bully 1 is drilling wells for a new platform, to be called Olympus, which will provide the infrastructure for two deepwater developments, West Boreas and South Deimos. The Olympus will be a tension leg platform—meaning that it will float in the sea like a cork, tethered to the ocean floor with cables.
The project, known as the Mars B development, has made use of new technology from start to finish. The area was explored in 2007 by an exploration vessel using a new kind of seismic technology called Ocean Bottom Sensing, which replaced older, fixed cables outfitted with underwater listening devices with lighter, movable lines closer to the floor of the Gulf. The technology is now used by other companies as well, according to Shell. The new sensors can pick up more data—echoes of sonic blasts sent out by an exploration ship—than older generations. The data are then analyzed using artificial intelligence developed by Shell, and rendered in 3D and 4D maps of the oil reservoirs, using computer chips similar to those found in advanced video games. The analysis of the data is handled by Shell scientists working onshore, and the finished visualizations are available to the crew of the drill ship.
The ship has unmanned submarines equipped with robotic arms and high-definition video cameras; they can be shot off the ship and guided to the drilling operation on the ocean floor, if needed.
The highly automated drill ship uses 160 workers–40% fewer drill contractor workers than required on other drill ships—which lowers operating costs and improves safety by removing people from around the ship’s drilling area. The smaller ship also contains less steel and uses less fuel than more conventional designs and operates with a goal of zero toxic emissions. Shell says it has never had a major spill in 30-plus years of deepwater drilling, but safety is an almost constant topic of conversation aboard the Bully, where anyone—even visitors—have the authority to stop work if they think something isn’t right, a ship’s officer said during an orientation session aboard the vessel.
In an increasingly automated work environment, chief drillers on the Noble Bully sit in “drill chairs” and manipulate the speed and direction of the drill pipes using joy sticks and computer screens. “Today, it is a whole lot safer,” said Timothy Craft, a 12-year Noble veteran who has worked his way up from roustabout to roughneck to assistant driller and is now training for a job as a chief driller. “You don’t have to worry about employees being in harm’s way, you don’t have to put your hands on as much. It is really great,” he said during an interview onboard the Bully.
But the company is just scratching the surface of automation, according to Jonathan Crane, vice president of wells technology deployment at Shell. He says that the judgment of veteran drillers—such as Loeb—is as much art as science. “Some of these guys are legendary, because of their intuition about how to move the drill,” he says. His group is in the midst of interviewing some of those legendary drillers, so that their experience and judgment can be captured in algorithms that automate the drilling process. Early experiments show that some of these algorithms are capable of matching or exceeding the performance of the average human driller, he said.
Shell says the Bully can create the top section of a well in seven to nine days, instead of 20, the time required by conventional ultra-deepwater drill ships.
The exploration and drilling technology at work in Mars has extended the projected life of the field. Shell has already recovered more than 700 million barrels of oil, surpassing its original projection in 1989 that it would recover 680 million barrels. It expects to recover an additional 1 billion from the field.
While Shell has been a leader in offshore technology—it made the first deepwater oil discovery in 1975 and today, it is the only company engaged in offshore drilling in the Arctic—it is hardly alone.
Chevron is investing heavily in imaging technologies that allow it to create maps of energy deposits tens of thousands of feet below the surface of the ocean floor. “In this business…whoever images the best wins, because if you see it first, you’re going to get the lease, and if you see it better, you’re going to do a better job of managing the field,” says Mark Koelmel, general manager of the earth sciences department at Chevron.
BP announced in December that it is building the world’s largest commercial research supercomputer at its facilities in Houston. Technology has also dramatically extended the life of the largest oil field in North America, Prudhoe Bay on the North Slope of Alaska. BP originally expected to recover about 10 billion barrels of oil, or 40% of the field’s capacity, Bruce Williams, BP’s Alaska operations manager said. Now the company expects to recover 60%, or 15 billion barrels. “I view technology as a way to extend the life of the facility in the safest manner possible,” he said. BP operates Prudhoe Bay on behalf of its other working-interest owners ConocoPhillips and ExxonMobil Conoco and ExxonMobile declined to comment.
Not so long ago, the end of the fossil fuel era seemed to be in sight. But now, says Roger Anderson, a computer imaging pioneer at the Center for Computational Learning Systems and adjunct professor at Columbia University’s Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, technology is enabling a more gradual shift to renewable resources over the next 30 or 40 years. The position of Western energy companies during the next few decades may be stronger than expected just a few years ago, too. | <urn:uuid:c3440177-4b94-4c6a-b67f-db92fb295a22> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blogs.wsj.com/cio/2013/01/02/big-oils-big-data-push-changing-the-future-of-energy/?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00074-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.95407 | 1,873 | 2.78125 | 3 |
When you hear the expression “It’s raining cats and dogs,” you don’t run to the window expecting to see animals falling from the sky! It’s just a figure of speech—common to our modern English language.
We use figurative speech all the time to help emphasize a point we’re trying to get across. We’d recognize a touch of exaggeration in a statement like “She’s been gone forever,” and interpret it without hesitation.
Being a student of the Bible is essential for the follower of Christ. But even the most knowledgeable scholar occasionally comes across a difficult passage.
What would it be like to have Jesus as a guest in your home? Would He stay for dinner, maybe a cup of coffee?
Luke chapter 15 is a rich biblical passage, a record of Jesus’ profound stories, and timeless lessons on life.
As followers of Christ, we’re not under the law, but under grace. So do the commandments in the Old Testament have any relevance for us today?
Salvation through Jesus isn’t limited to modern believers, it’s for all people in all generations! Let's help bridge the gap between the Old and New Testaments by looking at God’s plan of salvation throughout the entire Bible. | <urn:uuid:b55e2e3d-b4d9-485d-b2d5-ba289299e649> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://discovertheword.org/tag/new-testament/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398516.82/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93164 | 275 | 2.515625 | 3 |
Humphrey (1391-1447) (DNB00)
HUMPHREY, Duke of Gloucester, called the Good Duke Humphrey (1391–1447), youngest son of Henry, earl of Derby, afterwards Henry IV, by his first wife, Mary Bohun (d. 1394), was born in 1391, probably in January or February, during his father's absence in Prussia. He remained in England with his brothers during his father's exile. He was made a knight on 11 Oct. 1399, the day before his father's coronation. In 1400 he became a knight of the Garter. In 1403 he is said by Waurin (Chron. 1399-1422, p. 61) to have been present at the battle of Shrewsbury. He received a careful education, Bale says, at Balliol College, Oxford (Script. Brit. Cat. p. 583, ed. 1557), and became at a very early age a great collector and reader of books and a bountiful patron of learned men. His presents of books to Oxford began about 1411, when Richard Courtenay [q.v.], the chancellor, was enlarging and organising the university library. He was extremely dissolute, and soon after he was thirty had undermined his constitution by his excesses (Kymer's report in Hearne, Liber Niger Scacc. ii. 550-9). His first public appointment was on 7 May 1413, soon after his brother Henry V's accession, when he was made great chamberlain of England (Doyle, Official Baronage, ii. 22). On 16 May 1414 he was created Duke of Gloucester and Earl of Pembroke at the parliament at Leicester.
Gloucester became one of his brother's council, and was present at the meeting of 16 April 1415 which resolved on war with France (Ord. P. C. ii. 156). He attended Henry V to Southampton, and was one of the court which tried and condemned Cambridge and Scrope for treason. He then embarked for France, where he took part in the whole campaign, commanding one of the three divisions into which the English army was divided, and actively co-operating at the siege of Harfleur (T. Livius Foro-Juliensis, Vita Hen. V, p. 9). At Agincourt (25 Oct.) Gloucester, while struggling against Alençon and his followers, was wounded and thrown senseless to the ground. He was rescued by Henry V (ib. p. 20; Redman, p. 47; Elmham, p. 121, both in Cole, Memorials of Hen. V; Wright, Political Songs, ii. 125; Nicolas, Battle of Agincourt), and was conveyed to Calais, where he soon recovered (Giles, Chron. p. 51). His services were rewarded by a long series of grants. He became lord of the march of Llanstephan, near Carmarthen (Cal. Rot. Pat. p. 265). He afterwards received other lands and offices in Wales. He was made, on 27 Nov. 1415, warden of the Cinque ports and constable of Dover Castle, and on 28 Dec. of the same year lord of the Isle of Wight and Carisbrooke. On 27 Jan. 1416 he was appointed warden and chief justice in eyre of the royal forests, parks, and warrens south of the Trent (Doyle, ii. 22).
On 30 April 1416 Gloucester received the Emperor Sigismund at Dover (Elmham, p. 133), and, if a late authority can be trusted (Holinshed, iii. 85), rode into the water with naked sword in hand and obtained from the emperor a promise that he would exercise or claim no jurisdiction in England. In September the emperor's zeal for peace caused the assembling of a conference at Calais. John of Burgundy would only be present if Humphrey were handed over as a hostage for his safety. On 4 Oct. Gloucester rode into the water to meet Burgundy at Gravelines and surrendered himself as a hostage (Gesta Hen. V, p. 100, Engl. Hist. Soc.; Fœdera, ix. 390 sq.) He was royally entertained by Philip of Charolais at Saint-Omer, and was surrendered on 13 Oct. after Burgundy's return. He then accompanied Sigismund on his coasting voyage from Calais to Dordrecht, where he was dismissed with presents (Walsingham, Ypodigma Neustriæ, p. 471; Capgrave, Chron. p. 315 ; cf. Aschbach, Kaiser Sigmund).
Gloucester took part in Henry V's second French expedition in 1417. He took Lisieux without difficulty (Redman, p. 51). On 19 Sept. he was commissioned to treat for the surrender of Bayeux (Fœdera, ix. 493). After Easter 1418 he overran the Cotentin, finding serious resistance at Cherbourg, which only surrendered on 1 Oct. after a long siege (T. Livius Foro-Juliensis, pp. 51-6 : Gregory, Chronicle, p. 121). He then joined Henry V at the siege of Rouen, where he took up quarters with the king at the Porte Saint-Hilaire (Paston Letters, i. 10; Collections of London Citizen, Camd. Soc., pp. 11, 16, 23, 25). In January 1419 he was made governor of the captured capital of Normandy (Monstrelet, iii. 308). In April 1419 he had license to treat for a marriage between himself and Blanche of Sicily, daughter of Charles, king of Navarre (Fœdera, ix. 493). Nothing further came of this. He was present at the first interview of Henry V and the French court at Meulan, and on 1 June was a commissioner to treat for peace and for Henry's marriage (Fœdera, ix. 761). lieutenant of England (Fœdera, ix. 830). In February 1421 his commission was concluded by the king's return. In the summer of 1421 Gloucester again accompanied Henry V to France. He afterwards returned to England, and replaced Bedford as regent when the latter accompanied Queen Catherine to Paris in May 1422.
Gloucester was still in England when Henry V died on 31 Aug. 1422, leaving an infant heir. On his deathbed Henry warned Gloucester not to selfishly prefer his personal interests to those of the nation (Waurin, Chron. 1399-1422,p. 423). The dying king appointed him deputy for Bedford during the latter's presence in France. Humphrey at once entered into this position. On 28 Sept. he received the seals from the chancellor in the name of his little nephew, Henry VI. But the council exercised the executive power, and he did not venture to gainsay their acts. In the end the question of the regency was referred to parliament, which Gloucester opened on 9 Nov. (Fœdera, x. 257). He claimed the regency, both on grounds of kinship and the will of Henry V. Parliament rejected his pretensions. At last royal letters patent, confirmed by act of parliament, provided that Gloucester, during his brother's presence in England, was only to act as principal counsellor after him, but that when Bedford was absent Gloucester was to be himself protector and defender of the kingdom and church, and chief counsellor to the king. As Bedford was likely to be fully occupied in France, Gloucester at once became protector, with a salary of eight thousand marks a year. The real power, however, remained with the council, of which Gloucester was little more than the chairman, with some small rights of dispensing the minor patronage of the crown. The new council only took office on five stringent conditions which severely limited his power.
Gloucester's first acts fully justified the caution of Henry V and the council. Before June 1421 Jacqueline of Bavaria fled to the English court, where she was given a pension and allowed to act as godmother to Henry VI. Born on 25 July 1401, she was the only daughter of William IV, count of Hainault, Holland, and Zealand, and lord of Friesland, and of Margaret of Burgundy, sister of John the Fearless. Her first husband, who soon died, was the dauphin John, Charles VII's elder brother. On her father's death in 1417 she had succeeded to the sovereignty of his three counties. In 1418 she had married her second husband, John IV, duke of Brabant, her own cousin, and cousin of Philip of Burgundy. But her father's brother, John the Pitiless, at one time bishop of Liège, wrested Holland and Zealand from her by a treaty with her weak husband, 21 April 1420. The Spanish antipope, Benedict XIII, annulled her marriage with Brabant soon after her arrival in England, and, probably in the autumn of 1422, Gloucester married her (by October 1422, Particularités Curieuses, p. 58; before 7 March 1423, Stevenson, i. 211, pref.; Saint-Remy, ii. 82; Æneas Sylvius, Commentarii, pp. 412-15, ed. Rome, 1584). Lydgatewrotea ballad to celebrate the event. On 20 Oct. 1423 she was denizened (Fœdera, x. 311). Gloucester spent Christmas at St. Albans with his wife (cf. Amundesham, i. 7). On 7 Jan. 1424 both were admitted to the fraternity of the abbey, which was afterwards his favourite place of devotion (ib. i. 66).
Gloucester had dealt a death-blow to English interests abroad by a marriage which directly put him in competition with Philip of Burgundy for the mastery of the Netherlands. The French rejoiced at the prospects of the overthrow of the Anglo-Burgundian alliance. Letters of Gloucester and others were forged (probably at the instigation of the new constable, Arthur of Richmond; but cf. Cosneau, Le Connétable de Richemont, pp.501-3) to make Philip believe that Bedford was in secret league with his brother and was plotting his assassination (Beaucourt, Hist. de Charles VII, ii. 658-60; Desplanque, Mémoires de l'Académie de Bruxelles, tome 32, 1867, publishes the forgeries from the Lille archives and maintains the reality of the plot). But Bedford, though requesting the pope to legitimatise his brother's marriage (Stevenson, ii. 388), really strained every effort to check Humphrey's ambition. He joined at once with Burgundy in offering to mediate between Gloucester and Brabant. On 15 Feb.' 1424 Gloucester accepted the offer, provided that the case were settled by March. It was not till June that the arbiters referred the question to Pope Martin V, whom Gloucester had already requested to pronounce against the validity of Jacqueline's marriage to Brabant (ib. ii. 392-3, 401-4). But Gloucester now collected five thousand soldiers and crossed over to Calais on 16 Oct., accompanied by Jacqueline, bent on conquering Hainault (ib. ii. 397; cf. Beckington Correspondence, i. 281). He delayed a few days at Calais, whence he wrote on 27 Oct. an intemperate letter to the pope against a papal collector (ib. i. 279-80). He marched peaceably through the Burgundian territories, and, reaching Hainault, found no open resistance. On 4 Dec. the estates of Hainault recognised him as count, and next day he took the oaths and entered formally on that office. The faction of the Hoeks in Holland also rose in arms to support his claims (Beaucourt, ii. 18, 362-8; Particularités Curieuses sur Jacqueline de Bavière, No. 7 des publications de la Société des Bibliophiles de Mons, 1838; F. von Löher, Jakobäa von Bayern und ihre Zeit, 1869; Löher, Beiträge zur Geschichte der Jacobäa von Bayern in Abhandlungen der historischen Classe der bayerischen Academic der Wissenschaften, x. 1-112 and 205-336).
Philip of Burgundy concluded a truce with France and hurried to the delivery of Brabant. After a hot correspondence (printed with some variations of text in Monstrelet, ii. 213-25; Waurin; and Saint-Remy, ii. 95-105) he challenged Gloucester to a duel, and Humphrey accepted the proposal. But his enthusiasm for Jacqueline and her cause was over. He had found a new mistress in one of the ladies who had accompanied her from England. This was Eleanor Cobham, daughter of Lord Cobham of Sterborough, a handsome, greedy, sensual woman of doubtful antecedents. Taking an affectionate farewell of Jacqueline, Gloucester went back to England with Eleanor on pretence of preparing for his duel with Philip, but that Bedford and the pope forbade (Monstrelet, iv. 231; Waurin, 1422-31, i. 176; Stevenson, ii. 412-14). Burgundy overran Hainault and captured Jacqueline in June 1425. He had already occupied Holland and Zealand as the heir of the ex-bishop of Liege, who had died in January. In September Jacqueline escaped to Holland and made herself mistress of most of the country. Gloucester, though unwilling or unable to go in person, sent five hundred troops under Lord Fitzwalter to her help (Waurin, p.200). But in January 1426 she was beaten by Philip at Brouwershaven, and Gloucester grew more indifferent as her prospects darkened.
During Gloucester's absence abroad the council had governed and Beaufort had become chancellor. He came back in April 1425 embittered by failure, broken in health, and crippled by debt. He was present at the parliament which met on 30 April, and was forbidden to continue further his quarrel with Burgundy. He was treated with great forbearance and allowed to borrow large sums of money. The council, however, strongly rebuked him, although it gave him the lucrative wardship of the Mortimer estates of the Duke of York, who was a minor. A personal quarrel between Gloucester and Beaufort followed. A riot between their supporters took place in London on 30 Oct. The council implored Bedford to return to heal the feud, and on 10 Jan. 1426 he arrived in London [see Beaufort, Henry, bishop of Winchester, d. 1447]. It was the first time that Gloucester had seen him since Henry Vs death. Gloucester signed a bond of unity, in which he agreed to form no alliance without his brother's consent (Beckington Correspondence, i. 139-45), but efforts to reconcile his feud with Beaufort at first failed. On 18 Feb. parliament, however, met at Leicester, and the peers arbitrated between nephew and uncle. Beaufort denied a series of wild charges brought against him by Gloucester, and on 12 March Gloucester accepted his disavowal and took him by the hand. But Beaufort resigned the chancellorship.
Bedford remained in England and acted as protector. 'Let my brother govern as he list whilst he is in this land,' Gloucester said to his friends, 'for after his going over into France I will govern as me seemeth good.' He also boasted that 'if he had done anything that touched the king in his sovereign state he would not answer for it to any person alive, save only to the king when he came of age' (Ord. P. C. iii. 241). Before Bedford's departure Gloucester, who was seriously ill at his house, was visited by the council, and swore that he would obey its commands. Bedford left England in March 1427, accompanied by Beaufort. Gloucester, on recovering from his illness, made offerings at St. Albans, whence he proceeded to Norwich to try some malefactors (Amundesham, i. 13). He returned to London in June.
Again protector, Gloucester returned to his old courses. He earned a stern reproof from Bedford for intriguing with his French council. During the spring of 1427 Jacqueline was in great distress, and kept sending piteous appeals for help to him and the council (Löher, Beiträge, prints them (pp.219 sq.) from the Lille Archives). Gloucester became anxious to assist her. He broke his promise to his brother, and in July persuaded the council to grant him five thousand marks with which to aid Jacqueline in Holland (Fœdera, x. 374). But the council insisted that no aggressions should be made without the consent of parliament. In January 1428 the pope annulled the marriage of Humphrey and Jacqueline.
In January 1428 the parliament, which had already assembled in the autumn before, held a second session. On 3 March Gloucester requested the lords to define his powers as protector. They answered that his powers were strictly limited by the act of his appointment, and that the title protector imported a personal duty of intendance to the actual defence of the land' (Rot. Parl. iv. 326). They now imposed a further check on his independence by directing Richard Beauchamp [q.v.], earl of Warwick, to act as the little king's preceptor in accordance with Henry V's intentions. Even his personal popularity was diminished. In 1428 a number of London housewives, 'of good reckoning and well apparrelled,' appeared before the lords, and protested against the shame of his abandoning his wife to her distress, while consoling himself with a harlot like Eleanor Cobham (Amundesham, i. 20; Stow, Annals, p.369). Proposals were made that he should submit his claims to Hainault to Bedford and Beaufort's arbitration (Stevenson, ii. 417-18). But in the same year Jacqueline gave up her heroic struggle. By the treaty of Delft in July she submitted to Philip; recognised him as her heir, and as co-regent of her territories; promised never to marry without his consent, and declared that she had never been lawfully married to Gloucester. Humphrey quietly acquiesced in her renunciation. Before 1431 (perhaps even in 1428, Beiträge, p.276) he married his mistress, Eleanor Cobham, who was generally styled the 'lady of Gloucester.' In 1433 Jacqueline married the leader of the Cabeljaus, Frans van Borsselen. On her death in 1436 Philip of Burgundy became lord of all the Netherlands. Gloucester had thus facilitated the extension of Philip's power, while hopelessly alienating him from England.
The mistakes of his enemies alone gave Gloucester a further lease of power. So early as 1424 he had posed as the champion of English liberties against the exactions of a papal collector (Beckington Correspondence,, i. 279). On 1 Sept. 1428 Gloucester, in the king's name, declined to recognise Cardinal Beaufort, who had just returned to England as papal legate. The request of the pope for a clerical tenth to carry on the Hussite crusade still further strengthened Gloucester's hands. In April 1429 he demanded whether his uncle, being a cardinal, ought to be allowed to act as prelate of the Garter on St. George's day, and the council begged Beaufort not to act, though they refused to settle the point.
The council was tired of Gloucester's protectorate, and procured the coronation of Henry VI on 6 Nov. 1429. Parliament then declared the protectorate at an end. On 15 Nov. Gloucester resigned his position, keeping only the title of chief councillor. Gloucester failed in an attempt to exclude Beaufort from the council. But when Beaufort accompanied Henry VI on his journey to be crowned in France, Gloucester was appointed lieutenant and warden of the kingdom (21 April 1430). During the next two years, in the king's absence, he retained this position, though finding much opposition from a powerful faction in the council, headed by Beaufort's friend, Archbishop Kemp [q.v.] In 1431 he took an active part in the trials of Lollard priests.
On 6 Nov. 1431 he urged Beaufort's removal both from the council and the bishopric of Winchester. On 28 Nov. he persuaded the council to draw up letters of attachment against the bishop for infringing the statute of præmunire, though their execution was put off till the king came back. On the same day Beaufort's friends retaliated by vainly attempting to deprive Gloucester, whose greediness was notorious, of his salary (Ord. P. C. iv. 103). He seized Beaufort's plate and jewels, and after Henry's return in February 1432 removed Kemp from the chancellorship and dismissed the other friends of Beaufort from office. Parliament met on 12 May, and Gloucester declared that he was anxious only to act as chief councillor with the advice and assistance of the other lords, but refused Beaufort's request that his. accusers should prefer formal charges against him. The result of the session was to confirm Gloucester in the improved position he had obtained during the king's absence abroad.
In 1433 Burgundy and Bedford were on the verge of quarrelling. In April the council sent Gloucester to join Bedford and Beaufort at Calais to conduct the projected negotiations for peace. He remained abroad from 22 April to 23 May (Fœdera, x. 548, 549; but cf. Plancher, Histoire de Bourgogne, vol. iv. preuves, p. cxxxv). But nothing resulted from Gloucester's efforts, and in the parliament which met in July the financial difficulties of the administration were fully exposed. Bedford had come over to the parliament. Gloucester was forced to renew his former declaration of concord, and even to follow his brother's example and content himself with a reduced salary of 1,000l. But he became more and more jealous of Bedford, and in a great council in April 1434 he came forward with an offer to go to France and carry on the war on a new system. This was indignantly resented by Bedford, and rejected by the council. The young king endeavoured to restore harmony. But Bedford at once withdrew to France, joined in the great conference at Arras, which Gloucester persistently opposed, and died on 14 Sept. 1435. His death made Gloucester next heir to the throne.
The defection of Burgundy had just taken place, and the event stirred up the warlike feeling in England, which Gloucester dexterously used to his own advantage. On 1 Nov. he was appointed in parliament captain of Calais for nine years (Rot. Parl. iv. 483). Calais was besieged before he was ready to go to its assistance, and he had the mortification of seeing it relieved by his enemy, Edmund Beaufort, the cardinal's nephew. After long delays his troops assembled at Sandwich about 22 July 1436 (Fœdera, x. 647). On 27 July he was appointed the king's lieutenant over the new army (ib. x. 651). He crossed to Calais on 28 July at the head of ten thousand men, and accompanied by Warwick and Stafford. On 30 July he was solemnly appointed count of Flanders, Philip having been adjudged to have forfeited the territory by his treason to the lawful king of France (ib. x. 652). After leading a hasty foray through Flanders in the first few days of August (1-16 Aug. Stevenson, ii. xix-xx; 1-12 Aug. Engl. Chron. p. 55; nine days, Wyrcester, p. 761; cf. Waurin, Chroniques, 1431-47, pp. 200-6), Gloucester abruptly returned home. Impotent in court and council, he became more popular with the country now that he posed as the uncompromising champion of the English rights in France. In his bitter but fruitless protest against the release of Orleans in 1440 (Fœdera, x. 764-7; Stevenson, ii. 440-51), he denounced Beaufort and Kemp with much bitterness for sacrificing the interests of the country to their fondness for peace with France, and accused them of personal dishonesty and the meanest treachery. A dignified protest of the council answered his graver charges (Stevenson, ii. 451-60), and on 28 Aug., when Orleans solemnly swore in Westminster Abbey, before the king and lords, to observe the treaty of his release, Gloucester left the church as the mass began (Paston Letters, i. 40). He immediately went to South Wales. He had been nominated chief justice of the district in February 1440, on resigning the chief justiceship of North Wales, which he had held since 1427 (Doyle, ii. 23).
Gloucester's period of power was now at an end. He still attended council, but he was in a minority. He obtained no further public appointments. A grave domestic trouble further complicated his position. Eleanor Cobham had long held dealings with professors of the black arts. Roger Bolingbroke, `that was a great and cunning man in astronomy,' encouraged her to believe that her husband would become king, and he, in conjunction with Thomas Southwell, canon of St. Stephen's, Westminster, exposed a wax doll, modelled like King Henry, to a slow fire, in the belief that, as the wax gradually melted, the health of the king would equally dwindle away. The intrigue was divulged. Bolingbroke and Southwell were arrested, and on Sunday, 23 July 1441, Bolingbroke abjured his black art on a high stage at Paul's Cross during sermon time, and accused the lady of Gloucester of being his instigator to treason and magic. Thoroughly alarmed, Eleanor fled on Tuesday night to the sanctuary at Westminster. The two archbishops, Cardinal Beaufort, and Ayscough, held a court in St. Stephen's Chapel, before which she was called upon to answer charges of `necromancy, witchcraft, heresy, and treason,' and by their judgment she was imprisoned on 11 Aug. at Leeds Castle in Kent. She remained at Leeds until October, when a special commission was appointed, including the earls of Huntingdon, Stafford, and Suffolk, and some of the judges, before whom Bolingbroke and Southwell as principals and Eleanor as an accessory were indicted of treason. On 21 Oct. another commission of bishops met at St. Stephen's Chapel, and Eleanor was brought before them. She admitted some of the articles, but denied others. Finally, after witnesses had been examined, she 'submitted her only to the correction of the bishops.' On 13 Nov. she appeared again to receive the sentence of penance and imprisonment. For three days she perambulated London streets bareheaded and with a burning taper in her hand, which she offered at various churches. She was then committed to the ward of Sir Thomas Stanley, one hundred marks a year being assigned for her maintenance, and was at first imprisoned in Chester Castle (Devon, Issue Rolls of the Exchequer, p. 441; Ellis, Original Letters, 2nd ser. i. 105; but cf. Wyrcester, p. 763). In October 1443 she was transferred to Kenilworth (Fœdera, xi. 45; cf. Devon, pp. 447-8). In July 1446 she was in the Isle of Man (Ord. P. C. vi. 51). She to have been imprisoned in Peel Castle until her death. Bolingbroke was hung and quartered, the witch of Eye, another of Eleanor's allies, was burnt, and Southwell died in the Tower. Humphrey, daring not to intervene, 'took all things patiently and said little' (Grafton, p.588, ed. 1569).
A trace of Gloucester's influence may be found in the petition of the parliament of 1442 that noble ladies should be tried by their peers in the spirit of Magna Carta (Rot. Parl. v. 26). Gloucester, although chiefly occupied with literature, still urged his old policy, and seems to have pressed the Armagnac marriage as a counter-scheme to the plan of Beaufort to marry Henry VI to Margaret of Anjou. But he reconciled himself to the triumph of his enemies, welcomed Margaret on her arrival in England, and even proposed in the House of Lords a vote of thanks to Suffolk for his exertions in concluding the match (ib. v. 73). He made, however, a long oration in the parliament of 1445 urging the violation of the truce (Polydore Vergil, pp. 69-70, Camden Soc.) But Henry VI was now thoroughly prejudiced against him, and Suffolk was a more active and less scrupulous enemy than the aged cardinal. In giving audience to the great French embassy in 1445, the young king publicly rejoiced over Gloucester's discomfiture (Stevenson, i. 111), and Suffolk informed the envoys privately that if Gloucester had the wish to hinder the establishment of peace he no longer had the power (ib. i. 123). Henry gradually grew to fear that Gloucester had some designs against his person. He denied his uncle his presence and strengthened his body-guards (Giles, Chron. p.33; Whethamstead, i. 179). Some efforts were made to call Humphrey to account for his protectorship. Hall believed that he actually was accused, but made a clever defence, and was acquitted (Chronicle, p. 209). Waurin says that he was driven from the council (Chron. 1431-7, p. 353).
Affairs came to a crisis in 1447. Parliament met at Bury on 10 Feb., but Humphrey was not present. The king was carefully guarded. It was reported that Gloucester was in Wales stirring up revolt (Engl. Chron. p.62). But he was really on his way to the parliament, suspecting no evil, and hoping to secure a pardon for Eleanor Cobham (Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, p. 150). He was attended by fourscore horsemen, mostly Welsh. On 18 Feb. he rode by Lavenham to Bury. About half a mile from the town he was met by a royal messenger, who ordered him to go straight to his lodgings. The duke entered the Southgate at about eleven o'clock, and rode through the ill-omened Dead Lane to his lodgings in the North Spital of St. Saviour's on the Thetford Road. After he had dined, the Duke of Buckingham and other lords came to him, one of whom, Lord Beaumont, put him under arrest. In the evening some of his followers were also arrested, and most of the rest during the next few days. The duke was kept in strict custody and fell sick. On Thursday, 23 Feb., at about three in the afternoon, he died. Next day his body was exposed to the lords and knights of the parliament and to the public. The corpse was then enclosed in a leaden coffin and taken with scanty attendance by slow stages to St. Albans, where a `fair vault' had already been made for him during his life. On 4 March he was buried on the south side of the shrine of St. Albans. A 'stately arched monument of freestone, adorned with figures of his royal ancestors,' was erected by Abbot Whethamstead. It is figured in Sandford's `Genealogical History,' p. 318, and Gough's `Sepulchral Monuments,' iii. 142. In 1703 the tomb was opened, and the body discovered 'lying in pickle in a leaden coffin' (Gough, iii. 142).
Gloucester's servants were accused of conspiracy to make their master king, and of raising an armed force to kill Henry at Bury (Fœdera, xi. 178). Five were condemned, one of whom was his illegitimate son Arthur (Gregory, p. 188), but at the last moment they were pardoned by the king's personal act. The suddenness of the duke's death naturally gave rise to suspicions of foul play; but friends of the duke, like Abbot Whethamstead (Reg. i. 179) were convinced that his death was natural. His health, ruined by debauchery, had long been weak. His portraits depict him as a worn and prematurely old man. He had already been threatened with palsy (Hardyng, p. 400), and the sudden arrest and worry might well have brought about a fatal paralytic stroke (Gregory, p. 188; Giles, Chron. pp. 33-4; Fabyan, p. 619). Fox's contem'porary narrative of the parliament at Bury, the best and fullest account of his last days, says no word of foul play (English Chron. ed. Davies, pp. 116-18; cf. however ib. p. 63). Abroad it was believed that he had been strangled (Mathieu D'Escouchy, i. 118; Basin, i. 190), and the Duke of York was regarded as his murderer, but this is improbable. In the next generation still wilder tales were told (Chastelain, Œuvres, vii. 87, 192, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove; cf.Grafton,p.597,ed.1569). But the fact that Suffolk was never formally charged with the murder in the long list of crimes brought up against him when he fell is almost conclusive as to his innocence.
Gloucester left no issue by Jacqueline or Eleanor. Two bastards of his are mentioned: Arthur, already referred to, and Antigone, who married Henry Grey, earl of Tankerville (Sandford, p. 319; Doyle, iii. 511). A portrait of Gloucester from the Oriel College MS. of Capgrave's `Commentary on Genesis' is engraved in Doyle's 'Official Baronage,' ii. 22. Another picture, from a window in old Greenwich church, is engraved in the Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Bodleian, 1697. He is usually described as handsome.
Gloucester was a man of great and restless energy, hot-tempered and impulsive, of gracious and popular manners, eloquent, plausible, and affable. His title of the 'good duke' is due, not to his moral virtues, but to the applause of the men of letters whom he patronised and the popular notion that he was a patriot. Shakespeare's portrait of him hands down the popular tradition, and nearly all the chroniclers, foreign and native, praise him; but the broad facts of his life show him unprincipled, factious, and blindly selfish. Dr. Pauli compares him to John of Gaunt, but the political aspect of his career rather suggests analogies with Thomas of Woodstock.
Though no believer in popular miracles, Gloucester adhered to the orthodox traditions of his family, and was the patron and visitor of monasteries, the friend of churchmen, the hunter of heretics. Lydgate boasted that Humphrey maintained the church with such energy 'that in this land no Lollard dare abide.' He transferred some alien priories in his hands to swell the endowments of Eton (Devon, p. 447), and invented ingenious devices to enable the monks of St. Albans, to whom he granted St. Nicholas priory, Pembroke, to evade the statute of mortmain (Whethamstead i. 92; Dugdale, Monasticon, ii. 201, 243). He was a great collector of ecclesiastical ornaments and jewels, some of which came after his death to Eton (Lyte, pp. 25, 27; Ecclesiologist, xx. 304-15, xxi. 1-4). Though avaricious, he was a liberal giver. He was a real student and lover of literature, and an indefatigable collector of books. His reading was very wide (Beckington Correspondence, i. 290). His chief studies were in the Latin poets and orators, medicine and astronomy, Latin versions of Plato and Aristotle, and Italian poetry, including Dante, Petrarch, and especially Boccaccio. The catalogue of his books presented to Oxford best indicates the range of his tastes (Anstey, Munimenta Academica, pp. 758-72). His only Greek book was a vocabulary.
Humphrey's donations first gave the university of Oxford an important library of its own. So early as 1411 his gifts begin. Acting through his physician, Gilbert Kymer (Munimenta Academica, p. 758), he gave 129 volumes in 1439. The masters thanked him, and ordered his commemoration as one of their greatest benefactors (ib. pp. 326-30). Other gifts followed, until the university in 1444 resolved to move their books from the convocation house on the north side of St. Mary's Church, and build a new library as an upper story of the divinity school, which had been begun in 1426, and towards the building of which Humphrey had already contributed. The masters offered the duke the title of founder (Macray, Annals of the Bodleian Library, p. 7, 2nd edit.), and obtained from him a promise of a contribution of 100l. towards the work, together with all the rest of his books. In 1446 the university elected Kymer chancellor for a second time at Humphrey's recommendation (Wood, Fasti Oxon. p. 51, ed. Gutch). But Gloucester died intestate, and his gift was obtained in 1450 after considerable difficulty (ib. p.8; cf. Lyte, p.322). The central part of the reading-room of the Bodleian Library, now called DukeHumphrey's Library, was finished by the munificence of Thomas Kemp, bishop of London. But the contents were dispersed in the days of Edward VI, and only three volumes of the duke's collection now remain in the Bodleian; others exist at Oriel, St. John's, and Corpus Christi Colleges, and are in the British Museum (ib. p.323; cf. Macray, Annals of the Bodleian Library, pp. 6-13, 2nd edit.; and Ellis, Letters of Eminent Literary Men, pp. 357-8, Camden Soc.) Some are also in the Bibliothèque Nationale at Paris, and a metrical translation of Palladius `de re rustica,' now at Wentworth Woodhouse, contains a curious prologue describing the contents of Humphrey's library (Anthenæum, 17 Nov. 1888, p. 664). Among the learned men whom the duke patronised was Titus Livius of Forli, who left his home to search out some princely protector, and found the warmest welcome from him (Vita Henrici V, pp. 1-2, ed. Hearne). Gloucester made him his poet and orator, procured for him letters of denization in 1437 (Fœdera, x. 661), and encouraged him to write his life of Henry V. Leonard Aretino translated at his request Aristotle's `Politics' into Latin, and proposed to dedicate the work to him. Two manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, one of which was Humphrey's own copy, contain a long and eulogistic dedication to Gloucester. It has been printed in H. W. Chandler's `Catalogue of Editions of Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics in the Fifteenth Century,' pp. 40-4. But Aretino ultimately dedicated his book to Eugenius IV. Leland's account of this transaction (p. 443) is confused and inaccurate. Pietro Candido Decembrio, the friend of Valla, offered him a translation of Plato's 'Republic.' Peter de Monte, the Venetian, dedicated to him his book, `De Virtutum et Vitiorum inter se Differentia' (Cat. MSS. Bibl. Bodl. i. 173; Agostini, Scrittori Veniziani, i. 368). Humphrey also had in his pay, as secretary, Antonio da Beccaria of Verona, whom he employed to translate into Latin six tracts of Athanasius, the manuscript of which is still in the British Museum. Æneas Sylvius celebrated his love for the poets and orators. Nor were English men of letters neglected. He was the friend of John Whethamstead, the scholarly abbot of St. Albans. Bishop Beckington was his chancellor and devoted to his service. He promoted Bishop Pecock, despite his rationalistic tendencies. He was the chief patron of Capgrave,the Austin friar of Lynn, who calls him 'the most lettered prince in the world,' and dedicated to him, among other works, his `Commentary on the Book of Genesis,' the presentation copy of which is still preserved at Oriel College, and resolved to write his life (De Illust. Hen. p. 109). He urged John Lydgate to translate Boccaccio's `Fall of Princes' into English (Lydgate, Prologue), gave him money in response to his poetic appeal (Lydgate, Minor Poems, p. 49, Percy Soc.), and was extravagantly eulogised by him. He patronised William Botoner. Kymer, his physician, was a man of mark. Nicholas Upton revered him as his special lord, and dedicated to him his heraldic book, 'De Militari Officio' (Upton, De Stud. Milit. pp. 2-3, ed. 1654). George Ashley, the poet, was one of his servants (Letters of Margaret of Anjou, p. 114, Camden Soc.) There is something almost Italian about him, both in his literary and in his political career.
A promenade in St. Paul's Cathedral, much frequented by insolvent debtors and beggars in the sixteenth century, was popularly styled `Duke Humphrey's Walk,' from a totally erroneous notion that a monument overlooking it was Duke Humphrey's tomb. 'To dine with Duke Humphrey,' i.e. to loiter about St. Paul's Cathedral dinnerless, or seeking an invitation to dinner, was long a popular proverb (cf. Shakespeare, Richard III, act iv. sc. iv. l. 176).[Stevenson's Wars of the English in France, Whethamstead's Register, Amundesham's Annals, Beckington's Letters, Cole's Memorials of Henry V, Waurin's Chroniques, Anstey's Munimenta Academica, all in Rolls Series; Davies's English Chronicle, Gairdner's Collections of a London Citizen and Three Fifteenth-Century Chronicles, Letters of Margaret of Anjou, all in Camden Soc.; Monstrelet, Jean le Févre, Seigneur de Saint-Remy, T. Bassin, all in Soc. de l'Histoire de France; Williams's Gesta Henrici V (Engl.Hist. Soc.); Rymer's Fœdera; Rolls of Parliament; Nicolas's Proceedings and Ordinances of the Privy Council; Chastellain's Œuvres, ed. Kervyn de Lettenhove; T. Livius Foro-Juliensis's Vita Henrici V, ed. Hearne; Dugdale's Baronage, ii. 198-200; Stubbs's Const. Hist. vol. iii.; Pauli's Geschichte von England, vol. v.; F. von Löher's Jacobäa von Bayern, especially Fünftes Buch, Humfried von England; Dufresne de Beaucourt's Hist. de Charles VII; Leland's Comment.; Tanner's Bibl. Brit. pp. 420-1; Pauli's Pictures of Old England, trans, pp. 373-407 (a good popular account).] | <urn:uuid:e1970d3c-a441-4f50-a23c-56fc47143ca3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Humphrey_(1391-1447)_(DNB00) | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00061-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9761 | 9,467 | 2.765625 | 3 |
Can dehydration cause kidney failure? I am afraid the answer is YES! Dehydration indeed can cause kidney problem which may finally progress to kidney failure.
What is dehydration?
Dehydration refers to an abnormal physical condition and means the body does not have as much fluid and water as it should. With dehydration, we may experience various discomforts like joint pain, dyspeptic pain, constipation, asthma and even allergies and so on.
How does dehydration cause kidney failure?
Dehydration can cause kidney failure. We know kidney is the organ that takes charge of filtering blood. During this process, wastes produced in the body and excess fluid can be discharged out of the body with urine. For one with dehydration, his body can not adequately circulate blood and the wastes that it carries. Consequently, waste products like creatinine and urea nitrogen accumulate in the body. Dehydration can cause kidney failure, but this kind of kidney problem can be treated well if detected and treated in the initial stage.
What are the symptoms of kidney failure due to hydration?
In mild cases, people with dehydration usually experience symptoms like dry mouth, thirst, dizziness and rapid heart rate. If the illness condition is severe enough, he will also experience shortness of breath, confusion and fluid retention in ankles, legs and feet.
For people with kidney failure caused by dehydration, aside from the above symptoms, he also suffers from bubbly urine, poor appetite, nausea, vomiting, insomnia, itching skin, muscle cramp and poor concentration and so on.
Treatment principles for kidney failure due to dehydration
For kidney failure secondary to dehydration, aside from have a tight control about all the symptoms, protect residual kidney function, repair injured kidney intrinsic cells as well as improve kidney function, restoring blood circulation level is also very essential. And your doctors may administer intravenous fluids to the patients to increase blood circulation.
Leave your problem to us,You will surely get the free medical advice from experts within 24 hours! | <urn:uuid:86738c29-cc2c-47df-b88d-fe896487672f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kidneyfailureweb.com/causes-others/767.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954535 | 409 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Deserts Around the World
Dryness, heat, sand as far as the eye can see – there’s no mistaking a desert when you’re in one, and there are loads of deserts all over the world. A desert is a landscape that typically has very little precipitation (rain), high heat, and a distinct lack of plant life – desert plants like cactus adapt to thrive with less water. Check out Deserts Around the World!
The Sahara, located in North Africa, has to be one of the most famous deserts in the world! It is the world’s hottest desert and the third largest desert on the planet. Some of the sand dunes in the Sahara can reach as high as 590 feet tall! The Sahara is 360, 000, 000 square miles and the name comes from the Arabic word for desert.
If you travel to Asia, you may come across the Gobi Desert, which is located in northern and northwestern China and southern Mongolia. The Gobi is well-known historically because it was part of the Mongol Empire and housed some famous cities that were stops on the Silk Road. It is home to animals like camels, and is considered a rain shadow desert – meaning the Himalayan mountains block the clouds that would normally carry rain to the region.
The Kalahari Desert is most definitely a famous desert, but some claim that it doesn’t qualify as a desert at all! It has more plant life covering the ground than many more arid deserts, and also supports more animal life. The Kalahari covers parts of Botswana, Namibia and South Africa. In Afrikaans (a language spoken in South Africa) it also called the “Dorsland,” meaning “thirsty land.”
The Mojave Desert straddles several states: California, Nevada, Utah and Arizona. It is named after the Mohave Tribe. The most famous area in the Mojave Desert is Death Valley, at 282 feet below sea level it is the lowest elevation in North America. There’s another famous place in the Mojave that you may be familiar with – Las Vegas!
The Great Victoria Desert
The Great Victoria Desert is the largest desert in Australia, it covers 134,650 square miles. It is still inhabited by indigenous Australian communities. It was named after Queen Victoria by the first European to cross the desert in 1875, British Explorer Ernest Giles.
Have Your Say
Have you ever been to a desert? Let us know in the comments section. | <urn:uuid:10784a3b-6bb6-4193-a308-311c4c66a9d3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.kidzworld.com/article/28230-deserts-around-the-world | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398869.97/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00150-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.954953 | 521 | 2.734375 | 3 |
|Location||Iran, Islamic Republic of, Khuzestan|
|Central coordinates||48o 25.00' East 31o 45.00' North|
|IBA criteria||A1, A4i, B1i, B2, B3|
|Altitude||30 - 90m|
|Year of IBA assessment||1994|
Site description A 55-km stretch of the Karkheh river and adjacent marshy plains (3,500 ha of wetlands), c.35-90 km north-north-west of Ahwaz. The river flows in a deep channel with steep earth banks. Dense riverine forest of Tamarix and Populus euphraticus, up to several hundred metres wide, lines the river banks. The adjacent plains, largely cultivated with wheat, are dotted with shallow marshy depressions and meandering creeks which flood in winter.
Key Biodiversity See box for key species. The riverine forest supports a typical Mesopotamian bird fauna including large breeding populations of Hypocolius ampelinus and Passer moabiticus. The river and adjacent flood-plain are of some importance for wintering Pelecanus crispus and surface-feeding ducks. Other notable species are Ceryle rudis, Halcyon smyrnensis and Petronia xanthocollis.
Non-bird biodiversity: Mammals: a tiny population of Dama mesopotamica (E) still survived along the Karkheh river until the early 1970s, but apparently became extinct in the mid- or late 1970s, leaving the population along the Dez river to the east as the only one known in the wild. Other species include Gazella subgutturosa (rare).
|Species||Season||Period||Population estimate||Quality of estimate||IBA Criteria||IUCN Category|
|Black Francolin Francolinus francolinus||resident||1977||common||-||B2||Least Concern|
|Marbled Teal Marmaronetta angustirostris||winter||1977||250 individuals||good||A1, A4i, B1i||Vulnerable|
|Dalmatian Pelican Pelecanus crispus||winter||1977||62 individuals||good||A1||Vulnerable|
|Grey Hypocolius Hypocolius ampelinus||breeding||1977||10 breeding pairs||good||B3||Least Concern|
|Dead Sea Sparrow Passer moabiticus||resident||1977||4 breeding pairs||good||B3||Least Concern|
|Protected area||Designation||Area (ha)||Relationship with IBA||Overlap with IBA (ha)|
|Karkheh||Protected Area||13,995||protected area contained by site||9,427|
|Karkheh||Wildlife Refuge||5,026||protected area contained by site||3,600|
|IUCN habitat||Habitat detail||Extent (% of site)|
|Artificial - terrestrial||major|
|Land-use||Extent (% of site)|
|nature conservation and research||87%|
Acknowledgements Data-sheet compiled by Dr D. A. Scott, reviewed by Dept of Environment.
References Firouz et al. (1970), Scott (1976a,b,c, 1980), Summers et al. (1987).
Contribute Please click here to help BirdLife conserve the world's birds - your data for this IBA and others are vital for helping protect the environment.
Recommended citation BirdLife International (2016) Important Bird and Biodiversity Area factsheet: Karkheh river marshes. Downloaded from http://www.birdlife.org on 29/06/2016
To provide new information to update this factsheet or to correct any errors, please email BirdLife | <urn:uuid:cb2e63ba-27d0-4130-ac4e-f196efe51fa5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.birdlife.org/datazone/sitefactsheet.php?id=8120 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.719132 | 826 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Sickle Cell Association of the
Dr. Secka defined sickle cell disease as a hereditary blood disorder that affects people in ways that can be felt and seen, such as causing pain and swelling.
"It also affects people in less obvious ways such as slowing physical development, damage to internal organs such as the liver, kidneys and spleen. It causes stroke, eye sight problems, acute chest syndrome, priapism, blindness and premature death among many more. It is not contagious for one to be born with it," he stated.
Dr. Secka further said that modern studies suggest that sickle cell anaemia probably originated thousands of years ago in or around the country now called Saudi Arabia, from where it spread East to India and West into Africa. He said other areas included Africa,
On managing sickle cell, Dr. Secka said fluid, antibiotics rest, pain medication, prevention of infection, healthy lifestyle, are to be part of the individual, or else there would be possible dangers of kidney failure, bone pain, anaemic jaundice, eye problem, acute chest syndrome, priapism, leg ulcer, etc.
Andre Sambou, the Cordinator thanked Dr. Secka for his insight into the disease and his know how as, he put it, he had answered salient questions from journalists and participants.
"We are thankful to our members for the training because we need it ourselves because we cannot give what we don't have," he concluded. | <urn:uuid:193826ae-e0ec-470e-98f3-202f11487a14> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thepoint.gm/africa/gambia/article/sickle-cell-association-trains-members | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397213.30/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00109-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.969887 | 306 | 3.453125 | 3 |
It's no secret the United States is trying to reduce its consumption of fossil fuels. A full half of them come from foreign countries, creating an undesirable dependency. Plus, they cause pollution. Lots of it. That's why American automakers and fuel companies are continually working on developing alternative fuels and vehicles that can run on them. The most popular alternative fuel today is E85, a mix of 15 percent unleaded gasoline and up to 85 percent ethanol. Vehicles that can be powered by this mix are called flexible fuel vehicles, flex-fuels or FFVs [sources: Goodspeed, FlexFuel US].
Flex-fuel vehicles have been produced since the 1980s, and come in dozens of models. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, there are more than 8 million FFVs rolling down America's streets and highways today. But surprisingly, many car owners don't even realize they're driving an FFV. The easiest way to tell is to look at your gas cap; most auto manufacturers began putting yellow caps on their flex-fuel vehicles beginning with 2008 models. You can also check for possible fuel door labels and badges on the body of your car, or check your owner's manual [sources: Alternative Fuels Data Center, Fuel Economy].
While FFVs are increasingly popular, they're not a miracle solution. The good news is they enable you, and your country, to consume fewer fossil fuels, as plant-based ethanol is a renewable energy source. It also burns much more cleanly, which is great for the earth and our health. But flex-fuels get fewer miles to the gallon than gasoline-powered vehicles, they can be pricier, and there currently aren't many gas stations selling E85 [source: Wiesenfelder]. | <urn:uuid:9a682d49-1150-4556-a805-d6c7c0288ad4> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel-efficiency/fuel-saving-devices/flex-fuel-vehicle.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396100.16/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00115-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965631 | 361 | 3.015625 | 3 |
This page has been archived on the Web
Information identified as archived is provided for reference, research or recordkeeping purposes. It is not subject to the Government of Canada Web Standards and has not been altered or updated since it was archived. Please contact us to request a format other than those available.
ARCHIVED - CEPA Annual Report for Period April 2001 to March 2002
- 1. Administration
- 2. Public Participation
- 3. Information Gathering, Objectives, Guidelines, and Codes of Practice
- 4. Pollution Prevention
- 5. Controlling Toxic Substances
- 6. Animate Products of Biotechnology
- 7. Controlling Pollution and Managing Wastes
- 8. Environmental Emergencies
- 9. Government Operations, Federal and Aboriginal Land
- 10. Enforcement
- 11. Miscellaneous Matters
- National Library of Canada cataloguing in publication data
3. Information Gathering, Objectives, Guidelines, and Codes of Practice
- 3.1 Monitoring Environmental Quality
- 3.2 Research on the Effect of Pollution on Environmental Quality
- 3.3 Technology Development
- 3.4 Objectives, Guidelines, and Codes of Practice
- 3.5 Reporting
Part 3 of CEPA 1999 sets out requirements to establish, operate, and maintain an environmental monitoring system. Refer to the CEPA 1999 Environmental Registry for more information on monitoring activities.
Established in 1969, the NAPS is a joint federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal air monitoring network. In 2001-02, over $3 million dollars was spent upgrading the network, primarily to meet the needs for monitoring and reporting on implementing the Canada-wide Standards for particulate matter (PM) and ozone.
Air quality data was collected, validated, and archived in the NAPS database for criteria pollutants, including sulphur dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, ozone, and total suspended particulate matter. Data were also collected on other pollutants, including particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter less than 10 microns (PM10) and less than 2.5 microns (PM2.5), particulate lead, particulate sulphate, nitric oxide, over 200 organic compounds, and over 70 metals and ions. The 2000 NAPS annual data report was completed and included data for the first time from volatile organic (VOC) samplers in support of the air toxics program under the Clean Air Agenda.
In May 2001, CCME Ministers committed to a three-year Action Plan on water that will link existing water quality monitoring networks to ensure Canadians have access to comprehensive information. The progress achieved in 2001-02 included the development of several inventories of water quality monitoring activities across Canada, including:
- a draft federal water quality monitoring inventory;
- a draft CCME federal-provincial-territorial water quality monitoring inventory;
- a draft inventory of community-based source water quality monitoring activities across Canada; and
- a draft inventory of federal source waters used for drinking water and recreation.
A departmental workshop was held in February 2002 with Environment Canada's water quality monitoring managers on a strategic plan for water quality monitoring in Environment Canada. Over 30 representatives from each region and relevant services participated in the workshop, which included presentations on regional and national programs, gaps and priorities, and discussions of key elements of a national water quality monitoring program.
The Ecological Monitoring and Assessment Network, managed by Environment Canada, links the many groups and individuals involved in ecological monitoring in Canada to better detect, describe, and report ecosystem changes. Essential elements include various national and regional monitoring programs, more than 80 long-term integrated ecosystem monitoring sites, and a diversity of ecological monitoring initiatives conducted by numerous collaborators at all levels of government, non-government organizations, and volunteers.
Notable results in 2001-02 include the continuing development and implementation of a standardized set of ecosystem monitoring protocols, collaborative development of a white paper and workshop towards a single approach to metadata-based distributed data management systems, and the coordinated reporting of ecosystem status and trends.
A key component of the program is NatureWatch - a suite of community-based monitoring programs implemented in cooperation with the Canadian Nature Federation. Almost 10 000 participants contribute their observations on indicators of ecosystem health from every province and territory, creating a clearer picture of the Canadian environment.
Part 3 requires the Minister to conduct research and studies. The Minister of Health is obliged to research the effects of substances on human health. Both Ministers are also required to conduct and report on research on hormone-disrupting substances (HDSs). The Act also allows the Minister to collaborate with others on research and sponsor or assist research studies in relation to environmental quality, pollution prevention, environmental emergencies, or the control and abatement of pollution.
Environment Canada and Health Canada scientists have published hundreds of reports, papers, book chapters, articles, and manuscripts during 2001-02. The following sections provide examples of the types of research initiatives under way and their key results in 2001-02. Refer to the CEPA 1999 Environmental Registry and the Science and Technology Web sites for more information on research activities.
Examples of research activities addressing water quality in 2001-02 included:
- Perfluoroalkyl Substances in the Arctic - Small lakes from the high Arctic to industrialized temperate regions were sampled and analyzed, showing a trend of increased levels of perfluoroalkyl substances from the Arctic to industrialized areas as well as an increase in the HAA (haloacetic acid) concentrations. Research indicates that these substances are in surface waters and precipitation, distributed throughout the water columns of lakes that are adjacent to areas of high population in measurable concentrations, detected in precipitation collected at remote sites indicating long-range transport, and that industrial communities significantly contribute to higher concentrations (loadings) in adjacent water bodies.
- Threats to Water Quality Workshop - Led by the National Water Research Institute, a group of Canadian scientists compiled a list of 15 major issues (of which several are CEPA 1999-related issues to be managed) that are posing threats to sources of drinking water and aquatic ecosystem health. The workshop report describes each of these issues and identifies critical questions to be answered as well as the challenges that researchers and governments will face in trying to resolve them.
- Perfluoroalkyl Substances in Humans - Analysis of blood samples drawn from a small group of Canadians showed that perfluoroalkyl substances occurred in 100% of the sample population. The similarity of the data between Canada and the United States indicated a continental-wide exposure pattern to these substances.
- Remediation of Abandoned Mines - The National Water Research Institute is assessing the impact from the dispersion of metals, such as cadmium, lead, and mercury, through stream discharges from abandoned mining sites in Cape Breton. Major ecosystem and human health concerns have led to a focus on discharges from abandoned mining and storage sites for coal, including priority metal sources, transport and retention mechanisms, and fate from selected areas of concern. A remediation program by the Cape Breton Development Corporation is in progress.
- Trends in Mercury Exposure in Wild Birds - The National Wildlife Research Centre collected data on levels of mercury in eggs of various bird species in different parts of Canada, which provide unique information on temporal and geographical trends in mercury bioavailability. In some industrialized areas, levels of mercury in eggs of birds have demonstrated declining trends through time that mirror declining local or regional industrial emissions of mercury. However, in some other areas remote from industrial mercury contamination, opposite trends are observed. Together, this data suggests that, although mercury exposure in wildlife from traditional local point sources has declined, wildlife in some areas remote from point-source exposure are experiencing increasing mercury exposure.
- Solar Detoxification of Groundwater - This project, jointly funded by Environment Canada, Natural Resources Canada, and the federal Panel on Energy Research and Development, studied the application of solar energy for the treatment of groundwater contaminated as a result of oil and gas production processes. The tests were used to develop a model to predict contaminant destruction rates.
- Development of Rapid Methods for Measurement of Nitrification Rates - The Wastewater Technology Centre, in collaboration with an environmental consultant, developed a simple, quick, and inexpensive methodology to determine nitrification rates. Nitrification is a biological process that converts ammonia (one of the principal causes of toxicity in wastewater effluents) into nitrate. Rapid methods for measuring nitrification rates will assist operators to optimize the removal of ammonia by allowing them to react more quickly to changing conditions in their treatment process.
Examples of research results on air quality in 2001-02 included:
- Precursor Contributions to Fine Particulate Matter - In support of actions to reduce smog, the report 2001 Precursor Contributions to Ambient Fine Particulate Matter in Canada was published. It provides new knowledge of the atmospheric chemistry, the nature of the source emissions and the role of meteorology, and the long-range transport of these substances.
- Inventory and Ambient Air Data on PM- The third year of research was completed to determine the concentration, composition, and sources of airborne particles that are rich in or composed of carbon in Canada. Participants included the Environmental Technology Centre, Meteorological Service of Canada, Natural Resources Canada, Health Canada, and the National Research Council. The project is now applying the tools developed to generate the knowledge required to evaluate possible fuel and transportation standards or codes that may be needed to meet air quality objectives for PM in Canada.
- Measurement of Emissions from Landfill Gas Combustion - Work continued on evaluating the effectiveness of landfill gas combustors (flares, engines, and boilers) for the destruction of VOCs and the potential formation of substances such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and dioxins and furans, which are on the List of Toxic Substances. Other pollutants include particulate matter (PM), hydrogen chloride, hydrogen fluoride, nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, and carbon monoxide. To date, testing has been completed on three engines, one boiler, and one enclosed flare. This information is used to strengthen the estimation of releases of polluting gases to the atmosphere from landfills and related operations.
Examples of research results relating to biotechnology included:
- New Genomics and Microbiology Laboratory - A new genomics and microbiology laboratory has been installed in the Wastewater Technology Centre in Burlington. This laboratory enhances Environment Canada's capacity in genomics research and will be used to track pathogens in Wastewater and Biosolids.
- Deoxyribonucleic Acid Microarray - The National Water Research Institute explored the application of microarray technology on deoxyribonucleic acid, commonly known as DNA, to identify pathogen and indicator species in microbial biotechnology products subject to the New Substances Notification Regulations. The design and testing of a prototype DNA microarray were completed in March 2002. A progress report on the development of DNA extraction methodologies and preliminary DNA microarray results on characterizing biotechnology products is currently under preparation.
- New Molecular Biology Laboratory - A molecular biology laboratory was installed at the National Water Research Institute in Saskatoon to expand Environment Canada's capacity to investigate the potential ecological risks posed by commercial release of genetically modified organisms in the Canadian environment.
- Genomics Laboratory - Health Canada established a DNA microarray laboratory to study and validate toxicogenomic approaches for the assessment of the risk posed by environmental pollutants.
- Microbial Taxonomy - Research and technical expertise on CEPA related biotechnology products were used to advise evaluators with Health Canada and Environment Canada on the development of criteria for the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) technical guidance document for microbial taxonomy and draft documents for establishing testing protocols of new substances (organisms). The latter involved participation in a multi-expert Micro Risk Panel (Canada-United States).
- Microbiology Analysis - Environment Canada laboratory Committee decided to establish the Edmonton EC Laboratory as the centre of specialization for microbiological analysis in support of the New Substances Notification Regulation.
Examples of research activities addressing HDSs in 2001-02 included:
- Toxic Substances Research Initiative- Research on Hormone-disrupting Substances (HDSs) is one of the priorities of the Toxic Substances Research Initiative, a program that is jointly managed by Environment Canada and Health Canada. Examples of research projects under way in 2001-02 included the following:
- reproductive toxicity induced by trichloroethylene in mice and in humans;
- human daily intake and mammalian immunotoxicity and reproductive toxicity of organotin;
- impact of HDSs on amphibian health in agricultural ecosystems;
- adverse reproductive effects of exposure to dioxin-like hormone disruptors;
- effects of orchard pesticides on terrestrial and aquatic wildlife;
- the effects of HDSs on seawater adaptability, growth and survival of salmon smolts;
- HDSs in municipal sewage sludge;
- detailed hormone assessments in wild fish and characterization of responsible HDSs;
- role of thyroid hormone function in the neurotoxic effects of developmental exposure to a mixture of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) found in Canadian populations; and
- effects of exposure to a mixture of dioxins, furans and PCBs on estrogen metabolism, hepatic effects and mammary tumour development.
- National Water Research Institute - The Institute continued to develop and apply methods for screening the effects of hormone-disrupting substances on aquatic ecosystems. Examples of activities in 2001-02 included the following:
- development of enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays for trout and carp, which will provide tools to measure estrogenic effects in a variety of fish species that are important in the Great Lakes and other parts of Canada; and
- assessment of responses in complex environmentally relevant effluents, such as a bleached sulphite pulp and paper mill effluent that discharges to the Saint John River in New Brunswick, and a model-scale sewage effluent plant in Sault Ste. Marie.
- National Wildlife Research Centre - The Centre developed a method to measure vitellogenin in avian blood plasma. Vitellogenin, an egg yolk protein normally produced in laying females, has been used as an indicator of exposure to environmental estrogens in fish when detected in male fish blood. Vitellogenin was detected in the blood of male herring gulls from the Detroit River but not in those collected from a reference site on Lake Huron, indicating that these birds may be exposed to estrogenic contaminants in their fish-based diet.
- Wastewater Technology Centre - The Wastewater Technology Centre completed a study on hormone-disrupting substances in municipal effluents. The project determined the prevalence of hormone-disrupting substances in wastewater effluents and biosolids and found that nitrifying and underloaded wastewater treatment facilities could reduce the concentration of some of these compounds. Preliminary results indicate a 97% removal of HDSs in a nitrifying wastewater treatment plant compared with an 88% removal in a conventional wastewater treatment plant.
Examples of research into technology development in 2001-02 included:
- Microwave-Assisted Processes (MAPTM) Green Technology - Work continued on developing energy-efficient, clean, solvent-free alternatives for chemical synthesis. Pilot-scale demonstrations continued to apply the MAPTM technology for the extraction of canola oil. One new piece of equipment was used to assess the potential of substituting liquefied butane for hexane in the extraction of oilseeds. Another was used to optimize energy application and potentially further reduce greenhouse gas emissions during the processing stage of edible oil manufacturing.
- Treatment of Stormwater and Combined Sewer Overflow - This project is investigating pollution control measures for urban stormwater and combined storm sewer overflows, which are a major source of wet-weather pollution to surface water. Physical and chemical treatment generally consists of solid/liquid separation and disinfection; however, fine suspended material is not easily removed, may consume oxidizing agents, or produce undesirable by-products during disinfection. Preliminary results from the pilot study in Toronto show approximately 80% removal of total suspended solids by the addition of polymers, indicating that this may be a practical and cost-effective option.
- Treatment Processes for the Removal of Ammonia from Municipal Wastewater Discharge - The Wastewater Technology Centre produced a guidance report entitled Treatment Processes for the Removal of Total Ammonia Nitrogen from Municipal Wastewater Discharge to assist municipal wastewater treatment plant managers in selecting technologies for the removal of total ammonia nitrogen.
- Development and Evaluation of an Enhanced Soil Flushing Technology - This project is developing an enhanced in situ soil flushing process for the simultaneous removal of organic contaminants and heavy metals. Sites with the mixed contamination represent a significant group among contaminated sites and are often associated with fuel refineries and power generation plants. The cleaning solution increases the solubility of many organic contaminants, such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and solvents, making them easily removed from the soil. The cleaning agents are non-toxic, very inexpensive, and readily available.
- Heavy Oil and Orimulsion® Pumping - This project, funded jointly by Environment Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard, evaluated methods of pumping heavy oil once it has been collected in water in a spill situation. The testing occurred in January through February of 2002 using a modified oil spill skimmer pump. The results of the testing indicate that heavy oil or bitumen, such as recovered Orimulsion®, can be effectively pumped using an innovative pumping technique. Previous tests using conventional pumping equipment failed to move recovered Orimulsion®.
The Act requires that the Minister of the Environment issue objectives, guidelines, and codes of practice for preserving environmental quality of the environment. The Act also requires the Minister of Health to issue objectives, guidelines, and codes of practice with respect to the elements of the environment that may affect the life and health of the people of Canada.
Environment Canada has made progress in developing environmental quality objectives as performance measures for the aquatic environment. Development of an environmental quality objective framework is under way that will combine substance-specific Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines, or other measures, with biological effects monitoring to give an integrated measure of the health of the aquatic receiving environment. This framework will assist federal risk managers, the public, and the regulated community in assessing progress towards improving and sustaining environmental quality.
Environment Canada, in conjunction with Health Canada, is addressing the issue of source water protection. This includes evaluating the use of Environmental Quality Objectives as a means for assessing public health risks from waters used for drinking water sources.
In cooperation with the CCME, Environment Canada participates in the development of Canadian Environmental Quality Guidelines. These guidelines are widely used across federal, provincial, and territorial governments, and in over 45 countries, to assess the status and trends of environmental contamination in water bodies and to manage toxic substance risks in the environment. Guidelines are developed for all media (water, sediment, soil, and tissue) and resource uses, including protection of aquatic life, agricultural uses (irrigation and livestock watering), and land uses (agricultural, residential, commercial, and industrial).
In 2001-02, four new environmental quality guidelines were finalized, and sixteen others were under development for water, sediment, soil and tissue (see Table 1).
|Guideline||Published||Work in progress|
|Water quality||ammonia||aluminum, mercury, nitrate, phosphorus, methyl tertiary-butyl ether, sulfolane, diisopropanolamine, inorganic fluorides* nonylphenol and its ethoxylates**|
|Sediment quality||dioxins and furans||nonylphenol and its ethoxylates*|
|Soil quality||uranium, sulfolane, diisopropanolamine, dioxins and furans**, selenium*, nonylphenol and its ethoxylates*, uranium, sulfolane, diisopropanulamine|
|Tissue quality||methylmercury, dioxins and furans|
The development of a water quality index was also completed. This index is based on a suite of water quality guidelines and provides a consistent mechanism for reporting on the overall quality, or ranking, of a water body. A pilot project was also conducted in 2001-02, using nonylphenol and its ethoxylates as a test case, to examine how environmental quality guidelines can be used in the risk management of CEPA 1999 toxic substances.
The Environmental ChoiceM Program is a collaborative effort between Environment Canada and TerraChoice Environmental Services Inc. The program is designed to support a continuing effort by Canadians to improve and maintain environmental quality by reducing the consumption of energy and materials, and by minimizing the negative impacts of pollution generated by the production, use and disposal of goods and services available to Canadians.
On December 8, 2001, Environment Canada published draft Guidelines on Renewable Low-Impact Electricity under the Environmental ChoiceM Program. The draft guidelines aim to promote the use of renewable, more sustainable fuels, reduce air emissions and solid wastes, and reduce the impact on the environment from electricity-generating activities.
In 2001-02, three codes of practice were finalized or under way:
- Integrated Steel Mills and for Non-integrated Steel Mills - Codes of Practice for Integrated Steel Mills and for Non-integrated Steel Mills were published in December 2001. Implementation is under way.
- Dichloromethane-based Paint Strippers- Consultations were held on the development of a code of practice for the safe handling, use and storage of dichloromethane-based paint strippers in commercial furniture refinishing and other stripping applications.
Draft Code of Practice for the Safe Handling, Use and Storage of Dichloromethane-based Paint Strippers in Commercial Furniture Refinishing and Other Stripping Applications
- Base Metal Smelters and Refineries - A draft Code of Practice for Base Metal Smelters and Refineries was developed and discussed at a national workshop on the environmental performance of the base metal smelting sector on March 7-8, 2002.
Codes of Practice
- Wood Preservation - Code of Practice encompassing best design and operating practices for wood treating facilities in Canada was published in March 1999. The requirements outlined in these codes are now being implemented by all facilities across Canada under voluntary agreements. Full compliance with the codes will be achieved by 2005. Facilities which fail to meet implementation agreements following annual reviews of progress, will be captured under the Pollution Prevention provision of CEPA 1999.
The Act requires that the Minister publish a periodic report on the state of the Canadian environment and establish and publish a national inventory of releases of pollutants.
Periodic state of the environment reporting is done as part of the Vision for Federal State of Environment Reporting in Canada under the five natural resource departments. Environment Canada contributes reports as well as coordination and support for this work. Indicators, reports, data, and tools are housed or referenced through the State of Canada's Environment Infobase.
In 2001-02, four national State of the Environment reports and a brochure were released:
- Tracking Key Environmental Issues covers trends related to Environment Canada's priorities and explains where further research and data are needed.
- Nutrients in the Canadian Environment examines the release of nutrients in excessive amounts into the Canadian environment, the environmental and socioeconomic effects of these releases, and measures being undertaken to address the effects.
- The State of Municipal Wastewater Effluents in Canadahighlights the status and trends of the release of municipal wastewater effluents in Canada, their effects on the environment and the health of Canadians, and actions being undertaken.
- State of the Great Lakes 2001 is a joint effort of Environment Canada and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency under the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement.
- The Vision for Federal State of the Environment Reporting in Canada is a brochure that highlights the process for State of the Environment reporting by federal departments as part of their research and information responsibilities.
Environmental indicators are statistics or parameters that, tracked over time, provide information on trends in environmental changes, stresses causing them, how the ecosystem and its components are responding to these changes, and societal responses to prevent, reduce, or ameliorate these stresses. In 2001-02, Environment Canada released two indicator reports:
- Urban Water Indicators: Municipal Water Use and Wastewater Treatment examines trends in daily municipal water use in Canada, metered residential water use, and the municipal population served by various levels of wastewater treatment.
- Georgia Basin-Puget Sound Ecosystem Indicators Report, prepared by Environment Canada, British Columbia, the United States, and the Puget Sound Water Quality Action Team, reports on the shared ecosystem of Georgia Basin/Puget Sound.
Environment Canada also contributed national environmental indicators to Treasury Board's Canada's Performance 2001 report. The indicators covered air quality, water quality, biodiversity, and toxic substances in the environment.
In March 2002, Environment Canada hosted a workshop on the evolution, applications, and possible challenge of environmental indices. It attracted an international panel of experts in index development. The results of the workshop will help in the development of indicators by Environment Canada.
During 2001-02, a prototype Internet version of the Sustainability Community Indicators package was developed for testing by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities and Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation. It replaces the software package released in June 2000. The program helps communities develop indicators, monitor their progress towards sustainable development, and facilitate the exchange of indicator-related information.
The NPRI is the only legislated, nationwide, publicly accessible inventory of its type in Canada. It provides Canadians with information on key pollutants being released to the environment from facilities located in their communities. It tracks on-site releases of pollutants to air, water, and land; off-site transfers in waste; and off-site transfers for recovery, reuse, recycling, and energy recovery. The data are used in conducting research, formulating environmental objectives and codes of practice, issuing guidelines, tracking progress in the management of toxic substances, and reporting on the state of the environment. Canadians can search for pollutants in their community by typing in the first three digits of their postal code.
In December 2001, Environment Canada published new NPRI reporting requirements for the 2002 reporting year, which include the addition of air pollutants that contribute to smog and other forms of air pollution. These pollutants, known as criteria air contaminants, include sulphur oxides, nitrogen oxides, volatile organic compounds, particulate matter, and carbon monoxide. The annual reporting of emissions of criteria air contaminants will allow for comprehensive inventories of these pollutants on an annual basis rather than at the present five-year interval. The inventory will allow Canadians to track releases from both industrial and large commercial facilities, and from other sources, such as motor vehicles, residential fuel combustion, and natural sources that contribute to emissions of these pollutants. The new reporting requirements also result in reporting from more municipal wastewater facilities and lower reporting thresholds for certain heavy metals.
- Date modified: | <urn:uuid:1381b336-3230-4f63-86e5-4526ef1381b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ec.gc.ca/lcpe-cepa/default.asp?lang=En&n=6DEE3880-1&offset=4&toc=show | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.918905 | 5,577 | 2.609375 | 3 |
Between 1874 and 1875, the Russian tsarina Maria Aleksandrovna, wife of the tsar Alexander II, spent the winter season in San Remo and thus inaugurated the tradition of Russians traveling to the riviera for the winter. As a symbol of her gratitude, she gave the town the palm trees that can still be seen along the promenade and in return, the City Council dedicated the promenade to her, henceforth called “Corso Imperatrice”, to express their appreciation to the tsarina.
The Russian writer A.K. Tolstoy (a distant relative to Leo Tolstoy) spent his last winter at the tsarina’s court in San Remo, and from his letters we known much about the way in which the Russians lived on the Italian Riviera.
Following the tsarina’s example, the Russian aristocracy, including members of the Imperial family, began to spend their winter season in San Remo. The Grand Duke Aleksej Michajlovic was here receiving treatment for tuberculosis in 1895 when he died at only twenty years old. He was then buried in the Cathedral of Sts Peter and Paul in San Petersburg.
The idea to build a Russian church in San Remo was first ascribed to the Grand Duke Sergej Michajlovic, who stayed at Villa Flora in the 1890′s, and also to the tsarina Maria Aleksandrovna. At that time, many aristocratic Russian families, such as the Olsufevs, the Seremetevs, and the Demidovs, owned villas to spend the winter season on the Riviera. Many Russians suffering from tuberculosis chose San Remo to spend their winters and as a result a Russian bath, a bakery and a pharmacy were soon established in the Ligurian town.
Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the idea of building a church began to spread within the Russian Colony, but the project was hampered by the lack of funds. Until 1908, when the Russian chapel in the cemetery was consecrated, the rites were sometimes held in private churches, as in Mrs Strekalova’s Villa Gloria, and in a building on Via Roma (at No. 22). In 1910, a Supervising Committee – later called the Building Committee – was led by V. K. Sabler, a senator and the former Procurator of the Saint Synod, who had spent six years in San Remo in 1882 to get healed. In his own words, he “had personally seen how necessary a church was in a town where thousands of sick people stayed”. In 1911 Sabler was appointed Procurator of the Saint Synod again and the project was thus pushed forward.
On 12th March 1912, the Russian tsar Nicholas II issued a decree that approved of the Committee of San Remo and allowed for “fundraising throughout Russia”. He donated two thousand rubles.
The local authorities accepted the Russian project and even promised to provide for the land on which the church could be built, although the latter did not happen. The Committee found the perfect spot for the church in the town centre, opposite the railway station, and symbolically, right at the beginning of Corso Imperatrice. In May 1912, the Committee bought this plot of land with the money raised in Russia (eighteen thousand roubles) and it was registered in Count Tallevici’s name. A. V. Scusev, a famous architect who was an expert in Russian religious architecture, drew the first sketches for the church. Scusev had restored the ancient cathedral in Ovruc and built the monastery of Martha and Mary in Moscow, and he later built Lenin’s mausoleum, too. He never came to San Remo and the plans of the church were drawn by a local architect, Pietro Agosti, with the collaboration of Antonio Tornatori, an engineer.
Mr. Agosti then drew up and presented the plans to the Italian authorities for approval, devoted himself to the building of the church, and undoubtedly he can be considered as its primary building contractor. Agosti was also a member of the Town Council and when he died a street in San Remo was named after him – Via Pietro Agosti.
The foundation was laid on 26th November (9th December) by father Nikolaj Akvilonov from Mentone. Soon after that, the Committee started a fundraising campaign (“Catholics, Lutherans, Baptists, and Waldensians have their own churches on the Italian Riviera, while…”) but very little money was collected.
Towards the end of 1913, the church had only been partially built, but it was nonetheless consecrated and the rites were celebrated so as “to provide our compatriots with the comfort of prayers”. The Saint Synod sent the bishop Vladimir to San Remo who on 10th (23rd) December celebrated the rites of consecration of the church with the Russian clergy of Nice, Cannes, Mentone, and Rome. The ceremony was attended by the Russian diplomatic corps and the Russian Colony. During the first Liturgy, two Russian choirs – from Nice and Mentone – sang.
The church was consecrated to the Saviour, to Saint Catherine the martyr, and to Saint Serafim of Sarov, though at first it had been suggested that the church be consecrated to only the Saviour, as it is usually referred today.
The representatives of the Anglican and Protestant clergy celebrated with the Russian community, while the Catholic priests were not able to join in the celebrations. After the consecration of the church, the Committee had a “Russian lunch” gala offered at the Savoy Hotel during which a telegram was written to the tsar Nicholas II, who was then in Levadija (Crimea).
The new church was ascribed to the eparchy of Saint Petersburg among the “churches in foreign health resorts”. Its first rector was Nevskij p. Varsonofij. | <urn:uuid:cc0a9944-ec65-4140-bb39-f103d35adc4d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://sanremoguide.it/en/the-city-of-san-remo/art-and-culture/the-russian-church/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393093.59/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.98143 | 1,276 | 2.625 | 3 |
Health Effects/Review of Pre-1996 Data
Author: Jefferson H. Dickey MD
Health Effects: Review of Pre-1996 Data
Pre-1996 Data / Sulfur Dioxide (SO2) / Health Effects
The major health concerns associated with exposure to high concentrations of SO2 include effects on breathing, respiratory illness, alterations in pulmonary defenses, and aggravation of existing cardiovascular disease. Children, the elderly, and people with asthma, cardiovascular disease or chronic lung disease (such as bronchitis or emphysema), are most susceptible to adverse health effects associated with exposure to SO2. The odor threshold is about 0.5 ppm and 6-10 ppm causes irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat. SO2 may cause chronic obstructive lung disease after high dose exposure. SO2 causes asthma exacerbations in some exercising asthmatics at levels as low as 0.25 ppm, an adverse health effect which the US EPA has heretofore failed to regulate.
Sulfur dioxide reacts in the atmosphere to create H2SO4, which forms an acid aerosol. This may be the actual species responsible for many of the health effects observed in epidemiologic studies (see section on particulates). It is epidemiologically difficult to separate SO2 from particulate effects, hence SO2 is commonly associated with increases in hospitalization and mortality rates from cardiorespiratory disease. However, some studies find evidence of health effects of aerosols in virtual absence of sulfur, implying that SO2 may be an important but not necessary component of these acid aerosols.5
Pre-1996 Data / Nitrogen Dioxide / Health Effects
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is absorbed in both large and small airways. Very high concentrations (>200 ppm) are very dangerous, causing lung injury, fatal pulmonary edema, and bronchopneumonia. Lower concentrations cause impaired mucociliary clearance, particle transport, macrophage function, and local immunity. A recent report of railroad car accident resulted in a substantial but unmeasured community exposure. Headache and respiratory symptoms were reported, especially in those with underlying pulmonary disease. Animal studies find increased mortality with concomitant microbial pathogen exposure. In humans, high exposures (2 to 5 ppm) for 3 hours cause airway inflammation and higher levels of antigen-specific serum IgE, local IgA, IgG, and IgE antibody. Moderate exposure to NO2 to 260 ppb (0.260 ppm or 0.490 mg/m3) for 30 minutes causes increased nonspecific hyperreactivity, and in a 6.6% lower PEFR in the late phase of asthmatic reaction to antigen. Levels around 80 ppb have been associated with a significant increase in acute respiratory infections, sore throat, colds and absences from school.
Epidemiologically, commonly encountered exposures (>30 ppb) have been associated with airways hyper reactivity, and even lower exposures (15 ppb) with stuffy nose and cough. While ambient NO2 levels have been associated in epidemiologic meta-analyses with declines in spirometry and cardiorespiratory events, NO2 is less clearly implicated than particulate, sulfur dioxide, and ozone.
Pre-1996 Date / Ozone / Overview of Condition
Ambient tropospheric ozone pollution at sufficient levels can cause upper and lower respiratory irritative symptoms, restrictive and obstructive spirometric changes, and increased responsiveness to methacholine and allergen bronchoprovocation. In epidemiologic studies, ozone has been associated with increased de novo development of chronic respiratory illness and increased incidence of emergency department visits and hospitalizations for asthma and respiratory disease. Animal studies suggest increased susceptibility to bacterial infection. Some evidence supports an association between ambient ozone exposure and increased daily mortality rates. Ozone induced illness is probably very infrequently recognized as such, but may be suspected especially during formation and especially persistence of relatively stagnant hot ambient air masses. Since bright sunlight is present driving the chemical reactions, health effects from heat exposure may be concomitant.
Pre-1996 Data / Ozone / Pathophysiology
Ozone gas is a very strong oxidant, reacting with biomolecules (alkanes, alkenes, amines, sterols, sulfhydryls, lipids and others) to form ozonides, then free radicals. This triggers inflammation which includes prostaglandins (PGE2, PGF2, TXB2), neutrophils, fibronectin, interleukin-6, lactate dehydrogenase, cytokines, fibronectin, elastase, plasminogen activator, coagulation factors, and other proteins in association with increases in airway permeability. Macrophage function is impaired (possibly related to the increase in PGE2), and this has been associated with increased susceptibility to bacterial pulmonary infection in animal experiments. Pre-treatment with non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) reduces this effect. Some evidence indicates chronic lung scarring, especially at the bronchoalveolar junction.
Pre-1996 Data / Ozone / Symptoms
Ozone induced illness observed in the laboratory includes conjunctival irritation, upper respiratory irritation, cough, shortness of breath, wheezing, decreased tidal volume, nausea, malaise, and headache. Also associated with ozone pollution is a peculiar chest pain which is substernal, commonly tearing or burning in character, which gradually increases in intensity with inspiration and declines during expiration. Asthmatic children playing outdoors on high ozone air pollution days are roughly 20 to 40% more likely to suffer an asthmatic exacerbation.
Pre-1996 Data / Ozone / Pulmonary Function
Pulmonary function is variably impaired. DLCO (diffusion capacity - a measure of gas exchange) may drop. Declines in FEV1 and FVC show great interindividual variability. Laboratory exposures provide the following data but probably underestimate the effects of community exposures (due to interactive effects of other pollutants, allergens, and to other exposure dynamics). While spirometric changes tend to decrease after several sequential days exposure, tolerance does not seem to develop to bronchial hyper responsiveness. Although ozone has been shown to decrease athletic performance, it has not been shown to exacerbate exercise induced asthma.
Pre-1996 Data / Ozone / Pulmonary Function6
1 - 2 hours @ 120 ppb
10 - 20 % of population
12% decline FEV1
6.6 hours @ 80 ppb
38% decline FEV1
8 hours @ 120 ppb
20% decline FEV1
6.6 hours @ 120 ppb
Pre-1996 Data / Ozone / Susceptible Populations
Great interindividual variability exists in ozone responsiveness, with a few individuals suffering clinically important reactions, most persons experiencing mild responses, with the remainder little affected. Persons at risk include persons with asthma or chronic lung disease, and those who are active outdoors for prolonged periods. Examples of this latter group are athletes, children at play, and outdoor workers such as laborers, policemen and firemen, farmers, linemen, loading dock workers, construction workers, and foresters. Ozone related spirometric compromise is more marked in individuals with chronic obstructive lung disease, than in otherwise healthy smokers. Increasing evidence suggests that asthmatics, after exposure to ozone, have increased bronchial reactivity to subsequent allergens. Some non-asthmatics show a similar pattern.
Pre-1996 Data / Particulate / Epidemiology / Weight of Evidence
The precise clinical syndrome resulting from particulate has not been well defined clinically, and the clinician will often be uncertain about the contribution of these pollutants in a given patient's exacerbation of lung or heart disease. Adverse health effects from PM are suggested by extensive epidemiologic observation, and by animal and human studies following laboratory exposures. Epidemiologic studies have difficulty describing the effects of individual pollutants in what are typically mixed exposures. Nonetheless the case that particulate pollution represents a substantial public health concern is bolstered by the remarkable consistency across different study techniques, geographies, weather conditions, particle sources, and investigators, as well as the coherence seen across a wide range of health effects and outcome measures.
Pre-1996 Data / Particulate Size, Chemistry, and Pathophysiology
Particulate airway distribution, and apparently health effects, are dependent on size of the particles, and on the structural and functional characteristics of the airways. Near universal pulmonary access is achieved by smaller particles (<PM3); nearly all particles larger than PM10 are trapped in the upper airways where they tend to be cleared by mucociliary mechanisms. A recent study has confirmed at autopsy the deposition distribution observed in the exposure chamber - the apical parenchyma of the lung retains particles smaller than 2.5 micron aerodynamic diameter.7 Persons with obstructive pulmonary disease (smokers, asthmatics, and patients with small airway disease or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease [COPD]) have greater distal airway deposition of particles, and this effect is inversely and well correlated with predicted FEV1.
A robust epidemiologic data set associates PM10 with adverse health effects.1, 8-12
However, more recent epidemiologic studies have contributed to understanding the size specificity of health effects, and have increasingly implicated the gasses and smaller particles as the more relevant components of hazardous particulate exposure.13-16
National Research Council has urged EPA to increase research into the toxicology of particulate chemical components and the relationship between monitored community exposures and personal exposure.17
Pre-1996 Data / Particulate / Clinical Syndrome
Acute symptoms and signs include restricted activity (including days lost from school and work due to respiratory illness), respiratory illnesses, and exacerbations of asthma and COPD. Clinical observations include declines in lung function, increased asthma medication use, increased emergency department visits, increased hospitalization, increased cardiac and respiratory mortality. Although asthmatics seem to increase bronchodilator use during acid aerosol air pollution episodes, they see relatively little improvement in their peak flow meter recordings. Groups at particular risk of acute illness include the elderly (>65 years), and persons with chronic heart and lung diseases.
Clinical associations with chronic particulate pollution observed in epidemiologic studies include bronchitis, chronic cough, respiratory illness, COPD and asthma exacerbations, decreased longevity, and lung cancer.
The most important data on life expectancy and lung cancer come from two prospective cohort studies in the United States. Both the Harvard six cities study13 and the American Cancer Society cohorts16 found higher community exposures to fine particulate air pollution to be associated with premature mortality and increased lung cancer incidence after adjusting for cigarette smoking and other risk factors. The premature mortality findings are consistent with studies using cross sectional, time series, and case control methodologies, and with the several meta-analyses of the time series studies.1, 11, 18 The lung cancer findings are not unexpected in light of the recent data which have elucidated a mechanism by which polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (commonly adsorbed on particulate air pollution) cause lung cancer.
Pre-1996 Data / Meta-Analysis of Particulate Health Effects (for a 10 mcg/m3 increase in PM10, a relatively small difference in exposure)3, 18
Total mortality 1%
Cardiovascular mortality 1.4%
Respiratory mortality 3.4%
Respiratory hospitalizations 0.8%
Asthma hospitalizations 1.9%
Asthma ED visits 3.4%
Asthma exacerbations and increase in bronchodilator use 3%
Health effects may be observed for several days after peak exposures, and detectable for up to several weeks after substantial air pollution episodes. At relevant concentrations the mortality dose response relationship is essentially linear, with increases seen even with very low exposures. The annual attributable mortality in the USA is estimated to be in the tens of thousands, (http://www.nrdc.org/nrdcpro/bt/tableGu.html) and the World Health Organization estimates that about 460,000 excess deaths globally are due to suspended particulate matter.
Pre-1996 Data / Particulate / Review
Perhaps the most interesting observations of a "natural experiment" of human mortality due to particulate air pollution were performed by Dr. Arden Pope12 at Brigham Young University in Utah. His summary of his observations follows:
"Utah Valley has provided an interesting and unique opportunity to evaluate the health effects of respirable particulate air pollution (PM10). Residents of this valley are predominantly nonsmoking members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons). The area has moderately high average PM10 levels with periods of highly elevated PM10 concentrations due to local emissions being trapped in a stagnant air mass near the valley floor during low-level temperature inversion episodes. Due to a labor dispute, there was intermittent operation of the single largest pollution source, an old integrated steel mill. Levels of other common pollutants including sulfur dioxide, ozone, and acidic aerosol are relatively low. Studies specific to Utah Valley have observed that elevated PM10 concentrations are associated with: (1) decreased lung function; (2) increased incidence of respiratory symptoms; (3) increased school absenteeism; (4) increased respiratory hospital admissions; and (5) increased mortality, especially respiratory and cardiovascular mortality."
More . . . Health Effects/American Thoracic Society Summmary | <urn:uuid:96f273fc-e9d8-4ce2-be38-d3d5311d2a16> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.psr.org/chapters/boston/health-and-environment/health-effects-review.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399385.17/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00113-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.914586 | 2,781 | 3.0625 | 3 |
WASHINGTON, DC — Space robots have been in the news a lot lately. We have the Curiosity rover on Mars doing science and other rovers, landers, and orbiters studying the planets in our solar system and beyond.
But there's also been a lot of talk about sending humans back to the Moon or even to Mars. So what's the future of space travel — humans or robots?
Since Eugene Cernan left the moon in 1972, humans haven't traveled further than the International Space Station. We've sent dozens of robots and machines further into space, though.
While sending robots to space is cheaper and less dangerous than sending humans, the future of space travel relies on human exploration, Senior Curator of Space History Roger Launius told a group of space fans as a part of a NASA Social tour of the museum. "We individually have a lot more capability than they do. We are a long way from the terminator, or the matrix."
At the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, he used two space robots on display to illustrate his point. The first he discussed with Robonaut One which you can see here:
He's just a torso, but has incredibly dexterous hands. Sadly, he can't think or make decision on his own — he's just a tool at the mercy of astronauts and researchers. These kind of robots could be great to send out on a space walk outside the ISS, which would save the astronauts time spent dressing and keep them inside out of harms way.
There is currently a Robonaut Two on the space station, and he's getting a pair of legs later this year which will help him maneuver, but in microgravity, do you really need legs? He's already spent time in space, performing similar duties to astronauts, NASA says:
One advantage of a humanoid design is that Robonaut can take over simple, repetitive, or especially dangerous tasks on places such as the International Space Station. Because R2 is approaching human dexterity, tasks such as changing out an air filter can be performed without modifications to the existing design.NASA
The other astrobot they had on display at the museum was DARPA's Autonomous Robotic Manipulation (ARM) robot. This one actually has a brain and can make decisions, though not very well. He can also be used in a variety of military applications.
Here he is waving to the crowd:
Launius recounted the first time he met ARM, who he affectionately calls "Robbie the Robot"
He's supposed to sense and then act. You give him a task, you don’t necessary tell him how to do it like you would something else.
And he will perform the task, at least in theory. The first time I saw him, I went over to the DARPA lab, and I saw them working with him. They said, let us show you how he can staple.
So ok, so, he's an office worker.
The researchers placed a stapler in front of him, and placed paper inside the stapler. Then they gave him the instruction to staple:
And he looks down and he sees the stuff that's on the table and moves his arms around, he looks around a little bit, moves his arm over, pushes it down on top of the stapler and staples the piece of paper just like he's supposed to.
So that was great, and I said, let's do it again, so they told him to do it again.
This time, he missed and he just ended up raking everything onto the floor. He reminds me of a six-month-old. He might or he might not do what you want him to do.
Launius had just successfully made the case for human space travel in less than ten minutes. Robots, he said, "aren't really there yet. We might get there sometime but it's not quite there yet." | <urn:uuid:362ee0f5-8575-4dfc-9a5e-ef68710c97f3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.businessinsider.com/are-humans-or-robots-the-future-of-space-travel-2013-2 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.973425 | 812 | 3.453125 | 3 |
Gabriel Baubeau (bobo1001)
Father: Gabriel Baubeau
Mother: Catherine Rivault
b. 1651 in Saint Sauvant, France
dc. 1704 in Virginia
m. 1703 in St. Mark's Parish, King William County,
Virginia, Elizabeth Spencer widow of James
White, bc. 1682 in Hartford, Connecticut, d. after 1725 in Virginia. Daughter
of Thomas Spencer (spen1001) and Anne Woodward
Spencer Bobo (bobo2001), b.
1705, d. 1772
Gabriel emigrated from France to England to
Virginia. [Dunn] Robert Nash paid for his
transportation in exchange for 50 acres from Virginia.
October 25, 1700:
Robert Nash granted 350 acres is St.
Stephens Parrish, New Kent County for the transportation of seven persons,
including Gabriel Baubau into the colony. .
Gabriel had a piece of land in KingWilliam County,
Virginia about two miles south of present day Beulaville on Herring Creek
described as "Bubboes Plantation" [Dunn]
February 19, 1703 King William County, Virginia
Elizabeth White made a gift of 1300 hundred pounds of
tobacco, a horse and 100 acres "about a quarter mile below Bubboe's house" to
each of her sons, Thomas and James. "the land being 200 acres given me by my
father Thomas Spencer of King and Queen County." Witnessed by Gabriel Babau.
April 17, 1703 King William County, Virginia
Elizabeth Bubboe, widow of James White, received a grant of
250 acres for transporting 5 persons into the colony. The 250 acres were
between the Herring Creeks beginning run of the Middle Herring Creek about 1/4
mile below Bubboe's house and along the run of Dividing Branch.[Haynie]
1704 Quit Rent Roll:
Shows Elizabeth Bobo as taxable
head of household responsible for 200 acres in King William County, Virginia.
April 1, 1717 (PB10:P313)
Elizabeth Boboe and Thomas
Cartwright purchased 400 acres in Kiing William County, Virginia.
Elizabeth Bobo received a grant of land in King
and Queen County, virginia. | <urn:uuid:bc52e315-6ca9-4203-babd-a4af9d13e308> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.vanderfordfamily.com/html/bobo1001.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00178-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.826891 | 485 | 2.671875 | 3 |
By: Rich DeMuro
Feb. 22, 2013
When it comes to studying the reaches of the galaxies, NASA takes the lead. Using some of the most powerful tools available, NASA scientist gain insights into the formation of stars in space. Now, they’re sharing a rare opportunity for teachers from across the country to be a part of their learning mission.
SOFIA, Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, is NASA’s flying observatory. A very specialized Boeing 747 plane houses a high-powered infrared telescope and flies above the moisture barrier to gather data from space.
Recently, the Tech Report was invited to come along for a mission and speak to the teachers onboard about their experiences.
“[The] idea was to give these classroom educators a real experience on how science is actually done,” said Dana Backman, manager of SOFIA’s education and public outreach program.
Using SOFIA, NASA scientist collect infrared images of our solar system and stars.
“Infrared telescope is able to concentrate on things cooler than stars like stars that are forming planets that are forming and so on,” said Backman.
That means more insight into the formation of our universe.
Onboard an eight-hour mission flight above the Pacific, teachers gathered data to use in personalized experiments for their students.
“The students will be extremely excited about it to know more about what goes on in the universe,” said Ira Harden, a chemistry and physics teacher from City Honors College Preparatory in Inglewood, Calif.
Famous among his students for his science rap videos, Harden’s not new to experimental learning methods.
“The students will be extremely excited about it to know more about what goes on in the universe,” said Harden.
Connie Gartner, a teacher for the Wisconsin school for the deaf, was also on the flight. For her, the chance to be involved was just another way to break barriers that challenge her students’ learning.
“I really hope that through my participation in the Sofia program we are able to generate a lot of enthusiasm for students,” said Gartner. “…they are an underrepresented group in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) areas.” | <urn:uuid:e70f05f7-ef30-4b48-aaaa-1bd37d32e33e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ktla.com/2013/02/22/onboard-nasas-flying-observatory-part-two/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00049-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949032 | 484 | 3.25 | 3 |
Rocky Inner Planets
|Home | Stars | Orbits | Habitability | Life ||
|| System Summary | Rocky Inner Planets | Main Asteroid Belt | Gas Giants | E-K Belt & Dust Disk | Oort Cloud ||
|| Sol | Mercury | Venus | Earth | Mars | Jupiter | Saturn | Uranus | Neptune | Dwarf Planets | Sol b? ||
NASA (from left: Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars)
The Inner Planets
The four innermost planets in the Solar System (Mercury, Venus, Earth, and Mars) are sometimes called the "terrestrial" planets because of their proximity to Earth ("Terra" in Latin) and their similarity as compact solid bodies with rocky surfaces. These four planets developed from small grains of dust that collided and stuck together to form pebbles, boulders, kilometer- and mile-sized planetesimals, and larger planetary embryos and protoplanets). They formed in the inner portion of the protoplanetary disk located closer to the developing Sun during the first 100 million years of the System's birth, where it was too warm for the four developing protoplanets to agglomerate water and more volatile ices and bulk up sufficiently in gravitational might to hold onto the abundant but lightest gases of the Solar nebulae (hydrogen and helium) to become "gas giants." Although rocky (and icy protoplanets beyond the Solar System's 2-AU "ice line") formed in the Main Asteroid Belt, the early development of Jupiter prevented protoplanets like icy Ceres from agglomerating into larger planetary bodies, by sweeping many into pulverizing collisions as well as out into the Oort Cloud or beyond Sol's gravitational reach altogether.
See an animation of the orbits of these inner planets around the Sun,
with a table of basic orbital and physical characteristics. A real-time
Plot of the Innermost Solar System with known asteroids within and
beyond Mars orbit is also available at the Minor Planet Center.
According to astronomer Alan P. Boss (Astronomy, October 2006), many astronomers now believe that the development of planetesimals into protoplanets as large as the moon was a runaway process, where a young Solar System may have developed a swarm of hundreds of Lunar-mass protoplanets in as little as 100,000 years. In a longer, succeeding phase of growth into Mars-sized protoplanets, however, these objects interacted gravitationally over many orbits so that their initially circular orbits became increasingly elliptical and they collided and merged into larger bodies over tens of millions of years. Colliding at speeds up to 22,000 miles per hour (36,000 kilometers per hour), such a collision may have stripped most of the rocky mantle from the protoplanet that became Mercury with its iron-rich core, while a Mars-size protoplanet struck the early Earth off-center and created a spray of mostly mantle material that later accreted to form the Moon.
The larger terrestrial planets, Earth and Venus, probably needed tens of millions of years to grow to their current size through collisions with large planetary embryos of 1,000 to 5,000 kilometers (620 to 3,100 miles). By modelling the process of planetary accretion, astrophysicists would have expected Mars to reach the size of the Earth at its orbital distance within the early Sun's circum-Solar gas and dust disk. Mars, however, has only 11 percent of Earth's mass and 53 percent of its diameter and so may have taken only two to three million years to reach its present size. By measuring and modelling the composition of meteorites (through the concentration of elements of Thorium and Hafnium in 44 samples), some astrophysicists have concluded that the "Red Planet" may have remained at its relatively small size by avoiding further collisions with other larger planetary embryos. Their results indicate that Mars grew before dissipation of the Solar Nebula's gas when roughly 100-km (62-mile) "planetesimals, such as the parent bodies of chondrites [stony meteorites], were still being formed" so that "Marsí accretion occurred early enough to allow establishment of a magma ocean powered by [the] decay of" Aluminum 26 (Jennifer Carpenter, BBC News, May 27, 2011; and Dauphas and Pourmand, Nature, May 26, 2011).
Larger and jumbo illustrations (source).
The in-migration of Jupiter early in the
Solar System's formation depleted the
amount of circum-Solar dust and gas at
Mars' orbital distance and contributed
to its stunted size (more).
On June 5, 2011, a team of scientists published an article in Nature which explains how early orbital in-migration by Jupiter (and Saturn) would have depleted the circum-Solar disk of dust and gas at the orbital distance of Mars so that the Red Planet had less mass to develop from. In the Grand Tack Scenario, Jupiter moved inward to settle for a while at Mars' orbital distance of 1.5 AUs before the Red Planet had developed after forming initially at around 3.5 AUs. Subsequently, depletion of gas and dust in that region of the circum-Solar disk allowed Jupiter to migrate back outward to their 5.2 AUs, and Saturn to around 7 then 9.5 AUs (NASA and GSFC news release; SWRI news release; and Walsh et al, 2011).
In the later half of the 20th Century astronomers found that the four terrestrial planets are as not as similar as they once appeared. Human beings may be able to stand on their rocky surfaces without being crushed by gravitational force. However, only on Earth can they stand without special protection from inhospitable temperatures, atmospheric gases and pressure (or its absence), or Solar and cosmic radiation.
In general, the conditions needed to support the type of large carbon-based life found on Earth may require an inner rocky planet that is orbiting a star in its so-called "habitable zone." Such zones are bounded by the range of distances from a star for which liquid water can exist on a planetary surface, depending on such additional factors as the nature and density of its atmosphere and its surface gravity. In addition, the range of star types that can support Earth-type life on rocky planets may be limited to those lower mass stars that "live" long enough for planets to form and complex life to evolve.
A continuously habitable zone is not only bounded by the range of distances from a star for which liquid water can exist. It is also bounded by the range of star (spectral) types for which planets can have enough time to form, for which complex life can have enough time to evolve (stars less massive than type F), and for which stellar flares and atmospheric condensation due to tidal locking do not occur (stars more massive than type M). Hence, NASA's Kepler Mission to search for habitable planets is limited to the habitable zones of nearby stars that are less massive than spectral type A but more massive than type M. (Kepler is currently scheduled for launch in October 2008 to observe some 223,000 stars that will be reduced to some 100,000 "useful" target stars, but the ESA's similar Corot mission is scheduled to launch even earlier in October 2006 to search for transits by inner rocky planets of some 60,000 stars.)
The Kepler Mission is defining the size of an Earth-type planet to be those having between 0.5 and 2.0 times Earth's mass, or those having between 0.8 and 1.3 times Earth's radius or diameter. The mission will also investigate larger terrestrial planets that have 2 to 10 Earth masses, or 1.3 to 2.2 times its radius/diameter. However, larger planets will be excluded because they may have sufficient gravity to attract a massive hydrogen-helium atmosphere like the gas giants (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune). On the other hand, those planets -- like Mars or Mercury -- that have less than half the Earth's mass and are located in or near their star's habitable zone may lose their initial life-supporting atmosphere because of low gravity and/or the lack of plate tectonics needed to recycle heat-retaining carbon dioxide gas back into the atmosphere (see Kasting et al).
Of course, there are other physical characteristics that can affect the evolution of rocky inner planets in stellar habitable zones. For example, Venus today appears to be located in Sol's habitable zone, derived on from the Sun's current luminosity ("brightness"). However, the shrouded planet is now much too hot to support the presence of liquid water on its surface due to its heavy carbon dioxide atmosphere and sulfuric acid clouds which retain too much radiative heat from the Sun through a runaway Greenhouse effect. It's possible, however, that conditions on Venus may once have been more conducive to Earth-type life earlier in the Solar System's history when Sol was as much as a third less luminous than it is today.
Surface Minerals and the Impact of Earth-type Life
According to planetary scientist Robert M. Hazen, the Solar nebula of dust and gas that gave birth to the Solar System 4.7 billion years ago -- before our Sun, Sol, ignited into a nuclear furnace -- appears to have been comprised of only a dozen minerals, or crystalline compounds (Robert M. Hazen, Scientific American, March 2010: pp. 58-65). After Sol became a star, the infant Sun melted and mixed elements and minerals within the circum-Solar disk of dust and gas, and many crystallized into scores of new minerals. Many of these minerals (including the first iron-nickel alloys, sulfides, phosphides, and various oxides and silicates) solidified from drops of molten rock into "chondrules," which have been recovered in chondritic meteorites on Earth. In addition to rocky asteroids and icier bodies further out from the Sun, many agglomerated into larger planetesimals that eventually collided to form planets like the Earth, and more than 250 minerals, including olivine and zircon, developed within the planetesimals with the help of melting, collisional shocks, and reactions with water. Large planetesimals (some more than 100 miles or 160 kilometers in diameter) were big enough to partially melt and form (differentiate into) onion-like layers of minerals around a denser, metal-rich core.
Larger image of Mercury's surface.
This color composite of the terrain around Crater Kuiper at
lower right highlights differences in opaque minerals such as
ilmenite, iron content, and soil maturity (more).
The formation and continued development of the four rocky inner planets is reflected in the number and diversity of minerals found on their planetary surfaces. Small and dry Mercury (as well as Earth's Moon) became frozen before much melting could occur, and so its surface may have no more than 350 different minerals. As Mars has some water that should have formed water-rich clays and evaporite minerals when its oceans dried up, the red planet may have as many as 500 surface minerals. Earth and Venus should have had sufficient inner heat to remelt some of its surface basalt to form a range of igneous rocks called granites or "granitoids," which are coarse-grained blends of lighter minerals (including quartz, feldspar, and mica that are common in Earth's crust but rarer in the smaller planetsimals). Remelting of granitic rocks concentrated rare "incompatible" elements and created more than 500 distinctive minerals rich in lithium, beryllium, boron, cesium, tantalum, uranium, and many other rare elements. Even more crustal minerals were formed by plate tectonics with the help of lubricating ocean water, atmospheric oxygen from the successful development of photosynthetic microbes, and land-based lichens (of algae and fungi) and mosses which were followed by deep-rooted plants that hastened the erosion and weathering of surface rocks with the help of biochemical action and the creation of soils as well as new clay minerals . As a result, Earth's surface today has more than 4,400 known mineral "species," of which more than half appear to owe their existence to the development of Earth-type life, and so its surface minerals are also a planetary signature of the presence of life.
David Seal (a mission planner and engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at CalTech) has a web site that generates simulated images of the Sun, planets, and major moons from different perspectives and at different times of the year. Try his Solar System Simulator.
© 1998-2011 Sol Company. All Rights Reserved. | <urn:uuid:99fa08aa-da74-4a99-87b4-3334fa049dae> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://solstation.com/stars/4planets.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00123-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947881 | 2,628 | 3.921875 | 4 |
That is, why is the potential energy with the orbitals overlapping less than with the Hydrogen atoms 'independent'. Similarly, why is a noble gas configuration stabler than if an electron were to be removed or added? Is this because pairs of electrons are more stable than single electrons? If so, why?
The pairs of electrons are more stable if you see the pair as a filled orbital (which can contain maximum of 2 different spin electrons via Pauli's Exclusion Principle).
I think the simplest way of explaining the lower energy of two-nuclei orbital is that the size of the electron's 'playground' grows 2 times, and as the area over which the electron may soar increases, it's kinetic energy decreases. | <urn:uuid:bedcd246-1023-41b3-b597-757ccf58be50> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/35787/why-do-hydrogen-atoms-attract | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391519.0/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00058-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.932961 | 149 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Cumulative Watershed Effects
Cumulative effects are "those effects on the environment that result from the incremental effect of the action when added to past, present and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what agency (federal or nonfederal) or person undertakes such other actions. Cumulative effects can result from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over a period of time" (FEMAT, 1993). Data from May et al. (1994) and Friedrichsen (1998) suggests the greatest threat to watersheds cumulatively may be from urbanization. Agricultural activities may also contribute to cumulative effects in some northwestern California streams, such as the Shasta and Scott rivers, in the portion of the Klamath Basin still accessible to anadromous fish (Kier Associates, 1999). For more on cumulative effects related to development, see the Urbanization KRIS Background page.
Reeves et al. (1993) found that Oregon coastal river basins where timber harvest exceeded 25% disturbance supported only one salmonid species while river basins under that threshold level maintained diverse assemblages. Ligon et al. (1999) found that California Forest Practice Rules were not preventing cumulative watershed effects and further damage to Pacific salmon stocks. Dunne et al. (2000) proposed "that responsibility for the assessments be taken out of Timber Harvest Applications and given to a new unit of a State agency, which would make whole-watershed assessments of how land use alters the risk of damage to ecosystem values." KRIS provides access to data from many disciplines which can improve assessment of logging-related cumulative watershed effects, as recommended by Dunne et al. (2000). See this 2002 photo of the convergence of the South Fork Gualala and the Wheatfield Fork Gualala River to see cumulative effects results to stream.
Coats and Miller (1981) noted that lower Klamath River basin tributaries suffered substantial sediment impacts when timber harvest took place in more than 30% of the watershed area. Pictured at left is the Terwer Creek watershed. This watershed was in U.S. Forest Service ownership but was swapped to a private industrial forestry as part of the Redwood National Park acquisition in 1972. In addition to widespread clear cut logging, the second growth plantations and brush fields in the upper watershed caught fire in 1988. Subsequent salvage logging took both old and young trees. This watershed is immediately next to the coast with fog often intruding during summer, yet regeneration of forests is not progressing rapidly. See a photo of lower Terwer Creek to see cumulative effects result to stream.
Roads are one of the major contributors of sediment to northern California streams and a major problem with regard to cumulative watershed effects (see Roads Background page). The image at left shows the Stewart Creek Calwater in the North Fork Gualala River watershed, which had 7.08 miles pf road per square mile (mi./sq. mi.) of watershed area, but not including temporary roads and landings, which are visible at left. Main haul roads mapped by U.C. Davis ICE project. The National Marine Fisheries Service (1996) recommends no more than 2 mi./sq. mi., with few or no stream side roads to achieve "properly functioning watershed condition." Higgins (2002) postulated that rapid recovery of Freshwater Creek from earlier logging in Freshwater Creek (Humboldt County) was that there were no roads associated with operations.
Eggs and Alevin
Salmon and trout are very susceptible to sediment pollution because they build their nests in stream bottoms (Chapman, 1988). Fine sediment less than 0.85 mm can intrude into redds and smother eggs while sand-sized particles (<6.4 mm) tend to cap redds and prevent fry emergence. Logging has the potential to substantially elevate both coarse and fine sediment contributions to a stream. The ability of salmon to reduce fine sediment inside their nests is well recognized (Chapman, 1988). Large concentrations of adult salmon may actually help to alleviate high levels of fine sediment locally in the streambed through spawning activity. If the salmon population drops, this synergistic benefit is lost. Although a redd may have low fine sediment concentrations immediately after completion, silt and sand may intrude into the streambed in subsequent storms and reduce egg and alevin survival (Kondolf, 2000).
Eggs take 30 days or longer to hatch and alevins then remain in the nest for another 30 days after hatching. If sediment transport occurs during the 60 day period when eggs and alevin are in the gravel, they may be washed out, smothered or entombed. Sediment contributions related to logging may decrease average particle size of the stream bed (Knopp, 1993), which can increase bedload mobility which also threaten egg and alevin survival (Nawa et al., 1990). Large wood helps to trap and stabilize spawning gravels and removal of large wood from channels as part of logging or stream clearance projects can contribute to gravel mobility. Increased peak flows due to altered hydrology related to logging (Ziemer, 1998) can increase the effects of storm events that mobilize bedload and reduce survival of salmonid eggs and alevin. Matrix: Potential Cumulative Watershed Effects (CWE) for Eggs/Alevin
Steelhead and coho salmon juveniles must spend at least one year in fresh water if they are to survive their transition to life in the ocean. Increased sediment production leads to elevated suspended sediment or turbidity which, according to Newcombe and MacDonald (1991), may directly kill fish or negatively impact survival and growth, modify natural movements and migrations of fish, and reduce abundance of food organisms available to fish. Reduced size of juvenile salmonids related to chronic turbidity or decreased food availability may then reduce ocean survival.
High sediment yield also fills pools, which are essential rearing habitat for coho salmon and yearling and older steelhead juveniles. Inordinately high flood peaks related to cumulative effects from logging may make it difficult for young salmonids to maintain position and to survive through winter. The latter problem may be exacerbated by the lack of large wood in streams that might otherwise provide cover and shelter during high flows (Stillwater Sciences, 1997). Chen (1992) modeled impacts from timber harvest for the Elk River Basin in Oregon. He suggested that pool depth was the best indicator of a stream's ability to support older-age steelhead, and he linked land use to that particular variable. Brown et al. (1994) noted that preferred coho habitat for juvenile rearing was pools over a meter in depth.
Sediment yield may contribute to stream widening if riparian zones are damaged by sediment transport. This coupled with timber harvest in riparian zones can change the ambient air temperature over streams, making them subject to warming (Pool and Berman, 2000). Reduced pool depth also contributes to an increased width-to-depth ratios, facilitating heat exchange. Thus, cumulative effects play a significant role in the elevation of stream temperatures, which can be a major limiting factor for survival of salmonid juveniles.
Site preparation after clear cuts may involve use of herbicides which, if inappropriately applied, can introduce toxins to streams. Herbicides can have direct and indirect effects on juvenile salmonid growth and might also impact aquatic invertebrate communities upon which salmonids rely for food. Folmar (1976) showed that rainbow trout avoided herbicides even at low concentrations. Point and non-point source toxic pollution from agricultural or residential pesticide use also has the potential to negatively effect juvenile salmonids. Matrix: CWE for Juvenile Salmonids
Adult salmonids are less effected by impacts of sediment and other factors related to cumulative watershed effects. During low flow conditions in fall, adult coho salmon may find it difficult to survive until spawning time because of lack of pool depth. Stress related to lack of depth and cover may reduce fecundity and success of spawning. High turbidity may also contribute to adult stress and decreased spawning success. Adult fish passage may also be hampered by improperly placed or sized culverts. Matrix: Potential CWE Adult Salmon and Steelhead
There are many ways that timber harvesting activities may interfere with the availability or quality of domestic water supplies. Elevated turbidity may exceed drinking water standards (<25 ntu), requiring additional treatment. High bedload transport may overwhelm intake structures. Vehicles associated with logging and herbicides may pose the risk of directly contributing toxins to water supplies. Agricultural activities and septic tanks on rural homesteads can also pollute drinking water. Matrix: Potential CWE for Domestic Water Supplies
Brown, L.R., P.B. Moyle, and R.M. Yoshiyama. 1994. Historical Decline and Current Status of Coho Salmon in California. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 14(2):237-261.
Cedarholm, C.J., L.M. Reid and E.O. Salo. 1981. Cumulative watershed effects of logging road sediment on salmonid populations in the Clearwater River, Jefferson, Co., Washington. In: Proceedings from Salmon Spawning Gravel: A Renewable Resource in the Pacific Northwest? P. 38-74. State of Washington Research Center, Pullman, WA.
Chen, G. K. 1992. Use of basin survey data in habitat modeling and cumulative watershed effects analyses. As FHR Currents # 8. US Forest Service, Region 5. Eureka, CA. 11 pp. [202kb]**
Chapman, D.W. 1988. Critical review of variables used to define effects of fines in redds of large salmonids. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 117: 1-21.
Coats, R.N. and T.O. Miller. 1981. Cumulative Silvicultural Impacts on Watersheds: A Hydrologic and Regulatory Dilemma. Environmental Management. Volume 5, No. 2, pp. 147-160.
Dunne, T., J. Agee, S. Beissinger, W. Dietrich, D. Gray, M. Power, V. Resh, and K. Rodrigues. 2001. A scientific basis for the prediction of cumulative watershed effects. The University of California Committee on Cumulative Watershed Effects. University of California Wildland Resource Center Report No. 46. June 2001. 107 pp. [555k]
FEMAT. 1993. Forest Ecosystem Management Assessment Team Report. Sponsored by USDA Forest Service, US Environmental Protection Agency, USDOI Bureau of Land Management, National Park Service. Portland, Oregon.
Friedrichsen, G. 1998. Eel River water quality monitoring project. Final report. Submitted to State Water Quality Control Board, for 205(J) Contract #5-029-250-2. Humboldt County Resources Conservation District. Eureka, CA. 76 pp. [924kb]**
Folmar, L. 1976. Overt avoidance reaction of nine herbicides by rainbow trout. Environmental Contamination and Toxicology Journal. 15: 509-514.
Frissell, C.A. 1992. Cumulative effects of land use on salmonid habitat on southwest Oregon streams. Ph.D. thesis, Oregon State University, Corvalis, OR.
Kier Associates. 1999. Mid-term Evaluation off the Klamath River Basin Fisheries Restoration Program. Prepared for the Klamath River Basin Fisheries Task Force. Sausalito, CA. 303 pp.
Knopp, C. 1993. Testing Indices of Cold Water Fish Habitat. Final Report for Development of Techniques for Measuring Beneficial Use Protection and Inclusion into the North Coast Region's Basin Plan by Amendment of the.....Activities, September 18, 1990. North Coast Regional Water Quality Control Board in cooperation with California Department of Forestry. 57 pp.
Kondolf, G. M. 2000. Assessing salmonid spawning gravel quality. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc. 129:262-281 [343kb]**
Ligon, F., A. Rich, G. Rynearson, D. Thornburgh, and W. Trush. 1999. Report of the scientific review panel on California Forest Practice Rules and salmonid habitat. Prepared for the Resources Agency of California and the National Marine Fisheries Service. Sacramento, CA. 181 pp. [2.83Mb]
May, C., C. Cooper, R. Horner, J. Karr, B. Mar, E. Welch, and A. Wydzga. 1996. Assessment of Cumulative Effects of Urbanization of Small Streams in the Puget Sound Lowland Ecoregion. A paper presented at the Urban Streams Conference held at Arcata, CA on November 15-17, 1996.
Nawa, R.K. and C.A. Frissell. 1993. Measuring scour and fill of gravel stream beds with scour chains and sliding bead monitors. No. American J. of Fisheries Management. 13: 634-639.
Newcombe, C.P. and D.D. MacDonald. 1991. Effects of Suspended Sediments on Aquatic Ecosystems. North American Journal of Fisheries Management. 11: 72-82.
Poole, G. C. and C. H. Berman. Submitted. Pathways of human influence on water temperature dynamics in stream channels. Environmental Management. 20 pp. [250kb]
Reeves, G.H., F.H. Everest and J.R. Sedell. 1993 . Diversity of Juvenile Anadromous Salmonid Assemblages in Coastal Oregon Basins with Different Levels of Timber Harvest. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. Vol 122, No. 3. May 1993.
Stillwater Sciences. 1997. A review of coho salmon life history to assess potentially limiting factors and the implications of historical removal of large woody debris in coastal Mendocino County. Prepared by Stillwater Sciences, Berkeley CA for Louisiana-Pacific Corporation, Wildlife and Fisheries Science Group, Forest Resources & Fiber Procurement Division. May 1997. 55 pp
Ziemer, R.R. 1998. Flooding and stormflows. In Ziemer, R.R., technical coordinator. Proceedings of the conference on coastal watersheds: the Caspar Creek story. May 6, 1998; Ukiah, CA. Technical Report PSW-GTR-168. Albany, CA: Pacific Southwest Research Station, USDA Forest Service; 15-24. | <urn:uuid:76383606-ee8f-445e-bde5-a6c000a2c3b7> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.krisweb.com/watershd/impacts.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395346.6/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00124-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.890091 | 2,995 | 3.171875 | 3 |
New regulations proposed for novel foods
Throughout history human beings have attempted to broaden their diet by seeking new things to eat. Can you imagine what European cuisine was like before the arrival of the humble potato? People have also employed different methods to preserve their food or make it more palatable. These innovations, over time, have revolutionised the way people eat. This process continues as new scientific research and technologies will now enable us to enjoy a range and choice of foods that our ancestors would have marvelled at.
The European Commission has adopted a proposal revising the Novel Foods Regulation so that new and innovative foods have better access to the EU market, while consumer protection is guaranteed. 'Novel foods' include those which are produced using new techniques and technologies, and those that have no history of consumption within the EU, but have been consumed elsewhere.
'This proposal aims to create a more efficient and practical system for regulating novel foods, which will offer EU consumers the benefit of the most up-to-date choice of foodstuffs possible and provide a favourable environment for the food industry in Europe,' said EU Commissioner for Health, Markos Kyprianou.
One of the indicators of a novel food, according to the proposal, is the use of emerging technologies in breeding and food production processes. These may have an impact on food, and thus food safety.
'Novel food should include foods derived from plants and animals, produced by non-traditional breeding techniques, and foods modified by new production processes, such as nanotechnology and nanoscience, which might have an impact on food,' states the paper. 'Food derived from new plant varieties, or animal breeds produced by traditional breeding techniques, should not be considered as novel foods,' it adds.
The proposal also emphasises the importance of simplifying procedures for assessing and authorising new foods. One centralised procedure will be introduced, and national administrative procedures, which lead to a duplication of work, will be abolished. The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) will assess a product once the European Commission receives an application for authorisation.
All novel foods and their use as ingredients shall be evaluated according to whether or not they present a danger to consumers or mislead them. If the new food replaces another, it should not lead to a nutritional disadvantage for the consumer.
The proposal follows a consultation with stakeholders, including the food industry, consumers, third countries, national and EU authorities and international organisations.
For further information:
Novel Foods - Review of Regulation (EC) 258/97 | <urn:uuid:115216e8-ac2f-417a-bb42-a3a3b0c68ddb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://ec.europa.eu/research/biosociety/news_events/news_novel-foods-regulations_en.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395546.12/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946745 | 515 | 3.1875 | 3 |
Andrew Jackson never met his father, the man for whom he was named. The elder Andrew, son of a prosperous linen weaver, had emigrated to America from Ireland in 1765. The family–consisting of his wife, Elizabeth Hutchinson, and two sons, Hugh and Robert–landed in Pennsylvania and moved southward, ending up in the Waxhaws, a small settlement on the Carolina border where they settled on two hundred acres to begin their life in America. At this point, the Waxhaws consisted of little more than a Presbyterian church, a general store, and a few scattered houses. In February 1767, the elder Jackson died unexpectedly at the age of twenty-nine–just a few short weeks before his pregnant wife was to give birth again.
A small wagon bore the family patriarch to a nearby cemetery near the Waxhaw church. However, when the funeral procession arrived at the burial site, they discovered the casket had fallen off somewhere en route, and they were therefore forced to retrace their steps to find the body. After the funeral for Andrew's father, his mother moved in with relatives–most likely the Crawfords, the most prosperous of the Jacksons' relations. Elizabeth's grief soon brought on labor, and on March 15, 1767, she gave birth to a healthy baby boy, naming him Andrew in honor of her deceased husband. In an odd note, both North Carolina and South Carolina claim that Jackson was born within their borders. North Carolina historians insist Elizabeth gave birth not at the home of her in-laws, the Crawfords, but at her brother-in-law's house just over the North Carolina border. Jackson, however, always believed he had been born at the Crawford house in South Carolina. Indeed, Jackson's mother raised him for the first decade of his life in the Crawford house, where she worked as a housekeeper.
Jackson was extremely bright and began reading at an early age–a hobby he would soon drop in favor of pastimes he felt more exciting. He studied Greek and Latin at the academy in Waxhaw, but never developed much talent in either field. Despite his intellectual promise, Jackson never showed much ability to write, and his poor spelling appalled his friends. Ultimately, his lack of interest in reading, coupled with his poor writing skills, left him poorly educated, even by eighteenth-century standards. He learned little about science or mathematics, and the only non-religious book he is known to have read cover-to-cover is the The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith. Whatever political intuition he later acquired came from his own experiences, as he never formally studied politics, law or history.
Though Jackson's mother hoped he would enter the ministry, from his earliest days he showed a proclivity for a rough-and-tumble, colorful lifestyle. According to many accounts, Jackson could out-swear just about anyone else in the Waxhaws, uttering a seemingly endless stream of obscenities when provoked. When he was not in school, Jackson passed his time by wrestling or racing other boys. He loved practical jokes and often gently teased his fellows. While he remained fiercely protective of those close to him, he would not hesitate to attack, either verbally or physically, anyone who opposed him. Jackson's temper, which would later become legendary, began to show early. Once, when some fellow boys dared him to fire a musket loaded to the muzzle with powder, he accepted the challenge, was knocked to the ground by the gun's recoil, and promptly jumped up to threaten to kill any boy who laughed at him. None did.
Physically, Jackson's build reflected his childhood on the frontier. Standing a hardy six feet tall, he weighed a lean 145 pounds and remained quite agile for most of his life. He had bushy blond hair and a sharp pronounced jaw. Many of his adversaries would later comment on his fiery blue eyes, which seemingly dared anyone to oppose him. | <urn:uuid:1d5fce33-230b-453f-b89e-83a4a7f9db2e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sparknotes.com/biography/jackson/section1.rhtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404405.88/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00117-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.989705 | 811 | 3.328125 | 3 |
Improving access to green spaces—like parks, community gardens, and greenways—builds the community and improves the health of residents.
Read about the:
Reaching our targets will require planting more trees on our streets and in our backyards and public spaces, as well as adding more green space to our existing neighbourhoods. Our Urban Forest Strategy helps guide this work.
Recent initiatives that bring us closer to reaching the Access to Nature goal.
We created new parks in neighourhoods:
Community engagement on park design is planned for 2015 with construction expected by the end of the year.
In 2014, we removed a bylaw provision that allowed property owners to cut down one healthy tree per year.
Canopy cover, the area of the city covered by trees as seen from the air, is commonly used by cities to measure health of the urban forest and the benefits it provides (such as air quality and rainwater absorption). Vancouver’s canopy has been in decline over the last two decades and currently sits at 18%, largely due to the loss of large stature trees on private property.
Passed in 2014, the Urban Forest Strategy Framework established the goal of growing our canopy back to 22% by 2055. Achieving this goal will involve not only the planting of new trees, but the retention of existing canopy, updated species selection, climate adaptation, and long-term planning and maintenance.
An excellent indicator of healthy ecosystems, birds provide a link between people and local biodiversity.
The inaugural City Bird competition was held in 2014 to raise awareness about the importance of birds in Vancouver. In the end, the Black-capped Chickadee took home the gold for 2014, with over 700,000 votes cast during the voting process.
Following the City Bird competition during Bird Week 2014, the Vancouver Bird Strategy was passed by City Council and the Park Board in January 2015. It outlines the work necessary to create conditions for native birds to thrive in Vancouver.
With this strategy, Vancouver will be a world leader in supporting a rich and diverse group of native birds year-round, which has important economic, social and environmental benefits and helps the Greenest City goal of providing residents greater access to nature.
In July 2014 the Park Board passed Rewilding Vancouver: An Environmental Education and Stewardship Action Plan.
Over the next five years, we will work with partners to enhance the ability of residents to experience nature and increase understanding and awareness of nature in Vancouver. The plan was developed collaboratively by the Environmental Education and Stewardship Task Force and provides a cohesive set of 49 actions focused on environmental education and stewardship.
Get the latest Greenest City news
Sign up for our Greenest City newsletter, and get news on our progress, programs, and initiatives. You'll also be notified of local sustainability events and volunteer opportunities.
Vancouver's Urban Forest Strategy provides tools for growing and maintaining a healthy, resilient urban forest for future generations. Review the strategy to learn how we plan to protect, plant, and manage Vancouver's urban forest.
The Vancouver Bird Strategy will work to create conditions for native birds to thrive in Vancouver.
Hastings Park / PNE Master Plan: The Fair in the Park — a 30-year initiative to transform the Hastings Park of today into a greener, year-round destination for park use, culture, sport, recreation, and fun.
Residents in Vancouver now have a new way to support the City of Vancouver’s goal to be the greenest city in the world by 2020, with the launch of the Treekeepers Program, which encourages residents and businesses to plant more trees on their property.
We design and build safe, nature-rich paths that encourage you to explore Vancouver without using your car through the Greenways program.
We are working with local organizations to make Vancouver’s parks and gardens friendlier to bumble bees, honeybees, butterflies, and other pollinators. Discover projects underway in your city. | <urn:uuid:a00fff02-27ac-4141-9635-a1d9f7612db2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://vancouver.ca/green-vancouver/access-to-nature.aspx | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.18/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00055-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.931674 | 811 | 3.125 | 3 |
Glencoe is a rural/residential locality four km north-west of Gowrie Junction and 13 km north-west of Toowoomba.
Before farm selections began in the late 1870s Glencoe was known as the Gowrie Scrub. The dense tree cover seems to have provoked an excess of clearing and ringbarking in later years. Several settlers were of Scots and German Lutheran origins, and the Scottish 'Glencoe' was suggested as the name of the primary school in 1881 instead of the unattractive 'Gowrie Scrub'. The Lutherans built a church in 1880 in the midst of the densely settled farm community. In fact, settlement was too dense, and there were nearly seventy families on less than 1400 ha of farm land in the area around the church. Most farmers went in for dairying. There was a dairy factory at Gowrie Junction, and another two opened in the 1920s north of Glencoe.
From being Gowrie Scrub, Glencoe became known as Prickly Pear Corner by the 1910s. The slow process of farm consolidations began, continuing until the 1940s. Consolidations sometimes lagged behind overgrazing and erosion of farm land.
Glencoe's proximity to Toowoomba has made it suitable for rural/residential living. Its census populations have been:
F. Otto Theile, One hundred years of the Lutheran Church in Queensland, Queensland, United Evangelical Lutheran Church in Australia, 1938 | <urn:uuid:62eb9b5e-d827-4bf4-b764-eabf295859fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://queenslandplaces.com.au/glencoe | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00196-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.978545 | 306 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Helga's mother is white, and her father is black — and absent. Ostracized throughout her lonely childhood for her dark skin, Helga spends her adult life seeking acceptance. Everywhere she goes — the American South, Harlem, even Denmark--she feels oppressed. Socially, economically, and psychologically, Helga struggles against the "quicksand" of classism, racism, and sexism.
One of the most acclaimed and influential writers of the Harlem Renaissance, Nella Larsen published her powerful first novel in 1928. Quicksand
features intriguing autobiographical parallels with Larsen's own life, in addition to reflecting many aspects of African-American culture of the 1920s. Alice Walker praised it and Passing
(Larsen's second novel, also available in a Dover edition) as "novels I will never forget. They open up a whole world of experience and struggle that seemed to me, when I first read them years ago, absolutely absorbing, fascinating, and indispensable."
Reprint of the Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1928 edition.
|Availability||Usually ships in 24 to 48 hours|
|Dimensions||5 1/2 x 8 1/2| | <urn:uuid:a3db06e2-7cdf-442e-a3ce-8a8912e27159> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://store.doverpublications.com/0486451402.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399522.99/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.898581 | 248 | 2.78125 | 3 |
- There will be over 200,000 family abductions this year and 58,000 non-family abductions this year.
- One out of five girls and one out of every ten boys will be sexually abused before they reach adulthood.
- Experts estimate that 60 million adults today were sexually abused when they were children.
- Over 800,000 children will be reported missing this year.
- In 2009, Child Protective Services received 3.3 million calls with a report of child abuse of 6 million children.
- The three largest percentages of report sources were from such professionals as teachers (16.5%), law enforcement and legal personnel (16.4%), and social services staff (11.4%).
- One out of four kids will be abused by another youth.
- Surveys show 77% of students are bullied mentally, verbally, and physically.
- 14% of those bullied said they experienced severe reactions to the abuse.
- 43% fear harassment in the bathroom at school.
- 7% of students have avoided school or places at school because they were afraid of being harmed in some way.
- 8% of students miss one day of class per month for fear of bullies.
- 282,000 students are physically attacked in secondary schools each month.
- Only about a third of bully victims reported the bullying to someone at school.
Cyber Bullying & Online Behavior
- Around half of teens have been the victims of cyber bullying
- Only 1 in 10 teens tells a parent if they have been a cyber bully victim
- Fewer than 1 in 5 cyber bullying incidents are reported to law enforcement
- 1 in 10 adolescents or teens have had embarrassing or damaging pictures taken of themselves without their permission, often using cell phone cameras
- About 1 in 5 teens have posted or sent (“sexting”) sexually suggestive or nude pictures of themselves to others.
– National Center for Educational Statistics and Bureau of Justice Statistics, “Indicators of School Crime and Safety: 2009″ [online]
- FindYouthInfo.gov, “How Widespread is the Bullying Problem?” [online]
- U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, “2009 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey Overview” [online]
- Richard Webster, Harford County Examiner, “From cyber bullying to sexting: What on your kids’ cell?” [online]
- S. Hinduja, and J. W. Patchin, Cyberbullying Research Center, “Cyberbullying Research” [online]
- National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, Various Sources [online]
- U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Administration for Children and Families Administration on Children, Youth and Families Children’s Bureau, “Child Maltreatment 2009” [online] | <urn:uuid:2aabd5ca-9e2b-4a3c-aa14-567a57c22ca9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://safetynetkids.com/about-snk/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396887.54/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00062-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.934163 | 592 | 2.828125 | 3 |
Date: 07/10/98 at 00:13:51 From: David Chung Subject: Math Why is tan 90 undefined?
Date: 07/10/98 at 03:25:38 From: Doctor Floor Subject: Re: Math Hi David, Thank you for sending your question to Dr. Math! To see why tan 90 is undefined, we should look at the way the tangent is defined. In a triangle it is defined in the following way: C * * * * * * *alpha * A*************B When ABC is rectangular with the right angle at B, then tan(alpha) = BC/AB. But from the triangle definition we can't say a thing about alpha = 90, because then there is no triangle anymore. To solve this definition problem, mathematicians switched to the unit-circle definition: Create a circle centered at a point A with radius 1. From A draw the legs of your angle alpha. You can do this in such a way that one leg goes horizontally to the right, where it meets the circle in a point B. The second leg is is drawn in such a way that the angle is upwards for positive values and downwards for negative ones. Draw the line tangent (!) to the circle through B. The second leg and the tangent line meet in a point, say E. Now tan(alpha) is defined as the length of BE. Now it is clear that if alpha = 90 there is no intersection of the second leg and the tangent line, so that tan 90 is not defined. If you have a math question again, please send it to Dr. Math! Best regards, - Doctor Floor, The Math Forum http://mathforum.org/dr.math/
Search the Dr. Math Library:
Ask Dr. MathTM
© 1994-2015 The Math Forum | <urn:uuid:0553ce55-7f2f-479b-9fed-abb2e63c1db0> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mathforum.org/library/drmath/view/54086.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00082-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.872703 | 374 | 3.09375 | 3 |
This chapter will deal with the state machine and explain it in detail. After reading trough it, you should have a complete understanding of how the State machine works. We will also go through a large set of examples on how states are dealt within the state machine itself. These should clarify everything in practice.
The state machine is a special part within iptables that should really not be called the state machine at all, since it is really a connection tracking machine. However, most people recognize it under the first name. Throughout this chapter i will use this names more or less as if they where synonymous. This should not be overly confusing. Connection tracking is done to let the Netfilter framework know the state of a specific connection. Firewalls that implement this are generally called stateful firewalls. A stateful firewall is generally much more secure than non-stateful firewalls since it allows us to write much tighter rule-sets.
Within iptables, packets can be related to tracked connections in four different so called states. These are known as NEW, ESTABLISHED, RELATED and INVALID. We will discuss each of these in more depth later. With the --state match we can easily control who or what is allowed to initiate new sessions.
All of the connection tracking is done by special framework within the kernel called conntrack. conntrack may be loaded either as a module, or as an internal part of the kernel itself. Most of the time, we need and want more specific connection tracking than the default conntrack engine can maintain. Because of this, there are also more specific parts of conntrack that handles the TCP, UDP or ICMP protocols among others. These modules grabs specific, unique, information from the packets, so that they may keep track of each stream of data. The information that conntrack gathers is then used to tell conntrack in which state the stream is currently in. For example, UDP streams are, generally, uniquely identified by their destination IP address, source IP address, destination port and source port.
In previous kernels, we had the possibility to turn on and off defragmentation. However, since iptables and Netfilter were introduced and connection tracking in particular, this option was gotten rid of. The reason for this is that connection tracking can not work properly without defragmenting packets, and hence defragmenting has been incorporated into conntrack and is carried out automatically. It can not be turned off, except by turning off connection tracking. Defragmentation is always carried out if connection tracking is turned on.
All connection tracking is handled in the PREROUTING chain, except locally generated packets which are handled in the OUTPUT chain. What this means is that iptables will do all recalculation of states and so on within the PREROUTING chain. If we send the initial packet in a stream, the state gets set to NEW within the OUTPUT chain, and when we receive a return packet, the state gets changed in the PREROUTING chain to ESTABLISHED, and so on. If the first packet is not originated by ourself, the NEW state is set within the PREROUTING chain of course. So, all state changes and calculations are done within the PREROUTING and OUTPUT chains of the nat table. | <urn:uuid:353906b7-84b1-41b3-9ece-8b2a66a6385c> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.faqs.org/docs/iptables/statemachine.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00136-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941719 | 687 | 2.8125 | 3 |
Sylvia Plath's Poem ˜The Applicant', explores many issues, in particular it looks at the ideas of feminism and the role of women in a marriage. Through examining areas such as the concerns of the poet, the methods and the language used, ˜The Applicant's' true meanings and statements will become clear.
Plath's early poetry is well-crafted and traditional, but her late poems exhibit a desperate brilliance and photo-feminist cry of anguish. In ˜The Applicant', Plath exposes the emptiness in the role of wife, who is reduced to an inanimate ˜it' (VanSpanckeren 1988: p 96). She is trying to portray the way that women are represented in both marriage and society. Plath is showing how the marriage of a man and women can sometimes be seen as a business contract or, rather, a purchase. This is shown throughout the poem with lines such as, ˜Will you marry it? It is waterproof, shatterproof, Proof against fire and bombs through the roof (lines 22-24)'. Plath has also shown to us clearly how she believes that women in society are seen as separate parts and not as complete beings. She is also trying to convey that women are seen as renewable, and you can make new ones from the dissolved sorrow of the previous. This is shown in lines 16-18; ˜To thumb shut your eyes at the end And dissolve of sorrow. We make new stock from the salt'.
Silvia Plath has used many poetic methods to help propel the concerns of her poem. The first of such is the structural layout of ˜The Applicant'. The structural organization of this poem is complicated. Plath first offers some regularity through a rough organization of eight stanzas, each into five lines, but then suggests an inner struggle to problemise that regularity by enjambing the last lines of five of her stanzas into the next and employing no formal or | <urn:uuid:eabb04e5-fae7-44f9-b377-f1a393ba549f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.exampleessays.com/viewpaper/18086.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396106.71/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00144-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.964371 | 404 | 2.953125 | 3 |
The Signal Corps in the ETO to Mid-1944
The Allied landings in Normandy on 6 June 1944 climaxed long months of planning and concentrated supply effort. The first build-up of men and equipment in England for a cross-Channel attack against the Continent had been drained away to North Africa in late 1942, and it had been necessary to build again. It took a great deal of time to construct and develop a system of depots, equip the invading forces, and plan an adequate communications network. Thousands of signal details had to be coordinated, integrated, and perfected.
Signal Corps preparations for the invasion rested principally in the hands of the signal staffs of two separate headquarters. In their disparate yet intermingled relationships and functions, these headquarters staffs typified the dual function of the Signal Corps as a supply service and as a highly specialized technical service invaluable to the exercise of command.1 The Signal Service of the European Theater of Operations of the United States Army was concerned primarily with matters of supply and administration for the U.S. Army in Europe, whereas the Signal Section of the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Force was responsible primarily for signal matters as they applied to the integration of British and American forces and to the tactical and strategic control of those forces. This distinction greatly oversimplifies what were actually very complex, confused, and often bitterly contested areas of responsibility.2 And it does not take into account the numerous subordinate or coordinate organizations that existed in the theater or the loss or addition of functions from time to time. Nevertheless, with due allowance for such factors, the signal responsibilities of the theater did divide roughly into the two areas noted.
The signal organizations of both ETOUSA and SHAEF owed much to their predecessor organizations in the United Kingdom, the Special Observer Group, which dated from mid-1941, and its successor, the United States Army Forces in the British Isles. The signal officer of both SPOBS and USAFBI was Colonel Matejka.3 Matejka's energetic efforts established the Signal Corps as "probably the first of the technical services to acquire
practical working experience in the United Kingdom."4 Seven days after his arrival in late May 1941, Colonel Matejka conferred with Col. Courtenay W. Fladgate, Deputy Director Signals, British War Ministry, and inaugurated a cooperative relationship that proved to be exceedingly valuable.5 In the months that followed, Matejka visited various British communications installations and the General Post Office (GPO) Telecommunications Division, which controlled telegraph and telephone facilities in England; arranged details for the accommodation of Electronics Training Group (ETG) students from the United States to be trained in British schools and installations; and made many valuable contacts with British officers and officials.6 By the time the United States entered the war, the Signal Corps had already established informal relationships and working arrangements with the British that paid handsome dividends later.
Invasion Plans and Preparations
The Signal Service, ETOUSA SOS
ETOUSA was the top American headquarters in the theater, but it occupied a peculiar position as almost purely administrative and supply headquarters. Throughout 1942 and 1943 its functions and those of the theater Services of Supply were difficult to separate or define. Under a succession of arrangements, Brig. Gen. William S. Rumbough doubled as the theater's chief signal officer on the special staff of the theater commander and as SOS chief signal officer on the special staff of Maj. Gen. John C. H. Lee, theater SOS commander. After the establishment early in 1944 of SHAEF as the Allied command responsible for directing operations, the ETOUSA and SOS staffs were combined on 17 January into a single ETOUSA SOS staff serving under General Lee. The ETOUSA SOS organization was the one US
organization not under the command control of SHAEF, though it remained under General Eisenhower as US theater commander. While the theater chiefs of services remained available to the theater commander for direct consultation, they were specifically placed under the supervision of General Lee in his capacity as deputy theater commander for supply and administration as well as commanding general of SOS.7 The complicated command structure in the theater left the theater responsibilities of the chief signal officer clear and unchanged through the various reorganizations, but it did create problems as to the precise manner and exact channels for accomplishing his mission.8
Essentially, the mission of the chief signal officer in the ETO was to provide communications for the Army while the buildup was in progress, to supply signal equipment for all the installations and headquarters and for the troops of the invading army, to arrange for the equipment required for fixed signal installations on the Continent in the wake of the invasion, and to keep replenishing the supply of signal equipment throughout the period of operation.9 Stated thus, it constituted a large order. Yet this outline of the mission does not begin to suggest the complexities and problems with which Rumbough contended throughout the campaign.
General Rumbough and his initial staff arrived in England in June 1942, when ETOUSA was first activated.10 Since the chiefs of the technical services were to operate under the Commanding General, SOS, General Rumbough moved to Cheltenham when General Lee established SOS headquarters there in July. Matejka remained in London as the Signal Corps representative at the theater headquarters.11 When Matejka became chief signal officer of AFHQ in North Africa late in 1942, Col. Reginald P. Lyman took over the London office, serving in that capacity until he became signal officer of the newly organized 1st United States Army Group (FUSAG) in October 1943- Meanwhile General Rumbough and his staff at Cheltenham were free to concentrate upon the important SOS matters incident to the troop buildup in the United Kingdom: signal supply, provision of communications for incoming troops and for SOS and other US headquarters installations, and signal plans and training for American units, which were beginning to arrive in considerable numbers. This organizational arrangement lasted until 21 March 1943, when the signal sections of Headquarters, ETO, and Headquarters, SOS, were merged.12
Even then, Rumbough maintained offices both in London and at Cheltenham-offices designated as the Basic Planning Echelon and the Operations Echelon, respectively. The senior officer in each echelon, Colonel Lyman in London and Col. Alfred M. Shearer at Cheltenham, served as deputy chief signal
officers.13 On 1 April General Rumbough transferred his principal office from Cheltenham to London and in October concentrated in London all signal duties except supply and administrative responsibilities primarily associated with U.K. operations. In July Colonel Shearer became deputy chief signal officer for ETOUSA and SOS, a position he held until the war in Europe ended.14 The final organizational rearrangement in January 194415 simplified the channels of command for all the technical service chiefs, including the chief signal officer.16
The SOS headquarters organization in Europe followed the headquarters pattern in Washington. The United Kingdom was divided into zones for the receipt of cargo and into base sections for administration. The base sections, roughly comparable to the old corps areas in the zone of interior, possessed "virtually complete control over personnel and depot operations," but the technical services chiefs retained "technical control" of their services in the base sections through representatives on the base section staffs.17 The base section commander controlled personnel and installations within his area, administered the depots, allotted space in them, and stored and issued the supplies. He was responsible also for maintenance and salvage operations. The chiefs of the services exercised their technical supervision by maintaining approved stock levels, requisitioning and purchasing the supplies, and outlining and supervising the various procedural policies.18
The American forces in England increased rapidly in the first six months of 1942. Soon their headquarters occupied not only the main portion of the building at 20 Grosvenor Square, London, in which it was housed originally, but also several other nearby buildings.19 Each required its own telephone switchboard and interconnecting trunk lines. By October 1942 American forces in the vicinity of Grosvenor Square were using four switchboards, which handled 12,000 calls per day; one-third of these required interswitchboard trunking, which seriously impaired the efficiency of the system. Meanwhile ETOUSA officers searched for new quarters for the badly overcrowded signal center. The subbasement of the Selfridge department store annex, a nearly bombproof steel and concrete structure on Duke Street, offered enough space to accommodate both the Army and the Navy communications centers. Nearly bombproof in this case meant safe from anything but a direct bomb hit. On 19 December the signal center moved to the Duke Street location. About the same time that construction started on the Duke Street center (with a new central switchboard among other refinements) , the British Government offered a section of a public air raid shelter that was nearing completion.
The shelter, a series of tunnels one hundred feet under the Goodge Street underground station, offered a completely bombproof location. Here the British GPO and the Signal Service, ETOUSA, installed an emergency communications center, housing Army and Navy message centers and equipment rooms, the GPO radio, the British code room, and an emergency switchboard. The center was completed in March 1943.20
The signal center and the entire communications system serving the various United States Army headquarters grew to amazing proportions. The Signal Service, ETOUSA, made use of the existing British communications system as much as possible. The British GPO also furnished large quantities of telephone and teletypewriter materials. By D-day, 980 telephone switchboards and 15 teletypewriter switchboards served the various headquarters in the British Isles. The telephone switchboards had more than 1,200 positions. That is to say, more than 1,200 telephone operators sat at the 980 boards, endlessly plugging and unplugging the connections to 32,000 telephones. The same number of telephones could service an American city the size of prewar Spokane, Albany, Duluth, or Chattanooga. An average of 8,500,000 calls a month went over the system.21 A network Of 300 teletypewriter machines connected US installations in England, Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland.
Extensive as the wire system was, a few well-placed bombs or a bit of careful sabotage might well have created havoc. To guard against such a contingency, the Signal Service installed emergency radio nets. The stations, though labeled emergency, operated constantly since, had they been left inactive until an emergency arose, their sudden appearance on the air would have told the enemy that a communications emergency did indeed exist. The stations were therefore on the air all the time, and, except for persons with a reason to know, none could tell whether the messages transmitted were real or dummy traffic.22
Many messages are too bulky, too secret, or of a nature that makes it physically impossible to transmit them by electrical means. For these, the Signal Service, ETOUSA, organized and operated a GHQ messenger service. It began in 1942 when a few men with several small trucks organized a local delivery service. Within a year the duty required the services of the whole 979th Motor Messenger Company. By train, motor vehicle, boat, and airplane, the messengers hurried about, traveling as many as 375,000 miles monthly to the ports, the base commands, and the many headquarters. In May 1944, on the eve of the invasion, the messenger service carried 2,904,298 messages.23
To broadcast entertainment and educational programs to the American troops in the United Kingdom, the Signal Service installed a network of fifty low-powered transmitting stations. Operated by the Special Services Division and the Office of War Information (OWI), this American Forces Network supplied the troops with a steady diet of music and information.24
As the invasion date drew near, ETOUSA signalmen rushed additional radio facilities to completion to serve the needs of the tactical forces. They installed a 40-kilowatt single sideband transmitter at Lingfield, Surrey, and the receiver station at Swanley Junction, Essex. These facilities provided one voice and three radioteletypewriter channels to the United States. The US terminal was operated by the Long Lines Department, American Telephone and Telegraph Company. For operation with AFHQ in Caserta, a 1-kilowatt station was constructed. Two 50-kilowatt power units were installed for use in the event of loss of commercial power. In May the Signal Corps built a central radio control room to control all radio stations within the United Kingdom. The center was equipped with broadcast and facsimile transmission facilities. Late in the month, signalmen completed antrac VHF (radio relay) stations at Middle Wallop and on the Isle of Wight. These would provide cross-Channel facilities between the US First Army on the far shore and the IX Tactical Air Command at Middle Wallop. Multichannel connections were installed to the London GHQ that would permit General Eisenhower and Field Marshal Sir Bernard L. Montgomery to speak directly to Headquarters, First US Army (FUSA) , in France. Facsimile adapters were connected to each set of this circuit to permit the transmission and reception of reconnaissance photographs in support of FUSA. Still another radio station, one of 3 kilowatts, was built to provide high-speed International Morse, facsimile, and broadcast facilities to the Continent.25
The heavy task of providing signal equipment for all the using units in the ETO fell to the Supply Division, ETOUSA. This division, through its various branches, planned the ETO signal supply program; received, stored, accounted for, issued, and shipped or delivered all signal property in the United Kingdom (except certain Air Forces items and photographic supplies) ; installed, maintained, repaired, and salvaged signal equipment; and procured or purchased signal items furnished by Allied governments through the reciprocal aid program in the European area.26
The story of the Supply Division's struggles to fulfill its mission is one of "trial, hard work, and constant perseverance."27 From the first small group of supply officers who journeyed from London to Cheltenham in July 1942 to put the signal supply service into operation, all but one man went to Africa in the winter of 1942 or moved up to key positions on the signal staff or in the base sections.28 Before July 1942, the only
signal depot in the theater had been the one at Carrickfergus, Northern Ireland, operated by the 203d Signal Depot Company.29 That month five new signal depots opened. The 204th Signal Depot Company, spread thin, operated all of them until 1943, when the 208th and 216th Signal Depot Companies arrived in the theater to share the work.30 By December 1943 the Signal Corps had eleven depots-nine were section depots and two were branch depots.
There were signal sections at G-16, Wem, midway between Birmingham and Liverpool; at G-18, Sudbury, northwest of Birmingham; G-22, Moretonon-Lugg, 30 miles northwest of Gloucester; G-25, Ashchurch, 8 miles north of Cheltenham; G-40, Barry, 7 miles southwest of Cardiff; G-45, Thatcham, southwest of Reading; G-47, Westbury, 21 miles southeast of Bristol; and G-50, Taunton, 45 miles southwest of Bristol. G-55, Lockerly (Salisbury) , was added to the list soon after the first of the year. The two branch depots were S-800, Bury St. Edmonds, 27 miles northwest of Ipswich; and S-810, Crossgar, 18 miles southeast of Belfast, Northern Ireland.31
Still another signal depot activity embraced the base repair shop at Depot O-640, the main Ordnance depot at Tidworth, which installed radio sets in tanks and armored vehicles. In December 1943, the Signal Corps set up a storage and issue section at Tidworth to work more closely with Ordnance. Ordnance allotted the Signal Corps 30,000 square feet of space to store and issue the vehicular radio sets. All together, the Signal Corps by early 1944 had 600,000 square feet of covered storage space, almost l,000,000 square feet of open space, and was handling approximately 2,500 tons of signal equipment and supplies each week.32
As in the United States, the signal depots in the United Kingdom specialized to some extent. For example, Sudbury handled common items of signal equipment for the AAF; Wem and Barry stockpiled operational supplies; Moreton-on-Lugg stored and distributed bulk table of basic allowances (T/BA) equipment shipped in advance of troops; and Thatcham stored project equipment for fixed installations, such as pole line equipment, radio plants, and communications systems.33
Until May 1943, troops and equipment were shipped to the theater at the same time, organizational equipment being force marked. This arrangement was never popular with supply men. Troops sailed on transports; equipment was loaded on slower cargo vessels. Thus the time and place of arrivals of troops and equipment varied widely, and marrying up the troops and their organizational equipment meant expending an inordinate
amount of time and effort.34 Sometimes the delay was so great that equipment marked for one unit had to be given to another unit in order to avoid loss of valuable training time. At times some units received two issues while others got none. In any case, since the Signal Corps did not handle directly the organizational equipment records for the various units, it became virtually impossible for the Signal Supply Division to ascertain at all times just what items were in the theater, which units had their organizational equipment, and what items a unit needed to complete its equipment list.35
In mid-May 1943, the entire supply picture brightened with the introduction of the "bulk shipment" plan.36 Under the new system, organizational equipment was shipped in bulk a month in advance of the troops for whom it was intended, according to the over-all troop basis for the period. In general the new plan worked very well. The base section signal officer was alerted ahead of time as to just which units were coming, the date of their arrival, and where they would be stationed. When a unit's advance party arrived, each signal officer received requisitions showing him just where to go to collect the equipment for his unit. Ideally, by the time a division had been in England a week, it would have 90 percent of its equipment, and in two or three weeks it would have 98 percent of it, all that it was likely to receive since there were always on Signal Corps tables a few items of newly developed equipment that had not yet been manufactured.37
Throughout the war, in nearly every theater, signal supply officers complained bitterly about the War Department policy permitting newly standardized items to appear on TOE'S months before they were actually available even in limited quantities. The Signal Corps tried to overcome the irritating problem by keeping the overseas commands informed in advance as to just what new items were planned and when they would be available.38 In the ETO, theater instructions specified that newly standardized items should not be requisitioned or reported as shortages, but the ruling was almost impossible to enforce and still more difficult to explain to the various G-4's. The most plausible explanation for including such items in the first place was the requirement that they must be listed on current TOE'S before funds could be obligated to procure the items.39
Although the advance shipment plan simplified supply distribution, for a time it operated to deplete the meager maintenance stocks in the United Kingdom. Stocks were just beginning to recover from the inroads made to fill equipment shortages for units destined for North Africa in late 1942. In September 1943 a theater cable to Washington warned that, of all equipment in the ETO, Signal Corps items were the most critical
since they were not arriving in accordance with the shipment plan contemplated by the War Department, and depot stocks were virtually exhausted.40
Meanwhile, in the zone of interior the commanding general of the Air Service Command (ASC) at Patterson Field, Ohio, charged that large stocks of Signal Corps ground equipment had been built up in the United Kingdom and that issues of ground signal equipment items for units ordered into the United Kingdom ought to be greatly reduced. He added that such a reduction would permit the Signal Corps to catch up on the production of critical items that were behind schedule.41 Presumably he had in mind production of signal items for the Army Air Forces.
The Chief Signal Officer at once sent two officers, Col. Byron A. Falk and Lt. Col. Caleb Orr, to the ETO to make a firsthand survey.42 Falk and Orr spent three months checking depot stocks, records, and methods. Their survey covered controlled and critical items used by the AGF and the AAF as well as other important classes of items in short supply in the theater. The officers also visited troop units, both air and ground, to find out what signal items the troops had. Their findings indicated that the theater records were accurate, the back-order system excellent, and the requirements correctly computed. In fact, Orr reported that the system of record keeping in the ETO was better than that of any supply system he had surveyed in the United States. Yet the records of the New York Port of Embarkation (NYPOE) showed large quantities of signal material shipped to the ETO for which there was no accounting. Theater supply men blamed this almost wholly upon the diversion of supplies to North Africa. During that campaign, many ships loaded with cargo that NYPOE records showed as having been received in the British Isles, actually were diverted to North Africa in mid-voyage.43
Signal supply matters improved as a result of the Falk-Orr report. The NYPOE agreed to accept the accuracy of the theater monthly status reports and to fill requisitions without editing as quickly as material became available. Within two months, stocks on hand in the theater increased rapidly, although part of the rapid rise resulted from War Department action elevating the theater to the highest possible priority.44
"Operational project" planning received special attention during 1943 and early 1944. Operational projects provided advance procurement information months before a specific operation was mounted so that the required material could be manufactured and shipped. Ordinary tables of equipment were tailored for average situations. They did not cover such items as construction material for housing, port and dock facilities, fixed plant communications
equipment, and many other kinds of material needed in vast quantities. Procuring such special equipment took a long time, often eighteen to twenty-four months. Yet supply planning officers could not estimate the materials needed for a given operation until the operational plan was in existence, and operational planning lagged notoriously. Actually, the War Department itself did not inaugurate the operational project system until the summer of 1943.45
The Signal Service, ETOUSA, set up a Projects Division, which soon broadened its scope of activity to become the Plans Division.46 Typical Signal Corps projects included provision for all the fixed wire plant and equipment in the advanced theater of operations; material to install and maintain a communications system for railroad control in the continental operation; enough signal equipment to last from D-day through D plus 240 for the Corps of Engineers, for the Chemical Warfare Service, for the Ordnance Department, and for the Army Air Forces; radio equipment for the signal intelligence service network; a pool of 1,000 FM SCR-610 radios as insurance against enemy AM jamming during the assault phase; and many others. Operational projects provided (over and above T/BA allotments) thousands of miles of assault wire; public address systems for beach operations; waterproof bags for vehicular and portable radio sets; teletypewriters by the hundreds; package-type carrier telephone apparatus; a whole wire communication system for the Tactical Air Force; mine detectors; cryptographic material; telephone central-office sets for six major signal centers; complete radio stations; and stockpiles of many, many other things.47
Special jobs fell to the Chief Signal Officer, ETOUSA. Many of them, such as the operation of the photographic service, were very important. Combat photography, one of the more glamorous duties, was only one phase of the photographic mission. The Army Pictorial Division, established in the theater headquarters in June 1942, soon grew to a size comparable to many independent agencies. It operated service laboratories, a supply section, a motor pool, a carpenter shop, a camera maintenance and repair shop, training facilities, a photographic news bureau, base section training film libraries, and other special services. During the two years of preparation for the invasion, the Army Pictorial Division turned Out 85,000 negatives and 1,300,000 still picture prints. It also found, to its dismay, that the US Army was filled with amateur photographers, whose pictures all had to be censored to be sure that they did not innocently reveal military secrets. To accomplish the censoring job, the Army Pictorial Division perforce had to process the films. By April 1944 the Signal Corps, in an average week, was processing 7,000 rolls of amateur film and making 70,000 prints. V-mail, too, was a Signal Corps responsibility or, rather, that portion of it that required photographic service. The Signal Corps used the British Kodak plant to capacity and processed the surplus itself. By D-day the volume of outgoing V-mail letters rose to 13,000,000 monthly. Approximately
transmitter in England.
the same number was received in the theater.48
ETOUSA's signal responsibilities ranged over such divergent matters as exercising operational control of signal intelligence and reworking the electrical systems of jeeps to make it possible for the military police to install two-way radios. This last was a vital necessity in a London jam-packed with pleasure-bent American GI's on passes. ETOUSA's personnel included crystal-grinding teams to grind the millions of crystals needed for the thousands of radio sets stockpiled for the invasion and Wacs to take charge of many communications duties. General Rumbough wanted Wacs even if getting them meant cutting down on the number of enlisted men available for signal duty in the theater.49 The Signal Corps arranged for pigeons (53 lofts, 4,500 pigeons, furnished by the British) and for floating telephone poles to the Continent; it was also concerned with the supply of batteries to the armies, and with the supply of spare parts.50
The Signal Division, SHAEF
By early 1943, signal officers on the staffs of various organizations already in the theater-ETOUSA, Naval Forces in Europe (COMNAVEU), and the British Admiralty, War Office, and Air Ministry-had already done a great deal of valuable spadework.51 A plan had been developed for the full use of communications facilities existing within the United Kingdom. For example, communications posts and radio stations had been built along the southern coast of England as part of the British Defense Telecommunications Network (DTN).52 Thus, a good deal of preliminary signal planning was already under way by 26 April 1943 when a combined British and American staff charged with framing a basic plan for the invasion began work at Norfolk House in St. James Square, London, under the Chief of Staff to the Supreme Allied Commander.
General Eisenhower was appointed Supreme Commander on 14 January 1944, and COSSAC became Supreme Headquarters, Allied Expeditionary Force. A British signal officer, Maj. Gen. C. H. H. Vulliamy, headed the SHAEF Signal Division. His deputy was Brig. Gen. Francis H. Lanahan, Jr., of the US Army Signal Corps. Roughly half of the division personnel were British and half were American.53 Similarly, the signal units that provided the communications for SHAEF were divided between the two allies. The 5th Headquarters Signals was British; the 3118th Signal Service Battalion, American. For the important message center duty with the 3118th, the Theaters Branch of the OCSigO in Washington selected experienced men from the 17th Signal Service Company, the unit that operated the War Department's own message center in the Pentagon.54
From 11 August 1943 until General Vulliamy arrived on 26 October, General Lanahan acted as the Chief Signal Officer, SHAEF. Lanahan would in fact become the Chief Signal Officer, SHAEF, in March 1945, when Vulliamy departed for India. Lanahan had already organized the Signal Division, which by early 1944 included many prominent Signal Corps officers.55 The Signal Division was made up of British and American Army officers only, there being too few competent communications planning officers on the Air and Navy staffs, either British or American, to spare any for full-time work with the SHAEF Signal Division. Yet the signal plan for the invasion had to be fully coordinated among the services; indeed, it had to be coordinated as no other signal scheme had ever been. A multitude of items of organization and procedure awaited clarification. "Communications by their very nature cannot be kept in water-tight compartments, and act independently within each service."56 The Combined Signal Board (CSB) was set up in October 1943 to accomplish the necessary high-level coordination. With General Vulliamy serving as the chairman, the board brought together signal officers of the Allied navies, the Allied air forces, ETOUSA, the 21 Army Group, and 1st Army Group.57 The CSB did, in fact,
provide a satisfactory solution. General Lanahan described it as outstanding for its "spirit of cooperation and willingness to compromise."58
Communications for SHAEF, both for its own headquarters and for connections to other commands, soon consumed enormous facilities, taking over telephone and telegraph circuits of the General Post Office and adding new circuits, especially radio to Washington. One of the main problems, when telegraph and telephone requirements first came under consideration in August 1943, was to find a bombproof site large enough to accommodate the SHAEF signal center. The British Air Ministry agreed to provide underground accommodations, and considerable work was done at the site before the Air Ministry reversed its decision. Wire facilities serving Headquarters, ETOUSA, were already installed in the south end of a tunnel of the underground railway station at Goodge Street, and the SHAEF signal center found a home in the north end of the tunnel. The GPO installed a 16-position switchboard, four positions of which were modified for use as a cross-Channel VHF radio switchboard, and a 70-line teleprinter switchboard connected to various headquarters and service organizations.59
SHAEF grew so fast that not all of its staff could be accommodated at Norfolk House. By January 1944, part of the Signal Division spilled over into a makeshift building at Portland Court, twenty minutes away, and for a time signal planning suffered because of the separation of that staff. Resumption of German bombings in late winter forced SHAEF to move out of London altogether. The new location at Bushy Park, Teddington, near Hampton Court, on the southwest edge of greater London, brought all the Signal Division together again in March.60 Bushy Park was already headquarters for the US Eighth Air Force, which made its switchboard (code name WIDEWING) available to SHAEF until other facilities could be installed. The WIDEWING camp grew "incredibly quickly, using collapsible hutting which they [the Americans] seemed to be able to fit together to provide any size or shape of building required," commented Brigadier Lionel H. Harris, a British member of the Signal Division and chief of its Telecommunications Section.61 He added that the signal offices were more substantial and better protected from blast, a fortunate circumstance since otherwise they would have been flattened instead of merely bent, later on, by the near miss of a flying bomb.
SHAEF telephone facilities at Bushy Park at first were a 20-position board. By May the 20 operators had increased to 30. There were 24 teleprinters. Additional line facilities connected wireless links that could be brought under remote control either from the Goodge Street North signal center or from Bushy Park. A conference telephone system served the meteorological staffs of the combined services-the British Admiralty, the Air Ministry, the Allied Naval Expeditionary Force, Allied Expeditionary Air Force (AEAF), and SHAEF-by way of the Goodge Street center. Private wires connected the SHAEF
War Room with each of the British and American air forces.62
SHAEF was plentifully supplied with radio facilities. They included the use of existing War Office, Air Ministry, and Admiralty circuits to Algiers and GPO channels to Washington.63 Manual and automatic wireless rooms were installed both at the Bushy Park and Goodge Street North signal centers. There were transmitting stations at Lingfield and Wimbledon Common, and a receiving station at Eyenesford, south of London, with remote control lines terminating at Goodge Street North. Emergency control facilities at the signal centers at Goodge Street South (the emergency signal center for ETOUSA) and at Duke Street (the normal signal center for ETOUSA) gave assurance that SHAEF stations could be controlled from these centers if necessary.64 Radioteletypewriter and radiotelephone circuits from SHAEF to AFHQ at Algiers and a radioteletypewriter circuit from SHAEF to AFHQ at Caserta opened shortly before D-day. The US Strategic Air Force already had in use a radioteletypewriter conference system that enabled typed conferences to be held with Washington and with Algiers, and the system was made available to SHAEF. Traffic facilities for the press were also readied before D-day.65
Some of the more important decisions of the CSB standardized the time basis and time expressions in messages throughout the theater; ordained a simple single-call procedure , for all ground force radio communications; established telephone priorities; assigned cross-Channel cable and VHF radio circuits; and allocated radio frequencies. Time after time the members met to deal with problems concerning wire and cable, radio and radar, siting procedures, security and countermeasures, radio ships and cable ships, air and boat messenger service, codes and ciphers, air warnings, signal troops, training, communications for the assault forces, for the navies, for the air fleets, and for the press, speech scramblers for telephone talk, and much more besides.66 Fortunately, by then a great fund of information had accumulated from experience in operations in North Africa, Sicily, Italy, and on the islands of the Pacific. In retrospect, signal planners were describing North Africa as "a small dress rehearsal for the great undertaking that was to follow."67 The scale of communications , for OVERLORD was perhaps twenty-five times greater than it had been for TORCH.
Of the many tasks confronting the signal planners, the most difficult was to evolve a workable plan of frequency allocation. It is never easy to develop an effective system to meet the needs of a large force-naval, air, ground, and service-in a combined operation. The difficulties multiply when several nations are concerned, for there are differences in types of transmission and frequency bands of the transmitters to consider. A minor mitigation in OVERLORD lay in the
fact that the two nations involved spoke a common language and employed common procedures. An existing British system furnished the basis for the plan ultimately adopted.68
Invasion plans called for a concentration of about 90,000 transmitters within a limited area of land, sea, and sky. Complicating the allocation problem further were the rapidly increasing numbers of new radar devices, the many radios and radars used by the bombing and fighter defense forces, the powerful radio and radar jamming transmitters, and the radio and radar navigational aids of both air and sea craft. The CSB set aside the frequencies that the British Government required to meet its minimum needs, earmarked certain other frequencies serving essential war purposes, and then allotted frequencies in blocks based upon a study of bids submitted by the prospective users.69 As expected, the using forces bid for several times as many frequencies as were available. The frequencies most in demand lay in the crowded high-frequency bands. In fact, the Radio Frequency Committee of the CSB received Moo requests for channels between 1.5 and 8 megacycles from the 6 major services and from no less than 2; contributing agencies, including the press and psychological warfare. The frequencies between 2 and 8 megacycles were overbid 400 percent, and in the 2- to 5-megacycle band the bids amounted to seven times the number the spectrum could provide.70 Working out a means of providing thousands of frequency packets, or channels, within tight limits without chaotic interference was a feat bordering upon the impossible. Brigadier Harris described the job as "rather like taking two selected octaves of a piano and putting in as many notes as was possible, without adjacent ones being so closely alike as to be indistinguishable."71 General Lanahan, too, fell back on musical comparisons-frequency allocation, he said, would yield either orchestration in the air, or cacophony. "We were attempting to assemble the greatest ether orchestra in history, and the planning would determine whether the orchestra produced music and messages, or chaos and confusion."72
If the plan were to work, all commands would have to practice maximum economy in sharing their frequencies and in employing only the minimum power output at the transmitters. By December 1943 the Radio Frequency Committee of the CSB had agreed upon a tentative allocation, and the grinding of the necessary myriads of crystals began. But by February 1944 it became apparent that the AEAF required more frequencies. Over the strenuous objection of General Vulliamy and the signal staff,73 the committee took frequencies from the ground forces and reduced the already narrow separation of channels in the 1- to 5-megacycle band from five
kilocycles to four. That meant grinding more crystals, and on extremely short notice, for it was 10 May when the revised frequency allocation list was issued. But in this specialty the Signal Corps had become proficient, even to the point where what had once been a most exacting laboratory technique was now transported into the field, and mobile crystal grinding teams were at hand. The task of providing crystals by the thousands, meticulously prepared, emphasized the one drawback to their use. Nevertheless, the American decision to use crystal-controlled mobile FM radio greatly simplified the job of frequency control in the jam-packed spectrum of sky over Europe from D-day on.
By D-day the Signal Division of SHAEF had laboriously turned out twenty-one signal instructions, section by section, complete with appendixes, charts, maps, and equipment lists galore.74 The signal instructions assigned responsibilities and laid down policies in general and in detail. Codes and ciphers furnished one example. The Combined Assault Code was to be used for all messages between headquarters engaged in an initial landing operation; the Combined Field Code, for all combined traffic where no other combined cipher was held; the Combined Strip Cipher, to supplement the Combined Cipher Machine. However, for the great bulk of heavy headquarters traffic, the Combined Cipher Machine system would assure secrecy on teletypewriter circuits, whether wire or radio. There were also joint and intraservice codes and ciphers, special purpose codes and ciphers (a radiotelephone code called Slidex, a map reference code, an air support control code, an air warning code, and so on) with rules for their use, together with many details on their security and on action to be taken if a system were compromised.
The now universally employed cipher machines, both British and American, formed the basis of the cipher systems of the Allies.75 The traffic loads, totaling astronomical numbers of words or 5-letter cipher groups, could have been dispatched efficiently in no other way. In the weeks just before the invasion, ETOUSA headquarters traffic climbed to a daily average of from 1.5 million to 2 million groups.76 Such a mass of words could not have been enciphered and deciphered by hand, by cryptographic clerks converting letter by letter using such slow, arduous devices as strip boards, unless great delay could be tolerated and unless very large numbers of message center personnel could be provided. Of course neither could the one be tolerated nor the other provided. The automatic cipher machine was the solution. Moreover, it was much more secure, as well as mechanically precise. The German Radio Intelligence Service-the counterpart of the US Signal Intelligence Service-admitted, after prolonged efforts to crack the Allied machine cipher systems, that they were unbreakable. German cryptanalysts succeeded, of course, in breaking many less secure systems, such as the Haglin, or M-209, though the individual
intercepts could generally not be read for some hours or days, quite enough time when temporary concealment was all the Allies expected. The Slidex code had been broken soon after the Germans first intercepted the traffic during maneuvers in southern England in March 1944.77
Speed and mass were the key words in the Army message centers in those greatest of all signal preparations to date. Mass communication was in fact the goal, commensurate with the total wars of the 20th century. The Allies readied huge quantities of short- and medium-range radio sets, of wire-line stores for combat use by battalions, companies, and platoons. There were tens of thousands of sets waterproofed, their batteries fresh and fully charged; hundreds of thousands of miles of assault and field wire, enough for the 5 divisions by land and the 3 by air in the D-day assault, enough for the 16 divisions that would be in Normandy within five days, enough for the million men who would be ashore in three weeks, enough and plenty to spare for the losses in battle.78 But the focus of SHAEF signal planning centered on the massive traffic loads of the headquarters-the millions of words telephoned and teletyped, whether by wire or by radio, or by both integrated into one system-accomplished even in the fleeting conditions of a military camp and as handily as in the well-established civilian communications system of a large modern metropolis.
Large armies on Normandy beachheads would require heavy duty communications lines back to England, and that meant, traditionally, submarine cable, and now more recently, radio channels in VHF. There were also, of course, numbers of Morse HF radio stations set up for headquarters use, but each station provided only one channel. Multichannel facilities had to be obtained The British provided cable and cable ships and also most of the initial supply of VHF radio. A number of British AM multichannel VHF systems were readied on the Isle of Wight to link up with companion sets whose crews followed hard upon the assault troops to the high ground beyond the GOLD and JUNO Beaches. Meanwhile, British cable ships stood by to unreel their coils between Southbourne and the Normandy beach near Longues as soon as the enemy could be pushed back and the sea lanes swept free of mines.79
A very important contribution to SHAEF signal planning derived from the signal staffs of the US 1st Army Group and the British 21 Army Group. FUSAG was organized in October 1943.80 Its signal officer was Colonel Lyman until April 1944, when Col. Garland
C. Black was assigned.81 Since FUSAG was expected to remain nonoperational until enough American forces reached the Continent to put an additional American field army into operation, the principal planning burden for the early stages of the invasion actually rested with the US First Army. A battle-hardened group of thirty-eight officers, drawn from the old II Corps of the North African campaign, comprised the heart of the FUSA staff. Among them was the hard-driving signal officer, Colonel Williams.82 In the winter of 1943-44 Colonel Williams learned during a visit from General Colton, chief of research and development activities in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer in Washington, that the new FM multichannel radio relay, or antrac, system was ready.83
This was exciting news. Colonel Williams of course was familiar with the radio relay that the Signal Corps had used earlier in the Mediterranean operations. That nonstandard equipment, improvised from Motorola FM police radios, had provided only a single circuit. The Signal Corps' new AN/TRC-3 and 4 sets provided for speech circuits or four teletypewriter circuits for each speech channel as desired. The new sets could also transmit pictures and sketches by means of facsimile equipment and could be connected directly into the telephone and teletypewriter circuits at either end.84
With General Bradley's quick authorization, Colonel Williams immediately requisitioned all the antrac equipment that the Signal Corps could have ready by mid-1944: about twenty-one 100 mile radio carrier systems, each consisting of 2 terminal sets and 3 intermediate relay sets to be placed 25 miles apart, plus 100-percent backup spares. He hoped to use the antrac to parallel his wire systems from First Army to rear echelon, to each corps, to lateral armies, and to the air support command.85
In March 1944 the Signal Corps shipped several complete 100-mile ANA TRC-1, 3, and 4 systems, with spare parts and auxiliary operating components, to the United Kingdom. No one in the theater knew how to assemble or operate the sets. The 980th Signal Service Company, specially trained on antrac equipment in the United States, had
not yet arrived in the ETO. In April the Signal Corps dispatched two of its civilian laboratory engineers as technical observers to introduce the equipment in the theater, help install it, and train operators for it. "Observers" was a misnomer. Amory H. Waite and Victor J. Colaguori, assigned to the Technical Liaison Division of the Chief Signal Officer, ETOUSA, at once went to work under Colonel Williams and his supply officer, Lt. Col. Elmer L. Littell.86
First Waite and Colaguori had to find the sets. Several had gone to the bottom en route. The remaining sets, in lots of 188 boxes per set, were scattered in various supply dumps and warehouses from London to Wales. Once the sets were located, the engineers began assembling them and instructing officers and men in their use, which was complex, demanding a knowledge of carrier telephone and telegraph principles as well as those of VHF radio. Day and night the components of antraccarrier terminals, both telephone and telegraph, facsimile, VHF antennas, coaxial cable, and power supplies-were their meat and drink. Waite and Colaguori worked ceaselessly with the 175th Signal Repair Company's officers and men (Capt. Herman E. Gabel, 1st Lts. Haynes and Keremetsis, T/Sgts. Richard Fullerton and George Wright, and others) who volunteered their time every night after the daily routine of the signal repair company to work till three or four in the morning. When the equipment assemblage of the first system was completed, Waite and Colaguori gave short training courses to men of the 17th Signal Operations Battalion, FUSA, and to signalmen of FUSA's V, VII, and XIX Corps, demonstrating and giving detailed instruction to officers and men who soon would be depending upon it to a degree few communications men had hitherto dreamed.87
As the invasion date drew near, First Army's G-2 sought Colonel Williams' advice on the problem of getting aerial reconnaissance photographs from the beach to the headquarters of the IX Tactical Air Command at Middle Wallop, England, to help the airmen flying support missions.88 The signal officer of the IX Tactical Air Command was Colonel Garland, with whom General Rumbough bracketed Colonel Williams for credit in inaugurating antrac in the
ETO. Williams had been assigned a squadron of twenty-one light liaison aircraft for messenger work, but they could not be equipped with IFF (identification, friend or foe) radar recognition equipment, and without it Williams was afraid to let them fly the English Channel. Antrac, of course, could transmit facsimile pictures. But would the radiations, planned only for 25-mile jumps, be able to span the eighty-three miles to the far shore? Waite said he believed they could. One facsimile channel and an emergency circuit into Combined Headquarters at Portsmouth would suffice at first, to be followed by multichannel operation as soon as possible.
With a deadline of four hours in which to draft complete plans for the installation and get the project under way, engineers from ETOUSA's Technical Liaison and Communications Divisions met on the Isle of Wight with British officers from the Royal Corps of Signals to pick a site. Waite and Colaguori feared that the signal might fade somewhat, since line-of-sight to the Normandy shore was not possible. The radiations would have to bend considerably over the curvature of the earth, even though the installations would be on high ground. The civilian engineers had made tests over a longer path in a comparable location in Maine with excellent results, but the fact that this circuit was to be General Eisenhower's only telephone link to FUSA made careful decisions necessary. One terminal set they placed on a hill near Middle Wallop. The pivotal relay assemblage was readied for St. Catherine's Hill on the Isle of Wight, with one receiver-transmitter pair facing north toward Middle Wallop, the other pair facing southeast toward France.89
In his supply planning, Colonel Williams asked for a much greater quantity of signal items than the usual "type" field army would require. The initial assault into Normandy would be made without the benefit of the normal army supply system installations close in the rear; for weeks First Army might have to depend on the supplies it carried with it. In any event, Williams had learned in Sicily that a campaign in which a rapid breakout developed swallowed up signal supplies at a rate enormously greater than War Department calculations allowed.90
Washington supply officers were in fact appalled at First Army's signal list, not so much by the quantity as by the nature of the items requested. Almost all were in short supply. For example, from one list of 70 items, 29 were in the "critical" category, 9 were "most critical," and 12 were "practically nonexistent." Eventually Williams got most of what he asked for. First Army's signal equipment ran to 4,400 tons, whereas US armies following in First Army's wake used about 3,300 tons.91
Signal Corps troops for the invasion constituted, all in all, the largest gathering of signalmen yet assembled for combat. FUSA's Signal Corps men alone totaled 13,420 men, including three joint assault signal companies (JASCO's) , the recently devised units containing both Army and Navy
communicators.92 Besides these troops, the FUSA list included 11 division signal companies, 2 of them airborne and 2 serving with armored divisions; 3 signal battalions; a signal operations battalion and a signal operations company; 3 construction battalions and 2 separate construction companies; a photographic company; a repair company; a depot company; a radio intelligence company; a pigeon company; and a number of smaller detachments, some American and some British.93 Among these were traffic analysis units, an air liaison squadron, a signal intelligence supply unit, and an enemy equipment intelligence service (EEIS) detachment.94 In addition, the troop list included three companies designated as signal service companies that actually were special units to perform signal intelligence functions at corps level. These troops Colonel Williams asked for because his North African and Sicilian experience had convinced him of the urgent need for them, even though War Department tables did not provide for such units. He received them only after "endless wrangling and arguing."95
As the vessels bearing thousands of Allied troops moved out into the channel on the night of 5-6 June 1944, complete radio silence blanketed the armada. While the ships proceeded in darkness over the sea, huge air fleets of the troop carrier commands flew in the inky blackness overhead. But the blackness was as daylight to the eyes of radar. An American microwave early warning (MEW) radar at Start Point in Devon viewed the whole panorama of the invasion through the night.96
Radar for the Airborne Assault
From the electronics point of view, the assault of the 82d and 101st Airborne Divisions in advance of the VII Corps landings on UTAH Beach was very successful.97 This was true even though many of the paratroopers were widely scattered in the drops. The mishaps resulted from circumstances having nothing
to do with the electronic devices employed; all performed well.
Five and one-half hours before the beach assault began, a score of Pathfinder planes from the IX Troop Carrier Command flew to Normandy guided by British Gee navigational aids and using ASV (air-to-surface vessel) radars, such as the SCR-717, to scan the terrain below.98 Aboard the Pathfinders were paratroopers carrying Eureka beacons, AN/PPN-1, and signal lights to mark the designated drop zones to guide the troop carriers that would come after them. Cloud and fog obscured the landscape; not even the trained Pathfinders could locate all of the exact areas chosen for the drops.99 The paratroopers drifted to earth in the Normandy fields and orchards, set out the light signals, and switched on their Eurekas. In two zones west of the Merderet River, Pathfinder teams found enemy units disturbingly near. The Americans dared show no lights; the Eurekas had to suffice.100
Half an hour later the great fleets of the Troop Carrier Command approached, their Rebeccas (AN/APN2's) interrogating and receiving pulsed responses from the Eurekas on the ground, guiding the pilots to the drop zones. Enemy flak over Normandy had dispersed the troop carriers' tight formations; the main drops were generally scattered, but the carriers hit three drop zones exactly. Of 800 planes, only 20 were lost. Of the 512 aircraft and gliders that followed in successive waves, bearing additional troops, weapons, vehicles, and medical and signal units, only 8 were lost.101 Ninety-five percent of all airborne troops dropped used information from the AN/APN-2 beacons; 25 percent dropped guided by radar alone, with no help at all from signal lights.102 Afterward the top commanders agreed that "the principal causes of the dispersed drop pattern were cloud formations, flak and faulty navigation by some of the pilots."103
Despite the fact that, to the consternation of Signal Corps supply officers and installation crews, neither maintenance parts nor test sets IE-56 had arrived in England before D-day, all the American Rebecca-Eureka radar beacons had functioned properly. They emitted their responses as the Rebecca interrogators aboard the carrier planes approached within twenty miles. Only one Rebecca failed, AAF reported. Nor did the enemy jam the sets. If he had, the Allies would have been prepared with an alternate device employing microwaves since the Pathfinder troops carried down with
them a number of the very new radar beacons, AN/UPW. These were similar to Eurekas but operated on much higher frequencies in the S, or 10 centimeter, band, which responded to the radiations of the standard AI (airborne interception) and ASV microwave radars and gave visible indication on their oscilloscopes, just as the Eurekas did for the Rebeccas at much lower frequencies. As the carrier fleets came over the ground beacons, they flew at 500 to 600 feet elevation, determined by the low-level radar altimeter, AN/APN-1, and their paratroopers chuted into the darkness with a dropping accuracy of approximately plus or minus 400 yards. All together, it was by far a much better drop than previous ventures, in Sicily for example. It was the radar devices that made the difference in Normandy.104
The first Signal Corps troops to land in France were 28 men of the 101st Airborne Signal Company, who jumped with the division headquarters group and troops of the 3d Battalion of the 501st Parachute Infantry in the early morning darkness.105 Of the 28, 21 dropped in the designated zone; the other 7, some 25 miles distant.106 The men recovered only 4 of the 27 equipment bundles dropped; in them were 2 radios. The signalmen fought as infantrymen with the elements of the 501st, who marched on Pouppeville and captured it.107
Meanwhile other signalmen of the 101st also were engaged in combat. Making their preparations for the invasion, the men had remodeled one of the powerful long-range SCR-499's, mounting it in a 1/4-ton trailer, which could be towed by a jeep.108 With the radio set crowded into one glider and the jeep into another, the men took off in the first flight of gliders from England. Four miles from the take-off point, the glider containing the jeep and its crew dropped. The other glider got away safely and landed under enemy fire. The signalmen unloaded the radio, hailed a passing jeep, and towed the set to the spot at Hiesville designated as division headquarters. They arrived while the men who had preceded them were fighting at Pouppeville. About 1800, the men got through to England with their first radio contact.109 This SCR-499 did yeoman duty on D-day and for the rest of the first week of the invasion, serving the two airborne divisions as their link to England.
The 82d Airborne Signal Company, dropping by parachute with the troops of the 82d Airborne Division at various locations in the vicinity of Ste. Mère-Eglise or coming in by glider, lost many men and much equipment. The radio section was seriously hampered-out of 6 high-powered sets sent into the combat zone, only one survived glider crash landings. Likewise, out of 13 low-powered sets brought in, only one was usable. In the first few days, a small wire platoon of 13 men struggled heroically to provide wire communications to regiments and 20-odd organizations and attached units, besides operating switchboards at division headquarters. The magnitude of the task can be measured by the fact that a wire platoon serving a 3-regiment division ordinarily numbered 94 officers and men.110
Radio Countermeasures for the Invasion
Not all the Allied radio and radar emanations on the night preceding D-day were intended to direct and coordinate the operations of the invaders. A very considerable proportion of them sought to blind or deceive the enemy's eyes of radar and to deafen or deceive his ears of radio. It was especially necessary to jam his radars-in effect, to blind him during the crucial hours before the Allies established a beachhead. German confidence in Festung Europa rested heavily upon radar sets. The enemy had erected hundreds, of a dozen types, along the coasts, especially of course along the beaches facing England from Dieppe to the tip of the Cherbourg peninsula. On one stretch the Germans had concentrated so many sets that there was one for each mile and a half of coast line.111
On the Allies' side of the Channel, radio countermeasure (RCM) plans, both to strike blind all radars in areas where the attack was coming and to create the appearance of a major attack where in fact only small deceptive forces were to operate, had long occupied the Allies. The planning required the most extensive cooperative action-British, American, Army, Navy. Through it all the Signal Corps played an important part, especially toward furnishing Signal Corps equipment, whatever the craft in which it was mounted or whatever the service responsible for operating it.112 In the RCM planning for the invasion of Normandy, the British had predominated, "in view of the greater operational experience and resources of the RAF and to a lesser extent of the RN," as a British report put it.113 American plans generally conformed to British proposals.
Jammers, both British and American, of many sizes and types, were marshaled to make utmost use of their capabilities. A thorough effort had already been made to bomb or shoot up all enemy stations, but not all the efforts of Ferret planes, photo missions, and espionage could pinpoint each of the many enemy radars for the bombers' attention. For the invasion, therefore, Allied planes and ships carrying RCM equipment sought to jam every enemy radar station that had escaped destruction. During the night before D-day, eight Royal Air Force craft and four American B-17's patrolled high over the south coast of England and the northwest French coast, operating Mandrel spot jammers (AN/APT3's) tuned to the low frequencies of the enemy search radars, blinding them so that they could not see the vast air armadas forming over England and heading toward Normandy.
At H minus 7, before the leading elements of the invasion fleet came within range of German sea search detectors ashore, Allied shipborne radar jammers were switched on to blind the German scopes. When within range of enemy artillery on the beaches, the Allied crews retuned their jammers, moving from the frequencies of German search sets to the frequencies of their gun-laying radars, so as to disrupt radar-aided artillery fire against the invading ships. According to plan, some 240 low-power sets (AN/APQ-2's, or Rugs) aboard light landing craft formed the inshore screen. Offshore, 60 medium-power RCM sets operated from mine sweepers and destroyers. At sea, aboard cruisers and battleships, 120 high-power jammers added their bit to the electronic screen.
This was the RCM onslaught, along the main front from the sea, up to H-hour itself. Thereafter, certain ships were appointed to take over RCM control, their specialized crews listening for enemy radar and directing the jamming of it, using care not to interfere with the Allies' own radars, set up by this time on the beaches to watch for enemy planes and then direct gunfire. There was little jamming from land. England was too far away, except for basing the tremendous Tuba, or ground Cigar, one of which, set up near Brighton, was prepared to transmit in the 38- to 42-megacycle band with sufficient power to jam German aircraft communications across the Channel. There were available for the same purpose some airborne Cigar sets as well. The Allies also used some airborne jammers against the German long-range search Freyas.114
The invasion RCM was not by any means wholly direct jamming along the invasion front. A very valuable portion was deceptive radar measures staged in areas where there was to be no invasion. Radar, though a most potent weapon, could not only be jammed into blinded uselessness, but, ironically, could also be converted into a dangerous liability. RCM could be made deceptive, so manipulated as to produce target indications on an enemy's scope that would lead him into thinking large attacking forces were coming where there were none. Toward this end two diversions of a few ships and aircraft equipped to
perpetrate RCM deception moved out-one from Dover toward Calais and the other from Newhaven toward Boulogne. Their jammers, together with quantities of aluminum foil (Chaff) dropped from low-flying planes, gave the impression of a huge fleet. Further plausibility was lent by a few launches towing balloons that carried radar reflectors. Some of the diversion vessels also carried sonic equipment, another electronic innovation in World War II. Sonic equipment consisted of nothing more than stentorian loud-speakers, powered by large amplifiers and made articulate by record players, whose records or recorded tape emitted sounds that gave every indication of an approaching armada. In the sky the British employed Moonshine, metal foil kitelike reflectors that, when towed or released by a few aircraft, gave a radar picture of swarms of invading warplanes. All this RCM feint worked especially well on the eastern flank, causing the enemy to fire on the fake armada and to send out E-boats on the surface and fighter planes in the air. As the German fighters circled vainly in the night sky above Calais, wasting valuable time and energy, the real invasion moved, free from air attack at least, onto the invasion beaches from SWORD to OMAHA. Thereafter, the RCM offensive did not have to be maintained as long or as intensely as planned, for enemy resistance in the realms of air and radar fast fell away.115
Communication on the Beaches
Troops of the U.S. V Corps landed on OMAHA Beach on D-day meeting the fire of the German 352d Division. Losses of equipment were heavy. The 116th Infantry lost three-quarters of its radio sets that morning, destroyed or waterlogged, and command control suffered proportionately in that sector.116 The 2d Platoon of the 294th joint Assault Signal Company landed with elements of the 37th Engineer Combat Battalion at OMAHA Beach during the first hour of the assault. These signalmen, well trained in amphibious operations, were capable of carrying more than average loads of equipment safely, but their vehicles were unloaded in deep water where they had stalled and were hit by enemy fire. Nevertheless, the men managed to get most of their hand-carried items ashore and turned them over to infantry troops and shore fire control parties that had lost their communications equipment in the fury and tumult of the landings. With the remaining wire equipment and salvaged bits of wire picked up from the beaches, the JASCO men, still under fire, set up a skeletal wire system. This was the only communications system on the beach until noon of D-day, when the 1st and 3d Platoons landed, bringing with them enough equipment to replace some of the losses suffered by the 2d Platoon. A detachment of the 293d joint Assault Signal Company, which followed the 294th ashore,
lost one-third of its vehicles and half of its radio equipment when a shell struck the landing craft while it was still 350 yards offshore. Soon after landing, the men had a wire communications net under way (their D-day mission was to provide each element of the 6th Engineer Special Brigade with communications) and had established radio contact with the 116th Regimental Combat Team (RCT) by means of an SCR-300. At UTAH Beach, where the going was easier, the 286th joint Assault Signal Company got ashore quickly and soon had wire communications functioning satisfactorily. The failure to get an SCR-193 ashore, however, left a gap in radio communication between the shore and the VII Corps' headquarters ship, the USS Bayfield, a gap the Navy fortunately plugged.117
During the initial assaults, the congestion in the water and on the beaches forced the abandonment of a plan for the JASCO's to lay field wire between headquarters ships and the troops on the beach; therefore radio became of the utmost importance.118 However, the JASCO's spread their wire networks from 500 yards to a mile along the shore of the Cotentin peninsula and extended them from 5 to 12 miles inland. The biggest problem was to connect the forces on OMAHA and UTAH Beaches, which was done initially by radio link, then by laying spiral-four cable.
The 1st Signal Company, serving the 1st Infantry Division, was divided into six main groups for separate loadings on separate ships. The first group of four officers and seventy-five men, landing at H plus go, met heavy mortar, artillery, and machine gun fire and set up its first radio sets less than five feet from the water's edge. The sets communicated successfully with the regimental headquarters ashore and the division headquarters afloat. Later, when the machine gun nests had been cleared, the wire teams began laying their lines.119
According to the signal plan, an advance detachment of the 56th Signal Battalion attached to the 1st Infantry Division was to go ashore on OMAHA Beach at noon on D-day to install and operate V Corps' headquarters communications. However, only one wire team got ashore on schedule. The men faced a formidable task, more burdensome still because the wire team of the 29th Infantry Division had also failed to get ashore. There was little to work with; constant and heavy enemy fire harassed the men. They managed to install and maintain wire communications for both divisions and the beach-three point-to-point circuits that they kept in operation with a fair degree of success. No switchboard was available until the afternoon of D plus 1 when the rest of the advance detachment finally got ashore.120
Near evening on D-day the signal
officer of the 29th Division, Lt. Col. Gordon B. Cauble, and his signal headquarters detachment landed from an LCVP (landing craft, vehicle and personnel). They carried ashore two SCR-609's. As yet no communications net had been established on the battleswept beach. The Signal Corps men of the 29th Division had been scattered aboard various vessels and were unable to follow their signal plan. Cauble and his men set up their 609's at the division command post in a rock quarry several hundred feet back from the beach. While running in a wire from a telephone line just laid on the beach, they succeeded in making radio contacts with a number of other adjacent units. "But it was D plus 2 before we really got our planned communication system established," Cauble later said. And even after they had located themselves in the cellar of a nearby chateau and after equipment and men began to accrue, communications remained a nightmare until American troops slackened the pace of their drive inland and wire lines caught up with them. "Wire communication was excellent by the fifth day," according to Cauble, "and after that, radio was not used in the higher echelons."121
At UTAH Beach, VII Corps communications lay in the capable hands of the veteran 50th Signal Battalion.122 The battalion came ashore with the early waves of infantry at H plus 90. Of the various radio, message center, and wire teams, the forward section of the message center platoon under Lt. Alexius H. McAtee probably encountered the most frustrations. Prematurely landed in water so deep that most of their equipment was washed away, the men struggled ashore through heavy shelling and began operations as best they could. Battalion message center teams processed radio messages by flashlight throughout the night and in the morning initiated a "hitch-hike" messenger service to the 1st Engineer Special Brigade, since all message center vehicles had been washed away in landing.123 Other advance elements of the 50th promptly set up radio communications for VII Corps headquarters and from corps to the 4th Infantry Division, the 82d and foist Airborne Divisions, the Ninth Air Force, and the headquarters ships lying offshore.
Soon after H-hour, British and American ground radars went ashore. The American sets were LW's (light warning) such as the SCR-602'S, SLC's (searchlight control) such as the SCR-268's, and the microwave sets such as the gun layer SCR-584.124 They later included the huge 60-ton MEW radar, one of which landed on D plus 10. On the American beaches the initial air defense system included both American and British radars-at OMAHA, for example, a British GCI (ground controlled interception radar) and LW's of the American 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion. They began landing late in the afternoon of D-day amid the litter on
the sands while mortar and small arms fire continued to wound many of the men and severely damage some of the vehicles. The men moved the equipment over the beach and into the shelter of a draw east of St. Laurent-sur-Mer. By early the next morning the 555th Signal Aircraft Warning Battalion had its LW radars on the air and was reporting aircraft.125 The few German planes that attacked the beaches found a hot and ready welcome.
All the radars were well prepared for the landings, however wild the surf and high the tide. One SCR-584 trailer van, which had failed to reach land, was discovered completely waterproof and airtight floating in the Channel. Towed to land and opened, it was found dry and ready to operate.126 The 215th Signal Depot Company dried out, repaired, and reissued another set recovered from a sunken landing craft.127
Thus, despite all obstacles, men and equipment reached the beaches and beyond. The various networks rapidly went into operation: army, corps, and division command and point-to-point radio nets; regimental combat team radioteletypewriter and wire teletypewriter nets; separate telephone, teletypewriter, and radio nets for army and corps radio intelligence companies, including circuits to the G-2 of the headquarters served, and a cross-Channel net used jointly by the army company and the Signal Intelligence Service, ETOUSA. Naval signal detachments established a beachmaster's boat control net and a beach net. During the assault the station on the FUSA headquarters ship entered two 21 Army Group command nets and established three FUSA command nets. The first of these included the corps headquarters and the Plymouth Signal Center; the second, an antiaircraft brigade and miscellaneous FUSA units; and the third, three engineer special brigades. Naval shore fire control nets also were in operation during the assault landings and till as late as the battle near Carentan and during the attack on Cherbourg. Forward troops made excellent use of FM radio. There were some disappointments, however. For example, the invasion plans had called for forty-four public address systems for use in the beach landings, but none had been received by 5 June and only sixteen were en route.128
Except in the worst of the battleswept sectors, OMAHA communications were remarkably good. Radios and radars, large and small, got ashore and into operation without serious difficulties other than those imposed by the enemy. Radio frequencies were kept well in hand, with one exception. A powerful transmitter broke in upon the high frequency bands soon after D-day and caused considerable consternation. When it was found to be a commercial Press Wireless station broadcasting from the US sector directly to New York, a suitable frequency was assigned to it.129
All together in the month of June, eighty-five complaints of interference in HF radio channels came to the Signal Division of SHAEF. All were corrected except three, whose sources of interference could not be discovered.130 All in all the tremendously complex frequency plan for OVERLORD had succeeded well.
As in every invasion in the ETO since TORCH, communications ships played a basic role. Aboard the FUSA headquarters ship, the USS Achernar, a 50-man contingent from the 6th Signal Center Team and the 17th Signal Operations Battalion handled the communications center. The USS Bayfield served as the headquarters ship for VII Corps. Also present was the "Lucky" Ancon, overhauled after her brush with German bombs off Salerno.131 The ship provided the communications headquarters of the V Corps under signal officer Col. Haskell H. Cleaves. Radio nets aboard these headquarters ships furnished communications between echelons of FUSA headquarters, both afloat and ashore in the initial days, as well as communications back to the army rear echelon in England.132 The headquarters ships hovered off the beaches for five days until the command post of FUSA was safely in operation. Then the men who had operated the centers disembarked and reported for duty to the 17th Signal Operations Battalion.
The lodgment in Normandy secure, cable connections with England became established. Brigadier Harris and his American deputy, Col. William C. Henry of the Signal Corps, presided over the laying of the first cable from Southbourne, England, to the Normandy beach near Longues, a task completed on to June. The second cable, started soon after and parallel to the first, encountered ill fortune when the British cable ship Monarch was shot up by enemy gunfire on D plus 8. A Signal Corps photographer aboard her had been photographing the operation but his film was lost in the riddled chart room. By 17 June a second cable spanned the Channel and, with the aid of the first, assured large-scale communications. Hardly had the two vital lines been completed when ships dragging their anchors fouled and snapped both cables during the great storm of 2o June (D plus 14). Not till 24 June and 28 June were the broken ends of the first and second cables, respectively, picked up, miles of new cable spliced in, and the circuits restored.133
Meanwhile, both the British and the American version of the new and tremendously significant innovation, multichannel radio relay, maintained heavy traffic loads. The equipment had been installed and put into operation much sooner than the cables. Moreover, it remained unaffected by the vagaries of the storms and hazards of the sea.
The American version of the
equipment-the antracs-performed with spectacular success. Among the many persons who waited out the first anxious hours of the invasion were the two civilian engineers, Waite and Colaguori. Some days earlier, it had been determined that one of the civilians "would have the rather doubtful privilege of going into France on D-day or shortly thereafter. A coin was tossed, two out of three, and Mr. Colaguori won." As Colaguori prepared his equipment and truck and drove to the docks, officers and men of ETOUSA's Technical Liaison Division helped Waite with the installation on the Isle of Wight, atop the hill called St. Catherine's. On St. Catherine's crest the British (and US Navy, using British AM sets) had already placed the several terminals of the British VHF radio links intended to reach the British GOLD and JUNO Beaches.
On the rounded grassy summit of St. Catherine's stand the ruins of an ancient tower. A watchtower centuries old, it had witnessed signals before, for it had been used as a station for signaling the approach of enemy ships, including, on one renowned occasion, the Spanish Armada. More recently, the ruins had served as a landfall for the German air fleets. Now, as a final touch in this mixture of the hoary remote and fantastic new, the Signal Corps men installed the paraphernalia of the first antrac in Europe.
On D-day Waite and members of the 980th Signal Company, specially trained on the AN/TRC-4 and newly arrived in the United Kingdom, began a long and anxious watch. "We could see the ships by the hundreds heading for France at our very feet almost," said Waite, "and others coming back . . . shell fire and bomb explosions were always audible and at night the distant red flashes. . . . One day passed, and then another. A British circuit came in first, much to my regret since 1 naturally wanted our boys to land first."
Fighting was heaviest at OMAHA. Colaguori, embarked on an LST with a unit of the engineers, could not get ashore throughout D-day. That night he succeeded, but it was many hours more before he could advance four hundred yards to the bluffs, where the fighting continued hotly.
Back on St. Catherine's hill, the Signal Corps men waited and worried. For seventy-two anxious hours they had no word from any American unit. Then at last, fourteen minutes past one o'clock on the afternoon of 8 June, they saw the indicator rise on the receiver meter, adjusted their equipment, and heard with complete clarity: "Hello, B for Bobbie; this is V for Victor." Waite, as soon as he could answer, replied with strict propriety, according to SOP: "Hello, V for Victor; this is B for Bobbie." Then with less propriety, "Where in hell have you been?" "What d'ya mean where have we been?" expostulated Colaguori at OMAHA Beach, "We've been through hell," punctuated by the nearby explosion of a German 88 shell, which the listeners in England heard clearly. Exchange of messages then began. Late that afternoon the first facsimile transmission passed over the complete length of the 125-mile relay from Middle Wallop to OMAHA Beach. Three or four days later, the headquarters of the First US Army went ashore with carrier equipment, which immediately used the full potential of the antrac link as a
FIRST ANTRAC STATION IN EUROPE, ON ST. CATHERINE'S HILL, ISLE OF WIGHT
channel carrier system.134 Scores and hundreds would follow as the demand for antracs reached a crescendo.
Lt. Col. John Hessel, formerly a civilian engineer at the Laboratories, now in Signal Corps uniform and serving in the Technical Liaison Division, Office of the Chief Signal Officer, ETOUSA, wrote triumphantly to a fellow engineer officer, Maj. William S. Marks, Jr., who was still serving in the Monmouth laboratories:
You will be glad to know that Victor went with Colonel Williams at a very early date and that cross-channel communication was established on the AN/TRC-1 on D plus 2 at 1314 hours.... The circuit has been in continuous operation without fading except for two periods of not more than one minute each. The general opinion seems to be that this is the most reliable cross-channel circuit yet put into operation
These remarks bore a 14 June date. A continuation, dated 20 June, adds: "Information has just been received that Colonel Williams has been decorated by General Bradley for the conspicuous success of his communications. The last report received is that the circuit is still on 24-hour-per-day operation and carrying capacity traffic with no failure and no breakdown."135
The British sets on St. Catherine's worked well except during the warm parts of the day, when they faded out because of their AM characteristics. The American FM gear, on the other hand, did not lose modulation when signal strength weakened a bit during the midday hours. At such times, the American set provided cueing for the British to their installations at Caen.136
Facsimile transmission, too, received high praise. Photo reconnaissance planes took the pictures and flew them back to Middle Wallop for developing and identifying. Seven minutes after they were put on the facsimile machine on the Middle Wallop antrac, they had been received on OMAHA Beach and were being rushed to the gun control officer. The gunners had a continuing picture of enemy gun emplacements, tanks, and other targets concealed behind hedgerows, buildings, and terrain. Facsimile equipment transmitted typewritten material, line drawings, and photographs with equal ease.137
General Rumbough greeted the antracs enthusiastically. "This operation," he reported to General Ingles, "marks an important milestone in military radio communication. Tactical field radio equipment has been successfully integrated with wire line and terminal equipment to form a system comparable in reliability and traffic capacity to allwire systems."138
Pigeons also landed on D-day, about five hundred of them. They were used to carry ammunition status reports, undeveloped film, and emergency messages. Communications by other means were so good, however, that the pigeon messengers were not used extensively.139
Communications for the Press
"Press communications," said General Lanahan, "is one of the most difficult problems facing an Army involved in modern mobile warfare."140 Arrangements for press communications had occupied a large place in SHAEF signal planning, especially since it was well understood that President Franklin D. Roosevelt took a personal interest in communications for the press. To bolster the planning, Lanahan had obtained the services of Col. David Sarnoff, in civil life the president of RCA, to head the SHAEF section dealing with communications facilities for public relations matters.141
The generally unsatisfactory arrangements for press communications in the North African invasion clearly indicated
that a better plan must be provided for OVERLORD. In North Africa, the special broadcasting detachment organized to expedite press traffic back to the United States had been unable to perform its mission satisfactorily. The group of ten officers and twenty enlisted men was too small and, lacking its own communications equipment, had to depend on other organizations to handle the traffic. As a result, traffic was delayed, sometimes as long as several days.142
For OVERLORD, SHAEF on 29 December 1943 activated the provisional 6808th Publicity and Psychological Warfare Service Battalion.143 Its mission, in addition to handling psychological warfare matters, was to house, feed, transport, and provide communications for the small army of war correspondents accredited to the US armies for the operation.144 The battalion was made up of hand-picked men from units already in the theater, plus specially selected personnel sent from the United States. Mobile radio broadcasting companies, originally called signal combat propaganda companies, were absorbed by the battalion. On 8 March 1944 the battalion was reorganized under TOE 3046 as the 72d Publicity Service Battalion.145
A communications platoon of 106 men was provided in order to operate a one-kilowatt radio station and its associated terminal equipment, which would provide circuits to England, from which point the traffic would be relayed to the United States over commercial channels. Divided into four teams-a group of 15 men for each of the two American armies, First and Third, another group of 33 to remain in London, and a fourth team of 43 men assigned to 1St US Army Group (later to 12th Army Group) -the platoon was slated to handle all press traffic for the US armies on the Continent during the first sixty days of the operation. Two selected commercial companies, Press Wireless and Mackay Radio and Telegraph, would then establish circuits from the Continent direct to the United States.146 Press Wireless was to become operational on D plus 60; Mackay, on D plus 90.
Press Wireless men and equipment landed in England a month before D-Day, and Mackay crews arrived on the scene two weeks later. Press Wireless had brought along not only a 15-kilowatt transmitter but also a spare 400-watt transmitter just in case it might be needed to key the larger transmitter remotely. Meanwhile, Lt. Col. James B. Smith, the Signal Corps officer who served as communications officer of the Publicity and Psychological Warfare Section of FUSAG, was eaten up by worry-his 1-kilowatt transmitter (SCR-399) and its associated equipment had not arrived. Without it, the 72d Publicity Service Battalion would be helpless to move the press traffic according to plan. When he confided his worries to the Press Wireless crew, they offered him the use of their spare 400-watt transmitter until his SCR-399 arrived.147
Smith countered by asking if the Press Wireless organization would be willing to take their 400-watt transmitter to France and operate it directly to the United States, if such an arrangement could be made. The Press Wireless men "jumped at the chance to give it a try."148 They believed that their transmitter could reach the United States directly and that it would be able to operate for as long as two hours a day. After that, they thought, it could easily work back to England, from whence traffic could be relayed.
Smith set about "selling" his somewhat unorthodox plan. Journeying to Bristol to confer with First Army's Colonel Williams, Smith explained the plan and added that he would require some additional items of signal equipment to complete the station. Colonel Williams had only one question. Would it work? Assured that it would, he agreed and ordered his supply officer to give Smith the needed items to complete the station. They were in Smith's hands that same day.149
At higher headquarters, Smith encountered more scepticism. Many officers were of the opinion that the arrangement would not work. Then the problem of frequencies arose. A SHAEF frequency assignment officer agreed to wire the United States asking for a frequency assignment for the Press Wireless transmitter, and two days later a message from the United States arrived assigning the frequencies. Unfortunately, in his letter to SHAEF asking for the frequency assignment, Smith had neglected to mention that it was for a commercial circuit, and SHAEF assumed that the circuit was to be operated by the Army. Thus the frequencies assigned were not commercia1.150
Certainly no news event in history created more interest than the official announcement on 6 June 1944 of the Allied invasion of Normandy. While the world waited anxiously for news, the twenty-seven selected war correspondents who had accompanied the First Army struggled to get their dispatches written, approved by the censors, and sent.151 In the American sector, the press radio circuits proved a sad disappointment. Six men of the communications platoon from the 72d Publicity Service Battalion landed about H plus 8. They carried with them a British 76 set, which they were to operate back to the base group in England until such time as the rest of the men could land with their SCR-399. The British set proved unsatisfactory for this purpose.152 Furthermore, the scheduled Navy dispatch boat courier service to take press dispatches back to England failed to materialize until a week after D-day. For the first five days the airplanes and ships evacuating the wounded carried press copy back to the United Kingdom.153 In addition, the Army carried a limited amount of press traffic over its operational circuits.
The Press Wireless transmitter was landed on the beaches of Normandy, in the First Army sector, on D plus
6. Testing out the equipment, the Press Wireless crew sent out the prearranged call letters-SWIF (Somewhere in France) -using none of the four frequencies that had been assigned for the circuit, but rather another commercial frequency that the company had used in transmitting from Paris to the United States before the war. To the amazement of all the technicians who had doubted that the 400-watt transmitter could span the ocean effectively, the Press Wireless receiving station in Long Island, New York, responded immediately, reporting perfect reception.154
Meanwhile Colonel Williams was under siege from the frustrated war correspondents, who demanded the use of Army circuits to file their press copy since the facilities the Army had provided for the press had not proved usable. Williams "did not propose to bog down (his) circuits to England with thousands of words of press material."155 Since he was not authorized to permit Press Wireless to begin operating until SHAEF gave the word, pressure built up. Finally, after consulting G-2, who assured him that anything passed by G-2 censors could be sent, Williams told the Press Wireless team to go ahead. Press copy started streaming direct to the United States.
At SHAEF consternation reigned. Not only had the press transmitter opened without official sanction, it was also operating on an unauthorized frequency. Unable to get an official explanation, SHAEF sent a peremptory order to First Army to close down the transmitter. Williams complied.156 Then, in his own words, "All hell broke loose on my head." Eventually the furious complaints of all the news agencies and their correspondents carried the day, and the Press Wireless transmitter was permitted to begin operation again. As it turned out, transmission was good for sixteen hours a day rather than the two hours a day originally thought possible. As the SHAEF Signal Section ruefully remarked in a staff study prepared some months after the incident, "Although no known harm was done [by the unauthorized transmission] the potential danger of such occurrences to operations was great."157
On D plus 16, the powerful SCR-399 originally intended for the 72d Publicity Service Battalion arrived on the Continent and at once established contact with the United Kingdom. This circuit could have handled a maximum of 600,000 words daily, but it was used very little. For one thing, "the PRO was unaware of the establishment of the circuit or the capacity of traffic it might have handled."158 For another, the commercial medium of transmission, more familiar to the newsmen, was transmitting directly to the United States. For the first ten days even the British press correspondents filed their copy with Press Wireless, which transmitted it to the United States and then back to the United Kingdom. After that the military established a teleprinter circuit from the beachhead back to the 72d's
AEF PUBLIC RELATIONS
ACTIVITIES, SHAEF HEADQUARTERS.
Technicians operate a record player
(above) during an overseas broadcast. Newsmen at work in an improvised press wireless room (below).
base group in London to permit the British correspondents to send their dispatches to London by direct circuit. Another SCR-399, modified for voice broadcast to London, received fairly heavy use since it provided the only means available for this purpose. When Third Army became operational, in August 1944, it too demanded a direct press circuit back to the United States. The Mackay commercial service provided this circuit. The 2d Army Group Communications Team had accompanied Third Army to the Continent, bringing along an SCR-399 for transmitting press copy to London. When the breakout came, Third Army began moving so fast that there was no possibility of putting in a teleprinter circuit from Third Army headquarters back to London. Thus the SCR-399 became the only means of getting press copy direct to London.159
On D-day the combat photographers' movie and still picture cameras covered every facet of the landings. The cameramen of FUSA's 165th Signal Photographic Company were mostly photographic specialists who had received their training at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Los Angeles. The company commander, Capt. Herman Wall, had spent months preceding D-day training his men for the part they were to play in the invasion. He had arranged to send back early photographs of the invasion by carrier pigeon, and three boxes of birds accompanied the photographers who embarked early on the morning of D-day in an LCVP. The first pictures Wall sent back to England by carrier pigeon in the early morning hours. About 1030, as his craft approached the beach, he released a second bird carrying other negatives of the approach. About 1130 the LCVP beached, and the men started ashore. For nearly an hour Wall and his men photographed activities on their section of the landing area. Then, as they started down the beach in another direction, Wall was hit and badly wounded. For nearly three hours Wall and other wounded men lay in the field of fire where no one could come to their assistance. Finally a DUKW maneuvered close enough to permit men to risk coming in to get the wounded. Aboard a British boat, the men received medical attention. A section of Wall's leg that was badly mutilated had to be amputated.160
The Leica camera Wall had been using still hung about his neck. A ship's officer removed it, but Wall protested vigorously, insisting that the exposed film it contained was extremely important and that he could not be separated from the film until it was delivered safely into the hands of the proper authorities. In his own words: "In fact, I created such a fuss that the camera, with film, was returned." The next day an Army Pictorial Service representative picked up the film from the hospital in England where Wall was being treated. When the film was processed, it contained thirty-five perfect negatives of excellent quality, the first to be received
INVASION PICTURE TAKEN BY CAPTAIN WALL
of the actual landings. Within a few hours they were on their way to Washington by radiophoto transmission.161
Detachment P of the 290th Signal Photographic Company hit OMAHA Beach with the 5th Engineers Special Brigade. Lt. George Steck, his two enlisted still photographers, and two motion picture cameramen started their photographic record as dawn broke on D-day. The first assault wave had already left the ship in the predawn darkness, but the photographers dared not use even a single flash bulb lest it alert the German defenders on shore. When daylight came, they started grinding out their invasion picture record, photographing the engineers waiting to go into battle. Their cameras caught the poignant vignettes of war-men checking their equipment, men saying goodbye to their friends, and the first casualties being brought back to the ship.
First came five half-drowned crewmen from a tank that had been sunk going in with the first assault wave. Then the wounded from the beach started coming back. The boats carrying them were unloaded, then filled with the men going in with the second assault wave. The photographers climbed down into one of the pitching LCT's162 (landing craft, tank).
It was late afternoon before the Germans were driven far enough back to let the engineers begin their work. Cruising in through a mine field, the LCT landed and the cameramen started taking their pictures-of German 88's hitting the water, casting up huge plumes of spray; of medical corpsmen working ceaselessly administering aid to the wounded; of men who had been killed even before they reached the shore; of the first groups of German prisoners; of the American soldiers methodically working their way forward toward the enemy. When night fell, the photographers captioned their pictures and sought a boat going to England, a boat to carry these first films back.163
When morning came, it was possible to see the first threads of the great cocoon that was the beachhead taking shape. Amid the scenes of destruction there was also purposeful activity-LCT's being unloaded, roads being built, bulldozers busy everywhere. By midafternoon the unfolding drama of the beachhead being cleared and transformed into a supply base was emerging. Beach track was being laid and the multitude of German mines were being cleared away. Boats of every sort, crammed with supplies, were coming to the beaches. Communications were being set up. The backbreaking work of the supply forces, the long and tedious job of consolidation, had begun.164 | <urn:uuid:150fd539-2404-4a76-9b95-0fb4ae3c8722> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.history.army.mil/html/reference/normandy/TS/SC/SC3.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403823.74/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00032-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.9691 | 20,307 | 3.171875 | 3 |
||Jim Solomon, curator of the herbarium, manages the storage, care and use of the Garden's collection. His research interests focus on the flora of the Bolivian Andes and studies of members of Vitaceae, the grape family, and Cactaceae, the cactus family.
Photo: Trent Foltz
Secret of the Specimen Shelves
Jim Solomon holds out a spreadsheet that enumerates the herbarium's inventory. Year by year, column by column, the numbers increase: two million, three million, four, five. The Garden's vast collection of pressed, dried plants, mounted for permanent storage and reference, is one of the two largest in the United States, and also the fastest growing. In a typical month, the Garden adds about 10,000 new specimens to its collection. In one particularly active year, it received 190,000. They come from all over the world, from Garden researchers and colleagues at other institutions.
The value of this huge collection is incalculable. "All we know about most of the world's organisms is a name, a description and samples in a collection," says Solomon. "Specimens are the raw data for our concepts about plants. They are an archive of natural history - as significant to our understanding of the natural world as cultural artifacts are to human history."
But the specimens are not the end point of the herbarium, they are really the beginning, says Solomon. "All kinds of scientists ask questions of the herbarium - and the questions today are more diverse than ever. People in search of heavy-metal deposits have examined plants that accumulate these substances. Also, visiting entomologists have correlated our plants with species of insects. A hundred years from now, people will ask questions we can't imagine today. Our collection will be ready for them." | <urn:uuid:da4849bb-eb81-4fb7-8e05-e99ac8e2b34e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.mobot.org/MOBOT/Research/unseengarden/knowledge4.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393997.50/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00098-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.93629 | 375 | 3.265625 | 3 |
The swingometer is a rough guide to what happens when the vote shifts from one party to another at a general election.
There are three swingometers to measure the effect of a vote shift between any two of the three main parties, and they all work the same way.
To measure the effect of a given swing, select one of the dropdown menus in the panel located on the right hand side and then choose a percentage figure.
DEFINITION OF SWING
The swing from Party A to Party B is the average of the percentage point fall in Party A's share of the vote and the percentage point rise in Party B's
Source: House of Commons Library
Select the Labour dropdown for a swing to Labour, select the Conservative dropdown for a swing to the Conservatives and select the Liberal Democrat dropdown for a swing to the Liberal Democrats.
After selecting a percentage figure and releasing the mouse, the result for that swing will be displayed on the left.
You will see the party predicted to win an overall majority in the House of Commons, and the size of that majority.
You will also see the predicted number of seats won by each party in the Commons and the names of any constituencies predicted to fall on the swing you have chosen.
Any VIPs predicted to be at risk will also be listed, together with information about past elections with similar swings (if any).
Things to remember
The swingometer is not an exact measure, it just gives an indication of what may happen.
Note that the predicted results are calculated using notional figures for Scottish constituencies to take into account the effect of boundary changes at this election.
Experts have estimated for us who would have won each of the changed seats on its new boundaries. The changes mean that the numbers of House of Commons seats shown on a 0% swing are not quite in line with the state of the parties today. Labour - for example - lose a number of seats because of the boundary changes.
Also note that for a number of constituencies, a swing from one party to another can mean a third party gains that seat.
For example, in Labour-held Cardiff Central a 2% swing to the Conservatives will mean the constituency falls to the Liberal Democrats first, as they were a close second there at the 2001 general election. Only on a 21% swing will the third-placed Conservatives gain the seat. Such seats are marked with an asterisk where they are listed. | <urn:uuid:21da482d-f256-48ad-9eff-52671486bcd6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/vote2005/swingometer/html/labcon.stm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00175-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.941597 | 496 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Games can entertain, occupy, and captivate. Games can also teach. Trevor Owens and Jim Safley at George Mason’s Center for History and New Media recognized the educational value of games and how games can “promote humanities learning,” and so they created the Playing History web site.
The site offers a database of 126 “free historical games, interactives and simulations on the web,” and plans to keep adding more. Visitors to the site can search for games, view featured games, and suggest new games to be added to the database. But perhaps the best aspect of this site is the opportunity to rate and review games, and read others’ responses as well (though some responses are more helpful than others).
The profiles for each game on the site offer basic but helpful information:
- Game name
- Time Period
- Grade Level
- Game Length
Take, for example, the “Do I have a Right” game from the Our Courts web site (which we highlighted recently). On Playing History the game has been rated six times and has received an average of 5 out of 5 stars. Its profile explains how to play:
Do I Have a Right? explores the Bill of Rights in the context of operating and growing a Constitutional law firm from obscure to distinguished status. Hire lawyers with special talents and areas of expertise and assign them to distraught clients with legal quandaries of varying validity. Wield the Bill of Rights like a high power microscope, examine a variety of fun and quirky legal cases, and ultimately become a prestigious purveyor of expert legal advice.
Just a glance or two more and you learn that the game is published by Filament Games and Our Courts, covers the time period of 1770-2009, is recommended for grades 6-13, is short in length, and is free.
Some other history games on the site you may want to check out include Time Lord, a “flash based board game where students answer historical questions to compete head to head.” Or, A Brush with History, a site from the National Portrait Gallery that challenges students to learn about famous portraits. Or for younger students, The Jamestown Online Adventure, which one commenter notes is, “Easily do-able in a class period. After the game play, it has a nice section on the decisions the colonists actually made.”
Let us know in the comment section about your experiences or advice about using history games in the classroom. | <urn:uuid:c93be3cb-a5f1-4e86-a853-65ca6973a1c6> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://blog.historians.org/2010/06/history-is-all-fun-and-games/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396949.33/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00063-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946606 | 515 | 2.578125 | 3 |
The term Trunk Line in telecommunications refers to the high-speed connection between telephone central offices in the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN). Trunk lines are always digital. The wiring between central offices was originally just pairs of twisted copper wire (the twists in the wiring prevented things known as crosstalk and noise). Because it is expensive to string up (or lay trenches for buried cables), the phone company researched ways in which to carry more data over the existing copper lines. This was achieved by using time-division multiplexing. Later, when fiber-optic technology became available, phone companies upgraded their trunk lines to fiber optics and used statistical time-division multiplexing, synchronous digital heirarchy, coarse or dense wave division multiplexing and optical switching to further improve transmission speeds.
NOTE: Keep in mind that a signal travelling over a trunk line is not actually flowing any faster. The electrical signal on a voice line takes the same amount of time to traverse the wire as a similar length trunk line. What makes trunk lines faster is that the signal has been altered to carry more data in less time using more advanced multiplexing and modulation techniques. If you compared a voice line and a trunk line and put them side by side and observed them, the first pieces of information arrive simultaneously on both the voice and trunk line. However, the last piece of information would arrive sooner on the trunk line. No matter what, you can't break the laws of physics. Electricity over copper or laser light over fiber optics, you cannot break the speed of light--though that has rarely stopped uneducated IT or IS managers from demanding that cabling perform faster instead of upgrading equipment.
Trunk lines can contain thousands of simultaneous calls that have been combined using time-division multiplexing. These thousands of calls are carried from one central office to another where they can be connected to a de-multiplexing device and switched through digital access cross connecting switches to reach the proper exchange and local phone number.
There are various terms used for trunk lines that you will hear telephone people use. These terms are not quite synonymous as there are differences in the type of information carried by the trunk lines and what the trunk lines connect. | <urn:uuid:1d6eb09b-36ee-4780-bd89-7173f5a7e23e> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.inetdaemon.com/tutorials/telecom/pstn/outside_plant/trunk_lines.shtml | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00018-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947438 | 451 | 3.90625 | 4 |
But Pierre de Wiessant is a great figure in his own right, one of Rodin's finest in my view, and part of a piece of intense nobility, and powerful human drama -- and doesn't that hand just say so much?
The Burghers of Calais (Les Bourgeois de Calais) is one of the most famous sculptures by Auguste Rodin, completed in 1888. It serves as a monument to an occurrence in 1347 during the Hundred Years' War, when Calais, an important French port on the English Channel, was under siege by the English for over a year.NB: MOMA has a great booklet discussing the Burghers. Definitely worth a read.
The story goes that England's Edward III, after a victory in the Battle of Crécy, laid siege to Calais and Philip VI of France ordered the city to hold out at all costs. Philip failed to lift the siege and starvation eventually forced the city to parlay for surrender. Edward offered to spare the people of the city if any six of its top leaders would surrender themselves to him, presumably to be executed. Edward demanded that they walk out almost naked and wearing nooses around their necks and be carrying the keys to the city and castle...
RELATED POSTS ON: Art, Sculpture | <urn:uuid:3accce51-c027-480d-a753-11eaffe3d245> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://pc.blogspot.co.nz/2007/03/pierre-de-wiessant-auguste-rodin.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397748.48/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00154-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.959626 | 261 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Four kids and their sidekick, Petey the Parrot, run a lemonade stand whose patrons include all kinds of wacky neighbors—even a juggler. They create a bar graph to track the rise and fall of their lemonade sales. Author Stuart Murphy and illustrator Tricia Tusa make understanding bar graphs a breeze with lively art and a warm story.This is a Level 3 MathStart book, which is perfect for kids ages 7 and up. The MathStart series uses funny stories and colorful art to show kids that they use math every day, even outside of the classroom! Each book features an activity guide to have fun with the math concepts presented in the story. Supports the Common Core State Standards.
Back to top
Rent Lemonade for Sale 1st edition today, or search our site for other textbooks by Stuart J. Murphy. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by HarperCollins Publishers.
Need help ASAP? We have you covered with 24/7 instant online tutoring. Connect with one of our tutors now. | <urn:uuid:d460804a-25ab-4552-a7d6-10ea1fb025f3> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.chegg.com/textbooks/lemonade-for-sale-1st-edition-9780064467155-0064467155 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783399117.38/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154959-00005-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.926785 | 220 | 2.75 | 3 |
The Skidi lineage of the American Pawnee Indian tribe are known to have had a complex religion of which astronomy was a large part. Their obsession with the night sky went so far as to design their lodges and villages with astronomy in mind.
Scholars have often said that their Villages were laid out in the position of the most important stars in the sky. They also built pyramid like burial mounds that I am presently exploring.
In the bottommost corner of the village was a shrine to a special star and in the west was another shrine to a second important star. The doors of the lodges always faced east to the rising stars and the Sun, and four posts representing the four important directions (northwest, northeast, southwest, and southeast) were used to hold up the lodge. The domed roof of their dwellings represented the sky. Part of their creation myth says that Mars, the red morning star warrior, mated with Venus, the female evening star being, to produce the first humans. I must say that it is quite an interesting thing that they mention Mars here. Scholars have commented that to the Pawnee, the solstices were not that important to them although they like other ancient civilizations measured the seasons purly for planting and harvesting.
All their ancient records show an obsession with the Pleiades and they instead worshipped a star that appears to be located near the Pleiades star cluster.
Their ultimate star was considered to be a chief protecting the stars and the people.
The Pleiades were often depicted as a circle of five or six stars with one in the middle of it much like the Hebrew and Maya traditions. The most famous ancient ceremonial drum skin seen here is well known in Pawnee historical research to have accurately depicted their sacred stars in the sky.
I was told by an American Indian reader of my book who wrote to me in 2004 saying that he has known the drum skin throughout his life and actually seen the drum skin close up sometime in the early forties. He commented that all the stars were depicted in black ink probably made from charcoal and tree resin. But the exciting thing scholars have not mentioned on the drum skin was something important that he was told in the past. It was detail probably created with the actual blood of his ancestors… a red round pattern of circles all on its own near the middle of the drum skin.
No scholar has commented on what it meant because it was unlikely to be the moon because it had two smaller orbs within it.
I am convinced since the red blotch not only fits the exact place on the star map of my proposed human ‘genesis star’ in the direction towards the Milky way as all my other ancient examples, but it shows more. It follows the same pattern from Orion’s belt, visually identifying the position of the Pleiades cluster first, and then aligning from the Pleiades cluster with the correct angle to the ‘x’ star that marks the place on the star map… a nearby sun-like star. | <urn:uuid:71bb94a1-0e81-412b-9312-eac163a77dae> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://thehiddenrecords.com/pawnee.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00200-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.985549 | 620 | 3.34375 | 3 |
A new report by the charity Oxfam has found millions of people in the Philippines are still surviving on emergency aid, one month on from Typhoon Haiyan.
The super typhoon killed more than 5,600 people and displaced millions more.
The report reveals four million people are still in need of shelter, while three million are surviving on emergency food aid.
Oxfam Australia's Chief Executive Helen Szoke says there are major gaps in the recovery effort, with people in rural and hard-to-reach areas receiving little official aid.
"Whilst many people have been supported, there are still three million people who are relying on food to be delivered," Ms Szoke said.
"So there is a real need now for how do we help these communities regain their independence? How do we help these communities get on top of their demands so that they can start to build a future?".
Long-term vision required
Oxfam says nearly $400 million of aid was promised within the first few weeks of the disaster, with Australia pledging $30 million.
But the charity is now calling on foreign donors, including the Australian Government, to look beyond their immediate responses and commit to long-term recovery.
"Let's relocate communities to areas that are safer so they're not subject to these massive weather events," she said.
"Let's actually build resilience in these communities so that they can prepare, in a country that's ranked the third most at-risk nation in the world from disaster. Let's help these communities be better prepared in the future".
Voltaire Alferez from Aksyon Klima Pilipinas, which coordinates dozens of climate change and development organisations in the Philippines, agrees.
The Philippines is hit by an average of 20 typhoons per year and with wind speeds of 315kph, Typhoon Haiyan was the strongest typhoon to make landfall ever recorded.
Mr Alferez warns that climate change will only increase the severity of typhoons in the future.
"Typhoon Haiyan is the shape of things to come," he said.
"The Philippines will need sustained support and programs to prepare for more storms like this. Ultimately it also needs action on reducing the threat of climate change".
The Oxfam report also calls for local authorities and other organisations at the frontline of disaster responses to be better equipped to deal when disasters do hit. | <urn:uuid:6c1ba25c-f159-40c5-899f-a8be18175bbd> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://mobile.abc.net.au/news/2013-12-07/an-phil-oxfam-report/5142294?pfm=sm§ion=sport | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397795.31/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965134 | 488 | 2.546875 | 3 |
- UCAR Home
- About Us
- For Staff
October 28, 2014
BOULDER — Groundbreaking work by a group of Boulder scientists has been recognized this month with one of the world’s most prestigious awards for innovations related to water resources.
The research team, from the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the University of Colorado Boulder (CU Boulder), and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has worked for the past five years to develop a way to use GPS technology to measure soil moisture, snow depth, and vegetation water content.
The work has won a 2014 Creativity Prize from the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.
“It’s an honor to be recognized by the broader international science community,” said UCAR scientist John Braun, a GPS expert and member of the research team. “This work can significantly improve how we measure changes in a number of key components of the water cycle.”
Braun and his colleagues—Kristine Larson and Eric Small at CU Boulder and Valery Zavorotny at NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory—won the prize for developing a new observational technique that takes advantage of data from high-precision GPS stations. Although GPS instruments at these stations were installed for other purposes (by geoscientists to measure plate tectonic motions and by surveyors to measure land boundaries), the Boulder research group was able to isolate GPS signals that reflected near the instruments’ antennas to produce daily measurements of soil moisture, vegetation water content, and snow depth. The group named the technique GPS Interferometric Reflectometry (GPS-IR).
Because there are currently over 10,000 such GPS stations operating around the world, the extension of this method to even a subset of these sites would significantly enhance the ability to measure the water cycle.
Currently, the team uses the GPS-IR technique to analyze data streams from existing GPS networks within the western United States. Scientists and government agencies can use their data products, available at the research team’s web portal, to improve monitoring and forecasting of hydrologic variables.
“The GPS-based estimates represent a larger sampling area than traditional point measurements gathered in the field,” said Small, a professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Geological Sciences. “This provides information that is particularly useful for applications such as tracking the amount of water stored in mountain snow pack.”
The research has been funded by the National Science Foundation and NASA.
GPS-IR is based on reflected signals, which are a source of errors that have plagued the primary users of GPS technology since its inception.
“I spent almost five years of my career trying to make reflected signals go away so that I could produce better estimates of tectonic and volcanic deformation,” said Larson, a professor in CU Boulder’s Department of Aerospace Engineering Sciences and leader of the research team. “One of the great things about Boulder is that once we had the idea to turn this error source into something useful, we were able to put together a great interdisciplinary research team from CU, NOAA, and UCAR to work on it.”
Larson will accept the award at a ceremony in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on December 1.
The Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water aims to give recognition to the efforts that scientists, inventors, and research organizations around the world are making in water-related fields. The prizes acknowledge exceptional and innovative work that contributes to the sustainable availability of potable water and the alleviation of the escalating global problem of water scarcity. The 2014 Creativity Prize, worth $266,000, was split between the Boulder-based GPS-IR group and scientists at Princeton University studying drought.
“We’re grateful that the ingenuity of these scientists is being recognized,” said UCAR president Thomas Bogdan. “This project is a great example of a creative team turning information that would otherwise be discarded into useful data that can benefit society.”
Several Colorado researchers have been recognized with the International Prize for Water since its inception in 2004. Previous winners include:
The University Corporation for Atmospheric Research manages the National Center for Atmospheric Research under sponsorship by the National Science Foundation. Any opinions, findings and conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this publication are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. | <urn:uuid:401b8885-026a-4c3a-8c4a-ab6dba357004> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www2.ucar.edu/atmosnews/news/12871/boulder-team-wins-international-water-prize | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394987.40/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00069-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.938771 | 917 | 2.78125 | 3 |
Goats and girls education: a “baton” for life
Although we’ve been taught that there is no “silver bullet” to combating poverty, education may be an exception. The impact education can have in the lives of children—especially girls—is overwhelming.
One extra year of school boosts a girl’s future wages by 10-20 percent.
A girl who completes basic education is three times less likely to contract HIV.
Education drastically reduces child marriage. On average, a girl with 7 years of education will marry 4 years later and have 2.2 fewer children.
If statistics are not convincing, listen to girls themselves. I’ve found that in Haiti girls yearn to attend school and know full well the value of an education.
“School is important because you need to learn things so you can have an occupation,” said 12-year-old Rocheka who lives in the small coastal village of Crabier in southern Haiti.
So what’s with the goats we talk so much about? And what do goats have to with education? Well I’m glad you asked.
In rural parts of Haiti World Concern has found that the gift of a goat can help keep girls in school for the long run. Here’s how:
In partnership with schools and churches, World Concern gives a female goat to a young girl who also receives basic goat husbandry training so she knows how to take care of her goat. Once the goat has babies (called kids; funny but totally legit), the first kid is given back to the program so another child can benefit. Then all other kids that the female goat gives birth to can be sold by the girl to pay for school fees and other related costs such as books, materials and uniforms.
This way the girl is given a skill (goat-raising) and she is able to contribute towards her education, reducing dependency and making her an active participant instead of a passive receiver.
There are three primary advantages to the ‘goat model’:
Life lessons. When a goat is initially given to a girl, she also receives basic goat husbandry training. The training focuses on how to feed the goat and keep it healthy. A goat is an asset in rural Haiti and represents an important source of income that girls can use to pay for school fees and other necessities. It’s important from the beginning to give girls the skills they need to take care of the goat. The goat husbandry knowledge they gain during the training is something they can use for years to come, even after they finish school. Since a goat requires consistent attention, girls learn important life lessons such as responsibility, discipline and ownership. Aside from the initial training, World Concern staff returns each month to teach girls and other students about additional tips and techniques for raising their goat.
“Multiplying effect.” When a goat is given, its impact goes beyond the girl who initially received the goat. The first kid that goat produces is returned to the program so it can be given to another child. This is one reason that our goat program in Haiti has existed since 1998 and continues to this day. The gift of a goat has a significant impact in the life of a girl but it also is a gift that multiplies over time, impacting other children as well.
The gift that (literally) keeps giving. “Each year a goat will give between six and nine kids, and she typically can produce kids for up to 10 years,” explains Pierre, World Concern’s regional coordinator for southern Haiti. The kids that a goat produces represent income for a young girl so she can attend school and most importantly stay in school. All goats, minus the first, are hers to sell. Enabling a girl to earn an income and pay for school lightens the financial burden on her family and allows the family’s precious resources to be spent on other critical needs.
World Concern provides vaccinations to goats in the program as well as on-going veterinary care. This ensures that the investment of a goat will truly benefit a girl long term.
Rocheka is one of many girls in Haiti who are able to stay in school thanks to the gift of a goat. Rocheka is a soft spoken yet determined and bright girl who has big dreams.
“After I finish secondary school, I would like to be a nurse so I can take care of children because many children suffer from disease,” she shared.
Youslie is a 7-year-old girl who lives in the village of Guilgeau and is currently in the second grade.
“In school I like to read stories,” she said.
Youslie recently received her goat and is enjoying taking care of it.
“I feed the goat twice a day things like corn and corn husk,” said Youslie. “Once the goat has babies I will drink the milk.”
In Haitian Creole, the language spoken by all Haitians, the word baton is significant. Translated directly it means ‘stick’ or ‘baton’ however it has a deeper meaning. A baton can also be a skill or ability that a person possesses which will help them succeed in life. This meaning is often used in reference to education.
Following earning a certificate from a trade school or graduating from high school, someone may say, “Now I have a baton I can use to fight in life.” With a baton, a person is given a tool which will help them in their pursuit of a more healthy and productive life.
In Haiti, girls face many challenges which leave them vulnerable—generational poverty, limited financial resources and lack of opportunity. At World Concern, we want to give girls a baton that will help carry them through some of these challenges. Education is one baton that has a long-term impact on the life of a young girl.
Girls like Rocheka and Youslie are the future of Haiti. Helping them stay in school is an investment in their life but also has an impact on their family, community and country.
Help us impact more girls in Haiti by giving the gift of a goat today! | <urn:uuid:978d5df3-0529-465d-befd-801664812bde> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/goats-and-girls-education-%E2%80%9Cbaton%E2%80%9D-life | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783395679.92/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154955-00107-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.970925 | 1,292 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Science at Yehudi Menuhin School
The aim of the science department at Yehudi Menuhin School is to encourage students to question the world around them and make judgments, based on scientific evidence.
For science studied at Key Stage 2 please look at the Junior overview.
In Key Stage 3 the programme of study is designed to encourage interest, enthusiasm, thinking skills, practical investigative skills, working in a team, and communication skills. Using these skills and through different media we cover the content of the national curriculum. Examination technique and revision strategies are also taught.
The main text books used are Exploring Science 7, 8 and 9. A variety of other materials are also drawn upon.
Chemistry, Biology and Physics topics are covered in each of the three years.
At Key stage 4 all pupils study Core Science with the option to also study Additional Science. The courses studied are Edexcel Core Science option A and Edexcel Additional Science. Both courses include Units of Biology, Chemistry and Physics. There are three Science exams that need to be completed during the two years of GCSE and also a piece of investigative coursework.
Core Science A* and A grades – 50%
At Key Stage 5 Biology and Chemistry A level course are offered. We follow the OCR Biology specification and the Edexcel Chemistry specification.
Biology AS consists of three units: Unit 1, Cells, Exchange and Transport, Unit 2, Molecules, Biodiversity, Food and Health, Unit 3, Practical skills 1
Biology A2 consists of three units: Unit 1, Communications, Homeostasis and Energy, Unit 2, Control, Genomes and the Environment, Unit 3, Practical skills 2
Chemistry AS consists of three units: Unit 1, The Core Principles of Chemistry, Unit 2, Application of the Core Principles of Chemistry, Unit 3, Chemistry Investigations 1.
Chemistry A2 consists of three units: Unit 1, General Principles of Chemistry I - Rates, Equilibria and Further Organic Chemistry, Unit 2, General Principles of Chemistry II – Transition Metals and Organic Nitrogen Chemistry, Unit 3, Chemistry Investigations 2.
Teaching staff are well qualified and enthusiastic:
Key Stage 2 Janet Poppe
Key Stage 3 Jenny Dexter
Key Stage 4 Karen Lyle
Key Stage 5 Biology, Jenny Dexter and Karen Lyle
Key Stage 5 Chemistry, Karen Lyle
Recent Science Trips have included:
Visiting an Electron Microscope and carrying out Ecological Studies at Nower Wood. Attending the Salters Festival of Chemistry, visiting the Science Museum and Pond Dipping at West End Common. | <urn:uuid:a6c9810c-5221-4ccd-839a-b5b78620284d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yehudimenuhinschool.co.uk/school/academic/science/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397696.49/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00151-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.904571 | 541 | 3.140625 | 3 |
Brass vs Gold
Both gold and brass have long histories and are commonly used in many fields today. Although they have similar features, mainly due to the mutual yellowish colour, there are plenty of characteristic differences between the two from chemical, physical, and economic standpoints.
For thousands of years gold has been used for jewellery, ornaments of kings and queens, as a currency and also for currency trading. Gold is a shiny yellowish metal which is soft but also dense in physical character. In the periodic table, it is found among the transition metals and has the atomic no. 79 with the symbol ‘Au’ which stands for ‘Aurum’, the Latin word for gold. It has a very high melting point of 1,064.43°C and a density of 19.32 grams per cubic centimetre.
Gold is a rare metal found in nature in quartz veins and secondary alluvial deposits as a free metal or in a combined state. Gold also never rusts. This further explains the chemical inertness of the metal which prevents oxidation under normal conditions. Apart from its shine, the inertness of the metal has made it expensive and to be used in industries such as the making of jewellery. Gold may be alloyed with other metals, to provide different character and properties.
E.g. White Gold 18K – (75% gold, 18.5% silver, 1% copper, 5.5% zinc)
Red Gold 18K – (75% gold, 25% copper)
Today, 1kg of gold would roughly come to around USD 50822.29 which can be considered quite expensive. Due to the fluctuations of the price of gold it is seen as an opportunity of investment in the forms of coins, bars, jewellery and exchange traded funds. Furthermore, gold is also used in monetary exchange, medicine, food/ drink and electronics. To say how precious the metal is, there is even a council on gold to look over its value and production.
Brass is not a pure metal. It’s an alloy of two metals namely copper and zinc. By varying the amount of copper and zinc mixed, different varieties of brass can be produced. It’s yellow in colour and has a gold-like appearance hence commonly used in decorations. Brass is also used in the making of locks, knobs, bearings etc as it provides low friction. Brass has a relatively low melting point (900- 940°C) and is a relatively easy material to cast due to its flow characteristics. The density of brass is approximately 8.4-8.73 grams per cubic centimetre.
Furthermore, brass can be made stronger and corrosion resistant by the addition of Aluminium. Due to the presence of copper, brass shows antimicrobial and germicidal properties damaging the structural membrane of bacteria. Another phenomenal property of brass is its acoustics. Due to this reason, many musical instruments such as the horn, trumpet, trombone, tuba cornet etc are made of brass. These instruments are even named under the family “brass wind”.
What is the difference between Gold and Brass?
• Gold is quite expensive when compared to brass.
• Brass is essentially an alloy, whereas gold is a pure metal.
• Gold never rusts whereas brass is prone to rusting.
• Gold is heavily seen in the jewellery industry, but brass is more towards the instrumental and ornamental industries.
• Gold is a precious metal and has its own council to look over it, but brass has nothing as such.
• Gold is used as a currency for currency trading and investing, whereas brass is not used in any of the above. | <urn:uuid:5fcacf13-d456-46ba-ba49-e2860953f2d2> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.differencebetween.com/difference-between-brass-and-gold/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398216.41/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00165-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.958929 | 767 | 3.34375 | 3 |
Household Hazardous Waste
What is Household Hazardous Waste?
Household Hazardous Wastes are unused or unwanted products that can pose an environmental threat when disposed of improperly .
Read the label!
Reading the product label can help you identify the hazard. Look for these "signal words" on the label:.
Caution: Less hazardous
Warning: Moderately hazardous
Poison: Highly toxic
Danger: Extreme hazard
How you can reduce waste?
- Buy only what you need! By purchasing smaller quantities, you'll be less likely to have leftovers and a disposal problem.
- When painting, you can save money and reduce waste by buying the right amount! Try this printable chart to determine how much you need for your project.
- Use it up! If you can't use it up, give it to someone else who can.
- Use less hazardous alternatives. If there is no alternative, look for products with labels that say "caution" or "warning".
Selling your home or planning a move? Remember to use the HHW Facility when cleaning out your basement or garage. | <urn:uuid:e8a324b2-349d-49bd-826e-e363fb902c3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.co.winona.mn.us/page/2457 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400572.45/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00170-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.885159 | 232 | 2.640625 | 3 |
Issue 11 Flight Summer 2003
The Clean Room / Domesticating the Hiroshima Maidens
“The Clean Room” is a column by David Serlin on science and technology.
In September 1958, millions of tourists from around the world flocked to the World’s Fair in Brussels, Belgium, to climb inside the Atomium, an enormous and somewhat exaggerated model of an atomic particle comprised of spherical exhibition rooms connected by enclosed escalators. Like the Trylon and Perisphere, its precursor at the 1939 World’s Fair in New York, the Atomium gave visitors a glimpse of the “world of tomorrow” in which the tools of Western science—and, at the 1958 World’s Fair, the benefits of atomic energy and nuclear power—would help to build a modern and sustainable global future. During the same month, in Geneva, Switzerland, representatives from about a dozen industrial nations—including Australia, Britain, Germany, and the United States—attended the Second International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy. An outgrowth of the US Atomic Energy Commission’s Project Plowshare, the conference was organized to discuss the non-destructive uses of nuclear fission and to promote creative ideas that were both ecologically sound and commercially viable. Among those proposals that received the highest marks at the conference were a series of what were called “earth-moving” projects. Under the pet name Project Chariot, for example, a series of contained atomic explosions would be used to create a coastal harbor in Alaska, while the Cape Keranden Project detailed how a group of strategically placed and carefully detonated bombs could help to make a harbor in northwestern Australia.1
Government-sponsored “earth-moving” projects and artifacts of popular culture like the Atomium were part of a concerted campaign among many postwar nations to recover atomic energy from its pernicious association with mass destruction. Like a housewife coaxing marital fidelity out of her recalcitrant husband, the commitment to domesticating the atom’s wayward side became a national obsession during a period in which the United States maneuvered its resources and rhetoric in order to take charge as the globe’s scientific and economic leader. During the postwar Occupation of Japan, for example, which lasted from 1945 until 1952, the State Department forbade US newspapers, magazines, and books from publishing images of individuals who were killed or disfigured by the 1945 bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The threat of anti-nuclear activism in the United States, which emerged in Japan shortly after World War II and spread to a worldwide movement by the mid-1950s, was regarded as a direct impediment to the growth of atomic energy as an industrial boon at home as well as a tool of consensus building in the postwar global economy. More often than not, however, attempts to transform atomic energy into a benign and even utopian force for social good were met with skepticism. This was evident in the public outcry that followed Ford’s announcement of its new automobile model for 1958, the Nucleon, which engineers designed to be powered by a small, rechargeable on-board nuclear reactor.
Unlike proposals for projects like the Nucleon, which were regularly met with derision, the censoring of images of survivors of Hiroshima or Nagasaki was a strategy of domesticating atomic energy that took place in complete absence of popular opposition. Until the mid-1950s, the vast majority of Americans had little or no idea what victims of the atomic bomb—those the Japanese called hibakusha—actually looked like. The containment of potential dissent, the State Department must have believed, would result over time in the public’s assent to a future in which nuclear energy was a tool of foreign policy and free from the taint of death. In May 1955, the State Department’s worst fears materialized. This was the month in which twenty-five young women from Hiroshima were brought to the United States for plastic reconstructive surgery on their faces and bodies. Known as the “Hiroshima Maidens,” the young women became celebrities during their eighteen months in the United States not only because of their unique status as tourists but also as the first and only survivors of the atomic bombing of Japan whom Americans would ever encounter.
The story of the Maidens provides some insight into the ways in which Americans sought to recuperate the stigma of the atomic bomb within the patriotic framework of postwar science. In the late 1940s, Reverend Kiyoshi Tanimoto, a Methodist minister living in Hiroshima during the Occupation, sought out ways to bring a group of young women who had been badly burned and disfigured by the atomic bomb to the United States for plastic surgery. For most of their adult lives, the young women had been kept from public view by their embarrassed families, most of whom believed their daughters’ disfigurements were subjective reflections of family status rather than as the objective effects of atomic warfare. Although the young women bore deep physical and psychological wounds, they became known locally as Tanimoto’s “Keloid Girls,” an awkward term of endearment that referred to the hard pieces of scar tissue that formed on their bodies after their radiation burns.
In 1951, Tanimoto met Norman Cousins, the influential editor of the Saturday Review of Literature, who had commenced a series of well-publicized tours to increase public awareness for the plight of Japanese orphans and war victims in both the United States and abroad. Tanimoto implored Cousins to help him arrange for his Keloid Girls to travel to the United States and undergo reconstructive plastic surgery on their faces, hands, and bodies. Cousins granted Tanimoto his wish, and twenty-five of those who would most benefit from surgical treatment were selected. Beginning in the late spring of 1955, a team of plastic surgeons at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City performed over 140 operations on Tanimoto’s Keloid Girls. Known shortly thereafter in the United States and abroad as the “Hiroshima Maidens,” they recovered from their multiple surgeries in the homes of Quaker families in the metropolitan New York City area who had agreed to sponsor them during their surgical tenure, which lasted from May 1955 until November 1956.
Unlike survivors of conventional war, the Maidens elicited an unprecedented outpouring of medical anxieties and fears concerning the treatment of the body (and, especially, the female body) as disabled by the effects of radiation and nuclear fallout. Much to the State Department’s chagrin, the visual and symbolic evidence of the Maidens’ damaged bodies in public view helped to forge unavoidable links between their physical scarring and the damage wrought by the atomic bomb. In newspapers across the country, the young women were described variously as “bomb-scarred,” “A-scarred,” “Hiroshima-scarred,” “A-burned,” “Atomic-bomb-scarred,” or simply as “A-girls” or “A-victims.” These epithets proved that, regardless of visual propaganda or political intervention, the Maidens would not only retain an atomic resonance during their time in the US but that their relationship to the bomb—and not, as the State Department had hoped, to the compassionate war tropes of World War II used to describe veterans or concentration camp survivors—would be forever sustained by the American public.
On 11 May, just three days after they arrived in New York City, Tanimoto, his family, and Maidens Toyoko Minowa and Tadako Emori flew to Los Angeles to appear on Ralph Edwards’s popular NBC television program This is Your Life with the intended goal of raising money to help pay for the Maidens’ surgeries.2 Toward the middle of the program, Edwards introduced a “voice” from Tanimoto’s past that no one had ever heard before. Edwards brought out from behind a sliding translucent screen door the nervous figure of Lieutenant Robert Lewis, the co-pilot of the Enola Gay who, along with Paul Tibbetts, was responsible for flying the plane that dropped the bomb on Hiroshima. Lewis reportedly had spent the afternoon drinking himself into a stupor at a bar in downtown Los Angeles to anesthetize himself in preparation for the imminent encounter. As a low wave of electric organ chords began, soap opera style, to make their chromatic descent, he wiped perspiration from his face and in a soft New Jersey accent recited precariously the words he had prepared for this moment of public reckoning:
Well, Mr. Edwards, uh, just before 8:15 am Tokyo time, Tom Ferribee—a very able bombardier—carefully aimed at his target, which was the Second Imperial Japanese Army headquarters. At 8:15 promptly, the bomb was dropped. We turned fast to get out of the way of the deadly radiation and bomb effects. First was the big flash that we got, and then the two concussion waves hit the ship. Shortly after, we turned back to see what had happened. And there, in front of our eyes, the city of Hiroshima disappeared. I wrote down later, “My God, what have we done?”
Bloated and sweating profusely, the embarrassed Lewis presented the Maidens with a check for $50.00 for surgical treatments he had inadvertently helped to make necessary.
Despite the lurid voyeurism and brutal insensitivity of Lewis’s appearance, a moment unprecedented on television in the United States, what truly disturbed This is Your Life’s production staff was not the potential awkwardness of the on-camera meeting between Lewis and the Hiroshima survivors. It was the presence of Minowa and Emori on a live national broadcast. They had been deemed too hideous to be shown to American television audiences. Some might argue that Ralph Edwards and his production staff feared that the Maidens’ appearance would clash ignominiously with the program’s regular sponsor, Hazel Bishop cosmetics. Edwards told the audience, “To avoid causing them any embarrassment, we will not show you their faces.” As he spoke, Edwards pointed to simple, docile silhouettes hidden behind a translucent screen. The opacity of the Maidens’ appearance on commercial television might have been a last-chance effort to obscure the visible effects of the atomic bomb from public view. On camera, however, it was a disturbing exhibitionary form that seemed to make Minowa’s and Emori’s shadows visually resonant with those of undisclosed criminals, anonymous homosexuals, or finger puppets animated by the light of a nineteenth-century lantern slide.
Japanese survivors of the atomic bomb, like the Maidens, often suffered as much from the social stigmas attached to ethnic or national difference as they did from their radiation burns.3 In the US, the popular media constantly linked evidence of their physical difference to the atomic bombing, which made their scars seem even more elastic and uncontrollable than they already were. Reconstructive plastic surgery on the Maidens offered one possible strategy for producing control in an out-of-control situation. After the Hiroshima Maidens arrived in the United States for reconstructive surgery, however, the distinction between emergency plastic surgery used to ameliorate suffering and elective cosmetic surgery used to facilitate beauty was entirely lost on the popular media. The Newark Star-Ledger, for example, announced the Maidens’ arrival in the United States with the headline “Disfigured Jap Girls to Get Facelifting,” while the New York World-Telegram explained that “25 A-Burned Girls … Hope to Regain Beauty.” The social consequences produced by this misunderstanding or blurring of surgical genres caused enormous criticism of the Maidens project. Some members of the Japanese press accused Cousins and Tanimoto of luring the Maidens away for medical experimentation despite the seemingly objective language of “expertise” espoused by American plastic surgeons. A May 1955 article in the Communist Daily Worker referred explicitly to the Maidens as guinea pigs of Western imperialism: “It is the supreme duty of the American workers to rescue mankind by taking the power from this ruling class whose disfigured face, pitted by the disease of degeneration of capitalism, can never be repaired by plastic surgery.”
The professional distinction between plastic and cosmetic surgery was emphasized strategically by Cousins and Tanimoto to ensure that the Maidens project would receive the appropriate support from the public, who might otherwise resent the fact that Japanese girls were getting facelifts. It was imperative for Cousins and others to establish Western medicine as a paradigmatic example of American scientific superiority and humanitarian aid. In 1952, for example, long before they even arrived in the United States, a group of surgeons from the Soviet Union approached Tanimoto and offered to perform reconstructive surgery on them for free on the condition that they speak out against American imperialism and nuclear weapons testing.4 This is why the four primary physicians for the project—Arthur Barsky, William Hitzig, Sidney Kahn, and Bernard Simon—were regularly identified in the media as board-certified plastic surgeons who had also served distinguished records during World War II, which promoted the Maidens project as not only humanitarian but also patriotic.
Moreover, whatever initial otherness the Maidens brought with them on their journey from Japan was neutralized by reconstructing them in the image of American women—if not physically, then certainly socially. Early observers commented that when the Maidens descended the runway in New York, they were not only exhausted and airsick but were dressed in “ill-fitting” blue polyester travel suits. The Maidens had teased their straight black hair into tangled knots that became “all frizzed out” since they assumed that all American women wore coifed and permed hair. The Quaker families that sponsored the Maidens endeavored immediately to improve the young women’s appearance. They lavished the Maidens with gifts befitting comfortable young American girls of a certain socioeconomic bracket and taste niche. Many families bought the young women expensive tweed skirts, cashmere sweaters, and saddle shoes for daily wear, evening dresses and shawls for formal functions, and gifts of beauty products designed to restore hair to its lustrous sheen. In addition, between surgeries, the Quaker families encouraged the Maidens to pursue professional and recreational interests. Many of the Maidens took classes in painting, nursing, cosmetology, and secretarial skills, even if many of them anticipated that all of the glamour would dissipate upon their return to the family fishing business.
In the hands of their American doctors and Quaker sponsors, the Maidens became poster children for whom the stigmas of bodily damage inflicted by the chaos of applied physics could be healed through the miracles of modern medicine. More than merely offering them cultural opportunities or material gifts, surgeons and Friends offered their guests an entrée into the triumphant culture promised by Cold War economic liberalism. Indeed, for the American public that watched their miraculous transformations, the Maidens proved that plastic surgery, aimed at both emergency cases as well as at beauty’s common denominator, could serve as a democratizing force for these hibakusha, or for survivors of war, or even for those with ungainly appearances. They may have been poor female Japanese victims of radiation burns, but the Maidens were imagined partly as pioneers of innovative medical technology and partly as upwardly mobile career girls. The Maidens became literally the public face of those foreign nationals to whom the magic and mystery emanating from American goods and services flowed during the aggressive foreign policy initiatives and equally aggressive conspicuous consumption of the Eisenhower years. As the New York World-Telegram reported, “for years [the Maidens] have avoided society’s gazes and stares, helpless in their common sorrow. But now there is hope. … Twenty-five Japanese girls are seeing what America is really like.”
In early April 2003, during the first few weeks of Operation Iraqi Freedom, the Indian author Arundhati Roy tried to distinguish the naked ambition of the Bush Administration’s military campaign in Iraq from earlier (and allegedly more controlled) models of American military activity during the Cold War era.5 Roy assumed that in the past the American government was much better about concealing its brute tendencies toward economic and cultural imperialism. In promoting the Bush administration’s plan to rebuild Iraq, Roy argues that the president “has achieved what writers, activists, and scholars have striven to achieve for decades. He has exposed the ducts. He has placed on full public view the working parts, the nuts and bolts of the apocalyptic apparatus of the American empire.” The State Department may have been able with great success to censor images of Japanese atomic bomb victims in the decade following World War II in order to recuperate the weapon and further the federal government’s political and economic commitment to the promise of atomic energy. But perhaps we underestimate the ability of ideology to unravel, uncoiling itself even under conditions of its own choosing, and reconstituting the “apocalyptic apparatus” of empire for the whole world to see. Indeed, for both the State Department during World War II and the Bush Administration during Operation Iraqi Freedom, the shamelessness with which an empire exposes the apparatus of its ideology, its willingness to flex its muscle without remorse or apology, is perhaps the ultimate expression of its power. Within days of his admission of uncertainty on This is Your Life, the State Department contacted Robert Lewis and reprimanded him for showing any signs of reservation about the consequences of the Enola Gay’s mission. The combination of guilt and depression proved too much for Lewis, and by the late 1950s he was institutionalized in upstate New York. He committed suicide shortly thereafter. According to one account, in his remaining years Lewis was alleged to have built a sculpture as an art therapy project in the weeks before his death: an enormous, three-dimensional mushroom cloud with a single tear cascading down one side.
David Serlin is an editor and columnist at Cabinet. An expanded version of his column in this issue will be published next year in his forthcoming book Replaceable You: Engineering the American Body after World War Two (University of Chicago Press).
Cabinet is published by Immaterial Incorporated, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. Cabinet receives generous support from the Lambent Foundation, the Orphiflamme Foundation, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, the Opaline Fund, the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts, the Danielson Foundation, the Katchadourian Family Foundation, and many individuals. All our events are free, the entire content of our many sold-out issues are on our site for free, and we offer our magazine and books at prices that are considerably below cost. Please consider supporting our work by making a tax-deductible donation by visiting here.
© 2003 Cabinet Magazine | <urn:uuid:665b361d-e880-48f5-ac61-f13c669eeb53> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://cabinetmagazine.org/issues/11/cleanRoom.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397842.93/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00056-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.966994 | 3,945 | 2.75 | 3 |
With its spacious dimensions, pleasant views and various amenities, Lockefield Gardens in Indianapolis distinguished itself among housing projects erected in the 1930s under President Franklin Roosevelt’s Public Works Administration. After the complex closed in the 1970s, however, all but seven of the project’s original 24 buildings were demolished. Lockefield Gardens’ significance in the city’s history—especially that of its African-American community—was acknowledged by the placement of its extant structures on the National Register of Historic Places.
Another significant landmark from the New Deal era was facing obliteration in the late 1990s, before a community activist intervened. The only other PWA housing project built in Indiana—one of the first fifty built in the US—went up in Evansville’s historically African-American community known as Baptisttown. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt herself cut the ribbon at the Evansville project’s 1938 opening. With such facilities as its own USO, the segregated Lincoln Gardens complex went beyond housing the city’s poor to serving as the center of black life in a neighborhood that was well served by its own cadre of professionals—from black doctors and lawyers to teachers and merchants.
By 1998, all but one of the project’s original buildings had been razed. Sondra Matthews, who grew up in Lincoln Gardens, managed to persuade the Evansville Housing Authority to deed the remaining structure to the board of the Evansville African American Museum, which opened in June 2007. The facility showcases memorabilia from the city’s all-black schools, and pays homage to such celebrated native sons as jazz drummer “Big Sid” Catlett and actor Ron Glass. Visitors may also tour a restored one-bedroom apartment that would have housed a family of six. | <urn:uuid:0d988387-7ea3-4f7b-9176-7d91f268a4fe> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://indianapublicmedia.org/momentofindianahistory/evansville-african-american-museum/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00076-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968483 | 363 | 2.984375 | 3 |
Maps of Panama 2,600 years old
Maps of Panama are not the easiest of things to find if you search bookstores or other likely places. Oh, there are plenty of small ones in the backs of tourist guides or as parts of brochures, and they are free. Finding one that is large, like those multi-fold things sold by North American gasoline stations is a little more difficult. (Hint: Visit a Rey supermarket. They have them for around $5.50.)
Yet detailed maps of Panama have been around for thousands of years, well before the birth of Christ. In fact, they were situated alongside roads to help travelers along their way – but they were a bit too large to stuff in a pocket. They were etched into rock, similar to the one pictured above. It is at Sitio Barriles (Barrels Site), about 6 km from the village of Volcán.
Sitio Barriles is well worth a visit.
Spirals represent volcanoes
This map is estimated to be around 2,600 years old, and portrays much of what is now Chiriqui Province using Volcán Barú as its center. Spirals on maps of this type represented volcanoes. Volcán Barú is at the top of this rock. The line extending from it toward the bottom left corner represents the mountain range running the length of Panama, like a spine. To the left of this line, the country drops toward the Atlantic, to the right, toward the Pacific.
Other lines represent routes between communities, represented by circles. Just below the center of the picture, looking like crenellations in a castle wall, is a symbol translated to mean "ceremonial place". It, and the circle accompanying it, marks what is now called Sitio Barriles on what must be one of the heaviest maps of Panama.
On another side of the same rock is a hieroglyph showing a serpent guarding the ceremonial place.
The site is on the farm of Edna and Luis Landau and is open to visitors. Mrs. Landau speaks English and is a tireless guide, explaining each detail of these maps of Panama, and the hundreds of other artifacts. She does not charge for her services, but gratefully accepts contributions to the upkeep of the private facility. Her family has owned the land for about 100 years, and started finding artifacts when it was first plowed.
Symbols used in North Africa
Interpretation of the hieroglyphs was not difficult. The same symbols were used in North Africa as recently as 100 years ago, and Mrs. Landau said they are still used in some South American Indian communities.
Another large rock among the maps of Panama shows the route between Volcán Barú (inactive for 500 years) and the extinct volcano Tizingal.
Sitio Barriles gets its name from barrel-sized stones that may have been used as rollers for moving heavy objects, as was believed to be the case at Stonehenge in the UK. Another theory, given credence by the slight hollow on top of one of them, is that they may have been used for resting the heads of those to be executed.
(The hollowed stones, behind the "barrels" in the photograph, were used for grinding food, perhaps even bones to get at the marrow which, according to scientific evidence, was part of the diet.)
Beheading is believed to have been a common form of execution, as at least one statue, now in a museum in Panama City, suggests. The statue, some six feet tall, shows what is presumed to be a chief with a head in each hand. The photograph on this page is a faithful clay replica of the original.
But the original sculpture begs more questions than it answers about the people who still lived here 2,600 years ago. The man being carried has Oriental features and a conical hat. The man carrying him has African features. Where did these people come from, and where did they go? They were long gone before the Aztecs occupied the same land 1,000 years ago.
Did the makers of the ancient maps of Panama have slaves?
For more on this fascinating archeological site, see | <urn:uuid:4edcfd63-76d5-42a2-b3f1-f34e8f36e9e5> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.yourpanama.com/maps-of-panama.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783391766.5/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154951-00134-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.968266 | 870 | 3.34375 | 3 |
|Click here for a list of all left-hand-drive countries|
|Cycling Street Smarts, left-hand drive version|
This manual will teach you safe cycling on public roads and streets.
Most books about cycling begin with the selection of a bicycle and
accessories. This one is going to be different. We're going to start with cyclists'
attitudes about riding on the road.
|The most important factor in how you ride your bicycle is how you feel about it. If
you find cycling enjoyable and reasonably safe, then you'll want to cover greater
distances and go more places. But to do so, you usually have to ride in the company of
motor vehicles - and sharing the road with them calls for an attitude of security and confidence.
Once you have that confidence, you can safely and enjoyably take on a commute to work in city traffic or a long day's tour on almost any kind of roads. Almost anyone can become a confident, streetwise cyclist. Start out with conditions under which you feel comfortable and work up to more difficult ones. This booklet will show you how.
Keep in mind that the rules of the road apply to all drivers of vehicles, regardless of vehicle type. But the laws themselves often describe only what a cyclist is required to do, not how to do it. This manual describes how to do it. This manual will teach you safe cycling on public roads and streets.
To ride safely requires the ability to process information about traffic conditions, just as when driving an automobile. That skill develops with age and education. Children are ready to ride on streets when they are capable of controlling the bicycle well, can ride reliably and predictably, and can understand and follow the rules of the road.
. When a parent or guardian is satisfied that a child is ready, start out in easy conditions (on quiet neighborhood streets or rural roads) under the close supervision of someone who understands the principles of safe street bicycling taught in this manual.
A few words about equipment -- you do need the right equipment to put the ideas in this booklet to use.
Your bicycle should match your riding style. There are many types of bicycles. Consider your level of skill and where you want to ride. A good bike shop can help you make the right decision.
For comfort, your bicycle must fit your body proportions like a good suit of clothes. Finding the right frame height by standing over the bicycle is just a start. Other measurements are equally important. For example, most women need to take extra care to buy bikes with a short top tube, since women's average upper-body length is shorter in proportion to leg length than men's.
Cranks, handlebar stem, handlebars and saddle can be changed to fit you better. A good bike shop will help you select the parts that are right for you when you buy a bike.
New or old-faithful, your bicycle must be in good working order. The gears must shift reliably, and the brakes must work smoothly. If you aren't sure that your bike is in top shape, take it to a qualified mechanic at a good bike shop.
A helmet is a bargain in injury prevention. Head injury is a very common result of a crash when cycling, and is what the helmet is designed to protect against. Because it must be ventilated and light in weight, a bicycle helmet cannot prevent serious injury in a higher-speed collision with an obstacle or vehicle. A helmet is only your final layer of protection -- so skillful cycling is no less important when wearing one. Make sure your helmet is snug, level, and covers your forehead, or you won't be adequately protected.
A rear-view mirror can be helpful when manoeuvring in traffic. A small, helmet-or eyeglass-mounted mirror gives a wide field of view and good isolation from road shock. Aim it along the side of your head, looking directly back. You should see your right ear in the left side of the mirror. Or if you can not avoid looking “through” the mirror because your left eye is dominant, try placing the mirror on the left side. You'll need a couple of weeks to learn to use the mirror. If it still doesn't work well for you after that length of time, consider a handlebar-end mirror instead.
Fingerless cycling gloves improve your comfort on long rides by cushioning your hands against road shock from the handlebars. They also protect your hands in case of a fall.
To secure your trousers and keep chain dirt off them, simply wear socks that reach above your ankles and tuck your trousers into them.
A small tool kit, tyre patch kit and frame pump -- and the knowledge to use them -- will get you back on the road when your bike has a flat tyre or other common minor breakdowns. Most on-road repairs are simple and easy to learn.
A frame-mounted water bottle lets you drink as you ride -- important on any trip of more than an hour. A small handlebar bag or rack-mount bag will hold your tools, extra clothing, maps and other items you take with you on your rides. A bag on the bike is a far better choice than a backpack, which will leave your back hot and sweaty in warm weather.
Buy a good lock. Lock your bicycle's frame and any quick-release parts, or take them with you. | <urn:uuid:bae908e7-398e-4e51-a849-9df3fce38b26> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.bikexprt.com/streetsmarts/lhd/intro.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397636.15/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00105-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.942866 | 1,109 | 3.15625 | 3 |
Research at Colorado State University has revealed new links between tuberculosis and diabetes, providing evidence that TB becomes more deadly when it occurs with diabetes and showing for the first time that tuberculosis can actually trigger pre-diabetes.
Results of the study by Randall Basaraba, post-doctoral fellow Brendan Podell and their colleagues recently were published in the American Journal of Pathology. The researchers work in CSU’s Metabolism of Infectious Diseases Laboratory and Mycobacteria Research Laboratories.
The results come as the global rate of diabetes is increasing exponentially, particularly in developing countries that already have a high incidence of tuberculosis. TB is an infectious respiratory disease that kills an estimated 1.5 million people worldwide each year.
“Projections for increases in diabetes are astronomical,” said Basaraba, a professor in the CSU Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Pathology. “One-third of the human population is infected with Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacteria that causes tuberculosis, so we can expect a dramatic increase in the number of individuals who have both TB and diabetes. There is a merging of two global epidemics that will affect millions of people each year.”
The research team, supported by grants from the American Diabetes Association and the National Institutes of Health, aims to understand the progression of TB in diabetic patients and to test treatments to improve TB and diabetes control when the two diseases occur together.
Through their pioneering study, the CSU researchers discovered a unique tie between TB and diabetes, notably that exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis can spur pre-diabetes. This suggests the possibility of using diabetes drugs in conjunction with antibiotics to more effectively treat TB.
The team’s findings also confirmed that TB progresses more rapidly in diabetic subjects, with higher bacterial growth, more inflammation and poorer response to TB drug treatment. Even pre-diabetes increases TB severity, the researchers found.
These initial study results set the stage for a second research phase during which the scientists will explore novel drug treatment strategies that may someday be used to better control diabetes and tuberculosis in patients.
Facts about TB and diabetes:
• In 2012, nearly 9 million people around the world became sick with tuberculosis. TB is the second leading cause of death from an infectious disease worldwide, after HIV.
• TB infection rates are highest in developing countries, with notable hot spots in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.
• About 10,000 TB cases were reported in the United States in 2012.
• Rates of type 2 diabetes are soaring worldwide, with 80 percent of diabetes patients living in developing countries. India and China lead the world in number of diagnosed diabetic patients, according to the World Health Organization. | <urn:uuid:ea3608ff-26f6-4ebb-a83e-d468de9602eb> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://scienceblog.com/72757/tuberculosis-infection-can-spark-pre-diabetes/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396459.32/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00116-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.935718 | 553 | 3.09375 | 3 |
aerial vehicles" - no larger than a common house fly - are currently
being developed by the US military and could enter mass production later
could be used in spying missions, recording and transmitting audio-visual
information. An individual robot would serve as a literal "fly
on the wall" - equipped with miniature cameras, microphones, modem
and GPS. Many terrorist cells could be infiltrated thanks to this radical
the major technical hurdles will be creating sufficient battery power
in such a small object, as well as keeping them light enough to remain
airborne. Advances in nanotechnology may solve this problem. Together
with improvements in computing power, this would allow circuitry and
components to be packed more closely.
versions might be developed for assassin roles. These would have capsules
in the abdomen of the insect, filled with cyanide or another lethal
toxin. This would be delivered to the target via a small needle capable
of piercing human skin.
might work in groups, forming networks to extend their range and abilities.
Further into the future, enormous swarms of these machines might be
deployed on the battlefield.
concerns may be raised as to how this technology affects the safety
and security of citizens.
is a project funded by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
(DARPA) in the hopes that it will one day serve as a robotic pack mule
- accompanying soldiers in terrain too rough for conventional vehicles.
of wheels or treads, BigDog uses four legs for movement, allowing it
to move across surfaces that would defeat wheels. The legs contain a
variety of sensors, including joint position and ground contact. BigDog
also features a laser gyroscope and stereo vision system.
stable, quadruped robot could be deployed in military support roles
within the next five or so years. It would be capable of running at
5 mph (8 km/h), while carrying loads up to 340 pounds (150 kg) and climbing
slopes with 35° inclines. This would greatly reduce the burden of
equipment for soldiers.* | <urn:uuid:17447ed0-de54-41e4-aadb-228b0ab46317> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://futuretimeline.net/subject/military-war.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783403508.34/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155003-00079-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.922 | 431 | 3.046875 | 3 |
Venetian painter, c.1476/8 - 1510
Vasari's knowledge of Giorgione's career and works was rudimentary; Giorgione painted largely for the Venetian aristocracy, to whose private collections the friend of Florentine and Roman nobles did not have access.
That Vasari recognised his importance as a painter is signalled by Giorgione's presence in the trio of Leonardo, Giorgione and Correggio, who introduce the third age of painting.
I shall adopt the amateur's privilege of idle speculation and include the pictures that might have caught the Tuscan eye.
"In his youth he executed in Venice many Madonnas and portraits. these were vigorous and beautiful pictures..."
Adoration of the Magi
|Adoration of the Shepherds|
|Madonna with the Child, St Anthony of Padua and St Roch|
|Portrait of a young man (Antonio Broccardo)|
|Portrait of an old woman|
"Giorgione loved to paint frescoes...[so when] the Fondaco dei Tedeschi was completely burnt, the Signoria decreed that it should be rebuilt [and that] Giorgione should colour it in fresco as he wished..." I-275
The frescoes have nearly vanished - Vasari refers to a figure like a Judith, who "might stand for Germania"
Judith (oil on panel)
"Giorgione did a picture showing Christ carrying the cross with a Jew who is tugging him, which was eventually placed in the church of San Rocco." I-275
Vasari also gives this painting to Titian
Christ carrying the cross
"Giorgione worked in various places, including Castelfranco and the territory of Treviso;" I-275
|Saint in armour (based on left figure in the Castelfranco altarpiece)|
To next pageWelcome Giorgio Vasari Lives Ologies Thanks Links | <urn:uuid:4199fa3b-9297-4bee-830e-ed7d6c9ec16a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://easyweb.easynet.co.uk/giorgio.vasari/giorgion/giorg.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783400031.51/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155000-00006-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.946898 | 427 | 2.921875 | 3 |
1962, the infancy of X-ray astronomy....Sure, astrophysicists knew that X-rays are produced in the stupendous inferno deep inside the Sun, but they also knew that its X-ray output was miniscule when compared with the visible light that the Sun emits. In order to see X-rays from other stars that are hundreds of light years away, these stars would have to produce a million times more energy in X-rays than the Sun does. No one thought it likely, most thought it impossible. One thing was certain: if it ever happened, it simply could not be an ordinary star....
Five or six precious minutes. That's all the observing time you got in the "olden days". You fired a 50 ft. bullet (better known as an Aerobee sounding rocket) into the sky, fueled with Red Fuming Nitric Acid, and Analine. This stuff really didn't get cooking until about 5 seconds after the launch, so you stuck on an 8 ft. solid fuel booster underneath; quite a large firecracker indeed.
The payload preparation has taken years. Months ago, it had been placed on the "shake table" at NASA, where the stresses of launch were simulated. Geiger counters that would function in much the same way that film does in an ordinary camera, had been painstakingly calibrated and checked in the laboratory. Finally you mate this X-ray camera with the Aerobee. To check all the systems, you do a "horizontal test". The countdown is simulated, and you make sure that all systems are operating properly. The only thing you can never really check is the engine system; the vehicle stays empty until it is fueled in the tower on the day of launch.
Then, a few days later, comes "vertical". The rocket and payload are placed into the tower, and the launch sequence is simulated once more. All systems are go!...Finally, launch day arrives.
There is a frenzied excitement in the air. The energy is high. The rocket is fueled. (If it is a hot day, the poor people who do this in heavy, everything-proof rubber will lose 20-30 pounds of weight in the process). The countdown begins...
It takes a few minutes to get to the 100 mile altitude that is necessary to be sure that the X-rays get into your detectors instead of being absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere. Plenty of time to agonizingly anticipate the observation and reflect upon the two previous attempts which failed, once when the rocket engine misfired, and again when the rocket door to the detector failed to open. In the two years that followed the first failure, Riccardo Giacconi's team at American Science and Engineering in Cambridge, Massachusetts had developed a detector a hundred times more sensitive than any ever flown before. It is this new improved payload that is now being launched.
The time has come. For several hundred seconds on the 18th day of June, 1962, the rocket will sweep the sky, looking at our Moon. What?! X-rays from the MOON????
Yes, the Moon shines by reflected light of the Sun, so a certain fraction of the Sun's X-rays will be reflected off the lunar surface, back toward the Earth, and the rocket. It was logical to look at the Moon as the next step in exploring the X-ray universe. Not glamorous, not spectacular, certainly, but LOGICAL.
When the rocket attains a height of about 100 miles, the gyros, still carrying their memories of the rocket's orientation on the launch pad, now instruct the Attitude Control System to manuever the payload so that the detectors are pointing toward the selected target. And so the AS&E team anxiously waited as the rocket rolled, pitched, and yawed its way toward the direction of the Moon in the sky, one day past full, and 35 degrees above the New Mexico horizon, glittering the desert with its visible light. Up higher goes the rocket, hopefully to capture some of those elusive X-rays that would otherwise silently be absorbed by the Earth's atmosphere.
Almost immediately, an enormous spike appeared on the chart recorder, as the rocket spun round and round, looking at the Moon and elsewhere in the sky as well. Rather than being jubilant, team member Herb Gursky was initially dismayed. "Oh, no!" he shouted. His tone was dejected because he knew that the Moon would NEVER be that bright in X-rays. However, after a few minutes, he realized that the spike that was seen over and over again as the rocket X-ray detectors swept over the sky, was not from the Moon at all, but actually came from another part of the sky, about 25 degrees away! (The Moon would have produced a maximum in the graph at about position 160 degrees, whereas the peak occurs at about 185 degrees). It turned out that the Moon's X-ray brightness contributes virtually nothing to the count rate we see displayed below.
After several months of analysis back at their laboratory in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Giacconi, Gursky, and Frank Paolini reached a surprising, but unmistakable conclusion: the signal was real, not an equipment malfunction, and not from the Moon. It was from a cosmic source of X-rays of truly staggering proportions. From the depths of space, came X-rays so plentiful that they exceeded the Sun's entire energy output by a factor of 100, and exceeded its X-ray output by a factor of about one hundred million!
It was a totally new type of object, dubbed SCO X-1 (for the first X-ray source to be discovered in the constellation of Scorpius). This and subsequent rocket flights soon made it clear that Nature is showering us with X-rays from virtually everywhere (Astronomers have since discovered thousands of these X-ray sources. Although far more luminous than Sun, they are so distant that even SCO X-1, the source with the highest apparent X-ray brightness, sends to the Earth each second less than one billionth of the energy you receive in a single dental X-ray photo. (And that even assumes that all of the SCO X-rays penetrate the Earth's atmosphere instead of being absorbed by it).
After the discovery, the search was on in the sky to see which "star" was giving off the X-ray light. The answer was not long in coming; a completely obscure but very peculiar blue object in the constellation of Scorpius was the culprit. The arrow in the sky photo below marks the spot.
The dam had burst. On Oct. 15, 1967 Walter Lewin and collaborators at MIT observed SCO X-1 and discovered the first extra-solar X-ray flare ever. So now we found out that these X-ray stars could change their brightness in just a few minutes! Soon rocket flight after rocket flight revealed more of these strange objects, and theoretical astrophysicists realized that neutron stars were responsible for the stupendous energy generated by many of these cosmic X-ray beacons. A whole new field of science had been born, galactic X-ray astronomy. It was (and is) a world of binary stars with exciting phenomena that are still being uncovered by the latest generation of X-ray telescopes being flown now, 35 years after the first observation of SCO X-1...
Interestingly enough, although SCO X-1 was the first discovered source, and the one with the greatest X-ray brightness in the sky, it has been reluctant to reveal its secrets. It was only many years later that scientists found convincing evidence for its binary nature, even though they were quite certain that there must be a companion star.
Now, we have satellites that allow us to observe the sky for far longer than five minutes, thereby opening up new time domains for studying potentially exotic behavior. Orbiting X-ray telescopes provide much more complete coverage and sensitivity, and SCO X-1 has obliged us...
A scant ten years ago, a strange signal was detected from SCO X-1, (as well as from certain other X-ray sources). Named "quasi-periodic oscillations" (or QPO's), these elusive pulses of X-rays come and go like the wind, lasting a few hundred seconds, only to return and do the same thing again, but slightly differently each time. During these hundred second outbursts, the light comes and goes much like a rotating lighthouse beacon, about once every second.
We already know that these phenomena come only from a class of objects called low-mass X-ray binaries, of which SCO X-1 is a member. However, the exact nature of the processes that give rise to these peculiar signals are unknown. The most popular theory is one called shot noise, but the wide variety of effects present in these sources (such as changing spectral properties) makes things difficult (but more interesting!) for any theory to explain.
With the Rossi XTE, still more new results are beginning to pour in about these mysterious signals, and it seems certain that Nature will be providing us yet more X-ray surprises. In the future, Chandra's unprecedented sensitivity may yield new and exciting data from these QPO sources. For although SCO X-1 is the brightest X-ray source in the sky (excluding the Sun), we need to look at its variability over very short time scales (about one thousandth of a second) to understand in detail what is happening. During this short period, only a few photons can be collected with current satellites, and the data looks "noisy". Chandra will aid us tremendously with its ability to collect more X-ray light than ever before from SCO X-1 and other low mass X-ray binary stars.
It seems almost impossible to imagine that all of our knowledge of the X-ray sky began with a humble rocket experiment a mere 35 years ago. Cosmic X-ray sources have demonstrated Nature's bounty of mysteries and wonders during that time, showering us with clues about the evolution and make-up of our awe-inspiring universe. And SCO X-1 led the way.
P.S. We eventually did discover X-rays reflected from the moon. Here is the image of that finding.
In these few pages, it is impossible to do more than just scratch the surface of the nature of SCO X-1. If you have any questions of your own, e-mail us and we will post the question and answer on this site... | <urn:uuid:7d7f4231-5e8f-4d3b-b56b-c5846d93216b> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://chandra.harvard.edu/xray_sources/sco/sco.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397562.76/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00157-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.963646 | 2,171 | 3.640625 | 4 |
Population:14.5 millionLiteracy Rate:84%Religion: Roman Catholic (95%)
Salesian Missions in Ecuador are giving the poor valuable resources and support needed to overcome the country's extreme injustice and inequity. The gap between rich and poor is huge: the top 20% receive 50% of the nation's income, while the bottom 20% earn a mere 5%. More than a million children – 18% of the total workforce – must work to support their families. And 26% of the nation's children under age 5 have stunted growth – in some regions, it's as high as 47%.
Supply Medical Care
Residents of Cuenca now have access to a new Salesian medical center. The facility is staffed by a team of healthcare professionals and features modern equipment for medical examinations and laboratory analysis. The center also includes a pharmacy.
More Missions in Ecuador
Ecuador is one of the most inequitable societies in the world, according to UNICEF. The richest 20% of the population receives almost 50% of the national income, while the poorest 20% receives only 5%.
For poor, rural and indigenous children, education provides the best opportunity for finding meaningful employment – therefore reducing inequities.
At one Salesian Missions school – the Center for the Young Worker – students study auto mechanics, woodworking, baking, beauty care and cooking. It is a community effort as parents help provide meals to the students, and weekend student volunteers help build houses for the families who have come into the city looking for work. Approximately half of the students come to the Center without an elementary education – and not only do 85% finish elementary or middle school but 64% continue to study after they have completed their training.
Throughout Ecuador, children and adolescents find the opportunity of education at Salesian Missions facilities.
Through a microfinance credit program from Salesian Missions, indigenous and rural populations have access to funds for agricultural and micro-business activities. Currently, 12,000 people are taking advantage of this opportunity in 85 different communities.
At Salesian Missions “Project for Street Children” sites throughout the country, vulnerable and at-risk children gain an all-around education that allows them to take the lead in developing their own skills and potential. The project uses an active presence on the streets, technical training and schools and the support of families and communities that care for the boys and their rehabilitation. Specialized programs for youth in need include: prevention of addiction and care for addicts, rehabilitation of youth gang members, and hostels that provide an alternative to living on the street. Thousands of children and adolescents are supported each year.
Support Our MissionsYour gift now will help Salesian Missions provide the urgently needed care and
hope to children around the globe Donate Now
Sign-up for our eNewsletter
For a monthly gift of $25 or more...
Sandra Kuck has graciously donated this limited-edition print “Kissing Kitty” in order to help raise funds for our missions projects around the world. | <urn:uuid:b3dc6e2b-a9e2-4bf4-af61-43b6be5ec373> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://salesianmissions.org/our-work/country/ecuador | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404382.73/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00004-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947348 | 621 | 2.734375 | 3 |
Washington's Science Olympiad puts students' ideas to the test
Interlake High School Science Olympiad participant George Sun prepares his demonstration as judges Norris Brown, Mark Haiar and Cameron Bennett observe.
A little over 50 years ago the Ideal Toy Company introduced a board game called Mouse Trap.
And while the hundreds of students who gathered at Eastern Washington University last Saturday for the 2014 Washington Science Olympiad state tournament may have never even seen the game, let alone play it, for those who do recall it, there might have been some childhood flashback moments for parents and others.
"The goal is to create a Rube Goldberg type of device that does a chain-reaction," advisor Shem Thompson said of his Interlake High School in Bellevue team that was one of 40 teams taking part in "Mission Possible" competition at Reese Court.
That, too, was one of the goals for Mouse Trap players who rolled the dice and slowly built a contraption that would catch opponent's mice if they landed on the wrong space.
Mission Possible was just one of over two-dozen parts of the competition at the Olympiad, an event coordinated by EWU's College of Science, Health and Engineering and founded in 1986. Other activities included astronomy, forensics, geology and genetics.
Competition took place across much of the EWU campus and drew teams of high school and middle school science students from throughout the Northwest. Camas High near Vancouver, Wash. was the champion in their division. Frontier Middle School from Moses Lake won their division. There were no West Plains schools in the competition.
The Interlake entry's goal was to create a chain reaction and have a light turn on.
"They have to dump something in, it has to sort it, have a chain-reaction (where) this causes this, causes this," Thompson explained. "At the end of 80 seconds they're supposed to have the light turn on."
And they did just that, team member George Sun said. "We were pretty successful," Sun, a junior, said, grading the result, "Maybe an eight" on a scale of 1-10.
The participants start with a box of miscellaneous components and have a set time to put it together. The challenge, Sun said, was thinking of a series of random energy transfers and fitting them together.
While Interlake's project involved physics, Sun plans to eventually focus his interest in science towards the human body when he heads to college.
Another entry was that of Galen Bishop and Max Albrechtson from Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Wash.
Bishop, a senior, explained how a marble started the seemingly complicated process in which its weight tripped a switch which activated a laser that in turn popped a balloon releasing water into a cup with salt.
The two substances mixing would form an electrical conductor completing another circuit. That turned on a motor, which moved a candle to light a fuse that would catch a string on fire that released a weight that turned on a light.
Whew, the thought of devising such a contraption could give someone a headache.
"We had to touch it too many times," Bishop said. For every time the experiment was touched points were subtracted. Plus, the team earns no points for any portion where there is human interaction.
"It's really just having the most number of transfers between different forms of energy," Bishop said.
In short, "You start out by pouring a mixture of marbles, golf tees and paper clips, do a bunch of stuff and light up a light bulb at the end," Bishop explained.
The odd mixture of items used to start the process added points for sorting.
Judging their score, Albrechtson, a junior, suggested they were average to just below, "A four or five," on a scale of 10, he said.
And as could be expected, the two have done the same experiment a couple of times without aid of touching and it went perfect Bishop said.
Another Vancouver team, that of Waverley He and Sophie Cong, both seniors, are from Mountain View High.
Galen Bishop from Columbia High School pours a mixture of marbles, paper clips and golf tees to activate his team's "Mission Possible" project.
While their end result fell victim to some design flaws when a cup used to help supply a conductive solution of salt and water tipped over, knocking loose a wire, Cong felt their effort was an overall success.
Cong gave their project, "Probably an eight, I think the concept was cool and trial runs were fine, I think it was just today that the tower wasn't secure enough."
Judging the Mission Possible segment were volunteers, Cameron Bennett, an engineer, Norris Brown a business analyst with Kaiser Aluminum and Mark Haiar, a product engineer, also with Kaiser.
"It's remarkable how different they all are," Brown said.
Winners from the Washington competition move on to nationals May 16-17, hosted by the University of Central Florida in Orlando.
Paul Delaney can be reached at [email protected]. | <urn:uuid:009aa1a0-6f0c-4f7a-8b97-22d0c345ef3d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.cheneyfreepress.com/story/2014/04/17/more-news/washingtons-science-olympiad-puts-students-ideas-to-the-test/13745.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397111.67/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00103-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.977622 | 1,063 | 2.71875 | 3 |
We have been working on a unit about the 13 colonies. We are only studying the basics of who, what, where and whys of the founding of the colonies. We will be using Homeschool in the Woods Time Travelers The American Revolution after we complete this study so I needed to fill in the gap between our Explorers study and the American Revolution. I’ve been able to find a few things to use for our lapbook and have made some. I am still working on a couple of things to add to our. We hope to complete this unit by the end of the month. I haven’t completely laid out the lesson plan, but wanted to share what we have so far.
These are a few of the sites we are using:
Education World has a neat lesson plan for Colonial America including a link to George Washington’s Rules of Civility, which makes for excellent copy work.
The History Place has a time line for colonial America.
And if you haven’t found anything useful at these sites let’s not forget Mr. Donn’s site. His site is a great stepping off point for lessons and Power Point presentations.
For each state we will be doing a wheel with a window. The inside has been broken into 8-pie shapes with the following labels for each section: year founded, founded by, first settlement, first leader, chief economics, religion, government, and reason for colonization. The top circle has the state name and an outline map of the state. The kids will mark the important places on these mini maps and fill out the information on the inside circle.
Inside Circle- (four circles per page) (you will need to print 3 of these)
Georgia- (includes top and bottom)
We are planning to make match book biographies of famous colonists and creating models of the different regions’ homes. When (and if) I get my lesson plan nailed down, I will share. Right now we are watching videos and reading books from the library and taking it from there. | <urn:uuid:50da93ae-2859-4643-b8fc-6518e83ea77a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://proverbs22-6academy.com/2008/02/thirteen-colonies-study/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397873.63/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00182-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.939363 | 422 | 3.78125 | 4 |
This data set contains meteorological, radiation, soil, and snow data from several sites in three regions in Alaska: Ivotuk, Kougarok and Council.
The goal of the project is to improve the understanding of the role that soil moisture and surface temperature play in affecting the surface energy balance, sub-surface thermal dynamics, and vegetation distribution.
Measurements were taken as part of the Land-Atmosphere-Ice Interactions Arctic Transitions in the Land-Atmosphere System (LAII-ATLAS) program. The research project was funded by the Arctic System Sciences (ARCSS) Program, grant number OPP-9818066.
Please refer to the ATLAS Ivotuk, Kougarok, and Council web site (http://www.uaf.edu/water/projects/atlas/ivotuk/ivotuk.html) for a complete description of this project and the resulting data.
Data are available by FTP. | <urn:uuid:d49a3d4d-fdf1-45c7-9395-624dff24e603> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nsidc.org/data/ggd901 | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397864.87/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00060-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.883216 | 198 | 2.53125 | 3 |
Hempstead was settled in 1643 by a band of Puritans who sailed across the Long Island Sound from Stamford, Connecticut in search
of a place where they could more freely express their particular brand of Protestantism. They were led by the Rev. Robert Fordham and John Carman, both disciples of the Rev. Richard Denton, the leader of their sect. They landed on Long Island
at what is now called Roslyn village and trekked southward across a great prairie where they stopped between two fresh water streams and several small ponds. They bargained for the land with the leaders of the local native tribes and made an agreement
that allowed them to establish a "town spot" at what is now the Village of Hempstead as well as establishing property rights to what are now known as the Towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead. The natives were representatives of three of the
areas major tribes, the Marsapeague(Massapequa), Mericock(Merrick) and Rekowake(Rockaway). Tackapousha who was the sachem(chief) of the Marsapeague was the spokesman for the other tribes. Subsequent trips across the Sound brought more
settlers who prepared a fort for their mutual protection.
These were the beginnings of the oldest English settlement in what is now Nassau County. They established a Presbyterian church here. Today that Church is the oldest continually active Presbyterian congregation in the nation.
The name Hempstead is thought to have derived from a town in Hertfortshire, England known as Hemel-Hempstead, perhaps the birthplace of the Rev. Richard Denton. A number of the original settlers came from that area. Hempstead's proximity to New York City (25 miles from Herald Square) an area controlled by the Dutch in 1643 raises the prospect of considerable Dutch influence over the early development of the Hempstead settlement. Several of the original fifty patentees had Dutch surnames and it is also possible, although not likely because of the Englishmen's intense dislike for the Dutch traders and their governor, that the town of Heemsteede in Zeeland, Holland had an influence on the naming of the community.
In any case, Hempstead has developed over the past three hundred and fifty years into the largest Incorporated Village in the State of New York, with a population in excess of fifty thousand people. It is also the oldest Incorporated Village in New York State, having incorporated in 1853, as well as the seat of government for the Town of Hempstead, the largest township in the nation with over seven hundred thousand people.
Hempstead has been the home to many famous people over the years, and has been visited by some of the most famous, including President George Washington, Father of our Country, who paused at the 1683 inn of Nehemiah Sammis during his presidential tour of Long Island in 1790. Charles A. Lindbergh, the world's most famous aviator, spent quite a bit of time in Hempstead both before and after his epoch solo flight from nearby Roosevelt Field to Le Bourget Field in Paris, France on May 20,1927. Some famous residents of yesterday are Peter Cooper, inventor and politician, who married a local girl and settled here during the mid eighteen hundreds. Cooper invented the steam locomotive and ran for President on the "Greenback" ticket. Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of former President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spent her summers here during her teen years. Her family had a summer estate in Hempstead.
Hempstead has historically been the center of commercial activity for the easternmost counties of Long Island. In Nassau, all major county roads emanate from this village. It is indeed the "Hub" of Nassau County. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries all stage coaches en route to eastern Long Island from Brooklyn passed through Hempstead. Today, twenty six bus
routes and three interstate buses leave from the village every day. In addition, the Hempstead Branch of the Long Island Railroad has its' terminal here. At one time, there were three railroad companies with terminals within the village. Early Long Islanders made their living in agriculture or from the sea. Hempstead, with its' central location, became the marketplace for the outlying rural farming communities. It was a natural progression, as the surrounding areas developed from small farms into today's suburbia, that Hempstead Village would remain as the marketplace. Chain department stores such as Arnold Constable and Abraham & Straus called Hempstead home for many years. A&S, Hempstead, was the largest grossing suburban department store in the country during the late 1960's. Hempstead was Nassau's retail center during the 40's through the 60's. The advent of regional shopping malls such as the one at nearby Roosevelt Field and the demise of nearby Mitchel Air Force Base in 1961 put the retail trade in the village on a downward spiral that it was unable to recover from during the recessions of the 70's and 80's. Recent years have seen the redevelopment of the village as a government as well as business center. There are more government employees from all levels of government in the village than are in the county seat in Mineola. The population rises during the day to almost 200,000 from a normal census of 50,000. Retailers are once again showing interest in the village, and two large tracts of potential retail property are currently undergoing redevelopment. A considerable infusion of state and federal funding as well as private investment have enabled the replacement of blighted storefronts, complete commercial building rehabilitations and the development of affordable housing for the local population. The former 8.8 acre Times Squares Stores property on Peninsula Blvd. and Franklin St. is being redeveloped as Hempstead Village Commons, a 100,000 square foot retail center including Pep Boy's, Staples, Hollywood Video and Rite-Aid Drugs. Construction is underway. The replacement of the 1913 Hempstead
LIRR terminal with a modern facility is scheduled to commence in early 1999, and a four story 112 unit building for senior housing, with retail on the ground level was completed at Main and West Columbia Streets in January 1998. Thirty two units of affordable townhouses known as Patterson Mews at Henry St. and Baldwin Rd. was completed and fully occupied last summer. The former Abraham & Straus department store on 17 acres is currently undergoing demolition, to be replaced by a large retail development.
Hempstead is proud to have elected the first African-American village mayor in the state. It is proud of its' cultural diversity and the resourcefulness and accomplishments of its' residents, both past and present. We are happy to be called home by Hofstra University, one of Long Islands finest educational institutions and enjoy having the New York Jets football team conduct their practice sessions at Hofstra.
The Village of Hempstead is truly undergoing a renaissance that it is hoped will restore it to its' former prominence and prepare it for its' passage into the twenty first century.
May 30, 1997
rev. July 7,1998
James B. York(his email address is
Inc. Village of Hempstead
Return to Long Island Genealogy Home Page | <urn:uuid:918c73af-7f55-440a-bb28-92d7eb7d6869> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://longislandgenealogy.com/hempstead.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393146.70/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00091-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.975848 | 1,463 | 3 | 3 |
1. What are Clarissa’s views on marriage? Do they match those of the other characters? What defines the feminine sphere? What the masculine? How do the spheres overlap?
Clarissa has a very strict idea of marriage, which is part of the reason she is unable to bring herself to marry either Solmes or Lovelace. She believes that, once married, a woman must be completely obedient to her husband and put her family’s interest above her own. As a result, it is important to marry a good person, because a wife’s fate is so closely connected to her husband’s that a bad man can keep even his wife from getting to heaven. She remonstrates with Anna for Anna’s flippant treatment of Hickman, warning her that a wife’s reputation is defined by her husband’s, so if others lose respect for Hickman when they see Anna’s mistreatment of him, Anna herself will be the loser. Lovelace takes marriage much less seriously. He believes that it is more often a punishment than a blessing, as indicated in his fear of “shackles,” especially when bad people marry each other. Although Clarissa is the only person Lovelace can even imagine marrying, he expects that if he marries her he will be back to his old tricks within a few months.
As the novel presents it, the key to a successful marriage is the separation of the masculine and the feminine spheres. Anna’s marriage succeeds in the end because she resigns all finances and other masculine matters to Hickman, while she occupies herself with charity work and raising the children. Anna’s parents provide the counterexample; Mrs. Howe has a reputation as an excellent manager, and by asserting her opinions over her husband’s she had contributed to a marriage full of strife and discord.
2. Clarissa twice declines to seek help from the law: she refuses to litigate for her estate, and she will not prosecute Lovelace. Why does she resist the legal system in this way? More generally, what roles do law, legal systems, and legal metaphors play in the text?
Clarissa’s refusals to take legal action are attributed to her delicacy, but they leave room for questions about her motives. In the case of her estate, Clarissa tells Anna that it would be highly improper for her to bring a suit against her father: This would not only violate the principle that a child must always be obedient to her parents, but it would do so publicly and disgrace the whole family. In this instance, Clarissa’s family values trump her self-interest.
The question of prosecuting Lovelace is more ethically complicated. Anna asks her to do so not for revenge but to prevent Lovelace from harming other women. Clarissa shrinks from the idea of revealing her ordeal in public, but as a virtuous person she ought to be able to overcome her squeamishness to protect others. On the other hand, there are practical reasons against the prosecution: Lovelace did an impressive job of lining up the circumstantial evidence in his own favor. To all appearances, Clarissa was willingly cohabitating with Lovelace, so it would be hard to convince a jury that he had raped her.
The idea of prosecution never gets off the ground, and Lovelace meets justice the old-fashioned way, in a duel, while the Harlowes pay for their actions in miserable marriages and guilt. Despite the failure of law courts to play any role in the story, legal metaphors and systems abound. Both the Harlowes and Lovelace put Clarissa on “trial” and she, under Anna’s advice, collects her letters to use as “evidence” of her innocence. In this novel, the arena of law appears to be more in the domestic than in the civil sphere.
3. Clarissa is often associated with the beginnings of realism in literature. To what extent is the novel realistic?
In his Preface and Postscript, Richardson expresses a dedication to portraying real life. He believes that the novel’s form—letters written “to the moment”—is uniquely capable of revealing the way human beings really think and interact. He points out that the letters do not merely progress the novel’s plot, but include digressions and side stories, just as letters would in real life. And like real life, most of the time nothing is happening, so the reader experiences the slow build-up of drama in a way that echoes the characters’ experience. Another example of the novel’s realism is the presence of characters with ambiguous morality, who are neither purely good nor purely evil. Mrs. Harlowe, for example, is a good and loving mother, but she is so afraid of conflict with her husband that she does nothing to help Clarissa. Anna is Clarissa’s best friend and an admirable woman, but she has a tendency to offend people and in some ways hurts Clarissa more than she helps her. On the other hand, Belford and Morden are rakes with shady pasts, but they are Clarissa’s best support in the end.
Nevertheless, there are many ways in which Clarissa seems patently unrealistic. For example, the heroine is an impossibly perfect woman, to the extent that her linens remain snow white even in a dingy prison. But the fact that the linens are commented on at all reveals the novel’s concern with the details that make up real life. Unlike the heroine of a romance—a genre unconcerned with realism—Clarissa has to worry about what she is going to wear, what she is going to write her letters with, what she is going to do with her time when she can’t leave the house.
1. Clarissa pits an exemplary woman against a vicious libertine. How did Clarissa get to be so exemplary? How did Lovelace get to be such a rake? Who educated them, and how?
2. Clarissa bills itself as a lesson for parents and children. How are parenting and family life portrayed in the text? What kind of familial philosophy does it promote, and what kind does it criticize?
3. Clarissa’s most defining characteristic is unimpeachable virtue. What does virtue mean in her case? Is it the same as morality, or ethics? Are there different standards of virtue for different characters?
4. How are gender divisions marked in Clarissa? Is Clarissa an example for all human beings, or just women?
5. Is Clarissa Harlowe a tragic hero? Why or why not? | <urn:uuid:6a73b18d-3849-4ce3-9e2f-ccab24804b70> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.sparknotes.com/lit/clarissa/study.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783392099.27/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154952-00189-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.965277 | 1,397 | 2.96875 | 3 |
The Boston Massacre became an important symbol for radicals who used the incident to build popular opposition to British rule. For thirteen years after the incident, Boston observed March 5, the anniversary of the incident, as a day of public mourning. Artists continued to redraw, repaint, and reinterpret the Boston Massacre long after it occurred. This engraving based on a painting by Alonzo Chappel was published in 1868. While the artist still omitted Crispus Attucks, a black sailor who was one of those killed in the Massacre, it showed the chaos of the confrontation and captured the horror of soldiers shooting down unarmed citizens.
Source: American Social History Project. | <urn:uuid:3917746d-6877-4f92-bee2-c85148c10b86> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/6805/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783393533.44/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154953-00014-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.971219 | 137 | 4.375 | 4 |
Most of the rainforest found in the "Australian" region lies on the world's second largest island, New Guinea.
Australia, the world's smallest continent, has small sections of forest on the Cape York peninsula in the extreme Northeastern part of the country. Australia once had more rainforest cover but thousands of years of fires for agriculture has left much of the continent too dry to support wet tropical forest.
Although technically not part of any forest realm, islands in the Pacific -- like Hawaii, Tahiti, and Fiji -- also have rainforest cover. Typically these volcanic islands had unique plant and animal species prior to the arrival of humans.
May I use graphics from mongabay.com for my projects? Yes, you may provided that you don't remove the mongabay label from the images. You may use information from the site for class projects and can cite kids.mongabay.com as the source.
Is this web site credible? Mongabay is the world's most popular source for information on tropical forests. The site is highly acclaimed by a number of the world's leading tropical scientists and is run independently, meaning it is has no affiliation with advocacy groups or outside corporations. Rhett Butler, who founded Mongabay in 1999 and runs the site today, has published several scientific papers.
Can I interview the founder of mongabay.com for my school project? Unfortunately due to the large number of requests and the need to work on the main Mongabay site, Rhett is not available for interviews. However he has answered some common questions on the Rainforest Interview page.
Do you have any games or activities? Currently there are a few on the resources page. There may be more in the future. | <urn:uuid:9966111a-305d-476e-87bb-21d2be6bb188> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://kids.mongabay.com/elementary/australia.html | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396027.60/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00080-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.948013 | 356 | 2.578125 | 3 |
Pronunciation: (i-klips'), [key]
—n., v., e•clipsed, e•clips•ing.
a. the obscuration of the light of the moon by the intervention of the earth between it and the sun (lunar eclipse) or the obscuration of the light of the sun by the intervention of the moon between it and a point on the earth (solar eclipse).
b. a similar phenomenon with respect to any other planet and either its satellite or the sun.
c. the partial or complete interception of the light of one component of a binary star by the other.
2. any obscuration of light.
3. a reduction or loss of splendor, status, reputation, etc.: Scandal caused the eclipse of his career.
1. to cause to undergo eclipse: The moon eclipsed the sun.
2. to make less outstanding or important by comparison; surpass: a soprano whose singing eclipsed that of her rivals.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease. | <urn:uuid:458a2a45-c021-43cf-8040-f9933b2766d9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://dictionary.infoplease.com/eclipse | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783397749.89/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154957-00046-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.860096 | 232 | 2.546875 | 3 |
Definitions for embraceɛmˈbreɪs
This page provides all possible meanings and translations of the word embrace
embrace, embracing, embracement(noun)
the act of clasping another person in the arms (as in greeting or affection)
the state of taking in or encircling
"an island in the embrace of the sea"
a close affectionate and protective acceptance
"his willing embrace of new ideas"; "in the bosom of the family"
embrace, encompass, comprehend, cover(verb)
include in scope; include as part of something broader; have as one's sphere or territory
"This group encompasses a wide range of people from different backgrounds"; "this should cover everyone in the group"
embrace, hug, bosom, squeeze(verb)
squeeze (someone) tightly in your arms, usually with fondness
"Hug me, please"; "They embraced"; "He hugged her close to him"
espouse, embrace, adopt, sweep up(verb)
take up the cause, ideology, practice, method, of someone and use it as one's own
"She embraced Catholicism"; "They adopted the Jewish faith"
hug ; putting arms around someone
hug, put arms around
enfold, include (ideas, principles, etc)
Origin: From embracen, from embracier, equivalent to . Influenced by umbracen, from um- + bracen.
to fasten on, as armor
to clasp in the arms with affection; to take in the arms; to hug
to cling to; to cherish; to love
to seize eagerly, or with alacrity; to accept with cordiality; to welcome
to encircle; to encompass; to inclose
to include as parts of a whole; to comprehend; to take in; as, natural philosophy embraces many sciences
to accept; to undergo; to submit to
to attempt to influence corruptly, as a jury or court
to join in an embrace
intimate or close encircling with the arms; pressure to the bosom; clasp; hug
Origin: [Pref. em- (intens.) + brace, v. t.]
Embrace was a short-lived post-hardcore band from Washington, D.C., which lasted from the summer of 1985 to the spring of 1986 and was one of the first bands to be dubbed in the press as emotional hardcore, though the members had rejected the term since its creation. The band included Ian MacKaye of Minor Threat with three former members of his brother Alec's band The Faith: guitarist Michael Hampton, drummer Ivor Hanson, and bassist Chris Bald. Hampton and Hanson had also previously played together in S.O.A. The only recording released by the quartet was their self-titled album Embrace being influenced by The Faith EP Subject to Change. Following the breakup of Embrace, MacKaye rejoined former Minor Threat drummer Jeff Nelson to form Egg Hunt. Bald moved on to the band Ignition, and drummer Ivor Hanson paired up with Hampton again in 1992 for Manifesto. During the band's formative years, some fans started referring to them and fellow innovators Rites of Spring as emocore, a term vocalist Ian MacKaye publicly disagreed with.
Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
em-brās′, v.t. to take in the arms: to press to the bosom with affection: to take eagerly or willingly: to comprise: to admit, adopt, or receive.—v.i. to join in an embrace.—n. an embracing: fond pressure in the arms.—ns. Embrace′ment; Embrac′er.—adjs. Embrac′ing, Embrac′ive.—adv. Embrac′ingly.—n. Embrac′ingness. [O. Fr. embracer (Fr. embrasser)—L. in, in, into, bracchium, an arm. See Brace.]
em-brās′, v.t. (Spens.) to brace, to fasten, or bind:—pr.p. embrac′ing; pa.p. embraced′. [Em, in, and brace.]
British National Corpus
Rank popularity for the word 'embrace' in Verbs Frequency: #808
The numerical value of embrace in Chaldean Numerology is: 4
The numerical value of embrace in Pythagorean Numerology is: 2
Sample Sentences & Example Usage
Don't fear change -- embrace it.
Manifest kindness to embrace greatness.
When love takes over,you may embrace what you dont like.
We pride ourselves in the ability to embrace a challenge.
To find fulfillment...don't exist with life - embrace it.
Images & Illustrations of embrace
Translations for embrace
From our Multilingual Translation Dictionary
- прегръдка, прегръщамBulgarian
- abraçar, abraçadaCatalan, Valencian
- obejmout, objetíCzech
- annehmen, umarmen, UmarmungGerman
- abrazo, abrazarSpanish
- در آغوش گرفتن, پذیرفتنPersian
- halata, syleillä, omaksuaFinnish
- embrassade, embrasser, étreinte, étreindre, embrassement, accoladeFrench
- ioma-ghlacadh, ioma-ghlacScottish Gaelic
- ეხუტება, ჩახუტებაGeorgian
- amplector, complexusLatin
- omarming, omarmen, omhelzing, omhelzen, knuffel, knuffelenDutch
- objęcie, obejmować, uściskać, objąć, uściskPolish
- abraço, abraçarPortuguese
- îmbrățișare, îmbrățișaRomanian
- объя́тия, обня́ть, объя́тие, обнима́тьRussian
- omfamna, krama, omfamning, kramSwedish
Get even more translations for embrace »
Find a translation for the embrace definition in other languages:
Select another language: | <urn:uuid:e12b01bc-457c-41d2-8627-4ffcac2aca1f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.definitions.net/definition/embrace | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396872.10/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00191-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.788726 | 1,475 | 2.796875 | 3 |
Learn something new every day
More Info... by email
The limequat is a fruit created by crossing two different fruits, the lime and the kumquat. Classified as a hybrid citrus tree belonging to the citrofortunella family, the fruit combines the sweetness of the kumquat's skin with the tartness of the lemon. Limequats can be used in many recipes in a manner that is very similar to that of a lemon or lime.
Limequat trees tend to have thick foliage that makes the trees look somewhat bushy. The leaves are thick and a deep green that tend to be glossy, and have a general shape that is a cross between the leaves of an orange tree and a lemon tree. A limequat tree begins to produce very early and is capable of yielding large quantities of fruit during its normal production cycle.
As for the fruit, a limequat is somewhat small, although it is slightly larger than the average lemon. Oval in shape, the fruit has a color that is often described as being a yellow-green. Like many citrus fruits, this hybrid fruit does include seeds mingled in with the pulp. The pulp itself is somewhat bittersweet and juicy, while the skin has a more pronounced sweet flavor.
Like other citrus fruits, the limequat offers an ample amount of vitamin C in each piece of fruit. It is possible to squeeze the juice from the pulp using methods that are commonly employed to extract the juice from oranges. Once extracted, the juice can be combined with other fruit juices to create a refreshing breakfast drink, or for any application that might call for lemon or lime juice.
Because of the high acidic quality of the limequat, it is ideal for keeping cut fruits fresh and crisp. For example, many people coat slices of apples with lemon juice in order to add a bit of tartness to the slices, as well as prevent them from turning brown. The juice of this hybrid fruit can be used for the same purpose, and tends to modify the tart taste slightly, allowing the sweetness of the apple to remain the more apparent taste.
Limequats can also be used in a number of recipes. It is possible to produce puddings and pie fillings using the juice instead of utilizing lemon or lime juice. The skin can be used for zest in recipes that call for orange or lemon zest, such as cake frostings or meringues. As an ingredient in a fruit salad, sections of the limequat work just as well as sections of mandarin oranges and add a slight tartness and splash of color to the presentation.
It is possible to buy limequats in many of the larger supermarket chains. The fruit can also be ordered from a number of online fruit retailers, along with bottles of limequat juice and frozen sections of the fruit. As a way to add new life to an old recipe, considering the use of limequats is definitely something that any cook should try.
Where do limequats grow?
One of our editors will review your suggestion and make changes if warranted. Note that depending on the number of suggestions we receive, this can take anywhere from a few hours to a few days. Thank you for helping to improve wiseGEEK! | <urn:uuid:1ce5b263-fcc7-4821-b5a5-f6ba4fcec97f> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-a-limequat.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783394414.43/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154954-00173-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.947878 | 667 | 3.0625 | 3 |
Russel Wallace : Alfred Russell Wallace (sic)
Different species of Bamboo abound in all tropical countries, and wherever they are found the natives apply them to a great variety of uses. Their strength, lightness, smoothness, straightness, roundness, and hollowness,--the facility and regularity with which they can be split,--their different sizes, the varied distance of their joints, the ease with which they can be cut, and with which holes can be made in them,--their hardness outside, their freedom from any taste or smell, their great abundance, and the facility with which they are propagated,--all make them fitted for a hundred different purposes, to serve which other materials would require much labour and preparation. They are at once the most wonderful and the most beautiful production of the tropics, and the best gift of Nature to uncivilized man.
I shall briefly mention the uses to which they are applied by the native tribes of Borneo, which have fallen under my notice, and which have struck me the more forcibly, because in the parts of South America I have visited, Bamboos are comparatively scarce, and where found, but little used, their place being taken, as to one class of uses, by the great variety of Palms, and as to another, by Calabashes and Gourds.
The Dyak houses are all raised on posts, and are often two or three hundred feet long, and forty or fifty wide. The floor is always formed of large bamboos, which are split into four or five strips, so that each may be nearly flat, and these are firmly tied down with rattan to the rafters beneath. This, when well made, is a delightful floor to walk upon barefooted, the rounded surfaces of the bamboo being very smooth and agreeable to the feet, while at the same time affording a firm hold. But what is more important, they form, with a mat over them, an excellent bed,--the elasticity of the bamboo, and the undulating nature of the surface, being far superior to a more rigid or flatter floor. Here at once we have a use which cannot be supplied so well by another material without a vast amount of labour, all Palm stems and other substitutes requiring much cutting and smoothing, and not being equal [[p. 226]] to bamboo when finished. Some tribes however prefer a flat and close floor, and they make bamboo-boards for the purpose, by splitting open a large bamboo on one side only, and flattening it out, so as to form beautiful slabs, eighteen inches wide and six feet long, with which they floor their houses. These, with constant rubbing and daily smoke, become dark and polished, so that their material can at first sight be hardly recognized. What labour is here saved, to a savage with only his axe, who, if he wanted boards, must hew them out of the solid tree, and, with all his labour, could never produce a surface so smooth and beautiful as the bamboo, thus treated, affords him. Again, if a temporary house or shed is wanted, either by the traveller in the jungle or by the native in his paddy-fields, nothing is so convenient as the bamboo, with which a house can be constructed with half the labour and in half the time, than if any other material is used.
The hill Dyaks in the interior of Sarawak make paths for great distances, to their cultivated grounds, in the course of which they have to cross rivers and numerous gullies and ravines, or sometimes to avoid a long circuit, to carry the path along the face of a precipice. In all these cases the bridges they construct are of bamboo, and so admirably adapted is the material to the purpose, that it seems doubtful whether they would ever have made them had they not possessed it. The Dyak bridge is simple but well designed. It consists merely of bamboo poles, crossing each other at the roadway like the letter X, and rising, sometimes on one side, sometimes on both, three or four feet above it. At the crossing they are firmly bound together, and to a horizontal bamboo, which forms the only footpath, with another higher up, serving as a hand-rail. When a river is to be crossed, an overhanging tree is chosen, from which the bridge is partly suspended, and partly supported by diagonal struts from the banks, so as to avoid placing posts in the stream itself, when liable to floods. In carrying a path along the face of a precipice, trees and roots are made use of for suspension, from every little notch and crevice struts arise, while immense bamboos, of fifty or sixty feet long, are fixed on some bank or tree below. These bridges are traversed daily by men and women carrying heavy loads, so that any insecurity is soon discovered, and, as the materials are close at hand, immediately repaired. When the path goes over very steep and slippery ground, the bamboo is used to form steps. Pieces are cut, about a yard long, and opposite notches [[p. 227]] being made at each end, holes are formed, through which pegs are driven, and a ladder or staircase is produced with the greatest celerity. It is true that much of this will decay in one or two seasons, but it is so quickly replaced, as to make it more economical than using a more durable wood.
One of the most striking uses to which Bamboo is applied by the Dyaks, is in climbing the loftiest forest-trees, either to gather fruit or to obtain wax. The honey-bee of Borneo very generally makes its nest on the branches of the "Tappang," a tree which towers above all others in the forest, and whose smooth cylindrical trunk rises a hundred feet or more without a branch. Bees'-wax is one of the most valuable products of the forest, and the Dyaks climb these lofty trees at night to obtain it, by means of bamboo pegs driven into the wood. These pegs are formed of thick, old bamboo, split to about two inches wide. Each is cut above a joint, which forms a solid head to bear the blows of the mallet, and the point is flat and broad, cut away carefully to the siliceous outer coating. To the head of each is strongly tied a strip of the tough rind of a water-plant. The climber carries forty or fifty of these pegs in a basket by his side, and has a wooden mallet suspended round his neck; he has also prepared a number of strong, but slender bamboos, each from twenty to thirty feet long. One of these he sticks firmly in the ground at the foot of the tree, and close to it; he then drives in a peg as high as he can reach, and ties it firmly by the head to the bamboo; climbing up upon this, he drives in and ties two other pegs, each about three feet from the one below it, passing his arm between the tree and the bamboo, to hold the peg which he is driving in. He soon reaches the top of his pole, when another one is handed up to him, and being bound to the one below, he ascends in the same way another twenty feet. When his pegs are exhausted, a boy brings a fresh basketful up to him, and a long cord enables him to pull up the bamboos as he requires them. This mode of ascent looks perilous, but is in reality perfectly secure. Each peg holds as tightly as a spike-nail, besides which the weight is always distributed over a great number of them by means of the vertical bamboos. Trees which branch at forty feet or less, are often ascended by pegs alone, which, besides being dangerous, requires much skill and activity in the climber, as he must grasp the middle peg firmly with his hand to hold himself up, and has but one hand at liberty to drive in the pegs. I have seen trees [[p. 228]] ascended by both methods, and admired the excellent qualities of bamboo, as well as the ingenuity of the Dyaks in taking advantage of them.
Split and shaved thin, bamboo is the strongest material for baskets; conical fish-traps, hencoops, and birdcages are made by splitting a piece up to the joint which forms the top, gradually-increasing circles of rattan being inserted below; rough fruit-baskets are also rapidly made in this manner. Aqueducts are formed by large bamboos split in half, supported on crossed poles of various heights. They are the Dyaks' only water-vessels, and are in fact superior to earthen vessels, being clean, light, and easily carried. A dozen water-bamboos stand in the corner of every Dyak house. They also make excellent cooking utensils; vegetables and rice are often boiled in them. They are used to preserve sugar, vinegar, honey, salted fruit or fish,--in fact, they answer every purpose for which jars and bottles are used by us. In a small bamboo case, prettily carved and ornamented, the Dyak carries his sirih and lime for betel-chewing, and his little long-bladed knife has a bamboo sheath. His favourite pipe is a huge hubble-bubble, which he will construct in a few minutes by inserting a small piece of bamboo for a bowl, at an acute angle, into a large cylinder, about six inches from the bottom, which contains water through which the smoke passes. In many other small matters the bamboo is of daily use, but enough has been here mentioned to show its value, as a substitute in many cases for iron, and in enabling the natives to dispense with a variety of tools and utensils.
The second object of my especial admiration is the Durian, a fruit of which we hear little in England, where all praise is given to the Mangosteen, while the Durian is generally mentioned as a fruit much liked by natives, but whose offensive smell renders it disagreeable to Europeans. There is however no comparison between them; the Mangosteen resembles a peach or a grape, and can hardly be said to be superior, if equal, to either; the Durian, on the other hand, is a fruit of a perfectly unique character; we have nothing with which it can be compared, and it is therefore the more difficult to judge whether it is or is not superior to all other fruits.
The Durian grows on a large and lofty forest-tree, something resembling an Elm in character, but with a more smooth and scaly bark. The fruit is round or slightly oval, about the size of a small melon, of a green colour, and covered with strong spines, the bases of which [[p. 229]] touch each other, and are consequently somewhat hexagonal, while the points are very strong and sharp. It is so completely armed that if the stalk is broken off it is a difficult matter to lift one from the ground. The outer rind is so thick and tough that from whatever height it may fall it is never broken. From the base to the apex five very faint lines may be traced, over which the spines somewhat curve and approximate; these are the sutures of the carpels, and show where the fruit may be opened with a heavy knife and a strong hand. The five cells are silky-white within, and are filled with a mass of firm, cream-coloured pulp, containing about three seeds each. This pulp is the eatable part, and its consistence and flavour are indescribable. A rich custard highly flavoured with almonds gives the best general idea of it, but there are occasional wafts of flavour that call to mind cream-cheese, onion-sauce, sherry-wine, and other incongruous dishes. Then there is a rich glutinous smoothness in the pulp which nothing else possesses, but which adds to its delicacy. It is neither acid nor sweet nor juicy; yet it wants neither of these qualities, for it is in itself perfect. It produces no nausea or other bad effect, and the more you eat of it the less you feel inclined to stop. In fact, to eat Durians is a new sensation worth a voyage to the East to experience.
The smell of the ripe fruit is certainly at first disagreeable, though less so when it has newly fallen from the tree; for the moment it is ripe it falls of itself, and the only way to eat Durians in perfection is to get them as they fall. It would perhaps not be correct to say that the Durian is the best of all fruits, because it cannot supply the place of subacid juicy fruits such as the orange, grape, mango, and mangosteen, whose refreshing and cooling qualities are so grateful; but as producing a food of the most exquisite flavour it is unsurpassed. If I had to fix on two only as representing the perfection of the two classes, I should certainly choose the Durian and the Orange as the king and queen of fruits.
The Durian is however (in another way) dangerous. As a tree ripens the fruit falls daily and almost hourly, and accidents not unfrequently happen to persons walking or working under them. When a Durian strikes a man in its fall it produces a fearful wound, the strong spines tearing open the flesh, while the blow itself is very heavy; but from this very circumstance death rarely ensues, the copious effusion of blood preventing the inflammation which might otherwise take place. [[p. 230]] A Dyak chief informed me that he had been struck down by a Durian falling on his head, which he thought would certainly have caused his death, yet he recovered in a very short time.
Poets and moralists, judging from our English trees and fruits, have thought that there existed an inverse proportion between the size of the one and the other, so that their fall should be harmless to man. Two of the most formidable fruits known, however, the Brazil Nut (Bertholletia) and the Durian, grow on lofty trees, from which they both fall as soon as they are ripe, and often wound or kill those who seek to obtain them. From this we may learn two things:--first, not to draw conclusions from a very partial view of Nature; and secondly, that trees and fruits and all the varied productions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms, have not been created solely for the use and convenience of man.
The unripe Durian makes a very good vegetable, and it is also eaten raw. In a good fruit season the Dyaks preserve quantities of the pulp salted in jars and bamboos, in which state it will keep the year round, and is much esteemed as a relish with their rice. They seem hardly to appreciate the ripe fruit in its perfection, from the quantities they gather unripe, and from the small value they place upon it, as compared with the Jack and some other fruits. In Borneo great numbers of Durian trees have been planted on the mountains occupied by the Dyaks, and on the rivers' banks in the interior. In the jungle are found two varieties with much smaller fruits, one of them of an orange-colour inside; and these are probably the originals of the large and fine Durians which seem never to be produced in a wild state. In the tropics as well as in our colder climates, fruits always seem to be improved by cultivation. | <urn:uuid:4231f94f-1160-4a45-b9b0-217304923d6a> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://people.wku.edu/charles.smith/wallace/S027.htm | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396029.85/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00025-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.976845 | 3,224 | 2.96875 | 3 |
Gorilla Tourism's Downside
More than three decades ago, the Mountain Gorilla project started a tourism project to save the threatened gorilla population from poaching. The project hired poachers as park rangers and demonstrated that live gorillas were much more valuable as tourist attractions than dead ones. Since then, gorilla tourism has added hundreds of millions of foreign tourist dollars to state coffers in Central Africa, and the great ape populations have seen a modest rebound.
Some scientists warn that the economic incentives of gorilla tourism may be taking over the goal of conservation. Michele Goldsmith is among them. She’s a primatologist who teaches at Southern New Hampshire University. She’ll be speaking about the delicate balance of eco-tourism at the TEDx Amoskeag Millyard event. | <urn:uuid:ad0d6f26-995e-44a2-b625-ce7748f8cf05> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://nhpr.org/post/gorilla-tourisms-downside | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783396875.58/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154956-00156-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.928035 | 161 | 3.25 | 3 |
The findings of the survey, which was led by Orygen Youth Health Research Centre, in collaboration with the University of Melbourne, also indicated improved knowledge and beliefs about mental health problems within the community due, in part, to educational campaigns about mental health.
Lead researcher Dr Nicola Reavley from the Melbourne School of Population and Global Health said this increase in willingness to disclose is most likely due to changing attitudes towards and greater awareness of mental health problems, rather than more people having mental health problems or more people having treatment.
"We conducted a national survey of mental health literacy, that is, what people know and believe about mental health problems like depression and schizophrenia. We compared these results with previous surveys carried out since 1995," Dr Reavley said.
"The results of the study revealed that the numbers of those disclosing experiences of depression and early schizophrenia, and of having received professional help for depression, have increased since 1995."
"We know that people are better at recognising the symptoms of depression than they used to be. It is also possible that there is less stigma around disclosure, although we still have a lot of work to do in that area," Dr Reavley said.
In 1995, 45 per cent of people said they knew someone like the person given in the case description, while in 2011, 71 per cent of people said this.
The study also showed that between survey periods 2003, 2004 and 2011, females were more likely than males to disclose experiencing depression, while those born overseas were more likely than those born in Australia to disclose experiencing depression with suicidal thoughts.
Researchers say these findings can contribute to the design of public education and anti-stigma interventions. Such policies could facilitate early treatment-seeking by improving recognition of mental disorder signs and symptoms, knowledge of appropriate treatments and minimise the impact of stigma as a barrier to seeking professional help.
"This new information helps us to understand how things can change in the population and the impact of campaigns to reduce the stigma of mental health problems," Dr Reavley said. | <urn:uuid:26dfd1ef-b37b-4a30-b9b9-8922d45a66c9> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-03/uom-pmw030614.php | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783398628.62/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624154958-00030-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.972279 | 413 | 2.796875 | 3 |
August 26, 2011
The intentions may be honorable, but a new energy law promoting natural power sources may already have had the wind knocked out of its sails before it even becomes law.
The special measures bill on renewable energy, whose passage through the Diet was among the conditions Prime Minister Naoto Kan set for his resignation, passed on Aug. 26.
However, there is a real possibility the law will lack teeth because electric power companies will still be allowed to reject purchases of electricity generated through natural energy, such as solar power and wind power.
“The new law is just a determination of the government (to promote natural energy),” said Hironori Miyauchi, a senior researcher at the Japan Research Institute who questions whether the law will be effective.
Purchase prices depend on deliberations that will be made in the future. If the prices are low, few companies will try to make inroads into the business of power generation through natural energy.
Continue reading at Renewable energy law may lack needed ‘teeth’
◇ Related article in Japanese:
・再生エネ買い取り法が成立 via NHK News Web | <urn:uuid:2e3fe14c-cae6-47ac-a9c3-e7c95581485d> | CC-MAIN-2016-26 | https://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/atomicage/2011/08/26/renewable-energy-law-may-lack-needed-teeth-via-asahi-japan-watch/ | s3://commoncrawl/crawl-data/CC-MAIN-2016-26/segments/1466783404826.94/warc/CC-MAIN-20160624155004-00186-ip-10-164-35-72.ec2.internal.warc.gz | en | 0.949587 | 245 | 2.75 | 3 |
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.